LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
JANUARY 20/2006
Below News from the
Daily Star for 20.1.06
Lebanese surprised by attempt to harm retired politician
Nasrallah defends Naboulsi against 'identity theft' lawsuit
March 14 forces want to enter 'direct dialogue with Hizbullah
No one at fault for power cuts - official
The need to meet Shiite conditions
No one at fault for power cuts - official
Former Israeli official: Arad may be alive
(AFP)
Lebanese bank scandal linked to Hariri killing
Brammertz plans to investigate all attacks since October 2004
Arab-Israeli charged with giving information to Hizbullah
Cabinet convenes again without Shiites
Questions raised over quarry compensation
Below News from
miscellaneous sources for 20.1.06
Syria in the firestorm.By:
Hassan Nafaa - Al Ahram 20.1.06
Ahmadinejad arrives in Damascus, Brammertz in Beirut-asianews
20.1.06
Lebanon must
hasten economic reform -World Bank-Reuters 20.1.06
Presidents Assad and Ahmadinejad Support Stability in Lebanon -SANA 20.1.06
For the First Time: Shiites and Sunnis in Lebanon.By: Daoud Shirian Al-Hayat -
209/01/06
Syria Frees 5 Political Activists-Washington Times 20.1.06
Ariel
through the Arab looking glass-timesofmalta 20.1.06
Arrival of new UN investigator gets mixed reaction-IRIN News 20.1.06
Syria criticizes US move against Damascus official-Reuters 20.1.06
Below news from Naharnet for 19.1.06
Draft U.N. Statement Condemns Lebanon Assassinations, Warns Syria to Stop Arming
Militias
Israeli Arab fugitive Charged with Giving Information to Hizbullah
Damascus Protests over Mehlis' Comments
Brammertz Arrives in Beirut on Thursday
Nasrallah: Relations with Jumblat Will Not Be Severed
Hizbullah Will Cease Shabaa Attacks if Area is Not Lebanese, Says Nasrallah
Saniora Rejects Syrian Plan, Saying it Does not Address Security Concerns
Nasrallah defends Naboulsi against 'identity theft' lawsuit
Daily Star staff-Friday, January 20, 2006
BEIRUT: Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah Thursday denounced a
lawsuit filed against Sheikh Afif Naboulsi. In a telephone call with Naboulsi,
Nasrallah said the statement was an "attack against Muslim Ulemas, who freely
voice their views and positions."
Eight individuals, including MP Ghassan Mokheiber, have filed a lawsuit against
Naboulsi for "identity theft, threatening and terrorizing in an attempt to
obstruct the practice of civil rights, instigating sectarian differences and
portraying political disputes as disputes between religions and sects."
The complaint was submitted Wednesday to Beirut's First Investigating Judge,
Magistrate Abdel-Rahim Hammoud and was signed by Talal Husseini, Youssef Zein,
Fares Sassin, Fahmiya Sharafeddine, Nada Sehnaoui, Mona Fayyad, MP Ghassan
Mokheiber and Mohammad Farid Matar.
The complaint read that on December 21, 2005, Lebanese newspapers published a
statement made by Naboulsi, in which he said: "There are foreign attempts, which
some local forces comply with, to put Amal and Hizbullah away and to bring new
Shiite representatives [into the Cabinet]. Consequently, we forbid any Shiite
political party to replace Amal and Hizbullah representatives. We stress that
the entrance of any Shiite political party is illegal, because it does not
represent the people."
It added: "We address a precautionary fatwa to every Shiite politician, who
tries to take advantage of the ministerial crisis."
The plaintiffs said Naboulsi was not a member of the Shiite sect's religious
committee and hence could not issue a fatwa and prevent the Shiite citizens from
practicing their constitutional rights. - The Daily Star
Presidents Assad and Ahmadinejad Support Stability in Lebanon
Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 07:20 PM
Damascus, (SANA) - President Bashr al-Assad depicted on Thursday the official
visit of the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Syria as very significant
underlining the two countries support of stability in Lebanon.
In a joint press conference with the Iranian President, President Assad said the
visit was very important and sessions of talks and meetings among the Iranian
officials and their Syrian counterparts as well with President Ahmadinejad are
not over.
President Assad held two sessions of talks with the visiting Iranian President
one of them closed.
“ We have confirmed our support of stability in Lebanon and the need to back the
resistance there as well to prevent the interference in the interior affaires of
Lebanon and internationalization,” President Assad said.
He added that we also expressed our support to Iran concerning her right to get
peaceful nuclear technology and continuously welcomed dialogue on this subject
between Iran and the international concerned parties noting that we rejected
bids of pressure in this respect.
President Assad stressed that Syria supports making the Middle East region free
from Weapons of Mass Destruction WMD noting that the beginning should be from
Israel because “it is she that possesses a nuclear weapon in the region.”
The president noted that ties between Syria and Iran are based on a solid ground
and on a rich heritage as well a joint experience.“ We have discussed many
political issues and matters related to bilateral ties . Talks were rich and we
agreed most or all points raised,” the President said. The President said the
there were focus on the subject of Iraq and we agreed on the need to boost the
current political process in Iraq and to work for Iraq’s stability, the
prevention of interference in his interior affaires as well backed foreign
forces withdrawal according to an fixed timetable. Regarding the Palestinian
subject, the President said there were accord on the need to restore the
Palestinian people’s legitimate rights atop of which the Palestinian state. He
said that this was in addition to guaranteeing the right of return and boosting
the Palestinian people steadfastness and resistance of the Israeli oppressive
actions. On bilateral relations, the President expressed satisfaction over these
ties development saying we discussed a number of mechanisms to help push this
forward mainly to remove a number of administrative and bureaucratic hinders.
Brammertz plans to investigate all attacks since
October 2004
By Raed El Rafei - Daily Star staff
Friday, January 20, 2006
BEIRUT: The UN commission investigating the assassination of former Premier
Rafik Hariri will be "exploring all serious attacks" committed since the
assassination attempt of Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade, according to
the team's new leader. "The commission will provide technical assistance, as
appropriate, in the Lebanese investigations on the terrorist attacks perpetrated
in Lebanon since October 1, 2004," said the new head of the UN investigation
team, Serge Brammertz, upon his arrival in Beirut under unprecedented security
measures.
Brammertz, who was officially appointed on January 11 to head the international
investigation for the next six months, said his priority "will remain to assist
the Lebanese authorities in their investigation.""I am acutely aware of the
expectations on the part of the families of the victims, the people of Lebanon,
and the international community, and I will do my utmost to meet these
expectations," he said. He also stated that the commission would continue to
execute its mandate with independence and impartiality and in compliance with
Security Council resolutions. Brammertz, a Belgium on six months leave of
absence from his position as Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal
Court, stressed the "discrete" and "confidential" character of his work.
Meanwhile, Syria Thursday rejected comments by the former head of the UN probe
accusing Damascus of bearing responsibility for the late premier's murder.
Through its ambassador in New York, Fayssal Mekdad, Damascus has sent an
official letter of protest to the UN calling on Secretary General Kofi Annan to
take action. "It is unacceptable that Mr. Mehlis used the media during his last
days in office as a means of pressure and to express a deep hatred against
Syria," the letter said. In a newspaper interview in December, Detlev Mehlis
said the Syrian authorities "are responsible" for the February 2005 killing.
