LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJanuary 02/2010

Bible Of The Day
The Good News According to Matthew 5/13-16
5:13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men. 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. 5:15 Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. 5:16 Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
 

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Canada's Foreign Minister, Mr. Cannon Condemns Extremist Targeting of Christians in Iraq/January 01/10
Canada Calls on Iran to Respect Human Rights of All Its People/January 01/10
Hizbullah and the info war/By CAROLINE B. GLICK/J.Post/January 01/10

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 01/10
Egypt Church Blast Kills 21/AFP
Netanyahu to Mubarak: We stand together against terror/AP & J.Post
U.S. Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Spokesman: Ford's Appointment Not Result of Saudi-Syrian Deal over STL /Naharnet
Report: US in secret talks with Syria over peace accord with Israel/Haaretz
US says Hariri trial must go ahead regardless/AFP
Sarkozy heads to Lebanon after a deal is reached over STL/Ya Libnan
The keys to the Middle East/Haaretz
US: any step taken with Syria will not be at Lebanon's expense/Ya Libnan
Above The Fray: When Turkey felt betrayed by Israel/J.post
Report: Breakthrough achieved towards Israel-Syria talks/Ynetnews
Internal Conflict Not in Our Interests – Hezbollah MP/Asharq Al-Awsat
Report: Breakthrough achieved towards Israel-Syria talks/Ynetnews
Najjar: Settlement Cannot Harm Indictment or STL /Naharnet
Hizbullah Condemns Alexandria Church Attack as 'Most Dangerous Conspiracy' /Naharnet
Hizbullah's Moussawi: US Does Not Want Justice in Hariri Murder /Naharnet
U.S. Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Spokesman: Ford's Appointment Not Result of Saudi-Syrian Deal over STL /Naharnet
Najjar: Settlement Cannot Harm Indictment or STL /Naharnet
UNIFIL: We Haven't Noticed Any Transportation of Rockets, Arms South of Litani by Hizbullah /Naharnet
Oghassabian: Nothing Tangible Has Emerged from Saudi-Syrian Initiative /Naharnet
Harb Defends Draft Law: It Prevents Christian Exodus, Preserves Sectarian Balance /Naharnet
Fatfat: Statements that Saudi Arabia is Imposing Settlement on us are Unfortunate and Irresponsible /Naharnet
Connelly Says Appointing Ford Not 'Reward' to Syria: STL Work Can't Be Stopped by Regional Agreement /Naharnet
Gemayel from Bkirki Calls for National Conference in Light of 'Cold Strife /Naharnet

Egypt Church Blast Kills 21
01/01/2011
CAIRO, (AFP) — President Hosni Mubarak urged Egypt's Christians and Muslims to unite and confront "terrorism" after a New Year's day car bomb killed 21 people at a Coptic church in Alexandria, in the latest blow to the Middle East's largest Christian community. There was no immediate claim, but Al-Qaeda has threatened Christians everywhere, and called for punishment of Egypt's Copts, over claims that two priests' wives they say had converted to Islam were being held by the church against their will.
The health ministry's Abderrahman Shahine said 21 people were killed and 43 wounded. The car, which was parked outside the Al-Qiddissine (The Saints) church in the Sidi Bechr district of the Mediterranean port city, exploded at around half past midnight (2230 GMT Friday) as worshippers were leaving after a service.
A witness told private television channel On-TV he had seen a green Skoda pull up outside the church shortly after midnight. Two men got out and the explosion occurred almost immediately afterwards. The interior ministry said eight of those wounded were Muslims, as there was a mosque nearby.
"If the bishop had finished saying mass two minutes earlier, the bloodbath would have been worse," Nermin Nabil, who suffered a leg injury in the attack, said from her hospital bed.
The 30-year-old mother told AFP she had left the church "just two minutes before the bishop finished mass. Hundreds of people were still inside."
Saturday morning dozens of Christians were protesting outside the church.
"Where is the government," they shouted.
A security services source said dozens of angry Christians also demonstrated outside the mosque, whose door and windows were damaged by the blast.
Police and troops deployed en masse around the scene as ambulances rushed to the area.
In a country suffering from growing sectarian tensions, Mubarak urged Christians and Muslims to close ranks and confront "terrorism."
He called on the "children of Egypt -- Copts and Muslims -- to close ranks and confront the forces of terrorism and those who want to undermine the security, stability and unity of the children of this nation," state news agency MENA said.
Refaa al-Tahtawi, spokesman for Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's Cairo-based main institution of learning, denounced the attack, which he said targeted "Egyptian national unity."
He also appealed for calm.
While it was not immediately known who was responsible, the attack came two months after gunmen stormed a Baghdad cathedral and took the worshippers hostage.
In a raid to free them, 44 worshippers, two priests and seven security forces were killed.
The attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq, which said its purpose was to force the release of the two women in Egypt.
"All Christian centres, organisations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the mujahedeen (holy warriors) wherever they can reach them," the group said.
"Let these idolaters, and at their forefront, the hallucinating tyrant of the Vatican, know that the killing sword will not be lifted from the necks of their followers until they declare their innocence from what the dog of the Egyptian Church is doing," the ISI said.
It also demanded that the Christians "show to the mujahedeen their seriousness to pressure this belligerent church to release the captive women from the prisons of their monasteries."
The Alexandria attack came just two days after more anti-Christian violence in Baghdad, when a series of bombings killed two Christians and wounded 16.
Protection around Copt places of worship was discreetly stepped up after the threats, as Mubarak said he was committed to protecting the Christians "faced with the forces of terrorism and extremism". The Copts account for up to 10 percent of Egypt's 80-million population, and often complain of discrimination and have been the target of sectarian attacks.
Saturday's bombing came almost a year after gunmen killed six Copts as they emerged from Christmas liturgy in a town in southern Egypt. Three Muslim men were accused of the murders and a verdict in their case is expected on January 16. Sectarian tensions have been rising since November, when Muslims set fire to homes owned by the family of a Christian man rumoured to have flirted with a Muslim girl. Also in November bloody clashes erupted in Cairo between Coptic protesters and police over the refusal of local authorities to allow them to turn a community centre into a church. Copts are required to obtain a presidential decree to construct new religious buildings and must satisfy numerous conditions before permission is granted.
In November, a US State Department report complained about the state of religious freedom in Egypt, singling out minority groups such as Christians, saying they "face personal and collective discrimination."

