Matthew 18 Who Is the Greatest

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 23/2012

Bible Quotation for today/Jesus' Teaching on Prayer
Luke 11/01-13: One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. Jesus said to them, When you pray, say this: Father: May your holy name be honored; may your Kingdom come. Give us day by day the food we need. Forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone who does us wrong. And do not bring us to hard testing. And Jesus said to his disciples, Suppose one of you should go to a friend's house at midnight and say, Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. A friend of mine who is on a trip has just come to my house, and I don't have any food for him! And suppose your friend should answer from inside, Don't bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything. Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking. And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish? Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Syria’s Benghazi/By Tariq Alhomayed/January 22/12
Jumblatt, A new sultan for the Syrian Druze/By: Ana Maria Luca and Nadine Elali/January 22/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 22/12
Nuclear Iran is past its point-of-no-return, yet oil sanctions remain on paper
Israeli PM: Probe Jerusalem mufti who encouraged killing of Jews
Arab League extends Syria mission
Asarta: UNIFIL mission difficult but possible
Syria Hands over 2 Lebanese Fishermen, 16-Year-Old Buried
Funeral in Al-Aarida for boy slain by Syrian navy
Grief, rage as Arida residents bury fisherman
Syria Rebels 'Overrun Town' ahead of Arab FMs Meeting
Syrian deserters take Duma, withdraw
Report: Berri Makes Progress in Bridging March 8-14 Differences in Parliamentary Committee
Lebanon Hit by New Crisis: Severe Electricity Cuts and Red Diesel Shortage
Officials: U.S. Drone Strike Killed Lebanese-British Insurgent in Somalia
Al-Rahi Urges Bickering Politicians to Put their Efforts in Service of Economy
Miqati’s Sources Deny Strained Ties with Bkirki
Miqati Holds Meeting with Work Team before Proposing his Budget Study
Mansour: Diplomatic Appointments Have Reached Final Stage
Hezbollah official slams March 14’s stance on Syria
Hezbollah guarded al-Assad during rally appearance - Ahmad Hariri
Batroun church robbed
Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad : government should prevent arms smuggling into Syria
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Jan. 22, 2012
HRW urges support for democracies after Arab Spring
Syrian National Council to Head to U.N. Seeking Intervention
Davutoglu Scraps Brussels Trip over French Senate Vote on Genocide Bill
Croatians Decide on EU Membership in Key Referendum
17 Killed after Boat Capsizes in Iran
Thousands protest against Yemen president immunity
For activists, Egypt revolution still on
Turkey FM scraps Brussels trip due to French Senate vote

Arab League extends Syria mission
Associated Press Published: 01.22.12,
Officials from the 22-member Arab organization decide to extend observer's mission by another month; to add more members, resources The Arab League observer's mission in Syria has been extended for another month, officials from the 22-member organization said on Sunday. The decision was made during a meeting by Arab foreign ministers in the Egyptian capital, where they decided to add more members to the mission and provide them with more resources. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media, said the UN would train the observers.The move had been widely expected after the troubled mission technically expired on Thursday. Many in Syria's opposition movement have complained that the observers have failed to curb the bloodshed in the country as the regime cracks down on a 10-month-old uprising against it. Diplomacy has taken on urgency as opponents of Assad's regime and soldiers who switched sides increasingly take up arms and fight back against government forces, raising fears the conflict is veering toward civil war after beginning with largely peaceful protests in March.The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights' head Rami Abdul-Rahman said government troops had pulled back early Sunday to a provincial headquarters and a security agency building in the Damascus suburb of Douma after hours of clashes, although they still controlled the entrances. The clashes broke out after Syrian troops opened fire at a funeral on Saturday.

Israeli PM: Probe Jerusalem mufti who encouraged killing of Jews
Roi Kais Published: 01.22.12/Ynetnews
Netanyahu urges attorney general to order investigation against Palestinians' top Muslim cleric who cited hadith calling for religious battle against Jews. Minister: If this isn’t anti-Semitism, I don't know what is
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to order an investigation against the top Muslim cleric in Jerusalem and the Palestinian Authority who quoted a religious text that includes passages about killing Jews. During an event celebrating the 47th anniversary of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement last week, Mufti Mohammed Hussein cited a hadith (saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) claiming that the Earth's end of days will not happen until Muslims kill Jews in a religious battle: "The Hour (of Resurrection) will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: 'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'" The moderator who introduced the mufti at the Fatah event said, "Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs (i.e., Jews) is a war of religion and faith." Netanyahu condemned the mufti's comments, which were posted on YouTube by an Israeli watchdog group, as "heinous." Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) told Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting, "What's frightening is the fact that the mufti's comments were aired on the Palestinian Authority's official television station and website and have been backed by all the Palestinian officials. "If this isn’t anti-Semitism, I don't know what is," he said. Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beiteinu) said the mufti should be investigated and prosecuted, adding that the "extremist Muslim imam who spoke of a final solution gets his inspiration from Nazi Germany."

