LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 23/2013

Bible Quotation for today/The Lesson from the Fig Tree
Mark 11/20-26: "Early next morning, as they walked along the road, they saw the fig tree. It was dead all the way down to its roots. Peter remembered what had happened and said to Jesus, “Look, Teacher, the fig tree you cursed has died!” Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. I assure you that whoever tells this hill to get up and throw itself in the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. For this reason I tell you: When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for. And when you stand and pray, forgive anything you may have against anyone, so that your Father in heaven will forgive the wrongs you have done.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea urges allies to strive for consensus electoral law
February 23, 2013 /By Wassim Mroueh
The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea urged his allies from the March 14 coalition Friday to make sacrifices in order to reach a consensus over an electoral law rather than slam the controversial Orthodox proposal.
“I call on allies in the March 14 coalition to make sacrifices to make a consensus possible rather than curse the [alleged] darkness of the Orthodox proposal. Let’s light a candle in the sky of a consensus law,” Geagea said during an LF ceremony at his Maarab residence.
“We want a new electoral law because the country needs one, not because Christians want to take revenge for previous years ... or a law that brings back the demons of the past,” he added.
Both the LF and the Kataeb Party have voiced their support for the Orthodox proposal and voted for it Tuesday in Parliament’s joint committees along with the Free Patriotic Movement, Marada Movement, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement.
President Michel Sleiman, the Future Movement, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt and independent March 14 Christians blasted the move, saying if the law was passed by Parliament, it would only serve to deepen sectarian divisions.
If passed, the draft law will allow every sect to elect its own MPs under a proportional representation system with the entirety of Lebanon as a single district.
Geagea also criticized the “the placebo victory we have seen in recent days,” in an indirect reference to FPM leader Michel Aoun, who said the joint committee’s approval of the law was an achievement.
“Any local victory against the other in Lebanon is a loss for everybody in the long-term. We insist on a draft electoral law that satisfies most if not all groups and is not aimed against the other,” Geagea said.
Aoun reacted to Geagea later during an interview, saying that “[passing] the draft law is not a victory – victory is achieved during elections.”
Aoun said he adheres to the Orthodox plan because it allows Christians to elect their 64 MPs. “The alternative [I accept] is having the entirety of Lebanon a single district under proportional representation,” he said.
The FPM leader said he supports adopting the Orthodox proposal for the June elections only and accused the March 14 coalition of working to cancel or delay the polls. Geagea dismissed claims that his party was sectarian, noting that over the past seven years it had taken patriotic positions and worked for the interests of all Lebanese.
Meanwhile, President Michel Sleiman discussed with Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel at Baabda Palace the proposed electoral draft laws, highlighting the importance of having a modern law that provides fair representation for all groups in society, in line with the National Pact.
Gemayel also briefed the president on Thursday’s meeting in Bkirki of Maronite leaders who convened to discuss an electoral law that would satisfy the majority of Lebanese.
Later, Sleiman was a dinner guest of former Minister Nayla Mouawad at her home. Media reports said former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and independent Christian figures were also present.
Following the meeting chaired by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai, rival Maronite leaders said they were open to any plan that ensured true representation.
Batroun MP Butros Harb, who was in attendance, described the meeting as productive because it kept the door open for discussing other proposals.
“I believe it was good and came up with a good result, which is the openness to discuss other electoral proposals and acknowledging the fact that Christians do not all have one opinion [regarding the Orthodox proposal],” Harb told The Daily Star.“I believe the patriarch felt there is a crisis resulting from the fact that the Orthodox proposal does not solve the problem of [Christian representation]; there are Christians and non-Christians against it and the president is against it,” he added.Harb said he felt that Aoun had no interest in reaching a solution, unlike the Kataeb and the LF. “The Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb and I believe that we should look for a law that provides fair representation but at the same time preserves Lebanon rather than leading to bigger problems,” Harb said.
A source close to Speaker Nabih Berri told The Daily Star the speaker would stick to his hybrid law proposal, which calls for 64 MPs being elected under a winner-takes-all system and 64 under proportional representation. “He is making this proposal as a speaker who is trying to help [all parties] reach a consensus, he supports any draft electoral law that all Lebanese agree on,” the source said.
Berri’s hybrid proposal would divide Lebanon into six governorates and the 26 districts that were adopted in the 1960 law.
Half of the lawmakers would run on a governorate level where proportional representation would be applied, and the other half would run from from the smaller district-level under a winner-takes-all system.
“In the qada of Marjayoun-Hasbaya for example, you have five MPs: two Shiites, one Sunni, one Druze and one Greek Orthodox. The Greek Orthodox will be elected by residents of the south governorate, and not only by his qada, in order to allow Greek Orthodox in Sidon, for example, to vote for him,” he said.
Political sources told the Central News Agency that elections are likely to be postponed under one of three pretexts: the failure to agree on a new law, the failure to adequately prepare for the elections, or the failure to form the elections supervisory committee, which has not been appointed due to disputes between Cabinet parties.

Homs Military Council to NOW: We did not target Hezbollah in Lebanon
Now Lebanon/Syria’s Homs Military Council denied media reports claiming that rebels shelled Hezbollah headquarters on Lebanese territory. “The strike was limited to the shelling a Hezbollah gathering in Syria’s Zeeta town with rocket launchers in response to an attempt made [by the Shiite group] to sneak into the Al-Qusayr town,” Military Council Chief and Qusayr Brigade Commander Lieutenant Mohyi ed-Dine el-Zein told NOW on Thursday. Zein held the Lebanese Armed Forces and the country’s government “accountable for allowing Hezbollah members to enter Syrian territory.” Earlier Thursday, Syrian rebel groups announced that they had started shelling Hezbollah positions in Lebanon and Syria, while security sources in Lebanon denied the claims. On Tuesday, the FSA issued a statement warning Lebanese in the northern Beqaa town of Hermel to avoid Hezbollah military sites and rocket launching positions. FSA chief of staff General Selim Idriss said on Wednesday that the rebel army is poised to launch a military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon after a top commander on Wednesday formally confirmed a 48-hour ultimatum for the Shiite group to stop “firing” on rebel positions in the Homs province. Meanwhile, Al-Arabiya television quoted the Syrian Revolution General Commission as saying that Hezbollah was sending reinforcements to Lebanese villages along the border with Syria and setting up operational centers. Also, Turkish Anadolu news agency reported that Hezbollah has announced that its ranks are now on full alert in eight overlapping Lebanese-Syrian border towns. On Sunday, three Lebanese Shiites were killed in clashes in Syria, a source close to Hezbollah said, as the opposition accused the militant group of fighting alongside its regime allies. Just hours earlier, the main bloc of the Syrian opposition accused the Damascus ally of having intervened "militarily" on the side of the regime, and warned this posed a threat to ties between neighbors Syria and Lebanon. Hezbollah has systematically denied sending fighters into Syria, though its leader Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged in October 2012 that party members had fought Syrian rebels but said they were acting as individuals and not under the group's direction. Lebanon is sharply divided over the Syrian conflict, with the Sunni-led March 14 movement supporting the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad and the Shiite Hezbollah and its allies backing the regime.

