LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِNovember 18/2010

Bible Of The Day
Peter's Second Letter 02/1-13/False prophets
2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction. 2:2 Many will follow their immoral ways, and as a result, the way of the truth will be maligned. 2:3 In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber. 2:4 For if God didn’t spare angels when they sinned, but cast them down to Tartarus, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 2:5 and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly; 2:6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly; 2:7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the lustful life of the wicked 2:8 (for that righteous man dwelling among them, was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds): 2:9 the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment; 2:10 but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement, and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries; 2:11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, don’t bring a railing judgment against them before the Lord. 2:12 But these, as unreasoning creatures, born natural animals to be taken and destroyed, speaking evil in matters about which they are ignorant, will in their destroying surely be destroyed, 2:13 receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the daytime, spots and blemishes, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you
 

Shame on the Egyptian & Iraqi authorities/Shame on all the Arab countries who do not take stance
Three Assyrians Killed in Mosul/AINA/November 17/10
Video of Baghdad Church Massacre Protest Shows Assyrian Anguish, Anger, Resolve/AINA/November 17/10
Muslims Torch Christian Homes in Egypt/AINA/November 17/10
Christian Man, Daughter Killed in Bombing in Iraq/AINA/November 17/10

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Terrorism: A Weak State Incubates Terror/By Jonathan Spyer/November 17/10

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for November 17/10
Israel Approves Ghajar Pullout, Residents Protest Move/Naharnet
Hariri: Suleiman, Berri, Nasrallah and I Won't Allow Lebanon to Explode over STL Indictment/Naharnet
Iran warns against Canada travel/Press TV
Russia to gift Lebanon with arms, military supplies to bolster army/Haaretz
Israel discusses Syrian support for terrorism at UNSC/J.Post
Despite US effort, Syrian Mideast role on the rise/AP
Israeli retreat could split village/BBC
Omar Bakri trial is about politics – not 'Islamism' or justice
Zahra Says March 14 Not Willing to Negotiate on STL, Taef Accord/Naharnet
Ahmadinejad to Suleiman: We Hope for a Bright Future for Lebanon/Naharnet
No Boycott: Hariri, Assad Speak on Phone for 20 Minutes/Naharnet
Geagea: Those Confronting Global Arrogance should Stop their Arrogance on Us/Naharnet
Jaafarite Mufti Slams UN Investigation Committee for Being Dictated by US, Israel/Naharnet
Qabalan during Eid Sermon: Lebanese Have to Cooperate and Avoid Hatred and Strife/Naharnet
Hunt Continues for Escaped Fatah al-Islam Inmate/Naharnet
Hariri Wraps Up Moscow Visit by Meeting Medvedev, Heads to Saudi/Naharnet
Suleiman, Assad Discuss 'Means to Preserve Lebanon's Unity, Security, Stability'/Naharnet
Aoun: I Don't Reject STL's Authority, But False Witnesses Tried to Change Probe's Course/Naharnet
Berri: I Discussed Everything Related to STL and Investigation with the French President/Naharnet
Qabalan during Eid Sermon: Lebanese Have to Cooperate and Avoid Hatred and Strife/Naharnet

Israel Approves Ghajar Pullout, Residents Protest Move
Naharnet/The Israeli security cabinet on Wednesday backed plans to withdraw troops from part of a disputed village on the Lebanese border and hand over control to a U.N. peacekeeping force, officials said.
"The ministerial committee on security decided today to accept the principle of a proposal by the United Nations and UNIFIL to withdraw IDF (Israel Defense Force) forces from the northern part of the village," cabinet secretary Zvi Hauser said in a statement.
The move will see Israel pulling its troops out of the northern part of Ghajar village and redeploying south of the U.N. "Blue Line" demarcating the border, he said. No date was mentioned.
The U.N. peacekeeping force ruled that north Ghajar lies in Lebanon and the rest lies in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but Israel took over the Lebanese side too during its devastating 2006 war with Hizbullah.
Following the pullback decision, responsibility for the sector will be handed to UNIFIL (the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon), whose troops will redeploy around the village's northern perimeter but not inside it, officials said.
A UNIFIL spokesman confirmed that the head of the Israeli foreign ministry had personally informed force commander Major General Alberto Asarta Cuevas of the security cabinet's decision. "We are awaiting formal notification in order to get more details. It is also important to have a date for the IDF withdrawal from the area," Neeraj Singh told Agence France Presse in Beirut. Details of the withdrawal are to be hammered out by the Israeli foreign ministry and UNIFIL, and will need further security cabinet approval before being implemented.
UNIFIL has been pressing Israel to withdraw from north Ghajar in line with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah.
"In taking these steps, Israel demonstrates its continued commitment to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701," the cabinet secretary said. The village, which has around 2,200 residents, lies on the borders of Lebanon, Syria and the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981 in a move not recognized by the international community. Most of the residents took Israeli citizenship after the annexation, and now hold dual Israeli and Syrian citizenship. The vast majority are against repartitioning the village, which would leave 1,700 people in the north and 500 on the Israeli side. Practically speaking, the withdrawal will have little demonstrable effect on the ground, with residents unlikely to see their village physically divided, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said. "It means there will be no IDF troops or any police or other Israeli security forces in the northern part of the village as UNIFIL has declared that area to be under Lebanese security," he told AFP. Residents would still have no access to Lebanon, and the main change would be that those living in the north would have to go south to access Israeli-provided services. "The question now is how will an Israeli electrician or an ambulance go there if there is no security? We have to find a way to ensure that daily life continues without interruption," he said. The cabinet decision was not well received, with angry villagers staging a rally in protest against the move.
Israel's plans to withdraw from the village were first confirmed in New York last week at talks between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. A statement from Netanyahu's office said the idea of a troop withdrawal from north Ghajar was first raised by UNIFIL in June 2008.
At the time, Israel was reluctant to hand over control because of concerns it would give Hizbullah access to the village. Between 2000 and 2006, no forces were deployed in north Ghajar, although UNIFIL troops were loosely deployed around the perimeter, Palmor said. "It became an opening for Hizbullah which they exploited and used to attack various Israeli positions in the area, as well as for drug traffic," he said. "This time, they will exert tight control around the border." Israel decided to go ahead with the pullout after receiving details of a new proposal, submitted on September 2 by the UNIFIL commander, Netanyahu's office said.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 17 Nov 10, 16:52

