LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJuly 01/2010

Bible Of the Day
Isaiah 11/1-9
A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit. 11:2 The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh. 11:3 His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears; 11:4 but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked. 11:5 Righteousness will be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his waist. 11:6 The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them. 11:7 The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox. 11:8 The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 11:9 They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
11:10 It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious. 11:11 It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 11:12 He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. 11:13 The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. Ephraim won’t envy Judah, and Judah won’t persecute Ephraim. 11:14 They will fly down on the shoulders of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the children of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon will obey them. 11:15 Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will split it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals. 11:16 There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
What to do about torture/By: Aline Sar/June 30/10

Arab League needs to be reinvented/Daily Star/June 30/10

Despite Turkey's creeping Islamic revolution, it is no Iran
Shlomo Ben-Ami

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion.asp?edition_id=10#ixzz0sEDfAakd
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
 

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 30/10
Lebanon's Southern villagers accost UNIFIL patrol during demonstration/Daily Star
Court charges man for insulting Military Tribunal in Lebanon/Daily Star
Gaza Rocket Lightly Damages Israeli Factory/Naharnet
Hugo Chavez Stands in the Terrorist Vanguard/Heritage.org (blog)
Minister Landau: Another withdrawal? Barak like battered woman/Ynetnews
Media Exaggeration of Latest Israeli Spy Aims at Causing Confusion in UN Hariri Probe/Naharnet
UNIFIL Responds to Hizbullah: Activities Conducted in Coordination with Lebanese Army/Naharnet
Hariri to Tehran Soon, Iran's Ambassador Says/Naharnet
Vatican FM to Meet Lebanese Leaders in Beirut/Naharnet
Baroud: Administrative Decentralization at Core of State Strategy despite Obstacles/Naharnet
Moussa in Beirut on Thursday/Naharnet
Raad on Arrest of Mobile Operator Spy: Israel Capable of Sowing Strife through Calls/Naharnet
Obama, Saudi King Agree on Need to Renew Israel-Lebanon-Syria Talks/Naharnet
Teachers Likely to Bow Down after Education Minister Warned He has Other Options/Naharnet
Cabinet Seeking to Speed up Approval of Oil Exploration Law/Naharnet
Series of Wildfires Engulf Several Parts of Shouf, South Lebanon/Naharnet
Latest 'Israeli Spy' Owns Building near Brummana/Naharnet
Israeli Minister: Barak Like Battered Wife, Lebanon Pullout Bolstered Hizbullah/Naharnet
No Shebaa Pullout without Lebanon-Israel Negotiations, Israeli Officer Says/Naharnet
Aoun: The Scattering of Palestinians throughout Lebanese Territories Eliminates Their Cause/Naharnet
Report: Visit to Riyadh by Geagea Kept Secret to Avoid Tension with Damascus/Naharnet
Salam to Security Council: Lebanon is with Force of Law and not Law of Force/Naharnet
Sayyed to Challenge U.N. Hariri Court in Public Hearing on July 13/Naharnet
PLO Envoy Urges Lebanese Unity on Refugee Rights/Naharnet

UNIFIL Responds to Hizbullah: Activities Conducted in Coordination with Lebanese Army
/Naharnet/UNIFIL hit back at Hizbullah which accused the peacekeepers of violating Resolution 1701 for conducting border patrols by themselves. A source at UNIFIL's command said the peacekeepers' activities are conducted in coordination with the Lebanese army. "UNIFIL command is in close contact with the Lebanese army and it does not carry out any act or exercise before notifying the Lebanese army first," the source told the daily An-Nahar in remarks published Wednesday. Hizbullah MP Ali Fayyad slammed UNIFIL, criticizing continued border patrol operations in southern Lebanon as a violation to U.N. resolution 1701. Beirut, 30 Jun 10, 09:39

Southern villagers accost UNIFIL patrol during demonstration
Incident occurs amid 36-hour capacity-testing operation

