Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources For October 16/13
Lebanese Related News
50 Kilos of Explosives in al-Maamoura Car, Suleiman Lauds Army Efforts
3 Arrested after Clash between Rival Gunmen in Beirut
Suleiman Says Lebanon to Annually Commemorate Wadih al-Safi
Military Expert Defuses Explosives inside Car in Beirut's Dahieh
Lebanon Bids Farewell to Wadih Al-Safi in Popular Mass and Suleiman Grants Him Golden Order of Merit
Tripoli Bombings Suspects Charged as Eid Slams Intelligence Branch
Police Doubt al-Atrash's Murder Near Syria Border
Syrian Shells, Gunshots Target Akkar Towns
ISF: Rubber Bullets Fired after Two Inmates Scuffled in Roumieh
STL Issues Public Arrest Warrant against Fifth Suspect in Hariri Assassination
Phalange Party Calls for Ending Cabinet Crisis before Presidential Vote
Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani Appeals for Unity, Slams Politicians for Dividing the Lebanese
Kidnapped Bekaa Pharmacist, Wissam al-Khatib Released
Report: Clash between Hizbullah, Armed Tariq al-Jedideh Men
Abducted Turkish Pilots Appear in Video, Say They're in Good Health
Zgheib Shies Away from Divulging Info on Possible Release of Pilgrims
Sehnaoui: Had There Been a Real State, Rifi Would've Been in Jail, Not a Lecturer in Sovereignty
Yazigi Calls for All-embracing Cabinet, Urges Responsibility in Case of Kidnapped Bishops
Miscellaneous Reports And News 
Iran, U.S. Teams Meet in Geneva as Tehran Brings 'Breakthrough' Offer to Nuclear Talks
Netanyahu: Easing off sanctions against Iran now would be a 'historic mistake'
Israel urges world powers to stand firm on Iran as Geneva talks start
Report: US mulls letting Iran keep uranium enrichment facilities in nuclear deal
Long Syrian convoy transports chemical arms from Al Safira to Hama
Iran presents PowerPoint proposal at Geneva nuclear talks: EU
Peres Warns Allies Not to Trust Iran
Netanyahu: Easing Iran Pressure Would Be 'Historic Mistake'
Israel Minister Calls for Pressure on Iran to Be Kept Up
Qaida Suspect Abu Anas al-Libi Transferred to New York
NGO: Car Bomb Kills 27 in Northwest Syria
U.N. Frets over Syria Deadlines as Treaty Takes Effect
Rouhani Calls for More Freedom at Universities
Syria War 'Devastating Palestinian Lives and Homes', Says U.N.
Assad Prays at Damascus Mosque for Eid al-Adha
MSF: Treat Syria Aid as Urgently as Chemical Weapons
Mortars Hit Damascus Neighborhood Hours after Assad's Visit

Opinion: Hezbollah, why so silent?
By: Diana Moukalled/A Sharq Alawsat
http://www.aawsat.net/2013/10/article55319268
Why hasn’t Hezbollah denied the authenticity of the video—uploaded onto YouTube—allegedly showing Hezbollah fighters executing gravely wounded Syrians in Al-Qusayr? Many have waited for Hezbollah to issue a statement regarding the images that are circulating, but so far no one has commented on them. The harsh images showed men who appeared to be Hezbollah fighters, with their yellow badges and Lebanese accents, throwing the wounded on the ground and executing them with their machine guns. The video seemed very real, which made it all the more harsh and shocking. The video lifted the unfortunate cloud of doubt that has been hanging over Hezbollah: it clearly depicted Hezbollah fighters killing helpless wounded Syrians, as their commander had urged them. Some fighters were reluctant about killing the wounded so their commander told them to execute them as stated by the “religious order.” Many media sources, especially Lebanese outlets, did not air these images but Facebook and Twitter pages were stormed with comments by those who believed the video was authentic and by those who contested it. Some were sure that the party would immediately declare that those involved were not Hezbollah fighters and that the circulated images do not represent the party’s ethics.
Some journalists and activists tried to defend the party saying that Hezbollah did not perform such practices, even during the wars against Israel. Hours and days passed by and the party did not comment on the video. Some of the party supporters even said on their social pages that what Hezbollah’s opponents did was worse and the party is not the only one who committed such practices.
These reactions are trying to hide the fact that the videos depict Hezbollah fighters, but at the same time, they claim that what their opponents committed was worse and more severe.
A few months ago, photos showing Hezbollah members, when the Syrian regime recaptured the city of Al-Qusayr, were circulated. Back then, Hezbollah fighters had deployed the party’s flags and religious slogans on one of the mosques in Al-Qusayr, and the pictures were not refuted. A few weeks later, Hezbollah’s Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah, justified the images claiming that the soldiers were in a Shi’ite mosque.
Shall we expect Nasrallah to come out again in a few weeks to defend the resistance? And explain how Hezbollah is protecting the resistance axis? And also move quickly to justify the killing of wounded soldiers, as he did in Al-Qusayr? Hezbollah’s video proves once again that the party’s involvement in Syria has trapped it into a tornado-like conflict that is unlike any other war. The party is now part of a machine that oppresses the Syrian people, its members are now classified as war criminals who should be prosecuted. This is now a crystal clear fact for the Arab and international community. It cannot be negated and its consequences on Hezbollah, its followers and Lebanon as a whole, can no longer be ignored. The video underlines this but the silence of Hezbollah emphasizes it further.
 

Lebanon remains at mercy of regional calculations
October 15, 2013/By Antoine Ghattas Saab/The Daily Star
Lebanon continues to hang in the balance as regional alliances appear to shift but never settle, preventing any progress from being made regarding the formation of a new government. As Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam said last week from Baabda, negotiations over the next Cabinet appear to have returned to square one, with both Salam and President Michel Sleiman attempting to sort out their next steps. According to multiple sources, including Western officials, several steps must take place on a regional level before the road to a new government is cleared:

The expected meeting between the P5 +1 and Iran to discuss the latter’s nuclear program could affect a new regional settlement, as well as the success or failure of Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.-Arab league envoy to Syria who is scheduled to visit several influential countries in an attempt to secure a kind of truce before the Geneva II conference.
All this is taking place as a rumored rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia continues to linger on the horizon.
Western sources who spoke to The Daily Star said a meeting between Saudi Arabia’s King Abdallah bin Abdul-Aziz and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani could take place within the next two weeks, adding that intense preparations were underway. Both sides have formed special committees to draw up an agenda for the meeting which aims to reach a comprehensive solution to the regional crisis. The Lebanese stalemate and government formation will be included on this list, the sources said.
On the Lebanese domestic front, sources said the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, David Hale, has been moving to try and find a way of out the current stalemate over the government formation, but so far has not been able to bridge the lack of trust between the two sides, which continue to trade accusations. Hale has not let up in his efforts, despite raising eyebrows among some parliamentarians who question his decision to push for a government while publicly slamming Hezbollah, which they consider an essential part of the Lebanese political life. Western sources warned that regional uncertainty, particularly regarding American-Iranian relations and its implications for Syria, would continue to negatively affect Lebanon. The sources predicted that the ongoing crisis in Syria will likely push Hezbollah to double down on its demands regarding the new Cabinet because it needs the government to give cover to its fighting there. The other side, meanwhile, refuses to accept this, favoring a government that will look after the interests of the Lebanese rather than trying to determine the outcome of the Syrian crisis. Separately, observers said that a meeting between Speaker Nabih Berri and former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora after the Eid al-Adha holiday to discuss the National Dialogue could yield results, but added that this was unlikely in light of internal tensions and a lack of positive indications from Riyadh, which recently postponed a visit by Sleima

