LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJuly 06/2010

Bible Of the Day
The Good News According to Luke 12/8-12/12:8 “I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, him will the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God; 12:9 but he who denies me in the presence of men will be denied in the presence of the angels of God. 12:10 Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 12:11 When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, don’t be anxious how or what you will answer, or what you will say; 12:12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say.”

Psalm 19:14
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Has Lebanon Abandoned 1701?By: Abdullah Iskandar'/05 July/10
Roadblocks to Damascus/By: Frederick Deknatel/The Nation/July 05/10
No war this summer/By: Alex Fishman/Ynetnews/July 05/10
Moderates or terrorists?/By: Dan Calic/Ynetnews/July 05/10

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for July 05/10
Israel Enhances Urban Warfare Training Centers Over Future War with Hizbullah/Naharnet
Europe Could Withdraw Troops from UNIFIL after Clashes/Naharnet
Geagea Criticizes 'Militia' Tactics Against UNIFIL, Says Paris Should Not Be Rewarded this Way/Naharnet
Berri Denies Rumors about Change of UNIFIL's Rules of Engagement/Naharnet
High-Level Contacts to End Clashes between UNIFIL, Residents/Naharnet
Southerners assault UNIFIL patrol, grab soldier's weapons/Daily Star
Lebanese Forces,LF urges southerners to abide by Resolution 1701/The Daily
ISF says it captured another spy for Israel in June/Daily Star
Saqr, Moussawi trade accusations over Israeli spy case/Daily Star
Lebanon mourns loss of Sayyed Fadlallah/Daily Star
No war this summer/Ynetnews
Hamas: Ships do more than rockets/Israel News
UN's Ban stuns Israel with report blaming it for tension in north/Ha'aretz
Assad: US administration is weak/Jerusalem Post
Syria: Church losing members to Islam/Catholic Culture
52 missing since 2008 Syria prison riot: Amnesty/AFP
Assad in Beirut before July 15, Ahmadinejad Visits Lebanon on Eve of Ramadan/Naharnet
Rifi Happy to See Christians Joining Police Force/Naharnet
Makari: Attacks on UNIFIL 'Disarm Lebanon from International Legitimacy' and Have Twofold Message/Naharnet
Alloush Points to Hizbullah-Iranian Hands in UNIFIL-Residents Unrest /Naharnet
Harb Warns Against Confrontation with U.N., Urges Official Stance from Latest Incidents/Naharnet
Assad: We Agreed with Lebanon on Demarcation of Maritime Boundaries/Naharnet
Fadlallah Funeral Postpones Meeting of Joint Parliamentary Committees/Naharnet
Iranian Embassy Denies Interrogation of Iranian Dissident in Zahle Prison/Naharnet

National Day of Mourning Tuesday over Fadlallah's Death
Naharnet/ The Lebanese government declared Tuesday a national day of mourning over the death of Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. Beirut, 05 Jul 10,

Europe Could Withdraw Troops from UNIFIL after Clashes
Naharnet/A serious question has been raised in the last few hours as to whether European countries have started mulling the possibility of withdrawing their troops from UNIFIL following clashes with residents in southern Lebanon. An-Nahar newspaper on Monday said Europe's withdrawal considerations came after the French implied that the latest incidents were "not spontaneous." There is talk that the French will coordinate, particularly with Italy and Spain, a stance on the recent events. An-Nahar said contacts will be conducted in the coming days between the concerned European countries after this crisis was put on the table in Paris and New York and via the current contacts in Beirut with officials at every level.
Beirut, 05 Jul 10,

Soueid: Hezbollah harms the state
July 5, 2010 /March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soueid told MTV on Monday that Hezbollah hinders the Lebanese state, and the party’s arms are illegitimate.
Soueid also said there should be a distinction made between humanitarian rights and civil rights for Palestinians. “The March 14 alliance is flexible regarding Palestinians’ right to work but the parties have reservations concerning property ownership,” he added. Soueid said the document being drafted by March 14 on the issue of Palestinian rights is practical, but he did not elaborate further. Soueid met earlier in the day with Lebanon First bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora and several March 14 MPs to discuss Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt’s proposal to give Palestinian refugees in Lebanon civil rights. Jumblatt proposed the bill in parliament last month. The majority of Christian MPs voted against it.
-NOW Lebanon

Gemayel: Palestinian civil rights could be cover for naturalization
July 5, 2010 /After meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir in Bkirki on Monday, Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel said that laws proposing Palestinian civil rights might have means to naturalize Palestinians “hidden” inside them, according to a statement from his office. He also said that because naturalization is a constitutional issue, any law that deals with it should be treated as a constitutional amendment. It takes at least two-thirds of parliament to approve an amendment. Gemayel also warned that giving Palestinians in Lebanon civil rights is very dangerous because it could alter the demographic balance of the country. He added that “as Christians we have the right to express our worry and anxiety.”
Monday’s meeting of the Administration and Justice Parliamentary Commission discussed Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt’s proposal to grant Palestinians civil rights.
Gemayel also said the string of anti-UNIFIL protests in the South are linked to the “ongoing campaigns against the Special Tribunal [for Lebanon]” and the 2007 US-ISF cooperation agreement. On Saturday, civilians mobbed and disarmed a UNIFIL patrol just north of the village of Kabrikha. A French peacekeeper was reportedly injured in protests in the South earlier in the week, sparked by UNIFIL maneuvers launched Monday.  Gemayel claimed that Lebanon’s state institutions had failed to protect UNIFIL, adding that the peacekeepers were there at Lebanon’s invitation and that he was shocked at the way they were treated. He also called late Shia cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah one of the great men of Lebanon who worked for the sake of consensus and openness. He called the cleric’s death a national loss. Fadlallah died on Sunday at a Beirut hospital. He was 74.-NOW Lebanon

New testimonies in Dahr al-Ain investigation
July 5, 2010 /On Monday Judge Ghassan Oueidat heard seven new witnesses testify about the murder of brothers Tony and Nayyef Saleh, bringing the total number of witnesses who have testified in the investigation to seventeen, the National News Agency (NNA) reported. On May 28, Hanna al-Barsaoui shot brothers Tony and Nayyef Saleh to death in the Koura village of Dahr al-Ain in the North, according to the NNA. -NOW Lebanon

Jumblatt heads to Istanbul
July 5, 2010 /Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt and State Minister Wael Abu Faour left Beirut Monday afternoon to Istanbul, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.
-NOW Lebanon

Qabbani: closure of religious institutions to mourn Fadlallah
July 5, 2010 /On Monday, Grand Mufti of the Lebanese Republic Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani ordered Dar al-Fatwa and its institutions throughout Lebanon to close on Tuesday as an expression of mourning for the passing of leading Shia cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, the National News Agency (NNA) reported.He also called Fadlallah’s family, Speaker Nabih Berri, and Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah to offer his condolences. Fadlallah died on Sunday at the Bahman hospital in Beirut after being admitted for internal bleeding on Friday. He was 74 years old.-NOW Lebanon

New Opinion: A man of complexities
July 5, 2010
Now Lebanon
Hezbollah is claiming Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah – the Shia cleric who died on Sunday, aged 75, after a short illness – as its own. On Sunday the Party of God called for a mass turnout for the funeral, to be held on Tuesday, and announced three days of mourning. In the same statement, it was already busy creating a legacy for his followers to observe, reminding us that Fadlallah had said he would “never rest until the Zionist entity collapsed.”
The West, meanwhile, will not doubt portray him as one of the party’s key founders, an advocate of terrorism and the man who gave spiritual blessing to the 1983 suicide attacks on the Multinational Force troops in Beirut and other subsequent, mainly Israeli, targets. They will also no doubt point to the fact that he denied the Holocaust and denounced the US as a source of great evil.
But to pigeonhole Fadlallah in either category would be to ignore the complexities of a man who was a towering influence among Lebanon’s Shia community and beyond.
True, his sermons in the 70s influenced the likes of Hezbollah’s current secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, and he remained one of the party’s intellectual and spiritual cornerstones. Yes, he was a committed anti-Zionist, supporter of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and advocated suicide attacks against Israel.
But that would be to tell only half the story. Lebanon’s only marja, or spiritual mentor, distanced himself from the party after it was dragged deeper into Iran’s orbit. He rejected the doctrine of wilayat al-faqih and the idea that the Iranian model could fit into Lebanon’s pluralist society, believing that Iran was insensitive to the social complexity of Lebanon, a country in which 18 sects coexist in relative harmony. Indeed, when Prime Minister Saad Hariri called him “a major national and spiritual authority who has effectively contributed to consolidating the values of right and justice to resist injustice,” he was no doubt referring to Fadlallah’s broad ecumenical outreach.
Fadlallah was also a highly regarded and progressive religious scholar, who rejected membership of political groups and advocated harmony, both within the community and with other religious sects, a message that Hezbollah would do well to remember.
Toward the latter years of his life, he was known more for his liberal social views, especially on women’s issues – speaking out against female circumcision and honor killings, and defending a woman’s right to fight back against an abusive husband were among his most well-known rulings, although he nonetheless insisted that a woman should cover herself except her face when in public.
He also called for the banning of the Shia practice of shedding blood during the mourning period of Ashura, while his website was an open forum for those seeking guidance on even the most taboo issues.
But the immediate hoopla surrounding Fadlallah’s death has once again demonstrated that Hezbollah feels that it speaks for all Lebanese Shia, and those who respected Fadlallah but who reject the narrow political confines of Hezbollah and Amal must look beyond the predictable politicization of the funeral. He was, after all, a religious authority, whose words and guidance were very much rooted in Lebanon and all its stands for.
Indeed, perhaps it is fitting to once again remind us of what he stood for through his own words, conveyed in an interview with NOW Lebanon in 2009.

