LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
FEBRUARY 3/2006
Below news from
miscellaneous sources for 3.2.06
Respect for
Christians in Iraq and in All of the Middle East-AsiaNews)
Amal and Hizbullah Call Off Boycott of the Cabinet
Lebanon Shi'ite
Muslim ministers end govt boycott-Reuters 3.2.06
Below news from the Daily
Star for 3.2.06
Cabinet views on Shiite return, death of shepherd and 'terrorist' bomb
Support for Dakkashe at 60 percent
Father of shepherd killed by Israelis lashes out at UN
Shiite ministers end boycott without mention of the 'M' word
Sukkariyeh questions government over 'illegal laboratories'
Tackling road safety in Lebanon one SMS at a time
Al-Qaeda suspected of army barracks bomb attack
Salloukh says state authority in South growing as UNIFIL renewed
Officials hold meeting to discuss shooting near Ain al-Hilweh
Confirmed: Israelis kill 15-year-old inside Lebanon
Cutting the mustard: Maille arrives in Lebanon
Arrival of DSL in Lebanon fraught with problems
Did the French Connection kill Hariri?
By David Ignatius
Cabinet views on Shiite return, death of shepherd and
'terrorist' bomb
By Nafez Qawas -Daily Star correspondent
Friday, February 03, 2006
BEIRUT: Seven weeks into a boycott of Shiite ministers from the Cabinet,
Information Minister Ghazi Aridi announced the government had been informed of
the intended return from both the Amal Movement and Hizbullah. The announcement
came just after the Cabinet's weekly session got under way at the Grand Serail
Thursday - without its Shiite ministers.
Aridi said Prime Minister Fouad Siniora reiterated during the session
"continuous efforts so that the Shiite ministers return to Cabinet," adding that
he stressed "the importance of national unity." Sources close to Aridi said he
questioned "why it took the Shiite ministers a month and a half to return to
Cabinet, leaving the government in paralysis."
Commenting on the latest Israeli attack during which a 15-year-old shepherd was
killed early Thursday morning, Aridi voiced the Cabinet's condemnation, saying:
"A Lebanese citizen was intentionally killed by the occupation forces." He said
"an official complaint will be lodged with the UN so that Israel is held
responsible."Aridi also noted that Lebanon will call on its partners
in the international community to "see an end to the attacks made on Lebanon's
sovereignty and security."During the Cabinet session, the ministers condemned a
bombing early Thursday morning at the Fakhreddine Army barracks in Beirut, in
which a Lebanese soldier was wounded.
Aridi said the bombing was "a terrorist attack that targeted Lebanon." He
praised the the army, saying "the perpetrators will be sought and
punished."Commenting on efforts to establish an international court to try those
accused of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri after a meeting with
the UN Legal Counsel Nicolas Michel, Aridi said the Cabinet had decided "to take
the necessary actions so that Lebanon is able to finish discussions with the UN
and achieve the necessary result."
Aridi said Justice Minister Charles Rizk presented a comprehensive study on the
steps the ministry had taken to establish the court, in addition to the studies
conducted, adding that Rizk will soon present a draft paper for discussion at
the ministry before submitting the document to the Cabinet. Aridi said Rizk
noted a "UN delegation of legal experts will arrive soon in Lebanon."
Aridi further said a decision had been made to name Beirut Governmental Hospital
after Rafik Hariri, based on a request by the health minister, Mohammed Khalifeh.
Also, Aridi had proposed that Cabinet sessions should no longer be held in
Baabda Presidential Palace due to security concerns. "But there will be further
consultations about the issue," he added. Aridi said President Emile Lahoud had
refused to hold the sessions in Baabda during the Shiite boycott.
Support for Dakkashe at 60 percent
Daily Star staff - Friday, February 03, 2006
BEIRUT: In the latest developments regarding the Baabda-Aley by-elections,
former MP Pierre Dakkashe, who is currently running as a compromise candidate,
announced that accord over his candidacy "has reached 60 percent so far."
During an interview with Voice of Lebanon on Thursday, Dakkashe said: "I am
still trying to get the consensus to spare the country a third electoral battle
in such a short period of time in light of the difficult situation facing the
country."
He added: "The majority of political forces I visited supported this consensual
direction."
The president of the National Liberal Party, Dory Chamoun, said he would
withdraw his candidacy "if the political forces did not agree on a compromise
candidate." In an interview with Magazine published Friday, Chamoun noted that "Dakkashe
ran in the May elections on MP Michel Aoun's list, while journalist May Chidiac
was a supporter of the Lebanese Forces (LF); hence, how can they be considered
compromise candidates?"Chamoun stressed the need to spare the country an
electoral battle, "because its consequences are dangerous for everyone,
regardless who wins."He further said that "the Maronite seat of Baabda-Aley is
not the property of any particular party," adding the National Liberal Party
"used to have five MPs in this district for several years." According to Chamoun,
his candidacy "represents a chance for Aoun to correct his mistake and for the
LF to fix what it did in the Chouf in the last elections," when it did not
support Chamoun and instead allied with Hizbullah.
Meanwhile, former President Amin Gemayel spoke with LF leader, Samir Geagea, to
discuss the by-elections.
Father of shepherd killed by Israelis lashes out at UN
Urges Hizbullah to avenge boy's death
By Mohammed Zaatari -Daily Star staff
Friday, February 03, 2006
SIDON: The father of Ibrahim Youssef Rahil, the 15-year-old shepherd shot and
killed near the Shebaa Farms on Wednesday, lashed out at the UN peacekeeping
force monitoring the border with Israel for "doing nothing" to prevent his son's
death. Ibrahim was herding his goats with a hunter in the liberated Bastara
Farms bordering the Shebaa Farms, when Israeli forces opened fire on the pair,
according to reports by the National News Agency. The hunter was taken captive
by Israeli forces and later released, but Rahil remained missing for several
hours. Youssef Rahil, the boy's father, said he found his son's body early the
next morning when he went to the farms area. He said he also found three goat
heads next to his son's body.
The father said he had called out to UN peacekeeping forces in the area for
help, but "they did not respond."
The site was later inspected by UN officials, along with Lebanese liaison
officers.
Soldiers from UNIFIL's Indian battalion later transported Ibrahim's body from
the area, as his father refused to take possession of the corpse until an
autopsy had been conducted. UNIFIL has opened an investigation into the
incident. An examination of the body at the Marjayoun Governmental Hospital in
South Lebanon showed Ibrahim had been shot three times; once in the head, the
neck and back. Ibrahim's father accused UNIFIL of "negligence and indifference,"
given that a UN post is only 25 meters from where his son was killed.
"The UN forces did not care about what happened," he said, calling on Hizbullah
Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah "to take revenge" for his son's
killing.
During a rally held for Ashoura the day before, Nasrallah warned Israel that "if
the other Lebanese citizen (Ibrahim) is found to have been killed or hurt, the
resistance will not wait for anyone's permission or approval to severely punish
Israel, as we do not expect the UN Security Council to condemn the
crime."Lashing out at all parties, Rahil slammed the UN and the U.S. "as
useless. My son was killed in a place close to them (UNIFIL), and they didn't
even look for him."
Rahil further slammed the government for "negligence." While paying a visit to
the grieving family, Hizbullah MP Qassem Hashem denounced the killing, but
assured "the resistance is the one that can respond to the enemy."
The young boy was later taken to the Shebaa area for burial. The National New
Agency reported that Israeli forces and settlers have pulled back from the Blue
Line, particularly the Shebaa Farms area. UNIFIL has increased its patrols along
the border and intensified its monitoring of the area. A full report was to be
submitted to UNIFIL command in Naqoura shortly. Lebanese security forces have
since taken "precautionary measures" in the area, putting paramedics and
ambulance teams on a state of alert. UNIFIL medical teams were also deployed.
Shiite ministers end boycott without mention of the 'M'
word
Siniora statement avoids any reference to 'militia'
By Nada Bakri -Special to The Daily Star
Friday, February 03, 2006
BEIRUT: Five Shiite ministers from Hizbullah and Amal ended their seven-week
Cabinet boycott Thursday, after Premier Fouad Siniora said "the national
resistance in Lebanon was never and we will never be called anything but a
resistance." Speaking during a Parliamentary question session, Siniora said: "We
appreciate the sovereignty Lebanon accomplished and the resistance had the honor
of accomplishing it. We have never called and will never call the resistance by
any other name but the resistance and it is a national resistance and we will
not use any other expression to describe it but national resistance."
