LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 16/10
Bible Of the
Day
14/1-12: "At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus,
14:2 and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptizer. He is risen from the
dead. That is why these powers work in him.” 14:3 For Herod had laid hold of
John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother
Philip’s wife. 14:4 For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have
her.” 14:5 When he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because
they counted him as a prophet. 14:6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter
of Herodias danced among them and pleased Herod. 14:7 Whereupon he promised with
an oath to give her whatever she should ask. 14:8 She, being prompted by her
mother, said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptizer.” 14:9
The king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths, and of those who sat at the
table with him, he commanded it to be given, 14:10 and he sent and beheaded John
in the prison. 14:11 His head was brought on a platter, and given to the young
lady: and she brought it to her mother. 14:12 His disciples came, and took the
body, and buried it; and they went and told Jesus. 14:13 Now when Jesus heard
this, he withdrew from there in a boat, to a deserted place apart. When the
multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities"
Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special
Reports
Hezbollah’s vision thing/By: Michael Young/January
01/10
Lebanon's rivals make up/Al-Ahram
Weekly/January 15/10
Can
ElBaradei revivify Egypt?/The
Daily Star/January
15/10
Ideas
for a Christian Lebanese revival/By
Rayyan al-Shawaf/January
15/10
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for January 15/10
Lebanese Ambassador to Venezuela:
No information on Lebanese nationals in Haiti/Now Lebanon
Hezbollah chief Nasrallah speaks
during the Arab and International Forum to Support the Resistance/Now Lebanon
Zahra: Lebanese-Syrian
rapprochement will not affect Cedars Revolution principles/Now
Lebanon
Mubarak offended by
phone call between Ahmadinejad, Assad/Now
Lebanon
Jones
in Beirut for U.S.-Lebanese Cooperation on Combating Terror/Naharnet
Police In Lebanon Arrests Gang for
Kidnapping 2 Young Men/Naharnet
Hariri's Paris Visit: New Agreements and Consolidation of French Support/Naharnet
Report: Israel reassures Lebanon before IDF
exercises/Ynetnews
Abul
Geith: Egypt Interested in Dealing Equally with Lebanon, Neighboring Countries/Naharnet
2 Killed, 7 Injured in
Separate Traffic Accidents/Naharnet
Aoun Asks Sison about
Reason for Not Visiting Rabiyeh/Naharnet
Jumblat: Segment of Druze
Still Reluctant to Accept my Policy Change toward Syria/Naharnet
March 14 Christians Fear
Berri's Proposal Bid to Create 'Balance of Terror'/Naharnet
Egypt Reportedly toward
Normalization with Syria, Boycott of Hizbullah to Continue/Naharnet
Meshaal: Arms Outside
Refugee Camps Need Discussion/Naharnet
Shaaban: Saudi-Syrian
Relation Reflects Positively on Lebanon/Naharnet
Berri: Current Period 'the
Finest Gleaming Point' in Years/Naharnet
Sfeir voices support for
reinstating compulsory military service/Daily
Star
Accused spy for Israel denies role
in Islamic Jihad killings/Daily
Star
Hariri: Consensus needed before
abolishing sectarianism/Daily
Star
Hariri, Spanish envoy discuss
affairs/Daily Star
Hassan rules out privatization this
year/Daily
Star
Women's Council hits out at
'immoral' TV shows/Daily
Star
Fatah al-Islam militants sentenced/Daily Star
No help for those battling
addiction in Lebanon/Daily
Star
Former general Sayyed files for
slander/Daily
Star
AUB mourns great humanitarian/Daily Star
Police arrest serial rental car
thief/Daily
Star
Counterfeiters caught by army/Daily Star
Events to mark centennial of
Ar-Rihaniyyaat/Daily
Star
Activist warns climate change will
take heavy toll on Lebanon/Daily
Star
Police
Arrest Gang for Kidnapping 2 Young Men
/Naharnet/Police have arrested a four-member ring that kidnapped two young men
in Beirut earlier this week and held them captive for several hours before
releasing them on ransom.
