LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 08 /12

Bible Quotation for today/
Matthew 22/15-22-15: " Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk. They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach, for you aren’t partial to anyone. Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? Show me the tax money.”They brought to him a denarius. He asked them, “Whose is this image and inscription?”They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard it, they marveled, and left him, and went away.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Syria: The epitome of diplomatic failure/By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Alawsat/September 07 /12
Iran and Egypt: Lost in translation/By Adel Al Toraifi/Asharq Alawsat/September 07 /12
Egypt: Kill a Christian, Collect a Reward/By Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/September 07 /12
The Collective Punishment of Egypt's Christian Copts/By Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity/September 07 /12
Dr. Mursi at the Arab League/By Emad El Din Adeeb/Asharq Alawsat/September 07 /12

Turkish officers take command of Syrian rebel brigades. N. Israel on alert
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report September 6, 2012/Turkish army officers have assumed direct command of the first two Syrian rebel brigades fighting Bashar Assad’s government forces, according to debkafile’s exclusive sources. This step has sent military tensions rocketing on Israel’s northern borders with Syria and Lebanon in case of a backlash.The rebel North Liberators Brigade in the Idlib region of northern Syria and the Tawhid Brigade fighting in the Al-Bab area northeast of Aleppo are now taking their operational orders from Turkish officers, who exercise their authority from headquarters outside Syria in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep. Nonetheless, Turkey is considered to have stepped directly into the Syrian conflict marking the onset of foreign intervention.Western and Arab military circles in the Middle East expect Turkey to extend its command to additional rebel units – not all of them part of the Free Syrian Army.This first step has already caused waves.
1. The consequences of Turkish military action in Syria were urgently aired with CIA Director David Petraeus when he arrived in Ankara Monday, Sept. 3, debkafile’s intelligence sources reveal. After hearing how and when Ankara proposed to expand its role in the Syrian conflict, Petraeus discussed with Turkish military and intelligence chiefs the likely Syrian, Iranian and Hizballah responses.
He then flew to Israel to continue the discussion there.
2. By then, US, Turkish and Israeli intelligence watchers were reporting unusual military movements in Syria and on Hizballah turf in southern Lebanon – suspected of being preparations for a blowback from the Turkish intervention in Syria.
3. The IDF countered by placing its units guarding the Syrian and Lebanese borders on a state of alert. Wednesday, Sept. 5, an Iron Dome battery was installed in Gush Dan to head off a potential Hizballah missile barrage on central Israel and its hub, Tel Aviv.
4. Later that day, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan commented: "The regime in Syria has now become a terrorist state."
Only a few of Erdogan's listeners understood he was laying international legal grounding for expanding Turkish military intervention in Syria.
debkafile's military sources report that Thursday, Sept. 6, military temperatures remained high-to-feverish along Syria's borders with Turkey and Israel, and along Lebanon's borders with Syria and Israel.

Canada Closes Embassy in Iran, Expels Iranian Diplomats from Canada
http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2012/09/07a.aspx
September 7, 2012 – Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:
“Canada has closed its embassy in Iran, effective immediately, and declared personae non gratae all remaining Iranian diplomats in Canada.
“Canada’s position on the regime in Iran is well known. Canada views the Government of Iran as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today.
“The Iranian regime is providing increasing military assistance to the Assad regime; it refuses to comply with UN resolutions pertaining to its nuclear program; it routinely threatens the existence of Israel and engages in racist anti-Semitic rhetoric and incitement to genocide; it is among the world’s worst violators of human rights; and it shelters and materially supports terrorist groups, requiring the Government of Canada to formally list Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism under the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act.
“Moreover, the Iranian regime has shown blatant disregard for the Vienna Convention and its guarantee of protection for diplomatic personnel. Under the circumstances, Canada can no longer maintain a diplomatic presence in Iran. Our diplomats serve Canada as civilians, and their safety is our number one priority.
“Diplomatic relations between Canada and Iran have been suspended. All Canadian diplomatic staff have left Iran, and Iranian diplomats in Ottawa have been instructed to leave within five days.
“Canadians in Iran seeking routine consular and passport services should contact the Embassy of Canada in Ankara, Turkey, or any other Canadian mission. Those who require urgent assistance should contact the Emergency Watch and Response Centre in Ottawa, by calling collect at 613-996-8885 or by sending an email to sos@international.gc.ca.
“Canada has updated its Travel Reports and Warnings to advise Canadians to avoid all travel to Iran. Canadians who have Iranian nationality are warned in particular that the Iranian regime does not recognize the principle of dual nationality. By doing so, Iran makes it virtually impossible for Government of Canada officials to provide consular assistance to Iranian-Canadians in difficulty.”

Raad: Hezbollah prepares to welcome pope
September 07, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad welcomed Thursday the upcoming visit by Pope Benedict XVI during a visit with Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai at his summer residence in Diman.
“We expressed our complete readiness to welcome the pope and all Lebanese are looking forward to his visit,” Raad said.
Raad’s comments came following talks between a Hezbollah delegation and Rai during which they discussed the pope’s visit next week and its positive repercussions on the Lebanese political scene.
Thousands of people are expected to line the highway connecting Rafik Hariri International Airport to Beirut to welcome the pope next Friday.
Both Hezbollah and Amal have expressed support for the visit and organizers are preparing for a massive turnout as the pope visits Lebanon for the first time since succeeding his predecessor John Paul II.
“This visit is also an opportunity to reiterate our open and active contact with the head of the patriarchate and our conversations and exchange of opinions on many issues important to the country and the Lebanese people,” Raad said of Thursday’s meeting. “Our opinions are very close and Patriarch Rai always focuses on restoring calm and stability in the country ... Such visits are means to bolster stability in Lebanon,” the Nabatieh MP added. Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem met with a delegation from the committee organizing the pope’s visit.
“We expressed to the committee the importance of everyone’s participation in welcoming the pope away from any political disputes,” said Qassem.
Qassem said that Hezbollah would participate in various activities during the three-day papal visit and voiced hope it will fulfill its goals in conveying the Vatican’s message to the Lebanese.
“What we heard from Pope Benedict XVI’s stances is that he rejects wars and foreign intervention in the affairs of any country. The pope’s statements are important and they have contributed to real peace between everyone,” Qassem added. Nabatieh MP Yassin Jaber hailed the visit as “historic” and “exceptional.” “This visit is a historic one and an exceptional event that will reinforce confidence between the Lebanese and their country,” Jaber said, adding that John Paul II’s visit in 1997 had strong positive repercussions on Lebanon. “The importance of the pope’s visit is that it reiterates that this nation is a meeting place between various cultures and religions and it’s a place for dialogue and pluralism that all contribute to Lebanon’s riches,” Jaber said, adding that the visit would also reinforce Muslim-Christian coexistence in the country.

