LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 31/09
Bible Reading of the day
Malach 1/6-9
1:6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then
where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? Says
Yahweh of Armies to you, priests, who despise my name.
You say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ 1:7 You offer polluted bread on my
altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table
contemptible.’ 1:8 When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And
when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it now to your
governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?” says
Yahweh of Armies. “Now, please entreat the favor of God,
that he may be gracious to us. With this, will he accept any of you?” says
Yahweh of Armies
Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special
Reports
Ali Hussein Sibat must not be executed/By Raja
Kamal and Tom G. Palmer/December
30/09
A Village Claimed by Three Countries/The
Media Line/December 30/09
Latest
News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for December 30/09
Geagea:
Hizbullah Existence Not for Lebanese Cause Sake/Naharnet
Rai to
Nasrallah: We Perceive Regional Changes from Lebanon's Scope/Naharnet
March
14 Forces Criticize Nasrallah's 'Nervous Advices' to Christians/Naharnet
Lebanon fears Qaeda has UNIFIL forces in sights/Ynetnews
Assad urges US to be active Mideast peacemaker/AFP
Haret Hreik Blast: Doubts About
'Donation Box' Claim, Hizbullah Members Among Victims/Naharnet
Hariri
Discusses with Committees Work Plan to Demarcate Border, Tackle Issue of Missing/Naharnet
Qobeissi: Parliament
Obliged to Approve Committee to Abolish Sectarianism/Naharnet
National Dialogue Set to
Resume in February/Naharnet
Suleiman Holds Talks with
Sarkozy on Saturday/Naharnet
Lebanese Ambassador
Returns to Vienna after His Housekeeper was Found Dead/Naharnet
PM Approves Decrees on
Promotion of Officers/Naharnet
Jumblat Relieved by
Rejection of Many Druze to Enroll in Israeli Military/Naharnet
Geagea: Nasrallah's
Obligations toward Iran, Faqih Rule May Cause Great Damage to Lebanon/Naharnet
Al-Mustaqbal Bloc Calls
for Disarming Palestinian Factions Outside Refugee Camps/Naharnet
Public safety minister says Canada has limitations
in sharing terror info/The
Canadian Press
Lebanon's Druze leader urges Israeli Druze not to serve in IDF/Ha'aretz
Lawmakers blast Hezbollah's rhetoric/UPI.com
Army questioning 2 Lebanese who crossed border from
Israel/Ya
Libnan
'Stabbed body' at Lebanon ambassador's Austria
home/BBC
News
Spain's EU presidency to be
'eminently Euro-Mediterranean/Daily
Star
Army fires at Israeli planes over
south Lebanon/Daily
Star
Sleiman set for Sarkozy meet,
Hariri firms Syria border move/Daily
Star
Jumblatt pleased that fewer Druze
now enrolling in Israeli Army/Daily
Star
Najjar presses ahead with key
reforms of judiciary/Daily
Star
Judge awaits forensic evidence from Haret Hreik blast scene/Daily
Star
US sources 'confirm' Ghajar pullout
plan/Daily
Star
Baz: Lebanon to sustain high growth/Daily
Star
House of Fatah leader in Miyeh Miyeh attacked/Daily
Star
Ministers meet over recent flood
damage/Daily
Star
UNIFIL aids blood donations in Naqoura/Daily
Star
Armed robber strikes Dekwaneh
supermarket/Daily
Star
Parents of Tyre tire slashers blame
childishness/Daily
Star
SLA members returned to Lebanon
after nine years/Daily
Star
Seven from Baddawi sentenced to
death for terror/Daily
Star
Philippines stands by ban on
working in Lebanon/Daily
Star
Abboud urges MEA to boost tourism
in mountain regions/Daily
Star
Ali
Hussein Sibat must not be executed
By Raja Kamal and Tom G. Palmer
/Daily Star/Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Despite genuine efforts by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to reform and modernize
the kingdom, the pushback from those who resist modern civilization is shocking
and villainous. The horrifying case of a former television presenter from
Lebanon, Ali Hussein Sibat, is just one example. Sibat is a Lebanese citizen and
was the host of a call-in television show broadcast from Lebanon but that was
aired throughout the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. He is also a Muslim.
During his broadcasts, Sibat gave advice to those who called in during his show
– and he made predictions about their future.
