LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِApril 02/2010

Bible Of the Day
Luke 22/1-30: " Now the feast of unleavened bread, which is called the Passover, drew near. 22:2 The chief priests and the scribes sought how they might put him to death, for they feared the people. 22:3 Satan entered into Judas, who was surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered with the twelve. 22:4 He went away, and talked with the chief priests and captains about how he might deliver him to them. 22:5 They were glad, and agreed to give him money. 22:6 He consented, and sought an opportunity to deliver him to them in the absence of the multitude. 22:7 The day of unleavened bread came, on which the Passover must be sacrificed. 22:8 He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” 22:9 They said to him, “Where do you want us to prepare?” 22:10 He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered into the city, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him into the house which he enters. 22:11 Tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ 22:12 He will show you a large, furnished upper room. Make preparations there.” 22:13 They went, found things as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 22:14 When the hour had come, he sat down with the twelve apostles. 22:15 He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, 22:16 for I tell you, I will no longer by any means eat of it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” 22:17 He received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, “Take this, and share it among yourselves, 22:18 for I tell you, I will not drink at all again from the fruit of the vine, until the Kingdom of God comes.” 22:19 He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.” 22:20 Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 22:21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. 22:22 The Son of Man indeed goes, as it has been determined, but woe to that man through whom he is betrayed!” 22:23 They began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing. 22:24 There arose also a contention among them, which of them was considered to be greatest. 22:25 He said to them, “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ 22:26 But not so with you. But one who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is governing, as one who serves. 22:27 For who is greater, one who sits at the table, or one who serves? Isn’t it he who sits at the table? But I am in the midst of you as one who serves. 22:28 But you are those who have continued with me in my trials. 22:29 I confer on you a kingdom, even as my Father conferred on me, 22:30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom. You will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Hizbollah, Hamas and the false promise of resistance/Michael Young/National/April 01/10
Jumblatt-Assad meet reflects shifting trends/By Michael Bluhm/April 01/10
Power plays between friends in Beirut/By Michael Young April 01/10

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for April 01/10
Lebanon's Ambassador: Alleged Sorcerer Not Facing Imminent Saudi Execution/Naharnet
Kerry Says Region's Peace Process Won't Come at Lebanon's Expense/Naharnet
Kouchner: Hizbullah Not Absent from Justice/Naharnet
Geagea: Suleiman's Latest Remarks Not Object of Consensus among All the Lebanese/Naharnet
Hezbollah denies responsibility for truck bomb blast that killed Hariri/Christian Science Monitor
Jumblatt says he is not restricted by any commitments to Syria/Now Lebanon
National Bloc criticizes Nasrallah’s Wednesday statement/Now Lebanon
Fayyad says Hezbollah expressed his willingness to cooperate with STL/Now Lebanon
Obama pushes for new Tehran sanctions/AFP
Nasrallah: STL will win back trust when perjurers tried/AFP
U.N. Summons Hezbollah for Hariri Probe/Wall Street Journal
Hezbollah deputy chief says group arming itself/Ynetnews
Lebanese president vows to preserve Hezbollah against Israel/People's Daily Online
State Department defends returning envoy to Syria/Foreign Policy
Lebanon as a model for Iraq/The Guardian
US Sen. John Kerry visiting Lebanon, Syria/Washington Post
Arrest of PLO envoy spurs condemnation, protests/Daily Star
Jumblat: Future with Syria Begins with Supporting Resistance/Naharnet
Soaid to Naharnet: Jumblat Hasn't Joined March 8, He Classified Syria Trip as Part of Druze Community Special Status/Naharnet
Suleiman Relieved at Economic Situation, Attends Easter Mass in Bkirki/Naharnet
Hariri Rejects Politicization of U.S. Security Grant, Fneish Denies Issue Raised in Cabinet/Naharnet
Cabinet Regularizes 10,000 Policemen, 4,000 ISF Volunteers, Heated Debate over Lack of Sharing/Naharnet
Saqr: Sfeir Announced Support for Cabinet, Hariri's Upcoming Syria Visit/Naharnet
Syria's Druze Spiritual Leader Calls for Return of Strategic Alliance between Lebanon-Syria Druze/Naharnet
Nasrallah: STL Summoned 12 Hizbullah Members, Supporters, We'll Cooperate with Investigation to Alter its Wrong Tracks/Naharnet
Ghanem: Municipal Elections, if Held, to Take Place Under Current Law/Naharnet

Lebanon's Ambassador: Alleged Sorcerer Not Facing Imminent Saudi Execution
Naharnet/Lebanon's ambassador to Riyadh said Thursday that he had not been informed by the Saudi authorities of the imminent execution of a Lebanese man found guilty of sorcery, as his lawyer has warned. "Until now, the embassy has not been informed" that former TV presenter Ali Sabat has been condemned to death, Ambassador Marwan Zein told Agence France Presse by telephone. Sabat's case is "still being considered by the court," Zein said. His lawyer in Lebanon, May el-Khansa, said that Sabat was to be executed this week. Rights group Amnesty International said it had received information that the beheading would be carried out on Thursday. Executions in Saudi Arabia are generally carried out on Thursday, the last day of the week here. Sabat, a 46-year-old father of five, was arrested in May 2008 by the religious police in Medina, where he was on a pilgrimage. According to Amnesty International, he was sentenced to death by a Medina court in 2009 for practicing "sorcery" because he "gave advice and predictions about the future" on a Lebanese television program. Khansa said that Sabat's appeal of the sentence was rejected but that he can still be pardoned by the ruler of the province in which he was judged. Amnesty on Wednesday joined the fray of rights groups who have expressed concern about Sabat's case. "Ali Hussain Sabat appears to have been convicted solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression," Malcolm Smart, head of the group's Middle East and North Africa program, said in a press release. "It is high time the Saudi Arabian government joined the international trend towards a worldwide moratorium on executions," Smart said, urging Lebanese authorities, including Premier Saad Hariri, and Saudi King Abdullah to stop the execution. "We are calling on King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia not to let this or other executions go ahead," he added.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 01 Apr 10,