“Throughout my life, I have always supported the human being in his humanism and [I have supported] the oppressed... I think it is the person’s right to live his freedom… and [it is his right] to face the injustice imposed on him by revolting against it, using his practical, realistic and available means to end the oppressor’s injustice toward him, whether it is an individual, a community, a nation, or a state; whether male or female.”

Geagea Criticizes 'Militia' Tactics Against UNIFIL, Says Paris Should Not Be Rewarded this Way
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has criticized attacks on U.N. peacekeepers in the south, saying problems should not be solved through "militia" tactics.
Mayors or MPs should head to the involved authority in the army or military intelligence and complain against any violation that could have been carried out by UNIFIL in their villages, Geagea told An Nahar daily in remarks published Monday. An official in the army should then discuss the issue with the U.N. peacekeeping force or refer it to the involved cabinet minister or the UNIFIL commander or the Lebanese government, he said. Problems cannot be solved through attacks on peacekeepers "because UNIFIL is present (in the south) under an international resolution and with the approval of the government," Geagea told An Nahar. The LF leader also criticized the attendance of a Hizbullah representative of a meeting with UNIFIL and the army over the latest skirmishes in several villages in the south last week. "The state is destroying its own existence," he said. Geagea said the skirmishes are most likely taking place after the new Security Council sanctions against Iran which were supported by France and other world powers. He added that attacks on UNIFIL began when the prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon neared the announcement of names against those involved in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's murder. France is known for its support to the court, he said. "We don't reward France this way," Geagea said. Beirut, 05 Jul 10,

Gemayel Says Skirmishes Harm Ties with World Community, Warns About Change in dmographics
Naharnet/Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel said Monday attacks on U.N. troops in the south harm Lebanon's ties with foreign countries adding that giving Palestinians their civil rights changes the country's demography. "Attacks on UNIFIL are taking place at a time when we are asking the international community for support … to achieve full sovereignty," Gemayel said following talks with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir in Bkirki. Such skirmishes between southerners and the peacekeepers "harm Lebanon's ties with its friends in the international community at a time when we need its support to face all dangers," the former president told reporters. He criticized the Lebanese state and its institutions for not protecting UNIFIL "which came to Lebanon to provide security, implement the armistice agreement and preserve Lebanon's international borders." Gemayel was accompanied by his political advisor Sejaan Azzi. "We also discussed with the patriarch the issue of Palestinian refugees and proposed draft laws at parliament. This issue is very dangerous and if adopted it would lead to changes in the country's demographics," the Phalange leader warned. "As Christians we have the right to express our concerns over the issue," he said. Gemayel told reporters that he was studying with his allies the proposal of MP Walid Jumblat to give Palestinians civil rights. Beirut, 05 Jul 10,

Alloush Points to Hizbullah-Iranian Hands in UNIFIL-Residents Unrest
Naharnet/Former MP and Mustaqbal Movement member Mustafa Alloush said Monday that clashes between UNIFIL and south Lebanon residents were linked to "regional issues."
"The events that took place against UNIFIL in the south cannot only be confined to a local reaction from the people, but is likely linked to regional issues, particularly with the tightening of international sanctions on Iran, " Alloush said in an interview with Asharq radio station, pointing to Hizbullah and Iranian hands in the unrest. "We know that Lebanese issues are normally linked to regional issues, and the forces that are capable of moving the people in the south are directly linked to the Iranian leadership," Alloush said. Beirut, 05 Jul 10, 12:04

Harb Warns Against Confrontation with U.N., Urges Official Stance from Latest Incidents
Naharnet/Labor Minister Butros Harb on Monday urged the government to discuss the latest skirmishes between southerners and U.N. peacekeepers during its next session to take an official stance from the issue."What his happening in the south is a source of concern particularly at this time," Harb told Voice of Lebanon radio station. "Does Lebanon have an interest in distancing the international troops from the south?" the minister wondered. He warned that such attacks on U.N. troops could put Lebanon in confrontation with the international community and the world body. Also Monday, Harb met with U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison. Beirut, 05 Jul 10,

Makari: Attacks on UNIFIL 'Disarm Lebanon from International Legitimacy' and Have Twofold Message
Naharnet/Deputy Speaker Farid Makari said repeated clashes between southerners and U.N. troops were organized and aimed at sending messages to the international community that any progress made by the international tribunal would be met by such attacks. Makari said another message was that southern Lebanon was the best location from where to respond to new Security Council sanctions on Iran. "Unfortunately, what is happening today is not disarming an international patrol, but disarming Lebanon from the international legitimacy and from the protection guaranteed by (resolution) 1701," the deputy speaker said. "Those barricading themselves behind the people of the south to attack UNIFIL are committing the biggest crime against the people of the south," he added. On Saturday, villagers disarmed a French patrol of U.N. peacekeepers and attacked them with sticks, rocks and eggs.
Beirut, 05 Jul 10, 12:57

High-Level Contacts to End Clashes between UNIFIL, Residents
Naharnet/High-level contacts were conducted over the weekend in an effort to end the heightened friction between U.N. peacekeepers and southerners that left two French soldiers and two civilians wounded. Clashes between UNIFIL and residents in the border region necessitated swift action at the political, military and diplomatic levels.
In this regard, President Michel Suleiman held a meeting late Sunday with Defense Minister Elias Murr, Army Commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji and Intelligence chief Edmond Fadel where they discussed details of the situation in the south in light of the clashes between UNIFIL troops and locals. Suleiman also was briefed on measures taken by the army to bring peace and stability to the villages of Toulin and Qabrikha where friction was highest. In a statement, Suleiman stressed the need to increase the level of cooperation between the Lebanese Army, UNIFIL, and local residents.  Suleiman also maintained contact over the weekend with Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Beirut, 05 Jul 10,

Wahab Attacks Hariri Tribunal, Warns UNIFIL against Implications of Court Ruling
Naharnet/Tawheed Movement leader Wiam Wahab attacked the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and warned the U.N. court against stirring up sectarian rift. Calling the internal tribunal "corrupt," and "full of fraud," and "pro-Israeli," Wahab accused the court of seeking to sow Shiite-Sunni strife. He warned UNIFIL of the implications of the STL ruling against Hizbullah. "UNIFIL has to be aware of the implications of a Court decision accusing Hizbullah members of involvement in the (political) assassinations, that this will affect its mission in the south," Wahab told al-Jadid TV in an interview late Sunday. He warned that residents who contribute to providing support for UNIFIL "will no longer provide such protection." Wahab's remarks came after a similar statement made by Lebanese Forces official Antoine Zahra who also warned that what has been happening in the south after four years of the issuance of Resolution 1701 is a "message linked to the International Tribunal." Beirut, 05 Jul 10,

Assad in Beirut before July 15, Ahmadinejad Visits Lebanon on Eve of Ramadan
Naharnet/Syrian President Bashar Assad's visit to Beirut will take place before July 15, informed sources told An Nahar newspaper. Media reports have said that Assad plans to visit Lebanon after President Michel Suleiman extended the invitation to him during his last visit to Damascus. The same sources said that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit Beirut before the start of the holy month of Ramadan on August 11. Beirut, 05 Jul 10,

Assad: We Agreed with Lebanon on Demarcation of Maritime Boundaries
Naharnet/Syrian President Bashar Assad said that Damascus has agreed with Lebanon on the demarcation of the maritime boundaries. "Lebanon and Syria agreed on the demarcation of maritime boundaries in order to determine the right to gas fields for each side in the future," Assad told reporters accompanying him to his Madrid. Assad arrived in Spain Sunday on a two-day official visit that follows a tour of Latin America. On Monday, Assad will hold talks with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. His visit follows a tour of Latin America that took in Venezuela, where he met President Hugo Chavez, as well as Cuba, Brazil and Argentina. Beirut, 05 Jul 10,

