LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 09/10

Bible Of the Day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5/20-26. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, 'Raqa,' will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.  Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Canada Condemns Attack on Coptic Christians/January 08/09
Politicians, your play time is over/The Daily Star/January 08/09
All Qaeda has the initiative in attacking US national security/By Walid Phares/Counterterrorism Blog/January 08/09
Special Tribunal's chief investigator to step down/Daily Star/January 08/09
A personal exodus/By Shuki Sadeh/Ha'aretz/January 08/09

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 08/09
Israel Accuses Hizbullah of Planting Explosives in Khiam as Barak Confirms Readiness for War by May 2010/Naharnet
New Israeli Defense System Destroys Short-Range Missiles from Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iran/Naharnet
Additional U.S. Screenings of Passengers from Lebanon/Naharnet
Lebanon: Buried Explosives Not Set to Explode/Naharnet
Army Arrests Suspected Fatah al-Islam Terrorist/Naharnet
MP Fouad al-Saad says Aoun excluded him from Aoun-Jumblatt meeting/Now Lebanon
Egypt bans British MP Galloway from entering country/Now Lebanon
Jumblat: No Information about Israeli War on Lebanon/Naharnet
Joint UNIFIL-Army Exercises in South/Naharnet
Kairouz: Berri Has No Legal Right to Send Letter on Confessionalism to Foreign Missions/Naharnet
Cassesse in Beirut in February, Charge Sheet Does Not Include Hizbullah/Naharnet
Fadlallah Accuses External Powers of Preventing Lebanon from Becoming a State/Naharnet
Arab Salim Residents Complain of Explosives among Population/Naharnet
France's 'Risk List' Likely to Include Lebanon/Naharnet
Story Behind Capture of Paul Merhige in Florida/Naharnet
Israeli Concerns Over Increased Iranian, Hizbullah Influence on West Bank 'Terrorist Elements/Naharnet
Probe into Haret Hreik Blast Confirms Booby-trap Parcel Hypothesis/Naharnet
Report: Underground Tunnels Connect Lebanon, Gaza, Iran/Naharnet
Report: Ghajar Pullout Negotiations in their Early Stages/Naharnet
Merkel's Advisor Reportedly Relayed Info About Palestinian Camps/Naharnet
Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center/Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center
UN found Hezbollah arms pits in Lebanon: Israel/Reuters
Hariz death postpones Aoun, Jumblatt talks /Daily Star
Hariri promises prompt administrative appointments /Daily Star
Lebanon, Jordan agree to boost bilateral ties /Daily Star
Kahwaji: Army's sacrifices merit weapons aid /Daily Star
UNIFIL, Israel FM met to discuss Ghajar withdrawal /Daily Star
Hamas will 'cooperate' with Beirut blast investigation /Daily Star
Lebanon has 33rd lowest retail gasoline prices: report /Daily Star
Firefighting motorcycle tasked with preserving Sidon's past /Daily Star
Lebanon 'most improved democracy' in Middle East /Daily Star
Sison discusses new US water projects with Bassi /Daily Star
Family of man killed in Ukraine calls for probe /Daily Star
Fadlallah's office denies rumors of cleric's death /Daily Star
Reforms promised in Taif hit standstill: report /Daily Star
Death row inmates plead for second chance /Daily Star 
Mortars fired from Gaza after Israel tests defense /Daily Star
Israel says tests on Iron Dome missile shield have been a success/Times Online
UNIFIL calls Israel to end violation of Lebanese air space/Xinhua
 

Canada Condemns Attack on Coptic Christians
(No. 4 – January 7, 2010 – 6 p.m. EST) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, issued the following statement condemning the attack earlier today on Coptic Christians leaving a midnight Mass celebrating Christmas in Nag Hammadi, Egypt: “Canada condemns the attack on Coptic Christians in Nag Hammadi. We extend our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those killed and wish a speedy recovery to the injured. That the victims were innocent civilians congregating for a religious celebration makes this attack especially tragic. “We encourage the Government of Egypt to continue its efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice and restore calm and order to the area. We call on the broader Egyptian community to work together to end sectarian violence.”