Syria protesters vent fury at Hezbollah
Now Lebanon/Thousands of Syrian protesters took to the streets on Friday with chants, banners and cartoons of President Bashar al-Assad to vent their anger at Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah and the international community. In the Turkish border town of Ain al-Arab, demonstrators, including young girls and dancing teenagers, shouted for freedom as they held aloft Kurdish flags alongside the Syrian revolution banner in a video posted on YouTube. In the Idlib town of Kfar Nabal, which has seen deadly air raids in the past week, demonstrators carried banners in Arabic and English. "World! Your carelessness produced extremists like Assad. Now, we need extremists to get rid of your products," read an English banner held by men and boys standing in front of a bombed-out building. The message came a day after a spate of bombings across Damascus, including a suicide car bomb condemned by the regime and opposition, killed at least 83 people in the deadliest day for the capital since the March 2011 start of the Syrian conflict. The Arabic banner read: "The revolution is not sectarian and ... all are welcome under the roof of the nation."In the town of Irbin, just northeast of Damascus, that has been the target of continuous bombardment by regime warplanes, a young boy stopped for a photo during a march to show his message to Assad: "We are coming to get you." Meanwhile, the Facebook group "Lens of a Young Isqati" showed a demonstrator in the northwestern town of Isqat holding a cartoon of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah facing Israel and striking matches to light the fuse of a bomb. But the fuse is facing the opposite direction and the matches land in Lebanon and Syria, where Hezbollah fighters were reported to have attacked opposition-held towns and villages from across the border last week.Despite the ever-rising brutality of the conflict, which has left an estimated 70,000 people killed, demonstrations continue to be held every Friday nationwide.

Future bloc MP Ahmad Fatfat says Orthodox law advocates decreasing
Now Lebanon/Future bloc MP Ahmad Fatfat said that some parties who approved the Orthodox electoral law are now having second thoughts.“There is a big unrest even among the [parties] that backed the Orthodox law without being [fully] convinced, especially after seeing the Christians’ reactions [to this draft],” Fatfat told Future TV on Friday.He also stated that his party was still having discussions with the Progressive Socialist Party, independent March 14 Christians, the Lebanese Forces and Kataeb Party. However, he acknowledged that “things have deteriorated” because not many sacrifices can be made concerning an issue as important as the electoral law.“We are studying several approaches with the PSP, but till now we haven’t reached a final decision.”On Tuesday, Lebanon’s joint parliamentary commissions approved the Orthodox law which proposes citizens vote for candidates of their own sect; a decision that prompted criticism from a number of political figures. This draft was endorsed by Lebanon’s four major Christian parties, including the opposition LF and Kataeb Party. However, the Future Movement, PSP, independent March 14 Christians and Lebanon’s president refused it on the grounds that it could lead to sectarian divisions in the country.Future bloc MPs walked out of the joint parliamentary commissions’ Tuesday session along with PSP lawmakers as well as independent Christian MPs, as voting on the approval of the second article of the Orthodox draft law was underway.

Salafis to hold Beirut rally for Islamist inmates’ release
Now Lebanon/A member of the Committee of Islamist Detainees in Lebanon’s Roumieh Prison told NOW that a sit-in will be held Sunday in Downtown Beirut to demand the release of Fatah al-Islam prisoners.
“A protest will be staged in [Beirut’s] Martyr Square on Sunday, February 24, at 12:30 p.m. to request the release of the Islamist detainees in the Roumieh [Prison],” a Salafi Sheikh, who wished to remain anonymous, told NOW on Friday.He added that the objective of the protest was to “lift the injustice off the [Islamists] in Roumieh because there is a media attack to distort [their] image.”
Fatah al-Islam detainees in the Lebanese prison have been the center of controversy over the past months, most recently following the case of a Palestinian prisoner who was found beaten to death in his cell.
The head of the Fatah al-Islam detainees was indicted in January for the murder of Palestinian Ghassan al-Qandaqli, with the military prosecutor also filing charges against nine other inmates.