By Patrick Galey /Daily Star staff
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
BEIRUT: A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol was attacked by Lebanese villagers Tuesday, as the force deployed heavily across the south of the country.
“During the course of our operations today there have been some protests by local villagers at some locations and in one incident in the Khirbet Silim area stones were pelted at a UNIFIL vehicle, breaking a window and causing minor injuries to a peacekeeper,” UNIFIL spokesperson Neeraj Singh told The Daily Star. The incident occurred during a 36-hour capacity-testing operation, which will see the UN task force deployed to its maximum strength in its mandated area of operations, south of the Litani River. “Since last evening, UNIFIL is carrying out activities aimed at checking its own internal capacity for deploying maximum troops on the ground on a regular day of operations,” Singh said. “This is to enable the commander to have a clear picture of the military assets that can be available to him at any given time,” he added.
“There are no other special operations or activities being carried out and the Lebanese Army is fully informed about this activity, its nature and purpose,” he added. “Also, this is not related to any incident or development, but is a regular activity like the numerous others that we conduct from time to time to ensure the readiness of the troops on the ground.”
UNIFIL, whose capacity was boosted following the signing of UN Security Council resolution 1701 – drafted to end the 2006 July-August War between Israel and Hizbullah – has more than 12,000 soldiers stationed in southern Lebanon. Force commander Major General Alberto Asarta Cuevas took to reins in January, and Singh said the operations being carried out over the next few days were designed to test capacity before the busy summer tourist season. “Since the activity requires increased movements of UNIFIL troops in some areas, particular care has been taken to minimize disturbance or inconvenience to the local population during the operation,” he said. “For this reason it was decided to hold this activity now, before the peak summer and tourist season.” “Also, the enhanced troop movements are mostly being done during daylight hours and the locations have been carefully chosen so as not to interfere with normal daily lives of the people,” Singh added.
Nevertheless, the clash at Khirbet Silim is not the first altercation UNIFIL has endured with southern residents, with a similar confrontation taking place in July 2009, where more than a dozen peacekeepers were injured in the same village after villages hurled stones at a patrol. The soldiers were conducting a probe into a blast at a Hizbullah arms cache before being accosted by angry villagers. Singh said work was being done to ensure local villagers knew the movements and motivations of UNIFIL companies. “We are making every effort to talk to the communities and explain to them the nature and purpose of the operations in order to clear any misunderstandings they may have in this regard,” he said.
Singh said that UNIFIL’s main goal was to preserve stability in south Lebanon and close to the Blue Line and that the force’s coordination with the Lebanese Army would continue.
“The primary aim of UNIFIL is to maintain a high level of preparedness in order to effectively assist the Lebanese army in ensuring the safety and security of the people of south Lebanon,” he said. “During the period we are conducting this activity, our routine coordinated operational activities with the Lebanese Army are continuing as usual.”
He added that negotiations were under way to undertake a similar series of capacity evaluation drills later in the summer.
“In the meantime, what we are doing right now is a purely internal evaluation within UNIFIL to test the availability and capacity of our own contingents to deploy maximum troops and assets on the ground for a period of time,” Singh said.

Court charges man for insulting Military Tribunal

By The Daily Star /Wednesday, June 30, 2010
BEIRUT: The Court of Publications charged a man Tuesday with slander against the Military Tribunal. The court fined Ahmad Fahed al-Ayoubi LL6 million for slander against the tribunal during a television interview, in which he criticized the tribunal and the way it was prosecuting radical groups. He described the tribunal as “the graveyard of justice” and said it postponed the trials of arrested Islamists. The court considered Ayoubi’s remarks an insult to the tribunal as they undermined its power and the power of its judges. – The Daily Star

Arab League needs to be reinvented

Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Editorial/Daily Star
Although few seem to have noticed, the Arab League met in Libya during the past days and announced a series of restructuring measures at the Monday close of its powwow.
We hear the snickering. To be sure, if we were to set out to catalogue the achievements of the Arab League, we could still make other plans for the afternoon. Yes, we’ve heard the comparisons, how European Union powers the UK, France and Germany together barely exceed the land mass of Egypt, leaving aside the much larger states such as Libya, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. But a comparison between the EU and the Arab League is unfair to both.
The Arab League has important roles to play, and we need to reinvent it. Three major changes leap immediately to mind; first, the league must evolve from being a foreign-policy tool for Egypt. Having headquarters in Cairo is fine, but we need a leader of the Arab League who does not view the post as secondary to the Egyptian political game.
Second, we must find a way to use the Arab League to spread relevant social programs. At present, the Arab League is the last place one would go to find out anything about what is happening in the Arab world. It lacks a connection to life as lived by Arabs, and Arabs feel no connection – and have no access – to the Arab League.
They may be few and far between, but some quiet clerks at the lower levels of league bureaucracy are involved in good projects. Alas, these initiatives never come to any scale. Higher in the bureaucracy, many promising programs are adopted, but we never see them. The league must develop the mechanisms to implement its decisions; specifically, when a program in education or health care succeeds in one Arab country, the Arab League must be able to implement that program in other Arab nations.
This gets at the major malfunction of the league – it is spineless when it comes to action. For far too long, bloviating officials have made the league an orchestra of permanent cacophony, specializing in discord between its its pronouncements and reality.
Third, the free exchange of goods and services is the very minimum that the league should accomplish. We need to harmonize laws and create standard import-export practices. Trade between Arab countries must no longer involve conquering mountains of bureaucracy. At the Libyan summit, the Arab League apparently discussed changing its name. If the Arab League changed its name to Google, would it operate like a successful organization? Unfortunately, the league needs to change practices, not names; without reform, this rose – by any name – would still retain its traditional smell.


