LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِMay
02/2011
Biblical Event Of The
Day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 6,35-40. Jesus said to them,
"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever
believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen
(me), you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven
not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will
of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but
that I should raise it (on) the last day. For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I
shall raise him (on) the last day."
Latest
analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases
from
miscellaneous
sources
Conference sounds alarm over
imperiled Mideast Christians/By
MAXIME MYER-SMITH/May
01/11
Syria: This is no time for
double standards/By:
Alex Neve and Maher Arar/May
01/11
Is it a sprint or a marathon in
Syria/By: Harry Hagopian/May 01/11
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for May
01/11
Hizballah prepares to pull its
heavy missiles from Syrian safekeeping/DEBKAfile
Netanyahu: World must stop those
wishing to destroy the Jewish people/Haaretz
Syrian army shells
Daraa/Now Lebanon
McCain rules out military
moves against Syria/Now Lebanon
Syrian protestors “hang Assad” in
Jordanian demonstration/Now Lebanon
Pope John Paul II remembered on eve
of beatification with massive vigil at Circus Maximus/AP
Syria PM promises reforms after at
least 70 people killed in weekend violence/Haaretz
.Libya's Gaddafi survives air
strikes, son killed/Reuters
Syrians protest from rooftops after army action/Reuters
Netanyahu criticizes Hezbollah for
denying Holocaust/Now Lebanon
Syrian Troops Redeploy at Northern Border as Number of Syrians Seeking Refuge in
Lebanon Drops/Naharnet
Israel Sets up Cameras on
Dividing Fence at Ghajar/Naharnet
Experts: Syria Unrest
Could Spill into Lebanon/Naharnet
Miqati Meets Nasrallah as
Suleiman's Visitors Stress that Salvation Cabinet Needs Syrian Green Light/Naharnet
Baroud: I Haven't Requested from
Suleiman to Be Reappointed as Minister/Naharnet
ISF Patrol Intercepted as it was
Attempting to Thwart Construction Violation in Tyre/Naharnet
Hizballah prepares
to pull its heavy missiles from Syrian safekeeping
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report
May 1, 2011,
The Lebanese Shiite Hizballah has obviously decided the Assad regime is sinking.
debkafile's military sources report the organization is preparing to pull its
heavy, long-range weapons out of storage in Syrian military facilities – no
longer sure they are safe there – and risk transporting them to Lebanon. Last
year, Syrian President Bashar Assad agreed to store Hizballah's incoming
Iran-made Fatah-110 surface missiles and its Syrian equivalent the M-600 and the
mobile SA-8 (Gecko) anti-air battery which holds 18 warheads with a maximum
range of 12 kilometers. Tehran paid for the upkeep of the Hizballah hardware on
Syrian side of the border after Israel threatened to bomb these potential
game-changers if they crossed over. Deployed at Hizballah bases in Lebanon, the
Fatah-110 and M-600 would place almost every corner of Israel within range of
bombardment, while the SA-8 would seriously restrict Israeli Air Force
operations over southern Lebanon and Galilee.However, as the uprising against
Assad rolls ever closer to Damascus, Hizballah see a very real threat of it
infecting the Syrian army and has decided that now might be its last chance to
get hold of the core arsenal it has standing by for war with Israel before
events get out of hand in Syria.
Hizballah's headquarters in Dahya, Beirut, became alarmed when they heard about
strong resentment building up in the Syrian 11th Division over the Assad
crackdown against the dissidents – among officers as well as other ranks. The
11th Division, which is camped outside Aleppo, is the best trained and organized
of all Syrian army units, equipped as its strategic reserve with the most
advanced weaponry. If the unrest has reached this elite unit, Hizballah reckons
there is no time to losing for pulling its missiles out of Syrian military
safekeeping.
Meanwhile, top Hizballah and Iranian offices in Tehran are working on the best
way to transport the missiles into Lebanon without exposing them to Israeli
attack, debkafile's Iranian sources report. Some of them calculate that Israel
would not venture to strike them while still on Syrian soil because it would lay
itself open to interfering, or even getting in the way of, the revolt against
President Assad and playing into his hands. A security emergency might well take
the wind out of protest movement's sails. But already, Tehran's Lebanese
surrogate is beginning to distance itself from Bashar Assad, its longtime
strategic partner and arms supplier, having decided he has his back to the wall.
April 28, the Hizballah-controlled Lebanese Al Akhbar newspaper started
criticizing the Assad regime on its op-ed pages.
Syrian army shells Daraa
May 1, 2011 /British newspaper the Guardian reported Sunday that “Syrian army
tanks have shelled the old quarter of Daraa.”The report added that Syrian troops
are deployed around the southern city and have surrounded neighborhoods. An
eyewitness told the newspaper that the Syrian army is not allowing men to leave
their homes, adding that woman have been permitted to search for bread in the
morning. “Residents have responded to the crackdown by shouting the traditional
rallying cry "God is great!" from their homes over the past several evenings,”
the source also said. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime has been rocked
by unprecedented protests since March 15 demanding reform. According to human
rights activists, at least 500 civilians have been killed across Syria since
protests first erupted.-NOW Lebanon
McCain rules out military moves against Syria
May 1, 2011
US Senator John McCain on Sunday said that he does not foresee a US military
role in Syria, adding that he thinks the crackdown on protests will grow more
violence.
