LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
July 27/08
Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to
Saint Matthew 13,16-17. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your
ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did
not hear it.
Free
Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Interview with MP
Samir Franjieh: Hizbullah Trying to Abort Doha Accord. Naharnet. 27/07/08
How Israel plans to
contain Hamas.By: Asad Abdul Rahman 26/07/08
Prisoner 'Exchange'
With Hezbollah Contrasts Values-St.Louis Jewishlight.com 26/07/08
Lebanon's business community need not mimic the
country's idle politicians-The
Daily Star 26/7/08
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for July
26/08
Baal
Mohsen-Based Party Supports Tripoli Mufti-Naharnet
Lebanese-Syrian Officials Discuss Detainees Issue-Naharnet
The Resistance Deadlock and
Tripoli Clashes Persist-Naharnet
Nine killed in sectarian fighting in Lebanon-AFP
Mitri Rejects the Tripoli Mail Box Arena-Naharnet
Jumblat: Tripoli Violence
Serves Foreign Agendas-Naharnet
Fatfat Blames Tripoli
Violence on Hizbullah-Trained Factions-Naharnet
Hizbullah: Tribunal for
Resistance-Naharnet
March 14: Tripoli Violence
Similar to Nahr al-Bared's-Naharnet
MP Murr: Policy Statement
Would End Tripoli Clashes-Naharnet
Fadlallah Criticizes
Attempts to Doubt 'Resistance Weapons'-Naharnet
Sfeir Regrets ill Wind
Clashes in Tripoli-Naharnet
Report: Blast Rocks
Iranian Weapons Cargo Headed to Hizbullah-Naharnet
Pope
Benedict urges Maliki to protect Christian community in Iraq-Daily
Star
Six killed in intense fighting in north Lebanon-AFP
Talks
on Cabinet policy flounder as deadline nears-Daily
Star
Fadlallah insists Hizbullah's weapons 'necessary'-Daily
Star
UNIFIL lodges complaint with Israel over violations of Lebanese airspace-Daily
Star
LOG
slams national unity government's 'failures'-Daily
Star
Syrian forces detain Lebanese soldier - report-Daily
Star
Indian peacekeepers forge ties with Southerners by providing social services-Daily
Star
A
letter to Syria's foreign minister-Daily
Star
After
three years of isolation, Syria comes in from the cold-By
Inter Press Service-Daily
Star
Statistics shows surge in prices in Lebanon this year-Daily
Star
Lebanon
hit by wave of tourists as political horizon clears-AFP
Nine killed as sectarian clashes grip Lebanon
TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AFP) — Lebanese tanks were out on the streets of Tripoli on
Saturday to restore security after nine people were killed in a fresh bout of
sectarian fighting in the northern port city. Militants from the rival Sunni
Muslim and Alawite communities battled with rocket-propelled grenades and
automatic weapons through the night in the latest violence to rock the
Mediterranean city. An AFP correspondent said that around 60 army vehicles
fanned across Tripoli and that the shooting had died down. An army statement
said the troops "will use force if necessary to protect civilians and their
property and bar armed presence" on the streets. A 10-year-old boy and two women
were among those killed on Friday while 50 other people were wounded after two
attempts to secure a ceasefire.
"The army is working for real calm in the north," an army official told AFP, but
added: "Security requires political agreement."
Tripoli MP Mohammed Kabbara agreed. "The government is responsible for keeping
the peace... but we see that the officials have resigned their duties and turned
their backs on Tripoli," he said in a statement carried by the state-run
National News Agency. Kabbara said the violence that has wracked his city should
be addressed in "a special clause in government policy" being drafted by cabinet
ministers to ensure a lasting ceasefire.
"Will the clashes break out again each time there is a political row in the
capital?" he asked. "What is the price they want Tripoli to pay in order to stop
the bloodbath?" he added after a meeting of local political and religious
leaders. Lebanon has been hit by sporadic outbreaks of violence despite a
power-sharing deal between rival political factions in May which led to the
election of Michel Sleiman as president and the creation of a unity cabinet.
The latest unrest came after the new cabinet hit snags in deliberations aimed at
drawing up a policy agenda ahead of a parliamentary vote of confidence which
would enable the government to be officially installed. "This is a political
conflict between the Lebanese. Rather than go to the constitutional institutions
they are reverting to the use of weapons," the army official said.
Tanks and armoured vehicles patrolled the streets in the mainly Sunni Bab al-Tebbaneh
district and the neighbouring, largely Alawite, Jabal Mohsen -- both
impoverished areas. Many shops remained shuttered for the second consecutive day
and streets were largely deserted as families who had fled the battle zones on
Friday waited for a return to calm before going home, the AFP correspondent
said.
Bab al-Tebbaeh resident Ali Darwish, 63, said he spent Friday night with his
three children and 14 grandchildren in a classroom without electricity.
"We are anxiously awaiting the army to bring back calm and stability, so we can
go home. The situation in the school is unbearable."
In Friday's violence a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into an apartment
building near a vegetable market, setting it ablaze, while another one hit a
mosque in Bab al-Tebbaneh. Interior Minister Ziad Barud and the head of the
internal security forces Ashraf Rifi visted Tripoli late on Friday to assess
measures to restore calm.
Clashes between the two sides have killed a total of 23 people and wounded more
than 100 since June.
Bab al-Tebbaneh is a stronghold of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority while
the inhabitants of Jabal Mohsen mainly support the Syrian-backed opposition led
by Hezbollah. Tensions between the two communities date back to Lebanon's
1975-1990 civil war. Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam who revere Imam
Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed. The violence erupted
after cabinet ministers decided on Thursday night to postpone talks on the issue
of weapons held by Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite Muslim political opposition
movement and militia.
Hezbollah's arsenal is a key bone of contention in Lebanon's fraught political
negotiations
The Resistance Deadlock and Tripoli Clashes Persist
Naharnet/As differences over Hizbullah's resistance hampered efforts by a
ministerial committee to draft a policy statement for the new cabinet,
intermittent clashes persisted between pro and anti-Hizbullah factions in the
northern city of Tripoli, killing nine people, wounding 33 and displacing
hundreds of families.
Despite a pledge by Interior Minister Ziad Baroud that security forces would
"decisively" enforce a ceasefire, intermittent clashes persisted early in the
day Saturday between the pro-Hizbullah district of Baal Mohsen and abutting
pro-majority neighborhood Bab al-Tabbaneh and its environs.
President Michel Suleiman contacted defense and interior ministers, Elias Murr
and Baroud, respectively, and acting army commander Gen. Shawqi Masri and
instructed them to adopt "field measures leading to curbing the security
deterioration and abiding by the cease fire," said a statement released by the
presidential press office. Baroud, who held a series of meetings with security
officials in Tripoli overnight, pledged that security forces and army units
would act decisively on Saturday to contain the deterioration and enforce
respect of the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the Mufti of Tripoli and north Lebanon Sheikh Malek al-Shaar, who had
mediated a ceasefire that combatants did not respect, warned that the city is
receiving "waves of displaced families" from the confrontation zone. "It is
raining shells on Bab al-Tabbaneh," the Mufti said.