Lebanese villagers in Syria ride out the storm
February 23, 2013/By Rakan al-Fakih/The Daily Star
HERMEL, Lebanon: The uneasy calm that has taken hold in Syrian villages inhabited by Shiites near Lebanon’s northeastern border appears to be a lull before the storm, amid fears of renewed hostilities pitting the Hezbollah-backed Popular Committees and the Syrian army against the rebel Free Syrian Army and other armed groups. Several Syrian villages inhabited by Lebanese Shiites, such as Zeita, Hamam and Safsafeh, have formed a front against the villages of Nahriya, Abu Houry, Saqrja, Burhaniya and Radwaniya, where FSA fighters are located. Last week, three Hezbollah fighters and 12 Syrian rebels were killed during fierce fighting in the Syrian town of Al-Qusair near the border, according to a Lebanese security source.The precarious calm on the border comes amid FSA claims Thursday that one of its battalions had targeted two Hezbollah bases, one in Syria and the other in the city of Hermel, in retaliation for the party’s involvement in the Syrian conflict. However, the FSA allegations have been denied by a Lebanese security source in Hermel.
The strict security measures taken by Hezbollah’s political and military commands in Hermel are evident as party members escort journalists on a tour of Shiite villages and indicate that the villages are living in an atmosphere of war. The streets are nearly empty and damage inflicted on cars confirms recent fighting. Sand barricades and houses, which form a confrontation line with opposite villages, are ridden with bullets.
Tension has spread to the Lebanese towns of Hawsh Sayyed Ali and Al-Qasr near the border with Syria. The two towns are 15 km north of Hermel.
According to an independent source from the Shiite villages, the latest clashes between Hezbollah fighters and the FSA began after a reconnaissance patrol from the local Popular Committees was ambushed by the FSA when it approached houses controlled by Syrian rebels in the village of Abu Houry, killing three patrol members and wounding 13 others.
During the clashes, two artillery shells fired by the FSA landed in Al-Qasr, while another landed but did not explode in Hawsh Sayyed Ali, in what appeared to be a warning message to residents in the two Lebanese villages.
Last week’s battles came after a series of clashes, which began between the two sides last July, left 15 people dead and nine members missing from the Popular Committees and Hezbollah. In nearby Sunni villages, some 100 people were killed and a large number were wounded, including FSA fighters.
This week’s clashes present the risk of renewed fighting between residents in the opposing villages, especially in light of statements made in the past few days by FSA commanders threatening to strike Hezbollah positions in Lebanon within 48 hours if the party does not stop interfering in Syria.
The FSA commanders also directly threatened Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.
The confrontation line between the Popular Committees fighters in Syrian Shiite villages and the FSA is about 12 km wide and runs up to 5 km deep into Syria. It includes more than 20 villages rich with fertile land, owned by Lebanese Shiites living in the Syrian town of Al-Qusair.
Although there are an estimated 30,000 Lebanese Shiites living in a cluster of 20 Syrian villages near the Lebanese border, many have fled east to Hermel, Baalbek and Beirut because of violence. The residents of these villages belong to well-known families in the Hermel region such as Zeaiter, Jaafar, Hamadeh, Nasreddine, Saqr, Assaf, Safwan, Badawi, Jamal and Rahhal.
Khaled Jaafar, one of the chiefs from the Jaafar clan who lives in Al-Qasr, said that the clashes in Shiite villages inside Syrian territory began last summer when FSA members kidnapped Khodr Jaafar and Mohammad Zein in Zeita, prompting the Jaafar clan to abduct 32 Syrians in response.
The tit-for-tat kidnappings finally resulted in the declaration of a truce, and the formation of a reconciliation committee between the Hermel region’s clans and their neighbors in Syrian villages, who support the Syrian opposition.
The committee worked to secure the release of abducted people on both sides and declared the truce, whereby civilians would be spared and allowed to cultivate their lands and continue their normal way of life.
“Regretfully, the renewal of kidnappings revived tension, shattered the truce and led to last week’s clashes, during which shells fired by the FSA landed in the towns of Al-Qasr and Hawsh Sayyed Ali inside Lebanese territory,” Jaafar said.He added that the channels of communication between clans in the Shiite villages and the residents of the Syrian villages have been cut off, especially after gunmen from the Syrian opposition arrived in the area.
According to Jaafar, the clans of the Hermel region and the Shiite villages inside Syrian territory had sought the assistance of Hezbollah to help them confront “armed groups from the Syrian opposition which have turned into a regular army.”Without Hezbollah’s help, the residents and clans in Shiite villages would not have been unable to defend themselves, their homes and properties, he said.
Jaafar, apprehensive of the grave developments, fears that the situation might flare up into a major battle at any moment and lead to bloodshed between rival groups on both sides. In this case, Hezbollah will not be able to control the situation, he said. In the event of renewed hostilities, Jaafar said that the Hermel clans will attack areas supportive of the Syrian opposition in an attempt to expel them.
“The Hermel clans are capable of doing this because they have armed groups in the Popular Committee,” which have begun preparing for a wider confrontation with the Syrian opposition groups in the area, Jaafar said.
Ali Zeaiter, the head of the reconciliation committee, ruled out the possibility of arranging a sustainable truce between the two sides.
“Achieving a permanent truce in the region has become almost impossible, given that the development of the military situation and the confrontation between the two sides has gone beyond the limits of residents in villages on both sides,” Zeaiter said. He added that the fate of a truce now depends on the general situation and decisions made by top leaders in both the Syrian opposition and the Hezbollah leadership.

Aoun: Alternative to Orthodox Proposal is Law Based on Single District, Proportional Representation
Naharnet /Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Friday said “the alternative” to the electoral law proposed by the Orthodox Gathering would be an electoral law that turns Lebanon into a single electoral district under a proportional representation system.“I did not celebrate over the (approval of the) Orthodox Gathering law (by the joint parliamentary committees) and it is not a victory because victory is to be achieved during elections,” Aoun said in an interview on al-Manar television.“They always jump to conclusions and it was a coincidence that we celebrated my birthday the day the Orthodox law was approved,” he added.
The controversial proposal of the Orthodox Gathering has been slammed as sectarian. According to the draft law, each sect would elect its own lawmakers and Lebanon would be turned into a single electorate under a proportional representation system. The proposal has already drawn the criticism of President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati. It has also been severely criticized by the opposition al-Mustaqbal bloc, the National Struggle Front of MP Walid Jumblat and March 14 opposition's independent Christian Mps."Ever since 1989, Christians have been colonized, but today they are demanding their independence," said Aoun, stressing that "the Orthodox Gathering law will take us to a real unity." "I am secular from head to toe and the demands I want to achieve through the Orthodox law do not reflect sectarian discrimination," he argued.
"I still insist on the statement I said one day, 'Abandon me if I ever become sectarian,' and I'm not discriminating among people, I'm rather defining their rights," he stressed. "I insist on the 64 (Christian) lawmakers and I will not settle for less," Aoun went on to say. The FPM leader underlined that the Orthodox Gathering draft law is not a "political maneuver.""They are taking us lightly and we want a compensation for the past years," he said.
Aoun noted that the controversial law "would not encroach on the rights of any sect."But "they must not encroach on our rights," he added.
Asked about al-Mustaqbal bloc's remarks that the Orthodox law "serves the Israeli enemy," Aoun described them as "meaningless and absurd.""No one can blackmail me with their remarks and it is shameful when politicians resort to such a rhetoric," he added. Asked about Jumblat's stances, Aoun said the Druze leader "is lamenting his defeat and he likes to isolate himself." He noted that "the most ugly law Lebanon has witnessed is the 2000 law and the 1960 law was only an attempt to refine it." Aoun stressed that "whoever votes against the Orthodox law is morally corrupt because they would be denying others their rights."The FPM leader accused President Michel Suleiman of "practicing preemptive pressure on the Constitutional Council" concerning the constitutionality of the Orthodox Gathering draft law."I call on President Suleiman not to employ his stance that is not in favor of the Orthodox law to pressure the Constitutional Council," he said. "The president should have stayed neutral instead of voicing a stance on the Orthodox law to avoid influencing the Constitutional Council's decision," Aoun clarified.
On the possible extension of parliament's mandate, Aoun said: "I'm not with an extension of the current parliament's mandate and should we fail to reach consensus, the parliament's mandate would expire and the government would rule through decrees."Commenting on his alliance with Hizbullah, Aoun said: "As long as the situation in the South remains the same and Israel is our enemy, we are in an alliance with Hizbullah. Why would I disagree with Hizbullah over domestic issues if we both agree on the principles of reform."Turning to the issue of his remarks on the Bahraini uprising, the FPM leader said: “The oppression against the revolution that started three years ago must end and it is enough to review Human Rights Watch's reports. Those who criticized me in Lebanon are trying to blackmail me.”Jumblat on Thursday blasted Aoun over his stances on Bahrain, saying Lebanon must not be “implicated in reckless, hasty and biased political stances.”Aoun has recently criticized the international community and the Arab League for their lack of support for Bahraini protesters.The FPM leader's statement to Iran's al-Alam television on Wednesday was considered by Bahrain as an “irresponsible meddling in its internal affairs.”Aoun hit back on Saturday, saying “we support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Bahrain would incur a lot of criticism if it does not advocate it.”Jumblat lashed out at Aoun without naming him, noting that "reducing the number of ineffectual, 'heroic' political viewpoints, stances and analyses would spare the Lebanese expats in Arab countries threats against their presence.”

