LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJanuary
07/2010
Bible Of The
Day
The Good News According to
Matthew 6/22-23: "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is
sound, your whole body will be full of light. 6:23 But if your eye is evil, your
whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is
darkness, how great is the darkness!"
Free Opinions, Releases,
letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Canada Expresses Condolences
Following Assassination of Pakistani Governor/January
06/11
Honesty and Hypocrisy in Facing
Terrorism/By: Ziad J. Asali, M.D. and Hussein Ibish/January
06/11
Sectual Healing is a Process/By:
Nadine Elali/January
06/11
Syria and Israel’s dirty little
secret/By: Hussain Abdul-Hussain/January
06/11
Opinions divided on Boutros Harb’s
draft law/By: Matt Nash/January
06/11
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 06/11
Labor Minister Boutros Harb: My
real estate bill is legal/Now Lebanon
France: STL cannot and will not be
abolished/Now Lebanon
UN spurns Beirut on fixing sea
border after Israel strikes gas/DEBKAfile
Strugar Says UNIFIL Not Authorized
to Monitor, Demarcate Sea Border/Naharnet
Indictment could damage Lebanon's Hezbollah/Washington Times
Militants celebrate as new law sets Turkish Hezbollah free/Toronto Star
Abu Naim, Aoun's Eldest Brother,
Dies after Battle with Illness/Naharnet
Zahra: Aoun Should Follow up his
Statements with Actions, Stop Working against the Truth that he is Aware of/Naharnet
Rival Lebanese political parties
trade accusations over crippling deadlock in government/Daily Star
New law needed to curb influence of
poll illegalities/Daily Star
Lebanese leaders condemn attack on
Egypt Coptic church/Daily Star
Peace with Syria is actually
possible/Haaretz
The Impact of the Hariri Murder
Inquiry on the Middle East/Hudson New York
Lebanon's Christians mull
uncertain future/Zawya
Social Affairs Minister Selim
Sayegh rules out cabinet change/Now Lebanon
France: STL cannot and will not be abolished
January 6, 2011 /France believes that the UN-backed probe into the 2005
assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri should continue its work. Like the
March 14 alliance in Lebanon, France believes that the UN-backed probe into the
2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri should continue its
work. French Foreign Minister Michčle Alliot-Marie said that the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) “will pursue its investigations,” reported the AKI
Italian news agency Wednesday. The STL cannot be abolished, she said, adding
that its upcoming indictment will not target a party or a particular sect, but
individuals. However, the minister added that it is of utmost importance to
preserve the unity of the Lebanese people. “Prime Minister Saad Hariri is keen
on preserving Lebanese unity,” she said. Tensions are high in Lebanon amid
reports that the STL may soon indict Hezbollah members in its investigation of
the murder of Rafik Hariri, a move the party repeatedly warned against. In other
news, an appeals court in Paraguay on Tuesday ruled in favor of extraditing a
Lebanese man wanted in the United States on charges linked to raising funds for
Hezbollah. Moussa Ali Hamdan, 38, was arrested in mid-June 2010 in a hotel in
Ciudad del Este, the hub of the busy and often lawless tri-border area between
Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. The free-trade zone city of Ciudad del Este is
home a large foreign-born population, including some 30,000 Arabs, mostly of
Lebanese origin.
Foreign intelligence officials claim that Ciudad del Este harbors Islamist
terrorist sleeper cells, an allegation the three countries deny. In November
2009, a US district court in the state of Pennsylvania indicted Hamdan on
several charges related to money laundering, using counterfeit currency,
passport forgery, and exporting stolen laptops, cell phones and cars. The
proceeds were to benefit Hezbollah, which Washington considers a terrorist
group, according to the US indictment. Hamdan, who claims to have moved to
Paraguay to work at an electronics store with a friend, told Paraguayan
reporters that Washington wants him "because I'm a Muslim." "If I had been a
Christian, I would not have been arrested," he said. Tuesday's ruling confirms a
lower court ruling in August authorizing the extradition.-NOW Lebanon/AFP
Canada Expresses Condolences Following Assassination of Pakistani Governor
(No. 7 - January 5, 2011 - 2:40 p.m. ET) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement expressing his
condolences to the people of Pakistan after the January 4, 2011, assassination
of Salman Taseer, Governor of the Punjab province: “On behalf of the Government
of Canada, I extend my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Governor
Salman Taseer, and to the Pakistani people, in the wake of his vicious and
cowardly assassination. His death is a loss to the people of Pakistan and all
those who shared his commitment to the promotion of tolerance and legal reforms
in that country.”
For further information, media representatives may contact:
Lynn Meahan
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
613-995-1851
Foreign Affairs Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
613-995-1874
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Zahra: Aoun Should Follow up his Statements with Actions,
Stop Working against the Truth that he is Aware of
Naharnet/ebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra criticized on Wednesday Free Patriotic
Movement leader MP Michel Aoun's recent statements, saying that he should back
up his positions with actions. He added in a statement: "The difference between
us and Aoun, and all the others in Lebanon, is that he knows the truth but he
exercises the opposite."
"We support fraternal ties with all Arab countries and we apply our convictions
in this matter, whereas Aoun limits this relationship with one state, Syria,
which has pending issues with Lebanon and the Lebanese and it does not take any
steps to tackle them," he continued. Zahra noted that some of these issues "date
back to the time when Aoun himself was in power."
"I call on Aoun to follow up his statements with actions, as we do," the MP
stressed. Beirut, 05 Jan 11, 18:21
Strugar Says UNIFIL Not Authorized to Monitor, Demarcate Sea Border
Naharnet/The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has no
authorization to monitor or demarcate the maritime border between Lebanon and
Israel, UNIFIL Director of Political and Civil Affairs Milos Strugar said
Wednesday. He noted that Israel had placed sea marks in the Ras al-Naqoura area
on the maritime border with Lebanon in 2000, the year it ended its occupation of
vast areas of South Lebanon, adding that the successive Lebanese governments
have never recognized that line. Strugar clarified that the U.N. peacekeeping
force's mandate is limited to assisting the Government of Lebanon, at its
request, in securing its borders and other entry points to prevent the entry in
Lebanon without its consent of arms or related material. He added that UNIFIL,
according to its mandate, was focusing on ensuring that its area of operations
is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind.
