LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِApril 08/2011

Biblical Event Of The Day
The Good News According to Mark 4/33-44: " With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 4:34 Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything. 4:35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” 4:36 Leaving the multitude, they took him with them, even as he was, in the boat. Other small boats were also with him. 4:37 A big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled. 4:38 He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up, and told him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?” 4:39 He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 4:40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?” 4:41 They were greatly afraid, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
The shameful Arab silence on Syria/By: Michael Young/April 07/11
Is Aoun behind Lebanon’s unrest?/By: Sami Haddad/April 07/11
Hamas rep killed in Sudan organized chemical weapons shipment for Gaza/DEBKAfile/April 07/11
What is Sudan hiding about the air strike it blamed on Israel?/Haaretz/April 07/11
Behind bars in Syria/Talking to Khaled El Ghayesh/By: Aline Sara/April 07/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for April 07/11
White House rebuffs Qaddafi letter/Now Lebanon
Maronite bishops urge prompt government formation/Daily Star
Leaked cable proves LF has no weapons, party says/Daily Star
International conference highlights drug abuse, dealing in Roumieh/Daily Star
Turkey facing hurdles over uprisings in Syria/Southeast European Times
Syria risks civil war, warns president's cousin/News24
Dissidents From Syria Seek Haven in Lebanon/New York Times
The Middle East is changing before our eyes—but into what?/Jewish Community Voice
Syria relaxes veil ban for teachers/The Guardian
Syrian mourners say government snipers carried out massacre/The Guardian
Syria lifts niqab ban, shuts casino, in nod to Sunnis/J.Post
Lebanon is at risk of an Israeli war and a domestic street war/iloubnan.info
UN rights body urged to act on Syria, Bahrain, Yemen/Reuters
Q&A with Mohamed Radwan: Egyptian-American detained in Syria/Al-Masry Al-Youm
Baroud: Roumieh Prison fully under police control/Now Lebanon
Hariri: March 14’s return to cabinet is ‘out of the question’/Now Lebanon
French envoy says delay in Mikati cabinet is “not worrying”/Now Lebanon
Williams Meets al-Rahi, Miqati: We Look Forward to the Early Government Formation/Naharnet
Hariri Orders Formation of Committee to Aid Lebanese Expatriates in Ivory Coast/Naharnet
Geagea: Magical Equation of Army-People-Resistance Does Not Exist/Naharnet
Abidjan Gangs Demand Ransom to Free Lebanese Families as Official Delegation Heads to Accra/Naharnet
WikiLeaks: Feltman Says Berri Hates Hizbullah More than March 14 Politicians Do/Naharnet
WikiLeaks: Mohammed Jawad Khalife Warned that Hizbullah Would 'Turn Our Life Into Hell'/Naharnet
WikiLeaks: Salloukh Offered to Mediate between U.S. and Hizbullah/Naharnet
U.S. Embassy Official Denies Lebanese Bank 'Watch List'/Naharnet
Bomb Shakes Ain el-Hilweh/Naharnet
Baroud Orders Detailed Probe into Roumieh Events, Including Death of 2 Inmates/Naharnet
Pietton: No Travel Warning for Lebanon, But We Advise Citizens Not to Visit Certain Areas/Naharnet


Williams Meets al-Rahi, Miqati: We Look Forward to the Early Government Formation
Naharnet/U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams held talks on Thursday with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, during which he welcomed his calls for openness and dialogue with other religions and other countries. He said after the meeting: "I told him that the slogan of 'Partnership and Love' he has chosen was very timely and essential in this period of turbulence in the Arab region." "The United Nations supports all efforts aimed at bringing people closer together, and we have repeatedly stressed the importance of dialogue as the best means of promoting more understanding and tolerance," he continued. The meeting also addressed the situation of the Christians in Lebanon and in the Arab region and the important role they have played in this region for centuries.  "Finally, I asked His Eminence today for his prayers for the safety and immediate release of the seven Estonian nationals that were abducted two weeks ago," Williams continued.
"I have appealed for their immediate release, and I stress that no purpose is served by their continued detention. We all hope this matter will be resolved very soon," he concluded. Williams held talks on Wednesday with Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati on the situation in the Arab world and Lebanon, including the kidnapping of the seven Estonians. He stated: "I welcome the diligent efforts of Lebanon's security forces and the Lebanese army to uncover their whereabouts and secure their release."
Addressing the government formation process in Lebanon, the U.N. official said: "I commended Miqati for his determination to form a cabinet that would meet the aspirations of all Lebanese." "We look forward to the early formation of a government, which will help address the priorities of the Lebanese people," he stressed.
Williams also briefed Miqati on his recent trip to New York and on his briefing to the Security Council on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701.
"The United Nations and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon were closely monitoring the situation in countries throughout the Arab world," he added.
"There has long been a crisis of governance in the region, the effects of which we are witnessing now. We all hope that leaders in these countries listen to the expressions of legitimate aspirations by their people," he stressed. Beirut, 07 Apr 11, 11:52

Suleiman Discusses Prison File with Najjar, Rifi: Prisons Will Be Priority for New Government
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman stressed on Thursday that the prison file will be a priority for the new government where it will implement "radical solutions to its chronic problems." He made his statements during a meeting with caretaker Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi, and acting gendarmerie chief Salah Jebran on the prison file. The president added that the repeated unrest at prisons in Lebanon, the most recent of which were the Roumieh prison riots, demanded the need to reach long-term solutions to this issue based on the plan that was set by caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud before cabinet.
Suleiman stressed the importance of placing the prison file under the complete authority of the Justice Ministry and adopting measures that would ensure the introduction of the needed humanitarian conditions at the prisons. Beirut, 07 Apr 11, 17:28

