LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِMay 15/2010

Bible Of the Day
The Good News According to John
3:10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things? 3:11 Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness. 3:12 If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 3:13 No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. 3:14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 3:15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 3:17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 3:18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. 3:19 This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. 3:20 For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. 3:21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Israel prefers a Syrian address in Lebanon/By: Michael Young/May 14, 10
Gains and hurdles for political women/By: Paige Kollock, Now Lebanon/May 14/10

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for May 14/10
CIA tracks Al-Qaida moving from Iran/AP
Obama Seeks Funds to Boost Israeli Defenses against Hizbullah Rockets/Naharnet
STL officials explain court's use of trials in absentia/Daily Star
Sfeir to travel to Akkar to lay cornerstone/Daily Star
Spain delivers message to Lebanon from Israel/Daily Star
So Long, Sanctions/Investor's Business Daily
The fear of a Lebanon redux/Ha'aretz
Israel seeking to ease tension with Lebanon, Syria: Spain/AFP
Russia warns US against unilateral Iran sanctions/Daily Star
Syria refuses entry to 50 Lebanese potato trucks/Daily Star
Southern poll candidates take Arabic exam/By Mohammed Zaatari/Daily Star
Ogassapian: Hariri intends to visit Arab states before Washington trip/Now Lebanon
Suleiman: Ties Between Hariri, Syrian Leadership Improving/Naharnet
Palestinians in Lebanon Mark 'Nakba Day'/Naharnet
Geagea: Lebanon Safe When Strategic Defense Decisions Made by Government/Naharnet
Hariri to Embark on Regional Tour that Might Include Syria before his U.S. Visit/Naharnet
Judicial Inspection Board Gets First Female Members/Naharnet
'Calm' Budget Session Postponed Amid Consensus Over Quick Adoption/Naharnet
Qahwaji Chosen Best Leader: No Fear on Lebanon's Future/Naharnet
Suleiman: Ties Between Hariri, Syrian Leadership Improving/Naharnet
Moratinos from Beirut: Israel Seeking to Ease Tension with Lebanon, Syria/Naharnet
June 13 Set as By-election Date to Replace MP Alameddine/Naharnet
Stage Set for Election Battle in Batroun, Bassil: Let it Be Political Battle if They Want/Naharnet
Arab Diplomat Involved in Drug Smuggling Ring/Naharnet

CIA tracks Al-Qaida moving from Iran
Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press Exclusive, May 14, 2010
Washington - Their fate has long been a blindspot for U.S. intelligence. Recently, however, some al-Qaida figures have quietly made their way out of Iran, raising the prospect that the country is loosening its grip on the terror group so it can replenish its ranks, former and current U.S. intelligence officials say.This movement could indicate that Iran is re-examining its murky relationship with al-Qaida at a time when the U.S. is stepping up drone attacks in Pakistan and weakening the group's leadership. Any influx of manpower could hand al-Qaida a boost in morale and expertise and threaten to disrupt stability in the region. Details about al-Qaida's movements and U.S. efforts to monitor them were outlined to The Associated Press in more than a dozen interviews with current and former intelligence and counterterrorism officials, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter. U.S. intelligence officials have tried wiretapping and satellite imagery to watch the men. The CIA even established a highly classified program — code-named RIGOR — to study whether it could track and kill terrorists such as al-Qaida in Iran. Results have been mixed. Monitoring and understanding al-Qaida in Iran remains one of the most difficult jobs in U.S. intelligence.
The above article from Associated Press was published by news.yahoo.com on May 13th, 2010.

