LCCC NEWS BULLETIN JANUARY 23/20

LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
JANUARY 23/2006

Below news from Miscellaneous sources for 23.1.06
Lebanese Druze fear for their leader's life-monstersandcritics 23.1.06
Below News from the Daily Star for 23/1/06
Jordan advises all Lebanese to cooperate with UN probe
Jumblatt mocks Assad's speech to Bar Association
Security Council to discuss UNIFIL extension
Jumblatt: All parties sacrificed martyrs to free Lebanon
Hizbullah chief slams March 14 Forces
Army steps up security measures around Ain al-Hilweh
Lahoud to approve March 14 petition
Mofaz: Iran gives Hizbullah $100 million a year
Can Lebanon stay out of the regional fray?
Assad refuses to learn the lesson of accountability
Police on beaches, patriotism in schools aim to prevent racial riots in Sydney (AFP)

Fortieth day since Gebran Tueni's death commemorated
By Jessy Chahine -Daily Star staff
Monday, January 23, 2006
BEIRUT: A commemoration of the passing of 40 days since the assassination of Beirut MP Gebran Tueni was held Sunday at the St. Georges Cathedral in central Beirut. The ceremony was attended by several politicians, media representatives and diplomats, as well as the deceased's family, lead by media patriarch Ghassan Tueni. Also present were many of the late Tueni's An-Nahar newspaper colleagues. In his sermon, Beirut Archbishop Elias Aoude said "Gebran's sin was that he loved his country. He loved it enough to die for it."Gebran believed in the freedom of his country and he taught the youth how to fight for this freedom - with ideals and wisdom, not with blood and arms." The archbishop continued: "But now my question is: what kind of country deserves the death of so many men? A farm? A jungle? Or a solid nation?" MP Saad Hariri, in a statement, described Tueni as the "Independence Intifada's hero and freedom fighter." "The evil people who murdered Gebran Tueni are those same people who tried to kill Marwan Hamade in 2004 and who killed Rafik Hariri in 2005, along with Bassel Fleihan and then later on Samir Kassir and George Hawi," it read. "They also tried but failed to kill television anchor May Chidiac and Defense Minister Elias Murr," it added. "I strongly believe that those lame and cowardly people will end up being put on trial in front of an international court and get the punishment they deserve."
The commemoration of the passing of 40 days is a religious tradition whereby it is believed that on that day, the soul leaves the body and "goes to meet its creator." In the coming days, and in accordance with the Tueni family traditions, his body will be exhumed from the St. Dimitrios cemetery in Achrafieh and transferred to the Tueni mansion is Beit Mery, where he will be buried next to his late mother, brother and sister. Tueni, 48, and three others were killed on December 12, 2004 when a car bomb targeting the MP's vehicle exploded in a Beirut suburb, just hours after the MP returned from France. Tueni's assassination was the 13th such attack since the massive blast that killed former Premier Rafik Hariri in February 2004 and plunged Lebanon into chaos.

Security Council to discuss UNIFIL extension
By Leila Hatoum - Daily Star staff
Monday, January 23, 2006
BEIRUT: The Security Council will be meeting this Wednesday to discuss the mandate of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon, (UNIFIL), in light of UN chief Kofi Annan's recommendation that the Council extend the term for six months. In his report to the UN Security Council last week on UNIFIL for the period from July 22, 2005 until January 20, 2006, Annan said "a fragile political and security environment continues to prevail in Lebanon," and noted that the situation on the UN-demarcated Blue Line continues to witness numerous breaches.
Annan added that he had received a letter from the Lebanese government on January 9, through its charge d'affaires to the UN, requesting that the Security Council extend the mandate of UNIFIL for a further six months. "In light of the prevailing conditions in the area, I support the extension and recommend that the Security Council extend the mandate of UNIFIL until July 31, 2006," said Annan.
The mandate of UNIFIL is set to expire on January 31, 2006. It had been continuously extended since the force was established in 1978, with the most recent extension taking place in accordance with Resolution 1614, of July 29, 2005.
Also in his report, Annan criticized the Lebanese government's choice not to deploy its army in the South and to control breaches along the Blue Line made by Lebanese resistance group Hizbullah. He pointed to Hizbullah's attack last November, which led to a heavy exchange of fire with the Israeli Army, and warned that the rocket-firing incidents by unidentified armed elements last August and December carried significant potential for military escalation.
"The authority and control of the Lebanese government remained limited in the South, in general, and in the areas of the Blue Line, in particular," said Annan, adding: "My senior representatives in the region and I, in addition to a number of concerned Member States, called on numerous occasions on the Lebanese government to extend control over all its territory." "The Lebanese government continues to maintain its position that, without a comprehensive peace with Israel, Lebanese armed forces would not act as a border guard for Israel and would not be deployed along the Blue Line."
Yet Annan didn't slam Israel for the various violations it made to the Lebanese territorial and space sovereignty, but merely pointed that the Israeli breaches to Lebanese airspace disrupt the fragile calm. Annan also reiterated his call upon all parties to exercise "utmost restraint," to contribute to stability in the wider region. One high-ranking French diplomat in New York had told The Daily Star last month that extending UNIFIL's mandate will most likely be faced by "fierce opposition from the U.S. in the Security Council."
The clashes along the Blue Line "will make Lebanon's request to extend the mandate even harder," said the diplomat.
"The Lebanese government did not take any concrete steps to extend its authority in that part of the country and this will drive the U.S., encouraged by Lebanon's southern neighbor, to try to block extending UNIFIL's mandate. Their argument would be that the UN force is not keeping such incidents from taking place, and thus there is no need for it to continue operating," the diplomat added.
Ben Chang, a spokesperson for the U.S. Mission to the UN, had also told The Daily Star that his country was "worried about the situation on the ground. We are not happy with Lebanon's failure to comply with a number of resolutions calling on it to extend its authority to all Lebanese territories, including Resolution 1614 which extended UNIFIL's mandate." The French diplomat said: "France is quite open to renewing the mandate of the peacekeeping forces, but it also needs to see the Lebanese government taking some concrete steps to extend its authority over all its territories."
UNIFIL has lost 246 members since it began operating in 1978, the last of which was a French observing officer, killed by Israeli retaliatory fire on January 9, 2005, following a military operation by Hizbullah in the Lebanese sector of the Shebaa Farms.
- Additional reporting by Majdoline Hatoum

