LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 13/09

Bible Reading of the day.  
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:27-32. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna. It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.' But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Aoun's delusions: Numbers defeat allegations in Kesserwan/Future News 12/06/09
Vote for bombs or business.The Australian 12/06/09
Why March 14 Won ebanon’s Elections-By: Rannie Amiri.12/06/09
Is it a Mass Failure but an individual success?/By: Walid Choucair 12/06/09
Universal Elections.By Diana Mukkaled/Asharq Alawsat 12.06.09
From Martyrs to the Living/By: Ghassan Charbel 12/06/09
Corruption in Lebanon can be curtailed with an independent judiciary-The Daily Star 12/06/09
Lebanese vote for the status quo. By::Paul Cochrane 12/06/09
Lebanon's Triumph, Iran's Travesty-By ELLIOTT ABRAMS/New York Times 12/06/09

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 12/09
No Mideast deal at Lebanon's expense: US envoy-AFP
Visiting Solana Reaffirms EU Support for Lebanon-Naharnet
Hariri Visits Sfeir, Awdeh: We Are Committed to March 14 Basic Principles-Naharnet
Shibani: We Continue to Support Lebanon, Resistance-Naharnet
Al-Jumhuriya: Hizbullah elements received military training in Iran/Future News
Lebanon progresses positively… the Patriarch speaks the truth/Future News
Sleiman: I support Saad Hariri for the next government/Future News
Fatfat: March 14 overture excludes giving veto powers to the minority/Future News
Jumblatt to broaden the President’s share/Future News
Saker: Christians sensed the danger of March 8 project/Future News
Booby Trap Parcel Defused at the General Security Department-Naharnet
2 Wounded in Security Mishap between Mustaqbal, Saad's Men in Sidon-Naharnet
Mitchell Meets Lebanese Officials in Beirut-Naharnet
Top White House Envoy Visits Syria-CBS News
Parcel bomb defused at Beirut government building-Reuters
Carter: Israeli-Palestinian Peace Not Possible Without Hamas ...FOXNews
'UNIFIL helping to arrest Israeli spies'-Jerusalem Post
March 14 Makes Demands Prior to Accepting Berri as Speaker-Naharnet
Sfeir: Election Result Foiled Takeover by Iran, Syria-Naharnet
Damascus Urges Opposition to Open Up to Hariri, Jumblat-Naharnet
Suleiman: The President is the Guarantee of Majority and Opposition-Naharnet
New Parliamentary Bloc between Mustaqbal, Allied MPs-Naharnet
Jumblat: Dialogue with Syria is Inevitable-Naharnet
Ban for Quick Formation of Lebanese Cabinet-Naharnet
Saniora: I Nominate Hariri to Head Next Cabinet-Naharnet
Damascus: Our Stance From The Next Lebanese Cabinet Built on Relations With the Resistance and Us-Naharnet
2 Hand Grenades Near Jdeideh School, Mortar in Sidon-Naharnet
Hamadeh: Majority to Tie Berri's Re-Election with Basket of Conditions-Naharnet
Lebanese expats who came to vote are boosting tourism sector, says minister-Daily Star
US envoy meets Sleiman as part of Mideast peace push-Daily Star
Sfeir: Poll result averted takeover by Iran, Syria-Daily Star
'Israeli citizen' voted in Lebanon's elections-Daily Star
Hizbullah retains strong support despite opposition defeat in polls-Daily Star
Sleiman Franjieh to move to Beirut-Daily Star
After all, politics was not that 'domestic' in Lebanon-Daily Star
Fear of Iran, Obama's words swayed vote-Daily Star
AUB names new vice president of medical affairs-Daily Star

Lebanon progresses positively… the Patriarch speaks the truth
Date: June 12th, 2009 Future News
Waiting for the outcome of the visit of US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell regarding peace in the region, Lebanon is progressing in a positive atmosphere towards the upcoming issues with a new political situation provoked by the victory of the March 14 coalition in the parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile, Maronite Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir noted yesterday that he says the truth in spite of threats, and considered that if the political balance weighed to the other side, Syria and Iran would rule Lebanon. In an interview to Al Masira Magazine, he asked: “Syria withdrew from Lebanon, but did it stop its aspirations?” adding “no matter what they say, the President is the President.”
American congratulations
Additionally, President Michel Sleiman received a phone call from American Vice President Joseph Biden congratulating for the success of the democratic parliamentary elections and asserting the United States will keep on supporting Lebanon.
In the same context, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora received a phone call from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulating for the success of Sunday’s elections, and hailing for the moderate choice of the Lebanese and their commitment to the democratic and legal path. She also stressed on the ongoing American support to the Lebanese constitutional institutions.
On the other hand, Siniora stressed on the necessity of keeping the pressure on Israel to enhance the chances of peace in the region following the Arab peace initiative, and asserted that Lebanon refuses the nationalization of the Palestinians despite any solution.
Commenting on the victory of the March 14 coalition in elections, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that in a democratic regime, the majority rules, thus “after the parliamentary elections, March 14 became the majority, and the results should be respected.”
The Parliament Speaker’s program
As for the local statements, leader of the Lebanese Forces Party Samir Geagea noted that a positive atmosphere is circulating between the Lebanese different sides, especially Hizbullah. He also hoped this positivity will be transmitted the effective political stances, and announced that he is ready to cooperate with others, adding that there is no contacts with Hizbullah and Speaker Nabih Berry regarding the next government composition.
As for the elections of a new Speaker for the Lebanese Parliament, Geagea said that this issue is not yet decided in the party, adding that any candidate will be asked for his program.
Furthermore, Tourism Minister Elie Marouni, who won the Maronite seat of Zahleh district, noted that “Michel Aoun’s claims saying that he represents 70% of the Christians failed.” He added: “It is clear now that Aoun won parliamentary seats not with the voices of the Christians but with the support of Hizbullah.”

Numbers defeat allegations in Kesserwan
Date: June 12th, 2009 Source: Al Shiraa
Deputy Michel Aoun lost 53% of the Christian voters in the parliamentary elections for year 2009 in Kesserwan area, due to this he cannot claim that he represents 70% of the Christians as he did for four years. Now, Aoun tries to allege that he possesses 50% and demands a share in the government according to this percentage, but numbers defeat such allegations.
Aoun got 31861 votes year 2009, and 67433 votes year 2005 and the difference between these results is 35572 votes which means that he declined 52%.
MP Farid Khazen got 31386 votes year 2009 and 56719 votes year 2005, the difference is 25332 votes which means 45% decline.
MP Youssef Khalil got 31313 votes year 2009 and 61740 votes year 2005, the difference is 30427 votes which means 48% decline.
MP Naemtallah Abi Nasr got 30989 votes year 2009 and 59738 votes year 2005. The difference is 28749 votes which makes 48% decline.
MP Gilbert Zouein got 30444 votes year 2009, and 52376 votes year 2005, the difference is 21932 votes which makes 42% decline.
These numbers confirms Aoun’s decline in Kesserwan, his popular base, in addition to his loss of the Christian seats in Beirut, Koura, Batroun, and Bsherri which March 14 alliance won.
For all the mentioned reasons, Aoun must quit the Christian leadership and confess that there is no absolute Christian leadership.

Sleiman: I support Saad Hariri for the next government
Date: June 12th, 2009 Source: Al Akhbar
President Michel Sleiman said Friday Almustaqbal leader Saad Hariri is the sole legitimate candidate for the next post of premiership after his winning of the majority seats in last week’s parliamentary elections.
Sleiman, in a lengthy interview with the opposition-run Al-Akhbar newspaper, described this year’s parliamentary elections as one of the accomplishments of the national unity government being the first in decades that had witnessed no external interference or internal pressure and manipulation of results.
Sleiman hailed the positive reaction of the Lebanese factions after the results were announced and their agreement that “the president of the republic must play a comprehensive role in the new cabinet,” he said.
“National accord is what matters to me and after we succeed in forming the cabinet, we will focus our efforts on reform and all pending files,” he added.
“Saad Hariri showed an inclination toward heading the new government, and I support him,” he said. “The general situation is adequate for Hariri to become the next premier or else, I would have convinced him otherwise. Hariri has the legitimate right to head the new cabinet for having the biggest parliamentary bloc.”
Sleiman refrained from commenting on the exact figures of the elections results or the representation of the Lebanese factions’ in the coming government but he insisted that the minority and majority be represented in the next cabinet.
Sleiman refrained from commenting on whether the veto powers are going to be given to the minority or to him saying “the president of the republic is the only guarantee for the resistance arms and for the formation of the next government.
“I will present the issue of the pending budget to the new cabinet and if it does not attain consensus, we will resort to voting,” he maintained.
Sleiman defended the national unity government that emerged from the 2008 Doha Agreement and explained the circumstances that led to its formation to alleviate political tension.
“The Taëf Agreement is the basis for national accord and must be implemented fully.” The Taëf, a Saudi-brokered peace accord that was ratified in 1989, ended lebanon’s 15 years of civil war. Sleiman said that he urged parliament to fulfill three demands to protect the Constitutional Council from possible obstruction in the future “to empower the President of the Republic to dismantle the cabinet if it fails to appoint members of the Constitutional Council in three consecutive meetings. In addition, to amend the law of the Constitutional Council to adopt a different method in the appointment of its members, like the appointment of the members of the French Constitutional Council, which gives the President of the Republic and the Presidents of the Senate and National Assembly the right to appoint nine members so that not to hinder the election of members of the Council. Moreover, to extend the time limit for electoral appeals until all the Constitutional Council members are elected.”

Vote for bombs or business
John Lyons | June 13, 2009
The Australian
12 June 2009
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25626969-15084,00.html
THE man in the money exchange booth in Beirut has an analysis of Lebanon's election as good as any I've heard. Holding up a $1 note he says: "Hariri means dollar." Then, pretending to hold a gun in the air, he says: "Hezbollah. Boom!"
They don't like boom around here in Hamra, one of Beirut's thriving tourist areas.
It's different in some parts of Lebanon; the 40,000 missiles that Hezbollah claims to have along the border with Israel suggest someone doesn't mind it.
But, around here, boom kills business and people.
Meanwhile, in Iran, thousands take to the streets of Tehran and openly criticise the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as they campaign for reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi for this weekend's election.
The Mousavi campaign has run various slogans targeting the stricter religious rules Ahmadinejad has enforced, including women being liable to lashes if they wear clothes that reveal flesh or body shape or do not cover their hair with a scarf, or hijab. One Mousavi slogan has been: "No to hijab, no to whipping, yes to freedom of choice."
In a country officially called the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was founded by an ayatollah and whose supreme leader is an ayatollah, this is radical.
While Iran's election has yet to be decided, Lebanon went to the polls peacefully last weekend and voted to keep Hezbollah from formally taking control, a huge leap in a country awash with weapons.
The result highlights two Lebanons: the victorious March 14 Alliance, led by Saad Hariri, which is popular among young Lebanese who want to engage with the world, and the defeated March 8 Alliance whose support base, Hezbollah, is made up of fundamentalist Shi'ite Muslims who look to Iran for religious and financial support. It is to Hariri that the man in the money exchange booth looks for the future wellbeing of Lebanon.
The rise of Hezbollah - the Party of God - seemed inevitable. One of Shia Islam's best organised machines, Hezbollah's central policy is resistance against Israel. In May last year its fighters took over the streets of Beirut because the government decided to close Hezbollah's secure telecommunications system, which helps it avoid Israeli and Lebanese interception, and to remove Hezbollah control at Beirut airport.
The Lebanese army was unprepared to take the fighters on, knowing who would win. The government backed down and Hezbollah was given power of veto over all government decisions where it can muster one-third of the votes in the parliament, which is a given.
The money exchange man says he desperately wants to keep Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah out of government "for Lebanon's sake".
So do many of the young people in Hamra. So, too, it seems, do the majority of the 12,000 Lebanese Australians who voted; so do the men working at the rental car company.
"Nasrallah would turn Lebanon into Gaza," one tells Inquirer. Hezbollah's resistance against Israel is as far from the reality of these people's lives as it is for people living in Melbourne or London.
At the same time there have been some equally significant developments in Iran.
Under the all-powerful ayatollahs, dissent has not been allowed. But as Iran prepares for this weekend's election something unprecedented is happening; people have started openly expressing opposition to Ahmadinejad's regime.
Iran and Lebanon reflect the broader Arab and Muslim worlds where younger people, in particular, are questioning whether Islamic fundamentalism and government are a good combination.
It was unprecedented for the regime to back down on a ban three weeks ago on the use of Facebook for campaigning. And it was unprecedented that Mousavi campaigned with his wife alongside him.
Mousavi believes in greater freedom for women and argues that Ahmadinejad's rhetoric denying the Holocaust and attacking Israel and Jews is unacceptable. His campaign has asked Iranians a central question: what has Ahmadinejad's anti-Western rhetoric achieved?
While the West focuses on Ahmadinejad's ambition for nuclear weapons, the economy has been the centrepiece of the election campaign.
As the oil price has fallen and sanctions have bitten, Iranians have felt hardship.
Under Ahmadinejad the role of the religious police also has increased. It is common for women, particularly in northern Tehran, who are not properly dressed to be put in the back of a police car and taken for questioning.
One foreign woman who works in Iran tells Inquirer that recently she was walking along the street in Tehran when two female officers stopped her and told her to wipe off her lipstick.
However, it would be wrong to suggest that everything is changing. In Lebanon, Hezbollah still controls the weapons.
The biggest judgment Hariri must make is whether he is strong enough to wind back Hezbollah's power. Hariri campaigned to remove Hezbollah's one-third blocking veto over government decisions and to reduce Hezbollah's weapons. Both actions would almost certainly trigger a violent response by Hezbollah.
"The majority must commit not to question our role as a resistance party, the legitimacy of our weapons arsenal and the fact that Israel is an enemy state," Hezbollah MP Mohammed Raud said after the result.
The two Lebanons are obvious to see when Inquirer takes a tour of one of Hezbollah's strongholds, the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Leaving the city we drive past the Sabra and Shatila camps for Palestinian refugees, made famous in 1982 after 800 Palestinians were massacred there by militia allied to Israel.
Not far from here is Hezbollah's media office. New media director Ibrahim Mousawi must be one of the few people anywhere who has not just one gun on his business card but two; one in gold and one in grey. Pacifist Hezbollah is not.
"We have run a good campaign," he says. "Not perfect, but good."
While Nasrallah, with his firebrand speeches vowing wrath on Israel, is the face of Hezbollah across the world, Mousawi, a PhD from the University of Birmingham, attempts to be the accommodating face.
Entering Hezbollah territory is like entering a different country: the heavy Lebanese army presence is nowhere to be seen and is replaced by Hezbollah's army, complete with uniforms.
Although the location of Nasrallah's home is secret because of fears that the Israelis want to kill him, one local tells me he knows where it is, then takes me down a side street. Uniformed Hezbollah soldiers sitting on the corners of an otherwise abandoned block suggest someone of importance is being guarded.
Recently a Canadian journalist thought he had an interview with Nasrallah. After several hours of moving to different locations he was about to go through the final door when suddenly Hezbollah's security men panicked and rushed him away, convinced the Israelis had somehow monitored his mobile phone and could tell where he was.
The enthusiastic local takes me past Hezbollah's military headquarters, behind a large gate guarded by Hezbollah soldiers. Around here are dozens of new buildings that have replaced those bombed by Israel in 2006. Iranian funding is obvious from the many buildings displaying Iranian names.
One of the reasons for Hezbollah's popularity is that it fills the vacuum of an inefficient government. The party builds schools and houses, runs welfare services, provides jobs in its construction companies, which rebuild the destroyed houses and provides clean drinking water.
Yet Lebanon this week chose Hariri's dollar over Hezbollah's boom. Now Iran has an equally stark choice, between opening doors to the international community and remaining in the veiled world of fundamentalism and firebrand rhetoric.

No Mideast deal at Lebanon's expense: US envoy
By Khalil Fleihan – 6 hours ago
BEIRUT (AFP) — The United States will not sacrifice Lebanon as it seeks to reach comprehensive peace in the Middle East, US envoy George Mitchell said on Friday in Beirut before heading to Syria.
"Lebanon will play a key role in the long term effort to build lasting, comprehensive peace and stability in the Middle East," Mitchell said after meeting separately with President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.
"Clearly, there can be no lasting solution reached at Lebanon's expense and we look forward to continuing to work with Lebanon to build this solution."
During the seven-hour visit to Beirut, the US envoy also met with Saad Hariri, leader of the US-backed coalition that increased its parliamentary majority in Sunday's election, defeating an alliance led by the Hezbollah militant group.
Mitchell said his latest regional tour, which includes stops in Israel, the West Bank, Egypt and Jordan, and previous visits were proof that US President Barack Obama's administration was committed to "actively and aggressively" seek peace in the region.
"This includes supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state as a homeland for the Palestinian people as soon as possible," Mitchell said.
According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), there are between 350,000 and 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in 12 refugee camps across Lebanon, which has a total population of more than four million.
Sleiman said Lebanon was ready to take party in any international peace conferences based on the Saudi-sponsored Arab peace initiative.
The 2002 plan, backed by all 22 members of the Arab League, offers Israel full normalisation in return for a withdrawal from territory occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, a Palestinian state and an equitable solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.
On a visit to Beirut ahead of the vote, US Vice President Joe Biden had hinted that Washington may cut off military aid if the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah coalition won.
Damascus was Lebanon's powerbroker for nearly three decades until it was forced to pull out its troops from the country in the aftermath of the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, Saad's billionaire father.
Mitchell hailed the June 7 parliamentary election in Lebanon, as "a milestone" for the country and said Washington remains steadfast in its support for a "sovereign, free and independent Lebanon".
Before heading for Damascus where he is due to hold talks with Syrian officials on Saturday, Mitchell met in Beirut with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana who arrived earlier Friday for a two-day visit.
Solana will meet on Saturday with top Lebanese officials and, for the first time, with a Hezbollah MP.Copyright © 2009 AFP.

