LCCC NEWS
BULLETIN
JULY 20/2006
Latest
News From Daily Star 20/07/06
UN says international force in Lebanon 'has to happen fast'
Have spies been helping the enemy find its targets?
MEA plans to resume flights - from Damascus
Siniora pleads for world's help
57 perish on deadliest day of war so far
Israel finds new pretexts to kill Lebanese civilians
The road to Damascus is paved with risk
Hizbullah talks tough as others search for cease-fire
Fresh wave of attacks puts civilian death toll over 300
Crisis escalates as food, medicines run low
Organization problems spur resentment among evacuees
A stalemate that is killing civilians by the hundreds
War builds trust among wary sects
Lebanon's capacity to rebuild is greater than that of others to destroy
The meaning of a Hizbullah victory -By
Michael Young
Latest
News From miscellaneous sources 20/07/06
Lebanese patriarch to Cheney: Israeli response not proportionate-Catholic
Online
Bush to Siniora: Drop Dead-Bay Area Indymedia - San Francisco,CA,USA
Mid-East conflict: Who stands where-BBC News - UK
Three heavy explosions heard in Beirut-Ap
FBI increases scrutiny
of Hezbollah-AP
Israel battles guerillas in 8th day of fighting-AP
Thousands head for Cyprus and Syria in Lebanon exodus AFP
Nazareth boys first Arab deaths in Israel rocket attacks AFP
Rift between U.S., EU emerges on Israel AP
Hezbollah rockets kill two near holy sites-AP
FACTBOX-Evacuation plans for foreigners in Lebanon-Reuters
France's Chirac says to send aid plane for Lebanon-Reuters
Israeli suspicion of UN clouds Lebanon force plan-Washington
Post
On the Syria border: High chaos, high anxiety-MSNBC
- USA
ANALYSIS - By hitting Hizbollah, Israel warns Iran and Syria-Reuters
Blair blames Syria and Iran for spreading terror across region-Telegraph.co.uk
Rice tells Sfeir US is 'Praying' for Lebanese Civilians-Naharnet -
Beirut,Lebanon
By Tarron Lively and Adoree Kim-Washington Times - Washington,DC,USA
Remarks With Maronite Patriarch of Lebanon Nasrallah Sfeir Before CGGL.org
54 Killed in Israeli Bombardment as U.N. Warns of Catastrophe and Foreigners
Flee-Naharnet
Solana: Bloodshed Could Weaken Saniora's Government-Naharnet
Israel Pounds PFLP-GC Bases Near Syrian Border-Naharnet
France Circulates Suggestions for Possible U.N. Resolution on Israel-Hizbullah
Conflict-Naharnet
UN working on new deal between Israel and Lebanon-Ha'aretz
- Tel Aviv,Israel
Bush accuses Damascus over crisis-BBC News -
UK
Israeli troops battle Hezbollah guerrillas-Ap
Blair blames Syria and Iran for stoking tension-Independent
- London,England,UK
Syria, Iran determined to protect Hizbullah-Ynetnews
- Israel
Bush accuses Iran, Syria over Hezballah attacks-Spero
News - USA
Syria denies Israeli accusations-Bahrain
News Agency - Bahrain
The Address Is in Damascus-National Review
Online Blogs - New York,NY,USA
Foreigners stream out of Lebanon-Euronews.net
- Lyon,France
UN Efforts in Lebanon Show Difficulty of Effective Action-New York Times -
United States
Israel Pounds Lebanon for Seventh Day, Hezbollah Rockets Hit -Chosun Ilbo
Israeli troops carry out attacks inside Lebanon-Reuters.uk - UK
A Canadian soldier's report from South Lebanon-CTV.ca
- Canada
UN force in south Lebanon holding its positions during strife-UN
News Centre
Lebanese patriarch
tells Cheney Israeli response not proportionate-Catholic
News Service
Escalation in the Middle East-Florida
Catholic - Orlando,FL,USA
Key Players in the Middle East Conflict-CTV.ca
- Canada
Dithering while Beirut burns-Guardian
Unlimited - UK
Israel may send ground troops into
Lebanon-yahoo
Syria, Iran, and the Mideast Conflict-Council
on Foreign Relations
Govt accused of leaving Australians stranded in Lebanon-ABC Online -
Australia
Israel sends ground troops into Lebanon-ABC Online - Australia
Bush warns Syria to keep out of Lebanon-MSN Money - USA
Crude Oil Rises From One-Week Low as Lebanon Conflict Continues-Bloomberg
The meaning of a Hizbullah victory
By Michael Young -Daily Star staff
Thursday, July 20, 2006
As Israel pursues its systematic dismemberment of predominantly Shiite areas in
Lebanon, and Shiite lives, one question remains: What happens if Hizbullah
emerges from the conflict victorious?
This is no surreptitious appeal for an Israeli victory. Israel's triumphs
usually mean the other side - particularly civilians - is brutalized beyond what
is acceptable even in the harsh world of international relations. Only a week
into the latest Israeli onslaught on Lebanon, the third in 13 years, Lebanon is
reeling, and much more of this could carry it into a medium-term economic
collapse, multiplying the suffering of the present.
No, the reason to pose the question is simpler: A Hizbullah victory, by showing
that the party can stand up to Israel, and can do so because it mobilized its
armed state within the state without consulting any of its Lebanese political
partners, may crack the already frayed Lebanese consensus. When the diverse
religious communities decide the problem is that one side has the weapons while
the others have nothing but a choice to remain silent, Lebanon will break down,
and it could do so violently.
As commentator Sarkis Naoum argued recently, Hizbullah is behaving much like
Christian leaders did before the 1975 war. What he probably meant was that it is
trying to turn state institutions to its advantage, against the will of the
majority, even as the party builds up a parallel security structure to the army.
But the Christians could at least argue that they were defending against the
armed Palestinian presence. What is Hizbullah's excuse? That the abduction of
two Israeli soldiers to secure the release of a handful of Lebanese prisoners
was worth billions of dollars in economic losses, a massive humanitarian crisis,
and the destruction of an infrastructure the Lebanese have spent years paying
for to rebuild?
Arabs high on the taste of armed struggle are delighted with Hizbullah. In
Damascus the regime has again deflected attention away from its own bankruptcy
by calling out demonstrators in support of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. But if
Lebanese blood is the price of Arab pride; if the current battle is one not for
Lebanese security, as Hizbullah had earlier claimed, but one for the fate of the
umma, Arab or Muslim, as Nasrallah declared in his latest speech, then most
Lebanese will reject such hubris out of hand.
What is Nasrallah thinking today, as his exhausted coreligionists stumble into
schools and public facilities, their lives in shambles? He's probably focused on
the political endgame, since the ultimate outcome of his fight with Israel will
determine if those same Shiites praise Hizbullah or bury it. Still the most
powerful Lebanese politician by virtue of his armed militia, Nasrallah is also
the most vulnerable, because he can no longer return to the status quo ante on
the Lebanese border - a situation he had worked hard to build after the Israeli
withdrawal in 2000. How he is allowed to maneuver between these two realities
will determine his fate.
To Nasrallah's advantage, he doesn't need a military victory in order to secure
his political resurrection. He needs only to survive with his militia intact and
Israel sufficiently bloodied. For the moment, Israel is not playing along. There
are some reports that Hizbullah is demoralized. With the Shiite community thrown
into disarray, so too has the party's visceral bond with it. However, Israel's
claims that it has destroyed 40-50 percent of the militia's capabilities seem
exaggerated. If enough international pressure builds up for a cease-fire,
Nasrallah must be calculating, then he might be able to turn everything around.