Rifi Happy to See Christians Joining Police Force
Naharnet/Police chief Gen. Ashraf Rifi on Monday expressed his satisfaction over the joining of a number of Christian men in the police force.His remarks were made following a visit to Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir in Bkirki. Rifi told reporters that he briefed Sfeir on a plan to reduce traffic jams that would take effect as of Monday. Beirut, 05 Jul 10, 12:28
Iranian Embassy Denies Interrogation of Iranian Dissident in Zahle Prison /Naharnet/The father of an Iranian dissident, jailed in Zahle as an illegal immigrant, said Iranian security agents have questioned his son in prison, pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported Monday."They wanted to collect information from him (son) on opponents of the Iranian regime in Lebanon, Syria or Iraq," the father of jailed Mohammed Batili told Asharq al-Awsat. He pointed out that the Zahle prison falls within the jurisdiction of Hizbullah. Asharq al-Awsat quoted Batili as saying in a letter that Iranian security agents visited him two days ago and "where I was questioned and intimidated."The daily said it had obtained a copy of the letter.It quoted sources close to the Iranian embassy in Beirut as denying the claim. Beirut, 05 Jul 10,

Southerners assault UNIFIL patrol, grab soldier's weapons
By Patrick Galey /Daily Star staff/Monday, July 05, 2010
BEIRUT: A United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol was attacked by southern residents on Saturday, who commandeered soldier’s weapons and wounded the company leader, less than 24 hours after the organization’s head demanded its peacekeepers in Lebanon not be impeded by locals. On Sunday, President Michel Sleiman called for a meeting in Baabda to discuss the situation in south Lebanon. The meeting gathered Defense Minister Elias Murr, Lebanese Army commander Jean Kahwaji, and head of Army Intelligence Brigadier Edmond Fadel. Sleiman also discussed current developments in south Lebanon with Speaker Nabih Berri. A statement carried by the state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Sleiman stressed the need to increase the level of cooperation between the Lebanese Army and the peacekeepers. Two UNIFIL armored vehicles were blocked by civilians as they made their way to the village of Qabrika in southern Lebanon at around 10am local time, a force statement issued late Saturday said.
“The civilians pelted stones at the UNIFIL patrol and had a short verbal exchange with an Arabic-speaking member of the patrol,” reported UNIFIL Military Spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Naresh Bhatt. “As the stone throwing continued, the patrol decided to leave the spot, in the process hitting a motorcycle that had been parked blocking the way.”
The attack was the second of its kind in less than a week, after villagers from Khirbet Silim threw stones at a UNIFIL patrol, injuring two French peacekeepers on Tuesday, following large scale capacity testing exercises by the force.
Saturday’s incident escalated further, according to Bhatt, as angry villagers confiscated some of UNIFIL’s weapons.
“At some distance, a crowd of around 50 people surrounded the patrol, deflated tires of UNIFIL vehicles, threw stones, breaking windows, windscreens and the aerials from the vehicles. When the crowd tried to grab the arms mounted on the UNIFIL vehicles, the peacekeepers fired warning shots in the air,” he said. The patrol leader, who tried to reason with the locals, had his firearm snatched and was “roughed up” by members of the crowd, Bhatt added. “He received minor injuries on his forehead and was sheltered by some civilians in a nearby house,” he said. “UNIFIL reinforcements and Lebanese Army personnel responded to the location. The Lebanese Army recovered the UNIFIL weapons from the civilians and restored calm in the area.” On Friday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released his latest six-monthly report on the implementation of UN Resolution 1701, in which he asked for UNIFIL peacekeepers to be allowed to operate freely within their mandated area, south of the Litani River.
“I am concerned by the incidents during the reporting period … and call on the Lebanese Armed Forces to ensure that UNIFIL is accorded full freedom of movement,” Ban said.
UNIFIL Force Commander Major General Alberto Asarta Cuevas, speaking after Saturday’s altercation, repeated Ban’s request that the Lebanese Army provide protection for his peacekeepers when required. “It is incumbent on the Lebanese authorities to ensure
the security of movement for UNIFIL within its area of operation. The UN Security Council had, by its Resolution 1773 of 2007, urged all parties to abide scrupulously by their obligation to respect the safety of UNIFIL personnel,” he said. Bhatt emphasized that “during the incident, the force commander was in continuous contact with [Lebanese Army] generals in charge of the south Litani area and with the [Lebanese Army] intelligence in order to control the situation and diffuse tensions.” The latest incidents have prompted a flurry of varied reactions from Lebanese politicians and lawmakers. Mohammad Raad, head of Hizbullah’s parliamentary bloc, speaking during a morning ceremony in the southern village of Mayfadoun, urged UNIFIL to correct its current performance. “UNIFIL does not have the prerogative to move as it pleases during its presence in Lebanon but it has to commit to Resolution 1701 and has to always coordinate with the Lebanese Army,” he said. “If certain parties want to impose themselves as a security reference, confiscating sovereignty in the south, this breaches the resolution.” Raad made specific reference to the incidents, labeling them “violations” of Resolution 1701. “We are hoping that the force will commit to its mission,” he said adding that UNIFIL did not have “unlimited authority.” “[UNIFIL] cannot sneak into alleys, past windows where children are sleeping, scaring them as if a war had broken out in the south without notice,” Raad added.
The Lebanese Forces parliamentary bloc voiced support on Saturday for UNIFIL, saying the force “has an effective role to play in the frame of the missions assigned to it according to the UN resolutions.” Hizbullah member and Tyre MP Nawwaf Moussawi echoed Raad’s comments, saying that UNIFIL was bound to keep in close contact with Lebanese Army patrols.
“We are keen on committing to Resolution 1701 and UNIFIL should also commit to it itself,” he said. – Additional reporting by Wassim Mroueh

LF urges southerners to abide by Resolution 1701
By The Daily Star /Monday, July 05, 2010
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Forces parliamentary bloc stressed on Saturday the need to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which put an end to the summer 2006 war with Israel. Following their meeting in Maarab, the LF MPs called on southerners to cooperate with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). On Saturday, villagers threw stones at UNIFIL peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, seizing their weapons and wounding their patrol leader. The UNIFIL and southerners had also clashed early last week. The LF statement added that the meeting addressed the controversial issue of granting Palestinian refugees in Lebanon their civil rights. The statement said LF MPS were working to develop a common understanding with the rest of the March 14 Forces alliance, “in order to come up with a solution within the capacities of the Lebanese state.” The LF bloc also saluted the efforts of security forces in uncovering spy cells collaborating with Israel. – The Daily Star

ISF says it captured another spy for Israel in June
By The Daily Star /Monday, July 05, 2010
BEIRUT: The Internal Security Forces captured an Israeli spy in an ambush in late June, their media office said on Sunday. The ISF communiqué said police caught a Mossad operative who had transmitters and coded data in his possession. The suspect, who upon interrogation admitted to working for the Israelis, said he had been on their payroll since 2005 and had provided them with vital security info on south Lebanon by using the transmitter in his possession. The suspect was handed over to the concerned judicial authorities concerned for legal indictment, the ISF communiqué added. – The Daily Star

Saqr, Moussawi trade accusations over Israeli spy case
By The Daily Star /Monday, July 05, 2010
BEIRUT: Zahleh MP Oqab Saqr and Tyre MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi traded accusations over the weekend following media leaks about the recent arrest of a telecommunications technician on charges of spying for Israel’s Mossad agency. On Sunday, Saqr issued a statement in which he labeled accusations made against him by Moussawi as “naive.”
Saqr slammed Moussawi’s claims that his calls for halting media leaks about preliminary investigations into suspected spy Charbel Qazzi aimed at “distorting the inquiry.”
Also, the lawmaker lashed out at the Hizbullah official for accusing him of treason. Lebanese state-owned mobile-phone firm Alfa confirmed Wednesday that an employee had been detained by the army on suspicion of spying for Israel, a case Hizbullah said showed the country’s security was under threat.
Alfa, which is managed by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom, said in its first public statement on the case that the employee was a technician responsible for maintaining equipment that connects cellular network stations. Security sources had identified the man as Charbel Qazzi and said he had worked at the firm for the last 14 years, before which he had been with the Telecoms Ministry. On Saturday, Moussawi considered that the attack by some sides on some media outlets for revealing some details about primary probes with Qazzi reflected “a hidden intention to release the [Israeli] agent, prevent his trial and forge the case based on which he was arrested.” Moussawi made his comments while addressing a delegation of Turkish and Syrian media figures who gathered at a former Israeli jail in the southern village of Khiam after having toured several sites in the south.
During a news conference last week in Parliament, Saqr criticized leaks that surfaced from the probes with Qazzi and other security incidents.
“How could certain media outlets quote sources claiming that information Qazzi had [access to] is similar to the data the US Embassy in Lebanon requested from the Internal Security Forces (ISF)?” the Zahle MP asked. Such reports, the Future Movement MP added, imply that the ISF had asked Qazzi to obtain telecoms information to help Israel, which is the US’ main ally. He also held the security agencies responsible for leaking details of the investigations to some newspapers, saying those agencies jeopardized national unity.
The US Embassy requested data about Lebanon’s telecoms sector as part of the 2007 US-ISF cooperation deal.
Saqr criticized a security official quoted in the Kuwaiti Al-Bayan newspaper as saying that some Lebanese officials might be stripped of their political immunity as part of the ongoing investigations. “Those comments made by a security source represent at least an accusation of the whole Lebanese Parliament,” the Zahle MP said.
Moussawi said “the campaign targeting the army, its intelligence and its morale was a suspicious campaign aiming at providing immunity for Israel’s agents in Lebanon.”
The lawmaker highlighted the importance of covering all the dimensions of the Qazzi case by the media so that no one “can make use of some sectarian balances to guarantee a moral, political and sectarian immunity for Israel’s agents in Lebanon.” Moussawi asserted that Israeli agents in Lebanon were “complete partners” in Israeli massacres that targeted Lebanese citizens. He stressed that no side would “prevent us from chasing [Israeli] agents,” adding that Hizbullah would not allow any side to hinder efforts pursued by Lebanese security forces to run after Israeli spies. The Hizbullah official accused some Lebanese media outlets, figures and associations of taking parting in what he called a US “cultural, media, political, psychological and social war against the resistance in Lebanon.” – The Daily Star