Hariri: Suleiman, Berri, Nasrallah and I Won't Allow Lebanon to Explode over STL Indictment
Naharnet/Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday denied he has any knowledge about an indictment to be issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and ruled out that the Court decision would explode the Lebanon situation. "President Michel Suleiman and I as well as Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will not allow an explosion to threat Lebanon," Hariri told the Russian newspaper Vremya Novosti on the sidelines of his visit to Moscow. Hariri, on the other hand, expressed fears that Israel would resort to "explode" the situation in the Middle East. Beirut, 17 Nov 10, 14:34

Zahra Says March 14 Not Willing to Negotiate on STL, Taef Accord
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces bloc MP Antoine Zahra stressed Wednesday that "nobody is waiting" for a settlement regarding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon "which has become in the hands of the international community and away from narrow political bickering." In an interview with Voice of Lebanon Radio, Zahra explained that "peaceful resistance is in the adherence to the Constitution, laws and state institutions," adding that the other camp knows that it will not achieve any gains through "the use of force."Zahra also stressed that the March 14 forces are not willing to negotiate "neither about the STL nor about amending the Taef Agreement." Beirut, 17 Nov 10, 19:13

Aoun: I Don't Reject STL's Authority, But False Witnesses Tried to Change Probe's Course
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun has reiterated that he does not reject the authority of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, noting that he was "one of the first people to call for the setting up of the STL."However, Aoun said that "a bunch of false witnesses tried to change the probe's course."In an interview with French television LCI on the sidelines of his visit to Paris, Aoun added: "Investigators have overlooked this course, which, in our opinion, would have enabled them of discovering the real criminals, and this thing had led us to question the tribunal's transparency."As Aoun noted that it was not a problem whether he approves Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's stance that further Lebanese cooperation with the court would be tantamount to an attack on the Shiite group, the FPM leader stressed that "what brings us together with Hizbullah is more of an understanding rather than an alliance.""This understanding has contributed to stability in Lebanon, where many factors that could lead to strife exist," Aoun added. Asked whether Hizbullah had the right to "blackmail all Lebanese over the issue of the STL," Aoun said: "Up till now, no verdict has been issued against Hizbullah, so now it is defending itself and its innocence."On the other hand, Aoun noted that former French president Jacques Chirac "had reduced the margin of communication between the Lebanese and the French, limiting the relation between the two countries to the personal relation between him and ex-PM (Rafik) Hariri." Beirut, 17 Nov 10, 18:16

Jaafarite Mufti Slams UN Investigation
Committee for Being Dictated by US, Israel
Naharnet/Grand Shiite Jaafarite Mufti Ahmed Qabalan on Wednesday criticized the UN-backed investigation committee probing ex-PM Rafik Hariri's assassination.
He accused the international Committee of being dictated by the U.S. and Israel. "This Committee, which is subject to American-Zionist dictates, will not lead us to the truth but to unrest," he said during Eid al-Adha sermon. "Lebanon's plight must end, but it will not come to an end as long as division and conflict of interests carry on," he thought.
Beirut, 17 Nov 10, 10:50

Ahmadinejad to Suleiman: We Hope for a Bright Future for Lebanon
Naharnet/Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President Michel Suleiman on Wednesday exchanged Eid al-Adha greetings in a phone call. According to the Iranian news agency, Mahr, Ahmadinejad expressed hope that "Lebanon will overcome all the stages and reach a brighter future through the wisdom and vigilance of officials and Lebanese groups."
Suleiman, for his part, believed Ahmadinejad's Lebanon's visit has strengthened stability in the country, pointing out that raising bilateral relations to a new level is in the best interest of regional peace and security. Beirut, 17 Nov 10, 10:27

Geagea: Those Confronting Global Arrogance should Stop their Arrogance on Us
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday urged "those who are confronting global arrogance to stop their arrogance on us.""Some in Lebanon insist on engaging in a confrontation with the global arrogance, while we are eager to live a normal life," Geagea told a student delegation from LAU-Jbeil branch. "But unfortunately, we cannot (live a normal life) because of the resolve of some people to engage in such a confrontation which they are not entitled to drag everyone to," he added. Geagea explained that confrontation of global arrogance is being waged by powerful countries which have huge potential of human, natural and economic resources somehow equivalent to this arrogance."While Lebanon is one of the smallest countries in the world in terms of primary resources," he went on to explain. "So how can we drag Lebanon into a confrontation with the global arrogance?" Geagea asked.
Beirut, 17 Nov 10, 12:25

Qabalan during Eid Sermon: Lebanese Have to Cooperate and Avoid Hatred and Strife
Naharnet/Vice President of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan on Wednesday called on Lebanese to cooperate and avoid hatred and strife.
"We are seeking to establish national unity and support coexistence," Qabalan said during Eid al-Adha sermon. "We are seeking to unite the people and build understanding among the society," he added. "We have to cooperate and avoid hatred and strife," Qabalan stressed. Beirut, 17 Nov 10, 09:02

Three Assyrians Killed in Mosul
GMT 11-17-2010 6:56:30/Assyrian International News Agency/One man and two women, from the same family, were killed in eastern Mosul on Tuesday, a security source said. "Unknown gunmen stormed a family's house in al-Zahraa neighborhood, eastern Mosul, on Tuesday evening (Nov. 16), killing a man and two women," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency."They killed a 50-year-old man, his wife, and her sister," he added. Mosul, the capital of Ninewa, is 405 km north of Baghdad.

Video of Baghdad Church Massacre Protest Shows Assyrian Anguish, Anger, Resolve
11-17-2010 /Assyrian International News Agency/Chicago (AINA) -- The protest held in Chicago on November 8 against the Baghdad church massacre, which killed 58 Catholic Assyrians, brought out the anger, anguish and resolve of the Assyrians. As 58 protesters lay on the ground, symbolizing those killed in Our Lady of Deliverance Church on October 31, a keener begins wailing, asking for salvation from the Lord, saying "Oh Lord Christ save us." Anguish overcomes most of the demonstrators as they look upon those lying on the ground and they begin to cry. Some even implore the actors to get up. A young woman, Rita Jacob, who lost four friends in the church massacre, is called to the podium to speak, but she cannot hold back her tears, and she rips the paper on which she had written her prepared speech and simply says "...do we need a bigger wake up call than this?" and "please stop the pain."
A man shouts in anger "Jesus is the God of Muhammad!" and the organizer, Waleeta Canon, admonishes him, telling him they are here to remember the fallen, and not to endanger those back home, and asks the Chicago police to remove him if he does not remain silent.