He added: "The government is completely committed to the ministerial statement
and the article that acknowledges the national resistance role in liberating
Lebanese lands. It is a big role and we never called this role other than
national resistance."Following Siniora's comments, a delegation from Amal party
and Hizbullah met with Siniora and informed him of their decision to return to
the Cabinet's sessions as of next week. The session is set to be held either on
Monday or Tuesday at Baabda Palace.
"After the statements of Siniora and after an agreement to reach through
consensus and through the Constitution all the decisions, we have decided to end
our boycott and return our five representatives to the Cabinet," Amal MP Ali
Hassan Khalil said at a joint press conference with Hizbullah secretary
general's political assistant Hussein Khalil. The Shiite ministers suspended
their participation on December 12, the day MP Gebran Tueni was assassinated in
a car bomb, after the Cabinet reached a decision, through majority voting rather
than consensus, to call for an international court to try suspects in the
killing of former Premier Rafik Hariri almost a year ago.
The ministers' boycott of the cabinet has left the country in a state of almost
complete paralysis. Talks to secure the five ministers' return rotated around
their demand that the government declare Hizbullah a national resistance
movement against Israel, and not a militia.Hizbullah MP and head of the loyalty
to the resistance bloc Mohammad Raad said that Siniora's comments conformed to
the party's demand, although the Premier made no mention of the word militia.
"Siniora statement is synonymous with what we demanded. It has the same
content," Raad told The Daily Star.
However sources in parliament quoted the MP saying that "Siniora's statement was
positive but why didn't he say the national resistance is not a militia?" The
Shiites ministers' return to the government is believed to pave the way for the
dialogue initiative proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri.
However the disagreement between the Progressive Socialist Party and Hizbullah
over the role of the resistance which has reached deadlock is believed to affect
any initiation of the dialogue. "There is no communication between Hizbullah and
the PSP. People who made mistakes should correct them and we are open to any
move that will correct these mistakes," Raad said. PSP leader and head of the
Democratic Gathering Walid Jumblatt could not be reached for comment. However
government sources told The Daily Star that Democratic Gathering bloc ministers
Marwan Hamadeh and Ghazi Aridi "were not very pleased with the formula that
ended the Shiite boycott." Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun said the
return is "opens the door to hold a political dialogue but that is not enough."
Aoun told The Daily Star: "There is a bad economic situation that needs to be
dealt with and I hope with their return all other issues will be solved." The
FPM leader has a meeting scheduled Friday with Democratic Gathering member and
PSP MP Wael Bou Faour. Aoun said that he is "trying to bring together all the
parties and find solutions to all pending national issues."He said the message
he will send to Jumblatt is "to calm down and return to a round-table dialogue."
Al-Qaeda suspected of army barracks bomb attack
Warning call reportedly made from ain al-hilweh camp
By Raed El Rafei -Daily Star staff
Friday, February 03, 2006
BEIRUT: A bomb exploded near an army barracks in Beirut early Thursday, hours
after a warning by an alleged Al-Qaeda operative was made from a public
telephone booth located in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, according to a
statement released by the army. At about 2 a.m., an estimated 700 grams to 1
kilogram of explosives detonated outside the Fakhreddine barracks in Ramlet al-Baida
neighborhood, injuring a soldier with flying glass, wrecked a car and shattered
windows of nearby buildings, police and witnesses said. Three hours before the
explosion, local newspaper, Sada al-Balad, received a call from someone who
claimed to represent al-Qaeda and declared that a security target would be
bombed in retaliation for the arrest last month of 13 members allegedly
affiliated to the group.
Al-Balad newspaper reported in its Thursday edition that the attack was in
retaliation for the army's failure to meet a two-week deadline set by al-Qaeda
for the release of the network's members. According to the paper, the caller
said that al-Qaeda would not allow "the tragedy of Ismail al-Khatib to be
repeated." He was referring to an Islamist, from the Bekaa town of Majdel-Anjar,
who died in detention in September 2004 after being accused of plotting to blow
up the Italian embassy. While Khatib's family accused the authorities of
torturing him to death, the Interior Ministry claimed at the time he had died
from a heart attack. "The caller threatened to launch three qualitative military
operations simultaneously and clash with the security forces if the two women
... are not freed," the newspaper said.
The women are the fiancee and mother-in-law of Badih Hamade, an Islamist
executed in January 2004 for shooting three military intelligence officers. The
caller said both detainees were suffering from poor health conditions.
The simultaneous attacks, he said, would target the Military Tribunal, the
General-Directorate of the Internal Security Forces and the Justice Palace,
which the caller described as "the Oppression Palace."
He said that the network had carried out two previous attacks against the
Lebanese army but it was careful not to harm anyone. The authenticity of
Al-Qaeda claims could not be verified. Security sources said that the army
arrested four people who were standing in the vicinity of the blast scene. But,
Military Examining Magistrate Rashid Mezher, who inspected the scene of the
explosion, said no suspects had been arrested so far and only witnesses were
interviewed.
Al-Balad also said it had received a faxed statement from an unknown group, "the
World Islamic Front," denouncing alleged arrests made by authorities, saying
such policies served Israel and the United States. Authorities in early January
arrested 13 people - three Lebanese, seven Syrians, a Saudi, a Jordanian and a
Palestinian - and charged them with "establishing a group to carry out terrorist
acts, forging official and private documents and possessing unlicensed arms." So
far, justice officials have not confirmed if the detainees are members of
Al-Qaeda.
Politicians across the country condemned the attack against the army on
Thursday. MP Walid Jumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party accused the Syrian
regime of standing behind the attack in a statement. The statement said Syria
was seeking to use al-Qaeda to damage Lebanon after having supported the
terrorist network in Iraq for many months causing the deaths of thousands of
innocent Iraqi citizens.
MP Walid Eido, head of the Defense and Security parliamentary committee, praised
the "role of the army in defending the nation." Condemning the attack, he added
that all Lebanese and non Lebanese should respect this institution.
President Emile Lahoud denounced the attack following a phone call with the
General Commander of the army Michel Suleiman. Thursday's explosion caused
cracks in the wall outside the barracks and damaged properties in the area. A
woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she woke up to a loud blast and at
first feared Israel was attacking the country.
The owner of a shop facing Fakhreddine barrack, Samir Awkar, said the glasses of
his shop were shattered by the blast adding that he had to pay himself to repair
the damages.
Awkar criticized the country's leaders, saying "are not working for the best
interests of the nation." - With agencies
Lebanon Shi'ite Muslim ministers end govt boycott
02 Feb 2006 19:41:49 GMT
By Laila Bassam
BEIRUT, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Five Shi'ite Muslim ministers returned to Lebanon's
government on Thursday, ending a seven-week boycott that paralysed the country,
after the prime minister declared Hizbollah guerrillas a national resistance.
The Shi'ite ministers suspended their participation on Dec. 12 after the cabinet
voted to call for an international tribunal to try suspects in the killing of
former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri almost a year ago.
Talks to secure the five ministers' return faltered over their demand that the
government declare Hizbollah a resistance movement against Lebanon's arch-foe
Israel, and not a militia, which would mean it must disarm according to a U.N.
resolution. "After the position taken by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora ... the
leaderships of Hizbollah and the Amal movement have decided to return their
representatives to participation in the government meetings," senior Amal
official and member of parliament Ali Hassan Khalil told a press conference.
The joint announcement by pro-Syrian Hizbollah and Amal, Lebanon's main Shi'ite
parties, is expected to ease a political crisis that has hobbled decision-making
in the government and escalated into a public slanging match between politicians
for and against the group keeping its weapons.
But the decision came too late for the Shi'ites to join Thursday's cabinet
meeting, which is being held without them.
In comments to parliament earlier on Thursday, Siniora said Hizbollah had always
been considered a resistance organisation, but made no mention of the word
militia.
"We have never called and will never call the resistance by any other name but
the resistance and it is a national resistance and we will not use any other
expression to describe it but national resistance," he said to applause.
EASING TENSIONS
Hizbollah, whose attacks were crucial in ending Israel's 22-year occupation of
southern Lebanon in 2000, was the only Lebanese group to keep its arms after the
1975-1990 civil war. It has been under increasing pressure to lay down its
weapons since a U.N. Security Council resolution demanded that all foreign
troops withdraw from Lebanon and militias disarm. Syrian troops ended a 29-year
military presence in Lebanon last year under international pressure and local
protest following Hariri's murder, but Hizbollah has kept its arms. A unanimous
U.N. Security Council renewed pressure on Lebanon late last month to disarm the
group in line with the resolution issued in 2004.
The United States has long considered Hizbollah a terrorist group while its
ally, Syria, is a fixture on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
But the Lebanese are deeply divided over whether Hizbollah should keep its arms
now that all foreign armies are gone.
