LCCC ENGLISH
DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 19/07
Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 1,18-24. Now this
is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed
to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the
holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to
expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention
when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
"Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She
will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people
from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through
the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and
they shall name him Emmanuel, which means "God is with us." When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his
home
Releases.
Reports & Opinions
Lebanon: Targeted by the Axis of Evil-By Dr. Walid
Phares-December 18/07
Lebanon Heads Into 2008
with No President, Little Hope-AP-December
18/07
It will take more
than money to end the plight of the Palestinian people-The
Daily Star-December 18/07
Why we must not
take the pressure off Iran-By
David Miliband-December 18/07
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for December 18/07
Lebanon sentences two over Germany bomb plot-Reuters
Hamadeh Hits Back at Aoun-Naharnet
Assad
Reiterates Opposition's Demand for National Unity Government-Naharnet
Aoun Insists he is the Opposition's Negotiator, Warns of 'Long
Break-Naharnet
Aoun: No Negotiations with
Me, No Presidential Election-Naharnet
Hariri
for a President who can Reclaim Christian Power-Naharnet
Assad
Reiterates Opposition's Demand for National Unity Government-Naharnet
Lebanese Faces Trial for
Attempted Murder Over German Bombing Plot-Naharnet
International Community
Insists on No Delay in Presidential Election-Naharnet
Murr: Minor Obstacles
Remain-Naharnet
Rice: 'Election Should Go
on Without Delay-Naharnet
Jumblat Cautions: Void Encourages Terror-Naharnet
Geagea Challenges
Opposition-Naharnet
Hezbollah leader relieved of power, Arabic paper says By Abraham
...Washington
Times
Hezbollah denies reports its chief demoted by Iran-Hindu
Muslim cleric probed for Hezbollah support-Jewish
Telegraphic Agency
Lebanese leaders seek to salvage president vote-National
Post
Lebanon statement (Paris, 17
december 2007)-France Diplomatie (press release)
Berri puts off vote on president for ninth
time-Daily
Star
Saudi-owned newspapers flay Syrian vice
president over remarks on Lebanon-Daily
Star
Syrian daily accuses US of meddling in Lebanon-Daily
Star
Israeli intelligence doubts attack from Syria,
Hizbullah-AFP
Syrian Coast Guard fires on fishermen - report-Daily
Star
UNDP hosts workshop to
boost understanding of citizenship-Daily
Star
How the March 14 Forces lost ground at
Annapolis-Daily
Star
Washington Post correspondent to be resident
fellow at AUB institute-Daily
Star
UNIFIL chief lauds
South Korean troops for efforts to keep the peace in South-Daily
Star
Arab forum aims to study, combat climate
change-Daily
Star
Palestinians net whopping $7.4 billion at Paris
meet-Daily Star
Scientists say devastating
earthquake near Dead Sea is just a matter of time-AFP
Syria detains
leader of secular opposition group-AFP
Lebanon: Targeted by the Axis of Evil
By Dr. Walid Phares
FrontPageMagazine.com | Tuesday, December 18, 2007
While Petrodollars Propaganda showers networks in the Middle East, Europe and
North America to weaken democracies' resolve to confront the Iranian and Syrian
regimes and as "lobbies" in the West accelerate the campaign to break the
isolation of Damascus and Tehran, these two regimes turned against their
opposition in several attempts to crush them as long as the "window of
opportunity is open" according to insiders. The Khamenei and Assad regimes,
witnessing the Baker-Hamilton report causing confusion throughout the West and
taking advantage of the findings of the NIE rushed to clump down on what they
consider the real dangers emerging from the inside their countries.
Interestingly, and while the Iranian propaganda machine uses efficiently the Oil
generated revenues to place favorable stories in the international media and
impact think tanks around the world, Syrian Mukhabarat and Pasdaran operated
swiftly over the past few days to shut down dissident groups and youth
activities deemed "dangerous" -read too close to provoke political changes.
