Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources For October 13/13
Lebanese Related News
Singing Legend Wadih al-Safi Passes Away at 92
Sleiman: Narrow interests contribute to government stalemate
Extension of Sleiman’s term inevitable, Charbel says
Israeli soldiers cross technical fence on Lebanon border
Mortar shells hit near inspectors' hotel in Syria
Warrants out for Tripoli bombing suspects
U.S. will not funnel refugee aid through Treasury
Lebanese suspected of car bomb attack killed, relatives say
Sniper fire wounds two in Tripoli
Hale holds talks with Franjieh in north Lebanon
LAU students refuse to back down over tuition hike
Identification of boat victims underway
Positive signs for release of bishops, but no word on pilgrims
Saqr Orders Arrest of Jabal Mohsen's Youssef Diab, Other Suspects over Tripoli Blasts
Abbas Ibrahim Expresses Hope Nine Pilgrims to be Free Soon
Abou Faour Defends Jumblat's Proposal to Give Veto Power to Rivals
Aoun: Rule Today is Based on Bypassing Laws, Abusing Powers
Monsignor Labaki's Family Urges Christian Interference with Vatican, Appeal in Sexual Abuse Case
Miqati Rejects to Clash with Aoun over 'Political' Criticism
Jumblat to Head to Paris, Seeks to Meet Hariri after Adha Holiday
Miscellaneous Reports And News 
Jihadists Make Gains in Inter-Rebel Syria Clashes
Iran says it arrested three Israeli spies
Amid his warnings on Iran nuclear program, Netanyahu says he's less isolated than Churchill, Herzl
Report: Iran nixes anti-Israel, anti-Zionism conference
Syria: FSA open to “temporary” ceasefire
Kerry, Karzai extend talks on Afghan-US pact for third round
Troop Immunity Threatens to Sink U.S.-Afghan Deal

Martyr Danny Chamoun Remembrance Day

LCCC: The Lebanese Liberal Party celebrated on Saturday Martyr Danny's Chamoun Annual Martyrdom Day. Danny Chamoun was assassinated with his wife and two children by the Syrian criminals in year 1989. The crime was so brutal and did not show any mercy towards  even the children.
Miscellaneous Reports And News

Lebanon seeks day of mourning for Wadih al-Safi
October 12, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: The Professional Musicians' Syndicate urged the government Saturday to announce a day of mourning in honor of Wadih al-Safi who died Friday at the age of 92.
In a statement, the syndicate called on President Michel Sleiman and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to announce a day of mourning. On social media, members of the public also urged the government to designate a day for Safi with the hash tag #Nationaldayofmourningtowadihelsafi trending nationally on Twitter. Sleiman offered his condolences on the death of Safi, describing the singer's passing as a great loss for Lebanon’s folk music, his office said. Mikati described Saturday the passing of the renowned artist as a loss for Lebanon’s “authentic art” scene, praising the legacy the 92-year-old singer and songwriter has left behind. “With the departure of Wadih al-Safi, the image of the authentic Lebanese art is absent as it now lacks the unmatched voice [of Safi] who sang for Lebanon the most beautiful of words and tunes,” Mikati said in a statement.
“His songs became national anthems carried by the Lebanese wherever they went as the best means to express our nation's beauty and history,” he added. Safi suffering a stroke at his son’s house in Mansourieh Friday night and was transferred to the Bell Vue Medical Center where he passed away. Safi was part of Lebanon’s musical landscape for nearly 75 years, creating a modernized form of folk music by blending traditional melodies with an urban sound. Born in the Chouf Village of Hita, Safi kickstarted his career at the tender age of 17 when he won a singing competition broadcast on a radio station. He collaborated with several artists and recorded over 1,000 songs.
When circumstances forced him to leave Lebanon, he continued singing songs about the nation and the land. “Our consolation is that he has made a name for himself alongside the giants of this country and the world, leaving behind a legacy that will survive generations to come and a school of art that proved its uniqueness,” Mikati said. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea also commented on the passing of Safi, was who nicknamed “the voice of Lebanon.” "We bid farewell today to Wadih who carried Lebanon in his heart and settled on Lebanon's mountains as an eagle. We will never forget his voice in the most difficult of times,” Geagea said.
“Sleep with comfort, dear Wadih, because the Lebanon that you loved will survive,” he added.

Sniper fire wounds two in Tripoli
October 12, 2013/By Antoine Amrieh/The Daily Star
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Sniper fire from Jabal Mohsen wounded two people after an Army unit attempting to arrest a local man came under fire, allegedly from local residents. The unit was pursuing a man suspected of involvement in the Aug. 23 car bomb attack. The bombs exploded in separate mosques in Tripoli, killing 47 people and wounding scores more. So far, two individuals, a suspected informant and a sheikh, have been detained by authorities for alleged involvement, but the latter was later cleared. Tensions ran high following the incident in the city, notorious for its volatile security situation and recurrent rounds of violence between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh. According to a security source, residents from Jabal Mohsen opened fire at soldiers stationed at the Bazar market when Internal Security Forces Information Branch personnel apprehended Youssef Diab, who hails from the predominantly Alawite neighborhood. Ali Hawi was identified as the soldier wounded in the shooting incident, the source said, adding that the Army responded to the source of fire. Sniper fire from Jabal Mohsen also wounded two people from the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood and targeted a bus on the Malloulah Bridge. Several roads in the city were blocked by the Army to prevent more casualties. The Army made contacts with local figures and began patrolling the city. It also blocked the major highway linking Tripoli and the northern region of Akkar to contain the situation. Gunmen exchanged fire in the areas of Reefa and Baqaar, while others in Bab al-Tabbaneh piled up sand bags to prepare for battle. One figure from Bab al-Tabbaneh, however, told The Daily Star that the predominantly Sunni neighborhood “would not respond to the provocation and would leave it up to the security agencies to resolve the problem.” Meanwhile in the Abi Samra area, a personal dispute erupted between the families of Hassoun and Othman in which hand grenades were exchanged, prompting the Army to intervene and restore calm. Tripoli MP Mohammad Kabbara quickly condemned the attacks against Bab al-Tabbaneh residents, urging officials to carry out necessary measures to protect the city from violence. “Where are the security agencies who are supposed to deter such barbaric, irresponsible behavior [by Jabal Mohsen]?” Kabbara, also a Future lawmaker, said in a statement. He urged residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh to practice self-restraint. A field commander from the neighborhood also asked that residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh be patient and not get dragged into sectarian strife.
“But we will not be patient for long, especially now that we know the person who was arrested today played a role in the Tripoli bombings,” Saeed Masri said in a separate statement. “Any one of our bullets in the direction of Jabal Mohsen could lead to the release of someone involved in our killing,” Masri added, referring to the car bombings. The tensions come as the caretaker government began implementing the first phase of a security plan to bring calm to the restive city. Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Thursday the second part would be carried out soon. The initial phase of the plan saw the deployment of the Internal Security Forces, General Security and the Army at the entrances of Tripoli and the erection of checkpoints at the entrances of several neighborhoods.