Iranian money would finance Shiite reconstruction; he could tell his brethren
that they paid a high price, but also preserved their dignity; and, regionally,
Hizbullah would be applauded as the best thing that has happened to the Arabs in
ages.
That's one scenario. Another is that Nasrallah, unable to recreate what he had
before July 12, when the Israeli offensive onslaught began, must now find a new
military equation in the South that is sustainable. The deployment of an
international force in the border area alongside the Lebanese Army would stand
in the way of this. Creation of such a force might be used to persuade Shiites
that international guarantees in the South would better protect them than
Hizbullah's "defense strategy," which has collapsed ignominiously under Israeli
bombs. In such a context, Nasrallah, with hundreds of thousands of Shiites in
the streets, would have no choice but to step back and accept normalization,
perhaps living to fight another day.
The outcome will be neither here not there. It is unclear what Israel intends to
do, beyond break the back of Shiite villagers. If the goal is to degrade
Hizbullah's military capability, then more land operations are likely. An
invasion would impose national unity around the resistance. However, if the
Israelis exit quickly, creating a free-fire zone in the border area so Hizbullah
cannot return, in the eyes of the international community this might facilitate
the deployment of an expanded United Nations force with the Lebanese Army to the
South. The only problem, and a major one, is that Hizbullah would first have to
agree to surrender its weapons.
One thing remains most disturbing. In bombing the daylights out of Shiites,
while leaving Sunni, Christian and Druze areas mostly unharmed, the Israelis may
have created years of sectarian resentment. Nasrallah can play on this to rouse
his coreligionists out of their stupor. Look, he might say, where our fellow
Lebanese were when the Israelis came after us; they criticized the resistance,
and by extension all Shiites. Such thinking might help save Nasrallah's skin,
but it could push Lebanon over the brink.
Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR.
FBI increases scrutiny of Hezbollah
By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The fighting in the Middle East has prompted the FBI to increase
its focus on the worldwide activities of the Islamic militant group Hezbollah,
but the bureau said Wednesday it has no credible intelligence pointing to an
imminent attack in the United States.
The FBI has numerous investigations into Hezbollah's recruitment, training and
fundraising activities, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said. "At this time, there is
no specific or credible intelligence pointing to an imminent attack by Hezbollah
in the United States," Bresson said.
The FBI and Homeland Security Department have cautioned state and local police
to be aware of the potential for violence, even without specific threats.
The State Department has designated the Lebanon-based Hezbollah as a terrorist
organization. The FBI has pursued several cases in the United States involving
Hezbollah financing in recent years, including cigarette-smuggling cases in
Michigan and North Carolina.
Two men pleaded guilty this month to racketeering charges stemming from the
indictment of 18 people in a smuggling ring based in Michigan that steered some
of the profits to Hezbollah.
The group has never launched a terrorist attack inside the United States. But
before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Hezbollah was responsible for more
American deaths than any other single terrorist organization.
The group's deadliest strike against Americans was the 1983 attack on the Marine
barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. servicemen.
Hezbollah, which means Party of God, was founded in 1982 to respond to Israel's
invasion of Lebanon. The radical Shiite organization advocates for Israel's
elimination and the establishment of an Islamic government in Lebanon modeled
after the religious theocracy in Iran.
The fighting in Lebanon began July 12, when Hezbollah guerrillas raided an
Israeli border outpost and kidnapped two soldiers.
The organization has been linked to organized crime, including drug trafficking,
drug counterfeiting and stolen baby formula. The profits are sent back to the
Middle East, prosecutors have said in federal criminal cases.
Kevin Brock, a career FBI agent who is now deputy director of the National
Counterterrorism Center, recently told reporters that the U.S. has remained
vigilant about Hezbollah, even as the focus of U.S. anti-terror efforts has
shifted to al-Qaida.
"The prioritization obviously has been al-Qaida, but that doesn't mean Hezbollah
has dropped off the screen by any stretch of the imagination," Brock said
Pope backs G8 stand on Lebanon
Jul. 19 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has indicated his support
for a statement released by the leaders of the G8 industrial nations regarding
the crisis in Lebanon.
In a brief exchange with reporters on July 18, as he returned to his vacation
home in the Alpine village of Les Combes after a long afternoon hike, the Holy
Father responded to a question about the Middle East by saying, "I fully agree
with the G8 statement."
At their meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, the G8 leaders had approved a
statement calling for an immediate ceasefire. The G8 statement urged Israel to
act with restraint, but suggested that the primary blame for the latest violence
should fall upon Hezbollah terrorists.
"These extremist elements and those that support them cannot be allowed to
plunge the Middle East into chaos and provoke a wider conflict," the G8 leaders
agreed. "The extremists must immediately halt their attacks."
Pope Benedict said that in his view, the G8 statement "indicates the path" that
should be taken toward peace in the Middle East. That statement had called for
the safe return of Israeli soldiers who have been captured in Gaza and Lebanon;
a halt to the rocket attacks and terror bombings on Israeli territory; the end
of Israeli military operations in Lebanon; rapid withdrawal of Israeli forces
from Gaza; and the release of Palestinian parliamentary leaders who have been
arrested by Israeli forces. "I have nothing to add," Pope Benedict said, "except
the importance of prayer that God will help us." France Circulates Suggestions for Possible U.N. Resolution on Israel-Hizbullah
Conflict
France circulated suggestions Tuesday night that could be included in a U.N.
resolution on the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon including a
cease-fire, condemnation of "extremist forces" that seek to destabilize the
region, and the possibility of a new international force.
France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere had other ideas as well --
calling for the release of the abducted Israeli soldiers, implementing U.N.
Security Council Resolution 1559 that calls for the disarmament of all militias,
and supports the Lebanese government's efforts to assert authority in southern
Lebanon which is a Hizbullah stronghold.
Since fighting began a week ago, the Security Council has taken no action.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Washington wants to wait for briefings from a
U.N. mission sent to the region to try to defuse the crisis. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan has also been talking to world leaders and joined British Prime
Minister Tony Blair Monday in proposing a new stabilization force as the only
way to get hostilities to stop.
Annan and the three-member U.N. team are returning to New York on Wednesday and
de La Sabliere said the secretary-general would brief the Security Council on
Thursday. It was unclear whether the mission, led by Annan's political adviser
Vijay Nambiar, would also report to the council.
"France still believes that, at the appropriate moment, the council should adopt
a substantial resolution for a sustainable solution to the crisis," de La
Sabliere said in a statement.
He said the elements in the "non-paper" sent to Security Council members were
"largely inspired" by the final communique of leaders of the Group of Eight
major powers who met in St. Petersburg, Russia this weekend and asked the
council to work out a plan that could lead to lasting peace between Lebanon and
Israel.
Their joint message reflected a significant swing of support toward Israel's
argument that it has been acting in self-defense against Hizbullah rocket
attacks and abductions.
It called for release of the abducted Israeli soldiers, an end to the shelling
of Israeli territory, a halt to Israeli military operations, and support for
disarming Hizbullah and other militias. It expressed deepening concern at the
rising civilian casualties on all sides and the damage to infrastructure, and
backed a political dialogue between the Lebanese and the Israelis.
The G-8 leaders also asked the Security Council to examine "the possibility of
an international security/monitoring presence" in Lebanon.
The French suggested that a resolution could express "extreme concern" at the
escalation of hostilities and the deteriorating humanitarian situation and
widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure in Lebanon, and call on all
parties "to exercise utmost restraint" to avoid additional civilian casualties.
A key suggestion would call "for a comprehensive and lasting cease-fire" and the
underlying causes of the conflict to be addressed.