Syrian Mukhabarat arrest dissidents
According to news agencies and the reformist site Aafaq "Syrian security forces,
last Wednesday raided the home of Riad Seif and broke up a meeting of the
Secretariat of the “Damascus Declaration for National Democratic Change in
Syria.” Those who were present at the time of the raid were threatened with
arrest if they did not leave the house immediately. This was just two days after
the government launched a campaign of arrests across Syria sweeping up leading
members of the political opposition.
Among those present at the meeting, reports Aafaq and other dissident news
agencies, were: Dr. Fada’ Al-Hourani, President of the National Council of the
Damascus Declaration, Secretariat members Riad Seif and Riad Turk, Nawaf Al-Bashir,
Suleiman Al-Shammar, Walid Bunni (a detainee of the Damascus Spring), Ali
Al-Abdullah, Ismail Omar, and Abdul Ghani Ayyash, Amin Sheikh Abdi, Ghassan Al-Naggar,
Gabra’il Koreah, Abdul Karim Al-Dahhak, and Muwaffaq Nirbeh.
Syrian security services carried out a campaign of mass arrests on Sunday
evening and Monday that covered all Syrian "governorates", and arrested members
of the National Council of the Damascus Declaration, who held their convention
in Damascus last week. Most of the arrested have been released, but Akram Bunni,
Ahmad Tomeh and Jabar Shoufeh remain in custody. The Syrian Human Rights
Committee (SHRC) said today Sunday that the Amn al Dawla State Security in the
city of Hama has summoned Dr. Fida’a al-Horani, the president of Damascus
Declaration for National change this morning (Sunday 16/12/2007), she was
arrested the time she arrived at 11.00 a.m. and hurriedly moved to the
headquarters in Damascus. The SHRC immediately condemned this arrest and
requested the immediate release of Dr. Horani, and the release of her colleagues
Akram al-Bunni, Ahmad To’ma and Jabr al-Shoofi. According to Syrian opposition
sources the campaign aims at "breaking the backbone of the democratic
opposition, taking advantage of the American so-called dialogue with the Assad
regime. The latter," added the source "took advantage of the invitation to
Annapolis by the US to claim that a US-Syrian dialogue is underway. Hence under
the aegis of such perception, Bashar Assad instructed his Mukhabarat to hit the
iron while it is hot." Every time Western media talks about "talking with Syria"
the secret services comes to "talk" with us, said a dissident.
Pasdaran stikes at internet cafes
According to Reuters and other agencies, Iranian Police closed down 24 Internet
cafes over the past 24 hours and arrested 23 youth. The Police commander Nader
Sarkari said his troops burst in 435 cafes looking for anti revolutionary
elements. Iranian opposition sources said 11 young women were arrested. In
addition security forces searched 275 restaurants and closed down 17.
According to Iranian opposition sources the Pasdaran have been instructed by
Ahmedinijad to sweep the capital and other cities from the "potential threat of
growing pro democracy youth." In fact, the Internet cafes have become bases for
the "revolutionary anti Khomeinist youth" in he country. Thousands of high
school and college students meet in these locations and also communicate among
each other across the country. Per Iranian dissidents appearing in chat rooms in
cyberspace, a "real revolutionary force is mushrooming in Iran." They said "how
sad it is to see Western media and academics siding with the fascist regime in
Tehran as we are on the brink of a formidable uprising." Iranian young scholars
said in the chat rooms that "because of Internet we can read what these
journalists are writing in defense of the regime. What they don't know, is that
while they are covering up for the Ayatollah and their Petrodollars, we are
becoming the majority among the youth."
Last week a main Iranian opposition group, based in Iraq and Europe, the "People
Mujahidin" organized small demonstrations on several campuses in Tehran. The
group, known as MEK is still designed as Terrorist in the United States while
its status is now changing in Britain and other European countries. Tehran's
regime, designated as Terrorist by Washington, considers the MEK as terrorist.
This puzzling situation is due to the fact that pro Iranian pressure groups
consider the Mujahidin Khalq as a real threat to the regime and thus put
significant pressures internationally to keep the designation of the MEK as is.