Netanyahu to Mubarak: We stand together against terror
By ASSOCIATED PRESS AND JPOST.COM STAFF
01/01/2011 19:55
PM's comments come after bomb hits Egypt church at New Year's Mass, 21 dead; Mubarak: We will cut off the hands of terrorists. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Saturday evening telephoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and expressed his shock at the terrorist attack which happened early Saturday morning in Alexandria, Egypt.
"All nations which support freedom stand together on the war against terrorism," Netanyahu said. The two are set to meet on Thursday in order to discuss the peace process.
Netanyahu was referring to a powerful bomb that exploded in front of a crowded Coptic Christian church a half hour into the New Year, hitting worshipers emerging from a holiday Mass, killing at least 21 people in an attack that raised suspicions of an al-Qaida role.
Mubarak vowed to track down those behind the attack, saying "we will cut off the hands of terrorists and those plotting against Egypt's security."
"This terrorist act has shaken the conscience of the nation," he said in a statement, adding that "all Egypt was targeted, and terrorism does not distinguish between Copt and Muslim."
Police initially said the blast came from an explosives-packed car parked outside the Saints Church. But the Interior Ministry later said it was more likely from a suicide bomber on foot.
Both tactics are hallmarks of al-Qaida militants, and the blast came as the terror network's branch in Iraq has waged a campaign of violence against that country's Christian community and raised the threat of similar attacks in Egypt.
If al-Qaida had a direct role, however, it could be a startling development in Egypt, where the government of President Hosni Mubarak has persistently denied that the terror network has a significant presence on the ground. Egypt does have a rising movement of Islamic hard-liners who, while they do not advocate violence, adhere to an ideology similar in other ways to al-Qaida, and there have been fears they could be further radicalized amid growing sectarian tensions in Egypt.
Nearly 1,000 Christians were attending the New Year's Mass at the Saints Church in the Mediterrean port city, said Father Mena Adel, a priest who attended. The service had just ended, and worshipers were leaving the building when the bomb went off about a half-hour after midnight, he said.
"The last thing I heard was a powerful explosion and then my ears went deaf," Marco Boutros, a 17-year-old survivor, said from his hospital bed. "All I could see were body parts scattered all over — legs and bits of flesh." Bodies of many of the dead were collected from the street and kept inside the church overnight before they were taken away Saturday by ambulances for burial amid scenes of grief and anger. Some Christians carried white sheets with the sign of the cross emblazoned on them with what appeared to be the blood of the victims.
"This attack targets Egypt's security as a whole," said Bishop Armia, a senior aide to Pope Shenouda III, the spiritual leader of Egypt's Orthodox Coptic Church. "God will protect us."
Senior Health Ministry official Osama Abdel Moneim said the death toll stood at 21, with 79 wounded. It weas not immediately known if all the victims were Christians.
After the blast, angry Christians clashed with police and Muslim residents, chanting, "With our blood and soul, we redeem the cross," witnesses said.
An AP photographer at the scene said the protesters stormed into a nearby mosque and threw books out into the street. The protest sparked clashes with Muslims, as both sides began throwing stones and bottles at each other in the streets, until eventually police restored calm.

Internal Conflict Not in Our Interests – Hezbollah MP
01/01/2011/By Paula Astatih
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat – Hezbollah yesterday issued a statement saying that it is not in the group's interests to "incite internal conflict" in Lebanon, in a statement that is inconsistent with their earlier threats of violence should the Special Tribunal for Lebanon indict or accuse any of its members in the death of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
Hezbollah MP Nawaf al-Moussawi said "Hezbollah will remain positive towards its dealing with the Saudi –Syrian efforts, for its success is in its interests…it is not in our interest to involve the resistance in internal conflict. [We want to ensure that] Lebanon is stable and there is agreement founded upon the basis of not attacking the resistance."
For his part, Lebanon First MP Ahmad Fatfat told Asharq Al-Awsat that "the statements issued by Hezbollah recently that Saudi Arabia will impose the expected settlement upon Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri are irresponsible and regrettable and not only reduce the Arab efforts chances of success, but may result in their failure."
He added that "it is not out of the question for their goal from such talk to be to ensure the failure of any settlements and efforts [in this regard]."
Fatfat also stressed that "relations between Prime Minister Hariri and Saudi Arabia are fraternal relations based upon respect, and what is in the best interests of the people of Lebanon."

