LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 17/2013

Bible Quotation for today/Who Is the Greatest?/Temptations to Sin
Matthew18/01-09: "At that time the disciples came to Jesus, asking, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” So Jesus called a child to come and stand in front of them,  and said, “I assure you that unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.  The greatest in the Kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like this child.  And whoever welcomes in my name one such child as this, welcomes me. “If anyone should cause one of these little ones to lose his faith in me, it would be better for that person to have a large millstone tied around his neck and be drowned in the deep sea.  How terrible for the world that there are things that make people lose their faith! Such things will always happen—but how terrible for the one who causes them! “If your hand or your foot makes you lose your faith, cut it off and throw it away! It is better for you to enter life without a hand or a foot than to keep both hands and both feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.  And if your eye makes you lose your faith, take it out and throw it away! It is better for you to enter life with only one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
 Leadership Change in Oil-Rich Saudi Province/By: Simon Henderson/Washington Institute/January 17/13

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 17/13
 Rival Lebanese MPs embark on uphill bid for consensus
 Accord on election Lebanese law eludes steadfast rivals
New Proposals Threaten to Complicate Lebanon's Electoral Subcommittee Task
 Lebanon's PM, Miqati Holds onto Equal Power Sharing, Says Centrism Defended Lebanon
 Geagea: We Support Alternative to Orthodox Proposal that Enjoys Backing of Majority of Factions
 Aoun Restates Orthodox Law Support: We Will Veto Any Proposal that Does not Assure Equality
 Mustaqbal: Orthodox Gathering Law Transforms People into Sectarian Tribes
 UNIFIL denies reports on phone monitoring
 Lebanese Army  Lt. Col. Daher Jarjoui faces death penalty for spying
The Tripoli-based Salafi Sheikh Bilal Deqmaq: There is no Al-Qaeda in Lebanon
 What would a new marina mean for Tripoli?
 UNICEF Ambassador Farrow urges more aid for refugees
Over 80 killed in Aleppo university carnage
 U.S. Urges Morsi to Retract Anti-Semitic Remarks
 Turkish Planes Attack Kurdish Rebel Targets in Iraq
 Canada to Resettle Up to 5,000 Iranian, Iraqi Refugees
 Push for Syria war crimes probe as 26 children die

Likud accuses Obama of 'gross interference' in elections  


UNIFIL denies reports on phone monitoring
January 16, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: A spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon denied recent media reports that peacekeepers had intercepted phone calls inside a Palestinian refugee camp in a statement provided to The Daily Star Tuesday. The reports, which appeared in a number of Lebanese outlets including The Daily Star, attributed the information to a Lebanese security source who reportedly informed Palestinian officials that extremist groups in the camp were planning on carrying out terror attacks in Lebanon. “UNIFIL operates only in the framework of its mandate under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701,” the UNIFIL statement read. “UNIFIL’s mandate and area of operation in south Lebanon are clearly defined in that resolution. UNIFIL’s deployment and tasks are related to the cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel; ensuring respect for the Blue Line; preventing hostile activities or any violation of Resolution 1701 and create an environment of peace and stability in South of Lebanon,” it explained. The spokesperson added that UNIFIL’s monitoring activities are limited to the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force, which assists the Lebanese Navy in tracking maritime traffic, as per the request of the Lebanese government. “UNIFIL does not monitor land lines and wireless telecommunications, which is not within its capabilities,” the statement added.