Lebanon mourns loss of Sayyed Fadlallah
‘The father ,the leader, the guide, the marja, the human being is gone’
By The Daily Star /Monday, July 05, 2010
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, one of Shiite Islam’s highest religious authorities, died in a Beirut hospital on Sunday, his family said.
Fadlallah, who was 74, had a wide following beyond Lebanon’s Shiites, extending to Central Asia and the Gulf.
He had been too frail to deliver his regular Friday prayers sermon for several weeks, and had been in hospital since Friday suffering from internal bleeding.
Fadlallah is to be buried Tuesday at southern Beirut’s Hassanein Mosque following the funeral, his office said, adding that a convoy would set off from the cleric’s home in the Haret Hreik suburb at 1:30 pm.
Crowds gathered at the Hassanein Mosque to pay condolences, and Hizbullah said it would mark his death with three days of mourning.
Black banners hung outside mosques in Shiite areas of south Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley, as well as at Fadlallah’s many charitable institutions.
A top authority of Shiite Islam revered in Lebanon and the region, including his native Iraq, Fadlallah was a “sayyed” to denote direct lineage with the Prophet Mohammad and known for his moderate social views.
“Sayyed Fadlallah has died this morning,” senior aide Ayatollah Abdullah al-Ghurayfi told a news conference, flanked by the late cleric’s son, Sayyed Ali Fadlallah.
“The father, the leader, the marja [religious authority], the guide, the human being is gone,” Ghurayfi said.
Hizbullah’s Al-Manar television interrupted its regular broadcasts to announce the
sayyed’s death, posting a picture of the black-turbanned cleric and airing Koranic verses. The group urged supporters to turn out in huge numbers for the funeral ceremony, as Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah hailed Fadlallah as a “father and guide.”
“He was a merciful father and a wise guide … who taught us to support dialogue, reject injustice and resist [Israeli] occupation,” Nasrallah said in a statement.
Ghurayfi described the Shiite cleric as “the brains behind the launch of the resistance” against Israel – including Hizbullah’s campaign against Israel’s occupation of Arab land.
“I will only rest when the Zionist entity falls,” Fadlallah once said, according to Ghurayfi.
News of Fadlallah’s death prompted hundreds of followers to rush to the Hassanein mosque where family and associates were receiving condolences in a somber mood as officials eulogized him.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, said Fadlallah “contributed to the consolidation of the values of right and justice to resist injustice.”
“ … He represented a voice of moderation and an advocate of unity among the Lebanese in particular and Muslims in general.”
Condolences also poured in from abroad. The provincial council of the holy Iraqi city of Najaf where Fadlallah was born in 1935 said: “This loss is a catastrophe. He defended Muslim unity through his work and his ideas.” Iraq’s firebrand anti-US cleric Moqtada Sadr called on supporters in Iraq to observe three days of mourning for Fadlallah.
Arab League chief Amr Mussa sent condolences praising “patriotism” of Fadlallah, who he said contributed to efforts to make multi-confessional Lebanon “a model of coexistence.”
Fadlallah held particular sway with the Dawa Party of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which he helped to found in 1957.
His followers revered him for his moderate social views, openness and pragmatism. Fadlallah issued religious edicts forbidding female circumcision and saying women could hit abusive husbands. Despite his criticism of the US, Fadlallah was also quick to denounce the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States which killed some 3,000 people.
Fadlallah survived several assassination attempts, including a 1985 car bomb which killed 80 people in south Beirut. US news reports said the attack was carried out by an US-trained Lebanese unit after attacks on American targets in Lebanon. He distanced himself from the abduction of Westerners by Islamic militant groups in Lebanon during the 1980s, saying he was against kidnappings, and repeatedly called for their release. Fadlallah was born in 1935 in the Iraqi Shiite city of Najaf, where he studied before moving to Lebanon in 1966. – Agencies, with The Daily Star

Moderates or terrorists?
By: Dan Calic/Ynetnews
07.04.10,
Dan Calic wonders whether there really is a difference between Hamas and Fatah
Those familiar with the Arab-Israeli conflict have typically used two terms to identify the Arabs. One is "moderates," the other is "terrorists." In the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria, which are strategically, geographically and culturally crucial to both sides the two major Arab parties are Hamas and Fatah. Hamas is generally viewed as a "terrorist" group, while Fatah is widely seen as a "moderate" group.
Publically, each party presents itself differently. Hamas is seen as hardline, openly violent, has never met with the Israeli government, and is committed to its destruction. Fatah on the other hand appears less hardline, less violent, has been willing to meet with Israel’s leadership, and willing to accept Israel’s existence.
Peace Talks
Report: Abbas says Israel can keep Kotel / Roee Nahmias
Al-Hayat newspaper reports Palestinian president gave US envoy list of proposals for Israel, including agreement to 2.3% land exchange, allowing Israel to maintain rule over Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter, Gush Etzion, Givat Ze'ev, Modi'in Illit
Yet is this really the case? One might assume there are distinctive differences between the two parties on key issues, based on their public images. Appearances can be deceiving, however.
One way to flush out the similarities and differences would be to identify their "official" positions by comparing their respective charters. While there are numerous issues in the conflict, we’ll look at three considered critical by most people- killing civilians, two-state coexistence, and Jerusalem.
In respect to the killing of civilians, Hamas' charter quotes Allah: “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.” Meanwhile, Fatah's charter says armed struggle is a strategy and not a tactic, and the Palestinian Arab People's armed revolution is a decisive factor in the liberation fight and in uprooting the Zionist existence.
'Moderates more cagey'
In respect to coexistence and the two-state solution, Hamas' charter says: "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." Elsewhere it says: "The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgment Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up."
Similarly, Fatah's charter says "Liberating Palestine and protecting its holy places is an Arab, religious and human obligation," calling for "complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence." Elsewhere it says: "Establishing an independent democratic state with complete sovereignty on all Palestinian lands, and Jerusalem is its capital city.
As to Jerusalem, both Hamas and Fatah claim it as the capital of either an Islamic state or an independent Arab state.
Based on their respective charters the following conclusions are clear: Both parties sanction killing; both parties reject Israel’s right to exist; both parties require its elimination; both parties claim Jerusalem as their capital.
In addition to the charter comparisons, we have the following public statements in respect to recognition of Israel: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says “I do not accept Israel as a Jewish state.” Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal says his group “has not and will not recognize Israel." Also of note, Abbas Zaki, the PA Ambassador to Lebanon said “once we get Jerusalem we will drive all the Jews out of Palestine."
Thus we return to the central question: Is there a difference between the "moderates" and the "terrorists?" Whether one looks at their charters or public statements, in both cases the answer appears to be clearly – no. However, while speaking with former Muslim terrorist Walid Shoebat he told me there is a difference. “The ‘moderates’ are more cagey” says Shoebat. After thinking for a moment, I’m inclined to agree.