Jumblatt mocks Assad's speech to Bar Association
Nasrallah defends stance of Resistance
By Adnan El-Ghoul -Daily Star staff
Monday, January 23, 2006
BEIRUT: Leading March 14 Forces member MP Walid Jumblatt lashed out at Syrian President Bashar Assad Sunday, describing the latter's speech in front of the Arab Bar Association conference in Damascus as a "zajal (improvised poetry) party and a clown show." Meanwhile, Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered his own speech Sunday, defending the resistance against all allegations it was allied to Iran and Syria "at the expense of Lebanese interests."
"Those who dream of eliminating Hizbullah from the political scene are falling under a deep illusion," Nasrallah said. "We are deeply rooted in this country, more than some parties can imagine." Hizbullah is not a "gangster or a corrupt component of our society," he added. "To those who follow the dictates of the foreign powers, we say it is about time to name their actions clearly and expose their real stances regarding the country's sovereignty and independence."
A day earlier, Assad had said he was not concerned about Syrian-Lebanese relations because "the majority of the Lebanese were healing the wounds between the two countries." However, Jumblatt said: "Assad called our majority a casual occurrence that will not last for long. In fact, the Assad dynasty is the true intruder in Syrian society and will soon will overthrown."
Regarding the disputed Shebaa Farms, Assad said demarcating the border between Lebanon and Syria is an Israeli requirement that, rather than benefiting Lebanon or Syria, would only harm the resistance and serve Israel. He further said it was not Syria's responsibility to prove that the Shebaa Farms belonged to Lebanon. Jumblatt rejected Assad's explanation, accusing the Syrian president of contradicting his foreign minister, Farouq al-Sharaa, who acknowledged to Premier Fouad Siniora during last year's Barcelona Summit that the Shebaa Farms were Lebanese territory. "Damascus should provide a letter saying the Shebaa Farms are not part of its territory," Jumblatt said.
The March 14 follow-up committee will meet Tuesday to officially respond to Assad's speech, which, according to committee chief MP Elias Attallah, was an "unprecedented escalation in Syria's war against Lebanon." The Free Patriotic Movement did not comment on Assad's speech, but an information officer said that both the FPM and the Change and Reform bloc will meet Monday to discuss the speech and issue a response.
Assad said deteriorating relations between Syria and Lebanon were due to a "global plot" against the Arab world, adding the alleged attempts "are doomed to fail and will not prevent Syria from supporting Lebanon. Syria will always remain Lebanon's big sister." Several Tripoli MPs issued a statement rejecting Assad's renewed assault on Lebanon at a time when the president continues to speak of Arab initiatives to ease tensions between the two countries.
"Syrian diplomacy claims to be searching for ways to improve the deteriorating relations with Lebanon, while Assad is inciting some Lebanese groups to stir up internal strife," the MPs said. Assad claimed that the majority of Lebanese supported Syria and accused some anti-Syrian politicians of seeking to serve their own interests by bowing to foreign wishes, even if it led to Lebanon's destruction.
The Tripoli MPs said Assad had encouraged Hizbullah and Amal to "be suspicious" of the international team investigating former Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination. They further said they "were surprised that some Lebanese leaders could hear these stances and not reject them." Assad said the UN's probe into the Hariri assassination was determined to blame Syria, regardless of the facts. He vowed his regime would not bow to international pressure, and reaffirmed Syria was still willing to cooperate with investigators, but not at the expense of its national sovereignty.
Noting the irony of the situation, Atallah said "Assad is talking about his country's national sovereignty when his regime has been violating our sovereignty for decades." Batroun MP Butros Harb urged Syria to cooperate with the UN investigators to prove its innocence. "Any accused party would normally doubt the fairness of the investigating team," he said. "It is not strange that Assad would attack the team's reports as they indicated Syria murdered Hariri." Harb said he could not understand how the demarcation of borders could benefit Israel when all parties were demanding the move to legalize the resistance's efforts to liberate occupied territories from Israel. Regarding Assad's call for normalizing relations with Lebanon, Harb said: "We call on the Syrian president to work sincerely toward good relations by establishing diplomatic ties as normal countries do."

