LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 07/09
Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ
according to Saint Mark 7:31-37. Again he left the district of Tyre and went by
way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, into the district of the Decapolis. And
people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to
lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his
finger into the man's ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up
to heaven and groaned, and said to him, "Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!") And
(immediately) the man's ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and
he spoke plainly. He ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more he ordered
them not to, the more they proclaimed it. They were exceedingly astonished and
they said, "He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and (the) mute
speak."
Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special
Reports
Saving Lebanon-Ghassan Charbel/Dar
Al-Hayat/September 06/09
In the dark/Michael
Karam/By: Now Lebanon/September
06/09
Latest
News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for September 06/09
'Ron Arad died in Lebanon in mid-90s'-Jerusalem
Post
Roman ruins put Nahr al Bared camp rebuild at risk-National
Iraq presses UN envoy on bombings tribunal, Syria-The
Associated Press
'Hizbullah Stockpiling Chemical Weapons In S. Lebanon'-Arutz
Sheva
Hariri Pleads with Opposition 'Be
Reasonable' as he Multiplies Efforts to Form Cabinet before Sept. 23-Naharnet
Sleiman to meet Jumblatt in
Beiteddine
Intelligence Report: Arad Died of Illness in Captivity in Mid 1990s-Naharnet
Mystery
Shrouds Ezzedine's Bankruptcy Case-Naharnet
Army
Makes Arrests in Deadly Hermel and Qubbah Incidents-Naharnet
Sfeir Criticizes Lack of
Cabinet Deal Ahead of Suleiman's N.Y. Trip-Naharnet
Fears of Terrorist Attacks
with Advanced Booby-Trapping Techniques-Naharnet
Habib voices support for
Sfeir/Now Lebanon
Habib voices support for Sfeir/Now
Lebanon
Hariri did not expect opposition’s
stubbornness/Now Lebanon
The Aouni “lotto” ticket delays
government formation/Future News
Mufti Jouzou accuses Aoun of
defying the Lebanese’s willpower/Future News
Sfeir Criticizes Lack of Cabinet
Deal Ahead of Suleiman's N.Y. Trip
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Sunday said Lebanon's
participation in the U.N. Security Council meetings without a new government is
"not something to be proud of."
"The slowdown in the formation of the government is not a healthy sign," Sfeir
said during his Sunday sermon from Diman. "The country is in need of people who
will run its affairs and meet the needs of the citizens," he added. Suleiman
will take part in the Security Council meeting at the U.N. headquarters Sept.
23. Beirut, 06 Sep 09, 10:54
Mystery Shrouds Ezzedine's
Bankruptcy Case
Naharnet/A shroud of mystery surrounding the bankruptcy of a top Lebanese
financier was growing as his list of alleged victims, mainly Muslim Shiites,
also does. Salah Ezzedine, a Shiite from southern Lebanon in his 50s who has
been dubbed the "Bernard Madoff" of his country, was arrested earlier this week
when he filed for bankruptcy. Reports surfaced that he had squandered more than
1.5 billion dollars (1.05 billion euros) of his clients' money. Mohammed al-Duheini,
mayor of the southern town of Toura, said that "around 250 residents from my
town placed their money in the hands of Salah Ezzedine, and he would give them
interest rates that topped 25 percent. "He managed to win the trust of the
Shiites of south Lebanon and handled a lot of their money," he told AFP. Local
papers have reported that Ezzedine offered interest rates as high as 60 percent
and that part of his clientele was from the oil-rich Gulf.
But prosecutor Saeed Mirza said there were no official figures as yet on
Ezzedine's finances, and that the bankruptcy claim had yet to be verified. "We
are still gathering information," he told AFP. While Ezzedine's own political
beliefs are unclear, most of his clients were supporters of Hizbullah, Duheini
says. Hizbullah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan was among the first to file a complaint
against Ezzedine over a bounced check, according to the local media. "What
people heard about him was that he is protected by Hizbullah and is an honest
man who runs charities," Duheini said. "They looked to him as the savior of the
south and its people, as the protector of the Shiites' finances." Under
Lebanon's banking secrecy law, banks cannot reveal their clients' names, assets
or holdings except in cases of bankruptcy or if granted written authorization by
the client. Lebanese authorities have closed down Dar al-Hadi Publishing House
which was owned by Ezzedine. Dar al-Hadi was one of Lebanon's prominent
publishing houses of religious Shiite books in Beirut's southern
suburbs.(AFP-Naharnet)(AP photo shows a man checking books at Dar Al-Hadi.)
