LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
November 26/2012

Bible Quotation for today/
Saint John 18/33/37: "So Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?" Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants (would) be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
For March 14, renewal time/By: Michael Young/Now Lebanon/November 25/12
Jabal Mohsen,THe Baathist Minit Syrian Outlaw State in North Lebanon tells its side of the story/Justin Salhani/November 25/12
Now Lebanon: Interview with Druz Leader Walid Jumblat/November 25/12
EU ignores most of Hezbollah terror in ban decision/By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST/ November 25/12
Spain: Burgas probe ‘essential’ for Hezbollah ban/By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST/November 25/12
Clarification, please/By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Alawsat/November 25/12
Egypt is at risk/By Emad El Din Adeeb/Asharq Alawsat/November 25/12

Al-Raei: No One Has Right to Request Handing over of Hariri Murder Suspects
Naharnet 22.11.12/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said Thursday that no one should request the authorities to hand over suspects in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination because they are innocent until proven guilty. “No party has the right to request the handing over of the suspects because a suspect is innocent until proven guilty and the issue is up to the judiciary to decide,” al-Rahi said in response to a question on the request made by the March 14 opposition alliance. But Bkirki spokesman Walid Ghayyad told Naharnet that al-Rahi “differentiated between the political and judicial accusation,” saying “the judiciary should be making the request to avoid complicating things.”The patriarch supports “the handing over of the suspects if the court (Special Tribunal for Lebanon) makes such a request because not every suspect is guilty and we can't consider him guilty before the final verdict.”Salim Ayyash, Hussein Oneissi, Mustafa Badreddine and Assad Sabra, who are Hizbullah members, have been indicted in Hariri's Feb. 2005 assassination in a massive suicide car bombing. In June last year, the STL issued warrants and Interpol has also issued a "red notice" for the suspects. But Lebanese authorities have not arrested them for allegedly not being able to find them. During the press conference he held in Rome on Thursday night, which coincided with Lebanon's Independence Day, al-Rahi said that independence is based on the sovereignty of decision-making away from the threat of arms or illegal training camps. He stressed the importance of holding the 2013 parliamentary elections on time and not to adopt the 1960s electoral law. Al-Rahi also said the formation of a new government should be held calmly to avoid pushing Lebanon into a vacuum that threatens the country's economy. The March 14 opposition has been calling on the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Miqati's cabinet and the formation of a salvation government. He reiterated that the country's bickering parties should attend the national dialogue session called for by President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace. Al-Rahi is in Rome to be officially appointed as cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday.

Future MP: March 14 not willing to clash with Patriarch
November 24, 2012 /A member of Lebanon’s Future parliamentary bloc said that March 14 was unwilling to get involved in a dispute with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai after the latter said that no one has the right to pressure Hezbollah to turn over its members indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. “March 14 is not willing to clash with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai but demands him to clarify his [comments],” Ghazi Youssef told MTV on Saturday. The Maronite Patriarch said on Thursday evening that no one has the right to call on Hezbollah to turn over its members indicted by the STL for the 2005 assassination of Hariri. Youssef also said Hezbollah’s controversial telecom network was being “used commercially” and that citizens were making personal calls with it.
March 14 MPs have regularly criticized Hezbollah for operating its own private communication system.-NOW Lebanon

Houri expects patriarch to “correct” statements on STL suspects
November 24, 2012 /A Lebanese opposition official said that he expected Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai to “correct his statement” regarding the suspects in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. “I think there has been some confusion in what the patriarch was quoted as saying or in what he was told. The court’s system is clear and the suspects must be handed over,” Future bloc MP Ammar Houri told As-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Saturday. On Thursday, Rai said that no one had the right to call on Hezbollah to turn over its members indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for their alleged part in the 2005 assassination of former PM Rafiq Hariri, adding that “the accused remain innocent until proven guilty.” The UN-backed court indicted four Hezbollah members in the killing. However, Hezbollah strongly denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court. Houri also said that the Lebanese cabinet must exert its efforts to hand over the suspects, especially given that an indictment was issued against them.-NOW Lebanon

Lebanese opposition lawyers respond to patriarch’s statements on STL suspects
November 24, 2012 /Lawyers representing three opposition parties in Lebanon responded on Friday to Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai’s statement that Hezbollah must not be pressured to hand over suspects indicted by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), the international judicial body charged with probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
“The STL’s statute’s Article 22 and the Rules of Procedures and Evidence’s Article 106 stipulate that the court shall conduct trial proceedings in the absence of the accused, if they have not been handed over to the Tribunal by the State authorities concerned, or if they absconded,” a joint statement put out by lawyers representing the Lebanese Forces, the Future Movement and the National Bloc party read.
The statement also said that the aforementioned articles “not only stipulate that the accused must surrender, but also [that] the state concerned must hand them over to the court to be tried duly, and proved innocent or guilty.” The statement also said that “the Lebanese Penal Code requires that any accused must be handed over and detained until a final verdict is issued by the Criminal Court or the Judicial Council.” On Thursday, the patriarch said that no one had the right to call on Hezbollah to turn over its members indicted by the STL for their alleged part in the 2005 assassination of former PM Rafiq Hariri, adding that “the accused remain innocent until proven guilty.” The UN-backed court indicted four Hezbollah members in the killing. However, Hezbollah strongly denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court.-NOW Lebanon

Kataeb bloc MP speaks out against criticism of Patriarch
November 25, 2012 /Kataeb bloc MP Elie Marouni said that Lebanese politicians should refrain from criticizing Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros al-Rai through media outlets but should rather address the contentious issues with the Maronite religious leader at the seat of the patriarchate in Bkirki. “We hope that all those who want to address remarks or criticism to Rai would do so in Bkirki and not in the media,” Marouni said in remarks published in Kuwaity daily As-Seyassah on Sunday. “The Kataeb Party has always said that it is not acceptable to attack the patriarch in the media, regardless of our objection to what he said.” On Thursday, Rai said that no one has the right to call on Hezbollah to turn over its members indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) for the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. His comments drew criticism from opposition lawmakers, while lawyers representing three opposition parties responded to the patriarch, stating that STL articles stipulated “not only that the accused must surrender, but also [that] the state concerned must hand them over to the court to be tried duly, and proved innocent or guilty.”The UN-backed court indicted four Hezbollah members in the killing of Hariri. However, the Shiite group strongly denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court.-NOW Lebanon

EU envoy: Avoiding political vacuum is in Lebanon’s interest
November 25, 2012 /EU Ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst said that the international community voiced fear over a political vacuum in Lebanon out of concern for the country’s security and economic interests. “The main issue is the question of finding an alternative for the current government. The resignation of the government might turn it into a caretaker government, but if security and economic issues needed tackling, there will then be a need for an institution that works and is able to make decisions,” Eichhorst said in an interview with An-Nahar newspaper published on Sunday. “The policy of dissociation [adopted by the government with regard to the Syrian crisis] should also be continued.” The EU envoy, however, added that the change of government would be supported by the union “if the Lebanese people requested a new government.”She also criticized the Lebanese political leaders for their inaptitude to resolve the contentious issues on the political scene.
“Everyone says on a personal level that they are ready [to resolve differences], but it seems that things do not function in this manner on a wider level.” Lebanon has witnessed deepening tension between the March 14 opposition coalition and the government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati, led mainly by Hezbollah-affiliated March 8 politicians. The tension came to a head when March 14 announced in late October that it would cut all ties with the Miqati government, including parliamentary meetings.-NOW Lebanon