Hassan Nasrallah
April 1, 2010 /Now Lebanon
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah confirmed during an interview with Al-Manar television Wednesday that the prosecutor's office of Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) summoned 12 party members. He added that the tribunal will summon six others, but Hezbollah is in the process of verifying whether they are members or just affiliated with the party.
These members were summoned as witnesses and not as suspects, said Nasrallah.
He said that among those summoned was a cultural official and another member who deals with Palestinian-Hezbollah relations.
Nasrallah noted the STL has summoned other Hezbollah members in the past two years, calling on the STL to preserve the secrecy of its investigations.
The Hezbollah chief cited various media reports – including Le Figaro, Der Spiegel, Le Monde and As-Seyassah – that accused his party of being behind the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, however, he noted that the STL has not once accused a Hezbollah member of the killing.
“But we do not know what might happen in the future,” he added.
Nasrallah said that the accusations following Hariri’s death were political.
“[The March 14 alliance] as well as regional and international powers accused Syria, while Israel accused Hezbollah,” he said, adding that the Jewish State was the first to point its finger at the party. Nasrallah said that Israel failed to eliminate Hezbollah during the 2006 July War, and Hariri’s assassination became “their final weapon and their last card to play against the Resistance.”
According to Nasrallah, there are three hypotheses: that officials and writers accusing Hezbollah of assassinating Hariri are just drafting a certain scenario, which, coincidentally, the STL then adopts, that STL employees are leaking information to the media and that “those reporting on the STL investigations are prophets.”
He said that some STL employees are leaking information to the media. He added that he holds the STL and the Office of the Prosecutor responsible for all the published reports.
There are internal conflicts inside the STL, said Nasrallah, citing the various STL resignations.
He said the objective is to distort Hezbollah’s image and pressure and intimidate the party.
“They might be trying to pressure Hezbollah to concede and accept a deal,” he added.
He also said that he refuses all accusations against his party and its members, and that Hezbollah has serious remarks on the work of the International Independent Investigative Commission (IIIC).Nasrallah said the IIIC was not committed to keeping its investigations secret and focused on one hypothesis from the very beginning, which is that Syria and the four generals murdered Hariri. He also slammed the commission for gathering false witnesses to try and prove their hypothesis.
Even though the Hezbollah chief did not accuse Israel of Hariri’s murder, he said that “whoever says it is an unlikely [scenario] is insulting Rafik Hariri.”
 
He criticized STL Prosecutor General Daniel Bellemare for detaining the four generals for almost four years.
He also said that a high-ranking official in the IIIC proposed to former General Security Director Jamil as-Sayyed – one of the four generals detained – with a deal, which the latter rejected.
Nasrallah said that in order to again trust the investigation, it is necessary to try the false witnesses and those who backed them to guarantee that there will be no more false witnesses.
He called for trying those who leaked information and for strictly forbidding all leaks.
He said his party is concerned with knowing the truth, with stopping the misled investigation and with assisting to put it back on the right track.
Hezbollah will cooperate with the STL, otherwise, it will be suspected of being behind Hariri’s assassination, said Nasrallah. However, he added that if there are more leaks and the false witnesses remain protected, he has the right to take a different stance.
Nasrallah also said that the STL is not affected by the 2007 US-Internal Security Forces cooperation agreement, which, he added should be annulled.
It is a binding agreement and if breached will allow the US to withdraw its aid, he said.
Nasrallah said that the agreement allows the US to interfere in the ISF whenever it pleases, enforces the US’ definition of terrorism to categorize the ISF officers, insults the Lebanese cabinet by setting conditions that US aid cannot be used for drug trafficking or illegal acts.
“We want to help the ISF uncover more Israeli espionage networks. We want the ISF to be trained under the belief that Israel is the enemy and not the fake enemies the US creates,” he said, adding, “Training ISF members is a good thing, but what they are being taught is dangerous.”
According to Nasrallah, Hezbollah did not target ISF Director General Ashraf Rifi or Interior Minister Ziad Baroud.
Rifi attempted to resolve some issues pertaining to the agreement by sending a letter to the US embassy stating that Hezbollah is a Lebanese party, an act he described as positive. He said that President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Speaker Nabih Berri should also take such an initiative.
Nasrallah also said Sleiman’s call to resume the national dialogue has nothing to do with last month’s Damascus summit between him, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
However, he said the West is constantly questioning the Lebanese government about what it has done about Hezbollah’s weapons.
“Dialogue is crucial even if it does not lead to quick results, and national consensus is not a precondition to defend our homes,” said the Hezbollah chief.
He commented on Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt’s Wednesday visit to Syria, saying it is Lebanon’s interests.
Nasrallah touched on the upcoming municipal elections, and said his party is open to holding the elections and to postponing them.
However, he said it would be better to postpone the elections for a couple of months to adopt the draft municipal electoral law.
He also said that Hezbollah and the Amal Movement will run together in the elections, which, he added are for development purposes and the candidates are often running according to family affiliations.However, he said some political tension will emerge in some villages and called for giving the cabinet a chance to achieve its goals. He also said that amid the Israeli threats, it is important for villages to be unified. Nasrallah said he supports a system of proportional representation in big towns and not small ones, saying it would be more complicated.

Kouchner: Hizbullah Not Absent from Justice
Naharnet/French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is "free," adding that Hizbullah is not "absent" from justice. "The Court is not free and is not aimed at destabilizing Lebanon," Kouchner said in an interview published Thursday by pan-Arab daily al-Hayat. "We should not be making a stance. We have to be neutral and leave them (investigators) conduct investigation," Kouchner added. "Hizbullah is not absent from justice," he said. Kouchner stressed that a tale published by The German magazine Der Spiegel about Hizbullah's involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri "does not fall within the context of justice, but is just a journalist opinion." Beirut, 01 Apr 10, 08:07

Kerry Says Region's Peace Process Won't Come at Lebanon's Expense
Naharnet/Democratic U.S. Senator John Kerry on Wednesday held separate talks with President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Saad Hariri. "Let me assure you on behalf of the United States and the Congress that we are deeply committed to the sovereignty, independence, and democratic government of Lebanon," Kerry said after talks with Suleiman at the Baabda Palace. "I can promise you that anything we do with respect to the peace process in this region will not come at the expense of Lebanon," he added.
Kerry then headed to the Grand Serail where he held talks with Hariri. "We are very, very grateful for the leadership that the Prime Minister has offered, not just here in Lebanon, but also to the peace and stability in the region," Kerry said. "We are encouraged by the steps that Lebanon has taken in the last years, coming out of great political difficulties. There has been enormous progress, both economically and otherwise. But as we all know, there are tensions in the region. There are issues that we need to deal with," he added.
"We remain extremely hopeful that in the weeks ahead we can find the path to progress on the single most important regional stability issue, which is the peace process between Israel and Palestinians. "That is a top subject for my conversations with (Syrian) President (Bashar) Assad and it remains, obviously, a major priority of (U.S.) President (Barack) Obama." Beirut, 31 Mar 10, 20:19

