LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِApril 12/2011

Biblical Event Of The Day
The Good News According to John 7/30-37: "They sought therefore to take him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 7:31 But of the multitude, many believed in him. They said, �When the Christ comes, he won�t do more signs than those which this man has done, will he?� 7:32 The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 7:33 Then Jesus said, �I will be with you a little while longer, then I go to him who sent me. 7:34 You will seek me, and won�t find me; and where I am, you can�t come.� 7:35 The Jews therefore said among themselves, �Where will this man go that we won�t find him? Will he go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 7:36 What is this word that he said, �You will seek me, and won�t find me; and where I am, you can�t come�?� 7:37 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, �If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 7:38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.� 7:39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn�t yet glorified.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Iraq�s Christians, Lebanon�s shame/By Peter Durkovic/April 11/11
Congratulations to the Lebanese/By: Abdullah Iskandar/April 11/11
Prisoner of Damascus/Yassin Al Haj Saleh/April 11/11
The Arabs and the conspiracy complex/By Dr. Aaidh al-Qarni/April 11/11
Death of a salesman/Now Lebanon/April 11/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for April 11/11
Al-Rahi before Heading to the Vatican: We Urge Miqati to Form Cabinet as Soon as Possible/Naharnet
Report: Lebanese Christian Reconciliation Meeting in Bkirki Soon/Naharnet
ISF Member, Darwish Khanjar Killed in Majdal Anjar Armed Clash/Naharnet
Chamoun: Hizbullah Never Represented our Politics as it Wants to Establish Iranian State in Lebanon/Naharnet
Lebanon: Distribution of Portfolios Being Studied as Pivotal Meetings in Cabinet Formation are Scheduled/Naharnet
France burqa ban comes into force/AP
Gaddafi accepts peace plan and rebels say he must go/Reuters
Merkel joins Nato-African bid to end Libya war. Qaddafi to stay until elections/DEBKAfile
Syria army enters key port city of Banias after deadly shooting/AP
Estonian kidnap suspect, security forces member shot dead in clash/Daily Star
Israeli leaders back away from showdown over Hamas missile offensive/DEBKAfile
Bahrain expels 16 Lebanese amid unrest/iloubnan.info
15 Lebanese expelled from Bahrain: ambassador/Daily Star
Report: Snipers target residents of Syrian town, killing 4/CNN
Syria death toll growing, human rights groups warn/The Guardian
Deadly violence continues in Syria/ABC
SYRIA: Casualties mount in Baniyas after anti-government protesters/Los Angeles Times
Lebanon: Conflicting reports about a deal over cabinet formation/Ya Libnan
Lebanon: Parties agree on draft Cabinet lineup/Daily Star
Beirut Engineers vote for March 8 in Beirut, March 14 in North/Daily Star
Fatfat slams Hezbollah's stance, says cabinet unlikely to be formed soon/iloubnan.info
Miqati's Fa�onnable Files Lawsuit in Denver over Web Posts Linking it to Hizbullah/Naharnet
Berri: Nasrallah's Speech Foiled Attempts to Break Hizbullah-Amal Unity /Naharnet
Jumblat Says al-Mustaqbal 'Not Defeated' in the Engineers Syndicate Elections/Naharnet

Al-Rahi before Heading to the Vatican: We Urge Miqati to Form Cabinet as Soon as Possible
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stressed Monday that the country can no longer tolerate a political vacuum, saying Premier-designate Najib Miqati should form the new government as soon as possible. "Lebanon can no longer tolerate the inexistence of an executive authority," al-Rahi told reporters at Beirut airport before heading to the Vatican.
There should be a cabinet that faces challenges particularly amid the turmoil in the region, he said. When asked about attempts to abolish political confessionalism, al-Rahi wondered if that also meant the abolishment of the coexistence covenant which would lead to "the destruction of Lebanon." Thousands of Lebanese on Sunday rallied in Beirut calling for an end to the system of power-sharing along religious lines which they blame for the majority of problems afflicting the country. Al-Rahi was also asked by reporters about a possible meeting in Bkirki soon to bring together top Christian officials. "The church and the state should cooperate because we share partnership and love and live together," the patriarch said. "Politicians can take their own decisions to implement these principles." "Any meeting among the Lebanese in the future would be based on this spirituality," he said. Al-Rahi was referring to a report in An Nahar daily that he would sponsor a meeting between Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel, Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and the head of the Marada movement, Suleiman Franjieh. Voice of Lebanon radio station said the patriarch arrived at the airport in a vehicle driven by Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud. Al-Rahi is scheduled to meet with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican to thank him for his trust. He will return to Beirut at the end of the week. Beirut, 11 Apr 11, 09:28

Report: Christian Reconciliation Meeting in Bkirki Soon
Naharnet/Efforts are underway to hold a reconciliation meeting in Bkirki between Lebanon's top Christian leaders after Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi's return from the Vatican later in the week, An Nahar daily reported Monday. The newspaper said that the meeting would bring together Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel, Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and the head of the Marada movement, Suleiman Franjieh. The men would discuss the defense strategy, the sale of lands, the Christian presence in state institutions and other social issues, according to the daily. An Nahar said that attempts were made to include more personalities in the meeting but the involved officials later agreed to hold a quadripartite summit under the sponsorship of al-Rahi. The politicians would first attend mass and the patriarch would throw a dinner banquet in their honor after the meeting, it added. When asked at Beirut airport about An Nahar's report, al-Rahi did not confirm that the meeting would take place soon, only saying that he encourages talks among all sides based on his slogan of partnership and love. Al-Rahi kicked off his visit to the Vatican on Monday where he will stay till the end of the week. Beirut, 11 Apr 11, 08:27

ISF Member, Darwish Khanjar Killed in Majdal Anjar Armed Clash
Naharnet/An Internal Security Forces member and a man wanted for the death of several soldiers were killed in a gunfight in the Bekaa town of Majdal Anjar on Sunday night.
An Nahar newspaper said Monday that an ISF Information Branch patrol chased Darwish Khanjar and his companion after they robbed Suzan Jebara of her Honda CRV at gunpoint.
But the suspects opened fire on the patrol which then exchanged fire with them. Information Branch Sgt. Maj. Rashed Sabri was killed during the clash and Khanjar was severely injured.
He later died at the hospital, An Nahar said. His companion was also wounded in the gunfight. Media reports had said that Khanjar was involved in the kidnapping of the seven Estonian tourists near Zahle last month. But security sources denied he had a hand in the abduction. Khanjar is also suspected of involvement in the killing last October of army intelligence Maj. Abdo Jasser, his companion 1st Sgt. Ziad al-Mais and another soldier in Majdal Anjar. An Nahar said that Khanjar and members of his network had robbed a shop at gunpoint in the same town two days ago. Beirut, 11 Apr 11, 07:45

Chamoun: Hizbullah Never Represented our Politics as it Wants to Establish Iranian State in Lebanon
Naharnet/The head of the National Liberal Party MP Dory Chamoun was not surprised that Hizbullah defended Iran and "its immoral practices in Lebanon and the Arab world." He explained on Monday that Hizbullah receives financial and moral aid from Iran in order to establish an Islamic republic in Lebanon. Accordingly, Chamoun believed that Hizbullah never represented Lebanese politics "for it's a Persian party with a Lebanese essence that renders it legitimate." Commenting on Hizbullah's statement that caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri wants to turn Lebanon into an American-Israeli protectorate, he said: "Whoever plans to built an Iranian province in Lebanon has no right to accuse others of a similar act." Chamoun stated that Hizbullah is too weak to perform any internal military act that would threaten national security because it will have to pay a very high price for it. Beirut, 11 Apr 11, 12:25

