LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
FEBRUARY 27/2006

Below news from the Daily Star for 27/02/06
Sfeir slams political bickering
Turning the world Orange: FPM members set up private company
Lebanon mulls U.S. extradition requests
French release Hariri murder suspect Saddiq
Jordan backs Lebanon's national dialogue
Dust blankets cities from north to south
Quarries activities resume in Chouf, provoking angry outcry
Regional, global support seen for national unity talks
Future Movement denies backing Taamir militants
People urged to sign up for Lahoud's ouster
Iran, Russia ink 'basic' nuclear deal.-AFP 27.2.06
Lebanon can only function under consensual democracy.By Habib C. Malik 27.2.06
National dialogue must work for people, not just for political elite-Daily Star 27.2.06
Too late in history to go back to wars of religion.By: By Kofi Annan 27.2.06
Analysts See Lebanon-ization of Iraq in Crystal Ball. By Borzou Daragahi and Megan K. Stack, Times Staff Writers 27.2.06

Sfeir slams political bickering
By Majdoline Hatoum -Daily Star staff
Monday, February 27, 2006
BEIRUT: As the date of Lebanon's national dialogue approaches, it was uncertain Sunday whether a Cabinet session would be held this week, despite a promise by Premier Fouad Siniora to hold a Cabinet meeting before the date of the dialogue, March 2.Siniora's promise came as Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir chastised the country's politicians, asking them to use a more moderate tone in their "political bickering" over the need to topple the country's president.
The country's tense situation led the prelate to criticize political figures in his Sunday Mass, saying "some are discourteous and harsh and others are irrational and sarcastic." Sfeir stressed the need for politicians to be "rational and calm" when conveying their messages. Indirectly criticizing President Emile Lahoud, who last week accused France and President Jacques Chirac of plotting to oust him and interfering in Lebanon, the prelate said: "we should rather work on strengthening constitutional bodies in the country, but this can occur without insulting each other and without some insulting friendly countries that are trying to help Lebanon emerge from this state."
"But the current situation in Lebanon doesn't show that we are people who are aware and who are able to tackle issues in a serious and wise way," he said. On Saturday, following a visit to the vice president of the Higher Shiite Council Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan, Siniora said everyone in the country knows public institutions should continue their work, "which is why work in Cabinet should continue." "We have to keep in mind the interests of people ... In the next couple of days I will make all the necessary consultations and I am sure a Cabinet session will be held next week before the national dialogue starts," Siniora said. Last week's Cabinet session was canceled because it did not have the necessary quorum, after the March 14 Forces ministers boycotted it for being held at the Baabda Presidential Palace, and declared they would not attend any session in Baabda as long as President Emile Lahoud resides there. Their position stemmed from their fresh campaign to oust Lahoud.
However, the position of the March 14 Forces' ministers was not clear on whether they will boycott another Cabinet session headed by Lahoud, but held someplace other than Baabda.
Contacted by The Daily Star, Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel said he would attend a Cabinet meeting, even if headed by Lahoud, as long as it is not in Baabda. "The Cabinet's work should go on, we don't want to paralyze public institutions," he said, and added the reason they refused to go to Baabda was "moral." "It represents our refusal to go to Baabda Palace as long as it is unconstitutionally occupied by Lahoud," he said. However, acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat said a decision had not been taken yet over whether to attend a session headed by Lahoud or not. "We will discuss this issue this week," he told The Daily Star. The momentum to oust Lahoud has been growing recently, with March 14 Forces initiating several petitions asking Lahoud to step down, and waving the option of resorting to public demonstrations in the face of Lahoud to force him to resign. Their threats, however, had been faced by a staunch opposition from Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, who advised Lahoud to remain in power.
Aoun, who recently struck a political alliance with Hizbullah, warned the anti-Syrian forces of resorting to the street. "If they think they can topple Lahoud by sending public protests to Baabda Presidential Palace, they should know that we can send protests to the Grand Serail," Aoun said, in a hint that the pro-Syrian forces in the country could push the premier to resignation. Meanwhile, Al-Hayat newspaper reported Sunday that leaders of the anti-Syria coalition are trying to work out a deal with the main Shiite parties to agree on removing Lahoud from office in return for leaving the issue of Hizbullah's disarmament to dialogue. According to the newspaper, Hariri would take charge of convincing Hizbullah and Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal Movement to approve a formula that would secure an end to Lahoud's term. But talking to The Daily Star, Hizbullah MP Mohammad Raad denied the party was approached with such an offer, stressing at the same time that the idea was not "tolerable."
"The issue of maintaining the resistance's arms is not about to be traded with other demands by anyone," Raad said. "They either believe keeping Hizbullah's arms is a necessity to protect Lebanon, or they think we should disarm, and they have to explain why and then we will talk about it," he added. "But we will not accept such formulas."Raad also said that discussing the issue of toppling Lahoud does not concern Hizbullah at the moment. "We have other priorities, namely the issue of UN Resolution 1559, and we will discuss this during next week's national dialogue," he said.
The country's national dialogue, sponsored by Berri, is expected to begin next Thursday. Berri has already sent a delegation from his Amal Movement to invite political leaders to take part in the dialogue, which is expected to discuss three main issues, UN Resolution 1559, investigations in the murder of former Premier Rafik Hariri and Syrian-Lebanese relations.
The dialogue was also welcomed by UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen, who told Berri that he supported the national dialogue as a way to accomplish the disbanding of Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias in accordance with the 2004 UN resolution.  According to the UN Web site, Larsen, who is Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy for the implementation of Resolution 1559, talked to Berri Thursday over the phone, and conveyed Annan's views in that regard.