Column One: Hizbullah and the info war
By CAROLINE B. GLICK/J.Post
12/31/2010 16:19
War is a dirty business. Information warfare is a dirty form of war. And if we don’t want to lose, we’d better start fighting.
On January 15 the UN’s Special Tribunal for Lebanon is scheduled to issue indictments against a number of Hizbullah operatives for the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. All of Lebanon and much of the region is waiting in suspense that grows with each passing day.
The news that Hizbullah would be fingered by the prosecutors was first made public in July.
Since then, Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah has threatened repeatedly to set fire to Lebanon and perhaps Israel if Daniel Bellemare, the chief prosecutor, dares to go forward. Given Hizbullah’s track record of war, murder and intimidation, no one doubts that the Iranian-proxy force will keep its promise if it comes to that.
Almost immediately after Hizbullah was named as the central suspect in Hariri’s assassination, Hizbullah’s ally Syria began negotiating a deal with Saudi Arabia, which serves as the patron of Lebanon’s Sunni community. The goal of these talks is to get Hizbullah off the hook, “in order to preserve stability.”
Bellemare made clear this week that he will not be influenced by politics in dispatching his duties to the law. If he is true to his word, then Hizbullah members will certainly be indicted next month for assassinating Hariri.
What this means is that the most attractive option for Hizbullah and its allies right now is to discredit the tribunal. To this end, Hizbullah has repeatedly characterized the UN tribunal as an Israeli and American plot. Syria has insisted that the Lebanese who testified before the tribunal gave false testimony.
While these allegations may have convinced their supporters, both Syria and Hizbullah know that the only effective way to discredit the tribunal is to coerce Hariri’s son, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, to disavow the tribunal and withdraw Lebanese governmental support for its proceedings.
While such a move would probably have little impact on the tribunal’s ultimate judgment, it might reduce the political impact of the indictments for Hizbullah in Lebanon.
And so according to Haaretz, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and Saudi King Abdullah reached a deal in which Hariri Jr. will disavow the tribunal.
In exchange, Hizbullah will agree not to murder him.
Hizbullah has not surprisingly announced its support for the deal. Hariri has given a series of contradictory statements that lend to the sense that he is trying to run out the clock. This week he met with Abdullah in New York where the Saudi despot is undergoing medical treatment.
On Wednesday he travelled to Saudi Arabia for further talks.
In the meantime, just to underline its willingness to make good on its threats, last week Hizbullah had its affiliated trade union, the National Union for Labor Syndicates, stage a protest against the government. As Hanin Ghadar at the NOW Lebanon news portal noted, in the days leading up to the terror group’s coup in May 2008, it had its labor affiliates stage similar protests.
AND THAT brings us to the basic question of why is Hizbullah taking the tribunal so seriously? What does it care if its members are indicted for murdering Hariri? This is a terror group that has always been perfectly willing to kill in order to get its way. And everyone knows it.
Hizbullah operatives killed Hariri because he was irritating Nasrallah and Assad with all his talk about Lebanese sovereignty. Then they killed parliamentarian after parliamentarian to deny Hariri Jr.’s legislative majority the power to form a government or do anything else without Hizbullah agreement. When even that was insufficient to force the government to slavishly do its bidding, Hizbullah carried out its bloody coup in May 2008 in order to take over effective control of the government and the Lebanese Army. So, too, after the June 2009 elections, Hizbullah coerced members of Hariri’s coalition to change sides and so prevented him from forming a coalition without Hizbullah receiving veto power over all government decisions.
And even if Hizbullah did care about what its fellow Lebanese think of it, the fact is that Hizbullah is not an independent actor. It is an Iranian proxy. And the Iranians have made clear that they do not care what the tribunal does.
Iran’s supreme dictator Ali Khamenei announced earlier this month that as far as Iran is concerned, the tribunal’s judgments are null and void. In his words, “This court is a kangaroo court and every verdict it issues is rejected.”
So again, why is Hizbullah so concerned about this tribunal? Hizbullah is concerned because it understands the power of symbols. No, its operatives will probably never be jailed for their crimes. But the tribunal is a symbol. If Bellmare dares to defy Hizbullah, then others might consider doing so.
On the other hand, if Hizbullah is able to coerce Hariri to withdraw the Lebanese government’s support for the tribunal and disavow its work, it will have demonstrated its strength and authority in a way that will deter others from challenging it.
Hizbullah’s response to the specter of the Special Tribunal is not only interesting for what it tells us about prospects for Lebanon’s future and for regional stability and peace. Hizbullah’s response to the threat that its members will be exposed as Hariri’s assassins teaches us interesting lessons about the nature of information warfare.
Information warfare is not simply a question of competing narratives, as it is often characterized in the West. Information war is a form of warfare whose aim is to use words, symbols and images to force people to take real action.
These actions can involve everything from war to terrorism to surrender.
In closed societies, information warfare is used to cause people to rally around the group conducting the information operation and to mobilize supporters to act against the chosen enemy. For instance, when its leadership is interested in inspiring terror attacks against Israel, the Palestinian Authority broadcasts around the clock incitement against Israel.
On May 8, 2001, a group of Palestinians from a village adjacent to the Israeli community of Tekoa in Gush Etzion got their hands on two Jewish children, Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran, from Tekoa. The two boys were bludgeoned to death with stones. The details of the butchery are unspeakable.
The question is, what can make human beings butcher children? How can a person hurt a child the way that their killers hurt them? The answer is Palestinian television.
In the weeks before the murder, PATV (funded by foreign donors) broadcast doctored footage around the clock of what they claimed were atrocities carried out by Israel. They showed doctored images of mutilated corpses and claimed that Israel had mutilated and abused them. Israel and Jews were so demonized by these false images that after awhile, the Palestinians watching these shows believed that Jews, including Jewish children, were all monsters who must be destroyed and made to pay for their imaginary crimes.
This was an act of information warfare that in the event, led Palestinians to butcher Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran.
As for information warfare aimed at Westerners, here, too, the Palestinian Authority, like Hizbullah, has a long track record of success.
Journalists know that the PA has no compunction about kidnapping, arresting and beating up reporters. They do it to Palestinian reporters routinely. Western reporters who come in to the PA recognize that if they want to be safe, they have to report stories that will make the PA happy.
For instance, after a television crew from Italy’s Mediaset network broadcast footage of the PA police-supported lynch mob murdering and dismembering IDF reservists Vadim Nozhitz and Yosef Avrahami in Ramallah in October 2000, Ricardo Cristiani, deputy chief of Italy’s RAI television network’s Jerusalem bureau, published an apology in the PA’s newspaper Al- Hayat al-Jadida.
Among other things, Cristiani wrote, “We [RAI] emphasize to all of you that the events did not happen this way, because we always respect [will continue to respect] the journalistic procedures with the Palestinian Authority for [journalistic] work in Palestine and we are credible in our precise work.”
Fearing Palestinian revenge attacks, Mediaset was forced to shut down its offices.
This week, Swedish and Danish police announced the arrest of four Muslim terrorists who were en route to carrying out a massacre at the Jyllands Posten newspaper. The attack was supposed to avenge the newspaper’s publication of cartoons of Muhammad in 2005.
A US diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks and published Monday by Sweden’s Aftonbladet newspaper reported that Syria’s Assad himself directed the information operation in 2006 that led to rioting against Denmark and Jyllands Posten throughout the Muslim world in 2006. Assad reportedly ordered Syria’s grand mufti to incite his fellow imams to attack Denmark for publishing the pictures.
The Arab world’s response to WikiLeaks shows just how powerful the incitement against Israel and Jews on the Arab psyche is. According to Hazem Saghiyah from the NOW Lebanon news portal, the Arab world was beset by confusion because Israel was not exposed as demonic by the WikiLeaks documents.
As Saghiyeh put it, for Arabs who have come to believe that Israel controls the world through its satanic power, “these documents should have provided the decisive argument” against Israel.
The fact that it is the Arab leadership, rather than Israel that has been exposed as lying and two-faced, makes the Arab world writ large view the WikiLeaks operation as a huge Zionist conspiracy.
WHAT ALL of this shows is that information wars are not just about getting out the facts.
Like kinetic warfare, they involve power plays, intimidation and the use of subconscious and visceral manipulation.
Israel has recently awoken to one aspect of information warfare. It has recognized the consequences of years of demonization of Israel in Europe and international organizations. But Israel has yet to awaken to the fact that it is a type of warfare and has to be countered with counter-information warfare.
Obviously this doesn’t mean that Israel should begin acting like its enemies. But what it does mean is that Israel must begin using more hard-knuckle techniques to defend itself. It must begin targeting people’s emotions as well has their minds.
For instance, when Israel is confronted by threats of lawsuits for acts of self-defense, it responds with defense attorneys. When the US was threatened with lawfare by Belgian courts, then-secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld responded by threatening to remove NATO headquarters from Belgium.
When Israel is accused of targeting Palestinian civilians, it responds by attaching legal advisers to combat units. What it should be doing instead is providing video footage of Palestinian children being trained as terrorists and exploited as human shields.
War is a dirty business. Information warfare is a dirty form of war. And if we don’t want to lose, we’d better start fighting.
www.CarolineGlick.com