Distribution of Portfolios Being Studied as Pivotal Meetings in Cabinet Formation are Scheduled
Naharnet/Meetings and consultations have taken place away from the media spotlight to guarantee the success of the contacts over the government formation, revealed informed sources.
They told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Monday that "pivotal" meetings over the formation are scheduled to take place in the next 24 hours.
Should the positive atmosphere in these meetings continue, then they will likely lead to positive results in the upcoming days.
Meanwhile, prominent March 8 circles stated that an agreement has been reached over the representation of the political powers where President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati, and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat will all be granted 11 ministers.
MP Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement will be granted 10 ministers, while the rest of the nine ministers will be distributed among March 8 forces, including AMAL and Hizbullah.
They said that an agreement has yet to be reached over the distribution of portfolios and the names of ministers, adding that the Interior Ministry portfolio will remain under Suleiman's authority on condition that his candidate receive Aoun's blessing. As Safir newspaper reported that an agreement has been reached to grant the Change and Reform bloc ten ministers, where the FPM will be given six ministers, and the Marada Movement and Tashnag will be granted two each. President Michel Suleiman will be given two ministers, Miqati four, Jumblat three, and MP Nicolas Fattoush one. As for the rest of the March 8 forces, AMAL will be granted three ministers, Hizbullah two, and the remaining powers will receive one each.
The 30th minister will acquire the Interior Ministry portfolio. Beirut, 11 Apr 11, 12:03

Miqati's Fa�onnable Files Lawsuit in Denver over Web Posts Linking it to Hizbullah
Naharnet/Fa�onnable, a high-end retailer of shirts, has filed a lawsuit against anonymous Internet users who wrote statements on its Wikipedia page linking the company to Hizbullah.
In the lawsuit filed last week in federal court in the U.S. city of Denver, Fa�onnable says the users edited the company's Wikipedia page in March to suggest that the firm supports the Shiite party. Fa�onnable is owned by the M1 Group, a Lebanese conglomerate co-founded by Premier-designate Najib Miqati. "Repeated publication of the defamatory statements on Wikipedia are causing, and will continue to cause, damage to the Fa�onnable brand," the lawsuit states. The Internet users are currently named in the suit as John Does, and Fa�onnable says in its complaint that part of the reason for filing the lawsuit is to try to identify them. The complaint was filed in Denver because Fa�onnable traced the Wiki-hackers' computer addresses back to Skybeam Inc., an Internet service provider based in the town of Berthoud near Denver. An effort by Fa�onnable to get the names directly from Skybeam was met with a terse reply. "Information like this would need to be requested through a summons delivered by a local law enforcement agency," Skybeam wrote to an official from Fa�onnable's parent company. Beirut, 11 Apr 11, 11:42

Berri: Nasrallah's Speech Foiled
Attempts to Break Hizbullah-Amal Unity
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's latest remark on his party's ties with the Amal movement thwarted attempts to create disunity between the two allies. Nasrallah's statement "foiled an attempt to break the unity between Hizbullah and Amal," Berri told As Safir newspaper in remarks published Monday.
Berri also said that the victory of the new majority coalition in the elections of the Engineering Syndicate in Beirut is the first success for the National Front. Beirut, 11 Apr 11, 10:16

Jumblat Says al-Mustaqbal 'Not Defeated' in the Engineers Syndicate Elections
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat refused to consider that al-Mustaqbal movement was defeated in the elections of the Engineers Syndicate in Iqlim al-Kharroub.
Jumblat remarked Monday to As Safir daily that the Sunni independent candidate in Iqlim al-Kharroub, backed by the new parliamentary majority, won Sunday's elections.
"I don't want to say that al-Mustaqbal movement was defeated. This expression might be harsh, but the Iqlim proved that it has its own independent national word," he said. The Druze leader stressed that the result of the election for the leadership of the syndicate reflected the importance of coordination between the PSP, the Free Patriotic Movement, Hizbullah and Amal Movement. Jumblat tasked Caretaker Minister Wael Abou Faour with thanking FPM chief Michel Aoun and the Hizbullah leadership for their cooperation during the elections, As Safir said. Beirut, 11 Apr 11, 09:47

Congratulations to the Lebanese
Sun, 10 April 2011
By: Abdullah Iskandar/Al Hayat
The Lebanese have succeeded, and what success, at stripping the body of their state of flesh and fat, and proceeding to eat at its nerves. And some of them these days are quarreling over shreds of its broken skeleton.
They have succeeded, and what success, at destroying a social semi-fabric that was once in agreement. They have become openly divided into sects, regions and families, each with its own stances, concerns, programs and wars. The fig leaf has fallen off, after some had tried to hide their faces with it, under the cover of national unity, shared fate, coexistence, etc.
There are no longer some who hide behind mutual lies such as consensus and middle-ground solutions to save the country. Destroying what remains of the country and breaking down what remains of the state�s bones has become an openly declared goal. The slogan of internal stability is no longer reinforced by keeping the country away from regional conflicts. In fact, the declared slogan has become that of getting dragged into such conflicts and driving towards them.
On the background of such declared division, does not Hezbollah, for example, ask itself what it would do if it were to succeed at taking control of the country, at a time when the Sunnis and half of the Christians oppose it? Does not the Future Movement, for example, ask itself how it can govern a country at a time when the Shiites and the other half of the Christians oppose it? Do not the Free Patriotic Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party, as well as other political groups that are engaged in this conflict, ask themselves about the role and the position they would have in case one side triumphs over the other?
Do they not ask themselves about the meaning of the merciless battles currently being waged and about their results? And do they not ask themselves in the first place about the meaning of burying the country�s constitution, the Taif Agreement, and after it the Doha Agreement as well as the National Dialogue Table and its decisions?
Because all of these questions find no answers among those parties, Lebanon is witnessing today this exceptional phenomenon of political debate turning from the complications of forming a new government cabinet to outbidding in stances towards Iran, denouncing or supporting it. In fact, such stances are turning into the nexus of internal division. There is nothing new about the Lebanese disagreeing over a stance on a foreign country, yet what is new this time is how exhausting what remains of the state and claiming to speak in the name of all the Lebanese are coinciding. Each side is now dealing with itself, and with both the domestic and foreign scene, as if it were the heir to the collapsed state.
The stance on Iran involves particular sensibilities, but there are those same parties quarrelling over these very same remnants, in dealing with the tragedy of the Lebanese community in the Ivory Coast as in dealing with the problem of Roumieh Prison. And with the same eagerness in which Iran was denounced or supported, accusations were exchanged on a sectarian background.
There is nothing new about sectarian disputes in Lebanon that have always been connected to a struggle over shares in the single state. And forms of compromise were often able to be found for these struggles. What is new this time is involving the struggle in this historical crisis across the region, making the compromises organically connected to it. In other words, it makes such compromises out of reach for this small country, in which any dominance becomes oppression that cannot bear its continued pluralism.
The region is leaning towards sectarian division and violence in expressing it, in a manner unprecedented in modern times. And Lebanon is likely to be the eye of the storm, since its citizens are racing to join such division, after they have abandoned all safety valves in order to safeguard their country�s stability.