Lebanese Christian activists slam Muslim illegal confiscation of land
October 15, 2013/By Samya Kullab/The Daily Star

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2013/Oct-15/234693-christians-activists-slam-muslim-illegal-misuse-of-land.ashx#axzz2hmm6AiVL
BEIRUT: Christian activists implored the state to curb the misuse of Christian land Monday, pointing to another spate of alleged illegally constructed residences in a Baalbek village, saying such actions endangered the delicate demographic balance in the country. Talal al-Doueihy, with the “Lebanese Land – Our Land Movement,” said about 85 million square meters of land in the Christian village of Al-Qaa had been appropriated by Muslims to build suburban housing complexes to rent out. Some of the lands were initially sold for agricultural, not residential, use. He called on Christian leaders in the country, including Kataeb party head Amin Gemayel, Free Patriotic Movement head Gen. Michel Aoun, Lebanese Forces head Samir Geagea and Patriarch Beshara Rai to take action on the issue. He described the procuring of the lands by Muslims as “aggressions.” “I hold the state authorities responsible for being lenient and not curbing these aggressions and for not applying the law firmly,” he said at a conference at the Press Club in Furn al-Shubbak. Doueihy and Bashir Matar, a lawyer living in Al-Qaa, both said the land was being used by Sunnis from the village of Arsal, Shiites from Hermel and Syrian refugees to build homes. Matar held up a map of Al-Qaa to point out locations where the lands were being allegedly misused by Muslims and Bedouin communities. In the area of Wadi al-Khanzir, for instance, Matar said the Bedouins had built hundreds of residential quarters, schools and a mosque.
“The state authorities have given them licenses and provided them with electricity and water, built roads for them, despite the fact that this is completely illegal,” Matar said, adding that Christians were still the rightful owners of the land. “So we are holding the judiciary, the state authorities and all relevant ministries responsible for this situation,” he said, producing photocopies of complaint letters he had sent to relevant authorities. “Some lands were sold, but for agricultural purposes ... But we were surprised to later find that buildings were being constructed on the land.” “We don’t want to wake up 10 years from now to find 2,000 houses in the village inhabited by Sunnis and Shiites,” he added. Doueihy expressed concern that the influx of Syrians to the country due to the neighboring war would tip the demographic balance in the country and marginalize the Christians. He considered the selling of land a trend that would eventually lead to strife. The incidents in Al-Qaa follow similar land-related spats across the country. In the Zghorta village of Alma last week, majority Christian residents complained that Muslims from neighboring Arab al-Fuar were constructing unlicensed buildings on their land.

Prison or club?
October 15, 2013/The Daily Star
A fight that broke out between prisoners Monday at Lebanon’s central prison, Roumieh, may appear to be a minor incident, but it serves as a reminder of how authorities have let the facility languish as a result of corruption and injustice. Last week, there was an attempt to smuggle a sandwich laced with chemicals into Roumieh, leading to the detention of a policeman and suspicion that Islamist inmates at the prison were meant to have ended up with the goods in question. There has been speculation that a plot was underway to blow up one of the wings of Roumieh, and investigations have expanded to cover not only Islamist detainees, but also a Christian inmate suspected of smuggling in the substance to sell on to militant Muslim inmates. To this can be added the simmering tug-of-war over who is responsible for financial corruption at Roumieh, as a hefty amount of public funds appear to have been pocketed during renovation works. And as the renovation has taken place, it has managed to increase the terrible overcrowding that plagues Roumieh. The facility is intended to hold just over 1,000 people, but more than double that figure reside there now. When the Arab Spring upheavals began in 2011, Roumieh experienced a bout of violent rioting and repairs to the damage from that incident have yet to take place.
Earlier this year, and in stark contrast to the dismal state of some of Roumieh’s infrastructure, the authorities unveiled a brand-new, state-of-the-art courtroom equipped to deal with the huge number of cases that have built up since the Nahr al-Bared fighting of 2007. Ever since that year, several hundred Islamist inmates have been waiting for their trials.
Proceedings in the new courtroom finally got underway a few weeks ago, to the relief of the men’s families. But the process has been an example of old habits dying hard, no matter how much they are dressed up: The judge promptly adjourned the session and set a new trial date for early next year. All of these new problems can be added to the long list of dangers and grievances that have come to characterize Roumieh, such as the prevalence of mobile phones, drugs and sometimes weapons, or the existenceof areas that are off-limits to prison staff. Conditions aren’t necessarily better at other men’s prisons, or even those for female inmates, in various parts of the country. This is why civil groups are sometimes obliged to step in and try to alleviate the conditions, which only goes to show how far Lebanon’s prisons are from international standards.
In recent weeks, the authorities have attempted to bring a bit of law and order to the southern suburbs of Beirut, and the tense city of Tripoli. But they seem to forget that Lebanon’s largest prison could use a dose of the medicine being handed out elsewhere.

Tripoli Bombings Suspects Charged as Eid Slams Intelligence Branch
Naharnet/State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged on Monday seven people, three of whom are in custody, in connection with the August bombings of two mosques in the northern city of Tripoli.
The charges include the formation of an armed gang for the purpose of carrying out terrorist activities and the bombing of al-Taqwa and al-Salam mosques on August 23. The three detainees were identified as Youssef Diab, Anas Hamzi and Hussein Jaafar. The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch arrested Diab on Friday. He has admitted to parking the booby-trapped car that exploded near al-Salam mosque. Diab is from the Tripoli neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, whose residents are Alawites and back Syrian President Bashar Assad. Jaafar has facilitated the transfer of the car bombs from Syria, An Nahar daily reported Monday. It was not clear what Hamzi's role was in the bombings. The ringleader of the network, Hayan Haidar, and three others are nowhere to be found, it said. The driver of the second booby-trapped vehicle near al-Taqwa mosque was identified as Ahmed Merhi. The ISF arrested Diab after it studied advanced cameras placed near the house of former ISF chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi that lies near al-Salam mosque. It also studied telecommunications data and heard the testimonies of informants that led to the arrests. A security official told An Nahar the investigation revealed that the Syrian intelligence lied behind the bombings. Arab Democratic Party Secretary-General Rifaat Eid, whose supporters are from Jabal Mohsen, warned that “if Diab was innocent, then the Intelligence Branch should be dissolved for taking the country towards strife.” He also challenged the authorities by saying that the caretaker interior minister should dissolve his party if the judiciary proved that it was involved in the twin bombings. Eid, who is a close ally of Assad, said during a press conference that his supporters would “resort to the street” if his rivals did not end their political campaign against him. Eid was referring to al-Mustaqbal movement and its allies. “Our battle should not be through the media. The issue of Jabal Mohsen should be taken to the judiciary,” he said.

