LCCC ENGLISH NEWS BULLETIN
August 22/2006

Latest New from the Daily Star for August 22/06
Bush calls for 'urgent' injection of additional peacekeepers
Bush calls for 'urgent' injection of additional peacekeepers
Truce takes another hit as Israelis kill 3 resistance fighters
Olmert opens door for peace talks with Beirut - but not Damascus
Hizbullah envoy to Iran rules out disarmament
Qatari emir delivers Syrian invitation to Siniora
Beirut condemns silence over Israeli violations of fragile truce
Government studies options to sue Israel for war crimes
Residents of Southern village rebuild what they can, wait for help with rest
As Marwaheen mourns, a question lingers: why?
Qana residents get little respite from grief
MEA continues slow climb back to normal schedule
Lebanon's hotel sector is in dire straits
Lebanese suspect in failed German train attack lost brother in Israeli offensive
Innovative agrarian museum in Bekaa survives war intact
Adding air raids to a repertoire of incongruities
Qatar's emir: a rare Arab leader who means what he says
Khamenei vows Iran will continue nuclear program
Where was Asia in the Lebanese-Israeli conflict? -By N. Janardhan
The big loser after Lebanon: democracy -By Amr Hamzawy
Latest New from miscellaneous sources for August 22/06
IDF kills 3 Hizbullah gunmen in south Lebanon-Ynetnews
Israel refuses Muslim troops-The Herald
Qatar says peace chances better after Lebanon war-Reuters
U.S. resolution would disarm Hezbollah-AP
Bush: Send Lebanon peacekeepers quickly-AP
Israeli warplanes roar over Lebanon-AP
U.N. says Lebanon truce may unravel-AP
Lebanese Town Full of Hezbollah Fighters-Washington Post
How war against drugs may have helped Hezbollah-Times Online
Mubarak says Hezbollah 'part of the Lebanese national fabric'-Ha'aretz
A tour of Lebanon and harsh words for Harper-Globe and Mail - Canada
Olmert: All Terror Organizations Backed By Syria-Arutz Sheva
Naval blockade of Lebanon may go on-Jerusalem Post
Lebanon, France, Ireland and proportionality-American Thinker
Permanent or Transitory? The Full Economic Implications of the War ...Dar Al-Hayat
Olmert rules out peace talks with Syria-Seattle Post Intelligencer - USA
Israel demands restrictions on peacekeepers-Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada
Hezbollah has come far from the days of suicide bombings and ...Boston Herald
Italy Is Asked to Lead UN Force-Wall Street
Olmert asks Italy to lead UN force Reuters
Israel puts conditions on peacekeepers AP
Arab ministers gather to discuss Lebanon AP
Lebanese town full of Hezbollah fighters AP
Israel seizes senior West Bank lawmaker AP
Chinese soldiers of UNIFIL in LebanonPeople's Daily Online
British kit found in Hezbollah bunkers-Times Online
US, Israel seek to prevent rearming of Hezbollah-Seattle Times
Elite unit's 'crown jewel' killed in Lebanon-Jerusalem Post
Lebanon cautions militants-Calgary Sun - Canada
Merkel rules out sending German combat troops, police to Lebanon-People's Daily Online
PM: 'Talk of war will mislead Syria'Jerusalem Post - Israel
Archbishop tells church to stay in Lebanon: 'You'll make it'USA Today - USA

UN says Lebanon truce may unravel By Laila Bassam
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Sunday the week-old truce between Israel and Hizbollah could easily collapse again into "an abyss of violence and bloodshed" if the U.N. resolution which engendered it was violated further.
Senior U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said the truce provided the Lebanese government with a good chance to extend its authority over the entire country but warned: "We are at the tilting edge still.""This can easily start sliding again and lead us quickly into the abyss of violence and bloodshed," he told a news conference in Beirut before heading to Israel.
The Norwegian was speaking a day after the U.N. condemned an Israeli raid on Hizbollah guerrillas in eastern Lebanon as a breach of Security Council resolution 1701, which brought the 34-day war between the two sides to an end. Roed-Larsen said any further, similar raids by the Israelis would only discourage countries from committing troops to a planned U.N. peacekeeping force in south Lebanon. "What we have to do now is for all parties concerned to show utmost restraint to produce a situation that is so stable that troop contributors will come forward to hopefully reach the goal of 15,000 ...," he said. A 30,000-strong force is envisaged for south Lebanon, made up of Lebanese and U.N. troops in equal number.
