LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
MARCH 4/2006

Below News from miscellaneous sources for 4/03/06
Who will deter whom? By Ze'ev Schiff -Haaretz 4.3.06
Lebanon leaders fail to bridge gaps at crisis talks
Lebanese talks to tackle thorny issue of Hezbollah arms-2006 dpa 4.3.06
Below News from the Daily Star for 4/03/06
Dialogue's importance lies in absence of foreign pressure'
Here's how to get rid of Emile Lahoud
Petition to oust Lahoud gains signatories
Quasi-agreement on ousting president is early dialogue success
Soueid, Harmoush say the people have spoken
Government case targets journalists
Shebaa Farms take center stage in Lebanese dialogue
Sin al-Fil to start pilot recycling program
MP Ghanem says round-table gathering a positive, priceless sign
Petition to oust Lahoud gains signatories
A national dialogue in Lebanon that Arabs must carefully heed. By: Rami G. Khouri

Former Lebanese Premier Stresses Commitment to best relations with Syria.
Friday, March 03, 2006 - Beirut , (SANA)-
Former Lebanese Premier Najeeb Mikati said in a televised interview on Friday that what was mentioned in alTaif Accord and established peace in Lebanon is still the proper framework for the Lebanese-Syrian relations.
He indicated that the current national dialogue in Lebanon should make a quiet contemplation for full implementation of alTaif Accord regardless of regional and international considerations.
A.N.Idelbi
Lebanese talks to tackle thorny issue of Hezbollah arms
Mar 3, 2006, 14:21 GMT
Beirut - Lebanese political leaders were due to resume landmark round-table talks later Friday that were expected to focus on a UN resolution calling for the disarmament of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.
Fourteen Muslim and Christian politicians met Thursday at the Lebanese parliament in a bid to save Lebanon from its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
'UN resolution 1559 is on the top of the agenda today (Friday) and it will be the issue of a heated debate,' a source close to an anti- Syrian participant in the talks said.
UN resolution 1559, issued in 2004, calls for the disarming of all local and foreign militia on Lebanese territory.
Hezbollah, which spearheaded attacks against Israeli troops in southern Lebanon, was instrumental in forcing the Jewish state to withdraw from the area after 22 years of occupation.
Pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, who was not invited to the talks and whose resignation is being called by anti-Syrian lawmakers, welcomed the dialogue but issued a strong warning against foreign pressure to disarm Hezbollah.
'Calls by foreign powers to disarm the resistance only serve Israel's interests and weaken Lebanon,' Lahoud, who strongly backs Hezbollah, said in a statement.
'Any attempt to disarm Hezbollah by force would certainly lead to a another civil war,' Lahoud added.
The crisis in the country erupted a year ago when former prime minister Rafik Hariri and 20 others were assassinated in a car bomb in a seafront area of Beirut.
The Lebanese anti-Syrian camp have accused Lebanese and Syrian intelligence agencies of responsibility for his killing.
Thursday's talks were described as positive, with agreement among participants on the position taken by the government of Prime Minister Foaud Seniora towards the UN investigation into Hariri's murder, including the request for an international tribunal of investigation.
The two Lebanese pro-Syrian movements Amal and Hezbollah have objected in the past to the establishment of a court with an international character.
'The discussions are being carried out in a frank and serious manner, and subjects which in the past had been considered taboo, were dealt with openly and directly, like the issue of disarming Hezbollah,' a source close to the talks told Deutsche Press-Agentur dpa.
Another anti-Syrian deputy, Wael Abu Faour, a Druze, said, 'We can say there was a breakthrough in the issue of the president because none of the participating political parties that are close to Lahoud defended him during the dialogue.'
Some of the participants who have sided with Lahoud in the past emphasized the need for 'a constitutional or peaceful solution for the departure of the president and not the street,' a government source said.
On February 14, the main anti-Syrian alliance which controls parliament and heads the governing coalition, gave Lahoud until March 14 to step down.
The same bloc also launched a petition both in the legislature and across the country with the goal of securing one million signatures of support.
On the thorny issue of Hezbollah's disarmament, some participants believe that the Shiite group should lay down arms and stick to politics. They say Hezbollah should hand over security along the border with Israel to the Lebanese army.
Others feel that Hezbollah should remain in southern Lebanon until the disputed area of Shebaa is liberated.
Israel captured Shebaa Farms from Syria in the 1967 Six Days War. Lebanon is claiming today, with Syria's consent, that Shebaa is Lebanese.
Hussam Itani, a political commentator with the daily newspaper As Safir said: 'Any change in Lebanon's stance on Hezbollah's arms would mean that the country's stance has changed toward the Arab-Israel conflict. Whether the Lebanese like or not, Lebanon is part of the conflict.'
Sahar Baasiri of the daily An Nahar called on the parties at the talks to put the interest of the country above all other interests and keep the dialogue free of external influences, in a reference to Hezbollah's ties with Syria and Iran.
Christian deputy Nassib Lahoud described the talks being held 'without foreign guardianship' as a 'landmark event.'
Lahoud was referring to previous conferences during the Lebanese civil war which were held outside Lebanon at Lausanne in Geneva and Taif in Saudi Arabia. The Taif accord of 1989 ended the war.
Hariri's assassination sparked massive street protests that forced Syria to end a 29-year military presence in Lebanon last year and swept an anti-Syrian coalition to election victory.
'The dialogue lays the foundation for a new period because we are moving from a period of occupation and hegemony to one of independence and it is necessary to agree on the next period,' former president Ameen Gemayel, a participant in the dialogue, told dpa.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Shebaa Farms take center stage in Lebanese dialogue
Despite reports otherwise, participants have yet to reach final decision on lebanese identity of land
By Nada Bakri and Nafez Qawas
Daily Star staff-Saturday, March 04, 2006
Lebanese national Dialogue - Day 2
BEIRUT: The second day of Lebanon's national dialogue kicked off much the same way as the first, and despite reports that Lebanon's top leaders agreed to end the debate over the presidency issue and to establish the Lebanese identity of the disputed Shebaa Farms, Speaker Nabih Berri said they had not reached a final decision regarding these issues.
"We discussed UN Security Council Resolution 1559 in its different clauses including the presidency issues, Lebanese detainees, Israeli attacks on Lebanon, demarcating the borders and Shebaa farms," said Berri, at the final briefing of the day.
"The session was very long and discussions were very in-depth, that is why things need more time to be finalized because each clause needs many sessions," added Berri.
But earlier during a break, MP Hagop Pakradonian, one of the 14 participants in the talks, said "the leaders have agreed on establishing the Lebanese identity of Shebaa farms and on convincing President Emile Lahoud to resign in favor of a consensus candidate."
The successor of Lahoud was not discussed during the discussions, and Pakradonian said the reason was because the leaders have yet to agree on a candidate.
Pakradonian also said the participants will file an official request to the UN asking the international organization to recognize the Lebanese identity of the Israeli-occupied Farms.
The UN has repeatedly asked Lebanon and Syria to reach an agreement on demarcating their borders before the organization can change the status of the Shebaa Farms.
Syria has repeatedly said the Shebaa Farms are Lebanese but failed up until now to put that in writing or hand the UN with the appropriate documents proving that the Farms are not Syrian.
Participants also insisted on the necessity of liberating the Farms from the Israeli occupation, without specifying whether through military or diplomatic means.
Responding to a question by The Daily Star, Berri said "Syria has nothing to do with the Shebaa Farms and the UN demarcated Blue Line was marked after the South was liberated."
"Syrian officials as well as Syrian President Bashar Assad have repeatedly asked why Syria should prove the identity of something that it does not possess," Berri said.
The speaker added that the Lebanese government will discuss this issue with the UN again.
The second day started with a boost from Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, who welcomed the dialogue during a meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh in Cairo.
Moussa said an official statement would be issued by the Arab League "to support and encourage this dialogue."
The session started with Berri presenting a detailed legal study of the history of the Farms in addition to displaying geographical maps dating to the 1980s that show the Farms are Lebanese.
According to one of the participant in the dialogue, who spoke to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity, the March 14 Forces, who are participating in the dialogue, acknowledged it will be hard to oust Lahoud constitutionally.
After political and popular pressure to push Lahoud to resign failed, the March 14 political coalition announced it was preparing a constitutional plan that would end Lahoud's mandate, claiming that the MPs who signed the extension of his term were forced to.
Pakradonian also said the 14 leaders discussed Hizbullah's arms and Palestinian arms outside and inside Palestinian refugee camps.
He reported that Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea addressed Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, saying: "I am echoing the fears and worries of the majority of Christians who are afraid these arms might be used against the Lebanese people."Geagea asked Nasrallah if he was "offended" by his question, but the resistance group leader said he wasn't and that was why everyone was present at the dialogue. Nasrallah added: "Hizbullah's arms were never and will never be used against anyone in Lebanon. These arms will be only used to liberate Lebanese land from our Israeli enemies and no amount of provocation will make us use them against the Lebanese."Future Movement leader Saad Hariri said he was satisfied with the dialogue proceedings.He said: "The atmosphere is excellent and very positive."
Sources close to the Free Patriotic Movement said the participants also discussed the Hizbullah-FPM joint agreement of cooperation and considered it a point of reference for their talks. A source close to one of the participants said it was very unlikely that the dialogue would end within the next 24 hours, as was reported earlier. He added that it is expected to last until Tuesday. The source also added that the absence of Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt - who headed on Thursday night to Washington for meetings with top American officials - did not affect the dialogue.
Berri said that Jumblatt's trip to the U.S. had been scheduled before the date of the dialogue had been set. He added that if the dialogue was still being held after Jumblatt returns from his trip, he will re-join the leaders at the roundtable.
Jumblatt was accompanied by Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade and was replaced by senior PSP member and Information Minister Ghazi Aridi. Berri described the talks as "positive, responsible and very transparent and honest."He added that preserving the national interest is the ultimate concern of all participants.Addressing journalists before entering the dialogue, MP Butros Harb said the participants agreed on the need to withhold information about the discussions from the media. But he added: "The handshakes have many political dimensions." He noted that discussions were being held in a "national and objective atmosphere."

