LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِNovember 02/2011

Bible Quotation for today/God's Chosen Servant
Matthew 12/15-21: "When Jesus heard about the plot against him, he went away from that place; and large crowds followed him. He healed all the sick and gave them orders not to tell others about him. He did this so as to make come true what God had said through the prophet Isaiah:
Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, the one I love, and with whom I am pleased. I will send my Spirit upon him, and he will announce my judgment to the nations.  He will not argue or shout, or make loud speeches in the streets. He will not break off a bent reed, nor put out a flickering lamp. He will persist until he causes justice to triumph,  and on him all peoples will put their hope.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Egypt's Massacre of Christians,What the Media Does Not Want You To Know/By: Raymond Ibrahim/November 01/11
Report: New Signs of Syria-Pakistan Nuclear Tie/Naharnet/November 01/11
Escaping is just the beginning/By: Aline Sara/ November 01/11  
Between Iraqi Baathism and absurdity/By: Tariq Alhomayed/November 01/11  
Bashar’s sectarianism/By: Dr. Hamad Al-Majid/November 01/11  

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for November 01/11  
NATO squeezes Assad: A Syrian uranium enrichment plant "discovered/DEBKAfile Special Report
Algeria Says Arabs, Syria Reached Preliminary 'Agreement' in Doha
Erdogan: Syrian People Will Succeed in Their Glorious Resistance
Russia Won't Allow Repetition of 'Libyan Drama' in Syria
“Lady of the Mountain”Gathering: Fate of Christians not tied to tyrant regimes
STL: Over 60 Victims Applied to Participate in Hariri Case before Tribunal
Fletcher: Procrastination in STL Funding a ‘Bad Sign’
Russia denies report of warning Lebanon on STL funding
National Liberal Party leader MP Dori Chamoun: Current electoral law ‘will stay as it is’
Hariri, Berri Supporters Clash at LAU Beirut
Lebanon's Syrianized Minister of Foreign Affairs Adnan Mansour warns against freezing Syria’s Arab League membership
Aoun: ISF are an Armed Gang that Work against the Laws
Al-Rahi from Iraq: We Look Forward to Working with Muslims in Rejecting Violence in Region
Arslan Meets Assad: Syria Has Overcome its Crisis
Mansour Stresses Respect for Lebanese-Syrian Agreements
Jamaa al-Islamiya group MP Imad al-Hout says Lebanese government not protecting residents on its territory
Lebanon's notorious Roumieh prison inmates to go on hunger strike
Large stash of weapons left over from war found in Beirut
Lebanese Protesters burn tires in Beirut to demand prison-term reduction
Lebanese Army to take action to control Syria border
Pro-Assad rally as more die in Syria
Beirut/Racist feelings high in Burj Hammoud
 U.S. cuts UNESCO aid after Palestine joins body
Syria’s uprising spoils the Iranian victory of ‘Islamic awakening’
Iran wants Bahrain as its 'crown jewel': minister
Abdel Rahim al-Kib, an academic, has been elected head of Libyan interim government

STL: Over 60 Victims Applied to Participate in Hariri Case before Tribunal
Naharnet /More than 60 people have applied to participate as victims before the STL in the case of Ayyash et al., announced the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in a statement.
“A deadline for their applications had been set by Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen on 8 September and expired on October 31,” it added.
“The applicants are members of various Lebanese communities and include persons who suffered different kinds of harm as a result of the February 14, 2005” assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, it continued. These and other victims have been met by the STL's Victims' Participation Unit, which has a mandate to inform victims about their rights before the tribunal, and to help them apply for participation if they wish to do so, the statement explained. The victims' applications will now be translated and then provided to Fransen, who will decide on each individual application for participation and issue a decision in due course. This process might be expected to take up to several months, it added.
“According to the pre-trial judge’s order, victims who did not apply by the deadline might still be permitted to participate if they can show valid reasons in order to justify the late submission of their application,” it concluded. Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Oneissi, and Assad Sabra are wanted for the February 2005 suicide car bomb attack in Beirut that killed Hariri and 22 others, including the suicide bomber. Ayyash has been named in the indictment as coordinator of the assassination team. The court on August 17 unsealed the indictment against the four suspects and has said Lebanon must try harder to apprehend them. Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said he doubted the four indictees will ever be found and has branded the tribunal a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy aimed at bringing down the party. He also ruled out that Hizbullah will support the funding of the STL, stating that if the cabinet failed to reach consensus on the matter, then it should be submitted to vote at the parliament. Ayyash and Badreddine face five charges including that of "committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device" and homicide, while Oneissi and Sabra faced charges of conspiring to commit the same acts.

British Ambassador Tom Fletcher: Procrastination in STL Funding a ‘Bad Sign’
Naharnet /British Ambassador Tom Fletcher warned Lebanon that any procrastination in funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon would be a “bad sign” and pave way for impunity.
In remarks to An Nahar daily on Tuesday, Fletcher said non-commitment to Lebanon’s obligations to the STL would pave way for criticism that Lebanon belongs to Hizbullah and would obstruct the culture of ending impunity. Any delay in paying Lebanon’s share to the tribunal would also make it harder for the country’s western friends to deal with it, he added.
The STL has indicted four Hizbullah members in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination. The Shiite party and its allies have rejected to fund it but President Michel Suleiman, Premier Najib Miqati and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat have backed the funding. “We held discussions at the European level last week about this issue and we should be ready for any solution,” Fletcher told An Nahar. Asked about the effects of possible new sanctions against Syria on Lebanon’s banking sector, the British diplomat said: “We are trying to protect Lebanon from such measures and avoid any negative repercussions.” “We are aware that the Lebanese economy depends highly on the banking sector and that Lebanon and Syria are partners,” he said, hoping that Beirut would be able to separate itself from the economic sanctions against its neighbor. Fletcher held talks with Premier Najib Miqati on Tuesday to set the stage for his visit to London where he is scheduled to meet with his British counterpart David Cameron on November 7.

