LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 20/2012

Bible Quotation for today/Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two
Luke 10/01-12: "After this the Lord chose another seventy-two men and sent them out two by two, to go ahead of him to every town and place where he himself was about to go. He said to them, There is a large harvest, but few workers to gather it in. Pray to the owner of the harvest that he will send out workers to gather in his harvest. Go! I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Don't take a purse or a beggar's bag or shoes; don't stop to greet anyone on the road. Whenever you go into a house, first say, Peace be with this house. If someone who is peace-loving lives there, let your greeting of peace remain on that person; if not, take back your greeting of peace. Stay in that same house, eating and drinking whatever they offer you, for workers should be given their pay. Don't move around from one house to another. Whenever you go into a town and are made welcome, eat what is set before you, heal the sick in that town, and say to the people there, The Kingdom of God has come near you. But whenever you go into a town and are not welcomed, go out in the streets and say, Even the dust from your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. But remember that the Kingdom of God has come near you! I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to Sodom than to that town!

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
More on God and man in Lebanon/By Michael Young/The Daily Star/ January 19/1

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 19/12 
Dempsey visit will not alter Israel's refusal to notify US of an Iran strike
Beirut: Funerals held as fears of unsafe buildings grow
U.N. extends condolences to collapsed building victims
Lebanon: New salary package finally passes
Walid Jumblatt slams Assad, declaring he ‘listens to nobody’
Lebanon's Sunni Mufti Qabbani: Intelligence bodies behind terror
Report: Sarkozy Inclined to Visit Lebanon, Bellemare in Beirut Next Week
STL: Our Mandate Will Be Renewed because Our Work is Not Done yet
Hariri Says GCC Must Adopt Qatar Proposal on Syria Troops
Berri: It is in Lebanon’s Best Interest to Distance Itself from External Affairs
Hariri backs Qatar mission in Syria
U.N. extends condolences to collapsed building victims
EU readies new sanctions on Syria, Russia opposes move
Panetta: U.S. military fully prepared to deal with Iran threat
U.S. rejects Israeli assessment that Iran sanctions are ineffective
Report: EU set to agree on Iran oil embargo
Iran says it’s open to talks, West skeptical of seriousness
Iran says in touch with big powers on new nuclear talks, EU denies it
Iranian minister tours south, blames U.S. for Syria unrest
Report: Syrian rebels take control over area outside Damascus
Netanyahu headed to Cyprus to boost cooperation on security, offshore drilling
Israeli minister says he was misquoted on 2006 war defeat
Israeli hackers reveal details of 4,800 Saudi credit cards

Dempsey visit will not alter Israel's refusal to notify US of an Iran strike
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report/ January 19, 2012/Gen. Martin Dempsey arrives Thursday, Jan. 19, for his first visit to Israel as Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff amid a major falling-out between the two governments over the handling of Iran's nuclear weapon potential. debkafile's military and Washington sources confirm that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands by the view that Iran is advancing its plans to build a nuclear bomb full speed ahead, undeterred even by the threat of harsher sanctions. Netanyahu therefore stands by his refusal of President Barack Obama's demand for a commitment to abstain from a unilateral strike on Iran's nuclear sites without prior notice to Washington.
The US president repeated this demand when he called the Israeli prime minister Thursday night Jan. 13. Netanyahu replied that, in view of their disagreement on this point, he preferred to cancel the biggest US-Israel war game ever staged due to have taken place in April. The exercise was to have tested the level of coordination between the two armies in missile defense for the contingency of a war with Iran or a regional conflict.
The prime minister was concerned that having large-scale US military forces in the country would restrict his leeway for decision-making on Iran.
In an effort to limit the damage to relations with the US administration, Defense Minister Ehud Barak struck a conciliatory note Wednesday, Jan. 18, saying, "Israel is still very far from a decision on attacking Iran's nuclear facilities."
Striking the pose of middleman, he was trying to let Washington know that there was still time for the US and Israel to reach an accommodation on whether and when a strike should take place.
debkafile's sources doubt that President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu are in any mood to respond to Barak's effort to cool the dispute. Obama needs to be sure he will not be taken by surprise by an Israel attack in the middle of his campaign for re-election, especially since he has begun taking heat on the Iranian issue.