Israel has said its raid in the eastern Bekaa Valley was designed to disrupt weapons supplies to Hizbollah from Syria and Iran. It denied it had violated the U.N. truce resolution, which allows it to act in self-defense. Israeli reconnaissance planes flew over Lebanon on Sunday. Witnesses and Lebanese security sources said high-altitude flights covered virtually the whole country, from its battered south to close to the border with Syria in the north and east.
In Jerusalem, Israel's top general conceded his army had failed to destroy Hizbollah during the war, which claimed 1,183 lives in Lebanon and 157 in Israel. "The feeling of the public is that it was not a knockout blow," Lieutenant General Dan Halutz told the Israeli cabinet, according to a government source.
EUROPEANS DISCUSS TROOPS
France said it had asked European Union president Finland to call a meeting of the EU member states to discuss Lebanon. A Finnish official said the EU's political and security committee would meet on Wednesday. In Rome, Prime Minister Romano Prodi's office said he discussed the force in telephone conversations with the Israeli and Lebanese prime ministers.
Both men told Prodi they appreciated that Italy was ready "to assume a role of primary importance" in the mission. So far, few countries have stepped forward and made significant commitments to the U.N. force. Some have complained that the rules of engagement under which their soldiers would operate are ill-defined. Vijay Nambiar, another U.N. envoy traveling with Roed-Larsen, said those rules were now "almost finalized.""The finalized details, perhaps, will come out in the next few days and we expect that that will generate interest among the major troop contributing countries," he said. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora inspected damage in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hizbollah stronghold ravaged by Israeli air strikes, and described the devastation as "a crime against humanity committed by Israel."
Iran said it was working on an aid package to help rebuild shattered areas of Lebanon, but a senior Foreign Ministry official said nothing had yet been decided. Israel and the United States have expressed concern that Hizbollah will use Iranian money to rebuild Lebanon, consolidating the group's standing. Kuwait's foreign minister told reporters on arrival in Cairo for an Arab League meeting that his government had decided to set aside $800 million to help Lebanon rebuild. None of the Arab League member governments has offered to send troops to south Lebanon, for fear of being dragged into conflict with either the Israelis or Hizbollah. Hundreds of thousands of refugees have returned to their bombed villages in south Lebanon since the truce. "They are going to need a year to clear the rubble, to rebuild, and to start again," said Cassandra Nelson of aid group Mercy Corps.
The conflict began after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, saying it wanted to exchange them for Lebanese and Arab prisoners held in Israel. Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian and wounded at least two others on Sunday at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, Israel Radio said. Soldiers in the West Bank also detained a Palestinian lawmaker from the governing Hamas militant movement, the latest in a series of such actions.
(Additional reporting by Reuters bureau in Jerusalem, Paris, Rome, Helsinki and Cairo)

Archbishop tells church to stay in Lebanon: 'You'll make it'
Updated 8/20/2006
Enlarge By Lefteris Pitarakis, AP
By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY
EL QLAIAA, Lebanon — Chucrallah Nabil Hage, the Maronite Christian archbishop of Tyre, added a twist to his Sunday sermon here: hold your ground.
"Wherever you are — in Hajji or Tyre or Marjayoun — if you're patient and believe, you'll make it through this," Hage told a standing-room congregation at St. George's Church in this southern Lebanese village. "The most important thing is to stay on this land."
Since last month, the 63-year-old priest has braved bombs, rockets and ground clashes between Israeli forces and the Shiite Muslim militia Hezbollah, racing over cratered roads and threading past bombed-out bridges to visit his flock in the few Christian towns and villages that dot predominantly Shiite southern Lebanon. His message to the faithful has been that they must stay, despite the danger.
Thin and bearded, Hage speaks with a raspy voice and is fluent in Arabic, English and French. He took advantage of the fragile, week-old cease-fire to celebrate Sunday Mass here and in another village nearby.
The exact number of Maronites and other Christians in Lebanon is a mystery. A census could be politically explosive in Lebanon, bringing calls by Muslims to do away with a spoils system that awards Christians the country's presidency and half the seats in the parliament. Since the end of Lebanon's 16-year civil war in 1991, Christians have steadily lost power to Shiite and Sunni Muslims, whose populations have grown.