Algeria Says Arabs, Syria Reached Preliminary 'Agreement' in Doha
Naharnet /An “agreement” was reached with the Syrian delegation during Sunday’s meeting of the Arab League follow-up committee in the Qatari capital Doha, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said on Tuesday. Medelci said he “hopes the agreement reached in Doha would be confirmed during the meeting of the Arab Peace Initiative committee (on Wednesday) in Cairo,” which will be attended by a Syrian team, Algeria’s official news agency quoted him as saying. The Arab League has proposed a plan to end the bloodletting, calling for tanks to be withdrawn from streets and the start of a dialogue between opposition figures and the regime. Syria was due to give a response on Monday, after talks in Qatar between an Arab task force and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem but the latter has asked for some changes to the proposals, a diplomat told Agence France Presse in Cairo. "There has been agreement on some minor amendments, but the Arab delegation demanded a final response on Tuesday to the Arab proposal," the diplomat told AFP. The pro-government daily Al-Watan said Syria's leadership was holding consultations on Tuesday concerning the Arab plan.*Source Agence France Presse

Erdogan: Syrian People Will Succeed in Their Glorious Resistance
Naharnet /Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he believes the Syrian opposition will be successful in their “glorious resistance” to the ongoing government crackdown, Turkey’s English-language daily Today’s Zaman reported Tuesday. Speaking during his Justice and Development Party's parliamentary bloc meeting on Tuesday, Erdogan warned that Turkey cannot remain silent in the face of the events in Syria. “We had a friendship that began nine years ago but Syria failed to appreciate this. They did not heed our warnings. … We will continue to display the necessary stance. I believe that the Syrian people will be successful in their glorious resistance,” Erdogan said.
On October 10 Syria warned Turkey against "inflaming" unrest in the revolt-hit country, where more than 3,000 people are estimated to have died in six months of protests against President Bashar al-Assad. Buthaina Shaaban, political and media advisor to the Syrian president, who has repeatedly promised reforms, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that "armed gangs" were responsible for the violence. "We had the best relations as you know and therefore we expected Turkey to support the march for pluralism and democracy in Syria rather than give statements that are helping to inflame the situation in Syria and to support the armed gangs there," she said. Turkey, formerly an Assad ally, has kept constant pressure on Damascus by hosting gatherings of Syrian dissidents and repeatedly calling on the regime to introduce reforms. Turkey has expressed frustration with Assad for failing to heed its calls.
In September, Turkey stopped a shipload of weapons destined for Syria and Turkish Erdogan said in October that his government would announce sanctions against its neighbor.
Shaaban also said "some countries" were arming and financing armed groups to incite sectarian violence to split the country. "The problem we are facing is that there are other parties who are financing and arming groups in Syria, that are introducing sectarian violence ... in an attempt to try and tear the country apart," she said.*Source Naharnet

Al-Rahi from Iraq: We Look Forward to Working with Muslims in Rejecting Violence in Region
Naharnet /Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi hoped on Tuesday that peace would be achieved in Iraq, voicing Lebanon’s solidarity with the Iraqi people. He said after holding talks in Iraq with its Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi and Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan: “We look forward to collaborating with our Muslim brothers throughout the Islamic world to reject violence, intolerance, and mistrust.” “This requires a commitment on the spiritual level and we hope politicians would work on achieving this through honest political work,” he said. “Our visit to Iraq was an occasion to demonstrate the solidarity between the church in Lebanon and that in Iraq,” he continued. “The church is at the service of the people and it seeks to build a society where all sides accept each other,” stressed al-Rahi. “We are of course obligated to establish cooperation in Lebanon and the Arab world to this end,” the patriarch remarked. For his part, Hashimi praised the first visit by a Maronite patriarch to Iraq, adding: “Iraqi society needs all of its sons, Muslims and Christians, to rise up once again.”
“Terrorism does not differentiate between Muslims and Christians, which therefore places us before a joint responsibility towards the country,” he noted.
“The church plays a major role in encouraging the people to remain in their homeland and avoid immigration,” he said. On Monday, al-Rahi had criticized those who are seeking to “impoverish” Christians in the East. “Those who were martyred were a sacrifice for our beloved Iraq to implement peace, justice, and stability,” he said during a mass on the first anniversary of the attack on Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad. The patriarch arrived in Iraq on Monday on a two-day pastoral visit that will include talks with Iraqi officials.
Militants had stormed the Syriac Catholic church, killing 44 worshippers, two priests and seven security force personnel in an attack claimed by al-Qaida's local affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq. Al-Rahi said earlier this week that he will discuss with Iraqi officials the fate of Christians there.The Council of Maronite Bishops postponed its monthly meeting from Wednesday to Thursday over al-Rahi’s visit to Iraq.

Hariri, Berri Supporters Clash at LAU Beirut
Naharnet /Students supporting al-Mustaqbal movement and others backing the March 8 forces clashed on Tuesday during a ceremony on the birthday of slain ex-Premier Rafik Hariri at Lebanese American University in Beirut. A student told Naharnet by telephone that supporters of Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal movement provoked the pro-Hariri students.
The verbal abuse then escalated into tossing stones and trash cans at each other. The student, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the army intervened to prevent a further deterioration in the situation. All classes and exams were suspended and they will be resumed on Wednesday.The head of LAU’s security was injured in the clash, the student added.

Interior Minister: Joseph Sader Last Seen in White Chevrolet
Naharnet /The parliamentary defense committee on Monday held calm talks on the abduction of Middle East Airlines engineer Joseph Sader in 2009 but opposition MPs hinted that Interior Minister Marwan Charbel didn’t provide the conferees with enough information on the issue. Unlike the meetings of the human rights committee that discussed several kidnappings, including the disappearance of Syrian opposition figures in Lebanon, Monday’s deliberations were calm. Media reports said Tuesday the number of pro-government MPs was limited to five while there were 13 March 14-led opposition lawmakers. MP Ziad al-Qadiri told al-Liwaa daily that March 8 lawmakers shied away from the meeting to diminish the importance of the issue of disappearances. Parliamentary sources told An Nahar newspaper that Charbel told the committee that Sader was last seen in a white Chevrolet carrying the license plate 228. There are allegedly only 80 such vehicles in Lebanon. The sources said that Charbel neither confirmed nor denied reports that the occupants of the vehicle which kidnapped Sader on the airport road entered Beirut’s southern suburbs.The head of the defense committee, MP Samir al-Jisr, told al-Liwaa that Charbel provided answers to several questions but he had preservations on several issues allegedly to keep the investigation secret. “At the beginning of the meeting, I stressed to Minister Charbel the importance of providing answers to all of the lawmakers’ questions … but the minister didn’t have answers to most of the MPs’ inquiries,” he said. Al-Qadiri told al-Liwaa that he stirred the issue of the kidnapping of the Syrian Jassem brothers in Lebanon. He said Charbel stressed to him that the investigations of the Internal Security Forces were transparent and professional. ISF chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi has said a Syrian embassy guard unit led by Lieutenant Salah Hajj had kidnapped the brothers. The daily said MP Ammar Houri unveiled that some local parties were in the past weeks taking the fingerprints and photographs of Syrian workers in the areas of Beirut’s southern suburbs, Shweifat and the Metn. But Charbel told him that he knew about the issue only from the media.