Lebanon Bids Farewell to Wadih Al-Safi in Popular Mass and Suleiman Grants Him Golden Order of Merit
Naharnet/Lebanon bid farewell on Monday afternoon to legendary singer Wadih al-Safi in a popular mass held at St. George Cathedral in downtown Beirut. Several officials and music figures attended the funeral while Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi presided over the mass. "We are aware of the vacuum Wadih al-Safi will leave behind him and the deep wound his passing created in our hearts,” al-Rahi said during the mass. He added: “Wadih al-Safi sang for Lebanon and for God. He collaborated during his career with top musicians like the Rahbani brothers, Zaki Nassif, Mohammed Abdel Wahab and Farid al-Atrash.”"Professionals in the music industry unanimously agree that al-Safi is the grand master.”Meanwhile, President Michel Suleiman granted al-Safi a First Grade golden Lebanese Order of Merit, announced caretaker Culture Minister Gaby Layoun at the Cathedral.
Layoun placed the Order of Merit on al-Safi's casket. The president later ordered that a stamp commemorating the late singer be issued. In addition to the singer's family and friends, present at the funeral were caretaker minister Layoun, who represented Suleiman, the representative of Speaker Nabih Berri MP Michel Moussa, the representative of Prime Minister Najib Miqati Mohammed al-Mashnouq, MP Bahia Hariri representing ex-PM Saad Hariri, Change and Reform head MP Michel Aoun's representative caretaker Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi, MP Antoine Abou Khater representing Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. The funeral was also attended by several ministers, lawmakers, military personnel, and numerous artists that gathered to bid farewell to the legendary musician. Following the funeral, al-Safi's casket was carried by his loved ones who marched in downtown Beirut to the sound of his timeless songs. Al-Safi was laid to rest on Monday evening in his hometown of Niha in the Chouf region. The singer's family announced on Sunday that “his grave will serve as a cultural landmark for all Lebanese and all his admirers throughout the world.” Al-Safi, 92, died at Bellevue Medical Center in al-Metn's neighborhood of al-Mansourieh on Friday evening. The state-run National News Agency noted that the singer was transferred to the hospital at 7:30 pm, after falling ill at the house of his son Tony.

Report: Clash between Hizbullah, Armed Tariq al-Jedideh Men
Naharnet/Hizbullah supporters and local gunmen clashed on Tuesday in Beirut's Tariq al-Jedideh neighborhood. No casualties were reported. The state-run National News Agency described the dispute as “personal,” without mentioning the parties that were involved in the clash. It said security forces worked on resolving the problem after gunshots were fired. Media reports said however that the parties involved in the clash included members of Hizbullah's Resistance Brigades and armed men from Tariq al-Jedideh. They did not provide details as to why the two sides fought. But LBCI TV said the dispute was between supporters of Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani and parties that oppose him. It said a man identified as Abu Ali Shamleh, an official who is in charge of groups allied with Hizbullah, had opened fire and used hand grenades during the clash. But no arrest has yet been made.

Sheikh Abbas Zgheib Shies Away from Divulging Info on Possible Release of Pilgrims
Naharnet /Sheikh Abbas Zgheib, who has been tasked by the Higher Islamic Shiite Council to follow up the case of the Lebanese pilgrims held hostage in Syria since May 2012, shied away from giving any information about their possible release. In remarks to pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat published on Tuesday, Zgheib said: “We don't want to exaggerate about obstacles delaying their release or even signs that they could be set free soon.”
“The relatives haven't been yet informed about any date to release the nine Lebanese but there is a positive atmosphere unlike the past stage,” he said. Eleven pilgrims were kidnapped in May last year in northern Syria's Aleppo province as they returned by land from a pilgrimage in Iran. Two of them were later released. On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu telephoned Speaker Nabih Berri to discuss recent developments in the case of the pilgrims as well as that of two Orthodox bishops - Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazij - who were kidnapped in Syria at the end of April. Davutoglu spoke with Berri about "the results of the ongoing communications and efforts aimed at securing their release,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

Kidnapped Bekaa Pharmacist, Wissam al-Khatib Released
Naharnet/A pharmacist, who was kidnapped in the eastern Zahle district around two weeks ago, has been released, the state-run National News Agency said Tuesday. NNA said Wissam al-Khatib was set free in his hometown of Kfarzabad in the central Bekaa valley around 4:00 am. His family refused to discuss about the circumstances of his release. Al-Khatib was abducted on Sept. 29 as he was opening his pharmacy that lies on the main road of the town of Karak. Witnesses said at the time that the armed assailants were riding a blue vehicle. LBCI television had said the kidnappers demanded a $500,000 ransom. The kidnapping has led to protests by the town's residents, who on several occasions blocked the main road with their cars to demand al-Khatib's release.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani Appeals for Unity, Slams Politicians for Dividing the Lebanese
Naharnet /Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani on Tuesday slammed politicians for paralyzing state institutions and causing divisions among the Lebanese, saying the people should unite before it was too late. In his Eid al-Adha sermon at Mohammed al-Amin mosque in downtown Beirut, Qabbani said: “Only the performance of our politicians divides us as Lebanese.” He slammed them for belonging to two camps - West and East - which he said are only after interests in our nations. “The politicians have forgotten about their responsibilities towards the citizens … and they failed in building a real state after the Taef Accord,” he told worshipers.
Qabbani accused the country's leaders of “destroying the nation” and paralyzing the parliamentary elections due to their disputes. They also paralyzed parliament by causing lack of quorum, he said. The Grand Mufti accused them of hindering the formation of a new cabinet by blackmailing each other through conditions and counter-conditions imposed on Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam. “The slogans of consensus and hypocrisy have become the same,” he mocked. Qabbani urged the Lebanese to unite “to avoid the fire that reached Lebanon.” “Go back to your senses … Your strength lies in your unity,” he told the people. “You only have one enemy which is Israel.” Qabbani also urged both Muslim and Christian Lebanese, and Arabs to thwart the new Middle East plan, which he said would divide their nations based on sectarianism and would make Israel the new colonial power. Tuesday marks the beginning of the three-day Eid al-Adha holiday -- the Feast of Sacrifice.

Police Doubt al-Atrash's Murder Near Syria Border
Naharnet /Security forces have expressed doubt that the man allegedly behind bomb blasts that rocked the southern suburbs of Beirut recently, was assassinated, An Nahar daily reported on Monday. The newspaper said that the body of Omar al-Atrash, who hailed from the Bekaa town of Arsal, was not examined by security forces, which were also banned from opening an investigation into his murder. Al-Atrash was buried in Arsal after he was killed on Friday in a rocket attack on his vehicle in an area that separates Arsal and the Syrian border. An Nahar quoted security forces as saying that they did not see the photo of the vehicle to investigate whether the rocket attack was from the air or the ground. They also did not rule out a booby-trapped explosion. But Arsal's residents claimed that they prevented police from examining al-Atrash's body or open a probe into his murder because he was badly mutilated. Media reports have said that al-Atrash was involved in two deadly car bomb attacks in the Hizbullah stronghold of Beirut's southern suburbs in July and August. He is also suspected of planning two rocket attacks in May that wounded four people in the suburbs. Samer al-Hujeiri, who was with al-Atrash in the car, was also killed Friday, reports said. Sameh Breidi was injured in the incident and admitted to a hospital.