National dialogue must work for people, not just for political elite
Monday, February 27, 2006-
With less than one week to go before Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri convenes Lebanon's national dialogue, the coming days ought to be a time for Lebanese politicians to seriously contemplate the future of their country. The leaders of Lebanon's political parties will convene on March 2 in the legislature, away from the streets and their people, to make decisions about the course of the country's future. But if the participants in the dialogue do not keep the people's interests in mind, the dialogue is likely to result in a recycled version of the status quo.
In theory the leaders are to remain locked in the Parliament building until they are able to hammer out a consensus on thorny issues. This idea is a version of an age-old theme, that there can be "no victor and no vanquished" in Lebanon, a formula has been applied many times since the 1958 Civil War. This prescription has become a way for warring political leaders to kiss and make up by sweeping all of their differences - and the nation's problems - under the carpet, leaving most of the political order intact. But this game does not come without its winners and losers. The victor has consistently been the political elite at the expense of the vanquished citizens.
The Bush administration and others have heralded the rebirth of democracy in Lebanon. But for all the hopes and dreams of the Lebanese people as expressed in their popular uprising on March 14, 2005, none of their leaders has shown a genuine effort to advance the conduct of politics toward participatory democracy. Elections to replace MPs in Beirut and Baabda-Aley were bypassed through a consensus of leaders, eager to maintain the political order. Sectarianism, though most of the public considers it to have long outlived its sell-by date, is more entrenched than ever.
Both camps, the March 14 forces and their political opponents, would do well to acknowledge that they are nothing without the support of the people. When leaders convene at the national dialogue, the loser ought to be a political system that the people have rejected and the winner a new style of government and leadership. The Lebanese cannot continue to accept the degrading style of politics in Lebanon. The citizens expect better, and will continue to demand better, until they get it.

Lebanon mulls U.S. extradition requests
America wants five lebanese handed over
By Rym Ghazal -Daily Star staff-Monday, February 27, 2006
BEIRUT: Up until now, the Lebanese government has refused the United States persistent requests to hand over five Lebanese citizens accused of crimes against Americans, but the refusal is "not final," with the request currently under study by Lebanese officials."The issue is still being studied," said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson to The Daily Star in reference to the latest request by a U.S. official to extradite five wanted Lebanese citizens, accused of attacks against Americans, to be tried in the U.S. "We have no official final comment at this point," said the spokesperson.
Imad Mugniyah, Hassan Izzeddine, Ali Atwa, Mohammad Ali Hammadi and Corporal Wassef Hassoun were the five Lebanese citizens mentioned by the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to Lebanon last week, reiterating the U.S. government's ongoing demand to detain those suspected in the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847.
A spokesperson from Premier Fouad Siniora's office said: "Three of those wanted by the U.S. have been pardoned under the General Amnesty Law, and one of them has already served his sentence. So it is not clear why the issue is still being raised."
The General Amnesty Law of 1991 granted an amnesty for Mugniyah, Izzeddine and Atwa, as all crimes committed by militias and armed groups during the 15-year Civil War, which ended in 1990, were pardoned.
But nonetheless, the three men remain on the "Most Wanted Terrorists" list issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, indicted in the U.S. for their role and participation in the June 14, 1985 hijacking of a commercial airliner (TWA) which resulted in an assault on various passengers and crew members, and the murder of a U.S. Navy diver.
Other press reports also suggested they were suspected of taking part in a 1983 attack on the U.S. Marines headquarters in Beirut where more than 100 U.S. soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing.
As for Hammadi, who was the catalyst for the re-launched U.S. extradition calls, he returned to Lebanon in December after serving 19 years in a German jail. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a German court in 1987 for his role in the hijacking of the TWA airliner and the murder of U.S. Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem in Beirut.
At the time, the Lebanese government criticized the U.S. demand that Lebanon hand Hammadi over, with the Premier Siniora stating: "He served his sentence in Germany and there are measures that will be completed in Lebanon ... Why are they asking us now?" The fifth wanted Lebanese is Hassoun, a U.S. Marine who was reportedly abducted in Iraq in June 2004 and later turned up in Lebanon. Following a five-month investigation into his disappearance from a U.S. military camp near Fallujah, Hassoun was accused by the U.S. of taking unauthorized leave from the unit where he served as an Arabic interpreter.
It is not clear why Lebanon has refused to hand him over.There remains no official extradition treaty between Beirut and Washington.