Beirut, 06 Sep 09, 09:56
Hariri Pleads with Opposition 'Be Reasonable' as he Multiplies Efforts to Form
Cabinet before Sept. 23
Naharnet/After efforts to form a unity government dwindled following the PM-designate's
unfruitful meeting with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, Cabinet
creation picked up momentum again when Saad Hariri vowed to do everything
possible to make sure Lebanon has a government ahead of President Michel
Suleiman's New York visit on September 23.
Hariri said he would resume talks with the various political leaders, stressing,
however, on the need for every person to bear his responsibility. "We are about
to form a new government that comes in the wake of parliamentary elections in
which March 14 forces emerged victorious," Hariri told an iftar in Qoreitem.
"And we have said from the beginning that despite winning these elections, logic
says that we stretch a hand to our partners in the nation," he added. Hariri
emphasized the need to form a Cabinet that includes the various political
leaders, saying: "Genuine partnership must be based on the logic that says:
'After relinquishing many (privileges) during parliamentary elections, the other
side should meet us with reasonable demands."
Meanwhile, Ad-Diyar newspaper, citing well-informed sources, said Hariri will
present a new Cabinet to Suleiman for approval on Monday. It is up to Suleiman,
however, to endorse the government or not. Pan-Arab al-Hayat daily, for its
part, said Suleiman has encouraged Hizbullah to facilitate Hariri's latest
initiative regarding government formation. It said Suleiman does not mind Hariri
going ahead with his initiative, although he prefers consensus over a Cabinet
lineup that would not lead to the withdrawal of Hizbullah and AMAL in the event
the premier-designate formed a well-balanced government that could be rejected
by Aoun. Beirut, 06 Sep 09, 09:07
Intelligence Report: Arad
Died of Illness in Captivity in Mid 1990s
Naharnet/A secret military intelligence committee report has determined that
Israeli airman Ron Arad died of unknown illness in captivity in Lebanon in
mid-1990s, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday. The committee was formed four years
ago to determine the fate of Arad, a F-4 Phantom navigator captured on October
16, 1986 after his plane was shot down over Lebanon. He was captured by AMAL
movement and later turned over to Iran, Ahonoth said. According to a book by Dr.
Ronen Bergman detailing the committee's work and various domestic and foreign
intelligence reports gathered in the case, the committee determined that Arad
was still alive nine years after he was captured, the report said.
It said Arad is believed to have died from an unknown illness after the Iranians
returned him to Lebanon, where he was held at a Revolutionary Guards facility.
Both Iran and Hizbullah have been unable to locate his gravesite, the report
added. The Israeli Intelligence community, according to the report, has gone to
great lengths to try and recover any information regarding Arad. Israel and AMAL
held fruitless Germen-brokered negotiation on the matter for a long period of
time. In 1988, Arad disappeared from the home of the AMAL officer guarding him.
By the mid 1990s, after it was ascertained that Arad's fate was in Iran's hands,
German mediation efforts focused on Tehran. In 1995, the Iranian ambassador to
Germany informed the German mediator that Tehran "was no longer involved. We
don't know who Ron Arad is or where he is. If you think he is in Lebanon or held
by Hizbullah, see if Hassan Nasrallah can help you." Meanwhile, Military
Intelligence continued analyzing the case material. They eventually concluded
that Arad was held in Lebanon for several years before being transferred to Iran
in 1990. The committee, the report went on to say, concluded that Arad was taken
to Iran because the Revolutionary Guards wanted, as part of an internal power
struggle, to claim the "prestigious" abduction for themselves. Tehran repeatedly
denied having any information on Arad, but it is believed he was held by the
unit in the strictest confidence and in complete isolation. The committee also
said that Arad died in early 1995, just about the time the Iranians informed
Germany that they were no longer a part of the equation, the report added.