Geagea: Magical Equation of Army-People-Resistance Does Not Exist
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea criticized on Thursday the equation of the army-people-Resistance, saying that the idea of a state and Resistance cannot exist at the same time. He stated: "The other camp's statements indicate that their idea of a nation is the resistance, while the nation we are seeking to establish is insignificant to them." "For ten years, the other camp's statements have revolved around what they describe as a resistance … It doesn't care if it destroys Lebanon, as long as the Resistance, meaning Hizbullah, remains safe," he noted. "This party is not working for Lebanon, but it is using the country as a means for an end," he stressed. "Who said that we accept that the people and state be employed to protect one party in Lebanon?" he asked. "All Lebanese parties should cooperate to protect the Lebanese state because it remains as the basis for the country, while all else are details," Geagea continued.
The establishment of the state requires all Lebanese to work for that goal, and they will fail as long as a party, "which calls itself a resistance", has regional aims, he noted. The Taif agreement was clear in stating that the Lebanese should work for their country and not any other side, the LF leader stressed.
The second Cedar Revolution is seeking the rise of a real Lebanese state, but it's facing a major obstacle in the existence of arms outside the state's authority, which is reminiscent of the period between 1990 and 2005 when Lebanon was under Syria's hegemony, he remarked. "The rise of the state requires law and order and some sides are claiming that corruption in Lebanon is caused by the sectarian system," Geagea said. "The Lebanese system is not sectarian as a sectarian system arises from a certain philosophical religious ideology, and this is not our reality. We live in a purely civil state except when it comes to personal affairs," he stressed "The source of corruption lies in a corrupt person … ending corruption lies in eliminating the corruptors," he stated. The March 14 camp is the greatest example of ending sectarianism as it harbors individuals from all sects and religious under one political agenda, Geagea added. Addressing the government formation process, he said that it s unfortunate that the two-month delay in the formation was caused by Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun's insistence on acquiring the Interior Ministry."We don't care who acquires the portfolio as long as we have a functioning ministry," he concluded. Beirut, 07 Apr 11, 12:46

U.S. Embassy Official Denies Lebanese Bank 'Watch List'
Naharnet/The U.S. is not targeting Lebanese banks and will not look to levy "eminent punitive actions" against any bank, a senior economic adviser at the U.S. embassy told The Daily Star. "The U.S. Treasury Department is not and will not levy charges against a single Lebanese bank," the source said in remarks published Thursday, denying claims of the existence of a watch list of Lebanese banks. The denial came after al-Liwaa daily reported Wednesday that the U.S. Treasury has placed one Lebanese bank under surveillance due to "suspicious activities by the bank." "We strongly deny these reports and the U.S. is not targeting Lebanese institutions," the U.S. source told the English-language daily. In February, Washington accused the Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) of having ties to Hizbullah and laundering money for a drug network.
Beirut, 07 Apr 11, 09:50

Abidjan Gangs Demand Ransom to Free Lebanese Families as Official Delegation Heads to Accra
Naharnet/Thirty Lebanese families are besieged at a factory in Abidjan and the gangs are demanding 60,000 dollars to release them, Lebanon's ambassador to the Ivory Coast told As Safir daily published Thursday. U.N. troops "have promised to help us today," Ambassador Ali Ajami said. A Lebanese community member, Mehdi Hamdan, also told As Safir that around 500 Lebanese families are besieged in the area of Cocody near the Nigerian television headquarters. "Their condition is bad," he said.  Around 136 Lebanese nationals arrived home on Wednesday. They had been taken from Abidjan by French military planes to Lomé, traveling overland to Ghana before boarding the Middle East Airlines flight to Beirut. Another plane with 262 people on board, including 176 Lebanese, arrived at Rafik Hariri international airport at noon Thursday. A source at the Lebanese foreign ministry told As Safir that U.S. military planes transported hundreds of foreigners from Abidjan to Accra on Wednesday. Among them are several Lebanese. Three other French military planes evacuated civilians, including Lebanese citizens, to Lomé, Cotonou and Dakar, the source said. According to the foreign ministry source, around 24 Lebanese arrived by land to Burkina Faso on Wednesday night. Another 50 Lebanese nationals headed from Abidjan in the same direction in an overland trip that takes more than 10 hours. Meanwhile, the first death of a Lebanese national was reported after the body of Raef Hussein Borgi, 60, was found on an Abidjan street, a newspaper said. But the death was not officially confirmed. His brother denied to Voice of Lebanon radio that the man had died. The news came as an official delegation headed to Accra on Thursday to follow up the situation of Lebanese and make the necessary contacts with the U.N. and European countries to help in the evacuation process. Beirut, 07 Apr 11, 09:28