'Too late in history to go back to wars of religion'
By Kofi Annan
Monday, February 27, 2006
The following speech was delivered on Sunday by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at the opening session of the second meeting of the High Level Group for the Alliance of Civilizations
Ladies and Gentlemen
When we set up the Alliance of Civilizations last year, we said that it was "intended to respond to the need for a committed effort by the international community - both at the institutional and civil society levels - to bridge divides and overcome prejudices, misconceptions and polarization." We should all be grateful to the Prime Ministers of Spain and Turkey for being prescient in anticipating a vital issue in today's world.
We also said that the Alliance would "aim to address emerging threats emanating from hostile perceptions that foment violence"; and we specifically mentioned "the sense of a widening gap and lack of mutual understanding between Islamic and Western societies." The passions aroused by the recent publication of insulting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, and the reaction to it, show only too clearly that such threats are real, and that the need for a committed effort by the international community is acute. Of course, the Alliance was not launched to deal with immediate crises like this. But the intensity of feeling that we have witnessed in the last few weeks comes from a deep reservoir of mistrust and resentment, which was there long before the offensive cartoons were first printed. In fact, this present crisis can be considered an expression of a much deeper and longer-standing crisis, which is precisely the one that the Alliance was intended to address.
At the heart of this crisis is a trend toward extremism in many societies. We should beware of overemphasizing it, because extremism in one group is almost always fed by the perception of extremism in another group. Few people think of themselves as extremists, but many can be pushed toward an extreme point of view, almost without noticing it, when they feel that the behavior or language of others is extreme.
So let us always remember that those who shout loudest, or act in the most provocative ways, are not necessarily typical of the group on whose behalf they claim to speak. I think one can safely say that most non-Muslims in Western societies have no desire to offend the Muslim community, and that most Muslims, even when offended, do not believe that violence or destruction is the right way to act.
Let us also remember that neither "Islamic" nor "Western" societies are homogeneous or monolithic. In fact, there is a great deal of overlap between the two. In past centuries one could speak of clearly distinct Islamic and Western (or Christian) civilizations, but many modern societies embody the heritage of both those civilizations, and many individuals today see no contradiction between their Muslim religion and their membership in Western societies.
In truth, the present conflicts and misunderstandings probably have more to do with proximity than distance. The offensive caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad were first published in a European country which has recently acquired a significant Muslim population and is not yet sure how to adjust to it. And some of the strongest reactions - perhaps especially the more violent ones - have been seen in Muslim countries where many people feel themselves the victims of excessive Western influence or interference. Whether or not those who published the caricatures were deliberately seeking to provoke, there is no doubt that some of the violent reactions have encouraged extremist groups within European societies, whose agenda is to demonize Muslim immigrants, or even expel them.
Similarly, the republication of the cartoons, and the support for them voiced by some leaders in Europe, have strengthened those in the Muslim world who see Europe, or the West as a whole, as irredeemably hostile to Islam, and encourage Muslims always to see themselves as victims. So misperception feeds extremism, and extremism appears to validate misperception. This is the vicious circle we have to break. That, as I see it, is the purpose of the Alliance.
It is important that we all realize that the problem is not with the faith but with a small group of the faithful - the extremists who tend to abuse and misinterpret the faith to support their cause, whether they derive it from the Koran, the Torah or the Gospel. We must not allow these extreme views to overshadow those of the majority and the mainstream. We must appeal to the majority to speak up and denounce those who disrespect values and principles of solidarity that are present in all great religions. If they fail to do so, the essential dialogue between cultures and societies will be reduced to an angry exchange between the fringes, with each side assuming that extremists speak for the other side as a whole and - in turn - allowing its own extremists to frame its response.
Yesterday [Saturday] we had a meeting from concerned international organizations - the Organization of Islamic Conference, the League of Arab States, as well as the United Nations - and the foreign ministers of some concerned countries - Spain, Turkey, and our hosts here in Qatar. We all agreed that everyone is entitled to freedom of worship and freedom of opinion and expression, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But we also agreed that these rights carry with them an inherent responsibility, and should not be used to degrade, humiliate or insult any group or individual. On the contrary, we should all exercise great sensitivity when dealing with symbols and traditions that are sacred to other people.
We also agreed on the need for dialogue on these issues between people of different beliefs or traditions, and on the need to work together to overcome intolerance and exclusivism.
But we also realized that that is much easier said than done. We had to ask ourselves an uncomfortable question: how effective are the voices of moderation and reconciliation, when it comes to countering the narratives of hatred and mistrust?
The sad truth is that these narratives, however deceptive, can be very compelling. Incidents like a caricature of the Prophet, or a death threat to the artist who drew it, make far more impact on the popular imagination than pious statements issued by foreign ministers and secretaries-general.
And this is where we look to you, the High Level Group, for help. Lofty ideas alone are not enough. We need to develop a language that will carry them. We need to develop sobering but equally compelling counter-narratives of our own. We need to engage in dialogue not only scholars, or diplomats or politicians, but also artists, entertainers, sports champions - people who command respect and attention right across society, and especially among young people, because it is important to reach young people before their ideas have fully crystallized.
I very much hope that you can come up with specific, concrete suggestions for ways of carrying this dialogue forward so that it can easily catch the popular imagination; so that we are not just a nice group of people agreeing with each other, but people with a message that can echo round the world. That message must say that free speech involves listening as well as talking. It must tell people of all faiths that it is too late in our common history to go back to wars of religion, and urge them to ask themselves whether they want their children to grow up in a world of hate. It must say - but in better, more compelling language than I can find - that diversity is a precious asset, not a threat. It must be a divine message - heard not in the earthquake, nor in the fire, nor yet in the rushing mighty wind, but in the still, small voice of calm.

French release Hariri murder suspect Saddiq
By Leila Hatoum -Daily Star staff
Monday, February 27, 2006
BEIRUT: The issue of the fate of Zuheir Mohammed Siddiq, the main Syrian witness-turned-suspect in the assassination case of former Premier Rafik Hariri, resurfaced during the weekend as a French court decided to release him.
Siddiq is one of the main witnesses on whom Detlev Mehlis, the former head of the UN probe investigating Hariri's assassination, relied for his report. Siddiq's status was later altered from witness to suspect by the UN probe, with Damascus using the incident to discredit Mehlis' work. Despite having lied under oath to an international investigation commission in one of the decade's most notable crimes, Siddiq was released by the French judiciary after having served five months in prison.
MP Butros Harb, a prominent member of the March 14 Forces and a lawyer, told The Daily Star Sunday that the description of the crime "varies from one country to another, and French law considers lying under oath an offence not a felony," requiring a lesser sentence. According to Lebanese judicial sources, the French court had refused Friday a motion by the Lebanese authorities to extradite Siddiq to Lebanon. The court based its decision on the fact that Lebanon applies the death penalty, which is illegal in France and sometimes is cited to prevent extradition.
The sources added that the French authorities had asked Lebanese Justice Minister Charles Rizk to supply them with a pledge not to apply the death penalty against Siddiq, but that Rizk refused because "the principle of separation of powers" means that the ministry must enforce laws passed by Parliament. Lebanese State Prosecutor Saeid Mirza had formally sent a request last October to the French authorities to retrieve Siddiq, reasoning that the crime happened in Lebanon and Siddiq took part in it.
Despite the presence of an international arrest warrant against Siddiq, Harb said: "The Interpol cannot apprehend Siddiq as long as he is in France. The French authorities have to hand him over, and if it doesn't happen then the Interpol cannot arrest him. They have to wait for him to leave France to arrest him."
The same judicial sources told The Daily Star that when Lebanese Magistrate Jocelyn Tabet went to France "with a group of investigators from the UN probe, to meet with and interrogate Siddiq, they were banned from doing so because Siddiq's two lawyers refused this meeting."
Meanwhile, Mohammad Abdullah Al-Romaihi, the assistant of Qatar's foreign minister, arrived in Damascus on Sunday to discuss Syria's prospective cooperation with the UN-led investigations. Qatar is currently a non-permanent member at the UN Security Council. The UN Security Council has demanded, in several decisions, that Syria "extend full cooperation" to the UN-led investigations into Hariri's assassination. - With agencies