The French also suggested that extremist forces be condemned for trying "to
frustrate the aspiration of the Israeli and Lebanese people for democracy and
peace," and warned not to plunge the Mideast into chaos and a wider conflict.
Another key element would express a readiness to examine additional measures
that could prevent a resumption of hostilities, "including the possibility of a
reinforced international security and monitoring presence."
Bolton said Tuesday the Security Council should not start talking about sending
a new international force to southern Lebanon until it knows how the conflict is
going to be resolved.
"I think it's the cart before the horse to talk about applying force before we
know what the overall military or political resolution is like to be," he told
reporters.
The council would need to decide whether a new force would be empowered to
disarm and demobilize Hizbullah, he said Monday. It would also need to decide if
a force would have the power "to deal with countries like Syria and Iran that
support Hezbollah."
Bolton said council members also need to ask what would make a new multinational
force different from the U.N. peacekeeping force that has been in southern
Lebanon for 28 years, and whether a new force would strengthen the Lebanese
armed forces so they could deploy throughout the country.
The 2,000-strong U.N. force known as UNIFIL monitors the Blue Line separating
Lebanon and Israel, which is not an official border but was drawn by the United
Nations to mark Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000. Its mandate is
solely observation.
Bolton said the council should consider a multinational peacekeeping force like
the one monitoring the 1979 Egypt-Israeli peace deal which led to Israel's
withdrawal from Sinai rather than a new U.N. peacekeeping force. Ten countries
have troops in the Sinai force, including the U.S. and France.(AP) (AFP photo
shows Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, France's Ambassador to the United Nations)
Beirut, Updated 19 Jul 06, 09:54
Rice tells Sfeir U.S. is 'Praying' for Lebanese Civilians
Naharnet: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Patriarch Nasrallah
Sfeir on Tuesday that Americans were praying for Lebanese civilians amid the
conflict with Israel. "We are, of course, working very hard to minimize the
impact of the current conflict on the Lebanese people," the State Department
quoted Rice as saying in the telephone conversation. "And I want you to know
that we're not only working very hard, but we're also praying for the people of
Lebanon," she was quoted as saying. Sfeir replied that Israel was placing
Lebanon under attack and that his country did not have the means to respond.
"When some are having arms and the others have not there is no equality," the
State Department quoted Sfeir as saying.
Rice responded: "Yes, well, the international community has to help you." She
also insisted on the enforcement of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559 that
calls on Lebanon to disarm Hizbullah, to which Sfeir responded, according to the
State Department transcript: "There's a better way."
To that, Rice said: "Yes, we will work." Washington on Tuesday stalled on naming
a date for Rice's Middle East peace mission, amid statements from Israel that it
was coming too soon after the eruption of violence. U.S. President George Bush
inadvertently announced her mission through an open microphone in a private
conversation with British Prime Minister Tony Blair during the G8 summit in
Saint Petersburg, Russia, on Monday.(AFP) Beirut, 19 Jul 06, 08:3
Hezbollah rockets kill 2 near holy sites
By GABE ROSS, Associated Press Writer
NAZARETH, Israel - Hezbollah rockets Wednesday slammed into this Arab-Israeli
town revered as the place Jesus grew up, killing two young brothers as they
played outside and wounding 18 other people, Israeli authorities said. The
attack on Nazareth — the first by the Lebanese guerrillas to reach near
important holy sites — came hours after Israeli troops engaged in a fierce
firefight with Hezbollah inside Lebanon, a clash that killed two soldiers and
one militant. Nazareth residents ran to a building in flames from one of the
airstrikes to help firefighters unwind hoses. Another strike killed brothers
ages 3 and 9, police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said. Television footage showed
a large crater in the middle of the road. "It's a vacation and it's afternoon so
where will they go if not to play in the streets?" Mohammed Assawi, who saw the
attack, told Israel's Channel 10. "It is unpleasant to say what we saw."Nazareth
is the largest Israeli-Arab town in the country and the center of Arab life in
northern Israel. It also is a key site in Christian tradition. The Galilee town
of 70,000 people is filled with churches, including the Basilica of the
Annunciation, the largest basilica in the Middle East, which towers over the
town center. The basilica stands on the site where Christians believe the Angel
Gabriel appeared before Mary and told her of the coming birth of Jesus. Previous
attacks during the 8-day-old rocket barrage have hit the nearby Jewish town of
Upper Nazareth. A total of 18 people were wounded in the attacks on Nazareth,
Rosenfeld said. Police had previously reported that a third person was killed
but later said that report was incorrect. No sirens went off to warn Nazareth of
the impending rocket strike, said Cabinet Minister Haim Ramon, expressing regret
and saying the problem needed to be fixed. Air raid sirens routinely sound in
many Jewish towns before a rocket attack, but local Arab leader Shawki al Khatib
said the town had no sirens. He said he was not surprised the town was hit. "A
Katyusha that is fired does not discriminate," he told Israel's Channel 2 TV.
Earlier Wednesday, a special unit of Israeli troops entered several miles into
southern Lebanon in search of tunnels and weapons, sparking an intense clash
with Hezbollah guerrillas, military officials said. Two soldiers were killed in
the fighting and nine others were wounded, two moderately, the army said.
Hezbollah then pounded the area with mortars, making it difficult for Israel to
rescue the wounded soldiers, military officials said. The mortar attack damaged
an Israeli tank that was part of the rescue mission, military officials said,
speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal
details of the attack. Medics in northern Israel said more than 100 rockets had
been fired from south Lebanon during the day. Since fighting began on July 12,
16 Israelis have been killed in rocket attacks.
Thousands head for
Cyprus and Syria in Lebanon exodus
by Charlie Charalambous
LIMASSOL, Cyprus (AFP) - Thousands of evacuees fleeing Israel's bombing of
Beirut poured into Cyprus and Syria saying they were escaping from hell, as over
50,000 more waited for a berth to safety. The US military said Wednesday it was
stepping up the evacuation of American citizens by bringing out more than 6,000
people from war-ravaged Lebanon to the safe haven of nearby Cyprus. "If all goes
well ... we hope by this Friday we would have moved in excess of 6,000 from
Lebanon, all who wanted to go out voluntarily," US evacuation task force
commander Brigadier General Carl Jensen told reporters.
Some 1,059 Americans were expected to arrive in Cyprus on the cruise ship Orient
Queen shortly after midnight Wednesday. An additional 3,000 were expected to
follow later on Thursday. "There are ferry vessels, US navy ships and military
aircraft in the east Mediterranean to ferry citizens who want to leave," said
Jensen. He stressed this was an "assisted departure" rather than an evacuation.
"Many are remaining in Lebanon and the US embassy there will remain open," he
added. But the United States, which has some 25,000 nationals in Lebanon, is
likely to send troops to the country to protect its citizens who are being
evacuated, US President George W. Bush said in a letter to Congress on
Wednesday.
US marines have already helicoptered several dozen priority cases to Cyprus to
escape the week-long Israeli onslaught against Lebanon.
A growing flotilla of evacuation ships is shuttling back and forth to the island
of Cyprus some 160 kilometres (100 miles) away, but there are still not enough
places for the thousands clamouring to leave. Rough figures suggested as many as
13,000 people had already escaped or would be brought to safety by the end of
Wednesday, travelling by boat to Cyprus or by the dangerous highway to the
Syrian capital, Damascus, which is being bombed by Israel.
But according to figures provided by embassies and governments, up to 57,000
more foreign and dual nationals could be aiming to flee the country.
Apart from the sea exodus, hundreds more were fleeing in buses and cars overland
to the Syrian capital of Damascus, braving Israeli bombings of the roads.
