LCCC ENGLISH
DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 16/07
Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 17,11-19. As he continued
his journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.As he was
entering a village, ten lepers met (him). They stood at a distance from him and
raised their voice, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" And when he saw
them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they were going they were
cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying
God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a
Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the
other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he
said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."
Free Opinions & Special
Reports
Holy War and Anti War: An Axis against Nature.By
Walid Phares.American Thinker - Bellevue,WA,USA. October 15/07
The Guns of the Patriarch.By: Elias
Harfouche. Dar Al-Hayat. October 14/07
Colonization and a mediator's bias remain the death
knells of peace.The
Daily Star. October 14/07
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for October 15/07
Lebanon detains group for trying to bomb UN troops.ABC
Online
Army Arrests Terrorist
Cell Targeting UNIFIL-Naharnet
Israel and Lebanon to exchange prisoners.AFP
Hizbullah to Provide
Information on Arad.
Naharnet
Israel and Lebanon to exchange prisoners.Africasia
MP Wael Abu Faour: Hizbullah Trying to
Marginalize the Christians' Political Role-Naharnet
Formation of Joint Christian Committee Hindered as Countdown for
...Naharnet
Sfeir Pleads to Keep Lebanon Symbol of Coexistence.Naharnet
Jumblat
Kicks Off 5-Day Visit to U.S.-Naharnet
Israel Silent on Reports of
Bombing Within Syria.New York Times-Naharnet
Captive
Israeli Soldiers Reportedly In Iranian Custody-Naharnet
Israel and Hizbullah to
Exchange Prisoners-Naharnet
Lebanon's Senior Judge to N.Y. to Coordinate Tribunal
Formation
Three
European Foreign Ministers to Lebanon-Naharnet
Hizbullah, Israel dismiss reports that captured
soldiers are in Iranian hands-Daily
Star
Sfeir prays Lebanon will 'remain a model of coexistence-Daily
Star
Christian rivals set for talks on Lebanon's presidency-Daily
Star
Rizk says 12 names have been submitted to UN panel that
will pick judges, prosecutors for Hariri tribunal-Daily
Star
Opposition figures attack government decision to
privatize cellular networks-Daily
Star
Lebanese products 'need work to meet European standards-Daily
Star
Protesters briefly block return of refugees to Nahr
al-Bared-Daily
Star
Eid mixes solemn duties with simple fun as faithful
mark end of Ramadan
-Daily Star
Universities seek to educate youth on fair trade,
globalization-Daily
Star
Civil group aims to bring accountability to politics-Daily
Star
UNIFIL troops don't just keep the peace - they also
prop up South Lebanon's fragile economy.AFP
Lebanon to dispatch its highest ranking judge to UN.Ya
Libnan
Captive Israeli soldiers 'held in Iran'.AFP
Rice lowers Mideast talks' expectations.
AP
Iran's
top cleric calls on Muslims to boycott peace conference.
Reuters
Lebanese Leaders Prepare for Presidential Election.AINA
UN peacekeepers prove blessing for south Lebanon economy.AFP
North Korean Official to Visit Syria, Prompting Nuclear Concerns.Voice
of America
Report: Israel attacked suspected nuclear
reactor in Syria.Al-Bawaba
Preemption, Israeli style.Los
Angeles Times
Fight against al-Qaeda ‘unites’ Shia and Sunni
groups in Lebanon. Sunday
Herald
'Beirut is the Paris of the Middle East'.Jerusalem
Post
Sfeir
Pleads to Keep Lebanon Symbol of Coexistence
Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir pleaded to keep Lebanon a symbol of
coexistence.
During his Sunday sermon, Sfeir said many Lebanese have flocked to church to ask
God to enlighten the minds of the feuding political leaders and rescue the
country.
He said that while politicians were on the verge of making "crucial options,"
people were praying that their leaders "revert to their conscience and remember
their true love for their country."Sfeir added that people were also praying
that the warring sides would "act responsibly and preserve what God has bestowed
on this country from blessings and good fortune, so it remains a symbol of
Christian-Muslim coexistence, a homeland of love and peace." Beirut, 15 Oct 07,
08:44
Formation of Joint Christian Committee Hindered as Countdown for Election Day
Starts
The formation of a joint Christian committee seeking to reach consensus on a
presidential candidate was reportedly hindered Monday as the countdown for
Election Day started. The daily An Nahar said the obstacle surfaced after
assigning names to the committee revolved in a vicious circle with the Christian
opposition team saying it was expecting a call from Bkirki in this regard, when
the pro-government camp assured it had chosen two representatives for the
meeting.
In turn, Bkirki said it had not received any call from either side to inform
Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir of the names that would take part in the
committee meetings to try to reach a consensus presidential nominee ahead of an
Oct. 23 deadline to elect a successor to President Emile Lahoud.
Meanwhile, the daily As Safir quoted Gen. Michel Aoun as telling Sfeir that he
was ready to give up his nomination for any candidate who guarantees that a
president by elected by a two-third quorum in parliament. The committee, under
Sfeir's auspices, would comprise four members -- two from each of the majority
March 14 camp and the opposition March 8. It is to hold regular meetings behind
closed doors.
The proposal was agreed in separate meetings between Sfeir and Maronite
representatives of both factions on Thursday and Friday. Aoun and former MP
Suleiman Franjieh, both representing the Hizbullah-led opposition, met with
Sfeir in Bkirki on Thursday. Sfeir on Friday met with the majority March 14
leaders. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was waiting for the return of MP Saad
Hariri from Saudi Arabia, where he is spending Eid el-Fitr with family and
friends, to resume talks ahead of the upcoming presidential vote. Berri, who
hailed Sfeir's initiative, told As Safir that he we would discuss the names of
the presidential candidates during the imminent meeting with Hariri. "This time
… it's inevitable (for us) to deal with the names of the nominees because the
situation is unbearable and people could lose their patience," Berri said. Berri
was also quoted by the daily Al Hayat as saying that he was ready to accept
anything agreed upon by the feuding Maronite leaders.
