LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِAugust 19/2010

Bible Of the Day
1 Corinthians 10:13: "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
Today's Inspiring Thought: The Way of Escape
Temptation is something we all face as Christians, no matter how long we have been following Christ. But, with every temptation also comes a way of escape. As the verse reminds us, God is faithful. He won't allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to resist. So, when you are face to face with temptation, instead of giving in, look for the escape route that God has promised. Then, run as fast as you can/

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
The Tricks of Hezbollah/By: Ryan Mauro/August 18/10
Open letter to Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah from Adel Nassar/August 18/10
Michel Aoun in his Syrianized betrayal stances/Agencies/August 18/10
Strong state can protect Lebanon/By Jamil K. Mroue/August 18/10
The Ground Zero mosque, George Washington and Rhode Island Jews/by Ed Koch/August 18/10

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for August 18/10
Iran calls on IAEA to counter unfriendly UN sanctions'/ JPOST
Ban Recommends Renewal of UNIFIL Mandate, Warns Stable Atmosphere Could Change Fast/Naharnet
Williams: Need for Effective Humanitarian Action Greater Than Ever/Naharnet
Hariri: Stability is Not Just a Need, it is the Duty of All Lebanese Leaders/Naharnet
March 14: Tribunal Exclusive Authority that Issues Verdicts in Hariri Murder Case/Naharnet
Two Lebanese citizens sentenced to death for collaborating with Israel/AFP
Lebanese cabinet to discuss three-year plan to equip Lebanese Army/Daily Star
Lebanese Army removes border trees/Daily Star
Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qomati: Hezbollah calls for disbanding STL/Now Lebanon
Lebanese Cabinet asks Najjar to prepare report on STL false witnesses/Now Lebanon
Lebanon’s state prosecuto, Mirza receives Hizbullah data, transfers to Bellemare/Daily Star
Hizbullah: We've Put What We Have in Lebanese Judiciary's Custody, We're Unconcerned with U.N. Probe/Naharnet
Lebanese Parliament grants wider work rights for Palestinians/Daily Star
Lebanon: Hezbollah Dossier to Tribunal/New York Times
Jumblat: Better Have a Government then Leave Country in Vacuum/Naharnet
Col. Antoine Abu Jaoudeh Charged with Spying for Israel/Naharnet
March 14 being asked to surrender, Zahra says/Now Lebanon
Former Israeli Officer Claims he Has Info on Hariri Murder, Lebanon Believes he is Mentally Sick/Naharnet
Parliament Approves Law on Oil Excavation and Another on Granting Palestinians Right to Work in Lebanon/Naharnet
Aoun Says Only Cabinet Entitled to Open Bank Account to Raise Funds for Army/Naharnet
Geagea Rules Out Cabinet Changes, Says Such Assumptions Aim at 'Psychological Pressure'/Naharnet
Abdullah Lauds as 'Step Forward' Adoption of Refugee Employment Right, Says Doesn't Meet All Demands/Naharnet
'Salam from the South', UNIFIL Introduces Arabic-Language Radio Program/Naharnet
Hariri, Berri Exchange Accusations over Budget/Naharnet
Lebabese Ministry of Foreign Affairs disappointed by Ad-Diyar report/Now Lebanon
Lebanese Development and Liberation bloc MP Qassem Hashem: Some politicians’ stances on STL serve personal aims/Now Lebanon

Ban Recommends Renewal of UNIFIL Mandate,
Warns Stable Atmosphere Could Change Fast
Naharnet/U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has recommended the Security Council to renew the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon for another year, An Nahar daily reported Wednesday. The newspaper said that Ban also expressed "deep concern" over "the tragic incident" earlier in the month near the town of Adeisseh between Lebanese and Israeli troops.
The secretary-general said the trees that Israeli soldiers were trying to cut were south of the U.N.-drawn Blue Line and Lebanese troops were the first to open fire. Ban told the Council, however, that UNIFIL hasn't yet named the party that started to open fire directly on the other side. He warned the clashes are a sign that the "relative stable" atmosphere in the area "could change quickly." Ban said it was the responsibility of Lebanese authorities to preserve the freedom of movement of UNIFIL. He added that Israel should withdraw from the northern part of the border village of Ghajar in accordance with Security Council resolution 1701 and end its violations of Lebanese airspace that "contribute to tension" between the two sides.
Beirut, 18 Aug 10, 08:02

Mirza receives Hizbullah data, transfers to Bellemare
By The Daily Star
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
BEIRUT: Hizbullah submitted a dossier to Lebanon’s state prosecutor Tuesday after a UN court requested the party provide the evidence it said it had of Israel’s involvement in the 2005 killing of former Premier Rafik Hariri. Prosecutor Saeed Mirza passed on the evidence, which he received from Hizbullah official Wafiq Safa, to Chief Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s office in Lebanon, a Hizbullah statement said Tuesday. Commenting on Hizbullah’s decision to submit the data, Premier Saad Hariri said during an iftar Tuesday that “God willing, matters would be calm as we always sought, since stability in turn brings prosperity which we should all preserve.” Hizbullah’s statement reiterated the party’s position toward the UN probe, whose credibility it doubts and with which it refuses to cooperate. “Hizbullah hands what it possesses to the Lebanese judiciary and is not concerned with the UN probe as our stance regarding it is known to everyone,” it said. The statement said Hizbullah’s move came upon a request by Hariri in talks the premier held with Hussein Khalil, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s political aide. As-Safir reported in remarks published Tuesday that the meeting had been very positive. Later on Tuesday, the National News Agency reported that Mirza had submitted to Bellemare the documents presented by Hizbullah to the Lebanese judiciary.Nasrallah last week presented what he said was Israeli surveillance footage of routes used by Hariri, saying this indicated Israel carried out the suicide bombing which killed Hariri and 22 others.
Nasrallah showed the footage after Western and Israeli media reports said the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) might indict some of the group’s members over the Hariri killing, an allegation he categorically rejects. He has strongly criticized the STL and attacked it as an “Israeli project,” raising fears of Sunni-Shiite strife in Lebanon.
At a gathering late on Monday, Hariri called for calm, saying Lebanon should not fear “any political noise, which we hope to calm down and turn into calm speech, and start democratic dialogue.” On Saturday, he said he wanted to know who killed his father but at the same time he wanted stability. “Dialogue cannot succeed with the accusations of treason and with repeated calls for tests of patriotism and nationalism,” he said. After Nasrallah’s two-hour presentation of footage, witness testimonies and analyses aimed at making a case that Israel was behind the assassination, the Office of the Prosecutor at the UN tribunal asked Lebanese authorities to provide all information in Nasrallah’s possession, including the footage.
Hizbullah, which fought Israel to a stalemate in a 2006 war, is determined to deflect any blame for the 2005 killing.
Hariri’s remarks came before a scheduled session of “national dialogue” on Thursday in which rival leaders are trying to agree the country’s defense strategy toward Israel.
Sources said the STL was not on the agenda but it would likely be brought up during talks.
The first national dialogue session was held in September 2008 after a Qatari-mediated deal ended an 18-month political crisis which led to street fighting between pro-opposition and pro-government gunmen which took the country to the brink of renewed civil war. The fighting broke out when the government decided to dismantle Hizbullah’s telecoms network. Some analysts warned that such a scenario could be repeated if Hizbullah figures are indicted.
Hariri formed a national unity government last year that includes Hizbullah MPs. Analysts say if the court does indict Hizbullah members, the group, along with its allies, the Free Patriotic Movement and Amal led by Speaker Nabih Berri, could decide to bring down the government. – Agencies, with The Daily Star