Jabal Mohsen,THe Baathist Minit Syrian Outlaw State in North Lebanon tells its side of the story
Justin Salhani, November 25, 2012 /Syrian flags and a collection of banners displaying pictures of Bashar al-Assad in military fatigues adorn the tattered streets of Tripoli’s Jabal Mohsen. The large banners exhibit the local residents’ sentiment toward the Syrian president and the connection they have to his regime. While fighting in the area has been well documented by media outlets, the stories of Jabal Mohsen’s residents seem to have fallen on deaf ears. “On a daily basis they [the Sunnis] announce jihad toward us,” said Ali Fadda, a member of the predominately Alawite Arab Democratic Party. The majority of residents in Jabal Mohsen are Alawites, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam that the Assad regime in Syria also belongs to. In Tripoli during the Lebanese civil war, the Arab Democratic Party fought alongside the Syrian army against the Sunni Islamist Tawhid Movement, based primarily in neighboring Bab al-Tabbaneh. While the Syrian army has since departed Lebanon, the fighting has continued, making it difficult for locals to maintain any semblance of normalcy. Hassan, 28, used to work in an auto body shop in Beirut until regular clashes near his home in Jabal Mohsen prevented him from going to work. “When I look for work in Beirut and they see that I live in Tripoli, I get turned down,” said Hassan. Determined to continue his career, Hassan decided to search for work closer to home in Tripoli. He found a job, but it didn’t last long. “I was working in a shop in Tripoli when a Salafist came and asked what sect I was. I said ‘Muslim,’ but he asked what kind of Muslim, so I replied, ‘Lebanese Muslim.’”
When the Salafist realized he was an Alawite, Hassan said, he told him that he could not continue working at the shop. “The owner couldn’t do anything. People interfered to stop him from hitting me. A Sunni friend of mine at work came to defend me, but the Salafist put a gun to his head and said, ‘You are a Sunni working with an Alawite.’”
Residents of Tripoli have also complained of past incidents in which Salafists from Bab al-Tabbaneh burned down shops owned by Alawites. A source in the Lebanese army who requested anonymity confirmed to NOW that Alawite shops have been burned down by Sunni extremists.
Despite these accounts, some members of the Alawite community maintain that things are not so bad for them in Tripoli. Future Movement MP Badr Wannous is one Alawite who says his community prospers in the northern city, and that aside from sporadic clashes with Sunnis, members of the two sects generally get along.
“Near my office there are many Alawite shops and offices, and they have the biggest galleries and exhibitions. They have shops all over the city [not just in Jabal Mohsen],” said Wannous.
Wannous offered to accompany NOW to Jabal Mohsen and speak to people about their opinions, though when NOW took him up on his offer, he changed his mind. When asked if there were Alawites in any area of Tripoli who could be contacted for interviews, he responded, “No, I cannot give you any names at all.”
Aside from difficulty finding employment, residents of Jabal Mohsen also cannot rely on proper institutions. The area has been without a hospital since the last one became too expensive to operate and was turned into an army base. The first high school in Jabal Mohsen just recently finished construction.
It is important for local kids to be able to finish their degree in a school in their neighborhood, said Fadda, who, despite being well-read, has himself not completed a ninth-grade education.
Sometimes Alawite students on their way to take exams in schools in other districts would be attacked by Salafists, said Fadda. “Our students attend their official exams accompanied by the Lebanese army,” he added. And while daily life has been a struggle for the community, many, including Hassan, have adapted. “I haven’t worked in six months,” he said, adding that without a career and an income he didn’t see much of a future for himself. His face cracking a sly smile, Hassan added, “We got used to it.”Additional reporting by Amani Hamad
Follow Justin on twitter (www.twitter.com/justinsalhani)

For March 14, renewal time
Michael Young/Now Lebanon
November 24, 2012
It is an unfortunate but very real fact that the March 14 coalition is facing a credibility gap with many of the Western countries that had backed it during the years 2005-2009. That is not to say that the coalition has been abandoned, but rather that its ability to embody the state has suffered as President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati have filled the political center.
Miqati’s visit to France this week exposed the nature of the problem. The prime minister was received with all the honors, at a time when Samir Geagea launched what seemed a frivolous attack against Nabih Berri, the parliament speaker, accusing him of having kept parliament open despite the killing of several parliamentarians in the past seven years. How odd, given that Geagea’s allies had earlier blamed Berri for closing the institution between 2006 and 2008.
These types of petty conflicts, at a time of fear that Lebanon may be on the cusp of civil war following on from regional instability, make both foreign representatives and even many in the March 14 base groan. Suleiman and Walid Jumblatt talk about reconciliation; Miqati promises to make the government more effective. Here are the kinds of statements that foreign embassies want to hear. March 14 is justified in demanding an end to the wanton assassination of its partisans and allies. But in rejecting all dialogue it is perceived as part of the problem, which defeats the purpose.
It should have been clear to the March 14 leadership that they had lost the embassies in the wake of Wissam al-Hassan’s elimination. Even many of their supporters were worried about the sectarian consequences surrounding a crime that threatened to bring Sunnis into conflict with Shiites. This was evident before Hassan’s funeral, and yet the sad event only confirmed everyone’s worst fears, when demonstrators tried to storm the Serail, and when that night armed gunmen in Tariq al-Jadideh took to the streets in an eerie re-enactment of the opening stages of Lebanon’s civil war in 1975.
The strength of March 14 was always that it did not do that kind of thing—even if the gunmen were acting independently of the coalition. Hezbollah spent 18 months outside Fouad al-Siniora’s door from 2006 to 2008, yet the party did not storm the prime minister’s office, for fear that it would spark Sunni-Shiite clashes. On the other hand, the party did occupy western Beirut militarily, with allies, and it was to Saad Hariri’s great credit that he did not call in his brethren from the north to save him, for that would have meant war.
The integrity of March 14 came from the fact that it accepted the full authority of the state, even at those moments when shootings and bomb attacks were cutting down some of its leading lights. Of course, at the time the coalition held a parliamentary majority and controlled the cabinet. For it to abandon those principles today because the prime minister happens to be Najib Miqati is politically suicidal, and smacks of opportunism and hypocrisy. When the elections come around next year—elections that will be seminal, for they will define who will lead Lebanon after the exit of Bashar Assad in Syria—it will be very difficult indeed to mobilize voters on those seedy foundations.
There is time for March 14 to backtrack, even if there is little will to do so. One day Assad will fall, and that will radically alter the political landscape for Hezbollah. The party will not go away, but it will be far less able to carry Lebanon into a destructive war with Israel on Iran’s behalf, with much of Lebanese society wanting no such thing. Patience is required, time for the Syrian regime to go, to be followed by a serious effort at reconciliation with the Shiite community to eventually push for integration of Hezbollah’s weapons into the state.
Easier said than done. However, that must be the strategy followed to avert sectarian tensions which, paradoxically, the end of the war in Syria may make more rather than less likely, thanks to the wave of triumphalism that will seize the Lebanese Sunni community. Sunnis will face off against a politically debilitated Hezbollah, but also one massively armed and on its hind legs. Negotiating that phase will require a lucid March 14, not one out to settle old scores, even if Hezbollah has done much to make that sentiment inevitable.
In that way, March 14 will earn both the respect of foreign governments, essential for Lebanon’s wellbeing internationally, and newfound loyalty from its increasingly disenchanted followers. For now the focus must be on winning the elections next year and regaining control over state institutions. Miqati is not the issue, nor Berri. It is how Lebanon will emerge from the Syrian maelstrom, and whether sectarian relations can remain free of violence. March 14 must do more to convince us that it has thought this issue through.
Michael Young is opinion editor of The Daily Star newspaper in Lebanon. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Future bloc MP: Aoun, Hezbollah conspiring to steal state revenue
November 25, 2012 /Lebanon’s Future bloc MP Khaled al-Daher launched a vehement attack against Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun, saying that he was conspiring with the Shiite group Hezbollah in order to benefit from state revenues. “Aoun is providing a cover for [Hezbollah’s] illegal weapons, while [the Shiite group] is covering for [Aoun’s] collaboration with Israel in order to [insidiously] secure state revenues, exert control over Beirut Port customs offices and steal government ministries’ public money,” Daher said in remarks published by Kuwaiti daily As-Seyassah on Sunday.
The opposition MP also said that, “in return for a batch of Iranian money,” Aoun was attempting to limit the influence of the state to protect the interests of Hezbollah’s “mini state.”
Lebanon’s political scene has witnessed deepening tensions between the March 14 opposition coalition and the government of Prime Minister Najib Miqati, led mainly by Hezbollah-affiliated March 8 politicians, including FPM ministers. The tension came to a head when March 14 announced in late October that it would cut all ties with the Miqati government, including parliamentary meetings.
-NOW Lebanon

