LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِSeptember
28/2010
Bible Of The
Day
Matthew 10/16-20: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 10:17 But beware of men:
for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will
scourge you. 10:18 Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for
my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations. 10:19 But when they deliver
you up, don’t be anxious how or what you will say, for it will be given you in
that hour what you will say. 10:20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit
of your Father who speaks in you".
Free
Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Samir Geagea speech on the Lebanese
after Martyrs' holy Mass/27 September/10
Maddening logic/Now
Lebanon/September 27/10
Axis of evil express/By: Peter
Brookes/New York Pos/September 27/10
Lebanese Justice system fails
foreign workers/By: Aline Sara/September 27/10
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for
September 27/10
Angry Ex-Girlfriend behind
Pakistani Plane Bomb Hoax/Agencies
Jewish settlers start building as
freeze expires/Agencies
Ashkenazi: Israelis Keeping
Close Eye on Lebanon Border/Naharnet
Sfeir Concerned by
Challenges that Weaken Lebanon Position/Naharnet
Qassem: Targeting
Resistance is Tantamount to Targeting Lebanon, Region/Naharnet
Moussawi: We Won't Accept Hariri
Murder Charge/Naharnet
Fatfat Hits Back at Moussawi: His
'Dangerous' Remarks Turned Hizbullah into Militia/Naharnet
Gemayel
Extends Hand to Hizbullah: Since You Are Sure of Your Innocence, I Promise to
Find a Way Out of Crisis/Naharnet
Cairo Rejected Hizbullah
Request to Meet Egyptian Ambassador, Report/Naharnet
Suleiman Says International
Tribunal Must Restore Public Credibility/Naharnet
Berri:
I Will Say What I Haven't Said about False Witnesses in Timely Manner/Naharnet
Jumblat: The STL Exists
but we Should be Wary of Repercussions on Security Scene/Naharnet
Harb: Airport Invasion a
Message to Government/Naharnet
Jumblat: Uncovering Truth
Behind False Witnesses Best Way to Achieve Justice/Naharnet
Aoun: They Want to Kill
the Resistance to Help Israeli Plans to Naturalize Palestinians in Lebanon/Naharnet
Zahra: Bassil, Syria's
Watan Remarks Produced by 'Same Kitchen'/Naharnet
Bassil About Geagea's
Appeal: This is Invitation for Political Murder/Naharnet
Why Lebanese Palestinians insist on the right to bear arms/The Guardian
Lebanon's Jews: Loyalty to Whom? BBC Documentary Tracks Vanished
Community/Huffington Post (blog)
Sfeir
Concerned by Challenges that Weaken Lebanon Position
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Monday was quoted as saying that
Israeli leaks about the indictment to be issued by the Special Tribunal for
Lebanon suggested that the Court was being politicized. President of the General
Maronite Council, former Cabinet Minister Wadih Khazen, said after meeting Sfeir
that the Patriarch also expressed concerns over the "challenges that weaken the
Lebanese position at these critical conditions." He said Sfeir hailed as a
"patriotic voice" Suleiman's speech before the General Assembly in New York
"when he put the world in front of Israeli violations of Resolution 1701."
Beirut, 27 Sep 10,
Williams: Calm has Been Restored at Blue Line, We are Working with Army to
Maintain it
Naharnet/U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams stressed on
Monday that calm and stability have been restored at the Blue Line, adding that
the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon is working closely with the army in
order to maintain them. He made his statements after holding talks with the head
of the Phalange Party, Amin Gemayel, which focused on the recent tensions in the
country. The two officials agreed that dialogue is the only way to tackle
critical matters, highlighting the importance of state institutions in
instilling stability in any country, especially Lebanon. Beirut, 27 Sep 10,
Gemayel Extends Hand to Hizbullah: Since You Are Sure of Your Innocence, I
Promise to Find a Way Out of Crisis
Naharnet/Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Sunday warned that Lebanon is
facing "more than one coup." "If we were to choose between the International
Tribunal associated with street mishaps or no Tribunal, we will choose the Court
because the State cannot survive without justice," Gemayel told MTV. "We feel as
if this is the beginning of a regime change to an alternative" he added. "Is the
alternative a return to the era of (Syrian) tutelage?" Gemayel asked.
Addressing Hizbullah, Gemayel said: "I am sincere in the invitation, let us sit
down together with Hizbullah as long as they are sure of their innocence, and I
am ready to take an initiative and find a way out of the crisis. "Any
settlement, however, should not be at the expense of the truth," he stressed.