Rival MPs embark on uphill bid for consensus
January 15, 2013/By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
From left, Lebanon Electricity director general Kamal Hayek, Water and Energy Minister Jibran Bassil, lawmaker Robert Ghanem and lawmaker Hikmat Dib attend a parliament session in Beirut, Lebanon. (The Daily Star)
BEIRUT: MPs from the March 8 and March 14 parties will launch attempts Tuesday to reach a consensus on a new electoral law after five days of deliberations marked by political differences over which legislation best guarantees fair representation for all sects.
The announcement, made Monday by MP Robert Ghanem, the chairman of a parliamentary subcommittee tasked with studying a new electoral law for this year’s parliamentary polls, came after the rival MPs sealed the results of the first phase of their discussions before sending them to Speaker Nabih Berri Tuesday.
“The subcommittee’s agenda contained three points divided into two stages. The first stage is related to two items: The first one is to discuss the electoral draft laws and proposals referred by the joint [parliamentary] committees to the subcommittee, and the second concerns the number of Parliament members,” Ghanem told reporters after the subcommittee’s three-hour meeting held in Parliament.
He said the second stage was to discuss reaching “a common ground” on a new electoral law. He added that the subcommittee would meet for this purpose Tuesday morning.
Ghanem said the subcommittee discussed Monday the draft report on the first stage of its deliberations, adding that the report would be presented to Berri Tuesday.
Last week, the MPs from the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance and the opposition March 14 coalition examined three conflicting draft electoral laws for this year’s polls: a controversial proposal by the Orthodox Gathering, which calls for every sect to elect its own MPs, a draft law presented by the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb Party that would divide Lebanon into 50 small districts under a winner-takes-all system, and the Cabinet’s draft based on a proportional representation system with 13 medium-sized electoral districts.
They also discussed proposals to increase the number of Parliament members to allot seats for Lebanese expatriates. Political sources said most of the subcommittee’s nine members – four March 8 MPs and four March 14 MPs, in addition to Progressive Socialist Party’s MP Akram Shehayeb – backed a proposal to increase the number of Parliament members from 128 to 134. Also, six MPs out of the nine subcommittee members supported the Orthodox electoral proposal, which has triggered a nationwide heated controversy and has been rejected by President Michel Sleiman, the Future Movement, PSP leader Walid Jumblatt and some March 14 Christian politicians who warned that the draft would sharpen sectarian divisions and encourage the rise of extremists.
Monday’s meeting was attended by Free Patriotic Movement’s MP Alain Aoun, who suspended his participation in the subcommittee’s talks last week after March 14 lawmakers rejected his demand to refer the Orthodox proposal to a Parliament vote.
“We approved today the minutes of the eight meetings. We have all agreed to the sealed minutes and we will present it to Speaker Nabih Berri. We will then continue discussing the remaining topics in order to reach common denominators,” Aoun told reporters after the meeting.
He added that the outcome of the subcommittee’s discussions has been written down and signed. “No one can distance himself from it,” Aoun said.
Hezbollah’s MP Ali Fayyad said the subcommittee’s work in the second stage would be backed by political parties represented in the subcommittee in order to reach a common ground on a new electoral law.
MP Shehayeb said: “From now on, serious work will concentrate on common denominators and this is the most important thing.”
Ghanem, from the March 14 coalition, has also rejected the Orthodox proposal, which sets Lebanon as a single district based on proportional representation with each sect electing its own MPs.
The proposal has won an unprecedented Christian consensus by the four rival Maronite parties: The Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb Party, MP Michel Aoun’s FPM and Zghorta MP Suleiman Franjieh’s Marada Movement.
The leaders of the four parties have fully supported the Orthodox draft as the best formula to ensure a true representation of Christians in this year’s elections, which are scheduled for early June.
Meanwhile, Jumblatt, who has rejected both the Orthodox proposal and the government’s proportional representation draft law, called for the establishment of a Lebanese senate as stipulated by the 1989 Taif Accord.
He scoffed at the current heated debate over a new electoral law, saying it was part of “unprecedented isolationist outbiddings that would leave extremely negative reverberations at more than one level.”
“Why don’t we cause a positive shock and leap into a Lebanese qualitative election spring by freeing Parliament from sectarian representation as stipulated by the Taif Accord and move to establish a senate in which all Lebanese components are represented?” Jumblatt said in his weekly article to be published by the PSP’s weekly Al-Anbaa newspaper Tuesday.
He added that among the senate’s main prerogatives would be to address major national issues and try to allay the concerns and fears of the feuding parties.
Jumblatt called for the adoption of an electoral law that enhances unity, rather than deepens sectarian divisions.
Implicitly slamming the Orthodox proposal, the PSP leader said: “It is time for the Lebanese to have an electoral law that brings them together instead of seeking proposals that increase their sectarian and confessional divisions and take them back to past centuries.” However, Kataeb MP Sami Gemayel, a member of the parliamentary subcommittee, defended the Orthodox draft law, but said his party was open to discussing other electoral proposals.
Speaking at a news conference before attending the subcommittee’s meeting in Parliament, he said the Christians would no longer accept bring marginalized in the country’s political decision-making as had happened over the past 23 years. “We will not accept to be imposed on us after 23 years laws that do not ensure partnership and equal power sharing and our representation to be as it is today,” Gemayel said.
“We are open to solutions. We don’t want to impose anything on anyone. But we will not accept after 23 years laws to be imposed on us that marginalize the Christians,” he said.
Responding to Jumblatt and other politicians who have criticized the Christian parties for upholding the Orthodox proposal, Gemayel said: “We wish that Walid Beik will realize that the current [electoral] law is unjust and instead of accusing us, let him find a solution to this crisis.”
“We will not accept a return to the zero point ... No one must think that we will accept for a minute the 1960 law,” Gemayel said.
The 1960 law, which adopts the qada as an electoral district and is based on a winner-takes-all system, was used in the 2009 parliamentary elections. The law has been rejected by officials on both sides of the political divide.
Also Monday, independent March 14 Christian lawmakers and politicians reiterated their rejection of the Orthodox proposal. In a statement issued after their meeting at the house of Batroun MP Butros Harb, the second in less than a week, the lawmakers praised the terse statement issued after a meeting of rival Maronite leaders in Bkirki last Friday in which they called for adopting an electoral law that provides fair representation for all sects.
“There are several alternatives to the current [1960] other than the Orthodox proposal that can ensure a true representation and safeguard the unity of Lebanon and the Lebanese, particularly the unity of Christians,” the March 14 MPs said.