Britain Urges EU to Blacklist Hizbullah Military Wing
Naharnet/07 September 2012, Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague on Friday urged the European Union to place the military branch of Hizbullah on its list of "terrorist" organizations.
"I would like to see the EU designate and sanction the military wing of Hizbullah," Hague said in response to a question on arriving for talks with his EU counterparts.
But asked for his response on arriving in Paphos talks, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius appeared to suggest this was not possible now.
"There is a request but there are judicial considerations," he said
"An organization can be placed on the list of terrorist organizations when judicial proceedings have been filed against it as such, which is not the case currently."
Britain is one of few countries to have blacklisted either parts or the whole of the organization -- the Netherlands being the single EU country to have slapped a ban on the entirety of the movement.
Israel has been pressing hard for the entire organization to be blacklisted since a deadly bombing in Bulgaria in July, on the grounds that the group is now active on European soil.
But in July, the EU turned down a request by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
"There is no consensus for putting Hizbullah on the list of terrorist organizations," said Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
Kozakou-Marcoullis said at the time that Hizbullah was an organization comprising a party as well as an armed wing and was "active in Lebanese politics" -- with representatives in the government and in parliament.SourceAgence France Presse.

Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad Accuses March 14 of Involvement in 'Aggression' against Damascus
Naharnet/ September 2012,
Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad lashed out at the March 14 alliance over its memorandum over the Syrian violations, accusing the coalition of covering up its participation in the aggression against Syria.
“The March 14 memo is incitement against Damascus and directly targets it,” Raad said in a press conference at the parliament.
The MP noted that the alliance never handed over a protest memorandum over the Israeli violations in Lebanon during the past six years.
Last week, ex-PM Fouad Saniora submitted to President Michel Suleiman a memo prepared by the March 14 forces and demanding the annulment of the security treaties with Syria, the expulsion of the Syrian ambassador, the filing of a complaint with the Arab League over Syria’s violations and reporting the breaches to the U.N. Security Council.
Raad slammed the March 14 forces, saying that “if it was leading the government, we would be in a state of war with Syria.”
He refused demands to deploy United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon along the northern border, pointing out that it “undermines the role carried out by the Lebanese army and its abilities.”
The March 14 camp called on Suleiman to request the assistance of UNIFIL to control the Lebanese-Syrian border in accordance to resolution 1701.
Raad called on the President to be aware of the risks behind adopting the memorandum and the national powers to deal responsibly with it.
“The memo doesn't reflect any keenness to preserve Lebanon's sovereignty and violates the Taef accord,” the lawmaker stated.
Raad called on the Lebanese authorities to investigate the clashes that erupted recently along the northern Lebanese-Syrian border and the side that opened fire first.
“The investigation will reveal if the alleged Syrian violations are true, and if Syria is opening fire first or if it comes as a reaction to violations committed by Lebanon,” he added.

Three Lebanese Army officers Involved in Abdul Wahed Case Released on Bail
Naharnet /07 September 2012,
Three Lebanese Army officers, who were arrested over the shooting on Sunni Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed and his companion in the northern district of Akkar in May, were released on bail.
The National News Agency said Friday the Military Court of Cassation's head, Judge Elias Nayfeh, ordered the release of the officers on LL300,000 bail each.
Military examining magistrate Judge Riyad Abu Ghida issued arrest warrants against the three officers in July almost a week after their release along with eight soldiers.
They were arrested over the killing of Abdul Wahed and Sheikh Mohammed Merheb at the army checkpoint in the Akkar town of al-Kweikhat.
The case has stirred controversy as several protesters have blocked roads in Akkar and official figures, including al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Khaled al-Daher, called for referring the case to the Judicial Council.
Al-Daher even threatened civil disobedience, including sit-ins near the Grand Serail and Premier Najib Miqati’s residence, should the government keep the case in the hands of the military court.
But the government sought to limit the growing unrest in the North and appeased the protestors by tasking Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi with asking General Prosecutor Said Mirza to directly supervise the investigations and report back to the cabinet.
The relatives of the officers also blocked the Sarba-Jounieh road near an army barracks north of Beirut to protest the arrest warrants issued against them for the second time in July.

Gemayel Warns from Turkey of 'Dormant Dictator Cells' Being Protected by Totalitarian Regimes
Naharnet/07 September 2012, ..Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel warned on Friday of forces in the Arab world that may seek to impose new dictatorships in the region.
He noted the existence of “dormant dictator cells” in the Arab world that are being protected by totalitarian regimes.
He made his remarks from a conference in Turkey on the Muslim and Christian positions on the Arab Spring and peace in the Middle East.
Gemayel called for a “radical” way to spread the principles of democracy, freedom, and diversity in the Arab world “in a manner that would help achieve real peace in the region.”
“The peaceful religious and political movements are beginning to accept the democratic approach in the Arab world,” he continued.
The Phalange Party chief hoped Muslims and Christians would overcome their differences with dialogue in order to achieve “real partnership between the state and society.”
The conference was attended by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a number of Muslim and Christian figures from the Arab world, including Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani and the Maronite patriarch's representative Archbishop Boulos al-Sayyah.

Lebanese Armenians protest Hungary’s extradition of convicted killer
September 06, 2012/ The Daily Star /BEIRUT: Members of the youth wings of the three Armenian political parties in Lebanon held a sit-in Thursday in front of the Hungarian embassy in Sanayeh, Beirut, to protest Hungary’s extradition of a lieutenant in the Azerbaijani military to his country, after he served eight years of a life sentence for killing an Armenian serviceman in Budapest, the National News Agency reported. The Tashnag, Hunchag and Ramgavar parties participated in the sit-in, while their officials parties met with the Hungarian Ambassador and handed him a memo protesting his government’s decision.
“The brutal murderer has been treated like a national hero since returning to Azerbaijian. This is a blatant violation of international justice and the rule of law in a clear case of homicide,” the memo read.
Protesters held aloft banners denouncing Hungary’s decision, which they said encourages Azerbaijani hatred of Armenians and violates international law.
On February 19, 2004, Azerbaijani army lieutenant Ramil Safarov used an axe to bludgeon to death Gurgen Margaryan, an officer in the Armenian army who was asleep at the Budapest military academy where both men were attending English-language courses organized by NATO. Safarov was arrested and tried in a Hungarian court. In 2006, he was sentenced to life in prison.
On August 31, 2012, Ramil Safarov was extradited to Azerbaijan, where he was greeted as a hero. He was pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev, promoted to the rank of major and given a new apartment and money by the Azerbaijani defense ministry. In 1988, in the waning days of the Soviet Union, fighting broke out between Armenians and Azeris over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The fighting developed into a full-fledged war following the independence of Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1990 and 1991, respectively, and lasted until 1994. The two countries still do not have diplomatic relations with each other.