Beirut, 26 Sep 10,
Phalange: Efforts by Some Lebanese Leaders and Fraternal States to Stop
Deterioration haven't Yielded Results
Naharnet/The Phalange Party condemned on Monday Hizbullah and its allies'
conduct accusing them of thwarting efforts to instill calm in Lebanon, adding
that it seems as if they are aiming at creating internal strife in Lebanon. It
said after its weekly meeting: "The politburo noticed that the efforts exercised
by some Lebanese leaders and fraternal and friendly states to thwart the
deterioration of the situation in Lebanon have not yet yielded any serious
results." The statement stressed that the government should remain as the main
protector of constitutional institutions and international resolutions,
especially the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the United Nations Interim Force
in Lebanon. The Phalange party called on the state to take the precautionary
security and military measures to thwart all who are trying to create strife or
unrest. "The government and parliament should dedicate a respectable budget to
the army to fulfill its needs that would be up to the people's expectations," it
said. "The systematic campaign against the STL is beginning to harm Lebanese
security without actually affecting the tribunal's functioning … but some want
to make the tribunal a problem," it stated. "The murderers, who are still
unknown and who now fear the punishment, should not have committed the
assassinations in the first place," it concluded. Beirut, 27 Sep 10,
Berri: I
Will Say What I Haven't Said about False Witnesses in Timely Manner
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri said he is exerting every effort to protect Lebanon
from a devastating sectarian strife. Berri said that while he considers a
"red-line" a Christian-Muslim conflict, he will do everything in his power to
avert war between Sunnis and Shiites. Turning to the issue of false
witnesses to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Berri said
there are things he hasn't said. "I did not say everything I know about false
witnesses," Berri said in remarks published Monday by As-Safir newspaper,
pointing important legal aspects related to this issue which he has not yet
revealed. "I may do that in due time," he said. Berri stressed that Lebanese
judicial authorities should follow-up the issue of false witnesses to be able to
determine the side that is standing behind them. Beirut, 27 Sep 10,
Jumblat: The STL Exists but we Should be Wary of Repercussions on Security Scene
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stated on Monday
that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon exists, warning the Lebanese to be wary of
its repercussions. He noted that tensions in Lebanon should be confronted by all
sides with calm rhetoric. Jumblat made his statements after holding talks at the
Grand Serail with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, which focused on general
developments in Lebanon. The MP added that calm political rhetoric will allow
the Lebanese to reach all political and developmental solutions. Beirut, 27 Sep
10,
Jumblat: Uncovering Truth Behind False Witnesses Best Way to Achieve Justice
Naharnet/Druze leader Walid Jumblat on Sunday said the best way to achieve
justice is to uncover the truth behind the false witnesses to the murder of
former PM-Rafik Hariri. "The best way to achieve justice for the murder of
ex-Premier Hariri is to adopt a united stance that unveils the truth behind the
false witnesses," said Jumblat during a reception honoring Russian ambassador
Sergei Boukin on the occasion of the end of his mission in Lebanon. Jumblat
revealed deliberations with Boukin when the Russian ambassador told him: "You
want the Tribunal. You shall have it." "We got the tribunal, but I wish we did
not," Jumblat complained. Beirut, 26 Sep 10,
Suleiman Says International Tribunal Must Restore Public Credibility
Naharnet/In a surprising stance, President Michel Suleiman said the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon must restore public credibility "by staying away from
politicization."
Suleiman's remarks came in an interview broadcast live on al-Jadid television
from New York. Lebanon's President spoke Friday during the 65th Session of the
General Assembly at United Nations headquarters in New York. In the late Sunday
interview, Suleiman said the STL should "investigate all possibilities,
including Israel." He acknowledged that Lebanon cannot survive without the
International Community. "We need the International Community more than ever to
make our voice heard," he said. "We cannot isolate Lebanon from the
International Community and this is why we asked to be part of the Security
Council. Suleiman said Lebanese and Iranian views are "identical on the need to
safeguard national unity in Lebanon and avoid Lebanon being used as an arena for
Arab conflicts." Commenting on the so-called "invasion" of Beirut airport by
Hizbullah supporters, Suleiman said: "It gave a bad impression for citizens and
made them lose confidence in State institutions. "It is important to return to
the laws," Sulleiman stressed, adding that there is no justification for the
resignation of the government.
"The balance of powers did not change," he assured. Suleiman also acknowledged
the "existence of injustice in the defense budget to arm the Lebanese army." He
criticized U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon, saying UNIFIL is "not doing
enough to deter Israeli violations." Beirut, 27 Sep 10,
Moussawi: We Won't Accept Hariri Murder Charge
Naharnet/Hizbullah MP Nawaf Moussawi on Monday stressed that Hizbullah will not
accept charges in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri "at any time
because they are false and defamatory." Hizbullah "cannot stand handcuffed in
the face of an ugly accusation," he told OTV. Moussawi criticized anew those who
took Hariri's murder lightly."They are either insane or conspirators against
Lebanon," he said. Beirut, 27 Sep 10,
Fatfat Hits Back at Moussawi: His 'Dangerous' Remarks Turned Hizbullah into
Militia
Naharnet/Mustaqbal MP Ahmed Fatfat on Monday hit back at Hizbullah deputy Nawaf
Moussawi, describing his latest remarks made from Beirut airport as a "dangerous
coup."
"In this way, Hizbullah has turned into a militia that wants to seize power,"
Fatfat told Future News TV. He said the "army-resistance-citizen equation" is
meant to confront Israel. "But the problem is when the Resistance turns
(violent) domestically with threatening words," he explained. "It is then that
the Resistance collapses and turns into a militia," Fatfat believed. "Arms today
are pointed on the inside as a result of these threatening statements," he
thought. Beirut, 27 Sep 10,
Harb: Airport Invasion a Message to Government
Naharnet/Labor Minister Butros Harb believed that the so-called "invasion" of
Beirut airport by Hizbullah supporters was a message to the Government.
Describing Hizbullah's action as "ugly," Harb said it also damaged the
reputation of Lebanon. "It was a clear message to the Government and the
judiciary to affirm that Hizbullah will not accept any action that is not
approved by the party," Harb said in remarks published Monday by the daily Al-Liwaa.