Republican rivals are accusing him of being soft on Iran. And while the economy is the dominant election issue, a majority of Americans disapprove of his handling of Iran's nuclear ambitions by a margin of 48 to 33 percent according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll this week.
Wednesday (Thursday morning Israel time), President Obama responded by reiterating that he has been clear since running for the presidency that he will take "every step available to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."
Echoes of Barak's arguments were heard in the words of US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Wednesday night: "We are not making any special steps at this point in order to deal with the situation. Why? Because, frankly, we are fully prepared to deal with that situation now."
Panetta went on to say that Defense Minister Barak contacted him and asked to postpone the joint US-Israeli drill "for technical reasons."
Before he took off for a short trip to Holland, Netanyahu instructed Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz not to deviate in their talks with Gen. Dempsey from the position he took with the US president, namely, no commitment for advance notice to Washington about a unilateral strike against Iran.
The Israeli prime minister is convinced that, contrary to the claims by US spokesmen and media, that current sanctions are ineffective insofar as slowing Iran's advance toward a nuclear weapon and the harsher sanctions on Iran's central bank and oil exports are too slow and will take hold too late to achieve their purpose.
In any case, say Israeli officials, Washington is again signaling its willingness to go back to direct nuclear negotiations with Tehran, although past experience proved that Iran exploits diplomatic dialogue as grace time for moving forward on its nuclear ambitions.
US spokesmen denied an Iranian report that a recent letter from the US president to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposed opening a direct channel for talks.
Still those reports persist. American and European spokesmen were forced to deny a statement by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi Wednesday on his arrival in Ankara that Iran and the big powers are in contact over the revival of nuclear negotiations.
Netanyahu fears that dialogue between Iran and the five powers plus Germany (the P5+1) will resume after bowing to an Iranian stipulation that sanctions be suspended for the duration of the talks. Once again, Tehran will be enabled to steal a march on the US and Israel and bring its nuclear weapon program to conclusion, unhindered by economic constraints.

Report: EU set to agree on Iran oil embargo
European ambassadors to decide Thursday whether to impose set of grave sanctions on Islamic Republic
News agencies 01.19.12,/Ynetnews
A meeting of European ambassadors in Brussels on Thursday is expected to decide whether the EU will impose an oil embargo on Iran later this year, The Guardian reported Wednesday, citing diplomats. According to the report, the majority opinion within the EU favors a plan brought forth by the Danish government, the acting EU president, which asserts that the embargo should be implemented on July 1. The plans also calls on the EU to review the decision closer to the date in light of conditions in the oil market and developments in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program. As per the proposal, no new oil purchase contracts could be signed with Iran in the meantime.
The set of sanctions that are being discussed would also freeze the European assets of Iran's central bank, with some exceptions that would be decided on a case-by-case basis. On Thursday, ambassadors to the EU are expected to finalize an agreement on the issue, although the ultimate decision could be postponed until Monday if states voice objection to the plan.
Iran wants to restart talks
Meanwhile, Iran said on Wednesday it was in touch with big powers to reopen talks, but the EU denied this. Britain said Tehran would have to show it was serious if it wanted to avoid more EU sanctions over suspicions it is seeking nuclear weapons. Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, used for a third of the world's seaborne oil trade, if it cannot sell its own crude, fanning fears of a descent into war in the Gulf that could inflame the Middle East.
Iranian politicians said US President Barack Obama had expressed readiness to negotiate in a letter to Tehran, a step that might relieve tensions behind recent oil price spikes.
"Negotiations are going on about venue and date. We would like to have these negotiations," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters during a visit to Turkey.
"Most probably, I am not sure yet, the venue will be Istanbul. The day is not yet settled, but it will be soon."A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, representing the six powers, denied there were any fresh discussions with the Islamic Republic to organize a meeting.
"There are no negotiations under way on new talks," he said in Brussels. "We are still waiting for Iran to respond to the substantive proposals the High Representative (Ashton) made in her letter from October." Iran has yet to respond formally.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Iran had to be ready for serious negotiations. "It is significant that when we are discussing additional sanctions in the European Union an offer of negotiations emerges from Iran," he said.