In May 2008, during a religious pilgrimage to Mecca, Sibat was arrested by the
Saudi religious police and charged with sorcery. He was coerced into confessing,
and then tried without a lawyer. His coerced confession was used against him and
he was sentenced to death in Medina on November 9, 2009. He may be executed any
day now.
Amnesty International and other human rights organizations are calling for the
immediate release of Sibat and others arrested and charged with similar
“crimes.” Whatever one thinks of Sibat’s television show, no one should be
punished, and certainly not killed, for what he is charged with. If this killing
is not stopped, the soil of Saudi Arabia will be stained by a crime: the crime
of murder. That murder will leave behind a grieving widow and five children.
Sibat’s execution must be stopped.
This case illustrates the tremendous power of the religious police in Saudi
Arabia. King Abdullah faces an uphill battle in his struggle against extremists;
not only the Al-Qaeda terrorists who kill innocent people, but the religious
police and judiciary, who kill innocents as well. Each time the king has tried
to reform his state, the extremists have stepped in his way. For example, a few
months ago, when the king inaugurated the first coeducational university in
Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST), he
faced a storm of criticism from religious leaders. In the end, the school opened
and one of the most vocal critics, Sheikh Saad bin Nasser al-Shithri suddenly
resigned from the Council of Senior Clerics. That was certainly a step in the
right direction.
Yet, as the case of Sibat and others sentenced to be murdered for “apostasy or
“witchcraft” proves, resistance from the extremists continues. King Abdullah has
an opportunity to make a bold statement, as he did when he faced down the clergy
in the controversy over KAUST. The king and his supporters need to act
decisively to eliminate the power of the extremists to carry out improper
arrests, level false charges, coerce testimony, and conduct unjust trials,
especially those culminating in murder. Sibat and others in his situation are
being made into human sacrifices by the extremists in order to maintain their
own power.
What’s next? Arresting a child for reading a Harry Potter book?
The positive dialogue that has already started between the Obama administration
and much of the Arab and Muslim world has created an opportunity for Washington
to voice concern about Sibat. President Barack Obama has repeatedly spoken about
his commitment to human rights. He should encourage King Abdullah to take a
stand for justice and end human sacrifice.
Lebanon also has a responsibility to speak up for and to protect its own
citizens. The government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri has a special
relationship with the ruling family of Saudi Arabia. That’s why the government
needs to show that, as the representative of a democratic Arab country with a
strong broadcasting industry, it will support freedom of expression –
particularly that of Ali Hussein Sibat and others who broadcast from Lebanon.
The murder of Sibat will not only leave five children fatherless; it threatens
everyone whom the extremists think they can reach, whether in Saudi Arabia or
beyond.
King Abdullah could show his courage by facing down the extremists and releasing
Ali Hussein Sibat to Lebanon. And if he does so, he should receive the support
of the other nations of the world.
**Raja Kamal is a senior associate dean at the Harris School of Public Policy
Studies at the University of Chicago.Tom G. Palmer is a senior fellow of the
Cato Institute and the vice president for International Programs of the Atlas
Economic Research Foundation. They wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR and
The Washington Post.
Rai to
Nasrallah: We Perceive Regional Changes from Lebanon's Scope
Naharnet/Maronite Bishop of Jbeil Beshara Rai on Wednesday commented on the last
speech of Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Ashoura's tenth
day.
