LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِMarch 15/2011

Bible Of The Day
Matthew 6/22-34: "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! 6:24 “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? 6:31 “Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ 6:32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 6:33 But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. 6:34 Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient."

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Syria supplies Qaddafi with arms. Exodus begins from Benghazi/DEBKAfile/March 14/11
Extinction of Iraq's Christians Must Be Prevented/By Fernando Perez/March 14/11
Rafiq al-Hariri's murder: why do Lebanese blame Syria?/By: Hazem Saghieh/March 14/11
Lebanon: We must accept nothing less/Now Lebanon/ March 14/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for March 14/11
Saudi Troops Enter Bahrain As Protests Escalate/Naharnet
Abbas: Itamar attack was despicable, immoral and inhuman/Haaretz
March 14 Thanks its Supporters: You Were Victorious against Arms' Oppression and Intimidation/Naharnet
Geagea wants Mikati to listen to March 14 rally calls/Now Lebanon
March 13 sun keeps March 14 crowd energizedy/Daily Star
Hariri condemns non-state arms while urging continued support for tribunal/Daily Star
Demands voiced at annual rallies for the March 14 coalition/Daily Star
MP Ghazi Youssef : arms do not protect Shiites/Daily Star
Hariri: disarming Hezbollah "not impossible"/Daily Star
Geagea: 'I announce a second Cedar revolution'/Daily Star
Gemayel: All non-state arms are illegal/Daily Star
Strong support for March 14 among Druze community/Daily Star
Lebanese rally against Hezbollah rule/UPI
Al-Mustaqbal, Hariri Websites Under Cyber Attack/Naharnet
Report: Hizbullah MPs Describe Hariri's Speech as 'Childish'/Naharnet
PSP Says Rally Participants Represent Only Half of the Lebanese Population/Naharnet
Hariri: Impossible for Arms to be Raised Against People Longing for Democracy/Naharnet
Geagea Says 2nd Cedar Revolution Won't Yield until Hizbullah's 'Statelet' Disappears/Naharnet
Gemayel: Hizbullah is Confronting the STL and Forgetting Israel/Naharnet
Hundreds of Thousands Commemorate Cedar Revolution in Show of Force Against Hizbullah's Arms/Naharnet
March 14: The Uprising of Dignity is Against Oppression and Assassination/Naharnet
Moussawi: March 14 Camp Too Weak to Be Able to Materialize Mottos/Naharnet
Lebanese Businessman Killed in Abidjan, Partner Held at Beirut Airport/Naharnet
Safadi Rejects 'Insults' against Rafik Hariri: Resistance's Arms Must Be Used Only Against Israel/Naharnet
March 14 Thanks its Supporters: You Were Victorious against Arms' Oppression and Intimidation/Naharnet
Miqati: Rafik Hariri Would've Rejected Some Strife-Inciting Remarks Made near His Tomb Today/Naharnet
Mikati: I will step down if I am unable to save Lebanon/Now Lebanon
Youth and Sports Minister Ali Abdullah  says Israel’s only ally in region is March 14/Now Lebanon

Saudi Troops Enter Bahrain As Protests Escalate
Naharnet/More than 1,000 Saudi troops have entered Bahrain where anti-regime protests have raged for a month, a Saudi official said Monday, as demonstrators took over Manama's central business district. Pro-democracy protesters poured into the banking hub, witnesses said, as Saudi forces appeared poised to help the embattled government restore order in the strategic Gulf kingdom, home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet. The Saudi troops entered Shiite-majority Bahrain on Sunday as part of the Gulf countries' joint Peninsula Shield Force, the Saudi official told Agence France Presse, requesting anonymity. The intervention came "after repeated calls by the (Bahraini) government for dialogue, which went unanswered" by the opposition, he said.
The Bahraini government has not confirmed the presence of Saudi troops in the archipelago, which has been ruled by a Sunni dynasty for more than 200 years.
But the website of Bahrain's Alyam newspaper, which is close to the Al-Khalifa royal family, said forces from the six-state Gulf Cooperation Council were expected to enter Bahrain to help boost security. Helicopters buzzed over the Financial Harbor business complex which was blocked off by protesters, a day after more than 200 people were injured there in clashes between riot police and demonstrators, residents said. Sunday was the worst day of violence in the tiny Gulf kingdom since seven people were killed at the start of anti-regime unrest a month ago. Protesters continued to hold a sit-in at Pearl Square just outside the financial district, while others were blocking roads leading to the business district.
The Shiite-led opposition alliance said any foreign force would be treated as an invading army. "We consider the arrival of any soldier, or military vehicle, into Bahraini territory... an overt occupation of the kingdom of Bahrain and a conspiracy against the unarmed people of Bahrain," said an opposition statement. Most workers seemed to be following a trade union call for a general strike to protest violence by the security forces. The Saudi intervention comes two days after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Manama and urged King Hamad to undertake rapid and significant democratic reform, not just "baby steps." As tensions rose, Britain and Australia urged citizens to avoid all travel to the country. "The risk of further outbreaks of violence has increased," the foreign office in London said late Sunday, citing reports that the Saudi National Guard was on its way to the country. Crown Prince Salman late Sunday reiterated the government's offer of national dialogue on deep-rooted reforms but not at the expense of security and stability, state news agency BNA reported. In a major concession to the opposition demands, the prince supported the creation of a parliament with full powers and pledged to tackle corruption and sectarian tensions. But he warned that "legitimate demands should not be carried out at the price of security and stability." King Hamad also reiterated an offer of unconditional dialogue with the main opposition groups, which have refused to negotiate until the government resigns. The mainstream opposition says it is not trying to overthrow the royal family but more radical Shiite elements have said they want a republic.(AFP) Beirut, 14 Mar 11, 10:05

A bunch of hypocrites
The big hypocrites both Hezbollah and Berri are mute, swallowed their tongues and keeping a blind eye on Syria's huge military aid to Qadafi. the question that the Lebanese need to raise is: Where is their loyalty and loud cries in regards to Moussa Alsader case? This reality shows with no shed of light that they are mere puppets with no case what so ever. Did they forgive Qadafi for killing Al Sader?
Elias

Syria supplies Qaddafi with arms. Exodus begins from Benghazi
http://www.debka.com/article/20761/
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report March 13, 2011
As Washington commended the Arab League for approving a proposed no-fly zone over Libya and European powers drew up plans for saving the anti-Qaddafi movement from defeat, Syria began sending Muammar Qaddafi supplies of arms, ammunition and weapons spare parts to sustain his effort to crush the uprising. debkafile's military and intelligence sources report exclusively that over the weekend a Libyan army general arrived at the Syrian Naval command at Tartous to establish a liaison office for organizing military hardware supplies from Damascus to the Libyan army and arrange shipping schedules. Our sources report that another Libyan official was in Damascus early last week to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar Assad the types of weaponry required, prices and transport arrangements. After he left, Assad ordered Syrian emergency military stores to be opened and civilian freighters chartered to carry the consignments they had decided on across the Mediterranean to Libya. The Syrian and Libyan arsenals are fairly compatible: both are dominated by Russian military products, Mig and Sukhoi fighters and bombers, T-72 tanks, BM-21 rocket launchers, the same armored personnel carriers and anti-air and anti-tank missiles.
The Libyan-Syrian arms transaction is a landmark in the sense that it is the first time since the Arab revolts erupted in January that one Arab regime has stepped in to help another suppress an uprising.
Damascus is also in violation of last month's Security Council Resolution 1970 whichincluded an arms embargo against the Qaddafi regime and by supplying Libya weapons by sea Assad undermines the Western-Arab effort to introduce a no fly zone to curtail Qaddafi's aerial might. By this action, Bashar Assad shows contempt for the US President Barack Obama's policy in support of the popular unrest against authoritarian Arab regimes and scorns the indulgence shown him by the US president.
In the last six months, Washington has gone to extreme lengths to establish friendly relations with Damascus – not only restoring the US ambassador after five years, but quietly accepting fresh Syrian meddling in Lebanon. The Obama administration had hoped that Assad would respond by being helpful on the Palestinian issue and start distancing himself from Tehran. Instead, he has strengthened his military ties with Tehran, granting Iran its first permanent base on the Mediterranean at Tartous.
Now, by replenishing the regime's stocks of arms and ordnance, the Syrian ruler has gone directly against US policy of support for the Libyan opposition and spurred Qaddafi on for his final major offensive to crush the uprising without having to stop and wait for fresh supplies of war materiel.
In the last 24 hours, rebel militias were pushed out of the two key oil towns of Ras Lanuf and Brega in eastern Libya after losing their footholds in Tripolitania to the west. Pro-Qaddafi forces were landed for the first time by sea Saturday, March 12, at Agilah, 60 kilometers east of Ras Lanuf, indicating that Qaddafi intends to drop more troops on the coast of Cyrenaica to pursue his thrust into the rebel-held region. Our military sources report that no obstacles now stand in the path of Qaddafi loyalist troops heading for the rebel center of Benghazi, 200 kilometers from Brega. The rebels have nowhere near the manpower they need to hold Libya's second largest city against a government offensive. There are first signs of an exodus beginning from the city. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has scheduled visits to Tunis and Cairo this week and a possible rendezvous with Libyan opposition National Transitional Council leaders in Cairo Tuesday, March 15. That timetable is prone to last-minute changes.