Nuclear Iran is past its point-of-no-return, yet oil sanctions remain on paper
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report /January 21, 2012/
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu advised visiting Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey Friday, Jan.20 that the time for action against Iran was now, for two reasons: First, the conviction that Iran has passed the point of no return for developing a nuclear weapon; and second, the diminishing prospects for a US-led embargo on Iranian oil to catch on before it is too late.
The Obama administration disputes the Israeli prime minister on both points, insisting there is still time for tough sanctions to incapacitate the Iranian economy and stop Tehran before it reaches the point of no return in its drive for a nuke. Israel insists that this pivotal point was reached four years ago in 2008.
Gen. Dempsey was exhaustively briefed on the Israeli position during his whirlwind interviews Friday with President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and three conversations with Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, one with key General Staff officers.
It was not by chance that Maj. Gen. (ret.) Asher Yadlin, until last year Israel chief of military intelligence, maintained in a detailed article in the Tel Aviv daily Maariv: "If Iranian leaders were to convene tonight and decide to go ahead with the secret production of a nuclear bomb, they already possess the resources and components for doing so. This [capability] was once defined as the point of no return. [As matters stand] now, Iran's nuclear timeline no longer hinges on the calendar; it rests entirely on a decision in Tehran."
The former intelligence chief was saying that for four years, the US and Israeli governments colluded in propagating the false assumption that Iran had not reached a nuclear weapon capability. Presenting a highly problematic oil embargo in 2012 as capable of putting Iran off its nuclear stride is equally illusory.
Yadlin's disclosure provided backing for Netanyahu who Thursday, Jan. 19, at the end of a visit to Holland, asserted for the first time: "Iran has decided to become a nuclear state" and called for "action now to stop Iran before it's too late."
Some of Israel's cabinet ministers tried to soften the impact of the prime minister's words by suggesting that his bluntness aimed at pushing President Barack Obama into implementing the sanctions he signed into law on Dec. 30 targeting Iran's central bank and oil sales, and giving him an extra lever for bringing the European Union and Asian powers aboard.
But Netanyahu soon put them right. According to debkafile's Jerusalem sources, he lined them all up to inform Gen. Dempsey – and through him President Obama - that they did not believe in those sanctions and suspected the Obama administration of orchestrating their buildup as a tool for holding Israel back from a unilateral strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
debkafile's oil sources in Asia and Europe report that updated figures confirm how little traction the oil embargo campaign has achieved so far:
There is no evidence that China, Japan, South Korea, India, Turkey and the European Union members, which purchase in total 85 percent of Iran's total average export of 2.5 million barrels a day, have cancelled any part of their orders.
While China - which in 2011 bought from Iran 550,000 barrels a day, covering 11 percent of its oil – cut its orders down in January by 285,000, this had nothing to do with ab embargo. Beijing was simply exploiting the threat of an embargo to squeeze from Iran a discount on prices and reduction of its debt for previous purchases. China made it clear to the Security Council that is opposed to "sanctions, pressure and military threats" against Iran. After settling its price dispute with Tehran, China fully intends to return to its former level of trade, even if it decides to partially diversify its oil sources to Saudi Arabia following Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's Middle East trip this month.
The European Union, which buys some 450,000 barrels per day from Iran, holds a special meeting Monday, Jan. 23, after failing last week to approve a cutback on purchases from Iran. Iran provides Greece, Italy and Spain respectively with about 25 percent, 13 percent and 10 percent of their oil. They are holding out for a very partial embargo and want it delayed until the end of 2012.
Japan, while pledging publicly to keep reducing its purchases of Iranian crude by 100,000 barrels a day, is waiting to see whether China and India join the ban. "The United States should try and talk more with India and China as they are the biggest buyers of Iranian crude," said Japan's foreign minister Koichiro Gemba this week, clearly passing the buck.
South Korea is only willing to forgo 40,000 bpd, but is asking for a waiver. India's Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said this week that India, which as Iran's second biggest buyer after China relies on Iran for 12 percent of its imports (3,500,000-4,000,000 bpd), will continue to trade with Tehran and not abide by sanctions.In anticipation of a US-led ban on Iran's central bank, Delhi announced this week that the CBI would open an account with an Indian bank for receiving payment for its oil, partly in Indian rupees instead of US dollars.Turkey, keen to position itself as broker between the West and Tehran and the venue for future nuclear negotiations, is maintaining its import level of 200,000 bpd of crude from Iran.
Given the snaillike progress of the international oil sanctions campaign against Iran, the Israeli Prime Minister informed Gen. Dempsey Friday that he could not see his way to giving the Obama administration more time for these penalties to work. He stressed that the Islamic Republic's nuclear program had reached the critical point where time was of the essence for preempting a nuclear-armed Iran.

Iran boat capsizes in Hormuz strait, 17 die: report
January 22, 2012 /TEHRAN: Seventeen people died when an Iranian passenger boat capsized in heavy winds after running out of fuel in the Strait of Hormuz, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday. The boat set sail Saturday evening from Hormuz Island, the most northern piece of land at the entrance of the Gulf, to the port city of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran, said IRNA.
The vessel ran out of fuel during the 10-kilometre (six-mile) journey and was caught in a heavy storm, which also hampered rescue efforts, state television reported. It then capsized and its 22 passengers, captain and crew members were trapped underneath, IRNA said. Rescue teams saved five people, a provincial sailing official, Hossein Khoshbakht, told the agency.