The CIA estimates the nation's population of 3.8 million is roughly 60% Muslim and 40% Christian.
An exodus by Christians could upset the delicate balance of power in the country. The 34-day war that began July 12 prompted Hage to try to prevent such an exodus. A string of Maronite villages along Lebanon's southern border, towns such as Debel, Rmaich and Ain Ebel, is in a particularly tight spot: sandwiched between Hezbollah-controlled towns slightly north and the heavily fortified Israeli border just to the south.
Maronites, who constitute most of the Christians in southern Lebanon, are members of an Eastern-rite church in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
Hage has worked for years to keep the villages populated. He said Maronites act as a peaceful buffer between two warring entities. When shelling began last month, he dashed from town to town as bombs rained down, delivering food and medicine and urging followers to stay put.
On Sunday, he was careful to avoid blaming Hezbollah or Israel for the conflict that has trapped Christian non-combatants. "The Christian message is the same everywhere: a message of peace, a message of love and a message of tolerance," he said. "Even if we have different beliefs, it doesn't mean it should lead to conflict."
The Christian villages, some less than a mile from the Israeli border, are often recognizable by statues of the Virgin Mary in town squares or the crosses atop churches. Just down the road from St. George's in El Qlaiaa, there are billboards of a smiling Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader. Other Hezbollah billboards feature bearded Iranian ayatollahs or the faces of slain Shiite militia fighters.
Christians in southern Lebanon confront a job shortage. The Maronite Church can't compete with the vast social welfare net that Hezbollah has built for Shiites — clinics, schools and other facilities — said Daniel Nicholas, 26, an unemployed El Qlaiaa native.
Nicholas, who holds a master's degree in physics, said his fiancée's family won't let him marry her unless he has a job. "There's no future here. This conflict was enough to make me leave."
Hage wanted to begin visiting Christian towns immediately after the start of fighting in mid-July, but he found himself stuck in Tyre as his driver, cook and priests fled. He turned to the group going most often into the war zone: journalists.
Hage hitched rides with Dutch television crews, British newspaper reporters, French radio correspondents. Soon, he said, journalists headed into battle zones began dropping by his small stone church in Tyre to ask if he needed a lift.
During a lull in fighting, Hage, dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt rather than his traditional white cassock, reached Ain Ebel, 2 miles from Bint Jbail, site of some of the heaviest fighting of the war.
"It was like someone had been cutting off your air supply and suddenly you get a breath of fresh air," said Jean Ammar, 42, a civil engineer in Ain Ebel. "We were so surprised to see him. Every move you made out here at that time was a target for military action."
Days later, as Hage left the Christian enclave of Debel for Tyre, explosives thundered around him. Katyusha rockets fired by Hezbollah sailed overhead from the right; mortars and rockets whistled past from Israeli positions to his left.
"I felt a sort of peace," Hage recalled. "I had done my duty. Also, I was with the Western press. So I thought I would be safe."
Posted 8/20/2006 10:06 PM ET

A tour of Lebanon and harsh words for Harper
MARK MACKINNON
BEIRUT -- A delegation of Canadian opposition parliamentarians toured the devastation of southern Lebanon yesterday and slammed Prime Minister Stephen Harper for supporting what two MPs called "crimes against humanity."
Liberal Borys Wrzesnewskyj, New Democrat Peggy Nash and Bloc Québécois member Maria Mourani visited the war-ravaged towns of Qana, Bint Jbeil and Aytaroun yesterday on a fact-finding mission that will result in a report to Parliament on the 33-day war. The trip, organized by the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations, was supposed to have been an all-party affair until Conservative MP Dean del Mastro pulled out at the last moment, apparently on orders from the Prime Minister's Office.
The parliamentarians said they were shocked by the scale of the destruction in the front-line villages. Qana was the scene of the deadliest single incident of the war, a July 30 Israeli missile attack that destroyed a building where civilians had been sheltering, killing 28 people.
Aytaroun was where eight Canadians, all members of one extended family, were killed at the beginning of the conflict when their house was hit in an Israeli air strike.
All three MPs said it would have been difficult for a Conservative to have defended the government's position when surrounded by the reality of what had happened.