'Dialogue's importance lies in absence of foreign pressure'
Nassib lahoud: internal accord must precede foreign support
By Therese Sfeir - Daily Star staff-Saturday, March 04, 2006
BEIRUT: Democratic Renewal Movement leader Nassib Lahoud said the importance of the national dialogue "resides in the fact that it is free of any Syrian pressures and foreign tutelage." In a statement issued Friday, the former MP said: "We should first assume our responsibilities and then seek the support of foreign countries after having set up the basis of our internal accord."Lahoud, who reiterated his willingness to submit his candidacy for president if the March 14 Forces supported him, said President Emile Lahoud's refusal to resign "is hampering the work of the state institutions and leading to the deterioration of the economic situation." In a separate statement, Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani said he hoped the Lebanese would "overcome the current political situation and head toward a bright and flourishing future."
According to the cleric, "dialogue is the best means to ensure the building of a better country.""Participants in the national dialogue should reach an agreement over pending issues in order to save their country from the times of grudges, which led to the death of former Premier Rafik Hariri," he added. Meanwhile, the Maronite League praised Speaker Nabih Berri for organizing the dialogue and voiced its "satisfaction" at the national conference's "positive atmosphere." "The holding of the conference points to a relieving change in the political situation, which was marked in the past by anxiety and tension," it said.
While the League praised the "efforts deployed by all parties to ensure the success of the dialogue," it urged participants to agree on the means to implement the decisions made during the meetings.
Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said the issues discussed in the dialogue "do not all represent the Lebanese people's priorities to build their future, especially if they remember how the Civil War was represented by many warlords."Fadlallah urged the country's youth "not to fall victim to provocative slogans, but to plan for the establishment of a modern country based on transparency and mutual respect."Higher Shiite Council Vice President Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan thanked "all the political leaders for seeking to fulfill the country's interests through dialogue."
In his sermon, Qabalan urged the Lebanese to "avoid tense political speeches and cooperate to preserve their country."
"We ask Berri to meet with all the parties which could not participate in the dialogue because the country needs the cooperation of all its factions to fulfill national unity," he added.Former Premier Najib Mikati said "the dialogue conference aims at easing political tension awaiting the crystallization of the adequate international and regional solution for the crisis we are witnessing." Mikati added the issues being discussed in the conference, such as UN Resolution 1559, "cannot be isolated from the regional political situation."Shiite Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Qabalan warned participants in the talks against failing to resolve Lebanon's problems and deceiving the people.
"Don't you dare not reach consensus, whatever the difficulties are," he said. "The country cannot bear more divisions and disputes."The National Liberal Party said in a statement the participants should agree on Lahoud's resignation and the implementation of UN resolutions 1559 and 1595. It also called for establishing diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Syria and demarcating the borders between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Amal MP Ghazi Zeaiter rejected statements made by Deputy Speaker Farid Makari against Berri.
Makari Thursday labeled the speaker's decision not to invite him to the dialogue as a representative of the Greek Orthodox sect as "irresponsible" and an attempt to marginalizing the sect. The deputy speaker's complaint came just days after Berri announced former Minister Michel Murr would represent the Greek Orthodox community. A deal was later reached with the March 14 Forces to include MP Ghassan Tueni, after widespread uproar over Murr's appointment.
Zeaiter said the Amal Movement "respected the Greek Orthodox sect, which can never be monopolized by a merchant of politics."In other criticisms of the dialogue, Syriac League leader Habib Ifram addressed an open letter to Berri criticizing his "disregard of the Christian minorities in Lebanon.""Thank you Mr. Speaker, we got the message," it read. "We have always been regarded as the 'second category' of parties."The letter continued to say, "We hope that this new slap would represent a drive for the Christian minorities to fight for their right for equal representation in the government."