Report: Breakthrough achieved towards Israel-Syria talks
Ynetnews/Kuwaiti newspaper claims Syrian foreign minister told US Damascus was ready to reopen direct talks with Israel; says breakthrough strongly linked to appointment of US ambassador in Syria
Roee Nahmias Published: 01.01.11, 12:43 / Israel News /A Kuwaiti newspaper reported Saturday that there is "unprecedented Syrian willingness" to enter back into negotiations with Israel.
The report, which is based on US sources among others, stated that Washington is engaged in secret talks with Syrian senior officials regarding peace talks with Israel. The report has not been confirmed by any other source. According to the report, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem signaled the US two weeks ago that "the Syrians are ready to reopen direct talks with Israel and achieve peace." Moallem is in close contact with US government official Dennis Ross.
US President Barack Obama believes, based on such sources, that peace between Israel and Syria would help advance the region. There are no further details regarding the Syrian messages to the US, however Ross has informed the administration that he has "discerned unprecedented Syrian willingness to distance itself from Iran, cool off relations with Hezbollah and Hamas and cooperate with the US on the war on terror." The report also noted that Israel has shown willingness to withdraw from the Golan Heights.
Getting Israeli green light
Several weeks ago, Ross visited Israel in what the report described as a visit aimed at securing an Israeli green light to negotiations. According to the newspaper, there is a strong link between the surprising breakthrough and the appointment of Robert Ford as the US's new ambassador to Syria. There has been no US ambassador in Damascus for the past five years since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The Congress is now in recess and cannot oppose the appointment.
The report quoted other sources which it described as conservative elements in Washington saying that economic sanctions were suffocating Iran and have led Syrian President Bashar Assad to pull himself out of the alliance with Iran. They were further quoted as saying that Assad believes that peace will protect his government from an international tribunal investigating Hariri's murder. Nevertheless, the report was not supported by other sources.
Meanwhile, former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz addressed contacts with Damascus Saturday and said: "The meaning of peace with Syria will be overwhelming concessions in the Golan Heights, I don't know how far. One has to ask whether the public is ready for this. A leader who will take the lead and present an agreement to the public would have the people's support. "
Ilana Curiel contributed to this report

U.S. Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Spokesman: Ford's Appointment Not Result of Saudi-Syrian Deal over STL
Spokesman for the U.S. Bureau for Near Eastern Affairs at the U.S. State Department John Sullivan stated that the decision to appoint Robert Ford as the new U.S. Ambassador to Syria should not be viewed as a reward to the Syrian government. He also added that the appointment is not related to the situation in Lebanon or a possible Saudi-Syrian deal over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The timing of the appointment only reflects the United States' need to protect and bolster its interests in the region, he said.The presence of a U.S. ambassador to Syria facilitates the delivery of messages from the American government to the Syrian one, Sullivan concluded. Beirut, 01 Jan 11, 13:25

UNIFIL: We Haven't Noticed Any Transportation of Rockets, Arms South of Litani by Hizbullah
Naharnet/Spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Neeraj Singh stated that the international troops have not noticed any transportation of weapons and rockets south of the Litani River by Hizbullah. He told United Press International that should the force notice such activity, then it would announce it in a report to the U.N.
He added that he does not believe that a war is inevitable, saying that should problems erupt between the Lebanese and Israeli armies, then contacts and UNIFIL intervention would settle them. Furthermore, Singh pointed out that Israel had continued its violations of Lebanon's airspace throughout 2010, but it did not violate the country's sovereignty by land.
The UNIFIL official stressed Israel's intention to withdraw from the northern section of the village of Ghajar, noting that such a measure requires an U.N.-sponsored agreement with Lebanon.The international force can take control of the region once Israel has exited the village, and then, through cooperation with the Lebanese authority, it would hand it over to the Lebanese army, Singh added. Beirut, 01 Jan 11, 10:51

Harb Defends Draft Law: It Prevents Christian Exodus, Preserves Sectarian Balance
Naharnet/Labor Minister Butros Harb on Friday defended his draft bill that suggested banning the sale of land between Lebanese sects for 15 years."It prevents Christian exodus from their hometowns and preserves their mixing with the other communities," Harb told MTV television channel. "Those who oppose the bill without providing an alternative have a hand in the displacement of Christians," he believed. That was a clear reference to Walid Jumblat who criticized Harb's proposal as "madness." Beirut, 31 Dec 10, 14:45

