LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
MAY 15/2006

Below news bulletins from miscellaneous sources for 1/05/06
Hariri Wants a President Backed by Sfeir-Naharnet
Jumblat praises Kuwait's big role towards Lebanon-KNA
Syria requests Khaddam arrest-Gulf News
Lebanon Bids Farewell to 4 Soldiers Killed in Copter CrashNaharnet
Syria's footprints still clear inside Lebanon-Kuwait Times
UN resolution 'may hinder ties with Lebanon-Gulf News
LEBANON: "Where are they?Reuters
Interview with Syrian Deputy FM Fayssal Mekdad-Asharq Alawsat
Lebanese want demarcate borders with Syria-Alarab online
Syria asks Interpol to hand over critic-Aljazeera.net
Below news from the Daily Star for 15/05/06
Hariri says he will back Sfeir's pick for presidency
Politicians trade insults ahead of talks
Air Force officers laid to rest in their hometowns
Lebanese bickering risks fate like Iraq's
Khaddam confident Syria's Interpol request not valid
Siniora vows to stamp out corruption
Online retail firm delivers Lebanese expatriates all the comforts of home
Turkey threatens France with sanctions over Armenian 'genocide' law
Bush has shown he can wage war, but can he promote peace?

Nazik Hariri denies presenting jewelry to Chirac's wife
-Daily Star staff-Monday, May 15, 2006: The press office of Nazik Hariri, widow of late former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, denied Sunday a New TV report from Saturday that she presented four jewelry sets to Bernadette Chirac, wife of French President Jacques Chirac, during the opening of CHANEL jewelry in Dubai. Sources said the owner of CHANEL stores in Dubai, Angy Chalhoub, denied the story as well, saying the jewelry was for display only. The press office criticized New TV for trying to sully the images of Chirac and his wife and criticized those trying to spread false rumors about the Hariri family.

Four of five Higher Judicial Council judges selected
-Daily Star staff-Monday, May 15, 2006: Justice Minister Charles Rizk met Sunday with Antoine Kheir, president of the Court of Cassation and of the Higher Judicial Council, to discuss the delay in appointing the Council's five remaining members. Speaking after the meeting, Rizk said they reached a consensus on four of five names with the help of Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade and MP Ali Hassan Khalil. "Political discords led to the postponement of the appointments," Rizk said, adding he would deploy all his efforts to ensure agreement over the fifth judge.

Hamdan says PLO office only represents group
-Daily Star staff-Monday, May 15, 2006: Hamas representative in Lebanon Osama Hamdan said Sunday: "The Palestine Liberation Organization bureau to be opened in Beirut only represents the organization, and not the entire Palestinian people." Hamdan was speaking during a political conference held in Tyre. He called for the establishment of "a higher coordination committee" of the Palestinian factions to hold a Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue. Hamdan also said Hamas "does not have weapons either inside or outside the refugee camps."