Why March 14 Won ebanon’s Elections
By: Rannie Amiri.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/opinion/?id=32699
Last Updated 2009-06-12
The results of Lebanon’s June 7 parliamentary elections are in. And defying expectations, the US, Israel, and Saudi-backed “March 14” Alliance managed to maintain its majority in the Chamber of Deputies and claim victory. This came as a relative surprise since many had predicted the “March 8” Alliance of Hezbollah, Amal, and the Free Patriotic Movement of Michel Aoun would ultimately triumph.
Of parliament’s 128 seats, split evenly among Muslims and Christians, March 14 won 68 and March 8, 57. Three independent candidates will apparently be siding with the former giving them a total of 71; a net gain of one over the previous 70-58 distribution.
Twenty-seven seats in parliament are allocated to Shia Muslims and as expected, all went to the March 8 Alliance. Similarly, of the 27 allotted to Sunni Muslims, all went to March 14. It was the Christian vote therefore – particularly the Maronite one – which ultimately tipped the balance in favor of the pro-Western coalition to the delight of the US and their Arab allies.
Lost in the jubilation among the supporters of Saad Hariri, head of the largest party in the March 14 Alliance and its de facto head, was that the Hezbollah-led opposition handily won the popular vote. It can be factually stated that the majority of Lebanese did not vote for the March 14 group. Although certainly not insignificant, due to the distribution of seats based on electoral district, this does not change the outcome of the contest.
So how did March 14 do it?
The reasons are multifactorial, but primarily involve heavy-handed American interference, Israeli threats and salient domestic political endorsements:
• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the first high-profile US administration official to swoop into Beirut, remarkably calling for no “foreign interference” in the upcoming elections while simultaneously intimating that American support for the country will be contingent on the proverbial “moderate voices” emerging victorious. It may have been an exceptionally short visit, but it was time enough to deliver the intended message.
• Next came Vice President Joseph Biden, who visited in May. He candidly stated the US would “ … evaluate the shape of our assistance programs [to Lebanon] based on the composition of the new government and the policies it advocates.”
• President Obama’s generally well-received June 4 address to the Muslim world in Cairo quite intentionally highlighted Lebanon’s Maronite Christian minority in remarks on the “richness of religious diversity” (despite the fact no single religious sect in Lebanon actually forms a majority).
• As if the President, Vice-President, and Secretary of State were not enough, in the waning hours prior to the poll, it was Deputy Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman’s turn. In a decidedly condescending manner, he appealed to the “intelligence” of the Lebanese people and implored they recognize the election’s outcome will “ … naturally affect the world’s stance towards the new Lebanese government and the manner in which the United States and Congress deal with Lebanon.” He further went on to say they should be “smart enough” to understand the ramifications of not siding with America’s preferred coalition.
• Israeli conducted large-scale military maneuvers on the border with Lebanon in the days prior to the elections, while previously forewarning of the possible deleterious consequences should the Hezbollah-led alliance win. No doubt the memory of Israel’s 2006 onslaught remained fresh in the minds of many.
• In a May speech, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah referred to the day a year back when his men swept through West Beirut (after Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s cabinet declared the group’s strategic telecommunications network illegal) as “glorious.” It was a poor choice of words, although the intent was to refer to its outcome: the Doha Accords. This ended the political stalemate between March 8 and March 14 and paved the way to fill a vacant presidency:
“I tell the Lebanese, in particular Sunnis and Shias, that the May 7 events put an end to war in Beirut. The May 7 events safeguarded Lebanon's institutions and forced all Lebanese parties to go back to the [national] dialogue, which led to the election of President Michel Suleiman.”
The events of that day were particularly bitter for the Hariri faction, and Nasrallah’s unnecessary reminder surely gave them the opportunity needed to exploit it prior to the vote.
• The influential Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir also chimed in, warning his community on election eve of the potential threat to “Lebanon’s character and Arab identity” should a certain coalition win. The racist admonition was a clear endorsement of the March 14 Alliance.
For the critical undecided, swing Maronite voters torn between the two coalitions (each of which has prominent Maronite representation) or those uneasy with a Hezbollah partnership, the above factors led them to “play it safe” and cast their lot with March 14. This was enough to decide the election.
The weeks and months ahead will see intense deliberations and negotiations between the two camps as a cabinet and government are formed. At issue will be whether the opposition’s “one-third plus one” veto-power in the cabinet as outlined in the Doha Accords will be honored; the selection of a new prime minister (and if Saad Hariri, will he relinquish his Saudi citizenship?); the matter of Hezbollah’s arms; and what new reforms, if any, the government will adopt (the only platform March 14 seemed to run on was that it was not March 8).
Lebanon’s June elections, albeit changing the status quo ante very little, were a lively exercise in democracy in a hotly-contested, yet fair vote. An important component of any democracy however, is the presence of a vigorous and engaged opposition; one able to keep the ruling majority accountable and answerable for their actions.
Of that, Lebanon is assured.
**Rannie Amiri is an independent Middle East commentator.

Is it a Mass Failure but an individual success?
Fri, 12 June 2009
Walid Choucair
In his quick speech evaluating the Lebanese election, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General just said that the votes of the resistance supporters came as “a message to the entire world that armed resistance is neither an armed party’s choice, nor a choice of an armed gang, but a popular choice and an expression of the people's will that must be respected».
This is true, in particular when the Shiite vote in south Lebanon, the northern Bekaa and the southern suburbs of Beirut came in favour of this choice. This wide support base is the main pillar of the Lebanese popular protection of the party’s choices. This is regardless of the party attempts to engage in a useless debate about who has the popular majority, which is nothing but an attempt to reduce the impact of the failure by the opposition to become a Lebanese parliament majority led by the party, which would have become its' backbone and real authority.
The above was put into practice during the elections, when Hezbollah played a major role in putting the opposition’s electoral lists together in many districts, outside of the areas where Hezbollah enjoys the support of the dominant majority. This was also evident in the mobilization of the party’s electoral machine, its halo its excessive self-confidence and the belief that it is invincible and cannot be defeated in the elections.
While there is no question that there is collective Shiite rallying around the party in Lebanon, there was also an urgent need for its supporters to convey to the outside world its response against what Hezbollah’s leaders consider an international campaign aimed against the party. The latter subsequently boasted the election results to show that it indeed has some kind of a popular legitimacy, even when it had been unable to extract a constitutional legitimacy through becoming – along with its allies - a parliamentary majority.
While there is an opinion that the elections did not change anything on the Lebanese scene (another thing that is a subject of debate) because the other party competing in the election has retained its parliamentary majority that it had it in the past four years, the election would have certainly changed a lot of parameters, had Hezbollah - and the opposition - won this majority. Gaining constitutional legitimacy, in addition to popular legitimacy, would have meant a massive gain for Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria, in the context of regional politics, whether these were headed towards negotiations and settlements, or whether they were headed towards confrontation.
Moreover, to say that the party did not want to win the majority because losing would enable it to better manage the situation on the ground - and without having to be at the forefront of events - is contradicted by the excessive self-confidence the opposition had that it will win the elections and then govern. This overconfidence was clearly expressed by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and all his party leaders. This probable was the result of the elation they felt following their use of excessive force on the 7th of May, 2008. Despite the fact that this excessive force failed in the ballot box in general, its remnants are still standing in the form of the arrogant disregard of the evident drop in popularity of the party’s Christian ally - leader of the Free Patriotic Movement General Michel Aoun.
This force has also failed in an even more important area: the party's leadership was unable to penetrate the Sunni street, which remained loyal to Mr. Saad al-Hariri. It might be possible to say that while the party is actually the primary loser in the elections, Mr. Hariri is the main victor if the votes he won were compared to those his allies received. Moreover, some of his allies actually lost some of their share of votes. But this of course does not eliminate the adverse effects of a Sunni-versus-Shiite realignment on the situation in Lebanon and the known risks such a position carries with it.
Nevertheless, this mass failure did not prevent the party from sending out a swarm of individual political messages. In addition to the message sent to the outside world that the resistance is a popular choice, many other internal parties received a lot of meaningful insinuations through the ballot box, which can be classified as part of the party’s electoral gains. These messages can be summarized as follows:
1 – A message sent to the President of the Republic, Michel Suleiman, through the Shiite vote in the district of Jbeil, the president's hometown and where he sought to obtain two seats for the independents aligned with him. The message was that Jbeil belongs to the President only geographically, but belongs to the party and its allies, as far as politics are concerned.
2- A message to General Michel Aoun: That his political career now depends completely on the party, given that the Shiite votes that were given to him (and that represent a huge majority in the Shiite community) are what carried his electoral lists to victory in the districts of Jezzine, Baabda, and Jbeil. Some say that as much as a thousand Shiite votes in Keserwan prevented the former MP Mansour Al-Bon of winning a seat over Aoun’s electoral list. The people behind this opinion even go as far as to say that Aoun’s slight advantage in the Northern Metn was the result of over two thousand Shiite votes in addition to the Tashnaq’s vote’s weighing in favour of Aoun.
3 – A message to Speaker Nabih Berri that even if he is the primary representative of the Shiites, the party is not willing to go along, in its political decision, with Berri in everything. It was for instance the Party's influence that prevented some Shiite parties in the district of Aley from voting – as per Berri’s advice for the sake of his relationship with the progressive socialist party leader Walid Jumblatt – for MP Akram Shehayeb. It was also this same influence that prevented the same thing for MP Ayman Choucair in Baabda. This was even more pronounced when the party did not support Berri’s candidate and personal friend MP Samir Azar in the Jezzine district.
4 – A message to MP Jumblatt that the party will never forgive him his past, despite the openness he has been showing in recent months. This also means that there is no political power for Jumblatt in the district of Baabda without the party’s prior approval.

Saker: Christians sensed the danger of March 8 project
Date: June 12th, 2009 Source: LBC
Newly elected deputy Okab Saker had said Lebanon’s Christians massive voting for the March 14 movement came out of their fear for losing the seats of the Presidency, the Maronite Patriarchy and the Army institution. “Their temperament changed from 2005 to 2009. They discovered that March 8 was a threat to their three main historical constants, namely the Presidency, the Patriarchal seat and the headship of the army,” Saker told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation late Thursday.
Saker, a 34-year-old enthusiastic journalist who struggled against Syria’s 30-year domination of Lebanon, refused accusations made by former deputy Elie Skaff, the long-time leader of the Catholic city of Zahleh who failed to regain his seat. “Let Skaff present documents that prove that our ticket violated the electoral law.”
Elie Skaff headed the March 8 seven-man list that lost the electoral battle against the March 14 alliance on which Saker was nominated.
Saker stated some of the March 8 practices which raised the concerns of the March 14 supporters and led them to vote massively for the coalition’s tickets such as “the campaign on the Maronite Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, their attempts to obstruct the election of the president of the republic as well as the undermining of the army on May 7 and January 23.”
He denounced accusing the March 14 alliance of corruption while insisting to participate in its government “Syria is the source of corruption and has supported publicly its allies in the 2009 elections.”He recalled the words of Faisal el Mekdad, Syrian vice Foreign Minister who said during the Lebanese electoral campaign “we support our allies in Lebanon.”

Booby Trap Parcel Defused at the General Security Department
A package containing about 150g of explosives was found Friday at the General Security Department headquarters in Beirut.General Security members at the headquarters in Adlieh detected the package among others. A military expert inspected the package that contained about 150g of TNT and C4 explosives and a timer, the National News Agency reported.
Security reports explained that the package did not detonate due to technical failure. Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 11:45

Sfeir: Poll result averted takeover by Iran, Syria
Siniora wants Hariri to be premier
By Therese Sfeir
Daily Star staff 
Friday, June 12, 2009
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said in comments to be published Friday that had the opposition won the June 7 parliamentary polls, "Syria and Iran would have taken control of our country." "They [the opposition] wanted to take over Lebanon, but now President Michel Sleiman rules Lebanon," the patriarch told Al-Massira magazine.
Sfeir said that while Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon, "it still has some ambitions in Lebanon."
Syria ended its 30-year military presence in Lebanon in 2005, amid a wave of anti-Syrian demonstrations in Lebanon following the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
Many blamed the killing on Syria, but Damascus has repeatedly denied involvement.
On Thursday, former US President Jimmy Carter, currently on a visit to Damascus, told Syrian President Bashar Assad that Lebanon's elections were "a real success."
Carter said he had wished to hold talks with Hizbullah officials, but added that they "refused to meet with us."
Carter headed an elections monitoring mission during Lebanon's elections on Sunday.
In other news, the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana will arrive in Beirut Friday for a two-day visit, during which he will meet with President Michel Sleiman, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Speaker Nabih Berri.
Sleiman and Siniora held talks at Baabda Palace Thursday. Siniora told reporters following the meeting that he nominated Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri to head the new government.
Solana will also meet with the members of the Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc.
The chief of European diplomacy will hold a news conference at the Rafik Hariri International Airport on Saturday, before leaving the capital.
Hariri said Thursday that he was willing to offer Hizbullah and its allies in the opposition "guarantees," in return for forming an "efficient government."
During an interview with the Financial Times, Hariri said: "What is needed at this point is for the majority to offer the opposition some guarantees on specific issues, and to form a cabinet that is capable of fulfilling these guarantees."
The Future Movement leader also held Israel responsible for hampering peace efforts in the Middle East. He described Israel's statements about the Lebanese elections as "absurd."
Hariri also rejected claims that the election of US President Barack Obama helped him and his allies in the March 14 Forces to win the elections.
In other developments, the Cabinet will convene on Friday for the first time after the elections. The session, which will be held at the Baabda Palace, will see the discussion of the 2009 draft budget. Sleiman met with Speaker Nabih Berri's political aide, MP Ali Hassan Khalil, on Thursday to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt condemned "attacks launched by some parties against the Armenian community."
In a statement Thursday, Jumblatt criticized those "who are describing the Armenians and the Tashnag party as outsiders."
The PSP leader noted that the Armenians contributed to building the Lebanese state and were one of the pillars in establishing the national pact. "A disagreement between the Tashnag party and another political party does not make the Armenians outsiders," he added.
Separately, Siniora stressed Thursday his keenness on preserving the unity of the Lebanese and principles of Arabism.
Addressing visitors in the Sidon town of Majdalyoun, Siniora said: "We want to protect the Lebanese people's unity, their Arabism, and the unity of Muslims."
"We also want to preserve coexistence, regardless of the misbehavior of some parties," Siniora added.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea reiterated his rejection of the vetoing third in the Cabinet. After a meeting with Siniora on Thursday, Geagea said: "Our stance is clearly against the veto power in government because it brings nothing new."
Meanwhile, MP Marwan Hamadeh warned that the majority March 14 alliance would not accept the re-election of Berri as Parliament speaker unless a number of issues, including the premiership and cabinet formation, were settled.
In remarks published by pan-Arab Ash-Sharq al-Awsat Thursday, Hamadeh stressed the need for a "complete basket," rejecting the re-election of Berri before settling other issues.
In a news conference Wednesday, Former Minister Nassib Lahoud said the elections "confirmed that the Lebanese people can rely on the democratic game as a peaceful means for governance." However, Lahoud added that the March 14 Forces would have been able to achieve a wider majority if it had avoided major mistakes, especially in the districts of Metn and Kesrouan. Lahoud called on the March 14 Forces to "rectify their practices and mistakes in order to benefit from experiences of the past phase."