Syrian warplanes fly low over north Lebanon
September 06, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Syrian warplanes and helicopters flew Thursday morning over the northern region of Wadi Khaled at a low altitude, security sources told The Daily Star. The warplanes have been hovering over the border villages of Mqaybleh, Heesheh and Mashta Hasan since 6 a.m., the sources added. Residents of the border region spoke Thursday of heavy shelling overnight directed at the Syrian town of Tal Kalakh, which is located 5 kilometers from Wadi Khaled. Syria has claimed that rebels fighting against the government have infiltrated Lebanese border towns and has asked Lebanon to better control the border to prevent the smuggling of arms and gunmen. North Lebanon border villages have come under shelling form Syria on several occasions, at times resulting in the death of innocent civilians and material damage. Following last week's attacks on border villages that wounded one Lebanese soldier, Prime Minister Najib Mikati instructed Lebanon’s Ambassador to Syria Michel Khoury to send a letter of complaint to Syria’s Foreign Ministry about “the continuous shelling of Lebanese border towns from nearby Syrian military bases.”The March 14 coalition has called for the deployment of U.N. Interim Forces in Lebanon along the border with Syria, which is estimated to be around 550 kilometers long, to put an end to Syria's violations

The Collective Punishment of Egypt's Christian Copts
by Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity/September 6, 2012
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/12236/the-
Last month saw Egypt's latest large-scale "collective punishment" of Christian Copts. It started when a Christian launderer accidently burned the shirt of a Muslim customer, which led to a brawl between the two Egyptians (first reported here). The next day "the Muslim, with approximately 20 of his followers, went to the Christian's home to attack him. Expecting this, the Christian was prepared and climbed to the highest point of his roof, hurling Molotov cocktails at the Muslims." One Muslim man was injured and later died in a hospital. Before he died, between 2,000-3,000 Muslims attacked the Christians of the village, leading to an exodus of approximately 120 Coptic families. AINA has details of the aftermath:
The sectarian crisis in the village of Dahshur escalated on August 1 after the burial of the Muslim man who died yesterday in hospital. Hundreds of Muslims torched and looted Coptic businesses and homes despite hundreds of security forces being deployed in the village. Eyewitnesses reported that security forces did not protect most Coptic property... "As 120 families had already fled the village the day before after being terrorized, the businesses and homes were an easy game for the mob to make a complete clean-up of everything that could be looted," said Coptic activist Wagih Jacob. "The security forces were at the scene of the crime while it was taking place and did nothing at all." After the violence, the family of the deceased Moaz Hasab-Allah said that destroying Coptic property is not enough and that Copts have to "pay for their son's death" with lives.
Collectively punishing dhimmis—the barely tolerated non-Muslim infidels indigenous to the lands conquered by Islam—for the crimes of the individual is standard under Islam, and a regular occurrence among Egypt's native Christians. Other examples include:
Jan, 2012: A mob of over 3,000 Muslims attacked Christians in an Alexandrian village because a Muslim accused a Christian of having "intimate photos" of a Muslim woman on his phone. Terrified, the Christian, who denied having such photos, turned himself in to the police. Regardless, Coptic homes and shops were looted and set ablaze. Three Christians were injured, while "terrorized" Christian women and children, rendered homeless, stood in the streets with no place to go. As usual, it took the army an hour to drive 2 kilometers to the village: "This happens every time. They [security] wait outside the village until the Muslims have had enough violence, then they appear." None of the perpetrators were arrested. Later, in an effort to empty the village of its 62 Christian families, Muslims attacked them again, burning more Coptic property. According to police, the Muslim woman concerned has denied the whole story, and no photos were found.
Nov, 2011: Similar to the above story in Dahshur, the inadvertent killing of a Muslim by a Christian in a fight started by the Muslim when he torched the Christian's home resulting in the "collective punishment of all Copts in the majority Christian village." Two Christians not party to the altercation were killed; others were stabbed and critically wounded. As usual, "after killing the Copts, Muslims went on a rampage, looting and burning Christian owned homes and businesses." Again as in Dahshur, despite all this "Muslims insist they have not yet avenged" the death of their slain co-religionist; there were fears of "a wholesale massacre of Copts." Once again, many Christians had fled their homes and were in hiding.
Apr, 2011: When Muslims falsely blamed the deaths of two Muslims on a Christian, one Christian was killed, ten hospitalized, an old woman thrown out of her second floor balcony, and Christian homes and properties plundered and torched.
Nov, 2010: When a teenage Christian youth was accused of dating a teenage Muslim girl, 22 Christian homes were set ablaze to Islam's war cry of "Allahu Akbar." During the attack the Muslim mob threw fireballs, gasoline, and stones at Coptic homes and detonated Butane Gas cylinders.
It is telling that in all the above examples, Christians were attacked either because 1) they fought back against Muslims or because 2) they were rumored to have relationships with Muslim women. In fact, both of these are banned. Among the many stipulations Christians had to agree to when they capitulated to the invading armies of Islam in the 7th century, and as captured in the Pact of Omar, was never to raise their hands against a Muslim—even if the latter was the aggressor—and never to have relations with Muslim women. If they failed to follow these rules as well as many others, their lives—and the lives of their surrounding coreligionists—became forfeit. As Mark Durie points out in his book on dhimmitude, The Third Choice: "Even a breach by a single individual dhimmi could result in jihad being enacted against the whole community. Muslim jurists have made this principle explicit, for example, the Yemeni jurist al-Murtada wrote that 'The agreement will be canceled if all or some of them break it' and the Moroccan al-Maghili taught 'The fact that one individual (or one group) among them has broken the statute is enough to invalidate it for all of them.'"

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea pushes for smaller districts proposal
September 07, 2012/ The Daily Star
Geagea rules out allying with Aoun.
BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Thursday he would work to drum up support for a draft election law that would divide Lebanon into small districts based on a winner-takes-all system, arguing that it would provide fair representation for Christians.
He also lashed out at Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, and questioned the FPM’s call to adopt a draft election law proposed by the Orthodox Gathering, under which every sect would elect its own MPs.
“The draft electoral law based on small districts is the best election draft law as it provides fairer representation than the draft law referred by the Cabinet to Parliament,” Geagea told a news conference at his Maarab residence. “We are seeking to guarantee the higher number of votes in Parliament for the draft law based on small districts.”
The Bkirki committee, under the patronage of Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, prepared the draft law, which would divide Lebanon into 61 small districts.
Geagea said that of the 61 districts – each having one, two or three seats – there would be no room for electoral steamrollers, wherein a strong list with several members having at least 51 percent of the vote in a large district would allow no other rival lists to win seats.
In August, the Cabinet approved a draft election law that would divide Lebanon into 13 medium-sized districts under a system based on proportional representation.
That proposal was opposed by ministers from Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party. It was also rejected by opposition leader former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the Kataeb party and the LF, which argued that proportional representation was designed to serve the interests of Hezbollah.
The FPM defended the draft law, saying it provides the fairest representation for Christians.
Aoun said in August that given the wide rejection of proportional representation, it would be “normal” to go back to the Orthodox Gathering proposal which was rejected by many Lebanese groups that argued it would promote sectarianism. Geagea slammed Aoun’s stance, saying that his bloc had rejected the Orthodox Gathering’s proposal.
“We were the first group who took part in the committee that studied this draft law and we remind Aoun that MP Alain Aoun was appointed by him [in the committee] ... and we saw that everyone [in the committee] rejected the draft law, including Aoun’s allies,” said Geagea.
Geagea reiterated his rejection of the draft election law prepared by the Cabinet, saying that the FPM had divided the Christian districts in a way that would make proportional representation ineffective and would serve its interests and that of the March 8 coalition. He cited the redrawing of districts lines to merge Jbeil and Kesrouan, and Jezzine and Zahrani, as examples of gerrymandering.
Commenting on Aoun’s position that he would ally with Geagea if the LF leader convinces him of an election law, Geagea said: “We are not ready to ally with Aoun if his allies abandon him or he abandons his allies or stays with them given his behavior, comments and rejection of reality.”
Lebanon’s 2009 parliamentary polls were held based on a version of the 1960 law that divides Lebanon into 26 qadas with a winner-takes-all system. Geagea rejected the current law as “inappropriate.”
He also said that suggestions by a March 8 politician that fighters from Libya, Afghanistan, Chechnya and other Arab countries were present in Lebanon should be considered a national treason.
“What do these suggestions mean at a time when they [March 8 coalition] are in power?” asked Geagea, calling on the government to arrest the men if they were in Lebanon.
“This [suggestion] is aimed at blowing up the situation in Lebanon and holding foreign fighters responsible for doing so.”