Col. Antoine Abu Jaoudeh Charged with Spying for Israel
Naharnet/Lebanon's military court on Wednesday charged a colonel with spying for Israel, bringing to four the number of active duty soldiers arrested on charges of espionage. Judge Saqr Saqr charged Colonel Antoine Abu Jaoudeh with spying for the (Israeli) enemy, meeting with Israeli Mossad agents abroad and providing them with information on the resistance and army in exchange for money from 2006 until his arrest earlier this month. More than 100 people have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel since April 2009, including members of the security forces and telecom employees. Many of the charge sheets accuse the suspects of having helped Israel identify targets during its devastating 2006 war with Hizbullah.
The most high-profile arrest came earlier this month, when Fayez Karam, a former army general and top member of the Free Patriotic Movement, was charged with espionage and providing the Jewish state with information on Hizbullah. Five Lebanese have been sentenced to death for spying for the Mossad so far, including two who were handed the death sentence Tuesday.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 18 Aug 10, 14:14

Two sentenced to death for collaborating with Israel
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
BEIRUT: A Lebanese military court on Tuesday sentenced two citizens to death on charges of spying for Israel’s Mossad, a judicial source said. “Military court chief General Nizar Khalil sentenced Oussama Mohammad Ali Berri to death for contacting Israeli intelligence and providing information that facilitated Israeli attacks on Lebanon,” the source said. Khalil also sentenced Antoine Salim Atmeh to death “for entering Israel, working with Israeli intelligence and convincing Berri to collaborate with Israel,” the source said. Berri is in custody, but Atmeh remains at large and was sentenced in absentia. More than 100 people have been arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel since April 2009, including members of the security forces and telecommunication employees. Fayez Karam, a former army general and high-profile member of a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, was also charged this month with spying for Israel and providing Israel with information on Hizbullah. Tuesday’s sentence brings to five the number of men sentenced to death since 2009, including one found guilty of aiding Israel during its devastating 2006 war on Lebanon. Lebanon and Israel remain technically in a state of war, and convicted spies face life in prison with hard labor or the death penalty if found guilty of contributing to loss of life. – AFP

March 14: Tribunal Exclusive Authority that Issues Verdicts in Hariri Murder Case
Naharnet/The March 14 general-secretariat said on Wednesday that it holds onto the international tribunal as the "exclusive authority" that should issue verdicts in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination case. Following its weekly meeting, the general-secretariat said the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was operating professionally and away from efforts to distort its image.
The statement stressed that Lebanon would head towards destruction if the Lebanese were given the option of justice or stability. On the national dialogue that will be held at Baabda palace on Thursday, the statement stressed on the importance of the conferees' insistence to discuss the single clause on the session agenda which is the defense strategy. Beirut, 18 Aug 10, 14:39

Hariri: Stability is Not Just a Need, it is the Duty of All Lebanese Leaders
Naharnet/Prime Minister Saad Hariri has said it was the duty of all Lebanese leaders to preserve stability in the country as a value added asset. "Calm brings stability, which in its turn brings prosperity," Hariri said during an Iftar he hosted in Qoreitem in honor of economic associations and businessmen. "Stability is no longer a need. It is a duty and necessity," the Mustaqbal movement leader told his guests. "It is the duty of all leaderships in Lebanon to deal with security, political and social stability as a value added asset." Hariri congratulated the Lebanese for the adoption of the oil exploration draft law by parliament on Tuesday, saying it was "an important step in a march that we hope it would continue." The premier lauded Lebanon's expansion of employment rights for 400,000 Palestinian refugees. Parliament's decision allows Palestinians to work in the same professions as other foreigners. He also hoped "calm would always prevail" in the country after Prosecutor General Said Mirza received material provided by Hizbullah to press its claim that Israel was linked to the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Beirut, 18 Aug 10, 07:42

Williams: Need for Effective Humanitarian Action Greater Than Ever
Naharnet/U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said in his message on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day on Wednesday that the need for effective humanitarian action is greater than ever. The U.N. system worldwide celebrates World Humanitarian Day on August 19. "This day was designated to honor all those who have worked in the promotion of humanitarian affairs and in solemn memory of all the aid workers who lost their lives while bringing assistance to others," he said. "Among those were the 22 United Nations colleagues who perished in the brutal terrorist attack on U.N. Headquarters in Baghdad on 19 August 2003." "The challenges faced by millions of people in emergency situations around the world are formidable, and the need for principled and effective humanitarian action is greater than ever," Williams said in his message. Beirut, 18 Aug 10, 12:40

Geagea Rules Out Cabinet Changes, Says Such Assumptions Aim at 'Psychological Pressure'
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of any imminent cabinet changes, noting that any step in that direction would mean torpedoing the current government which "has no alternative." Geagea said that the timing of such assumptions aims at "psychological pressure." On a separate note, the LF leader welcomed the step of approving the law on granting civil rights to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, "despite its historical sensitivity to the Lebanese," lauding March 14 forces for agreeing on "this unanimous suggestion after positive and logical interaction and cooperation." Geagea ruled out the possibility of granting Palestinian refugees the right to own property, calling the Lebanese government to form a ministerial committee that would tour Arab and foreign countries "in a bid to establish a fund that addresses the living conditions of the Palestinians.""Lebanon alone can't bear the burdens of the Palestinian plight in anticipation of resuming the (peace) negotiations and reaching a final solution that allows the return of the Palestinians to their homeland," Geagea added. Beirut, 17 Aug 10, 17:10