Assir militants deploy against “Hezbollah hit”
Now Lebanon/Salafi Sunni Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir said Friday’s deployment of his armed supporters around his Sidon mosque was in self-defense against Hezbollah members who were allegedly trying to break in, a charge Lebanese security forces denied. “Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, after his Friday sermon, called on everyone to fulfill their duty of protecting the mosque from suspicious military positions that Iran’s party [in reference to Hezbollah] has setup around [the mosque],” a statement issued on Assir’s official Facebook page said. The statement alleged that a number of four-wheel-drive cars with tinted windows driven by armed Hezbollah members started driving around the mosque, which provoked Assir’s supporters who were praying inside. The move was considered “an attempt to break into the mosque and kill the Sheikh… which prompted the mosque’s private guard to protect him,” the statement added. The statement also called for Assir’s supporters to refrain from taking any “individual decisions,” as well as not to “deal with security forces and army soldiers.” Following this incident, army forces deployed to the scene and requested reinforcements from outside Sidon. Earlier on Friday, Sheikh Ahmad al-Hariri, a top supporter of Assir, told NOW that Hezbollah’s “Shabiha” were planning an attack against Sidon’s Bilal Bin Rabbah Mosque.Meanwhile, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel denied that “armed men were deployed in Sidon” in a possible reference to Hezbollah members who were allegedly trying to attack the mosque.
He confirmed, however, that army soldiers and security forces deployed to Sidon following this incident. The National News Agency later added that no clashes erupted amid the tense atmosphere.
Charbel also told Al-Jadeed TV that security forces will “open fire” on whoever carries weapons.Sheikh Assir rose to prominence for his outspoken opposition to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his calls for disarming Hezbollah.

Kataeb bloc MP Sami Gemayel denounces government inertia over execution calls
Now Lebanon/Kataeb bloc MP Sami Gemayel slammed the Lebanese government’s lack of diplomatic action following the judiciary’s request for capital punishment for a Lebanese and a Syrian official.
“[How is it that] the Lebanese-Syrian relations are still the same when the Lebanese judiciary requested the death penalty for [Syrian security chief Ali Mamlouk],” the National News Agency quoted Gemayel as saying on Friday. He also addressed Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, inquiring about why “till this day, the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon is still in [the country], and why diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Syria have not yet been cut.” “We either respect our judiciary or we don’t,” Gemayel added. On Wednesday, Military magistrate Riad Abu Ghida demanded capital punishment for ex-minister Michel Samaha and Syrian security chief Ali Mamlouk, who face charges of plotting attacks on political and religious figures in Lebanon. Samaha and Mamlouk were first accused in August of planning the attacks along with a Syrian army colonel identified only by his first name, Adnan. Samaha, a Christian former information minister, was arrested at his home on August 9, while an arrest warrant for Mamlouk was issued on February 4. Samaha is known for having close ties to the Damascus regime and is also accused of "inciting sectarian strife."Syria occupied Lebanon militarily and politically for nearly three decades until 2005, when its troops were forced to pull out of the country under international pressure. Seven years after Syria withdrew from Lebanon, the country's political forces remain sharply divided over their powerful neighbor.

The Lebanese Democratic Party says Orthodox electoral law “the best”
Now Lebanon/The Lebanese Democratic Party expressed its approval of the Orthodox electoral draft but said it creates a sectarian division.
“The Orthodox law… in spite of its disadvantages… remains the best, compared to the 1960 law,” the statement that the LDP’s press office issued on Friday said.
Lebanon’s joint parliamentary commissions approved on Tuesday the Orthodox law which proposes citizens vote for candidates of their own sect; a decision that prompted criticism from a number of political figures.
This draft was endorsed by Lebanon’s four major Christian parties, including the opposition Lebanese Forces and Kataeb Party. However, the Future Movement, Progressive Socialist Party, independent March 14 Christians and Lebanon’s president refused it on the grounds that it could lead to confessional alignments in the country.
The meeting came after weeks of deliberation at the end of which the country’s competing political forces failed to reach a unanimous agreement to choose a proposal that would replace the 1960 electoral law currently on the books.Meanwhile, the LDP’s statement tackled the issue of wage increases which has caused a wave of strikes across Lebanon.
The party asked in the statement why the cabinet was “stalling the implementation of salary raises.”
Lebanese school teachers and government employees staged strikes across the country on Tuesday on the Syndicate Coordination Committee’s request in order to demand that the government speed up the approval of wage increases. In early September 2012, the Lebanese cabinet approved a new ranks and salaries system. However, a debate is ongoing regarding the requisite funds to cover the wage increase for public employees.
Elsewhere, the statement commented on LDP leader MP Talal Arslan’s recent visit to Syria, saying it was a “routine visit to underscore… the friendship and brotherhood that links Arslan to [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad.”