8 Coptic Christians in Egypt Shot Dead As They Left Christmas Mass
GMT 1-7-2010 21:10:48
Assyrian International News Agency
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Egypt (AINA) -- An assassination attempt on the life of Bishop Kirollos in southern Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi was foiled tonight. Eight Copts were killed and 15 wounded as they came out of Church after celebrating the Coptic Christmas Eve midnight mass on Wednesday 6th January at 11.15 PM.
"I was the one intended to be assassinated by this plot, and when it failed the criminals turned round and started shooting and finishing off the young ones." Bishop Kirollos of the Nag Hammagi Diocese told Middle East Christian Association (MECA) today in an aired interview.
Eyewitnesses saw a dark-green "Fiat" 131 without registration, one Peugeot 504 car and a half-truck. The cars were driven by masked men shooting randomly at the congregation as they came out of Church. The cars then went into three nearby areas (15th March Street, 15 May Street and Railway Station Street) shooting Copts.
One eye-witness told MECA that those killed were mostly young men in their early 20s. He said that most people were killed or wounded near the church, but that the cars went around shooting in other areas, resulting in two more death, besides the wounded. It was reported that among the dead was a young man and his fianc?and a 14-years-old boy .
Another witness criticized the absence of security. "Security came as everything was over, instead of trying to catch the criminals, they were interrogating us about the description of the cars." This video shows the shootings.
An eye-witness told Coptic News Bulletin from Nag Hammadi Hospital that the situation is dire, and there is a critical shortage of blood for transfusions. "The Muslims promised us a wonderful Christmas, and I think the message is received now," he said.
The Bishop accused security services of negligence in dealing with the events which led to the massacre, and added: "Not one single security man intervened to prevent casualties." He criticized the absence of adequate State Security forces guarding the church, which is customary on such events and in view of the unrest which took place in the area in November 2009.
According to Wagih Yacoub of MECA Bishop Kirollos had recently received a death threat.
Bishop Kirollos told Freecopts that the assassination attempt was meant to dispose of him in view of his standing position on the rights of the victims of the attacks on Christians in November 2009, in the areas of Farshout, Abu Shusha, Aerky and Alshokeify, part of the parish of Nag Hammadi. The State Security was heavily criticized at the time for the shameful role it played when Muslims assaulted Copts, in addition to looting and burning their businesses. One hundred and sixty three Copts were forcibly deported from their village by State Security following the events. These events were sparked by a rumor that a Copt had indecently assaulted a minor Muslim girl. Many Copts believe that the rape incident was fabricated by the Muslims to use it as a pretext to start violence against them. The accused Copt has not yet been charged by the Police. (AINA 11-22-2009, 11-23-2009).
A state of curfew was imposed tonight on the city of Nag Hammadi, and those inhabitants who were outside could not get back into their homes in the city.
Most witnesses interviewed believe that there was collusion between those carrying out today's shooting and the State Security, as for the first time, none of them attended the Christmas Eve midnight mass, which is customary in those events. "They must have known in advance of the shootings and avoided the embarrassment of participating in the festivities inside church," said one witness.
All Christmas festivities have been cancelled said the Bishop. "Copts are terrified and will be staying indoors."
A similar incident occurred in April 2009 when Muslims opened fire on worshipers as they left the prayer service on Easter Eve in the village of Higaza, Qena Governorate, resulting in the death of Amir Stephanos (36 years) Ayub Said (22) and the injury of Mina Samir (35) Higaza village turned into a military barracks since April last.
By Mary Abdelmassih
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Egyptian Christians riot after Christmas killing
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Friday, January 08, 2010
Mona Salem
Agence France Presse
CAIRO: Clashes erupted on Thursday as thousands of Coptic Christians in a southern Egyptian village buried six of their number gunned down on Coptic Christmas Eve by men believed to be Muslims, security officials said. Officials and the local bishop said three men in a car had raked pedestrians with gunfire late on Wednesday along a street containing two churches and a shopping precinct. Bishop Kirilos said the victims were people who had just emerged from church after attending a Christmas Eve service, and the proximity of the shopping area might have drawn some of them to it. Six Copts and a Muslim policeman were killed, while at least nine more Copts were wounded, two of them seriously, a security official said.
The wounded were evacuated to hospital in the nearby governorate of Sohag.
An estimated 5,000 Copts attended Thursday’s funeral in Nagaa Hammadi, 65 kilometers from the popular tourist city of Luxor.
Police said a group of protesters stoned cars as the dead were buried, and police responded with tear gas. The demonstrators chanted: “With our spirit and blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for the Cross.” Copts earlier stoned police cars and the hospital where the bodies of the six dead were held before the service, chanting: “No to repression.”
Security sources said sporadic trouble continued after the funerals. An initial investigation into Wednesday’s shooting reported that the gunmen opened fire as they sped along the street, killing and wounding people over a distance of 400 meters. As the car headed out of town the gunmen fired at a convent which also housed the bishop’s offices before fleeing to a rural area near the town in Qena province, 700 kilometers south of Cairo. Copts celebrate Christmas on January 7 along with many other Orthodox communities around the world.
Bishop Kirilos told AFP on Thursday that he saw gunmen spraying worshippers with automatic gunfire outside the archbishopric after the mass ended the previous night.
“We concluded the mass at 11 pm and I was heading to the bishopric when I saw a man, in a car, open fire with an automatic rifle at Copts who were walking past the building,” Kirilos said. “The gunman then continued to fire on Copts in the streets of the town,” he said. “People are angry and very worried.”
The bishop said the “author of this crime has a police record and should have been arrested” for past crimes, but is under the protection of prominent figures close to the ruling National Democratic Party.
Witnesses, cited by local officials, earlier said the main gunman was a Muslim wanted by police and linked the shooting to the abduction of a 12-year-old Muslim girl in November who was allegedly raped by a Coptic youth. “The first elements of the investigation, based on testimony of people on the ground, indicate that the main shooter is a town resident identified as Mohammed Ahmed Hussein, who is wanted by the police,” one official said. Kirilos also told AFP that for the past week some of his parishioners had received cell phone hate calls and threats alleging that Muslims “will avenge the rape of the girl during the Christmas celebrations.” Copts, who represent under 10 percent of Egypt’s 80-million-strong population, are the largest Christian community in the Middle East, but they frequently complain of discrimination, harassment and sectarian attacks. In November, hundreds of Muslim protesters torched Christian-owned shops in the town of Farshut, near Nagaa Hammadi, and attacked a police station where they believed the suspected rapist was being held. It was latest in a wave of sectarian tension between Muslims and Egypt’s Copts. On Wednesday, the head of the Coptic minority, Pope Shenuda III, led a Christmas midnight mass at the Abbassiya church in Cairo which was attended by thousands of worshippers, including President Hosni Mubarak’s son and heir apparent Gamal.

