LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
MARCH 2/2006

Below news from miscellaneous sources for 2/3/06
Lebanon: Presidential Scenarios.By: Abdel Wahab Badrakhan -Al-Hayat - 2.3.06
Makari, Murr at Loggerheads over National Dialogue's Greek Orthodox Representation-Naharnet 2.3.06
Hariri: Status Quo Will Allow Lahoud and his Syrian Backers to Regain Influence-Naharnet 2.3.06
Chirac Meets Annan, Urges Cooperation with U.N. Investigation-Naharnet 2.3.06
Lebanon Will Never Die!-Naharnet 2.3.06
Judge Charges Journalist and ex-Security Chief With Slandering Lahoud-Naharnet 2.3.06
Below news from the Daily Star for 3/3/06
Hizbullah, FPM get proof of prisoners in Syria
Lebanese leaders enter historic national dialogue
Maronite bishops: Lahoud himself must decide whether his rule benefits Lebanon
Hariri, Nasrallah hold seven-hour meeting on national issues
Murr pleads with Lahoud to do the right thing and preserve his dignity
Jumblatt to leave mid-national talks to meet Rice, Wolfowitz in Washington
EU backs solid-waste management
Sidon students gather to protest U.S. tutelage
Mubarak warns U.S. officials against military attack on Iran
If Lebanese politicians only took their cue from the citizens' spirit

Lebanese leaders enter historic national dialogue
March 02, 2006 Daily Star
After a year of upheaval, Beirut's Downtown is once again the focus of attention, as top leaders gather and for the first time in the country's history try to find solutions to the fierce divisions threatening national stability. The national dialogue, launched by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, aims to bring the different players from the country's fractious political arena to a round table with the hopes of forging an alliance instead of the current discord.
But as leaders of the political parties prepare themselves for heated rounds of debate, pre-set political positions and harsh sectarian divisions made a strong imprint, giving a glimpse of the challenges the dialogue will face.
The differences are mainly an insistence by the March 14 Forces to discuss the issue of ousting President Emile Lahoud before anything else, and a refusal by Hizbullah, who is insisting the first topic should be preserving the resistance's weapons, which is rejected by some, such as Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt.
In addition, an expected trip by Jumblatt to the U.S. Sunday is expected to slow down the dialogue, as it means the Druze sect will not be represented by its key player. Issues to be discussed at the round table are the three main sensitive topics right now in Beirut: UN Resolution 1559, relations with Syria, and the truth behind the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
Berri refused Wednesday to discuss any topic external to the agenda, but he asserted the issue of ousting Lahoud would be discussed as it falls under the stipulations of Resolution 1559. But sources close to Future Movement MP Saad Hariri - who met with Jumblatt late Wednesday - said the dialogue is not likely to end the current crisis, and is being held as a prelude to the announcement of an Arab initiative, which is still under preparation.
Talking before student representatives of the Lebanese Forces, LF leader Samir Geagea, warned that if some people were trying to shift attention from efforts to oust Lahoud, "they are very wrong." "The issue of ousting Lahoud will be present with us at the dialogue table," he said. "Any dialogue that does not take into consideration the issue of the presidency will have no meaning."Geagea, who made sure to make clear he supported the dialogue said the battle to "free Baabda presidential palace" will continue no matter what the results of the dialogue are.
"This will remain our priority, and one way or another we will accomplish it," he said. "It is shameful that Lahoud remains in Baabda Palace after all that has happened, and that he allows himself to throw advice around ... he is the person who hurt the post of the presidency most in all the history of Lebanon."In turn, Free Patriotic Movement leader Kesrouan MP Michel Aoun said he was going to the dialogue "with clear intentions."
"This is a dialogue that should lead to solving the country's main points of difference, and in order to make it work we should all go with no pre-set agendas," he told The Daily Star in an interview to be published Friday.
In a similar statement, the FPM's main allies, Hizbullah, said the country had no other choice but to engage in "sincere dialogue in order to work out all the differences."Asked whether the resistance will accept discussions surrounding the issue of ousting Lahoud as the first issue on the agenda, the head of Hizbullah's bloc MP Mohammad Raad said this point should be viewed as a "suggestion by the March 14 Forces, and not as a condition."
"If they are setting this demand as a condition, then they would be ending the dialogue before it starts," he said. "We accepted to enter this dialogue according to the agenda set by Speaker Nabih Berri, and every point added to the agenda should be agreed upon first."Raad added that there was no alternative to dialogue.
"Even if this dialogue does not work out from the first round, and does not lead to anything, the participants should return to the table in order to reach the necessary position," he said.
Another problem persisted Wednesday, as no solution was found as to who would represent the Greek Orthodox sect at the round table.Berri had initially asked pro-Syrian MP Michel Murr to represent the sect, but some politicians, including Greek Orthodox MPs, objected to the choice and said the sect should be represented by either Deputy Speaker Farid Makari because of position priority or MP Ghassan Tueni due to his diplomatic background.
As The Daily Star went to press, no solution had been found, with MP Michel Moussa, a member of the Speaker's parliamentary bloc and a close party to efforts to solve the issue saying Berri was still trying to reach an agreement.
When asked what will happen if no solution is found, Moussa said "there is no other option, we will find a solution."
Makari had said during the day that the sect will not accept representation through heads of parliamentary blocs, which had been suggested by Berri, and labeled such representation as "second degree."
"Speaker Berri called me offering that MP Murr be represented in Aoun's delegation and MP Tueni be represented in Hariri's delegation. But the sect is the fourth biggest sect in the country, and this is not acceptable," Makari said.
But, deputy Premier Elias Murr said Wednesday he doesn't care who represents the sect, "as long as it is represented, whether it is my father (MP Michel Murr) or my dear friend Makari."
Meanwhile Lahoud launched yet another attack on the March 14 Forces, accusing them again of serving the interests of foreign powers "that are, in turn, trying to serve the interests of Israel."
He slammed the dialogue's agenda, saying: "Rather than discussing the issue of the presidency, they should discuss the Lebanese people's living conditions." "Any dialogue under democratic terms is possible. However, it is neither accepted nor tolerated to destabilize the situation in the country and threaten security," Lahoud said to visitors at Baabda Palace.
Those attending the dialogue will be:
Berri, Premier Fouad Siniora, Jumblatt, Hariri, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Geagea, former President Amin Gemayel, Aoun, MP Butros Harb, MP Elias Skaff, MP Mohammad Safadi and a representative from the coalition of Armenian parties and either Makari or Murr for the Greek Orthodox sect.