Nasrallah: Hezbollah accepts dialogue, rejects preconditions
November 25, 2012 /Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said during the commemoration of the Shiite holy day, the Day of Ashura, that his party was prepared to attend national dialogue sessions without any preconditions set by the opposing factions. “Political dialogue is the way forward to resolve political, social, and national issues in Lebanon… Today I say that we are prepared to answer the invitation for dialogue on November 29 but we will not accept any pre-conditions or the arrogance of [our opponents],” Nasrallah told his supporters gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs during a televised speech on Sunday. “We are not going to beg for dialogue. Those who want to attend dialogue are welcome and those who refuse it [may go].”
Lebanon’s National Dialogue Committee convened on several occasions under President Michel Suleiman’s persistent request over the past few months to discuss Lebanon’s defense strategy and the thorny issue of illegal arms in Lebanon, with particular focus on Hezbollah’s weapons stockpile.
Recent calls for dialogue have, however, been the center of controversy after the March 14 opposition coalition announced in late October that it would cut all ties with the government – mainly comprised of March 8 politicians – including parliamentary meetings. Suleiman renewed calls for dialogue and on Saturday invited the country’s opposing political factions to attend a dialogue session on November 29.
The Hezbollah chief also addressed Arab support for the Palestinian cause, warning against “befriending” Israel and regarding Iran “as an enemy.”
He also warned Israel that any Israeli attack against Lebanon would be met with far-reaching retribution.
“The radius of the battle with us would reach across the Palestinian territories and extend from [Israel’s] Kiryat Shmona [in northern Israel] to Eilat [in southern Israel].”
“How will Israel, which was shaken by a small number of [Palestinian] rockets, be able to sustain the thousands of rockets that will be launched over Tel Aviv and other cities, in the event of an attack against Lebanon?” Nasrallah asked. Hezbollah, which fought a devastating 2006 war with Israel, is reported to have a large arsenal consisting of tens of thousands of rockets, which it says it needs to retain in case of any new conflict with the Jewish state.-NOW Lebanon

Hezbollah’s Nasrallah warns Israel against attacking Lebanon
November 25, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah warned Israel Sunday against a war with Lebanon to regain momentum after its “defeat” in Gaza, saying his group would rain thousands of rockets on the Jewish state in the event that it did so.
“If the confrontation in the Gaza Strip given its blockade included missiles reaching 40 to 70 kilometers [into Israel], then the radius of a battle with us will reach occupied Palestine [Israel] from the Lebanese border to the Jordanian border and the Red Sea,” Nasrallah said on Ashoura Day.
“From Kiryat Shmona to Eilat,” he added, referring to Israel’s northern and southernmost cities respectively.
The Hezbollah leader has in the past warned the Jewish state of launching missiles against Tel Aviv in a any future war.
In his televised speech to masses of Shiite worshipers Sunday, Nasrallah said Israel would confront an even greater foe in Hezbollah than Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
"How will [Israel] tolerate then thousands of rockets that will hail on Tel Aviv and other areas if it attacked Lebanon?” he asked, noting earlier how Israel had been “confused and shaken” by Iranian-made Fajr 5 rockets that targeted Tel Aviv in the 8-day conflict between Palestinian groups and the Jewish state.
The Hezbollah chief’s remarks came after what he described as “talk” that Israel was contemplating launching an offensive against Lebanon to regain its status in the region “on the basis that if Israel attacks Lebanon then the latter will not receive the same solidarity and sympathy that Gaza received.”
Nasrallah, who heads the March 8 coalition in the country, also reiterated his party’s willingness to engage in National Dialogue which has been boycotted by the majority of parties in Lebanon’s March 14 opposition.
“We are ready to respond to [President Michel Sleiman’s] invitation for [National] Dialogue on Nov. 29 but we reject conditions by anyone with regard to Dialogue and those being pompous [toward us on this matter],” he said.
Following the assassination of a top intelligence chief last month, the country was plunged into a crisis after the March 14 coalition accused the government of providing the necessary cover for the crime.
The opposition group has also blamed Hezbollah’s main ally, President Bashar Assad, of being behind the Oct. 19 car bomb that killed Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan, who headed the police’s Information Branch since its inception in 2006.
March 14 lawmakers have also boycotted all government work, demanding that Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his government resign.
Without naming him, Nasrallah also described as “absurd” remarks by Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea off LF lawmakers not participating in Parliament committees that included Hezbollah politicians.
Responding to Speaker Nabih Berri’s call to reactivate legislative work, Geagea asked Wednesday: “Isn’t it a crime for parliamentary committees to convene while [some of] its participants are affiliated with suspects directly accused of assassinations?”
In 2011, four members of Hezbollah were indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon over the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The group denies any involvement in the case.
In his speech, Nasrallah also said that accusing his party of being behind assassinations in Lebanon was “delusional, baseless, and only accomplished the objectives of such assassinations.”
He also said that his party did not consider the March 14 coalition parties as “enemies but merely as political rivals.”
“We do not see any Lebanese party as an enemy but a rival ... our only enemy is Israel,” Nasrallah said, adding that his party was keen on preserving civil peace in the country.
Speaking about the recent Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip that ended with a truce this week, Nasrallah repeated his call for Arab countries to finance and arm Palestinian resistance groups.
“We again invite all governments and countries and say that Gaza and Palestinians need not only your solidarity and support but also your weapons and money,” he said.
He also warned attempts to “portray Israel as the friend and Iran as the enemy,” saying the Islamic Republic was the true friend of Arabs and Muslims.
“Iran is the friend of Arabs and Muslims and it supports weakened people and that is what was seen in Gaza,” Nasrallah said.
He addressed allies of Israel in the region, saying that the Jewish State has embarrassed them in its “aggression” on Gaza.
“All you have done in the past years to transform Israel into a friend and Iran as the enemy has gone to waste,” he said, adding that Israel was “barbaric by its very nature.”
On the 21-month-old conflict in neighboring Syria, Nasrallah said Hezbollah supports all “oppressed people around the world,” and described Syria - its people and army – as oppressed.
“Victory in Syria today requires an end to the fighting, to bloodshed, destruction and everything that is happening there ... Syria as a whole is a target,” Nasrallah, Assad’s strongest supporter in Lebanon, said.