Lebanon's Foreign Minister Ali Shami on Tuesday asked the United Nations to curb
Israel's offshore drilling plans, days after a U.S. firm announced the discovery
of a large field off the Jewish state's coastline. "We request you do everything
possible to ensure Israel does not exploit Lebanon's hydrocarbon resources,
which fall within Lebanon's economic zone as delineated in the maps the foreign
ministry submitted to the United Nations in 2010," Shami said in a letter
addressed to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
"Any exploitation by Israel of this resource is a flagrant violation of
international law and an attack on Lebanese sovereignty," read the letter, which
was carried by the state-run National News Agency. U.S. firm Noble Energy
announced last week that the Leviathan gas field, offshore from Israel, holds an
estimated 450 billion cubic of natural gas.
The discovery, which surpasses the Tamar field discovered off the northern port
of Haifa, has positioned the Jewish state as an exporter, Noble Energy said.
News of the offshore fields, which surfaced in 2010, has increased tensions
between Israel and Lebanon which do not have formal maritime borders and sparked
an angry exchange of warnings between the two countries. Lebanon's Energy
Minister Jebran Bassil has said Lebanon plans to outline its maritime sea
borders and auction off rights to explore potential offshore natural gas and
petrol reserves in 2012. Beirut, 05 Jan 11, 21:32
Social
Affairs Minister Selim Sayegh rules out cabinet change
January 6, 2011 /Social Affairs Minister Selim Sayegh said on Thursday that
changing the current cabinet is out of the question. “The talks about reaching a
compromise [in which the cabinet will be changed] are unfounded. The cabinet
remains because it is the body that ensures stability in the country,” Sayegh
told the Voice of Lebanon– 100.5 radio station. He also said that the March 8
coalition wants Prime Minister Saad Hariri to submit to its demands so he can
remain the country’s premier or to give up on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).“We
cannot ask [March 14] to give up.”Tensions are high in Lebanon amid reports that
the STL may soon indict Hezbollah members in its investigation of the 2005
assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a move the party repeatedly
warned against.-NOW Lebanon
Labor Minister Boutros Harb: My real estate bill is legal
January 5, 2011 /Labor Minister Boutros Harb stressed on Wednesday that the real
estate bill he recently proposed is legal. The minister told LBCI television
that his bill will protect real estate rights as well as mutual coexistence in
Lebanon. “Lands are being bought in a suspicious way, as if the estate of the
Christians is being bought on purpose [in order] to empty it out from underneath
Christians.”Last week, Harb presented to the Presidency of Council of Ministers
a proposal to forbid selling real estate from Christians to Muslims and vice
versa for a period of 15 years.-NOW Lebanon
Syria and Israel’s dirty little secret
Hussain Abdul-Hussain,
January 5, 2011
The Syrian president and Israeli PM have been conspiring lately to get
Washington back on their sides. (AFP photo)
During the last week of December, two news tidbits came to the fore in
Washington. The first had it that the US administration was planning to replace
Peace Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell with his predecessor, current
Special Advisor on Iran Dennis Ross. The second reported that America had
succeeded in establishing a secret channel for peace talks between Syria and
Israel.
Putting the two together, I reported that Ross had visited Damascus as a secret
conduit for peace with Tel Aviv. The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) denied the
Ross visit and the secret channel, and insisted that Syria’s peace talks with
Israel were conducted strictly through Mitchell. One day later, Executive Vice
President of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
Malcolm Hoenlein told Israel’s Channel 10, and later US daily Politico, that he
had made a trip to Syria and met with President Bashar al-Assad.
Hoenlein insisted, though, that the purpose of his visit was “humanitarian,” and
that he sought to urge Assad to approve the return of the remaining Syrian Jews
to Israel.
It is hard to believe that, with the Mideast peace process stalling on all
tracks, Hoenlein – a friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who
made his trip with the latter’s knowledge – went to Damascus only to discuss
Syrian Jews.
It is more conceivable, however, that Hoenlein’s trip was a repeat of a visit of
another one of Netanyahu’s friends, Ron Lauder, to then-Syrian President Hafez
al-Assad in 1998, when Netanyahu was facing trouble with Washington for dragging
his feet on peace talks with the Palestinians. It has been argued that the
Israeli prime minister often uses the Syrian track to ease America’s pressure on
him when it comes to the Palestinians.
In 1998, like in 2007, 2008 and 2010, secret channels were created between
Damascus and Tel Aviv, but none resulted in a peace accord. And while it seems
that both Damascus and Tel Aviv are now familiar with such political maneuvers,
it looks like Washington is the only one that never learns. Whenever an
Israeli-Syrian channel is created, US officials become ecstatic, express
optimism that peace could be realized very soon, and turn a new page in their
relations with both Damascus and Tel Aviv.
For both Syria and Israel, the “secret peace talks” between them have proven to
be the best button they can press to reset their relations with Washington. The
trick has always worked.
In Beirut, the Lebanese have always known that Damascus uses the “peace talks
with Israel” card whenever it feels it has its back against the wall with the
Americans. But what many Lebanese don’t notice is that the Israelis also use
this trick.
Between Syria and Israel, there has always been a sort of regional political
symbiosis, often at the expense of the Lebanese and the Palestinians.
In 2010, Netanyahu was still being blamed in Washington – albeit discreetly –
for obstructing peace with the Palestinians. The Israeli leader therefore needed
a way out: Enter Hoenlein and the Syrian meeting. Assad too fears that the
impending indictment from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) could point the
finger at parties from his regime for the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri.