Hale holds talks with Franjieh in north Lebanon
October 12, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon held talks Saturday with the head of Marada Movement Suleiman Franjieh in Zghorta as well as meeting with other public figures from the northern region. Hale and Franjieh discussed regional and local developments in the presence of a diplomatic delegation and several Marada officials, the state-run National News Agency reported. Hale also met with former MP Nayla Mouawad as well as her son, Michel, who is the head of the Independent Movement, at their residence in Ehden. Aside from the situation in the region and Lebanon, Hale discussed with the Mouawads development problems in Zghorta and the northern region. Hale then continued to lunch at former MP Jawad Bulos' residence, where the Mouawads were also dining.

Sleiman: Narrow interests contribute to government stalemate
October 12, 2013/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman said the personal interests of politicians contribute to the current stalemate in the process of forming a new government. “Looking at issues from the perspective of personal interests without taking into consideration the national interest whether in terms of security, politics or government formation contributes to obstructing several things and maintaining a stalemate,” Sleiman was quoted by his office as saying.
He stressed the importance of working to revitalize the constitutional institutions to meet the coming phase of negotiations in accordance with to the Constitution and democratic practices. The country has witnessed a political deadlock preventing Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam from forming a new government as rival groups place conditions on the future Cabinet lineup. While the March 8 group, and particularly Hezbollah, demands a national unity Cabinet with political representation, the March 14 coalition rejects such a proposal, urging Salam to form a neutral government with non-partisan ministers. The paralysis has also hit Parliament as it has not been able to convene on several occasions given opposition from some lawmakers within the March 14 coalition. In the absence of a functioning government and with the current political standoff, speculation has been raised on whether Sleiman’s term which expires in April of next year would be extended. Sleiman, however, has said he would challenge his own extension, arguing that lawmakers should attend a Parliament session and vote to elect a new president.

Warrants out for Tripoli bombing suspects
October 12, 2013/2013 /The Daily Star/TRIPOLI/BEIRUT: Military Prosecutor Saqr Saqr issued Saturday an arrest warrant for Youssef Diab, a suspect in the deadly Tripoli bombings and whose apprehension a day earlier raised tensions in the northern city. Saqr issued arrest warrants for three people including Diab, a judicial source told The Daily Star, adding that the arrest of the suspect by the Internal Security Forces Information Branch was approved by the state prosecutor. The other two were identified as Anis Hamzeh and Ali Jaafar. Tensions ran high in the city Friday after the arrest of Diab who is a member of the predominantly Alawite Arab Democratic Party from Jabal Mohsen and a suspect in the August twin car bombings in Tripoli that killed 47 people. Three people have been arrested over their involvement in the explosions. One has been released for lack of evidence against him. Head of General Security Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim earlier Saturday inspected checkpoints set up by the agency in the northern city as part of the government’s security plan to protect Tripoli.
Ibrahim followed up on the working conditions of personnel and gave orders to his officers to remain in complete readiness to address security concerns in the city in coordination with the other security agencies involved.
Until late Friday, intermittent sniper fire was heard in Tripoli and a rocket-propelled grenade fell near Syria Street, the road separating the mainly Alawite Jabal Mohsen neighborhood from its rival the Sunni-dominated Bab al-Tabbaneh.The two neighborhoods have engaged in deadly clashes on several occasions since the crisis in Syria began in 2011. Jabal Mohsen maintains a strong support base for President Bashar Assad while Bab al-Tabbaneh has voiced support for the rebels. An official from the Arab Democratic Party, Ali Feddah, criticized Saturday the arrest of Diab, alleging that Bab al-Tabbaneh residents fired at Jabal Mohsen minutes after the apprehension.
“The way the security agency came and arrested Diab who is only 18 was more like a militia than a government-run force,” Feddah told a local television station, claiming ISF personnel verbally attacked Diab and beat him before apprehending him. “In addition to that, arresting this man from Jabal Mohsen is like targeting an entire sect,” he added. A security source told The Daily Star that residents from Jabal Mohsen allegedly fired at the Lebanese Army following the arrest, wounding a soldier and prompting the latter to return fire. Two people were also wounded by sniper fire in the city. The Lebanese Army initiated contacts with Tripoli figures and politicians in order to restore calm and began patrolling the area to prevent further escalation. The unrest came two weeks after the caretaker government launched the first phase of a security plan for Tripoli to preserve security and protect residents. The initial phase included the deployment of Army, ISF and General Security personnel and the erecting of checkpoints at the entrance of the city and around known hot spots.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati followed up on the situation in Tripoli with caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel as well as a number of security chiefs, his office said. Mikati also spoke to caretaker Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi about the ongoing investigation with Diab.

Extension of Sleiman’s term inevitable, Charbel says
October 12, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: The extension of President Michel Sleiman’s term is all but “inevitable” if warring factions fail to agree on a new Cabinet lineup before the Lebanese leader’s mandate expires, caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Friday. “The extension of Sleiman’s term is inevitable, whether he will agree on it or not ... it will definitely happen if a new Cabinet is not formed prior to the end of the president’s term,” Charbel told Al-Akhbar. “The extension is bad but a vacuum in the post of president would be even worse and would have negative repercussions on the country,” Charbel said.
Sleiman’s mandate expires in May 2014. The president has repeatedly voiced opposition to an extension to his term, vowing to challenge any such move by Parliament. “Ultimately, the president will find himself obliged to agree on his extension in order to spare the country from being further plunged into the [Lebanese] crisis,” Charbel, who is close to Sleiman, said. Charbel reaffirmed Sleiman’s position the Cabinet lineup should please all parties, adding that it was the “president’s vision” to pull Lebanon out of its current predicament. Charbel also expressed hope that Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam would form a Cabinet similar to that of caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in 2005. Mikati headed the government for 100 days and oversaw parliamentary elections following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. “The government has no role in the presidential election,” Charbel said, stressing that it was the government’s responsibility to maintain security. “The war in Syria is at our door, and it has already spilled over the border,” Charbel warned. “There are a million Syrian refugees [in Lebanon], some of whom are loyal to the regime while others are opposition or extremists or fugitives ... [and those] who would fight a war against each other on Lebanese territory.”Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt, in comments to As-Safir newspaper, voiced opposition to any possible extension to Sleiman’s mandate and said he would prefer the next candidate to the presidency not come from the military. He also said that the next president should be “consensual” and not affiliated with either the March 8 or March 14 rival camps.