Spain: Burgas probe ‘essential’ for Hezbollah ban
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT11/23/2012
Spain's deputy FM says investigation into bombing of Israeli bus in Bulgaria “essential“ for EU process to list group as terror entity. PHOTO: REUTERS/SHARIF KARIM
The results of Bulgaria’s investigation into the possible role of Hezbollah in July’s suicide bombing there of an Israeli tour bus “will be essential“ for the EU process to list the Lebanese organization as a terrorist entity, Spain’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gonzalo de Benito said on Wednesday.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Jerusalem Post from Abuja, Nigeria, de Benito, whose title is secretary of state for foreign affairs, said of a proposed blacklisting of Hezbollah, “We want to take the decision with our European countries and are waiting for the report” from Bulgaria.De Benito’s language mirrored the comments of France’s Ambassador to Israel. French envoy Christophe Bigot told the Post earlier this month that, in regards to the EU position on Hezbollah, the “main element is what is the outcome of the inquiry in Bulgaria.”
Israeli and American intelligence officials attribute the suicide bombing in Burgas that killed five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver, and wounded 32 other Israelis, to a joint Hezbollah-Iran operation.
De Benito stressed that Spain seeks to work “within the framework of Europe” regarding a decision to outlaw Hezbollah.
Asked about the role of the Lebanese Shi’ite group in murdering Europeans and in helping the Assad regime to massacre pro-reform Syrians, de Benito said, “We have all of this information, and it will not lead us to take a decision” independent of the process in Sofia. He stressed that the Bulgarian report “will be essential.”
In response to questions about the Obama administration counterterrorism chief, John O. Brennan, who chastised the EU for its failure to outlaw Hezbollah, stating “Let me be clear” that European opposition to a ban “makes it harder to defend our countries and protect our citizens,” de Benito said, adding that the EU “takes the decision collectively” and “need[s] to look into the evidence.”
The US designated Hezbollah a foreign terrorist organization in 1995.
De Benito said, “We know in Spain what terrorism is, and [what] fighting against terrorism [is].” He cited the 2004 al-Qaida train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people and wounded 1,858 others.
The deputy foreign minister talked about the Basque separatist group ETA. ETA has caused the deaths of more than 1,000 people over roughly 30 years, de Benito said. ETA wants autonomy for Basques in northern Spain and southwestern France.
Asked about comparisons between ETA and Hezbollah, de Benito said the objectives of the groups are different but the standard to qualify as a terrorist group remains the same.
There has been “in the past terrorist actions from this side [Hezbollah],” and they were in support of an “international” objective, he said.
Responding to Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense air offensive in the Gaza Strip, the deputy foreign minister said Hamas “started the confrontation” and his government along with the EU has expressed support for the “right of Israel’s government to defend its population.”
He “strongly condemned” Wednesday’s terrorist attack on a bus in Tel Aviv, which wounded over a dozen people. There is “no excuse for this or for bombing a civilian population,” de Benito said.
Asked about an executive summary report from the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor outlining Spanish governmental funds for anti-Israeli Spanish and Middle Eastern NGOs, de Benito said, “The last thing we would do would be to finance NGOs against Israel or other countries.”
NGO Monitor noted in its report that “between 2009 and 2011, approximately 15 million euros in Spanish public funds (central government and regions) have been transferred to political advocacy NGOs active in promoting this agenda through the different funding frameworks (5 million euros to Israeli and Palestinian NGOs, and 10 million euros to Spanish NGOs). The federal government funding is generally provided through the aid agency AECID.”
NGO Monitor accused Applied Research Institute Jerusalem, which received 176,637 euros (2011) in Spanish funds, of promoting boycott activity against Israel and demonization of the Jewish state, including membership in the Palestinian Grassroots Anti- Apartheid Wall Campaign and support for the global anti- Israel boycott movement.
NGO Monitor listed Breaking the Silence: the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions; and the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee as NGOs that bash Israel while being awarded Spanish funds.
In response to de Benito’s statement, Prof. Gerald Steinberg, the head of NGO Monitor, told the Post on Wednesday, “The statement by the deputy foreign minister is a clear and welcome change in Spanish government policy. Unfortunately, previous governments have fueled the conflict by providing millions of euros taxpayer funds to some of the most destructive NGOs, under the facade of promoting peace and human rights. By ending this funding, the Spanish taxpayer will also benefit, and the European Union and the member states, which waste over 100 million euros annually on destructive NGOs, will have an important example to follow.”
Nader Hrimat, the deputy director-general of Applied Research Institute Jerusalem, said NGO Monitor is “not in a legal position to make a judgment about any organization, and our site is open for all people. We are not a political organization. We talk about natural resources and environmental rights.”
Asked about language used to demonize Israel, including the phrase “ethnic cleansing,” he said, “We have case studies about the environment. I do not know about this issue.”
Breaking the Silence listed on its website “the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation” as a funder. A Post email to Breaking the Silence was not immediately answered.
NGO Monitor wrote in its report that the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions received 181,508 euros (2009–2010) from Spain and “promotes the demonization of Israel, supports boycotts and divestment campaigns, and leads the ‘Gaza boat’ publicity missions. Founder Jeff Halper advocates for a ‘one-state solution’ that would eliminate Jewish self-determination rights.”
Halper told the Post by telephone on Thursday that Spain provided “$50,000 to $60,000 in 2012,” and the “intervention of Spain is appropriate.”
“ICAHD support the BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions] campaign against Israel until the Occupation ends,” he wrote to the Post by email.
Halper rejected idea that the committee demonizes or delegitimizes Israel. “We see it [BDS] as holding Israel accountable for its policies just like any other state.”
He added, “I was on the first boat of the Free Gaza Movement to actually enter Gaza, in August 2008,” and noted that “ICAHD has moved towards a one-state solution.”
Steinberg told the Post, “Halper acknowledges that the funding that ICAHD receives from foreign governments, including Spain, is used to promote his own private opinions, in contrast to the policies of the democratically elected government of Israel. This is clearly an abuse of taxpayer funds and violates the norms of relations between sovereign democracies.How would Spain and other European countries react to foreign state funding for fringe separatists?” The Popular Struggle Coordination Committee wrote the Post that it “is receiving funding from the Spanish government for human rights defenders and legal aid. The Spanish government has publicly provided information regarding their funding criteria as well as the organizations they support on their website.

Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Nov. 25, 2012
November 25, 2012
The Daily Star
Lebanon's Arabic press digest.
Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Sunday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.
Al-Mustaqbal
Rai receives rank of cardinal from pope
Attention was directed at The Vatican Saturday, where the ceremony to promote Beshara Rai to cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI was held. Benedict also gave Rai the highest cardinal rank.
The ceremony was held at St. Peter’s Basilica in the presence of President Michel Sleiman and his wife along with an official Lebanese delegation as well as March 14 and March 14 delegations.
The number of Lebanese who attended the ceremony was close to 1,500. Among them were those who traveled to Rome especially for the occasion.
However, the ceremony did not divert attention away from the visit by Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani whose Beirut tour only included a meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah as well as Palestinian factions.
Al-Mustaqbal obtained information that the president was very upset about Iranian stances with regard to Lebanon, particularly by remarks Larijani made while in Beirut Saturday, including some harsh criticism of Arab countries.
The remarks contradicted the Baabda Declaration, which stipulates that Lebanon should be distant from regional conflicts.
An-Nahar
A cardinal's day at The Vatican breaks through the crisis
Pope Benedict XVI appointed Saturday six cardinals from all over the world to affirm the Church's global culture, but Beshara Rai’s appointment had a religious-national dimension which was reflected by the large political, religious and popular presence at the ceremony.
The event was a national one and was attended by President Michel Sleiman as well as figures from different political parties, in a scene that appeared contradictory to the [local] internal situation [in Lebanon] which is drowning in a political crisis.
Saturday's scene encouraged Sleiman to make some remarks during an honorary luncheon during which Rai was awarded the Cedars Medal.
Sleiman urged everyone to "attend the Dialogue [session] he is holding on Nov. 29 and for them to come with an open heart and to put behind them all the wagers whether on the Syrian opposition or the Syrian regime."
Ad-Diyar
A new cardinal from Lebanon ... pope promotes Beshara Rai to cardinal
A new cardinal was appointed Saturday. That person was Beshara Rai. He was given the rank of cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI at a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica. Five other cardinals joined the College of Princes in order to assist the pope and serve the Church.
Rai was given the highest rank of cardinals in the presence of President Michel Sleiman and his wife along with a representative of the government and some 1,500 Lebanese representing the March 14 and March 8 coalitions.
A Hezbollah delegation also attended the ceremony, which included MP Ali Fayyad and Ghaleb bu Zaynab.
Maronite delegations attended the ceremony from all over the world: Iraq, Egypt, Latin countries, European ones and Australia.
During a ceremony Sleiman urged everyone to attend the Nov. 29 National Dialogue session with an open heart while Rai thanked the president for his efforts to preserve independence.

Future MP: March 14 not willing to clash with Patriarch
November 24, 2012 /A member of Lebanon’s Future parliamentary bloc said that March 14 was unwilling to get involved in a dispute with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai after the latter said that no one has the right to pressure Hezbollah to turn over its members indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. “March 14 is not willing to clash with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai but demands him to clarify his [comments],” Ghazi Youssef told MTV on Saturday. The Maronite Patriarch said on Thursday evening that no one has the right to call on Hezbollah to turn over its members indicted by the STL for the 2005 assassination of Hariri. Youssef also said Hezbollah’s controversial telecom network was being “used commercially” and that citizens were making personal calls with it.
March 14 MPs have regularly criticized Hezbollah for operating its own private communication system.-NOW Lebanon

Houri expects patriarch to “correct” statements on STL suspects
November 24, 2012 /A Lebanese opposition official said that he expected Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai to “correct his statement” regarding the suspects in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. “I think there has been some confusion in what the patriarch was quoted as saying or in what he was told. The court’s system is clear and the suspects must be handed over,” Future bloc MP Ammar Houri told As-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Saturday. On Thursday, Rai said that no one had the right to call on Hezbollah to turn over its members indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for their alleged part in the 2005 assassination of former PM Rafiq Hariri, adding that “the accused remain innocent until proven guilty.” The UN-backed court indicted four Hezbollah members in the killing. However, Hezbollah strongly denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court. Houri also said that the Lebanese cabinet must exert its efforts to hand over the suspects, especially given that an indictment was issued against them.-NOW Lebanon