Iran warns against Canada travel
Wed Nov 17, 2010
Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/151317.html
Iran's Foreign Ministry has warned Iranian nationals against travelling to Canada as the new wave of Islamophobia is sweeping across the North American country.
The ministry issued a statement on Tuesday, cautioning Iranian citizens who plan to visit Canada to take precautionary steps. The statement warns that the wave of Islamophobia in the Western countries has expanded its reach and is claiming new victims as a number of Muslims, especially Iranian nationals, have been deported under different pretexts, while Ottawa actively hinders Iranian nationals who want to seek justice through the Canadian courts, IRIB reported. Many Muslims, particularly Iranians, are deprived of their social and political rights and Canadian police have proved to be incapable of following the cases filed by Iranians residing in Canada, the statement added. According to the Iranian foreign ministry statement, the crime rate has soared in Canada recently, hence Iranian visitors may fall victim to various crimes in that country. Earlier in November, Iran's foreign ministry warned Iranians about unnecessary visits to France, saying the country's nation-wide unrest caused by economic and social crises has reached a serious level. Nationwide strikes broke out in France in protest at French President Nicolas Sarkozy's pension reform bill. In mid-October, angry high school students joined more than a million trade union workers from 250 towns and cities in protests that disrupted transportation across France.

Ashkenazi: Nasrallah Could Seize Power in Lebanon.
by Elad Benari /Arutz Sheva
IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi warned Monday that Hizbullah could sieze power in Lebanon.
Ashkenazi met in Canada with his Canadian counterpart, the Chief of the Defense Staff of the Canadian Forces, General Walter Natynczyk. The meeting was held as part of a series of work-related meetings that Ashkenazi is holding during his official visit to Canada and the United States.
Ashkenazi told his Canadian hosts that he is concerned over the possible ramifications of the UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and said that the publication of the probe's findings may result in Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah seizing power in Lebanon.
It has been previously reported that the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon is preparing to issue an indictment in the assassination, and it is widely believed that Hizbullah terrorists will be among those accused of the murder. Nasrallah on his part has threatened dire repercussions if such an indictment is handed down, and has gone so far as to provide supposed proof of Israel’s involvement in the murder.
During his meeting in Canada, Ashkenazi said that a small group within the Lebanese Army is assisting Hizbullah and mentioned recent visits by current Lebanese PM Saad Hariri (son of Rafik Hariri) and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt to Syria for talks with President Bashar Assad as aimed at ensuring their "survival."
Ashkenazi also mentioned what he called the “radical axis” in the Middle East, which he said is gaining strength, and praised Canada for its participation in training a future Palestinian Authority security force in Judea and Samaria.
Ashkenazi also observed a training exercise of Canada's special forces. While in Canada he will meet with the Canadian Minister of National Defense, Peter MacKay, and hold talks with defense and military officials. Ashkenazi will also tour a Canadian military base and meet with troops who recently returned from combat duty in Afghanistan. He is also expected to visit the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. Aside from meeting with defense and military officials, Ashkenazi will also meet with leaders of the Jewish community in Toronto. He will conclude his visit later this week in the US, where he will meet with his American counterpart and senior officials in the Obama administration.

Arab League Set to Reject Freeze, Waits for Better US Offers
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu/Arutz Sheva
The Arab League is waiting to see if the Obama administration will offer it further inducements to entice the Palestinian Authority into direct talks, but it likely will reject direct talks with Israel based on the ”Clinton freeze,” an official said Monday.
“If the news is true about there being a settlement freeze that excludes Jerusalem and that takes the criticism off Israel, I cannot imagine that would be acceptable to the Palestinian side or the Arab side,” Hesham Youssef, an official with the office of the secretary general of the Arab League, told the German press agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
The United States has offered Israel 20 fighter planes, a verbal guarantee to veto United Nations resolutions against Israel, and a verbal promise that a 90-day freeze on building Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria will be non-renewable. The U.S. plan is said to call for Israel and the PA to reach agreement within 90 days on final borders for a PA country on the land of Judea and Samaria and areas in Jerusalem - though some American officials have denied that pressure will be placed on Israel in this regard.
The Palestinian Authority and the Arab League have said the freeze must include all areas of Jerusalem that it demands as part of a PA state, including the Temple Mount and adjacent Western Wall, all of the Old City, and "neighborhoods in northern and eastern Jerusalem where 300,000 Jews live.
Like the Palestinian Authority, the Arab League has not rejected the proposal, but is rather holding out for additional offers, such as compensation, guarantees on its desired borders and its demand that five million foreign Arabs can move to Israel, on the basis of claims that they or their parents and grandparents lived in the country - known as the "right of return." The demand is part of the Saudi 2002 Initiative and has been regarded by almost every Israeli political leader as being aimed at eliminating Israel as a Jewish state.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is trying to iron out details of the freeze in language that will pass his Cabinet, where nearly half of the ministers oppose it, fearing it will be a trap for Israel to make further concessions that would endanger its security.
U.S. President Barack Obama has maintained his position that Israel’s surrendering all of Judea and Samaria and dividing Jerusalem with the PA is good for the security of both Israel and the United States.

