LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJanuary 08/2010

Bible Of The Day
The Good News According to Matthew 6/24-30: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon. 6:25 Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 6:26 See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they? 6:27 “Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan? 6:28 Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin, 6:29 yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. 6:30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?"

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Christians and survival of the smartest/By: Michael Young/January 7/11
Interview from Al Hayat with Lebanon's PM, Saad Hariri/January 7/11
Dear Boutros Harb, Where would I go?/By: Hanin Ghaddar/January 7/11
Canada - Israel's best, least known, friend/By RON FRIEDMAN/January 07/11
Being rotten to the state of Denmark/By Michael Young/January 07/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 07/11
Egypt Copts mark Christmas under tight security/AFP
Iran builds new Eastern Front in Iraq against Israel, Jordan/DEBKAfil
Netanyahu Meets Mubarak, Says he Won't Let Hizbullah Undermine Calm /Naharnet
Report: Hizbullah Has More Firepower than 90% of Countries in the World /Naharnet
Qassem Hashem Accuses U.S. of Thwarting Saudi-Syrian Initiative /Naharnet
Hariri to meet with Saudi king and Clinton/Now Lebanon
Hariri Travels to New York to Meet Abdullah, Says Saudi-Syrian Deal Finalized but Requires Steps from Others /Naharnet
Hizbullah Attacks Hariri: His Statement is an Accusation and Do Not Help /Naharnet
Official: Syrian-Saudi Initiative's Single Objective is Domestic Stability /Naharnet
International Tribunal to Hear Sayyed's Bid for Files /Naharnet
Berri: Positive Attitude as Saudi-Syrian Initiative Recovers, Problem Lies in Taef /Naharnet
Ali Hassan Khalil: Our Battle is with Israel and Not Local Parties /Naharnet
Egyptian Foreign Ministry Slams Aoun's Statements: They Represent a Hidden Animosity towards Egypt /Naharnet
Aram I: Our Lebanese Belonging Should Overcome our Friendship with Others /Naharnet
Christians Mull Uncertain Future, Geagea Says it is More Difficult to Target them in Lebanon/Naharnet

Egypt Copts mark Christmas under tight security
07/01/2011/CAIRO (AFP) – Armoured cars were to be stationed next to churches in Egypt Friday as Coptic Christians celebrate their Christmas just days after a church bombing that killed 21 people.Drivers were banned from parking in front of churches, which were being tightly monitored by explosives detection teams and police, said a police official. Under the Coptic calendar, Christmas Day falls on January 7. Some Muslims would also show up at churches to act as human shields in a show of solidarity with Egypt's beleaguered Christian community, which accounts for 10 percent of the country's 80 million people. The measures came after Egypt's Coptic Christians attended Christmas Eve services Thursday behind cordons of steel put up by security forces. Security officials said at least 70,000 officers and conscripts had been deployed across the country to secure churches as Copts attended Christmas Eve mass.
Police said one primitive explosive device -- a tin can filled with fire crackers, nails and bolts, but with no detonator -- had been found in a church in the southern city of Minya.
The official Al-Ahram newspaper reported that security would also be tightened around tourist resorts. Hundreds of worshippers gathered on Thursday at the Saints Church in Alexandria, the site of Saturday's bombing. They were guarded by dozens of police and anti-riot vehicles.
In Alexandria, 27-year-old Maureen, dressed in black, said: "To survive, we Copts must confront our fear and pain. We have to be stronger than the terrorists. That's why I am coming to mass." Maher, 50, arrived for the mass with his wife and two daughters. "Our sorrow is great, but we feel stronger because of the support of our Muslim compatriots," he said. Others converged on Saint Mark's Cathedral in Cairo, where the head of the Coptic Church, Pope Shenuda III, conducted the service, attended by several government members and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's two sons Alaa and Gamal.
In Moqattam, a poor Cairo district with a large Coptic population, residents said the threat of further attacks would not deter them from going to church. "With Al-Qaeda's threats, we anticipate further attacks but we are not afraid. God protects us," said Adel al-Wazir. Pope Benedict XVI, who described the Alexandria bombing as a "cowardly gesture of death," sent his "heartfelt greetings and best wishes" to those now celebrating Christmas. He deplored the "martyrdom of a large number of innocent people" in his homily Thursday.
"May the goodness of God... strengthen the faith, hope and charity of everyone and give comfort to the communities that are being tested," he said in an address to pilgrims in Saint Peter's Square. Meanwhile, police released a sketch of the suspected Alexandria suicide bomber's face, reconstructed from the remains of a severed head found on the roof of the church.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which came after threats to Egypt's Copts from an Al-Qaeda-linked group in Iraq that had said it was behind a deadly October assault on a Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad. The group, the Islamic State of Iraq, said it would attack Copts if their church failed to release two women it claimed were being held against their will after converting to Islam. Several weeks before the attack, a website linked to Al-Qaeda published a list of Coptic churches it said should be targeted in Europe and Egypt, including the one bombed on January 1. A security official in Jordan told AFP on Thursday that police in the capital Amman had also tightened security for Christmas services at two Coptic churches there after the Alexandria attack. Around 3,000 Copts are estimated to live in the kingdom. Several other countries, including Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands stepped up security around Coptic Christian churches in response to the threat. The Alexandria bombing sparked days of protests and riots around Egypt that injured dozens of policemen and protesters. President Mubarak has vowed to find those responsible for the New Year's Day bombing, which he said targeted all Egyptians, regardless of their faith, and blamed "foreign hands."

Report: Hizbullah Has More Firepower than 90% of Countries in the World
Naharnet/Iran would use Hizbullah to launch massive rocket attacks against Israel if the Jewish state targets Tehran's nuclear facilities, analysts told Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post.
"The Iranians – who are largely responsible for building up Hizbullah to such an extent that today it has more firepower than 90 percent of the countries of the world – would 'call in their chips,' and the organization would launch massive rocket attacks against Israel's home front," the analysts said about a possible Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
"It is probable some of the Hizbullah attacks would come from Syria, which means that Damascus would be drawn into the conflict," according to the daily.
The analysts told the Post that the new Mossad chief, Tamir Pardo, is climbing to the top of the intelligence community pyramid with working assumptions already in place on a number of issues, notably the possible strike on the nuclear facilities and its aftermath. The outgoing Mossad chief, Meir Dagan, who retired from his post on Thursday after eight years, said he does not believe Iran will have nuclear capability before 2015. In a summary given to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Dagan said Iran was a long way from being able to produce nuclear weapons, following a series of failures that had set its program back by several years. Beirut, 07 Jan 11, 10:36