If Lebanese politicians only took their cue from the citizens' spirit
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Editorial-Daily Star
On Wednesday, Lebanon's Cabinet took to the road - yet again - for their weekly meeting. Although the Cabinet meetings usually take place in the Grand Serail or the presidential palace in Baabda, two weeks ago the session was moved to a neutral location, a government building near the national museum, after several ministers said they would not attend meetings in Baabda so long as President Emile Lahoud was still there. Then last week's session was moved back to Baabda after the army said that it could not secure the venue near the museum. But 15 ministers boycotted that session, forcing its cancellation because it did not have the necessary quorum. This week the Cabinet meeting was moved again to a neutral venue, the Economic Social Council. The spectacle of a Cabinet that has become much like a traveling circus illustrates in microcosm the enormous problems facing the country. And the fact that politicians can barely meet the challenge of holding a Cabinet session does not bode well for the national dialogue, which was called by Speaker Nabih Berri to begin today. In fact, similar squabbles have plagued efforts to launch the dialogue. Some leaders have said that certain issues, including the question of Lahoud's presidency, ought not be up for discussion. Others have criticized Berri for not including them in the talks, which they say do not have a balanced sectarian representation.
If a company's board of directors were so plagued with infighting that it had to struggle to agree on a venue for a meeting, investors would be inclined to pull out. If the scrambling in Lebanon signifies anything it is that the post-Taif political system, which was generated by Syria, is completely bankrupt. Unfortunately, the Lebanese do not have the option of withdrawing the power that they have invested in their leaders.
This also begs the questions, is Lebanon in need of reinvention? And is the job of dialogue really so impossible? This paper holds that the most daunting challenge facing politicians is for them to learn to work for the benefit of their citizens. In the year since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the citizens of Lebanon have behaved in an exemplary way. Their open and peaceful expressions of unity and democracy since February 14, 2005, have been an inspiration to others in the region, and have been admired even further afield in Paris and in Washington. Politicians have a lot of work to do to catch up with the nonsectarian, democratic spirit of their citizens. Can Berri bring the spirit of the people to its rightful home under Parliament? Or will this exercise unravel due to a lack of effort on the part of leaders? Many are viewing the dialogue as a last chance for politicians to settle their differences. If they fail to do so, readers ought to be advised that there may be bad times ahead in Lebanon.

Hizbullah, FPM get proof of prisoners in Syria
Documented evidence shows at least 25 lebanese detained
By Karen Mneimne -Special to The Daily Star
Thursday, March 02, 2006
BEIRUT: "Very well-documented evidence" proving there are definitely 25 Lebanese detainees in Syrian jails has been handed to Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement, according to Ghazi Aad, head of the Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile (SOLIDE) group. Speaking to The Daily Star, Aad said he has "very well-documented evidence of 25 enforced disappearances and these 25 cases are out of the 640 cases that we have a list of."
Aad said that this evidence "include pictures, court appeals and letters SOLIDE received from international NGOs involved in the detainees issue."In a gathering held Wednesday at the "Demonstration Tent" at Gebran Khalil Gebran garden opposite the UN House, Aad stressed "this is a completely humanitarian issue and has nothing to do with politics." He asked that the issue of detainees be raised independent of politics especially after "Syrian authorities linked the issue to the troubled Syrian-Lebanese relations" when regional representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Faraj Senniche visited Syria in mid-February.
This step was prompted by an initiative taken by Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement. Early in February, Hizbullah's Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and FPM leader MP Michel Aoun signed a joint memorandum of understanding which it stressed issue of the return of detainees in Syrian jails. Aad said that SOLIDE want to try and find a solution as "Hizbullah has good relations with Syria and this issue should be dealt with from a humanitarian point of view."
Aad also asked that officials engaging in the "national dialogue" Thursday take the issue into consideration and raise it during their discussions.
Aad said the organization is "work is going on two phases. The first one includes giving the names of detainees to the joint FPM-Hizbullah committee, and the other includes gathering other documents."
Member of Hizbullah's politburo Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, said the file on Lebanese detainees will be submitted to the Syrian authorities because "they are the main players."A delegation from the families of the detainees has already visited Nasrallah and FPM leader MP Michel Aoun. Both leaders have pledged to follow-up the case until its conclusion.
Abu Zeinab said, "a list of the detainees has been prepared, but needs to include more details."
"We [Hizbullah], the FPM and SOLIDE have come up with a plan to document the cases and see that they are solved," Abu Zeinab added. The FPM has been giving this issue "utmost priority," according to FPM political advisor, Ziad Abs, who added the movement "always insists on raising the issue of the detainees in all of its gatherings and meetings."