"How can the army succeed in uprooting Shaker al-Abssi from Nahr al Bared and
fail in controlling the hand of evil in Tripoli?" Mufti Shaar asked.
He pledged, "We wouldn't remain silent. Using the city as a theater to exert
pressure on the cabinet and the policy statement is not fair."
Meanwhile, Information Minister Tareq Mitri said the ministerial committee
drafting a policy statement for the new cabinet was encountering "differences in
viewpoints regarding the role of the state in resisting occupation and the role
of the resistance."
He said the committee would persist with its efforts until Monday and asked
those "who want to speed up the committee's efforts to help us by promoting
flexibility … so that controversial issues that we fail to reach agreement on
would be referred to national dialogue that would be sponsored by the
president."
Suleiman, who had followed up the committee's efforts through his representative
cabinet minister Joe Taqla, was "dismayed by the unjustified delay" in drafting
the cabinet's policy statement, the daily An Nahar quoted the president's
visitors as saying.
Such visitors also quoted the president as saying that the delay "reflects
negatively on the field situation," in what appears to be a reference to the
Tripoli clashes.
The president's visitors spoke of three proposals under consideration to contain
the differences over the role of Hizbullah's resistance and its weapons:
Such proposals include referring the topic to national dialogue for tackling;
linking any reference to the resistance to UNSCR 1701 as proposed by Premier
Fouad Saniora; or adopting a phrase that president Suleiman had used in his oath
address regarding the resistance.
Hizbullah, however, has rejected the three proposals and insisted that the
policy statement should include clear adherence to the "resistance role" as
outlined in the previous cabinet's policy statement adopted in 2005.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as well as MPs Walid Jumblat and Saad Hariri were
involved in efforts to facilitate the ministerial committee's effort to draft
the policy statement. Taqla, who visited Berri on Friday, was quoted as saying
he hoped the policy statement would be adopted by Monday.
Beirut, 26 Jul 08, 08:53
MP Franjieh: Hizbullah Trying to Abort Doha Accord
By Dalia Nehme-Naharnet/
MP Samir Franjieh blamed Tripoli clashes on Hizbullah that is trying to
"abolish" the political concept of the Doha Accord and preempt any discussion of
its weapons. Franjieh, in an interview with Naharnet, said Hizbullah is
launching a "preemptive move" aimed at creating a "fait accompli."
The Tripoli clashes, he said, are "pressures that victimize innocent people."
He called for "disarming the whole of Tripoli," and said Lebanon should ask
Syrian President Bashar Assad to order Palestinian factions affiliated with
Damascus to "pull their weapons out" of Tripoli and other areas."Hizbullah is
trying to abolish the political results of the Doha Accord and to block dialogue
that is to be launched by President Michel Suleiman," Franjieh said. "There is
no agreement between the Lebanese (factions) on mentioning either the resistance
or the weapons in the new cabinet's policy statement," he noted. He recalled
that a ranking Iranian official has offered a barter, pledging stability in
Lebanon in return for approval by the west of the Iranian nuclear program. "This
should be humiliating for Hizbullah," Franjieh said.
"The Lebanese people have no say in Iran's nuclear program. In fact we are for
banning nuclear weapons throughout the Middle East," he added. "We want Lebanon
pacified" in Middle East conflicts, he stressed. Franjieh denied reports that he
would be a candidate in the 2009 parliamentary elections for the Maronite seat
in the Tripoli constituency. "I would not be a candidate in Tripoli
constituency. This is out of the question," he stressed.
However, he insisted that "we would run for elections and we would win the
elections. I have no doubt about this." "For us the elections (in 2009) are less
difficult than what they were in 2005."Nevertheless, premier Fouad Saniora's
cabinet is faced by the "major question: Would elections be feasible if we have
an armed faction?" Franjieh said. "Weapons eliminate the principle of majority.
In the year 2005 the March 14 won majority of parliamentary seats in the
elections. The result was practically eliminated by the use of force," Franjieh
explained. "Having armed factions (running for elections) would limit freedom of
voters," he stressed.
Franjieh spoke of "differences in opinion" between March 14 factions and said
one of the main problems that the alliance faces is the lack of "interaction
between its leaders and masses.""The March 14 priorities should be set in a way
to reflect the opinion of its masses, not of its factions, be they political
parties or sects," Franjieh explained. "We have the will to overcome this
problem," he stressed. Beirut, 25 Jul 08, 19:11
Lebanese-Syrian Officials Discuss Detainees Issue
Naharnet/A meeting was held behind closed
doors at the Lebanese-Syrian border crossing of Masnaa Saturday between
officials from the two countries assigned to discuss the issue of Lebanese
citizens detained in Syria. The state-run National News Agency (NNA), which
distributed the terse report, said Lebanon was represented by judges Joseph
Meemari and George Rizq in addition to Lebanese Security Forces Brig. Sami
Nabhan. The report did not identify Syrian officials who took part in the
meeting on the Syrian side of the border. Beirut, 26 Jul 08, 14:10
Baal Mohsen-Based Party Supports Tripoli Mufti
Naharnet/The Arab Democratic Party that is
based in the neighborhood of Baal Mohsen declared support to efforts by Tripoli
Mufti Sheik Malek Shaar to contain violence. A statement by the party urged the
army and security forces to "put an end to aggressions" warning against "further
deterioration of the situation into … civil war. This is the aim of the Zionist
enemy and its allies." The statement said Mufti Shaar looks after "all citizens
of Tripoli and the north. We back all forces that follow his steps." Beirut, 26
Jul 08, 13:22
Jumblat: Tripoli Violence Serves Foreign Agendas
Naharnet/Democratic Gathering leader
Walid Jumblat urged feuding factions in Tripoli to halt acts of violence and
resort to wisdom, saying factional violence "only serves foreign agendas."
Jumblat, in remarks published by the daily As Safir, said repercussions of such
factional clashes would save no side, warning against re-launching fanatic
movements similar to Shaker al-Abssi's Fatah al-Islam. He recalled that the
Sunnis and Alawites have a joint history of struggle in defense of Lebanon and
its Arab belonging. Beirut, 26 Jul 08, 11:45
Fatfat Blames Tripoli Violence on Hizbullah-Trained
Factions
Naharnet/MP Ahmad Fatfat blamed the ongoing
clashes in Tripoli on Hizbullah-trained factions and urged the army and security
forces to "carry out their duty" against combatants on both sides of the
confrontation line. Fatfat, in an interview with the Mustaqbal daily, said "the
army has to be firm and decisive, especially that it has the names of feuding
leaders from both sides, from Bab al-Tabbaneh and from Baal Mohsen.""They appear
on Television screens holding press conferences despite that they are wanted by
law," Fatfat said. "This is not acceptable." He warned that the population in
Tripoli is arming up and "the logic of auto security is prevailing." Beirut, 26
Jul 08, 10:53
Hizbullah: Tribunal for Resistance
Naharnet/Hizbullah has countered
efforts by majority representatives to refer the topic of its resistance to
national dialogue by proposing a similar handling of the international tribunal.
The pan-Arab daily al-Hayat said Hizbullah's representative to the ministerial
committee drafting the new cabinet's policy statement Mohammed Fneish, made the
proposal during a lengthy meeting on Friday. Majority representatives protested
against the Hizbullah proposal, noting that agreement was reached during
national dialogue in 2006 on the international tribunal that would try suspects
in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes.