Christian Man, Daughter Killed in Bombing in Iraq
 11-17-2010
Assyrian International News Agency
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) -- A bombing in northern Iraq killed a Christian man and his 6-year-old daughter Tuesday, the latest in a series of strikes targeting the country's dwindling Christian population.
The incident occurred in Mosul, a multi-ethnic city in Nineveh province -- long the home of significant Christian enclaves.
A flurry of attacks in the north over the last 24 hours is a sign that the recent sectarian violence targeting Christians is spreading from Baghdad.
The man and his daughter were killed Tuesday afternoon when an explosive attached to a vehicle detonated, local police said.
Monday night, attackers went into two homes occupied by Christian families in the Tahrir neighborhood in the eastern part of the city, killed the two male heads of the households, and then drove off, the interior ministry official said. In central Mosul, at about the same time, a bomb detonated outside a Christian's home. No one was hurt in that blast, which damaged the home's exterior. Attacks in October 2008 on Christians in Mosul prompted a mass exodus from that city of 1.8 million people.
Many Christian families in Iraq who spoke to CNN said they feared for their safety and wanted to leave the country, but didn't have the means to do so.
Christians have endured a spurt of attacks in Baghdad since October 31, when militants attacked the Sayidat al-Nejat Cathedral, leaving 70 people dead and 75 wounded, including 51 congregants and two priests. The Islamic State of Iraq, a militant group, claimed responsibility.
On November 9 and 10, at least three people were killed and 28 wounded in attacks targeting Christians in Baghdad.
The violence led the United States, the United Nations Security Council and an American Catholic archbishop to express concerns for Christians and other religious groups in Iraq.
Cardinal Emmanuel Delly III -- the patriarch of Iraq's largest Christian community, the Chaldean Catholic Church -- urged Iraqi Christians in a televised address Thursday to "stand firm" in their country during these "difficult times." Christians are among the religious minorities in a country dominated by Sunnis and Shiites.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom urged American officials to make a special effort to protect religious minorities in Iraq, such as Christians, Yazidis and Mandaeans. "Given the United States' continued military presence there, we urge the administration to work with the Iraqi government to proactively heighten security at Christian and other minority religious sites. "The United States also should press its allies in the region to be increasingly vigilant of the threats by extremists targeting religious minority communities and work together to reduce these threats, in order to secure their well being and help prevent the continued exodus of Christians and other minorities from the Middle East," said USCIRF chairman Leonard Leo.By Jomana Karadsheh

Muslims Torch Christian Homes in Egypt
11-17-2010
Assyrian International News Agency
http://www.aina.org/news/20101116202532.htm
(AINA) -- Coptic Christians in the Upper Egyptian village of el-Nowahed, Abu-Tesht, in Qena Province, were victims of an attack by a Muslim mob of nearly one thousand on Monday, November 15. The attack started at nearly 10:00 pm on Monday evening and lasted until the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The large mob of Muslims from el-Nowahed and the surrounding villages besieged and waged an attack against Coptic homes amidst cries of "Allah is the greatest" and other Islamic Jihadist slogans. They threw fireballs, gasoline and stones at Coptic homes and detonated Butane Gas cylinders. Christian-owned homes were looted and shops were broken into, plundered and burned. There were no reported casualties.
The attack resulted in the burning of twenty-two Coptic-owned homes, two commercial shops, a bakery, as well as livestock. The sound of automatic weapons fired in the air was heard, to terrorize and intimidate the Copts, according to Ra'fat Samir, who heads the Luxor branch of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights.(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiT_IKZf37w&feature=player_embedded)Coptic News Bulletin aired a recording of phone calls made to several Copts from inside the burning village. Terrorized Copts were hiding on the roof tops of their homes, afraid to venture in the streets, could only cry out: "help us, save us, they are burning us." None of them could concentrate enough to tell the reporter the reason behind the sudden Muslim attack, they just kept pleading for help.
Security forces were able to impose order a few hours later, and a curfew was imposed on el-Nowahed village and the city of Abu-Tesht.
The rampage against the Coptic inhabitants of the village came in the wake of a story which circulated in town three days earlier, about an affair between 19-year-old Copt Hossam Noel Attallah and a 17-year-old Muslim girl, Rasha Mohamed Hussein, a relative of the village mayor. According to Anba Kyrillos, Bishop of the Diocese of Nag Hamadi, some witnesses saw the teenage couple walking together towards the graveyards, after which it was rumored in the village that he raped her, "although a Muslim woman confirmed that Hossam did nothing wrong to the girl," he said.
A Police report was issued and both were brought before the public prosecutor, after which the young man was detained by State Security, fearing an escalation of events similar to what took place in Farshout last November in which Copts were attacked over a three days period by Muslim mobs, due to an accusation of a Coptic man having allegedly raped a Muslim girl.(http://www.aina.org/news/20091121211751.htm) (http://www.aina.org/news/20091123162710.htm) No one knows the whereabouts of the Coptic teenager Hossam after State Security detained him.
An eyewitness who was himself beaten by Muslims said the mob blocked the fire brigade from reaching the burning homes and one fire engine arrived hours late, reported activist Miriam Ragy. He also said that security forces went into the houses of Copts and arrested them.
Copts accused the authorities of severe inadequacy, because although being aware of the incident of the Copt and the Muslim girl, they only stationed three security cars at the entrances of the village. "But when the security officers saw the large mobs entering the village from all sides and attacking it, they fled, leaving it unprotected to operations of terrorism, sabotage, arson and looting of Coptic property," said activist Ra'fat, adding that security forces were only guarding St. George's Church.
Activist Attorney Mamdouh Nakhla of Al-Kalema Human Rights Center condemned the Muslim attack, stressing the collusion of State Security with the offenders, by failing to arrest any of the perpetrators so far and even chasing the Copts and arresting them, "because of their interviews with some Coptic websites in relation to the incident." Nakhla said that his Center will send a fact-finding committee to the village.
Bishop Kyrillos said that the present estimates of the damage to the Coptic property is approximately 250,000 Egyptian pounds.
Dr. Naguib Gobrail, President of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights, said "We all reject that Copts would become a "Whipping-boy," where every time an individual Copt is accused of committing some crime, the entire Coptic community should be made to pay the price and be punished by waging attacks on their lives and property. He asked if Muslims would accept the same treatment if circumstances were reversed.
Dr. Ghobrial said he will file a compensation lawsuit against the Prime Minister, the Interior Minister and the Governor of Qena, on behalf of all the Coptic victims of el-Nowahed for moral and material damage.
Ghobrial accused the authorities of failing in its duty of protection and complicity with the perpetrators, adding that it was completely unacceptable that security would arrest Copts, as was the case in el-Nowahed. "Has the victim become the perpetrator or are they afraid of the opponents?"
**By Mary Abdelmassih