Beirut, 06 Sep 09, 13:40
Army Makes Arrests in Deadly
Hermel and Qubbah Incidents
Naharnet/The Lebanese army said on Saturday that it arrested several people
involved in shooting incidents in the eastern town of Hermel and the northern
city of Tripoli's Qubbah region which resulted in the death of three people. An
army communiqué said the military arrested 11 people involved in the shooting on
a policeman in Hermel and seized arms and ammunition from them. "Corporal Anwar
Mohammad Nasseredine, who was in his 20s, was killed on the spot when gunmen
opened fire from their jeep as he drove through town in his private car," a
security official said Friday. "The incident was a settling of accounts in a
family feud," he said. The communiqué also said that the army arrested several
gunmen, who took part in the Qubbah clashes, which killed two brothers. An
argument over a child hit by a car escalated into an exchange of gunfire between
two families, an army spokesman said Friday. "The child was hit by a car earlier
today in Qubbah, Tripoli but was unharmed," the spokesman said. Beirut, 05 Sep
09, 14:32
Fears of Terrorist Attacks
with Advanced Booby-Trapping Techniques
Naharnet/Security sources have warned that extremists could use advanced
technology to carry out terrorist attacks against security forces and officials
in Lebanon, al-Mustaqbal daily reported on Saturday. According to the newspaper,
the sources said that a man with an Arab nationality had visited Ain el-Hilweh
camp and delivered three Palestinians, who have been charged in absentia for
carrying out terrorist activities, a CD that explains how to booby-trap cameras,
mail packages and mobile phones. The sources said the CD was circulated among
extremist organizations inside the southern refugee camp.The report prompted
security institutions to ask officers to carry out intensive search of packages,
cameras and phones near military posts and public institutions. Beirut, 05 Sep
09, 10:34
In the dark
Michael Karam says his village deserves better
September 6, 2009
Now Lebanon/A couple shops for generators in a store as Lebanon’s electrical
grid routinely leaves areas powerless. (AFP/Ramzi Haidar)
Zabougha, Metn: There is a joke that originated during the civil war in which
Abou Abed, Lebanon’s national nincompoop, has annoyed his neighbors by using his
generator non-stop. They consult his chum, Abou Steif, who agrees to mediate in
the crisis.
That night, Abou Steif visits Abou Abed. He agrees that it is reasonable for Um
Abed to need electricity for her household chores. He also fully backs Abou
Abed’s right to watch the evening news undisturbed with his glass of arak. But
does Abou Abed really need to run his thundering 4 KVA generator all night? Abou
Abed looks at Abou Steif for a second and then asks “And the Vape? What about my
Vape?”
I always thought the joke was meant to highlight the thick seam of selfishness
that can course through our Lebanese veins, but last weekend here in my mountain
village of Zabougha, as I scratched myself raw, I found myself championing Abou
Abed’s fight for decent night’s sleep. It was 4 a.m., and the power had been off
since midnight. In the skies above my bed were dozens of mosquitoes, dive
bombing at will. My Vape mat having been neutralized by our legendary and
shamefully inadequate national grid.
The people of Zabougha have it particularly bad. Located an hour outside Beirut
on the Metn-Keserwan border – we are not talking remote Akkar here – it is like
any Christian mountain village: Three churches, one shop, a grumpy distrust of
one’s neighbor and a magnificent tradition of chopping off one’s nose to spite
one’s face. In fact, Zaboughis are considered very balanced people on account of
having a chip on both shoulders, a condition not helped by a state of ongoing
rivalry with the more prosperous people from the nearby village of Kfaraqab,
home of the writer Amin Maalouf, who consider us a bit déclassé.
But all this does not mean Zabougha should have to suffer. And yet, it spends
every second evening in darkness. It has been like this every day since the end
of the civil war - nearly 20 years. There was a village generator, but – and
this is where the nose-chopping, face-spiting bit comes in – those sullen
villagers who signed up for this inspired initiative suddenly didn’t like the
fact that the person providing this service was making a modest profit, so they
stopped paying, and now those who don’t have a generator sit in darkness. Again,
they may have the collective IQ of a garden pea, but they don’t deserve to be
sold EDL’s scraps while paying for choice cuts.