Mofaz: Iran gives Hizbullah $100 million a year
Israeli defense minister threatens use of force against lebanon
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Monday, January 23, 2006
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has claimed Hizbullah receives $100 million a year from Iran and accused the group of channeling some of these funds to Palestinian factions engaged in a violent confrontation with the Jewish state.
Speaking Saturday in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, Mofaz said: "Iran gives Hizbullah $100 million per year and part of this money goes to Palestinian terrorist groups." The minister also threatened to use force against Lebanon in case of an escalation along its northern border, Lebanese newspapers reported. "It is in Israel's interest to preserve the calm along its northern border but if the escalation continues then we will know how to respond," Mofaz was quoted as saying in An-Nahar newspaper.Hizbullah members were unavailable for comment.
The defense minister's comments came one day after he accused Iran and Syria of being behind a Palestinian suicide attack in Tel Aviv that wounded 19 Israelis. He said the attack was financed by Tehran, planned in Syria and carried out by Palestinians.
Mofaz described a meeting this week between Syria's Bashar Assad and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the "terror summit." During his Damascus visit the Iranian president also met Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the leader of 10 radical Palestinian factions including Islamic Jihad chief Abdullah Ramadan Shallah, whose faction claimed the Tel Aviv bombing. Hizbullah and its weapons have been firmly in the spotlight recently, coming under heavy fire from Lebanese and international figures - especially after its ministers suspended their participation in the government.
From a group linked to some of the worst violence of the 1980s, to a potent force and a mainstream political party, Hizbullah has managed to reinvent itself over the years and assure its survival as a strong player in Lebanon's complex politics.
But the resistance group may now be facing its greatest challenges because of the collapse of Syrian power in Lebanon and the political upheaval in a country trying to wean itself from decades of Syrian tutelage. Syria has been Hizbullah's prime backer.
An open and serious discussion is underway in Lebanon about the future of Hizbullah's weapons. The unanimous public support it gained in recent years is visibly declining.
Hizbullah was seen as the first Arab force to be able to militarily push Israeli troops out of Arab land, when the Israeli Army withdrew from Southern Lebanon.
And as the luster of that event fades, the group's national credentials and allegiance are being questioned by many among Lebanon's new anti-Syrian majority, who maintain the group serves the policies of Syria and Iran.
Internationally, a 2004 UN Security Council resolution demands that Hizbullah disarm.
Nevertheless, Hizbullah remains one of the main political forces in Lebanon. It has 11 legislators in the 128-member Parliament and the group - branded as a terrorist organization by the United States - has joined the Cabinet for the first time.
It's a far cry from the days of the 1980s when the group was accused of holding Western hostages and blowing up U.S. and French military targets in Beirut, killing hundreds. Since the Syrian troop withdrawal in April after nearly three decades of controlling Lebanon, Hizbullah has been seen by anti-Syrian politicians who now control the government as having one foot in Beirut and the other in Damascus. The anti-Syrian bloc worries that Hizbullah has become the Lebanese extension of an anti-U.S. regional front comprising allies Iran and Syria.
"Those who liberated the South from Israel must show allegiance to Lebanon," anti-Syrian politician Walid Jumblatt said recently, referring to Hizbullah's guerrilla war that succeeded in driving Israeli troops out of Lebanon in May 2000, ending an 18-year occupation. "We do not want to be in the middle of an axis that starts in the Mediterranean and ends in Tehran. We do not want to be a barricade for [Iran's] nuclear facilities," Jumblatt said. While it reluctantly supported an international investigation into Hariri's assassination, it has criticized the UN commission's work and has refused to back the Lebanese government's demand for an international tribunal in the case.
It also has rejected the disarmament of pro-Syrian Palestinian guerrillas, who maintain bases south of Beirut and in eastern Lebanon. When Cabinet on December 12, put to a vote the request for an international tribunal into Hariri's killing, overruling Hizbullah's objections, the five ministers representing Hizbullah and Amal, another allied Shiite group, walked out of the 24-member, half-Muslim, half-Christian Cabinet and have not returned, precipitating a political crisis.
It was unprecedented for Hizbullah, which built its reputation on fighting Israel, to be accused of treachery amid hints by Jumblatt that they may have had a hand in a series of bombings and assassinations of anti-Syrian politicians and journalists last year. Hizbullah has rejected the accusations, maintaining it was being attacked because it refuses to join in the campaign against Syria."Was their martyrdom to defend Syria and Iran? They were on Lebanon land fighting an enemy," Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said, referring to the hundreds killed fighting Israel in Lebanon. "Isn't it shameful to tell the families of the martyrs that your children had no allegiance to their nation?" The group's charismatic leader accused U.S. diplomats of scuttling Lebanese attempts to end the political standoff. In a lengthy television interview Wednesday, the cleric disclosed that he wanted the government - as a means of ending the crisis - to declare that "the resistance is not a militia" as a way to resolve the current crisis. Many in the government are wary of making such a statement because it would put Lebanon in direct confrontation with the United Nations.
Nasrallah said he was open to discussions on the future of Hizbullah's weapons, a potent arsenal of thousands of rockets that the group maintains it has created as a "balance of terror" in the border standoff with Israel.
Hizbullah says its weapons are deterrence against future attacks by Israel, which twice invaded Lebanon in 1978 and 1982. Since the Israeli withdrawal in 2000, Hizbullah has continued to fight Israel over a disputed patch of land on the border where Syria, Lebanon and Israel meet. "Our goal is how to protect Lebanon. Let us agree on a formula that protects Lebanon and we are ready to discuss the weapons," Nasrallah said. The simmering tensions between pro- and anti-Syrian camps in Lebanon came to a head-on confrontation earlier this month, when security forces clashed in Beirut with a small group of Hizbullah and other pro-Syrians protesting a U.S. envoy's visit. Seven policemen and four protesters were injured.
Defiantly, some thousands of demonstrators then staged a peaceful protest near the U.S. Embassy to press their demand for end to what they called U.S. meddling in Lebanese affairs. Ibrahim Bayram, an analyst with Lebanon's leading An-Nahar daily, said Hizbullah is searching for new game rules following the Syrian withdrawal. "Whether there is a Syrian agenda or not, whether there is an Iranian agenda or not, Hizbullah feels it is being sidelined and oppressed by the [anti-Syrian] majority," he said. Hizbullah may have common interests with Syria and Iran, but it is trying to distinguish itself from them and acquire a Lebanese agenda, he said.
"For them, it's a fight for survival and they are engaged in self-defense." - Agencies

