LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJUNE 26/2011

Bible Quotation for today
The Good News According to John 16/1-15: "These things have I spoken to you, so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble.  They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.  They will do these things* because they have not known the Father, nor me.  But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.  But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart.  Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.  When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment;  about sin, because they don’t believe in me;  about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won’t see me any more; about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged. “I have yet many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now.  However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.  He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.  All things whatever the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes of mine, and will declare it to you.  A little while, and you will not see me. Again a little while, and you will see me.”
 

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources 
All the Syrian people aspire for are their fundamental rights/By Simon Collis/British Ambassador to Syria/June 25/11.
Out of vogue/By Aluf Benn/Haaretz/June 25/11
Turkey renews strategic ties with Israel ahead of showdown with Syria/DEBKAfile/June 25/11
Hassan Nasrallah's Speech/Vague indictment/Editorial by The Daily Star/June 25/11
Lebanon's new government: A victory for the Iran-led coalition/By JONATHAN SPYER/June 25/11
Maronites and the two Michels/By: Michael Young/June 25/11
The long road to citizenship/By ALIA IBRAHIM/Al Arabiya/June 25/11
Aoun’s victory/By: Hazem al-Amin,/Now Lebanon/June 25/11
Washington should expel Imad Mustafa, Syrian Ambassador to the US/By: Hussain Abdul-Hussain/June 25/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 25/11
Pope Benedict XVI congratulates Lebanon on new Cabinet/The Daily Star
Hezbollah transferring its arms from Syria, Le Figaro reports/Now Lebanon
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's Friday Speech/Now Lebanon
Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawii: Judiciary will follow up Nasrallah’s claims/Now Lebanon
Hezbollah leader accuses US Embassy in Lebanon of spying for Israel/Washington Post
Hizbollah members 'confess to spying for CIA'/Telegraph
Amal Man died after being hit by another person in the southern city of Tyre/LCCC/Agencies
Europe expands sanctions on Syria amid fresh protests/Christian Science Monitor
American woman jailed for helping Hezbollah/The Daily Star
EU Imposes New Sanctions on Syria/VOA
Syrians flee to Lebanon, death toll rises to 20/AP
Assad journal: Syria crisis over/Ynetnews
Protest draws largest numbers since start of Syrian uprising, activists say/Washington Post
More brutality in Syria and passivity in Washington/Washington Post
Syrians pour into Lebanon after Friday protest killings/The Guardian
Mikati: Tough decisions go to Dialogue Committee/Daily Star
Massive energy discoveries complicate relations between Israel and Lebanon/Al Arabiya
Mikati hopes pledged Syrian reforms become reality/Daily Star
Sleiman-Aoun meeting possible at Rai dinner/Daily Star.”
Activists work to change attitudes to torture/The Daily Star
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - June 25, 2011/Daily Star
UNIFIL project helps Tyre students get to class/Daily Star
Siniora: Lebanon will join oil and gas producing club/The Daily Star
Report: New Sergeants Give up Badges Day after Being Promoted by Rifi/Naharnet

Question: "Does God still speak to us today?"
GotQuestions.org
Answer: The Bible records God speaking audibly to people many times (Exodus 3:14; Joshua 1:1; Judges 6:18; 1 Samuel 3:11; 2 Samuel 2:1; Job 40:1; Isaiah 7:3; Jeremiah 1:7; Acts 8:26; 9:15 – this is just a small sampling). There is no biblical reason why God could not or would not speak to a person audibly today. With the hundreds of times the Bible records God speaking, we have to remember that they occur over the course of 4,000 years of human history. God speaking audibly is the exception, not the rule. Even in the biblically recorded instances of God speaking, it is not always clear whether it was an audible voice, an inner voice, or a mental impression.
God does speak to people today. First, God speaks to us through His Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Isaiah 55:11 tells us, “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” The Bible records God’s words, everything we need to know in order to be saved and live the Christian life. Second Peter 1:3 declares, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
Second, God speaks through impressions, events, and thoughts. God helps us to discern right from wrong through our consciences (1 Timothy 1:5; 1 Peter 3:16). God is in the process of conforming our minds to think His thoughts (Romans 12:2). God allows events to occur in our lives to direct us, change us, and help us to grow spiritually (James 1:2-5; Hebrews 12:5-11). First Peter 1:6-7 reminds us, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
Finally, God may sometimes speak audibly to people. It is highly doubtful, though, that this occurs as often as some people claim it does. Again, even in the Bible, God speaking audibly is the exception, not the ordinary. If anyone claims that God has spoken to him/her, always compare what is said with what the Bible says. If God were to speak today, His words would be in full agreement with what He has said in the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17). God does not contradict Himself.

Pope Benedict XVI congratulates Lebanon on new Cabinet

June 25, 2011/ The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Pope Benedict XVI congratulated Lebanon on the formation of its new Cabinet Saturday, sending his blessings to the Lebanese people and expressing his hope that all countries in the region can live in peace. “Finally, you have a government, congratulations. I hope from the bottom of my heart it will succeed since Lebanon is facing great challenges both on the domestic scene and in regional events,” Benedict XVI told Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai during the latter’s visit to the Vatican.
“I send my blessings and love to all of the Lebanese with my prayers hoping for peace to spread in all Middle Eastern countries,” the pope said.
Rai is in the Vatican to attend the annual general meeting of the Reunion of Organizations for Aid to the Oriental Churches (ROACO).
On June 13, Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced the formation of a new Cabinet following almost five months of political stalemate.
During Rai’s meeting the pope also discussed Christians in the Middle East and urged the heads of the Catholic Church’s various churches to maintain the best of relations with all citizens in their countries, based on Christian principles. “[I] call on those living in the Middle East … to maintain the best of relations with all citizens based on Christian principles of justice, peace, mutual respect and dialogue between religions and heads of churches,” Benedict XVI said in the letter.He also said that representatives of Christians in the Middle East should always be present at the annual meetings of the ROACO for the sake of the protection of Christians in their home country.

March 14 Slams Nasrallah’s Speech: Hizbullah Dominates Cabinet
Naharnet/The March 14-led opposition slammed Hizbullah Chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech, saying the way PM Najib Miqati was nominated confirms that the cabinet was not formed in Lebanon. “The coup on (former PM Saad) Hariri’s cabinet … confirms that the appointment and formation of the government was not Lebanese at all,” March 14 sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday. Concerning Nasrallah’s rejection that the cabinet is dominated by Hizbullah, sources said that his “disavowal comes as confirmation… All the circumstances and evidence prove who has the final word in this government.” Asked about the spies’ issue, the newspaper quoted the sources as saying that “Nasrallah’s speech contradicts what he announced last year, that there is no possibility for any spying network to infiltrate Hizbullah.”“This poses a major question about the extent and size of the breach and its effects (on Hizbullah),” the sources said.

Vague indictment

June 25, 2011/By Daily Star Editorial The Daily Star
Friday night’s televised address by the leader of Hezbollah was an exercise in taking one step forward, and a few steps backward.
Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah felt compelled to address the public because of recent media reports about the party’s discovery of a number of collaborators within its ranks. Nasrallah acknowledged that the reports were indeed true, and as usual, took advantage of the opportunity to boast that Hezbollah was unlike other parties, which might refuse to speak publicly about such an issue – or even cover it all up by announcing that the individuals are “martyrs” for the cause.
Nasrallah spoke with an air of self-confidence when he confirmed that three party members working for a foreign power had been detected, and investigated, by Hezbollah. It was an opportunity that Nasrallah obviously relished, as he was able to discount the media reports that spoke of a significantly larger number of people involved in espionage.
However, Nasrallah wiped out the benefits of engaging in a bit of transparency by failing to reveal the fate of the three alleged collaborators, or whether the party intended to hand them over to the Lebanese authorities. He is certainly aware of the criticisms that Hezbollah functions as a state-within-a-state, and one of the ways to dispel such a charge is to act in the same way the party did after 2000, when it gave support to seeing the Lebanese judiciary deal with alleged collaborators with Israel.
Moreover, Nasrallah put forward serious accusations against the United States Embassy in Lebanon, deeming it a “nest of spies,” and stating that the Central Intelligence Agency had recruited the three individuals in question.
This is a serious accusation. It requires producing tangible proof, and this is particularly the case because Hezbollah is a part of the Lebanese Cabinet. The direct accusations against the CIA, and the U.S. Embassy in Awkar, will put Hezbollah and its allies, which have formed a new government in Lebanon, on a collision course with the U.S. and the Lebanese state itself.
When a party that enjoys such a dominant presence in the executive branch of government makes such accusations, it is expected to provide proof. The authorities, in turn, are expected to open a serious investigation into the matter. If Nasrallah was happy to poke fun at other parties for being less than transparent, then he should realize that if the Lebanese government fails to act, then either the accusations have no basis in fact, or the authorities will be sweeping things under the rug.
Certainly, the Lebanese people will be anxiously awaiting an official investigation, and hope that they are not just being fed a dose of rhetoric.
The Lebanese have appreciated the frankness of Nasrallah in the past, but Friday’s accusations will serve as an important test of the credibility of both him and his party.

Hezbollah transferring its arms from Syria, Le Figaro reports
June 25, 2011 /French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Friday that Hezbollah is transferring the arms it has deployed in Syria amid fears the regime in Damascus will fall.
An unnamed source told the paper that Hezbollah “is trying to [save] as much of its arms [as possible] before the Baath regime collapses.” The paper also cited Western intelligence reports as saying that trucks were spotted moving between the Lebanese-Syrian border along the Bekaa Valley. The Syrian government is engaged in a deadly crackdown on protesters who since March have been demanding the end of 48 years of rule by the Baath Party, which is controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.-NOW Lebanon

Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawii: Judiciary will follow up Nasrallah’s claims
June 25, 2011 /Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi said on Saturday that the judiciary will follow up on the claim made by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that his party has uncovered three spies among its members. “The issue of spies should not be neglected; but followed up carefully until the judicial authority takes the appropriate decision,” he told Akhbar al-Yawm news agency. “It is not our right to categorize people or countries [for being enemies], except for Israel because it is our mutual enemy,” Qortbawi added.
The Justice Minister also said that the committee responsible for drafting the ministerial statement will meet on Monday afternoon in order to continue its discussions concerning the different articles of the statement, the one concerning the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in particular. “[Lebanon] is a founding state of the UN; we are not a state outside of international legitimacy,” he added. The Hezbollah chief also said that two members of Hezbollah had been recruited by the US Central Intelligence Agency. The new Lebanese cabinet—headed by Prime Minister Najib Mikati—was formed last week after almost five months of deliberations between the March 8 parties. Before bringing down Saad Hariri’s cabinet in January, Hezbollah had been pressing him to disavow the STL, which is probing the 2005 assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri and likely to implicate members of the Shia group. The Ministerial Statement of Saad Hariri’s government recognized the STL.-NOW Lebanon

Report: New Sergeants Give up Badges Day after Being Promoted by Rifi
Naharnet/Interior Minister Marwan Charbel reportedly froze a decision by Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi to promote more than 400 officers.Al-Akhbar daily said Saturday that Charbel ordered a freeze on the promotion of the 400 policemen to sergeants. Rifi gave the promotion orders on June 22, it said.The new sergeants had to give up their badges a day after the ISF chief promoted them, al-Akhbar added. Former Interior Minister Ziad Baroud and Rifi had on several occasions clashed over the ISF chief’s rejection to abide by Baroud’s orders.

