LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
JANUARY 18/2006

Below News from Nahernet for 18/1/06
Hizbullah-led Protesters Praise Iran, Syria and Iraqi Insurgents, Denounce U.S.
U.N. Concludes Questioning Round of Two Syrian Intelligence Officers in Vienna
Nasrallah: Jumblat Breached Hizbullah's Honor
S. Arabia Awaits Lebanese, Syrian Response to Proposed Plan
Government Adopts Measures Against Bird Flu Virus
Magistrate Issues Arrest Warrants Against 13 Qaida Suspects
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney Meets Saudi King, Egypt's Mubarak
Saudi Police Arrest 5 Suspected Qaida Militants in Riyadh Raid
Israeli Media: Sharon Opens Eyes for 1st Time Since Stroke
Ahmadinejad to Visit Syria Amid Mounting Pressure on Iran
International Donors Conference on Bird Flu in Beijing Pledges $Millions
Europeans Begin Work on Resolution to Refer Iran to Security Council
Iran Lifts Ban on CNN after Apology
Former U.S. President Gerald Ford Hospitalized for Pneumonia
Below news from the Daily Star for 18/1/06
Minister threatens to arrest 'every single hunter' in fight against bird flu
Thousands of students protest against U.S. interference
Rizk to take legal action against Fattoush over 'personal attacks
Saudis wait for reply to Syria-Lebanon peace plan
U.S. denies pressuring Lebanon to act against Hizbullah
Naameh residents urge Cabinet to remove PFLP-GC military base
UNRWA to cut refugee food rations: sources
Lebanon yet to address crucial reforms
Below news from miscellaneous sources for 18/1/06
After Sharon- By: Ariel Cohen-Washington Times 18.1.06
Mubarak receives Cheney for talks on Israel, Syria and Iraq-(dpa) 18.1.06
Assad may meet UN Commission-asianews 18.1.06
A Sustainable Lebanese Majority? By: Hazem Saghieh Al-Hayat - 18/01/06

Naameh residents urge Cabinet to remove PFLP-GC military base
By Mohammed Zaatari -Daily Star staff
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
SOUTH LEBANON: The municipal council of Naameh and Haret Naameh urged the Cabinet Tuesday to remove a Palestinian military base in the area. The request came after the council, mukhtars and citizens held a meeting to discuss a shooting in Naameh last week in which militants from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command shot and wounded two municipal workers outside the group's base on the outskirts of Beirut.
A statement issued following the meeting condemned the speeches made by Palestinians against "decent figures," and asked "all the political and civil authorities to continue denouncing the shooting." It added: "We ask the Cabinet to implement the decision it has made to remove this military base, which represents a source of tension and unrest in the region." The meeting's participants also formed a committee to follow-up on last week's violence.
Separately, MP Azzam Dandashi met with a Palestinian delegation from the Beddawi and Nahr al-Bared refugee camps. Speaking after the talks, Dandashi said Palestinian weapons should only be used to serve the Palestinian cause.
He also wondered about "the reasons behind the presence of weapons outside the camps and their use against those who have always stood by the Palestinian cause."
According to the MP, the government is cooperating with the Palestinian Authority to find a solution to the problems facing the refugees. Meanwhile, several political groups in Sidon said they feared a return of violence in Taamir, a neighborhood of the city's suburbs near the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp.
The groups were concerned Taamir could be used as a platform to launch "a plan against Lebanon," particularly as violent clashes broke out in the area only two months ago between militants from the Jund ash-Sham faction and local residents. The clashes caused extensive damage and injured dozens of people.
Despite calls for a deployment of the army and security forces, the area still suffers from a noticeable security vacuum.
The groups said their fears have only increased as armed militants from Jund as-Sham now patrol the area at night. Claims have also been made that militants have threatened families of those who participated in the clashes.
Sources close to Sidon MP Osama Saad said the deputy was concerned about the area's security. The sources added that Saad was holding discussions with Palestinian and Lebanese officials to ease tensions. In a related development, the president of Lebanon's delegation to the Palestinian-Lebanese joint committee, former Ambassador Khalil Makkawi, said the presence of weapons outside of the camps "harms the Palestinians more than the Lebanese."

U.S. denies pressuring Lebanon to act against Hizbullah
By Adnan El-Ghoul -Daily Star staff
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
BEIRUT: The U.S. Embassy vehemently denied on Tuesday a local report attributing statements to U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman that his country's support for Lebanon depends on whether the government takes action against Hizbullah. In a media notice, the embassy denied the report, saying: "The embassy of the U.S.A. was shocked to see the headline and front-page story in the As-Safir newspaper."The embassy said the quotes attributed to Feltman have "no basis in fact and do not reflect either the ambassador's views or the policies of the U.S. government.""By inventing such a story, As-Safir clearly hopes to provoke increased tensions in Lebanon, at a time when responsible people are looking for ways to lower tension," the notice read.The embassy further said that "while others from outside Lebanon continue their efforts to impose their choices for various high-level officials onto Lebanon, the U.S. believes strongly that only the Lebanese should choose their Cabinet ministers."
Meanwhile, separate meetings continue to be held between Lebanon's political leaders, both on land and in the air, as Speaker Nabih Berri and Premier Fouad Siniora shared the same flights to Dubai and Kuwait. A statement from the premier's office said Siniora took the opportunity to discuss, with Hizbullah MP Mohammad Raad and the speaker, the government crisis.