"As we drove, kilometre after kilometre, house after house, apartment after apartment, village after village was destroyed," a visibly upset Mr. Wrzesnewskyj said afterward. The delegation met with Human Rights Watch representatives, who presented evidence that Israeli forces used cluster bombs in civilian areas.
Mr. Wrzesnewskyj said Mr. Harper's statement early in the war that Israel's attack was a "measured response" to the kidnapping by Hezbollah of two Israeli soldiers was "the moral equivalent of condoning human massacres."
Ms. Mourani, who is of Lebanese descent, said she found herself repeatedly having to apologize for the government's position. Many people she spoke to, she said, were surprised Canada had deserted its historical neutral stand and backed the Israeli assault.
"I had to keep saying, 'It's not Canada, it's just a Conservative government, just a minority government,' " she said.
Both she and Mr. Wrzesnewskyj used the term "crimes against humanity" to describe what they saw.
The MPs visited Damascus and Beirut before travelling to southern Lebanon. They met with political leaders from nearly every Lebanese faction, with the exception of Hezbollah. Ms. Mourani said the delegation decided not to request a meeting with Hezbollah because it is officially called a terrorist organization by the Canadian government. However, she said isolating the Shia militia forever is not an option. "To resolve this problem, we need to speak to all the parties," she said.

Israeli warplanes roar over Lebanon
By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli warplanes roared over Lebanon's northern Mediterranean coast and along its border with Syria on Monday, after the Lebanese defense minister warned rogue Palestinian rocket teams against attacking Israel and provoking retaliation that could unravel an already shaky cease-fire.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said countries that don't have diplomatic relations with Israel should not be permitted to contribute troops to an international peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon. That would eliminate Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh — among the only countries to have offered front-line troops for the expanded force.
Olmert also ruled out peace talks with Syria as long as it supports "terror organizations." Earlier Monday, a top government official suggested it was time to resume talks with Syria despite its support for Hezbollah.
With concern mounting over the fragile truce, Israel sent war planes Monday over the coastal city of Tripoli, some 35 miles north of Beirut, and over Baalbek, scene of an Israeli commando raid two days ago which Israel said was to disrupt weapons shipments for Hezbollah from Syria.
Lebanon considers overflights a violation of the U.N. resolution that ended 34 days of fighting last week.
Defense Minister Elias Murr said he was confident that Hezbollah would hold its fire but warned Syrian-backed Palestinian militants against rocket attacks which might draw Israeli retaliation and re-ignite full-scale fighting.
"We consider that when the resistance (Hezbollah) is committed not to fire rockets, then any rocket that is fired from the Lebanese territory would be considered collaboration with Israel to provide a pretext (for Israel) to strike," he said Sunday.
Israel has long accused Syria, along with Iran, of arming and supporting Hezbollah. During the war, however, Israel avoided trying to draw Syria into the conflict, apparently fearing another front or closing peace options.
On Monday, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said Israel should resume the negotiations that broke down in 2000.
"What we did with Egypt and Jordan is also legitimate in this case," Dichter told Israeli Army Radio. Asked if that meant Israel should withdraw to its international border with Syria, giving up the Golan Heights region Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War, he said: "Yes."
But Olmert ruled out talks with the Syrians unless they stop sponsoring "terror organizations."
"I recommend not to get carried away with any false hopes," Olmert said Monday, during a tour of northern Israel. "When Syria stops support for terror, when it stops giving missiles to terror organizations, then we will be happy to negotiate with them. ... We're not going into any negotiations until basic steps are taken which can be the basis for any negotiations."
Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Israel had other concerns at the moment. "We have the burden of Lebanon and we have the negotiations with the Palestinians," he told Israel Radio. "I don't think a country like ours can deal with so many issues at a time."
As part of the cease-fire agreement, Lebanon has begun deploying 15,000 soldiers to the south, putting a government force in the region for the first time in four decades. They are to be joined by an equal force of international peacekeepers, but wrangling among countries expected to send troops has so far delayed assembly of the force.
The reluctance of European countries to commit substantial numbers of troops has raised doubts about whether the truce can hold.