Amal Man died after being hit by another person in the southern city of Tyre
LCCC/Agencies/June 25, 2011 /A man identified as Ali Mohammad Baddah died after being hit by another person in the southern city of Tyre after a bloody confrontation on traffic priority. Security forces arrived to the scene and launched an investigation into the incident, the report added. However, it did not elaborate any further.
N.B by LCCC: The deceased man according to voice of Lebanon radio station is a member in Berri's Shiite Amal pro Syrian movement.NOW Lebanon

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
June 24, 2011
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered a speech on Friday to address the latest developments:
“Regarding the cabinet, I want to confirm that Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s cabinet is one hundred percent a Lebanese cabinet. There was no foreign interference to form a cabinet. There was foreign interference to obstruct cabinet formation. This cabinet is one hundred percent made in Lebanon. Domestic complications and foreign pressures were delaying cabinet formation. The cabinet formation shows the March 14 coalition’s loss is one of its [many] bets. One of their bets was that Mikati will not be able to form a cabinet, but he did.
We will not get offended if you call it Hezbollah’s cabinet. We are proud of this. Do not think it will upset us when you say that [Mikati’s] cabinet is Hezbollah’s cabinet. You are granting us political power when you say so. We are not convinced when you call it Hezbollah’s cabinet. Hezbollah has two ministers in the [new] cabinet. The other ministers are our friends, and we cooperate with them. This is not a one-sided cabinet. It has various representations. I also want to say that there is no majority or minority in the cabinet. We are one party…whose [principles] will be clarified in the Ministerial Statement. Calling [the new] cabinet Hezbollah’s cabinet is wrong. If the cabinet was one-sided, it would have been formed within hours.
Regarding international provocation, I want to tell the other party [in reference to March 14] that you are harming Lebanon by calling the [new] cabinet Hezbollah’s cabinet. I will frankly tell you that international inciting against Hezbollah harms Lebanon and not Hezbollah. We do not have property in foreign countries or in banks in Lebanon. We do not have funds in banks or investment projects in Lebanon. When you incite foreign countries against Lebanon, who will get harmed? You began attacking the [new] cabinet before it was [even] formed.
Grant Mikati a six-month grace period before judging the cabinet. It is your right to oppose. You will lose all your bets, just like you always did.
The Ministerial Statement will be issued and the cabinet will be granted the vote of confidence. I call on everyone in the cabinet to cooperate to help [Lebanese] citizens and not be dragged into debates.
Speaker Nabih Berri’s action [to give up one of the Shia seats in the new cabinet] was a good step that helped form the cabinet.
The second issue I will address may be unfamiliar. We are concerned about our credibility and we respect the feelings of the Resistance’s members and supporters. We will present the facts amid the considerable amount of rumors around the issue I will address. I will tackle the issue clearly and as extensive as I can.
Last year, in more than one occasion, I said that we were immune to Israeli infiltration. I also said that we have a body that deals with spy networks. The cases I will address now are not related to the three people whom last year were accused of collaborating with Israel. The case is not as rumors say - that some Hezbollah members are Israeli collaborators. The case is related to the CIA. When Israel failed to infiltrate Hezbollah, it turned to the CIA.
The case is linked to two people who are not in a spy ring. They were in contact with CIA officers who work as diplomats in the US Embassy in Lebanon in Awkar.
I will not mention their names out of respect for the families. I will only mention the initials so as to deny rumors. The first name is A. B. This person was recruited five months ago by a CIA officer. He confessed to having a relationship with the CIA after [Hezbollah’s relevant] body found out about him.
The second name is H.M and he was recruited by the CIA a long time before A. B. was. The third name is M. A. We confirmed that he collaborates with a foreign body, and we are still investigating whom.
Their number is three. If there were more, we would have the courage to say so. Some Arabic media unfortunately said there were more than 100. None of those accused is a high-ranking official or a religious figure as some rumors said. None of them is part of my entourage. None of them has information that may harm the Resistance because they were not in positions that would help them obtain such information. They are not related to the issue of the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh. They are also not related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). We are not concerned about any scenario linked to the STL.
It is clear how incapable the Israelis are. That is why they sought the help of the strongest Intelligence body in the world. They resorted to the CIA. The information that the CIA officers demanded does not concern the US as much as it concerns Israel. CIA in Lebanon serves Israeli security bodies and collects information for Israel.
What is important is that Hezbollah’s security body was able to uncover these people quickly. It is probably the first time the CIA fails like this. I request our audience to take mercy on the families of those accused. I request that people are not randomly accused [of working with the CIA].
We must know that we have entered a new stage. To be directly targeted by the CIA places us in a new stage. We have to be cautious. We will strengthen our immunity and we will topple any attempts - whether they are US attempts or others - to harm our security.
All the maneuvers Israel executes are the result of Israel’s defeat and the Resistance’s victory in 2006. Israel thinks a thousand times before taking a decision related to war. These maneuvers are an [confession] that Israel is threatened and cannot be protected. Israel is well aware that it has lost the ability to protect its domestic front.
Israeli maneuvers show Israel’s inability to finalize the battle. Israel always plans for clashes in the region. These maneuvers clearly stated who Israel views as a threat in the region and in the entire world. Israel said that four fronts, which are the Resistance in Lebanon and the Resistance in Gaza, Iran and Syria, threaten it. Most wars were started by Israel.
As for Syria, others have the right to disagree with us. The only resisting regime in the Arab world is Syria. From the beginning and until today, through its alliances the Syrian regime was able to put an end to the most dangerous US-Israeli schemes. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad formulated a mechanism to launch reforms and he issued two general amnesties.
In Bahrain, however, protestors are being killed and injured. Opposition leaders are being sentenced to life in prison. This is unjust. Colluding to overthrow the resisting regime serves Israel and the US and their aims to dominate the region. Regarding Bahrain, we see that it has reached a dead end. The situation cannot continue like this.
We will work in all seriousness in the cabinet. Don't worry; things are not as rumors say they are.”

Washington should expel Imad Mustafa, Syrian Ambassador to the US
By: Hussain Abdul-Hussain/, June 25, 2011 /Now Lebanon/
Syrian Ambassador to the US Imad Mustafa is involved in activities that vary between espionage, threatening Syrian dissidents, and lobbying and organizing rallies in favor of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
So far, Washington has been exceptionally tolerant toward Assad's envoy. But in Syria today, humanitarian concerns should trump political interests. For his role in bolstering the regime at the expense of innocent Syrians, Mustafa should be expelled from Washington.
In the three months since the Syrian uprising began, Mustafa has been involved in a lot of shady dealings.
Last month, an American law enforcement officer contacted Syrian opposition activists based in the US to tell them that he had nabbed a Syrian-American who was conducting surveillance on them. The dissidents were urged to stay vigilant and report any suspicious activity they might encounter.
The activists later learned that Mustafa had sent the man to watch them. They concluded that his mission was to report on them back to Damascus so that the Assad regime could threaten their families back home.
In Antalya, where Syrian opposition members gathered early this month for a conference on their movement, activists received an email from a travel agent saying that the sons of well-known Syrian military officers Bahjat Suleiman and Ali Douba had arranged and paid for the travel and lodging of 50 Syrians in the Falez Hotel, where the opposition was holding its conference, and instructed them to cause trouble.
There too, Mustafa had eyes and ears.
A Christian Syrian in Silver Springs, Maryland received a forwarded email from fellow Christian Syrian-Americans. The email showed an exchange in which Mustafa urged "Christians of New Jersey" to organize and fund a collective trip to rally in support of Assad in front of the White House.
When news of this was leaked to Syrian-American opposition activists, they countered with a rally of their own, forcing the Secret Service to form a line to separate the two demonstrations. Despite the security presence, a pro-Assad protester tried to physically bully the pro-democracy demonstrators. He was arrested, and a knife was found on him.
In Arlington, Virginia, a Syrian dissident learned that Mustafa had planted a "rat" in their meetings. The rat, on the payroll of one of Syrian First Lady Asma al-Assad's "NGOs," had introduced himself as an opposition supporter, but the opposition discovered that the man was in contact with Mustafa, who regularly debriefed him and instructed him on which points to propose and support in the opposition meetings.
At a meeting in Georgetown, Washington on Monday, Mustafa himself showed a crowd of American NGO workers and think tank experts YouTube footage of pro-Assad rallies in Syria, arguing that the situation was not as grave as the media was portraying it, and that the Assad regime was in fact "in touch" with the opposition. Mustafa did not specify the nature of his relations with the opposition in America, which he has been trying to infiltrate. He only said talks with them were underway to implement Assad's "view for a democratic Syria."
In fact, since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, the Assad regime has succeeded, through a combination of intimidation and bribes, in winning over a handful of opposition figures. Whether in Syria or in Canada, where a "comprehensive document for dialogue" was unveiled last week, these converts are now preaching "dialogue" with Assad, echoing the Syrian ruler's rhetoric and ignoring the protesting masses and their demand that Assad step down.
Mustafa has also been instrumental in imposing censorship on any anti-Assad writings or even musical pieces that might surface in the United States. When pianist Malik Jandali announced that he was going to play the tune “My Homeland” in support of the Syrian revolution at the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, the group – headed by Mustafa's friend, Safa Rifka – uninvited the Syrian-American musician.
Mustafa and other Syrian diplomats, whether at the UN in New York or in capitals like Paris and Moscow, were instrumental in helping Assad rebound from his major setback in 2005, after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, when Damascus, which many blamed for the murder, was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon and face international isolation for years.
Today they hope to repeat past campaigns, albeit in a much more vigorous way, to get Assad off the hook and shield him from international anger.
Syria's diplomats, including Mustafa in Washington, have assumed roles that go far beyond their job description. These ambassadors spy on dissidents, threaten them in exile and their families in Syria, and organize pro-Assad rallies in world capitals. Their role outside Syria makes them partners in Assad's crimes just like any one of the paid thugs or security personnel inside Syria. Political and strategic considerations aside, and based on humanitarian concerns and the need to protect Syrian citizens from their own ruler and his lieutenants, Washington should expel Imad Mustafa.
**Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the Washington Bureau Chief of the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai

All the Syrian people aspire for are their fundamental rights
25/06/2011
By Simon Collis/British Ambassador to Syria.
AsharqAlAwsat/The Syrian Foreign Minister suggested on 22 June that Britain and other European nations are inciting division in Syria. In reality we seek the opposite. European Foreign Ministers met on 20 June and agreed that “the only way to provide stability for Syria in the long term (is) a peaceful transition to democracy, based on national unity and respectful of the rights of all citizens.”
The British Foreign Secretary William Hague and other European Ministers stressed that the only route to this stability is through a political process. They called again on the Syrian authorities to launch a credible, genuine and inclusive national dialogue and meaningful political reforms without delay.
They also emphasised that for this process to take place it is necessary for the Syrian authorities to stop violence, stop the arrest and intimidation of Syrian citizens, and release all those arrested in connection with the protests as well as other political prisoners who remain in detention despite the recent amnesty.
The second amnesty announced by President Assad during his recent speech offers an opportunity to release figures like Kamal Labwani, who were not released under the first amnesty. I very much hope this opportunity will be taken.
Mr Muallem also said that EU sanctions target the livelihood of Syrian citizens. The reality is that the serious problems facing the Syrian economy today are a result of the collapse of tourism and investment, and of big drops in transit trade and consumer confidence. These problems are a direct and predictable consequence of the way the Syrian authorities have chosen to deal with the crisis, by using security agencies to disrupt peaceful protests by force. The targeted sanctions that the EU has so far taken are directed against 30 named individuals and 4 entities who are associated with the violence perpetrated by the Syrian authorities against their own people. This cannot be used to blame outsiders for the economic problems that Syria now faces.
I was pleased to hear Mr Muallem’s call for diplomats in Syria to be objective and to report what we see. British diplomats responded positively to an offer of access to Jisr Al Shughour on 20 June. We have been pressing for similar access for international humanitarian agencies as well as international media and diplomats to other places where there has been violence in Syria, such as Deraa, Homs, Tal Kalakh, Talbisa, Rastan and Baniyas where there have been reports that Syrian civilians have been killed during protests. A UN report indicates that over 1,000 people have been killed in Syria in recent months, and over 10,000 detained. This is a completely disproportionate response to a largely peaceful protest movement.
What our diplomats saw in Jisr As Shughour was consistent with an attack by armed people on a Syrian military post, and other public buildings. We condemn violence from all sides, and call on demonstrators in Syria to uphold the largely peaceful nature of the protests. The right of security force members to defend themselves cannot justify the shooting of unarmed protesters. And the only way to ensure objective reporting of the often complicated situation in Syria is through unfettered access.
Since I first visited Syria over thirty years ago, I have known its people to be proud, independent and welcoming to foreigners. Most Syrians I know do not want foreign intervention, and this is not Britain’s approach. But they do want to know that the rest of the world stands with them in their present peaceful struggle for the same fundamental rights and opportunities to which people everywhere are entitled, and which people across the region are currently demanding.
 

Turkey renews strategic ties with Israel ahead of showdown with Syria
DEBKAfile Special Report
June 25, 2011,
After more than a year of strained relations, Turkey has decided to restore military and intelligence collaboration in the eastern Mediterranean with Israel as Ankara heads for a military showdown with Syria, according to debkafile's exclusive military sources. The deal worked out between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also gives Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan a role in Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy and a chance to bring Hamas into the process.
The deal was discussed in a telephone conversation that took place between the US president and Turkish prime minister last Tuesday June 21, hours after Assad's hardnosed speech at Damascus University. The last ends were tied up when Israel's Deputy Prime Minister, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon, visited Ankara secretly last week and met Erdogan and Fidan Hakan, the head of Turkish intelligence MIT.
Obama and Erdogan agreed that Bashar Assad's reign was over although both their intelligence agencies gave him another four to six months to hang on. To hasten his end, they decided on a two-part campaign: the US and Europe would step up sanctions on Syria and Turkey would raise the military heat.
This decision prompted US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to comment for the first time on a possible Turkish-Syrian military clash: "…we're going to see an escalation of conflict in the area," she said.
Saturday, June 25, Turkey began setting up a big new camp to accommodate a further influx of 12,000 to 15,000 Syrian refugees at Apaydin 10 kilometers from the border, on the opposite side of which Syria's crack 4th Division is massing tanks under the command of Syrian Republican Guard commander Gen. Maher Assad, the president's brother.
The numbers of refugees continued to swell after soldiers again opened fire on tens of thousands of demonstrators who poured into the streets after Friday prayers, killing at least nineteen.
As Syrian-Turkish military tensions continue to escalate, Ankara saw the necessity of coordinating its air and naval operations with the United States and Israel in case the Syrian ruler responded to a border flare-up by launching surface missiles against Turkish military targets and US bases in Turkey. Obama urged Erdogan and Hakan to get together with the Israeli minister Yaalon to work things out, a move that would call up the old close strategic bonds between Turkey and Israel before they the rupture over Israel's 2009 Cast Lead operation against Hamas in Gaza, the Turkish flotilla episode of May 2010 and other incidents.
Calling off Turkey's critical participation in the next big flotilla scheduled for this month to breaking Israel's Gaza blockade indicated the ice was melting.
For the sake of opening a new chapter between Jerusalem and Turkey, our sources disclose that Netanyahu gave in to Obama's request to give Erdogan another chance to promote Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy – this time by bringing Hamas aboard. The Turkish prime minister believes he has a fair chance of altering Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal's inflexible resistance to recognizing Israel.
After meeting Meshaal's rival, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, in Ankara Friday, June 24, Erdogan said "Turkey would mobilize support to help the Palestinians achieve recognition and form their own state." Abbas replied: "There will be no turning back from the road to reconciliation [with Hamas]."
Abbas and Meshaal were both in the Turkish capital at the same time, although they denied meeting.
Confirmation that the Turkish prime minister had returned to the role of Israel-Palestinian broker, which he resigned in anger after Israel's Gaza operation in 2009, came from Jerusalem: Thursday, June 23, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told a visiting group of Turkish journalists: "We also accept and respect the fact that Turkey is a regional power with a great historic role."
As to Ankara's bid to broker reconciliation between Abbas and Meshaal and get them to sign a power-sharing accord, the Israeli official commented: "It is also in our interests that the Palestinians have unity. We know once they sign, they sign for everybody and we don't have to worry about this."
debkafile's political sources: Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have obviously recognized that if the price for Israel-Turkish reconciliation and a return strategic collaboration is accepting Hamas' presence on the Palestinian side of the negotiating table, it is worth paying. They have apparently conceded the long-held principle not to deal with a Palestinian terrorist group dedicated to Israel's destruction without seeking cabinet endorsement.