"If the Maronites agree on a name for the presidency, I will go ahead with that
and agree immediately," Berri said.Berri's Hizbullah allies warned anew against
U.S. meddling in the presidential vote."The new president is a Lebanese issue
and should be dealt by the Lebanese," Hizbullah MP Hussein Haj Hassan told a
Sunday banquet marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Beirut, 15 Oct 07,
07:21
Israel and Hizbullah to
Exchange Prisoners
Israel and Lebanon may carry out a prisoner swap on Monday, with the Jewish
state handing over the bodies of two Hizbullah fighters and a Lebanese prisoner
in exchange for the body of an Israeli soldier, a security source told Agence
France Presse. "An exchange of bodies and a prisoner swap could take place this
afternoon at the Naqura crossing betweeen Israel and Lebanon," said the source,
who did not wish to be identified. He said the two Hizbullah fighters died
during the 34-day war last summer between the Shiite militant group and Israel.
It was unclear whether the body of the Israeli soldier belonged to two soldiers
captured by Hizbullah in July.(AFP) Beirut, 15 Oct 07, 12:18
Jumblat Kicks Off 5-Day Visit
to U.S.
Druze leader Walid Jumblat will start a five-day visit to the United States on
Monday with issues of the upcoming presidential election, establishment of the
Hariri tribunal and the armament of the Lebanese army to top his agenda. Jumblat
was expected to meet upon arrival in New York with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
and U.N. envoy Terry Rod-Larsen. Jumblat was scheduled to hold talks in
Washington with senior American officials on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday.Jumblat would also be giving a series of lectures. Beirut, 15 Oct 07,
11:28
Captive Israeli Soldiers Reportedly In Iranian Custody
Two Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbullah in 2006 have been handed to Iran and
could be freed in a German-brokered swap, the daily Asharq Al-Awsat has
reported.
The newspaper quoted a source identified as a high-ranking official in the
office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying they had been
transferred by the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards. "The operation to
transfer the two Israeli soldiers to (a country) outside Lebanon and then to
Iran was executed by a special unit belonging to the Al-Quds Legion," the source
said, according to the report published on Sunday by the London-based
Saudi-owned paper.
The two soldiers were captured by the Iranian-backed Hizbullah in July last
year, triggering Israel's massive offensive against the group in Lebanon during
a 34-day war. The source said the operation was led by a general he identified
as Al-Quds chief Qassem Sulaimani, who he claimed was based in Lebanon with
other high-ranking Guards officers during the Lebanon war. He did not specify
when the soldiers -- Ehud Goldwasser, 31, and Eldad Regev, 26 -- were taken from
Lebanon, nor name the transit country. Lebanon has land borders only with Israel
and with Syria, Iran's main regional ally.
The source claimed that the soldiers could be part of an exchange involving
Germany, which decided last week to free an Iranian agent jailed for life for
the 1992 murder of four Kurdish dissidents. "The content of the deal is being
kept under tight secrecy this time, as it is related to the fate of the two
Israeli soldiers," he was quoted as saying. A senior Israeli government official
dismissed the report as "nonsense" and said it was an "attempt to disseminate
information on this extremely sensitive issue."
He said that negotiations to secure their release were being held through the
mediation of the United Nations and Germany. A Hizbullah spokesman refused to
confirm or deny the report. He told Lebanon's English language The Daily Star
that Hizbullah would not respond to such reports, which he blasted as "media and
intelligence games that aim at provoking a response over the soldiers'
whereabouts." The spokesman insisted that only a handful of high-ranking
Hizbullah officials knew about the soldiers' condition or location. An army
report released last December said that the two soldiers were wounded, one
seriously and another moderately, in the cross-border attack that led to their
capture. Germany on Friday dismissed speculation that a decision to free the
jailed agent Kazem Darabi as early as December and deport him to Iran was part
of deal with Tehran, which has tried for years to secure his release. His name
figured in several rounds of negotiations on potential prisoner swaps, including
German-brokered talks over the fate of Israeli air force navigator Ron Arad, who
has been missing since October 1986 when his plane was shot down over southern
Lebanon.(AFP) Beirut, 15 Oct 07, 07:14
Lebanon's Senior Judge to N.Y. to Coordinate Tribunal Formation
Justice Minister Charles Rizk said Saturday that Lebanon would dispatch its
highest ranking judge to New York follow up with U.N. officials formation of the
international tribunal. Rizk said senior Judge Antoine Kheir, who heads the
highest Judicial Council, would leave for New York over the week end to
"coordinate" with U.N. legal officials formation of the tribunal that would try
suspects in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related
crimes.
Beirut, 13 Oct 07, 19:22
Rice
sees no breakthrough in talks
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
JERUSALEM - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice played down expectations for
breakthroughs as she opened a critical round of Mideast shuttle diplomacy
Sunday. She urged Israel not to take any steps that might erode confidence in
the peace process. As she flew into the region from Russia, Rice said she hoped
to help narrow gaps between the Israelis and Palestinians, who are trying to
forge an outline of an eventual peace deal in a joint statement to be presented
at a U.S.-hosted international conference next month. But even before her
meetings began, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert antagonized the Palestinians
by hinting that such an outline wasn't necessary for the conference to go ahead.
The Palestinians said that without such a document, they would skip the meeting
altogether.
The U.S. has been trying to revive peace efforts since the Islamic militant
group Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June. While the Gaza takeover
has left Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas controlling just the West Bank, his
expulsion of Hamas from government has, in U.S. eyes, freed the moderate leader
to pursue a peace deal that would create a Palestinian state.