Connelly Says Appointing Ford Not 'Reward' to Syria: STL Work Can't Be Stopped by Regional Agreement
Naharnet/Appointing a U.S. Ambassador to Damascus should not be viewed as a reward to the Syrian Government, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly announced Friday in a statement. "Having an ambassador in Damascus improves our ability to deliver firm messages to the Syrian government and to articulate clearly our concerns and priorities to Syria. No step taken with Syria comes at Lebanon's expense," Connelly noted. She described the newly-appointed ambassador Robert Ford as "one of the most qualified U.S. diplomats in the Foreign Service." "The timing of Ambassador Ford's appointment is only reflective of the need to protect and advance U.S. interests and security in the region," Connelly stressed.
U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon's work is "legitimate and necessary and cannot be stopped by any bilateral or regional agreement," Connelly reassured.
"The STL indictments, when they are released, will mark a new stage in a transparent, independent judicial process -- a process that has the backing of the United Nations," she added.
STL's probe into the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri is reportedly set to indict operatives of Lebanon's Hizbullah, the powerful Shiite movement which is backed by Iran and Syria.
Hizbullah has warned against any attempt by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to arrest its members, raising fears of instability in the country.
But Saudi-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain ex-premier, has vowed to see the court through.
The standoff has sparked fears of renewed violence in Lebanon following the STL indictments, and regional power-houses Saudi Arabia and Syria have scrambled to find a settlement that would please Lebanon's feuding camps. U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday bypassed Congress to name the first U.S. ambassador to Syria in nearly six years, part of his Middle East engagement drive criticized by Republican opponents. Obama took the controversial step of forcing through the appointments of Ambassador Robert Ford and five other officials while the Senate -- which normally needs to confirm nominations -- was out of session.
The United States withdrew its ambassador to Damascus after Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri was killed in February 2005 in a bombing blamed on Syria at that time.
Obama announced his desire to put a new ambassador in Syria in 2009 and named Ford in February this year, advancing his policy of reaching out even to adversaries of the United States.
The U.S. administration sees Syria as a crucial link in diplomatic efforts to negotiate peace in the Middle East and has hoped to step up intelligence cooperation with Syria.
But Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican who will head the House Foreign Affairs Committee next month after her party swept mid-term elections, accused Obama of offering concessions to a country that is "destabilizing" Lebanon where it backs the armed group Hizbullah. "Making underserved concessions to Syria tells the regime in Damascus that it can continue to pursue its dangerous agenda and not face any consequences from the U.S.," the Florida lawmaker said. "That is the wrong message to be sending to a regime which continues to harm and threaten U.S. interests and those of such critical allies as Israel," she said. Beirut, 31 Dec 10, 19:56

Canada's Foreign Minister, Mr. Cannon Condemns Extremist Targeting of Christians in Iraq
No. 1 - January 1, 2011 : The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement regarding a spate of violence in Iraq against the Christian community: “The Government of Canada continues to be deeply concerned about the plight of minorities in Iraq. “Canada strongly condemns these senseless and shameful acts of violence. Iraqi minorities, including the Christian community, are especially vulnerable to violence and discrimination. Al Qaeda in Iraq’s stated policy of targeting Iraqi Christians demonstrates its violent ideology and lack of respect for human dignity and religious tenets. “The Government of Canada firmly supports the people and the Government of Iraq in their efforts to bring about a secure, stable, unified and democratic country. Canada welcomes the Government of Iraq’s commitment to protecting its minority communities and continues to support freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Iraq.”
- 30 -
For further information, media representatives may contact:
Melissa Lantsman
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
613-995-1851
Foreign Affairs Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
613-995-1874

Canada Calls on Iran to Respect Human Rights of All Its People
(No. 2 - January 1, 2011 - 12:15 p.m. ET) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement on the state of human rights in Iran:
“As 2011 begins, I am deeply concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran. Iranians, like people everywhere, deserve to live in a peaceful country free of fear and persecution.
“I am particularly concerned by the uncertain fate of two Canadians of dual nationality who remain in prison in Iran. There have also been reports that Saeed Malekpour, a Canadian permanent resident, has been condemned to death and that his sentence could be carried out at any time. Two young hikers, U.S. citizens Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, also remain separated from their families.
“Sakineh Ashtiani, as well as a Kurdish student activist, seven Bahá’í community leaders and a number of prominent lawyers, including Nasrin Sotoudeh, are also being detained. They are just a few of the many people in Iran who face harsh treatment and disproportionate sentences.
“Finally, recent reports that Youcef Nadarkhani, a Christian pastor, has been sentenced to death for renouncing his Muslim faith are of grave concern to Canada, as this is a sign that the Iranian people do not enjoy freedom of religion.
“As we begin a new year, and indeed, a new decade, Canada hopes that Iran’s incoming foreign affairs minister will encourage the country’s authorities to show mercy and compassion to those who are in Iran’s prisons without just cause. We call on Iran to respect its international human rights obligations in law and in practice and to foster a more open dialogue with the international community.”
- 30 -
For further information, media representatives may contact:
Melissa Lantsman
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
613-995-1851
Foreign Affairs Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
613-995-1874