Out of vogue
Conventional wisdom has it that President Assad will soon be history; until then, Prime Minister Netanyahu would be well advised to invest efforts in patching up relations with Turkey.
By Aluf Benn/Haaretz
Two years ago, a senior representative of a large Western nation visited Damascus in order to discuss warming up relations. At the end of the formal part of the visit, Syria's President Bashar Assad invited the guest for a quiet dinner that included both their spouses. They sat and talked through the night, off the record and with no advisers around. "My problem," Assad confessed then, "is that each year half a million Syrians reach the age of 18. They don't any have hope, or work."
President Assad speaking this week. Even though the uprising in Syria is far from over, it has already changed the balance of power in the Middle East.
But instead of offering them a future and opportunities, Assad embarked on an international campaign - based largely on the image of his wife, Asma - to market his country as Western and secular. The high point came earlier this year, when Vogue magazine published a profile piece of the Syrian presidential couple. The photograph featured of Assad playing with his children appears, in retrospect, to be a sad joke, given the current reality, in which the number of funerals held for slain enemies of the regime is approaching 1,500 and hundreds of Syrian refugees continue to stream across the border into Turkey. The editors of Vogue, astonished to discover that the loving, charming father is, in fact, a cruel, murderous dictator, have removed the profile piece from their website. Meanwhile, in the presidential palace, Asma Assad's Facebook page, which once provided information on the couple's journeys around the world, has not been updated in a month.
Assad, at this stage, remains in power for three reasons: His opponents have not been able to gather enough force to depose him, and their influence has yet to spread to the major cities; the army remains united and loyal to him; and Russia and Iran continue to provide him diplomatic cover, while the U.S. government has refrained from explicitly calling for his ouster (preferring instead to beat around the bush and talk about "reforms" in Syria ).
Egyptian protestors brought hundreds of thousands of people to Cairo's main square and toppled President Hosni Mubarak. In Syria, the rebellion erupted in provincial towns, which are easy to encircle and isolate from the international media. It is also apparently not very difficult to massacre people under such circumstances. Bashar Assad has learned the strategy from his father, Hafez.
Despite his determination to rule and the brutality of his soldiers, Assad has not been able to quell the uprising. The rebels are aware of their weakness and have therefore chosen a strategy of attrition. Unable to march on Damascus, they demonstrate in many different cities, trying to "dilute" Assad's forces, while demonstrating their presence around the country. The rebels are clearly hoping that if they persist in their efforts, a wave of desertion will engulf the army, and Assad will fall. Unlike their counterparts in Libya, the rebels in Syria cannot rely on America or Europe to bomb Assad's palace on their behalf. In any case, this tactic has yet to yield fruit in the case of Muammar Gadhafi.
Even though the uprising in Syria is far from over, it has already changed the balance of power in the Middle East. Iran is on the retreat, and Israel's influence is rising. The last time things changed as radically in the region was five years ago, in the wake of the Second Lebanon War. The military failures in the standoff with Hezbollah exposed Israel's weaknesses, thereby strengthening Hezbollah's sponsor, Iran. Assad upgraded his military, political and economic bonds with the Iranian leadership. Hezbollah gained power in Lebanon, as Hamas took control in the Gaza Strip. Turkey has veered away from Israel and moved closer to Iran, Syria and Hamas.
From Israel's standpoint, matters have worsened over the past year. The Turkish flotilla incident en route to Gaza last year gave rise to a wide abyss between Jerusalem and Ankara. With Mubarak's departure, Israel has also lost its strategic alliance with Egypt. The alternative devised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - an approach to bankrupt Greece - is no substitute for a stable alliance with Ankara and Cairo.
This week it appeared the other way around. Iran, whose leadership is being torn apart by internal squabbling, was trying to save Assad. If Assad is ousted, the Iranians will lose the leverage they need to exert regional influence. Israel has meanwhile seized the opportunity to disseminate reports about Iran's deep involvement in suppressing the demonstrators in Syria.
Turkey did not wait for Assad's departure. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the massacres in Syria and demanded that Assad institute reforms. The Turks responded with disappointment to Assad's speech on Monday, in which he rebuffed their ultimatum. Tensions between Damascus and Ankara have thickened, putting an end to the policy of "zero conflict with our neighbors," espoused by Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. "Iran and Turkey are now struggling for influence in Syria," concludes an Israeli expert on Middle East politics.
On Monday, Erdogan spoke on the phone with President Barack Obama, a few hours before Assad delivered his speech. According to Turkish sources, their conversation focused on Syria and Libya, and referred to the Mideast peace process as an "important element in regional stability." The two expressed support for "the constitutional demands" made by Syrian protestors, and agreed that Turkey and the United States would "closely monitor" the situation in Syria. The next day, Turkey released the memo sent by Netanyahu to Erdogan, in which he congratulated his counterpart for his decisive electoral victory and proposed that an effort be made to resolve all differences between the two countries.
Talk over war
As his years in office accumulate, Erdogan is emerging as the most seasoned diplomat in the region, if not the world at large. His betrayal of Assad, who was his close friend until recently, is reminiscent of his past behavior toward Israeli leaders.
Through its control of the Bosphorus and other strategic sites, Turkey has a distinctive geographic status. In "The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire," published last year, American researcher Edward Luttwak showed how rulers in Constantinople usually avoided wars and relied on diplomatic contacts and alliances to advance the interests of their empire, which lasted longer than any other empire in history.
Netanyahu also prefers talk to war.
His note to Erdogan shows that Netanyahu wants to renew the alliance with Turkey, Israel's natural ally vis-a-vis the Arab world and Iran. This week, his resolve will be tested by the second Gaza flotilla. Will the Turks have second thoughts and bring an end to the current flotilla effort? And should it embark on its journey, and should Israel's naval commandos move to board the boats, and should flotilla participants once again be killed or injured - how will that affect relations between Ankara and Jerusalem? Will all the preparations, as well as the scars and memories from last year's confrontation, forestall violence this year? Should the flotilla be scrapped, or should it set sail and carry out its mission peaceably, Netanyahu and Erdogan will be able to move ahead and rehabilitate relations damaged last year. But if last year's fiasco repeats itself, Israel's relations with Turkey will be in jeopardy. Salvaging them represents a joint challenge for Netanyahu and Erdogan.
The conventional wisdom in Israel was given voice in a prophesy made this week by Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Assad, Barak predicted, will fall "within half a year." Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan has fantasized about replacing the minority Alawites in Syria's ruling regime with the Sunni majority. Top Mossad and other security officials are now in favor of democratization in the Arab world, and no longer focus solely on the dangers of Islamization and the undermining of regional stability, as they were prone to do in the first six months of the year.
During the high and low points of his tenure, Assad has proven that Syria is a key player in the regional balance of power. Should a Sunni, pro-American regime take hold in Syria, Israel would be able to resolve the dispute over the Golan Heights and develop a "northern arch" alliance with Syria and Turkey as a counterweight in its confrontations with Iran. Such an alliance could serve as a substitute, or supplement, for Israel's damaged bond with Egypt.
It appears that the Egyptians have a grasp of these shifting strategic possibilities. Talk in Cairo of renewing relations with Teheran has fizzled out, and the Egyptians this week hosted Netanyahu's envoy Isaac Molcho. Nobody, it seems, wants to stand alone in the Middle East.
 

Syrians flee to Lebanon, death toll rises to 20
By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press
BEIRUT (AP) — Hundreds of Syrians, some of them with gunshot wounds, streamed into neighboring Lebanon on Saturday in search of a refuge from the increasing violence in their homeland, a Lebanese security official said.
The arrivals at the border began shortly after Syrian security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters across the country, killing 20 people, including two children aged 12 and 13, Syrian activists said.
The Local Coordination Committees, a group that tracks the anti-government protests in Syria, said most of the deaths occurred in the Barzeh neighborhood of the capital Damascus, as well as the suburb of al-Kaswa. Several others died when security forces opened fire in the central city of Homs, sending residents fleeing into neighboring Lebanon.
The Syrian opposition says some 1,400 people have been killed as the government has cracked down on a movement demanding an end to four decades of Assad family rule — a popular uprising renewed each Friday after weekly Muslim prayers.
The violence has prompted thousands of Syrians to seek a safe haven in neighboring countries. Up to 1,000 Syrians crossed overnight into Lebanon through the al-Qusair crossing in the region of Akkar near Wadi Khaled in northern Lebanon, a Lebanese security official said.
There were at least six Syrians with gunshot wounds among those who crossed into Lebanon, the official said on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations. The wounded are receiving treatment in Akkar hospitals.
The new arrivals join thousands of other Syrians who fled to Lebanon in May and early June, most of them during the Syrian military's crackdown on the border town of Talkalakh, a few minutes walk from Lebanon's Wadi Khaled.
The military's recent sweep through northwestern Syria, where armed resistance flared in early June, also has sent more than 11,700 refugees fleeing across the border to refugee camps in Turkey.
Defying government guns, thousands of Syrian protesters poured down city streets Friday to press demands for President Bashar Assad's ouster.
"Our revolution is strong! Assad has lost legitimacy!" a YouTube video showed protesters chanting Friday in Zabadani, a suburb of Damascus, the Syrian capital.
Syria's streets have become the stage for a test of endurance between a 3-month-old pro-democracy movement, bloodied but resilient, and an iron-fisted but embattled regime. The latest round of protests and killings came as international pressure mounted on President Bashar Assad.
"We will not stand by while the Syrian regime uses violent repression to silence its own people," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said after the European Union expanded sanctions — asset freezes and travel bans — to more members of the Syrian leadership.
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Protest draws largest numbers since start of Syrian uprising, activists say
Washington Post/By Leila Fadel, Published: June 24
CAIRO —Tens of thousands of protesters on Friday rushed into the streets across Syria to renew the call for the immediate end of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, four days after his speech pledging reform and dialogue failed to satisfy government opponents.
Assad finds himself further isolated globally as he faces the boldest challenge against his family’s 40-year-rule more than three months after protests began. The European Union this week expanded sanctions — travel bans and asset freezes — against more people connected to the regime, and Turkey called on the Assad government to carry out promised reforms.
Activists said that 200,000 people demonstrated in Hama alone, where a 1982 massacre ordered by Assad’s father left about 17,000 people dead. The protests there were unhindered by security forces. But in the suburbs of the capital Damascus, where repression is fierce, and in the country’s second largest city, Aleppo, government forces responded to protests with violence, activists said.
Twenty people, including two young boys, were killed across the country, according to the Local Coordinating Committees, which track the Syrian protest movement. The reports could not be independently verified because of limited media access to Syria.
Videos posted online from various parts of Syria showed crowds of people calling for Assad’s ouster on what was being termed the Friday “fall of legitimacy.” In one, protesters waved pictures of the dead and carried signs denouncing Assad as the “killer of children.” Another video from the Syrian town of Homs showed protesters facing tear gas and live gunfire as someone yelled, “the security forces are firing bullets.” Another showed police picking up apparent bullet casings from the street. “They’re picking up the bullets they used to kill the people . . . This is the government of Assad. Do you see them?” the person filming said.
In the Damascus suburb of Kiswa, protesters left a mosque just after Friday prayers and began to chant against the regime but were immediately dispersed by gunfire, said a Syrian human rights activist in the area who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. He said at least five people were killed.
The Local Coordinating Committees said another five people were killed in Barzeh, a district of Damascus. One person was killed in Hama and another four in Homs, both in central Syria, activists said. Overnight and into Friday, more than 1,500 Syrians fled into Turkey as the Syrian army moved closer to the border, witnesses said. On Thursday, it surrounded a village just 500 meters from the Turkish border. The continued troop movement raised fears about possible clashes between the two nations. Turkey, once a steadfast ally, has grown more critical of the Syrian government since refugees started flowing into the country.Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that he’d expressed his concerns to the Syrian foreign minister, according to the semi-official Turkish Anatolian News Agency.
“We monitored Mr. Assad’s speech very closely. There were positive elements indicating reforms,” he said. “It is of great importance, however, that concrete steps towards these reforms are taken.”On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the Syrian troop movement “worrisome” and said it could force the Turks to take action to protect their borders.
Syrian state news reported that some 500 refugees had returned to Jisr al Shoghour, the scene of the most bloody violence in recent weeks, after Assad’s speech. It also said they’d retaken control of the town without violence despite activists’ claims that the northeast of Syria was under intense military repression.
Assad assumed power after his father’s death in 2000 and was initially seen as a young face of reform that could transform Syria from an autocratic nation to a modern state. But the reforms never materialized, and promised changes since the uprising began have largely been seen as symbolic and empty rhetoric, including the lifting of a decades-old emergency law.
*Special correspondent Gul Tusyuz contributed to this report from Istanbul

