Source: UK has given more info in support of blacklisting group.
J.Post/BRUSSELS - Britain has asked European Union foreign ministers to discuss putting Hezbollah's armed wing on the EU terror list amid signs that opposition to the move is weakening, diplomats said on Friday.
A British drive to blacklist the militant Lebanese movement's armed wing was discussed twice by a special EU group last month, but British diplomats failed to win over a number of skeptical governments which fear the step would fuel instability in the Middle East.Britain, backed by France, Germany and the Netherlands, has now asked for the issue to be put on the agenda of the next meeting of foreign ministers on July 22, believing it needs to be debated at a more senior, "political" level to achieve a breakthrough, diplomats said. The agenda for the meeting has not yet been finalized, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said. Britain has argued that the militant Shi'ite Muslim group should face European sanctions because of evidence that it was behind a bus bombing in Bulgaria last July that killed five Israelis and their driver. Hezbollah denies any involvement.
Diplomats say a majority of the 28 EU member states, including EU heavyweights France and Germany, back the British proposal. But unanimity is needed and Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy have been among EU governments that have voiced reservations. The British proposal has gained urgency - and some support - in Europe in recent weeks because of Iranian-backed Hezbollah's deeper involvement in the Syrian civil war. A diplomat from one EU country that had doubts about blacklisting Hezbollah's armed wing said Britain had provided more information in support of its request.
"I haven't heard lately that any state - probably a question mark is Prague - is so dead against this that they will prevent a consensus. At the end of the day nobody wants to be the defender of the military wing of Hezbollah," the diplomat said.
OPPOSITION
A Czech diplomat said his government remained opposed to blacklisting Hezbollah's armed wing because of the difficulty of distinguishing between its political and military wings. Several EU governments have questioned whether there is sufficient evidence to link Hezbollah to the attack in Bulgaria, according to EU diplomats. In London, a Foreign Office spokesman said Britain believed the evidence that the military wing of Hezbollah was a terrorist organization was "compelling' and strong enough to warrant adding it to the blacklist. In support of its bid, Britain has also cited a four-year jail sentence handed down by a Cypriot court in March to a Hezbollah member accused of plotting to attack Israeli interests on the island. Blacklisting the group would mark a major policy shift for the European Union, which has resisted pressure from Israel and Washington to do so for years.

Kidnapped Baalbek Man, 8 Syrians Released in Swap
Naharnet/Mohammed al-Tufayli, a Lebanese man kidnapped in the eastern city of Baalbek last week, has been released in a swap that involved eight Syrians abducted by his family, Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) reported Friday. VDL said that the exchange took place on Thursday night. It did not give further details. Al-Tufayli family members said last Wednesday that they kidnapped the eight Syrians in retaliation for the capture of Mohammed in the outskirts of the town of Nahle. “After Faisal Haidar al-Maarrawi from the Syrian town of al-Maarra and his brother Rifaat along with their gang kidnapped our son Mohammed Medhat al-Tufayli, several young men from the family abducted eight Haidar members,” who were working in livestock grazing in Nahle, said the family statement. Among them are Khaled Haidar, his brother Ahmed, Hussein Haidar, and Mohammed Darwish.
There have been several retaliatory kidnappings along sectarian lines in border regions, the result of the spillover of the Syrian war. The Hizbullah-led March 8 alliance backs the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while the March 14 alliance and mainly Sunnis support the rebels seeking to topple him.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Lays Wreath at Shatila Camp Cemetery
Naharnet/Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a rare visit on Friday to a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, placing a wreath at the cemetery in the Shatila camp in the capital Beirut. A small crowd gathered ahead of his brief visit to welcome him at the Martyrs Cemetery on the outskirts of the camp, one of 12 housing Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. "I'm here to welcome him because he's our president," said Fatma Abdul Hadi, an elderly lady in a white headscarf with a black and white Palestinian scarf wrapped around her neck. "What we want and hope for from him is to help us get back to Palestine, that's all I want," she added.
Also there to welcome the president were a number of youth members of the Fatah Movemebt Abbas heads, and a boy scout band. Jamil Hasan, 36, had also turned out to see the president, a year after he fled a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, escaping the violence that has ravaged the country for more than two years. "We left because it was dangerous for me, my wife and kids," he said. "But life there before was easy. The state protected us and with qualifications you could do whatever you wanted, become a pilot, become a doctor." The approximately 470,000 Palestinians living in overcrowded camps in Lebanon are barred from around 70 professions and prohibited from owning property. Their living conditions in camps in Lebanon have been described as the worst for Palestinian refugees anywhere in the region. Hasan said he was shocked by what he had seen of the conditions of his fellow Palestinian refugees in Lebanon since moving to Shatila with his family. "Our brothers here have a miserable existence, I was really surprised to discover it," he said.
"The water is salty and the streets are no more than a meter wide. "We hope that Abbas can do something to help all of us, the refugees here and those who have come from Syria." An estimated 65,000 Palestinian refugees have fled to Lebanon since the conflict broke out in Syria in mid-March 2011, becoming refugees for a second time. Shatila and the neighboring Sabra camp in Beirut were the scene of a horrendous massacre in September 1982 in which Christian militiamen allied with Israel killed between 800 and 2,000 Palestinians. Abbas placed a wreath in the Shatila cemetery where some of the victims of the massacre are buried and offered a prayer at the site before heading to the Palestinian embassy. He is due to leave tomorrow after a three-day trip that included meetings with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati and PM-designate Tammam Salam. Source/Agence France Presse

Bkirki Delegation Tours Sidon: Extremists a Small Minority, Arms Can't Solve Problems
Naharnet /A delegation from the Maronite patriarchate that toured Sidon on Friday said exremists are only a "small minority" and that they pose a threat to both Christians and Muslims, as former premier Fouad Saniora lauded the Maronite bishops' latest statement that stressed the importance of the army's role in protecting all the Lebanese. "We met with the governor, the officials, the army and the religious leaders and we tell Sidon that what happened was something that the city did not want and it was not part of its spirit or of the Sidon we know," Bishop Boulos Sayyah, who was accompanied by two bishops, said after meeting with the city's dignitaries.
"We came to offer condolences to the army and to those who lost beloved ones and we urged compensations and aid to those affected by the Abra clashes," Sayyah added.
"We were pleased to see major reconstruction works in Sidon and the most important thing is the spirit that is being promoted by Sidon's figures and restoring the spirit of brotherhood," the bishop went on to say.
Eighteen army troops were killed in fierce clashes with supporters of Islamist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir in Sidon on June 23-24. At least 20 of Asir's supporters were also killed in the 24 hours of violence, which raised tensions throughout Lebanon and ended with the cleric on the run. “Problems cannot be solved through weapons but rather through dialogue and we reiterate our support for the army and we hope the army will protect everyone,” Sayyah stressed. “We must not say that extremism is the dominant current, as it is a small minority,” he added. For his part, Saniora said after meeting the delegation: “We thank (Maronite) Patriarch (Beshara) al-Rahi for dispatching the bishops and it is a call for moderation, which is the trait of the city of Sidon, the city of coexistence.” “I laud the latest statement that was issued by the dignified bishops who stressed the importance of coexistence, this feature that was mentioned by the pope who described Lebanon as a message,” Saniora added.
“We salute what was mentioned in the statement about the importance of resorting to the state and we stressed the importance of the role of state institutions and the army, under the law and the constitution, in protecting all the Lebanese,” he went on to say. Saniora noted that experiences have proved that “only the state can protect the citizen and that illegal arms -- as the bishops' statement mentioned -- will only justify the possession of illegal arms by other groups.” He underlined that the state has the exclusive right to “possess and use weapons,” adding that the Lebanese “must realize that any dispute will only lead to the destruction of their country.”
“We appreciate the patriarch's dear initiative and God willing the coming days will carry progress in terms of mending the wounds and extending the exclusive authority of the state,” Saniora said. “We are against all forms of extremism because it is not beneficial at all and we must put an end to this phenomenon and al-Asir was created by Hizbullah's extremism,” he pointed out.
The ex-PM added: “We are keen on the army, which must confront any attack on its troops or on citizens.”
“We demanded a transparent and fair probe into the deadly attack on the army and to determine who allowed Hizbullah to take part in the operation and human rights must be respected,” he said.
After talks with MP Bahia Hariri in Majdelyoun, Sayyah said: “Sidon will emerge stronger from the war and MP Hariri's remarks are encouraging.”
Earlier, Sayyah and the bishops visited a number of Sidon political and religious leaders, accompanied by Maronite Bishop of Sidon and Deir al-Qamar Elias Nassar and a number of governors and security officials.
During a meeting with South Lebanon Governor Nicola Abu Daher, Sayyah said: "Patriarch al-Rahi is giving this issue special attention and is always thinking of the tragedies that happened in this dear region, and he calls for dialogue and for resolving issues in a manner that can reconcile viewpoints," adding that "Sidon will overcome this tragedy the same as it had triumphed over the tragedies of the past."
Later on Friday, Sayyah met with Popular Nasserite Organization chief ex-MP Osama Saad. "We hope that problems will be solved through dialogue, as arms only lead to destruction and violence only breeds violence and we have confidence in ex-MP Saad's efforts," said Sayyah after the meeting. "Sidon is the city of diversity and it represents together with the neighboring areas the same national position and the residents of Sidon and its surroundings are facing the same challenges," Saad said. "The political forces and state authorities must take care of and protect the political and religious diversity in the Sidon region," he added. He called on the political forces to "realize the importance of diversity in Sidon," warning that "any behavior to the contrary would subject the city to grave threats."
"The visit is aimed at backing this approach which is part of the city's national, humanitarian and ethical values and this city has always been a focal point for national unity and for confronting the challenges, especially those created by the Israeli enemy," Saad added. "It has also been at the center of people's causes and in its struggle for social justice, health care, education and job opportunities," he went on to say.
Saad said Bkirki is "with us in backing the unity of the region's residents in the face of threats and challenges and for the sake of security, stability and prosperity." In its monthly statement on Wednesday, the Maronite Bishops council condemned the spread of illegal arms in Lebanon, saying that it will only create chaos in the country. “All armed groups must lay down their weapons in favor of official security forces,” said the statement.