Abbas: Itamar attack was despicable, immoral and inhuman
Palestinian president condemns the murder of five family members in the West Bank settlement, says human beings aren't capable of such an act.
By Haaretz Service
Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that the Itamar terror attack was a despicable, immoral, and inhuman act. "A human being is not capable of something like that," Abbas said in an interview with Israel Radio on Monday. "Scenes like these - the murder of infants and children and a woman slaughtered - cause any person endowed with humanity to hurt and to cry." Abbas added that the Palestinian Authority would have prevented the attack, in which five members of the Fogel family were stabbed to death by two Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank settlement of Itamar, if it would have had prior information about it. He noted that he agreed with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch a joint investigation into the matter. He said that he does not expect a wave of terror attacks in the immediate future and stressed that he will not allow it. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaking at a ceremony in the West Bank city of Ramallah on August 8, 2010. He also rejected Netanyahu's previous comments that the PA incites against Israel in its mosques, and called to set up an Israeli-Palestinian-American committee to examine Netanyahu's allegations that there is incitement in Palestinian textbooks in schools. Following the attack, Netanyahu had repeatedly called on the Palestinians to explicitly condemn the murder in Itamar, expressing dissatisfaction at the PA's immediate statements condemning violence. On Sunday, Israel responded to the terror attack by approving 400 housing units in the West Bank settlements, a move which brought harsh criticism from both the Palestinians and the United States

March 14 thanks the Lebanese people
March 14, 2011 /Now Lebanon/Now Lebanon/The March 14 General Secretariat on Monday issued a statement thanking “every free citizen who left his house despite every sectarian or partisan obstacle” to take part in March 14’s Sunday rally. “On Sunday, you won over arms and fear,” the statement added. “[The days after] March 14, 2011 will not be as same as before,” the secretariat also said. “We vow to hold on to our principles and to express your visions without any concessions.” Following the forced collapse of Saad Hariri’s unity government in January, the March 14 coalition held a rally on Sunday to demand Hezbollah be disarmed. Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati was appointed in January with the March 8 coalition’s backing. March 14 figures have repeatedly said that intimidation from the weapons of the Syrian- Iranian-backed Hezbollah helped secure the parliamentary majority for his nomination.-NOW Lebanon

Geagea wants Mikati to listen to March 14 rally calls
March 14, 2011 /Now Lebanon/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Monday that Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati should listen to the statements made at the March 14 coalition’s Sunday rally.“Mikati should listen to what was said in the rally,” Geagea said in a press conference. The LF leader also thanked the people who participated in the Martyrs Square rally. “More than half of the Lebanese people gathered [for the event].” “The people expressed their view by rejecting the use of illegitimate arms and committing to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).” Geagea called on President Michel Sleiman and Mikati “to take the view of [the majority of the Lebanese] into account.” Following the forced collapse of Saad Hariri’s unity government, the March 14 coalition held a rally on Sunday to demand Hezbollah be disarmed. Mikati was appointed in January with the March 8 coalition’s backing. March 14 figures have repeatedly said that intimidation from the weapons of the Syrian- Iranian-backed Hezbollah helped secure the parliamentary majority for his nomination.-NOW Lebanon

Mikati: I will step down if I am unable to save Lebanon
March 14, 2011 /Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said that he will step down if he will not be able to “save the country” and added that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) probing former PM Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination “cannot be cancelled.”“If I see that I'm not saving the country to the best of my ability, I will step down,” Mikati said in an interview with Time Magazine published on Sunday. “We cannot cancel any tribunal. Whatever exists exists. If I want to change anything about the process of the STL, it has to be done in dialogue and with the consensus of all Lebanese.” Mikati also said that his “real motivation” is to “rescue the nation,” adding that he is doing his best at it.
The PM-designate said that the Ministerial Statement of his upcoming cabinet will include “exactly the same formulation as the previous government,” which grants Hezbollah’s right to bear arms by stating that Lebanon has the right “to recover occupied land through any means, including resistance.” Mikati was appointed in January with the March 8 coalition’s backing. March 14 figures have repeatedly said that intimidation from the weapons of the Syrian- Iranian-backed Hezbollah helped secure the parliamentary majority for his nomination.-NOW Lebanon

We must accept nothing less
March 14, 2011 /Now Lebanon
“There is no liberty for the youth because the politics and economy of the country have been subjugated by the tutelage of weapons.” So said caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri during Sunday’s rally, which saw hundreds of thousands turn up to say “no” to non-state-controlled weapons.
There are many more accusations one can hurl at Hezbollah and its huge arsenal – in fact one often doesn’t know where to begin, so multitudinous are they – but Hariri’s decision to link the crisis (because that is what it is) to opportunity and growth will have not only resonated with the average Lebanese whose pocket is hurting by months of unforgiveable political stalemate, but it also positions March 14 above Lebanon’s brutal power struggle and on a platform that screams for the sanctity of the state.
Simply put, Hezbollah’s insistence that it remain a legitimate armed entity is an intolerable situation. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea captured the mood of frustration perfectly when he said, “We will not accept our destiny to be controlled by someone else; we will not accept for our decisions to be made by parties from beyond our borders, and we will not accept our economy to remain paralyzed.”
Sunday’s rally was confirmation that a huge chunk of the country is not prepared to live with the threat of armed violence from one side of the political spectrum. At the very least, such a status quo leads to a political atmosphere defined by the veiled threat of intimidation, while the worst-case scenario is a mini arms race, leading to greater internal strife and raising the specter of civil war.
We must abandon the argument, as some within March 14have tried to put forward, in the spirit of conciliation, that there is a difference between arms directed against Israel and those directed “inward” against the Lebanese people. There is none.
To make a distinction is to fall into the trap of compromise that has defined the failures of the past six years. Now is the time for a campaign, one that moves beyond slogans and one that will win over public opinion by reinvigorating those disillusioned by six years of failure.
The alternative is a failed state or worse. This is not an alarmist hypothesis. On May 7, 2008, Hezbollah’s decision to defend its interests by turning its so-called sacred weapons on people it said it had a moral duty to defend very nearly dragged the country back to the dark days of the 1975-90 war. It could happen again very easily.
May 7, 2008 was a turn of events that had been eight years in the making, ever since 2000, when Hezbollah, having forced Israel into retreating from its security zone, refused to put down its arms and enter mainstream politics. Those Lebanese who cared to look beyond the rhetoric always knew Hezbollah’s real agenda – thinly disguised as it was behind a new cause in the shape of the Shebaa Farms. But we hoped that as long as Hezbollah’s activities were confined to Israel’s northern border, the threshold of tolerance would not be crossed. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but in the best Lebanese tradition it was a compromise, and a bad one at that. In May 2008, the facade of martial purity was shattered.
Nearly three years on, the atmosphere has slowly deteriorated amid incidents of Hezbollah muscle flexing (including the shameful murder of a Lebanese army pilot in South Lebanon) and the threat of indictments being handed down to party members accused of murdering former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the father of the caretaker premier. There is no more pretence. The weapons, Hezbollah says, are here to stay.
And yet, the supposedly moderate voices within March 8 could only offer up a whimper of a riposte to the masses gathered at Martyrs’ Square on Sunday. Prime Minister-elect Najib Mikati accused March 14 of inciting a level of sectarian strife that the late Hariri would have rejected. It was a cheap shot and one that will no doubt prompt many to urge Mikati to get his own March 8 house in order before making such claims. Elsewhere, the reaction of Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun was even more ludicrous and self-defeating. The man whose party signed an MOU with Hezbollah in early 2006 on the basis that he recognized the party’s willingness to eventually embrace change, said that March 14 had incited Hezbollah into an armed response and deserved everything it got. Quite how Aoun defends his alliance with a party that will deliver violence as a response to peaceful protest must make even his die-hard supporters question his judgment. But perhaps the most interesting statement came from Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party, once the cornerstone of the March 14 movement, but which has since realigned itself with March 8. “No one could deny,” it read, “that the scene that brought together large political forces in the country represented half of the Lebanese people, who wanted through their mass participation to express rejection at a status quo and mistakes.”In such a polarized political atmosphere, maybe that was the most telling statement of all. In the meantime, March 14 has it all to do.

Youth and Sports Minister Ali Abdullah says Israel’s only ally in region is March 14
March 14, 2011 /Youth and Sports Minister Ali Abdullah on Monday said he was not surprised by “what is called” the March 14 alliance, which he added targets the Resistance and aims to secure Israel’s safety. “Israel has only one ally left in the region… the March 14 coalition,” the National News Agency (NNA) quoted him as saying.
“Do they think that they can weaken the Resistance and remove its arms?” Abdullah asked. The Amal Movement minister also said that “Speaker Nabih Berri was clear when he gave [March 14] another chance,” adding that the speaker had to take “the decisive stance.”Berri, in an interview with An-Nahar newspaper published Monday, refused to comment on March 14’s Sunday rally. However, he told the daily that “the scene [of the rally] was enough.”Following the forced collapse of Saad Hariri’s unity government, the March 14 coalition held a rally on Sunday to demand Hezbollah be disarmed. PM-designate Najib Mikati was appointed in January with the March 8 coalition’s backing. March 14 figures have repeatedly said that intimidation from the weapons of the Syrian- Iranian-backed Hezbollah helped secure the parliamentary majority for his nomination.-NOW Lebanon

Report: Hizbullah MPs Describe Hariri's Speech as 'Childish'
Naharnet/Hizbullah parliamentary sources described Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri's speech at Sunday's rally as "childish" and said the March 14 leader addressed the crowds as if he was speaking to Tarik Jdideh's residents. "Hariri wasn't at all successful in his speech which didn't suit his position as a statesman," the sources told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published Monday. The speech wasted all achievements made by slain ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, they said. The sources added that the slogans used at the rally marking the Cedar Revolution's sixth anniversary "only serve the Israeli project and consequently seek to sow sedition" among the Lebanese. Several March 14 supporters on Sunday carried banners reading "NO to the dictatorship of arms" and "God has no arms," in reference to Hizbullah, Arabic for "Party of God."