Iran builds new Eastern Front in Iraq against Israel, Jordan
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report January 6, 2011, The urgent phone call Jordan's King Abdullah II put in to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Wednesday Jan. 5 dealt only marginally with stalled diplomacy with the Palestinians. The king pressed for answers on what Jerusalem and Amman can do to curb Iran's advancing domination of Iraq in the face of America's inaction.Referring to Hizballah's role, Abdullah commented to Netanyahu: First Iran's missiles had you jammed from the north and the south, now Iran and Hizballah are cornering you from the east. The Americans are not lifting a finger to stop this happening."
The call, which came through the day before the Israeli prime minister met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for lunch at Sharm al Sheikh, elicited no real practical replies. Netanyahu confirmed that Israel still stood by the guarantee of support its armed forces and security services had granted the Hashemite Kingdom and its ruler for the past 60 years.
Both the king and the prime minister appreciated that words are not enough. Since both their military and strategic policies are synchronized with Washington, the total disintegration of American strategic positions in Baghdad Wednesday, Jan 5, was an alarming setback to both Jerusalem and Amman.
On that day, the anti-US radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, a close friend and ally of Hizballah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, came marching home from self-imposed exile in Iran, and the new Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi paid his first visit to Baghdad – both in full sight of 50,000 US troops.
Sadr was greeted by thousands of supporters on his return to his old stronghold in the holy city of Najef south of Baghdad three years after his armed militia was defeated in bloody revolts against US forces. The two arrivals from Iran, the cleric and the diplomat, made it plain that Tehran has Iraq by the throat and plans to impose on Baghdad its regime structure, which rests on two focii, the political capital and the clergy. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is already in Iran's pocket; he is beholden to the radical Sadr's support for his appointment. The same cleric – and therefore Iran - will control his fate - both by means of the 40-member Sadrist faction in parliament and the authority he wields from his seat in the religious city of Najef.
Tehran has also not neglected to carve out a position of influence in Baghdad for its Lebanese protégé, Hizballah, whose officers and instructors have been training the commanders of Sadr's powerful militia, the Mahdi Army, alongside Iranian instructors. The two ultra-radical Shiite leaders, Sadr and Nasrallah, are now bound closer together than ever before in an adventure for bringing Iraq under pro-Iranian Shiite domination. Iraq's neighbors, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, could only shudder at the sight of the two black-turbaned Shiite extremists taking charge of Iraq on behalf of Revolutionary Iran against no opposition.  This pair and Maliki have taken out of the hands of Washington and Baghdad the decision on whether a reduced US force stays on in Iraq after the main force departs in 11 months' time. Moqtada Sadr has vowed to remove every last American from Iraqi soil and no one shows any sign of stopping him. US troops will be replaced by Shiite-dominated Iraqi forces, the Shiite militias commanded and funded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Al Qods Brigades and Hizballah militia detachments transferred from Lebanon. Iran will in the coming months consolidate the Shiite takeover over Iraq. Hizballah will win a place in the sun and strategic depth after being squeezed between Syria, Israel and the sea. After US troops exit Iraq, the Iranians will be able to deploy their missiles and Hizballah's rockets in the bases the Americans leave behind in Iraq and point them at Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Official: Syrian-Saudi Initiative's Single Objective is Domestic Stability
Naharnet/A government official said Friday that the Syrian-Saudi initiative calls for clear steps to ease tensions in Lebanon and reduce the rhetoric among the rival political parties.
"All of the steps center on a single objective which is domestic stability and the ability of Lebanon to absorb the indictment" that will be issued by the international tribunal, the official told Agence France Presse. "The government has been paralyzed for months and the political leaders should be able to discuss issues and that has not been happening," he added. "We hoped to see the process translating into tension-easing steps but that has not so far happened," he said. "The ball is in their (Hizbullah's) court." He said the Saudi-Syrian deal also calls for steps to improve relations between Beirut and Damascus, which have cooled in recent months. The government official brushed aside as "off the mark" persistent reports in Lebanese and other newspapers that the mediation of Riyadh and Damascus calls for Hariri to reject the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. "A pre-emptive rejection of the tribunal is unthinkable," he said. "The prime minister has not agreed to such a rejection. "This is a tribunal requested by Lebanon, a court requested to get the perpetrators (of Hariri's assassination), this is a national cause," the official stressed.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 07 Jan 11, 13:48

Hariri to meet with Saudi king and Clinton
January 7, 2011 Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri headed to New York on Friday to meet with Saudi King Abdullah and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on his country's political crisis, a government official said. The official, who is close to Hariri and spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP the premier would discuss with the king and US officials the deadlock in Lebanon created by a UN probe into the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father, Rafik Hariri.
In an interview published Friday in the daily Al-Hayat, Hariri said he was travelling to New York to meet with the king for the second time in 10 days in a bid to boost Saudi-Syrian efforts to defuse the crisis. "I am going to there to give a boost to the mediation efforts that are a guarantee to Lebanon's stability," Hariri was quoted as saying. He revealed the Saudi-Syrian mediation efforts had led to an agreement months ago but accused Hezbollah of not living up to their end of the deal. Hariri said the deal was struck before King Abdullah went to the United States in November for back surgery. The monarch is still recovering in New York. "Any commitment on my part will not be carried out until the other party [Hezbollah] implements what they agreed to," the premier told Al-Hayat. Lebanon for months has suffered a political paralysis over reports the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is set to indict members of Hezbollah in connection with Rafik Hariri's murder. Hezbollah has warned it would not accept such an outcome and has accused the STL of being part of a US-Israeli plot. The group for months has been pressuring Saad Hariri to disavow the tribunal and warned the country could be plunged into a full-blown crisis should any of its members be implicated by the STL.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Hariri: Saudi-Syrian Deal Finalized but Requires Steps from Other Camp
Naharnet/The Saudi-Syrian agreement on consolidating stability in Lebanon was finalized a long time ago, before Saudi King Abdullah traveled to New York for treatment, Prime Minister Saad Hariri has said. However, in an interview with pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat published Friday, Hariri said "steps and answers are required from others, not from us, and anything else is an attempt to sabotage the Saudi-Syrian efforts." "Any commitment on my part will not be put into practice before the other camp implements what it has pledged, this is the essential rule" in the Saudi-Syrian talks, Hariri told the newspaper.He stressed that the Syrian-Saudi track will not backpedal "in the face of the major campaign of distortion" it is being subjected to, noting that talk about the formation of a new cabinet as part of a so-called "settlement" was "totally out of the question" in the ongoing Saudi-Syrian efforts.Hariri returned to Lebanon on Thursday, wrapping up a private visit to Saudi Arabia. On Friday, he held talks with President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace before traveling to New York to meet with Abdullah for the second time since the Saudi King's back surgery there.An official told Agence France Presse that the premier will also hold talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Upon his return to Beirut on Thursday, Hariri discussed the latest developments with Suleiman and House Speaker Nabih Berri in separate phone calls. Beirut, 06 Jan 11, 20:53