Nasrallah: STL Summoned 12 Hizbullah Members, Supporters, We'll Cooperate with Investigation to Alter its Wrong Tracks
Naharnet/Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday confirmed that the Office of the Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon summoned around 12 individuals who are Hizbullah members or supporters, revealing that "it is about to summon 6 others." "In the past few weeks the prosecutor's office in Beirut contacted a number of our brothers, some of them members of Hizbullah and others close to the party, and requested they come in for interrogation," Nasrallah said in an interview with the Hizbullah-affiliated al-Manar television.
But Nasrallah said his party was not currently in the tribunal's line of fire. "Representatives of the prosecutor's office guaranteed us that all those being interrogated were called in as witnesses, and not as suspects, at a semi-official meeting with representatives of Hizbullah," Nasrallah said.
"Several people were summoned before but no similar uproar was raised," he added. Nasrallah revealed that a Hizbullah cultural department official was summoned in addition to a jihadist official "who was a companion of martyr Khaled Awali." "We don't have any information about summoning any Hizbullah top official and everything is possible," Nasrallah added.
"It's possible that there's a relation between the investigation and political accusation, but everything being circulated now is unbased political accusation. "Accusing Hizbullah started with the French Le Figaro daily which was followed by the German Der Spiegel and then by the Kuwaiti As Siyasah." Nasrallah warned that "accusing individual members of our party is equivalent to accusing Hizbullah." "That would take Lebanon to a very difficult place," he added.
"We will not remain silent if we find we are facing political accusations," Nasrallah warned. Nasrallah reminisced that the July war aimed at eliminating "the resistance and those who support it and at changing the demography in Lebanon, especially in the South." "Accusing members from the resistance of being involved in assassinating (ex-PM Rafik) Hariri is the final card in the attempts at targeting the resistance. "Speaking in political salons indicates that the investigation intends to issue indictments against a number of Hizbullah members."
The Hague-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon was set up by a U.N. Security Council resolution in 2007 to find and try suspects in the murder of Hariri, who was killed in a massive bomb blast on the Beirut seafront in February 2005.
In its first annual report published in March, the tribunal said investigators were getting closer to identifying the suicide bomber who carried out the attack.
Tension has been brewing in Lebanon after a flurry of press reports said the U.N. court was readying to accuse Hizbullah operatives in the Hariri murder.
But the tribunal said the reports were "mere speculation" in a statement last week. Nasrallah called on STL Prosecutor Danielle Bellemare to shoulder the responsibility of stopping media leaks and urged him to be "vigilant" in this regard. "All the events of the previous years have not been able to shake Hizbullah and the idea of eliminating it is a chimera," Hizbullah number one stressed. "Trying to undermine the image of Hizbullah's top leader Imad Mughniyeh is an attempt at pressuring us or at sealing a deal with us," he added. "Political accusation almost pushed the region to a catastrophe; hence, we will respond to any accusation because major repercussions will result from such an accusation." On the other hand, Nasrallah said he does not believe that President Michel Suleiman called for national dialogue in response to the meeting that gathered him to the Syrian and Iranian presidents in Damascus. Beirut, 01 Apr 10, 00:12

Suleiman Relieved at Economic Situation, Attends Easter Mass in Bkirki
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman on Thursday expressed relief at the economic situation in Lebanon saying economic stability is part of a security and political stability chain.
"Security and political stability were the main motive behind regaining international trust and the trust of Arab, foreign and expatriate investors," Suleiman said in a statement.
Such a trust "reflected positively on the economic and monetary situation which made the start of 2010 promising," he added. Meanwhile, the president's office said in a statement that Suleiman will visit Bkirki on Sunday and attend Easter mass. Beirut, 01 Apr 10, 14:33

Hariri Rejects Politicization of U.S. Security Grant, Fneish Denies Issue Raised in Cabinet
Naharnet/Cabinet on Wednesday discussed the so-called U.S. "Security Agreement" in light of documents presented at a recent meeting of the parliamentary Media and Communications Committee.The documents, presented by Mustaqbal MP Hadi Hobeish, stated that the current government under Prime Minister Saad Hariri with the participation of Opposition ministers approved a supplement to the U.S. donation program in a January 2010 Cabinet session. The Media and Communications Committee has been holding meetings to discuss the controversial issue of the "Security Agreement" to see whether the deal was concluded in conformity with the Lebanese Constitution. Committee members were said to have been surprised by the emergence of the documents presented by Hobeish. Al-Akhbar daily on Thursday said Hariri tackled the issue from the perspective of calming the situation and opening the doors to re-examine the agreement in Cabinet. Citing ministerial sources, al-Akhbar said Hariri pledged to instruct MPs from his Mustaqbal coalition to limit discussions to the Media and Communications Committee "so that the issue can reach its desired ends." Hariri believed that the issue has been "politicized when it can be resolved."
Meanwhile, State Minister for Administrative Development Mohammad Fneish, reiterated Hizbullah's position vis-à-vis the U.S. policy, and stressed that what had been approved by Cabinet was a "grant" and not a "security agreement."
Fneish criticized parties attempting to picture the March 8 coalition as seeking to launch a campaign against Police chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi.
"The content of the supplement added to the original agreement was later on submitted to the government which earlier only approved the donation program," Fneish said.
Interior Minister Ziad Baroud interrupted to clarify that the supplement to the agreement with the ISF was brought forward before Cabinet for approval without being attached to the original deal. "Thus, approval of the supplement does not at all imply approval of the agreement signed in 2007," Baroud reportedly told the Cabinet.
"The same goes to the supplement, meaning that rejection of the supplement does not in any way mean refusal of the agreement, which I was not briefed on," Baroud added. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday denounced the $ 50 million grant from the United States to the Lebanese police force. He described the grant as threatening "security and national pride." "Certain elements in the content of the grant are dangerous," Nasrallah said in an interview with al-Manar television late Wednesday.
The grant, which covers equipment and training, stipulates that no member of its training program be part of a "terrorist organization." Hizbullah is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Washington. "The United States demands the right to access security headquarters without restrictions to see how the equipment it donates is being used," Nasrallah said.
"This equates to surveilling our security centers," he added. Beirut, 01 Apr 10, 10:03

