LCCC ENGLISH NEWS BULLETIN
September 25/06
Biblical Reading For TodayHoly Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 9,30-37.
They left from there and began a journey through Galilee, but he did not wish anyone to know about it. He was teaching his disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is to be handed over to men and they will kill him, and three days after his death he will rise." But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question him. They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, "What were you arguing about on the way?"But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." Taking a child he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them, Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the one who sent me.
Latest New from the Daily Star for September 25/06
Lebanese want real political work - and Parliament is the right place for it
Druze hold unprecedented Religious Council elections
5,000 Israeli troops linger in South
Jumblatt takes issues with Nasrallah
Geagea scoffs at Hizbullah's claims of 'victory'
Berri stands by right of resistance to bear arms until conditions are right
Murr says 'properly equipped' army would deter Israel
Fight with terrorism can endanger civil rights
Bush sends corporate team to Lebanon
Fatfat moves to bring General Security chief before military courtBekaa housing company builds anew
Ahmadinejad offers to discuss 'everything'
Latest New from Miscellaneous sources for September 25/06Assad: I want peace with Israel but failed hopes may lead to war-Ha'aretz, Israel
In Beirut, large rally against Hezbollah-Seattle Post Intelligencer
The secret behind Hezbollah’s survival-MehrNews.com
Who is Hezbollah?Alarab online
Israel slams Nasrallah 'victory' speech-Jerusalem Newswire
Anti-Syrian Christian leader lashes out at Hezbollah chief's-Raw Story
Geagea to Hizbullah: Choose Between Loyalty to Lebanon or Syria-Naharnet
Saniora Hits Back at Hizbullah, Says its Actions Resulted in Re-Occupation-Naharnet
Lebanese Army Beefs up Border Posts Ahead of Israel Pullout-Naharnet
Sunni-Shiite Divide Widens Over Security Officer's Fate-NaharnetNATION IN BRIEF-Washington Post
Delusion in Damascus-Washington Post
US to blame for attack on its embassy-Syria's Assad-Reuters
A Divided Lebanon at a Crossroads-ShortNews.com
Turkey to Export Electricity to Lebanon-Zaman Online
Putin Confirms Russian Troops for Lebanon, but not Under UN Flag-Naharnet
Syria says its ready for 'peace'-Jerusalem Newswire
Belgian defense minister visiting Lebanon-Islamic Republic News Agency
LEBANON: Children play to tackle war trauma-Reuters
Israeli Official Scolds Olmert On Syria-Playfuls.com
Lebanese land claim muddles 3-way tug of war-International Herald Tribune
Syria Makes Apparent Peace Overture-All Headline News
9,500-year-old decorated skulls found in Syria-Khaleej Times
Probe: Canada Gave US Misleading Data-Guardian Unlimited
Lebanon's Nasrallah emerges as idol post war-Reuters.uk
New Statement from Abu Arz, President of the Guardians of the Cedars Party
A Lifeline for Lebanon: International Custody.
It is the first time that Lebanon is benefiting from an international custody that is rarely seen in the history of nations. All countries from the four corners of the world have shown solidarity with Lebanon and rushed to help it, including the People’s Republic of China. This means that Lebanon has moved from the phase of Arabization, which began in 1976 with the entry of the “Arab Deterrent” forces and all the calamities and catastrophes that this brought onto Lebanon, to the phase of internationalization which constitutes the last chance for the country to exit its long crisis.
But Lebanon’s biggest calamity remains internal, specifically within the schizophrenic political milieu that is divided on itself in an irreconcilable manner, something which threatens to obstruct, indeed subvert, the solutions coming from the outside and consequently squander these priceless opportunities that may not materialize again.
For the ruling half, referred to as the March 14 forces, is inflicted with the disease of indecision and cowardice in circumstances that demand great courage and boldness, particularly with respect to the numerous impending mandates like implementing international resolutions, viz. resolution 1701 which is based on resolution 1559 that calls, first and foremost, for the disarming of the militias, approving the law establishing the international court, shutting down the gate of the South, controlling the borders with Syria under international supervision, launching the process of construction and development, etc.