Rice said she did not believe her visit would produce the joint
Israel-Palestinian statement or bring it to a point where invitations for the
conference, expected to held in Annapolis, Md., in late November, could be
issued. "I don't expect out of these meetings that there will be any particular
outcome in the sense of breakthroughs on the document," she told reporters
aboard her plane. At the same time, she said she would urge Israel in particular
not to do anything that could threaten the meeting, following its renewal of a
road plan that Palestinians fear is intended to tighten Israeli control over
strategic West Bank areas near Jerusalem.
Rice said Israeli clarifications that the project was not imminent and meant to
ease Palestinian movement did little to ease concerns. "We have to be very
careful as we are trying to move toward the establishment of a Palestinian state
of actions and statements that erode confidence in the parties' commitment to a
two-state solution," she said. "Even if the intentions are good and even if the
actual events on the ground are intended to produce a certain kind of outcome,
this is a very delicate time," Rice said. "It's just a time to be extremely
careful."
Rice said she would shuttle between Israel and the West Bank over the next three
days to "help them narrow differences that they may have about what the nature
of this document has to be."Speaking to his Cabinet Sunday, Olmert suggested a
major difference existed when he hinted Israel did not see a peace deal outline
as a crucial element of the meeting. The goal, Olmert said, "is to arrive at a
joint statement during the international conference, even though the existence
of such a statement was never a condition for holding this conference," he said.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said the Palestinians would not allow
Olmert to use the conference as a public relations stunt. "Without a document to
resolve this conflict, we can't go to the conference next month," he said. "Olmert
is looking for a public relations conference and one that will allow
normalization with Arab countries," he said. "We will not help him in this."To
build Arab support for the conference, Rice will also make a stop in Egypt on
Tuesday and cap her trip in London on Thursday to see King Abdullah of Jordan
who will be in the British capital. A planned stop in Amman, Jordan, was
canceled because the monarch would not be there.A key measure of the success of
the conference will be how far the sides move beforehand toward resolving key
areas of dispute, like final borders, sovereignty over disputed Jerusalem and a
solution for Palestinian refugees.
So far, the two sides are at odds over how detailed that peace deal framework
should be, and both say no written agreement has been forged on any of these
issues.
Israel is pressing for a vaguely worded document that would give it more room to
maneuver. The Palestinians, by contrast, want a detailed preliminary agreement
with a timetable for creating a Palestinian state. Rice said she would be
looking for "clarity on where the parties see themselves in the negotiations on
their bilateral statement" that she said should at least touch on the key "final
status" issues.
"I do think it's important that they address the core issues in some fashion,"
she said. "I also think it's important that the document be substantive enough
that it points that there is a way forward toward the establishment of a
Palestinian state." Rice, on her third visit to the region since the Hamas
takeover in Gaza, would not rule out presenting suggestions for the two sides to
consider but refused to say what those might be.
In recent days, Palestinian officials have said an agreement is nearer than
ever, and that swapping Israeli territory for West Bank land could solve the
contentious issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Olmert has said the
time has come to stop letting excuses get in the way of peacemaking, and a top
ally has been publicly discussing a subject that was long taboo — sharing
sovereignty in Jerusalem. Still, the road project and the two sides'
disagreements on the refugee issue are clouding prospects for success.
Iran
calls on Muslims to boycott peace conference
By Parisa Hafezi
Sat Oct 13,
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's top cleric urged Muslim countries on Saturday to
boycott a U.S.-sponsored international peace conference on Palestinian statehood
next month. Opposition to Israel is one of the cornerstones of belief of Shi'ite
Iran, which backs Palestinian and Lebanese Islamic militant groups opposed to
peace with the Jewish state. "When Palestinians consider this conference as
deceitful and refuse to participate, how can Muslim countries take part in
that?" Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a sermon broadcast live on
state media. "Other (Muslim) countries also should consider it a deceitful
conference."
The United States is optimistic Palestinians and Israelis will agree to a joint
document on the tough issues that divide them before the conference in November.
Washington has backed the idea of a small territorial exchange between Israel
and a future Palestine so that Palestinians would be compensated for Jewish
settlement blocs that would remain under Israeli control in any peace deal.
Negotiations on core issues such as the borders of a Palestinian state and the
future of Jerusalem and millions of Palestinian refugees broke down in 2001 amid
surging violence.
Since its 1979 Islamic revolution, Iran refuses to recognize Israel. "Under the
name of seizing peace, Americans are trying to impose their will on
Palestinians. This conference's aim is to rescue the Zionist regime (Israel),"
Khamenei said. Iran's most powerful authority also said the United States and
its western allies were to be blamed for instability and the bloodshed in Iraq.
"The occupiers of Iraq are the ones to be blamed for the insecurity in Iraq.
They are not capable or they do not want to establish security in Iraq," he
said. The United States and Israel accuse Iran of "interference" in Iraq,
through backing Shi'ite militias, and of sponsoring terrorism, including the
Palestinian group Hamas and Hezbollah. Tehran denies the charges. The United
States and Iran, who have not had diplomatic ties since shortly after Iran's
revolution, are also embroiled in a deepening rift over Tehran's nuclear
program, which the West says is a cover to build nuclear weapons. Iran denies
it. Khamenei, the spiritual heir of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who led
Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, addressed tens of thousands of worshippers who
gathered at a large mosque in Tehran to mark the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday
ending the Ramadan fasting month in Iran. "America and its allies are
responsible for ... human and political catastrophe in Iraq," he said.
