Lebanon

More than 8 out of 10 Americans identify with a Christian faith

2007-12-25T08:43:00.000-06:00

GALLUP
December 24, 2007
by Frank Newport

PRINCETON, NJ -- This time of year provides an opportunity to answer frequently asked questions about exactly where America stands today in regard to religion, based on Gallup's extensive archives.

Christmas is obviously a Christian holiday. But what percentage of Americans today identify with a Christian religion?

About 82% of Americans in 2007 told Gallup interviewers that they identified with a Christian religion. That includes 51% who said they were Protestant, 5% who were "other Christian," 23% Roman Catholic, and 3% who named another Christian faith, including 2% Mormon.

Because 11% said they had no religious identity at all, and another 2% didn't answer, these results suggest that well more than 9 out of 10 Americans who identify with a religion are Christian in one way or the other.

Has this changed over time?

Yes. The percentage of Americans who identify with a Christian religion is down some over the decades. This is not so much because Americans have shifted to other religions, but because a significantly higher percentage of Americans today say they don't have a religious identity. In the late 1940s, when Gallup began summarizing these data, a very small percentage explicitly told interviewers they did not identify with any religion. But of those who did have a religion, Gallup classified -- in 1948, for example -- 69% as Protestant and 22% as Roman Catholic, or about 91% Christian.

It's one thing to identify with a religion, and another to be actively religious. What percentage of Americans are actually members of a church?

Sixty-two percent of Americans in Gallup's latest poll, conducted in December, say they are members of a "church or synagogue," a question Gallup has been asking since 1937.

And how has that changed over time?

It's down in the recent years of this decade and down a little more compared to the time period prior to the late 1970s. In the 1937 Gallup Poll, for example, 73% of Americans said they were church members. That number stayed in the 70% range in polls conducted in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. By the 1970s, however, the number began to slip below 70% in some polls, although as recently as 1999, 70% said they were church members. Since 2002, self-reported church membership has been between 63% and 65%.

OK, but being carried on a church's roll doesn't necessarily mean one is active in that church, does it?

It does not. That carries us into the realm of self-reported church attendance, which is a complex arena. Scholars over the years have argued about the precise validity of self-reported attendance data. Some argue that respondents either a) deliberately over-report the frequency of their church attendance because it is socially desirable, or b) generalize and guess at the frequency of their church attendance rather than pinning it down specifically.

Having said that, the most recent Gallup assessment shows that when given a choice between five response categories to describe how frequently they go to church -- "once a week," "almost every week," "about once a month," "seldom," and "never" -- only 17% of adult Americans say they never attend church. In other words, more than 8 out of 10 Americans say they attend church or other worship services at least "seldom."

But attending church could mean attending a wedding or a funeral, for example.

Yes. The question simply asks: "How often do you attend church or synagogue?" and doesn't specify for what reason. So some of those who say they seldom attend could be reporting that they go for weddings or funerals rather than to personally worship.

How many Americans can be classified as frequent church attenders?

Based on the responses to this question, about a third say they attend once a week, with another 12% saying they attend almost every week. This means that about 44% of Americans report what can be called frequent church attendance -- almost every week or every week.

Are there other ways of measuring church attendance?

Yes. Gallup has long used a somewhat controversial question: "Did you, yourself, happen to attend church or synagogue in the last seven days, or not?" In recent years, between 40% and 45% of Americans have said "yes" to that question, yielding an estimate that is similar to the one derived from the question reviewed above about frequency of attendance.

Why is this question controversial?

Sociologists and other scholars have attempted to calibrate the "last seven days" response against other ways of measuring church attendance, and have argued that it produces an overestimate. Some scholars actually traveled around an Ohio county and totaled the attendance at every church in that county, even including counting cars in parking lots.

They found that the actual "warm bodies" in churches added up to a significantly lower number than what the residents of that county had reported in a survey. Other scholars have looked at church attendance as reported in time diaries where people mark down everything they do day after day. In these instances, the diary entries for church attendance appear to be less than the 40% to 45% figure that people report in response to survey questions.

Nevertheless, the self-reported data give us a useful measure to trend over time. We find that it's remarkably stable. The high point in "last seven day attendance" appears to have come in the 1950s, when at one point 49% of Americans said they had attended church in the last seven days. In 1940, at the end of the Depression and just before America's involvement in World War II, the figure was 37%, and has been in the high 30% range in just a couple of years since then.

But in general, year after year, roughly the same percentage of Americans -- in the low 40% range -- report to survey interviewers that they have gone to church within the last seven days.

Are there other measures of the actual impact of religion in Americans' daily lives?

Yes. One measure Gallup has tracked over time asks respondents to indicate how important religion is in their own lives -- very, fairly, or not very important.

This year, 56% of Americans have said religion is very important. Only 17% say religion is not very important.

Has this changed over time?

Yes. A couple of measures of this question from the 1950s and 1960s indicated that at that time, over 70% of Americans said religion was very important in their daily lives. That percentage dropped into the 50% range by the 1970s, and since then it has fluctuated somewhat, but has generally been in the 55% to 65% range.

The responses to the "importance of religion" question -- taken together with some of the previous data discussed -- seem to suggest a pattern by which at least 80% of Americans are religious on one indicator or the other.

Yes. To summarize, more than 8 in 10 Americans identify with a religion and 8 out of 10 say that religion is at least fairly important in their daily lives; more than 8 out of 10 say they attend church at least "seldom"; and again more than 8 out of 10 identify with a Christian religion.

Do you ask Americans about the influence of religion in society?

Yes, since 1957 Gallup has periodically asked this question: "At the present time, do you think religion as a whole is increasing its influence on American life or losing its influence?"

In December of this year, 32% said religion was increasing its influence, and 61% losing its influence, with the rest volunteering that it was staying the same or not giving an answer.

How does that compare historically?

There's been a lot of variance in these responses over the decades. Back in 1957 -- during the halcyon days of the Eisenhower administration -- 69% of Americans said religion was increasing its influence. And in December 2001 -- just months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States -- 71% said religion was increasing its influence in American life, which is the highest reading on that measure in Gallup Poll history. But by 2003, the percentage saying religion was increasing its influence had dropped back into the 30% range and though it has been as high as 50% since then, it is just 32% today.

On the other hand, in a couple of polls conducted in 1969 and 1970, only 14% said religion was increasing its influence -- the lowest readings on record. That of course was during an era replete with hippies, protests, Woodstock, drug use, and other indications of a less than devout, religious population. Another time period with a low "increasing its influence" percentage was in the early 1990s.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,027 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Dec. 6-9, 2007. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

US institute: Israel could survive nuclear war

2007-12-25T08:40:00.001-06:00

THE JERUSALEM POST
December 24, 2007

If a nuclear war between Israel and Iran were to break out 16-20 million Iranians would lose their lives - as opposed to 200,000-800,000 Israelis, according to a report recently published by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which is headed by Anthony H. Cordesman, formerly an analyst for the US Department of Defense. The document, which is largely theoretical due to the lack of verified knowledge in some areas - specifically in terms of Israel's nuclear capability - paints various scenarios and attempts to predict the strategies of regional powers, as well as the US.

The report assesses that a nuclear war would last approximately three weeks and ultimately end with the annihilation of Iran, due to Israel's alleged possession of weapons with a far larger yield. Israel, according to the assessment, would have a larger chance of survival. The report does not attempt to predict how many deaths would eventually be caused by possible nuclear fallout.

Even if Iran gained the means and knowledge to create nuclear weapons, according to the report it would still be limited to 100 kiloton weapons, which can cause a far smaller radius of destruction than the 1 megaton bombs Israel allegedly possesses.

Possible targets for an Iranian strike are the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and Haifa bay, while the list of possible targets in Iran includes the cities Teheran, Tabriz, Qazvin, Esfahan, Shiraz, Yazd, Kerman, Qom, Ahwaz and Kermanshah.

The report cites Israel's Arrow missile defense system as an obstacle facing a possible Iranian strike and says that it could shoot down most of the missiles. Israel, on the other hand, would be capable of hitting most of the Iranian cities with pinpoint accuracy due to the high resolution satellite imagery systems at its disposal.

Another scenario presented by the report includes Syria joining the bandwagon in case of a war and lobbing missiles with chemical and biological warheads into Israeli cities. According to the report, up to 800,000 Israelis would be killed if that were to happen. Syria, however, would be forced to grapple with the deaths of approximately 18 million of its citizens were Israel to respond with its nuclear arsenal.

Israel, the report says, would launch a nuclear attack on Cairo and additional Egyptian cities, and would destroy the Aswan Dam if Egypt joined the fray.

Bkirki's Potential Nominees Await Backing as France Tests Assad's Pledge to Facilitate Presidential Election

2007-11-10T07:40:00.000-06:00

Beirut - November 10, 2007

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir is putting together an initiative to facilitate the election of a new head of state by proposing a list of three-to-five presidential candidates so that MPs can elect one of them.
The daily newspaper an-Nahar attributed the information to officials who held talks Friday with visiting French presidential envoy Claude Gueant.

"The Bkirki initiative, for which foreign and domestic support is being marshaled, goes along the lines of putting together a list of three-to-five presidential candidates," the report stated.

Such a list, the report added, would be referred either to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri for consideration with Parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri, or to Parliament for the nation's legislators to elect one of them.

Gueant's mission, according to an-Nahar, focused on "testing" Syrian President Bashar Assad's response to the Bkirki initiative and awaits a "guarantee" from Berri that a Parliamentary session would be held to elect a new president succeeding Syrian-backed Emile Lahoud whose extended term in office expires on Nov. 24.

Berri was quoted by an-Nahar as telling the French envoy that it is "only normal to accept presidential candidates proposed by Bkirki on a consensus base and unanimously backed by Christians."

In answering a question as to whether he and Hariri would support a candidate proposed by Bkirki, Berri said: "yes, but the important issue is to achieve Christian agreement on the consensus candidate, whom I will accept unconditionally."

An-Nahar reported that efforts are underway to arrange a Berri-Hariri meeting to "find a political exit for postponing" a parliamentary session set for Monday to elect a president.

Gueant held a series of meetings during his one-day mission in Beirut Friday, stressing that Paris "strongly supports consensus" among the rival Lebanese factions on a presidential candidate.

Gueant, the French president's chief of staff, urged the Lebanese to elect a new president on time and according to the constitution, "in such a way to preserve Lebanon's sovereignty and independence."

He held separate meetings with Sfeir, Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and Berri, who is aligned with the Hizbullah-led opposition and who expressed optimism France could break the deadlock.

"No doubt, we're counting on France's efforts, especially after the talks between Presidents Bush and Sarkozy," Berri said.

The visit came a few days after Gueant and Jean-David Levitte, Sarkozy's chief international adviser, held talks in Damascus with Assad whose country has been accused by the United States and Lebanon's anti-Syrian parliamentary majority of blocking the presidential election.

Gueant said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who visited Lebanon with the Italian and Spanish foreign ministers last month, will be in Beirut early next week to continue French efforts on the presidential election.

"France has distinctive relations with Lebanon and President Nicolas Sarkozy has strong relations with the Lebanese people. Therefore, he cannot watch seeing Lebanon plagued by crises," Gueant said upon arrival at Beirut airport.

"Hence, he attaches great importance to the presidential election in Lebanon being held on time and according to constitutional rules and respect of Lebanon's sovereignty and independence far from any foreign interference," he added.

Maronites Confront Alleged Scheme to Set Up "Mini Iran" in Lebanon

2007-11-10T07:38:00.000-06:00

Beirut - November 10, 2007

The U.S.-based World Maronite Union has set up a special fund to finance the purchase of real estate in Lebanon to prevent Hizbullah from setting up a "mini Iran" in the multi-sect country.
The union, in a statement published by Kuwait's as-Siyassa newspaper, noted that Iran has allotted 14 billion dollars to finance the purchase of property owned by Christians in south, east and Mount Lebanon to "link Shiite populated sectors with the aim of setting up the Islamic Republic of Lebanon."

The statement, issued by WMU chairman Sami el-Khoury, said "millions of square meters of land have been sold between 1992 and 2005."

Hizbullah-affiliated investors and real estate companies have purchased land from Christians in areas east of the southern provincial capital of Sidon, Jezzine and the western sector of the Bekaa valley stretching as far east as the town of Zahleh, the statement said.

It said the Iranian government has recently "allotted 30 billion dollars" to finance the project that also aims at linking the Shiite-populated south to the Shiite-populated Baalbek-Hermel Province that borders Syria.

Such a project, according to the statement, also aims at linking the Hermel region to Shiite Villages in Byblos and Kesrouan provinces by purchasing the Christian-owned highlands of the western mountainous range.

"Speedy efforts are underway to ….set up the mini Iran in Lebanon," the statement warned.

"The WMU has decided to sound the alarm and urge Immigrant Maronite Communities and wealthy Lebanese to finance the World Lebanese Fund to confront this conspiracy."

The fund, the statement said, aims at purchasing land from Christians who need to sell "to preserve the Christian nature of these areas and avoid demographic changes.

Watchdog Pleads for Syrian Imprisoned for Offering Condolences over Gemayel's Murder

2007-11-07T21:13:00.001-06:00

Beirut - November 7, 2007

Human Rights Watch called for the immediate release of Syrian dissident Faeq al-Mir on Wednesday who was arrested last year after he telephoned Lebanese leftist Elias Atallah to express his condolences over the murder of fellow anti-Syrian Lebanese politician Pierre Gemayel.
The plea came as a Damascus court prepared to deliver its verdict in a case that could see him jailed for life.

The New York-based human rights watchdog appealed to the court to dismiss what it called "politically motivated charges" against Miir for contacting a Lebanese politician who is part of the country's anti-Syrian governing coalition.

"Syria's arrest and prosecution of Faeq al-Mir reveals the government's intolerance for even the slightest hint of opposition," said the watchdog's Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson.

"Mir faces the possibility of life in prison or even execution for phoning a Lebanese opponent of Syria's policies there."

Mir, who is a leader of the leftist People's Democratic Party, was arrested in his hometown of Latakia in December last year after he telephoned Atallah to express his condolences over the assassination of Gemayel.

He is charged with "undertaking acts that weaken national sentiment" and "communicating with a foreign country to incite it to initiate aggression against Syria or to provide it with the means to do so." The latter charge carries a potential life sentence.

In recent years, the Syrian government, which has imposed a state of emergency ever since it first came to poser in 1963, has taken a tough line with dissidents who question its policy towards Lebanon.

In May 2006, the authorities detained 10 dissidents who had signed a petition calling for radical reform in Damascus's relations with its smaller neighbour. Several have since been sentenced to lengthy jail terms.

Mir was one of six Syrian dissidents in jail or custody who were signatory to a letter published in the Beirut daily An-Nahar on May 1 in which they complained of the "repressive climate" in their country.

"Our situation as prisoners of conscience is part ... of the crisis of public freedoms and human rights in Syria, which started with the state of emergency imposed 44 years ago," they said in the joint letter smuggled out of Adra prison near Damascus.(AFP-Naharnet)

Israeli air strike was on Syrian nuke reactor: paper

2007-10-13T21:57:00.000-05:00

Saturday October 13, 2007

Israel's air strike inside Syria last month was directed at a site judged by Israeli and U.S. intelligence analysts to be a partly constructed nuclear reactor, The New York Times reported in Sunday editions.

Citing U.S. and foreign officials who had access to the analysts' intelligence reports, all who spoke under condition of anonymity, the Times said the reactor was apparently modeled on one in North Korea used for stockpiling nuclear weapons fuel.

The targeted Syrian facility appeared to have been much further from completion than an Iraqi reactor the Israelis destroyed in 1981 in an attack the September 6 incident echoed, according to the Times, again citing U.S. and foreign officials. It also said Bush administration officials had been divided over the attack, with some seeing it as premature.

Some officials said the facility was years away from being used to produce spent nuclear fuel that could eventually be used for weapons-grade plutonium. The internal Bush administration debate over a possible Israeli attack on the reactor began last summer, the Times said.

It remained unclear how far Syria had gotten with the plant before the attack, what role North Korea might have played and whether a case could be made it was intended to produce electricity, the newspaper said.

U.S. and foreign officials refused to be drawn out on whether they suspected North Korea of having sold or given the plans to Syria, but some officials said it was possible a transfer of technology occurred several years ago.

Israel confirmed earlier this month it had carried out an air strike on Syria, but the two countries have given little information on the target.

Information on the raid has been under tight wraps in both Washington and Israel, the newspaper said, restricted to a handful of officials, and Israeli media have been barred from publishing information about it.

But a senior Israeli official said the attack was meant to "re-establish the credibility of our deterrent power," the Times said. Several U.S. officials told the paper the strike may also have been intended for the attention of Iran and its nuclear program.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto declined to comment on the Times story. Israel also refused to comment, the Times said.

U.S. officials said the partially constructed Syrian reactor was identified earlier this year in satellite photographs. Those officials also suggested Israel brought the facility to U.S. attention.

The newspaper also reported that Vice President Dick Cheney and other hawkish members of the administration contended that the same intelligence that prompted Israel's attack on the reactor strengthened the case for U.S. reconsideration of negotiations with North Korea over ending its nuclear program, as well as Washington's diplomatic posture with Syria.

Sfeir: Only God Can Help Solve Lebanon's Crisis

2007-10-13T19:46:00.001-05:00

Beirut - October 13th, 2007

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir Said Saturday that only "heaven" can help solve Lebanon's ongoing political crisis.

"Our affairs appear to be extremely complicated and no one can solve them for us unless we plead with God," Sfeir told reporters.

He also urged the Lebanese to "pray so that heaven can have mercy on us."

Sfeir had held separate meetings with Maronite leaders of both majority and opposition factions in an effort to arrange a settlement to the ongoing political crisis.

Aoun After the Bkirki Meeting: No Faction Controls Majority to Elect President

2007-10-11T22:33:00.000-05:00

Beirut - October 11, 2007

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun stressed Thursday after a meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir that no political faction in Lebanon control's the majority in parliament to elect a president.
"We are ready to meet the other side to discuss positive ideas … Our proposals focus around respecting the constitution and consensus" on a presidential candidate, Aoun told reports at Bkirki, seat of the Maronite church.

Aoun and ex-Mp Suleiman Franjieh "briefed the patriarch and the bishops on "all the developments that lead us to where we are," the FPM leader said.

"The meeting will be followed up tomorrow with the other side, we hope a bottom line for solving the crisis could be reached," Aoun added.

"We are sending a message of hope to the Lebanese and we are prepared to cooperate with all (sides)to find an exit out of the crisis," he added.

An attempt by Bkirki to reconcile feuding Christians ahead of a presidential election faced a rough start when a meeting with Christian opposition leaders started 10 hours later than scheduled.

Aoun and Franjieh arrived in Bkirki after dusk and went into a meeting with Sfeir.

The meeting, originally set for Thursday morning, was postponed and no official explanation for the delay was available.

After a one-hour meeting with the bishops Sfeir hinted that Bkirki was not behind the move to reschedule the meeting with Aoun and Franjieh.

"Ask others" about the change of schedule, an unhappy Sfeir told reporters.

A meeting scheduled for Friday with pro-government Christian leaders was still on, Sfeir stressed.

Earlier, secretary of Bkirki Father Michel Aweet announced that Thursday's meeting had been postponed to an unknown date, while MP Ibrahim Kenaan, secretary of the Change and Reform Parliamentary bloc, insisted the gathering was still on.

Kenaan's assurances and the arrival of Aoun's personal photographer at Bkirki around 10 am, shortly before the meeting was due to take place, led journalists to believe that the talks would nevertheless be held later in the day.

But after Sfeir's announcement, journalists were asked to leave Bkirki.

Voice of Lebanon's Bkirki correspondent had earlier said she believed the delay was a camouflage for security reasons. VOL quoted sources with the Free Patriotic Movement as saying that Aoun would dispatch a delegate to Bkirki within the next few hours to set a new date for the meeting.

The daily An Nahar said Sfeir was expected to stress in Thursday's meeting the need to take part in the upcoming presidential election to prevent a constitutional vacuum.

It said Aoun, in turn, was likely to put forth ways to reach a "unified Christian view."

An Nahar said that for this reason Aoun would call for a dialogue to discuss various political, financial and economic issues, in addition to topics dealing with U.N. Security Council resolutions and ways of implementing them, Palestinian refugee camps and Hizbullah arms.

Assad: Lebanon Will Not Know Stability (because of you, Jerk!!!)

2007-10-11T22:07:00.000-05:00

Beirut - October 11, 2007

Syrian President Bashar Assad slammed Lebanese leaders accused of siding with Israel and succumbing to foreigners instead of adopting the so-called Arab path and the resistance option.

In an interview published Thursday, Assad said of the neighboring nation which was dominated by his regime for nearly three decades: "It is impossible to build a relationship with some parties who in Lebanon ... are close to Israel, submit themselves to foreign countries and do not believe in Lebanon."

He told the Tunisian daily al-Shuruk, in an interview reprinted by official Syrian media: "Most of the forces who hold power in Lebanon have adopted this position which rebounds on Syrian-Lebanese relations."

Lebanon has been in crisis for months since pro-Syrian ministers pulled out of the government of Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, creating political paralysis.

Assad said "there have always been in Lebanon forces attached to the Arab (identity). But there are also forces which, since Lebanon's creation and even before, have tied their fate to the West, thus putting (their country) in danger."

"These forces link Lebanon's fate to that of regional conflicts, which signifies that Lebanon will not know stability in the near future."

Referring to the agreement which ended Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, the Syrian leader said: "Lebanon knew stability after the Taef accord when it chose the Arab path and resistance against Israel. The day it went back on this choice it again experienced instability."

Under the Taif agreement, all factions disarmed their militias with the exception of the Shiite militant group Hizbullah which fought last year's war with Israel.

Assad stressed: "Lebanon was stable when it followed the Arab line, supported the resistance and opposed itself to Israel."(AFP)

Bkirki Steps In, Seeking to Prevent 'Marginalization' of Christians

2007-10-09T07:33:00.001-05:00

Beirut - October 9, 2007

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir has stepped in yet again in an effort to prevent what was said to be "marginalization" of Christians and in hopes to reach consensus on a presidential candidate.
The daily An Nahar on Tuesday said Sfeir has authorized Bishop Samir Mazloum to prepare for a Maronite meeting ahead of the Oct. 23 session to elect a new president for Lebanon.

It said Bkirki's initiative, which is reportedly backed by the Vatican, would be the "last decisive chance" to try to reconcile disputes over the next president.

The initiative was originally designed to bring the warring Christian leaders together in one central meeting to be held in Bkirki on Thursday, Oct. 11.

The initiative, however, settled for separate talks to be held on Thursday, Oct. 11 and Friday Oct. 12 that would pave the way for a joint meeting between pro- and anti-government Maronite leaders.

An Nahar said the decision to hold separate meetings came after opposition Christian leaders refused to meet face-to-face with their rivals from the ruling majority before the way is paved for such a conference.

In turn, An Nahar said, Christians from the March 14 ruling coalition rejected meeting with their opponents before a 10-month-old sit-in erected by the Hizbullah-led opposition in downtown Beirut was dismantled.

An Nahar said Thursday's meeting would comprise representative from the opposition and March 8 Forces, while the Friday gathering would involve March 14 delegates.

Sfeir for President Who Could Turn Lebanon into Safe Haven Again

2007-10-05T06:00:00.000-05:00

Beirut - October 5th, 2007

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir said he wants very much to have a new President for Lebanon who is capable of turning the country into a safe haven again.
"We are looking to have a president who realizes the difficulties Lebanon is facing," Sfeir said after meeting officials on Thursday.

Sfeir said he was also looking to have a new head of state "who could make Lebanon a prosperous and safe country again."

Sfeir cited "emigration" to Gulf nations as well as to the U.S., Canada and Australia by young Lebanese seeking safety and better career opportunities as one of the problems facing Lebanon.

Hashish in Lebanon - Lebanese find troubles fertile ground for cannabis

2007-09-25T23:59:00.000-05:00

September 25, 2007

For a poor Lebanese farmer, the cannabis plant sprouting from the fertile ground of the Bekaa Valley is a blessing from God.

For his country, it symbolizes the dwindling authority of a state weakened by factional conflict.

Surveying a field of the spindly leafed plants, he explained how the government usually sends tractors to destroy the valuable but illegal crop. But this year, they never came, allowing him to reap his first harvest in years.

"Praise God -- he wanted to compensate us," he said, declining to give his name. "It's been 12 years -- farmers have been going backwards, debts have been mounting up."

With Lebanon's government paralyzed by political conflict and its army bogged down in a war with militants, farmers have made the most of a security vacuum to grow what locals describe as one of their best cannabis crops since the 1975-1990 civil war.

In the chaos of war in the 1980s, Lebanon emerged as the Middle East's main source of narcotics, producing up to 1,000 tonnes of cannabis resin annually and 30 to 50 tonnes of opium, from which heroin is made, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

For Bekaa Valley farmers, those were the good old days, said Ali Hamiyeh, mayor of the village of Tarayah.

"The financial situation was very good. People could do everything, there were no economic restrictions," he said.

"Now things are different."

The end of the civil war and reconstruction of the state spelled the end for large-scale farming of narcotics, which during the conflict had found their way by land and sea to the streets of Europe. The smaller quantities produced since the war are mainly consumed locally, farmers say.

ANYTHING GOES

Lebanese and Syrian security forces eradicated the crops between 1991 and 1993, UNODC says. Unable to make a decent living from wheat or barley, farmers would plant limited areas with cannabis in the hope it would go unnoticed.

"They would farm a bit here, a bit there. This year they farmed a lot," Hamiyeh said.

The farmers were emboldened by a sense the government was losing its grip, weakened by conflict between anti-Syrian factions and others allied to Damascus. The army, meanwhile, was busy fighting Islamist militants in north Lebanon in a bloody battle that dragged on from May to September.

The control Damascus used to exercise over security in the country ended in 2005 when Syrian troops were forced to withdraw.

"Respect for the state has fallen across Lebanon. With the political conditions and divisions, anything goes," Hamiyeh said.

The cannabis crop is sold directly to local producers of hashish, the resin made from the plant which is usually smoked.

"They come, cut the crop and pay," explained the farmer. A cannabis field of 1,000 square meters is worth $1,000 to its owner, against $50 for the same area of wheat, he said.

IGNORED BY STATE

The farmer this year only planted a fraction of the cannabis he used to grow during in the civil war, but said he might sow more next season: "We'll monitor the situation and see.

"The great thing about cannabis is that it doesn't need anything. Two kilos of seed cost 10,000 Lebanese pounds ($7)," he said. The plant hardly requires water and can grow without fertilizers or pesticides which add to the cost of other crops.

Farmers have no choice other than to grow cannabis "so that we don't fall into debt and are forced to sell our land," he said. "The state has turned its back on farmers."

The Ministry of Agriculture admits it has few resources to subsidize cultivation of other crops.

"The budget of the agriculture ministry is very, very limited, meaning the ministry cannot offer anything to these people," said Samir el-Chami, director of planned resources at the ministry. Projects launched in the early 1990s and aimed at finding alternatives to cannabis farming have failed, he said.

Security forces were destroying cannabis crops this season, as in previous years, he said. But farmers would continue to farm the plant as long as it is profitable and there are few alternatives.

"People will keep the view that 'whenever I get the chance and I can escape the state, I will grow this crop."'

Hariri For Finishing Off the Assad Regime

2007-09-25T22:04:00.000-05:00

Beirut - September 25th, 2007

Al-Moustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri stressed Tuesday that the Lebanese would elect a new president without Syrian influence, called for getting rid of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime and warned Hizbullah against rejecting the Taif accord.

In an interview with Fox Television, Hariri said: "Time is of essence, and we have to elect a president. I believe that we will elect a president because we will not let the Syrian regime win over us on such an issue."

"I believe that the Lebanese – the opposition and us – will have to find a president for all Lebanon and for all Lebanese people. We will keep on pushing for that, and we believe that the March 14 coalition has a majority; we are the majority and we will keep on pushing to elect our president," he added

Hariri stressed that "we are looking for a consensus, and we believe that through a dialogue with the opposition, people will calm down when they see the challenges and threats that Lebanon will face without a president. Lebanon without a president is something dangerous for all of us, for the majority and for the opposition. The opposition knows that very well."

Hariri insisted on blaming the Syrian regime for the serial killings targeting anti-Damascus Lebanese figures.

"I have no doubt that the Syrian regime is after all of us: they killed my father, Gebran Tueni, Basil Fuleyhan, Pierre Amine Gemayel, Walid Eido, and Antoine Ghanem. They will kill as many members of parliament of the majority who represent the Cedar Revolution as possible. This is their way. They have never stopped. They will never stop," Hariri said.

He stressed that the "international community has a responsibility. It can do a lot. The problem is, the international community condemns and condemns. The problem is that the killing has not been only targeting Lebanese members of parliament. My disappointment is that the UNIFIL was attacked and all the international community was able to do is condemnation."

"With a regime that is willing to go for as far as killing 6 members of parliament in the last two years, is condemnation enough? I think this regime needs to be isolated … The solution is not in getting rid of the regime of Saddam only but of the regime of Bashar also," Hariri said.