Terrorism: A Weak State Incubates Terror
By Jonathan Spyer
November 16, 2010
http://www.gloria-center.org/gloria/2010/11/terrorism-weak-state-incubates-terror
Please find a personal note after this article from Jonathan Spyer on the release of his first book, in stores today, The Transforming Fire: The Rise of the Israel-Islamist Conflict. We depend on your contributions. To make a tax-deductible donation through PayPal or credit card, click the Donate button in the upper-right hand corner of this page. To donate via check, make it out to "American Friends of IDC," with "for GLORIA Center" in the memo line. Mail to: American Friends of IDC, 116 East 16th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10003. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation from the United Kingdom or Germany please email us for more information here.
The revelations last week of a sophisticated plot emanating from the Yemen-based al- Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula organization have belatedly refocused attention on this most backward and poverty stricken of Arab states. The sending of explosive packages to synagogues in Chicago is only the latest act of international terror to have emerged from Yemen in the last year.
Yemen today exemplifies the central malaise of the Arab world in particularly acute form. Throughout the Arabic-speaking world, failed development, a political culture in which extremist Islamist ideology thrives and Iranian interference and subversion from outside serve to create a breeding ground for political violence to grow and proliferate.
Only in areas where strong and shrewd (though unrepresentative) state regimes exist - such as Egypt, Jordan and, in a more problematic way, Saudi Arabia - is the lid uneasily kept on this boiling cauldron.
Yemen is one of the weakest of Arab state regimes.
As a result, regional forces of subversion have linked up with local Islamists and are turning the country into a hub of instability - playing host today to no fewer than three separate armed insurgencies.
Yemen is the poorest Arab country; 40 percent of its people live on less than $2 a day. The country's steadily depleting oil reserves are unable to generate sufficient income for the government to maintain the tribal patronage system on which it depends. Gas exports are failing to make up the shortfall. Yemen's water supplies are also dwindling.
The regime of President Ali Saleh is autocratic, inefficient and largely ineffectual. Its economic policies have failed to develop the country. It rules in name only over large areas of the country.
Poverty, illiteracy, extremism and discontent are salient aspects of today's reality in Yemen. And like Afghanistan and Sudan before it, Yemen is becoming a key regional base for al-Qaida. Unlike in these other two countries, in Yemen this has come about not because of an agreement reached between the jihadis and the authorities; rather, the inability of the Yemeni authorities to impose their rule throughout their country, coupled with the close proximity of Yemen to Saudi Arabia - a key target for al-Qaida - has made the country a tempting prospect for the terrorists.
AL-QAIDA IN THE Arabian Peninsula is a relatively recent addition to the various networks laying claim to the name made famous by Osama bin Laden. It emerged at the beginning of last year, when the hitherto little-heard-of Yemeni franchise of al-Qaida merged with the Saudi franchise. The Saudi jihadis were facing an increasingly effective counterterror campaign by the authorities, and therefore decided to shift focus to lightly-governed Yemen.
Through its organizing of the failed attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in December 2009, AQAP made its bid for entry to the major leagues of the global jihad. Its guiding spirit, US born Islamist ideologue Anwar al-Awlaki, was in touch with US Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the officer who murdered a number of his fellow servicemen at Fort Hood, Texas, a year ago.
The latest bomb plot now confirms AQAP's status as the most powerful "branch" of al-Qaida outside of Pakistan and Afghanistan. There are those who believe that the Yemen-based network has surpassed Bin Laden's group as the primary terror threat to the West in general and the US in particular.
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, however, is only one of the insurgencies to have taken root in blighted Yemen.
In addition to its hosting of the most active element of the global jihad, the country faces a separatist campaign in the south. Yemen was only reunified in 1990, and has since suffered a brief civil war in 1994.
The separatist insurgency led by Islamist tribal leader and former Bin Laden associate Tareq al-Fadhli grew in intensity during 2009 and has continued this year, with stormy demonstrations and armed confrontations leading to deaths on both sides.
Probably the most militarily significant of the three Islamist insurgencies was that of the Houthi rebels in the Saada district in the north. The Zaidi Shi'ite rebels of the al-Houthi clan have been engaged in an insurgency against the Yemeni authorities since 2004. Quelling the uprising proved beyond the capabilities of the Yemeni government.
In late 2009, the Shi'ite Houthis extended their activities across the border to Saudi Arabia. Their close proximity to the Saudi border made them a useful tool for Iran to pressure Riyadh. Responding to rebel attacks late last year, the Saudis struck back with aircraft and helicopter gunships. Iran was closely involved in this Shi'ite insurgency, sending regular arms shipments to the Houthis and continuing to stoke the flames of the rebellion.
Saudi involvement and Western pressure led to a cease-fire between the government and the Houthi rebels being reached in February. This was reaffirmed at the end of August, though the underlying causes for the violence remain unresolved.
So the situation in Yemen is one of a near-failed state, notionally aligned with the West but currently unable to effectively impose security throughout its territory. As elsewhere in the region, the resulting vacuum has rapidly been filled by the various, virulent malignancies that affect the regional body politic.
As for the solution, there is no magic formula.
But US President Barack Obama can ill afford yet another ground deployment, with its inevitable cost in American lives. So it is most likely that increased investment in building up Yemen's security forces on the ground, increased deployment of intelligence assets in the country and the occasional use of targeted missile strikes on al-Qaida's infrastructure will be the preferred path.Saudi intelligence is reported to have played a vital role in intercepting the packages. Saudi involvement also helped to end the Houthi insurgency, at least for now. The lesson here is that for all the problematic nature of regional regimes, the dangers of Iran and the global jihad thrive best where, as in Yemen and elsewhere in the region, strong central government has broken down