However, the politician called for further sanctions on the Syrian regime, Fox
News reported. "I think it's clear that [Syrian President] Bashar Assad is
willing to kill his own people... It's going to be a very bloody time, I'm
afraid, in Syria,” the station quoted him as saying. Also on Sunday, former US
Congressman Jane Harman warned that Daraa may suffer from a mass massacre in the
next 24 hours. Assad's regime has been rocked by unprecedented protests since
March 15 demanding reform. According to human rights activists, at least 500
civilians have been killed across Syria since protests first erupted.Syrian army
troops have deployed within Daraa, with army tanks reportedly shelling the city
and isolating neighborhoods.
-NOW Lebanon
Syrian protestors “hang Assad” in Jordanian demonstration
May 1, 2011 /More than 200 Syrians took part in a demonstration at which an
effigy of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was hanged outside their embassy in
the Jordanian capital on Sunday.Accusing the president of "crimes against
humanity and massacres," the demonstrators called for the fall of Assad's regime
and condemned the crackdown on anti-regime protests in Syria. "Stop the
bloodbath," read one banner, as the protestors chanted, "The people want to
bring down the regime. Bashar is a traitor."
"I fled Daraa 13 days ago. My family, who are still there, told me the army and
security men are committing mass murder," said a 29-year-old Syrian who gave his
name only as Imad, referring to the flashpoint town in southern Syria. "People
have collected corpses in the streets and kept them in freezers but the army
came and took them away to cover up their crime," according to the young
demonstrator.-AFP/NOW Lebanon
Netanyahu: World must stop those wishing to destroy the Jewish people
By Haaretz Service
The threats Israel faces to its existence are real, not theoretical ones, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during the ceremony opening Holocaust
Remembrance Day in Jerusalem on Sunday, urging the world not to ignore the
threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions. Speaking of the three main lessons
Israel must learn in the Holocaust's wake, Netanyahu spoke first of the danger
which lies in ignoring the threats of those "wishing to annihilate us," saying
Israelis "mustn't bury our heads in the sand." "Has the world learned this
lesson? I doubt it. Have we learned it? I believe we have," Netanyahu said,
adding, however, that "we must admit that "in the history of the Jewish people
we have not always excelled in anticipating the future, sometimes repressing the
bleak reality before us." Referring further on the ability to anticipate coming
catastrophes, Netanyahu said that while "many in the world, at least in the
enlightened world, treat the memory of the Holocaust respectfully and
seriously," that attitude, however, "recalls generals preparing for the previous
war." "It seems easier for the world to discuss the lessons of the past than
implement those to the present and the future," the premier said, adding that
"the Jewish people mustn't ignore the Holocaust's lessons today."
"Because today, new enemies are rising, and as they deny the Holocaust, call for
the destruction of our people," the PM said, adding that "Iran, and its proxies
Hezbollah and Hamas are openly working to destroy the Jewish state." Speaking of
the world's response to such an effort, Netanyahu said that all "cultured
citizens of the world, those who say they are implementing the lessons of the
Holocaust, should denounce in no uncertain terms those wishing to destroy the
Jewish state, and even arming themselves with nuclear weapons in order to
realize those ambitions." "The threat to our existence isn't a theoretical one,
it cannot be minimized, it stands before us, before all of humanity, and it must
be stopped," he said. The second lesson, according to the premier, "stems from
the fact that attacks on our people were always preceded by waves of hatred
which prepared the ground for those attacks," insisting on the need "to expose
the true face of the hate against our people." "Today too there are people who
charge the Jewish state with responsibility for all of the world's ills, from
rising gas prices to regional instability," Netanyahu said. The third and final
lesson the premier discussed in his speech was the need for the Jewish people to
take its defense in its own hands, saying: "We cannot hand over our fate to the
hands of others." "Our ties with the various countries are very important to us.
But if we cannot defend ourselves, the world will not do it for us. Israel is a
peace-loving country, a cultured country, developed, a sea of progress in a
region devoid of progress. We will stand tall against those who wish to kill
us." "It should be said here on this day to all our enemies that they should
know one thing about the Jewish people – it has overcome the greatest evil
humanity has ever known, and that when the people of Israel and the Israel
Defense Forces say 'Never Again' they mean every word."
Is it a sprint or a marathon in Syria?
Harry Hagopian, /May 1, 2011
Syrian anti-government protesters demonstrating in Alkeswa on April 29, 2010,
the "Day of Rage" called by activists to pile pressure of President Bashar
al-Assad as his regime pressed a violent crackdwon on dissent. It has become
clear that the series of “Arab Spring” awakenings that erupted in the Middle
East and North Africa region last December have now also reached Syria in
earnest. So after four woeful weeks of unrest that we managed to follow on our
television screens despite the near-total blackout imposed by the authorities,
what European perspective can one suggest on these events, which are challenging
the myth of Syrian staying power?
Starting with the facts on the ground, there are well over 400 casualties to
date from the Syrian popular uprisings, with hundreds more having been taken
into custody – including intellectuals and activists. There is also an
electricity blackout in parts of Syria (which means that mobile phones or
cameras cannot be recharged easily), and rumors are circulating about small
defections from the regular army – particularly the Fifth Division, 132nd
Brigade – that have led to standoffs with the elite Fourth Division in the
center of the southern town of Deraa.