New Proposals Threaten to Complicate Lebanon's Electoral Subcommittee Task
Naharnet/Several proposals made by rival lawmakers during a meeting of a parliamentary subcommittee on Tuesday are likely to delay agreement on an electoral draft-law.
“We continued discussions on all draft-laws and new proposals made by MPs,” said the chairman of the nine-member subcommittee, MP Robert Ghanem, on the first round of the second phase of talks aimed at reaching consensus on an electoral draft-law.
He said discussions will continue in a second session on Tuesday afternoon.
All members called for holding the elections on time and stressed on true partnership between Muslims and Christians, Ghanem told reporters.
The lawmakers on Monday sealed the results of the first phase of their discussions on the proposals and the number of parliament members. Ghanem handed Speaker Nabih Berri the minutes of the meetings during a meeting in Ain el-Tineh. The second phase which kicked off on Tuesday is aimed at reaching consensus on the electoral draft-law. But several proposals made by the rival MPs showed that the different parties are likely to face difficulties in finding converging ideas.
MP Akram Shehayyeb, who addressed reporters after the subcommittee chairman, said he proposed for parliament to hold intense meetings pending a decision on a modern consensual law based on the Taef accord.
Shehayyeb, who is representing MP Walid Jumblat's centrist Progressive Socialist Party in the meetings, said he also proposed the establishment of a senate and the adoption of administrative decentralization.
Lawmaker Alain Aoun from MP Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement did not reveal if he had made any new proposals during Tuesday's meeting. The FPM - part of the March 8 majority alliance - is a staunch supporter of the so-called Orthodox Gathering proposal which calls for considering Lebanon a single district and allowing each sect to elect its own MPs in a propositional representation system.
“We discussed the electoral draft suggestions again. In spite of what was achieved in the past days, discussions took their legislative path,” he said, hinting that the Orthodox proposal would be adopted.
“We should find a solution that combines the rejection to hold the polls based on the 1960 law … and finding an electoral draft-law that receives the backing of all parties,” he told reporters.
Phalange MP Sami Gemayel appeared to be critical of Shehayyeb's proposal, saying he supported discussions on the political system in the country but through another committee and not the subcommittee whose mission is limited to agreeing on an electoral draft-law. The opposition March 14 lawmaker said he proposed the adoption of either a draft-law that divides Lebanon into 50 districts or the Orthodox Gathering proposal based on a winner-takes-all system and not proportionality.
“I explained to the subcommittee members that it is easy to implement the winner-takes-all system in the Orthodox Gathering,” he told reporters. “But those rejecting it should propose alternatives,” the MP said about the PSP and al-Mustaqbal movement. Al-Mustaqbal MP Ahmed Fatfat said in response to Gemayel's suggestion that al-Mustaqbal agreed for proportionality to be implemented in certain areas “but in other closed regions the winner-takes-all system should prevail.” “There is a true crisis in the country and we should find a solution that appeases all sides,” he said.
The Orthodox proposal based on a winner-takes-all system made by Gemayel “needs further discussions because it was proposed for the first time” on Tuesday, he said.
As for Shehayyeb's proposal, “it requires that we consult our leaderships,” he said. “All the proposals could have solutions if there is goodwill.”
Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan, also a member of the March 14 opposition, criticized the suggestion of Shehayyeb, saying it “goes beyond the discussions on an electoral draft-law.”
“We can't discuss issues linked to the system because it would change our mission,” he said about the subcommittee.
While expressing keenness on holding the elections on time, he also said “we can't discuss about abolishing sectarianism” as time is running fast.

Lebanon's PM, Miqati Holds onto Equal Power Sharing, Says Centrism Defended Lebanon
Naharnet/Prime Minister Najib Miqati, who is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia this month, warned on Tuesday that the so-called Orthodox Gathering electoral proposal threatens the balance set by the Taef Agreement.
The Orthodox Gathering proposal, which calls for dividing Lebanon into a single district and allows each sect to elect its own MPs based on a proportional representation system, leads to “more divisions among the Lebanese and threatens the balance set by the Taef,” Miqati told As Safir daily.
He expressed fears that the adoption of the proposal in this year's parliamentary elections could lead the country to the unknown.
“Are its supporters aware of its dangers and consequences?” Miqati asked. “Aren't they aware that this proposal is an indirect count of the number of Lebanese and the size of sects in Lebanon?”
Miqati wondered whether it was necessary to take such a “dangerous risk.”
The prime minister reiterated that he holds onto the Muslim-Christian partnership in the country, countering accusations of calling for a "tripartite system,” which he said is “not on his agenda.”
Miqati called for the adoption of an electoral draft-law that guarantees the right representation for all sects and mainly Christian confessions and then the establishment of a senate based on the Orthodox proposal.
He criticized Energy Minister Jebran Bassil without mentioning him, saying he was advocating the adoption of the proposal at a time when he had approved a government bill that calls for dividing Lebanon into 13 districts based on proportional representation.
“I am surprised that some (officials) have mobilized themselves to defend the Orthodox proposal at a time when they should defend the government's draft-law,” Miqati told As Safir.
He accused him of using “double standards” at a time when he was among the first ministers to adopt the government's bill.
“The problem is that some people are determined to head towards collapse and are telling us to follow them but we will definitely not do that,” Miqati said.
He defended President Michel Suleiman for criticizing the Orthodox proposal, saying he is acting out of his respect for his oath to preserve the constitution and national unity.
“It is natural for the president to stand against the proposal because it is unconstitutional,” Miqati told As Safir.
Asked about Bassil's criticism of the country's centrists, the PM said: “No one can deny that centrism warded off dangers from Lebanon and defended it in these difficult circumstances."
“Who else can defend the country?” he asked. The newspaper said that Miqati is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia before January 21 to participate in an Arab economic summit.
Highly-informed sources did not rule out meetings between Miqati and several Saudi officials on the sidelines of the summit.
As Safir said the prime minister will return to Beirut on January 22 to chair a cabinet session and then travel to the Swiss mountain resort in Davos to participate in the World Economic Forum.

Future bloc: Proportionality law strengthens Hezbollah domination
Lebanon’s opposition Future bloc said on Tuesday that adopting the proportionality electoral law would strengthen Hezbollah’s power over the country.
“The adoption of the proportionality electoral law at the current political moment is not a step towards reform, it rather strengthens Hezbollah's domination and control over the Lebanese state,” the bloc said in a statement following its weekly meeting.
The Future bloc rejected the “discussion of any electoral draft law that contradicts the foundations of national coexistence among the Lebanese and violates the constitution.”
The bloc reiterated its rejection of “the so-called Orthodox Gathering electoral law proposal because it contributes to transforming the Lebanese people into rival sectarian tribes.”
Members of a parliamentary sub-committee began early last week their discussions on different draft laws in order to choose a proposal to replace the 1960 electoral law, with the country’s political circles divided over which law to adopt despite the cabinet’s approval in September 2012 of a draft law based on proportionality and 13 electoral districts.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s four major Christian parties, including the opposition Lebanese Forces and Kataeb parties, which are the Future bloc’s allies, endorsed the Orthodox Gathering’s draft law that proposes citizens vote for candidates of their own sect. However, the Future Movement, the Progressive Socialist Party and independent March 14 Christian figures rejected this proposal.
Also, the bloc denounced the current government’s adoption of an improvised policy in handling the issue of Syria refugees.
“The Social Affairs Ministry expects an increase in the numbers of refugees and this is why we should go back to what the Future bloc had suggested which is calling for a conference for Arab and international countries and organizations.”Lebanon is facing difficulties dealing with the increasingly high number of refugees fleeing Syria’s violence. More than 150,000 refugees are registered with the UNHCR in Lebanon; some activists, however, say the actual number is much higher