Jumblat: Future with Syria Begins with Supporting Resistance
Druze leader Walid Jumblat said Thursday that discussions with Syrian President Bashar Assad stressed the need to put emphasis on the fundamental principle of supporting the resistance and liberating the land."Discussions with President Bashar focused on providing support and protection for the resistance," Jumblat told a packed news conference at his mansion in Beirut's posh neighborhood of Clemenceau. "The future with Syria begins with supporting the resistance and building confidence between the two countries," Jumblat added.
He said meetings with the Syrian leadership were "not over," adding that he has instructed Cabinet Minister and PSP official Ghazi Aridi to hold follow-up meetings with Damascus.
Jumblat thanked Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for his mediating role in the reconciliation with Assad. He said he also discussed with Assad issues that dealt with Palestinian refugee camps both politically as well as their living conditions, in addition to the possibility of starting the border demarcation process from areas that are not under Israeli occupation. Regarding the Mountains, Jumblat pointed to the "historic communication between residents of the mountains and the Syrian family." He hailed Syria's "great contributions" towards maintaining contact between Arab Druze in Palestine and those in Mount Lebanon.
His remarks came a day after he met Assad, ending a six-year hiatus between the two leaders. Jumblat arrived in Damascus to what was described as a "warm welcome" by Assad, local media said Thursday. They said his visit was of confidential nature in terms of the timing as no date for the meeting was set in advance.
Some reports, however, said notification of the date of the meeting was sent to Jumblat via Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Jumblat was accompanied by Nasrallah's political aide Hussein al-Khalil and head of Hizbullah's Coordination and Liaison Committee Wafiq Safa.
An Nahar newspaper on Thursday, citing Hizbullah media circles, said Khalil and Safa "worked under the guidance of Nasrallah to arrange the visit from A to Z."
Jumblat returned home following the 90-minute meeting with Assad. The state-run Syrian National News Agency, SANA, said Jumblatt "paid tribute to President Assad's positions on Lebanon and his commitment to the security and stability of the country." SANA said Jumblat also welcomed Assad's "efforts to strengthen ties between their two sister countries."
Both Jumblat and Assad stressed "the importance of reinforcing Syrian-Lebanon ties to allow the two countries to face common threats," SANA added.
They also stressed "the important role of the resistance" in opposing Israeli plans for the region, it said. Hizbullah, which has played a mediating role in the reconciliation, welcomed the visit and the reconciliation between the two sides. Jumblat has repeatedly announced his desire to "open a new page" with Syria. Nasrallah had conveyed to Jumblat Assad's willingness to "forget the past," given the recent developments. Nasrallah's statement two weeks ago came after Jumblat admitted he had made "inappropriate and unreasonable remarks about President Assad at a time of internal tensions and extreme division within Lebanon." On the second anniversary of Hariri's Feb. 14, 2005 assassination, the 60-year-old Druze leader dubbed Assad "the dictator of Damascus … a savage… an Israeli product ….a liar… and a criminal." He had also blamed Syria for the assassination of his father Kamal Jumblat in 1977. On Aug. 2, 2009, Jumblat quit from the ruling March 14 coalition he helped create and moved closer to the Hizbullah-led Opposition. Syria, under Lebanese, Arab and international pressure, withdrew its troops from Lebanon two months after the Hariri assassination. Damascus repeatedly denies involvement in the Hariri murder. Beirut, 01 Apr 10, 11:08

Soaid to Naharnet: Jumblat Hasn't Joined March 8, He Classified Syria Trip as Part of Druze Community Special Status
March 14 General-Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid on Thursday said that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat "acted right by organizing a press conference to talk about his visit to Syria, so that he doesn't leave any room for speculations and assumptions regarding this visit." In an interview with Naharnet, Soaid lauded Jumblat's insistence on "the Special Tribunal for Lebanon gaining the consensus of all parties" as well as his assertion that "the Lebanese-Syrian relations will be conducted through official institutions and in a state-to-state manner." He noted that Jumbat's classification of his visit "as part of the Druze community special status is different than that of PM Saad Hariri who employed his visit within the frame of Arab reconciliations."Answering a question on whether Jumblat has abandoned his centrist position to join the March 8 Alliance, Soaid stressed that "Jumblat has remained in his centrist position and he hasn't moved to the other camp."Soaid had earlier stressed, in remarks published Thursday by al-Liwaa daily, his trust in the STL, lauding the "professional and objective work it is doing" and calling on everyone to "cooperate with the tribunal in an unconditioned manner in order to reveal the truth." Beirut, 01 Apr 10, 16:39

Cabinet Regularizes 10,000 Policemen, 4,000 ISF Volunteers, Heated Debate over Lack of Sharing
Naharnet/Cabinet on Wednesday regularized 10,000 contract policemen and 4,000 as volunteers with the Internal Security Forces, an issue that touched off a heated debate over the lack of equal sharing. Cabinet ministers argued that the issue shook the confessional distribution in Lebanon. Among the ministers who opposed the decision were Jebran Bassil and Salim Sayegh. Beirut, 01 Apr 10, 14:10

Saqr: Sfeir Announced Support for Cabinet, Hariri's Upcoming Syria Visit
Naharnet/Lebanon First bloc MP Oqab Saqr said after meeting Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Thursday that the prelate has expressed support for the government and Premier Saad Hariri's upcoming visit to Damascus. Saqr quoted Sfeir as saying that Hariri's trip to Syria would set up the foundation of a stage under which Lebanon is regaining its free decision making. About municipal elections, the MP said there was no longer any justification to postpone it, saying postponement of the polls under the pretext of reform was a form of corruption. Saqr also said that a decision to delay the elections would be a direct hit at constitutional life, vowing to confront the postponement in all possible constitutional means. Beirut, 01 Apr 10, 13:22

Syria's Druze Spiritual Leader Calls for Return of Strategic Alliance between Lebanon-Syria Druze
Naharnet/Following Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat's visit to Damascus on Wednesday, Syria's Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hammoud al-Hinnawi called for "the return of the strategic alliance between Lebanon's and Syria's Druze." In remarks to Agence France Presse, al-Hinnawi welcomed the meeting between Jumblat and Syrian President Bashar Assad, saying it paves way for the return of the alliance between the Druze of the two countries. "The Druze sect considers Syria its main embracer, in addition to being the strategic depth for the Druze of Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine," he said. The Druze are one of the fundamental factors of politics in the region, al-Hinnawi told AFP. They have contributed to the liberation of Lebanon from Israeli occupation between 1982 and 1985 and gave impetus to the Syrian revolution against French occupation in the 1920s, he said. The spiritual leader added that the Druze are now leading a military, cultural, social and economic resistance against Israeli occupation in the Golan Heights. Beirut, 01 Apr 10, 10:09