The Transforming Fire: The Rise of the Israel-Islamist Conflict
By Jonathan Spyer
Dear Friends,
I am writing to tell you about my new book 'The Transforming Fire: The Rise of the Israel-Islamist Conflict,' which has just been published in the USA and Canada by Continuum publishers.
The Transforming Fire deals with the effect of the rise of radical Islam on the conflict between Israel and the Arabs. The book combines analysis and narrative and covers the period from 2000, the collapse of the Oslo process, and the Lebanon War of 2006. It includes a first-hand account of my participation in the 2006 war, and my meetings with individuals on both sides of the conflict.
Finally, I am including a link to a site where the book can be purchased and a short excerpt (below).
I hope you find these of interest.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Spyer*
Excerpt from 'The Transforming Fire'
In the late afternoon of 9 August 2006, the unit received word that the operation into el-Khiam and Marjayoun was on. We would be commencing movement at six p.m. The company was positioned on a field next to an avocado grove, on lands belonging to a border kibbutz. We had been waiting there for three days. Twice, the entry into Lebanon had been postponed. We’d spent the days checking our equipment, eating sandwiches and smoking cigarettes. Waiting. The routine of tense expectation and prolonged inactivity was one you got used to.
You can get used to a lot. You can sit next to a verdant field of avocados, and get used to the endless, sinister booming of our artillery in the morning, and the Katyusha rockets from the other side that started around 11 a.m. You can get used to scrabbling for cover in the rich dirt as the missiles fly overhead, and watching them plow up white smoke in the hills. All of that can, within 72 hours, start to feel like a normal routine. So much so that some poor, domestic animal that lies within you can even feel a little sad when it hears that its time to move on.
All the same, I was aware of the strangeness that had brought us to this point. We had come a long way from the great hopes of the 1990s. From the high-tech boom and the successes on Nasdaq and the New Middle East. All the way down through the collapse of negotiations, the ending of illusions, the return of the suicide bombers to our towns and cities, and now this, war. Who had ever believed that we would be rushing for the bus depot in confusion, like extras in some fourth-rate film about the Yom Kippur War? That we would be taking the polythene covers from the tanks that had waited patiently and motionless for precisely this moment.
The operation was into one of the areas south of the Litani river, as yet untouched by our forces. Everyone was thinking about the huge mines that had devastated a couple of the tanks heading inward at earlier stages of the war.
Nothing much you could do against the mines. I thought about them a lot. They seemed more fearsome than the other ordnance in Hizballah’s armory. Mainly, I was concerned as to whether I would know what had happened. Whether there would be time to realize, with a sort of mild surprise, “We’ve hit a mine, so this is where it ends.” Or whether the process would be too quick, and one would simply switch off. I wasn’t sure which of the two possibilities seemed worse.
There were fewer jokes than usual, and no one was playing cards. We knew that we were going into the killing zone, and that it was not certain who would come out. Lebanon was the adjacent fields a few hundred yards ahead. Topographically identical, and strangely alien. The hills a little balder. No electric cables. Gray, flat roofed houses clustered on the inclines, instead of the familiar beige ones with red roofs.
With the tanks all in line against the setting sun, an elegiac mood came over us as we made the final preparations before moving off. There was time for thoughts, cigarettes, maybe surreptitious final mobile phone calls from home, or last minute adjustments.
The call had come on Friday evening. The phone rang, and after a second or so of silence on the line a recorded woman’s voice was telling me to report to the agreed point from which buses would be arriving to take us north. The peaceful summer evening atmosphere abruptly changed into something cold and urgent. I had a boiling hot shower, perhaps my last for a while, it occurred to me — and dressed in the olive green uniform which I had presciently washed a few days earlier, as the scenes from the war on TV had worsened. I called my parents in London. I wrote a couple of e-mails to friends, and turned off the computer. Then I walked out of the house into the calm Jerusalem Friday evening, and began making my way to the assembly point.
Years before, I had read an interview with the Israeli journalist Amnon Abramovich, who was severely wounded in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Abramovich had been a law student in Jerusalem when the war erupted. As I walked to the meeting point, the details of this article returned to me. I remembered his description of the transformation of his life following the severe burns he’d received when his tank was hit by Egyptian Sagger missiles.
It happened during General Avraham “Bren” Adan’s failed counter-attack on 8 October 1973. Abramovich noted how one minute you’re living the good life in Jerusalem, with the girls and the parties and the bars; the next you’re facing surgery to rebuild your face, and burns across 70 percent of your body. The first part of Abramovich’s narrative was not a bad approximation of my own life, at least on a good day. The prospect of becoming acquainted with the second was at the forefront of my mind through the weeks of the war.
The assembly point was in an Ultra-Orthodox part of town. Young secular and national religious Jerusalemites were gathering there when I arrived. The called-up Israel Defense Forces (IDF) fighters and the Ultra-Orthodox men mingled amiably, ongoing enmities put aside due to the strange drama of the event. After a while, I noticed an acquaintance of mine from Jerusalem, whom I hadn’t seen for about ten years. We knew each other when we were students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the mid-1990s and were involved in the campaign against the Rabin/Peres government’s attempts to negotiate away the Golan Heights to the Syrians. In the meantime, Eli had married and had two children. We reminisced about various characters we’d known.
Some men had turned up with their girlfriends, and there were high spirits outside as people prepared to depart. For a while, something resembling the atmosphere of a café at the Hebrew University prevailed. Shouts of laughter, and friendly mockery. Mildly combative humor with the Ultra-Orthodox men, who as usual proved to be possessed of a no less nimble humor of their own.
Finally, at about 11 in the night, a convoy of buses arrived, and there was a crush as people piled aboard. I remember the Jerusalem night outside as we pulled away. The crowd of Ultra-Orthodox men watching us, now mostly in silence.
*Jonathan Spyer is a senior research fellow at the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Herzliya, Israel, and a columnist at the Jerusalem Post newspaper. Spyer holds a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a Masters' Degree in Middle East Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He served in a front-line unit of the Israel Defense Forces in 1992-3, and fought in the war in Lebanon in summer 2006. Between 1996 and 2000, Spyer was an employee of the Israel Prime Minister's Office. His articles have also appeared in the Guardian, Haaretz, London Times, Washington Times,Toronto Globe and Mail, the Australian, British Journal of Middle East Studies, Israel Affairs and Middle East Review of International Affairs.