"We don't accept such a speech which politicizes religion, and which hints that
our political regime in Lebanon leans toward theocracy that combines religion
and State. We have to perceive the settlements and changes happening in the
region from the scope of Lebanon and its people as a whole, not from the scope
of this or that religious sect," said Rai in an interview with Akhbar al-Yawm
news agency."From our side, we believe that Lebanon -- in all of its sects -- is
one entity that doesn't accept segregation. All of the Lebanese are in one ship
that either takes them to the port of peace or sinks along with everyone on
board," added Rai. Beirut, 30 Dec 09, 17:39
Geagea: Hizbullah Existence Not for Lebanese Cause Sake
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday said that the region
is heading toward "tensions and clashes," adding that the main event of the year
2010 will be the Iranian nuclear program. In an interview with Al Jazeera
satellite network, Geagea expressed his fears from possible military strikes and
added that "through Hizbullah's presence in Lebanon… Any tension in the region
would affect Lebanon.""Hizbullah doesn't exist for the sake of the Lebanese
cause," added Geagea. Geagea asked whether Israel would have an alibi to attack
Lebanon in case Hizbullah's arms existed with the Lebanese Army in addition to
its current deployment in the South. Answering a question, LF leader said that
he does not expect any internal escalation in the near future, but rather a
regional confrontation. On the other hand, Geagea compared the latest visit of
PM Saad Hariri to Syria to "the visit of (former) PM Fouad Saniora to Damascus
when he headed his first government." Geagea denied the visit was a
reconciliation one, and added: "If I was a minister in the government, and my
duties obliged me to visit Syria, I would visit it carrying my beliefs and
opinions, and I would engage with it in a state-to-state manner." "We have
formed a national commission for the abolition of political sectarianism: March
14 with all of its components," said Geagea answering a question about Speaker
Nabih Berri's raising of political sectarianism issue. Beirut, 30 Dec 09, 18:36
March 14
Forces Criticize Nasrallah's 'Nervous Advices' to Christians
/Naharnet/March 14 forces general-secretariat lashed back at Hizbullah
Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah over his last speech on the occasion
of Ashoura, saying they were surprised by Nasrallah's "unconcealed threats and
nervous advices" he addressed to the Christians. In a statement issued after its
weekly meeting on Wednesday, March 14 general-secretariat said that Nasrallah,
"who couldn't probably hide his anxiousness about external threats, was seen as
seeking internal confrontations." The March 14 general-secretariat called on
Hizbullah and its leader for "calm contemplation," and added that all parties
should be under the governance of a sovereign State which alone can provide
safety and reassurance for everyone "instead of repeating futile experiences
that many have tried before uselessly." "With the beginning of the year (2009),
the Lebanese managed, in their state and political forces, to succeed in
overcoming the Gaza war challenge, and to neutralize Lebanon, due to their
awareness and attachment to international resolution 1701 which has proved its
effectiveness in the most difficult times," added the statement. March 14 forces
said that Christian-Muslim solidarity managed to maintain its firm basis despite
the confusion and puzzlement that marked the March 14 coalition after the May 7,
2008 incidents and the subsequent foreign interventions. On the other hand, the
conferees expressed their "deep concerns over the bombing that targeted a Hamas
quarters which exists inside Hizbullah's Security Square in Beirut Southern
Suburbs," condemning its presence in that area "outside the camps." Beirut, 30
Dec 09, 16:51
A Village
Claimed by Three Countries
Written by Benjamin Joffe-Walt
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=27568
Published Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Residents are livid as Israel mulls yet again dividing a village straddling the
border between Lebanon and the Golan Heights.
Military radar stations sit atop gorgeous, green hills and imposing mountains.
The entire area surrounding the village is a closed military zone, and any
journalist asking questions of local residents sparks a cauldron of military
Jeeps to rush down the mountains.
Ghajar, a 2000-strong village which straddles the border between Lebanon and the
Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, is a territory claimed by three countries:
Lebanon, Israel and Syria.
Recent talk of splitting the village between Israel and Lebanon has villagers
incensed and taking to the streets.
"Nobody wants this," Najib Khatib, a village leader, tells The Media Line. "It's
not enough that we are essentially living within a prison, now they want to put
a fence right in the middle."
"They are going to divide families, take mothers from their kids," he says. "Yet
the government is not updating us, not including us in the decisions, and not
even informing us. Nobody cares about us, they treat us like animals and we hear
about the future of the village from the media."
"We have no problem if Israel wants to return the entire village to Lebanon,"
Khatib adds. "But not as refugees without our lands. We are one united village.
The entire village is one big family and we won't let the U.N. come in just to
divide us."
"We have a serious problem here," Naser Mustafa, a contractor in the village,
tells The Media Line. "It's become a huge issue. I am building on the northern
side of the village but now I've stopped and I'm not sure if I should keep
building."
The modern history of Ghajar, as the legend goes, began with a horse.
A tiny riverside village straddling the modern border, Ghajar was originally
known as Tanjeh.
Kurdish invaders seized the village during the Ottoman Empire, forced it's
residents to sell the land and renamed the village Ghajar.
That all changed, the local legend has it, when the Kurdish governor of Ghajar
tried to prance through the village on his horse to visit the tomb of Sheikh al-Arba'in,
a local religious figure.
First the horse refused to go anywhere near the sheikh's tomb, and the following
day a major fire broke out in the village, destroying the governor's sword and
shield.
The Kurds assumed the sheikh was taking revenge, read the writing on the wall,
fled the village and quickly sold all the land back to its original owners.
But life has not gotten any simpler for the residents of Ghajar since those
inauspicious Ottoman days.