France, which commands the existing force U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL, had been expected to make a significant new contribution that would form the backbone of the expanded force. But President Jacques Chirac disappointed the U.N. and other countries last week by merely doubling France's contingent of 200 troops.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said he has called for a meeting of European Union diplomats in Brussels this week to "find out as rapidly as possible what the different European partners plan to do concerning Lebanon."
Douste-Blazy indicated more European troops could be sent later, once the U.N. has clarified the mandate of the force, including the rules of engagement.
In Lebanon, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, a Sunni Muslim, and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Shiite and Hezbollah supporters, decried the destruction wrought by Israeli bombs as "crimes against humanity" during a highly publicized tour of the devastated guerrilla stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs on Sunday.
"What we see today is an image of the crimes Israel has committed. ... There is no other description other than a criminal act that shows Israel's hatred to destroy Lebanon and its unity," Saniora said to a big crowd of reporters and television crews invited on the tour of the region where Israeli airstrikes destroyed whole neighborhoods. "I hope the international media transmits this picture to every person in the world so that it shows this criminal act, this crime against humanity," the Western-backed prime minister said. Arab League foreign ministers convened for an emergency meeting in Cairo to discuss a plan to create a fund to rebuild Lebanon. The meeting ended with no plan, but foreign ministers said a social and economic council would convene to discuss how to fund the rebuilding.
Diplomats said Arabs want to counter the flood of money that is believed to be coming from Iran to Hezbollah to finance reconstruction projects. An estimated 15,000 apartments were destroyed and 140 bridges hit by Israeli bombardment in Lebanon, along with power and desalination plants and other key infrastructure.
"This is a war over the hearts and mind of the Lebanese, which Arabs should not lose to the Iranians this time," said a senior Arab League official, speaking on condition of because he is not authorized to talk to the media. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has not said where the money would come from, but Iran, which helped create Hezbollah and is its strongest supporter, is widely believed to have opened its treasury for the rebuilding program.

Qatar emir visits war-ravaged Lebanon
BEIRUT (AFP) - Qatar Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has arrived in Beirut on the first visit by a foreign head of state to Lebanon since the end of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, officials said. The emir, accompanied by Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani, landed aboard a private jet at Beirut international airport on an unannounced visit from neighboring Damascus, they told AFP Monday.Sheikh Hamad was met by President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and parliament speaker Nabih Berri and the officials were then whisked to the presidential palace northeast of Beirut.Gas-rich Qatar has said it will fund the rebuilding of the south Lebanese border town of Bint Jbeil, which suffered widespread destruction during Israel's devastating month-long offensive on Lebanon that ended last Monday. Doha has pledged to rebuild the town and repair damaged public utilities. Qatar did not give details or put a price tag on the reconstruction work planned in the town, which was the scene of heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Shiite Hezbollah militants.
Lebanese authorities have put the cost of the 34-day conflict at more than 3.5 billion dollars in damage to infrastructure alone without counting lost revenues from tourism and other economic activity.

Israel resists mounting pressure for fullscale Lebanon inquiry
by Marius Schattner
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was resisting growing pressure to back an official inquiry with sweeping powers to investigate the war in Lebanon amid mounting discontent over the offensive.  Public anger at perceived mismanagement has flung Olmert's new government into stormy waters in the wake of a string of scandals elsewhere that forced a senior cabinet minister to resign over sexual harassment allegations.
Critics have steadily cranked upped pressure on the increasingly unpopular premier to establish a state committee charged with examining how political and military leaders handled the 34-day war against the Shiite militia Hezbollah. Yet the 60-year-old prime minister, whose approval ratings have plunged three months after he took office, resisted calls for an inquiry. "We don't have a lot of time to talk about what happened. We have to talk about what will happen," he said Monday during a tour of the northern town of Kiryat Shmona that witnessed some of the worst Hezbollah rocket attacks.
The only investigation underway at present is an internal commission set up by Defence Minister Amir Peretz, a man with minimal military experience who has been lampooned over the war, to examine the armed forces' preparation and conduct. On Sunday, Olmert admitted he was discussing the possibility of a state inquiry with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and would update the cabinet later this week on his recommendations and how best to investigate the war.
A state commission would be Israel's most powerful and authoritative type of public inquiry, its powers set by law and members chosen by the supreme court, unlike a government inquiry over which Olmert would have more control. The publication of a scathing letter from army reservists protesting wartime mismanagement, on top of the confessions of a senior general of military arrogance, provided the latest pressure for such an inquiry.