Mehlis replied "yes" when asked by Arab daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat if he was
"perfectly convinced of Syria's responsibility in the murder of Hariri."Mekdad,
who met with Brammertz Wednesday, assured the new lead investigator of Syria's
willingness to cooperate fully with the UN commission and reiterated his
government's wish to sign a memorandum of understanding with the probe.Syria
also condemned the U.S. government's decision to freeze the assets of Syrian
military intelligence chief Assef Shawkat as an "arrogant" attempt to impose
America's will around the world. Brigadier General Shawkat is the brother-in-law
of President Bashar Assad, and is one of the main players in the Syrian regime.
"This decision shows the extent of this administration's arrogant and unilateral
practices in its attempts to impose its will on the international community," an
unidentified Syrian official said in a statement. On Wednesday, the U.S.
Treasury Department ordered all U.S. banks to block any assets found in the
United States belonging to Shawkat. U.S. firms were also barred from doing
business with the Syrian official. The Treasury Department alleges Shawkat has
played a role in furthering Syria's "support for terrorism and interference in
the sovereignty of Lebanon." The Syrian official's statement said the American
action "once again proves the U.S. involvement in defending Israel's aggressive
policies against the Arabs."
"The policies supported by the U.S. administration do not serve security and
stability in our region," the official said.
The U.S. Treasury alleges that Shawkat had dealings with Hizbullah, the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Shawkat met with officials from these groups and "discussed coordination and
cooperation" among them, the department alleged. - With agencies
Cabinet convenes again without Shiites
lahoud insists on limiting extraordinary session to 2006 budget talks
By Adnan El-Ghoul -Daily Star staff
Friday, January 20, 2006
BEIRUT: The Cabinet held its regular session on Thursday in the absence of the
Shiite ministers for the fourth time as they continue their now five-week
boycott. The Amal and Hizbullah representatives are demanding the majority
approve a governmental statement refuting reference to Hizbullah as a militia
and demanding that a consensus be taken on major issues without resorting to
voting. As he headed into the session, Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade
was asked whether the government had missed the Shiite ministers. He responded:
"Yes we do miss them; this is why I urged them to return yesterday." The Shiite
ministers have repeatedly said they will not return to work until the Cabinet
majority agrees to make decisions thorough consultations and consensus rather
than majority voting. The Shiite bloc fears majority voting could be used to
implement UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls - among other things
- for disarming the resistance.
The Cabinet had 31 items on its agenda Thursday, one of which dealt with the
Palestinian weapons outside the camps and their regulation. However, the
ministers did discuss the latest efforts to resolve the government. An official
statement released after the session said Premier Fouad Siniora had informed the
ministers of his meeting with the president Wednesday and stressed "the need to
hold an extraordinary parliamentary session."
He added: "There will be a meeting at the end of the week with Berri and Justice
Minister Charles Rizk to enhance the work of the judiciary and appoint an
investigating magistrate in the case of late MP Gebran Tueni's murder."
A new row has erupted over the session proposed by the March 14 MPs. While
Siniora has agreed with Speaker Nabih Berri to hold the latter's proposed
legislative session, President Emile Lahoud has refused to hold such a meeting
on the terms of the March 14 Forces, which have called on Parliament to discuss
all national issues in general and to emphasize commitment to the Taif Accord in
particular. Lahoud insists on limiting the session's agenda to discussing and
approving the 2006 budget.
Berri was expected to meet Lahoud within 24 hours to reach a compromise on an
acceptable agenda.
The majority is concerned the Shiite bloc is trying to reinterpret the Taif
Accord and revise the government's Policy Statement, an accusation both Amal and
Hizbullah adamantly deny. "Hizbullah and Amal ministers do not seek any
political gains from their boycott," Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil said. "We only
want to make a political point in an attempt to revise the coalition agreement
between the four parties that are represented in the Cabinet.
"All we ask for is to issue a government statement confirming to the world
community that the resistance is not a militia."
In the latest developments in regional reconciliation efforts, Siniora denied
the existence of any Saudi Arabian initiative to mend Lebanese-Syrian relations,
claiming he had only heard from the Saudi ambassador "slightly modified Syrian
thoughts."
Separately, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Michel Pharaon said he
and his allies agree the resistance is not a militia, but added that "the
information minister does not need to announce this fact in a governmental
statement." Pharaon's comments came after meeting with the Lebanese Forces
Executive Committee President Samir Geagea. "But we want Hizbullah and Amal to
free Lebanon from any ties with other regional agendas," he said. "We should
agree once and for all that Lebanon must not commit its policies to foreign
strategies that might hold back its progress."
The minister noted "a positive climate" following his meeting on Wednesday with
Berri, saying: "In regards to the government crisis, I expect a near solution
with the return of the boycotting ministers." In other meetings, National
Information Council leader Abdel-Hadi Mahfouz met with Free Patriotic Movement
head MP Michel Aoun.
Mahfouz said Aoun blamed "double-faced policies" for the political impasse in
Lebanon. "Aoun affirmed the crisis was caused by the way the government
addressed the internal forces with one approach, while talking to foreign states
in a different language," he said. "The government committed itself to tackling
issues that are much more difficult than it could handle."
The Council leader quoted Aoun as saying: "No party can impose its views on the
other; nor should any party look for victory over the other."Aoun added that [MP
Walid] "Jumblatt acted 20 years ago in the same manner that the Shiite ministers
are acting now."
March 14 forces want to enter 'direct dialogue with
Hizbullah'
By Rym Ghazal - Daily Star staff
Friday, January 20, 2006
BEIRUT: Politicians reacted positively on Thursday to a demand by Hizbullah
Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah the Shiite bloc would only return to
the Cabinet if the government officially disavowed all reference to the
resistance as a militia.
"It helped in progressing the dialogue by highlighting where the disputes
exactly lie," said MP Samir Franjieh, after a meeting with Maronite Patriarch
Nasrallah Butros Sfeir. The MP said he had informed Sfeir of the March 14
Forces' intention to undertake "a direct dialogue with Hizbullah to end the
boycott."
The government plunged into its latest crisis last month when five Shiite
ministers, representing Hizbullah and Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal Movement,
walked out of the Cabinet in protest of major decisions being reached by
majority votes, instead of consensus. During a televised interview Wednesday,
Nasrallah said that ending the Cabinet boycott would require a clear statement
from the government - at least orally - that "Hizbullah is a resistance group,
not a militia."
As a member of the Qornet Shehwan Gathering, one of the groups comprising the
March 14 Forces, Franjieh stressed that "the coalition does not consider
Hizbullah a militia."Hizbullah's insistence on the official designation comes
after Premier Fouad Siniora failed to provide a clear answer regarding the
authenticity of a claim made by UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen that the premier
promised the U.S. UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for Lebanese
and non-Lebanese militias to disarm, would be implemented. "Everything is
settled now and we are moving forward with the dialogue," Franjieh said.
"But the problems that we are having in the government will not be solved with
changing one word," he added.