Moussawi: March 14 Camp Too Weak to Be Able to Materialize Mottos
Naharnet/Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi on Sunday noted that "the March 14 camp does not aim through its campaign to materialize the mottos it is calling for, as it knows that it is too weak to implement them." Their "real motto is 'either we rule or we sow destruction by inciting sectarian strife,'" Moussawi charged.
He accused the rival camp of "trying to undermine the national economy, harm security and destroy national independence by threatening to put Lebanon under Chapter 7 (of the U.N. Charter) through the so-called Special Tribunal for Lebanon.""These slogans and objectives are mere illusions," Moussawi claimed. He stressed that "the split in Lebanon is neither factional nor sectarian as some are trying to depict, it is rather a political split, as the battle is between those who are with Lebanon's independence and those who want to make (U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Jeffrey) Feltman the ruler of Lebanon." "The battle is between those who want Lebanon strong and immune in the face of the Zionist aggression and those who want to sign the May 17 Accord once again," Moussawi added. He noted that "the cabinet change process has managed to open the door for change aimed at ending despotism and concluding the battle of combating rogue and corrupt civil servants. "This change "aims to liberate the country from the U.S.-Israeli mandate guising itself as the so-called STL, which is a blatant attack against independence, sovereignty, freedom, dignity and security." Beirut, 13 Mar 11, 20:11

Berri Hopes for Swift Cabinet Formation: 'No Comment' on Sunday's Rally
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri didn't comment on the rally held by the March 14 forces at Beirut's Martyrs Square on Sunday, except for saying "the scenes were enough, no comment."
In remarks to An Nahar newspaper on Monday, Berri also called for "speeding up the formation of the government because it is the response that all the Lebanese are awaiting for."
"There is no excuse for the delay in the formation of the cabinet," Berri told his visitors, according to As Safir daily.
Berri's stance looked to be identical to the rest of the March 8 forces who also expressed to An Nahar their "relief and comfort" concerning the crowds in Sunday's rally which marked the 6th anniversary of the Cedar Revolution. The March 8 leadership sources said the number of participants was less than what they had expected. They also stressed on the absence of Druze officials from among the leaders who addressed the crowds. Furthermore, there was a "shy Shiite attendance," they said.

Three Year Old Stabbed in the Heart, Baby's Throat Slashed
12 March 11 11:15by by IsraelNN Staff(Israelnationalnews.com)
The initial findings of the investigation into the terrorist massacre in the Israeli town of Itamar in Samaria Friday night show that the Fatah ‘Freedom Fighters’ stabbed the Fogel family's sleeping three year old in the heart and slashed the throat of his three-month-old sister.
Click here for photos on the murder victims (Warning: Extremely Graphic)
The IDF and police forces are conducting widespread searches in the vicinity of the community since the barbaric terrorist murder of five members of the Fogel family in their home on Friday night.
It is not yet clear how many terrorists took part in the massacre. About 20 Arabs have been arrested up to now.
One area in which the IDF is concentrating its investigations is whether there were any intelligence warnings of terrorist plans before the attack that might have alerted residents.
The community of Itamar has had no terrorist attacks since 2002, when an advanced protection and security system called the Special Security Area was installed. The electronic system, which includes varied methods of observation and a wired fence, is kept in repair by the regional authority rather than the IDF.
In addition to an electronic fence surrounding the community, there is an inner, coiled wire fence. The community is allotted six non-army security personnel from a recognized security firm who are on patrol all the time. All signals go automatically to a central operations room in the town staffed by two of these guards, and in addition there is a company of soldiers on the adjoining hill.
The IDF investigation of the attack has discovered that at 20:59, terrorists entered the community. They jumped over the fence and an alert sounded. The guard on duty went to the spot from which the warning was heard, but saw no evidence of infiltration and therefore, made the erroneous decision that an animal had activated the electronic fence’s warning signal. There are many false alarms of that nature in the winter, but cameras would have shown the terrorists. However, the IDF did not agree to fund a request to keep cameras working on the fence.
A security person who was in the vicinity said that since the fence was not cut, the guard thought there was no infiltration and did not inform the IDF unit that was less than a kilometer away.
The terrorists first entered one home, which was empty. They found a weapon there, which they do not seem to have used. A group of youngsters was having a Sabbath evening party at the Fogel house nearby, and at 22:20 they left, along with the Fogel’s 12-year-old daughter, for an activity at the local Bnei Akiva youth group.
Between 22:20 and 22:30 the terrorists entered the house through the living room picture window, did not notice the 6-year-old boy sleeping on the couch and continued on to the bedroom where they slashed the throats of the father and newborn baby who were sleeping there. The mother came out of the bathroom and was stabbed on its threshold. The evidence shows that she tried to fight the terrorists.
They then slashed the throat of the 11-year old-son who was reading in bed. They did not notice the 2-year old asleep in his bed, but murdered the 3-year old with two stabs to his heart. After that, they locked the door, exited through the window and escaped.
Exactly two hours after the infiltration, there was another warning signal from the same spot on the fence, as the terrorists left the way they had come. Once again, the patrol did not identify the source of the signal as infiltration.
The 12-year-old daughter returned home at 00:30 and found the door locked. She asked a neighbor, Rabbi Yaakov Cohen, of the Itamar Yeshiva, to help her. He brought a weapon with him once he noticed tracks and mud near the house. The two woke up the 6-year old sleeping in the living room by calling through the window and when he opened the door, the Rabbi returned to his home.
When she entered the bedrooms, the young daughter saw the horrific bloodsoaked scene and ran out of the house screaming. The neighbor ran back and fired several shots in the air to alert security personnel. Within a short time, large police and IDF forces arrived and began intensive searches to see if the terrorists were still in the community. At 03:30 a.m., military trackers discovered footprints leading to the Arab village of Avrata.
“Sky Riders” Israeli UAV’s (unmanned aerial vehicles), continued the search Saturday morning.
The IDF Chief of Staff, General Benny Gantz, arrived at the family’s home during the morning hours and said: “We will not rest until the murderers are in our hands. This is a bestial act perpetrated by barbarians. It is impossible to grasp the horrendous scene before us. We are working non-stop on the intelligence and operational fronts.”
Defense Minister Ehud Barak held a situation meeting in IDF Tel Aviv headquarters. Attending were the Chief of Staff, ISA head Yuval Diskin and other high ranking IDF intelligence and security personnel. Barak instructed those present to use every means at their disposal to find the murderers as quickly as possible. He called on the leaders of the Palestinian Authority to condemn the murders and on the Judea and Samaria Regional Authority Heads to exercise restraint.
www.IsraelNationalNews.com© Copyright IsraelNationalNews.com
 

Hundreds of Thousands Commemorate Cedar Revolution in Show of Force Against Hizbullah's Arms

Hundreds of thousands of March 14 supporters gathered at Beirut's Martyrs Square on Sunday at a rally aimed at sending a message to the Hizbullah-led alliance about the people's rejection of the party's weapons. . Convoys could be seen across the country heading to the capital, blaring songs and displaying pictures in support of slain ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.

The massive crowd thronged the Martyrs Square in central Beirut, focal point of the protests six years ago, waving the national flag and the banners of the March 14 parties.

The rally was held amid a heavy deployment of soldiers and security forces in Beirut neighborhoods and at its entrances to guarantee that the event would be free from violence.

An Nahar daily reported that scores of people camped at the square after midnight to guarantee a close place near the podium from where March 14 leaders, headed by Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri, addressed the crowds.  

Hariri visited the square on Saturday night to inspect preparations for the rally.

"The people want the fall of arms," the demonstrators chanted amid tight security.

"We are here to say yes to life and no to their arms," said Adnan Antar, 65, who travelled from the northern port city of Tripoli to attend the rally with his family along roads clogged with convoys blaring songs and displaying pictures of Rafik Hariri.

"There can be no rule of the state in Lebanon as long as there is the rule of arms," he added.

Hariri's assassination in a February 14, 2005 Beirut bombing saw the rise of the March 14 alliance, named after a day of massive anti-Syrian protests dubbed the "Cedar Revolution."

Combined with international pressure, the protests in the weeks after the killing led to the pullout of Syrian troops from Lebanon in April 2005, ending 29 years of military and political domination by Damascus. The rally this year comes as Hizbullah's military might is once again the focus of a deadlock between rival Lebanese camps.

Several demonstrators carried banners reading "NO to the dictatorship of arms" and "God has no arms," in reference to Hizbullah, Arabic for "Party of God."

"We will not stand by as witnesses who fear their reaction which could turn violent," said Salim Eid, 46, a supporter of the Lebanese Forces.

"Let's hope they don't have a violent reaction to this rally here today."

The anniversary comes amid a drawn-out political crisis which saw Hizbullah and its allies topple Saad Hariri's unity government in January, capping a long-running feud over a U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon.  The tribunal -- tasked with investigating the Rafik Hariri murder -- is reportedly readying to implicate members of Hizbullah in the killing.

Najib Miqati, appointed with Hizbullah's backing, has been tapped to succeed Saad Hariri and has since January 25 sought to form a government.

The Hariri-led opposition has announced it will boycott Miqati's government, which it accuses of being "Hizbullah's cabinet".