Jordan advises all Lebanese to cooperate with UN probe
Daily Star staff - Monday, January 23, 2006
BEIRUT: Jordan's king advised the visiting Lebanese prime minister on Sunday that all parties should cooperate with an ongoing UN investigation into a Beirut assassination last year, the official Petra news agency reported. King Abdullah II's remarks come as a new head of the UN commission into the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri began work in Lebanon. Syria, already implicated in the probe, has been accused of not cooperating. Abdullah expressed to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora "his desire to see differences over the Hariri investigation resolved through negotiations," Petra said. He stressed the "importance of cooperation between all concerned parties with the UN investigators."
The probe has implicated Syrian security officials in Hariri's assassination last February in Beirut but Damascus has denied any involvement. UN investigators have pressed to interview Syrian President Bashar Assad and his foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, but the president has indicated in a speech made Saturday his rejection of the requests.
The issue has further strained relations between Lebanon and Syria, and between Syria and the West, and a number of Arab leaders have sought to mediate.
But, Siniora clarified from Amman that Jordan was not mediating between Syria and Lebanon. Last week, many Lebanese politicians, notably MP Walid Jumblatt and MP General Michel Aoun had criticized a Saudi initiative to defuse tensions between Beirut and Damascus. The tension between both countries is also amplified by Lebanon's demand that Syria demarcate its borders in the Shebaa Farms, an issue that was discussed Sunday between Abdullah and Siniora. Siniora said: "This demarcation of borders is a national operation and every piece of Arab land that is liberated from the Israeli occupation is an Arab victory and Lebanese victory." He added: "Consequently, this demarcation operation is nationalistic one because every inch of the Arab territories liberated from Israeli occupation is beneficial for the Arabs and for Lebanon."Siniora was met by al-Bakhit at Amman's Marka Military Airport and went straight to talks with the Jordanian monarch. In his one-day visit, Siniora is also expected to sign several trade, cultural and educational agreements to bolster relations between the two countries. At noon, Siniora presided over the Lebanese delegation in talks with the Jordanian delegation led by al-Bakhit within the framework of the Joint Lebanese-Jordanian Higher Committee. Upon his arrival to the Prime Minister's headquarters, Siniora was asked about his meeting with King Abdullah II. He said: "It was a positive opportunity to meet with His Royal Highness and we debated a number of issues pertaining to relations between Lebanon and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan."
"We also tackled issues that concern the citizens of Jordan and Lebanon and Arab issues that concern us in this phase."
Meanwhile, Speaker Nabih Berri met on Sunday with the new head of the international investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Serge Brammertz.
He also met with Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Margherita Boniver to discuss the disappearance of Imam Musa Sadr, who went missing nearly thirty years ago. Brammertz later met with President Emile Lahoud, who said he will provide him with all necessary assistance to facilitate the work of the committee. Brammertz said he will deploy all possible efforts to reveal the truth behind Hariri's assassination. - The Daily Star