However, Hizbullah sources said Fneish believes that the court was accepted "in
principle. However, details require further discussion to guarantee that the
tribunal wouldn't be biased and politicized." Beirut, 26 Jul 08, 09:36
How Israel plans to contain Hamas
Sophisticated strategy
Asad Abdul Rahman
The Israeli view of a ceasefire with Hamas (and other Palestinian factions) in
the Gaza Strip is indicative of a rift between extremists and "moderates" in the
country; those who support the use of force to break the Hamas government in
Gaza and end the rocket attacks, and those who believe in a confluence of
interests between Israel and Hamas through Egyptian mediation.
Perhaps the most prominent factor that hindered the implementation of the
ceasefire was that Israel couldn't stomach Hamas' actual control of Gaza and its
military wing that engaged the occupation army. This would have given the
impression that Israel's acceptance of a ceasefire grants Hamas legitimacy, and
hindered Israel's possible future efforts to destroy Hamas in Gaza in order to
bring back the Palestinian National Authority headed by President Abbas.
The stance has been expressed by the well-known writer Meron Benvenisti in an
article at Ha'aretz. "The ceasefire, accompanied by an agreement on the
crossings, and in particular the opening of the Rafah crossing, will help Hamas
to cement its control over Gaza. They will establish their own organisation,
which will grow and spread and become permanent - and distance themselves from
the government in the [occupied] West Bank. It seems that the ceasefire, even if
it is fragile, will mark a point of no return in the splitting off of the Gaza
Palestinians into a separate authority."Sophisticated strategy
He adds: "It is also possible to blame Israel, whose consistent policies led to
the detachment of Gaza and the Hamas takeover. Whether we give Israel credit for
a sophisticated strategy that produced such results, or whether we call the
result a coincidence, it is clear that the additional split within the
Palestinian people serves long-term Israeli interests."
Yuval Diskin, director of Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet, also has a
similar point of view. In a recent meeting at the Knesset (the Israeli
parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, he recommended preparing for
a large-scale military operation in Gaza. "For if Fatah keeps loosing its
popular status and becomes weaker and weaker", Diskin is reported to have said,
"there will be no escape from waging this military campaign".
Yuval Steintiz, a former chairman of the said committee, agreed with Diskin,
asserting that there was "no other choice but to go ahead with Operation
Protective Wall 2 in order to avoid another South Lebanon in Gaza, from where
rockets may reach Ashdod or Tel Aviv".
On the other hand, there are calls for dealing with Hamas, even if indirectly.
Promoting the idea of building bridges with Hamas and giving it the chance to
exist within a demilitarised Islamic state that guarantees Israel's security,
Ari Shavit from the Ha'aretz, says, "We have a neighbour who is a murderer, but
[he is] not delusional. He has good reasons to hate us. Exactly 60 years ago, we
deprived his mothers and fathers of their land. We emptied out their villages.
We destroyed their homes. We wiped their Palestine off the face of the earth.
And in the great heat of May-July 1948, we sent them ... all the way to Gaza,
... leaving in their hearts that deep pain that over the years became a deep
hatred."
Apprehensive of the increasing power of that neighbour, Shavit adds, "There are
only two ways to deal with a killer-neighbour: to hit him or to disarm him ...
Israel may eventually have to enter the neighbour's crowded trailer and beat him
senseless. But before we are dragged into Gaza, we must exhaust the other
possibility. We should offer Hamas a deal: an Islamic republic in Gaza in
exchange for full demilitarisation".
He adds: "It is also possible to blame Israel, whose consistent policies led to
the detachment of Gaza and the Hamas takeover. Whether we give Israel credit for
a sophisticated strategy that produced such results, or whether we call the
result a coincidence, it is clear that the additional split within the
Palestinian people serves long-term Israeli interests."
Yuval Diskin, director of Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet, also has a
similar point of view. In a recent meeting at the Knesset (the Israeli
parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, he recommended preparing for
a large-scale military operation in Gaza. "For if Fatah keeps loosing its
popular status and becomes weaker and weaker", Diskin is reported to have said,
"there will be no escape from waging this military campaign".
Yuval Steintiz, a former chairman of the said committee, agreed with Diskin,
asserting that there was "no other choice but to go ahead with Operation
Protective Wall 2 in order to avoid another South Lebanon in Gaza, from where
rockets may reach Ashdod or Tel Aviv".
On the other hand, there are calls for dealing with Hamas, even if indirectly.
Promoting the idea of building bridges with Hamas and giving it the chance to
exist within a demilitarised Islamic state that guarantees Israel's security,
Ari Shavit from the Ha'aretz, says, "We have a neighbour who is a murderer, but
[he is] not delusional. He has good reasons to hate us. Exactly 60 years ago, we
deprived his mothers and fathers of their land. We emptied out their villages.
We destroyed their homes. We wiped their Palestine off the face of the earth.
And in the great heat of May-July 1948, we sent them ... all the way to Gaza,
... leaving in their hearts that deep pain that over the years became a deep
hatred."
Apprehensive of the increasing power of that neighbour, Shavit adds, "There are
only two ways to deal with a killer-neighbour: to hit him or to disarm him ...
Israel may eventually have to enter the neighbour's crowded trailer and beat him
senseless. But before we are dragged into Gaza, we must exhaust the other
possibility. We should offer Hamas a deal: an Islamic republic in Gaza in
exchange for full demilitarisation".
He adds: "It is also possible to blame Israel, whose consistent policies led to
the detachment of Gaza and the Hamas takeover. Whether we give Israel credit for
a sophisticated strategy that produced such results, or whether we call the
result a coincidence, it is clear that the additional split within the
Palestinian people serves long-term Israeli interests."
Yuval Diskin, director of Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet, also has a
similar point of view. In a recent meeting at the Knesset (the Israeli
parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, he recommended preparing for
a large-scale military operation in Gaza. "For if Fatah keeps loosing its
popular status and becomes weaker and weaker", Diskin is reported to have said,
"there will be no escape from waging this military campaign".
Yuval Steintiz, a former chairman of the said committee, agreed with Diskin,
asserting that there was "no other choice but to go ahead with Operation
Protective Wall 2 in order to avoid another South Lebanon in Gaza, from where
rockets may reach Ashdod or Tel Aviv".
On the other hand, there are calls for dealing with Hamas, even if indirectly.
Promoting the idea of building bridges with Hamas and giving it the chance to
exist within a demilitarised Islamic state that guarantees Israel's security,
Ari Shavit from the Ha'aretz, says, "We have a neighbour who is a murderer, but
[he is] not delusional. He has good reasons to hate us. Exactly 60 years ago, we
deprived his mothers and fathers of their land. We emptied out their villages.
We destroyed their homes. We wiped their Palestine off the face of the earth.
And in the great heat of May-July 1948, we sent them ... all the way to Gaza,
... leaving in their hearts that deep pain that over the years became a deep
hatred."
Apprehensive of the increasing power of that neighbour, Shavit adds, "There are
only two ways to deal with a killer-neighbour: to hit him or to disarm him ...