More brutality in Syria and passivity in Washington
Washington Post/By Editorial, Published: June 24
ANOTHER WEEK has passed since President Obama delivered the May 19 address in which he pledged to use “all of the diplomatic, economic and strategic tools at our disposal” to oppose repression and support democratic transitions across the Middle East. In that time, the uprising in Syria has passed its 100th day with no end in sight — and no letup in the regime’s murderous violence. Another 15 people, including two children, were gunned down by security forces in protests on Friday, according to the Associated Press. That followed an offensive on Thursday by Bashar al-Assad’s forces against several villages near the border with Turkey, where many refugees had gathered. More than 1,000 crossed the border, bringing the Syrian refugee total in Turkey to more than 11,000.
On Tuesday, the day after Mr. Assad delivered a speech at Damascus University offering vague promises of reform, security forces launched a raid on the university’s dormitories when students refused to be drafted for pro-regime rallies. The Los Angeles Times reported that several people were killed and dozens beaten or detained — making a mockery of Mr. Assad’s rhetoric. The Syrian opposition now says that more than 1,400 people have been killed by the regime’s forces, which have used tanks, helicopter gunships, machine guns and snipers to assault crowds of unarmed civilians.
The European Union responded to these outrages on Friday by expanding its sanctions: Seven more individuals and organizations were cited, including three commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. A tough declaration said that “the regime is calling its legitimacy into question.” Britain and France have been leading efforts to pass a resolution on Syria through the U.N. Security Council.
And Mr. Obama? His administration again failed to take significant action in pursuit of what he said would be “a top priority.” A week ago State Department officials summoned reporters to say that they were considering several initiatives, including targeting Syria’s energy exports and referring the regime’s crimes to the International Criminal Court. But no moves have been announced.
Instead, Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have been calling their counterparts in Turkey, a country whose foreign policy has sharply diverged from that of the United States in recent years. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the Syrian repression, but he has also pursued a policy of courting Mr. Assad in recent years. Turkey pressed Syria to end the military operation along the border, but its foreign minister suggested Friday that Syria’s crisis could still be ended through reforms led by the dictator.
That, in effect, is the Obama administration’s position as well: The president, who has spoken in public on Syria only twice, has declined to say that Mr. Assad is an illegitimate ruler or that he should leave office. Mr. Obama’s reticence reinforces the equivocating policies of countries such as Turkey, to which the United States has ceded leadership on the issue. No doubt it gives Mr. Assad hope that if he can kill his way to stability, the Obama administration will again seek to “engage” him. Most of all, Mr. Obama’s silence and his administration’s passivity sends a message to the people of Syria and to the larger Middle East: His pledge to use all of America’s resources to support the cause of freedom in the Arab world was an empty one.

Assad journal: Syria crisis over
State newspaper claims gunmen scared refugees into Turkey, accuses world media of inflating, fabricating events
Roee Nahmias Published: 06.25.11, /Ynetnews
A day after 15 protestors were shot to death by Syrian security forces, Damascus is signaling that the crisis in the country is over.
The Syrian state newspaper, which serves as President Bashar Asasad's mouthpiece, said: "It has become obvious that the crisis in Syria is over and that the aftergrowth which is constantly being inflated is insignificant to the Syrians. Syrians have uncovered the plot and are now at the stage of counter attack in terms of function and reform." While Western nations seek to increase sanctions on Assad's regime, Damascus is sending is message to the world: "Outside elements have realized that the game is over but they have difficulty acknowledging that they have been beaten with a single blow. "That is why they have spent the past few days not only inflating events by fabricating them in a desperate manner."
Assad's journal noted that few are taking part in protests. "The Syrians know that the use of weapons is meant to cover for the minority taking part in the plot, and in demonstrations in general." Referring to Syrian refugees who have fled to Turkey, the newspaper said that they were not forced out by Syrian soldiers. "This concept was evident in Jisr al-Shughour where gunmen intimated the residents into uprooting before the army entered in order to concoct the current refugee story.
"We must remember that Syria took in a million and a half refugees from Iraq without a fuss and without any tears shed for them. Is the Syrian refugee narrative part of the plot against Syria?" The article concluded by declaring that the crisis was over and that foreign elements had failed. "The civil war spread by several Arab satellite stations is no more that words of lament of the defeated."

Mikati: Tough decisions go to Dialogue Committee
June 25, 2011 /By Hussein Dakroub The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in an interview aired Friday night his government would refer any “difficult decision” that requires a consensus, such as Beirut’s possible decision to halt cooperation with a U.N.-backed court, to the National Dialogue Committee.
In the interview with the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite channel, Mikati said Lebanon cannot unilaterally annul a U.N. Security Council decision that established the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Mikati has reiterated Lebanon’s commitment to international obligations, including the STL and U.N. Resolution 1701 that ended the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon, even before he formed a 30-member Cabinet dominated by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies on June 13.
Asked to comment on the STL, which is supported by the March 14 coalition and rejected by the March 8 camp, Mikati said: “No matter what is being said, Lebanon cannot abolish the decision to form the tribunal because it is an international decision. We respect international legitimacy. There is no ambiguity in this issue.”
Given the March 8 alliance’s repeated demands to end Lebanon’s cooperation with the STL, Mikati was asked if Lebanon could take a unilateral decision to demand the abolition of the tribunal.
“If there is no Lebanese consensus on a certain decision, I will continue to implement what the previous governments have committed to. But if there is a need to take any difficult decision, this must happen within the National Dialogue Committee, that is, in agreement among all representatives of the Lebanese people,” Mikati said. “There is a delicate balance between achieving justice on the one hand, and [maintaining] stability on the other.”
“I will continue to respect U.N. resolutions until a different decision or any other decision is taken by the National Dialogue Committee,” he added.
The National Dialogue Committee, headed by President Michel Sleiman, comprises 18 leaders from the March 8 and March 14 camps. Its effectiveness has been limited by the country’s sharp political divisions, and the body has not met since last year.
The committee was discussing a national defense strategy designed to defend Lebanon against a possible Israeli attack before it suspended its sessions in summer last year. March 14 Christian leaders have demanded that Hezbollah put its arms under the command of the Lebanese Army.
Sleiman was quoted recently as saying that he would call the committee to meet once the new government has won a vote of confidence from Parliament.
Mikati rejected March 14 parties’ charges that his government represented one of “confrontation” with the international community over the STL’s indictment. The indictment is widely expected to implicate some Hezbollah members in Hariri’s assassination, raising fears of sectarian strife. Hezbollah has repeatedly denied involvement.
“It is by no means a government of ‘confrontation,’ as they said. We are not looking for any form of confrontation with the international community and international legitimacy. We cannot afford this anyway,” Mikati said.
Mikati’s remarks came as a 12-member ministerial committee tasked with drafting the government’s policy statement has so far failed to reach agreement on the STL.
Mikati and Hezbollah are at odds over the issue, with the party and its March 8 allies demanding that the STL not be mentioned in the policy statement at all.
Mikati, seeking to avoid a confrontation with the international community, was trying to find a formula acceptable to all the parties participating in the government.
Hezbollah and its March 8 allies have called for the abolition of the tribunal, which they dismissed as “an American-Israeli project” designed to incite sectarian strife.
Mikati is coming under heavy pressure from the March 14 coalition and the United States and other Western countries to uphold the STL as the only means to uncover Hariri’s killers.
In the interview with Al-Arabiya TV, Mikati said the article concerning the STL was still being drafted by the ministerial committee.
On Hezbollah’s arsenal, another sensitive and divisive issue between the rival factions, Mikati praised the party’s role in liberating Lebanese territory from Israeli occupation in the south, but stressed that weapons should be removed from cities.
“The resistance’s weapons are among the issues put up for discussion to the National Dialogue Committee. I have learned that the president will call the committee to resume its meetings once the government has won confidence,” Mikati said.
“I am aware of the magnitude of the big campaign facing the government from the opposition. But I am one of those who believe in the continuity of governance. We are here to maintain Lebanon’s sovereignty, freedom, stability and free decision,” Mikati said. “We are looking forward to [maintaining] strong relations with all brotherly and friendly states. We are not in a confrontation with the international community and Arab brothers. We will stress this in the policy statement.”
Asked how his government will deal with the repercussions of the popular uprising in Syria on Lebanon, particularly the flow of Syrian refugees who crossed the border to Lebanon, Mikati expressed hope that Syrian President Bashar Assad would carry out promised reforms and said the Lebanese government would deal with Syrian refugees on a humanitarian basis.
“We wish sisterly Syria security and safety. We hope President Bashar Assad will lead the necessary reforms he has announced so that stability will return to Syria,” Mikati said.
Earlier Friday, Mikati met Sleiman at Baabda Palace to brief him on the committee’s progress in drafting the policy statement. He also met with Speaker Nabih Berri at the latter’s residence in Ain al-Tineh.
Meanwhile, Mikati’s ally, Minister of State Ahmad Karami said Friday that Lebanon cannot stop the STL. “Lebanon cannot stop the international tribunal … This is out of the question,” Karami told Al Fajr radio station.
Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi from MP Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement said the government’s policy statement will not be “provocative.”

Lebanon's Arabic press digest - June 25, 2011

June 25, 2011 /The Daily Star
Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Saturday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.
An-Nahar: CIA spying on Hezbollah
The televised appearance of Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah was the top local event given what he said regarding three spy cases within Hezbollah; two of whom are affiliated with the Central Intelligence Agency directly linked to the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. Analysts saw this new development as the first infiltration within the resistance which has long been proud of its immunity from such acts.
An-Nahar spoke with Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi regarding Nasrallah's revelations, he said: "When I heard Nasrallah's talk, I called the general prosecutor Said Mirza who in turn spoke to the army intelligence for clarification." Qortbawi denied there was anyone held in connection with the allegations.
Before Nasrallah spoke, media reports said that the three members held sensitive positions within Hezbollah prompting the resistance to take security measures in Beirut's southern suburbs including setting up check points and night patrols.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Najib Mikati held talks with President Michel Sleiman and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri regarding the policy statement.
As-Safir: "The three convicts are not close to me and they have nothing to do with Moughnieh or the tribunal".
Nasrallah ended the rumors regarding the discovery of a group of Israeli-American spies within Hezbollah by announcing a security achievement by the resistance in which they had caught an American infiltration. The CIA was able to recruit three Hezbollah members.
Nasrallah's speech was transparent and clear considering the severity of the issue at hand.
As for the Syrian situation, Nasrallah reiterated his support for President Bashar Assad at a time when Assad is seeking to face a domestic conspiracy against him.
Al-Diyar: Nasrallah: U.S. Embassy is a nest of spies, Nahhas clashes with Safadi
Nasrallah gave a short speech in which he highlighted the main points regarding the new Cabinet and its success, the Israeli maneuvers, his support for the Syrian government, and Bahrain's treatment for its Shiite citizens.
Nasrallah also touched upon the spy network within Hezbollah, revealing that three people had been detained, two for spying for the CIA and the third for a foreign intelligence.
Meanwhile, Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas presented a comprehensive financial study that upset Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi, as the latter is the one responsible for presenting such finance-related studies. Mikati also spoke about the issue, saying that every minister should be concerned with his ministry’s work.
On another note, European countries made clear, directly or indirectly, that the policy statement of the new Cabinet should talk about the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and if it is not mentioned, there will be serious consequences.
Al-Akhbar: Nasrallah: we discovered three spies working for CIA
Perhaps this is the biggest infiltration in the history of the resistance, but its discovery is an achievement. The war Nasrallah waged was not with a traditional enemy, the Mossad, but with the U.S. intelligence this time.
Nasrallah also urged the resistance and its people to be more alert and critical especially in these times.
As for the new Cabinet, Nasrallah said that the government is 100 percent made in Lebanon, adding that there was no foreign intervention

Syrians pour into Lebanon after Friday protest killings
David Batty and agencies guardian.co.uk, Saturday 25 June 2011
Hundreds of Syrians have fled to Lebanon after 20 people were killed in the biggest day of protests against President Bashar al-Assad. Up to 1,000 Syrians escaped through the al-Qusair crossing in the region of Akkar near Wadi Khaled in northern Lebanon, according to a Lebanese security official. At least six of those who crossed the border had gunshot wounds and were admitted to hospital in Akkar, the official said. Teargas and live bullets were fired at demonstrators leaving Friday prayers in several areas of the capital Damascus and elsewhere. Syrian state TV blamed unidentified gunmen for some deaths.Thousands of people are reported to have turned out in the Damascus suburb of Irbin, the central city of Homs, and, more unusually, in Aleppo, Syria's second city, which has been largely peaceful so far. The renewed protests came after President Assad offered dialogue and reform on Monday. The scale and geographical spread of the latest protests – dubbed "the Friday of the end of legitimacy" – appeared to underline Assad's failure to dampen opposition fervour. In an address to the nation on Monday – his third since the start of the anti-regime demonstrations – he spoke of dialogue and reform, but democracy activists dismissed his offers as cosmetic or insufficient. Opposition leaders in Damascus are reported to be planning a public meeting next week to discuss strategy.