Hariri says he will back Sfeir's pick for presidency
By Majdoline Hatoum -Daily Star staff
Monday, May 15, 2006
BEIRUT: With no solution to the conflict over the Lebanese presidency expected during the country's national dialogue's upcoming session Tuesday, Parliament majority leader MP Saad Hariri said he would support any candidate for the presidency as long as this candidate is backed by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir.
Speaking to reporters in Paris Saturday following a meeting with the prelate, Hariri said: "We have always said that we support anyone the patriarch suggests for the post of Lebanon's presidency, and we still believe there should be a change on the presidential level ... maybe we have not succeeded so far, but we insist that the main thing that will save the country right now is change."
The prelate, who is on a visit to the French capital to meet French President Jacques Chirac, is yet to publicly announce his position on the matter. Lebanon's anti-Syrian March 14 Forces are pushing for the ouster of President Emile Lahoud, while pro-Syrian factions - including Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) - oppose such a move.
Lebanon's seventh round of national dialogue is expected to tackle the issue Tuesday, but if no agreement is reached, the dialogue's participants will move on to discussing the Hizbullah's arms and bypass an immediate solution.
Hariri said he hoped the country's next session of national dialogue will be fruitful.
"The dialogue table is the place that all political leaderships resort to in order to work out differences ... hopefully we will not see strong differences in the future because the Lebanese people are the ones paying the price," he said.
Sfeir, who met with UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen Sunday, had said during a news conference Saturday that sharp divisions among the Lebanese would harm the presidency, adding that certain countries have been interfering in this matter.
"There are groups in Lebanon that are submissive to Iran and Syria, and others who are submissive to the United States and Europe, and the Lebanese are lost," he said.
Hariri also said that he discussed with Sfeir the electoral law. "I support a law that is fair for all the Lebanese," Hariri told reporters following the meeting.
The current electoral law, based mainly on large confessional constituencies, was drafted in 2000 under Syrian pressure. Efforts to outline a new electoral law are facing opposition from Christian groups rallying for small electoral districts, which they say would enable minority Christian voters to select their representatives.
Hariri called on all parties not to hold demonstrations to voice their opposition to government policies.
"Going down to the streets to protest economic policies does not benefit the country or the people," he said.
He was referring to last Wednesday's demonstration of a quarter million teachers, students and workers, backed by Hizbullah and FPM leader MP Michel Aoun, who marched through Beirut to demonstrate against economic reforms, calling on Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to resign.
"Let us resolve all our problems at the national dialogue meeting," Hariri said.
Speaking during an interview with Al-Nour radio, Aoun said he will attend Tuesday's session of the national dialogue as an observer only, because he does not want to "ruin the quorum."
"This dialogue is futile," he said, adding: "the majority is very far from our national needs and our association with the needs of the public."
Aoun said Tuesday's meeting could be the "last ... in the absence of any new initiatives."
Aoun also said the government will soon "be toppled."
"These are national demands, and it is a national movement which will grow as long as the government is not able or willing to solve the economic situation ... and since we can not change the people, we will change the government," he said.
Commenting on Aoun's statements, MP Butros Harb, who is one of the participants in the country's national dialogue, told The Daily Star that it was not acceptable to consider the dialogue "dead."
"We should not be hasty in deciding the dialogue will not reach any solutions," he said. "Even if we don't reach a solution over the issue of the presidency, we will move to the next issue on the agenda, which is Hizbullah's arms."
Harb skirted the issue of the economic reform paper, saying the country has "constitutional institutions capable of dealing with this matter."
"When we can't reach a solution in Parliament or in Cabinet, we might resort to the dialogue table ... but right now, there is no need to," he said.

Politicians trade insults ahead of talks
By Therese Sfeir -Daily Star staff
Monday, May 15, 2006
BEIRUT: The dispute between some parties of the March 14 Forces and the Reform and Change bloc escalated over the weekend, despite calls to remain calm ahead of the seventh round of national dialogue.
Two days before the national talks resumes, MP Michel Aoun's bloc and the Future Movement continued to swap insults, with Reform and Change MP Nabil Nicolas saying Future MP Walid Eido "entered Parliament with the help of the Syrians and sentenced many innocent people with imprisonment and death."
He also accused Eido of "stealing people's money and properties in Downtown Beirut."
Nicolas' statements came in reply to a speech delivered by Eido Sunday in Aley during a celebration of the 57th anniversary of the creation of the Progressive Socialist Party.
"The alliance between Aoun and Hizbullah failed and the citizens are asking how Aoun became an ally to Syria," Eido said, adding: "Some people may feel they are marginalized because the March 14 Forces are seeking to establish democracy in the country and preventing them from enjoying the power given to them by the Syrian tutelage."
Eido also lashed out at President Emile Lahoud, saying: "We insist on ousting from the abandoned Baabda Palace this great man, who receives from time to time degraded figures like himself."
Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel joined the fray in a speech delivered during the inauguration of the new Phalange bureau in Jdeidet al-Metn, saying: "We ask each member of the Free Patriotic Movement, does your faith in a free and sovereign country meet the views of your allies, such as the Baath Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party? ... We ask General Aoun what he offered for the building of a sovereign state."