IDF conducts drills in Shebaa Farms

June 30, 2010 /NOW Lebanon’s correspondent in South Lebanon reported on Wednesday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) held drills using heavy artillery in the Shebaa Farms, adding the Israeli Air Force (IAF) flew over the area as well as Hasbaya and al-Arqoub. -NOW Lebanon

Israeli Sources: Lebanese Government Backed Off from Ghajar Deal

Naharnet/The Lebanese government backed off from agreements over the border village of Ghajar most probably under pressure from Hizbullah, political sources told Israel radio.
The sources said, however, that such a move does not create an obstacle to reaching a deal on Israel's pullout from the northern part of the village. The sources spoke after the security cabinet convened to review a report from the foreign ministry secretary-general, Yossi Gal, over his contacts with the UNIFIL leadership on the Ghajar withdrawal. Beirut, 30 Jun 10, 14:30

Hizbullah Slams UNIFIL, Says Patrols in Violation of 1701

Naharnet/Continued border patrols conducted by U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon not only have angered residents but Hizbullah, too.
Hizbullah MP Ali Fayyad slammed UNIFIL, criticizing the patrol operations as "maneuvers." He told An-Nahar newspaper in remarks published Wednesday that residents were surprised by UNIFIL's "unprecedented" heavy military presence in villages and neighborhoods. Angry residents on Tuesday blocked Adeisseh-Kfar Kila road in southern Lebanon and hurled stones at a U.N. vehicle in Khirbit Selim to protest passing of UNIFIL patrols. Considering the peacekeepers' action as "provocative" and "noisy," Fayyad said he also noticed that UNIFIL troops were not accompanied "as usual" by Lebanese army patrols. He said the move angered residents who expected UNIFIL to deter Israeli forces from kidnapping a Lebanese shepherd a few days ago instead of making all this action in their villages. Residents, instead, were surprised to see UNIFIL has intensified it military movement within the villages, Fayyad said, adding that this act was "not in line with U.N. Resolution 1701."Responding to calls made over the loudspeakers, southerners on Tuesday gathered outside Adeisseh's main square, protesting against what they called "maneuvers" by Spanish peacekeepers around their village. Lebanese troops managed to reopen the road several hours later. Similar demonstrations took place almost simultaneously in Khirbit Selim where residents gathered in the main square demanding an end to UNFIL patrols inside their village. At Tibnin-Kfardounine-Bir Salasel road junction, residents took to the streets, hurling stones at an armored vehicle manned by French U.N. troops. The APC's windshield was shattered and U.N. troops were forced to leave.
Beirut, 30 Jun 10, 09:21

Bassil: Working on Law to Protect Oil Wealth for Future Generations

Naharnet/Energy Minister Jebran Bassil said Wednesday the government was working on a law to preserve and protect Lebanon's oil wealth for future generations. "We are working on a law that protects the oil wealth for future generations and that would also encourage investors," Bassil told LBC television channel. Beirut, 30 Jun 10,

Media Exaggeration of Latest Israeli Spy Aims at Causing Confusion in UN Hariri Probe

Naharnet/An MP with the March 14 coalition said media exaggeration of the latest arrest of an Alfa employee on suspicion of spying for Israel was an attempt aimed at causing confusion in the investigation into the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri. "It also targets the credibility of the investigations" conducted by police officer Wissan Eid in the Hariri murder case before his assassination. Eid, Lebanese Internal Security Forces senior terrorism investigator, was assassinated Jan. 25, 2008. At the time of assassination, Eid was also top Lebanese investigator into the Hariri murder. "There is an attempt to exaggerate the issue of the (Alfa) detainee to discredit all reports" issued by the U.N. Committee investigating Hariri's assassination "and to signal that the probe may have been manipulated," the March 14 lawmaker said in remarks published Wednesday by Ad-Diyar newspaper. Beirut, 30 Jun 10, 07:22

Vatican FM to Meet Lebanese Leaders in Beirut

Naharnet/Vatican's Foreign Minister Dominique Mamberti arrives in Beirut Thursday for talks with top Lebanese leaders.He is scheduled to meet Friday President Michel Suleiman, Foreign Minister Ali Shami, and Prime Minister Saad Hariri. On Saturday Mamberti will meet Speaker Nabih Berri. Beirut, 30 Jun 10, 13:41

Hariri to Tehran Soon, Iran's Ambassador Says

Naharnet/Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Ghadanfar Abadi on Wednesday met Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail.He told reporters after the meeting that Hariri's visit to Iran was imminent

Gaza Rocket Lightly Damages Israeli Factory

Naharnet/A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip lightly damaged a factory in southern Israel, the military said on Wednesday.It said no-one was injured in the attack, which occurred in Sdot Negev, a district which lies close to the northern Gaza Strip.Israel launched a devastating assault on the Palestinian enclave in December 2008 aimed at halting rocket fire from the besieged coastal Strip.Some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the 22-day war.After a year of quiet following the assault, Gaza militants have stepped up the cross-border rocket fire, with more than 60 rockets and mortars striking Israeli territory since January, the military says.(AFP) Beirut, 30 Jun 10, 10:28