Meanwhile, former Minister Suleiman Franjieh praised Nasrallah's comments,
calling the leader "a real statesman."
"He proved he was the one being careful for the sake of the country, and careful
about protecting Lebanon's national unity," Franjieh said Thursday. In the
interview, Nasrallah said he was "open to dialogue with all parties about
Hizbullah's weapons," and that all politicians and parties in Lebanon had the
right to ask about the group's arms.
"A group of politicians were keen to portray Nasrallah as 'evil', but he proved
them wrong and proved to be the only one doing something good and keeping peace
for the sake of Lebanon," Franjieh said.
Syria and Iran back each other against allcomers
'We support iran's nuclear technology'
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Friday, January 20, 2006
Syria backed Iran Thursday in its confrontation with the West over its nuclear
program, and both countries voiced support to Lebanese Hizbullah's resistance to
Israeli occupation.
The Syrian support came at a summit of the nations' two presidents to coordinate
policies and consolidate their alliance under the shadow of U.S. pressure and
the threat of international sanctions against both.
It also coincided with fresh U.S. calls for Iran to be quickly referred to the
UN Security Council for its nuclear programs, in opposition to Russian moves for
a softer line.
"We support Iran's right to peaceful nuclear technology," Syrian President
Bashar Assad told a news conference held with President Mahmoud Ahmad-inejad of
Iran.
"It is the right every state to own nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Countries that object to that have not provided a convincing or logical reason,"
Assad said.
Assad renewed Syria's call for a Middle East free of nuclear weapons and said
"the beginning should be with Israel."
The Jewish state is widely believed to have nuclear weapons.
"If WMD is the pretext of the West, then it should start with Israel." Israel is
thought to possess several hundred nuclear warheads. It has never confirmed or
denied having a nuclear arsenal.
Iran and Syria were also united in their calls for stability in Lebanon but
stressed "the need to support the resistance" to Israel, a reference to
Hizbullah.Tehran and Damascus both back Hizbullah, which is called on to disarm under UN
Security Council Resolution 1559, adopted in September 2004.
Assad said Syria was opposed to "any interference in the internal affairs of
Lebanon and its internationalization."
"We believe the Lebanese people can find a solution and I call on all factions
to show restraint and patience," Ahmadinejad said.
Assad said relations with Iran have been developing for years and are
increasing. "The circumstances in the region dictate on us such strengthening
(of ties)," Assad said.
"Considering that Syria is the steadfast party confronting Israel, and Iran is
the defender of the Islamic revolution, this obliges us to have more
consultation and cooperation," the Iranian president said in Farsi.
Ahmadinejad described his trip as producing "excellent results." "Our relations
are solid and deep-rooted and our countries have common positions," he said. The
two countries have
had close relations since 1980 when Arab Syria sided with Persian Iran against
Iraq, a fellow Arab nation, in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
The two countries also have growing economic ties, with annual bilateral trade
estimated at about $210 million. Iranian investment in Syria has risen to $750
million, Ahmadinejad said, adding that a joint Syrian-Iranian commission is to
meet in February to discuss economic projects.
Ahmadinejad's trip to Damascus came two weeks ahead of an emergency meeting of
the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board on February 2.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated calls for swift action to drag
Iran to Security Council, for possible sanctions. She did not mention Russia,
but she was speaking a day after the European Union said it was mulling a
Russian proposal that would stop short of formally referring Iran to the
council.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took a cautious line, saying his
country's position at the meeting would be guided by the IAEA's own assessment
of Iran's behavior.
"The main principle is not to cause harm, not to cause harm to the international
community, not cause harm to the system of non-proliferation," he said after
talks on Iran with his French counterpart Philippe Douste-Blazy in Moscow.
China reiterated its preference for a diplomatic solution. "We hope all parties
will exercise restraint and patience and appropriately resolve the Iran nuclear
issue through peaceful means," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
Iran, whose decision last week to remove UN seals on uranium enrichment
equipment prompted the EU to break off two years of talks, has taken a defiant
stance, aware of its muscle as the world's fourth biggest oil exporter in a
volatile market.
Its top nuclear negotiator said his country was willing to discuss the West's
concerns, but not to scrap nuclear fuel research, which could advance a quest
for atomic power or bombs.
"They should not ask a brave nation with very good scientists to expect not to
engage in nuclear research," Ali Larijani told the British Broadcasting
Corporation. "If they want guarantees of no (military) diversion of nuclear fuel
we can reach a formula acceptable to both sides in talks." - Agencies
English version reference on NGOs in Lebanon released
By Jessy Chahine -Daily Star staff
Friday, January 20, 2006
BEIRUT: The English version of the first ever reference book on non-governmental
organizations in Lebanon, "Internal Governance for NGOs in Lebanon," was
released on Wednesday at the Social Affairs Ministry. Initially prepared and
released in Arabic in 2005 by the NGO Resource Unit, the book is the first of
its kind; the only book available on NGOs in Lebanon, so far. Marketed,
according to its writers, toward civil society organizations, donor agencies,
municipalities and cooperatives, the book is a 144-page manual divided into
seven chapters targeting various aspects of non-governmental organizations in
Lebanon from their legal framework to the mobilization of their human and
financial resources.
A component of the project "Capacity Building for Poverty Reduction," the NGO
Resource and Support unit is a joint collaboration between the Social Affairs
Ministry and UNDP. "The NGO Resource and Support Unit promotes networking and
collaboration among and between NGOs and governmental institutions," reads the
book's introduction.
"It also provides training seminars and serves as a space of knowledge for
sharing information and experience for and about NGOs in Lebanon." The unit is
guided by a technical committee with representatives from the Social Affairs
Ministry, NGOs, UNDP and academia. "This book provides a wealth of information
on the legal and international management of NGOs in Lebanon, human-resource
mobilization including networking and volunteer management and other related
topics," said UNDP representative Mona Hammam.
"The decision to have this reference material available in English was made
after requests by many international and local partners who wished to learn more
about the participation of NGOs in the development process in Lebanon," Hammam
said.
"We all benefit from clear documentation of standards for NGO operations. Having
these standards available to us in both Arabic and English will significantly
enhance the strength of our partnerships," said Bruce Menser, National Director
of World Vision Lebanon, the main sponsor of the book's English Version.
Samir Farah, representing the Friedrich-Ebert Stifung, another NGO who
collaborated in the book's translation, said that "NGOs have gained a very
important and an increasing major role in the process of development and in the
making of changes in the civil society within the last years.""This role keeps
growing, giving more power to the NGOs in different areas of life," he said.
"NGOs can act as powerful pressure groups to influence government decisions on
various issues and levels touching the lives of people, political, social,
economic and educational," Farah said. He added, however, that NGOs were not
meant to replace the state or replace government institutions. "They are to work
together, to monitor the conduct of state officials and state institutions, to
observe with open eyes what is going on and what is taking place, guarding the
interest and wellbeing of the civil society," he said. Though the book does not
actually feature an inclusive database of all Lebanese NGOs, UNDP's NGO Liaison
Officer Joumana Kalot said that such a database "was currently being built."