"Today's words eased many of the tensions over the issue of the resistance,"
Health Minister Mohammad Khalifeh told Reuters. "The important thing is it came
from the government, represented by the prime minister under the roof of an
assembled parliament and not at an ordinary conference."
The Shi'ite ministers include Energy Minister Mohammad Fneish, a Hizbollah
member and its ally Labour Minister Trad Hamadeh. Foreign Minister Fawzi
Salloukh and two ministers from Amal were also involved in the boycott.
(Additional reporting by Lin Noueihed)
Lebanese ministers rejoin cabinet
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4675326.stm
BBC 2.2.06: Hezbollah have come under international pressure to disarm
Five ministers from Lebanon's two main Shia parties, Hezbollah and Amal, have
ended their seven-week boycott of cabinet meetings. They had objected to a
cabinet decision to call for an international tribunal to try those involved in
the killing of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri. The boycott has paralysed the
Lebanese government since December. The ministers had demanded that the
government declare Hezbollah a resistance movement, and not a militia. Speaking
at a joint press conference with Hezbollah political adviser Hussein al-Khalil,
senior Amal official Ali Hasan Khalil said the boycott had now ended. "The
leaderships of Hezbollah and the Amal movement have decided to return their
representatives to participate in the government meetings," he said.
'Resistance'
The decision came after Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora told the Lebanese
parliament on Thursday that Hezbollah had always been considered a resistance
movement. "We have never called and will never call the resistance by any other
name but the resistance and it is a national resistance and we will not use any
other expression to describe it but national resistance," he said. United
Nations Security Council resolution 1559, passed in September 2004, considers
Hezbollah a militia and calls for it be disarmed. The Lebanese government says
it will deal with armed groups through national dialogue.
Syria, Iraq to restore diplomatic ties: FM
www.chinaview.cn 2006-02-02 04:00:31
DAMASCUS, Feb. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara said on
Thursday that Syria will restore diplomatic relations with Iraq as soon as a new
Iraqi government is formed, the official SANA news agency reported. Shara was
quoted as telling a visiting Iraqi media delegation that the two countries "will
name ambassadors after the formation of the next Iraqi government." "Syria wants
to build the closest relations with Iraq and bilateral cooperation will be
strengthened in the political, security, economic and trade fields," said Shara.
He added that Syria is committed to the unity of the Iraqi people and the
integrity of Iraq's territory and hoped for an end to the U.S. occupation of
Iraq. Intense negotiations are underway in Iraq among the Shiites, the Kurds and
the Sunnis on the formation of a new government following the country's December
general elections. Syria and Iraq severed diplomatic relations in early 1980s
after Damascus sided with Iran in the Iran-Iraq war.
Currently, the two countries only keep interest sections in each other's
capitals. Syria's call to restore relations with Iraq came at a time when
Damascus is facing international pressure over a UN probe to the assassination
of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri. Many Lebanese have blame Syria for
Hariri's killing, but Damascus has denied any involvement. Since the fall of
former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003, Syria has also been accused by
the United States and senior officials from the Iraqi interim government of
failing to prevent foreign militants from crossing into Iraq and destabilizing
situation there. Meanwhile, the Iraqi interim authorities have also asked Arab
countries to send ambassadors to Baghdad to support the government, although
some countries were hesitant in doing so after an Egyptian diplomat was
assassinated in Baghdad last year.
Body of Lebanese Youth Returned, Hezbollah Threatens
Israel
18:45 Feb 02, '06 / 4 Shevat 5766
(IsraelNN.com) The body of a 17-year-old shepherd was returned on Thursday to
Lebanese officials by UN peacekeepers.
The youth died near the border with Israel on Wednesday, apparently during an
incident in which IDF forces were shooting at a suspected terrorist who had
crossed the northern border near Har Dov. IDF officials said soldiers fired in
response to shots directed at the Zivanit outpost in the north. Hezbollah leader
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said on Thursday that the terrorist organization would
“punish the killers without hesitation or any discussion”.
Hezbollah has often attacked northern Israeli communities in the past.
Army's 'Worst Case Scenario' Sees Iran 'Front' in
Territories
By ALEX FISHMAN-Forward
February 3, 2006
TEL AVIV — In the army, they call this a "defining strategic event." In laymen's
terms, it's called an earthquake. The gains of Hamas in the Palestinian
Authority's parliamentary elections compel all players in the Middle East to
rethink their behavior.
"It's much worse than we estimated," a senior Israeli security official said
last week, as the election results became known. Even the most pessimistic
Israeli forecasts on the eve of the elections, those of Military Intelligence,
did not foresee the collapse of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement. Defense officials
see the results as returning the region to the days before the 1993 Oslo
Accords. As of now, they say, Israel has no negotiating partner. The freeze in
peace negotiations likely will continue, and the movement toward unilateral
action by Israel probably will become stronger. The likely consequence of a
diplomatic freeze and unilateral action, intelligence sources say, is a
deterioration in security. As pessimistic as the Israeli security establishment
was on the eve of the elections, when it expected a narrow Fatah victory, it is
far more pessimistic now. In the worst case, forecasters anticipate the entry
into Israel's arena not just of Hamas, but of outside Islamic forces linked to
Iran.
Key officials in the army and Defense Ministry describe the Hamas victory in
worst-case terms as the opening of a "second front" against Israel. Previously
they had spoken of one "wing" of Islamic terrorism, pressing Israel on its
northern border in the form of Hezbollah. Now, following the elections, they
speak of a "second wing" of the threat emerging in Gaza and the West Bank. In
effect, this would be the fulfillment of an Iranian dream: a pincer action,
surrounding Israel on all sides with extremist Islamic movements. Each wing of
the pincer is based on an Islamic organization — Hezbollah to the north in
Lebanon, Hamas in the West Bank and Gaza — that is well integrated into local
society and possesses an independent military force capable of serving Iranian
goals. Both are extremist Islamic organizations with links to international
Islamic movements, and both have joined their respective parliaments after
competing in free elections.
Of the two, Hezbollah is tightly controlled by Iran, which shares its Shiite
religious orientation. Iran has little influence now within Hamas, a Sunni
organization. But Tehran gives high priority to establishing a foothold in Hamas.
Hamas's intentions are unclear.
Some senior Israeli defense officials see the visit of Iran's president to Syria
in mid-January as a key moment in the evolution of this second front. The
Iranian leader held meetings with all forces relevant to the creation of this
pincer movement, from the secretary-general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, to
the leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and smaller Palestinian groups.
In official Iranian documents, Hezbollah is called "the Lebanese section of the
Revolutionary Guards." The phrase is not mere semantics. Every three or four
months, an Iranian representative appears along the Israeli border, reviews
Hezbollah installations and inspects stockpiles and rosters. The Israeli side
knows about the Iranian visits days in advance, from the excited preparations of
Hezbollah personnel.
Hezbollah fighters not only receive training and paychecks from Iran. They
consult with Revolutionary Guards officers on operational plans and analyses and
draw on them for help in intelligence gathering.
The Iranians' new goal is to turn Hamas into another arm of the Revolutionary
Guards.
Up to now, Iranian involvement in the West Bank and Gaza mainly consisted of
supporting local terrorist groups, principally Islamic Jihad and breakaway cells
of the Tanzim, a militia associated with Fatah. Now the Iranians are trying to
recruit Hamas people to their side. They want to secure a place in the
Palestinian mainstream, not sneak in through the back door.
Not all Israeli security agencies share the army's apocalyptic forecast. In
interagency discussions, analysts from the Shin Bet security service have been
urging their Military Intelligence counterparts to avoid alarmism. In their
view, the entry of Hamas into the political establishment could begin a process
of positive change. They note that Hamas's political wing is known for its
integrity and pragmatism on the Palestinian domestic front. By entering the
Palestinian power structure, it will face pressures that could balance and
restrain it. Its people want to succeed, and therefore they must moderate their
positions.
Such views are not limited to the Shin Bet. The hopeful sense that Hamas is in a
slow process of transition from a military focus to a political one is
widespread among researchers in various branches of the Israeli defense
establishment. They see the heads of Hamas as committed, first of all, to
maintaining their popular support base, the Palestinian street. And the
Palestinian street wants moderation.
The prevailing view at the top is more unbending. At the Herzliya Conference on
Israeli Security in mid-January, Israel's military chief of staff, Dan Halutz,
expressed the prevailing view in the defense establishment: that if Hamas
becomes a key influence within the P.A., a new confrontation is inevitable.