Iraq�s Christians, Lebanon�s shame
April 11, 2011 02:00 AM
By Peter Durkovic/The Daily Star
Iraq�s Christians are a dwindling minority, one that may soon disappear from the Middle East. But you would not realize the seriousness of their plight from the way Lebanon has dealt with them. Whether it is the state, churches or their Lebanese coreligionists, all have done little to help the community confront its myriad problems. Today, the number of Iraqi Christian refugees in Lebanon is estimated to be around 5,000. However, since 2003, when the United States and its allies invaded Iraq, more than 20,000 have come through Lebanon. Most have resettled in the European Union, the United States or Australia, while a mere 1 percent has returned to Iraq. Those in Lebanon have remained because their request to resettle in third countries has been denied by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. A majority of the Iraqi Christians, some 65 percent, are from the Chaldean Catholic Church. The rest include Assyrians, Syriac Orthodox, and Syriac Catholics. Yet no matter to which church they belong, the Iraqis all face similar problems: the absence of official refugee status; difficulties in obtaining adequate accommodations, education and medical assistance; and abusive labor practices.
Because Iraqi refugees are not officially recognized as such by the Lebanese state, many arrived in Lebanon on a tourist visa. Once their visas expire, their presence in the country becomes illegal. Unofficially, the Lebanese authorities have allowed them to stay, but because Lebanon did not sign the 1951 Geneva convention relating to the status of refugees, the legal foundation for their presence is vague. In effect, most Iraqi Christians do not officially exist in Lebanon. The Lebanese position is ambiguous. Iraqi Christians can be detained by the security forces once their visas expire, but the security forces have not been specifically ordered to find them and expel them from Lebanon.
This ambiguity only adds to the precariousness of their daily existence and living conditions. There are those who have been taken into custody and sent back to Iraq, though a resolution of their legal status would have allowed them to remain in Lebanon until the situation in Iraq improves and they can go home, or elsewhere. If the Iraqis expected their own churches in Lebanon to be of greater assistance, they will have been equally disappointed. Very few of the Lebanese Chaldean and Syriac churches are assisting in easing the refugees� difficulties, by offering them spiritual support, an education, understanding, or social assistance. Education is of particular importance to the Iraqis, because that will provide their children with the knowledge and skills to enhance their future job opportunities.
Alas, Lebanon�s Christian communities have not shown any greater solidarity with their Iraqi coreligionists. And yet it was them whom the Iraqi Christians expected to count on when they chose to leave their homeland. There have been exceptions of course, but the most recurring feature that the refugees have found is that their brethren have tended to abuse them as cheap labor, often paying them no more than 30 percent of what would be considered a normal salary. Nor is it rare for employers to pay nothing at all for work done. They know that the Iraqis, because of their illegal status, will not dare report them to the authorities. This makes it more urgent for Lebanon to resolve their legal status by officially recognizing them as refugees.
Adequate medical treatment is another problem that the Iraqis are confronting. Most are poor and have only very rudimentary medical coverage. Those with serious illnesses are almost guaranteed of being denied appropriate medical care.
The issue can only be effectively resolved with the collaboration of international institutions, including the United Nations, and Lebanese non-governmental organizations. Some political parties, in their turn, have intervened on behalf of the refugees. They include the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb (Phalange), and Hezbollah. But they usually do so to advance a political agenda and only at specific periods, such as Christmas. There have been sporadic endeavors to address the Iraqis� predicament. However, the impact has been very limited. Recently, for example, Notre Dame University hosted a conference on the Iraqi Christians that was attended by Lebanese and Iraqi officials, as well as by Chaldean, Assyrian, Syriac Orthodox, Syrian Catholic and Muslim representatives. The participants formulated a number of resolutions, but until now none have been implemented.
To allow the situation to fester will means creating another angry refugee community in Lebanon, with all the difficulties ensuing from this: a sense of hopelessness, psychological problems, illiteracy among the young and so on.
And yet Lebanese churches and the government have great latitude to highlight the issue domestically and internationally, and mobilize support on behalf of the Iraqis. They can, and must, provide the refugees with official documentation until they return to Iraq or move elsewhere. A suffering community surely merits better than the Iraqis have received in Lebanon.
**Peter Durkovic, a Slovak journalist recently in Lebanon, writes for a number of media outlets in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. He wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.

The Arabs and the conspiracy complex
11/04/2011
By Dr. Aaidh al-Qarni/Asharqalawasat
Colonel Gaddafi said that the world was conspiring against Libya, out of envy for what the Libyan people enjoy. Then he recited the Holy Quranic Verse "From the evil of the envious when he envies." [Surat al-Falaq, Verse 5] The Syrian official media said that Syria was being exposed to a foreign conspiracy against its heroic struggle for resistance, resilience, survival and opposition. At this point, let me note that the Golan Heights have been under occupation for nearly half a century. The official Yemeni media stated that Yemen had been "targeted" because the country represents the cultural depth of the Arabs, and has a pan-national strategic dimension, along with further raving, irrational rhetoric. The official media in Jordan spoke of a foreign conspiracy hatched by covert forces to destabilize the country.

I would say: When will the Arabs abandon this conspiracy complex and stop denying mistakes and searching for scapegoats? When will you stop performing this farce, accusing foreign powers of conspiring against you, and blaming others for your faults? Who are you, to have the world conspire against you? Who are you to have the world's superpowers preoccupied with you? Why would the world target you, and what would it envy you for? Your wealth? Whilst your peoples feel the bitter taste of hunger, shame, ignorance, disease and underdevelopment? Or would the world target you for your giant industries, large-scale production, research centers, energy sources, bountiful knowledge, arsenals, destroyers, battleships, and aircraft carriers, when you can't even construct a car? Frankly, you are bottom of the global list in terms of industry, agriculture, education, development and production.
The annual budget of one Western multi-national corporation is far greater than the collective budget of the aforementioned Arab countries. Their peoples have taken to the streets to organize peaceful demonstrations for food, medicine, clean air, clean water, electricity, freedom and dignity. Those countries have failed to meet the basic necessities of their citizens, and so they have accused the world of conspiring against them. How much do these Arab "locusts" really believe their stock is worth? I would liken these Arab countries, who accuse the outside world of targeting them, to a mosquito alighting from a palm tree. When this mosquito decides to take off, it would say to the palm tree: Hold on tight, I am about to fly. The palm tree would reply: By God, I felt nothing when you landed, and most probably I won't feel anything when you fly away.
The US, Europe, China, Japan, Canada and Russia are busy with their factories, laboratories, nuclear industries and energy production. They are immersed in making discoveries and designing inventions, and thus they might think isn't it high time we, the Arabs, focused on our own flaws, corrected our errors, reconsidered our behavior, and rid ourselves of the conspiracy complex, which has become nothing more than a silly joke and an old ploy.
My good friend Abu Tayeb al-Mutanabbi once described an acquaintance of his, who hoped al-Mutanabbi would praise him publicly, or at least ridicule him, so that he could become famous. Al-Mutanabbi replied by saying:
"[You are] too insignificant to be praised, so I thought I had better ridicule you, but you are too trivial to be ridiculed."
The Holy Quran attributed the defeat of the Muslim army in the Battle of Ahud to a disagreement which had arisen between the Companions of the Prophet. In that respect, Almighty God said "Say: It is from yourselves; surely Allah has power over all things." [Surat Al-Imran, Verse 165] People ought to be held accountable for their errors and transgressions. Almighty God said "Corruption has appeared in the land and the sea on account of what the hands of men have wrought, that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, so that they may return." [Surat al-Room, Verse 41] Therefore to blame others for your faults and use the world as a rack for hanging your mistakes on, that is an embodiment of the lack of mental perception and the corruption of opinion.
A sick person can never recover unless they first admit that they are suffering from a particular illness, and that they will not get better unless they take medicine. It is no use trying to run or hide in the dark. The truth comes with real courage, the nerve to admit to being wrong and the desire to change for the better. Almighty God says: "Allah does not change a people's lot unless they change what is in their hearts." [Surat al-Rad, Verse 11]