Activists work to change attitudes to torture
 June 25, 2011/By Amanda Calvo/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Dressed modestly in denim and a cap covering one of many jagged scars, Pierre Namour, 50, a victim all-too-familiar with pain, believes there is no hope of ending torture in Lebanon. As a former member of the South Lebanon Army militia, which assisted Israeli occupation between 1978 and 2000, Namour claims there can be no fresh starts in Lebanon and that he will be relentlessly targeted by state and non-state actors alike. He claims he was tortured 27 times, the last instance happening as recently as May 19.
“I have no faith that torture will stop,” Namour told The Daily Star. “All of these military officials that appear to care [in public], it is just a front for what is going on behind the scenes,” he said. His words are an urgent reminder to the international community and human right activists gathering to commemorate International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on June 26.
A major media campaign was launched this week for the first time in Lebanon, with more than 300 billboards nationwide depicting a man with a bare back with the words, “It’s no pleasure to be tortured by you,” written across him.
ALEF (Act for Human Rights) is a civil society group spearheading the campaign, whose title is a play on words in Arabic, and hints at the leniency in Lebanese attitudes toward torture.
Indeed, according to an ALEF report, sponsored by the Dutch Embassy and published this week, violence and the practice of torture and ill-treatment are widely tolerated in Lebanese society as punishment for alleged criminals. “A campaign like this has never been done in Lebanon to approach torture. This is a topic that stands apart from other human rights issues, it is a very sensitive one,” said Darine al-Hage, ALEF executive director.
“Torture cannot be as acceptable and common as this saying is, we hope this campaign will trigger a change in the perception and justification of torture,” she added. An estimated 700 torture cases were reported in Lebanon in the last two years, according to ALEF. Namour, however, remained skeptical while he attended one of many human rights events this week.
“I am transparent, but the system [of torture] is not,” he explained, while condemning the lack of service provisions for victims. Now retired and holding a faded picture of his four children, Namour explains that his shop was burgled as he was beaten senseless and all of his four children were kidnapped on June 3, 2000.
With no way of seeking justice, he is now applying for a visa to France as he says “there is nothing I can do from here in Lebanon.”But Namour is certainly not the only one with such stories to tell. Studies show that 60 percent of people arrested and investigated between 2009 and 2010 reported being subjected to torture, according to an EU-sponsored report published earlier this year by the Lebanese Center for Human Rights. As harrowing as these figures may be, however, CLDH secretary-general Wadih Asmar insists statistics alone cannot be the driving force behind the campaign to stop torture.
“It is not about numbers; torture is practiced [deliberately] and used by judicial systems,” he said earlier this week at a CLDH-organized event. “This should be stopped. The cases that come to our attention indicate a trend, and one case is already enough.”From the variety of bloodcurdling instruments of the Middle Ages to contemporary secret holding facilities, human rights activists argue that torture, as a form of interrogation, yields no tangible results.
“Torture, whether mental or physical, does not decrease [crime prevalence] in the countries where it is practiced. It also hinders the proceedings of the judiciary as suspects investigated under torture are forced to sign pre-prepared confession statements,” the CLDH secretary-general said.
Although Lebanon has signed relevant international treaties, domestic laws fail to uphold the international definition of torture, said ALEF. To overcome the gap, several rights organizations are calling for the implementation of an independent National Preventive Mechanism, which would monitor and conduct visits to prisons and detention centers, in line with Lebanon’s international obligations. “It is critical to push the legal and legislative aspect regarding torture,” Asmar said. “Having a NPM will not be the solution for everything, but it will be a significant step toward reducing torture. I hope we will be talking next year and at the very least this will have been made a reality
 

Sayyed Nasrallah Confirms: Three Spying Cases within Hezbollah
 Al Manar Hezbollah web site/24 June/2011
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah declared on Friday that two Hezbollah members have confessed to have links with the US Central Intelligence Agency. His eminence also said the group was investigating whether a third member of the party had been recruited by the CIA, Israel's Mossad or the intelligence service of a European country..While noting that the discovery of the three cases constitutes a victory for the Resistance in the face of the most powerful intelligence agency in the world, Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that the three mentioned Hezbollah members had no relation at all with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, as some media outlets claimed.
Sayyed Nasrallah was delivering a speech through a large TV screen, broadcast live on Al-Manar Television.
US EMBASSY CENTER OF ESPIONAGE
“When the Israeli enemy failed to infiltrate Hezbollah, it turned to the most powerful intelligence agency,” Hezbollah Secretary General said. “What we have today is not a case of spying for the Israeli enemy as been rumored recently,” his eminence insisted.
“Our investigation has found that... intelligence officers (in the CIA) have recruited two of our members separately, whom we shall not name out of respect for the privacy of their families,” Sayyed Nasrallah pointed out.
While emphasizing that two separated cases had been detected having relations with diplomats in the US embassy in Beirut, his eminence said this discovery was a proof that the US Embassy turned to be the center of espionage.
According to Sayyed Nasrallah, the first case - A.B. - had been recruited since five months by a CIA officer, while the second - M.H. - had been recruited before the first. "Both of them confessed to their relations with the CIA after being detected," his eminence said.
While noting that the third - M.A. - had confessed to his security links to a foreign body, Sayyed Nasrallah said the group was still investigating whether he had been recruited by the CIA, Israel's Mossad or the intelligence service of a European country.
WE HAVE THE COURAGE TO TELL THE TRUTH
Hezbollah Secretary General stressed that these three cases were the only ones within Hezbollah. “If there are more, we have the full courage to admit it,” Sayyed Nasrallah said. “Be confident we have the courage to tell the truth, even if bitter.”
Sayyed Nasrallah confirmed, meanwhile, that none of the three cases is of the first-rank leadership, contrary to the circulated rumors. His eminence added that they also don’t include any cleric. “Some were confused about an arrested cleric; however, everybody knows he has nothing to do with Hezbollah,” his eminence went on to say.
NONE OF THE CASES HAS SENSITIVE INFORMATION
His eminence also said that none of the cases belongs to the persons closed to the Secretary General. "None of these case has to do with the front or the sensitive military units, about which the US and Israel are seeking for collecting information," his eminence added.
Sayyed Nasrallah also reassured the Resistance supporters that none of the cases has sensitive data which could harm the security and military structure of the resistance, as well as its ability of confrontation in any war. His eminence also declared that the three accused have nothing to do with the assassination of the martyr leader Hajj Imad Moghniyeh.
Hezbollah Secretary General also denied rumors that talking about those cases was aimed at reaching to a solution on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. “The three accused have nothing to do with the STL,” his eminence pointed out. “We settled the STL issue since long. The three cases hadn't been mentioned in any report concerning the STL.”
OPPOSITION BEHAVES ACCORDING TO HATRED
Hezbollah Secretary General, who was speaking for the first time since the formation of the new government, congratulated Lebanese for this development. His eminence said that the government was purely Lebanese, and stressed that it was formed without any foreign intervention.
Sayyed Nasrallah stated that those who oppose the cabinet formation behave according to their hatred.
While recalling that he has called to give Saad Hariri’s government a one-year grace period, Sayyed Nasrallah remarked that the new opposition refused to give the new government, headed by Najib Miqati, a grace period of only one week.
His eminence rejected the claims made by the opposition that the new government was a one-color cabinet. “March 14 bet was that new majority won't be able to form the new cabinet,” Sayyed Nasrallah said.
His eminence also denied rumors that the cabinet was in fact Hezbollah government. “Attributing government formation to Hezbollah grants us a political privilege. However, it is untrue,” his eminence added. “Our cabinet is constituted of counterbalanced political parties. Hezbollah has only two ministers in the new cabinet; yet, we greatly respect all other ministers.”
POLICY STATEMENT WILL BE DONE WITHOUT OBSTACLES
Sayyed Nasrallah renewed calls to avoid sectarian incitement for being a double-edged sword, warning the new opposition against betting on the West, and said that this strategy will fail just like it failed in the past. “You have always lived on foreign bets,” Sayyed Nasrallah said, addressing the new opposition. However, his eminence vowed these bets will fail just like they had always failed.
His eminence expressed belief that the new government’s policy statement will be done without obstacles, due to mutual trust amongst ministers. “God willing, the policy statement will be completed and the cabinet will have confidence.”
Sayyed Nasrallah also said that the priority for the cabinet should be to work hard. His eminence called upon all ministers to cooperate, join hands and do their best to serve the country and the people of Lebanon. “We should solve the current issues without being dragged to debates, in which they aim at exhausting us,” his eminence added.
Before ending with the government’s issue, Sayyed Nasrallah saluted Speaker Nabih Berri’s original step, at both the national and Shiite levels, and noted that this step gave the full opportunity for the cabinet's formation. “We will work hard and cooperate with the President, Premier and the ministers to have a successful and useful government which serves our people.”
 ISRAEL ADMITS HOME FRONT PART OF ANY WAR
Addressing the recent Israeli drills, entitled Turning Point 5, Sayyed Nasrallah said that they marked a strategic turning point that started within the Zionist entity following the July 2006 war against Lebanon.
Sayyed Nasrallah recalled that all security and military drills carried out by the enemy are the result of its resounding defeat and the Resistance's victory in July war 2006.
According to Sayyed Nasrallah, "Turning Point 5" is also a decisive Israeli admission that Home Front has become a part of any future war. “This also makes Israel thinks one thousand times before taking any war decision in the future,” his eminence said.
Hezbollah Secretary General, meanwhile, said that "Turning Point 5" is an Israeli admission that its human, military, economic and geographic depth is now threatened and cannot be protected. “The Israeli enemy has therefore perceived that it lost the ability to militarily protect the Home Font and that it is obliged to set plans and scenarios,” his eminence said.
Sayyed Nasrallah also confirmed that "Turning Point 5" is an Israeli admission that Israelis have no capability for fast decisiveness, which signals a strategic modification in the Israeli structure. “The Israeli enemy acknowledges that it is not able anymore to settle the battle within days or even weeks and is speaking of scenarios and procedures to protect the front in a war that could last for many months.”
Sayyed Nasrallah said that "Turning Point 5" definitely determined those considered enemies by Israel. “Israel is frankly speaking of four enemies which are Iran, Syria, the Resistance in Lebanon and the Resistance in Gaza,” his eminence remarked.
While noting that "Turning Point 5" shows that "Israel" aims at defending and protection, Sayyed Nasrallah warned that this was only part of the truth.
“Israel is of an aggressive and offensive nature and has a predominance project in the region. Therefore, we all should be vigilant, alert and alarmed

Hizbollah members 'confess to spying for CIA'
The Telegraph/Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Friday announced that members of his militant movement had confessed to being CIA agents and accused arch-foe Israel of turning to the US spy agency when it failed to infiltrate his Iran-backed party. In the first such acknowledgement of infiltration since the group's founding in the 1980s, Nasrallah refused to disclose the identities of the two party members but said a third case was under investigation, slamming the US embassy in Lebanon as a "den of spies." "When the Israeli enemy failed to infiltrate Hizbollah, it turned to the most powerful intelligence agency," Nasrallah said in a television speech broadcast in Lebanon, referring to the Central Intelligence Agency.
"Our investigation has found that ... intelligence officers (in the CIA) have recruited two of our members separately, whom we shall not name out of respect for the privacy of their families," he added. "The first confessed he was recruited five months ago ... while the second confessed he had been recruited even before that," he said, adding that the recruiters were CIA agents posing as diplomats at the US embassy east of Beirut. Nasrallah also said the group was investigating whether the third member of the party had been recruited by the CIA, Israel's Mossad or the intelligence service of a European country. The Shiite leader, whose party is blacklisted as a terrorist group by the United States, insisted however that the alleged agents had not been involved in the 2008 assassination of top Hizbollah operative Imad Mughnieh in Damascus. Hizbollah has openly accused Israel of the bombing that killed Mughnieh and vowed to avenge his death. The Jewish state has denied responsibility. The Syrian- and Iranian-backed Shiite movement last fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006. The month-long fighting killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers, and destroyed much of Lebanon's major infrastructure

Hezbollah leader says CIA recruited group members to spy for Israel; US denies allegation
By Associated Press, June 24,
BEIRUT — Hezbollah’s leader said Friday that the Islamic militant group had captured three spies in its ranks, two of whom were allegedly recruited by the CIA to spy for Israel.
It was the first time the Iranian-backed group has claimed that it had been penetrated by spies, a rare acknowledgment of a security breach for an organization that has maintained a cohesive image. The U.S. Embassy in Beirut denied the allegation.
Weigh In Corrections?
In his televised speech, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said CIA members at the embassy had recruited at least two Hezbollah members and the group was investigating whether the U.S. intelligence agency or another foreign agency recruited a third. “We now have proof that this embassy is a spying nest and that some U.S. diplomats are intelligence officers penetrating and recruiting Lebanese society and Lebanese political factions,” he said.
Nasrallah did not name the suspects, saying he wanted to protect their families “whom I know personally.” All three confessed their actions to a Hezbollah “spy combat unit,” he said.
The comments appeared to be an attempt to stop recent media speculation about cracks and infiltrations within the group’s ranks. Nasrallah portrayed the capture of the three spies as a “real security achievement” and said the ruse was uncovered within months.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said he “would not dignify” the accusations with a comment. The U.S. Embassy in Beirut said they had no substance. “These are the same kinds of empty accusations that we have heard repeatedly from Hezbollah,” it said in a statement. Nasrallah said none of the suspects had any sensitive information about the group that would jeopardize its abilities to fight in any future war, and he emphasized they were not part of his inner circle. He said the development showed the Shiite group was facing a “new stage of security struggle.” Hezbollah and Israel fought a devastating, 34-day war in 2006 that that left 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.
Lebanon and Israel technically remain at war, and more than 100 people have been arrested in Lebanon since 2009 on suspicion of spying. Amid a string of arrests last year, Nasrallah had bragged that the group was “immune” to being penetrated by intelligence agencies. Nasrallah did not say how the three men were captured or give details of their current situation.
His accusations Friday come at a tumultuous time in the Middle East and illuminate how Hezbollah’s web of allegiances and enemies touch on many of the region’s most explosive conflicts.
“We had assumed that we were in security confrontation with the Israelis ... but to become a direct target for U.S. intelligence like this, this undoubtedly puts us in front of a new stage of security confrontation,” Nasrallah said.
Associated Press writer Elizabeth A. Kennedy contributed to this report.