He expressed the belief that "there will be justice. An international tribunal will be hopefully established by the beginning of the year. This is our hope. This is for the Lebanon, for the Lebanese people and for all those who have been assassinated, and even for those who had been assassinated before my father."

"All the assassinations that occurred in Lebanon, like the (1977) assassination of Kamal Jumblat and others, were committed by the Syrian regime. But there was no justice, and the perpetrators were not punished. But now and for the first time in Lebanon's history and in Lebanon's democracy that an international tribunal has been set up to give us justice. We do not want political justice, and we are ready to accept any decision to which the tribunal would come up," Hariri added.

He said the Syrians "think that the more they kill people, the more they will affect our ability to continue and fight for our Cedar Revolution. The March 14, 2005 was a historical day in Lebanon, and they want to erase that historical day from the minds of the Lebanese people. This is something that a regime such as the Syrian regime cannot face, because it was an uprising of Muslim and Christian people."

"This is something that could be fatal for such a regime. That's why they want to kill those members of parliament to get rid of the majority, and they will go after the leadership of this majority," added Hariri.

The young leader stressed that "we want peace. We don't want to be against Syria, but we want Syria to respect us. We want diplomatic relations with Damascus. We have agreed on that in the national dialogue talks. We are not the ones who are killing Syrian members of parliament, but they are the ones who are killing Lebanese members of parliament. We need and we want from Syria to just involve itself with its internal politics and to solve its problem of the Golan Heights. They should not interfere into our life. They should not tell us how to resist or to liberate our Shebaa farms. We will do it as a government, and we will do it as Lebanese people. We will do it as united Lebanese, and they should not interfere in our problems."

Hariri defended U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701 .

"The 1559 is not just words on paper. The Syrians left Lebanon, and this is something that we have gained. We should preserve and protect what we have achieved. On 1701, we have already sent the Lebanese army to South Lebanon while we were unable to take this step during the past 25 years. We have about 12000 UNIFIL troops in the South; this is also something that has been accomplished. I think that it is not going to be a short-term process," he explained.

Hariri expressed gratitude to foreign states that had supported the Lebanese Army in its 106-day battle against Fatah al-Islam terrorist in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared.

"President Emile Lahoud claims that he has built the army, while the army has been ill-equipped. The army has no ammunitions when it was fighting in Nahr Al- Bared. The army has run out of ammunition in a week, but thanks to the United States and thanks to other allies like the Europeans, the Saudis and the Egyptians, the Jordanians, and the Emiratis, the army was able to accomplish its mission in Nahr Al-Bared. We need to rebuild our army and our internal security forces in order that all Lebanese – no matter to which political party they belong – feel safe and protected. This army and this ISF will be able to protect Lebanon from any foreign enemy," Hariri said.

He warned the Iranian-backed Hizbullah against rejecting the Taif accords, noting that:

"Hizbullah has said on many occasions that they are with the Taif agreements, and if they do challenge these agreements they will be committing the biggest mistake. Honestly, this will turn Lebanon upside down."

Nine Years of Lahoud in Office

2007-09-23T19:51:00.000-05:00

Beirut - September 23rd, 2007

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, whose mandate expires in November, has insisted on serving his full extended term despite pressure from a majority that considers him a puppet of neighboring Syria.
Backed by Damascus and its Lebanese allies, mainly the Shiite militant group Hizbullah, he has resisted a barrage of calls for his resignation and been snubbed for the past two years by most Western states.

When his term expires on Nov. 24, the 71-year-old former army chief, known for a perennial smile and year-round suntan which triggers critics to claim that he spends most of his time at the beach, will complete nine years in office.

He was elected president in 1998 and had been due to step down in 2004, but the country's then powerbroker Syria pushed through parliament a controversial constitutional amendment extending his term for three more years.

His own Maronite church strongly opposed his re-election and the anti-Syrian ruling majority and Western officials have since boycotted him.

He in turn has refused to recognize the legitimacy of Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's government following the November resignation of six pro-Syrian ministers.

Lebanon has been in political limbo since the February 2005 murder of former Premier Rafik Hariri, which forced Syria to end its 29-year military presence in the country.

Four top Lebanese generals close to Lahoud have already been jailed under the international investigation into Hariri's murder in which senior Syrian officials have been implicated. Syria denies any links with the assassination.

Born January 12, 1936, Lahoud hails from the mountain town of Baabdat, east of Beirut. He comes from a Maronite family that has produced cabinet ministers, MPs, military men and magistrates.

His mother and wife are both of Armenian descent and he has three children. His eldest son was a member of parliament between 2000 and 2005.

Lahoud entered the political arena after a long military career.

He first enrolled in military school in 1956 and became a naval officer in 1959 before earning a maritime engineering degree in Britain and completing military training in the United States.

After his return to Lebanon, he was promoted to commander in the 1970s and held several senior positions at the defense ministry before becoming commander-in-chief of the army in November 1989.

His troops took part in the October 1990 Syrian-led military offensive that ended the rebellion of then-Prime Minister General Michel Aoun, who was later forced into exile in France.

Ironically, the two men are now in the same opposition camp.

After the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, Lahoud succeeded in reuniting and rebuilding the Lebanese army, which had splintered during wartime into feuding Christian and Muslim factions.

He gave cautious backing for Hizbullah's fight against Israel's occupation of south Lebanon that led to a unilateral Israeli withdrawal in May 2000 during his first mandate.

However, he took no steps to assert Lebanese military control over the south until an Israeli offensive in July-August 2006 forced Hizbullah to end its military presence on the borders with the Jewish state.

Parliament first elected Lahoud as president in October 1998. He promised then to establish a state of law and to put an end to endemic corruption in public life.
But he was unsuccessful, hampered by the cronyism that lies at the root of Lebanese society.(AFP-Naharnet)

Ghanem's Killing Worries Christians

2007-09-21T23:36:00.000-05:00

Beirut - September 21, 2007

Lebanese Christians said on Friday that the murder of yet another Christian MP was aimed at reducing their community's historically prominent role but balked at being dragged into another civil war.
"There is a general feeling that we are targeted as Christians," cried a mourner who did not wish to be identified during the funeral of Antoine Ghanem, the anti-Syrian MP who was killed in a car bombing on Wednesday.

"I am convinced that those who carried out this assassination wanted it to be a trap in order to push the Christians to react violently," she said, as pallbearers carried the coffins of Ghanem and his two slain bodyguards.

"They want to plunge the country into another civil war, but we will not let them do that," she said, wiping a tear from her face.

Ghanem was the eighth anti-Syrian politician to be assassinated since the February 2005 murder of Sunni Muslim prime minister Rafik Hariri. Six of them were Christians.

Rabih, a 30-year-old member of the Lebanese Forces party, stood in anger as he watched pallbearers carrying the coffin into the nearby Sacred Heart church.

"They are specifically targeting the Phalange (Christian party) and the Lebanese Forces," he said.

"We are always the first ones to say 'no,' so they are making us pay the price of our battle for an independent Lebanon," he said while nervously crumpling a Lebanese Forces flag.

Many mourners accused Syria of Ghanem's assassination. They also voiced anger with the Damascus-backed Lebanese opposition led by the Shiite militant Hizbullah and including followers of popular Christian leader Michel Aoun.

"Hizbullah terrorist. You donkey, Bashar al-Assad," a group of young men shouted, referring to the Syrian head of state.

"They are killing us because they want the (anti-Syrian parliamentary) majority to become a minority, and the minority to become the majority," said Joanna, 20.

"They want the next Lebanese president to be under the orders of Syria and Iran," she said.

"Damascus does not want the Christians to be united, because they do not want a united Lebanon," said her friend Fadi.

For others, it is the entire ruling majority -- grouping Muslims and Christians -- which was targeted.

Leila, a resident of Ain el-Remmaneh district near the former green line that separated Beirut's Christian east from the capital's mostly Muslim west during the 1975-1990 civil war, said "the enemies of Lebanon want the Muslims and the Christians to remain divided."

"They are attacking us because for once we are united," she said.

And in an emotionally charged speech during the funeral mass for Ghanem earlier Friday, former president Amine Gemayel said he feared that the standoff over the presidency was "just meant to end the Christian role at the top of the state."

Gemayel's own son, Pierre, numbered among the Christian figures slain since the Hariri assassination. He was serving as industry minister when he was gunned down last November.

Lebanon, the only Arab country with a Christian head of state, traditionally elects its president from the Maronite Catholic community. The prime minister is traditionally a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shiite.(AFP)

LEBANESE ASSASSINATIONS Timeline

2007-09-20T19:33:00.000-05:00

Feb 2005: Ex-PM Rafik Hariri
April 2005: MP Bassel Fleihan
June 2005: Anti-Syria journalist Samir Kassir
June 2005: Ex-Communist leader George Hawi
Dec 2005: Anti-Syria MP Gebran Tueni
Nov 2006: Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel
June 2007: Anti-Syria MP Walid Eido
Sep 2007: Anti-Syria MP Antoine Ghanim

Israelis ‘blew apart Syrian nuclear cache’

2007-09-15T23:30:00.000-05:00

From The Sunday Times
September 16, 2007

Secret Raid on Korean Shipment

It was just after midnight when the 69th Squadron of Israeli F15Is crossed the Syrian coast-line. On the ground, Syria’s formidable air defences went dead. An audacious raid on a Syrian target 50 miles from the Iraqi border was under way.

At a rendezvous point on the ground, a Shaldag air force commando team was waiting to direct their laser beams at the target for the approaching jets. The team had arrived a day earlier, taking up position near a large underground depot. Soon the bunkers were in flames.

Ten days after the jets reached home, their mission was the focus of intense speculation this weekend amid claims that Israel believed it had destroyed a cache of nuclear materials from North Korea.

The Israeli government was not saying. “The security sources and IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] soldiers are demonstrating unusual courage,” said Ehud Olmert, the prime minister. “We naturally cannot always show the public our cards.”

The Syrians were also keeping mum. “I cannot reveal the details,” said Farouk al-Sharaa, the vice-president. “All I can say is the military and political echelon is looking into a series of responses as we speak. Results are forthcoming.” The official story that the target comprised weapons destined for Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shi’ite group, appeared to be crumbling in the face of widespread scepticism.

Andrew Semmel, a senior US State Department official, said Syria might have obtained nuclear equipment from “secret suppliers”, and added that there were a “number of foreign technicians” in the country.

Asked if they could be North Korean, he replied: “There are North Korean people there. There’s no question about that.” He said a network run by AQ Khan, the disgraced creator of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, could be involved.

But why would nuclear material be in Syria? Known to have chemical weapons, was it seeking to bolster its arsenal with something even more deadly?

Alternatively, could it be hiding equipment for North Korea, enabling Kim Jong-il to pretend to be giving up his nuclear programme in exchange for economic aid? Or was the material bound for Iran, as some authorities in America suggest?

According to Israeli sources, preparations for the attack had been going on since late spring, when Meir Dagan, the head of Mossad, presented Olmert with evidence that Syria was seeking to buy a nuclear device from North Korea.

The Israeli spy chief apparently feared such a device could eventually be installed on North-Korean-made Scud-C missiles.

“This was supposed to be a devastating Syrian surprise for Israel,” said an Israeli source. “We’ve known for a long time that Syria has deadly chemical warheads on its Scuds, but Israel can’t live with a nuclear warhead.”

An expert on the Middle East, who has spoken to Israeli participants in the raid, told yesterday’s Washington Post that the timing of the raid on September 6 appeared to be linked to the arrival three days earlier of a ship carrying North Korean material labelled as cement but suspected of concealing nuclear equipment.

The target was identified as a northern Syrian facility that purported to be an agricultural research centre on the Euphrates river. Israel had been monitoring it for some time, concerned that it was being used to extract uranium from phosphates.

According to an Israeli air force source, the Israeli satellite Ofek 7, launched in June, was diverted from Iran to Syria. It sent out high-quality images of a northeastern area every 90 minutes, making it easy for air force specialists to spot the facility.

Early in the summer Ehud Barak, the defence minister, had given the order to double Israeli forces on its Golan Heights border with Syria in anticipation of possible retaliation by Damascus in the event of air strikes.

Sergei Kirpichenko, the Russian ambassador to Syria, warned President Bashar al-Assad last month that Israel was planning an attack, but suggested the target was the Golan Heights.

Israeli military intelligence sources claim Syrian special forces moved towards the Israeli outpost of Mount Hermon on the Golan Heights. Tension rose, but nobody knew why.

At this point, Barak feared events could spiral out of control. The decision was taken to reduce the number of Israeli troops on the Golan Heights and tell Damascus the tension was over. Syria relaxed its guard shortly before the Israeli Defence Forces struck.

Only three Israeli cabinet ministers are said to have been in the know - Olmert, Barak and Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister. America was also consulted. According to Israeli sources, American air force codes were given to the Israeli air force attaché in Washington to ensure Israel’s F15Is would not mistakenly attack their US counterparts.

Once the mission was under way, Israel imposed draconian military censorship and no news of the operation emerged until Syria complained that Israeli aircraft had violated its airspace. Syria claimed its air defences had engaged the planes, forcing them to drop fuel tanks to lighten their loads as they fled.

But intelligence sources suggested it was a highly successful Israeli raid on nuclear material supplied by North Korea.

Washington was rife with speculation last week about the precise nature of the operation. One source said the air strikes were a diversion for a daring Israeli commando raid, in which nuclear materials were intercepted en route to Iran and hauled to Israel. Others claimed they were destroyed in the attack.

There is no doubt, however, that North Korea is accused of nuclear cooperation with Syria, helped by AQ Khan’s network. John Bolton, who was undersecretary for arms control at the State Department, told the United Nations in 2004 the Pakistani nuclear scientist had “several other” customers besides Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Some of his evidence came from the CIA, which had reported to Congress that it viewed “Syrian nuclear intentions with growing concern”.

“I’ve been worried for some time about North Korea and Iran outsourcing their nuclear programmes,” Bolton said last week. Syria, he added, was a member of a “junior axis of evil”, with a well-established ambition to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The links between Syria and North Korea date back to the rule of Kim Il-sung and President Hafez al-Assad in the last century. In recent months, their sons have quietly ordered an increase in military and technical cooperation.

Foreign diplomats who follow North Korean affairs are taking note. There were reports of Syrian passengers on flights from Beijing to Pyongyang and sightings of Middle Eastern businessmen from sources who watch the trains from North Korea to China.

On August 14, Rim Kyong Man, the North Korean foreign trade minister, was in Syria to sign a protocol on “cooperation in trade and science and technology”. No details were released, but it caught Israel’s attention.

Syria possesses between 60 and 120 Scud-C missiles, which it has bought from North Korea over the past 15 years. Diplomats believe North Korean engineers have been working on extending their 300-mile range. It means they can be used in the deserts of northeastern Syria - the area of the Israeli strike.

The triangular relationship between North Korea, Syria and Iran continues to perplex intelligence analysts. Syria served as a conduit for the transport to Iran of an estimated £50m of missile components and technology sent by sea from North Korea. The same route may be in use for nuclear equipment.

But North Korea is at a sensitive stage of negotiations to end its nuclear programme in exchange for security guarantees and aid, leading some diplomats to cast doubt on the likelihood that Kim would cross America’s “red line” forbidding the proliferation of nuclear materials.

Christopher Hill, the State Department official representing America in the talks, said on Friday he could not confirm “intelligence-type things”, but the reports underscored the need “to make sure the North Koreans get out of the nuclear business”.

By its actions, Israel showed it is not interested in waiting for diplomacy to work where nuclear weapons are at stake.

As a bonus, the Israelis proved they could penetrate the Syrian air defence system, which is stronger than the one protecting Iranian nuclear sites.

This weekend President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran sent Ali Akbar Mehrabian, his nephew, to Syria to assess the damage. The new “axis of evil” may have lost one of its spokes.

Lebanon in Six Decades of Bitter Syrian-Israeli Relations

2007-09-06T22:19:00.001-05:00

Beirut - September 6, 2007

Following are key events in the bitter relations between Israel and Syria, during most of which Lebanon was the killing field:

- 1948: Syria is one of five Arab states which launch an unsuccessful war against the newly-declared state of Israel.

- June 1967: During the Six-day War, Israel seizes the strategic Golan Heights from Syria. Despite on-and-off negotiations over the subsequent four decades, the Golan Heights are still held by Israel, which annexed them in 1981.

- October 1973: Syria and Egypt launch surprise attacks on Israel, but the resulting Yom Kippur War ends with Syria failing to recover the Golan, and even losing more territory.

- 1975-1990: A vicious civil war in Lebanon leads Syria and Israel to intervene there militarily, both directly and via proxy groups.

Syrian troops go into Lebanon in 1976, and continue to occupy parts of the country until 2005. Israel invades Lebanon in 1982, and pulls its last forces out of the south in 2000.

Syria, a long-time ally of Shiite Iran, backs the powerful Lebanese Shiite group Hizbullah, which continues to confront Israel in the south of Lebanon to this day.

- 1991: Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad agrees to send a small troop contingent to take part in the U.S.-led war against Iraq, which has occupied Kuwait. At the time, the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein is seen as a particularly serious threat to Israel.

- 2000: Hafez al-Assad dies and is succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad. He quickly withdraws the bulk of his country's troop presence from Lebanon, but in 2003 he refuses to take part in a new U.S.-led war on Iraq.

The latest in a long series of contacts on the status of the Golan Heights breaks down.

- 2001: Following new clashes between Israeli forces and Lebanese Hizbullah militias, Israel bombs a Syrian radar station near the Lebanese capital Beirut, killing two Syrians.

- 2003: The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq leads to a huge increase in tension between Syria and both the United States and Israel, which accuse Damascus of helping Iraqi insurgents. In October, Israel mounts an air raid inside Syria, against what it says is a training camp for Palestinian extremists.

- 2004: Israeli agents assassinate a leading member of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in the Syrian capital Damascus.

- 2005: Following the assassination of a popular Lebanese politician, former prime minister Rafik Hariri, Syria pulls its last troops out of Lebanon.

- 2006: In June, during a crisis over an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinians, Israeli warplanes overfly Assad's palace in northern Syria while the president is inside.
-
The following month, new clashes between Israel and Hizbullah lead to a brief and devastating war between the two, further raising tension with Syria, which is accused of supplying the Lebanese group.

- August 2007: Israel says it is reducing its troop levels on the Golan Heights. "Israel does not want a war" with its northern neighbor, says Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

- September 6: Syria says its anti-aircraft forces fired on Israeli planes which allegedly violated its airspace.(AFP-Naharnet)

Iran seals its doors tighter against the West

2007-09-05T01:08:00.000-05:00

From The International Herald Tribune
By Michael Slackman
Tuesday, September 4, 2007

TEHRAN: Rents are soaring, inflation has been hovering around 17 percent and 10 million Iranians live below the poverty line. The police shut down 20 barbershops for men in Tehran last week because they offered inappropriate hairstyles and women have been banned from riding bicycles in many places, as a crackdown on social freedoms presses on.

For months now, average Iranians have endured economic hardship, political repression and international isolation as the nation's top officials remain defiant over Iran's nuclear program.

But in a country whose leaders see national security, government stability and Islamic values as inextricably entwined, problems that usually would constitute threats to the leadership are instead viewed as an opportunity to secure its rule.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's economic missteps and the animosity generated in the West by his aggressive posture on the nuclear issue have helped his government stymie what it sees as corrupting foreign influences by increasing the country's economic and political isolation, economists, diplomats, political analysts, businessmen and clerics said in interviews over the past two weeks.

Pressure from the West - including economic sanctions - over Tehran's nuclear program and its role in Iraq has also empowered those pushing the harder line, many of those interviewed said.

Saeed Leylaz, an economist and former government official, said: "The leader is concerned that any effort to make the country more manageable will lead to reform and will undermine his authority."

The effort to keep Iran's doors to the West sealed tight was on display Sunday, when Ahmadinejad announced that Tehran's scientists had developed 3,000 centrifuges and then mocked the West for trying to press Iran to stop uranium enrichment and slow its nuclear program.

On Monday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, tried to use such Western tactics to rally public sentiment behind the government. "Iran will defeat these drunken and arrogant powers using its artful and wise ways," he said to a group of students, state run television reported.

The remarks were seen here by Western diplomats and political analysts as an attempt by the president to undermine months of careful negotiations between more pragmatic conservatives in the leadership and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which days earlier had said that Iran was being more cooperative.

The message was clear, a Western diplomat said. "They are convinced the rest of the world is trying to put pressure on Iran to keep Iran down," said the diplomat, who requested anonymity so as not to compromise his ability to work in Iran. "They believe if Iran makes a concession to the West on the nuclear issue, it will be the first step toward regime change."

The economic component of Iran's go-it-alone approach began with Ahmadinejad's election two years ago. He laid down a series of erratic economic decrees that he said were aimed at helping the poor, but often made their lives harder. Recently, the head of the central bank and the ministers of oil and industry resigned, warning that Iran was heading toward trouble. The president's decisions have frightened away investors, derailing efforts to open Iran to world markets, analysts said.

The leadership has been able to ease some of the pain because of the income from its crude oil sales. Ultimately, those interviewed agreed, Ahmadinejad has continued unimpeded because he has the support of Khamenei, who has the final say on all key decisions.

"The only thing that has kept Ahmadinejad in power is the support of the leadership," said Muhammad Atrianfar, publisher of two newspapers that have been closed and an ally of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani. "As soon as the leader stops supporting him, he can easily be impeached and dismissed."

No one accuses the leadership of deliberately fostering economic chaos. Instead, analysts here said Ahmadinejad fails to understand the effects of his policies. "He feels the pain of the poor but doesn't have any solution," said Ali Rashadi, an economist. "He is wrecking a system that was patched together over 25 years."

Many journalists, academics and former government officials said they thought Ahmadinejad had been more active, and reckless with the economy, than Khamenei had expected. But he is comfortable with Ahmadinejad because he can count on him to preserve the system and to roll back political, economic and social changes that conservatives feared were insidious steps toward revolution, some of those interviewed said.

A Western-allied ambassador here said that the supreme leader and the security services arrested Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar who was imprisoned here for months before being allowed to leave the country last weekend, partly as a warning to Iranians who have expressed dismay over the direction of the country.

"They think little by little we have moved away from Islamic values," said Mohsen Kadivar, a cleric who was removed from his teaching job at Tehran University. "They see Ahmadinejad as the man to return Iran to these values."

Kadivar added, "What's important for them is being in power."

When Ahmadinejad was elected, he campaigned as a Robin Hood, promising to redistribute Iran's oil wealth from the rich to the poor. One of his first edicts was to order banks to lower interest rates to 12 percent, from as high as 17 percent. The order, like others, backfired, making loans harder to come by.

In another case, Ahmadinejad decided that the price of cement was too high, so he ordered it reduced. Rashadi, the economist, said the decree frightened away investors who had planned to build new cement factories around the country.

Rashadi also said the president's constant insults aimed at the stock market had undermined investor confidence, which he said encouraged people with money to invest in real estate, driving up property values.

"My income does not match my cost of living," said Hassan Khalili, 37, who rents a small apartment in the village of Vardan, a meandering hillside community of about 9,000 people an hour outside Tehran. "I thought it was going to get better under Ahmadinejad, but it didn't."

But with its oil revenues, the government has, in the short term, been able to buy itself out of an economic meltdown by using $60 billion for subsidies and a massive increase in imports - although that has undermined local manufacturing, economists here said.

Some of those interviewed said the oil revenues also have helped shore up the regime by enriching a new ruling class made up of members of the Revolutionary Guard and alumni of the Basij militia, who have their hands in nearly every aspect of the economy - and now in much of the government as well.

Ahmadinejad's economic policies have also cushioned many homeowners because property values have skyrocketed. Three years ago, for example, a four-bedroom apartment in a good Tehran neighborhood sold for $200,000; it could be worth more than $1 million today.

Mehdi Panahi lives in central Tehran and runs a small snack shop in the mountains just north of the city, where many people hike and relax on the weekends.

He has had to raise his prices 20 percent since March, he said, because his rent doubled in the last year. The cost of cooking oil shot up 50 percent, tomato paste rose 70 percent and prices of dairy products increased by 70 percent.

But in the current environment of fear and caution, Panahi said: "Of course I am optimistic. What is there not to be optimistic about?"

The economic upheaval has been coupled with a far-reaching, months-long security clampdown. Analysts said the authorities have arrested prominent Iranian-American intellectuals, suppressed the student movement, rolled back social freedoms, purged university faculties, closed newspapers and moved to marginalize political figures who are out of step with the government.

Those arrested included a once-prominent ally of the leadership, Hossein Mousavian. The former nuclear negotiator - and ally of Rafsanjani - was detained on espionage charges in May.

The repression is calibrated. Students and female activists have been encouraged to leave the country or face more serious pressure. The idea is to send a message without spreading the pain too widely.

As a result, the streets are calm but there is an undercurrent of unease and confusion. People routinely say that life is good, better even under this president - then rattle off a litany of complaints.

Last week, Ahmedinejad attended a conference of religious leaders in the north of Tehran. Ali Akhbar Akhbari, his wife and two young daughters live in a tent a block from the convention center. They said they were homeless and collected bottles to make money for food. Marziah, 13, and Roziah, 9, slept in their own small tent decorated with Looney Tunes characters.

"No one will help them!" shouted Valioalah Ghiyasi, 60, as he walked down the street, his hands deep in the pockets of his sport coat. He pulled a pay stub from his pocket, showing his own small government salary, the equivalent of about $130 a month.

"It was a better situation before," he said. "My wife has cancer and I can't afford the medicine. I haven't been able to pay my rent in five months. My rent is $250 a month. I don't know what to do. I am begging."

The net effect of the president's policies can be seen in the village of Vadan. Property values have gone up so much that a local man, Ghalan Abbas Mahmoodi, has been able to open a real estate office.

Farmers are selling off land, and wealthy people from Tehran are building villas on scenic hills overlooking the rolling countryside.

Those who do not own land and have seen their rents soar, like Khalili, said they were facing a catastrophe.

Mahmoodi, the realtor, had a different view. "As my income increases, my purchase power increases," he said.

While the president has lost a great deal of political support within the system, he has not shown any signs of being deterred. "There is an honorable butcher in our neighborhood who is aware of all the problems of the people," Ahmadinejad said, "and I also get important economic information from him."

Sfeir Against Constitutional Amendments Unless They Are Meant to Rescue Lebanon

2007-08-17T07:13:00.001-05:00

Beirut - August 17, 2007

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir said Friday he was against constitutional amendments unless they were for the sake of Lebanon's salvation "because the constitution is not a game."
"In principle, I object constitutional amendments … But I do not object if (amendments) will salvage the country," Sfeir said in an interview with the daily As Safir.

"I am with the law, with the constitution, with discipline. What is going to happen? I don't know. If the army commander can rescue the country, then he is welcome," Sfeir said.

Sfeir totally rejected a proposal that called for electing a new president for a two-year term.

"I'm against a president for a two-year (limit) because such a president may not accept the term and will do what he has to do to extend (his term)," Sfeir feared.

Sfeir perceived no wrongdoing in the formation of a secular state, but pointed out that the problem was that the "other" sects are more attached to their confessions than they are to their country. "This is shameful."

"In other countries, they resolved the problem by declaring a secular state. Can we do the same here, in the sense that all citizens are equal before the law?" asked Sfeir.

Responding to a question that claimed Lebanon had been created for the sake of Maronites, Sfeir said: "…Of course, they (Maronites) were the first to arrive here, among others … then a lot of confessions arrived, for which each has its own structure and we have to respect one another."

"But if we want to form a secular state, everything has to be changed," Sfeir asserted, wondering whether the religious sects would accept that.

"There are sects that would not agree," he concluded.

China Threatens To Trigger US Dollar Crash

2007-08-07T19:54:00.000-05:00

China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar sales
From Telegraph.co.uk
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
August 8, 2007

The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.

Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress. Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.

Described as China's "nuclear option" in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is already breaking down through historic support levels.

It would also cause a spike in US bond yields, hammering the US housing market and perhaps tipping the economy into recession. It is estimated that China holds over $900bn in a mix of US bonds.

Xia Bin, finance chief at the Development Research Centre (which has cabinet rank), kicked off what now appears to be government policy with a comment last week that Beijing's foreign reserves should be used as a "bargaining chip" in talks with the US.

"Of course, China doesn't want any undesirable phenomenon in the global financial order," he added.

He Fan, an official at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, went even further today, letting it be known that Beijing had the power to set off a dollar collapse if it choose to do so.

"China has accumulated a large sum of US dollars. Such a big sum, of which a considerable portion is in US treasury bonds, contributes a great deal to maintaining the position of the dollar as a reserve currency. Russia, Switzerland, and several other countries have reduced the their dollar holdings.

"China is unlikely to follow suit as long as the yuan's exchange rate is stable against the dollar. The Chinese central bank will be forced to sell dollars once the yuan appreciated dramatically, which might lead to a mass depreciation of the dollar," he told China Daily.

The threats play into the presidential electoral campaign of Hillary Clinton, who has called for restrictive legislation to prevent America being "held hostage to economic decicions being made in Beijing, Shanghai, or Tokyo".

She said foreign control over 44pc of the US national debt had left America acutely vulnerable.

Simon Derrick, a currency strategist at the Bank of New York Mellon, said the comments were a message to the US Senate as Capitol Hill prepares legislation for the Autumn session.