Arslan Meets Assad: Syria Has Overcome its Crisis
Naharnet /The head of the Lebanese Democratic Party MP Talal Arslan condemned on Tuesday the various positions taken by some Lebanese and regional forces over the developments in Syria, saying that they reflect the ambitions of foreign powers that seek to weaken Syria. He said after holding talks in Damascus with President Bashar Assad: “Syria has overcome its crisis and it will emerge stronger than it was before.” “Syria is the first line of popular Arab defense against western-backed Zionist plans,” he continued. “We take this opportunity to assert that Syria has presented examples of the Arab and popular civilization and it does not need lessons and roadmaps from anyone in these matters,” he stressed. Since March, Syria has been witnessing anti-regime protests that have been met by a violent crackdown by the regime. The U.N. estimates that some 3,000 people have been killed in the demonstrations.

Report: New Signs of Syria-Pakistan Nuclear Tie
Naharnet /U.N. investigators have identified a previously unknown complex in Syria that bolsters suspicions that the Syrian government worked with A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, to acquire technology that could be used to make nuclear arms.
The buildings in northwest Syria closely match the design of a uranium enrichment plant provided to Libya when Moammar Gadhafi was trying to build nuclear weapons under Khan's guidance, officials told The Associated Press.
The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency also has obtained correspondence between Khan and a Syrian government official, Muhidin Issa, who proposed scientific cooperation and a visit to Khan's laboratories following Pakistan's successful nuclear test in 1998.
The complex, in the city of al-Hasakah, now appears to be a cotton-spinning plant, and investigators have found no sign that it was ever used for nuclear production. But given that Israeli warplanes destroyed a suspected plutonium production reactor in Syria in 2007, the unlikely coincidence in design suggests that Syria may have been pursuing two routes to an atomic bomb: uranium as well as plutonium.
Details of the Syria-Khan connection were provided to the AP by a senior diplomat with knowledge of IAEA investigations and a former U.N. investigator.
The Syrian government did not respond to a request for comment. It has repeatedly denied pursuing nuclear weapons but also has stymied an investigation into the site bombed by Israel. It has not responded to an IAEA request to visit the al-Hasakah complex, the officials said.
The IAEA's examination of Syria's programs has slowed as world powers focus on a popular uprising in the country and the violent crackdown by the government of President Bashar Assad.
Syria never has been seen as being close to development of a nuclear bomb. There also is no indication that Damascus continues to work on a secret nuclear program. If the facility in al-Hasakah was indeed intended for uranium production, those plans appear to have been abandoned and the path to a plutonium weapon ended with the Israeli bombing.
But Mark Hibbs, an analyst at the nuclear policy program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who has spoken to IAEA officials about the al-Hasakah complex, said it is important to learn more details about the buildings.
"What is at stake here is the nuclear history of that facility," Hibbs said. "People want to know what did they intend to do there and Syria has provided no information."
Syria has reasons to seek a nuclear weapon. It has been in a Cold War for decades with Israel, a country believed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal.
"A nuclear weapon would give Syria at least a kind of parity with Israel and some status within the region," says Anthony Cordesman, a national security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
For years, there has been speculation about ties between the Syrian government and Khan.
A hero to many in Pakistan for developing the country's nuclear bomb, Khan is considered the world's most prolific nuclear merchant. He supplied Iran with the basics of what is now an established uranium enrichment program that has churned out enough material to make several nuclear weapons. Libya also bought equipment and a warhead design from Khan for a secret nuclear program that it renounced in 2003.
In 2004, Khan confessed on TV to selling nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, but he has never spoken of Syria. Khan later said Pakistani authorities forced him to make the confession.
The former investigator says Syria acknowledged to the IAEA that Khan made at least one trip to Syria to deliver scientific lectures, as the Los Angeles Times reported in 2004.
The former official said he has seen letters from Issa, then a deputy minister of education, written on official letterhead shortly after Pakistan's 1998 nuclear test congratulating Pakistan for Khan's achievement. In subsequent correspondence, Issa suggested cooperation with Khan and requested a visit by Syrian officials to Khan's laboratory, the former official said.
Issa, who later served as the dean of the faculty of sciences at Arab International University, could not be reached for comment.
In a 2007 interview with an Austrian newspaper, Syrian President Bashar Assad acknowledged having received a letter that appeared to have been from Khan, but said his government had not responded and did not meet Khan.
IAEA investigators homed in on the al-Hasakah facility after an intensive search of satellite imagery in the Middle East sparked by a belief that Khan had an additional government customer, which had not yet come to light. They identified the site, the largest industrial complex in al-Hasakah, after a 2006 report in a Kuwaiti newspaper claimed Syria had a secret nuclear program in the city.
Satellite imagery of the al-Hasakah complex revealed striking similarities to plans for a uranium enrichment facility that were seized during a Swiss investigation related to Khan. The Swiss were looking into the Tinner family — Urs Tinner, his brother Marco and their father Friedrich — who are suspected of playing a crucial role in Khan's smuggling network.
Another set of the same plans was turned over to the IAEA after Libya abandoned its nuclear program. Libya told the IAEA that it had ordered 10,000 gas centrifuges from Khan, most of which it intended for a facility that was to be built according to the plans. Centrifuges are used to enrich uranium.
The investigator said the layout of the al-Hasakah facility matches the plans used in Libya almost exactly with a large building surrounded by three smaller workshops in the same configurations. Investigators were struck that even the parking lots had similarities with a covered area to shield cars from the sun.
But the investigator said he had seen no evidence that centrifuges were ever installed there. The Hasakah Spinning Co. has a website that shows photos of manufacturing equipment inside the facility and brags about its prices.
The IAEA asked to visit the site more than two years ago. But it has not pressed the issue, focusing its efforts on the site bombed by the Israelis.
Nor has the agency ever cited the al-Hasakah facility in its reports. Three other sites have been mentioned, but they are believed to have been related to the bombed reactor, not the al-Hasakah plant. IAEA inspectors were allowed to visit the bombed reactor site once, but have not been allowed back for nearly three years. They issued a strongly worded assessment in May that said the targeted site was in fact a nearly built nuclear reactor. The agency's board subsequently referred the issue to the U.N. Security Council, effectively dismissing Syrian denials as untrue. Syrian officials again refused new inspections after talks with the IAEA in Damascus last week, diplomats told the AP. The officials said they would provide new evidence that the bombed site was non-nuclear. Agency officials remain skeptical because Syria did not describe the new information or say when it would be provided.
*Source Associated Press