Lebanon's new opposition has accused Hizbullah, the only party not to have turned in its arms after the 1975-1990 civil war, of having used its arsenal to intimidate MPs into voting against Hariri's re-appointment after his unity cabinet collapsed.  The March 14 camp also accuses Hizbullah of using its arms during the events of May 2008, when a protracted political crisis culminated in a week of street clashes that killed 100 people./Naharnet-AFP/ Beirut, 13 Mar 11, 16:56

March 13 sun keeps March 14 crowd energizedy
By Annie Slemrod /Daily Star staff
Monday, March 14, 2011
BEIRUT: Under one of Beirut’s first blue skies after days of heavy rain, hundreds of thousands of March 14 supporters filled Martyrs Square Sunday with red, green and white.
The flags of Lebanon, the Kataeb (Phalange), Future Movement and the Lebanese Forces were waved, painted on faces, and worn as capes and headdresses. Rally attendees were creative in their attire – a group of four hurriedly heading Downtown from Achrafieh at 11:30 a.m. were decked out in regalia that included red sneakers and two bright red New York Yankees caps.
Among them was Zaki, clad in a red fleece, who said he was going to the rally because “we believe in … a country with one state, a country with one army, basically this is what we care about. [We are going to the rally] to say that in 2005 we went down [to the square], and we are still here.”
Zaki’s big white dog, Ice, was also on the way Martyrs Square. “He is as Lebanese as I am,” Zaki said.
Away from Downtown, Hamra was still as is usual for a Sunday, with most shops closed. In Geitawi and Mar Mikhael, quiet streets were interrupted by the buzz of helicopters and the honking of horns from cars with flags (and passengers) festively hanging out of their windows.
Although the city’s attentions seemed focused on the events taking place in its center, many in Beirut did not attend for a variety of reasons.
Adel sat in the storefront of his Achrafieh taxi company around noon, watching the day’s events unfold on television. His wife was there, he said, but he had to stay at work.
This scene was repeated around the city. The voices of politicians broadcast on television and radio could be heard from florists, groceries and cars.
The women and children of one family from Tripoli were enjoying a small picnic in an empty lot off of Charles Malek Avenue. Suleiman Abdullah, aged 11, explained that his family had come to Beirut for the gathering but he stayed with his grandmother who could not stand because of a leg injury. Indeed, his grandmother enjoyed a nargileh and pointed to a bandaged limb. With the rally in full swing at noon, the coffee shops at Sassine Square were full of people chatting without any plans to move Downtown. Elie, an architect working on his laptop, said he joined in the demonstrations on March 14, 2005, but now felt disillusioned with the movement.
“In 2005,” he said “[the demonstrations were] a response to a previous demonstration by Hezbollah and its allies … They [March 14] had lots of chances to prove that they could be the answer and completely revealed themselves to be just encroaching [on] power and that’s it … I don’t want to know how many are going and I’m not going.”
On the descent to Martyrs Square from Sassine, red, green and white reappeared. The vast majority of people outside wore these colors, with the exception of soldiers in camouflage and the occasional bewildered tourist. Rows of parked buses and cars lined the streets, many decorated with Lebanese flags and photos of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri and his father, the assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Inside Martyrs Square, light blue Future Movement flags mingled with the hues of the day. Signs held high added some lyrical color to the event. They included the political – “1559 no to arms” and “Truth is stronger than arms;” the religious – “There is no god but Allah and Mohammad is his messenger;” and the humorous – “Go solar not ballistic.”

Gemayel: All non-state arms are illegal
By The Daily Star /Monday, March 14, 2011
BEIRUT: Kataeb (Phalange) Party leader Amine Gemayel said Sunday that just as Lebanon gained its freedom in 2005 when Syrian troops withdrew, national unity will not be strengthened without a solution for illegal arms. “Freedom would not have been achieved without the withdrawal of the Syrian Army and the fall of tutelage, and national unity will not be strengthened without finding a solution for the illegal arms,” he told demonstrators in Martyrs Square. “All non-state arms are illegal arms, regardless of their source.”
“We are not bringing up the issue of arms to alienate any party, but to save Lebanon and build a state,” he added. In a tacit reference to Hezbollah, the former Lebanese president said the party has made use of its arsenal to create its own “statelet.” He added the party later used its weapons to intimidate other Lebanese. “They used their weapons to control the Lebanese state and impose a government which conflicts with our national goals and Lebanon’s higher interests,” he said. Gemayel urged demonstrators to continue their struggle “for building a free state, an honest national pact, and a decentralized system.” “We have the right to determine our own fate without intimidation,” he said. “We are a revolution against subordination and tyranny, against occupation and tutelage, against ignorance and unemployment, and against displacement and migration.” – The Daily Star

Geagea: 'I announce a second Cedar revolution'
By The Daily Star Monday, March 14, 2011
BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced Sunday “a second Cedar Revolution” aimed at eliminating the mini-state of Hezbollah.
“We meet today not only for commemoration, but to restart … I announce in front of you today a second Cedar Revolution which will not rest or stop until the mini-state is eliminated and the state has been resurrected,” Geagea said, addressing hundreds of thousands rallied in Beirut Martyrs Square to mark the sixth anniversary of the March 14 coalition’s founding gathering. Geagea raised the slogan of “No to the domination of [Hezbollah’s] arms.” “This is not impossible,” he stressed. Geagea promised to confront all attacks on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Hezbollah has directed sustained criticism at the tribunal.“[The Special Tribunal for Lebanon] has been facing the fiercest campaigns since its formation, even before any of its results appear, in a desperate attempt to halt its functions,” Geagea said. “We promise to confront all these campaigns, we promise never to compromise, we promise to insist on truth until justice is served,” he added. Geagea accused Hezbollah of serving the interests of Iran under the cover of resistance, and called for the state alone to be tasked with resistance. “Yes to the state that resists alone on behalf of all the Lebanese, no for dominating the country and the people, no for exporting the [Iranian revolution by Hezbollah to Lebanon],” said Geagea. – The Daily Star

Demands voiced at annual rallies for the March 14 coalition
By The Daily Star /Monday, March 14, 2011
timeline
BEIRUT: Following is a timeline of the major demands voiced and causes espoused by the March 14 alliance during their rallies since 2005:
March 14, 2005 – A month after former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated, an act widely blamed on Syria, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese – among whom were supporters of the Future Movement, Lebanese Forces, Progressive Socialist Party, Kataeb and the Free Patriotic Movement – rallied to Martyrs Square, in what would later be known as the “Cedar Revolution,” demanding an end to the 29-year-old presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon.
Feb. 14, 2006 – Supporters of the same parties, barring the FPM which had quit the March 14 coalition, flocked to Downtown to mark the first anniversary of Hariri’s killing. While the anti-Syrian rhetoric continued, speakers intensified their campaign against then President Emile Lahoud and assigned March 14 as a deadline for his ouster, a bid that went unsuccessful. Speakers raised the slogan of “Lebanon First.”
Feb. 14, 2007 – While supporters from the March 8 factions, of which the FPM had become a member, held a permanent sit-in in the upper part of Martyrs Square to pressure the March 14 coalition-backed prime minister, Fouad Siniora, to resign, the March 14 coalition marked the assassination of Hariri by protesting in the lower part of the square. Speakers stressed support for establishing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, an issue that led to the withdrawal of March 8 ministers from Siniora’s Cabinet, plunging Lebanon into a political crisis. They also voiced their backing for Siniora’s Cabinet. Feb.14, 2008 – Rally speakers voiced their support to General Michel Sleiman, then army commander, for the presidency – at the time vacant for over two months – and reiterated their refusal to grant the March 8 coalition a veto power in any new Cabinet. Nearby, the March 8 sit-in carried on.
Feb. 14, 2009 – Top March 14 officials stressed at the rally the significance of the June parliamentary polls, as 9 months had passed since the Doha Accord, an agreement which ended Lebanon’s 18 months political crisis, led to the election of Sleiman as president and the formation of a national unity Cabinet headed by Siniora.
Feb. 14, 2010 – Speakers at the rally toned down their anti-Syrian rhetoric after diplomatic ties had been established between Lebanon and Syria, and following the visit of Hariri, who at the time was head of a national unity Cabinet, to Damascus. At the rally, Hariri called for national unity and voiced readiness to cooperate with all Lebanese factions. Walid Jumblatt, the PSP head, did not the address the gathering but did visit Rafik Hariri’s burial place. Jumblatt announced his withdrawal from March 14 in August 2009.
March 13, 2011 – Dubbed “the second Cedar Revolution” by March 14 speakers, protesters carried the slogan of “no to the domination of arms,” with speakers fiercely criticizing Hezbollah’s arsenal and expressing their support for the STL. – The Daily Star

MP Ghazi Youssef : arms do not protect Shiites
By The Daily Star /Monday, March 14, 2011
BEIRUT: Future Movement MP Ghazi Youssef said Sunday that Hezbollah’s arms were not a means to protect Lebanon’s Shiites from other sects. “Who said that arms protect the Shiites from their fellow Lebanese?” asked Youssef, as he addressed March 14 coalition supporters who gathered in Beirut to mark six years since the founding gathering of the coalition.
The Shiite MP said Hezbollah’s arms should be directed toward Israel rather than toward the Lebanese.
The slogan of the day became “no for the domination of [Hezbollah’s arms].”
“Lebanese Shiites paid the most for the absence of the state since 1969 when this state was forced to abandon its sovereignty in the name of liberating Palestine, and when arms dishonored land and society and invited continuous wars and catastrophes,” Youssef said, in reference to the presence of Palestine Liberation Organization troops in south Lebanon.
“People of the south were the first who were forced to confront the chaotic use of weapons and they were the first to revolt against militias starting from 1980, they were the first to say that the south is not a battle field for others,” Youssef stressed.
“No one can change the face of the country … this is our final country and we have no other alternative,” the Beirut lawmaker added. – The Daily Star