Suleiman Concerned About Additional U.S. Screenings of Passengers from Lebanon
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman expressed concern to a delegation from the U.S. Congress about additional screenings at U.S. airports of passengers from several countries, including Lebanon. Following talks with Democrat Alcee Hastings, co-chairman of the congressional Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and his accompanying delegation, Suleiman said that he asked Lebanon's ambassador to Washington to follow up the issue with the Obama administration.  The president also stressed the importance of Israel's implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 and its withdrawal from all occupied Lebanese territories. Hastings also met with Foreign Minister Ali Shami as part of a regional tour.
"The biggest issue for me as a leader is dealing with the subject of Iraq refugees," the U.S. official told reporters. "Although that is not a critical issue of major consequence for Lebanon, it is for Syria and Jordan." Millions of Iraqis have fled their country since the U.S.-led invasion almost seven years ago, most of them seeking refuge in nearby Syria and Jordan.
Between 14,000 and 21,000 Iraqi refugees now live in Lebanon, according to a Danish Refugee Council survey commissioned by the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.
U.S. Republican Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain was due in Lebanon later on Friday. Friday's visit was Hastings' third to Lebanon.
The congressman made brief stops in Turkey and Syria before his arrival in Beirut. He is also due to visit Egypt.(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 08 Jan 10, 14:49

New Israeli Defense System Destroys Short-Range Missiles from Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iran
Naharnet/Israel's soon-to-be-deployed anti-missile system, capable of intercepting barrages of rockets, may shoot down one of the biggest strategic threats facing the country in recent decades. After successfully completing its final tests this week, the Iron Dome system, providing an answer to short-range rockets and artillery shells, is planned to be integrated into the army within six months, officials said. The unique cutting-edge technology will be deployed along the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, where militants have fired thousands of projectiles against southern Israel over the past decade. In a second stage, it will be deployed along the border with Lebanon where Hizbullah is said to have an arsenal of more than 40,000 rockets. The Iron Dome will join the Arrow long-range ballistic missile defense system in an ambitious multi-layered program to protect Israeli cities from rockets and missiles fired from Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, Syria and Iran. A third system specifically aimed at countering medium-range missiles is planned to be developed in the coming years, the ministry said.
Today, five million civilians live within the range of rockets from Lebanon and Gaza, where militants are believed to have rockets capable of reaching the Tel Aviv metropolis, Israeli officials said. According to officials, the Iron Dome marks a major strategic breakthrough for Israel, which has struggled in the face of rockets fired from Lebanon since the early 1980s.
"Making Iron Dome operational will transform Israel's diplomatic and security situation on the northern and southern fronts," said Pinhas Buchris, the defence ministry's director general.
The interception system will also protect strategic facilities such as military bases, ports and electricity plants, which have been targeted in attacks from Gaza and Lebanon.
"The missiles and rockets have been a strategic threat because they led to major Israeli policy shifts by launching offensives in Lebanon and Gaza," ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror told AFP. The elimination of this threat would prevent a repeat of the international criticism Israel has had to face following last year's offensive in the Gaza Strip, said Ephraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies. "The system neutralizes one of the foundations of the enemy's strategy which says that due to the Israeli army's total superiority, the only way to target Israel is by hitting its population centers," he said. The Iron Dome will not only mark a strategic shift in war, but also in peace.
Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have for years expressed fear that a Palestinian state in the West Bank would place Israel's only international airport within range of rockets. "With the new system, Israel can eliminate one of the biggest potential threats on the Ben Gurion airport in a future peace deal with the Palestinians," Dror said. But Israeli officials do not believe the new system would put an end to the rocket attacks. "There is no 100 percent protection. Militants will continue firing rockets and try to launch small attacks against Israel," Dror said.(AFP) Beirut, 08 Jan 10, 07:32

Report: Underground Tunnels Connect Lebanon, Gaza, Iran
Naharnet/The Iranian-Hizbullah-Hamas alliance is connected via a underground tunnels - which, in Iran, hide Tehran's nuclear facilities where enriched uranium can be used to produce a nuclear weapon, said a report published by Israel National News (INN) on its website. Iran recently admitted that it has been building a previously unknown reactor in the area of Qum, a confession that was made only after foreign intelligence experts reported on the new facility, INN said. It cited The New York Times as saying that the discovery that the plant is located inside a mountain duplicates Iran's use of a network of tunnels to hide other parts of its growing nuclear infrastructure. INN said Iran's use of a "complex web of tunnels" goes back more than a decade and may be the source for the construction of a similar network by Hizbullah in southern Lebanon and by Hamas under the border between Egypt and Gaza. Underground bunkers and tunnels, according to the report, gave Hizbullah a decisive edge over the IDF in the July 2006 war, when soldiers were surprised to discover that bushes in southern Lebanon began to move. Beirut, 08 Jan 10, 08:04

Kairouz: Berri Has No Legal Right to Send Letter on Confessionalism to Foreign Missions
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces MP Elie Kairouz criticized Speaker Nabih Berri's letter to foreign missions in which he explained the reasons behind his call for the formation of a committee to study the abolishment of confessionalism from politics.Kairouz sent a letter to Berri on Friday, saying he had constitutional and legal remarks on Berri's message last month. According to article 95 of the constitution, "it is the duty of parliament as a legislative authority and not the constitutional duty of its speaker to call for the formation of a national committee on the abolishment of confessionalism from politics," the MP said. Berri is entitled to sending the circular to foreign embassies in Beirut only after the adoption by parliament of a bill calling for the formation of the committee, according to Kairouz. The lawmaker also described Berri's invitation as a "flawed step on the constitutional and legal level." Beirut, 08 Jan 10, 13:20