Daily Star/Interview with Raymond Gebara Lebanon's distinguished playwrights, observer and critic
The Lebanese audience likes stupidity and national slogans’
February 23, 2013/By Chirine Lahoud/The Daily Star
QORNET SHEHWAN, Lebanon: Raymond Gebara is one of the country’s most distinguished playwrights, an observer and critic of Lebanon – a country, he says, full of “thieves and liars” – which has been his main source of inspiration.As a professor of fine arts at the Lebanese University, Gebara has worked with several actors who have since risen to the firmament of Lebanon’s stage and screen.
Though he says he doesn’t “take part in any political parties,” Gebara is also recognized for his satirical political columns in Al-Nahar newspaper, and in March 2012 the municipality of Gebara’s hometown of Qornet Shehwan paid a tribute to his career.
Though his physical stature is nowadays diminished due to hemiplegia (a disease that induces paralysis), Gebara’s wit is still vigorous and his opinions still cut a wide swath through the country’s arts scene.
The playwright spoke to The Daily Star while preparing to direct Antoine Ghandour’s impending play “We Offer You a Nation,” which is due to be performed at the Casino du Liban. The play tells the story of Patriarch Elias Howayek – the Maronite cleric who some regard to be the father of modern Lebanon.
Q: Why did you return to writing plays after your long years of “abstinence?”
A: During the Civil War I wrote plays. I have written 13-14 plays. I never stopped writing.
Q: What’s the difference between writing a newspaper column and writing a play?
A: There is not a lot of difference. There is always theater in my articles. I don’t deal with theater but there is always a sum of theater in them.
Q: Do you feel your political positions have prevented your art from reaching a wider public?
A: Official censorship is good. But now ... there is censorship from the fanatical parties. I know a stage director who had to stop his play because he was threatened.
When we had a state and a government, there was a possibility to present things. I showed a play on Abraham and Isaac. Abraham takes his son to sacrifice him to God. He tells his son, “Put your head here.” [gesturing to his lap] God then tells him, “No, don’t kill him. I’ll give you a sheep to sacrifice.”
Abraham waits for God to say something. He looks at the audience and says, “Do you think he didn’t hear me?” and he says [to God] “Oh! I am here!” No one answers.
“Do you think he changed places?” Then God tells [Abraham] “Slay him.” Abraham answers, “But we agreed you had a sheep for me?” [God] comes down on the stage in a big basket and says, “If I had one, I would have eaten it myself.” [Gebara laughs] I can’t do this play now.
Q: What is your opinion of Lebanese theater?
A: In general it is commercial theater and it is sometimes stupid. There are students who study theater in universities who have valuable plays, but they don’t come from theatrical families.
Q: Would you change anything about Lebanese theater?
A: Each person has his/her own style. The old generation used to tell me, “You’re crazy” When I showed [one of my plays], Roger Assaf said, “Gebara changed all the data.”
Because I didn’t study theater, I do theater how I feel it. I don’t imitate anyone. The first thing I teach my students is to never imitate. I put a ladder against a wall and tell a student to go up that ladder. He goes up. Then, I ask another student to go further up. He climbs [the ladder] and asks, “How can I go further [than him]?” I tell him, “You can’t. You need another ladder.”
We should never copy. [It’s like] these young girls who get a nose job. They all look alike.
Q: What are the key facets of theater?
A: Theater should not be a manifesto for political parties. The function of theater is to move people’s conscience. Many who watch a play forget it as soon as they leave the venue. For mine, they never forget.
I did a play about the Civil War but indirectly, about mankind. A militia chief [later] told me, “I saw your play, but I didn’t understand a thing. I did not sleep for two weeks!” I told him, “That’s good!” ... My plays make people think but not with a direct text. I throw ideas out and leave the spectator free [to interpret them].
[Lebanese] plays all play the national anthem at the beginning. I don’t have it. We need to keep the atmosphere, just like when we go somewhere to pray.
Q: What are the criteria of a good play?
A: When there aren’t a lot of spectators, it means the play is good. The Lebanese audience likes stupidity and national slogans. Someone who sees my plays is disturbed. Lebanese don’t like to be disturbed.
A doctor who earns $1,000 per day won’t go to the theater to think. He’ll go there to laugh. I could go [find] an Egyptian at a gas station, say, “give him $100 and ask him to make people laugh.” For me, this isn’t theater. I have a special audience for Raymond Gebara’s plays. I do theater for them.
Q: During an interview in this newspaper some time ago, [Lebanese actress] Julia Kassar said that when you write a play, you imagine her, Gabriel Yammine, Rifaat Torbey and Antoine Achkar playing the roles. Why?
A: Because they were my students at the university. I don’t write like Arab playwrights. To write a play, you have to write from the [character’s perspective]. When you read a play, you have the character’s name on the side. If you hide this name, it is a man who is talking. It isn’t the character talking, but the author. This is why there are no good playwrights.
Q: Do you have any regrets?
A: I am ... a mountain of regrets. It is because I think the human condition is not good. Civilization, or what we call civilization, is wrong. In the prehistoric age, when they were afraid of a wolf or a wild beast, they used to light a fire [to frighten it off]. Now, we cannot do anything about this fear, because this fear of wolves is in our veins.
I think fear is worse than death. During the wars, those who were shot dead in the head were better off than the kidnapped. These people knew fear, which is worse than death.

