LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
JUNE 23/2006

Below News From miscellaneous sources for 23/06/06
Moallem Says Too Early for Diplomatic Relations with Lebanon-Naharnet
Aoun Meets with Constitutional Council to Urge it to Look into Election Irregularities-Naharnet
Bush Sends Clear Message to Syria: 'Leave Lebanon Alone'-Naharnet
Satterfield: Hizbullah Involved in Violence in Iraq-Naharnet
Hariri: Lebanon Will Have no Friends Left Because of Lahoud-Naharnet
Bush tells Syria: 'Leave Lebanon Alone'-Ya Libnan
Lebanon: Hizbullah, Amal fight for student support -Al-Bawaba
Egypt - Syria summit held in CairoAl-Bawaba
Russian, Syrian companies agree on planeRIA Novosti
Hezbollah denies ties to Iraq insurgency-AKI
Learning the hard way-Ha'aretz
IDF Col. Gets 15 Years for Spying for Hezbollah-Arutz Sheva
Minister's visit to boost Syria-Iraq ties-Gulf News
Bush Sends Clear Message to Syria: 'Leave Lebanon Alone'-Naharnet
Small minded tactics plague Lebanon-Syria relations-Ya Libnan
Aoun Meets with Constitutional Council-Naharnet
3G arrives in Syria-United Press International
Syria: Too early for diplomatic ties with Lebanon-Middle East Online
The Complicity of Muslim Silence. By Robert Spencer
Arab Schizophrenia-By MEMRI
Qassam fire war crime-ynetnews

Moallem Says Too Early for Diplomatic Relations with Lebanon
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Thursday it was too early to establish diplomatic ties with Lebanon, despite a U.N. Security Council call for the countries' fraught relations to be improved.
"Any step of this nature requires the appropriate atmosphere to be prevailing between the two countries," Moallem told reporters after a meeting between Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.
"There is no problem concerning the principle" of establishing formal diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon. "But we need to find the appropriate moment," he said. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1680 last month "strongly encouraging" Syria to establish diplomatic ties with the country it dominated for three decades.
The resolution urged Damascus to respond positively to Lebanon's request "to delineate their common border, especially in those areas where the border is uncertain and to establish full diplomatic relations and representation."
But Moallem explained that what was holding Syria back was the assertion by members of the Lebanese cabinet that Damascus was behind former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination in February 2005.
"The main point of disagreement is with some members of the Lebanese government who have preempted the results of the investigation and accused Syria of assassinating Rafik Hariri," he said. He described this as an "unfair media campaign" against Assad's regime and added: "This situation calls for an improvement of the atmosphere between the two countries."(AFP)
Beirut, 22 Jun 06, 18:18

Aoun Meets with Constitutional Council to Urge it to Look into Election Irregularities
Gen. Michel Aoun and his MPs of the Reform and Change parliamentary bloc on Thursday met with members of the defunct Constitutional Council to urge it to convene and investigate alleged irregularities in the 2005 legislative elections.
Aoun wants the council, which has ceased to convene since August after five of its members quit, to meet and look into the legality of 10 seats won by the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority in the Baabda-Aley district. In May, parliament passed a law demanding the formation of a new council under new regulations as the old body's members were appointed before Syria's withdrawal and under its influence. Aoun has challenged the law accusing the government of attempting to paralyze the council to prevent it from looking into the alleged irregularities. The council, which is formed of 10 judges and lawyers, oversees the constitutionality of laws and arbitrates conflicts that arise from parliamentary and presidential elections. MPs representing Hizbullah and Amal also gathered at the council in solidarity with Aoun's bloc. Beirut, 22 Jun 06, 12:08