Al-Qaeda says CIA attack 'revenge' for drone killings
Jordanian spy ‘responded’ to US strikes that killed top militants
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Friday, January 08, 2010
KABUL: Al-Qaeda hailed the suicide bombing that killed seven CIA agents in Afghanistan as “revenge” for the deaths of top militants in US drone strikes in Pakistan, Islamist websites said on Thursday. A Jordanian doctor said to have been a triple agent blew himself up at a US military base in Khost near the Pakistani border on December 30, the deadliest attack against the CIA since 1983. The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility a day later. A Pakistani Taliban commander subsequently claimed his faction carried out the attack to avenge the drone attacks that killed its founder, Baitullah Mehsud, last August. The head of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, said the bomber wrote in his will that the attack was revenge for “our righteous martyrs” and named several top militants killed in drone attacks in Pakistan. Yazid described bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi’s mission as an “epic breakthrough” in penetrating both American and Jordanian intelligence, said several Islamist websites. The slain militant masterminds named in the message included Mehsud, who was blamed for a wave of deadly attacks, notably the December 2007 killing of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Also named was Abu Saleh al-Somali, described as part of Al-Qaeda’s core leadership and responsible for plotting attacks in Europe and the United States. He was killed in a drone strike near the Afghan border last month.
US media described the US base in Khost as a key “anti-terror” facility that oversaw the drone strikes targeting Al-Qaeda and Taliban on the Pakistani border and as a center for recruiting and debriefing informants. Balawi blew himself up at Forward Operating Base Chapman during a meeting with the CIA, killing seven agents and his Jordanian handler, who was a senior intelligence officer and member of the royal family. Jihadist websites have said Balawi was a triple agent who duped Western intelligence services for months before turning on his handlers.
The Jordanian intelligence services, believing the bomber to be their double agent, reportedly took him to eastern Afghanistan with the mission of finding Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Al-Qaeda statement surfaced after another round of US strikes killed 13 militants, including four foreigners, in Waziristan on Wednesday.
Washington has made Pakistan a front line in the war on Al-Qaeda and the eight-year conflict against the Taliban in Afghanistan, pinning success on dismantling militant sanctuaries along the porous border.
US Senator John McCain, visiting Afghanistan on Thursday, praised the drone attacks for knocking “Al-Qaeda and other extremist groups off balance.”
“I think it should continue. I think it’s an important tool in our overall strategy and we can claim measurable success in carrying out those operations,” he told reporters.
Strikes by unmanned US spy planes have soared since President Barack Obama took office. They have killed more than 650 people since August 2008, inflamed anti-Americanism and prompted extremists to vow revenge. “Drone attacks are radicalizing other people who may not have supported the Taliban,” Rahimullah Yusufzai, a tribal affairs expert, told AFP.
“Maybe local militants [targeted by drones] are not a big threat to America but in the future they could become a threat as they could see America as their big enemy,” he added.
Although the Pakistani government, which depends on American assistance, officially opposes the operations, public criticism has lessened considerably since Mehsud was killed and analysts say they have Islamabad’s tacit approval. It was the deadliest incident for the CIA since 1983, when eight agency employees were killed by Islamist militants who bombed the US Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 Americans and 58 French. The United States is increasingly reliant on the CIA and other covert forces to pursue its strategic goals. – AFP
Pakistan’s displacement crisis to worsen
NEW DELHI: Tens of thousands more Pakistanis are likely to be forced from their homes in 2010 as the military continues an assault against the Taliban, the head of the United Nations office responsible for emergencies said on Thursday. About 2.3 million people, mainly in the northwest of the country, were displaced by fighting at the peak of the crisis last year, creating one of the largest displacements in recent times. While most have returned home, many languish in camps and with host families. Hundreds of thousands have also had to flee as the Pakistani military moves against other Taliban strongholds along the Afghan border to weed out insurgents.
“We expect some returns, but there will also be people who will remain displaced as they have nowhere to go back to, as their homes have been destroyed,” said Manuel Bessler, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “We also expect fresh displacements in other areas as hostilities continue and it will be a challenge for us to keep funding for this on-going displacement in the pipeline,” he told Reuters by telephone from Islamabad. The UN, together with international and national aid agencies, are helping about 1.2 million displaced people in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas. – Reuters

Hariz death postpones Aoun, Jumblatt talks
Daily Star staff
Friday, January 08, 2010
BEIRUT: The long-awaited meeting between Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader MP Walid Jumblatt and Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Michel Aoun scheduled for Thursday has been postponed until Monday following the death of the head of the Druze Court of Appeals Nuhad Hariz. Jumblatt and Aoun are supposed to discuss a draft memorandum focusing of the issue of residents displaced from the Chouf region. Aoun and Jumblatt will meet at the former’s residence in Rabieh. After almost four years of feud, the two leaders held a reconciliation meeting in November 2009 under the auspices of President Michel Sleiman at the Baabda Palace. Well-informed sources told The Daily Star Tuesday, that the FPM-PSP memo would mainly focus on the issue of the displaced and will stress the necessity to create a plan for the development of Mount Lebanon, and attracting investments there. – The Daily Star

Kahwaji: Army's sacrifices merit weapons aid
Daily Star staff/Friday, January 08, 2010
BEIRUT: Lebanese Armed Forces Commander General Jean Kahwaji said on Thursday that Lebanon’s army has made “huge sacrifices to defend the country and the entire world against terrorism” and therefore, “is entitled to have access to its needs for advanced weapons.” He told visitors that the army was undergoing development and improvement of its capabilities, adding that the military was looking for equipment and weapons from “friendly and brotherly armies.” The Lebanese Army will defend the country against any Israeli attack, and will use “all its available resources to confront terrorism and those who breach security, regardless of their affiliation,” he added. Kahwaji said Lebanon’s power lies in its national army and in the Resistance – whose purpose, he said, was always “legitimate self-defense.” The commander also commended the role of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the effort of the military attaches, which, he said, yielded more communication and cooperation between the LAF and their national armies. He said close cooperation between the LAF and UNIFIL led to stability in south Lebanon. According to Kahwaji, preserving stability depends on Lebanon’s commitment to UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and to Israeli “intentions and behavior.” On Thursday, the LAF and UNIFIL started maneuvers along the border Blue Line, which will last for five days. – The Daily Star