Bomb outside Egyptian church kills 21, wounds nearly 80 after New Year's Mass
By By Maggie Michael, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press
.ALEXANDRIA, Egypt - A powerful bomb, possibly from a suicide attacker, exploded in front of a Coptic Christian church as a crowd of worshippers emerged from a New Years Mass early Saturday, killing at least 21 people and wounding nearly 80 in an attack that raised suspicions of an al-Qaida role.
The attack came in the wake of repeated threats by al-Qaida militants in Iraq to attack Egypt's Christians. A direct al-Qaida hand in the bombing would be a dramatic development, as the government of President Hosni Mubarak has long denied that the terror network has a significant presence in the country. Al-Qaida in Iraq has already been waging a campaign of violence against Christians in that country.
The bombing enraged Christians, who often complain of discrimination at the hands of Egypt's Muslim majority and accuse the government of covering up attacks on their community. In heavy clashes Saturday afternoon, crowds of Christian youths in the streets outside the Saints Church and a neighbouring hospital hurled stones at riot police, who opened fire with rubber bullets and tear gas.
Egypt has seen growing tensions between its Muslim majority and Christian minority — and the attack raised a dangerous new worry, that al-Qaida or militants sympathetic to it could be aiming to stoke sectarian anger or exploit it to gain a foothold.
Nearly 1,000 Christians were attending the New Year's Mass at the Saints Church in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, said Father Mena Adel, a priest at the church. The service had just ended, and some worshippers were leaving the building when the bomb went off about a half hour after midnight, he said.
"The last thing I heard was a powerful explosion and then my ears went deaf," Marco Boutros, a 17-year-old survivor, said from his hospital bed. "All I could see were body parts scattered all over — legs and bits of flesh."
Blood splattered the facade of the church, as well as a mosque directly across the street. Bodies of many of the dead were collected from the street and kept inside the church overnight before they were taken away Saturday by ambulances for burial.
Some Christians carried white sheets with the sign of the cross emblazoned on them with what appeared to be the blood of the victims.
Health Ministry official Osama Abdel-Moneim said the death toll stood at 21, with 79 wounded. It was not immediately known if all the victims were Christians. It was the deadliest violence involving Christians in Egypt since at least 20 people, mostly Christians, were killed in sectarian clashes in a southern town in 1999.
Police initially said the blast came from an explosives-packed vehicle parked about four meters (yards) from the church.
But the Interior Ministry said later in a statement that there was no sign that the epicenter was a car. That "makes it likely that the explosives ... were carried on the person of a suicide attacker who died with the others," it said.
Around six severely damaged vehicles remained outside the church, but there was little sign of a crater that major car bombs usually cause. Bits of flesh were stuck to nearby walls.
Both car bombs and suicide attackers are hallmark tactics of al-Qaida, and they have rarely been used in Egypt. Most recent attacks on Christians or churches have been by less sophisticated means — mainly shootings.
The last major terror attacks in Egypt were between 2004-2006, when bombings — including some suicide attackers — hit three tourist resorts in the Sinai peninsula, killing 125 people. Those attacks raised allegations of an al-Qaida role, but the governments strongly denied a connection, blaming them on local extremists.
Hours after the blast, President Mubarak went on state TV and vowed to track down those behind the attack, saying "we will cut off the hands of terrorists and those plotting against Egypt's security."
Aiming to prevent sectarian divisions, he said it was attack against "all Egypt" and that "terrorism does not distinguish between Copt and Muslim."
But Christians at the church unleashed their fury at authorities they often accuse of failing to protect them. Soon after the explosion, angry Christians clashed with police, chanting, "With our blood and soul, we redeem the cross," witnesses said. Some broke in to the mosque across the street, throwing books into the street and sparking stone- and bottle-throwing clashes with Muslims, an AP photographer at the scene said.
Police fired tear gas to break up the clashes. But in the afternoon, new violence erupted in a street between the church and the affiliated Saints Hospital. Some of the young protesters waved kitchen knives. One, his chest bared and a large tattoo of a cross on his arm, was carried into the hospital with several injuries from rubber bullets.
"Now it's between Christians and the government, not between Muslims and Christians," shouted one Christian woman at the hospital.
In a reflection of the deepening mistrust between Egypt's communities, many in the crowd believed police would not fully investigate the bombing, reflecting Christians' suspicions that authorities often overlook attacks on their community.
Archbishop Arweis, the top Coptic cleric in Alexandria, said police want to blame a suicide bomber instead of a car bomb so they can write it off as a lone attacker. He denounced what he called a lack of protection.
"There were only three soldiers and an officer in front of the church. Why did they have so little security at such a sensitive time when there's so many threats coming from al-Qaida?" he said, speaking to the AP.
Christians, mainly Orthodox Copts, are believed to make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's mainly Muslim population of nearly 80 million people, and they have grown increasingly vocal in complaints about discrimination. In November, hundreds of Christians rioted in the capital, Cairo, smashing cars and windows after police violently stopped the construction of a church. The rare outbreak of Christian unrest in the capital left one person dead.
Alexandria governor Adel Labib immediately blamed al-Qaida, pointing to recent threats by the terror group to attack Christians in Egypt.
He offered no evidence to support his claim, but a recent spate of attacks blamed on al-Qaida against Christians in Iraq have an unusual connection to Egypt.
Al-Qaida in Iraq says it is attacking Christians there in the name of two Egyptian Christian women who reportedly converted to Islam in order to get divorces, prohibited by the Orthodox Coptic Church.
The women have since been secluded by the church, prompting Islamic hard-liners to hold frequent protests in past months, accusing the Church of imprisoning the women and forcing them to renounce Islam.
Al-Qaida in Iraq says its attacks on Christians would continue until Egyptian Church officials release the two women. The Church denies holding the women against their will.
Egypt faced a wave of Islamic militant violence in the 1990s, that peaked with a 1997 massacre of nearly 60 tourists at a pharoanic temple in Luxor. But the government suppressed the insurgency with a fierce crackdown, and militant violence all but stopped until the bombings in the Sinai reports of Dahab, Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh in the mid-2000s.