A security source told An-Nahar daily that a police patrol intercepted on
Thursday a BMW jeep roaming Beirut's Sin el-Fil district and arrested the four
men inside.
Three guns were found in the jeep. The source said that the four suspects were
residents of Beirut's southern suburbs. He said investigation showed that the
four men were part of a gang of burglars that is involved in cases of kidnapping
and steeling vehicles. Zahi Farah and Robert Jumhouri were kidnapped at 2:30am
Tuesday in Beirut's Badaro neighborhood. They were released two-and-a-half hours
later after their parents paid the requested ransom. Farah and Jumhouri were on
their way home when a BMW car carrying 4 gunmen intercepted them in Badaro and
forced them to withdraw money from an ATM machine. Shortly afterwards, the
kidnappers called the parents of the hostages, demanding $10,000 ransom. They
threatened to kill Zahi and Robert if their demand was not met. Negotiations
resulted in an agreement that the ransom be delivered to the kidnappers at 5:00
am in the Beirut suburb of Tayyouneh. Zahi and Robert were released after their
fathers paid the ransom. Beirut, 15 Jan 10, 07:48
Jones in Beirut for U.S.-Lebanese Cooperation on Combating Terror
Naharnet/U.S. National Security Advisor James Jones arrived in Beirut on Friday
for talks with top Lebanese officials mainly on strategic cooperation between
the two countries on ways to eradicate terrorism in Lebanon and the region.
Jones held talks with President Michel Suleiman upon arrival to Beirut. The U.S.
official later met with Speaker Nabih Berri and Premier Saad Hariri According to
Voice of Lebanon radio, Suleiman brought up the issues of tight security
screenings recently introduced by the U.S. against travelers from Lebanon and a
measure calling on U.S. President Barack Obama to monitor Arab news stations
that were viewed as inciting violence against the United States, including
Hizbullah's al-Manar TV.
Suleiman also discussed with Jones Israeli violations of U.N. Security Council
resolution 1701 and the situation in the Middle East. The talks between the two
sides will most probably include U.S. military assistance to Lebanon, An Nahar
daily had said. Al-Liwaa daily quoted diplomatic sources as saying that the
meetings between top Lebanese officials and Jones will be an extension of
Suleiman's latest visit to Washington where he stressed on the necessity of
providing military assistance to Lebanon, including high-tech weaponry enabling
it to combat terrorism and spreading its sovereignty on all Lebanese
territories. The sources distinguished between the missions of Jones and U.S.
special Middle East envoy George Mitchell. They said the National Security
Advisor kicked off his trip to the region with a visit to Riyadh that also took
him to the Palestinian territories and Israel. Jones carries with him U.S. views
on ways to deal with security problems and terrorism in the Middle East, the
sources added. Mitchell, on the other hand, is working on bringing the
Palestinians and Syrians on one hand and the Israelis on the other to the
negotiating table in two separate peace tracks. The envoy arrives in Beirut on
Monday. Beirut, 15 Jan 10, 09:20
Hariri's Paris Visit: New Agreements and Consolidation of French Support
Naharnet/Premier Saad Hariri's visit to Paris next week is expected to witness
consolidation of French support for Lebanon and the already strong relations
between the two countries, An Nahar daily reported Friday. Hariri travels to
Paris next Wednesday and is scheduled to meet with President Nicolas Sarkozy on
Friday. The talks will include a lunch banquet thrown in the Lebanese premier's
honor at the Elysee palace. French Prime Minister Francois Fillon will
also host Hariri for lunch on Thursday. Hariri will kick off his two-day visit
with talks with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Parliament Speaker
Bernard Accoyer. French Senate President Gerard Larcher will later throw a
dinner banquet in Hariri's honor.
An Nahar said that the premier's trip to Paris will be his first to a Western
country since he became premier last year. Media reports said Hariri will
discuss with French officials Lebanese-Syrian ties, border demarcation, armed
Palestinian bases outside refugee camps and the issue of missing Lebanese.