Egypt: Kill a Christian, Collect a Reward
by Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute
September 4, 2012
http://www.meforum.org/3333/egypt-kill-christian-
Recently an Egyptian Muslim posted a YouTube videotape of himself cursing Islam, its holy book, the Koran, tearing the latter to pieces and throwing it in the garbage. Excerpts of what he said follow:
There it is, Allah's book, this is the basic catastrophe. I don't know what day it is of this disgusting month of Ramadan! You are making the tearing of the Quran such a big and dangerous thing... it is instinctive to tear this book, those sons of [profanity] think they can threaten me and challenge me to tear the Quran, but I want to prove to them that they are nothing and what is the big deal in tearing this book!! There it is [he starts tearing the Quran] in the trash. Are you feeling better now! You cannot touch a hair on my head! We keep blaming Hamas and Gaza, but it is not them, it is this son of [profanity] book that I am stepping on right now. That book is the source of all evil and the real catastrophe. There is nothing new here, it is not Omar Abdel Rahman, Abbud or all the others; it is this garbage that is causing us to run in a demonic never-ending circle that will never end.
While this latest Koran desecration is a reminder that there are everyday Egyptians who are sick of the Talibanization of Egypt, a recent talk show on Al Hafiz channel concerning this incident is an indicator of what is in store for them. After the video of the man tearing the Koran was played, one of three guests, a bearded and white-robed Dr. Mahmoud Sha'ban, visibly shaken by what he had just seen, said:
Someone like him must receive the punishment he deserves—and it is death. He is an apostate… It is clear from what he says that he is a Muslim, and must be killed as an apostate. As for that act itself, it is an infidel act, and he deserves to be struck by the sword in a public place—and as soon as possible; as soon as possible; as soon as possible. It must be announced and photographed and disseminated among the people, so that all the people may know that we respect our Koran and its words from Allah, and whoever insults it, receives his punishment from Allah. If people like him are left alone, they will only get bolder and bolder.
The next guest, Sheikh Abdul Mohsin, said: "I support the words of Sheikh Mahmoud [who just spoke], that this man must be killed fast, that he may be an example to others, so that all learn that we have reached a new phase in respecting Islam and the holy sanctity of the Koran and Sunna. This man has become an apostate and must suffer the penalty in front of the people."
The third and final guest, Dr. Abdullah, was somewhat critical of the first two Islamic scholars—not because they called for the man's death, but because, by focusing on the fact that the man had apostatized, it seemed as if they were exonerating non-Muslims: "The issue of killing him is not limited to his being a Muslim and then apostatizing. No, it is known to us from the Sharia that whoever insults the Prophet or tears the Koran, his judgment is death—whether he's a Muslim or non-Muslim, or non-Muslim."
Later, a listener called in saying, "Just so you know, if I ever meet one of these people, their life is void—they're simply dead." The talk show host, who agreed that the man must be slain, responded with some moderate talk about letting the state handle such people, to which the first sheikh, Dr. Mahmoud Sha'ban, erupted in rage:
"Man, we're talking about the religion of Allah! The religion! The religion!! The woman who insulted the Prophet, he voided her life! There were ten people at the conquest of Mecca whose lives the Prophet also voided!" When the host tried to get a word in, the cleric exclaimed: "I am the sheikh, not you. I am the sheikh, not you! I am the sheikh! Hear me to the end, before I get up and leave!!"
Dr. Abdullah tried to mediate by clarifying to the host: "Do you know what the word 'void' [hadr] means [in Islamic jurisprudence]? It means it is the right for anyone who meets them [those who insult Islam] to kill them." Simply put, the host was wrong to think that those who insult Islam should only be killed by the state. Any good Muslim can—and should—kill them, wherever he finds them. Of course, with a Muslim Brotherhood president in office, whether those who offend Islam are killed by the state or by Islamic vigilantes becomes somewhat semantic.
Already under President Morsi's first two months, Islamists have become more emboldened—whether by pressuring women to wear the hijab, killing a Muslim youth for publicly holding hands with his fiancée, or disseminating flyers that call for the total genocide of Egypt's Christian Copts—flyers that even openly included names and mosque contact points for those Muslims who wish to collect their rewards for killing Christians. Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Hariri adviser among 99 top foreign policy professionals
September 07, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: An adviser who heads former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s international affairs office was chosen Thursday as one of the top 99 young professionals in the field of foreign policy by the Washington-based Diplomatic Courier magazine. A graduate of the American University of Beirut and New York’s Columbia University, Karma Ekmekji was selected as one of the “Top 99 Foreign Policy Leaders Under 33.” The list is compiled every year by the Diplomatic Courier, a global affairs magazine, and the nonprofit Young Professionals in Foreign Policy organization.
Ekmekji was named to the category of “influencer” – as someone who “mobilizes people in the foreign policy community with bold new ideas.”Formerly a political officer for the special coordinator of United Nations secretary-general in Lebanon, Ekmekji has specialized in elections and has worked for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. After graduation, she joined the U.N. in New York as the Rick Hooper Fellow in the Department of Political Affairs.