Parties agree on draft Cabinet lineup
April 11, 2011 12:00 AM
By Hussein Dakroub /The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati is edging closer to forming a new government after agreement was reached by the main parties on a draft 30-member Cabinet lineup, a source close to Mikati said Sunday. �Prime Minister[-designate] Mikati�s efforts to form a government have reached a very advanced stage. Mikati is more satisfied than ever with the results of his contacts with the various parties who have underlined the need for a quick formation of the Cabinet,� the source told The Daily Star. The source refused to give more details, saying Mikati�s consultations with the main parties of the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance � the Free Patriotic Movement, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement � were shrouded in �complete secrecy� in order to ensure their success. A source close to the formation process said Mikati�s draft 30-member Cabinet has in principle won the agreement of the main parties � the FPM, Hezbollah, Amal and the Progressive Socialist Party led by MP Walid Jumblatt � and the government is expected to be announced by the end of the week. �Discussion is now focused on the distribution of portfolios and names of candidates who will join the Cabinet,� the source told The Daily Star.
Under this Cabinet proposal, 11 portfolios will be allotted to President Michel Sleiman, Mikati and Jumblatt�s bloc, the source said. He added that the remaining 19 portfolios will be shared by the FPM � led by MP Michel Aoun � Hezbollah and Amal � led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. March 14 coalition has repeatedly accused Nasrallah of jeopardizing the country�s security by involving Lebanon in the Iranian-Syrian axis.
The agreement on the draft Cabinet lineup came two days after Aoun told Mikati to either form the Cabinet or step down. Aoun�s tough demands for the lion�s share of Christian participation, including the key Interior Ministry portfolio, have been cited as the main reason for the two-month-long deadlock. Mikati, who is backed by the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance, was appointed on Jan. 25 to form a new government to replace caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri�s toppled Cabinet. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah stressed the need for the formation of a government as soon as possible, hinting the Cabinet would consist of politicians with some technocrats. �We fully hope that the government will be formed very soon. All of us in the new [Parliament] majority are in the same boat. The distribution of portfolios is meant only to represent all the parliamentary blocs,� Nasrallah said in a speech broadcast on Hezbollah�s Al-Manar television Saturday night. Nasrallah insisted Iran had nothing to do with the toppling of Hariri�s Cabinet, brought down on Jan. 12 when ministers of Hezbollah and its March 8 allies resigned in a dispute over the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
The Cabinet formation efforts came amid a war of words between Hariri and Hezbollah over Iran�s policy in Lebanon. Nasrallah defended Iran�s role in Lebanon, saying Hariri made �a big mistake� when he accused Tehran of �a flagrant interference� in the internal affairs of Lebanon and Arab Gulf states. Nasrallah�s remarks came as Hezbollah and Hariri�s Future Movement exchanged barbs over Iran�s policy after Hariri slammed Tehran Thursday, accusing it of seeking to turn Lebanon into �an Iranian protectorate.�
Responding to Hariri�s accusation, Nasrallah, whose party is backed by Iran and Syria, said in his speech: �We are proud of our relations and alliance with Iran and with our relations and alliance with Syria and other states. We will not keep silent when a state that stood on Lebanon�s side is offended.� �When someone, especially a [caretaker] prime minister, says that Iran, rather than Israel and America, is an enemy and is the cause of the crisis in Lebanon, and I say that these are Israeli remarks, am I being unfair? This language and logic are for Israel,� he said. Addressing Hariri, Nasrallah said, �When you leave the government, say whatever you want. When you ask us to keep Lebanon away from the policy of regional conflict, you have to keep your relations away from regional conflict.� Sleiman called on the feuding parties to cool off their political rhetoric.
�Lebanon�s foreign policy is based on the principle of staying away from regional conflicts and avoiding making it an arena for regional and international struggles,� Sleiman said Saturday. He added that Lebanon�s firm policy was to always call for strengthening Arab solidarity and joint Arab action and to maintain good relations with the region�s states. Hariri, who is backed by Saudi Arabia, said last week the kingdom was the biggest and first investor in the country�s stability. The March 14 coalition has repeatedly accused Nasrallah of jeopardizing the country�s security and stability by involving Lebanon in the Iranian-Syrian axis. MP Ammar Houri of Hariri�s Future bloc criticized Nasrallah�s speech, saying it did not serve to promote understanding among rival factions. Houri told Future News television the March 8 alliance was seeking to destroy the country after staging �a coup� that toppled Hariri�s Cabinet. Nasrallah accused the March 14 coalition of planning since 2005 to strike and disarm Hezbollah as part of an alleged U.S. deal for staying in power in Lebanon.
�What�s the price for striking the resistance? The price is clear. There is a deal between the March 14 groups and America under which [the March 14 groups] will take power in Lebanon in exchange for the head of the resistance. Therefore, the plan was concentrated on finishing off the resistance in Lebanon,� Nasrallah said. Nasrallah denied reports of a strain in Hezbollah�s relations with its ally, the Amal Movement, after WikiLeaks cables published by a Lebanese newspaper quoted some members of Berri�s parliamentary bloc as criticizing Hezbollah. �Cooperation and integration [between Hezbollah and Amal] that have been consecrated in at least in 20 years, especially since 2005, are too deep for anyone to target them,� he said. The heated exchange between Hariri and Hezbollah came as tension was rising between Iran and Gulf states after Tehran objected to the dispatch of Saudi troops to Bahrain to quell Shiite-led protests and a spying row with Kuwait.

15 Lebanese expelled from Bahrain: ambassador
April 11, 2011
By Van Meguerditchian
The Daily Star
BEIRUT: More than 15 Lebanese living in Bahrain are expected to arrive in Beirut this week after being expelled by the security forces, Lebanon�s ambassador to Manama Aziz Azzi said.
The decision to expel Lebanese from the Gulf island was adopted following a speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in which he expressed support for the demands of the Bahraini opposition.
In a telephone interview over the weekend, Azzi told The Daily Star that a visit by a Lebanese official to Bahrain was crucial at this point. �[Caretaker] Prime Minister Saad Hariri had earlier discussed the possibility of such a visit � and such a step is highly recommended,� Azzi added. Bahraini authorities have stripped more than a dozen Lebanese of their work and residency permits. �Lebanese individuals were notified personally by the Bahraini authorities that they have a one-week deadline to leave the country,� said Azzi, who explained that the new state of emergency imposed by the Bahraini administration gave security forces the right to take certain precautionary measures. Following a series of anti-regime Shiite-led protests, Bahraini King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa declared a three-month state of emergency. The measure gave the country�s military chief wide authority to control any civilian unrest within Bahrain.
According to Azzi, the Lebanese who received phone calls in the past week were notified to leave Bahrain for �security reasons.�
�The Lebanese Embassy was not officially notified of these steps � the authorities directly contacted the individuals that were asked to leave,� said Azzi, a former ambassador to Uruguay.
As the anti-regime demonstrations in Bahraini capital Manama intensified last month, Nasrallah labeled the response of Bahraini authorities against the demonstrators a �murder.�
The Bahraini Foreign Ministry quickly hit back at Nasrallah, describing his comments as an intervention in the Gulf country�s internal affairs. �Although most of the expelled belong to a certain community in Lebanon, there are also members of other communities in the list of people who were asked to leave,� said Azzi in a likely reference to Hezbollah�s largely Shiite supporters.
Azzi also said that the Lebanese who were expelled from Bahrain held different posts in banks and engineering firms throughout the country. �There are more than 4,500 Lebanese who live and work in Bahrain,� said Azzi, who voiced hope that the recent decision to expel the Lebanese would be the last step affecting relations between the countries. �The current stable situation in Bahrain since mid-March should help bring an end to the recent problems that interrupted Lebanese-Bahraini relations,� said Azzi. While Lebanese officials remain mainly occupied in helping evacuate Lebanese expatriates from war-torn Ivory Coast, Hariri stepped up his diplomatic endeavors Friday to spare expatriates in Gulf countries from the implications of the crisis in Bahrain.
During a phone conversation with the Bahraini king Friday, Hariri stressed the need to distinguish the country�s official positions from those of Hezbollah. Azzi said his embassy was working hard to ensure that the political crisis between the two countries would not escalate. �Lebanon and Bahrain are members of the Arab League and they will continue to have normal relations,� Azzi added. But the prospects for good relations between Lebanon and the Gulf Cooperation Council remained unlikely as several media reports hinted that the remaining five members of the GCC were heading toward taking similar steps against Lebanese expatriates. According to another Arab diplomat, the GCC is close to �making a collective decision to expel all Lebanese Shiites with connections to Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,� said a report published by to the Kuwaiti newspaper As-Siyyaseh.