Aoun: ISF are an Armed Gang that Work against the Laws
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun slammed on Tuesday the Internal Security Forces, describing them as an armed gang. He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “If only it were a militia because it is an armed gang that is working against the laws.”On Minister of the Displaced Akram Chehayeb’s statements on state appointments, he noted: “They are waging a preemptive war against us and others.”According to media reports, the minister had said: “A certain faction among the Lebanese is seeking to hoard all the appointments and shape administrative and electoral issues to its liking in order to eliminate another political camp and assume power.”
Addressing the dispute between Change and Reform bloc MP Nabil Nicola and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, Aoun remarked: “This is an individual incident, but it may affect our ties with the minister.”“Why should the MP be blamed? Is it because he labeled the ISF as a militia?” he wondered.“They are an armed gang working against the laws,” he noted.
“If only they were a militia, because a militia liberates land, but the world has wronged militias,” Aoun said.“Militias have a national goal to confront an occupier,” he stressed.
Nicola had told al-Jadeed television on Tuesday that Charbel “is ignorant of Lebanese laws.”“I had hoped that the interior minister would have been more aware of the laws,” he added.
Furthermore, he urged him to “perform his duties in protecting the citizens and implement the laws.”On the investigations with retired Brigadier General Fayez Karam, Aoun said: “We have spoken of flaws in the investigation and we have concluded that there is no evidence.”“They have spoken of recordings but we have not been shown anything,” he added.
“They are pressuring the judiciary and violating its jurisdiction,” stressed the FPM leader.Addressing former Premier Fouad Saniora’s comments on the Appeals Court’s approval to review the verdict in Karam’s case, Aoun said: “Saniora is not being accused, but he is being condemned.”The ex-PM had recently voiced fears that the acceptance of the appeal is a precursor to politicizing Karam’s case, noting that this would harm the credibility of the judiciary.Addressing the call to resume national dialogue, Aoun said: “We have spent years discussing Hizbullah’s arms. This is not a real issue.”“I have presented a defense strategy. Let them study it and present their own,” he added.“The greatest mistake lies in saying that the decision of war and peace lies in the hands of Hizbullah, whereas Israel holds this power,” he noted.

Arslan Meets Assad: Syria Has Overcome its Crisis
Naharnet /The head of the Lebanese Democratic Party MP Talal Arslan condemned on Tuesday the various positions taken by some Lebanese and regional forces over the developments in Syria, saying that they reflect the ambitions of foreign powers that seek to weaken Syria. He said after holding talks in Damascus with President Bashar Assad: “Syria has overcome its crisis and it will emerge stronger than it was before.” “Syria is the first line of popular Arab defense against western-backed Zionist plans,” he continued. “We take this opportunity to assert that Syria has presented examples of the Arab and popular civilization and it does not need lessons and roadmaps from anyone in these matters,” he stressed. Since March, Syria has been witnessing anti-regime protests that have been met by a violent crackdown by the regime.The U.N. estimates that some 3,000 people have been killed in the demonstrations.

Mansour Stresses Respect for Lebanese-Syrian Agreements
Naharnet /Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour has stressed upon his return from Doha the importance of respect for agreements signed between Lebanon and Syria.
In remarks to As Safir daily published Tuesday, Mansour said he would return to Cairo on Wednesday to participate in the extraordinary meeting of the Arab League’s initiative committee to solve the situation in Syria. The roadmap calls for tanks to be withdrawn from Syrian streets and for talks between the embattled regime of President Bashar Assad and its opponents.
The peace plan also calls for dialogue to take place in Cairo between Syrian regime officials and opposition figures. The Syrian delegation left Doha without making any statements after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem held talks with Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. Mansour told As Safir that he too met with Muallem who informed him that Syria will study the initiative and give the appropriate response. The Lebanese FM also discussed with Qatar’s emir bilateral ties and the situation in Syria.

National Liberal Party leader MP Dori Chamoun: Current electoral law ‘will stay as it is’
November 1, 2011 /National Liberal Party leader MP Dori Chamoun told Akhbar al-Yawm news agency on Tuesday that the current electoral law in Lebanon “will stay as it is,” in reference to the 2009 electoral law, which is based on simple majority representation. After the parliament agreed on drafting an electoral law based on proportional representation, some parties rejected the proposed law and called for adopting the 2009 electoral law. Chamoun asked how the proportional system of representation can be “explained to [Lebanese] people when other countries, which are more developed than Lebanon have failed to adopt this type of representation and decided to embrace previous laws?”
He added that his party dividing up the governorates into smaller areas for each to hold its own elections. Commenting on national dialogue, Chamoun said for dialogue to succeed, “all participants [should] have good intentions aiming to [achieve] positive results.” Regarding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon ( STL) probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Chamoun criticized Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Michel Aoun for not supporting paying Lebanon’s share of funding of the court “after all [political] groups agreed on its establishment.” Chamoun added that there are attempts to “drown” the international court at some time “maybe during national dialogue sessions.”
The Hezbollah-led March 8 parties – which currently dominate Lebanon’s cabinet – have opposed a clause in the Lebanese annual state budget pertaining to the funding of the UN-backed court, while PM Najib Mikati has repeatedly voiced Lebanon’s commitment to the tribunal.
Four Hezbollah members have been indicted by the STL. However, the Shia group strongly denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court. Lebanon contributes 49 percent of the STL’s annual funding. The NLP leader also commented on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s statement that Western intervention in Syria would cause an "earthquake" inflaming the region and said it is unlikely Lebanon’s security will be affected. “Assad is preoccupied with his [Syria’s] internal situation and his allies in Lebanon hope that he would stay [in power] because this would maintain their survival.”Chamoun added that he expects the Syrian regime to fall in Spring. Lebanon’s political landscape is split between supporters of Assad’s regime, led by Hezbollah, and a pro-Western camp headed by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri.According to the United Nations, the Syrian regime's crackdown on protests has killed more than 3,000 people.-NOW Lebanon