Special Tribunal's chief investigator to step down
Daily Star staff
Friday, January 08, 2010
BEIRUT: Chief of Investigation of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) Naguib Kaldas submitted his resignation, the court’s media office said in a statement on Wednesday. “The Office of the Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon regrets to announce that its Chief of Investigation, Mister Naguib Kaldas, will be departing the Special Tribunal at the end of his contract on February 28, 2010 to return to his home country, Australia, where he will resume his duties as Deputy Commissioner of the New South Wales Police,” the statement said.
“It is with regret that I will leave the Tribunal and the ranks of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) and the investigation team. But when the Prosecutor hired for the position of Chief of Investigation, I had accepted the offer with the understanding that I would serve only for one year up to the end of February 2010 and then I have to go back to my post in Australia,” Kaldas said. He added: “I am exceptionally proud that I have served for about a year at the OTP with one of the highest caliber teams I had ever served with in such a challenging and complex investigation. “I thank the Prosecutor, Mr. Bellemare, for having selected me as his Chief of Investigation and for providing me with the unique opportunity of being part of such an important and ground-breaking investigation. “I am leaving with the same sense of optimism that the prosecutor has expressed about the progress we’ve made and continue to make in the investigation and I am confident that the team of professionals I am leaving behind will [finish] the job.”
According to the STL statement, Bellemare expressed regret that Kaldas would not be able to extend his contract for a further period.
“I extend my sincerest thanks and gratitude to Mister Kaldas for the significant contribution he made to the work of the OTP and for the leadership and dedication he showed during his service with us and I wish him success in his future endeavors,” Bellemare said. He added: “Kaldas will be missed but our work will go on at the pace we set for it and I soon will start the process of identifying a new Chief of the Investigation Division to replace [him].” In other STL-related news, Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar revealed Thursday that STL head Antonio Cassesse will visit Lebanon within the coming weeks. – The Daily Star

Al Qaeda has the initiative in attacking US national security
By Walid Phares/Counterterrorism
In 2001, one would-be shoe bomber forced millions of travelers to take off their shoes. In 2006, terrorists planned to bring down aircraft on transatlantic flights by smuggling liquid explosives onto planes. They were thwarted but they succeeded in preventing passengers from bringing liquids into airline terminals.
Lesson number one: In this terror war, the jihadists have the upper hand. They are the ones who choose to use a new weapon and they are also the ones who – by using simple logic -- have refrained from using the same terror weapons more than once. In fact, since September 2001, Al Qaeda’s Terrorists have avoided rushing into the cockpit of an airliner with box cutters. Does this mean we were successful in deterring the terrorists? Of course: as long as we can prevent them from using the 9/11 methods, they won't be naïve enough to repeat the same strategy. So is the US winning the fight with Al Qaeda by using these specific measures? No, we are simply protecting our population until the war is won. But winning is not measured by surviving potential copycat attacks.
Instead, this confrontation will be won by striking at the mechanism that produces the jihadists. And on that level, no significant advances have been made either under the previous administration nor under the incumbent one. For, as President Obama admitted late last month after a near-terror attack on Northwest Flight 253, there is a "systemic failure" in our defense against the jihadi terrorists.
In my analysis, it has to do with the refusal by decision makers -- based on the opinion of their own experts -- to attack the factory that produces terrorists and instead to wait until the jihadists show up at our country's ports of entries.
In an imaged vision, the US has been fending off the Jihadi operations inside its own trenches and often behind its own lines of defense. Preventing Al Qaeda’s zombies from killing our airline pilots and flight attendants by securing cabin doors with steel and installing machines to detect liquid, creams and potential explosives is like fighting an invading army inside our own trenches and neighborhoods with bayonets. If anything, it means that our strategists have no way to remotely detect this threat and they can't even decide what is and isn't a threat until it actually strikes us or is a few inches from us. It is a pretty ironic situation when the grand narrative of US official strategies is that we are fighting terrorists or extremists (pick your word, it has the same conclusion) in Waziristan, Afghanistan, and beyond, so that our defense perimeters are thousands of miles away.
So are we wrong to institute any of the security measures? No, we need to take all possible measures to secure the population, but we also need to take them in the framework of a grand strategy to defeat the threat. And in this regard we do not have one. The jihadists are monitoring our actions, our measures and I do assume also are comfortably spying on us and looking into the deepest of our security mechanisms. After the Nada Prouty and Nidal Hasan penetration cases no one can convince me that neither Hezbollah nor Al Qaeda haven’t deployed more agents throughout our national security apparatus. The enemy knows our defense strategy, and some would argue that they are already inside our walls. As we are learning -- constantly and dramatically -- the so-called “isolated extremists” are not that isolated and those believed to be "lone wolves" are in fact part of a much greater, well-camouflaged packs. The jihadists are way ahead of our security measures -- even though we need to apply them nevertheless.
In the wake of the Abdulmutalib terror act the Obama administration announced that any traveler flying into the United States from foreign countries will receive tightened random screening, and all passengers from "terrorism-prone countries" will be patted down and have their carry-on baggage searched before boarding U.S.-bound flights. The list includes Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as well as those traveling from Nigeria, Pakistan and Yemen. But here is the problem: In the jihadi war room, this was duly noted. Thus, the next human missiles will be selected from the “other” countries, and there are many countries where combat Salafis are indoctrinated and readied: Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Indonesia to name a few, by the way all U.S. allies. Even better, the jihadi strategists could task recruits with German, British, French as well as Australian and Canadian passports to wreck havoc in our cities. The past year has shown us that the jihadis can also emerge from North Carolina, Illinois, New York and other states all across the land. Most likely the “emirs” of Al Qaeda will recommend dumping the use of powder to blow up planes, and soon another Zawahiri tape will rail at us for spending millions on a path they won't use for a while.
As we move to implement our mammoth security measures, the swift men of jihadism are already mapping out the endlessly open areas of our underbellies. In strategic terms we’re not even going anywhere near that direction, it is a dead end. The Al Qaeda jihadists will keep coming, each time from a different direction, background, with a new tactic. And they will surprise us. Unfortunately, that is the price of a national security policy that identifies terrorism as a “manmade disaster” and jihadism as form of yoga.
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Dr Walid Phares is the Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and the author of The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad

Politicians, your play time is over
By The Daily Star
Friday, January 08, 2010
Editorial
As expected, the Cabinet’s session on Tuesday failed to make any progress on filling some 80 administrative and security posts. Taking the history of this fractious nation into account, such an event is little cause for surprise – the process of making appointments to state institutions has almost always resembled nothing more than a sandbox full of preschool-age boys engaged in a constant tug-of-war over the best toys.
We, however, are no longer like the parents looking on with amusement at such a silly and inconsequential game. Lebanon is no longer a pastoral nation; this country is now dominated by the sprawling metropolis of Beirut, a mass of uninterrupted concrete stretching from the sea up into the mountains – and perhaps containing some 2 million residents – in need of competent, forward-looking public administration. Not only do the state and its offices have an increasing impact on the livelihoods of individual citizens, but a broad, institutional response is desperately needed for nationwide issues such as healthcare, which have in recent decades swelled to a massive scale and come to demand massive costs. In addition, recent reports have detailed the potentially devastating damage awaiting Lebanon as a result of climate change, and this country requires institutions and officials capable of confronting these scenarios.
The issue of appointments is not a question of grand political schemes and geopolitical balances of power – this is about the daunting complexity of everyday life and the need for at least some semblance of the apparatus of a state that can administer the myriad spheres of public life. We need a state that can facilitate life, not complicate it.
In spite of this reality, the Cabinet cannot seem to find a mechanism to dole out these functions. What we appear to be witnessing is yet more of the sandbox; this rumpus is not limited to traditional sectarian frictions, but also is dragged down by the added weight of the March 14-March 8 political rift. However, despite the untouchable Muslim-Christian parity of the appointment process, we do not see any valid reason to subject posts in the state administration, which depend solely on qualification and competence, to the same grubby machinations that have strangled the debate on this nation’s crucial political questions.
The political overseers of Lebanon should recognize that the needs of its citizens for a properly functioning state are serious and getting only more so. We need the political leaders to address these appointments with the interests of the public in mind, before they return to their favored and fruitless political pastime. Lebanon’s politicians should not accept giving this nation the kind of nepotism and indulgences in crucial state institutions that these same bosses would not so easily tolerate in their private enterprises so often vital to their political affluence.

Mortars fired from Gaza after Israel tests defense
Attack comes day after trial of new high-tech shield
Friday, January 08, 2010
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: Gaza militants fired at least 10 mortar shells at Israel on Thursday, a day after Israel announced it successfully tested a high-tech shield against future mortar and rocket attacks from the Hamas-ruled territory. Once installed later this year, the Iron Dome system could deprive Hamas of an important means of threatening Israel.
Hamas have fired thousands of rockets and mortars at Israeli border communities over the years, causing relatively few casualties but sowing fear among hundreds of thousands of civilians in their range. After successfully completing its final tests this week, the Iron Dome system, providing an answer to short-range rockets and artillery shells, is planned to be integrated into the army within six months, officials said. The unique cutting-edge technology will be deployed along the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. In a second stage, it will be deployed along the northern border with Lebanon where the resistance group Hizbullah is said to have an arsenal of more than 40,000 rockets. Israel’s announcement of the new rocket defense came as Egypt stepped up efforts to cut off hundreds of smuggling tunnels by building an underground steel wall along its border with Gaza. Israelis believe the wall and the missile shield could limit Hamas’ options in the future and pressure the militants to moderate, something it has refrained to do thus far. Hamas is engaged in indirect negotiations with Israel on a prisoner swap and with its Western-backed Palestinian rivals on a power-sharing deal. Hamas overran Gaza in 2007, seizing the territory from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Ahmad Yousef, a Hamas official, shrugged off the latest developments on Thursday.
“Hamas is not a state. It is a political resistance movement, and therefore it can adjust to any new circumstance,” he said, without elaborating. On Thursday, Hamas-allied militants fired at least 10 mortar shells toward Israel, causing no injuries or damage. The militants said the mortar fire came in response to an Israeli air strike that killed a Gaza gunman and wounded several others earlier this week. Three of Thursday’s mortars fell inside the Kerem Shalom crossing, the main conduit for goods to reach Gaza. Israel shut down the crossing in response
to the mortar fire. Israel and Egypt have kept Gaza’s borders virtually closed since June 2006, when Gaza militants captured an Israeli soldier. Only limited supplies of medicine and basic food items are permitted by Israel to enter the impoverished territory. The Israel-Gaza border has been relatively quiet since the end of Israel’s three-week offensive against Gaza a year ago. Sporadic mortar and rocket attacks have taken place and have generally provoked Israeli military strikes.
Israeli military experts said the Iron Dome system would bring profound change to the volatile Gaza-Israel border.
“Until now, we were totally exposed to anyone in Gaza who had a rocket to shoot at Israel,” said Uzi Rubin, a former senior Israeli Defense Ministry official. “The ability to cause losses and casualties in Israel will be greatly diminished.” Israeli media said the first anti-rocket battery is to be deployed in May near the Israeli border town of Sderot, the most frequent target of Gaza’s rockets. The Iron Dome will join the Arrow long-range ballistic missile defense system in an ambitious multi-layered program to protect Israeli cities from rockets and missiles fired from Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, Syria and Iran. – Agencies, with The Daily Star