The UK, alongside France, Germany and Portugal, are still toiling over a UN
statement that would condemn Syrian heavy-handed violence against its citizens.
This is an important first step, not only in the sense that an international
body is seen to be politically proactive, but more so because the UN Security
Council remains the only organ that could refer any perpetrator(s) of crimes
against humanity to the International Criminal Court in The Hague when the
country in question is not a signatory of the Statute of Rome – such as Syria.
Whether a case for international justice could be made for crimes against
humanity – as Amnesty International argues – depends not only on the number of
deaths but also on the admissible evidence that the photos coming out of Syria
would provide to the ICC. Following the Libyan case, there is now a juridical
expectation that culprits will be brought to justice, and the international
community must be seen to do something about it.
Who will be referred to the ICC if we ever get there? Much as many European
leaders refuse to accept that President Bashar al-Assad is directly
choreographing let alone condoning those violent events as they unfold across
parts of Syria, and much as there is strong speculation that his younger
brother, uncle and brother-in-law are directing the attrition by the largely
Alawite generals and the six security forces, it remains a fact that the
president ultimately bears command and therefore legal responsibility.
Let us also remember that Syria is neither Libya nor Tunisia: It is much bigger,
with a population of 22 million, and a significant political player in the
region with enormous strategic concern for the West due to its geographical,
historical and political weight. It is clearly relevant to the management of the
Arab-Israeli conflict, remains a close ally to Iran, is an understudy in Iraq,
and supports different factions in Lebanon and Palestine.
Presently, there is no talk yet of any UNSC resolutions for a no-fly zone or
other military sanctions. After all, while the UN and the Western powers could
at least nail their mast to an Opposition Council in Libya with its fig-leaf of
legitimacy, the Syrian “opposition” at the moment only consists of random ethnic
and political groups challenging autocracy and long-standing oppressiveness.
Besides, and unlike Libya, the Arab League or its constituent Arab countries –
such as Qatar – might be loath to rock further the Syrian establishment.
Although Syria witnessed some freedoms in the past decade under President Assad,
the fact remains that there is today an absence of democracy, widespread
corruption and plutocracy, human rights abuses, one-party rule, economic and
environmental stress, excessive security dominance as well as burgeoning youth
unemployment. Syria remains a tough police state despite the increasing demands
for political legitimacy.
What about the future? Will Turkey manage to play a key role in defusing the
situation? Not really, since it juggles its multiple regional agendas. Will the
EU influence current events given that 25% of Syrian trade is with Europe? I
suspect not either. What about more stringent US sanctions? I doubt the US
administration has the stomach for it. I am not a soothsayer, but I would
suggest we are now truly in the hands of events with the army, security agencies
or secret police largely calling the shots. A tipping point could come if cracks
in loyalty appear within the conscript army and it disobeys orders. This is why
it might be helpful to watch the periphery in places such as Daraa or the larger
coastal towns like Homs that might be the chink in the armor of the regime. But
whichever way it goes, this will inevitably be a protracted struggle – a
marathon and not a sprint.
Given its strategic importance on many fronts, any continuity or change in Syria
is bound to affect the whole region – something Libya, Tunisia or even Bahrain
and Yemen will not do, and hence Western caution – and one of the countries that
will be impacted one way or another by the repercussions of any major shifts is
Lebanon. This is perhaps why the Maronite Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros al- Rai
recently intimated following his conversations with four Christian leaders at
Bkirki that “reconciliations, agreement and dialogue are among the
manifestations of the resurrection.”
In Animal Farm, George Orwell suggested that all revolutions are doomed to
failure! Perhaps, but let us also recall that the Tunisian and Egyptian
presidents resorted to bullets and lost out, while the Yemeni president also
tried bullets and is now eyeing his exit strategy and Colonel Qadaffi hides in
his own desolate hinterland. So today I plead with President Assad to prevent
any rerun of his father’s “Hama rules” of February 1982 and to opt instead for
the responsible leadership that advocates more openness, better governance or
services and more representative parliaments. Yet, how should one respond to
decades of subjugation, oppression, marginalization, imprisonment,
brutalization, torture, rendition, murder and unenlightenment? Perhaps Benjamin
Franklin expressed it well that “A nation of well-informed men who have been
taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved.
It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.” So is this perhaps a
lesson of hope for all Syrians in their long marathon ahead?