"The words are alarming and unambiguous. This carries a clear political threat and could have very serious consequences at a time when the credit markets are already afraid of contagion from the subprime troubles," he said.

A bill drafted by a group of US senators, and backed by the Senate Finance Committee, calls for trade tariffs against Chinese goods as retaliation for alleged currency manipulation.

The yuan has appreciated 9pc against the dollar over the last two years under a crawling peg but it has failed to halt the rise of China's trade surplus, which reached $26.9bn in June.

Henry Paulson, the US Tresury Secretary, said any such sanctions would undermine American authority and "could trigger a global cycle of protectionist legislation".

Mr Paulson is a China expert from his days as head of Goldman Sachs. He has opted for a softer form of diplomacy, but appeared to win few concession from Beijing on a unscheduled trip to China last week aimed at calming the waters.

Sfeir Urges Adherence to Traditions in By-Elections

2007-07-29T17:29:00.000-05:00

Beirut - July 29, 2007

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Sunday urged the Lebanese to let emotions prevail over legitimate rights and adhere to traditions in the upcoming by-elections.

"The Lebanese are used to letting emotions prevail over legitimate rights in situations like this, particularly tragic situations," Sfeir said in Sunday's sermon.

He said the Lebanese are also used to "rise above personal competition … and leave room for love and kindness," an indirect message to Gen. Michel Aoun to let former President Amin Gemayel run parliamentary elections uncontested.

Aoun, who had nominated Camille Khoury for the parliamentary seat against Gemayel, insists on going all the way through the by-elections battle.

Sfeir pointed out that parliament's term runs out in less than two years, "then there will be room for free competition."

"What we are now seeing in Metn is totally different from what we are used to (see)," Sfeir said, expressing hope that the long practiced tradition would win through.

Two Years After Withdrawal, Syria Still in Lebanon

2007-07-25T05:19:00.001-05:00

July 25, 2007

Two years after it was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, Syria still occupies at least 177 square miles (458.4 square kilometers) of Lebanese soil and smuggles arms to militants, according to a recent survey.

The report, published by The Wall Street Journal, comes by way of a fact-finding survey of the Lebanese-Syrian border produced by the International Lebanese Committee for U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, an American NGO that has consultative status with the U.N.

Because of the sensitivity of the subject, the authors have requested anonymity and have circulated the report only among select government officials and journalists, the daily said.

Surveyors scrutinized the central and northern two-thirds of the 227-mile border between Lebanon and Syria, according to the report. It said the southern portion, patrolled by the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) under a cease-fire agreement that ended last summer's war between Israel and Hizbullah, was not surveyed.

The report, accompanied by maps and pictures taken by satellites, concludes that Syria maintains army camps in Lebanon, along with "dozens of smuggling passages" used to "infiltrate foreign fighters and weapons."

It says that Palestinian militants and members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard allied with Syria remain on Lebanese soil.

Surveyors said Syrian barriers are visible at the Maaraboun area some 2.59 square kilometers deep into Lebanese territories.

Pictures also confirm Syrian anti-aircraft batteries are visible at Wadi Brak.

On the outskirts of Qoussaya, the report uncovered that the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, headed by Ahmed Jibril, maintained a militia camp there in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and Lebanese government requests.

USA Today, a national American newspaper, quoted Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer in Lebanon and Middle East specialist on the White House National Security Council, as saying that the findings "look very credible to me. The areas indicated on the border have long been in de facto Syrian control."

Augustus Richard Norton, a Middle East expert at Boston University and author of Hizbullah, a new book on the Shiite group, said the report appeared "credible to a considerable extent, bearing in mind that much of the border has been disputed since Lebanon's independence" in 1943.

A U.N. commission investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and related crimes has implicated senior Lebanese and Syrian security officials.

Syria denied involvement in Hariri's 2005 killing, but was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending its 29-year domination of it smaller neighbor.

Beirut asked Sarkozy to Pressure Khadafy into Aborting Lebanon Destabilization Scheme

2007-07-22T13:37:00.000-05:00

Beirut - July 22, 2007

Libya has provided a pro-Syrian Palestinian Guerrilla group with financial backing to destabilize Lebanon, and Beirut authorities responded by asking French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Pressure Moammar Khadafy into aborting the scheme.
Sarkozy is to visit Libya in the next few days for talks with Khadafy.

According to credible information received by Naharnet, the Lebanese request was made through diplomatic channels following confirmed reports of recent meetings between Khadafy and leader of the pro-Syrian Palestinian guerrilla group which is active in Lebanon.

The information said Khadafy provided the group, which was not named, with enough financial backing to recruit Sunni political factions in Lebanon.

The majority of Lebanon's Sunni sect backs al-Moustaqbal movement which has been at loggerheads with Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime since the Feb. 14 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.

Al-Moustaqbal, headed by MP Saad Hariri, the slain premier's son and political heir, is part of the March 14 majority alliance that backs Premier Fouad Saniora's government and blames the serial crimes that have targeted anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon on the Assad regime.

Damascus denies the charges.

According to information received by Naharnet, Syria and Iran succeeded recently in convincing Khadafy of joining their allies in Lebanon, represented by the Hizbullah-led March 8 coalition.

Libya was known to have backed certain Palestinian and Lebanese factions during the 15-year-old civil war which came to an end in Oct. 1990.

Khadafy, according to the information, was convinced by Syria and Iran to revive his backing of such Palestinian and Sunni Lebanese factions in the northern city of Tripoli, the southern city of Sidon as well as the capital Beirut and the western sector of the Bekaa valley.

Libyan efforts were underway to reactivate "dormant" groups in an effort to destabilize the anti-Syrian Sunni sect after the perceived collapse of the so-called Fatah-al-Islam group in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, according to the information.

The Syrian-Iranian plan to reinstall Libyan interference in Lebanon and penetrate the nation's Sunni sect aims at marshalling Arab backing after their allies, led by Hizbullah, failed to enjoy Arab support.

Major Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council –with the exception of Qatar- back the Saniora government and the March 14 alliance.

The Syrian-Iranian effort to get Libya involved in Lebanon coincided with recently reported efforts by Damascus and Tehran with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to settle the issue of Lebanese supreme Shiite Leader Moussa al-Sadre who went missing during a visit to Khadafy nearly three decades ago.

Berri, a ranking member of the Syrian-backed opposition, heads the Shiite AMAL movement which was founded by Sadre in the 1970s.

AMAL blamed Khadafy for Sadre's mysterious disappearance.

Reports published recently spoke of a deal proposed by Tehran to settle the Sadre case based on an agreement between Lebanon's Shiite leaders and Khadafy on a "compensation" for the lost Shiite spiritual leader similar to what had been paid to relatives of the Lockerby and la Belle Disco terror attacks blamed on Libyan intelligence.

Berri also denied reports about an alleged meeting he had held recently with Seif al-Islam Khadafy, the Libyan Leader's son who had negotiated with relatives of Libyan Terror victims on compensations that were paid to normalize Libya's relations with the west.

Libya also dismantled its Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Program and renounced violence in return for normalizing relations with the west and ending its decades-long Isolation.

Syria Says France Must Recognize its Interests in Lebanon, March 14 Demands Definition of Interests

2007-07-22T13:36:00.000-05:00

Beirut - July 21, 2007

Officials in Damascus had informed French envoy Jean-Claude Cousseran, during his last visit, of Syria's stance demanding France's "clear recognition of Syria's influence and interests in Lebanon."
The Syrian officials, according to a Paris datelined report published by the daily As Safir on Saturday, stressed on what they described as the "natural and distinguished relations linking Lebanon with Syria."

They said Damascus did not respond to Cousseran's quest to get clear answers on the need to hold timely presidential elections to prevent Lebanon from sinking into constitutional and institutional chaos.

They said Cousseran did not make "direct" French requests from Damascus since the Syrian-French talks were still at the beginning.

Damascus, in turn, refused to offer Cousseran any commitments and was very cautious in dealing with French questions regarding its position from the upcoming presidential elections.

According to As Safir, French sources revealed that the Syrians had informed Cousseran that what is threatening Lebanon and its stability at this time was the spread of al-Qaida across Lebanese territories.

A prominent March 14 official in Beirut assured that "everyone acknowledges Syria's capabilities of maintaining its influence in Lebanon," adding that the problem lies with the "nature and type" of this influence.

He said Syria's influence did not need French recognition since the Lebanese unanimously agree on that matter, witness the spate of assassinations and bombings perpetrated by the Syrian regime as will be evidenced by the International investigations.

The March 14 official wondered what was meant by "Syria's interests:"
"Are they assurances to ward off a Lebanon aggression on Syria, or to prevent Lebanese territory from being used as a launching pad for sabotage or hostile operations against it?" he asked.

"If this is the case, then Lebanon would be the one to guarantee these interests," he added.

"But if the Syrian interests suggest giving up power to the Syrian allies in Lebanon and regain the upper hand in Lebanon's political and economic cycles, then this is a debatable issue," the March 14 official concluded. "It is the right of the Lebanese to preserve their own interests before the interests of others are looked after."

Cousseran Delivers Firm Message to Damascus, Tehran

2007-07-22T13:35:00.000-05:00

Beirut - July 20, 2007

French envoy Jean-Claude Cousseran's visit to Damascus and Iran was aimed at restating France's well-known Mideast policy, and did not involve any shift toward Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's government, sources close to the French Foreign Ministry told Naharnet.
The sources said the French Foreign Ministry, under instructions from the Elysee Palace, had authorized Cousseran to inform Syria of the need to quit betting on external powers to make a "deal" at Lebanon's expense.

The French sources confirmed that Cousseran conveyed a "harsh warning" to each of Syria's Vice President Farouk Sharaa and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem concerning the need to deal "positively" with French and Arab efforts aimed at building stability in Lebanon.

They stressed that Cousseran was "very honest and clear" with the Syrian leadership, adding that he has relayed France's firm stance which gave Syria what they said was the "last chance" toward changing its behavior in Lebanon.

Cousseran's visit to Damascus earlier this week represented the first such contact between Syria and France since President Nicolas Sarkozy took office last month and the highest-level visit by a French official to Syria in almost two years.

Relations between France and Syria soured after the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was a longtime personal friend of former French President Jacques Chirac.

The French sources told Naharnet that Cousseran had also informed Syrian officials that such visits will not take place in the future unless France sees "tangible" changes in Syria's behavior in Lebanon and the region.

The French Foreign Ministry was eager to inform the Syrian leadership, through its envoy, of France's "unyielding" policy, the sources said.

They said Cousseran had handed over to the foreign ministry a report on the outcome of his July 11 visit to Tehran.

According to the report, the sources said, Cousseran's talks in Tehran were "affected" by remarks made by Sarkozy on Hizbullah.

Cousseran said in his report that the Iranians do not share France's view on Lebanon, adding that he informed officials in Tehran that Paris was "by no means" considerding to interfere in the Lebanese presidential elections nor in shaping up the new government.

The sources said the Iranian leadership has expressed solidarity with the Syrian regime regarding rejecting the formation of any Lebanon government that opposes Syria.

Cousseran said Iran neither desires a political vacuum in Lebanon nor the crisis to continue, but at the same time Tehran would not consider the two issues as redline.

Cousseran emphasized that Iran deems itself a "major regional power;" and that it deals with Lebanon on that basis as well as from a strategic angle which takes into account Hizbullah's demographic, economic and political positions.

The daily An Nahar on Friday also quoted French Foreign Ministry spokesman David Martinon as saying Cousseran's visit to Damascus was of "diplomatic, not political nature."

Paris-Hosted Lebanon Dialogue 'Kowtowing' to Hizbullah, Analysis

2007-07-15T21:55:00.000-05:00

Beirut - July 15, 2007

It looks like the Israeli dilemma of whether Hizbullah emerged from last summer's war strengthened or weakened has been resolved by France, according to an analysis by the Israeli daily Haaretz.
It said this was the first time that Hizbullah has been invited to France as a political entity equal to the other factions, for a meeting aimed at ending the worst political crisis in Lebanon.

To everyone participating in this meeting, Hizbullah's political power is clear, Haaretz said.

So clear, in fact, that the French president's special envoy, Jean Claude Cousseran, traveled specially to Tehran on Wednesday for the second time in 10 days, to persuade Iran to soften Nasrallah's stance on the issue of forming a national unity government in Lebanon, Haaretz added.

It said Nasrallah, thereby, not only became Iran's representative in Lebanon, but also introduced Iran as an active partner in the political process, not only the military one, and gave it standing that Tehran will be able to exploit in discussions with France on other issues such as nuclear power and the future of Iraq.

Hizbullah's status has also made Saudi Arabia realize that it must cooperate with Iran on the matter of Lebanon, the analysis went on.

Thus, it said, the two countries conveyed to the Lebanese parties suggestions for a solution that might get political life out of the deep freeze into which it sank after the war.

Geagea Assures Christians Lebanon is Not Being Islamized

2007-07-10T22:35:00.002-05:00

Beirut - July 9, 2007

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday defended Premier Fouad Saniora's government, denying it was trying to Islamize the country and saying the Maronite Bishops' statement has been used for political ends.

He said a Christian religious authority has asked Saniora to remove Great Friday from the calendar of official holidays and that the government didn't take the decision on its own.

The move was part of a government effort to decrease the number of public holidays with the objective of increasing productivity.

"Why accuse Saniora about it," Geagea wondered during a press conference he held in Mirab.

"We regret the political use of the latest statement issued by the Bishops," he said.

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir also said Sunday that the statement of the Council of Maronite Bishops has been "manipulated for political purposes."

"We stress that such a manipulation has nothing to do with us," Sfeir said.

The Patriarch stressed that the Maronite church is "neutral" as far as the split between Christian leaders regarding the ongoing political crisis.

Geagea, who is a member of the anti-Syrian March 14 alliance, also told reporters that the biggest ownership of land by foreigners was done as part of "Sannine Zenith" project.

He accused pro-Damascus President Emile Lahoud of being behind the project which Saniora objected.

The Bishops' statement said the various Lebanese governments have legalized the sale of seven million square meters of property in 14 years to non-Lebanese owners.

Such a trend, they warned, could lead to selling out most of Lebanon and Lebanese citizens would "one day find out that they are strangers in their country."

Geagea said the foreign ownership law had been issued in 2001 when Saniora wasn't yet prime minister.

"What does Saniora have to do with this," he asked.

He also lamented that the treaty on Children's rights in Islam was being used to "terrorize the Christians" and tell them that the government is trying to Islamize Lebanon.

The Bishops, in their statement, criticized Saniora's government of violating the constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of belief by taking a decision to join the treaty.

About accusations of recruiting security officers by contracts without going through the series of required tests, Geagea said: "the percentage of Christians in the Internal Security Forces is the highest in all government institutions."

On Saturday, the government said that there are now 33.04% of Christians in the ISF, an increase from 28.85% during previous governments.

"Premier Saniora, in all his statements…stresses the importance of keeping the balance between the Lebanese," Geagea said.

He accused Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of wanting to Islamize Lebanon, saying that in a 1982 speech the opposition leader talks about plans to make Lebanon an Islamic state.

"Is Prime Minister Saniora trying to Islamize Lebanon or others are seeking to do so?" he asked.

Sfeir: Bishops' Statement was Politically Manipulated

2007-07-10T22:35:00.001-05:00

Beirut - July 8, 2007

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir said Sunday a statement released by the Church's Bishops last week has been "manipulated."
Sfeir in his sermon said the statement issued by Maronite Bishops last Wednesday was "manipulated for political purposes. We stress that such a manipulation has nothing to do with us."

The Patriarch stressed that the Maronite church is "neutral" as far as the split between Christian leaders regarding the ongoing political crisis.

The church, he added, "seeks only the welfare of the homeland as a whole."

Government Snaps Back at Maronite Bishops

2007-07-10T22:34:00.000-05:00

Beirut, July 7, 2007

The government on Saturday retorted to the Council of Maronite Bishops, saying the acquisition of land by foreigners has not surpassed the ceiling set by the law.
"The Lebanese government has absolutely not sidestepped the law," Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said at the end of a cabinet meeting.

His remarks were a retort to the Bishops who issued a statement on Wednesday criticizing the acquisition by foreigners of more than seven million square meters of land in Lebanon. They said the Lebanese will one day feel they are outsiders in their own country.

"The overall acquisition (of land by foreigners) is 0.1% percent and is much less that the ceiling set by the law," which is 3%, Aridi said.

The minister also said that the percentage of Christians serving with the Internal Security Forces has increased during the current government's term.

He said there are now 33.04% of Christians in the ISF, an increase from 28.85% during previous governments.

The bishops have expressed fears that canceling the "contest" for recruiting new staff for the ISF puts the performance of the institution at risk.

About a draft law submitted to parliament which allows Lebanon to join the "Children's Rights in Islam" accord, Aridi said: "the government expresses its readiness to take into consideration concerns and reservations."

The Bishops had also referred to the issue in their monthly meeting statement and Jbeil Maronite Archbishop Bishara Raii said in remarks published Friday that the agreement disregards the Christian presence in the country and makes Lebanon an "Islamic state and an Islamic society."

"We reject this and we condemn the government's move which is working on dividing (Lebanon) rather than uniting the country," he said in an interview with As Safir daily.

Raii also accused Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's government of wanting to "Islamize" Lebanon.

"Accusing the government of working towards Islamizing Lebanon is fabrication and has no basis," Aridi said.

Row over Who Represents Lebanon's Christians

2007-07-10T22:33:00.000-05:00

Beirut, July 7, 2007

Intra-Maronite squabbling have dominated the political theater in Lebanon recently, reflecting a competition on who represents Lebanon's Christians and defends their interests.
The row, pitting mainly Gen. Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces, followed a statement by Maronite Bishops accusing Premier Fouad Saniora's government of violating the constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of belief, selling the nation's lands to foreigners and recruiting security officers by contracts without going through the series of required tests.

The Bishops, in a statement released after their monthly meeting Wednesday, were critical of a government decision to join a treaty on Children's rights in Islam.

The decree, which formalized Lebanon's membership in the treaty, stated clearly that it should not contradict the rights of non-Muslim Lebanese children and other civic laws related to freedom of belief for Lebanon's population that belongs to 18 different sects.

Nevertheless, the Bishops said in their statement it is "not acceptable that prejudiced (sides) act to wreck this partnership" between the various Lebanese communities.

The statement also said the various Lebanese governments have legalized the sale of seven million square meters of Lebanese property in 14 years to non-Lebanese owners.

Such a trend, they warned, could lead to selling out most of Lebanon and Lebanese citizens would "one day find out that they are strangers in their country."

Christian opposition leaders invested the Bishops statement to hammer the Saniora government as acting against the interests of Lebanon's Christians and the nation as a whole.

The campaign aimed at cornering Christian members of the March 14 majority alliance that backs the Saniora government.

However, Geagea, an outspoken leader of the March 14 majority alliance, denied charges that the cabinet is acting against the interests of Lebanon's Christians.

The Christians, Geagea said, were divided along two basic attitudes to deal with domestic politics.

"One (attitude) intimidates the Christians and implies to them that the world is being knocked down on their heads," Geagea told the daily An Nahar Friday.

The other attitude, according to Geagea, concentrates on the fact that "the stand of the Christians has been weakened over the past 15 years. This does not mean that the Christians cannot rise again," Geagea added.

"The Syrians broke the Christians' back, not premier Saniora," he declared.

Commenting on the Muslim Child's treaty, Geagea asked: "What does it have to do with us if Muslims want their children to follow the Muslim rights charter?"

Geagea's Lebanese Forces is represented in the government by Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis.

"Had we not been part of the government, Christians would have had more worries," Geagea commented, in reference to charges made by the FPM.

Social Affairs Minister Naila Mouawad, another prominent member of the March 14 majority alliance, also defended the Saniora administration against charges of anti-Christian attitude.

MP Antoine Zahra, who represents the Lebanese Forces in Parliament, also said in a radio interview Saturday that charges by certain Christian circles of attempts to "Islamize" Lebanon are not true.

"No one is trying to Islamize Lebanon," Zahra told Orient Radio. "The government is even ready to consider whatever complaints Christians have."

Vatican says other Christian churches "wounded"

2007-07-10T10:59:00.000-05:00

The Vatican said on Tuesday Christian denominations outside Roman Catholicism were not full churches of Jesus Christ.

Protestant leaders said this was offensive and would hurt inter-religious dialogue.

A 16-page document by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict once headed, described Christian Orthodox churches as true churches, but suffering from a "wound" since they do not recognize the primacy of Pope.

But the document said the "wound is still more profound" in Protestant denominations.

"Despite the fact that this teaching has created no little distress ... it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them," it said.

The Vatican text, which restates the controversial document "Dominus Iesus" issued by the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 2000, said the Church wanted to stress this point because some Catholic theologians continued to misunderstand it.

Ratzinger was elected Pope in April 2005. The document is his second strong reaffirmation of Catholic tradition in four days, following a decree on Saturday restoring the old Latin Mass alongside the modern liturgy.

The document said dialogue with other Christians remained "one of the priorities of the Catholic Church."

But Bishop Wolfgang Huber, head of the Protestant umbrella group Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), said the new Vatican document effectively downgraded Protestant churches and would make ecumenical relations more difficult.

Huber said the new pronouncement repeated the "offensive statements" of the 2000 document and was a "missed opportunity" to patch up relations with Protestants.

"The hope for a change in the ecumenical situation has been pushed further away by the document published today," he said.

A statement from The French Protestant Federation said that while the document was an internal pronouncement of the Catholic Church, it would have "external repercussions."

SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL

The document, issued by Benedict's successor in doctrinal matters, Cardinal William Levada, aimed to correct what it called "erroneous or ambiguous" interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, which took place from 1962 to 1965.

Church modernizers interpreted the Council as a break from the past while conservatives, like Benedict, see it in continuity with 2,000 years of Catholic tradition.

The document said the Council's opening to other faiths recognized there were "many elements of sanctification and truth" in other Christian denominations, but stressed only Catholicism had all the elements to be Christ's Church fully.

The text refers to "ecclesial communities originating from the Reformation," a term used to refer to Protestants and Anglicans.

Father Augustine Di Noia, Under-Secretary for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the document did not alter the commitment for ecumenical dialogue, but aimed to assert Catholic identity in those talks.

"The Church is not backtracking on ecumenical commitment," Di Noia told Vatican radio.

Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited.

Bizarre plan to set up an Islamic emirate in north Lebanon

2007-06-24T21:19:00.001-05:00

Beirut - June 24, 2007
Reuters, By Nazih Siddiq

Lebanese troops killed seven Islamist militants, most of them foreigners, in a raid on their hideout in the northern city of Tripoli on Sunday, while sporadic battles shook a nearby Palestinian refugee camp.

Security sources said one soldier was killed and 14 were wounded during the 10-hour siege of an apartment building. The militants killed a policeman, his two daughters, aged 4 and 8, and his father-in-law after using them as human shields.

A police statement said the policeman and his daughters were visiting the father-in-law who lived in the building when the militants stormed their flat and seized them at the start of the clashes. The militants later killed them, it said.

The army said it had found weapons, ammunition and electronic booby trap equipment in the apartment.

The dead militants, who included a Lebanese woman, were not members of Fatah al-Islam, which has been fighting an army assault on its stronghold in the Nahr al-Bared camp north of Tripoli for the past five weeks, the security sources said.

But it was information from a captured Fatah al-Islam member that led the army to the apartment where the shootout erupted.

Two floors of the five-storey building were blackened and burned in the fighting. Holes from shells, grenades and bullets punctured its facade. A pool of blood lay on the pavement.1

The violence in the north has complicated a political crisis that pits Lebanon's Western-backed government against opponents led by the pro-Syrian Shi'ite Hezbollah and Amal factions.

Fatah al-Islam, a new group on Lebanon's tangled political scene, split from a pro-Syrian Palestinian faction last year with some 200 fighters. Since then it has drawn scores of Arab jihadis, including Iraq war veterans, to its Nahr al-Bared base.

OUTLANDISH PLOT

Before Sunday's Tripoli raid, security sources had said the group was pursuing a bizarre plan to set up an Islamic emirate in north Lebanon and invite mujahideen from round the world to join it in fighting "Jews, crusaders (Westerners) and infidels."

Fatah al-Islam leaders deny direct links to al Qaeda, but say they sympathies with it. The militants killed in the Tripoli hideout were suspected of belonging to a group with closer ties to Osama bin Laden's network, the security sources said.

A similar raid on a Tripoli flat on May 20 sparked the fighting in Nahr al-Bared, where 176 people have been killed in Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war.

Witnesses said army shells crashed into the camp on Sunday as the conflict entered a sixth week. Clashes later subsided.

The militants retreated inside the camp last week after the army captured all its strongpoints nearby. Lebanon's defense minister declared an end to major combat on Thursday, but said the army would besiege the camp until the militants surrendered.

Security forces are barred from entering Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps by a 1969 Arab agreement.

The government says Fatah al-Islam is a tool Syria is using to destabilize Lebanon to try to regain hegemony there. Damascus denies this and says such groups threaten its own security.

Whether Fatah al-Islam has foreign sponsors or not, its fighters are well-armed, skilled and willing to die in what they see as a jihad, but have little Lebanese or Palestinian support.

Many Sunni Islamist groups have disowned them, while the army has gained stature as a national symbol in divided Lebanon.

"To all Islamists who have legitimized aiming the rifle at the chests of their compatriots, I tell you ... this has nothing to do with Islam. It is strife," Fathi Yakan, a Sunni Islamist leader who is close to Syria, said in an appeal on Sunday.

(With reporting by Nadim Ladki in Beirut)

Moussa's Failure Shows Outsiders Control Lebanon's Destiny; Analyst

2007-06-23T13:56:00.000-05:00

Beirut - June 23, 2007

The failure of the latest Arab League mission to get the anti-Syrian government and the Iran- and Damascus-supported opposition to talk together shows that outsiders control the country's destiny, analysts said on Saturday.

"Last-minute hardening of their positions, especially by the opposition, ensured that the Arab League mission would fail," an Arab diplomat told AFP.

"The solution is no longer in the hands of the Lebanese themselves, but with foreign powers that support one or other camp."

The league delegation headed by Secretary General Amr Moussa left Beirut empty-handed on Friday after four days of trying to persuade the feuding camps to talk and end seven months of political paralysis.

While Moussa's proposal for new dialogue "made some headway, the opposition demanded the unconditional formation of a national unity government," the Arab source said.

"It refused to give guarantees demanded by those in power on the continuity of this government and the holding of presidential elections" scheduled in September to elect a successor to pro-Damascus President Emile Lahoud.

The source, who took part in the talks, said the Arab League had hoped to achieve a breakthrough that would limit foreign intervention in Lebanese affairs.

"This failure means the Lebanon has now become no more than a currency to be bartered between regional interests."

Moussa admitted failure on Friday but said some progress had been made toward dialogue with a view to forming a unity government and holding presidential elections in September.

He added that he was ready to resume the mediation mission "if things progress."

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the opposition negotiator, underlined in the talks that Syria's role cannot be ignored, the Arab diplomat said, quoting him as saying that "a solution lies in talks between Saudi Arabia and Syria."

Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh called the mediation breakdown "a Syrian slap in the face to Arabs, and a warning. Damascus wants it known that without Syria there will be no stability in Lebanon."

On Thursday, Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara said "our allies in Lebanon are stronger than the other parties," referring to the government of Prime Minister Fouad Saniora.

Syria has so far closed three border crossings with Lebanon to the west, leaving open only the Masnaa passage on the main Beirut to Damascus highway.

"All eyes will now turn to Saudi Arabia and France through talks with Iran which could result in a softening of Hizbullah's position," analyst Ghassan Ezzeh said.

Paris plans to host an informal meeting of Lebanese leaders in mid-July in an initiative supported by both Riyadh and Tehran.

"Iran, which has good relations with Saudi Arabia because of fears of mounting tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, is more disposed than Syria to help towards a solution in Lebanon," Ezzeh said.

Talal Selman, owner of the As-Safir daily which is close to the opposition, in a front-page editorial blamed the United States for the mediation's failure.

"From the beginning, Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman (in Beirut) did not support the Arab initiative, saying that Amr Moussa was persona non grata and was interfering in matters which did not concern him.

"He pressurized the anti-Syria camp not to comply with the Arab mediation because America did not want the opposition -- especially Hizbullah -- to have a say in the destiny of Lebanon."

Ezzeh said that unlike some Syrian allies in Lebanon, Hizbullah did not favor forming a parallel opposition government to Saniora's administration.

Hizbullah MP Hassan Huballah also blamed Washington.

"The U.S. pushed those in power in Lebanon to reject a unity government, which is the opposition's main demand because it is the only possible salvation," Huballah said in a speech in the southern port of Tyre.(AFP)

Fighting Continues at Nahr al-Bared

2007-06-22T17:40:00.000-05:00

Beirut - June 22, 2007

Lebanese troops used artillery, tanks and machine guns against Islamists holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp on Friday despite the government saying the offensive had ended.

Defense Minister Elias Murr called a halt to the military onslaught late on Thursday, but said soldiers would pursue the siege until surviving Fatah al-Islam fighters in the Nahr al-Bared camp north of Tripoli surrendered.

An AFP journalist said troops concentrated their fire on the old southern part of the camp into which the Sunni Muslim extremists had retreated after their original stronghold in the north was obliterated by heavy shelling.