Maronite bishops: Lahoud himself must decide whether his rule benefits Lebanon
'Political bickering is paralyzing our institutions, harming citizens' interests'
By Therese Sfeir -Daily Star staff
Thursday, March 02, 2006
BEIRUT: In an apparent easing of pressure on President Emile Lahoud to resign, the Maronite Bishops' Council said the decision of whether his continued rule was harmful to the country could only be made by the president himself. The council is headed by the Maronite patriarch.
"The situation in Lebanon is worrying as the people are divided into two factions," the council said in a statement issued after their monthly meeting, held Wednesday. "Those who want the departure of the head of state by any means and those who wish him to stay at all costs."
"This situation leads to the paralysis of our institutions and harms our citizens' interests," it said. "The president is the only one who can judge if his staying on or his departure is useful to the country, or whether it harms reconciliation. He has to assume his responsibilities before God and history."
The council criticized "the improper exchange of accusations between politicians," and urged officials to pay attention to "the people's daily issues."It further said the continued public bickering by national leaders "impacts negatively on the country's economy and prevents tourists from visiting Lebanon and deprives the Lebanese of their income."
However, several prominent members of the March 14 Forces remained steadfast in their condemnation of the president.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said: "If Lahoud had a minimum sense of responsibility he would have left Baabda Palace one year ago with dignity and let the country develop and its people enjoy their freedom."
Geagea added that "the man who has most harmed the status and the history of the presidency is Emile Lahoud."
In an interview with the LBC, Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel said "the presidency is no longer able to assume its political role."Gemayel added that the Maronite Bishops' Council "is keen on a clear position regarding the importance of this period and always used to set up an objective study for the next period. This is what is required today for the sake of the national interest."Meanwhile, the Phalange Party politburo replied to Lahoud's open letter published earlier this week in L'Orient le Jour, in which the president attacked the March 14 Forces, naming Geagea and former President Amin Gemayel as warlords and accusing the parliamentary majority of serving Israeli's interests.
The Phalange said Lahoud "is not allowed to deny the leading role the Phalange played in Lebanon's march toward independence and the battle for independence in 1943."Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis, a member of the LF, said "Geagea is not obliged to reply to President Lahoud because all the Lebanese will reply by calling for his resignation."
Acting Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Bahjat Ghaith criticized "those who are calling day and night for the resignation of Lahoud, as if it was the magical solution for all the sufferings.""Everyone is trying to win increasing support without considering the amount of destruction they leave behind them," he said. "This is the strategy of those who are not permitted to make their own decisions, as if they were in a coma, unaware of what they are doing. We tell them to wake up and look in the mirror so they can see the extent to which the media and public can see that you are behaving like bloodthirsty wolves."

Hariri, Nasrallah hold seven-hour meeting on national issues
By Karen Mneimne -Special to The Daily Star
Thursday, March 02, 2006
BEIRUT: In a surprise development mere days before a national dialogue is to be held between Lebanon's feuding political class, Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Beirut MP Saad Hariri met late Tuesday night for a marathon discussion on national issues. During their seven-hour meeting, Hariri and Nasrallah stressed the need for "unity among Muslims" as the starting point for a broader reunification of the entire country.
Both leaders voiced rejection for all forms of sectarian or religious strife. In addition to discussing the preparations under way for the dialogue slated to begin in Parliament Thursday, Nasrallah and Hariri focused on regional and local developments.
Thursday's dialogue is the initiative of Speaker Nabih Berri, who organized the event to tackle the political impasse that has gripped the country for months.The dialogue is expected to last for seven to 10 days, and will tackle Syrian-Lebanese relations, UN Security Council Resolution 1559 and the probe into the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
When contacted, neither group would comment on the specifics of the meeting. On Wednesday, MP Hariri met with former Minister Fares Boueiz. "It is difficult to picture a solution for this crisis without a consensus between all forces," Boueiz said, adding that the presidency and resistance should also be discussed. "If the dialogue succeeds in [resolving] these two issues, then it is something good for the country by getting it out of this crisis. If not, then Lebanon will need certain Arab regional initiatives," Boueiz added. Hariri met with the head of the joint parliamentary committee between the European Union, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, MEP Beatrice Patrie, who voiced the European Parliament's support for Lebanon's "battle to reinforce democracy." Hariri also met with British Ambassador James Watt and Tripoli MP Mosbah Ahdab.
Hoping the dialogue would settle the battle for Baabda, Ahdab said "the state of the country is unacceptable because this issue remains unresolved."

Jumblatt to leave mid-national talks to meet Rice, Wolfowitz in Washington
By Nada Bakri Daily Star staff
Thursday, March 02, 2006
BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt will leave Sunday for a one-week visit to Washington, during which he will meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and president of the World Bank Paul Wolfowitz.
Jumblatt's visit will come just four days after the convening of a national dialogue organized by Speaker Nabih Berri to clear the current political impasse, the worst since Lebanon's 15-year Civil War.
PSP MP Wael Bou Faour told The Daily Star that Jumblatt will attend the first three days of the national dialogue conference before heading to the U.S. Bou Faour added that Jumblatt's meetings in the American capital have yet to be finalized, but confirmed the Druze leader will meet with top U.S. officials and could also meet with UN officials.
Jumblatt will meet with prominent members of the Lebanese community in the U.S., and deliver several speeches at various research centers. The PSP leader will be accompanied by party member and Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade.
MP Ghazi Aridi and two of his colleagues from the Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc will represent the bloc and the party in the dialogue. On Wednesday, Jumblatt met with Batroun MP Boutros Harb. The discussions between Harb and Jumblatt focused on the upcoming dialogue and the campaign to oust President Emile Lahoud.
Jumblatt headed a meeting of the Democratic Gathering and later met with Democratic Renewal Movement leader Nassib Lahoud for further discussions ahead of the dialogue. Lahoud and Harb are both potential presidential candidates. However, Lahoud denied his meeting with Jumblatt was part of a tour of politicians to generate support for candidacy.
"We see each other periodically and this visit comes in that context," Lahoud said.