Daniel Sharon: Beirut is the
Paris of the ME
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Daniel Sharon, an Israeli who was arrested in Beirut in September on suspicion
of involvement in the murder of a local man and released to German custody on
Thursday, says he still sees Beirut as the "Paris of the Middle East." Sharon
told Channel 10 that despite his weeks in prison, he still loves Lebanon and in
no way regretted his travels there. "It's a beautiful country, the girls are
beautiful, the food's great," he said. The dual Israeli-German citizen gave an
exclusive interview from Frankfurt, where he is expected to be questioned by
Israeli security officials before being allowed to continue his travels. "You
can't describe the feeling [of being released] - knowing that your life isn't in
danger anymore, knowing that you're not accused of anything. It's like being
born again." Sharon also said he understood that, as a prisoner holding German
citizenship, he had "gotten off very cheap" during his incarceration. He had
been hit a few times, but generally not abused. "You see people around you being
tortured, begging for their lives," he said. Sharon was arrested on September 20
after authorities in Beirut questioned a Lebanese security agent about the
shooting death of the agent's roommate. The agent claimed to have been with a
German friend, later identified as Sharon, at a Beirut hotel at the time of the
killing. When authorities questioned Sharon, they discovered he was an Israeli
who spoke Ar
Lebanon’s Parliament: Will They Vote or Demolish the House?
Dr. Ghassan Michel Rubeiz
Bio
October 13, 2007 06:27 PM
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
It is presidential election countdown time in Lebanon but the parliament that
votes is a divided house. Will the legislature vote or demolish the House?
What is the matter? Sectarian power sharing is out of date. Resource management
is corrupt. National defense is weak. Foreign powers and neighbors are too
active. And there is more danger: an out-of-control budget deficit.
Allied with a secular Christian party, Hezbollah leads the opposition and
election politics center on its future. In
an atmosphere of panic the legislature is due to vote on October 23 for a new
chief of the nation. Time is running out for a seamless process of voting.
There is political paralysis. A handicapped cabinet duels robotically with a
weary opposition.
Will the elections usher-in new stability to the country or will they lead to
renewed civil war? Speculations about the future of Lebanon are wild and
confusing. The International Crisis Group report of October 10 may help us
unravel the complexity of the situation.
ICG reports that despite the economic pain it has inflicted on society by
staging a ten month sit-in strike in the capital, Hezbollah remains uniformly
popular among the Shiites and supportable among a significant segment of the
Christian community.
However, ICG adds that today Hezbollah, the Resistance, is under growing
political and logistical pressures making it more amenable to historic
compromise. The ICG argues that Hezbollah would welcome relief from growing
challenges that have come its way since the devastating war with Israel in the
summer of 2006. The report explains that the Resistance Movement, is now
restricted in military mobility by the deployment of the Lebanese army and the
UNIFIL in the south.
The Movement has to rebuild the south and the capital suburbs that were hit hard
in a horrific war that had no winners. It has to maintain the support of people
who have suffered from the war. It has to convince the Lebanese society that it
is not sectarian; it has to show that it is defending the entire country; that
it has a regional scope of influence; that it is a Lebanese rather than an
Iranian agency, or a Syrian stooge. It is worried about a new war with Israel in
which Lebanese society may not give it the same warm shelter it received last
year.
ICG concludes in the report that Hezbollah is ready to make a deal with the
Lebanese government, a deal that would be partially accommodating to the idea of
paramilitary resistance but firm on state authority. ICG recommends the
following specific measures in a more complicated format:
- Resistance for defense not attack: Hezbollah’s militia is authorized for some
limited time to help the Lebanese army in defense against foreign attacks.
- Equidistant president: The rival parties agree on a consensus candidate that
would respect the resistance on one hand, and comply with existing international
resolutions that guarantee state sovereignty.
- International Court: Acquiescence of all parties to support the work of an
international court for investigation of political murder,
- Strong National defense: National defense will be coordinated to strengthen
the Lebanese army.
- Respect for and from Syria: Equitable relations with Syria should be set up
including defined borders and control of illegal arms’ trafficking.
- Sheba Farm: Government will actively lobby to first reclaim and then liberate
Israeli occupied Sheba Farm territory.
These recommendations reveal logic and fairness but since when has Lebanese
politics been informed and guided by reason. We have reached the countdown
period of the coming elections yet no acceptable candidates have emerged. It is
one thing to have failed elections and it is another to have abortive elections
leading to civil war.
Out of fear of the future, and out of public shame, local politicians are back
on a track of dialogue in search of a solution. In recent weeks political
rhetoric on both sides has calmed down. Majority leader Rafic Harriri improved
the political climate on September 25 when he started a series of contacts with
Nabih Berri, Berri playing two contrasting roles: the parliament Speaker and the
opposition diplomat. Furthermore, the Maronite church has convened Christian
leaders from the opposition and the government side urging them to choose a
unifying candidate. Is the Patriarch now massaging Hezbollah’s Christian
partner, General Michel Aoun, to abandon his ambition for the presidency in
return for a post in the new cabinet?
To understand the total picture one has to look beyond the local scene. We are
often reminded that the elections are not only about a choice of a national
leader. Lebanese elections reflect local compliance with contradictory foreign
pressure: US and Saudi policy from one side and covert dictates of Syria and
Iran from another. The Americans, who support the Lebanese government, have zero
tolerance for militia formation. But the US government has minimal sensitivity
to daily Israeli intrusion into Lebanese air space. A million US made cluster
bombs are left unexploded in the south of Lebanon from the Israeli bombardment
of last summer. Lebanon is in a sense a victim of contradictory US foreign
policy, on one side, and mischievous Syrian/Iranian involvement in Beirut.
More importantly, the US is taking a hard line with Hezbollah’s regional
partners, Syria and Iran. There are no signs that Washington is treating Syria
with sufficient diplomatic respect. Syria is not invited with warmth to the
November Middle East peace conference that will take place in Annapolis,
Maryland. The priority concern of Syria is the Israeli occupied Golan Heights.
Annapolis will not deal with the Golan. Similarly the US pressure on Iran for
its nuclear program is heating up as Washington tries its best to expand future
international economic sanctions on Iran.