He said targeting State institutions is "rejected and also what happened with
Jamil Sayyed is rejected." Harb said any solution should take place at Cabinet
or Parliament "and not through arms." Beirut, 27 Sep 10,
Qassem: Targeting Resistance is Tantamount to Targeting Lebanon, Region
Naharnet/Hizbullah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem on Sunday said
Hizbullah's demands focus on two issues – uncovering false witnesses and those
standing behind them; and accusing Israel of assassinating former PM Rafik
Hariri based on the data provided by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. "Cross-examining
false witnesses is the only gate to uncovering the truth," Qassem said, adding
that "those concerned should discuss the accusation" against Israel. He
reassured that the Resistance is in a "very good condition." The Resistance is
"strong with its head raised high. It stands steadfast and is not affected by
statements made by some (politicians)," he stressed. Qassem, however, warned
that targeting Hizbullah as a Resistance is tantamount to targeting Lebanon and
the region. "Targeting Hizbullah means that the future of the country is
targeted," he added. "This Resistance will carry on. " Beirut, 26 Sep 10,
Angry Ex-Girlfriend behind Pakistani Plane Bomb Hoax
Agencies/Naharnet
An angry ex-girlfriend called in the hoax bomb alert to Canadian police at the
weekend that forced a Pakistan-bound plane to make an emergency landing in
Stockholm, a Swedish newspaper reported Monday. A 28-year-old Canadian man was
briefly arrested in connection with the allegations but then released without
charge after no explosives were found aboard the plane, flying from Toronto to
Karachi. The cleared suspect was going to Pakistan to get married and his ex had
called Canadian police warning he was carrying explosives because she was
unhappy with their separation, tabloid Aftonbladet wrote. "From what I
understood, an ex came forward with the claim in connection with their
separation. It was surely not a happy one," Stockholm police officer Haakan
Westing, who could not be reached for comment Monday, told Aftonbladet. "She had
an evil eye on him," he said, adding that according to the cleared suspect's
written statement he was going to get married in Pakistan. Stockholm police
spokesman Kjell Lindgren told Agence France Presse Monday the man was travelling
to Pakistan "for personal reasons," but could not confirm he was going to get
married or that an angry ex had tipped off Canadian authorities. "It's a
theory," was all he would say. Lindgren said the man, who was detained but then
released without charge after his plane had already left for Pakistan, was
expected to leave Sweden Monday. Media had reported earlier Monday the man was
blocked from leaving Sweden because no airlines would take him onboard. "That's
not true," Lindgren said. "I think it's a misunderstanding. There was no place,
is the information I got. It just didn't work out with the flights." Lindgren
said there were no direct flights from Sweden to Pakistan but that Swedish
authorities would continue to help the man as quickly as possible. Canadian
police has said they are looking into whether the bomb alert they received was a
"terrorist hoax."(AFP) Beirut, 27 Sep 10,
Maddening logic
September 27, 2010
Now Lebanon/
Hezbollah MP Nawwaf Moussawi threatened violent retribution upon those who back
the Special Tribunal. (NOW Lebanon)
On a weekend filled with inflammatory comments on the Special Tribunal for
Lebanon (STL), Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Nawwaf Moussawi’s statement on
Friday in which he clearly threatened violent retribution upon those who
supported the international court could not be outdone.
In comments reported by the National News Agency, Moussawi said that any group
that backed the decision of the STL (created to bring to justice the killers of
former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and subsequent victims of political terror)
to indict members of Hezbollah for their involvement in the February 2005
assassination, will be “dealt with on the basis that they are one of the tools
of US-Israeli aggression” and would “face the same response as the US-Israeli
aggressor.” As if that were not enough, he loaded the threat further by saying
that “the period after the indictment will not be like the period before,” and
that those committed to the tribunal should be “not just worried, but scared.”
Fighting words indeed. Moussawi – who, when he is not threatening his own people
with violence, is head of Hezbollah’s office of international relations – has
made his party’s position in the tribunal debate unequivocal. His statement
formally introduces the third phase of the party’s campaign against
international justice and its battle to survive with its weapons to both serve
Iran in its standoff with the West and consolidate its own domestic power base
within Lebanon.
Phase one was the issue of the false witnesses, that certain individuals had
misled the court and that this was enough to destroy its credibility. It was
(and still is, given Michel Aoun’s fire-and-brimstone rhetoric on Sunday) a
scattergun approach because it eschews any legal argument and hinges upon
convincing people that the tribunal is nothing more than a huge conspiracy
between Israel, the investigating team (one made up of many nationalities) and a
handful of so-called perjurers to frame Hezbollah for a crime that was in fact
committed by Israel.
Phase two was the “evidence” of Israeli involvement in the crime presented by
Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on August 9. The material was
laughable, but it did two things: It easily shifted the local debate on who
killed Hariri, and more importantly, it allowed Hezbollah, which handed its
so-called Israeli file to the tribunal investigators, to use the fact that no
one has acted on the material (presumably because there is nothing to act on) as
proof that the tribunal does not want to consider the Israel theory. Clearly
therefore, if we follow this line of reasoning, the tribunal, as former March 14
politician Walid Jumblatt declared on Sunday, is just another attempt, after the
passing of UN Security Council Resolution 1559 and the 2006 war, to disarm
Hezbollah.
Phase three uses Moussawi’s maddening logic that those who support it are in
league with Israel and will suffer the consequences. It posits that if you
unconditionally support international justice (is there any other way to support
justice?) and at the same time want a country that is predicated on the notion
of the state; and if you oppose the open-ended right of Hezbollah to both
maintain its weapons and dictate matters of war and peace, while at the same
time using the threat of those weapons to promote its domestic agenda, then you
are a Zionist.
And how do we deal with Zionists? Well, Hezbollah has used the very words of
President Michel Sleiman himself to tell us how. Hezbollah’s number 2, Sheikh
Naim Qassem, said on Sunday that his party supported Sleiman’s comments to the
UN General Assembly in New York on Friday in which the president said that
Lebanon has the right to distinguish between “terrorism and resistance,” as well
as “Lebanon’s right to liberate its land with all permissible means.” This, we
can extrapolate, means the Resistance is permitted to confront the Israeli
enemy, and presumably those who support it. If you don’t support Hezbollah, then
you support Israel. If you support Israel, you are the enemy, and the enemy will
be dealt with.
Qassem is right about one thing: The Lebanese really do have the right to
distinguish between “terrorism and resistance.”
Justice system fails foreign workers
Aline Sara, September 27, 2010
Now Lebanon/
Housemaids walk their employers’ dogs in Achrafieh. Lebanon’s judicial system
fails to protect the estimated 114,933 migrant domestic workers in the country,
said a recent Human Rights Watch report. (AFP)
Late last June, migrant domestic workers in Lebanon and their supporters had
something to celebrate. In a rare ruling, a judge in Jbeil sentenced an employer
to a month-long prison stay and a $6,600 fine for mistreating her housemaid.
The case was filed by the worker herself, a Sri Lankan woman. According to Joyce
Jeha, a lawyer from the Catholic charity organization Caritas, the judge also
transferred the employer’s file to General Security and forbade her from hiring
a foreign worker for the coming five years, a precedent in the battle for
rendering justice to the foreign workers in Lebanon who are abused or taken
advantage of by their employers. “Passing her case to General Security and
banning her from employing a housemaid for five years shows progress,” Jeha
said.