Christian voters in Lebanon back Orthodox law
February 23, 2013 /By Van Meguerditchian/The Daily Star
BEIRUT/ZALKA/JOUNIEH, Lebanon: Christians in three key electoral districts voiced their support Friday for the controversial Orthodox proposal and expressed their hope that the law would be adopted for the upcoming parliamentary elections.The so-called “Orthodox” law, which was endorsed by parliamentary committees earlier this week, has been met with fierce criticism from opponents, who argue the law is unconstitutional and would deepen sectarian division. One of them, President Michel Sleiman, has indicated that he would challenge it in court. According to the draft law, which has been endorsed by Christian political parties and the March 8 alliance, each sect would elect its own MPs with the country as a single district. In Kesrouan, Metn and the Beirut neighborhood of Ashrafieh, many told The Daily Star that the sect-based voting system should not be a reason to oppose the draft law. Only a handful of people interviewed in these areas came out against the proposal.
While working on watches in his repair shop in Metn’s Zalka, Tony Hajj said he opposed the idea because it wasn’t in line with the Taif Accord:
“Taif called for equal power sharing between Christians and Muslims, it called for coexistence, but it did not call for each sect to elect its own MPs.”
A supporter of the March 14 coalition, Hajj said that such an electoral law would segregate sects and should be rejected. “I hope it doesn’t pass in Parliament,” he said.
“As Christians, we should vote for Muslims and Muslims should vote for Christians,” Hajj added.
In nearby Jal al-Dib, Therese Tom said she wasn’t sure whether the law was as bad as its critics say.
“Yes in principle it is bad because not all Lebanese support it,” Tom explained. “It is good and not good at the same time.”
However, many people said they would go to polling stations and vote for the first time in their lives if the Orthodox law is adopted.
“Since I am originally from the Bekaa Valley [a Hezbollah stronghold], I don’t usually take part in the elections because my vote doesn’t count anyway,” Tom said. “I would definitely vote if this [Orthodox law] is adopted.”
Tom, 45, supports the March 14 coalition and believes the chances are low that the proposal will become the country’s official electoral law. Many people share Tom’s view and doubt whether the draft law would pass a general vote in Parliament.
“I really doubt it will be used in this year’s elections,” Tom added.
Others said that as long as Lebanon’s political system was based on sectarianism, the Orthodox proposal was a logical development.
“I hope they adopt this law for the elections to stop non-Christians from choosing Christian MPs,” said George Abu Ghazali, who owns a barbershop in Zalka.
“Do Christian politicians choose who the Muslim MPs are? Why should Muslim leaders choose our MPs?” said Ghazali, a supporter of Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.
Reading a newspaper in front of his shop, 67-year-old Naoum Zainoun said that although he supports the law, some amendments should be made to convince the proposal’s opponents to vote for it.
“We are reading about it every day; maybe some changes need to be made so that all Lebanese agree on it,” said Zainoun, a follower of Metn’s Orthodox politician Michel Murr. “But as a Maronite, I totally support the law.”
In Kesrouan’s Zouk Mosbeh, Joseph, a businessman who requested to be identified by first name only, said the adoption of the Orthodox proposal was crucial for the country’s future.
“Let me be honest with you, if Christians don’t recover their rights in this country, there will no longer be a country called Lebanon,” he said.
“We fought to keep this country, and today we need this law to face foreign plots ... you have Syria, Saudi Arabia and Israel who want to control Lebanon and without Christians’ rights, Lebanon will become another Islamic country for Israel to manipulate.”
Charbel Khalil, 24, described the proposal as the best and most suitable law to guide elections in Lebanon. “It’s an amazing law despite being a sectarian one,” he remarked.
“I am a supporter of the Free Patriotic Movement and maybe this law hurts them the most, but still, it returns the rights of Lebanese Christians,” said Khalil, an electrician from Harajel, Kesrouan.
“Even if we have this year’s elections without this law, politics in Lebanon will continue to remain sectarian,” he said.“It would be a great achievement if we approve this law in Parliament, but I think all this is a play and they will vote against it.”In Ashrafieh, Christians voiced their support for the adoption of Orthodox law, with most saying that it should be given the chance of being evaluated in elections at least once.Nada Khoury, who only recently heard about the legislation, was among those who said politicians should give the law a go.
“Change is better than nothing. In the past elections, we have been voting for specific leaders and parties, maybe with this law we will choose individuals,” she said.
Haig, who declined to give his last name, said “it is definitely not a long-term solution, but this is the only law that has brought Christians closer to each other.”
“It simply encourages sectarianism which we are hoping to move away from, but on the other hand it is advantageous to Christians and their presence in Lebanon.”The 26-year-old said regional developments and the emergence of Sunni-Shiite tensions have made such a law necessary.
“This law will protect the existence of Christians and promote their unity,” said Haig, a supporter of the prominent Armenian Tashnag Party.
He said he believed the law was likely to be adopted for this year’s parliamentary elections.
“It will give [Christians] a chance to grab an opportunity, elect a new Parliament and then discuss the final form of the electoral law,” he added.
George Dakkash, a businessman, said the law should be adopted to end the ongoing prejudice against Christians in the country.
“This is a great law; it would end Christians’ subordination to Muslim leaders,” he said.
“Apart from facing criticism from some politicians, it has a big chance of becoming the electoral law,” said Dakkash, an FPM supporter.
According to Dakkash, critics of the law are mainly politicians who feel that if the Orthodox law is adopted, they would not stand a chance in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
“Only the politicians who feel that they would lose are criticizing the law,” he said.
Elie, a resident of Ashrafieh, is originally from Sidon and has not voted in elections for many years. “I haven’t voted there because my vote wouldn’t make a difference in Sidon,” he said.
“I am not a big fan of the March 14 or the March 8, but at least my vote would count under such a law.”