Positive signs for release of bishops, but no word on pilgrims
October 12, 2013/By Dana Khraiche, Jana El Hassan/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Encouraging signs emerged Friday over the possible release of two kidnapped bishops in Syria, with no new developments reported for the Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Azaz a day after Lebanese officials voiced optimism a deal would be reached soon. “There are positive signs of the imminent release of the two bishops,” the head of the Syriac League Habib Afram told The Daily Star. “We were informed by [General Security chief] Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim that similar to the deal to free the Azaz hostages, there is a deal to secure the bishops’ release.”Ibrahim is tasked with following up on the case of the Syrian bishops and the Lebanese hostages in Syria and has been coordinating with a number of regional parties to secure the release of both groups. Afram said that Turkish authorities, who are helping to resolve the case of the Lebanese pilgrims, informed Ibrahim that they were also working to secure the release of the two bishops. “They said they [bishops] might be released before Eid al-Adha and they reassured us that they are fine,” he said. Aleppo’s Greek Orthodox Archbishop Paul Yazigi and Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim were kidnapped on April 22 by armed men while en route to Aleppo from the Turkish border. They are reportedly being held by a group of rebels in the Syrian town of Bshaqtin, 20 kilometers northwest of Aleppo. The kidnappers have not made demands to free the bishops. In remarks made to Al-Jadeed television station, Ibrahim, who traveled to Turkey Thursday night, said efforts to release the nine hostages were on track. “We are on the right path and we are negotiating, not fighting,” the security chief said. Optimism remained high that the nine Lebanese Shiite pilgrims would be released soon. They were kidnapped on May 22 of last year in the Aleppo district of Azaz. The relevant parties were so far responsive toward the negotiation process, a source close to the case told The Daily Star. The source also said that officials have advised the pilgrims’ relatives to refrain from speaking to the media because their remarks could hurt the delicate negotiation process. The Syrian regime reportedly agreed to the kidnappers’ demand to release 127 Syrian female detainees and a prominent opposition figure, in exchange for the release of the Lebanese pilgrims. A spokesperson for the relatives of the pilgrims, Hayat Awali, told a local media outlet that the families were remaining cautious about the release of the pilgrims. “We will prepare the welcome signs, but we will not hang them until we know the [Lebanese pilgrims] are boarding in Ankara’s airport [to Beirut],” Awali said. The release of the nine Shiite pilgrims could also hasten the release of two Turkish Airlines pilots who were abducted on the Beirut airport road on Aug. 9. The kidnappers of pilot Murat Akpinar and his co-pilot Murat Agca demanded the release of the pilgrims in exchange for the Turkish nationals. Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Claude Karam charged 13 people over the abduction, most of whom are related to the Lebanese hostages in Syria. Three are currently being held in custody in Roumieh Prison.

Report: Iran nixes anti-Israel, anti-Zionism conference
By JPOST.COM STAFF/' Iranian officials have reportedly ordered the cancellation of an annual anti-Israel and anti-Zionism conference set to take place in November, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.
According to the report, Iran's foreign ministry cancelled the New Horizon Conference, in the latest move to demonstrate that the country is veering toward a new diplomatic direction under the leadership of new President Hassan Rouhani. Iranian press accuses CNN of 'fabricating' Rouhani Holocaust remarks The event was slated to feature 63 international contributors, including a US senator.
Hardliners associated with the forum slammed the decision, according to the Telegraph. The Telegraph quoted the head organizer of the conference, Nader Talebzadeh, as saying the decision to cancel the event was "a major mistake on the part of our government". Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a previous conference called for Israel to be "wiped off the map".Since his election in June, Rouhani has made efforts to shift Tehran's diplomatic tone from that elicited by his predecessor. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has expressed his distrust of Rouhani, rejecting his so-called “smile and conquer diplomacy" while warning the international community that the Iranian regime has nonetheless maintained its goal to produce nuclear weapons.

Iran says it arrested three Israeli spies
By YASSER OKBI/J.Post/10/12/2013/
Iran said it arrested three Israelis suspected of spying and attempting to recruit Iranian citizens to gather intelligence for Israel, Iranian news agency Mehr reported on Saturday.
The report quotes Iranian judge Dadkhoda Salari as saying that most of the suspects, who have gone on trial in the country's southeast, have confessed during interrogation to collecting information and transferring it out of the country, and aiding organizations that oppose religion in Israel. "The three hired some 60 Iranian citizens to plot against the Islamic government," the judge was quoted as saying. Iranian authorities provided no further information on the trial, and on whether the defendants were sentenced. The Islamic Republic has frequently announced the capture of unidentified spies for Israel in the past. In August, an Iranian national was arrested for allegedly spying for Israel. The unidentified man allegedly passed on sensitive information to the Israeli Embassy in Thailand, and intended on passing further intelligence information during a second trip to the Southeast Asian country prior to his arrest. In May, Tehran announced it executed two men convicted of spying for Israel and the United States. Mohammad Heidari, accused of passing security-related information and secrets to Israeli Mossad agents in exchange for money, and Kourosh Ahmadi, accused of gathering information for the US Central Intelligence Agency, were hanged at dawn, it said. In 2012, Iran gave a death sentence to Amir Mirza Hekmati "for cooperating with the hostile government of America and spying for the CIA." In 2011, Iranian intelligence services announced they arrested a network of Mossad spies linked to the assassination of the country's top nuclear scientists in 2010, and that the spies had revealed information on additional anti-Iran Israeli plots. JPost.com staff and Reuters contributed to this report.

Amid his warnings on Iran nuclear program, Netanyahu says he's less isolated than Churchill, Herzl
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Amid-his-warnings-on-Iran-nuclear-program-Netanyahu-says-hes-less-isolated-than-Churchill-Herzl-328529
By JPOST.COM STAFF/LAST UPDATED: 10/12/2013/ In the midst of what many see as warming diplomatic ties between Iran and the West, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu continues to warn the world on the dangers of a nuclear Iran and told the New York Times in an interview published on Friday that he would not let the Islamic Republic have nuclear weapons. During the interview Netanyahu reportedly pointed to two photos above his desk in his Jerusalem office, one of the British WWII leader Sir Winston Churchill and the founding father of Zionism, Theodor Herzl and said: "They were alone a lot more than I am." Prior to the meeting set for next week between the six world powers and Iran on its nuclear program the Times interviewer described Netanyahu as sometimes coming off "sounding shrill", being "increasingly alone abroad and at home," and being at risk of "seeming frozen in the past amid a shifting geopolitical landscape." "Netanyahu is most comfortable predicting disaster, scaring people into doing something," the Times quoted Mitchell Barak, a political consultant who worked with Netanyahu in the 1990s. "The problem is now he's lost momentum. His message is clear, his message is the same, the situation is the same, but everyone else's perspective has changed," Barak added.
The Times interviewer wrote that "such isolation is hardly new to a man with few personal friends and little faith in allies." After his US media blitz Netanyahu flooded the European media over the past few days with interviews trying to sway public opinion against easing sanctions on Iran in return for what Jerusalem views as cosmetic concessions.