But today, three months after the original judgment, the employer has yet to
either set foot in prison or pay a cent in compensation to the woman she
physically abused from December 2004 to May 2007. “Legally speaking, the
employer is entitled to an appeal,” said Jeha. The file is still in court and a
final verdict, 40 months after the worker left the abusive household, has yet to
be issued.
It is no news that many foreign domestic workers in Lebanon suffer from ill
treatment, employers’ failure to pay them, and no day off, despite the
stipulations in the 2009 standardized Ministry of Labor contract. But now Human
Rights Watch has exposed the shortcomings of the judicial system in safeguarding
foreign domestic workers’ rights.
During a recent press conference, HRW’s head researcher, Nadim Houry, presented
a 54-page report entitled Without Protection, How the Lebanese Justice System
Fails Migrant Domestic Workers (MDW). Among 114 cases studied, not a single
employer was punished for crimes ranging from locking up his or her employee,
confiscating the employee’s passport or not providing the worker food. HRW found
that even in cases where employers admitted to locking their domestic workers in
the house, prosecutors did not press charges.
In addition, “Domestic workers too often end up in jail on the basis of
accusations by their employers, without benefitting from the assistance of a
lawyer or translator,” said the report. In 57 out of the 84 cases employers have
filed against their workers, the employee was subject to pretrial incarceration.
Foreign domestic workers also endured abuse in prison, said the report,
highlighting the case of one Filipina worker who said that a police officer
threatened to burn her eye with his cigarette.
According to the watchdog, the main obstacles to rendering these victims justice
include the lack of information about their rights, restrictions on their
movement, the attitude of the security forces, the cost and length of legal
action, as well as Lebanon’s sponsorship program, known as the kafeel, under
which a foreign domestic worker is legally bound to her employer. The situation
is exacerbated by the language barrier workers often face while having to
provide proof of their claims.
In the end, according to the HRW study, authorities frequently take the
employer’s word over that of the employee.
But according to Internal Security Forces press representative Major Joseph
Musallem, there is no official discrimination against foreign domestic workers
in Lebanon. “Anyone is treated like a Lebanese; there is no distinction,” he
told NOW Lebanon. He added that if a police officer fails to perform his duties,
there is an ISF complaint hotline a plaintiff can call.
Likewise, the Ministry of Labor set up its own hotline to assist workers –
Lebanese and foreign – with their complaints, although there is no word yet on
how effective the new hotline’s services are.
Antoine Hashem, a Labor Ministry counselor who was present at the HRW
conference, said “The embassy should be held responsible for the safety of the
workers,” adding that embassies should reimburse employers the $3,000 they paid
in fees to hire a foreign worker if she runs away.
When a foreign domestic worker wants to file a complaint against an employer, he
said, if the Labor Ministry is to go into a house and investigate, “We have to
take permission from the general prosecutor. I have suggested that there be
coordination with the Labor Ministry and the general prosecutor to make it
easier for investigators or inspectors to enter houses and see workers’
situations.”
But if working with the general prosecutor is a prerequisite, the prospect of
abused workers receiving justice looks grim, according to activists. “Proper
prosecutors should investigate thoroughly before coming to conclusions,” Houry
told NOW Lebanon, describing a case of a woman who died of a gunshot wound to
the stomach. The case was filed as a suicide. Examination of her body showed
bruises and scarring, “but when they interviewed the employers, they did not
even inquire about the injuries,” he said.
“We all personally know employers that treat their worker well, but I’m
confident that any Lebanese knows another employer, who, one way or another, is
violating the employee’s rights,” he said. “By turning a blind eye to violations
affecting domestic workers, Lebanon’s police and judiciary are complicit in the
ongoing violations against this vulnerable group,” he said.
Despite several attempts, NOW Lebanon was unable to reach the Ministry of
Justice for comment.
Jewish settlers start building as freeze expires
September 27, 2010
Fresh construction got under way in a handful of West Bank settlements early on
Monday just hours after the expiry of 10-month-old restrictions on building,
Israeli media said.
Bulldozers were spotted hard at work in the Adam settlement in the northern West
Bank, where around 30 homes are due to be built, public radio said.
Construction was expected to start in at least eight settlements, including in
Kiryat Arba, just outside the flashpoint southern city of Hebron, where 600
extreme right-wing settlers live amidst 163,000 Palestinians, the privately-run
Channel Two television said. The expiry of the construction moratorium, which
formally ended at midnight (2200 GMT) on Sunday, means that anyone who obtained
a permit to build prior to its coming into force can now go ahead and start
work.
Building work at this stage is likely to be limited to isolated settlements
where several hundred housing units are due to be built in the coming months,
news reports said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to extend the restrictions on
construction despite intense international pressure.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas had threatened to abandon peace talks if
construction resumed, but on Sunday said he would delay his decision until after
a meeting with Arab foreign ministers on October 4. A wide-scale resumption of
settlement construction would almost certainly force Abbas to quit the talks but
Israel said it was hoping he would tolerate low-key construction. Netanyahu has
urged the settlers to keep a low profile as they start building again and called
on them to display "restraint and responsibility.”
-AFP/ NOW Lebanon
Samir Geagea speech on the Martyrs Mass
September 27, 2010
Rest not in peace, martyrs And rise above the scale of the disaster Where some
Lebanese still insist On taking Lebanon to where they think they know
Whereas, in fact, they are taking it to where they do not know It is the
disaster of strength derived from weapons That we rejected once we recovered the
state. Look down from the heavens, but rest assured
That under the heavens lay free Lebanese Of the kind who says no And believes
that justice reigns And that truth shall prevail.
My fellow martyrs, From the dawn of the 1975 events to the dawn of the Cedar
Revolution I hail a people that does not forget, I hail faithful comrades And a
resistance that goes on in thoughts and words. Your martyrdom shall not be
wasted. And your sacrifices shall not be in vain. This nation will not die. It
shall be “like father, like son.”