The premier "clarified and explained his position to the gathering and discussed with them several inaccurate reports that emerged in the press," according to the statement.
Sources close to Berri say he advocates the participation of all political groups and figures in the dialogue, including those not currently represented in Parliament such as former premiers Omar Karami and Salim Hoss, and former MPs Suleiman Franjieh and Talal Arslan. A delegation from Berri's Amal Movement also met Tuesday with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun in Rabieh.
Following the meeting, Amal MP Khalil Ali Khalil said forming a new Cabinet was not a priority and offered support for any "feasible formula" that would lead to a national unity government. "Aoun informed us of his views regarding the political situation in general and the current government crisis in particular," he added. "We explored together the ways to get the country out of this impasse."
Khalil also blamed recent comments by Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt for hampering efforts to find a solution to the government crisis, noting that "apart from Jumblatt, no other party voiced such criticism of the arms of the resistance."
Asked about Aoun's call for a new national Cabinet, as opposed to continuing efforts to restore the present government, Khalil said: "We support any suggestion that would enhance Lebanon's stability and the unity of its people."
In other meetings, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea met with MP Antoine Andraous after the latter returned from meeting with MP Saad Hariri in Paris. "Geagea is a valuable ally who has come out of a prolonged affliction intact," Andraous said. "We admire his deep understanding of Lebanon's problems. The Syrians left many mines behind them before they finally left the country, some of which are currently exploding in the face of our efforts to advance Lebanon's sovereignty," he said.
Andraous added that while he is not against liberating the Shebaa Farms, the decision of war and peace must be made by the Cabinet. Elsewhere, Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General Sheik Naim Qassem met with the leaders of Al-Jamaa al-Islamiyya to relay the resistance's reasons for boycotting the Cabinet sessions and the ongoing talks over Hizbullah's weapons. Qassem reiterated that the boycotting ministers will not resign from Cabinet, but will wait for the government's response to their demands before returning to work. However, the Future Movement and its allies in the parliamentary majority insist on respecting the Taif Accord and refuse to alter the government's policy statement.
"After discussing the Cabinet crisis and other pressing issues, we agreed on the need to defend Lebanon and its resistance movement against Israeli aggressions and eliminate all inflammatory campaigns for the sake of preventing any sectarian strife, especially between Shiites and Sunnis," Qassem said of his talks with Al-Jamaa al-Islamiyya's leadership.Asked how Hizbullah would deal with MP Walid Jumblatt, Qassem said: "We have stated on several occasions that we will cut the hand that tries to confiscate our arms. However, this applies to Israel and the states of world hegemony and not to internal critics and fellow citizens. We would never use arms to solve internal conflicts."Al-Jamaa al-Islamiyya official Ibrahim al-Masri said: "We reaffirmed our support for the resistance, but we appealed to Hizbullah and Amal to end their boycott because the crisis has begun to look sectarian-based."

Thousands of students protest against U.S. interference
youths waving lebanese flags march on embassy demanding america 'stop promoting another civil war'
By Majdoline Hatoum -Daily Star staff
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
BEIRUT: Thousands of Lebanese students marched toward the U.S. Embassy in Awkar, protesting American interference in Lebanon and rejecting "any attempts to place the country under American tutorship." Hundreds of riot police blocked the road leading to the embassy, north of Beirut, with barbed wire, and stopped the crowds from getting too close to the embassy's complex, which was several hundred meters ahead. "America keep your hands off Lebanon and stop promoting another civil war," demonstrators chanted as they held anti-American posters labeling U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman "a recipe for war" in Lebanon, and slamming the "blatant American interference" in the country's politics.
The demonstration, organized by members of the "Lebanese student forces lobbying against American interference in Lebanon", mainly witnessed the participation of Hizbullah and Amal members, in addition to the Lebanese Democratic Party, former Minister Suleiman Franjieh's Marada party, the people's movement, Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, and the Popular Nasserites Organization.
Tuesday's demonstration remained peaceful, unlike an anti-American protest in downtown Beirut last Saturday, which turned violent after riot police used tear-gas and water against demonstrators led by students from Hizbullah.
Students, who held Lebanese flags under the pouring rain Tuesday, were urged by organizers of the protest to respect security forces members, and to only repeat slogans targeting the American intervention in Lebanon.
"These houses surrounding us here - in Awkar - are like our own. Security forces members standing before us are our brothers, so don't allow yourself to be drawn into any sort of violence with them," a statement urged the students.
In reference to the current political rift with the country's anti-Syrian majority over a number of issues, the statement added: "No matter how much we disagree, we are all Lebanese. Our destiny is one and our country is one."
But talking to the crowd, former MP Zaher Khatib said Lebanon refused interference by U.S. and Israeli intelligence agents in its internal affairs.
Instead he said: "Lebanon is strong with Syria, it is strong with Iran, with Hamas, Jihad and the Iraqi resistance."
"We refuse their security interferences ... we refuse FBI members walking among us and [Israeli] Mossad trying to shake our national accord and pulling us back to a long departed civil war where sects fight against each other," Khatib said.
He also criticized UN Resolution 1559, which calls - among other things - for the disarmament of Hizbullah and Palestinian factions in Lebanon.