Funeral in Al-Aarida for boy slain by Syrian navy
January 22, 2012 /A funeral procession for Maher Hamad, killed yesterday by Syrian naval forces, made its way from his parents' house in the village of Al-Aarida towards the Lebanese-Syrian border, where mourners pelted Syrian troops on the other side with stones. Syrian authorities on Saturday returned the body of a slain Lebanese boy and freed his two uncles, who said they came under fire in a fishing boat along the sea border with Syria, an AFP correspondent said. The correspondent said the body of Maher Hamad, 16, who together with his uncles was snatched from their boat off the Lebanese coast on Saturday, was handed over to officials at the northern border crossing of Abboudiyeh. "There is no God but God, Bashar al-Assad is the enemy of God," they chanted, referring to the Syrian president who has faced 10 months of anti-regime protests. Without the troops retaliating, the mourners turned around and made their way back to the village mosque.
Fadi Hamad, who was handed over to Lebanese authorities overnight with his brother Khaled and the body of their nephew, recounted what he said was the boy's death at the hands of Syrian troops.
"We had cast our nets the night before and early Saturday morning we headed out to pull them in," Hamad, 36, told AFP. "We then saw a boat pulling up to us and urged it to move back as they were nearing our net," he added. "They disappeared briefly and then came back, and when they were near enough I could see about six armed men in the boat. We were terrified. They opened fire and both Maher and my brother were injured. Maher screamed."The gunmen then forced the three fishermen into Syria, where Maher died of his wounds, he said. Hamad said he was taken to a military intelligence center in the Syrian coastal town of Tartous where he was beaten and interrogated on whether he was an arms smuggler. "I was asked repeatedly whether the arms were coming from [former premier] Saad Hariri," head of Lebanon’s pro-Western March 14 coalition, he said. "I told them I was a fisherman... but they kept hitting me, and my hands were tied. About an hour later, I was told there had been a mistake and President Assad wanted to forgive me. I was also informed my nephew was dead."Khaled Hamad, 35, was treated for gunshot wounds to the leg. Syria's state-run news agency SANA, meanwhile, reported that a patrol had caught three Lebanese who were attempting to enter Syrian waters for "smuggling activities". SANA said port officials off Tartous warned the Lebanese to obey orders but the fishermen instead "threw their boxes in the sea in an attempt to escape". The boat then came under fire by "another Lebanese boat coming from Lebanese waters," leaving one person injured and another dead, according to SANA. Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has condemned the incident, which sparked protests in Al-Aarida. Faced with an anti-regime uprising, the Syrian army in November laced the Lebanese border with landmines in a bid to curb arms smuggling and to hamper army defectors and refugees from fleeing. Syrian troops have also staged deadly incursions into border villages in Lebanon.Syrian security forces killed three members of a "terrorist group" on Friday night as they tried to infiltrate the Tal Kala area from Lebanon, according to SANA.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Syria Hands over 2 Lebanese Fishermen, 16-Year-Old Buried
by Naharnet /Two Lebanese fishermen and the body of a third were handed over to the Lebanese army through the Abboudiyeh crossing at dawn Sunday after they were seized by Syria off the coast of the town of Arida the day before. Sixteen-year-old Maher Hamad was killed and his uncles Fadi and Khaled, were seized and taken to the coastal city of Tartus in Syria after the Syrian navy opened fire on their boat. A funeral procession for Maher made its way on Sunday from his parents' house in Arida towards the border, where mourners pelted Syrian troops on the other side with stones.
"There is no God but God, Bashar Assad is the enemy of God," they chanted, referring to the Syrian president who has faced 10 months of anti-regime protests.
Without the troops retaliating, the mourners turned around and made their way back to the village mosque. Fadi Hamad recounted what he said was the boy's death at the hands of Syrian troops.
"We had cast our nets the night before and early Saturday morning we headed out to pull them in," Hamad, 36, told Agence France Presse. "We then saw a boat pulling up to us and urged it to move back as they were nearing our net," he added. "They disappeared briefly and then came back, and when they were near enough I could see about six armed men in the boat. We were terrified. They opened fire and both Maher and my brother were injured. Maher screamed."The gunmen then forced the three fishermen into Syria, where Maher died of his wounds, he said.
Hamad said he was taken to a military intelligence center in Tartus where he was beaten and interrogated on whether he was an arms smuggler.
"I was asked repeatedly whether the arms were coming from Saad Hariri," he said."I told them I was a fisherman... but they kept hitting me, and my hands were tied. About an hour later, I was told there had been a mistake and President Assad wanted to forgive me. I was also informed my nephew was dead." Khaled Hamad, 35, was treated for gunshot wounds to the leg.
Protesters set up a tent near the border. They refused to leave until Syria returns the boat of the fishermen. President Michel Suleiman condemned the incident on Saturday, saying they should be returned home. The two states must respect each other's sovereignty and work together to prevent such incidents, he said. Premier Najib Miqati also said the Lebanese-Syrian coordination committee should swiftly resolve the incident and bring back the men. But Syria claimed on Saturday that its security forces seized the boat inside Syria’s territorial waters after infiltrating form northern Lebanon in an attempt to smuggle arms. The state-run Syrian news agency, SANA, said five Lebanese boats opened fire on the three men for trying to escape and injured two of them. It did not say that the 16-year-old was killed. Despite the Syrian claims, the Lebanese authorities remained mum. However, several Arida residents told the media that not a single Lebanese boat can head deep into the sea without the supervision of official Lebanese apparatuses, which proves that SANA’s statement is baseless.Source/Agence France Presse