Families of Lebanese hostages in Syria call for Hariri’s intervention to end ordeal
September 07, 2012/By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The families of 10 Lebanese hostages held in Syria call on former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to launch an initiative to secure their release, the spokeswoman for the families of the kidnapped pilgrims said Thursday. “The issue of the kidnapped Lebanese is in the hands of Sheikh Saad Hariri who can intervene to end their ordeal,” Hayat Awali told The Daily Star. “We call on Hariri to launch an initiative to resolve the hostage crisis. Despite political differences [with Hezbollah], we welcome Hariri’s intervention,” she added. Awali said that if the 10 remaining hostages held by Syrian rebels for more than three months were freed as a result of Hariri’s mediation efforts, the leaders and residents in the predominantly-Shiite southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, would express their gratitude for the former prime minister. “We will hang banners in Dahiyeh thanking Hariri for his efforts.”
Awali insisted Future MP Okab Saqr and Hariri, through his contacts with Turkish authorities, were “the only ones capable of resolving the hostage crisis.” Awali denied reports that the families had actually issued a statement Thursday in which they appealed to Hariri to intervene to secure the freedom of their loved ones. “The hostage issue is a national issue. We appreciate efforts by anyone to resolve it.”
Syrian rebels abducted 11 Lebanese Shiites when they crossed into Syria from Turkey on May 22 on their way back home from a pilgrimage in Iran. Hariri was reported to have made contacts with Turkish authorities aimed at securing the freedom of the hostages a few days after their abduction. He even sent his private jet to Turkey to fly the hostages home when they were supposed to have been freed.
Hopes for this issue to be resolved have risen since last month’s release of one hostage.
Hussein Ali Omar, one of the 11 hostages, was released on Aug. 25 by the rebel Free Syrian Army. The FSA said that Omar’s release came in response to a request by the head of the Committee of Muslim Scholars in Lebanon, Sheikh Hasan Qaterji. The committee has been involved in efforts to win the release of the Lebanese hostages in Syria.
Awali, who was one of the Shiite women along with elderly men set free by the kidnappers after the abduction took place on May 22, said there had been no new development in the hostage crisis since the government last month formed a ministerial committee tasked with contacting Turkish authorities in an attempt to resolve the issue. Awali’s remarks came a day after a Lebanese group involved in negotiations to free the hostages said that more time was needed to resolve the crisis. “It seems that releasing the [hostages] requires more time due to the interference of additional regional and international sides in the issue, along with the rising intensity of battles [between the Syrian army and rebels] in the area where it was announced the captives are being held,” the Committee of Muslim Scholars said in a statement Wednesday. Sheikh Salem al-Rafei, the deputy head of the committee, returned Wednesday from Turkey, where he conducted weeklong negotiations with the captors that hit a dead end.
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told The Daily Star last week that efforts were being made to secure the release of the Lebanese hostages in Syria all at once.
Charbel, part of the ministerial committee on the Lebanese hostages, said Omar’s release had set the stage for an overall solution to the issue of the Lebanese captives as well as the Syrians currently being held in Lebanon. Lebanon’s Shiite Meqdad clan kidnapped more than 20 Syrian nationals and a Turkish businessman in Lebanon last month in retaliation for the kidnapping of a family member.
The clan has released all but four Syrian hostages and the Turkish businessman in order to press for the release of Hasan Meqdad.
The clan said the four Syrians were linked to the FSA. Another Turkish national was kidnapped by a Shiite group for leverage over the release of the Lebanese hostages in Syria.
The Meqdad clan contends that Turkey is the only country with influence over the Syrian opposition.

Lebanon's PM warns Lebanese of "drowning" in Syrian war
By Samia Nakhoul and Dominic Evans
Reuters – Wed, 5 Sep, 2012..
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's fractious communities will "all drown" together if they let Syria's civil strife spill over the border, the prime minister warned, as he called on factions to resist seeking partisan advantage from the violence.
Speaking to Reuters, Najib Mikati acknowledged the Lebanese are deeply divided over the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which has taken an increasingly sectarian turn and drawn in rival regional and world powers on opposing sides.
But in an interview late on Tuesday he cautioned: "If this crisis reaches Lebanon, there will be danger for all Lebanese.
"Nobody should think that he will benefit and the other party will be in danger. We are all in one boat and if it takes on water in this ferocious storm sweeping the region we will all drown," added Mikati, a moderate figure who gets on with rival regional powers Syria and Saudi Arabia and with Western states.
Mikati, who spoke at the Ottoman-era Grand Serail government building overlooking the rebuilt heart of once war-torn Beirut, has struggled to insulate his small nation from the bloodshed in its larger, and long dominant, neighbor. It is a task made nearly impossible by the close historic ties between Beirut and Damascus, and by Lebanon's own sectarian divisions.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Tuesday that the Syrian fighting risked spreading across the Middle East: "The entire region is being engulfed by the complex dynamics of the conflict," he told the General Assembly in New York.
Many of Mikati's fellow Sunni Muslims in Lebanon actively support the mainly Sunni revolt against Assad, who follows the minority Alawite faith which has links to Shi'ite Islam. Lebanese Shi'ites, among them the Iranian-allied militant group Hezbollah, mostly back Assad, who has support from Tehran.
Fighting in Mikati's home town of Tripoli between an Alawite minority and a Sunni Muslim majority has rekindled fears of renewed strife in Lebanon, which from 1975 endured 15 years of civil war that saw regional players Israel, Syria, Iran and the Palestinians all use it as a proxy battleground.
"UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES"
In New York, Ban raised the alarm about "unintended consequences" of outsiders taking sides in a Syrian conflict which he described as having "taken a particularly brutal turn".
"The continuing militarization of the conflict is deeply tragic and highly dangerous," he said. "Those who provide arms to either side are only contributing to further misery - and the risk of unintended consequences as the fighting intensifies and spreads."
World powers are deadlocked in the United Nations Security Council along Cold War lines, with the United States and its NATO allies supporting the call for Assad to quit and Russia and China defending him against what they see as outside meddling.
Visiting Beijing, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated Washington's view that the Assad family's days in power were numbered; her Chinese counterpart stressed, however, that a "transition", however welcome, should not be imposed.
"We and many countries all support a period of political transition in Syria," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said.
"But we also believe that any solution should come from the people of Syria and reflect their wishes.
"It should not be imposed from outside."
While Western powers say their aid to the rebels remains limited to supplies other than weapons, Sunni Arab states have supported arming the insurgents, while U.N. monitors have said Iran has transferred armaments to Assad's government.
Mikati said his government was doing what it could to meet Syrian demands that Lebanon prevent arms shipments reaching the rebels across its territory: "It is regrettable that anyone can use Lebanon as a tool to threaten the other," he said.
Pointing to the interception of a ship carrying weapons and the fact that some other consignments were seized at Beirut airport, he said: "Lebanon is carrying out its duties fully."
Of sectarian kidnappings that have revived painful memories of Lebanon's long suffering, he said: "We are passing through difficult circumstances and the entire region is boiling. Unfortunately, some elements feel they can undermine the state."
He insisted the Lebanese state "will bring to justice all those who are sabotaging security". But state institutions are themselves a fragile product of compromises among powerful factions which are being strained by the violence next door.
EGYPTIAN ROLE
Egypt's new Sunni Islamist head of state, Mohamed Mursi, continued his drive for a dynamic role for newly democratic Egypt in regional diplomacy. As president of by far the biggest Arab nation, Mursi said at the Cairo headquarters of the Arab League that it was time for Assad to accept it was time to go.
Announcing a first meeting of a quartet of regional powers - Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia - to try to forge a consensus, Mursi said Assad had missed his chance to satisfy his critics with promises of limited political reform:
It was, he said, time for "change and not wasting time speaking of reform". Addressing foreign ministers of the Arab League, which has suspended Syria's membership, he said: "This time has passed now. Now it is time for change."
In Syria itself, where the United Nations estimates some 20,000 people have been killed in the nearly 18 months since popular protests began, rebels besieging a military airport near the Iraqi border said they were engaged in heavy fighting and another group claimed to have shot down a jet fighter.
A spokesman for the group in Idlib province, close to the Turkish border, said a MiG-21, an ageing, Soviet-built aircraft, had been brought down by rebel machinegun fire as it tried to take off. Video posted on the Internet showed fighters celebrating around a MiG-21 tailfin and some burning wreckage.
It also showed the body of what appeared to be a pilot strapped to a parachute. The report could not be verified.
(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon in Beirut; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; editing by David Stamp)

Russia says attacking Iran would be "disastrous"
Ifax/Reuters – Thu, 6 Sep, 2012/
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia warned Israel and other nations not to attack Iran over its nuclear program, saying the use of force would be disastrous for the Middle East and have consequences far beyond the region, the Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.
"We warn those who are no strangers to military solutions ... that this would be harmful, literally disastrous for regional stability and would set off deep shocks in the security and economic spheres that would reverberate far beyond the boundaries of the Middle East region," Interfax quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.
(Writing by Steve Gutterman; Editing by Nastassia Astrasheuskaya)