Hizbullah chief slams March 14 Forces
'Ministerial statement violated'
By Karen Mneimne -Special to The Daily Star
Monday, January 23, 2006
BEIRUT: "What is left of the ministerial statement?" asked Hizbullah's Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, criticizing the parliamentary majority for failing to stand by their word. Speaking Sunday during a graduation ceremony of students at the Shahed Educational Complex on Airport Road, in Beirut's southern suburbs, Nasrallah criticized statements made recently by officials regarding the resistance and its weapons. In the presence of MP Salim Aoun and a delegation representing the Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun in the front row, Hizbullah's chief said: "While the ministerial statement considers Israel as the enemy, some parties say that Israel is no longer the enemy. So what is left of this statement?"
The Hizbullah leader slammed the March 14 Forces for asking the resistance to provide evidence of the Lebanese identity of the Shebaa Farms "again ignoring the ministerial statement, which recognizes these territories as Lebanese and calls for their liberation." Nasrallah voiced his support for the Free Patriotic Movement which is not participating in the government implying that dialogue can't take place without this party's participation.
"How can there be national dialogue when an entire movement is not represented in the government?" he asked. Nasrallah criticized the calls made to the Shiite ministers to end their boycott of the government based on the ministerial statement.
He said: "There are other solutions; I said earlier, let this government resign and have it replaced by a national unity government." He added that the majority refused his suggestions. "They don't want to form a new national government, because they assume that it will create the government where the third of its members can veto any majority vote and prevent the majority from passing any national decision." Nasrallah added that there are some parties that "want to impose their decisions on all of Lebanon and don't want partners." He said: "We can't be followers and can't be employees for anyone. We express the ideas and convictions of a broad faction of the people."
Concerning what was mentioned about the resistance in the ministerial statement, Nasrallah said: "The ministerial statement is clear about the resistance's mission and that it is there to confront the 'Israeli threats' and attacks - but it was added as an afterthought."
He criticized some partners in the government who had refused to mention "Israeli threats" in the texts but had later included the term. He said: "Ninety percent of the arguments focused on not including 'Israeli threats' but it was added in the ministerial statement." Nasrallah reiterated: "the resistance is not a military organization." He defined the resistance, specifically addressing all those who "black-list the resistance as a terrorist organization," saying it is a "civilized movement that belongs to the culture, history and hopes of this country and this nation."
Nasrallah said that if Lebanese want to build the country, "everybody should cooperate." He added "whoever dreams of removing Hizbullah from any position they hold, we have the willpower, strength and determination to disappoint their dreams." He added: "When the resistance feels that anyone is seriously working according to foreign dictations, we will tell them clearly to wake up from their dreams and conspiracies." Nasrallah added that any conspiracy being planned for any party in Lebanon "is a conspiracy against all Lebanon."

steps up security measures around Ain al-Hilweh
By Mohammed Zaatari - Daily Star staff
Monday, January 23, 2006
SIDON: The army stepped up its security measures outside the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Sidon over the weekend following several attacks on its bases in the area. Hundreds of cars sat in long queues at the camp's four main entrances and at the pedestrian entrance, with all passers undergoing a thorough inspection. Each vehicle's passengers were also subjected to a search. The increased measures come after repeated attacks on the military checkpoints, the latest of which saw unidentified assailants toss a stick of dynamite at one of the bases outside the camp last Thursday. Over the previous weekend, a grenade exploded near a checkpoint at the camp's western entrance. The Daily Star toured the area on Sunday, where the intensive inspections meant each car was held for around minutes at each checkpoint.
Residents of the Taamir area, a neighborhood located just outside the camp's southwest entrance, were also affected by the security measures. Due to the location of the army checkpoints, the area's residents have also been subjected to searches. Mustafa Masri, a local grocer, said: "The Palestinians should surrender the wanted suspects. The army soldiers are not puppets and their bases are not fields where grenades can be thrown anytime. We call on the officials of the camp to do something for them and for us."Sidon MP Osama Saad was "very worried" about the area's recent incidents of violence. "Everybody should be assuming responsibility at this moment," he said. "And we as officials should tackle this situation." The army has requested that officials in Ain al-Hilweh surrender two people suspected of being behind Thursday's incident. The two men have been identified as Mohammad Fida and Mohammad Mubarak.
Security sources in the camp said Mubarak had been wounded in an undisclosed incident and escaped to Iraq a month ago. However, the army is confident Mubarak is still inside the camp. A special committee from the camp has questioned Fida and taken his statement. According to sources, Fida denied being in the area at the time of the attack, saying he was "at home with friends."The Daily Star also learned that Fida is wanted by Lebanese authorities, with an outstanding arrest warrant pending on security related charges. Sources said: "Even if the army probe proves he wasn't responsible for throwing the explosive, he will be imprisoned by virtue of the old warrant."According to Abu Hamad Fadel, a Hamas representative in Ain al-Hilweh, "The follow-up committee is expected to meet Sunday and results will be discussed with South Lebanon's military intelligence chief, Colonel Abbas Ibrahim."The Daily Star later learned from security sources that the meeting was not held because "the committee wasn't able to reach a decision on whether to surrender the suspects or not."