Bush Sends Clear Message to Syria: 'Leave Lebanon Alone'
U.S. President George Bush has urged Syria to "leave Lebanon alone" so it can live as a free democracy.
Bush, who is in Vienna to attend the annual U.S.-European Union summit, was speaking to reporters Wednesday after meeting Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel. "We talked about Lebanon and the need for Lebanon to be free from Syrian influence," said Bush. He said the United States and Europe "worked very closely together at the United Nations to send that clear message to the Syrians: leave Lebanon alone, let them be, let them be a free democracy, which is a necessary part of laying the foundation for peace in the Middle East." This was Bush's second message of support for Lebanese sovereignty this week. On Monday the U.S. president said his country "will not rest until the Lebanese people enjoy full independence."
The United States, France and Britain were the main sponsors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1680 that was passed last month and urges Syria to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon and delineate the common border. Damascus has rejected the resolution and called it unprecedented international interference in bilateral affairs. Beirut, 22 Jun 06, 09:39

Lebanon: Hizbullah, Amal fight for student support in another sign of tension
Posted: 22-06-2006 , 15:13 GMT
Tensions have run high in recent weeks between the Shiite movements Amal and Hizbullah, with sources in Lebanon claiming that the main reason for the growing rift lies in Hizbullah's fear that Amal is attempting to undermine its support base, especially amongst students. Strife between the two pro-Syrian factions intensified late last month, leading to violent clashes which left at least 13 wounded and nine others in police custody when clashes erupted between Amal and Hizbullah students at the Lebanese University in Hadath and at the Lebanese American University (LAU). Disagreements between the two groups arose over celebrations marking the sixth 'Liberation Day,' commemorating Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000. The tension began on May 23 when a Hizbullah student set up a stand on campus at the Lebanese University, calling on students to express their views regarding Liberation Day. Another student—from Amal—took offense to the Hizbullah stand, and reportedly replaced the word "Hizbullah" with "Amal" on its placard. The incident deteriorated to fights between students from both groups. According to Hizbullah, some 30 Amal students, armed with knives and rods, arrived in the scene. Local papers reported that internal security forces were called in to contain the clashes, which had by then spread to include scores of students.
A day later, Hizbullah organized a ceremony marking Liberation Day at the Social Science faculty of the school. A Hizbullah source claimed that during the event, elements from Amal, which included students and other supporters out of the university, attempted to interrupt the ceremony and taunted Hizbullah supporters. Chaos ensued. In an attempt to ease tensions and prevent more from erupting, senior officials from Amal and Hizbullah met on the evening of May 24 to discuss the violent events. After the talks, both sides stressed the "brotherly" relations between the two movements and described the clashes as merely "isolated" events. A similar clash was reported on the same day at the LAU campus. Subsequently, LAU President Joseph Jabra issued a statement saying that as a result of the incident, the institution had decided to expel several students. Classes were also suspended after the scuffle, while all students were asked to leave campus to avoid further violence, the LAU statement said. Jabra also decided to ban all further political activity on campus grounds. The move was welcomed by Amal and also by Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, but surprised Hizbullah. It should be noted that the Hizbullah – Amal rift is not new. Traditionally, intense political and electoral rivalry existed between Hizbullah and Amal in their efforts to achieve hegemony within the Shiite population. A Lebanese political expert summed up the issue by saying: "The Amal – Hizbullah student fights should be perceived as part of the ideological differences between these two Shiite movements. One should not forget the fierce fighting between these two Shiite rivals in late 1980s and in 2002. The two cooperated in the recent elections, but Amal seems now not ready to leave the entire arena of Shiite politics to Hizbullah alone."
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com

Bush Sends Clear Message to Syria: 'Leave Lebanon Alone'
U.S. President George Bush has urged Syria to "leave Lebanon alone" so it can live as a free democracy.
Bush, who is in Vienna to attend the annual U.S.-European Union summit, was speaking to reporters Wednesday after meeting Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel. "We talked about Lebanon and the need for Lebanon to be free from Syrian influence," said Bush. He said the United States and Europe "worked very closely together at the United Nations to send that clear message to the Syrians: leave Lebanon alone, let them be, let them be a free democracy, which is a necessary part of laying the foundation for peace in the Middle East." This was Bush's second message of support for Lebanese sovereignty this week. On Monday the U.S. president said his country "will not rest until the Lebanese people enjoy full independence."
The United States, France and Britain were the main sponsors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1680 that was passed last month and urges Syria to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon and delineate the common border.
Damascus has rejected the resolution and called it unprecedented international interference in bilateral affairs.
Beirut, 22 Jun 06, 09:39