'Salam from the South', UNIFIL Introduces Arabic-Language Radio Program
Naharnet/The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) yesterday began broadcasting its first own Arabic-language radio program, the force announced in a press release Tuesday. "The program 'Salam from the South' is broadcasted on four local radio stations. For 10 minutes every other week, the radio program will tell listeners first-hand news about UNIFIL. The program will also bring voices of the people of south Lebanon, with their views on UNIFIL activities and their outlook relating to peacekeeping in their midst," added the statement. The radio will complement the other means of communications UNIFIL is already using -- a magazine, video programs and the web -- to reach out to people of Lebanon and inform them about UNIFIL, its role, mandate and activities. Beirut, 17 Aug 10, 18:36

Jumblat: Better Have a Government then Leave Country in Vacuum
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has stressed that no one wants to topple the international tribunal and said there is a need to keep Saad Hariri as prime minister.
"No one wants to topple the court. There is a Lebanese-Syrian agreement to keep it although Syria is not involved," Jumblat told al-Akhbar daily in remarks published Wednesday.
"There is a huge difference between the tribunal and the indictment," he said. The newspaper said the Druze leader informed French and U.S. officials that the indictment "would lead to a major security turmoil" if the Special Tribunal for Lebanon names Hizbullah members. On discussions about toppling the government, Jumblat said: "Better live in a country that has a government then a country in vacuum." "There is a need to keep Saad Hariri as prime minister," he added. In other remarks to As Safir daily, Jumblat said that parliament's decision to grant Palestinians fuller employment rights was a modest step. He thanked Speaker Nabih Berri, however, for insisting on adopting a consensual approach in dealing with the issue.
Jumblat vowed to continue efforts to adopt the remaining rights no matter how hard and "bumpy" the road was. In remarks to the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, Jumblat described the adoption of Palestinian rights as an "achievement.""The second battle is ahead: ownership right. I won't give up, and what has been accomplished today is the outcome of consensus among everyone, but ownership right remains pending, and it is also important," he said. Beirut, 18 Aug 10, 09:30

Cabinet asks Najjar to prepare report on STL false witnesses
August 18, 2010 /NOW Lebanon’s correspondent reported on Wednesday that the cabinet tasked Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar to follow up on the issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) false witnesses with the Lebanese judiciary and prepare a report on the matter.The cabinet also discussed the issue of arming the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the correspondent added.  Defense Minister Elias al-Murr announced last week the opening of an account at the Central Bank as a fund “to support the armament and equipment of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).” His move followed the US Congress decision—after the deadly Aadaiseh border clashes earlier in August—to block Washington’s military aid to the LAF. -NOW Lebanon

Ministry of Foreign Affairs disappointed by Ad-Diyar report
August 18, 2010
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary General William Habib said that he was disappointed by Wednesday’s Ad-Diyar report on an alleged witness in the case of the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri presenting himself to the Lebanese Embassy in Prague, LBCI television reported on Wednesday. Ad-Diyar newspaper reported earlier in the day that a former officer in the Israeli army went to the Lebanese Embassy in Prague and claimed that he has information on the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Habib said that the ministry received on August 9 a report on the matter, adding that the ministry informed the related officials about the issue. “This person refused to disclose his name or reveal his information,” Habib said. He added that embassy officials believed the man was either mentally ill or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. -NOW Lebanon

March 14 being asked to surrender, Zahra says
August 18, 2010 /Lebanese Forces bloc MP Antoine Zahra told ANB television on Tuesday that “there is a political request for the March 14 alliance, and in particular Prime Minister Saad Hariri, to surrender.” He added that Tawhid Movement leader Wiam Wahhab was threatening his political rivals when he told New TV on Sunday that people supporting sedition in Lebanon will be later “found inside car trunks.” Zahra also voiced his disappointment that Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun justifies his allies’ actions and statements.
Earlier on Tuesday, Aoun reiterated his criticism of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), saying the tribunal was misled by false witnesses. The STL will not serve any party’s political ends, Zahra said, adding, “If the tribunal transforms into a tool that reassures a certain party, it will lose its credibility.” The MP added that attempts to end the work of the STL will not succeed. Last month, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accused the STL of being an Israeli project designed to target the Resistance by stirring up sectarian strife in Lebanon.-NOW Lebanon

Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qomati: Hezbollah calls for disbanding STL
August 18, 2010 /Hezbollah official Mahmoud Qomati told Al-Manar television on Wednesday that Hezbollah calls for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) to be disbanded and replaced with another judicial body.The tribunal is unfair and politicized, he added. Qomati also said that “Hezbollah does not trust the STL,” but added that his party wants to know the truth behind the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. National unity is the only means to fight sedition, the Hezbollah official said. He questioned whether March 14 General Coordinator Fares Soueid or Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea can be objective on the issue of Israel’s possible involvement in the Rafik Hariri killing.
Qomati added that Soueid and Geagea “are employees of external sides.”During a press conference last week, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah showed video footage and the confession of an alleged spy, which he said implicate Israel in the assassination. Mirza received on Tuesday from Hezbollah a file containing the information requested last week by the STL pertaining to the killing of Rafik Hariri. Hezbollah’s evidence submittal was done at the request of Attorney General Judge Said Mirza and PM Saad Hariri, and not that of the STL, Qomati said. He added that Hezbollah submitted all the information Nasrallah presented in his press conference. -NOW Lebanon

Development and Liberation bloc MP Qassem Hashem: Some politicians’ stances on STL serve personal aims
August 18, 2010 /Development and Liberation bloc MP Qassem Hashem told NOW Lebanon in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that some Lebanese political figures adopt stances on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in order to fulfill their personal aims. The investigation of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri should take a new turn after Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah submitted his evidence, he added. Attorney General Judge Said Mirza received on Tuesday from Hezbollah a file containing the information requested last week by the STL pertaining to the killing of Rafik Hariri. During a press conference last week, Nasrallah showed video footage and the confession of an alleged spy, which he said implicate Israel in the assassination. “Israel is the major perpetrator in the [killing of Rafik Hariri],” Hashem said, adding that the tribunal aims to target the Resistance.
Hashem praised President Michel Sleiman’s imitative to empower the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). Following the Aadaiseh clashes, Sleiman announced that he would work with friendly countries to help fund the Lebanese army.  The US Congress earlier in August blocked Washington’s aid to the LAF. -NOW Lebanon