An identical 2005 reference book for Lebanese NGOs was also currently being
written.
INTERVIEW-Lebanon must hasten economic reform -World
Bank
19 Jan 2006 13:49:04 GMT
By Lin Noueihed-BEIRUT, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Lebanon must waste no time overcoming
political divisions and implementing economic reforms if it is to make the most
of a surge in international support, the World Bank country manager said on
Thursday. "Time is not on the side of Lebanon because as we wait debt
accumulates, growth is not picking up, structural problems are not being solved,
jobs are not being created, people are emigrating. The longer you wait the worst
the situation becomes," Omar Razzaz told Reuters in an interview.
"There is tremendous international good will for Lebanon but there is no time to
lose."
The United States, European powers and international bodies like the World Bank
have said they are keen to help Lebanon recover from months of turmoil triggered
by the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in February.
The killing of Hariri raised international and local pressure on neighbouring
Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon two months later, heralding a new era
for Lebanon. The World Bank last month approved a programme to lend Lebanon from
$100 million to $700 million between 2006 and 2009 to help the country meet
economic challenges as it makes the transition from three decades of Syrian
domination. Lebanon plans to host an international aid conference early this
year aimed at easing a public debt of around $37 billion that consumes
government revenues and stifles growth.
But the World Bank cash is linked to Lebanon's ability to carry out fiscal and
structural reforms and Lebanon has already postponed the international aid
meeting from December, saying it needed more time to prepare a reform programme.
With the government in crisis after five ministers began a boycott last month,
the summit has dropped down the agenda. "I am not worried that people are not
talking about the conference. I am really worried that people are not talking
about reform, about the economy, about jobs," Razzaz said. What's most important
in our view is for the reform package to mature and to generate agreement within
government and then within parliament and then within civil society broadly."
WHITHER REFORM
The government hopes to present lenders with a reform programme that will
eliminate the budget deficit within five years, privatise state firms and help
cut servicing costs on the debt, worth over 180 percent of the country's GDP.
But that entails securing a political consensus over public sector job and
subsidy cuts, sensitive issues in any country but more so in Lebanon's sectarian
political system. "Putting together a draft of proposed reforms is not the hard
part. It is making them credible and getting buy-in by the various groups which
is the challenge," Razzaz said.
"The test of its success is not holding the conference, it is the actual
implementation of the reform package... As we saw in Paris 2, substantial money
can change hands but two or three years down the road the effects of that will
vanish, and the country will be back where it started except with more debt."
The Beirut aid conference, whenever it happens, would be the third of its kind
for Lebanon, which accumulated its debt after the 1975-1990 civil war. The
country averted a financial crisis in 2002 when it drew some $4 billion in soft
loans at the so-called Paris 2 summit to replace more expensive borrowing. But
reforms promised at that conference never materialised because of political
bickering. Hopes those disagreements would disappear with Syrian tutelage have
faded. Lebanon has managed to pull through a difficult year and Razzaz predicted
growth would rise to 2-3 percent in 2006 from zero last year, but only
substantial reform will put the economy on an upward trajectory in the long run,
even with debt aid.
"Those who think the amount will be so big that it will essentially wipe out
Lebanon's debt and therefore there will be no need to undertake serious reforms,
unfortunately are likely to be disappointed," he said. "Any transition, anywhere
in the world will require making trade-offs between short-term pain and
long-term gain."
Syria criticizes US move against Damascus official
Thu Jan 19, 2006
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria said on Thursday that a U.S. move to freeze the
assets of a Syrian military intelligence chief showed Washington's bias toward
Israel. The United States on Wednesday froze the U.S. assets of Asef Shawkat,
brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad, and accused him of fomenting
terrorism against Israel and backing Syria's intrusion into Lebanon. "This shows
the bias of the current U.S. administration in protecting Israel's aggressive
policies ... and denial of the Palestinian legitimate right to resist Israeli
terrorism," a government source said in a faxed statement to Reuters.
Syria has been the target of a United Nations investigation into the February
killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in Beirut. A
preliminary U.N. probe implicated Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in
the crime, but Syria has denied involvement.
International pressure forced Syria to withdraw from Lebanon in April after a
29-year military presence. The U.N. Security Council threatened "unspecified
action" against Syria if it failed to cooperate with the investigation.
The United States has adopted a policy of "targeted sanctions" against Syria,
including freezing assets of individuals. In June it froze the assets of two
senior Syrian officials accused of leading military and security operations in
Lebanon.
This policy "will not serve security and stability in our region, but rather it
will strengthen the rejection of it by our Arab people", the Syrian statement
said.
Ariel through the Arab looking glass
Ranier Fsadni-timesofmalta 19.1.06
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is this man? "A harsh, insensitive and cruel
commander, soon after he took office he broke with the custom of his
predecessors, who tried to respect the religious sensitivities of the occupied
people, and he recklessly provoked armed insurrection by a confrontational visit
to a holy site and with his ruthless suppression of resistance."
Mirror, is it Ariel Sharon, who in 2000 defiantly visited Jerusalem's most holy
Islamic shrine? No, silly, it is Pontius Pilate, who around 26 AD marched into
Jerusalem, his soldiers carrying standards bearing the image of the "divine"
emperor, and who, some 10 years later, was stripped of his office by the Roman
governor of Syria following the umpteenth murderous attack on civilians.
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is this man? "The wide national support that
(he) managed to elicit at different crossroads in his controversial career as a
military man and politician was born out of his ability to manoeuvre through
periods of despair that he had often been instrumental in generating in the
first place. The support for (him) was always the result of the hopelessness and
despair that he himself had generated."
Mirror, is it President Nasser of Egypt? Is it Saddam Hussein in his heyday? The
Christian Lebanese general, Michel Aoun? President Hafiz al-Asad of Syria? Is it
Yasser Arafat? Is it one of the generals of Algeria? Who is it, mirror?
It is Ariel Sharon, points out the Egyptian commentator Mona Eltahawy, as
described by former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, in his recent book
Scars Of War, Wound Of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy.
It is as a stubborn, irascible and vindictive man that contemporary Jewish
historians, Josephus and Philo, describe Pilate. Christians remember a more
hesitant and indecisive, even if still cynical, man. Memory is always selective.
And a man's life can be read in more than one way, especially when it is one's
own life and the fists of power have thrown memory into turmoil.
Suleiman Abdul Hadi is a Palestinian leader of the refugees of the Sabra Shatila
camps. He recalls scenes of "bodies and blood" every time he sees Mr Sharon on
TV. Suleiman Abdul Hadi lost his mother and brother during the 1982 massacre of
the same camps by Lebanese Christian militiamen who shot and hacked to death
men, women and children, 800 in all, mostly civilians, over two nights and a
day.
Palestinian survivors say the camps were surrounded by Israeli forces under
General Sharon's command, which illuminated the two long nights with flares (so
that the murderers could see better) and shot dead at least one Palestinian who
escaped from his camp bearing a white flag.
These survivors and many other Arabs remember a war criminal who was never tried
in court - either for his responsibility in the 1982 massacres, or for many
others, dating back to the 1940s, that have been alleged to be his
responsibility.