A British destroyer, the HMS York, was to dock in Limassol with up to 300
evacuees on board, after HMS Gloucester arrived earlier Wednesday carrying 170
people, mainly priority medical cases. The Gloucester has already returned to
Beirut as part of the shuttle to evacuate around 5,000 of some British 22,000
nationals. The French warship Jean de Vienne also docked in Beirut early
Wednesday as Paris stepped up efforts to extricate some 8,000 of its 20,000
citizens who have said they want to leave.
On Monday nearly 1,000 people, mostly French, fled on board a chartered cruise
ship. Several hundred have already arrived back in France on flights from
Cyprus.Three other French vessels, capable of transporting 4,000 people, are on
their way to Lebanon, with which Paris has retained close ties after
administering the country under a League of Nations mandate.Egypt has organized
2,300 evacuations since Monday. Hundreds were taken by bus to Damascus and flown
home. Bangladesh has asked for help to evacuate all its 10,000 workers in
Lebanon, while Canada estimates some 8,000 of its 40,000 nationals want to leave
aboard some six ships already chartered for the occasion.
Australia has 25,000 citizens living in Lebanon and the Philippines has 30,000,
but it is not known how many of them want to leave.
Amid the confusion, charter companies were beginning to hike prices and
inevitably there have been chaotic scenes.
Hundreds of Canadians clamoured at the gates of a Beirut exhibition centre being
used as an evacuation staging area, furious at the slow pace of their rescue.
Other nations continued to rescue their nationals by chartered boats and planes.
Denmark said 3,000 nationals had already been brought home.
A Greek ship carrying some 1,250 Swedes, the Kriti II, left Beirut for Larnaca
on Wednesday afternoon and was due to arrive in Cyprus on Wednesday at 9:30 pm
(1830GMT) local time, the Swedish foreign ministry told AFP. The Kriti II is
expected to return to Beirut after the passengers have disembarked and will make
at least one more crossing, the ministry said. A Turkish ship carrying several
hundred Swedes also left Beirut for Mersin, Turkey on Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, almost 500 Norwegians have been repatriated since Monday but some 100
remain stranded in southern Lebanon, where Israeli bombings have rendered their
evacuation difficult. "We're working on several options to get them out of
there," a Norwegian foreign ministry spokesman told AFP. The German foreign
ministry said it hoped to have evacuated some 3,000 nationals from Lebanon by
the end of Wednesday, after chartering 50 buses to take them to Damascus.
Israeli troops, guerrillas clash on Day 8
By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli troops clashed with Hezbollah guerrillas on the
Lebanese side of the border Wednesday, while warplanes flattened buildings and
killed at least 20 people overnight as fighting entered its second week. Two
young brothers were killed by a Hezbollah rocket in the Israeli holy city of
Nazareth, authorities said.
In addition to the deaths of the two brothers, aged 3 and 9, there were 18
people wounded in the rocket attacks in Nazareth, a mainly Arab city that's the
biblical hometown of Jesus
Military officials said Israeli troops crossed the border in search of tunnels
and weapons. Hezbollah claimed to have "repelled" Israeli forces near the
coastal border town of Naqoura, and the Israeli army said two of its soldiers
had been killed and nine were wounded in the fierce firefight. Hezbollah said
one guerrilla was killed. Israeli bombers, which had been focusing on Hezbollah
strongholds in southern Beirut, also hit a Christian suburb on the eastern side
of the capital for the first time. The target was a truck-mounted machine used
to drill for water but could have been mistaken for a missile launcher. The
vehicle was destroyed, but nobody was hurt in that attack.
Israel, which has mainly limited itself to attacks from the air and sea, had
been reluctant to send in ground troops because Hezbollah is far more familiar
with the terrain and because of memories of Israel's ill-fated 18-year
occupation of south Lebanon that ended in 2000. Israel said Tuesday it was ready
to fight the guerrillas for several more weeks, raising doubts about
international efforts to broker an immediate cease-fire. The fighting has killed
nearly 300 people and displaced 500,000. The International Red Cross, along with
the U.N. children's and health agencies, expressed serious concern about
civilian casualties and health risks from the violence. Israel said its
airstrikes had destroyed "about 50 percent" of Hezbollah's arsenal. "It will
take us time to destroy what is left," Brig. Gen. Alon Friedman, a senior army
commander, told Israeli Army Radio.
Separately, Israeli forces killed six Palestinians after tanks moved into the
Mughazi refugee camp in central Gaza, the latest incursion in its three-week
military push in the seaside territory. In the West Bank city of Nablus, at
least three Palestinians were killed when the army surrounded a prison where
militants were apparently hiding, Palestinian officials said.
Israel began a large-scale operation in Gaza on June 28, three days after Hamas-lined
militants tunneled under the border and attacked an Israeli army base at a Gaza
crossing, killing two soldiers and capturing a third. The latest fighting dealt
a blow to efforts to broker a cease-fire and to send a new international force
to bolster the 2,000-member U.N. force in south Lebanon.
The Bush administration also has refused to yield to international calls to
press Israel for a prompt end to its campaign against Hezbollah.
Instead, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is trying to drum up support for
what she called a cease-fire of "lasting value" — one that would have the
Lebanese army take over the south, where Hezbollah guerrillas have conducted a
cross-border war against Israel for years.
Rice is likely to visit the region this weekend. State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack would only say that her trip would come "in the near future" and told
CNN the timing would depend upon "when she thinks it's most useful and most
effective." British Prime Minister Tony Blair also rejected calls for Israel to
declare a unilateral cease-fire, insisting Hezbollah must first free two
captured Israeli soldiers and stop firing rockets at the Jewish state. "This
would stop now if the soldiers who were kidnapped wrongly ... were released," he
said. "It would stop if the rockets stopped coming into Haifa, deliberately to
kill innocent civilians." President Bush turned his attention to
Hezbollah-backer Syria, saying he suspects it was trying to reassert influence
in Lebanon more than a year after withdrawing its troops under U.N. pressure.
"It's in our interest for Syria to stay out of Lebanon and for this government
to survive," Bush said, referring to Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's fledgling
government. "Syria's trying to get back into Lebanon, it looks like, seems to
me," he said. "The world must deal with Hezbollah, with Syria and to continue to
isolate Iran." Israel stressed it did not plan to target Hezbollah's main
sponsors, Iran and Syria. "We will leave Iran to the world community, and Syria
as well," Vice Premier Shimon Peres told Army Radio. "It's very important to
understand that we are not instilling world order."
The Israeli airstrikes late Tuesday and early Wednesday killed at least 20
people, bringing to 246 the number killed in Lebanon since the fighting began
July 12, when Hezbollah guerrillas raided an Israeli border outpost and
kidnapped two soldiers. The overall figures were provided by the police control
center, but they did not give a breakdown of the attacks.
Twenty-seven Israelis have been killed. The Red Cross said it was "extremely
concerned about the grave consequences" the fighting was having on civilians,
and it reminded both parties to the conflict of their obligation to distinguish
between civilians and military personnel and targets. UNICEF and the World
Health Organization also warned of a serious psychological effect from the
fighting and said movement of medical supplies and ambulances to affected areas
was seriously limited.
Five people were killed when a missile hit a neighborhood in the southern
Lebanese town of Nabatiyeh, police and hospital officials said. The target was a
commercial office of a firm belonging to Hezbollah, but those killed were
residents. In the village of Srifa, near Tyre in southern Lebanon, the
airstrikes flattened 15 houses. The village's headman, Hussein Kamaledine, said
25 to 30 people lived in the houses, but it was not known if they were at home.
Many people have fled southern Lebanon.