Hariri's Remarks Draw Controversy, Flies to NY for Crisis Talks with Saudi King, Clinton
Naharnet/Prime Minister Saad Hariri headed to New York on Friday for talks with Saudi King Abdullah and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the political crisis gripping Lebanon, a government official said. The official close to Hariri told AFP the talks would focus on the deadlock in Lebanon created by a U.N. probe into the 2005 murder of the prime minister's father, ex-premier Rafik Hariri. In an interview published on Friday in the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, Hariri said he was travelling to New York to meet with the king for the second time in 10 days in a bid to boost Saudi-Syrian efforts to defuse the crisis. "I am going there to discuss ways of boosting the mediation efforts that are a guarantee to Lebanon's stability," Hariri was quoted as saying. He revealed that Saudi-Syrian mediation had led to an agreement months ago, but accused Hizbullah of not living up to its end of the deal. Hariri said the agreement was struck before King Abdullah went to the United States in November for back surgery. The monarch is still recovering in New York. "Any commitment on my part will not be carried out until the other party (Hizbullah) implements what they agreed to," the premier told Al-Hayat. Lebanon for months has suffered a political paralysis over reports the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is set to indict members of the Hizbullah in connection with Rafik Hariri's assassination. Hizbullah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, has warned it would not accept such an outcome and accuses the STL of being part of a U.S.-Israeli plot.
The group has been pressuring Hariri, who is backed by the West and Saudi Arabia, to disavow the tribunal and warned that Lebanon could be plunged into a full-blown crisis should any of its members be implicated by the STL. The government official said the Syrian-Saudi deal calls for clear steps to ease tensions in Lebanon and reduce the rhetoric among the rival political parties. "All of the steps center on a single objective which is domestic stability and the ability of Lebanon to absorb the indictment," he said. "The government has been paralyzed for months and the political leaders should be able to discuss issues and that has not been happening," the official added. "We hoped to see the process translating into tension-easing steps but that has not so far happened," he said. "The ball is in their (Hizbullah's) court." Contacted by AFP, Minister of State for Administrative Reform Mohammad Fneish, a member of Hizbullah, blamed the government paralysis on Hariri's camp.
He added that the deadlock could be resolved if Cabinet agreed to debate the issue of alleged fake witnesses in the Hariri case. The government official brushed aside as "off the mark" persistent reports in Lebanese and other newspapers that the Saudi-Syrian mediation deal calls for Hariri to reject the tribunal. "A pre-emptive rejection of the tribunal is unthinkable," he said. "The prime minister has not agreed to such a rejection. "This is a tribunal requested by Lebanon, a tribunal requested to get the perpetrators (of Hariri's assassination), this is a national cause," the official stressed. Washington has repeatedly underlined its commitment to Hariri's government and the STL, while emphasizing that any rapprochement between the U.S. and Syria would not come at Lebanon's expense.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 07 Jan 11, 16:39

Official: Syrian-Saudi Initiative's Single Objective is Domestic Stability
Naharnet/A government official said Friday that the Syrian-Saudi initiative calls for clear steps to ease tensions in Lebanon and reduce the rhetoric among the rival political parties.
"All of the steps center on a single objective which is domestic stability and the ability of Lebanon to absorb the indictment" that will be issued by the international tribunal, the official told Agence France Presse. "The government has been paralyzed for months and the political leaders should be able to discuss issues and that has not been happening," he added.
"We hoped to see the process translating into tension-easing steps but that has not so far happened," he said. "The ball is in their (Hizbullah's) court." He said the Saudi-Syrian deal also calls for steps to improve relations between Beirut and Damascus, which have cooled in recent months. The government official brushed aside as "off the mark" persistent reports in Lebanese and other newspapers that the mediation of Riyadh and Damascus calls for Hariri to reject the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. "A pre-emptive rejection of the tribunal is unthinkable," he said. "The prime minister has not agreed to such a rejection. "This is a tribunal requested by Lebanon, a court requested to get the perpetrators (of Hariri's assassination), this is a national cause," the official stressed.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 07 Jan 11, 13:48

Hizbullah Attacks Hariri: His Statement is an Accusation and Do Not Help
Naharnet/Hizbullah Cabinet Minister Mohammed Fneish on Friday criticized a recent statement made by Prime Minister Saad Hariri as an "accusation." "Hariri's statements on Hizbullah's failure to commit to the Saudi-Syrian agreement are accusatory," Fneish told AFP. He was surprised that Hariri did not disclose details of the agreement. "When the Prime Minister refuse to reveal or touch on details and fail to explain to people what he is talking about, "When the Prime Minister refuses to disclose the details or make them public; and when he (refuses) to explain to the people what he is talking about, no one can judge whether he was right or not," Fneish stressed. "These statements do not help. They are an accusation and do not help in the implementation of the Saudi-Syrian initiative," he added. Fneish, however, described as "positive" Hariri's remarks published Friday in al-Hayat newspaper "when he acknowledged that the agreement has been finalized." Beirut, 07 Jan 11, 15:34

Berri Hits Back at Hariri: Throwing Responsibility on Others Does Not Reflect Truth
Naharnet/Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday hit back at Prime Minister Saad Hariri for throwing responsibility on the Hizbullah-led Opposition camp. "Throwing responsibility on the other (political) camp does not reflect the truth," Berri said in a statement. "Everyone knows that the crisis is the result of a politicized probe," Berri added. "Have mercy of our country," he pleaded. Beirut, 07 Jan 11, 16:21

Berri: Positive Attitude as Saudi-Syrian Initiative Recovers, Problem Lies in Taef
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri stressed that January will be decisive in solving the Lebanese crisis and said Premier Saad Hariri had a positive attitude on the Saudi-Syrian initiative.
Berri discussed with Hariri during a telephone conversation on Thursday efforts by Damascus and Riyadh to resolve the deadlock."The atmosphere is good and there is no alternative to the Saudi-Syrian initiative," Berri told Hizbullah's al-Manar TV on Thursday night. "The initiative is active and has returned" to the Lebanese scene, he said after his phone talk with Hariri. He reiterated that the Arab efforts to solve the crisis had reached a standstill with Saudi King Abdullah's illness but said "the initiative recovered and the level of optimism began rising." In an interview with al-Afkar magazine that will be published Saturday, Berri said "the problem in Lebanon does not only lie in the international tribunal. There is a bigger problem which is the Taef Accord." "The Taef Agreement is the best for now and has no alternative but we have to agree on how to implement it entirely," the speaker said. "This is part of the Syrian-Saudi initiative." A media report said Thursday that Berri will consider turning the tables if a solution to the crisis over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was not reached before the end of January.
Berri sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that the Speaker was seeking to fill in on lost time through revitalization of weekly parliamentary sessions. Beirut, 07 Jan 11, 08:53