Hamas rep killed in Sudan organized chemical weapons shipment for Gaza
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 6, 2011,
Late Tuesday, April 5, two passengers of a Hyundai Sonata car were killed in a mysterious attack by a missile that wrecked their car near Port Sudan. debkafile's counter-terror sources report that the attack, carried out by an unmanned aerial vehicle at Kalaneeb south of Port Said, targeted the Hamas representative in Sudan in charge of the vast Iranian weapons smuggling enterprise for the Gaza Strip via Egypt and the Suez Canal. His latest task was to organize the transfer to Port Sudan of a shipment of mustard and nerve gas purchased by Hamas and Hizballah representatives with Tehran's help from Libyan rebels in Benghazi. The covert WMD consignment was destined for Gaza and Lebanon. debkafile broke the story of this transaction on March 31. The full report appears below.  It raises the possibility that Israel carried out the missile strike in Port Sudan to cut short this traffic. This charge was leveled by the Sudanese foreign minister in Khartoum Wednesday. Jerusalem has made no comment. debkafile also reports that Hizballah and Hamas personnel are stationed at the headquarters established in Port Sudan by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards intelligence and naval arms.
On March 31, debkafile reported:
Senior Libyan rebel “officers” sold Hizballah and Hamas thousands of chemical shells from the stocks of mustard and nerve gas that fell into rebel hands when they overran Muammar Qaddafi’s military facilities in and around Benghazi.
Word of the capture touched off a scramble in Tehran and among the terrorist groups it sponsors to get hold of their first unconventional weapons.
According to our sources, the rebels offloaded at least 2,000 artillery shells carrying mustard gas and 1,200 nerve gas shells for cash payment amounting to several million dollars.
US and Israeli intelligence agencies have tracked the WMD consignments from eastern Libya as far as Sudan in convoys secured by Iranian agents and Hizballah and Hamas guards. They are not believed to have reached their destinations in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, apparently waiting for an opportunity to get their deadly freights through without the US or Israel attacking and destroying them.
It is also not clear whether the shells and gases were assembled upon delivery or were travelling in separate containers. Our sources report that some of the poison gas may be intended not only for artillery use but also for drones which Hizballah recently acquired from Iran.
Tehran threw its support behind the anti-Qaddafi rebels because of this unique opportunity to get hold of the Libyan ruler’s stock of poison gas after it fell into opposition hands and arm Hizballah and Hamas with unconventional weapons without being implicated in the transaction.
Shortly after the uprising began in the third week of February, a secret Iranian delegation arrived in Benghazi. Its members met rebel chiefs, some of them deserters from the Libyan army, and clinched the deal for purchasing the entire stock of poison gas stock and the price.
The rebels threw in a quantity of various types of anti-air missiles.
Hizballah and Hamas purchasing missions arrived in the first week of March to finalize the deal and arrange the means of delivery.
The first authoritative American source to refer to a Hizballah presence in Benghazi was the commander of US NATO forces Adm. James Stavridis. When he addressed a US Senate committee on Tuesday, March 29, he spoke of “telltale signs of the presence of Islamic insurgents led by Al-Qaeda and Hizballah” on the rebel side of the Libyan war. He did not disclose what they were doing there.

What is Sudan hiding about the air strike it blamed on Israel?
07.04.11/Haaretz
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff
Sudan accused Israel yesterday of launching a missile strike on its territory on Tuesday - an attack that demolished a car and killed its two passengers. Israel did not comment on the attack or the accusations. The full extent of the strike and the identity of the victims are not clear yet, but the Al-Arabiya news network reported yesterday that an Islamist responsible for supplying weapons to Hamas was apparently among the two people killed. If Israel is responsible for the attack, as foreign media reports suggested yesterday, it would appear to be another step in Israel's global campaign to stop Iranian arms smuggling into the region. The Sudanese Media Center, a news agency associated with the African nation's security services, reported yesterday that at about 9 P.M. local time (10 P.M. Israel time ) missiles struck a vehicle on the main road from Khartoum airport, 14 kilometers from Port Sudan, killing the car's two occupants. According to one version, the missiles were fired from unidentified fighter jets that came from the east over the Red Sea. One of the victims was said to be a Sudanese national and the other, according to Al Arabiya, was a person "of Arab nationality responsible for arming Hamas."
Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti said, "This is absolutely an Israeli attack," adding that Sudan had evidence that Israel had launched the strike.
An eyewitness told Reuters that security people were preventing journalists and other people from entering the site of the explosion. He said he could see a car going up in flames.
The Sudanese Media Center said the state's aerial defense forces fired at the attacking aircraft, which was described as "foreign," and drove it out of Sudan's air space.
A senior Sudanese official said later that eyewitnesses saw the aircraft follow the vehicle and then bomb it. He added that a similar attack had been made in that area before. The official denied reports that these attacks were meant to prevent arms trafficking and called on the international community to investigate who is behind the bombings.
The conduct of the Sudanese authorities and their decision to keep the media away from the attack site may indicate that Khartoum has much to hide in the affair. Perhaps, despite its denials, the Sudanese regime knows about the reported arms smuggling taking place within its borders.
Israeli defense officials have accused Sudan of enabling Iran to smuggle arms through its territory in convoys, via Egypt, to the Gaza Strip.
Sudanese officials describe the attack as being targeted against a specific person. But sending an aerial force to such a remote destination to kill one lone militant appears to be unusual.
Israel has not confirmed or denied foreign media reports saying the Israel Air Force has carried out strikes in Sudan at least twice before, in January and February 2009, shortly after Operation Cast Lead in Gaza ended.
In one incident, a truck convoy leading arms to Gaza was bombed and 119 people were killed. In the other incident, a ship was bombed from the air.
At the time, reports surfaced about Israeli naval commando activity in Sudan's ports against arms smuggling.
Sudan, whose relations with the West are tense, is interested in downplaying the incident, especially if another arms convoy has been hit.
Israel's covert war with Iran
For the past three years, Israel and Iran have been conducting a covert war over arms trafficking. Iran sends a huge amount of weapons and materiel to Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad through various routes. Israel has meanwhile acted in various regions to foil the smuggling, according to foreign media reports.
In January 2010, senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, head of the Islamist organization's arms trafficking apparatus, was murdered in a Dubai hotel. Dubai police accused the Mossad of the assassination and published photos and passports of the alleged perpetrators, with Dubai claiming were traveling under fake identities.
Over the past two months, reports related to the arms-trafficking war have been on the rise. In February, Palestinian engineer Dirar Abu Sisi disappeared in Ukraine, with his family claiming that Israeli agents had abducted him from a nighttime train. A large part of the Hamas weapons industry relies on the help of Iranian experts. The circumstances under which Abu Sisi was brought to Israel are prohibited from publication under a gag order.
On March 16, Israel's naval commando intercepted the ship Victoria en route from Turkey to Egypt, where large amounts of weapons were found on board. The IDF believes the weapons, intended for Gaza, had been flown from Iran to Damascus, where they were loaded onto the ship. This appears to be an alternative Iranian route, replacing the old sea route from the Persian Gulf to Egypt and from there to Gaza via Sinai.
Despite the smuggling failures, considerable quantities of Iranian weapons are assumed to have still reached both Hezbollah - the Syrian border with Lebanon is completely open and unsupervised - and Hamas.