On June 7, all those Zaboughis eligible to vote turned out in force, cheerfully
queuing outside the salon of Zabougha’s St Georges Maronite church. The women
waited in one line, the men in another, the reason being that the women, once
freed from their suffrage, had to report for duty in the kitchen. (Sadly, unlike
those bookish sorts in Kfaraqab, the men of Zabougha are not up on their Camille
Paglia).
As is often the case in small communities situated outside the national
epicenter, the people of Zabougha take their national obligations very seriously
and all the competing parties were well represented. The community has a
traditionally strong Kataeb support base, but there is also a robust Lebanese
Forces and Free Patriotic Movement following. There is even a feisty faction
that still thinks the SSNP has something to offer.
Who were they voting for this summer? Well, local enforcer Michel Murr was, and
always has been, a shoe-in. The glamorous Sami Gemayel, judging by the rapturous
reception he got when his campaign rolled into to town, was clearly going to
take some beating. The old timers believed in the veteran parliamentarian
Ghassan Ashqar, while everyone appeared to give the thumbs-up to the
free-spending Sarkis Sarkis. There was also significant support for Michel
Aoun’s Orangemen. But at the end of the day, these are the mountains and,
depending on your “color,” the other guy is a son-of-a-bitch, a crook or weak.
(They say the same thing in Kfaraqab, but in French)
What they were voting for? If you live in Zabougha, the chances are you care
more about electricity, water and subsidized diesel for your sobia in winter,
than the international tribunal, the fate of Shebaa Farms and UNSCR 1701. The
results of those polls back in June seem an age ago. And yet life in Zabougha,
like the rest of Lebanon, goes on. Up here, the feast of Mar Takla in the last
week of September heralds the end of summer. It is then that these sullen,
grumpy, but nonetheless kindly, mountain folk think about autumn and whether
they will be able to afford to buy the raw materials to “remove” the arak. They
will also cast a thought to winter and whether they will use hatab (wood) or the
more expensive, but cleaner, mazout (diesel) in the sobia. I wonder if we will
have the government we so dutifully turned out to vote for by Mar Talka.
In the meantime, we just sit in the dark.
**Michael Karam is an Associate Editor of NOW Lebanon
Habib voices support for
Sfeir
September 6, 2009 /Now Lebanon/After meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah
Boutros Sfeir on Sunday, Lebanese Forces MP Farid Habib voiced support for Sfeir,
who according to Habib had been attacked before, a possible reference to
Prominent Shia cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah’s recent criticism of
the patriarch.
Sfeir responded by saying he accepts all feedback, whether good or bad.
Hariri did not expect opposition’s stubbornness
September 5, 2009/Now Lebanon/During an Iftar in Qoreitem on Saturday, Prime
Minister-designate Saad Hariri said that he is working “seriously” to finalize
the cabinet formation before President Michel Sleiman travels to New York at the
end of September. He said he had not expected the opposition’s “impossible”
demands and “unreasonable stubbornness,” a reference to Change and Reform bloc
leader MP Michel Aoun’s demand to be granted a sovereign ministry in the new
cabinet and his insistence on the reappointment of Telecommunications Minister
Gebran Bassil. Hariri also said that despite being victorious in the
parliamentary elections, the majority has conceded the right to form a majority
cabinet and to have a two-third vote. He said this gesture should be met with
more “reasonable” demands from the opposition. Hariri reiterated his insistence
on forming a national-unity cabinet, stressing that this step is not taken out
of fear but out of a desire for true partnership.