The opposing half, referred to as the March 8 forces, is stricken with the disease of political profligacy as it refuses to surrender its weapons under the pretext of “defending the nation”, even though no one asked it to do this, persists in inciting to a hostile environment against anyone who dares to demand its disarming, and accuses as traitors anyone who supports the international custody of the country, when it itself has been up to its eyeballs an agent for Syria and Iran without interruption since 1982 and to this date. Towards a greater sense of direction and clarity, and on behalf of all the honorable Lebanese, we assert the following:1- Anyone who contributes to frustrating the international solutions, either by cowardice, omission, negligence or collusion is a conspirator against Lebanon and must be denounced.
2- Anyone who attacks the international custody of Lebanon is committing a crime of treason against Lebanon, because there is no solution to the Lebanese
crisis outside the framework of that custody.3- Anyone who obstructs the implementation of United Nations resolutions is obstructing the salvation of Lebanon from the cycle of war, violence and destruction, and must be prosecuted, even if at a later time.
4- Anyone who opposes the establishment of the International Court either is an accomplice in the crimes or is covering up for the criminals, and must also be prosecuted. Those who today oppose the international custody over Lebanon never did in the past oppose the Syrian custody – and there is no comparing between the two,since the former is a custody that seeks to rescue Lebanon while the latter is a hegemony that sought, and continues to seek, the elimination of Lebanon. We ask those objecting to stop insulting the intelligence of the Lebanese people.
Abu Arz
President of the Guardians of the Cedars Party
September 15, 2006
Geagea to Hizbullah: Choose Between Loyalty to Lebanon or Syria
Naharnet: Christian leader Samir Geagea defied Hizbullah and its followers to prove loyalty for Lebanon before demanding a change in government, insisting that allegiance to Syria would not achieve national unity.
In a massive rally that attracted tens of thousands of Christians, almost matching the masses that gathered Friday for Hizbullah's so-called 'divine victory' congregation, Geagea said it was impossible for any Lebanese faction "to act unilaterally and demand a national unity government. They have to first accept national unity and then demand a government of national unity," Geagea said at the rally in the Kisrwan stronghold of Harissa under a giant statue of the Virgin Mary. Several MPs belonging to the March 14 forces attended the rally, which was held to commemorate the Martyrs of the Lebanese forces during the 1975-1990 civil war. It was the first time that Geagea, a political prisoner freed from jail in 2005, attended the annual mass.
The rally came two days after the Syrian-backed Hizbullah held a massive demonstration in Beirut attended by hundreds of thousands to celebrate its "victory" in the devastating July-August war with Israel. Geagea's supporters, waving his pictures, and white, red and green flags of his Lebanese Forces Party, arrived in buses and cars at the shrine of the Virgin Mary in the town of Harissa, 27 kilometers north of Beirut.
The Lebanese Forces leader send a strong warning to Hizbullah that its refusal to disarm was the main cause of recent divisions in Lebanon, reminiscent of the splits that caused the 1975 civil war. "The nation shall rise only when we find a solution to the weapons … there can not be a state competing with a statelet," he said backing allegations that Hizbullah had evolved into a state within a state challenging national sovereignty.
He asked "are we still in need of resistance? No, we need to champion a political resistance, a resistance that relies on intellect not missiles and unity not schism….In an effort to reassure skeptics worried about interference in Lebanon's internal affairs with the influx of international forces to Lebanon under the banner of the United Nations, Geagea said "rest assured UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) will not interfere in our internal affairs nor will we allow it."Geagea insisted Syria still did not recognize Lebanon as an independent, sovereign country and as such it refuses to demarcate the borders. "To date Syria is still striving to wrest control of Lebanon," Geagea said. Indirectly referring to Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah speech on Friday, Geagea said there were factions in Lebanon that are seeking to undermine the 1989 Taef agreement that ended the civil war.
"Before demanding a national unity government they must work to achieve national unity," Geagea said. "They can not take pride in relations with Syria and at the same time claim allegiance to Lebanon." Beirut, 24 Sep 06, 15:20
Goldwasser gets brush off from Lebanese president
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Karnit Goldwasser, wife of kidnapped IDF soldier, Ehud Goldwasser, introduced herself on Thursday to Lebanese President Emile Lahoud after the latter finished a speech to the UN General Assembly. Goldwasser approached Lahoud and shook his hand, introducing herself and requesting his assistance in the release of her husband. Lahoud said a few words in Arabic in response, and then quickly walked away.