Hizbollah, Hamas and the false promise of resistance
Michael Young
Last Updated: March 31. 2010
National/ UAE / March 31. 2010 4:59PM GMT In a recent interview with Hizbollah’s Al Manar television station, Bashar al Assad, the president of Syria, was asked about the state of Syria’s relationship with Lebanon after years of tension following the assassination of the former prime minister, Rafiq al Hariri, in 2005. “Damascus cannot be neutral when one side is engaged in resistance and another is against the resistance,” he responded.
At the Arab League summit in Libya last weekend, Mr Assad again defended “resistance” against Israel, this time on behalf of Hamas. Syria was only upholding its political stakes, yet in recent years the notion of resistance has taken on a near mystical quality in some Arab quarters and in the West, beyond the narrow calculations of Arab regimes.
Why is that? Israeli mistreatment of the Palestinians and anti-Americanism have long fuelled support for armed resistance movements in the Middle East. However, the enthusiasm waned in the 1990s once the Madrid conference sparked Arab-Israeli negotiations. Even Hizbollah’s military operations against Israeli soldiers occupying southern Lebanon only took on larger meaning when the Israelis withdrew in May 2000, supposedly substantiating the idea that “resistance” could reverse Arab humiliations.
The paradox is that Hizbollah’s triumph marked the high point of the resistance strategy. After that, things could never quite be as successful. But it also was the moment when many in the Middle East and beyond adopted the resistance mantle in earnest. The Israeli withdrawal came only three months before the start of the second Palestinian intifada, essentially aborting the Oslo process that the more uncompromising supporters of Palestinian rights had spent years denouncing.
That Oslo returned the Palestinian leadership to the land was of no consequence; critics regarded the compromises imposed on the late Yasser Arafat as unacceptable when successive Israeli governments continued building settlements in the occupied territories. With armed resistance having won out in Lebanon, the Palestinian intifada took that logic a step further. The purists, frustrated by years of haphazard diplomatic movement, approved. Resistance was the new imperative, which they usually justified from the safety of Arab capitals or foreign universities.
Had they looked more carefully, they might have seen that resistance was also a byword for disaster. Over 5,000 Palestinians were killed in the intifada, and in 2002 Israel reoccupied large parts of the West Bank after a suicide attack in Netanya. The uprising, this time using weapons rather than stones, brought nothing to Palestinians but more suffering.
But the resistance fetish survived. In Lebanon, Hizbollah continued to fire at Israeli soldiers, saying that they still occupied a sliver of Lebanese land known as the Shebaa Farms, but it was mainly interested in finding a pretext to retain its weapons. Syria encouraged this in order to use Hizbollah’s weapons as leverage in any new talks with Israel over the Golan Heights.
Hizbollah’s sporadic attacks on the unpopulated outpost highlighted the diminishing returns of resistance. It concealed this by obliging Israel to engage in a prisoner swap in January 2004 that was to Hizbollah’s advantage. Yet the Hariri assassination a year later led to a Syrian military pullout from Lebanon, provoking anxiety in Hizbollah that the aftermath might bring on the party’s disarmament.
On July 12, 2006, in a move designed to indirectly impose a Hizbollah-defined “defence strategy” on its Lebanese partners, Hizbollah militants abducted two Israeli soldiers inside Israel’s borders, unintentionally killing them in an operation that also led to the death of five others. This provoked a month-long war that Hizbollah’s admirers insisted confirmed the merits of armed resistance. The party managed to continue firing rockets into Israel throughout the conflict, declaring this a “divine victory”.
Was it really so? Over 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, and nearly a million thrown out into the streets. Israel bombed Lebanese infrastructure and placed the entire country under siege, closing all ports and Beirut airport. Later, Hizbollah’s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, declared that had he known that Israel would respond in the way it did, he would not have abducted the soldiers.
The costs of war were lost on the nearly 450 intellectuals, many of them Lebanese living abroad, who signed a petition at the height of the fighting declaring their “conscious support” for Hizbollah’s resistance against Israel, “as it wages a war in defence of our sovereignty and independence, a war to release Lebanese imprisoned in Israel, a war to safeguard the dignity of the Lebanese and Arab people”. The signatories also affirmed that “resistance is an intellectual act par excellence … [and] cultural and critical activity [is] an integral part of Lebanese national resistance, indeed of resistance to injustice anywhere in the world.”
Similar obduracy greeted Hamas’ return to arms in December 2008, when it ended a truce with Israel by bombing Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip. As usual Israel responded harshly, entering Gaza, killing nearly 1,500 Palestinians, and extending a blockade that continues to this day. Yet aficionados of resistance never paused to ask whether Hamas’s choices were to the Palestinians’ benefit, even as everything indicated they were not.
In Lebanon and the Palestinian areas, society needs to be brought in on the debate over the desirability of armed resistance. Hizbollah and Hamas have employed “resistance” more often to marginalise their national authorities than to fight Israel, in the process destabilising their societies. Israel has undermined its Arab interlocutors over the years, but nothing has damaged the Arabs more than resorting to wanton violence that leads nowhere. Such behaviour betrays only vanity, with little chance of reversing injustices.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of the Daily Star newspaper in Beirut

Saudi to behead Lebanese convicted of witchcraft: lawyer
(AFP) –BEIRUT — A Lebanese man sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia on charges of witchcraft is due to be beheaded this week, his lawyer said on Wednesday, urging officials and rights groups to intervene on his behalf.
"Last night we got news through unofficial channels that Ali Sabat would be beheaded within 48 hours," May el-Khansa, Sabat's attorney in Beirut, told AFP.
"I have since been contacting Lebanese officials, including President Michel Sleiman and Lebanon's ambassador to Saudi Arabia to appeal his case."
Sabat was sentenced to death in November of last year by a Saudi court for practicing witchcraft.
He was arrested in May 2008 by the religious police in Medina, where he was on a pilgrimage before returning to his native Lebanon.
The case against him was brought after he gave advice and made predictions on Lebanese television.
Khansa said Lebanon's ambassador to Saudi Arabia was in contact with Sabat and someone from the embassy had visited him on Wednesday in his jail cell.
"It is very important that we save the life of this one person," she said. "He is not a criminal."
She added that Sabat's family was in shock and that his mother was seriously ill with doctors saying she could die anytime.
Amnesty International meanwhile joined the fray of rights groups who have expressed concern about Sabat's case.
"Ali Hussain Sabat appears to have been convicted solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression," Malcolm Smart, head of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa programme, said in a press release.
"It is high time the Saudi Arabian government joined the international trend towards a worldwide moratorium on executions," Smart said, urging Lebanese authorities and Saudi King Abdullah to stop the execution.
Saudi Arabia has no clear legal definition on the charge of witchcraft and judges are given discretionary power in determining what constitutes a crime and what sentence to impose.
In November 2007, Mustafa Ibrahim, an Egyptian working as a pharmacist in Saudi Arabia was beheaded after he was found guilty of sorcery.