Ali Hassan Khalil: Our Battle is with Israel and Not Local Parties
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri's advisor MP Ali Hassan Khalil reassured the Lebanese that the battle of the March 8 forces was with the Israeli enemy and not with any local party.
All parties "should unify because the real danger on Lebanon and all the Lebanese comes from the Israeli enemy which is seeking to shatter Lebanon and the region," Khalil said.
All sides should consolidate internal unity, the resistance and the army to confront dangers, he said. Lebanon is capable of overcoming the current crisis, the MP said despite the challenge of the indictment that will be issued by the prosecutor of the international tribunal. He stressed the March 8 forces were not afraid of the indictment but were concerned over attempts to use it for stirring more internal divisions. Berri's advisor confirmed that Syrian-Saudi efforts to resolve the crisis are ongoing and "heading in the right direction." Beirut, 07 Jan 11, 13:40

Qassem Hashem Accuses U.S. of Thwarting Saudi-Syrian Initiative
Naharnet/AMAL MP Qassem Hashem accused the U.S. of thwarting attempts by Saudi Arabia and Syria to find a solution to the Lebanese crisis and said the March 14 forces were procrastinating until the release of the indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. "The U.S. is playing the role of obstructer to this initiative," Hashem told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily in an interview published Friday. Washington "was lately ready to thwart this initiative." The lawmaker also accused the March 14 forces of procrastination pending the American green light for international tribunal Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to issue his indictment. Such moves "do not serve justice and the truth" in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination, he told al-Anbaa.
He reiterated that the March 8 forces "were from the beginning seeking to rectify the court's course to reach the truth because it has been politicized for a long time."
"But it seems that the other team, which has common interests with the U.S., does not want to either achieve justice or reach the truth," Hashem added. Beirut, 07 Jan 11, 08:28

International Tribunal to Hear Sayyed's Bid for Files
Naharnet/The international tribunal said Friday it would hear ex-general Jamil Sayyed 's bid for access to his docket on January 14 after he was jailed for four years without charge.
Pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen "orders the scheduling of a hearing at the courtroom of the tribunal on January 14, 2011," said a ruling dated Friday.
"The applicant and the prosecution will have 20 minutes each to present their arguments." Sayyed, the former director of the general security department, is one of four generals who claim they were arbitrarily detained between August 2005 and April 2009 after they made strongly worded accusations about the Hariri case. Sayyed, together with Hizbullah and its allies, have accused security officials, politicians and judges close to the former premier's son, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, of having "manufactured" evidence to implicate them in the assassination. A Lebanese judge ordered the general placed in temporary detention in August 2005 on an arrest warrant issued at the request of an international, U.N.-created commission of inquiry into the deaths of Hariri and 22 others in a car bomb blast in Beirut on February 14, 2005. But in April 2009, the U.N. tribunal ordered the release of Sayyed and three other generals, all considered pro-Syrian, saying there was not sufficient evidence to keep them. The general, who claims to have been the victim of a "grand conspiracy" involving false testimony, seeks access to his criminal file for use in legal proceedings in Lebanon.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 07 Jan 11, 15:01

Geagea: Pointless to Carry Out Development Projects that Could be Hindered by War
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said it was pointless to build a state that could be damaged by war in the future, lamenting that the political situation in the country wasn't stable yet. In an interview published in the first issue of Maraya Al Jebbe magazine, Geagea said: "The situation in Lebanon hasn't been stabilized yet and if there is no stability and we don't get a state with clear features, then builders are in vain getting tired.""It would be pointless to build a road that could be destroyed tomorrow by missiles and pointless to plan for a development project in an atmosphere that doesn't encourage investment in the country because it wouldn't succeed," the LF leader told his interviewer.The government and parliament won't be able to hold sessions if development, social, cultural and economic issues were not settled, he said. Beirut, 06 Jan 11, 10:59

Interview with Lebanon's PM, Saad Hariri
January 7, 2011
Al-Hayat newspaper carried the following interview with Prime Minister Saad Hariri on January 7:
What do you think about what is being said in regard to the Saudi-Syrian understanding?
For a while now, I have been watching what is happening in the country and throughout that time, I remained silent to protect the Saudi-Syrian efforts. However, since I am responsible for and concerned about the protection of these efforts, I deemed it necessary to set some things straight in light of what I have been hearing during the last few days in terms of statements undermining the political facts in the country and jeopardizing the Saudi-Syrian efforts. The efforts deployed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Syria tackle many points to consecrate stability in Lebanon. They resulted from a course that was launched by the summit which was held in Beirut between Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, President Bashar al-Assad and President Michel Sleiman. Therefore, let no one make a mistake in defining the Saudi-Syrian track. This track that was reached thanks to the wisdom, farsightedness and concerns of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques toward Lebanon is not moving along one course as it is being circulated. In reality, it requires several positive steps, none of which was undertaken by the other side until now.
What about what is being said in regard to answers you should provide and in regard to final touches that are necessary to ensure this understanding?
The steps and answers are required from other sides and not from us. This issue was sealed a long time ago and let no one use the pretext of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques’ presence in New York, because what was agreed on was secured months before his health problem. The Saudi-Syrian efforts reached specific results several months ago and before the Saudi King went to New York to receive treatment.
But there is talk about conditions still being debated in regard to the Lebanese government, the reallocation of the key ministries and the exit of certain sides from it.
First of all, I would like to assure that in regard to my allies, I have said it before and after the parliamentary elections: I will not give up on any ally who stood by me throughout the past stage, whether or not he succeeded in the elections. All of these people are my allies and I consider there are national principles which I will not relinquish. In regard to the Lebanese government, this issue is completely off the table at the level of the Saudi-Syrian track. In any case, those who think that a government other than the national-unity government can be established in this country should reconsider their positions. Let no one think I am holding on to power, to the authority or to the chair. What is important to me is Lebanon’s safety and stability and the unity of the Lebanese. As for those trying to implicate the Saudi-Syrian track in governmental or non-governmental allocations, they are seeking a track that will produce new domestic problems.
Some are saying that we are engaged in a race against time and that this month will be decisive. At the same time, there are fears over failing to see an agreement under the pretext of waiting for the completion of the final touches.
This is not true. The Saudi-Syrian effort is complete and awaiting implementation. Had they respected their commitments, we would not have been talking about a race against time. As for those trying to give the illusion that the prime minister needs to fulfill the requirements, they are in fact the ones who should fulfill their commitments. Anything else is an attempt to thwart all the Saudi-Syrian efforts. Moreover, let it be understood that no commitment will be implemented on my end before the other side implements its own commitments. This is the basis of the Saudi-Syrian efforts.
Ever since your visit to Paris, you have been talking about the required steps from the other team. What are they?
It is enough that they are known by the other side and I am surprised that it is not implementing them at a time when it is trying to give the impression that the answers are required from us.
Are we facing the threat of seeing the retreat of the Saudi-Syrian understanding?
The Saudi-Syrian track will not retreat. I am saying this to protect that track because it the object of a major campaign. I remained silent for months and now I am breaking the circle of silence to protect that track and ensure Lebanon’s stability and interests.
You are always addressing Lebanon’s stability while there is talk about fears of seeing strife due to the delay affecting the Saudi-Syrian understanding.
In regard to strife, I believe that a major one could have erupted the moment martyred Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated. But it did not. The Lebanese-Syrian relations went through a crisis, but a year ago we turned a new page and are committed to its improvement. Still, strife did not break out between the Lebanese because we decided to use our minds and to reject sectarian or denominational instigation. Moreover, during the last five years, many issues came up and prompted a vertical split between the Lebanese, but we deterred strife each and every time. For example, we were divided over the issue of Hezbollah’s arms and this – at a certain point – could have led to strife. But our political team decided to absorb this issue by tackling it around the national dialogue table that was launched by Parliament Speaker Nabih Beirri and is now being followed up on by President Michel Sleiman. Therefore, I believe we can contain any situation if we truly want to.
We must recognize that the prevailing impression is that the Saudi-Syrian track is frozen. What will Prime Minister Saad Hariri do in this regard?
I will visit New York once again to meet with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and discuss the ways to push the efforts forward and protect this track which constitutes a guarantee for Lebanon’s stability. Martyred Prime Minister Rafik aHariri once said that no one was bigger than his country and I hope that some will start showing modesty.