Identification of boat victims underway
October 12, 2013/By Wassim Mroueh/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Caretaker Minister of State Ahmad Karami said Friday that the bodies of the Lebanese who drowned off the Indonesian coast last month were still awaiting the results of DNA tests to be identified.
“For the bodies of the Lebanese who died in the incident, this issue is waiting on Indonesian authorities to conclude DNA tests for those who were killed,” Karami told reporters.
“I would like to seize this opportunity to reiterate calls to firmly crack down on networks smuggling people out of Lebanon, because they are deceptive and tarnish the reputation of the Lebanese,” Karami added.
He made his remarks to reporters at the Grand Serail after he briefed caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati of the outcome of his official visit to Indonesia last week to follow up on the boat tragedy.
A boat carrying around 80 migrants trying to illegally cross from Indonesia to Australia foundered off the Indonesian coast last month. At least 26 Lebanese were killed and 18 survived. Most of the Lebanese victims hailed from the underdeveloped area of north Lebanon, mainly from the Akkar village of Qabeet. The 18 survivors returned to Lebanon last week. The delegation came back to Lebanon Tuesday along with six Lebanese who were detained in Indonesia for overstaying their visas and another 10 who were detained for not having legal papers. In separate comments to The Daily Star, Karami said that forensic expert Fouad Ayoub, a member of the delegation, would head back to Indonesia after the Eid al-Adha holiday to follow up on efforts to identify the bodies of the deceased. “Indonesian authorities are still taking DNA samples from the bodies that will be compared to the DNA samples sent by the families of the victims,” Karami said, adding that there was unlikely to be progress in the case before the Eid al-Adha holiday.
A written statement from the Indonesian Embassy in Lebanon said the country was facing the threat of human trafficking networks and the boat tragedy marked the first time Lebanese migrants were involved.
“Indonesia is facing a serious problem concerning these smuggling activities,” said the statement, which was sent to The Daily Star in response to an interview request.
“Many illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers from other countries are attempting to enter Australia, and this tragedy involving Lebanese nationals was the first time this happened in Indonesia,” the statement said.
“Noting this tragedy, the embassy is now evaluating its visa issuance procedure. The embassy will be more cautious in processing visa applications, especially in verifying all the required documents of the applicant.”
In response to a question regarding Australian authorities’ assertion that Indonesian authorities “could not respond” to the sinking ship when contacted, the statement said Indonesia was still investigating the incident.
“Indonesian authorities are still conducting relevant inquiries to investigate the tragedy, including distress calls from the boat,” it said, adding that the embassy thought it would be unwise to speculate until the inquiry was finished.
Separately, a Future Movement delegation visited survivors in their Akkar villages Friday. The delegation was headed by Samer Haddara, a Future Movement official in Akkar, and Mohammad Mrad, a member of the Future Movement politburo. Haddara said the government failed to fulfill its obligations toward the Lebanese victims. “The government took action several days after the painful incident,” Haddara said. “From the first moment after the disaster occurred, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri put all his resources at the disposal of the victims’ families and dispatched an envoy to Jakarta to follow up on the situation of the Lebanese for days.”
Haddara held the state responsible for the “humanitarian disaster.” “The deprivation that Akkar has been suffering from since [Lebanon’s] independence has led the Lebanese to risk their lives to seek a better one elsewhere,” he said. For his part, Mrad called on the judiciary to punish all members of the human smuggling network involved in the incident: “We should follow up on this case until members of this network are arrested and punished, particularly senior members who dealt hastily with the lives and dignity of the people.”

LAU students refuse to back down over tuition hike
October 12, 2013/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Lebanese American University students continued their campaign against the university’s new tuition hike Friday, holding sit-ins at both the Beirut and Jbeil campuses. Student organizers claimed small areas at both branches of the school where students were invited to speak and musicians collected money for a symbolic tuition fund. At the Jbeil campus, a box was set up to collect letters from students to the university president explaining their position or offering a solution. Elsa Saade, one of the Jbeil student organizers, said the students would continue to demand more from the school after the president offered several minor concessions in a response issued Thursday. In his statement, university President Joseph Jabbra praised the student’s mostly peaceful efforts but stood firmly behind the tuition hike. She praised the solidarity among student activists and clubs, which included both local political party student unions and extracurricular clubs. The tuition increase “really touches each and every student, no matter their religion or background or where [he or she was] born,” Saade, a senior, told The Daily Star. Friday’s protests follow a week of intense negotiations between students and the administration after the school announced it would be raising tuition by as much as 15 percent, depending on degree type and major.
Students claim the school did not inform them of the changes ahead of time, arguing that the increases come at a time of economic depression in the country. They have demanded increased transparency and proposed that the new tuition hike only apply to incoming rather than current students. A protest Monday at the school’s Beirut campus ended with four students being referred to the disciplinary committee for allegedly disrupting classes. The next day, students at the Jbeil campus held their own demonstration, which went smoothly. Saade seemed resigned to the inevitability of the tuition hike but said the student activists would not relent, adding that they would propose their own solution in the coming week.

Israeli soldiers cross technical fence on Lebanon border
October 12, 2013/By Mohammed Zaatari/The Daily Star/SIDON, Lebanon: An Israeli infantry unit crossed the technical fence in south Lebanon Saturday and inspected an olive field following an incident at the location Friday, a security source told The Daily Star. The 12-member unit was equipped with machine guns and used sniffer dogs to inspect the olive field in the village of Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil district, the source said. The technical fence runs parallel to the Blue Line, the de facto Lebanon-Israel border established by the U.N. There was no violation of the Blue Line, the source said. The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said Friday tensions rose when civilians were picking olives on a Lebanese farm land that straddles the Blue Line, prompting Israeli soldiers to deploy and point their weapons at the farmers. In turn, the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL also deployed in the area. UNIFIL immediately initiated contacts with both parties on the ground as well as through liaison channels to contain the situation and restore calm. UNIFIL also said Friday that the Lebanese Army intervened with the civilians, restoring normalcy to the area.