"Axis" strikes at Lebanese Army
The Syro-Iranian move to crush their opposition using the "window of
opportunity" created by the NIE and the "talk-to-Syria-and-Iran" campaign in
Washington and Brussels, is not confined to these countries. This week, the
"axis" war room delivered a deadly blow tot he Lebanese Army, which is
considered by Hezbollah as the only native force capable of engaging its
militias at some point. The assassination of Brigadier General Francois Hajj is
increasingly perceived as a preemptive strike by the Pasdaran controlled
Hezbollah against a future commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces. Hajj was the
chief operation officer who planed and led the campaign to defeat Fatah al Islam
in Nahr al Bared. A growing opposition inside Lebanon is building against this
Iranian funded organization. In today's issue of the Kuwait Al Siyassa, several
Lebanese NGOs called on the UN to investigate with Hassan Nasrallah at the
Hague. "The only military force capable of perpetrating these terror acts, other
than the Lebanese Army and the UNIFIL is none than Hezbollah" said these groups
in al Siyassa.
As events are unfolding the two terror regimes of Iran and Syria are sprinting
to eliminate the democratic opposition rising inside their public and the Cedars
Revolution in Lebanon. They feel they can strike fast while the beltway debate
is still trying to figure out if the power elite in Tehran and Damascus can
become good partners in Peace and stability.
Rice: 'Election Should Go on Without Delay'
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said she discussed the presidential
crisis in Lebanon with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on the sidelines of a
donors' conference for the Palestinians in Paris.
"We've had a discussion of the Middle East, in particular the situation in
Lebanon and the desire that the Lebanese people will be allowed to have their
election so that they can elect a president. They appear to have a consensus
candidate. That election should go on without delay," she told reporters Monday.
Asked by An Nahar daily's correspondent for more details about her talks with
Sarkozy, Rice said: "The United States and France have been very active together
in trying to make very clear that the Lebanese people, and particularly the
democratically elected representatives of Lebanon, should be supported, not
thwarted, not stopped in their efforts to move forward to the election of a
president."
Her comments came the same day the presidential election was postponed for a
ninth time to December 22.
She described the string of assassinations that have shaken Lebanon since 2004,
including the killing last week of Brig. Gen. Francois el-Hajj, as "efforts to
intimidate the Lebanese people."
"There needs to be a constructive attitude by all of Lebanon's neighbors,
including Syria," Rice said.
In an interview with BBC Arabic in Paris the U.S. Secretary of State also
stressed that Lebanon should be a sovereign country.
"The Syrians have, for a long time, believed that they had a special right to
interfere in Lebanese affairs. Security Council resolutions have told them very
clearly that they do not, that Lebanon needs to be a sovereign state," she said.
"All responsible states should be engaged in helping the Lebanese" to elect a
successor to Emile Lahoud whose term ended on November 23, Rice added. Beirut,
18 Dec 07, 05:26
Jumblat Cautions: Void Encourages Terror
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat cautioned on Monday that
maintaining presidential void could encourage terror and called for electing a
new head of state as soon as possible."Void doesn't benefit anybody. On the contrary it could form an environment
friendly to terror and killing … so is it logical to maintain void pending a
political agreement? This is illogical," Jumblat wrote in an editorial to be
published Tuesday by his party's mouthpiece, al-Anbaa weekly.
Jumblat stressed that the Lebanese people are "required today, more than before,
to confirm their adherence to the state … in line with the Taif accord … that
protects the formula of power sharing."That was an apparent rejection by the PSP leader to alleged plans by the
Hizbullah-led opposition to topple the Taif accord and the half-Christian,
half-Muslim power sharing formula.
Jumblat said Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman is "a consensus candidate … he
carried out significant efforts in safeguarding stability, combating terrorism
at Nahr al-Bared, protecting the resistance and confronting Israel." Beirut, 17
Dec 07, 20:03
Hamadeh: Aoun's Negotiating Points in Assad's Pocket
Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh hit back at Gen. Michel Aoun,
accusing him of receiving orders from Syria.
"The negotiating points are in (Syrian President) Bashar Assad's pocket,"
Hamadeh said.