HRW urges support for democracies after Arab Spring
January 22, 2012 /Human Rights Watch urged world powers to support the rights of Arab Spring protesters to build real democracies after they ousted long-time strongmen once backed by the West, in its annual report Sunday. "Many democracies have allowed their ties with repressive allies to temper their support for human rights in the Arab Spring protests," HRW said in its report, launched in Cairo just three days before the anniversary of the revolt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak. "Time to abandon the autocrats and embrace rights," says executive director Kenneth Roth.
"The people driving the Arab Spring deserve strong international support to realize their rights and to build genuine democracies. Loyalty to autocratic friends shouldn't stand in the way of siding with democratic reformers."The 676-page report reviews human rights practices around the globe, with summaries of conditions in more than 90 countries and territories based on probes carried out by HRW staff from 2011.Last year, the Arab Spring toppled strongmen in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya and paved the way for the removal of Yemen's president, while pro-democracy protests in Syria continue to meet with a deadly regime crackdown.Those events that captured the world's attention are at the core of the report which also documents rights abuses in countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea, China, Iran, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. For HRW, "The West is still adjusting to this historic transformation… Western policy towards Arab countries traditionally has been one of containment, backing an array of Arab autocrats to guarantee 'stability' in the region even as democracy spread in other parts of the world."The New York-based watchdog says the "reasons so many democratic governments make an 'Arab exception' include fear of political Islam and terrorism, the need to keep oil supplies flowing and a longstanding policy of reliance on autocracies to maintain Arab Israeli peace and to help stifle migration to Europe." Roth says "it is time to end the 'Arab exception' and recognize that the people of the region deserve respect for their rights and freedoms as much as anyone else."
The Arab Spring also saw once-banned Islamists groups rise on the political scene. HRW says the international community "should recognize that political Islam may represent a majority preference" while at the same time "insist that Islamist governments abide by international human rights obligations, particularly with respect to women's rights and religious freedom." It also notes that transitional governments in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt "need help revising their repressive laws and building the government institutions that autocrats deliberately left weak and underdeveloped.""Rights-respecting governments should support international justice regardless of political considerations," says Roth. "It's misguided to believe that allowing countries to sweep past abuse under the rug will somehow avoid encouraging future atrocities," he added.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Syrian opposition to head to UN seeking intervention
January 22, 2012 /The opposition Syrian National Council plans to send a delegation to the United Nations to press the Security Council for intervention in unrest-swept Syria, an SNC spokesperson told AFP on Sunday."The Council will send a delegation to the United Nations to submit a letter calling for the referral of the Syria file to the Security Council to protect civilians," Mohammed Sermini said in Cairo. The SNC's executive bureau was meeting in the Egyptian capital to put the finishing touches to a "counter-report" to one that the Arab League was to receive later Sunday from the head of an observer mission to Syria, he said."We fear that the Arab League report is not objective," he said.The SNC document is more than 100 pages long and based on testimony provided by "15 observers" in Syria and activists on the ground, Sermini said, adding the report would be unveiled at a news conference on Sunday evening. "It will reveal truths" about the crisis in Syria where a government crackdown on dissent has killed thousands since the anti-regime protest movement erupted in mid-March, he said. The UN estimates that more than 5,400 Syrians have been killed in the crackdown while activists and rights groups say more than 500 died since Arab League observers were deployed in Syria late December to stem the bloodshed. The Arab League has been trying to organize a congress of Syrian opposition factions and has called for a national dialogue between the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and his opponents. But Sermini reiterated the SNC position that talks with Assad are out of the question. "The Syrian National Council maintains the demands of the revolution and will not engage in a dialogue until after the departure of Assad," he said.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Syrian deserters take Duma, withdraw
January 22, 2012 /Now Lebanon/Army deserters took the town of Duma just northeast of Damascus on Saturday after fierce fighting, activists said, a day before the Arab League decides on the future of its Syria observer mission. Citing militants on the ground, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the mutineers had seized control of the entire town some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the capital. "Groups of deserters took control of all districts in the town of Duma, near Damascus, after fierce fighting on Saturday with Syrian security forces," the Observatory's chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. He said there were reports of fighting continuing late Saturday.However, in a statement sent to AFP in Nicosia, the right's groups said that,"Dissident groups withdrew from the town and returned to their bases." The withdrawal was apparently prompted by fears of a full military assault, although Observatory spokesperson Hivin Kako told BBC radio the only forces left in the town were police, "which play a very basic role."There was no independent confirmation that Duma had been taken or of fighting there, as foreign reporters are generally not allowed access. Earlier, the Observatory said four civilians were killed in Duma when security forces fired on mourners at a funeral. On the political front, opposition Syrian National Council leaders pressed the Arab League in Cairo to turn the Syria crisis over to the United Nations. But the League looked set to extend its own observer mission, criticized for its failure to stem 10 months of killing, at a ministerial meeting on Sunday.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Syria Rebels 'Overrun Town' ahead of Arab FMs Meeting
by Naharnet /Army defectors overran a protest hub near Damascus before pulling back, activists said on Sunday, ahead of an Arab League meeting to decide the future of its heavily criticized observer mission to Syria. Fierce clashes erupted late Saturday in Douma, just northeast of the capital, after security forces shot dead four civilians at a funeral in the town, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "Groups of deserters took control of all districts in the town of Douma, near Damascus, after fierce fighting on Saturday with Syrian security forces," the Observatory's chief Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse. "Dissident groups withdrew from the town and returned to their bases," the Britain-based group said later in a statement, without giving any casualty toll for the operation.
The withdrawal was apparently prompted by fears of a full military assault, although Observatory spokeswoman Hivin Kako told BBC radio the only forces left in the town were police "which play a very basic role." At a meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo, the Arab League looked set to extend and expand its observer mission, despite strong criticism that it has failed to stem 10 months of deadly violence.
International pressure has been steadily growing on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, with more than 5,400 people killed since anti-government protests broke out in March last year, according to U.N. figures. The Arab League deployed observers in Syria for a one-month mission on December 26, and there are presently about 165 monitors on the ground in the unrest-swept country.
The Local Coordination Committees said in a statement on Sunday that 976 people have since been killed in the Assad regime's bloody crackdown on dissent, despite their presence.
"One month since the Arab League observers entered Syria... this has changed nothing nor stopped the crime that the regime commits on the peaceful protesters," said the LCC, which organizes protests.
The Syrian National Council, the main opposition umbrella group, has appealed to the Arab League to turn the Syria crisis over to the United Nations.
Ahead of Sunday's meeting, SNC chief Burhan Ghaliun met in Cairo with the bloc's secretary general, Nabil al-Arabi, and lobbied against extending the mission, SNC spokeswoman Basma Qadmani said.
But the Arab League was expected to extend its mission, even boosting observer numbers, after foreign ministers are briefed on Sunday on the mission's first month in Syria.
An observer mission official has said its numbers would be almost doubled to 300.
An Arab League panel held closed-door talks Sunday to hear the report. The panel chaired by the foreign minister of Qatar also comprises his counterparts from Algeria, Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. Al-Arabi was present at the Cairo talks and was to chair the broader meeting of foreign ministers later in the day.
The report will be delivered by the mission's chief, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi of Sudan, who believes his mandate needs to be strengthened, not scrapped, a League official said.
Deputy chief of operations Ali Jarush said Dabi is satisfied with its achievements so far and that "everything indicates the observer mission in Syria will be extended by a month."
"Dabi sees that in the last phase the necessary thrust (of the operation) was achieved after more monitors were deployed and fanned across 20 areas and after they were provided with equipment and logistics," he said. But the SNC charged that Dabi's report would not be credible. Addressing journalists, Ghaliun said he told Arabi the conditions under which the observers were forced to work "do not allow it to present an objective report, reflecting the actual situation in Syria."The League's staff were escorted around Syria by government troops.
Qatar has proposed that Arab troops be deployed in Syria, but Damascus rules out the proposal.Source/Agence France Presse.

Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Jan. 22, 2012 January 22, 2012/The Daily Star
Al Mustaqbal
A new violation of national sovereignty in Arida kills a boy and wounds two
The current week ends with incessant Syrian-Iranian violations of Lebanon's sovereignty. The latest example, following the dangerous statement made by the head of Iran's Quds Force Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, is the Syrian Navy's attack on a fishing boat with three people aboard. Fadi Hamad, Khaled Hamad and their nephew Maher, who hail from the northern village of Arida, were fired at, detained, and taken to Syria.
President Michel Sleiman immediately condemned what happened, stressing the need for each country to respect the other's sovereignty, and asking the Syrian authorities to hand over the people in the fastest way possible.
After the incident, Arida residents blocked roads with burning tires and urged the Lebanese government to shoulder its responsibilities and work to release the kidnapped amid information that the 13-year-old boy Maher was shot and killed, while the other two were wounded.
Al-Hayat
Damascus speaks of a boat smuggling arms after one boy was killed, another was wounded and a third was detained
A new Syrian violation of Lebanon's borders Saturday morning resulted in the death of a boy, while one person was wounded and another was detained by Syrian authorities after a Syrian navy vessel shot at a Lebanese fishing boat off the coast of the northern town of Arida in Lebanon's territorial waters. The incident created a tense atmosphere on the border.
Residents of Arida blocked roads and burned tires in protest, while in Syria the military was placed on alert when the Syrian News Agency said the boat was smuggling arms into Syria.
The press office of President Michel Sleiman said the president followed up on the incident with Prime Minister Najib Mikati as well as ministers and security officials, and condemned what happened.
Sleiman stressed the need for each country to respect the other's sovereignty, urging better cooperation between the two sides to prevent similar incidents from occurring. He also asked the Syrian authorities to release the kidnapped as soon as possible and begin an investigation into the matter.
Sources confirmed to Al-Hayat that the three men were from a poor family and were fishing within Lebanon's terrestrial waters.
An-Nahar
Sources close to Mikati say his relationship with Bikirki is good, with which he maintains continuous communication
Hariri’s leg fracture and recovery will not affect his decision to return
Popular protests continue against deteriorating social services, including the loss of diesel heating fuel in several areas. Residents from the northern border area protested the Syrian navy's seizure of a Lebanese fishing boat with three people aboard whom the Syrians had shot, leading to the death of a boy, Maher Hamad, 16, and the wounding of his uncle. The boat was taken from Lebanese territorial waters to the coastal Syrian city of Tartous. The incident triggered widespread protests, with local residents adamantly demanding they be heard and calling for the return of the three citizens to their village.
Responding to the incident, President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati made statements calling for the return of the fishermen to Lebanese territory. Syria contended that the boat was being used for smuggling.
Mikati’s office has also emphasized its “good relationship” with Bkirki, in order to clarify any confusion. Sources close to him said that communication between the two serves the national interest.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri is recovering in France from a fractured leg, which he injured while skiing in the country. He has received a flood of phone calls from Lebanon’s political figures, included MP Walid Jumblatt, and Arab figures such as Qatar's Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassam. Hariri says that his recovery will not affect his decision to return to Lebanon soon.

Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad : government should prevent arms smuggling into Syria
January 22, 2012/ The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad said Sunday the government should take all necessary measures to prevent arms smuggling into Syria, adding that the neutral policy adopted by Prime Minister Najib Mikati is not sufficient. “It is no longer enough for the government to steer clear of the developments and complications in Syria,” Fayyad said during a ceremony to launch a reforestation project in Marjeyoun, south Lebanon. “It is now necessary to take measures that would prevent Lebanon's northern borders from becoming a main passage for arming the Syrian street,” he added.
The Hezbollah MP also said that reports regarding arms smuggling into Syria were cause for alarm. “Such news, if true, is extremely dangerous and contradicts the government's position. The government must now act decisively ... to put an end to this chaos, which is having serious and negative repercussions on both Lebanon and Syria,” Fayyad said. Damascus has repeatedly asked Lebanon to prevent arms smuggling on the poorly demarcated border between the two countries, as Syrian authorities maintain that violence in their country is carried out by “armed gangs.” The U.N.’s most recent report on the matter estimates that over 5,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria since the uprising, while Damascus claims that more that, 2,000 of its army and security personnel have been killed. Lebanon has adopted a policy of dissociating itself from events in the Arab world and particularly in neighboring Syria, with top officials saying that Lebanon is the country most affected by what is happening in Syria. In late December, the Higher Defense council pledged to tighten security and prevent arms smuggling across its borders, after Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn alleged that Al-Qaeda members were entering the Bekaa border town of Arsal under the guise of Syrian opposition activists. The Lebanese-Syrian border has become increasingly tense following several incursions by the Syrian army into Lebanese towns, the killing of Lebanese citizens by Syrian forces, and the recent attack by the Syrian navy on a Lebanese fishing trawler, during which the Syrians fired in the general direction of the fishing boat, killing one man, and proceeded to kidnap the two other fishermen before releasing them.

Report: Berri Makes Progress in Bridging March 8-14 Differences in Parliamentary Committee
by Naharnet /Speaker Nabih Berri has made major progress in bridging sharp differences between the March 8 and 14 members of parliament’s finance and budget committee after the opposition MPs boycotted it. An Nahar daily said Sunday that Berri will head a meeting of the committee on Wednesday after he exerted strong efforts to revive the work of the group.
The March 14-led opposition lawmakers boycotted the committee in November in protest of comments by its head MP Ibrahim Kanaan against Al-Mustaqbal bloc leader MP Fouad Saniora.
Kanaan, a member of Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc, had accused Saniora of embezzlement during his tenure as finance minister from 1992 to 1998 and from 2000 to 2004.
The March 14 lawmakers walked out of the committee after al-Mustaqbal MP Jamal al-Jarrah criticized Kanaan’s accusations against Saniora and stressed the boycott will continue until the March 8 MP issues an apology. Al-Jarrah accused Kanaan of spreading lies about Saniora, saying that his claims are baseless and lack objectivity.
He said the Change and Reform MP was abusing his position as head of the committee to score political gains.
Before heading the meeting of the committee at 1:30 pm Wednesday, Berri will preside over another meeting for the heads of parliamentary committees and their secretaries, An Nahar said.
As Safir daily reported Saturday the speaker will warn lawmakers that if any MP abstains from attending more than three committee sessions, he would be considered resigned and replaced with another in accordance with parliament’s by-laws.