Escaping is just the beginning
Aline Sara, November 1, 2011 /Now Lebanon
Thousands of Syrians, like this little boy, have crossed into Lebanon’s Wadi Khaled since the beginning of the Syrian uprising in March. (AFP/Anwar Amro)
Meet Rami, an 8-year-old Syrian boy who is wanted by his government for chanting pro-democracy slogans on the streets of Tal Kalakh.
Located approximately five kilometers from the Lebanese border in the Homs province, Tal Kalakh has been particularly affected by the Damascus regime’s crackdown on mostly peaceful protesters since the uprising began in Syria in March. According to the UN, more than 3,000 people—mostly civilians—have died in the turmoil, with thousands fleeing the bloodshed, mostly into neighboring Turkey and Lebanon.
Since last April, over 5,000 Syrians, including Rami and his family, have entered Lebanon, usually while being fired upon by Syrian government forces. This past week, a 3-year-old was shot fatally in the head during the crossing, said a Syrian dissident who spoke on condition of anonymity from the border town of Wadi Khaled, where most of the refugees are staying.
While some have returned home, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says there are still 3,399 Syrians taking refuge in Lebanon.
Since the initial wave of arrivals, the Lebanese government has pledged its commitment to assisting the newcomers. The Lebanese Higher Relief Committee (HRC) and Ministry of Social Affairs are working closely with the UNHCR and a number of local and international NGOs, including World Vision, Save the Children and UNICEF.
At present, the “persons who voluntarily left Syria,” as the Lebanese government refers to them, are split between community centers and host families in Wadi Khaled, where to date they have received around 4,000 food kits and 3,000 hygiene kits, as well non-food items such as mattresses and baby formula. A Qatari mobile clinic has also been going around providing health services.
“We are following the World Food Programme recommendations, and they have been involved with us to make sure we cover international requirements for daily calorie intake,” the HRC’s Mahmoud Mamlouk told NOW Lebanon. “The only things we are not able to provide are fresh produce and poultry and meat.”
Mohammad Masri, a 33-year-old Syrian father of two who is staying with his family at the Al-Rama school, one of two institutions equipped by UNHCR and the HRC for the refugees, told NOW Lebanon he is relatively satisfied with the level of help he’s receiving.
However, Ahmad, another father of two who asked that his real name not be used for safety reasons, is not happy with the quality of care. He and his family are staying at the Al-Idra School, which has been refurbished for the refugees by the Lebanese Al-Bashaer Islamic Association. Ahmad told NOW Lebanon that the 80 families in his shelter have not received adequate food or health care. At the time of the interview, the center had no electricity.
“We need money, we need to buy clothes for our children, but when [the men] tried to leave, they were arrested and not released until we came and protested,” Ahmad’s wife said. Indeed, many refugees say the Lebanese army has restricted them from leaving Wadi Khaled, though Abir Abi Khalil of UNICEF says she has not heard of the Syrians being prevented from leaving.
The possibility of the refugees being stopped from leaving is “a major problem, because they need to be able to leave and look for jobs,” said Nabil Halabi, a human rights lawyer. “But the biggest problem is assisting them when they arrive, often wounded and in need of emergency care. Many need to be taken to hospitals in Tripoli, but the Lebanese security services are stopping them and asking them for papers.” Just last week, two Syrians were kidnapped from Wadi Khaled by Lebanese security services, and their whereabouts remain unknown, said Ahmad.“We don’t feel safe, and we do not leave the school after dark,” he said, stressing that as long as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remains in power, he and his family cannot return to Syria, whether it be a matter of days, months or years. While they wait to return, some of the children of the refugees are being allowed to attend Lebanese public and private schools, said UNICEF’s Abi Khalil. “A circular was sent out informing schools to accept the children, even if they don’t have adequate identity papers,” said Abi Khalil.
Various NGOs are paying for tuition, books, uniforms and stationary. In addition, courses are being offered to make up for differences between the Lebanese and Syrian school systems.
Yet 11-year-olds Abir and Somaya, who are staying with their families in the Al-Idra School, said they did not want to go back to the Lebanese school they attended earlier this month.
“They made fun of our clothes and said they were dirty,” said Somaya of her Lebanese classmates. “They started chanting ‘The people want the fall of the regime’ and laughing.”
Abi Khalil said that this month community centers would be hosting activities run by social workers to keep the children entertained and keep their minds off of the harsh circumstances they find themselves in. “The idea of having a space where the children can gather is also to prevent this tension or aggression or bullying,” she said.
When asked about his friends from back home, Rami said he missed them and had not heard from them.
“They are probably scattered around Lebanon in the various shelters,” said his mother.

Lebanon's Syrianized Minister of Foreign Affairs Adnan Mansour warns against freezing Syria’s Arab League membership
November 1, 2011 /Minister of Foreign Affairs Adnan Mansour warned of the “dangerous” repercussions that can result from freezing Syria’s membership in the Arab League. “Lebanon is definitely not moving in the direction of freezing Syria’s membership in the Arab League because that would be dangerous,” Mansour told OTV. He also said it is important to help Syria overcome its crisis and “not complicate” it.According to UN estimates, more than 3,000 people have been killed in the crackdown on Syrian protesters who have been demonstrating against the Baath regime since mid-March. The Arab League has proposed a plan of "concrete steps" to end the bloodshed in Syria and expects Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to respond on Monday, Qatar's foreign minister said on Sunday. -NOW Lebanon

Jamaa al-Islamiya group MP Imad al-Hout says Lebanese government not protecting residents on its territory
November 1, 2011 /Jamaa al-Islamiya group MP Imad al-Hout on Tuesday condemned the abductions of Syrian nationals in Lebanon and accused the government of “failing to protect” the residents on its territory. He told Al-Fajr radio station that the recent Syrian incursions into the Lebanese territory “violate human rights charters.”“The Lebanese government must [safeguard] its sovereignty.”On October 4, Syrian army tanks crossed the Lebanese border near the town of Aarsal and fired several gunshots on Lebanese territory. On October 6, Syrian troops shot and killed a farmer near Aarsal. Lebanon’s political scene is split between supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, led by Hezbollah, and a pro-Western camp headed by Saad Hariri.Assad’s regime’s crackdown on protests has left at least 3,000 people dead since mid-March, according to UN figures.-NOW Lebanon

Lebanon's notorious Roumieh prison inmates to go on hunger strike
November 1, 2011 /The inmates in Lebanon’s Roumieh Prison will go on a hunger strike, as their relatives are protesting across the country to reduce the length of the “prison year,” the Voice of Lebanon (100.5) radio station reported on Tuesday. VOL said earlier in the day that the inmates’ families blocked the main road that leads to Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport as well as another road in a Beirut neighborhood. In August, Lebanon’s parliament decided to not reduce the length of a “prison year” to nine months, which sparked outrage.
In April, riots broke out at the Roumieh Prison when inmates began protesting cell searches. The disturbances ended days later after successful negotiations with the prisoners.
-NOW Lebanon