Conflicting U.S. information on assistance to Lebanese Army
State Department denies any evaluation of policy but Pentagon says U.S. reviewing position
By Michael Bluhm/Daily Star staff
Thursday, April 07, 2011
BEIRUT: Reports that the U.S. has halted its military assistance to Lebanon are “inaccurate,” a State Department official told The Daily Star Wednesday.
Washington’s aid to the army continues, although the role of Hezbollah in the coming government could affect U.S. policy, the official added.
Two retired army generals, however, said that despite the recent flurry of media reports regarding the potential cut-off of U.S. military aid, the importance of the issue has been overblown, because the U.S. does not provide the army with major weapons systems and still views building up the army as a cornerstone of U.S policy on Lebanon.
Washington has given the army more than $720 million in aid since 2005, and U.S. President Barack Obama has proposed a further $100 million for the institution in 2011.
The latest hubbub over the matter began when The Wall Street Journal published a story Monday saying that U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates had approved a freeze on weapons shipments to Lebanon. The State Department official said Wednesday that the report was “somewhat inaccurate.”
However, officials from the State Department and Defense Department Wednesday provided completely contradictory information about whether Washington was re-evaluating its assistance to the army. The State Department official said, “There’s no reason at this point to review our assistance. At this point, nothing has changed.” The Pentagon official, on the other hand, said that Washington was reconsidering its arming of Lebanon’s military because of the fall of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Cabinet, as the Hariri-led March 14 political coalition has long been a U.S. ally.
“Due to the collapse of the Lebanese government in January 2011, we are currently reviewing the composition of our assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces,” the Pentagon official said.
Although the Defense Department official left open the possibility that the U.S. had stopped its transfers of lethal materiel to Lebanon, shipments from Washington to the army continue. “For now, our engagements and training exercises with the army are ongoing, as are non-lethal equipping efforts,” he said. The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon also confirmed Monday that various forms of cooperation between the U.S. and the army were ongoing.
The future of American aid to the army, though, will likely hinge on the government being formed by Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, all the U.S. officials said. With the demise of Hariri’s government and Mikati’s nomination by the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance, Washington has seen its partners in the March 14 bloc lose control of the executive and Parliament for the first time since mid-2005.
“A Hezbollah-controlled government would clearly have an effect on our bilateral relations with Lebanon,” the State Department official said. “Our position on Hezbollah has not changed – we believe it’s still a terrorist organization.”
Despite rumors of U.S. fears that its military aid to the army could fall into Hezbollah hands, Washington’s rumblings about freezes are intended to express its displeasure with the new political calculus here and to put pressure on Mikati as he struggles to form a government, said retired General Nizar Abdel-Qader, who has written books on the Lebanese military.
“There’s a pause” in assistance, Abdel-Qader said, adding that the U.S. had temporarily frozen military aid to a number of allies over the years. “It’s a freeze – it’s not cutting it off.”
Retired General Amin Hoteit, who teaches law at the Lebanese University, said he and others had determined that even a full halt of U.S. aid to the army would not have a markedly adverse effect on the military’s defense position. Washington’s donations are designed for domestic use and would not help the military in any campaign against a foreign force.
“The U.S. can’t give us any [significant] arms to use against an enemy,” Hoteit said. Israel, Washington’s closest ally in the region for decades, has long voiced concerns about the potential transfer of any advanced weaponry to Lebanon.
Ever since the U.S. began actively providing assistance to Lebanon’s army in 1982 , the materiel was intended foremost to increase the military’s internal mobility, Abdel-Qader said. “Mainly they were providing equipment to enhance the mobility of the Lebanese Army,” Abdel-Qader added.
Were the U.S. ever to cut off its military aid, the army could at worst find itself short of some parts and equipment, Abdel-Qader said. U.S. Republican lawmakers, who gained control of the House of Representatives, in the November midterms, have said they opposed giving any funding to a government including Hezbollah; with their control of the House, Republican legislators could block the disbursement of the $100 million proposed. Hodaid, however, said the army could easily find materiel similar to that provided by Washington elsewhere. Without U.S. aid, financing would remain the central question, Abdel-Qader said.
Lebanon has for the past 20 years largely relied on Washington to supply a substantial share of its military equipment, Abdel-Qader said; the U.S., meanwhile, has viewed its backing of the army as a way to counter the growth of Hezbollah while helping to build state institutions and maintain order in the country, Abdel-Qader added.
Abdel-Qader said that the army had, since the end of the 1975-90 Civil War, developed into a force competent to preserve order internally.
While the army could not match the arsenal of either Hezbollah or Israel, the military has fulfilled its obligations to implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war with Israel, Abdel-Qader said. Abdel-Qader added that despite speculation about Washington ending assistance, sources in the Pentagon had told him that the U.S. did not want to abandon the army due to fears Lebanon could otherwise slip back into disarray. “The Americans are very keen on not taking any steps which may weaken the Lebanese Army, which they consider the only force capable of maintaining stability in Lebanon,” he said.

Maronite bishops urge prompt government formation
By The Daily Star /Thursday, April 07, 2011
BEIRUT: The Council of Maronite Bishops urged Lebanese political leaders Wednesday to promptly form a government to meet the people’s social and economic needs.
In a statement released following the council’s meeting at the seat of the Maronite patriarchate in Bkirki, bishops warned against a vacuum in constitutional institutions amid instability and security incidents in various parts of the country. In separate security incidents that hit the country recently, seven Estonian tourists were kidnapped in the Bekaa region near Zahle’s industrial zone, where a church was also targeted with a bomb while riots broke out in the country’s largest prison, Roumieh. Meanwhile, the delay in the Cabinet formation process has been largely blamed on Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun’s demands for the lion’s share of Christian participation in the government, including the key Interior Ministry portfolio. The demands face opposition from Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati and President Michel Sleiman, who insists on nominating a candidate loyal to him to head the Interior Ministry. The Council of Maronite Bishops was chaired by the first time by Patriarch Beshara Rai, following his election as head of the Church last month. Rai’s predecessor, Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, was also in attendance at the meeting. Rai is scheduled to leave for Rome on April 11, in a visit that will see the pope officially approve his election. On another note, the bishops “expressed their regret over the events in Ivory Coast and the suffering of Lebanese expatriates.” The bishops also “voiced hope in the improvement of the situation as French troops aid Lebanese expatriates who sought assistance, while the Lebanese state pursues its efforts to evacuate its citizens.” Lebanon’s Higher Defense Council approved Tuesday an urgent plan to evacuate thousands of Lebanese caught in the crossfire of Ivory Coast fighting between troops backing democratically elected leader Alassane Ouattara and his rival, strongman Laurent Gbagbo. – The Daily Star