US envoy meets Sleiman as part of Mideast peace push
Friday, June 12, 2009/Daily Star
BEIRUT: US envoy George Mitchell arrived in Beirut Thursday, just days after Lebanon's pivotal parliamentary elections, for meetings with President Michel Sleiman and other high ranking officials. Mitchell, US President Barack Obama's special regional envoy and a former US Senate Majority Leader, is touring the region pushing Washington's new comprehensive Middle East peace strategy. Thursday Morning, Mitchell met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu al-Gheit in Cairo, where he stressed the US was "working hard to achieve a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, including a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel."
From Cairo, Mitchell travelled to Jordan for talks with King Abdullah and then on to Beirut. He travels to Syria on Friday. Beginning his tour of Israel's Arab neighbors, he noted in Cairo Thursday the need for regional cooperation. A comprehensive peace includes "peace between Israel and its other immediate neighbors and full normalization of relations between Israel and all of the Arab nation as contemplated but the Arab peace initiative," he said.
"The Arab states have an important role to play," Mitchell added, echoing Obama, who delivered an address to the Muslim world from Cairo University last Friday. Mitchell has highlighted the specific importance of Lebanon and Syria to any comprehensive plan. Obama and members of his administration have labeled the Arab Peace Initiative, which offers full normalization for land occupied since 1967 and was backed by all 22 Arab nations, an important beginning to new negotiations.
Mitchell met with Israeli leaders Tuesday and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.
After meeting with Abbas, Mitchell reaffirmed Washington's stance that "the only viable resolution to this conflict is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states."
In addition, he said that Washington is hoping a "for prompt resumption and early conclusion of negotiations."
Mitchell is one of several high-ranking officials to visit Lebanon in recent months, and his trip comes only days after parliamentary elections won by the March 14 coalition. US Vice President Joe Biden visited the country last month ahead of the vote, weeks after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a high-profile visit.
According to local media, Clinton telephoned Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Thursday to congratulate him on Sunday's elections, and the Lebanese people for choosing the path of democracy and moderation. Since January a string of US officials have also traveled to Syria for meetings with Syrian President Bashar Assad, indicating a potential thaw in relations between Washington and Damascus. Turkish-brokered peace talks between Syria and Israel were suspended during the Gaza war in December and January and the US is keen to see negotiations begin again. Washington is also said to be exploring the possibility of Lebanese-Israeli talks. While in Lebanon Mitchell was reportedly scheduled to meet with, in addition to Sleiman, Siniora, Speaker Nabih Berri, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh and MP Saad Hariri. - Agencies

Suleiman: The President is the Guarantee of Majority and Opposition
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman expressed optimism at the positive reactions of the March 8 and 14 camps to the election results and tendency to stress on the head of state's bigger role in the upcoming stage. He told al-Akhbar newspaper in an interview published Friday that consensus was the ultimate objective and said the next cabinet should include both majority and opposition. "The president is the real guarantee for the resistance's weapons, the issue of reforms and formation of the new cabinet," Suleiman said. He stressed that his guarantee is twofold: for the majority and the opposition. Suleiman also voiced support for Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri's nomination for the premiership. If Hariri is willing to nominate himself, then "I am with this wish." On the Doha accord, Suleiman called for preserving the agreement's spirit and said the Taef accord is the basis of national understanding. On Friday's cabinet session, the president said he will propose the 2009 draft budget for adoption. If agreement was not reached "then we will resort to voting." Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 09:49

Damascus Urges Opposition to Open Up to Hariri, Jumblat
Naharnet/Consultations are underway to form a new government and elect a parliament speaker with MP Saad Hariri most likely the man to become Lebanon's next prime minister and incumbent Speaker Nabih Berri will almost certainly retain his post. The daily An Nahar on Friday said the overall internal and external atmosphere reflects a drive for getting over with these two events with minimum obstacles and hindrances. Meanwhile, Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun raised the question of proportional representation in the government, a sign that government formation could face difficulties. As Safir newspaper, for its part, citing Arab diplomatic sources in Beirut, said an "understanding" reached between Syria and Saudi Arabia several months ago regarding formation of a national unity government irrespective of election results was renewed just days ahead of the June 7 parliamentary.
The sources said Riyadh and Damascus, however, did not specify the nature of the structure of the new Cabinet: Does this mean a restoration of veto authority or adoption of new formula that would be acceptable to all parties. They said Hariri could visit Riyadh in the coming days for meetings with senior officials, in addition to the Saudi monarch.
March 14 forces, meanwhile, will hold a broad meeting to declare Hariri's nomination for the premiership provided it would be accompanied with the resumption of talks between Hariri and Berri. Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, accompanied by Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi, met Hariri in Qoreitem overnight. As Safir said Jumblat urged Hariri to step up dialogue with Berri and advised him to maintain contact with Hizbullah. Jumblat has also reportedly urged March 14 forces to open a new page with Aoun "so he won't feel there are those who want to isolate him." Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 11:10

Mitchell Meets Lebanese Officials in Beirut
Naharnet/U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell held separate talks with President Michel Suleiman and Premier Fouad Saniora on Friday.
Mitchell arrived in Beirut from Amman in the morning. U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison met him at Beirut airport. The U.S. envoy will head to the Syrian capital after his brief visit to Beirut following Sunday's parliamentary elections that saw the March 14 coalition defeat the Hizbullah-led alliance. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters in Washington that Mitchell's trip to Syria and Lebanon is partly a "follow-up" to President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo last week and that Washington rated it a "very high priority."The Obama administration has been cautiously pursuing diplomatic engagement with Syria, which has long had strained ties with Washington, in a bid to promote peace in the Middle East. On Thursday, Mitchell held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II, a key player in efforts to steer the Middle East peace process back on track. Local newspapers said Friday that Mitchell will raise the issue of regional negotiations with Lebanese officials to see whether Lebanon is prepared to take part in peace talks. Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 10:11

March 14 Makes Demands Prior to Accepting Berri as Speaker
Naharnet/It is nearly confirmed that Nabih Berri will retain his post as parliament speaker for a fifth term. The daily As Safir on Friday said Berri circles have rejected "to hear even a whisper on the subject" of making demands over his re-election.  Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat's circles, however, told As Safir that remarks by MP Marwan Hamadeh "reflects his personal position and not that of Jumblat or his (parliamentary) bloc."Hamadeh has warned that the majority March 14 alliance would not accept the re-election of Berri unless a number of issues, including the premiership and cabinet formation, were settled. Hamadeh stressed the need for a "complete basket," rejecting the re-election of Berri before settling other issues. Al Liwaa newspaper on Friday, citing sources from March 14 forces, reported a series of conditions put forth by the majority prior to accepting Berri's re-election.
The majority wants a balanced management of Parliament and a non- obstruction of Parliament sessions. They also demand that the Speaker take a stance that allows him to have control over parliament meetings. Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 12:33

2 Wounded in Security Mishap between Mustaqbal, Saad's Men in Sidon
Naharnet/Security forces early Friday restored calm to the southern city of Sidon soon after a midnight mishap between Ossama Saad's bodyguard and Mustaqbal Movement supporters left two people wounded. A statement by Saad's Popular Nasserite Organization (PNO) said an armed Mustaqbal Movement "gang" ambushed one of the group's cars, a Lada, carrying Saad's daughter, Manar, and a bodyguard, who "miraculously survived."Meanwhile, another Mustaqbal Movement group, opened up heavy gunfire on the houses of PNO partisans in Dar al-Mir neighborhood in the old district of Sidon, the statement added. The daily An Nahar on Friday, citing PNO sources, said Saad's car had just passed by Quds Square shortly before midnight when a Mustaqbal vehicle intercepted it, breaking the windshield. This, according to the sources, prompted the bodyguard/driver to shoot at the assailants, wounding two men identified as brothers Bilal and Akram Hankir. They were taken to Sidon's Hammoud Hospital. Mustaqbal Movement sources, however, said the incident erupted when Saad's driver shot at the Hankir brothers, provoking interference by friends who rushed to Quds Square, breaking the car's windows. The mishap quickly developed and dozens of Sidon residents took to the streets, many gathering outside Saad's mansion, to express their anger. Lebanese army and police dispatched forces to restore order to the city, setting up checkpoints and running patrols.
Saad stressed that Sidon's security was a "redline." He urged fellow citizens to exercise calm and avoid being driven to civil strife. Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 08:15

Damascus Urges Opposition to Open Up to Hariri, Jumblat
Naharnet/Consultations are underway to form a new government and elect a parliament speaker with MP Saad Hariri most likely the man to become Lebanon's next prime minister and incumbent Speaker Nabih Berri will almost certainly retain his post.The daily An Nahar on Friday said the overall internal and external atmosphere reflects a drive for getting over with these two events with minimum obstacles and hindrances. Meanwhile, Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun raised the question of proportional representation in the government, a sign that government formation could face difficulties. As Safir newspaper, for its part, citing Arab diplomatic sources in Beirut, said an "understanding" reached between Syria and Saudi Arabia several months ago regarding formation of a national unity government irrespective of election results was renewed just days ahead of the June 7 parliamentary.
The sources said Riyadh and Damascus, however, did not specify the nature of the structure of the new Cabinet: Does this mean a restoration of veto authority or adoption of new formula that would be acceptable to all parties. They said Hariri could visit Riyadh in the coming days for meetings with senior officials, in addition to the Saudi monarch.
March 14 forces, meanwhile, will hold a broad meeting to declare Hariri's nomination for the premiership provided it would be accompanied with the resumption of talks between Hariri and Berri. Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, accompanied by Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi, met Hariri in Qoreitem overnight. As Safir said Jumblat urged Hariri to step up dialogue with Berri and advised him to maintain contact with Hizbullah. Jumblat has also reportedly urged March 14 forces to open a new page with Aoun "so he won't feel there are those who want to isolate him." Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 11:10

New Parliamentary Bloc between Mustaqbal, Allied MPs
Naharnet/A new parliamentary bloc is in the works that should group deputies from Saad Hariri's Mustaqbal Movement and a number of MPs allied with him.
Hariri, in remarks published by the daily An Nahar on Friday, said various suggestions have been proposed, including formation of a parliamentary bloc grouping Mustaqbal MPs and a number of deputies allied with him and who were on his electoral lists in different regions.
Hariri, however, stressed that the new bloc would be working "under the roof of March 14 forces."
"This bloc would activate the work of March 14 forces and enhance productivity of Parliament," Hariri said. Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 09:09

Jumblat: Dialogue with Syria is Inevitable
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said dialogue with Syria is inevitable, adding that any relationship with Damascus, however, should be under the banner of Taef Accord."Dialogue with Syria is unavoidable," Jumblat said in an interview published Friday by the daily Al Akhbar. "My situation, however, is different from that of Saad Hariri," he explained. "He (Hariri) can (talk to the Syrians). I cannot, given that I had verbally attacked (President) Bashar Assad," Jumblat said. "No one has gone way beyond the limits to assault Assad as much I did," headmitted. Jumblat, however, said he believed good Lebanese-Syrian relations are "inevitable" for historic and geographical reasons. "However, any ties with Syria should be under the banner of Taef," the Druze leader insisted. On Hizbullah arms, Jumblat said that the only guarantee with regards to the Shiite group's weapons is "continuation of (national) dialogue." Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 09:48

Ban for Quick Formation of Lebanese Cabinet
Naharnet/U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that the Lebanese should quickly form a new government, adding that it is up to them to decide what kind of democratic models they will establish. Ban told a press conference in New York that he strongly encouraged President Michel Suleiman, Premier Fouad Saniora and MP Saad Hariri to form a government "as soon as possible." "I am going to closely monitor and discuss this matter and coordinate not only with the Lebanese political leaders, but also other key leaders," Ban said.
He told reporters that his consistent policy and stance on the situation in Lebanon has been "democratization, peace and stability."
"I am very much encouraged by the election results, which have been largely free from violence. It means that the Lebanese government and people have (taken) a step forward towards mature democracy and better security and stability," he said.
Asked by An Nahar daily's correspondent, what models and lessons should the Arab world and other countries in the region learn from the Lebanese experience, Ban said: "What we can learn from Lebanon is that when the political leaders of a country cooperate with a sense of understanding and flexibility … then we would be able to reduce the differences of opinions and we will see peace and stability quicker." It "is up to the people, what kind of model they will establish, they will form. That is up to the people to decide in Lebanon," the U.N. chief stressed.
Turning to another front, Ban said that the Middle East diplomatic Quartet is tentatively set to meet in Italy later this month.
"I look forward to the next meeting of the Quartet, tentatively scheduled for later this month in Italy," he told the press conference.
Diplomats said the meeting of the Quartet -- the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States -- was likely to take place on the sidelines of a G8 ministerial session on Pakistan and Afghanistan scheduled for June 25-27 in Trieste.
"There is encouraging momentum on which to build," Ban added, referring to U.S. President Barack Obama's Cairo speech on relations with the Islamic world last week.
"President Obama's address in Cairo has lent new momentum to the peace process," the U.N. chief said. "The rights of both peoples, Palestinians and Israelis, to self-determination, statehood and security are the basis of any policy going forward." Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 08:50

Damascus: Our Stance From The Next Lebanese Cabinet Built on Relations With the Resistance and Us
Naharnet/Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad said his country's stance concerning the next Lebanese government would be built on two factors: first how this government would deal with Syria and bilateral relations, and second on the manner in, which the Lebanese government would handle the issue of Hizbullah's arms. Miqdad added: "we see a necessity for Lebanon to have such arms in face of the Israeli occupation."The Syrian official who was speaking Thursday in Damascus at a political symposium that included university professors said: "the disclosure of the Israeli espionage networks, in addition to the recent publishing by the German magazine Der Spiegel clearly points that those that committed the assassination of Lebanon's ex-premier Rafik Hariri wanted to damage inter-Arab and Lebanese-Syrian relations." Beirut, 11 Jun 09, 18:11

Lebanese expats who came to vote are boosting tourism sector, says minister
Marouni upbeat about prospects of booming tourist season
By Osama Habib
Daily Star staff
Friday, June 12, 2009
BEIRUT: Tourism Minister Elie Marouni said Thursday the bulk of the Lebanese who arrived in Lebanon in May and the first week of June came to take part in the parliamentary elections which saw March 14 retain the majority in the Parliament. "It's true that many of the Lebanese who arrived in big numbers came to vote. But it is also true that many of them spent a few weeks here, which helped boost the tourist season," Marouni told The Daily Star in an exclusive interview.
According to statistics provide by the Tourism Ministry, the number of visitors in the month of May alone who came through Rafik Hariri International Airport reached 135,500, of which 50,208 are from Arab countries.
The minister said this was the biggest number of Lebanese visitors in one month.
These statistics confirm reports that the Lebanese expatriates played a big role in changing the outcome of parliamentary elections.
The ministry said the 50,208 Arab visitors represent an increase of 120,84 percent compared to the month of May 2008.
Marouni was very upbeat about the prospects of a booming tourism season after the elections are over.
"I expect more than 2 million visitors in 2009 and many of them will probably be Lebanese expatriates," he said.
The minister, who was elected a deputy in Zahle district, said the Lebanese diaspora alone can improve the tourism sector.
"If we count on Lebanese expatriates and immigrants alone, the tourism sector will experience an amazing growth never seen before," he said.
Officials claim that the number of Lebanese in Brazil, the United States and Europe are estimated to be more than 8 million. However, this figure can't be substantiated by reliable independent groups.
Lebanon relies heavily on tourism to achieve growth and boost the foreign currency reserves.
But the tourism sector suffered big setbacks in 2006 and 2007 due to a series of security incidents and most notably Israel's devastating war on Lebanon in July 2006.
Marouni stressed that the number of visitors in the first five months of 2009 jumped four times from the same period of last year.
"In some of the months we saw an increase of more than 100 percent growth in the number of visitors," he said.
The minister added that the hotels in Beirut and Mount Lebanon are 100 percent booked during the summer season.
He said that the ministry plans to launch a wide media campaign to promote the rest of the areas which did benefit from the tourism boom.
Marouni confirmed that in the coming few years Arab investors plan to invest billions of dollars in tourist projects, which include hotels and resorts in Beirut and the mountain.
But Paul Aryss, president of the restaurant owners syndicate, said the restaurant business fell by 30 percent three weeks before the parliamentary elections.
"We did not see any growth in the restaurant sectors. Apparently most of the Lebanese came here for a couple of weeks to cast their votes and head back to where they came from," Aryss said.
He added that most of these Lebanese who came to vote stay in their own homes or the homes of their parents.
But Aryss believes the number of tourists will surely rise considerably now that the elections have ended peacefully.
"Hotels and Middle East Airlines are fully booked this summer and this will reflect positively on the restaurant business," he said.
Aryss was confident that over a million Lebanese from the US and other countries will come to Lebanon this summer.
"Lebanese expatriates are the unknown soldiers in the tourism industry because they make a big difference to our sector," he said.

'Israeli citizen' voted in Lebanon's elections
By Patrick Galey
Daily Star staff
Friday, June 12, 2009
BEIRUT: Two elderly sisters arrested for possessing Israeli documents were released from custody on Wednesday. The women, reportedly in their early 70s, are both Lebanese citizens currently living in Occupied Jerusalem. The pair flew into the Rafik Hariri International airport last week, one on a Lebanese passport, the other on a US passport. They were detained this week after being found in possession of some Israeli currency and an expired Israeli passport, belonging to one of their husbands, who are both Palestinians.
One of the women, who are believed to come from the Metn town of Bikfaya, had voted in Sunday's Lebanese elections, according to a well-informed security source.
The other woman was visiting Lebanon in order to care for a sick relative and organize his transfer to the US, where he is to receive medical treatment, the source added. There is no indication that she voted on Sunday.
It is believed that the pair, both members of the Moussa family, had forgotten to remove Israeli items from their possession before they were arrested.
General Ashraf Rifi, head of Internal Security Forces, said the women had been released without charge on Wednesday. "These women were Lebanese and their husbands were Palestinian. The reason they were arrested was because of their husbands, who had Israeli passports. It wasn't the first time they have been to Lebanon and they have now been released," he told The Daily Star.
An Israeli news service reported on Wednesday that the women were Israeli citizens but that their Lebanese origin has since emerged.
Their arrest came as the number of people in Lebanon detained on charges of spying for Israel reached 68. On Tuesday, three more people were held by Lebanese security forces.
"They are accused of collaborating with the Israeli enemy for money and giving it information about civilian and military outposts," said one judicial official.
The arrests are part of an increased security operation to crack down on spy rings. Suspects in cases relating to national security are often held for months before formal charges are brought against them.
Several of those charged are still at large and security forces have said they suspect three spies to have fled across the border into Israel.
Last Friday, two Lebanese employees with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were released after allegations of spying proved to be unfounded.
Three days earlier a Lebanese Army colonel was arrested on suspicion of providing Israel with information.
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) recently circulated a message among its troops warning against Israeli attempts to infiltrate the military.
Lebanon has formally complained to the UN about what it says is Israeli espionage, calling it a breach of a Security Council resolution that brought the 2006 war to an end.
The country is still in a state of war with Israel and convicted spies face a sentence of life imprisonment, or even the death penalty if it can be proved that their leaked information contributed to Lebanese loss of life.