Lahoud to approve March 14 petition
President will sign the decree calling for extraordinary 'dialogue' Session
By Raed El Rafei -Daily Star staff
Monday, January 23, 2006
BEIRUT: Despite positive signs which sprang from Premier Fouad Siniora's meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday regarding "a happy ending" to the Shiite ministers' boycott of Cabinet sessions, the government crisis remained at a standstill on Sunday. But late Sunday, sources at Baabda Palace told The Daily Star that President Emile Lahoud would sign the petition for an extraordinary Parliamentary session that the March 14 forces had requested for dialogue.
The source said: "Following a phone call between Berri and Lahoud, the president said he would approve the petition Monday, when Siniora sends it to him." Then the extraordinary session will open from Monday until March 25 - for three months.
A member of Berri's parliamentary bloc had earlier said to The Daily Star Sunday that the Shiite ministers will not return to the Cabinet anytime soon, and that "no national dialogue" is expected to be launched before their return. MP Ali Hassan Khalil said Berri and Siniora's meeting "kept the doors for discussion open, but did not reach any concrete solutions" regarding the disagreement between Amal and Hizbullah and the majority in the Cabinet.Khalil said the cause of the dispute remained the main obstacle since the boycott of the Shiite ministers began nearly six weeks ago, stressing that "major decisions cannot be taken in the Cabinet without the Shiite ministers' approval and full participation."
The MP said he did not expect the Shiite ministers to return to the Cabinet this week, blaming the majority for not responding positively to Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's "call for reassuring the resistance.""Admitting officially that the resistance is not a militia will solve the major problem behind the dispute," he said. Earlier on Saturday, Berri and Siniora released a joint statement saying they had "discussed finding a happy ending to the ministerial crisis."The statement said the two leaders agreed on "disregarding statements made by politicians through the media which reflect an atmosphere of pessimism." Commenting on Berri's call to launch a national dialogue in Parliament over a month ago, the March 14 Forces addressed a series of questions to the speaker, asking him about the details on its mechanisms, framework and topics of discussion.
Following a coalition meeting Saturday, the March 14 Forces criticized "the duality" of the Shiite ministers who, despite their boycott of the Cabinet sessions, continue to manage ministerial affairs on a daily basis. The Forces said the Hizbullah and Amal ministers were remaining in the government without assuming their political responsibilities.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra said Berri could not be the sponsor of a national dialogue, adding the speaker's visit to Syria to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proved he had taken sides in the standoff. Future Movement MP Beshara Merhej told The Daily Star on Sunday that "in order to solve the government crisis, one should tackle the issue of establishing an international court into the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, which is at the origin of the Shiite ministers' boycott."
He added that, within weeks, the UN will be sending a committee to Lebanon to discuss the framework of the international court, adding that all parties will participate in deciding the framework of this court. Meanwhile, Hizbullah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan said that while the political stalemate is "aggravating," Hizbullah remained open to dialogue "on all topics, including the re-turn of the Shiite ministers to the government." Hassan accused some parties of trying to "abort the dialogue, as they thwarted agreements reached in Saudi Arabia." The MP's comments were an implicit referral to MP Walid Jumblatt, who has been accused by the Shiite bloc of hampering alleged agreements made between Berri, MP Saad Hariri and Siniora.

Lebanese Druze fear for their leader's life
By Weedah Hamzah Jan 22, 2006,
Lebanese demonstrators hold up placards accusing Lebanese Druze leader Walid Junblatt to be a traitor in Arabic language during a rally in Awkar on Tuesday, 17 January 2006. Supporters of the militant Hezbollah group and other pro-Syrian parties gathered outside the US embassy on Tuesday to protest against the USA's interference into Lebanese affairs.
EPA/NABIL MOUNZER Mukhatara, Lebanon - 'If Walid Jumblatt is killed, I will drink poison and die because I'd rather die than live to bear the grief,' said a Druze woman referring to the prominent Lebanese opposition politician and Druze leader.
Jumblatt's name tops a hit list that has been circulated in Lebanon for months, and which includes other anti-Syrian opposition leaders considered possible targets for attack by Syrian security services or their agents in Lebanon.
Since former premier Lebanese Rafik Hariri was assassinated last year in a massive car bombing in Beirut, Lebanon has been rocked by a succession of blasts, which have killed several anti-Syrian politicians and journalists.
'If Jumblatt is killed, I will wrap a dynamite belt around me and head to the presidential palace in Damascus to take revenge,' another Druze woman said angrily.
The Druze, an offshoot of Islam, represent about ten percent of Lebanon's population. Jumblatt became Syria's enemy when he led calls for the departure of Syrian troops from Lebanon following the assassination of Hariri, his friend and close ally.
'The Syrian thought that some of their past allies, like me, would defend them,' Jumblatt told aides at his 19th century Mukhtara Palace, 54 kilometres south-east of Beirut.
For nearly a year now, Jumblatt has been confined to his stronghold in the Chouf mountains, where he is guarded by his supporters and members of his Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).
'We are not sleeping and are only guarding our leader's palace around the clock because we fear for his life,' said one of Jumblatt's guards requesting anonymity. Despite the tight security, Jumblatt has continued to receive thousands of supporters who converge on his residence at the weekend to express their solidarity. 'I usually go up to Mukhtara to see our leader and listen to what he tells us,' said a Jumblatt supporter who only identified himself as Imad. Jumblatt, whose father Kamal Jumblatt was thought to have been killed by Syria in 1976, was a close ally of Syria during the 1975- 1990 civil war, but says he is 'fed up' and that, for the first time since his father's death, he can sleep with a 'free conscience.'
Jumblatt's father openly opposed the policies of the late Syrian President Hafez Assad. Walid took over the leadership of the Druze community and of the PSP after his father's death. Jumblatt insists he knew the Syrians were behind his father's assassination, but that, since the Druze were a minority, he believed he needed to align himself with Syria - then the main powerbroker in Lebanon. Jumblatt's row with Syria erupted in September 2004 over the decision by Damascus to extend by three years the term of pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. Relations worsened when Rafik Hariri was killed along with 20 others in February 2005.
Jumblatt led the so-called 'Cedar Revolution', which was instrumental in bringing about the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon last April after almost three decades. 'The Syrians will not forgive Jumblatt,' said one of his close aides. 'They are after him because they know he was a major force behind them leaving Lebanon.' 'Jumblatt has received direct threats from the Syrians. They (Syrians) think they can kill Jumblatt and continue talks with his son, Taymour, as they did when they killed his father,' the aide added on condition of anonymity.
'But we will stay up night and day to protect him,' he insisted.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Lebanon's PM, Jordan's King discuss Hariri probe
By JPOST.COM STAFF
22/1/06: Jordan's king advised the visiting Lebanese prime minister on Sunday that all parties should cooperate with an ongoing UN investigation into a Beirut assassination last year, the official Petra news agency reported.
King Abdullah II's remarks come as a new head of the UN commission into the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri began work in Lebanon. Syria, already implicated in the probe, has been accused of not cooperating.
Abdullah expressed to Prime Minister Fuad Saniora "his desire to see differences over the Hariri investigation resolved through negotiations," Petra said. He stressed the "importance of cooperation between all concerned parties with the UN investigators."
The probe has implicated Syrian security officials in Hariri's assassination last February in Beirut but Damascus has denied any involvement. UN investigators have pressed to interview Syrian President Bashar Assad and his foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, though the president has indicated he would reject the requests.