Report: Hizbullah, FSA Clash in Bekaa Towns
Naharnet/Fierce clashes erupted between Hizbullah fighters and the Free Syrian Army rebels in several Bekaa towns, media reports said on Friday. The clashes took place overnight Thursday in the Bekaa towns of Nabi Sheet and Brital and al-Khodr, according to the reports. However, sources denied to Voice of Lebanon (100.5) the reports, saying that gunbattles erupted at night in Syrian territories. Hizbullah fighters are playing a prominent role in supporting regime troops against the rebels seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad. Last month, Syrian soldiers and Hizbullah members recaptured Qusayr following a more than two-week assault on the strategic town on the border with Lebanon. In June, clashes erupted between Hizbullah and Syrian rebels on the eastern mountain range on the Lebanese-Syrian border after several rockets fired from the Lebanese-Syrian border area landed in several towns in the Bekaa Valley.

Asir's Supporters Protest in Sidon, Attack TV Crews
Naharnet/Hundreds of men and women supporting Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir marched from Bilal Bin Rabah Mosque after Friday prayers, heading to al-Karameh roundabout in the southern city of Sidon.
The protestors assaulted TV crews in Abra, smashing the windows of their cars and breaking their cameras during the march. The attack prompted the Lebanese army to ask journalists to leave Sidon and the northern city of Tripoli until the end of the protest in the southern city which allegedly erupted after the mosque's new Imam, Sheikh Mohammed Abu Zeid, did not mention al-Asir when he delivered his sermon to worshippers.
Tripoli has a large presence of Islamists. The city's Ulemas have accused the army of collaborating with Hizbullah to target the Sunni community in line with an Iranian scheme. Al-Asir, a 45-year-old cleric who is no where to be found since last month's deadly gunbattles between his gunmen and the Lebanese army, resurfaced Thursday in an alleged audio message in which he described the clashes as a plot against him. The cleric called on the Sunni community to “break the barrier of fear and fear only God,” urging them to protest “in a peaceful and civilized manner” after Friday prayers “in coordination with the Muslim clerics.” State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged on Thursday 27 people for their involvement in the Abra battles where Bilal Bin Rabah mosque is located. Ten of them were charged in absentia, including al-Asir and a onetime prominent singer-turned Salafist Fadel Shaker. The cleric teamed up with Shaker when around two years ago he began agitating for Hizbullah to disarm. If convinced, the suspects face the death penalty.

Asir in Alleged Audio Message Speaks of Plot to End His Presence in Abra
Naharnet /Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir, whose fate became uncertain after the army stormed his headquarters on June 24, resurfaced Thursday in an alleged audio message in which he described the deadly Sidon clashes as a plot aimed at ending his presence. “You will know and everyone must know the normal context of the incident, or rather the massacre, that happened, which is not an isolated incident, as we had raised the voice several times over the attacks of the Party of Satan (Hizbullah), the criminal AMAL Movement and the shabiha (thugs) of the so-called Lebanese army, which is in the service of Hizbullah, AMAL Movement, the criminal Syrian regime and the Iranian regime,” Asir says in the audio recording.
“These attacks have not only targeted us, but have also targeted the entire Sunni sect, ever since Syria started its hegemony over Lebanon … such us jailing our young men, torturing them, stepping on their beards and necks and interrogating them in a provocative sectarian manner, and lately one of the soldiers pushed another soldier against one of our sisters who wears niqab and he fell over her,” Asir added.
He said he was fully aware that “a confrontation was being plotted” against his group because Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan “Nasrallah knew that he would lose a direct confrontation against us after he lost in (Syria's) Qusayr.”
“The scenario was to pit us in a confrontation with the army, that's why we raised our voices high throughout seven months to say that the 'apartments of strife' tried to assassinate my son amid daily provocations and several mediations that prevented us from making any move to close the apartments, and we complied with every initiative and remained calm,” Asir claimed.
He accused the army of deploying in the Abra region in order to “protect the apartments” that he had claimed were being used by Hizbullah to stockpile weapons and monitor his movements.
Asir also accused the army of “insulting us and harassing us and our women.”
“We repeated several times that we want coexistence and to live in peace with everyone, but I asked them to put out the fire and vacate the apartments and my demand was not heeded,” he said.
Asir noted that several weeks before the deadly “incident” at an army checkpoint in Abra, his group detected unusual movements on the Mar Elias Hill, the Sharhabil Hill and in Haret Saida “and several other locations.”
“We asked the (Internal Security Forces') Intelligence Bureau to probe the issue, but no one responded,” the fugitive cleric added.
He claimed that gunmen loyal to Hizbullah “expelled residents from the buildings and heavily stockpiled weapons.”
“We informed the relevant authorities that a major battle was being prepare and no one was able to do anything,” Asir added. “The incident happened when the army erected a checkpoint outside our mosque and its sole mission was to harass us and the worshipers. They used to remove the checkpoint after the end of the prayer at the mosque and erect it again during prayer time to harass our youths,” he said, accusing troops of “beating up a bearded taxi driver and a passenger over the possession of a baton.”
Explaining the incident that sparked the fierce deadly clashes, Asir said: “I asked my office manager Sheikh Ahmed Hariri to go to the checkpoint and ask them to remove it because we couldn't tolerate what's happening anymore, so Sheikh Ahmed and one of the brothers, who were of course armed, went there and spoke with the officer, who started raising his voice gradually before bullets rained down on us.”
“I saw the incident through the surveillance camera and I dare them to broadcast the video that they confiscated from Bank Audi to expose all the liars who condemned the attack on the army,” said Asir.
He added that troops opened fire, “which prompted our men to retreat and defend themselves, and at that moment heavy gunshots rained down on everyone, on the army and on our men, most probably from an apartment belonging to Hizbullah in the building of KFC.” “One of our men was killed and several others were wounded and the shelling and bullets did not stop when the men retreated to the mosque,” Asir said.
“Is it logical that an incident happened at a checkpoint while bullets and shells were ready to be fired from Haret Saida and Sharhabil over an incident at a checkpoint? Even if an officer and a soldier were killed?” he wondered. He claimed that it was a “premeditated decision” because “if we wanted to open fire on the army, Sheikh Ahmed would not have gone to the barracks and the issue is a big lie and the decision was taken to end Ahmed al-Asir amid the consent of some local figures and a lot of Lebanese parties from the March 14 and March 8 camps.” Inside Asir's headquarters complex, which includes a mosque, several office buildings and apartment blocks, explosives and weapons, – including rocket launchers, snipers and machineguns -- were found. "It looks more like a security fortress than a mosque," caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told reporters in the wake of the clashes, adding that several Asir supporters detained by security forces were non-Lebanese. According to an army statement, the clashes erupted after Asir supporters attacked a checkpoint in “cold blood” and "for no reason."
Eighteen soldiers were martyred and 20 others were wounded in the attack and in the fierce clashes that ensued. Twenty of Asir's gunmen were also killed. "The interior minister sent us a message in an indirect manner in which he warned that 'Ahmed al-Asir's head is wanted' and 'Ahmed al-Asir must die'," the cleric added in the recording. Asir called on the Sunni community to “break the barrier of fear and fear only God,” urging them to protest “in a peaceful and civilized manner” after Friday prayers “in coordination with the Muslim clerics.” “I don't want to hear that there is frustration. God will show the right and we will return to raise the flag of right, whether they like it or not,” Asir pledged. He noted that the audio message, whose authenticity could not be independently verified, was recorded on Thursday.