Lebanese opposition lawyers respond to patriarch’s statements on STL suspects
November 24, 2012 /Lawyers representing three opposition parties in Lebanon responded on Friday to Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai’s statement that Hezbollah must not be pressured to hand over suspects indicted by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), the international judicial body charged with probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
“The STL’s statute’s Article 22 and the Rules of Procedures and Evidence’s Article 106 stipulate that the court shall conduct trial proceedings in the absence of the accused, if they have not been handed over to the Tribunal by the State authorities concerned, or if they absconded,” a joint statement put out by lawyers representing the Lebanese Forces, the Future Movement and the National Bloc party read.
The statement also said that the aforementioned articles “not only stipulate that the accused must surrender, but also [that] the state concerned must hand them over to the court to be tried duly, and proved innocent or guilty.”The statement also said that “the Lebanese Penal Code requires that any accused must be handed over and detained until a final verdict is issued by the Criminal Court or the Judicial Council.”On Thursday, the patriarch said that no one had the right to call on Hezbollah to turn over its members indicted by the STL for their alleged part in the 2005 assassination of former PM Rafiq Hariri, adding that “the accused remain innocent until proven guilty.” The UN-backed court indicted four Hezbollah members in the killing. However, Hezbollah strongly denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court.-NOW Lebanon

Uncertain breeze in Moukhtara
Talking to Walid Jumblatt /Now Lebanon
Alex Rowell, November 20, 2012
As we shuffled into a lavish sitting room in his Ottoman-era mansion in Moukhtara first thing Tuesday morning, Walid Jumblatt’s day job was already underway. We joined what soon became a line of people waiting, for whatever purpose—requesting tuition fees for children, resolving a dispute with the neighbors in Clemenceau—to meet the Druze chieftain. When he entered, his tall, lanky frame stooped as he walked, his facial expression half-annoyed and half-amused, as though incredulous at having to deal with such banality.
After speedily acceding to a few requests, he ushered us into another sitting room, adorned with (among other things) a floor-to-ceiling portrait of slain Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. In general, walking through the house feels like touring Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace. “But I don’t have the Bosphorus outside,” he replied when NOW Lebanon remarked this. “It’s a beautiful city. The only other city as beautiful, until they destroyed it, was Aleppo.”
Such was the tone for much of our conversation with the enigmatic Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader. His reputed political acumen—along with his less-flattering notoriety for abruptly switching allegiances—have earned him the nickname “the weathervane” ; a man “whose every premonitory move [is] dissected by those trying to get a sense of Lebanon’s political winds,” as Michael Young once put it. If that is so, then there appears to be an uncertain breeze in Moukhtara today. For though he tells NOW that he is “not March 8,” those in the March 14 coalition hoping for Jumblatt jumping ship once again to their side may well be in for disappointment.
There were reports over the weekend that the PSP is planning an initiative to ease internal strife and promote dialogue. Why did you decide to do this?
Jumblatt: We have an initiative parallel to the efforts of the President Suleiman who is calling for dialogue. We just want to help President Suleiman. At the same time we have consulted with Prime Minister Miqati and [Parliament Speaker] Nabih Berri. We have to find a way to get out of this blockade where nobody is speaking with anybody, and the only way to reach that is launching an initiative. I hope it will succeed, I don’t know. I have charged my comrades in the party to go and visit all the political parties and actors possible, starting tomorrow, from March 14 to March 8 to independents.
Why did you not join March 14’s recent boycott of the cabinet?
Jumblatt: Why should I join them? I’m not March 14!
But you openly blamed Syria for the assassination of Wissam al-Hassan.
Jumblatt: Yes, and they are blaming Miqati. Miqati did not kill Wissam al-Hassan. I’m sorry, I refuse categorically all the accusations of March 14 against Miqati.
The day after Hassan’s death, we saw PSP flags at the March 14 Youth rally.
Jumblatt: They have removed those flags. This is a small trap fixed by some idiots. We are not March 14. And I’m not March 8. I’m just in this coalition trying to fix up things as much as I can, taking into account the environment which is terribly sectarian, and some people don’t care, it seems. They’re just attacking here and there; they don’t care about the possible sectarian strife that could engulf Lebanon.
Which people are you referring to?
Jumblatt: Some high-ranking leaders. Because in this country everyone is becoming high-ranking, nobody is low-ranking.
What do you think of the Ahmad al-Assir movement?
Jumblatt: When the moderate Future Movement is absent, any vacuum is filled, so this is why Sheikh Saad [Hariri] should come back and lead what his father did: the moderate Sunni trend.
How are your relations with Hariri?
Jumblatt: We are friends on personal terms but we differ on political issues. We speak occasionally.
Regarding Hassan’s assassination, do you think any Lebanese parties were also involved?
Jumblatt: I just accused the Syrian intelligence. Of course they have partners and agents here. But I’m not going to accuse a political party, like others did, because they don’t care if there is sectarian strife. And I was very clear, just as with the murder of Rafiq al-Hariri, that if Hezbollah has enough evidence that Hariri was killed by the Israelis, as Sayyed Hassan claimed at one point, then let him present this evidence to the international tribunal. I’m not going to accuse any party because my concern is that civil strife must stop.
So even if you have suspicions, you’re not going to voice them so as to maintain stability?
Jumblatt: I do not have suspicions. I am not a lawyer or a prosecutor. You have an international tribunal where people can go and present evidence.
If you believe the Syrian regime is killing senior Lebanese officials, then why do you support the “dissociation” policy? Shouldn’t Syria be considered an enemy state, like Israel?
Jumblatt: Syria being an enemy state? Not at all, I’m sorry. This is a monstrosity. We are accusing the regime, but Syria is Syria, Syria is our background, Syria helped us during the civil war, it fixed the balance inside Lebanon, it helped create the Taif Agreement, it supported the resistance. We have to distinguish between the regime and the people. And the army, which fought very bravely against Israelis during the 1982 invasion.
So the regime itself should not be considered an enemy?
Jumblatt: OK, if it is, then what? Tell me what can we do? This is the nineteenth month of the Syrian revolt and the whole international community is just doing nothing. They are watching Syria being systematically destroyed. It seems the “Friends of Syria” don’t care about Syria.
How can the Syrian conflict be ended?
Jumblatt: Well, if you have a solution, tell me. Just after the battle of Baba Amr, I called everybody in the West that I know—the British, the French—to help the rebels to get adequate weapons to shoot down helicopters. They said, “We can’t do it because it will end up in civil war.” And at that time, the civil war began.
How do you feel about the Druze in Syria?
Jumblatt: I’m concerned about Syria. The Druze are Syrian people. I don’t look at the sectarian aspect.
If there is no intervention in Syria, what happens?
Jumblatt: Nobody asked for intervention in Syria; just helping the Syrian rebels. Now it’s chaotic, because everybody is intervening in his own way, from the Arab world and from individuals, and now we have the situation whereby yesterday in Aleppo some so-called free brigades announced they don’t want to be part of the Doha Agreement, they have announced the “Islamic Emirates” in Aleppo. This is the disorganized help of the Arab and Western world because everybody is sponsoring somebody else. And what’s the result? Total chaos.
Do you worry about a Sunni-Shiite war in Lebanon?
Jumblatt: When I say sectarian strife I’m speaking about some Sunnis and some Shiites. This cannot be solved except by sitting at a table and talking to each other. That’s it. And if some in March 14 still insist that the weapons of Hezbollah can be delivered at any price? No. The weapons are a very sensitive issue, and these weapons should be part of the defensive strategy that is being elaborated by President Suleiman. One day these weapons could be part of the Lebanese army, but that cannot be at the push of a button, we have to wait. I mean it took the Irish 20 years to decommission the weapons between Protestants and Catholics. Now here it’s a much more difficult issue.
You said recently that it will take a new Taif Agreement to resolve Hezbollah’s weapons. What did you mean by that?
Jumblatt: I was assaulted, directly by everybody, by all the excited people of March 14. I did not say that. Even if I said that, it was a slip of the tongue. [Laughs]
In that case, how do you advocate resolving the issue?
Jumblatt: You have to adequately address the Shiite community. You have to speak to them. But at the same time, some have committed a big error, because they have been ordered, by the Iranians, I don’t know, to go and fight inside Syria for the regime. But this is not their policy, this is the policy of Iran. I hope that one day the Iranians will change and address the Syrian people and not the regime, because they are losing a lot of support for their stance. At the same time, some parties of March 14 also are arming the rebels, so the policy of [dissociation] should be addressed to both parties; to Hezbollah and March 14.
Regarding elections, is there an electoral law you favor?
Jumblatt: I’ve not been consulted by anybody. I just hear rumors that some high-ranking people want 50 districts, and others want proportional representation. I have not been consulted. I am ready to discuss to see. Because some people have already started fixing their Armani dresses to become president.
Do you feel the law needs to be changed?
Jumblatt: Of course, one day we have to fix up a modern law, but to do that you have to fix up a modern Lebanon, and to fix up a modern Lebanon, my father spent 19 years trying to do it, and he failed to deconfessionalize the system. I mean we are not even able to fix the civil marriage issue, which is stupid. We oblige the young Lebanese people to go to Cyprus, to Istanbul, to Paris, but here we don’t allow it because the clerics, Muslim and Christian, are against it. They have privileges; they get money to separate the people.
Going back to elections, if we assume the 2009 law is used again, you will likely win in Shouf and Aley, so the question on many minds is whether you will align with March 8 or 14?
Jumblatt: I will align with myself for the time being. I stick to my own belief that we have to fix up a kind of middle ground to avoid this terrible division between 14 and 8.
Do you foresee any changes in Christian districts?
Jumblatt: I have no idea, I don’t work on statistics. They work, they are obsessed with statistics. Michel Aoun and Samir Geagea are obsessed, I really don’t care. My concern is how to deal peacefully with each other.
After Hassan’s assassination, do you fear assassination yourself?
Jumblatt: I have never spoken about myself, like others, who like to speak about themselves, and to have bodyguards and huge convoys. Like my father, I have relied on destiny. I am here just because I like it.
So you’re not more or less afraid than before?
Jumblatt: I was never afraid. When you get afraid like others you get paralyzed mentally.
Do you think the Gaza conflict might affect Lebanon?
Jumblatt: No, Gaza just proved once again that the arrogance of Israelis can just be destroyed, [like] when the Israelis invaded Beirut in 1982. This myth of Israeli superiority is again buried by the rockets of Hamas, by the people of Lebanon, seven times. So it’s a myth, but what can we do, this state is based on a big fallacy supported by the West. One day, the West will discover that the huge amount of money they spend on Israel is just a catastrophe. Because only a peaceful solution based on two states can—maybe—reach some stability. I think maybe it’s too late, because now with the settlers there’s no space for two states.
So you prefer a one-state solution?
Jumblatt: Well this was an intellectual approach by people like Edward Said, but consider now the right-wing tendency of most Israeli society and the absence of the peace movement, except one wise guy, he’s a friend of mine and we correspond with each other, Uri Avnery, and I always read his articles and send comments. Amos Oz too, and Amira Hass, she’s excellent. But the peace movement which demonstrated in Tel Aviv after Sabra and Shatila and caused Sharon’s downfall is no more.
You wrote this week that Gaza could lead to a “new status quo.” What did you mean?
Jumblatt: After the 1973 war came the Camp David agreement, which separated Egypt from the Arabs. But now Gaza is fixing up a new formula. The inner land of Egypt is Gaza, and the Egyptians are always concerned about the fate of Palestine. So Gaza is defying the old order. Same thing in Golan, one day the ceasefire agreement of 1973 will be changed by [whoever] comes in control of the Golan Heights. Lebanon will also have a new status quo [once] we get back the occupied territories of Shebaa. Israel is no more safe from its surroundings. Later on, I hope that King Abdullah will fix up reforms. But the surroundings of Israel have changed. Fortunately that’s good.
Are you worried about the rise of Islamists across the region?
Jumblatt: No, not at all. We cannot change the Arab world. Do you want somebody to convert them? To what? We have to take into account the rise of Islam, be it Shiite or Sunni, and try to see the future and develop, not only culturally but economically. We have so much wealth in this Arab world spent stupidly on buying weapons or treasury bonds.
We can have our own development in all the Arab world.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Justin Salhani contributed questioning.