The Israeli-Syrian maneuver is clear: A US delegate convinces Washington that
both are peace-seeking nations and should be rewarded. Pressure on Netanyahu
stops, while the STL is undermined.
In Washington, however, some still believe that Israeli-Syrian peace is
possible. This faction now has the ear of President Barak Obama, who has been
convinced that with Hoenlein visiting Assad, both Syria and Israel are serious
about peace.
Obama, frustrated by the stalling Palestinian peace track, appointed Robert Ford
Ambassador to Syria during the US Congressional recess, falsely believing that
Israeli-Syrian peace is within reach, at least in the coming 12 months, before
Ford has to appear on Capitol Hill to convince senators that his deployment was
a good idea.
On a recent TV talk show that hosted me and a Syrian analyst from Damascus, I
quoted a statement by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs
Jeffrey Feltman, who said that it was Israel who broke Syria’s international
isolation through indirect peace talks in 2008.
Naturally, the Syrian analyst was offended to hear that his country had gotten
help form the “Israeli enemy.” To counter my argument, he said that on the
contrary, it was former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who was facing
domestic political trouble and who used talks with Syria to boost his position.
The analyst found himself unwillingly arguing that Damascus had extended a
political lifeline to Olmert, a secret Syrians rarely like to discuss in public,
but always want Washington to hear in private.
**Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the Washington correspondent of Kuwaiti daily
newspaper Al-Rai
Opinions divided on Boutros Harb’s draft law
Matt Nash, January 4, 2011
A draft law would prevent Muslims and Christians from selling each other land or
property for the next 15 years. (AFP photo/Joseph Eid)
MP Boutros Harb last week proposed a draft law that would bar Christians and
Muslims from selling each other land or property for the next 15 years. While
some have come out to support him, particularly fellow MP Ahmad Fatfat, others
have called the law sectarian. NOW Lebanon spoke with several people about the
law and asked if they agreed with it, thought it would deepen sectarian tensions
and whether they thought property sales in Lebanon were already influenced by
sectarian considerations even without the law.
Tala Hasbini, 31, Karakol al-Druze, Sunni
I did not read the draft law itself, [but from what I’ve heard about it], I
totally disagree with this. I’m against this kind of practice. This will create
a bigger divide among all the communities in Lebanon. The divide is there
politically, but in the area I live in, we have Druze, we have Muslims, we have
Christians. Of course we have a majority of Muslims, but you always see [people
from other confessions]. This is part of what Lebanon is; this is the Lebanese
identity. Each area, each street in Lebanon has a diverse community. This is
what I like about Lebanon.
[However, recently this has started to change a little.] I’m from an area [in
Beirut] called Mosseitbeh. It was a typically Sunni area. I’m a Sunni. When I
[went] to Mosseitbeh [when I was younger], it used to have Christians, Druze.
This was nice. Nowadays, when I go to Mosseitbeh, I don’t see the diverse
society that used to exist 20 years ago. [For instance, my Shia friend was
looking for an apartment, and] the landlord was a Sunni and he didn’t want to
sell to a Shia. I think the practice is already kind of there, and I think it’s
because of the political situation in the last five or six years. But when you
make a law, it’s like, khallas, it’s going to be like this forever. Change is
always present in our society, but when you have a law [like this], it’s like
you’re institutionalizing this practice, which I don’t like.
Michel Nehme, 42, Achrafieh, Maronite
It’s good temporarily. It’s good for one reason: You have all the Arab neighbors
coming to buy land here… They’ve got the money. This is a good move... It will
push people in their local areas to invest in their own area.
[Is it already happening?] Unfortunately it’s not happening, [Arab foreigners
are] buying everywhere now. Money talks now, fear walks. [There is a] lot of
shortage in cash in this country, so [anyone] will sell if they get a good
price.
Hassiba Lutsallah, 70s, Achrafieh, Greek Orthodox
I like people to be open and coordinate with each other. I don’t want isolation;
I don’t think it’s good for the future. We should see each other. People should
not be isolated, each sect alone. But perhaps [MP Harb] knows more about what’s
going on in the country; he’s an MP and a politician.
I don’t like this law, but at the same time I don’t want Christians to sell
their land and go away. This is very important to us. If we leave the country,
if we sell the land and go, that means no one will come back. I come from a
village. I feel I like to go to my village where I was born, brought up,
educated; it means something to me. But if there is no village you belong to,
you feel like you are lost. I feel like there is a bit of contradiction between
the two. My parents had many pieces of land, and I always said to my brothers,
“Don’t sell it. Keep it. These are your roots in this area.” I look at it this
way. It’s not because I don’t like the Muslims. No, I don’t mind. But I don’t
like that our people will move and another generation will come that will be
quite different than the generations that were brought up in this area.
People are selling just because they want more money. From Byblos to Batroun – I
come from that area – along the seashore, it was all owned by people from our
village. Now if you go there, not five meters belongs to the old owners. It was
all sold, and we don’t know to whom. I think we should keep our land and only
sell it if there is a real [personal, economic] necessity. And if your neighbor
will take your piece of land, it’s better than selling it to a stranger.
Adnan Chams, 60, Druze, Beirut
What rationale is this? This is outrageous. This is calling indirectly for the
division of the state, and we’re no longer Lebanese if this happens. I am
completely against this; it is in no way rational. I understand the current
fears, and that they are afraid of Muslims moving into the Christian areas
through selling land and migration, especially after the [targeting of
Christians] in Iraq and Egypt. I am not saying that I don’t understand those
fears, but this is a very irrational way of going about it. Let us find some
other way to deal with it. It is in no way for the best for the country, neither
economically nor [for its] identity. Where is the sense of nationalism in this?
This is legalizing the divisions among the different communities and will
definitely increase sectarianism.
We are Lebanese before being Muslims and Christians. The basic bond and
fundamental link among us is the country Lebanon. When Muslims only sell to
Muslims and Christians only sell to Christians, this means we truly only belong
to the different confessions and not the state, and this will be legalized and
present in the Lebanese constitution. I cannot accept such an idea in any way.