Lebanese Prime Minister arrives in Amman
Amman, Jan. 22 (BNA) Lebanese Prime minister Fouad Al Siniora arrived in Amman on Sunday accompanied by a senior delegation for a one day visit to Amman During the visit, Siniora will meet with King Abdullah II.
The Lebanese prime minister will hold talks with prime minister Ma'rouf Al Bakhit on bilateral relations and the situation in the region. Bakhit and Siniora will head the meetings of the joint Jordanian- Lebanese higher committee during which many cooperation agreements will be signed.

Syria Remains Defiant Over Hariri Inquiry
From Associated Press- DAMASCUS, Syria — President Bashar Assad indicated Saturday that he was rejecting a second request by U.N. investigators to interview him about the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, declaring that Syria would not bow to international pressure. Assad's uncompromising stance against the United Nations was certain to further heighten tension with the United States and complicate the seven-month inquiry into the Feb. 14 bombing that killed Rafik Hariri and 22 others on a Beirut street.
"We should not give up our national sovereignty even if the circumstance requires that we fight for our country. We must be prepared for that," Assad said. The U.N. commission investigating Hariri's assassination has implicated top Lebanese and Syrian security officials. Syria rejected the findings and tried to discredit commission witnesses.
In a speech to the Arab Lawyers Union, however, Assad pledged to cooperate with the inquiry. The U.N. has said Syria has not been forthcoming. "We will continue to cooperate with the investigation currently and in the future in order to find the truth," he said. The assassination led to international pressure that forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after decades of political and military control.