From Martyrs to the Living
Thu, 11 June 2009
Ghassan Charbel/Al Hayat
Saad Hariri won and then cried next to his father’s tomb. So did Nayla Tueni and Nadim Bashir Gemayel. Sami Gemayel won and then cried next to the tomb of his brother Pierre. Sleiman Tony Frangieh won and then was flooded with memories and tears.
The country’s scenes are heartbreaking.
Every winner is welcomed by tears – searing tears that burn the joy of victory.
Hezbollah achieved a sweeping victory at the heart of its community. The Shiites voted for the stream of martyrs. Walid Kamal Jumblatt achieved a sweeping victory at the heart of his community. The Druzes voted for their first martyr and all those who followed. Samir Geagea knows that the Lebanese Forces supporters voted for their first martyr and all those who followed. The same can be said of Amine Gemayel and Dory Chamoun.
The country’s scenes are heartbreaking.
In Sidon, the martyr’s sister competed with the martyr’s son. In Tripoli a martyr’s supporters competed with a martyr’s brother. In Zghorta a martyr’s son competed with a martyr’s son.
The winner was flooded with memories and tears. The loser was flooded with memories and tears. It is as if the country were a jungle of martyrs and of tears.
From Marouf Saad in 1975 to Wissam Eid in 2008… a river of martyrs. This one defended the country’s borders. This other one defended his existence in it. That one defended the borders of his freedom. That other one defended the borders of his fears or vision. Strong men turned into weak men by the great game. Free men turned into prisoners. Brave men turned into martyrs. How we wished for the martyr we were burying to be the last martyr. But he wasn’t. We renewed our wish after a new martyr and our disappointment was renewed.
A confession must be made. We mastered goodbyes and condolences. We excelled at eulogies. It has been decades since we wrote about a light, even at the end of the tunnel. Every time there was a glimmer of hope, someone came to snatch it away. Every time there was the hint of a dream, someone came to cut it short.
Heartbreaking scenes…
The walls have forgotten the images that crossed them. Neither winter nor time is merciful. But the images are still hanging on the walls of houses and in the bones of their inhabitants. The face of a bereaved mother gets wrinkled next to the images. Sadness kills the features of a widow. Pain flows in the veins of an orphan.
It is like a jungle of martyrs and tears.
A good citizen is standing on the balcony. He wants his children to go to school and graduate. He wants them to find job opportunities. He wants to get rid of his grief clothes. He wants to stop marking years with the names of martyrs. He wants to avoid spending his years between two funerals. He wants to avoid standing in the long queue at the Canadian and Australian embassies. This Shiite Sunni Maronite Druze Orthodox citizen bows before martyrs but wants a country for the living. Martyrs are our crown but the living are our future.
The recent elections have no meaning if they do not promise the Lebanese a state in which to live, or a quasi-state with an open door towards its completion. The absence of the state assassinates both the martyrs and the living; truth and hope. The absence of the state wastes the blood of those residing under and above the ground.
I bow before all martyrs. They are the country’s crown and medals. But I ask Nabih Berri, Hassan Nasrallah, Michel Aoun, Saad Hariri, Amine Gemayel, Walid Jumblatt, and Samir Geagea to deal with the election results as an engagement to put the balance of martyrs, in all their positions, at the service of the establishment of a state for the living… A fair state with modern institutions… A state that accommodates the oddities of the Lebanese mine… A state that accommodates the various colors, allegiances, and interpretations under the ceiling of the law.
The martyrs demand the leaders of the living to cross to the state and take tough and painful decisions. Nothing hurts martyrs more than welcoming more martyrs. The martyrs know that the happy country is the one that does not need more martyrs.
 

Lebanese vote for the status quo
Paul Cochrane
http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/3364.cfm
June 11, 2009
In Lebanon's hotly contested elections on June 7, the Lebanese overwhelmingly voted to retain the status quo, ostensibly rubber-stamping the continuation of sectarianism, corruption, cronyism and dynastic rule.
Since the withdraw of Syria from Lebanon in 2005, the country has been divided into two camps. The March 14 coalition—a mixture of Sunni Muslim, Christian and Druze parties—which has largely dominated politics since the end of the civil war, won a majority in Sunday's parliamentary elections, securing 71 of a possible 128 seats. The remaining seats—save two that went to independents—went to the opposition March 8 coalition, led by Shiite parties Hezbollah and Amal, and Christian parties Muarada and the Free Patriotic Movement (F.P.M.) of General Michel Aoun.
But while the outcome of the election was a marginal victory for the so-called "pro-Western" March 14 coalition and a defeat for the pro-Iran and pro-Syria Hezbollah and its allies, the election reinforced the political processes that have dogged the country since independence.
Under the National Covenant, the presidency is allocated to a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni, and the speaker of the house a Shiite, while the parliament, following the Taif Accord in 1989 that ended the civil war, is split 64:64 between Christians and Muslims. As a result, all the major political parties are sectarian and the majority former civil war militias: Shiite parties Amal and Hezbollah, Christian parties the Lebanese Forces, Phalange, F.P.M. and Muarada, and the Druze Progressive Socialist Party (P.S.P.). The leading Sunni party, Future, is an exception, only formed post civil war.
As a combination of fear, self-interest and tribalism, all left over from the civil war, the 54.8% of Lebanese that turned out to vote did so overwhelmingly along sectarian lines and client allegiances—allegiances that purport to safeguard that sectarian identity and, through the party and leadership, pull strings, find employment, dole out cash, and so forth.
Neighborhoods, towns and villages are invariably mono-religious, noticeably marked by the political posters, symbols and flags of their respecitve parties. Political leaders have iconic status, with posters of the living and dead adorning walls of houses and shops, the rear windows of cars, and even screensavers of phones and computers. People's allegiances are open and clear, amply demonstrated in the lead up to the elections, and ramping up to a festive display on the eve of the elections.
Supporters took to the streets in towns and cities throughout the country to drive up and down the main strip in cars adorned with posters and waving flags on June 6. Political music blasted from speakers. Many were dressed in the color of their party: orange for F.P.M., yellow for Hezbollah, luminous green for Muarada, and blue for Future. It was the same on the day of the elections until the army, out in force over the past few weeks, banned supporters from flag waving or beeping political tunes on their car horns.
The dynastic side of Lebanon was also evident. In the Muarada town of Zgharta in Northern Lebanon, the posters were of the party's leader, Suleiman Franjieh—the son of an assassinated politician—along with his 22-year-old son, Tony Franjieh, being groomed to succeed his father. Other posters were of Michel Mouawad, son of assassinated President Rene Mouawad.
In Beirut, voters were offered 26-year-old candidate Nayla Tueni, daughter of assassinated politician and editor of An Nahar newspaper Gibran Tueni; Nadim Gemayal, the son of assassinated politician Bachir Gemayal; and Saad Hariri, the billionaire son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Up in the Druze area of the Chouf mountains, P.S.P. leader Walid Jumblatt dominated, the son of Kamal Jumblatt, who was assassinated in 1977, while in Mount Lebanon Sami Gemayal, the 29-year-old brother of assassinated politician Pierre Gemayal and son of former President Amin Gemayal, won a seat.
A Phalange supporter, when asked why he was voting for Nadim Gemayal, replied, "Because he is the son of Sheikh Bashir," referring to Bashir Gemayal, who was assassinated in 1982.
All of the above was enforced through Lebanese media, with the major parties partly or outright owning six television channels, newspapers and radio stations to put forward their messages. These messages, unfortunately, spoke little of improving health care, education, infrastructure, tax reform, or the environment. Some of the biggest problems facing Lebanon barely got a mention.
The country is chronically in debt, to the tune of $47 billion and equivalent to 170 percent of gross domestic product. Power shortages are a daily occurrence, infrastructure is crumbling, and Lebanon ranked 102 out of 180 countries worldwide in Transparency International's 2008 corruption perception survey. Out of a score of five on people's perception of corruption, five being extremely corrupt, Lebanon ranked 4.1, and 65% of respondents said the government was ineffective in the fight against corruption. In Foreign Policy magazine's Failed States Index 2008, Lebanon ranked 18 out of 60 countries, on par with Nigeria and just ahead of Ethiopia.
Instead of these crucial issues—which would typically be the main talking points of political candidates in other countries—political rivalries, sectarian animosity, foreign relations, and the Arab-Israeli conflict dominated debate.
In the lead up to the elections, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden visited Beirut for three hours to reassure support for March 14 and warn that military aid would be cut if March 8 got to power, while Israel threatened to not hand back a village in Southern Lebanon occupied since the July 2006 war if March 8 won. Reinforcing Hezbollah's position as the country's first line of defense against Israel—the "Resistance"—was a string of arrests of Lebanese caught spying for Israel, while Israel carried out war game maneuvers the weekend before the election.
But the election results were not a clear indication of one bloc being pro-Western and the other pro Syria and Iran and resisting Israel. While March 14 is clearly favored by the West, largely because Hezbollah is deemed a terrorist group by the U.S., the Future movement is heavily backed and funded by Saudi Arabia. Politicians who ran on the Future list, such as Khalid Daher in Northern Lebanon, allegedly recruited for Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his ilk to fight the Americans in Iraq.
The March 8 bloc is equally difficult to label, with the Christian supporters who are wary of the other parties and not overly pro Iran and Syria. While the F.P.M.'s platform spoke against corruption, there is traction amongst political analysts that the crucial Christian vote that divided the community between the March 14 and March 8 coalitions was swung by the actions of F.P.M. leader Michel Aoun and Hezbollah. Just months before the election, Aoun paid visits to Tehran and Damascus, a dangerous political move that seems to have backfired, given Syria's past in Lebanon and the growing role of Iran in the region.
In May 2008, Hezbollah went against its word, turning its guns away from Israel and pointed them inwards, using armed forces to seize parts of Beirut and Lebanon over a four-day conflict. The move, which shut down the country, made people wary of the party's motives and appears to have prompted Christian voters to side with March 14 against Hezbollah. The March 14 Christian parties campaigned on this heavily, in rhetoric and on political billboards.
While the elections were not rigged or tampered with, the election was not above board. The Supervisory Commission on the Election Campaign's (S.C.E.C.) first report in early May identified 293 media violations of just one article of the electoral law committed over a fourteen-day period. The report included libel, slander, defamation and broadcasting that sparked sectarian tensions.
Campaign spending is a further area that parties flouted under Lebanon's new electoral law, surpassing the limit of $100,000 per candidate and $2.66 per registered voter in a district. There were also numerous stories of people being flown in to vote, from as far as Sao Paolo and Sydney, all courtesy of political parties. If anecdotal stories are to be believed, vote buying was also rife among the political parties. But while violations can be tallied and campaign finances audited, the body that has just been set up to rule on electoral misdemeanors, the Constitutional Council, can take up to five months to investigate and process violations. And violations can be submitted only by the top losing candidate in a district, not by any others. While the law is there, it effectively lacks any bite.
All in all, considering that transparency was never a strong electoral platform of any party, the 54.8% of Lebanese that voted got what they voted for: the same leaders, parties and families that have dominated politics in the country for the past thirty tumultuous years. As the French saying goes, plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose—the more things change, the more they stay the same.
**Paul Cochrane is a freelance journalist based in Beirut, where he has lived since 2002. He writes for international and specialized publications on business, politics and the media in the

Lebanon’s Triumph, Iran’s Travesty
By ELLIOTT ABRAMS
Published: June 11, 2009
The New York Times
LebanonWITH elections in Lebanon and Iran occurring in the same week, it’s inevitable that they are viewed as twin tests of efforts to spread democracy to the Muslim world. Should we celebrate the outcome in Lebanon and push for elections throughout the Middle East, or sourly note that Hezbollah has exactly as many guns now as it had when it was defeated at the polls on Sunday? Is the Iranian presidential election today a festival of freedom or a cover for theocracy?
What the United States should be promoting is not elections, but free elections, and the voting in Lebanon passed any realistic test. Anyone who wanted to run could run. The participation rate was 53 percent, close to our turnout in last year’s presidential race. By all accounts the votes were counted fairly. There are rumors about large amounts of Saudi money floating in to support the victorious March 14 coalition, but so what? Hezbollah gets at least $200 million a year from Iran. It is striking that the losers are not crying foul; they too agree the election was fundamentally fair.
However, was it fair but meaningless, given Hezbollah’s military might? That is not the judgment of the winners — the pro-Western March 14 group — who believe they have crippled any claim by Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to speak for the Lebanese people.
Hezbollah’s inability to win support outside its Shiite base, along with the poor showing of its Christian ally, Gen. Michel Aoun, leaves Sheik Nasrallah diminished and less able to drag Lebanon into another war with Israel. He will play hardball, no doubt, in the negotiations over the next Lebanese government, and he retains the ability to take over downtown Beirut as he did in May 2008. But such displays of power were apparently the exact kind of thing that turned off swing voters — mostly Christians — and Hezbollah now uses them at its political peril.
We should not idealize Lebanon’s election, nor its politics. Most voters support only candidates from their own religious group, and the political talk is not of liberals and conservatives but of Armenians, Maronites, Druze, Shiites and Sunnis. Some districts seem as permanently owned by one family as any “rotten borough” in 19th-century England. Still, the election produced a consequential result: the majority of Lebanese have rejected Hezbollah’s claim that it is not a terrorist group but a “national resistance.”
Unfortunately, Iran’s election today presents the voters with no similar opportunity. There is no chance for voters to register their opposition to the theocratic system or tell the ayatollahs to go back to the mosques. The candidates have been carefully screened to exclude anyone opposed to the ruling clerical establishment; each is part of the Islamic Revolution’s old guard.
Nor is it likely that the votes will be fairly counted; indeed most analysts concluded that the 2005 election was manipulated to produce Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidential victory. Vote destruction and ballot stuffing are easy in a hidden process controlled by the Interior Ministry. And if all else fails, the 12-man Guardian Council has the power to throw out the results in districts where there were “problems” — problems like a reformist victory.

Voting in Iran is a contrivance for settling certain policy disputes and personal rivalries within the ruling elite. Elections are not without meaning; if Mr. Ahmadinejad loses, it may result in more sensible economic policies and fewer loud calls for the destruction of Israel. But Iran doesn’t hold elections for supreme leader — Ayatollah Ali Khameini will hold that post for the indefinite future — and the failed presidency of Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005 reminds us that the power of a putative reformist is illusory. The Khatami years saw increased repression inside Iran, growing support for Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist groups, and the covert construction of the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz.
Mr. Ahmadinejad’s defeat would probably be welcomed abroad as a sign that Iran is moving away from his policies, but Iran’s policies aren’t his — they are dictated by Ayatollah Khamenei and his supporters in the Revolutionary Guard and Basij paramilitary. In fact, a victory by Mr. Ahmadinejad’s main challenger, Mir Hussein Moussavi, is more likely to change Western policy toward Iran than to change Iran’s own conduct. If the delusion that a new president would surely mean new opportunities to negotiate away Iran’s nuclear program strikes Western leaders, solidarity might give way to pre-emptive concessions.
Elections matter, but how much they matter depends entirely on how free, open and fair they are. The Lebanese had a chance to vote against Hezbollah, and took the opportunity. Iranians, unfortunately, are being given no similar chance to decide who they really want to govern them.
**Elliott Abrams, who was a deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration, is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/opinion/12abrams.html?ref=opinion

Universal Elections
12/06/2009
By Diana Mukkaled/Asharq Al Awsat
It’s difficult to tell how the final picture in Lebanon will look following the recent elections that attracted large-scale political and media attention. The elections resulted in an overwhelming victory for the March 14 Coalition and its Arab and international supporters, while the March 8 Alliance and the regional axis that this coalition represents suffered a crushing defeat.
Leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, General Michel Aoun, described the elections in Lebanon as universal elections.
This may be one of the few correct terms that General Aoun has been successful in coining, as attempts at predicting the post-electoral situation is something that Arab and non-Arab media is relentlessly trying to do, particularly due to Lebanon’s status as a battleground between the moderate and rejectionist camps in the region, and as the front line for two opposing international projects.
The international media is busy trying to understand the situation in the Middle East in the aftermath of the Lebanese elections, not to mention the Iranian elections that are taking place.
The majority of the Lebanese said that they were not happy with Hezbollah’s weapons and that May 7 was not a glorious day [as Hezbollah described it].
This is an indisputable fact, although it seems that it is difficult for the local media to distance itself from the confrontational language that prevailed in the run up to the elections. It appears that the defeated party is trying to promote the idea that Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah presented in his speech following the announcement of the electoral results, namely the claim that the March 8 Alliance won 54 percent of the popular vote.
Creating a lexicon that will incite new confrontation in the future appears to be one of the media’s roles in Lebanon. The 2005 elections were accompanied by doubts over who had won the popular vote from the opposition media which discussed the "Quadripartite Agreement" [between Walid Jumblatt, Saad Hariri, Nabih Berri, and Hezbollah] and said that the majority of Christian votes went to Michel Aoun.
Today these two issues no longer apply. Therefore the opposition media had to search for another issue so it used the issue of "the popular majority" that was raised by Hassan Nasrallah. However the 2005 issue was much more coherent than its 2009 equivalent as Christians simply voted against Michel Aoun [this time] and this will be a fact that remains fixed over the next four years.
As for condemning electoral regulations and holding this responsible for the opposition’s defeat, everybody knows that these regulations were adopted in Doha at the request of Michel Aoun. In fact Michel Aoun returned to Beirut from Doha and responded to the change in electoral regulations by saying, “Christian rights have been restored.”
The fact remains that the opposition media using the [change] in electoral regulation to explain their defeat is a kind of self-flagellation, but this must be expanded upon to include many of the positions and practices that led to the defeat. Hiding behind a fictitious victory using the slogan of a "popular majority" will never work.
 