Behind his words is a worldview that does not envision Hamas changing its basic
goals. The possibility of dialogue with Hamas is an illusion in this view;
entertaining it merely encourages the Palestinians to demand concessions from
Israel. Hamas — even in its election campaign literature — has spoken of the
Oslo years as achieving nothing to advance Palestinian interests, while five
years of war in the territories achieved a good deal more. The Palestinian voter
may have concluded that five more years of conflict will push Israel out of the
entire West Bank, and another five years will drive it from Jerusalem.
The next encounter would pit Israel not just against Hamas and Islamic Jihad,
but also against the P.A. itself, given the likely role of Hamas. The
implication is a confrontation with Palestinian society and another round of
full-scale intifada.
It will not happen tomorrow, next month or even in the next six months, ranking
defense officials say. It will follow a slow progression. At first, all sides
will wait for a Palestinian government to be formed and see where the balance of
power lies. Then they will wait for the Israeli elections at the end of March
and the formation of a new Israeli government.
The key will be the international response. The pace of deterioration will
depend on the reception that other nations give to the Hamas presence within the
P.A. and the behavior of Israel toward the new Palestinian government. For
example, an immediate, uncompromising Israeli demand that P.A. chief Abbas
fulfill his commitment to disarm Hamas — with a threat to freeze all diplomatic
progress if he does not — would likely accelerate the descent into armed
conflict.
Israeli views on renewing peace talks are ambivalent. A poll published in Yediot
Aharonot this week, following the Palestinian elections, showed strong support
for negotiations. More than two-thirds said they favored talks with the P.A. if
Hamas is part of its governing coalition, while only 28% were opposed. Even if
Hamas were to control the P.A. outright, Israelis said they would favor talks,
though only by a plurality of 48% to 43%.
Regardless of public opinion, however, Israel's top strategists lean against
talks. Israel is committed to the approach it has long urged on Europe and
America, rejecting dialogue with a terrorist organization. The next stage will
be an Israeli attempt to convince the Europeans and Americans that under the new
circumstances that have emerged, there is no chance to carry out the road map.
Israel is headed toward unilateral steps that will define its borders as it sees
fit.
There is concern within Israel's foreign and defense ministries that if an
official European or American dialogue is opened with Hamas — before it disarms
and publicly renounces terrorism — it could have a domino effect. Every prior
obligation would be forgotten, officials fear, and de facto international
legitimacy gradually could be conferred on a P.A. that has at its core a Hamas
organization that has neither disarmed nor abandoned its goals. From Israel's
point of view, this would be a serious diplomatic blow.
Foreign Ministry officials are working hard to sound out European and American
leaders on their approach toward Hamas in the wake of the elections, so as to
determine what steps Israel might take to prevent a domino effect.
Officially, the Europeans do not meet with the Hamas organizational leadership.
They do, however, permit meetings between European Union representatives and
Hamas operatives, such as mayors. In fact, Israeli officials have learned of
meetings between low-level European diplomats and the Hamas leadership itself.
Reports emerging from these meetings so far have been encouraging to the
Israelis. The Europeans have sent Hamas a clear message that if it does not
disarm and renounce terrorism, Europe will cut off economic aid to the P.A.
Whether or not the Europeans stand firm in this commitment, only time will tell.
The Europeans are worried about Hamas's new stature as a fundamentalist Sunni
political force in the eastern Mediterranean basin. They speak of it as an
unprecedented phenomenon that could have a serious spillover effect on European
interests in the region, on the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in
Egypt, on the Islamic movement in Israel and on Islamic extremist groups in
Europe. In the final analysis, we all live in a small neighborhood.
**Alex Fishman is the chief military correspondent of Yediot Aharonot. This
article is adapted by permission from an article published in Yediot January 27.
Translated by J.J. Goldberg.
Lebanon PM, UN say Israel killed shepherd in Lebanon
Thu Feb 2, 2006 7:00 PM GMT
KFAR SHOUBA, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanon and the United Nations said on Thursday
Israeli troops killed a shepherd inside Lebanon, an incident that could escalate
tension in the volatile border area. U.N. peacekeepers retrieved the body of the
shepherd a day after he went missing in south Lebanon during Israeli shooting in
the area, security sources said. "We investigated today and ... he was killed on
the Lebanese side," said Milos Strugar, senior adviser to UNIFIL, the
peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. The leader of Hizbollah, Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah, had vowed retaliation before the body of the 17-year-old was found.
"This Lebanese civilian should be quickly returned to Lebanon," Nasrallah said
on Wednesday when the shepherd was still missing and presumed captured by
Israeli forces. "From now I say that if (it turns out that) this civilian had
been killed then the resistance would punish the killers without hesitation or
any discussion." In Jerusalem, an Israeli army spokeswoman said an Israeli
patrol had "spotted an armed man who crossed the international border line ...
He fired at the troops who then returned fire and identified a hit".But Lebanese
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said initial information showed that the teenager
was shot dead while he was inside Lebanese territory. "This is a blatant assault
against Lebanon's sovereignty," Siniora told parliament, adding that Lebanon was
in contact with the United Nations over the incident. Shi'ite Muslim Hizbollah
guerrillas have periodically attacked Israeli forces on the border, mainly in
the occupied Shebaa Farms, since Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south
Lebanon in 2000. Lebanon says Shebaa is Lebanese. The United Nations and Israel
say it is Syrian land. Hizbollah says its attacks are in retaliation to Israeli
infringements on Lebanese sovereignty, including almost daily flights by Israeli
warplanes. The Security Council authorised U.N. peacekeepers this week to remain
another six months in south Lebanon. The force had deployed in the area after an
Israeli invasion in 1978.
Reporters sans frontières
Communiqué de presse
Français / English
2 février 2006
L'affaire des caricatures du prophète Mahomet
Reporters sans frontières appelle au calme et au dialogue
Reporters sans frontières lance un appel au calme et à la raison alors que la
polémique suscitée par la publication de plusieurs caricatures du prophète
Mahomet prend une tournure inquiétante. « Si nous comprenons que de nombreux
musulmans aient été choqués par ces publications - l'islam interdisant toute
représentation humaine du Prophète - rien ne saurait justifier des appels à la
violence ni quelques menaces que ce soit. »
Et Reporters sans frontières d'ajouter : « Dans l'affaire actuelle, il est
nécessaire de ramener les faits à leur juste dimension. Les journaux qui ont
publié ces caricatures appartiennent à des pays où la religion relève de la
sphère privée : dans cette tradition, la liberté religieuse va de pair avec une
liberté d'_expression qui inclut le droit de brocarder les convictions que l'on
ne partage pas. Il est également nécessaire de rappeler que, dans ces mêmes
pays, la presse est indépendante des pouvoirs en place. Ses prises de position,
ses choix éditoriaux n'engagent qu'elle et donc, en aucune manière, les
autorités de ces pays ou leurs concitoyens. »
Reporters sans frontières appelle les responsables politiques et religieux des
pays musulmans ainsi que la presse du monde arabe à tout faire pour calmer les
esprits, de manière à entamer un débat sur les conceptions des uns et des
autres. L'organisation demande, de la même manière, à chacun en Occident de
jouer l'apaisement et d'éviter ce qui peut être vécu comme des provocations
inutiles. Comment concilier la liberté d'_expression - dont beaucoup, où qu'ils
vivent, mesurent l'impérieuse nécessité - et le respect des convictions les plus
profondes de chacun ? Que « l'affaire des caricatures » nous aide au moins à
trouver une réponse à cette épineuse question. Reporters sans frontières
s'emploiera à faciliter ce débat avec tous ceux - et ils sont heureusement
majoritaires - qui préfèrent le dialogue à l'affrontement.
Reporters sans frontières, 2 février 2006
----------------------------------------------------
Appeal for calm and dialogue on Prophet caricatures
Reporters Without Borders appealed for calm and reason today as the controversy
over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed moved in disturbing new
directions: "While we understand that many Muslims have been shocked by these
caricatures, as Islam forbids any physical representation of the Prophet, there
is no justification for calls for violence or threats of any kind."
The press freedom organisation added: "We need to examine this case for what it
is. The newspapers that published these cartoons are all in countries in which
religion belongs to the private domain. In this tradition, religious freedom
goes hand in hand with freedom of _expression, which includes the right to make
fun of beliefs one does not share. One must also bear in mind that the press is
independent of the government in these countries. The views and editorial
decisions of individual news media are just their own. They do not speak for
their governments or their fellow citizens."
Reporters Without Borders appeals to political and religious leaders in the
Muslim countries and to the Arab press to do everything possible to calm people
down, so as to be able to start a debate about how we all perceive each other.