Lebanese Army officer faces death penalty for spying
January 15, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Military Investigative Judge Imad Zein demanded Tuesday the death penalty for a high-ranking Lebanese Army defector for spying for Israel, judicial sources told The Daily Star. They said Zein convicted Lt. Col. Daher Jarjoui for “maintaining contact with the Israeli enemy and meeting [Israeli] agents between 2005 and 2006.” Zein also issued an arrest warrant in absentia against Jarjoui. Jarjoui, a resident of the southern Lebanese village of Qlayaa, served as the Lebanese Army’s liaison with the Spanish contingent of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon. He is said to have fled to Israel in 2009. Lebanon has arrested dozens of nationals in alleged Israeli espionage plots.

Accord on election Lebanese law eludes steadfast rivals
January 16, 2013/By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Agreement on a new electoral law for this year’s parliamentary polls appeared as elusive as ever Tuesday as rival political factions stood firm on their conflicting stances on what served as the best legislation that ensured fair representation for all sects. The wide split over a new election law also manifested itself within a parliamentary subcommittee as representatives from the March 8 and March 14 parties began the second phase of their tough mission by searching for common ground on the legislation.
The feuding parties represented on the subcommittee traded barbs over responsibility for the delay in approving a new electoral law to replace the 1960 system, which has been rejected by officials on both sides of the political divide. The 1960 law, which adopts the qada as an electoral district and is based on a winner-takes-all system, was used in the 2009 parliamentary polls.
President Michel Sleiman, who has staunchly rejected the Orthodox Gathering’s controversial electoral proposal, entered the election fray by renewing his support for the Cabinet’s draft law based on a proportional representation system with 13 medium-size districts.
In an annual speech at Baabda Palace addressing foreign ambassadors accredited to Lebanon on the occasion of the new year, Sleiman stressed that the parliamentary elections, scheduled in early June, would be held on time in line with “our commitment to our democratic heritage and the principle of peaceful power rotation.”
He urged the rival factions to discuss the Cabinet’s draft electoral law and make any amendments needed.
“As long as we are determined on holding the elections, I call for discussing the draft law put forward by the Cabinet based on proportional representation and introducing necessary amendments if needed,” Sleiman said.
Despite the March 14 boycott of the government and National Dialogue, Sleiman said he would continue to prod the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance and the opposition March 14 coalition into returning to dialogue aimed at ensuring “a national consensus at this critical stage through which Lebanon and its environs are passing.”
He urged internal and external parties to comply with the Baabda Declaration in order to protect Lebanon against the reverberations of the 22-month-old bloody conflict in Syria.
“Although some internal parties have slid into the violence as a result of the bloody conflict in Syria, members of the National Dialogue Committee were able last year to agree on a statement calling for Lebanon to be neutralized from regional conflicts,” Sleiman said, referring to recurrent clashes between supporters and opponents of the Syrian regime in north Lebanon.
The Baabda Declaration, a pact signed by rival political leaders in the March 8 and March coalitions in June 2012, calls for isolating Lebanon from regional conflicts and rejecting the creation of buffer zones and the flow of weapons and fighters from Lebanon to Syria.
Meanwhile, rival March 8 and March 14 lawmakers, members of the parliamentary subcommittee, held two sessions in Parliament Tuesday as they began the second phase of their quest for common ground on a new electoral legislation. The lawmakers will meet again Wednesday.
MP Robert Ghanem, chairman of the subcommittee, handed Speaker Nabih Berri the minutes of last week’s deliberations, which were marked by political differences over a new vote plan for this year’s polls.
Berri is expected to study the subcommittee’s final report on its discussions before deciding on whether to call the joint parliamentary committees to debate and vote on a new electoral proposal reached by the subcommittee.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Berri at his residence in Ain al-Tineh, Ghanem said Berri was open to any proposal the subcommittee might adopt. He added that Berri proposed new ideas for the subcommittee to discuss.
Ghanem said Berri emphasized the importance of the subcommittee continuing its work in an attempt to reach an agreement on an electoral draft law acceptable to all the parties and ensure a just and true representation.
“I discussed with the speaker a mechanism for the subcommittee’s work. He is open to any decision the subcommittee takes with regards to the mechanism of its work,” Ghanem said. “We will rely on God to reach a draft law, that will not be 100 percent fair, but acceptable to all the parties,” he added.
In addition to the Cabinet’s proportional representation draft law, the subcommittee has examined a controversial proposal by the Orthodox Gathering which calls for every sect to elect its own MPs, and a draft law presented by the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb Party that would divide Lebanon into 50 small districts under a winner-takes-all system. During last week’s sessions, six MPs out of the nine subcommittee members supported the Orthodox electoral proposal, which has triggered a nationwide controversy and has been rejected by Sleiman, the Future Movement, MP Walid Jumblatt and some March 14 Christian lawmakers, who warned that the draft would sharpen sectarian divisions and encourage the rise of extremists.
Earlier Tuesday, LF leader Samir Geagea defended the Orthodox proposal, saying that it was the only proposal with a parliamentary majority. He urged the critics of the proposal to come forward with alternatives with sufficient backing.
“We found only the Orthodox draft law, which has a parliamentary majority, after [both] the small district draft law and the Cabinet’s draft law failed to secure a majority,” Geagea told a news conference at his residence in Maarab.
He added that the LF and its March 14 allies had launched talks with various parties in a bid to garner support for the opposition’s proposal based on small districts but failed.
However, Geagea’s allies in the parliamentary Future bloc stood firm on their opposition to the Orthodox proposal, which has been fully supported by the rival Maronite parties in a rare show of Christian unity: The LF, the FPM, the Kataeb Party and Zghorta MP Suleiman Franjieh’s Marada Movement.
“The bloc utterly rejects discussing any electoral draft law that runs contrary to the foundations of coexistence among the Lebanese and contravenes the preamble of the Constitution,” the bloc said in a statement after its weekly meeting.
“Therefore, the bloc repeats its absolute rejection of the Orthodox Gathering’s draft law ... This proposal turns the Lebanese people into feuding sectarian tribes and deepens divisions among the components of the country,” the statement said. The bloc reiterated its commitment to the Taif Accord as a basis for any solution.
For his part, FPM leader Michel Aoun defended the Orthodox proposal, saying the draft did not contravene the Taif Accord or the Constitution.
“The Orthodox proposal ensures a true and fair representation for all components of the Lebanese people,” Aoun said in an interview with the FPM’s affiliated OTV station Tuesday night. He vowed to challenge any electoral law that does not ensure fair representation.
Aoun complained that under the current political system, the Christians did not have a say in the country’s political decision-making.
“Executive power is in the hands of the Sunnis and legislative power in the hands of the Shiites. Where can the Christians influence things?” Aoun said.
“There is an elimination of the Christians’ [role]. There are 450,000 Christians, more than a third of voters, who cannot elect an MP. They are either deprived or their voice is marginalized,” he added.