Israel prefers a Syrian address in Lebanon
Michael Young, May 14, 2010
Now Lebanon/ The Israeli PM said that Iran will not succeed in creating tension between Israel and Syria to cause a war in the region. (AFP photo)
On Tuesday, Benjamin Netanyahu declared while on a visit to northern Israel that “Iran is trying to stir up war between Israel and Syria in order to cause tension in the region.” The Israeli prime minister went on to say, “We want stability and peace… We have no intention of attacking our neighbors, contrary to false rumors.”
It’s never a good idea to read too much into a single phrase, but Netanyahu’s comments uncovered an old train of thought in Israeli thinking. The Israelis have never seen any strategic contradiction between their aims and Syria’s aims in Lebanon, and this for over three decades, even after the withdrawal of Syrian soldiers in 2005.
For Israel, Lebanon was more predictable when the Syrians were around. Syrian and Israeli interests only rarely came into conflict. One of the times they did was in 1982, when Israel tried to break the Lebanese status quo to its advantage by expelling the Palestinians and bringing to power Bachir Gemayel. That scheme ended in success, when Yasser Arafat was expelled from Beirut, and failure when Gemayel was assassinated and Lebanon’s parliament failed later to ratify the May 17 Accord. The Israelis opted to return to the old ways, withdrawing in 1985 to a so-called “security zone” in southern Lebanon and allowing Syria to impose its hegemony everywhere else.
After 1990, when the cycle of Lebanese wars ended, the Israelis continued to accept a Pax Syriana in Lebanon, even though during that period Syria encouraged Hezbollah to arm and grow. After their withdrawal in 2000, the Israelis went on believing that the Syrian presence was a stabilizing factor. Hezbollah’s sporadic attacks in the Shebaa Farms area were deemed tolerable, even if an alleged Palestinian base in Syria was the target of Israeli air attack in October 2003. However, any crossing of the “red lines,” whether by Israel or Syria, remained part of a subtle balancing game both sides accepted.
Then came 2005 and the Independence Intifada that led Syria to remove its army from Lebanon. While the Israelis never took a public stance on what had happened, from their subsequent statements and behavior it is probably fair to say that they didn’t like the fact that Hezbollah emerged as the most powerful military force in the country, with no Syrian tutelage to control the party. Israel always found it preferable to have a Syrian address in Lebanon.
In other words, Syria was not only the party with which Israel could conclude unwritten understandings over Lebanon, it was the party that could be held accountable if these understandings were transgressed. Netanyahu’s warning that Israel did not want to involve itself in a war with Syria on Iran’s behalf reaffirmed that principle and the rationale underlining it: Better Syria in Lebanon than Iran. Syria never accepted its Lebanese military withdrawal. I’ve argued that for its president, Bashar al-Assad, the prime objective in the coming years is to reverse what happened in 2005 and return his tanks to Lebanon. But several conditions are needed for him to do so: Arab acceptance, Israeli approval and an American green light.
Arab acquiescence, given the ongoing fear of Iran in the region and its extensions such as Hezbollah, may be a foregone conclusion. Israeli consent, if the proper conditions are met, may be easier than we imagine, hence the importance of statements like Netanyahu’s. That would leave the United States, which initially would resist a Syrian redeployment in Lebanon. But before going too far along that path, consider a scenario that might dilute American disapproval.
Imagine if there is a new war between Lebanon and Israel, and this time Hezbollah manages to put up a tough fight for longer than it did in 2006. Having been armed with more advanced Syrian weapons, including effective anti-aircraft missiles and longer range rockets, the party might be able to turn a new war into a serious brawl. Israel’s reaction would be to destroy Lebanon far more extensively than it did four years ago, including its economic infrastructure.
In that case, the Lebanese state and government would be discredited, impoverished, humiliated, and would have to face the inevitable angry public backlash head on. United Nations resolutions, particularly Resolution 1701, would effectively be rendered null and void. Regionally, the Arabs, but also Israel, would regard Hezbollah as a major menace (thanks to Syrian efforts to strengthen the party militarily and ensure it remained a menace). Washington, its attentions elsewhere, could be less inclined to say no if there is a regional consensus, one that the Lebanese support either by conviction or through intimidation, in favor of a Syrian comeback.
Damascus would, of course, market this as a means of stabilizing Lebanon and keeping an eye on Hezbollah, to which it would, nonetheless, give a wide margin of maneuver, since only a Hezbollah perceived as dangerous justifies a Syrian presence in Lebanon.  It’s time to think outside the box on Syrian intentions, and Netanyahu’s remarks help us to do just that. Bashar al-Assad may or may not succeed in bringing his army this side of our border with Syria. But if obstacles there are to such an endeavor, they almost certainly do not lie in Arab capitals or, for that matter, in Tel Aviv.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of the Daily Star newspaper in Beirut. His book, The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle (Simon & Schuster), has just been published.