Christians and survival of the smartest
Michael Young, January 7, 2011
Now Lebanon/
Suddenly, it seems, everyone is interested in the Christians of the Middle East. That’s worthy, even if it has taken much time for people in the Arab world and the West to notice the hemorrhaging of the Arab Christian presence in recent decades.  For all this, it would be a mistake to lend artificial uniformity to such a trend. Only in a general sense does the fate of the Christians in Iraq affect that of Egypt’s Copts or Lebanon’s, Syria’s, Jordan’s or Palestine’s Christians. To assume that all suffer from the same challenges, above all growing intolerance in mainly Muslim societies, is to make the problem so large that solutions become impossible.
In Egypt, the Copts suffer from discrimination, and this can be linked to the movement of Egyptian society toward more overtly “Islamic” behavior in recent years. But that only tells half the story. In the 1950s and 1960s, when Egypt was still under a secular nationalist regime, there was a discernible religious coloring to the government’s hostility to the mainly Christian Levantines who had long been living in Egypt – Lebanese, Syrians, Greeks – many of whom left as a consequence.
And surely the growing Islamization in Egypt must, to a great extent, be linked to an autocratic leadership that has allowed society to more forcefully express its religious identity, this in order to legitimize the regime and permit it to suppress Islamic political organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood. Whatever the truth, the difficulties confronting the Copts are resolvable in an Egyptian context.
Which leads us to Lebanon, where despite Christian decline, the broader community, whether of the Eastern or Western churches, remains more influential and potent than elsewhere. In fact, as Iraqi Christians were being assassinated in their homes and Copts outside their Alexandria church lately, the most damaging blows to Lebanon’s Christians, and specifically to the Maronites, were self-inflicted.
Let’s take two examples. It has escaped nobody’s notice that the parliamentarians attached to Michel Aoun are at their most energetic when criticizing fellow Christians, such as President Michel Suleiman, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. That is their right. The Maronite community is a pluralistic one, and its end will truly come on the day when a single leader tries to impose harmony and homogeny on all.
However, the problem with the current criticisms is that they are entirely destructive, designed to discredit alternatives to Aoun. In attacking Suleiman, the Aounists are only saying that Michel Aoun would have made a better president. In abusing Sfeir, the Aounists are only saying that the patriarch will not get off lightly for having condemned Aoun in the past. In vociferating against Geagea, Aoun’s followers are only saying that there is no salvation outside Aoun.
What has emerged from this is utter divisiveness and an inability of the Maronites to find common ground over the basic interests of their community. Pluralism is one thing, but irreconcilable factionalism is something entirely different, affecting the long-term survival of the Maronites, and with them of other Lebanese Christian communities.
Take another case. The parliamentarian Boutros Harb has proposed a draft law that would prevent the sale of land between Christians and Muslims for a period of 15 years. Harb is worried by the fact that Christians in the south, but also in other predominantly Christian areas of Lebanon, are selling land to Shiites suspected of being linked to Hezbollah. If land is being bought up for political reasons, Christian or Muslim land, then this should be a matter of concern. However, Harb’s proposal is not the way to go, and will only bring about greater isolation of Christians from their Muslim countrymen.
What Harb is missing is that no one can legislate the future of Lebanon’s Christian communities. If Christians are selling land, that’s because selling land, regardless of the buyer, is an ordinary aspect of market behavior. But if Christians are selling land to depart from specific locations, then this is tied in to social and political realities that few legislative innovations will reverse. In those cases, it is the community’s representatives who need to find ways of encouraging their coreligionists to remain in their towns and villages of origin.
Harb’s proposal has been zealously denounced, but deeper thought should be put into the matter. A friend once recalled that during the war years, Shiite religious figures in the Christian-Shiite village of Kfour, near Nabatieh, issued a fatwa preventing Christians from selling their land. They did this to preserve Kfour’s multi-confessional character. At first the Christians complained, but once the war ended they were delighted to have a village to return to, with their property intact. Imposing a ban on land sales is not necessarily bad.
But what happened in Kfour was designed to uphold communal coexistence, whereas Harb’s project can only exacerbate communal relations and separate Christians from Muslims. Ultimately, what will determine the destiny of Arab Christians is whether individual communities can reach a consensus over how to maintain their presence in their countries and how best to integrate with their surroundings. Providing their surroundings will integrate with them.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of the Daily Star newspaper in Beirut and author of the recent The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle (Simon & Schuster).