He was referring to a statement by Aoun in which he said that "the negotiating
points have been agreed upon and are in my pocket." "It's regrettable that Aoun
has received them from him (Assad)."
Beirut, 18 Dec 07, 08:47
Lebanese Faces Trial for Attempted Murder Over German Bombing Plot
A Lebanese man will go on trial in Germany Tuesday charged with attempted murder
over a botched bombing plot against commuter trains there.
The 23-year-old defendant, Youssef Mohammed al-Hajj Dib, is one of two men
prosecutors believe placed suitcases containing homemade explosives on two
trains as they passed through the western city of Cologne in July last year.
The devices failed to detonate, averting an almost certain bloodbath in what
German officials said was a bid to copy the train blasts in Madrid and London.
"A detonation would have in both cases led to a significant wave of pressure;
lighter fluid in the 'bomb trolleys' could have set off a fireball," prosecutors
said in the charge sheet.
Dib could face life in prison. He has maintained his silence in police
questioning.
A charge of belonging to a terrorist organization that was originally considered
against him was dropped because German investigators do not have a third suspect
in the case -- a requirement under the legal definition of a terror group.
The second suspect, fellow Lebanese national Jihad Hamad, has been on trial
since April in Beirut.
Hamad has told German television that they were seeking revenge for the
publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in European newspapers.
Prosecutors say they were also angered by the killing last year by the U.S.
military of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq.
The suspects were identified using footage from security cameras at the Cologne
rail station, which captured the image of two men placing heavy suitcases on
trains then leaving the station.
The defendants later flew to Istanbul then Damascus before crossing the border
into Lebanon.
Dib returned to Germany in August to resume his studies but was picked up by
police days later at the rail station in the northern city of Kiel thanks to a
tip provided to authorities by the Lebanese secret services.
Five days later, Hamad turned himself in to police in the northern Lebanese city
of Tripoli.
Authorities have warned that Islamic extremists have Germany in their sights,
noting that good luck and effective police work had only just thwarted a number
of attacks.
The latest involved three men arrested in September as they were allegedly
preparing to make bombs to launch "massive" attacks on the U.S. Ramstein airbase
and U.S. and Uzbek consulates. A fourth suspect was picked up in Turkey.
Prosecutors said the men were members of the Islamic Jihad Union, a group with
links to Al-Qaida which has its roots in Uzbekistan.(AFP) Beirut, 18 Dec 07,
10:33
Aoun: No Negotiations with Me, No Presidential Election
Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun has said he was indefinitely the
opposition's sole negotiator, adding that if the majority insisted on rejecting
dialogue with him, presidential election will not be held.
"I am the negotiator in the name of the opposition until further notice," Aoun
said Monday in an interview with Al-Manar station, New TV and OTV.
"If they don't want to negotiate with me that's their problem…but at the end the
final say rests with me. The negotiating points have been agreed upon and are in
my pocket," he added.
Last week, Aoun announced that the Hizbullah-led opposition has assigned him to
take part in political dialogue with the parliamentary majority based on a
written document.
He has so far refused to disclose details of the document.
"No one can decide on anything outside of the document's parameters…If there
were no negotiation here (Rabiyeh), there will be no elections in parliament,"
he warned.
He said he was the only one entitled to announce to the Lebanese people that
there will be no presidential elections if agreement was not reached.
"If we weren't able to reach an understanding now, I don't think we'll be able
to do so in two weeks or three or even one month or two. I think the issue has
become clear. Let's take a long break," until next March to elect a president,
he said.
When asked why the March 14 forces were insisting on not holding talks with him,
Aoun said: "because they want someone whom they could blackmail."
He also accused MP Saad Hariri of rejecting the election of a successor to Emile
Lahoud whose term ended on November 23.
"Saad Hariri and the pro-government (forces) don't want the election of (Army
Commander) Gen. (Michel) Suleiman. They are creating obstacles" so that the army
chief doesn't reach the top post," Aoun said.
Beirut, 18 Dec 07, 07:07
Assad Reiterates Opposition's Demand for National Unity Government
Syrian President Bashar Assad reiterated the opposition's demand for a national
unity government such as the opposition gets 13 seats in the cabinet while the
majority gets 17.