Bush tells Syria: 'Leave Lebanon Alone'
Thursday, 22 June, 2006 @ 7:08 PM
Beirut & Vienna- U.S. President George Bush has urged Syria to "leave Lebanon alone" so it can live as a free democracy.
Bush ( R) , who was in Vienna to attend the annual U.S.-European Union summit, was speaking to reporters Wednesday after meeting Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel.
"We talked about Lebanon and the need for Lebanon to be free from Syrian influence," said Bush.
He said the United States and Europe "worked very closely together at the United Nations to send that clear message to the Syrians: leave Lebanon alone, let them be, let them be a free democracy, which is a necessary part of laying the foundation for peace in the Middle East." This was Bush's second message of support for Lebanese sovereignty this week.
On Monday the U.S. president said his country "will not rest until the Lebanese people enjoy full independence."
The United States, France and Britain were the main sponsors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1680 that was passed last month and urges Syria to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon and delineate the common border.
Damascus has rejected the resolution and called it unprecedented international interference in bilateral affairs.
Syria , Israel and the Shebaa farms
Israel has offered to withdraw from Shebaa farms, the area that was occupied by Israel in 1967, if Syria will confirm in writing that it is a Lebanese territory, but Syria so far has only confirmed this orally and refused to put it in writing. Syria's action in this regard has been a very destabilizing factor in Lebanon, since the pro- Syrian Hezbollah organization is using Shebaa as an excuse to hold onto its arms.
Israel also is using the presence of Hezbollah in the south as an excuse to destabilize the area. Last month Israeli Mossad was blamed for assassinating 2 leaders of the Islamic Jihad in Sidon city in southern Lebanon. Israel also continues to violate Lebanon's Air, Land and Sea spaces.
Iran also is using the Shebaa farms as an excuse to beef up the area with Iranian intelligence agents. According to sources Iranain agents have been moving positions from the Bekaa region to the border areas.
Many local observers are of the opinion that Syria and Israel are both conspiring against Lebanon. One observer told Ya Libnan, "the borders between Israel and Syria continue to be the quietest in the whole region and not one shot was fired from Syria into Israel for several years". The observers further commented that " Israel has objected very strongly to regime change in Syria, since they see the Syrian regime as the most convenient for Israeli security"
Sources: Ya Libnan, Naharnet