Syria’s adversaries in Lebanon used to be tame; not any more. Harriri, possible
heir apparent to the position of the next prime minister, continues to irritate
Syria. Harriri advances steps for the set up of the International Court to
investigate his father’s assassination in 2005. For good reasons, the work of
the International Court is a threat to Syria; and the hype surrounding this
court naturally does not promote Lebanese-Syrian relations. Harriri’s verbal
attack on Syria and Iran does not match his recent gestures of diplomacy toward
the opposition in Beirut.
As mentioned earlier, Saudi Arabia is also involved in the Lebanese game. On
October 11, Speaker Berri announced in public that he wished Syria and Saudi
Arabia would resolve their differences over Lebanon. Saudi Arabia and most of
the Arab countries are supporting the government and wary of Hezbollah’s
militarism.
Manipulative international pressure leads the Lebanese statesmen to work
covertly. Let us hope that behind closed doors a deal is being made today or the
day after to make the Lebanese elections happen. If the ICG report captures the
scene correctly, neither the government nor the opposition is likely to have
their most favored candidates screened for the October 23 event, if elections
were to occur.
Moderation is the order of the day. Should there be a hidden compromise in the
works the chances are slim for the election of General Michel Aoun, the
opposition candidate, or Nassib Lahoud and Boutros Harb, the two candidates of
the ruling coalition. Three “moderate” independent candidates for the presidency
are talked about. Listed in the order of their chances for winning the post of
the next president, who by tradition is a Christian, are these three Maronite
figures: General Michel Suleiman, Riad Salameh and Robert Ghanem.
Predicting the Lebanese elections is taking too much risk. So far opinions
remain frozen and the elections may even have to be postponed again for two
weeks or so. When diplomacy fails and when reason falters military solutions
gain strength. We have come very close to the election dates without a consensus
candidate and without an agreement on new ways of doing “business”. In this
deadlock context General Michel Suleiman may have quietly become the candidate
of default to maintain law and order and to prevent a messy confrontation of
wills. As chief of the army, Suleiman defeated the terror-insurgents in Nahr al
Bared this summer.
Moreover, Suleiman is externally friendly to the Syrian regime, and at the same
time, he has recently gained respect from Washington for his anti-terror success
in face of a sectarian AlQaeda-like insurgency. Washington’s compromise in
Lebanon at the end of the day may painfully evolve as a response to the threat
of the spread of terrorism should the system collapse. Nahr al Bared was a
foretaste of what might happen if political vacuum is institutionalized by
abortive elections and its aftermath of chaotic power grabbing.
When society panics the military looks heroic. Has Washington and Damascus
finally agreed to let Lebanon skip this round of political unraveling? Or are we
to witness more “interesting” times?
The Guns of the Patriarch
Elias Harfouche
Al Hayat - 14/10/07//
The Maronite Patriarch would have preferred to be relieved of the burden of
reconciling the Maronite leaders. He is the most cognizant of the constraints of
the role he can play in the light of the severe opposition between the Lebanese,
of which the conflicts between the Christians are just a miniature version.
How many teams does the Pope have? Stalin once wondered about the capabilities
of Pope Pius XII! There are probably many in Lebanon who question today: How
many guns and missiles does Patriarch Sfeir own? Goodwill does not solely
qualify Bkerke to have a decisive say in the conflicts. Sfeir himself has lately
tested the constraints of his role twice. The first time was when he formally
bid the President of the Republic Emile Lahoud to submit his resignation as a
way out of the impasse. But this request was denied. The second time was when he
tried to reconcile former President Amine Gemayel and General Michel Aoun in the
Metn elections this summer. This attempt also failed and the two parties
embarked upon a fierce battle that reinforced the Christian discord.
To be fair, the reconciliation attempts undertaken by the Patriarch Sfeir do not
mean that he is standing in the middle between the feuding parties or that his
stance vis-à-vis the issues raised is ambiguous. His sermons, statements, and
the reports of the Maronite bishops under the Syrian tutelage testify his clear
support of independence and sovereignty. He considers that the one at the helm
of Bkerke is the heir of a role played by great patriarchs, most notably
Patriarch Elias Houayek. The latter went to the peace conference in Paris in
1920 calling for the independence of "Greater Lebanon," which brought about the
annexation of what was known as "the four districts" during the Ottoman rule to
a new body. Moreover, the historical visit undertaken by Sfeir to the mountain
in the summer of 2001, and which led to the Maronite Druze reconciliation, is
considered by many to have paved the way for the about-turn of the stances of
the Druze leader Walid Jumblat vis-à-vis the Syrian custody since that time.
This was followed, as we recall, by the renowned report of the Maronite
Patriarchs, which piercingly criticized the internal political practices and
took control of the national decisions.
But the Patriarch knows that the current standoff between the Maronite leaders
stems from a disagreement on the political rules pertaining to building the
country and the independence of its internal decision-making process. It is a
disagreement between two parties that have different perspectives of this
independence concept. Each one of them has its own interests and internal and
external connections, and Bkerke does not top its priorities. This is not to
mention that one of these two parties owns not just the political
decision-making but the military one too, which Bkerke surely lacks.
I asked Patriarch Sfeir once on his outlook of his political role in comparison
with the role played by the Secretary General of Hezbollah Mr. Hassan Nasrallah
and he said to me: we are not political men. We prefer the guiding and spiritual
role but the circumstances imposed that role on us. We don't have arms or
militias or military stances. Our stance is a matter of principle.
In the name of this guiding role, Patriarch Sfeir took the latest step, which he
was quite reluctant to make, to invite the Maronite leaders to his abode in
order to reach an understanding on a way out of this political impasse. He did
that by risking once again the solemnity of his status and his voice that should
be heard during national crises. Some of the attendees stated that the Patriarch
was less than enthusiastic and did not propose any solution, but upheld openness
between the two parties, focusing on the importance of holding elections without
going into details.