Israel may eventually have to enter the neighbour's crowded trailer and beat him
senseless. But before we are dragged into Gaza, we must exhaust the other
possibility. We should offer Hamas a deal: an Islamic republic in Gaza in
exchange for full demilitarisation".
* Published in the UAE's GULFNEWS on July 26, 2008.
Pope Benedict urges Maliki to protect Christian
community in Iraq
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Pope Benedict told Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Friday that minority
Christians in Iraq needed more protection but the Iraqi leader assured the
pontiff that Christians were not being persecuted. Maliki, who met the pope for
20 minutes at the pontiff's summer residence south of Rome, invited him to visit
Iraq, saying a trip there would help the process of peace and reconciliation.
"We renewed our invitation for His Holiness to visit Iraq. He welcomed the
invitation. And we hope that he will be making the visit as soon as he can," he
told reporters in the palace after the meeting.
"His visit would represent support for the efforts of love and peace in Iraq,"
he added.
The late Pope John Paul II wanted to visit Iraq in 2000 but was denied
permission by the government of Saddam Hussein.
Maliki said he and the pope also discussed the plight of minority Christians in
Iraq and the prime minister urged those who had left after the US-led invasion
in 2003 to return to help rebuild the country.
"I also appealed to His Holiness to encourage Christians who left the country to
go back and be part of the social structure of Iraq again," he said.
A Vatican statement said the pope condemned all forms of violence "which was not
sparing the Christian communities, which strongly feel the need for greater
security."The statement said the Vatican believed that inter-religious dialogue would be
important for the country's future.
Many of Iraq's Christians have left the country, among the 2 million refugees
who have fled to neighboring states.
Iraq's small Christian minority has tried to keep out of the Shiite-Sunni
sectarian violence that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis since the 2003
US-led invasion. But Christian clergy and churches have been targeted repeatedly
by Sunni militant groups linked to Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The Archbishop of Mosul of Iraq's largest Christian denomination, the Chaldean
Catholics, was abducted in the northern city in February and found dead two
weeks later.Maliki said the pope understood the inter-religious situation in Iraq.
"He expressed this by saying that bad people exist within all religions, whether
Christians or Muslims," Maliki said.
"This sound, realistic, objective understanding by His Holiness is the best
answer to those who claim that Christians are persecuted in Iraq by Muslims," he
said.
Maliki also said on Friday that any US troop withdrawal would have to satisfy
both parties and protect Iraq's sovereignty.
Maliki, who earlier this month suggested that a timetable may be set for the
departure of US troops, would not be drawn on any specific dates when asked by
reporters after meeting Pope Benedict at the pontiff's summer residence.
"There is a dialogue between us and the multinational forces, and we hope that
we can reach results that satisfy both parties and protect the achievements made
in Iraq and protect the sovereignty of Iraq," Maliki said.
US troop levels are a key battleground in November's US presidential election,
and Democratic contender Barack Obama has pledged to remove troops within 16
months of taking office should he win the election.
In Iraq on Friday, Baghdad has ramped up security ahead of one of the most
important Shiite religious festivals amid heightened concerns of attacks on a
holy pilgrimage site, the Iraqi military said.
An extra 5,000 soldiers fanned out in the Kazimiyya district of Baghdad ahead of
the arrival of thousands of pilgrims expected to attend a ceremony on Tuesday to
mourn a revered imam who died 12 centuries ago.
"There is more than a full brigade deployed in the vicinity, entrances and exits
of the city, and in the surrounding areas of Kazimiyya city, for fear of
attacks," Defense Ministry officials told AFP.
Kazimiyya was the site of a deadly stampede on a Baghdad bridge in 2005, when
nearly 1,000 Iraqis, many of them women and children, were trampled to death as
they converged on the mosque for the festival and were sent into panic by rumors
of suicide bombers in their midst.
Soldiers have cordoned off the northern Baghdad district, not allowing traffic
in, while pedestrians - especially women - were being subjected to strict
security searches, the Defense Ministry official said.
The stepped-up measures came despite the levels of violence nationwide hitting a
four-year low, but after a woman suicide bomber attacked a Sunni Arab security
patrol on Thursday in central Baqouba, killing eight people and wounding 20.
The female suicide bomber blew herself up as a Sahwa (Awakening) patrol passed
in Baqouba in eastern Iraq, police and medical sources said.
The attack was in the central New Baqouba neighborhood and targeted a Sahwa
patrol of Iraqi forces - former insurgents recruited to fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq
and paid by the US military.
One of the dead was local Sahwa leader Naim al-Dulaimi, police said, while
medical sources said women and children were among the wounded.
Awakening groups, whose members are each paid a sum of $300 a month by the US
military, have contributed to a reduction in violence across Iraq in recent
months.
But Diyala province, of which Baquba is the capital, remains one of the most
dangerous regions in the country. It was in Diyala that the phenomenon of women
suicide bombers first appeared.
Military sources have indicated that the Iraqi army is preparing to launch a
huge offensive involving 30,000 men in Diyala province, which remains a bastion
of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. - Reuters, AFP
Six people die in fighting between feuding neighborhoods in Tripoli
Cease-fire goes into effect, but militants ignore order
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Saturday, July 26, 2008
TRIPOLI: Six people, including a child, were killed in fierce clashes on Friday
in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli as fighters exchanged rocket-propelled
grenades and sniper fire, a security official said. The 10-year-old boy, Yehya
Abboud, died of injuries sustained earlier in the day when he was hit by a stray
bullet, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that two women
were also among the dead while 33 other people were wounded before a cease-fire
took hold.
Political and religious leaders met in the morning to work out the details for a
cease-fire and though one was announced just after midday, it was not headed by
the combatants.
"The cease-fire went into effect at exactly 6:00 p.m.," the official said. But
an AFP correspondent said that sporadic fire could still be heard.
The security official said most of those wounded were caught in crossfire
between fighters in the mainly Sunni Bab al-Tebbaneh district and the
neighboring largely Alawite area of Jabal Mohsen.
A rocket-propelled grenade slammed into an apartment building near a vegetable
market, setting it ablaze, while another one hit a mosque in Bab al-Tebbaneh, an
AFP correspondent reported.
Bab al-Tebbaneh is a stronghold of the anti-Syrian ruling coalition while the
inhabitants of Jabal Mohsen are mainly supporters of the Hizbullah-led
parliamentary opposition.
Sunni MP Mohammad Abdel Latif Kabbara of the parliamentary majority announced
earlier that a cease-fire would go into effect at 6:00 p.m. and that the army
would take action against anyone violating the truce.
"The army has sent reinforcements to the battle zones to secure the cease-fire
and the army command has promised us to firmly respond to any violation of the
cease-fire," he said.
Shopkeepers in the area kept their stores shut on Friday because of the violence
and people fled their homes near the front lines, the AFP correspondent said.
Families who stayed behind took cover inside shops and underground garages as
hundreds of gunmen took to the streets in full sight of the army which stood by
without intervening, the correspondent added.
Earlier an army spokesman told AFP that soldiers "cannot intervene and use force
because the neighborhoods are densely populated."
"The shooting is from inside buildings and we cannot use our artillery because
civilians could get killed or wounded," he added.