Assad's remarks were made during a telephone call to French President Nicolas
Sarkozy.
Opposition sources said the distribution of shares had been discussed during
negotiations conducted in Beirut last week by French Foreign Minister Bernard
Kouchner.
The London-based Al Hayat newspaper said it had obtained the text of the message
that was sent by MP Saad Hariri to Kouchner, who in turn, handed it over to
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
The message, according to al-Hayat, stipulates that parliamentary consultations
are mandatory after Gen. Michel Suleiman's election to facilitate formation of a
national unity government represented by the parliamentary blocs.
Telephone calls had reportedly been conducted on daily basis between French
presidential envoy Jean-Claude Gueant and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem,
with Gueant urging Damascus to exert pressure on the Lebanese opposition to
settle the presidential election issue before Monday's parliamentary session.
Sources said Gueant called Muallem on Monday, implying that "efforts are still
underway" in a bid to find an appropriate way out of the political crisis.
Beirut, 18 Dec 07, 10:57
Hariri for a President who can Reclaim Christian Power
MP Saad Hariri said postponement for the ninth time of a parliamentary session
to elect a new president for Lebanon is a clear indication that Syria is "trying
to prolong the presidential vacuum."
"What happened (at parliament) is a practical translation of Syrian Vice
President Farouk al-Sharaa's words on the political level."
Hariri said everybody in the Arab, Muslim and international world "knows that
the Syrian regime negotiates directly with international intermediaries on
behalf of March 8, representing a list of demands identical" to those presented
to the majority March 14 Forces.
He was surprised to hear again about the one-third veto power, a key demand by
the Hizbullah-led opposition.
"I'm astonished, Hariri said "… since everybody knows that our stance is
adherence to a president with a balanced voice, meaning that neither the
majority will enjoy a decisive two-thirds nor the opposition will have a
one-third veto power where as the president is the guarantor for all decisions."
"This is how we see, from our point of view, a president who can really be a
strong head of state with a reinforced authority which enables him to regain
Christian rights that have been wasted during the period of the (Syrian)
tutelage," Hariri said.
He believed that relinquishing the majority's two-third power and the
opposition's one-third veto authority "makes a consensus president a real
arbitrator in all national matters." Beirut, 18 Dec 07, 09:01
Lebanon Heads Into 2008 with No President, Little Hope
Lebanon heads into 2008 mired in a deep political crisis with no president and
no one powerful enough to stop a new string of assassinations.
The year was ending as it started, with the ruling majority and the Hizbullah-led
opposition locked in a standoff -- the country's worst political crisis since
the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
At the center of the crisis was the failure of lawmakers to elect a new
president to succeed Emile Lahoud, who stepped down on November 23 at the end of
his term with no elected successor.
"If 2006 was the year of war and confrontation (because of the Hizbullah war
with Israel), 2007 was the year of standoff and paralysis in Lebanon," Paul
Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center, told AFP.
As the year came to an end, the country was rocked by the assassination of a top
army officer, the first such attack against the military.
The car bombing that killed Brig. Gen. Francois El-Hajj, who had been tipped to
succeed presidential hopeful Gen. Michel Suleiman as the head of the army,
followed the murder of two anti-Syrian MPs.
The country also witnessed a 15-week battle between the army, with General Hajj
as its operational head, and Islamists at a Palestinian refugee camp.
And Beirut has spent the entire year with opposition supporters camped out in
the downtown and vowing to stay there until the government is replaced.
The year began with January riots by students loyal to the various feuding camps
that left seven dead and led to a brief curfew being imposed for the first time
since the end of the civil war.
The violence set the stage for an escalation in the political crisis, which had
erupted in November 2006 when the opposition pulled its ministers from Prime
Minister Fouad Saniora's government, demanding greater representation.
Although lawmakers have moved toward a deal to elect Suleiman, they remain at
odds on how to change the constitution to allow him to take the job and on the
makeup of the future cabinet.