Small minded tactics plague Lebanon-Syria relations
Monday, 19 June, 2006 @ 5:51 PM
By Omar Raad,
Ya Libnan Volunteer
Who would have thought planning a 2 hour trip out east would be so damn complicated.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has met with Bush and Blair, yet he can't seem to get on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's (photo, right) radar screen. The latest round of comedy comes courtesy of Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al Moallem (photo, left), who said that Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has missed his chance to visit Damascus. According to Moallem, Siniora procrastinated on visiting after the Syrians told a friend of a friend that the gates of Damascus were open, and that Siniora was now permitted to visit his holiness, the president of Syria. Unfortunately those high and mighty gates are now closed, at least that's what Moallem is claiming.
Let's do lunch
Siniora has been trying to visit Damascus to discus critical issues, including the delineation of the Lebanon-Syria border and to push for diplomatic embassies in both Beirut and Damascus.
The drama over a simple diplomatic visit has exposed a severe lack of interest on the part of the Syrian regime to better ties with Lebanon's government. Previously president Assad said that he only meets with other nations' presidents. When put in the uncomfortable situation of meeting Siniora at the Arab Summit in Sudan, Assad said that they needed an "agenda" prior to his visiting Damascus.
Lebanon needs to urgently resolve the status of the borders with Syria, in order to proceed to reclaim the Shebaa Farms from the Israelis. Syria clearly prefers to keep things in an ambiguous state, including diplomatic relations.
The pigeon and the message
According to an interview with the Kuwaiti al Anba newspaper published Monday, Moallem charged that his government had notified Siniora of the date for his expected visit through Speaker Nabih Berri when he was in Damascus last month.
"However, the prime minister, according to our understanding, procrastinated and did not come on the date that was specified to him," Moallem said.
In this day and age of modern technology, a simple phone call, or an e-vite even would have sufficed. Instead, the Syrian president decided to go through a pigeon messenger.
Let's do coffee
The presidential aspirant, Michel Aoun, had some advice for Siniora on how to go about his official visit, solve the dispute with Syria the Lebanese way: "Let's knock on their door and say we're here for coffee." Siniora said he had been expecting an official invitation according to protocol. On May 16, the U.N. Security Council issued Resolution 1680 putting more pressure on Syria to respond to Lebanon's demands for border demarcation and embassy exchanges. Syria rejected the resolution calling its unprecedented intervention in bilateral affairs.Sources: Ya Libnan, Naharnet

Aoun Meets with Constitutional Council to Urge it to Look into Election Irregularities
Gen. Michel Aoun and his MPs of the Reform and Change parliamentary bloc on Thursday met with members of the defunct Constitutional Council to urge it to convene and investigate alleged irregularities in the 2005 legislative elections.
Aoun wants the council, which has ceased to convene since August after five of its members quit, to meet and look into the legality of 10 seats won by the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority in the Baabda-Aley district.
In May, parliament passed a law demanding the formation of a new council under new regulations as the old body's members were appointed before Syria's withdrawal and under its influence. Aoun has challenged the law accusing the government of attempting to paralyze the council to prevent it from looking into the alleged irregularities. The council, which is formed of 10 judges and lawyers, oversees the constitutionality of laws and arbitrates conflicts that arise from parliamentary and presidential elections. MPs representing Hizbullah and Amal also gathered at the council in solidarity with Aoun's bloc.

Minister's visit to boost Syria-Iraq ties
By Basil Adas, Correspondent
Baghdad: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al Mualem is expected to visit Iraq this month to normalise diplomatic ties between the two countries, Iraqi officials said yesterday.
The visit date has not yet been finalised, said the officials.
Commenting on reports about postponing the visit, Labeed Adawi, an Undersecretary at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, told Gulf News: "[It will be] before the end of the month. We have not yet been notified of the [exact] date."
The visit is scheduled amid Iraqi accusations that Syria is turning a blind eye to armed fighters crossing the border into Iraq.
"Infiltration across the Syria-Iraq border has drastically declined," said Babakeer Zebari, the Iraqi army Chief of Staff.
"There are more than 60 security units monitoring the Syria-Iraqi border. This has resulted in the arrest of some armed militants and the killing of others," said Zebari.
Adnan Al Dulaimi, leader of the Sunni Accord Front, told Gulf News that the Front supports the political rapprochement between Iraq and Syria "because it is in Iraq's benefit in the first place."
The Front has made efforts in the past few months to support the move, he said.
The Iraqi government is expected to ask the Syrian minister to stop media campaigns supporting armed struggle in Iraq and opposing the political process. Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish leader close to the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, said: "Talks between Iraq and Syria would focus on encouraging Damascus to play a significant role in supporting the security process against terrorism. "We are against transforming Iraq into a battle field or a place where Syria and the United States can settle their scores."

IDF Col. Gets 15 Years for Spying for Hezbollah
19:19 Jun 18, '06 / 22 Sivan 5766
(IsraelNN.com) An IDF colonel has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for spying for the Hezbollah.
The colonel, Omar El-Hayeb, a Beduin from the Galilee, was convicted on charges of espionage, contact with a foreign agent, and drug dealing. He was acquitted on charges of treason.
Arrested in October 2002, El-Hayeb, 43, is from the village of Beit Zarzir. He was responsible for recruiting Beduin soldiers into the IDF.