Loudspeakers urged people not make their way to mosques for weekly Friday
prayers because of the fighting.
"Our home is in a dangerous area," said Ali al-Shaykh, a father of seven. "We
left our home at three in the morning and now we're sheltering in a mosque with
about 70 other families."The Lebanese Army deployed in force in the city in mid-July, pledging a tough
response to any breach of security. Clash-es between the two sides have killed
14 people and wounded more than 100 since June.
Ruling coalition MP and former Sports Minister Ahmad Fatfat said in a statement
that "every time a sectarian rift breaks out in the North, it is used for
political pressure ... weapons are being used as a way of making political
gains."
The latest fighting comes after the newly formed Cabinet hit snags in
deliberations aimed at drawing up a policy agenda ahead of a parliamentary vote
of confidence which would enable the government to be officially installed.
The Cabinet decided on Thursday night to postpone talks on the issue of
Hizbullah's arms.
In other security-related developments, a skirmish between the families Assaf
and Khansa degenerated into an exchange of fire in the Beirut neighborhood of
Ouzai on Friday.
A security source, however, denied the main Ouzai Street was blocked by the
fighting. "As a result of the exchange of fire, residents of Ouzai panicked and
kept away from the streets." - AFP, with The Daily Star
Statistics shows surge in prices in Lebanon this year
Transportation costs soar as citizens also hit with decreasing purchase power
By Osama Habib
Daily Star staff
Saturday, July 26, 2008
BEIRUT: The prices of electricity, water, fuel oil and transport are taking
their toll on Lebanese consumers who are already reeling under the high cost of
food, according to a new survey conducted by Central Administration of
Statistics (CAS). The report follows the repeated warnings of economists and
consumer groups who have said that rising costs are becoming an increasingly
unbearable burden for Lebanese citizens.
CAS, which was formed by the Lebanese Cabinet in 1980, said that the cost of
living index for the month of June alone rose by 6.2 percent, compared to 4.4
percent in May.
The June CAS survey showed that the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages
fell by 2.5 percent. It added that the prices of vegetables and fruits fell this
summer along with those of chicken and some types of milk after the government
eased import restrictions.
However, the report noted that housing rents rose by an average of 4.8 percent
while water, electricity and fuel oil charges jumped by 11.1 percent in one
month alone.
In addition, the cost of transport in June also rose by 5.3 percent and by 17.7
percent since beginning of the year.
CAS attributed the surge in the cost of transportation to the rise of gasoline
and fuel-oil prices on international markets.
Prices of hotels also saw an increase of 3.2 percent in June and 14.3 percent
since the beginning of 2008.
Consumers Lebanon, a non-governmental advocacy group, believes that government
statistics are getting closer to reality but noted that there other local
factors which are contributing to the surge in the prices of commodities."CAS figures are close to the statistics we provided. We estimate the
accumulated cost of living index in the first six months of 2008 is close to 43
percent," Nada Nehmih of Consumer Lebanon told The Daily Star.She said the government is not doing enough to curb the rise in the prices of
basic items. "They always brag that Lebanon has a free economy and that no one
should control the prices of basic items. Look at France, where the government
has set a ceiling for the margin of profits on certain items that are vital for
French consumers."Consumers Lebanon lists 160 items in its consumer basket each month but the
index does not include rent and the price of electricity and transport.
"If we add these items to our basket then the price index will surely be higher
than 6.2 percent in one month," Nehmih said.She stressed that former Minister of Economy Sami Haddad failed to stem the
surge in the prices of basic items and refused to set a ceiling on profit
margins."One of the first things the government should do is to remove the exclusive
dealership system in Lebanon. We are one of the few countries in the world where
exclusive dealers hold a monopoly on imported items," Nehmih said.This argument was also echoed by other economists, who said that Lebanon cannot
join the World Trade Organization if Beirut keeps the exclusive dealership
regime.Nehmih indicated that the Economy Ministry shelved a bold program which calls
for open competition in Lebanon.
"It seems that some of the exclusive dealers are more powerful than the consumer
groups. Most politicians will not dare to scrap the exclusive dealership in
order not to lose the backing of these agencies," she said.The consumer groups say that increasing the minimum monthly wage to LL500,000 a
month would not be enough to protect citizens.They say that the cost of living will continue to shoot up in 2008 at much
faster pace then any wage increase.
The governor of the Central Bank, Riad Salameh, told The Daily Star recently
that inflation in Lebanon ranges between 12 to 13 percent.
He added that the price of oil in Lebanon surged by 15 percent since the
beginning of the year while the purchasing power of the average Lebanese fell by
more than 15 percent in the same period.
The International Monetary Fund also cautioned Lebanon about the impact of
inflation on the country's GDP growth.
"Inflation accelerated to 6 percent year-on-year in December, mainly reflecting
international price increases and the weakening of the US dollar. The current
account deficit widened as imports picked up following their collapse in 2006,"
the IMF said in its last report, adding that inflation is likely to stay above 5
percent in 2008.
Talks on Cabinet policy flounder as deadline nears
By Anthony Elghossain and Nafez Qawas
Daily Star staff
Saturday, July 26, 2008
BEIRUT: Efforts to draft a ministerial statement continued to flounder on
Friday, despite continuing contact between leaders of competing political
coalitions in Lebanon in the aftermath of the formation of a national unity
Cabinet some two weeks ago. A day after the suspension of discussions related to
"controversial issues," the ministerial committee chaired by Prime Minister
Fouad Siniora met for the eighth time in two weeks to try to push forward with a
policy platform.
A well-informed source close to government talks told The Daily Star on Friday
that the committee is expected to have the policy statement "ready by early next
week."
A whirlwind of activity surrounding the committee meeting on Friday peaked as
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri contacted Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri
and Democratic Gathering chief MP Walid Jumblatt in the afternoon to follow up
with attempts to draft a ministerial statement. Just two weeks remain before a
legally-mandated one-month grace period to cobble together an official
government position expires.
Berri also met with Minister of State Youssef Takla for an overview of the
activities of the ministerial statement committee. Entrusted with drafting a
policy platform for cabinet approval and parliamentary ratification, the
ministerial statement committee is made up of ministers from Lebanon's two main
political fronts.
Sources close to the deliberations told the Central News Agency (CNA) on Friday
that "differences have emerged" regarding the precise drawing up of the
"authority of the state and its role in liberation."
However, the source stressed that "significant progress has been made on some
counts," with the resolution of outstanding disputes awaiting the results of
discussions between the leaders of competing parties.
On a similar note, sources close to the Future Movement in Qoreitem told the CNA
that Hariri has denied signaling his agreement with Speaker Berri concerning the
adoption of the previous ministerial stance on Hizbullah's arsenal and the role
of the resistance in Lebanon.
In related news, Minister of State for Administrative Reform Ibrahim Shamseddine
said Friday that any points in the ministerial statement "dealing with the issue
of resistance" should be arrived at through consensus, particularly since
"Israel still occupies Lebanese territory."
Meanwhile, Phalange leader and former President Amin Gemayel said Friday that
the newly formed government should use the pending ministerial statement to "lay
claim to decision-making with respect to issues of national significance."