The militants responded with small-arms fire and anti-tank rockets. Casualty figures were not known, and the clashes subsided in the late afternoon.

Murr told the LBC television channel that 76 soldiers had been killed since the battle erupted on May 20, and that 150 had been wounded.

The militant toll is unknown, but more than 50 have been killed and at least 143 people have died in the deadliest internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war.

"The military operations in Nahr al-Bared camp have ended, but the camp will remain encircled until the total surrender of Fatah al-Islam," Murr said.

"The army has destroyed all of the Islamist positions and is currently engaged in search operations, de-mining and defusing booby-traps."

In a statement on Friday the army again demanded the surrender of the militants -- many of them hardened veterans from the Iraq insurgency with ideological similarities to Al-Qaida.

Lebanon accuses them of having links to Syria's intelligence services, a charge Damascus denies.

"We welcome mediation ... but we cannot abandon the fact that justice must be done, beginning with handing over the criminals who massacred our soldiers," the army said.

Sheikh Mustafa Dawood, who leads Palestinian clerics trying to secure a ceasefire, told AFP mediators had met Fatah al-Islam spokesman Shahin Shahin in the camp on Friday and he had expressed the militants' desire to stick to a unilateral truce "in the hope of reaching a happy outcome."

Other mediators were in Beirut to meet Palestinian Islamist organizations such as Hamas and Islamid Jihad and ask them to intercede.
The go-betweens say Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Abssi, a Palestinian, and his top lieutenants have been unreachable for days.

The authorities say the fighting was sparked by raids on Fatah al-Islam hideouts in nearby Tripoli following a bank robbery on May 20, after which the militants attacked army posts and slit the throats of at least 17 soldiers. (AFP)

Nahr al-Bared Heads to the Worst

2007-06-22T17:39:00.000-05:00

Beirut - June 22, 2007

By announcing that military operations against Fatah al-Islam militants in northern Lebanon have ceased, the government risks making the situation even worse and creating long-term problems, analysts say.
Defense Minister Elias Murr said on LBC television late on Thursday that the army's offensive on the Sunni Islam extremists in Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp north of the country's second city of Tripoli was over.

"Military operations in Nahr al-Bared camp have ended, but the camp will remain encircled until the total surrender of Fatah al-Islam," he said.

"The army has destroyed all of the Islamist positions and is currently engaged in search operations, de-mining and defusing booby-traps."

While the army now controls the new part of the camp, so named because it is a spillover of the original Nahr al-Bared whose perimeter was set by the United Nations in 1948, the surviving militants have retreated inside the old sector.

This is a warren of single-storey buildings and narrow alleyways, difficult terrain for a conventional military force but the perfect ground for waging guerrilla warfare.
"I'm quite pessimistic," said Mustafa Adib, director of the Centre for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies in nearby Tripoli.

"If there is mediation and the army agrees to a compromise after the heavy losses it has suffered it could lose respect. That could have dramatic consequences for the entire country."

According to one expert on radical Sunnis in north Lebanon, who declined to be identified because of his closeness to such groups, "each day that passes without a clear military victory puts the army in a more difficult position.

"Sympathy for Fatah al-Islam is growing among young people in Beb Tebbaneh and elsewhere," he said, referring to a radical Sunni district in Tripoli.

He took from his pocket a hand-drawn plan of Nahr al-Bared and pointed to the "new camp." "It took them 33 days to take this," he said.

Then he pointed with his pen to the "old camp," which is larger and easier to defend. "If they want to enter here, how many days? Double? Triple?"

Since the battle broke out on May 20 after militants attacked the army and slit the throats of at least 17 soldiers, analysts have insisted that the honor and credibility of the army is at stake in the continuing standoff.

Lebanon's army is the country's sole national institution symbolizing national unity.

Retired general Whebe Katisha said Friday that in making Thursday's announcement Murr "did not use the right words. Is it over? No."

Katisha said the militants were "surrounded in the old camp, under the most difficult conditions for the army. If they (Fatah al-Islam) don't surrender, we will ask all civilians still there to leave and everyone left inside will be considered enemy combatants. The camp will be flattened.

"There can be no dealing with these terrorists," he added. "The army has proved its unity and its competence. It will not back off."

For Timur Goksel, spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon for 24 years and now a professor at the American University of Beirut, "obviously, it's not over.

"And if it becomes a stand-off and drags on for weeks, it could be very dangerous for the army. It can't afford that.

"With all due respect to the minister, let's wait for what the army has to say about that. They are calling the shots here. They will decide if it's over or not," Goksel said.

Just hours after Murr said the campaign had come to an end, sporadic shooting resumed at Nahr al-Bared on Friday, albeit at a lower level of intensity than in previous days and weeks.

At least 143 people have been killed since the conflict broke out on May 20.(AFP-Naharnet)

Fatah al-Islam says Lebanon's political system is ungodly

2007-06-09T02:41:00.000-05:00

Beirut - June 8, 2007

Reports emerged on Friday that some of the Fatah al-Islam militants who had been captured at Nahr El-Bared camp had told interrogators that among their targets were troops of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

A strengthened 12,700-member U.N. peacekeeping force is patrolling the Israeli border in the south under the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 which halted last summer's war between Israel and Hizbullah.

A judicial source told AFP on Friday that, "in the course of interrogations, some members of Fatah al-Islam testified that one of the principal aims of their group was to militarily attack UNIFIL operating in south Lebanon."
The source said they had spoken of being "indoctrinated" against Christians, depicted as crusaders, as well as against Shiites and leading Sunni figures, such as MPs, ministers and senior officials, considered to be "infidels."

In their view, the source said, "Lebanon's political system, as well as anyone who participates in it, is ungodly, and it is just, from a religious point of view, to fight them." (Naharnet-AFP)

Renewed Fighting After Prayers Lull at Nahr al-Bared

2007-06-09T02:40:00.000-05:00

Beirut - June 8, 2007

Fighting between the army and Fatah al-Islam fighters resumed Saturday, a day after the Lebanese Army Command said its troops are tightening the noose on the militants in the northern Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared vowing to "finish" them off.
Army gunners pounded Fatah al-Islam outposts with 155-mm howitzers and tank cannons around UNRWA schools, where fighters have taken refuge, the National News Agency reported.

It said the army also shelled the Cooperative building in the center of the camp, which had been reportedly deserted.

The army command, in a communiqué, said its troops are "gradually controlling the terrorists' positions with the aim of finishing off the bizarre situation that has been imposed on Lebanon."

The Army Command, the communiqué added, "adheres to safeguarding the security and dignity of Lebanese citizens and Palestinian brethren."

It said Shaker Absi's terrorists "have no other option but to face justice."

On Friday, army gunners observed an undeclared lull at noontime to enable believers perform their prayers at mosques close to fortified bunkers by the terrorists, field reporters said.

As mosque minarets blared the Allah Akbar call for prayers, army gunners halted their shelling of Fatah al-Islam outposts, although the terrorists led by Palestinian-Jordanian Abssi maintained shooting at army lines, the reporters added.

On Thursday a spokesman for the Abssi terrorists known as Shahine Shahine told Agence France Presse : "We will widen the scope of the attacks beyond Nahr al-Bared" if the army continues its "destructive bombardment."

Reports emerged on Friday that some of the militants who had been captured had told interrogators that among their targets were troops of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

A strengthened 12,700-member U.N. peacekeeping force is patrolling the Israeli border in the south under the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 which halted last summer's war between Israel and Hizbullah.

A judicial source told AFP on Friday that, "in the course of interrogations, some members of Fatah al-Islam testified that one of the principal aims of their group was to militarily attack UNIFIL operating in south Lebanon."
The source said they had spoken of being "indoctrinated" against Christians, depicted as crusaders, as well as against Shiites and leading Sunni figures, such as MPs, ministers and senior officials, considered to be "infidels."

In their view, the source said, "Lebanon's political system, as well as anyone who participates in it, is ungodly, and it is just, from a religious point of view, to fight them."

UNIFIL spokesman Milos Strugar said he was aware of statements by Fatah al-Islam as well as other statements made by different Al-Qaida leaders.

"We take these statements seriously, but we have full trust in the Lebanese authorities and armed forces, who are responsible for law and order in the country."

The Lebanese authorities have demanded that the Fatah al-Islam militants, estimated at around 100 and entrenched in Nahr al-Bared, surrender, particularly those blamed for killing 27 soldiers on May 20 when the confrontation broke out.

But Shahine said most of the wanted men had been killed or wounded and that "very few of them are still taking part in the fight."

More than 100 people have been killed in the confrontation.(Naharnet-AFP)

Fatah al-Islam's Fate Awaits Palestinian Decision and Lebanese Action

2007-06-05T22:47:00.001-05:00

Beirut - June 5th, 2007

Intermittent exchanges of sniper fire and mortar rounds prevailed over the Nahr al-Bared front Tuesday amidst failure by Palestinian factions to agree on a joint initiative to deal with the Fatah al-Islam terrorist network.
Schools in North Lebanon's Akkar Province, where Nahr al-Bared is located, resumed teaching on the 17th day of the ongoing confrontation between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam, which reflects a belief that the army has succeeded in isolating the terrorists in a narrow enclave near the center of the camp.

Palestinian sources told Naharnet the current decline in intensity of the clashes between the army and Fatah al-Islam terrorists was due to an undeclared decision by Premier Fouad Saniora's government to give the Palestinians time to solve the problem.

The accepted settlement from the government's point of view, according to the sources, should be based on the unconditional surrender of Fatah al-Islam militants involved in attacks against the army in return for a solid pledge to extradite other members to their respective countries.

However, one source said, "Fatah al-Islam refused to turn in any of its members, which torpedoes the whole deal."

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
that in addition to Fatah al-Islam's rejection of the Lebanese government's basic conditions for a settlement, "Palestinian factions also are split on how to deal with the Fatah al-Islam issue."

He said the mainline Fatah group of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the two Marxist-oriented groups, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) support "the principle of uprooting Fatah al-Islam totally."

Such a categorical approach, the source said, "would put an end, once and for all, to this terrorist group and prevent its spread to other refugee camps and guarantees the future safety of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon."

However, Islamist and pro-Syrian Palestinian factions were opposed to any military solution to Fatah al-Islam.

According to the source, such factions as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) "do not want Fatah al-Islam uprooted."

"They are interested in arranging a cease-fire between Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese Army, which is rejected by the Lebanese Government as well as the three mainline Palestine Liberation Organization Factions, Fatah, PFLP and DFLP," he added.

"It is a deadlock. The government told the Palestinians 'solve it' and the Palestinians cannot agree on a joint approach," he added, stressing that "there should be no cease-fire deal with the terrorists."

Meanwhile, Fatah's number two man in Lebanon Khaled Aref told reporters four members of Fatah al-Islam have turned themselves in to his mainline group in Nahr al-Bared.

Aref said the four are "Palestinians from Nahr al-Bared who had been misguided by the terrorists."

In a related development, tense calm prevailed over the refugee camp of Ein al-Hilweh in the southern city of Sidon as a disengagement force grouping Palestinian Islamists separated Jund al-Sham militants from Lebanese Army troops to avoid a showdown that could threaten safety of the shanty town's population estimated at nearly 90.000 people.

The Palestinian source, who had taken part in negotiations with the Saniora government, criticized the disengagement force in Ein al-Hilweh saying its fighters are actually "saving the necks of Jund al-Sham terrorists."

"By separating them from the army, they are actually protecting them. The disengagement force is the practical application of coexistence with terrorists. If we coexist with them in Ein al-Hilweh, some one will say lets coexist with the others (Fatah al-Islam) in Nahr al-Bared."

Ein al-Hilweh's disengagement force is made up of fighters from Usbat al-Ansar, Ansar ullah and the Islamist Jihadist Movement.

The problem with Islamist factions, the source explained, "is that they cannot adopt a Fatwa (religious ruling) to kill other Islamists, or alleged Islamists. This keeps the terrorists alive."

The PLO supports the Beirut government in its approach to "finish" Fatah al-Islam.

The source, however, believes that "as long as Jund al-Sham survives in Ein al-Hilweh, Fatah al-Islam might survive in Nahr al-Bared."

"the fate of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is at stake. We either rid ourselves of terrorists or we'll face whatever the terrorists face," he concluded.

PLO Diplomatic representative Abbas Zaki, meanwhile, left for the Jordanian Capital of Amman for an apparent meeting with his superiors to discuss the Lebanon situation.

It appears that the Fate of the two terrorist networks, Fatah al-Islam and its sister Jund al-Sham, awaits Lebanese action based on a final Palestinian decision. No deadlines have been announced.

Fatah al-Islam's Plot: 9/11-Style Lebanon Attack

2007-06-03T13:51:00.000-05:00

Beirut - June 3rd, 2007

An Nahar newspaper said Sunday that Fatah al-Islam militants, whose fighters are besieged at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, were planning a September 11-style attack on Lebanon.
It said interrogation of arrested fighters revealed that the attacks on a hotel, embassies and tunnels would have caused destruction similar to the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

"Fatah al-Islam planned to attack a large hotel in the capital using four suicide truck bombs at the same time as launching suicide attacks on embassies in east and west Beirut," the paper said.

The planned attacks' explosives, that have made their way from Syria, were seized in a weapons depot in the northern port city of Tripoli, the daily said.

An Nahar also said the group "planned to launch attacks on the Shekka tunnel linking Beirut to Tripoli with the aim of cutting off the north and proclaiming an Islamic state there."

The Lebanese army is locked in deadly battles with the militants since May 20. But fighting intensified on Friday when the military made a push against Fatah al-Islam which has vowed to fight to death inside Nahr al-Bared.

White smoke rose from the camp Sunday as the Lebanese army resumed its bombardment of the militants holed up there.(Naharnet-AFP)

Study: Lebanon One of Least Peaceful Countries in World

2007-05-30T07:30:00.000-05:00

Beirut, May 30, 2007

Lebanon is one of the least peaceful countries in the world, Norway is the safest and Iraq is the worst, according to a study released Wednesday.
The Global Peace Index, published a week before a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Germany, rates 121 countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe on factors including levels of violence, organized crime and military expenditure.

According to the study, Iraq is the least peaceful and Lebanon is 8th from the bottom and ranked 114th.

The United States fell to rank 96 while Russia occupied 118, or the fifth bottom-up.

The index had Japan near the top, while Israel was worst than trouble-ridden Lebanon.

"This is a wake-up call for leaders around the globe," said Steve Killelea, who commissioned the study from the Economist Intelligence Unit, which is linked to the news weekly The Economist.

"Countries like Japan and Germany can give hope and optimism to countries further down the Index that there can be light at the end of what may seem at the moment like a very dark tunnel," he added.

Overall the study found that small, stable countries which are part of regional blocs such as the 27-nation European Union are most likely to be more peaceful. Income and education are crucial in promoting peace, it said.

"I believe there is a link between the peacefulness and the wealth of nations and therefore business has a key role to play in peace," said Killelea.(AFP-Naharnet)

Here are the top 10 and bottom 10 countries in the index:

TOP 10
1. Norway
2. New Zealand
3. Denmark
4. Ireland
5. Japan
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Canada
9. Portugal
10. Austria

BOTTOM 10
112. Angola
113. Ivory Coast
114. Lebanon
115. Pakistan
116. Colombia
117. Nigeria
118. Russia
119. Israel
120. Sudan
121. Iraq

Lebanese singer May al-Hariri

2007-05-20T20:06:00.000-05:00

Lebanese singer May al-Hariri films her new video clip "Habibi" in Amsheet, north of Beirut, May 19,2007

Assad Threatens to Set the Region on Fire

2007-05-13T09:11:00.000-05:00

Beirut, May 13, 2007

Syrian President Bashar Assad has threatened to set the region on fire, from the Caspian to the Mediterranean, over differences with the United Nations regarding Lebanon's stability.
The independent daily newspaper an-Nahar quoted well informed diplomatic circles as saying Assad made the threat last Wednesday in a telephone discussion with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The sources, according to the paper spoke of a "heated dialogue" between Assad and Ban, during which the Syrian President "threatened to set the region on fire, from the Caspian to the Mediterranean."

The focus of the telephone discussion was creation of the international tribunal that will try suspects in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes, the report explained.

It stressed that the tribunal issue will be a topic of discussion within the U.N. Security Council as of Monday.

Following the tense discussion with Ban, Assad on Thursday announced that his country is not concerned with the international tribunal, stating that the court is "a special topic concerning Lebanon and the United Nations."

Lebanese MP Saad Hariri son of the slain premier, had announced that the tribunal will be created under chapter seven of the U.N. Charter.

Hariri and factions of the March 14 majority alliance blame the ex-premier's killing and related crimes on Syria. Damascus denies the charge.

Frantic Efforts Not to Leave Presidential Post Vacant

2007-05-12T02:20:00.000-05:00

Beirut - May 12th 2007

An Nahar newspaper reported Saturday that a papal envoy will visit Lebanon amid attempts to head off a possible crisis over presidential elections.

The daily also said that on Friday Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir did not rule out the possibility of inviting a papal envoy to Lebanon after visiting President Emile Lahoud.

An Nahar quoted informed sources as saying that Sfeir's visit to Baabda Palace came in the aftermath of talks the Patriarch held at the Vatican earlier this month.

The sources said that Vatican officials, including Pope Benedict XVI, stressed on the necessity of not leaving the presidential post empty "no matter what" and to work on preventing the creation of two competing governments.

It is parliament's role to choose a new president before Lahoud's term runs out Nov. 23. But the deadlock and bitterness between the pro- and anti-government camps makes it doubtful a compromise candidate can be found.

The pro-government camp is seeking to elect one of its own to the post and the Hizbullah-led opposition has vowed to reject any candidate it doesn't approve of.

Already, the opposition is trying to oust the government of Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, which Lahoud does not recognize.

If there is no president, the constitution calls on the prime minister and his cabinet to assume his duties.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Lahoud, Sfeir said he hoped the presidential election will be held "on time and that there will be the person who can take charge."

He refused to suggest a candidate but said the choice should be "an experienced person, be of the same distance from all people" and serve the national interest.

"My message to the people is to remain calm ... I hope things will occur on time, in accordance with the constitution," Sfeir said after the meeting with Lahoud.

Other religious leaders also hoped to avert a further meltdown.

The spiritual leader of Sunnis, Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Kabbani said Friday he will work with the "wise leaders ... to prevent falling into the trap of a second government." He reminded the Lebanese of "the dark stage of conflicts and destruction of Lebanon when there were two governments."(Naharnet-AP)

Sfeir Tolls Bells of Bkirki and Vatican for Lebanon's Presidential Elections

2007-05-11T17:25:00.000-05:00

Beirut - May 11, 2007

Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir informed President Emile Lahoud in a surprise visit Friday that the Maronite Church and the Vatican support organizing Presidential elections without foreign interference and the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination and related crimes.
Sources close to Sfeir's seat in Bkirki said the patriarch decided to make the visit to the Presidential Palace in Baabda to inform Lahoud that the Maronite Church has "adopted a series of serious steps in light of the current political developments" to guard against attempts to block the presidential elections and the creation of the international tribunal.

Sfeir, the sources added, stressed on four major topics:

"-The Presidential elections should be held in line with the constitutional schedule and all attempts to stratagem implementation of the constitution are rejected.

"-The President (Lahoud) should facilitate the election of a successor. All attempts leading to duality of authority are strictly rejected such as the formation of a second government or refusing to hand over authority to the president-elect.

"-Rejection of any attempt to disable parliament and preventing it from carrying out its duties, either by disbanding the legislature or doubting its legitimacy or that of its decisions.

"-The International Tribunal issue should be settled as soon as possible."

The sources noted that Sfeir was clear in saying that if the tribunal was not set up by parliament, then creating it by the U.N. Security Council under Chapter seven of the international organization's charter becomes imperative.

Sfeir, the sources said, reminded Lahoud that he sent him a message last November urging him to resign his post.

The Patriarch stressed that organizing early presidential elections and allowing Lahoud to remain in office until his term expires next November "could defuse the tense situation and help the Lebanese people avoid further tension," the sources added.

Such a move, they explained, would also help in overcoming economic hardships that have gripped Lebanon since last summer's Hizbullah war against Israel.

Sfeir, according to the sources, "stressed to Lahoud that this is not only the stand of the Maronite Church, but it also is a stand adopted by the Vatican."

Sfeir Visited the Vatican earlier this month and held a series of meetings with officials of the Catholic Church that focused on Lebanon and the future of its Christian community.

Archaeologist finds tomb of King Herod

2007-05-07T18:36:00.000-05:00

By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer

An Israeli archaeologist has found the tomb of King Herod, the legendary builder of ancient Jerusalem and the Holy Land, Hebrew University said late Monday.

The tomb is at a site called Herodium, a flattened hilltop in the Judean Desert, clearly visible from southern Jerusalem. Herod built a palace on the hill, and researchers discovered his burial site there, the university said.

The university had hoped to keep the find a secret until Tuesday, when it planned a news conference to disclose the find in detail, but the Haaretz newspaper found out about the discovery and published an article on its Web site.

Herod became the ruler of the Holy Land under the Romans around 74 B.C. The wall he built around the Old City of Jerusalem still stands, and he also ordered big construction projects in Caesaria, Jericho, the hilltop fortress of Massada and other sites.

It has long been assumed Herod was buried at Herodium, but decades of excavations had failed to turn up the site. The 1st century historian Josephus Flavius described the tomb and Herod's funeral procession.

Haaretz said the tomb was found by archaeologist Ehud Netzer, a Hebrew University professor who has been working at Herodium since 1972. The paper said the tomb was in a previously unexplored area between the two palaces Herod built on the site. Herod died in 4 B.C. in Jericho.

Herodium was one of the last strong points held by Jewish rebels fighting against the Romans, and it was conquered and destroyed by Roman troops in A.D. 71, a year after they destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Saniora Discloses Israel-Hizbullah War Losses

2007-05-07T17:19:00.000-05:00

Beirut- May 7, 2007

Prime Minister Fouad Saniora said Monday last summer's 34-day war between Israel and Hizbullah has claimed 1.200 lives and wounded 4.400 people.
Saniora provided in a news conference the first official estimate of casualties sustained during the July-August war between Hizbullah and Israel.

He said 7.500 fishermen also sustained damage to their boats, nets and equipment due to heavy Israeli bombardment.

During the confrontation, Saniora said, 862 schools were damaged and 22 schools were completely destroyed.

Sappers from the Lebanese Army, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have defused 114.000 cluster bombs and 468 other types of bombs dropped by Israeli forces during the war, according to Saniora.

The Israeli offensive also damaged and destroyed 91 bridges throughout Lebanon as well as runways in Lebanon's three airports, according to Saniora.

He said most of the damage inflicted by the infra structure also has been repaired by government teams.

International donors provided Lebanon with 707 million dollars in aid, Saniora said.

Nadine Njeim Crowned Miss Lebanon 2007

2007-04-28T16:02:00.000-05:00

Beirut, April 27, 2007

And now for some good news from Lebanon...

Nadine Njeim won the Miss Lebanon 2007 title in a nationally televised pageant at Casino du Liban Friday, the same day two slain youths were buried amid mounting anger.
Njeim, 19, was crowned Miss Lebanon by Gabrielle Bou Rashed, Miss Lebanon 2006. The new beauty queen edged out top finalists Maha Khoury, Sahar Sbeiti, Sasha Dahdouh and Gretta Habib.

Eighteen contestants from all over Lebanon vied to succeed Bou Rashed. They were trimmed to 10 semifinalists and finally five finalists.

During the swimsuit competition, the beauty queens performed a synchronized strut on stage before each posed for the judges. The contestants also had walk-ons on the catwalk in their evening gowns before the finalists took their solo strolls for the audience.

An Nahar newspaper said Saturday that the pageant tried to dispel feelings of frustration over the killing of the two youths. Ziad Kabalan and Ziad Ghandour, who were kidnapped and murdered in what was thought to be a political vendetta, were buried in Beirut Friday.

The show's host was Tony Baroud, whose wife Christina Sawaya is a previous Miss Lebanon title holder.

A panel of nine judges elected the winner. Its members included Paolo Bongia, Siham Tueni, May Khalil, Georgina Rizk, Roger Moukarzel, Billy Karam, Mouna Fares, Nada Salameh and Tarek Housami.

An Nahar said Lebanon's beauty queens for the past ten years were among the crowd who attended the pageant.

Nadine Njeim, who is an international business student, carries the same name as that of Miss Lebanon 2004.

She has listed her hobbies on the Miss Lebanon 2007 website as diving and swimming.

Two Kidnapped Youths Found Slain, Tension High

2007-04-26T21:43:00.000-05:00

BEirut, April 26th 2007

The dead bodies of two youths kidnapped four days ago were found at the Jadra district south of Beirut Thursday, security sources said.
The sources said the two were found around 200 meters off the main highway linking Beirut with south Lebanon.

One security source said preliminary tests indicate Ziad Ghandour and Ziad Qabalan were killed "a few hours after they were kidnapped."

Local television and radio stations blared the news about finding bodies of the two, which sparked fears across Beirut and its environs of possible reprisals by their relatives and Walid Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party with which they were affiliated.

However, Jumblat, in a statement broadcast live by TV stations, called for maximum restraint, stressing that only state authorities should handle the issue.

The crime was denounced and condemned by the various factions in Lebanon, especially that it involved the kidnapping of 12-year-old Ghandour.

Shortly after the bodies of the two were found, streets were deserted in most of Beirut as residents sought refuge to avoid possible violence.

Mysterious Disappearance of 2 Youths in Beirut Sparks Fears of Renewed Violence

2007-04-26T21:41:00.000-05:00

Beirut, April 24th, 2007

Police have reported that a boy and a young man affiliated with Druze leader Walid Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party went missing in Beirut and were presumed kidnapped.
A police communiqué released on Tuesday identified the two as Ziad Ghandour, 12, and Ziad Qabalan, 25.

The short communiqué said the two left the Beirut PSP stronghold of Wata Msaitbeh on Monday in a French-made Renault minivan which was found 24 hours later deserted east of the capital.

The communiqué included photographs of the two, urging anyone with information pertaining to their whereabouts to report it to police. It did not disclose further details.

However, security sources told Naharnet that Ghandour's father was a PSP member like Qabalan.

One source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expressed the belief that the two were kidnapped in a tribal vendetta act related to the killing of Adnan Shamas, a pro-Hizbullah young man, during a bloody confrontation between pro- and anti-government factions on Jan. 25.

The PSP confirmed the two went missing but withheld comment on whether efforts are being exerted to determine their whereabouts.

The daily An Nahar on Wednesday said Jumblat swiftly called House Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hizbullah ally, in the first such contact between the two leaders in months due to the ongoing political crisis.

The paper said Jumblat asked Berri to help secure the release of the kidnapped persons "to avoid unrest."

Syrian Advocate of Neighborly Relations with Lebanon Jailed

2007-04-26T21:39:00.000-05:00

Beirut, April 24th, 2007

Syrian human rights activist Anwar Bunni, who has called for normalizing relations with Lebanon, was sentenced by a Damascus court Tuesday to five years in prison.
His lawyer, Khalil Maatouk, said Bunni was convicted in "spreading false information" damaging to the country.

"The criminal court in Damascus sentenced lawyer Anwar Bunni to five years in prison under the accusation of spreading false information which weakens the nation," Maatuk said.

Bunni was also ordered to pay a 2,000-dollar fine to the social affairs and labor ministry for membership of an unlicensed human rights organization.

Himself a lawyer, Bunni was arrested in the Syrian capital in May 2006 after signing an appeal for radical reform in relations between Syria and neighboring Lebanon.

Syria's state prosecutor said in February that Bunni would be prosecuted for spreading false information.
Maatuk and a rights group condemned the heavy jail sentence as an attempt to silence activists.

"This verdict is political and unjust. It aims to silence others and to put pressure on and terrorize human rights activists in Syria," the lawyer told Agence France Presse.

"They want to muzzle for good (the opposition) so that only the opinion of the authorities is heard," he charged. "Anwar Bunni was condemned for activities which denounce violations against human rights in Syria."

The National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said the sentence was "harsh" and political, while calling on the authorities to free Bunni and all other rights activists held behind bars.

"This trial was an attempt to silence the free voices and a message to all to halt their activities in the public domain," the group's head Ammar Qorabi said in a statement.

Bunni was the director of a legal rights centre in Syria financed partly by the European Union and established by a Belgian non-governmental organization. The centre was closed after his arrest.

In a statement to the court in January, Bunni said he was being judged for his opinions and had in no way violated the Syrian constitution or the law.

The "Beirut-Damascus Declaration" published in the Lebanese capital in May 2006 was signed by nearly 300 Syrian and Lebanese intellectuals.
In a crackdown that followed in Syria, Bunni was arrested along with nine others, including journalist and writer Michel Kilo and communist activist Mahmoud Issa.

On March 27, Kilo and Issa were charged with spreading false information and sowing discord, and they also face possible jail terms of at least three years.(AFP-Naharnet)

Hizbullah Opposes the Arab Peace Plan and its Lebanese Backers

2007-04-18T23:03:00.000-05:00

Beirut, April 17, 2007, From Nahar.net

Hizbullah on Tuesday accused moderate Arab states and the Lebanese March 14 majority coalition of selling out Palestine, seeking to "normalize" relations with Israel and backing an alleged scheme to create a U.S.-controlled Middle East.
The Hizbullah stand was announced by Mohammed Raad, leader of the party's parliamentary bloc, in a statement to reporters at Parliament headquarters in downtown Beirut, a few meters from the makeshift tent city erected by the opposition since Dec. 1 with the declared objective of toppling Premier Fouad Saniora's majority government.

