LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 27/2010
Bible Of the
Day
Matthew 18/2-18: "Jesus called a
little child to himself, and set him in their midst, 18:3 and said, “Most
certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will
in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 18:4 Whoever therefore humbles
himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
18:5 Whoever receives one such little child in my name receives me, 18:6 but
whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would
be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that
he should be sunk in the depths of the sea. 18:7 “Woe to the world because of
occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that
person through whom the occasion comes! 18:8 If your hand or your foot causes
you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter
into life maimed or crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet to be
cast into the eternal fire. 18:9 If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it
out, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye,
rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire. 18:10 See that
you don’t despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their
angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 18:11 For the Son of
Man came to save that which was lost.
Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special
Reports
Grief grips those left behind/By: Hayeon Lee/Now
Lebanon/January 26, 10
Report from Lebanon: Ethiopian airliner crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in
heavy storms./Times Online/January 26/10
Borderline Views: The resurrection of the Allon
Plan/Jerusalem Post/January 26/10
Time
to assess the tragedy/The
Daily Star/January 26/10
President Mubarak rings the alarm
bell/By: Ahmed Al-Jarallah/January 27/10
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for January 26/10
Until Black Box is Found, Ethiopian
Pilot Blamed for Ignoring Control Tower Warning/Naharnet
U.S.
Comes to Lebanon to Help in Plane Crash Probe/Naharnet
Conflicting Repots: Is Ethiopian Plane Located or Not?/Naharnet
20
Lebanese Plane Crash Victims Worked in Angola/Naharnet
Hariri in Cairo Tuesday
for 'Wider Cooperation' Between Lebanon, Egypt/Naharnet
Reports of Fire on
Ethiopian Plane Suggest Engine Failure/Naharnet
Ethiopian Airliner says
Chances of Crash Survivors Very Slim/Naharnet
'Emergency Room' Needed to
Deal with Disasters/Naharnet
Israel Pressures Germany
into Canceling Deal with Iran Port Over Hizbullah Arms/Naharnet
Murr Rules Out Sabotage
Act in Plane Disaster/Naharnet
State Department: U.S.
Doing all it Can to Help Lebanon in Plane Crash Tragedy/Naharnet
White House saddened by deaths in Lebanon crash/Washington
Post
Hezbollah stresses readiness for war with Israel/Xinhua
Bad weather hampers rescue teams in
search for bodies/Daily
Star
Passengers on board Flight 409/Daily
Star
Explosion shakes Mount Lebanon
restaurant/Daily Star
FPM, PSP unveil plan for return of Chouf displaced/Daily
Star
Peruvian arrested at airport for
suspected smuggling/Daily
Star
Waking nightmare haunts those left
behind/Daily Star
Feltman: minority of Lebanese politicians beyond
their sects/Okaz
Feltman: minority of Lebanese politicians beyond their
sects
Date: January 26th, 2010/Source: Okaz
Jeffrey Feltman, U.S acting secretary for near eastern affairs has criticized
the narrow considerations of the majority of Lebanese politicians who do not
have the ability to go beyond their sects. The former U.S ambassador to
Lebanon’s came in an interview with the Saudi-based Okaz newspaper. It did not
say where the interview was conducted
“Only the minority of Lebanese politicians are able to go beyond their sects and
communities that we regret being the core of the Lebanese tragedy. Yet, I do not
want to be misinterpreted.
On American-Syrian relations, he said “there is an improvement in diplomatic
relations between the U.S and Syria.” “I have visited Syria several times to
raise diplomatic relations to the level of positive cooperation after mutual
relations were weak since 2005. We have to give diplomacy the chance to improve
bilateral relations which conforms to the policy of the current U.S
administration,” he told the paper. On American-Kuwaiti ties, he said “U.S and
Kuwait enjoy enduring and strong ties. We have to inform Kuwait on the U.S
obligations in Iraq and reassure it that our strategic commitments with Kuwait
will not be affected accordingly.” On some Arab official and public stance
against U.S presence in Iraq, he said “We hear of such resentment and ask the
Arabs in turn: why are not you there to try to fix some things?”On speculations
about the possibility that the U.S might show openness on Iran at the expense of
its relation with Arab and Gulf countries, he said “we do not intend to develop
our relation with Iran at the expense of our strategic ties with Gulf
countries.”
20 Lebanese Plane Crash Victims Worked in Angola
Naharnet/Twenty of the Lebanese nationals on board the Ethiopian Airlines plane
which crashed into the sea early Monday lived and worked in Angola, state media
in Luanda reported Tuesday. The government-owned Jornal de Angola named one of
the victims as Hasan Tajideen, who was the administrator of Angolan-based food
import company Arosfram. Four other Arosfram staffers also died in the crash,
the company's general administrator Kito dos Santos told the newspaper. Dos
Santos was due to travel to Beirut on Tuesday to attend the victims' funerals,
it said. A large number of Lebanese nationals work in oil and diamond-rich
Angola, mostly running food import businesses but with some involvement in the
diamond industry.(AFP) Beirut, 26 Jan 10, 13:13
Until Black Box is Found, Ethiopian Pilot Blamed for Ignoring Control Tower
Warning!
Naharnet/Rescue efforts continued Tuesday to find more bodies after an Ethiopian
airliner carrying 90 passengers and crew crashed into the Mediterranean sea off
Lebanon amid official confirmation that the Ethiopian pilot did not heed orders
from the control tower. Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 lost contact with Beirut
airport shortly after takeoff at 02:37 am and crashed into the Mediterranean in
a fireball just after takeoff at 2.5 nautical miles from the town of Naameh,
south of the airport, in stormy weather. Chances are slim of finding survivors
from the plane. By midnight, authorities said 15 bodies had arrived at Rafik
Hariri state hospital. Health Minister Mohammed Jawad Khalife said Monday
afternoon that more bodies were still on board the rescue ships. He said among
the bodies that reached the state hospital were Hasan Tajeddine, a Lebanese
businessman, and two children aged 3 and 4.
Defense Minister Elias Murr and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi, meanwhile,
pointed a finger on the Ethiopian pilot, blaming him for failing to follow
instructions from a flight control tower for unknown reasons. "A command tower
recording shows the tower told the pilot to turn to avoid the storm, but the
plane went in the opposite direction," Murr said in an interview with LBC
television late Monday. "We do not know what happened or whether it was beyond
the pilot's control," he added, stressing that the reason as to why the pilot
did not respond remains unknown. Murr said the official death toll would be
limited to bodies delivered to Rafik Hariri state hospital in Beirut. Aridi, in
turn, said the control tower sent the pilot a second warning when he failed to
heed the first one. "The pilot, however, continued to fly the same route, then
he made a sudden, strange turn before disappearing from the radar," Aridi said,
stressing that control tower officials did their job. It was not clear why the
pilot ignored the control tower or perhaps it was beyond his control. Being 737,
like most other airliners, also is equipped with its own onboard weather radar
which the pilot may have used to avoid flying into cumulonimbus, which is a
rounded mass of cumulus cloud often appearing before a thunderstorm. "We'd
better wait until the black boxes are recovered to determine what really went
wrong," Aridi added. Navigation sources told the daily As-Safir in remarks
published Tuesday that air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane only
four minutes after takeoff. While they declined to confirm whether or not the
jetliner exploded into a huge fireball or burst into flames before plunging into
the sea or bad weather was cause of the crash, they ruled out any terrorist
attack. Until the two black boxes are recovered, many scenarios and assumptions
were put forward which included that the plane was struck by lightning, caught
fire or encountered engine failure immediately after takeoff. Beirut, 26 Jan 10,
07:59
U.S. Comes to Lebanon to Help in Plane Crash Probe
Naharnet/The United States is sending experts to assist the Lebanese government
in its probe of the crash into the sea of an Ethiopian Airlines plane with 90
passengers on board, the U.S. embassy said on Tuesday. "The National
Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to assist the Lebanese government
in its investigation," an embassy spokesman told AFP.
He said the team, expected to arrive in Beirut on Tuesday or Wednesday, will be
headed by Dennis Jones, a senior NTSB investigator.
Jones will be assisted by three technical advisors from the Federal Aviation
Administration and Boeing. Ethiopia Airlines Flight 409 tumbled in a ball of
fire into the Mediterranean early Monday just minutes after takeoff from Beirut
airport in stormy weather. The Boeing 737-800 bound for Addis Ababa had 90
passengers on board. All are presumed dead. Lebanese officials have ruled out
foul play and said the bad weather was likely to blame.(AFP) Beirut, 26 Jan 10,
12:40
Reports of Fire on Ethiopian Plane Suggest Engine Failure
Naharnet/Aviation safety analyst Chris Yates said reports of fire on the
Ethiopian Airliner that crashed in the Mediterranean sea Monday could suggest
"some cataclysmic failure of one of the engines" or that a bird or debris had
been sucked into the engine. He noted that modern aircraft are built to
withstand all but the foulest weather conditions. "One wouldn't have thought
that a nasty squall in and of itself would be the prime cause of an accident
like this," said Yates, an analyst based in Manchester, England.(AP-Naharnet)
Beirut, 26 Jan 10, 11:06
'Emergency Room' Needed to Deal with Disasters
Naharnet/Prime Minister Saad Hariri has proposed setting up a permanent
"emergency room" to deal with disasters. The proposal was made during a crisis
meeting held at the Grand serial Monday. Hariri chaired the emergency meeting
with officials including Defense Minister Elias Murr, Health Minister Mohammed
Khalifeh, army commander Jean Qahwaji and police chief Ashraf Rifi. Beirut, 26
Jan 10, 10:04
Conflicting Repots: Is Ethiopian Plane Located or Not?
Naharnet/There were conflicting reports Tuesday about whether the wreckage of an
Ethiopian airliner which crashed in the Mediterranean sea off Naameh on Monday
has been located or not. While Future News television said the plane had been
located on the sea-bed and that work is underway to lift the wreckage, OTV
quoted a military source as saying that only wing parts were sited. "The
aircraft itself was not found," he said. Rescue teams on Tuesday continued
search for victims of the Ethiopian plane and efforts were underway to recover
the black boxes. An army spokesman said rescuers worked all night to find more
bodies and to locate the debris. He said the Lebanese army was hoping to find
the two black boxes which contain the flight data recorder that should provide
information as to the cause of the crash. Ethiopia Airlines Flight 409 plunged
in a ball of fire into the sea early Monday just minutes after takeoff in stormy
weather. All 90 passengers on board the Boeing 737-800 bound for Addis Ababa
were presumed dead.(AP photo shows Lebanese troops carrying part of the
Ethiopian plane at the public beach of Ramlet al-Baida, Beirut.) Beirut, 26 Jan
10, 09:36
Hariri in Cairo Tuesday for 'Wider Cooperation' Between Lebanon, Egypt
Naharnet/Prime Minister Saad Hariri is scheduled to visit Cairo on Tuesday night
for talks with President Hosni Mubarak and his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Nazif.
Al-Liwaa daily quoted high-level Egyptian diplomatic sources in Cairo as saying
that the meeting between Hariri and the Egyptian officials would pave way for
wider cooperation between the two countries in the future. The talks would also
consolidate economic and trade ties between Lebanon and Egypt, in addition to
the cooperation on political issues, the sources said. Beirut, 26 Jan 10, 08:23
Israel Pressures Germany into Canceling Deal with Iran Port Over Hizbullah Arms
Naharnet/A German construction company has reportedly cancelled a contract to
renovate the Bandar Abbas Port in southern Iran after heavy pressure from Israel
which alleged that Tehran is exporting weapons from the facility to Hizbullah
and Hamas. "Israel's ambassador to Berlin told Chancellor Angela Merkels' top
aides, as well as foreign ministry officials, that Iran has been exporting
weapons from that port for Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip,"
Israeli daily Haaretz reported. Ambassador Yoram Ben Ze'ev stressed that the
Jewish state viewed the contract as "German assistance to an Iranian arms deal
with terror organizations," and a violation of U.N. Security Council
resolutions, Haaretz said. The German company announced on Monday that it was
canceling the contract, after a request from German officials, the newspaper
added. Beirut, 26 Jan 10, 08:46
Murr Rules Out Sabotage Act in Plane Disaster
Naharnet/A fierce storm appears to have caused the crash of an Ethiopian Airline
jet that plunged in a ball of fire into the sea with 90 people on board, Defense
Minister Elias Murr said on Monday. "Bad weather was apparently the cause of the
crash," Murr told reporters. "We have ruled out foul play so far," he added. The
fact that soldiers combing the Lebanese shoreline had recovered pieces of the
plane supported the belief that the crash was caused by the storm rather than an
explosion, Murr said. "When there is an explosion (on board an airplane) nothing
is usually left." "We will continue search operations in the hope of finding
survivors," Murr said, adding that no deadline had been set. "We are seeking to
recover the black box and the recording between the control tower and the pilot
to determine what happened." He added that Prime Minister Saad Hariri would
chair an emergency ministerial meeting later Monday to assess the situation.
Murr said that a U.S. naval ship that specializes in rescue operations was
expected to arrive at the site of the crash by 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) with advanced
equipment and divers on board. "This should help speed up the search efforts
during the night," the minister said. "As you know, within 90 minutes night will
fall and the rescue operation will become more difficult. "I hope that during
the night ... we will recover all the passengers, whether dead or
alive."(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 25 Jan 10, 16:23
Grief grips those left behind
Hayeon Lee, January 26, 2010
Now Lebanon
Family members wait for news on their relative, who was on board Ethiopian
Airlines Flight 409. (NOW Lebanon/Sarah Lynch)
“His name is Ali Jaber. He used to help and give money to everyone who is poor
in our village, Nabatiyeh – perhaps more than 100 families. Everyone is crying
because they will miss him,” said Jaber’s cousin, who did not want to give the
press his name. The cousin was Jaber’s occasional business partner and sat
somewhat calmly as relatives around him were visibly panicked and
grief-stricken.
As news trickled in about the search and rescue operation following the Monday
morning plane crash, the families, friends and neighbors of the passengers on
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 lingered for hours at the Salon Sharaf in the
Rafik Hariri International Airport waiting desperately for some information.
Jaber was one of 54 Lebanese on the doomed flight, many of whom were going to
transit in Addis Ababa en route to other parts of Africa for business. Jaber was
on his way to Gabon, where he owned a car parts business that he built over 20
years. Jaber’s success made him a “rich man,” as his cousin put it, and he would
travel often in the region and Europe. Jaber typically stayed in Lebanon at
least four months a year to be near his family, most of whom live in Nabatiyeh.
Jaber, who was in his 40s, left behind his wife and four children, the oldest of
whom is 12 years old. “He is a very funny man,” his cousin said. “He came to
Lebanon because his family needs him. But he visits everyone and helps
everyone.”
“We’re all praying for patience. We must wait. No magic will happen. But I think
for such a small country like Lebanon, the government is doing what is possible
within its power, and they have called for outside help,” he added.
Across the room around 20 family members were waiting for news on Anis Safa,
including his daughters. Abeer Maktabi, a 23-year-old art director, came to the
airport to comfort her mother, Safa’s niece. Safa was in Lebanon visiting his
family in Zibdine, near Nabatiyeh, and was returning to Angola, where he owned a
business.
“I’m really here to support my mom. But I’m getting emotional seeing everyone,
especially the children of the crash victims,” Maktabi said. “It’s a harsh
death. How could you ever expect this would happen to you?” She said she
believes that the airport is at fault for the crash because it let the plane
take off during a violent storm, though she added she was pleasantly surprised
by the well-coordinated and speedy rescue efforts. “There are even psychiatrists
here to comfort the families,” Maktabi said. Still, “I am not hopeful at all,
because I heard the airplane exploded before going into the sea.”
Indeed, as the day wore on, the news got grimmer and grimmer, and by Tuesday
morning, Ethiopia Airlines said it was “very unlikely” there were any survivors.
Makia Sirur, who was in her twenties, was one of the 23 Ethiopian passengers
onboard. After working in Barbour as a housekeeper for three years, she was
returning home to her family in Ethiopia. With the exception of one woman who
was waiting with her Lebanese husband for news of her relative, Sirur’s sister
and four friends were the only Ethiopians in Salon Sharaf on Monday afternoon.
Sirur’s sister was sobbing hysterically. She refused help from the psychiatrists
and Red Cross personnel who were sent to the Salon Sharaf by the Ministry of
Health to help the victims’ families and said she did not want her picture
taken. Tigist, Sirur’s best friend who works for a family in Achrafieh, was
kneeling on the floor and rocking back and forth. “I told her to go on Wednesday
instead of today,” she muttered through sobs. “The weather was so bad. I told
her, I told her…”
Fayad: PSP-FPM joint committee is no secret
Date: January 26th, 2010/Source: ANB
The Progressive Socialist Party’s Secretary-General Sharif Fayad said Tuesday
that the joint committee between his party and the Free Patriotic Movement is
determined to make sure that the remaining displaced citizens are returned to
their homes.
“We are not working secretly in this regard, this is why we announced our
cooperation in the media,” noted Fayad in an intervention on Arabic News
Broadcast television.
The PSP official asserted that Prime Minister Saad Hariri will be providing all
required efforts to complete this case and to ensure the needs of the displaced
return.
The PSP’s SG noted that the previous government promised to ensure the necessary
budget to close this file through the Arab funds decided for Lebanon in the
past.
President Mubarak rings the alarm bell
By: Ahmed Al-Jarallah
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/148630/reftab/73/t/President-Mubarak-rings-the-alarm-bell/Default.aspx
IN a speech he delivered recently on the occasion of Police Day, Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak rang the alarm bells to warn against a number of vain
groups keen on serving personal interests and regimes that stand against the
entire world for destructive purposes.
These groups have been threatening Egypt but Mubarak put them in their rightful
place when he asserted, during his recent speech, that “they have done nothing
for peace”. It is not an exaggeration if we say these groups have been doing
nothing but trade in the blood of innocent people in Palestine and Lebanon. They
have acted on direct instructions from Tehran, Iran — a platform for plotting
against the Arab and Islamic world.
When Mubarak warned about the dangerous repercussions of the recent events in
the region, he was not referring to Egypt as the country remains secure and
stable due to the clear vision of its leadership. He advised the Arab world to
be wary of schemes to transform it into a ground for global political games
through mercenaries who enjoy their stay at five-star hotels while signing
malicious contracts on the future of their people.
Will these mercenaries, who have been talking about resistance, show their
battleground to the entire world? What have they gained from this operation? Is
it not Israel which issued a unilateral decision in 1999 to withdraw from South
Lebanon on May 2000? Who are the beneficiaries of the mercenaries’ alleged
participation in the liberation? Do these mercenaries consider the massive
killings in Lebanon and Gaza, which led to the death of thousands and
destruction of assets worth millions, part of their resistance operations?
Mubarak revealed the truth when he announced that Egypt has been closely
monitoring the activities of these groups and it has the ability to respond
strongly to these groups in case it decides to do so. These groups are on the
weaker side. Therefore, Egypt should consider taking a strong stand against
these groups to control them as they have been executing the schemes of Persians
against the Arabs. These groups seem bent on doing everything, even if it means
taking the life of their own people, to protect the Iranian interests. They have
been serving a regime which lost the trust of its own people, because the
Iranians are now sick and tired of the leadership style of this regime.
How long will Egypt tolerate the violations of Hamas and Hezbollah? Egypt should
immediately take the
necessary steps to stop the violations of these groups. They believe Egypt
always tolerates their foolishness without taking into consideration that
expressing long repressed anger is more dangerous.
Egypt is the pillar of the Arab world. Arab leaders should stand with Egypt and
cut every hand that tries to challenge Egypt. However, the silence of some
leaders is the main concern of their people. These leaders have allowed
‘vampires’ to weaken ties between Arabs.
The mercenaries cannot take on the role of Egypt and its president. They should
not be allowed to handle regional cases and the Palestinian cause. These groups
must realize that the long experience and wise leadership of Mubarak have been
instrumental in solving many problems in the Arab world. These groups have done
nothing but to lead the Palestinians from one crisis to another.
Neither the tormented people in Palestine nor the parties organized by these
groups, which move freely in Arab countries, can accept a peaceful solution;
hence, the need for a strong decision to eliminate the mercenary ‘virus’ that
serves foreign interests at the expense of the Arab world and its people.
Email: ahmed@aljarallah.com
British victim of Ethiopian crash plane named
From Times Online/January 25, 2010
Nicholas Blanford in Beirut
Two Britons were tonight among 90 people feared dead after an Ethiopian airliner
crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in heavy storms.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 took off at 2.30am from Beirut airport. The Boeing
737 lost contact with the control tower shortly afterwards.
“The control tower was assisting the pilot of the plane on take-off and suddenly
lost contact for no known reason,” Ghazi Aridi, the Lebanese Minister of
Transport, said.
The aircraft was seen crashing into the sea in a ball of fire about seven miles
south of the airport and 3.5 miles off the coast. Michel Suleiman, the Lebanese
President ruled out sabotage.
Ethiopian plane crash
As dusk fell today, some 30 bodies had been recovered, but hopes were fading
that anyone survived. Among the 90 passengers and crew were 54 Lebanese,
including two who also held British passports, 20 Ethiopians and two French
citizens, one of them Marla Sanchez Pietton, the wife of Denis Pietton, the
French ambassador to Beirut. Her body was among those recovered.
Afif Krisht, 57, was one of two Britons on board the Ethiopian airliner.
Mohammed Tajieddine, his uncle, said Mr Krisht was travelling with two others
from his village to Angola, where he had a business. “Nobody has told us
anything,” Mr Tajieddine said. “We don’t know if they are alive, dead, whether
their bodies have been recovered.”
The rescue operation was led by the Lebanese navy with assistance from a United
Nations maritime task force which patrols the Lebanese coastline. The Royal Air
Force sent a helicopter and France sent a plane, both from the nearby island of
Cyprus. The US Navy’s Sixth Fleet based in the Mediterranean also offered to
help in the search.
The wreckage scattered over the sea drifted north on the current and by
mid-morning was a mile off the coast opposite Beirut airport. Hundreds of
onlookers gathered on the seafront, ignoring the cold wind and salty sea spray
to watch helicopters flying low over the sea searching for survivors. Soldiers
dragged ashore wreckage, including seats.
Sa'ad Hariri, the Lebanese Prime Minister who was in Saudi Arabia, returned to
Beirut and met relatives of the passengers at the airport.
“We are doing everything in our power to find survivors,” Mr Hariri told
reporters. Declaring an official day of mourning, he added: “Divers will look
for the black box to find out the reasons behind the crash,” promising that the
investigation would be “transparent”.
Relatives of the passengers gathered in Beirut airport’s VIP lounge, some
sitting in family groups watching live coverage on television others weeping and
consoling themselves.
Hussein Barakat had driven for two hours from his home village of Zibqinein, in
southern Lebanon, to find news of his son, also called Hussein, 26.
“My son was returning to Angola where he lives,” Mr Barakat said. “God willing
he is alive. He has a wife and daughter waiting for him.”
As the hours ticked by with no news of survivors, many of the relatives began to
assume the worst. One tearful man with white hair wailed to a friend: “My son
postponed the flight three times, then he flew last night.”
Near him, a middle-aged woman in a headscarf cried hysterically, “Oh God, Oh
God, how can I live without my son? Oh God, why did you do this to us.”
Ethiopian Airlines is one of the fastest growing airlines in Africa with some
550 flights around the world each week. In 1996, a hijacked jet crashed into the
Indian Ocean after it ran out of fuel. Earlier this month, one of the airline’s
Boeing 757s performed an emergency landing in Malta after the pilot reported
trouble in one of the engines.
“What happened today is a big disaster for the country,” Qassem Hashem, an MP
from south Lebanon, told The Times. Mr Hashem added that one of his
parliamentary colleagues, an MP with the militant Shia Hezbollah, was booked on
the flight but cancelled his seat because of an urgent commitment in Beirut.
In one corner of the lounge were four young Ethiopian women, sitting on the
floor, teary-eyed and hugging each other. Many Ethiopian women travel to Lebanon
to work as domestic maids.
Zeinab Birro, wearing a full-length black shador, said that she had taken her
maid, Mickia Hussein, to the airport the previous night. She had brought some of
Ms Hussein’s Ethiopian friends to the airport to await news.
“We said our goodbyes and I hugged and kissed her,” Mrs Birro said. “She was
with me for three years. I begged her not to leave, but she said she had to go
home.”
Naim Qassem
January 25, 2010
On January 24, the Lebanese National News Agency carried the following report:
Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said during the funerary
ceremony of the father of Sheikh Anis Jaber in the Husseiniya of Al-Barjawi: “In
light of all these political differences and this propaganda launched by people
on the domestic arena and abroad, had there not been an Islamic Resistance in
Lebanon, it should have been created. We cannot face the Israeli aggression
except with the Resistance, and now that it is here, we must protect it,
strengthen it and support it on the popular and financial levels and by all
means. The enemy is still present and is still issuing threats, and we cannot
face these threats except through the sufficient preparations to confront its
arrogance and humiliate it in a direct way if it even considers to attack us in
Lebanon.
“In regard to the raison d’être of the Resistance, we say it is necessary
because all the countries in the region are hijacked by their own circumstances.
We will not address whether or not the Arab and Islamic countries are required
to fight Israel, considering that these political and objective circumstances
might prevent them from confronting Israel for a thousand and one reasons
without the need for us to justify these reasons. So, what should we do?
“Surrender to Israel? What is required is for us to think of practical ways to
confront it, and the resistance method is the one which will open the horizons
of a solution and of victory. It is the one which will pave the way before our
independence, our dignity and our pride and will restore the land. It is the one
which will allow us to be free in our countries. Everyone knows that the
Resistance was established as a reaction and as a defensive state. Had Israel,
the violating and attacking entity not existed, there would have been no need
for the Resistance. But since the aggression has been ongoing for over 61 years,
the Resistance is necessary to defend the nation from this Israeli project. The
Resistance never threatened to provoke a way, rather to respond to an Israeli
one. The Resistance never chose to initiate tensions or concerns in the region,
rather to confront the tensions and concerns created by Israel. The Resistance
never issued threats, since the threats always came from the Israeli side...”
Sheikh Qassem then expressed surprise vis-a-vis “those giving reassurances to
Lebanon while they do not enjoy the ability to contain Israel and are trying to
please it. We do not need reassurances from anyone on behalf of Israel. What
reassures us are our arms, our preparedness and our readiness, and if Israel is
planning any action, it knows the level of the response. This is what reassures
us and nothing else...
"Experiences have proved that Israel cannot be confronted with international
pleading. It can only be confronted with resistance and cannot succumb except
through resistance. We saw what happened during the liberation in the year 2000
when Israel exited Lebanon while humiliated by the strikes of the Resistance and
not due to any other reason. Resolution 425 stayed in the drawers for 22 years
and the American, European and international advice given to us to accept
Israel’s strikes, aircrafts and killing so as not to anger Israel were also
ongoing for 22 years. In the end however, had it not been for the heroic and
brave fighters who invaded positions and killed Israeli soldiers to the point
where the latter became afraid of even mentioning the name of Hezbollah, we
would not have achieved victory and we could not have ousted Israel from this
country with Allah’s guidance and will...
“We do not deal with the Resistance in Lebanon as being the Resistance of a
religion, a sect or a specific group. It is a resistance for all of Lebanon and
is not subjected to sectarian quotas. It is not divisible between the sects and
denominations and we will therefore not allow its discussion on the basis of its
allocation to the sects in Lebanon. Whoever wants to resist knows the way and
should pay the price. We are not the ones who hold people’s hands to get them to
make sacrifices. We searched and paid hefty prices to learn the way and whoever
wants to do it should act as we did. We cannot bring the Resistance and discuss
the ways it should be allocated since that will kill it before it gets the
chance to move just like all the other projects were killed under the headline
of sectarian quotas and balance.
“Is there any small or big cause in Lebanon that goes through the Cabinet or
through sectarian quotas without being mutilated or shattered to the point where
we end up in despair while the bright, positive and reformatory idea dissipates?
Everything in this country is sectarian and as a result, when the different
issues are being debated, we reach endless complications. Now, the municipal
electoral law and the administrative divisions are on the table of discussion.
Had we wished to proceed normally, each side would have had the opportunity to
object, present arguments, present alternatives, accept or discuss its viewpoint
before resorting to the constitution and the laws to allow the issue to take its
course.
“Today however, discussions even in the context of the constitution are
prohibited. Some want to resort to the constitution when it suits them but not
when the result does not serve their interests. Let us discuss our internal
issues calmly and find the common factors. There is no need for these tensions
and disputes which are confusing everyone.
“As for American President Obama who read verses from the Quran in Egypt on the
basis of his wish to grow closer to the Arabs and Muslims through his knowledge
of some verses of the Quran, and who spoke with extreme leniency, recently
recognized that he has failed miserably in the settlement negotiations between
the Palestinians and the Israeli entity. However, he was not fair when he held
the two sides equally responsible at a time when the whole world knows that the
problem resided on the Israeli side which refused to discontinue the building of
the settlements, is destroying houses in Jerusalem..., is attacking our people
in Gaza, killing the fighters and stating it does not wish to see a settlement.
"At best, it wants a settlement that suffocated the Palestinian people through
an Israeli wall besieging them from all sides, even on the Jordanian border.
Israel is the one that does not want a solution. Anyway, we never had any hope
in seeing America accomplishing anything and we said since the beginning that
America was conspiring with Israel. We believe that the settlement will never be
secured and the nation, the Arabs and the Muslims should all know that Palestine
can only be restored through the Resistance. We will therefore adopt this method
while relying on Allah and we will proceed with Allah’s will.”