Hariri is also expected to discuss with his French counterpart the reforms that
the Lebanese government is planning to undertake. The economic talks will focus
on the Paris 3 conference and the French loan that Sarkozy had promised. An
Nahar said the two sides will sign security, justice and scientific research
agreements during Hariri's visit. A delegation from the interior, justice,
foreign and social affairs ministries will accompany the premier to Paris.
Al-Hayat, however, quoted sources as saying that Hariri's visit to the French
capital was of high significance "even if new (economic) agreements wouldn't be
signed" between the two sides. Furthermore, An Nahar quoted diplomatic sources
as saying that France wants to inquire about Hariri's point of view on the
national dialogue and the defense strategy.
The sources said that neither Israel nor Hizbullah have an interest in starting
a new confrontation in southern Lebanon. Beirut, 15 Jan 10, 08:31
Abul Geith: Egypt Interested in Dealing Equally with Lebanon, Neighboring
Countries
Naharnet/Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Geith stressed that Egypt is
interested in dealing equally with Lebanon and its neighboring countries. "Egypt
pays close attention to Lebanon … and so do Syria and Saudi Arabia," Abul Geith
said in remarks published Friday by pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat. Not only that, but
Syria and Saudi pay a high dose of intense attention to Lebanon, Abul Geith
pointed. At the same time, Abul Geith said, Egypt is also interested in
stability among the various factions in Lebanon "to ward off any shakes."
Beirut, 15 Jan 10, 09:25
2 Killed, 7 Injured in Separate Traffic Accidents
Naharnet/One person was killed and four others were injured on Friday when a
truck rammed into a car, carrying a mother and her three children, and an army
vehicle on the Sidon-Beirut highway, the National News Agency reported. NNA did
not identify the victims of the accident which took place in Jiyeh. It said that
the truck driver sped away after the crash. He had been on the highway one hour
prior to the 9:00 am schedule set for trucks, according to NNA. Also Friday, One
person was killed and two people were injured when a truck rammed into several
vehicles parked at Jwaya main square near Tyre. Mohammed Saleh, 29, from Jwaya
was killed and Ismail Laqis and Ali Dheini were hospitalized. Several vehicles
were also damaged from the accident, according to NNA. In another incident,
Mohammed Mounir Berjawi was injured when a BMW hit him in Khalde. The driver,
Mohammed Khaled al-Khatib was taken into police custody. Beirut, 15 Jan 10,
11:53
Aoun Asks Sison about Reason for Not Visiting Rabiyeh
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has asked U.S. ambassador
Michele Sison why she had not visited him in over a year, the daily As-Safir
said Friday.
Sison, who visited Aoun on Thursday, gave "unconvincing reasons," according to
As-Safir. She reportedly told Aoun that she chose to stay away "during the
period of the political crisis" and decided to wait until after the elections,
government formation and stabilization of the situation. Talks between Aoun and
Sison focused on issues like reform, economy, social and administrative that are
mostly concerned with the work of the ministries that are run by FPM ministers
as well as others from the Opposition, particularity since the U.S. is working
on developing an assistance program for the new year. Beirut, 15 Jan 10, 13:00
Women's Council hits out at 'immoral' TV shows
/Daily Star staff/Friday, January 15, 2010
BEIRUT: Racy and objectionable content on local television stations continued to
draw fire on Thursday, even after government authorities promised to see outlets
tone things down. The Lebanese Women’s Council strongly condemned certain
television shows it deemed “of a low media, cultural and moral level.”
The council was referring to comedy shows that depended on “low levels of
entertainment and immoral jokes.” It said such shows were a bad influence on
Lebanese society, particularly on young people. In a statement, the group also
blamed the National Audiovisual Media Council [NAMC], the Information Ministry’s
Censorship Committee and local television stations for the problem. The council
urged government censorship bodies to step in and ensure that audiovisual media
and internet websites halt the objectionable programs and content.