My fellow martyrs
No man will ever hold out against what you have built with your blood.
Honorable assembly,
My fellow comrades,
My fellow Lebanese,
We meet today as coup seekers stand at our doors. The headlines and pretexts are
many, but what they are really want is one thing: the head of this state, or the
head of the Republic. Even the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has become secondary
to this greater objective.
The headlines are many. Indeed, some are discussing the issue of the false
witnesses, portraying it as they deem fit, identifying false witnesses
accordingly, putting them on trial, issuing ready-made sentences against them
and warning the Republic: ‘Either you execute those sentences against whom we
identified as false witnesses, or you are a crooked, one-eyed, feebleminded and
foolish republic; a republic of collaborators that is merely good enough to be
destroyed. Only then would we be able to raise our victorious yellow flags
across your territory.’
We have spared no effort to tell them that no one but the relevant judiciary
authorities is entitled to label someone as a false witness, and that the issue
of the false witnesses cannot be examined, in practice, before an indictment is
issued and investigation results are made public. Yet, it is like talking to a
brick wall, since their demands are mere smokescreens to hide their true
intentions.
Others, in contrast, say that they are leading a revolution against corruption.
He who wants to declare a revolution against corruption – and this is something
we are in most need of – has to have a long personal history of
straightforwardness, clarity, transparency, good ethical conduct, knowledge and
seriousness. Those calling for such a revolution are devoid of all of those
characteristics. The revolution against some institutions and their statutes is
not to replace outdated laws and regimes with other, more modern ones; rather,
it aims to replace the rules of the current game – which did not allow those
behind the calls for revolution to achieve their personal objectives – with
other [rules] that better serve their purpose.
Some might say that at the end of the day, no matter what happens, this will
lead to no more than a regime change, whereas the Republic will remain. Herein
lies the mistake: One only has to take a good look at the main forces behind all
these events in order to know for certain that if the coup led by the other side
succeeds, there will no longer be any Lebanon or any Republic. We will only be a
province, nothing more than a province.
Hence, would anyone please tell me, to cite only one example, whether what we
witnessed between 1990 and 2005 was a Lebanese republic? Were it not for the
profound faith and obstinacy of the Lebanese people, and were it not for those
few who stood up and fought under the darkest of circumstances, the Republic
would not have lived to see a new dawn on that glorious day in the history of
Lebanon, on March 14, 2005.
They tell us, “Why do you doubt us? We do not intend to stage a coup. All we
want is to rectify the course.” However, at the same time, they repeatedly
proclaim that what happened on March 14 – when the Republic rose again – was a
coup like no other that is certainly to be countered by another coup, which we
are currently witnessing.
The coup seekers are at our doors!
True, but our doors this time are closed tight thanks to the presence of a
profoundly sovereign cabinet and official institutions (the judiciary, the army
and the Internal Security Forces), all which are watching over the state. We
will not allow the Republic to fall again. We will not let freedom slip away,
and we will not allow middlemen, profiteers, mercenaries, maniacs and supporters
of that other project to take over by having recourse to sheer violence.
Let no one be fooled. The Lebanese people who rose on March 14, 2005 in pursuit
of a new dawn are ready for 14 remakes of March 14 so that the Republic does not
fall again.
People of March 14, supporters of the Cedar Revolution,
Over the past few months, you have been confronted with harsh changes and events
that you shouldered with patience and bravery. You have lived through delicate
circumstances, which drove some to announce your death in their yellow-colored
media as though there was no people, no March 14, no cedars and no revolution
left.
When the coup seekers surfaced, they were surprised by the fact that the people
is still a people, that March 14 is a light that still shines, that the cedars
have not aged and that revolution has not fed on those proclaiming it.
People of March 14, supporters of the Cedar Revolution,
A lot of events that Lebanon has witnessed shall disappear, but not one letter
of what you wrote shall disappear. With you and through you, we do not fear
anything, be it money, weapons, intimidation, promises or threats.
Our objective is a free and proud people living in a state characterized by
order, law, justice, prosperity and progress and in a sovereign, stable and
independent nation.
Our weapons are faith, justice, reason, words, commitment, patience and
perseverance.
We shall march on until the last objective set by those who were on the Freedom
Square in March 2005 is attained. Justice cannot be given to those whose martyrs
are wronged. There will be justice, and our martyrs shall not be wronged. Our
martyrs, including Kamal Jumblatt, Mufti Hassan Khaled, President René Mouawad
and many others, have suffered enough injustice.
We accepted that the war ended the way it did, but those who were involved in it
did not. They went on and on, leading to a new generation of martyrs, starting
with Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. People were sick and tired of this situation,
and all hell broke loose as the Lebanese and Arab public led a strong,
comprehensive and decisive action to punish the perpetrators once and for all,
hence the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).
A mere look at the political literature of the other party bears witness to the
extent of its focus on political assassinations, crime, criminals and the need
to punish them. Yet when Lebanon and the Lebanese had, for once, the chance to
launch a serious international investigation into political assassinations –
which was never the case in the past – all of the other party’s partisans rose
to express their opposition and to criticize all methods employed, as usual, in
an attempt to topple the STL and forsake a historic chance to solve the dilemma
and tragedy of political assassinations in Lebanon.
My dear brothers, we say no. We accepted the logic of war in times of war, but
we will not do so in times of peace. What happened since the Cedar Revolution
were unequivocal and premeditated crimes that should be examined, and their
perpetrators should be tried.
They ask: What kind of tribunal is it, one that starts by accusing Syria and
then moves to Hezbollah? We say that this is a blatant distortion. The Special
Tribunal for Lebanon has yet to accuse or exonerate anyone. All the current
rumors merely express the opinions of those who spread them, not that of the STL,
as it has yet to issue an indictment.