Lebanese Army dismantles rigged car in Beirut southern suburb
October 14, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Military experts dismantled Monday a rigged vehicle in the Beirut southern suburb, the Army said. Earlier, a high-ranking security source told The Daily Star that a car suspected of carrying explosives in the Maamoura neighborhood had been discovered. “One of the sniffer dogs stopped at the vehicle which is a Grand Cherokee and this was an indicator that it contained explosives,” the source said. The Army cordoned off the area near Maamoura as Hezbollah members were seen on the ground, blocking several roads leading to the site of the suspected bomb. The source said Army personnel contacted Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr who dispatched the experts and asked for a full report of the findings. In a statement, the Army said several military experts had arrived at the scene and confirmed that the vehicle contained "an amount of explosive material." The statement added that the experts were in the process of dismantling the car. Car bombs exploded in two separate neighborhoods in the Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, this year, killing and wounding dozens. The area was also the target of a rocket attack, likely due to its intervention in the Syria conflict. Following the explosions, Hezbollah beefed up its security measures at the entrances of the suburbs by setting up checkpoints and inspecting passing vehicles and individuals. Last month, the Lebanese Army along with members of the Internal Security Forces took over the checkpoints, originally manned by Hezbollah members, in line with a new security plan in the area.

Military Expert Defuses Explosives inside Car in Beirut's Dahieh
Naharnet/A booby-trapped car containing many explosives was found on Monday evening in Beirut's southern suburbs."A booby-trapped blue Grand Cherokee car was found in Beirut's al-Maamoura neighborhood," the Army Command said in a communique. The army added: "Experts are working on dismantling the large amounts of explosives found in it and move the vehicle to a secure place." "The booby-trapped car was located in al-Maamoura-al-Mreije neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs," the state-run National News Agency said. "A military expert has dismantled the explosives found in it," it added. Al-Manar, meanwhile, said that a mobile phone connected to a cable was found in Dahieh's suspicious car. But the army's intelligence informed State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr that a large number of explosives was found in Dahieh's car.
LBCI television said the bomb defused was estimated to weigh hundreds of kilograms. The explosives were dismantled and the car was pulled over from the scene, the army's intelligence told Saqr according to LBCI. LBCI added: "Judge Saqr tasked the army intelligence to investigate the case of the car and to keep him updated on the results of the probe." The NNA said earlier that security forces suspected a car in Beirut's Dahieh neighborhood.
"The army has since cordoned off the area and a military expert inspected the scene with the help of sniffer dogs," it added. At least 14 people were killed and 212 others wounded in a car bombing that rocked Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs on July 9. The blast went off on the public road between the neighborhoods of Bir al-Abed and Ruwais. Following the blast, the party adopted strict security measures in the area before the army, Internal Security Forces, and General Security members set up checkpoints and took over Hizbullah's checkpoints in Dahieh.  The task force in Dahieh includes 100 General Security members, 300 soldiers and 400 Internal Security Forces personnel.

Syrian Shells, Gunshots Target Akkar Towns
Naharnet /At least 15 Syrian shells hit several towns in the northern city of Akkar on Monday evening, the state-run National News Agency reported. "As much as 15 shells have landed in several towns in Akkar according to the city's residents,” the NNA said, adding that no injuries were reported. The NNA also remarked that the shelling caused power outage in several regions in the northern city. Witnesses told Naharnet that around 9:30 pm, around 17 shells launched from the Syrian side of the border landed in the northern towns of Hikr Janine, Qashlaq, al-Arma, al-Noura, al-Dababiyeh, Menjez and Amar al-Bikat. They also pointed out that the power outage was due to targeting an electricity source. The NNA noted that the shelling was accompanied with gunfire targeting these towns, also shot from Syria.

Phalange Party Calls for Ending Cabinet Crisis before Presidential Vote
Naharnet/The Phalange Party on Monday warned against turning the deadlock in the cabinet formation process into an “open-ended crisis that might persist until the date of the presidential election.”The party cautioned that constitutional vacuum would “pave the ground for the rule of the stronger camp and return Lebanon to the rejected obscurantist era.”In a statement issued after the weekly meeting of its political bureau, the Phalange Party also called for paying attention to the remarks voiced by Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam, “which were like a political notice about the circumstances of the obstruction and the crippling demands that are preventing the formation of the new cabinet.” The party voiced regret over the “domestic and foreign obstruction,” calling for “shortening the crisis through forming a responsible, inclusive cabinet which would be able to communicate with the international community … over Lebanon's urgent demands which are necessary to confront the economic hardships and the impending threats created by the Syrian crisis and the issue of refugees.” The conferees called on the relevant authorities to “activate the theoretical measures they had devised to control the border and the crossings and tighten surveillance of the locations of Syrian refugees.”
They also called for “speeding up the process of asking foreign countries to host the refugees, especially those residing in Lebanon.”The party hoped the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha will witness the release of the nine Shiite pilgrims who were abducted in Syria's Aazaz, the two Turkish pilots nabbed in Lebanon and the two bishops kidnapped near Aleppo, in addition to Phalange member Butros Khawand and all the detainees who are believed to be in Syrian regime prisons. The Phalange Party called on the Lebanese leaders, parties, groups and citizens to reject “any foreign interference” and “salvage national unity.” It also urged the caretaker cabinet to take the measures necessary to “guarantee the safety of its citizens who live in northern and Bekaa border towns, which are frequently coming under artillery bombardment from the Syrian side of the border,” calling for “the summoning of the Syrian ambassador to inform him of a firm official stance in this regard.”

Qaida Suspect Abu Anas al-Libi Transferred to New York
Naharnet /A Libyan al-Qaida suspect who was snatched from Tripoli by U.S. commandos and interrogated on an American warship, has been brought to New York to face trial, a prosecutor said Monday. Abu Anas al-Libi arrived in the United States at the weekend and was brought directly to New York, where he has been under indictment for more than a decade. Libi, a computer expert captured in the Libyan capital Tripoli on October 5, faces trial for the twin 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. "The government expects that he will be presented before a judicial officer tomorrow," Southern District of New York Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. Libi was believed to have been held and interrogated on a U.S. warship in the Mediterranean after his capture in an operation denounced by Libya. U.S. President Barack Obama said last week that Libi "planned and helped to execute a plot that killed hundreds of people, a whole lot of Americans." "We have strong evidence of that. And he will be brought to justice," Obama added. Source/Agence France Presse.