Similarly, the organisation calls on everyone in the West to concentrate on
defusing tension and avoid what could be seen as unnecessary provocations. How
are we to reconcile freedom of _expression - which many perceive as an
overriding need, wherever they live - and respect for each individual's deepest
convictions? Let us hope that the controversy about these cartoons will help us
find an answer to this difficult question. Reporters Without Borders will do its
best to foster a debate among all those - hopefully the majority - who prefer
dialogue to confrontation.
Reporters Without Borders, 2 February 2006
--
Maghreb & Middle-East Desk
Lynn TEHINI
Reporters Without Borders
5 rue Geoffroy-Marie
F - 75009 Paris
33 1 44 83 84 84
33 1 45 23 11 51 (fax)
middle-east@rsf.org
www.rsf.org
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.259780623&par=
LEBANON: OVERNIGHT BLAST CLAIMED BY 'AL-QAEDA' AFFILIATE
Beirut, 2 Feb. (AKI) - Four people were arrested in Beirut on Thursday after an
overnight explosion near an army barracks. The explosion occured around 0200
local time near the outer wall of the Fakhr ad-Din barracks in western Beirut
and injured one soldier. The daily al-Balad received a phone call from a man
purporting to "belong to al-Qaeda in Lebanon." He said "the operation was a
response to the arrest of 13 members". In January, three Lebanese, seven
Syrians, a Saudi a Jordanian and a Palestinian were arrested. Police say they
were linked to an al-Qaeda affiliate and preparing attacks in Lebanon and
abroad.
The phone caller identifying himself as a member of "al-Qaeda in Lebanon" also
threatened further attacks and demanded the release of two women linked to an
al-Qaeda operative who sought refuge in one of the Palestinian refugee camps in
Lebanon before being caught, convicted and executed.
"The Lebanese authorities have two weeks to release the two women arrested" the
caller said. "We are ready to launch three simultaneous attacks and to combat
the security forces if the two women are not freed."
Investigators say the telephone call claiming responsibility for the bomb attack
came from inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ayn al-Helwe, near Sidon, about
40 kilometres from the capital.
Local and foreign intelligence services have for some time voiced fears about
the establishment of an al-Qaeda cell within the Palestinian camps inside
Lebanon.
Lebanon has been the scene of more than a dozen explosions over the past year.
The massive carbomb which killed former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri and 20
others on 14 February 2005 was being the car bomb that killed MP and journalist
Gibran Tueni, along with two others, on 12 December.
Much of the local press and opposition politicians in Lebanon believe these to
be the work of the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
"But last night's blast" said investigators "is the first time in this chain of
attacks that the Lebanese army has been the target."
On 9 January al-Qaeda's point man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed
responsibility for the launch of Katuyska rockets from southern Lebanon on 28
December against Jewish settlements in Galilee. The first claim of
responsibility for that operation from al-Qaeda in Iraq was published on the
Internet the day after the rocket attack.
Two years ago, a Lebanese military court condemned 35 people from various Arab
countries accused of belonging to jihadi groups linked to al-Qaeda. Among them
were Lebanese men from the village of Majdal Anjar who were planning an attack
against the Italian embassy in central Beirut.
Last summer, under a presidential amnesty, all 35 men - most of them from the
Ayn al-Helwe camp, were released.
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=3636
Bullet-riddled body of missing Lebanese shepherd found near Lebanon-Israel
border
02/02/2006
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - The body of a shepherd who went missing this week near
Lebanon's border with Israel was found Thursday in the disputed Chebaa Farms
area, said Lebanese security officials.
The discovery of his bullet-riddled corpse is expected to revive tension along
the border as the leader of the Hezbollah militant group, Sheik Hassan
Nasrallah, warned Wednesday that if the shepherd, who came under Israeli fire,
was dead, the guerrillas would "punish the killers without hesitation."
The Israeli army said late Wednesday that an armed man with binoculars was seen
crossing the U.N.-demarcated border. When he opened fire, Israeli soldiers
responded and apparently hit him, the army said.
Lebanese officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said police found the
body of a 15-year-old shepherd, Ibrahim Youssef Rhayyel, on the Lebanese side of
the border. U.N. peacekeepers brought the body to a hospital in the south
Lebanese town of Marjayoun.
A U.N. peacekeeping official confirmed the finding of the body, but would say
only that it belonged to a Lebanese. Addressing a gathering late Wednesday to
mark the death of the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, Hezbollah's Nasrallah
insisted that Rhayyel was a civilian and not one of his group's fighters.
Chebaa Farms is frequently the scene of fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli
troops. A tiny parcel of land held by Israel, Lebanon claims the territory and
Hezbollah has vowed to liberate it. But U.N. cartographers say it belongs to
that part of Syria which is occupied by Israel. It lies only a few kilometers
(miles) from Israel proper.
In November, fighting in Chebaa Farms left four Hezbollah guerrillas dead and 11
Israeli soldiers wounded.
The last flare-up in cross-border violence was in late December when rockets
fired from Lebanon crashed in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona,
damaging property but causing no casualties. Israel retaliated with an airstrike
against a radical Palestinian guerrilla base on a hill south of Beirut.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0241765.htm
Lebanese shepherd found dead after Israeli gun fire
02 Feb 2006 08:00:41 GMT
KFAR SHOUBA, Lebanon, Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers retrieved the body of
a Lebanese shepherd on Thursday, a day after he went missing in south Lebanon
during Israeli shooting in the area, security sources said.
The incident threatened to escalate tension along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
The leader of Hizbollah guerrillas, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, had vowed
retaliation before the body of the 17-year-old was found.
"This Lebanese civilian should be quickly returned to Lebanon," Nasrallah said
on Wednesday when the shepherd was still missing and presumed captured by
Israeli forces.
"From now I say that if (it turns out that) this civilian had been killed then
the resistance would punish the killers without hesitation or any discussion."
Hizbollah have periodically attacked Israeli forces on the border, mainly in the
occupied Shebaa Farms, since Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south
Lebanon in 2000.
Lebanon says Shebaa is Lebanese. The United Nations and Israel say it is Syrian
land. Hizbollah says its attacks are in retaliation to Israeli infringements on
Lebanese sovereignty, including almost daily flights by Israeli warplanes.
The Security Council authorised U.N. peacekeepers this week to remain another
six months in south Lebanon. The force had deployed in the area after an Israeli
invasion in 1978.
MEDIA RELEASE
TERRORISTS RUN FREE IN LEBANON
UALM: Government should resign if it can’t maintain security.
For Immediate Release
Sydney, Australia – The spate of bombings that rocked Lebanon last year have
continued into the new year with a new bomb attack near a Lebanese Army barracks
in Beirut.
The explosion occurred at around 2 a.m. Thursday morning (Beirut Time) outside
the Fakhreddine Barracks in the Ramlet al-Baida district of the capital.
It has been reported that a warning was by Al-Qaeda sent to a local newspaper
stating of an imminent attack. The warning also mentioned of another three
attacks on Lebanese Army positions if certain demands were not met.
This terrorist attack is the latest in a long line of bombings that have rocked
Lebanon; there have been 14 others in the past year. The current Lebanese
Government does not seem to have the resolve to find the perpetrators and bring
them to justice.
The United Australian Lebanese Movement (UALM) categorically condemns this
latest terrorist attack. The UALM calls on the Lebanese Government to find and
bring to justice those who committed the series of bombings that have hit
Lebanon.
The Lebanese government has thus far reneged on its duty to the people it’s
meant to protect. The UALM calls on the Lebanese government to implement
stricter security measures to ensure that these barbaric attacks cease.
The Lebanese government has continually failed to act against those cowards who
are targeting innocent civilians. It is remarkable that there have been over a
dozen terrorist attacks and there has been little or no progress in apprehending
the perpetrators. The UALM also demands that the Lebanese Government do more to
protect lives and property from the terrorists.
The Lebanese Government should control the security situation but if it cannot
than the government should resign. Due to the fact that the terrorists have a
free hand in Lebanon and because of the Governments inaction and incompetence
the Lebanese people are now hostages in their own country. The Lebanese
Government must also share some responsibility. The Lebanese people are still
paying the price for their government’s failure.
Media contact: Charlie Khouri
Ph :(02) 9687 0518
Fax: (02) 9687 0519 Mob: 0411 868 222
LEBANON: HEZBOLLAH DENIES KILLING FRENCH SOCIOLOGIST
Beirut, 1 Feb. (AKI) - A spokesman for the Lebanese radical group Hezbollah has
said his organisation played no part in the murder of a French sociologist who
disappeared in Beirut in 1985. "We weren't involved in the kidnapping of the
French researcher Michel Seurat, nor were we aware of his fate in Lebanon,"
Hezbollah spokesman Husayn Nabulsi told Adnkronos International (AKI) on
Wednesday.