However, if Palestinian-American writer Ramzi Baroud has recently written in
Cairo's Al Ahram Weekly to insist on Mr Sharon's record of violence, it is
because the Arab memory of Mr Sharon is multi-faceted. As Mr Sharon struggles
for his life in hospital, commentators are remembering his figure in different
ways, drawing Mr Sharon into their own debates. There are those who believe that
he was no different at the end of his political life than he was at the
beginning. In the pullout from Gaza they see a politician insisting on the right
of unilateral action by Israel, with the aim of strengthening other occupied
territories (Israeli settlements on the West Bank have increased since the Gaza
withdrawal). It is a view shared by some on the Israeli left.
But some Arab leaders and commentators do appear persuaded, like others on the
Israeli left, that Mr Sharon had indeed changed. One former Egyptian diplomat
told the BBC that Mr Sharon was capable of delivering peace. President Abbas of
the Palestinian Authority and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt made statements
that suggested likewise. Other Arab intellectuals have explained away the more
visceral popular hatred for Mr Sharon as the emotions of the street.
However, some excitement has also been noticeable on urbane chat shows. One
Egyptian TV journalist asked a guest whether he thought that Mr Sharon's setting
up of a centrist political party could be a model to be followed by other Arab
leaders. Mr Sharon here appears as a model for Arab reform - for a third way
beyond Egypt's ruling party and the Muslim Brotherhood, or the Palestinian Fatah
and Hamas.
The image of Mr Sharon the reformer has drawn the scorn of New York-based Ms
Eltahawy. But in her column for the leading international Arab daily, Asharq
Alawsat, she also described Mr Sharon as a "quintessential Arab leader". In the
hatred for Mr Sharon the butcher, she sees a crippling Arab tendency: "Arab
victimhood makes sense only when we are being victimised by Israel. The horrors
we visit upon each other are irrelevant".
She reminds her readers that many more Palestinians died in the fighting with
Jordanian forces in September 1970; and that although an Israeli inquiry found
Mr Sharon indirectly responsible for the 1982 massacres (though he was never
tried), no such inquiry has to date been held to discover who among the Lebanese
was directly responsible. And "unlike so many of these military men whose paths
to power in the Arab world have been paved with forged elections, Sharon was
actually democratically elected".
The idea that Mr Sharon represents not a specifically Israeli style of
leadership but a Middle Eastern one is being pressed by a Lebanese Maronite
Christian, Chibli Mallat, Jean Monnet professor of European law at the
University of St Joseph in Beirut and presidential candidate: "The political
demise of Mr Sharon is an opportunity for a new generation to end a long period
where politics has been dominated by warlords and militia leaders. It should
give way to a new spirit in the region based on justice and accountability for
the signal crimes perpetrated by the likes of Ariel Sharon and Saddam Hussein,
and to the emergence of human rights presidents and prime ministers".
Mr Mallat was born in 1960 and saw his generation cut down and dispersed during
the Lebanese civil wars. Ms Eltahawy was born in 1967, the year of the nadir of
Arab nationalism. If their views are representative of their peers, we may be
seeing the articulation of an Arab, self-critical, civic consciousness that will
have profound consequences for the region.
ranierfsadni@europe.com
Arrival of new UN investigator gets mixed reaction
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
© Linda Dahdah
The UN probe into Rafik Hariri's death has been extended by six months
DAMASCUS/BEIRUT, 19 Jan 2006 (IRIN) - With the imminent arrival of Serge
Brammertz, the United Nation’s new chief inspector mandated with investigating
the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a broad cross
section of Syrian society remains sceptical. Many believe the UN inquiry, which
has implicated senior Syrian officials in the killing, is being used as a
political tool against Damascus. “The UN investigation is not free to find
facts,” said Abdul Aziz al-Kheri, a former political prisoner released last
November after spending 13 years in jail for his activities as head of the
Syrian opposition Communist Labour Party. “Supposing the investigation’s results
are not as the western states want, then I believe the commission will not be
able to present those results,” al-Kheri added.
Brammertz is taking over responsibility for the inquiry from German prosecutor
Detlev Mehlis, who released two reports last year stating the decision to kill
Hariri “could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked Syrian
security officials.”
The official reaction in Damascus to the arrival of Brammertz, who comes from
his post as deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The
Hague, has been relatively muted.
In a recent editorial, state daily Al-Thawra said Syria was ready for “full
cooperation” with the commission, but called on Brammertz to sign an agreement
defining “the concept of cooperation.” “Talking about the future requires the
avoidance of previous mistakes in assessing cooperation,” the writer stated.
Resolution 1664, endorsed by the UN Security Council last year, threatens
Damascus with unspecified “further action” unless it cooperates
“unconditionally” with the inquiry.
Sceptics also point to the fact that three key witnesses who previously
testified against Syrian officials were later found to have given false
statements. Two of them were arrested, while the third fled to Syria.
Damascus, meanwhile, has refused a request by UN investigators to question
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
"Syria is committed to its independence and sovereignty,” Syrian Information
Minister Mehdi Dakhlallah told Egyptian Radio on 12 January. “This
[interrogation of al-Assad] is a red line that cannot be crossed."
The UN request to question al-Assad followed statements by former Syrian Vice
President Abdel-Halim Khaddam, currently in exile in Paris. He said that the
Syrian president had threatened Hariri on a number of occasions in advance of
last February’s assassination.
Khaddam later accused al-Assad of directly ordering the bombing that killed the
Lebanese PM along with dozens of others.
In Beirut, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora was quick to assert that his country
would fully cooperate with the UN commission. Siniora has repeatedly said that
the replacement of Mehlis as chief investigator would have no impact on the
probe.
However, "there will undoubtedly be attempts by those who feel threatened by
Brammertz to discredit him," said Nicolas Pelham of the International Crisis
Group think-tank.
"Syria continues to have many allies in Lebanon who feel their survival is
intertwined with Syria's,” he added. “In particular, the move to cut Lebanon
loose from Syria's moorings has had a destabilising effect on the country's
sectarian balance."
According to Pelham, Mehlis fell victim to character assassination during the
course of his work with the commission. By the end of his tenure, Mehlis was
widely perceived as partisan – one of many political players in Lebanon rather
than an unbiased outsider. "It’s important that the UN remain focused on finding
the specifics of the truth, include a broad range of sources in future reports
and remain studiously distant from accusations of elevating one sect above
another," Pelham said.
For the First Time: Shiites and Sunnis in Lebanon
Daoud Shirian Al-Hayat - 19/01/06//
It seems that the solution to the crisis of the Lebanese government went beyond
the retracted decision of the five Shiite ministers to suspend their
participation in the Cabinet sessions. The participation of the ministers is no
longer the issue following the unveiling of the real causes of the standoff
between the two parties. This is in addition to the fact that the crisis of
Siniora's cabinet turned out to be just an indicator that there is a deeper,
greater, and more serious problem, tagged as casting off the military presence
of "Hezbollah" and identifying the future relation between the parliamentary
majority and the political Shiite in Lebanon.