Is Aoun behind Lebanon’s unrest ?
By Sami Haddad/Ya Libnan
April 06/2011
One analyst who knows Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun told Ya Libnan: ” Aoun had a dream when he allied himself with Hezbollah. His dream was to use the militant group and its arms to get to the Baabda palace , but when that dream turned into a nightmare following the election of Michel Suleiman as the president of the Republic, he switched to plan B dream which calls for controlling Lebanon through the ministry of interior.”
March 14 MP Mohammad Hajjar asked on Wednesday
“Are there those who want to show that Interior Minister Ziad Baroud is incapable?”
The timing of recent riots in Roumieh Prison raises “question marks,” he told MTV.
“Are there those who want to show that security in the country is not good?” Hajjar added.
Hajjar did not directly accuse Aoun of being behind the unrest in Lebanon but his statement is a direct reference to the dispute over the ministry of interior between Aoun and President Michel Suleiman.
Lebanon has been facing during the past few weeks several incidents that are aimed to undermine its internal security . All these incidents seem to target Lebanon’s interior minister who is closely allied with president Suleiman.
Here are some of the incidents:
- The kidnapping of the 7 Estonian tourists in the Beqaa valley, a Hezbollah stronghold
- The attack against the US embassy tourists in southern Lebanon, another Hezbollah stronghold
- The Roumieh prison riots
- The protests by the relatives of the Roumieh inmates in Baalbeck and southern Beirut suburbs including the Beirut Airport road.
Just like he made it very difficult for outgoing PM Saad Hariri to form his national unity cabinet back in 2009 by insisting on a disproportionate share in the cabinet, Aoun is repeating the same scenarios with PM designate Nagib Mikati. Aoun is reportedly insisting on 12 portfolios out of the 30 member cabinet that Mikati is trying to form. Aoun is also insisting on being allocated the ministry of Interior. President Suleiman is reportedly fully aware of Aoun’s intentions and for this reason he will not allow Aoun to control the ministry of interior under any circumstances. After all, the analyst told Ya Libnan: “Awarding the ministry of interior to Aoun will put the whole internal security of Lebanon under Hezbollah’s direct control. Such a situation will be extremely dangerous for Lebanon and will turn Lebanon into another Gaza or Somalia .” The The Iranian and Syrian -backed Hezbollah brought down PM Saad Hariri’s government on January 12 over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) imminent indictment which is widely expected to implicate Hezbollah members in the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri in 2005
Mikati was appointed in January as the PM designate with the backing of the Hezbollah March 8 alliance and MPs Walid Jumblatt and Mohammad Safadi . March 14 leaders have repeatedly said that intimidation from Hezbollah’s weapons helped secure the parliamentary majority for Mikati’s nomination.
Jumblatt and his PSP parliament members reportedly switched allegiance to Hezbollah’s PM candidate, following threats by Hezbollah.
Jumblatt, Mikati and Safadi were all elected on March 14 electoral tickets during the 2009 parliamentary elections. Lebanon is already suffering from the current instability in Lebanon and the takeover of the country by Hezbollah:
Lebanon is still without a government , despite the fact that only the Hezbollah led March 8 is trying to form the cabinet on its own.
Hezbollah’s interference in the internal affairs of Bahrain has already resulted in a travel ban , which is bound to negatively affect Lebanon’s economy .
The attack against the US embassy tourists has already resulted in a travel warning by the US against travel to Lebanon.
The US arms shipments to the Lebanese army have been frozen since Hezbollah took over the parliament majority in Lebanon.
Summer is behind the corner and any further destabilization will be the kiss of death for Lebanon’s economy.
Aoun should realize that the situation in lebanon is extremely dangerous and cannot go on like this .
It is true that president Michel Suleiman does not command a parliamentary bloc that will entitles him for a share in the cabinet , but he was elected by 118 of the 128 member parliament.
Caretaker Minister Boutros Harb was quoted the other day as saying ” Suleiman should get a bigger share in the cabinet because while Aoun has 27 MPS , 118 MPs voted for Suleiman”
Time for Aoun to think about Lebanon for a change

Leaked cable proves LF has no weapons, party says
By The Daily Star /Thursday, April 07, 2011
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Forces have said their leader has not concealed anything from the public, after WikiLeaks reports published by the daily al-Akhbar quoted Samir Geagea telling U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michelle Sisson that his party had 10,000 fighters ready to confront Hezbollah. The statement released by the LF’s press office said the WikiLeaks document proved that the party possessed no weapons. In the cable Geagea is quoted seeking weapons from the United States. Al-Akhbar’s report said Geagea had urged the U.S. to put pressure on the Lebanese Army to confront Hezbollah in the wake of events on May 7, 2008, when pro-Hezbollah and pro-government gunmen clashed following the government’s decision to dismantle Hezbollah’s telecommunication network. In the leaked report, Geagea also proposed deploying Arab peacekeepers in Lebanon or arming his men to confront Hezbollah fighters only if the above options fail. – The Daily Star