On 8 January Lebanese authorities announced that human remains, probably
belonging to Seurat, had been found in a Beirut neighbourhood. DNA tests
conducted in France have subsequently established that the remains were indeed
those of Seurat, his widow Marie told French RTL radio in an interview.
Seurat, a specialist in Arab culture, disappeared from Beirut on 22 May 1985, in
the midst of Lebanon's bloody civil war. A small Iranian-backed group, Islamic
Jihad, claimed it had abducted the French researcher and subsequently announced
that he had been killed. His body was never found.
In November 2005, Syrian filmmaker Omar Amiralay, during a presentation in
Beirut of a documentary he made on Seurat, accused Hezbollah of murdering the
sociologist.
Reaping what we sow
By Arnaud de Borchgrave
February 1, 2006
Free elections, we have been told ad nauseam, lead to a healthy body politic
called democracy. Unfortunately for those who see the cliche as an article of
faith, free elections and democracy are not synonymous. Adolf Hitler won a free
election -- and went on to build the world's most formidable war machine in
history's blink of an eye.
A free election recently propelled Evo Morales, a man whose idols are Fidel
Castro and his Venezuelan lookalike Hugo Chavez, and who represents the coca
growers of Bolivia, to the presidency of his country. Freely elected Mr. Chavez
is spreading his oil-at-almost-$70-a-barrel money as the world's fifth-largest
oil exporter (and fourth-largest U.S. oil supplier) to push South and Central
America and Mexico to a blend of neo-Marxism and state capitalism.
The far left's candidate for the Mexican presidency has now pulled abreast of
the other two challengers. And in Peru, Ollanta Humala, an anti-U.S. retired
colonel who is the son of a communist leader, came out of nowhere to be touted
as the next president -- and third member of the "Andean troika" -- in the April
9 presidential election.
Now Hugo Chavez is off on a buying toot in Spain and Brazil for military
equipment that goes way beyond legitimate defense needs. Russian arms salesmen
are also on the scene.
This week, tens of thousands from all over Latin America and Europe converged on
Caracas for the World Social Forum, an anti-U.S. imperialism and anti-global
capitalism jamboree timed to coincide with the market-friendly World Economic
Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
A 1991 free election in Algeria produced an impressive majority for Islamist
extremists. Unwilling to accept the result, the army canceled the results and
went on ruling the country. A bloody, 10-year civil war followed. The toll:
100,000 massacred.
If the results of Pakistan's last "free" election had not been partly
pre-cooked, a coalition of six politico-religious extremist Islamist parties
that see Osama bin Laden as a freedom fighter would have taken over the Muslim
world's only nuclear power. As it was, they took over two of the country's four
provinces -- the Northwest Frontier Province and Baluchistan -- and won 25
percent of the seats in the federal assembly. The results President Pervez
Musharraf planned was designed to give the religious zealots enough weight to
fend off U.S. pressure for freedom of movement against Taliban and al Qaeda in
the tribal border areas.
Enter Hamas, a politico-military party dedicated to the destruction of Israel,
which swept into power in a free election that cleaned the less radical Fatah's
clock, and assumed absolute power not only in Gaza but also throughout a West
Bank also populated by 340,000 Israelis (up from 240,000 since the turn of the
century) in 140 settlements.
Happy days are here again for Iran surrogates on Israel's frontiers: Hezbollah
to the north, Hamas and its heavily armed, black-uniformed, balaclava-masked
militia south and east.
The Palestinian elections, that enjoyed the White House seal of approval, have
formally buried the Bush administration roadmap for a "contiguous and viable"
Palestinian state. It was stillborn, but the powers that be acted out the peace
process pantomime pretending it was only moribund.
V.I. Lenin said "violence is the midwife of history" and Hamas, like scores of
other revolutionary movements formed in the 20th century, terrorized its way to
power with no less than 60 suicide bombings.
Israel and the U.S. have made clear they will not deal with Hamas unless it
recognizes Israel's right to exist, disarms its militia and renounces what they
call "terrorism." Hamas, like Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, sees Osama and his al
Qaeda as history's good guys on the side of liberation from "Zionist oppression"
and "American imperialism."
Hamas' victory in a genuinely free election seals the permanence and further
consolidation of the 420-mile, $2 billion physical barrier between Israel and
the West Bank. This now-permanent frontier protects the largest Jewish
settlements in Palestinian territory and annexes about 12 percent of its land.
Any prospect of a Palestinian capital in Arab East Jerusalem is gone for good.
The silver lining brigade sees Hamas becoming more moderate. Or do the optimists
mean less extremist? The glass-is-half-full-and-filling school says now that
Hamas is part of the democratic game, it will have to play by democratic rules.
Just like Mr. Chavez in Venezuela or Mr. Morales in Bolivia -- or long ago, when
Mr. Castro took over in Cuba in 1959, or Pol Pot in Cambodia in 1975 -- they
will be "moderate agrarian reformers."
**Arnaud de Borchgrave is editor at large for United Press International and The
Washington Times.
Gunman crosses northern border, fires at IDF outpost near Har Dov
By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent - Last update - 22:52 01/02/2006
A gunman on Wednesday crossed the border with Lebanon into Israel, and fired at
an Israel Defense Forces outpost in the Har Dov area. IDF troops returned fire,
and no injuries were reported in the incident.
The GOC Northern Command is investigating whether the gunman crossed into Israel
on his own or whether he was accompanied by another person, who had escaped.
The IDF has been on high alert in the north for months following warnings of
Hezbollah attempts to abduct IDF soldiers. A previous attempt occurred two
months ago, when a large number of Hezbollah forces broke into the village of
Ghajar in order to abduct soldiers. Another serious incident occurred in the
north last month, when Katyusha rockets were fired at Kiryat Shmona and the
Western Galilee.
Last week Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said that "the terror threat from Lebanon
still exists. South Lebanon has turned into a state within a state, under the
control of Hezbollah, Syria and Iran."
Mofaz was speaking at a memorial service marking nine years since the helicopter
disaster in which 73 soldiers were killed. "Lebanon must prevent aggression
toward Israel or suffer its consequences," Mofaz said
LEBANON: HEZBOLLAH DENIES KILLING FRENCH SOCIOLOGIST
Beirut, 1 Feb. (AKI) - A spokesman for the Lebanese radical group Hezbollah has
said his organisation played no part in the murder of a French sociologist who
disappeared in Beirut in 1985. "We weren't involved in the kidnapping of the
French researcher Michel Seurat, nor were we aware of his fate in Lebanon,"
Hezbollah spokesman Husayn Nabulsi told Adnkronos International (AKI) on
Wednesday.
On 8 January Lebanese authorities announced that human remains, probably
belonging to Seurat, had been found in a Beirut neighbourhood. DNA tests
conducted in France have subsequently established that the remains were indeed
those of Seurat, his widow Marie told French RTL radio in an interview.
Seurat, a specialist in Arab culture, disappeared from Beirut on 22 May 1985, in
the midst of Lebanon's bloody civil war. A small Iranian-backed group, Islamic
Jihad, claimed it had abducted the French researcher and subsequently announced
that he had been killed. His body was never found. In November 2005, Syrian
filmmaker Omar Amiralay, during a presentation in Beirut of a documentary he
made on Seurat, accused Hezbollah of murdering the sociologist.
Must-See Hezbollah TV: Part V
The MEMRI Report- By STEVEN STALINSKY
February 1, 2006
"To deny the Iranian aid issued to Hezbollah would be like denying that the sun
provides light to the earth."
- Hezbollah's original secretary-general, Sheik Subhi Tufeili
On February 16, 1985, Hezbollah released its manifesto bearing a picture of "our
leader," the Ayatollah Khomeini on the back cover. A Washington Post article
from that year reported on, "Iranian Revolutionary Guards carrying out their
missionary work, indoctrinating the Lebanese Shiites in the spiritual and
political teachings of Khomeini."
Iran's ideological and financial support of Hezbollah was detailed in Hala
Jaber's 1997 book on the terror organization: "Hezbollah is coy about revealing
the sums it has received from Iran." She added, "reports have spoken on figures
ranging from $5-$10 million per month."
Hezbollah's most important tool in spreading its ideology of death and
celebration of martyrdom - heavily influenced by the Iranian theocracy - is the
TV channel Al-Manar. With a multimillion-dollar headquarters in Beirut and as
the Christian Science Monitor has reported, a budget that grew tenfold between
1991 and 2001 (some estimate its current annual budget to be between $10-$50
million), that the Iranian government is backing Al-Manar should come as no
surprise. According to an article published by in the Transnational Broadcasting
Studies' winter-fall 2002 issue, "Iranian ayatollahs backed and helped to launch
Al-Manar" and the channel's first broadcast was of the 1989 funeral of the
Ayatollah Khomeini.