Israeli leaders back away from showdown over Hamas missile offensive
DEBKAfile Special Report April 10, 2011
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were expected at long last to instruct new chief of staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz to take effective military action to put a stop to the missile misery inflicted on hundreds of thousands of Israeli civilians month after month, year after year � or so the victimized communities believed.
After all, almost a million civilians in seven Israeli towns were at the receiving end of 120 missile and mortar shells between Friday and Saturday, April 8-9.
But Sunday, April 10, they learned that their government had succumbed to a "ceasefire" deal that would perpetuate the harassment: Hamas and the Jihad Islami agreed to desist from attacking Ashdod, Beersheba, Ofakim and Netivot, Palmachim and Kiryat Gat, the towns at the outer edge of their range, but permitted to keep up their regular mortar and missile fusillade against the communities abutting on the Gaza Strip
The IDF agreed to suspend its counter-actions by land, air and sea. Although 17 Hamas commanders had been killed in those 48 hours, Israeli strikes had left intact the Islamists' capabilities for expanding their attacks as far as Israel's heartland around Tel Aviv any time they saw fit � as they have done so many times in the past.
The communities not covered by the deal would have to keep on dodging between bomb shelters instead of living normal lives.
Sunday, as the cabinet deliberated its next steps, the Palestinians fired five mortar rounds and 3 Qassam missiles at their usual targets, the small communities of Sderot, Shear Hanegev and the Eshkol farm district. By the end of the day, 20 projectiles had been fired from Gaza.
A missile was also aimed at the town of Ashkelon to test the limits acceptable to Israel. It was intercepted by the new Iron Dome anti-missile system and Israeli withheld military response. Hamas and Jihad Islami were allowed to infer that southern Ashkelon was fair game.
Sunday afternoon, Netanyahu staged a photo op with one of the two Iron Dome systems, saying the IDF was under orders to restore calm and security to southwestern Israel. His words fell on skeptical ears. By then, his audience in southwestern Israel knew their case was lost after hearing Ehud Barak's cynical comment in a radio interview that morning that anyone looking for a quiet life "should go to Finland or Switzerland."
This was the sort of remark Israelis are used to hearing from Palestinian extremists and Iranian leaders in their references to "the Zionists."
Abandoned to their fate, the missile-battered communities did not miss the contrasting hoots of jubilation coming from the Gaza Strip close by. Palestinian radical leaders were celebrating their victory over Israel: Having won a license to keep up their attacks within certain limits, they were sure they could manipulate Israel into giving up its control of the 500-meter deep buffer sector of Gaza which the IDF had placed off-limits to armed terrorists. They will no doubt put that to the test as well as soon as the "ceasefire" gets underway.
For now, three facts stand out:
One: The IDF is standing by its "ceasefire" commitment.
Two: Hamas has stopped shooting the heavy Grad at the Israeli towns targeted a day ago. It is keeping up its steady trickle of mortar and missile fire on the Gaza border communities.
Three: Israeli policy-makers are glorifying the Iron Dome as a wonder weapon � which after years of further development it may turn out to be - to get them off the hook of offensive action against Hamas.
In the last three days, the system intercepted less than 10 out of the scores of incoming missiles. It is not designed to catch smaller projectiles, including mortar shells. Two anti-missile weapons have been experimentally deployed in Ashkelon and Beersheba; none at the border communities which take the daily brunt of Hamas attacks, partly because they are expensive, $50 million a piece.
Yet Defense Minister Barak told those communities who are faced with keeping their children behind doors throughout the Passover holiday: "Now you are protected."
Netanyahu slightly more subtly celebrated the Iron Dome as a "defensive triumph and an offensive gain against Hamas attacks.
The chief of staff added his two bits to the show by remarking that the IDF would continue to act with "resolve, good judgment and the necessary assertiveness as necessary." He was even heard to declare that "the situation in the South was calmer now than before." (sic)
The strategic edge over Hamas aggression offered by the Iron Dome and its potential defensive value was thrown away by the government's submission to Hamas "ceasefire" terms, which also gave the Palestinian group a chance to assess the impact of the new weapon and weigh counter-measures. Hoping to outwit the homemade Israeli anti-missile weapon, Hamas fired missiles in volleys, only to discover for the first time that Iron Drone was designed to catch multiple firings not just singles.
The Palestinian radicals understood this to mean that Netanyahu government had given up plans to disarm them and was content with improving defensive capabilities to protect civilians.
If view of this equation, Israel now faces the following prospects - if the partial ceasefire holds:
1. In the short term, missile and mortar attacks will continue at a reduced level. But armed terrorists will continue their attempts to breach the Gaza border for attacks inside Israel. The "ceasefire" terms do not restrict this kind of Palestinian terror.
2. Gaza's Hamas rulers will try and gain on the points they have won to force Israel to part with more concessions. They can be expected to use their friends and allies in Europe, the United Nations and the Arab world to make Israel lift its land, sea and air blockade over Gaza and so permit weapons shipments and other strategic assets untrammeled access to the enclave. The Egyptian military junta will no doubt end its blockade and open Rafah to free movement between the Gaza Strip and Sinai.
3. Hamas will press on with its terrorist campaign, which started with the massacre of five Vogel family members in Itamar on the West Bank on March 11 and continued with the Jerusalem bus terminal bombing on the 23rd. The Islamists are known to be planning more murderous operations and abductions over the Passover festival which starts on April 18.
4. Tehran, Damascus and Beirut must have taken note of the way Israel buckled under the Hamas missile offensive � and so to will Cairo. They will all pat the Hamas military leader Ahmad Jabary on the back for persuading the organization's political leaders in Damascus that, however much they escalated their attacks, the Netanyahu government would hold back from an effective ground operation for destroying its military infrastructure and weapons stocks.
Palestinian propagandists have managed to turn the relative roles of aggressor and victim upside down and are presenting Hamas as the injured party � or at the very least Israel as equally at fault for the violence. The anti-Israel Arab League Secretary Amr Moussa quickly picked up this line. Sunday, he called on the UN Security Council to enforce a no-fly zone over the Gaza Strip, a ludicrous bid to equate Israel's defensive operations against a terrorist organization which has declared war on the Jewish state with Muammar Qaddafi's armed might against a domestic rebellion

Estonian kidnap suspect, security forces member shot dead in clash
April 11, 2011 /The Daily Star /BEIRUT: A Lebanese wanted for killing a Lebanese Army personnel and for alleged involvement in the kidnapping of seven European tourists was shot dead Sunday night during an exchange of fire with Internal Security Forces, who lost one of its members during the scuffle, a security source told The Daily Star.Darwish Khanjar was killed and his companion injured when they exchanged fire with an ISF Information Branch patrol that was chasing them in the Western Bekaa area of Ammiq after they robbed Suzan Eid Jebbara and Rima Karam of their Honda CRV at gunpoint. Information Branch Sgt. Maj. Rashed Sabri was killed during the armed clash. The security source said Sabri was the head the ISF unit and added that Khanjar�s companion was arrested. Khanjar is accused of involvement in the kidnapping of seven Estonian cyclists that went missing near Zahle�s industrial zone on March 23, a few hours after they entered the country from Syria. Efforts to free the tourists have been unsuccessful but four individuals have so far been arrested in connection with the case. The previously unknown Haraket al-Nadha Wal-Islah (Reform and Revival Movement) claimed responsibility for the operation and demanded ransom. Khanjar is also suspected of involvement in the killing last October of army intelligence Maj. Abdo Jasser and his companion 1st Sgt. Ziad Shuman al-Mais in Majdal Anjar.