Hariri condemns non-state arms while urging continued support for tribunal
By The Daily Star /Monday, March 14, 2011
Speeches
BEIRUT: Taking to the stage in Beirut’s Martyrs Square amid cheers from exuberant supporters, caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri Sunday delivered a passionate address, calling for an end to non-state arms. “Do you, the people of March 14 and the Cedars revolutionists, accept to have anyone other than the Lebanese state control the decision of the free, sovereign and independent Lebanon?,” Hariri asked while the audience shouted “No” to “the tutelage of weapons” and “weapons in the hand of anyone but the state.”
Hariri also stressed the importance of continuing support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), the U.N.-backed court investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. “Do you accept the formation of a government whose task is to abolish Lebanon’s relations with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon?” Hariri asked.
“We have been in the square for six years. Six years ago they assassinated Rafik Hariri and they thought they got rid of Rafik Hariri. They thought they got rid of Lebanon and of you,” he added. “[But] six years ago, you, the Lebanese youth, surprised them and surprised the world … You came to say: We want the truth, justice, freedom, sovereignty and independence.”
The mass protests that erupted following Hariri’s assassination, dubbed the Cedar Revolution, prompted Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon after a presence of almost 30 years.
“They told you that this is impossible. And you answered them back in this square: Lebanon doesn’t die … You achieved sovereignty, independence and the [STL],” Hariri said. “We still need to achieve freedom, because there cannot be freedom for a people when its state, Constitution, security, economy, future and decision are subject to the supremacy of weapons and to those who control the weapons,” he added in objection to Hezbollah’s possession of non-state arms.
Demanding that the “first-class citizen who is carrying a weapon and using it whenever he wants” be eliminated, Hariri said that only a strong state could counter Israeli aggression.
“Whoever wants to liberate [Palestine] must direct his weapons toward Israel and not toward his country, and disrupt the state of Israel and not his country, and weaken the economy of Israel and not the economy of Lebanon,” Hariri said.
“We are asking for a state that has a constitution respected by everyone and not breached at any time by those who are carrying the weapons,” he added. “What is impossible is for the weapons to remain a toy thrown at our children so that it explodes in their face … [And for] these weapons to remain raised against the democratic will of the people, in the face of truth and in the face of right.”
Hariri lashed out in a thinly veiled attack at Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, saying it was wrong “for someone to remain for 20 years in the same position in power, and then he give us lessons in the alternation of power because every time someone thinks of running against him, the weapons appear in the streets.”
Berri has served five consecutive terms as speaker.
Hariri also launched a presumed attack on Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt, once a fervent supporter of March 14 who back March 8 in January and prompted the fall of Hariri’s government.
“What is impossible is for an MP to stand before you and vow to defend the tribunal, Taif, democracy and to transmit your voice with honesty, then say that he was obliged to do the opposite because someone else told him that if he does, the weapon will haunt this country and haunt your and his children,” Hariri said.
Strongly condemning any kind of external interference, Hariri explained that it was in Israel’s interest to see the Lebanese divided. “Israel wishes to see the weapons pointed toward Beirut, the mountains, and all of Lebanon, just like on May 7, [2008],” said Hariri.
We must not “remain silent, bend our heads, abandon our freedom, and not defend our constitution, our democracy and country,” he added.
Calling on everyone not to forget the martyrs of the Cedars Revolution, Hariri urged supporters to remember that Lebanon was capable of being a “jewel” and a model of coexistence, where freedom of expression, belief, production, education, culture, art and life were all respected.
“What is impossible is to give up on our freedom, on our Arabism, on justice and truth and most of all what is impossible is to give up on Lebanon,” said Hariri. – The Daily Star

Hariri: disarming Hezbollah "not impossible"
LF leader Samir Geagea: "This is a second Cedar Revolution"
Daily Star staff/Sunday, March 13, 2011
BEIRUT: Outgoing PM Saad Hariri began his speech taking off his jacket and tie and rolled up his sleeves as the crowd erupted with euphoria. “We are Lebanese, we want to breathe, [we] want to speak, we want to raise our voices,” Hariri said in a passionate speech.
He added that all weapons outside the control of the state will be handed over to the Lebanese army. "This is not immposible," he told a cheering crowd.
“I came to ask you: do you accept the tutelage of weapons authority to be in the hand of others? do you accept the formation of a government that imposes its weapons on its people?
“Do you accept a government who would topple and stop the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon? You want the free decision of Lebanon to be within the hands of others,” said Hariri.
He said for six years, since the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Prime Minister, opposing factions have worked to conceal “the truth, justice, and prevent people from gaining their freedom and independence.”
He told the crowd that they have achieved justice and independence but are still waiting to gain their freedom. “There isn't freedom for a people whose government is under the tutelage of arms ... and they tell you it is impossible but that won't work.
“What was impossible six years ago, will be achieved today. It will happen,” he said.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced Sunday the launching of a “second Cedar Revolution” against the hegemony of Hezbollah.
“I am announcing today with you this is the second Cedar Revolution that will not stop until the end of a mini state,” he said in a speech during the March 14 rally in Downtown Beirut.
Geagea rejected claims that disarming Hezbollah was “impossible”, affirming the strong will of people. “We refuse to have our destiny be in the hand of others or our decisions made outside of our borders,” Geagea said.
Labor Minister Butros Harb reiterated what Geagea said: "We are here to say no for anyone who tries to impose his opinion under the rule of arms.
“This is our Lebanon. This is our cause. This is our life. All of you made the Cedar Revolution."
Kateab Party leader Amin Gemayel said 2005 Cedar Revolution has set the precedent to popular revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa. “Years before, you declared the independence uprising, this revolution became a model for Egypt, Tunis, and all the Arab capitals,” he said.
"Let’s be honest, they [Hezbollah] carried weapons at the beginning to resist Israel and kept [them] to create a mini-state, then used [the weapons] to threaten us and used them to topple the government and then to form a government to achieve foreign goals,” he said in his speech.
Fares Soueid the March 14 Coordinator kicked off proceedings giving the first speech. “We are here to eliminate illegal weapons, just like we did in 2005 when we toppled Syria’s hegemony over Lebanon,” he said. “This is a revolution of dignity. We wanted it to be an uprising and not just an opposition because an uprising is against oppression and arrogance.”
Elias Atallah, Democratic Movement secretary was the second speaker said: “The Lebanese have the right to celebrate and be proud; we are not the only ones who want to take down repressive regimes.” Atallah voiced his support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon saying, “no to Hezbollah’s arsenal".
Meanwhile Armenian MP Sebouh Kalpakian offered March 8 an olive branch urging them to “sit down together and talk about our concerns” as long as “they don’t turn their guns against the population of Ashrafiyeh or Tarik Jedideh”.
“We are here today – various parties and forces—under the wing of March 14 to say out loud: No for weapons. Yes for the State,” he added.

Strong support for March 14 among Druze community
By Dana Khraiche /Daily Star staff
Sunday, March 13, 2011
ALAY: Despite recent changes of positions by the political strongman of Lebanon’s Druze community, turnout from the heartland of the Druze community at an upcoming rally in support of the cause of the so-called March 14 movement is expected to exceed previous years.
“Last year, approximately 30,000 people from Baabda, Alay, and Iqlim al-Kharoub participated in the rally; this year, we are noticing that more people are planning to go to Beirut,” said Walid Sarhal, director of administration and support at the Future Movement office in Katermaya.
Katermaya and the Baabda, Alay, and Iqlim al-Kharoub towns and districts in the Chouf region are home to substantial Druze populations.
The Future Movement, the grouping headed by caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri, is at the core at the March 14 Movement, which is named after the massive public demonstrations calling for an end to Syrian tutelage over Lebanon in 2005.
Sarhal said that people in the Druze communities of the Chouf support Jumblatt due to his appeal as leader, yet they maintain other loyalties and principles. “Jumblat’s move to the other side did not affect people here; they are still in support of March 14 and caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri.”
Expectations
While the Future Movement, the main organizer of the event, voiced high expectations for participation in the March 14 rally, which this year is scheduled to take place on Sunday March 13, the campaign to mobilize people to go and demonstrate is due to begin. There were no signs of flags or billboards in the Chouf region.
“The March 14 campaign this year is starting late. The organizers are instead depending on Saad Hariri’s speeches to persuade people to participate,” Yehya Alaa al Dine, head of the Katermaya Municipality, said.
Despite the affirmations of a high turnout by the organizers of the rally, other officials cast doubt over the expectation.
“In consequence of [Jumblatt’s] move, the minds of many people have been changed resulting in divison,” Abdel Karim Abdel Rahim Abdel Malek, Mayor of Katermaya, said referring to the long-standing historic unity between Sunnis and Druze in the Chouf.
When asked whether they would participate in the annual rally at Martyrs Square in Downtown Beirut, people on the streets of Katermaya and Barja voiced their “undying support” for the Hariri family.
“[Hariri] has done a lot of charity work without [sectarian] discrimination,” a female cornershop owner said, affirming her determination to attend.
Others in the towns of the southern Chouf said they support the rally but would be unable to leave their businesses unattended.
“We are going because we want to show our discontent with Hezbollah’s weapons,” said a man while playing cards with his friends at a Barja coffee shop, to assenting nods of his six fellow players.
Slogans that the Future Movement has prepared for use in the demonstrations by participants from the Chouf will mainly focus on Hezbollah’s arms.
“Arms are to resist Israel but not to be used against who legalized it”, Sarhal cited a slogan, adding that each campaign caters for a specific audience.
Fear of reprisals
“If it is a democratic country with the freedom to make your own decisions, everyone would participate in the event of March 14, but some people are afraid which is preventing them from going,” Abdel Malek said without specifying what the fear was.
In the northern Chouf town of Bekaata, voices from the population showed divergences there. Most said they would attend, some mulled whether to go or not – confused by Jumblatt’s coalition switch - and a few backed their Druze leader.
“I am for supporting what is best for this country but now I don’t know what to do anymore or what to think,” a shop owner in Bekaata said. “We need a new set of people to replace all of those in power.”
Imad Ghadban, a lawyer in Bekaata, is going to participate in the rally.
“Jumblatt did not ask people not to go, he simply left it up to them,” Ghadban said. He added that the Druze leader is still a respectable man with large following in the Chouf. However, many in the region owe much to slain Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, according to Ghadban.
“My sister-in-law was on a full scholarship from Hariri,” Ghadban said. “She is now a doctor.”
In the multi-communal Lebanese society political leaders on all sides have long used financial patronage as instrument able to garner popular support or forge loyalties in addition to addressing urgent deficiencies in the social net.
No attempts have been made by the Progressive Socialist Party to dissuade people from the Druze community to attend.