Adrian MacNair: Criticizing immigration policy does not make you ‘anti-immigrant’
Adrian MacNair November 15, 2010 – 8:35 am
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/11/15/adrian-macnair-criticizing-immigration-policy-does-not-make-you-anti-immigrant/
Richard Lam / Reuters
Are these men anti-immigration?
.I was reading an article about popular Norwegian political figure Siv Jensen in the National Post this weekend, and although it gives fair comment to the leader of the Progress Party, the writer continually referred to her as “anti-immigrant.” I’m not saying Peter Goodspeed used the reference with conscious knowledge of the connotations, but many people identify it in a negative way.
The term anti-immigrant implies a person is opposed to all immigration, a fundamentally bigoted position to take in the first place. Blanket opposition to any person who wants to migrate to a new country, regardless of their country of origin, is by definition a xenophobic policy. I’m certain that’s not the position of Jensen.
Nor is it technically accurate. Although Jensen does want to slow immigration to Norway to a trickle, she still supports 1,000 new immigrants a year. One can be an immigration critic and still support immigration in some form.
Those who advocate for an increase in immigration do not necessarily support immigrants either. They merely support one aspect of a policy — increasing the number of current immigrants allowed to come into a country — one of many in the government. But supporting an increased number of immigrants does not implicitly support the myriad difficulties associated with that increase.
Would one call a tax critic “anti-government” because of opposition to higher taxes? Would one call a justice critic “anti-human rights” for supporting longer prison sentences? Clearly the lazy prefix adds little value to the definition of anyone’s position.
What are we to make of the growing number of politicians who cast support for a different kind of attitude on immigration anyway? Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was called anti-immigrant, and worse, for voicing the fact Toronto is too crowded. Yet despite this unwarranted branding as a racist and a bigot, he prevailed in the mayoral election. What clue should this give us about how people actually feel about politicians willing to speak the truth?
In Europe we are seeing a rise in politicians advocating immigration reform, and the general public in each country has to varying degrees warmed strongly to those politicians. Has the world gone “anti-immigrant”? Or, as is more likely, has Europe been forced into a social defence mechanism to preserve the tiny cultures that dot the continental landscape?

For countries like Belgium and Switzerland, tiny in size and small in population, it’s a simple matter of change or be changed. Either the European countries that fiercely guarded their ethnic right to exist over the past thousand years acquiesce to the politically correct notion of surrendering cultural identity, or they take a stand. It really isn’t a complicated proposition.
Canada is arguably different. As a nation whose history is less defined by a single cultural contribution — England and Scotland did most of the heavy lifting — it would be difficult to say that the changes to Canada are destroying a preexisting indigenous culture. Even more complicated is the fact that First Nations people were here before the Europeans anyway.
But in a country like Italy, it has cultural autonomy only within its borders. The culture changes as soon as you head into Germany, France, or Slovenia. Preserving that cultural autonomy can and should be part of any government policy on immigration. Without a domestic policy focusing on cultural preservation the past centuries of warfare with neighbouring European and African countries hardly seem to make any sense.
It’s unpopular outside of academic circles, but the notion of cultural preservation should not be bestowed only to the migration populations. If it makes sense for migrating North Africans to preserve their culture in France, why not for the French?
And like it or not, there is every indication that Europe will elect leaders like Siv Jensen, or else have existing leaders like Angela Merkel admit the present flaws. The logical contradiction of the “anti-immigrant” label is that it implies the policy that puts the needs of current citizens ahead of future ones is prejudicial. This is ridiculous. Europeans are simply the first to admit it.
National Post

Syria makes its pitch
National Post · Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/Syria+makes+pitch/3816030/story.html
Yesterday, a group of Canadian-Syrian business leaders hosted an elegant luncheon in downtown Toronto to promote a "discussion on business opportunities in Syria." After a moment of silence was observed for Remembrance Day, Syrian Charge d'Affaires Bashar Akbik took the podium. He urged audience members to focus less on Syria's role in Middle Eastern security issues (his treatment of the topic was delicate); and more on the opportunities for investment -- in such fields as agriculture, Islamic banking and resource management. Former Canadian foreign minister Bill Graham also address the crowd, as did Ontario MPP Eric Hoskins.
In most Canadian ethnic communities, such a luncheon wouldn't be newsworthy. But Syria is a poor, autocratic society that still considers itself to be at war with Israel, one of Canada's closest allies. Trade between Syria and Canada is minimal, and events like this one are rare.
Syria is a beautiful and historic country that, in a more perfect world, would be a haven for tourists on par with Israel, Turkey and Greece. But Westerners don't like going to police states. Moreover, Syria's economy is rife with corruption and cronyism. Its oil is almost gone. Its agricultural sector has been ravaged by drought. And its textile industry has been overwhelmed with superior product from neighboring Turkey. Outside of the ethnic solidarity felt by many Syrian ex-pats, rationales for investing in Syria are slim.
Which is too bad, since contact with the outside world -- and especially with successful Syrian-Canadians who have seen the benefits of life in a free, tolerant nation such as this one -- can only be a positive influence on Damascus.
Syria's greatest problem is not that it is misperceived on the world stage, but that it is a state sponsor of terrorism (Hamas' most militant leader operates openly out of a well-protected Syrian compound) that, in the absence of the Soviet sponsorship it once enjoyed, has lowered itself to the demeaning role of errand boy for Iran and Hezbollah. If Syrian-Canadian entrepreneurs could somehow become an instrument for change in their ancestral land, they would be doing a great service to the people of both countries.
.
Russia to supply Lebanon with weapons and ammunition
permalink email story to a friend print version Published: 17 November, 2010, 02:13
17 November, 2010,
http://rt.com/politics/russia-supply-lebanon-weapons/
Russia will deliver a few dozens tanks, artillery weapons and ammunition to Lebanon; such is the outcome of the meeting between the Russian President and the Lebanese Prime Minister on Tuesday.
The two leaders discussed prospects of further Russia-Lebanon co-operation in military, oil and gas industries, energy and culture.
“It will be 31 T-72 tanks, 6 Mi-24 helicopters, 36 130-mm weapons and ammunition for all the arms,” Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was quoted as saying by Interfax.
Lebanon will pay for some of the items, and some of them will be delivered to the country free of charge.
The Lebanese army needs re-armament, the prime minister claimed, as the last time the country re-equipped its military forces was 40 years ago.
“We are so grateful to the Russian government, President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin for all their support to Lebanon, including this in particular,” Hariri concluded.
A delegation of Lebanese military specialists is expected to visit Russia soon to specify the details.
Among other topics discussed was co-operation of Russia and Lebanon on developing gas deposits on the Lebanese sea shelf.
According to Ruslan Pukhov, the director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Lebanon’s neighbors – Israel and Syria – are not going to be happy about the re-armament. This is partly due to the fact that they do not want to see a stronger Lebanese army, but beside that, there are fears that the new arms could end up in the hands of terrorists.
“We know that the central government in Lebanon is not strong enough to be responsible for army arsenals, and in certain cases, these weapons can leak to groups like Hezbollah, and can be used both against Israel and, in some cases, Syria. That’s why whether it was a wise decision or not – only time will show,” Pukhov said.
Medvedev and Hariri also discussed the situation in the Middle East. Russia’s contribution to the achievement of regional peace, security and stability is in particular demand now, the Lebanese prime minister noted.
Moscow is also interested in preserving political stability in Lebanon. “Russia has always sided with Lebanon, taking a stand in supporting Lebanon during the complicated period of political assassinations in our country and the war of 2006,” Hariri said.
Medvedev insisted that all urgent issues on Lebanon’s national agenda “should be resolved by the Lebanese themselves, without interference from outside,” Russian presidential aide Sergey Prikhodko told journalists.The Russian president also reaffirmed Russia’s support for an investigation into the assassination of Rafic Hariri, the father of the current Lebanese premier and also a former Lebanese premier, by a special tribunal for Lebanon, Interfax reported. “Impartial and transparent results” of such an investigation in line with high international legal standards will ensure justice and help maintain stability and democratic development in Lebanon, Medvedev maintains. During his meeting with the Lebanese prime minister on Monday, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia also supported the idea of setting up a special tribunal for the investigation of Rafik Hariri’s assassination in 2005.