"We will not be deterred from imposing additional sanctions simply by the suggestion there may be negotiations. We want to see actual negotiations," he told a news conference in Brazil. "In the absence of such meaningful negotiations, of course, the pressure for greater peaceful but legitimate pressure will continue," he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is visiting the Netherlands, urged the EU to impose the discussed sanctions, including the oil embargo and the central bank freeze, as soon as possible. "A nuclear Iran is dangerous for Israel, the region and the world," he said.

U.N. extends condolences to collapsed building victims
January 19, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: During a meeting with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, interim U.N. Representative for Lebanon Robert Watkins expressed the U.N.’s condolences for the loss of life incurred in the recent collapse of a building in Ashrafieh. In a statement released by Watkins’ office following the meeting, he also relayed the U.N.’s readiness to lend its expertise in “developing efficient disaster reduction and disaster management policies” to the government, pointing out that such matters have been prioritized by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who visited Lebanon over the weekend.Of Ban’s visit, Watkins said “It was a very, very good visit and an opportunity for Mr. Ban to exchange ideas with Lebanese officials on a number of very important issues, particularly those related to U.N. resolutions relevant to Lebanon.”

Funerals held as fears of unsafe buildings grow
January 19, 2012/By Van Meguerditchian/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: As funerals were being held Wednesday for the victims of Ashrafieh’s tragic building collapse, multiple emergency measures were taken across the country to avoid another disaster. The Beirut neighborhood awoke to the sound of church bells, fireworks and gunshots as the bodies of four of Sunday’s victims were brought to Fassouh, the site of the collapsed structure. Ann-Marie Abdel Karim, a 15-year-old who was on the fifth floor of the building, suffered fatal injuries and died shortly after being recovered from the building’s rubble. Funerals were also held for Tanios Farhat and his sons Charbel, Jihad and Farhat, who lived on the building’s first floor. After a huge crowd bade farewell to the Naims at Sassine Square, funeral ceremonies for the four were held in the village of Zahalta in Jezzine.
Another funeral was held for Maroun Saad and his wife Alice in the village of Bkassin, Jezzine.
In Ashrafieh, most shops and businesses shut down to mourn the loss of 27 people who died when a nearly six-decade-old, seven-story building crashed to the ground Sunday afternoon.
Only 12 people were pulled out alive, including Abdel-Karim’s twin sister, Antonella.
Ann-Marie’s family and friends from school bade her farewell in a somber procession that started in Ashrafieh’s Saint Louis Street and moved to St. Mary’s Church. The street, which has been a site of two-day-long rescue operations, was decorated with white ribbons and posters in memory of the victims.
Education Minister Hassan Diab urged public and private schools to dedicate half an hour Thursday to honor the victims and discuss the issue of public safety.
Meanwhile, local government officials were dealing with the possibility of even further disasters.
“The tragic death of 27 people in Ashrafieh prompted more than 50 households to file an official request at the municipality for a safety inspection,” Beirut Municipality member Aram Malian told The Daily Star.
Malian said that since the incident in Ashrafieh, people have started to report problems within their buildings in the city. “In our meetings at the municipality, we agreed to do our best and send engineers to carry out preliminary inspections of the buildings and decide whether they need renovation or not,” Malian added.
Officials and residents of Beirut have called on the city’s municipality and the government to move swiftly and inspect all old buildings to avert any potential future disaster.
But Malian argued that the municipality will face problems while dealing with this issue. “We mostly depend on engineering companies that will provide us with engineers,” he said. “Another problem is that once a building fails to pass safety standards, we will have to figure out what to do with the tenants living in the old buildings ... Can all land owners afford renovating old buildings?” asked Malian.
Only days after the tragic building collapse in Ashrafieh, municipalities around the country have issued multiple warnings to landowners in Beirut’s Moseitebeh and the suburb of Ghobeiri, Mount Lebanon’s Bleibel, Bekaa’s Jdita and the Chouf coastal town of Naameh. In one case, residents in Bleibel have already evacuated a building after a group of inspectors from the municipality of Aley said it was in danger of collapse.
According to municipal law, if residents are the owners of the apartments they live in, then the Association of Owners are responsible for the renovation. However, if the resident is a tenant, then the landowner is responsible for its renovation.