Gemayel: We're Not Counting on Foreign Developments, Arms Cannot Last Forever
Naharnet/Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Friday urged the March 14 forces to "clearly declare" a stance on "the topics of truth and sovereignty, not for vengeance but rather to spare Lebanon further tragedies," stressing that Hizbullah's arms cannot last forever. "We're raising the issue of weapons because we want to preserve the existence of the Lebanese entity, and we hope all Lebanese would realize the meaning of the (March 13) rally, which will represent a broad Lebanese demand for a free, sovereign and independent country," said Gemayel, on the eve of an expected mass rally to commemorate the March 14 anniversary. "The rally will stress the Lebanese people's right to self-determination, in the vein of the recent events in some Arab countries, where people have decided their future," Gemayel added in an interview on MTV. He described Sunday's rally as "part of the major Arab transition towards democracy." "That's why it is an opportunity for everyone to exit the big prison and let no one think that they can impede Lebanon's progress through weapons." Gemayel stressed that the March 14 coalition was not "counting on foreign developments." "We're rather counting on our steadfastness, the thing that truly boosts the confidence of the world in us," he added.
Beirut, 11 Mar 11, 23:17

March 14 Supporters Gather in Beirut in Show of Force Against Hizbullah's Arms
Tens of thousands of March 14
Naharnet/supporters gathered at Beirut's Martyrs Square on Sunday at a rally aimed at sending a message to the Hizbullah-led alliance about the people's rejection of the party's weapons.
An Nahar daily said that scores of people camped at the square after midnight to guarantee a close place near the podium from where March 14 leaders, headed by Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri, will address the crowds. Convoys could be seen across the country heading to the capital, blaring songs and displaying pictures in support of slain ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.
The March 14 leadership has asked demonstrators to carry the Lebanese flag only in hopes for a show of force, six years to the day after the 'Cedar Revolution' protest which the alliance said was the prototype for "peaceful, democratic" change in the Arab world. Hariri visited the square on Saturday night to inspect preparations for the rally. His Future News channel has repeatedly aired a short video in which a Hizbullah member climbs a pole, takes down a Lebanese flag and replaces it with the party's yellow standard. Another clip shows gunmen opening fire on Lebanese troops with the tagline: "We want no army in Lebanon but the Lebanese army." Red billboards urging supporters of the Hariri camp to head downtown on Sunday lined highways across the capital, bearing slogans such as "NO to assassinations," "NO to oppression" and "NO to the rule of arms." Another billboard, which no party has yet claimed responsibility for, has surfaced in the capital, reading: "Israel too wants to topple arms." The rally was held amid a heavy deployment of soldiers and security forces in Beirut neighborhoods and at its entrances to guarantee that the event would be free from violence.(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 13 Mar 11, 07:06

Hariri: From Now on, Possession of Arms, Decision of War and Peace Should Only Be under State's Control
Naharnet/Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri criticized on Friday the possession of arms outside the Lebanese state, saying that it's true that those possessing weapons have the power to launch an assault, but those who are just are more powerful than all violence and arms. He said during a speech at Qoreitem: "From now on, the possession of weapons, decision of war and peace, and defending the country should only be under the state's control." "There is no need to remind the silent majority of the criminal incidents these arms have committed in Lebanon," he added. "The Lebanese' decision is only in their hands. The decision of their weapons, is not in their hands, but in the hands of the external forces that provide them with arms, finance and press on them to make the weapons dominate our lives, and control our country, its resources and future," he noted
Hariri stressed: "Justice does not need arms. All it needs is your minds, hearts, and voices. Only fear of the truth needs weapons and only the oppressors will falter without the power of the arms." Addressing the March 8 camp, he asked: "Why do you fear the truth?" in the assassination of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
"Those fearing the people finding out the truth fear the people as much as they do the truth," the prime minister said.
"The Lebanese want to live and work in freedom. They share the dreams of all martyrs to achieve freedom without violence and the use of arms," he added.
"The arms will fail before those who broke the wall of fear in 2005 and destroyed what they have been dreaming of for 30 years," he noted.
Addressing the March 13 rally, he said: "You, the Lebanese, will announce to the whole world on Sunday that your dignity and the dignity of your country and your state, your dreams and ambitions, your revolution and your principles that you have defended and paid for with the blood of the martyrs are not available for any deal or trade-off."
Furthermore, Hariri said: "The days of blackmailing us with the Taif Accord are over as we were the first who demanded its implementation and they should remember that it is based on the state having the exclusivity of possessing arms." Addressing the Shiites in Lebanon, he stated: "We are not just partners in the same country because we have been and always will be partners in blood. We have sought reconciliation because no one among us is working against the Shiites."
"The Shiites in Lebanon were the first who rose up against the use of weapons. Didn't Imam Shamseddine forbid the Lebanese from resorting to weapons against their fellow citizens?" he asked. "We commit to Imam Shamseddine's declaration and Imam Sadr's rejection of arms. Don't get carried away with claims and rest assured that no statelet can take the place of the Lebanese state and our democratic system," he continued. Hariri concluded: "Our future is the hostage of the arms and we will declare this on Sunday and continue on saying it until Lebanon is victorious." Beirut, 11 Mar 11, 19:02

Geagea: 2nd Cedar Revolution Won't Yield until Hizbullah Disappears
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said at the Cedar Revolution's sixth anniversary on Sunday that the second Cedar Revolution won't succumb until Hizbullah disappears.
Geagea addressed March 14 supporters gathered at Martyrs Square saying: "We only want the Lebanese state to govern; we won't rest until the state within the state concept vanishes and the state is established." "We will not accept for our destiny to remain controlled by someone else, we will not accept for our decisions to be made by parties which reside beyond our borders, we will not accept for our economy to remain paralyzed, we will not accept for our history to remain distorted, and we reject any harm against the Lebanese army," Geagea said. The LF leader reiterated to the crowds gathered at the square "we are seriously attempting to get the Lebanese out of the swamp … we are attempting to restore life back to normal." Geagea reassured the Lebanese that the blood of March 14 martyrs will not be wasted, saying "the tribunal, since its establishment, has suffered violent attacks even before it began to show results, in a desperate attempt to stop its work." "Yes to the state alone resisting for all the Lebanese," he said. Beirut, 13 Mar 11, 13:16

Harb, 'Lebanon is not ours alone'

NNA - 13/03/2011 Care-taker Minister Boutros Harb took center stage at Freedom Square Sunday to revive the dream which began in 2005 for a strong independent state.

The emotional oath of martyr Gibran Tueini resonated through the square as Harb recalled the constants of March 14 for common living among all sects, social equity and justice, and a land free of continuous threat of illegal weapons. "Our army does not need permission from anyone," Harb added, "and our officers who carry out their duties across Lebanese territories should not die."  The road to a free sovereign Lebanon was long and demanded many sacrifices. Harb confirmed that March 14 will not give up on national constants carved by the blood of martyrs of independence.  The Minister called upon March 8 to join in the fight for a better Lebanon. "We are not announcing divorce with our Lebanese brethren, but saying that the road they are on is defective." He added that the artillery of Hezbollah, which pointed at Lebanese, only benefited Israel.

"We want to live together, Lebanon is not ours alone, and it is not theirs alone, Lebanon flourishes with all of us," concluded Harb.

 Chamoun against imported dogmas

NNA - No to illegal arms, no to a Lebanon that has been a pawn in the grander game of external political forces; those were the demands of MP Dory Chamoun during his speech in Freedom Square Sunday. "There is a vast difference between what we aspire for and what the other team is attempting to achieve," said the MP. The major point of conflict between March 14 and March 8 Camps centered on the artillery of Hezbollah. While March 8 clung to said weapons, March 14 demanded dropping unlawful arms and uniting under one strong legal state. "They reject international decisions that condemn crime. They act under the guise of night, while we work in day light and call for justice." Chamoun concluded by refusing all illegal arms and imported dogmas forced upon all Lebanese.

Makary salutes revolutionaries

NA - 13/03/2011 Vice Speaker Fareed Makary addressed the masses at Freedom Square Sunday with a salute for those who faced the threat of arms and held their ground for the dream of an independent strong state. The artillery of Hezbollah posed impudent extortion of free Lebanese. "They want to kill the dream, to bring down the Cedar, but the Cedar will never fall," he said. In blatant refute of regressing back to the phase of political assassination, Makary called for justice to prevail and for the peaceful revolution to continue till the very end.