"The resistance is not 'Hizbullah' and 'Amal' anymore, it is all of us. We tell the Americans, who is thinking about disarming the resistance, anyone who thinks about this will be faced with a [harsh reaction] from our youth and our people," Khatib added. In an allusion to the pro-Syrian color of the demonstrators, Khatib said: "Lebanon will stay ... strong with its youth, strong with its people, strong with Syria and strong with Iran." Despite assertions by organizers that the demonstration was only targeted against U.S. intervention, it came out as a strong message of support from the country's pro-Syrian forces for Syria and Iran.
"We refuse this blatant American interference in our internal affairs," Tamer Hassan, an Amal member said as heavy rain poured down on the crowd, which held only Lebanese flags in response to a request by the demonstration's organizing committee."It does not matter if they [U.S. officials] deny interference in Lebanese affairs, how else can you explain the ongoing visits by Feltman to our politicians? We don't see any other ambassadors doing what he does," Hassan said.
And as the demonstration was going on in Awkar, other supporting protests took place in different student faculties around Lebanon, including one in Zahle and another in Tripoli.Talking to protesters at the Lebanese university in Zahle, Hizbullah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan called on Lebanese students to be ready to defend Lebanon when the situation requires it. "Lebanon will not lose as long as it enjoys the support of its youth and students," he said.

Minister threatens to arrest 'every single hunter' in fight against bird flu
By Rym Ghazal -Daily Star staff
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
BEIRUT: The Agriculture Ministry vowed Tuesday to have "every single bird hunter arrested" as part of its efforts to try to prevent the spread of bird flu to Lebanon. "We are taking all the necessary precautions," Agriculture Minister Talal Sahili told reporters after a series of meetings with the heads of municipalities, police and military officials, as well as with local agricultural and health associations. "However, this campaign needs the cooperation of the entire public," he added.
"Direct contact with an infected bird is the only way the virus is transmitted and so we have ordered that farmers - and anyone with domesticated birds - keep them isolated and in cages away from migratory and other free-flying birds," said Sahili.
Although avian influenza viruses are mainly species-specific, they have recently and in a comparatively few cases crossed the species barrier to infect humans. Fifteen people in Turkey have been infected and three children have died.
Sahili singled out the bird hunters who "are putting the whole country at a risk." He urged them to stick to the hunting ban imposed by the government as a means of avoiding contact with infected birds and the subsequent spread of the virus.
The minister said Lebanon had in stock enough vaccine to treat around 5,000 people if bird flu was suspected.
Along with the list of precautionary steps such as cooking chicken at a temperature of at least 70 degrees Celsius and taking extra care in matters of hygiene, the ministry has set up a committee whose sole responsibilities are to monitor any developments that might affect Lebanon and to test samples from dead birds.
"We will arrest every single bird hunter that is caught hunting," said Fadallah Monayer, the head of the ministry's bird flu committee.
"While we respect the right to hunt, now is a very critical time," said Monayer, who has been working overtime at the ministry taking "panic calls" from the public. "The ban needs to be respected and citizens need to act responsibly," he added. "I get a call and a report on every single bird that dies in Lebanon," Monayer told The Daily Star. In response to reports of the slaughter of chickens in North Syria suspected of being infected and other reports of infected birds in the North of Lebanon, the ministry said: "There are no cases of bird flu in the country up to the present and people shouldn't panic. They should stick to the precautions and keep birds isolated."The Mayor of Tripoli, Mohammad Rashid Jamali, also announced Tuesday a list of preventative measures drawn up after an agreement between the chairman of the municipal council's health committee, Azzam Shehal and representatives of the city's poultry sector. They consist of slaughtering and plucking chickens under supervision and only in the appropriate facilities between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. starting February 1 and completely banning these activities in markets across Tripoli starting April 1.Poultry markets that do not abide by the new conditions will be penalized, said Jamali, adding that live poultry throughout the city will be seized and destroyed if any case of bird flu is reported.
Jamali added that pigeons found flying freely will be slaughtered, as "a warning" to those with domesticated pigeons to keep them in cages. Tripoli's municipality and the Committee to Fight Bird Flu will meet Wednesday at the Tripoli Serail to discuss any further measures needed. Municipalities in the Akkar area of Jouma also circulated Tuesday a list of precautionary measures, including a ban on the hunting of all types of birds, isolating domestic chicken in cages, avoiding contact with birds thought to be displaying symptoms of the virus and informing the Agriculture Ministry or the municipality immediately of any suspicious circumstances. The current outbreaks of bird flu, which began in South-East Asia in mid-2003, are the largest and most severe on record. At least 77 people in East and Southeast Asia have died since the virus first surfaced, the World Health Organization said.

Rizk to take legal action against Fattoush over 'personal attacks'
Daily Star staff-Wednesday, January 18, 2006
BEIRUT: Justice Minister Charles Rizk said Tuesday he will file a liability lawsuit against MP Nicolas Fattoush, adding he was "ready to file consecutive lawsuits" if the MP continued his personal attacks against the minister and the judiciary.
Rizk said he would take legal action "until the amount of the indemnity ordered by the court equals the compensation he is asking for from the government."
The justice minister's statement came in response to comments made by Fattoush during a news conference in front of Parliament on Monday. A public argument has been waging between the two officials for years over a government closure of a sand-and-rock quarry owned by the Fattoush family. Fattoush is seeking $200 million in compensation for the closure.