Parliament grants wider work rights for Palestinians
Lebanese MPs pass law allowing oil exploration, drilling
By Agence France Presse (AFP) and The Daily Star
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Parliament adopted Tuesday a law granting wider employment rights to some 400,000 Palestinians in the country, revoking a ban that had barred the refugees from tens of professions for years. MPs also passed a law on Tuesday authorizing exploration and drilling of offshore oil and gas fields which have fueled tensions with Israel over maritime borders. “Parliament approved a law amendment lifting former restrictions on employment for Palestinian refugees, who will now have the right to work in any field open to foreigners with benefits including social security from their own special fund,” a senior official told AFP. Like other foreigners, Palestinians will not be able to work as doctors or lawyers, or in the army and police force, all reserved for Lebanese citizens. Palestinian refugees have until now been allowed limited in employment opportunities.
But the thorny issue of the Palestinians is far from resolved, as they continue to live off UN handouts in destitute conditions in a dozen camps across the country and are still deprived of health care, the right to own property and the right to citizenship, among others. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) estimates Lebanon today houses 400,000 Palestinians, but Lebanese officials estimate no more than 300,000 refugees actually reside in the country as UNRWA does not strike off its lists those who emigrate.
Most refugees live in camps that are armed to the teeth and which international groups warn provide fertile ground for breeding Islamist extremists.
Palestinian Ambassador Abdullah Abdullah lauded Tuesday’s move as “a progressive step forward” but said in a statement that Palestinian leaders would continue to push for their rights, primarily the right to own property.
The fate of the Palestinians has split Christian and Muslim legislators in the 128-strong Parliament, which is equally shared by the two confessions.
Armed Palestinians played a major role in the outbreak of the 1975-90 Civil War, which initially pitted Palestinians and leftists against rightwing Christians.
Two decades later, the threat of tawteen, Arabic for the naturalization and resettlement of Palestinians, looms especially large over Lebanon’s diminishing Christian community.
The country’s demographic reality is fast changing: studies show two-thirds of the Lebanese population today is Muslim, roughly split between Shiites and Sunnis. Around a third of the population is Christian, mainly Maronites loyal to the Vatican.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, an ally of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, welcomed Tuesday’s vote but warned in a statement that the government could not “bear further burdens in addition to that passed today.” The Phalange Party, however, said it was disappointed that its comments on the draft proposal were not taken into consideration, Social Affairs Minister Selim Sayegh told The Daily Star. Christians fear that granting the refugees the right to own property, among others, would be a slippery slope to permanent settlement and giving the mainly Sunni Muslim Palestinians full-fledged citizenship. The Lebanese Constitution prohibits the naturalization of the refugees, but Palestinian officials have consistently said they refuse permanent resettlement in Lebanon. Christian MPs also argue that the 12 camps should no longer be immune to state control, demanding the government have a say in arms within the camps.
By longstanding convention, the army does not enter the camps, leaving security inside in the hands of Palestinian factions.
Meanwhile, Parliament on Tuesday also passed a law allowing oil and gas exploration off the Lebanese coast, amid worries that neighboring Israel was trying to infringe on its reserves.
For the past decade, Lebanese politicians have been unable to agree on how to exploit the country’s natural resources, bickering over which companies would do the surveying.
But recent Israeli discoveries in the east Mediterranean and a rising national debt have pushed Lebanese politicians to close ranks and approve the new energy law, which was strongly backed by the Parliament speaker and his allies in Hizbullah. Their decision was given added impetus by Israel’s discovery of two natural gas fields last year and another Leviathan, this year.
The law was passed unanimously, said Ali Hamdan, an aide to Berri, adding that by the end of 2011 Lebanon should have demarcated its maritime borders and divided the area into blocs in order to be able to sign production-sharing agreements with companies.
The discovery of large natural-gas reserves under the waters of the eastern Mediterranean would spell a huge economic windfall for Lebanon.
Lebanese lawmakers have also said some of Israel’s recently discovered gas fields stretch into Lebanese territorial waters. Israel has denied the charge. Hizbullah has threatened to use force to protect Lebanon’s natural wealth. Lebanon is a resource-poor nation and any finds could help Lebanon’s government pay off what is one of the highest debt rates in the world, valued at about $52 billion or 147 percent of the gross domestic product. – AFP, AP, with The Daily Star

Michel Aoun
August 18, 2010
On August 17, the Lebanese National News Agency carried the following report: The Change and Reform bloc held its weekly meeting in Rabieh. Following the meeting, General Aoun spoke to journalists about the most important topics discussed during it, the first of which being the non-commitment to the law after it is agreed on, stressing the necessity to enjoy integrity since “no one can monitor those working in the legislative sector and no one has the right to tamper with the content of the law after it is agreed on…
“Today, the bloc looked into the issue of the manipulation of the contents of the laws after they are agreed on inside the committees or the government. This is what happened in today’s parliamentary session during the presentation of a law related to the work [rights] of Palestinians. The text was completely different from what was agreed on inside the administration and justice committee. This is not the first time that such a thing has occurred and was previously seen when we agreed on the municipalities’ law in the Cabinet. It was then eliminated inside the administration and justice committee although all the parties were represented. What happened today was the opposite since the committee presented the law, someone amended it then presented it again in a different form to the administration and justice committee. True, they eventually restored it, but what happened is unacceptable… Either there is a minimum level of credibility and professional ethics inside the parliament, or we want to know with whom we are dealing.
“There is something we wish to ask the government about once again (and from now on we will start sending written questions): Why has it not yet sent the maritime border [papers] which were defined with Cyprus to parliament to be ratified? What is the interest in the non-demarcation at a time when harm is being caused by it? Moreover, what is the greater interest that could be damaged by this ratification? We want an explanation from the government and one of the deputies will officially ask it about the obstacles hindering the demarcation of the maritime border. Officials must inform the public about this issue because we confirm that the non-ratification of this demarcation is causing damage. In regard to donations to the army and the opening of an account to arm it, we know that the authority which launched the project to open an account does not have the right to do so. Firstly, the Cabinet is the one entitled to open an account for donations because this is not a personal account. Even the minister in his ministry cannot open an account for this ministry and must do so via an order from the government. Secondly, the donations cannot arm the army. I do not know how many ‘tank tracks’ the sum which will be collected from the donations can buy.
“Therefore, there is no need for this “massive commotion” and I believe that by paying taxes which some should pay, without mentioning where and how, the army could be equipped in a decent way with the difference going to the treasury. I will not say more, but later on, if we must, we will provide sufficient evidence for what we are saying.” Regarding the municipalities’ fund issue, he said: “We are calling for the implementation of the law and not its correction. The law stipulates the establishment of an independent municipalities fund within the Interior Ministry. After we have addressed this law several times and pointed to this issue on more than one occasion, it has become my right to say that this fund was stolen from the Interior Ministry and taken to the Finance Ministry which annulled it and used the money in it. It has placed this independent fund in its accounts, i.e. has taken the money as though it was tax money and used it several times.
“Therefore, we hope or rather call on and condemn the government which is stalling the correction of the organizational decree and the restoration of the fund to the Interior Ministry. We also hold the interior minister responsible because he must demand his rights as a minister and this is his obligation...”
… In your opinion, what is the best way to arm the Lebanese army so that it becomes capable of defending the country alone?
First of all, this issue must be thoroughly studied. The first principle however is for us to monitor our calculations and taxes, to see how much can be taken out to arm the Lebanese army, instead of seeking ways to evade the taxes. Some in Lebanon are achieving gains but are not paying taxes, while all the taxes they are collecting are indirect and applicable to all. I and the richest person in the country pay the same thing. Certainly, the rich pay without being affected, while when we pay, it is causing us great harm.
There was talk about a government change at this stage and Minister Walid Jumblatt is saying that the governmental change will not cause a problem since it will not generate strife. In your opinion, could this change occur?
This could happen or not since nothing is impossible. As long as our system allows the changing of the government in specific cases, it would be fine to see it. However, I cannot say whether or not it will happen since the issue has not yet been put forward in a serious way. But it could take place at any moment…