Obama pushes for new Tehran sanctions
Sarkozy: ‘The Time has come to take decisions. Iran cannot continue its mad race’
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Thursday, April 01, 2010 /Stephen Collinson/Agence France Presse
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he wanted tough new United Nations sanctions imposed on Iran within “weeks” as visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy blasted Tehran’s “mad” nuclear race.But Obama admitted that key world powers had “not yet” closed wide gaps on the specifics of the biting new measures, as he and Sarkozy made an apparently coordinated effort to up pressure on China and Russia for action. “My hope is that we are going to get this done this spring,” Obama said, warning, as he faces rising domestic pressure on the issue, that he was not interested in waiting months for the new United Nations measures to be imposed.
“I am interested in seeing that regime in place within weeks,” Obama said during a joint news conference with Sarkozy which saw both leaders go out of their way to profess US-French friendship.
Sarkozy indicated after his closed Oval Office talks with Obama that months of diplomacy to prepare the way for sanctions must now come to fruition.
“The time has come to take decisions. Iran cannot continue its mad race,” Sarkozy said.
Sarkozy also said that Europe would stand united in the push for sanctions.
Sarkozy and Obama said their talks also covered a long list of international issues, including Afghanistan, US peace efforts in the Middle East and the global economic recovery.
The French leader said it was “great news” that the Obama administration had now made financial reform its top priority.
The issue has provoked friction between Washington and Europe, with the US less willing to call for stringent efforts to regulate global hedge funds than some key leaders in Europe.
Obama also promised that a Pentagon tender for a new airborne tanker for the US Air Force would be “free and fair.”
Sarkozy said he trusted Obama, and that the European aerospace giant EADS would resubmit a bid, following a row over claims the United States was favoring US-based Boeing for the contract. Both leaders sought to scotch rumors of bad chemistry between them, calling one another by their first names, ahead of an intimate dinner hosted by the Obamas for Sarkozy and former supermodel wife Carla Bruni. Obama called Sarkozy “my dear friend,” while Sarkozy appeared eager to end years of US-French tensions.
“There may be disagreements, but never for the wrong reasons. And as we are very transparent on both sides, there’s confidence, there’s trust,” he said before the two presidents walked out of the news conference with hands over each other’s shoulders. The Sarkozys took time to sample the culinary delights of the American capital, stopping in at famed-restaurant “Ben’s Chili Bowl,” which Obama has also visited, to eat half-smoke hot dogs. Sarkozy and Obama met at divergent moments of their political fortunes. The French president was forced to backtrack on some of his signature reforms, and suffered a humiliation in recent regional elections. But Obama is reveling in his historic health reform law and clinched a landmark nuclear arms reduction deal with Russia last week. The private dinner between the couples marks the first time a foreign leader has dined with the Obamas in their private residence at the White House and is seen as a fence-mending exercise after Obama bowed out of a European summit. “You invite an important head of state to a state dinner, but a friend you invite to your home,” said a Western diplomat. But the White House denied that it was going out of its way to satisfy Sarkozy with presidential trappings. “It doesn’t seem totally out of the ordinary,” Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Nasrallah: STL will win back trust when perjurers tried
Hizbullah chief says 12 members summoned as witnesses
By The Daily Star and Agence France Presse (AFP)
Thursday, April 01, 2010
BEIRUT: A UN team investigating the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri has questioned members of Hizbullah, the party’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday. “In the past few weeks the prosecutor’s office in Beirut contacted a number of our brothers, some of them members of Hizbullah and others close to the party, and requested they come in for questioning,” Nasrallah said in an interview with Hizbullah’s Al-Manar television. “They called in 12 of our brothers in recent weeks, and I believe they are now in the process of summoning six more,” he added. The Hague-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon was set up by a UN Security Council resolution in 2007 to try suspects in the murder of Hariri, who was killed in a massive bomb blast on the Beirut seafront in February 2005. In its first annual report published in March, the tribunal said investigators were getting closer to identifying the suicide bomber who carried out the attack. But Nasrallah said his party was not currently in the tribunal’s line of fire. “Representatives of the prosecutor’s office guaranteed us that all those being questioned were called in as witnesses, and not as suspects, at a semi-official meeting with representatives of Hizbullah,” he added.
“The prosecutor’s office until now has not accused any Hizbullah member. But we don’t know what could happen in the future,” he added. None of those questioned were public figures, Nasrallah said, adding that the tribunal had also questioned male and female party members in previous years. However, Nasrallah doubted the credibility of the STL, saying the resistance would continue to cooperate with investigators but only if the court’s work proved to be on the right track away from politicization attempts. “We will cooperate to challenge misleading investigations rather than because of trust,” Nasrallah said. “We have not yet been accused and we are being attacked; what if we do not cooperate?” he asked in reference to the media reports claiming Hizbullah’s involvement in the murder. “Any investigation committee should be committed to the investigation’s secrecy which was not the case given the media leaks … also, the committee only adopted one scenario while dismissing many others, proving its unprofessionalism,” he said.
“All those matters make us doubt the honesty and credibility of the investigations,” he said. Nasrallah added that any accusations of Hizbullah would be considered Israeli demands.
However, he stressed that the investigation committee could regain trust and restore its image by halting media leaks and trying witnesses who committed perjury.
“Some of our brothers and sisters were questioned at the end of 2008, after the events of May 7,” he said, referring to street battles that broke out in the Lebanese capital Beirut on May 7, 2008, pitting supporters of a Hizbullah-led alliance to those of a rival camp loyal to Hariri’s son, Saad Hariri, an MP and now prime minister.
The Hariri murder has been widely blamed on Syria, a main backer of Hizbullah. Damascus has denied any involvement.
A UN commission of inquiry said it had found evidence to implicate Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services prior to the tribunal’s formation, but there are currently no suspects in custody.
Nasrallah added that discussions on the US-Lebanese security agreement were not aimed at the Internal Security Forces but rather that his party had certain reservations on the issue. He refused to take part in the debate but warned that some aspects of th agreement were dangerous. He challenged claims that the US program comprised of unconditional donations, saying that it embraced comittments from both sides. Nasrallah added that the agreement constituted a means for the US to interfere in the affairs of the security institution. – AFP, with The Daily Star