Here's how to get rid of Emile Lahoud
By Chibli Mallat -Commentary by
Saturday, March 04, 2006
As a national Lebanese dialogue began on Thursday, we, the people of Lebanon, could claim victory. We have now succeeded in placing the issue of the election of a new president at the center stage of Lebanese politics, and have brought on board in the search for a new head of state Parliament Speaker Nabih Birri, Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, and Michel Aoun. The three remain reluctant, but the election of a new, democratic, lawful president has become the nationally accepted starting point out of the murderous path resulting from the extension of President Emile Lahoud's mandate on September 3, 2004.
Lahoud's absence in Parliament, where the dialogue is taking place, vindicates the position I had taken publicly six months before the president's extension, and have repeated many times since. "We" not only means the Lebanese, but also the million or so people assembled last February 14, whose sole demand was for Lahoud to step down. On that day, a day of remembrance for the late Rafik Hariri, I urged Walid Jumblatt and Saad Hariri to make this their paramount slogan.
"We" also stands for the international community, embodied in the unanimous Security Council presidential statement of January 23 last, which "[regretted] particularly" that the conduct of "free and fair presidential elections" had not yet been carried out in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1559, passed on the eve of Lahoud's extension. The statement was carefully prepared both domestically and internationally by a plan made public on December 27, 2005, and known as the Mukhtara Plan. It outlined a two-stage process, to focus on the centrality of the presidential election clause in Resolution 1559, and to develop constitutional arguments to remove Lahoud.
On a more personal level, "we" stands for the formidable team that has rallied around my presidential bid in Beirut, New York, London, and Paris. It has succeeded, through an unprecedented and open presidential campaign, in regaining the initiative on the future of the presidency.
The main objective is to bring about a non-violent, constitutional process to replace Lahoud with a new president in free and open elections. With respect to my own candidacy, I hope to make my efforts during the past four months, and my dedication to human rights and the rule of law, benefit Lebanon, principally by encouraging the access to the presidency of an innovative, fresh, untainted, creative and incorruptible contender.
At the Bristol gathering of February 16, I presented a four-step process to complete the Cedar Revolution constitutionally: first, the popular and parliamentary majority in Lebanon had to declare that no solution was possible without the election of a new president. Second, a majority of parliamentarians had to sign a petition declaring null and void Lahoud's extension. Third, the parliamentary majority had to formally acknowledge Lahoud's illegitimacy. And fourth, Lebanon had to elect a new president.
We are in midst of phase three, which is playing itself out in the shadow of the national dialogue. If a consensus is reached during this dialogue on the need to elect a new president, so much the better. If not, phases three and four must be intensified and completed. In either case, we need to complete Lebanon's non-violent revolution by winning the presidency.
As I argued on the BBC interview program, Hardtalk, last week, Lahoud has become irrelevant. Once the president's illegitimacy is formally acknowledged by a majority of parliamentarians, all his acts will be considered ultra vires, in other words beyond his constitutional powers, and the process of electing a new president will be firmly on track. This can only be reversed by violence, which is unlikely, so common now is the consensus that we need a new president, and so ingrained the rejection of force by Lebanese of all categories and communities. We need to be vigilant in preventing extremist groups from derailing the process, but the best way to do so is to accelerate the transformation at the top.
Two constitutional consequences follow from the formal acknowledgment that Lahoud's extension was invalid. First the government must take over until a new president is sworn in. This is a delicate matter, but is entrenched in Article 62 of the Constitution. The second is that Parliament must meet as soon as possible to elect a new president, under Article 74. Contrary to the idea ventilated by Lahoud's dwindling supporters, Article 34 of the Constitution establishes the quorum at a majority of parliamentarians, while Article 49 says that a two-thirds majority to elect a president is required only for the first turn of the election.
As for me, I have realized that in reaching out to the people, it is vital to look to the future. That is why I have articulated a program, offered in countless venues, that addresses such key issues as the effective representation of women in government, the need to urgently address environmental problems, to strengthen rule of law, transparency and accountability, and to move toward universal suffrage in the election of top executive positions. I have also underlined that Lebanon must develop its comparative advantages, particularly education, banking and services. All these issues have now become part of the national debate.
This I have done in an open way, engaging groups of citizens in meetings across the country and in the press. In several opinion polls published this week, my name has come up among the four or five top contenders, in recognition of an unprecedented campaign carried out domestically and internationally. The traditional political class may not like it, but the momentum created for a new kind of presidency will prevail. By all accounts, my campaign has introduced something new in Lebanese politics. The implementation of the program I have outlined now requires a president at the helm whom the Lebanese deserve.
Chibli Mallat is a candidate for the presidency of Lebanon. The campaign can be followed on www.mallatforpresident.com. He wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.

Petition to oust Lahoud gains signatories
Daily Star staff-Saturday, March 04, 2006
BEIRUT: The petition campaign to oust President Emile Lahoud continued for the sixth consecutive day in different areas of the country, with one of the organizers speculating that the number of signatories would reach one million in two weeks.
Future Movement Youth Representative Nader Naqib said campaign representatives visited the Arab University on Thursday, "where more than 800 students signed the petition." He added that they also visited the American University of Beirut and the Lebanese American University in the past two days.
Naqib said the representatives were not allowed to erect petition boards inside the premises and set up the boards at the entrances of the universities.He added that he believed that "the signatories would reach one million in 15 days."
The campaign moved on Friday to Baabda, where sources said more than 700 people added their names to the petition, calling Lahoud's ouster. Organizers raised placards with slogans such as: "We want a president made in Lebanon."
The first step was in the area of Furn al-Shubbak, where a tent was erected. Lawyer Nadi Ghosn, an official in the area, said the campaign will reach all the towns of Baabda.The petition was also signed Friday in several towns of Dinnieh and South Lebanon.  A tent was also erected in the Beirut area of Gemmayzeh, where patriotic songs were played through giant speakers. Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis visited the tent to add his name. - The Daily Star