“But when the landowner cannot afford renovating the building and he files a report to the municipality, we will carry out the necessary renovation,” Malian explained.
However, he said the problem would not be solved unless there is a comprehensive solution to the issue.
“While the municipality is doing its duties, the government should carry out its responsibilities and Parliament should pass new legislation to have a fair solution to the problem between tenants and landowners,” Malian said.
Following the Civil War and the resulting depreciation of the Lebanese currency, most landowners and tenants of buildings built before the conflict have failed to agree on a new rent law that would set price for rents based on the currency depreciation.
However, some fear that a sudden burst of action by officials won’t lead to effective results.
“I am afraid that this disaster will be like the ones that preceded it, and that we forget all the warnings and the promises to solve these problems,” said Greek Orthodox Bishop Elias Audi.
In a eulogy at the Abdel-Karim funeral, Audi criticized the country’s officials for failing to protect lives. “Where is the government? Where are the municipalities? Has human life become this cheap?” he said. – additional reporting by Mohammed Zaatari

Mufti: Intelligence bodies behind terror
January 19, 2012/By Antoine Ghattas Saab/ The Daily Star
Qabbani rejects “refugee” label for Syrians who have fled unrest for Lebanon.
BEIRUT: Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani rejects the widespread linkage of Islam to extremism, holding that militant Muslim organizations blamed for terrorist attacks in the world are the creation of foreign countries’ intelligence agencies. In an interview with The Daily Star, the Grand Mufti of the Republic also blamed the Future Movement of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri for strained ties with Dar al-Fatwa, the seat of the Sunni mufti, saying Future MPs are still boycotting him.
Asked for his assessment of extremist Muslim groups blamed for terror attacks around the world, Qabbani told The Daily Star Tuesday: “Any assessment of Islam that is distant from its substance and its content, which are based on mercy and openness toward others, is a mistaken assessment that does not reflect the spirit of Islam and its reality. Therefore, there is no such thing as extremist Islam.
“The foreigners’ portrayal of Islam in the guise of extremism is aimed at distorting the image of Islam and Muslims and also at making Muslims abhor their religion. It is also aimed at creating a hypothetical opponent of the West that can be used as a gateway to attack and tamper with the East,” he said.
Qabbani stressed that the rulings, teachings and practices of Islam show it to be a religion of “forgiveness, love, cooperation, centrism and openness that calls for respecting others [non-Muslims] and living with them in peace, prohibits killing, and punishes the killer even if he is a Muslim.”
Referring to militant Muslim groups blamed for terror attacks in the world, the mufti said: “This continuing extremism adopted by misled groups or fictitious organizations are all the work of foreign intelligence agencies and leading powers, which seek to strike Islam in its own countries and tarnish its image in various parts of the planet so that they can tamper with our countries’ security, control our economic systems and launch wars with a view to fully achieving their aims.
“But the killing continues falsely in the name of Islam,” Qabbani said, adding that crimes committed falsely in the name of religion are an attack on the Muslim faith.
Qabbani voiced understanding toward fears voiced by Christians about their presence in the Middle East, especially amid a wave of popular upheavals in the Arab world that has led to election victories by Islamist groups in countries such as Egypt and Tunisia. He said Muslims were keen on the freedom of Christian sects in the region.
“The Christians in this Levant are an indivisible part of the social fabric in it. They are not aliens, but citizens bound with their Muslim brothers by an identity of fully belonging to this Levant,” Qabbani said.
“Muslims are keen on the dignity and freedom of Christian sects in this Levant. This keenness on the part of Muslims is not a gift, but a duty dictated on us by our creed and belief,” the mufti said, adding: “But at the same time we show understanding toward fears felt today by Arab minorities, particularly Christians, because there are invisible parties that seek to spread panic in the Arab world in order to undermine the unity of Arab peoples and set the stage for foreign intervention on the pretext of protecting minorities.”
As for the domestic scene, Qabbani said Future MPs are still boycotting him, blaming the Future Movement for the rift between the two sides.
“We maintain good relations with everyone in Lebanon. There is no dispute between us and any of the political parties in Lebanon. But sometimes some [politicians] may interpret our position or openness as directed against him. Thus, he put his political team and loyalists in a state of dispute with the mufti of the republic and Dar al-Fatwa,” the mufti said.