They go on to say: What kind of tribunal does not take legal action against
false witnesses? We say: Wait until you see the indictment to know how the
prosecutor has dealt with the testimonies of those who have misled the
[investigation], as you claim, and whether or not he based his accusation on
their statements.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon would try false witnesses according to its own
definition of false witnesses, rather than those whom the other political forces
have labeled as such. The worst episode in the attempt to destroy the STL is the
chapter pertaining to the false witnesses, whom the other side invented and
exploited in the media to the greatest possible extent, defining the whole case
by them. Be that as it may, we will be the first to call for prosecuting false
witnesses when they are identified once investigations are concluded. To make
ourselves clear, we believe that “Abu Aadass” is the hero in the false
witnesses’ play, the director of which is one, even if the actors are many.
Nevertheless, we are waiting for the indictment to be issued in order to make
out the difference between what is true and what is not.
They say that this tribunal is an Israeli one. If that were the case, why did it
not simply look into the theory they tried to sell from Day One with the “Abu
Aadass” video and the group of extremists who, they claim, fled to Australia
following the assassination? In that case, “Abu Aadass” and the extremists would
have been the accused.
They claim that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is politicized, but none of
them has ever been able to back such claims. They rant, but at the end of the
day, they only want one thing: [to abolish] the STL.
No, my dear brothers,
Even if this were possible, which is not the case, the attempt to hinder the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon is, per se, a crime far worse than all those that
have been committed so far. They are now giving us a choice between the STL and
civil peace.
Our answer is that the STL and civil peace come together, since there is no
genuine, effective and profound civil peace, to begin with, without
accountability and follow-up. There is no effective civil peace without putting
an end to crimes and criminals, without a judiciary, without a state and without
accountability. There is no effective civil peace in light of neglect and
impunity.
Our blessed martyrs,
Rest assured that we are a people whose martyrs cannot be killed twice, once by
assassination and once again by denial and oblivion.
My fellow Christians,
Some might wonder what you stand to gain with this tribunal, which was
established in the first place to try Rafik Hariri’s assassins. It is as though
Christians are supposed to be living in Alaska, rather than in and for this
country. It is as though PM Rafik Hariri has supposedly not died as a martyr to
serve the same Lebanon for the sake of which Christians have died as martyrs
over many centuries.
It is as though the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will dispense justice to the
Hariri family only, rather than to the families of all victims who have died
before and after him, as well as to all free Lebanese. It is as though
Christians have become a weak minority living in fear and worry, and wishing to
“stay away from trouble.”
All those assumptions are null and completely rejected, because Christians are
from Lebanon, in Lebanon and for Lebanon. Some are talking as though our future
in this country is doomed, as though there were no successive generations, no
grandfathers or fathers, no sweat, no blood and no martyrs.
My fellow Christians,
We are at and in the heart of this land. Let there be no doubt whatsoever
regarding our existence, our role and our efficiency. Over the past period, we
have certainly had dozens of lean years, but we rise to all challenges. Let us
not forget that there is always sunshine after the rain. We are currently
witnessing a concrete demographic crunch, and our role is relatively receding,
but it is equally true that this is the case with all societies throughout
history, i.e. successive ebb-and-flow cycles. What we are witnessing now is one
of the ebb phases.
A look back at our history tells us that our people have always experienced
similar cycles. So let us not be affected, not even for a minute, by the current
ebb phase, which is almost over anyway. We have witnessed circumstances and
situations that are far worse than what we are now [living]. Thanks to our
fathers’ and grandfathers’ obstinacy, we have managed to emerge in an even
better state than before. This time will be no different than the others, except
that the crisis is lighter and shorter. The sky is our limit, and eternity is
our horizon. So let no one try to curb our ambitions or undermine our resolve to
seek a life of freedom, safety and dignity in this troubled East.
My fellow Christians,
If we want God to help us and others, we have to start by helping ourselves.
Hence, I call upon all Christian forces to rally around the state and agree on a
minimum of political principles based on the historical Christian constant
principles in Lebanon, in the hope that this would bring these troubled times to
an end and take us to the times we desire.
In this context, I honestly and directly call on all young men and women
supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement: We are bound together by 15 years of
joint struggle during which we were persecuted, tracked down, oppressed and
imprisoned together, all for the sake of a group of principles and convictions
to which we were attached and for which we were bent on fighting for.
Let us rally once again around those principles and continue together what we
have started together. You are political activists serving principles and
convictions we all share, so why are we divided and apart?
For instance, the following are some of the Free Patriotic Movement’s founding
principles as mentioned in the 2005 orange booklet titled The Other Way:
- Page 23: Lebanon cannot but fight the culture of death, as this is its
vocation. One of the craziest chapters underlying the Arab decadence is that
which accused those who confronted extremism of being Israeli collaborators.
- Annex nº 1: Following the Israeli withdrawal, armed action by Hezbollah is no
longer legitimate, and this caused a national and international crisis. Indeed,
it puts Lebanon at odds with the international law while threatening national
unity, since it amounts to one party’s monopoly on national decision-making.
- Annex nº 1: UN Security Council Resolution 1559 and the Taif Accord both
stipulate the disarmament of all militias, which means that Hezbollah’s armed
presence is a problem.
- Page 8: Restoring the natural role of the armed forces is the first step in
building a national defense policy that takes current threats into
consideration.
- On foreign policy: Delineating the border between Lebanon and Syria
definitively and resolving the issue of those missing and detained in Syrians
prisons.
- Page 24: The issue of Palestinian refugees is no longer a controversial one,
since all political forces have agreed on rejecting their naturalization in
Lebanon … hence the need to organize their status, as is the case with all other
foreigners.
- Pages 6 and 7: Solidarity among ministers is a key institutional principle for
a good administration. A minister who does not agree with the prime minister’s
policy has to resign or be revoked.
- Page 10: The autonomy of the judiciary is one of the key principles of a
democratic state. Everyone knows that the Syrian regime and its local cronies,
including the intelligence services that operate under its command, have
transformed the judiciary into a tool of hegemony and control. Fictitious files
were thus fabricated against partisans of the opposition.