Netanyahu: Easing Iran Pressure Would Be 'Historic Mistake'
Naharnet/Easing pressure on Iran over its nuclear program at this stage would be a "historic mistake," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday. "It would be a historic mistake to ease the pressure on Iran a moment before the sanctions achieve their objective," he said at the opening of  In remarks a day before world powers hold a fresh round of talks with Iran over its nuclear program, which Israel and much of the West believes is a front for building a weapons capacity, Netanyahu issued a stark warning over any move to ease sanctions. "Particularly at this moment we must not give up on them, we must keep up the pressure," he said,. Any move to let up on Iran would only strengthen its "uncompromising elements" and its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, "will be perceived as the winner," Netanyahu said. The two-day meeting which begins in Geneva on Tuesday will be the first such nuclear talks since Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, a reputed moderate, took office in August. Rouhani has pledged to engage constructively to resolve the decade-long dispute over Iran's nuclear drive and ultimately secure the lifting of crippling Western sanctions. The West has responded positively to Rouhani's overtures sparking Israeli fears of an easing of world pressure on the Islamic republic's nuclear program. Israel has refused to rule out a military strike to prevent Iran from going nuclear, with Netanyahu telling the U.N. General Assembly earlier this month that the Jewish state would act unilaterally if necessary.
Source/Agence France Presse

Peres Warns Allies Not to Trust Iran
Naharnet /Shimon Peres says Israel and its allies must retain a firm stance on Iran until it can show it does not threaten regional stability, despite its election of Hassan Rouhani as president. In an interview published Monday by the Brazilian newspaper the Folha de Sao Paulo, the Israeli president poured cold water on Rouhani's recent charm offensive. Last month, Rouhani sought to strike a new more open tone at the U.N. General Assembly, in stark contrast to the aggressive rhetoric of his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He envisaged signing a nuclear deal with world powers within months, raising hopes in Western capitals, which suspect Iran's research program is a cover for developing an atomic bomb. "In politics and in life you can only judge things based on facts. There has been no change on Iran -- the facts contradict the speeches," Israel's elder statesman told the paper. "If the Iranians say they do not want nuclear bombs then why are they developing missiles?"Iran insists its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.Peres has not endorsed unilateral Israeli military action against Tehran to curb its nuclear ambitions, but says diplomatic pressure must be ramped up. This, the 90-year-old said, would mean Russia weighing in. "We all prefer a non-military solution. But in order to give credibility to non-military solutions Iran has to know it will stand alone and could face force," he said. "There are coalitions of countries -- one group is led by the United States and the European Union. If the Russians were on this side the pressure would be much more effective." Asked what he would say to Rouhani if the two were to pick up the telephone and speak directly, Peres said: "I would tell him nobody in the world is threatening Iran. So why does Iran threaten other countries? Tell me. I don't understand why Iran threatens Israel. Why?"Source/Agence France Presse.

Israel Minister Calls for Pressure on Iran to Be Kept Up
Naharnet /The Israeli intelligence minister called on the major powers on Monday to maintain pressure on Iran, saying that was what was driving it to seek a deal in nuclear talks. Yuval Steinitz, who is also minister for international relations, was speaking on the eve of revived negotiations on Tehran's controversial nuclear program between Iranian officials and the P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany. "Iran needs agreement urgently," Steinitz told reporters in Jerusalem. "The Iranian economy is in very bad shape... the dilemma will be crystal clear to them, that if they want to save their economy, they need to give up their nuclear project," he said. "The Iranians are coming to dialogue... only because of the very severe economic pressure." The new Iranian government of President Hassan Rouhani has pledged a fresh approach to the nuclear talks as it seeks relief from crippling EU and U.S. sanctions, that have badly hit Iran's oil exports and access to global banking. Steinitz insisted, however, that a "credible military threat would increase the chances" of reaching agreement in the nuclear talks. He cited Iran's ally Syria as an example of the threat of force achieving disarmament, saying Damascus had agreed last month to destroy its chemical arsenal only because U.S. military action looked imminent. "I am confident that if we sat here one year ago, none of us, including myself, would dream or think that it's possible (President Bashar) Assad would sign an agreement to dismantle his chemical weapons, but also to dismantle production capacity to produce chemical weapons in the future."But U.S. President Barack Obama "came with a credible military threat, and suddenly there is a diplomatic breakthrough, and Syria did sign a clear commitment to dismantle all its chemical weapons... and production facilities," he said. Israel has repeatedly threatened military action to prevent any chance of Iran developing a nuclear weapon and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the U.N. General Assembly earlier this month that Israel was ready to do so unilaterally if necessary. Source/Agence France Presse.

Iran presents PowerPoint proposal at Geneva nuclear talks: EU
October 15, 2013/By George Jahn/Reuters/GENEVA: Iran put forward proposals regarding the stand-off over its nuclear programme in talks with six world powers that began in Geneva on Tuesday, a European Union spokesman said. Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, told reporters that Iranian officials presented the ideas in PowerPoint format but he gave no details. Mann said there was a sense of "cautious optimism" ahead of the two-day meeting and that Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Tehran's chief negotiator, dined together on Monday evening in a "very positive atmosphere".
The talks were continuing but Iran "certainly made some proposals this morning," Mann said, adding the powers were looking for concrete, constructive ideas from the Iranian side. Iranian media said the package was entitled "Closing an unnecessary crisis, opening new horizons" but did not elaborate. Proposals that the powers - the United States, France, Germany, China, Britain and Russia - put forward earlier this year remained on the table in Geneva but they were prepared to "react" to what Iran suggested, Mann said. The powers have called for Iran halt its higher-grade uranium enrichment, shut its underground Fordow enrichment plant and ship out some of its uranium stockpile. In return, they offered to relax sanctions on gold, precious metals and petrochemicals trade, but Iran has spurned this as insufficient.

Long Syrian convoy transports chemical arms from Al Safira to Hama

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report/October 15, 2013/A convoy of about 100 Syrian army trucks was sighted Monday, Oct. 15, transporting a large consignment of chemical arms from their big depot at the Al Safira military base east of Aleppo to another facility in the town of Hama, some 160 kilometers to the south, DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources disclose. Tarpaulin sheets concealed the trucks’ freights from foreign spy planes and satellites. A large military escort secured the convoy. The general assumption was that Bashar Assad was moving part of his chemical weapons stocks and missiles of delivery out of Al Safira, where Scud C and Scud D surface-to-surface missiles capable of carrying chemical warheads were also known to be housed in bunkers.
This was the first time in the more than two and-a-half years of the Syrian civil war that a large shipment of chemical weapons has been taken out of Al Safira.
The rebels have repeatedly battled in vain to capture Al Safira and get hold of the chemical weapons and missiles stored there. But they never got further than the adjoining town, where many Syrian officers attached to the base are lodged with their families. In the second half of last week, a number of rebel militias returned to the attack. The Syrian military hit back hard: Bombing attacks by fighter planes and assault helicopters were intense enough to stop the rebel advance in its tracks.However, under cover of this harsh counter-offensive, the Syrian military prepared the way for the exit of chemical weapons stocks from Al Safira by mopping up rebel emplacements on the hills overlooking the base and clearing them off the access roads.
At the end of this cleansing operation, the trucks and their chemical shipment exited the base Monday afternoon.
Western intelligence sources tracking Syrian chemical movements offer four optional reasons to account for their transfer:
1. Bashar Assad decided to forestall the very real danger of a rebel break-in to Al Safira;
2. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, shortly after being award the Noble Peace Prize, complained that its inspectors had only reached five out of at least 20 facilities capable of producing chemical weapons, but was prevented from reaching any more because they were located in rebel-controlled battle zones.
Vilified by the world as a mass-murderer of his own people, even Assad basks in the unfamiliar praise he has won for cooperating with the UN inspectors - not only from the Russians but even from the Americans. He may hope to keep the plaudits going by his action in moving large chemical weapons stocks out of Al Safira, where they are at risk, to Hama, where they are accessible to OPCW inspectors.
3. But the reverse explanation is also worth consideration: In Hama, the Syrian army may distribute small CW parcels to small fleets of trucks for onward trips to new places of concealment inaccessible to the international monitors.
4. Or else, Assad is preparing to smuggle those stocks out of the country,