UNICEF Ambassador Farrow urges more aid for refugees
January 16, 2013/By Venetia Rainey/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow has called for an increase in global humanitarian assistance for Syrian refugees while acknowledging the efforts of the Lebanese government in an interview with The Daily Star. “I’ve learned a lot from people who have nothing,” American actress Mia Farrow said, leaning forward in her chair, her familiar round glasses perched on her nose.
“This Lebanese family we met had taken in five Syrian families. And they had themselves just a living room, two bedrooms and a kitchen. There were 45 people living in that small space for almost a year until the UNHCR built their house up a floor.” But the 67-year-old said in an exclusive interview Tuesday that what moved her most were the comments from the Syrian families living there.
“They spoke so highly of the [host] family. One grandmother said, with tears running down her face: ‘They lifted us up.’ I thought that was a beautiful way of saying it.
“She said never in her life had she thought she would be with nothing. Her husband had been killed and yet this family took her in. So while she grieves for what is lost, they lifted her up.”
The actress, who was famously married to director Woody Allen for 12 years, became the main female protagonist in his movies for several years.
Farrow, who rose to fame as an actress, has become better known for her humanitarian work, particularly in Sudan, where she has worked tirelessly to publicize the plight of those affected by the decadelong – and still ongoing – war in Darfur. “You can’t compare suffering,” she said when asked if there was anything she had learned there that could be applied in Lebanon. “It’s a very different situation here.”
But tented communities are starting to form, she added, and although they are not refugee camps, such an arrangement makes the delivery of food and non-food items much easier, especially as more and more people continue to arrive. “The priority is keeping people alive,” she said in her usual soft, measured voice. “What we can do is get coats, hats and blankets to people. What we can do is help with tents. How come there aren’t any tents? Where are they?”“That said, the Lebanese government has apparently been extraordinary. Not every country would open its borders to so many people, and many of the children are at school with Lebanese kids.”
Farrow visited Syrian refugees and their host families in Wadi Khaled and the Bekaa Valley. She was impressed by the hospitality shown to the refugees but felt more support was needed to alleviate pressure on the host families. “It’s a huge pressure on Lebanese families because it’s the poorest families who are taking in the refugees,” Farrow added. “Four million people were in Lebanon before the influx of refugees, what if a million come? What does that do to the demographics here and how do people feel about that?”
It is also a huge strain on UNICEF’s resources, thus the global appeal for assistance. “We don’t have enough of anything: coats, medicine ... it is a challenge,” Annamaria Laurini, UNICEF’s representative in Lebanon, said Tuesday. “Funding is short,” added Farrow. “There’s not enough money, basically.”
Appointed a UNICEF goodwill ambassador in 2000, Farrow is on a long list of celebrities – including footballer Lionel Messi, singer Shakira and actress Whoopi Goldberg – who use their name to raise awareness of various causes. The actress-turned-activist, who has 13 living children, nine of whom are adopted, is an outspoken critic of what she calls “the political part of the U.N.,” saying that “its state of paralysis serves no one.”
“What really works at the U.N. are the humanitarian agencies. UNICEF works, UNHCR works, World Food Program works. Are they underfunded? Yes. Do they meet all the needs? No, not always. Are they in there trying 24 hours a day? Yes.” In the end, she said, her message is simple: “My plea for the world is: Let’s be a community. We call ourselves an international community and when innocent people are suffering to this degree, surely we can all step up.” “I’ll give interviews, I’ll write, I’ll blog. I’ll do everything I can. And I think everybody of conscience does what they can. Isn’t that the way we proceed?”

