LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
MARCH 5/2006

Below news from miscellaneous sources for 5/03/06
Lebanon leaders still split after talks-Reuters 5.03.06
Lebanese suspect linked to Hariri murder in hospital-Reuters 5.3.06
Lebanon leaders close on fate of Palestinian arms-Reuters 5.3.06
Hamas rejects recognition of Israel despite pressure 5.03.06
Rice: No Iran sanctions for now-Reuters 5.03.06

Lebanon leaders still split after talks
Saturday 04 March 2006,
Rival Lebanese leaders have failed to bridge differences over the fate of Emile Lahoud, the pro-Syrian president, and the disarming of Hizb Allah fighters at a second day of talks. Political sources said heated debate raged on Friday 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," Nabih Berri, the parliament speaker 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 UN inquiry into the killing of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former prime minister, 13 months ago and an international trial for any suspects, the talks moved to more divisive issues such as the fate of Lahoud, who is opposed by the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority.
Lahoud
The sources said anti-Syrian leaders - al-Hariri's son Saad, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Christian former regional commander Samir Geagea - are leading calls for removing Lahoud. Jumblatt left for a trip to the US but was represented by an aide. Michel Aoun, the Christian opposition leader, and pro-Syrian Hizb Allah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah were against forcing the president out and highlighted the need for an agreement on a successor and his political programme, in case Lahoud chooses to resign. The talks included a UN resolution demanding that Shia Muslim Hizb Allah and Palestinian fighters should disarm. The leaders were shown maps said to prove that the Shebaa Farms, an area of rugged hills at the foot of the Golan Heights, belonged to Lebanon. Israel, which holds the area, and the UN say the farms are Syrian. Hizb Allah, backed by Syria and Iran, says it is a resistance force, not a militia, seeking to win back the Shebaa Farms and defend Lebanon from Israel.
Anti-Syrian leaders want Shebaa returned by diplomacy and say it is time Hizb Allah disarmed. The sources said some of the most heated debate was between Nasrallah and Geagea over disarming the group.
Anniversary
Al-Hariri's assassination in a one-tonne truck bomb sparked massive street protests that forced Syria to withdraw its forces from its smaller neighbour after 29 years. An anti-Syrian coalition swept to victory in elections last year.
Security forces have deployed instrength around the talks' venue 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-needed economic reforms. Syria backs Lahoud, who has resisted growing calls to step down. Lebanon's president is always a Maronite Christian, a sect that has traditionally 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.

Rice: No Iran sanctions for now
U.S. Secretary of State says Security Council unlikely to impose Iran sanctions at this stage
Reuters 4.3.06: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday said the United Nations Security Council was unlikely to impose sanctions on Iran as a first step in dealing with the disagreement over its nuclear programme.
"I would expect that you would need at least something that tries to give (U.N. nuclear watchdog) the IAEA the weight of the Security Council in order to get Iran to do something.
"But I don't think people are talking about going directly to sanctions," Rice told reporters traveling with President George W. Bush in Pakistan.
The IAEA referred Iran to the Security Council about a month ago, but according to Rice, Tehran has still not made the kind of statements the Americans are interested in hearing.
Earlier Saturday, Iran's deputy oil minister said his country will not use oil to press the international community over its nuclear programme.
However, the deputy minister made it clear Iran's position will be reconsidered should sanctions be imposed.
Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush also addressed the Iranian question and noted Iran's plans to acquire nuclear arms threatens world piece and stressed efforts must be made to ensure such weapons do not reach the hands of radicals.
In a joint press conference with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Bush said the alliance with Pakistan is important to the war against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
 