Arab MK: Replace Israel with Islamic Caliphate
by Maayana Miskin/Arutz Sheva
Israel should be integrated into an Islamic Caliphate, and Hamas and Hizbullah should be respected as legitimate political movements, according to Israeli-Arab MK Masoud Ganaim in an interview with the weekly paper Kul al-Arab, which is published in Israel. The interview was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Ganaim explicitly said that he is opposed to Jewish statehood, stating that his Ra'am Ta'al party is “against the Zionist movement and its racist ideas.” If Israel is absorbed into an Islamic Caliphate, he said, Jews will be allowed to remain in the region. Ganaim (in left side of picture) is a member of the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Regarding Jerusalem, which Ganaim referred to as “occupied,” the MK said that Arabs must be prepared to fight. “Jerusalem and Al-Aksa [Mosque] are both in danger,” he declared. He backed extremist Muslim leaders in saying that Israel is threatening the Al-Aksa Mosque and plans to rebuild the Temple.
When asked if the struggle for Al-Aksa should be peaceful, the MK said Muslims “must not relinquish any means.”
Ganaim expressed support for Hamas and Hizbullah, which both strive to destroy Israel. “The Iran-Syria-Hizbullah axis represents the policy of resistance and non-capitulation, so naturally I am with this axis,” he said when asked which side he would support in a battle between Iran and a handful of Arab nations. Hizbullah is “a model for a political party that assigns a special place to religious discourse,” he continued. The world, Israeli included, should accept Hamas, Ganaim said. Hamas was voted into power in democratic elections, and Israel should “respect the will of the Palestinian people,” he explained. Ganaim's interview comes on the heels of a dispute involving six other MKs from Israeli-Arab parties. MKs Ahmed Tibi, Mohammed Barakei, Taleb a-Sana, Haneen Zoabi, Jamal Zahalka and Afo Agbaria visited Libya. Following the visit, members of the coalition suggested that the Knesset strip the six of their parliamentary immunity.

TIME: 'The Next Lebanon War'
by Hana Levi Julian/Arutz Sheva
A report by TIME Magazine this week warns that "the next Lebanon War" is on the horizon, but contends that although the Hizbullah terrorist organization and Israel are both fully prepared for war, neither side is looking forward to the eventuality. The inevitable, says writer Ramzi Haidar, actually depends more on the U.S. and Iran than it does on either Israel or Hizbullah, given that the two are locked in a battle over the Islamic Republic's nuclear development program. Iran is aiming Hizbullah's tens of thousands of missiles at Israel in a bid to halt American pressure designed to end its ability to build an atomic weapon. The U.S., for its part, is working hard to persuade the United Nations Security Council to impose tougher economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Israel has vowed to consider the entire nation of Lebanon fair game, rather than restricting its targets to Hizbullah-linked areas, if war again breaks out in the north. The reason: Hizbullah has become a significant player in Lebanon's government, with several ministers representing the terrorist organization in the nation's cabinet and a healthy-sized faction in the parliament. The Lebanese government has issued numerous statements asserting the group's right to bear arms, and validating its status as a military entity “defending” the Lebanese people from “Israeli aggression.” The terrorist group is supplied by Syria and Iran with generous funding and more missiles and other ordnance than most European nations, according to some reports, including Scuds. IDF Brigadier General Yossi Baidatz, a top military intelligence analyst, told a Knesset committee a week ago that Hizbullah has all kinds of weapons, “including solid-fueled rockets, more accurate and with a longer range.” The Scud missiles recently transferred from Syria to Lebanon are "just the tip of the iceberg," Baidatz warned. Hizbullah is upgrading its battle plans and preparing for war, TIME reports, while planning to send guerrilla fighters on cross-border raids and sabotage missions, similar to that which ignited the Second Lebanon War. But although the magazine referred to the strategy as “unprecedented in the Arab-Israeli conflict,” it is in fact a common move, one that has been repeated throughout the history of the reborn State of Israel, beginning with raids by "fedayeen" attackers.
A similar attack was perpetrated by members of three Hamas-linked terrorist groups in 2006. The operation resulted in the abduction of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who is still being held hostage in Gaza. Shalit's condition and whereabouts remain unknown. Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti Al-Rai newspaper claimed several days ago that Western sources told it that "Israel will wage war the minute it discovers the whereabouts of Nasrallah's hideout whatever the time or circumstances," Nasrallah, the anti-Semitic head of Hizbullah, has mostly been in hiding since the Second Lebanon War.