President Suleiman Fails to Bridge Miqati-Berri Differences on Parliament Session
Naharnet/Attempts by President Michel Suleiman to bring viewpoints closer between Speaker Nabih Berri and Caretaker Premier Najib Miqati on a controversial parliamentary session have failed, media reports said Friday. Local dailies quoted informed sources as saying that a meeting held between Suleiman, Berri and Miqati at Baabda palace on Wednesday night focused on the constitutionality of the session that the speaker has called for. Miqati argues that parliament cannot convene amid a resigned government unless it has important issues on its agenda. The legislature was set to meet last Monday for three days but the March 14 alliance and the Change and Reform bloc boycotted it, which forced Berri to postpone it to July 16. Berri held onto the agenda that has several draft-laws, including the extension of Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji's term and stressed that the session is legal based on article 69 of the constitution. The article's third clause says during a resigned government the parliament shall automatically be considered convened in extraordinary session until a new cabinet has been formed and has gained the legislature's confidence. “Everyone should attend (the session) to discuss the draft-laws,” Berri told An Nahar newspaper. “Each MP has the right to take the stance he wants.”
The speaker reiterated that the crisis on the constitutionality of the session would be resolved if a new government was formed. “That's when parliament and the rest of the institutions could function normally.”
Premier-designate Tammam Salam is adamant to put together his cabinet, he said. An Nahar said however that President Michel Suleiman is planning to sign a decree calling for an extraordinary session to resolve the crisis.
Article 33 of the constitution states that the president in agreement with the prime minister may summon the parliament to extraordinary sessions by a decree that specifies the dates of the opening and closing of the sessions as well as the agenda. But Miqati has stressed that he rejects signing such a bill.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil Says Army Command Won't be Vacant if Qahwaji Retired
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil stressed on Friday the military institution will not be hit by vacuum if Army commander General Jean Qahwaji was referred to retirement. “All the public institutions, in particular the security agency, can't suffer from vacant posts as the hierarchy prevents it,” Bassil said in comments published al-Akhbar newspaper. He pointed out that the Internal Security Forces didn't suffer from any vacancy after ISF chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi was referred to retirement. Acting ISF chief Brig. Gen. Roger Salem took over the post of Rifi after his retirement, who was succeeded in turn by Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous last month. “Only exceptional circumstances justify the adoption of exceptional decisions,” Bassil told al-Akhbar. He noted that the caretaker cabinet, which established an elections committee to supervise the upcoming parliamentary polls, can appoint a new Army commander if a new government wasn't formed. Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Nouhad al-Mashnouq said for his part that “the bloc is holding onto ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri's stance over the extension of Qahwaji's term.” “We are looking for an adequate way to approve the extension draft-law,” al-Mashnouq said. The FPM led by MP Michel Aoun has openly opposed attempts to extend the tenure of Qahwaji, criticizing al-Mustaqbal for seeking an extension. Aoun said that since the post was reserved for the Maronite sect, then Christians had the priority before Hariri, head of al-Mustaqbal movement, to give their opinion on it. But Hariri snapped back, saying the army was not owned by one sect. Qahwaji's term ends this September when he turns 60, the maximum age for the post of the army commander. Sharp dispute also emerged between the FPM and Hizbullah over the matter.

Three Shot Dead as Morsi Backers March on Egypt Army HQ
Naharnet /A deadly gunfight erupted in Cairo on Friday as thousands of supporters of deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi marched on the Republican Guard headquarters during mass rallies against the Islamist's ouster. An Agence France Presse correspondent said at least three people were killed and many others wounded as shooting broke out after thousands of Islamist demonstrators approached the headquarters chanting "traitors" and "Morsi is our president". The bodies of two people were covered with sheets, said the correspondent, adding that another protester was shot in the head and fell to the ground, parts of his brain spilling from his skull.
The Islamists had streamed towards the Guards headquarters on foot from a Muslim Brotherhood rally that attracted tens of thousands at Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque.
They accuse the military of conducting a brazen coup on Wednesday against Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, after millions called for his ouster on the June 30 anniversary of his first turbulent year in power.
Shortly before Friday's rallies, around a dozen low-flying military jets screeched across Cairo, a day after warplanes had left a heart-shaped trail of smoke in the sky.
The show of force failed to deter Morsi's supporters, however.Shots rang out after one Morsi supporter tried to hang a picture of the ousted leader on barbed wire outside the headquarters, said the AFP correspondent.
He was warned twice by members of the Republican Guard not to approach the building before they started shooting. Gunfire could then be heard from both directions, and security forces also later used tear gas.
Morsi, who has not been seen since Wednesday, had issued a defiant call for supporters to protect his elected "legitimacy", in a recorded speech aired hours after his removal.
The military had said it supported the right to peaceful protest, but warned against violence and acts of civil disobedience such as blocking roads.
Armed forces were also on high alert in the restive Sinai peninsula, bolstering security after Islamist militants killed a soldier in a machinegun and rocket attack.
Clashes also broke out in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, hours after chief justice Adly Mansour, 67, was sworn in as interim president until new elections.
Mansour called for unity in an interview broadcast on the eve of Friday's rallies. "All I can say to the Egyptian people is to be one body. We had enough of division," he told Britain's Channel 4 television.
"The Muslim Brotherhood is part of the fabric of Egyptian society. They are one of its parties. They are invited to integrate into this nation and be part of it."
Prominent liberal leader Mohamed ElBaradei defended the military's intervention. "We asked the army to intervene because the other option was a civil war. We were between a rock and a hard place, and people need to understand that," the former U.N. nuclear watchdog chief told the BBC.
Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Morsi's overthrow on Wednesday night, citing his inability to end a deepening political crisis, as dozens of armored personnel carriers streamed onto the streets of the capital.
Military police have since arrested Brotherhood supreme leader Mohammed Badie "for inciting the killing of protesters", a security official told AFP. Former supreme guide Mahdi Akef was also arrested, state television reported. Morsi himself was "preventively detained" by the military, a senior officer told AFP hours after his overthrow, suggesting he might face trial. A judicial source said the prosecution would on Monday begin questioning Brotherhood members, including Morsi, for "insulting the judiciary". Thirty-five of them have been banned from travel. But controversial public prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud said Friday he was to resign, days after being reinstated, citing possible conflicts of interest in future prosecutions. Morsi supporters argue the president was confronted at every turn with a hostile bureaucracy left over by former strongman Hosni Mubarak, overthrown in the country's 2011 uprising. Morsi's rule was marked by a spiraling economic crisis, shortages of fuel and often deadly opposition protests. U.S. President Barack Obama said he was "deeply concerned", but refrained from calling the military intervention a coup. In May, Washington approved $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt. That was now under review, said Obama, as he called for a swift return to democratic rule.
The African Union suspended Egypt in response to Morsi's ouster, after Middle Eastern governments welcomed the military's intervention in varying degrees, with war-hit Syria calling it a "great achievement."
Source/Agence France Presse.