Civil servants in Lebanon suspend work in most ministries
February 23, 2013/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Civil servants and public school teachers Friday maintained their pressure on the Cabinet for the fourth day running as most government offices suspended operations to press the authorities to pass the controversial revised salary scale.
Leaders of the Union Coordination Committee, which represents public school teachers and civil servants, said they would hold a sit-in near the Value Added Tax Department Saturday and another rally near the Central Bank building Monday.
Compared to Thursday’s mass rally in front of the Education Ministry, the number of protesters who marched Friday toward the Agriculture Ministry and the Adnan Kassar Economic building was small. But organizers said the size of the demonstrations would be quite significant in the coming days.
But what has drawn the attention of observers is that the protesters, who were initially comprised mostly of public school teachers, now include a growing number of civil servants.
Strict security measures were taken during Friday’s protests around the Agriculture Ministry and the Adnan Kassar building, which houses the headquarters of the Economics Committees, a leading private sector group.
The UCC threatened to escalate its action. “Tomorrow [Saturday] we will stage an open-ended sit-in outside the VAT Department headquarters,” group head Hanna Gharib told protesters rallying outside the Agriculture Ministry.
He said the union had held an “important” meeting to decide on the next steps.
“The meeting this afternoon aimed to discuss a stepped-up action plan starting Monday that will include a sit-in outside the Central Bank and nearby ministries including the Information, Tourism and Interior ministries and the Chamber of Commerce,” he added.
Workers at Beirut Municipality also took part in the protest.
Gharib accused members of the government of seeking to abort a sit-in near the VAT building last Wednesday, but stressed that these attempts had failed.
“The VAT staff has responded positively to the strike despite these pressures. They [the government] should understand that we took to the street to ensure that our demands are fulfilled, and I promise we will continue to demonstrate and hold sit-ins until the government complies with our demands,” Gharib told the crowds.
The union leader reiterated that the UCC would never accept a compromise on their demands and would not agree to the salary hike being paid in bits.
“They are trying to pay these pay raises in instalments. I tell them that if they continue to come up with excuses not to pay the salary hikes then we will continue to escalate the situation across the country,” Gharib said.
Small demonstrations took place in several areas across Lebanon, including near the home of Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Tripoli, where public school teachers staged a rally.
Security forces did not allow the protesters to block the road to Mikati’s house, and the teachers eventually left the area.
The UCC leaders emphasized that most private school teachers would take part in the general strike Monday, denouncing moves to discourage their participation in the protests.
“I have a letter from one of the schools in the north which warns the teachers not to take part in the strike,” Nehme Mahfoud, the head of the Association of Private School Teachers, told the crowds that rallied near the Agriculture Ministry.
“This warning will cost the school owner dearly, because the law allows all private school teachers to demonstrate and strike,” he said.
Mikati has maintained that the government would not rush the referral of a salary increase draft law to Parliament before the Cabinet can secure the funds needed to cover the pay raise.
Some analysts have voiced concern, however, that the disruption of work in government departments could affect the revenues of the treasury, most notably the Value Added Tax Department, which generates more than $2 billion in income each year. But a Finance Ministry source told The Daily Star that the bulk of VAT proceeds is collected from customs authorities at the airport and port and through commercial banks.
“The strike will not really affect the government’s revenue, but the work of the citizens and merchants will probably be affected,” the source explained.
The International Monetary Fund and the private sector warned that a hasty decision to raise the salary scale at this critical stage could potentially have a negative impact on the budget deficit and inflation.
Mikati, under pressure from workers and the private sector, has promised to secure funds for the salary hike without raising taxes on consumers and companies.
Observers believe Mikati will send the salary scale to Parliament, knowing that it has little chance of being approved.