For its part, the International Catholic Press Union in Lebanon also condemned
the phenomenon of supposedly immoral programming, singling out OTV’s weekly
program “LOL” for censure. On Monday, the NAMC held an emergency session on
“LOL” and other programs, after receiving a number of complaints about the
content of jokes told on the show and other programs. The union thanked the NAMC
for its efforts to end the commotion, but said a wide-ranging revision of the
relevant legislation was required. It said the judiciary remained the proper
authority for deciding whether certain programs were violating the law. The
union said that religious figures should not be outside the scope of permitted
criticism, but added that freedom of opinion and expression didn’t permit the
practice of insulting others. – The Daily Star
Jumblat: Segment of Druze Still Reluctant to Accept my Policy Change toward
Syria
Naharnet/Druze leader Walid Jumblat has acknowledged that a segment of the Druze
community was still unwilling to accept his shift in policy made last summer
toward Syria.
"A segment of Druze is still reluctant to accept the Aug. 2, 2009 policy shift
of their leader from enmity to amity," Jumblat said in remarks published Friday
by Al-Akhbar newspaper.
"They still detest the idea and need to be tamed," he added. Beirut, 15 Jan 10,
10:05
March 14 Christians Fear Berri's Proposal Bid to Create 'Balance of Terror'
Naharnet/Christian leaders from the majority March 14 coalition have expressed
fear that a proposal by Speaker Nabih Berri to abolish political sectarianism
was a bid to create a "balance of terror." A source from March 14 told the daily
Al-Liwaa in remarks published Friday that Christian leaders within the alliance
do not rule out the possibility that Berri's offer was the result of an
agreement worked out beforehand with Hizbullah "who has exclusive control over
Shiite decisions."He said March 14 Christians fear that Berri's proposal is a
"scarecrow" to be used as a bargain chip for the issue of resistance arms or
create a "balance of terror" with that team. Beirut, 15 Jan 10, 09:10
Egypt Reportedly toward Normalization with Syria, Boycott of Hizbullah to
Continue
Naharnet/Egypt was reportedly no longer moving according to priorities of the
outside world or that of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Al-Akhbar newspaper, citing
Arab diplomatic sources who recently visited Cairo, said Friday that Egypt was
no longer "ancient Egypt, where the dreams of Pan-Arabism and unity existed." It
said the Egyptian system believes that those "dreams have done harm more than
good," and, as a result, Egypt has been acting only according to its own
interests and national security. The diplomatic sources said discussion of the
role of Syria in Palestine opens the door to negotiations over the role of
Syrian-Egyptian ties, adding that Cairo is likely to be moving toward
"normalization" with Damascus. On Lebanon, the sources said Egypt "is not an
enemy of Hizbullah." "Egypt only moved when its national security was
threatened," one diplomatic source told Al-Akhbar, adding that Egypt has
boycotted Hizbullah during the war on Gaza when Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah called for uprising against the Egyptian government. Beirut, 15 Jan
10, 08:31
Meshaal: Arms Outside Refugee Camps Need Discussion
Naharnet/Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said Friday that the issue of his
movement's arms should be discussed and stressed there in authority above the
authority of state.
Following talks with Premier Saad Hariri, Meshaal said he discussed with the PM
the civil rights of Palestinians in Lebanon and stressed the necessity of
reaching an understanding on this issue. Meshaal arrived in Beirut on Friday for
talks with top Lebanese officials that will mainly center on the situation in
Lebanon and Gaza and Palestinian refugees, al-Liwaa daily reported.
The newspaper said Meshaal will also meet with Palestinian officials in Lebanon,
President Michel Suleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri. Al-Liwaa expected the visit
to launch dialogue on latest developments in the region, the Palestinian cause,
the situation of Palestinians in Lebanon and armed bases outside refugee camps.
Meshaal lives in exile in Damascus.
Beirut, 15 Jan 10, 09:50
Shaaban: Saudi-Syrian Relation Reflects Positively on Lebanon
Naharnet/Syrian President Bashar Assad's political and media advisor Buthaina
Shaaban said that "the positive Saudi-Syrian relations lead to developing the
relation with Lebanon in a positive manner," adding that "the Riyadh summit --
between Saudi King Abdullah and (Syrian President Bashar) Assad – contributes in
serving the causes and interests of the Arab peoples." In an interview with Al-Manar
TV network Thursday, Shaaban stressed that "the Syrian-Lebanese relations are
fine," and that both "the Syrian and the Saudi sides expressed their relief over
the situation in Lebanon." "Syria and Saudi Arabia give great emphasis to the
Palestinian situation, and are not seeking private roles, but seeking to serve
the Palestinian people and through it the Arab community," added Shaaban.