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 13/09

Bible Reading of the day.  
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:27-32. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna. It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.' But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Aoun's delusions: Numbers defeat allegations in Kesserwan/Future News 12/06/09
Vote for bombs or business.The Australian 12/06/09
Why March 14 Won ebanon’s Elections-By: Rannie Amiri.12/06/09
Is it a Mass Failure but an individual success?/By: Walid Choucair 12/06/09
Universal Elections.By Diana Mukkaled/Asharq Alawsat 12.06.09
From Martyrs to the Living/By: Ghassan Charbel 12/06/09
Corruption in Lebanon can be curtailed with an independent judiciary-The Daily Star 12/06/09
Lebanese vote for the status quo. By::Paul Cochrane 12/06/09
Lebanon's Triumph, Iran's Travesty-By ELLIOTT ABRAMS/New York Times 12/06/09

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 12/09
No Mideast deal at Lebanon's expense: US envoy-AFP
Visiting Solana Reaffirms EU Support for Lebanon-Naharnet
Hariri Visits Sfeir, Awdeh: We Are Committed to March 14 Basic Principles-Naharnet
Shibani: We Continue to Support Lebanon, Resistance-Naharnet
Al-Jumhuriya: Hizbullah elements received military training in Iran/Future News
Lebanon progresses positively… the Patriarch speaks the truth/Future News
Sleiman: I support Saad Hariri for the next government/Future News
Fatfat: March 14 overture excludes giving veto powers to the minority/Future News
Jumblatt to broaden the President’s share/Future News
Saker: Christians sensed the danger of March 8 project/Future News
Booby Trap Parcel Defused at the General Security Department-Naharnet
2 Wounded in Security Mishap between Mustaqbal, Saad's Men in Sidon-Naharnet
Mitchell Meets Lebanese Officials in Beirut-Naharnet
Top White House Envoy Visits Syria-CBS News
Parcel bomb defused at Beirut government building-Reuters
Carter: Israeli-Palestinian Peace Not Possible Without Hamas ...FOXNews
'UNIFIL helping to arrest Israeli spies'-Jerusalem Post
March 14 Makes Demands Prior to Accepting Berri as Speaker-Naharnet
Sfeir: Election Result Foiled Takeover by Iran, Syria-Naharnet
Damascus Urges Opposition to Open Up to Hariri, Jumblat-Naharnet
Suleiman: The President is the Guarantee of Majority and Opposition-Naharnet
New Parliamentary Bloc between Mustaqbal, Allied MPs-Naharnet
Jumblat: Dialogue with Syria is Inevitable-Naharnet
Ban for Quick Formation of Lebanese Cabinet-Naharnet
Saniora: I Nominate Hariri to Head Next Cabinet-Naharnet
Damascus: Our Stance From The Next Lebanese Cabinet Built on Relations With the Resistance and Us-Naharnet
2 Hand Grenades Near Jdeideh School, Mortar in Sidon-Naharnet
Hamadeh: Majority to Tie Berri's Re-Election with Basket of Conditions-Naharnet
Lebanese expats who came to vote are boosting tourism sector, says minister-Daily Star
US envoy meets Sleiman as part of Mideast peace push-Daily Star
Sfeir: Poll result averted takeover by Iran, Syria-Daily Star
'Israeli citizen' voted in Lebanon's elections-Daily Star
Hizbullah retains strong support despite opposition defeat in polls-Daily Star
Sleiman Franjieh to move to Beirut-Daily Star
After all, politics was not that 'domestic' in Lebanon-Daily Star
Fear of Iran, Obama's words swayed vote-Daily Star
AUB names new vice president of medical affairs-Daily Star

Lebanon progresses positively… the Patriarch speaks the truth
Date: June 12th, 2009 Future News
Waiting for the outcome of the visit of US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell regarding peace in the region, Lebanon is progressing in a positive atmosphere towards the upcoming issues with a new political situation provoked by the victory of the March 14 coalition in the parliamentary elections.
Meanwhile, Maronite Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir noted yesterday that he says the truth in spite of threats, and considered that if the political balance weighed to the other side, Syria and Iran would rule Lebanon. In an interview to Al Masira Magazine, he asked: “Syria withdrew from Lebanon, but did it stop its aspirations?” adding “no matter what they say, the President is the President.”
American congratulations
Additionally, President Michel Sleiman received a phone call from American Vice President Joseph Biden congratulating for the success of the democratic parliamentary elections and asserting the United States will keep on supporting Lebanon.
In the same context, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora received a phone call from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulating for the success of Sunday’s elections, and hailing for the moderate choice of the Lebanese and their commitment to the democratic and legal path. She also stressed on the ongoing American support to the Lebanese constitutional institutions.
On the other hand, Siniora stressed on the necessity of keeping the pressure on Israel to enhance the chances of peace in the region following the Arab peace initiative, and asserted that Lebanon refuses the nationalization of the Palestinians despite any solution.
Commenting on the victory of the March 14 coalition in elections, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that in a democratic regime, the majority rules, thus “after the parliamentary elections, March 14 became the majority, and the results should be respected.”
The Parliament Speaker’s program
As for the local statements, leader of the Lebanese Forces Party Samir Geagea noted that a positive atmosphere is circulating between the Lebanese different sides, especially Hizbullah. He also hoped this positivity will be transmitted the effective political stances, and announced that he is ready to cooperate with others, adding that there is no contacts with Hizbullah and Speaker Nabih Berry regarding the next government composition.
As for the elections of a new Speaker for the Lebanese Parliament, Geagea said that this issue is not yet decided in the party, adding that any candidate will be asked for his program.
Furthermore, Tourism Minister Elie Marouni, who won the Maronite seat of Zahleh district, noted that “Michel Aoun’s claims saying that he represents 70% of the Christians failed.” He added: “It is clear now that Aoun won parliamentary seats not with the voices of the Christians but with the support of Hizbullah.”

Numbers defeat allegations in Kesserwan
Date: June 12th, 2009 Source: Al Shiraa
Deputy Michel Aoun lost 53% of the Christian voters in the parliamentary elections for year 2009 in Kesserwan area, due to this he cannot claim that he represents 70% of the Christians as he did for four years. Now, Aoun tries to allege that he possesses 50% and demands a share in the government according to this percentage, but numbers defeat such allegations.
Aoun got 31861 votes year 2009, and 67433 votes year 2005 and the difference between these results is 35572 votes which means that he declined 52%.
MP Farid Khazen got 31386 votes year 2009 and 56719 votes year 2005, the difference is 25332 votes which means 45% decline.
MP Youssef Khalil got 31313 votes year 2009 and 61740 votes year 2005, the difference is 30427 votes which means 48% decline.
MP Naemtallah Abi Nasr got 30989 votes year 2009 and 59738 votes year 2005. The difference is 28749 votes which makes 48% decline.
MP Gilbert Zouein got 30444 votes year 2009, and 52376 votes year 2005, the difference is 21932 votes which makes 42% decline.
These numbers confirms Aoun’s decline in Kesserwan, his popular base, in addition to his loss of the Christian seats in Beirut, Koura, Batroun, and Bsherri which March 14 alliance won.
For all the mentioned reasons, Aoun must quit the Christian leadership and confess that there is no absolute Christian leadership.

Sleiman: I support Saad Hariri for the next government
Date: June 12th, 2009 Source: Al Akhbar
President Michel Sleiman said Friday Almustaqbal leader Saad Hariri is the sole legitimate candidate for the next post of premiership after his winning of the majority seats in last week’s parliamentary elections.
Sleiman, in a lengthy interview with the opposition-run Al-Akhbar newspaper, described this year’s parliamentary elections as one of the accomplishments of the national unity government being the first in decades that had witnessed no external interference or internal pressure and manipulation of results.
Sleiman hailed the positive reaction of the Lebanese factions after the results were announced and their agreement that “the president of the republic must play a comprehensive role in the new cabinet,” he said.
“National accord is what matters to me and after we succeed in forming the cabinet, we will focus our efforts on reform and all pending files,” he added.
“Saad Hariri showed an inclination toward heading the new government, and I support him,” he said. “The general situation is adequate for Hariri to become the next premier or else, I would have convinced him otherwise. Hariri has the legitimate right to head the new cabinet for having the biggest parliamentary bloc.”
Sleiman refrained from commenting on the exact figures of the elections results or the representation of the Lebanese factions’ in the coming government but he insisted that the minority and majority be represented in the next cabinet.
Sleiman refrained from commenting on whether the veto powers are going to be given to the minority or to him saying “the president of the republic is the only guarantee for the resistance arms and for the formation of the next government.
“I will present the issue of the pending budget to the new cabinet and if it does not attain consensus, we will resort to voting,” he maintained.
Sleiman defended the national unity government that emerged from the 2008 Doha Agreement and explained the circumstances that led to its formation to alleviate political tension.
“The Taëf Agreement is the basis for national accord and must be implemented fully.” The Taëf, a Saudi-brokered peace accord that was ratified in 1989, ended lebanon’s 15 years of civil war. Sleiman said that he urged parliament to fulfill three demands to protect the Constitutional Council from possible obstruction in the future “to empower the President of the Republic to dismantle the cabinet if it fails to appoint members of the Constitutional Council in three consecutive meetings. In addition, to amend the law of the Constitutional Council to adopt a different method in the appointment of its members, like the appointment of the members of the French Constitutional Council, which gives the President of the Republic and the Presidents of the Senate and National Assembly the right to appoint nine members so that not to hinder the election of members of the Council. Moreover, to extend the time limit for electoral appeals until all the Constitutional Council members are elected.”

Vote for bombs or business
John Lyons | June 13, 2009
The Australian
12 June 2009
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25626969-15084,00.html
THE man in the money exchange booth in Beirut has an analysis of Lebanon's election as good as any I've heard. Holding up a $1 note he says: "Hariri means dollar." Then, pretending to hold a gun in the air, he says: "Hezbollah. Boom!"
They don't like boom around here in Hamra, one of Beirut's thriving tourist areas.
It's different in some parts of Lebanon; the 40,000 missiles that Hezbollah claims to have along the border with Israel suggest someone doesn't mind it.
But, around here, boom kills business and people.
Meanwhile, in Iran, thousands take to the streets of Tehran and openly criticise the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as they campaign for reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi for this weekend's election.
The Mousavi campaign has run various slogans targeting the stricter religious rules Ahmadinejad has enforced, including women being liable to lashes if they wear clothes that reveal flesh or body shape or do not cover their hair with a scarf, or hijab. One Mousavi slogan has been: "No to hijab, no to whipping, yes to freedom of choice."
In a country officially called the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was founded by an ayatollah and whose supreme leader is an ayatollah, this is radical.
While Iran's election has yet to be decided, Lebanon went to the polls peacefully last weekend and voted to keep Hezbollah from formally taking control, a huge leap in a country awash with weapons.
The result highlights two Lebanons: the victorious March 14 Alliance, led by Saad Hariri, which is popular among young Lebanese who want to engage with the world, and the defeated March 8 Alliance whose support base, Hezbollah, is made up of fundamentalist Shi'ite Muslims who look to Iran for religious and financial support. It is to Hariri that the man in the money exchange booth looks for the future wellbeing of Lebanon.
The rise of Hezbollah - the Party of God - seemed inevitable. One of Shia Islam's best organised machines, Hezbollah's central policy is resistance against Israel. In May last year its fighters took over the streets of Beirut because the government decided to close Hezbollah's secure telecommunications system, which helps it avoid Israeli and Lebanese interception, and to remove Hezbollah control at Beirut airport.
The Lebanese army was unprepared to take the fighters on, knowing who would win. The government backed down and Hezbollah was given power of veto over all government decisions where it can muster one-third of the votes in the parliament, which is a given.
The money exchange man says he desperately wants to keep Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah out of government "for Lebanon's sake".
So do many of the young people in Hamra. So, too, it seems, do the majority of the 12,000 Lebanese Australians who voted; so do the men working at the rental car company.
"Nasrallah would turn Lebanon into Gaza," one tells Inquirer. Hezbollah's resistance against Israel is as far from the reality of these people's lives as it is for people living in Melbourne or London.
At the same time there have been some equally significant developments in Iran.
Under the all-powerful ayatollahs, dissent has not been allowed. But as Iran prepares for this weekend's election something unprecedented is happening; people have started openly expressing opposition to Ahmadinejad's regime.
Iran and Lebanon reflect the broader Arab and Muslim worlds where younger people, in particular, are questioning whether Islamic fundamentalism and government are a good combination.
It was unprecedented for the regime to back down on a ban three weeks ago on the use of Facebook for campaigning. And it was unprecedented that Mousavi campaigned with his wife alongside him.
Mousavi believes in greater freedom for women and argues that Ahmadinejad's rhetoric denying the Holocaust and attacking Israel and Jews is unacceptable. His campaign has asked Iranians a central question: what has Ahmadinejad's anti-Western rhetoric achieved?
While the West focuses on Ahmadinejad's ambition for nuclear weapons, the economy has been the centrepiece of the election campaign.
As the oil price has fallen and sanctions have bitten, Iranians have felt hardship.
Under Ahmadinejad the role of the religious police also has increased. It is common for women, particularly in northern Tehran, who are not properly dressed to be put in the back of a police car and taken for questioning.
One foreign woman who works in Iran tells Inquirer that recently she was walking along the street in Tehran when two female officers stopped her and told her to wipe off her lipstick.
However, it would be wrong to suggest that everything is changing. In Lebanon, Hezbollah still controls the weapons.
The biggest judgment Hariri must make is whether he is strong enough to wind back Hezbollah's power. Hariri campaigned to remove Hezbollah's one-third blocking veto over government decisions and to reduce Hezbollah's weapons. Both actions would almost certainly trigger a violent response by Hezbollah.
"The majority must commit not to question our role as a resistance party, the legitimacy of our weapons arsenal and the fact that Israel is an enemy state," Hezbollah MP Mohammed Raud said after the result.
The two Lebanons are obvious to see when Inquirer takes a tour of one of Hezbollah's strongholds, the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Leaving the city we drive past the Sabra and Shatila camps for Palestinian refugees, made famous in 1982 after 800 Palestinians were massacred there by militia allied to Israel.
Not far from here is Hezbollah's media office. New media director Ibrahim Mousawi must be one of the few people anywhere who has not just one gun on his business card but two; one in gold and one in grey. Pacifist Hezbollah is not.
"We have run a good campaign," he says. "Not perfect, but good."
While Nasrallah, with his firebrand speeches vowing wrath on Israel, is the face of Hezbollah across the world, Mousawi, a PhD from the University of Birmingham, attempts to be the accommodating face.
Entering Hezbollah territory is like entering a different country: the heavy Lebanese army presence is nowhere to be seen and is replaced by Hezbollah's army, complete with uniforms.
Although the location of Nasrallah's home is secret because of fears that the Israelis want to kill him, one local tells me he knows where it is, then takes me down a side street. Uniformed Hezbollah soldiers sitting on the corners of an otherwise abandoned block suggest someone of importance is being guarded.
Recently a Canadian journalist thought he had an interview with Nasrallah. After several hours of moving to different locations he was about to go through the final door when suddenly Hezbollah's security men panicked and rushed him away, convinced the Israelis had somehow monitored his mobile phone and could tell where he was.
The enthusiastic local takes me past Hezbollah's military headquarters, behind a large gate guarded by Hezbollah soldiers. Around here are dozens of new buildings that have replaced those bombed by Israel in 2006. Iranian funding is obvious from the many buildings displaying Iranian names.
One of the reasons for Hezbollah's popularity is that it fills the vacuum of an inefficient government. The party builds schools and houses, runs welfare services, provides jobs in its construction companies, which rebuild the destroyed houses and provides clean drinking water.
Yet Lebanon this week chose Hariri's dollar over Hezbollah's boom. Now Iran has an equally stark choice, between opening doors to the international community and remaining in the veiled world of fundamentalism and firebrand rhetoric.

No Mideast deal at Lebanon's expense: US envoy
By Khalil Fleihan – 6 hours ago
BEIRUT (AFP) — The United States will not sacrifice Lebanon as it seeks to reach comprehensive peace in the Middle East, US envoy George Mitchell said on Friday in Beirut before heading to Syria.
"Lebanon will play a key role in the long term effort to build lasting, comprehensive peace and stability in the Middle East," Mitchell said after meeting separately with President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.
"Clearly, there can be no lasting solution reached at Lebanon's expense and we look forward to continuing to work with Lebanon to build this solution."
During the seven-hour visit to Beirut, the US envoy also met with Saad Hariri, leader of the US-backed coalition that increased its parliamentary majority in Sunday's election, defeating an alliance led by the Hezbollah militant group.
Mitchell said his latest regional tour, which includes stops in Israel, the West Bank, Egypt and Jordan, and previous visits were proof that US President Barack Obama's administration was committed to "actively and aggressively" seek peace in the region.
"This includes supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state as a homeland for the Palestinian people as soon as possible," Mitchell said.
According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), there are between 350,000 and 400,000 Palestinian refugees living in 12 refugee camps across Lebanon, which has a total population of more than four million.
Sleiman said Lebanon was ready to take party in any international peace conferences based on the Saudi-sponsored Arab peace initiative.
The 2002 plan, backed by all 22 members of the Arab League, offers Israel full normalisation in return for a withdrawal from territory occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, a Palestinian state and an equitable solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.
On a visit to Beirut ahead of the vote, US Vice President Joe Biden had hinted that Washington may cut off military aid if the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah coalition won.
Damascus was Lebanon's powerbroker for nearly three decades until it was forced to pull out its troops from the country in the aftermath of the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, Saad's billionaire father.
Mitchell hailed the June 7 parliamentary election in Lebanon, as "a milestone" for the country and said Washington remains steadfast in its support for a "sovereign, free and independent Lebanon".
Before heading for Damascus where he is due to hold talks with Syrian officials on Saturday, Mitchell met in Beirut with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana who arrived earlier Friday for a two-day visit.
Solana will meet on Saturday with top Lebanese officials and, for the first time, with a Hezbollah MP.Copyright © 2009 AFP.