Shortly after the fall of the Ottoman empire the village was given a choice of
joining Lebanon or Syria. Most village residents are Alawites, a sect of Shi'ah
Islam and a powerful minority religious group in Syria, and the villagers voted
overwhelmingly to join Syria, a status the village retained for decades.
In 1967, Israel captured the Golan Heights, a large Syrian territory which
included Ghajar. For over two months the village was considered a no-man's land
until the villagers successfully petitioned Israeli authorities to include the
village in the newly captured territory.
Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 and most of Ghajar's residents accepted
Israeli citizenship.
Meanwhile, following a 1978 Israeli incursion into southern Lebanon, Israel
handed over the territory to the Israel-friendly South Lebanon Army and began a
"Good Fence" policy. That allowed Ghajar residents to begin building on the
villages northern lands in modern Lebanon, essentially encompassing the smaller
Lebanese village of Wazzani as part of Ghajar.
But when Israel withdrew completely from southern Lebanon in 2000, the United
Nations demarcated a final border between the two countries, known as the 'Blue
Line.' The northern part of Ghajar fell on the Lebanese side of the Blue Line,
while the southern part of the village remained in the Israeli-controlled Golan
Heights.
The decision was based on maps of the area produced prior to the 1967 war which
had conflicting data, with some placing Ghajar in Syria and others indicating
the village was in Lebanon.
The villagers, who consider themselves Syrian, didn't appreciate the UN's
decision.
"The U.N. made a huge mistake when they demarcated the Blue Line," Khatib says.
"They based it on maps from 1923, way before Israel even existed. This is a
Syrian village."
In the years following the demarcation of the Blue Line, Hezbollah, the Shi'ite
paramilitary organisation which controls much of southern Lebanon, made a series
of attempts to kidnap Israeli soldiers in the Ghajar area.
Tensions between Hezbollah and Israel came to ahead in 2006 with the outbreak of
the Second Lebanon War, which ended in Israel re-occupying the northern half of
Ghajar.
Ever since Israel has been under international pressure to return the northern
half of the village to Lebanon in the hope that a resolution to Ghajar's status
will weaken Hezbollah.
Israeli officials, however, see Ghajar as an excuse Hezbollah uses to justify
continued armed resistance against Israel. Giving part of Ghajar to Lebanon, the
Israeli logic goes, will just embolden the Hezbollah.
The resulting stalemate has left Ghajar as an ostensibly Israeli village, full
of Israeli citizens, but surrounded entirely by a fence, with the only way in
and out through an Israeli army checkpoint.
"When you leave you are searched, when you enter you are searched," Mustafa
says. "It's humiliating to have a dog search your car as you drive into the
village you live in."
"The problem is we can't invite friends or anything," says one teenager, who
asked not to be identified.
"They never let in anyone except doctors and people like that," his friend adds.
The checkpoint guards at the village entrance say they are just doing their job.
"The checkpoint is just to check for arms and drugs," one guard tells The Media
Line on the condition of anonymity, as he is unauthorized to speak to the media.
"Since Ghajar is a built up area, it's easier for them to smuggle things into
Israel."
Some residents say the Israeli authorities treat them well.
"They don't give us problems," says a local school teacher, who also asked not
to be named in this article. "We are Israeli citizens and we can go in and out
as we like. The problem is they keep changing their minds about the village's
status."
*Copyright © 2008 The Media Line. All Rights Reserved.
editor@themedialine.org.
'Stabbed body' at Lebanon ambassador's Austria home
BBC/ Lebanon has allowed Austrian officials free access to the ambassador's
house
Police called to the home of Lebanon's ambassador to Austria have found the body
of a woman in the cellar.The woman had apparently been stabbed to death. Police
did not name the victim, but believe she was the house's 30-year-old Filipina
housekeeper. They say the body, which had several stab wounds, was discovered by
the cook - the only person in residence. A Vienna police spokeswoman said the
ambassador, Ishaya El Khoury, is currently out of the country. The spokeswoman
told Reuters news agency that investigators were searching the scene and
interviewing witnesses. "It was murder. There are multiple stab wounds," she
added. No-one has so far been arrested. The Lebanese authorities are allowing
Austrian police officers free access to the scene, even though an ambassador's
residence would not normally fall under Austrian jurisdiction.