Lebanon Hit by New Crisis: Severe Electricity Cuts and Red Diesel Shortage
by Naharnet /Energy Minister Jebran Bassil has warned that severe power cuts would become much worse in the future after hundreds of angry citizens protested in Jiyyeh and cut the Beirut airport’s main road. While refusing to comment on severe electricity cuts, Bassil only told Hizbullah’s al-Manar TV on Saturday that things would become much worse in the future.
“We had previously warned that an electricity explosion would hit Lebanon,” he said. Bassil had blamed several parties in the government of obstructing his plans to fix the country’s severe electricity problem. Protesters on Saturday chanted anti-Bassil slogans in Jiyyeh, south of Beirut. Gathering outside the power plant, they carried signs telling the minister that "the days of war are better than your days."
Angry protestors also blocked the road of Rafik Hariri International Airport. A protest was also held on Friday in Aley, in the Shouf, where residents demanded Bassil’s resignation.
Another energy-linked crisis has erupted over accusations that Bassil had deliberately sought to give additional revenues to companies that “have certain political allegiances in the north.”
March 14 opposition lawmakers told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday that the authority tasked with distributing red diesel, allocated at midnight Wednesday 8 million liters at the price of LL26,300 hours before the end of the government deadline of a LL3,000 subsidy. But the lawmakers told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat the 8 million liters were sold the next day at the cost of LL29,300. By such a move, Bassil sought to give benefits of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the companies in the north, they said. The latest protests and blocking of roads in several areas came not only because of power cuts but also because red diesel, which is used for household heating, disappeared from the market when the subsidies were lifted on Wednesday. But the energy ministry has claimed that a thunderstorm on Wednesday diverted diesel fuel bound for the Zahrani refinery in the South to the facility in the northern port city of Tripoli, which led to a shortage.

Hezbollah official slams March 14’s stance on Syria
January 22, 2012 /Hezbollah official Sheikh Nabil Qawouk slammed the March 14 coalition on Sunday saying that March 14 would rather that the Resistance’s arms were pointing toward Syria, the National News Agency reported.“Those smuggling arms to Syria are the same people targeting the Resistance’s arms which are pointed toward Israel,” Qawouk said. He also said that Syria is targeted because of its role and position supporting the Resistance in Lebanon and Palestine. Qawouk added that Arabs targeting Syria under the slogan of democracy do not know what democracy is. Syria has witnessed anti-regime protests since mid-March. The United Nations estimates that more than 5,400 people have lost their lives because of the regime’s crackdown on dissent. The Syrian regime has repeatedly blamed “armed groups” for the unrest and in December it allowed Arab League observers to enter Syria.-NOW Lebanon

Jumblatt, A new sultan for the Syrian Druze
Ana Maria Luca and Nadine Elali,
Now Lebanon/January 22, 2012
At a recent Progressive Socialist Party congress, members of the politburo greet one another by shaking hands. But when they pass by PSP head Walid Jumblatt, none of the high-ranking party members reach out for their leader’s hand, but instead bow as if in front of royalty. The same day, Jumblatt announced it was the last time he would run for the presidency of the party and that 2012 would be a transition year for the PSP, with Jumblatt’s son Taymour most probably taking over. Yet Jumblatt is not heading toward a quiet retirement from political life, but will play a stronger-than-ever role in the leadership of the Druze community. “He is one of the most experienced politicians in Lebanon. Nobody can compete with him,” political analyst and PSP member Makram Rabah told NOW Lebanon. “An experienced figure like that would remain like a godfather for the party.”In the context of the ongoing Syrian uprising, Jumblatt is also most likely to turn into the leader of the Syrian Druze, as the community does not have a powerful head.Jumblatt has gradually changed his position on Syria, from describing the unrest as part of a US-Israeli plan to divide the country in April to recently stating that regime change was the only solution to end the 10-month conflict.
Recently, Jumblatt urged Russia and Iran to convince Syria that a fundamental change in governance was the only solution to the unrest. “All historic experiences have proven that the peoples’ movement moves forward and does not go backward,” the PSP leader said in a statement.
Jumblatt’s statement prompted Syria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman, Jihad al-Makdisi, to say the PSP leader should mind his own business. “His comments are much appreciated and are his personal [views]. We wish him all the best in resolving all the Lebanese issues, and once these have been sorted out, he can then move to the Syria situation,” Makdisi said on NBN television.
But Jumblatt’s remarks created a wave of enthusiasm within the Syrian opposition. The feeling is not only directed toward him as a leader, but also toward the Druze community in Syria, which has been divided on whether to join the uprising or the loyalist shabiha militia. Rumor has it that Lebanese political factions loyal to the Syrian regime are trying to persuade the Syrian Druze to join the pro-government forces and have even given them arms and money to join the shabiha.
The Syrian Druze community is mostly situated in the Jabal al-Arab area neighboring the town of Daraa, where the first protests broke out in March 2011. But reports on whether the Druze youth joined the uprising or supported the regime have been very vague. Opposition leaders and activists hope that Jumblatt’s stance might change this Druze indecision. Omar Edelby, a Syrian National Council member, told NOW Lebanon that it is the Assad regime’s main strategy to play on the fears of the minorities in Syria to prevent them from revolting. Ahmad, a Syrian activist who asked that his name be changed for security reasons, told NOW Lebanon that “many Druze protested in Khaldiya. There were many key figures who stood by our side. From the beginning [the Druze] were standing by the revolution.”
“This attempt at creating a rift between the sects is all the doing of the regime. The regime itself wants us to believe the Druze are turning against us, and [it] is [trying] to label the revolution as an armed struggle among sects,” he told NOW Lebanon. “Sultan Basha al-Atrash was the leader of one of the biggest revolutions in Syria’s history, when he stood against the French and defended the rights of the people of Daraa,” Ahmad said. “Today, [his descendant] Muntaha al Atrash is a key Druze figure and she is on our side, taking part in the revolution against the regime. There is also the famous [Druze] singer Samih Shukair, who has written many songs to support the revolution. We have Druze in the SNC, and there are many who have taken a very important stance with the revolution,” he added.
Edelbi said that “what’s been said lately about the Druze sect taking a large part in the crackdown against the protesters, this is largely exaggerated,” though he didn’t deny that there is some Druze participation with the security forces. “We believe that Jumblatt’s call will contribute seriously to changing the convictions of some parties in Jabal al-Arab and will push them to think seriously about the destiny of Syria, its future, and the importance of their role in the making of this future as real partners, not as minorities,” Edelbi said.