Lebanon leaders close on fate of Palestinian arms
Sat Mar 4, 2006pm ET
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's leaders inched closer to agreement on disarming the country's Palestinian militants but remained at odds over the fate of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and Hizbollah arms, a senior politician said on Saturday.
He said progress was slow at the so-called "national dialogue conference" of rival Muslim and Christian leaders, both pro- and anti-Syrian -- the largest such gathering since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. "The leaders are close to reaching an agreement on the issue of Palestinian militants' arms outside the refugee camps," the source told Reuters without elaboration.
The Lebanese government has said the pro-Syrian Palestinian militants must shut down their military posts outside the country's dozen squalid camps as demanded by a 2004 UN Security Council resolution. The militants have rejected such demands, saying their arms were there to fight Israel.
But the government, which says it wants to resolve the issue through talks, has come under fire from several Damascus allies after the Lebanese army's heavy deployment around the posts along the border with Syria in October.
They have accused the anti-Syrian majority in parliament of pressing to disarm the Palestinians to pile pressure on Hizbollah to relinquish its weapons, another demand of the same Security Council resolution "Discussions are still ongoing concerning Hizbollah and the presidency but without an agreement in sight so far," the political source said. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, representing anti-Syrian Druze leader Walid Jumblatt who left for a visit to the United States, said the talks were complex. We have not reached an agreement because the issues are thorny and complicated," he told the BBC Arabic Service. The talks, which started on Thursday at parliament, could last for up to a week.
Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun and pro-Syrian Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah were against forcing out Lahoud, who is opposed by the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, political sources have said.
They both highlighted the need to agree on a successor and his political program in case Lahoud chooses to resign voluntarily. Lahoud says he would serve out his mandate which expires in 2007.  The extension of Lahoud's term in 2004 at Syria's behest has plunged Lebanon into its worst political crisis since the end of the war and set Damascus on collision course with the international community. Syria bowed to world pressure and street protest to end its 29-year military presence in Lebanon after the killing of ex-Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. An ongoing UN inquiry has already implicated Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies, including four generals loyal to Lahoud, in the murder. They have all denied any role.

Lebanese suspect linked to Hariri murder in hospital
04 Mar 2006
BEIRUT, March 4 (Reuters) - A key Lebanese suspect arrested in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was taken to hospital on Saturday after suffering high blood pressure, police said.
Maj. General Jamil al-Sayyed, former chief of the powerful General Security Directorate, was taken to the American University's hospital in Beirut where he remained in a stable condition, they said in a statement. Lebanon has charged Sayyed, along with three top pro-Syrian security chiefs, with murder and attempted murder in connection with the Feb. 14, 2005 killing of Hariri and 22 others in a truck bomb near Beirut's seafront. The four have denied any role. An ongoing U.N. inquiry said in December it was investigating claims that Sayyed had operated an illegal fund out of his office "which possibly had been used to finance the assassination of Mr. Hariri."The investigation has also implicated senior Syrian officials. Damascus has repeatedly rejected the charge.

Hamas rejects recognition of Israel despite pressure
Sat Mar 4, 2006pm ET -MOSCOW (Reuters) - Islamist militant group Hamas rejected Russian appeals for it to recognize Israel or disband its armed wing, senior leaders of the group said on Saturday. The Moscow visit is the first to a major foreign power by leaders of Hamas, who are forming a Palestinian government in the wake of a landslide win in Palestinian parliamentary elections on January 25. Hamas is hoping to gain a measure of international standing from the three days of talks, opposed by Israel and the United States. The Hamas charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. Both Washington and the European Union have branded Hamas a terrorist organization. But it is popular among Palestinians for charitable works and has a reputation for freedom from corruption.Hamas deputy political leader Moussa Abu Marzouk told Reuters in an interview that recognizing Israel would negate all Palestinian rights.
"It means a negation of the Palestinian people and their rights and their property, of Jerusalem and the holy sites, as well as negation of their right of return. Therefore the recognition of Israel is not on the agenda," Abu Marzouk said.
"We believe that Israel has no right to exist", he added later in remarks to an Arab audience. "Hamas will never take such a step." On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a Hamas delegation it must recognize Israel's right to exist and abide by interim peace deals, echoing demands made by the United States, the European Union and United Nations. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said Saturday he had rejected a bid from Lavrov for Hamas to disband its armed wing and integrate the gunmen into the general Palestinian police force. "We have made clear to the officials in Russia that the armed wing (of Hamas) will have no role in the internal situation, and will resist the occupation and defend the whole land", Meshaal said.
DRAW A MAP
Abu Marzouk, who is part of the Hamas delegation in Moscow, blasted previous Palestinian accords with Israel and said they did not define the Jewish state's borders. "I gave the Russian officials a white sheet and I asked them to draw me a map of the Israel they want me to recognize and nobody was able to draw the map," he said. "Therefore how would you want me to recognize something that is so dangerous to the future of the Palestinian people." Hamas is in the middle of forming a government and expects to name a cabinet within weeks. Israel says it will not negotiate with a government led by Hamas, which has carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings against Israelis since a Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000. Hamas has said talks with Israel would be a waste of time. Abu Marzouk said the Moscow visit had achieved important results for Hamas, including "breaking the wall of siege" imposed by the United States and Europe since its election win. While this collapse in the siege was done in public, there are several countries of the European Union that are secretly holding contacts with Hamas in one way or another," he said without elaborating. Even before its first meetings on Friday with senior Russian officials in Moscow, Hamas dimmed hopes of a breakthrough by saying it was firm in its refusal to recognize Israel.