Jordan backs Lebanon's national dialogue
By Karine Raad -Daily Star staff
Monday, February 27, 2006
BEIRUT: Jordan's King Abdullah II expressed full support for the Lebanese national dialogue, which Speaker Nabih Berri has called to start on March 2 in Parliament. Lebanon's speaker was warmly welcomed in Jordan by King Abdullah and Jordan's Speaker of the House Abdel-Hadi al-Majali to chair the 12th conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union Council.
Following a meeting at the Al-Homr Palace, Berri said he informed Jordan's king about his initiative and both parties agreed to maintain contacts. Speaking during the inauguration ceremony of the council's 47th session, Berri urged the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union Council to focus mainly in its coming session on supporting the Lebanese dialogue to overcome all challenges. The dialogue is to address the issues of former Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination, fully implementing Security Council Resolution 1559, and mending Lebanese-Syrian ties. Berri expressed his hope that consultations within this forum would contribute in promoting Arab solidarity, unifying the discourse of the Arab countries and activating the council's role in all fields.
Berri, who currently chairs the council's 47th session, called for an Arab parliamentary campaign that would tackle the issue of the 9,300 Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian detainees and the 15 members in the new Palestinian legislative council who were are currently detained in Israeli jails. But Berri did not mention the detainees allegedly held in Syrian jails.
Berri proposed preparing a unified paper about the Palestinian reality under Israeli occupation and presenting it to the council and conference of the Federation of Parliaments of the Organization of the Islamic Conference scheduled for April in Istanbul and to the Conference for the Support of the Palestinian Cause expected to be held in Tehran.
Berri stressed that despite the numerous sessions held so far, participants never dared to set a mechanism to follow up on the recommendations. He called for forming a follow-up committee, launching a joint campaign with the Arab League secretary general and Arab parliamentary and governmental parties interested in forming a joint Arab market, and finalizing an agenda for the project of joint Arab work, especially in the issue of economic unity. Jordan's Parliament speaker, Majali, said this session is being held under regional and international circumstances which are now more complicated than ever.
Majdali said that the endeavor to establish peace, security and stability in the Arab region will not be successful unless a peaceful, fair and comprehensive solution is found for the Palestinian cause based on the international resolutions.
He stressed that problems and tension in the region are "the natural result of the Israeli occupation to Palestinian, Lebanese and Arab territories."
The official added that he hoped that Sudan would reach full stability and that the United Arab Emirates would find a fair solution to the controversy over their islands according to the neutral international arbitration principle.
Majdali denounced the publication of offensive cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad "under the alibi of freedom of opinion," saying Muslims should unite to stop such an act from being committed again under any pretext.

Dust blankets cities from north to south
By Maher Zeineddine -Daily Star correspondent
Monday, February 27, 2006
SIDON: Dust storms engulfed most parts of Lebanon over the weekend, creating damage to the environment and affecting people who suffer from breathing difficulties. Fog covered Sidon and neighboring areas as a result of the sand storm. Things got worse when a garbage dump caught fire and black smoke filled the air. Municipality workers and the fire department worked for over 22 hours to put out the fire, which broke out in a seaside dump.
Winds blowing from the west carried the black smoke all over Sidon and neighboring cities. Hospitals complained about the smoke, and the corniche, which typically is bustling with joggers, was empty not long after the dust reached the area.
Sidon's mayor, Abdel-Rahman Bizri, said "the fire in the dump was the result of an interaction between methane gas and hot air."Bizri promised citizens that such an incident will not occur again because work for managing the dump will start soon.
More than 15 months have passed since Sidon's municipality signed an agreement with the Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Humanitarian Foundation to get rid of the mountain of waste, toward which the foundation donated $5 million. The municipality had promised its citizens that work would start six months after the agreement was signed, but still nothing has happened. The dump, which the municipality has now closed in favor of another facility nearby, has caught fire on more than one previous occasion. Meanwhile, many coastal towns and villages in north Lebanon were covered in dust Monday, and visibility on main roads was low. Drivers had to turn their headlights on during the day in order to see the road and to be visible to other traffic.
The dust has affected many people in Lebanon, especially those who suffer from asthma and breathing difficulties. Several hospitals in Akkar reported an influx of patients who are allergic to the dust and who suffered breathing difficulties.
Meanwhile, sand covered most crops. Farmers said that the dust waves often carry plant diseases that can't be deterred unless it rains or crops are sprayed with water. According to a weather report released on Sunday by the Civil Aviation Meteorological Department "the weather will be mostly cloudy with dust blowing from the east till later in the day." The report added that visibility will gradually improve while the temperature will plunge. Light showers are expected to fall over Lebanon, and winds will blow at a speed ranging between five and 15 kilometers per hour. Average temperatures are expected to vary between 14 and 22 degrees Celsius on the coast, between nine and 18 degrees Celsius in the mountains and between one and 10 degrees in the in the Cedars.

Quarries activities resume in Chouf, provoking angry outcry
By Maher Zeineddine -Daily Star correspondent
Monday, February 27, 2006
CHOUF: After the Cabinet's decision in its last session to extend the deadline for the closure of rock and sand quarries, some quarries resumed their activities in more than one area. And some investors in the sector succeeded in winning an administrative deadline to resume work in a former quarry in the Aley area of Azzounieh.
The step stirred the anger of residents there because the sand quarries in the area caused severe erosion three years ago. This led to flooding of agricultural land in the Sharoun Valley, causing heavy losses to farmers.
In a bid to counter the activities, the Nature Without Borders Association toured the area to expose the dangers threatening the neighboring villages. The association president Mahmoud al-Ahmadieh held a news conference to discuss Cabinet's decision and the impact of quarry activities on the environment in Azzounieh.
Ahmadieh said: "It is well known that it is much better when the quarries are located in public areas that do not harm the environment."Ahmadieh said Azzounieh suffered when quarry activities destroyed nature.
Ahmadieh insisted that although the presidential battle is important, the battle for the environment is also urgent.
He cautioned against desertification and urged the immediate action of authorities, before it is too late.