Hezbollah guarded al-Assad during rally appearance - Ahmad Hariri
By Yousef Diab/Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat – In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Future movement Secretary-General Ahmad Hariri stressed that “it is the Syrian regime who is afraid and confused and anxious, not the Syrian people who have broken through the barrier of fear and taken the decision of change, which there can be no retreat from.”
Hariri also claimed that “when Bashar al-Assad appeared in the midst of supporters in Umayyad Square [in Damascus]…he was being guarded by members of the Hezbollah security apparatus” adding “this public appearance which did not last more than three minutes was very similar to the appearance of [Hezbollah chief] Hassan Nasrallah in front of his supporters during the Ashoura [celebrations].”
The Future Movement Secretary-General also asserted that “more than 200 cars, in addition to a bus full of passengers, travelled from Lebanon to Syria, to secure the pro-Assad demonstration during Bashar al-Assad’s appearance at Umayyad Square” adding “this represents the best evidence regarding the extent of the trouble that al-Assad and his regime is facing.”
Hariri also stressed that “large regions of Syria are outside of the control of the regime, and this confirms the seriousness and strength of this revolution, and that the Syrian people are capable of achieving victory and reaching freedom, democracy, and a dignified life.”
As for the position of the Future movement – and former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri – supporting the proposal made by Qatar to the Arab League to send an Arab peacekeeping force to Syria, the Future movement Secretary-General told Asharq Al-Awsat that “there can be no doubt that we support and are united with the Syrian people…however it is the Syrian people themselves who must decide their own fate.” He added “when there was a crisis in Lebanon, the Arab League took a decision to send the Arab Deterrent Force to Lebanon, and if the Arab League takes the decision to send such troops to Syria today for the sake of regional stability and to stop the bloodshed being carried out against the Syrian people…then we support this.”
He also stressed the necessity of “dealing with the Arab Spring as an irreversible reality, with the objective of achieving political, economic, social, and humanitarian reform; moving away from conspiracy theories.” He added “the problem that these societies have been suffering from for decades is that there is a [social] class that is accumulating wealth, and another class that is drowning in poverty.”
Responding to Syrian state television reports that he was responsible for smuggling arms from Lebanon to the city of Homs, Hariri stressed that such accusations are “false and without any legitimacy” adding “if the [Syrian] revolutionaries were armed, the situation [in Syria] would be different.” He also said that “it is well known that whenever there is any security disorder in any country, arms trade by those who do have any political affiliation occurs.”
He also told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the Syrian regime has lost most of its cards, whether in Iraq or Palestinian, and the only card that it can play now is the Lebanese card, which it is using as a threat.” He added “this is why we have called on Lebanon not to be involved in any security threat…however this does not prevent us from expressing our political opinion to support the Syrian people.”
Hariri also asserted that “the path is now blocked in front of the Syrian regime: for the revolutionaries have broken through the barrier of fear, and the evidence of this is their defacement of images of al-Assad, and their destruction of statues of him and his father [Hafez al-Assad]. The [Syrian] protesters are taking to the streets, bear-chested, chanting ‘oh God, we rely on nobody but you’, and this is a beautiful slogan that reflects the fact that the Syrian revolutionaries have entered a crucial stage…where they are now only relying on God and themselves.”
He added “change is Syria has truly occurred, and there are scenarios that have begun to be put forward regarding how this change will play out…including the scenario that Bashar al-Assad and the pillars of his regime will flee the country.” He added “surprise is on the scene, and anything can happen, just look at how the Libyan regime confronted the [Libyan] rebels with tanks and missiles…but then suddenly Tripoli and Misrata fell [to the rebels], and the Gaddafi regime collapsed.”Answering a question about the Arab League monitors’ mission to Syria, Hariri told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the experience of the Arab monitors in Syria failed, because the monitors did not take into account everything that was happening on the ground due to the harassment they were subject to. However there is one positive, namely they witnessed the lack of sincerity and abuses of the al-Assad regime, and we must wait for the new report which will represent an important turning point, and perhaps result in the situation being moved to another level.”He also denied that Saad Hariri’s return to Lebanon is connected with the collapse, or survival, of the al-Assad regime, saying “this decision is in his [Saad Hariri’s] hands, and he will determine when the best time for his return is”

Syria’s Benghazi
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
The Libyan city of Benghazi represented the major turning point in the popular uprising against Colonel Gaddafi’s regime. The city itself dealt a fatal blow to the backbone Gaddafi’s regime when it transformed into a buffer zone, thus facilitating foreign intervention. These days, the course of events in Syria indicates that the rebels there are searching for something similar, and perhaps more effective.
Today the Syrian revolutionaries are pursuing a strategy that seems smart and effective so far, namely the search for a Syrian Benghazi or as a source close to what is happening on the ground in Syria told me, the rebels are “searching for multiple Benghazis, not just one”. These could be Homs, Zabadani, and others, which the rebels consider to be liberated cities. Of course there were questions about why the al-Assad army has withdrawn from some of those areas, especially as this withdrawal came as the result of negotiations with the Free Syrian Army (FSA), which is now protecting some of the demonstrators in sensitive areas in Syria, including the outskirts of Damascus. In fact, this is a crucial matter that explains the weakness and instability of al-Assad’s forces, and the erosion of their control in certain areas of Syria. There is an explanation for the instability of al-Assad’s forces, with sources indicating that the al-Assad regime is intentionally reducing the armament of its official army, out of fear of members defecting and taking their weapons with them. This is a very important point, and a source told me that in the beginning, members of the army were fighting, then there was a process of surrender or defections after the battle heated up, but what is happening today is quite different, with the source saying that once the army was besieged by the rebels and the FSA, you could only hear “crying and begging from members of the army loyal to al-Assad”. The only earnest armament process is taking place with members of Maher al-Assad’s fourth division and the Republican guard, which are both exhausted, and cannot be present in all Syrian areas. Therefore, the rebels are now seeking to impose a new reality in search of the Syrian Benghazi, and then unite the separated areas in one line or under one context, to serve as a buffer zone before the intervention of any third party. This may explain the information that has been reported about the al-Assad regime’s attempt to involve groups from Hezbollah, in order to help thwart the project for Syrian “Benghazis”! There is also a theory that the al-Assad regime is deliberately waiting for the departure of the Arab observer delegation to deliver a final blow to the rebels.
Thus, this reading of the Syrian situation, citing sources close to the rebels, helps to draw attention to an important matter, namely that the facts on the Syrian ground are moving much faster than the pace of Arab and international diplomacy. The importance of this matter increases when we consider the remarks of King Abdullah II, who said that the coming weeks are crucial for Syria. The Turks are repeating the same thing to their visitors, and this assessment has also been declared by the Israelis!
So the question is: Will those gathered in Cairo today consider these facts or not?