Deadly Blast Targets Egypt Church, Sparks Sectarian Violence
01/01/2011 The first day in the new year of 2011 was deadly in Egypt, as an attack on a church in Alexandria has killed at least 21 people, sparking sectarian violence in the country.
The attack was then followed by clashes between enraged Christians and police, as the protesters stormed a nearby mosque, prompting fights and volleys of stone throwing with Muslims, in a sign of the sectarian anger that has been arising with greater frequency in Egypt.
"The number of dead has risen to 21," Ussama Abdel Moneim said, adding that eight people were wounded in the attack. An earlier toll from the interior ministry said seven people had been killed and 24 wounded.
There was no immediate responsibility for the attack which came as the people left the Al-Qiddissine (The Saints) church in the Sidi Bechr district of the northern city at around half past midnight.The prosecutor has opened an investigation in the incident.
The interior ministry ruled out the hypotheses of a car bomb, saying it was "probable that the bomb... was carried by a suicide bomber who died among the crowd."
The device was packed with pieces of metal to cause the maximum amount of harm, it added.
And the circumstances of the explosion, "given the methods that currently prevail in terrorist activities at the global and regional level, clearly indicate" that the bombing was "planned and carried out by foreign elements."
For his part, President Hosni Mubarak urged Christians and Muslims to close ranks and confront "terrorism" after the attack, saying the bombing bore the hallmark "of foreign hands."
In televised remarks, he referred to it as something that "is alien to us," and pledged to "cut off the head of the snake, confront terrorism and defeat it."
"All of Egypt is targeted. This blind terrorism does not differentiate between Copts and Muslims," he said, urging people from both faiths to unite.
"You are terribly mistaken if you believe that you can hide from the punishment of the Egyptian people," he added, addressing the still-unknown assailants.
On the other hand, Sspokesman for Al-Azhar, Refaa al-Tahtawi, Islam's main institution based in Cairo, appeared on television to denounce the attack which he said “targeted Egyptian national unity.”He also appealed to Christians and Muslims for calm.

Question: "What sort of New Year’s Resolution should a Christian make?"
GotQuestions.org?
Answer: The practice of making New Year’s resolutions goes back over 3000 years to the ancient Babylonians. There is just something about the start of a New Year that gives us the feeling of a fresh start and a new beginning. In reality, there is no difference between December 31st and January 1st. Nothing mystical occurs at midnight on December 31st. The Bible does not speak for or against the concept of New Year’s resolutions. However, if a Christian determines to make a New Year’s resolution, what kind of resolution should he or she make?
Common New Year’s resolutions are: to quit smoking, to stop drinking, to manage money better, and spend more time with family. By far the most common New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, in conjunction with exercising more and eating healthier. These are all good goals to set. However, 1 Timothy 4:8 instructs us to keep exercise in perspective: “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” The vast majority of New Year’s resolutions, even among Christians, are in relation to physical things. This should not be.
Many Christians make New Year’s resolutions to pray more, to read the Bible every day, and to attend church more regularly. These are fantastic goals. However, these New Year’s resolutions fail just as often as the non-spiritual resolutions, because there is no power in a New Year’s resolution. Resolving to start or stop doing a certain activity has no value unless you have the proper motivation for stopping or starting that activity. For example, why do you want to read the Bible every day? Is it to honor God and grow spiritually, or is it because you have just heard that it is a good thing to do? Why do you want to lose weight? Is it to honor God with your body, or is it for vanity, to honor yourself?
Philippians 4:13 tells us, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” John 15:5 declares, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” If God is the center of your New Year’s resolution, it has chance for success, depending on your commitment to it. If it is God’s will for something to be fulfilled, He will enable you to fulfill it. If a resolution is not God honoring and/or is not in agreement in God’s Word, we will not receive God’s help in fulfilling the resolution.
So, what sort of New Year’s resolution should a Christian make? Here are some suggestions: (1) Pray to the Lord for wisdom (James 1:5) in regards to what resolutions, if any, He would have you make; (2) Pray for wisdom as to how to fulfill the goals God gives you; (3) Rely on God’s strength to help you; (4) Find an accountability partner who will help you and encourage you; (5) Don’t become discouraged with occasional failures; instead allow them to motivate you further; (6) Don’t become proud or vain, but give God the glory. Psalm 37:5-6, “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

Lebanese Diaspora leaders call on Christian Sunnis and Druses to resist Hezbollah in Lebanon
December 31, 2010
In an article published in daily As Siyasa http://www.al-seyassah.com/AtricleView/tabid/59/smid/438/ArticleID/120955/reftab/76/Default.aspx
several Lebanese Diaspora leaders called on Christian, Sunni and Druse leaders in Lebanon to form "defensive areas" against Hezbollah's terror and penetration.
The Diaspora leaders called on President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Hariri, the Lebanese Army and Internal Security Forces to stop the infiltration by Hezbollah cells into areas outside the Shia enclaves and defend what is known as "March 14" zones of support. But the emigres' leaders also addressed the top politicians from the legislative majority who oppose Syrian influence to "work immediately on setting the defenses of the zones contiguous to the areas dominated by the Iranian backed militia.
As Siyasa reported that coordinated statements were issued today december 30th by Sheikh Sami el Khoury, the President of the World Maronite Union based in Miami, Florida, Joe Baini the President of the World Council of the Cedars Revolution based in Sydney, Australia, Elias Bejjani the chairman of the Lebanese Canadian Coordination Council based in Toronto and the Secretary General of the International Committee for UNSCR 1559 Tom Harb, who briefs Western Governments on Lebanon.
The statements called for removing the weapons deployed by Hezbollah and its allies including Christian Michel Aoun, Sunni Abdel Rahim Mrad, Druse Wi'am Wahhab, and the Syrian National-Socialist Party (SSNP) in the districts with Christian, Sunni and Druse majority and enable civil society to defend itself if Hezbollah would wage military offensives and terror acts in the near future.
The Diaspora leaders claimed the Iranian and Syrian backed militias have been smuggling weapons from the Hezbollah areas of control into opposing regions and that Christian, Sunni and Druse communities should stop Hezbollah's advances into their areas.