The Tricks of Hezbollah
By: Ryan Mauro
Aug 18th, 2010 and filed under FrontPage.
It is not a coincidence that the August 3 clash on the Lebanese-Israeli border came as the United Nations tribunal investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri prepared to indict Hezbollah. The violence on the border, which was the worst since the 2006 war, was initiated by the Lebanese Army and came as Hezbollah desperately tried to blame Israel for the Hariri assassination.
The U.N. forces stationed in Lebanon confirm that the Israelis informed them of their plan to trim trees and bushes on the border to prevent the foliage from being used as cover for attacks. This sort of maintenance is routinely done in coordination with UNIFIL and Lebanese forces. When the Israelis began trimming one tree, two of their soldiers were fired upon by a sniper, killing one lieutenant-colonel. The Israelis forces struck back, killing two Lebanese soldiers and one journalist.
Lebanon maintains that Israeli forces had crossed the border and refused to leave. The U.N. says that this was not the case and they were attacked while in their own country. The tree that was being cut down when the violence began is located south of the Blue Line that the Israelis cannot cross. Prime Minister Netanyahu rightly described the incident as a “violent provocation.”
It is telling that journalists and broadcast vans were present for the fight, supporting Israel’s claims that they were the victim of a planned ambush. The journalist that was killed worked for the pro-Hezbollah newspaper, Al-Akhbar. His presence does not necessarily prove Hezbollah’s involvement, but the timing of the clash indicates this was a planned event designed to stop the U.N. from indicting the terrorist organization in Hariri’s death.
This does not necessarily mean that it was Hezbollah that gave the orders to the Lebanese soldiers. Dr. Ely Karmon of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at Israel’s Interdisciplinary Center told FrontPage that Hezbollah may not have directly carried out the ambush, but the incident is a reflection of the terrorist group’s power.
“It is a sign of the penetration of Hezbollah’s influence and the spirit of ‘resistance’ (muqawuma) in the Lebanese army on the background of the growing concern in Hezbollah leadership that a possible indictment by the international tribunal in the Hariri affair will provoke an internal crisis and some kind of de-legitimization of the movement,” Dr. Karmon said.
Joe Hyams of Honest Reporting, an organization that combats media bias against Israel, told FrontPage that Hezbollah did not need to carry out the attack itself. He also said that the clash not only serves as a distraction from the Hariri investigation, but also helps Hezbollah justify its existence by picking a fight with Israel.
“Having the Lebanese army do the job frees Hezbollah from the responsibility for provoking the incident and inviting an international backlash as well as a heavy Israeli response,” he said.
Hyams said it is an “open secret” that there is a significant amount of Hezbollah sympathizers in the Lebanese army, particularly in the south where the incident occurred.

Lebanese Army removes border trees
By The Daily Star
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) removed five trees on the border with Israel upon an Israeli request.
The trees were planted as part of an Iran-funded project to improve the landscape of the southern borders. The Israeli Army had requested that the five trees on the Fatima Gate be cut down, claiming that they touched the wire fence that separated the two borders. UNIFIL was tasked with convincing the Lebanese troops to cut the trees, media reports said.
On August 3, Lebanese and Israeli troops exchanged fire in the village of Adaysseh in the fiercest clashes since the 2006 summer war, after Israel attempted to cut a tree on the Lebanese side of the border. Two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and a senior Israeli officer were killed. In other news, media reports over the weekend said an agreement between the US and France has been reached to renew UNIFIL’s mandate for another six months starting September 1. Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper cited sources as saying that both Washington and Paris have stressed the need for respecting the Blue Line. The sources said the situation in Lebanon was discussed in a series of meetings in Paris between US Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman and French officials. Following separate talks on Monday with Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Saad Hariri, UNIFIL commander Major General Alberto Asarta Cuevas reiterated that stability had returned to south Lebanon. Relations between UNIFIL and the army have returned to normal following the hostilities, he said. The incident was tragic but should remain isolated, said Asarta, who last week ruled out a war breaking out in the next few months. – The Daily Star

Cabinet to discuss three-year plan to equip Lebanese Army
Opposition to propose formation of committee to probe False witnesses
By Elias Sakr /Daily Star staff
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
BEIRUT: The Cabinet is to discuss Wednesday a three-year plan to equip the Lebanese Army, while ministers loyal to opposition groups would propose the formation of a Lebanese committee to probe false witnesses in the case of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri. Agriculture Minister and Hizbullah official Hussein Hajj Hassan said Tuesday during a televised interview that ministers of the parliamentary opposition would propose the formation of a committee “since false witnesses should be investigated for motives behind misleading earlier investigations.” Minister of State for Administrative Affairs Mohammad Fneish, Hajj Hassan’s colleague, told The Daily Star Wednesday that ministers of the parliamentary opposition could propose the formation of such a committee but that no decision had yet been made in this regard. “We have not yet deliberated among ourselves on the issue, but that is a possibility,” Fneish said when asked to comment on media reports indicating that opposition groups plan to make such a proposal in Wednesday’s session. But Future Movement officials continue to stress that the UN probe remains the only authority entitled to probe evidence, while the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) holds the right to issue an indictment after Lebanon relinquished its prerogatives in favor of the international judiciary.
Commenting on the opposition’s demand, Social Affairs Minister and Phalange Party official Selim Sayegh told The Daily Star his party would reject such a proposal since it implied the politicization of the STL. “The course is a judicial one and we will not accept any other course,” Sayegh said. Sayegh said a Cabinet decision to form a committee to investigate false witnesses would denote the interference of a political authority in judicial affairs, a step that would conflict with the principle of the separation of powers. While ministers continue to debate Lebanon’s position with regard to the UN investigation and the STL, ministers are expected to close ranks in support of equipping the Lebanese Army during the Cabinet meeting at the president’s summer residence in Beiteddine.
President Michel Sleiman said the Cabinet’s meeting, to be held on Wednesday and to be followed by a meeting of the National Dialogue committee on Thursday, aimed to preserve past accomplishments reached through dialogue and openness among the Lebanese. During the Cabinet’s Wednesday meeting, Defense Minister Elias Murr is to raise from outside the Cabinet’s agenda the issue of equipping the Lebanese Army, media reports said Tuesday.
Murr said Monday that his ministry had opened a bank account for donations to help modernize its poorly equipped army, two weeks after a deadly border clash between Lebanese and Israeli soldiers. Murr’s decision, however, drew criticism from Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, who accused the Murr of surpassing his prerogatives.
“A donation account for the benefit of the army should be opened by the Cabinet,” Aoun said, adding that “donations do not equip an army and thus there is no need for such noise on the issue.” Aoun also questioned reports that “distinguished between defensive and offensive weapons,” as he stressed that “a defensive army needs all kinds of weapons.”
Recent reports said the US and Western states could review their military aid program to Lebanon after the August 3 border clash with Israel that killed two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and a high-ranking Israeli officer. But US State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley reiterated on Tuesday that the US government, which is re-evaluating its military assistance program to Lebanon, “still believes that security assistance provided to Lebanon was in the interest of the US national security.”
“The US government does not want a security void that Syria and Iran could fill in the case of suspension of American military aid since it will not be in the interests of the US or regional security,” he said. Certain US lawmakers have asked the government to halt aid to the Lebanese Army while others asked the Pentagon for assurances that Washington’s aid was not indirectly helping Hizbullah. Following the August 3 clashes, Iran expressed its readiness to equip the army after Sleiman’s announcement that he had launched a national, Arab and international campaign for that purpose.