Answering a question about the situations in the region, Shaaban said: "I
believe that all parties, including Iran, stand against sectarian fighting in
the region." Beirut, 14 Jan 10, 19:25
Berri: Current Period 'the Finest Gleaming Point' in Years
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday said that "the period we are living
today is the finest gleaming point we have reached in many years," calling to
"seize it in order to enhance harmony and consensus among the Lebanese." During
his meeting with a delegation from the consular corps in Lebanon, Berri hailed
national unity and its role in facing the Israeli aggression in 2006,
reiterating that "the best mean of resisting the enemy is internal national
unity." "There is a chance for consensus on many things, and from here I called
for the formation of the National Commission for the Abolition of Political
Sectarianism, which is not a new call because I've started it since 1992. It is
not an option, but an act of abiding by the Constitution and its 95th article,"
added Berri. "Lebanon's eighteen sects have now been tripled, because
regretfully, instead of the parties containing the sects, the sects managed to
contain the parties."
Beirut, 14 Jan 10, 19:04
Former general Sayyed files for slander
Daily Star staff/Friday, January 15, 2010
BEIRUT: Former General Jamil Sayyed filed on Thursday three lawsuits against
former MPs Mustafa Alloush and Samir Franjieh for slander and defamation. Sayyed
filed two separate lawsuits against Alloush and one against Franjieh to the
Publications Court and demanded an indemnity of LL3 million for each case. He
claimed that during a television interview, the defendants accused Sayyed, the
former head of Surete General, of “corrupt” practices in the Rafik Hariri
assassination case as well as in matters related to Parliament and other state
institutions. The court is scheduled to look into these cases on March 3. – The
Daily Star
Can ElBaradei revivify Egypt?
By The Daily Star/Friday, January 15, 2010
Editorial
Sometime next month Mohamed ElBaradei, the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who
stepped down last year as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is
expected to return home to his native Egypt, and many there and elsewhere have
been following the situation closely to see whether ElBaradei will take the
reins of the opposition to President Hosni Mubarak.
However, we do not view the potential entrance of ElBaradei into the darkness of
Egyptian politics merely as the shortest path to ousting the desiccated Mubarak.
The 81-year-old Mubarak will sooner rather than later see his rule of the Arab
world’s most-populous nation come to an end. To his credit, there was a time,
back near the beginning of his reign – now in its 31st year – when Mubarak
actually invigorated the political scene in Cairo.
And this is precisely where ElBaradei would need to begin work. What ElBaradei
can bring to Egypt goes beyond becoming a force in the country’s frequently
dodgy elections – he would need to revivify the political process in the
country. The Nobel winner – if he enters the fray – should use his not
inconsiderable competence and standing to reanimate political life in Egypt.
This nation of nearly 80 million inhabitants is in dire need of expanding its
economy, igniting its industrial sector, bringing the first spark of innovation
and with all that creating opportunities to work for the masses suffering from
chronic unemployment.
ElBaradei has demonstrated that he knows the best avenue to start this daunting
task – in an open letter he wrote in response to the request of youthful
opposition members that he run for the presidency, ElBaradei said he would enter
politics only if elections were free, held under the eye of an independent
judiciary and accompanied by changes to the country’s Constitution to open the
political process.
More than a new president, what Egypt needs is the activation of its laws –
their adaptation to a free political process and the enforcement of their
stipulations, supervised by a functional, transparent and untrammeled judiciary.
In its present, stagnant state, Egypt – just as far too many other Arab nations
– does not allow its citizens to have responsibility. Real democracy, which is
the hope that many Egyptians are seeing embodied in the promise of ElBaradei,
redistributes power to the people by allowing them to take responsibility for
public life.