Abu Ahmad, 52, Beirut, Sunni
I am against such a law. We are Lebanese, Christians, Muslims, Druze, Sunni,
Shia; we’re all Lebanese.
This increases divisions among us, and increases the hatred. Imagine if I want
to sell my house and a Lebanese Christian comes to buy. What do I say, “No, I am
not going to sell to you because you’re Christian.” Are you serious? This is
very rude.
Sectarianism would increase [with this law], and so the situation will not get
better in the country; it will get worse. I [have heard some landowners] saying,
“I don’t want to sell my house to a Shia,” for instance. This is also wrong.
Imagine if I go down South and I want to buy a house and they won’t let me
because I am Sunni. How am I supposed to feel?
Even if it is happening in practice, it shouldn’t be made into a law. For the
situation to get better in the country, we should join hands, love each other
and not differentiate.
M.A., 27, Awkar, Christian
I am completely against this law. For me, as long as the person is Lebanese, I
don’t care. I don’t care about this stuff, Muslim-Christian, as long as the
person is Lebanese – or even from another country – I don’t mind selling him
property, nor do I mind buying. I believe if we continue to think in such a
manner, things will not get better in the country, and there won’t be national
unity of any sort. I don’t believe it is for the country’s best; it increases
sectarianism.
[However,] it is happening on the ground, this sort of activity, even among the
Armenians; they only sell to each other. But even if it is happening, I am still
against it.
Sectual Healing is a Process
Nadine Elali, January 5, 2011
While the constitution gives Lebanese civilians the right to not belong to a
sect, there is no legal system in which people without a listed religion can
exist –religious courts hold jurisdiction over all laws and contracts in
Lebanon. But on February 9, 2009 Interior Minister Ziad Baroud issued a circular
giving the Lebanese the right to remove any reference to their sect from their
Civil Registry Records, though they are still subject to the wider sectarian
system prevailing in Lebanon. The action followed prolonged efforts from
Lebanese individuals and civil society groups advocating secularism and the
creation of a civil state and laws. But now, almost two years later, there has
been talk about obstacles involved in striking one’s religion from his or her
record, especially when matters involve personal affairs and employment. Yet
while media outlets have highlighted the risks involved in striking one’s
religion from the record, much can be done to stop what Talal Husseini refers to
as “administrative reluctance,” from public sector employees. Husseini,
president of the Civil Center for National Initiative, says that the Lebanese
are still unaware that they can be public citizens not bound by their sect. “The
biggest obstacle” he told NOW Lebanon, “is in the heads of the Lebanese people,
civilians and employees in the administration.”Before their baby was born, the
Hajj Alis had their confession struck from their records, but when the time came
to register their newborn, they faced reluctance from an employee at the
Directorate General of Personal Status. The officer said the child should have
his sect recorded or else he could not exist officially. The Hajj Alis took
their case to a higher authority, and eventually the employee was informed of
the parents’ right to register their child without including his religion.
In another case, several young men who had had their confessions stricken from
their records applied for positions at the Internal Security Forces, but were
stalled by the admissions committee because their names couldn’t be classified
within a sect, and ISF positions are doled out according to officers’ religion.
The men’s applications were returned to them, and they were requested to provide
records clearly stating their sect. However, Minister Baroud intervened and
requested the committee create a new category for those who wish not to be
classified under a sect. Only then were the men’s applications accepted, though
some had already gone back to the Directorate General of Personal Status to put
their religions on their records again. Bassel Abdallah, lawyer and General
Director of the Civil Society Movement, says that religious figures in a sense
“punished” the applicants for striking their sect from their records by pushing
admissions board employees to leave their applications pending until Baroud’s
intervention.
“There is no law forcing the Lebanese to present which sect they belong to when
applying for a post that is not of the first category,” Husseini said, referring
to high-ranking official positions, which are still allotted based on a person’s
religion. “The post-Taif Accord law stressed on freeing public jobs from
sectarianism, and whenever there is a violation of this law, the minister must
intervene to solve the issue.”
“These actions [of civil society activists and Minister Baroud] are telling the
religious figures to move over because we want to replace you with a civil
system, but they will not allow it; they are preserving their power,” lawyer and
human rights activist Marie Rose Zalzal said. But Zalzal says that the Lebanese
are not being active enough in seeking to remove religion from all official and
legal aspects of life in the country. They should “come up with means of
pressure, and going to the courts is one of them,” she said. “One needs to at
least exercise the right that he has to gain the right that he doesn’t have.”
Vartan, who chose to only go by his first name, applied to strike his religion
from his records before 2009, and when he felt he was being denied the right to
do so, he filed a lawsuit against the Lebanese state and the Ministry of
Interior.“The lawsuit was put on hold because of the issuance of the
circulation, and now I don’t have reference to my confession in my records. For
me I got my right, but if at any point I feel that my civil rights are being
stripped from me, I am more than ready to go to the courts again.”
Vartan, Zalzal and Husseini believe that if there is a reasonable number of
Lebanese who wish not to be governed by their sect in any capacity, they can see
the establishment of a secular judicial and legal system in the country. “We may
be weaker than the sectarians,” Husseini said. “They have platforms and more
human and financial resources, but we are stronger than the sectarian system. We
exist.”
Honesty and Hypocrisy in Facing Terrorism
Ziad J. Asali, M.D. and Hussein Ibish,
The Huffington Post, January 4, 2011
The murderous bomb attacks against Christian communities in Egypt and Iraq have
been roundly condemned by most political and religious leaders, commentators and
public opinion in the Arab world. They have also been met with an outpouring of
passionate condemnation by ordinary people who have taken to the streets to
express anger and demand justice. People have sensed the danger to their whole
society inherent in such atrocities. The Alexandria church massacre could be a
wake-up call to reverse dangerous trends, or it may be the beginning of
unraveling of the bonds that keep people of different faiths and backgrounds
together as citizens.