Engineers vote for March 8 in Beirut, March 14 in North
April 11, 2011 12:00 AM /By Wassim Mroueh /The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Candidates backed by the March 8 parties won closely contested elections Sunday in the Beirut Order of Engineers, seizing control of one of the most prominent professional associations from the March 14 coalition. However, the March 14 parties retained their hold on the Order of Engineers in North Lebanon. In the capital, the contest reflected the sharp political divisions at play throughout the country. Michel Aoun�s Free Patriotic Movement engineer Elie Bsaibes, who was backed by the rest of March 8 parties and the Progressive Socialist Party, received 6,699 votes, while his Lebanese Forces-backed rival Imad Wakim, who enjoyed the support of other March 14 allies and Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, garnered 6,412 votes. March 8-backed Rodolphe Abdo Karam, Moustafa Fawwaz and Mohammad Basbous swept the three contested seats in the order�s council.
Ayman Zeineddine, a PSP engineer who was supported by both March 8 and March 14, won a fourth seat in the council and Paul Hajj, an FPM candidate, won a fifth seat unopposed.
More than 13,000 engineers out of the 28,000 who are eligible to vote took part in the electoral process. Around 36,000 engineers are registered in the Beirut order.
Following the announcement of results, the victors visited MP Michel Aoun at his residence in Rabieh and dedicated their triumph to him. During the day, the order�s premises in Bir Hassan overflowed with voters who cast their pre-printed ballots, as the campaign staff of every party was busy making calculations. Wakim told The Daily Star before the ballot boxes closed that the atmosphere was �democratic.� �I call upon the engineers to adhere to their conscience when voting,� Wakim said. �I am confident that no matter how some try to mislead them, engineers are aware of who is capable of developing the order.�
Echoing Wakim, Bsaibes said the elections were a democratic event, but stressed that change in the order has become a necessity in many aspects. �I urge engineers to vote to be able to effect a change in the order�s policies. I am a candidate of change. Engineers have to choose and I respect their choices,� he said. In the north, the order�s top post was won by Bashir Zouq who received 1,078 votes, while his rival Abdel-Monem Alameddine, who enjoys the support the March 8 coalition, Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, caretaker Economy Minister Mohammad Safadi and former Prime Minister Omar Karami, secured 687 votes. Candidates Samer Zemmar, Mohammad Hazeem, Nicholas Suleiman and Fadi Harb, who are supported by the March 14 parties, swept the four contested seats of the order�s council. Around1,870 engineers cast their votes out of 7,407 eligible to vote.
� With additional reporting by Antoine Amrieh

Syrian protesters face off in Halifax
CBC News Posted: Apr 10, 2011
Halifax police keep a close eye on protesters at Sunday's demonstration about unrest in Syria. Supporting
People backing rival sides of ongoing protests in Syria faced off in a Halifax square Sunday. There were a few tense moments as about 20 people supporting the Syrian government and 20 people opposed to it met at Victoria Park. Four police officers watched the rivals chanting and kept them to opposite sides of the square. The rally was organized by a local group that supports the Syrian government, but another group critical of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad also attended. Roy Khouri organized the rally to show support for the Syrian leader. "Assad, we support you. You're the leader for all the Arab nation countries," Khouri said. "He's the leader, he's the man, we need him. He opened all the country. He opened Syria for good, for everything. We want him always, we will always support him, we will always vote for him." Khouri said he was surprised to see the anti-government protesters show up.
Omar Alisso was with the anti-government group and said his native country has gone too far in cracking down on protests. Dozens of demonstrators and security personnel have died in Syria in recent weeks. "I'm down here today just to protest and condemn what is going on in Syria. The killing and the raping, and a lot of people so far being killed in peaceful demonstrations and people seeking freedom and justice," he said. The Syrian protests are part of a wave of action that has unsettled governments across the Middle East.

Prisoner of Damascus
By YASSIN AL-HAJ SALEH
Published: April 10, 2011
IN all my 50 years, I have never held a passport. Other than visiting Lebanon, I�d never left Syria when, in the fall of 2004, I was barred from leaving the country. I tried many times afterward to get a passport, but to no avail.
I spent 16 years of my youth in my country�s prisons, incarcerated for being a member of a communist pro-democracy group. During the recent protests, many more friends have been detained � most of them young � under the government�s catch-all emergency laws.
The state of emergency, under which Syria has lived for 48 years, has extended the ruling elite�s authority into all spheres of Syrians� public and private lives, and there is nothing to stop the regime from using this power to abuse the Syrian population. Today, promises follow one after the other that these all-pervasive restrictions will be lifted. But one must ask, will it be possible for the Baath Party to rule Syria without the state of emergency that has for so long sustained it?
The official pretext for the emergency laws is the country�s state of war with Israel. However, restricting Syrians� freedoms did no good in the 1967 war, which ended with the occupation of the Golan Heights, nor did it help in any other confrontations with the Jewish state, nor in any true emergencies. Because in the government�s eyes everything has been an emergency for the last half-century, nothing is an emergency.
Syria�s struggle against an aggressive Israel has encouraged the militarization of political life � a development that has been particularly favorable to single-party rule. And the suspension of the rule of law has created an environment conducive to the growth of a new ruling elite.
In 2005, the Baath Party decided, without any serious public discussion, to move toward what was dubbed a �social market economy.� It was supposed to combine competition and private initiative with a good measure of traditional socialism. In reality, as the state retreated, new monopolies arose and the quality of goods and services declined. Because local courts are corrupt and lack independence, grievances could not be fairly heard. Add to that a venal and idle bureaucracy, and the supposed economic reforms became a justification for the appropriation of economic power for the benefit of the rich and powerful.
Economic liberalization was in no way linked to political liberalization. After a half-century of �socialist� rule, a new aristocratic class has risen in Syria that does not accept the principles of equality, accountability or the rule of law. It was no accident that protesters in the cities of Dara�a and Latakia went after the property of this feared and hated aristocracy, most notably that of President Bashar al-Assad�s cousin Rami Makhlouf, a businessman who controls the country�s cellphone network and, more than anyone else, represents the intertwining of power and wealth in Syria.
Today�s ruling class has undeservedly accumulated alarming material and political power. Its members are fundamentally disengaged from the everyday realities of the majority of Syrians and no longer hear their muffled voices. In recent years, a culture of contempt for the public has developed among them.
Although some argue that the demonstrations are religiously motivated, there is no indication that Islamists have played a major role in the recent protests, though many began in mosques. Believers praying in mosques are the only �gatherings� the government cannot disperse, and religious texts are the only �opinions� the government cannot suppress. Rather than Islamist slogans, the most prominent chant raised in the Rifai Mosque in Damascus on April 1 was �One, one, one, the Syrian people are one!� Syrians want freedom, and they are fully aware that it cannot be sown in the soil of fear, which Montesquieu deemed the fount of all tyranny. We know this better than anyone else.
A search for equality, justice, dignity and freedom � not religion � is what compels Syrians to engage in protests today. It has spurred many of them to overcome their fear of the government and is putting the regime on the defensive. The Syrian regime enjoys broader support than did Hosni Mubarak in Egypt or Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia. This is a source of strength, and one that Mr. Assad appears not to consider when he relies on the security forces to quell protests. If the regime is to keep any of its deeply damaged legitimacy, it will have to answer the protesters� demands and recognize the popular longing for freedom and equality. Whatever the outcome of the protests, Syria has a difficult road ahead. Between the pains of oppression and the hardships of liberation, I of course prefer the latter. Personally, I want to live nowhere but in Syria, although I am looking forward to acquiring a passport to visit my brothers in Europe, whom I have not seen for 10 years. I also want, finally, to feel safe.
**Yassin al-Haj Saleh is a writer and political activist. This essay was translated from the Arabic.