Mortar shells hit near inspectors' hotel in Syria
October 12, 2013 /By Karin Laub/Associated Press
BEIRUT: Two mortar shells hit Syria's capital Saturday near a hotel where international chemical inspectors and United Nations staff are staying, state media and a hotel guest said. An 8 year old was killed and 11 people were hurt in the blasts in the upscale Abu Roumaneh area of Damascus, the SANA news agency said. One shell fell near a school and the other on a roof, damaging several shops and cars. The blasts struck some 300 meters (1,000 feet) away from the Four Seasons Hotel where the chemical inspectors and U.N. staff are staying. A U.N. employee staying there said it did not appear that the hotel was affected by the twin explosions. The hotel remained open after the blasts, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. He said he heard the first explosion at about 11:15 a.m., followed by a second. Thick smoke rose from the area and ambulance sirens sounded shortly afterward. Syrian rebels routinely fire mortar shells from the outskirts of Damascus at city neighborhoods controlled by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. Last week, a similar attack reportedly killed eight people. Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and U.N. staff have been in Syria for the past two weeks to destroy the country's chemical weapons stockpile. The watchdog agency working to eliminate chemical weapons around the world won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a powerful endorsement of its Syria mission.
The OPCW inspectors have so far visited three sites linked to Syria's chemical weapons program, though the agency has not provided details. On Saturday, before the mortar attack, a convoy of U.N. cars left the Four Seasons, but its destination was not known. The inspectors' mission in Syria is unprecedented because of a tight timetable - they are to get the job done by mid-2014 - and because they are operating in the midst of a civil war.
They are to inspect more than 20 sites, some close to front lines crisscrossing the country. Earlier this week, Syrian warplanes twice bombed the rebel-held town of Safira, just a few kilometers (miles) from a large military complex believed to house an underground chemical weapons production facility. The Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011 as a popular uprising against Assad that quickly escalated into civil war. More than 100,000 people have been killed since then and millions of Syrians have been displaced. Rebel groups have become increasingly fractured, with Islamic extremists, including those linked to al-Qaida, assuming prominent roles in battle.
In an audio message Friday, the leader of al-Qaida urged jihadis in Syria to unite, an appeal likely aimed at rival affiliates of his terror network operating in the country. Ayman al-Zawahri said fighters must "rise above organizational loyalties and party partisanship" and unite behind the goal of setting up an Islamic state. He suggested he will not impose unity, saying that "what you agree upon will also be our choice." Two al-Qaida-linked groups have emerged - Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. The first is commanded by a Syrian, the second by an Iraqi, but both are believed to be loyal to al-Zawahri. Al-Zawahri also urged Syrian regime opponents not cut deals with Westerns and secular groups.

Lebanese suspected of car bomb attack killed, relatives say
October 11, 2013/By Rakan al-Fakih/The Daily Star/HERMEL, Lebanon: A Lebanese man suspected of involvement in the deadly car bomb attack in Beirut’s southern suburbs was killed Friday, the fugitive’s relatives told The Daily Star. Abdel-Ali Atrash said that his cousin Omar Atrash, along with Sameh Breidi and Samer Hujeiri were killed in Syria, somewhere between the towns of Jousieh and Qusair. Media reports suggested that the three were killed in a blast and others said they were hit by a Syrian airstrike. Local media reports said that Atrash, who hailed from the Bekaa Valley town of Arsal, was involved in car bomb attacks that rocked Bir al-Abed and Ruwaiss in the Beirut southern suburbs in July and August. Atrash is also suspected of planning the launching of two rockets in May in the Beirut southern suburb of Shiyah that wounded four people. Caretaker Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn said in July that Atrash was the mastermind behind an attack on an Army checkpoint in Arsal in May which killed three soldiers. Breidi was also suspected of involvement. Earlier this month, Atrash appeared on Al-Jadeed TV, dismissing accusations that he was involved in the attacks in the southern suburbs. He said he was heading an armed group that supported Syrian rebels inside Syrian territories and defended the Syrian people against the regime.

U.S. will not funnel refugee aid through Treasury
October 12, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: The United States said Friday that the financial assistance to help Syrian refugees would not go through the Lebanese state and Treasury. “The U.S. administration will continue to provide the Lebanese Army with equipment and training, and it is also contemplating helping Lebanon on the issue of Syrian refugees through the municipalities and not by backing the state’s budget,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Jones told caretaker Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi in Washington, according to a statement from his office. The statement is seen as setback to the efforts of the Lebanese government to raise funds to help cope with the massive influx of Syrian refugees. Safadi made it clear that some countries were not willing to assist Lebanon to weather the negative effects of the crisis, warning again that the state was no position to provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrians. Jones told Safadi that Washington was now encouraging other countries to assist Lebanon in meeting the needs of the Syrian refugees. “Our priority at this time is to remove the Syrian chemical weapons and ensure the convening of Geneva conference between the Syrian government and opposition which is expected to be held next month,” she said.

WFP launches innovative e-card program to assist Syrian refugees
October 12, 2013 /By Samya Kullab/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: The United Nation’s World Food Program is launching an innovative electronic voucher program in Lebanon to more efficiently attend to the food needs of Syrian refugees and boost the local economy. The WFP aims to assist at least 800,000 by the end of the year with the new electronic or “e-card” system, which will be valid at participating grocery shops across Lebanon. The project was initiated by WFP with the technical support of MasterCard, its private sector partner. Replacing WFP’s paper food vouchers, the e-cards will be replenished on a monthly basis with $27 per family member, and can be used to purchase food items at participating local stores. The system is thought to be a more effective form of relief assistance, capable of having broader and speedier impacts among vulnerable Syrian refugee communities.
“It wasn’t that the previous voucher system was inefficient,” explained Laure Chadraoui, WFP’s Beirut spokesperson. “The e-card is just a more effective way to reach people in need.”The paper voucher system entailed printing individual coupons and distributing them to a long queue of refugees at designated pickup centers. The vouchers would then have to be collected at the shops and its owners reimbursed. With the new electronic system refugees no longer have to wait in lines once a month for distributions and shopkeepers can feel the immediate financial benefit of the program. There are about 300 participating small- to medium-sized shops across the country.
“Because it’s a computerized system, now merchants can receive payments more rapidly too,” Chadraoui explained.
The $27 value was calculated by WFP to cover food costs that would meet 2,100 kilocalories per person a day, which reflects the international standard for emergency food needs.
“It’s a small amount that covers basic food needs,” she added. While Syrians are permitted to buy any kind of food that fits their daily needs, including fresh produce not normally included in traditional food rations, the e-card program does not permit them to purchase alcohol, cigarettes and non-nutritious snacks. WFP’s partnership with MasterCard began last September. The latter’s technical knowledge of payment systems was key in engaging with local banks for the e-card program, notably Bank Libano-Francaise. Similar e-card programs for Syrian refugees will be introduced in Jordan and Turkey.
The e-card program was piloted last month for 1,800 Syrian households in the southern town of Nabatieh. It will be gradually extended to other areas, with distributions already underway in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and the south. Over 12,650 e-cards were distributed in the cities Tyre, Sidon, Baabda and Bint Jbeil this week, according to the UNHCR. Next month the program will be introduced gradually to the Bekaa Valley and north Lebanon, Chadraoui said. “I was there when we handed out the e-cards in Nabatieh,” she added. “[The beneficiaries] said they felt like normal [shoppers], because they were able to pay like anyone else.” The voucher system is designed to benefit the local economy by injecting money into local markets. WFP has already injected $82 million into the Lebanese economy with the system. “This is a system that WFP uses in emergency situations where there is functioning market and where we have urban refugees,” she added. The program will directly benefit registered refugees, of which there are about 780,000 registered and awaiting registration according to recent figures.
Separately, the risk of eviction continues to be a pressing concern for some refugees, the UNHCR reported. Humanitarian agencies are providing cash-for-rent to some refugees and mediating with landlords to mitigate eviction risks. The municipality of Jezzine evicted 30 Syrian refugee families last week, arguing that they were illegally renting shops for dwelling purposes. Also last month, 1,300 Syrian refugees were evicted from rented homes in eight locations in the Bekaa Valley because they were unable to pay rental fees or had settled in private lands.