Gains and hurdles for political women
Paige Kollock,/ Now Lebanon
May 14, 2010
Lebanon’s municipal elections are halfway through, and already monitors are noticing a small but welcome demographic shift toward the election of female candidates.
With residents in three of Lebanon’s electoral districts having cast their ballots, women’s representation in municipal councils has already increased from 2 percent in 2004 to nearly 6 percent. The increase comes despite the fact that a draft law to impose a quota of women candidates was never passed. But experts say, despite the increase, females still have a long way to go in order to gain political weight in Lebanon, a society dominated by male politicians.
In Lebanon’s 128-member parliament, there are only four women. The cabinet of 15 contains two females: the minister of Finance and a minister of State. This jarring gender gap led Interior Minister Ziad Baroud to propose a “gender quota” that would mandate that a certain percentage of nominees on the electoral ballots be reserved for females. Though the cabinet gave the idea their seal of approval in January, adopting a 20 percent quota for women in municipal councils, parliament didn’t agree and failed to pass it. Nonetheless, many parties took it upon themselves to put forth women candidates in these elections, whether to show their progressive nature or to gain votes.
Farha Ajami is a grandmother from the Bekka Valley who won a seat to represent her village of Saghbine. Despite having minimal political experience, she was asked to run by the local Free Patriotic Movement branch just days before the election, and accepted because she “wanted to support the party.” Due to her prominence and popularity in her home town, she did not have to raise money, shake hands or make a single call, but is enthusiastic about her new position.
“We want to fix our town, make gardens and parks for kids and for people to sit in. We want to fix the roads,” she told NOW Lebanon.
Ajami says she did not face any discrimination as a female candidate, and in fact was encouraged to run by her husband and daughter. She believes at least half the seats for local representatives should be reserved for women because females work hard, have good ideas and are not as violent as men.
While that may be true, some women still face resistance because of Lebanon’s patriarchal society, according to the National Democratic Institute, a nonprofit organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide. Ayman Georges, who works with NDI in Lebanon, says that among the many challenges for female candidates, their own families can be one of the biggest.
“Men are skeptical about women not being able to cope with everything…work, politics and their domestic duties. A second element is related to peer pressure because other families in the town may ask why the female of the household is running for office and not the man.”
Georges says still others question how active women will be on their councils if elected. To overcome these stereotypes, NDI started a campaign called “Shariky” to help teach women the techniques they need to run a proper campaign, and to provide a forum for women to help each other. Seventeen participants in the Shariky program ran for municipal council seats in Mount Lebanon, the first municipality to vote, and eight of them won, a remarkably high percentage.
Dala Ghandour, 29, who campaigned for a seat in the Beirut municipality, was one of the Shariky participants. She was defeated, but still got an impressive number of votes – 1,470 – for a young female candidate with no experience or party support. She too says men were surprisingly encouraging.
“On the contrary, I had both old and young men saying, ‘Yes, we will vote for you.’ No one told me ‘You’re a woman’ or ‘You are too young.’ If we want to change the rules of the game, we have to start doing something. It’s about small steps. A lot of people on my Facebook page said ‘Thank you for running’ because they know we need new blood, new faces, new ideas,” she said.
According to International Foundation for Electoral Systems Director Richard Chambers, while many of Lebanon’s neighbors, such as Jordan, Syria and Palestine, already have quotas for women in government, there are many ways to get around mandatory quotas and that voluntary ones have proven more effective.
“If you’re a political party, all you want to do is to win seats, and if you know you’ll have a greater chance of winning seats by meeting this requirement, you’re going to do it. I think, with these [Lebanese municipal] elections, every party woke up to the fact that they had to do it and that in fact it could improve their image,” he said.
Even parties with conservative attitudes toward women, such as Hezbollah, have put forth female candidates, and women account for a larger percentage of voters than men, so it is only a matter of time until women gain a foothold in Lebanese politics. The fact that a woman’s quota passed the cabinet’s approval is in itself a milestone, said Chambers. “And it’s a milestone being pushed by a male-dominated cabinet.”