Obama, Saudi King Agree on Need to Renew Israel-Lebanon-Syria Talks

Naharnet/President Barack Obama and Saudi King Abdullah agreed in a meeting in Washington on the need to renew talks between Israel and Syria and Lebanon respectively, the White House said in a statement. Obama urged bold action to secure the "Palestinian homeland" on Tuesday as he welcomed Abdullah to the White House for the first time since taking office.
Obama said the two leaders discussed Iraq, Iran's nuclear challenge and Pakistan and Afghanistan, while the king dispensed warm personal praise for his host, though there were few in-depth details of the private talks. "We discussed the Middle East peace process and the importance of moving forward in a significant and bold way in securing a Palestinian homeland that can live side by side with a secure and prosperous Israeli state," Obama said. Abdullah, 86, arrived at the White House just a week before Obama is due to welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following Israel's decision to allow some "civilian" goods into Gaza after its deadly flotilla raid.
Obama, who pushed for such a step, may try to use the Israeli move as a spur to intensify US-brokered indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians, as he seeks to open a direct channel between the two sides.
In a later statement about the meeting, the White House said Obama and Abdullah, in their third meeting since Obama became president, also agreed on the need to renew talks between Israel and Syria and Lebanon respectively. Given a grim year, the president was surprisingly upbeat when he met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas this month, saying he believed progress was possible in the Middle East before the end of the year. But so far, despite investing substantial personal political capital, Obama has failed to budge Israel and the Arab states and the Palestinians from entrenched positions, and his efforts have yielded few results.
Abdullah and Obama met a year ago in Riyadh, the day before the U.S. leader's landmark address to the Muslim world, at a time when Washington was seeking inducements to Israel from the Arab world to prod peace moves forward. Those movements were not forthcoming, and Obama's own relationship with Israel has since deteriorated -- though both governments now seem keen to patch up their public rift over settlement building. After the working lunch and the Oval Office talks, Adbullah praised Obama's leadership.
"You are an honorable man and you are a good man. I don't say this in order to compliment you -- I say this because this is the truth as I hear it from people around the world," Abdullah said. Abdullah also offered a tongue-in-cheek prayer to "our friends here in the media." "May God spare us from all of the bad things they can do to us," he said, drawing laughter from Obama, who frequently offers commentaries of the perceived failings of the press. The State Department noted that in its last Human Rights Report that Saudi authorities "strictly limit freedom of speech and mass and publishing media." The White House said the two leaders also stated strong support for new international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, agreed on the need for a "secure and prosperous Yemen, and an "inclusive" Iraqi government. "The President welcomed Saudi Arabia's successful counterterrorism actions against Al-Qaeda," the White House said. Saudi Arabia sees the Iranian nuclear challenge as a key foreign policy threat, and have also registered concern about the U.S. posture in the Middle East and Gulf when American troops withdraw from Iraq. Washington may want the Saudis to do more to use its influence to get rival factions in Afghanistan to unite, or talk peace with the government, and both sides have strong concerns over instability in Yemen.(AFP) Beirut, 30 Jun 10, 06:34

What to do about torture

Aline Sara, June 30, 2010
Now Lebanon
Beating different parts of the body, crushing toes, pulling out hair or nails, and exposing inmates to the screams of other detainees being tortured. These are just a few of the practices to which inmates can be subject in Lebanon’s main interrogation centers, which include Tripoli’s al-Qubba detention center, Zahle’s Palais de Justice, Beirut’s Hobeish police station, Roumieh Prison and the Military Intelligence Unit of the Defense Ministry.
According to Marie Daunay, president of the Centre Libanais des Droits de l’Homme (CLDH), although Lebanon ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) in October of 2000, few if any of its stipulations are actually implemented. What happens behind closed doors has left victims of torture both physically and emotionally scarred, and human rights advocates are eager to voice their anger.
As such, last Friday, a day before the International Day to support Victims of Torture on June 26, several NGOs led by the CLDH marched down the streets of Nejmeh Square toward parliament. Despite a small turnout, the group consisted of mostly 15 to 20 NGO representatives who joined hands to form a “human chain of torture,” participants loudly decried the theoretically illegal practice. Theoretically, only because despite being technically bound by Article 7 of the CAT, Lebanon has its own penal code, which does not criminalize torture explicitly. “Crimes are rather evaluated according to the consequences on the individual, and the penal code includes just about everything but the term ‘torture’,” said Daunay.
Lebanese officials are convinced of the efficacy of torture, which at the moment is still very much engrained in the system, noted Daunay. “It seems almost cultural,” she said, “as if Arab states feel their pride is compromised if they fail to find a culprit, so they condemn people unjustly.” Unsurprisingly, many detainees are forced to confess to crimes they have not committed. According to a 2003 Amnesty International report, Dr. Muhammed Khaled, who endured days of torture as a detainee at the Ministry of Defense back in 2000, claimed interrogators also threatened to rape his wife if he did not sign certain papers.
Daunay recalled when CLDH, at the time known as SOLIDA, first released its report on the practice of torture in 2006. The next day, their offices were raided. “We were being followed by cars; there were even some intrusions into employees’ homes.” Yet, ironically, when compared to the rest of the region, Daunay said Lebanon is slightly better off, specifically because NGOs have more freedom to express themselves.
Despite room to vent, most demonstrations, like last Friday’s, are small, which offsets their impact. “It is not easy to mobilize civil society here,” said Sofia Palandri from the Italian human rights organization COSV during the rally on Friday. “Participants are usually foreigners, many from NGOs, because Lebanese society is very individualistic and caught up in protecting its own sect.” About half of the protesters at the march were international.
Despite challenges, Wadih al-Asmar, secretary general of the CLDH, says there have been efforts to make a change. He pointed to a global decrease in the practice of torture in police headquarters and commended the efforts of certain Lebanese cabinet members, namely Minister of Defense Elias al-Murr, Interior Minister Ziad Baroud and Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, insisting their attempts have come within their personal capacity. The problem lies in the system, he said, and changing the system requires a new law in parliament.
Saadedine Shatila, from the Swiss-based human rights organization Al-Karama also acknowledges timid although present efforts by the state. He noted that Lebanon signed the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT), which stipulates that the government must conduct regular visits to detention centers in an effort to stop the practice. An official proposal was submitted to the Ministry of Justice on September 30. However, governmental action since then has come to a halt. Human Rights Watch reported back in December that the country missed the deadline to set up a national institution to prevent torture. The watchdog added that Lebanon is more than eight years behind on submitting a relevant report to the UN, as required by the CAT.
If Lebanon has failed in prevention, it has certainly not offered any type of initiative to compensate for damages and false condemnations. “We only receive support from private donors, and maybe a few hospitals and NGOs,” said Manal Najem from the Centre Nassim, which intervenes to help torture victims, providing them with medical, psychological and legal assistance. “We help both direct and indirect victims,” said Najem, who is one of the social workers. “In fact, the wives of men who are detained and tortured are those who suffer the most, as they are left with the burden of providing both affection and financial support to their children.” According to Najem, the women benefit tremendously from routine soubhiyehs (morning gatherings over coffee) at the center, where they find mutual comfort and can express worries freely.
Besides private donors, the European Union has been essential in helping NGOs in their research. The EU, along with the Netherlands Embassy and Pax Christi International, gave the Association Libanaise pour l’Éducation et la Formation (ALEF), which monitors human rights in Lebanon, almost 200,000 Euros to implement a prevention and monitoring project. The resulting report found that some detainees did not even survive the ill treatment they received in certain prisons. Another finding was that Lebanon extradites many of its refugees to countries where they are at risk of being tortured. The EU’s Centre Restart, which is similar in its operations to Centre Nassim, provides relief for 250 victims of torture.
Ultimately, it seems that like in most areas of national concern, despite efforts to change the system, tangible governmental action is lagging. While human rights organizations reiterated their call in a joint public statement issued last Saturday, they can only hope the cabinet will someday take concrete measures, beginning with an official condemnation of torture in the country’s penal code.