Syria army enters key port city of Banias after deadly shooting
Soldiers enter city a day after at least four anti-government protesters were killed, dozens wounded; residents say the army's arrival was met mostly with relief since the security forces 'are like regime-hired gangs.'
By The Associated Press
Syrian soldiers on army trucks and jeeps entered the key port city of Banias on Monday, a day after a shootout in which at least four anti-government protesters were killed and dozens of others were wounded, witnesses said. An eyewitness said the military entered the Mediterranean city in the morning hours, taking up positions around key buildings and intersections.
Syrian army soldiers, stand guard at Sheikh Daher square after the violence between security forces and armed groups in Latakia, northwest of Damascus, Syria, on Sunday, March 27, 2011.He said the army's arrival was met mostly with relief. "We are happy it's the army and not security forces who are like regime-hired gangs," he told The Associated Press. Like most eyewitnesses who spoke to the AP, he requested anonymity for fear of reprisals from the government. Witnesses and human rights activists say Syrian security forces and pro-government gunmen killed four protesters in Banias on Sunday as hundreds were gathering for an anti-government rally, undaunted by the regime's use of deadly force to quell more than three weeks of unrest. State TV reported that nine soldiers were killed in an ambush near the city. One witness said hundreds of protesters had gathered near the al-Rahman mosque when security forces and armed men in civilian clothes opened fire on them. The names of the dead were read out on mosque loudspeakers.
He also said dozens of people were wounded, with most of them asking to be treated at a small clinic instead of at the main hospital, which was under the control of the feared security forces. Several other human rights activists, also citing witnesses, reported shooting in Banias on Sunday. Protests erupted in Syria more than three weeks ago and have been growing steadily every week, with tens of thousands of people calling for sweeping reforms to President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime. More than 170 people have been killed, according to human rights groups. The government blames the violence on armed gangs rather than reform-seekers and has vowed to crush further unrest. Backing up that contention, state television reported that thugs were behind the killing of nine soldiers in an ambush near Banias, which is 185 miles (300 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Damascus. The report said gunmen hiding among trees along a road shot at the soldiers, and it broadcast images later of and ambulance and other civilian vehicles coming under fire along the same road.

France burqa ban comes into force
Controversial law will mean country with Europe's biggest Muslim population will no longer allow any public face covering
AFP Published: 04.11.11, 08:37 / Israel News
France - home to Europe's biggest Muslim population on Monday officially banned women from wearing full-face veils in public places.
Other European countries have drawn up bans on the burqa and the niqab but France is the first to risk stirring social tensions by putting one into practice.
Islamic Garb
Europe struggles with Muslim dress code / Associated Press
Belgium, France and the Netherlands may outlaw attire viewed by many as gateway to radical Islam. Muslim leader: The economy, the cost of living and decent housing are more pressing issues than worrying about a burqa ban
The law comes into effect at an already fraught moment in relations between the state and France's Muslim minority, with President Nicolas Sarkozy accused of stigmatizing Islam to win back votes from a resurgent far right.
French officials estimate that only around 2,000 women, from a total Muslim population estimated at between four and six million, wear the full-face veils that are traditional in parts of Arabia and South Asia.But many Muslims and rights watchdogs accuse the rightwing president of targeting one of France's most vulnerable groups to signal to anti-immigration voters that he shares their fear that Islam is a threat to French culture. Police on Saturday said they arrested 59 people, including 19 veiled women, who turned up for a banned protest in Paris over the ban, while two more were detained as they attempted to travel to the rally from Britain and Belgium. Some critics worry the law may be hard to enforce, since it had to be drawn up without reference to religion to ban any kind of face covering in public and since police officers will not be allowed to remove women's head coverings.
Anyone refusing to lift his or her veil to submit to an identity check can be taken to a police station. There, officers must try to persuade them to remove the garment, and can threaten fines.
A woman who repeatedly insists on appearing veiled in public can be fined 150 euros (216 dollars) and ordered to attend re-education classes. There are much more severe penalties for anyone found guilty of forcing someone else to hide his or her face "through threats, violence, constraint, abuse of authority or power for reason of their gender."Clearly aimed at fathers, husbands or religious leaders who force women to wear face-veils, and applicable to offences committed in public or in private, the law imposes a fine of 30,000 Euros and a year in jail.
Hidden underclass
Foreign extremists, including fugitive Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden have used the ban to argue France is at war with Islam, and have called for attacks.
Belgium's parliament has approved a similar law, but has yet to enforce it. In the Netherlands far-right leaders have proposed a ban, and in Italy the right-wing Northern League is lobbying for a ban on the French model. It is hard to gauge the mood of the bulk of veil wearing French Muslim women, but two who agreed to speak to AFP - who gave their names as Aya and Umm Isra - said they would not challenge the ban in the street.But, they added, if they can't wear their niqabs they will likely go out far less often, suggesting the ban could create a hidden underclass

Merkel joins Nato-African bid to end Libya war. Qaddafi to stay until elections
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 11, 2011,
Away from the cameras focusing on the African Union peacemaking delegation in Tripoli Sunday, April 10 headed by South African President Jacob Zuma, debkafile's exclusive intelligence sources disclose German Chancellor Angela Merkel's discreet but key role in the multinational thrust to broker an end to the Libyan war. Her emissary arrived quietly in the Libyan capital with NATO consent. Our sources identify him as Bernd Schmidtbauer, German government coordinator and former secret service chief.
The intervention of the strongest European power for ending the conflict underscores Muammar Qaddafi's military successes over the rebels and the failure of their NATO, British and French supporters to force him to step down � whether by military action, an ineffectual no fly zone and UN sanctions. The German chancellor refused from the first to join the international effort to topple Qaddafi. She now leads the effort to end the conflict.
The Americans were first to grasp that those measures would not work, By April, they had withdrawn their military assets from the arena. The German emissary has met Qaddafi and his son Saif several times on the basis of a commitment that under no circumstances would the Libyan ruler have to leave his country. This concession makes it possible for him to stay in power - at least until political reforms providing for elections in which one of his sons can run for election as president are in place In his talks with the African delegates, Qaddafi agreed to the immediate cessation of all hostilities and to negotiations with a view to "adopting and implementing the political reforms necessary for eliminating the causes of the current crisis," according to a statement issued Sunday. No mention was made of Qaddafi stepping down.
According to debkafile's sources, President Zuma and Schmidtbauer got together Monday morning, April 14, to coordinate their road maps before the South African president set out for Benghazi to sell the evolving peace plan to rebel leaders. A blueprint backed by Africa, Europe and NATO will be hard for them to reject, especially with the US absent from the combat on their behalf. Sunday, NATO carried out air strikes to knock out 14 pro-Qaddafi's forces' tanks outside Adjabiya to stop their advance on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. More air strikes hit another 11 tanks and stopped a second government column reaching Misratah, the only town in western Libya still partially held by the rebels.
Any deal that leaves Qaddafi in power - even for a limited period - represents a political and military setback for French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron, both of whom had set their sights and all their prestige on the Libyan ruler's ouster � or at least on the partitioning of the country in a way that assigned half to the rebels.
As it turned out, Qaddafi had prepared a formidable military force in advance to stand up to foreign intervention and the rebels were sorely lacking in the military and political cohesion and capabilities for his overthrow.