Iran and Egypt: Lost in translation
By Adel Al Toraifi
Asharq Alawsat
On the eve of the assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981, there was a belief that Egyptian – Iranian relations were on the verge of rapprochement, and the front pages of major Iranian newspapers asserted that Sadat’s departure would lead to good relations with Iran, following the break in relations after the revolution.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, established following the Shah’s overthrow, held a grudge against President Sadat for signing the Camp David Accords, as did many Arab regimes. More importantly, Sadat hosted the Shah until his death. For his part, Sadat justified this by saying that the Shah had supported Egypt in the 1973 war, and also sent oil to Egypt at a time when many countries stalled or refused to help.
From a humanitarian and personal perspective, Sadat’s decision was magnanimous. However, from a political standpoint it caused enmity between Egypt and Iran. Revolutionary Iran attempted to communicate with Sadat’s successor, seeking to restore relations with Egypt, but made a critical mistake by naming a Tehran street after Khalid Islambouli, one of Sadat’s killers. For this reason, the Egyptian authorities refused to normalize relations with Iran, and because Egypt provided military aid to the Iraqi regime during the Iran – Iraq war, the Iranians became hostile to Egypt again.
The rise of Iran’s President Hashemi Rafsanjani in the early 1990s raised hopes of a resumption of relations, particularly after Egypt participated in the war to liberate Kuwait. However, left and right-wing groups in Iran opposed this because of Egyptian involvement in the peace process. This position was inconsistent, as Tehran had previously rejected rapprochement with Egypt at a time when Syria – Iran’s ally – participated in the Geneva Peace Conference. Indeed, Iran reconciled with the Saudis in 1997, despite the fact that Saudi Arabia was geopolitically and ideologically opposed to the revolutionary regime in Iran, and at a time when Egypt had repaired its relations with its greatest regional rivals. For this reason, restoring relations with Egypt remains an unfulfilled goal within the Iranian Foreign Ministry, with a number of Iranian politicians repeatedly expressing their desire for rapprochement with Egypt.
With Mubarak’s downfall and the arrival of the Muslim Brotherhood in power, the door opened to repairing relations. However these aspirations have run into problems, leading some Iranian officials to play down the prospect of restoring ties. During the recent Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran, the Iranians spared no effort to win over the new Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi. After Mursi accepted his invitation, Iran’s hospitality was striking, particularly the huge attention paid to him by his Iranian hosts. One image published by Asharq Al-Awsat shows Ali Akbar Velayati (senior international affairs adviser to Supreme Guide Ayatollah Khamenei) and a number of other Iranian officials huddled closely around the Egyptian president.
Once Mursi took to the podium, and in the introduction of his speech referenced the Four Righteous Caliphs – who are rejected by Shiites – he went on to comment on the situation in Syria, calling on the international community to help the Syrian people topple Bashar al-Assad, an Iranian ally. However, Iranians official media distorted Mursi’s speech, mistranslating it and included issues which Mursi did not address, including Bahrain. This followed the publication of a false – according to the Egyptian presidency – interview with an Iranian media outlet during which Mursi allegedly said he would normalize relations with Tehran.
In reality, the dispute is not between individual leaders, or over differences of opinion regarding slogans and proposals; rather it is the competition of two regional powers that have been unable to overcome their differences. Egypt and Iran have disagreed since the rise of Nasserism and the tide of Arab nationalism, which Iran saw as a challenge to its interests in the Gulf. Even after relations between Iran and Egypt improved during the era of the Shah and Sadat, Egypt – as a country and society – remained unable to communicate with Iran due to cultural differences, including language and religious practice, not to mention the geographic distance between the two countries.
In my opinion, the Iranian regime’s passion for the idea of normalizing relations with Egypt over the past few months has caused it to forget an important truth: that the obstacles to Egypt – Iranian relations reflect a lack of common interests. Tehran’s problem is that it wants Egypt to become another Syria, and it views Egypt like Hezbollah and Hamas, who supported Iran in return for assistance. The Iranian regime wants a follower that will support its ambitions; it did not realize that Egypt has its own interests. In addition to this, the Tehran regime is relying on the fact that it has been close to the Muslim Brotherhood organization since the revolution, and that it has relations with figures such as Kamal el-Helbawy or Fahmy Howeidy. However, it has forgotten that the Brotherhood is now in government, not an opposition group seeking external support, and therefore it seeks to put Egyptian interests first.
Moreover, the Iranians have forgotten that the second largest parliamentary force in Egypt – the Salafis – is against reconciliation. The Brotherhood has so far tried to avoid inciting its Salafi allies. In addition, the Brotherhood ultimately plays a leading religious (Sunni) role for the Arab and Islamic world, while the Iranians are perceived, rightly or wrongly, to represent the region’s Shiites.
In addition to this, Egypt today has strategic and business interests with neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia, exceeding even those under the previous Egyptian regime. These are more substantial than any justification for rapprochement with Tehran. Ultimately the new Egyptian regime, which rests on its political/religious legitimacy, finds itself in a state of competition or confrontation with the Iranian regime because they are fighting over a single source of legitimacy. As a result of the Iranian regime’s keenness to normalize relations with Egypt and because it wants to impose its political agenda, Tehran has failed to understand this.