Kalbakian, 'Your weapons are sabotaging the image of Lebanon'

NNA - 13/03/2011 MP Seboh Kalbakian said Sunday in his speech in Freedom Square that he refused the absence of the State, which led to the migration of thousands of Lebanese, including 50% of the Armenian community.  He called upon March 8 Camp to join in building a strong Lebanese state based on equity and righteousness. "Your weapons are sabotaging the image of Lebanon," he said, "If you want to point your guns at Achrafiyeh and Tareek Jdeedeh, then a thousand no to these arms, because the enemy does not live in Qoreitem and Meraab and Bekfaya." Kalbakian worried that the arms of Hezbollah put Lebanon in a faceoff with the international community and forced a monochrome government upon the country.

Atallah: Extra-legal arms foment strife

NNA - 13/03/2011 Taking the word at March 14 rally in downtown Beirut, former deputy of the House Elias Atallah declared all extra-legal arms to be fomenters of strife.

He added that all attempts at bringing the country to its knees were bound to fail. Atallah stressed that Cedar Revolution was in full progress and that the proponents of "the Spring of Beirut" would never retract one iota from their achievements. Atallah regarded Lebanon as not being alone in an Arab World currently swept by pacifist revolution.

He reiterated rejection of militia arms, and recalled with affection martyrs of the Cedar Revolution so that they remain alive in "our" dreams and conscience

Soueid for united front until democracy prevails

NNA - 13/03/2011 March 14 General Coordinator Fares Soueid called Lebanese for a mass-awakening against treachery of illegal arms.

Soueid encouraged all who have suffered under the threat and intimidation of illegal arms to press forward until this artillery lost its power and hold over Lebanon, and a democratic state emerged in its stead. "This is an awakening against treachery, murder, oppression and arrogance," continued Soueid, "we will remain united as long as you are brave, because you are the makers of victory against suspicious arms." The crowd of March 14 which was able to oust Syrian custodianship back in 2005 has once again congregated in Freedom Square to call for liberation from the unlawful arms of Hezbollah, "we will not back out, because we are the sons of this Square which expelled the security custodianship [of Syria]," ended Soueid.

Pope: Christians Replace Jews as ‘Most Persecuted Minority'
Shevat 12, 5771, 17 January 11 05:57
by by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu(Israelnationalnews.com) Jews, known for centuries as the most persecuted minority, have been replaced in this role by Christians, according to Pope Benedict XVI, who hinted that he was referring to the Islamic tidal wave that is sweeping the world.
Carefully avoiding singling out Muslims for the mistreatment of Christians, however, the pope recently appealed to European nations as well as the Muslim world to protect what he called the most persecuted religion in the world.
Recent attacks on Christians in Egypt, Nigeria and Iran have claimed dozens of casualties. The pope stated, "This succession of attacks is yet another sign of the urgent need for the governments of the region to adopt, in spite of difficulties and dangers, effective measures for the protection of religious minorities."
Iran has a different explanation for attacks on Christians. Ghazanfar Rokn-Abadi, its ambassador to Lebanon, said his country is a model for religious freedom and that “250,000 Christians are living in Iran peacefully and safely.” He blamed the Jews for any physical attacks.
Responding to the report on the pope’s statements, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley declined to directly answer a reporter’s question, “Who do you think is doing this?”
“I’d be very wary at this point about making any sweeping statements about whether what’s happened in Iraq has a bearing on what’s happening in other countries such as Egypt or Nigeria,” Crowley said. “These are all being investigated.”
The International Christian Concern was more direct. ICC president Jeff King stated, "Anti-Christian hatred arising from Islam has flowed into 2011, as seen in the horrific attacks in Egypt, Pakistan and Iraq already this year," he said.
The ICC also noted that mainstream media rarely report the phenomenon of persecuted Christians despite its having becoming more common.
The most widespread persecution of Christians has been in the Middle East, where Israel is the only country that grants freedom to Muslims and Christians, as well as Jews, to freely practice their religion. Prior to the Six-Day War in 1967, when Jerusalem was reunited and Judea and Samaria were restored to Israel, Jordan's rulers closed all Jewish and Christian sites, except for high-profile official visits.
Christianity had been the dominant influence in Bethlehem until the first and second Arab intifadas, when Muslim rulers and clerics increasingly harassed Christians, forcing most of them to flee. The Palestinian Authority has blamed Israel for the Christian exodus, but research has documented the harrassment by Muslims.
In Egypt, the government did not take kindly to the pope’s call for "effective measures" to protect Christian minorities in the Middle East. Cairo recalled its ambassador to the Vatican, saying that "Egypt will not allow any non-Egyptian party to intervene in our internal affairs under any pretext.”
Despite witnesses saying that an off-duty Muslim policeman shouted “Allahu Akhbar´(Allah is great) as he shot and killed a Copt last week, Egypt claimed that the murderer acted because of “his personal state” and not because of “the religion of his victims.” The shooter aimed his pistol at women, presumed to be non-Muslims, who were not wearing a head covering.
Nevertheless, Egypt’s ambassador to the Vatican denied there was any persecution of Christians in his country. "Persecution is a big word," she said. "In order to prove that there is persecution, you have to be very careful. This is a legal term which should not be used casually.”
Western countries are in a state of denial, asserted Clifford D. May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism.
Writing in the Boston Herald on Saturday, he cited the bombing of Christian churches in Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria and the Philippines and Indonesia, the recent arrests of Christians in Iran, and the death penalty handed down to a Christian woman in Pakistan for insulting Islam.
“The reality is this: Within the Muslim world today are regimes, movements and individuals convinced that their religion justifies - and benefits from - the most heinous atrocities,” May wrote. “They are determined, ruthless and lethal - as Christians and other minorities across a broad swath of the world have been finding out."
"If we in the West fail even to speak up for them, can we really expect moderate Muslims to do more?" %ad%
www.IsraelNationalNews.com© Copyright IsraelNationalNews.com
 

Rafiq al-Hariri's murder: why do Lebanese blame Syria?
Hazem Saghieh,

14 March 2011
The assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister on 14 February has sparked fury in the country and confusion in the region. Lebanese journalist Hazem Saghieh investigates what really happened.

(This article was first published on 21 February 2005)
About the author

Hazem Saghieh is political editor of the London-based Arab newspaper al-Hayat.

After the “October revolution” of 1917 in Russia, an angry communist militant accused Anatoly Lunacharsky, the commissar for education in the new order, of talking the language of the bourgeoisie. Lunacharsky replied that if a bourgeois says that the earth rotates around the sun, we should not believe the opposite in order to prove the purity of our beliefs.
After the assassination by car bomb on 14 February of Lebanon’s ex-prime minister, Rafiq al-Hariri, many people in the middle east and beyond doubt the accusation – cultivated particularly strongly by United States sources – that Syria is responsible. In the light of the Iraq war, they are inclined to refuse every word uttered by Washington: either because they don’t trust the Americans who falsely “cried wolf” over weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, or because of their inherent anti-Americanism, or because they reject the Americans’ tendency to a quick embrace of ideologically convenient and emotionally loaded conclusions in advance of proper study of the evidence.
Well, let’s forget about the Americans and the neo-conservatives for a moment. In this instance, they were only endorsing the version of events already adopted by the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese citizens who mourned al-Hariri. So why are the Lebanese in their vast majority so convinced that the Syrians did it?
Lebanese pie, Syrian finger
Three influences combine to form this conviction: Syria’s military hold on Lebanon, its dealings with Rafiq al-Hariri in the past, and the current condition of the Damascus regime itself.
First, it is well known that the Syrian authorities maintain responsibility for Lebanon’s security. This is indeed is one of the main pretexts for Syria’s military “presence” in Lebanon; its troop deployment may have declined from around 35,000 at the time of the Taif agreement in 1989 to 15,000 in 2004, but its military and intelligence agencies still wield decisive security influence. By itself, this fact is enough to put Damascus in the frame for al-Hariri’s death. But it is reinforced by another significant fact: none of the previous political murders that occurred while Lebanon was under heavy Syrian influence – such as that of the Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt in 1977 and the Maronite (Christian) leader Rene Moawad in 1989 – were properly investigated or had their perpetrators held to account.
Second, it is also no secret that Syria targeted Rafiq al-Hariri’s political life many times before his physical life was destroyed. One fierce argument took place in 1996, when al-Hariri wanted to send the Lebanese army south to secure the country’s border with Israel. Damascus preferred to keep Hizbollah forces there, as part of its strategy of using Lebanon as a bargaining chip in its attempts to recover the Golan heights from Israel’s control.
Moreover, every Lebanese citizen was aware of Syria’s disgust over al-Hariri’s friendship with France’s president, Jacques Chirac. The Syrians blame this relationship for facilitating UN Security Council resolution 1559 in September 2004, which demanded their evacuation from Lebanon and the disarmament of Hizbollah. The implementation of this resolution would deprive Syria of its only viable negotiating tool vis-ŕ-vis Israel, and thus be fatal to its strategic interests.
In 2004, Syrian officials obliged al-Hariri to endorse a three-year extension in office of their puppet, Emile Lahoud, as Lebanon’s president. Even after this humiliation, al-Hariri was forced to resign as prime minister – but Syria, aware that he still nurtured political ambitions in advance of the parliamentary elections due in May 2005, continued to harass his supporters all over the country.
Syria consistently presents its role in Lebanon as the only guarantee of avoiding another civil war between the country’s Christians and Muslims. They feared that al-Hariri was on the point of joining his ally, Walid Jumblatt (Kamal’s son) in open opposition to Lahoud and his own successor as prime minister, the pro-Syrian Omar Karami. This would have dealt a tremendous blow to the myth that Lebanon’s political opposition is exclusively Christian.
Third, it is important to understand Rafiq al-Hariri’s killing in the context of the nature of the Syrian regime itself. This is a regime driven by a combination of militarism, ideology, and tribalism. It does not think on rational lines or ask such “utilitarian” questions as whether the killing of al-Hariri will bring it “benefit”: it thinks and acts in the same manner as its fellow-Ba’athist, Saddam Hussein, used to do.
The severe crisis of this semi-totalitarian, semi-tribal regime is now permanent. It has failed to liberate the land it lost to Israel in 1967, to adapt to the unfavourable global and regional changes begun by the collapse of its Soviet ally in 1991, to confront worldwide suspicions about its friends and intentions, and to achieve a single definite economic, social, or educational improvement in the condition of its people.
The official Syrian lexicon, from “brotherhood” with Lebanon to striking a “strategic balance” with Israel, has become a joke in the cafes of Beirut and Damascus (for opposition voices in Syria too are mounting). And when the bankruptcy of rhetoric matches that of accomplishment, all that remains is Frankensteinian energy: a horror machine unfettered by rationality.
Lebanon’s next independence
In the post-11 September 2001 era, the moderate Rafiq al-Hariri was in principle the politician most able to act as mediator between Syria and the west. In practice, Syria’s “rational” rulers chose to extend Emile Lahoud’s presidency – and in so doing, struck both Hariri and the west with a single blow.
Their action reveals a deep, irreconcilable contradiction between two political choices embodied by the figure of Rafiq al-Hariri and the military regime in Damascus. The first is motivated by “building” a nation-state, the second is obsessed by keeping it annexed and subjugated; the first is driven by life and openness to the world, the second by death, martyrdom and (its brotherhood with Iran excepted) isolation. Lebanon has witnessed two modern prime ministers of historic stature. The first was Riad Solh, whose name is associated with the smooth, bloodless transition to independence in 1943. The second was Rafiq al-Hariri, whose name was beginning to be attached to the next, promised era of independence. His brutal assassination indicates how much more difficult this second transition will be, for its path could be paved with corpses.
Some things are true (to adapt a remark of George Orwell) even though the Americans say they are true. Isn’t all this enough for the Lebanese to accuse their Ba’ath “brothers” in Damascus?