Gemayel added that the ministerial statement should serve as "the state's
declaration of intent in establishing authority over decisions affecting the
national interest [in Lebanon]."
Speaking at a Phalange politburo meeting in the Metn town of Bikfaya, the former
president described UN Security Council Resolution 1701 as a "nationally
approved" document that also represents a "natural and rational framework for
the resolution of many of the problems facing the country."
Elsewhere on Friday, Metn strongman and MP Michel Murr said that the issue of
"the resistance should be discussed in full during a national dialogue process"
between Lebanese leaders, rather than within the context of ministerial
statement deliberations, which he described as "simply a [political] workshop."
Addressing the 2009 parliamentary elections, Murr said that his electoral list
should be announced by February and characterized a recent meeting with Gemayel,
who is also influential in the Metn region, as a "familial reconciliation."
In other news, President Michel Sleiman on Friday met with a delegation of
French army veterans and envoys from the French Defense Ministry to discuss
possible measures for shoring up Lebanese Armed Forces combat capabilities.
Separately, the Joint Committee for Lebanon and Syria plans to meet Saturday in
order to discuss what sources with the CNA labeled as "initiatives taken by [Sleiman]
and [Syrian President] Bashar Assad" during a this month's summit on the
cooperation of Mediterranean states.
Controversy surrounding Lebanese-Syrian relations has worked its way into
ministerial statement talks, media reports stated over the past week.
Attempts to resolve the question of Lebanese missing or detained in Syria also
continued, with Sleiman on Wednesday promising a delegation of family members
that the issue will be treated "with the seriousness it deserves."
Fadlallah insists Hizbullah's weapons 'necessary'
Daily Star staff
Saturday, July 26, 2008
BEIRUT: Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said the national
dialogue should focus on the way that all Lebanese parties take part in the
defense of Lebanon."I do not believe that the permanent debate over the legitimacy of the
resistance's weapons can change the fact that those arms are necessary for
Lebanon," Fadlallah said in his weekly Friday sermon delivered from the Imamayn
Hassanayn Mosque in Haret Hreik.
"This is why we should not lose a big strategic card that has always been
present for the sake of the country and nation," he added.
According to Fadlallah, some Lebanese parties would not be able to conduct the
upcoming parliamentary elections "in an independent way."
"Some political parties cannot conduct parliamentary elections without
factionalism or in the absence of regional and international intervention
through the financing of particular groups or coalitions," he added.Fadlallah urged the Lebanese people to remain aware of their vital interests
without surrendering to a certain leadership or "sectarian state.""The Lebanese people should keep an eye on those who are running their affairs
and call them to account," he added.
Also on Friday, Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan, the vice president of the Higher
Shiite Council, called on the committee of ministers drafting the policy
platform to submit controversial issues to the president in order for him to
settle them.
"Controversial issues should not impede the drafting of the ministerial
statement," Qabalan said in his weekly Friday sermon. "Discords should be left
for the Cabinet session to settle them."
Debate over the future of Hizbullah's weapons hindered a seventh effort on
Thursday to draft the government's ministerial statement.
"The resistance did not misbehave but some parties did wrong to it," Qabalan
said. "The resistance is a cover to the Lebanese Armed Forces."
"What the resistance does cannot be done by the army and vice-versa," he added.Meanwhile, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir voiced regret on Friday
over the resurgence of street clashes in Tripoli and over the delay in drafting
a ministerial statement for the new national unity government. Speaking to
journalists upon his arrival to his summer residence in Diman, Sfeir said he
hoped that things would get better and that the Lebanese would cooperate to lift
the country up after its "stumble.""Lebanon should be a true example of peace and understanding among the sons of
one country," he said.
About Friday's clashes in Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in Tripoli, Sfeir
said he felt "very sorry.""This shows that there are insincere intentions," he said. "We do not want to
say that there are hidden hands. But we hope that peace will prevail in this
country because there is not any nation that can live without it." Sfeir also
expressed regret about the ongoing debate over the Cabinet statement.
"We want to have understanding among all the Lebanese [ministers] so they
achieve what they should achieve as soon as possible," the patriarch said. - The
Daily Star
UNIFIL lodges complaint with Israel over violations of Lebanese airspace
Media reports say jewish state preparing to withdraw from ghajar
By Dalila Mahdawi -Special to The Daily Star
Saturday, July 26, 2008
BEIRUT: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Friday lodged a
formal complaint with Israel for a series of violations of Lebanese airspace
over a two-day period. In a press release Friday, UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina
Bouzianne demanded Israel bring a halt to their over flights as they constituted
"a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 and of Lebanese
sovereignty."According to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA), there was a flurry of
Israeli military activity in and around the Israel-Lebanon border village of
Ghajar between Wednesday and Friday. Armored personnel carriers were said to be
stationed at the entrances to the Israeli side of the village while unmanned
surveillance drones and war planes entered Lebanese airspace.
Israel took over Ghajar in 1967 when it captured the Syrian Golan Heights. The
Jewish state withdrew from the village when it pulled out of most of South
Lebanon in 2000, but re-occupied it in July 2006 during its 34-day war against
its northern neighbor.
Israel continues to occupy the Lebanese side of Ghajar north of the
UN-designated border demarcated in 2000, despite a December 2006 Cabinet
decision to hand it over to UNIFIL. Israel has said in the past that withdrawing
from Ghajar would pose a security threat to the Jewish state, claiming Hizbullah
used the village as a spy base.
A well-informed source from the Lebanese Armed Forces told The Daily Star on
Friday that "there are Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace on a daily
basis."
He added that the Israelis had also been trying to widen a road near Ghajar "but
the Spanish contingent from UNIFIL stopped them." He also stressed the army's
close cooperation with the peacekeeping force.
A senior Lebanese political leader who talked to the news agency Deutsche Presse
Agentur on the condition of anonymity on Wednesday said the Israeli maneuvers
were arrangements for a pullout from the Lebanese side of Ghajar. The official
said he expected that withdrawal to take place in "the coming days."
The remarks come just five days after Israeli Military Intelligence chief Amos
Yadlin told cabinet ministers that Hizbullah may be planning to attack Israel in
the near future. Yadlin said Hizbullah would use Israel's occupation of the
Shebaa Farms, Ghajar and the assassination of Hizbullah military commander Imad
Mughniyeh as a pretext for such an attack.
"Now that the prisoner swap with Hizbullah has taken place, the defense
establishment is concerned that Hizbullah may embark on a calculated, escalated
show of force along the Lebanese border, and try to disrupt the Israeli
flyovers," he said.
The army source said he had "no information about an Israeli withdrawal, but as
Ghajar is Lebanese land, when or if the Israelis do withdraw, the army will act
upon it."
Talking to The Daily Star, Bouzianne said "UNIFIL has been working since 2006
for an Israeli withdrawal from northern Ghajar."
When asked about the allegations that Israel may be preparing for a withdrawal,
she suggested that the rumors were simply "media reports" and that "until
anything further happens, UNIFIL cannot comment."
Meanwhile, Israel's outgoing ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman told the
Jerusalem Post Friday that UNIFIL was not fulfilling its mandate and possibly
laying the "groundwork for the next flare-up."