Quasi-agreement on ousting president is early dialogue success
By Walid Choucair -Saturday, March 04, 2006-Daily  Star
The Lebanese dialogue underway is not expected to succeed in fully resolving all the controversial issues dividing the country, but one of these issues, the battle for the presidency, the settlement of which could trigger compromises on other issues, has clearly become the main focus on the talks.
If the Lebanese street considers the convening of the dialogue as an initial success for easing political tensions formed by the opposing political campaigns of months past, the efforts of its 14 participants to reach an agreement to oust President Emile Lahoud could be the second achievement needed to propel Lebanon to the next phase.
However, in this coming phase, any solutions to the issues under discussion will be gradual.
Many observers hope the dialogue will help settle the presidency issue and have seen the control of Baabda as a key requirement since the government split over the official call for an international court to try the assassins of former Premier Rafik Hariri. Statements made during the dialogue's first two sessions made clear that discussing the presidency is a priority, although opponents of the March 14 Forces expressed reservations about the demands for Lahoud's resignation. This comes as no surprise as these groups ruled out such tactics the minute the March 14 camp launched their "Lahoud out" campaign this February 14. Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah caused a considerable stir by offering their tacit approval to Lahoud's ouster, with conditions.
Nasrallah insists on knowing the position of any future president on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, the resistance's arms and the Shebaa Farms, while Aoun asked whether Lahoud's removal would be achieved by prompting the president to submit his resignation or by some type of force. Aoun rejects the second option.
Aoun also reiterated - both before and after the dialogue was launched - his willingness to accept a presidential nomination.
To put it more bluntly, those originally opposed to the March 14 Forces' demands for Lahoud's resignation are now debating offers about the post-Lahoud era, with each party naming their price and seeking guarantees for the coming phase and for the policy that will be adopted in the new era.
Accordingly, observers believe a serious and positive development has been achieved already by the dialogue.
Offering a possible explanation, the observers note that all parties have acted according to Speaker Nabih Berri's request for all participants to "say everything without taboo in this room instead of saying it outside and in the media."
However, despite the dialogue's early success of a quasi-agreement on Lahoud's removal, much still needs to be done.
In addition, participants still need Damascus to play a role in toppling the president, over whom it wields considerable control.
With this fact in mind, participants will likely be unable to reach full agreement on the presidency, but will ready themselves and make their deals until the matter is arranged with Damascus by acting Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
For this purpose Egypt is expected to dispatch its intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to Beirut after the dialogue is concluded.
The dialogue's outcome will provide the Arab states with information on the proper direction to be taken with the Syrian leadership.Sources familiar with the dialogue's preparations expect that in exchange for approving Lahoud's removal, Hizbullah will be given more time to win international support for its armed resistance. The issue of the Shebaa Farms would also be examined during this period. According to the sources, parliamentary leader Saad Hariri brokered this agreement during his recent visit to Washington. The deal also offers Damascus additional Arab support against the West's continued pressures and the promise of eventual naturalization with Lebanon, in exchange for lifting its cover off Lahoud.

Soueid, Harmoush say the people have spoken
By Hadi Tawil -Special to The Daily Star
Saturday, March 04, 2006
BEIRUT: A leading member of the March 14 Forces, former MP Fares Soueid, and the head of the politburo of Al-Jamaa al-Islamiyya, Assaad Harmoush, have called for respecting the Lebanese people's will for a new Lebanon. Speaking at a news conference in the Martyrs' Square Liberty tent Friday, Harmoush said: "The call for President Emile Lahoud's resignation is a political, legal and popular demand."He said: "The continuous rape of the presidential position has caused a big gap in the participation of the Christian sect in the Lebanese national decision, leading to a major imbalance in the basis of Lebanese political participation and our national unity.
"The threats that the former security regime practiced, which led to the extension of Lahoud's mandate, were the start of killing the political life in Beirut by killing the constitutional life as a result of the extension."
Harmoush considered that "bending the constitution in Lahoud's favor was the beginning of the assassinations, from (former premier) Rafik Hariri till (anti-Syrian journalist and MP) Gebran Tueni."Therefore, Harmoush added, the Islamic movement considers "the president's resignation to be the best start to a successful national dialogue on other political issues."
"We look forward to an efficient role from Saudi Arabia and Egypt alongside other Arab countries, to help Lebanon get out of the crisis it is passing through," added Harmoush. He stressed that Al-Jamaa calls "on the Arab countries to "come up with a Taif for Beirut." Meanwhile, Soueid praised the Islamic Movement, "because of its commitment to the Taif Accord."
He said: "We are in an interim period. After gaining our geographical sovereignty we seek to gain institutional sovereignty."
"The battle to topple Lahoud is not a battle against the president in person but is a battle against the remains of the Syrian regime," Soueid said, adding: "It is the people who began asking the politicians for the immediate resignation of Lahoud."
Soueid said that "the role of the Christian president is marginalized in building a sovereign nation. Cohabitation is a way of living that must be preserved." Speaking of the Taif Accord, Soueid said: "The Taif, which was signed in Saudi Arabia, was not completely implemented. Lebanese politicians must meet up and decide to replace the accord with a new one."
Soueid said: "Syria implemented the accord on the basis of balance of power and not on conventional basis that was not even discussed in the agreement." He emphasized that "both Christians and Muslims were victims of marginalization and oppression as a result of the unethical and unlawful action done by the security regime."

Government case targets journalists
Defamation charges brought against al-mustaqbal daily
Compiled by Daily Star staff -Saturday, March 04, 2006
NEW YORK: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by criminal charges filed against the daily Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal, its editor-in-chief, and a staff reporter for defaming President Emile Lahoud. The charges were brought by Beirut prosecutor Joseph Ma'amari on Tuesday, four days after Al-Mustaqbal published an interview with former Lebanese ambassador to France and former army intelligence chief Johnny Abdo, who criticized Lahoud's performance. According to The Daily Star, Abdo was quoted as saying that "under Lahoud's mandate, the Presidential Palace was turned into an unsuitable place to hold dialogue, and Lahoud's presence violates the constitution, because the constitution says the president is the symbol of unity."
Toufiq Khattab, the editor-in-chief, and Fares Khashan, the article's author, were charged with insulting and defaming the president under Articles 23 and 26 of the Lebanese publication law and Article 219 of the penal code, according to Al-Mustaqbal. The journalists face up to two years in prison if convicted. Abdo, who lives in France, has been charged under the same statutes. Khashan is also based in France.
"It's outrageous that journalists face prison for publishing the comments of a former diplomat about matters of vital public interest," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. "This type of punitive case, coupled with the unsolved murders of journalists, endangers Lebanon's vibrant press." Al-Mustaqbal is owned by the family of Rafik al-Hariri, the slain former prime minister. The paper and its journalists are now facing a total of 12 charges related to defaming the president and other members of parliament, a journalist at the paper told CPJ. One of the most prominent cases involves Khattab and another staff reporter, Zahi Wehbe, who were indicted in July 2005 on charges of libeling Lahoud. That case is pending.
The indictment stemmed from an article that appeared in Al-Mustaqbal on June 7, five days after Lebanese columnist Samir Kassir was murdered in a car bombing. In the article, headlined "His Excellency, the Murderer," Wehbe wrote: "The general has not, and will not, understand that the people cannot be terrorized." Although Al-Mustaqbal did not mention Lahoud by name, he is often referred to as "the general" in the press. Wehbe told The Associated Press that the piece was aimed at "all killers in Lebanon."Lebanese columnist Gebran Tueni was killed by a bomb in December and television journalist May Chidiac was gravely wounded in a September bomb attack.
CPJ is a New York-based organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.