Abdel Rahim al-Kib, an academic, has been elected head of Libyan interim government
October 31, 2011 /Abdel Rahim al-Kib, an academic, has been elected as Libya's prime minister in a public vote carried out by the members of the ruling National Transitional Council, an AFP correspondent reported.Kib, who hails from the Libyan capital Tripoli, came out in front in the battle for the post ahead of four other candidates in the first round, garnering 26 out of 51 votes. The little-known academic who specializes in electrical engineering was due to give a news conference soon after the ballot for the post.
The chairman of the NTC, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, was the first of the council members to cast his ballot. "This vote proves that Libyans are able to build their future," Abdel Jalil said after voting. NTC official Mustafa al-Mana said 52 members of the council had been asked to choose from five remaining candidates after the withdrawal of five others, including NTC vice president Abdel Hafez Ghoka.Among the other main candidates were interim oil minister Ali Tarhuni and Idriss Abu Fayed, former opponent of Moammar Qaddafi who had been imprisoned under the ousted dictator's regime, and Ali Zidan, an NTC representative in Europe.The NTC, having declared the country's "liberation" three days after the October 20 capture and killing of Qaddafi, launched a roadmap to a new Libya with a 20-month countdown to a general election Under the roadmap, the NTC is to hand over power to an elected assembly within eight months and a constitution is to be drawn up.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Between Iraqi Baathism and absurdity
By: Tariq Alhomayed /Asharq Al-Awsat
It seems that the destructive role that is being played by the current Iraqi government may transcend the domestic Iraqi scene and have an external affect, particularly on Syria. This is with regards to [the Iraqi government] supporting the al-Assad regime, at the expense of the Syrian people, as Iraq today has decided to stand with the Syrian regime, in the same manner as Tehran and the Iranian agents in the region.
In order to see the danger that Iraq represents today, particularly this Iraqi government that is led by Nuri al-Maliki, we must examine two very important pieces of news that reveal much about the reality of the situation in Baghdad today, and the threat that the mentality running the scene there represents. The first piece of news reveals that 13 of 14 web censoring apparatus sold by a certain US company to the Iraqi government ended up in the hands of the Baathist regime in Syria. This was in order to aid the al-Assad regime to monitor the online activities of the Syrian demonstrators and restrict their operations in order to crush the Syrian revolution. This was despite the fact that, as part of the US sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime; all those who trade with US companies are prohibited from selling or providing the al-Assad regime with any technological equipment.
As for the second piece of news, which was published on the same day, this is that the Iraqi government arrested more than 600 Iraqi citizens on charges of affiliation to the [outlawed] Baathist party. Indeed Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki personally issued a statement about these mass arrests during a television interview, saying that “the Baathist party is prohibited by the Constitution, because it is a criminal party that led to the fall of the national sovereignty and it targeted the Iraqi people through mass graves and chemical weapons.” More importantly, al-Maliki himself stressed that he believes that “the Baathist mentality is a mentality of conspiracy and coup.”

Therefore, how can the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki pursue those affiliated to the Baathist party in his own country, and say that this is a “criminal” party that is responsible for destroying Iraq’s “national sovereignty”, targeting the people of Iraq through “mass graves”, and that it’s mentality is one of “conspiracy and coup”, and then, after all this, come out and support the Baathist regime in Syria? This is something that makes no sense! Why does the Iraqi government find it permissible for the Baathist regime in Syria to kill its own people, whilst it is rounding up and arresting Baathists in its own country? Is the Baathist mentality that Nuri al-Maliki spoke about not present in Syria today, especially after more than 3,000 Syrian men, women, and children, have been killed [by the Baathist regime]|? Or is the story much simpler than this, namely that as long as the al-Assad regime – even if it Baathist and represents the other side of the same coin with regards to the practices carried out in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq – is affiliated to the Persian axis in the region, [then it enjoys Iraqi support]. Therefore, we saw how some current Iraqi leaders, whether we are talking about high-ranking [government] officials or even party leaders – rose up in defense of Bahrain’s Shiite community, and spoke about the people of the Arab Gulf in the same manner that Imam Malik [Ibn Anas] spoke about alcohol! Therefore today, they are supporting Baathist Bashar al-Assad, who al-Maliki himself previously accused of conspiring against Iraq, whilst the people of Iraq are being suppressed under the pretext of their affiliation to the Baathist party!
This is a saddening state of affairs, and indicates that we are facing a long dark period in the region!

Bashar’s sectarianism
By: Dr. Hamad Al-Majid
Asharq Al-Awsat
President Bashar al-Assad's statement was a shocking, rude and vulgar one that included everything except the concepts of diplomacy and logic. In an interview with the British “Sunday Telegraph” newspaper, President al-Assad threatened that the western powers risk causing an “earthquake” across the Middle East if they intervene in Syria. He claimed that Syria is “the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake.” Such a statement is not markedly different to the threat that the leader of a gang of kidnappers might make when surrounded by police, namely that if he is arrested then this would result in the death of hostages. Do you see the extent of his political audacity? Had President Bashar said that any intervention by the West would cause the Syrian regime to take revenge against the West itself [rather than the Middle East], that would have been more logical! This is because it is the Western states that are the aggressors, not the Arabs, and so even Gaddafi had proven himself to be more of a man than al-Assad, for at least he confined his threats to the western states whose air forces were attacking his troops!
Even the dullest observer or analyst can sense the “sectarianism” in Bashar al-Assad’s statement. Let us imagine that the West acted against the Syrian regime in the same manner that it did against the Gaddafi regime, imposing a no-fly zone above the country and then following this, NATO forces began to attack the Syrian regime’s troops; how then could Bashar al-Assad carry out his threats, when he cannot even protect himself? What al-Assad was talking about was the awakening of the Shiite Crescent and the activation of Shiite sleeper cells in our region. Of course, we must not forget Hezbollah being granted free rein to pick a quarrel with Israel, not out of a desire to antagonize Israel, but rather to untie the noose around the Syrian regime’s neck.
So, Bashar's ally, Tehran, is in a state of alert with regards to activating its sleeper cells in the Gulf States to carry out the Syrian president’s threat of burning the region. In fact, Iran has already conducted a dry run of implement such treats with regards to the unrest that occurred in al-Awamiyah in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern province. This saw some of its sleeper cells provoke riots, something that all sectors of Saudi society – as well as the government – strongly confronted and roundly condemned. The people of Saudi Arabia well understand the game of hijacking people’s rights, whilst in fact the true objective is to implement Iran and Syria’s agenda in the region. These [al-Awamiyah] riots were nothing more than the dress rehearsal which precedes a major operation, and those responsible for this are trying to demonstrate their ability to start even larger sectarian fires and clashes should their Syrian strategic ally be exposed to danger.
The best evidence of the audacity of President Bashar's statement to the British newspaper is that the countries that he threatened are being blamed by their own people for failing to adopt strong positions against the al-Assad regime, which is massacring its own people. These people believe that the leadership of their countries have been too “lenient” towards the al-Assad regime. They have even blamed their leadership for failing to recognize the Syrian National Council and political and economically boycotting the al-Assad regime. Despite this all, President al-Assad is threatening and menacing these same people whilst ignoring those who are threatening him with military intervention.
As is traditional for autocratic regime, President Bashar insisted – in his interview with the British newspaper – that his regime is different to those of Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen, which reflects the limitless illusions that such dictators tend to surround themselves with. Similar statements were made by the Egyptian regime after the revolution broke out and before the regime collapsed, as well as by the Libyan regime before its eventual collapse. This statement was also made by members of the Yemeni regime which is now in the process of collapsing. Syria is not an exception to the norms of popular uprising and revolution! What is strange is that President Bashar failed to mention Libya; perhaps this is because he expects a similar end for himself. There are a number of things that the al-Assad and Gaddafi regimes share in common; most importantly that they are the only two regimes that resorted to the military to quell the popular uprisings against. Since they are similar in this regard, perhaps they will share a similar fate!