However, the effort to place the blame solely on outsiders or extremists for
these attacks glosses over a much deeper and more troubling context. While there
is little sympathy for the outrageous crimes of the fanatic extremists outside
of their own ranks, these murderous radicals are in fact taking some prevalent
societal attitudes to a cold bloodied and logical, albeit extreme, conclusion.
Emerging out of a pervasive reality of powerlessness and inequity, political
trends in the Arab world have given rise to a belligerent chauvinistic
sensibility that has increasingly valorized the Islamic identity and regarded
the rest of the world, especially the West, with deep suspicion and hostility.
These attitudes are promoted from the top down, through government-sponsored
media, educational and religious institutions, and from the bottom up, in the
home at the dinner table and online through a social media echo-chamber
featuring a radical chic discourse aimed at restless young people. The worst
ideas generally come from Islamist religious institutions, leaders and political
opposition groups, which frequently argue that there is not only a conspiracy
against the Arabs to prevent their development, but a global campaign to destroy
Islam itself. Moderate voices who view the world in political rather than
religious terms are outnumbered and function outside the parameters and comfort
of political correctness. They try valiantly to stand for universal values while
having to contend with constant intimidation because of their principled
opposition to extremism.
The hegemonic narrative of relentless victimization at the hands of an
all-powerful West frequently focuses on the theme of double standards, to which
Arabs certainly have been subjected. However, this same ideal of a single
standard is rarely applied in an introspective or self-critical manner. The
contribution of Arabs and Muslims to their own failures, powerlessness,
socio-economic inequities and dysfunctional systems are mentioned without any
serious pursuit of corrective measures. The real blame for the failure, however,
is consistently laid at the door of a hostile and manipulative West, led by
America, and their regional amorphous client elite.
The question of religious minorities is an ideal place to begin examining the
double standard argument. When given the opportunity, Muslims keep flocking to
the West, where Muslim communities are growing and thriving, although they also
face an increasing threat of discrimination and cultural hostility.
Christian and other religious minorities in the Arab world, however, are
generally shrinking and withering, and are now facing a murderous campaign of
attacks that seem consciously designed to try to drive them out of the region,
or at least certain countries, once and for all. The fact that the vast majority
of the victims of Islamist terror have been Muslims must not belittle the
distinctive brutality of these attacks on Christians. These people were killed
simply because they were Christians, with the evident aim of scaring them away
from the country and possibly the region. Muslims have generally been killed
because they happened to be in the way of those who use terror to achieve power
and political objectives, including significant intra-Muslim sectarian violence
in Iraq that intended to force communities to relocate.
It can't be enough for Arab and Muslim governments, and some media and
organizations, to simply condemn obviously unacceptable outrages such as the
recent massacres. In several Muslim countries religious minorities face
discrimination, restriction of rights, laws against blasphemy, apostasy and
"insults to religion," prohibitive constraints against building and
reconstructing houses of worship, and the aggressive state-sponsored promotion
of not only Islam, but certain narrow versions of it. All these realities need
to be opposed in a consistent manner by those who would credibly defend Muslim
rights in the West without engaging in double standards of their own.
Without even addressing circular arguments about who is defending themselves
against whose aggression, the work that must be done to counteract narratives of
intolerance and exclusion everywhere must be performed officially and legally,
as well as at the social and community level both here and in the Middle East.
It would be almost impossible to find explicit support from Arab or Muslim
Americans for wanton acts of violence against civilians, but easy to find echoes
of the sentiments of victimization and self-righteousness from which they
ultimately derive. Even among Arab and Arab-American Christians and other
minorities it is readily possible to encounter such views.
Of course, others have a great deal of work to do as well. The problems of
Islamophobia spreading in the West, and growing blatant anti-Arab racism in
Israel, need to be confronted at every level, without fear or favor. Marauding
lawless bands of Israeli settlers, and American religious and ideological
fanatics who advocate racism, must be held accountable. It is vital that
communities, identity groups and societies take more responsibility to
proactively define boundaries regarding what will be accepted as "respectable"
discourse or conduct and what clearly crosses the line and has to be confronted
as socially and politically dangerous even, and perhaps especially, if that
means breaching expectations of ethnic, cultural or religious solidarity.
Critics will complain that we are conflating apples and oranges, casting the net
of blame too widely or being unfair. What we are in fact doing is the
unavoidable task of drawing connections between words that begin with hypocrisy
and chauvinistic bluster, continue on into the promotion of intolerance, fear
and hatred, and finally, in the hands of the most extreme, erupt into
unconscionable acts of violence. This progression needs to be addressed as much
at its source as its outcome if the trend is to be reversed.
Too few voices and organizations in Arab and Muslim societies, and the
Arab-American community for that matter, repudiate much of the rhetoric that
ultimately, when taken to its logical conclusion by demented murderers, leads to
this kind of appalling violence. Their default position is to cite various
injustices and to ask others to understand the motives for violence by pointing
to a double standard argument or other rationalizations. This approach means
that most of Arab societies, and many in the Arab and Muslim American
communities, are in effect opting for silence. This doesn't mean that this
silent or ambivalent majority condones murderous acts by extremist fanatics, far
from it. But these massacres in Egypt and Iraq demonstrate that everyone has a
responsibility to be more vigilant and to recognize that the language of hate
and intolerance can ultimately lead to unspeakable violence and should not be
tolerated and countered by responsible choices.
In our own country, the most vociferous proponents of the Arab and Muslim
victimization narrative, those who blame the West, especially America or "the
white man," for all the ills that befall the Arabs and Muslims, and those who
most loudly advocate against the legal and societal harassment of Arabs and
Muslims in the United States, take full advantage, as they are entitled to, of
the American system and find shelter in the comfort and security of its
freedoms. The damage they do in being the loudest and most anti-American voices
emanating from the vulnerable Arab and Muslim immigrant communities, who already
feel besieged, is to provide ammunition to the demagogues and profiteers of
racism and peddlers of hate and fear of Arab and American Muslims, and to
empower and encourage the worst racist and chauvinistic tendencies in this
country. Minorities in this country have achieved their communal and collective
objectives by working the system as they redefine it, and gaining support and
power by courageous but peaceful confrontation with injustices, by use of the
law and the political system, and not by rejecting the system as inherently
corrupt and uncorrectable. And certainly not by murdering unarmed military
personnel or civilians, or by plotting to blow up planes or public squares.