Saudi Arabia criticized Hariri anti-Hezbollah campaign, Gulf Issues
RIYADH | iloubnan.info - March 14, 2011Gulf Issues center mentioned on Monday that outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri was reproached by Saudi King Abdallah ben Abdel Aziz during their secret meeting in Riyadh on March 6. The Saudi King expressed his discontent regarding Hariri's campaign against Hezbollah's weapons and voiced concern regarding Hezbollah's reaction to the campaign, and its repercussions on Prime Minister Designate Najib Mikati and the Saudi-Syrian relations. The center quoted a report published by "Gulf" newspaper as saying that the Saudi King criticized the unjustified campaign Hariri launched against Hezbollah, and said the Saudi Kingdom may not be able to handle its repercussions. The sources denied the oil-rich Kingdom was supporting the campaign and said Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, was playing a negative role in this regard. The sources added that the GCC's position regarding Premier Designate Mikati, announced last week, was a message that the Saudi Kingdom was not behind Hariri's campaign and the Gulf countries are committed to the Lebanese sovereignty. Moreover, the sources reported that the campaign against Hariri's owned company "Saudi Oger" is a message to the outgoing PM to keep the situation in control without endangering the Saudi interests
 

Extinction of Iraq's Christians Must Be Prevented
 3-14-2011 3:32:59
By Fernando Perez/World Evangelical Alliance

http://www.worldevangelicals.org/news/article.htm?id=3430&cat=main
Under constant Islamist attacks, over half of Iraq's Christian community has fled the country and thousands of others are seeking shelter away from their hometowns. Yet Iraqi authorities remain reluctant to act and it is feared that the remaining Christians may also soon have to leave the restive country. This needs to be averted before it's too late.
Iraq's Christians, one of the oldest communities in the world, have faced numerous incidents of bomb explosions, killings, abduction, torture, and forcible conversion to Islam ever since the U.S.-led liberation war began in 2003 -- local Christians are seen as allies of the US forces. It is estimated -- by conservative standards -- that between 400,000 and 600,000 Christians have left the country. Some put the number at one million.
In the past, Christians in the troubled areas, such as the cities of Baghdad and Mosul, had an option to flee to nearby Christian-majority pockets in the autonomous Kurdistan area and cities under the occupation of Kurdish forces, which until recently were not seen as hostile to the Christians. But, of late, even Kurds have begun to persecute them. Perhaps, there are no "havens" left for the Christians.
A recent wave of attacks began in Mosul killing at least 10 Christians in the run up to the March 2010 parliamentary election, which prompted over 4,300 Christians to flee to the Nineveh Plains area. On Apr. 3, 2010, British daily The Telegraph reported that many Christians in Mosul were being stopped on the street and asked for their identity cards -- and shot if their names revealed their Christian origins. The exodus surged manifold after a major attack at Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad on Oct. 31 last year which killed 44 worshippers and three priests.
The attackers of the Oct. 31 attack were from the Islamist terror group Islamic State of Iraq -- Al Qaeda's name in Iraq. They had demanded the release of two Christian women held captive in Egyptian Coptic monasteries for their conversion to Islam -- a rumor supposedly spread by a Libyan Islamist from Al Qaeda, Sheikh Abu Yehya, according to Washington DC-based Hudson Institute.
In the following weeks, hundreds of Christians fled. For example, only one Christian family remained -- down from 70 families in 2003 -- in Habbaniya Cece town in Anbar Province, now an Al Qaeda stronghold and where an ancient church was bombed in 2005, The New York Times reported on Jan. 20, 2011.
Christians are still fleeing the country, as those displaced by the 2010 attacks are being harassed and have lost the confidence in the government's ability to protect their lives. While some displaced Christians have returned to their cities, having no money left to survive away from their hometowns, they are constantly haunted by the possibility of another wave of attacks any time, any day. Hospitals, universities and other essential facilities are far away from Christian hamlets and they find travelling too risky.
On Feb. 1, 2011, Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) said a persistent feeling of insecurity was driving more Christians from their homes. IOM counted over 1,300 Christian families seeking refuge in northern Iraq, which is largely under the control of Kurdish people. It also found some real estate agents spreading rumors of attacks to drop property prices and to force Christians to sell their homes. In some areas with high numbers of displaced Christians, rents have risen by 200 to 300 percent.
The Nineveh Plains, a region technically under the government of Ninawa province, north-west of Mosul and where many displaced Christians found shelter, is under the occupation of Kurdish militias shielded by the Kurdish Democratic Party that governs Iraq's Kurdistan region. The Kurdish forces, believed to be close to the US military, are also persecuting the Christians.
Iraq's Kurdish leaders, along with the Shi'a political leadership, dominated the drafting of the country's constitution. They made provisions for the near total autonomy of the Kurdistan Regional Government and a referendum to decide if adjoining disputed territories will become part of the autonomous region. However, the federal government, now dominated by the Shi'as, is delaying the referendum which has angered the Kurds. The ensuing tensions have caused the Kurds to not only overprotect their region but also to make an attempt to establish their control over disputed territories. In the process, they have begun to attack minorities, including the Christians.
Kurdish militias entered Christian hamlets soon after the US operations began in 2003. They claimed they wanted to protect the Christians and other minorities from attacks by the Arabs. However, as the years went by, they themselves began to harass the minority. Before the March 2010 election, Kurdish security forces threatened Christian residents saying they must vote for the Kurdish candidates or face consequences. Kurdish forces have also erected "security" barriers in Christian areas to restrict their movements, making life difficult for them. Local residents believe Kurdish forces have killed and abducted many Christians, reported Assyrian International News Agency, known as AINA, on Feb. 18, 2011.
Around 75 percent of the Iraqi population is Arab, and roughly 15 percent is Kurd. Over 95 percent of all Iraqis are Muslim -- 65 percent Shi'a and 35 percent Sunni. Iraq's politics had largely been dominated by the Arab Sunnis until the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003. Now, the federal government of Iraq is governed by Shi'ite parties led by the Islamic Dawa Party.
Apart from being targeted for their faith by Al Qaeda and related terror groups, Iraq's Christians are also caught in the crossfire of the Arab-Kurd and Shi'a-Sunni conflicts, which rose to new heights after the 2003 US operations.
So how can the remaining Christians be protected amid such complexities?
First and foremost, the US Forces in Iraq and the Kurdish leadership could be lobbied, given that large numbers of Christians live in the areas that are under the influence of the Kurds, who are seen as allies of the United States. They must be urged to ensure the protection of the Christian residents as well the displaced Christians from the Kurdish militias. They should also be asked to provide their day-to-day needs and long-term needs such as education. Two key persons who could be lobbied are General Lloyd J. Austin III, Commanding General of US Forces in Iraq, and Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish regional government.
Then, the Christians, who have fled to the neighboring nations, including Syria and Jordan, should be identified and their rights ensured as other refugees. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other relief agencies should be apprised of the situation.
Besides, many Christian politicians in the Nineveh Plains are calling for the creation of an autonomous province for Christians as the only hope for their safety. This demand should be evaluated and highlighted in the global mainstream media, which have not covered the plights of Iraqi Christians sufficiently. Moreover, the US must seek a comprehensive settlement between the Kurdistan regional government and the federal government with the help of the UN to ease tensions in the region.
Furthermore, the United States should be asked to streamline its Iraq policy to deal with the failure of the federal and Kurdistan governments to protect Christians and other minorities, and to ensure enactment of special laws to prevent impunity after incidents of religiously motivated violence.
As a long-term goal, Iraq's secular parties -- parties that will treat all religious communities equally -- should be strengthened, as they seem far weaker than the Islamists parties which use mosques and other influential religious organizations to mobilize support and financial resources.