Corruption a way of life in Lebanon
Paige Kollock, June 28, 2010
Now Lebanon
Transparency International, a Berlin-based watchdog, ranks Lebanon as one of the world's most corrupt countries. Among 180 nations surveyed in a 2009 report on corruption, Lebanon ranked 130th – the same as Nigeria and Libya. TI also gave Lebanon a corruption ranking of 2.5, considered “rampant corruption.” NOW Lebanon gathered several individual accounts of corruption from Lebanese who have experienced it, none of whom wanted their names to be printed.
To submit a corruption story of your own, please write to mailbox@nowlebnaon.com
Actor, 28, Jounieh
I know a guy who owns a gas station that is located on the highway north of Beirut. The station lacked access to the highway… so he paid $25,000 to… to be allowed to construct an entrance from the highway to his station. Two months later, a guy from the municipality came and closed the entrance. The gas station owner had no way of proving that he paid the money because he paid it in cash.
Activist, 37, Beirut
I lost my driver’s license, so I went to the department of motor vehicles to get a new one. They gave me the runaround, and I spent hours going from one department to another, from one municipality to the next, getting papers, filling out forms, waiting for officials. Finally, one guy, who was a police officer, told me that he had someone who could get it done for me the next day for 80,000 LL ($53). Because I didn’t want to spend any more of my time running around and wasting my days, I paid him the money. I felt so guilty about it because it was the first time in my life that I paid a bribe. The next day, he called me and said he can’t get the license. Until now, I don’t have a driver’s license.
Lawyer, 28, Beirut
In Lebanon, there are six to seven commercial registers … Beirut, Baabda, etc., in the centers of governance. Most of the time, you have to pay money for the clerk to proceed with your profile. It’s becoming a custom for lawyers to bribe clerks. We’re talking about amounts from $10 to $100. Sometimes you put the money in the papers, or you just hand it over. When I first did it, I was really annoyed. There was a kind of conflict inside me: Why am I doing this? But in the end I realized, we are not bribing him to do something bad, just to get things done.
Real Estate Developer, 53, Beirut
There is no way to have a construction permit without bribes, even if you are 100 percent legal.
According to the law, within two months, if the municipality hasn’t responded to your request for a permit, it’s considered you have your permit, then you can start building, but if you do this, you have the municipality on your back all the time and they will thwart you. So what we do is we pay anywhere from $7,000 to $70,000 in bribes just to have the formality approved. Usually you pay one of the guys in the municipality. He pays the others and keeps some for himself. Then you have your permit, you start the construction, but the guy from the municipality will say that you need a new permit for every month. For this, he gets about $100 to $200 every month. Then you finish the construction and you have to pay another bribe to get a housing permit, which is about the same as a construction permit, for the building to be livable. Once you have your housing permit, you have to split your permit into lots, so that each apartment has its own deed. This requires another bribe. I pay around $40,000 in bribes for each project.
Translator, 29, Metn
If you’re building a house in my municipality, there is a law that says you can put up a fence or a wall around your property. There’s a guy who owns a plot to the left and a plot to the right of us. He pushed so much toward our property that our stone wall defining our property crumbled. He refused to pay to have it re-built. We filed a complaint to the municipality, to the union of municipalities, and they didn’t do anything, so we had to rebuild the wall using money from our own pocket. Then this neighbor of ours had the guts to call the ISF, bribe them, and have them come to the house and threaten my grandma that if she didn’t stop annoying the neighbor, she would be sorry for it. And when we used to file complaints, they used to ask us where we vote, and if we don’t vote in the municipality, they would basically say “Bug off, we’re not going to help you.” It’s a mess, it’s a bloody mess.
Communications Consultant, 60, Beirut
The former director of Middle East Airlines in Africa used to let his friends and family fly for free. He was fired from MEA, then certain politicians attacked MEA for the firing and made them re-accept him. I don’t know if he took his old position or not, but this is one kind of corruption.
Another example is that there are a handful of families in Lebanon who control the petrol business. The electricity factories are built to use gas, but even still they use petrol because these five families make money. From 1990 until today, we’ve lost roughly $20 billion because of the electricity. As Lebanese, we’ve become habituated to corruption. It’s systematic.