The talk about Hezbollah's arms is not new, in fact it started on the first day
of the Israeli pullout from South Lebanon. However the new aspect is that it is
no longer a Lebanese internal affair, and that the disarmament is no longer a
political aspiration of internal and external parties but a US and international
request. It is also a way to sustain the international support of the Lebanese
government in order to implement the UN resolutions and continue the probe into
PM Hariri's assassination. This is according to the US Ambassador to Beirut, who
said to Lebanese figures, "It is time to do away with "Hezbollah". We heeded the
circumstances of the past period but the government should now take action to be
able to solicit our full support. Washington will uphold the government in this
decision".
The exchanged statements and criticism between "Hezbollah" and the parliamentary
majority confirm that the policy of lying that prevails over the stances of the
two parties since the assassination of PM Rafik Hariri can no longer be adopted.
These people have disregarded courtesy and decided to remove their masks and
name things as they are. The majority MPs expressed their concern over the
campaign waged by the political Shiite against MP Walid Jumblatt and directly
announced their backing of the content of Jumblatt's statement with respect to
the need for openness. Hezbollah responded to this alignment with Jumblatt by
clearly announcing, and for the first time, its alignment with Syria. It
rebuffed all statements and insinuations against it and called on the government
to provide them with one piece of evidence that Syria is implicated in the
assassination of PM Rafik Hariri. Through this statement, it is as though
Hezbollah is saying that it is against everything that took place, and is taking
place, since PM Hariri's assassination.
It is indubitable that the current crisis points out that the political solution
is out of reach. Siniora's cabinet cannot continue to put forth an internal
solution for the issue of Hezbollah's arms since the proposal is rejected by the
US. It also contradicts the objective of the International Community, which is
supporting it with respect to unveiling the truth about PM Hariri's
assassination. Hezbollah, on the other hand, cannot continue to keep pace with
Siniora's cabinet and be quiet about the hegemony of the "Future Bloc" over the
cabinet's decisions because the trend leads it to a hateful position locally and
regionally and stamps out its gains at the end. Thus, the political solution is
impossible without concessions, which cannot be borne by both parties. Thus, the
crisis is liable to enter a danger zone in the upcoming days. Hezbollah is
perfectly aware that some are trying to implicate it in an internal strife in
order to distort its image and thus justify striking it. Thus, it will fight to
avoid being dragged into the internal strife trap. This is why it resorted to
the protest method to express anger and display power. But taking it to the
streets in Lebanon is not like doing so in other countries, since arms are
readily available; hence replacing them with rods is not difficult. Thus,
resisting the aspiration of others to drag it into the internal strife trap will
continue to be subject to the stances of those others towards these arms. In
addition, the Secretary General of Hezbollah did not rule out the recourse to
force in order to defend these arms when he considered them to be tantamount to
"Honor". He said on Monday "We accept to be targeted in all matters: curses,
Syria, Iran, and the party, but the issue of the resistance arms is a
consecrated matter and our dearest ones were martyred for this cause. For us,
they stand for Honor and we cannot let anyone offend our Honor". On this basis,
the ongoing provocations of Walid Jumblatt or any other of the majority MPs
against the "Honor" of Hezbollah means that an internal clash is likely.
Lebanon is on the verge of a roaring crisis that may take it back to the war
era. The danger of this crisis stems from two factors. The first one is Syria's
withdrawal in this manner and its absence as a mediator between the Lebanese
parties. The Lebanese got used to its meddling in their internal crises,
preventing them from reaching beyond politics. The second factor is that it is
the first time in the history of modern Lebanon that a political confrontation
takes place between the Shiites and the Sunnis. If the problem between "the
Future Bloc" and "Hezbollah" took place before the current developments in the
region, it would have probably remained in its local political frame. However,
today, in light of the situation between the Sunnites and Shiites in Iraq, what
is taking place in Lebanon will not be isolated from the surrounding
developments.
In the past years, Lebanon paid the price of the sectarian standoff between the
Muslims and the Christians; the country lost thousands of its sons in a
blasphemous war. Today, it seems that Lebanon is getting ready to announce that
it is joining of a sectarian war between the Sunnis and the Shiites, stirred up
in Iraq. At this point, we should recall the ability of the late PM Rafik Hariri
to inhibit this tendency between the Muslims in Lebanon. But it seems that his
assassination in this horrific matter had very loathsome goals, chiefly making
the Sunnites enter the club of the Lebanese sects that tried out sectarian
clashes, turning them from a social class to a political sect.
ition Communist Labour Party.
Nassrallah: Syria has Nothing to do with Hariri’s
Assassination
Thursday, January 19, 2006 - 11:25 AM
Beirut, (SANA)-
Secretary General of the Lebanese Hizbullah party Hassan Nasrallah emphasized
Thursday that Syria has nothing to do with the crime that claimed the life of
Lebanese ex-premier Rafik al-Hariri, expressing astonishment for excluding
Israel from investigations. “Neither the Lebanese judiciary nor the UN committee
have ever make any investigation about the possibility that Israel is involved
in the assassination,” Nassrallah said in an interview published by London-based
paper al-Hayat.
He criticized dealing with Israel as the one that may cooperate in the UN probe
into the crime that slain Rafik al-Hariri, saying no one of those who have ties
with Israel and trained there or one of those who have expertise in explosives
and assassinations from there was arrested.
Hizbollah Secretary General Hassan Nassrallah underlined Wednesday that Syria’s
stance regarding the Lebanese national resistance is governed by strategic and
pan-Arab considerations and by the Arab-Israeli struggle.
In an interview broadcast by Lebanese satellite television New TV the Secretary
General said “Syria has stood by the resistance during its struggle with the
Israeli occupation since 1982, and has supported the resistance as well as the
Lebanese People to face the Israeli aggressions until the liberation the
greatest part of South Lebanon”.
“Syria has a strategic stance in the region … I don’t deny her role, her
alliance with the resistance or our friendship with her although that many
Lebanese pretended to have forgotten that there is an enemy called Israel which
is still targeting us and constituting a danger to the Lebanese people,”
Nasrallah said.
The Secretary General went on saying that the resistance considers Syria as a
strategic ally, stressing that relations with Syria is dominated by full
understanding.
Nassrallah emphasized that the resistance is not a militia, “US officials are
issuing dictations in Lebanon and the US tutelage is destroying any agreement
among the Lebanese,” he added, expressing rejection to any kind of foreign
custody upon Lebanon.
“Hizbollah is an ally to Syria … this alliance exists for strategic
considerations and not for personal advantages,” Nassrallah indicated.
As for tension between Hizbollah and Lebanese MP Walid Jumblat, he indicated
that Jumblat’s statements increase unrest in the Lebanese street, “he wants
Hizbollah to participate in his project which aims at toppling the Syrian
regime... how can I accuse Syria if I have no evidence,” he said.
Regarding demarcation boarders between Syria and Lebanon, the Secretary General
noted “ it is impossible to demarcate boarders in occupied Shebba farms under
the Israeli occupation in the absence of the two countries involved”.
Syria Frees 5 Political Activists
Released Opposition Leader to Create 'New Liberal Party'
By Rhonda Roumani
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, January 19, 2006; Page A15
DAMASCUS, Syria, Jan. 18 -- The government freed five prominent prisoners
Wednesday, including a former parliamentary leader and activist who quickly
announced that he would form a new political party in the hope of opening the
way for immediate democratic change.