"The UNIFIL soldiers were not sent there to give out chocolates to children or
write traffic tickets," he said. "They were sent there to carry out a mandate
which was very clearly defined, and they are not" accomplishing it, he said. He
also stated that Resolution 1701, which was issued to broker a cease-fire in the
July 2006 war, was supposed to prevent Hizbullah from rearming but it "did not
achieve that."
LOG slams national unity government's 'failures'
Daily Star staff
Saturday, July 26, 2008
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Option Group (LOG), headed by Ahmad al-Assad, said Friday
that the national unity government was unable to produce a ministerial
statement, and that therefore it cannot achieve "any change as it [the Cabinet]
is based on contradictions." The LOG released a statement on Thursday slamming
the "new Cabinet's failures in dealing with the normalization of the
Syrian-Lebanese relations, Hizbullah's weapons and the question of Palestinian
arms, especially now that the opposition had obtained a blocking third in the
government." The statement added that the ministerial statement should focus on
holding impartial parliamentary elections in 2009, while stressing that the
outcome of the vote would define the country's future political orientation. The
statement said that no party will abandon its demands if it is not pressured to
do so. The LOG also claimed that two visions for Lebanon currently co-exist in
the newly-formed government: "One that defines Lebanon as a country of culture
and knowledge, of freedom and creativity while the other vision intends on
turning Lebanon into a country led by a unique party." As for the
Syrian-Lebanese relations, the statement said that there could not be
normalization of ties unless Syria cooperates and acknowledges Lebanon "as an
independent nation." The only sign of Syria's approval of normal relations
between the two countries would be shown by freeing Lebanese people held
prisoners in Syrian jails, it added. - The Daily Star
Syrian forces detain Lebanese soldier - report
Daily Star staff
Saturday, July 26, 2008
BEIRUT: Syrian security forces at the Abboudiyeh border crossing in northern
Lebanon detained on Thursday night a Lebanese army sergeant and a civilian, Al-Mustaqbal
newspaper reported on Friday. Al-Liwaa newspaper said on Thursday that heavy
shooting took place between the Syrian military unit and Lebanese sergeant Asaad
al-Sawmai and civilian Ahmad al-Mohammad, before the two were "detained" by the
Syrian forces. Contacts to secure their release took place on the level of the
Higher Lebanese-Syrian Council, the Al-Liwaa daily reported. Whereas security
sources maintained that the detention occurred inside Syrian territory, local
inhabitants said that the clash and arrest took place within Lebanon, Al-Liwaa
reported. The security sources said that the problem was an individual one
between the two parties, and that the Syrian unit had not crossed the border,
Al-Liwaa added. - The Daily Star
A letter to Syria's foreign minister
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Editor's note: The following is a letter, dated July 22, 2008, addressed by the
foreign ministers of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Italy Franco Frattini, and
Spain Miguel Angel Moratinos Cuyaubth to Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem.
His Excellency
Walid al Moallem
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Syrian Arab Republic
Damascus
Berlin/Madrid/Rome, July 22, 2008
Dear Colleague,
We welcome recent moves by Syria to improve relations and positively engage with
neighboring countries. We hope that indirect talks with Israel will lead as soon
as possible to direct negotiations. The European side will fully support these
efforts, as well as those made on other tracks, and will assist all actors
involved in order to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the
region.
We especially acknowledge that Syria has openly declared its readiness, as in
your letter to Federal Foreign Minister Steinmeier of June 29 and in your recent
conversations with Foreign Minister Moratinos and with Foreign Minister Frattini,
to discuss all aspects of bilateral relations with Lebanon once a government
would be formed in Lebanon. We also appreciate the positive reply by Lebanon and
the constructive meeting between the Presidents of both states in Paris on July
13.
At the same time, your government has expressed a strong wish to improve
relations with european partners and the European Union in its quest for
economic reform and social development.
We stand ready to work for the improvement of our bilateral ties with Syria and
to work with our partners in the EU to develop the relations between the EU and
Syria. At the same time, we remain committed to further the independence,
sovereignty and stability of Lebanon. To achieve rapid and lasting progress in
both fields, we believe a number of issues need to be addressed:
Concerning Syrian-Lebanese relations, whilst welcoming the commitment of
President Bashar al-Assad and President Michel Sleiman to re-establish
diplomatic relations and to open the respective embassies in Beirut and
Damascus, we suggest that both governments should commit themselves publicly to
a mutually agreed process for the normalization of bilateral relations, based on
the principles of full equality and mutual recognition containing the following
elements:
l proceeding in opening the embassies in Beirut and Damascus and in exchanging
Ambassadors;
l activation of the Lebanese-Syrian border committee for the demarcation of
borders,
l activation of border cooperation with the aim of improving security on the
Lebanese-Syrian border.
To support the National Dialogue in Lebanon on strengthening the control of the
Lebanese state over its territory as agreed in Doha, we expect that Syria exert
her influence on Palestinian factions to stop all armed activity in Lebanon and
hand over control over their positions to the Lebanese authorities in a phased
and orderly manner.
(These elements are, of course, in no way intended to impede Lebanon and Syria
to take additional measures to improve their bilateral relations.)
Concerning EU-Syria relations, we are ready to work with our partners in the EU
and with Syria so that,
l the EU would commit to urgently dispatch fact-finding missions with a view to
identify ways of intensifying cooperation in the economic, financial and
scientific fields and to increase technical support to Syrian border security,
l both sides would agree to establish a regular and comprehensive political
dialogue, including on regional and human rights issues,
l after taking stock of overall progress, the European Union would invite Syria
to sign the EU-Syria Association Treaty before the end of the year 2008.
Sincerely yours,
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Franco Frattini, Miguel Angel Moratinos Cuyaubth
EDITORIAL /HARSH REALITY
Prisoner 'Exchange' With Hezbollah Contrasts Values
Jewish on line.com
http://www.stljewishlight.com/commentaries/292237955008593.php
Sometimes, headlines tell the whole story. It's often the case
with the harsh reality of "prisoner exchanges" between the democratic State of
Israel and terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and Fatah.
"ISRAEL WILL FREE TRIPLE-MURDERER IN SWAP" was last Wednesday's headline in the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, atop an Associated Press story describing the
disturbing and harsh terms that Israel accepted to recover the remains of Ehud
Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. The two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped in 2006 by
Hezbollah terrorists in a cross-border raid from Lebanon.
That kidnapping, along with another by Hamas from Gaza of Gilad Shalit, who is
believed to be still alive, triggered a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah.
In exchange for Goldwasser's and Regev's bodies, Israel released Samir Kantar,
who was responsible for the cold-blooded murder of three Israeli civilians in
the coastal town of Nahariya. Kantar received a "hero's welcome" in Beirut when
he returned to Lebanon. Kantar brutally shot to death Daniel Haran in front of
his four-year-old daughter, and smashed the child's skull against a rock with
the butt of his rifle. The attack is described by the Associated Press as "one
of the most notorious attacks in Israeli history."