In a June 2, 2002, interview on Al-Manar with the deputy secretary-general of
Hezbollah, Sheik Na'im Qasem, the sheik quoted the Iranian regime in explaining
his organization's position on Israel and jihad: "Muslims should annihilate
Israel. ... Imam Khomeini said, 'The goal of this virus [Israel] that was
planted in the heart of the Islamic world. ... The danger is to the whole Middle
East... and the solution is in annihilating the virus.'" Mr. Qasem also
described how good it was to see "a mother saying goodbye to her son, awaiting
his return as a shahid [suicide bomber]"
Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nassrallah, gave a speech on February 19,
broadcast live on Al-Manar containing both a threat to America and a salute to
Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei: "If America ... stops its aggression ... we
will have no problem with it. We don't want to go to Washington to fight
America." He added, "How can death become joyous ... sweeter than honey? Only
through conviction, ideology, and faith ... as the Leader Imam Khamenei said ...
the most honorable killing and the most glorious martyrdom is when a man is
killed for the sake of Allah, by the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the
prophets [i.e. the Jews]."
Ms. Jaber's book also detailed how Hezbollah TV instructs Muslim youth to
terrorism: "Al-Manar ... is dominated by religious programs. Pictures and names
of martyrs are screened, supported by verses from the Koran which glorify such
deaths. The aim is simple, to indoctrinate the minds of the young ... with the
idea that those seek martyrdom will be rewarded with more pleasure than can ever
be achieved during this earthly lifetime."
Al-Arabiya TV aired a program on the celebration of martyrdom by Hezbollah and
Al-Manar on August 19. In one scene, a young boy is shown viewing footage of a
suicide bomber in a car that exploded. The boy said: "I love to watch him,"
explaining it was his father.
The mother of martyr Bassel Al-Din appeared on Al-Manar on May 22. She cried in
happiness when telling the channel: "Bassel had a wish. ... Whenever I told him
I wanted to marry him off, he would say, 'Yes, mother, you'll marry me off like
this in paradise.' And indeed, the martyr Bassel got married in paradise. I
congratulate the black-eyed virgins who took Bassel from me."
A November 11, 2004, "Mother's Day Special" on Al-Manar featured comments from
many mothers of martyrs. One stated, "All I want is martyrdom. I'm willing for
all my children to become martyrs." Another said, "It's true I sacrificed a son,
but others have sacrificed two or three. I hope more of my sons will become
martyrs." The Al-Manar moderator praised them and explained, "The reward of ...
all martyrs' mothers is not in vain. ... Not only locally, this is an experience
that is now shared by all societies."
Just this past week, Dutch authorities blocked the transmission of Al-Manar for
spreading hate and stated the channel encourages the radicalization of Muslims
and glorifies terrorist attacks. Next week's column, the conclusion of this
series on Al-Manar, will explore Western reaction to Hezbollah's attempt to
incite Muslims in the West via its TV channel.
**Mr. Stalinsky is the executive director of the Middle East Media Research
Institute.
English / français
2.02.06
Reporters Without Borders /
Liban/ Lebanon
LEBANON
Calls for solidarity with Lebanon, where freedom was
murdered
French TV broadcaster Christine Ockrent yesterday hosted a Reporters Without
Borders evening of solidarity with Lebanon, where newspaper journalists Samir
Kassir and Gebran Tueni were murdered last year and Lebanese TV presenter May
Chidiac was maimed by a bomb.
Relatives of the victims and leading French and Lebanese figures took part in
the event, held in the Orsay Museum auditorium in Paris, and paid homage to the
victims.
Tueni's daughter, Nayla Tueni, Kassir's widow, Gisèle Khoury, Chidiac's sister,
Micheline Chidiac Baaklini, former French ministers Michel Barnier and Bernard
Kouchner, former Lebanese culture minister Ghassan Salamé, writer Amin Maalouf
and Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard talked about these
politically committed journalists and appealed to the public in France and the
rest of the world to show support so that their deaths should not be in vain.
Franco-Lebanese pianist Abdel Rahman El Bacha gave a recital in their memory.
Ockrent opened the evening by stressing the strength of the ties of friendship
and respect between Lebanon and France.
Tueni, who is a journalist at her father's newspaper, An-Nahar, said he was "the
man who said out loud what hundreds of thousands of Lebanese were thinking to
themselves." His killers, she said, had wanted to silence someone who was
telling his compatriots: "We, Christians and Muslims. . . united until death for
the freedom and solidarity of our Lebanon." This was a much-repeated slogan
during the Beirut spring of March 2005.
Khoury, a presenter at the TV station Al Arabiya, called her late husband,
Kassir, "a martyr of the palace of the word," saying he spent all his life
relating what was happening in Beirut. He was full of praise for a "modern and
tolerant Beirut, a city in love with freedom, which wanted to be sovereign and
free of any external meddling." She added that she expected a lot from the
French investigation into his death.
Baaklini read out a message from her sister, Chidiac, who could not attend
herself because yesterday evening she was undergoing her 21st operation since
last September's bomb attack.
Former French foreign minister Barnier said he was impressed by these "two
journalists who stood up and put their lives at risk in order to participate in
the awakening of an entire people, in order to demand legitimate sovereignty and
freedom for their country."
Kouchner reiterated his faith in justice, stressing that even if it "is
sometimes slow, it is tenacious, and the guilty will be pursued and arrested."
Salamé appealed for action, pointing out that, "the two journalists were not
killed by stray bullets, they were clearly identified and their death came about
because they were the bearers of a message." He added that "political
assassination must not be a weapon of government."
Maalouf compared Lebanon to a rose bush: "If you get close to the flowers, you
can scratch your hands and produce blood. But even if that happens, take the
time to caress the flowers." He also called his country a synthesis of the best
and the worst. "Lebanon found its reason for existence in the mosaic of its
inhabitants, cultural diversity and free _expression, but with the war it
entered an era of communal tension, withdrawal and destruction," Maalouf said,
adding, "we must ensure that this era is just the thorn that announces the
beauty of the next flowers."
Ménard said: "The injuries inflicted on Lebanon have a particular impact because
of its historic friendship with France but also, in these three cases, because
of Reporters Without Borders' very close ties with Gebran Tueni and Samir Kassir."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LIBAN
Soirée "Liban, la liberté assassinée" : appels à la mobilisation
Au cours d'une soirée organisée par Reporters sans frontières et présentée par
Christine Ockrent, le 1er février 2005, à l'auditorium du musée d'Orsay à Paris,
les familles de Samir Kassir, Gebrane Tuéni et May Chidiac, ainsi des que
personnalités françaises et libanaises, ont rendu un vibrant hommage aux deux
journalistes libanais assassinés et à la présentatrice grièvement mutilée.
A cette occasion, Nayla Tuéni, fille de Gebrane Tueni, Gisèle Khoury, veuve de
Samir Kassir, Micheline Chidiac Baaklini, s¦ur de May Chidiac, les anciens
ministres français Michel Barnier et Bernard Kouchner, Ghassan Salamé, ancien
ministre libanais de la Culture, l'écrivain Amin Maalouf et Robert Ménard,
secrétaire général de Reporters sans frontières, ont livré leurs témoignages sur
les journalistes engagés qu'ils étaient et ont appelé l'opinion publique
internationale et la France à la mobilisation pour que leurs morts n'aient pas
été vaines. Le pianiste franco-libanais Abdel Rahman El Bacha a également offert
un récital en mémoire des journalistes.
Christine Okrent a débuté la soirée en rappelant la force des liens d'amitié et
de respect entre le Liban et la France.
Nayla Tuéni, journaliste au quotidien An-Nahar, dirigé jusqu'à sa mort par
Gebrane Tueni, a déclaré que son "père était l'homme qui a dit tout haut ce que
des centaines de milliers de Libanais pensaient tout bas". Elle a ajouté que les
assassins avaient voulu faire taire celui qui avait transmis aux Libanais le
message : "Nous, chrétiens, musulmansŠ unis jusqu'à la mort pour la liberté et
la souveraineté de notre Liban". Ce slogan avait été largement repris lors du
printemps de Beyrouth en mars 2005.
Gisèle Khoury, présentatrice sur la chaîne de télévision Al-Arabiya, a qualifié
Samir Kassir de "martyr du palais de la parole" rappelant qu'il avait consacré
sa vie à relater l'histoire de Beyrouth. Elle a expliqué combien son mari
vantait un "Beyrouth moderne et tolérant, une ville éprise de liberté dans un
pays qui se veut souverain de toute ingérence extérieure". Gisèle Khoury a
également déclaré "qu'elle attendait beaucoup de l'enquête française sur
l'assassinat de son mari".