Regional, global support seen for national unity talks
By Adnan El-Ghoul -Daily Star staff
Monday, February 27, 2006
BEIRUT: The Arab initiative is gaining momentum parallel to next Thursday's conference for national dialogue, which seems to have received international, regional and local support, particularly after the endorsement of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to Beirut last week. Observers say Rice had actually "encouraged calm and pacification," contrary to claims by Hizbullah officials, who attacked Rice and Premier Fouad Siniora on the presumption that the U.S. Secretary of State had incited some Lebanese politicians to escalate their political campaigning.
The pro-Amal and pro-Hizbullah Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, who was present during Rice's meeting with Siniora, said: "The visit brought good to Lebanon."During her meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri, Rice supported his initiative to hold a round-table conference for national dialogue.
In addition to securing an Arab consensus to remove Lahoud, observers say, Rice has also showed sympathetic understanding with Arab leaders' wish to preserve stability while tackling the U.S. dispute with Syria, and to use Constitutional and peaceful means in removing Lahoud and naming his replacement. Many Christian figures criticized Rice for neglecting to include a Christian figure in her meeting with Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblatt. However, observers believe her meeting with the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir was to send a message that naming the new president was a Lebanese internal issue, which the appropriate political leaders should decide between them.
U.S. Ambassador Jeffery Feltman informed Samir Geagea of the main points discussed with Rice, advising him to "help ease the escalating political tension and participate in the dialogue," according to As-Safir daily. As a first positive indication to this conciliation trend, the Saudi Ambassador Abdel-Aziz Khoja and the Egyptian Ambassador Hussein Darrar visited Jumblatt in his residence in Mukhtara on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said: "Jumblatt was never against Arab initiatives, particularly from Saudi Arabia, with which we keep very good ties and friendship." He added that Khoja held "positive discussions" with Jumblatt over all pressing issues on regional and national levels.
Following the meeting with Khoja, Aridi confirmed the Democratic Gathering bloc is going to participate in the national dialogue, claiming Jumblatt did not oppose the dialogue but rather described the climate that should surround the conference.
Earlier in the week, Jumblatt had insisted on meeting certain preconditions, which were, according to critics, "easier said than done under the circumstances." Sudanese envoy Mustafa Othman Ismael, who visited Lebanon and met with state officials and several key political leaders on the weekend, said that the Sudanese efforts to repair relations between Syria and Lebanon are still going on and that he hoped to remove any obstacles in the face of these efforts.
In a press conference on Saturday, Ismael explained how he passed Sudan's initiative to the Arab League Chief Amr Mousa and how the latter was confronted with harsh criticism that angered Saudi and Egyptian officials, forcing them to hold up their efforts and wait for more favorable circumstances. Ismael asserted the national dialogue will not replace the Arab initiative.

Future Movement denies backing Taamir militants
By Mohammed Zaatari -Daily Star staff
Monday, February 27, 2006
SIDON: The Future Movement denied the accusations made by the president of the Popular Nasserite Organization (PNO) MP Osama Saad when he accused it of supporting the armed groups in Taamir, the area outside the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Sidon. On Friday, Saad held a news conference, on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the assassination of his father Maarouf Saad, and accused MP Bahia Hariri and the Future Movement of protecting the armed groups in Taamir.
There have been several security clashes in Taamir over the past seven months with the latest occurring last week when clashes almost broke out between the Lebanese Army and the Jund al-Sham militia.
The Future Movement, one of the leading groups forming the March 14 Forces, denied the accusations in a statement released Saturday saying "the Future Movement has never supported illegal weapons and will never do in the future no matter what the circumstances are." The statement described Saad's accusations as "fabricated, void, and untrue."The movement expressed surprise at how Saad could make such accusations after all the efforts that have been deployed to restore calm in Sidon.
The movement asked Saad to re-examine his claims. Meanwhile on Sunday following a march organized by the Popular Nasserite Organization to mark the 31st anniversary of Maarouf Saad's assassination, his son reiterated that "the armed groups in Taamir are supported by forces represented in the government." Saad slammed recent political discourse saying Lebanese politicians "are increasing tension in the country."
He said he feared that after the "Cedar Revolution" (on March 14) "politicians will drag the country into the unknown."
He stressed that Lebanon's current issues should be solved in Lebanon by Lebanese people and not in Western countries such as the U.S. and France. Saad asked the parliamentary majority "to take responsibility and tackle the crisis by making their own decisions and not have decisions taken for them by America or France."He also called upon the majority to adhere to the initiative launched by the Free Patriotic Movement and Hizbullah (in early February) that led to a joint "understanding pact."
During the march, representatives from various Lebanese parties, Palestinian factions and civil organizations carried Maarouf Saad's pictures and walked toward Star Square in Sidon where Maarouf was shot on February 26 1975.
Those gathered shouted slogans against Samir Geagea, the head of the executive committee of the Lebanese Forces, calling for him "to get out of Lebanon" because of a speech he gave on February 14, when Lebanon commemorated the passing of one year since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Geagea had said "the sea is in front of us and the enemy is behind us" by which he meant the Syrian regime is Lebanon's enemy. He was later accused of trying to wage a war against Syria.

People urged to sign up for Lahoud's ouster
March 14 forces launch popular campaign at sassine square
By Raed El Rafei -Daily Star staff
Monday, February 27, 2006
BEIRUT: The March 14 forces continued their campaign to oust President Emile Lahoud by launching a public petition calling on the president to step down at Sassine square in Achrafieh on Sunday, with a plan to launch similar petitions across various areas, schools and universities. "We rely on this petition since the people are the source of all powers in democracies and because the extension of [Lahoud's] term was done against the will of the people," said the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Michel Pharaon, who launched the campaign in Achrafieh. Points to sign the petition will be established in various parts of Achrafieh this week, especially in spots which were the targets of bombs in the past year.
Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade said that the president should respond to the calls of the Lebanese for him to resign. "Stand firm because Lahoud will leave the presidential Palace in Baabda and a new president, who the Lebanese will be proud of, will replace him," Hamade said. MP Mosbah Ahdab said that the March 14 forces were continuing their "popular and parliamentary movement and all other means" to oust Lahoud.
On Sunday, after signing a similar petition in his house in Qoreitem, Future Movement bloc leader MP Saad Hariri accused Lahoud of "laying obstacles before the proper functioning of the state. Hariri said that would allow for a total change to take place in Lebanon. He said that change in the position of the president was important to "strengthen the partnership [among all Lebanese groups] and reinforce the Taif Accord."
Earlier Saturday, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea signed the petition, saying that "the presidency issue was not subject to dialogue." Geagea said despite "threats and talks about coups and unconstitutional methods, we are carrying on with our campaign until the end."Future Movement youth representative Nader Nakib told The Daily Star that people were very eager to sign the petition, adding: "The target of gathering one and a half million signatures will not be difficult to achieve even before March 14."Starting Monday, the petition will be available all over Lebanon including all universities, Nakib said.
On Friday, a new petition calling on Lahoud to step down was put out for the public to sign at Martyrs' square. Prepared by March 14 forces, the petition will circulate in all Lebanon and will eventually be raised to the United Nations as "a proof of the Lebanese public opinion's rejection of Lahoud."
As for the second parliamentary petition stipulating the presidency was vacant because the extension of Lahoud's term was voted for under threats, March 14 MP Butros Harb, told The Daily Star that current members of the parliamentary majority were in the process of signing it. He said he was certain 71 MPs will approve of the petition adding that the next step will be addressing the petition with the other parliamentary forces.
Shiite MPs as well as MPs from Michel Aoun's bloc have so far refused the methods carried by March 14 forces to oust Lahoud. Harb said that it was not necessary to have more than two thirds of the MPs signing the petition, adding that it was mainly "a tool of political interest with a legal background" to have Lahoud step down. A first petition signed by former and current MPs saying that they were forced to vote for a change in the Constitution allowing for an extension of Lahoud's term was submitted to the UN last week. Speaking at a conference in Zahle on Sunday, Change and Reform bloc MP Salim Aoun criticized the parliamentary petition. Aoun said there should instead be a petition calling on MPs who agreed to the extension to resign, adding that "since they succumbed to threats in the past ... they did not deserve people's trust."
In an interview with the NBN television station on Friday, Aoun said that even if Lahoud resigns from his post, he does not expect Parliament to be able to gather the necessary quorum required by the Constitution to hold presidential elections.
Aoun said that unless there were previous agreement on the identity of Lahoud's successor, he did not believe two thirds of Parliament's 128 deputies would attend the voting session. - with Naharnet