Dear Boutros Harb, Where would I go?
Hanin Ghaddar, January 6, 2011
Now Lebanon/Dear Mr. Harb,
I am not an “outraged critic,” as the media described those who made statements in the past week against your draft law that would ban the sale of land and property between Christians and Muslims. I am not going to bash your motives or call you sectarian. I am not going to do that because I understand the motives behind your draft law. Yes, Christians are facing a huge problem in Lebanon. Yes, Hezbollah is buying large pieces of land from Christians, and yes, many Christians are worried about their existence in Lebanon, especially after the recent church bombings in Iraq and Egypt. Yes, Mr. Harb, I cannot blame you, but can you tell me where I am supposed to go?
I am a Shia, simply, because I was born into a Shia family in the south of Lebanon. I gradually grew out of my sectarian identity, and believe me, it took me years and years to construct a different identity for myself and to believe in it. My identity has many layers, but before anything else, I am a Lebanese – a secular Lebanese – woman.
Being a secular Lebanese is already not easy in a country where a secular civil status law does not exist. My whole adult life, I have refused to be labeled a Shia or a Muslim. I have refused to be submitted to the patriarchal religious system, and I thought I would be able to continue living without having to refer to it.
Dear Mr. Harb, I have never felt more like a Shia than I do today after reading your proposed law.
Ten years ago, I married a Maronite Christian. We had a civil marriage in France, and a few years later we bought a house in Achrafieh, the Christian area of Beirut. Then we had a son, who was, by Lebanese custom, automatically considered Christian, after his father.
During those years, Lebanon was divided along the political lines of March 14 vs. March 8. As a Shia who supported March 14 principles, both personally and as a journalist, I was immediately labeled as anti-Hezbollah.
I meet your political views and hear your fears. However, as a Shia, I worry about Hezbollah taking over the identity of Lebanon, not only of the Christians.
I truly believe that massive Hezbollah land purchasing in Christian areas is a risk that also applies to all Lebanese territories. Hezbollah is not only trying to change the demographics of Christian areas, but of all Lebanon, including Shia areas. The party has changed the people, their lifestyles and their mentalities, and that worries me most.
Do you have any idea how much the South has changed since the 1980s? It is not the South that I used to know, and this worries me the same way Hezbollah buying Christian land worries you. I hear your fears because I’ve had the same fears for a long time, but for all Lebanese, for all of Lebanon. During the past five years, March 14 has not been successful in integrating the Lebanese Shia community into its political project. In many ways, the Shia felt that they have nobody but Hezbollah to refer to. Your draft law would only increase the alienation of the Shia and push them further into the arms of Hezbollah and its mini-state.
Why should we make the same mistake again? The worries you and many Christians have are not so different from the worries that are eating up many Lebanese Shia. Instead, we need to think together, as Lebanese, about how to face the risk to all Lebanese, not only the Christians.
Moreover, Mr. Harb, your draft law constitutes a big problem for me, as a Shia with a Christian son who owns a property in a Christian area.
Today, if your draft law came to pass, I would feel like an outsider in my own country. I, or anyone else in my situation, could never go back to live in the South or in Dahiyeh because I am considered an outsider in my community, or what is considered by the Lebanese sectarian system as my community.
I am an outsider there, and I would be an outsider here in Achrafieh for the 15 years you proposed your law to remain valid, after which no one could predict the repercussions of such a law on people’s collective behavior. Mr. Harb, where would I go? Are people like me, who are not part of their sectarian communities, supposed to leave the country for some place else where they can at least hope to belong?And apart from the question of identity, there is another problem. According to our sect-based law, a person cannot inherit the estate of someone from a different religion. Therefore, my son, a Maronite, cannot inherit from me, his Shia mother. Outrageous, I know. The only solution is that I will have to sell my son my property for a symbolic price so that I can be able to pass it on to him. Now with your draft law, even that would not be possible. My son, simply, would never be able to inherit from me. Dear Mr. Harb, I really think that the problem with your draft law is not that it is a breach of the constitution. My concern is that it is a breach of what we stood for back in March 2005 at Martyrs’ Square, together, when we pledged to fight as Lebanese for Lebanon’s sovereignty. My principle – and I believe it was your principle, too – is to work for a secular, modern and reformed Lebanon, where the citizen matters most. Mr. Harb, I am a Lebanese citizen, and I want to stay one. Tell me, where would I go?
**Hanin Ghaddar is managing editor of NOW Lebanon

Being rotten to the state of Denmark
By Michael Young
Daily Star/Thursday, January 06, 2011
The decision of President Barack Obama to make a series of recess appointments that, among other things, sent Robert Ford to Damascus as the new US ambassador, continues to provoke a gnashing of teeth in Washington. But the White House might, first, want to read an American diplomatic cable from February 2006 to see just how the Syrian regime plays hardball to achieve its aims.
The cable in question was written by the then-charge d’affaires in Damascus, Stephen Seche, and followed the burning of the Danish Embassy offices in the city – as well as the Swedish and Chilean embassies housed in the same building. The attack occurred in the aftermath of the publication by a Danish newspaper of unflattering cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.
According to Seche, a Sunni sheikh, described as “one of the most influential Sunni religious figures in Damascus,” seemed to “confirm [Syrian government] involvement in escalating the situation that led to the violent rioting in Damascus two days earlier, including communications between [Prime Minister Naji al-Otri’s] office and the Grand Mufti.” The cable went on to report that the “Danish ambassador confirmed to us separately that the minister of the awqaaf [religious endowments] had inflamed the situation the day before the rioting, with his remarks at Friday prayers in a mosque.”
According to the Sunni sheikh, Otri’s office instructed the grand mufti to issue “a strongly worded directive” to imams so that they would condemn the Danish cartoons in their sermons, “without setting any ceilings on the type of language to be used.” Otri also reportedly told the grand mufti and the minister of religious endowments that if Danish or Norwegian representatives tried to deliver apologies to them and seek their assistance in defusing the situation, “that they were to take a hard line and insist that the only way forward was for the [prime ministers] of the countries to issue official apologies.”
The cable also noted that a businessman close to the regime and to the grand mufti had played a key role in organizing the march on the embassies. The authorities “allowed the rioting to continue for an extended period and then, when [they] felt that ‘the message had been delivered,’ [they] reacted with serious threats of force to stop it.”
Most interesting was how the sheikh interpreted the rioting, and the message that the Syrian regime sought to send to the U.S. and the international community: “‘This is what you will have if we allow true democracy and allow Islamists to rule.’ To the Islamic street all over the region, the message was that the [Syrian government] is protecting the dignity of Islam, and that the [Syrian government] is allowing Muslims freedom on the streets of Damascus they are not allowed on the streets of Cairo, Amman or Tunis.”
Here, with great concision, was a description of the Syrian regime’s complex, contradictory modus operandi when it comes to Sunni Islamists. The sheikh, plainly, had no patience for the shallow line peddled in the West that a “secular” Baathist regime like that of President Bashar Assad is incapable of cooperating with Islamists, or of manipulating religious militancy to its advantage. And you have to wonder what ultimately happened to the sheikh, who is easily identifiable by his title in the leaked cable. Perhaps Julian Assange, flush from signing a lucrative book contract, can investigate for us, at least before asserting once more that his actions harm nobody.
Some observers view this cable as meriting far greater attention than it has received. To them, all the ingredients of Syrian political behavior are distilled in a single incident: the intimidation of foreign representatives, despite their diplomatic status; the blackmailing of the Danish and Norwegian governments; the exploitation of religion as a means of bolstering a Syrian regime that has long struggled to garner religious legitimacy; the bold resort to mob violence, but always behind a curtain of respectable deniability; and the willingness to resort to more violence, this time against the mob, if demonstrators failed to obey the instructions of the security services to desist.
It’s difficult to disagree. What we see is Syria simultaneously being an arsonist and a fireman. And this role is precisely the one Assad is striving to play in Lebanon today as he tries to regain a foothold in the country through the mechanism of a still-elusive Saudi-Syrian understanding. Whether it is Syrian state media or Syrian officials, the message is the same: If the Lebanese government does not take measures to undermine the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, this could lead to fresh insecurity in Beirut. At the same time, the Syrians are also trying to paint themselves as the only ones who can preserve Lebanese stability, if only their supremacy over Lebanon is recognized.
It’s a shame that some countries continue to give Syria the benefit of the doubt. France, for instance, regards Syria as a stabilizing force in Lebanon, even as Damascus and its Lebanese allies push hard to neutralize the special tribunal, which France insists it supports. The Syrians are open about their intentions to reshape the political landscape in Beirut in their favor. For them, this comes through the weakening of Hariri, isolation of March 14 groups most strenuously resisting a Syrian comeback, and hints that it is time to redistribute political power to the benefit of the Shiite community.
Each of these ideas is a potential minefield exacerbating tensions that Damascus will attempt to make the most of. Those with high hopes when relying on Syria, like those who have just decided to resend their ambassador to the country, should be conscious of what is likely to lie ahead. The Assad regime will go all the way to increase its sway over Lebanon while protecting itself at home, and being a fire-starter is the principal means to those ends. WikiLeaks might keep us posted.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of and author of “The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle” (Simon & Schuster).