Anti-Syrian Christian leader lashes out at Hezbollah chief's speech
Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Sunday September 24, 2006
Beirut- Anti-Syrian Christian leader Samir Geagea lashed out Sunday at a speech by Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah in which the Shiite cleric claimed victory against Israel. "We are the victors because we managed to send our Lebanese army to southern Lebanon at a time you (Nasrallah) opposed it, but yet we do not feel it was victory," said the leader of Christian Lebanese Forces (LF) leader and member of Lebanon's March 14 group during a rally in Harissa north of Beirut. Thousands of supporters had flocked to a hilltop Maronite cathedral, the site of a giant statue of the Virgin Mary, for mass and to hear Geagea and commemorate the "martyrs" of party members killed during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
In the first rally by the anti-Syrian camp since the devastating conflict with Israel that started on July 12 and ended on August 14 through a UN-brokered ceasefire, Geagea hit back at Nasrallah's speech on Friday in Beirut celebrating victory. "They (Hezbollah) demand a strong state but how can a strong state be built while another state is growing inside it? How can it be done with arms and ammunition continuing to flow in ... how can a state be established when they force the state to follow their own timetable?" asked Geagea. "Keeping the arms is a losing bet, I tell them (Hezbollah)," Geagea said, but without naming Hezbollah. Speaking in a calm and relaxed tone, Geagea said: "We need to find a solution to the arms, it will then be possible to build a strong state." The Christian leader repeatedly quoted parts of Nasrallah's speech, but without naming him.
In reference to Nasrallah's criticism of Prime Minister Fouad Seniora, who cried during an Arab conference held in Beirut during the war, Geagea said "the tears expressed the feelings of the whole Lebanese people." The deaths of more than 1,200 people in Lebanon alone, mainly civilians could not be termed a victory, and billions of dollars worth of damage had been caused in the country.
"Do not let anyone scare you," Geagea addressed his people. "We are the resistance ... who resisted during the bad times especially when Syria was occupying Lebanon," Geagea said, adding, "To claim having 20,000 rockets is not strength ... the strength comes from unity and not threats," Geagea added. Geagea, 53, a former head of the LF militia which was disbanded after the civil war, was the only warlord imprisoned in Lebanon and received several life sentences for murder and attempted murder. Geagea spent 11 years in solitary confinement before the establishment of the anti-Syrian camp after the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and after the withdrawal of Syrian troops. Syria has been widely accused of the murder which Damascus still denies. "Syria still does not recognise Lebanon as an independent state and that is why we want to continue to resist," said the LF leader and reiterated his call for Lebanese pro Syrian President Emile Lahoud to step down. The Christian camp is divided after General Michel Aoun forged an "understanding agreement" with Hezbollah although he was forced into exile to Paris for 14 years after fighting the "war of liberation" against Syrian forces in 1989. Geagea also belongs to the March 14 group, which includes parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri, a Sunni Moslem and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. Jumblatt described Sunday Nasrallah's speech as "coup d'etat" against the Lebanese government, adding, "The main conflict with Nasrallah is his backing of the Syrian regime." "We are for coexistence, democracy and peace ... They (Hezbollah) want to live under the supervision of Syria and Iran," Jumblatt added. Geagea and Jumblatt's comments highlight divisions in Lebanon after Israel launched a fierce war against Lebanon after Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers.© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur
Lebanese Army Beefs up Border Posts Ahead of Israel Pullout
The Lebanese army, deploying at points on the border with Israel for the first time in four decades, reinforced its positions Sunday with tanks and armored vehicles, the military said. Army officials in southern Lebanon said the extra hardware was used to consolidate the new posts at Ras Naqoura on the Mediterranean coast and at Labbuneh, three kilometers inland. The army has also moved into the Mhaibib and Hula posts close to the border, likewise in the western sector, that were previously held by Hizbullah which fought a deadly July-August war with Israel, they said.
By Tuesday, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was expected to organize a meeting of Israeli and Lebanese army officers to finalize the withdrawal of Israel's last soldiers in south Lebanon. Some 400 Lebanese soldiers on Saturday backed by the UN peacekeepers moved into five border posts, notably Ras Naqura and Labbuneh, all in the western sector, for the first time in four decades.