Air Force officers laid to rest in their hometowns
Dignitaries, officials gathered to pay their respects
By Mira Borji -Special to The Daily Star
Monday, May 15, 2006
BEIRUT: The four soldiers who died Friday in a helicopter crash in the Bekaa valley were given a farewell ceremony at the military hospital in Beirut Saturday before their coffins, draped in the Lebanese flags, were sent to their respective hometowns for the funerals.
The crash that killed Air Force Lieutenants Hadi Sadaka and Albert Moussalam, Air Warrant Officer Raymond Aziz and Private Nizar Obeid occurred when the aircraft, an American-made UH-1H, hit a mountain top near the village of Niha during a training exercise.
Sadaka's family held a service for him in Zahle, which was attended by Brigadiers Mohammad Zaafarani and Nouhad Zebyan, representing Defense Minister Elias Murr and Army Commander General Michel Suleiman respectively, as well as MPs Salim Aoun and Ahmad Fatouh and officials from the Internal Security Forces, Civil Defense, State Security and Surete General.
For the Sadaka family the accident has opened old wounds; Hadi's father, Air Force Lieutenant George Sadaka, died 18 years ago under similar circumstances when his helicopter crashed into the Mediterranean.
Bishop Andre Haddad led Aziz's funeral in the Turbol region of Zahle, in the presence of MP Salim Aoun, Brigadiers Youssef Germanos and Yasser Khatib representing Murr and Suleiman as well as a crowd of officers and ISF officials.
Haddad praised the late air warrant officer and Khatib posthumously awarded him military and war medals as well as a medal for battle wounds.
Obeid's funeral was held in Baalbek, where the father of six was laid to rest in the presence of qaimaqam Omar Yassin, representing President Emile Lahoud, MPs Hussein Hajj Hassan and Ismail Sukkarieh, and Brigadiers Joseph Francis and Sami Dirani representing Murr and Suleiman.
Delegations from Hizbullah and the Amal Movement also took part in the funeral.
At the head of the cortege were wreaths sent on behalf of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the Military Police.
Army officials posthumously decorated Obeid with military and war medals as well as a medal for battle wounds.
The Al-Bireh region in the Chouf mourned 22-year-old Moussalam, whose funeral service was presided over by Bishop of Beirut Boulos Matar, with MP Elie Aoun representing MP Walid Jumblatt, retired Brigadier Naji Assaf representing MP Michel Aoun, and security and army officials in attendance.
The town of Didde in Koura, held prayers for the soul of first lieutenant Ghassan Ramman in the Mar Yacoub Church. Ramman's remains from a mass grave near the Defense Ministry were identified Friday.
Wreaths were laid on Ramman's grave on behalf of Siniora, Murr, Aoun and Suleiman.

Lebanese bickering risks fate like Iraq's
By Adnan El-Ghoul -Daily Star staff
Monday, May 15, 2006
Analysis
BEIRUT: The current tug-of-war over the government's economic plan, and specifically the issue of contractual employment, reflects a mere political dispute rather than constructive debate over the true nature of the country's dilemma: the sectarian system.
Last week's demonstrations forced Lebanese Premier Fouad Siniora to retreat to safer ground until an agreement can be reached or the political climate miraculously thaws.
History has shown, however, postponing reform proposals is tantamount to canceling them, since the favorable political moment to translate them into a law will probably never come.
On one hand, politicians must admit the fact that the profound reforms, which the World Bank and other international political and economical bodies demand, would leave the majority of Lebanese vulnerable to the whims of a totally free market.
We must put an end to the devastating corruption and inefficiency that cripples the state apparatus without jeopardizing people's current source of income.
Late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri chose a different approach to overcoming the problem of corruption and the oversized state administrative apparatus which lies at the heart of any debate on reform. His solution, oddly enough, was contractual employment.
Hariri's consecutive governments sealed off all job openings in the state positions, banning the employment of any new staff in the administration or the public sector, with a few major exceptions.
Rather than firing surplus employees, Hariri counted on a slow, continual weeding out of access workers as they reached retirement age or opted for a voluntary early departure, to be replaced gradually by new employees on contractual basis.
By adopting this strategy, Hariri was actually implementing Siniora's temporary measure without attempting to turn it into a law, thus successfully avoiding political opposition, social eruptions or disorder.
Today, political parties on both sides of the national rift are aware that some kind of reform is necessary, but in reality the devastating social implications of the economic plans do not lie within the scope of either party's concern.
Everyone is aware that, in addition to expatriates' revenues, the public sector provides the main source of income for majority of Lebanese families.
The essence of the problem lies in the structure of the sectarian society, which naturally breeds excess state employees, corruption and inefficiency.
The political elite used state resources to bribe their confessional supporters and gain loyalty by employing them in the public sector.
Because their power derives from their monopoly over the job market, the Lebanese political elite has never worked toward a well-balanced economy, where all productive and services sectors are encouraged proportionally. More importantly, the state has never followed any scientific or serious educational planning that would provide the specialties and skills in accordance with the economic needs or job markets.
Any serious attempt to avoid a total dissolution of society must start by cutting off the political bickering in the national dialogue, and by investing in education and transparent hiring that would stop and reverse the country's speedy deterioration from bad and worse.
If not, the Lebanese can only foresee their country's future in the misery of Iraq or Palestine, where society is undone, with no state and no productive forces, plagued by hunger, communal chaos and social, economic and political bankruptcy.