We are not speaking not only of the rights of people to participate, but also
their responsibility under the law – a law that, when properly enforced, will
demand that those acting in the political sphere be held accountable for their
actions.
Ideas for a Christian Lebanese revival
By Rayyan al-Shawaf /Commentary by
Friday, January 15, 2010
Among the most pressing political issues in Lebanon today is the uncertain
position of the Christians, in a region in which the fortunes of the community
are subject to all manner of vicissitudes. Increasingly, it is advisable to
think of long-term, comprehensive solutions to the problem of Christian
insecurity in both Lebanon and the Middle East. One solution is for Lebanon to
become a country for its long-term residents, its expatriates, and those
Christians of the region who are persecuted. Indeed, were Lebanon to absorb
Christian refugees from neighboring countries and grant them citizenship, it
could fulfill its historical role as a haven for persecuted Christians, shore up
Christian numbers, and allow the naturalization of a good number of the
long-term resident, mostly Muslim, Palestinian refugees in the country, for whom
no real alternative future exists, despite official claims to the contrary.
For centuries before its creation as a modern state, Lebanon served as a refuge
for maltreated Christian and Muslim minorities. Modern Lebanon was created in
1920 for the specific purpose of ensuring a Christian majority (and a Maronite
plurality), although the addition of predominantly Muslim regions to
overwhelmingly Christian Mount Lebanon (deemed necessary for the economic
viability of the proposed country) admittedly complicated this design. In the
decades immediately following its creation, Lebanon was particularly attentive
to the plight of oppressed Christians – naturalizing Armenian refugees, most
Palestinian Christian refugees, and other Christians from Iraq, Syria and even
Egypt.
Yet Christians in Lebanon have become a minority. Perhaps the most dependable
source of information in this regard is a survey of Lebanon’s voter rolls
published in Al-Nahar by the researcher Joseph Doueihy in 2005, which found
registered Muslim voters to be 59.2 percent, and their Christian counterparts to
be 40.8 percent. Given the higher Muslim birthrate, a general population census
would likely show an even higher percentage of Muslims; and the gap will
probably continue to widen. Yet the main institutions governing the country,
above all Parliament, continue to operate on the basis of a Taif-mandated 50-50
split. This situation of disproportionate Christian representation is untenable.
The solution need not be the scrapping of the 50-50 formula, but rather
reinforcing its justification by re-emphasizing Lebanon’s role as a sanctuary
for Christians. Crucially, the Christians deemed eligible for Lebanese
citizenship must be political refugees, not economic migrants. Eligibility
should therefore be determined on a country-by-country basis.
Every so often, the (sometimes discriminatory) treatment of Christians in this
or that Arab or Muslim country degenerates into persecution. Such a scenario
occurred in Iraq following the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the rise of
Islamic extremism there. The result has been terrorism, mass exodus, and the
halving of the country’s Christian community. Unlike many Muslims who have fled
for Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, Christians do not want to return. Since they
cannot stay indefinitely in their host countries, they will end up emigrating to
the West. Nobody of sound mind would suggest that the historical continuity of
the Christian community of Iraq should take precedence over saving its
persecuted members, so it is impossible to begrudge these refugees their desire
to move to the West.
Yet there is a way to allow these Christians to remain in their ancestral region
– if not their home country – and to save their lives. Were Lebanon to absorb
those interested in making a future for themselves, both objectives would be
achieved. Simultaneously, Lebanon could increase the number of Lebanese
Christians so that, over time, they would come close to representing 50 percent
of the population (allowing the first official census since 1932 to be
conducted), thereby justifying the Taif ratio.
This is where the Palestinians enter the picture. When a final-status agreement
is reached between Israelis and Palestinians, many Palestinian refugees in
Lebanon are likely to leave for a Palestinian state, Western countries, or
Israel. Yet it is impossible to imagine that Lebanon will not be asked to
naturalize a substantial share of the 250,000 to 400,000 refugees living in the
country, something the state has hitherto rejected on the grounds that it would
upset the country’s sectarian balance. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine that
with Christians making up 41 percent of the population or lower, some 100,000
Palestinian Muslims (an arbitrary but probably not unrealistic figure) will be
given Lebanese citizenship.