A 1999 decision by the Shura Council demanded the government pay compensation for the closure of the quarry. However, the government has appealed the decision on the grounds the Treasury "should be protected considering the deteriorating economic situation," Rizk said Sunday. During Monday's news conference, Fattoush had said: "Rizk's campaign seems more like a vendetta and was launched in cooperation with MP Elias Skaff."
He added the legal campaign against him was "political par excellence and will not prevail on my clear political views."
"The purpose of this campaign is to hold a public prosecution through the media institutions, in particular the misleading ones which want to harm my political reputation," he said. The MP further claimed media outlets had tampered with a statement made by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in which the premier stressed his keenness for judicial independence and said he would ask Rizk to inform him of a recent request to remove Fattoush's immunity. Fattoush said Rizk had "a degree in lying and misleading." "The request to remove my immunity was sent to Parliament in 2004 and was canceled when Parliament's term ended." Rizk said he had referred a request to remove Fattoush's parliamentary immunity to the parliamentary council Friday, "because he threatened some magistrates and their families with death and threatened the judicial body." - The Daily Star

Saudis wait for reply to Syria-Lebanon peace plan
Compiled by Daily Star staff -Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Saudi Arabia has presented Lebanon and Syria with a set of proposals designed to defuse tension between the two countries, according to a report in the Financial Times Tuesday. The report quoted Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, as saying the kingdom had found a set of general principles for an agreement, but was waiting for a response from Beirut and Damascus, where details would have to be worked out.
"Now it's in the hands of both countries and they will let us know," he said. The report added that Prince Saud made clear the kingdom was not seeking a compromise on the UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. The probe has already implicated high-level Syrian officials in the murder. "This [initiative] has nothing to do with the investigation. We are as anxious as anyone to find out who the perpetrators are and we want them to be found quickly," he said. Without directly commenting on UN demands to interview Syrian President Bashar Assad, Prince Saud said Saudi Arabia had urged Syria to co-operate with the UN probe "without reservations."
Arab press reports have cited a seven-point plan, worked out by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, that includes putting an end to media campaigns, cutting out provocative statements by politicians, exchanging diplomatic representation and coordinating foreign policy. Prince Saud said the priority for Saudi Arabia was to prevent more chaos in the region. "We have enough problems as it is," he said. "It's about time
we resolved the ones we have - Palestine, Iraq - instead of establishing more." As for the Egyptian role in the mediation, Mustafa al-Faki, head of the foreign affairs committee of the Egyptian Parliament, said Egypt was seeking to "protect Syria and preserve Lebanon." He said the two countries were under serious threat.
Quoted by Lebanese local daily As-Safir Tuesday, Faki said "Egypt expects positive and responsible Syrian conduct" with respect to the investigation. He added that Egypt was coordinating the mediation efforts with both France and the United States. Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah called on Arab leaders to mediate between Lebanon and Syria, in an interview with Al-Hayat daily to be published Wednesday. MP Atef Majdalani said the Future Movement supported any Arab initiative that would ease tension between Lebanon and Syria. But the MP added that any agreement with Syria would have to include four points: border demarcation between the two countries, the establishment of diplomatic representation, the release of Lebanese prisoners from Syrian jails and total cooperation with the UN investigation. Majdalani said he believed Saudi Arabia was "sincerely concerned about Lebanon's stability," adding he did not think the Saudis were trying to interfere to reduce pressure on Syria. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged caution in dealing with the standoff between Syria and Lebanon and warned the international community against using the probe as an instrument for achieving political goals. "Sanctions are unlikely to prove an effective way to solve these or other problems," Lavrov was quoted as saying Tuesday. He added that Russia encouraged Syria to cooperate with the UN commission.
Meanwhile, in an interview with the British Daily Telegraph published Monday, MP Walid Jumblatt said that under Syrian rule, "tens of thousands of people were imprisoned. Intellectuals and politicians from Syria, from Lebanon, from Palestine were killed, executed." "The whole of Lebanon is on the death list, not only me," the Druze leader said. "The only way to topple this guy [Assad] is to try him like [former Yugoslav President, Slobodan] Milosevic," Jumblatt said. He urged the Syrian opposition to seek Western support to help topple the regime.
*Agencies, additional reporting by Raed el-Rafei

Lebanon yet to address crucial reforms
World bank's country assistance strategy grasps need for unique solution
By Meris Lutz -Special to The Daily Star
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
BEIRUT: The World Bank's Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Lebanon leaves no room for doubt that the country is in need of serious economic reform. Public debt is 171 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, the highest ratio in the world. Unemployment among young people is twice that of the rest of the population, causing many young, skilled Lebanese to emigrate. Natural resources are being mined at an unsustainable rate. State-owned basic utilities are costly and unreliable. Less than a third of the money allocated for social welfare reaches the public. But this CAS differs from previous analyses; it contains evidence that the World Bank finally understands that Lebanon faces unique problems, which will require a unique, Lebanese solution. On page 13 of the report, under a section entitled "Lessons learned from the previous CAS and looking forward," the Bank makes the following revelation:
"The complexity of the political environment for decision-making in Lebanon should not be underestimated. The Bank, like other donors, has often made the erroneous assumption that simply because a piece of policy reform is in the national interest of Lebanon it will be implemented."