Iran, Russia ink 'basic' nuclear deal
pact seems not to rule out home-grown enrichment on tehran's part
By Agence France Presse (AFP) -Monday, February 27, 2006
BUSHEHR, Iran: Iran has reached a "basic" agreement with Russia on jointly enriching uranium, officials said on Sunday - but there was no immediate sign that it would suspend home-grown enrichment to allay fears that it is developing nuclear weapons.
It was unclear what this basic agreement involved and both Russian and Iranian officials identified serious obstacles to a full deal. These principally concerned a suspension of Tehran's home-grown uranium enrichment work, the main demand of Western powers who are threatening to press for UN sanctions. The original Russian proposal had been for Iran's uranium to be enriched in Russia to defuse suspicions that Iran might divert some nuclear fuel into a weapons program.
However, Iran has always insisted upon its right to enrich the uranium it mines in its central desert on its own soil, and it was unclear how the original Russian proposal could be tailored to please Tehran.
"Regarding this joint venture, we have reached a basic agreement. Talks to complete this package will continue in coming days in Russia," Iranian nuclear chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh told reporters in the Iranian port town of Bushehr.
But Sergei Kiriyenko, head of Russia's atomic energy agency, speaking at a news conference with Aghazadeh, said Iran still had to take "serious steps" before the deal could be completed.
He did not specify what these would be, but an unnamed Russian official in Bushehr told Interfax news agency that the deal could only go ahead if Iran suspended its own uranium enrichment - something it has repeatedly refused to do.
Aghazadeh also stipulated that Iran would be setting an unspecified "precondition" to the deal.
One EU diplomat said this precondition was almost certain to be Tehran insisting upon its right to enrich its own uranium.
"Their idea of accepting the Russian proposal is to be able to enrich in Russia and Iran, not just Russia," he said on condition of anonymity. Europe and Washington have said they could not accept such a compromise.
Iran has already been reported to the UN Security Council - which has the power to impose sanctions - after failing to convince the world that its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful. Tehran flatly denies trying to develop nuclear arms.
Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign relations committee in Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, said the chances of an agreement were about 50-50. "(Tehran) is now using the tactic of dragging out talks as long as possible. I do not think we can expect Iran to clarify its position any time soon. I would rather suggest that this will not happen before March 6," he told Interfax. March 6 is the date when the board of the United Nations' watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), meets to discuss the IAEA's latest report on Iran's nuclear program.
The report may determine whether the United States and European powers pressure the Security Council to impose sanctions.
Diplomats said the talk of an agreement could be an attempt to soften the IAEA report. Kiriyenko said the issue could still be solved without Security Council referral. "There are solutions to resolve Iran's issue within the framework of the IAEA," he said in Bushehr, where Iran is building its first nuclear power station with Russian help.
Aghazadeh said Iran would formally invite tenders in a month for contracts to build two further 1,000-megawatt power stations in Bushehr, and that Russian applications would be welcome. Meanwhile, the launch of Iran's first nuclear power station, being built near the southern city of Bushehr with Russian help, has been delayed again, an Iranian official said Sunday.
The head of Iran's nuclear power station development program said "the start-up will be delayed a bit" - but did not give any new date for the scheduled firing up of the facility. - Reuters, AFP