Un message de May Chidiac, absente car elle subissait le soir même sa 21e
opération depuis septembre 2005, a été lu par sa s¦ur Micheline Baaklini. Elle a
rappelé qu'elle avait été punie pour avoir choisi la liberté comme métier.
Michel Barnier a déclaré avoir été impressionné par ces "deux journalistes qui
se sont levés et ont participé au péril de leur vie au réveil de tout un peuple,
afin de réclamer une souveraineté légitime et la liberté de leur pays".
Bernard Kouchner a réitéré sa foi en la justice déclarant que même si cette
dernière "était parfois longue, mais elle était tenace" et "que les coupables
seront poursuivis et arrêtés".
*
Ghassan Salamé a également lancé un appel à l'action rappelant que "les deux
journalistes ne sont pas morts de balles perdues ; ils ont été clairement
identifiés et leur mort est survenue parce qu'ils étaient porteurs d'un
message". Il a ajouté que "les assassinats politiques ne doivent plus être une
arme de pouvoir".
Pour parler de liberté, Amin Maalouf a comparé le Liban à un rosier. "Si vous
vous approchez des fleurs, vous risquez de vous lacérer les mains jusqu'au sang.
Mais, même si c'est le cas, prenez le temps de caresser les fleurs." Il a
également rappelé que le pays était une synthèse du meilleur et du pire. "Le
Liban qui trouvait sa raison d'être dans la mosaïque de ses habitants, la
diversité culturelle et la liberté d'_expression est entré, avec la guerre, dans
une ère de crispation communautaire, de repli sur soi et de destruction de
l'autre." L'écrivain a conclu en affirmant qu'il "fallait faire en sorte que
cette ère ne soit que l'épine qui annonce la beauté des fleurs prochaines".
Robert Ménard a affirmé que "les blessures infligées au Liban ont une portée
particulière à cause de l'amitié historique que ce pays entretient avec la
France mais également, dans ce cas très précis, à cause du lien très étroit
qu'entretenaient Gebrane Tuéni et Samir Kassir avec Reporters sans frontières".
--
Maghreb & Middle-East Desk
Lynn TEHINI
Reporters Without Borders
5 rue Geoffroy-Marie
F - 75009 Paris
33 1 44 83 84 84
33 1 45 23 11 51 (fax)
middle-east@rsf.org
www.rsf.org
Did the French Connection kill Hariri?
By David Ignatius -Daily Star staff
Friday, February 03, 2006
Once every five or six weeks, a French presidential adviser named Maurice
Gourdault-Montagne flies to Washington to meet with his American counterpart,
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. They spend several hours coordinating
strategy on Iran, Syria, Lebanon and other hot spots, and then the Frenchman
flies home. In between trips, the two men talk often on the phone, usually on
Tuesdays and Thursdays.Welcome to the French Connection. Though the link between
the top foreign-policy advisers of Presidents George W. Bush and Jacques Chirac
is almost unknown to the outside world, it has emerged as an increasingly
important element of United States planning. On a public level, France may still
be the butt of jokes among American politicians, but in these private diplomatic
contacts, the Elysee Palace has become one of the White House's most important
and effective allies.
During a visit to Paris this week, I had a chance to talk with French sources
who know some of the closely held details. It's an intriguing story of back
channels and secret missions, but it illustrates a larger change in America's
approach: Bruised by the war in Iraq, the administration is now working hard to
conduct its foreign policy in tandem with international allies and, where
possible, through the United Nations.
America's key intermediary in this search for international consensus has been
France. Senator Hillary Clinton may have been using political hyperbole when she
charged last month that the administration has been "outsourcing" its Iran
policy to France and other European countries, but she wasn't entirely wrong. An
administration that was blasted during its first term for being overly
unilateralist has indeed decided to work more closely with allies. Contrary to
Clinton, I think that's a positive development - and one that's likely to make
U.S. policy more effective. The French Connection's impact is clear from some
examples. Let's start with a secret trip to Damascus by Gourdault-Montagne in
November 2003 to see Syrian President Bashar Assad. At the time, French-American
relations were still in the deep freeze because of Chirac's refusal to support
the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but the French were doing some early damage control.
Gourdault-Montagne brought the Syrian leader a message from Chirac and two other
critics of the Iraq war, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian
President Vladimir Putin.
The message to Assad was: The war has changed things in the Middle East and you
have to show you have changed, too - by visiting Jerusalem or taking some other
bold step for peace with Israel. The French were probably hoping to gain some
diplomatic leverage with Washington by acting as a peace broker, but that's not
how Assad took it. "Are you the spokesman of the Americans?" he asked
Gourdault-Montagne. Worried that France, Germany and Russia were joining a U.S.
pressure campaign, a nervous Assad soon began trying to consolidate his control
over Lebanon. He forced the re-election of Lebanon's pliant pro-Syrian
president, Emile Lahoud, and began squeezing Syria's nemesis, Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri. That process culminated in Hariri's murder in February 2005.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
Gourdault-Montagne began making his quiet trips to Washington in August 2004 to
coordinate French-American efforts on UN Security Council Resolution 1559,
calling for a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. It was in the midst of a
presidential campaign, and the French were obviously hedging their bets. After
Hariri's murder, Washington and Paris collaborated in forcing a Syrian
withdrawal under Resolution 1559. To discourage mischief by the Shiite militia
Hizbullah, Gourdault-Montagne told the Iranians during a secret visit to Tehran
in February 2005 to advise Hizbullah to play it cool.
In framing policy on Syria and Iran, the French and Americans have consciously
played a good cop-bad cop routine. The Americans demand tough UN language; the
French bring the Russians and Chinese on board for a slightly watered-down
version. It's a classic diplomatic minuet, but it has probably produced tougher
and better resolutions than would have emerged if either side went alone. An
illustration is the compromise that came this week - to refer Iran to the
Security Council for its violations of nuclear agreements, but also to give Iran
another month to comply before any formal recommendation. The French argue that
it's crucial now to maintain international solidarity on Iran, even at the price
of a brief delay. What's interesting is that the Bush administration seems to
agree.
Hadley and Gourdault-Montagne even look a bit alike. Both are thin, dapper,
bespectacled advisers - men for whom the term "buttoned down" was invented.
Paris and Washington still disagree sharply on the substance of many issues, but
they seem to have concluded that they'll get more of what they want if they
collaborate rather than bicker. Indeed, the quiet partnership has probably
benefited from the fact that the world still thinks France and America are
enemies.
**Syndicated columnist David Ignatius is published regularly by THE DAILY STAR.
Respect for Christians in Iraq and in All of the
Middle East
Posted GMT 2-2-2006 19:58:51 Send to Printer Printer Friendly Email This Link
Reader Comments
Damascus (AsiaNews) --- Respect for Christians in Iraq and in general, all those
in the Middle East, who "enrich the Arab world" of which they are an integral
part. This is the request which comes from a meeting of Catholic and Orthodox
priests, who gathered in Damascus at the behest of the secretary for the
Federation of Christian Minorities, Habib Hephrem, following the attacks carried
out on churches in Baghdad and Kirkuk.
In the wake of Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir's appeal to the
conscience of those in power to protect the Christian minorities, who "enrich
the Arab world of which they are part" and the condemnation of the Chaldean
Patriarch Emmanuel Delly, who defined the acts as "far from true Islam" and a
"provocation to hate and revenge", today in Damascus a group of Catholic and
Orthodox priests united their voices in denouncing the violence. Brought
together at the request of secretary for the Federation of Christian Minorities,
Habib Hephrem, they denounced these inhuman and terrorist acts, which they say,
mark the face of the Arab world, land of religions and civilizations. This
violence they add, aims to drive Christians from the land that was home to their
forefathers. The priests appealed to the US led coalition forces present in Iraq
to take on the responsibility of protecting and defending the Christian presence
in the country, from whence thousands flee towards Jordan and Syria. They also
expressed their wish that the civil rights of the Christian minorities be
respected. The need to find a way to face the mounting pressure Christians are
placed under was also highlighted, pressures for example, regarding marriage and
chador, which some authorities try to impose on Christian girls, or that of the
total ban on alcohol…
Saadi El Maleh, university professor and journalist, speaking to AsiaNews,
maintains that the attacks were in answer to the continued presence of foreign
troops in the country. To his mind, there is "the danger of a probable mass
exodus of Christians, who are threatened because they are protected by the west,
which in itself is not true, it is because they are Christians".
by Jihad Issa
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