"This is a real massacre," Kamaledine told Al-Manar TV as fire engines
extinguished the blaze and rescuers searched for survivors.
In the southern village of Ghaziyeh, one person was killed and two were wounded
when a missile struck a nearby building that housed a Hezbollah-affiliated
social institution.
In the eastern Bekaa Valley, four people were killed and three were wounded in
an air raid on the village of Loussi, police said. The planes also hit Beirut's
southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold. More Israeli missiles landed in two
towns outside Beirut — Chuweifat and Hadath. One person was killed at the
Galerie Semaan junction, near Hadath, police said. Israeli military officials
said small numbers of soldiers have been going in and out of south Lebanon for
days in search of Hezbollah bases and weapons. The officials, speaking on
condition of anonymity, would not give the number of troops involved or their
location. Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, said the
incursion was not large scale. "This is an operation which is very measured,
very local," Gillerman told CNN. "This is no way an invasion of Lebanon. This is
no way the beginning of any kind of occupation of Lebanon." Last week, Hezbollah
leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah vowed to defeat any Israeli invasion. "Any ground
invasion will be good news for the resistance because it will bring us closer to
victory and humiliating the Israeli enemy," Nasrallah said. ___
AP correspondents Sam F. Ghattas and Zeina Karam in Beirut, Lebanon, and Ravi
Nessman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Transcript of Patriarch
Sfeir's meeting with Secretary Rice Rice: We are praying for the people of
Lebanon, Sfeir: Lebanon is too weak to apply SCR 1559 alone
Sfeir & Rice
US State Department
07/19/2006
SECRETARY RICE: I am so very pleased that you could join me and I am, of course,
very concerned about the events in Lebanon. I'm very concerned about the people
of Lebanon, about Lebanon's freedom and democracy and a Lebanon where all
Lebanese can prosper. And we are, of course, working very hard to make certain
that Lebanon retains its sovereignty. We're working very hard to try and
minimize the impact of the current conflict on the Lebanese people. And I want
you to know that we're not only working hard, but we're also praying for the
people of Lebanon.
MARONITE PATRIARCH SFEIR: Thank you. Thank you for the action you have taken in
favor of this small country but there are many difficulties. The world says the
Resolution 1559 will it be applied.
SECRETARY RICE: Yes.
MARONITE PATRIARCH SFEIR: But it is not up to the Lebanese Government to apply
it. It is so weak to do so. There is another way to apply this, but I do not
know how. But our interest is that all the citizens will be equal (inaudible).
When some are having arms and the others have not there is no equality and I've
said this a long time that -- how to apply this I don't know. (Inaudible)
perhaps, some other -- some pressure to (inaudible).
SECRETARY RICE: Yes. Well, the international community has to help you.
MARONITE PATRIARCH SFEIR: Exactly. Exactly.
SECRETARY RICE: I mean that's it, the international community must insist on the
enforcement of 1559 which we, the international community, passed. And so we
will work.
MARONITE PATRIARCH SFEIR: There's a better way.
SECRETARY RICE: Yes, we will work.
MARONITE PATRIARCH SFEIR: Thank you.
2006/694
Released on July 18, 2006
Release from the American Lebanese Coalition addressing its position on the
American Arab Institute Summit
July 19, 2006
Lebanese-American organizations members of the American Lebanese Coalition and
number of other Lebanese-American Organizations do not intend to cosponsor, as
invited by the Arab American Institute (AAI), the Summit of the 19th of July and
most importantly we recommend that no American official or member of Congress
accepts their invitation. These are some of the reasons:
The AAI record of siding with the United States antagonists in the Middle East
and its adoption and somehow promotion of radical and extremist views,
disqualify it from objectively conducting any Summit concerning the current
events in the Region. Well meaning American politicians could be easily dragged
into adopting what would appear to be generic positions which could be twisted
by the AAI into an encouraging image of official dissent and utilized against
the policies of the United States and its allies in the region.
The AAI claims to represent most Arab Americans. This is a false pretense
because the majority of Arab Americans, starting with their largest contingent
of Lebanese Americans, are in total agreement with the majority of their
countries of origin that have condemned the ignition of the latest violence and
blamed openly Hezbollah and Hamas for leading the region into a disastrous
crisis. The AAI has, if not directly approved, never criticized the policies of
the dictatorships of Syria and Iran or Hamas and Hezbollah thus opposing the
will and convictions of the majority of the Arab world.
The AAI did not put a clear agenda for this Summit and did not define its
purpose. Is it to put blame on Hezbollah for the latest flare up of destruction
in Lebanon or to repeat the rhetoric of the extremists? Will it exploit the
blood of the innocent Lebanese and their tragic humanitarian conditions as an
emotional smoke screen in order to launch their usual blanket accusations
implying that all participants accuse only Israel and the United States for the
calamities befalling on Lebanon?
The majority of the Arabs have chosen the road to peace. The fights in
Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq are meant to blow up all the bridges of this road
and to plunge the region into instability. This presents chances of survival for
the Syrian regime and offers the Iranian Mullahs opportunities to spread their
Islamic republic’s aspirations. Regretfully the sectarian fragility of Lebanon
has allowed Hezbollah to drag the country into the conflict which resulted in an
uneven and unwanted war with Israel. Any Summit to solve this crisis should
concentrate on strengthening the Lebanese government and forcing Iran and Syria
to stop arming and financing Hezbollah. If the AAI can adopt these goals we will
be the first on their side. Till then we consider them as serving solely the
interests of the enemies of the United States and the enemies of the Arab world.
Joseph Gebeily, M.D.
President,
The American Lebanese Coalition
Member Organizations
American Lebanese Alliance
President: Tony Bou Samra
8025 Bonhomme Avenue
Suite 1403
Clayton, MO 63105
Phone: 314-727-7494
Fax: 314-721-8588
bousamra@mindspring.com
American Lebanese Coordination Council
President: Joseph Hage
9901 NW 80th Ave # 3D
Hialeah Gardens, FL 33016
Phone: 305-542-6322
Fax: 305-249-9446
E-mail: josephhage@aol.com
www.alcc-research.com
Assembly for Lebanon
President: Mel Zohrob
24037 Acacia
Redford, MI 48239
Phone: 313-535-5252
Fax: 313-535-4411
mz@instrumentsales1.com
www.Assembly-for-lebanon.org
Lebanese Information Center
President: Joseph Gebeily
4900 Leesburg Pike
Suite 203
Alexandria, VA 22302
Phone: 703-578-4214
Fax: 703-578-4615
lic@licus.org- www.licus.org
European diplomacy fails to produce concrete results
By Karine Raad -Daily Star staff
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
BEIRUT: European efforts to end the war seem to have stalled as Prime Minister
Fouad Siniora said Tuesday that EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana promised
only to return to Lebanon "soon" as he had "no offer to make as of yet."
Solana's pledge came in a telephone call with Siniora. UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan also promised to inform Siniora of any developments. Meanwhile, Cabinet
held a session chaired by President Emile Lahoud to discuss mounting casualties
and a humanitarian crisis being caused by Israel's relentless onslaught.
Information Minister Ghazi Aridi told reporters afterward Siniora had sent
letters to Arab and Islamic states briefing them on the latest developments.
Aridi added that Defense Minister Elias Murr presented a report on the security
situation, the losses incurred to date and the ministry's expectations.
"The Lebanese Army plays a main role to confront aggression and defend the
country and citizens," Aridi said, quoting Murr. "We will not allow anyone to
target it in order to depict it as a weak institution and therefore drag the
country to internal strife."Israel has targeted several army bases over the past
week.