What would a new marina mean for Tripoli?
January 16, 2013/By Brooke Anderson/The Daily Star
TRIPOLI: Depending on whom you ask, a new waterfront development in Tripoli with high-end restaurants, shops and accommodation will either give a badly needed boost to an impoverished city, or it will further divide an already fragmented society.
“Unfortunately for the past 20 years, there has been no plan for the revival of Tripoli,” MP Robert Fadel, who is facilitating the project, tells The Daily Star. “People are concerned for very good reasons. They haven’t seen anything of this magnitude in 20 years.”
Dubbed by some locals as “Tripoli’s Zaitunay Bay” after the Beirut development near Ain al-Mreisseh, the new project, still in early planning stages and yet to be given an official name, would cover 1 million square meters, the vast majority of which would be landfill, and part of which would be on the seaside promenade, the corniche.
Tripoli Development Holding along with its subsidiary, the Tripoli Seafront Company, were established last year by 14 of the city’s business leaders for the execution of the project, which has raised $1 million in seed funding and needs a total of $300 million. They expect the new marina will boost the local economy by bringing tourists, residents and around 10,000 new jobs to what has essentially become a neglected city.
The government will benefit from at least half of the landfill, which the company plans on developing for state use. This could include infrastructure such as roads, rehabilitation of the corniche, a public garden and a dry dock at the cost of $50 million that could generate over a 100 jobs. A percentage of the generated profits will be divided between the private investors and a reinvestment fund, which would possibly help establish a technological business incubator.
“This is a strategy to work together for the good of Tripoli,” says Samir Chreim, managing partner in Beirut at SCAS, Inc., the financial consulting firm drawing up the plans for the vast new marina on the southern edge of Lebanon’s second city.
“If Tripoli’s image is polished, then people will want to visit,” predicts Chreim, who likens the project to one for which he previously consulted, Jumeirah, the luxury waterfront development in Dubai, which includes the man-made palm tree-shaped islands.
Even at this early stage, some residents have already mobilized against the project, fearing that it will create a cluster of shops and restaurants that locals cannot afford, harm the coastal environment and intrude on space where all classes from the destitute city can take a walk along the waterfront.
“Of course I’m against it. It will change the whole peninsula. People come from poor areas for this million-dollar view,” says Sahar Minkara, an interior designer and cafe owner in Tripoli, who agrees that her city needs to be developed, but worries that this will be at the expense of the environment and regular Tripolitans. She is part of Masha3, a nationwide campaign aimed at reclaiming Lebanon’s public property. They say that lax enforcement of existing laws has led to unchecked development along some of Lebanon’s nicest areas of coastline.
Mira Minkara, Sahar’s cousin and another member of Masha3, wonders if the developers can live up to their high expectations.
“They say they will create more than 10,000 jobs. I don’t know how realistic or how economically sustainable it is,” she says. She thinks that developers should instead revitalize some of the city’s ailing infrastructure, such as the port. Tripoli resident Jihad Jneid, also a member of the group, says he would support the project if it were not on the sea, which he says is the only place for poor people to get away from their basic, cramped housing. Now, he believes, it will be a place for Tripoli’s wealthy to have an escape from their city’s poverty.
“I don’t think anyone should touch the corniche, even if it improves the face of Tripoli,” says Jneid. “We need empty spaces where people can go for free and have coffee. There isn’t anyone from Tripoli that doesn’t go there.”
After learning about the new waterfront project, the members of Masha3 held a public meeting last month with the Tripoli Holding Group, in which the initial design plans were discussed. The next scheduled meeting is Friday.
Chreim says he is disappointed with the reaction of some activists, and he believes that all of their concerns are addressed in the proposed plan. For example, he says that the area’s flora and fauna have been depleting for years due to longtime neglect of Tripoli’s coastline. They plan on developing a hatchery for flora and fauna.
He also questions the logic of the argument that the project will segregate Tripoli’s social classes, something that he believes is inevitable anywhere.
“There are already different classes in different areas. This happens all over the world. A Burj Hammoud person won’t live in Ashrafieh. It’s the nature of the area,” he says, adding that he doesn’t see a problem with a relatively exclusive area if it results in a greater good for Tripoli’s economy.
Mona Harb disagrees. The urban planning professor at the American University of Beirut says that economic and class diversity is a normal part of a city’s “urban fabric” and such projects are a result of “failed urban policies for decades” in the country’s postwar reconstruction.
“Usually [it’s] when people are busy with politics [that] these projects get done,” she adds. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the decree [to reclaim public land along the coast line] were done during intense conflicts in the area.”
The government has yet to issue such a decree.
Indeed, despite the scale of the project, many people in Tripoli, including those who spend their days on the shore, are still unaware of a new plan for the waterfront. Fishermen along the corniche voiced surprise upon hearing of it. “This is the first time I hear about it,” says Mohammad Abdallah sitting on his boat, scaling a fish. “I hope it happens so that we can have better work.”
Nearby, Ammer Azzedine, a Syrian who has been selling coffee on the corniche for the past 20 years, says, “They’ve been talking about developing the waterfront for 20 years. I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Labib Shalak, a longtime resident and software development CEO based in Tripoli, also says he hasn’t heard of the project, but that he is already skeptical of the plans.
“To help the economy, we need to have production, not services,” he says. “Maybe it would create jobs for a couple of years. But after that, what? It could crash like Dubai.”
Referring to Lebanon’s highly educated workforce which tends to travel abroad for better opportunities, he says, “Human resources are Lebanon’s biggest asset – not hotels.” Although he says he would welcome a new hotel, he doesn’t think it should be a priority.
But some people think that fellow Tripolitans should give the new development a chance – especially given the economic stagnation of their city, ranked among the poorest in the Mediterranean basin.
“I don’t have a stand yet,” says Khaled Merheb, sitting at a cafe in Tripoli with some of his friends who oppose the project. “When I first heard about the project, they said it would damage Tripoli’s environment and it would prevent poor people from coming to the corniche. But the corniche is already filled with litter, and girls can’t walk there alone – so don’t talk about the environment and poor people.”
He thinks his friends should be open to the new project.
“These are wealthy Tripolitans who want to do something good for the city,” he says, calling it hypocrisy that people complain about politicians doing nothing for the city, then try to stop them when they do. “If it’s good for the city, let them make money. But let my city bloom.”
For Mu’taz Salloum the project can’t come fast enough.
“I’m with the project until I find enough proof that it’s not eco-friendly,” says Salloum, a film director from Tripoli, noting that the local municipality already deems the water too polluted for swimming.
“I’m always with any project that brings job opportunities to town. I’m sure if people from Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen were offered jobs, they wouldn’t refuse,” he says, referring to the city’s two most impoverished neighborhoods, the backdrop to sporadic armed clashes.
“I’d support the project if it created a thousand jobs – or even 10 jobs. People are dying and starving in Tripoli.”
Meanwhile, Fadel, who for more than two years has been studying the feasibility and laying the groundwork for the project that he hopes will boost his city’s economy, says he needs the backing of the local residents.
“The project in the end,” he says, “would require the support of the Tripoli community.”
Facts on new marina planned for Tripoli
Size: 1 million square meters
Location: on the southern end of the city, near the stadium
Development cost: $300 million
Seed money raised so far: $1 million
Target audience: Lebanese from the area, expatriates, Gulf residents
Possible attractions: a luxury hotel, shopping, water sports
Architects: Dar al-Handasa, Nazih Taleb
Potential contractors: Mouawad-Edde and Khoury Contracting Co.