International conference highlights drug abuse, dealing in Roumieh
By The Daily Star /Thursday, April 07, 2011 /BEIRUT: An international conference on drug abuse highlighted Wednesday the availability and abuse of drugs at Roumieh prison, which has seen violent protests over the last five days. Speakers at the 22nd International Conference on Harm Reduction described how drugs are introduced inside the prison, based on a tour of Roumieh and interviews with prisoners and ex-addicts. The five-day conference, on drug treatment and prevention, opened in Beirut Sunday and is taking place in the Middle East for the first time. Participants in the tour detailed how they visited the prison block hosting prisoners convicted on drug charges and the AJEM center for drug user rehabilitation at Roumieh, and interviewed workers at the center as well as ex-addicts.A nurse working at the rehabilitation center said the center received prisoners who are tested positive for HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis, and that admitting convicts who are tested positive for Hepatitis C into the prison, doubles the possibility of the disease spreading among inmates. Louis, an ex-prisoner who was recently discharged, said that he had entered prison on charges of drug use as a result of social problems, but that he learned drug dealing in prison, where he took drugs twice a day. “Because of the shortage in security personnel and employees in prison, prisoners are assigned with inspection tasks, and thus are able to circulate drugs inside the prison,” he added, saying prisoners are driven to using drugs as “the prison has become their world.” Melhem, a prisoner who tested positive for Hepatitis C, said he caught the virus in Roumieh Prison by exchanging needles with other inmates. During the event, a partnership agreement was signed between the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS and faith-based organizations in order to ensure the availability of prevention, treatment, and care for individuals suffering from HIV/AIDS. – The Daily Star

The shameful Arab silence on Syria
By Michael Young /Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=126894#axzz1In5TtxKT
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Many publicists have excitedly described the liberating promise of Arab satellite stations. However, the stations’ utterly inadequate coverage of the current upheaval in Syria, particularly the Syrian regime’s ruthless suppression of peaceful demonstrations, belies that optimistic view. Their failing can be measured in human lives.
Why have the major satellite stations, Al-Jazeera but also Al-Arabiya, been so profoundly reluctant to highlight the Syrian protests? Why have stations like Al-Hurra and the BBC Arabic channel been so much more imaginative, thorough, and professional in pursuing the story? By way of an answer you might hear that the Syrian authorities control journalists very tightly; that there is no independent footage to broadcast; that those opposed to the regime risk arrest when they are interviewed; and so on. Perhaps, but that’s not convincing.
Take last Friday, when Syrian protesters had called for a “day of the martyrs,” in honor of those gunned down by the Syrian security forces in Deraa and elsewhere. The demonstrations were to begin after noon prayers, at around 1:30 p.m. Yet for two good hours, both Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya relegated the Syria story to a brief and distant third in their broadcasts, focusing instead on Yemen and Libya. And when the day was over and the bodies had been counted, Syria was still not a priority. Al-Jazeera’s nightly news satisfied itself with showing telephone videos from the protests, with little commentary.
Since then things have only gotten worse. It has become a rule of thumb for the stations that when they speak to someone opposed to the Syrian regime, invariably off camera, they must also talk to a pro-regime propagandist, usually some member of Parliament or a political analyst. In journalistic terms, hearing both sides of a story is reasonable. Yet how little that rule was applied in Egypt by the same stations during the movement against Hosni Mubarak. And if the Syrian authorities are imposing that stations contact their devotees, interviewers should at least make this known to viewers.
In his speech last week before the Syrian Parliament, Bashar Assad bluntly accused the Arab satellite stations of inciting the rallies against his regime. But what the Syrian president was really doing was sending a message to the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Qatar principally, informing them that if they really wanted him to stay in office, they were better off keeping a lid on their satellite journalists. That warning, or threat, appears to have had an impact. Despite purported disagreements within Al-Jazeera (and, I suspect, similar debates at Al-Arabiya) over how to handle Syria, what is going on in the country continues to be treated with troubling reserve.
Nothing prevents these stations from borrowing much more from social media to strengthen their anemic reporting. Twitter is an invaluable resource for keeping pace with the hourly specifics of the Syrian revolt. Facebook is even more essential for the protesters themselves, as they plan their next move. Not surprisingly, quite a few Syrians posting on the site have expressed outrage with the way the satellite stations, Al-Jazeera in particular, have ignored their plight.
Showing telephone videos of people marching, or being shot at, is useful. However, without a context, without an informed explanation of what is going on and what viewers are seeing; without playing these videos on air to Syrian officials and demanding that they explain the murder of unarmed civilians expressing themselves peacefully, the power of media is stunted. One gets a nagging sense that the coverage on Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya is an outcome of political compromises, but also, in Al-Jazeera’s case, of the station’s ideological agenda.
To toss Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya into the same basket is entirely justified here, because both Saudi Arabia and Qatar share a desire to avert a breakdown in Syria, fearing that chaos might ensue. Their views are echoed by a majority of Gulf states, whose leaders have called Assad lately to express their backing. Nor is there any quarrel with this in Washington, where the Obama administration has been baldly two-faced – praising itself for preventing human rights abuses by the Gadhafi regime in Libya while offering only pro forma criticism of the shocking number of deaths in Syria.
The hypocrisy of Al-Jazeera, the most popular Arab satellite station, is especially worthy of mention. In Egypt, Libya or Yemen, for instance, the station devotes, or has devoted, long segments allowing viewers to call in and express disapproval of their leaders alongside their high hopes for the success of the revolution. In Syria, nothing.
The reality is that the political allegiances and the self-image of Al-Jazeera make this thorny. Syria is part of the “resistance axis,” and the downfall of its regime would only harm Hezbollah and Hamas. The same lack of enthusiasm characterized the station’s coverage of Lebanon’s Independence Intifada against Syria in 2005. It is easy to undermine Ali Abdullah Saleh, Moammar Gadhafi, and Hosni Mubarak, each of whom in his own way is or was a renegade to the Arabs. But to go after Bashar Assad means reversing years of Al-Jazeera coverage sympathetic to the Syrian leader. Rather conveniently, refusing to do so dovetails with the consensus in the Arab political leadership.
So the Syrians find themselves largely abandoned today, their struggle not enjoying the customary Al-Jazeera treatment – high in emotion and electric in the slogans of mobilization. The televised Arab narrative of liberty has not quite avoided Syria, but nor has it integrated the Syrians’ cause. As the Arab stations weigh what to do next, they may still hope that the Syrian story will disappear soon, and their duplicity with it. Shame on them.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR and author of “The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle” (Simon & Schuster), listed as one of the 10 notable books of 2010 by the Wall Street Journal.