Eight sessions to elect a president have already been postponed.
There is widespread belief that a ninth attempt will be postponed, possibly
until March, when parliament returns.
Meanwhile, the political assassinations that have haunted Lebanon since the 2005
murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri claimed two more victims beside General Hajj.
MPs Walid Eido and Antoine Ghanem were killed in car bombs in June and
September, in what many saw as attempts to chip away at the slim majority the
ruling coalition holds in parliament.
Syria has been accused of orchestrating the killings but has denied involvement.
France, Lebanon's former colonial power, spearheaded international efforts to
end the crisis, sending Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner seven times to nudge
the parties to agree.
In May, fighting broke out between the army and an Al-Qaida-inspired Sunni
Muslim group, Fatah al-Islam, in one of Lebanon's poverty-stricken Palestinian
refugee camps.
More than 400 people, including 168 soldiers, died during 15 weeks of battles
that sparked fears of violence in other camps that have become breeding grounds
for extremism.
In June, six U.N. peacekeepers were killed in a car bomb in the south of the
country, prompting concern the troops deployed to monitor peace along the
Lebanon-Israel border could be drawn into the crisis.
The United Nations beefed up its presence in the south after the devastating
2006 war between Hizbullah and Israel. The conflict was sparked by the abduction
of two Israeli soldiers by the militant Shiite group.
Although the fate of the two soldiers remains a mystery, 2007 saw the first
prisoner swap between Israel and Hizbullah in nearly four years.
In October, Israel handed over the remains of two Hizbullah militants and a
prisoner in exchange for the remains of a drowned Israeli citizen, whose body
had washed up on the Lebanese coast. The Jewish state also received information
on a missing airman.
On the economic front, the situation was bleak. Tourists are staying away from
Lebanon again and young professionals are leaving in droves for job offers in
Gulf countries or elsewhere.
The International Monetary Fund and the Moody's ratings agency, as well as
Lebanese financial institutions, have added to the pessimism by warning of a
further slide in an economy already crushed by 40.5 billion dollars of public
debt.
"It will be very difficult (for the economy) if the political vacuum leads to
instability and by mid-2008 the Lebanese will feel the crunch," said Francois
Bassil, president of the banks' association in Lebanon.
Carnegie's Salem said although there was not much to cheer about as the year
comes to a close, at least the situation was not worse.
"What is positive about the year is not great, but we did not go to war, we did
not come to blows, we did not descend into chaos," he said.
Lebanon now faces a choice, he added: begin with a new president and make a
fresh start or drag through another 12 months.
"Either before the holidays, we have a president and we're on a positive course
and things will go back to a fairly healthy situation, or we enter 2008
paralyzed, stalemated, limping."(AFP)
Beirut, 17 Dec 07, 13:51
Tueni Warns Opposition Against Constitutional Offensive
Lebanon's leading columnist, MP Ghassan Tueni, on Monday advised the Hizbullah-led
opposition to refrain from launching a "constitutional Nahr al-Bared" offensive,
because there is no chance of winning it.
Tueni's editorial was published by the daily An Nahar under the headline: "a
military presidency to confront a parliamentary Nahr al-Bared?""We advise the opposition to refrain from attempting to launch a constitutional
Nahr al-Bared, veiled in a new version of a war of liberation because there is
no chance of winning it, like the previous (such wars) haven't been won," Tueni
wrote.
"When democratic Lebanon becomes under international intensive care, there is no
room to seek what could be labeled constitutional terror because it will face …
the fate that other war had faced," he added.
Beirut, 17 Dec 07, 13:29
Murr: Minor Obstacles Remain
MP Michel Murr from Gen. Michel Aoun's Reform and Change Bloc has said that only
"minor obstacles" remain to achieving consensus between the feuding political
camps.
He said among these complications were agreement on the number of ministers each
party get in the new cabinet.
Murr uncovered that the majority has agreed to several points in Aoun's
initiative.
"There are several points in the initiative around which agreement has been
reached, among them are the new electoral law and the constitutional council,"
Murr said.