For Arab and Muslim Americans silence is not a safe option. No group is more
vulnerable to the consequences of the next terror attack, or to policies based
on fear and exclusion. What happens, and does not happen, in the Arab and Muslim
world matters here at home. This assertion needs no explanation after September
11, 2001. The relentless wars against minorities, and not just Christians in the
Middle East, whether official, societal or even just criminal, waged by those
who aim to divide the world into large, mutually-exclusive and warring religious
and ethnic blocks is not just a threat to America and its values. It is a
specific and imminent danger to Arab and Muslim Americans, who must, for their
own urgent necessity, oppose such politics and rhetoric. They need to develop a
higher degree of honesty in their discourse and demand that a more elevated
sense of responsibility be conveyed and articulated by their elites and
leaderships.
The present tragic course of events, with mal-distribution of power and
resources in the Arab and Muslim world, and a deepening sense of victimization
that is increasingly directed at the West, especially America, and its friends
and allies, will eventually break through the coercive measures that have thus
far maintained the intrinsically unstable status quo. If serious change is not
effected in short order, this dam will burst and after that comes the deluge.
Ideas, deeds, programs and a modicum of peace in Palestine are urgently needed
to give a fighting chance to forces of moderation and sanity everywhere.
To survive, and to compete globally, Arab and Muslim societies need to embrace
their cultural, religious and ethnic mosaics, and view their diversity as
strength rather than weakness. They need to embrace a culture that values not
only individual rights and foregrounds the role of the citizen in political and
social life, but minority rights as well. The values of pluralism, peaceful
resolution of disputes and inclusivity are the only effective antidote to the
poison of extremism and extremist violence. Embracing these values will require
a change in social and political culture, and for that, every Arab, and Arab and
Muslim American, must take up their share of the responsibility. They must speak
publicly and courageously for these values here and in the Middle East. The
price of silence is prohibitive. The forces of fanaticism, violence and
exclusion must not be allowed to prevail.
**Ziad Asali is President of the American Task Force on Palestine. Hussein Ibish
is a Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine.
UN spurns Beirut on fixing sea border after Israel strikes gas
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report January 5, 2011, 12:03 PM (GMT+02:00) Tags: Cyprus
gas Israel Lebanon UN Three Mediterranean gas fields opposite northern IsraelThe
UN has turned down Lebanon's demand to intervene in delineating its sea border
following Israel's discovery in the Mediterranean of the Leviathan gas well -
billed as the world's biggest find in a decade. UN Spokesman Martin Nesirsky
explained that UNIFIL's mandate applied to coastal waters, not to delineating
maritime lines.
Cyprus responded to the exchange by announcing it had licensed the Texas-based
US firm Noble Energy - partners with Israel's Delek Energy group in the
Leviathan project - to explore a 1,250 square-mile block bordering on Israeli
waters. Leviathan, 80 miles off the Israeli port of Haifa, is claimed to contain
an estimated 16 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Turkey, Syria and Lebanon have challenged the maritime mapping accord, which
Jerusalem and the Nicosia government recently signed with Greek backing, calling
it a conspiracy to rob them of maritime energy resources belonging to them but
which they never explored. Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and Turkish Cyprus
may also get involved in the ballooning controversy that could bring half a
dozen eastern Mediterranean nations into conflict, debkafile's Middle East
sources report.
According to the experts, they are all sitting around the edges of one of the
world's biggest unexploited lakes of gas totaling an estimated 122 trillion
cubic feet under the Mediterranean sea bed. It may also contain unknown
quantities of oil.
Tuesday, Jan. 4, Lebanese foreign minister Ali Shami asked UN Secretary Ban ki-moon
to order the UN force stationed in South Lebanon to stop Israel drilling further
in "joint regional waters between Lebanon and northern Palestine." The UN
secretary lost no time in tossing the ball back to Beirut. Within hours, the UN
spokesman stated: UNIFIL's mandate - among others to monitor the coastal waters
in conformity with Security Council resolution 1701 - "does not include
delineating maritime lines. We are talking about two different things: coastal
waters and a disputed boundary."That same day, Cyprus' Energy Service Director
Solon Kassinis announced that Nicosia would issue a second license for offshore
oil and gas exploration in the second half of 2011. The island's southern coast
has been divided into 13 blocks for energy exploration. He said Noble Energy "is
obliged to proceed" with the first exploratory well inside its Cypriot block
between Oct. 2011-Oct.2013.debkafile: The collaboration between Jerusalem and
Nicosia in the exploration of Mediterranean energy resources, backed strongly
from Athens, is growing stronger. It is spreading into additional strategic
spheres, complementing the burgeoning ties between Israel and Greece.
Last month Turkey slammed the maritime mapping accord between Cyprus and Israel,
saying it was "null and void" because it disregards the rights and jurisdiction
of Turkish Cypriots on the ethnically split island. debkafile: Turkey maintains
25,000 troops as well as air and naval units in the Turkish region.
Ankara's objections, with queries this month from Cairo, will certainly have
given Israel and Cyprus extra impetus for moving fast to establish fixed facts
to support their claims as first comers to the massive gas fields opposite their
Mediterranean shores before the dispute is notched up to the next level. In
Cairo, foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Zaki announced that his department is
"carrying out technical and legal research to ensure that borders under the
agreement between Israel and Cyprus do not affect the Egyptian zone."