Strong state can protect Lebanon
By Jamil K. Mroue /Daily Star
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Above all, Parliament’s approval on Tuesday of Palestinians’ rights to work in any profession is a relief for the Palestinians. Far too many of them live in squalor in this country’s dozen refugee camps, and all of them have long been deprived of legal rights – including, for some, official recognition of their existence.
The vote also provides relief to the government for being able, during its heretofore unimpressive term, to guide through at least one measure of significance and to remove this long-overdue debt to the Palestinians. In the end, the move also means a boost for the domestic economy. Many skilled Palestinian workers previously laboring in the black economy will contribute taxes to the state’s coffers, while scores of new employees will add to the nation’s wealth. Granting fundamental civil rights to Palestinians in 2010, however, also carries with it a substantial and indelible quantity of shame. While any accounting of the suffering endured by Palestinians must begin with Israeli mistreatment, the Arab League stands guilty of gross failure to uphold its raison d’etre. On the basis of blatantly false pretexts, the Arab League has long led the movement to deny Palestinians their rights and so subverted intra-Arab cooperation and choked off the welfare of the Arab peoples. A dollop of shame also falls at the feet of the PLO and Fatah, because they have greedily played the role of political scavengers, tallying gains on the refugees’ absence of territory and legal protections. The Palestinians succeeding in the private sector also deserve a share of shame; we recognize their competence, but they have often benefited in their endeavors because of sympathy for the plight of their countrymen – and yet they have been nearly absent in advancing the cause of their downtrodden compatriots.
One thing the new law does not present, however, is a danger to Lebanon, despite the cringe-inducing protestations of many. The Palestinians here who could have afforded to buy land could also have managed to secure an outside passport in order to do so. The new legislation merely gives the imprimatur of the law to the de facto situation on the ground; it does not naturalize or augur naturalization. The only way the Palestinians could ever present a threat to Lebanon would first require the Lebanese political leadership to maintain their unsavory habit of undermining the strength of the state. If Lebanon’s politicians would now move on to the business of building up the state’s institutions, they could ensure that Lebanon would never come to harm from its Palestinian populace – nor from many other sources.
**Jamil K. Mroue, Editor-in-Chief of THE DAILY STAR, can be reached at jamil.mroue@dailystar.com.lb

Shiny happy Israelis
By: Brian Henry:
.National Post August 17, 2010
A Jewish girl dressed as a bride for Purim walks past Israeli soldiers in the streets if Hebron, in the West Bank, on March 7, 2004.
.Canada and Israel have much in common. We’re both big believers in democracy and in fairness, we’re both highly diverse multicultural societies and both of us have dynamic economies.
But I was tickled to learn this summer that Canada and Israel have yet one more thing in common: We’re tied for eighth place among the happiest people on Earth.
Some people might be surprised to find Israelis at the top of the happiness charts. After all, Gallup conducted this poll from 2005 to 2009, and during that time, Israel fought two wars.
On top of that, Israel is often protrayed as a monstrous apartheid state. Surely Israeli Arabs must live in utter misery — and since they make up 20% of the population, their despair ought to pop the happiness bubble, right? Apparently not. It seems Israeli Arabs are pretty happy, too.
Arab-Israeli soccer star Beram Kayal has an easy explanation for misconceptions about Israel. “People watch too much television,” he recently told Scotland’s Sunday Herald.
“What the television shows about Israel is totally different [from] what happens. The life between the Jews and the Arabs is very good. I’m an Arab and my agent is Jewish but we’re like family … Maccabi Haifa has seven or eight Arab players and that’s normal. The only difference is their religion, but there’s no conflict.”
But what about all those wars in Israel? Shouldn’t they make Israelis miserable? Not really.
The 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon lasted just 34 days. The operation in Gaza against Hamas, in 2008–2009, lasted just 22 days. In total, that’s only eight weeks of war.
For the other 252 weeks in the last five years, Israelis spent their time pretty much like Canadians: working, raising their families and enjoying themselves. That’s normal life in Israel, but what’s normal isn’t news, so we don’t hear about it.
Besides, being at war doesn’t necessarily make people unhappy. During the first hours of the Lebanese War, Israel destroyed all of Hezbollah’s long-range missiles, making Israel’s major cities safe for the duration.
Hezbollah did fire thousands of missiles into northern Israel, trying to kill as many Jews as possible. But Hezbollah’s missiles caused few injuries, as a million Israelis simply evacuated to the south, and those who stayed waited out the bombardment in bomb shelters.
Meanwhile, the country was absolutely behind the war. Overseas, people may have been confused over what the war was about, but Israelis all knew they’d been attacked without provocation, with missiles striking Israeli towns and an ambush on an Israeli patrol that left three soldiers dead and two more kidnapped.
Standing together in the face of aggression doesn’t make people miserable; quite the contrary. It puts fire in the belly and the warmth of fellow feeling in the heart.
Similarly, while people overseas may have been confused by the media coverage, Israelis know that their operation against Hamas in Gaza was one of the most justified wars in history — that it was an answer to naked terrorism after all other solutions had been tried and failed.
For years, Hamas had tormented the townsfolk of Sderot with daily rocket and mortar attacks that struck schools, homes and health clinics. The purpose of the war was to allow Sderot and other Israeli towns coming under terrorist attack to enjoy the same peace and happiness as the rest of Israel. And whole country supported the cause.
Israel isn’t paradise of course — except in comparison to most places in the world. For example, the Palestinian-controlled territories rank 88th on the happiness list. Which brings me to a modest proposal: Among other intractable issues, the status of Jerusalem is one of the major stumbling blocks to an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
Why not hold a referendum? Ask Jerusalem’s Arabs if they want the continuing happiness of being part of a compassionate and caring liberal democracy or if they prefer the abject misery of living under the infinitely corrupt Palestinian Authority.
No one can seriously doubt the result of such a referendum. During the Camp David talks, it was proposed that, as part of a peace agreement, some Israeli Arab towns should be placed on the Palestinian side of the border.
So the Israeli Arab weekly Kul Al-Arab polled the Arabs of Um al Fahm to ask what they thought of their city joining a Palestinian State. Only 11% were in favour; 83% said they preferred to remain Israeli.
A referendum among Arab Jerusalemites would have a similarly lopsided result. And allowing Jerusalem’s Arabs to tie themselves permanently to Israel of their own free choice would be an excellent way to begin a new stage in the relationship.
National Post
Brian Henry is an occasional columnist for the Jewish Tribune.