UNIFIL commander Major General Alain Pelligrini has said Israeli forces should have pulled out completely by next Friday, after delaying the withdrawal until after the Jewish New Year holidays which end on Sunday evening. Lebanese soldiers had not been deployed for four decades along the Israeli border, after being edged out since 1968 when Palestinian guerrillas started to hold sway in south Lebanon. Hizbullah took overall control in 2000 after more than two decades of Israeli occupation. The French contingent in UNIFIL on Sunday started to deploy two contingents, making up 270 men, in the Bint Jbeil area, a Hizbullah bastion which was devastated and partially occupied by Israeli soldiers at the height of the fighting.
France is contributing a total of 2,000 soldiers to the reinforced UNIFIL.
UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which came into force on August 14 established a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah following their 34-day war in which more than 1,200 people were killed in Lebanon alone. With Hizbullah keeping its fighters out of sight since the truce in the war sparked by its July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers in a border raid, the army is deploying 15,000 troops in mainly Shiite southern Lebanon.(AFP-AP photo shows two Lebanese soldiers standing on the top of their tank, as one points to the Lebanese-Israeli border during their deploying at the southern village of Labbouneh near the Lebanese southern coastal town of Naqoura) Beirut, 24 Sep 06, 13:23
Sunni-Shiite Divide Widens Over Security Officer's Fate
Naharnet: A political dispute over the seemingly rebellious behavior of Brig. Gen Wafik Jizzini, head of the Surete General, is fueling a Sunni-Shiite divide plaguing Prime Minister's Saniora's Cabinet. A flurry of political meetings on Saturday apparently has failed to iron out the controversy following a decision by acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat to place Jizzini under house arrest for 20 days for refusing orders to merge all intelligence and surveillance information into a single database. An Nahar reported Sunday that MP Ali Hassan al-Khalil, a close aid to speaker Nabih Berri, had marathon talks late Saturday night with Saniora on Jizzini's fate. But there apparently was no conclusion. Earlier, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi held long talks with Berri in Ain el-Tini on that matter. Saniora has backed Fatfat's action but Speaker Nabih Berri and Shiite Cabinet and parliament members have rejected the action on the grounds the acting interior minister was turning the issue into a political dispute. The Jizzini case has fanned the flames of the brewing clash between Shiites who largely back Hizbullah, and Sunnis blaming the party for billions of dollars of destruction caused by the recent 34-day war Israel had launched on Lebanon.
Beirut, 24 Sep 06, 10:33
Spanish Peacekeepers Patrol Kfarkila Region in the South
Naharnet: With the blue UN flag over their armored cars and keeping hands off their guns, unloaded to reassure the locals, Spanish peacekeepers have started patrolling the Kfarkila region of south Lebanon on the border with Israel. "We must avoid any aggressive attitude, anything that can could cause fear or look like conflict. The (low) level of alert right now means we can patrol without wearing helmets and even get out of the vehicles without guns," said marine Captain David Alarcon. His patrol of 18 soldiers toured three border observation posts which the Spanish contingent is to take over from Indian peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that is being heavily reinforced in the wake of the Israel-Hizbullah war.
About 560 Spanish soldiers landed in Lebanon last week to join the expanded UNIFIL, to which Madrid has committed 1,100 soldiers.
"The atmosphere in this sector is extremely calm. The people already know who we are. In some villages, they showered us with rice," a traditional Arab welcome, said the captain who has taken part in two peace missions in Bosnia.
As they passed through Kfarkila, 35 kilometers (about 20 miles) east of the port town of Tyre, the children directed kisses at the soldiers while young girls smiled playfully at the men. But older residents of a Shiite region where Hizbullah has ruled the roost for the past six years since Israel ended a two-decade occupation of south Lebanon turned away, highlighting the local suspicion of foreign forces. The two armored Humvees and the Pirana fighting vehicle, armed with machine-guns and grenade-launchers, passed along some roads littered with unexploded ordnance and small red plastic signs warning of mines. The lead vehicle came to a sudden halt in front of an unexploded Israeli shell that was clearly marked in red paint.