A national dialogue in Lebanon that Arabs must carefully heed
By Rami G. Khouri -Daily Star staff
Saturday, March 04, 2006
The Lebanese national dialogue that kicked off in Beirut on Thursday has generated little interest beyond the country's borders. That may be shortsighted. For the unprecedented local gathering of leaders of 14 major Lebanese religious, ethnic and political groups mirrors two broad national challenges that confound almost every Arab country: legitimacy and leadership.
The disinterest outside Lebanon is perhaps understandable. There is something very provincial about mostly hereditary leaders of sects and tribes of a few hundred thousand people each making a big deal of gathering in the same room and shaking hands, after, in some cases, refusing to speak to each other for years, or fighting each other politically and militarily. Overcoming the political feuds of villages and adjacent valleys is not so heroic by most people's calculations. It is also slightly odd to hold this special gathering when two other fully representative institutions already exist to discuss such national issues - the elected Parliament and the Cabinet.
But these Lebanese democratic institutions are immobilized precisely because of severe legitimacy and leadership constraints. So something resembling a traditional Arab tribal confederal council was convened to discuss urgent issues: the investigation of the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the interpretation and implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, the contested status of President Emile Lahoud, and broad security and sovereignty issues related to arms held by groups outside the national armed forces, including Hizbullah and some Syrian-influenced Palestinian groups.
The legitimacy deficit is both institutional and personal. Parliaments throughout the Arab world have little credibility because they are usually elected on the basis of deeply gerrymandered electoral districts and laws that are designed to deliver a predictably pro-government majority, which they usually do (though increasingly this is being challenged by victorious Islamist oppositions). Parliaments also are generally powerless in the face of security-backed executive branches and strongmen.
The personal legitimacy deficit is embodied in Lebanon by the increasingly irrelevant Lahoud. His initial six-year term was extended by three years in 2004, because Syria imposed it. Today, a majority in Parliament, and probably in the country, sees his extension as inappropriate and illegitimate. Last month, the majority launched a campaign to remove him from office through peaceful constitutional means. This critical test of political incumbency should concern other nervous Arab leaders who suffer from a low legitimacy quotient. Never before has an Arab citizenry simultaneously used the rule of law, the provisions of its own Constitution, and the force of a UN Security Council resolution to dismiss a sitting president.
A powerful constellation of forces at work in Lebanon today brings together three elements: public opinion speaking out in mass street demonstrations; a determined political elite; and international pressure channeled through the legitimacy of the UN Security Council. That same combination a year ago quickly forced a Syrian military withdrawal from Lebanon, brought down the government, allowed the holding of free parliamentary elections, launched an international investigation into the Hariri murder, and led to the arrest of four Lebanese security chiefs.
These forces have now focused on deposing Lahoud, thus providing an existential litmus test for their own credibility and efficacy. If they mobilize and channel their political support effectively and depose the president constitutionally, they would generate a rare, long-overdue example of self-generated political legitimacy in Arab public life.
This is also a test of Arab leadership. Lebanon is typical of Arab lands in having erratic leadership qualities. Some of the best minds in the world are to be found here, but usually the political system prevents them from translating their brilliance into efficient and clean governance.
Poor leadership is partly a function of weak legitimacy of institutions and individuals. This in turn reflects the legacy of brittle, ill-fitting modern statehood that does not always coincide with the religious, ethnic or national identities of the citizenry. Most Arab countries were forged in the self-serving furies of predatory and then retreating European colonialism, in the period 1920-1960. Many of them limped into the 21st century battered and stressed, because national identity and power do not always coincide with citizen identity and rights.
Consequently, in this week's Lebanese national dialogue at least three levels of leadership are being tested at once: the Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblatt-led "March 14" majority in Parliament that has yet to assert itself nationally after the initial eviction of the Syrian Army a year ago; the leaders of the many parochial sects and political tribes engaged in the dialogue; and, the overall national leadership, particularly in the Cabinet, that must address pressing issues of reform, debt, security, corruption and governance.
This Lebanese dialogue will be historic for all Arabs if it generates a credible national decision-making process that raises leadership and legitimacy levels in Lebanon. That is why I hope it succeeds. If it falls short, however, and comes up with vague compromises that perpetuate the status quo, it will simply be another exercise in provincial politics, with village headmen rising only to the status of television entertainers.
Rami G. Khouri writes a regular commentary for THE DAILY STAR.