The letter, blasting the "indecisiveness" of top brass during the offensive that saw nearly 1,300 people killed in Lebanon, topped the morning news broadcasts and occupied the front pages of the three main newspapers. Reservists slammed what they called unclearly defined war aims, military "inaction", "prolonged stays in hostile territory without an operational purpose" as a result of "unprofessional considerations".
The massive land, air and sea assault -- the largest waged by the Middle East's most powerful military in a quarter of a century -- failed to eliminate the guerrilla militia or free two Israeli soldiers seized by Hezbollah on July 12.
"In order to face the next battle prepared -- and this may happen soon -- a thorough and fundamental change must take place," the reservists said.
"The crisis of confidence between us as fighters and the higher echelons will not be resolved without a thorough and worthy investigative commission under the auspices of the state," the letter demanded. Several MPs walked out of Monday's parliamentary defence and foreign affairs committee meeting charging that chairman Tzahi Hanegbi, of Olmert's Kadima party, prevented calling for a state inquiry, the Ynet news site reported.
"All the committee members except the chairman Hanegbi clearly support the establishment of a state commission of inquiry," MP Limor Livnat from the right-wing oppositoin Likud party was quoted as saying by the website.The meeting came a day after Israel's outgoing infantry chief conceded he had failed to prepare his troops better. Brigadier General Yossi Hyman offered nothing in his own defense amid estimates that the war has cost Israel 5.7 billion dollars in addition to the lives of 120 soldiers and 41 civilians.  "At times, we were guilty of the sin of arrogance... we all feel a certain sense of failure and missed opportunity," Brigadier General Yossi Hyman said. "I feel the weighty responsibility on my shoulders. I failed to prepare the infantry better for war," he said.
Since the August 12 ceasefire, reservists have complained about contradictory orders, insufficient training, paratroopers left bleeding to death and "pointless battles".
Some commentators have compared the anger to a wave of discontent that followed Israel's near fiasco in the 1973 Yom Kippur war, saying it could speed up the government's downfall.

Olmert 'suspends' withdrawal plan
Olmert was elected on a platform of leaving parts of the West Bank
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has suspended his plans for a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank, a government minister says.
Housing minister Meir Shetreet said the plan had not been abandoned entirely.
He was commenting on media reports press that the pullout was no longer at the top of Mr Olmert's agenda.
Mr Olmert was elected on a platform of withdrawal from some of the West Bank, while tightening Israel's hold on large settlements and the Jordan Valley.
The BBC's Bethany Bell in Jerusalem says the development comes at a time when support in Israel both for the withdrawal and for Mr Olmert's government appears to be slipping.
Growing criticism
Fighting and violence in Lebanon and in Gaza this summer has caused many Israelis to question the plans.
Speaking on Israel army radio the housing minister Meir Shetreet confirmed the report in the Haaretz newspaper that the pullout is now no longer at the top of Mr Olmert's agenda. "It is my assessment the prime minister will not deal with this [the West Bank pullout] in the coming period, because it's really not on the agenda," Mr Shetreet said. "I cannot say that the prime minister has dropped the plan. I don't think he has reached such a conclusion." Our correspondent says there has been growing criticism of Israel's political and military leadership in recent days, with many Israelis are asking what was actually achieved in the weeks of fighting Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. The defence ministry has appointed a commission to investigate how the military campaign in Lebanon was conducted.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Opposition MPs undermine respect for Canadian law, says B’nai Brith Canada
TORONTO, August 21, 2006 – B’nai Brith Canada has challenged comments made by Canadian Opposition MPs on a so-called fact finding mission to Lebanon as “undermining respect for Canadian law”. The tour, organized by the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations, and featuring Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj, NDP MP Peggy Nash and Bloc Quebecois MP Maria Moureni, resulted in statements that blasted Israel and condoned relations with one of the terrorist groups prohibited under Canadian law.
“We have previously noted an alarming trend whereby elements within Canadian society are openly challenging Canadian law to express support for terror groups like Hezbollah that are banned in this country,” said Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President of B’nai Brith Canada. “Hearing a Member of Parliament openly support a terrorist entity raises even more troubling questions about whether certain politicians respect the most basic principles of Canadian law.