Lahoud said Tuesday night's Jamhour attack on the Jamhour base "was a
catastrophe. No one expected an Israeli attack on the army's work regiment,
which assists people.""They say they want the distribution of the army along the
Southern border yet they attack it," he added.
"Considering the bloodshed against the Lebanese Army and civilians, we ask the
international community to press for a cease-fire, and later we can discuss
everything," Lahoud said before the session. "It is not acceptable that Israel
commits massacres on a daily basis with the knowledge of the international
community."Murr described the raid on the Jamhour Works Regiment barracks as a
"massacre." The regiment's role is to help rebuild and maintain infrastructure.
"Killing military officers while asleep in their barracks ... is not war," he
said.
Aridi said Saudi Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdel-Aziz was expected to head to
France soon to seek a cease-fire.
Lebanon's leading politicians also continued to speak out against the Israeli
attacks.
Progressive Socialist Party leader and MP Walid Jumblatt supported calls for a
truce, provided negotiations were handled by the government.
The Druze leader also complained that at a time when Lebanon's leaders were
holding talks to disarm the resistance according to a national defense strategy,
Hizbullah captured two Israeli soldiers. He said the decision to carry out such
an attack was made in Tehran and Damascus to divert attention from Iran's
nuclear ambitions and the formation of an international court to try those
accused of former premier Rafik Hariri's assassination - a murder widely blamed
on Syria.
He also accused Hizbullah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, of having burdened
the Lebanese people and the state with the decision's consequences.
Separately, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said that "Israel will
fail to destroy Hizbullah because Hizbullah is an integral part of the people."
In an interview with Al-Jazeera, the MP called for an immediate end to
hostilities.
Aoun said he was grateful for Arab offers of assistance, but "I prefer that a
road be secured so that the country can buy its own goods."
He also slammed, but did not name, Arab states for their "condemnations of
Hizbullah," which he said gave Israel a free hand to continue its siege.
"There is no one in Lebanon that effectively makes decisions of peace and war;
only Israel," Aoun said.
Aoun also called for sharing responsibility for the crisis, saying: "We must not
hide behind the excuse of Hizbullah. We will only address accusations when we
have the full details."Speaker Nabih Berri met with the head of the Higher
Lebanese-Syrian Council, Nasri Khoury, who said his country would put its full
services at the disposal of all Lebanese."We are also cooperating with the
Syrian Red Crescent to transfer aid," he added.
Referring to attacks on infrastructure, Siniora said that "the escalation of
violence in this savage way proves that Israel has decided to take Lebanon back
50 years.""Israel is committing heinous crimes against humanity on a daily
basis," the premier added, once more calling for international support to broker
a cease-fire.Extending condolences to the families of the victims in the Jamhour
raids, he said that "targeting the army barracks clearly proves that the
military institution ... is playing a pioneering role at this critical
phase."Continuing a regional tour begun when the Israeli offensive caught him
outside the country, parliamentary majority MP Saad Hariri said from Istanbul
Tuesday that he had asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to open a
maritime channel to provide assistance. Erdogan was also asked to use his
"influential ties in the region" to end Israel's onslaught. In a separate
interview with Al-Jazeera, Hariri said there was "no partial solution; there
must be a comprehensive one." "The idea of sending international forces is an
idea," Hariri said, adding that all Lebanese were united. "No matter what Israel
does, it will fail to destroy Lebanon.""Lebanon must not be a battlefield for
other forces," the MP said, adding that the responsible parties will be "called
to account after the crisis is over."
Where are the Christians?
Posted: July 18, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2006 Creators Syndicate Inc.
When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unleashed his navy and air force on
Lebanon, accusing that tiny nation of an "act of war," the last pillar of Bush's
Middle East policy collapsed.
First came capitulation on the Bush Doctrine, as Pyongyang and Tehran defied
Bush's dictum: The world's worst regimes will not be allowed to acquire the
world's worst weapons. Then came suspension of the democracy crusade as Islamic
militants exploited free elections to advance to power and office in Egypt,
Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, Iraq and Iran.
Now, Israel's rampage against a defenseless Lebanon – smashing airport runways,
fuel tanks, power plants, gas stations, lighthouses, bridges, roads and the
occasional refugee convoy – has exposed Bush's folly in subcontracting U.S.
policy out to Tel Aviv, thus making Israel the custodian of our reputation and
interests in the Middle East.
The Lebanon that Israel, with Bush's blessing, is smashing up has a pro-American
government, heretofore considered a shining example of his democracy crusade.
Yet, asked in St. Petersburg if he would urge Israel to use restraint in its
airstrikes, Bush sounded less like the leader of the Free World than some
bellicose city councilman from Brooklyn Heights.
What Israel is up to was described by its army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan
Halutz, when he threatened to "turn back the clock in Lebanon 20 years."
Olmert seized upon Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers to unleash the
IDF in a pre-planned attack to make the Lebanese people suffer until the
Lebanese government disarms Hezbollah, a task the Israeli army could not
accomplish in 18 years of occupation.
Israel is doing the same to the Palestinians. To punish these people for the
crime of electing Hamas, Olmert imposed an economic blockade of Gaza and the
West Bank and withheld the $50 million in monthly tax and customs receipts due
the Palestinians.
Then, Israel instructed the United States to terminate all aid to the
Palestinian Authority, though Bush himself had called for the elections and for
the participation of Hamas. Our Crawford cowboy meekly complied.
The predictable result: Fatah and Hamas fell to fratricidal fighting, and Hamas
militants began launching Qassam rockets over the fence from Gaza into Israel.
Hamas then tunneled into Israel, killed two soldiers, captured one, took him
back into Gaza and demanded a prisoner exchange.
Israel's response was to abduct half of the Palestinian cabinet and parliament
and blow up a $50 million U.S.-insured power plant. That cut off electricity for
half a million Palestinians. Their food spoiled, their water could not be
purified, and their families sweltered in the summer heat of the Gaza desert.
One family of seven was wiped out on a beach by what the IDF assures us was an
errant artillery shell.
Let it be said: Israel has a right to defend herself, a right to counter-attack
against Hezbollah and Hamas, a right to clean out bases from which Katyusha or
Qassam rockets are being fired and a right to occupy land from which attacks are
mounted on her people.
But what Israel is doing is imposing deliberate suffering on civilians,
collective punishment on innocent people, to force them to do something they are
powerless to do: disarm the gunmen among them. Such a policy violates
international law and comports neither with our values nor our interests. It is
un-American and un-Christian.
But where are the Christians? Why is Pope Benedict virtually alone among
Christian leaders to have spoken out against what is being done to Lebanese
Christians and Muslims?
When al-Qaida captured two U.S. soldiers and barbarically butchered them, the
U.S. Army did not smash power plants across the Sunni Triangle. Why then is Bush
not only silent but openly supportive when Israelis do this?
Democrats attack Bush for crimes of which he is not guilty, including Haditha
and Abu Ghraib. Why are they, too, silent when Israel pursues a conscious policy
of collective punishment of innocent peoples?
Britain's diplomatic goal in two world wars was to bring the naive cousins in,
to "pull their chestnuts out of the fire." Israel and her paid and pro-bono
agents here appear determined to expand the Iraq war into Syria and Iran, and
have America fight and finish all of Israel's enemies.
That Tel Aviv is maneuvering us to fight its wars is understandable. That
Americans are ignorant of, or complicit in this, is deplorable.
Already, Bush is ranting about Syria being behind the Hezbollah capture of the
Israeli soldiers. But where is the proof?