Qabbani added that this had happened in the past with March 8 parties, followed by the current situation with the Future Movement.
“There is no problem between us and the Future Movement. They [Future Movement] sparked a hypothetical dispute with us and mobilized [people]. They boycotted Eid al-Fitr prayers with the mufti of the republic, in an unprecedented act, not even carried out by any of renegades in the history of Islam and Muslims,” Qabbani said.
“They boycotted the visit of the mufti of the republic to the villages of Arqoub in the south on Lebanon’s border with occupied Palestine. They are today boycotting Dar al-Fatwa and the mufti of the Republic,” he added.
Qabbani called on the Future Movement to reconsider its stance on “the mufti of the republic, who does not change his national stands an inch.”
At the root of the rift between the Future Movement and Dar al-Fatwa was Qabbani’s meeting last year with a Hezbollah delegation on the day the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon issued its indictment accusing four party members of involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The Future Movement was also reported to have been irked by Qabbani’s meeting with the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel-Karim Ali.
The Future Movement’s relations with Hezbollah have been strained since Saad Hariri’s Cabinet was toppled by the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance in January last year.
Qabbani said the aim of last week’s visit to Lebanon by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who met with the country’s top political and spiritual leaders, including the mufti, was to show “Turkey’s keenness to see safety and stability in Lebanon amid the current conditions in the Middle East, since Turkey has a major role in regional politics.”
The mufti rejected labeling as refugees the more than 5,000 Syrians who have fled to border areas in north Lebanon as a result of the violence in Syria. Qabbani also rejected a proposal to establish camps for Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
“Those [Syrians] are not refugees. They are brothers who were forced to leave their houses in tense areas fearing for themselves and for their wives and sons to safer areas inside our Lebanese border. Therefore, we must treat them as our relatives and guests, not as strangers,” Qabbani said. “We must pay attention to their social, health and humanitarian conditions.”

UK urges tougher Syria sanctions, Russia issues warning
January 19, 2012 /By Alistair Lyon/Daily Star
BEIRUT, Jan 18: Britain called on Wednesday for harsher sanctions on Syria, where an Arab monitoring mission has failed to halt bloodshed in a 10-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.
But Russia underlined divisions at the United Nations, saying it would work with China to prevent the Security Council from approving any military intervention in Syria.
Damascus may let the monitors stay on after their mandate expires on Thursday, but Assad's foes say the Arab League peace effort has failed and the U.N. Security Council should step in.
Arab foreign ministers, due to consider their next step at the weekend, are split over how to handle Syria, as is the U.N. Security Council, which has failed to adopt any position.
British Prime Minister David Cameron accused Iran and Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah movement of helping to prop up Assad, whom he described as "a wretched tyrant".
"Britain needs to lead the way in making sure we tighten the sanctions, the travel bans, the asset freezes, on Syria," Cameron told parliament in London.
European Union governments are expected on Monday to expand the list of people and Syrian companies and institutions targeted by EU sanctions, diplomats said in Brussels.
An EU diplomat said 22 extra people would be affected by asset freezes and travel bans. EU companies would also be prohibited from doing business with about eight additional companies or institutions. Current EU sanctions target 30 entities and 86 Syrians.
RUSSIAN WARNING
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the West against contemplating any kind of foreign intervention to end Assad's 10-month crackdown, which the United Nations says has killed more than 5,000 civilians.
"We will insist - and we have an understanding with our Chinese colleagues that this is our common position - that these fundamental points be retained in any decision that may be taken by the U.N. Security Council," he told a news conference.
"If somebody intends to use force ... it will be on their conscience. They will not receive any authority from the Security Council," said Lavrov, who also emphasised that Moscow and Beijing oppose any sanctions against Syria.
Russia joined China in October to veto a Western-backed resolution against Assad's government, saying the domestic opposition shared blame for the violence and that it would have opened the door for military action like NATO's Libya operation.
Moscow submitted its own draft resolution last month and proposed a new version this week.
Syria is a leading buyer of Russian arms, and a Russian-operated ship carrying what a Cypriot official said was bullets arrived in Syria last week from St. Petersburg after being held up in Cyprus.