International opinion divided over toppling of Mursi
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—The downfall of Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi at the hands of millions of protestors and the country’s armed forces has provoked mixed reactions abroad. Within the Arab world, the monarchs of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two states that have sparred with the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Mursi originally hailed and from which he drew much of his support, were both quick to welcome his departure. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia offered his congratulations to Adli Mansour, the former chief of Egypt’s supreme court, who was sworn in as interim president on Thursday. In a cable to Mansour, the Saudi monarch praised the Egyptian army, saying it had “managed to save Egypt at this critical moment from a dark tunnel, [of which] only God could apprehend its dimensions and repercussions.”
The president of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also sent a congratulatory cable to Mansour. The UAE’s state news agency, WAM, reported that he said: “We have followed with appreciation and satisfaction the national consensus that has been seen in your sisterly country, which played a prominent role in enabling Egypt to get out of its crisis in a peaceful way, preserving its institutions, embodying the ancient civilization of Egypt and enhancing its Arab and international role.”
The UAE’s foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, paid tribute to Egypt’s army for its role in ensuring Mursi’s downfall, according to the WAM. “Sheikh Abdullah said that the great Egyptian army was able to prove again that they are the fence of Egypt and that they are the protector and strong shield that guarantee Egypt will remain a state of institutions and law,” a report from agency said.
In contrast, Qatar, which offered billions of dollars of financial aid to Mursi’s government and has maintained closer links with the Muslim Brotherhood, was relatively more restrained in its welcome of Egypt’s new rulers. In a statement carried by Qatar-based satellite channel Al-Jazeera, a foreign ministry official said: “Qatar supports the will of the Egyptian people and views Egypt as a leader in the Arab and Islamic world . . . Qatar will continue to respect the will of Egypt and its people across the [political] spectrum.” The governments of Tunisia and Turkey expressed disapproval of the topping of Mursi. In Tunisia, the Islamist Ennahda Party—currently the senior member of a governing coalition, said that toppling of Mursi amounted to a “coup against legitimacy.”
This disapproval was echoed by Ennahda’s coalition partners, the left-wing secularist Congress for the Republic party, which released a statement saying: “The party condemns the military coup against the democratic process . . . We view what the leadership of the army has done as a setback on the path of the Egyptian revolution and an attempt to reinstall the old regime.”
“A military coup sends a dangerous message to the Arab peoples, it hampers the democratic transition and sows despair among the peoples of the region,” the statement added.
In Turkey, a country with a history of military coups, and where Prime Minister Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party, also known as the AKP, were recently the focus of intense protests, there was also criticism of the Egyptian military’s actions. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking to reporters in Istanbul on Thursday, said: “The removal of President Mohamed Mursi, who came to power through a democratic election, by the intervention of the Egyptian army is an extremely worrying situation . . . Leaders who come to power with open and transparent elections reflecting the will of the people can only be removed by elections”.
“It is unacceptable for a government that has come to power through democratic elections to be toppled through illicit means and, even more, a military coup,” he added.
In the US, official statements from the State Department and the White House also expressed concern about the role of the Egyptian military, and stressed their desire to see Egypt swiftly returned to civilian rule.
Nonetheless, official statements from the US studiously avoided using the term “coup.” Under existing US policy, countries which have undergone military coups are ineligible for US aid. Egypt has been the recipient of billions of dollars of assistance from the US since the Camp David Accords, and there is little doubt among analysts that the US wishes to use the leverage it believes this aid gives it to maintain some degree of influence in Egypt.
A statement from US President Barack Obama issued on Thursday read: “No transition to democracy comes without difficulty, but in the end it must stay true to the will of the people. An honest, capable and representative government is what ordinary Egyptians seek and what they deserve . . . The long-standing partnership between the United States and Egypt is based on shared interests and values, and we will continue to work with the Egyptian people to ensure that Egypt’s transition to democracy succeeds.”

Pro-Mursi protesters killed as interim president dissolves Shura Council
Egypt left with no legislature as Adly Mansour dissolves Islamist-dominated Shura Council
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—At least three people have been reported killed in Cairo today as Egyptian soldiers opened fire on pro-Mursi supporters. The clashes occurred on the same that Egypt’s interim president Adly Masnour ordered the dissolution of Egypt’s upper house of parliament, leaving Egypt without an upper or lower parliamentary chamber. Thousands of Mursi supporters demonstrated outside the Republican Guard barracks in Cairo where the deposed Islamist president is reportedly being held. Protesters threw rocks and chanted insults at the Egyptian military guarding Mursi, demanding the ousted president’s release. At least three people were reported killed by gunshots and others injured.  The Muslim Brotherhood’s Gehad El-Haddad subsequently tweeted that the shootings had not been carried out by Republican Guards, but by military police stationed nearby. He added that it was unclear if the shootings were the result of panic, or had been ordered from above. A military spokesman denied that the army was using live ammonisation against protests, telling Reuters that only blank rounds and tear gas have been authorized.  The latest violence raises fears of violence after the Muslim Brotherhood called for nation-wide demonstrations to protest Mursi’s ouster, labelling this a military coup. The Brotherhood called for a “day of rejection” on Friday. The Egyptian military has clamped down strongly on the Islamist organization following the ouster of Mursi and swearing-in of interim president Adly Mansour. Arrest warrants have been issued for senior Brotherhood leaders across the country, including Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, and Deputy Guide Khairat El-Shater.
Badie was arrested in Marsa Matruh—close to the Libyan border—at the request of the Egyptian authorities “for inciting the killing of protesters,” officials told AFP. Khairat Al-Shater was also arrested on charges of inciting violence against protesters. Mohamed El-Beltagy, one of the few senior Brotherhood leaders not arrested, warned that the military overthrow of the elected president will push other groups to violent resistance.
“The issue is not with members of the Brotherhood being in or out of prison…the issue now is the position of the free world that is pushing groups, although not the Brotherhood, to return to the idea of change by force,” he told reporters.A Muslim Brotherhood statement read to supporters near the Rabia Al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo, proclaimed: “We declare our complete rejection of the military coup staged against the elected president and the will of the nation. We refused to participate in any activities with the uprising authorities.” Pro-Mursi marches are also taking place in Alexandria and Beheira in the north, as well as Minya in Upper Egypt.
Egyptian troops and Islamist supporters of the deposed president also clashed in El-Arish in North Sinai, and Suez and Ismailia on the Suez Canal. Protesters reportedly tried to take control of government buildings in all three towns, resulting in troops firing teargas to disperse the crowds. Interim president Adly Mansour also appointed Mohammed Ahmed Faris as Egypt’s new intelligence chief, replacing Mursi pick Raafat Shehata.
 

Supreme Guide Says Brotherhood to Stay on Street until Morsi 'Returns'
Naharnet /Muslim Brotherhood supreme guide Mohammed Badie told a crowd of supporters of Egypt's ousted president Friday that protesters will remain mobilized until Mohammed Morsi's return after he was deposed by the military. "Millions will remain in the squares until we carry our elected president, Mohammed Morsi, on our shoulders," Badie told the cheering crowd.
The Brotherhood chief then went on to lead a chant of "Military coup!" and "Invalid!" with thousands of roaring supporters. Earlier on Friday, the Islamist movement denied media reports that Badie had been arrested by the military. “I did not run away and rumors in that regard are aimed at misleading the public opinion,” Badie told the crowd outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, referring to reports claiming he had fled to Libya. “Morsi is the president of all Egyptians,” he stressed, calling on the army to “return to the Egyptian people.”“I tell the great army of Egypt that we will protect its back and we ask it to protect us from our enemies. Do not punish the sons of your country, you are more honorable than that,” the supreme guide added. He said the Brotherhood would discuss “everything” with the army “after our elected president returns.” “Our peaceful protest is stronger than bullets, tanks and armored vehicles,” Badie emphasized.“Egypt will witness the end of the military rule … The military coup is illegitimate and there is only one elected president and one elected Shoura Council,” he added.
“Our president is Mohammed Morsi and we will not accept anyone else. We will carry him on our shoulders or we will sacrifice our souls for him,” Badie went on to say.
He called on the army not to protect “only one faction, but rather all the Egyptian people.”Addressing Grand Imam of al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb, who had backed the army's roadmap that involved Morsi's ouster, Badie said: “You are a symbol but you have no right to speak in the name of Muslims or in the name of Christians.”Badie also addressed Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II, another key backer of the military's move, calling on him “not to speak in the name of Copts.”“You are a symbol but don't speak in their name,” he added, while stressing that “Christians are our partners in this country.” Badie noted that the referendum over the constitution “was another referendum on Morsi's presidency.”Addressing the army, Badie said: “Morsi is your commander and you should be loyal to the honor of the institution. We will carry on and we won't be daunted by arrests or gallowses. We tried the military rule and we won't tolerate it another time.”“Take to all the squares of Egypt to demand the return of our president Mohammed Morsi,” he said, addressing supporters. Following Badie's remarks, thousands of Brotherhood supporters marched on the state television building, even after three Islamist protesters were shot dead at a Cairo rally. The Islamists accuse the military of conducting a brazen coup against Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected president, after millions called for his ouster on the June 30 anniversary of his first turbulent year in power. The armed forces have already sworn in an interim president, however, and the newly appointed Adly Mansour issued his first decree on Friday, dissolving the Islamist-led parliament and appointing a new intelligence chief. Morsi, who has not been seen since Wednesday, had issued a defiant call for supporters to protect his elected "legitimacy", in a recorded speech aired hours after his removal. The military had said it supported the right to peaceful protest, but warned against violence and acts of civil disobedience.
Army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced Morsi's overthrow on Wednesday night, citing his inability to end a deepening political crisis, as dozens of armored personnel carriers streamed onto Cairo's streets.
Military police have since rounded up senior members of Morsi's Brotherhood. Morsi himself was "preventively detained" by the military, a senior officer told Agence France Presse hours after his overthrow, suggesting he might face trial. A judicial source said the prosecution would on Monday begin questioning Brotherhood members, including Morsi, for "insulting the judiciary". Thirty-five of them have been banned from travel.
Morsi's rule was marked by accusations he concentrated power in the hands of the Brotherhood. He was also blamed for a spiraling economic crisis.
His supporters argue Morsi was confronted at every turn with a hostile bureaucracy left over by former strongman Hosni Mubarak, overthrown in the country's Arab Spring-inspired uprising of 2011.
Source/Naharnet