Who is whispering in his ear? The same people who told him Iraq was maybe months
away from an atom bomb, that an invasion would be a "cakewalk," that he would be
Churchill, that U.S. troops would be greeted with candy and flowers, that
democracy would break out across the region, that Palestinians and Israelis
would then sit down and make peace?
How much must America pay for the education of this man?
Israel Attack on terrorists is a sign of hope to my homeland Lebanon.
Outsiders weapons search team inspectors are needed
to disarm all organizations, and parties in Lebanon.
The Lebanese government has not been existed since 1975.
Today Lebanese government is run by the "Lebanon take-over" terrorist
organizations. Should the occupied Lebanese government refuses to disarm
organizations and parties, the United Nation should cancel Lebanon membership,
and review the ownership of the land, to give it back to the indigenous people
of Lebanon, the Assyrian.
The Arab/Islamic leaders whom live in Lebanon and gained a Lebanese citizenship
are most of them loyal to Arab ideology and Islamic, than to so called Lebanon.
Their Lebanon wanted or view is to be an Arab Lebanon and to be an Islamic
Lebanon, that uses Shiria Laws, drifting into eliminating the unity, and
ignoring the rights of the indigenous people of Lebanon, the Assyrian.
There are many huge number of Islamic from Lebanon also gained Canadian citizen,
however make no mistake, you find many of them will strike Canadian interest
with terrorism activities, at the same time, continue to enjoy the privilege of
having the Canadian citizenship. Their loyalty is for their own tribes or their
religious entity.
To summarize some events about Lebanon.
The Arab started their wars in 1958 against Lebanese whom refuse to be called
Arab or Islamic. Lebanese of non Arab identity, such as Maronite Christian and
other Christian non Arabic Lebanese could not stand the Islamic and Arab attacks
on them. The President Camel Shamoun, called in 1958 for US military help to
stop Arab outsiders forces (Gamal Abit Al-Nassar forces). They were eliminated
in few days.
Once again, the Arab and Islamic brought war into Lebanon in 1975. Israel help
us, the Lebanese, to hold in our freedom and liberty.
Israel provided Lebanese Army in south Lebanon in 1977 with help, and allowed
people in south Lebanon to be free, by providing them a safe heaven.
In 1987 Syria bombed Lebanon so hard, that thousand of our Lebanese got killed,
hospitals were bombed, electrical and gas companies were bombed too. It was
Israel whom ordered Syria to stop bombing or face a counter attack. Without
Israel intervention, Lebanon would be than felt in hands of Arab and Islamic.
It is up to this date, Syria refuse to open their prisons, and let ten of
thousands of Lebanese prisoners be free. It is estimated at least of over fifty
thousand prisoners in Syria jails for over twenty years because they opposed
Syria and Arab ideology.
Israel helped Lebanon in 1982, when it came and eliminated terrorist Yazar
Arafat forces. Israel attacks on PLO terrorist helped shift the military power
more in favour of the Lebanese non-Arab forces, however, the Lebanese non-Arab
leader Late Bashir Gemyal refused to co-operate with Israel in term of peace.
Syria intelligent eliminated him and many more Lebanese leaders whom stood
against Syria....
Lebanon dove into hands of terrorists more deeply in 1989 and 1990 by the Taif
Accord. The Arab and Islamic organization put such accord by force, and been
imposed by force upon all Lebanese. The Taif Accord stated that Lebanon has an
Arab identity, and changed our Lebanese constitution in a manner as Arab and
Islamic wished without Lebanese referendum or any say.
Also, the Taif Accord forced Lebanese non-Arab forces (Christian) to surrender
their guns. That was a big mistake on the part of Lebanese non-Arab in trusting
as well as in getting millions as a bribe to agree and sign the agreement at the
expense of Lebanon national existence.
The Lebanese of non-Arab, and non Islamic forces gave their weapons according to
Taif Accord, but Hazaballah and Islamic forces refused to do so, but claimed to
be "Resistance" for Lebanon. An excuse, in which no Lebanese can object to them
if he/she wanted to stay alive and have a job in government.
This year 2006, Israel responded to the attack of the terrorist group such as
Hazaballah whom control Lebanese government and land.
Hazaballah went from south Lebanon and kidnapped Israel soldiers, bombed Israel
almost in constant period. That forced Israel to defend itself.
What will happen next after Israel stop its offensive in about few weeks?
I truly believe strongly that HazabAllah leaderships are fools. Their top
foolish one is this guy, Hassan Nas-rallah. Hassan NasRallah issued yesterday,
July 15, his threat to western countries, that his terrorist groups will attack.
That also includes an attack on Canada, in which HazabAllah do have strong
organization and publications in Hamilton, Toronto, Montreal, Windsor and other
Canadian cities. It is estimated HazabAllah military active members in Canada
around two thousands.
I do believe that just attacks on Canadian and American interest can easily
happen, so the pressure on Canadian government to sell-out to Hazab-Allah wishes
can go smooth.
If Canadian government block them, they will carry out a small bombing scale,
that alone will deeply disrupting western economic and even force Canada into
depression.
After only few days counter Israeli attack, the terrorist leadership of Hazab-Allah
*(Hazab means "Party") has lost their power control in Lebanon. Their Hazab
Allah military resources and political power became weak day after day.
The Lebanese Shiaa should take their hands off and stop supporting HazabAllah if
they wanted their life to be safe from being murdered by Islamic Sinnah.
However, this is unlikely.
The shift of military power in Lebanon will change, however, who will be the
winner.
Look very closely, the Saudia Arabia and the Islamic Sinnah are secretly happy
of Israel attack, as it is cleaning their garbage, so other Islamic can take
over Lebanon, after eliminating Hazaballah.
I personally support Israel attack on terrorists in Lebanon. Our Lebanese
government has been not existed since 1975, and today Lebanese government is run
by take-over terrorist organizations.
We the Lebanese are not Arab nor are Islamic, same as Canada is not an Arab or
Islamic, but many Arab and Islamic do have Canadian citizenships.
In my final say, I salute Israeli government for taken such a difficult
agreement, to go after terrorists in their homes, bringing forward an end to
Hazab-Allah control to my homeland Lebanon.
Sincerely,
Ashur Simon Malek
66 Elora Drive, Unit 30
Hamilton, Ontario L9C 7B3
Tel. (905) 902-8283
E-Mail:
ashur_simon_malek@yahoo.com
maleksimona@aol.com
LEBANON NEEDS A STRONG ARGUMENTATION 100% OF THE TIME. Setting the motion for
a New Era in constitutional talks in Lebanon
Dear Sirs and Mrs. :
I call on you to sustain Lebanon with a strong anti-propaganda campaign it is as
important as the military campaign if not more at this time.
Each time I hear reports or analysts on tv, they act and think as if the fact
that there are at least 40,000 Hizbollah an army in Lebanon they cannot be
defeated otherwise than militarily. When I hear Lebanese government offficials
say that the people respect the HIz because of his social and religious role...
well the Red Cross had that too over the world but it was sued in France, in the
US and in Canada for ill-prepared procedures: tainted blood, contaminated blood.
It is not because an organization does something good in some of the domains it
covers that it must not be stopped in others when nuisible to the State or the
population.
I mean it is possible to counter argument strongly so the Hiz understands it
will lose on all aspects. In my own province, the part of the Red Cross that is
concerned with Blood Banks has a new name Hema-Québec.
One thing for sure there should be a Law prohibiting the use of the name of God
in any human organization... I have even trouble understanding how come Muslims
could allow that... I don't see the difference in representing God in Statues or
personnified in a party.. I have a lot of troubles with that...