Some leaders are murmuring that they were expecting more decisiveness from the
Patriarch in view of his moral weight among the Lebanese. They were expecting
him to say to the attendees from both parties: Because I am mindful of the
national interest and because I am knowledgeable of the characteristics that the
new President should have, most importantly that his future should not be
ashamed of his past, Bkerke considers "so" the best candidate for the presidency
under these circumstances. They were expecting a stance similar to the one taken
by Patriarch Boulos Al Meouchi when he supported the candidacy of President
Fouad Chehab in view of the Christian frame of mind at the time, because he
considered it a move that can save the country. These people wager that had
Bkerki done that, it would have opened the door wide for the solution and
facilitated the mission of President Nabih Berri who says that he backs up the
Patriarch in any presidential move.
Will Patriarch Sfeir make that move? Will he consider that his political role is
may be more vital this time than his spiritual role?
A Rock and a Hard Place: The Seduction
that Threatens Lebanon…Again!
By Sami Karam
14/10/07
Maybe it’s the same impulse that makes one speak before they think? Like a woman
having her way with a man and toying with him like a puppet, then leaving
without a honeymoon. Maybe it’s seduction in its purest and most shattering
form. What makes a man give up logic, and even change reality, to suit ambition?
And what makes a man do this not once, but TWICE!
When General Aoun went to Tunisia in 1989 to gain Syro-Arab support for his
presidential ambitions, he was seduced into thinking that it would be his if he
defeated his other main Christian rival, Samir Geagea and the Lebanese Forces.
This was the Arab plot that would lead us to the Teaf pit hole. His supporters
past and present would like to think that he was a man against all militias.
That he was a man who wanted to lift the heavy social burden militias may have
been inflicting on the population. Many were seduced by the seduced. Yet today
we see in General Aoun and his FPM, a group that is allied with the last
remaining militia, who is extracting a heavy socio-economic burden on the people
of Lebanon through their camps in downtown Beirut and their paralysis of
parliament.
On March 14 2005, on the heels of Lebanon’s greatest defining moment in its
modern history, General Aoun was set to return after 15 years of exile, to the
joys of those seduced 15 years ago. Yet many reports surfaced of secret meetings
with Syrian officials, Lebanese allies of current president Emile Lahoud, and
more publicized meetings with those who now form the current March 14 alliance.
On the other Christian track, Samir Geagea was still in prison and his release
was met with solid resistance by Syria’s Lebanese allies, and silence by those
who opposed Syria after the death of Rafiq Hariri. Some asked the question, why
was the General able to return so quickly before parliamentary elections and
Samir Geagea’s release was still in limbo? The answer came after parliamentary
elections were concluded and the “tsunami” (as Walid Jumblat predicted) had hit
the Lebanese parliament.
Aoun won 22 seats in parliamentary elections through popular Christian support
and the support of parties who are historically and presently allied to the
regime in Damascus. He refused to take part in a government of national unity,
which is ironically; a demand that to this day cripples a nation. The Future
Movement and it’s allies now had one option left; to give Geagea a get out of
jail card and regain some Christian momentum in their March 14 Alliance. If it
were not for the success of Aoun, Geagea may still be in jail to this day. The
reality is his comeback was orchestrated with Syrian approval, as they still had
heavy influence in the Justice Ministry. As will be discussed later, the Syrian
track was attractive to Aoun and his ambitions to become President.
In the coming months the FPM would sign a Memorandum of Understanding with
Hizbullah, strengthen ties with pro-Damascus forces, participate in the
Hizbullah-led camps that have been erected in downtown Beirut; effectively
crippling the tourism driven economy. In addition to this Aoun and his party
would give Hizbullah political cover to the June 2006 devastating war with
Israel; and be the prime beneficiaries of two political assassinations, by way
of bi-election victory in the Metn through Hizbullah sponsored Shiite votes, and
a similar demographic forecast to fill the seat of Antoine Ghanem.
Aoun had gone to great lengths, staying the course of the Opposition’s agenda
and giving it Christian cover. He was prepared to lose some of his Christian
base (as was evident in the Metn bi-election) to shore up his standing in the
March 8 Alliance, and become their candidate for the Lebanese Presidency. His
supporters argue that if all he wanted was the presidency then he would have
allied with March 14.
When one looks closely at his possible reasoning, it is not difficult to see why
Aoun may have chosen this path, as he could have just as easily waited out until
after the 2005 parliamentary elections. American anxiousness to cool down a
heated Iraq, Iranian ambitions for nuclear weapons, Democratic Congress and
House victories in the U.S.A 06 elections, and Aoun’s personal ego-shattering
experience with American willingness to trade-off Lebanon in settling regional
problems. The General figured he would be the compromise candidate of the U.S
once they had abandoned March 14 and the Hariri Tribunal in exchange for a
stable Iraq and Iranian compromise on their nuclear ambitions. He has backed the
horse to come from behind, and if he gets the win, it would surely be noted as a
grand maneuver in real-politick.
In all his reasoning, Aoun miscalculated the local and regional players. It has
come to light that there are ideologues residing in the Whitehouse that up to
this point, deserve more credit than they are receiving on the Lebanese track.
Yet his most agonizing reality is that even Aoun’s own allies do not want him to
ascend to the presidency. It was a slap in the face remark from Hassan Nasrallah
to call for popular presidential elections (knowing full well this would never
happen), thinking that it would please Aoun, only to have Hizbullah officials
state that he is their candidate, but “not the only candidate.”
