LCCC ENGLISH
DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
July 16/07
Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus
Christ according to Saint Luke 10,25-37. There was a scholar of the law who
stood up to test him and said, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal
life?"Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" He
said in reply, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all
your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as
yourself." He replied to him, "You have answered correctly; do this and you will
live." But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is
my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from
Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him
half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he
passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he
saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who
came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim,
poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on
his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. The next day he took out
two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care
of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my
way back.' Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers'
victim?" He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy." Jesus said to him,
"Go and do likewise."
Opinions
Hezbollah’s Delusional. By: Elias Bejjani.
American Chronicle. July 16/07
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources
for July 16/07
Leaders Meeting in Saint Cloud to Resume Dialogue in
Lebanon-Naharnet
Army Makes 'Major' Gains
in Camp, Militants Retaliate Firing Katyushas-Naharnet
Fairuz's shimmering visions of Lebanon-Los
Angeles Times
Ice Breaking Talks Begin in Paris with Iranian 'Approval'-Naharnet
Lebanese factions hold second day-France24
Paris-Hosted Lebanon
Dialogue 'Kowtowing' to Hizbullah, Analysis
Islamist killed in south Lebanon; battles in north-Reuters
Militants Fire Katyushas in Retaliation for Army
Bombardment-Naharnet
Lebanese leaders open talks in France on political crisis-Boston
Globe
Lebanon's 14 feuding factions meet for talks outside Paris-International
Herald Tribune
Lebanese politico lives in dangerous shadow of Syria-San
Francisco Chronicle
Report: Saudis are primary Iraq jihadists-Houston
Chronicle
John Edwards seeks help from Iran, Syria in stabilizing Iraq-International
Herald Tribune
Israel to 'kidnap Hezbollah officials'-PRESS
TV
Who needs war in the Middle East?Tehran
Times
Leaders Meeting in
Saint-Cloud to Resume Dialogue in Lebanon
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Sunday that rival Lebanese
politicians meeting in Saint-Cloud will resume dialogue in Lebanon.
Kouchner said he would travel to Beirut on July 28 to build on "the progress of
the dialogue that has started here in La Celle Saint-Cloud," a Paris suburb
where 30 politicians from 14 factions took part in the closed-door weekend
talks. The Lebanon conference brought together members of the pro-government of
Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and of the pro-Syrian opposition led by Hizbullah,
which fought a war with Israel last year and is branded a terrorist group by the
United States.
Kouchner said he would spend "at least two days" in Beirut to try to ease eight
months of deadlock since pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet, triggering the
worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. The daily Al Hayat said Sunday that
the Saint-Cloud talks were approved by Iran.
It quoted Mohammed Rida Shibani, Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, as informing
House Speaker Nabih Berri about "joint French-Iranian efforts" as well as "joint
Iranian-Saudi efforts" to find a way out of the political crisis. Al Hayat also
quoted Iran's ambassador to France, Ali Ahani, as saying that Tehran had helped
get the Lebanon dialogue underway in Paris. Ahani told al Hayat at a ceremony
commemorating France's National Day at the Elysee Palace garden that Iran was
looking forward to the convening of Lebanon's presidential elections on time.
Ahani assured that Tehran does not advocate the emergence of two governments or
seeing the situation further deteriorating in Lebanon.
Fears are running high that the situation could worsen ahead of the election by
parliament in late September of a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.
President Nicolas Sarkozy caused a stir ahead of the talks when he told family
members of three kidnapped Israeli soldiers earlier this month that his "goal
was that Hizbullah renounces the use of terrorism and becomes once again a
political party like the others and part of parliamentary democracy," according
to spokesman David Martinon. But he later clarified his statement, saying that
France was not considering designating Hizbullah a terrorist group and that it
was an important political player in Lebanon. As Kouchner hosted talks in the
Paris region, Defence Minister Herve Morin paid a visit to troops serving in the
U.N. force in southern Lebanon and asserted that France "will always stand by
the legitimate government of Lebanon" led by Saniora. Some 1,650 French troops
are serving in the U.N. force in south Lebanon. Kouchner's visit will be his
second to Lebanon since his appointment in May, underscoring France's commitment
to restoring stability to its closest ally in the Middle East. The foreign
minister said that he had raised the fate of two kidnapped Israeli soldiers with
Hizbullah and that he was told they were still alive.