Rice’s failed mission in the Middle East
3/1/2006 5:38:00 PM - Aljazera: Very few people would want to be in Rice’s shoes right now
The U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ended her Middle East tour with a failure to win the support of Washington’s Arab allies to isolate newly elected Palestinian group Hamas, or interfere in the West’s nuclear standoff with Iran.
According to an editorial on the French newspaper Le Monde, the advice of the Arab leaders to Rice was to allow Hamas more time to adapt its political position and avoid punishing the Palestinians for a political program that still has to be outlined by their new government.
After Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections, Rice said that Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries shouldn’t back a Hamas-led Palestinian government unless the group recognizes Israel’s right to exist and give up anti-Israeli attacks. "I would hope that any state that is considering funding a Hamas-led government would think about the implications of that for the Middle East and for the Middle East peace process," she said.
Apparently, Rice’s meetings with Arab leaders in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates didn’t achieve her original goals. She met President Hosni Mobarak in Cairo and her Saudi counterpart in Riyadh. Besides leaders of the UAE, Rice met with her counterparts from the Gulf Cooperation Council's six monarchies in Abu Dhabi. (The GCC includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.) Rice’s tour of the region also included a brief, unannounced visit to Lebanon, which she said was aimed at expressing the U.S.’s support for the “Lebanese people and the Lebanese government.”
In a joint news conference with Rice, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said that his country would not cut its financial aid to the Palestinians, even under a Hamas-led government. “We do not want to link international aid to the Palestinian people with considerations other than their terrible humanitarian needs," he told reporters.
On the other hand, Rice said the United States would continue to provide the Palestinians with humanitarian assistance only.
"How do you distinguish between humanitarian and non-humanitarian aid?" asked Prince Saud, stressing that "The Palestinians need both infrastructure and humanitarian aid, and we will continue to help them."
In Cairo, the Egyptian government warned that it was premature to freeze international aid the already cash-strapped Palestinian Authority. President Hosni Mobarak previously urged Western powers and Israel not to make hasty decisions and allow Hamas enough time to assess the situation. Unlike the U.S. and Israel, Mobarak believes that Hamas could be the best group able to reach a peace deal with the Israelis. Egypt also argues that Washington, which claims to be promoting democracy in the Middle East, had to respect the outcome of the democratic Palestinian elections.
"We should give Hamas time," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said in a joint news conference with Rice. "I'm sure that Hamas will develop, will evolve. We should not prejudge the issue,” he added.
Beside the grave impacts on the Palestinian people, cutting foreign aid would endanger other Arab countries who fear that isolating the Palestinian government would benefit opposition groups. Arab governments also don’t want to push Hamas towards Iran, which promised to fill the void of any loss of international aid and called for all Islamic states to accord yearly financial assistance to the Hamas-dominated government.
Eying Iran, Rice wanted Arab leaders to threaten Tehran with isolation unless it abandons its atomic program. For the Arabs, Iran’s nuclear plans could be problematic, but so is Israel’s, which already possess nuclear weapons. Moreover, Arab countries have no influence over the Islamic Republic. Egypt, for example, has no fill diplomatic ties with Iran. According to Egypt’s state news agency MENA, Egypt told Rice that the Middle East should be a region free of weapons of mass destruction. Obviously, the Egyptian demand is diplomatic code for discussing Israel’s nuclear program, which the U.S. tries to exclude from its agenda.
In Lebanon, Rice’s visit came amid growing political tensions where the majority anti-Syria coalition has launched a campaign to oust President Emile Lahoud. In a snub, she avoided meeting Lahud and instead met with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Suggesting that Lahud must resign, she said: "They (the Lebanese) need a presidency that looks forward not back and that defends Lebanese sovereignty but it is a decision that they will have to make.” Rice also met with the two main opposition figures, Saad Hariri and Walid Joumblatt. Hours after she left, all opposition Mps decided to boycott the Assembly meeting because it was held in the presidential palace. This move was made as part of the opposition’s campaign to force Lahoud's resignation. Rice also reiterated the U.S.‘s call for disarming the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah in line with UN Security Council resolution 1559. In response, the general secretary of Hezbollah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said during a rally, "Rather than exploiting Lebanon's governmental institutions and differences of opinion to the benefit of Israel ... the United States should instead send its soldiers to disarm us." The U.S. Secretary of State also seized the chance to put more pressure on Syria, saying that it must cooperate fully with a UN investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri. 
According to analysts, most Arab states are reluctant to explicitly support the U.S. policies in the Middle East, where the Washington’s support for its top ally in the region, Israel, angers many Arabs and hampers government’s cooperation with the Americans. "Arabs will turn round and point out the United States gives billions of dollars to Israel," said Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. "It's just an area where they will have to agree to disagree." Arab governments also won’t meet the U.S.’s demands to pressure their neighbors, either Hamas or Iran, over fears of destabilizing the region, especially after the chaos that followed the Iraq war.
Very few people would want to be in Rice’s shoes right now. The Bush Administration has long claimed to be supporting the right of people to live in free and democratic societies. But while promoting democracy and freedom is a noble goal, this policy begins to unravel at the first sign of hypocrisy. How can the U.S. be committed to freedom and remain quite about Israel's continued illegal occupation of Palestinian territories? How can the U.S. promote human rights and at the same time allow the torture of Arab detainees? How can the U.S. support democracy while pressuring Arab countries to sanction the democratically elected government of the Palestinian people?
This is a critical and dangerous time in the Middle East. The U.S. Secretary of State cannot come to the region and expect to avoid turmoil with a policy so full of contradictions.