Syrian Opposition seeks north Syria government
February 23, 2013 /By Daily Star Staff/Agencies
CAIRO: Syrian opposition leaders will meet in Istanbul on March 2 to choose a prime minister to head a provisional government that would operate in rebel-controlled areas of Syria, a coalition source said Friday.
The move was aimed at halting a slide into chaos in regions captured by insurgent brigades and estimated to comprise over half the country, although exiled coalition leaders exert little control or influence over rebels in Syria.
The date was set after a compromise was struck within the Syrian National Coalition between a bloc that includes the powerful Muslim Brotherhood and others who favor the speedy formation of a government, the source told Reuters at the end of a two-day meeting of the coalition in Cairo.
“A compromise was reached. The coalition agreed to meet again in Istanbul exclusively to choose a prime minister,” the source said.
The premier would then name a government, the source added, although it was not clear if it could operate immediately from rebel zones given that President Bashar Assad’s forces still wield formidable air, artillery and missile power all over Syria.
Coalition leaders renewed their efforts to form the provisional government a day after insisting that any peace talks must result in the removal of Assad, whose family has ruled Syria with an iron fist for 42 years.
Almost two years after an anti-Assad uprising erupted, the absence of a political leadership in land under rebel control has been a glaring weakness of opposition leaders, who have no authority over Islamist brigades making advances on the ground.
“You have a situation developing where chaos reigns in liberated areas while, relatively, there is still fuel, electricity and basic services in the Assad-held regions,” a diplomat in contact with the opposition said.
“If the situation persists like this, popular support for the opposition will dwindle and they could lose the war.”
On the second day of the SNC meetings, members heard reports from a committee formed to help decide whether a provisional government is viable while civil war rages and whether it would attract enough international financial and diplomatic support.
Opposition sources estimate that several billion dollars is needed every month for a government to function in rebel-held areas, mostly countryside and desert thought to comprise more than half of the Arab state’s landmass.
The coalition’s current financial backing falls way short of that, the sources said. However, they added that Qatar, a major Gulf Arab supporter of the revolt, this week pledged $100 million for humanitarian aid to be administered by the Assistance Coordination Unit, the coalition’s non-partisan wing.
The opposition’s failure to provide services in rebel-controlled areas and increasing reports of rebel indiscipline and looting have cut into public support for their cause.
Opposition brigades have wrested large swathes of Syria from Assad’s military but these areas remain vulnerable to artillery, airstrikes and, increasingly, missiles.
But a coalition member said: “Even if a government is not viable right now we should name a prime minister and let him start forming it to send a message to the people on the inside who are demanding one.”
Opposition by the Muslim Brotherhood helped scuttle an attempt backed by coalition secretary general Mustafa al-Sabbagh, a businessman with strong links to the Gulf, to name former Syrian premier Riad Hijab as prime minister at a meeting in Istanbul last month, the sources said.
Hijab, the regime’s highest-ranking defector since the revolt began, lacks good ties with the Brotherhood. Several liberals in the coalition also oppose him because he was a long-serving operative for the ruling Baath Party.
“Hijab has said the right things and is an administrator. He is qualified but his history in the regime plays against him,” a coalition member said. The meeting of the Western, Arab and Turkish-backed coalition began Thursday, ahead of a planned visit by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem to Moscow, one of Assad’s last foreign allies.
One diplomat said the coalition spent a long time debating a peace proposal that appeared to “be going nowhere” and that it was time it got to the nitty gritty of governance, such as how to administer the newly pledged aid from Qatar and building an alternative administration.
Coalition president Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib came under fire from all sides for proposing talks with Assad’s regime without setting what they described as clear goals.
The coalition adopted a document that demands Assad’s removal and his trial for the bloodshed, members said. Any political solution must be based on “the removal of Bashar Assad and the heads of the military and security apparatus responsible for the decisions that led the country to this stage,” a statement said.
The statement said any future initiatives must emanate from the 12-member collective leadership of the coalition.
Outspoken coalition member and veteran dissident Kamal Labwani said forming a government was necessary, and all but canceled the dialogue initiative.
“The revolution needs this. We can no longer work from outside. We need a government that can manage the policing, the armed units, the courts, as well as the money, the resources, the industry, the agriculture,” he told The Daily Star by telephone from Sweden.
Labwani said Khatib was unlikely to pursue the dialogue initiative alone: “I don’t think he will resign, but he must respect the decisions of the coalition.”
The decision came amid a spike in violence in the country.
Activists said at least 12 people, including children, were killed in three blasts in the northern city of Aleppo.
The director of the opposition Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel-Rahman, said the explosions appeared to have been caused by missiles which hit the eastern neighborhoods of Hamra and Tariq al-Bab. The Observatory said dozens of people were wounded, and that many more are believed to be trapped under the rubble of damaged buildings.
Also Friday, Syrian warplanes and artillery hit targets near Damascus International Airport. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Lebanon hosts most Syrian refugees in region, registration still a problem
February 23, 2013/By Stephen Dockery/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon receiving aid from the United Nations has now topped 300,000, more than any other country in the region, according to a U.N. report issued Friday.
The latest report from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees showed that the aid organization continues to struggle to keep up with the massive numbers of people in need.
Refugees face around a two-and-a-half-month wait to register, while the number of Syrians receiving aid but not signed up at one of the organization’s four registration points continues to climb.
There are now 110,655 unregistered refugees receiving aid from the U.N., partly due to how difficult it is to access refugees spread around the country and how few registration points are operating. An average of 2,000 people are registered every day by the UNHCR.
“Different efforts to increase the registration capacity have helped speed up the process. Despite the overall increase in the number of people approaching our office to register, people now have to wait less and less to be interviewed by UNHCR,” the report reads.
“The new registration sites in the Bekaa Valley and the south scheduled to open soon will have a much greater impact on registration schedules.”
The UNHCR is helping over 307,753 refugees, while government sources estimate there are an additional 100,000 Syrians who have not sought official aid.
An increasing number of refugees have sought residence in the south and west of the country in addition to the surges of newly displaced people along the border. There are now 51,283 Syrian refugees receiving aid from the U.N. in Beirut and Mount Lebanon and 44,978 Syrians getting aid in the south, according to the report.
Over the past week the U.N. and its partners have focused on distributing winter aid, including 60,000 items of clothing, heaters and blankets as well as food vouchers and fuel coupons.
Three thousand patients sought health care in clinics and an additional 650 patients were admitted to aid organization-funded hospitals in the north and the Bekaa.
Nearly two years after the Syrian crisis began, the services the U.N. now offers to refugees reflect the multitude of difficulties faced in terms of their long-term relocation.
Refugee assistance programs include physical and mental health, hygiene, family planning, pre- and postnatal care, gender violence prevention, early marriage awareness as well as child care, education and nutrition advice.
The programs are so extensive in some areas that they surpass any Lebanese government program; in other areas aid is nonexistent.
A recent survey conducted by charity Medicins Sans Frontieres found that about half of Syrian refugees in Lebanon don’t have access to medical care, while most unregistered refugees were not receiving any aid at all.
Because of the increasing numbers of people and difficult conditions they live in, hygiene-related diseases and health problems are on the rise, aid organizations say.
The government has made an appeal for nearly $200 million to help aid refugees, but much more funding is needed, the U.N. says.

Canada Condemns Terrorist Bombing Attack in India
February 22, 2013 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird issued the following statement:
“Canada condemns in the strongest terms the bombings in Dilsukhnagar.
“On behalf of all Canadians, I offer our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed by this barbaric act of violence, and I wish a quick recovery to the injured. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.
“This attack is a stark reminder that terrorists remain active around the world. We need to continue to work together to counter those who perpetrate these atrocities.
“Canada stands in solidarity with the government and people of India in their fight against terrorism. We are confident that the Government of India will make every effort to swiftly bring the perpetrators of these heinous acts to justice.”

Question: "Does God still perform miracles?"
GotQuestions.org/Answer: Many people desire God to perform miracles to “prove” Himself to them. “If only God would perform a miracle, sign, or wonder, then I would believe!” This idea, though, is contradicted by Scripture. When God performed amazing and powerful miracles for the Israelites, did that cause them to obey Him? No, the Israelites constantly disobeyed and rebelled against God even though they saw all the miracles. The same people who saw God part the Red Sea later doubted whether God was able to conquer the inhabitants of the Promised Land. This truth is explained in Luke 16:19-31. In the story, a man in hell asks Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn his brothers. Abraham informed the man, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31).
Jesus performed countless miracles, yet the vast majority of people did not believe in Him. If God performed miracles today as He did in the past, the result would be the same. People would be amazed and would believe in God for a short time. That faith would be shallow and would disappear the moment something unexpected or frightening occurred. A faith based on miracles is not a mature faith. God performed the greatest miracle of all time in coming to earth as the Man Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins (Romans 5:8) so that we could be saved (John 3:16). God does still perform miracles—many of them simply go unnoticed or are denied. However, we do not need more miracles. What we need is to believe in the miracle of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
The purpose of miracles was to authenticate the performer of the miracles. Acts 2:22 declares, “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.” The same is said of the apostles, “The things that mark an apostle—signs, wonders and miracles—were done among you with great perseverance” (2 Corinthians 12:12). Speaking of the gospel, Hebrews 2:4 proclaims, “God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.” We now have the truth of Jesus recorded in Scripture. We now have the writings of the apostles recorded in Scripture. Jesus and His apostles, as recorded in Scripture, are the cornerstone and foundation of our faith (Ephesians 2:20). In this sense, miracles are no longer necessary, as the message of Jesus and His apostles has already been attested to and accurately recorded in the Scriptures. Yes, God still performs miracles. At the same time, we should not necessarily expect miracles to occur today just as they did in Bible times.