Now it's more than 20 years, Syria and Iran are inducing the world and worse the
Lebaneses themselves to believe they cannot exist constitutionally and be viable
by themselves. If any would say that about some African country they would be
called racist... You see anyone writing Rwanda is not viable despite the
genocide?
The Lebaneses must stop this type of speeches right now to ensure a New Era, a
point of no return as much as Apartheid became impossible to be defended in
South African politics on the international floor... African States for most are
very much younger than Lebanon and no one would dare say what is said daily
about the viability of Lebanon...
SO why the Lebaneses themselves don't put an end to this from now on?
That will be very difficult for Syria or Iran to come and say that Lebanese
cannot do any better than any African State....................it will be a New
ERA.....
Long Live Lebanon!
Karole du Pont
P. S.:
The choice for Lebanon constitutionally resembles the one that should have been
made in Germany in the creation of Germany: which part of the national global
identity will be the common thread... the cultural one leading to a greater
civilization or the warrior one which does not lead to expansion in Lebanon's
case because it's trademark is not militaries but commerce. I mean Lebanese
identity wise have nothing in common with the ego trip of the Leaders of Iran
who think their system is the apogee of civilization... Lebanases love business
and culture and they are quite good at it...
So in terms of Lebanese identity, Mr. Nasrallah is barking the wrong tree let
him try in Ayatollahs' Iran...
from www.spaces.msn.com/karole0804
Vote for Lebanese and worldwide civilian protection... enough of the mythologies
of the Syrian and Iranian rescue oxygen tanks for Lebanon!
Does Syria wants to keep blocking the development of civilian protection by
promoting terrorism? Enough of the mythologies of the Iranian and Syrian rescue
oxygen tanks for Lebanon.
Dear Mostafa:
I think the Lebanese will get all the help they need soon military and
medically.. but not with a short term vision.
I would like you to understand really what is spoken about here... just analyze
some police operations where religious sects are armed to the teeth but not as
much as the Hizbollah is... and do not cover so much land... and you will
understand the risks of any police operation amongst civilians... when a
terrorist organization trespasses a democracy. Just analyze Waco in the US...
Perhaps it is about time Arab countries stop promoting difformations of Islam
because on a legal infractions x-axis , hainous speeches lead to genocide at the
other extreme... and on a legal infraction x-axis with harassment on one end it
leads to terrorism at the other end of the axis. Individuals may try to secure
their minds with a false peace...and Lebanon has been under a false peace...
terrorism never stopped... there are bombings in Lebanon since the last two
years not related at all to Israel but on account of internal Lebanese politics.
The UN cannot caution anymore any kind of terrorism in the world in a false
peace or in a true peace because hainous speeches do lead to genocide and with
today's technologies of communications... a genocide of incredible measure can
be committed in a few months as we have seen in Rwanda.
Now here we all know the backbenchers of terrorism in Lebanon, it is time for
Syria to decide if it wants to be a member of the international community
because the UN can have only one policy to avoid genocides.... promoting Laws
against hainous speeches in all outlets of communication and can have only one
definition of what terrorism is (the one defined by the criminal code).
Syria has been blocking this move of the international community for years in
order to maintain terrorism not only in the Middle East but enhancing its
possibility everywhere in the world. When Russia and the US have scaled back to
normality their dialogue we are now left with a few States who want to maintain
humanity in total helter-skelter i.e. wars. while we should be at devising all
plans for civilian protection and we see this lack of civilian protection
interests everywhere in the world... We see it in Lebanon now, we saw it in the
Tsunami in the South East of Asia... no early warning system and we saw it in
New Orleans.
So personally I am fighting right now and in the past for a once and for all
vote for Humanity's well being and this is what it is all about if you want the
UN or the Security Council to vote on any proposition.
If you want strictly humanitarian help the Red Cross and other world
organizations alike are the ones to help. If you want the picture... in Montreal
we were ready to face our 1998 ordeal of the Ice crisis... we are not blocked by
the enmities of the different groups ... so it's about time this is stopped in
Lebanon.
IN Canada, we have multiculturalism policies and we saw in Canada the ambassador
of Lebanon, some time before August 2003, make the association in between
Canadian Lebanese of different origins as criminal against all our Laws and
policies. This is why Lebanon cannot function normally because it is not left to
grow on its unification.The enemies of the unification of Lebanon used the civil
war as an argument to succeed in creating in the world community and in Lebanese
minds that Lebanon could not do without them as if The Lebanese culture and
vitality did not exist by themselves... The result is the lack of interest you
see in the internatioal community for Lebanon because the enemies of Lebanon
created the impression Lebanon was not possible.. it could not be alive by
itself without a Syrian or an Iranian oxygen
tank.................................................................................................................
I say to the Lebanese people do not believe them. In the midst of 1976, I have
met in Montreal Lebanese students Muslim and Christian living together
peacefully... and this is what has always sustained me in defending the identity
of Lebanon... and fighting for its right to grow liberated from those who are
using it as a pawn.
Knowing enough arabic culture... we all know Fairuz and what makes her is her
Lebanese identity as much as Celine Dion is Quebec's.... So enough with the
lies... Lebanon is alive and can unify further, but this will has to go on
progressing without resorting to kidnappings and bombs.
Long Live Lebanon!
Karole du Pont
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Smiling Roses"
To: kdp0804@hotmail.com
Subject: this only for peace
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 12:24:41 +0300
This campaign is not against Israeli occupation, it's a campaign for peace in
middle east and to help the innocents, for god sake do some thing not for
Lebanon or for Arab, but for peace to all people
http://www.petitiononline.com/Jul06Leb/petition.html
From: "Smiling Roses"
To: kdp0804@hotmail.com
Subject: this only for peace
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 12:24:41 +0300
This campaign is not against Israeli occupation, it's a campaign for peace in
middle east and to help the innocents, for god sake do some thing not for
Lebanon or for Arab, but for peace to all people
http://www.petitiononline.com/Jul06Leb/petition.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Graham’s proposed fence-sitting will never defeat terrorism,
says B’nai Brith Canada
TORONTO, July 19, 2006 – B’nai Brith Canada has expressed concern over the
public statement by Liberal Member of Parliament Bill Graham, the leader of the
Official Opposition, who at this time of crisis has advocated a fence-sitting
approach to the Middle East, while lashing out at Prime Minister Stephen
Harper’s decisive opposition to Hezbollah terrorism.
“The notion of an ‘even-handed’ approach at this time of crisis when groups like
Hamas and Hezbollah, bolstered by Syria and Iran, seek to terrorize and destroy
Israel, is an outdated notion, out of step with today’s reality,” said Frank
Dimant, B’nai Brith Canada’s Executive Vice President. “It fails to distinguish
between the victims of terrorism and those who perpetrate terrorist acts.
“Canada’s Government must be commended for its principled stance against
terrorism and for rightly apportioning blame squarely on terrorist entities like
Hezbollah and Hamas, which bear direct responsibility for the deaths of innocent
Israeli and Lebanese civilians.
“At a time when Canadian soldiers are fighting against Islamist terrorists in
Afghanistan, it is morally offensive to call for a ‘nuanced’, i.e., neutral and
ambiguous, Canadian stance towards Israel’s struggle against terrorism. Israel
is surely Canada’s natural ally in the global war on terrorism.
“We call on the Liberal opposition and all political parties from across the
spectrum to join with Prime Minister Harper at this time of Middle East crisis
in order to send a strong, clear and unequivocal message to Syria and Iran that
the international community will not tolerate support for terrorist groups.”
-30-
B’nai Brith has been active in Canada since 1875 as the Jewish community’s
foremost human rights organization. To learn more about its advocacy work and
diverse community and social programs, please visit http://www.bnaibrith.ca.