Lebanon: Presidential Scenarios
Abdel Wahab Badrakhan Al-Hayat - 01/03/06//
The best scenario remains that President Emile Lahoud would set out to consent on stepping down. Just as the political forces handed over the dismissal issue to Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, the President can also confer his initial consent to the Patriarch. In this case, there will no longer be a problem dubbed overthrowing Lahoud, with all the ensuing offense to the position and status, or to what they represent, and to the sect which considers the presidency its own affair, and wants to "reclaim it" from those who seized it.
Of course, this scenario is not available. Thus, the Patriarch would rather wait and advise. He is waiting for an agreement on a substitute to the president, and advices to resort to constitutional approaches. At the same time, he refrains from merely implying his support of a certain "substitute," since his choice may not be the proper one in materializing a national reconciliation. Then, his authority would lose its impartiality and credibility. But the Patriarch has elaborated his stance, since he no longer opposes the president's fate to be open to discussion. In fact, following the visit of US Secretary Condoleezza Rice, he sensed that there is an international will on backing the internal yearning to change the president. Thus, waiting is useless, especially since things are moving on and he has to keep pace therewith.
Some consider that the presidency file was unpredictably tackled at this point. But the course of events imposed readdressing the issue, if not to activate one of the clauses of resolution 1559, then at least because the developments of the internal and regional conflict are driving thereto. Moreover, if it is not for reinforcing governance outside Syrian tutelage, it is at least because the tone of the investigation on the assassination of PM Rafik Hariri has changed. It is no longer possible to link the other dues with its seemingly near end. Everybody knows that the lifespan of Fouad Saniora's cabinet is subject to the lifespan of the investigation. It was expected that the unveiling of the "truth" will represent the onset of a new era in Lebanon, with all the ensuing changes entailed by the repurcussions of the truth imparted by the investigation.
In the meantime, significant regional developments took place, which seem intertwined and related to the active yet conflicting forces on the Lebanese scene. They also seem to intertwine with the local standoff. The concerns over the regime in Syria stirred tension in Lebanon. The escalation of the Iranian nuclear file reinforced the Syria-Iran-Hezbollah alliance and the revolution represented by Hamas' victory in Palestine was interpreted as conforming to this alliance. Even the results of the Iraqi elections also fall within the Iranian scope…Thus, there was an inevitable return to the weakest circle, Lebanon, to seize a paper of this alliance. This can be done by changing the president whose "Lebanese" efficiency has become limited and restricted to the protection he provides to the alliance out of his will or as result of the shell he is trapped in.
In this respect, it seems that Arab and global pressures have temporarily reached - temporarily of course - a truce with respect to the bombing and assassination series. The components and causes of this truce are known. Soon, it will become clear if the clauses of this truce include paving the way for changing President Lahoud, or at least avoiding the opposition to his dismissal. However, this in turn puts forth the assumption that the new president should neither be "an opponent of Syria" nor should he espouse the same strategy adopted by President Lahoud. The agreement of General Michel Aoun and Hezbollah may fall within this framework, but the party will not uphold at the end a president who is not concerned with maintaining its arms and the resistance that it wants to resume.
On the other hand, Aoun, who is the most likely candidate for the presidency, is conveying inclinations and signs denoting a "Lahoudian approach", even surpassing this approach since Aoun had and still has some reproaches with regard to the Taef Accord. If Lahoud's approach was confined to a personal conflict with the late PM Hariri, Aoun's approach will be more profound and adamant on "reclaiming" the presidency in terms of concept and prerogatives. This is the core of the upcoming conflict in Lebanon, of course if the regional and global conflict allows it to review its internal affairs.

Church: Lahoud presidency dividing Lebanon
Maronite council of bishops warns Lebanon’s divide leads to paralysis of its institutions, harms its citizens' interests.
Middle East On Line 1/3/0/06- BEIRUT - Lebanon's influential Maronite council of bishops headed by Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir on Wednesday warned that pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's extended term in office was dividing the nation.
"The situation in Lebanon is worrying as the population is divided in two factions: those who want the departure of the head of state by any means and those who wish him to stay at all cost," the council said in a statement.
"This leads to the paralysis of our institutions and harms our citizens' interests," it said.
"The president is the only one who can judge if his staying on or his departure is useful to the country, or whether it harms reconciliation. He is obligated to consider his responsibilities before God and history."
In mid-February, the anti-Syrian alliance which controls the Lebanese parliament and heads the governing coalition gave the president until March 14 to step down.
The bloc has launched a petition across the country with the goal of securing one million signatures of support.
But Lahoud, himself a Maronite Christian, has insisted on staying in office and lashed out at those campaigning against him as being manipulated by foreign powers allied with Israel.
Sfeir, whose community traditionally fills the post of president, has given his tacit approval for Lahoud being replaced but only by legal means and a consensus. Lahoud's second and final term was extended in 2004 under pressure from Damascus, prompting the resignation of then premier Rafiq Hariri. The ex-prime minister who then joined the opposition was assassinated in February 2005.
The killing of Hariri triggered global outrage and led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanese soil, ending Syria's military presence 15 years after the end of the country's civil war. International condemnation of the killing also proved the catalyst for a UN probe into Hariri's murder that has implicated Syrian intelligence and Lebanese security figures in the assassination.