The Aouni “lotto” ticket delays government formation
Date: September 6th, 2009/Future News
The weather is still cloudy regarding government formation. Political
compatriots remain fixed to their stands with a small possibility that Premier
designate Saad Hariri might place his vision of the cabinet at the disposal of
President Michel Sleiman, as instructed by the constitution. In case this
happens, March 8 officials would only have to choose between staying in the
state of ‘void’ Hizbullah is afraid of, according to one of its leaders, or they
could participate in a national partnership government with designated Premier
Hariri as its head and President Sleiman giving him the green light. In this
context, and as the much-spoken-of initiative awaits, a passive development came
out of the Aouni camp, which seems unconvinced with the allotment of shares and
is seeking procrastination. As long as the designated premier and President want
the cabinet to be formed before the latter flies to New York, Aoun’s Movement
could negotiate at the time being and delay the process even further.
Telecommunications Minister Gebran Bassil assured that the Free Patriotic
Movement doesn’t want ‘PM designate Saad Hariri, to be a copy of outgoing
Premier Fouad Siniora. Despite his words on “not placing terms on the designated
Premier Bassil indicated that “Hariri must understand that no one can subjugate
the orange movement”.
Controversy!
As Bassil was promoting rumors that Premier designate Hariri had no real intent
to form the government or else he would’ve made concessions, MP Salim Salhab’s
stand was just the opposite. Salhab said “give us the telecommunications and
education ministries and you can have your government.” He saw that the Prime
Minister designate has to follow certain standards in picking ministerial
candidates but stressed that the standards must be just, calling political
compatriots not to hog portfolios such as the finance and justice ministries or
distribute them according to confession. Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, MP
Nawaf Moussawi revealed that the opposition will not take part in the government
unless the Free Patriotic Movement participates according to its public mass.
Mouassawi said during an Iftar held by the Islamic Resistance Support Committee
that the political crisis must not distract the Lebanese from the ongoing
Israeli aggression on Lebanon.
New York stop
Liberation and Development bloc member, MP Michel Moussa met the majority half
way, where he saw that the President’s participation in the UN general assembly
is an imperatives stop. “But the presence of a unified government that backs the
president while he’s there is much better,” he noted and pointed that Lebanon is
always under external influence but through dialogue, all compatriots could
reach a Lebanese-Lebanese agreement concerning the cabinet.
Protecting the President
In return, Lebanese Forces bloc MP George Adwan assured that the party will
place all its powers to protect President Sleiman and asserted that the Forces
will not allow any breaches to the constitution or prerogatives given to the
President and Premier designate. On the other hand, National Liberal Party
Secretary General Elias Abu Assi indicated that there is a local conflict
between the logic of the constitution and that of the force of arms. He believes
that MP Michel Aoun is a lottery ticket won by Hizbullah and the opposition and
pointed that the Orange General could still benefit from them both to fulfill
his strategic goals.
Mufti Jouzou accuses Aoun of defying the Lebanese’s willpower
Date: September 6th, 2009/Source: Future News
Mufti of Mount Lebanon Mohammad Ali Jouzou accused Free Patriotic Movement
leader MP Michel Aoun of dictating terms to others especially to Prime Minister
designate Saad Hariri, the National News Agency reported on Sunday. “In doing
this, the highly egocentric Michel Aoun is acting against his country and the
Lebanese people as a whole let alone his constant violations to the
constitution,” the religious cleric argued. Jouzou in his media statement
criticized the notion of Lebanese consensual democracy saying it only served the
interest of the opposition. He also accused Aoun of blocking all political,
economic and social life at the behest of what he termed as regional and
international forces. The mufti confirmed that “if Aoun fails to find someone to
fight with, he would fight with himself for the sake of reappointing his
son-in-law Telecommunication Minister Gibran Bassil,” he would even dictate to
the President of the Republic to achieve his own goals. Mufti Jouzou warned of
those who are rekindling fanatical Maronite incitements by tending to amend the
Taef accord which would grant the President of the republic absolute powers and
by focusing on the settlement issue from a purely sectarian perspective.
Saving Lebanon
Fri, 04 September 2009
Ghassan Charbel/Al Hayat Daily
It was a long and exhausting night in the hotel overlooking the Bosphorus. The
lights in the suites of the leaders stayed on till dawn. Ahmet Davutoğlu went
back and forth between the suites. Discord was finding its way around Lebanon,
an omen of worst times to come. The Turkish foreign minister made a series of
regional and international phone calls that helped him make rectifications and
amendments. After huge efforts were deployed, a “creative solution” was reached
and white smoke swirled upwards.