Israel urges world powers to stand firm on Iran as Geneva talks start
By TOVAH LAZAROFF, REUTERS
LAST UPDATED: 10/15/2013/J.Post

http://www.jpost.com/Iranian-Threat/News/Iran-world-powers-begin-nuclear-talks-amid-Israeli-warnings-328752
EU spokesman says Iran puts forward proposal as talks on Iran's nuclear program get underway with sense of "cautious optimism"; Netanyahu, security cabinet call for maintaining of sanctions until Iran dismantles program.
EU
Six world powers and Iran started their first negotiations in six months on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his security cabinet calling on the P5+1 to maintain sanctions against Tehran until it dismantles its nuclear program. The six nations - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany - will pressure Iran over the two-day meeting in Geneva to agree to scale back its nuclear program in return for relief from economic sanctions.Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said Iran presented the ideas in power point format but gave no details. Mann said there was a sense of "cautious optimism" ahead of the two-day meeting and that Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Tehran's chief negotiator, dined together on Monday evening in a "very positive atmosphere".
The talks were continuing but Iran "certainly made some proposals this morning," Mann said, adding the powers were looking for concrete, constructive ideas from the Iranian side. Iranian media said the package was entitled "Closing an unnecessary crisis, opening new horizons" but did not elaborate. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi agreed that the atmosphere was "positive," saying that the world powers had a "good" first reaction to Tehran's proposals. He added that the details ofthe proposal would be discussed on Tuesday afternoon. During years of on-and-off diplomacy Iran has refused to cooperate on its nuclear program, rejecting western suspicions that it seeks to achieve the ability to make weapons. But the election of moderate President Hassan Rouhani in June has raised hopes in the West that a deal could be possible, in part because of the crippling effect of sanctions on the Iranian economy.
Netanyahu urged the six world powers meeting in Geneva Tuesday morning to seize the diplomatic opportunity to halt Iran's nuclear weapons program by maintaining economic sanctions against Tehran until it dismantles its program. "Now is an opportune moment to reach a genuine diplomatic solution that peacefully ends Iran's military nuclear program," Netanyahu said at the start of a Jerusalem meeting with Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gives press conference with Maltese counterpart Joseph Muscat in Jerusalem, October 15, 2013 "This opportunity can only be realized if the international community continues to place pressure on Iran. Because it is that pressure that has brought Iran back to the negotiations in the first place. And it is that pressure which makes the peaceful dismantling of Iran's military nuclear program possible," Netanyahu said. "These negotiations are beginning at a time when Iran is under intense pressure because of the effect of the economic sanctions. Iran is desperately trying to get these sanctions removed," he said.
Netanyahu repeated the warning he made in the Knesset plenum on Monday and added, "I think it would be a historic mistake to ease the sanctions when they are so close to achieving their goals."
Ridding Iran of its nuclear weapons program is in the interest of Israel, the Middle East and the US, Netanyahu said. "We want a peaceful world and that does not include an Iran that retains nuclear weapons capability," Netanyahu said. The security cabinet issued a similar statement earlier in the morning. Just prior to the start of talks in Geneva, the cabinet, whose deliberations are usually secret, urged world powers to demand a full rollback of Tehran's atomic program and not to ease economic sanctions prematurely. The announcement said the cabinet had "adopted unanimously" Netanyahu's long standing call that Iranian uranium enrichment and plutonium facilities be shut down and all fissile material be shipped abroad. Any Israeli attack on Iran would need security cabinet approval, and the unanimous vote was a key show of support by top ministers for Netanyahu.
"It would be an historic mistake not to take full advantage of the sanctions, by making concessions before ensuring the dismantling of Iran's nuclear weapons program," said the Israeli statement, which was issued first in English for foreign consumption. A Hebrew version came out an hour and a half later.