"Lessons Learned"
In 2002 the Lebanese government presented the Paris II Reform Plan to the World Bank and other donors, which included a strategy for increasing the primary surplus account, restructuring the debt and privatizing major state-owned enterprises and using the proceeds to reduce the debt.
While the debt was successfully restructured, the other reforms "proved too ambitious in the face of Lebanon's weak institutional capacities and diffusion of decision-making power," and over a billion dollars in aid money remains unspent. The government's failure to complete the reforms promised in Paris II has made the World Bank and other donors both warier of Lebanon and more sensitive to its unique distribution of power, which makes consensus-building difficult. "Everybody should learn from Paris II - the government, Parliament and also the different political actors in Lebanon," said Finance Minister Jihad Azour, "to see what is the cost of not achieving reforms on time and what is the cost of not getting the support when needed."
The loan outlined in the new CAS could provide Lebanon with up to $700 million, but this time the size of the loan depends on "specific demonstration of commitment to and implementation of critical structural reforms."
The prerequisites for lending are a primary surplus of at least 8 percent, the disbursement of remaining World Bank funds and effectiveness delays of no more than nine months. If any of the above requirements are not met by certain deadlines, loaning will cease. Although the Bank acknowledges "the root of Lebanon's pressing challenges lies in its governance," it is reluctant to overstep its authority as a financial institution by advocating specific political changes.
When contacted by The Daily Star, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's spokesperson said he "could not comment on what reforms the government was undertaking" in light of the new CAS. "We are talking about structural reforms which include revision of the budget, civil service reform, procurement reform, pension reform", said Sebastian Dessus, a senior economist at the World Bank in Lebanon. "The constitutional system might influence the speed of these reforms but that doesn't mean we recommend a change in the system."Dessus said that the CAS is written to advise the World Bank, not the government, but that the World Bank does make specific recommendations in separate reports.
Two reports, the Country Financial Accountability Statement and Public Expenditure Review, have recently been submitted to the government but have not been made public. "They [the government] published the CAS, which is very good," he said. "I think they will do the same for the reports, it would be very good for transparency."Azour also recognized the direct link between institutional reform and economic development, but insisted that the government is taking action.
"The CAS is based on what the government has set as priorities and the government has started implementing them," he said.
"Deja Vu"
But many analysts are skeptical that Lebanese politicians will carry through with any new reforms. "As economists, we feel like this is deja vu, like 'we are talking about reform again?'" said Sami Atallah, an economist at the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies. Atallah also pointed out that certain reforms, like privatization of utilities, require strong market institutions and functioning regulatory bodies, which historically Lebanese officials have been unable to agree upon. "When politicians talk about privatization, if they can't gain from it they want to block it, if they can't block it they want to appoint the regulatory committee," he said. Azoura said the government is in the process of hiring qualified members of a regulatory body using a system based on international standards that is new to Lebanon. "There has been a delay but this is the first time we are recruiting in this way," he said. "The important thing is that the process of recruiting is not based on politics and political connections." But for Atallah, real change cannot come unless a new electoral process is introduced to "break the monopoly of power."Co-executive of the Lebanese Transparency Association Dr. Khalil Gebara agrees that none of the World Bank's economic goals for the country can be met until politicians are made more accountable to voters.
"I don't believe they [the government] can deliver all the promises they have made," he said, referring to the new loan. "This is a political elite that shifts from America to Syria and vice-versa, no one knows where they are taking us, they are not accountable to their work ... they don't care what the masses believe," Gebara said. "I want a politician that knows these actions will affect the possibility of re-election."
Gebara's association is currently lobbying for a new, proportional electoral system that would make politicians more accountable to their constituency and reduce the ability of big-time politicians to ensure the win of everyone on their list. Gebara said a national commission to draft a new electoral law for Lebanon has been working since August and is scheduled to present their work to Parliament in a few weeks. The new system would retain the current confessional system but introduce reforms for campaign financing, media regulation and voting districts.
Azour said he valued electoral reform as long as it did not undermine basic democratic values and that he thought it is "being done in the right way." "Frankly there is a strong connection between the reform of institutions and reforming the economy but I don't see a direct link with the electoral commission," he said. "Sometimes this is the easy way to answer-to link generalities to each other."Azour said that although the confessional system contains flaws, which need to be fixed, Lebanon is still a freer society than most in the region. "The fact that the CAS study is being done is evidence of freedom," he said. "In many Arab countries this is not happening, you cannot discuss it.""This is the first time the strategy has been published and debated like this, and it is very important for the government that this debate it taking place."

Mubarak receives Cheney for talks on Israel, Syria and Iraq
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)
01/17/2006
Cairo (dpa) - Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak received US Vice- President Dick Cheney Tuesday in Cairo for talks that an Egyptian spokesman said focused on regional issues including matters pertaining to Israel, Syria and Iraq.
On Israel, the pair discussed the health of Ariel Sharon, and the upcoming Palestinian and Israeli elections, said presidential spokesman Solieman Awwad. Neither Mubarak nor Cheney gave statements following their meeting which replaces postponed visits to Egypt and Saudi Arabia that were to have been part of a regional tour in December 2005.
Discussions on Syria focused on how to ensure its continued cooperation with the United Nations investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri in a manner that "preserves Syria's dignity," Awwad said.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said earlier this month that he refused to be questioned by the UN investigation.