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, his reasoning has not manifested and his
allies have abandoned his campaign. MP Ibrahim Kenaan of the FPM speaking with
Naharnet declared “we could reach agreement and that would be great, and if we
did not achieve an agreement lets go to parliament, and we might win or lose at
parliament.” This was a drastic change in FPM policy. Knowing he can not become
the next president, Aoun has shifted his attitude of being the only truly
representative Christian candidate, to finding a compromise and consensus
candidate that is not elected by a simple majority. Aoun knows perfectly well
that if it comes to a simple majority vote, March 14 will not waste time in
electing a president that will work against the Iran-Syria-Hizbullah axis. With
the March 14 majority demanding their candidate occupy the Presidency, Aoun has
no other choice but to confront them with consensus. If against his will, he
succumbs to the pressures of Bkirki and goes to parliament to vote for a March
14 candidate, he may very well find out that the Syrians this time will not
allow him to leave into exile, but exit in a coffin.
The main criticism General Aoun makes of his Lebanese adversaries is that they
collaborated in the Syrian occupation whilst he was speaking out against it in
exile. He is now discovering the ease of speaking from afar and the hard lesson
of breathing without oxygen when the Syrian axe is hanging over his head.
As the October 13th anniversary is remembered, the intelligentsia
that once feverously supported the General not only abandoned him but are
exposing his motives. There are many who felt deeply betrayed by his political
turnabout. “Why?” they ask. Why give up 15 years of resistance for the sake of
personal ambition for the presidency? Their answer lies in the history pages of
18yrs ago and the removal of emotion from their analysis. He sought the
presidency then, and went to war with his own sect to get it. The Syrians knew
Aoun would be manipulated in 2005 because he was manipulated in 1989. Those who
supported him; thinking he was a statesman guided by principle and nationalistic
ideals need to rethink. He was and is a politician, scheming to gain his place,
like all politicians. His supporters past and present were unfortunately,
seduced by the seduced.
The problem with bending reality to suite your ambitions is that eventually
reality comes to light. Often an individual gets married thinking he is the man
going on a honeymoon to claim the prize he has waited for his entire life. And
when he arrives, warms up the bed and darkens the room the light of reality
wakes him to the painful fact that he is no longer the man, but the woman.
Holy War and Anti War: An Axis against Nature
By Walid Phares
The oddest of all factional relationships is the open alliance between the
Jihadists and the so-called "antiwar" neo-Left movement in the West. The jumble
of causes thrown together is mind-bending: globalization hobnobs with the
caliphate, class struggle with Wahabism, proletariat with infidels, and North
Korea with Palestine.
While still shedding each others' blood, the Reds (neo-Left) and the Dark Greens
(Islamists) are conducting a joint offensive against both democracy-pushing
America and the democracy-craving Middle East. They are not letting old or new
grudges get in their way.
The Wahabis fiercely fought the Soviet Communists in Afghanistan;
the Muslim Brotherhood and the Marxists have been at each other's throats for
decades;
the Salafists butchered left-wing intellectuals in Algeria and assassinated
progressive bureaucrats in central Asia after the Soviet collapse;
the Taliban killed socialists and shut down art institutions;
the Khumeinist regime in Iran decimated the Tudeh Communist Party in the 1980's.
Despite all the mutual mayhem across the Mediterranean and throughout the Middle
East, an unnatural alliance was established by elites of the two camps, even
while blood was being shed in the 1990's. Setting ideologies and history aside,
the Islamist tacticians and Left pragmatists gradually converged on a two-lane
path against liberal democracies and the specter of a free market and pluralist
Middle East.
The Jihadi concern with Western involvement in the region is logical: free
societies in the Arab and Muslim world, joined finally to the international
community, would shatter fundamentalism's control of the region's political
cultures. To have Arab and Iranian youths, in addition to minorities, hooking up
directly with the peaceful and prosperous societies of the West would leave the
Islamists without a base to recruit from.
Jihadism is joined with the antiwar movement even while promoting "holy war,"
which is the essence of their rissala (mission). The ideology of the Salafists
and Khumeinists is to prepare for, mobilize for, incite, and engage in a
constant war of jihad against the infidels, who are supposed to be all those who
aren't Islamists, including moderate Muslims.
Theoretically, the jihadi connection to the antiwar concept is impossible. But
in the realm of reality, it does occur, mainly because of the mutating
"pragmatism" of both of the antidemocratic movements. The radical Islamists, as
I argued in Future Jihad, have undergone a strategic mutation that has allowed
them to coalesce tactically with ideological foes, among them Baathists,
Neo-Marxists, and anarchists.
The last group, under an international neo-Left umbrella in the West, created
the anti-war movement, which is reminiscent of the old Cold War
Communist-controlled "peace movement."
Islamists found it easier to insert themselves as partners in an "antiwar"
movement than a "peace" movement. Effectively, in the jihadi aqida (doctrine),
seeking permanent peace with others is a non issue, given that jihad is
constant, regardless of its form. Jihadism cannot accommodate a peace movement
in principle.
However jurisprudence based on al Haja (necessity) would allow the jihadists to
accept an interim cessation of war and work in more sophisticated ways to stop
wars that they cannot win. Thus it is in the interest of the radical Islamists
to stop a war that can't be won by them, at least until the balance of power is
restored and a winnable war becomes possible again. They are against the West's
war for tactical reasons. But they are not at all in favor of peace until they
win.
In the case of the War on Terror, the "political Islamists" joined the "no war"
crowd in order to stop the military efforts of the United States and its allies
against the terrorist forces of the jihadists. Hence Islamic militants marched
in the demonstrations against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as a way to give
respite to the Taliban and al Qaeda. The antiwar movement exposed its broken
rationale when it marched against some but not all wars. It demonstrated against
the military efforts to overthrow the Taliban and Saddam but ignored the wars
waged by the Sudanese regime against the African peoples in the south and
Darfur; it marched against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, but ignored
the Syrian occupation of Lebanon.
Worse, in the eyes of millions of Middle Easterners, were the highly publicized
"red buses" filled with antiwar militants who headed to Iraq to "support"
dictator Saddam Hussein. They traveled from London, Berlin, and Rome through
Eastern Europe without a word in remembrance of its struggle against the Soviet
occupation, and crossed Syria without comforting the thousands of political
prisoners tortured and assassinated by the Baathist regime.