Kerry, Karzai extend talks on Afghan-US pact for third round
October 12, 2013 /2013 /Agence France Presse
KABUL: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai extended talks Saturday as part of a last-ditch effort to negotiate a security pact that would determine, among other things, how many U.S. troops stay after 2014. "There are still issues we are finalizing, therefore there is a need for a third round of talks this evening," the president's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, told reporters.
Talks had hit a wall over two sticking points that the United States hopes will be ironed out by the end of the month, a deadline previously set for signing the deal.
Karzai said earlier this week that he was prepared to walk away from negotiations on the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which would allow some US troops to stay in the country after 2014.
The United States has pressed for the pact to be signed within weeks so that the US-led NATO military coalition can schedule its withdrawal of 87,000 combat troops by December 2014.
"The tone was constructive throughout the entire conversation," a US official told reporters after meetings late Friday. "It is fair to say that the differences that exist were narrowed on the vast of majority of the outstanding issues."
Karzai's spokesman also said negotiations had advanced, though a joint press conference due at the presidential palace on Saturday was delayed for several hours as talks were extended.
The Afghan government has previously said the sticking points were US demands for the right to conduct unilateral military operations against militants, and how the US would pledge to protect Afghanistan.
Negotiations between Kerry and Karzai came as the US said it had captured a senior leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Latif Mehsud, who is being held in Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon.
"I can confirm that US forces did capture... terrorist leader Latif Mehsud in a military operation," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said, describing him as a senior commander in the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). She gave no details of the operation, but Pentagon officials said Mehsud was still inside Afghanistan. "As part of the armed conflict against Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces... Mehsud was captured and is being lawfully held by US military forces in Afghanistan," said Pentagon spokeswoman Commander Elissa Smith. The Washington Post reported Mehsud was seen by Afghanistan as a possible go-between in the struggling peace efforts between Kabul and the Afghan Taliban, and that Karzai was angered by Mehsud's capture. Karzai officially suspended BSA talks in June in a furious reaction to the Taliban opening a liaison office in Qatar that was presented as an embassy for a government in waiting. He has said he refuses to be rushed into signing any BSA deal, and would first seek approval from a traditional grand assembly of tribal leaders to be convened in about month's time. The agreement would see a few thousand US troops remain in Afghanistan to train local forces and target Al-Qaeda remnants. Afghan officials dismiss the possibility that the US may enact the "zero option" of a complete pull-out after its soldiers have fought the Taliban since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The Afghan leader has had a tempestuous relationship with the US and other foreign allies since he came to power in 2001, often sparking outrage with his criticism of international military efforts to thwart the Taliban insurgents. "The entire NATO exercise was one that caused Afghanistan a lot of suffering, a lot of loss of life, and no gains," he said this week. A credible election is seen as the key test of Afghanistan's stability as NATO troops withdraw, and Kerry was also due to discuss issues such as voter registration and security with the president.
The Taliban regime was driven from power by a US-led coalition in 2001 for sheltering the Al-Qaeda leaders behind the 9/11 attacks. Since then the Islamist rebels have fought a bloody insurgency, and both the US and Afghan governments now back peace talks to end the conflict. Kerry will travel to Paris on Saturday and then London.