Middle East in high suspense for Gaza operation sequels
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis November 25, 2012/While Israel’s Pillar of Cloud was still in full spate over the Gaza Strip and southern Israel, the United States, Russia, Iran, Israel and Turkey were each respectively putting their next moves in place in a broader radius, debkafile reports.
Saturday, Nov. 17, America acted to shore up its naval and Marine forces in the region. Washington gave its approval for NATO to post Patriot anti-missile batteries in Turkey opposite the Syrian border together with advanced AWACs electronic warning aircraft. Both weapons systems are to be manned by US military crews. Next, the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group took up position opposite the Israeli and Syrian shores, adding another section to the menacing ring forming around Syria.
Moscow, Iran and Damascus, for their part, decided that the same coalition that laid a trail of disaster for its allies in the Gaza Strip, Hamas and Jihad Islami, were now about to pounce on Iran’s best friend, Bashar Assad, by moves to enforce protected asylums and no-fly zones in Syria.
In Tehran and Moscow, the Gaza offensive was not perceived as a lone Israeli operation but rather as the ground-breaker for a broader offensive by the US, Turkey and Qatar and the product of their combined intelligence brains rather than of military war planners.
Iran had been systematically building up the Gaza Strip as its “southern front” to fight enemies who attacked its nuclear facilities. The obliteration of a large portion of the military infrastructure Hamas and Jihad Islam had accumulated left this plan in shambles. Moscow and Tehran fully expect Washington to next turn the attention of the intelligence team which engineered the dashing of Iran’s hopes in Gaza to Syria and Hizballah, exploiting Tehran’s momentary weakness.
Moscow reacted by posting the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s naval task force opposition the Gaza, i.e. Israeli coast Friday, Nov. 11, purportedly to rescue distressed Russian citizens “should the Israeli-Palestinian fighting worsen in Gaza.”
Their arrival was announced Nov. 23, two days after a ceasefire went into effect in Gaza.
The Russian task force includes the missile cruiser Moskva, the destroyer Smetlivy, the large landing ships Novocherkassk and Saratov, the tugboat MB-304 and the large oil tanker Ivan Bubnov.
debkafile’s military sources say its real mission concerns forthcoming events in Syria rather than a worsening of hostilities in Gaza. Indeed it has been stationed facing the USS Iwo Jima which is in position opposite the Israeli and Syrian coasts.
As for Tehran, Saturday, Nov. 24, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad phoned the Hamas Prime Minister of the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, and Jihad Islami leaders to assure them that Iran will continue to supply them with munitions as before and refill their depleted arsenals within weeks.
This assurance was widely publicized by Tehran as deterrence for the US-Egyptian-Israeli plan to shut down Iran’s arms smuggling routes through Sinai to the Gaza Strip. The promise by US President Barack Obama to send US troops to Sinai for this mission finally persuaded Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to suspend Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip last Thursday, Nov. 21 after eight days and accept a ceasefire.
The week ahead holds three major events, debkafile’s military sources report.
1. Iran is not expected to let its Gaza debacle go by without response – probably by some act of military or terrorist violence. Israeli intelligence closely watched Iranian parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani putting his head together on how to go about punishing Israel with Bashar Assad in Damascus on Friday, Nov. 23, and with Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut the next day.
2. A fresh war escalation is on the cards in Syria in response to the deployment of US-manned Patriots and AWACs on Turkey’s border with Syria. Syria may decide to vent its ire against Israel.
3. Egypt’s pro-democracy, liberal and anti-Muslim Brotherhood forces are arrayed for a major battle against President Mohamed Morsi for his assumption of extraordinary powers. This contest has the potential for undoing the fragile ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Part of the deal was for Morsi to personally monitor and arbitrate the implementation of the secret understandings for Gaza and Sinai that were negotiated between the US, Egypt and Israel in order to open the door to the ceasefire