Canada - Israel's best, least known, friend
01/07/2011 01:28
By RON FRIEDMAN /Jerusalem Post
Beyond the evident differences, the two countries share many similar interests and ideals.
On the face of things, it would be difficult to find two countries as different from each other as Canada and Israel. Canada is the second largest country in the world and enjoys a wealth of natural resources, while Israel is short on both resources and space. Canada has been living peacefully with its neighbors and has had friendly relations with most of the international community, while Israel is under threats from many fronts. In Canada, minorities have integrated into a quilt of multiculturalism.
In Israel, sectoral tensions are only increasing. Canadians are notorious for their politeness, Israelis for their directness. Look past the differences, though, and you will find two countries with much in common and many shared interests.
In a recent address at a conference held in Ottawa on combating anti-Semitism, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made an unprecedented pledge of support to Israel.
“As I said on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, Israel appeared as a light in a world emerging from deep darkness. Against all odds, that light has not been extinguished. It burns bright, upheld by the universal principles of all civilized nations – freedom, democracy and justice,” said Harper, promising to continue defending Israel and combat anti-Semitism in the international arena, despite any difficulties it might cause Canada.
These difficulties are not hypothetical. Several weeks before making the statement, Canada lost out on a seat on the UN Security Council, largely due to the bloc voting of the 57-country Organization of the Islamic Conference, which voted in favor of Portugal because of Harper’s record of supporting Israel. Harper even suffered harsh criticism from his opposition for coming to Israel’s defense during the Second Lebanon War.
Israel is aware of the sacrifices and has been forthcoming in expressing its appreciation.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has described Canada as one of Israel’s closest allies and expressed pride in the everstrengthening relationship.
“Canada has clearly shown that it is a real friend to Israel and the Jewish people. It has stood up for Israel even when it wasn’t necessarily to its benefit, and that is greatly appreciated,” said foreign press spokesman Mark Regev. “The prime minister considers Mr. Harper a personal friend, and everyone has noticed his international leadership in standing up for Israel and for what is right.
While other countries sometimes abstain or sit on the fence when it comes to Israeli issues in the international arena, Canada can be counted on to do what is right.”
However, the relationship goes beyond close government ties. The two countries enjoy a wide variety of shared interests and goals, and a new wave of joint projects and initiatives has led to the relationship growing ever closer.
“The prime minister’s remarks were very well received, not only in Israel but in Canada too,” said Paul Hunt, Canada’s ambassador, in one of the first interviews he gave since his arrival in October. He said that Harper’s statement reflected a fundamental approach that has been in place since he took office in 2006. Hunt said the relationship between the governments was so strong that when he first presented his credentials to President Shimon Peres, Peres gave him Harper’s regards, having just completed a phone conversation with him.
“Canada has always embraced countries that share similar values, including democracy and human rights. I know that for Canada the fact that Israel is a strong democracy in this region makes it an important partner and a country that deserves friendship and support,” said Hunt. “It would also be fair to say that Israel has a place in the hearts and minds of many Canadians, including religious, cultural and historic reasons. Canadians have closely followed events in Israel since it was created and maintain a keen interest in developments here in the country.”
He also spoke of the strong people-to-people connections that existed. “When you tell people here that you are from Canada, it opens doors,” he said. Hunt talked about daily encounters with Israelis who, when finding out he was the Canadian ambassador, showed genuine warmth and affection toward him and the Canadian people.
“In my job, I love that. It makes me feel good about Canada, and it makes me feel good about where I am because it tells me there is a special relationship that is both personal and beyond personal.”
In the short time that he’s been here, Hunt has already overseen a number of state visits.
Over the last several months, there has been a constant flow of high-level Canadian delegations.
Cabinet ministers, members of Parliament, premiers and ministers of the provinces have all visited with one primary focus: creating partnerships.
Hunt said that he had recently attended a conference in Toronto dedicated to innovation in science and technology. “The event came as a result of a conversation between the two prime ministers during the first of two high-level meetings. The second will take place in Israel in the spring. The idea was for both countries to develop an innovation frame building on the science and technology base that the countries share, with a focus on commercialization of all the innovative ideas that come out of all the research and development that takes place. Israel has a great track record in this regard, and so does Canada. The sense is that a more strategic, purposeful push will really catapult both countries forward in important ways.”
He said that the relations were already in place on the academic and governmental levels, but that the commerce and business ties were the weaker links.
Hunt also said that talks were in the works toward upgrading bilateral trade relations.
While a free trade agreement has been in place since 1996 – Israel was the first country outside the Western Hemisphere with which Canada signed such an agreement – on a recent visit, Minister of International Trade Peter Van Loan announced that officials would start exploratory talks to significantly expand its application.
Hunt said that a good and stable political relationship enables trade and business to grow. “Business is business, and if people identify a good investment opportunity, they will likely act on it no matter what; but when you’ve got a really positive and dynamic political relationship, as we do, it offers support, encouragement and opportunity. It creates a constructive atmosphere,” he said.
For Alan Baker, a former ambassador to Canada and current president of the Israeli- Canadian Chamber of Commerce, business potential is huge but currently underutilized.
“Bilateral trade stands at roughly $1.3 billion a year, with a slightly growing trend in recent years, but business activity could be 10 times what it is. The problem is lack of visibility.
Canadians don’t know enough about Israel, and Israelis don’t know enough about Canada.
In the newspapers and on television in Canada, the coverage is inevitably about wars or terror; you don’t hear about Israeli capabilities in hi-tech or medicine or agriculture.
The tendency when thinking about doing business with Israel is wariness of instability.
They don’t know that the Israeli economy is completely disconnected from the security situation.”