URGENT ACTION
FORCIBLE RETURN from lebanon OF IRANIAN ARAB

Iranian national and member of Iran’s Arab minority, Mohammad Taher Batili, is at risk of being forcibly returned from Lebanon to Iran. If returned, Amnesty International fears that he would be at risk of torture and possibly the death penalty.
Mohammad Taher Batili, aged 29, is recognized as a refugee by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. He was arrested by members of the security forces when he was getting into a car in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on 2 June 2010. He produced a UNHCR document proving his refugee status but was nevertheless arrested on the grounds that he entered Lebanon illegally from Syria and was detained in Zahle prison, in the Bekaa Valley in east Lebanon. On 26 June he was convicted for “irregular entry”, and sentenced to two months’ imprisonment and payment of a fine. He faces forcible return to Iran after serving the sentence.
Mohammad Taher Batili arrived in Lebanon from Syria with his family on 28 May 2009 and sought asylum there. They had fled Iran due to his and his father’s political activities in support of the Arab minority in Ahvaz, Khuzestan province, Iran. If returned to Iran, he would be at risk of torture and may face the death penalty because of his political activities.
Following his detention in Zahle prison, officials from Iran’s embassy in Lebanon twice interrogated Mohammad Taher Batili. They interrogated him at length about his father’s political activities and that of other members of Iran’s Arab minority in Syria and Lebanon. They threatened him that other inmates in the prison would harm him.
Lebanon hosts a large population of asylum-seekers and refugees, mostly from countries suffering from war or systematic human rights violations. Hundreds of them face arrest and prolonged detention as well as forcible return irrespective of whether they are formally registered as refugees by UNHCR. In 2008, the Lebanese authorities agreed informally to allow refugees a grace period of three months, renewable once, to find an employer to sponsor them and provide them with a residence permit, but the authorities do not appear to be keeping to this agreement.
PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Arabic, French, English or your own language:
Urging the Lebanese authorities not to forcibly return Mohammad Taher Batili to Iran, where he would be at risk of torture and possible execution;
Expressing concern that his removal would violate Lebanon’s obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and contravene the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the return in any manner whatsoever of any person to a situation where they would be at risk of torture or other serious human rights violations;
Calling on the Lebanese authorities to ensure that, while held, he is protected from torture or other ill-treatment, and is granted immediate access to his family, a lawyer of his choice, and adequate medical care. Iranian officials in Iran should not be allowed to interrogate him while in the custody of Lebanese security forces.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 11 AUGUST 2010 TO:
President
Michel Sleiman
Baabda Palace
Baabda, Mount Lebanon, Lebanon
Fax: + 961 5 959 210/922 400
Email:president_office@presidency.gov.lb
Salutation: Your Excellency

Minister of Interior
Ziyad Baroud
Sanayeh, Beirut, Lebanon
Fax: + 961 1 751 618/750 084
Email: ministry@interior.gov.lb
Salutation: Your Excellency