“We are encouraged that our Government recognizes that Hezbollah bears responsibility for the recent war in the Middle East, and should be condemned for the death and destruction caused in Lebanon and Israel. As Iran and Syria’s proxy, Hezbollah must not be rewarded for trying to further its stated aim of destroying the democratic State of Israel.
“We condemn the statements of Mr. Wrzesnewskyj, Ms. Nash and Ms. Mourani in the strongest terms, and call on Opposition Leaders Bill Graham, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe to publicly distance their parties from these sentiments. We ask them to join the principled stance of Prime Minister Harper and offer non-partisan opposition to the murderous agenda of Hezbollah and all other banned terrorist entities that threaten Canadians, Israelis, Lebanese, and other innocent civilians.”

France, 1701 and Lebanon
Abdullah Iskandar Al-Hayat - 21/08/06//
France's reluctance concerning its contribution to the UNIFIL in south Lebanon has stirred criticism and confusion in international circles, particularly after the major diplomatic role Paris had played in ending the Israeli military action in Lebanon. It had also played a role in drafting the international resolution that led to the cessation of hostilities and the deployment of the Lebanese army in the South. Interventions and calls, whether from Washington or the General Secretariat, did not lead to a change in the French stance that demands a more definitive task for UNIFIL, how it will operate, and how the contribution of the participating States would be balanced. In fact, Paris warned of the catastrophic consequences if there is no international obligation to these demands. In other words, France wants guarantees on the ground so the international forces, including French forces, do not turn into a target for a military action they would not be able to confront.
French and European reluctance still remains, in spite of the subsequent clarifications from the General Secretariat, which stemmed from the sense of urgency in forming effective UNIFIL elements in order to stabilize the fragile ceasefire.
The reason behind this reluctance is the French diplomatic role in the UN and other international meetings over the past months, particularly regarding the Iranian nuclear issue, and the assassination of PM Hariri and the insistence on internationally prosecuting the perpetrators, and the consequences of this to French-Syrian relations. The reason behind this reluctance as well is the French's bloody experience in Lebanon, particularly in the murder of its ambassador and embassy employees in Beirut, and the kidnapping of French journalists and citizens, and the massacre of its soldiers in a suicidal operation. In all these cases, France suspected that the perpetrators were Hezbollah's founders and that Syrian intelligence services facilitated these operations.
Paris saw the likelihood of this experience repeating itself in the Lebanese situation in light of the ambivalent readings of Resolution 1701; the ambivalent decisions of the Lebanese government concerning the dispatch of the army to the south, and Hezbollah's arms; and France's diplomatic role in both the Syrian and Iranian issues, which will be persistently on the agenda during the next two weeks. France's role has been criticized by Tehran, Damascus and their allies in Lebanon.
What is to be understood from this is that Paris is unwilling to risk the repetition of its previous experiences which cost it the blood of its soldiers in confrontations that do not relate to the defense of a direct national interest. This is a poignant issue, particularly because, domestically, France is heading toward a reckoning, represented in the presidential elections next year.
It is thought that President Chirac, who is personally interested in ending the Israeli assault on Lebanon and the continuation of the investigation into Hariri's assassination, does not want to declare a final French commitment soon regarding UNIFIL, even though he realizes that this procrastination gives negative, perhaps frustrating, implications. He is holding back any commitment, until the international delegation's task in Beirut is clear. The delegation will then go to Israel. Chirac will also wait for the results of Anan's expected visit.
In light of the results the UN Secretary General will reach, the direction the implementation of Resolution 1701 will take will be clear. If Anan is unable to get an instantaneous commitment from Israel to meet the Siniora government's demands to place the Shebaa Farms under international mandate and develop the mechanisms to begin serious discussions in the prisoners of war issue, and, at the same time, if there are no guarantees to keep Hezbollah out of the border area, the fragile temporary truce could end with another explosion. If this happens, no foreign government will risk putting its soldiers on the anvil.
It is obvious that the objective of peace and the leading role of the international force to help the Lebanese government make it sustainable will take time, according to Resolution 1701. This period is significant for those who are in a hurry to disarm Hezbollah and for others who are in a hurry to overthrow Siniora's government. The Resolution will become meaningless if its implementation leads to an internal confrontation, or a domestic political revolution.