Washington said it had raised concerns about the ship with Russia, but Lavrov refused to give any explanation. "We don't consider it necessary to explain ourselves or justify ourselves, because we are not violating any international agreements or any Security Council resolutions," he said in Moscow.
SUDANESE DEFENCE
Hundreds of killings on both sides of the Syrian violence have been reported since the Arab League sent observers last month to see whether Damascus was respecting a peace plan. Critics say the observers have only provided Assad with diplomatic cover and more time to crush his opponents.
However, Sudan defended the mission which is led by one of its generals. "Day by day, they are achieving more and more," Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti told Reuters.
"They began with a limited number of monitors, and gradually they began to expand throughout the areas where there are some problems, and they are doing fine," he said.
The appointment of Sudanese General Mohammed al-Dabi to lead the team alarmed rights activists, who say Khartoum committed atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region on the general's watch.
STRANGLED BODY
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces killed a civilian in a village in the northwestern province of Idlib on Wednesday and the body of a youth detained nearly two weeks ago turned up in Homs.
It said a soldier had been killed and five wounded in clashes between troops and army deserters in the Idlib village of Khaf Takharim. Three rebel soldiers were also wounded.
Syria's state news agency SANA said the strangled body of a veterinarian doctor was found in Homs bearing marks of torture four days after he was kidnapped by an "armed terrorist group".
The United Nations said on Dec. 13 that Assad's security forces had killed more than 5,000 people since the unrest erupted in mid-March. Nine days later, the government said "armed terrorist groups" had killed 2,000 security personnel.
Syria's Muslim Brotherhood said Iran, an ally of Assad, had contacted it to try to mediate a political solution to the uprising but the effort had been rebuffed.
A senior Muslim Brotherhood member, Melhem al-Droubi, told Reuters the group had seen no details of the Iranian offer made on Dec. 20 and it would not deal with Tehran unless it revoked its support for Assad.
"They (Iranian officials) asked about the possibility of the Brotherhood visiting Tehran, or Iran sending mediators to meet our leadership," said Droubi. "We didn't hear details about the offer and we didn't open an opportunity for them to discuss it."
The Arab peace plan required Syria to halt the bloodshed, withdraw troops from cities, free detainees, provide access for the monitors and the media and open talks with the opposition.
Qatar has proposed sending in Arab troops, an idea rejected by Syria and one likely to be resisted by its Arab allies.
A tenuous truce was holding on Wednesday in Zabadani, near the Lebanese border, where troops had been fighting anti-Assad rebels, residents said. But heavy machinegun fire and explosions rocked the troubled city of Homs, an opposition group said.
"As of now there is no shelling and no gunfire. It is quiet. But the army is still surrounding the area," said one Zabadani resident who gave her name as Rita.
Syrian forces backed by tanks attacked the hill resort on Friday in the biggest military offensive against insurgents since the Arab monitors began work on Dec. 26.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

More on God and man in Lebanon
 January 19, 2012/By Michael Young/The Daily Star
An article I recently wrote on rising religiosity in Lebanon has provoked the ire of some readers. Fortuitously, after its publication I was sent the results of a fascinating survey adding substance to my unempirical observations.
Among the reactions of outrage was that of writer William Peter Blatty, who did not like the argument that when Lebanese youths bury themselves in the depths of a creed, this is in one measure because they are unwilling, or more likely unable, to have a say in the world outside – in the republic. Blatty found the statement “logically unsupported, if not absurd.”
Running to the rescue is Professor Theodor Hanf, who since 1982 has carried out six surveys on the attitudes and opinions of economically active Lebanese. The latest of these, conducted in early 2006, was published in 2007 by UNESCO’s International Center for Human Sciences. Hanf, a German social scientist, also happens to be the author of the highly regarded “Co-existence in Wartime Lebanon: Death of a State and Birth of a Nation,” which came out in 1993.
If linking religious belief to politicization is logically unsupported, then I’m guilty of an error made by everyone from Karl Marx to scholars of the Middle East who have studied that connection in the context of authoritarian Arab countries. Turning to religious practice so that it gives central meaning to life is a way individuals have, and there are others, to compensate for a perceived inability to influence their environment, especially their political environment.