No war this summer
Israel continues to maintain military superiority, faces no existential threat
Alex Fishman
Ynet 07.04.10,
Israel News
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3914819,00.html
Once every few months, in an exhibition or a military parade, Iran scares the world with an advanced homemade tank; however, those who monitor the photos notice that it’s always the same tank being transported by a tank carrier. Nobody has ever seen this tank drive or fire.
Not too long ago, Iran’s president announced that Tehran developed super-sophisticated centrifuges that will double and triple its ability to produce enriched uranium. The world sought the nearest bomb shelter, yet a report by the IAEA’s experts determined that assuming these centrifuges will ever work, it will happen only a few years from now.
New Thinking
Terror groups increasingly shifting to non-violent means in bid to isolate Israel, report says
This week it was the turn of an Iranian anti-aircraft radar deployed in Syria. From this moment on, the headlines told us, our Air Force cannot operate in the skies of Syria, Lebanon, Iran, etc.
Heaven forbid that we should belittle our enemies, yet we must take into account the fact that along with their military buildup they utilize a strategy of psychological terror. Meanwhile, we enjoy feeding our existential fears with new threats. And so, again we see the emergence of the unavoidable question: Will there be war this summer?
Given the state of the Middle East, this is not a foolish question. The defense establishment’s assessments spoke of three axes of military buildup vis-à-vis Israel that were supposed to reach maturation point this year. Under such conditions, they said, there is greater likelihood of a war being initiated by the enemy – Syria, Hezbollah, or Hamas – as early as summer. However, these three axes have not reached maturation point.
Hezbollah in Lebanon was supposed to acquire a critical mass of M-600 missiles, which could continuously threaten Central Israel over an extended period of time. However, the group did not acquire this critical mass, and this was no coincidence: Israel threatened, and the world pressed the Syria
‘Other war’ will continue
Meanwhile, Hamas did not complete the fortification and procurement process it planned. The same is true for Islamic Jihad. This too is no coincidence. The blockade on Gaza, especially from Egypt’s direction, got the job done. Those who belittled the blockade’s effectiveness can now start the countdown, upon the lifting of the siege. Without it, the speed of fortification and technological/military procurement in Gaza will revert to what we saw prior to Operation Cast Lead.
The third axis, the Syrian army, did not complete the leap it was planning to undertake as part of its deterrent posture vis-à-vis Israel. The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies issued a report arguing that Syria’s conventional capabilities are on the decline. We’ve been hearing reports on major weapons deals between Syria and Russia for 20 years now, the Center’s researchers say, yet Israel’s advantage had remained intact since the mid 1980s.
Indeed, in terms of intentions we have seen Iranian pressure to heat up the various fronts against Israel ahead of the imposition of sanctions on Iran, yet Center researchers doubt whether Syria and Hezbollah would automatically go to war against Israel as result of Iranian caprices.
Overall, the report says, Israel continues to maintain major advantages vis-à-vis its enemies in areas such as long-range missiles, strategic, long-range aerial capabilities, nuclear weapons, and various types of anti-missile systems. The bottom line is as follows: Israel talks of a future existential threat from Iran’s direction, yet it is in fact Israel which has been posing an existential threat for a long time now to its enemies, and these capabilities keep rising. None of the “security-related” headlines of recent weeks – the crisis with Turkey, the flotilla incident, the lifting of the blockade, Gilad Shalit – foretell a war in the summer. While being big and loud, they do not truly pertain to the existential threats faced by Israel. All of them have to do with the “other war,” the one eroding Israel’s global legitimacy and Israeli society’s strength. This war, which we are losing for now, will continue in full force in summer.

Hamas: Ships do more than rockets
Israel News
Terror groups increasingly shifting to non-violent means in bid to isolate Israel, report says
Ynet Published: 07.03.10,
The two terror groups responsible for most Israeli casualties in recent years, Hamas and Hezbollah, are increasingly towing the line with Fatah's non-violent approach given the success of such tactics, the Wall Street Journal says.
According to the report, Hamas believes that the recent flotilla incident caused more damage to Israel than military operations, a conclusion that may signal a shift in the group's condcutg.
"When we use violence, we help Israel win international support," senior Hamas man Aziz Dweik was quoted as saying. "The Gaza flotilla has done more for Gaza than 10,000 rockets."
Referring to the flotilla raid that left nine people dead, the Wall Street Journal wrote: "The incident triggered international condemnation and plunged Israel into one of its worst diplomatic crises in years."
'Using peaceful protest as cover'
Another enthused supporter of "civil disobedience" tactics is apparently none other than Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who urged his followers to take part in future sails to the Strip.
Hezbollah member Ghaleb Abu Zeinab said this marked the first time Nasrallah had so clearly embraced such tactics against Israel.
"We saw that this kind of resistance has driven the Israelis into a big plight," he was quoted as saying.
Israeli officials have also taken note of the change and are concerned by it.
"People who are provoking violence are using peaceful protest as a cover," government spokesman Mark Regev was quoted as saying. He added that terror groups are still committed to Israel's destructions, but believe they can achieve more by prompting global isolation of Israel via non-violent means.
Hamas lawmaker Salah Bardawil summed up the group's thinking: "Hamas used to believe (international support) was just empty words…today it is very interested in international delegations…and in bringing Israeli officials to justice through legal proceedings."

Police Unveil Details of Arrest of 'Israeli Spy' from South Lebanon Refugee Camp
Naharnet/Police on Sunday unveiled details of an arrest of an "Israeli spy" from a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon.
A statement issued by the intelligence bureau of the Internal Security Forces said A. Kh. was arrested after police managed to lure the suspect out of a refugee camp in south Lebanon.
Communication devices and sophisticated encryption programs were confiscated from him, the statement said. It said the suspect confessed to working for Israel since 2005 and has provided the Jewish State with "important" security information related to south Lebanon. Beirut, 04 Jul 10, 19:04

Fadlallah's Funeral Set Tuesday in Southern Suburbs
Naharnet/Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, former spiritual mentor of Hizbullah and branded a "terrorist" by Washington, died in hospital on Sunday. He was 75.
Fadlallah's funeral will take place at 1:30pm Tuesday in Beirut's southern suburbs of Haret Hreik. A top authority of Shiite Islam in Lebanon and the region, especially Iraq where he was born, Fadlallah held the title of "sayyed" to denote direct lineage with the Prophet Mohammed and was known for his moderate social views.
A fiery anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli critic, he died in a Beirut hospital where he was admitted on Friday for internal bleeding. "Sayyed Fadlallah has died this morning," senior aide Ayatollah Abdullah al-Ghurayfi told a news conference, flanked by the late cleric's son, Sayyed Ali Fadlallah, who could not hold back his tears.
"The father, the leader, the marjaa (religious authority), the guide, the human being is gone," Ghurayfi said. Fadlallah had been hospitalized several times over the past months. On Friday, he was admitted to intensive care as his health deteriorated. Hizbullah's Manar television interrupted its regular broadcasts to announce his death, posting a picture of the black-turbaned Fadlallah, airing Koranic verses and calling for three days of national mourning.
"Lebanon, the Muslim nation and the world have lost a great Muslim scholar," Hizbullah said, adding Fadlallah "was one of the most prominent supporters of Muslim unity who fought against (religious) strife." Ghurayfi, a Bahraini follower of Fadlallah, described the Shiite cleric as "the brains behind the launch of the resistance," a reference to Hezbollah's campaign against arch-foe Israel. News of his death prompted hundreds of followers to rush to the Hassanayn mosque where family and associates were receiving condolences in a somber mood as officials eulogized Fadlallah. Prime Minister Saad Hariri mourned the grand ayatollah in a statement: "Lebanon has lost a great national and spiritual authority."
Health Minister Mohammed Khalifeh said: "Sayyed Fadlallah represented independence and progress and was a partisan of science and development, while still respecting the fundamentals" of religion. Revered by Shiite faithful in Lebanon and across the region, Fadlallah was born in 1935 in the Iraqi Shiite holy city of Najaf, where his parents emigrated from Lebanon to study theology. He rose in the ranks of Lebanon's Shiite community decades ago and was considered the spiritual guide of Hizubllah when it was founded in 1982 with the support of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard. Fadlallah gained political leverage during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, but his ties to Hizbullah strained as the war progressed and he distanced himself from the party's ideological ties to Iran. He nonetheless remained an advocate of suicide attacks as a means of fighting Israel, last year issuing a fatwa, or religious decree, forbidding the normalization of ties with the Jewish state.
Along with Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Fadlallah is blacklisted as a "terrorist" by the United States.
In the 1980s, at the height of the Lebanese civil war, the U.S. media alleged Fadlallah was behind the taking of American hostages by Iranian-backed radical Islamic groups.
Other reports named him as a mediator in the crisis, but his real role remained elusive. Fadlallah frequently blasted U.S. policies in the Middle East, namely the US-led invasion of Iraq and Washington's ties with Israel. He held particular sway with the Dawa Party of incumbent Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which he helped to found in 1957. The party regarded Fadlallah as its spiritual guide. His followers revered him for his moderate social views, openness and pragmatism. Fadlallah issued religious edicts forbidding female circumcision and saying women could hit abusive husbands.(AFP-Naharnet)(Inside photo shows Fadlallah's sons, Sayyed Ali (center) and Jaafar(left) Beirut, 04 Jul 10, 17:13