And copies to:
Minister of Justice
Ibrahim Najjar
Rue Sami Solh, Beirut, Lebanon
Fax: + 961 1 612 564/427 975
Email: webmaster@justice.gov.lb
Salutation: Your Excellency
Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.
URGENT ACTION
FORCIBLE RETURN OF IRANIAN ARAB FROM LEBANON
Additional Information
Ahwazi Arabs are one of Iran’s many ethnic minorities and live mainly in Khuzestan province in south-western Iran, bordering Iraq. Khuzestan is strategically important because it is the site of much of Iran’s oil reserves. The Arab population do not feel they have benefited as much from the oil revenue as the Persian population. Historically they have been marginalized and discriminated against, for instance by being denied the right to an education in their own language.
Although mainly Shi’a Muslims, some Ahwazi Arabs converted to Sunni Islam, leading the authorities to accuse some local activists of being Wahhabis (followers of a conservative form of Sunni Islam). Tension mounted among the Arab population after April 2005, when it was alleged that the government planned to disperse the country’s Arab population or to force them to relinquish their Arab identity. Following bomb explosions in the city of Ahvaz in June and October 2005, killing at least 14 people, and explosions at oil installations in September and October 2005, the violence intensified, with hundreds of people reportedly arrested. There were reports of torture. Further bombings on 24 January 2006, in which at least six people were killed, were followed by further mass arbitrary arrests. At least 15 men have been executed as a result of their alleged involvement in the bombings. Around the end of September 2009, at least one Ahwazi man was executed following trials of some 10 Ahwazi men, some of whom were known political activists, before a branch of the Revolutionary Court in Ahvaz. They received unfair trials in which they had no access to a lawyer (see Amnesty International,Iran: Seven men at risk of execution in Iran, (Index: MDE 13/109/2009), 21 October 2009. http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/109/2009/en).
Mohammad Taher Batili’s father, Hadi Mohammad Jawad Batili, has been arrested in Iran several times for his political activities and his support to families of detained or killed Ahwazi people. In 1993 he was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment; he served five years of the sentence, including seven months in solitary confinement, before being released on bail. He was reportedly tortured and otherwise ill-treated during this period. In 2004 he was handed a three-year suspended sentence and in 2005 he was arrested and detained for four months before being released on bail. He was summoned to appear before Branch 12 of the Revolutionary Court in Khuzestan on 9 July 2009 and the case is ongoing.
On 27 September 2008, six Ahwazi asylum-seekers, Ma’soumeh Ka’bi and her five children aged between four and 14, were forcibly returned to Iran from Syria. She and her children were immediately arrested upon arrival in Tehran. Her five children were released in late October 2008 (see Iran: Forcible return/ Prisoners of conscience/ Fear of torture and ill-treatment, (Index: MDE 13/147/2008), 10 October 2008, http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/147/2008/en). On 1 January 2009, Ma’soumeh Ka’bi was sentenced by the Revolutionary Court in Ahwaz, Khuzestan province, to four and a half years’ imprisonment for leaving Iran using false travel documents and reportedly in connection with her husband’s political activities. She appealed the sentence and was released on bail of around US$151,000. Amnesty International has not received information on the outcome of her appeal.
Although Lebanon is not a state party to the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, it is, like all other countries, bound by international customary law, including the principle of non-refoulement: countries may not forcibly return people to countries where they would face serious human rights violations, including torture and other ill-treatment. It is also a party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
UA: 147/10 Index: MDE 18/005/2010 Issue Date: 30 June 2010
-------------------------------------
East Mediterranean Team
Amnesty International, International Secretariat
Peter Benenson House, 1 Easton Street
London WC1X 0DW
United Kingdom
E-mail: Eastmed@amnesty.org
Tel: +44 (0)20 7413 5500
Fax: +44 (0)20 7413 5719


CENTCOM thinks outside the box on Hamas and Hezbollah.