On a nearby hill, right on the "Blue Line" demarcated by the United Nations in 2000 as the border between Israel and Lebanon, stood the abandoned Position 9.63 of UNIFIL's pre-war observer force. "These observation posts were evacuated during the July and August offensive because they were right on the frontline. Many bombs fell in the area and the roads are riddled with explosives," said Alarcon. About one kilometer (about 1,000 yards) from the border, on the Lebanese side, behind a hillock and amid camouflage, soldiers on an Israeli armored vehicle and a bulldozer kept watch over the patrol's movements. The Israelis, who the Indian peacekeepers said had crossed over earlier the same day through one of the openings on the border, ignored the greetings of the Spaniards. Under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which established an August 14 ceasefire to the month-long war, Israeli troops have to withdraw from Lebanese territory. Israel had set a minimum presence of 5,000 UNIFIL troops before it would withdraw, a threshold crossed last week as more foreign peacekeepers arrive, but it has delayed the pullout until next week after the Jewish New Year holiday.
Wearing a crisp blue turban, the Sikh captain briefed the Spaniards on the number of men under his command, the risks they faced and how they reacted to the Israelis. The 24 Indians stationed at the post had counted 240 artillery shells crashing nearby.
At places, the UN posts lie very close to Israeli townships, such as Metulla, right across the border from Kfarkila.(AFP photo shows Spanish UNIFIL soldiers patrolling the roads in the southern village of Markaba)
Delusion in Damascus
Bashar Assad believes that Syria won the Lebanese war.
Sunday, September 24, 2006; Washingtom Times-Page B06
IN THE aftermath of the summer war in Lebanon, the Middle East is haunted by the hubris of two self-declared winners. Israel and Hezbollah, which did the actual fighting, are both licking their wounds. But Iran is in a triumphalist mood, as the rhetoric of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations last week confirmed. And so, it seems, is Hezbollah's other foreign sponsor, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Countries around the region are responding to what they see as the new strategic menace from Tehran; witness Egypt's announcement that it would soon propose its own nuclear program. But Syria is more likely to trigger a new round of armed conflict in the near future.
The threat stems from Mr. Assad's overt resistance to the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the war. Among other provisions, the resolution mandated the expansion of a U.N. peacekeeping force along the Lebanese-Israeli border and prohibited any state from helping Hezbollah to rearm. Mr. Assad has denounced the deployment of European troops as part of the U.N. force; last week he described it as a Western plot to divide the Arab world. More significantly, he has threatened that any deployment of the force along the Lebanese-Syrian border would be treated by Damascus as hostile.
Mr. Assad's bluster has successfully deterred the Lebanese and Western governments from taking serious steps to stop the traffic of arms and explosives from Syria to Lebanon. The scores of roads and tracks crossing the border have been the principal routes for missiles and other arms supplies to Hezbollah. They also carry the bombs that Syria's agents have used in a continuing assassination campaign against Lebanese politicians who favor the country's independence from Damascus.
Mr. Assad knows that if he attempts to supply Hezbollah with new weapons he will invite an attack by Israel, which has vowed to prevent any resupply. The Syrian president even referred to that possibility in an interview published last week. But he appears undeterred. In a speech last month he declared that Hezbollah's "victory" in the war had ushered in "a new Middle East," one in which the "enemy" Israel would inevitably be defeated by force of arms. When U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan arrived two weeks later to ask for Syria's cooperation in implementing the resolution, Mr. Assad treated him to "a diatribe . . . depicting the Western powers as bankrupt and powerless," according to a report by Warren Hoge of the New York Times.
Remarkably, Mr. Annan emerged from that meeting to tell the world that Mr. Assad had assured him that Syria would take steps to secure the border. The many statesmen who have tried to do business with the Syrian president in the past -- such as former secretary of state Colin L. Powell or Egypt's Hosni Mubarak -- have discovered that such assurances are not only worthless but deliberately mendacious. Yet Mr. Annan and the European governments deploying troops to Lebanon are essentially counting on those words -- rather than firm measures of their own -- to prevent a new crisis in which their own soldiers would be at risk. That's a lot to expect from a callow and corrupt dictator who believes he is on top of a "new" Middle East.