Fadlallah … Known for his Staunch Anti-US Stance and Bold Fatwas
Naharnet/Lebanon's Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, one of Shiite Islam's main religious figures who had a strong following world over, died Sunday after a long illness. He was 75. Fadlallah, known for his staunch anti-American stance, helped in the rise of Lebanon's Shiite community in the past decades. He was one of the founders of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's governing Dawa Party and was believed to be its religious guide until the last days of his life. He was described in the 1980s as a spiritual leader of the Hizbullah — a claim both he and the group denied. Fadlallah was born in Iraq in 1935 and lived in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, where he was considered among the top clergymen, until the age of 30.
His family hailed from the southern Lebanese village of Ainata and he later moved to Lebanon, where he started lecturing on religion and prodded Shiites, who today make up a third of Lebanon's population of four million, to fight for their rights in the 1970s and 80s. During Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, he was linked to Iranian-backed Shiite militants who kidnapped Americans and other Westerners, and bombed the U.S. Embassy and Marine base in Lebanon, killing more than 260 Americans.
Although he adamantly denied involvement in those events, he contended such acts were justifiable when the door is closed to dialogue. "When one fires a bullet at you, you cannot offer him roses," he had said. Fadlallah later lost much of his 1980s militancy — his sermons, once fiery diatribes denouncing American imperialism, took on a pragmatic tone.
Because of his ties to the militants, then-President Bill Clinton in Jan. 1995 froze Fadlallah's assets in America, along with those of 17 other people as part of an anti-terror campaign.
The stocky, gray-bearded cleric with piercing brown eyes below his black turban, rejected being described in Western media as Hizbullah's mentor. He claimed his relationship with the group was the same as with any other Shiite faction but that it simply was more obvious because of his physical presence in Lebanon.
"I reject it not because I reject Hizbullah, but because I refuse to be given a title that I don't possess," he said.
Fadlallah escaped several assassination attempts, including a March 1985 car bomb near his home in the Bir el-Abed district of south Beirut that killed 80 people.
The bomb, planted between his apartment block and a nearby mosque Fadlallah was attending that day, was timed to go off as he passed by. But Fadlallah stopped to listen to an old woman's complaints and escaped the 440 pound (200 kilograms) explosives' blast.
In Lebanon, the CIA was widely believed to have been behind the bombing, and American author Bob Woodward wrote in his book, "Veil: The Secret War of the CIA," that the late CIA director William Casey ordered Lebanese agents to plant the car bomb in retaliation for attacks on U.S. interests in the Middle East.
Fadlallah long advocated boycotting American and Israeli products. Yet, despite being a harsh critic of U.S. policy, he condemned the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States as acts of terror.
During the 2006 Israel-Hizbullah war, Israeli warplanes bombed his two-story house in Beirut's southern Haret Hreik neighborhood. Fadlallah was not at home at the time of the bombing, which reduced the house to rubble.
Announcing Fadlallah's death at a Beirut news conference, Bahraini Shiite cleric Abdullah al-Ghuraifi, described him as a "father, religious authority and spiritual leader to all Islamic movements in the Arab and Islamic world."
Outside the hospital and at the Al-Hassanayn mosque in Beirut's suburb of Haret Hreik, where Fadlallah gave religion lessons and Friday sermons, black banners were hung up in a sign of mourning. Thousands of Fadlallah's supporters, including women, wept openly. Fadlallah's Al-Bashaer radio station and Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV started broadcasting Quranic verses.
For long, the cleric suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure. He was in hospital for the past two weeks but his condition deteriorated on Friday when complications from a liver problem led to an internal hemorrhage. One of his doctors, Hashem Noureddine, told The Associated Press he died from stomach bleeding.
"This is a dark day," said Mahmoud Malak, 44, a civil servant. "I don't think anyone will be able to fill the vacuum he will leave behind."
A grandfatherly figure, Fadlallah was also known for his bold fatwas, or religious edicts — including one that gave women the right to hit back their husbands if they attacked them. He issued an edict banning smoking and another saying the Baghdad government has no right to "legitimize" the presence of foreign troops but should call for an imminent and unconditional withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. He supported the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979 but distanced himself from the key principle advocated by its leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which placed the Iranian cleric as a supreme, undisputed spiritual leader for the world's Shiites. Among his followers are many of Iraq's Shiite leaders, including al-Maliki.
In Iraq, a prominent leader in al-Maliki's Dawa Party, Ali al-Adeeb, said Fadlallah's death was a major loss to the Islamic world and that it "will be hard to replace him." Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri called him "a voice of moderation and an advocate of unity" among Lebanese and Muslims in general.
Fadlallah's title was "sayyed" — reflecting a claim of direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatima and her husband Imam Ali, revered by Shiites as a saint.
In his youth, Fadlallah studied theology in Iraq under prominent scholars. He also worked closely with Mohammed Baqir al-Sadr, a co-founder of the Dawa Party that Saddam Hussein later crushed. In Lebanon, he founded the "Family of Brotherhood" charity and his Al-Mabarrat network of charities, orphanages, schools, and religious institutions in Beirut, south Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley, where many Shiites live. Fadlallah's is survived by his wife Najat Noureddin and 11 children. His eldest son followed in his footsteps as a Muslim scholar.(AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 04 Jul 10, 17:01