He said Aoun has agreed to drop two conditions after Parliament Speaker Nabih
Berri talked him into removing them.
Murr said these conditions were concerning the presidency and the duration of
the presidential term. Beirut, 18 Dec 07, 12:14
International Community Insists on No Delay in Presidential Election
Western and Arab countries, along with the United Nations and European Union,
have urged the Lebanese parliament to end a weeks-long political crisis by
electing a president "without any further delay."
"We share deep concern at the prolonged political crisis in Lebanon, we
reiterate our call for unconditional Lebanese presidential elections without any
further delay. In this regard, we urge that parliament be allowed to convene
immediately to fulfill its constitutional duties," said a statement signed
Monday by representatives of nine nations and the U.N., on the sidelines of a
donors' conference for the Palestinians in Paris.
They met under the auspices of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The call came as Lebanon's legislature delayed for a ninth time -- to next
Saturday -- the election of a new Lebanese head of state despite international
appeals to end the standoff between the parliamentary majority and the
opposition.
The signatories "strongly" condemned a string of political assassinations that
have shaken Lebanon since 2004, and called on unspecified "outside powers" --
taken to mean most notably Syria -- to respect Lebanon's constitution and
democratic institutions. "These acts of terror constitute a direct attack
against the symbols of Lebanon's sovereignty and institutions and are
unacceptable and morally repugnant," said the statement. It showed strong
support to Premier Fouad Saniora's government. "We support the legitimate,
democratically elected Lebanese government and the Lebanese armed forces in
their efforts to maintain the sovereignty and stability of Lebanon," it said.
The signatories also urged the full implementation of all U.N. Security Council
Resolutions on Lebanon, most notably 1559, 1680 and 1701. The statement was
signed by representatives from the European Union, United States, Egypt, France,
Italy, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Britain, the United Arab Emirates and the
U.N.(AFP-AP-Naharnet) (AP photo shows French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcoming
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Paris) Beirut, 18 Dec 07, 05:46
Lebanese Faces Trial for Attempted Murder Over German Bombing Plot
A Lebanese man will go on trial in Germany Tuesday charged with attempted murder
over a botched bombing plot against commuter trains there.
The 23-year-old defendant, Youssef Mohammed al-Hajj Dib, is one of two men
prosecutors believe placed suitcases containing homemade explosives on two
trains as they passed through the western city of Cologne in July last year. The
devices failed to detonate, averting an almost certain bloodbath in what German
officials said was a bid to copy the train blasts in Madrid and London. "A
detonation would have in both cases led to a significant wave of pressure;
lighter fluid in the 'bomb trolleys' could have set off a fireball," prosecutors
said in the charge sheet. Dib could face life in prison. He has maintained his
silence in police questioning.
A charge of belonging to a terrorist organization that was originally considered
against him was dropped because German investigators do not have a third suspect
in the case -- a requirement under the legal definition of a terror group. The
second suspect, fellow Lebanese national Jihad Hamad, has been on trial since
April in Beirut.
Hamad has told German television that they were seeking revenge for the
publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in European newspapers.
Prosecutors say they were also angered by the killing last year by the U.S.
military of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq.
The suspects were identified using footage from security cameras at the Cologne
rail station, which captured the image of two men placing heavy suitcases on
trains then leaving the station. The defendants later flew to Istanbul then
Damascus before crossing the border into Lebanon.
Dib returned to Germany in August to resume his studies but was picked up by
police days later at the rail station in the northern city of Kiel thanks to a
tip provided to authorities by the Lebanese secret services. Five days later,
Hamad turned himself in to police in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.
Authorities have warned that Islamic extremists have Germany in their sights,
noting that good luck and effective police work had only just thwarted a number
of attacks. The latest involved three men arrested in September as they were
allegedly preparing to make bombs to launch "massive" attacks on the U.S.
Ramstein airbase and U.S. and Uzbek consulates. A fourth suspect was picked up
in Turkey. Prosecutors said the men were members of the Islamic Jihad Union, a
group with links to Al-Qaida which has its roots in Uzbekistan.(AFP) Beirut, 18
Dec 07, 10:33