Lebanon, Jordan agree to boost bilateral ties
By Elias Sakr /Daily Star staff
Friday, January 08, 2010
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri highlighted Wednesday enhanced upcoming cooperation between Lebanon and Jordan on both economic and military levels during talks with King Abdullah II in Amman. During an official visit to Jordan, Hariri discussed with Abdullah and his premier the promotion of Jordanian-Lebanese bilateral ties and inter-Arab relations, as well as potential progress on the Middle East peace process front. “I discussed with the Jordanian premier economic matters and we agreed that the Lebanese-Jordanian higher joint committee would convene next March to discuss issues of interest to both countries to ratify new agreements,” Hariri told reporters prior to his departure to Beirut at Queen Alyaa airport.
For his part, King Abdullah stressed Jordan’s continuous support for Lebanon security, stability and sovereignty. “We trust in the ability of the Lebanese government headed by Saad Hariri to boost national consensus and unity among the Lebanese people so as to ensure a better future of achievements,” Abdullah said, according to the Jordanian News Agency.
Hariri, who praised Jordan’s support and cooperation with Lebanon, added that he would resume discussions on military aid, whether on the level of training or equipment, with Premier Samir Rifai next March. “Cooperation between Jordan and Lebanon dates back to 2005 since the establishment of the joint committee between both countries leading to a major increase in imports and exports both ways and the abolishment of visas,” Hariri said. “We support any economic body [embracing Arab states] if it is to the benefit Arabs; thus we hope to promote shared Arab economic action to further extents,” Hariri added.
Tackling the Middle East peace process, Hariri highlighted the active role of Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in seeking to push forward the process through several incentives based on the Arab Peace Initiative. The Saudi-penned Arab Peace Initiative was unanimously endorsed by all Arab League states during the summit in Beirut in 2002 and re-endorsed at later summits. It calls for the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and offers Israel normal relations in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from all Arab territories occupied in the 1967 war and a “just solution” to the issue of Palestinian refugees. Hariri accused the Israelis of stalling the peace negotiations while he urged the Palestinians to unite and put an end to domestic disputes similarly to the Lebanese.
“Everyone knows that Lebanon faced difficulties and schism during the past period but we managed to surpass it to the benefit of the Lebanese best interests and we hope the Palestinians accomplish a national reconciliation since division only benefits Israel,” Hariri said.
The Lebanese premier also slammed the ongoing building of Israeli settlements and called for a full withdrawal of all occupied Arab territories.
As for inter-Arab ties, Hariri voiced support for cooperation and unity among Arab states, while praising particularly Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz’s latest initiative in Kuwait.
Hariri added that his latest visit to Damascus came under the umbrella of Saudi King Abdallah bin Abdel Aziz as part of a series of inter-Arab reconciliations launched by the monarch.
“The visit was very important and led to the foundation of an understanding between Lebanon and Syria … benefiting the stability in Lebanon, Syria and the region,” Hariri added.

Lebanon has 33rd lowest retail gasoline prices: report
Daily Star staff
Friday, January 08, 2010
BEIRUT: The GTZ fuel price survey of 174 countries ranked Lebanon as having the 33rd lowest retail gasoline prices worldwide and 14th lowest among 19 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. It also ranked Lebanon as having the 38th lowest retail diesel prices globally and 14th lowest in the MENA region, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group. The survey aims to highlight energy policies in developing countries as well as to help governments assess the relevance of their pricing policy and implement related reforms. GTZ is a Germany-based organization that works on sustainable development and socio-economic reforms worldwide.
The survey classified countries in four categories ranging from countries with “very high fuel subsidies,” countries with “fuel subsidies,” those with “fuel taxation,” to countries with “very high fuel taxation.” Lebanon came in the category of “fuel taxation” in terms of gasoline retail prices, along with Jordan, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia in the region. Globally, it tied with Canada and North Korea, ranked ahead of Liberia and Argentina, and came behind Mexico. Regionally, it ranked ahead of Syria, Tunisia, Morocco, the West Bank and Gaza and Israel.
Lebanon came in the category of “fuel subsidies” in terms of diesel retail prices, along with Oman, Sudan, Syria, Jordan and the UAE in the region. It tied globally with Lao PDR, ranked ahead of Pakistan and Vietnam, and came behind Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka. Venezuela has the lowest retail gasoline and diesel prices globally, while Eritrea has the most expensive gasoline prices and Israel the most costly diesel prices in the world. Lebanon imports all of its fuel needs. The Lebanese government capped the retail price of gasoline at the May 2004 level due to increasing oil prices. In January 2009, after oil prices dropped, the Lebanese government adopted a new policy measure that restored the gasoline excise tax. The government took the decision to fix the excise rate at the level prevailing in January 2009 and to allow domestic prices to move with international oil prices. – The Daily Star