Egyptian, Israeli military alerts prompted by Islamist mutiny threat from Sinai and first attacks

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 5, 2013/A new Egyptian crisis arena: the Egyptian and Israeli armies Friday, July 5, raised their alert levels on either side of the Sinai border after the Muslim Brotherhood declared Sinai its center of revolt and revenge for the Egyptian army’s ouster of Mohamed Morsi as president Wednesday, July 3. Following a multiple Islamist attack in northern Sinai, the Egyptian army went on high alert in the Suez and North Sinai provinces. The Sinai border crossings to the Gaza Strip and Israel were closed. The army spokesman in Cairo denied declaring an emergency – only a heightened alert.
Israel has imposed a blackout on news from this tense region, but debkafile reports reinforcements were sent in Friday to boost the IDF units standing ready along the Egyptian border.
Egyptian forces also shut down all three underground passages running from the mainland to Sinai under the Suez Canal. Egypt’s Third Army was deployed to secure them, under the command of Maj. Gen. Osama Askar.
Further measures imposed for guarding Suez Canal cargo and oil shipping against possible rocket fire from central Sinai included the stationing along its banks of Patriot anti-missile batteries and anti-air weapons systems, according to debkafile’s military sources. Around one-third of the world’s oil supplies from the Persian Gulf pass through the Suez Canal on their way to the Mediterranean and Europe.
These emergency measures were clamped down Friday after the Muslim Brotherhood established a Sinai "War Council" to mount a rebellion against the army in collaboration with the radical Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami as well as the al Qaeda-linked Salafist groups in the Gaza Strip and Sinai. The ousted Muslim Brotherhood’s strategy is seen by intelligence sources as designed to transform the Sinai Peninsula into an area of revolt and a base for attacking Israel. They are counting on the army having its hands too full with maintaining security in the mainland cities of Cairo, Alexandria and the Nile Delta to have troops to spare for Sinai. They intend to demonstrate that the military are incapable of at one and the same time fighting the Egyptian people, defending Western shipping in the Canal and Gulf of Suez and preventing attacks on Israel.
The new Sinai War Council set up by Morsi’s followers released a video tape threatening that “rebel’ forces would target any army and police personnel found in Sinai in retribution for the military coup.
debkafile’s military sources also report that Maj. Gen Ahmad Wasfi, head of the Egyptian Second Army, said after an emergency meeting at the headquarters of Defense Minister Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi Friday that the Egyptian army “would use force to prevent the creation of an Islamic caliphate in Sinai.” The new Islamist coalition launched its “revolt” Thursday night, July 4, by firing a couple of Grad rockets at Eilat. They exploded harmlessly outside Israel’s southernmost town. Israel’s military spokesman has drawn a curtain of secrecy of the event. However, the IDF’s Adom Brigade and its three sub-units, along with the Gaza division, were known to have been placed on high alert. The Islamist Sinai War Council struck again Friday morning, with a multiple attack by Salafist gunmen associated with Hamas and Jihad Islami in northern Sinai. They fired rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and heavy machine guns at Egyptian military intelligence headquarters in northern in Rafah and El Arish airport as well as several Egyptian military and border guard facilities.
Our sources report they attacked in wave after wave, the gunmen shooting from heavy machine guns and rocket launchers mounted on minivan as they raced around. Army helicopter gun ships were finally brought in to halt the assault. No word on casualties or the scale of episode has been released.

Countdown to the destruction of Lebanon begins

By: Eyad Abu Shakra/ Asharq Alawsat
It was remarkable how Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament, announced that “reports about creating a vacuum in the first presidency (the presidency of the republic) at the hands of the second presidency (the speakership of the parliament) are not true,” during a press conference held on Saturday.
He then explained: “It is unfortunate to read and hear statements and analyses linking the issue of the current parliamentary session with the current situation between Sunnis and Shi’ites. This is something aimed at creating a vacuum in the first presidency by nibbling at it from the second presidency, and thus Lebanon will end up with only one president.”
What is remarkable is that such a statement would come from Berri, a politician who some prefer to describe as “the moderate pan-Arab representative” of the “political Shi’ite” project in the region.
Last Saturday Berri insisted on holding a legislative parliamentary session. In fact, Berri has continuously presided over—or rather seized—parliament since October 20, 1992. He made this decision despite the fact that he certainly knows that tensions between Sunnis and Shi’ites in Lebanon have reached boiling point, particularly after the forceful elimination of the Sheikh Ahmad Al-Assir phenomenon in Sidon, home to the third largest Sunni community in Lebanon. Furthermore, Sidon borders the Zahrani district which Berri represents in parliament.
Berri’s position came after the majority of Sunni and Christian MPs rejected the holding of a legislative session in the absence of an active executive. These MPs justified their position on the basis that prime minister-designate Tammam Salam has so far failed to form his cabinet; out-going prime minister Najib Mikati now heads a mere caretaker cabinet which does not have the right to appear before the parliament.
Following Mikati’s announcement that he is in favor of the rejectors’ position, also for legal-constitutional reasons, a certain MP—who is also a former minister and is described by many as “Hezbollah’s ambassador to the Amal Movement”—staunchly defended Berri’s stance. It is something that suggests that Berri’s insistence is a part of the stance of Hezbollah which confirms, day by day, that it has become a “genuine occupation force” in Lebanon.
A few hours after Berri’s statement, at a funeral in a town in southern Lebanon, Hajj Mohammed Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, delivered a most interesting speech which must have reverberated throughout Lebanon. In his speech Raad called on “the other side to review their policies in order to avoid escalating tensions among the public and end the state of deadlock.”
Demonstrating the “diplomatic tact” that he is well-known for, Raad continued: “I am telling you to stop shouting about the issue of the arms of the resistance because it is now beyond any debate. However, if you bet once again on the weapons of the resistance, you will witness, like the rest of the world, more victories against the enemies of the homeland and Ummah.”
Of course, Raad did not shed more light on these victories: against whom, and on whose behalf, and in whose interests. Nor did he identify “the enemies of the homeland and Ummah” it is necessary to resist. He did not explain whether these enemies are in Haifa, beyond Haifa or in Qusayer or beyond Qusayer.
Given its commitment to UN Security Council resolution 1701 officially ending the “resistance” on the southern front, Hezbollah is today using its weapons inside and outside Lebanon. Hezbollah is waging a political war to undermine state institutions by chipping away at them bit by bit, amid deep concerns by the extremist Sunnis and confused and misled Christians; not to mention an Arab status quo getting bleaker by the day by the betrayal of the international community.
For around 30 years the hegemony of the “Syrian-Lebanese security apparatus” managed to weaken the ability of the Lebanese to understand the events taking place in their country. Throughout this period, the Lebanese have dealt with the Syrian security presence merely as a “violation” which is to be expected from a corrupt “police state” accustomed to maltreating its people in Syria.
Therefore, it should come as no surprise if they were treated in the same way.
The Lebanese used to believe in this realistic, immature, and incomplete analysis.
They were not fully aware of the background, commitments, and role of the Syrian regime, which it efficiently concealed using slogans such as “struggle”, “steadfastness”, and “resistance”. In fact, the Syrian regime never believed in any of these empty slogans.
They did not comprehend the real reasons—and let me emphasize the term ‘real’ here—for the Syrian regime’s support of Iran against Iraq during the first Gulf War.
They never questioned the Israeli and US approval of the decision of the Syrian regime—which claims to be “resistant”—to deploy its troops in Lebanon.
Even after accomplishing its mission of eliminating the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and its allies in the Lebanese National Movement (LNM), the then incubator of resistance against Israel, none questioned or suspected the real regional role of the Syrian regime.
Nobody noticed the Syrian regime’s manipulation of the issue of the disarmament of “militias” and granting Hezbollah the exclusive right to bear and keep arms in Lebanon.
They did not fully realize the purpose behind the Syrian regime’s preventing the full implementation of the Taif Agreement—which used to form a part of the Lebanese constitution—until 2005, the year the Syrian forces officially pulled out of Lebanon.
Last but not least, nobody pondered how or why Iran’s regional role has virtually been accepted and blessed by the US and Israel, following the invasion of Iraq, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Today everything in Lebanon and the entire region has become much clearer, and is taking place in broad daylight. Therefore, for Hezbollah there is no longer any need to be overly careful.
Hajj Mohammed Raad is truthful when saying that the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons is “now beyond any debate.” In fact, the use of the party’s weapons has become necessary to provoke sectarian strife in the name of “crushing Takfirist groups” whether they are natural residents or imported to the region.
Undermining state institutions in Lebanon is a principal and necessary part in preparing the ground for such strife to take place in the country.