Learning the hard way
By Moshe Arens
Israel may be strong enough and have a sufficient margin of error to sustain repeated leadership mistakes, but nevertheless, we have a right to expect that our leaders learn from their errors and minimize the resulting damage to Israel's citizens. But it sure seems like they are learning the hard way, and many Israelis are paying the price. This time it is the turn of the residents of Sderot, Ashkelon and the neighboring communities.
Ever since the Israel Defense Forces withdrew from southern Lebanon, it has been claimed that such unilateral withdrawals to lines with a greater degree of "legitimacy" increase Israel's deterrent power against acts of terror targeting its citizens. As if there had not been sufficient justification for Israel's military response against Hezbollah terrorism while the IDF was deployed in southern Lebanon, once the IDF withdrew to the international border, the whole world would presumably understand the unprecedented response if Hezbollah were to continue its terrorism. Who can forget the dire warnings then-prime minister Ehud Barak issued about the punishment that would be meted out to Hezbollah and Lebanon if attacks were launched from the latter's territory after the withdrawal to the international border? UN inspectors were called in to assure, and for the whole world to see, that Israel was no longer occupying even one square centimeter of Lebanese soil. But as it turned out, those who were supposed to take these warnings seriously - Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and the Lebanese government - were not overly impressed. Attacks continued, the promised Israeli response never came, and Israeli deterrence on the northern border turned into ash.
But nothing was learned from this experience. They then argued that once Israel had unilaterally withdrawn to the 1967 lines around the Gaza Strip, terrorists there would know what to expect if they continued attacking Israel. What's more, the whole world would understand that now, Israel's response to acts of terror would be devastating. The punishment inflicted on Israel itself as part of the withdrawal - the forced evacuation of 8,000 Israeli citizens, the destruction of their homes, and the waste laid to their fields - would presumably convince all Palestinians, and Israel's friends and foes in the world, that from now on no holds would be barred. This message was spelled out by political and military leaders so that there would be no misunderstandings. But the Qassam rockets continued coming, their frequency increased, and they began reaching not only Sderot and the villages around the Gaza Strip, but also Ashkelon and a number of strategic sites in that vicinity.
Our leaders, whose roots may be somewhere near the legendary town of Chelm, the city of fools, decided that Israel's response to the Qassam rocket attacks would be massive 24-hour artillery barrages on empty fields in the Gaza Strip. These artillery barrages kept the citizens of Ashkelon from sleeping at night, but as should have been expected, they did not stop the Qassams. Almost the contrary - by occasionally injuring some innocent civilians in the densely packed Gaza Strip, this foolish response called forth internal and external criticism. Israel's deterrence was again turning to ashes. It only encouraged the terrorists. So repeat after me: Unilateral withdrawals weaken Israel's deterrence.
Not wanting to admit that the whole Gaza disengagement project had been one gigantic blunder, it was now argued that there had also been rocket attacks before the disengagement, and that nobody had been killed by a Qassam. But the foolish insistence that the disengagement from the northern Gaza Strip reach the 1967 lines and include the settlements of Nisanit, Dugit and Alei Sinai, brought the Qassam launching points that much closer to Ashkelon. While the residents of Sderot are cowering in the shelters, our leaders are scratching their heads as to what to do next.
Israel leads in ballistic interception technology, but the trajectory of Qassams is just too short to make interception possible. The obvious move to cut down on this danger is for the IDF to reoccupy unilaterally some of the areas in the northern Gaza Strip that were so foolishly abandoned unilaterally last August. It's so simple - so why is it not being done? Would you believe it? Our leaders are ashamed to admit their mistake.
Beirut, 22 Jun 06, 12:08