Riad Seif, one of the country's boldest and most charismatic opposition figures,
was arrested in 2001 along with nine other activists in a crackdown on democracy
forums that emerged shortly after President Bashar Assad came to power in 2000.
The forums marked a period of ferment dubbed the Damascus Spring, in which
Syrians gathered freely for the first time in decades to demand greater
democracy and an end to corruption.
Riad Seif, a former parliamentary leader, was arrested in a 2001 crackdown on
democracy forums. (Mahmoud Tawil - AP)
On Wednesday, without advance notice, the government freed Seif along with
another parliament member, Mamoun Homsi, and opposition figures Walid Bunni,
Habib Issa and Fawaz Tello. Each had been sentenced to five years in prison for
violating the constitution and inciting sectarian strife. They were released
seven months before their terms ended.
"We have arrived at the point where we really have to change," Seif said after
his release. "There is no way to continue as it is now. We want to build, as
soon as possible, democracy in Syria, because that is the only way to save the
country and to avoid catastrophe."
The release of the activists was seen by many as an attempt to rally Syrians
behind a beleaguered government that has come under intense international
pressure over a U.N. investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese
prime minister Rafiq Hariri almost a year ago. Many Lebanese and other foreign
leaders have blamed Hariri's killing on Syria, which subsequently withdrew
thousands of troops that had been stationed in Lebanon since 1976.
Seif, 60, could become a unifying presence in Syria's fragmented political
opposition. In October, while in prison, he signed his name to the Damascus
Declaration, a statement released by various opposition figures, including
religious leaders, demanding broad democratic change. And unlike Vice President
Abdel Halim Khaddam, who announced this month that he would form an opposition
government-in-exile, Seif is not tainted by accusations of corruption but rather
is known on the streets of Damascus as an honest businessman who treats
employees with unusual generosity.
Several hours after his release, at his home in Sahnayya, a working-class
neighborhood outside Damascus, Seif said: "The Damascus Spring was a hope in our
movement toward democracy. They thought they killed this hope. They delayed it.
They made [the movement] stronger. Democracy is coming anyway."
In an adjacent room, about 30 family members and opposition figures -- many of
them former prisoners -- filed in to welcome Seif home. Phones rang nonstop as
family and friends called to hear whether the news was true and to offer
congratulations.
Apart from a few extra gray hairs, Seif did not look like someone just released
from Syria's infamous Adra prison, just outside of Damascus. He suggested that
perhaps prison time "was necessary for me to build myself up to be able to give
more to these people that I really love."
Seif said he and some friends have committed to forming a "new liberal party,"
which he hopes will attract young Syrians by being completely transparent.
Since 1963, Syria has been dominated by the Baath Party, which heads the
National Progressive Front, a coalition of nine other legal parties. In June, a
Baath Party congress recommended that the government adopt a law that would
allow creation of non-ethnic and non-religious political parties, but such a law
has yet to be passed.
Seif also stressed the need for Syria to mend ties with the rest of the world,
particularly the "nations that have technology and money."
"It is stupid to make enemies of them," said Seif, referring to the current
tensions between Syria and many Western countries. "We want to learn, and we
want our friends to help us build a nice and happy society.
"We want to involve as large a part of the society as possible in politics and
to let everybody understand that they must do something," Seif said. "I don't
think the Syrian government would like us to be successful. Of course, they will
try their best to stop what we are hoping to do. They don't have a free hand to
stop democracy. We cannot wait for the green light from the regime if they don't
wish for us to move toward democracy. We paid the price. We are willing to pay
more."
Ahmadinejad arrives in Damascus, Brammertz in Beirut
-19 January, 2006
The ‘Summit of the Banned’ is convened to show Syro-Iranian solidarity and
refusal of foreign interference. Mehlis’ successor in Lebanon is surrounded by
exceptional security measures.
Beirut (AsiaNews) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived today in
Damascus for what some have dubbed the ‘Summit of the Banned’. Today is also the
day in which Serge Brammertz arrives in Beirut to replaced Detlev Mehlis at the
helm of the United Nations commission of inquiry into the assassination of the
former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. But at UN headquarters, Syria
continues to claim its innocence. In the meantime, the United States has decided
to freeze all US assets of Syria’s military intelligence chief, Asef Shawkat,
who is also Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s brother-in-law. For the Bush
administration, Shawkat is one the masterminds of Syrian domination in Lebanon
and accuse him of playing a direct role in terrorism in Iraq.
In Damascus, Iranian President Ahmadinejad was received with the highest honours.
It is his first state visit.
Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that the Iranian president was welcomed
by Syrian President Assad, Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otri as well as the
ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Electricity, Transport, Petroleum and
Mineral Resources, Housing and Construction, Higher Education, Economy and
Trade. It said the two leaders had their first meeting but provide no
information as to what they discussed.
According to an official with the Office of the Iranian President cited by
Lebanonwire, the two-day visit is meant to show Assad solidarity and reach some
bilateral economic agreements.
Iran’s official news agency IRNA more simply reported that “President
Ahmadinejad is scheduled to confer with al-Assad on key bilateral, regional and
international issues.”
For its part, Lebanese daily L’Orient Le jour writes that the ‘Summit of the
Banned’ is designed “to show that their two countries will not allow themselves
to be intimidated by foreign pressures”. “We,” Ahmadinejad is quoted as saying,
“reject all foreign interference.”
Silence and exceptionally tight security measures surround the arrival,
announced for today, of Serge Brammertz, the Belgian prosecutor at the
International Court of Justice who is taking up the post at the helm of the
United Nations commission of inquiry left vacant by German judge Detlev Mehlis.
Damascus has launched a formal protest against a statement Mehlis reportedly
made in an interview with Arabic-language daily Asharq al-Awsat in which he said
he was certain that top officials in the Syrian government were involved in the
attack that killed Hariri. Instead, Syrian authorities have accused Mehlis of
using the media to exert partisan pressures.
In this noisy beehive of activities, sure sign of tensions, Lebanese Prime
Minister Fouad Siniora is travelling to Amman, Jordan, this Sunday to discuss
bilateral issues and regional security with his Jordanian counterpart Marouf
Bahkit.
Syria in the firestorm
By: Hassan Nafaa* Al Ahram
Abdel-Halim Khaddam, former vice president of the Syrian republic and a primary
staff member of the Syrian Baath regime for 40 years, suddenly appeared out of
oblivion to cast a bomb into the midst of the enflamed Middle Eastern arena.
Because a thick, rising smoke followed the explosion, obscuring all sides, it is
difficult to ascertain the losses or just what is taking place on the ground.
The most significant aspect is timing, for this moment came when Mehlis' report
seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
It is well known that the report took its first blow when several German
newspapers published an investigation that cast doubt on the credibility of one
of its witnesses, Muhammad Zuheir Al-Sadiq. This was quickly followed by another
blow, when a second witness, Hussam Hussam, the "masked witness," changed his
statements asserting that they had been extracted under the pressure of
blackmail and the temptation of bribery. Then Mehlis made the surprise of
resigning from the head of the team investigating the assassination of Rafik
Al-Hariri for "personal" reasons that failed to convince anyone. This gave the
impression that matters had begun to enter the market of political auctions and
that the door had opened to predictions on the fate of a process that had
lacked, from the beginning, the fundaments of neutrality, independence and
integrity required of any judicial investigation.