.The Ground Zero mosque, George Washington and Rhode Island Jews
Posted by Ed Koch/J.Post
28/08/10
President Obama was right to express his views on constructing a mosque near Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 catastrophe. He said,
As a citizen and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan in accordance with local laws and ordinances."
The President is also right to oppose as he does the efforts by some to amend the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution to bar babies born to illegal immigrants from becoming citizens.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was first to take up the fight to protect the legitimate rights of American Muslims to build a mosque near Ground Zero, was right and courageous to lead the way and point Americans in the right direction.
President Obama, according to The New York Times of August 15th is now "faced with withering Republican criticism of his defense of the right of Muslims to build a community center and mosque near Ground Zero." Those leading the charge against the President, according to The Times, "including Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, Representative John A. Boehner, the House minority leader and Representative Peter King of New York, forcefully rejected the Presidents stance."
The President's position will be remembered by later generations of Americans with the same high regard as President George Washington's letter in 1790 to the Jews of Rhode Island who built the Touro Synagogue in that state. Moses Seixas of the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island wrote to George Washington:
Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events behold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People - a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance - but generously affording to all Liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship: - deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language equal parts of the great governmental Machine: - This so ample and extensive Federal Union whose basis is Philanthropy, Mutual confidence and Public Virtue, we cannot but acknowledge to be the work of the Great God, who ruleth in the Armies of Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth, doing whatever seemeth him good."
President Washington responded as follows:
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent national gifts. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support. It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.
- G. Washington."
Let us not do again, albeit in different form and to a different group what we did to Japanese-Americans during World War II when we rounded them up without cause. No Japanese-American was ever charged with treason, notwithstanding that they were placed in internment camps for the balance of the war.
I am a proud Jew. Proud of my religion and my culture. Columnist David Brooks, also Jewish and similarly proud, in a New York Times article of January 12, 2010, wrote of our people's accomplishments:
Jews are a famously accomplished group. They make up 0.2 percent of the world population, but 54 percent of the world chess champions, 27 percent of the Nobel physics laureates and 31 percent of the medicine laureates. Jews make up 2 percent of the US population, but 21 percent of the Ivy League student bodies, 26 percent of the Kennedy Center honorees, 37 percent of the Academy Award-winning directors, 38 percent of those on a recent Business Week list of leading philanthropists, 51 percent of the Pulitzer Prize winners for nonfiction."
We Jews also have our share of thieves, predators, child molesters, Ponzi-schemers, traitors and profiteers. Muslims have their share of great world accomplishments - the concept of zero, advancements in mathematics, medicine, chemistry, botany and astronomy. They also have their share of crazies, tyrants, homophobes, those holding hostile and irrational attitudes towards women, vilification of Jews, Christians, Hindus and other so-called infidels.
Let's be calm now and not need the passage of time to bring us to our senses and years later apologize. Of course, those who suffered the loss of loved ones, and those exposed to the catastrophe of 9/11 have every right to hold opinions opposing the building of the mosque. They are grieving and rightfully enraged at anyone associated in any way with the 19 Muslim terrorists who were responsible for the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans killed on 9/11, and all of us must sympathize with them and their feelings.
But Americans must never forget who we are and why our Founding Fathers and those who built the original 13 colonies came here. It was primarily to find and create a new country in which they could practice religious freedom, denied them in England. Jews found that freedom of religion in New Amsterdam, where the East India Company of Holland directed the first public anti-Semite in that city - its Governor, Peter Stuyvesant - to let them in, he first refusing to do so.I believe we are locked in battle with fanatical Islam and will be for the foreseeable future. I do not believe the vast majority of Muslims, and American Muslims in particular, are fanatics or enemies of the American people.
Government should neither favor nor hinder the efforts of religious institutions, other than to protect their rights to engage in carrying them out as permitted under the First Amendment of the Constitution.
A final word on those seeking to end the concept of American citizenship by virtue of birth, led by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC): Don't they understand that the concept of citizenship by birth is one of the great American ideas of which we have been justly proud and which distinguishes us from many other countries and has served us well? They should not fear the Know Nothings, whose voices are loud, but whose numbers are small. They should not shame themselves by joining these violators of American values and traditions.