"I received the assurance that the negotiations (for their release) are
continuing, that they are on the right track, in particular with the United
Nations," he said.
He was referring to Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were captured by
Hizbullah on July 12, 2006.(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 15 Jul 07, 08:29
Ice
Breaking Talks Begin in Paris with Iranian 'Approval'
Lebanon's rival politicians were holding a second day of talks in a French
chateau in an effort to ease the months-long political deadlock that has plunged
the country into its worst crisis since the end of the1975-1990 civil war.
Around 30 second-tier leaders from 14 political factions and civic groups took
part in the closed-door meeting which began Saturday in La Celle-Saint Cloud, on
the western fringe of Paris.
Hizbullah representatives also attended the talks which were reportedly approved
by Iran, according to the daily Al-Hayat on Sunday. Hizbullah sent a delegation
despite complaints from French Jewish groups who have branded the group a
terrorist organization, in line with the United States. Al Hayat quoted Mohammed
Rida Shibani, Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, as informing House Speaker Nabih
Berri about "joint French-Iranian efforts" as well as "joint Iranian-Saudi
efforts" to find a way out of the political crisis. It also quoted Iran's
ambassador to France, Ali Ahani, as saying that Tehran had helped get the
Lebanon dialogue underway in Paris. Ahani told al Hayat at a ceremony
commemorating France's National Day at the Elysee Palace garden that Iran was
looking forward to the convening of Lebanon's presidential elections on time. It
quoted Ahani as assuring that Tehran does not advocate the emergence of two
governments or seeing the situation further deteriorating in Lebanon. Many in
Lebanon fear that the situation could further worsen if no deal is struck before
the election by the House in late September of a successor to pro-Syrian
President Emile Lahoud. The meeting is expected to end with a news conference to
be held on Sunday evening. Meanwhile, Druze warlord Walid Jumblat met with Saudi
Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal in Jedda. Al Hayat said the talks focused on the
situation in the battered Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared as well as
Lebanon's security, economic and social conditions. Beirut, 15 Jul 07, 08:29
Militants Fire Katyushas in
Retaliation for Army Bombardment
Fatah al-Islam militants fired volleys of Katyusha rockets into north Lebanon's
Akkar province on Sunday in apparent retaliation for the army's shelling of
terrorist hideouts inside the battered Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. The state-run
National News Agency said at least 11 rockets landed in fields of various
regions of Akkar, particularly in Tal Hayat, Tal Sabaal and Qaabrine, about
seven kilometers northeast of Nahr al-Bared.
A military spokesman said a soldier was killed on Sunday as the Lebanese army
battled for the eighth week to crush Fatah al-Islam extremists holding out in a
small enclave on the southern tip of Nahr al-Bared. "The army continues to work
in Nahr al-Bared and tighten the noose on the gunmen in order to force them to
surrender," he said. Soldiers exchanged machine gun fire with militants making a
last stand in the camp, which came under sporadic bombardment on Sunday, an AFP
correspondent said. As artillery and tanks blasted the camp, the military said
elite troops had seized control of a number of buildings and Islamist positions,
while army engineers cleared mines and demolished barriers. Explosives planted
by Fatah al-Islam in a building blew up as an army patrol was inside on
Saturday, an army spokesman said. "We retrieved two soldiers alive and we are
still searching the rubble of the building," parts of which collapsed in the
explosion, he said on Sunday.
The army closed in on Fatah al-Islam positions in the camp on Saturday following
two days of heavy fighting in which 11 soldiers were killed.
An army spokesman said the Al-Qaida-inspired Fatah al-Islam now only controlled
an area 300 meters by 600 meters on a small hill inside the camp, left in ruins
by the bloodiest internal battles since the civil war. Fatah al-Islam fired
eight Katyusha rockets which struck outside the camp on Saturday, a day after
launching 18 others. The attacks did not cause casualties, according to the
army.