Arab Spring, Islamic Winter, Military Summer
By: Amir Taheri/Asharq Alawsat
Even before it was fully under way, the Arab Spring was seen by some Western analysts as the prelude to an Islamic Winter. The insidious subtext was that Arabs must choose between military dictatorship and despotism in the name of religion. The coup against President Mohamed Mursi in Egypt hints at a third possibility: a Military Summer of Chaos. Speculation regarding the causes of the turmoil has been going on for weeks with Mursi featuring as central character. Mursi was criticized in three ways. His non-Islamist opponents, including the “remnants” of the previous regime, claim that he is trying to create an “Islamic” caliphate. Mursi, they said, was placing Brotherhood acolytes in as many key positions as possible while weakening institutions, such as the various courts, that dare challenge his options.
The second criticism, coming from some liberals, was that Mursi has been a do-nothing president, a puppet in the hands of the Brotherhood’s Star Chamber. Shunning the country’s real problems, such as mass unemployment and the breakdown of public services, Mursi has been shadow-boxing against imaginary “plotters against the nation.”The third criticism came from some Islamists, including the Khomeinist propaganda machine in Iran. According to them, Mursi failed because he was not “Islamic enough”. On Tuesday, the daily Kayhan, published by Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei’s office, lambasted Mursi for having “missed revolutionary opportunities.”
According to the editorial, Mursi should have set up a “Revolutionary Coordination Committee”, modeled on that created by Ruhollah Khomeini during the uprisings against the Shah.
In a Khomeinist system, critics of the regime would be executed, imprisoned, or driven into exile. Militias would be created to crush protests against the regime. The regime would conduct fake elections, deciding who stands and who wins.The problem with the analyses built around the concepts of an Arab Spring or an Islamic Winter is that they focused on the way a government is formed. The current Egyptian crisis, however, poses a different, and possibly more important, question: How is a government changed?
A glance at the contemporary history of most Arab states would reveal the importance of that question. In most cases change of government has occurred in three ways. One way has been through the assassination of the ruler, a classic method that dates back to the dawn of Islam having reached its perfection under the Abbasids. The second way is through military coup. That method, too, has a long history in the Arab and Islamic world. Numerous dynasties, including the Fatimids, the Dailamites, the Seljuks, and the Mamelukes seized power thanks to their control of armed groups within or on the margins of the system. With the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the emergence of several new Arab states centered on newly created armies, changing governments through military coups became an established method. Since the 1920s, Arab nations have experienced around 40 coups—from Oman and Yemen to Algeria, Syria, and Egypt.
The fall of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt was also due to the same method because the Tunisian and Egyptian armies pulled the rug from under their respective despot’s feet.
The third method of changing an Arab government is through foreign invasion, an example of which was the removal of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003.
The Arab Spring created the hope that another method might be developed: change of government through reasonably clean elections.
Before the Arab Spring only Iraq had experienced changes of government through this new method. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraqis managed to change government three times through election. However, today it is no longer certain they will be able to do so a fourth time. Let us return to Egypt. It would be in Egypt’s best, long-term, interest to allow the method of changing governments through elections enough time to become part of the nation’s political culture. That would have meant, allowing Mursi to serve his term and, if he fails to convince a majority, chase him away in the next election.
Crowds in the streets, even in the hallowed Tahrir Square, will never succeed in either creating a government or changing a government on their own. Crowds are fickle beasts on whose back could ride all manner of unsavory characters. Crowds can morph into mobs, producing ochlocracy, rule by the worst elements of society.
Mursi has been kicked out because the armed forces, plus the police and the intelligence services, decided it was in their interest to see him go. And that is a victory for General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and his associates in the high command, not for the Tahrir Square pasionarias shouting themselves hoarse.
Kicking Mursi out under the combined pressure of crowds and the military could be a setback for Egypt’s hopes of meaningful change. It could persuade Egyptians that the only way to change a government they do not like is through military coup. That would make the entire Egyptian state a mere branch of the army rather than the other way round. Egypt would be back to 1952 when Nasser was beginning to build his military dictatorship.
Don’t get me wrong; I am not defending the way Mursi governed, or failed to govern. All I am defending is his right, indeed his duty, to govern in accordance with his mandate. It is clear that a substantial segment of Egyptian society, maybe even a majority, reject what Mursi represents. But that rejection must be demonstrated through free and fair elections, not by fist-shaking demonstrations backed by pronunciamento by the top brass.