In addition to freeing Kantar, who had to be pardoned by Israeli President
Shimon Peres to make his release "legal," Israel agreed to release four other
Lebanese prisoners and hand over the bodies of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian
fighters killed in clashes over the years. The deal was extremely painful for
Israel, especially for the families of the slain soldiers. Worse, it provided a
major propaganda victory for Hezbollah, which has gained veto power over the
weak new government in Lebanon. The Lebanese government announced that last
Wednesday would be national holiday "to celebrate the liberation of prisoners
from the jails of the Israeli enemy and the return of the remains of martyrs."
Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, delivered a major speech at what was a
"massive celebration in the group's stronghold south of Beirut," the AP
reported. Hezbollah has boasted that the original motive for the kidnapping of
the two Israeli soldiers was to obtain the release of their "hero" Samir Kantar.
Reports say the prisoner "swap" was brokered with the help of a German secret
agent, who worked 18 months to facilitate the exchange.
It is more than distressing that Israel, which places the highest value on
recovering its captured soldiers or their remains, once again found it necessary
to free vicious, cold-blooded terrorists, only to be confronted with the reality
that the true heroes, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, were dead. A full
investigation must be launched into the cause of the soldiers' deaths. The
families of the two dead Israeli soldiers have not gained anything like
"closure" in the exchange, other than having final confirmation that their sons
and husbands are no longer alive, and could receive decent burials.
In a previous exchange in 1985, Kozo Okamoto, the Japanese Red Army terrorist
responsible for killing 26 people at Ben-Gurion International Airport in 1972,
was freed, along with 1,050 Palestinian terrorists, in exchange for the release
of three Israeli soldiers.
We don't expect the United Nations Security Council, which frequently approves
resolutions condemning Israel for any alleged infraction, to adopt or even
consider a resolution condemning the government of Lebanon for officially
declaring a "national celebration holiday" to welcome home the terrorist
responsible for one of the most horrific acts of terrorism in the history of the
region.
It has always been, and always will be, Israel's policy to make every effort to
obtain the release of its captive soldiers, or their remains, even if it has to
agree to absurdly harsh terms. The Jewish State is guided by the value in the
Talmud that "to save a single life is as though one is saving the entire world."
The Israel Defense Forces' policy has always been to never leave soldiers or
their remains behind, and when they are captured to make every effort to free
them. In this instance, as in previous cases, the price Israel had to pay was
extreme.
We can only hope that the families of the Israeli soldiers will start a healing
process. We also recognize and deeply regret the fact that Israel's value of
recovering its soldiers allowed Hezbollah to once again get away with murder.
Liberalism: Its own worst enemy
George Jonas, National Post
Published: Saturday, July 26, 2008
Robert Kagan's fine study, The Return Of History And The End Of Dreams, had me
persuaded before I turned a page. I've never been a dreamer, and had
reservations about the significance of the Soviet Union's collapse even during
the euphoric days of "the end of history." It was unlikely, I wrote in 1994,
that the defeat of Nazism and communism would signal the end of the totalitarian
impulse in human beings.
Fascism and communism didn't come to us from Mars. As they hadn't been imposed
on humanity by extraterrestrial forces, they had to have been created by an
impulse inherent in human beings. This being so, I wrote, we couldn't expect
their demise to provide us with more than temporary relief.
Kagan's conclusion is similar. He expects dreams to end, history to continue and
the struggle between "us" and "them" -- that is, between desirable and
undesirable societies -- to resume as a clash between U. S.-EU-style democracies
and Sino-Russian-style autocracies. That's certainly possible and bad enough.
However, I find a worse development more likely.
Man proposes, God disposes. Man proposed the democratization of autocracies; God
disposed the autocratization of democracies. Russia may have moved closer to
America materially, but America has moved closer to Russia spiritually.
As Kagan notes, born-again autocracy masquerading as a respectable alternative
to Western-style government is a dangerous ideological rival to liberal
democracy. Any others? Well, there's militant, theocratic Islam, a self-evident
rival since the Iranian revolution of 1979. Tribalism is another obvious rival,
though probably self-limiting. Competing tribal doctrines might ignite cruel
little wars, but lack the monolithic force of totalitarian ideologies. Actually,
a European Union-type of techno-corporate state seems a greater threat to a free
society. The EU's kind of supra-national bureaucracy, less bloody and more
sophisticated than a communist state, is nearly as coercive and more likely to
succeed.
I think the force with the greatest capacity for becoming a threat to liberal
democracy is liberalism itself -- meaning loony-liberalism, a kind of
ideological menage a trois between Timothy Leary, Karl Marx and Al Gore, at once
passionate and arid, that in Western societies has all but captured the
educational and judicial machinery of the state. In some, it's a virtual state
religion, whose matriarchal, environmentalist, multicultural, anti-male,
anti-family, anti-individual and public-hygiene shibboleths are enforced by
Orwellian regulatory agencies, commissions and tribunals, better known as the
smoke-, smut-, seat-belt-, thought-, language-and calorie-police.
Some of loony-liberalism's ideological strands, e. g., feminism and
environmentalism, transcend borders and religions. Like all successful
ideologies, they can absorb other kinds of self-identifications and loyalties.
They can even absorb each other, as demonstrated by the 1990s movement of
"eco-feminism." As millennial ideas, they hold out the promise of a new
beginning, a fundamental change in human society. Both matriarchy and
environmentalism combine mysticism with a quasi-scientific stance, much like
fascism and communism did. Based on partial truths, they're all the more
dangerous for appealing not only to the worst but to the best side of our
nature.
Environmentalism, especially, promises to unite us with the cosmos. It
identifies the enemy as the masculine-humanist tradition of "biocide" --a crime
of which we're all guilty by virtue of being human. It's a faith, addressing
itself to true believers, the very types who have a need to be ruled by
something greater than themselves.
Until Kyoto, the nags Philogyny and Ecophilia ran neck-and-neck along the
backstretch of the Despotism Sweepstakes, with Ecophilia leading by a nose. In
today's post-Kyoto world, it leads by a length. Democracy, far from being
eco-fascism's enemy, seems to be its friend. Its enemy is liberty. That's why I
think liberty has as much to fear from democracy as from autocracy.
So, is it going to be Sino-Russian autocracy versus Western-style democracy, as
Kagan suggests? I wouldn't rule it out. Nor would I rule out democracy allying
itself with a kind of pseudo-scientific health-worshipping eco-maniacal
post-family feminism, culminating in a whopping tyranny to make autocracy, or
even oriental despotism, look like a Boy Scout jamboree.
Nor would I rule out crusading Christianity reverting to its medieval roots and
putting itself on a collision course with the Muslim rage of fulminating Islam.
Here, Tancred, say hello to Saladin! I wouldn't rule out anything, not even
peace and tranquility, albeit more likely as a result of repression than of good
government.
I'd give individual liberty the worst odds. I think it will continue to decline
in the 21st century.
Ultimately, who wins? Since we're into crystal ball-gazing, let me end with a
cautionary tale. It's rutting season, and the deer are alert. Younger stags have
retreated to the rill, licking their wounds. Some foul old stags are fighting it
out in the clearing. Watching them from the hillside, a young hind is very
excited.
"Which one will win, which one will win?" she presses a mature mamma-deer
standing next to her.
"I don't know," says the experienced hind, "but I can tell you this. Whoever
wins, you and I will be screwed."