And for an apex of irony, the buses rolled through sinister Halabja, a Kurdish
town gassed by Saddam in 1988, and past the Shiites' mass graves, stopping only
to "shield" Saddam's castles, built from oil revenues that rented the buses and
lodged their occupants in fancy hotels. This antiwar movement was convenient for
the jihadists, as it was a form of war against the rise of democracies in the
region. For the movement, mostly bourgeois in nature, never showed up in Darfur,
among Berbers in Algeria or Lebanese under Syrian occupation, or to shield women
under the Taliban.
Hence it wasn't surprising for viewers around the world to see the Islamist
militants in Europe taking to the streets alongside the "bourgeois Neo-Marxists"
to protest the governments that supported the War on Terror. In Europe, the most
revealing action of the Islamist militants was when -- in the same year as the
red buses -- they marched in support of the French government against U.S.
intervention in Iraq, and then burned shops and cars in 200 French cities and
towns during a "French intifada."
The jihadi manipulation of the bourgeois-Neo-Marxist "struggle" has played a
central role in the so-called "mass demonstrations" in the West since 2002, and
the demonstrations themselves are an important component of the War of Ideas
against democracy. On campuses, both in North America and Western Europe, the
jihadi-antiwar axis has planted deep roots, and thanks to the skills of
university-based anarchist groups, the jihadists have found a cover they can
hide under, instead of simply becoming members of the typical Muslim Student
Unions.
But this "marriage of convenience" with the extreme left has not deterred
jihadists from conducting another, simultaneous, wedding with the extreme right.
But that's another story.
**Dr Walid Phares is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of
Democracies and a visiting scholar at the European Foundation for Democracy. He
is the author of War of Ideas.
Hezbollah attempts to marginalize
Lebanon's Christians
Monday, 15 October, 2007 @ 4:54 PM
By Dalia Nehme
Beirut - MP Wael Abu Faour accused Hizbullah of seeking to marginalize the role
of Lebanon's Christians in the nation's political system by calling for the
election of a president through direct popular vote, thus circumventing
parliament.
Abu Faour (pictured right), a prominent member of the March 14 coalition and
representative of the Progressive Socialist Party in the legislature, made the
remark in an interview with Naharnet at the heavily guarded block of Beirut's
seaside Phoenicia Hotel, where majority law makers are bastioned to avoid the
ongoing death threat targeting Lebanese politicians opposed to Syrian President
Bashar Assad's regime.
"If the presidential election was toppled this time, it would be a major blow to
the Christians in the political system," he said.
"The referendum, direct election (by the people) and opinion polls proposed by
Hizbullah put the Christian role in narrowest frame," Abu Faour stressed.
He ridiculed Nasrallah's opinion poll proposal to elect a new head of state
saying "as if we are choosing man of the year … a beauty queen or a celebrity.
We are electing the president here and the nation has constitutional
institutions" that can elect a head of state.
"It is the majority's right and duty to safeguard democracy and prevent vacuum
in the presidential office," Abu Faour said.
Abu Faour pointed out , "Collision is not our option, we want a democratic
constitutional election … competition is a political tradition in Lebanon, why
don't they want competition in parliament?"
He said Hizbullah leader Sayed Hassan Nasralla has "placed Lebanon in the core
in regional divisions and conflicts … and changed Lebanon into the boxing sac of
a regional conflict."
Nasrallah, according to the PSP representative, "is protecting the Syrian regime
by toppling the international tribunal and labeling it an
international-Israeli-American tool … He also accused Saudi Arabia of heading
towards normalization of relations with Israel … This places Lebanon on a
regional collision course."
Nasrallah's policy turns Lebanon into "an arena for the Syrian and Iranian
regimes," Abu Faour charged.
The current debate, he said, is not restricted to choosing a presidential
candidate "Hizbullah also wants to gain political concessions related to U.N.
Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701."
"Such topics have been discussed by Berri and (Saad) Hariri. Most of the
discussions focused on 1559 and 1701."
He warned against repeating the Gaza example in Lebanon, in reference to the
take over by force of the Hamas militant faction of the sector from Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah.
"I think someone is considering repeating the Gaza example in Lebanon. The
decisive element in repeating this example is Iran's decision. Would Iran
support such an example in Lebanon?"
"If Iran felt threatened, it would use all its regional cards, including the
Lebanon card," he added.
The young Druze MP who represents the Hasbaya constituency in the nation's
unicameral house said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's initiative "reflects a
will (to facilitate presidential elections" but lacks capability. He's got the
will, but unfortunately he is not capable" of carrying it out.
Berri's Maneuverability "margin was narrowed by Nasrallah's speech. The real
decision is in Hizbullah's hands … the spinal cord of the so-called March 8
forces is Hizbullah," according to Au Faour.
He said Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun "managed recently to assess
the dimension of the dilemma in which he placed himself … He made a move towards
us and we responded cordially, but the effort stumbled, I think due to political
considerations related to his relationship with his allies."
Abu Faour rejected charges by Assad and the Hizbullah-led March 8 that the
majority was allied with the United States, stressing that "any relation between
the government and a foreign power would not be at the expense of Lebanon's Arab
belonging."
"It is true that the United States has provided the army with assistance, but
other powers have sent missiles to local factions" he said in obvious reference
to Iran and Hizbullah.
In answering a question as to whether the nation is heading to civil war, Abu
Faour said: "We don't want past nightmares awakened. We wouldn't be dragged into
war."
Asked to comment on meetings between Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and
Maronite Politicians, he said: "I believe the Patriarch is determined on
facilitating presidential elections and he wants Christian MPs to shoulder their
responsibilities in this regard."
Source: Naharnet