Miqati
Meets Nasrallah as Suleiman's Visitors Stress that Salvation Cabinet Needs
Syrian Green Light
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman's visitors have stated that the concerned
sides in the government formation process "don't have a real initiative to reach
a solution" to the governmental vacuum. The daily An Nahar reported them as
saying that the salvation government proposed by Phalange Party leader Amin
Gemayel "needs a Syrian green light, which is currently unavailable." His
proposal stipulates that caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri would resume his
role as premier, which would mean that the crisis would return to square one,
they continued. Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper reported on Sunday
that Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati held talks on Friday with Hizbullah
Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah soon after meeting with Suleiman
earlier that day. Beirut, 01 May 11,
Syrian Troops Redeploy at Northern Border as Number of Syrians Seeking Refuge in
Lebanon Drops
Naharnet/The number of Syrians seeking refuge in the Wadi Khaled region in
Lebanon from the unrest in their country has diminished after the redeployment
of Syrian border troops in the area adjacent to Lebanon, reported the daily An
Nahar Sunday. Hundreds of Syrian families flooded into the al-Buqayaa area last
week following violence against anti-regime protestors in Syria. Some 1500
Syrians from 325 families sought refuge in Lebanon, said security forces on the
Lebanese-Syrian border. They added that some 150 families returned to their town
of Tall Kalakh in Syria overnight on Friday. Regarding Lebanon's security
precautions on the northern border, the daily reported that they have continued
at the same rate in monitoring the border and mobilizing army patrols. Beirut,
01 May 11, 11:52
Baroud: I Haven't Requested from Suleiman to Be Reappointed as Minister
Naharnet/Caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud announced on Saturday that he
had informed President Michel Suleiman three months ago of his intention not to
be reappointed as a minister. He added: "I will not allow myself to stand as an
obstacle in the government formation process as the media has been lately trying
to demonstrate." "I requested from Suleiman that I not be granted the Interior
Ministry portfolio in the new government, or any other portfolio," he continued.
"I am not shying away from my responsibilities, especially since I have fully
assumed my duties despite the hardships, most notably in organizing the
parliamentary elections during severe political divisions in Lebanon," he said.
"There are several qualified individuals in Lebanon who should be given the
opportunity to assume this role," the minister stressed. Meanwhile, political
sources monitoring the government formation process asserted that the Interior
Ministry portfolio should remain as a sovereign portfolio, especially during the
election period in Lebanon. "Will Baroud stepping down end the dispute over the
government formation? Was the Interior Ministry portfolio the only obstacles?"
they wondered. They added however that progress is being achieved, "even if
nothing has materialized." In a related development, An Nahar reported on Sunday
that Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji suggested the names of four
high-ranking officers to Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati as possible
candidates to assume the Interior Ministry. Sources told the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat
in remarks published on Sunday that General Paul Matar, the deputy for army
planning, is among the names suggested by Qahwaji. They stated: "Matar enjoys a
good relationship with Suleiman, but the latter does not believe that the
dispute over the Interior Ministry is the only obstacle facing the government
formation. He will voice his opinion on the matter when a Cabinet structure is
presented to him." Beirut, 01 May 11, 09:38
ISF Patrol Intercepted as it was Attempting to Thwart Construction Violation in
Tyre'
Naharnet/An internal security forces patrol was intercepted on Sunday as it was
heading to the town of Aitet in the Tyre area in order to thwart a construction
violation, reported the National News Agency on Sunday. It said that a Renault
Rapid car, without a license plate and with tinted windows, followed by 20
vehicles intercepted the patrol. A number of men soon came down from the cars,
with sticks, stones, and construction equipment in hand. One of them attacked an
ISF vehicle breaking its windows. The army has since sent reinforcements to join
the security forces in the region. Meanwhile, a security source told the daily
An Nahar in remarks published on Sunday that the campaign to the remove
construction violations near Beirut's international airport is ongoing and "is
so far taking place without incident as opposed to Friday's developments." They
stressed that priority should be given to removing illegal construction near the
airport wall. "The majority of the violations have been removed and the second
phase will focus on removing construction violations on public property, which
will then be followed by the removal of all public property violations," he
stated. Meanwhile, security forces managed to put an end to construction
violations around Beirut airport fence in the Ouzai area with the support of
Hizbullah and AMAL officials after clashes with some of the residents. Three
officers were reportedly wounded and three citizens suffered minor injuries. An
Nahar daily said that the construction violations reached Burj al-Barajneh camp
where the construction work neared the old airport road near the refugee camp
entrance, the newspaper reported. While in the South, Internal Security Forces
gave a grace period of one week to more than 150 violators to avoid judicial
prosecution, the newspaper added. Beirut, 01 May 11, 10:59
Conference sounds alarm over imperiled Mideast Christians
05/01/2011 12:03
By MAXIME MYER-SMITH
"We must not break faith with them by ignoring their story," Christian media
analyst says.
Amid the massive political upheavals in the Middle East, a ground-breaking
conference held recently in Chicago issued an urgent appeal for Western
Christians to not forget about the suffering endured by their sisters and
brothers living under Shari’a law in the Muslim-majority countries of the
region.
The one-day gathering on March 12, held under the theme of The Persecuted
Church: Christian Believers in Peril in the Middle East, was sponsored by more
than a dozen organizations, including local churches, proponents of religious
freedom, and groups of indigenous Middle Eastern Christians now living in the
US.
“This is an historic event,” said keynote speaker Dr. Walid Phares, author of
The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East.
“The gathering of representatives of Copts, Assyrian-Chaldeans, Lebanese
Christians and other Middle East Christians, along with Christian and secular
American groups, all advocating for the rights of indigenous populations in the
Middle East from all ethnic and religious backgrounds, is a game changer in how
we view human rights in the region. I call this event the ‘Chicago Initiative’
and wish to see it happening across the nation.”
Attendees of the conference were informed that hostility toward Christian
minorities is an undeniable fact of life in Muslim countries and that
governments in the Middle East have failed to protect indigenous Christians
throughout the region. This problem has largely been ignored in the West because
of a failure on the part of the media to cover the story, charged Phares.