Thus, re-emphasizing Lebanon’s role as a refuge for persecuted Christians will
simultaneously make it easier to naturalize long-resident Palestinian Muslims
who have been denied, in many ways unfairly, Lebanese citizenship. Other
long-resident Muslims, such as many Lebanese Kurds and some Bedouin, whose
status has been “under consideration” for decades, would also finally receive
their due. So long as more Christians than Muslims are naturalized, the process
will gradually redress the demographic imbalance and justify retention of the
50-50 formula.
Leaving aside the unlikely prospect that political deconfessionalization will be
introduced, this proposal is the best solution for the Lebanese Christians’ fear
of marginalization as well as the unhappy saga of Palestinian refugees in
Lebanon. It is important to recall that the 50-50 formula is itself a
modification of an earlier 6:5 ratio of Christians to Muslims, which Taif
changed due to shifting demographics. If shifting demographics prompted a change
in the old system, further demographic shifts may well bring about a change in
the current formula.
Ultimately, it is difficult to object to a proposal that seeks to ground the
50-50 formula in reality, unless one objects to it in the first place, which is
rare in Lebanese politics. If the notion of Lebanon as a country for its
long-term residents, its expatriates, and persecuted Christians is not adopted,
it is difficult to imagine that the 50-50 formula will be retained, that
persecuted Christians, whether in Iraq today or elsewhere tomorrow, will be
offered another option for a secure future in the region, or that the condition
of Palestinians in Lebanon will be significantly ameliorated.
**Rayyan al-Shawaf is a freelance writer and reviewer based in Beirut. He wrote
this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.
By the
way, the Hariri tribunal is dying
By Michael Young
Commentary by
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Only days after it was announced that the chief investigator, Neguib “Nick”
Kaldas, would soon leave the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, we now hear that the
registrar, David Tolbert, is doing the same. The next tribunal statement about a
departure should perhaps come with a laughing track.
For four years between 2005 and 2009 the March 14 majority told the Lebanese
people that its priority was the “truth” about who had killed Rafik Hariri and
all those afterward. The opposition sought to block the Hariri tribunal, and
nearly carried Lebanon into a civil war as a consequence. And yet here we are,
near the fifth anniversary of the former prime minister’s assassination, with
myriad (numerous) signs that the investigation and tribunal process is in
crisis, and all we are hearing is silence from those once the loudest champions
of justice, not least the victims’ families.
It’s obvious that the tribunal will not produce an accusation in the foreseeable
future. It is equally obvious that the prosecutor, Daniel Bellemare, is not
someone who inspires much confidence, and that the alleged deterrence power of
the Hariri investigation has evaporated completely. This dismal (depressing)
evolution merits recapitulation.
The first major sign that something was amiss (wrong) was the decision of the
second UN commissioner, Serge Brammertz, to reopen the Hariri crime scene in
2006. Although three reports had indicated that the former prime minister was
killed by an above-ground explosion, Brammertz wasted time and resources to
ultimately reach the same conclusion.
The episode indicated one of two things: either that the commissioner
consciously sought to delay progress, perhaps because he knew that UN
headquarters did not want a serious inquiry; or that Brammertz was
inexperienced. The second possibility is alarming in itself, but the first is
hardly far-fetched. Recall that the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, told the
first UN commissioner, Detlev Mehlis, that “he did not want another trouble
spot” because of the Hariri investigation, which Mehlis put on the record in an
interview with me. If Annan told Brammertz the same thing, and surely he did,
the Belgian may well have decided to comply. His appointment as prosecutor of a
leading UN tribunal, that for the former Yugoslavia, was perceived by many to be
a promotion, although Brammertz had done nothing in Lebanon to earn that
accolade (honour).