Jumblatt holds reconciliation talks with Assad in Damascus
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Thursday, April 01, 2010
DAMASCUS: Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt on Wednesday held a reconciliation meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, on a fence-mending mission to Damascus.Jumblatt in their talks “paid tribute to President Assad’s positions on Lebanon and his commitment to the security and stability of the country,” according to Syria’s state news agency SANA. He also welcomed his former foe’s “efforts to consolidate the ties of consolidation between their two brother countries.”
Both leaders stressed “the importance of reinforcing Syrian-Lebanon ties to allow the two countries to face common threats,” SANA reported, as well as “the important role of the resistance” in opposing Israeli plans for the region.
The agency gave no further details on the encounter but Lebanon’s Hizbullah, a staunch ally of Damascus, welcomed the visit and the reconciliation between the two sides.
“This strengthens Lebanon’s position in the face of Israeli aggression,” given Syria’s support for anti-Israeli militants, Hizbullah spokesman Ibrahim Moussaoui told AFP in Beirut.
Jumblatt has also repeatedly stated his desire to “open a new page” with Damascus in recent months, and Hizbullah has played a mediating role in the rapprochement.
Hizbullah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah two weeks ago had “advised Jumblatt that given recent developments, the Syrian authorities will forget the past.”
Nasrallah’s comments at the time came after the Druze leader admitted he had made “inappropriate and unreasonable remarks about President Assad at a time of internal tensions and extreme division within Lebanon.” On February 14, 2007, the second anniversary of the murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri, Jumblatt branded Assad “the dictator of Damascus … a savage … an Israeli product, a liar... and a criminal.” The Druze leader had also previously blamed Syria for the assassination of his father Kamal Jumblatt in 1977.
But earlier this month, he said in an interview with Al-Jazeera television that his remarks were “unworthy and unusual, unsuited to the ethics of politics even during a quarrel.”
The 60-year-old leader of Lebanon’s Druze minority has come under fire since defecting last August from the US-backed ruling coalition he helped create and moving closer to the Hizbullah-led opposition supported by Syria and Iran. Syria, while insisting it had no role in the Hariri assassination, pulled its troops out of Lebanon two months after the murder, ending a deployment of almost three decades during which Damascus was the main power-broker in Beirut. – AFP

Aoun, Hariri meet to resolve election issues
Thursday, April 01, 2010
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri met late on Tuesday with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun where the two men reportedly discussed a “package deal” to resolve outstanding issues. Local media on Wednesday said Hariri, accompanied by his adviser Nader Hariri, met Aoun at the latter’s residence in the Beirut suburb of Rabieh. The meeting was attended by Energy and Water Resources Minister Jebran Bassil.
Hariri had earlier Tuesday discussed municipal elections and state budget with Speaker Nabih Berri’s political aide MP Ali Hasan Khalil.
As-Safir newspaper said Hariri and Aoun discussed the possibility of reaching an agreement on a package deal to resolve pending issues as a follow-up to Hariri’s meetings with Hassan Khalil, political aide to Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday evening and a second one held Tuesday with Khalil, Berri’s assistant.
Aoun rejected accusations by opponents on his desire to postpone municipal elections for fear of repercussions among Christian voters.
“I do not intend to boycott the elections,” Aoun said in remarks published Wednesday by As-Safir. He called on his supporters to prepare for municipal polls and declare a state of high alert in their ranks. Aoun ridiculed those who accused him of wanting to delay elections for fear of polls, saying he faced the world, so why should he fear elections.
“I encountered during my struggle countries such as Syria and the US and I faced during recent parliamentary elections a broad coalition of domestic and external forces … so why fear municipal elections? Aoun discovered a study by university students that showed FPM currently in the lead in municipal elections. – Naharnet

Jumblatt-Assad meet reflects shifting trends
Syria Accepted PSP Leader’s Apology because it is still pursuing the destruction of March 14
By Michael Bluhm /Daily Star staff
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Analysis
BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt’s Wednesday visit to Damascus did not represent a dramatic development, but simply a confirmation of major trends shaping domestic and regional politics: Jumblatt’s defection from the March 14 alliance toward a centrist stance and Syria’s return to international prominence, a number of analysts told The Daily Star.
The Druze leader announced last August that he was leaving the March 14 camp, and since then he has performed a ritual of public apologies and reconciliations paving his return to Damascus, all of which made Wednesday’s sojourn somewhat anticlimactic, said Karam Karam, program director at the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies.
Despite Jumblatt’s willingness to do whatever necessary to ingratiate himself again with Syria, President Bashar Assad still appears not to be welcoming Jumblatt back into the ranks of Damascus’ allies, said Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut. The visit occurred as somewhat of a surprise on Wednesday, with Jumblatt receiving the summons from Assad Tuesday night, Khashan added.
“This visit does not really reflect a transformation in the relations between Jumblatt and the Syrians,” Khashan said. “The way the invitation was given to him last night was insulting. They humiliated him. I don’t think they have forgiven him. The damage was done. He got too personal.” Jumblatt had in a 2007 speech compared the Syrian president unfavorably with a number of animals, and in a Washington address Jumblatt called for the overthrow of the Assad regime.
Syria has also exploited Jumblatt’s advances to highlight its view of Hizbullah’s decisive role in Lebanon, said retired General Elias Hanna, who teaches political science. In an interview last week with Hizbullah’s Al-Manar satellite network, Assad said he credited Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah for enabling the rapprochement between Jumblatt and Assad. “It’s like trying to create a certain hierarchy in Lebanon,” Hanna said.
In addition, Assad is also making clear that Jumblatt cannot return to his pre-2005 standing as one of Syria’s most-trusted partners in Lebanon, but has been superseded by the Shiite group and their ally, Free Patriotic Movement head Michel Aoun, Hanna added.
From the Syrian point of view, Jumblatt needed to endure self-abasement on every step of his journey back to Syria, partly to show what it requires of any allies who abandon it as Jumblatt did and partly to explain to the Syrian populace why the regime was willing to meet with a man who had leveled such invective against it, said Raghid al-Solh, political consultant and adviser to the Issam Fares Center, a non-partisan think tank in Beirut
“In order not make it easy for adversaries in the future, Jumblatt had to pay the price,” said Solh, adding that Jumblatt’s obsequiousness had undermined his credibility.
As well as damaging Jumblatt’s stature, his turn toward Syria capped by Wednesday’s visit also piles more dirt on the expiring March 14 coalition, said Solh. “It will further the disintegration of March 14,” Solh said, adding that other March 14 leaders were already rethinking the shape of the alliance.
While Jumblatt may have departed the March 14 camp, Prime Minister Saad Hariri is still trying to hold the group together, as evidenced by the strong presence of Hariri’s Future Movement at last weekend’s commemoration of the 1994 banning of March 14 member the Lebanese Forces, Hanna said. With Jumblatt gone and Hariri also cozying up to Assad – the prime minister should this month make his second trip to Damascus – the March 14 coalition’s Christians have become disillusioned with the political union, Khashan said. “Most Christians have really lost interest in March 14,” he added.
At the same time, Syria accepted Jumblatt’s apologies because it is still pursuing the destruction of the group, which came together in the wake of the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Saad’s father. The March 14 coalition – co-founded by Jumblatt – blamed Damascus for Hariri’s killing, and Syria fell into years of international isolation as mass demonstrations here forced the exit of Syrian troops from Lebanon after a 29-year presence.
“The Syrians remain committed to eliminating the March 14 coalition,” Khashan said.
Jumblatt’s Damascus visit also provides support for Saad Hariri in his efforts to normalize relations with Syria, as it should blunt lingering anti-Syria tensions in the Cabinet, said Karam. “It will create a positive atmosphere, and Hariri will not be alone in his reconciliation with the Syrians,” Karam added.
Still, the ultimate effect of Jumblatt’s realignment on the government will depend on whether Hariri succeeds in achieving his version of reconciliation with Syria, the outcome of which remains to be seen, Solh said.
Nevertheless, Jumblatt has also positioned himself firmly in the center of Lebanon’s political landscape and will present himself as independent of the two rival blocs, the analysts said. “He’s not March 14, and he is not totally March 8,” said Karam, adding that Jumblatt’s balancing act would make it difficult to predict where he would stand on any issue. In the longer view, Jumblatt’s move toward the political center also marks a return to the strategy of his father Kamal, who almost always maintained a position never too far left or right of the momentary center, said Solh.
Jumblatt’s Druze community might be used to centrist politics, but their leader’s perceived flip-flop and kowtowing to Assad has left many Druze unhappy with Jumblatt, Khashan said. “Many Druze are upset with his change of heart,” Kahshan added. “Many Druze feel embarrassed.”
In the end, however, Jumblatt might well have swung back toward Syria because he felt it was in his constituency’s best interest, with Syria regaining its sway in Lebanon and the region, Karam said. Assad did not punish Druze in Syria for Jumblatt’s attacks, but the community could have witnessed erosions of its economic and political privileges in the long term, Karam added.
With the long view in mind, Jumblatt also seems to have mended fences with Syria – and accepted the sacrifice of much of his own credibility – in order to ease the looming handover of power to his son Timur, Khashan said.
“Jumblatt realizes that he is a spent political force,” Khashan said. “That’s why he has been grooming his son to replace him. He sees himself as belonging to the past.”
“He wants to ensure a smooth transition.”