The dearth of coverage on the plight of Mideast Christians translates into a
lack of attention to the issue by American policymakers, who so far have failed
to take measures to protect indigenous populations in the region even in those
countries where the US has direct influence, Phares added.
“The Christian people of Iraq are under clear threat of annihilation,” Phares
warned. “We intervened in the Balkans to protect Muslims. This is a similar
situation.”
Phares assessed that Christians who fled Arab/Islamic lands for America could
play a huge role in directing the attention of the media and policymakers to the
plight of their communities back home.
“The Iraqi Christians could have a loud voice in America,” he assured.
Juliana Taimoorazy, director of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, a group
headquartered in Chicago which advocates for the Assyrian Christian community in
Iraq, recounted how Muslim extremists in Iraq sent threatening letters to
Christian families in the years following the US-led invasion in 2003.
“They offered three simple choices: To convert to Islam, to pay the jizya, or to
leave,” she said.
“Initially, many refused to obey. This resulted in the acts of kidnapping,
torture, rape and murder of our innocent men and women.”
Father Keith Roderick, an Episcopal priest who serves as general secretary for
the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights, said Christians cannot rely on
traditional media outlets to give the mistreatment of indigenous groups the
coverage it deserves.
Rather, they will have to take advantage of social media to get their story out.
“The people themselves have to be their own media,” he said.
The point of the conference was not to demonize Islam or antagonize Muslims,
noted Dexter Van Zile, Christian media analyst for the Committee for Accuracy in
Middle East Reporting in America, one of the cosponsors of the conference.
Instead, the goal was to inform the American public about an under-reported
problem and put leaders on notice that Christians in the Middle East need
protection.
“Christians in the Middle East do not have the money to hire PR experts and
lobbyists,” said Van Zile. “They must pay with their lives and blood to get
their hearing. We must not break faith with them by ignoring their story."
Syria: This is no time for double standards
Sun May 1 2011
By: Alex Neve and Maher Arar
The Star in Libya
As Canadians head to the polls, throughout North Africa and the Middle East
millions of people have taken to the streets and the digital world demanding
democratic change and human rights reforms. It is awe-inspiring. But it is also
a time of deep fear. Many hundreds of people have been killed by cruel leaders
determined to hold onto power at all costs — most recently in Syria.
It will most certainly change the course of history in the region. What a chance
for Canada to play a key role. However, Canada’s role in shaping these
unparalleled events and in standing firm for democracy and human rights has been
uncertain at best.
It should be so clear. Canada should be at the forefront of ensuring that this
ferment leads to the changes being demanded. Not so — the clarity of Canada’s
positions and the strength of Canada’s reputation in the region have both
faltered significantly. That is troubling. Yet none of this has received more
than a passing nod in the course of the election.
When it comes to human rights, there can be no room for double standards. But
there always is. Human rights violations in some countries garner weeks of media
headlines. Equally grave tragedies elsewhere are ignored. Some situations make
it to the pinnacle of international concern when the UN Security Council gets
involved. Others barely make it onto any international agenda at all, either
because the country at stake is too powerful or too inconsequential. Or the
politics too complicated.
To date, the world’s tepid response, including Canada’s, to the rapidly mounting
human rights crisis in Syria has reflected the very worst of these disgraceful
double standards.
The past weeks of courageous protests in various Syrian cities have been
unprecedented. In a country ground down by decades of relentless repression, the
bravery of thousands of Syrians has been breathtaking. They have taken their
lead from the popular uprisings that led to dramatic changes in Tunisia and
Egypt. But their struggle has become mired in the same vicious government
crackdown that has led to bloodshed in Libya, Bahrain and Yemen. Still, they do
not give up.
Nor should the rest of the world.
The UN acted fairly quickly when Libya’s protest movement became a human rights
crisis in February. Security Council resolutions led to an arms embargo, a
referral to the International Criminal Court and a “no-fly zone” for civilian
protection, among other measures. The UN General Assembly revoked Libya’s
membership in the UN Human Rights Council. The world demonstrated that it cared
about human rights in Libya.
But what of Syria? World leaders have wagged their fingers at Syria’s President
Bashar Assad. But in the end they spend more time explaining what they will not
do than what they will do to address the crisis.
A special session of the UN Human Rights Council has been held to discuss the
situation, which is welcome. But elsewhere in the UN system, including the
Security Council, Syria is not even on the agenda. And there will be no
decisions about getting the International Criminal Court involved, imposing an
arms embargo, freezing the assets of Syrian leaders, or other steps to end these
massive human rights violations, until that changes.
Canada is not a member of the Security Council. We lost that chance last year.
But we have many close friends that are. We should be wielding that influence.
So what have we heard during the course of the election? Next to nothing. The
Canadian government issued just one press release in recent weeks, expressing
concern about the situation in Syria and offering consular advice to Canadians
who may be in the country. One press release.
True, we were in the middle of an election. But wait a minute — that’s it
exactly, we were in the middle of the election. What a lost opportunity for the
current government to demonstrate principled human rights leadership. What an
important opportunity for the contending parties to proclaim what they expect of
the Canadian government, and explain what they would do to address the crisis.