Who will deter whom?
By Ze'ev Schiff -Haaretz 4.3.06
Israel should not scoff at Iran's growing power as a regional force and the dangers of the worldview of its radical regime. Iran may have made some mistakes, but it has achieved some outstanding accomplishments. While the world is busy only with its efforts to acquire nuclear arms, it has managed over the years, through a sophisticated move in cooperation with the Syrians and Hezbollah, to build an array of rockets in southern Lebanon that could harm Israel over long ranges.
There are recent reports that a weans convoy, apparently Iranian, made its way through Syria through the Lebanese Bekaa and received a transit permit with the Lebanese government openly confirming that it knew the convoy's goal was Hezbollah. Therefore, the Lebanese government is an indirect partner in the establishment of the rocket array aimed against Israel. It has already been published that this includes some 12,000 Katyushas and rockets of various types. Militarily, it makes no difference if there were only 5,000 Katyushas, for example. The important factor is the range, which Iran makes sure to constantly improve. The Fajr-3 and Fajr-5 rockets have increased their ranges to some 70 kilometers. This means Hezbollah and, in effect, Iran can shoot at targets south of Haifa, and not only in the area of Haifa Bay.
There are various approaches to this threat to Israel. The former chief of staff, Moshe Ya'alon, used to say that the Hezbollah rocketry array will rust on its own without being used. Maybe. But what if there are reasons found for its use before it rusts? Other say that this is not an Iranian threat, because the same targets could be hit by terror actions. That's strange to say. Is the danger of putting two million people into shelters and a cessation of schooling and work in all the regional enterprises within the rockets' aim not a strategic blow? Past experience with artillery fire from southern Lebanon and the experience of primitive Qassam rockets make it difficult to come up with calming conclusions.
A few months ago there was a one-day conference at Haifa University on dealing with a sudden multi-victim disaster in the Haifa Bay area. Dr. Ephraim Dvir, head of the geography department for disaster areas and the chairman of the national steering committee for preparations for an earthquake, spoke of the "disaster triangle" in the Haifa area. The bay, he said, is the most dangerous of all the sensitive areas in Israel because of the ammonia and bromide facilities, the oil refineries and the heavy industry. Add to that the population density and the flawed local infrastructure for dealing with the population during a surprise disaster.
The experts remember that the state comptroller devoted three reports to the subject, as did two Knesset subcommittees. After much foot-dragging, the Home Front command announced that the huge ammonia tank in the bay area does not meet its standards. Safeguarding the tanks would require a most enormous expenditure, so Haifa municipality ordered Haifa Chemicals to immediately cease use of the tank. However, the sensitivity of the area, within range of Hezbollah rockets, remains.
Clearly, Israel has failed from every aspect in preventing the establishment of the Iranian-backed rocket array. No arms convoy or plane carrying weapons or warehouse of rockets in Lebanon has been struck. The rockets are deployed out of harm's way, and Iranian representatives in Lebanon help plan and produce conclusions from Hezbollah operations. This does not mean that Israel cannot deal with the threat; but it decided to base itself on a strategy of bed-and-breakfasts and skiing, according to which it is best not to really respond to harm, kidnappings and provocations lest it endanger the tourism. In recent years, that strategy has been paramount and that is what enabled the Iranians to establish their deterrent arm against Israel.

Lebanon leaders fail to bridge gaps at crisis talks
By Nadim Ladki
Reuters
Friday, March 3, 2006; 3:09 PM
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rival Lebanese leaders failed on Friday to bridge sharp differences over the fate of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and the disarming of Hizbollah guerrillas at a second day of talks to end Lebanon's political crisis.
Political sources said heated debate raged between Muslim and Christian leaders, both pro- and anti-Syrian, at a "national dialogue conference" at parliament in the largest such gathering since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
"Dialogue was comprehensive..., responsible, serious and extremely frank," Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is convening the meeting, said after nearly six hours of talks.
"These issues take time because these thorough discussions are taking place for the first time. I believe the results, God willing, will be good."
The conference, which started on Thursday and reconvenes on Saturday, could last for up to a week.
After quickly agreeing on Thursday on backing a U.N. inquiry into the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri 13 months ago and an international trial for any suspects, the talks moved to more divisive issues, namely the fate of Lahoud who is opposed by the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority.
The sources said anti-Syrian leaders -- Hariri's son Saad, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Christian ex-warlord Samir Geagea -- are leading calls for ousting Lahoud. Jumblatt left for the United States, but was represented by an aide.
Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun and pro-Syrian Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah were against forcing the president out and highlighted the need for agreement on a successor and his political program in case Lahoud chooses to resign voluntarily.
HIZBOLLAH WEAPONS
The talks also focused on a U.N. resolution demanding Shi'ite Muslim Hizbollah and Palestinian fighters disarm.
The leaders were shown maps said to prove that Shebaa Farms, an area of rugged hills at the foot of the Golan Heights, belonged to Lebanon. Israel, which still holds the area, and the United Nations say the farms are Syrian.
Hizbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, says it is a resistance force, not a militia, seeking to win back Shebaa Farms and defend Lebanon from Israel. Anti-Syrian leaders want Shebaa returned by diplomacy and say it is time Hizbollah disarmed.
The sources said some of the most heated debate was between Nasrallah and Geagea over disarming the group.
Hariri's assassination in a 1-tonne truck bomb sparked massive street protests that forced Syria to withdraw its forces from its smaller neighbor after 29 years and an anti-Syrian coalition to sweep to victory in elections last year.
Those changes were hailed at the time as heralding the end of Syrian tutelage, but Damascus' local allies remain, as do political splits that have often prevented the government from meeting or taking decisions over the past year and have blocked much-need economic reforms.
Syria backs Lahoud, who has resisted growing calls to step down. Lebanon's president is always a Maronite Christian, a sect that had always formed the backbone of opposition to Syria.
Lebanese security forces have deployed heavily around the parliament building in central Beirut, blocking traffic and pedestrians. Shops and offices downtown were also shut, bringing life in the usually busy area to a halt.
(Additional reporting by Leila Bassam)

Firecrackers thrown in Basilica of Annunciation in Nazareth
By Jack Khoury and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents
Firecrackers were thrown inside the Basilica of Annunciation in Nazareth on Friday afternoon wounding several congregators, witnesses said. The Basilica is built at the site of the Annunciation, where according to Christian faith the Virgin Mary was told by archangle Gabriel she he been chosen by God to bear His son, Jesus. Large police forces arrived at the scene to push away thousands of people who gathered in an attempt to enter the compound and hurt the suspects. Police were said to be using stun grenandes to disperse the mob. According to witnesses two young Jewish women and a man entered the basilica compound dressed up as pilgrims. They hid firecrackers and small gas baloons in a pram and detonated the firecrackers inside the church during a special prayer for the opening of Lent. The male suspect was wounded in his head. A stampede broke out and congregators caused damage to the church as they fled from the church. Hadash Chairman Mohammed Barakeh made a furious response to the attack Friday. "Such an act is proof to the fact that radical right-wing and settler terror groups feel they are free to perform their crimes, both in the territories and in Israel, against the Arab population," he said.
MK Barakeh called on the government to quit its forgiving policy towards these groups.