A world of humanitarian indifference
October 10, 2013/By Michael Young/The Daily Star
Reading the bulletins of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, it seems that about the only thing the institution has not done until now among its parallel activities is organize a cooking contest between the wives of the alternative judges. Meanwhile the Lebanese still await a trial. The wheels of justice may be slow, but in the STL’s case they are positively glacial. One strains to see any movement at all.
And yet in the last decade there have been several instances where it seemed international justice was about to make significant headway, and that human rights would benefit as a consequence.
The STL was one example cited by the optimists, as was the International Criminal Court’s indictment in 2008 of the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. In May 2012, the former Liberian President Charles Taylor was sentenced by the ICC to a 50-year prison term for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international law during the conflict in Sierra Leone.
However today, with the war in Syria setting new benchmarks in terms of barbarity, the belief that international justice will punish the guilty seems fanciful. The other day the U.S. secretary of state, John Kerry, even praised the Syrian regime for moving to implement the agreement for the destruction of its chemical weapons. In other words Kerry applauded a man who used chemical weapons to kill hundreds of civilians because he was fulfilling an agreement that allowed him to escape retribution for engaging in mass murder.
Perhaps someone at the ICC is preparing an indictment of Assad and other regime figures, but there are no obvious signs of this. One problem is that Syria is not a signatory to the ICC convention. The Rome Statute establishing the court allows the Security Council, under Chapter VII, to refer cases to the ICC. But as Russia has veto power, the likelihood of this happening is extremely low.
The slowness of the legal reaction to the Syrian conflict is also tied in to politics. For as long as the major powers view a negotiated solution as the only way to end the killing, judges will have to tread carefully, so that an indictment does not undermine political outcomes. Assad will not voluntarily leave office only to land in a trial chamber.
Aside from legal and political realities, which are most essential to advancing international humanitarian norms, there is another factor that cannot be underestimated: attitudes in liberal Western societies in favor of such an objective. Why the liberal West? Because the principles held up by international humanitarian law, which governs armed conflict, have emerged from a Western historical and cultural tradition going back to the Enlightenment.
That’s not to say that non-Westerners are incapable of embracing such values nor that Westerners have not violated them. But when societies that uphold such values, and have given them life, become indifferent to their realization in the world, this represents a severe blow to international humanitarian law.
Assad’s recent use of chemical weapons was a case in point. In a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted in early September, as President Barack Obama was considering airstrikes against Syria, 60 percent of respondents said they opposed such action. This forceful rejection came even though 75 percent of respondents said they thought Assad’s forces had used chemical weapons.
Instead, the focus among Americans was on domestic tribulations. As Jeanette Baskin, a social worker on Staten Island, told the New York Times: “What our government needs to do is work on keeping our country safe. We invest all this money in foreign countries and fixing their problems, and this country is falling apart. Makes no sense.”
Attitudes in Western Europe were little different, and helped undermine efforts by British Prime Minister David Cameron to deploy his forces alongside those of the United States.
In France, where President Francois Hollande didn’t face the same institutional barriers as did Obama and Cameron, public opinion was nevertheless stalwartly opposed to military involvement in Syria.
When three out of four Americans admit that a regime used one of the most lethal and vilified weapons on earth, killing hundreds of people, including numerous children, and still refuse to do anything about it, they essentially undercut any solidarity that would help reinforce and further humanitarian principles in the international system.
Americans complain that they are not the world’s policeman. But the glowbal order in the past 60 years or so has rested on a foundation of principles and institutions that the United States has been instrumental in creating and defending. By virtue of its vast power, America cannot be just another state. Moreover, the new self-centeredness ignores that when Americans are the victims, as they were on Sept. 11, 2001, they rightfully expect the rest of the world to sympathize with their predicament and take their side. Syrians justifiably lament that they are treated as second-class citizens in a world that has rallied for foreign victims in countless other places. The tragedy is that as most Westerners look at Syria, their revulsion with the inhumanity of the conflict makes them react in a paradoxical way: They want to have nothing to do with the savagery there, because what is happening conforms so little to the standards of humanitarian behavior to which they aspire. But those standards don’t descend from heaven. They only become stronger and more widespread if states make this a priority. And that can only happen when societies back their governments in making it possible. We’re nowhere near that stage today, especially in the West, where all politics appear to have become domestic politics.
*Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Lagging behind
October 12, 2013/The Daily Star
At a time when Nobel Prizes are being awarded to scientists, experts and writers from Europe, the United States and South Africa, some of the biggest news out of the region is the trial of Moroccan teenagers, arrested after posting a photo of themselves kissing on Facebook. Although this is an individual case, it represents an enduring and pervasive mentality which is slowing down this region, and its progress internationally.
Look outside of Morocco and there are similar cases, often involving the rights of women. In Saudi Arabia, despite women members of the National Advisory Council petitioning a motion to discuss the right for women to drive, it was overturned. In Sudan and in Egypt, Female Genital Mutilation is still practiced on a large scale, and in Jordan “honor” crimes still taint that nation’s reputation. In Yemen, a recent child marriage led to an 8-year-old dying on her wedding night. And in Lebanon, which has always prided itself on being a modern, liberal nation, women cannot pass their nationality onto their children, and nor can a man be charged with raping his wife. Of the latest 30-member Cabinet, there was not a single woman in place. And of the 128-member Parliament there are only three women – all relatives of prominent male politicians or leaders.
On a wider scale, violence and oppression – often state-sanctioned – proliferates. The bloodshed of Syria is on another level, but in Iraq and Yemen and Somalia too, car bombs and assassinations are commonplace. After similar crackdowns in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Libya, protesters in Turkey and Sudan have recently been dealt with in a brutal way also.
Great sacrifices have been made, and continue to be made, to topple dictatorships across the region, and dislodge aged, autocratic leaders.
But while some democratic freedoms have been achieved, it is clear that there is still a way to go in terms of winning personal freedoms and liberties. Obviously, traditional mentalities do not simply disappear overnight.
However, if progress is to be made, the younger generations must be willing to keep fighting for these freedoms and for change. The journey will not be easy, and they are bound to make their own mistakes along the way.
But if this region, which is beset with high unemployment and illiteracy rates, is to move forward, to reach a position where its own scientists and writers are winning Nobel prizes, then it is essential for citizens to make their demands known, whether at the ballot box or on the streets. Because revolutions, which hundreds have fought and died for, which do not bring a brighter future, are meaningless.

Syria: FSA open to “temporary” ceasefire
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Free Syrian Army (FSA) has announced that it is prepared to abide by a “temporary truce” in Homs and Rif Dimashq with Assad forces during Eid Al-Adha in order to facilitate humanitarian access to the two governorates. However the FSA rejected a prolonged 9-month ceasefire with the Assad regime in order to allow the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to carry out its operations overseeing the destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile. In exclusive comments to Asharq Al-Awsat, FSA media and political coordinator Louay Miqdad said: “We refuse to discuss a 9-month ceasefire agreement to facilitate the work of the OPCW…as this request is unreasonable.” However he added that the “Eid Al-Ahda truce” that had been called for by the Arab League “can be discussed.”
Both the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) called on Syrian government forces to declare a ceasefire during the Islamic Eid Al-Adha holiday which takes place next week. The Gulf Cooperation Council issued a similar call, asking the Assad government to arrange a ceasefire out of respect for the sanctity of the Hajj pilgrimage, which concludes with the Eid Al-Adha celebrations.
Miqdad told Asharq Al-Awsat that he would take the ceasefire request to the FSA battalion leadership, adding that “they may take different things into account.”
The FSA media coordinator affirmed that the rebel forces are open to humanitarian aid reaching those in need in the Homs and Rif Dimashq provinces where fighting between troops loyal to the Assad government and the FSA continues to rage. “Those who are besieged [in Rif Dimashq and Homs] are our families, and we are prepared to cooperate to secure the arrival of humanitarian aid, protecting the areas and roads that the convoys will need to pass through during the ceasefire. We pledge to protect the convoys and their crews,” Miqdad said. As for calls for a prolonged 9-month ceasefire to allow the OPCS to carry out its operation in Syria safely, Miqdad said: “We have nothing to do with this request because we are in a state of self-defense; this request should go to the Syrian regime.” Miqdad added: “We are fighting to overthrow the regime, and protect civilians. There are no chemical weapons stores in the areas that are under our control, which is something that the Assad regime itself acknowledges, while these storehouses are also not located on the front, so why should we stop fighting? On what basis has this ceasefire request been made?” “A comprehensive and complete ceasefire will only take place after the regime is toppled, and this must include the departure of Assad,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
In other news, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri urged Jihadist forces in Syria to unite, he said that fighters must “rise above organizational loyalties and party partisanship” and unite behind the goal of setting up an Islamic state. Two Al-Qaeda-linked groups have emerged in Syria following the civil war, the Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS). Both are loyal to Al-Zawahiri.