Report: US mulls letting Iran keep uranium enrichment facilities in nuclear deal

By JPOST.COM STAFF, ICHAEL WILNER/LAST UPDATED: 10/15/2013
US President Barack Obama is considering the possibility of allowing Iran to keep uranium enrichment facilities on its soil, presumably for peaceful purposes, as part of a deal with Tehran over its disputed nuclear program, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The report came as talks between Iran and world powers on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program were set to resume in Geneva on Tuesday morning.
The Wall Street Journal quoted a senior US official as saying that Washington was willing to talk to Iran "about what President Obama said in his address at the UN General Assembly, and that is that he respects the rights of the Iranian people to access a peaceful nuclear program." The official stated that what this entails is exactly the matter that is up for discussion.
Israel's security cabinet released a statement prior to the start of talks on Tuesday, saying that Jerusalem "does not oppose Iran having a peaceful nuclear energy program. But as has been demonstrated in many countries, from Canada to Indonesia, peaceful programs do not require uranium enrichment or plutonium production. Iran's nuclear weapons program does."
A country that can enrich uranium to about 3.5% will also have the capability to enrich to 90%, the security cabinet said, warning the West against prematurley easing sanctions. "Having fuel cycle capability virtually means that a country that possesses this capability is able to produce nuclear weapons."
A bipartisan group of US senators wrote to Obama on Monday, saying that if Iran first suspends all uranium enrichment, the US Senate will then agree to suspend its work on new sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
The 10 signatories, among the most influential members on foreign policy in the upper chamber, proposed the “suspension for suspension” offer just as the P5+1 – the US, Russia, the UK, France, China and Germany were set to sit down for talks with Iran for the first time since the election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
“The onus is on the Iranians to fulfill and implement a host of action items to include enrichment suspension, and in return, the senators are ‘willing to match,’” one congressional aide familiar with the letter told The Jerusalem Post. “But enrichment suspension remains paramount and [a] US military threat remains on the table.”
Iran entered negotiations last month with the goal of getting existing sanctions lifted. But for several months, Congress has worked to close loopholes in those penalties with new legislation.
“The intent of sanctions is to force Iran to halt and dismantle its nuclear weapons program. Once this goal has been accomplished in a real, transparent, and verifiable way, we will be prepared to remove existing sanctions in a measured, sequenced manner,” the senators wrote.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said that now is the time to strengthen sanctions against Iran, not weaken them. Accordingly, Netanyahu has worked in the last weeks to sway the international community – including those in the P5+1 talks – not to accept any half-measures, asking them not to ease sanctions until Tehran halts its enrichment of uranium and removes the material from the country.
In addition, he said, Iran must dismantle its nuclear weapons program.
At the Knesset on Monday, the prime minister warned that a nuclear Iran was dangerous for Israel, the region and the world.
But, he noted, once Iran had nuclear weapons “it will direct them first and foremost at us. The Iranians have openly declared that this is their intention and therefore Israel cannot allow Iran, which has championed our destruction, to acquire nuclear weapons.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif has said a possible deal on the nuclear program with the West might include strict international oversight over low-level enrichment within Iran’s existing plants. But Iranian officials have said they will not remove enriched uranium from their country.
“If the Iranian government takes these steps in a verifiable and transparent manner, we are willing to match Iran’s good-faith actions by suspending the implementation of the next round of sanctions currently under consideration by Congress,” the letter said.
The bipartisan group of senators who penned the letter include Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina); Charles Schumer (DNew York); Roy Blunt (RMissouri); and John McCain (R-Arizona).
“If Iranian actions fail to match the rhetorical reassurances of the last two weeks, we are prepared to move forward with new sanctions to increase pressure on the government in Tehran,” the letter reads.
A resolution passed by the House of Representatives last August tightens sanctions against Iran significantly, by disallowing the continuation of waivers for companies within allied countries buying Iranian oil. The goal of the bill is to bring Iranian oil exports down to zero.
Similar language is being considered in the Senate, which is likely to address the bill in committee next month for a vote by the end of the year, barring any agreement with the Iranians.
“The critical test will be Iran’s proposal to the P5+1 this week in Geneva,” the letter reads, calling on Iran to abide by the rules of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty and all resolutions passed by the UN Security Council regarding its nuclear program.
The senators call for a “convincing threat of the use of force” to support the administration’s “sincere demonstration of openness” to peace talks.
“We reaffirm that a credible military threat remains on the table and we underscore the imperative that the current sanctions be maintained aggressively, and call on you to increase pressure through sanctions already in place.”
As the White House prepares for talks this week, a senior administration official says the US wants to achieve a deal with Iran that will allay the fears of all parties directly impacted by the country’s expanding nuclear program.
“No one should expect a breakthrough overnight,” a US official said. He added that Washington was ready to offer Iran rapid relief from economic sanctions if Tehran moved quickly to address concerns that the ultimate goal of its nuclear work was to make bombs.
Any potential sanctions relief, the official said, would be “targeted, proportional to what Iran puts on the table.”
“I’m sure they will disagree about what is proportionate,” the official said. “But we are quite clear about what the menu of options are and what will match what.”
Tovah Lazaroff and Reuters contributed to this report.

Netanyahu: Easing off sanctions against Iran now would be a 'historic mistake'

By LAHAV HARKOV/LAST UPDATED: 10/14/2013/
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu kept his focus on stopping the Iranian nuclear threat Monday, at the opening of a session in which the Knesset is expected to deal with dramatic internal issues.
“Israel will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons,” the prime minister declared, speaking at a ceremonial opening meeting of the Knesset’s winter session.
“It would be a historic mistake to reduce pressure on Iran now, a moment before sanctions achieve their goal,” Netanyahu stated. “We need to remember that international pressure is what is bringing results inside Iran, bringing them to the negotiating table, and will bring them to concede.”
According to Netanyahu, weakening sanctions will not support moderate trends in Iran; rather, it will strengthen Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who will portray the change as a victory.
“Many in the world understand that an Iran with nuclear weapons is not only a danger for Israel,” he continued.
“Iran is developing intercontinental missiles that can hold nuclear warheads; they can reach anywhere in the Middle East, Europe, the US and other parts of the world.”
Edelstein also mentioned Iran in his speech, quoting from the Rudyard Kipling poem The Truce of the Bear and saying it is impossible to make peace with a bear – meaning Iran.
“The Iranian president prepared a honey trap,” Edelstein said. “For a moment, it looked like the entire West fell for the Iranian leader’s charms.”
Peres warned that “a nuclear Iran is a danger to the whole world and destabilizes the region.” The world must judge Tehran’s actions and not its words, the president added.
Yacimovich, however, criticized Netanyahu for bringing doom and gloom to the Knesset.
“There is no doubt that we can defend ourselves [from a nuclear Iran] and that all options are on the table, but the world is more complex than that,” she said. “Why are you so apocalyptic? We survived Pharaoh, we survived 2,000 years in exile, the Inquisition, the Holocaust, we’ll survive this.”The opposition leader called for Netanyahu to give Israelis hope.“True, there is a chaotic element and there are dangers, but we need to create our own reality,” she stated.
Despite his focus on Iran, the prime minister did not ignore matters expected to be brought to a vote in the Knesset during the new session.
“We will increase governability, pass a law requiring a peace agreement to be brought to the people for a vote and make sure the burden of national service is shared more equally,” he said. Netanyahu spoke enthusiastically of his plans to “cancel the periphery” and connect the country with improved roads and train routes. Edelstein also brought up the “sensitive and controversial issues” ahead, saying they will “influence the entire future and image of Israeli society.”However, he warned, MKs must behave themselves and not cheapen or disrespect the Knesset.
Peace talks were the final issue the prime minister brought up, saying he wants “real, stable peace, not an arrangement that will expire right after it’s signed, but peace based on security and mutual recognition.
“How can it be that while the Palestinians ask us to recognize their nation, they refuse to recognize the Jewish people’s right to a state in its homeland? What is so complicated in recognizing this historic fact?” Netanyahu asked, echoing his speech at Bar-Ilan University last week.
Peres said that Jews have a moral imperative to actively seek out peace and commended the government for negotiating with the Palestinians.
“Peace is not easy,” he stated. “I am not suggesting we take major risks, nor to miss an opportunity and inject skepticism and cynicism... Peace requires concessions that are painful and difficult.”Peres called for the government to make every effort to clear obstacles in the way of peace. The president also commended the negotiators for keeping out of the spotlight, thus allowing talks to work seriously toward a two-state solution.
Conversely, Yacimovich demanded that Netanyahu give updates on the peace process. “If there is no progress toward a final-status agreement, are there softer alternatives on the table? When do you plan to bring results or interim results to the Knesset?” Yacimovich asked. “Has a staff been formed to prepare for the implementation of a solution? Are you prepared for the alternatives if talks fail? “We don’t want to see a negative process like the disengagement. Are you having a dialogue with settlers about the ramifications of an agreement on them and their fate?”Still, most of Yacimovich’s speech focused on planned layoffs at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. She called the plans cannibalism and terrorism, and said a company that receives billions in tax benefits from the government and is not in danger of bankruptcy should not be allowed to fire hundreds of workers. The Labor leader demanded that the government intervene to prevent the layoffs.