Raad was responding to a statement released late Monday by the Moustaqbal movement of MP Saad Hariri, a leader of the March 14 majority which criticized Hizbullah's weapons as "illegitimate."

Raad said the Moustaqbal parliamentary bloc "by describing the resistance weapons as illegitimate went too far with a scheme to reconcile with the Zionists and the Americans who want to create a new Middle East."

Such a new Middle East, according to Raad, "is based on recognizing the Zionist entity's (right to exist), normalizing relations with it and abolishing any opposition to or resistance of Israeli aggressions."

He charged that "most Arab regimes seek to normalize relations with the Zionist entity."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had vowed that "a new Middle East would be created, but not the one that America wants."

Raad noted that the Arab peace plan, reactivated by the recent summit held at the Saudi capital of Riyadh in March is based on the original blueprint adopted in Beirut in 2002.

"The original text involved concessions that are a precedent in recognizing the legitimacy of the Zionist occupation of the 1948 lands and reflected a decision to negotiate over the lands occupied in 1967," Raad said.

"We will not discuss this Arab viewpoint, but describing the resistance weapons as illegitimate falls in line with the Israeli stand and the American stand. This requires explanation not just by this bloc (Moustaqbal) but by its higher authorities and masters and its masses," Raad added.

The Moustaqbal bloc's stand, according to Raad, is "very serious at the strategic level and casts doubt about the feasibility of any dialogue."

He also charged the parliamentary majority of pushing the international tribunal's law to the U.N. Security Council to be approved under chapter seven of the international organization's charter.

"Chapter seven will not solve the Lebanese people's problem. The tribunal is not the problem. The problem is in the government," Raad said in reference to demands by the Hizbullah-led opposition to control veto powers in any new government.

The opposition does not control majority of parliament's 128-seats.

The Hizbullah MP said approving the international tribunal by the U.N. Security Council under chapter seven is tantamount to "placing Lebanon under an international mandate."

He vowed that Hizbullah will declare its position regarding such an international resolution on time.

However, he asked the Lebanese people: "where would our sovereignty be if Lebanon becomes open to all intelligence agencies of the world?"

Sfeir Urges Unity to Avoid Despair

2007-04-16T07:04:00.000-05:00

Beirut, April 16, 2007, Nahar.net

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir has urged politicians and citizens to unite and consolidate efforts to help Lebanon prosper.
"Anyone without a country has no religion, no ethics and no dignity," Sfeir said in his Sunday sermon at Notre Dame Cathedral in Bkirki.

"Have mercy on your country so as not to be without one," he pleaded.

Sfeir also criticized "accusations and threats" exchanged by the bickering political parties.

"As if the economic situation…isn't enough to bring despair to the Lebanese," he said.

"The Lebanese should stand united in order to build a country in which understanding, love and values prevail," he added.

He said that God has given us the freedom of doing good or evil. But nowadays it seems that "freedom is used to perform a lot more harm than good."

The Patriarch later met with Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun.

Aoun said after the half-hour meeting that his visit was aimed at extending his best wishes to Sfeir after the Easter holiday.

Gemayel Criticizes Hizbullah's 'Clever' Plan to Impose Aoun as Next President

2007-04-16T07:02:00.000-05:00

Beirut, April 16, 2007, Nahar.net

Former President Amin Gemayel said Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's latest speech was a "real shock" to the Christians more than ever, and criticized Hizbullah's "clever" strategy to impose its Christian ally Gen. Michel Aoun as the next president.
Gemayel said that Nasrallah's latest address, in which he revealed potential plans for having presidential elections crippled unless the pro-government March 14 coalition abides by the opposition's demands, have "raised fears among Christians."

He also lashed out at Hizbullah's second in command Sheikh Naim Qassem who said in recent remarks that presidential elections would take place "only if the ruling team and the opposition agreed on the name of the future president."

Gemayel said March 14 was "never against agreement in principle on a president who would represent all Lebanese … under the guardianship of Bkirki."

He said Nasrallah's wished-for strategy of avoiding pointing out Aoun during his fiery Easter speech March 8, as well as Qassem's comments were a "clever maneuver to impose Aoun as the next president."

He said that this strategy contradicts with the "concepts of partnership and collaboration strongly advocated by Hizbullah."

U.S. Committed to Court, Worried About Lack of Christian Unity

2007-04-13T23:34:00.000-05:00

Beirut, Aprril 13, 2007

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch has said his government is committed to the formation of the international tribunal that would try suspects in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's murder and related crimes.
Welch told An Nahar daily's Washington correspondent that if the Lebanese parliament does not ratify the tribunal, the U.S. will consider with other members of the U.N. Security Council legal options to set up the court.

He blamed "foreign interference" for obstructing the formation of the international tribunal.

Speaker Nabih Berri, whose Amal movement is part of the Hizbullah-led opposition, is refusing to call for a parliament session to set up the court.

Welch said that he discussed with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir in a telephone conversation Wednesday discord among Christians in Lebanon.

"I expressed my concern over lack of unity" between them, Welch added.

He also said that U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Damascus has not led to changes in Syria's behavior in Lebanon.

Pelosi's trip last week stirred controversy, with President George Bush and other administration officials lashing out at the speaker for undermining the government's tough line against the Syrian regime, which the U.S. accuses of supporting terrorism.

Geagea Vows to Confront Nasrallah's Global Scheme

2007-04-10T16:35:00.000-05:00

Beirut, April 10, 2007

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea lashed out at Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah Tuesday, accusing him of "cheating" the Lebanese and blocking the formation of a capable state.
Geagea, addressing a news conference, also accused Nasrallah of trying to carry out an agenda aimed at creating a global Islamic state that contradicts with the essence of pluralist Lebanon.

"We will not allow either Hizbullah or any other power to control our destiny and our children's destiny," Geagea announced in an apparent response to a pledge of a half century of Hizbullah influence that Nasrallah made in a speech Sunday.

Addressing Nasrallah, Geagea said: "you are not allowing the rise of the state, you are blocking our march … a capable state cannot rise if it is surrounded by armed militias."

"We don't want armed factions alongside the state any more. We want the state. The state cannot rise if it is surrounded by armed groups," he stressed.

Geagea's 80-minute conference focused on countering minutes of Nasrallah's address that has provoked angry reaction and criticism from leaders of the March 14 majority alliance that backs Premier Fouad Saniora's government.

The capable Lebanese state, Geagea said, "will certainly rise. We and our allies believe in this state … we are facing a problem today, but in any minute you will notice that the problem ceased to exist."

Hizbullah's target, according to Geagea, is not to liberate the Israeli-occupied Shebaa farms of south Lebanon that the Saniora government is seeking to place under United Nations supervision pending demarcation of the borders with Syria.

"You want to liberate the whole of Palestine and throw the Jews in the sea. You want to push the Americans out of all Muslim lands. You want to liberate the Balkan province … We are not affiliated with this scheme," Geagea told Nasrallah.

"You have no right to take the Lebanese people hostage to carry out your strategy. The Lebanese state exists, the Lebanese entity exists and you will not be able to drag the Lebanese people into war," he added.

"No one can impose on us what we don't want. No one can impose on us strategies or ideologies," Geagea announced.

Regarding Nasrallah's call for a referendum to allow the people have a say in a settlement to the ongoing political crisis, Geagea asked the Hizbullah chief: "Did you ask for the people's opinion when you staged war on July 12 and caused the death of over 1.000 Lebanese and the destruction of the country?"

He was referring to last summer's 34-day war with Israel which started on July 12 when Hizbullah fighters kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack.

Geagea accused Hizbullah's ally, House Speaker Nabih Berri, and Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud of blocking bills adopted by the Saniora government in order to prevent state rise.

"You want a return of the Syrian hegemony era and this will not happen," Geagea told Nasrallah.

He attacked the Hizbullah chief for saying that the international tribunal designed to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes was to announce ready-made verdicts.

"These are mere allegations that lack proof. You are cheating the Lebanese...We want reforms," Geagea said.

He accused the General Security department, which the majority says is headed by a pro-Hizbullah general, of permitting the entry of "trucks loaded with weapons" from Syria to rearm Hizbullah and other pro-Syrian groups in Lebanon.

Geagea said it was not up to Nasrallah to say if the Saniora government is constitutional or not. "Only parliament can judge the government and your ally (Berri) does not convene it."

Maronite Bishops Want New President Elected, Tribunal Created and Constitution Respected

2007-04-04T15:57:00.000-05:00

Beirut, April 4, 2007

The Maronite Church on Wednesday urged Lebanon's Parliament to practice its role in dealing with the ongoing political crisis, declared support for the international tribunal and stressed that Presidential elections should be held on time.
The church, in a statement issued by Maronite Bishops after their monthly meeting, stressed that democracy is "one of Lebanon's pillars."

It called for "halting any attempt to deactivate democracy and replacing it by non democratic practices. Such practices result in a chronic economic crisis."

The church called for "activating dialogue within constitutional institutions, especially the parliament which represents all political factions."

Achieving such a goal, the statement noted, "would be impossible if Parliament was not convened."

To avoid escalating political differences into violence "we call on parliament to practice its constitutional and national roles … by deliberating the crisis and finding solutions to it through sound-democratic dialogue."

The statement warned that "disabling constitutional institutions is a harbinger to the collapse of the democratic regime."

It urged all the parties "to resume dialogued with the aim of finding a settlement to this crisis and breathing life into the executive authority (government)."

The Maronite church "adheres to holding presidential elections as constitutionally scheduled."

It warned that attempts by any faction to prevent quorum at the parliamentary session that would elect the new president would be an anti-constitutional attempt.

The statement stressed that electing a new head of state to succeed President Emile Lahoud, whose term expires on Nov. 22, should not be linked to advance agreement on a new leader, warning that such a condition "could become a means of pressure … to impose a president in contrast with democratic rules."

The statement was apparently referring to threats by the Hizbullah-led opposition to refrain from taking part in a parliamentary session to elect a new head of state, which would strip the legislature of a two-third quorum set by the constitution for the session.

The Parliamentary majority which backs Premier Fouad Saniora's government does not control two thirds of the 128-seat parliament, but does have enough votes to elect a new head of state in the second round of balloting.

The opposition-minority, on the other hand, can boycott the parliamentary session, blocking the election of a new president by stripping the house of the needed quorum to convene.

The statement also stressed that Lebanon "should adhere to the international legitimacy (U.N.) and all resolutions issued by its institutions."

The Maronite Church called all concerned parties to "refrain from blocking" efforts by the United Nations to create an international tribunal "to try culprits in the serious crimes committed in Lebanon since October 2004."

It was referring to the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes since the attempt on the life of Communications Minister Marwan Hamadeh on Oct. 1, 2004.

The attempts are blamed by the Lebanese majority alliance of Syria. Damascus denies involvement in the spate of killings that has wrecked Lebanon for more than two years.

Lebanon Photo - Beirut

2007-04-04T15:54:00.000-05:00

Rise in radical Islam last straw for Lebanon's Christians

2007-04-02T22:29:00.000-05:00

By Michael Hirst in Beirut, Sunday Telegraph
March 31, 2007

Christians are fleeing Lebanon to escape political and economic crises and signs that radical Islam is on the rise in the country.

In a poll to be published next month which was exclusively leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, nearly half of all Maronites, the largest Christian denomination in the country, said they were considering emigrating. Of these, more than 100,000 have submitted visa applications to foreign embassies. Their exodus could have a devastating effect on the country, robbing it of an influential minority which has acted as an important counter-balance to the forces of Islamic extremism.

About 60,000 Christians have already left since last summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah. Many who remain fear that a violent showdown between rival Sunni and Shia factions is looming.

"If we love our children we have to tell them to get out," said Maria, a Christian mother of one from the northern city of Tripoli, who refused to give her surname for fear of reprisal. "When my daughter finished her high school I sent her to Europe, and I will follow her if I can."

Christine, another Christian woman, said that all of her family's younger generation had left the country, adding that Tripoli had become increasingly Islamised in recent years. There is a rising number of veiled women and religiously bearded men on the streets - although she blamed economic and political instability for much of the emigration. Christians, who make up 22 per cent of the population, have historically played a major role in the development of Lebanon's political, social and cultural institutions. Currently the president, the army commander and the head of the central bank are all Maronites, and under the agreement which ended the civil war in 1989, half the 128 seats in Lebanon's parliament are reserved for Christians.

"Lebanon has always been a bastion of religious tolerance, but now it is moving towards the model of Islamisation seen in Iraq and Egypt," said Fr Samir Samir, a Jesuit teacher of Islamic studies at Beirut's Université Saint-Joseph.

Lebanon's Christian community is concerned that its influence is waning as a result of a continuing internal power struggle, which for the past five months has pitted a Sunni-led government against a predominantly Shia opposition, spearheaded by the Shia militant group Hezbollah. The collapse in influence has been exacerbated by a roughly equal spilt in support among Christians for rival Shia and Sunni leaders. The battle between Muslim factions has paralysed the Lebanese administration and crippled the economy.

The exodus of young workers crosses the religious spectrum. Some 22 per cent of Shias and 26 per cent of Sunnis say they are considering going abroad, according to the study by Information International, an independent Beirut-based research body.

From www.telegraph.co.uk

Russian expert says Iran can make nuclear weapons

2007-04-02T22:21:00.000-05:00

April 2, 2007
From Reuters

Russia's leading nuclear scientist said on Monday that it was just a question of time before Iran developed a nuclear weapon and it should be stopped.

The Islamic republic, facing a showdown with the United States over its nuclear ambitions, clearly has the know-how to make atomic weapons, said Yevgeny Velikhov, a leading physicist and close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"From a scientific point of view of course they could create nuclear weapons," Velikhov, president of Russia's Kurchatov Institute, told reporters. "When they could do it is a more difficult question."

"If you remember, U.S. scientists expected the Soviet Union would only be able to create a nuclear bomb by around 1954 at the earliest," he said.

"They were rather surprised when we created one in 1949," he said with a chuckle. Velikhov trained under Igor Kurchatov, the leader of the Soviet atomic bomb project.

The United States and European Union powers suspect Iran wants to build nuclear arms while Tehran says its nuclear fuel program is meant only for civilian power generation.

"If they have decided to create nuclear weapons, then they could create them," said Velikhov, who was part of Putin's 2004 re-election campaign team.

"It is important that Iran does not get nuclear weapons. If Iran gets nuclear weapons it will be very negative for the security of the whole world."

ENRICHING URANIUM

Western powers persuaded the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran over its refusal to stop enriching uranium in centrifuge machines. The program remains at the research stage but Iran aims to ramp it up to "industrial-scale" enrichment later this year.

Russian officials have said it would take Iran years to assemble nuclear warheads and that Tehran has a right to develop civilian nuclear power.

But analysts say Moscow has toughened its policy toward Iran -- including a delay to the Bushehr nuclear power station which Russia is helping build -- over concerns about Tehran's nuclear program and worries about a war in the Gulf.

Most diplomats and nuclear experts believe Iran remains a few years away from bomb capacity as it has yet to overcome technical problems such as older centrifuges prone to cracking and overheating, and impurities in uranium feedstock.

They cannot rule out Iran might have made more progress at secret military facilities, but there is no intelligence pointing to clandestine activity at this time.

A Vienna-based diplomat familiar with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) monitoring said Iran had already grasped enrichment technology so Western powers should focus on trying to limit the program rather than shut it down.

"In fact, however, they already have enrichment technology. To continue to insist on zero centrifuges is doomed to failure and bound to drive Iran to further reduce the IAEA's access."

Velikhov, who devoted his life to nuclear technology, said the world's nuclear powers should reject nuclear weapons.

"I consider biological, chemical and nuclear arms should be forbidden and that the holding and development of nuclear weapons should be considered a crime against humanity.

"I think all states should reject nuclear weapons, including the U.S. and Russia," he said.

Report: Nearly Half the Maronites Consider Fleeing Lebanon

2007-04-02T06:54:00.000-05:00

Beirut, April 2, 2007

Christians are fleeing Lebanon to escape the political and economic crises and the rise of radical Islam in the country, a British newspaper reported.
The Sunday Telegraph said a poll to be published next month and exclusively leaked to it reveals that nearly half of all Maronites were considering emigrating.

"Of these, more than 100,000 have submitted visa applications to foreign embassies," the newspaper said.

"Their exodus could have a devastating effect on the country, robbing it of an influential minority which has acted as an important counter-balance to the forces of Islamic extremism," it added.

It said about 60,000 Christians have already left since last summer's war between Israel and Hizbullah.

"Many who remain fear that a violent showdown between rival Sunni and Shiite factions is looming," it reported.

The newspaper quoted a Christian mother from the northern port city of Tripoli as saying "If we love our children we have to tell them to get out."

"When my daughter finished her high school I sent her to Europe, and I will follow her if I can," said Maria.

"Lebanon has always been a bastion of religious tolerance, but now it is moving towards the model of Islamization seen in Iraq and Egypt," said Fr Samir Samir, a Jesuit teacher of Islamic studies at Beirut's Saint Joseph University.

The Sunday Telegraph said the Christian community is concerned that its influence is declining as a result of the power struggle between the Sunni-led government and the predominantly Shiite opposition.

"The collapse in influence has been exacerbated by a roughly equal spilt in support among Christians for rival Shiites and Sunni leaders," it said.

"The exodus of young workers crosses the religious spectrum. Some 22 per cent of Shiites and 26 percent of Sunnis say they are considering going abroad, according to the study by Information International, an independent Beirut-based research body," the newspaper said.

Iran's shadow hovered over Riyadh

2007-03-31T00:02:00.000-05:00

Saturday, March 31, 2007
By Tony Badran

The standard for success at Arab summits is, usually, the avoidance of implosion as differences between the various rulers take center stage and eclipse more relevant issues. The end-result is usually a diluted final statement aimed at preserving a faade of Arab solidarity.

At the Riyadh summit earlier this week, appropriately dubbed the summit of "Arab solidarity," Saudi Arabia again sought to impose a certain order by avoiding highlighting the various fissures among the Arab states. However, the Saudis also went beyond that by seeking to regain the initiative and cement their newfound leadership role in the region. The driving force behind such efforts was to block Iranian encroachment in the Middle East, especially Iran's drive to capture the Palestinian card.

At stake was the mainstream Arab states' desire to ensure that they alone control the final decision to wage war or make peace with Israel, particularly after the war in Lebanon last summer, when the actions of Hizbullah led to the possibility of a wider conflagration. The Saudis interpreted that conflict as an Iranian and Syrian gambit played through the Lebanese window, and have been just as worried about Iranian support for Hamas. The Saudis were, therefore, eager to shut both these windows in Riyadh.

That's why it was not surprising that Saudi Arabia would follow up on its recent diplomatic effort to reconcile the Palestinian factions in Mecca with the revival of the Arab peace initiative endorsed in Beirut in 2002, which was at the heart of this week's summit. The purpose of the Mecca Accord, aside from ending inter-Palestinian fighting, was to cut the road off to further Iranian control over developments in the Palestinian territories. The revival of the peace initiative, whatever its problems, would impose restrictions on Hamas, given how the initiative offers "full peace" and "normal relations" with Israel in exchange for returning the Arab territories occupied in 1967, establishing a Palestinian state, and finding a "just solution" to the problem of the refugees.

Both the watered down language on normalization as well as the clause on the refugees were Syrian additions introduced at the 2002 summit to undermine the Arab initiative - as they guaranteed Israeli rejection. The Saudi daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat published an article on Thursday indicating that Syria tried to amend the text of the Riyadh initiative as well, in order to introduce even more maximalist conditions on the refugee issue, but it was rebuffed. Instead, the Syrians had to make do with Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyya's and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud's opposition to any challenge to the Palestinian right of return. Syria also objected to any "normalizing" contacts with Israel aside from those carried out by the Palestinians, Egypt and Jordan.

Syrian President Bashar Assad was kept on a short political leash, and his speech was also uncharacteristically short, in contrast with Syrian media reports before the summit that he would "present a paper on Arab solidarity." He was apparently instructed to maintain a low profile, and before the summit it was leaked to the press that both Saudi Arabia and Egypt would not take kindly to any attempt by the Syrian leader to use the summit as a podium to lecture his Arab counterparts.

The Syrians tried to compensate through Lahoud, however, who headed one of two delegations the divided Lebanese sent - the other led by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. To everyone's astonishment, Lahoud tried to undermine the Siniora government through last-minute amendments to the statement on Lebanon. He targeted the government's seven-point plan, which served as the basis for United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 and calls for government control over all its territory. Lahoud failed to get any substantial amendments adopted, however, amid Saudi and broader Arab support for the UN resolution and for the Siniora government. The Saudi position was best expressed by Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal, who stressed that it was time for Lebanon to be neutralized as an open front against Israel. Neither Saudi Arabia nor Egypt can afford to hand Iran the keys to regional stability.

Diplomatic sources leaked that King Abdullah's one-on-one meeting with Assad was a fairly heated one, and included a Saudi rebuke for Syria's interference in Lebanese affairs and its blocking of a domestic settlement. The king also reportedly asserted that the Hariri tribunal should be established, and that Syria should respect international resolutions and stop smuggling weapons across its border into Lebanon.

The final statement of the summit reiterated the Arab states' support for the Hariri tribunal, Resolution 1701 and the seven-point plan, and the Lebanese government. King Abdullah and Saud Al-Faisal also criticized Hizbullah's ongoing sit-in in Downtown Beirut.

Iraq also received Arab attention. Particularly noticeable was King Abdullah's use of the term "occupation" to describe the American military presence there. Overall, the statement on Iraq called for broadening the political process and rejecting partition, sectarianism, and outside interference in Iraqi affairs. The Arab states also asked for a review of the de-Baathification policy, encouraged the dissolution of all militias, and supported the equitable distribution of oil wealth, all steps that, implicitly, would lend some sustenance to the weakened Sunni community.

But the unmentioned target of the summit was mainly Iran. This was evident in Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's warning of a regional nuclear arms race, in what was a clear reference to the Iranians.

Will there be specific results from the summit? That remains to be seen. The Saudis might be thinking that Israel shares their concern about Iran, and therefore that the peace initiative has a chance of appealing to both Israel and the United States. Saud Al-Faisal described matters in stark terms: Either this peace initiative is accepted or Iran will be empowered. Hamas, as was evident from Haniyya's statements, is banking on an Israeli rejection of the Arab initiative to lay the blame on Israel and to avoid any serious change in its own ideological position.

As for Lebanon, though Assad met with King Abdullah, the final statement of the summit showed that the Saudis were sticking to their guns on the Hariri tribunal and the need for Syria to respect Lebanese sovereignty. Riyadh still views Lebanon as a crucial battleground which Iran and Syria must not be allowed to profit from. Moreover, the Saudis' continued support for the tribunal suggests that Assad's options are narrowing on that front if he intends to rely on Arab solidarity.

Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, where he focuses on Lebanon and Syria. He also hosts the Across the Bay blog (www.beirut2bayside.blogspot.com). He wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.

Report: Hizbullah Buying Land from Druze, Christians

2007-02-28T16:17:00.000-06:00

Beirut, Feb 27, 2007

Hizbullah is building a new line of defense just north of the Litani river in south Lebanon ahead of a potential resumption of war with Israel, Britain's The Times reported.
"The military build-up ... is being conducted in valleys and hillsides guarded by uniformed Hizbullah fighters in the rugged mountains north of the Litani river — the limit of the 12,000 strong U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon," the newspaper said Monday.

It said Hizbullah fighters are preparing a new system of fortifications and expanding old positions in the mountains on the northern bank of the river.

"Residents say that the activity has increased lately, and peacekeepers confirm this," The Times said.

"We can see them building new positions. There's a lot of trucks coming into the area as well," a UNIFIL officer told the newspaper.

It said Ali Tajeddine, a Shiite businessman who traded in diamonds in West Africa, has been buying swaths of land from Christians and Druze.

"Two thirds of Sraireh, a Druze village, has been bought along with more than 2 million square yards of land in the nearby Christian hamlet of Qotrani, where 30 houses under construction have been sold to Shiite owners, according to residents," the newspaper said.

It said Tajeddine's interest in the land has puzzled residents and raised the suspicions of Druze leader Walid Jumblat.

"He (Jumblat) suspects that Iranian funds are being used to buy the land, which will be turned into a Hizbullah military zone," The Times said.

It also quoted a Western diplomat as saying "we have evidence to support their presence there. It seems to be an expansion of what was there before the war."

However Hizbullah's deputy secretary general Sheikh Naim Qassem, told The Times that Jumblat's allegations were unfounded.

He reportedly said that the Druze leader "likes to stir calm waters."

Tajeddine also denied the claims, according to The Times. "He said that he was buying land in the area because it was rich in quarrying opportunities."

Beirut Rotary clubs hold special dinner at Bristol Hotel

2007-02-22T18:19:00.000-06:00

February 23, 2007
Beirut

BEIRUT: The Rotary Club of Beirut and the Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan held a special joint dinner on Wednesday evening at the Bristol Hotel in Hamra. Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh was the guest speaker, and the event was geared toward generating interest in strengthening Lebanon's economy and contributing to the clubs' charitable initiatives. Two announcements were made during the dinner - the Rotary Club of Dubai pledged a $5,000 donation to the Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan's wheelchair project, and United States-based Rotary member Tony Bikhazi pledged a $3,000 donation to the Rotary Club of Beirut Cosmopolitan's scholarship fund. The guest list included prominent politicians and business leaders. In attendance were Saad Azhari, Tony Asfour, Antoine Hendi, Gladys Younes, Christine Asroumanian, Sahar Assaf, Malek Mahmasani, Joumana Hobeika, Nabil Challah and others.

Pierre Azar, Riad Salameh and Malek Mahmasani

Saad and Karima Azhari

Mustafa Asaad and Joumana Hobeika

Abdullah al-Ansari and Tony Asfour

Gladys Younes

Maronite Bishops Say Lebanon Situation 'Not Assuring'

2007-02-08T22:20:00.001-06:00

February 7, 2007

The Council of Maronite Bishops on Wednesday said the ongoing Lebanon crisis was "not assuring," labeling "unusual" the latest street fighting that left nine people killed in Beirut.
"The general situation in Lebanon is not assuring, and what happened on (December) 23 and 25 from protests and burning tires to blocking roads … was not a usual phenomenon, but rather, a coup attempt, as seen by some, aiming to shift the course of the country," said a statement by the Bishops.

"This is unusual for a country like Lebanon," said the statement at the end of the bishops' monthly meeting at Bkirki under Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir.

"The Paris III conference, which (recent) riots and turmoil aimed at foiling, has shown where our country stands amidst the donors' nations and institutions," added the statement read by Monsignor Youssef Tauq.

The bishops thanked the states which granted aid to Lebanon at the January 25 Paris III conference, particularly France whose president Jacques Chirac "did all he could to help Lebanon."

The statement also criticized as "disgraceful" the ongoing bickering between pro- and anti-government political leaders, accusing them of "doing all they can to sink" Lebanon in their feuds.

Guardian: Lebanese Factions Rearming

2007-02-08T22:18:00.000-06:00

February 7, 2007

London's Guardian newspaper has said that arms sales in Lebanon have tripled since the current impasse between Prime Minsiter Fouad Saniora's government and the Hizbullah-led Opposition began, raising fears that political factions are rearming.

The increased presence of gunmen in the streets of Beirut, and reports of fighters loyal to the government being trained overseas has heightened fears of a return to civil war, which ravaged Lebanon from 1975 to 1990, the Guardian said on Tuesday.

"There is a reappearance of arms in the hands of almost every political group; we are sitting on a powder keg, tension is increasing every day," a prominent security analyst told the Guardian. "They don't know what they are doing, they are going to destroy this country."

A two-month-old Hizbullah-led campaign to bring down the Saniora government escalated into street clashes last month, leaving nine people killed and more than 300 wounded.

The sense of instability has deepened with the seizure of guns and training equipment in November from members of a former Christian militia commando unit as well as reports by U.S. intelligence analysts of fighters loyal to Lebanon's largest Sunni party being trained abroad, according to the Guardian.

It said the private intelligence company Stratfor reported in December that "Lebanon's Sunni bloc, led by the Hariri clan and their regional Arab allies, has sent a number of fighters to Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to receive military training to counter Hizbullah's well-equipped and well-trained military forces."

According to the analyst, himself a Sunni, contingents of men are being brought from Sunni areas in the north to safe houses around the center of Beirut where they are armed in preparation for clashes such as those last month.

"They are not militias yet but they are increasingly assuming the role of a militia," he said.

Hizbullah is the only group which has not been disarmed, despite a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls on the group to surrender its weapons.

According to one Lebanese newspaper, illegal arms sales have increased threefold. Lebanon is now awash with arms dealers, the newspaper reported, some selling 10 to 15 guns a day in a country of four million people. Many of the guns are bought by individuals, but there have also been newer weapons bought in bulk by supporters of key political groups.