Haret Hreik Blast: Doubts About 'Donation Box' Claim, Hizbullah Members Among
Victims
/Naharnet/Investigation into the mysterious explosion in a Hamas office in
Beirut's southern suburbs continued on Wednesday with judicial sources saying
the blast went off in an underground depot and was not caused by a donation box
as claimed by the Palestinian movement. An Nahar newspaper quoted judicial
sources as saying that there were two parked vehicles in the warehouse. They
doubted Saturday's blast was the result of a booby-trapped vehicle or donations
box. The sources said investigators are now checking the damaged vehicles to
find out whether they were stolen or not. They reiterated that 15 kilograms of
TNT were used. Pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, in its turn, quoted Lebanese
sources as saying that Hizbullah members were trying to dismantle a bomb sent to
the Hamas office when the blast went off.
Among the victims were the Hizbullah fighters, the sources said, adding that
trucks coming out of the blast area before the arrival of Lebanese security and
judicial investigators were most probably carrying the bodies of the victims.
Hamas said Sunday that only two members were killed in the mysterious blast. On
Tuesday, military court judge Rahif Ramadan continued his investigation into the
case and heard the testimonies of several witnesses and injured. According to An
Nahar the lips of one of the injured were stuck together as a result of severe
wounds on his face. Media reports said Ramadan will receive later in the week
reports from forensic and security forces' experts. Laboratory tests of evidence
from the crime scene and DNA results of the injured and dead are to be submitted
as well. Meanwhile, Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar hoped "there wouldn't be an
obstacle either in Beirut's southern suburbs or any other place for security
apparatuses to carry out their responsibilities." Beirut, 30 Dec 09, 08:20
Israel Mulling Compensation for Ghajar Residents, Lebanese Cabinet to Study a
Deal on the Village
Naharnet/UNIFIL has reached two separate agreements with Lebanon and Israel to
put the Lebanese side of Ghajar under U.N. control amid a report that the Jewish
state is mulling to compensate the residents of the village's northern part if
they move to the Israeli-controlled south. Pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat said
Wednesday that the agreements reached between UNIFIL and Lebanon from one side
and U.N. peacekeepers and Israel on the other are aimed at keeping Ghajar a
single entity separated by a "fictitious line." The newspaper quoted a Lebanese
ministerial source as saying that Lebanon was not involved and did not interfere
in the UNIFIL-Israel deal. He added that the agreement reached between the
Lebanese army and the U.N. peacekeepers would be referred to cabinet for
approval. Under the deal, UNIFIL would control the Lebanese side of Ghajar
pending a final settlement. Ghajar lies at the foot of Mount Hermon and
straddles the Lebanese-Syrian border. It is inhabited by Alawites, most of whom
have obtained Israeli citizenship even though they consider themselves Syrian.
The village is an extension of the Syrian Golan Heights plateau, which Israel
occupied during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and then annexed in 1981.
According to the U.N.-drawn Blue Line marking the border between Israel and
Lebanon following a May 2000 Israeli troop pullout, one-third of the village is
on Lebanese soil, while the other two thirds are part of occupied Syrian
territory. Meanwhile, Israeli daily Maariv said the government is mulling
compensation for northern Ghajar residents who agree to move to the Israeli
side. If the compensation occurs, it would be the first economic settlement
reached between the Israeli government and Arab Israelis, according to Maariv.
The newspaper quoted political circles as saying that the economic compensation
is essential and the Jewish state should be keen on moving the biggest number
possible of northern Ghajar residents to the southern part. Beirut, 30 Dec 09,
08:55
Berri: Parliament to Experience Significant Takeoff with the Start of 2010
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri said Parliament will experience a "significant
takeoff" with the start of the New Year. "Parliament is already operating at
full capacity," Berri said in remarks published Wednesday by daily As-Safir. He
said first thing Parliament will do after the new year is to elect members of
the Supreme Council which is empowered to try heads of state and Cabinet
ministers. He said Parliament will also exert efforts to set up a committee for
the abolishment of political sectarianism. As-Safir said Berri's office recently
sent letters to the various embassies and diplomatic missions operating in
Lebanon, including the U.S. and French embassies, informing them of his proposal
and the reasons that made him come up with this new approach. While Berri
pointed out that Parliament was expecting referral of the 2010 state budget in
the coming weeks, he said there has been "no talk" about administrative
appointments.