The Negotiations Game Begins Anew
October 15, 2013 By Joseph Klein /FrontPage
Iran's President Rouhani waits to depart after addressing the 68th United Nations General Assembly in New YorkWhile President Obama refuses to negotiate with congressional Republicans over the terms for opening the government and passing an increase in the debt ceiling, he is perfectly happy to negotiate for the umpteenth time with the treacherous Iranian regime. A few encouraging words from the duplicitous new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his sidekick Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during their visit to the United Nations last month, as well as a hastily arranged phone call between Obama and Rouhani, was all that Obama needed to fall for Iran’s latest delaying tactics.
Thus, talks are now beginning to get underway in Geneva between Iran and the so-called P5+1 countries, comprised of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China) and Germany. Yet before negotiations had even begun, the thugs running Iran said they will not agree to a shipment of any of its current stocks of enriched uranium out of the country as part of any deal. This is less than Iran was reportedly willing to do back in 2010 when Iran, Turkey and Brazil issued a joint ten-point declaration on a nuclear swap deal, with Iran agreeing to deposit its stockpile of 20-percent uranium in Turkey. All we can now expect from Teheran, in return for elimination of the energy and banking sanctions currently imposed on Iran, is some sort of possible limitation on the level of Iran’s future uranium enrichment activity and a mutually agreed upon process for increased international inspection. In order to secure even an interim confidence-building step in this direction from the Iranians, which they will be able to easily evade in any event, the West would have to begin to significantly ease the current sanctions.
Robert Einhorn, a former state department official who has been deeply involved in the Iran negotiations and is now with the Brookings Institute, said, “The biggest problem is going to be over the issue of sanctions relief. The Iranians will want to see some early easing, but we will want to hold back as long as possible on sanctions to ensure that we have sufficient leverage to achieve a final agreement.”
Meanwhile, as the talks drag on, the Iranians’ thousands of centrifuges will keep spinning, adding to the existing stockpile of enriched uranium that Iran says it will insist on keeping as part of the final agreement.
Obama likes to speak of some Republicans as hostage takers and extortionists for demanding any concessions before agreeing to pass a continuing budget resolution or to raise the debt ceiling. Yet he is more than willing to enter into negotiations with a regime that actually took Americans hostage and never apologized. In order to get Iran to even consider moving back from having the means to quickly build at will the nuclear bombs and delivery systems it can use to extort its neighbors and eventually the world, Obama would have to agree to remove the sanctions that brought Iran to the negotiating table in the first place. One wishes that Obama would stiffen his spine with our country’s mortal enemies, rather than just with his domestic political adversaries.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his fellow fundamentalist mullahs, backed by the hard line Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, run the show in Iran. They hate America, pure and simple. Nuclear weapons are both their insurance policy to avoid the fate of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, as well as their ticket to seriously challenge the United States in the Middle East region and beyond.
Rouhani and Zarif, no matter how moderate they may sound when speaking to receptive Western audiences, are Khamenei’s puppets. And when those puppets began to even slightly stray from their master’s tight control while outside of Iran at the UN General Assembly in New York last month, Khamenei let them know of his displeasure.
Khamenei, for example, said that Rouhani’s brief phone conversation with Obama was “not appropriate.” Both the call and Zarif’s longer meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry were “missteps,” according to Khamenei. The supreme leader added for good measure what he really thought of the United States as a negotiating partner, whom he accused of being “seized by the international network of Zionism.” He said that “the American government is untrustworthy, supercilious and unreasonable, and breaks its promises.”
Zarif, the foreign minister, did not take long to get more in line with Khamenei’s tight limits over any authorized outreach to the “Great Satan.” Iran’s influential conservative daily Kayhan reported that Zarif has accepted responsibility for the “missteps.” At a national security and foreign policy committee of the Majlis, called to examine the diplomacy of Rouhani and Zarif in New York, Zarif is reported to have said: “We (Zarif and Rouhani) thought that the talks (with Kerry) and the phone call (with Obama) were within the authority given to us, but it is our understanding that Hazrat Agha (Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei) has criticized us for Dr. Rouhani’s phone conversation with Obama, he regards that as the first misstep, and my long meeting with John Kerry, and he regards it as the other misstep during out trip.”
For his part, Rouhani has managed to convince Khamenei so far that his strategy of faux negotiations will be the best path to secure some relief from the crippling sanctions. Rouhani has proven his deception has worked in the past. Last week the Times of Israel reported on a recently discovered four-month-old video clip of Rouhani boasting during an interview on Iranian state television about how he had taken advantage of the suspension of limited activities he offered during negotiations with the Europeans in 2003. At that time until 2005, Rouhani was Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator. Although Iran issued a joint statement with visiting European Union ministers in October 2003 setting out its pledged obligations under the so-called Tehran Declaration, Rouhani said in the interview, “We did not let that happen!” Instead, exploiting the illusion of suspension, Iran’s government took significant steps in finalizing the heart of Iran’s nuclear program – uranium conversion, enrichment and installation of many more centrifuges.
“Do you know when we developed yellowcake? Winter 2004,” Rouhani boasted. “Do you know when the number of centrifuges reached 3,000? Winter 2004.” He also said that the Iranian heavy water reactor at Arak, which Iran hopes to use as an alternative plutonium path to a nuclear weapon, got going during this time.
“We halted the nuclear program?” Rouhani asked the interviewer rhetorically. “We were the ones to complete it! We completed the technology.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows exactly what is going on. He has tried to call the world’s attention to the Iranian regime’s continuing duplicity and warned negotiators not to be lulled into another Rouhani subterfuge. “He fooled the world once. Now he thinks he can fool it again,” Netanyahu correctly observed. But the Obama administration and its European partners are not listening, nor paying attention to history. While claiming to insist on meaningful, transparent and verifiable concessions, the negotiators are going to Geneva with unrealistic expectations, while giving Iran more time to cross the nuclear arms finish line.
The Iranian negotiators in Geneva will be looking for any wedge they can use to sow divisions among the Western team and seek to unravel the sanctions by first drawing away key European participants. The Iranians can be expected to come with a detailed, attractive looking proposal such as a future enrichment limit at no greater than 3.5%. However, it is likely to be accompanied by the condition that the West first show good faith by partially removing the sanctions, particularly at least some of the banking sanctions that have been hurting Iran’s economy the most. In interviews with the European press last week, Prime Minister Netanyahu warned the Europeans against falling for such bait. “No deal is better than a bad deal, and a bad deal would be a partial agreement which lifts sanctions off Iran and leaves them with the ability to enrich uranium or to continue work on their heavy water plutonium, which is what is needed to produce nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told The Financial Times. “Don’t give up now, and don’t say later that I didn’t warn you.”
No sanctions should be removed until Iran unequivocally agrees, and begins to take verifiable steps to implement under unfettered international inspection, the disclosure of all its nuclear research and development facilities above and below ground, the dismantling of nuclear-related facilities with a primarily military or dual use purpose, the halt of all uranium enrichment and plutonium-related activities, and the export of all enriched material out of Iran or its conversion into harmless fuel rods.
If President Obama does not hold his ground in the negotiations and set a firm deadline for meaningful results with all other options kept on the table, starting with further ratcheting up of the sanctions, he will find out soon enough what “extortion” truly looks like.
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