White House rebuffs Qaddafi letter
April 6, 2011 /Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi will be judged on his actions in ending violence against civilians and not his words, the White House said Wednesday after receiving a letter from the Libyan strongman. "We can confirm that there is a letter, obviously not the first," White House spokesperson Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One as US President Barack Obama flew to an event in Philadelphia. Carney said Obama had made clear several weeks ago that a ceasefire in Libya would be dependent on "actions not words, [and] a cessation of violence." "Words are different than actions," he said. Earlier, the official Libyan news agency JANA said that Qaddafi sent the letter to Obama following the withdrawal of US war planes from frontline missions in the coalition air operation over Libya. "The leader of the revolution [Qaddafi] sent on Wednesday a message to Obama after the United States withdrew from the aggressive, colonialist coalition crusading against Libya," said the agency without specifying the contents of the missive.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Baroud: Roumieh Prison fully under police control
April 6, 2011 /Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said on Wednesday that the situation at the Roumieh Prison is “fully under control.”“The Lebanese army and Internal Security Forces made a joint operation, after which they gained full control of the prison,” Baroud told OTV. He said that the security forces were keen on not causing any injuries or casualties among the prisoners in the Roumieh compound. “An investigation into the events that transpired at the prison was launched,” the minister said, voicing hope that the investigation’s results would be announced soon. He also said that he conveyed the inmates’ demands for being granted an official pardon to Speaker Nabih Berri. “The pardon issue is a matter that concerns the parliament.”
Security forces stormed Roumieh Prison on Tuesday after talks failed to secure the release of three guards detained by inmates who have been demanding an amnesty and better conditions.
-NOW Lebanon

Hariri: March 14’s return to cabinet is ‘out of the question’
April 6, 2011 /Outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday said that the March 14 coalition’s “return to the cabinet is out of the question” and dismissed rumors that he is visiting foreign countries as part of an effort to join PM-designate Najib Mikati’s upcoming government. “For now, our political program is not to return to the cabinet, but to bring the state back to Lebanon and the arms back to the state,” Hariri said during a speech at a dinner in BIEL. “Our [project] is to end the mandate of illegitimate arms, including Hezbollah’s weapons, in the political life [in the country].” Hariri added that non-state arms “represent [parties’ intentions] to be stronger than the state.”However, he said that the resistance is “a Lebanese right…that should come from within the state.” “[It is unacceptable] to violate the constitution and threaten the Lebanese under the pretext of resistance.”
The outgoing PM added that March 14 is working with Gulf countries “to [contain Hezbollah’s] irresponsible alignment that is not related to patriotism and Arabism, but comes as part of the Iranian project to [control] Lebanon and the Arab countries.” Bahrain has warned its citizens against travel to Lebanon after Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah pledged his support for majority-Shia protests against the country’s Sunni monarchy. The island state has branded Hezbollah a "terrorist organization" and slammed Nasrallah's comments as "blatant interference.”In Lebanon, Mikati, who was appointed to the premiership on January 25 with the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition’s backing, is working to form a cabinet amid a March 14 parties’ decision to boycott the government. -NOW Lebanon

French envoy says delay in Mikati cabinet is “not worrying”
April 6, 2011 French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton said on Wednesday that a delay in the formation of a cabinet headed by Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati “is not worrying.”“The cabinet of [outgoing] PM Saad Hariri took around five months to be formed… Mikati is taking some time due to [the blocs] contradicting demands,” Pietton told New TV.
He also voiced hope that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would implement the reforms he declared for his country. The French envoy also hoped that Syrian security forces would release all detainees arrested in recent protests. Dozens have been confirmed killed in a spiral of violence that has gripped Syria since protests broke out on March 15, with demonstrators demanding major reforms. In Lebanon, Mikati, who was appointed to the premiership on January 25 with the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition’s backing, is working to form a Lebanese cabinet amid a March 14 parties’ decision to boycott the government.-NOW Lebanon