American woman jailed for helping Hezbollah
June 24, 2011 Agence France Presse WASHINGTON: An Ohio woman was sentenced to 40 months in prison Wednesday for her role in a conspiracy to ship hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Amera Akl, 38, of Toledo, Ohio, pleaded guilty last month to one count of conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the U.S. Department of Justice said. “Money is the lifeblood of terrorist organizations, and stopping the flow is a key component to choking off these organizations,” U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, Steven Dettelbach, said in a statement. According to court documents, Amera Akl and her husband, Hor Akl, met with a confidential source who was working for the FBI between August 2009 and June 2010 “to discuss ways to secretly send money to Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon.” While Amera Akl was present, Hor Akl told the confidential source that he knew the money was being transported to “terrorists,” and the Akls agreed to send money by “concealing it inside a 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer, which they planned to send to Lebanon via a container ship,” court documents stated. Amera Akl told the source during one meeting that she “dreamed of dressing like Hezbollah, carrying a gun and dying as a martyr.” On June 3, 2010, the Akls were given $200,000 by the source. After Amera Akl serves her 40-month sentence, she will undergo three years of supervised release. Hor Akl, 38, pleaded guilty last month to a total of five counts, including conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization and also conspiracy to violate money laundering statutes. Amera’s husband will be sentenced later this year, the Justice Department said.

Aoun’s victory
Hazem al-Amin,/Now Lebanon
June 24, 2011
Dozens of commentators on Facebook established a link yesterday between Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem’s saying that he will forget Europe is on the map on the one hand and, on the other, MP Michel Aoun’s invitation to US officials to visit Lebanon in order to teach them lessons in democracy and his saying that the Lebanese school of rights has beaten its counterparts in the world when it comes to deriving inspiration regarding justice and law.
Yet the comments on Facebook failed to notice one thing: The difference is in Mouallem’s favor, because the man said what he did at a time when his regime faces a crisis, and he said it with a good dose of gloominess and bitterness. In contrast, our great citizen Michel Aoun was celebrating his winning ten ministries, and his statement went along with shouts of celebration. The man believes he won against the United States, and not even Mouallem believes that!
Mouallem offered alternatives, desperate ones certainly, but they still denoted that he has some respect for the intelligence of those he accused, saying: “We will head east and south in our quest to build international relations.” The General, in contrast, did not provide any alternative destination; rather, he said that the alternative to Western lights is ourselves, i.e. himself, General Aoun. At this moment, Michel Aoun was the center of the universe and the source of light in it. This glow was due to his winning the Ministry of Telecommunications or the Ministry of Social Affairs. One can only imagine, then, what would be of us, or of the United States, were the General to realize his dream to attain the presidency.
Nevertheless, it seemed that the formation of the Lebanese cabinet was synonymous with new phenomena that are as insightful and fertile as the General’s imagination. PM Najib Mikati has been trying hard to remove the denomination of “Hezbollah cabinet,” which was attributed to his ministerial lineup. Yet the Lebanese Director General of General Security decided to ban the screening of an Iranian movie about Iran’s Green Revolution. This ban is incompatible with Mikati’s efforts to remove the Hezbollah tag from his cabinet unless he has recourse to Michel Aoun’s intelligence. Indeed, it is the same kind of intelligence the United States has no idea we attained centuries before it.
Mikati is thus trying to deny the fact that his cabinet was formed upon Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s call, but the man is dealt a strong blow. Assad is trying desperately to convince the world, however unsuccessfully, of the reforms he will initiate in Syria, including the law on the freedom of the press. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s information minister leaked news that a new media law in Lebanon stresses the need to withdraw the license of any media that does not abide by “national constant principles.” Hence, our new minister is going one way while the rest of the world is going the other. Furthermore, “national constant principles,” which are seemingly set these days by Michel Aoun in the best of cases, should include what the man said with regard to the United States. The mission of the March 14 coalition will not be an easy one, and this is another problem because we had thought that new challenges would give rise to a different objection movement. It seems that our ambitions are misplaced… and this cabinet merely needs the March 14 coalition.
*This article is a translation. The original appeared on the NOW Arabic site on Friday June 24, 2011

Mikati hopes pledged Syrian reforms become reality
June 24, 2011/ The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati has expressed hope that Syrian President Bashar Assad will implement promised reforms, and said that the new Lebanese government will deal with Syrian refugees fleeing into Lebanon from a humanitarian, and not political, perspective. “I hope President Bashar Assad will implement the pledged reforms, so stability will return to Syria” Mikati told the Arabic satellite channel Al-Arabiya in an interview Thursday evening. On the issue of Syrian refugees who have fled the crackdown into Lebanon, Mikati said that his government “will look at the issue of Syrian refugees … from a purely humanitarian angle, away from politics.”Regarding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Mikati said that if it were what the people of the country wanted, the new government would reject U.N. Security Council resolutions concerning the court. However, the prime minister also said that without a national consensus on the issue he would stick to the position of previous governments. The last government, of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, was committed to both U.N. Resolution 1757, which lays out the protocol for the relationship between the Lebanese government and the STL, and Resolution 1701.
“If there were no Lebanese consensus on a particular decision, I will continue to carry on the commitments made by the previous governments,” he said.
“I will continue to respect international resolutions until an agreement is issued otherwise by the [all-party] national dialogue,” Mikati added.
When asked about the disarmament of Hezbollah, Mikati said Hezbollah arms will be discussed during the all-party national dialogue, but added that weapons should be removed from cities. Mikati’s ally, State Minister Ahmad Karami, however, said Friday that Lebanon cannot stop the STL.
“Lebanon cannot stop the international tribunal which has been approved under a U.N. Security Council resolution,” Karami said in an interview with a local radio station.
“This is out of the question," he said. Karami described as “normal” a campaign launched by the new opposition – the Future Movement-led March 14 coalition – to confront the new government. “Any peaceful opposition that protects the democratic life in the country is welcomed,” Karami added.

Sleiman-Aoun meeting possible at Rai dinner
June 25, 2011 /By Hassan Lakkis The Daily Star
BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman will host top Lebanese officials and a number of Maronite leaders at a dinner to honor Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai on the Saint Charbel holiday that coincides with Rai’s visit next month to Jbeil, the hometown of the president. Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun is expected to be among the attendees after receiving an invitation from Sleiman. Sources close to Aoun described the invitation as an attempt by Sleiman to bridge the gap with the FPM leader ahead of the 2013 parliamentary elections, where candidates close to the president are expected to run for the polls in Jbeil. The sources told The Daily Star that Sleiman was seeking to guarantee his candidates a place on Aoun’s electoral lists after the latter emerged victorious in the Cabinet formation struggle, securing key portfolios for his Reform and Change parliamentary bloc. Sleiman’s attempt to narrow differences with Aoun follows the president’s belief that the March 14 coalition has lost in the contest with Aoun, according to FPM sources. But a source close to Sleiman has denied any political reasons behind his invitation to Aoun, saying the president had invited the FPM leader in his capacity as a former prime minister and Maronite leader to honor the patriarch. The source said similar invitations would likely be delivered to top officials, former presidents, prime ministers and Maronite leaders, but added that the protocol of the invitations had yet to be determined.
Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najbi Mikati and Kataeb party leader and former President Amin Gemayel are most likely to be invited. FPM sources said Aoun would decide on whether to attend the dinner based on the list of invitees. However, the sources added that Aoun was unlikely to boycott the dinner because it would be held to honor the patriarch, but will as likely hesitate to participate if FPM lawmakers in Jbeil and Kesrouan are not invited.
It is still unknown whether Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh will be invited to join Aoun and Gemayel at Sleiman’s residence.
In April, the top four Maronite leaders along with the community’s lawmakers held an ice-breaking meeting at the seat of the Maronite patriarchate in Bkirki, to study issues of concern to the Christian community divided between March 14 and March 8 parties.
Among the issues on the agenda was the inclusion of Christians in state administrative positions. Reports have said that the meeting at Sleiman’s residence was likely to address the issue as the new government, in which Aoun holds one-third of the seats, is expected to make key appointments to vacant key administrative and security positions after winning the vote of confidence in Parliament. The relationship between Sleiman and Aoun has experienced considerable tension, particularly during the Cabinet formation process, as both leaders battled over their share of Christian representation. Aoun insisted on being granted the right to nominate the interior minister, a post that went to a Maronite in the last two governments. Aoun and Sleiman eventually agreed on Marwan Charbel as a compromise figure. Aoun also withdrew his objection to Sleiman’s nomination of a second Maronite minister from his hometown of Jbeil on the condition that the person selected refrain from running in the 2013 polls. Sleiman selected his political aide Nazem Khoury for the environment ministry portfolio after accepting Aoun’s offer.