Confusion over names on death certificates holds up inheritance
By Hugh Adami, The Ottawa Citizen November 17, 2010 4:08
Raymond Hatoum is frustrated by the catch-22 that he and his family find themselves in.
Photograph by: Bruno Schlumberger, Ottawa Citizen, The Ottawa CitizenTonios and George Hatoum have been dead for more than half a century, and their sister, Afife Khalil Hatoum, for 25 years, but Lebanon, the country where they were born, will not acknowledge their deaths. The problem lies with various errors involving their names on their Ontario death certificates. Until the registrar general's office agrees to correct the mistakes so that the names will match those on their birth certificates, the three, in the eyes of the Lebanese government, will continue to be living persons. That catch-22 means their five nephews and two nieces -- the children of another brother -- cannot inherit some property in Lebanon.
The province wants proof that Thomas Joseph -- the name on a death certificate issued in Ottawa in February 1951 -- was indeed Tonios Hatoum, who was 63 or 64 when he died. The same goes for George Joseph Hatoum and Eva Joseph-Hatoum. The government wants proof their proper names, also translated from Arabic, were George Hatoum and Afife Khalil Hatoum. George died in June 1958 at age 51, while Afife died in 1985. She was 94. Raymond Hatoum, the nephew who has taken charge to settle the matter, is frustrated by the situation.
"We are not trying to steal anything." Hatoum's friend, Rolly Buczel, says Raymond is "a stubborn old guy, who keeps butting and butting his head" with unsympathetic government employees. Raymond says the death certificates contain other mistakes. In some instances, for example, there are errors in the parents' names.
The most common error found in all the death certificates is the inclusion of the name Joseph. Raymond has no idea why the name is there. "That name doesn't belong to anyone in the family." As well, on Tonios' death certificate, Syria is given as the country where he and his parents were born. Raymond says they were all born in Lebanon.
Jeff Saikaley, Raymond's lawyer, says in an e-mail that errors such as those found in the Hatoum death certificates are "a common issue for Lebanese immigrants who came to Canada and did not speak anything but Arabic. "Their documents were in Arabic and the Canadian immigration representatives they met on arrival to Canada did not offer translators ... therefore errors were made in reporting critical information such as dates of birth, names, etc.," he says.
"When these immigrants pass away and their families need to deal with their estates in Lebanon, they cannot prove their loved ones are, in fact, deceased because the Canadian paperwork does not match the Lebanese records. As a result, the families are unable to deal with their estates in Lebanon." Raymond says the land in Lebanon isn't worth much, but it's important they inherit it, if only for a cousin in Lebanon, the only other heir to the property. He built a house there a few years ago, with the permission of his cousins in Canada, but now, says Raymond, he could face eviction because he doesn't have title to his property. The land, about 2.4 hectares, has been in the family for generations. Raymond, 70, says he and his siblings finally came to terms about two years ago on how they would split up the property and use it. Raymond says he would like to build a home there as he visits Lebanon every year. The Ontario Ministry of Government Services wants evidence that the names the deceased used are actually on official documents such as immigration records of landing, Canadian citizenship papers, permanent resident cards or even income tax returns. Raymond says those documents are long gone.
"They are asking for the impossible." However, he was able to provide the correct names on death certificates issued to him by an Ottawa church the family attends as well as the funeral homes that handled the burials. He even had the Arabic names on their Lebanese birth certificates professionally translated.
So far, those papers haven't helped, though Saikaley feels the province should be willing to compromise as his client cannot find the documents it wants. Saikaley has told the province that his client is willing to provide a sworn affidavit. Tonios, George and Afife were longtime Ottawa residents who moved with their mother to Canada about 1925. Their brother, Boulas, and two other sisters stayed behind in Lebanon. In 1957, Boulas, his wife, and their eight children -- five boys, including Raymond, and three girls -- immigrated to Canada and settled in Ottawa. Raymond says his father, who was also known as Paul, came here after an uncle promised him a farm in an area now known as Centrepointe.
Boulas and the two sisters who remained in Lebanon after Boulas moved to Canada have all passed away, as has one of his daughters. The seven remaining Hatoum siblings are Bertha, Gloria, Ed, John, Simon, Mike and Raymond. Ed, who now lives in Vancouver, played parts of three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and the Vancouver Canucks in the late 1960s-early '70s. Raymond contacted The Public Citizen last week and now has the offices of his MPP and MP looking into the case. Staff for Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar, the NDP's foreign affairs critic, is asking Citizenship and Immigration Canada to search for government documents relating to Tonios', George's and Afife's arrival in Canada and their citizenship status.
Meanwhile, the constituency office of Ottawa-Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi says the translated birth certificates should stand as one of two sets of documents needed to make the corrections to the death certificates. If Citizenship and Immigration comes up with another set, the Liberal MPP's office says Raymond should then be able to have the names corrected.
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