EU ignores most of Hezbollah terror in ban decision
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT11/25/2012
Analysis: Europe to rely only on outcome of Burgas terror killings in decision on whether or not to ban Hezbollah as terror organization,
The 27-member European Union has largely circled the wagons around the investigation into Hezbollah’s role in the July suicide bombing of an Israeli tour bus in Burgas and against including longstanding evidence of Hezbollah’s terror activities against Israelis, Europeans, Argentinians and Americans.
Spain’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gonzalo de Benito and France’s Ambassador to Israel Christophe Bigot told The Jerusalem Post this month that the outcome of the Bulgarian investigation into the murders of five Israelis and a Bulgarian bus driver is the sine qua non of listing the Lebanese Shi’ite group as a terror entity on the EU’s list of outlawed terrorist organizations. Critics see the limited inquiry as a grave mistake.
Mark Dubowitz, the executive director of the Washington- based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Post on Saturday, “It is absurd that a European decision on whether or not to ban Hezbollah as a terrorist organization comes down to the results of a single terrorist attack investigation in Bulgaria.
Hezbollah has much American and European blood on its hands after three decades of attacks against innocent civilians, diplomats and peacekeepers.”
De Benito termed the Bulgarian inquiry “essential” and relegated Hezbollah’s bombing of 58 French paratroopers in 1983 to an inferior status. Bigot agreed that the main element in determining Hezbollah’s status is the outcome of the Bulgaria inquiry.
While both diplomats are cognizant of Hezbollah’s nefarious activities in murdering Europeans and other victims, the EU ostensibly has narrowed its departure point to ban Hezbollah to Burgas — the seaside resort where, according to US and Israeli intelligence officials, a joint Iran-Hezbollah operation killed six people and injured 32 Israelis in July.
Dubowitz said Hezbollah is an Iranian surrogate, and that the Islamic Republic uses it “as the long arm of Iranian influence worldwide.
“The Iranian regime’s pursuit of nuclear weapons makes it even more urgent that Europe respond by targeting all instruments of Iranian power, of which Hezbollah is one of the most uncompromising, ruthless and deadly.”
The only EU country to have banned Hezbollah is the Netherlands. The United Kingdom has merely listed Hezbollah’s military wing as a terror entity.
Veteran observers of Hezbollah’s inner workings view dividing the organization’s activities into military and political branches as deeply flawed. In fact, Hezbollah’s No. 2 leader, Naim Qassem, rejects the British separation. He said in 2009, “Hezbollah has a single leadership,” and “all political, social and jihad work is tied to the decisions of this leadership.”
Qassem added, “The same leadership that directs the parliamentary and government work also leads jihad actions in the struggle against Israel.”
Dr. Jonathan Spyer, a senior research fellow at the Global Research in International Affairs Center in Herzliya, said Britain has held a “fictitious separation” between the political and military wings of Hezbollah.
“If the investigation into the Bulgaria terror attack can finally nudge the Europeans toward action on this front, that is welcome,” he wrote in an email to the Post. “But lack of evidence has not been what has prevented the designation in the past, so it remains to be seen whether the results of the investigation will in fact produce this long overdue designation.”
Spyer, the author of The Transforming Fire: The Rise of the Israel-Islamist Conflict, added that France and Germany have also preferred to avoid designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization political reasons.
“These countries ‘don’t want trouble’ with Hezbollah, and thus prefer simply to leave the situation as it is,” said Spyer.
Europe’s soggy response to Hezbollah’s terrorism prompted an angry response in late October from US President Barack Obama’s chief counter-terrorism head, John Brennan. He declared in Dublin that the European opposition to a ban “makes it harder to defend our countries and protect our citizens.”
Brennan has prioritized an EU listing of Hezbollah as a terror group because of its global murder sprees and its ongoing efforts to destabilize the Middle East. He also noted that, “We have seen Hezbollah training militants in Yemen and Syria.”
There is no shortage of Hezbollah killing fields. The spectrum ranges from setting off a van full of explosives at the headquarters of the Argentine Jewish Community Center in 1994, resulting in the murders of 85 people and scores of injured, to its attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. The bombing of the embassy in 1992 killed 29 people and wounded several hundred.
Hezbollah, which was created in 1982, launched attacks against the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon and its military barracks in 1983, resulting in the murder of 258 Americans.
Tony Badran, a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who has written extensively about Hezbollah in Syria and Lebanon, told the Post that the Burgas attack is nothing new from Hezbollah.
“We’ve seen this type of Hezbollah activity in the past against European targets and we continue to see it around the world, including recently in places like Azerbaijan, India, to name but two.”
Badran said Hezbollah is involved, with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, in the killing of Syrians, especially in the Homs area, and in Lebanon the group has been accused of multiple assassinations, and has used violence to impose its political will on the country.
“The view that holds that Hezbollah is in a process of change toward becoming a pure Lebanese political party is, simply, delusional,” he said.
The EU is at a critical juncture.
It must decide whether it wants to protect its citizens, ensure stability in the Middle East and join the US and its allies in halting Hezbollah’s killing of people across the globe, as well as the Lebanese group’s criminal and narcotics operations.
The writer is a European affairs correspondent for The Jerusalem Post and a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Mursi decree "crippling to democratic transition" - Former presidential adviser
By Mohamed Abdu Hassanein/Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat – Coptic presidential adviser, Samir Morcos, officially announced his resignation yesterday in protest to President Mursi’s controversial constitutional declaration which allows the president to assume sweeping powers, placing his decisions above legal challenge until a new parliament is elected. Morcos served less than three months as President Mohamed Mursi’s adviser on democratic transition. President Mursi’s surprise announcement on Thursday incurred widespread criticism from across Egypt and resulted in violent protests in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Suez on Friday. Speaking exclusively to Asharq Al-Awsat, the former presidential adviser stressed that “I refuse to remain [in my position] in light of this presidential decision that is crippling to the democratic transition process…and which is contrary to what I am trying to achieve through my position.”
Morcos stressed that he had accepted this position “in order to participate in the democratization process in Egypt, however what has happened, regarding President Mursi’s decision, represents a disregard of this process.” He also revealed that he was not consulted on this new constitutional declaration, which ultimately places control of the legislative, executive, constitutional and judicial authority in Mursi’s hands, adding that he only learnt of this when the decree was officially announced on television. Morcos asserted that this decision “violates all the democratic norms and traditions” as well as the special portfolio – democratic transition – that he was appointed to oversee.
The prominent Egyptian Copt revealed that he had presented President Mursi with his two-page resignation letter, in which he outlined the reasons for his decision and his objection to the president’s decisions. His resignation described this decision as being “discouraging for the democratic transition project in Egypt” adding “I cannot remain [in my position] in light of presidential decisions that are crippling to democratic transition, particularly with regards to retroactively granting Mursi immunity”. He added “this is not acceptable.”
He confirmed that this decision is final and that he will announce his position clearly regarding everything that is happening in the country after his resignation has officially been accepted.
Morcos was elected as one of the 100 members of the constitutional committee charged with drafting Egypt’s new constitution, however he later resigned from this committee over his objections to the manner in which it was formed, stressing that this committee was not balanced and did not reflect the genuine diversity of Egyptian society. He also informed Asharq Al-Awsat that he had been pressured, from several sides, including by Egyptian President Mursi himself, to retract his resignation and return to the constitutional committee. However Morcos asserted his objection to the manner in which this committee had been formed as well as the ongoing conflict that is raging within it.
Morcos stressed that the constitutional draft being drawn up by this committee is unworthy of Egypt, dubbing it “the constitution of the majority.”
For its part, Egypt’s Supreme Judicial Council, the country’s highest judicial authority, also strongly rejected Mursi’s latest decree, describing it as an “unprecedented attack” on their authority. It added that work would be suspended in all courts and prosecution offices until the decree passed by the president earlier this week is reversed. Whilst the liberal Constitution Party issued a statement saying “we are facing a historic moment in which we either complete our revolution or we abandon it to become prey for a group that has put its narrow party interests above the national interest.”Protests continued on Saturday across Egypt, with demonstrators pitching tents in the middle of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, pledging to remain there until Mursi reverses his decision. Protest organizers said more than 20 different groups had joined a week-long sit-in against the Egyptian president’s reform, describing Mursi as the new “pharaoh.” Defending his decision at a rally at Cairo’s presidential palace on Friday, Mursi said that he was taking these “exceptional measures” because “my people, nation and the revolution of Egypt are in danger.” He said “I am for all Egyptians. I will not be biased against any son of Egypt” adding “ I am the guarantor of that and I will protect for my brothers in the opposition all their rights so they can exercise their role.”