Maronites and the two Michels
Michael Young, June 24, 2011
Now Lebanon/Michel Aoun, who’s always wanted to be president, and Michel Sleiman, who is president, have been at loggerheads over the new cabinet lineup.
Here is one argument for why Lebanon’s Christians, and the Maronites in particular, should seriously consider surrendering the presidency. We can sum it up in just three words: the two Michels—as in Michel Aoun and Michel Sleiman.
With Aoun we have a familiar figure in Lebanese political tradition: a Maronite ravenous for presidential power who has illustrated better than most the destructiveness of his ambition. From the days that President Amin Gemayel appointed him to lead a transitional military government in 1988, until 2008, Aoun has dreamt of becoming our head of state. He dreamt of it in the darkest days of his exile at La Haute Maison, amid the open fields of an isolated hamlet in the distant periphery of Paris. He dreamt of it when he allied himself with Hezbollah after his return to Lebanon, imagining that the party’s weapons and Syrian patronage would impose him on his enemies.
And when they didn’t, Aoun still dreamt of Baabda. He concluded that even though Michel Sleiman had been elected in May 2008, it was Michel Aoun’s right to be president in place of the president. And here we are reminded of what the great French historian René Grousset once wrote of the Roman general and politician Pompey. Somehow, he also offered up a succinct, incisive portrait of Michel Aoun:
“What was it his ambition to attain in the Republic? A sort of moral presidency to which, after the services he had rendered, he had some right? To rule, with our without a formal title? Especially to accumulate honors, many honors, which would have satisfied his vanity and his irresolution, but which his secret mediocrity would have prevented him from turning into something redoubtable?”
Having won a lion’s share of ministers in the new government, Aoun may have succeeded in attaining a moral presidency and will now strive to rule without a formal title. But his secret mediocrity will get the better of him, as his attempts to display resolution will expose his innate recklessness. All that will be left is vanity, discolored by cynicism deriving from Aoun’s corrosive dissatisfaction.
Aoun’s rival, Michel Sleiman, has only a formal title and the honors accompanying it to hold up as a bulwark against irresolution. Hailed as a savior in 2008 at the pinnacle of his career, the president has left no vale of hesitation, of reversal, unvisited since that time. Having been handed two of the four sovereign ministries in Fouad Siniora’s government of July 2008, and those again and more in Saad Hariri’s government of December 2009, the president should have built himself sturdy political foundations. Instead, he has relegated himself to the status of political nonentity, the latest insult being his obligation to “share” the Interior Ministry with Aoun.
Perhaps the ultimate statement on the presidency was provided by Emile Lahoud. Though the man benefited from the backing of Syria, Hezbollah, and the intelligence services, he ended up toothless, reviled, a casualty of the impossible incongruities of presidential office. Sleiman is learning a similar lesson. To be potent, a president must be a Maronite chieftain and play the communal game hard-nosedly, without inhibition—isolating foes, picking fights to rally the partisans, driving opponents into minefields of disputation. But Sleiman, whose conceit compels him to disregard the fray, stands blankly, godfather to a government over which he has little influence.
This reality should invite a profound reassessment in the community. Is the Maronites’ continued insistence on retaining the presidency a source of strength or weakness? Not only has competition over the office become a source of inter-communal cannibalism, but the presidential institution has lost much of its punch. Worse, it has become a repository for those embodying the lowest common denominator of agreement among Lebanon’s diverse political actors, who must appeal to everyone because they threaten no one.
Recently, Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai made an ill-considered statement on the matter. He called for the Taif Accord to be renegotiated in order to give the president more power. It didn’t seem to occur to the patriarch that amending Taif might well push the Muslim communities, quite legitimately, to demand that the accord be implemented in full, which would imply abolishing political confessionalism. And if Lebanon abolishes political confessionalism, then the presidency would no longer be reserved for Maronites.
It’s a pity that Rai and Maronite leaders in general refuse to address that possibility. Yet picture a system that gradually erodes confessionalism, or sectarianism, and that allows, at least in an interim period, for the different communities to rotate between the top posts. In that context we might envisage Lebanon as a real country rather than an assemblage of religious tribes. As spirited citizens of a nation rather than the fearful offspring of a dwindling minority, Maronites could begin reinventing themselves in a reinvigorated society.
The presidency is no more a guarantor of Maronite strength than Michel Sleiman represents the highest aspirations of his coreligionists. How demoralizing that for months the community has been driven by the calculations of the two Michels over cabinet portfolios. If you missed that clash, it’s a good sign. It means you understand the triviality surrounding presidential maneuvering.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of the Daily Star newspaper in Beirut and author of The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle, which the Wall Street Journal listed as one of its 10 standout books for 2010. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Europe expands sanctions on Syria amid fresh protests
By Michael Steininger, Correspondent / June 24, 2011
Berlin
The European Union expanded sanctions against the Syrian government today, even as reports emerged that regime forces opened fire on fresh protests that erupted after Friday prayers. EU leaders meeting at a summit in Brussels announced travel bans and the freezing of assets for seven new individuals, bringing the total number of people targeted to 30. But Europe's ability to squeeze Syria through sanctions is limited, says Daniel Korski, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Affairs in London.
"Most of Syria’s main trade partners are outside the EU – countries like Turkey, Russia, China, Korea, and Norway. That has made Syria more immune to sanctions," says Mr. Korski, who notes that Europe's indecision about whether to give Assad a chance to redeem himself has also weakened its leverage. "So soft sanctions haven’t worked and strong sanctions are outside the EU’s arsenal.”
RELATED: What US sanctions mean for Assad and Syria's crackdown
Who was sanctioned
Two of the seven individuals targeted under the expanded sanctions are cousins of President Bashar al-Assad. Three others are members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who are accused of having supported Syria’s regime in its violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators.
Two other Syrians, along with four Syrian companies that the EU says are financing the Assad family, were also put under sanctions.
Officials at the Brussels meeting also drafted a resolution to present to the United Nations that condemns the “unacceptable and shocking violence the Syrian regime continues to apply on its own people.” So far European efforts to pass such a resolution have failed because of the opposition of Russia, one of five veto-wielding members on the Security Council.
RELATED: Why Iran's Revolutionary Guards mercilessly crack down
Fresh protests in Damascus and elsewhere today
In Syria, thousands of people are reported to have demonstrated against the government today. According to local activists, protests took place in the Damascus suburb of Irbin, in the central cities of Homs and Hama, in Deraa in the south, and in Deir al-Zour in the east.
The Arab Organization for Human Rights in Syria said that at least three people had been killed by security forces in Damascus and another two demonstrators killed in Homs. In the Damascus suburbs of Duma and Harasta, the Syrian authorities cut Internet and mobile phone connections.
Meanwhile the Syrian military's advance in the north has caused many in makeshift camps to cross the Syria-Turkey border. More than 1,500 people fled to Turkey on Thursday, according to the Turkish news agency Anadolu. Almost 12,000 Syrians have crossed the border since the beginning of the uprising. Turkey moved additional troops to the region, and Turkish and Syrian soldiers are now facing each other within a few hundred meters.
“This is a regime that now believes that it battles for its very survival,” says Korski. “And it is willing to take all measures, including massacre its own citizens. So it seems on the whole, much as Slobodan Milosevic’s Serbia at one point, unlikely to be swayed by even the hardships that sanctions bring.”

Canada: Minister Baird Calls for Release of Gilad Shalit
(No. 180 - June 24, 2011 - 7:55 p.m. ET) John Baird, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, today issued the following statement in advance of the fifth anniversary of the June 25, 2006, kidnapping of Israeli staff sergeant Gilad Shalit by Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist organization in Canada:
“Tomorrow marks the fifth anniversary of the captivity of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Staff Sergeant Shalit has been held in Gaza, and prevented from communicating with his family, in violation of international humanitarian law. These five years have been excruciating for his loved ones, who have gone almost two years without any sign he is still alive.
“Canada has repeatedly called for the release of Gilad Shalit, and we repeat that call today. We support efforts by the International Committee of the Red Cross to gain access to Staff Sergeant Shalit, and we call upon his Hamas captors to permit that access immediately.
“On behalf of the government and the people of Canada, I call for the immediate and unconditional release of Gilad Shalit.”

EU Imposes New Sanctions on Syria
VOA News /EU foreign ministers expanded sanctions against Syria as brutal repression of an uprising in the Middle Eastern country continues,
June 20, 2011.
The European Union has expanded its financial and travel sanctions against Syria and moved to condemn its brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters. The EU on Friday announced it froze the assets and banned European travel of seven more individuals and four companies, bringing its overall list to 34, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Among others, the new sanctions targeted three commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guard the EU accused of supporting Assad's three-month effort to quell dissent in the Arab nation. The Iranians were identified as Major General Qasem Soleimani and Brigadier Commander Mohammad Ali Jafari of the Revolutionary Guard, as well as the guard's deputy commander for intelligence, Hossein Taeb. The EU also imposed sanctions on a Syrian property company, an investment fund and two other enterprises it accused of funding Assad's government.Later on Friday, at a meeting in Brussels, EU leaders were set to adopt a declaration condemning what a draft said was Syria's "unacceptable and shocking violence" it was imposing on its citizens. The draft said that Syria's "path of repression" is "calling its legitimacy into question."

Regional Affairs: A victory for the Iran-led coalition
By JONATHAN SPYER /J.Post
http://www.jpost.com/Features/FrontLines/Article.aspx?id=226356
06/24/2011 16:27
Jumblatt: Assad asked his Lebanese government allies to accelerate cabinet formation to take pressure off Syria
This week, beleaguered Syrian dictator Bashar Assad gave a speech in which he referred to protesters as “vandals” and re-issued a tired promise of reforms. The speech did nothing to lessen the anger of his opponents, and the uprising against the regime is continuing apace.
Yet in neighboring Lebanon in the same week, the Assad regime and its allies scored a signal achievement.
After 140 days of wrangling, Syria, Hezbollah and its allies held the first meeting of the new, pro-Syrian government in Beirut.
This is an important development that represents a victory for the Iran-led regional coalition. It is also an indication that excited declarations of plans for a “Syria without the Assads” may be a little premature.
The Iran-led strategic architecture in the Levant of which the Assad regime is a part has its own ideas about the direction of events. These do not include its quiet submission to the verdict of history and subsequent departure from the stage.
Syria had a clear interest in ensuring the emergence of a new, pro-Damascus government in Lebanon.
Walid Jumblatt, the currently pro-Syrian Lebanese Druse leader, told the pro-Hezbollah Al-Akhbar newspaper this week that “Assad asked his allies to accelerate the cabinet formation, because [the formation of] a cabinet in Lebanon will diminish the pressure on Syria.”
The new cabinet contains 18 members of the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance out of a total of 30 ministers.
Such a government will secure Syria’s “western flank.”
Assad may now be assured that the power in place in Beirut firmly supports the suppression of the uprising against him.
In addition, the slow-burning but potent issue of the special tribunal investigating the murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri is about to return to relevance.
There are reports of the imminent issuing of long-awaited indictments against those accused. These may well include both Syrian regime figures and Hezbollah officials. The formation of a Lebanese government that will seek to brush aside any such indictments is essential for Assad.
The Syrian role in the formation of the new government was central and crucial. Only Assad could have forced the necessary concessions from his various Lebanese clients to make the new cabinet’s formation possible.
First of all, the fact that President Michel Suleiman agreed to sign off on the cabinet was almost certainly a result of Syrian pressure. Suleiman has lost his ability to play a balancing role in the new March 8 cabinet. That he agreed to his own effective political neutralization suggests pressure from outside (in this context, Syria).
Second, Amal leader and parliament speaker Nabih Berri’s agreement to “cede” a Shi’ite cabinet place also suggests a higher Syrian hand. The new cabinet is to contain five Shi’ite ministers and seven Sunnis, rather than an equal distribution – a significant concession from the Syrian client Berri.
A focus on the tedious minutiae of Lebanese cabinet wranglings may seem out of place with Syria on fire and the fate of the 40-year Assad family dictatorship hanging in the balance. But the political process in Lebanon, largely ignored by the international media, should remind all observers that a key part of the regime’s strategy throughout its existence has been interference in the political processes of its neighbors.
Lebanon, smallest and most powerless of these, has borne the main brunt. Over the last two weeks, Assad has demonstrated that he and the regional grouping of which he is a member are capable of consolidating their control over their smaller neighbor.
Before the dust had even cleared from the last Syrian APC crossing the Lebanese-Syrian border in an easterly direction in 2005, the regime in Damascus was already planning its return to dominance by other means in Lebanon. This goal has been pursued tenaciously over the subsequent half-decade. The means used to attain it have consisted of political violence and the employment of Syria’s own clients in Lebanon, as well as those of its ally Iran – most importantly Hezbollah. This week, with the first meeting of a Lebanese cabinet made possible by Syrian pressure, the process was completed.
Assad's latest speech showed that he cannot change. He is unwilling to bow to the will of the protesters.
Instead, he offered vague and meaningless promises of elections in August and dialogue with the opposition. In real terms, his refusal to bow leaves only one other option – to fight to the end.
The announcement of a government in Lebanon dominated by Syria and its allies shows that the will, tenacity and cunning of the Assad regime should not be underestimated. On the smaller stage of Lebanon, Assad refused to accept what looked five years ago like the “verdict of history.” Ultimately his appeal of this verdict won the day.
Assad faces longer odds in his current fight. The persistence of protests, the potential drying up of the economy, pressure from the powerful Turkish neighbor, are all stacking up against him. But the barely noticed events in Lebanon this week are testimony to the sometime efficacy of the brutal methods this regime is prepared to use to achieve its goals.
Those engaged in busy preparation for Syria without the Assads should understand that this will not happen through wishing for it. Rather, a far more determined and united Western and international push to remove the dictator is necessary if Assad is not to recapture Syria as he finished doing with Lebanon this week.

Massive energy discoveries complicate relations between Israel and Lebanon.
Analysis by Mary E. Stonaker
Friday, 24 June 2011
By MARY E. STONAKER/Al Arabiya
A rapid descent into war is a very real possibility in the Levant unless Israel and Lebanon solve their disputed maritime border issue, and quickly. Weighed down by nearly $50 billion in national debt, Lebanon is eager to claim their share of the Leviathan basin gas and oil discoveries shared with Israel, Syria and Cyprus. Disputed maritime borders and the fact that Israel and Lebanon are technically still at war after the 2006 ceasefire agreement, forecast a tricky road ahead for all parties involved. Discoveries in this massive basin, Leviathan, may birth fields in Syrian and Cypriot waters. Leviathan is estimated to contain up to 122 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas and 1.7 billion barrels (bbl) of oil. For perspective, Saudi Arabia holds 238.1 tcf in proven gas reserves and 264.5 bbl in proven oil reserves. The recent power vacuum in Lebanon ended last week when Prime Minister Najib Miqati announced a new government. Miqati inherited a national debt equal to nearly 150 percent of its GDP. After the announcement, Israel released a statement hoping that Miqati and the new government would take steps to ensure the 2006 UN Resolution 1701 border agreement would be upheld. The maritime border, however, was not discussed during UN Resolution 1701 (2006).
In January, the UN rejected Lebanon’s request for assistance in delineating the maritime border as well as preventing Israeli exploration and production (E&P) companies from drilling in would-be Lebanese waters.
The border issue here is two-fold. First, the Israeli border with Lebanon was declared unilaterally by Israel. Moreover, Israel is not a signee on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which dictates what constitutes maritime borders. Even if Israel were a signee, the lack of a stable, mutually-agreed terrestrial border from which to base a maritime border would hinder the enforcement of the Law of the Sea. Consequently, the contested nature of this maritime border is not under the jurisdiction of the UNIFIL which oversees the terrestrial border between Lebanon and Israel, known as the Blue Line. The lack of mechanisms under which to resolve this long-standing issue have merely prolonged the ceasefire rather than witnessed a progression into a mutual state of peace. The nations currently do not enjoy diplomatic ties.
Both nations’ motivations in the border dispute are now based upon the ability of domestic oil and gas fields to change the fate of future generations. As both nations are pioneering shifts away from oil to natural gas, the following will focus the gas aspect.
In 2008, Lebanon possessed 9 Tcf of proven gas reserves, produced 208 Bcf of gas and consumed 213 Bcf. The differential was offset by its linkages to the Arab Gas Pipeline which originates in Egypt. Lebanon was operationally linked to the AGP (AGP) in 2006.
Despite consuming and producing very little natural gas, Lebanon is currently in the process of converting its power plants to run on natural gas from petroleum-based products. In 2006, Syria promised to supply Lebanon with 1.5 million cubic feet per day (mmcf/day) for 10 years through the Arab Gas Pipeline. However, Syrian shortages of domestic supplies may hamper the fulfillment of that promise.
Israel currently feeds about half of its domestic natural gas consumption, fueling the other half through the Arish-Ashkelon pipeline (a branch of the AGP). With a capacity of 335 mmcf/y, this pipeline stretches 100 kilometres under the Mediterranean to connect Israel to the AGP. The pipeline was constructed and is operated by the East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG)
EMG is a multinational gas company and a joint effort of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) with 68.4 percent of shares, Merhav, an Israeli company with 25 percent and the Ampal-American Israel Corporation with the remaining 6.6 percent of shares.
The associated supply agreement between Egypt and Israel has come under intense scrutiny after former President Hosni Mubarak’s departure from Egypt’s government.
Artificially low prices were achieved by the Egyptian government selling the gas at low prices which then passed along the favor to Israel Electric Company (IEC).
The recent release by Al-Jazeera of the signed contracts will add further pressure to eliminate the corrupt legacy of Mr. Mubarak’s rule in Egypt.
As Israel prepares for potential supply gaps from Egypt, it is also looking into the near future by commencing oil and gas drilling. The recent oil and gas discoveries will not only supply domestic demand, they would allow Israel to become an exporter which would completely change the regional dynamic.
The magnitude of these discoveries and quick Israeli action led to the call for urgent action by Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, according to AFP. This is a follow-up to the exploration and production law passed last August by the parliament to oversee drilling.
These efforts aim not only to counter Israel’s full claims over the fields on the disputed border but also defy the recent Israeli-Cypriot maritime border agreement.
An added sticky issue in this border dispute is the potential for further conflict between Palestine and Israeli. A fully complicated issue itself, the peace process has moved at a snail’s pace, if at all, since Israel’s creation in 1948. However, these energy fields will no doubt add a further dimension to this already multi-faceted state of affairs.
Finally, the security of rigs set up in the Mediterranean waters off Israel and Lebanon must be addressed and will add high costs to this project if companies wish to have on-stream supplies in the coming years. Israel is aiming for 2013.
Sabotage of oil and gas rigs in the Mediterranean would have disastrous environmental and social effects on the region, leaking these destructive mineral resources into the ocean as well as cutting off energy supplies to millions.
It would be dangerous to give anything but the utmost significance to the quick resolution of maritime borders between Lebanon and Israel. Without that critical foundation, these disputes will lead to violent clashes as nations fight for their future generations’ access to stable and reliable energy supplies.
(Mary E. Stonaker is an independent scholar, most recently with the Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore. She can be reached at marystonaker@gmail.com)