A personal exodus
By Shuki Sadeh/Haaretz
08/01/10
Egyptian-born Rev. Majed El Shafie is only 32 years old but what he has been through is enough for a long lifetime: conversion from Islam to Christianity, torture in a jail in Cairo, an escape from Egypt to Israel, incarceration in an Israeli prison and then life as a Christian rights activist based in Canada.
The clergyman who heads One Free World International, a Christian human rights organization, visited Israel with Canadian members of parliament, in order to help increase awareness of the human-rights related difficulties Christians face in this region.
"The media and the public discourse hardly mention it, but in the Middle East, like in many countries in Africa and Asia, Christians are a persecuted and discriminated-against minority," he says.
El Shafie was raised in a family that belonged to Cairo's elite. His father, as well as several uncles, were lawyers. While he himself was studying law at Alexandria University, he was introduced to Coptic Christianity by a student friend. He learned about the history of Christianity in Egypt, from its earliest days in the 1st century C.E., according to tradition, through the Muslim conquest in the seventh century, when most of the country's residents accepted Islam. Today, most of the Christians who remain in Egypt belong to the Coptic community, which is thought to number up to some 10 million members.
According to El Shafie, many Christian activists are languishing in Egyptian jails. However, he says, "No one around you, whether in the education system or the media, would say there is a problem. When I saw the persecutions, I was shocked. I saw, for example, efforts to force Christian girls to accept Islam. My decision to convert was a natural response to what I had seen."
But it was also a decision that severed El Shafie's ties to his family. "As far as they are concerned, I am as good as dead," he says. "As a non-Muslim, I do not exist."
He converted during the second year of his university studies, in 1998, after which he left school and established an underground group that strove to enhance the rights of Christians in Egypt.
Islam is the country's official religion, and although on paper, Egypt's constitution does not prohibit other religions' activities, in fact the authorities oppose them.
The group El Shafie formed established churches and a medical clinic, and published a newspaper. When the secret police caught on to those activities, they arrested him. He says that he was subjected to harsh torture and that prison guards poured water and lemon juice on his wounds. Later he was placed under house arrest, which continued during the eight months he awaited trial on charges of sedition and attempting to perform religious conversions.
Although his Cairo home was guarded by five policemen, El Shafie, with the help of friends, managed to escape, and fled to Alexandria. From there he traveled to Sinai. For two months he found refuge with a Bedouin family and kept an eye on the Taba border crossing with Israel, until one morning, he says, "at 5:30 A.M., when the sun was blinding the soldiers, I boarded a jet ski parked near the crossing and sped to the Gulf of Eilat through the gap between the Israeli and Egyptian patrol boats. I went quickly and five minutes later stopped in front of Eilat's Princess Hotel."
El Shafie then gave himself up to the Israeli police. At that time, a decade ago, there was no organized procedure for handling refugees and he was held in a prison in Be'er Sheva. He asked for access to United Nations and Amnesty International representatives, and after a year and three months in prison, he attained recognition as a refugee, a move that prevented his extradition to Egypt.
After his discharge, El Shafie lived for a year and a half in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze'ev and worked for Christian organizations in East Jerusalem. His status as a refugee helped him obtain Canadian citizenship, and 18 months later he moved to Toronto. For several months he worked as a spokesman for the International Christian Embassy there, and then decided to establish an organization that would devote itself to Christian minorities worldwide.
According to him, there are 200-300 million Christians who are being persecuted as a minority worldwide. Eighty percent are in Arab countries, with the remainder in China, North Korea, Cuba and India. A significant part of El Shafie's activity consists of visits to spots of friction, where there is also an element of religious dispute. Thus he has visited Canadian forces in Afghanistan and discussed the plight of Christians in Pakistan with that country's foreign minister.
Shrinking minority
El Shafie is disappointed that countries with a Christian majority are not more active in helping Christians in other places around the world.
"I do not expect the United States and Britain, where there is a clear separation between church and state, to help Christians in the name of religious solidarity," he explains. "But I definitely do expect them to help Christian minorities in the name of their universal commitment to human rights."
El Shafie's personal drama took place more than a decade ago. Nonetheless, in its most recent report on religious freedom around the world, the U.S. State Department noted that even today, there is no religious freedom in Egypt.
According to that report, the Egyptian security service keep an eye on citizens who, like El Shafie, were born as Muslims and are suspected of having converted to Christianity. The report cites cases of physical abuse because of it and an incident in which a mob in Cairo burned down a church.
El Shafie claims that Christian minorities in the Middle East in general and especially in the West Bank and Gaza are not much better off. Fifty years ago some 15 percent of the population in these areas was Christian, but according to current estimates they now account for only 1.5 percent. Among Gaza's approximately 1.5 million residents, there are some 3,000 Christians, whose situation has only worsened since Hamas seized power: Indeed, United Nations' reports note that the harassment of Christian Palestinians in Gaza has worsened during this period. In October 2007, the manager of the only Christian bookstore in the Gaza Strip, Rami Ayyad, was assassinated - apparently by activists of extremist Islamic groups.
El Shafie attributes responsibility to Israel, too. "Except for a general reference to religious freedom in agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the Christian minority was never taken into account," he notes. "Why didn't they discuss Bethlehem? It used to be a city with a Christian majority, but today [the Christians] account for less than 30 percent."
El Shafie does not accept the arguments of Palestinian leaders and human rights organizations that Christians are fleeing the West Bank because of the separation fence or the heavy pressure applied by the Israel Defense Forces' on Palestinian cities during the second intifada, pressure that to some extent continues to this day. He observes that the pressure of Muslim extremists in the territories has been more instrumental in pushing Christians there to emigrate.
During his visit to Israel he met, among others, with Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon and researchers at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem.
El Shafie is close to some of the Evangelical churches that are supportive of Israel's settlement movement. As such, he is careful not to criticize Israel, and it is difficult to get him to comment on the country's violations of human rights in the territories. He is critical of just one thing: Israel's decision to end the controversial alliance that it had with with Lebanese Maronite Christians starting in the 1970s, and continuing through the first Lebanon War, until 2000.
"The nation that suffered during the Holocaust must be the first to support the Christian minority in the Middle East," El Shafie says. "To my regret this does not always happen. The South Lebanon Army was a Christian army that fought alongside Israel for more than 20 years, but Israel retreated and left it to face Hezbollah's attacks on its own."

MP Fouad al-Saad says Aoun excluded him from Aoun-Jumblatt meeting
January 8, 2010 /Now Lebanon/Following his meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir on Friday, Democratic Gathering bloc MP Fouad al-Saad said he was not invited to the meeting between his bloc leader, MP Walid Jumblatt, and Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun, which is scheduled to take place on Monday. Aoun invited everyone in my bloc except me, said Saad, adding, “It seems Aoun does not want me, and I do not want him either.” Saad also said that he was not addressed to attend the reconciliation meeting, scheduled to take place in Choueifat on Sunday, between the Progressive Socialist Party, the Lebanese Democratic Party, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement. The reconciliation is reportedly intended to create a spirit of consensus and trust between parties, especially in light of the situation following the 2008 May 7 events. Saad also said he, as an individual, remains within the March 14 alliance. He added that no Democratic Gathering bloc MP has split from the principles of the Cedar Revolution.
-NOW Lebanon