Lebanon can only function under consensual democracy
By Habib C. Malik -Monday, February 27, 2006
By now the obvious must have sunk in: introducing democracy successfully to a region with hardly any previous experience of it has of necessity to be a slow process - often exceedingly so.
Nearly three years after the invasion of Iraq and several milestones later, including elections and a Constitution, that country has barely begun to make headway on the road toward anything resembling liberal democracy. Egypt's legislative elections late last year brought President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party back to power, but they also resulted in a strong showing for the Muslim Brotherhood - a fact that caused some with memories of Algeria to wonder skeptically about extremist forces attaining power through the ballot box. With the stunning Hamas win in recent Palestinian elections, these same doubters began to question openly President George W. Bush's policy of democratization in the Arab world.
Prior to these developments, and due mainly to post-September 11, 2001, pressures, there had commenced some democratic tinkering in a number of Arab states: Morocco demonstrated political pluralism by electing a variety of parties to its Parliament; Bahrain, Oman and Qatar took bold steps in the direction of broader popular representation; Yemen forged ahead not only with an elected multiparty legislature but with directly elected municipal officials, as did Saudi Arabia, also on the municipal level; and Kuwait's National Assembly was directly elected as well, with the strong possibility that it will include women the next time round.
If the formal side of democracy (elections, campaigns, voting and legislative assemblies) is the deciding criterion, then democratization of the region can be said to be under way in earnest. If, however, democracy's substance (human rights, individual and group freedoms, openness, mutual acceptance, a free opposition, transparency, accountability and the rule of law) is the true measure, then the Arab world, with its beleaguered liberals caught between cunning authoritarian rulers and determined Islamist extremists, still has a very long way to go, and plenty of anticipated setbacks on the horizon.
Well, what then about Lebanon? After all, this is a land that before 1975 enjoyed a robust track record of freedoms, something unprecedented in the Arab east. At no point in its history was Lebanon an authoritarian state. Its composite society devised a homegrown version of consociational democracy in which the basic political unit was the religious community or denomination - 18 of which are still officially recognized by the Lebanese Constitution - and where the approach, patterned on the French parliamentary system, was one of forging political consensus among the leading communities within the Lebanese kaleidoscope.
Granted this was not Jeffersonian or Westminster democracy, but that would be the wrong measure, since the proper context for any comparison ought to be Lebanon's Arab surroundings. Within that Arab context, Lebanon stood out as possessing the freest and most vibrant civil society, the freest media, an array of political parties and groupings with varying platforms and wide mass appeal, a prosperous free-enterprise economy featuring laissez-faire commerce and a strong private banking sector, and advanced private educational and medical institutions.
There were high expectations back in the early months of 2005 regarding Lebanon's ability to reclaim its battered democracy after three decades of turmoil and foreign occupation. The country came together on March 14, 2005, in an unprecedented mass spectacle of unity and resolve to see Lebanon freed of Syrian hegemony. Syrian troops departed in April and parliamentary elections subsequently took place, eventually producing a government that continues to enjoy considerable international backing. So, where is Lebanon's Cedar Revolution one year later?
Regrettably, much of the goodwill that existed in early 2005 among the Lebanese toward the legacy of the slain Rafik Hariri has been steadily dissipating, squandered mainly by the custodians of his Future Movement. They have displayed stubborn heavy-handedness and intransigence while monopolizing, in the name of a dubious majority, political decisions that have purposely excluded significant portions of Lebanon's diverse constituencies. Laying all the blame for Lebanon's ills at the doors of the presidential palace, where a Syrian-appointed incumbent still lingers, is a poor way of obfuscating the fact that Hariri's heirs believe and act as if political entitlement and the ownership of the wheels of state are their undisputed birthright alone.
Today, there is an emerging consensus in Lebanon that rejects the replacement of Syrian domination with imposed and exclusivist politics aiming to marginalize everyone except those with "blue blood" under the pretext of "uncovering the truth about Hariri's murder."
Lebanon functions best under consensual democracy; thankfully, the country is roughly balanced among Sunnis, Shiites and Christians, with each constituting close to a demographic third. Getting Damascus safely out of Beirut requires sincere factional cooperation as a prelude to national unity, along with sustained international support. Lebanon matters, because President George W. Bush's deeply cherished desire to spread democracy in the Arab world can score its quickest and most qualitative success only there - after which the floodgates may open.
**Habib C. Malik teaches history and cultural studies at the Lebanese American University, Byblos campus. This commentary first appeared at bitterlemons-international.org, an online newsletter.

Analysts See Lebanon-ization of Iraq in Crystal Ball
By Borzou Daragahi and Megan K. Stack, Times Staff Writers
February 26 2006
BAGHDAD — Gunmen hold sway over streets lined with concrete bomb-blast barriers and razor wire. Entire neighborhoods are too dangerous for police to enter.
The government, holed up in a fortress behind layers of checkpoints, huddles in emergency meetings and issues proclamations that draw little attention on the streets or in foreign capitals.
And this may be the best that Iraqis and Americans can hope for.
The surge of sectarian fighting after a Shiite Muslim shrine was bombed last week has dealt a hard blow to hopes for creating a functioning Iraqi state.
Instead of laboring to create a well-run economy or a democracy, Iraqi and American resources are being diverted to stave off a civil war between Shiites and Sunnis, who are suspected in the bombing. And the formation of a new government appears likely to devolve into a series of capitulations to the various constituencies that have the power to plunge the nation, and the region, into chaos, officials and experts say.
"We are dedicating all our time to ward off what might be dire consequences," said Hussein Ali Kamal, the Interior minister's intelligence chief. "If the crimes and attacks increase, I do not think anyone in this country will survive."
The outlines of a future Iraq are emerging: a nation where power is scattered among clerics turned warlords; control over schools, hospitals, railroads and roads is divided along sectarian lines; graft and corruption subvert good governance; and foreign powers exert influence only over a weak central government.
The bleak prospects have serious implications for the U.S. Washington wants to tone down its overt political influence in Baghdad and decrease the number of U.S. troops precisely at a time when the fledgling Iraqi government has shown itself incapable of maintaining political or military control.
"This is something that's been leaning in this direction for some time, and the mosque incident has accelerated the process," said Edward S. Walker, a former assistant secretary of State for Near East affairs. "What we're talking about is people looking out for their own. I don't think it can be turned around."
Doomsayers long have warned that Iraq was turning into a failed state like Somalia or Taliban-run Afghanistan, a regional black hole. It's far too early to write Iraq off as a quagmire, analysts say, but the threat of contagious and continuous instability — like in Lebanon — looms.
"The expectations of the United States and its allies have been lowered considerably," said Mark Sedra, a researcher specializing in rebuilding post-conflict countries at the Bonn International Center for Conversion, a German think tank. "Now the main goal is just creating a state that controls instability and contains the high levels of violence that prevail at the moment and prevents that violence from spilling over into neighboring states or destabilizing the region."
Even before last week's events, the authority of the Iraqi government had been overshadowed by an insurgency that shows no signs of letting up, a constitution that provides for a weak executive authority and armed militias that run swaths of the country.
"All of this is creating great, great decentralization and a failure to provide services," said Phebe Marr, an Iraq specialist at the United States Institute of Peace, a Washington think tank. "Until they get a real central government, they're not going to provide any effective central authority. This is going to require some time — a long time."
Analysts say one of the major flaws in the attempt to build an Iraqi government has been a reliance on religious and ethnic divisions. Political parties, parliamentary blocs, army brigades and even ministries are breaking down along sectarian lines.
Keen to right discrimination suffered by Shiites and Kurds under former President Saddam Hussein, Washington encouraged the sectarianism in an effort to ensure that all groups would be fairly represented in the government. But many analysts say such governments are inherently unstable. Every political question turns into an existential threat, or a promise to one group or another.
Lebanon, too, cobbled together a sectarian system of political representation as it emerged from its 15-year civil war in the early 1990s. Then, too, it was an attempt to halt the violence by assuring people from different groups that their rights wouldn't be trampled.
But what was intended as a temporary fix never has been vanquished. Religious and ethnic identities still rule Lebanon and remain a source of potential destabilization.
"They're really trying to take a shortcut by basing the whole thing on sectarian division," said U.N. advisor Timur Goksel, who watched Lebanon's civil war grind on and views Iraq's nation-building efforts with trepidation. "There's been almost no attempt to build institutions."
Signs of Iraq's Lebanon-ization abound.
Plans to crush militias long have been shelved in an effort to co-opt them. In Baghdad's Sadr City district, the large slum where 10% of Iraq's population lives, black-clad Al Mahdi militiamen loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr rule the streets while police officers cower.
Even the U.S. military, which once clashed with Al Mahdi in gun battles in the capital and in the country's Shiite south, has grudgingly come to accept that the militia is here to stay. The Shiite militiamen could end up being melded into the official Iraqi security forces.
"Now is not the time for the Iraqi government to take specific action against the militias," Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told reporters at a news conference Saturday. "It's going to be worked over time."
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has been trying to persuade Iraqis to appoint apolitical technocrats to head sensitive ministries, such as Interior and Defense. But with the recent outbursts of rage by Shiites and Sunnis, who both perceive themselves as victims, the best U.S. and Iraqi officials may be able to hope for is dividing security forces along sectarian lines.
Parts of west Baghdad are being patrolled by Sunni-dominated army units, and parts of eastern Baghdad by Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry units.
Repeatedly over the last few days, requests to police for information about damage to Sunni mosques in western Baghdad or on the city's outskirts were met with plaintive shrugs: The mostly Shiite police force does not enter certain parts of the city or countryside.
"There has been a lot of movement of people of one sect or another into certain branches of the military or the police," said Walker, the former State Department official who is now president of the Middle East Institute, a Washington think tank. "We've tried, but it's hard to integrate them. But I don't see that there's any mood to integrate at this point."
The U.S. hoped that qualified Iraqi politicians and professionals would emerge from the rubble of Hussein's regime to lead Iraq. Instead, Washington has had to rely on once-exiled politicians tied to political parties or militias to run the country.
The result has been a patronage system in which ministries are viewed as cash cows for supporters. Ministries have become rife with corruption and payoffs. Jobs are doled out to political supporters.
"It's expected that you reward your own," Walker said. "It goes down to the tribal base of these societies. You don't have a sense of nationalism."
Like Lebanon, whose sovereignty repeatedly has been encroached by more powerful neighbors, Iraq remains a geopolitical playground for foreign countries.
With a weak central government and a lack of strong national identity, countries in the region support the interests of their sectarian or ethnic kin: Iran backs the Shiites, Turkey backs the Turkmen minority, Jordan and Saudi Arabia back Sunnis.
"It's clear that various states in the region are hedging their bets about what's happening in Iraq," said Sedra, who has studied the Iraq, Afghanistan and Balkan conflicts. "The Iraqi government is trying to assert its own sovereignty, but it has failed."