Cheney's tour comes as Mubarak and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah have stepped up their efforts to ease tensions between Syria and Lebanon which they have grown since Hariri's assassination in February 2005.
Cheney and Mubarak discussed the Iraqi National Accord Conference, which is to bring together representatives of Iraq's diverse ethnic and religious-based political forces in Iraq in late February. The pair did not discuss the dispatching of Arab forces to Iraq, Solieman said. Recent reports in the Arab media had speculated that the US wants its Arab allies to send forces to Iraq to ease the withdrawal of its own troops.
Cheney was scheduled to conduct talks in Saudi Arabia with King Abdullah later Tuesday.
According to al-Arabiya satellite television channel, he was also to visit Kuwait Tuesday to offer condolences to the ruling family on the death of Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah. Members of the Youth for Change opposition group held a small demonstration outside a court in central Cairo to protest Cheney's visit and condemned what they called US regional intervention. Protestors held signs that said "No to Cheney's Visit" and "No to American 'Interference'" and shouted slogans criticizing the US for its involvement in Iraq. **Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH

Syrian Journalists Union Denounces attempts to defame Lebanese Resistance
Tuesday, January 17, 2006 - 03:05 PM
Damascus (SANA)-
The Syrian Journalists Union strongly denounced U.S. pressures on Syria and attempts to use its lackeys in the region to defame the Lebanese resistance which defeated Zionist enemy and consolidated the Arab Nation’s values of rejecting to surrender.The Union, in a statement issued by the Union’s Executive Bureau in Damascus Tuesday, said failure of the U.S. to carry out its plots in the region and backing away of its popularity in the urged it to use its agents in the region to provoke sectarian seditions.The statement described those who attacked Lebanese resistance and its arms as dwarfs who seek in vain to slander the values of steadfastness and struggle. It also condemned attempts those who put themselves in the service of U.S. plots and involved themselves in suspicious conspiracies against Syria, saying that such persons advocate American intervention in the region and reject, even indirectly, to held Israel responsible for the assassinations and crimes in Lebanon.
The statement asserted determination o the Arab people to continue struggle until the liberation of all occupied Arab territories in the Golan, Palestine and South Lebanon.

Assad may meet UN Commission
by Jihad Issa - 17 January, 2006
The rumour spread throughout Damascus after the interrogation of two men who were secret service heads during the occupation of Lebanon; this may be the start of a new attitude of collaboration.
Damascus (AsiaNews) – Syria’s president, Bashar al Assad, could accept to meet the UN Commission inquiring into the murder of the ex Lebanese premier, Rafic Hariri, as long as Syrian sovereignty is safeguarded. This is the rumour spreading through Damascus, which is now waking up to the necessity of collaborating with the UN Commission. The realization has dawned more and more with the return of two former heads of the secret services in Lebanon during the Syrian occupation of the country of the cedars, General Roustom Ghazali and Colonel Samih El Kaschaami. They were interrogated yesterday, Monday, in Vienna for the second time.
Even if no information has been given about a date for the meeting and Syrian diplomatic sources quoted by a Lebanese daily, L’Orient le Jour, talked about “a matter of pure formality”, the interrogation is being viewed together with the latest statements of the former president Khaddam, who accused the Syrian regime of being responsible for the “crime of the century”.
A well-informed news source which is very close to the Assad regime told the AsiaNews correspondent that the “shift in the Syrian position with regard to the UN Commission” followed the appointment of the Belgian judge Serge Brammerts as head of the Commission, after Detlev Mehlis, the German judge, stepped down. Mehlis had been accused by Syrians of “manipulating the situation”. At first, the government ruled out the possibility of interrogation.
On the diplomatic front, pressure on Syria came from Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The Foreign Affairs Minister in Riyad, Prince Saud al-Faisal, in an interview with today’s Financial Times revealed that he had submitted a plan to Lebanon and Syria to “diffuse tension” between the two countries and was waiting for a response.
According to the Syrian source, “Syria’s new strategic line of collaboration with the UN Commission of Inquiry is based on the principle of cooperation, on condition that the sovereignty and peace of Syria be spared.” The aim is to “seek a fitting and just way to sign a protocol of reciprocal respect with the Syrian Commission, set up for this purpose, and renewed on Tuesday with the appointment of the former Justice Minister, Nabil Khatib”. In Damascus, importance is being attached to the conduct of the UN Commission, which accepted to change the headquarters of the inquiry, accepting Vienna after the Syrian refusal of the initially proposed Beirut. In Syria, there is also talk of the “removal” of Mehlis, an alleged UN decision which was greeted positively.
Today’s Syrian press once again directed an appeal to “free citizens” to contribute to covering costs of Syria’s collaboration with the UN. A fund called “Cash in solidarity for the dignity of your country” has been set up, and many Syrian émigrés have started to contribute to support the Syrian currency after its decline owing to the economic crisis which has afflicted the country for many months now.

A Sustainable Lebanese Majority?
Hazem Saghieh Al-Hayat - 17/01/06//
The majority of the Lebanese, represented in the community of March 14, can steer the situation in their favor, even though inappropriate global or regional winds may blow now and then. The only way to carry out its move should be, first and foremost, by remaining a majority.