Obama’s dangerous recess appointments
12/31/2010
By Paul Skousen /Daily Caller
http://dailycaller.com/2010/12/31/obamas-dangerous-recess-appointments/
This week President Obama announced recess appointments of six individuals to fill key administration posts. The White House press office said these were slots “left vacant for an extended period of time.”
“Left vacant” doesn’t tell a fraction of the story. Two key appointments represent a dangerous shift in U.S. foreign policy.
Appointed: Ambassador to Syria, Robert Stephen Ford
Syria has been supporting terrorist organizations since before 1979. When the prime minster of Lebanon was assassinated in 2005, intelligence sources pointed to Syria as the culprit. The U.S. refused to dignify Syria with continued association and withdrew Ambassador Margaret Scobey shortly after the murder.
The worst band of murderers in the Middle East are among Syria’s friends: Hezbollah, Hamas, and break-off groups from the PLO. Today, Damascus is strengthening its ties with Iran.
President Obama knew this recess period was his best chance to bypass security-minded Republican senators and send an ambassador to a known terror sponsor.
This signals a foolish change in U.S. policy. It should be addressed openly and publicly when Congress reconvenes in January.
Appointed: Deputy Attorney General, Dept. Of Justice, James M. Cole
Taking the number two spot behind Attorney General Eric Holder is a man soft on terrorism, and an attack dog sent after Newt Gingrich in 1996 for ethics violations. Gingrich was forced to pay a $300,000 fine because he taught a college course entitled “Renewing American Civilization” at a tax-exempt college — this is very scary stuff.
A few years later in 2002, Cole compared the 9/11 attacks to the drug trade and other domestic violence:
“Our country has faced many forms of devastating crime including the scourge of the drug trade, the reign of organized crimes, and countless acts of rape, child abuse and murder,” Cole wrote. “The acts of September 11 were horrible, but so are those other things.”
After enraging the country with that dismissal, Cole said the terrorists are really criminals in the general sense, and deserving of constitutional protections — legal representation, trial by jury, right to cross-examine witnesses (if any of them are still alive), and the right to present their own defense.
This appointment of Cole allows President Obama to pound one more wide wedge separating acts of terrorism from acts of war, and calling them instead matters of domestic violence.
Is it constitutional?
Setting aside President Obama’s rabid penchant for weakening America, the Constitution does make room for these kinds of recess appointments.
Article 2.2.3 says the president shall have the power to fill vacancies that occur while the Senate is in recess.
Says W. Cleon Skousen in The Making of America, “This provision gives the President the right to make temporary appointments in order to fill vacancies to important positions while the Senate is not in session and therefore cannot confirm the appointments.
“Of course, when the Senate does convene, the name of the temporary appointee must be presented for confirmation, and if no affirmative action is taken by the end of the session, the temporary appointment is terminated even without a formal rejection of the appointee.”
Obama’s recess appointments will expire in about a year unless the Senate acts.
NEXT: What did the Founders think about recess appointments?
What did the Founders say?
Alexander Hamilton
was supportive of the power. In Federalist Paper No. 67 he said: “As it would have been improper to oblige this body [Senate] to be continually in session for the appointment of officers, and as vacancies might happen in their recess . . . the succeeding clause is evidently intended to authorize the President, singly, to make temporary appointments.”
Archibald MacLaine (a patriot from North Carolina) expressed concern that important national business would be neglected if the president could not continue the work of state after the Senate recessed:
“This power can be vested nowhere but in the executive,” MacLaine wrote, “because he is perpetually acting for the public; for, though the Senate is to advise him in the appointment of officers, etc., yet, during the recess, the President must do this business, or else it will be neglected; and such neglect may occasion public inconveniences.”
Senate approval was meant to prevent the president from subverting the will of the people. Hamilton said “[The Senate] would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters. . . .”
Playing Politics
Presidents have been making recess appointments since the beginning. Unfortunately, the power to sway national policy independent of representation by the people can be significant, dangerous, and foreboding to national security — as demonstrated this week.
Paul B. Skousen is a former analyst for the CIA, an intelligence officer in the Reagan White House, and staffer for Senator Orrin Hatch. He has interviewed on Fox News and was featured by Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story about smuggling Oliver North’s shredded secrets from the White House. He is a journalist and published author, and the son of W. Cleon Skousen, author of The Five Thousand Year Leap. He is a national Constitution Coach and senior editor with PowerThink Publishing, LLC. Website: www.powerthink.com. Email: paul@powerthink.com

Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai reports U.S. believes Syria ready to distance itself from Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas.
By DPA /The United States has been in secret contact with Syrian officials in the hopes of realizing a comprehensive Israel-Syrian peace treaty, the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper reported Saturday. The past few weeks had witnessed an "unprecedented Syrian cooperation" in the peace process, prompting Washington to talk with Syrian officials to reach a peace agreement between Syria and Israel, informed sources told al-Rai.
Sources said Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem had sent positive signals to the U.S. showing that "the Syrians are ready to re-engage in dialogue with the Israelis to reach peace".
President Barack Obama's administration believes that an Israeli-Syrian peace agreement will be "a breakthrough in the peace process as a whole to achieve peace in the Palestinian territories." Sources said that Obama adviser Dennis Ross told the U.S. administration that he found "Syria ready to move away from Iran and reduce relations with Hezbollah and Hamas, and work with the United States in the fight against terrorism." Israel, for its part, apparently expressed a willingness to return the Golan Heights to Syria, reach an agreement on water rights, and normalize relations with Damascus. Syrian demands the return of the Golan, a strategic plateau overlooking northern Israel, as a prerequisite for any peace deal.
Israel captured the Golan in the 1967 Six Day War, and in 1981 parliament passed a law applying Israeli "laws, jurisdiction and administration" to the territory, in effect annexing it. The annexation was not recognized internationally. Direct Israeli-Syrian peace talks fell apart in 2000, over a dispute over Syrian access to the Sea of Galilee, as per the de facto border which existed prior to the 1967 war. Turkish mediated Israeli-Syrian talks also failed to produce any breakthrough.

Syria strongly Condemns Alexandria Terrorist Attack
(Dp-news – Sana)
DAMASCUS- Syria on Saturday strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack which took place near a church in Alexandria City in the brotherly country of Egypt.
Syrian official source said in a statement that Syria considers such terrorist crimes target the national unity and the religious pluralism in Egypt or other Arab countries; it stands by the brotherly country of Egypt in confronting terrorism and fighting anything that could harm the Egyptian national unity. The source expressed Syria's condolences to Egypt and the families of the innocent victims, whishing them quick recovery. The source stressed that Syria is sure of Egypt's keenness on preserving its national unity and Arabism. Earlier, the Egyptian authorities announced that a criminal car bomb took place near a church in Alexandria City last night killing 21 peoples and injuring 79 others. The Egyptian Nile TV Channel citied the Ministry of Interior as saying it is likely that the explosive device used in Alexandria bombing might be carried by a suicide bomber who died in the incident