Question: "What is the meaning of life?"
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Answer: What is the meaning of life? How can purpose, fulfillment, and satisfaction in life be found? How can something of lasting significance be achieved? So many people have never stopped to consider these important questions. They look back years later and wonder why their relationships have fallen apart and why they feel so empty, even though they may have achieved what they set out to accomplish. An athlete who had reached the pinnacle of his sport was once asked what he wished someone would have told him when he first started playing his sport. He replied, “I wish that someone would have told me that when you reach the top, there's nothing there.” Many goals reveal their emptiness only after years have been wasted in their pursuit.
In our humanistic culture, people pursue many things, thinking that in them they will find meaning. Some of these pursuits include business success, wealth, good relationships, entertainment, and doing good to others. People have testified that while they achieved their goals of wealth, relationships, and pleasure, there was still a deep void inside, a feeling of emptiness that nothing seemed to fill.
The author of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes describes this feeling when he says, “Meaningless! Meaningless! ...Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). King Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes, had wealth beyond measure, wisdom beyond any man of his time or ours, hundreds of women, palaces and gardens that were the envy of kingdoms, the best food and wine, and every form of entertainment available. He said at one point that anything his heart wanted, he pursued. And yet he summed up “life under the sun”—life lived as though all there is to life is what we can see with our eyes and experience with our senses—is meaningless. Why is there such a void? Because God created us for something beyond what we can experience in the here-and-now. Solomon said of God, “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men...” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). In our hearts we are aware that the “here-and-now” is not all that there is.
In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, we find that God created mankind in His image (Genesis 1:26). This means that we are more like God than we are like anything else (any other life form). We also find that before mankind fell into sin and the curse of sin came upon the earth, the following things were true: 1) God made man a social creature (Genesis 2:18-25); 2) God gave man work (Genesis 2:15); 3) God had fellowship with man (Genesis 3:8); and 4) God gave man dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:26). What is the significance of these things? God intended for each of these to add to our fulfillment in life, but all of these (especially man's fellowship with God) were adversely affected by man's fall into sin and the resulting curse upon the earth (Genesis 3).
In Revelation, the last book of the Bible, God reveals that He will destroy this present earth and heavens and usher in the eternal state by creating a new heaven and a new earth. At that time, He will restore full fellowship with redeemed mankind, while the unredeemed will have been judged unworthy and cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). The curse of sin will be done away with; there will be no more sin, sorrow, sickness, death, or pain (Revelation 21:4). God will dwell with them, and they shall be His sons (Revelation 21:7). Thus, we come full circle: God created us to have fellowship with Him, man sinned, breaking that fellowship, God restores that fellowship fully in the eternal state. To go through life achieving everything only to die separated from God for eternity would be worse than futile! But God has made a way to not only make eternal bliss possible (Luke 23:43) but also life on earth satisfying and meaningful. How is this eternal bliss and “heaven on earth” obtained?
Meaning of life restored through Jesus Christ
Real meaning in life, both now and in eternity, is found in the restoration of the relationship with God that was lost with Adam and Eve's fall into sin. That relationship with God is only possible through His Son, Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; John 1:12; 14:6). Eternal life is gained when we repent of our sin (no longer want to continue in it) and Christ changes us, making of us new creations, and we rely on Jesus Christ as Savior.
Real meaning in life is not found only in accepting Jesus as Savior, as wonderful as that is. Rather, real meaning in life is when one begins to follow Christ as His disciple, learning of Him, spending time with Him in His Word, communing with Him in prayer, and in walking with Him in obedience to His commands. If you are not a Christian (or perhaps a new believer), you might be saying to yourself, “That does not sound very exciting or fulfilling to me!” But Jesus made the following statements:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b). “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it” (Matthew 16:24-25). “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).
What all of these verses are saying is that we have a choice. We can continue to seek to guide our own lives, which results in emptiness, or we can choose to pursue God and His will for our lives with a whole heart, which will result in living life to the full, having the desires of our hearts met, and finding contentment and satisfaction. This is so because our Creator loves us and desires the best for us (not necessarily the easiest life, but the most fulfilling).
The Christian life can be compared to the choice of whether to purchase the expensive seats at a sporting event that are close to the action, or pay less and watch the game from a distance. Watching God work “from the front row” is what we should choose but, sadly, is not what most people choose. Watching God work firsthand is for whole-hearted disciples of Christ who have truly stopped pursuing their own desires to pursue instead God's purposes. They have paid the price (complete surrender to Christ and His will); they are experiencing life to its fullest; and they can face themselves, their fellow man, and their Maker with no regrets. Have you paid the price? Are you willing to? If so, you will not hunger after meaning or purpose again.
Recommended Resources: Logos Bible Software and Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot by Max Lucado.
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The Disappearance of a Cause
Husam Itani
Friday 05 July 2013
Amidst the hurricanes sweeping the Arab region, the Palestinian cause and everything related to it seem to be in a state of deep slumber and outside the circle of interest.
Indeed, the efforts deployed by the American secretary of state to resume the negotiations, the optimism shown by the head of the Palestinian authority towards the success of these efforts, the ongoing Israel blockade over the Gaza Strip, and the absence of any treatment for the Palestinian national division, do not seem to be echoed on the Arab street. This is true despite the continuation of the settlement activities and Israeli oppression at an escalating pace, and the fact that not one day goes by without news agencies carrying reports about the decisions to build additional settlement units, new arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank, and the deterioration of the situation in Gaza due the sporadic opening of the crossings from the Egyptian side and their extended closing from the Israeli side.
This upsetting reality for the prevailing feeling of mobilization raises questions about Palestine’s position, after it was long classified as the central cause of the Arab populations and was surrounded by an aura of sanctity. The distancing of the cause from political debate has pushed it away from reality and into the world of the occult. And instead of dealing with it as a daily issue managed by ordinary people, it was led towards a space with which political consideration is of no use.
The paradox is that the sanctification of the cause rendered the political talk limited to the status of the Palestinian organizations. Hence, the conflict between Fatah and Hamas became the main object of discussion, preceded by the relationship between the Palestinian left and right, or the love-hate relationship between the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Arab regimes. In the meantime, the tackling of the Palestinian cause as a political issue was handled by a limited number of cadres in the PLO.
Consequently, Palestinian domestic policy reached the level that is currently seen in its dealing with the general cause. It became the job of the jobless, and not a cause related to the fates and interests of millions of Palestinians. And the neglect that is clear to all observers is not only the outcome of the “American-Israeli conspiracy,” but also that of the bankruptcy affecting the Palestinian and Arab policies in approaching this cause.
One could say that the transformations in the Arab world are so major that they caused the deferral of the Palestinian issue until the situation in the region settles down, and that the cause is still as important as it was during the 1960s and 1970s. Some might also claim there is a link between the diminished interest in the Palestinian cause and the existence of an American-Israeli plan to transfer the conflicts inside the Arab states and societies.
This approach, in parallel to the attempts of its advocators to stress the central character of the cause, reveals – without the latter knowing it - that highly influential elements have infiltrated the overall Arab climate and contributed to the marginalization of the Palestinian cause. Among these elements is the collapse of the philosophy adopted by the Palestinian command, not since it chose to negotiate with Israel to achieve its goals, but since the PLO launched a unilateral and extremely violent perception of the cause, which failed to achieve the “Storm’s promises” (as per the title of a poem by Mahmud Darwiche). Hence, there was no choice but to adopt an extremely peaceful course, which also failed to ensure the establishment of a state, in light of a prevailing illusion that Israel will offer it on a silver platter.
Before this ongoing failure and the Palestinians’ and Arabs’ inability to convince the world that the settlement of the cause was linked to the vital international interests, the Palestinian cause became limited to an enclave in Gaza, parts of the West Bank, and the misery camps abroad. At the same time, a young singer such as Muhammad Assaf started to embody the hopes of the Palestinians more than the fighting sectarian lords.
It is needless to say at this point that the rejectionists are serious about liberating Jerusalem, but only after they have completed their mission in Al-Quseir, Homs, and Rif Damascus…