At least 185 people have been killed since the fighting erupted on May 20. The
dead include 96 soldiers and at least 68 Islamists. The clashes began when the
militants killed 27 soldiers around Nahr al-Bared and in the nearby
Mediterranean port city of Tripoli. The government has vowed to wipe out Fatah
al-Islam, a shadowy band which first surfaced in the camp late last year and
includes extremists of various Arab nationalities. About 80 remaining Fatah
al-Islam fighters are being supported by dozens of pro-Syrian Palestinian
militants, according to one Palestinian source, citing evacuated activists.
Apart from the fighters and their families, only a small number of civilians are
believed to remain in the camp, whose estimated 30,000 residents have fled in
several waves since the fighting began. Four days after a major evacuation of
civilians and militants of various Palestinian factions, an ambulance of the
Palestine Red Crescent entered Nahr al-Bared on Sunday to evacuate the head of
the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in the camp,
Abu Nabil. In another Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, an Islamist
militant suspected of involvement in the May 7 killing of two members of the
mainstream Fatah movement was shot dead on Sunday, Palestinian sources
said.(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 15 Jul 07, 14:14
Paris-Hosted Lebanon Dialogue
'Kowtowing' to Hizbullah, Analysis
It looks like the Israeli dilemma of whether Hizbullah emerged from last
summer's war strengthened or weakened has been resolved by France, according to
an analysis by the Israeli daily Haaretz. It said this was the first time that
Hizbullah has been invited to France as a political entity equal to the other
factions, for a meeting aimed at ending the worst political crisis in Lebanon.
To everyone participating in this meeting, Hizbullah's political power is clear,
Haaretz said.
So clear, in fact, that the French president's special envoy, Jean Claude
Cousseran, traveled specially to Tehran on Wednesday for the second time in 10
days, to persuade Iran to soften Nasrallah's stance on the issue of forming a
national unity government in Lebanon, Haaretz added.
It said Nasrallah, thereby, not only became Iran's representative in Lebanon,
but also introduced Iran as an active partner in the political process, not only
the military one, and gave it standing that Tehran will be able to exploit in
discussions with France on other issues such as nuclear power and the future of
Iraq.
Hizbullah's status has also made Saudi Arabia realize that it must cooperate
with Iran on the matter of Lebanon, the analysis went on.
Thus, it said, the two countries conveyed to the Lebanese parties suggestions
for a solution that might get political life out of the deep freeze into which
it sank after the war. Beirut, 15 Jul 07, 11:44
Fairuz's shimmering visions
of Lebanon
No matter where she performs, this singer brings home a message of hope.
By Raed Rafei, Special to The Times
July 15, 2007
Athens — MY memories are impregnated with sounds. First comes the noise of my
childhood nights punctuated with the rumble of generators. And then there are
the serene melodies of my mornings marked by the voice of one diva, Fairuz,
singing from my mother's radio. It was a time of civil war. There were frequent
power blackouts at home. Outside, the country was fractured. The news was often
of assassinations and car bombs. Yet one singer brought us all together with her
quaint songs of love and peace. Her words were as pure as her voice, always
provoking an angelic smile on my mother's anxious face. Today, 17 years after
the end of the war, we are sadly watching our country lie at the precipices of
chaos. And for many of us, the music of Fairuz is again the haven that preserves
our idealistic vision of Lebanon.
It seemed utterly strange that I had to run away from Beirut and come to Athens
for the first time to relish another moment with Fairuz on stage. Last weekend,
beneath the Acropolis, at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, the lights were suddenly
all projected on the red carpet where the tail of her glittering white dress
slid.
The rattle of guns echoing in my head was silenced. Fairuz's voice embraced the
full ancient Greek theater. She sang the nostalgia for the innocent past:
"Children Are Playing," "I Miss You," "Oh Moon, Me and You" …. In one song,
"Tell Me, Tell Me About My Country," she asked a breeze for stories of the
picturesque villages of Lebanon. In another, "These Were the Days," she recalled
a shadowy neighborhood where on feast nights a drunken man once sang and made
wall drawings of a girl next door. Many Arab nationals had made the trip from
places like Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait and Jerusalem to see "the Lady" perform.
Fairuz was invited to Greece by the Athens Epidaurus Festival, an international
event that every summer hosts music, plays, dance performances and operas from
around the world.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a majority of Greeks in the
crowd. Although most of them were not familiar with Arabic, many seemed simply
moved by the intensity of emotions emanating from her voice. They had come to
see the Lebanese myth who embodies the torments and exaltations of a whole
country.
During the civil war, with every faction struggling to impose its different
vision of Lebanon's future and identity, the idea of a united country seemed
preposterous. But we all believed her, especially during the mornings when sleep
had refreshed our hopes. Her distinct vocal timbre, filled with a powerful
motherly affection, could soften the cruelest of hearts. She boasted about a
beautiful Lebanon, a green Lebanon, a country made of rivers and fruit trees,
filled with rosy love stories. It was an invented nation that only existed in
the oft-refined accounts of our parents and grandparents.
When the fighting began in 1975, Fairuz, a stage name meaning turquoise in
Arabic, was already one of the Arab world's most popular singers. With her
husband and his brother, Assi and Mansour Rahbani, who composed and wrote for
her, she performed all over the world, enriching Arab music with a new type of
rhythmically elaborate but simple songs. Her mysterious, Callas-like aura
captured the hearts of audiences across the Middle East. She was known for being
discreet and shy, rarely giving interviews.
Fairuz continues today to be an iconoclastic artist, producing distinctive music
in an Arab world way too invaded by cheap locally produced pop songs. With her
son, Ziad, who now writes her music and lyrics, she has performed in recent
years several innovative songs mixing jazz and Oriental rhythms.
She was born as Nouha Haddad in 1935 and raised in a humble Christian household
in Beirut. She started her career as a chorus girl at the Lebanese radio station
before meeting the Rahbani brothers. Fairuz and the Rahbani brothers were
setting the way for modern-day Arabic pop songs, parting from the tradition of
long songs with interminable classical-Oriental musical interludes. Her
prodigious musical repertoire included melancholic songs, folk tunes, patriotic
hymns and religious chants. She sold millions of records around the world.
Fairuz also played in a dozen musicals and in three motion pictures. Written by
the Rahbani brothers, the musicals had underlying political messages. But all
through the 15 years of bloodshed, as Lebanese, we only had her recordings and
radio voice. She refused to perform while her countrymen fought each other.
During my teenager years, I watched her old concerts on national TV. I was
fascinated by her firm, proud posture in front of the perennial columns of
Baalbek, the ancient Roman city.
And then, the war was finally over. I remember how exhilarated I was, the first
time I saw her on stage in 1994. It was Fairuz's first public performance in
Lebanon after the war. Thousands of Lebanese had flocked into Martyr's Square.
Fairuz was singing live for a new start along the old demarcation lines in the
ruined heart of Beirut. With tears seemingly pearling in her eyes, she chanted:
"I love you Lebanon. I love your north, your south, your plains …. " And we were
all spellbound as we fantasized about rebuilding our country.
In later years, I carried her voice with me as I left to study abroad. When
nostalgia and homesickness invaded my room, her songs had the power to transport
me home. "Take me to those lovely hills. Take me to the land that reared us.
Forget me among vineyards and fig trees. Let me lie upon the soil of our
village. Take me, plant me in the land of Lebanon …. "
Since my return, I have been witnessing with bitterness the descent of Lebanon
into chaos again. I realize how naïve I am, clinging to a primordial idea of a
united and flourishing country.
This summer, Fairuz and many other artists from all over the world will not be
performing in the festivals of Lebanon because of the instability of the
country.
But watching Fairuz shine among the Greek gods filled me with pride. She proved
to the world that as a nation we were capable of producing culture and not only
images of bombs and fighting, which have unfortunately become very popular on TV
bulletins everywhere.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rafei is The Times' special correspondent in Lebanon and also writes for Forbes
Arabia.
Lebanese factions hold second
day of talks in France
Send by e-mail Save Print Politicians from Lebanon's divided factions were
holding a second day of talks in France on Sunday to try to ease eight months of
deadlock that has paralysed the nation. The talks in the state-owned chateau of
La Celle Saint Cloud west of Paris brought together representatives of 14
factions including members of the pro-western government of Prime Minister Fuad
Siniora. The Syrian-backed opposition Hezbollah, which fought a war against
Israel last year and has been branded a terrorist organisation by the United
States, was taking part in the meeting. France hopes to encourage Lebanese
leaders to renew a dialogue that was shattered during the conflict with Israel
last year and the resignation in November of opposition ministers. The meeting
will focus on the theme of "strengthening the Lebanese state", eight months
after six pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet, triggering the worst crisis
since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
Fears are running high that the situation could worsen ahead of the election by
parliament in late September of a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.
The talks in France took place as Islamist fighters near a Palestinian refugee
camp in northern Lebanon attacked Lebanese troops that have been battling to
crush them for eight weeks.
The Lebanon talks were
scheduled to end with a news conference
Sun Jul 15, 2007
NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanese troops advanced for the first time
on Sunday into a Palestinian refugee camp as they battled al Qaeda-inspired
militants, and two soldiers were killed raising the military death toll to 100.
Lebanese and army flags were seen flying over two or three devastated buildings
inside Nahr al-Bared as the battle for the north Lebanon camp between the
military and Fatah al-Islam fighters entered its ninth week. The advance marked
a major step for the army in the battle to crush the militants and a rare
venture by troops into a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon in four decades. A
1969 Arab agreement banned Lebanese security forces from entering Palestinian
camps. The agreement was annulled by the Lebanese parliament in the mid-1980s
but the accord effectively stayed in place. Security sources said at least two
soldiers died in the latest fighting, bringing the military death toll to 100. A
total of 221 people, including at least 80 militants, have been killed since the
fighting began on May 20, making it Lebanon's worst internal violence since the
1975-1990 civil war.
The toll includes those killed in limited clashes in other areas of the country.
Fatah al-Islam is made up of a few hundred mainly Arab fighters who admit
admiration of al Qaeda but claim no organizational links. Some of the fighters
have fought in or were on their way to fight in Iraq.
ALIVE FROM UNDER THE RUBBLE
Soldiers exchanged automatic rifle fire and grenades with militants at building
and alleyways leading to the centre of Nahr al-Bared while army artillery and
tanks pounded other areas. Fatah al-Islam fighters hit back, firing a dozen
Katyusha rockets at surrounding Lebanese villages. Continued...
The sources said troops pulled out alive two commandos who had been buried under
the rubble of a booby-trapped building that blew up on Saturday.
The military has increased its bombardment of the besieged camp since Thursday,
anxious not to get sucked into a war of attrition with the well-trained and
well-armed militants. But the militants have responded fiercely, killing 13
soldiers and wounding 53.
In south Lebanon, unknown gunmen shot dead Dharrar Rifai at Ain al-Hilweh
refugee camp. Rifai was a member of the now defunct Jund al-Sham group.
Jund al-Sham was dissolved last month after clashes with the Lebanese army. Two
groups dominate Ain al-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp: Fatah
and al Qaeda-linked Usbat al-Ansar. The violence has further undermined
stability in Lebanon, where a paralyzing 8-month political crisis has been
compounded by bombings in and around Beirut, the assassination of an anti-Syrian
legislator and a fatal attack on U.N. peacekeepers.
Lebanese politicians are meeting in France in an effort to find ways to resume
dialogue after months of political stalemate.
Lebanese politico lives in dangerous shadow of Syria
Assassinations of anti-Damascus lawmakers continue
Hugh Macleod, Chronicle Foreign Service
(07-15) 04:00 PDT Tripoli, Lebanon -- Surrounded by six bodyguards, followed by
cameras and protected by bomb-proof blast doors, Mosbah Ahdab sits in a darkened
apartment that he rarely leaves. When he does venture outside, he never tells
his driver the destination until they are in the car and removes the battery
from his cell phone to keep from being tracked electronically. "Sometimes it
feels ridiculous, but when you get relaxed, that's when you have a terrible
surprise," Ahdab said.
Ahdab, who was re-elected to parliament from this northern port city for the
third time in 2005, believes he is on a hit list of hired assassins taking
orders from Damascus. Since a huge truck bomb in 2005 killed Rafik Hariri, a
former prime minister and critic of Syria's overt meddling in Lebanese politics,
six prominent anti-Syrian journalists and legislators have been assassinated.
None of the killers has been caught.
"We are hunted, one after the other," Ahdab said. When 29 years of Syria's
political and military occupation ended in 2005, a chorus of accusations was
levied at Syrian involvement in Hariri's slaying. Although an ongoing U.N.
investigation implicated Syrian intelligence officers, Damascus has consistently
denied any involvement.
"When the Syrians were here in Lebanon, I was threatened directly with phone
calls telling me how much I and my family were going to pay," said Ahdab, a
prominent figure in the pro-government March 14 group led by Saad Hariri --
Rafik Hariri's son.
Just last month, a car bomb exploded in the heart of Beirut, killing Waleed Aido,
a close confidant of Saad Hariri. Aido's slaying came just days after the
government -- paralyzed since November after the radical Shiite group,
Hezbollah, withdrew all five of its Shiite ministers -- appointed judges to the
U.N. court to try suspects in Rafik Hariri's killing and other assassinations
and bomb attacks since October 2004.
Since Aido's death, Ahdab says as many as 35 March 14 parliamentarians have left
Lebanon.
"There is a political context to these assassinations you can't avoid," said
Ahdab, whose wife and three children are leaving Lebanon this week for the
safety of Cyprus. "The Syrian president has openly linked instability in Lebanon
to the Hariri tribunal."
Cabinet Minister Ahmed Fatfat believes he is also a likely target, depending on
rolls of razor wire, tanks and troops that guard his office.
"Last year, I had many calls from Syria -- I could see the number -- telling me
I was going to be killed if I continued defending my position. Now I just get
daily threats by letter," said Fatfat, who met with other Lebanese leaders in a
French chateau Saturday. The conference is the first open dialogue to end the
political crisis since the outbreak of last summer's monthlong war between
Israel and Hezbollah.
Israeli intelligence believes Hezbollah has largely rearmed with Iranian
missiles smuggled from Syria, some of which may have the capability of reaching
Tel Aviv.
In a report to the U.N. Security Council last month, U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen
drew an "alarming and deeply disturbing picture" of "a steady flow of weapons
and armed elements across the border from Syria."
Hezbollah accuses March 14 politicians of trying to disarm its militants and
following a pro-U.S. agenda in pressing ahead with a tribunal to try Hariri's
alleged killers.
"They want to sell Lebanon in installments to an international mandate," said
Hezbollah foreign affairs chief Nawaf Mousawi, who is expected to attend the
French conference. The meeting at La Celle Saint Cloud, west of Paris, ends
today and will undoubtedly include the Hariri tribunal and who will replace
President Lahoud. The parliament has until Nov. 23 to decide on a candidate.
Most important, the conference will surely touch on the worst security crisis
since the end of Lebanon's 15-year civil war in 1990.
In the north, the army is struggling to end a nearly two-month battle against
Sunni Islamist militants of Fatah Islam, who are holed up in the Nahr al-Bared
Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli. More than 200 people, including about 95
soldiers and at least 68 Islamists, have been killed.
The conflict has severely strained the Lebanese army -- relatively untested
since the civil war -- and sparked a humanitarian crisis. More than 30,000 Nahr
al-Bared residents have fled to the overcrowded, neighboring Badawi camp.
On June 29, three Palestinians were shot dead and at least 50 wounded when
soldiers fired into a crowd of about 2,000 irate demonstrators demanding to
return to Nahr al-Bared. Mines Advisory Group, the agency tasked with
neutralizing unexploded ordnance from the camp, said the removal of explosives
will take at least a month, raising the specter of further unrest among
displaced refugees increasingly desperate to return home.
"It is going to be very difficult to stop people from going back," said David
Horrocks, the group's Lebanon program manager. "But our concern is that the more
people who go back, the more difficult our job becomes."
The failure to end the conflict between the army and Fatah Islamhas brought
several warnings from prominent Islamists of a possible radicalization of Sunni
youth.
"What is going on is taking the country into a black hole," said Omar Bakri, a
radical Sunni cleric in Tripoli. "Al Qaeda is not yet present in Lebanon, but
the situation of anarchism here now is ideal for them."
In Beirut, parliament barely functions. Tanks and troops patrol the streets,
searching for more bombs. In the south, six U.N. peacekeepers were killed
recently by a roadside bomb, allegedly placed by Islamist extremists.
Meanwhile, despite the increasing lack of security, Ahdab remains upbeat about
Lebanon's future.
"For the first time, I am extremely encouraged, because at last I think
something can be done," he said. "Yes, it's dangerous, but I'm not fatalistic,
and I'm certainly in no hurry to get to heaven."
Elias,
Please post this on the NEAL site, and feel free to
post it elsewhere if you wish.
Thanks - Joseph
--------------------
The "Moderate" Muslim Nation of Turkey:
Official Harassment of Christian Converts
Source: Compass Direct News
Jul 15, 2007
Like its Arab counterpart of Egypt, Turkey is
considered by the West as a "moderate" Muslim country.
Yet, like Egypt where the Coptic Christian population
- which pre-dates the Muslim Arab Conquest (Al-Fatah
Al-Islami) of the 8th century - is subjected to a low
intensity but chronic persecution and harassment at
the state institutions level, Turkey does the same not
only to its own Christian people of Armenian or Greek
origin, but also, as the story below reveals, to
Turkish citizens who decide to convert from Islam to
other religions. Under strict Islamic Sharia Law, such
"apostasy" is punishable by death.
Having cleansed Turkey of its original populations of
Greeks and Armenians by genocidal wars during the late
1800s and early 1900s, and havening waged a war of
ethnic cleansing against its Kurdish population for
hundreds of years, Turkey is now engaged in exacting
retribution against those Turkish Muslims who decide
to convert to other religions by applying strict and
antiquated Sharia Laws, which runs counter Turkey's
desire to join the European Union where religion takes
a back seat to secular tolerance and freedoms of
creed, opinion and belief.
In a bizarre twist in the criminal prosecution of two
Turkish Christians on charges of “insulting Turkish
identity,” an administrative district authority in
Istanbul has ordered the converts from Islam fined for
“illegal collection of funds.”
Hakan Tastan and Turan Topal, on trial for insulting
Turkishness under the nation’s notorious Article 301,
were summoned to Istanbul’s Beyoglu police
headquarters on Sunday morning (July 1) just before
church services began at the Taksim Protestant Church,
where Tastan is a member.
“Three plainclothes policemen were waiting for me at
the church,” Tastan said, “saying I was wanted at the
police station.”
With their lawyer out of town, he telephoned Topal,
and the two agreed to go along to the police station.
“I thought probably the police were acting on last
week’s Interior Ministry decree,” Tastan told Compass,
referring to a June 28 directive sent to all the
nation’s governors ordering extra security for
Turkey’s religious minorities in the wake of rising
violence against non-Muslims. “But it turned out to be
something entirely different.”
The two Christians were both presented with a separate
“penalty” sheet from the security police division
linked to the Beyoglu district, ordering each one to
pay 600 Turkish lira (US$461) for breaking a civil
law.
According to the one-page decisions, the two men were
guilty of violating section 29 of civil administrative
code 2860, which forbids the collection of money
without official permission from local district
authorities.
Evidence of the alleged misdemeanor, the forms noted,
was in the hands of the gendarme headquarters in
Silivri, 45 miles west of Istanbul, site of the two
Christians’ trial. The men were shown no documents or
alleged evidence of the accusations against them.
“What is this? Just more harassment,” Topal told
Compass. Both he and Tastan have been subjected to
surveillance and even secret filming by Turkish
gendarme and police authorities over the past year.
“This is ridiculous,” the men’s attorney, Haydar
Polat, told Compass today. “It has nothing whatever to
do with the original case against my clients. Now we
will have to open a case against this administrative
order within 15 days, and it will take at least a year
to get these unsubstantiated charges dropped.”
At a previous hearing in January, leading prosecution
attorney Kemal Kerincsiz had accused the congregation
of Tastan’s church of breaking Turkish laws by
collecting offerings without official permission from
local civil authorities.
Former Muslims who converted to Christianity more than
a decade ago, Tastan and Topal were arrested for two
days last October and then put on trial before the
Silivri Criminal Court in late November.
In addition to charges under Article 301’s
restrictions on freedom of speech, the two Christians
are accused of reviling Islam (Article 216) and
secretly compiling files on private citizens for a
local Bible course (Article 135).
‘Poisoning Youth’
Before the Christians’ third trial hearing on April
18, prosecutor Kerincsiz spoke at length to
journalists gathered outside the Silivri courthouse
about the case.
Deploring changes in Turkish law that he said “removed
missionary work from being a crime” in Turkey, the
ultranationalist lawyer called the two Christians part
of a “dangerous group.”
“They have a large amount of money from an unknown
source,” Kerincsiz was quoted as saying in an April 18
report from Ihlas News Agency.
Claiming they had “poisoned hundreds of youth” over
the last two years, the lawyer demanded that the
government take action against them. He claimed the
defendants lived luxurious lives, using everything
from expensive cars and sexual temptations to deceive
young people in grade school and high school into
converting to Christianity.
In court, however, Kerincsiz has failed to produce any
solid evidence of these allegations.
During the hour-long hearing on April 18, a
representative from the regional gendarme headquarters
that ordered the initial investigation testified,
along with one of the teenage boys accusing the
converts.
A 17-year-old identified as Oguz Y. took the witness
stand for the prosecution, although he admitted under
questioning that the defendants had never forced him
to change his religion or join in their activities.
At the close of the hearing, the presiding judge
warned local police that he would open a contempt case
against them if they failed to produce all three of
the plaintiffs at the next hearing, set for July 18.
The trial will take place in the tense run-up week
before Turkey’s snap parliamentary elections on July
22.
Despite a large media contingent on the scene,
national coverage of the Silivri trial was muted the
following day, after news broke that same afternoon of
the brutal murder in Malatya of three Christians.
The two converts from Islam and a German Christian had
been tortured for several hours at a Christian
publishing house office before the five young
attackers slit their throats.
Ankara Warns Court
But two days later, the nationalist Yeni Cag newspaper
reported on the Silivri trial with a front-page banner
headline, “Missionary Fear,” followed by an inside
page headlined, “The trial that scares the [Justice]
Ministry.” According to a Justice Ministry communiqué
partially reprinted in Yeni Cag’s April 20 edition,
the Turkish government warned the Silivri court that
news about the case in the international press could
cause the European Union to “call us to account.”
The Silivri court was reportedly requested to send
copies of the indictment and the complete case file to
the Justice Ministry in Ankara.
More than 300 of Turkey’s writers, journalists,
historians and other intellectuals have been indicted
under Article 301 for defaming “Turkishness,” a
concept which remains undefined.
A majority of the country’s influential nationalist
factions supporting this law also oppose Turkey’s bid
to enter the European Union (EU), warning that Europe
wants to force Western values and reforms onto Turkey
that are contrary to its Muslim heritage.
The EU has demanded that Turkey either scrap or amend
the restrictive law to meet European standards of
freedom of speech.