In its action rationale, it emulates - or should emulate- the front line modus operandi requiring from each member to control his ceiling and adapt it to a middle average accepted by other parties. Such a mature behavior is not rare, since we can detect it in most of what emanated, and is emanating, from Lebanese leaders such as Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the leader of the "Lebanese Forces" Samir Geagea. Since the former designed his cabinet and the latter was released from prison, their behavior has been wise and rational, taking into consideration the other allies, their interests and aspirations. But the stability of such an approach is still jeopardized by an obstacle represented by two other main poles in March 14, the leader of "the Progressive Socialist Party" and the leader of "the Free National Bloc".
It is true that this obstacle has been partially overcome over the past two weeks. However, overcoming truly, convincingly, and reassuringly this obstacle requires from Walid Jumblatt and Michel Aoun a further degree of aloofness and transcending. Neither the personal - including the moody - nor the sectarian, especially at this time, should have priority over the national. This is not preaching, since it is a fact based on two realities. One of them is that the national, in its Lebanese definition, has to take into consideration the personal and the sectarian. The second is that the Lebanese nationalism today is not a stance and opinion but a mass preemption of a mass demise.
To be more honest, let's say that what Michel Aoun may undertake now shall determine, or subvert, his eligibility to reach the Presidency of the Republic. The same applies to Walid Jumblatt and his passage from the leadership of the sect, to the leadership of the mountain, to the national leadership. Without reproving what both have offered to the independence issue, each in his own way, it remains that the mentioned issue is still half way and it will be difficult to judge its symbols until it reaches the end of the tunnel.
Even though one of the signs of our retardation, socially and politically, is expressed by the fact that we lack a public opinion making pressures on politicians, whether in the country at large or within each sects, yet we are facing massive challenges, be it in the form of assassinations and bombings, "al Qaeda's" extension to Lebanon, land or sea weapon smuggling, the proliferation of weapons blooming inside and outside the camps, or, last but not least, the remnants of the vanished authority and its president who is still able of curtailing and hampering. The challenge that is further becoming, one day after the other, central and prevailing is the Iranian, who seeks to link Lebanon to issues, totally unrelated to its quintessence. Indeed, the logical outcome of the behavior adopted by the ruling group in Tehran is to involve the entire region in a chain of terror, wherein Lebanon would be the most floppy and vulnerable loop. Thus, instead of preparing for the gradual pullout from fading and vanishing confrontations, it implicates the Lebanese in an escalating dangerous confrontation, where neither Michel Aoun nor Walid Jumblat would find a place for their sensitivities and ambitions.
Needless to say, the only weapon the Lebanese have is to maintain their Majority as a majority, and make it sustainable. Achieving the latter does not only contribute to curtailing the challenges but paves the way for a broader success liable to be relied on to attract "many" hesitant or complaining Shiites voices. The latter would be given a sustainable majority would have taken from a party force where politics and weapons, internal and external and opinion and blackmail are intertwined.

After Sharon
By Ariel Cohen -Washington Times
January 17, 2006
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will not head his newly established Kadima Party in the March 28 parliamentary elections, or lead Israel beyond that. However, his Kadima party and its supporters in the Bush administration seem now determined to support Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The forthcoming Olmert White House visit would be the strongest signal the U.S. is squarely behind Mr. Sharon's hand-picked successor. But many in Israel are not sure Mr. Olmert can fill Mr. Sharon's giant shoes. He lacks his mentor's military prowess, popularity and ties to the U.S. Jewish community. The old warrior and leader's contribution to Israeli security was tremendous. He was the best tactician and battlefield general Israel had since her birth. He is leaving the scene as the last prime minister of the heroic generation, to which the late Yitzhak Rabin also belonged -- the men and women who created the state and fought all their lives for its survival.
Mr. Sharon is a man of great personal bravery and charisma. He was left for the dead in the bloody Latrun battle of 1948, when newly formed Israel was attacked by five neighboring Arab countries, and returned to found and lead Commando 101 in the early 1950s -- a unit that revolutionized special operations in the Israeli Defense Forces and around the world.
Mr. Sharon was a very successful commander in the 1956 Suez War and during and after the Six-Day War. In the 1973 Yom Kippur War he surrounded the 3rd Egyptian Army to the West of the Suez Canal against the direct orders of his superiors and rivals in the military high command. His bold flanking maneuver brought Egypt to the brink of collapse. This breakthrough in classic ground operations is studied in military academies the world over. This author heard many Israeli vets say, "I fought under Arik and I would follow him to hell."
He entered politics after the surprise Arab attack that started the Yom Kippur War precipitated a crisis of confidence over Israel's lack of preparedness, creating the Likud in 1975 and winning its first victory in the 1977 elections, when the late Menachem Begin became Israel's first non-socialist prime minister. When Egyptian President Anwar Sadat arrived for his historic visit to Jerusalem, his first question at the Ben Gurion airport was, "Is Arik here?"
But Mr. Sharon often overreached. The 1982 Lebanon War, of which he was the architect as Mr. Begin's defense minister, was a mixed bag for Israel strategically. The Palestine Liberation Organization, led by Yasser Arafat, which had triggered the Lebanon Civil War in 1975 and had been attacking Israel from South Lebanon, was evacuated and dispersed from Tunis to Yemen to Iraq. However, as a result of Syrian- and Iran-led resistance, hundreds of Israeli soldiers died.