Why March 14 Won ebanon’s Elections
By: Rannie Amiri.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/opinion/?id=32699
Last Updated 2009-06-12
The results of Lebanon’s June 7 parliamentary elections are in. And defying expectations, the US, Israel, and Saudi-backed “March 14” Alliance managed to maintain its majority in the Chamber of Deputies and claim victory. This came as a relative surprise since many had predicted the “March 8” Alliance of Hezbollah, Amal, and the Free Patriotic Movement of Michel Aoun would ultimately triumph.
Of parliament’s 128 seats, split evenly among Muslims and Christians, March 14 won 68 and March 8, 57. Three independent candidates will apparently be siding with the former giving them a total of 71; a net gain of one over the previous 70-58 distribution.
Twenty-seven seats in parliament are allocated to Shia Muslims and as expected, all went to the March 8 Alliance. Similarly, of the 27 allotted to Sunni Muslims, all went to March 14. It was the Christian vote therefore – particularly the Maronite one – which ultimately tipped the balance in favor of the pro-Western coalition to the delight of the US and their Arab allies.
Lost in the jubilation among the supporters of Saad Hariri, head of the largest party in the March 14 Alliance and its de facto head, was that the Hezbollah-led opposition handily won the popular vote. It can be factually stated that the majority of Lebanese did not vote for the March 14 group. Although certainly not insignificant, due to the distribution of seats based on electoral district, this does not change the outcome of the contest.
So how did March 14 do it?
The reasons are multifactorial, but primarily involve heavy-handed American interference, Israeli threats and salient domestic political endorsements:
• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the first high-profile US administration official to swoop into Beirut, remarkably calling for no “foreign interference” in the upcoming elections while simultaneously intimating that American support for the country will be contingent on the proverbial “moderate voices” emerging victorious. It may have been an exceptionally short visit, but it was time enough to deliver the intended message.
• Next came Vice President Joseph Biden, who visited in May. He candidly stated the US would “ … evaluate the shape of our assistance programs [to Lebanon] based on the composition of the new government and the policies it advocates.”
• President Obama’s generally well-received June 4 address to the Muslim world in Cairo quite intentionally highlighted Lebanon’s Maronite Christian minority in remarks on the “richness of religious diversity” (despite the fact no single religious sect in Lebanon actually forms a majority).
• As if the President, Vice-President, and Secretary of State were not enough, in the waning hours prior to the poll, it was Deputy Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman’s turn. In a decidedly condescending manner, he appealed to the “intelligence” of the Lebanese people and implored they recognize the election’s outcome will “ … naturally affect the world’s stance towards the new Lebanese government and the manner in which the United States and Congress deal with Lebanon.” He further went on to say they should be “smart enough” to understand the ramifications of not siding with America’s preferred coalition.
• Israeli conducted large-scale military maneuvers on the border with Lebanon in the days prior to the elections, while previously forewarning of the possible deleterious consequences should the Hezbollah-led alliance win. No doubt the memory of Israel’s 2006 onslaught remained fresh in the minds of many.
• In a May speech, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah referred to the day a year back when his men swept through West Beirut (after Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s cabinet declared the group’s strategic telecommunications network illegal) as “glorious.” It was a poor choice of words, although the intent was to refer to its outcome: the Doha Accords. This ended the political stalemate between March 8 and March 14 and paved the way to fill a vacant presidency:
“I tell the Lebanese, in particular Sunnis and Shias, that the May 7 events put an end to war in Beirut. The May 7 events safeguarded Lebanon's institutions and forced all Lebanese parties to go back to the [national] dialogue, which led to the election of President Michel Suleiman.”
The events of that day were particularly bitter for the Hariri faction, and Nasrallah’s unnecessary reminder surely gave them the opportunity needed to exploit it prior to the vote.
• The influential Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir also chimed in, warning his community on election eve of the potential threat to “Lebanon’s character and Arab identity” should a certain coalition win. The racist admonition was a clear endorsement of the March 14 Alliance.
For the critical undecided, swing Maronite voters torn between the two coalitions (each of which has prominent Maronite representation) or those uneasy with a Hezbollah partnership, the above factors led them to “play it safe” and cast their lot with March 14. This was enough to decide the election.
The weeks and months ahead will see intense deliberations and negotiations between the two camps as a cabinet and government are formed. At issue will be whether the opposition’s “one-third plus one” veto-power in the cabinet as outlined in the Doha Accords will be honored; the selection of a new prime minister (and if Saad Hariri, will he relinquish his Saudi citizenship?); the matter of Hezbollah’s arms; and what new reforms, if any, the government will adopt (the only platform March 14 seemed to run on was that it was not March 8).
Lebanon’s June elections, albeit changing the status quo ante very little, were a lively exercise in democracy in a hotly-contested, yet fair vote. An important component of any democracy however, is the presence of a vigorous and engaged opposition; one able to keep the ruling majority accountable and answerable for their actions.
Of that, Lebanon is assured.
**Rannie Amiri is an independent Middle East commentator.

Is it a Mass Failure but an individual success?
Fri, 12 June 2009
Walid Choucair
In his quick speech evaluating the Lebanese election, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General just said that the votes of the resistance supporters came as “a message to the entire world that armed resistance is neither an armed party’s choice, nor a choice of an armed gang, but a popular choice and an expression of the people's will that must be respected».
This is true, in particular when the Shiite vote in south Lebanon, the northern Bekaa and the southern suburbs of Beirut came in favour of this choice. This wide support base is the main pillar of the Lebanese popular protection of the party’s choices. This is regardless of the party attempts to engage in a useless debate about who has the popular majority, which is nothing but an attempt to reduce the impact of the failure by the opposition to become a Lebanese parliament majority led by the party, which would have become its' backbone and real authority.
The above was put into practice during the elections, when Hezbollah played a major role in putting the opposition’s electoral lists together in many districts, outside of the areas where Hezbollah enjoys the support of the dominant majority. This was also evident in the mobilization of the party’s electoral machine, its halo its excessive self-confidence and the belief that it is invincible and cannot be defeated in the elections.
While there is no question that there is collective Shiite rallying around the party in Lebanon, there was also an urgent need for its supporters to convey to the outside world its response against what Hezbollah’s leaders consider an international campaign aimed against the party. The latter subsequently boasted the election results to show that it indeed has some kind of a popular legitimacy, even when it had been unable to extract a constitutional legitimacy through becoming – along with its allies - a parliamentary majority.
While there is an opinion that the elections did not change anything on the Lebanese scene (another thing that is a subject of debate) because the other party competing in the election has retained its parliamentary majority that it had it in the past four years, the election would have certainly changed a lot of parameters, had Hezbollah - and the opposition - won this majority. Gaining constitutional legitimacy, in addition to popular legitimacy, would have meant a massive gain for Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria, in the context of regional politics, whether these were headed towards negotiations and settlements, or whether they were headed towards confrontation.
Moreover, to say that the party did not want to win the majority because losing would enable it to better manage the situation on the ground - and without having to be at the forefront of events - is contradicted by the excessive self-confidence the opposition had that it will win the elections and then govern. This overconfidence was clearly expressed by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and all his party leaders. This probable was the result of the elation they felt following their use of excessive force on the 7th of May, 2008. Despite the fact that this excessive force failed in the ballot box in general, its remnants are still standing in the form of the arrogant disregard of the evident drop in popularity of the party’s Christian ally - leader of the Free Patriotic Movement General Michel Aoun.
This force has also failed in an even more important area: the party's leadership was unable to penetrate the Sunni street, which remained loyal to Mr. Saad al-Hariri. It might be possible to say that while the party is actually the primary loser in the elections, Mr. Hariri is the main victor if the votes he won were compared to those his allies received. Moreover, some of his allies actually lost some of their share of votes. But this of course does not eliminate the adverse effects of a Sunni-versus-Shiite realignment on the situation in Lebanon and the known risks such a position carries with it.
Nevertheless, this mass failure did not prevent the party from sending out a swarm of individual political messages. In addition to the message sent to the outside world that the resistance is a popular choice, many other internal parties received a lot of meaningful insinuations through the ballot box, which can be classified as part of the party’s electoral gains. These messages can be summarized as follows:
1 – A message sent to the President of the Republic, Michel Suleiman, through the Shiite vote in the district of Jbeil, the president's hometown and where he sought to obtain two seats for the independents aligned with him. The message was that Jbeil belongs to the President only geographically, but belongs to the party and its allies, as far as politics are concerned.
2- A message to General Michel Aoun: That his political career now depends completely on the party, given that the Shiite votes that were given to him (and that represent a huge majority in the Shiite community) are what carried his electoral lists to victory in the districts of Jezzine, Baabda, and Jbeil. Some say that as much as a thousand Shiite votes in Keserwan prevented the former MP Mansour Al-Bon of winning a seat over Aoun’s electoral list. The people behind this opinion even go as far as to say that Aoun’s slight advantage in the Northern Metn was the result of over two thousand Shiite votes in addition to the Tashnaq’s vote’s weighing in favour of Aoun.
3 – A message to Speaker Nabih Berri that even if he is the primary representative of the Shiites, the party is not willing to go along, in its political decision, with Berri in everything. It was for instance the Party's influence that prevented some Shiite parties in the district of Aley from voting – as per Berri’s advice for the sake of his relationship with the progressive socialist party leader Walid Jumblatt – for MP Akram Shehayeb. It was also this same influence that prevented the same thing for MP Ayman Choucair in Baabda. This was even more pronounced when the party did not support Berri’s candidate and personal friend MP Samir Azar in the Jezzine district.
4 – A message to MP Jumblatt that the party will never forgive him his past, despite the openness he has been showing in recent months. This also means that there is no political power for Jumblatt in the district of Baabda without the party’s prior approval.

Saker: Christians sensed the danger of March 8 project
Date: June 12th, 2009 Source: LBC
Newly elected deputy Okab Saker had said Lebanon’s Christians massive voting for the March 14 movement came out of their fear for losing the seats of the Presidency, the Maronite Patriarchy and the Army institution. “Their temperament changed from 2005 to 2009. They discovered that March 8 was a threat to their three main historical constants, namely the Presidency, the Patriarchal seat and the headship of the army,” Saker told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation late Thursday.
Saker, a 34-year-old enthusiastic journalist who struggled against Syria’s 30-year domination of Lebanon, refused accusations made by former deputy Elie Skaff, the long-time leader of the Catholic city of Zahleh who failed to regain his seat. “Let Skaff present documents that prove that our ticket violated the electoral law.”
Elie Skaff headed the March 8 seven-man list that lost the electoral battle against the March 14 alliance on which Saker was nominated.
Saker stated some of the March 8 practices which raised the concerns of the March 14 supporters and led them to vote massively for the coalition’s tickets such as “the campaign on the Maronite Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, their attempts to obstruct the election of the president of the republic as well as the undermining of the army on May 7 and January 23.”
He denounced accusing the March 14 alliance of corruption while insisting to participate in its government “Syria is the source of corruption and has supported publicly its allies in the 2009 elections.”He recalled the words of Faisal el Mekdad, Syrian vice Foreign Minister who said during the Lebanese electoral campaign “we support our allies in Lebanon.”

Booby Trap Parcel Defused at the General Security Department
A package containing about 150g of explosives was found Friday at the General Security Department headquarters in Beirut.General Security members at the headquarters in Adlieh detected the package among others. A military expert inspected the package that contained about 150g of TNT and C4 explosives and a timer, the National News Agency reported.
Security reports explained that the package did not detonate due to technical failure. Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 11:45

Sfeir: Poll result averted takeover by Iran, Syria
Siniora wants Hariri to be premier
By Therese Sfeir
Daily Star staff 
Friday, June 12, 2009
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said in comments to be published Friday that had the opposition won the June 7 parliamentary polls, "Syria and Iran would have taken control of our country." "They [the opposition] wanted to take over Lebanon, but now President Michel Sleiman rules Lebanon," the patriarch told Al-Massira magazine.
Sfeir said that while Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon, "it still has some ambitions in Lebanon."
Syria ended its 30-year military presence in Lebanon in 2005, amid a wave of anti-Syrian demonstrations in Lebanon following the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
Many blamed the killing on Syria, but Damascus has repeatedly denied involvement.
On Thursday, former US President Jimmy Carter, currently on a visit to Damascus, told Syrian President Bashar Assad that Lebanon's elections were "a real success."
Carter said he had wished to hold talks with Hizbullah officials, but added that they "refused to meet with us."
Carter headed an elections monitoring mission during Lebanon's elections on Sunday.
In other news, the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana will arrive in Beirut Friday for a two-day visit, during which he will meet with President Michel Sleiman, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Speaker Nabih Berri.
Sleiman and Siniora held talks at Baabda Palace Thursday. Siniora told reporters following the meeting that he nominated Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri to head the new government.
Solana will also meet with the members of the Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc.
The chief of European diplomacy will hold a news conference at the Rafik Hariri International Airport on Saturday, before leaving the capital.
Hariri said Thursday that he was willing to offer Hizbullah and its allies in the opposition "guarantees," in return for forming an "efficient government."
During an interview with the Financial Times, Hariri said: "What is needed at this point is for the majority to offer the opposition some guarantees on specific issues, and to form a cabinet that is capable of fulfilling these guarantees."
The Future Movement leader also held Israel responsible for hampering peace efforts in the Middle East. He described Israel's statements about the Lebanese elections as "absurd."
Hariri also rejected claims that the election of US President Barack Obama helped him and his allies in the March 14 Forces to win the elections.
In other developments, the Cabinet will convene on Friday for the first time after the elections. The session, which will be held at the Baabda Palace, will see the discussion of the 2009 draft budget. Sleiman met with Speaker Nabih Berri's political aide, MP Ali Hassan Khalil, on Thursday to discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt condemned "attacks launched by some parties against the Armenian community."
In a statement Thursday, Jumblatt criticized those "who are describing the Armenians and the Tashnag party as outsiders."
The PSP leader noted that the Armenians contributed to building the Lebanese state and were one of the pillars in establishing the national pact. "A disagreement between the Tashnag party and another political party does not make the Armenians outsiders," he added.
Separately, Siniora stressed Thursday his keenness on preserving the unity of the Lebanese and principles of Arabism.
Addressing visitors in the Sidon town of Majdalyoun, Siniora said: "We want to protect the Lebanese people's unity, their Arabism, and the unity of Muslims."
"We also want to preserve coexistence, regardless of the misbehavior of some parties," Siniora added.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea reiterated his rejection of the vetoing third in the Cabinet. After a meeting with Siniora on Thursday, Geagea said: "Our stance is clearly against the veto power in government because it brings nothing new."
Meanwhile, MP Marwan Hamadeh warned that the majority March 14 alliance would not accept the re-election of Berri as Parliament speaker unless a number of issues, including the premiership and cabinet formation, were settled.
In remarks published by pan-Arab Ash-Sharq al-Awsat Thursday, Hamadeh stressed the need for a "complete basket," rejecting the re-election of Berri before settling other issues.
In a news conference Wednesday, Former Minister Nassib Lahoud said the elections "confirmed that the Lebanese people can rely on the democratic game as a peaceful means for governance." However, Lahoud added that the March 14 Forces would have been able to achieve a wider majority if it had avoided major mistakes, especially in the districts of Metn and Kesrouan. Lahoud called on the March 14 Forces to "rectify their practices and mistakes in order to benefit from experiences of the past phase."