Syria in the United States' Crosshairs
By: Reuven Kaminer
2006 / 01 / 22
The truth is that there are no reasons to be enthusiastic about the internal regime in Syria. Even so, it would be the height of naiveté to believe that this country has moved into the crosshairs of the United States because of its poor record on human rights. The plain fact is that the United States, which has quite a few problems in the region, is busy organizing a list of guilty parties on whom blame can be shifted. From the very moment that Syria refused to join Bush’s crusade to Baghdad, Washington began to prepare the indictment against it amidst growing threats to the government and the sovereignty of Syria.
Here are some of the crimes for which Syria must supposedly answer. Syria did not close the border between it and Iraq. Syria permits and even encourages passage through it by terrorists who are joining the insurgents in Iraq. Syria hosts and even welcomes refugees from Iraq who are on the U.S. intelligence “wanted list.” Then, as a matter of pure coincidence, the orange flag of the fake U.S.-sponsored "democratic revolution" in Kiev is transported to the heart of Beirut. At this point we learn that it is Syria, Lebanon’s neighbor, which has blocked the triumph of democracy in Lebanon. According to Washington, Damascus is to blame for all this and more.
If representatives of the Syrian regime are even partially to blame for the assassination of the former president of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri, they must be severely condemned. However, the investigation is far from being over. But, without in any way condoning any kind of political assassination, one must retain a sense of proportion. This form of specious politics has been around quite a while and the United States has its own shoddy record in this department. Political assassination is immoral and usually counter-productive. But in this region, including Lebanon, it did not begin with Hariri's murder.
No reliable source has accused Syria of producing or harboring weapons of mass destruction, and not even Washington has taken this track. Nor has anyone produced a shred of evidence of any connection between al Qaida and the ruling Ba’ath party in Syria. In these circumstances, there is simply no way that Washington can mobilize the United Nations for intervention. It may be a matter for an International Tribunal but it is not an issue for the Security Council.
It is safe to say that there is no expectation of a U.S. military ground action in the near future. This is not because Bush wouldn’t love to do something of the sort. He would if he could, but he can't. The U.S. Army is tied down and bleeding in Iraq. Every day, the U.S. generals pronounce more successes and every day the United States sinks deeper into the Mesopotamian mud. But let us not have any illusions. There are still plenty of methods and means in the U.S. arsenal to create tension and to prepare actions against the Syrians. For now, the U.S. is aiming its propaganda weaponry against Syria with increasing intensity.
The Israeli media, with a long history in the service of Israeli imperial ambitions in Lebanon, have already convicted Syria for the death of Hariri. The very same media, which backed Begin and Sharon to the hilt when they invaded Lebanon in 1982, are now preparing the ground for another contest in Lebanon with Syria.
The roots of Lebanese dependency on Syria stem from the Israeli-Maronite threat against the sovereignty of Lebanon. This may be the reason that there still is a mass base in Lebanon supporting a close alliance with Syria, existing along side a strong opposition to Syrian hegemony. Lebanese leaders should be left to work out the delicate checks and balances necessary for the existence of a united and democratic Lebanon. U.S. interference, either directly as in the Iraq model or via a military face off between Israel and Syria, is the perfect prescription for the disintegration of Lebanon.
Sharon is Ready and Willing
Sharon, who installed Falangist leader, Pierre Jumayil, as the short-lived puppet ruler of Lebanon back in 1982, is ready and willing to precipitate a clash with Syria where Israel can appear, once again, as the defender of Lebanese democracy and freedom. Israeli rulers have generally seen any chance to actively serve U.S. imperial interests as the best way to stay on the good side of the U.S. administration, and at the same time, prevent Washington from getting any ideas about acting in fair-handed manner towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
So, we learn, there is a reason that tensions around the Israeli-Syrian-Lebanon conflict are kept simmering. The Israeli-Lebanese border can erupt, or be made to erupt, any minute. There are any number of forces and groups capable of igniting provocations from both sides of the border. Israel has a standing request in Washington for permission to attack "terrorist organizations" in Damascus. At this point, the United States and Israel are energetically involved in trying to isolate Syria. The obstacles to direct U.S. or United Nations intervention are such that Washington is looking at other options. This is the reason that there is growing concern about United States political backing for a new round of Israeli adventurism.
Concern Among Palestinian Arabs in Israel
Intense solidarity with Syria was expressed at a recent mass meeting sponsored by all the major groups and parties represented in the Arab Palestinian population last week in Nazareth. The Palestinians, as a community endangered directly by rising military tension, are the first to express concern when Washington and Jerusalem begin to beat the drums of war. Many in Israeli were taken aback at this display of "pro-Syrian" unity. But for those imprisoned in the impoverished discourse of establishment politics in this country, it is all too easy to forget foundational truths. The United States-Israeli strategic and political partnership is the basis for the continued suffering of the Palestinian people and for its history of misery, expulsion and brutal occupation. One does not need an excellent memory to become concerned when increased evidence indicates that this "holy partnership" is back to plotting for the imposition of more “democracy” in the region. We might, all of us, learn from Palestinian sensitivity.

Kidnappers, past and future General Aoun’s free license
Haya Bena 22.1.06: "As I was in a position of responsibility when foreigners were being kidnapped, I can say none of them were tourists and definitely not saints"
General Michel Aoun, Friday January 20th þ 2006, New TV broadcast.
Over ten years have passed since the kidnapping of foreign citizens in Lebanon has stopped (or has been suspended!). So far, no one has publicly pointed a finger at those responsible for these deeds. The perpetrators, who are known by all, are not confronted, perhaps for the sake of national unity, and the inheritors of their legacy are understandably indirect and uneasy when commenting on the issue [1].
A couple days ago, the General in civilian dress, Michel Aoun, His Excellency the former Prime Minister, was the speaker at a rally in his role as the “Supreme Guide” of the Free Patriotic Movement. The General addressed an array of current problems and pronounced his opinions, or fatwa, on all of them.
His speech encompassed, among other issues, the crisis caused by the refusal of the Shiite ministers to attend cabinet meetings and, at one point, he made a lengthily comparison between Hizbollah and his own movement. He went on to state his position on kidnappings that occurred in the 1980's while he held his post as a high-ranking officer in the Lebanese Army. Shockingly, he proclaimed the innocence of the kidnappers and executioners based on his premise that these foreign citizens were neither "tourists” nor “saints," implying they were agents who deserved the punishments meted out to them, and possibly more.
ENOUGH, Mr. General!
Stop, think, and, reconsider what you said, for we do not believe that you could be oblivious to the dimensions and consequences of what you uttered. What you proclaimed, Mr. General, to please your new friends in the Dahiyeh and what you may have considered in a moment of unsoundness as a mere, rhetorical courtesy is, in fact, not only a absolution for those perpetrators, but a free license for would-be kidnappers of foreigners — from the Philippines to Iraq — that you must bear responsibility for.
Mr. General, stop, think, and reconsider what you said. Make an effort to reassess what you said to your public coming from Tannourine in the garden of your Rabieh residence, then, try to recall the details surrounding the release of the kidnapped (the negotiations in Tehran and the release of many of them in Damascus).
ENOUGH, Mr. General!
Stop, think, and apologize. Apologize to the Lebanese whose memories and intelligence you treat lightly after, of course, apologizing to those who were hostages here amongst us and to the families of the deceased…