Photographers frantically took pictures in the closing session. Their flashes
covered the smiles of the poles of the Lebanese national dialogue. They
succeeded in saving their country for the sake of which so many had died. They
save it periodically. They relish reminding others of their ability to
disassemble it and save it. Abdullah Gül and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wait in an
adjacent room for the commemorative picture to be taken.
Davutoğlu read out loud the Istanbul agreement amidst the crowd of Lebanese,
Arab and international media:
- The parties gathered here call all fighters on the Lebanese territory,
including uncontrolled elements, for an immediate comprehensive ceasefire and
insist the Lebanese army respond firmly to any violation. They assure that the
bloody misunderstanding between the March 14 and March 8 camps has definitely
ended. They renew their attachment to the sovereignty of Lebanon, its unity, and
its Arabism as well as their dedication to the unique coexistence experience
that has kept it in the intensive care unit since its independence.
- The signature of the parties on the Istanbul agreement is considered like a
signature on a non-aggression pact among and inside the sects, communities, and
parties. The Lebanese refrain from exchanging accusations of treason and
wagering on the outside after it appeared that ‘all this cake is made from the
same dough’.
- The parties gathered here express their certitude that the Mossad was behind
the assassination of Rafic Hariri and the other assassinations that followed or
preceded it ever since Lebanon was established. They call Judge Belmar to make
the Special Tribunal’s decision reflect what the Lebanese have agreed upon. They
call the Tribunal to issue a firm decision against Ariel Sharon, who has been in
a prolonged coma. They call for turning the page of the past and making swift
reconciliations, and urge the Lebanese to kiss less in order to prevent the
spread of swine flu.
- The Lebanese Resistance announces its strict adherence to Resolution 1701 and
puts its deterring capacity at the disposal of the Lebanese State, which calls
for a diplomatic battle in order to retrieve the remaining occupied land – as it
is behind all war and peace decisions.
- The parties gathered here discussed the issue of the presidential stubbornness
and the complex of the palace that affects the leaders (and particularly
Generals) of the honorable Maronite sect. In order to inject blood and ensure
civil peace, the parties gathered reached a creative formula that can only be
applied one non-renewable or repeatable time. According to this formula, General
Michel Sleiman will act as President of the Republic five days a week and will
leave the palace during the weekends to be replaced by General Michel Aoun
according to a system that ensures the two Generals are never there at the same
time. General Aoun pledges to throw away any depressive feelings and refrain
from calling the Council of Ministers or resuming the “Elimination War” or the
“Liberation War”.
- Saad Hariri will establish a permanent final consensual government for any
upcoming elections with a system for transferring a minister’s portfolio to his
son or son-in-law should anything happen to him, God forbid.
- The President of the Republic’s mandate may not be extended under any
condition, even in case of a civil war. In order to keep the Lebanese army away
from any presidential temptations, it shall be prohibited to elect a General as
President under any condition, even if he were retired.
- The parties gathered pay tribute to General Sleiman’s refraining from
proposing his son-in-law’s name for any position and consider this to be an
inviolable law.
- The parties gathered discussed the complex issue of the future of Minister
Gibran Bassil, which is no less sensitive or difficult than the complex issue of
the future of Kirkuk in Iraq. As reparation for the Arab Christians for what
they suffered in Iraq, and following their reduced presence in Palestine and
their shrunken role in Lebanon, Bassil will be appointed as minister in the
permanent government – regardless of his being General Aoun’s son-in-law. He
will be in charge of telecommunications, in order to improve communications with
expatriates, especially the new incoming members of his sect.
- The participants pledged to give absolute priority for dealing with the
electricity issue in order to avoid seeing Lebanon drown in darkness and then
having to fight in candlelight.
The participants hugged each other with tears shining in their eyes. National
unity was preserved, after the country and the citizens were shattered. They
thanked the sultanate’s pity for its citizens. The Lebanese are orphans who
constantly need a guardian. Deputy Walid Jumblatt took pictures of the festive
national unity. He decided to retire in Istanbul while the others went back to a
failed country known as LEBANON.