Twenty years ago, a veteran Israeli journalist Uri Dan, Mr. Sharon's friend for decades, said, "Those who did not want him as a chief of staff [of the IDF], will get him as minister of defense, and those who don't want him as a minister of defense, will get him as a prime minister." He was right.
Mr. Sharon's last hurrah was his unflinching leadership in putting down the Palestinian Terror War (the so-called "Second Intifada") in 2001-2004. He was elected prime minister with huge landslides twice -- very much a father figure to the embattled and insecure Israelis. However, his 2005 Gaza withdrawal may have been as strategically problematic as his Lebanon adventure.
Mr. Sharon was undergoing a change of worldview. Starting out as a hawk and supporter of biblical Israel, after election to prime minister he became a moderate, almost a peace nik . Last fall he abandoned his own baby, the Likud, where he was losing support. He accepted President Bush's vision of a democratic Palestinian state living side by side with Israel.
However, the Gaza withdrawal split Israeli society like never before. And the current riots and snowballing terrorist eruptions in Gaza demonstrate that his hopes for a Palestinian peace partner may have been the naive cry of the heart of an old battle-weary veteran who lost too many friends and countrymen to wars and Arab terror. They may have been also a result of his mistaken belief he can bend reality to his will. Many believe the Gaza retreat may cost Israel many lives if the terror-mongers now feel empowered. Israel's withdrawal under terror fire was perceived as a sign of weakness by the Arab street, and is likely to trigger another terror onslaught led by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, supported by Iran and Saudi Arabia. These death merchants have already promised that the "third Intifada" will begin soon, while rocket fire and suicide bombings continue
In 2003, Mr. Sharon said Israel needs to stick to its guns for 30 more years. By the end of that time, new technologies could render oil obsolete. This still may be the case. But his optimism regarding redrawing Israel's borders may have been part of the can-do, overreaching personality which so many Israelis admired. In the end, his long-term strategy may have been miscalculated, and his vision destroyed by his body's frailty.
Without Mr. Sharon's popularity and leadership, his new party may perform poorly in the March elections. It may also disintegrate after the elections.
Sharon is also a man of truly biblical fate. He loved his country and bled for it many times. He lost his first wife early and married her sister, Lily, with whom he lived happily for more than 25 years. His young son shot himself by accident with his father's weapon and died in his hands. He was hounded by accusations of corruption. But he also vindicated himself by becoming one of the greatest Israeli leaders.
The double challenge of opposing Hamas and other terrorist organizations after the Palestinian legislative elections and addressing Iran's nuclear threat to Israel's very existence will fall now on the shoulders of the new generation of Israeli leaders. They will miss Mr. Sharon's wisdom, experience, determination and popularity.
The man was often reviled on the left and later on the right, but will be revered as a great Israeli military and political leader after his political and personal road ends.
****Ariel Cohen is senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation

Saudi Arabia presents plan for Syria and Lebanon
By Roula Khalaf in London- Published: January 16 2006
Saudi Arabia has presented Lebanon and Syria with a proposed agreement to defuse tensions, amid rising Arab alarm over the steady deterioration in relations between the two countries since last February’s killing of Rafiq Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister. Prince Saud al-Feisal, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, said in an interview with the Financial Times on Monday that the kingdom had found a set of general principles for an agreement, but was waiting for a response from Beirut and Damascus, where details would have to be worked out. “Now it’s in the hands of both countries and they will let us know,” he said. Prince Saud made clear the kingdom was not seeking a compromise on the UN probe into the Hariri assassination – an investigation that is continuing but which has already implicated high-level Syrian officials in the murder.
“This [initiative] has nothing to do with the investigation. We are as anxious as anyone to find out who the perpetrators are and we want them to be found quickly,” he said. Without directly commenting on UN demands to interview Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, Prince Saud said Saudi Arabia had urged Syria to co-operate with the UN probe “without reservations”.
Arab press reports have cited a seven-point plan, worked out by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, that includes putting an end to media campaigns, ceasing provocative statements from politicians, exchanging diplomatic representation and co-ordinating foreign policy.
In Beirut, anti-Syrian politicians have already said such a proposal would be tantamount to reviving Syrian dominance over Lebanon. However, Prince Saud said the principles were designed to pave the way for negotiations between Beirut and Damascus on details of an agreement.
The murder of Mr Hariri, a popular Lebanese leader and close Saudi ally, provoked the departure of Syrian troops from Lebanon in April and led to unprecedented international pressure on Damascus. Syria denies responsibility for the killing.
But with the UN investigation uncovering alleged high-level Syrian links and Lebanese politicians accusing Damascus of involvement in several subsequent assassinations of anti-Syrian figures, tensions between Beirut and Damascus have escalated.
Syria’s allies in Lebanon have suspended their participation in government, creating a domestic political crisis.
The media war between Beirut and Damascus has intensified and some Lebanese politicians have openly called for the ouster of the Syrian regime. In Damascus, the Assad regime has been rattled by the recent defection of Abdelhalim Khaddam, a former vice-president. In media interviews, Mr Khaddam has directly blamed Mr Assad for the Hariri killing, sparking new concerns over the future of the regime. Prince Saud said the priority for Saudi Arabia was to reduce tensions between Lebanon and Syria and prevent more chaos in the region.
“We have enough problems as it is,” he said. “It’s about time we resolve the ones we have – Palestine, Iraq – instead of establish more.”