Ibrahim Kanaan
May 14, 2010
On May 13, the website of the Free Patriotic Movement, Tayyar.org, carried the following report:
Deputy Ibrahim Kanaan, the chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee in parliament, said during an intervention on the Naharkom Said morning show that it was normal to have remarks on the budget, revealing that a detailed study over this issue had just been completed. Deputy Kanaan hoped that all the ministers concerned at the constitutional level about financial policies and the economic situation, will seriously discuss the budget thoroughly and that the process will not be conducted the as in the past, i.e. when critical topics – and not just the municipal election law – remained without implementation and follow-up.
“There are many remarks over the proposed budget which we discussed with our ministerial team and which we had previously put up for discussion by the Budget and Finance Committee. These remarks relate to the respect of regulations, the constitution and Public Accounting Law. For example, the budget should not feature suggestions for amendments of laws that are in force. These amendments should be part of special drafts to be discussed in parliament and not squeezed in the context of the budget.” He thus indicated that what was important for the time being was that the municipal election was held under the slogan of development and concord, and that in order for this slogan to be implemented on the ground, financial revenues must be allocated to the municipalities.
“The delayed arrears related to the allocation of these revenues date back to 2007. The revenues of 2007 were distributed in 2009 and those of 2008 and 2009 which amount to at least 560 billion Lebanese pounds are still outstanding. They were also not observed in Treasury expenditures, knowing that the Finance Ministry and in the draft budget Article 5, paragraph 1, requested permission to take out a loan to cover the fiscal deficit, which requires us to learn more about this deficit. This deficit is a result of the delayed arrears of the state to begin with. We call on all ministers, regardless of the political team to which they belong, not to allow the promises they gave to citizens to be empty ones. The municipalities should be given the necessary capacities to ensure development and this can only be done through respect of the law. The government and the Finance Ministry should allocate these revenues, especially since the cabinet statement focused on the priorities of the citizens…” Regarding the participation of the private sector, Kanaan indicated that this was a positive thing in principle, but that it required organization and a mechanism that would prevent the sale of this sector. He added: “The participation of the private sector should not be a cover to sell the state sectors by gaining control over what is left of them. We support the participation of the private sector in the context of an organized mechanism that would uphold the right of the state and citizens and generate revenues and good management for these facilities. Until now, all we are hearing are headlines related to the participation of the private sector, whereas the implementation mechanism has not yet seen the light.” In conclusion, he indicated that the bloc had not yet adopted a position toward the budget draft and that it was dealing with it in a serious and constructive way, hoping that this discussion is not conducted in an abnormal way to avoid the non-ratification of the budget…

Berri to Aoun: I Will Not Interfere in Jezzine Polls
Naharnet/Parliament's press office denied on Friday media reports of a dispute between House Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun over the Jezzine municipal elections. It said that the reports are "biased rumors aimed at causing strife between the two allies." Berri asserted his stand in a phone call with Aoun during which he also stressed "the position he had announced months ago that he will not interfere in the elections in Jezzine" and the areas surrounding it. He stressed: "This is a stable position, no more, no less. On the contrary, cooperation between AMAL and the FPM is ongoing in other southern regions."
On a related note, Berri's press office refuted allegations by former MP Mustapha Alloush in which he said that the March 14 forces had allied themselves with Berri's AMAL movement in Jezzine. There was never an alliance, neither declared nor "under the table between the former March 14 alliance and Berri, especially in Jezzine," it added.
Meanwhile, following the expiry of the deadline to file candidacies for municipal council seats in southern Lebanon, Berri said Friday southerners would prove on May 23 that "the South was and still is glorious with its resistance and coexistence."In a statement released by his press office, Berri said: "The South will emerge victorious in implementing all development projects on all levels ... and would hold onto national unity and the resistance."Addressing those making electoral results analyses ahead of time, the speaker said: "There is no battle in the minds of southerners except for defense of the land against Israeli aggression."The south and Lebanon would be victorious no matter who wins during the third round of elections on May 23, he added. Beirut, 14 May 10, 18:18