Power plays between friends in Beirut
By Michael Young
Commentary by
Thursday, April 01, 2010
No one could fail to notice that it was a Syrian spokesperson, Wi’am Wahhab, who spilled the beans recently about Hizbullah members being called in for questioning by investigators working on behalf of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. It was also Wahhab alone who mentioned the possibility of a link between the late Imad Mughniyeh and the Hariri assassination. This has raised interesting questions about what Syria is trying to achieve.
Of course, Wahhab’s professed purpose was to warn against what an accusation directed against Hizbullah might mean for Lebanon’s stability. This has been a recurrent theme sounded by the Syrians and their allies in recent years. However, party officials must also have suspected that Wahhab’s comments, by providing information no one else had, threw the light, uncomfortably, on Hizbullah to avoid it falling elsewhere.
Beyond the tribunal, there are other dynamics at play specifically related to the Syria-Hizbullah relationship. In its effort to reassert its hegemony in Lebanon, Damascus has not only sought to wear down its one-time adversaries in March 14; it also seems to be looking for ways to tighten its control over its more autonomous allies, above all Hizbullah.
It’s not difficult to grasp why. In the five years after Syrian soldiers left Lebanon in April 2005, the party became the pre-eminent defender of Syria’s interests in Lebanon. With no soldiers on the ground the regime of President Bashar Assad had to watch as Iran’s sway over events in Beirut increased, because although Hizbullah remained close to Syria, there was never any question that it was, above all, an Iranian venture.
For Assad, this was unwelcome. From the moment his men left Lebanon, his ambition was to recover the country as a Syrian card in regional politics. But if it was Iran that was primarily calling the shots, because Syria remained so dependent on the pro-Iranian Hizbullah to defend its Lebanese stakes, all that really meant was that Assad was a secondary player in Lebanon. That is, until the Saudis came to the rescue.
In February 2009, King Abdullah “reconciled” with Assad at an Arab economic summit in Kuwait. After having spent more than three years trying to isolate Syria regionally, only to see Saudi Arabia itself become more isolated, the kingdom’s leadership concluded that it was time to change tack. With Iran gaining power and developing a nuclear capability, and Iraq perceived as being under the control of a Shiite regime, the Saudis decided that Lebanon was a distraction worth dispensing with.
What appears to have emerged from that rapprochement is a quid pro quo with Syria, explicit or more likely implicit: the Syrians would be granted considerable leeway in Lebanon, in the process containing Hizbullah, while Syria and Saudi Arabia could find common ground in looking the other way on Iraq’s destabilization, each for its own reasons. A byproduct of the understanding was that Saad Hariri, if he became prime minister, would visit Damascus in the context of a lowering of hostility between Lebanon and Syria. This could be placed under the rubric of “Arab solidarity.”
While Syria has done almost nothing to curb Hizbullah, the Saudi calculation may have been more subtle. In handing Assad great latitude to impose Syrian priorities on the party, Riyadh probably took the minimalist view that it was better to have an Arab state in charge in Lebanon than Iran. That hard-nosed assessment preserved little of the sporadic sovereignty that Lebanon enjoyed after 2005, but the Saudis were too preoccupied with the future of their own regime to pay much heed to this.
That is where the Hariri tribunal comes in. Although the Syrians want to ensure that the investigation does not harm them or Hizbullah, the situation offers political opportunities. A Hizbullah feeling the heat, even if this is unjustified, is also one more vulnerable to Syrian power plays in Lebanon. Assad and party officials have denounced prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s investigation as politicized; they have raised the pressure on him by warning that indictments might carry Lebanon into a new civil conflict; and they will both use the ensuing fears to politically emasculate Hariri, who will find it difficult to approve measures that might threaten civil peace.
But within this complex game is another one, whereby the mere prospect of an accusation against Hizbullah makes the party doubly exposed: toward its traditional enemies such as the United States and Israel; but also toward Syria, which could make Hizbullah more beholden to it by using its weight in Beirut to ensure that the Lebanese government defends the party’s innocence. Syria’s developing rapport with Hizbullah would bring home that Hizbullah now needs Syria to protect its margin of maneuver in Lebanon rather than the other way around following the Syrian departure.
This does not mean that Syria and Hizbullah are on a collision course. Both share multiple aims. Wahhab’s recent criticism of Michel Sleiman was perhaps, in part, a sign of Syrian displeasure with the president’s endorsement of municipal elections, which Hizbullah wanted to postpone. Both Syria and the party are collaborating to control the Palestinian camps by marginalizing officials recently appointed by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. For Assad to depict Hizbullah as a problem that only Syria can resolve, he must give the party room to be a problem.
That is why we should understand statements by Hizbullah officials as addressed both at the party’s foes and, somewhere, at Syria. Hizbullah does not relish becoming a Syrian bargaining chip once again, even if it has no choice but to cooperate with Damascus. But the grip is tightening on all.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR.