Sfeir receives key to America

LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
JULY 2/2006

Below News From miscellaneous sources for 02/07/06
Muslim Brotherly Hate. By Joe Kaufman
Hateful Chatter Behind the Veil -By Omar El Akkad and Greg McArthur
Bolton Holds Syria Partly Responsible for Gaza Violence Saying it Harbors 'Terrorists-Naharnet
Nasrallah Urges Palestinian Militants to Free Israeli Soldier Only in Exchange for Prisoners-Naharnet
Maronite Church leader visits St. Louis-St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Sfeir Kicks off US Pastoral Tour in St. Louis-Naharnet
Sfeir receives key to America's 'gateway to the West'Daily Star
Hamas's War-Washington Post - United States
Aoun likens House majority to Marie Antionette-Daily Star
Prospects for donor conference 'not promising,' Barclays says-Daily Star
Only Regular Army Should Undertake Lebanon's Defence: Lebanese -AINA
Sfeir receives key to America's 'gateway to the West'-Daily Star
Lebanese breathe easier for now but thorny issues still on horizon-Daily Star
Syria, Jordan call for lift of Israeli blockage against -People's Daily Online
Syria's brand new vision-ITP.net
Blame it on the victim-Khaleej Times
Israel's military offensive sparks outrage-Daily Star
Lebanese officials visit Ain al-Hilweh-Daily Star
Siniora: Government is making 'every possible effort' on refugees-Daily Star
High court appoints judge to Sadr case-Daily Star
Fadlallah: Israel 'challenges the entire Arab world-Daily Star
Lebanese breathe easier for now but thorny issues still on horizon-Daily Star
Syria detains Iran Arab rebel leaders-IranMania News
US calls on Syria to close Hamas offices-Jerusalem Post
Peretz: Syria responsible for Shalit's abduction-Jerusalem Post

Our home and naive land
By: Michael Coren
Toronto Sun-July 1, 2006
Canada Day. Denial Day. Complacency Day. A day for playing with fireworks while the country burns.
Wave the flag. Wave a cloth adorned with a piece of vegetation in the colours of the Liberal Party, one with little tradition and less meaning. No. Many Canadians remember the great emblem that once adorned our dominion, containing the cross, the symbol of ancient and eternal wisdom and truth. Do what the government tells you, allow your rights to be expunged and smile as the norms that made the country great are parodied while at the same time a stew of twisted realities are paraded.
No. Many Canadians are tired of the intrusions of the state and the relentless attacks from alleged "alternative" lifestyles.
Protect children but destroy childhood, make a fetish of equality but allow elites to impose their ways and rule our country. Claim to respect diversity but be horribly intolerant of anybody who resists the liberal status quo.
No. Many Canadians are tired of the twin monsters of materialism and decadence. They have had enough of public educators telling young people how to live but not how to read and write. Nor will they remain silent when told to do so by the princes of political correctness.
Park in a handicapped parking spot and you'll be charged and fined. Abort a handicapped baby or kill a terminally ill handicapped person and you'll be applauded. No. Many Canadians are waking up to this country's tolerance of destruction of generations of the unborn and the growing obsession with euthanasia and killing those who are no longer bold and beautiful.
Have perverse sex, take your clothes off in public, swear on television and insult people's deeply held beliefs, but you don't dare do it while smoking a cigarette or not wearing a seat belt. No. Many Canadians are repulsed by the hypocrisy. They know there are moral as well as physical ills that plague our country and that it is pointless to save a body if the soul is destroyed. Blithely pay $20 million a week to the CBC so that ludicrously biased people can tell us about what our own country means. Allow unions there and elsewhere to dictate national policy without any democratic or constitutional right.
No. Many Canadians have seen through the facade of double standards in broadcasting as well as the extremism of so many in the labour movement. Satirize the United States and comfort and define ourselves by what we are not. Hate the best neighbours a nation could have, knowing they will respond with kindness. No. Many Canadians understand that it is we who are often parochial and they who are prestigious. They know that lack of gratitude is the weapon of the spoiled child.
Pay tax after tax and yet see education and health care deteriorate before our very eyes. Never look at the authentic causes of gangs and violence because they may reveal dangerous truths. No. Many Canadians now want to keep their own money and do not trust the government to spend it. Nor do they believe the politicians and their explanations about inner-city crime.
Canada Day. Kill God, kill man and kill truth. No. Save the country. Not from others, but from itself. It's up to you, the many Canadians, even if you don't yet know it.

Bolton Holds Syria Partly Responsible for Gaza Violence Saying it Harbors 'Terrorists'
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton has held Syria partly responsible for the latest wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence, saying it harbored militants from Hamas.
"We would not be where we are right now if it were not for Syria's support and harboring of terrorists," John Bolton said on Friday. Bolton pressed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to join international efforts to resolve an escalating crisis that has seen Israel launch a massive air and ground assault on the Gaza Strip in search of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas-linked militants.He made his comments at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, which Arab nations requested to demand that the U.N.'s most powerful body order a halt to the Israel offensive. Bolton particularly urged Syria to turn over Khaled Meshaal, Hamas's exiled political leader, who lives in Damascus.
Meshaal, one of Israel's most-wanted men, famously survived an assassination attempt by Mossad agents who injected him with poison in the Jordanian capital Amman in 1997. "In addition, we call upon Syria to stop financing the terrorists and stop cooperating with other states, such as Iran, which finance terrorists," Bolton said. A number of Israeli officials have said Meshaal was in their sights over the capture of the soldier in an attack near the Gaza border on Sunday.
In a message to Assad for sheltering Meshaal, four Israeli warplanes overflew his summer palace in northern Syria early Wednesday while the leader was inside.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 01 Jul 06, 09:55

Nasrallah Urges Palestinian Militants to Free Israeli Soldier Only in Exchange for Prisoners
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has urged Palestinian militants not to free an Israeli soldier they are holding captive in Gaza until Israel agrees to release thousands of prisoners in exchange.
"There are 10,000 detainees in Israeli jails living under harsh and difficult conditions…and there is no way to free them except this way," Nasrallah said Friday. "I warn the states, governments and political leaders that are pressuring the Palestinian resistance to free this Israeli soldier with nothing in return that the result will be ...to close the door entirely on 10,000 detainees in Israeli jails," he added. The militants who seized Cpl Gilad Shalit on Sunday have demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails, including women and children.
In addition to those prisoners, the Hamas-linked militant groups which claimed responsibility for Shalit's abduction, demanded on Saturday the freedom of 1,000 detained militant leaders held by Israel. Nasrallah charged that Israel's massive air and ground offensive on Gaza was meant as a punishment for the Palestinian people.
"Is the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier worth inflicting this suffering on the Palestinian people?" he asked. Addressing the Palestinians, he said the freedom of the prisoners was worth this sort of sacrifice.
"The matter deserves this level of sacrifice and confrontation because it is a question of principle," Nasrallah said.
Israel sent troops into southern Gaza on Wednesday -- the first major raid into the territory since Israeli soldiers pulled out last year after a 38-year occupation -- and began a wave of airstrikes across the coastal strip in an attempt to free Shalit.
The offensive has left many residents without electricity or water. The United Nations on Friday warned that the territory is on the edge of a humanitarian crisis, and the international Red Cross said it was working to get aid shipments into the area.
Nasrallah also lashed at the United States accusing the Bush administration of siding with the "executioner."(Naharnet-AP)
Beirut, 01 Jul 06, 11:54

Sfeir Kicks off U.S. Pastoral Tour in St. Louis
Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir was welcomed to St. Louis, kicking off a several week trip to the United States to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Maronite church's first diocese in America.
Cardinal Sfeir, 86, is considered to be the most significant Catholic leader to visit the U.S. since Pope John Paul II in 1999. His arrival Thursday was met with a serenade by fellow church members and a coterie of Secret Service agents.
Sfeir met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her surprise visit to Lebanon in February, but he would not discuss details of his talks with her or a previous meeting with President George Bush. "We have a difficult situation," he told The Associated Press on Thursday. "I pray that peace will be established. Now that is not the case. Every day there are many victims." St. Louis is the first stop on a tour of U.S. cities with large Maronite populations.
He will travel to Chicago for a national Maronite convention, then to Detroit, where Iraqi Christians have formed eight Maronite parishes in recent years. He is also traveling to Lawrence, Massachusetts and New York before returning home July 17. The church in the United States has two dioceses and bishops, and 100 parishes and priests. There are approximately 200 million Eastern Catholics throughout the world. In Lebanon, Sfeir, who is president of the Assembly of all Eastern Catholic Patriarchs, heads a Christian minority with political influence in the predominantly Islamic Arab world. He has vehemently opposed Syria's domination during its long years of control of Lebanon. He even declined to join the pope when he visited Syria in 2001.
On Friday, the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University bestowed its highest honor on Sfeir for his service and world leadership for peace and freedom. Sfeir hosted an inter-religious gathering Saturday and prayer service for world peace at St. Raymond's, a parish formed more than a century ago by Lebanese immigrants to St. Louis. St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay honored the prelate by offering him the key to the city.(AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 01 Jul 06, 10:27

Peretz: Syria responsible for Shalit's abduction
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Defense Minister Amir Peretz spoke on Saturday evening with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and asked her to send an "aggressive" message to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Peretz said that he saw Syria as responsible for the kidnapping of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit last Sunday, and therefore Assad had a responsibility to secure Shalit's release, Army Radio reported.
Peretz: Syria responsible for Shalit
By NATHAN GUTTMAN AND JPOST STAFF
Defense Minister Amir Peretz spoke on Saturday evening with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and asked her to send an "aggressive" message to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Peretz said that he saw Syria as responsible for the kidnapping of IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit last Sunday, and therefore Assad had a responsibility to secure Shalit's release, Army Radio reported.
Meanwhile, the US is calling on Syria to stop all support to the Hamas and to close the organization offices in Damascus. At the same time, diplomatic sources say there is no sign of American pressure on Syria to act on this issue. The administration is not considering further sanctions on Syria and is focusing its pressure on other issues, including the Hariri assassination investigation and the Syrian role in assisting the insurgency in Iraq.
State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli, said Friday that the US is aware of the support Syria is giving the Hamas and that this kind of support is "wrong and needs to end." At the State Department's daily press briefing, Ereli added that the US "told the Syrians that it's important that they shut down the offices of Hamas and they shut down the offices of those who support terror." The US has raised several times in the past the issue of hosting terror offices in Damascus with the Syrian regime, but US sources say there have never seen any movement on this issue. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell was promised by the Syrians three years ago that the offices will be closed, but the US did not see any change on the ground.
Despite the clear public demand from Syria to close offices of the Hamas and other terror groups operating from Damascus - a demand reiterated last week following the rise in tension between Israel and the Hamas - the US has no plans of taking diplomatic actions against Syria.
Diplomatic sources who have dealt with the issue said last week that the administration has no intention of initiating international sanctions against the regime of Bashar Assad and that it is unlikely that the president will use the "menu" of sanctions, offered to him by congress, in order to increase US sanctions against Syria.
The prevailing notion in the administration is, according to the sources, that diplomatic action against Syria needs international support, which will be easier to obtain on the issue of the Hariri assassination, rather on that of the Hamas offices. The Hariri murder investigation is still going on and it is not yet clear when the new investigator, Serge Brammertz, will submit his final report. Scott Lasensky, a senior research associate at the US Institute of Peace (USIP) - a Washington-based think tank, said last week that the providing assistance to the Hamas by Syria is only one item on the American agenda concerning Bashar Assad's regime. "You can't accuse the US of being indifferent on the Hamas issue," says Lasensky, who recently returned from a fact-finding mission to Syria, "but there is a diverse agenda of issues and the Hamas has to share some space with other concerns the US has." These concerns consist of the Syrian role in Lebanon, the refusal of the Syrian regime to stop the flow of insurgents through its borders into Iraq and its ties to Iran that might complicate international effort to pressure Teheran on the nuclear issue. Meanwhile, in reaction to sanctions already imposed by the US on Damascus, Syrian officials declared that their country would now "turn east" and work to deepen its economic, trade and diplomatic ties with east-Asian countries including China and Malaysia.At the same time there is an effort to improve Syria's public image within the US. Syrian minister of expatriates Butheina Shaaban visited Washington last month and said she was negotiating with American think tanks in order to create programs, which will reflect the views of Syria in the American arena.

Syria detains Iran Arab rebel leaders
Saturday, July 01, 2006 - ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, July 1 (IranMania) - According to an AFP report, Syria detained several leading Iranian Arab rebel leaders, a human rights group said, voicing concern for their fate if they are handed over to Damascus's key regional ally Tehran.
"The Syrian authorities have arrested several officials of the Ahvaz Arab People's Democratic-Popular Front living in exile in Damascus, including the movement's spokesman Taher Ali Mazraa," the chairman of the Syrian Organization for Human Rights, Mohannad al-Hassani, told AFP. "We express our deep concern about the wave of arrests under way and fear the prisoners may be handed over to the Iranian authorities, a serious step that would constitute a breach of Syrian law," Hassani said. "We demand the release of the Ahvazi citizens and call on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to assume its responsibilities by intervening with the Syrian authorities to prevent the prisoners being delivered up to Iran."
The UN agency already expressed concern on June 6 for the safety of four Iranian Arab exiles previous detained in Syria, after one refugee who had qualified for resettlement in Europe was forcibly repatriated by Damascus.
UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said at the time that seven Iranian Arabs had been detained by Syria but three had been released following representations by the UN agency.
The deportee was sent back to Iran even though he had been recognized as a refugee by the UNHCR and had been due to be resettled in Norway in early April. In late May, Iran said that Syria and neighbouring Turkey had arrested several individuals suspected of involvement in a recent bombing campaign in the Arab-majority southwestern oil city of Ahvaz and that it was seeking their extradition. Ahvaz was rocked by ethnic riots in April 2005 and a string of car bombings in the run-up to the June 2005 presidential election, followed by more bomb attacks in October last year and January this year.
Human rights groups have expressed concern about the situation in Iran's southwestern province of Khuzestan, of which Ahvaz is the capital, accusing the Islamic republic of cracking down on Arab groups and imposing a media blackout.

Blame it on the victim
BY RAMZY BAROUD
1 July 2006
THE June 25 Palestinian fighters’ raid on an Israeli military post near the Gaza-Egypt border has sent Israel "scrambling to defend itself," the voice of a BBC news reporter declared on the evening news.
The report was followed by an unchallenging interview with a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, then another with an Israeli daily newspaper reporter in Washington. No Palestinian voice was heard for days. The two Israelis communicated the same, tired, albeit ominous discourse that seems to understand, thus convey any event based on the misguided assumption that only Israeli lives matter. There was hardly any international news source in English — including those originating from Middle Eastern countries — that accepted the Palestinian predawn attack on the Israeli military base as a clear act of retaliation and a dignified one at that. After all, Israel has murdered scores of Palestinian civilians in the last few weeks, while Palestinians have refrained from following the same course, instead targeting the same Israeli soldiers who have inflicted untold hurt on the residents of Gaza.
Could it be possible that Middle East arms of major news media have mistakenly overlooked what has been happening in the Gaza Strip since the supposed Israeli withdrawal in September 2005? It all started with extremely loud sonic booms, mock bombardments and Israeli fighter jets flying low over the overpopulated and impoverished Gaza Strip. Palestinians called on the international community to interfere to stop Israeli provocations. Their calls, as usual, fell on deaf ears
With such scare tactics, Israel wished to convey to Palestinians a loud and clear message: there is nothing for you to celebrate; we are still the masters of your destiny, and unlike the South Lebanon 2000 withdrawal, we are leaving Gaza triumphantly, and possibly just temporarily. Soon, Israel’s mock attacks became more genuine, while the international community continued to turn a blind eye to what would soon become another routine in ‘liberated’ Gaza. As for the media, there was hardly much to report, since Hamas, along with other Palestinian factions, refused to respond to the provocations with violent retaliation, confining themselves to a unilateral ceasefire they’d reached with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo earlier.
Fed up with the Palestinian response — or lack thereof — Israeli officials coupled their scare tactics with menacing, specific threats, with a bottom line that no Palestinian was immune from Israeli targeted assassinations. Indeed, they lived up to their words. In an interesting turn of events, Hamas won the parliamentary elections in January 2006 in an astounding display of transparency and democratic process. John Hughes of the Christian Science Monitor echoed the mainstream media line that something went horribly wrong in the Middle East and that the "Hamas victory is a setback" to whatever imaginary peace process Hughes knows of.
Comforted by the unconditional support of the US government, Israel’s violent intimidation and scare tactics grew. This time however, the Israeli war on the Palestinians became an extension of an international one, led by the US along with the ever-compliant UN and EU. While Western donors held back their aid to the point of creating a humanitarian catastrophe in the Occupied Territories, the US led a campaign of political coercion — in a rare display of unity between Democrats and Republicans and all of "Israel’s friends" in the media.
Western media quickly coined various mantras to justify why ordinary Palestinians must suffer for choosing a parliament in a democratic election: because Hamas refuses to recognise Israel and renounce violence, among other pretexts that seem to fit so well in Israel’s political agenda. Top Israeli government advisor Dov Weissglas, optimistic as he had always been, wished to see the humour in starving Palestinians. (The economic siege) "is like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but they won’t starve to death."
Apparently Israel was enjoying the show: getting the world to punish an occupied nation while completely losing sight of Israel’s colonial expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is the most fitting manifestation of the proverbial dream come true. Of course, Israel can never be content with such limited roles. It was time to turn up the heat one more notch; the sporadic violence was about to be upgraded to intense violence, reaching Palestinian civilians of all ages. In the matter of seven weeks, ending on June 21 with the killing of a pregnant woman, her unborn child and her brother and injuring 14 of the same family — Israel had killed 90 Palestinians, the great majority of whom were civilians. They included the killing of seven members of the same family while picnicking at a beach near the small Gaza town of Beit Lahia on June 9.
Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz justified the wanton killing of civilians, along with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as an unintended mistake, vowing to continue to fight ‘terrorists’ who fire homemade rockets against the Israeli town of Sderot. In the same period in which 90 Palestinians were killed and hundreds more maimed and wounded, Israeli army radio reported one injury resulting from rocket fire. No other source has confirmed the lone injury claim.
However, Western media, including the BBC, is determined to equate blowing up Palestinian families with Israeli allegations of Palestinian rocket attacks: it’s a tit for tat, or so it seems. It’s equally valid, according to ignorant media dictates, to starve a nation because their government’s refuses to recognise its military occupier.
The US administration defended the June 9 murder of a Gaza family as an Israeli right to defend itself. BBC International refused to see the Palestinian attack on an Israeli military installation on June 25, as a Palestinian right to self-defence. To the contrary, it was Israel who once again went "scrambling to defend itself". It’s unclear how many Palestinians must die before Israel delivers a convincing "blow" to its unruly neighbours, and before life goes back to the way it was intended to be: Palestinians being starved, humiliated and slaughtered at the hands of Israel in their dissolute Gaza ghettos. Only then, shall Israel be safe once more. Ramzy Baroud’s latest book: The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronology of a People’s Struggle (Pluto Press, London) is now available at Amazon.com.

Syria’s brand new vision
by Sarah Campbell
Business is booming in Syria. The currency is strong as Syria is now benefiting from an open market, and tourism arrivals to the country are also showing impressive growth. In 2005, the country hosted 3.4 million overnight guests, as well as three million day visitors, and one million Syrian expats returning to visit friends and relatives (VFR).
The annual tourism growth rate sits at 15%, double the average for countries in the Middle East, and tourism income for 2005 topped US $2.3 billion. The market is healthy, almost to the point of saturation.
“We have 43,000 classified hotel beds, which is not enough for 3.4 million tourists. We certainly have a lack of accommodation options and need more hotels if we are to continue enjoying a 15% growth rate per year,” says Dr Saadalla Agha Al Kalaa, Syria’s minister of tourism.
At present, 74% of visitors to Syria come from the GCC, and these travellers prefer to stay in villas or serviced apartments, on a long-term stay of one month or more, but Al Kalaa wants the country to provide an alternative.
“We want to try and offer Arab tourists suite hotels or apart-hotels. We have to concentrate on investment,” he urges. By 2010, Syria aims to attract 7.5 million overnight guests, and hopes to see an increase in tourism expenditure to $5 billion. Already, the ministry of tourism is investing heavily, both in promoting the country to tourists and in promoting investment opportunities to companies abroad. Over the past two years, the country has held two forums for tourism investment, and has put up a number of prime tourist areas for development to investors. “We have improved our formulas for investment,” says Al Kalaa. “We are offering a BOT (build, operate, transfer) formula for 45 years, with the possibility of re-contracting for a further 45, and have also improved our leasing contracts to 99 years, with the option of a one off payment or annual fees. Following this, we hope to attract a number of new projects,” he adds.
Already, Kuwait-based Al Kharafi group is considering entering Syria with an InterContinental hotel, probably in Aleppo. Aleppo will also see the opening of a new Sheraton hotel later this year. There is also a $400 million tourist resort under development in Tartous; a new hotel project about to start construction in Lattakia; also Sofitel is about to soft open in Lattakia; there are three projects set for Palmyra, and six developments under discussion for Damascus. The capital city is also seeing a number of its historical Old Town buildings being converted into boutique hotels, including the recently opened Al-Mamlouke and Dar Al-Yasmine hotels.
“Syria has a new vision for tourism, based on our aim to have this as a major pillar of our national economy and a bridge for civilisations. We are keen to provide to visitors a new product provided by trained people and rich enough to compete on an international level,” Al Kalaa says. The first step in this move towards a higher quality, more rounded product was the opening of the Four Seasons Hotel Damascus in December of last year. The 231-room hotel is 30% owned by the government, and has provided a much needed injection of quality into the Damascus market.
The Four Seasons has brought a number of firsts to the market, including Syria’s first concierge service, first full service spa, first BMW airport transfers, and the first in-room internet connections and in-room DVD players.
“The market was surprised. We have had requests from locals wanting to use the spa or wanting to hire our BMWs, but you have to stay with us in order to use our facilities,” says Markus Iseli, general manager of the hotel.
The hotel soft opened in December, and celebrated its grand opening in March. For May, Four Seasons closed at 60% occupancy, perhaps slightly below market average, but at double the RevPAR, at an average rate of $165, Iseli is not too concerned. “We are not going for volume, we are going for quality,” he maintains.
While the facilities at Four Seasons certainly set the hotel apart, it is the quality of service that Iseli is most keen to impress upon the market. Rather than hire staff from existing properties in Damascus the team at Four Seasons is largely made up of young graduates, all being moulded in the Four Seasons manner of service.
“We have taken all young staff with no experience and started from scratch. This has proven to be a great strategy: the staff attitude here is better than anywhere else,” Iseli claims. The opening of Four Seasons has already sent ripples across the market: tourist habits are changing, and other five-star hotels are taking note. “The calibre of guests has changed, but we will only see the real impact after the summer, when the GCC visitors come,” Iseli says.
“The GCC visitor normally used to take villas in the countryside, as they didn’t find this quality of accommodation in the city. What’s more, those going to Beirut are now also considering coming to Damascus. We are also seeing dignitaries coming through, and we are able to attract them with our facilities,” he explains.Queen Centre Rotana Suites has enjoyed good business since opening, with the property running at 90% occupancy, says GM, Khayat.
Suite business
Following the market trend for serviced apartment accommodation, regional hotel chain Rotana Hotels opened the Queen Centre Rotana Suites in Damascus in 2005. Part of a large shopping complex, the Queen Centre Rotana Suites is located in the Mazze area of Damascus. The property offers 110 studios and suites all with kitchenettes.
“Business has progressed exceptionally well since we opened. Our property has been running at 90% occupancy throughout the year, which is the highest in Damascus, and we have an average of 42% repeat guests, which is very gratifying,” says Safwan Khayat, general manager, Queen Centre Rotana Suites.
“The location of the property is ideal for the corporate traveller. Part of a large shopping complex, it is conveniently located in the Mazze area, 10 minutes from the city centre and half an hour away from both the airport and the Lebanese border. Also, it is close to most of the embassies.”
The property has a sales office based in-house, which takes care of local business, while outbound sales offices in the Middle East, London, Frankfurt and recently India are another source of business for Syria. European and GCC travellers make up the bulk of visitors to Queen Centre Rotana Suites. Outside of Damascus, Starwood is set to become the first international hotel operator to enter the city of Aleppo. Aleppo is Syria’s second largest city, and has been a trading centre since Roman times. It is located inland, about 350km north of Damascus.
The Sheraton Aleppo Hotel & Towers is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2006. The hotel will offer 218 rooms and suites, three restaurants, a pub and a lounge bar. Its recreational facilities will include a swimming pool, a health club and a Turkish bath. The hotel will also offer two meeting rooms, in addition to two smaller function rooms, providing in total over 1000m² of meeting space.
According to HVS International, Sheraton is also set to open a 107-room property in Sednaya, 35km north of Damascus.
In addition to international chains opening in Syria, local companies are also eyeing the hotel market and looking for a piece of the action. Nawafir Travel and Tours is one of Syria’s inbound tour operators and focuses in particular on the European market. The company is now in the process of converting a traditional Damascene house into a small boutique hotel. The project is due for completion at the end of 2006 and will offer 13 rooms and suites, many of them with the original decorated wooden ceilings, a typical courtyard with a water fountain, and a terrace overlooking Damascus Old Town.
“Syria has a huge potential to make tourism one of its major sources of income given its importance as the ‘cradle of civilisations’ where every stone tells you a story,” says Adnan Habbab, general manager, Nawafir Travel and Tours.
“Despite the fact that the Middle East in general, and Syria in particular, are often portrayed negatively in the international media, Nawafir Travel and Tours tripled its business in 2005, compared with 2004, and has already seen a very successful spring season for 2006,” he adds.
Staying competitive
With a number of hotels set to open in 2006 and 2007, and more in the pipeline for the years ahead, Syria looks to be counteracting its rooms shortage, which means that existing hotels now need to upgrade and update their services, if they are to remain competitive with the new properties.
Le Meridien Damascus is one such property. One of the oldest five-star hotels in the capital, the hotel is now undergoing a rooms refurbishment, which will also see internet access added to all guest rooms. A complete renovation of two floors will be complete d by the end of next year, while renovation of the hotel’s fitness centre is scheduled for completion at the end of this month.
“We are concentrating on offering our guests the best services in town supported by regular training sessions to keep our staff updated in the hospitality industry,” says Hazem Sebai, director of business development, Le Meridien Damascus.
Main markets for the hotel include GCC travellers, as well as those from neighbouring Jordan. Other important markets include England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
According to Sebai, the hotel is concentrating on the MICE and FIT markets, and has conducted a number of sales missions worldwide. Sebai has seen an increase in business over the first five months of the year, and is confident that this upward trend will continue through to year-end.
With so many new properties set to open, and older hotels under renovation, it seems that minister for tourism Al Kalaa’s new vision for tourism will be realised, and, if so, Damascus could soon usurp Lebanon as the ‘Paris of the Middle East’.

Judges to discuss Hariri tribunal at The Hague
Daily Star 1/7/06:Judges Shukri Sader and Ralph Riashi will head to The Hague Tuesday to discuss with international lawmakers the formation of a quasi-international court to try suspects involved in the killing of former Premier Rafik Hariri. According to sources, a special law will be drafted based on the Lebanese law. Two major amendments are expected to be made, the first aims at terminating the death penalty and the second aims at having a court of first instance and a court of appeals. The sources said Justice Minister Rizk is expected to present the final draft of the agreement on the court to the Cabinet by the end of June.

Makdessi criticizes Qabbani defense of riot detainees
Daily Star 1/7/06:Talal Makdessi announced Friday he was very interested in Grand Mufti Qabbani's defense of the detainees in the February 5 riots case. Speaking on behalf of the victims of the riots, Makdessi said in a statement he wished Qabbani had also mentioned that innocent victims whose properties were damaged have yet to be compensated. In February, dozens of angry Muslims protested against a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad. The protestors set the Danish Consulate in Achrafieh on fire and destroyed several properties.

Beirut, Los Angeles to sign sister-city agreement
Daily Star 1/7/06:Delegations from Beirut and Los Angeles met Friday with Premier Fouad Siniora, acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat, and Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri to inform them of a "sister-city" agreement to be signed by both cities. LA Mayor Eric Carsitee said both cities would carry out projects in the health, social, economic and cultural fields. Carsitee said the agreement aims to promote cooperation between the two cities.

AUB Alumni forum kicks off Friday
Daily Star 1/7/06: The AUB Alumni forum for graduates of the years 1951, 1956, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1991, 1996 and 2001 opened on Friday. On Saturday at 10 a.m., AUB President John Waterbury will hold a lecture on the "State of the University" after which businessman and keynote speaker Abdel-Mohsen al-Qattan will give a lecture. The forum will close Sunday at 2 p.m.

“Neither new, nor improved,” says B’nai Brith Canada
of UN Human Rights Council after anti-Israel vote
TORONTO, June 30, 2006 – B’nai Brith Canada has characterized the United Nations Human Rights Council as a body which is “neither new, nor improved”. The organization was reacting to the passage earlier today of a Pakistan-proposed resolution on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Conference States, which not only unfairly targets Israel, but which pre-judges Israel’s guilt in perpetuity. “No sooner was the new UN Human Rights Council up and running than we had before us the passage by the anti-Zionist block of the type of resolution that became so routine under the old Commission,” said David Matas, B’nai Brith Canada’s Senior Legal Counsel, presently in Geneva as a delegate to the Council proceedings.
“We commend Canada for joining with the EU, Switzerland and Japan to vote against the resolution, which now requires the body to automatically raise the issue of Israel’s alleged abuses at all sessions hereafter. What this means in practice is that this new body has been corrupted from the start, its agenda subverted by the very same UN members who discredited the old Commission on Human Rights.”

Hateful Chatter Behind the Veil
By Omar El Akkad and Greg McArthur
Globe and Mail | June 30, 2006
MISSISSAUGA — When it came time to write up the premarital agreement between Zakaria Amara and Nada Farooq, Ms. Farooq briefly considered adding a clause that would allow her to ask for a divorce.
She said that Mr. Amara (now accused of being a leader of the alleged terror plot that led to the arrests of 17 Muslim men early this month) had to aspire to take part in jihad.
"[And] if he ever refuses a clear opportunity to leave for jihad, then i want the choice of divorce," she wrote in one of more than 6,000 Internet postings uncovered by The Globe and Mail.
Wives of four of the central figures arrested last month were among the most active on the website, sharing, among other things, their passion for holy war, disgust at virtually every aspect of non-Muslim society and a hatred of Canada. The posts were made on personal blogs belonging to both Mr. Amara and Ms. Farooq, as well as a semi-private forum founded by Ms. Farooq where dozens of teens in the Meadowvale Secondary School area chatted. The vast majority of the posts were made over a period of about 20 months, mostly in 2004, and the majority of those were made by the group's female members.
The tightly knit group of women who chatted with each other includes Mariya (the wife of alleged leader Fahim Ahmad), Nada (the wife of Mr. Amara, the alleged right-hand man) Nada's sister Rana (wife of suspect Ahmad Ghany), as well as Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal (the Muslim convert from Cape Breton, N.S. who married the oldest suspect, 43-year-old Qayyum Abdul Jamal). The women's husbands are part of a core group of seven charged with the most severe crimes -- plotting to detonate truck bombs against the Toronto Stock Exchange, a Canadian Forces target, and the Toronto offices of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
The women were bound by the same social, political and ideological aims. They organized "sisters-only" swimming days and held fundraisers for the notorious al-Qaeda-linked Khadr family. With the exception of the occasional Urdu or Arabic word or phrase, their posts are exclusively in English.
After their husbands were arrested, most of the women refused to tell their stories to the media; reached at her home in Mississauga, Ms. Farooq would not comment on her posts.
But in the years leading up to the arrests, they shared their stories with one another.
She knows it freaks her husband out just thinking about it, but 18-year-old Nada Farooq doesn't care: She wants a baby. It is mid-April, 2004, and the two have been married for less than a year. In the end, the jihad clause was not included in a prenuptial agreement.
Like many students at Meadowvale Secondary School, Zakaria Amara is busy worrying about final exams and what, if any, university to go to. But Ms. Farooq -- the Karachi-born daughter of a pharmacist who now hands out prescription medicine to soldiers at the Canadian Forces Base in Wainwright, Alta. -- has already done a fair bit of daydreaming about what it would be like to have a child. She even has a name picked. If she has a boy, she wants to name him Khattab, after the commander of the mujahedeen in Chechnya who battled Moscow until he was assassinated in 2002.
"And i pray to Allah my sons follow his footsteps Ameeen [Amen]," she writes at the on-line forum she founded for Muslim teens in Mississauga's Meadowvale area. Her avatar -- an on-line symbol used to indicate personality -- is a picture of the Koran and a rifle.
(All postings in this story have been rendered as they appeared on-line.)
There is nothing casual about Ms. Farooq's interpretation of Islam. She reiterates the belief that jihad is the "sixth pillar" of the religion, and her on-line postings are decidedly interested in the violent kind. In the forum titled "Terrorism and killing civilians," she writes a detailed point-by-point explanation of why the Taliban is destined to emerge victorious in Afghanistan.
Virtually every other government on the planet, however, she only has disdain for.
"All muslim politicians are corrupt," she writes. "There's no one out there willing to rule the country by the laws of Allah, rather they fight to rule the country by the laws of democracy." She criticizes Muslims in places such as Dubai for spending money on elaborate buildings while Iraqis are being killed.
Ms. Farooq's criticism is often directed first at other Muslims. When another poster writes about how he finds homosexuality disgusting, Nada replies by pointing out that there are even gay Muslims. She then posts a photo of a rally held by Al-Fatiha, a Canadian support group for gay Muslims. "Look at these pathetic people," she writes. "They should all be sent to Saudi, where these sickos are executed or crushed by a wall, in public."
The majority of Muslims Ms. Farooq does admire are ones currently at war, and she reserves her most vitriolic comments for the people they are at war with.
In a thread started by Mr. Fahim's wife, Mariya, marking the death of Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi after an Israeli missile strike, Ms. Farooq unleashes her fury: "May Allah crush these jews, bring them down to their kneees, humuliate them. Ya Allah make their women widows and their children orphans." The statement is so jarring that another poster complains it's not right for Muslims to wish such things on other people. Ms. Farooq's sister Rana is also in favour of violent resistance, posting often graphic photos of female militants and suicide bombers.
But while her heart may be in the battlefields and holy cities, Nada Farooq finds herself physically in Canada, a country the Karachi-born teen moved to after spending her childhood in Saudi Arabia. Her name is properly pronounced "Needa," and when she came to Canada as a child, some of the kids at her school teased her by calling her "Needa Shower." She'd often come home in tears.
The Farooqs, a Pakistani family, came to Canada in 1997 because they didn't like the idea of raising their children in the conservative society of Saudi Arabia, where foreign-born children don't have access to the same education as nationals, said Nada's father, Mohammad Umer Farooq.
When a Globe reporter contacted Nada's father at his home in Wainwright, and described some of his daughter's Internet postings, Mr. Farooq said he was "curious" and "concerned."
His daughter never expressed such opinions to him, he said, though he noted that he's worked in Alberta for the past five years and only makes it home to Mississauga a few weeks every year. He headed west because the pharmacist training hours required in Alberta were much lower.
His daughter has always been more religious than he and his wife, he said, and it was a faith that she developed in Canada, not Saudi Arabia. He described himself as 30 per cent religious and his daughter as 100 per cent.
"Occasionally. I pray. She prays five times."
While his daughter has used her Internet forum to lament the end of the Taliban, Mr. Farooq is a firm supporter of Canada's mission in Afghanistan. Many of the soldiers he serves at CFB Wainwright will eventually be joining the mission.
"They are there for the betterment of the people. They are there for the development of Afghanistan."
While she forms a close circle of Muslim friends, Ms. Farooq is never comfortable with life in Canada. She posts that her mother is often lonely because her father spends large portions of his time at work. She talks about going to the University of Toronto in Mississauga as fulfilling her parents' dreams rather than her own.
Ms. Farooq's hatred for the country is palpable. She hardly ever calls Canada by its name, rather repeatedly referring to it as "this filthy country." It's a sentiment shared by many of her friends, one of whom states that the laws of the country are irrelevant because they are not the laws of God.
In late April of 2004, a poster asks the forum members to share their impressions of what makes Canada unique. Nada's answer is straightforward.
"Who cares? We hate Canada."
In Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal's mind, every Muslim is another potential victim.
As a 44-year-old member of an on-line forum inhabited almost exclusively by teenagers, Ms. Jamal fits snugly into the role of maternal figure, and the advice she dispenses reflects her firm belief that the forces of evil are out to get every member of her adopted religion. She encourages Muslim youths to learn about herbal medicine and first aid lest they ever find themselves in a Muslim country under embargo, unable to receive proper medicine. Even in Canada, she says, one can never become complacent.
"You don't know that the Muslims in Canada will never be rounded up and put into internment camps like the Japanese were in WWII!" she writes in one 2004 post. This is a time when Muslims "are being systematically cleansed from the earth," she adds.
If she's looking for an example of such oppression, Ms. Jamal finds it in the Khadrs, the Canadian family whose patriarch, Ahmed Said Khadr, was killed by Pakistani forces and declared a martyr by al-Qaeda. In June, 2004, Ms. Jamal spearheaded a committee to help Mr. Khadr's widow, Maha. In Ms. Jamal's view, Maha Khadr and her family have committed no crime, only stated their opinion, and it is the duty of the entire Muslim nation to ensure the family's well-being.
Ms. Jamal's zealousness for homegrown Muslim causes is matched only by her rejection of just about everything Canadian. As the June, 2004 federal election draws near, she repeatedly advises Muslim youth to completely avoid the process. Voting, she tells them, inherently violates the sovereignty of God, making it the most egregious sin against Islam.
"Are you accepting a system that separates religion and state?" she asks. "Are you gonna give your pledge of allegiance to a party that puts secular laws above the laws of Allah? Are you gonna worship that which they worship? Are you going to throw away the most important thing that makes you a muslim?"
Ms. Jamal's list of forbidden institutions goes beyond politics. Banking, membership in the United Nations, women's rights and secular law are all aspects of Canadian society she finds unacceptable.
But her deepest outrage, like that of so many Muslims, is time and again sparked by the treatment of her brothers and sisters around the world. In a May, 2004 post titled "Behold Your Enemy!" she posts multiple articles describing the humiliation of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of American soldiers.
"Know what you will face one day," she warns fellow forum members. "Let them call you a terrorist, let them make you look like a savage, but know that THIS is the filth of the earth, the uncivilised destroyer of humanity.
"Know from this day that this is not an Iraqi problem, it is not an Afghani problem, it is not a Palestinian problem, it is not a Somali problem. IT IS YOUR PROBLEM!!!"
Often, the conversation was quite tame. The women post advice on make-up, organizing sisters-only events and finding restaurants that offer truly halal Chinese food. Fahim Ahmad's wife, Mariya, posts a warning to other women not to go watch the brothers play soccer, because it makes them uncomfortable."Yea, and besides, their OUR husbands!" Ms. Jamal concurs. "Go get your own to stare at!"
But inevitably, it would come back to Islam, the very purpose for which Ms. Farooq created the forum in the first place. When it comes to religion, the wives of Mr. Amara, Mr. Jamal, Mr. Ghany and Mr. Ahmad exhibit a commitment to hard-line fundamentalism that rivals and often exceeds that of their husbands.
In May, 2004, the Meadowvale students come across an extremely graphic video showing the beheading of a U.S. hostage in Iraq. Mr. Fahim, posting under the name "Soldier of ALLAH," praises the killers as mujahedeen who will be rewarded in the afterlife. Another poster maintains the beheading was actually carried out by U.S. forces as a ploy to direct anger at the Muslim community. It's this post that inspires Nada to prohibit any further discussion of similar conspiracy theories.
Three posts later, her husband reprints an article claiming the Americans were responsible for the beheading.
But such occasional bickering between newlyweds does not stop Ms. Jamal from seeing the bigger picture. In her 40s, she is more than twice as old as most of the other Muslims on the forum. But like her husband, she believes young Muslims are the only ones capable of standing up against non-Muslim oppression.
For the most part, the wives of the other suspects do not let her down. This is especially true of Ms. Farooq, who deeply believes that education, financial success and other such goals are relatively frivolous because they only help Muslims during their time on Earth, and not in the afterlife. When another forum member disagrees with her view, she describes him as being "too much in this dunya [world]," and not sufficiently concerned with what comes after.
"Those who are sincere in pleasing Allah will go to whatever length to help the true believers," Ms. Farooq writes. "Those who fear Allah more than they fear the CSIS. Those are the ones who will succeed in the hereafter."

Muslim Brotherly Hate
By Joe Kaufman
FrontPageMagazine.com | June 30, 2006
All of the problems that the world has experienced with regard to Islamic terrorists can be traced to what one man, Hassan Al-Banna, started in 1928, when he founded the secret society of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). The goal of the Brotherhood was to expel the West from the Middle East, and by doing so, reunite the Islamic world under one ruler. The group was never successful in its mission, but it has had many successes, and its numbers attest to its wide influence. Since the early sixties, that influence has reached American shores with a new goal: to replace the West with Islam.
Today, Muslim Brothers across North America, along with their families, will congregate in two large U.S. cities to display their unrepentant unity. Thousands are said to be attending the two three-day weekend events. The list of speakers at each venue reads like a who’s who of Islamic extremists.
One of the conferences, titled ‘Our Youth, Our Family, Our Future,’ is being held at the Westin Galleria Hotel, in Dallas, Texas, and is being sponsored by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). ISNA was founded through the Muslim Students Association (MSA) by Islamic fanatics like Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al-Arian in 1983. [Although, according to ISNA’s website, the group was created in 1963, the year of the founding of MSA.] ISNA was established to act as an umbrella organization for Arab-oriented entities, which includes a large percentage of America’s mosques and Islamic centers.
The other conference, titled ‘Living Islam, Loving Humanity,’ is being held at the Connecticut Convention Center, in Hartford, Connecticut, and is being sponsored by the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and the Muslim American Society (MAS). ICNA, like ISNA, was founded through MSA, but instead of having an Arab orientation, ICNA fashions itself towards Muslims of South Asian descent. ICNA was originally established in 1971 to emulate the Muslim Brotherhood of Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami.
Over time, groups such as the aforementioned were feared to be losing their identity with the Brotherhood. The Muslim American Society was founded, in 1993, to be an unwavering public face of MB. On MAS websites across the United States, one can find Brotherhood materials supportive of terrorist organizations, calling for the waging of war against non-Muslims, cursing Christians, and discussing the murder of Jews.
While all of the groups cited might have slight differences from one another, today, they are all working together in unison. And while there will be conferences held in two separate locations, featured participants from both conferences will be shuttled from one city to the other to give speeches at each. These repeat speakers include such extremists as:
Ingrid Mattson, the current Vice President of ISNA. In September of 2001, in a piece Mattson had written concerning Islamic violence, she described the United States’ vetoing of criticisms of Israel at the U.N. as an American “injustice.” In September of 2002, in a report by the San Francisco Chronicle about the effect of 9/11 on Muslims, Mattson said that it was “logical,” albeit wrong, for terrorists to attack the World Trade Center, since “Israel has attacked and oppressed Palestinians for decades, and Israel gets $3 billion a year in military assistance from the U.S. government.” At ISNA’s 40th Annual Convention held in Chicago in August-September 2003, Mattson stated, “We need to be living Islam, but living Islam in the midst of people who may be hostile.”
Muzammil Siddiqi, a former President of ISNA and current Religious Director of the Islamic Society of Orange County (ISOC). At an October 2000 rally outside the White House, where shouts of support for Hamas and Hezbollah were heard, Siddiqi threatened that if the U.S. continues to take the side of Israel, “the wrath of God will come.” In a 1995 speech reported by the Kansas City Star, Siddiqi was quoted as praising suicide bombers. He stated, “Those who die on the part of justice are alive, and their place is with the Lord, and they receive the highest position, because this is the highest honor.”
Abdalla Idris Ali, a former President of ISNA and current board member of the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) and the American Muslim Council (AMC). Ali is on video soliciting funds for IslamiCity, a website that showcases brutally anti-Semitic content. In the IslamiCity Library, one finds an article entitled ‘Corruption of the Torah,’ which states, “The ‘people of the Book’ includes Jews…Even though Allah has told us of the hatred they hide in their hearts, He has not command us to hate and kill every single Jew we meet simply because he is a Jew. We are better than that. We serve a higher purpose. For this reason, I am going to provide a very devastating argument against them in order to assist them in seeing the corruption of their forefathers….” Ali says that he allows his children to view this site and that the site “might save millions of our children.”
Siraj Wahhaj, a former Vice President of ISNA and current Imam of Masjid Al-Taqwa in Brookyn, New York. Wahhaj’s name is found on the list of potential co-conspirators to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, as compiled by the office of then-U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White. During the 1996 trial for the ‘93 bomb plot, Wahhaj served as a character witness for the spiritual leader of the conspiracy, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. He testified that it had been an honor to host Rahman at his (Wahhaj’s) mosque, and he described Rahman as a “respected scholar.” In a recorded sermon at his mosque, Wahhaj stated about the United States, “In time, this so-called democracy will crumble, and there will be nothing. And the only thing that will remain will be Islam.”
In conjunction with the main events, each conference offers separate events for children. At ICNA-MAS’s Youth Conference, entitled ‘Following the Footsteps of the Prophet,’ one of the featured speakers is Mazen Mokhtar, the Youth Director for the New Jersey chapter of MAS. Just prior to 9/11, Mokhtar had created a website that raised funds and recruited fighters for Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. The site also acted as a portal to the official website of Hamas.
We can say that the children who are being taken to either of these conferences will be brainwashed into the Brotherhood, but common sense should tell us that they were indoctrinated long before they get to their respective venue. That has been a never-ending scenario, since MB began, and it has only continued with the popularity of ISNA, ICNA, and MAS.
Today, the radical Islamist community stands strong in Texas and Connecticut as one unified force, under the aegis and aura of the Muslim Brotherhood, ready to assist the coming generation in its future quest to become even stronger. Unfortunately, the unity that brings these groups together is also the same unity that will attempt to destroy us from within -- all along, while America provides them with a platform to express their anger and assist in our demise.