Darkness ahead for the Palestinians
Hussein Ibish, /Now Lebanon
August 17, 2010
The Palestinian leadership is still seeking a political formula to reenter direct negotiations with Israel. There is no doubt that the Palestinians will agree to this, largely because the United States is insisting on it. However, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his colleagues feel very exposed politically because they have almost nothing to show for diplomatic efforts in the proximity talks and are facing considerable domestic opposition to such a move.
The Palestinians have already squandered valuable credit in Washington by delaying and cannot afford to alienate Washington any further. Their main leverage at the moment vis-à-vis Israel is a new American foreign policy and military consensus that ending the conflict and the occupation is a national-security priority for the United States. This has the potential to provide the Palestinians with a new set of powerful diplomatic tools, but can only be developed and utilized in the context of direct talks.
Even with this new leverage, the Palestinian leadership is convinced that although it has no strategic option other than to enter into direct negotiations, there is very little possibility of serious progress with the present Israeli government. They appear to have secured something of a quid pro quo from the US on the settlement issue since it seems that President Barack Obama made it clear to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that after the so-called “moratorium” on settlement building expires on September 26, Washington would expect Israel to restrict building to the large settlement blocs and Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem, which are generally assumed to be part of a future land swap with the Palestinians.
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who leads the hard-line Shas party, recently complained that this was going to be Netanyahu’s de facto policy, no matter what pronouncements are made.
But restraining Israeli settlement activity does not constitute any real progress on final-status issues. Because the Palestinians have no confidence in the seriousness of the present Israeli government or in the willingness or ability of the Obama administration to apply sufficient pressure to change those attitudes, for now the most dynamic aspect of the Palestinian strategy for independence is centered around the state- and institution-building program adopted by the Palestinian Authority in August 2009.
Palestinians conceive of this program as a complementary track to diplomacy, and as the answer to Israel’s settlement project: unilateral changes on the ground but in this case consistent with international law, not challenging any legitimate Israeli interests and promoting rather than hindering peace. The idea is to create the framework of the state in spite of the occupation, in order to end the occupation.
On August 15, the Palestinian Authority published its first annual report on the progress made thus far, and while there is obviously a huge amount of work remaining to be done, the initial efforts are significant: 34 new schools, 44 new housing projects, over 1,000 community development programs completed; the establishment of the nucleus of a Palestinian central bank; the creation of a transparent and accountable public-finance system; and an impressive economic growth rate. This attests to the program’s potential to fundamentally alter the strategic landscape. Ultimately, however, convergence between the bottom-up state-building program and top-down diplomacy will be required to achieve a conflict-ending agreement.
The Palestinian Authority has also launched an impressive new priority intervention in the field of education, which Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has said is crucial to state-building and is “one of the most important criteria for measuring its success.”
Fayyad has outlined three key areas of concern: language skills, including Arabic; analytical capabilities and critical thinking, as opposed to rote learning and memorization; and the use of the educational system to combat rigidity in both thinking and behavior.
This last point is perhaps the most provocative and important, and the example he gave — he described the increasing practice of men and women not shaking hands as not only “accepted but expected” — is an extremely telling one. For here we have a serving Arab prime minister speaking openly about using state educational tools to combat the growing influence of fundamentalist mores that have no real basis in tradition or mainstream Islam. This trend is a key factor in what might be called “the closing of the Arab mind.” Predictably, Hamas was enraged by these remarks, since they are the Palestinian standard bearers for precisely this kind of obscurantism.
So while Palestinians have no strategic choice other than to reenter negotiations, they do so without confidence in early progress. However, in the West Bank they are taking matters into their own hands through the state- and institution-building program, which requires and deserves much more regional and international support than it has received. Not only the Palestinians but also the region and the world have an important stake in helping build a healthy, dynamic Palestinian society and state oriented toward peace and development, one that actively combats obscurantism and extremism.
**Hussein Ibish is a senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine and blogs at www.ibishblog.com

To Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
Adel Nassar, August 16, 2010
To Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, I am hereby sending you this letter, which I have been unable to publish in the main Lebanese newspapers, regardless of their orientations. I appeal to you not to turn down my pleas to save the life of my only son, Ali Nassar, from the impending danger resulting from your party’s intention to involve him in the military aspects of its activities. On this occasion, I would like to point to your attention the special situation prevailing in our family following the major losses it incurred during the war since 1975. Toward the end of 1976, a landmine explosion destroyed our family car on the Salhiyyah-Saida road, killing my father, my mother and my little brother, who was barely seven at the time. A few months before, my parents had been plagued by the disappearance of my other brother, an 18-year-old young man who vanished as he was taking part in the fighting at the time between citizens of the same country. Therefore, I am addressing this letter to you, hoping that you will take pity on our disastrous family situation since the start of the war. You can only imagine the circumstances we have gone through as a family, and the difficulties we have endured due to the loss of our protective bosom. Our family would not be able to bear a new tragedy if, God forbid, something were to happen to my son. I thus call upon you to be kind to the difficult psychological situation I am in for more than 17 years. My state has shown signs of worsening from the moment I have known about your party’s intention to do what I mentioned at the start of this letter. I entreat you with all that you believe in and hold as sacred not to turn me down.
**This article is a translation of the original, which appeared on the NOW Arabic site on Saturday August 14, 2010

Iran calls on IAEA to 'counter unfriendly UN sanctions'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
08/18/2010 14:50
Ambassador says measures are a threat to all third-world countries; Iranian MPs insist Bushehr plant unrelated to enrichment, but threaten to retaliate if attacked.
Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh called on the organization to oppose sanctions on Wednesday, Iranian news network PressTV reported.
"The IAEA should counter incorrect and unfriendly attitudes including sanctions and resolutions by the UN Security Council which undermine cooperation," Soltanieh reportedly said. "The IAEA should know that Iran had cooperated with the agency beyond its undertakings to show its goodwill and build transparency."
Analysis: Divisions among Iranian hardliners
Soltanieh reportedly said that Iran is committed to international agreements and has based its nuclear policy on the IAEA, but "will never give up its inalienable rights."
The ambassador also said that third-world countries are suspicious of sanctions on Iran, "because they know that if the Islamic Republic does not resist against pressure, Western powers will implement the same plot against them in coming years."
Iranian officials continue to insist that the Bushehr nuclear plant has nothing to do with uranium enrichment, PressTV reported.
"To decide on the timing of the enrichment activity is a domestic affair and the United States is not entitled to interfere in this issue. The protracted start-up of the Bushehr nuclear reactor demonstrates the scientific and technological capabilities of Iranian scientists," Iranian MP Mohammad Karim Shahrzad reportedly said.
Another Iranian MP, Hossein Sobhaninia, added: "The fueling of the Bushehr plant can not be linked to Iran's nuclear enrichment program; Iran is well aware of its responsibilities."
Also on Wednesday, PressTV reported that Iranian Army official Ali Shadmani threatened to close the Straits of Hormuz if the US attacks Iran.
Earlier this week, former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton warned that Israel has days to attack Iran, before the Bushehr reactor will be active.
“This is a very, very big victory for Iran,” Bolton told The Jerusalem Post. “This is a huge threshold.”
However, Iran expert Ilan Berman of the American Foreign Policy Council said that the uranium enrichment plants are the real backbone of Iranian efforts and expenditures to get a nuclear weapons capability, and he suspected that they, rather than Bushehr, would be Israel’s primary targets in any attack.
“It’s not at all clear that Bushehr would be a high value target because it’s only tangentially related to any conceivable Iranian nuclear weapons program,” he said. “My suspicion is this isn’t a game changer. This isn’t going to give Iran enough fissile material for a bomb overnight.”
**Hilary Leila Krieger contributed to this report