US envoy meets Sleiman as part of Mideast peace push
Friday, June 12, 2009/Daily Star
BEIRUT: US envoy George Mitchell arrived in Beirut Thursday, just days after Lebanon's pivotal parliamentary elections, for meetings with President Michel Sleiman and other high ranking officials. Mitchell, US President Barack Obama's special regional envoy and a former US Senate Majority Leader, is touring the region pushing Washington's new comprehensive Middle East peace strategy. Thursday Morning, Mitchell met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu al-Gheit in Cairo, where he stressed the US was "working hard to achieve a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, including a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel."
From Cairo, Mitchell travelled to Jordan for talks with King Abdullah and then on to Beirut. He travels to Syria on Friday. Beginning his tour of Israel's Arab neighbors, he noted in Cairo Thursday the need for regional cooperation. A comprehensive peace includes "peace between Israel and its other immediate neighbors and full normalization of relations between Israel and all of the Arab nation as contemplated but the Arab peace initiative," he said.
"The Arab states have an important role to play," Mitchell added, echoing Obama, who delivered an address to the Muslim world from Cairo University last Friday. Mitchell has highlighted the specific importance of Lebanon and Syria to any comprehensive plan. Obama and members of his administration have labeled the Arab Peace Initiative, which offers full normalization for land occupied since 1967 and was backed by all 22 Arab nations, an important beginning to new negotiations.
Mitchell met with Israeli leaders Tuesday and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.
After meeting with Abbas, Mitchell reaffirmed Washington's stance that "the only viable resolution to this conflict is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states."
In addition, he said that Washington is hoping a "for prompt resumption and early conclusion of negotiations."
Mitchell is one of several high-ranking officials to visit Lebanon in recent months, and his trip comes only days after parliamentary elections won by the March 14 coalition. US Vice President Joe Biden visited the country last month ahead of the vote, weeks after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a high-profile visit.
According to local media, Clinton telephoned Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Thursday to congratulate him on Sunday's elections, and the Lebanese people for choosing the path of democracy and moderation. Since January a string of US officials have also traveled to Syria for meetings with Syrian President Bashar Assad, indicating a potential thaw in relations between Washington and Damascus. Turkish-brokered peace talks between Syria and Israel were suspended during the Gaza war in December and January and the US is keen to see negotiations begin again. Washington is also said to be exploring the possibility of Lebanese-Israeli talks. While in Lebanon Mitchell was reportedly scheduled to meet with, in addition to Sleiman, Siniora, Speaker Nabih Berri, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh and MP Saad Hariri. - Agencies

Suleiman: The President is the Guarantee of Majority and Opposition
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman expressed optimism at the positive reactions of the March 8 and 14 camps to the election results and tendency to stress on the head of state's bigger role in the upcoming stage. He told al-Akhbar newspaper in an interview published Friday that consensus was the ultimate objective and said the next cabinet should include both majority and opposition. "The president is the real guarantee for the resistance's weapons, the issue of reforms and formation of the new cabinet," Suleiman said. He stressed that his guarantee is twofold: for the majority and the opposition. Suleiman also voiced support for Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri's nomination for the premiership. If Hariri is willing to nominate himself, then "I am with this wish." On the Doha accord, Suleiman called for preserving the agreement's spirit and said the Taef accord is the basis of national understanding. On Friday's cabinet session, the president said he will propose the 2009 draft budget for adoption. If agreement was not reached "then we will resort to voting." Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 09:49

Damascus Urges Opposition to Open Up to Hariri, Jumblat
Naharnet/Consultations are underway to form a new government and elect a parliament speaker with MP Saad Hariri most likely the man to become Lebanon's next prime minister and incumbent Speaker Nabih Berri will almost certainly retain his post. The daily An Nahar on Friday said the overall internal and external atmosphere reflects a drive for getting over with these two events with minimum obstacles and hindrances. Meanwhile, Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun raised the question of proportional representation in the government, a sign that government formation could face difficulties. As Safir newspaper, for its part, citing Arab diplomatic sources in Beirut, said an "understanding" reached between Syria and Saudi Arabia several months ago regarding formation of a national unity government irrespective of election results was renewed just days ahead of the June 7 parliamentary.
The sources said Riyadh and Damascus, however, did not specify the nature of the structure of the new Cabinet: Does this mean a restoration of veto authority or adoption of new formula that would be acceptable to all parties. They said Hariri could visit Riyadh in the coming days for meetings with senior officials, in addition to the Saudi monarch.
March 14 forces, meanwhile, will hold a broad meeting to declare Hariri's nomination for the premiership provided it would be accompanied with the resumption of talks between Hariri and Berri. Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, accompanied by Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi, met Hariri in Qoreitem overnight. As Safir said Jumblat urged Hariri to step up dialogue with Berri and advised him to maintain contact with Hizbullah. Jumblat has also reportedly urged March 14 forces to open a new page with Aoun "so he won't feel there are those who want to isolate him." Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 11:10

Mitchell Meets Lebanese Officials in Beirut
Naharnet/U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell held separate talks with President Michel Suleiman and Premier Fouad Saniora on Friday.
Mitchell arrived in Beirut from Amman in the morning. U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison met him at Beirut airport. The U.S. envoy will head to the Syrian capital after his brief visit to Beirut following Sunday's parliamentary elections that saw the March 14 coalition defeat the Hizbullah-led alliance. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters in Washington that Mitchell's trip to Syria and Lebanon is partly a "follow-up" to President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo last week and that Washington rated it a "very high priority."The Obama administration has been cautiously pursuing diplomatic engagement with Syria, which has long had strained ties with Washington, in a bid to promote peace in the Middle East. On Thursday, Mitchell held talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II, a key player in efforts to steer the Middle East peace process back on track. Local newspapers said Friday that Mitchell will raise the issue of regional negotiations with Lebanese officials to see whether Lebanon is prepared to take part in peace talks. Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 10:11

March 14 Makes Demands Prior to Accepting Berri as Speaker
Naharnet/It is nearly confirmed that Nabih Berri will retain his post as parliament speaker for a fifth term. The daily As Safir on Friday said Berri circles have rejected "to hear even a whisper on the subject" of making demands over his re-election.  Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat's circles, however, told As Safir that remarks by MP Marwan Hamadeh "reflects his personal position and not that of Jumblat or his (parliamentary) bloc."Hamadeh has warned that the majority March 14 alliance would not accept the re-election of Berri unless a number of issues, including the premiership and cabinet formation, were settled. Hamadeh stressed the need for a "complete basket," rejecting the re-election of Berri before settling other issues. Al Liwaa newspaper on Friday, citing sources from March 14 forces, reported a series of conditions put forth by the majority prior to accepting Berri's re-election.
The majority wants a balanced management of Parliament and a non- obstruction of Parliament sessions. They also demand that the Speaker take a stance that allows him to have control over parliament meetings. Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 12:33

2 Wounded in Security Mishap between Mustaqbal, Saad's Men in Sidon
Naharnet/Security forces early Friday restored calm to the southern city of Sidon soon after a midnight mishap between Ossama Saad's bodyguard and Mustaqbal Movement supporters left two people wounded. A statement by Saad's Popular Nasserite Organization (PNO) said an armed Mustaqbal Movement "gang" ambushed one of the group's cars, a Lada, carrying Saad's daughter, Manar, and a bodyguard, who "miraculously survived."Meanwhile, another Mustaqbal Movement group, opened up heavy gunfire on the houses of PNO partisans in Dar al-Mir neighborhood in the old district of Sidon, the statement added. The daily An Nahar on Friday, citing PNO sources, said Saad's car had just passed by Quds Square shortly before midnight when a Mustaqbal vehicle intercepted it, breaking the windshield. This, according to the sources, prompted the bodyguard/driver to shoot at the assailants, wounding two men identified as brothers Bilal and Akram Hankir. They were taken to Sidon's Hammoud Hospital. Mustaqbal Movement sources, however, said the incident erupted when Saad's driver shot at the Hankir brothers, provoking interference by friends who rushed to Quds Square, breaking the car's windows. The mishap quickly developed and dozens of Sidon residents took to the streets, many gathering outside Saad's mansion, to express their anger. Lebanese army and police dispatched forces to restore order to the city, setting up checkpoints and running patrols.
Saad stressed that Sidon's security was a "redline." He urged fellow citizens to exercise calm and avoid being driven to civil strife. Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 08:15

Damascus Urges Opposition to Open Up to Hariri, Jumblat
Naharnet/Consultations are underway to form a new government and elect a parliament speaker with MP Saad Hariri most likely the man to become Lebanon's next prime minister and incumbent Speaker Nabih Berri will almost certainly retain his post.The daily An Nahar on Friday said the overall internal and external atmosphere reflects a drive for getting over with these two events with minimum obstacles and hindrances. Meanwhile, Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun raised the question of proportional representation in the government, a sign that government formation could face difficulties. As Safir newspaper, for its part, citing Arab diplomatic sources in Beirut, said an "understanding" reached between Syria and Saudi Arabia several months ago regarding formation of a national unity government irrespective of election results was renewed just days ahead of the June 7 parliamentary.
The sources said Riyadh and Damascus, however, did not specify the nature of the structure of the new Cabinet: Does this mean a restoration of veto authority or adoption of new formula that would be acceptable to all parties. They said Hariri could visit Riyadh in the coming days for meetings with senior officials, in addition to the Saudi monarch.
March 14 forces, meanwhile, will hold a broad meeting to declare Hariri's nomination for the premiership provided it would be accompanied with the resumption of talks between Hariri and Berri. Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, accompanied by Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi, met Hariri in Qoreitem overnight. As Safir said Jumblat urged Hariri to step up dialogue with Berri and advised him to maintain contact with Hizbullah. Jumblat has also reportedly urged March 14 forces to open a new page with Aoun "so he won't feel there are those who want to isolate him." Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 11:10

New Parliamentary Bloc between Mustaqbal, Allied MPs
Naharnet/A new parliamentary bloc is in the works that should group deputies from Saad Hariri's Mustaqbal Movement and a number of MPs allied with him.
Hariri, in remarks published by the daily An Nahar on Friday, said various suggestions have been proposed, including formation of a parliamentary bloc grouping Mustaqbal MPs and a number of deputies allied with him and who were on his electoral lists in different regions.
Hariri, however, stressed that the new bloc would be working "under the roof of March 14 forces."
"This bloc would activate the work of March 14 forces and enhance productivity of Parliament," Hariri said. Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 09:09

Jumblat: Dialogue with Syria is Inevitable
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said dialogue with Syria is inevitable, adding that any relationship with Damascus, however, should be under the banner of Taef Accord."Dialogue with Syria is unavoidable," Jumblat said in an interview published Friday by the daily Al Akhbar. "My situation, however, is different from that of Saad Hariri," he explained. "He (Hariri) can (talk to the Syrians). I cannot, given that I had verbally attacked (President) Bashar Assad," Jumblat said. "No one has gone way beyond the limits to assault Assad as much I did," headmitted. Jumblat, however, said he believed good Lebanese-Syrian relations are "inevitable" for historic and geographical reasons. "However, any ties with Syria should be under the banner of Taef," the Druze leader insisted. On Hizbullah arms, Jumblat said that the only guarantee with regards to the Shiite group's weapons is "continuation of (national) dialogue." Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 09:48

Ban for Quick Formation of Lebanese Cabinet
Naharnet/U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that the Lebanese should quickly form a new government, adding that it is up to them to decide what kind of democratic models they will establish. Ban told a press conference in New York that he strongly encouraged President Michel Suleiman, Premier Fouad Saniora and MP Saad Hariri to form a government "as soon as possible." "I am going to closely monitor and discuss this matter and coordinate not only with the Lebanese political leaders, but also other key leaders," Ban said.
He told reporters that his consistent policy and stance on the situation in Lebanon has been "democratization, peace and stability."
"I am very much encouraged by the election results, which have been largely free from violence. It means that the Lebanese government and people have (taken) a step forward towards mature democracy and better security and stability," he said.
Asked by An Nahar daily's correspondent, what models and lessons should the Arab world and other countries in the region learn from the Lebanese experience, Ban said: "What we can learn from Lebanon is that when the political leaders of a country cooperate with a sense of understanding and flexibility … then we would be able to reduce the differences of opinions and we will see peace and stability quicker." It "is up to the people, what kind of model they will establish, they will form. That is up to the people to decide in Lebanon," the U.N. chief stressed.
Turning to another front, Ban said that the Middle East diplomatic Quartet is tentatively set to meet in Italy later this month.
"I look forward to the next meeting of the Quartet, tentatively scheduled for later this month in Italy," he told the press conference.
Diplomats said the meeting of the Quartet -- the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States -- was likely to take place on the sidelines of a G8 ministerial session on Pakistan and Afghanistan scheduled for June 25-27 in Trieste.
"There is encouraging momentum on which to build," Ban added, referring to U.S. President Barack Obama's Cairo speech on relations with the Islamic world last week.
"President Obama's address in Cairo has lent new momentum to the peace process," the U.N. chief said. "The rights of both peoples, Palestinians and Israelis, to self-determination, statehood and security are the basis of any policy going forward." Beirut, 12 Jun 09, 08:50

Damascus: Our Stance From The Next Lebanese Cabinet Built on Relations With the Resistance and Us
Naharnet/Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad said his country's stance concerning the next Lebanese government would be built on two factors: first how this government would deal with Syria and bilateral relations, and second on the manner in, which the Lebanese government would handle the issue of Hizbullah's arms. Miqdad added: "we see a necessity for Lebanon to have such arms in face of the Israeli occupation."The Syrian official who was speaking Thursday in Damascus at a political symposium that included university professors said: "the disclosure of the Israeli espionage networks, in addition to the recent publishing by the German magazine Der Spiegel clearly points that those that committed the assassination of Lebanon's ex-premier Rafik Hariri wanted to damage inter-Arab and Lebanese-Syrian relations." Beirut, 11 Jun 09, 18:11

Lebanese expats who came to vote are boosting tourism sector, says minister
Marouni upbeat about prospects of booming tourist season
By Osama Habib
Daily Star staff
Friday, June 12, 2009
BEIRUT: Tourism Minister Elie Marouni said Thursday the bulk of the Lebanese who arrived in Lebanon in May and the first week of June came to take part in the parliamentary elections which saw March 14 retain the majority in the Parliament. "It's true that many of the Lebanese who arrived in big numbers came to vote. But it is also true that many of them spent a few weeks here, which helped boost the tourist season," Marouni told The Daily Star in an exclusive interview.
According to statistics provide by the Tourism Ministry, the number of visitors in the month of May alone who came through Rafik Hariri International Airport reached 135,500, of which 50,208 are from Arab countries.
The minister said this was the biggest number of Lebanese visitors in one month.
These statistics confirm reports that the Lebanese expatriates played a big role in changing the outcome of parliamentary elections.
The ministry said the 50,208 Arab visitors represent an increase of 120,84 percent compared to the month of May 2008.
Marouni was very upbeat about the prospects of a booming tourism season after the elections are over.
"I expect more than 2 million visitors in 2009 and many of them will probably be Lebanese expatriates," he said.
The minister, who was elected a deputy in Zahle district, said the Lebanese diaspora alone can improve the tourism sector.
"If we count on Lebanese expatriates and immigrants alone, the tourism sector will experience an amazing growth never seen before," he said.
Officials claim that the number of Lebanese in Brazil, the United States and Europe are estimated to be more than 8 million. However, this figure can't be substantiated by reliable independent groups.
Lebanon relies heavily on tourism to achieve growth and boost the foreign currency reserves.
But the tourism sector suffered big setbacks in 2006 and 2007 due to a series of security incidents and most notably Israel's devastating war on Lebanon in July 2006.
Marouni stressed that the number of visitors in the first five months of 2009 jumped four times from the same period of last year.
"In some of the months we saw an increase of more than 100 percent growth in the number of visitors," he said.
The minister added that the hotels in Beirut and Mount Lebanon are 100 percent booked during the summer season.
He said that the ministry plans to launch a wide media campaign to promote the rest of the areas which did benefit from the tourism boom.
Marouni confirmed that in the coming few years Arab investors plan to invest billions of dollars in tourist projects, which include hotels and resorts in Beirut and the mountain.
But Paul Aryss, president of the restaurant owners syndicate, said the restaurant business fell by 30 percent three weeks before the parliamentary elections.
"We did not see any growth in the restaurant sectors. Apparently most of the Lebanese came here for a couple of weeks to cast their votes and head back to where they came from," Aryss said.
He added that most of these Lebanese who came to vote stay in their own homes or the homes of their parents.
But Aryss believes the number of tourists will surely rise considerably now that the elections have ended peacefully.
"Hotels and Middle East Airlines are fully booked this summer and this will reflect positively on the restaurant business," he said.
Aryss was confident that over a million Lebanese from the US and other countries will come to Lebanon this summer.
"Lebanese expatriates are the unknown soldiers in the tourism industry because they make a big difference to our sector," he said.

'Israeli citizen' voted in Lebanon's elections
By Patrick Galey
Daily Star staff
Friday, June 12, 2009
BEIRUT: Two elderly sisters arrested for possessing Israeli documents were released from custody on Wednesday. The women, reportedly in their early 70s, are both Lebanese citizens currently living in Occupied Jerusalem. The pair flew into the Rafik Hariri International airport last week, one on a Lebanese passport, the other on a US passport. They were detained this week after being found in possession of some Israeli currency and an expired Israeli passport, belonging to one of their husbands, who are both Palestinians.
One of the women, who are believed to come from the Metn town of Bikfaya, had voted in Sunday's Lebanese elections, according to a well-informed security source.
The other woman was visiting Lebanon in order to care for a sick relative and organize his transfer to the US, where he is to receive medical treatment, the source added. There is no indication that she voted on Sunday.
It is believed that the pair, both members of the Moussa family, had forgotten to remove Israeli items from their possession before they were arrested.
General Ashraf Rifi, head of Internal Security Forces, said the women had been released without charge on Wednesday. "These women were Lebanese and their husbands were Palestinian. The reason they were arrested was because of their husbands, who had Israeli passports. It wasn't the first time they have been to Lebanon and they have now been released," he told The Daily Star.
An Israeli news service reported on Wednesday that the women were Israeli citizens but that their Lebanese origin has since emerged.
Their arrest came as the number of people in Lebanon detained on charges of spying for Israel reached 68. On Tuesday, three more people were held by Lebanese security forces.
"They are accused of collaborating with the Israeli enemy for money and giving it information about civilian and military outposts," said one judicial official.
The arrests are part of an increased security operation to crack down on spy rings. Suspects in cases relating to national security are often held for months before formal charges are brought against them.
Several of those charged are still at large and security forces have said they suspect three spies to have fled across the border into Israel.
Last Friday, two Lebanese employees with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were released after allegations of spying proved to be unfounded.
Three days earlier a Lebanese Army colonel was arrested on suspicion of providing Israel with information.
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) recently circulated a message among its troops warning against Israeli attempts to infiltrate the military.
Lebanon has formally complained to the UN about what it says is Israeli espionage, calling it a breach of a Security Council resolution that brought the 2006 war to an end.
The country is still in a state of war with Israel and convicted spies face a sentence of life imprisonment, or even the death penalty if it can be proved that their leaked information contributed to Lebanese loss of life.