Lebanese Filmgoers Hop On a Moving Bus
By Nora Boustany
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, March 2, 2006
BEIRUT -- An old school bus, painted fire-engine red and studded with blinking lights, chugs across the Lebanese countryside, commandeered by reunited folkloric dancers bent on reliving their fun-loving high school days.
The old clunker stops in several scenic townships, and the troupe performs the national dance, the dabke , for inhabitants who reflect Lebanon's mosaic of religious and cultural identities. The bus carries the roadshow up and over the country's pine-shaded hillsides, re-creating a world gone by and rousing memories of Lebanon's long civil war.
Packaged in cultural kitsch, with song, dance and a memorable script, the movie "Bosta," Arabic for "Bus," has been a box-office hit and a national phenomenon since it opened in December. Moviegoers of all ages -- Muslim, Christian and Druze, traditional and hip -- seem to have found a space in which to revisit shared experiences and to identify with unsavory issues buried in the past. The scenes take the audiences on a roller coaster of Lebanon's fabled lust for fun and through a maze of untapped war traumas.
"I didn't know whether to cry or laugh," said Rym Momtaz, a graduate of the American University of Beirut, who has seen the movie twice. "It was a breath of fresh air. It did not deal with the war in a blunt way, but indirectly. For once, the healing process that Lebanese society is supposed to go through is the focus."
In the movie's opening scene, the jovial driver points out that the bus was built in 1943 -- the year Lebanon won independence from France. French troops departed after Christian and Muslim liberation heroes formed a pact for statehood. But in 1975, Christian militias fired on a busload of Palestinians passing through a Christian neighborhood, sparking a civil war. More than 150,000 people were killed and many more were wounded by the time the conflict formally ended in 1989.
"This film is about healing and moving on," Philippe Aractingi, the movie's writer, director and producer, said in an interview at his bare office in Beirut. It is a road trip that visits Lebanon's identities. "It is a film about us as a multiple and also as a single unit, and then about the bonds that keep us together."
In the movie, the old school bus, emblazoned with a psychedelic logo under a rising sun, announces the arrival of another day, and a new style of dance: Digi-Dabke. The dancers, wearing baggy pantaloons in camouflage patterns, dip, twirl and stomp their feet to techno rhythms and throbbing drumbeats.
The mixing of musical and choreographic styles injects levity into the film's serious undertones, with Bollywood-like sequences. "Cedarwood," Aractingi said, invoking the youth-infused Cedar Revolution that forced the Syrian withdrawal last year.
Aractingi, 41, who is Lebanese, studied business in London, worked for various media organizations in Lebanon, and spent 12 years in France working for French television channels. He also worked on documentaries for the Discovery Channel and the Learning Channel.
When he returned to Beirut in 1997, "people were dancing on the tables at night. There was this incredible energy. People wanted to be happy. I wanted to write about it. . . . For each page I wrote, a war story would come back to haunt me," said Aractingi, who spent three years working on the script. "I would write, rewrite, toss out pages and black images until I reached the sweet and sour, the bittersweet."
In the movie, the dancers attend Utopia College, where their headmaster is killed by a gift-wrapped bomb in the school's cafeteria.
The headmaster's prodigal son, Kamal Maf'ous, returns from exile to honor a promise to his late father by competing with his classmates in a national dance festival. Having spent 15 years abroad, he stylizes the traditional dabke dancing into a more contemporary form with techno music. His ensemble auditions but is eliminated by a national jury for tampering with "the only cultural icon left untouched."
Determined to win over the population, Kamal's dancers embark on their bumpy journey through sun-bathed villages, revisiting idyllic childhoods, unrequited-love stories and unending tangerine sunsets.
The characters fight and work out differences, sobered by ugly flashbacks to the war. True to life, one male dancer recollects how a militia commander ordered him to shell his old school.
"They even handed weapons to children. They didn't want anyone to understand; they even killed thinking itself," the bus driver tells Kamal, recalling the numbness and insanity that engulfed wartime Lebanon.
In an argument, one of his dancers chides Kamal for dwelling on the past. A row breaks out between Kamal and his team about ending the tour at their bullet-riddled school. "Look, Kamal. I dance on my wound to forget the pain. I can't keep reopening it," protests Tewfic. "No one forgot," says Alia, the lead female dancer. "We just gave in. End of story."
Aractingi explained: "Since 1975, each of us has his story, but we all have the same wound."
Until reconstruction ended in 1997, the heart of Beirut bore the scars of war. Overrun by militias, this charred jungle was an ugly urban memento of twisted metal, rubble and shattered glass where people did not dare tread.
The heap of destruction has been supplanted by a swank new metropolis.
It is "a symbol and ideal for this lightness of being," said Bilal Khbeiz, a Lebanese journalist. The film, like the city, is about wishful thinking. "Going there for people is like leaving your opinions and unaddressed pain behind," he explained.
Sociologist Samir Khalaf said films such as "Bosta" are an important step in healing the rift between past and present, noting that "the postwar era has offered us some false kinds of shelter in the form of religion and popular entertainment, a form of seduction and forgetting."
However, he added, "I feel for the first time a bit of optimism that Lebanon might begin to be a role model for Arab regimes. Movies like 'Bosta,' artistic expression, political satire and art galleries mean we now have an episode allowing people to mobilize in a public space. . . . That is why we have a moment."
Even viewers skeptical about the direction in which Lebanon is headed agree.
"For the first time, we have an optimistic film that does not skirt around the issues," said Walid Abi Saleh, an architect. "You tell yourself if the country is so beautiful, then we can save it." © 2006 The Washington Post Company