Berri: Seize the opportunity before it's too late
Rival political parties trade accusations over crippling deadlock in government
By Mirella Hodeib /Daily Star staff/Thursday, January 06, 2011
BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri urged rival groups Wednesday to take advantage of
ongoing regional efforts to end Lebanon’s political impasse, while bickering
groups continued to trade accusations over the state of paralysis that has mired
the country in the past months. “Let’s seize the opportunity before it’s
too late,” Berri was quoted as saying by the state-run National News Agency. “We
have to exploit the Saudi-Syrian initiative,” he said, in reference to efforts
undertaken by Lebanon’s two main power brokers Saudi Arabia and Syria to solve
Lebanon’s deadlock over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (S.T.L.), probing the
2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Berri, who spoke to
the 18 M.P.s who visited him at his residence in Ain al-Tineh as part of his
weekly meetings with lawmakers that he re-launched this week after a long
interruption, promised he will call for a legislative or a question-and-answer
session before the end of the month. Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Future News
television, however, described Berri’s call for a meeting with MPs as a
“smokescreen” against accusations that the Speaker has kept Parliament inactive
for the past five months. Media reports had quoted Berri as telling visitors
this week that he won’t have any regrets if the current Cabinet leaves, but
reiterated that he supported Hariri to head any new government.
Talk about government change was irrelevant according to Education Minister
Hassan Mneimneh, who blasted Hizbullah in comments to be published Thursday in
Al-Hawadeth magazine.
Mneimneh, a member of Hariri’s team of ministers, said Hizbullah’s policy was to
impose conditions on other groups. “They try to impose their conditions in the
government and if these are not met they impede the work of the Cabinet,” he
said. Lebanon’s Cabinet has not met since December 18 and sessions held in
November and October were far from productive, with the issue of the so-called
“false witnesses” crippling the work of the government. March 8 accuses the
“false witnesses” of misleading the probe into the Hariri killing and calls for
their trial by the country’s highest court, the Judicial Council. Their rivals
in the March 14 coalition say the case of “false witnesses” can be looked into
by the regular judiciary.
Mneimneh said while the prime minister welcomed talks with Hizbullah leader
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah put forth a series of conditions for the
meeting to take place. “The ball is in their court not ours,” he said, adding
that Hariri will not relinquish the court. Tension between the Hizbullah-led
March 8 group and Hariri’s March 14
alliance mounted in recent months over the indictment to be issued by the
U.N.-backed S.T.L. The court is widely expected to point the finger at Hizbullah,
sparking fears of violence once the indictment is released.
The education minister said Saudi-Syrian efforts were currently in limbo. “This
might be because regional and international guarantees are yet to materialize or
because the [March 8 group] is being slow and not abiding by commitments they
made,” he told the Voice of Lebanon-Voice of Freedom radio station Wednesday.
But a senior March 8 source told The Daily Star that the Syrian-Saudi bid was
being carried out in total secrecy. “All the remarks made on the Saudi-Syrian
efforts are totally baseless,” said the source, adding that Saudi King Abdullah
bin Abdel-Aziz and Syrian President Bashar Assad have not discussed Lebanon
since their long telephone conversation in late December.
The source said Berri and Hariri also lost touch when Hariri traveled outside
the country for the Christmas break. On top of the contentious issue of “false
witnesses,” the source said, the speaker and the prime minister were wrangling
over promotions of Internal Security Forces personnel. “Hariri had made plans to
return to Beirut to sign the promotions but changed his mind when [President
Michel] Sleiman informed him that Berri was not pleased with them,” said the
source.
The senior March 8 source also said high hopes should not be put on talks in
Washington next week between U.S. President Barack Obama and French President
Nicholas Sarkozy.
“Lebanon will certainly not be the focus of their talks,” said the source.
“Although Sarkozy might relay to Obama the fears expressed by Lebanese
politicians he had met over the post-indictment phase.” French Foreign Minister
Michele Alliot-Marie told French daily “20 minutes” in comments published
Tuesday that Lebanon’s unity ought to be safeguarded but the S.T.L. must
continue its work. “Prime Minister Hariri is working to preserve Lebanon’s unity
but the S.T.L. should be able to perform its work,” she said. “The S.T.L. is the
fruit of an international desire and no one can discredit or impede its work.”
Alliot-Marie said those who will be mentioned in the indictment will be tried in
their capacity as individuals rather than representing a certain party or
community. Hizbullah and its leader Sayyed Nasrallah said the party will cut off
the hand that dares arrest any of its members. Also commenting on the situation
in Lebanon, Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdel-Karim Ali hoped that Syrian-Saudi
efforts, in addition to inter-Lebanese entente, would bear fruit soon.
Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan, meanwhile, slammed attempts by the
March 14 groups to play down Syrian-Saudi efforts. “Saudi-Syrian efforts exist,
they are real and serious and have reached a certain stage but very few know the
content of talks,” he told Hizbullah’s Al-Noor radio station.
He held the March 14 alliance responsible for the paralysis witnessed in the
country and accused them of protecting “false witnesses.”
Hajj Hassan added that March 8 ministers will respond to any call for the
government to convene to finally resolve the issue of the “false witnesses”
either by referring it to the Judicial Council or putting the issue to a vote.
The president adjourned a session on December 18 to discuss the issue of “false
witnesses” when March 8 called for it to be put to a vote
New law needed to curb influence of poll illegalities
By Wassim Mroueh /Daily Star staff
Thursday, January 06, 2011
BEIRUT: The Constitutional Council is unable to curb the influence of illegal
campaign spending or the impact of sectarian and religious loyalties on voters
without a new election law, the head of the council said Wednesday. “It is very
difficult to control spending under the current electoral law,” Issam Suleiman
told a news conference at the council’s headquarters in Hadath. “It is also very
difficult for those filing a challenge to parliamentary polls before the
Constitutional Council to provide tangible evidence [of illegal spending].”
Suleiman said the current electoral law “legalized illegal spending” during
electoral campaigns, due to built-in deficiencies in the legislation, such as
the selective lifting of bank secrecy.