The Tripoli-based Salafi Sheikh Bilal Deqmaq: There is no Al-Qaeda in Lebanon
January 15, 2013/By Misbah al-Ali/The Daily Star
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: The Tripoli-based Salafi Sheikh Bilal Deqmaq describes Osama bin Laden in admiring terms, but says he doesn’t agree with all of Al-Qaeda’s principles and the group is not active in Lebanon.
In person, Deqmaq – who has been connected to Islamist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and Fatah al-Islam – is anything but the stereotype of a fiery Salafist sheikh. He is friendly, dresses in Western clothes and always has a smartphone nearby.
Called a political panderer and a man ignorant of Islam by some, in a recent interview with The Daily Star Deqmeq discussed his public persona and what he truly believes.
To those who call him a fundamentalist, he responds that he is “a fundamentalist about spreading Islam, fighting polytheists and spreading the word of God.”
“When anything happens in the Arab world or Lebanon that has to do with Sunnis, all eyes are on me,” the preacher says. “This is why there have been disputes between myself and others. Maybe some people consider me a competitor.”
Born in Tripoli’s Bab al-Ramel in 1970, Deqmaq embraced Islamist thought at a young age and become involved in the Islamic Tawheed Movement, dreaming of an Islamic emirate in Tripoli.
Now the head of the Iqraa Institution for Social Development, the media-friendly preacher says he manages to straddle various worlds despite the controversy
He cites Fatah al-Islam leader Abu Huraira as a friend, yet Internal Security Forces head Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi also considers him a trusted mediator.
Deqmaq has played a major role in mediating for the release of the Lebanese pilgrims captured in Syria some seven months ago.
He describes Rifi as “a dear old friend who is respected even by his foes. We are bound by a strong relationship and he says he is proud of it.”
Although he opposes the Syrian regime, Deqmaq says he has his differences with the Future Movement, which he criticizes for its secular nature. He also finds himself at odds with Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya.
Calling bin Laden the “sheikh of mujahideen,” Deqmaq is pleased to say that “Americans have uncovered some documents that say bin Laden always asked not to hurt women and children, nor to cut down a tree or hurt Muslims. These are evidence of the sheikh’s sincerity, may God have mercy on his soul.”
But Deqmaq insists he does not always agree with Al-Qaeda. He defends the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., but not all of their moves.
“I approve of fighting the Jews, the aggressors, and those who fight the Sunni people. But I disagree with them for the attacks they have launched in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, except for those that target the [Shiite] Houthis. I also disagree with their attacks in Egypt.”
Al-Qaeda has no presence in Lebanon, Deqmaq maintains: “If there were Al-Qaeda in Lebanon, Hezbollah Secretary-General [Sayyed] Hasan Nasrallah would never be able to squirrel out of his hole.”