Phoenician temple found in Sicily
March 01, 2006 ANSA
An ancient Phoenician temple unearthed in Sicily is "unique" in the West, the head of the Italian dig team claims . "You have to go all the way to Amrit in Syria to find a similar one," said Lorenzo Nigro of the Rome University team . The temple came to light last year after a portion of a lagoon surrounding the Phoenician city of Motya (present-day Mozia) was drained .
The pool began to fill up again and a fresh-water spring was found - a fact Nigro believes proves it was used as a holy place . "The Phoenicians placed their cities on the coast near water springs, which for them meant that there was a divine presence there." Digs at the site, on the westernmost tip of Sicily near Marsala, have brought to light the ruins of a "monumental" temple including columns of a type used by the Phoenicians on Cyprus - as well as fragments of an obelisk .
"The similarity with the Temple of the Obelisks at Byblos, Lebanon, is clear," Nigro said .
Nigro believes the pool flanking the temple was used for water rituals and offerings to Baal, the Phoenician god of the sea and the underworld .
However, other Italian archaeologists do not agree with him . "The pool is without doubt merely a dock used for repairing ships," said Sebastiano Tusa of Naples University, head of marine archaeology for the Sicilian regional government .
Motya - whose name means "wool-spinning centre" - was founded in the 8th century BC, about a century after the foundation of the most famous Phoenician colony in the ancient world, Carthage in Tunisia .
Greeks also began to colonise Sicily at the same time as Motya's foundation and conflicts broke out between Greek and Phoenician settlements. The Greek tyrant ruler of Siracusa, Dionysius I, destroyed Motya in 397 BC. Half a century later, Rome's intervention in the Greek-Carthaginian conflicts led to the Roman conquest of Sicily, which became Rome's first province . The Phoenicians were a trading people who formed a massive commercial empire across the Mediterranean from their bases in modern-day Lebanon . Among the Italian cities they founded is today's capital of Sicily, Palermo .Other colonies included Cadiz and Malaga in Spain, Tangiers in Morocco and Tripoli in Libya .

FPM, PSP see coordination on student and union level
By Maher Zeineddine -Daily Star correspondent
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
CHOUF: In reciprocation of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) visit to Rabieh last month, a Free Patriotic Movement delegation visited PSP leader MP Walid Jumblatt on Tuesday at his stronghold in Mukhtara. Following the visit, the head of the FPM information committee, Tony Nasrallah, said other meetings would be held as FPM goals converge with those of the PSP. Nasrallah said the most important shared concern was the interests of Lebanon and its citizens in this critical phase.
Nasrallah indicated that there will be coordination between the FPM and the PSP at the level of unions and universities in joint areas. "Political discords must not create tension," he said.
Commenting on the youth movement in support of the resignation of President Emile Lahoud, Nasrallah said the FPM believes that the issue should be settled through a dialogue with the participation of all Lebanese forces to discuss the president's substitute. He added that Aoun proposed substitutes during various meetings with Lebanese officials and these have become known to the public. Nasrallah stressed that this meeting was a continuation of dialogues started between the FPM and the PSP in 1990.
"No one has an interest in keeping Lebanon frozen as it is today," he said. Asked whether the joint understanding statement with Hizbullah affects FPM relations with other political parties in the country, Nasrallah said: "The agreement is open to all Lebanese parties to meet over it or add to it." Earlier in the day, Aoun met with China's Ambassador Liu XiangHua, who said the two focused on the national dialogue scheduled for Thursday.
She said dialogue is the soundest way to find solutions to discords and litigations between confessions and parties, adding that dialogue would also bring the Lebanese people political stability. XiangHua said that she had read the joint understanding agreement between the FPM and Hizbullah and highly praised its first article highlighting the importance of dialogue.
XiangHua said she is optimistic about the situation in Lebanon as dialogue will give the Lebanese people faith in their country.
 

The Fire This Time
By Fouad Ajami
2/20/06- http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060220/20fouad.htm
In the matter of these cartoons now stirring up these worldwide protests, we are in what should be familiar territory. A generation earlier, when the Indian-born Muslim author Salman Rushdie published his novel Satanic Verses, the book-burning and the protests began in England, then the storm spread to the Islamic world. The clerical "redeemer" of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had just begun to take stock of the terrible war his "revolutionary children" had fought against Saddam Hussein. Rushdie's work of fiction came to the rescue. It was against that background that Khomeini had issued his fatwa, a sentence of death on the offending author. An embattled revolutionary regime would thus assert its primacy in the world of Islam. Today, too, "activists" from the Muslim community in Denmark, where the cartoons first appeared, would take their furies back to Islamic lands, and Arab and Muslim regimes--regimes known for their great brutality against Islamists--are riding this dialed-up rage and harnessing it for their own purposes.
It has now come to light that a Danish citizen of Lebanese descent, Ahmad Akkari, 28, lit the fuse when he took a booklet of these cartoons and turned up in Arab lands. He was to find his audience among religious authorities in Lebanon and in Egypt, among the functionaries of the Arab League, and among Syrian officials who had been waging a war of their own against the Muslim Brotherhood--all eager to be offended and to show their devotion to the faith.
Akkari was a man on a mission. He would "spike" his cartoons by attaching to them hideous material that had not appeared in Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that had commissioned them. Islamists like Akkari are quintessential practitioners of taqiyya (dissimulation), for infidels are never owed the truth. In his defense, Akkari would say that he had separated the more offensive images--hate material from the Internet--from the cartoons, by several pages of letters. In truth, this was a distinction without a difference. The crowds that would sack Danish and Norwegian diplomatic missions in Beirut and Damascus, the crowds that would rise in howling, spasmodic outbursts all the way from Gaza to Indonesia, had no use for such fine distinctions.
Damascus was to this crisis what Iran was to the Rushdie affair. The Syrian regime is under the gaze of the world; it had just lost the dominion of plunder it had built up in Lebanon. Commissions of inquiry are looking into its crimes in Lebanon. The Danish gift arrived just in the nick of time, and a regime based on a minority esoteric sect, the Alawites, picked up the banner of the faith. No one was fooled by those "spontaneous" protests that erupted in Damascus--a city of stultifying tyranny. And no one could fail to see Syria's hand in the protests that hit Beirut.
Wickedness. Once upon a time, there was hope that modern Islam in Europe would spawn a liberal variant of the faith. Those hopes, it must be conceded, now lie in ruins. In Amsterdam and in Copenhagen, in the suburbs of France, and in the great, cosmopolitan world of London, a merciless idea of Islam has put down roots. Preachers and "activists" have found in the welfare state, and in the canons of liberalism and multiculturalism, the perfect weapons with which to wage their jihad against modern life. They are in the West, but not of it. True allegiance is owed to the religious cell; one at war owes nothing to neighbors living in wickedness.
Historically, European nationalism had been a matter of blood and soil, and that idea of nationhood has certainly delivered its own verdict of ruin. But these doctrines of unfettered multiculturalism put the nations of western Europe to a great, cruel test. Denmark now has its reckoning with the furies and the bigotry, as Madrid and Amsterdam, London and the suburbs of France have had their own, similarly dark reckonings. The Dutch and the Danes appear ready to "re-claim" their nationhood, and Europe has awakened to the presence within its borders of a strand of politicized Islam, surly and unreconciled to the demands of modern life. The radical Islamists offer Europe a way out: submission to the die-hards, the option of serving as a haven from which the Islamists would wage their holy war against those dreaded regimes in the Muslim world that had banished them to begin with. It is odd, this spectacle of these children of Islam fleeing the fire, and the failures, but carrying them to distant lands once welcoming and benign.