Is Darrell Issa a Muslim Terrorist Sympathizer?
by Andy Cohen
on June 24, 2011
http://obrag.org/?p=40261
in: California, Election, San Diego, Satire
Just sayin’…….
After all, Issa is one of a handful of members of Congress that is of Arab descent: He is Lebanese and claims to be a Christian, but how do we know for sure? We can only take his word for it…. Darrell Issa is the only member of Congress to have visited the turmoil ridden Lebanon. You know, the country that has as its elected government a terrorist organization that has its strings pulled by Iran? And prior to that the Lebanese government was heavily influenced—some say completely controlled—by Syria.
Issa has criticized Israel for the way it has dealt with Hezbollah, the Iranian backed terrorist group. He laments that the Israelis have been too heavy handed with the group. Hey, all they did was cross onto Israeli soil, kidnap and torture an Israeli soldier on patrol, and constantly lob rockets into heavily populated Israeli civilian areas. Nothing much to be concerned about there. Certainly there was no reason for the Israelis to launch the offensive of which Issa was heavily critical of “Israel’s wanton violation of Lebanese territory and its somewhat failed attempt to defeat Hezbollah.”
“You can’t end an idea or a terrorist organization by guns alone,” Issa said. Great. So am I right in assuming that Congressman Issa fully supports negotiating a settlement with the Taliban in Afghanistan? What about Al Qaeda operatives who to our knowledge have not committed any acts of violence, and only want to be left to live in peace? Does that mantra apply to EVERYONE, or just Israel? Or when it comes to the United States military, does Mr. Issa subscribe to the Republican American exceptionalist theory that expressly forbids negotiating with any terrorist affiliated organization?
Israel should negotiate with Hezbollah, an organization whose primary function is to wipe the nation of Israel off of the map and kill as many Jews as possible in the process, but the U.S. can’t negotiate with the likes of Muqtada al Sadr?
And just exactly why is Mr. Issa so supportive of Hezbollah, anyway? Where does this love for their Iranian benefactors come from? Perhaps because being an Arab himself, he sympathizes with the government of his Persian cousins?
Why does Congressman Issa object so vehemently to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives having the necessary authority to stop gun sales to those who directly transport them across the Mexican border for sale to Mexican drug cartels? In a hearing last week, Issa, the Chair of the House Oversight Committee, criticized the ATF for not doing its job in preventing weapons from being smuggled into Mexico during an operation they called “Fast and Furious,” an operation Issa had been briefed on over a year ago, and thus he knew all about it.
But in the same hearing he refused to allow ATF agents testifying before the committee to comment on the fecklessness of U.S. gun laws and the difficulty it creates in preventing assault weapons of all kinds—including AK47 assault rifles and .50 caliber rifles—from being purchased in bulk legally in the United States and smuggled into Mexico. It would seem that since the activities of the criminal institutions across the border are such a source of fear and concern among Republican lawmakers, Mr. Issa would want to do everything he can to help the ATF prevent such transactions from taking place. After all, destroying the Mexican drug cartels is in everybody’s best interests (except, of course, for the Mexican drug dealers), and the most effective way to prevent them from being able to slaughter massive numbers of people on Mexican streets and in U.S. border towns (latest estimates have tallied the body count at over 7,000 this year in Mexico) is by making it illegal to purchase such weapons in bulk in the first place.
It would seem outrageous to think that Issa would want to deliberately make it difficult for the ATF to do their job, until we uncover the extent that Hezbollah and the Mexican drug cartels are working collaboratively. Given his ties to Lebanon, it doesn’t seem so outrageous anymore.
According to the Washington Times, the Iran-backed group Hezbollah “has long been involved in narcotics and human trafficking in South America’s tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Increasingly, however, it is relying on Mexican narcotics syndicates that control access to transit routes into the U.S.” From the Washington Times story:
Hezbollah relies on “the same criminal weapons smugglers, document traffickers and transportation experts as the drug cartels,” said Michael Braun, who just retired as assistant administrator and chief of operations at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“They work together,” said Mr. Braun. “They rely on the same shadow facilitators. One way or another, they are all connected.
“They’ll leverage those relationships to their benefit, to smuggle contraband and humans into the U.S.; in fact, they already are [smuggling].”
The story goes on to state that Hezbollah has successfully ferried its people into the United States, although they have not (yet) carried out an attack on U.S. soil. So why is Issa hindering the ATF from performing its appointed duties?
Hezbollah is based in Lebanon. Darrell Issa is Lebanese, and is the only member of Congress to have visited Lebanon. He was also very critical of Israel’s treatment of Hezbollah.
In 2006, Issa took a trip to Brazil and met with leaders of the considerably large Lebanese community in Sao Paolo. WikiLeaks obtained sensitive communiqués detailing some of those meetings that Issa conducted separately from his official business on the trip. Most of the information in the cables is pretty benign, but how do we know that Issa didn’t secretly meet with those individuals at other times; perhaps with individuals who have known ties to Hezbollah (which would be most people in the Lebanese government these days)? How can we be sure that he did not exchange sensitive information that could be harmful to the United States, or even Israel?
Darrell Issa has a rather checkered past: He was convicted of possession of an unregistered handgun in 1972; that same year while in the Army, he was accused of stealing a fellow soldier’s car, and in a separate incident, he and his brother were arrested on suspicion of auto theft. In 1982, an Ohio manufacturing plant he owned was burned down in a suspected arson fire mere weeks after the insurance on the facility was beefed up.
Kind of makes you wonder now that he’s in a position of real power, has anything really changed?
You see? We can play that game too.

The long road to citizenship
Friday, 24 June 2011
An unusual alliance of a Jewish congressman and three Lebanese-American colleagues are co-sponsoring a bill to eliminate US’ $200 million in annual aid to Lebanon’s army if Hezbollah stays in the ruling government.
By ALIA IBRAHIM /Al Arabiya Beirut
Like many citizens worried about how Lebanon is going to be penalized for the newly formed Hezbullah government, I was curious to learn more about the law that the American Congress is supposedly going to pass soon and that everyone in Beirut seemed to be talking about.
A quick search and I found all the information I was looking for.
Bill H.R.2215 or the Hezbollah Anti-Terrorism Act of 2011, HATA, was introduced on June 16, 2011, three days exactly after the formation of the government, by Congressman Howard Berman. It was initially supported by three Congressman of Lebanese origins that were later joined by four additional congressmen.
The bill which puts restraints on military, cultural and humanitarian assistance offered to Lebanon, has been transferred to committees for discussion before being voted on by the House and the Senate and eventually being signed by the President.
Reading the 16-page bill could undoubtedly raise viable questions about the US’ policies towards Lebanon but it’s the answers that it provided on America’s policies towards its own citizens that I found interesting. The information mentioned above is just a fraction of what I found on this specific bill- which goal is “to ensure that United States taxpayer dollars are not used to fund terrorist entities in Lebanon and for other purposes.” I found all that and much more on Govtrack.us, a “civic project to track Congress.”
The American citizen has hence a Congress making sure his tax money isn’t used “to fund terrorist entities” and civic projects monitoring the Congress for him and helping him keeping an eye on the performance of the representatives he votes for. One could argue defending or criticizing how well or ill informed the American citizen is, but I can’t help being impressed at how much effort is put to create a system where the citizen’s rights, at least in principle, are the main priority.
The “citizen” counts and politicians, public servants as well as public figures, have to keep that in mind.
In the west, the US included, like in the rest of the world there are of course corrupt politicians who abuse their powers. There would be many more I would argue if they were guarantees they could get away with it. In the Arab world -- and until very recently -- not only they got away with it, they were even applauded for it. It was part of the system.
The reason many in the democratic world abstain, is because there is a system of accountability and because they know that any “smell of corruption” or even mere misbehavior- even when exposed as part of a plot -- comes at a high price that could mean the end of their career.
The examples aren’t lacking. Over the last few months, German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberb had to resign after admitting plagiarism in his doctorate. French Secretary of State Christian Blanc, was forced to quit because of the 12.000 Euros of public money he spent buying cigars. There is of course the Dominique Strauss-Khan scandal. I can go on.
As serious as those charges have been in Germany, France and the US drawing apologies on top of resignations, anyone who has lived in the Arab world know well that around here these would be “laughable” cases of corruption or reason for questioning.
In this part of the world, there are universities reputable for selling PhDs for ambitious businessmen and politicians who aren’t even embarrassed by the fact that everyone knows about their fraud: it is the proof of how powerful or rich or both they are and that was the whole point behind wanting the PhD. to begin with.
The concept of corruption, just as those of public money and tax payers or voters rights still need to be defined, and not just to the political and economic elites, but also to communities that still to a large extent believe and approve to the born rights of the feudal lord who is now also the warlord or the cousin or the wife of a President or a King or a Minister. Western governments and businesses have also allowed – if not promoted -- those practices often accepting double standards and creating “black boxes” that would permit them to engage in very lucrative deals.
Around here, transferring public projects with profit margins exceeding millions of dollars to family and friends isn’t just acceptable, but recommended.
An official with access to power would be considered “stupid” and “worthless” if he doesn’t cater for his own people while in office. Integrity would certainly compromise his power and future career.
Fortunately, things have been changing since the beginning of the revolutions that swiped the Arab world. Corruption started being conceived as also “illegal” when its sponsors started losing their power.
This is what happened in Tunisia and Egypt where both former Presidents are facing corruption charges. In Yemen, which has one of the world’s highest rates of poverty, it is known that one of the main reasons why President Ali Abdallah Saleh -- who came from modest origins and whose personal wealth is estimated in tens of billions of dollars -- doesn’t want to relinquish his power is that he’s still not very comfortable with guarantees he has received that he along with some four hundred of his affiliates will not be prosecuted.
More importantly, people, citizens, have started asking questions and claiming their rights back. Even in a country like Syria where the revolution still hasn’t achieved its goals they have started to get some answers.
Experts say that the move Rami Makhlouf, Syria’s Telecom tycoon and cousin of President Bashar Assad “turning to charity” is a bluff aimed at helping him liquidate his assets and transferring his billions in cash outside of Syria.
This doesn’t make his very unconvincing statement about “wanting to devote himself to charity and humanitarian work” and not “wanting to be a burden on the people” less meaningful.
In their quest for a better life, people in the Arab world are discovering their way and it is going to be a long road until they finally agree on social contracts defining their rights and duties as equal citizens.
There will come the day when we get to elect governments that has to care about what we think and want.
Right now in Lebanon, we have one that in its first week in power answered any doubts anyone had about how oppressive it is going to be by banning two movies already approved on by the sensors of the previous government. No doubt it’s going to be a long and complicated process, but it has started.
(Alia Ibrahim, a senior correspondent for Al Arabiya TV in Beirut, can be reached at: ali.ibrahim@mbc.net)