We guarantee safety of Gaddafi spy chief - Libyan Interior Minister
By Khaled Mahmoud
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat – In an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Libyan Interior Minister Fawzi Abdel A’al spoke about the security situation in his country, arms smuggling and the forthcoming trials of a number of senior Gaddafi regime figures.
Asharq Al-Awsat caught up with the Libyan Interior Ministry just days after Tripoli had secured the return of former Libyan Intelligence Chief Abdullah al-Senussi from Mauritania. He guaranteed al-Senussi’s safety in Libyan custody and promised that the former spy chief would be given a fair trial.
Libyan Interior Minister Fawzi Abdel A’al previously resigned late last month in the wake of controversy surrounding the security forces performance during a surge of violence that has rocked Libya, including attacks on a number of shrines across the country. However Abdel A’al later retracted this resignation just two days later announcing that he was ready to continue his mission.
The following is the full text of the interview:
[Asharq Al-Awsat] There has been criticism of some of Libya’s rebels and their leadership, particularly regarding the recent attacks on Sufi shrines. As a former Libyan rebel yourself, do you accept this criticism?
[Abdel A’al] This is completely rejected, when others were licking Gaddafi’s boots and accepting everything that he was doing, these rebels came out with voices raised and told Gaddafi and his government: no. I believe that they have won the respect and appreciation of the Libyan people for this.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] With the return of Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, is Libya capable of securing him and guaranteeing his safety prior to trial?
[Abdel A’al] Of course, we have a large number of members of the former regime and we have guaranteed their security. They are being tried for their crimes, and are safe from harm, whilst we have also ensured that they cannot escape.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] When will al-Senussi’s trial begin?
[Abdel A’al] Al-Senussi is a criminal and his presence in Libya today is a victory for the Libyan people, Arabs and world. As for his trial, this issue is subject to legal procedures as the Public Prosecution investigation is still ongoing. Following this, the case will be transferred from the Public Prosecution to the Criminal Court. These are nothing more than routine procedures.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] What about Saif al-Islam Gaddafi? When will his trial get underway?
[Abdel A’al] I believe that this trial will begin soon because the Attorney General’s office is very close to completing its case against him.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Are we talking a matter of days or weeks?
[Abdel A’al] Let us say weeks.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Is it true that the Zintan rebels that are holding Saif al-Islam Gaddafi are refusing to surrender him to the government’s security apparatus?
[Abdel A’al] I do not think this is an issue of the rebels rejecting this now, rather I believe that in the past a group harbored certain concerns, however I also believe that this period is better. I do not believe that any Libyans reject this trial, and I hope that the trial will be fair and in accordance with Libyan and international standards, and that these criminals are punished justly.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] There are fears that Saif al-Islam could be killed before the trial, how do you respond to this?
[Abdel A’al] I do not give such fears credence, otherwise how did he remain alive until now? He could have been killed in the desert when he was arrested by the rebels and there was nobody to witness this except God Almighty.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Who is behind the recent string of attacks and bombings in Tripoli and Benghazi?
[Abdel A’al] Members of the former regime are behind this, and we have confessions in this regard. Incidentally, the first suspect was arrested just 3 hours after the bombing. Investigations are ongoing, and we have confessions and evidence which we will release to the media next week.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] You say members of the former regime, but who precisely do you mean? Are you talking about Gaddafi’s children who are present in Algeria and Niger, or some of his former followers who are now present in Egypt?
[Abdel A’al] This series of attacks is tied to leadership groups present in Egypt and Algeria, and they have an operations room in Tunisia, whilst they are utilizing some cells on the ground in Libya.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Are you cooperating with these states to pursue those responsible for the attacks?
[Abdel A’al] There is high-level coordination between Libya and Tunisia in this regard, and weak coordination with Egypt, although I believe that this will improve in the coming days.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Why is the coordination with the Egyptian authorities not at the required levels?
[Abdel A’al] I believe that many changes have taken place in Egypt, for Egypt only recently formed its government. This is a transitional stage, and this has had an impact on coordination. I believe that the situation in Egypt now is excellent, and the government has taken over its tasks and things are good so this situation will improve.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] We have heard numerous reports about arms being smuggled from Libya into Egypt. Do you have any information on this? Who is behind this arms smuggling?
[Abdel A’al] There can be no doubt that there are operations to smuggle arms and drugs between neighboring countries, and this is not new or unexpected. It is well known that the Libyan national arsenal was not in anybody’s control and being distributed throughout the Sahara desert following the collapse of the regime. There are many remote places [where the regime stored arms]. The former regime also purchased huge and countless quantities of arms from the Soviet Union and socialist countries over the years. All of this has granted arms dealers the opportunity to make gains and smuggle arms between Libya and other countries.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] Do you have any statistics regarding the number of arms that have been smuggled out of Libya?
[Abdel A’al] Unfortunately, we do not have any accurate information regarding precisely what arms, and how many, were present in the country in the first place. These were all parts of secret deals that were carried out in various ways. We still do not possess all the means to uncover the amount of weapons that were on the ground in Libya in the first place, so that we can discover what is missing.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] These weapons are also appearing within Libya itself. What efforts is the Libyan government taking to seize these arms or persuade the Libyan rebels to put down their weapons and integrate into state security?
[Abdel A’al] There are a number of plans, including attempts to integrate the Libyan rebel fighters as armed brigades within the Libyan Shield, which is a reserve army force. I believe that this is part of the solution, whilst the Interior Ministry has also integrated armed rebel fighters into the security apparatus. We are also, in one way or another, trying to neutralize the largest possible number of weapons, whilst also attempting to control arms, ammunition and arms stores located in places near and fear. I believe that we are in need of a pan-national plan, involving countries that have previous relations or experience, and I believe that the United Nations [UN] will also play a role, as will Libya’s neighboring countries.
[Asharq Al-Awsat] There have been reports that some security elements are involved in the demolition of Sufi shrines in Libya, or that they are turning a blind eye to this. Are there measures in place to punish security officers involved in this?
[Abdel A’al] We tasked the General Administration of Criminal Investigations to investigate this, and anybody who is implicated in crimes or dereliction of duty will be brought to trial
[Asharq Al-Awsat] You previously stated, during a press conference, that you were not going to engage in a battle with those responsible for demolishing shrines. If the security apparatus is unwilling to do this, then who will?
[Abdel A’al] The issue is not about bloodshed or war, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that it would be better to destroy the Kaaba than shed the blood of Muslims. The issue is ideological, and we must begin by conducting dialogue with these people and dealing with them. The decision must be at the national level in order to address this strongly. This is something that happened in the past, and some people tried to destroy these shrines and they were prevented and dialogue was conducted with them. Arrangements were made with them; however they went back on this agreement and did what they did. Let me tell you frankly, the issue of the demolition or blessing of shrines is not the most important one; rather the most important thing here is how to deal with this situation.

Hamas pursuing Salafists from “street to street”
By Kifah Zaboun
Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat – Relations between the Hamas and Salafist Jihadist groups operating out of the Gaza Strip have entered a fractious stage as the movement has begun to tighten the noose around Salafist Jihadist elements. Over the past two days the Hamas movement has been carrying out a campaign of arrests against armed Salafist Jihadist groups in Gaza, and is reportedly pursuing elements from these groups from “house to house and street to street.” Hamas is in the process of investigating the structure of these groups, as well as the sources of their funding and arming.
The Gazan government began this campaign in the aftermath of last month’s attack on an Egyptian army checkpoint that resulted in the deaths of 16 Egyptian officers and soldiers. Egypt has lately identified those responsible for this attack, revealing that it was carried out by 6 foreign nationals and one Egyptian citizen. Egyptian Interior Minister Ahmed Gamal El-Din also revealed that the Egyptian citizen had been a member of a dormant local jihadist cell, but did not reveal the nationalities of the other suspects or say if any of the seven had been detained. For its part, Hamas intensified its campaign of arrests against Salafist Jihadist groups after rockets were fired at the Israeli border town of Sderot, with the Mujahideen Shura Council [MSC] claiming responsibility for this.
Salafist Jihadist official, Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir, informed Asharq Al-Awsat that “Hamas arrested 37 [Salafist Jihadist] members in a short period of time, including 20 arrests over the past 48 hours.”
He added “they are pursuing the jihadists from house to house and street to street.”
Al-Muhajir claimed that the Hamas investigation is focusing on where the Salafist Jihadists are obtaining their arms, as well as the membership and command structure of the MSC. Al-Muhajir warned Hamas against continuing its pursuit of the Salafist Jihadists, claiming that the jihadist elements had taken a decision to resist arrest. He said “we do not want confrontation for confrontations sake, but we will resist arrest by all means necessary.”
Hamas has launched a fierce war against the Salafist Jihadist groups operating out of the Gaza Strip, arresting a number of senior jihadist elements – in coordination with Egyptian authorities – in order to investigate possible links to the recent attack on Egyptian soldiers. A number of Palestinian sheikhs and clerics came out to warn the Palestinian factions against dealing with the Salafists, calling on the Salafist groups to control its elements and cut ties with those who are members of armed jihadist groups.
Salafist Jihadist official, Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir, also told Asharq Al-Awsat that “Hamas’s war on the Salafists is unjustified”. He claimed that “we are standing in the face of [Israeli] occupation” adding “our accurate striking of targets has annoyed Hamas, which wants to stand as the embodiment of all action in the Gaza Strip.” He asserted that “this approach will force the Gaza Strip to do something that will have dire consequences.”
The Salafist Jihadist also stressed “we do not throw stones at Hamas or Egypt or any other party…our battle is solely with the Zionist occupation.”
The Salafist Jihadist movement issued a statement on Tuesday from Gaza accusing Hamas of “carrying out a broad campaign of arrests targeting our ranks in order to prevent the firing of rockets towards the Zionist towns near Gaza with the aim of preserving the security of the occupation that does not hesitate to bombard our people and property and continue its war in the West Bank and Jerusalem.”
The statement accused Hamas of arresting a number of Salafist Jihadist figures, including leader of the Jaish al-Umma Abu Hafs al-Maqdisi, as well as senior figure Abu Suhaib Rashwan. It claimed that Rashwan had been interrogated and tortured by Egyptian security officers.
The statement added “we stress that the continuation of this campaign and the leveling of accusations against Salafist Jihadists elements of being behind different attacks…will ultimately lead to dire consequences.”
For his part, head of the media office of the Ibn Baz Charity Association, Majdi al-Maghribi, said that the Hamas campaign of arrests had not stopped at Salafist Jihadists, claiming that two prominent sheikhs had also been arrested. He claimed that “the internal security apparatus of the Hamas government has summoned Sheikh Omar al-Homs and his deputy Sheikh Hossam al-Jazzar” adding that “this move had sparked the anger and disapproval of Gaza’s Salafists.”