Release from the CCIC
Supreme Court Deals Victory To Abortion-Clinic Protesters
A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP
February 28, 2006 12:48 p.m.
The Supreme Court ruled federal extortion and racketeering laws can't be used to ban antiabortion demonstrations in front of abortion clinics. In the...decision, antiabortion groups brought the appeal after the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had asked a trial judge to determine whether a nationwide injunction could be supported by charges that protesters had made threats of violence absent a connection with robbery or extortion. The 8-0 decision ends a case that the Seventh Circuit had kept alive despite a 2003 decision by the high court that lifted a nationwide injunction on antiabortion groups led by Joseph Scheidler and others. Writing for the majority, Justice Stephen Breyer said Congress didn't intend to create "a freestanding physical violence offense" in the federal extortion law known as the Hobbs Act.
Social activists and the AFL-CIO had sided with antiabortion protesters in arguing that similar lawsuits and injunctions could be used to thwart their efforts to change public policy or agitate for better wages and working conditions.
The legal battle began in 1986, when the National Organization for Women filed a class-action suit challenging tactics used by the Pro-Life Action Network to block women from entering abortion clinics. NOW's legal strategy was novel at the time, relying on civil provisions of the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which was used predominantly in criminal cases against organized crime. The lawsuit also relied on the Hobbs Act, a 55-year-old law banning extortion.
A federal judge issued a nationwide injunction against the antiabortion protesters after a Chicago jury found in 1998 that demonstrators had engaged in a pattern of racketeering by interfering with clinic operations, menacing doctors, assaulting patients and damaging clinic property.
But the Supreme Court voided the injunction in 2003, ruling that the extortion law couldn't be used against the protesters because they had not illegally "obtained property" from women seeking to enter clinics to receive abortions. (Scheidler v. NOW and Operation Rescue v. NOW)
Christian Coalition International (Canada) Inc.
P.O. Box 6013, Station A
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Radical cleric's son eyes career as terror rapper
'I've got a lot of anger': Father jailed for racial hatred and soliciting murder
National Post-Canada
Photograph by : Jim Watson, Agence France-Presse
Published: Wednesday, March 01, 2006
LONDON - The son of jailed radical Islamist imam Abu Hamza al-Masri is embracing rap music to sing the praises of Hezbollah and Hamas, the Sun newspaper reported yesterday.
The best-selling daily said it sent reporters undercover to meet Mohammed Kamel Mostafa -- who goes by stage name Al-Ansary (the lion) in the rap duo Lionz of Da Dezert -- in a recording studio in north London set up by the paper.
"I want to put out an album for the mainstream market, then make a CD featuring hardcore lyrics," the British-born 24-year-old told them, adding he can "easily make more than a million [British pounds]. A million is nothing.
"I've been concentrating on gigs but there's a big market out there, trust me. Five thousand people came to see me play [in London].
"My aim is to record and finish three different albums. One is Islamic, one is Middle Eastern, one is hip-hop. I can appeal to three different markets," said the British-born Mostafa, Hamza's oldest child by his first wife, Valerie.
"It took me six months to learn how to produce music. Now I don't need to go to the studio and pay big money to make a recording. I can do it at home.
"I guarantee you, my music will be popular all over the Middle East -- from Egypt to Palestine."
He also revealed plans for a music video to be broadcast on TV across the Arab world.
Asked if he hoped to become as big a name as al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, he said, "Inshallah," Arabic for "God willing."
He handed the Sun reporters a track featuring lyrics about terror and took the microphone to sing others.
The younger Hamza also said he had received special-forces military training in Yemen, where he was jailed for three years in 1999 for plotting to kill tourists and embassy staff, the paper said.
"Helicopters, tanks, planes, I can fly and drive them. I've a lot of anger inside me," he said.
"But I'm not scared. Jihad is clear, you fight those who fight you -- Muslim or non-Muslim."
Mostafa also hinted he had bomb-making skills.
"If I'm stuck in a place where I really want to escape, I can make something up using sugar and stuff," he said.
Meanwhile, the would-be jihadist rapper is living in a rented room in northwest London while allegedly studying business. He gets a (ps)44.50 ($88.80) weekly unemployment cheque, the paper said, despite recently selling an apartment belonging to his father for a (ps)150,000 ($299,000) profit.
The elder Hamza, 47, best-known as the hook-handed imam of Finsbury Park mosque in north London, was sentenced on Feb. 7 to seven years in prison after being found guilty of inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder.