Over 80 killed in Aleppo university carnage
January 16, 2013/By Mariam Karouny/Agencies
BEIRUT: Two explosions tore through one of Syria’s biggest universities on the first day of student exams Tuesday, killing more than 80 people and wounding dozens, according to the government and an activist group.
Each side in the 22-month-old conflict blamed the other for the blasts at the University of Aleppo, located in a government-held area of Syria’s most populous city.
Some activists in Aleppo said a government attack caused the explosions, while state television accused “terrorists” – a term it uses to describe the rebels – of firing two rockets at the school. A rebel fighter said the blasts appeared to have been caused by “ground-to-ground” missiles.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based anti-regime activist group, said 83 people were killed and dozens wounded, but it could not identify the source of the blasts.
“Dozens are in critical condition,” the Observatory said in a statement, citing doctors and students.
State television showed a body lying on the street and several cars burning. One of the university buildings was damaged.
Video footage showed students carrying books out of the university after one of the explosions, walking quickly away from rising smoke. The camera then shakes to the sound of another explosion and people begin to run.
“A cowardly terrorist act targeted the students of Aleppo University as they sat for their mid-term examinations,” Syria’s United Nations ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, told the U.N. Security Council in New York.
He said 82 students had died and 162 more were wounded. If confirmed, the regime’s report of a rocket attack would suggest rebels in the area had been able to obtain and deploy more powerful weapons than before. The nearest rebel-controlled area, Bustan al-Qasr, is nearly 2 km from the university.
Activists rejected the suggestion that insurgents were behind the attack, however, and instead blamed the government.
“The warplanes of this criminal regime do not respect a mosque, a church or a university,” said a student who gave his name as Abu Taym.
The rebels have been trying to take Aleppo since the summer, but have been unable to uproot Assad’s better-armed and more organized forces.
After the blasts, Russia said it had suspended operations at its consulate in Aleppo and advised anyone with consular issues to contact the relevant section of the Russian Embassy in the capital, Damascus.
Elsewhere, an artillery attack in the central province of Homs killed at least 10 people, according to the Observatory, which added that warplanes launched airstrikes on multiple rebel bastions across Syria.
The Observatory said five women were among those killed in the shelling of Houla in Homs province.
“Houla sees daily shelling and daily fighting,” said Observatory director Rami Abdel-Rahman.
The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a grassroots network of activists, described the killings in Houla as a “massacre” and added that dozens more were wounded in the shelling.
In northern Syria, an air raid in the early hours on the rebel-held town of Al-Bab killed at least eight people, half of them women, said the Observatory.
Air raids struck the rebel-held districts of Jobar and Sultanieh in Homs city, several of whose districts have been under a suffocating army siege for more than six months, the Observatory said.
“They have launched an assault on districts under siege,” an anti-regime activist in the besieged Old City neighborhood of Homs city, who identified himself as Abu Bilal, told AFP via the Internet. “The army is trying to take back Homs.”
The violence came one day after 57 countries asked the U.N. Security Council to refer the conflict in Syria to the International Criminal Court, a move that Russia’s Foreign Ministry called “ill-timed and counterproductive.”
Russia, which like China and the United States is not an ICC member, said the referral would not help end the war.
“We believe this initiative is ill-timed and counterproductive to resolving the main task at this moment: an immediate end to the bloodshed in Syria,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, said Monday that the Security Council would discuss the Syria crisis before the end of the month, in a meeting that would likely gather deputy ministers.
Bogdanov also indicated that the U.N. was looking at ways of sending a new observer mission to Syria.
“It seems as if the need will emerge to send a solid team of international observers there. I think several options are being discussed,” he said.

Canada to Resettle Up to 5,000 Iranian, Iraqi Refugees
 Naharnet /Canada will resettle up to 5,000 mostly Iraqi and Iranian refugees now in Turkey, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Tuesday. "With escalating violence in the region, more people are seeking protection in Turkey, and our commitment to resettle 5,000 mostly Iraqi and Iranian refugees in Canada will help Turkey deal with this growing pressure," Kenney said in a statement. The offer is expected to free up resources for an influx of Syrians seeking protection in Turkey from the deadly civil war that the United Nations says has killed more than 60,000 people in nearly two years. Ottawa has already welcomed 12,000 Iraqi refugees in recent years, mostly out of war-torn Syria. Canada welcomes one in 10 refugees resettled worldwide.
Agence France Presse

Leadership Change in Oil-Rich Saudi Province
Simon Henderson/Washington Institute
January 14, 2013
The replacement of a long-serving provincial governor is likely related to security concerns regarding the area's Shiite majority.
The Eastern Province is the largest of Saudi Arabia's thirteen administrative areas and arguably the most crucial. It contains most of the kingdom's oil reserves -- the largest in the world -- as well as most of its estimated two million Shiites, who form a local majority. Additionally, it is the closest province to Iran (which lies just across the Persian Gulf) and the only one that borders the kingdom's fellow Gulf Cooperation Council member states, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman.
The outgoing governor, Prince Muhammad bin Fahd, supposedly resigned "upon his own request," but the immediate speculation is that Riyadh wants a surer pair of hands to manage burgeoning Shiite protests. Local youths have been regularly demonstrating in towns near the kingdom's oil export facilities, resulting in occasional armed clashes with local security forces. Riyadh is no doubt worried about potential contagion from the near-daily Shiite protests in neighboring Bahrain, which is connected to the Saudi mainland by a causeway.
The new governor is Prince Saud bin Nayef, the older brother of recently appointed interior minister Prince Muhammad bin Nayef. Both are sons of the late crown prince and interior minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, who died last year. Their father had a reputation for believing wild conspiracy theories and distrusting Shiites; although his sons are probably more sophisticated, Saud's appointment is nevertheless being viewed as a step toward firmer action. (For his part, Muhammad bin Nayef met with President Obama in the White House today, a week after visiting London to discuss security cooperation with Prime Minister David Cameron and other senior British officials.)
In addition, a new governor has been appointed for Medina province: Prince Faisal bin Salman, who has a doctorate from Oxford University in Saudi-Iranian relations. He is said to be the most intelligent and favored son of his father, Crown Prince Salman.
Although the appointments were made in the name of King Abdullah, the monarch has been mostly out of the public eye since undergoing back surgery in November. Today's weekly Council of Ministers meeting was chaired by Salman. This was perhaps surprising because a royal decree announced new members for that consultative body just last week -- including, for the first time, women, who will make up twenty percent of the 150 members, an advance that the king is known to personally favor.
The two announcements illustrate the dichotomy of Saudi policy toward present-day challenges, so a nuanced U.S. approach is in order. First, the Eastern Province change reflects the notion that Riyadh's primary worries are Iran and Shiite loyalty. Despite acknowledging the kingdom's focus on the security of its oil facilities, Washington is likely concerned that tough tactics against Shiites demonstrating for more rights could rebound. Second, the appointment of women to the ministerial council will pass for progress in Saudi terms and please U.S. officials, but it would be a shame if this modest advance sets a low bar for future progress.
**Simon Henderson is the Baker fellow and director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at The Washington Institute.