Roadblocks to Damascus
Frederick Deknatel
July 2, 2010
http://www.thenation.com/article/36846/roadblocks-damascus
This week, skeptics and opponents of engagement got a new round of ammunition when the Wall Street Journal, citing Israeli and American officials plus "a Western intelligence source," reported that since 2009 Iran has supplied Syria with an advanced radar system that "could threaten Israel's ability to launch a surprise attack against Iran's nuclear facilities." The improved radar "could bolster Syria's defenses by providing early warning of Israeli air-force sorties," the Journal reported, and it could also "increase the accuracy of Hezbollah's own missiles and bolster its air defenses."
Iran and Syria both denied the transfer, which stoked already-tense fears of war on the border of Israel, Lebanon and Syria. The Journal said the transfer "could potentially violate" a UN Security Council resolution "that bans Iran from supplying, selling or transferring ‘any arms or related materiel.'
Ever since Barack Obama's election, Washington has been full of talk of engagement, with Syria a test case. Ford's nomination in February fulfilled Obama's pledge in late June 2009, following his address earlier that month to the Arab and Muslim world in Cairo, to return an ambassador to Syria. It fits the president's commitment, reiterated in his recent address to graduating cadets at West Point, to "the renewed engagement of our diplomats" with countries isolated by the Bush administration—a speech in which Obama also argued that "engagement is not an end in itself."
Yet disagreements about the administration's broader goals, and a growing skepticism among political opponents of the endpoints of engagement, have stalled Ford's appointment. "In a sense, the debate over the ambassador is a debate over whether the administration has a policy with Syria beyond engagement," said David Schenker, director of the Arab politics program at the conservative, Israel-friendly Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Engagement isn't a policy," he said, echoing other observers. "What is the goal? The ambassador is not a gift, but it demonstrates a high level of goodwill on the part of the US to change the footing [with Syria], and there is no level of reciprocity whatsoever."
"The Scuds are symbolic, and on one level it's a bit of a red herring," said Mona Yacoubian, a special adviser to the Muslim World Initiative at the United States Institute of Peace. "But I do believe that the seriousness of the allegations and the timing of the reports derailed [Ford's] confirmation."
Indeed, before Kerry's most recent visit, President Obama renewed sanctions against Syria, first imposed by George W. Bush in 2004. The sanctions single out Syria's "continuing support for terrorist organizations and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and missile programs [that] continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to…the United States." The harsh rhetoric certainly does not match the administration's hope of improved relations.
Nor does it match the promising oratory of his Cairo speech, which has produced just what it didn't intend: skepticism and dismissal from many in the Middle East who cheered the address a year ago. Today the Arab world sees unchanged American policies after Obama spoke of "a new beginning." Fawaz Gerges, a professor at the London School of Economics, has called this "a sweetened poison." In Syria's case, soaring rhetoric had to cope with the reality of US-Syria relations, which have been cold for decades due to the longstanding conflict between Syria and America's main Middle East ally, Israel.
Like the West Bank and Gaza, the Golan Heights were seized by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Regaining sovereignty over the fertile and strategic plateau above the Sea of Galilee underlies Damascus's foreign policy. According to Joshua Landis, a professor and director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma who runs the influential blog Syria Comment, "Syria cannot allow peace to reign on those borders forever, unless it wants to re-evaluate its attachment to the Golan, which it has said it does not want to do. It maintains relations to do just that. That's why it's arming Hezbollah. Unless Syria can raise the price for Israel to keep the Golan, the issue will be dead."
And since the right-wing Netanyahu government has pledged that "the Golan will remain in our hands"—like the West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements—any diminution in Syria's support for Hezbollah seems unlikely.
"I think the administration still doesn't know—and for quite good reason—what to do with a rejectionist, recalcitrant Israeli government that imposes these limitations," on American policy in the region, said Daniel Levy, a senior research fellow and co-director of the Middle East Task Force at the New America Foundation. Conservative think tanks like the Washington Institute do not endorse that view, but Andrew Tabler, a fellow there, still acknowledged the gears in the region. "Peace talks with Israel are the air-conditioner in the room," he said. "It cools down everything. All the bilateral problems between the US and Syria, in [Syria's] mind, are easier to handle—but those talks are not coming. Therefore it's caused Syria to make calculations to arm Hezbollah. There's not very much that the US can do, because the Israelis are staying out of this right now. A lot of Syria's policies are related to its postures vis-à-vis Israel."
Regardless of its strategic purpose, Syria's arming of Hezbollah is the primary concern of Washington hawks. Tabler, who has defended American sanctions, called the Scud reports "the icing on the cake of arms transfers over the past year that has caused alarm not only with the Israelis but also the US, in terms of how it judges if Syria is being a cooperative player." Of the recent report of Syrian radar supplied by Iran, Tabler said, "What these stories are doing is firmly painting a picture of Syria in the Iranian orbit. These are massively destabilizing moves. We always assume that a war starts with Hezbollah and Israel, and Syria stays out of the way of its proxy. Now we are looking at a situation where a war could be waged, on a small scale, on Syrian sites—not bombing Damascus, but facilities in the northern Bekaa Valley [in Lebanon] and in the border areas [of Syria].
"The radar could help Hezbollah deal with Israeli aircraft, which the Israelis have always said is a red line," Tabler continued. "If Assad continues to go over all of these red lines, it is only a matter of time before the Israelis make a calculation."
Landis was more skeptical; he expected opponents of Syrian engagement to focus on the radar allegations as a violation of a new round of sanctions on Iran. "This is the perfect little mine to plant in the way of engagement," he said, while calling the radar upgrade "defensive."
"It is logical that Syria would upgrade a radar system that it hasn't upgraded for years"—a period of time in which Israel has bombed Syria, most notably the destruction of a possible nuclear plant on the Euphrates River in 2007. Landis noted that Israel is improving its own radar significantly with its so-called Iron Dome defense system, designed to intercept short-range rockets and artillery.
"That Syria would upgrade its defensive measures is just prudent. But it offers a measure to stop engagement and perhaps get more Congressional legislation for sanctioning Syria—in effect, to trap Syria in this web of legal impediments to engagement. It throws a roadblock in front of Obama's engagement strategy, and could raise an international flag for going after Syria in a new way that encourages Iran and Syria to strengthen their alliance."
"The overall claim that Hezbollah is getting stronger and becoming big part of the architecture in Lebanon is not a shock," Landis said. The Scud allegations, he added, were "made to stall Ford and derail Obama's engagement, and was a well-crafted little campaign, but it shouldn't have been news to anybody."
Tabler's colleague Schenker expanded that view. "Regardless of whether you're a believer in the [Scud] story or not, everyone can agree that the quality of the weaponry that Syria has supplied to Hezbollah has increased their capabilities militarily and worsened the situation on the border. The Scuds would be emblematic of reckless, destabilizing Syrian behavior," Schenker said, while conceding that if the reports are not true—as both the Lebanese government and the commander of the United Nations force in Lebanon have said—the Syrians "have done other things."
It's those "other things" that worry many observers. Last fall, Jane's Defense Weekly reported that Syria had supplied Hezbollah with M-600 rockets, a Syrian-made version of the Iranian Fateh 110, whose range is around 160 miles, longer than any rocket used in the thirty-three-day conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. These and the arsenal of smaller, short-range rockets are far more of a strategic threat to Israel than Scuds, which despite their longer range (some 430 miles) are less mobile, slower to launch and an easier target for the Israeli Air Force.
Syria's rapid rearming of Hezbollah since 2006 is hardly a new discovery; the Israeli military says Hezbollah has tripled its number of surface-to-surface rockets since 2006, to around 40,000. So why did Washington and Tel Aviv respond so forcefully to the recent unconfirmed allegations of Scud transfers? On the other hand, why would Syria risk derailing American rapprochement by continuing to arm Hezbollah?
"The Scud has a certain kind of mystique about it," said Elias Muhanna, a political analyst and author of the Lebanese blog Qifa Nabki. "Netanyahu has come out and said there will be no trade on the Golan. You get a sense that both sides [Israel and Syria] are looking to put the issue back on the front page, but for their own reasons."
"I don't think anyone ever saw Ford's nomination as a panacea," said Daniel Levy. "When Obama renewed the sanctions, he mentioned some improvement in relations with Syria"—in a message to Congress, Obama acknowledged "some progress" in stemming the influx of foreign fighters into Iraq—"but I think the Syrians knew all along this would be limited engagement as long as Israel is not part of the equation."
In the end, then, the political disagreements in Washington over whether and how to engage Damascus are a function of America's relationship with Israel. It is an argument about linkage: whether to carry out peace negotiations on separate tracks, as the administration is currently attempting to do through proximity talks between Israel and the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, or whether to join them comprehensively—not only with the Syrians, but with Hamas in Gaza. According to some experts, the failure to work out an Israel-Palestine peace deal will only increase the prospect of war between Israel and Hezbollah—and perhaps Syria too. Others, like former Clinton and Obama advisor Robert Malley, argue that no peace deal is possible without Hamas. Given Syria's closeness with Hamas—the movement's exiled leader, Khaled Meshaal, and his political office are sheltered in Damascus—Syria could seek to derail broad Palestinian-Israeli negotiations if they see diminishing hope of getting back the Golan.
"If you don't think there is linkage, and if the administration's view is that there is no linkage, then there's really no reason to take Syria seriously," said Landis. "The majority opinion in Washington is that the situation [in the region] is livable. The status quo is livable."
"It all has to do with balance of power," Landis continued, "because the Scud thing raises the question again: is the US committed to Israel's military superiority, which allows it to keep land?"A decade ago, US-brokered peace talks between Syria and Israel were close to a conclusion. But Israel's prime minister at the time, Ehud Barak (currently Netanyahu's defense minister), reportedly balked at Syria's willingness to compromise for the Golan. This infuriated Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, who felt double-crossed and walked away from the talks. He died later that year. Acting as intermediary, Turkey revived talks in 2008. But they collapsed later that year with Israel's assault on Gaza. Israel's recent deadly attack on the Free Gaza flotilla has likely dashed any possibility of resumed Turkish mediation in the immediate future.
"Hafez had realized that there was no longer any real bulwark against American hegemony in the region like there had been with the Soviets, so he had to cut a deal," Muhanna said, reflecting on the 2000 negotiations. "But today Bashar looks around the region and sees a totally different situation."
While Washington debates placing an ambassador in the empty residence in Damascus, Moscow is happily restoring relations with a country that was once a prime Soviet ally in the region. The scruffy port of Tartus, just north of Lebanon, was once a major refueling station for the Soviet fleet in the eastern Mediterranean. Relations cooled after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Tartus began to host more fishing and container ships than military cruisers. Today Russia is dredging and restoring the harbor there to expand its service to the Russian navy, with rumors that it could become a permanent base. More joint oil and gas deals are being signed. In May Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Syria with businessmen in tow—the first Russian head of state to visit Syria. "It's a perfect recipe for Russia to exploit, and that is exactly what they are doing," said Landis.
A few days after Kerry's visit, Charlie Rose was in Damascus to interview Assad (they last talked in 2006). Rose's first questions were about meeting Kerry. "It is said he came here as an emissary of President Obama. What is possible with respect to relations with America?" Rose asked.
"If [America] wants to play the role of the arbiter, it cannot play that role while it is siding with the Israelis," Assad replied. "It has to be an impartial arbiter. It has to gain the trust of the different players. If you don't have good relations with Syria, how can Syria depend on you as an arbiter?"
In the mid-1980s Mona Yacoubian studied in Syria on a Fulbright grant. Relations "at the level of high policy were terrible," she remembered, "but the notion of not having an ambassador for five years in those years would have seemed ludicrous. You need this direct line to the government and control over your message, so trust and personal relationships are built—essential parts of engagement." And engagement, she said, is not about "high-level, official trips to Damascus, but the hard, day-to-day work of diplomacy, which is not glamorous. It's a slog, about building trust and insights. And those cannot be accomplished without an ambassador."

Sheikh Falallah was the terrorist mastermind behind the Lebanon hostage crisis
By Con Coughlin
Telegraph
July 5th, 2010
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/concoughlin/100046096/sheikh-falallah-was-the-terrorist-mastermind-behind-the-lebanon-hostage-crisis/
Don’t be fooled by all the tributes that are pouring out following the death in Beirut at the weekend of Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the so-called spiritual leader of the radical Shi’ite Muslim militia Hizbollah. The U.S. State Department’s classifaction of Fadlallah as a terrorist was spot on, and when you look back at his track record you can see he was right up there with other infamous terror masterminds, such as Abu Nidal and Carlos the Jackal. One of Fadlallah’s last acts before he died was to issue a fatwa authorising the use of suicide bomb attacks. The mystery here is why he waited so long. For as a founder member of Hizbollah – he sat on the organisation’s ruling council – Fadlallah gave his personal approval to the massive suicide truck bomb attacks that levelled the American Embassy and Marine compound in Beirut in 1983, killing more than 300 people, including the then CIA station chief. Fadlallah gave his personal blessing to the suicide bombers before they left for their deadly mission. Fadlallah also masterminded the hostage crisis in Lebanon in the mid-1980s. I remember interviewing him at his house in Beirut’s southern suburbs in 1985 at the height of Terry Waite’s mission to free the Americans then being held by Hizbollah on Iran’s orders (Fadlallah was a close friend of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s Islamic revolution.)
Fadlallah himself was charm personified during the interview, offering me sweet tea and offering his apologies that he could do nothing to release the hostages, but their prospects might improve if only the pesky Americans would stop trying to involve themselves in Lebanon’s affairs. But when I left one of his “bodyguards” insisted on seeing my passport. Later I discovered from a Lebanese friend that they were Hizbollah terrorists checking to see if I was an American. Had I been, I would have been carted off to a dank cell. I was lucky. Six months later my friend John McCarthy paid a similar visit to Sheikh Fadlallah, and was kidnapped the following day.
The miracle of Sheikh Fadlallah’s life is that he lived to a ripe old age and died in his bed. I, for one, will not miss his benign influence on the Middle East.