 

Lahoud stresses on People's Unity

date: 01 03, 2006


Beirut, March 1, (BNA) Lebanese President, Amil Lahoud, affirmed today what is currently happening is aimed at eliminating all the achievements accomplished since the independence of Lebanon.
During his meeting with a delegation from the Municipalities Union from South Lebanon, Lahoud said that the humiliation that Israel received from Lebanon was not forgotten and that Israel was trying to hit back in a different way. These means are reflected by the decisions issued targeting the return of Lebanon to the atmosphere it was surrounded by in 1982 during the Israeli occupation, he added. Lahoud stressed that this would not happen as long as the Lebanese people believed in the right of their country and the world countries should respect Lebanese stances and look at it with respect and admiration.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/06eaaafe-a94e-11da-b2b8-0000779e2340.html

Jumblatt prepares for ‘long battle’ for Lebanese independence
By Roula Khalaf, Middle East Editor
Published: March 1 2006 _Financial Times
Walid Jumblatt, leader of Lebanon’s minority Druze community, which adheres to a secretive offshoot of Islam, was an instrumental force behind last years Cedar revolution.
The popular uprising provoked by the assassination of his friend and ally Rafiq Hariri, the former prime minister and Syrian opponent, pushed Damascus to remove its troops from Lebanon, ending a nearly 30-year military control.
But the victory was far from complete. Political killings have continued and Lebanon’s Shia community has stuck by Damascus.
Holed up for months in his family stone palace in the Chouf mountains southeast of Beirut, the 56-year-old Mr Jumblatt is now confronting a more formidable challenge, a Syrian-Iranian axis that he says is determined to exploit Lebanon in its own confrontation with the west.
"Lebanon is still not free - we are being taken hostage by the wider conflict in the region," says Mr Jumblatt, the most vociferous anti-Syrian voice in the country. "We don't want to be involved in a new cold war, a regional cold war or a wider cold war between....Persian Islamic ambitions...and the Americans."
Small, fragile and sectarian, Lebanon is at risk of being dragged into the bigger crises in the region and becoming a stage where hardline Middle Eastern states confront western governments.
Iran and Syria, long-time friends, have been getting closer in recent months, as international pressure against both intensifies. Tehran's dispute with the US and Europe over its nuclear programme has coincided with the arrival of Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the fundamentalist president who has used anti-Israeli rhetoric to appeal to Muslim and Arab audiences across the region.
Damascus, meanwhile, has been frustrated - and isolated - by the UN investigation into the Hariri killing that has alleged high-level Syrian involvement.
The closer Syrian-Iranian alliance has bolstered Hizbollah, the Lebanese Shia guerrilla movement that drove Israeli troops out of south Lebanon in 2000 and receives backing from Tehran and Damascus. Hizbollah has resisted demands to disarm, as stipulated by a UN resolution, and insisted on defending Damascus.
The party's attitude has undermined the efforts of the anti-Syrian majority in parliament to erode Damascus' influence. With Iranian-supplied missiles that can be deployed near the Lebanon-Israeli border, anti-Syrian leaders also fear Hizbollah will be used by Tehran if the nuclear dispute escalates. Mr Jumblatt bluntly argues that the removal of the Syrian regime is the only way to safeguard Lebanon and prevent it from being exploited in the wider regional game.
But with little support in the Arab world for regime change in Damascus - and the Syrian government showing no sign of going - Mr Jumblatt and his allies, who hold a majority in parliament, are now seeking to oust the pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud from office. This, they hope, will weaken pro-Syrian forces, including Hizbollah, and undermine Iranian influence.
At the same time, Mr Jumblatt, who only a few months ago, still appeared supportive of Hizbollah as Lebanon's resistance movement, has now gone on the offensive, insisting that the party must decide where its allegiance lies and agree to put down its arms.
"The question to be asked of Hizbollah is their political allegiance," he says. "They're a very important political party, they have representatives in parliament. But we cannot have a state within a state. They have to include themselves fully into the state."
Encouraged by the turnout of more than 800,000 people at the February 14 rally to mark the one-year anniversary of the Hariri killing, the parliamentary majority has now given Mr Lahoud a month to resign - or face a new popular uprising.
They argue that the extension of his mandate in 2004 was unconstitutional because it was fed on the Lebanese parliament by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - provoking the political crisis that apparently led to the Hariri murder.
They have found strong backing for their campaign from western powers, including the US. Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, made a surprise stop in Beirut last week, meeting Mr Lahoud's main opponents, including Mr Jumblatt.
"Bashar knows that if he loses Lahoud, it's a big setback for his policy. Lebanon will be able to talk to Syria on equal terms," says Mr Jumblatt.
Yet, Mr Jumblatt and his ally Saad Hariri, son of the slain leader and head of the Sunni Muslim community, are taking a big gamble in forcing a showdown over the presidency.
Hizbollah has warned against provoking a crisis over Mr Lahoud, and officials have described Mr Jumblatt's charges against them as a dangerous turn that could take Lebanon down the path of a new civil war, 15 years after the end of a long and bloody sectarian conflict.
Hizbollah officials scoff at suggestions that they are a tool under the control of Iran and Syria, insisting their objective is to defend Lebanon against Israel.
As political tensions in Beirut have heightened in recent days, Nabih Berri, the Shia speaker of parliament and Hizbollah ally, has called for a national dialogue starting on Thursday.
Officials in the anti-Syrian camp are betting that Hizbollah will want to avoid an a confrontation with them over the presidency and that Damascus will have to let Mr Lahoud go if it wants to weaken international pressure against it. They argue that Arab states, fearing chaos in Lebanon, will also pressure Syria and Mr Lahoud.
Mr Jumblatt acknowledges that removing Mr Lahoud will not be easy.
"Knowing the price we paid because of the imposition of Lahoud I don't think Bashar would accept defeat," he says. "But we cannot draw back. It (the campaign against Mr Lahoud) is the start of along battle to implement the independence of Lebanon from Syrian and Iranian hegemony."