Maronite Bishops liken clashes to 'coup d'etat'

2007-02-07T20:55:00.000-06:00

Thursday, February 08, 2007

By Maroun Khoury
Daily Star correspondent

BKIRKI: The Council of Maronite Bishops said on Wednesday that riots and clashes across Lebanon in late January were "not an ordinary phenomenon, but rather an attempted coup d'etat" aimed at aborting the Paris III donors conference. "The situation in Lebanon is not reassuring, and what happened on January 23 and 25, from protests and burning tires to blocking roads, killing and wounding people, was an attempted coup aiming at changing the course of the country, should it succeed, and this is

unusual in a country like Lebanon," the council said.

The bishops were referring to riots that followed an opposition strike on January 23 and clashes that erupted at Beirut Arab University two days later between government and opposition supporters.

In a statement read by Monsignor Youssef Tawk following the bishops' monthly meeting in Bkirki, the council said that the Paris III meeting last month showed the importance of Lebanon to donor countries and institutions, despite attempts to thwart the donors conference.

"We have to thank all donor countries, especially France, whose President Jacques Chirac deployed all efforts to help Lebanon get out of its crisis," the council said.

The bishops also expressed gratitude to all of the Christian politicians who have signed a "code of honor" proposed by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir to avoid inter-Christian discord.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, former minister Suleiman Franjieh and 22 Christian politicians within the March 14 Forces have expressed support for the code.

"We hope that politicians put national interests above personal ones and deploy all efforts to ward off internal and external dangers threatening the country," the council said.

The bishops criticized the "shameful" political bickering between government and opposition leaders, which they said has led to a "paralysis" in public institutions.

"They [politicians] are doing all they can to plunge the country into their discords, while countries are rushing to help us," the council said.

In an address to the Maronite community ahead of Lent, Sfeir pointed out that the national debt was in excess of $40 billion "and is still increasing," while the majority of Lebanese youths "are leaving their land to work abroad due to a lack of job opportunities."

"Several businesses have been closed, especially in Downtown Beirut, where opposition supporters are spending their time smoking water pipes and playing cards," the prelate added. "The summer and winter seasons have also perished, thanks to the summer 2006 war with Israel and the losses it inflicted on the country."

The prelate said the worst aspect of the ongoing crisis was that constitutional bodies had ceased to function due to political bickering.

"The country's main public institutions are challenging one another, leaving their activity in paralysis," Sfeir said. "Instead of settling their discords with a constructive national spirit, our politicians, whether in power or not, are throwing at each other the most indecent words. I wish the Lebanese knew the value of their country, which is characterized by a unique amount of freedom that we have spoiled and turned into chaos."

Meanwhile, Arab League Ambassador Hisham Youssef said on Wednesday that he was "worried" by the stalemate.

"I have noted great concern over developments in the situation and great fear about the future of Lebanon," Hisham Youssef told reporters after a meeting with Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan held before he boarded a plane for Cairo.

"We too feel this same sense of worry," he added.

The ambassador said he would update Amr Moussa on the situation in Lebanon, adding that the Arab League chief would make his decision on when to resume his own mediation efforts in Lebanon "in light of his contacts in Moscow and with certain Arab countries and the international community."

Youssef, a top aide to Moussa, arrived in Beirut on Monday to meet with leaders of both the government and opposition ahead of the expected arrival of the Arab League chief.

However, an Arab diplomatic source said Youssef "came up against a brick wall" during his meetings here.

Moussa launched an initiative last December in a bid to resolve the political crisis sparked by the resignation of six Shiite ministers one month earlier.

In comments made to Jordan's Al-Arab Al-Yaom daily to be published Wednesday, former Premier Omar Karami said that all initiatives to put an end to the deadlock to date had failed because they did not "ensure true participation in power."

"Dialogue should resume in order to find a solution to the crisis based on true participation," he said. - With agencies

Abu Faour Discloses Syrian Conditions Banning a Settlement to the Lebanese Crisis

2007-01-31T23:22:00.000-06:00

Beirut January 31, 2007
From Naharnet

MP Wael Abu Faour said Wednesday that Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani has relayed to Arab mediators five Syrian conditions that prevent any settlement to the ongoing crisis in Lebanon.
Abu Faour, a member of Walid Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party, said Larijani relayed the five Syrian conditions to "Arab and regional circles" mediating a settlement to the Lebanese crisis.

He was apparently referring to Saudi officials who have been meeting Iranian envoys trying to mediate in the crisis.

The conditions set by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, according to Abu Faour, are: the formation of a new 30-seat government in which the Hizbullah-led opposition controls 11 seats, allowing it to veto decisions.

The Syrian conditions also include the adoption of a new elections law in three months, early parliamentary elections in six months, rejection of early presidential elections, and rejection of any attempt to form an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes prior to completion of the international investigation in these atrocities.

Abu Faour stressed that such Syrian conditions "burn all bridges leading to détente."

"As long as some Lebanese political factions are tied up to the Syrian regime, there is no chance at all of reaching a solution," he added.

Abu Faour's PSP is a member of the March 14 majority alliance that backs Premier Fouad Saniora's government, which the Hizbullah-led opposition is trying in vain to topple since Dec. 1.

Nasrallah's 'National' Tag

2007-01-31T22:59:00.000-06:00

From Naharnet
January 31, 2007

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's declared strategy tag is based on the single concept of "unity" –Lebanon's synonym to partnership- in sharp contrast with the movement's background that rests on a history of monopoly.

For over 16 years, ending on Aug. 14 2006, when U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 enforced a ceasefire in the 34-day war with Israel, Hizbullah enjoyed a resistance monopoly in south Lebanon.

The Lebanese National Resistance Movement (LNRM), an underground alliance of leftist factions that fought Israel after its invading troops occupied Beirut in Sept. 1982, faced de facto dismantling of its network as Hizbullah was gaining the upper hand in the country that was run by Syria's army and intelligence agencies.

LNRM leaders and fighters were either assassinated or killed while trying to carry out attacks against Israeli troops occupying parts of south Lebanon. Some of them were "liquidated" before reaching the confrontation zone with what Hizbullah terms "the Zionist enemy."

However, after saying it is "no secret" that Hizbullah fighters are no more in the confrontation zone of south Lebanon, Nasrallah made a call for the creation of a "sole" multi-faction national resistance movement to liberate the Shabaa Farms.

Nasrallah even went as far as saying that "whoever has been banned from liberating (the Farms) should step forward to liberate (the area) and we'll be with him."

The key note in this National Resistance call by Nasrallah is "we'll be with him."

So Nasrallah wants Hizbullah, which did not even allow the regular Lebanese army into south Lebanon during its monopoly era, to return to the confrontation zone with Israel, but this time with "partners" under the banner of a "national" resistance movement.

The next move would, almost certainly, be a declaration forming this "national" resistance outfit, which would group Syrian-backed factions that form Lebanon's opposition.

The Arab Socialist Baath Party, Lebanon's chapter of Syria's regime, is expected to be part of the new resistance along with the Syrian Social National Party (SSNP) and Osama Saad's Popular Nasserite Organization.

It remains to be seen, though, whether the resistance frame as outlined by Nasrallah would include his two main Christian allies: Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and ex-MP Suleiman Franjieh's Marada faction.

Nasrallah had wanted both Aoun's FPM and Franjieh's Marada be represented in a government of "national unity" replacing the majority administration of Premier Fouad Saniora which the opposition has been trying in vain to topple since Dec. 1.

But how would the Nasrallah-designed "national resistance" structure, irrespective of whether it represents all the opposition factions or not, manage to launch attacks against Israeli troops in Shabaa Farms?

First they would have to cross the 23-kilometer deep buffer south of the Litani river patrolled by the Lebanese army and troops of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Geographically, Nasrallah's "liberation" road to Shabaa Farms goes through UNIFIL's area of operations. This is a fact.

Was Nasrallah setting the stage for a "national" war on UNIFIL?

That remains to be seen, especially that the Saniora government has been working for putting the Shabaa farms under U.N. control pending a settlement of its fate, which Syria doesn't facilitate.

The region was occupied by Israel in its 1967 war against Syria, Jordan and Egypt.

Tufaili Lashes Out at Nasrallah, Iran

2007-01-27T11:30:00.000-06:00

Saturday January 27, 2007

[Beirut] - Hizbullah founder and ex leader Sheikh Subhi Tufaili on Saturday accused Iran of stirring trouble between Shiites and Sunnis to destroy both Iraq and Lebanon, urging Shiites to mend fences with the majority Sunni sect.
Tufaili at a news conference said Shiites are "small minorities scattered in the vast sea of the Islamic world. It is in their interest to be allies for the majority and to mend fences with Sunnis."

"Otherwise, we will destroy even our future… this is crazy…we'll be slaughtered like sheep even in Lebanon. This is a reality."

He said Iran's spiritual leader Ali Khamenei has a dual policy. "In Iraq, he destroys Iraq under the slogan of alliance with America and in Lebanon he destroys Lebanon under the slogan that says the Sunnis are the allies of America."

He stressed Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is the person who carries out Khamenei's policy.

I am an ex-secretary general for Hizbullah and I know that Sayyed Hassan is in charge of carrying Sayyed Khamenei's policy in Lebanon. Sayyed Abdul Aziz al Hakim is the person who executes Khamenei's policy in Iraq."

He accused Hizbullah, of which he was fired more than eight years ago after disagreeing with the Iranian leadership, of forming its own state in Lebanon and "the resistance is its weapon."

"There cannot be two states and two weapons, that of Hizbullah and that of the government. We need to unify the weapons under one command. Two states would lead to war," he said.

Saudi king says Iran putting region in danger: paper

2007-01-27T10:02:00.000-06:00

Saturday January 27, 2007

Saudi Arabia told an Iranian envoy this month that Shi'ite power Iran was putting the Gulf region in danger, in a reference to Iran's conflict with Washington over Iraq and nuclear policy, a newspaper said.

In the interview in Kuwait's al-Seyassah on Saturday, King Abdullah also issued a veiled warning to Iran to quit what he said were efforts to spread Shi'ism in the Sunni-dominated Arab world.

The United States and its key ally Saudi Arabia accuse Iran of "interference" in Iraq, through backing Shi'ite militias and parties, and suspect Tehran is developing a covert nuclear weapons program -- a charge Iran denies.

"Saudi leaders and the Saudi state have always known their limits in dealing with nations, east and west. I explained this to Ali Larijani and advised him to pass it on to his government and its followers, with regard to foreign dealings," he said.

"The dangers it (Iranian government) could fall into will fall upon all of us."

Saudi sources have said Larijani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, visited Riyadh this month to seek help with Washington and reassure Saudi Arabia over the nuclear program.

King Abdullah also appeared to accuse Iran of exploiting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for its own ends. "The Arabs alone should solve the issue of Palestine ... We don't want anyone to trade in our issues and become stronger through them," he said.

Iran is backing Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas, which is conflict with Western countries because it refuses to recognize Israel before entering into peace negotiations. It also backs Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, which is leading a popular campaign to bring down the Western-backed government.

Arab states have had difficulty persuading the United States to restart peace talks leading to a state for the Palestinians.

King Abdullah also said efforts to spread Shi'ism in the Arab world would fail. Leading Sunni clerics have said in recent months that Iran is promoting Shi'ite belief in Arab countries.

"We are following this issue and we are aware of the extent of Shi'ite proselytism and how far it has got," the king said.

"But we don't think it will achieve its goal because the huge majority of Muslims who are Sunnis would not change their faith and sect ... We know our role as the state where the message (of Islam) began," he said.

Couples betting 7/7/07 is lucky for love

2007-01-18T22:29:00.000-06:00

January 18th, 2007

Will lucky sevens result in wedded bliss for the lucky in love?

Wedding planners say July 7th — or 7/7/07 — as the date appears in print, has become the most popular day in years to get married.

From vaunted Napa Valley wineries to vistas along Lake Tahoe, California couples have booked up thousands of churches and reception sites hoping to begin wedded bliss on the lucky date.

"It's the most popular date — ever," said Tonya Simmons, wedding specialist with Boomtown Casino Hotel on the outskirts of Reno, where lining up sevens more often means winning a slot-machine jackpot.

Richard Markel, head of the 800-member Association for Wedding Professionals International, said group members first began noticing extra interest in the novelty date last year.

A popular Sacramento wedding location, the Arden Hills Resort Club and Spa, had three openings for weddings on the day — all have been booked, said sales director Rick Francis.

"I guess more people are getting into numerology," Markel said, adding that July 7th will not be lucky for bargain hunters. The increased demand will drive up costs for everything from caterers to florists, he said.

Arlene Hixson and her fiance, Tony Goligowski, booked the date at Boomtown almost two years in advance. The first Saturday in July, Hixson figures, has another benefit for her fiance.

"I figured, that way, he can't forget it," she said.

Maronite Bishops call for a Domestic salvation initiative

2007-01-03T18:42:00.000-06:00

Beirut Wednesday January 3rd, 2007

The Maronite bishops on Wednesday said differences
Over the international tribunal to try suspects in Ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination and related crimes were Lebanon's main "malady" and called for dialogue to "form an authority that would lead the country out of its ordeal."

The Bishops, in a statement released after their monthly meeting under Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, said the "international tribunal is the main malady of the Lebanese situation."

The statement added that "some of the Lebanese insist on forming it to put an end to the serial assassinations that target Lebanon's best men, while others –the majority of which is made up of non-Lebanese- want to block its formation … fearing that disclosing the truth would harm their interests."

Noting that constitutional institutes have been paralyzed by the ongoing conflict between the three main authorities –The president, the government and parliament speaker- the statement called for "dialogue based on the principles that we had previously announced to form an authority that would lead the country out of its ordeal."

It called the various factions to launch "an initiative of salvation and good will from within" Lebanon to help settle the crisis.

Fortune Teller Samir Zaayter Predicts Blood and Thunder in Lebanon

2007-01-02T22:42:00.000-06:00

Beirut - January 2nd, 2007

Fortune teller Samir Zaayter has made gloomy predictions for Lebanon, the Middle East and the world in 2007 including a "Zionist conspiracy" to incite sectarian violence between the Sunnis and Shiites.

Zaayter also predicted that a U.N.-sponsored tribunal will accuse Syria of involvement in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and President Bashar Assad will be pressured into turning in the suspects.

Zaayter's most significant predictions:

Lebanon and related:

-An expected surprise in the council of ministers that could trigger its downfall.

-The death of a major figure of the Shiite community.

-A coup inside a political party.

-Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri will refrain from practicing his authority, but will not resign.

-The sea of Lebanon will be full of warships.

-An ex-minister will be implicated in the Hariri assassination.

-A failed attempt on the life of a Sunni religious leader who will deliberately accuse Shiite sources. This will be a Zionist conspiracy to incite intra-Muslim violence.

-An Arab country will send Israeli Mossad agents to Lebanon through its airports.

-The International tribunal will convene and will accuse Syria of involvement in the Hariri assassination.

-A significant event at a foreign embassy in Lebanon – American embassy.

-Nasrallah will reveal crucial information for the first time.

-A solemn funeral procession in the shouf area that will be attended by international figures.

-A major judicial figure will pass away.

-Assad will be pressured into turning in Syrian suspects to International courts.

-One of the four officers implicated in the Hariri probe will not reach court.

-A minister from Zghorta will be implicated in a financial scandal in connection with the Hariri investigation.

-Presidential elections will be held and Lahoud will be the last military figure in the presidency.

-Lebanese militias will resume governing Lebanon for a short period of time. Some of those militias were dormant and others will be newly-formed.

-Saniora will not remain Prime Minister.

-The government will collapse.

-There will be a conqueror and a vanquished in Lebanon.

-Three parliamentarians will pass away.

-Many figures will break away from the Free Patriotic Movement.

-Millions will participate in demonstrations and many people will be killed.

The Middle East:

-Terrorist events in Syria.

-A major Syrian figure will pass away.

-A major painful incident at an American base in Iraq.

-Iraq will be partitioned and heads to all out civil war.

-A historic shrine sacred by a major Iraqi sect will come under attack.

-A major dispute within the Saudi royal family sparked by succession ambitions.

-Terrorist events in Saudi Arabia supported by some members of the Saudi royal family.

-A failed attempt on the life of Palestinian President.

The World:

-Major announcements will be made in April regarding the Iranian nuclear program, including some space initiatives.

-Pakistan will witness a change in the Musharraf regime.

-Turkey will launch a major offensive against Kurds.

Fotune teller Hayek Predicts String of Dreadful Prophecies for 2007 Ahead of a Prosperous Lebanon

2007-01-02T22:40:00.000-06:00

Beirut, January 2nd, 2007

Lebanon's leading diviner Michel Hayek, whose prophecies in previous years achieved more than 50-percent accuracy, predicted a brilliant future for Lebanon, but only after going through a troubled track in 2007.

Hayek, who had predicted the tragic deaths of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, MP-Journalist Gebran Tueni and Britain's Lady Diana, said "Lebanon will enjoy a long period of prosperity and construction."

However, a chain of 38 dreadful predictions will precede the bright future Hayek expected for Lebanon.

Among the long list of prophecies for Lebanon in 2007 is:

- The setting up of the Special International Tribunal for Lebanon to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of Hariri.
- The arrest of culprits entrusted with an attempt to assassinate Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and his wife MP Strida Geagea.
- An incident in the vicinity of Lebanon's Central Bank.
- An important event at Beirut port.
- Blood (shed) at a university in Lebanon.
- Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Druze chieftain Walid Jumblat "in the same picture."
- A legislator from the Chouf mountains in danger.
- A series of light earthquakes hit several districts of Lebanon.
- Attack on two clergymen from different sects.

As for the Arab World, Hayek's predictions included the following:

- Foreign Military aggression on Syria.
- Operations targeting foreign ambassadors in Lebanon and the region.
- Two historic visits between Lebanon and Syria.
- Military alert following a confrontation along the Syrian-Lebanese border.
- An Israeli figure, not Sharon, carried in a casket.

Internationally, Hayek forecast incorporated the following:

- The United Nations' Secretariat-General to be shaken after the new secretary-general and some of his aides come under a sudden shock.
- Shock at the White House leads to confusing Bush.
- A U.S. attraction to be destroyed.
- Worrying symptoms surround the Pope
- Terrorist operations targeting tourism firms in the world.
- France, The U.K. and Spain exposed to terror.

Lebanon: Country reels in wake severe snowstorm

2006-12-28T18:33:00.000-06:00

Thursday December 28, 2006

SIDON/CHOUF: The severe storm that struck Lebanon on Wednesday inflicted heavy damages, as a number of roads were blocked, areas flooded, and landslides occurred, due to the heavy snowfall and torrential rain. Although Thursday brought some sunshine and warm conditions, weather experts are predicting that another hailstorm will hit Lebanon by Saturday afternoon.

Sources from the Civil Aviation Department at the Rafik Hariri International Airport told The Daily Star that Lebanon will not witness anything similar to the storm it saw over the past few days. One of the source added that the freezing air currents that hit Lebanon will not reoccur, as temperatures will be on the rise starting Friday morning.

"The storm [which is predicted to hit Lebanon on Saturday] will not be as severe as that of Wednesday; it will be like any normal storm Lebanon has long witnessed during the winter season," the Aviation Department said.

The Aviation Department also said that the storm will not last for more than 24 hours, and snow will only fall at an altitude of 1,300 to 1,400 meters.

In the mountainous Chouf area, black ice forced many people to stay at home on Wednesday. Traffic was completely paralyzed, due to landslides caused by heavy rain.

By Thursday morning the ice on the roads began to melt. But the Maaser-al-Chouf Kefraya road is still completely blocked, after the level of snow reached 30 centimeters.

Bulldozers from the Civil Defense and the Lebanese Army worked around the clock to make the Dahr al-Baidar accessible to motorists.

The town of Jezzine in South Lebanon is still covered in a thick coat of white snow, causing the Jezzine- Western Bekaa road to remain closed.

Many of Jezzine residents stayed at home on Wednesday.

In the coming days, temperatures in Lebanon are expected to vary between 5 and 13 degrees Celsius along the coast, between -3 and 5 degrees in the mountains, and between -3 and 5 in the Bekaa Valley. Weather forecasts also predict that northwesterly winds will blow at speeds varying between 10 and 30 kilometers per hour, with poor visibility in the highlands.

Sfeir: Protests Never Resolved Problem

2006-12-01T06:08:00.000-06:00

December 1, 2006

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir has criticized threats to stage protests "which have never been a way to resolve any problem".
"We can only resolve matters through honest and sincere dialogue," he told hundreds of black-clad widows, mothers, daughters, sisters and friends of assassinated leaders from the anti-Syrian ruling majority Thursday afternoon at Bkirki, the seat of the Maronite patriarchate northeast of Beirut.

"We don't see that strikes, demonstrations and street protests can solve the problems, but rather complicate them," Sfeir told the crowd which begged for peace and stability in Lebanon.

"Street protests will only bring (counter) street protests … and we will have a collision, without knowing how it will end," Sfeir said.

"We are fed up of assassinations and deaths and clashes among the Lebanese," Sfeir said. "What distinguishes Lebanon is the fact that 18 sects from all religions coexist. This makes Lebanon exceptional because Muslims and Christians live side by side … and it shall remain like that."

"Our problems can only be solved through dialogue," Sfeir concluded.

During the protest, the mother of slain Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, Joyce, called on all Christians to refrain from taking part in the demonstration called by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

"Any Christian who demonstrates on Friday will be digging Lebanon's grave," she said to loud applause.

America, Not Keith Ellison, decides what book a congressman takes his oath on

2006-11-29T21:54:00.000-06:00

By Dennis Prager
Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.

He should not be allowed to do so -- not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization.

First, it is an act of hubris that perfectly exemplifies multiculturalist activism -- my culture trumps America's culture. What Ellison and his Muslim and leftist supporters are saying is that it is of no consequence what America holds as its holiest book; all that matters is what any individual holds to be his holiest book.

Forgive me, but America should not give a hoot what Keith Ellison's favorite book is. Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress. In your personal life, we will fight for your right to prefer any other book. We will even fight for your right to publish cartoons mocking our Bible. But, Mr. Ellison, America, not you, decides on what book its public servants take their oath.

Devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness who do not see how damaging to the fabric of American civilization it is to allow Ellison to choose his own book need only imagine a racist elected to Congress. Would they allow him to choose Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Nazis' bible, for his oath? And if not, why not? On what grounds will those defending Ellison's right to choose his favorite book deny that same right to a racist who is elected to public office?

Of course, Ellison's defenders argue that Ellison is merely being honest; since he believes in the Koran and not in the Bible, he should be allowed, even encouraged, to put his hand on the book he believes in. But for all of American history, Jews elected to public office have taken their oath on the Bible, even though they do not believe in the New Testament, and the many secular elected officials have not believed in the Old Testament either. Yet those secular officials did not demand to take their oaths of office on, say, the collected works of Voltaire or on a volume of New York Times editorials, writings far more significant to some liberal members of Congress than the Bible. Nor has one Mormon official demanded to put his hand on the Book of Mormon. And it is hard to imagine a scientologist being allowed to take his oath of office on a copy of "Dianetics" by L. Ron Hubbard.

So why are we allowing Keith Ellison to do what no other member of Congress has ever done -- choose his own most revered book for his oath?

The answer is obvious -- Ellison is a Muslim. And whoever decides these matters, not to mention virtually every editorial page in America, is not going to offend a Muslim. In fact, many of these people argue it will be a good thing because Muslims around the world will see what an open society America is and how much Americans honor Muslims and the Koran.

This argument appeals to all those who believe that one of the greatest goals of America is to be loved by the world, and especially by Muslims because then fewer Muslims will hate us (and therefore fewer will bomb us).

But these naive people do not appreciate that America will not change the attitude of a single American-hating Muslim by allowing Ellison to substitute the Koran for the Bible. In fact, the opposite is more likely: Ellison's doing so will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones, as Islamists, rightly or wrongly, see the first sign of the realization of their greatest goal -- the Islamicization of America.

When all elected officials take their oaths of office with their hands on the very same book, they all affirm that some unifying value system underlies American civilization. If Keith Ellison is allowed to change that, he will be doing more damage to the unity of America and to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9-11. It is hard to believe that this is the legacy most Muslim Americans want to bequeath to America. But if it is, it is not only Europe that is in trouble.

Morocco jails German for trying to convert Muslims

2006-11-29T19:18:00.000-06:00

Christian Persecution
November 29, 2006

A Moroccan court jailed a German tourist for six months for attempting to convert Muslims in the southern resort of Agadir, officials said on Wednesday.

The court in Agadir, Morocco's main tourist destination, found the 64-year-old man guilty of trying to "shake the faith of a Muslim," they added.

The court also fined him 500 dirhams ($60) in its verdict issued late on Tuesday.

Court officials named the German of Egyptian origin as Sadek Noshi Yassa, who was arrested last week as he was distributing books and CDs about the Christian faith to young Muslim Moroccans in the street, the officials said.

Under Moroccan law "anyone who employs incitements to shake the faith of a Muslim or to convert him to another religion" can be jailed for up to six months and fined.

The verdict came after local media reports that some Christians had launched a clandestine campaign to convert thousands of Muslim Moroccans to Christianity.

There are about 20,000 expatriate Christians in Morocco, most of them living in Rabat and Casablanca, according to estimates by European diplomats.

France, U.S. agree useless to talk to Syria: Chirac

2006-11-29T08:58:00.000-06:00

November 29, 2006

France and the United States agree there is no point in talking to Syria because the conditions for an honest dialogue do not exist, President Jacques Chirac said on Wednesday.

His comment came as President Bush is under strong domestic pressure to talk to Syria and Iran in an effort to reduce sectarian violence and avert civil war in Iraq.

Speaking after a NATO summit in Latvia, Chirac said he was always in favor of dialogue in principle provided it led to results and was based on honesty and a commitment to carry out what was agreed.

"In the current state of affairs, this is not exactly the characteristic of the dialogue which some European countries have started with Syria. I deplore that," Chirac said.

"I understand that the American president's position is exactly the same as France's," Chirac said.

France took the lead with Washington last year in a United Nations resolution to force the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, a close friend of Chirac.

Saudi will intervene in Iraq if U.S. withdraws: aide

2006-11-29T07:41:00.000-06:00

November 29, 2006

Using money, weapons or its oil power, Saudi Arabia will intervene to prevent Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias from massacring Iraqi Sunni Muslims once the United States begins pulling out of Iraq, a security adviser to the Saudi government said on Wednesday.

Nawaf Obaid, writing in The Washington Post, said the Saudi leadership was preparing to revise its Iraq policy to deal with the aftermath of a possible U.S. pullout, and is considering options including flooding the oil market to crash prices and thus limit Iran's ability to finance Shi'ite militias in Iraq.

"To be sure, Saudi engagement in Iraq carries great risks -- it could spark a regional war. So be it: The consequences of inaction are far worse," Obaid said.

The article said the opinions expressed were Obaid's own and not those of the Saudi government.

"To turn a blind eye to the massacre of Iraqi Sunnis would be to abandon the principles upon which the kingdom was founded. It would undermine Saudi Arabia's credibility in the Sunni world and would be a capitulation to Iran's militarist actions in the region," he said.

President Bush will meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Jordan on Wednesday to discuss a surge in Sunni-Shi'ite violence in Iraq.

Bush has said he does not support calls for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, but he is expected soon to receive proposals for possible changes in U.S. policy in Iraq from a bipartisan panel.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer and exporter and a close U.S. ally, fears Shi'ite Iran has been gaining influence since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam Hussein's government.

Vice President Dick Cheney held talks with Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh on Saturday. Details were not disclosed.

Obaid said Cheney's visit "underlines the pre-eminence of Saudi Arabia in the region and its importance to U.S. strategy in Iraq."

He said if the United States begins withdrawing from Iraq, "one of the first consequences will be massive Saudi intervention to stop Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias from butchering Iraqi Sunnis."

Obaid listed three options being considered by the Saudi government:

- providing "Sunni military leaders (primarily ex-Baathist members of the former Iraqi officer corps, who make up the backbone of the insurgency) with the same types of assistance," including funding and arms.

- establishing new Sunni brigades to combat the Iranian-backed militias;

- or the Saudi king "may decide to strangle Iranian funding of the militias through oil policy. If Saudi Arabia boosted production and cut the price of oil in half ... it would be devastating to Iran ... The result would be to limit Tehran's ability to continue funneling hundreds of millions each year to Shi'ite militias in Iraq and elsewhere."

Unfortunate divisions among Lebanese Christians

2006-11-28T04:46:00.000-06:00

Aoun, Geagea Supporters Trade Insults as Lebanon Braces for Hizbullah's 'Surprise' Actions - November 28, 2006

Lebanese troops and riot police separated overnight about 2,000 pro- and anti- government Christian supporters after trading insults and throwing glass bottles at each other in Beirut's Ashrafieh neighborhood.

The scuffle came as Hizbullah and its pro-Syrian allies threatened to stage mass street protests unless they obtain a veto-wielding share of the cabinet -- a demand that Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and pro-government anti-Syrian parties have rejected.

The leading daily An Nahar said Tuesday that about 1,000 army commandos and security forces arrived at Ashrafieh's Sassine Square Monday evening to disperse the crowd.

It said the squabble began when followers hanged posters of their leader, Hizbullah's Christian ally General Michel Aoun.