Dirani's chief interrogator suing State for damages
Man accused of abusing terrorist during interrogation claims State abandoned him; seeking NIS 5.5 million in damages
Yoav Zitun Published: 01.22.12/Ynetnews
The former chief interrogator that questioned terrorist Mustafa Dirani and was later accused of being responsible for a series of acts of abuse and rape filed a damages claim against the State of Israel and the Defense Ministry on Sunday. He is seeking NIS 5.5 million ($1.45 million) in damages.
Dirani, a senior Hezbollah member, was kidnapped by Israel in 1994 to serve as "bargaining chip" in a bid to gather information on the whereabouts of navigator Ron Arad. He was released as part of a prisoner exchange deal in 2004 which saw Elhanan Tannenbaum and the bodies of three soldiers returned to Israel. The plaintiff's attorney, Effi Naveh, said his client "was thrown to the wolves" after a tape proving that a Military Intelligence unit commander had in fact threatened Dirani was concealed for years. The tape was recently exposed in the Uvda news magazine program. "He is demanding that all those who concealed the tape be brought to justice." The plaintiff, who remains anonymous, claims that the State singled him out as a scapegoat following a lawsuit Dirani filed for alleged acts of sodomy. He is also accusing the State of exposing or leaking his identity to the public while risking his and his family's safety. "My activity throughout the investigation, including its strategy, was lawful and supervised and approved by my commanders and Israel's highest security echelons," he claimed. According to the suit, the Military Prosecution launched a probe into the interrogator at the end of which it was decided not to prosecute him. "He was nevertheless dismissed from the army and when he tried to clear his name he demanded the High Court of Justice order the disclosure of the tapes. Forty-six tapes were handed over but the most important one was hidden for years and only recently exposed." The claim notes a letter sent to Attorney Naveh in 2006 claiming there was no basis to the claim that investigation materials had been kept secret.Attorney Nahev claims his client has information indicating similar cover-ups in other "dreadful affairs that ended with fatalities. They shall be revealed in court."
Naveh also mentioned that efforts by his client to find work since his dismissal were thwarted. The suit was accompanied by a letter in which 60 reservists from the plaintiff's unit express their support of him.

Croatians Decide on EU Membership in Key Referendum
by Naharnet /Croatians went to the polls Sunday in a nationwide referendum on EU membership, a vote that political leaders see as key for the future of the Balkan country 20 years after independence.
Surveys show that some 60 percent of Croatians back entry into the European Union, paving the way for the former Yugoslav republic to formally join the bloc in 2013.
Polling stations opened across the country at 0600 GMT and will close 12 hours later at 1800 GMT. The electoral commission is to release the first partial results at 1900 GMT.
Croatia's leaders say that entering the bloc has been a strategic goal since Zagreb won its hard-fought independence following the 1991-95 war with rebel Serbs and will confirm a break from the volatile Balkans region.
The importance of EU membership is one of the few issues on which all major Croatian political parties agree.
Of the six former Yugoslav republics Slovenia is the only EU member, although Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia all have aspirations.
"I will vote for the EU since I believe it is good for Croatia, it offers an opportunity ... for the Croatian people to prove themselves," Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic told national television on the eve of the vote.
President Ivo Josipovic labeled the vote's outcome "one of the most important decisions in Croatia's history.”
The referendum needs a simple majority regardless of the turnout.
In the 1990s, when other post-communist countries in central and eastern Europe were strengthening their democracies and paving their way towards EU integration, Croatia's EU aspirations were halted by the 1991-95 war and its legacy.
It was not until 2000 that the election of pro-European rulers enabled Croatia's transformation into a genuine parliamentary democracy eligible for EU candidate status.
However long and often thorny accession talks that opened in 2005 dampened enthusiasm for the EU.
Many of the criteria imposed by Brussels, notably full cooperation with the U.N. war crimes court, were seen as a form of blackmail and going against national interests.
In a surprise move late Saturday former general Ante Gotovina, whose flight from the U.N. tribunal hampered Croatia's EU bid, urged citizens to cast a 'yes' vote. Gotovina, still seen as a national hero by many, is held in the prison of The Hague-based court that sentenced him to 24 years. His conviction in 2011 sparked a surge of anti-European sentiment in Croatia.
The current economic crisis within the bloc has further eroded EU support here, so for many Croatians Sunday's vote will be a pragmatic one.
Croatia signed an EU accession treaty in December that paved the way for its entry to the bloc next year. Apart from clearing the referendum in Croatia, the treaty will also have to be ratified by all current member states of the EU. Croatian politicians have repeatedly warned that EU membership would not automatically resolve all economic woes but stress it would give the country new opportunities.
For the past three years Croatia, whose economy relies on Adriatic tourism, has been mostly in recession. All the main political leaders insist that a 'no' vote would be irresponsible and result in downgrading of the country's credit rating.EU opponents are mostly concerned at perceived loss of sovereignty and national identity in the country of 4.2 million while many fear economic impacts on their everyday life.
Source/Agence France Presse.