Egypt is at risk!
By Emad El Din Adeeb/Asharq Alawsat
I feel intense fear and anxiety regarding the fate of my beloved homeland, Egypt.
The greatest reason for fear is that it seems that the Egyptian people have reached a state of anxiety and polarization that could lead to confrontations in the street, and this is something that is extremely alarming. I am aghast at the state of “permanent rejection” by each party towards all others, as well as the unwavering anger towards each project or initiative, not to mention everybody's constant mistrust and suspicion towards everybody else. This is the state of mind that has struck Egyptian politics since the revolution until today. This is something that may push Egypt past a point of no return in terms of political disorder, and may lead to even worse chaos and unrest, God forbid! I believe that nobody is trying to rise above this state of “dispute” and “polarization” to build bridges between the disparate forces that are exhibiting nothing but mutual hatred and enmity towards one another. Nobody is thinking about national principles and the greater good in Egypt, rather they are pursuing ideas and conflicts that will not lead towards agreement or stability. Since Thursday evening, Egypt has entered a new stage, and is witnessing new episodes in this ongoing phenomenon of the dismantling of the state, the destruction of the regime and inciting the street. The crisis in Egypt, in reality, is a crisis of the failure of the political and intellectual elites in understanding the size of their responsibility to build a modern and civilized Egypt.
This elite has had numerous failures since 23 July, 1952, whilst today we are paying the deferred bill for this! The greatest of these failures is the lack of ability to conduct dialogue with others inside this country, whose civilization emerged more than 5,000 years ago. Egypt has witnessed a state of division since the January revolution between civil society, religion and the military; between supporters and opponents; between optimists and pessimists; between those who support and those who oppose the new constitution; between those who support a state of law and those who support a state of revolution.
These divisions, between the far-left and the far-right, and between those who hold the most radical liberal views and those who hold the most conservative religious views, have ensured the failure of the creation of a strong foundation for a democratic society. Indeed, this has all but guaranteed a state of disorder leading to political chaos. Egypt today must figure out how to manage the ongoing sharp divisions between its various parties and segments, or it will enter a vicious circle of revenge and counter-revenge until the country and the people truly reach a point of no return.
May God protect Egypt from all evils!

Clarification, please!
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Alawsat
All of the intellectuals in the region need to understand precisely what is happening around us, particularly regarding the eight day war in Gaza which sparked insane Arab celebrations, with the people most celebrating this being the intellectuals themselves, not to mention politicians and media figures. There are serious questions that must be answered in this regard. Last October, for example, Syrian state TV launched an unprecedented attack against the Hamas leader, calling on him to “remember when you were a refugee aboard planes. Damascus came and gave you mercy.” As for the Iranian newspaper “Kayhan”, issued directly from the office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, it said that Mishal seemed to forgotten the years he had been living under Syrian protection during his residence and work in Damascus and was instead acting like a “Zionist agent”. The newspaper also claimed that Mishal was prepared to sacrifice the people of Palestine in exchange for his personal ambitions! Whilst today, as well as during the eight day war in Gaza, we see Hassan Nasrallah coming out to say that “Iran, Hezbollah and Bashar al-Assad will not abandon Gaza”, which today is completely loyal to Mishal. This is the same Mishal that just weeks ago was being reproached, by media affiliated to Bashar al-Assad – Nasrallah’s unerring ally – for forgetting the years he spend living under Syrian protection, whilst the newspaper of Iran’s Supreme Leader described him as acting like a “Zionist agent!”
The story does not stop here, for Mishal himself – whose movement has announced its support of the Syrian revolution – came out on the eve of the announcement of the Gaza ceasefire to thank Iran for standing with the “resistance” and supporting it with arms, whilst Ismail Haniyeh also did the same! At the same time, arms from Iran are responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 Syrians – until now – at the hands of al-Assad regime forces. And then after all of this, we saw the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp [IRGC] emerge to deny that Tehran had sent any weapons to Gaza!
So what is really happening? Who is supporting who in the region, particularly with regards to the unholy alliance between the al-Assad regime, Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, particularly Mishal? This is the same Mishal who, speaking from Doha last October – the same month that he was being accused of being a traitor by al-Assad and Iran – said that Hamas had attempted to “combine resistance and government”, acknowledging that “this is very difficult.” He added “Islamists must admit that being in government is much more complicated than what they had imagined; this applies to Hamas as well”. The Hamas chief also said that his movement’s experience in power “should not be taken as a model unless it is to learn a lesson [from].” However following the eight day Gaza war, Mishal claimed that Hamas emerged victorious and that Israel “by God…was defeated”. He added “I say that this is an opportunity for our brothers in the West Bank…and a lesson to them that the resistance is the [best] option.” Following this, Mishal appeared, in the flesh, on CNN to say “I am the one who needs to be recognized, not the Israelis!”
So who is lying to who? Who is deceiving who? Where is the serious Arab media in all of this? Must we be led, during every crisis, by the inciters before we learn our lesson, whether this is in terms of intelligence or modesty?

France slated to open first gay mosque
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT 11/25/2012
New mosque will not segregate men from women and will conduct joint gender prayers, Turkish daily 'Hurriyet' reports.
Muhammad Ludovic Lütfi Zahed, a gay French-Algerian man, is slated to open the first gay mosque at the end of November.
The Turkish daily newspaper Hurriyet first reported last week on the plan to establish the mosque. Zahed told the Turkish paper, “In normal mosques, women have to sit in the back seats and wear a headscarf and gay men are afraid of both verbal and physical aggression. After performing the Hajj, I realized that a mosque for gays was a must for gay Muslims who want to perform their prayers.”
The Jerusalem Post reported earlier this year on Zahed’s marriage to Qiyam al-Din, a South African, during a ceremony outside Paris in February, approved by an imam in France. The men had previously married in South Africa, where same-sex marriage is legal, but the French government under then-president Nicolas Sarkozy refused to recognize it.
Zahed told Hurriyet reporter Arzu Cakır Morin that “we will use a hall in a Buddhist chapel, which will be opened on November 30.”
The new mosque will not segregate men from women and will conduct joint gender prayers, noted the Hurriyet.
French President Francois Hollande declared his support for the legalization of same-sex marriage during his campaign leading up to his May victory.
Earlier this month, tens of thousands of French protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against gay marriage and adoption.
The French authorities said 70,000 protested against same-sex marriage in Paris and anti-gay demonstrations took place in the cities of Lyon, Toulouse and Marseille.
The Catholic Church in France and conservative family associations oppose gay marriage. France currently recognizes civil union partnerships for same-sex couples.
Zahed, told the Hurriyet “we will start with Friday prayers, but we will perform marriages afterwards.”
Algerian law bars same-sex relations.According to Article 338 of Algeria’s penal code, “Anyone guilty of a homosexual act is punishable with imprisonment of between two months and two years, and with a fine of 500 to 2,000 Algerian dinars. If one of the participants is below 18 years old, the punishment for the older person can be raised to three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 dinars.”
According to the British online gay news site Pink News, a court in London granted asylum in 2007 to a gay Algerian man because he could face persecution in Algeria. Pink News wrote “Gay activist group OutRage! has previously claimed there is a ‘serious danger’ of an openly gay man such as “B.” being murdered by Islamic fundamentalists if returned to Algeria

Hamas: Jews will think twice before attacking Iran
News agencies Published: 11.24.12,/Ynetnews/
Mahmoud al-Zahar says Iran gives Hamas weapons, money 'for sake of Allah, no conditions attached'. Occupation needs resistance, not negotiations, Abu Marzook remarks . Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said Saturday that after Hamas' rain of rocket fire that reached as far as Tel Aviv and paralyzed swathes of southern Israel, "the Jews will think twice before" attacking Iran.
"We have no choice but to continue to bring in weapons by all possible means," he said, adding that he expected Tehran would "increase its military and financial support to Hamas."
We have a right to take money and weapons from Iran. They (Iran) give to us for the sake of God, no conditions attached, and I am a witness to that," Zahar told reporters.
"If they don't like it, let them compete with Iran in giving us weapons and money," he said in an apparent jab at the Gulf states.
On Friday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh and congratulated him on the "resistance's victory following the Israeli aggression that lasted eight days."Ahmadinejad said Iran stands with the Palestinian people and asked Haniyeh to send his condolences to the families of those killed during the IDF's Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza. Haniyeh thanked the Iranian president and told him that the "victory" belongs to Muslims worldwide. On Saturday, Hamas' Mousa Abu Marzook said that Hamas will not stop arming itself because only a strong arsenal, not negotiations, can extract concessions from Israel. "There is no way to relinquish weapons," Abu Marzook said in his office on the outskirts of Cairo. "These weapons protected us and there is no way to stop obtaining and manufacturing them." He said the group would not stand in the way of a bid by its main political rival, internationally backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to seek UN recognition for a state of Palestine next week. But he did suggest that Abbas is wasting his time at the UN. "Hamas believes the General Assembly is not the one to create states," he said. "Occupation needs resistance, not negotiations."In Gaza, residents said Saturday that Israel has already eased some restrictions.Fishermen were able to sail six nautical miles out to sea, or double the previous limit, said Mahfouz Kabariti, head of the local fishermen's association. "This is an opportunity and a chance for a better catch, though it is still a limited area," said Kabariti, who represents some 3,500 fishermen.