Supporters of Samir Geagea's Christian Lebanese Forces party faced up to Aoun's men, who were soon engaged in verbal abuse, shouting insults at each others' leaders, according to An Nahar.

Security sources said the two sides also tossed glass bottles at each other, but no casualties were reported.

An Nahar, which headlined the incident: "Sassine Square, a Battlefield," said a separate quarrel took place Monday evening in the nearby Gemayzeh neighborhood over the tearing down of posters. It did not elaborate.

It said the disengagement force drawn from army troops and riot police stayed well into the early morning hours Tuesday as the rival sides hanged about in Sassine Square.

Lebanon Bids Gemayel Farewell as Father Announces 'Countdown' for New President

2006-11-23T23:16:00.000-06:00

Beirut, November 23rd, 2006

Hundreds of thousands of mourners Thursday bid slain Christian politician Pierre Gemayel farewell as his father, former president Amine Gemayel, announced that the "countdown for the election of a new president has started."
"Independence can only be achieved through the election of new president," said Gemayel, father of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel who was gunned down along with a bodyguard Tuesday. The young politician was the sixth outspoken opponent of Syria to be assassinated in the past two years.

Anti-Syrian leaders have been calling for the resignation of Syrian protégé President Emile Lahoud whose mandate was extended for three years through a controversial Syrian-inspired constitutional amendment in 2004.

Prominent Lebanese leaders and ambassadors packed the St. George Cathedral as the casket was placed on the altar along with the coffin of his bodyguard, Samir al-Shartouni.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy and Arab League chief Amr Mussa were among the dignitaries attending the 1:00 p.m. funeral service in downtown Beirut.

Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hizbullah ally, surprised the mourners by showing up unexpectedly at the funeral.

In a message read at the funeral, Pope Benedict XVI condemned the "unspeakable" assassination of Gemayel.

"We are all very moved by this unspeakable act," he said in the message read by a Jesuit priest at the cathedral where Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, head of the Maronite church to which Gemayel belonged, led the service in a rare move.

"I hope that all Lebanese remain united in these circumstances and that they renew their determination to rebuild an autonomous Lebanon... where all communities are ensured active participation," he said.

In his sermon, Sfeir said that the "series of crimes continue in an attempt to prevent Lebanon from achieving stability."

Gemayel's casket, wrapped in flags of the Phalange party and Lebanon, was taken back to Bikfaya where he was buried in the family graveyard.

From the family home in Bikfaya, through the village's main street to the entrance of the town, Gemayel's coffin was carried on shoulders by relatives and supporters before being placed in a cortege and driven to the Phalange party headquarters in Saifi from where it made the final trek to the cathedral.

Amid a sea of red and white flags in a show of patriotism for the funeral, hundreds of thousands assembled at nearby Martyrs Square in a show of force against opponents led by Hizbullah and their Syrian backers.

Young men stamped on Lahoud portraits and his Syrian and Iranian counterparts, Bashar Assad and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the principal backers of Hizbullah and its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

"Nasrallah, come and see who is the majority" in Lebanon, chanted the crowd.

"We want only the army to bear weapons," the mourners chanted, referring to Hizbullah's persistent refusal to lay down its weapons in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions following the devastating summer war with Israel.

Others brandished anti-Syrian posters. One poster read "Get Bashar's agent out of Baabda," a reference to Lahoud. Another placard read: "Caesar of Baabda, Get Lost!" Baabda is the presidential headquarters.

Schools, shops and other businesses across Lebanon have been asked to remain closed Thursday as a mark of respect.

On the eve of the funeral, convoys of cars covered with portraits of Gemayel and Hariri criss-crossed the streets of Beirut playing patriotic music.

Security around the capital has been stepped up since the minister's murder, with extra roadblocks around the presidential palace and on the main highway to Damascus.
On Thursday Lebanese troops, backed by armored vehicles, were out in force across Beirut for the funeral.

Army command sources told the pro-Syrian Al-Akhbar newspaper that the military "remains neutral" to the political disputes in Lebanon and will continue to protect all state institutions, including the presidential palace.

Before Gemayel's slaying, Hizbullah had threatened to hold its own mass protests in an attempt to bring down Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's government.

Hizbullah officials said Wednesday the group would take no action in the coming days to allow emotions to cool.

Many feared Thursday's demonstration could be the first in a round of shows that could bring the political standoff into the volatile streets.

Gemayel's assassination introduced new tensions into the already dangerous power struggle in Lebanon. The polarization has become as sharp and exposed as it has been since the end of the 1975-90 civil war between Muslims and Christians.

The anti-Damascus politicians who run the government were quick to point the finger at Syria and called for a huge show of public determination to be rid of the meddling of its larger neighbor.

The leader of the anti-Syrian majority in parliament, Saad Hariri, who himself lost his father to an assassin's bomb last year, called on people from across the nation to attend the Beirut funeral in a "show of support for freedom and independence".

Christian opposition leader and Hizbullah ally General Michel Aoun called on all Lebanese to attend the funeral, but indicated he would not be there himself.

Aoun told the private television channel NBN Wednesday he regretted that the Gemayel family did not allow him to present his condolences. "They told me this was not the time. I regret that," he said.

Damascus stressed that the timing of Gemayel's murder, on the day the United Nations endorsed a blueprint for a tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 murder of Hariri, was designed to cause it maximum damage.

The governing anti-Syrian camp in Beirut, faced with a growing challenge from Hizbullah since its war with Israel, is the only party which stands to gain from the minister's assassination, the official press in Damascus argued.

Hizbullah and other the pro-Syrian Amal movement of Speaker Nabih Berri pulled their ministers out of the cabinet earlier this month after all-party talks failed to reach agreement on a government of national unity and has threatened a campaign of street protests to achieve their goal.

Photos of Pierre Gemayel's Funeral

2006-11-23T20:59:00.000-06:00

Lebanese police inspect the car of Lebanon's Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel in Beirut, November 22, 2006.

Graphic showing key events in Lebanon. Lebanon was in turmoil as it began three days of mourning for an anti-Syrian minister gunned down in an attack that stoked fears the country may again be plunged into civil strife.

Relatives of Lebanon's Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel react next to his coffin in his house in Bekfaya, Mount Lebanon.

Lebanese mourners carry the coffin of assassinated Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel (portrait) through Gemayels' hometown Bikfaya, in the mountains northeast of Beirut. Lebanon prepared to lay to rest its latest murdered politician with supporters of the beleaguered pro-Western government vowing to turn the funeral into a massive show of public outrage.

Lebanese mourners throw rice as the coffin of assassinated minister Pierre Gemayel passes during his funeral procession in Bikfaya. The center of Beirut was a sea of red and white flags as Lebanon put on a show of patriotism for the funeral of the latest outspoken opponent of neighboring Syria to be assassinated.

Lebanese mourners wave a national flag in front of the coffin of assassinated minister Pierre Gemayel in the Bikfaya.

A Muslim woman holds up a picture of assassinated Lebanese minister Pierre Gemayel during his funeral procession in Beirut. Beirut was a sea of red and white flags as Lebanon turned out in a show of force for the funeral of the anti-Syrian minister

Lebanese mourners carry the coffin of assassinated minister Pierre Gemayel during his funeral procession in Bikfaya. Beirut was a sea of red and white flags as Lebanon turned out in a show of force for the funeral of the anti-Syrian minister, whose murder threatens to plunge the country deeper into political turmoil.

Lebanese crowds defy Syria

2006-11-23T20:52:00.000-06:00

The coffin of assassinated Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel is carried by supporters as it arrives at the church in Beirut November 23, 2006

November 23, 2006

Tens of thousands of Lebanese paid tribute to assassinated Christian politician Pierre Gemayel on Thursday, turning his funeral in central Beirut into a display of defiance towards Syria and its Hezbollah allies.

In a sign of how quickly factional and religious divisions in Lebanon can erupt into mass action, hundreds of angry Shi'ite Muslims later took to the streets in Beirut to protest what they said were insults against Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah at Gemayel's funeral.

"Nasrallah don't worry, your Shi'ites can drink blood," they chanted as they marched in the southern suburbs, blocking the main road to the airport.

As the protests spread to other districts, Nasrallah appealed to his supporters to end the demonstrations.

"I urge them to leave the streets, more than urge, I beg them to leave the streets. We don't want anyone on the streets at all," Nasrallah said in a telephone call to Hezbollah's television station.

"The situation in the country is very delicate, very sensitive ... we have to act responsibly."

Shortly afterwards protesters dispersed.

Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, had threatened to take to the streets to topple the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora but Gemayel's assassination on Tuesday forced it to put its plans on hold.

Hezbollah officials said the Shi'ite protest was not part of the campaign but a spontaneous act.

Six ministers from Hezbollah and its allies quit the cabinet this month after all-party talks on giving the opposition effective veto power collapsed.

Earlier in the day, raucous crowds carrying Lebanese flags and those of Christian factions, including Gemayel's Phalange Party, swarmed around Beirut's St George Cathedral, where top Maronite cleric Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir conducted the rites.

Sunni Muslim, Druze and Christian leaders, standing together behind bullet-proof glass, called for solidarity in the struggle against the influence of Syria and its allies in Lebanon.

The leaders had accused Syria of killing the industry minister, the 34-year-old scion of one of Lebanon's most prominent Maronite clans. Damascus condemned the assassination.

"We will not rest until all the criminals are brought to justice," Gemayel's 64-year-old father, Amin, told mourners.

Gemayel was shot dead on Tuesday in the sixth killing of an anti-Syrian figure in less than two years in Lebanon.

The government says its Syrian-backed opponents, led by Hezbollah, want to weaken it and to scupper an international tribunal under U.N. auspices that is being set up to try suspects in the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri.

Official sources said Siniora called his depleted cabinet for a meeting on Saturday to approve plans for the court. He also appealed to the resigned ministers to return to cabinet.

Hezbollah rejected his offer.

SECTARIANISM

"Our suspicions are big that Syria is behind this (killing) to destroy national unity, to destroy us living together and to fuel sectarianism," Sunni mourner Ghada Hakim, 63, told Reuters at the funeral.

Anger at Syria and resolve to support Lebanon's anti-Syrian majority coalition swept through the crowd. Inside the cathedral, family members wept and prayed over Gemayel's coffin.

Mourners turned out in force but not in the vast numbers of March 14 last year after Hariri's killing, when an outpouring of anti-Syrian anger coupled with international pressure forced Damascus to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after 29 years.

"They will not suppress our demands for the truth, justice and the international court," said Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.

Troops and police ringed the cathedral which is next to a huge mosque built by Hariri. His tomb abuts Martyrs' Square.

After the funeral, Gemayel's coffin was driven back to his hometown of Bekfaya in the mountains above Beirut, where it was laid to rest in the family vault.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, whose country has been a strong opponent of Syrian influence in Lebanon, was the most prominent foreign dignitary to attend the funeral along with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, whose Amal faction is allied to Hezbollah, was the most senior pro-Syrian figure there.

The government, keen to ensure the international tribunal is established, would fall if it lost two more ministers.

The U.N. Security Council approved on Wednesday a Lebanese government request to add Gemayel's killing to the string of previous attacks being investigated by a United Nations inquiry into Hariri's assassination.

U.N. investigators met Lebanese prosecutors and visited the site of Gemayel's assassination where they began initial investigations, Lebanon's government news agency reported.

Early reports by the U.N. inquiry into Hariri's death implicated Syrian security officials and their Lebanese counterparts.

2006-11-23T20:50:00.000-06:00

LEBANESE ASSASSINATIONS

Feb 2005: Former PM Rafik Hariri

June 2005: Anti-Syria journalist Samir Kassir

June 2005: Ex-Communist leader George Hawi

Dec 2005: Anti-Syria MP Gebran Tueni

Nov 2006: Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel

= = = = = = =

KEY TERMS

MARONITES are Christians affiliated to the Roman Catholic Church. 800,000-900,000 live in Lebanon, roughly 25% of population. Current patriarch is Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir. Lebanon's constitution requires that the president is Maronite

PHALANGE (Kataeb in Arabic) is a Lebanese political party advocating Maronite interests, and dominated by the Gemayel family. Its militia was a major player in the civil war

Thousands Attend Funeral for Pierre Gemayel

2006-11-23T20:45:00.000-06:00

Mourners thronged the square outside St George Cathedral in central Beirut.

November 23, 2006

Thousands attend Beirut funeral

The funeral of murdered anti-Syrian politician Pierre Gemayel has taken place in Lebanon, with tens of thousands of people paying tribute.

Crowds carrying flags and chanting anti-Syrian slogans converged in central Beirut, turning the funeral into an impassioned political rally.

Security was tight, given Lebanon's current state of high tension.

Many Lebanese accuse Syria of involvement in Mr Gemayel's death, but Damascus rejects the claims.

The United Nations Security Council has agreed to a request from Lebanon to help investigate the murder.

The industry minister and Maronite Christian politician was shot in his car in a Christian area of Beirut on Tuesday.

He was the fifth anti-Syrian Lebanese politician to be killed in two years, and his murder has intensified an acute political crisis in Lebanon.

Six pro-Syrian cabinet members have already resigned. The death or resignation of two more cabinet ministers would bring down the government.

US President George W Bush has pledged support for Lebanese independence from what he called the "encroachments of Iran and Syria".

'Shove civil war'

Troops and police ringed the cathedral where the Maronite Patriarch, Nasrallah Sfeir, conducted the funeral rites, calling on people not to take revenge for Mr Gemayel's death.

Foreign envoys joined the Gemayel family in the congregation, which greeted his coffin with applause.

The body of the 34-year-old politician was brought to the Beirut cathedral from his home village of Bikfaya, where he was to be buried later in the day.

Dozens of cars and buses had followed the cortege, waving the large white flags of the politician's right-wing Maronite Christian Phalange Party, and hooting their horns.

Posters also appeared showing the face of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with the slogan "Shove your civil war".

Speakers addressed the crowds after the service from a bullet-proof box.

The dead politician's father, former President Amin Gemayel, called for change in Lebanon, including a new president to replace pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.

"Let us promise ourselves and Lebanon that the second independence uprising started off today will not stop until it is completely realised," he said.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Syrian government again strongly condemned Mr Gemayel's murder, which it said was "aimed at Lebanon's stability", and accused unnamed people of "exploiting the crime for personal ends".

Tribunal

Many Lebanese accuse Syria of involvement in the killing, which has sharpened tension between anti-Syrian forces, who back the government, and pro-Syrian groups like Hezbollah.

The UN commission already looking into the murder of ex-Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in 2005 will take on the inquiry into Mr Gemayel's killing.

Correspondents say such a tribunal is highly controversial in Lebanon.

Pro-Syrian politicians are against it and it cannot begin to be set up until the Lebanese parliament votes for it.

In 2005, Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon following 29 years of military and political rule over its smaller neighbour, after massive international pressure following the assassination of Mr Hariri.

A recent UN report implicated Syria in the death, although Syria has denied involvement.

Key Lebanese politician assassinated

2006-11-21T17:36:00.000-06:00

Tuesday November 21, 2006

Pierre Gemayel, an anti-Syrian politician and scion of Lebanon's most prominent Christian family, was gunned down Tuesday in a carefully orchestrated assassination that heightened tensions between the U.S.-backed government and the militant Hezbollah.

Anti-Syrian politicians quickly accused Damascus, as they have in previous assassinations of Lebanese opponents of its larger neighbor. Gemayel, 34, an outspoken opponent of the Syrian-allied Hezbollah, was the fifth anti-Syrian figure killed in the past two years and the first member of the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora to be slain.

The assassination, in Gemayel's mainly Christian constituency of Jdeideh, threatens further instability in Lebanon at a time when Hezbollah and other parties allied with Syria are planning street protests unless Saniora gives them more power.

The United States denounced the killing, calling it "an act of terrorism." The U.N. Security Council said it "unequivocally condemns" the assassination as well as any attempt to destabilize Lebanon.

Saniora went on national television to call for unity and warned that "sedition" was being planned against Lebanon. He linked the slaying to the issue that sparked the crisis with Hezbollah: plans to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri before an international court.

"I pledge to you that your blood will not go in vain," Saniora said, eulogizing Gemayel. "We will not let the murderers control the fate of Lebanon and the future of its children."

Gemayel, Lebanon's industry minister and a member of the Phalange Party, had just left a church and was traveling through Jdeideh when a vehicle in front of him slammed to a stop, causing his car to ram it, security officials said. Witnesses said Gemayel's car was also struck from behind.

Three gunmen stepped out of the other vehicles and shot Gemayel at point-blank range with automatic weapons, security officials said.

Video showed Gemayel's car, which apparently had been shot at from both sides: The passsenger-side window was shattered and the driver's-side window was dotted with about a dozen bullet holes, and the front hood was crumpled.

Gemayel's driver, who was wounded but survived, rushed the gravely injured politician to a nearby hospital. Soon afterward, Voice of Lebanon — the Phalange-run radio station — reported Gemayel was dead — the fifth member of his family to die in violence.

President Bush denounced the assassination as an attempt to intimidate Saniora's government.

"We support the Saniora government and its democracy and we support the Lebanese people's desire to live in peace," Bush said in Honolulu. "And we support their efforts to defend their democracy against attempts by Syria, Iran and allies to foment instability and violence in that important country."

Bush stopped short of specifically blaming Iran or Syria, calling for a full investigation to identify "those people and those forces" behind the killing.

In Washington, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said: "We view it as an act of terrorism. We also view it as an act of intimidation."

Damascus' opponents in Lebanon have accused Syria of being behind previous assassinations, particularly that of Hariri, who was killed in a bombing in Beirut in February 2005. Syria has denied those claims.

Syria called the assassination "a despicable crime," and Hezbollah also condemned it. "Those who committed this crime want to push Lebanon toward chaos, despair and civil war," said a statement read on Hezbollah's Al-Manar television.

A stunned Amin Gemayel, the slain lawmaker's father and Lebanon's former president, urged his supporters to observe a night of "prayer and reflection over the meaning of martyrdom."

"We don't want an outburst of emotions and revenge," he said outside St. Joseph's hospital, where his son died. "He was martyred for the cause of Lebanon and we want this cause to triumph."

Hundreds gathered at the hospital, and supporters railed against Hezbollah and Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah-allied Christian leader who is a rival of the Phalange.

Wael Abu Faour, an anti-Syrian lawmaker, told Al-Jazeera: "We directly accuse the Syrian regime of assassinating Gemayel and hold (Syrian) President Bashar Assad responsible for this assassination ... aimed at sending Lebanon into a civil war."

In an interview with CNN, Saad Hariri, Rafik's son and leader of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, implicitly blamed Damascus, saying, "We believe the hand of Syria is all over the place." He said Gemayel was "a friend, a brother to all of us" and appeared to break down after saying: "we will bring justice to all those who killed him."

Gemayel's death came hours before a deadline for the U.N. Security Council to approve a letter endorsing an agreement with Lebanon to create a tribunal to prosecute Rafik Hariri's suspected killers.

Ahead of the deadline, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the assassination showed why a tribunal to prosecute those responsible for political killings in Lebanon needs to be established. He grew angry at the suggestion that the process be delayed until Lebanon was more stable.

"They're killing people in Lebanon. They're assassinating political leaders. Not the time to seek justice? There may be those on the Security Council who say it. Let then step forward and say it," he said.

Four Lebanese generals, top pro-Syrian security chiefs, have been under arrest for 14 months, accused of involvement in Hariri's murder.

"I think the facts need to be developed," Bolton said when asked about Syria's involvement in Gemayal's killing. But, he said, given "the evidence that links the Hariri assassination to the other political assassinations, I think people can draw their own conclusions."

Pierre Gemayel was expected to carry the mantle of the political family. Amin Gemayel, his father and the current Phalange leader, was Lebanon's president between 1982 and 1988. His grandfather, the late Pierre Gemayel, led the right-wing Christian Phalange Party that fielded the largest Christian militia and was allied with Israel during the 1975-90 civil war between Christians and Muslims.

Amin Gemayel's brother, Bashir, was elected president in 1982 but was assassinated days before taking office. Two of Amin Gemayel's nephews and Bashir's daughter were killed in the 1970s and 1980s.

The slain Pierre Gemayel was a prominent figure in Lebanon's anti-Syrian bloc, which dominates Saniora's Cabinet and the parliament — and which is now locked in a power struggle with the Muslim Shiite Hezbollah and its allies. He was elected first in 2000, then re-elected in 2005.

Christians make up about 35 percent of Lebanese, down from estimated 55-60 percent before the 1975 civil war. The decline is attributed to emigration of Christians and higher birth rates among Muslims. The Maronite Catholics are the largest single Christian sect, estimated at 900,000. The last official figures are from Lebanon's 1932 census.

On Sunday, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah threatened a wave of street protests aimed at bringing down the government if it ignores the group's demand to form a national unity Cabinet, in which Hezbollah and its allies would have considerable influence and would be able to block major decisions.

Nasrallah accused Saniora's government of falling under the influence of the Bush administration and called it "illegitimate" and "unconstitutional."

Gemayel's assassination was the first since Gibran Tueni, prominent anti-Syrian newspaper editor and lawmaker, was killed in a car bomb in December 2005. Journalist and activist Samir Kassir and former Communist Party leader George Hawi were killed in separate car bombings in June 2005.

Bands of young Christians broke car windows and burned tires and garbage cans in their areas of Beirut and the Gemayel family's mountain hometown of Bikfaya to the northeast. But Lebanese troops quickly stopped the unrest and set up checkpoints to prevent demonstrations in the coming days. A funeral was set for Thursday in downtown Beirut, with the anti-Syrian factions calling for mass participation.

Politicians from all sides scrambled to contain the fallout of the assassination, urging calm amid fears of an outbreak of the brutal violence between Lebanon's sharply divided communities that marked the 1975-90 civil war.

A stunned-looking former president Amin Gemayel — Pierre's father and leader of the Phalange Party — urged his supporters to observe a night of "prayer and reflection."

"We don't want an outburst of emotions and revenge," he said outside the hospital where his son died. "He was martyred for the cause of Lebanon, and we want this cause to triumph. ... To all those who love Pierre, we should not be driven by instinct."

Bush called the slaying "the vicious face of those who oppose freedom" and vowed support for Saniora's government.

"We support their efforts to defend their democracy against attempts by Syria, Iran and allies to foment instability and violence in that important country," Bush said after having breakfast with U.S. troops stationed in Hawaii.

Saniora's government is dominated by opponents of Syria. Many see the demands by its opponents as a bid by Damascus to restore its influence in its smaller neighbor — and by Hezbollah to boost its power, riding on increased popularity among Lebanon's Shiite Muslim population following this summer's war with Israel.

Pierre Gemayel, an outspoken opponent of Hezbollah, was the fifth anti-Syrian figure killed in the past two years and the first member of the Saniora government to be slain. Many in Lebanon have accused Damascus in the previous assassinations, including the 2005 bomb blast that killed former prime minister Rafik Hariri, a claim Syria has denied.

Saniora went on national television to call for unity and warned that "sedition" was being planned against Lebanon. He linked Gemayel's slaying to the issue that sparked the recent crisis with Hezbollah: a plan for an international court to try suspects in the Hariri assassination. He said Lebanese should rally behind the government's backing for such a court.

"I pledge to you that your blood will not go in vain," Saniora said, eulogizing Gemayel. "We will not let the murderers control the fate of Lebanon and the future of its children."

Syria and Iran both condemned Gemayel's slaying, and Syria's Information Minister Mohsen Bilal denied Syria had any role. "Those who are accusing Syria in this sick way ... do not have an iota of truth or credibility," he said on Al-Jazeera.

Tuesday's hit came hours before the U.N. Security Council endorsed a draft document creating the international court to try suspects in the Hariri murder, in which an U.N. investigation has implicated several Syrian officials. The document then goes to the Lebanese government for final approval.

With the possibly explosive atmosphere following Tuesday's assassination, it was not clear whether Hezbollah would go ahead with its threat to hold massive anti-government demonstrations. If it does, it would throw Lebanon deeper into turmoil, putting it into confrontation with many Gemayel supporters now itching for a fight.

Gemayel, the industry minister, was the rising star of his Maronite Christian political family, which has seen four other members killed in the past three decades of Lebanon's violence.

Past attacks on Gemayel's family have sparked brutal reprisals. A 1975 assassination attempt against his grandfather, also named Pierre, prompted Phalangists to attack a busload of Palestinian refugees in what became the spark of a 15-year sectarian civil war. After the killing of Amin Gemayel's brother, Bashir, in a 1982 explosion, his militia supporters stormed Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, killing hundreds of unarmed civilians in one of the worst atrocities of the Lebanon conflict.

On Tuesday, Gemayel was traveling through his mainly Christian constituency of Jdeideh when a vehicle in front of his slammed to a stop, causing his car to ram into it, security officials said. Witnesses said Gemayel's car was also rammed from behind.

Three gunmen stepped out of the other vehicles and shot Gemayel at point-blank range with automatic weapons fitted with silencers, security officials said.

Video showed Gemayel's car, which apparently had been shot at from both sides: The passenger-side window was shattered and the driver's-side window was dotted with about a dozen bullet holes, and the front hood was crumpled.

Gemayel's driver and another person in the car were wounded. They were rushed to a hospital where Gemayel was pronounced dead. The driver died later Tuesday. The attackers fled.

At the hospital, some 300 supporters called for vengeance, many of them chanting slogans against Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and Hezbollah's Christian ally, Michel Aoun.

"We want revenge from Hezbollah and the General (Aoun)!" young men shouted, shaking their fists in the air.

Other Phalange supporters, including women, screamed and wept. They called on supporters to march to a nearby Shiite neighborhood and Aoun's residence in a Christian suburb east of Beirut.

"Nasrallah, Aoun and Lahoud, they killed him," shouted Antoine Shaaya, a man in his late 20s who wore a large cross around his neck. "And we won't be silent after today."

Political crisis accelerates brain drain as MBAs seek careers in calmer lands

2006-11-21T04:16:00.000-06:00

Business world's up-and-comers flee instability in droves

Daily Star staff
Tuesday, November 21, 2006

BEIRUT: Lebanese MBA graduates are fleeing the country because of the grim political situation, even though they would rather use their know-how at home, students and academics told The Daily Star on Monday. Most emigrants wind up in the Gulf, others in Western Europe or in North America, and they prefer jobs in banking and finance, with a solid majority in service industries.

"The bulk of students right now are leaving," said Michel Chalhoub, chair of five MBA programs at the Lebanese American University (LAU). "Sad, isn't it? If things were fabulous, they would certainly stay."

Four MBA students at LAU estimated about 70 percent of their classmates were going abroad for work, and they drew a direct connection between the flight and Lebanon's deteriorating political scene. Still, they emphasized that their first choice would be to stay in Lebanon.

"We'd love to stay here," said Maggie Tchekijian of Anjar. "It depends on the political situation in the country. Plan A, I want to stay here."

"I would like to live here, [but] I think that [students] would love to leave," said Suzanne Khalifeh of Jbeil, an MBA student at the Ecole Superieure des Affaires (ESA).

The exodus contributes to a brain drain in Lebanon's economy, Chalhoub said.

"It's more than a drain, it's a flight," he told The Daily Star. "[Graduates] tend to favor the Gulf because they feel it's more stable politically."

Some 90 percent of MBA grads specializing in the tourism industry are now leaving Lebanon, he estimated.

The female students' answers also reflect the key role gender often plays in deciding whether to move away, said Antoine Sabbagh, placement officer at the American University of Beirut. Female MBA graduates far more frequently remain here than their male counterparts, he said.

"There is a gender difference," Sabbagh said. "The males in general are being recruited overseas. Because of social, cultural and many other personal reasons, [females'] preference is being employed here in Beirut. Those [females] who have gone abroad return for jobs in Lebanon."

One of the reasons some female graduates stay here is that "it's not very easy on a single female" in the Gulf, Sabbagh said.

The Gulf also attracts Lebanese MBA grads with higher salaries and greater possibilities for advancement.

"Outside we can find better jobs," said LAU undergrad Zeinab Nasser, who plans to get an MBA.

In Lebanon, salaries are "limited. It's not like outside. They appreciate you more. If I had the chance, I'd like to work outside Lebanon."

Nasser said finding a job in Lebanon is harder because it sometimes depends primarily on connections - wasta.

Lebanese also have a tradition of working in the Gulf - they built the advertising and marketing sectors there, Chalhoub said. Qatar and Bahrain are frequent destinations, but the cosmopolitan freedom of Dubai - and the abundance of other Lebanese emigres -make it the job-seekers' first choice. "The only place [in the Gulf] where it is very comforting for Lebanese is Dubai," said Sabbagh.

Fewer students wind up in Western Europe and North America, although a number of students from ESA find work in France, said Georges Najm, communications manager at ESA. At ESA - the only of Lebanon's three MBA programs taught in French - students "get used to the French mentality" and make connections with the French lecturers and recruiters.

"We are encouraging students to stay in Lebanon, [but] now the market has changed," Najm said, citing the connection between politics and the brain drain. "It's definitely linked. This is not a secret."

Insiders estimate that less less than 10 percent of MBA grads continue their studies abroad for a doctorate. Three LAU students told The Daily Star they had agreed that their ultimate goal would be to find scholarships to pay for doctoral studies in the United States.

The most popular choice among MBA graduates is a job in the banking and finance sector, said Sabbagh, who described the financial industry as "the employer of choice."