Egypt Has Restored to the Arab Uprising its Insistence on Reform and Freedom
Raghida Dergham/AlHayat
The Arab Spring took a deep refreshing breath this week, after it had been hijacked by despotism, monopoly of power, and the tendency to monopolize decision-making and identity. Thank you Egypt, for you have restored to the Arab uprising its insistence on reform and freedom, and the rejection of dictates and despotism, in a spirit of rebellion, pride, and perseverance.
Reform has returned to the forefront as a serious demand, and the forces of modernization have returned to inform the forces of religious backwardness and the exclusion of others that this is a fateful battle over the constitution and over freedoms. The message is also quite clear in its other aspect, directed at those who hastily embraced the rise of the Islamists to power and the marginalization and dwarfing of secularists, modernists, and advocates of a civil state – including the US administration.
Yet this does not represent a victory for the Russians, who opposed political Islam in power, nor does it represent a way out of the crisis for the regime in Damascus, one that would grant it absolution and rehabilitation without being held to account. The age of accountability in the Arab region is still in its early days. The rebellion that succeeded in Egypt is on its way to Tunisia, to regain the reins of change towards modernity and to inform the Ennahda movement that it can no longer be accepted as a despotic ruling party.
Indeed, the Arab Spring began in Tunisia and Egypt as a movement of rebellion against autocracy. And here is the second revolution in Egypt attesting a movement of rebellion against theocracy, i.e. religious government. Meanwhile, the sectarian battle rages on in Syria and threatens Lebanon, and it certainly is a battle against radicalism and against the monopoly of a party and a family on ruling the country.
The transitional phase in the Arab region remains both fragile and critical, and it requires the different parties concerned with it, directly or indirectly, to drastically reconsider their contribution to it. The United States is at the forefront of those required to rectify some of their views and contributions, especially through necessary reconciliation with the forces of moderation, who have suffered from being made light of by the US administration and in the various American intellectual and media circles.
Most importantly, the US administration and the US Congress should correct their mistaken assumption that the Brotherhood’s Egypt becoming dependent on American funds will protect the Camp David Accord and make of the Muslim Brotherhood in power an obedient partner that implements their dictates. A stable and secure Egypt requires an influx of funds into its state institutions in an institutional manner from the United States and Arab Gulf countries alike.
Meanwhile, the military institution in Egypt has reinvented itself – most likely with the help and guidance of the United States, since the start of the January 25 Revolution. The Egyptian army has proven numerous times that it was the people’s army. This is an opportunity for the army to shape for itself greater prestige that would be appropriate to the requirements of the current transitional phase, and of the next one.
This is also a good opportunity for those who had wagered on “the Turkish model” to reconsider the application of such a model of religious rule in the Arab region. This model has fallen in Egypt, and in fact has begun to fall in Turkey as well over the past few weeks. As for the transfer of power in Qatar, which had funded the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, it has been raising questions, between those who interpret it as the old direction starting to recede, and those who say that it represents a new beginning even more committed to the rise of Islamists to power.
What remains, so far, is theocratic rule in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Indeed, the latter is the one that brought religious rule and its despotism to the Middle East. Yet both West and East are going through a process of reconciliation and truce-seeking with the regime of the mullahs – with both Americans and Europeans ignoring all the violations committed by Tehran; and with Russia pretending that the rise of Islamists to power is a purely Sunni matter that does not concern its ally Iran.
Many are the mistakes committed by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who was deposed by a decision from the people and the army this week. He treated the Egyptian people with contempt and considered their protests to be a passing matter, describing them, along with fellow members of the Muslim Brotherhood, in demeaning terms and making light of their capabilities. He and his group hijacked the January 25 Revolution in the wake of hasty elections that were flawed from the start, because parliamentary elections should have been held and an agreement over the constitution reached before presidential elections. This did not happen as a result of local, regional, and international decisions that were taken. Morsi and his group had assumed that they were granted an American pass to act unilaterally and monopolize power, as long as the bargain had been struck not to tamper with the peace agreement with Israel, the Camp David Accords, which represents a priority for the United States.
The Muslim Brotherhood applied itself to taking over every center of power, greedily and arrogantly. It considered the elections to represent democracy’s final stop rather than its first. It resolved to take full control of the power structure by completely excluding others. It incited, intimidated, threatened, and became convinced that it was above being held to account. It believed that America would always remain its ally because it was sidelining the secularists and moderates. It claimed its legitimacy to be issued from the popular base with which it had built channels and networks before it came to power, but it quickly started to behave arrogantly with the people and their demands after it took power.
And it failed. The Muslim Brotherhood failed, as did its President Morsi, economically as well as politically and socially. It even angered those who had voted for it to spite deposed President Hosni Mubarak, and then rebelled when they felt that what the Muslim brotherhood sought was the same kind of permanent rule against which they had revolted in their revolution against Mubarak.
It failed regionally, with the Arab Gulf countries as well as inside Syria. It seemed as if it were supporting armed extremism in Syria for reasons specific to the Brotherhood, not in order to support the Syrian opposition against the regime and against tyranny. Obstinacy, excess, and arrogance were its undoing, and it lost the sense of wisdom and prudent governance. It lost sight of the people.
The second chapter of the Egyptian uprising on July 3, 2013 attested to the Egyptian people’s refusal to be marginalized and of their ability to organize and gather millions behind the slogan “leave”. The people sought for the president who disappointed and failed them to leave. He refused and wagered on the weakness of both the people and the army.
The people told the Muslim Brotherhood that they did not want religious rule, a religious constitution, or religious dictates on all levers of civilian life. The people did not say that they were not religious or were against religion. They said that they insisted on the separation of religion and state. The people triumphed and President Morsi, who behaved as obstinately as Mubarak had done, was deposed. The people said “leave!” They said that they reject all those who thirst for monopoly, unilateralism, and despotism in power.
What happened in Egypt will happen in Tunisia, in Libya, in Syria, in Iraq, in Lebanon and in the Arab Gulf states if their rulers opt for tyranny. Egypt’s pioneering message to the Arabs is that the people do not want religion imposed on the state. It is a cry for freedom and modernity that will echo across the entire Arab region, because its source is Egypt.
Some will fear division inside Egypt that could lead to a civil war, and such fears are not unjustified. Indeed, the Muslim Brotherhood is angry and resolved to regain power, and it may resort to violence and to sowing the seeds of vengeance. Yet Egypt will most likely not fall into the maelstrom of civil war. Tahrir Square was filled with all sorts of people, from veiled young women to the elderly, not just the youth. And that represents a form of immunity.
The army would represent the most important form of immunity if it were to persevere in the “road map” it announced after it brought together Al-Azhar, the Coptic Church, and civilian leaders, mobilizing them behind the democratic process – both in terms of the constitution and of elections. The army behaved with determination and seriousness, and did not back down when Morsi challenged it to confront him. The army raised the Egyptian flag as a weapon and as a slogan, as did the protesters in Tahrir Square and all over Egypt, to say: I am the army of the people, not the army of regimes.
None of the military, religious or civilian leaders said that they seek to exclude the Muslim Brotherhood from the democratic process and from the exercise of power through democratic means and with democratic guarantees of a democratic constitution and the separation of religion and state. They all spoke the language of national reconciliation and tolerance. They stressed the necessity for the transitional period, under the sponsorship of the army, to be sound and swift. They asserted that the transitional government should be formed on the basis of competence, bring together different generations, and place Egypt on the path to recovery.
If Egypt recovers, so will the Arab region. The Egyptian people have restored a certain amount of respect to the Arab Spring, which had been scattered to the wind when it was seized by the Muslim Brotherhood, with support from various parties. The uprising in Turkey stopped Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in his tracks, when he thought he was laying the tracks for the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood over the entire Arab region.
What the Obama administration should do now is completely reform its relationship with Egypt, particularly though an influx of the funds necessary to save its economy. It is not sufficient for Washington to have implicitly approved of or actually supported what the army did in Egypt – having wished or having been forced to do so. Egypt is in need of an extensive process to be set in motion to salvage its economy. Washington has the ability to influence international financial institutions, as well as Arab countries, able to provide such an influx of funds. Any failure to do so will lead to a backlash for everyone.
This is the time to celebrate a people that had once been subjugated by a rule that lasted for thirty years. This is the moment to reflect on the capabilities of a people who toppled their president twice within a year. This is a pivotal point in time in the Arab region, because Egypt is preparing to lead once again. Let them think then, those who believe that the events in Egypt that marked a receding of religious rule represent a testimony that they can continue to rule as tyrants. Indeed, neither autocracy, nor theocracy, nor radicalism will remain. This is the time of rebellion against tyranny, the monopoly of power and unilateral control by excluding others. Let us then rejoice today, because the road ahead is complicated, difficult and long.

Change in Egypt… in Syrian Terms
Walid Choucair/Al Hayat
A process of political change is underway in Egypt, and a new political formula should emerge in the coming months. As the world awaits these developments, monitoring the exemplary dynamism of the Egyptian people indicates that these dramatic events will lead to a regional reshuffling, changing the political map of Arab countries that have experienced popular uprisings.
The Arab uprisings, which erupted at the end of 2010, were not expected to settle into a clear formula as soon as change came to the countries’ political authorities. The transition from authoritarian regimes was fraught with problems and difficulties. It came after decades of seeing the popular will seized and political life tamed in all of those countries, which were concerned with rising up against backwardness, marginalization, repression, humiliation, the plunder of resources, and the hobbling of national institutions, if the despots had left any such institutions.
The various elements of the societies that formed the fuel for these uprisings were sure to undergo a difficult period of birth pangs that could last for another decade, based on the lessons of history. Revolutions do not succeed in achieving their objectives and producing alternatives in the blink of an eye. This is especially true in countries where despots have left behind backward political structures, subject to the will of a single individual, or a small group that acts like a mafia. This backwardness will certainly extend to the opposition and rebels as well; they have fallen short in managing the process of change and moving in the direction of modernity in the distribution of resources and achieving participation, followed by development.
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has not been alone in proving its failure to transition to a new regime; the same goes for similar movements in Tunisia, North Africa, and Libya, which have been no better, even though all of these countries have witnessed a domestic dynamism. Even Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, which is still in the opposition and struggling against the regime, has fallen into the game of monopolizing power and internecine struggle, which is one of the many reasons that has delayed change in Syria. In Yemen, meanwhile, the game is run according to different rules.
In Egypt, there are different mechanisms at play, as it might be the only country with a state and institutions, regulating various social forces. Irrespective of how quickly they respond to popular movements, these long-standing institutions are able to absorb new developments in the popular mood.
However, what is the meaning of the change that we are witnessing today? This change, it should be noted, is due to the alliance and cooperation among the military, the judiciary, religious authorities, cultural institutions, and political parties in responding to the million-man protest against the Brotherhood's failure to respond to any of Egypt’s political, economic and social problems, after the opportunity it received to make such an attempt.
There are many questions being posed about the coming days in Egypt: Will the popular movement be immune to the possibilities of violence, and will popular and youth groups be able to attract millions of people to public squares and send its voice of protest to rural areas, where the Brotherhood wields influence? Meanwhile, the new phase of change in Egypt will reshuffle the cards on the regional front, for a simple reason. When the new political formula becomes stable, Cairo will recover its weight in drafting the policies of the Arab world. When Egypt was weak domestically, drowned in its own problems, its external role experienced weakness and retreat, compared to the roles of regional powers, particularly Turkey, Iran and Israel. This recovery of Egypt’s role might take some time, as the country will be busy with arranging domestic scene so as to guarantee the participation of the Brotherhood in the new political process. Also, the amazing popular movement must prove that it can generate a clear leadership that transcends the fragmentation that was responsible for its failure in parliamentary and presidential elections less than a year ago. However, the impact of change will certainly be reflected in all Arab Spring countries, because it has been shown that the rise of Islamists in these countries is not inevitable, as countries in both the west and the east, along with frightened minorities, and Arab peoples, sought to convince themselves.
Most likely, Syrian President Bashar Assad will not be overjoyed for long about the “defeat of political Islam,” as he put it while commenting about events in Egypt. Is it reasonable that the Syrian president will behave like the political partner of those who brought down the authorities in Egypt? Assad has restricted control over Syria’s military and intelligence bodies to himself and his family. He is also the one who frightened religious institutions and minorities; he turned the cities against the countryside, and used all types of foreign support for his regime in a war of annihilation against his people; he destroyed Syria’s infrastructure to retain power. There have been more than 100,000 people killed in Syria, while the number of people killed in Egypt in confrontations over the last five days can be counted on the fingers of two hands. Two and a half years ago, only several hundred people were killed in the 25 January revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
In Egypt, people allowed political Islam to undertake an experiment; then, when it failed, political Islam was held to account by demonstrators. In Syria, public squares have been bombed and massacres have been committed, in the name of standing against political Islam.