NATO squeezes Assad: A Syrian uranium enrichment plant "discovered"
DEBKAfile Special Report/November 1, 2011
The disclosure Tuesday, Nov. 1, by the International Atomic Energy Agency - that a spinning factor built in the northeastern Syrian town of Hasaka in 2003 was in fact designed for developing nuclear weapons from enriched uranium - had a purpose: It was intended to crowd Bashar Assad into talking to the leaders of the revolt against him instead of slaughtering them. debkafile's intelligence sources report that Syria procured the enriched uranium and equipment for the plant from Iraq when its ruler Saddam Hussein in early March 2003 when he decided to dispose of the bulk of his nuclear plant and weapons of mass destruction by spiriting them out to Syria, then his closest ally.
The IAEA sources revealed that the Syrian government worked on the secret Hasaka complex with Abdel Qader Khan, father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, basing it on the same technology he designed for Muammar Qaddafi's nuclear bomb project. Khan also provided Iran and North Korea with the basics for their nuclear weapons programs.
They also disclosed correspondence between Khan and a Syrian government official Muhidin Issa after Pakistan's nuclear test in 1998 requesting scientific cooperation and asking to visit Khan's laboratories.
debkafile sources add: The cotton spinning plant at Hasaka could have been used as a facility for uranium enrichment by centrifuges. Yet the IAEA inspectors who visited the site two years ago found no traces of nuclear activity there. Aerial photos accompanying this article show long, disused structures standing at a distance from the factory alongside water pools, which would not be used for cotton spinning.
This group of buildings, which look like ammo stores, would confirm the presence of a large military complex at the site which may well have served a secret uranium enrichment project run in parallel to the clandestine plutonium reactor which Israel demolished in 2007.
The timing of the nuclear watchdog's revelations points to two objectives:
1. A broad hint that the atomic agency has more information about the Hasaka site which it is holding back for now. If it reacts to the disclosure, Damascus may give away more than it intends.
2. To squeeze Bashar Assad into bowing to the opposition's demands for democratic reforms and a share in government. He was given to understand that further damaging disclosures about his illegal nuclear activities will be calibrated according to his continuing rejection of political dialogue and abuses. They will pave the way towards tougher sanctions.
Sunday, Oct. 31, the Syrian ruler threatened to "burn the Middle East" if the West intervened in Syria.
Monday, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said firmly: "NATO has no intention [to intervene] whatsoever. I can completely rule that out."
According to the information reaching debkafile's military and intelligence sources, this negative applies to the alliance as a body, not its individual members. Turkey for example is directly involved in supporting the Syrian revolt against the Assad regime by laying on weapons and training and allowing rebel leaders to operate cross-border command centers on its soil.
Qatar, which is not a NATO member but was closely associated with the alliance operation in Libya, is a major purveyor of arms and funding for Syria's anti-regime fighters. In the operation against Muammar Qaddafi, the Qataris became expert in the management of revolts against Arab dictatorships and accustomed to working in close sync with NATO intelligence and military arms.Whether or not NATO intervenes in Syria is no longer a question. It already has, in one way or another. The question is when will Assad decide that Western intervention has reached a level warranting delivery on his threat to burn the Middle East?