This is not to affirm that all Lebanese believers are depoliticized. Indeed, religious identity can be a highly potent instrument of political mobilization. However, my topic was, and is, religiosity – the outward manifestations of religion. Lebanese have developed a powerful personal bond with their religion, and are increasingly flaunting this bond in their daily life. Somewhere, this tells us something about their outlook toward the world around them.
Readers deserve better than my gut feeling, so to Professor Hanf. His survey covers a range of opinions. For our purposes I will focus on just three, not in the same order as Hanf. The first examines Lebanese views of religion. Hanf writes, “Secularizing moderation of religious convictions and less observance of religious practice is not part of the Lebanese agenda, not 20 years ago, and today even less so.”
Whereas in 1987, 71 percent of respondents answered in the affirmative when asked “I believe in a life after death, in which the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked will be punished,” in 2006 the figure was 94 percent. To the question “I try to live by the teachings of my religion,” 75 percent said yes in 1987, while in 2006 the figure was 90 percent. In 1987, 38 percent of respondents said they often visited a place of worship, whereas 63 percent replied in the affirmative in 2006. And in 1987 and 2006, only 11 percent agreed that “I can be happy and enjoy life even if I don’t believe in God.”
While I have cited 1987 and 2006, Hanf also did a survey in 2002. The results show upward trends in answers to the first three questions in the periods covered, excepting the last question. In other words the percentage of respondents answering affirmatively rose between 1987 and 2002, then again between 2002 and 2006. Nothing in current daily life suggests that these trends have been reversed.
A second category of attitudes Hanf examined pertained to political orientation and how the Lebanese viewed their political system. Here, Hanf found that depoliticization was widespread. In response to the question “If you keep out of politics you have peace and quiet and a clear conscience,” 62 percent agreed with the statement in 1987, while 69 percent agreed in 2002 and 67 percent agreed in 2006.
Hanf qualified this, however, by noting that almost a third disagreed in 2006, articulating their political involvement by naming the political organization to which they belonged. A new survey is needed to determine perspectives today. However, again based on what I see around me, I predict the figure has risen beyond 67 percent.
Finally, Hanf asked respondents about their fear of the future, their cautiousness and powerlessness. In response to the question “When I think of the future, I feel uncertain and afraid,” he found rather alarming results. In his four wartime surveys, about 60 percent of respondents answered in the affirmative; in the 2002 survey 81 percent did so, and in 2006 no less than 84 percent did. In other words, 16 years after the war ended, a significantly larger number of Lebanese were more anxious about the future than during wartime.
As disturbing were the responses to the question “You should always be careful. You cannot trust the people you live or work with.” In 2002, 78 percent agreed, while 84 percent did so in 2006. Who did respondents trust, according to the survey? In 2006, 95 percent pointed to “relatives,” 71 percent to “friends,” and 41 percent to “members of one’s religious community,” to name the top three categories. This represented upward trends over 1987 and 2002.
What does this partial reading of Hanf’s survey show? Those like Blatty may repeat that nothing in the results proves that higher religiosity is linked to higher depoliticization. Indeed, but there is a definite correlation between the two, even if multiple factors enter the mix. The Lebanese in 2006 were uncertain about the future; more than two-thirds had negative attitudes toward political participation – and we can safely assume a reason for this was a sense of political futility; and religion was ever more important to an overwhelming majority of Lebanese, to the extent that only 11 percent admitted to being able to live happily and enjoy life without believing in God.
Here we must return to the notion of a republic as, literally, the common wealth of its citizens. In Lebanon it is, plainly, under great stress. A republic is built on trust between citizens, their confidence in the future and the ability to collectively shape that future. When happiness is so strongly associated with religion rather than matters related to life in the polity, we can letgitimately ask whether burying oneself in religious creed reflects an unwillingness, or an inability, to have a say in the republic.
In a final section, outside the confines of the relationship between political action and religious practice, Hanf addresses the issue of national coexistence. He finds intriguing results, allowing him to conclude that Lebanese want to live together, but in ways indicating they have also drifted apart; they seek unity in pluralism.
Has Professor Hanf made my case? Perhaps not enough for some. But his studies are invaluable for casting light on the intersection between personal belief, political participation and public confidence in the Lebanese state. Address any further protests to him.
*Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR and author of “The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon’s Life Struggle.” He tweets @BeirutCalling.