Baker accused the Foreign Ministry of overlooking Canada in its effort to reach out to the US. “I think that if there is a Canadian prime minister who is so friendly toward Israel, more so than the president of the United States, who goes out on a limb to defend and support Israel, he should be given better recognition.
“Israel is an absurd situation whereby in the second largest country in the world, Israel has one economic attaché. This person can’t deal with economic relationships in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton or Winnipeg and all the various other places. He doesn’t even have the budget to fly to Ottawa more than three or four times a year.”
Baker also blamed Canada for not being aggressive enough in its efforts to increase its economic clout. “They don’t exert themselves as a major economic power. If it wasn’t in the shadow of the United States, it would be one.”
According to Baker, the sectors with the most potential for growth are hi-tech, cleantech and biotech, as well as defense. All that is needed to reach that potential is more visibility.
“This is why I took it on myself to try to build up the chambers of commerce on both sides. When I was ambassador, I rebuilt the Canada-Israel Chamber of Commerce so that it would be a self-funded, independent body that could assist the diplomatic efforts. When I got back, I saw that there was no Israel- Canada Chamber of Commerce either, so I joined together with some other people who are passionate about the cause and we reopened it after years where it was nonexistent,” said Baker. “Now we can hold events and host visits that will allow the two business communities to get to know each other.”
Baker expressed concern that the strong political ties may weaken if Conservative Party leader Harper is replaced by someone from the Liberal Party, but he was convinced that economic ties would remain strong. He said that financial and business matters depended more on the provinces than on the federal government and that the provinces are, by and large, unaffected by national foreign policy and will continue to act according to their constituents’ best interests, no matter who runs the show in Ottawa.
What Baker does consider a lingering concern is the level of anti-Israel rhetoric in Canadian universities. Similar to universities across the US and Western Europe, in Canada university campuses tend to be hot spots for anti-Israel activism. “Israel Apartheid Week” was first marked in the University of Toronto before spreading to other campuses, and during his term as ambassador Baker saw two former prime ministers, Ehud Barak and Binyamin Netanyahu, denied the right to speak at Canadian universities.
“When it started during my first year in Canada, the instructions I got from the Foreign Ministry were to ignore it so as not to lend it credence. But it disturbed me, so I asked to be invited to speak so I could counter the accusations,” said Baker. “I did this and went back every year.”
If campuses pose the biggest challenges, they may also hold the key to the solution.
While the arts faculties are busy slamming Israel’s policies, in the science labs and research centers, academics are seeking to develop and strengthen cooperation.
RAMI KLEINMAN has been in Canada for 10 years, serving as an emissary for the Canadian Friends of the Hebrew University. He brought with him a new approach to fundraising and philanthropy. “We say that Israel doesn’t need sympathy, it needs partners,” he said. “We are no longer in a position that we need to elicit pity. We say that Israel is a strong and successful country. Our approach is to focus attention on successes, not needs.”
Kleinman said that this approach has achieved success beyond his hopes. Listing a long series of joint projects and partnerships, primarily between Canadian provinces and Israeli research and development institutions, he drives home the message that success breeds success and that presenting Israel’s achievements in its areas of strength, primarily medicine, sciences and technology, could introduce a new way for people to view it.
“We need to explain why we are relevant, not why we are right. We’ll never convince everyone that the tank is right and the boy throwing a rock is wrong; it’s pointless to invest in it. What we need to focus on is being relevant. When we do, we see results. If they didn’t understand that Israel had something to offer, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” he said.
What Kleinman and others like him are doing for their institutions, Consul-General Amir Gissin in Toronto does for the country as a whole. Specializing in public diplomacy, he has his finger on the pulse of Canadian public opinion, and it is his job to make sure that the Israel they know is one they can relate to and see value in.
When asked to assess whether the current relationship is driven by the government or by the public, Gissin said it was a matter of which comes first, the chicken or the egg.
“In my opinion, Stephen Harper’s support for Israel isn’t because it pays off politically or because the polls tell him he should. I think his support is ideological, not driven by populist sentiments. In the same way, the Canadian public’s feelings toward Israel are not affected by what the federal government does. We have figures from surveys that we’ve done that determine clearly that friendship, interest and closeness to Israel are on the rise independently of the government’s actions,” he said.
“Canadians understand that Israel has more to offer than many other countries.
They understand that in order to ensure their own economic growth, they need the best information and that the richest wealth of knowledge exists in Israel. We have a product, and in Canada people want to buy it.
That is a big reason why in Canada things look different than in many other countries when it comes to Israel. The idea is to create interest and affection, and then the task of explaining yourself is a lot easier.”
Toronto was the launching pad for one of the most ambitions public diplomacy efforts.
Led by Gissin, the Foreign Ministry embarked on the Rebrand Israel campaign, aiming for it to be a pilot for similar action in other cities and countries.
Gissin explained that rebranding was a shift away from the traditional hasbara practiced for decades.
“I always claimed that because of the focus on the conflict, we constantly found ourselves occupied with tactics instead of developing new strategies,” he said. “Constantly putting out fires might bring quiet for a while, but as soon as there is a crisis, all the achievements are erased. Rebranding works on a strategic level; by actively presenting a different focal point, you expand the debate, and things get put in their proper perspective.”
Gissin said that the most impressive achievement of the campaign was to be found in a pair of surveys done at the start of the pilot and after it. “The surveys showed that despite the fact that there was an unplanned war in the Middle East, Operation Cast Lead, support remained the same. The overall numbers measuring support for Israel’s policies and the perceptions of Israel in general didn’t drop as you might expect in the wake of a war. We found a way to deal with hasbara’s failures simply by being ourselves and letting the world see.”
He said the same method can work in other places. “Israel has something to offer everybody, and that should be the constant state of mind. All we have to do is identify how to become relevant, and it will succeed elsewhere.”