In contrast, other files about real crimes were concealed or stowed away.
Arbitrary sentences were handed out in a blatant violation of all principles in
force.
There is no conflict whatsoever over these headlines; rather, we are attached to
them, so where is the problem?
Dear young men and women supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement,
I call upon you today to make a bold decision to return to those founding
principle of the FPM. We would thus come together immediately, start a new day
with no leftover grudges or sensitivities, and look forward to the future
instead of wasting time over the past and its futilities.
My fellow Lebanese,
The crises, tremors and tensions we are currently experiencing on the domestic
level should not gloss over the ongoing regional events all around us. The most
noticeable development these days is the international effort to seek a just and
permanent solution to the conflict in the Middle East.
On this occasion, please allow me to comment on some constant principles, which
we regard as essential to any regional settlement, especially since the Lebanese
people has suffered the most from the repercussions of the Palestinian cause.
This goes without mentioning the close ties and joint interests between the
Lebanese and Palestinians.
First, it is in the interest of absolutely all parties in specific, and of
humanity in general, to have the state of war and enmity, which has been ongoing
for decades in the Middle East, replaced by a comprehensive peace in the region.
Second, there shall be no peace of any kind in the Middle East unless a
sovereign, free and independent Palestinian state is created.
Third, regardless of the proposed solutions to the Palestinian crisis, Lebanon
cannot bear any form of naturalization under no pretext whatsoever, for
well-known considerations, especially since all Lebanese – regardless of their
religious, intellectual, party and political loyalties – have unanimously
rejected the Palestinian naturalization and enshrined this rejection in the
preamble of their constitution.
In this respect, Arab and international players – especially the United States,
France and Egypt – have recently made very encouraging statements, asserting
that there shall be no peace without Lebanon or at Lebanon’s expense, and that
the Palestinian naturalization in Lebanon shall never be accepted.
In conclusion, my fellow men and women supporters of the Lebanese Forces,
We have achieved a lot, and there is still a lot more to achieve.
I praise each and every one of you personally for the efforts you have made for
the sake of our cause and for Lebanon’s sake. I have a special mention today for
those who were wounded during the war. I hail your commitment, your struggle,
your sacrifices and your dedication to your beliefs.
We take great pride in our martyrs, and we take even greater pride in all of
you.
Continue what you have started, in the hope that your efforts will offer future
generations a country that is better than the one we have inherited.
We do not fear for the Lebanese Forces, because you are their messenger.
We do not fear for the March 14 forces, because you are their backbone.
We do not fear for Lebanon under the Cedar Revolution.
Glory and eternity be to our righteous martyrs.
Long live the Lebanese Forces.
Long live the March 14 forces.
Long live Lebanon.
Axis of evil express
Tehran-Caracas 'terror flights'
September 27, 2010
By: Peter Brookes/New York Post
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/axis_of_evil_express_nw4JRGx5PG8H3jmiQSIWYL
Last week in New York, Ira nian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the press
that if the United States attacked Iran over its nuclear program it would face
war like it had never seen.
Bluster? Maybe, but it ain't an empty boast if you can do it.
And Iran may have already been making preparations to strike America should we
come to blows over nukes -- or anything else.
How? "Terror Air."
For three years now, there's been a twice-monthly "Axis of Evil Express" that
shuttles "passengers" between Iran, Syria and Venezuela -- with occasional stops
in Lebanon.
Reuters
Chavez: Apparently providing a travel conduit into Latin America for Iranian
terrorists.
The flights come courtesy of Iran Air and Conviasa (Venezuela's national
airline), which insists it's filling the travel needs of Iranian, Syrian,
Lebanese and Venezuelan business-people and tourists.
Now, there is commerce and cooperation going on between Iran and Venezuela on
some industrial and manufacturing fronts (e.g., autos, tractors and
petrochemicals) and energy matters.
But the tourism angle is a bit hard to swallow, even though there is a Middle
Eastern diaspora in Latin America. Can't you almost see the Venezuelan family
huddled over glossy travel brochures, explaining how much fun they'll have on
vacation in the Islamic Republic of Iran?
Plus, the flight doesn't accept open bookings, as transport for entrepreneurs or
sightseers surely would. No, these planes are most likely carrying bad actors
from the likes of Hezbollah, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the
Guard's Qods Force.
Hezbollah has been in Latin America for some time now -- witness its attacks on
the Israeli embassy in 1992 and a Jewish community center in 1994, both in
Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as its documented drug and arms trafficking.
But a Pentagon report to Congress this year on Iranian military power noted that
Iran's elite troops, the IRGC and Qods Force, are growing in number in Latin
America, especially in Venezuela. What better way to move terrorists, spooks,
weapons -- and who knows what else -- than under the cover of an innocuous
commercial flight?
The direct flight dodges risky transits through various immigration portals
where the passengers might show up on terror watchlists. Military flights
between Tehran and Caracas might also garner notice by foreign intelligence. In
fact, in 2008, the State Department wrote that passengers on these planes get
only "cursory immigration and customs controls" in Caracas. Plus, easy-to-get
Venezuelan IDs make the country a "potentially attractive way station for
terrorists," allowing newly arrived passengers to pose as Venezolanos during
travel in the region.
But why come to Venezuela? Well, Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez have become quite chummy. The IRGC and Qods Force, which provide internal
security and train and equip other terror groups, could be coming to tutor
Chavez's security services.
It's also been reported Iranian "advisers" are embedded with the Venezuelan
military. They may also be coaching the narco-terror group FARC, a Chavez ally,
in its war with Colombia.
But, most important, with Tehran and Caracas' declared "axis of unity" against
Washington, Iran (and its allies) might envision using Venezuela as a base camp
for attacks on our interests in the region or even inside America. There have
been enough on-the-record suspicions about the Terror Air flight that some claim
it'll soon be cancelled. That may be, but it doesn't mean its passengers have
gone home or will no longer travel to the region -- far from it. Indeed,
Tehran's henchman will continue to help the anti-Yanqui Latin Left (e.g.,
Nicaragua, Ecuador and Bolivia) to foment instability and subversion across the
region -- while preparing terrorist action against us. Remember: Although
Ahmadinejad may seem to be little more than the Iranian regime's "yapping dog,"
that doesn't mean that when he threatens the United States (or Israel), he's
crying wolf.