Beirut, 30 Dec 09, 08:12
SLA members returned to Lebanon after nine years
Daily Star staff/Wednesday, December 30, 2009
BEIRUT: Two men returned to Lebanon on Tuesday after escaping to Palestine in
2000 with the South Lebanon Army (SLA). Nadim Abu Rafeeh, 50, from Hasbaya and
90-year-old Khalil Abu Hamad from Marjayoun returned to Lebanon with the help of
the International Red Cross and were transferred to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)
in the border coastal town of Naqoura. Legal procedures will be followed in
dealing with the two men who entered Palestine with the SLA during the Israeli
withdrawal from the south in 2000. – The Daily Star
Jumblatt pleased that fewer Druze now enrolling in Israeli Army
Daily Star staff/Wednesday, December 30, 2009
BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader MP Walid Jumblatt expressed
relief on Monday over the decreasing number of Druze enrolling in the Israeli
Army. Speaking to reporters following a meeting in Cyprus with Druze Member of
Knesset Said Naffaa and other representatives of the Druze community in Israel,
Jumblatt said that the percentage of Druze who are not enrolled in the Israeli
military has reached 63.7 percent compared to a past rate of 9 percent.
He added that now that the issue of the government’s formation in Lebanon was
“finally settled, it is high time to turn our attention to the Free Arab Druze
in Occupied Palestine.”
Jumblatt, who is accompanied by Minister of State Wael Abu Faour and MP Marwan
Hamadeh, discussed with Naffaa mandatory conscription of the Druze in Israel.
Jumblatt is considered the most prominent leader of the Druze community in the
Arab Levant region.
The Druze are a religious community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel
and Jordan, whose traditional religion is said to have begun as an offshoot of
Islam, but is unique in its incorporation of Gnostic, neo-Platonic and other
philosophies, similar to other followers of Ismaili Shiite Islam
During a similar meeting in Amman back in 2000, the PSP leader also called for
the boycott of the conscription, or at least for the Druze to avoid military
combat with the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Jumblatt praised the significance of such meetings, saying “they keep the
contact and communication with the free Druze alive.”
In Israel, the majority of the approximately 120,000 Druze consider themselves a
distinct religious group. Since 1957, the Israeli government has also designated
the Druze a distinct ethnic community, at the request of the community’s
leaders.
“We are first and foremost Arabs,” Jumblatt told Lebanon’s An-Nahar newspaper in
comments published on Tuesday.
Theologically, Druze consider themselves “an Islamic Unist, reformatory sect.”
The Druze refer to themselves Ahl al-Tawhid “People of Unitarianism or
Monotheism” or al-Muwahhidun “Unitarians, Monotheists.”
Abu Faour said Jumblatt wanted the Druze living in Israel to have the same
status as the 1948 Arabs.
Naffaa told An-Nahar that the Druze of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan
ought to keep their ties and heritage alive, “so as to confront the siege
imposed by Israel.”
He added that the meetings with Jumblatt gave the Druze “extra strength to feel
that they are Arabs” and encouraged them to pursue their political struggle. –
The Daily Star
Jumblat
Relieved by Rejection of Many Druze to Enroll in Israeli Military
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has expressed relief
over the decreasing number of Druze enrolling in the Israeli army, Israeli daily
Haaretz reported.
Haaretz quoted Jumblat as telling Nazareth-based Radio A-Shams that all Druze
are Arabs who follow the Druze religion, and thus ties between Druze in
different countries and between Druze and other Arabs were only natural. The
Druze leader, who was visiting Cyprus, met recently with a delegation of Israeli
Druze dignitaries led by lawmaker Said Naffaa and clergymen from Mount Carmel
and the Galilee. He said his ties with Israeli Druze began in Amman in 2001 and
have been developing ever since.
Haaretz also quoted Jumblat as saying there was an increasing awareness of such
ties among young Druze in Israel and said that many of them were already
refusing to join the military.
"The fact that the number of Druze avoiding military service has risen from 5
percent to almost 60 percent is proof enough of the importance of this
connection," the PSP leader reportedly said. According to Haaretz, Jumblat
rejected criticism that he was intervening in another community's internal
affairs. "There were voices that I can only describe as primitive who attacked
our initiative, but we've proven that maintaining this relationship strengthens
the Arab Palestinian identity of community members in Israel, and especially the
young," he said.
"The rising numbers of conscientious objectors show the Druze will no longer be
border guards for the state of Israel," Haaretz quoted him as saying.
Jumblat, who was accompanied by Minister of State Wael Abu Faour and MP Marwan
Hamadeh, discussed with Naffaa mandatory conscription of the Druze in Israel.
Beirut, 30 Dec 09, 09:41