Behind bars in Syria
Talking to Khaled El Ghayesh
Aline Sara, April 6, 2011
After a week in Syrian prison, 25-year-old Khaled El Ghayesh, accused of being a spy, is safely back in Beirut. (Photo courtesy of Khaled El Ghayesh)
On Friday, March 25, 25-year-old Khaled El Ghayesh, an Egyptian engineer working in Lebanon, took advantage of a three-day weekend to travel to Syria. On Sunday he was arrested on the border trying to get back into Lebanon and didn’t resurface until one week later. Here is the story behind his eight-day stay in Syrian prison, during which little was known, even to his family, of his whereabouts.
Why did you go to Syria despite the protests and growing violence there?
Ghayesh: I asked my Syrian friends, and they said the situation was not bad at all. I also know that the media exaggerates things.
Describe your stay until your arrest.
Ghayesh: I arrived in Damascus on Friday. It felt relatively normal, even though there were pro-Assad protests. It was very different from [what I saw in Egypt]. I was stunned. People really like [Assad]…I don’t know if they like him, but they are pro-Bashar, though the protests were relatively small.
[Sunday] morning, I went to Aleppo, which was fairly calm, too. I spent another normal day. Aleppo had nothing. Not even pro-Bashar protests...
Then I took the bus back to Beirut, because I was supposed to be at work on Monday.
When I got to the border, the guy noticed I was Egyptian and requested to see my cell phone and then took me into this small customs office. I’m not sure whether they were secret police. But I was sure there was nothing wrong with me. My papers are fine.
They started asking many questions… searched everything I had. They saw a US visa in my passport...a USB, a CD, cameras… They looked at every one of my camera’s pictures. I had a documentary from a journalist friend about the corruption of Mubarak’s regime.
Everything looked suspicious to them.
What was their attitude with you?
Ghayesh: At first, they were aggressive, not rude. But once they saw I was respectable, not trying to sneak into Lebanon illegally, they brought me coffee and said it was normal procedures and that they’d drive me to Beirut if I missed the bus.
They took everything – my wallet, bag, ID, passport. They told me not to worry. Then they cuffed me and drove me in a van to Homs to some military base. I’m not sure.
I didn’t know where the hell I was and walked in and saw cuffed people on the floor with blood on their faces; they had been tortured. It was not easy.
I was scared but was thinking [it would not happen to me].
They inspected me again and threw me into a one-by-two meter cell with two other Egyptians. It was like on TV.
I started yelling, “What is going on?” I was furious and started hitting the door. And someone said, “Just wait for tomorrow.” I was so angry. I couldn’t believe it.
Did you request a phone call? A lawyer?
Ghayesh: Yes, a call, but no one answered me.
I was really in shock, and the other prisoners were trying to comfort me… saying it’s normal, that everyone goes to jail. I couldn’t sleep at all that night. They took my watch of course… so I had no sense of time.
The next morning, they called my name for investigation. They blindfolded and handcuffed me. I was scared, but I was feeling quite confident. In Egypt I’ve been through interrogations because they [had] the emergency law, and [I survived].
But I never even imagined it could be like this.
I couldn’t see anything; I could only hear his voice. At first, he was being respectful, “Egyptians are our brothers,” he said, “If you work with us and tell us who you work with, I’ll give you coffee, cigarettes, let you go… Tell us what you have.” He was trying to play mind games.
I said everything, every single thing I did: the people I was with, where they live, even though I was very scared of jeopardizing them.
Did he seem to believe you?
Ghayesh: In the first 10 minutes, he was very respectful. But after, he kept on insisting, yelling, slapping me and punching me… “Why are you lying?”
It was about the psychological treatment. Sometimes he was calm, other times, very aggressive, trying to find anything to accuse me. “We’ve been watching you,” he said. “I have everything that proves you’re a liar.”
Did you give into the pressure?
Ghayesh: I was getting scared and frustrated, but I never lost confidence because I was saying the truth...
He slapped me and threatened to take me away and rip off my nails. I believed him, but there was nothing I could do. I would never confess to something I was not guilty of.
I was scared, but I didn’t break down. He asked me everything about my company… about all my trips between Cairo and Beirut. He accused me of working with certain anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians and claimed my bank was an espionage company.
Nothing I could say would change his mind.
I was furious… but the Syrian people, they are living in denial; they are genuinely convinced the uprisings are coming from outside… For them I was the perfect candidate.
How did the interrogation end?
Ghayesh: After two hours… I asked what my status was.
“Let you go?” he laughed. “People like you stay here for a year… For now, you’re forgotten here.”
Describe the prison facility.
Ghayesh: There were no showers, and we’d eat from the floor like animals: bread and rice. There was one blanket for three people. I didn’t sleep for more than two hours straight for the entire week, and I only knew whether it was day or night.
There was only one horrible bathroom… no soap, no toilet paper. You had to request permission for the bathroom, and all we could drink was tap water from the sink…
I went through phases, trying to be really positive... make friends with other prisoners. That definitely provided some comfort.
But you would wake up at night and listen to people screaming. This was the scariest.
Did you ever lose hope during your week-long stay?
Ghayesh: I lost hope, yes, on the seventh day, when I realized it had just been too long. I was trying to just live it, trying to talk to people… I was trying to forget what life was like outside.
I was thinking about my family… This destroyed me the most. Whenever someone was released, I was trying to make them memorize my number, because of course there were no paper and pens. I would ask them to please contact my parents as soon as they were out.
How did you feel seeing people released?
Ghayesh: I was so happy. Everyone was, because you project that it might be you one day.
But after the sixth day, I was jealous and started to lose hope.
On Monday, I was telling myself I have to just accept that prison is my new home.
The worst moment was when you would wake up. When you sleep, you dream, you dream of life outside prison. And then you wake up and realize prison is reality. That was the toughest.
You were never interrogated again?
Ghayesh: No. I was hoping to be interrogated by another person, trying to organize my thoughts to make them understand I didn’t belong here, but it never happened.
Then on Monday, they called my name, asked a couple of questions, made me sign a paper and just let me out. “Say hi to Egypt,” they said. They didn’t even give me any paper.
How did you feel?
Ghayesh: When I first saw sunlight… my eyes were pained. I couldn’t look. I felt really weak, disgusting and started walking… I was so afraid they would catch me again.
I just kept on walking, too nervous to even call my family from Syria. All I wanted to do was be out of Syria, go to Lebanon, because it’s the easiest way out.
I took a shared taxi from Homs. I was so scared.
It’s unbelievable what I’ve seen. Have you read 1984? That’s Syria – that’s what I experienced in jail. I sat in the taxi, did not say a word. My heart was beating [so fast]. I thought I would never feel safe until I got that stamp.
At the border, I saw the same people who caught me. I was terrified. The guy looked at me and asked questions. I was scared to even say I was detained. I was exhausted and terrified. I was not relieved until I crossed the Lebanese border.
At that time, my mobile started to work. I started to get messages from friends, family… [I found out] that my uncle had taken the situation to the higher authorities… The Arab League… My mom even reached [Arab League Secretary General] Amr Moussa.
I was amazed at all the work on Facebook and Twitter to help find me... In the end, I was overwhelmed by what people knew about me… doing so much to help me. Without them, I would not have made it out.
I also found out there had been Syrian articles about me being a spy.
Did they warn you not to talk about your experience?
Ghayesh: No. But I will never go back to Syria in my life. I have Syrian friends there. I love my Syrian friends… but I will never go back.
Do you think the Assad regime will fall?
Ghayesh: No. Major changes, but that’s all. People are saying there is unrest… but it’s nothing like in other countries: Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain…I don’t think the regime will fall.
It’s 1984, have you read it? Like the novel’s most famous slogan: Freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, war is peace.