**Heritage Foundation senior fellow Peter Brookes is a former deputy assistant
secretary of Defense. peterbrookes@heritage.org
Why Lebanese Palestinians insist on the right to
bear arms
The memory of the Sabra and Shatila massacre makes Palestinians in Lebanon
reluctant to give up their weapons
Matthew Cassel/guardian.co.uk,
Monday 27 September 2010 10.
Empty rounds cover the road by a Lebanese army position at the entrance of the
Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared in the northern city of Tripoli,
Lebanon.
This month, Palestinians in Lebanon commemorated the 28th anniversary of a crime
whose perpetrators remain unpunished and whose victims still wait for justice.
In September 1982, the Israeli army surrounded the Palestinian refugee camps of
Sabra and Shatila in Beirut. For nearly three days, Israeli forces allowed their
allies in the rightwing Lebanese Christian Phalange militia to enter the camps
and massacre more than 1,000 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese citizens. All of
the victims – men, women and children – were unarmed civilians.
Prior to this sombre anniversary, Ahmed Moor argued in an article for Cif that
Palestinian weapons are the key issue preventing Palestinian refugees from
obtaining basic civil rights in Lebanon, which the state has denied them for 62
years. He described the camps as "heavily armed" and their Palestinians as
gripped by an "illusion of martial security."
As someone who has lived in Lebanon for several years, I was struck by these
assertions. Anyone familiar with Lebanese politics recognises them as the
typical refrain of the right wing, whose adherents object not only to providing
Palestinians refugees with basic rights but to their very presence on Lebanese
soil. Nor do these characterisations come close to accurately describing the
camps or the Palestinians in Lebanon I know. The camps today are far from
heavily armed, especially when compared to the various Lebanese militias or the
Lebanese army.
I thought I would visit the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, which today are
essentially one camp resembling a slum, and speak with Palestinian refugees
about the issue of trading in their weapons for rights.
Inside a small call centre in the camp, frequented by Palestinians without
credit on their mobile phones and foreign workers calling home, I spoke to a
young man named Osama. "The issue of our arms and our civil rights are
unrelated," he told me. "Lebanese should give us rights as Arabs, as human
beings living among them like Palestinian refugees in Jordan and Syria."
He added: "Our weapons don't necessarily make me feel safer, especially with the
internal problems that we have in the camps here like in Palestine. But if we
were to give them up, we'd have no protection. At least with our weapons if we
die, we die standing and not like in Sabra and Shatila when we were massacred
without even one weapon to resist. If the Lebanese army was able to protect us
from Israel, then there would be no need for Palestinians to have weapons."
At the headquarters of the Najdeh Association just outside the camp, I spoke
with executive director Laila al-Ali. Founded in the 1970s, Najdeh is an NGO
that runs social programmes in Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps and is the
leading organisation behind the Right to Work Campaign for Palestinian refugees.
Al-Ali, a Palestinian refugee who grew up in Shatila, explained: "It's not the
Lebanese who are looking for assurances or guarantees from the Palestinians,
it's the Palestinians who need this guarantee from the Lebanese. Palestinians
don't feel safe."
Al-Ali said that only a few groups and individuals have weapons in the camps.
She added that the argument claiming these small arms are an obstacle to
granting Palestinians rights is merely "Lebanese [rhetoric] trying to deny
Palestinians their human and civil rights".
I asked her about a recent law passed by the Lebanese parliament that made minor
changes to the restrictions on the ability of Palestinian refugees to work in
the country. Al-Ali stated bluntly: "It gives them nothing. The Lebanese
mentality needs to be changed, they cannot continue dealing with Palestinians
from the security perspective [alone]."
Back in Shatila, others shared her sentiments. I walked into a barbershop owned
by Ahmed, who explained while snipping away at a man's hair: "We keep weapons
for protection. Even between the Lebanese there is no stability. Today they are
together and tomorrow they're not. In the past we only had our weapons to
protect ourselves, like during the (1985-88) war of the camps, our weapons
protected us from the [Lebanese Shia] Amal movement."
I turned to a young man named Omar who was finishing a deep pore cleansing.
Bearing a pistol on his hip, Omar is a member of one of the camp's security
branches. He told me: "The weapons are not the reason for denying us rights,
this is a pretext for the Lebanese to take our weapons. If we lose our weapons,
we lose the right to go back to Palestine. I carry my weapon because it's not
worth throwing away. The weapons are the peoples' property."
Unprompted, a taxi driver named Mahmoud said: "Once we lose the weapons we'll be
slapped from all directions. I will never accept to give up our weapons. The
Lebanese will never be able to protect our cause. It's not their cause, and
nobody can protect it but ourselves."
After speaking with dozens of individuals in the camp, all of whom refused to
give up their right to bear arms, I asked a friend to take me to someone in the
camp who he thought would disagree. He brought me to his 66-year-old
grandmother, Miyasar, a refugee who has been forced to flee her home at least
five times since 1948. She now lives in Shatila, where we sat overlooking a
newly constructed multimillion dollar water well that has yet to be used.
Before I could even finish asking her the first questions about trading rights
for arms, Miyasar closed her eyes, shook her head and said: "The Lebanese cannot
give us rights, they can't even give themselves rights. Each group is by itself
with its own weapons – Hezbollah has guns, Amal has guns, Future [Movement] has
guns, The Lebanese are the ones who need help, not the Palestinians.
"When the Israelis came they said give up our guns, and we did and look what
happened! Even a donkey that falls in one spot learns not to fall in that same
spot again. We have no faith in Lebanese to give us rights. We will keep our
weapons until we go back to Palestine."