An election is no time for silence about human rights, or inaction with respect
to a crisis like Syria. That must change as of May 3. Canada’s voice needs to be
heard — loud and clear; at a minimum backing an International Criminal Court
referral, an arms embargo and an assets freeze. No double standards.
*Alex Neve is secretary general of Amnesty International Canada.
*Maher Arar is a Canadian human rights activist who has experienced the reality
of human rights abuse in Syria first-hand.
Syria PM promises reforms after at least 70 people killed in weekend violence
138 members of Bashar Assad's ruling Baath party from Daraa area resign in
protest of crackdown on protesters.
By News Agencies and Haaretz Service
Newly-appointed Syrian Prime Minister Adel Safar said on Saturday his government
would draw up a "complete plan" of political, judicial and economic reforms, the
state news agency SANA reported. SANA quoted Safar as saying he would set up
committees to propose new laws and amendments to legislation in those areas.
Safar's comments came on the same day that Syrian troops killed four people
while storming a mosque that became a focal point for protesters in the besieged
southern city of Daraa, and security forces in Damascus kept dozens of women
from marching on parliament to urge President Bashar Assad to end his crackdown
on a six-week-old uprising.
More members of Assad's ruling Baath Party resigned in protest as human rights
activists said the death toll soared to 535 from government forces firing on
demonstrators to try to suppress the popular revolt - action that has drawn
international condemnation and U.S. financial penalties on top figures in his
regime. The military raid on the Omari mosque in Daraa came a day after 65
people were killed - most of them in the town on Syria's border with Jordan.
Friday was the second deadliest day since the uprising began in mid-March in
Daraa.
Heaping further punishment on relatives of those killed Friday, they were told
to hold small funerals with only family members invited, an activist said, in an
apparent attempt to keep the services from turning into anti-Assad protests.
Similar orders were given last week, but most people did not follow them, said
the activist, Ammar Qurabi, who heads the National Organization for Human Rights
in Syria. Families also were being forced to sign documents saying their loved
ones were killed by "armed groups," he added. Syrian state media have blamed the
unrest on "armed terrorists" and extremists.
The unrest in Syria - one of the most repressive and tightly controlled
countries in the Middle East - has repercussions far beyond its borders because
of its alliances with militant groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah and with Shiite
powerhouse Iran. The Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page, which is run by
activists, billed the coming week as "the week to end the siege." The page was
referring to the siege on Daraa and the Damascus suburb of Douma that has been
closed for days.
Early Saturday, military reinforcements poured into Daraa, including 20 armored
personnel carriers, four tanks and a military ambulance, a resident told The
Associated Press.
The assault on the mosque in the city's Roman-era old town lasted 90 minutes,
during which troops fired tank shells and heavy machine guns, said resident
Abdullah Abazeid. Three helicopters participated in the operation, dropping
paratroopers on top of the mosque itself, he said.
Among the dead was Osama Ahmad, the son of the mosque's imam, Sheik Ahmad
Sayasna, according to Abazeid. A woman and her two daughters also were killed
when a tank shell hit their home near the mosque, he said.
Earlier this week, security forces shot and killed a man as he walked out of the
mosque and used a bullhorn to shout at them: "Enough! Enough! Enough! Stop
killing your brothers!"
The mosque had been occupied by residents of Daraa this week after the
government first sent in tanks and snipers Monday to crush the demonstrations.
The military cut off electricity and telephone service, snipers fired at
residents who tried to venture out to pull the dead off the streets, and forces
even shot holes in rooftop tanks to drain them of residents' vital supply of
water in the bone-dry region.
Sporadic gunfire was heard Saturday, mainly from the central area, another Daraa
witness said, adding that for the past week, troops have allowed women to go out
to buy bread but stopped them on Saturday. Some residents have fled to Jordan
from Daraa, where the uprising was sparked by the arrest of teenagers who wrote
anti-regime graffiti on a wall.
In a new show of defiance, about 50 women carrying banners reading "No to the
siege" and "No to killing" demonstrated Saturday in the capital of Damascus and
tried to reach the parliament building, activists said. Plainclothes security
forces stopped them long before they reached the legislature's offices and
detained 11 women and put them in a bus that drove away, the activists added.
Security agents also detained Hassan Abdul-Azim, one of Syria's most prominent
opposition figures who heads the outlawed Arab Socialist Democratic Union party,
according to Qurabi, the human rights leader. The agents walked into the office
of Abdul-Azim, who is in his 70s, and detained him, he said.
In another development in the Daraa region, 138 Baath Party members resigned to
protest the crackdown. Lists of those who resigned, with their party rank,
identity card numbers and signatures, were sent to the AP by activists. It was
not possible to independently verify the authenticity of the lists of the
low-ranking members. Earlier this week, another 200 mostly low-level Baath
members in the same province quit in protest. In Damascus, the Information
Ministry took local journalists on a tour in the old part of the city to show
them that life is going on as usual. As they walked near the Ummayad Mosque,
about 100 government supporters demonstrated carrying Assad's pictures.