Dr. Mursi at the Arab League
By Emad El Din Adeeb/Asharq Alawsat
Egyptian President Dr. Mohammed Mursi presented himself as an Arab leader in a profound and definitive manner during his opening speech at the conference of Arab foreign ministers, which was held in Cairo on Wednesday afternoon. With an effective performance, and carefully –written, intelligent words, he was able to address the whole Arab world as states first and foremost, then as regimes, in a positive manner that garnered “reassurance and support” for Egypt’s current and future regional role.
Perhaps the most important issue that the President touched upon was the Syrian situation, which he mentioned in the introduction, middle and end of his speech. Perhaps what was most notable was when the Egyptian President improvised away from the text of his speech, and warned: “Don't take the right step at the wrong time... because that would be the wrong step”, in reference to the delays in Arab moves to stop the massacres in Syria. Mursi concluded his speech by saying “Syria is the basis, take any decision and we are with you”. Dr. Mursi also did not fail to reference Yemen, Sudan, Palestine, the Gulf States, Somalia, and Iraq, emphasizing “positive Egyptian rapprochement” towards these countries.
What are the key observations that can be inferred from President Mursi’s speech?
Firstly, Egypt is beginning to emerge from a state of regressing within its own problems and concerns inside its borders, and has begun to play its regional role actively and effectively.
Secondly, the President used a team well researched in Arab affairs to provide him with a good speech which in reality outlined the constitution and principles of Egyptian foreign policy in the Arab world.
Thirdly, the President’s improvised segments means that the man is familiar with all the details of the important Arab issues that he addressed, and that the President is not just someone reading a speech prepared for him, or someone conveying the ideas of his aides.
Fourthly, Cairo, in terms of its Arab policies, has actually moved on from a state of reacting to events - a theme that has dominated Egypt’s Arab policies for many years - to a state of “positive action”, or in other words it has moved from the passenger seat to the driver's seat.
Here we must pause and emphasize that any foreign policy starts fundamentally from a coherent domestic situation within the country, as John Foster Dulles said: “The United States of America does not have friends; it has interests”. This challenge makes all the Egyptian President’s pledges subject to internal political stability in Egypt, the extent of its economic cohesion and the positive rotation of the wheel of development. So that Egypt can actually emerge from its state of internal regression with regards to its Arab environment, it needs strong economic support from its Arab brothers

Syria: The epitome of diplomatic failure
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Alawsat
Anybody contemplating the official positions and statements being issued by the Arab and international world towards the Syrian crisis will no doubt feel the extent of the diplomatic failure. This is particularly the case when we compare what the al-Assad regime forces are doing on the ground in terms of killing and harassment with Russia and China’s position in particular, which are supportive of the tyrant of Damascus. The most prominent example here is the Chinese position that is blocking any UN Security Council efforts in this regard. Although it is true that the Chinese are not providing support to al-Assad that is equivalent to what is being provided by the Russians, China’s position strengthens that of Russia. This represents cover for Moscow, which is being inflexible in order to protect the criminal of Damascus, despite all the crimes that he is committing against the Syrian people. It is understood that the meeting between the US Secretary of State and her Chinese counterpart did not result in any breakthrough regarding the situation in Syria, and this is due to the complexity of Sino – American relations. Indeed some believe that China is standing behind Russia at the UN Security Council simply in order to spurn the Americans and that in the event of Moscow changing its position, Beijing will follow suit. Such talk might have been accepted one year ago; however it does not make any sense that there have been no Arab efforts to discourage China from taking this position at the UN Security Council, particularly in light of what al-Assad is doing today in Syria in terms of disasters.
Therefore, what is strange is that the Arab position is unable to convince China of the necessity of distancing itself from supporting al-Assad, and this is in order to protect its interests in the region as a whole, particularly as Beijing has large interests in the region that far outweigh its interests with the al-Assad regime. Of course, it is not required for China to support a UN resolution against al-Assad, or the arming or funding of the Syrian opposition, rather all that is required is for Beijing to refrain from taking any decision at the UN Security Council, including blocking decisive international positions against al-Assad. What is required today is to persuade China of the necessity of not supporting al-Assad, even if the Russians do not change their stance. What is paramount for the Arab world and, of course, internationally, is to expose the Russian position and ensure that Moscow is standing alone with al-Assad, rather than China being a partner to Russia as this is something that eases the pressure on Moscow as it aids al-Assad to carry out crimes against the Syrian people.
Convincing the Chinese should not be too difficult, particularly as the Chinese Foreign Minister said – following his talks with US Secretary of State Clinton – that his country supports political transition in Syria. This indicates that the Chinese position is not as inflexible as that of the Russians, which is based on religious-sectarian grounds, rather than military or economic grounds, as some have claimed. I also do not believe that the issue is to prevent the US from interfering in internal Russian affairs, otherwise how can we explain US President Obama being one of the first to congratulate President Putin following his recent election victory, whilst we also heard Clinton telling her Chinese counterpart of her pride in “the strength and resilience that we have built into our relationship.”
Therefore, what is required today – particularly from the Arabs – is to send a clear message to the Chinese informing them that there is no justification for prolonging the political trading on the blood of the Syrian people, and that Beijing must stand with the Syrians in order to protect their interests in Syria and the region as a whole. The Arabs must do this themselves, rather than being satisfied with whatever Washington can do for us.