Lebanon Permits Iranian Weapons to Reach Hizbullah
10:15 Feb 26, '06 / 28 Shevat 5766
(IsraelNN.com) UN special envoy to the Mideast, Terje Larsen learned that on 31 January, at least one truck laden with arms originating in Iran was permitted to pass a Lebanese checkpoint and reach Hizbullah terrorists.
Lebanese government officials confirmed the accuracy of the report which stated the truck traveling from Syria was stopped but ultimately permitted to pass, after senior military officials gave the order to permit it to continue. It remains unclear how many trucks were included in the Iranian shipment and what weaponry was contained in them.
The international body issued a condemnation, stating the move by Lebanon was in violation of UN Resolution 1559 calling for the disarming of militias operating in Lebanon.

Khatami: Resistance in Lebanon should continue
Tehran, Feb 26, IRNA
Iran-Khatami-Interview
Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami said here Sunday that as long as threats are posed against Lebanon and its territory remains occupied, resistance should continue.
Speaking to al-Jazeera Television in an exclusive interview on Saturday evening, he said that the recent regional developments following the victory of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, were not unexpected.
Khatami added that Hamas would have gained the majority votes, if it had participated in the elections earlier.
Turning to the outcome of a poll in Gaza Strip and the West Bank 4-5 years ago, in which more than 70 percent of the participants had declared their support for Hamas.
"The measures taken by Hamas towards democracy are considered to be a positive development in the Middle East only if such a reality is accepted by Israel, the US and others," he added.
The former president noted that it is no more possible to stand against the will of nations, adding, "How long do they intend to erase the name of a nation from the scene, keep millions of people wandering in foreign lands and not letting them return to their homeland?"
He noted that peace will merely be materialized through recognizing the rights of Palestinian people and respecting the will of this nation.
"What took place in Palestinian election serves as a warning to others. Several peace plans have so far been proposed for the Middle East region, but neither has managed to materialize peace mainly due to being unrealistic and being drawn up without taking into view justice," he said.
Khatami believes that if Palestine as a nation and country, the holy Qods as its capital and the right of Palestinian refugees for returning to their homeland is recognized officially, stability will be established in the region.
Urging the need to support Hamas, he said, "Now that Hamas is under economic pressure, all Islamic states are bound to help this movement respond to the demands of its nation.
"Such supports should be associated with financial aid, while Islamic oil-rich countries can allocate 1-2 percent of their oil revenue to the cause to alleviate the current economic burdens upon the Palestinian people," he said.
In response to a question about the fear and concern of the Persian Gulf states about Iran, Khatami said that once ties are based on understanding and reason and it is accepted that a common path should be pursued, there will be no cause for concern.
"During my presidential term, a great part of misunderstandings were removed. Besides, a number of security agreements were inked with the important countries of the Persian Gulf region.
"Those not tolerating security in the region promote worries among the regional countries. The rumor about gas leak from Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and the risk facing the region is one such example, while we have never injected gas into this not-yet-completed power plant," he said.
In reply to another question whether the motto of `dialogue among civilizations' is still on the agenda despite the recent international developments, he said that unfortunately, those in office are against it and are merely preoccupied with force, authority and violence.
"On the other hand, we are witnessing occupation, violence and terrorism throughout the world," added Khatami.
He noted that insecurity spread across the world inflames the lives of the entire humanity. The insecurity currently witnessed in Iraq, Afghanistan, the occupied lands and African countries are not merely limited to those areas.
"Rather we have recently been witness to such events even in France, Geneva and other areas," concluded Khatami.