“Despite putting a cap on spending on electoral campaigns … the current
electoral law did not set up an effective mechanism to monitor such spending,”
Suleiman added.
He highlighted the necessity of drafting a modern electoral law that would
reduce the influence of campaign spending, and the impact of sectarian and
religious loyalties on voters.
Established in 1993 during the tenure of former President Elias Hrawi, the
Constitutional Council is tasked with examining the constitutionality of the
country’s laws, if challenged, as well as ruling on challenges to parliamentary
and presidential polls if filed before it.
Suleiman stressed the need to grant the council wider prerogatives to enable it
to play the role that the body does elsewhere.
He noted the council was unable to look into any law and study its
constitutionality unless concerned sides challenged it before the council.
“We consider that the prerogatives of the Constitutional Council are at their
minimum, compared to the prerogatives of constitutional councils in other
countries,” Suleiman stressed.
Sulemian was joined by his nine colleagues on the council at the news
conference, which was held to review the body’s achievements since its members
assumed their posts in June 2009.
“We decided to put political struggles aside … and stand at an equal distance
from all groups along with preserving and enhancing the independence of the
Constitutional Council,” Suleiman said, announcing the release of a 700-plus
hardback book detailing the council’s rulings and activities for 2009-10,
including the 19 challenges to the 2009 parliamentary poll results, none of
which was accepted by the council.
“We think it is necessary to issue a book at the end of every year, which
includes along with [council]’s decisions, opinions based on a scientific and
legal methodology, and studies in constitutional jurisprudence, to enrich
constitutional jurisprudence and interpretation,” Suleiman said.
He said the release of the book was part of the council’s policy of “openness,”
which involves outreach to people interested in constitutional law, faculties of
law and political science in Lebanon and Arab countries, and constitutional
tribunals and councils in the region and abroad. More than 600 pages of the book
are in Arabic, while an English brief on the council and a number of French
texts and summaries make up the rest. Suleiman announced that graduate and Ph.D.
students who are preparing theses related to constitutional law could have
access to the latest specialized reference sources at the council’s library.
Highlighting efforts to activate the council’s presence in the region and
internationally, Suleiman detailed a number of Arab and international meetings
and conferences that the council took part in during 2009 and 2010, along with
others to be attended in 2011.
Lebanese leaders condemn attack on Egypt Coptic church
By The Daily Star /Wednesday, January 05, 2011
BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman paid condolences Tuesday at Saint Marc’s Coptic
Church in Jisr al-Basha after a New Year’s Eve suicide bombing near a Coptic
church in Egypt killed 21 people. The incident prompted Lebanon’s political
leaders to call on Arab states to outline a united strategy to promote the role
of Christians across the Arab world.
A delegation from the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb (Phalange) Party also
visited the seat of the Coptic Church in Beirut’s suburb to offer their
condolences after delegations of Lebanese parties across the political spectrum
visited the church Monday. The Future Movement parliamentary bloc said in a
statement released following its meeting that terrorist acts were aimed at
dividing Christians and Muslims in the Arab world in a bid to tamper with
stability and to divert attention away from the paralysis in Israeli-Palestinian
peace talks. “These terrorist crimes … aim to split Arab societies and drown
them in a sea of disputes and conflicts,” the statement said. Vice President of
the Higher Shiite Council Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan said reports over
“persecuted minorities in the Arab world” was a masked call to spark strife and
sectarian tension. Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel said Monday the attack targeting
Alexandria’s Al-Qiddissin Church was a “massacre.” “Massacres are taking place
for no reason and without any justification against Christians. It is only
because they are Christians,” he said.
“What is happening to Christians is genocide,” he added – The Daily Star
A wake-up call for Christian leaders
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Daily Star/In the wake of deadly attacks in Egypt and Iraq, Christian leaders
have been sounding the warning bell, quite loudly, about threats to the
community in the Middle East. The most vociferous rhetoric has come from
Lebanon’s Christian community, which stands out in one important aspect from its
neighbors. In Lebanon, Christians have enjoyed more political freedom than their
counterparts in the region, but have made poor use of it, mired in their
destructive factionalism. Prior to Independence, Lebanese Christians were
divided over whether they wanted the continuation of a French mandate, or an end
to colonialism. After Independence, the divisions continued; the civil strife of
1958 might have erupted due to Cold War tensions, but it was also centered on a
struggle between President Camille Chamoun and Army Commander Fouad Chehab. A
few decades later, the Civil War began with Bashir Gemayel liquidating rival
Christians of the National Liberal Party. The war’s latter years saw bloody
conflicts between another general, Michel Aoun, and the Lebanese Forces under
Samir Geagea. This conflict alone killed thousands of Christians. And all along,
Christian politicians in Lebanon – where the calls for protection are loudest –
have played the double game of seeking the backing of foreign parties, while
demanding to be treated as upstanding, patriotic citizens. Whether overtly or
covertly, such politicians have declared over the decades that they enjoy the
protection of Paris, Washington, or the Vatican, while rival Christian leaders
have rarely promoted the interests of either their community or their country.
If such behavior continues, warnings about the threats to Christians will be
superfluous – the community is on track to lose any influence it has
traditionally enjoyed. Lebanon’s Christians should remember that calls for unity
and protection cannot be issued simply because a crisis or catastrophe has taken
place. The so-called disaster of Christian emigration is a few centuries, not a
few decades old.
Christians must take up their full responsibilities and rights as citizen to
avoid being portrayed as a minority that is perpetually on the verge of selling
its property and leaving for good. The responsibility falls on politicians who
are short-sighted and focused on immediate political gain, as well as members of
the clergy, who haven’t done enough to ensure a stable and durable presence for
their community. The bombings in Iraq and Egypt are a warning for Lebanon’s
Christians and more importantly, their leaders: put aside greed,
narrow-mindedness and racism, and work on ensuring that members of the community
become fully-fledged citizens who require no special protection inside the
country, or assistance from abroad.