 Arab MKs again face investigations and threats of disqualification in run-up to election
AMIN 3/2/06: I’LAM Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel
Israel’s Central Election Committee, a partisan body with the power to disqualify political parties from the forthcoming election, questioned this week the right of one of the three main Arab parties to contest the election. The committee is dominated by politicians from rightwing Zionist parties.
The committee held a session on February 28 in which it considered barring the joint list of the United Arab List and Taal, led by Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur and Ahmed Tibi, from the standing. Several parties represented on the committee, including Likud and the National Religious Party, submitted a petition against the Arab party based on the claim that its platform denies Israel as a “Jewish and democratic state”. The ban was rejected by a wafer-thin majority of 18 votes to 16.
The hearing came after several weeks of well-publicised investigations and physical assaults on Arab MKs and politicians, a phenomenon that has become a particular ritual around the time of elections. Three of the eight Arab MKs belonging to non-Zionist parties were investigated by the police last month, and two assaulted by the security forces during peaceful demonstrations.
On Sunday February 27 Mohammed Barakeh, leader of the list of the joint Arab and Jewish Democratic Front for Peace and Equality party (known as Hadash in Hebrew), became the lastest MK to be investigated by the security services. He reportedly left after the interrogator started the interview with “Listen, sweety”.
Barakeh called the interrogator’s tone “ill-mannered”. A police spokesman said the use of the word had been a “slip of the tongue”.
The MK was questioned over his participation in a peaceful Jewish and Arab demonstration in the West Bank village of Bilin against the building of Israel’s wall on the villager’s land, in preparation for its effective annexation to Israel. Barakeh had refused to attend a first interrogation when he was called to Binyamina police station, which is inside the occupied West Bank.
At least 10 demonstrators, including Barakeh, were injured when a paramilitary unit of the Massad, usually used to disperse prison riots, was called in. One of its officers, Barakeh claims, fired a stun grenade from close range at him. When the MK complained about the incident, police in turn accused him of assaulting Massada officers.
After leaving the interrogation, Barakeh said he would not return for questioning and challenged the police to test their allegations in court. He says he has video evidence showing that he, not the police, was attacked.
Questioned by Israeli reporters about why he had not reported the assault to Mahash, the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigations Department, Barakeh’s assistant, Barhoum Jeraisi, said the MK had no faith in it. “The history of the PID with Arabs is very black,” he said, referring to its consistent pattern of closing files on policemen accused of assaulting Arab citizens. It was revealed last week that, despite a clear conflict of interest, promotions among Justice Ministry investigators have been overseen by the national police commander.
The attack on Barakeh has disturbing echoes of an assault he suffered seven years ago, when he was repeatedly hit with a baton by a policeman during a protest against land confiscations in the Arab town of Tamra. When Barakeh complained, the policeman accused him of violence.
Based on the policeman’s testimony, an investigation of the MK was opened and proceedings by the Attorney General to indict him begun. The charge was dropped only after the MK provided video footage proving that he had been the one attacked. The policeman was neither disciplined nor prosecuted for the assault or for lying.
A report, Silencing Dissent, published by the Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA) in October 2002, found that in the previous two years seven of the nine MKs belonging to Arab parties (including Hadash) in that parliament had needed hospital treatment after assaults by the security forces. In addition, a total of 25 investigations had been launched against them.
Barakeh is not alone in being questioned by the police. Taleb As-Sana’a, of the United Arab List, and Azmi Bishara, of the National Democratic Assembly party, were both interrogated last month by the International Serious Crimes Unit about trips they made to Syria and Lebanon respectively. The investigation was ordered by the Attorney-General, Menachem Mazuz, on the grounds that the two MKs had entered an “enemy country”.
Although both have diplomatic passports, such visits have become a grey area after the law was changed to require that MKs seek permission from the Interior Ministry before visiting enemy states. Arab MKs have claimed that the Ministry either does not reply to their requests or automatically rejects them without a hearing.
The law was changed after charges brought against Bishara in 2001 for travelling to Syria were overturned at his trial by the judge, who accepted that MKs have diplomatic immunity.
The Attorney General’s investigation of Bishara opens the threat of renewed legal action against him, only days after the Supreme Court belatedly ended a five-year indictment by dismissing a second charge from the same trial. The MK was accused of supporting “armed struggle” by a terrorist organisation after he noted in two separate speeches Hizbullah’s success in ending Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon.
To enable the 2001 prosecution, the Knesset – on the advice of the Attorney General and the Shin Bet secret service – stripped Bishara of his parliamentary immunity, the first time this had been done to an Israeli politician for making political statements. In their ruling last month, the judges agreed that Bishara had supported a terrorist organisation but by a two-to-one majority they concluded that he had not condoned armed struggle.
The hearing this week against the United Arab List and Taal followed a press conference in Nazareth held by Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur. Several Israeli newspapers and television channels reported him as saying that he supported Israel becoming an Islamic state. Subsequently, the media widely compared his party with Hamas.
Sarsur says he was misquoted, a claim later substantiated by Ha’aretz reporter Yoav Stern, and that he was referring to Arab countries in the region, not Israel, joining together to become a single Islamic state. In a statement to the election committee, he reiterated his position: “It must be made clear that I was deeply disturbed by the coverage of the press conference. To remove any doubt, I am opposed to the establishment of an Islamic state or an alternative government.”
Sarsur’s legal representative, Marwan Dalal of the Adalah legal centre for Arab minority rights, observed: “The inaccuracy of the ... media sources is not surprising and, sadly, common among journalists in Israel.”
At the last general election, the CEC disqualified two Arab candidates, Ahmed Tibi and Azmi Bishara, from running, as well as banning Bishara’s party, the National Democratic Assembly. Its decision, however, was overturned on appeal to the courts.

Lebanese rivals in tense debate on life after Syria
By ASSOCIATED PRESS- Mar. 3, 2006 5:33Beirut
Lebanon's rival leaders sat down together in an unprecedented political dialogue Thursday aimed at resolving the country's deep divisions since the end of Syrian domination, amid warnings that failure could worsen the slide toward instability.
Hours before the gathering in Beirut, a small bomb exploded in a courthouse before dawn in the Christian port of Jounieh outside of Beirut. It was the latest in a chain of bombings in Lebanon that began in early 2005. Blasts have killed 32 people, including former prime minister Rafik Hariri in a February 14, 2005, attack. Other explosions have been in mainly Christian districts, often causing damage and fear but no casualties. The attacks have heightened concerns over the sharp splits in Lebanon in the wake of Syria's withdrawal from the country last year.
Thursday's gathering was the first of its kind since the end of Syria's nearly 30-year control of the country. Rival political leaders - Muslim and Christian, pro- and anti-Syrian - sat down together in the downtown Beirut parliament building in hopes of resolving their differences.
But it will be an uphill struggle to reach an agreement, since they are tackling some of the issues at the heart of the divisions, including demands for the ousting of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and the disarming of Hizbullah.
The anti-Syrian bloc accuses Damascus of complicity in the Hariri slaying and want to push ahead a UN investigation into the assassination, which has already implicated Syrian officials. Syria's allies say the investigation is political and aimed at railroading Damascus and undermining Syrian President Bashar Assad. "Failure is forbidden because its consequences are grave," warned Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who called the meeting in the legislature.
Among the politicians who showed up for the talks were Saad Hariri, a Sunni Muslim who controls the largest parliamentary bloc; Walid Jumblatt, the Druse political leader; Shi'ite Muslim Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah; Michel Aoun, a Christian who leads the parliamentary opposition; and Christian leader Samir Geagea. Nasrallah and Geagea met for the first time. The only major politician not invited was Lahoud. Lahoud has resisted calls by the anti-Syrian bloc to step down - calls led by Hariri, the son of the slain former prime minister, and Jumblatt. The meeting's opening was delayed by about an hour because of differences over representation - and even seating - at the table.

Annan Welcomes National dialogue to promote stability
New York, 3 March (AKI) - United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan has welcomed the national dialogue officially initiated by the Lebanese speaker of parliament on issues critical for the country, expressing hope that it will contribute to political stability there. Last month, the UN Security Council said "a broad national dialogue" was needed in Lebanon to make more progress in satisfying its resolution 1559, which called for an end to foreign influence in Lebanon.
While the withdrawal of Syrian forces and the holding of credible parliamentary elections in May and June 2005 had been accomplished, the security council’s statement pointed to the need for a dialogue on disbanding militias and reasserting the government's control over parts of the country.Annan’s special envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, last week called the speaker of parliament Nabih Berri to voice his support for the national dialogue.