Camp David and elusive peace
By: Petra Marquardt
Bigman guardian.co.uk,
Monday 5 July 2010
The deep disappointment I felt when the news came that the talks at Camp David had ended without any meaningful agreement remains a vivid memory 10 years later. Suddenly, the momentum for peace that had brought a doveish coalition under Ehud Barak to power just a year earlier was gone.
It was hardly a consolation that an official statement described the Camp David negotiations as "unprecedented in both scope and detail" and promised that efforts to reach an agreement would continue.
The failure of the summit dealt a heavy blow to Israel's peace camp, which was already losing ground. In January 2000, peace talks with Syria proved futile; this had problematic implications for Israel's planned withdrawal from southern Lebanon, which was nonetheless implemented in May.
Back at the same time, violent riots erupted in the areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the fact that Palestinian security forces not only failed to rein in the violence, but even participated in attacks, only boosted sceptics who had argued all along that Yasser Arafat could not be trusted to keep the peace.
Against this backdrop, Barak's coalition began to crumble even before the Camp David talks, though Barak was right to claim that his efforts to achieve a peace agreement enjoyed the support of the majority of Israelis.
However, the rejectionist camp was inevitably strengthened by the failure of the summit, and the gloomy predictions that dominated the media at the end of July leaders turned all too quickly into grim reality when the so-called al-Aqsa intifada erupted at the end of September.
In view of the protracted campaign of violence and terrorist attacks, the continuing efforts to negotiate a peace agreement became ever more controversial. By December, Barak was forced to resign as prime minister and new elections were scheduled for early February 2001.
But neither the embattled Israeli prime minister nor the outgoing American president was ready to give up on peace. In late December, President Clinton proposed "parameters" that he formulated on the basis of "extensive private talks with the parties separately since Camp David" in order to resolve the most contentious issues.
Clinton described his proposals as "tough for both parties":
"The Palestinians would give up the absolute right of return; they had always known they would have to, but they never wanted to admit it. The Israelis would give up East Jerusalem and parts of the old city, but their religious and cultural sites would be preserved; it had been evident for some time that for peace to come, they would have to do that. The Israelis would also give up a little more of the West Bank and probably a larger land swap than Barak's last best offer, but they would keep enough to hold at least 80% of the settlers. And they would get a formal end to the conflict."
The Israeli cabinet accepted the Clinton parameters on December 27, and there was a desperate last-ditch effort to clinch an agreement when the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams met almost three weeks later in the Egyptian resort of Taba. But, once again, the only achievement was a joint statement that praised the talks as "unprecedented in their positive atmosphere" and claimed that there had been "significant progress in narrowing the differences between the sides".
Such an upbeat assessment contrasted starkly with the violent reality at the end of January 2001. The al-Aqsa intifada had already claimed the lives of almost 50 Israelis, and the harsh response by Israeli security forces had resulted in some 300 Palestinian casualties, with many more wounded on both sides.
The parties of the peace camp seemed discredited since their decade-long efforts had failed to provide the security that the Israeli public craved so desperately. A gloomy resolve was setting in: as long as peace seemed out of reach, Israel would have to find other ways to escape the violence that threatened to engulf the country.
In this situation, Israel's most controversial politician was poised to win the upcoming elections for prime minister: Ariel Sharon, the veteran military and political leader, had promised voters security in the absence of the seemingly unattainable peace, and while he did not spell out how security was to be achieved, he ran a campaign that was carefully managed to downplay his hawkish, even ruthless, image and to assure disappointed doves that he fully appreciated the importance of peace.
It was arguably a victory of sorts for the peace camp that even a veteran hardliner such as Sharon felt he only stood a chance to win the elections by declaring a firm commitment to peace. There is also little doubt that the majority of Israelis who had hoped for peace would have agreed with the view Bill Clinton expressed in his autobiography: "Someday peace will come, and when it does, the final agreement will look a lot like the proposals that came out of Camp David and the six long months that followed."
In the decade that has passed since Camp David, the notion that the blueprint for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement was developed during the negotiations that were held between July 2000 and January 2001 has been repeated countless times by politicians, Middle East specialists and political commentators, and there are detailed maps to illustrate every conceivable territorial variation of this blueprint.
Why peace has nevertheless remained elusive has been a hotly debated issue throughout the decade. Unfortunately, perhaps the most convincing explanation is also the most dispiriting for the advocates of peace: the Palestinians have always been ambivalent about statehood. As Robert Malley and Hussein Agha put it a year ago: "Unlike Zionism, for whom statehood was the central objective, the Palestinian fight was primarily about other matters. The absence of a state was not the cause of all their misfortune. Its creation would not be the full solution either."
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Has Lebanon Abandoned 1701?
Sun, 04 July 2010
Abdullah Iskandar'
http://www.daralhayat.com/portalarticlendah/159601
All parties in the Middle East are openly unanimous about avoiding an imminent war. They all declare that they do not want such a war, and in fact each of them explains such talk of war within the framework of political pressures being exerted by the enemy. And they all, at the same time, unanimously declare their own readiness to wage such a war if it were to take place.
And indeed, the region, from Israel to Iran, is witnessing intensified military maneuvers that mimic the coming war, and every side is training according to what they imagine the developments of such a war to be. Israel is training its troops in different kinds of land, sea and air operations, from South Lebanon, through Syria and up to Iran. It is also preparing its inhabitants for the possibilities of coming under attack with missiles and non-conventional weapons. In fact, Israel considers waging such a war to be a vital matter, since it considers the direct security threat to come from its Northern front, represented by Hezbollah fighters and perhaps Syrian troops, while the strategic threat comes from Iran, which it accuses of seeking to acquire a nuclear bomb.
For its part, Iran – and with it Hezbollah – considers military confrontation to be inevitable, in view of the lack of recognition of it as a major power and of the rights and interests such a position entails. The battle front from its perspective will stretch across the sources of danger for itself, whether from Western troops stationed in the Gulf region or from Israeli troops that might take part in the confrontation. This means that Israel’s Northern front, i.e. Lebanon and particularly South Lebanon, will certainly be the arena of the confrontation if it were to take place.
One should here note that Lebanon remains, by virtue of UN Resolution 1701, under cessation of acts of warfare between Israel and Hezbollah, not under ceasefire. This means that this front has relatively calmed down by virtue of the presence of reinforced UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) troops, not by virtue of the absence of reasons to fight, reasons which will increase with growing tension on the Iranian front.
Within such a framework, so-called incidents are taking place between UNIFIL patrols and “local inhabitants” in South Lebanon. The justifications put forth in Lebanon to explain those incidents do not seem convincing. They suggest that the “local inhabitants” hold against UN troops their non-compliance with Resolution 1701, which defines their mission, and that they suspect these troops of seeking to change the rules of engagement, within the framework of a plan facilitating an offensive against Lebanon. In fact, those “local inhabitants” are most probably acting under instructions from Hezbollah, which controls the South – that is if its members are not at the forefront of the inhabitants protesting. Such incidents therefore fall within the framework of preparations and maneuvers, in anticipation of war, especially as the main task of these troops is to prevent the presence of armed forces other than official Lebanese troops, and do not occur by virtue of what is considered to be transgressions against the inhabitants of villages or of UN troops departing from their mission.
The United Nations has for some time felt the danger of such incidents, of which UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said that “some were organized”, in a polite hint at Hezbollah. Similarly, the quarterly report of the UN Secretary-General also pointed to the fact that “any miscalculation from any party could result in renewed warfare operations, with what this could mean in terms of destructive effects for Lebanon and the region”.
Here one would raise a fundamental question about the Lebanese state, with all of its institutions, joining in defense of the theory that the UNIFIL is responsible for these incidents, to such an extent that some officials have denounced UN troops. The Lebanese state might be forced to justify everything Hezbollah does, by virtue of the de facto situation and of its submission to local political considerations regarding growing regional influence, especially that of Iran and Syria, on the background of the internal imbalance of power in favor of Hezbollah. However, UN troops are not concerned with such considerations, and thus find themselves becoming instruments in a major struggle, while the UNIFIL was formed and deployed by virtue of a UN Resolution and unanimous Lebanese agreement in order to put an end to Israel’s July 2006 offensive and to contain its repercussions.
The question also concerns what interest Lebanon, which is a member of the Security Council, has in tension increasing with UN troops which were in the first place sent to protect Lebanese soil and to strengthen the state’s sovereignty over it, as well as what interest it has in a political confrontation with the countries participating in the UNIFIL, which see their soldiers being exposed to constant threats, with what could result from this in terms of repercussions that will certainly not serve the implementation of Resolution 1701. Furthermore, the question concerns Lebanon’s stance on this resolution and whether it is still able to demand that all its provisions be implemented, or whether the ambiguity that surrounds previous UN Resolutions regarding Lebanon now applies to Resolution 1701. Does the Lebanese state still recognize this resolution?