From Martyrs to the Living
Thu, 11 June 2009
Ghassan Charbel/Al Hayat
Saad Hariri won and then cried next to his father’s tomb. So did Nayla Tueni and Nadim Bashir Gemayel. Sami Gemayel won and then cried next to the tomb of his brother Pierre. Sleiman Tony Frangieh won and then was flooded with memories and tears.
The country’s scenes are heartbreaking.
Every winner is welcomed by tears – searing tears that burn the joy of victory.
Hezbollah achieved a sweeping victory at the heart of its community. The Shiites voted for the stream of martyrs. Walid Kamal Jumblatt achieved a sweeping victory at the heart of his community. The Druzes voted for their first martyr and all those who followed. Samir Geagea knows that the Lebanese Forces supporters voted for their first martyr and all those who followed. The same can be said of Amine Gemayel and Dory Chamoun.
The country’s scenes are heartbreaking.
In Sidon, the martyr’s sister competed with the martyr’s son. In Tripoli a martyr’s supporters competed with a martyr’s brother. In Zghorta a martyr’s son competed with a martyr’s son.
The winner was flooded with memories and tears. The loser was flooded with memories and tears. It is as if the country were a jungle of martyrs and of tears.
From Marouf Saad in 1975 to Wissam Eid in 2008… a river of martyrs. This one defended the country’s borders. This other one defended his existence in it. That one defended the borders of his freedom. That other one defended the borders of his fears or vision. Strong men turned into weak men by the great game. Free men turned into prisoners. Brave men turned into martyrs. How we wished for the martyr we were burying to be the last martyr. But he wasn’t. We renewed our wish after a new martyr and our disappointment was renewed.
A confession must be made. We mastered goodbyes and condolences. We excelled at eulogies. It has been decades since we wrote about a light, even at the end of the tunnel. Every time there was a glimmer of hope, someone came to snatch it away. Every time there was the hint of a dream, someone came to cut it short.
Heartbreaking scenes…
The walls have forgotten the images that crossed them. Neither winter nor time is merciful. But the images are still hanging on the walls of houses and in the bones of their inhabitants. The face of a bereaved mother gets wrinkled next to the images. Sadness kills the features of a widow. Pain flows in the veins of an orphan.
It is like a jungle of martyrs and tears.
A good citizen is standing on the balcony. He wants his children to go to school and graduate. He wants them to find job opportunities. He wants to get rid of his grief clothes. He wants to stop marking years with the names of martyrs. He wants to avoid spending his years between two funerals. He wants to avoid standing in the long queue at the Canadian and Australian embassies. This Shiite Sunni Maronite Druze Orthodox citizen bows before martyrs but wants a country for the living. Martyrs are our crown but the living are our future.
The recent elections have no meaning if they do not promise the Lebanese a state in which to live, or a quasi-state with an open door towards its completion. The absence of the state assassinates both the martyrs and the living; truth and hope. The absence of the state wastes the blood of those residing under and above the ground.
I bow before all martyrs. They are the country’s crown and medals. But I ask Nabih Berri, Hassan Nasrallah, Michel Aoun, Saad Hariri, Amine Gemayel, Walid Jumblatt, and Samir Geagea to deal with the election results as an engagement to put the balance of martyrs, in all their positions, at the service of the establishment of a state for the living… A fair state with modern institutions… A state that accommodates the oddities of the Lebanese mine… A state that accommodates the various colors, allegiances, and interpretations under the ceiling of the law.
The martyrs demand the leaders of the living to cross to the state and take tough and painful decisions. Nothing hurts martyrs more than welcoming more martyrs. The martyrs know that the happy country is the one that does not need more martyrs.
 

Lebanese vote for the status quo
Paul Cochrane
http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/3364.cfm
June 11, 2009
In Lebanon's hotly contested elections on June 7, the Lebanese overwhelmingly voted to retain the status quo, ostensibly rubber-stamping the continuation of sectarianism, corruption, cronyism and dynastic rule.
Since the withdraw of Syria from Lebanon in 2005, the country has been divided into two camps. The March 14 coalition—a mixture of Sunni Muslim, Christian and Druze parties—which has largely dominated politics since the end of the civil war, won a majority in Sunday's parliamentary elections, securing 71 of a possible 128 seats. The remaining seats—save two that went to independents—went to the opposition March 8 coalition, led by Shiite parties Hezbollah and Amal, and Christian parties Muarada and the Free Patriotic Movement (F.P.M.) of General Michel Aoun.
But while the outcome of the election was a marginal victory for the so-called "pro-Western" March 14 coalition and a defeat for the pro-Iran and pro-Syria Hezbollah and its allies, the election reinforced the political processes that have dogged the country since independence.
Under the National Covenant, the presidency is allocated to a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni, and the speaker of the house a Shiite, while the parliament, following the Taif Accord in 1989 that ended the civil war, is split 64:64 between Christians and Muslims. As a result, all the major political parties are sectarian and the majority former civil war militias: Shiite parties Amal and Hezbollah, Christian parties the Lebanese Forces, Phalange, F.P.M. and Muarada, and the Druze Progressive Socialist Party (P.S.P.). The leading Sunni party, Future, is an exception, only formed post civil war.
As a combination of fear, self-interest and tribalism, all left over from the civil war, the 54.8% of Lebanese that turned out to vote did so overwhelmingly along sectarian lines and client allegiances—allegiances that purport to safeguard that sectarian identity and, through the party and leadership, pull strings, find employment, dole out cash, and so forth.
Neighborhoods, towns and villages are invariably mono-religious, noticeably marked by the political posters, symbols and flags of their respecitve parties. Political leaders have iconic status, with posters of the living and dead adorning walls of houses and shops, the rear windows of cars, and even screensavers of phones and computers. People's allegiances are open and clear, amply demonstrated in the lead up to the elections, and ramping up to a festive display on the eve of the elections.
Supporters took to the streets in towns and cities throughout the country to drive up and down the main strip in cars adorned with posters and waving flags on June 6. Political music blasted from speakers. Many were dressed in the color of their party: orange for F.P.M., yellow for Hezbollah, luminous green for Muarada, and blue for Future. It was the same on the day of the elections until the army, out in force over the past few weeks, banned supporters from flag waving or beeping political tunes on their car horns.
The dynastic side of Lebanon was also evident. In the Muarada town of Zgharta in Northern Lebanon, the posters were of the party's leader, Suleiman Franjieh—the son of an assassinated politician—along with his 22-year-old son, Tony Franjieh, being groomed to succeed his father. Other posters were of Michel Mouawad, son of assassinated President Rene Mouawad.
In Beirut, voters were offered 26-year-old candidate Nayla Tueni, daughter of assassinated politician and editor of An Nahar newspaper Gibran Tueni; Nadim Gemayal, the son of assassinated politician Bachir Gemayal; and Saad Hariri, the billionaire son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Up in the Druze area of the Chouf mountains, P.S.P. leader Walid Jumblatt dominated, the son of Kamal Jumblatt, who was assassinated in 1977, while in Mount Lebanon Sami Gemayal, the 29-year-old brother of assassinated politician Pierre Gemayal and son of former President Amin Gemayal, won a seat.
A Phalange supporter, when asked why he was voting for Nadim Gemayal, replied, "Because he is the son of Sheikh Bashir," referring to Bashir Gemayal, who was assassinated in 1982.
All of the above was enforced through Lebanese media, with the major parties partly or outright owning six television channels, newspapers and radio stations to put forward their messages. These messages, unfortunately, spoke little of improving health care, education, infrastructure, tax reform, or the environment. Some of the biggest problems facing Lebanon barely got a mention.
The country is chronically in debt, to the tune of $47 billion and equivalent to 170 percent of gross domestic product. Power shortages are a daily occurrence, infrastructure is crumbling, and Lebanon ranked 102 out of 180 countries worldwide in Transparency International's 2008 corruption perception survey. Out of a score of five on people's perception of corruption, five being extremely corrupt, Lebanon ranked 4.1, and 65% of respondents said the government was ineffective in the fight against corruption. In Foreign Policy magazine's Failed States Index 2008, Lebanon ranked 18 out of 60 countries, on par with Nigeria and just ahead of Ethiopia.
Instead of these crucial issues—which would typically be the main talking points of political candidates in other countries—political rivalries, sectarian animosity, foreign relations, and the Arab-Israeli conflict dominated debate.
In the lead up to the elections, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden visited Beirut for three hours to reassure support for March 14 and warn that military aid would be cut if March 8 got to power, while Israel threatened to not hand back a village in Southern Lebanon occupied since the July 2006 war if March 8 won. Reinforcing Hezbollah's position as the country's first line of defense against Israel—the "Resistance"—was a string of arrests of Lebanese caught spying for Israel, while Israel carried out war game maneuvers the weekend before the election.
But the election results were not a clear indication of one bloc being pro-Western and the other pro Syria and Iran and resisting Israel. While March 14 is clearly favored by the West, largely because Hezbollah is deemed a terrorist group by the U.S., the Future movement is heavily backed and funded by Saudi Arabia. Politicians who ran on the Future list, such as Khalid Daher in Northern Lebanon, allegedly recruited for Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his ilk to fight the Americans in Iraq.
The March 8 bloc is equally difficult to label, with the Christian supporters who are wary of the other parties and not overly pro Iran and Syria. While the F.P.M.'s platform spoke against corruption, there is traction amongst political analysts that the crucial Christian vote that divided the community between the March 14 and March 8 coalitions was swung by the actions of F.P.M. leader Michel Aoun and Hezbollah. Just months before the election, Aoun paid visits to Tehran and Damascus, a dangerous political move that seems to have backfired, given Syria's past in Lebanon and the growing role of Iran in the region.
In May 2008, Hezbollah went against its word, turning its guns away from Israel and pointed them inwards, using armed forces to seize parts of Beirut and Lebanon over a four-day conflict. The move, which shut down the country, made people wary of the party's motives and appears to have prompted Christian voters to side with March 14 against Hezbollah. The March 14 Christian parties campaigned on this heavily, in rhetoric and on political billboards.
While the elections were not rigged or tampered with, the election was not above board. The Supervisory Commission on the Election Campaign's (S.C.E.C.) first report in early May identified 293 media violations of just one article of the electoral law committed over a fourteen-day period. The report included libel, slander, defamation and broadcasting that sparked sectarian tensions.
Campaign spending is a further area that parties flouted under Lebanon's new electoral law, surpassing the limit of $100,000 per candidate and $2.66 per registered voter in a district. There were also numerous stories of people being flown in to vote, from as far as Sao Paolo and Sydney, all courtesy of political parties. If anecdotal stories are to be believed, vote buying was also rife among the political parties. But while violations can be tallied and campaign finances audited, the body that has just been set up to rule on electoral misdemeanors, the Constitutional Council, can take up to five months to investigate and process violations. And violations can be submitted only by the top losing candidate in a district, not by any others. While the law is there, it effectively lacks any bite.
All in all, considering that transparency was never a strong electoral platform of any party, the 54.8% of Lebanese that voted got what they voted for: the same leaders, parties and families that have dominated politics in the country for the past thirty tumultuous years. As the French saying goes, plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose—the more things change, the more they stay the same.
**Paul Cochrane is a freelance journalist based in Beirut, where he has lived since 2002. He writes for international and specialized publications on business, politics and the media in the

Lebanon’s Triumph, Iran’s Travesty
By ELLIOTT ABRAMS
Published: June 11, 2009
The New York Times
LebanonWITH elections in Lebanon and Iran occurring in the same week, it’s inevitable that they are viewed as twin tests of efforts to spread democracy to the Muslim world. Should we celebrate the outcome in Lebanon and push for elections throughout the Middle East, or sourly note that Hezbollah has exactly as many guns now as it had when it was defeated at the polls on Sunday? Is the Iranian presidential election today a festival of freedom or a cover for theocracy?
What the United States should be promoting is not elections, but free elections, and the voting in Lebanon passed any realistic test. Anyone who wanted to run could run. The participation rate was 53 percent, close to our turnout in last year’s presidential race. By all accounts the votes were counted fairly. There are rumors about large amounts of Saudi money floating in to support the victorious March 14 coalition, but so what? Hezbollah gets at least $200 million a year from Iran. It is striking that the losers are not crying foul; they too agree the election was fundamentally fair.
However, was it fair but meaningless, given Hezbollah’s military might? That is not the judgment of the winners — the pro-Western March 14 group — who believe they have crippled any claim by Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to speak for the Lebanese people.
Hezbollah’s inability to win support outside its Shiite base, along with the poor showing of its Christian ally, Gen. Michel Aoun, leaves Sheik Nasrallah diminished and less able to drag Lebanon into another war with Israel. He will play hardball, no doubt, in the negotiations over the next Lebanese government, and he retains the ability to take over downtown Beirut as he did in May 2008. But such displays of power were apparently the exact kind of thing that turned off swing voters — mostly Christians — and Hezbollah now uses them at its political peril.
We should not idealize Lebanon’s election, nor its politics. Most voters support only candidates from their own religious group, and the political talk is not of liberals and conservatives but of Armenians, Maronites, Druze, Shiites and Sunnis. Some districts seem as permanently owned by one family as any “rotten borough” in 19th-century England. Still, the election produced a consequential result: the majority of Lebanese have rejected Hezbollah’s claim that it is not a terrorist group but a “national resistance.”
Unfortunately, Iran’s election today presents the voters with no similar opportunity. There is no chance for voters to register their opposition to the theocratic system or tell the ayatollahs to go back to the mosques. The candidates have been carefully screened to exclude anyone opposed to the ruling clerical establishment; each is part of the Islamic Revolution’s old guard.
Nor is it likely that the votes will be fairly counted; indeed most analysts concluded that the 2005 election was manipulated to produce Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidential victory. Vote destruction and ballot stuffing are easy in a hidden process controlled by the Interior Ministry. And if all else fails, the 12-man Guardian Council has the power to throw out the results in districts where there were “problems” — problems like a reformist victory.

Voting in Iran is a contrivance for settling certain policy disputes and personal rivalries within the ruling elite. Elections are not without meaning; if Mr. Ahmadinejad loses, it may result in more sensible economic policies and fewer loud calls for the destruction of Israel. But Iran doesn’t hold elections for supreme leader — Ayatollah Ali Khameini will hold that post for the indefinite future — and the failed presidency of Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005 reminds us that the power of a putative reformist is illusory. The Khatami years saw increased repression inside Iran, growing support for Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist groups, and the covert construction of the uranium enrichment facility at Natanz.
Mr. Ahmadinejad’s defeat would probably be welcomed abroad as a sign that Iran is moving away from his policies, but Iran’s policies aren’t his — they are dictated by Ayatollah Khamenei and his supporters in the Revolutionary Guard and Basij paramilitary. In fact, a victory by Mr. Ahmadinejad’s main challenger, Mir Hussein Moussavi, is more likely to change Western policy toward Iran than to change Iran’s own conduct. If the delusion that a new president would surely mean new opportunities to negotiate away Iran’s nuclear program strikes Western leaders, solidarity might give way to pre-emptive concessions.
Elections matter, but how much they matter depends entirely on how free, open and fair they are. The Lebanese had a chance to vote against Hezbollah, and took the opportunity. Iranians, unfortunately, are being given no similar chance to decide who they really want to govern them.
**Elliott Abrams, who was a deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration, is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/opinion/12abrams.html?ref=opinion

Universal Elections
12/06/2009
By Diana Mukkaled/Asharq Al Awsat
It’s difficult to tell how the final picture in Lebanon will look following the recent elections that attracted large-scale political and media attention. The elections resulted in an overwhelming victory for the March 14 Coalition and its Arab and international supporters, while the March 8 Alliance and the regional axis that this coalition represents suffered a crushing defeat.
Leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, General Michel Aoun, described the elections in Lebanon as universal elections.
This may be one of the few correct terms that General Aoun has been successful in coining, as attempts at predicting the post-electoral situation is something that Arab and non-Arab media is relentlessly trying to do, particularly due to Lebanon’s status as a battleground between the moderate and rejectionist camps in the region, and as the front line for two opposing international projects.
The international media is busy trying to understand the situation in the Middle East in the aftermath of the Lebanese elections, not to mention the Iranian elections that are taking place.
The majority of the Lebanese said that they were not happy with Hezbollah’s weapons and that May 7 was not a glorious day [as Hezbollah described it].
This is an indisputable fact, although it seems that it is difficult for the local media to distance itself from the confrontational language that prevailed in the run up to the elections. It appears that the defeated party is trying to promote the idea that Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah presented in his speech following the announcement of the electoral results, namely the claim that the March 8 Alliance won 54 percent of the popular vote.
Creating a lexicon that will incite new confrontation in the future appears to be one of the media’s roles in Lebanon. The 2005 elections were accompanied by doubts over who had won the popular vote from the opposition media which discussed the "Quadripartite Agreement" [between Walid Jumblatt, Saad Hariri, Nabih Berri, and Hezbollah] and said that the majority of Christian votes went to Michel Aoun.
Today these two issues no longer apply. Therefore the opposition media had to search for another issue so it used the issue of "the popular majority" that was raised by Hassan Nasrallah. However the 2005 issue was much more coherent than its 2009 equivalent as Christians simply voted against Michel Aoun [this time] and this will be a fact that remains fixed over the next four years.
As for condemning electoral regulations and holding this responsible for the opposition’s defeat, everybody knows that these regulations were adopted in Doha at the request of Michel Aoun. In fact Michel Aoun returned to Beirut from Doha and responded to the change in electoral regulations by saying, “Christian rights have been restored.”
The fact remains that the opposition media using the [change] in electoral regulation to explain their defeat is a kind of self-flagellation, but this must be expanded upon to include many of the positions and practices that led to the defeat. Hiding behind a fictitious victory using the slogan of a "popular majority" will never work.