Mehlis expanded on his doubts about Brammertz in that interview with me,
conducted in January 2007 for The Wall Street Journal. Brammertz was preparing
to move to the former Yugoslavia tribunal, and Mehlis saw this as an opportunity
to sound a warning shot about his successor. He criticized Brammertz’s imparting
of scant information in his reports to the Security Council, under the guise of
protecting the “secrecy of the investigation”, then declared: “From what I am
hearing, the investigation has lost all the momentum it had [when Brammertz took
over] in January 2006.” Mehlis went on to argue, “Unfortunately, I haven’t seen
a word in his reports during the past two years confirming that he has moved
forward. When I left we were ready to name suspects, but [the investigation]
seems not to have progressed from that stage.”
Subsequent developments proved Mehlis right, and last year Brammertz rebuffed my
efforts to obtain his reaction to the criticism. By all accounts, and both
Lebanese and non-Lebanese sources have confirmed this to me, Brammertz did not
advance much in his work, certainly not on the Syrian track anyway. A police
investigation requires suspects, not just analysis. It is only by arresting
suspects that an investigator can compare testimonies and unravel the chain of
command and the decision-making process in a crime to determine who ordered
what, and when. In many ways, an investigation without suspects in custody is a
contradiction in terms.
The Mehlis interview was received apathetically in Beirut, especially from those
who had a vested interest in ensuring that Brammertz had done his work well. The
fact that the Belgian was replaced by Bellemare, a man with no expertise in
conducting a complex political investigation, who was recommended and briefed by
Brammertz, was, similarly, unworthy of comment; and this despite the fact that
the high expectations of the years before were now being questioned by the
individual, Mehlis, who had the most advantage in seeing his initial findings
vindicated.
Bellemare’s two years in office have been even more disturbing than Brammertz’s.
The Canadian’s reports as investigator told us less than his predecessor’s, if
that was humanly possible. We quickly learned that the laconism hid no new
information. Just over a year later, sitting as prosecutor, Bellemare would be
compelled to release all those suspects in his case still in detention, because
he did not have enough to indict. Far from implying the suspects’ innocence,
however, the decision only affirmed that Brammertz, who had approved of the
continuing detentions (as had Bellemare himself), left the Canadian with a
deficient dossier.
And then came another incomprehensible development: Bellemare’s decision to
declare the suspect and witness Mohammad Zuhayr al-Saddiq “no longer of interest
to the case.” That Saddiq may have been a plant to discredit investigators is
quite possible. However, it was, therefore, up to the prosecutor to determine
who put him up to this, just as it was up to Bellemare to explain why Saddiq,
who presented testimony under oath, was not sanctioned for lying. One is not a
suspect and witness in a murder case at one moment and no longer of interest the
next. Yet Lebanon’s judicial authorities said nothing about Bellemare’s
astonishing measure.
But then the Lebanese government, officially a part of the prosecution, has said
nothing about anything else that has gone wrong with the tribunal either.
Bellemare’s decision to unfreeze the assets of the former Syrian intelligence
chief in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazaleh, only reinforced a conviction that he has
little of note on the Syrian angle in the Hariri assassination, for which he can
doubtless thank Brammertz. That might help explain why Bellemare dropped the
case against Saddiq.
Then there was Kaldas’ departure, and now Tolbert’s. Despite the official
explanation that Kaldas left because his one-year contract was up, his exit was
almost certainly the result of two far more significant factors: his personal
differences with Bellemare, and their mutual disagreement over the mechanics of
the investigation. It is true that Kaldas was offered a professional promotion
in Australia, in much the same way as Tolbert received an attractive offer from
the International Center for Transitional Justice. But the reality is that both
men felt that nothing particularly compelling retained them at the Lebanon
tribunal, therefore preferred to abandon what they once imagined might be an
interesting trial.
The Lebanon tribunal is not yet dead, but it seems very nearly there, amid
embarrassing indifference in Beirut. Those committed to the rights of the
victims must denounce more forcefully the charade now taking place in a suburb
of The Hague. The supreme insult is to be told that justice will come when
everything points to the contrary. Bellemare has to provide real answers soon,
or else its time to close his stumbling operation down.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR.