LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 30/2010
Bible Of the
Day
Luke 22/24-30: " 22:24 There arose
also a contention among them, which of them was considered to be greatest. 22:25
He said to them, “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have
authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ 22:26 But not so with you. But one
who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is
governing, as one who serves. 22:27 For who is greater, one who sits at the
table, or one who serves? Isn’t it he who sits at the table? But I am in the
midst of you as one who serves. 22:28 But you are those who have continued with
me in my trials. 22:29 I confer on you a kingdom, even as my Father conferred on
me, 22:30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom. You will sit on
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special
Reports
Christian fear/Elie Fawaz/January 29/10
Asharq Al-Awsat Talks to US Ambassador
to Lebanon, Michelle Sison/Asharq Alawsat/January 29/10
Stuck in the mud/Ha'aretz/January 29/10
Israeli Army Keeps a Foot in Lebanon/Wall
Street Journal/January 29/10
Lebanese designers make us proud/The
Daily Star/January 29/10
For
Barack Obama, the unbearable lightness of change/By
Shlomo Ben-Ami/January 29/10
To Perpetuate Their
Dictatorships/Arab
Rulers Restore to The Islamic Creed/By:
Elie Elhadj/January 29/10
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for January 29/10
Hamas says top militant 'assassinated'/CNN
More
Parts of Ethiopian Plane Wreckage Found/Naharnet
Father
of Plane Crash Victim Dies of Grief, 2 Bodies Handed over to Families/Naharnet
2 More
Plane Crash Victims Identified as Hunt for Black Boxes Achieves Significant
Progress/Naharnet
Majzoub Reportedly Masterminded His
Own Kidnapping/Naharnet
Frenchmen Robbed in Oyoun al-Siman/Naharnet
Paris Mulling to Equip
Lebanese Army with HOT Missiles/Naharnet
Cabinet Tends to Hold
Elections under Present Law/Naharnet
Report: Aoun in Syria on
February 9/Naharnet
Jerusalem Post: Israel
Could Invade Bekaa in Any Future War with Hizbullah/Naharnet
Report: U.S. Hopes to
Bolster Lebanese Moderate Forces by Pushing Israel to Withdraw from Ghajar/Naharnet
Israel Stays in Lebanon, in a Village in Limbo/Wall
Street Journal
Iran's supreme leader predicts Israel's end in
sharpest comments in years on/The Canadian Press
Hezbollah denies link to jet crash/UPI.com
Op-Ed: Hezbollah gains a toehold inside UN
Security Council/Jewish Telegraphic
Agency
al-Qaeda: Taking credit for failure/DefenceWeb
(press release)
Spain takes command of UN force in Lebanon/AFP
Hariri
calls for Arabs to unite against Israeli threats/Daily
Star
Army:
Crashed jet's black boxes located/Daily
Star
Majdel
Anjar residents protest against imam's abduction/Daily
Star
Cabinet
to discuss electoral reforms in Friday session/Daily
Star
Spain
takes command of UNIFIL/Daily
Star
Bank of Beirut reports 15 percent
net-profit
increase in 2009/Daily
Star
Byblos Bank's net profits rise by
19.8 percent
in 2009/Daily
Star
Lebanon can drill for oil once
legislation
is in place/Daily
Star
Grenades found near Alawite leader's
home/Daily
Star
Majdalani: Palestinians will abide
by Lebanese
decisions/Daily
Star
Workshop aims to raise awareness on
drug addiction/Daily
Star
US envoy, Rahhal discuss environmental
protection
/Daily Star
Suspicious bag prompts false bomb scare
in Shiyyah/Daily
Star
ISF arrests fraudster over 'magic
money'
scam/Daily
Star
Ethiopian, Lebanese community
relations sour
after crash/Daily
Star
Iran's supreme leader predicts Israel's end in sharpest comments in years on
Jewish state
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP)
28/1/10
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's supreme leader predicted the destruction of Israel in
comments posted on his Web site on Wednesday, in some of his strongest remarks
in years about the Jewish state. In the past, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called
Israel a "cancerous tumour" that must be wiped from the map, but the new
comments mark the first time in years he has openly speculated about Israel's
demise. "Definitely, the day will come when nations of the region will witness
the destruction of the Zionist regime," Khamenei was quoted as saying. "How soon
or late (Israel's demise) will happen depends on how Islamic countries and
Muslim nations approach the issue." He did not elaborate.
Khamenei, who made the comments during a meeting with the Mauritanian president
on Tuesday, also accused Israel of trying to destroy the Palestinians "through
continued pressure, blockades and genocide." He said the Jewish state will not
succeed. Khamenei's comments come as the world marks International Holocaust
Remembrance Day on Wednesday, the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the
Nazi-run Auschwitz death camp. Iran does not recognize Israel, and the two
countries have been bitter enemies since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, and
current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for Israel's destruction.
Tehran is accused of supporting Lebanon's Shiite Muslim militant group,
Hezbollah, which fought Israel until it withdrew it soldiers from southern
Lebanon in 2000. Hezbollah continues to launch occasional attacks against
Israeli troops in a disputed strip of land on Lebanon's southern border. Iran
also backs Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.
Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Hezbollah denies any link to the Ethiopian passenger jet
crash
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- The Lebanese Hezbollah said claims that it was
linked to the explosion of an Ethiopian passenger jet over the Mediterranean Sea
were groundless.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 exploded shortly after takeoff in stormy weather
Jan. 25. All 90 passengers on board are presumed dead.
Initial accounts suggested poor weather conditions complicated by pilot error
were to blame for the accident. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said there
was no evidence to suggest the accident was the result of terrorism.
Several media outlets, however, have published reports that suggest Hezbollah
may be tied to the explosion.
Lebanon's al-Liwaa newspaper said members of Hezbollah had missed the flight,
adding the high-profile presence of the Shiite resistance at the funeral for one
of the victims suggested the group was linked to the crashed airliner.
Other media reports raised speculation the crash happened because of "sabotage,"
while others questioned whether rockets were involved.
Hezbollah in a statement published on its al-Manar news agency denied the
allegations in al-Liwaa.
"What the daily said about a high-ranking delegation of Hezbollah supposed to be
on the plane is not true and has no actual basis," the statement read.
More Parts of Ethiopian Plane Wreckage Found
Naharnet/Rescue teams on Friday continued search for victims and the black boxes
of an Ethiopian plane that crashed off the Lebanese coast on Monday with 90
passengers and crew on board. There was no significant progress to report by
mid-afternoon Friday except for the discovery of part of the plane wreckage that
has been drifted toward the shore of Ouzai.
President Michel Suleiman was briefed Friday by Defense Minister Elias Murr on
the latest reports about the location of the black boxes and ways to retrieve
them.
earch teams had picked up the flight data recorder signals late Wednesday but
Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi said it remained unclear whether the boxes were
still inside the body of the Boeing 737-800, which plunged into the
Mediterranean minutes after takeoff. "If the black boxes are not in the
body of the plane, it is easier to access them," he said. "But if they are still
inside the plane, the recovery will be more complicated." The boxes were
located in a seafloor trench which makes access more difficult, a defense
ministry official told AFP.
Information Minister Tareq Mitri said late Thursday that the black boxes were
about 14 kilometers (9 miles) off the coast at a depth of 1,500 meters (4,920
feet) and in an area of seven square kilometers (2.7 square miles). An army
official had earlier said the US navy destroyer USS Ramage, part of an
international search operation, had picked up the signals approximately 10
kilometers west of Beirut airport at a depth of 1,300 meters. Mitri said a sweep
of the area was continuing.
"I cannot set a time, but the sweep has just about ended," he added.
Once the recorders' exact location is pinpointed, Mitri said, a submarine would
descend to photograph the area.
The Ocean Alert, a civilian vessel stationed in Cyprus, was working to retrieve
the black boxes, a military source said. It is equipped to reach objects 2,000
meters (6,561 feet) deep.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, bound for Addis Ababa, crashed into the
Mediterranean minutes after takeoff from Beirut at 2:37 am during a raging
thunderstorm on Monday.
All 83 passengers and seven crew are presumed dead. Only 14 bodies, including
those of two toddlers, and body parts have been found so far.
Rescue officials have said a number of the victims may still be strapped to
their seats underwater.
Several families have begun to hold memorial services for loved ones who were
passengers on the plane even though their bodies have not all been recovered.
Around 200 schoolchildren on Thursday held a moment of silence on the beachfront
near the airport in remembrance of the victims and dropped flowers into the sea.
There were conflicting reports as to whether the jet exploded while airborne or
after it had hit the water, and officials have said there will be no answers
until the data from the black boxes is retrieved and analyzed. Officials are
especially keen on knowing why the plane veered off course after takeoff, but
have ruled out sabotage. Ethiopian Airlines spokesperson Wogayehu Tefere said
the pilot was experienced and had been with the company for 20 years. The probe
into the disaster includes French and U.S. experts, among them a technical
advisor from Boeing. Flight 409 had 30 Ethiopian nationals on board, including
the crew. Most of the Ethiopian passengers were employed in Lebanon as domestic
workers and were flying home to see their families. There were also 54 Lebanese
on board, most of them Shiites from southern Lebanon. Many were transiting in
Addis Ababa to other countries in Africa, where they work.
Among the passengers was Marla Sanchez Pietton, wife of France's ambassador to
Lebanon. Ethiopian Airlines has had two other deadly accidents over the past 25
years, one of which was a hijacking which ended in a crash when the plane ran
out of fuel.(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 29 Jan 10, 08:36
Father of Plane Crash Victim Dies of Grief, 2 Bodies Handed over to Families
Naharnet/The grieving father of Albert Assal, one of the Ethiopian plane crash
victims whose body hasn't been found yet, died from a heart attack on Friday.
Jirji Assal was admitted to Bitar hospital in Batroun after suffering a heart
attack. However, he later died. Meanwhile, the bodies of Ali Ahmed Jaber and
Anna Abes, two victims of Monday's jet crash, were handed over to their families
for burial on Friday. Jaber, 40, was buried in Nabatiyeh while Abes, 37, will be
laid to rest in her hometown of Tripoli's Mina district. The body of a child,
Mohammed Kreik remains at hospital because his family is awaiting for news on
his father, Hassan Kreik, who was aboard the plane and is still missing. Also
five bodies of Ethiopians remain at the hospital morgue. Lebanese officials plan
to send a team to Ethiopia to take DNA samples of victims' families there. Four
people, including a child, were buried on Thursday. The fate of the remaining
passengers remains unknown. (AP photo shows students throwing flowers into the
sea to mourn the victims killed in the plane crash) Beirut, 29 Jan 10, 11:18
International Tribunal President to Visit Lebanon
Naharnet/Judge Antonio Cassese, President of the International Tribunal set up
to prosecute suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri, will visit Lebanon on Monday for cooperation talks with Lebanese
leaders, the court said on its website. It said deputy president Ralph Riachy
will be accompanying Cassese on his weeklong stay.
Cassese and Riachy will be meeting with top leaders, including President Michel
Suleiman, Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, Foreign Minister Ali al-Shami, as
well as the prosecutor-general and the president of the Supreme Court. The court
said the purpose of the visit is to:
- strengthen cooperation and maintain the dialogue between the Tribunal and
Lebanon;
- have an exchange of views with representatives of civil society and experts;
and
- listen to the concerns expressed by their interlocutors about the role of the
Tribunal and the challenges it faces. Beirut, 29 Jan 10, 14:25
Hariri from Cairo: Any Threat Against Any Lebanese
Territory is a Threat Against Lebanese Government
Naharnet/Israeli threats against Hizbullah are threats against Lebanon itself,
Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed during a visit to Cairo on Thursday.
"We take Israeli threats seriously," Hariri said after talks with Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak. "Any threat against Lebanese territory, whether in the
south, Bekaa, Dahiyeh (Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hizbullah stronghold) or any
place in Lebanon is a threat against all of Lebanon and the Lebanese
government," Hariri said.
"The protection of any place in Lebanon is the responsibility of the Lebanese
government," he told a news conference, calling for "Arab solidarity" with
Beirut "to counter these threats."
Hariri said last week in an interview with the French daily Le Monde that he
feared "an Israeli intervention" following an increase in overflights over his
country by Israeli warplanes.
On the 26 men accused of planning attacks in Egypt on behalf of Hizbullah, the
Lebanese premier said it was in the hands of Egypt's judiciary and "we regard
this business as strictly Egyptian." An Egyptian prosecutor this week demanded
the death sentence for the 26 alleged Hizbullah members.
The group, which include Lebanese, Palestinians and Sudanese, is accused of
plotting attacks against ships in the Suez Canal and tourist sites, of spying,
and other crimes.
The defendants say they never planned the attacks but sought to help the
Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which rules Gaza and has close ties with
Hizbullah.
On Wednesday, Hariri held a round of talks with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed
Nazif and other officials. "Hizbullah is part of the political forces that
emerged as a result of parliamentary elections," Hariri said. Hizbullah "is a
partner in the government of national unity."(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 28 Jan 10,
19:41
Majzoub Reportedly Masterminded His Own Kidnapping
Naharnet/Majdel Anjar Imam Sheikh Mohammed Abdel Fatah al-Majzoub was found safe
overnight at a friend's house in the Bekaa Valley town of Lala, two days after
he went missing.
According to the local press, security forces were able to find Majzoub "alive"
late Thursday at the house of his friend, Kamal Handous, along with a few
guests. They said the prosecutor ordered the arrest of both Majzoub and Handous.
Future News television said Majzoub confessed to security forces that he
masterminded his own kidnapping to escape his financial woes.
The Voice of Lebanon radio station earlier said speculation indicated that
Majzoub, who shaved his beard and changed his clothes, likely faked his
kidnapping. Majzoub went missing overnight Tuesday. Search was immediately
launched only to find Majzoub's white Mercedes with the engine still running at
the side of a road leading to a sugar factory in Majdel Anjar. His white turban
lay in the street. A news report on Thursday said Majzoub has been in dispute
with radical groups in the nearby village of Kamid el-Loz since he was the imam
of that town. This made him leave Kamid el-Loz to settle in his hometown of
Majel Anjar. Beirut, 29 Jan 10, 07:25
Report: Aoun in Syria on February 9
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun is expected to visit
Damascus on February 9 for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad, Ad-Diyar
newspaper reported Friday.
The daily quoted well-informed sources as saying that during Aoun's visit to the
Syrian capital, a ceremony will be held at Saint Maroun church and the area in
the vicinity of the church will be declared a natural reserve. Aoun met with MP
Suleiman Franjieh over dinner on Thursday. Former President Emile Lahoud was
among the guests at Franjieh's house in Rabiyeh. Beirut, 29 Jan 10, 09:05
Jerusalem Post: Israel Could Invade Bekaa in Any Future War with Hizbullah
Naharnet/Israel could make a ground invasion of the Bekaa valley during any
future conflict with Hizbullah because the Shiite party has relocated its main
military infrastructure to eastern Lebanon, The Jerusalem Post reported. "Since
2006, Lebanon's eastern border with Syria has formed the key conduit for weapons
supplies to Hizbullah. And Hizbullah is reported to have relocated its main
military infrastructure north of the Litani River … to areas close to the Syrian
border," the Israeli daily said. This suggests that the Jewish state would make
a "ground incursion into the Bekaa" if Israel wants in a future conflict to
strike a real blow to Hizbullah, it said. In case of such an incursion, Syria
would supply Hizbullah with arms, the newspaper added. Beirut, 29 Jan 10, 10:30
Report: U.S. Hopes to Bolster Lebanese Moderate Forces by Pushing Israel to
Withdraw from Ghajar
Naharnet/The United States is pushing Israel to withdraw its forces from the
Lebanese side of the border village of Ghajar in hopes of bolstering Lebanon's
"moderate forces," The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The pullout
"needs to be done and there is no reason why it cannot be done quickly," the
newspaper quoted a senior U.S. diplomat in Washington as saying. Hizbullah, the
diplomat said, is praying that the Israeli army stays "on the Lebanese side of
the blue line," the U.N.-drawn border separating the two countries. "Their
narrative is that diplomacy is useless; that armed 'resistance' is the only way
to go and that this is what justifies their armed status."
"The U.S. hopes a pullout will bolster moderate forces in Lebanon by depriving
Iran-backed Hizbullah of a rallying cry for militancy against Israel as an
occupying force," The Journal said.
However, it said that the Jewish state is concerned about the fate of villagers
and the potential legal repercussions of placing Israeli citizens under Lebanese
sovereignty. Residents can now move freely into Israel, but not Lebanon.
"Ghajar's residents are Israelis and they depend on Israel, and they can't be
simply abandoned in enemy territory controlled by Hizbullah," a senior Israeli
official told The Wall Street Journal. The Obama administration is "really
pushing us, but they're not looking at the details." The last round of talks on
a pullout from Ghajar between Israel and the U.N. ended last week, without
agreement. Some analysts say a withdrawal could backfire. "It's not clear who's
going to claim victory in Beirut if Israel gives back territory," said Andrew
Tabler, a Syria and Lebanon expert at the Washington Institute for Near East
Policy. "It could wind up empowering Hizbullah's idea of resistance instead of
those advocating a diplomatic process," he added. Beirut, 29 Jan 10, 07:49
JPost: Israel could launch ground invasion of Bekaa in future clash with
Hezbollah
January 29, 2010 Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post reported on Friday that in
light of the Syrian-Hezbollah ties, Israel could launch a ground invasion of the
Bekaa Valley should it want to initiate a future military aggression against
Hezbollah. According to the daily, Tel Aviv could target the Bekaa given that
“Hezbollah is reported to have relocated its main military infrastructure north
of the Litani River, in the Bekaa Valley [and] in areas close to the Syrian
border.”“Should such an [Israeli] incursion take place, the Syrians would be
intimately involved in supplying Hezbollah just across the border, and the
possibility of Syrian casualties at Israeli hands would become very real,” the
paper added. The Jerusalem Post also said that since 2006, Lebanon’s eastern
border with Syria has been a major corridor for supplying Hezbollah with arms.
-NOW Lebanon
Christian fear
Elie Fawaz, January 29, 2010
Now Lebanon
The Christians of Lebanon, since 1991, after the Syrian army extended its
control across Lebanese lands and within its political apparatus, have been
suffering from a frustration evident in their political practices and their
defeatist “minority” rhetoric.
The Christians never pass up an opportunity to go overboard in presenting
themselves as the victims of demographics and political oppression. Of course,
such justifications should not be taken very seriously. The Christians of the
east, especially in Lebanon, like other minorities, have, with the exception of
previous epochs, lived in the region under constant exposure to oppression. And
thus they took to living in mountains and valleys and digging through stone to
construct their churches and shelters, guarding against invaders.
Christian demographic figures in Lebanon, even by the highest of estimates, do
not exceed half those of Muslims. Those who called for Lebanon’s independence
were of course completely aware of the country’s diverse sectarian composition
as it would come to be within the borders it has today. But clearly this did not
stop them.
Their existence in Lebanon is forever linked to a saying along the lines of: “In
the Beginning was Action…” From the production of silk, to the spread of the
written word, to the development of education, commerce and banking, the
Christians emerged from being meager statistical figures to a population of
tangible value in our eastern world. They defended Lebanon faithfully as a
homeland for individual freedoms, the freedom of conscience, democracy and human
rights, having no other alternative for such things. Even in the darkest of
hours in 1975, when the forces of the Left possessed more weapons, training and
numbers, they did not languish for a moment, defending what they believed in
despite the primitiveness of their equipment and their inability to conciliate
anyone. And they succeeded in securing the country’s independence in the face of
all the ideological forces that saw in Lebanon a mere extension of other
countries, countries which, through their own trials, often proved unviable.
However, today something has changed. Something in the region has changed that
has made the Christians change course and vision. They now conduct themselves in
a defeatist pattern of behavior and have gotten away from the spirit of “Action”
as the road ahead. And especially after the events in Lebanon immediately after
the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which proved that there
are basic principles upon which the Lebanese can unite, defying the country’s
sectarian instincts and reversing its isolationist tendencies, it seems prudent
to ask, what changed?
The answer is simple. They lost their aura of faith in this country. They lost
the sense of their raison d’être here. Rafik Hariri, a man who made the largest
of sacrifices for the sake of the country which he loved and the idea which he
believed in, was not a Christian; nor are those who have accumulated their
wealth in Africa only to return and invest it, showing their confidence in a
stable South, a region sitting on a volcano which, were it to erupt, would leave
nothing in its wake. Moreover, many are convinced that their fate is intertwined
with the region’s broad sectarian conflict that extends from the Atlantic to the
Gulf and, as such, they are tied into their alliances on one side or another.
In addition to all of that is an opportunistic political class which only sees
in this 1600-year long presence a means to settle disputes among themselves and
secure permanent positions of leadership.
It may be that these lowly times will pass and the Christians with their
partners will once again take to building this country on the foundations which
they believed in and fought for. Perhaps they will do so so it cannot be said
one day that they were wining when they should have been acting.
*This article is a translation of the original, which was published on the NOW
Arabic site on Wednesday January 27
Barak Reassures Mubarak: Israel Doesn't Intend to Attack Lebanon
Naharnet/The recent visit of Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to Egypt came
upon a request from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who wanted to question
Israel's intentions toward Lebanon, and the probability of attacking it, aiming
to reassure PM Saad Hariri when he visit Egypt, the Israeli daily Yediot
Ahraonot reported on Thursday. "Barak reassured Mubarak that his country does
not intend to wage an attack against Lebanon or Syria," added the Israeli daily.
"Barak's answer alleviated the worrisome of Mubarak, and the Israeli defense
minister expressed his hope that the Israeli message would be passed on to both
Hariri and Syrian President Bashar Assad." Beirut, 28 Jan 10, 17:33
With lower age, how many new voters?
Matt Nash, Now Lebanon
January 29, 2010
Lebanon may lower the national voting age to 18 from 21. (AFP photo/ Souleima
Chreim)
Lowering the voting age in Lebanon from 21 to 18 – the world’s most common age
of suffrage – would add some 283,000 potential voters to the rolls according to
the Interior Ministry. And while parliament voted for the move back in March, it
seems amending the constitution before municipal elections in the spring may not
happen.
Civil society activists have long wanted the lower voting age as part of a
package of reforms, but politicians have been hesitant to implement it – and
other changes to the election law – for fear that a deluge of new voters would
upset Lebanon’s sectarian balance. Indeed, it seems amending the voting age
would add far more Muslims to voter rolls than Christians.
The exact confessional breakdown of the potential new voters is still unclear,
though researchers have compiled approximate figures. Rabih Haber, president of
the research company Statistics Lebanon, told NOW he got his numbers from the
Ministry of Interior.
However, according to his figures, the change would add 232,963 new voters, some
50,000 fewer than sighted by Interior Minister Ziad Baroud last week. Haber said
Baroud was discussing the most recent figures available, while his figures come
from the Ministry of Interior as of March 2009, when parliament agreed to
decrease the voting age before the 2013 parliamentary elections. The ministry
did not respond to requests for the most up-to-date figures.
According to Haber’s numbers, lowering the voting age would add nearly 175,000
Muslims and around 58,000 Christians to the roles with Shia Muslims being the
sect with the most potential new voters.
Sunni Muslims, however, would still remain the confession with the most
registered voters in Lebanon, he said. If the change is passed, Lebanon’s three
largest confessions in terms of registered voters would be Sunni (938,583), Shia
(738,886) and Maronite (738,886), based on Haber’s March 2009 figures.
Of course, being registered does not necessarily mean one will vote, and
Lebanon’s voter rolls are somewhat inflated as they are not purged when people
emigrate and are infrequently updated to account for deaths.
An-Nahar last week also published a report examining the sectarian breakdown of
potential new voters (see chart). Unlike Haber, the newspaper did not indicate
how many voters are registered in each confession now. The paper reported a
total of 238,378 potential new voters – higher than Haber’s figure but still
less than the 283,000 cited by Baroud.
Lowering the voting age, though agreed to by the previous parliament in March
2009, has sparked a new debate. To change the voting age, lawmakers must amend
the constitution, which requires the support of two-thirds of both the cabinet
and parliament.
Amal, Hezbollah and the Progressive Socialist Party have voiced support for the
move, the Free Patriotic Movement is against it, the Future Movement has said it
both rejects and supports the measure, and the Kataeb Party and the Lebanese
Forces say they agree only if other reforms are also passed.
Kataeb and the LF are particularly keen on lowering the voting age only if
Lebanese expatriates are allowed to vote abroad. Currently, Lebanon has no
mechanism for absentee voting, and all voters must be in the country on election
day to cast ballots.
Their request is likely an attempt to counterbalance the anticipated influx of
newly registered Muslim voters, as conventional wisdom has it that a majority of
Lebanese expatriates are Christian. Tracking down the truth behind that
assumption – and any hard numbers – however, is difficult.
Basma Abdel Khalek, a project manager with the Lebanese Emigration Research
Center of Notre Dame University-Louaize, said exact figures are impossible as no
one has officially kept count. One often reads figures as high as 12 million,
though Abdel Khalek said the research center doubts that.
She said that LERC, based on years of research, puts the figure at 4.5 million
but admits the number is not entirely accurate. Abdel Khalek said that before
and during Lebanon’s 15-year civil war Christians emigrated far more often than
Muslims, but that trend is changing.
Between 1992 and 2007, 39% of Lebanese who left their homeland were Christian,
27% Shia, 23% Sunni and 9% Druze, she said, citing a study published in 2009 by
St. Joseph University and written by Chohig Kasparian.
It is also unclear how many of the Lebanese who left still hold Lebanese
passports or identity cards, which would likely be required in order to vote.
Abdel Khalek noted that LERC conducted a recent survey of 209 expatriates who
still have Lebanese passports and found a majority support the right to vote
abroad.
Monday morning’s fatal crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 pushed the voting
age issue – and all electoral reform issues – off the cabinet’s agenda for now,
and it is unclear if the cabinet and parliament will address this or other
reforms before municipal elections this spring.
Saad Hariri
January 29, 2010
On January 28, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) carried the following
report:
Prime Minister Saad Hariri met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo to
address the recent Lebanese and regional developments, the Middle East peace
process and ways to enhance bilateral relations.
Hariri told reporters in a conference following the meeting, “I was honored to
meet President Hosni Mubarak, who does not miss an opportunity to express his
love of and support to Lebanon. President Mubarak is one of the great symbols of
Arab wisdom, and constitutes - based on his leading position in Egypt - the main
basis of Arab solidarity.
The talks with Mr. President featured all the facets of the relations between
Egypt and Lebanon and mainly focused on the regional situation and challenges
facing the Arab nation. I have also informed the president about the Israeli
threats to Lebanon and corroborated the importance of Arab solidarity with
Lebanon to face these threats. For his part, President Mubarak expressed his
usual support of Lebanon both in heart and in form and conveyed his utter
rejection of all those threatening the Lebanese government, land and people.
We also addressed the ways to develop bilateral relations and discussed the
outcome of the talks we held with [Egyptian PM] Dr. Ahmad Nazif and the
ministers. His excellence stressed the necessity to push relations toward
additional progress, especially on the economic level and the other urgent
affairs. I would like to thank President Mubarak for this warm reception, and
assure that Egypt has a big heart that can fit all the Arabs. The wager on it
will remain great with God’s will.
Regarding the Israeli threats and [French] President [Nicolas] Sarkozy’s pledge
that Israel will not conduct any step that would threaten Lebanon’s security,
what is the practical outcome of the French president’s promise?
We are seriously dealing with the Israeli threats and the Israeli talk about the
fact that threatening a part of Lebanon, whether it is the South, the Bekaa or
Beirut and its suburb is not a threat to the entire state. I say that any threat
against any location in Lebanon is a threat to its government because every
position in the country is the responsibility of the Lebanese government. We
therefore consider the Israeli threats to be ones directed against the Lebanese
government before any other side.
Demonstrations were recently staged in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut
in protest against Egypt’s attempts to secure its Eastern border. What is your
position?
Lebanon is a democratic country and there were citizens who wanted to stage a
demonstration. The government did its part, coordinated with the Egyptian
embassy and deployed security and military forces to handle any security breach.
We will not stand idle before any person who tries to undermine security,
especially in regard to our brothers at the Egyptian embassy. Egypt has always
stood alongside Lebanon. Democratically speaking, every person has the right to
express his or her opinion but does not enjoy the right to attack the embassy of
any given state. If this were to happen, Lebanon will have a clear stand, and we
will confront this incident with stringency.
To what extent can a unified Arab position be adopted on the thresholds of the
Arab summit in Libya?
I can assure you that in regards to Lebanon, there will be a unified Arab
position against the consecutive Israeli threats toward Lebanon. Reconciliations
have started between several countries, and we will see other ones in the future
to unify the Arab ranks and help the Arabs face the challenges whether coming
from Israel or the regional threats during the upcoming stage.
There is talk about a possible international peace conference.
Are there any developments at this level in light of the Israeli obstinacy and
the failure of the tour of American envoy George Mitchell? By other Arab
reconciliations, did you mean a possible Egyptian-Syrian one?
We have addressed the peace conference which France is seeking to stage in a
clear way. The Arabs have known principles, whether in terms of the Arab
initiative, the positions of the Palestinians, the positions of Abu Mazen or
Syria’s vision for peace with Israel. These are principles which will never
change. But the peace conference also aims at placing Israel in the forefront.
It is saying it wants peace while it is talking about war. We support any step
which might help achieve the Arab principles and France is exerting efforts to
secure progress at the level of the peace process. This is something positive
for the region and for the Palestinian brothers in particular. As for the Arab
reconciliations, this issue is up to the concerned states. But the more
improvement we see in our Arab region, the more these countries will be able to
face the challenges.
How can you guarantee Lebanon is not threatened in light of the presence of
Palestinian arms outside the camps?
The National Dialogue clearly concluded that the state should put its hand on
the Palestinian arms outside the camps. Certain people said certain things but
the Lebanese government assured it will implement this decision calmly and
positively. We do not want to defy anyone, but Lebanon’s sovereignty is the
responsibility of the Lebanese government, and anyone who tries to undermine
this sovereignty will be confronted by the government. That is final.
How do you perceive the case of the Hezbollah cell currently standing before
Egyptian courts?
This issue is the prerogative of the Egyptian judiciary, which we respect. This
is a purely Egyptian affair, and we will not interfere in it. Let the judiciary
handle this case.
How do you think Arab solidarity with Lebanon will materialize in light of the
Israeli threats and how true is the report published by a Lebanese newspaper
saying that Israel brought down the Ethiopian plane because it was carrying
Hezbollah elements?
We hear a lot of these conspiracies. Unfortunately, an Ethiopian plane crashed
and 90 were killed, and are now missed by their families. As I said since the
beginning, we cannot know how the plane crashed before we get the black box and
analyze the information featured in it to learn exactly what happened.
Nonetheless, we do not believe there was any sabotage operation in light of the
evidence and the pieces of information collected by all those following the
issue.
However, the black box will reveal what truly happened since the moment the plan
took off and until it hit the water. Regarding the quality of Arab solidarity
with Lebanon, we must be clear. There were major disputes between some Arab
countries, but now the climate is much better than a year or two years ago.
Today, there is greater Arab solidarity with Lebanon and Arab unity is
developing. This will help the Arabs face the regional challenges in the region
whether coming from Israel or elsewhere, because Israel has a project, and we
the Arabs must also have a project and know how to face the Israeli one.
Will Lebanon attend the upcoming Arab summit in Libya?
Yes of course. Lebanon was invited to the summit, and we will look into the
formation of the participating delegation with God’s will.
Did President Mubarak convey reassurances from [Israeli Defense Minister Ehud]
Barak in regard to the threats being issued by Israel?
Certainly. President Mubarak was clear in terms of his rejection of the Israeli
threats to Lebanon. We also addressed what happened during those meetings.
Hariri in Cairo amid Hezbollah trial
Published: Jan. 28, 2010 at 11:56 AM
ArticlePhotosListenVideosComments.Share CAIRO, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Cairo sees no
link between the Lebanese government and Hezbollah affiliates facing the death
penalty for militant activity on Egyptian soil, officials said. Lebanese Prime
Minister Saad Hariri arrived in Cairo on his first official trip for talks with
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak since taking office in November. Hariri's trip
follows a whirlwind diplomatic tour that brought the Lebanese premier to Paris,
Ankara and to Damascus in a historic visit.
Cairo hailed the visit as an opportunity to expand ties with the new Lebanese
government that emerged from parliamentary elections in 2009.
His Cairo trip comes days after Egyptian authorities called for the death
penalty for six of the 26 alleged Hezbollah associates facing charges of
conspiracy and terrorism.
The men are accused of plotting attacks on Israelis. The case is clouded,
however, by allegations that many of the suspects were tortured. The accused
claim they were trying to help Palestinians in Gaza. Lebanese lawmakers told
Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper it was unclear if Hariri was in Cairo to mediate
on the issue. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Cairo saw no ties
between the trial and the Beirut government.
"This is a legal situation, a crime took place on Egyptian soil and the Egyptian
judiciary will look into it," he said. "I don't believe that Lebanon is
concerned in this case."
Op-Ed: Hezbollah gains a toehold inside U.N. Security Council
By Kenneth Bandler · January 27, 2010
NEW YORK (JTA) -- Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is not likely to take a seat at the
U.N. Security Council’s horseshoe table, but the Hezbollah terrorist
organization he has led since 1992 now has a toehold inside the world body’s
most prestigious room.
On New Year’s Day, Lebanon began a two-year term as a non-permanent member of
the Security Council. When Lebanon’s ambassador speaks, he represents his
nation’s coalition government, which includes Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy.
Founded in 1982 with the direct help of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah
first entered the Lebanese Parliament in 2005 after winning 14 seats. In
elections last June, Hezbollah won 13 of the legislature’s 128 seats. Hezbollah
holds two Cabinet seats, and its Shia ally, Amal, controls the Foreign Ministry.
Hezbollah continues to rely heavily on financial and military support from the
Islamist regime in Tehran. They share a dangerous worldview that seeks Israel’s
elimination, an innate hatred of the United States, and a desire to use terror
and violence to realize their goals.
Entering democratic politics, competing in elections and serving in the
government has not transformed Hezbollah at all. It is exactly the same
Hezbollah that has been responsible for some of the deadliest terrorist attacks,
including the 1982 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and the 1994
destruction of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Hezbollah remains the only group in Lebanon still refusing to disarm, making it
impossible for the Lebanese army to take full control of southern Lebanon, the
stronghold of Hezbollah, as well as West Beirut, home to the group’s leadership
and its powerful satellite television station, Al Manar. Its incendiary
programming led the United States, France, Germany and other countries to ban
satellite operators from broadcasting the station.
Security Council resolution 1701, adopted in the wake of the 2006 Hezbollah war
with Israel, called on the group to turn in its weapons. Hezbollah, of course,
did not voluntarily disarm. Moreover, U.N. peacekeeping forces dispatched to
Lebanon have failed to prevent arms going to Hezbollah from Iran and Syria. It
has much more in quantity and sophistication than in 2006, when it fired some
4,000 rockets into Israel, hitting Haifa and other northern communities.
Hezbollah now boasts that it can hit Tel Aviv.
In further contravention of Lebanon’s interests and the U.N. Security Council,
Hezbollah continues to seek more arms. Just two months ago the Israeli navy
captured a ship carrying some 300 tons of Iranian weaponry for delivery to
Hezbollah. The cargo was significantly larger than the weaponry aboard the
Karine-A, another Iranian-stocked vessel seized by Israel in 2002 before it
could reach Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority in Gaza. Apropos, the export
of Iranian weapons is another violation of U.N. resolutions.
So the reward to a recalcitrant nation, Lebanon, which counts as a member of its
government a major international terror organization that ignores the U.N.
Security Council, is to place it on the premier body charged with assuring peace
and security worldwide.
Of course, one will point out that the United Nations is not at fault but is a
victim of its own rules. Non-permanent members of the Security Council are
elected by the regional groups of which they are members. Lebanon, and
Hezbollah, can thank member states in the Asia group, which includes the Arab
world.
Lebanon served on the U.N. Security Council once before, in 1953-54. But that
was a different time, when Lebanon was widely considered the Switzerland of the
Middle East, long before a fractious civil war further weakened it, allowing
Yasser Arafat’s Fatah to control southern Lebanon until 1982, when the PLO
leadership was expelled to Tunis. The vacuum then was filled by Hezbollah.
Iran’s strategic investment in Hezbollah now guarantees that Lebanon will not
support any Security Council measure calling for further sanctions against Iran
for its nuclear program.
Ironically, Israel, threatened by Hezbollah and its patron Iran, has never
occupied a non-permanent Security Council seat. Long excluded from its natural
regional bloc, Israel finally was accepted several years ago into the Western
European and Others Group, making it at long last theoretically eligible to run
for a seat. But given U.N. realities, Israel won’t sit on the key body anytime
soon.
Hezbollah has set itself up as a model for others -- think Hamas in the
Palestinian Parliament -- that no transformation from terror organization to a
legitimate unarmed political organization is necessary. That does not bode well
for those Lebanese people, or even the Palestinians, who truly aspire to live in
peace.
In sum, it is dispiriting to watch the political ascendancy of bona fide
terrorist organizations in their respective countries. Even more so in the
United Nations, which probably has not seen such a display since Arafat, holster
on his hip, addressed the General Assembly 36 years ago.
(Kenneth Bandler is the director of communications for the American Jewish
Committee.)
http://jta.org/news/article/2010/01/27/1010371/op-ed-hezbollah-gains-a-toehold-on-the-un-security-council
al-Qaeda: Taking credit for failure
Written by Stratfor's Scott Stewart
Thursday, 28 January 2010 11:21
On Jan. 24, a voice purported to be that of Osama bin Laden claimed
responsibility for the botched attempt to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight
253 on Christmas Day. The short one-minute and two-second audio statement, which
was broadcast on Al Jazeera television, called the 23-year-old Nigerian suspect
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab a hero and threatened more attacks.
The voice on the recording said the bombing attempt was in response to the
situation in Gaza and that the United States can never dream of living in peace
until Muslims have peace in the Palestinian territories. The speaker also said
that attacks against the United States would continue as long as the United
States continued to support Israel.
While the U.S. government has yet to confirm that the voice is that of bin
Laden, Al Jazeera claims that the voice is indeed that of the al Qaeda leader.
Bin Laden’s health and welfare have been the topic of a lot of discussion and
debate over the past several years, and many intelligence officials believe he
is dead. Because of this, any time an audio recording purporting to be from bin
Laden is released it receives heavy forensic scrutiny. Some technical experts
believe that recent statements supposedly made by bin Laden have been cobbled
together by manipulating portions of longer bin Laden messages that were
previously recorded.
It has been STRATFOR’s position for several years that, whether bin Laden is
dead or alive, the al Qaeda core has been marginalized by the efforts of the
United States and its allies to the point where the group no longer poses a
strategic threat.
Now, questions of bin Laden’s status aside, the recording was most likely
released through channels that helped assure Al Jazeera that the recording was
authentic. This means that we can be somewhat confident that the message was
released by the al Qaeda core. The fact that the al Qaeda core would attempt to
take credit for a failed attack in a recording is quite interesting. But perhaps
even more interesting is the core group’s claim that the attack was conducted
because of U.S support for Israel and the treatment of the Palestinians living
in Gaza.
Smoke and Mirrors
During the early years of al Qaeda’s existence, the group did not take credit
for attacks it conducted. In fact, it explicitly denied involvement. In
interviews with the press, bin Laden often praised the attackers while, with a
bit of a wink and a nod, he denied any connection to the attacks. Bin Laden
issued public statements after the August 1998 East Africa embassy bombings and
the 9/11 attacks flatly denying any involvement.
In fact, bin Laden and al Qaeda continued to publicly deny any connection to the
9/11 attacks until after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. These denials of the
9/11 attacks have taken on a life of their own and have become the basis of
conspiracy theories that the United States or Israel was behind the attacks
(despite later statements by bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, that
contradicted earlier statements and claimed credit for 9/11).
In the years following 9/11, the al Qaeda core has continued to bask in the
glory of that spectacularly successful attack, but it has not been able to
produce the long-awaited encore. This is not for lack of effort; the al Qaeda
core has been involved in several attempted attacks against the United States,
such as the attempted shoe-bomb attack in December 2001, dispatching Jose
Padilla to the United States in May of 2002 to purportedly try to conduct a
dirty-bomb attack, and the August 2006 thwarted plot to attack trans-Atlantic
airliners using liquid explosives. Interestingly, while each of these failed
attempts has been tied to the al Qaeda core by intelligence and investigative
efforts, the group did not publicly claim credit for any of them.
While the group’s leadership has made repeated threats that they were going to
launch an attack that would dwarf 9/11, they simply have been unable to do so.
Indeed, the only plot that could have come anywhere near the destruction of the
9/11 attacks was the liquid explosives plot, and that was foiled early on in the
operational planning process — before the explosive devices were even
fabricated.
Now, back to the failed bombing attempt on Christmas Day. First, the Yemeni
franchise of al Qaeda, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has already
claimed responsibility for the attack, and evidence strongly suggests that AQAP
is the organization with which Abdulmutallab had direct contact. Indeed, while
some members of AQAP have had prior contact with bin Laden, there is little to
suggest that bin Laden himself or what remains of al Qaeda’s core leadership has
any direct role in planning any of the operations conducted by AQAP.
The core group does not exercise that type of control over the activities of any
of its regional groups. These groups are more like independent franchises that
operate under the same brand name rather than parts of a single hierarchical
organization. Each franchise has local leadership and is self-funding, and the
franchises frequently diverge from global al Qaeda “corporate policies” in areas
like target selection.
Furthermore, in an environment where the jihadists know that U.S.
signals-intelligence efforts are keenly focused on the al Qaeda core and the
regional franchise groups, discussing any type of operational information via
telephone or e-mail from Yemen to Pakistan would be very dangerous — and
terrible operational security. Using couriers would be more secure, but the al
Qaeda core leadership is very cautious in its communications with the outside
world (Hellfire missiles can have that effect on people), and any such
communications will be very slow and deliberate. For the al Qaeda core
leadership, the price of physical security has been the loss of operational
control over the larger movement.
Taking things one step further, not only is the core of al Qaeda attempting to
take credit for something it did not do, but it is claiming credit for an attack
that did little more than severely burn the attacker in a very sensitive
anatomical area. Some have argued that the attack was successful because it has
instilled fear and caused the U.S. government to react, but clearly the attack
would have had a far greater impact had the device detonated. The failed attack
was certainly not what the operational planners had in mind when they dispatched
Abdulmutallab on his mission.
This attempt by the al Qaeda core to pander for publicity, even though it means
claiming credit for a botched attack, clearly demonstrates how far the core
group has fallen since the days when bin Laden blithely denied responsibility
for 9/11.
The Palestinian Focus
Since the beginning of bin Laden’s public discourse, the Palestinian cause has
been a consistent feature. His 1996 declaration of war and the 1998 fatwa
declaring jihad against the West and Israel are prime examples. However, the
reality of al Qaeda’s activities has shown that, to bin Laden, the plight of the
Palestinians has been less an area of genuine concern and more of a rhetorical
device to exploit sympathy for the jihadist cause and draw Muslims to al Qaeda’s
banner.
Over the years, al Qaeda has worked very closely with a number of militant
groups in a variety of places, including the Salafist Group for Preaching and
Combat in Algeria, Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia and the East Turkestan Islamic
Movement in China. However, while one of bin Laden’s mentors, Abdullah Azzam,
was a Palestinian, and there have been several Palestinians affiliated with al
Qaeda over the years, the group has done little to support Palestinian
resistance groups such as Hamas, even though Hamas (as the Palestinian offshoot
of the Muslim Brotherhood) sprang from the same radical Egyptian Islamist milieu
that produced al-Zawahiri’s Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which al-Zawahiri
later folded into al Qaeda.
Jihadist militant groups such as Jund Ansar Allah have attempted to establish
themselves in Gaza, but these groups were seen as problematic competition,
rather than allies, and Hamas quickly stamped them out.
With little help coming from fellow Sunnis, Hamas has come to rely on Iran and
Iran’s Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, as sources of funding, weapons and training.
Even though this support is flowing across the Shiite-Sunni divide, actions
speak louder than words, and Iran and Hezbollah have shown that they can
deliver. In many ways, the political philosophy of Hamas (which has been sharply
criticized by al-Zawahiri and other al Qaeda leaders) is far closer to that of
Iran than to that of the jihadists. With Iran’s help, Hamas has progressed from
throwing rocks and firing homemade Qassam rockets to launching the longer range
Grad and Fajr rockets and conducting increasingly effective irregular-warfare
operations against the Israeli army.
Hezbollah’s ability to eject Israel from southern Lebanon and its strong stand
against the Israeli armed forces in the 2006 war made a strong impression in the
Middle East. Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas are seen as very real threats to Israel,
while al Qaeda has shown that it can produce a lot of anti-Israeli rhetoric but
few results. Because of this, Iran and its proxies have become the vanguard of
the fight against Israel, while al Qaeda is simply trying to keep its name in
the press.
Claiming credit for failed attacks orchestrated by others and trying to latch on
to the fight against Israel are just the latest signs that al Qaeda is trying
almost too hard to remain relevant.
This report was republished with permission of STRATFOR
http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6336:al-qaeda-taking-credit-for-failure&catid=49:National%20Security&Itemid=115
From www.stratfor.com
Christian Unity Now
by Hanna Samir Kassab
Everyone knows the biblical saying from the Gospel of Mark: "A House divided
against itself cannot stand". This proverb has a Spiritual meaning that should
not be corrupted by worldly interpretation. However, currently the Christians in
Lebanon are dangerously divided. This division threatens their political power
and weakens their overall political presence and identity. Without a unified
house, the Christians in Lebanon will remain weak, as others will determine
their future. Since the death of Rafik Hariri, there has been a trend to
demoralize and divide Christian political powers in Lebanon. This has been done
through assassination, political division and destruction of Christian Lebanese
identity.
1)Assassination: There have been many assassinations and assassination attempts
on Christian figures, many from the Kataeb party a historically strong
representative for Christian interests, (not to mention others from March 14).
In order to weaken the certain political agenda, one must target those
forwarding those ideals, the Christian political intelligencia in order to
silence them once and for all. With no one to protect a certain belief, the
belief itself dies.
2)Political Divisions: Christians in Lebanon are now jokingly known as Sunni
Christians or Shi'a Christians, depending on their political affiliations. This
makes Christians out to be baggage: carried around by greater powers in the
country.
3)Christian Identity: The dangerous issue currently being discussed is
Secularism. The introduction of Secularism and the eradication of Sectarianism
will erase the Christian Lebanese Identity which has been preserved since the
Arab invasions of old. Hezbollah is using a Western understanding of democracy
to forward its own agenda and undermine Christian authority and identity.
Secularism is a purely European ideal. It is foreign to what it means to be
Lebanese.
Suggested Solutions:
1)The acts of violence that rage against those who support a free Lebanon. We
cannot bring back Pierre Amin Gemayel, Samir Kassir, Gibran Tueni, Antoine
Ghanem…the list goes on. We can only remember what they stood for and follow in
their footsteps until the destination is reached.
2)Division exists between Christians who support Michel Aoun and those who
support Amin Gemayel and Samir Geagea. The majority of Christians were united
against the Syrian occupation and the rift began as soon as Aoun showed up. Does
Aoun have the best interest of a strong, free and independent Lebanon at heart?
Many groups have different ideas for Lebanon, so the questions become: Who are
his domestic and international allies? What do they want? Why? Is this what I
want? If Christians allow themselves to become baggage, others will decide their
future.
3)The National Pact of Lebanon protects every sect in Lebanon. It is essential
for each group to enter dialogue with the whole in order for its interests to be
represented and a government to be formed. Interstate negotiation is thus a way
of life. Changing the political system erases exactly what it means to live in
peace with your Muslim brothers. The words of Pierre Gemayel ring true today. In
a speech declaring his demands for a united Lebanese state as it currently was,
after the outbreak of the Civil War in 1975, Gemayel said “I hope that you
[Lebanese Muslims] will be today as you were in the forties when you decided to
build with your Christian Brothers a nation that is not like all other
countries…that an ideal nation, that Islam, Christianity and Arabism and all of
humanity so desperately need…so declare [your allegiance to an independent
Lebanon] as you declare your faith in God daily, and you will receive gratitude
from the Christians all the gratitude, love and loyalty” (Khater, 2004 p.292).
The beautiful thing about the Lebanese government apparatus is that all 18
religious sects are represented in the government. This makes it the most
democratic nation in the world. Compare this to secular France where the niqab
is now illegal to wear in government areas; to Switzerland where Minarets are
outlawed. Is this democratic? With this in mind, Sectarianism based on
“gratitude, love and loyalty” in the spirit of brotherhood and cooperation is a
system to be embraced. This is in the best interest of Christians and other
sects in the Middle East surrounded by religious based governments.
Sun Tzu, the Chinese Sage who wrote “The Art of War” states that in order to win
any struggle, an army must remain unified. Any army divided will eventually be
overtaken. Christian influence in Lebanon is under threat from the three forces
described here. Christians should see the bigger picture rather than be split
amongst personalities to forward their needs in a way that corresponds to their
identity. We have a duty to commune together as a family, not just with our
fellow brothers and sister in Christ, but with all humanity. We must be like a
City on a Hill, shining our light for all to see. We must be Christians through
and through, not just in name, but in deed.
To
Perpetuate Their Dictatorships
Arab Rulers Restore
to The Islamic Creed
By Elie Elhadj *
Volume 13, No. 4 - December 2009, Total Circulation 25,000
http://www.gloria-center.org/meria/2009/12/elhadj.html
The compatibility between
Islam and democracy has been a controversial topic. While empirical studies
since 2000 confirm the prevailing notion that Muslim majority states offer fewer
political rights than non-Muslim countries, the question as to why such a
phenomenon exists remains unsatisfactorily answered. One key element is how the
interpretation of Islam itself has been so effectively used by Arab regimes to
indoctrinate subjects into believing that blind obedience to their absolute rule
is a form of Islamic piety. This article will also argue that Islam, combined
with the security forces and the poverty of the masses render the majority of
Arabs politically quietist.
KORANIC INSPIRATION FOR THE MODERATE, ISLAMIST, AND JIHADIST
The Koran often provides Muslims with contradictory inspirations on subjects of
political or social relevance. On Muslim relations with Christians and Jews, for
example, a moderate Muslim would focus on peaceful and tolerant verses such as
29:46: “Do not argue with the People of the Book [Christians and Jews] unless in
a fair way.” Similar injunctions are found in, among others, 2:62, 2:136, 2:256,
and the second part of 5:82, though the first part of the passage is more
belligerent. A moderate would point out that Islam reveres Christian and Jewish
prophets and messengers and that the Koran dedicates Chapter 14 with its 52
verses to Abraham and Chapter 12 with its 111 verses to Joseph. To Mary, the
mother of Jesus, the Koran dedicates Chapter 19 with its 98 verses. The Koran
refers to Islam in 2:135 as the “Religion of Abraham.”
At the same time, Islamists also find support for their arguments in the Koran,
choosing intolerant verses, such as 5:78: “Curses were pronounced on those among
the children of Israel who rejected faith, by the tongue of David and of
Jesus….” Intolerance is also found in, for example, 2:65, 2:120, 5:51, 5:60, and
the first part of 5:82. In addition, some key writings support rebellion against
the ruler, though these clearly are not emphasized by the regimes if the
government is not or is insufficiently pious. Even more verses mandate fighting
non-Muslims. In 2:191, 2:193, 8:60, 9:5, and 9:29, violence against non-Muslims
is ordered. In 9:29: “Fight those who believe not in God nor the Last Day, nor
hold that forbidden which has been forbidden by God and his Messenger, nor
acknowledge the religion of truth, even if they are of the People of the Book,
until they pay the protective tax (jizya) with willing submission, and feel
themselves subdued.”
A key to the Islamist and jihadist positions is the justification for rebellion
in principal Islamic texts, such as: “Whoever of you sees an evil action, let
him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his
tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart.”[1]
Violent verses, combined with verses exalting the eternal bliss awaiting the
martyrs in paradise, like 2:82, 18:31, 44:52, 44:53, 44:54, and 61:12, inspire
suicide bombers and those who indoctrinate them. The combination of the
Islamist, jihadist, and martyr-inducing enables charismatic Islamist politicians
to claim the high religious ground, accuse others of heresy, and energize their
followers to commit acts of violence.
Since September 11, 2001, Muslim clerics, scholars, and state officials have
invested considerable resources in polishing Islam’s image in the West,
including fatwas (religious edicts)[2] and condemnations[3] against the
destruction of innocent lives, letters to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian
leaders urging greater understanding between Islam and Christianity,[4] as well
as conferences to condemn terrorism[5] and promote dialogue on religion and
culture.[6] Such events, however, will remain apologists’ public relations
efforts until research into the historicity of the Koran and the Sunna (body of
Islamic law) is allowed freely in Muslim--particularly Arab--countries and the
intolerant and violent verses are pacified.
Most important, is the battle over how to interpret Islam and its texts. While
Islamists versus nationalists or conservative traditionalists compose one
element in this struggle, the dice are loaded against moderates and reformers,
since regimes oppose them as much as they do the Islamists.
The problem is that almost all Arab kings or presidents benefit from a dominant
interpretation of Islam commanding Muslims to obey the Muslim ruler blindly,
just as Islamists profit from interpretations that are easily used to justify
their ideas and actions.
THE USE OF ISLAM IN SUSTAINING INCUMBENT REGIMES AND THE SOCIAL STATUS QUO
In 4:59, the Koran orders: “Obey God and obey God’s messenger and obey those of
authority among you.” This verse contributes to the culture of obedience to
hierarchical authority in Arab societies--the male over the female, the father
over the wife (or wives) and children, the teacher over the student, the
employer over the employee, the ruler over the ruled, the ulama (religious
scholars) over the faithful, and so forth, with every authoritarian party in
each group augmenting the influence of the others.
Sunna traditions amplify the Koran. The answer as to how a Muslim should react
to a ruler who does not follow the true guidance that Muhammad is reported to
have said, according to Sahih Muslim, the hadith (sayings or deeds of Muhammad)
collection of Muslim Bin al-Hajjaj (d. 875): “He who obeys me obeys God; he who
disobeys me, disobeys God. He who obeys the ruler, obeys me; he who disobeys the
ruler, disobeys me.”[7] Such wording or its equivalent occurs two dozen times in
Sahih Muslim. The hadith collections of Abi Da’ud (d. 888) and Ibn Maja (d. 886)
quote Muhammad as imploring Muslims to hear and obey their Muslim ruler, even if
he were an Ethiopian slave.[8] Al-Bukhari (d. 870) quotes similar wording.[9]
It should be noted that in the medieval battle between more liberal and more
restrictive theologians, the fact that the latter tended to support obedience to
existing regimes gave the rulers a strong incentive to support the more
“hardline” interpreters who gained the victory. The consequences for these
societies were devastating, blocking their progress and ensuring they underwent
no equivalent of the Western Enlightenment, which succeeded due to the fact that
the battle there ended with the victory of the more liberal theologians.
Though today used by Islamists seeking to overthrow the incumbent government, at
the time, the victorious strict-constructionists greatly benefited the rulers.
For example, Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058-1111) taught that any ruler was better
than chaos, no matter what the origin of his power.[10] Badr al-Din Bin Jama’a
(1241-1333) promoted the view that the ruler is the shadow of God on the Earth;
that he can either be chosen or can impose himself by his own power, and in
either case, he must be obeyed; that if he is deposed by another, the other must
equally be obeyed; and that “we are with whoever conquers”.[11]
Taki al-Din Bin Taymiyya (1263-1328) believed that the essence of government was
the power of coercion and that the ruler could demand obedience from his
subjects, for even an unjust ruler was better than strife and dissolution of
society.[12]
Notwithstanding that the opinions of these scholars were a product of the
political turmoil of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Arab rulers today
invoke these opinions all the same. Ironically, Islamists favor the same
theologians but stress that obedience is due only to a properly pious
government, that is, an Islamist rather than a traditionalist or nationalist
one.
The Arab peoples’ embrace of Islam is tight. Arabs feel that they are the
guardians of an Arabic religion. The Koran describes the Arabs as the “best race
evolved to mankind” (3:110). Muhammad, his Companions, the Koran, and the Muslim
holy places are located in Arabic-speaking areas. Political frustrations at home
and from abroad since the mid-twentieth century have also drawn most Arabs
closer to Islam.
Finally, the belief in predestination, a core belief in the Islamic creed,
attributes all good and bad to the will of God. Bad rulers are accepted as if
they were ordained by God’s will.
Given Islam’s continuing power and popular enthusiasm for it, Arab kings and
presidents would want to nurture the Islamic fabric of their societies, build a
psychological defense against rebellion, and declare Western democracy as alien
to Islamic teaching.[13] In recent years, they have had to deal with the danger
posed by the fact that this strategy could strengthen their Islamist rivals, but
this has brought only minor adjustments to the overall approach of exalting
Islam as a basis for these societies and as a perceived source of political
stability.
Consequently, Islam is enshrined as the religion of the state in the
constitution of every Arab kingdom and republic. The sole exceptions are
Djibouti, which is silent on state religion, and Syria, which makes Islam the
religion of the president, though it has generally promoted Islamic piety,
especially since just after 2000. In Saudi Arabia, the Koran and the Sunna are
the constitution. In other Arab countries, Islam is either a major or the main
source of legislation.
Up until around the 1980s, when it became a tool of Islamist opposition
movements, Islam--along with internal security forces, privileges for selected
groups, poverty, illiteracy, and ill health of the masses--rendered the majority
of the Arab people politically quietist. This explains why, for example, no
regime has been overthrown in any Arab state since 1970 except for those in
Sudan and Yemen.
In contrast, the Iranian monarchy, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union collapsed,
while many other countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have seen coups,
revolutions, the peaceful transfer of power, or more than one of these types of
change.
When the presidents of Egypt and Yemen allowed contested presidential elections
on September 7, 2005, and September 20, 2006, respectively, the former incumbent
gained a fifth term with 88.6 percent of the votes cast--hardly different from
his four previous referendums--and the latter won a 77.2 percent majority after
28 years of absolute rule. Even if the regimes had falsified a big proportion of
the election ballots, there was still impressive support for the incumbents, as
well as no upheaval when the results were announced.
Again, in contrast, in Islamist Iran, when the 2009 election results were
manipulated by the regime, massive unrest resulted, a factor showing that Islam
alone is not responsible for political passivity, or at least that when
traditionalist Islamic interpretations are disrupted and the religion
politicised, a very different situation can arise.
The above is not intended to imply, however, that Arabic-speaking states are
free of domestic opponents. Small liberal-minded and large Islamist groups are
present in every country. One reason why the Islamists are many times more
successful than the liberals is...
*Elie Elhadj, born in Syria, is a veteran international banker. He was Chief
Executive Officer of Arab National Bank in Saudi Arabia during most of the
1990s. After retiring, he received his Ph.D. from London University's School of
Oriental and African Studies.
MERIA Journal Staff
Publisher and Editor: Prof. Barry Rubin
Assistant Editors: Yeru Aharoni, Anna Melman.
MERIA is a project of the Global Research in International Affairs
(GLORIA) Center, Interdisciplinary University.
Site: http://www.gloria-center.org/ - Email: info@gloria-center.org