The appearance of Khaddam has upturned the case's given assumptions and pointed
everything in a different direction. The former deputy to the late President
Hafez Al-Assad no longer remains a mere "witness from his people" who possesses
important information that might benefit the investigation. Rather, he has
become party to a struggle over power and a possible alternative to a regime
whose change is being demanded. With this sudden and unexpected appearance, the
"Syrian crisis" entered a new stage that may be a repeat of the "Iraqi crisis"
shortly before the American invasion. It appears that what is required now is to
bring together the ranks of the Syrian opposition and drive it against Bashar
Al-Assad's regime to topple it. This is a dangerous development that might push
the entire region to the brink of disaster.
The danger of this development is that it helps to orient the controversy over
Syria away from consequences that might ensue with regards to stability in the
region. As previously took place with the division of Arab intellectual and
political elites over Saddam Hussein, when the dangers of a probable American
invasion of Iraq were forgotten or purposely overlooked, it is not at all
unlikely that this elite will be split again over its position on Syria. Dangers
that would certainly ensue from an attempt to topple Assad will be forgotten or
disregarded, even if an invasion or foreign military operation ensues. Should
that happen, it would have only one meaning -- the elite has not learnt or
comprehended anything and no longer has a clear national or pan- Arab plan. To
my mind, elites that cannot agree on requisite standards and precepts become
accomplices to and directly responsible for disasters that befall their
countries and the pan-Arab community as a whole. It follows that such an elite
is not worthy of the name it carries, deserving the curses directed at it by the
people. It is thus necessary that efforts to avoid such splits take first
priority.
No respectable observer can deny the despotic nature of a regime that depends on
the support of security agencies in safeguarding its policies. Though the Syrian
regime is not an exception, it cannot be considered the most despotic or
totalitarian Arab regime by global standards. All the regimes are shining, as
they say. It therefore seems to me that the concerned parties who define their
position on the crisis ensuing from the assassination of Al-Hariri on the basis
of, or with reference to, the Syrian regime's position on issues of democracy
and internal reform have no political or moral justification to do so. Yet
judging the extent of rightness or wrongness of these positions, from national
and pan-Arab perspectives, requires minute knowledge not only of their holders'
motivations but also of the actual or expected results that may ensue from such
positions and whose interest they would serve. These are the same standards by
which we should understand the intent and import of the position expressed by
Khaddam in his lengthy interview with Al-Arabiyya satellite television. What, we
may wonder, are the motivations and goals of this man, the probable results of
his positions, and who are the parties likely to benefit?
In my view, Khaddam's motivation is one of only two possibilities: an awakening
conscience or a desire for revenge. His motivation is either noble, if it proves
to be the former, or malicious, if it proves to be the latter. I bet on the
latter, for I consider it improbable that the position Khaddam put forth on Al-Arabiyya
was an expression of conscience. My reasons for this are many, most of which
revolve around the simple fact that a conscience capable of sleeping for 40
years, during which many serious and reprehensible crimes were committed, is in
fact a dead conscience that cannot possibly return to life suddenly on the
occasion of one crime, even of the scope of the assassination of Al-Hariri; that
is, unless this particular crime is tied to personal interests.
Whatever the case, it is difficult to precisely determine the true motivations
behind Khaddam's actions as long as the precise ends he seeks or thinks he can
gain remain unknown. Again, we find ourselves before one of two possibilities:
helping the international investigation committee to reveal those embroiled in
the assassination of Al-Hariri, or participating in finishing off a regime he
believes is on the edge of collapse and presenting himself as an alternative
ambitious for the seat of the presidency that he believes he was most deserving
of, even if that takes place under the spearhead of American lances. I expect it
to be the latter possibility for several reasons.
Firstly, it is unlikely that Khaddam possesses definite information about those
truly involved in the assassination of Al-Hariri, simply because he was
distanced from the real corridors of decision making in Syria even before the
difference over the extension of Emile Lahoud's term flared up. Secondly,
Khaddam decided to move rapidly from the position of an oppositionist
volunteering testimony to that of a critic split from the regime, clearly
announcing his desire for its downfall and appearing ready to participate in its
collapse. Finally, it seems that Khaddam was secretly interviewed by the Mehlis
team before he left Syria, making it possible that he was in fact the source of
much of the information -- attributed to an anonymous source -- in Mehlis' later
report. If this proves true it would serve as evidence that Khaddam had been
used since the beginning as an important link in a chain with the aim of
exploiting the Hariri case as a means of doing away with the regime of President
Bashar Al-Assad.
It initially appeared as though the Khaddam pawn was being orchestrated in a
final, decisive step that would end the chess game in the interest of the United
States and its allies. Yet the matter is not that simple. It is difficult to
imagine that Khaddam, a man who held the Lebanese file for many years during
which more than 30 assassinations claimed the lives of leading personalities
(among them two presidents, Bashir Gemayel and Rene Moawad, as well as the Druze
leader Kamal Jumblatt and Lebanon's mufti, Sheikh Hassan Khalid), would be the
winning card in the case of the assassination of Al-Hariri. It is only logical
that before the man provides information on an assassination that took place
during a period in which he was outside the political inner ring he be required,
morally and politically if not legally, to reveal the circumstances of all the
other assassinations. If the regime were found implicated, he, and not any other
person, would have to personally carry the political and criminal responsibility
for what had happened by virtue of his post and official responsibility at that
time.
In this context, Khaddam's statements and testimony may seem impaired and
lacking credibility. Despite this, his statements are capable of channelling
wind under the sail of the investigating committee, which may grow more
insistent on questioning President Assad himself. Such questioning, should it
take place, might lead the crisis into a new and critical stage in which the
United States, France and Israel would necessarily be the greatest
beneficiaries.
There remains another side to the picture that no analyst has given requisite
attention. The appearance of Khaddam in this manner on the region's political
stage does not benefit him on the personal level, raise his worth, or improve
his image among friends or enemies. Yet it has wrought damage to the Syrian
regime that is irreparable no matter how loud parliamentarians scream and accuse
Khaddam of being an agent and committing treachery. Regimes capable of embracing
personalities prepared to sell their homelands in this manner, despite the
honours reaped upon them over the decades, are not immune and lack the simplest
mechanisms of accountability to separate the wretched from the valuable at the
right time. The question is, how many personalities of this kind are crouching
in dark corners waiting for the appropriate moment to pounce on what remains of
the Syrian regime's credibility?
My interest in the Syrian regime has been, and remains, tied to its pan- Arab
position. I am concerned that Syria remains, both as a people and a state,
steadfast in the face of Zionist and American avarice, whose incompatibility
with the Syrian regime I well know has no relation, near or far, to issues of
democracy or the assassination of Al-Hariri.
* The writer is professor of political science at Cairo University.