BY MARK PERRY
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/06/29/red_team?page=0,0
| JUNE 30, 2010
While it is anathema to broach the subject of engaging militant groups like Hizballah* and Hamas in official Washington circles (to say nothing of Israel), that is exactly what a team of senior intelligence officers at U.S. Central Command -- CENTCOM -- has been doing. In a "Red Team" report issued on May 7 and entitled "Managing Hizballah and Hamas," senior CENTCOM intelligence officers question the current U.S. policy of isolating and marginalizing the two movements. Instead, the Red Team recommends a mix of strategies that would integrate the two organizations into their respective political mainstreams. While a Red Team exercise is deliberately designed to provide senior commanders with briefings and assumptions that challenge accepted strategies, the report is at once provocative, controversial -- and at odds with current U.S. policy.
More... Among its other findings, the five-page report calls for the integration of Hizballah into the Lebanese Armed Forces, and Hamas into the Palestinian security forces led by Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The Red Team's conclusion, expressed in the final sentence of the executive summary, is perhaps its most controversial finding: "The U.S. role of assistance to an integrated Lebanese defense force that includes Hizballah; and the continued training of Palestinian security forces in a Palestinian entity that includes Hamas in its government, would be more effective than providing assistance to entities -- the government of Lebanon and Fatah -- that represent only a part of the Lebanese and Palestinian populace respectively" (emphasis in the original). The report goes on to note that while Hizballah and Hamas "embrace staunch anti-Israel rejectionist policies," the two groups are "pragmatic and opportunistic."
The report opens with a quote from former U.S. peace negotiator Aaron David Miller's book, The Much Too Promised Land, which notes that both Hizballah and Hamas "have emerged as serious political players respected on the streets, in Arab capitals, and throughout the region. Destroying them was never really an option. Ignoring them may not be either." The report's writers are quick to acknowledge that the two militant groups "are vastly different," and that treating them together is a mistake. Nevertheless, the CENTCOM team directly repudiates Israel's publicly stated view -- that the two movements are incapable of change and must be confronted with force. The report says that "failing to recognize their separate grievances and objectives will result in continued failure in moderating their behavior."
"There is a lot of thinking going on in the military and particularly among intelligence officers in Tampa [the site of CENTCOM headquarters] about these groups," acknowledged a senior CENTCOM officer familiar with the report. However, he denied that senior military leaders are actively lobbying Barack Obama's administration to forge an opening to the two organizations. "That's probably not in the cards just yet," he said.
In the wake of the Gaza flotilla incident, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said that those on board the Mavi Marmara, the scene of the May 31 showdown between Israeli commandos and largely Turkish activists, had ties to "agents of international terror, international Islam, Hamas, al Qaeda and others." The same senior officer wasn't impressed. "Putting Hizballah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood and al Qaeda in the same sentence, as if they are all the same, is just stupid," he said. "I don't know any intelligence officer at CENTCOM who buys that." Another mid-level SOCOM [Special Operations Command] officer echoed these views: "As the U.S. strategy in the war on terrorism evolves, military planners have come to realize that they are all motivated by different factors, and we need to address this if we are going to effectively prosecute a successful campaign in the Middle East." most interesting aspects of the report deal with Hizbollah. The Red Team downplays the argument that the Lebanese Shiite group acts as a proxy for Iran. The report includes a quote from Hizballah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, stating that if Lebanon and Iran's interests ever conflicted, his organization would favor Lebanese interests. "Hizballah's activities increasingly reflect the movement's needs and aspirations in Lebanon, as opposed to the interests of its Iranian backers," the report concludes. It also criticizes Israel's August 2006 war against Hizballah as counterproductive. "Instead of exploiting Hizballah's independent streak ... Israeli actions in Lebanon may have had the reverse effect of tightening its bonds with Iran," the authors note.
The report goes on to say that, while there are "many ways in which Lebanese Hizballah is not like the IRA," there are "parallels" between the Irish Republican Army's eventual participation in the Northern Ireland peace process and a potentially productive U.S. strategy for dealing with Hizballah. CENTCOM officers cite a meeting between the British ambassador to Lebanon and Hizballah leaders in 2009 as providing an appropriate model to begin the integration of the organization into the LAF. Such talks should "be pursued again with the same vigor that peace talks in Northern Ireland were pursued," the report recommends. "As the US took the lead with peace talks in Northern Ireland, the British could take the lead with unity talks between the LAF and Hizballah in Lebanon."
The brief's authors also have interesting things to say about Hamas, which has ruled in Gaza since its takeover of the impoverished coastal strip in 2007. While the Red Team report does not make explicit policy recommendations, the senior intelligence experts that drafted the statement signal their unease with Israel's anti-Hamas policies, particularly the continuing Israeli siege of Gaza. CENTCOM officers note that Israel's strategy of keeping Gaza under siege also keeps "the area on the verge of a perpetual humanitarian collapse" -- a policy that the intelligence report says "may be radicalizing more people, especially the young, increasing the number of potential recruits" for the organization. The report argues that an Israeli decision to lift the siege might pave the way for reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, which would be "the best hope for mainstreaming Hamas." The Red Team also claims that reconciliation with Fatah, when coupled with Hamas's explicit renunciation of violence, would gain "widespread international support and deprive the Israelis of any legitimate justification to continue settlement building and delay statehood negotiations."
In supporting the creation of a unified Palestinian security service, CENTCOM's Red Team distances itself from the U.S. effort to provide training to the Fatah-controlled security forces in the West Bank, which began during George W. Bush's administration. While that effort, currently headed by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, is not mentioned specifically in the report, the Red Team makes it clear that it believes that such initiatives will fail unless the Israelis and Palestinians negotiate an end to the conflict. While Dayton and the administration are focused on building a "National Security Force" in the West Bank that excludes Hamas, and jails its members, the focus of Palestinians is elsewhere. "But all Palestinians are watching the clashes in East Jerusalem, which continue to feed into the Palestinians perception the Israelis are incapable of negotiating in good faith," according to the report.
CENTCOM's implicit criticism of Dayton is not a surprise: the general's program is controversial among some senior military officers, who question an effort that, in Palestinian perceptions, makes the U.S. a partner in the Israeli occupation. Dayton is also criticized in military circles for making a May 2009 speech before the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy (which he described as "the foremost think tank on Middle East issues, not only in Washington, but in the world"). In the speech (pdf), he said that the reason a high-ranking general was appointed as security coordinator was because he "would be trusted and respected by the Israelis." The statement was not universally welcomed at the Pentagon, where one officer shook his head. "You would have thought Dayton's primary mission would be to win the respect and trust of the Palestinians," he told me.
According to a senior CENTCOM officer, while the CENTCOM Red Team report has been read by outgoing CENTCOM chief Gen. David Petraeus, it's unknown whether its recommendations have been passed on to the White House. Even so, there's little question the report reflects the thinking among a significant number of senior officers at CENTCOM headquarters -- and among senior CENTCOM intelligence officers and analysts serving in the Middle East. And while any "Red Team" report by definition reflects a view that is contrary to accepted policy, a CENTCOM senior officer told me that -- so far as he knows -- there is, in fact, no parallel "Blue Team" report contradicting the Red Team's conclusion. "Well, that's not exactly right," this senior officer added. "The Blue Team is the Obama administration."
*Note: To avoid confusion, this story uses the spelling “Hizballah” throughout, although Hezbollah is FP’s preferred spelling.