Egypt's Massacre of Christians,What the Media Does Not Want You To Know
by Raymond Ibrahim
Hudson New York
October 31, 2011
Western media coverage of the recent massacre of Coptic Christians in Cairo, Egypt—in which the military killed dozens of Christians and injured some 300—was, as discussed earlier, deplorable. It merely repeated the false propaganda of the complicit state-run media, without checking facts. Since then, further proofs of the lies and brutality surrounding the massacre have emerged; they are compiled in the following report which consists of facts and videos from Arabic sources—many of which have not appeared in the Western media.
This report documents: 1) the activities of the Supreme Military Council of Egypt and de facto ruler; 2) the lies and duplicitous tactics of both the Military Council and its media mouthpiece, Egyptian TV; and 3) the anti-Christian sentiment pervading all aspects of this incident.
The Egyptian Military
Along with a new report by Magdi Khalil asserting that the day before the planned march, a "death squad" of snipers hid atop buildings and shot at protesters, armored vehicles intentionally chased after and ran over protesters, killing and mutilating many:
Here is perhaps the clearest video; it shows a high-speed armored vehicle willfully plowing over unsuspecting Christian demonstrators.
This video shows another armored vehicle chasing protesters, and a soldier opening fire into the fleeing crowds.
This video shows high-speed armored cars running amok in the middle of the crowds, including chasing protesters on the curb, as well as soldiers beating protesters.
As for eyewitness testimonies attesting to the brutality of the massacre, they are many, and include Muslims.
The Tactics of the Military Council ( or "War is Deceit")
After the incident and notwithstanding crushing evidence, Egypt's Military Council held a news conference wherein senior official, Mahmoud Hegazy, spun lie after lie: he stated that the military would "never, never" run over civilians; that the very idea was "impossible, impossible!" and "Shame on those who accuse the Egyptian military of such things!... Never has our military run over a single person, not even when combating the Enemy [Israel]."
Hegazy portrayed the Christian protesters as the aggressors, attacking and killing "honorable" soldiers. To prove his point, he showed an image of a protester on top of a stalled armored vehicle, throwing a rock at the soldier inside, and a video of a military vehicle—that he claimed was hijacked by a protester—driving wildly into the crowd.
Hegazy's deceit lies in the fact that the "hijacked" vehicle running amok, and the one stalled and attacked by a protester, were one and the same vehicle: Al Dalil revealed that both vehicles had the same identification number. In other words, when the vehicle in which a soldier was chasing and running over protesters finally stalled, the protesters then attacked it. Egypt's leaders willfully manipulated the footage to exonerate themselves and portray the Copts as violent aggressors.
Several eye-witnesses, including Muslims, further stated that, to hide the "evidence," they saw soldiers hurling the mutilated bodies of those run over into the nearby Nile River. Likewise, among the slain, a dead Muslim soldier, whom the military said was killed by protesters, was actually killed by friendly-fire—although there are indications that he may have died elsewhere, and his corpse thrown among the dead for show.
As Copts have long suspected, the "thugs" (al-baltagiyya) who always appear in protests attacking Christians seem to be men whom the military uses to create an excuse to open fire and exercise brutality. Muslim eyewitnesses say they saw the thugs coming with State Security: Al Dalil showed a video clip of a soldier exposed dressed as a civilian, interspersed among Coptic protesters, and other videos showing the thugs cooperating with the military.
This video might offer the greatest proof: Days before the massacre, when Copts were protesting the destruction of their latest church, around 20 Egyptian soldiers and security personnel captured a protester and mercilessly beat him (while calling him an "infidel," to put the beating in context). Mixed among the military (camouflage uniforms) and security (black uniforms) is what appears to be a plainclothes civilian, who proceeds to stab the Christian protestor in the head with a knife several times; the victim later received 20 stitches. The plainclothesman is most likely a member of the military or security, dressed as a civilian for stealth purposes, otherwise he would not have been able to move among them so casually.
The Role of the Egyptian State Media (or "War is Deceit")
"Egyptian TV"—demonstrating, unsurprisingly, that state-run media always serve dictatorial regimes—merely propagated the lies of the Military Council.
Even as armored vehicles were mowing down Christian protesters, Egyptian TV broadcast footage of reporters saying, "Help, the Copts are killing our heroic, patriotic soldiers and burning Qurans!" One segment on Egyptian TV had an outraged reporter condemning Christians—"as if they were the Israeli enemy"—for killing "our noble protectors [soldiers], who never once fired a single shot." As a result, many Muslims took to the streets brutally attacking Christians and their property.
Egyptian TV also lied by saying three soldiers died at the hands of Copts: officials at the TV station later confessed to making it up. That, however, did not stop a barrage of op-eds in Egypt blaming the Christians for their own massacre.
Due to Egyptian TV's misinformation, several Egyptian reporters unequivocally condemned it. Anchorwoman Dina Rasmi said: "I am ashamed that I work at this despicable TV channel… Egyptian TV was effectively calling for civil war between Muslims and Christians… Egyptian TV has proven that it is a slave to those who rule." Another news anchor, Mahmoud Yousif, announced that he "washes his hands of what Egyptian TV is broadcasting."
Anti-Christian Hate
Although it should be clear that anti-Christian sentiment fueled this latest Muslim slaughter of Christian minorities, a few specifics follow:
Soldiers screamed "Allahu Akbar!" (Islam's primordial war-cry), and cursed "Infidels!" as they approached and attacked the protesters—which of course is not so unexpected when one considers that, even in olden times and in movies, the Egyptian military was called the Jihadiyya (the organization that wages holy war).
A video of a soldier boasting that he shot a Christian in the chest is greeted by the crowd around him with "Allahu Akbar!"
After the incident, Dr. Hind Hanafi, president of the University of Cairo, recommended separating wounded Christians from wounded Muslims admitted into the hospital, thereby institutionalizing religious discrimination, even in hospitals.
Conclusion
A massacre at this level never occurred during the thirty-year reign of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, and yet Mubarak is being charged with "crimes against Egyptians." What about the Military Council? It has committed greater crimes—even though it has been in charge for less than a year. Saddam Hussein was condemned by the international community for using chemicals on his own people; where are the international community, the media, and the so-called human rights groups when it comes to a government running over its own civilians with armored vehicles and having "death squads" of snipers shooting at them?
Finally, if this report testifies to crimes against humanity, consider what it says about diplomacy: If Egyptian leadership lies and deceives to suppress its internal "infidel" citizens—whose "crime" was to object to the continual destruction of their churches—how credible can it be to external "infidels," Israel and the U.S.?
Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
http://www.meforum.org/3086/egypt-massacre-christians-media

“Lady of the Mountain”Gathering: Fate of Christians not tied to tyrant regimes
November 01, 2011
The Daily Star The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Participants in a conference on the role of Christians in the Arab Spring reiterated in a final communiqué that the fate of Christians in the region should not be tied to that of “tyrant regimes,” while voicing their intention to foster coexistence in Lebanon.
The declaration comes after the “Lady of the Mountain” forum convened last month under the title of “The Role of Christians in the Arab Spring,” attracting 684 Lebanese Christian figures, 48 of whom voiced their opinions before the gathering.
In the final communiqué, which was announced Monday at the Press Club, forum participants highlighted the contribution of the Maronite church in the drafting of the Taif Accord, which ended Lebanon’s 1975-90 Civil War.
“The Maronite Church has contributed … to crystallizing the basics and concepts on which the Taif Accord was based,” said the statement. “The church considers that this agreement affirms the priority of coexistence over everything else and deems it fundamental for legitimacy.”
According to participants, the church believes that accord’s preamble put an end to the debate over “the nature of the social contract among the Lebanese by considering coexistence as the essence of this contract and that there is no legitimacy for any authority contradicting coexistence.”
Through their social contract and “rich experience,” Lebanese can be an example to Arab societies seeking freedom, democracy and justice amid coexistence, the statement added.
In attendance at the Press Club were MPs Fouad Saad, Henri Helou, Serje Torsarkissian and Antoine Saad as well as Fares Soueid, coordinator of the March 14 General Secretariat, other March 14 figures and journalists.
Other additions to the first draft included adding the participant’s intention to create a culture of peace and Christian-Islamic coexistence, based on equality between Muslims and Christians in rights and duties. Attendees reiterated their rejection of a stance that “puts Christians in confrontation with the Arab Spring, which is based on the values of freedom and justice.”
They also refused to link the fate of Christians to that of “regimes of oppression and tyranny which have turned the Arab world into a big prison.”
The conference came as the uprising against Syria’s President Bashar Assad nears its ninth month.
But some Christian groups in Lebanon have voiced their support for Assad, expressing fear that Christians in Syria would pay the price of any potential rising of Islamists to power should Assad’s regime fall.
The same concerns were voiced by Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai during a visit to France in September. Some said the conference came as a response to Rai’s stances. When asked about the communiqué Sunday, Rai said he was not aware of the conference and had not had time to read its statement.
Asked about Rai’s remark, Charles Jabbour, one of the speakers at the Press Club, said the communiqué was inspired by the principles of the Maronite Church, to which Rai himself had contributed when he was a bishop.
“Maybe his pastoral visit outside Lebanon did not leave him enough time to have a look at the communiqué,” Jabbour said.
“Once he comes back from Iraq, we will hold a meeting with him and with other religious figures to promote this communiqué as a platform,” he added.
Rai just concluded a pastoral visit to the U.S. that lasted for most of October and headed Monday to Iraq after returning to Lebanon.
The conference formed a follow-up committee and participants agreed to hold dialogue sessions throughout Lebanon and with Lebanese expatriates to discuss and develop the communiqué.