Gaddafi accepts peace plan and rebels say he must go
11/04/2011/TRIPOLI, (Reuters) - Muammar Gaddafi has accepted a roadmap for ending the conflict in Libya including an immediate cease-fire, the African Union said on Monday, but an opposition representative said it would only work if Gaddafi left power.
South African President Jacob Zuma, who met Gaddafi at the head of a delegation of African leaders, urged NATO to stop air strikes on government targets to "give cease-fire a chance".
Earlier truce offers from Gaddafi have come to nothing and the rebels, who took up arms across the east and in some towns in the west after the Libyan leader crushed protests in February, have said they will accept nothing less than an end to his 41 year-old rule.
"The brother leader delegation has accepted the roadmap as presented by us. We have to give cease-fire a chance," Zuma said, adding that the African delegation would now travel to the eastern city of Benghazi for talks with anti-Gaddafi rebels.
Asked if the issue of Gaddafi stepping down was discussed, Ramtane Lamamra, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, told reporters: "There was some discussion."
However he added: "I cannot report on confidential discussions because first of all I was not part of them, and I think they have to remain confidential between the parties involved."
Officials from NATO, which stepped up attacks on Gaddafi's armour on Sunday to weaken a bitter siege of Misrata in the west and disrupt an advance by his troops in the east, were not immediately available for comment on Zuma's cease-fire appeal.
The British-based representative of the Libyan opposition leadership, Guma al-Gamaty, said it would look carefully at the AU plan, but would not accept any deal designed to keep Gaddafi or his sons in place, Britain's BBC reported.
Libyan officials have repeatedly said Gaddafi will not quit.
Zuma met Gaddafi for several hours at the Libyan leader's Bab al-Aziziyah compound with four other African heads of state.
SUNDAY FIGHTING
The AU's Lamamra said the proposal included the delivery of humanitarian aid, protection of foreigners, dialogue between all parties and "the establishment of an inclusive transition period with a view to adopting and implementing necessary political reforms".
He said the AU was ready to help with the deployment of a cease-fire monitoring mechanism and could work alongside the United Nations and the Arab League.
Asked if he feared rebels might reject the plan, Lamamra said: "We believe what we have proposed is broad enough to launch negotiations ... What we need is for them to accept that we are people of good will."
"It's not up to any outside force, even the African Union itself, to decide on the behalf of the Libyan people on who the leader of the country should be," Lamamra told a news conference in the early hours of Monday morning after the AU talks.
The rebels have previously rejected a negotiated outcome to what has become the bloodiest in a series of pro-democracy revolts across the Arab world that have ousted the autocratic leaders of Tunisia and Egypt.
NATO INTENSIFIES ATTACKS
NATO, mandated by the United Nations to protect civilians in Libya from attacks by Gaddafi's forces, said it had increased the tempo of its air operations over the weekend, after rebels accused it of responding too slowly to government attacks.
The insurgents hailed the more muscular approach.
The NATO strikes outside Ajdabiyah on Sunday helped break the biggest assault by Gaddafi's forces on the eastern front for at least a week. The town is the gateway to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi 150 km (90 miles) north up the Mediterranean coast.
A Reuters reporter saw six burning hulks surrounded by 15 charred and dismembered bodies in two sites on Ajdabiyah's western approaches which rebels said were hit by air strikes. "NATO has to do this to help us every single day. That is the only way we are going to win this war," said 25-year-old rebel Tarek Obeidy, standing over the bodies.
The government attack, which began on Saturday, included a fierce artillery and rocket bombardment, while some of Gaddafi's forces, including snipers, penetrated Ajdabiyah. Rebels cowered in alleys for several hours under the bombardment.
The corpses of four rebels were found dumped on a roadside.
"Their throats were slit. They were all shot a few times in the chest as well. I just could not stop crying when I saw them," said rebel Muhammad Saad. "This is becoming tougher and tougher."
But by afternoon rebels looked back in control of Ajdabiyah, commanding key intersections, and fighting had died down.
Ajdabiyah had been the launch point for insurgents during a week-long fight for the oil port of Brega 70 km (45 miles) further west, and its fall would be a serious loss.
GADDAFI APPEARS
Gaddafi, making his first appearance to foreign media in weeks, joined the visiting African leaders at his compound.
He then climbed into a sports utility vehicle and was driven about 50 metres (yards) where he waved through the sunroof and made the "V" for victory sign to a crowd of cheering supporters.
The appearance, his second in two days, and his upbeat demeanour, confirmed the impression among analysts that his circle has emerged from a period of paralysis and is preparing for a long campaign, another sign mediation will be difficult.
Analysts predict a drawn-out, low-level conflict possibly leading to partition between east and west in the sprawling North African Arab state, a major oil and natural gas producer.
NATO's commander of Libyan operations, Canadian Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, said after Sunday's air attacks: "The situation in Ajdabiyah, and Misrata in particular, is desperate for those Libyans who are being brutally shelled by the regime."
Asked for comment on the cease-fire announcement, a British official repeated a well-worn statement: "We will judge Gaddafi by his actions not his words."

Death of a salesman
April 11, 2011 /Now Lebanon
In his Saturday evening speech, Hassan Nasrallah once again demonstrated that, if you can keep a straight face, you can convince some of the people most of the time.
This time the Hezbollah secretary general appeared to be carrying out an exercise in damage limitation, one that saw him defend on three main fronts: Hezbollah�s historic relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran, the ongoing and almost farcical delay of a government formation, and the fallout from his declaration of support for the Bahraini Shia.
�If you are mad at us, don�t blame Iran,� he said with the by-now-familiar expression of fatherly benevolence. It was a message aimed at caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who had once again condemned Tehran�s interference in Lebanon, citing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad�s boast that Iran is currently at war in �Palestine, Lebanon and Bahrain,� and that Lebanon is very much part of the �Iranian strategy.�
Given that for three decades Iran has sent arms and money as well as given �spiritual� guidance to Hezbollah, one would struggle to find a more influential ally.
But these are desperate times for Nasrallah, who appears to be walking into one blunder after another. Gone are the heady days of 2006, when he was the toast of the Arab street, having declared his so-called �Divine Victory� over Israel. That reputation for martial purity was stained less than two years later when his party led March 8 gunmen onto the streets of Beirut in a murderous bid to topple the government of Fouad Siniora. The mask of honor was removed, and Hezbollah�s strategy has since then been based on the veiled threat of violence rather than political credibility.
It was this threat that finally managed to topple the so-called government of national unity led by the March 14 alliance in January of this year. Nearly three months on, Hezbollah and its allies in March 8 have been unable to reach a formula for the distribution of cabinet portfolios. And yet on Saturday, Nasrallah described the delay as �normal� and reproached March 14 for its provocative behavior, whatever that means.
In truth he can say little else. Unlike March 14, which seeks to fulfill the aspirations of those who converged on Martyrs� Square on that day in 2005, March 8 has no such platform. It is a grouping of parties that is driven either by support for the Syrian-Iranian axis or, in the case of the Free Patriotic Movement, political opportunism. Is there any wonder therefore that a government has not yet been formed, especially given that Damascus, which will no doubt rubber stamp the final selection, has its hands full with its own domestic problems?
But if the so-called Arab spring has highlighted March 8�s chronic dependency on Damascus, it also brought into sharp relief Hezbollah�s propensity for hubris. The most damaging of Hezbollah�s recent blunders must surely be the support Nasrallah voiced for the Shia of Bahrain, what was tantamount to a declaration of war on the island state.
Once again, as we saw with the cataclysmic consequences in July 2006, Hezbollah has taken it upon itself to determine Lebanese foreign policy. Five years ago it took us into a war with Israel we didn�t want, and today it has taken Lebanon into a dispute with the Gulf States, nations with whom Lebanon has close political and economic relations. The implications are blindingly obvious.
Bahrain had little option other than to break off official ties and review the status of many Lebanese living and working there. And yet Nasrallah feels it is unfair that Lebanese citizens pay the price for what he calls his party�s �political stances.� For such a seasoned politician, his wounded attitude beggars belief, and therefore maybe we should not be surprised when Nasrallah protests Hariri�s anger at what he sees as �blatant Iranian interference in the Arab world.�
Hezbollah�s culture of resistance and sacrifice has been exposed by Iranian ambition and tainted by Syrian repression. The party, which appears to offer nothing apart from a readiness for conflict and a thirst for violence, speaks for Lebanon when it has no right to do so, while any political vision it may have is out of step with the needs and aspirations of the Lebanese people.