A Spanish student at Damascus University, who identified herself as Marcy, 20,
said while touring the nearby busy Hamidiyeh market that there is "some fear in
the country." She said some of her friends have left Syria "because they were
afraid. I hope calm will be restored soon in the country." Of the 65 people
reported killed Friday, 36 of the deaths were in Daraa province, 27 in the
central Homs region, one in Latakia and another in the Damascus countryside,
said Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Large
demonstrations were reported Friday in Damascus, the central city of Homs, the
coastal cities of Banias and Latakia, the northern cities of Raqqa and Hama, and
the northeastern town of Qamishli near the Turkish border. Qurabi said about 100
people from the Homs region are missing - possibly killed, detained or wounded.
In the coastal city of Banias, a resident said armed forces had withdrawn from
the city center after taking up positions there earlier in the month.
The witnesses' accounts could not be independently verified. All spoke on
condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal. Syria has banned nearly
all foreign media and restricted access to trouble spots, making it almost
impossible to confirm the dramatic events shaking one of the most authoritarian
regimes in the Arab world.
The Obama administration imposed financial penalties on three top Syrian
officials, including Assad's brother, Maher, as well as Syria's intelligence
agency and Iran's Revolutionary Guard over the crackdown.
Libya's Gaddafi survives air
strikes, son killed
By Lin Noueihed | Reuters Muammar Gaddafi survived a NATO air strike on a
Tripoli house that killed his youngest son and three grandchildren, a government
spokesman said on Saturday."What we have now is the law of the jungle,"
government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told a news conference. "We think now it is
clear to everyone that what is happening in Libya has nothing to do with the
protection of civilians." Gaddafi, who seized power in a 1969 coup, is fighting
an uprising by rebels who have seized much of the eastern part of the country.
British and French-led NATO forces are permitted under a United Nations
resolution to mount air attacks on Gaddafi forces to protect civilians.There was
no immediate NATO reaction or any independent confirmation of the deaths.
Gaddafi had appeared on television in the early hours of Saturday and said he
would never step down. He offered talks to the rebels, who rejected the proposal
as hollow and treacherous. Libya's government took journalists to the house,
which had been hit by at least three missiles. The roof had completely caved in
in some areas, leaving mangled rods of reinforcing steel hanging down among
chunks of concrete. A table football machine stood outside in the garden of the
house, in a wealthy residential area of Tripoli. Glass and debris covered the
lawns and what appeared to be an unexploded missile lay in one corner.
"FIGHT AND FIGHT"
Inside one part of the villa, a beige corner sofa was virtually untouched, but
debris had caved in on other striped upholstered chairs. The blasts had been
heard across the city late on Saturday.Rifle fire and car horns rang out in the
rebels' eastern capital of Benghazi as news of the attack spread. "The leader
himself is in good health. He wasn't harmed," Ibrahim said. "His wife is also in
good health. "This was a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this
country. This is not permitted by international law. It is not permitted by any
moral code or principle."
He said Gaddafi's youngest son, Saif Al-Arab, had been killed in the attack.
Saif al-Arab, 29, is one of Gaddafi's less prominent sons, with a limited role
in the power structure. Ibrahim described him as a student who had studied in
Germany. "We will fight and fight if we have to," Ibrahim said. "The leader
offered peace to NATO yesterday and NATO rejected it."
Fighting in Libya's civil war, which grew from protests for greater political
freedom that have spread across the Arab world, has reached stalemate in recent
weeks with neither side capable of achieving a decisive blow. Libyan forces had
reached the gates of Benghazi last month when Gaddafi appeared on television
declaring he would crush the rebellion, showing "no pity, no mercy." Days later
the United Nations passed its resolution allowing the air strikes and saving the
rebels from defeat.
(Additional reporting by Tarek Amara and Abdelaziz Boumzar in Dehiba, Deepa
Babington and Michael Georgy in Benghazi, Matthew Tostevin in Tunis; Writing by
Ralph Boulton; Editing by Jon Hemming)
Pope John Paul II remembered on
eve of beatification with massive vigil at Circus Maximus
By Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press –
ROME - Thousands of young people have flooded an ancient Roman field for an
all-night prayer vigil honouring Pope John Paul II on the eve of his
beatification, remembering his teachings, travels and his own suffering.
Pilgrims waving flags from Poland, Spain, Germany and Brazil on Saturday filled
the Circus Maximus, which twinkled with the light of thousands of candles as
choirs from John Paul's native Poland, the Philippines and Italy sang. They
listened as a French nun who suffered from Parkinson's recounted how she was
cured after praying to John Paul, who also battled the same disease.The Vatican
has decreed that Sister Marie Simone-Pierre's inexplicable healing was the
miracle needed to beatify John Paul, a process that will reach its culmination
Sunday during a Mass in St. Peter's Square celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI.
Benedict put John Paul on the fast-track for possible sainthood when he
dispensed with the traditional five-year waiting period and allowed the
beatification process to begin weeks after his April 2, 2005 death. Benedict was
responding to chants of "Santo Subito" or "Sainthood Immediately" which erupted
during John Paul's funeral.
On Saturday night, a "Santo Subito" banner was emblazoned on the side of the
Circus Maximus field, and film of John Paul's final moments and his funeral
reminded those gathered of the tearful days many had witnessed six years
earlier, when St. Peter's overflowed with some 3 million people paying their
last respects to the pope.
"He died a saint," Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul's longtime secretary,
told the crowd.