Qatar Again!
By: Hussein Shobokshi/Asharq Alawsat
My first visit to the Qatari capital of Doha was in 1989. At the time, it was—like a number of Gulf states—going through a financial crisis due to a dramatic plunge in oil prices in world markets. As a result, the general revenues of these countries deteriorated in a manner that made ministries of finance cancel, delay and postpone payments to contractors, corporations and projects. Consequently, this—along with an undeniable negligence—led to the collapse of a wide segment of contractors, creating a gap between the public and private sectors for a considerable time. The roads of Doha, not to mention its famous corniche, appeared to be deserted. Equipment was left unused. Everyone was in an abnormal state of anticipation and anxiety. Today, Doha is a massive workshop. The said corniche has been greatly extended, but the country became a prisoner of stifling traffic jams. Construction projects have gone beyond the capacity of the country’s contractors. This prompted foreign media, particularly the British Guardian newspaper, to heatedly investigate foreign labor in the country, immediately urging the Qatari media, government and business owners to go on the defensive. The issue of the maltreatment of foreign workers was then linked with the issue of Qatar hosting the World Cup in 2022.
It has been argued that the country’s hot weather would be an obstacle for the soccer players and their fans. I actually find this suspicious, as though the weather in Qatar has become too hot only recently, much to the surprise of the FIFA Executive Committee. And the temperatures in Qatar are not so different from those in some parts of Mexico, for example, which has hosted the event twice.
There is somehow a general mood in Qatar, which can be captured when talking to people living there. Qatar today appears to be reordering its priorities. It has been less rushed when making foreign investments. Qatar has decided to move towards advancing and developing its economic icons, such as Qatar Airways, Qtel, Qatari Diar, Barwa Real Estates, Qatar Petroleum and Qatargas. What is more, it aims to improve its status in sports and culture, as well as its health and medical sectors. However, Qatar’s revisionism in politics remains to be debated—particularly Doha’s attitude towards Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood, which it has supported through the media. In fact, Qatar has become a support center for the group in exile. That will doubtlessly create a long-term rift between Doha and Cairo, as was the case in the era of former President Hosni Mubarak.
Qatar thinks it is bidding on the public’s choice in Egypt, refusing to admit that the Egyptians chose to rid themselves of Mohamed Mursi for reasons that have become well known and do not need to be cited here. By acting this way, Qatar is following a path that runs in complete opposition to the stances of its allies and partners in the Gulf Council Cooperation, which clearly announced their support of the Egyptians’ new choice.
Qatar now is entirely engrossed in its domestic affairs, aiming to undertake complete administrative reforms in its ministries and administrations as well as develop tools for the enforcement accountability laws within a developed and transparent governance system. The new steps will also include finalizing the infrastructure of the new airport, roads, bridges, metro network, railways, port, hospitals and schools. With this very ambitious plan, the country’s revenues will be directed mainly at the local sphere. It is not known for sure how all of this will affect Qatar’s interesting foreign policy. Moreover, it seems that Qatar will extend its influence to China, Japan, South Korea and Russia, because Doha has a great appetite for promoting its gas in these markets. On the other hand, Qatar is closely and carefully eyeing African and Latin American markets. Major changes are occurring in Qatar, but ambiguity still surrounds some of the country’s stances, which we need to consider more closely in order to understand them before passing our judgment.

The Gul–Erdoğan Merry-Go-Round
Samir Salha/Asharq Alawsat
Speaking at the opening of the Turkish parliament last week, President Abdullah Gül emphasized that he will “continue to be in the service of our nation.” Some have viewed Gül’s comments as the beginning of a possible political battle between the president and the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, over power, even if the two Turkish leaders had been erstwhile allies. Many believe that Gül fired the first shot, when he refused Erdoğan’s proposal to name a third candidate for the presidency in 2007, stressing that the post must remain within the hands of this Erdoğan-Gül partnership. This move resulted in Erdoğan finding himself in an awkward political position, particularly after Gül secured the presidency for himself. Others, however, are of the view that Erdoğan sparked the conflict by leading a move in 2008 to reduce the presidential term from seven years to five years, in addition to attempting to enact legislation prohibiting the nomination of former and current presidents. Were it not for the last-minute intervention of the Constitutional Court omitting this amendment, Gül would not have been entitled to another presidential term in Ankara’s Çankaya Palace. No matter how hard they try, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) will be unable to conceal its leadership’s conflicting stances and positions in handling the numerous problems Turkey is facing, both internally and externally. The biggest challenge facing Turkey today is the wave of protests that engulfed the country last summer, in addition to Ankara’s foreign policy approach towards Syria, Egypt, and even the Gulf. Even if Gül were to leave the presidential palace in a repeat of the Russian Putin–Medvedev rotation of power, Erdoğan’s dream of an American-style presidential system in Turkey—in which he holds executive and legislative authority—will not come to pass. However, everybody also knows that Erdoğan is a tough political operator who will go down swinging, and so it will not be easy for Gül to dislodge him.
The majority of Turks are aware that it was their prime minister who ordered the amendment of the AKP’s procedural rules, banning the nomination of MPs for a fourth consecutive term in office. However, the Turkish people remain deeply divided by Erdoğan’s latest move: Is this really an attempt to open up the scene to new and young leadership, or is it nothing more than a political maneuver to isolate Gül and his supporters? Was this part of an Erdoğan plan to grant himself the requisite time and space to allow him to become head of state? Speculation abounds, with some saying that Erdoğan will not wait another two years to make up his mind. What will he do? Will he surprise everyone by announcing early parliamentary elections to besiege his opponents and prevent a recurrence of what happened six years ago, when his path to the presidency was blocked the first time? Perhaps. Others believe that he could make his move during the municipal elections in March 2014, responding to his critics by securing a strong victory.
Erdoğan’s major problem lies in public perceptions of him, with recent polls revealing that Turks view him as a partisan figure determined to hold onto his power, even at the interests of his own party. As for Gül, public opinion views him as a popular candidate who not only enjoys the backing of his own party, but also the political opposition in Turkey. It is this popularity that will allow him to remain in the presidential palace.
What is happening is far more important than a possible leadership clash within the AKP—it could determine the fate of the party as a whole. There is one scenario that analysts both inside and outside Turkey are anticipating, namely Gül–Erdoğan relations deteriorating so badly that it affects the party, with the AKP losing its grip on power. Could Gül and Erdoğan throw away their more than 30-year friendship over politics and power? Only time will tell.