Other popular sectors include tourism, travel, marketing, advertising, information technology and auditing. The Gulf also offers more opportunities in construction and development, while consulting firms typically recruit MBA graduates after they have a year or two of work experience.

The programs also offer executive MBA programs for people already working in business - these graduates usually stay in their previous jobs, and acquire the executive MBA to better their chances for promotion.

Among the traditional MBA programs, LAU has the most students, about 520, while AUB has about 140 and ESA about 35. An MBA costs about $20,000 at LAU, $33,000 at AUB and $9,500 at ESA.

Nice Quote: People & Governments

2006-11-18T09:36:00.000-06:00

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

The US constitution protects the people.

God bless the USA

Secret Santa reveals his identity

2006-11-18T07:29:00.000-06:00

Saturday November 18, 2006

For 26 years, a man known only as Secret Santa has roamed the streets every December quietly giving people money. He started with $5 and $10 bills. As his fortune grew, so did the gifts. In recent years, Secret Santa has been handing out $100 bills, sometimes two or three at a time, to people in thrift stores, diners and parking lots. So far, he's anonymously given out about $1.3 million. It's been a long-held holiday mystery: Who is Secret Santa?

But now, weak from chemotherapy and armed with a desire to pass on his belief in random kindness, Secret Santa has decided it's time to reveal his identity.

He is Larry Stewart, a 58-year-old businessman from the Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit, Mo., who made his millions in cable television and long-distance telephone service.

His holiday giving started in December 1979 when he was nursing his wounds at a drive-in restaurant after getting fired. It was the second year in a row he had been fired the week before Christmas.

"It was cold and this car hop didn't have on a very big jacket, and I thought to myself, `I think I got it bad. She's out there in this cold making nickels and dimes,'" he said.

He gave her $20 and told her to keep the change.

"And suddenly I saw her lips begin to tremble and tears begin to flow down her cheeks. She said, `Sir, you have no idea what this means to me.'"

Stewart went to the bank that day and took out $200, then drove around looking for people who could use a lift. That was his "Christmas present to himself." He's hit the streets each December since.

While Stewart has also given money to other community causes in Kansas City and his hometown of Bruce, Miss., he offers the simple gifts of cash because it's something people don't have to "beg for, get in line for, or apply for."

That was a feeling he came to know in the early '70s when he was living out of his yellow Datsun 510. Hungry and tired, Stewart mustered the nerve to approach a woman at a church and ask for help.

The woman told him the person who could help was gone for the day, and Stewart would have to come back the next day.

"As I turned around, I knew I would never do that again," Stewart said.

Over the years, Stewart's giving as Secret Santa grew. He started a Web site. He allowed the news media to tag along, mostly because he wanted to hear about the people who received the money. Reporters had to agree to guard his identity and not name his company, which he still does not want revealed.

His entourage grew over the years, and he began traveling with special elves. People like the late Negro Leagues icon Buck O'Neil, who handed out hugs while Stewart doled out $100s. NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus will join Stewart this year in Chicago when Stewart hands out $100s in honor of O'Neil, the first African-American coach in the Major Leagues.

They'll give out $100,000 between Chicago and Kansas City. Four Secret Santas who Stewart "trained" will hand out an additional $65,000.

Doctors told Stewart in April that he had cancer of the esophagus and it had spread to his liver. He has been lucky, he says, to get into a clinical trial at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. But the aggressive chemotherapy has stripped away his appetite and energy. He's lost about 100 pounds, but has held onto his white hair.

The treatment costs more than $16,000 a month, not including the cost of traveling to Houston every two weeks and staying there for five or six days. He now has two months off, but returns to treatment in February.

His insurance company won't cover the cost of the treatment, which has left him concerned about his finances and his family.

Now, his mission is bigger than handing out $100 bills. Stewart wants to speak to community groups about his devotion to kindness and to inspire others to donate their time and money.

"That's what we're here for," Stewart says, "to help other people out."

Islamic militancy could yield world war: U.S. general

2006-11-18T07:23:00.000-06:00

Fri November 17, 2006

The top U.S. general in the Middle East said on Friday that if the world does not find a way to stem the rise of Islamic militancy, it will face a third world war.

Army Gen. John Abizaid compared the rise of militant ideologies, such as the force driving al Qaeda, to the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s that set the stage for World War Two.

"If we don't have guts enough to confront this ideology today, we'll go through World War Three tomorrow," Abizaid said in a speech titled "The Long War," at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, outside Boston.

If not stopped, Abizaid said extremists would be allowed to "gain an advantage, to gain a safe haven, to develop weapons of mass destruction, to develop a national place from which to operate. And I think that the dangers associated with that are just too great to comprehend."

Abizaid said the world faces three major hurdles in stabilizing the Middle East region: Easing Arab-Israeli tensions, stemming the spread of militant extremism, and dealing with Iran, which Washington has accused of seeking to develop nuclear bombs.

"Where these three problems come together happens to come in a place known as Iraq," said Abizaid, who earlier in the week warned Congress against seeking a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops from the country that is wracked by insurgent and sectarian violence.

"The sacrifice that is necessary to stabilize Iraq, in my view, must be sustained in order for the region itself to become more resilient," Abizaid said.

A week after President George W. Bush's Republicans took a drubbing in congressional elections largely because of voter anger over the Iraq war, Abizaid said the United States had underestimated the challenge of preparing Iraq security forces to stabilize the violent country.

"We thought we could go from U.S.-led to Iraqi-led without having to pay the price of the transition, in terms of manpower and resources, etc.," Abizaid said. "Now we realize we have to invest heavily in this transition so you can bring them up faster."

Israel developing anti-militant "bionic hornet"

2006-11-17T20:26:00.000-06:00

Fri Nov 17, 2006

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is using nanotechnology to try to create a robot no bigger than a hornet that would be able to chase, photograph and kill its targets, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday.

The flying robot, nicknamed the "bionic hornet", would be able to navigate its way down narrow alleyways to target otherwise unreachable enemies such as rocket launchers, the daily Yedioth Ahronoth said.

It is one of several weapons being developed by scientists to combat militants, it said. Others include super gloves that would give the user the strength of a "bionic man" and miniature sensors to detect suicide bombers.

The research integrates nanotechnology into Israel's security department and will find creative solutions to problems the army has been unable to address, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told Yedioth Ahronoth.

"The war in Lebanon proved that we need smaller weaponry. It's illogical to send a plane worth $100 million against a suicidal terrorist. So we are building futuristic weapons," Peres said.

The 34-day war in Lebanon ended with a U.N.-brokered ceasefire in mid-August. The war killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Prototypes for the new weapons are expected within three years, he said.

Christian population falls in Holy Land

2006-11-11T22:58:00.000-06:00

By BRIAN MURPHY, AP
November 11, 2006

The death threat came on simple white fliers blowing down the streets at dawn. A group calling itself "Friends of Muhammad" accused a local Palestinian Christian of selling mobile phones carrying offensive sketches of the Muslim prophet.

The message went on to curse all Arab Christians and Pope Benedict XVI, still struggling to calm Muslim outrage from his remarks on Islam.

While neighbors defended the merchant — saying the charges in the flier were bogus — the frightened phone dealer went into hiding, feeling less than satisfied with authorities' conclusion that the Oct. 19 note was probably a harmless rant.

Now the dealer is thinking of going abroad.

Call it part of a modern exodus, the steady flight of the tiny Palestinian Christian minority that could lead, some predict, to the faith being virtually extinct in its birthplace within several generations — a trend mirrored in many dwindling pockets of Christianity across the Islamic world.

This is one of the major themes the pope is expected to carry to Turkey for a four-day visit beginning Nov. 28 — his first papal visit to a predominantly Muslim nation. The Vatican calls it "reciprocity:" Muslim demands for greater sensitivity from the West must be accompanied by stronger protections and rights for Christian minorities.

In some places, such as Pakistan, it means more safeguards from extremist attacks. In Indonesia and elsewhere, it touches on appeals to quell growing sectarian clashes. In Turkey, Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, it seeks to preserve communities dating back to the time when Jesus and his apostles preached.

But nearly everywhere in Muslim lands, Christian populations are in decline.

No place is this more striking than the Holy Land.

For decades, it was mostly economic pressures pushing Palestinian Christians to emigrate, using family ties in the West or contacts from missionary schools. The Palestinian uprisings — and the separation barrier started by Israel in 2002 — accelerated the departures by turning once-bustling pilgrimage sites such as Bethlehem into relative ghost towns.

The growing strength of radical Islamic movements has added distinct new worries. During the protests after the pope's remarks in September, some of the worst violence was in Palestinian areas with churches firebombed and hit by gunfire.

"Most of the Christians here are either in the process of leaving, planning to leave or thinking of leaving," said Sami Awad, executive director of the Holy Land Trust, a Bethlehem-based peace group. "Insecurity is deep and getting worse."

The native Palestinian Christian population has dipped below 2 percent of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Arab East Jerusalem, down from at least 15 percent in 1950 by some estimates. Meanwhile, the Muslim Palestinian birthrate is among the highest in the world.

Dire predictions abound. The Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land said Christians could become "extinct" in the region within 60 years.

"It certainly doesn't look good for us," said Mike Salman, a Palestinian Christian who has conducted studies on demographic trends.

A walk along Shepherd Street puts a face to the lament.

Hannah Qumsieh spends his days playing online poker, fretting about unpaid bills and trimming his lemon trees at his house overlooking the field where the Bible says an angel told shepherds of the birth of Jesus. Qumsieh retired from the Palestinian tourism office last year, but has received no pension checks since the militant faction Hamas won elections in January and the West slashed aid to the Palestinian Authority.

"If I had money to leave, I would," he said, casting a glance at the newly built white-stone house next door in Beit Sahour, one of the last Christian-dominated enclaves in the West Bank. Bethlehem, just up the hill, is now less than 20 percent Christian.

A day earlier, Qumsieh's eldest son turned over the house keys to tenants and took his family to Chile. Down the road, a Christian restaurant owner, Ibrahim Shomali, is selling what he can before he leaves with his wife this month. They will head for Flint, Mich., to join his brother and hunt for work in one of the most economically depressed areas of America.

Shomali also will leave a stack of paperwork for his lawyer, who is fighting a group that took control of land that Shomali insists has been in his family for more than a century. Christians claim Muslim gangs routinely try to seize Christian property using doctored documents, but Palestinian authorities say it's random lawlessness in areas where land deeds are not registered.

"Here is where Jesus was born and over there, across the hill in Jerusalem, is where he was crucified," Shomali said. "We Christians now feel like we are on the cross."

Some are trying to change the momentum.

Groups dedicated to Muslim-Christian cooperation are active. During the protests over Benedict's remarks, militiamen from Islamic Jihad vowed to protect a West Bank church. A poll released Oct. 18 by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion found 91 percent of respondents opposed attacking churches to protest Benedict's comments.

Fuad Kokali, one of six Christian deputies in the 132-seat Palestinian parliament, proclaimed there "are no religious divides" in the struggle against Israeli occupation.

But, after a while, he told another story. He spoke of how Muslims and Christians mixed freely at weddings and other events in the 1980s. Now, it's a rarity, he said.

"The world is becoming a more unstable and frightening place," he said. "In these times, people revert back to their core identity. That means closing yourself within your religion and looking out at the other with suspicion."

These days Palestinian Christians — dominated by Greek Orthodox and Latin rite churches loyal to the pope — face questions about whether their hearts lie in their homeland or in the West. It gets even more complicated because of the strong support for Israel and Jewish settlers from American evangelical Christians.

"We are stuck in no man's land," said a leading Palestinian Christian activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of reported death threats. "In the eyes of the West, we are Arabs. In the eyes of Arabs, we are a fifth column."

The choice is either stand up against Muslim radicals or doom Holy Land Christianity to a slow death, said Ayman Abuaita, a Christian leader who previously served in the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which has waged suicide bombings against Israelis.

"This is our land. This is where our faith was born," he said. "We cannot be weak and just fade away."

But being bold can bring a backlash.

On Oct. 12, Christians students at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank protested an exhibit by an Islamic group that included artwork mocking the pontiff and a poem deriding Christianity. The argument deteriorated into a brief melee with fists and sticks.

No one was seriously injured, but political and religious leaders rushed to the college to try to keep the violence from spreading — as it did in 2002 when Beit Sahour was engulfed by street battles after a Muslim man took a surreptitious photo of a Christian woman in a changing room.

At the St. Theodosius Monastery, a site with a Christian history dating to the fifth century, the Greek Orthodox caretaker, Father Ierotheos, said he mostly remains behind the walls. He claims he was harassed by "Muslim fanatics" for speaking about Christian fears on a local television show.

"It's a jungle for us now," he said.

Every Friday, the noontime bells from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem ring out during prayer calls at a mosque on the other side of Manger Square.

"You can hear the bells and think that it is a sign that Christians will never be pushed out of this land," said Abuaita. "Or you can hear it as a cry for help."

UNDP: Lebanon's Living Standards Improved

2006-11-10T07:01:00.000-06:00

November 10, 2006

The United Nations Development Program has said that Lebanon's living standards have improved since 2005.

According to the U.N.'s 2006 Human Development Index (HDI), Lebanon has moved up three places since last year, rating 78th out of 177 countries.

HDI, which was founded in 1990, is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and living standards for countries.

The report was presented Thursday during a UNDP press conference at the U.N. headquarters in downtown Beirut.

Lebanon ranked 82nd in 2000 and 81st in 2005.

The report looks at 175 U.N. member countries, including the Palestinian territories. It says 2,6-billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation.

South Africa was rated 120 out of 177 countries, behind the Seychelles, Libya and Mauritius, but ahead of other sub-Saharan countries.

The top six countries were Norway, Iceland, Australia, Luxembourg, Canada and Sweden. The last three countries were Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Niger.

Some of Lebanon's data showed a marked improvement. Among 102 countries ranked according to the number of people living in poverty, it was listed 20th, ahead of Turkey and Brazil.

Based on the percentage of underweight children, a determinant of malnutrition, Lebanon ranked 7th best out of some 134 countries.

The 2006 report looks at the importance of increasing access to water for citizens and whether that has positive spinoffs to countries' economic growth.

Lebanon's water expert Tarek Majzoub, who attended the press conference along with Health Minister Mohammed Khalifeh, said that Arab countries, which lie in the world's most arid environments, will be gravely hit by climate changes in the near future.

UNDP resident representative Mona Hammam warned that the access of water in the Middle East was not just a domestic issue but already the cause of rising cross-border tensions.

"Combating the current water crisis is one of the biggest challenges facing human development in the 21st century," Hamman said.

She said that Israel, the Occupied Territories and Jordan in particular face a fight for the waters of the Jordan River.

Kuwait had the highest HDI listing of all Arab and Islamic states at 33rd. Bahrain (39), Qatar (46) and the United Arab Emirates (49) have all moved up from previous rankings.

While states like the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar are amongst the richest in the world in terms of GDP per-capita, their HDI ranking places them among much poorer states like Mexico, Romania and Argentina.

The UNDP report says this is because Gulf economies are heavily dependent on oil revenues, whereas the HDI also takes other aspects of economic and social data into account.

Heavy rainfall makes mess of roads in Chouf

2006-11-07T22:30:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, November 08, 2006
By Maher Zeineddine
Daily Star correspondent

CHOUF: Heavy rainfall on Monday night and Tuesday morning increased the number of collapsed roads and floods in the Chouf, cutting off roads and damaging substantial areas of agricultural lands. The torrential rain hitting most of the Chouf areas had contributed to the collapse on the Moltaka al-Nahrayn-Dmit road, leaving it peppered with rocks and rubbish washed down by the force of the rain.

Bulldozers started clearing roads on Tuesday, notably the Kfar Heem-Baaqlin road, for school buses to pass.

Several Chouf roads were closed by downpours, which barred access to the surrounding areas.

Rain storms in the Chouf also inflicted heavy damage on crops, especially on honey harvests, with bee keepers calling on the government as well as international and Arab humanitarian committees to "save" their source of income which they said "is threatened by extinction."

In a statement issued on Tuesday, bee breeders in the Chouf said the rainstorms had destroyed an estimated 60 percent of the bee farming sector.

"We have lost most of our bee hives due to the harsh weather," the statement said.

"More than 500 bee breeders have incurred heavy losses, which will negatively affect the agricultural sector and national economy," it added.

Although Tuesday afternoon saw no rainfall, temperatures were still low, with the Civil Aviation Department at Rafik Hariri International Airport forecasting cloudy weather for the next couple of days with a noticeable hike in temperatures.

According to a weather report released Tuesday, the cold fronts prevailing over the Mediterranean basin will start receding as of Wednesday. Northeasterly wind will blow at a speed varying between 8 and 20 kilometers per hour. Visibility will worsen in the mountains with temperature varying between 6 and 11 degrees Celsius. The temperature on the coast will range between 15 and 23 degrees Celsius, in the Bekaa Valley, between 2and 13 degrees and in the Cedars between 2 and 5 degrees.

Copyright (c) 2006 The Daily Star

Tourism Industry Struggles to Cope with War's Aftermath

2006-10-30T19:03:00.000-06:00

Beirut, October 30, 2006

Before last summer's war, foreign tourists would pop into Sanda Spanioli's gift shop every few minutes to buy a magazine, a map or a postcard. Now, she's lucky to see 20 customers a day.

Lebanon's tourism industry was on track to break records this year before the war between Israel and Hizbullah broke out July 12 and brought business at hotels, restaurants and shops to a crashing halt.

Two months after the Aug. 14 cease-fire, few tourists are trickling into Lebanon, but industry experts say they're optimistic that the travel business can rebound by 2008 if the country remains stable and safe.

"Business is not good right now," said Spanioli as she stood behind the counter at The Visitor Books & Gifts. "Perhaps it could get better, but that's only if the political situation calms down a bit."

Lebanon relies heavily on tourism, which accounts for about 12 percent of national revenue.

The industry suffered some turbulence after the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, but the country enjoyed a period of relative calm after Syria withdrew its troops two months later and tourists crowded Beirut's beaches and Baalbeck's ancient ruins.

Before the war, Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis was predicting a record 1.6 million visitors in 2006 with revenues topping $2 billion.

But the rosy outlook ended with the war, replaced by more sullen forecasts. The Rafik Hariri International airport was closed for more than a month after it was attacked by Israeli warplanes and gunboats. An oil spill caused by Israeli airstrikes tainted Beirut's beaches, frescos in a Roman-era tomb in the southern port city of Tyre were shaken to the ground and a stone at the Roman ruins of Baalbeck toppled.

Nada Sardouk Ghandour, the Ministry of Tourism's general director, said the amount of money lost has not yet been calculated, but small and medium sized businesses were most affected.

"It was paradise to hell, that's what happened," Ghandour said. "Loss and catastrophe happened to Lebanon's economy, including the tourism industry."

According to Ministry of Tourism statistics, 26,684 people arrived in Lebanon in August -- an 85.4 percent decrease from the same month last year. In September, the number jumped to more than 67,000 -- a majority from other Arab countries -- but it was still nearly 43 percent less than September 2005. October figures were not available.

Lebanon had hoped for a slight bump in visitors during last week's Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, when throngs of mostly Arab tourists usually flock to the country.

Ghandour said hotels averaged between 40 and 60 percent occupancy during the holiday. A scattering of tourists from other Arab countries could be seen dining at Beirut's swanky restaurants during the holiday, and a few tour buses could be seen traveling down the city's streets.

Jihane Shkar, general manager at the Albergo Hotel in Beirut, said her 33-suite hotel was luckier than most with 70 percent of the rooms occupied during Eid. But instead of staying for a week like they had in the past, many of her guests were in Lebanon for only three or four days, and some canceled at the last minute, she said.

Ghandour said the ministry is trying to work with banks and small businesses in the tourism industry to help them stay afloat. A program begun in the summer allowing visitors from some countries including the United States to enter the country without a visa will continue, and plans to promote Lebanon at international travel conferences are in the works.

Ghandour predicts that tourism will return to prewar levels by 2008 -- if the country rebuilds and remains stable.

"Tourism is coming back slowly," she said. "If there is some silence, it would help us a lot."

But stability is not a guarantee in Lebanon where fears of political unrest pervade. Beirut has witnessed a series of minor attacks over the past few weeks, including a grenade fired at a downtown building that houses a dance club. The explosion, which was near U.N. offices, injured six people, broke windows and damaged cars.

The unease has some international tour operators discontinuing trips to Lebanon, including Britain-based Explore, until the situation is safer.

Amr Abdel-Ghaffar, of the U.N. World Tourism Organization in Madrid, said based on the past, Lebanon can recover. After Hariri's death, the industry bounced back, not only attracting visitors from nearby Arab countries but from Europe, North and South America, he said.

"There is a resilience to bounce back. This is our experience with tourism not just in Lebanon but the whole Middle East," he said.

But there were just a scattering of diners at the Riviera Yacht Club along Beirut's coast on a recent sunny afternoon, and general manager Walid Noshie wasn't too optimistic the industry's near future.

"I was making 40 percent more business this year, and then they started this stupid war and the businesse is bad," he said. "We count on tourism. We count on stability. Tourism and instability don't work together."(AP)

Talking turkey about Armenian history

2006-10-30T18:58:00.000-06:00

Commentary by Christopher Atamian
The Daily Star
October 30, 2006

Few issues in recent memory have incited as much fervor, debate, applause and concomitant outrage as the recent bill passed by the French Lower House, which proposes making denial of the Armenian genocide punishable by law. Not surprisingly, Armenians around the world have supported the initiative almost unconditionally, while most Turks have opposed it on historical grounds - i.e. they still refuse to label the massacres of 1915-1923 as genocide. A few Turkish scholars accept the genocide label, but along with many in the West, oppose the bill as an encroachment on free speech. Should the bill pass and become law - an unlikely event given political realities such as Turkey's EU bid - it would mirror the existing Loi Gayssot, which criminalizes the public denial of the Jewish Holocaust.

Ordinarily, the right to free speech should be protected with only limited constraints and exceptions. For example, if an American citizen wants to insult the United States, it is his or her right to do so, as it is his or her right to desecrate the American flag. The first amendment is clear on these and other issues of free expression. In certain instances, however - for example, when national security is endangered - it is acceptable for the state, after the proper consultations and votes, to step in to (hopefully momentarily) curtail certain rights. The fact that George W. Bush has now shamelessly abused this right on more than one occasion should not mean that the French government should not, conversely, use its full powers to protect its Armenian citizens from continued insults and affronts - by Turks or anyone else. Similarly, the French state ought to protect its Turkish citizens from anti-Turkish or anti-Muslim attacks as well.

The French bill, as already mentioned, follows legal precedent, namely the existing Loi Gayssot. Le Monde and other publications have claimed that the two laws are different because the latter essentially serves as a bulwark against existing and future anti-semitism. Yet the Armenian genocide law, nay-sayers to the contrary, would function in exactly the same way, given the existing racism and discrimination against Armenians in France. Armenian genocide monuments in the country have recently been desecrated, while Armenians have been subject to all sorts of vile abuse - physical and otherwise - including violent attacks by French Turks at a recent Armenian genocide commemoration. The question then becomes: Do Armenian citizens of France (and other countries who have passed similar anti-Holocaust denial laws) not deserve the same protections as their Jewish compatriots? Is the suffering of one people to be placed above that of another? When push comes to shove, what applies to one group should also apply to the other. Furthermore, the French quite rightly consider historic memory to be a basic human right, and thus denial of historic events that incite or abet racism a violation of that right.

The positive human rights reforms that have occurred within Turkey in recent years (discussion of the Armenian genocide in newspapers and certain intellectual circles, the opening of a Kurdish-language television station etc.) have been cosmetic at best: anti-semitism and anti-Armenianism are in fact rampant in the land of the Moon and Stars, and Islamic fundamentalism on the rise. And although Elif Shafak, the noted Turkish novelist, and Armenian journalist Hrant Dink have been acquitted of charges of "insulting Turkishness" under the nefarious Article 301 of the Turkish criminal code, they have both been harassed to a degree beyond the norms of any civilized country. Dink has now been accused five times by the Turkish state, each time under the same ludicrous law that smacks of the worst in state fascism. His life has been threatened and he has become persona non grata almost everywhere he goes - within Turkey where nationalists want his head, as well as within the Armenian diaspora, where he is alternately seen as an accommodationist or a traitor for his views on the issue at hand and the Armenian genocide in general.

The problem, then, is not just that Turks deny the Armenian genocide within Turkey, but that they have exported this denial to European countries. To deny the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians, as well as another 1.5 million Christian Pontic Greeks and Assyrians, is malevolent and in and of itself a denial of Armenians' basic human dignity. France has every right to tell Turks: "You can spew your venom in Turkey, but leave your denialism at home." The degree to which France acknowledges its own colonialist past in Algeria is beside the point, although one would hope that it does so as well. Turkey has threatened to "retaliate" against the French by passing laws about the "Algerian genocide," further polluting the historical debate. Algeria may have been many things - colonialist, insulting, invasive - and French dominion there may in fact have visited wide-scale killings on a foreign population of differing religion and language, but genocide it was not, according to accepted definitions.

Armenians endured the loss of lands, property and self-respect during the Armenian genocide. From 1915 to 1923, they watched their men slaughtered outright, and their children and women raped, tortured and sent to their deaths in the most inhumane ways, including the torching of sulfur caves and churches, where practitioners seeking refuge were burned alive. Mass drownings in the Black Sea, hangings and crucifixions were commonplace. Billions of dollars of goods, property and lands were expropriated.

Unlike the Germans vis-ˆ-vis the Jews, the Turks have not only failed to apologize or compensate Armenians, but they continue their vile campaign of denial, which they now export all over the globe. As Elie Wiesel has accurately pointed out, denial is the last stage of genocide and a symbolic re-enactment of the crime itself. In this case, the French have said: Enough! You cannot kill the victims again, at least not within our borders. It is disingenuous to suggest that because of a French law, Turks will now have an added excuse to continue what they have been doing for 90 years - i.e. finishing off the complete annihilation of its native Christian populations. The correct response from Turks should be shame and an acknowledgment that yes indeed, these sad events took place, rather than the bombastic nationalism that has kept the country on the margins of the civilized world for the better part of the 20th and 21st centuries. As Jacques Chirac rather pompously declared in his recent speech in Yerevan: Vive la France! Vive L'ArmŽnie!

Christopher Atamian is a New York-based writer and journalist of Lebanese origin who writes frequently on culture and politics for the The New York Times, Gourmet, New York Press and more. He wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.

U.S. to Rebuild Mdeirej Bridge Destroyed by Israel

2006-10-29T00:43:00.000-05:00

Beirut, October 28, 2006
(Naharnet-AFP)

The United States will pay to rebuild the Mdeirej bridge in Lebanon, the highest in the Middle East, which was damaged by Israeli bombardment during the July-August war, a senior U.S. official has said.
The 70 meter high bridge, on the mountainous road linking Beirut and Damascus, was hit on July 21 in the early days of Israel's 34-day offensive on Lebanon. A 200-metre-long section was destroyed.

U.S. State Department Director of Foreign Assistance Randall L. Tobias, in Lebanon on a two-day visit, said Friday work on the bridge is tangible proof that U.S. pledges of assistance "amount to more than just words."

Tobias is also administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which will pay an estimated 20 million dollars in repairs.

The $44 million bridge was built by the Italian company Toto and was inaugurated in 1998 by slain ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.

Direct material damage to housing and infrastructure in Lebanon during the war has been put at $3.6 billion.

Private Lebanese and foreign firms are repairing or rebuilding some of the 80 bridges damaged or destroyed by Israeli bombardment.

Funding for the Mdeirej bridge project is part of a U.S. commitment of $230 million in post-war aid to Lebanon, the U.S. embassy said in a statement.

"The $230 million committed by President (George) Bush in August have a very clear and important purpose—to help the Lebanese people rebuild their lives and communities after this summer's tragic conflict," Tobias said after meeting with Lebanese officials.

He said $90 million has already been disbursed to meet basic humanitarian needs and to assist the Lebanese in the early stages of recovery.

"I have been deeply encouraged by Lebanon's commitment to rapid recovery and economic growth and would like to reassure the Lebanese people that the American people are completely behind you," Tobias added.

Ahmadinejad says Israel 'illegitimate'

2006-10-19T18:37:00.000-05:00

The Daily Star
October 20, 2006

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that Israel was "illegitimate" and could not survive and insisted Thursday that Iran will not back down "an inch" over its nuclear program despite the growing threat of sanctions. Three European powers put finishing touches Thursday on a draft resolution on UN Security Council sanctions against Iran. The draft is being crafted by envoys from France, Britain and Germany in consultation with the United States.

"The world must know the Iranians will not back down even an inch on their rights to peaceful nuclear energy," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Islamshahr, southwest of the capital.

"Uranium enrichment and having nuclear fuel are among the main demands of Iran," he added in the address broadcast live on state television.

Ahmadinejad was speaking before Quds Day (Jerusalem Day), the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when Iranians show support for the Palestinians.

"Our nation has previously announced this [Israeli] regime is illegitimate from its foundation. It is fabricated. It has been imposed on the nations of the region and it cannot survive.

"The existence of this regime [Israel] is the root of many problems of mankind today," the president said, adding that Israel had been "founded by the major powers in the heart of the Islamic world."