The vigil was to last all night, a so-called "white night" of prayer to be
continued in eight churches kept open in the city centre before barricades
around St. Peter's Square open to pilgrims at 5:30 a.m. (0330GMT) for the 10
a.m. (0800GMT) beatification Mass.
The beatification is taking place despite a steady drumbeat of criticism about
the record-fast speed with which John Paul is being honoured, and continued
outrage about the clerical abuse scandal: Many of the crimes and coverups of
priests who raped children occurred on John Paul's 27-year watch.
"I hope he didn't know about the pedophiles," said Sister Maria Luisa Garcia, a
Spanish nun attending the vigil. "If he did, it was an error. But no one is
perfect, only God."
At the very least, she said, the church had learned as a result of the scandal,
"that a person's dignity, especially a child's, is more important than the
church's image."
Video montages shown during the vigil showed various scenes of John Paul's
lengthy pontificate, his teachings about marriage and justice. One of the first
shown was of his final Easter, when he was unable to speak from his studio
window, too hobbled by Parkinson's, and only managed a weak blessing of the
crowd.
Sister Marie, the French nun, said that at the time she couldn't bear to watch
John Paul's condition worsen because she knew his slow decline would be her
fate.
"In him, I was reminded of what I was living through," she told the crowd. "But
I always admired his humility, his strength, his courage."
Wearing her simple white habit and a black cardigan, she recounted to the crowd
her now well-known tale: She said that on June 2, 2005 she told her superior she
felt she could no longer continue her work helping new mothers because her
Parkinson's symptoms had worsened and she had little strength left.
Her superior, she said, told her that "John Paul II hasn't had the last word"
and that she should pray.
She said she woke up the following morning "feeling something had changed in
me." She said she went to the chapel and prayed. "I wasn't the same. I knew I
had been cured."
The Vatican's complicated saint-making procedures require that a miracle
attributed to the candidate's intercession be confirmed before beatification,
the first step to possible sainthood.
The crowd on the Circus Maximus had the feel of a World Youth Day, the
once-ever-three-year event John Paul launched to energize young Catholics that
became a hallmark of his pontificate. Groups of young people danced and sang,
many carrying backpacks and sleeping bags in preparation for a night to be spent
outdoors.
"It's true that nowadays most of the young don't care about religion, but John
Paul showed us love, and love is all we need," said Matea Sarlija, a 21-year-old
Croat who spent 10 hours on a bus to arrive in Rome for the vigil.
Rome itself seemed invaded by Poles overjoyed that their native son was being
honoured. Special trains, planes and buses were shuttling Poles in for the
beatification, which is drawing some 16 heads of state and five members of
European royal houses.
"I'm here because I think it's my duty, a duty for all the society of my
country, to show what a big big man John Paul was," said Stanislaw Roguski, a
pilgrim from Warsaw who arrived in Rome by bus on Saturday afternoon.
In Krakow, where John Paul was archbishop, two TV screens at two different sites
are to broadcast the beatification ceremony Sunday from Rome. Houses were
decorated with Poland's white-and-red flags and the Vatican's white-and-yellow
colours.
The vigil featured televised hookups from five Marian shrines in Krakow, Mexico,
Tanzania, Portugal and Lebanon, where the faithful were also celebrating.
Thousands of Mexicans held a prayer vigil in Mexico City's Virgen of Guadalupe
Basilica on Saturday while two large screens inside the church projected the
celebrations in Rome.
"He was a person who elevated the faith," said Jorge Lopez Baracenas, a
70-year-old who was attending the vigil in Mexico City's Virgen of Guadalupe
Basilica.
In the Dominican Republic, members of the Santo Domingo youth pastoral prepared
for a midnight Saturday vigil to remember John Paul II and watch the
beatification ceremony on giant television screen.
Some 3,000 people gathered at the God's Mercy Sanctuary in the Lagiewniki
district of Krakow, watching the Roman ceremony on large TV screens and at one
point holding a joint rosary prayer.
Vatican officials have insisted that John Paul deserves beatification despite
the fallout from the abuse scandal, saying the saint-making process isn't a
judgment of how he administered the church but rather whether he lived a life of
Christian virtue.
But victims' groups such as the U.S. Survivors Network for Those Abused by
Priests have said the speedy beatification was just "rubbing more salt in these
wounds" of victims.
And Le Soir, the main French-speaking newspaper in Belgium, charged Saturday
that the pace of the beatification contrasted sharply with the "lengthy wait"
victims of abuse had to endure for justice. Belgium's Catholic Church has been
rocked by new reports of hundreds of victims as well as the resignation of its
longest-serving bishop who admitted to abusing two nephews.
"This is the (beatification) of a man obsessed by the rights of unborn children
(and the rejection of condoms) but who allowed those same children to be without
protection by not addressing ... the question of pedophile priests during his
reign," the editorial said.
Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, retired head of the Vatican's saint-making
office, said Saturday the investigation into John Paul's life had taken the
clerical abuse scandal into account but that John Paul can't be held responsible
for something he didn't know about.
"If I'm not informed of something, what guilt do I have?" he asked rhetorically.
"This didn't touch at all the holiness of John Paul."
Associated Press writers Alba Tobella in Rome, E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico
City and Monika Scislowska in Warsaw contributed to this report.
...