LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
May 4/2006

Below news from the Daily Star for 3/05/06
Seven injured in LF-FPM student clashes
Syria oversteps the mark with Bekaa sand-berms
U.S. envoy lauds Beirut for progress of dialogue
Fuleihan Foundation announces prize for innovative ideas
Parliament postpones law on Druze sect
Ceremony remembers fallen journalists
EU delegation meets Siniora, Nassib Lahoud
PSP accuses Lahoud of violating law, undermining institutions
Telecom price cut chokes illegal providers
Year 2005 sees worst press persecution in decade
Three sectarian negations cannot make a nation-By: Michel Young
Here's where 'The Israel Lobby' is wrong-By Steven Simon
Below news from miscellaneous sources for 3/05/06
U.S. and France Preparing 'Strongly Worded' Resolution Against Syria-Naharnet
Syrian Dissident Denies that Muslim Brotherhood Seeking Alliance with Jumblat-Naharnet
Lebanon Complains About Syrian Encroachment on its Territory-Naharnet
Tueni Honored on International Press Freedom Day-Naharnet
Lebanon to Ask Security Council for 1-Year Extension of Brammertz's Mandate-Naharnet
Syrian Dissident Denies that Muslim Brotherhood Seeking Alliance with Jumblat-Naharnet
Talabani: Syria terror source, Iran danger-UPI
Lebanon asks Syria to remove border posts within its territory-KNA
Lebanon seeks extension of Hariri murder probe-Jerusalem Post
Shiite militant working to widen group's sway-Fort Worth Star Telegram
After Bush, the Green Line-Ha'aretz
Lebanese Politicians Fail to Reach Solution on Presidency-AINA
Bombed Lebanon anchor wins award-BBC News
Marian month in Lebanon: a glimmer of hope -AsiaNews.it

Marian month in Lebanon: a glimmer of hope in tough times
by Youssef Hourany -Next Sunday is the feast of Our Lady of Lebanon – the event comes at a time when confidence in politics is low. But Patriarch Sfeir said: "Our situation is still better than that of other countries in the region."
Beirut (AsiaNews) – The month of May in the country of the Cedars has a special aura about it, owing to the devotion to Our Lady permeating the life of the Lebanese people. Tens of thousands of people, even non Christians, go every year to the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa, Kesrouan district. The shrine is found near the Seat of the Maronite Patriarch in Bkerke, set up by the Maronite Patriarch Elias Houeik in 1905, on one of the most beautiful slopes of the Lebanese mountains. John Paul II also came here, in May 1997, during his trip to Lebanon, when he delivered the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation "New Hope for Lebanon", and entrusted youth to the maternal protection of Mary, Mother of God and of Lebanon.
This year, the Sanctuary of Harissa has been vested with a new look, thanks to restoration works undertaken in the great basilica with the help of many Lebanese, Muslims and Christians.
This year, the Maronite missionaries, who have watched over the sanctuary since it was built, have organised a series of initiatives to implore for God’s mercy and the intercession of Our Lady, who "will never abandon her children". This assertion is repeated time and again by many Lebanese, who still have the custom of gathering in their homes with relatives to say the rosary and to pray to Our Lady, considered to be "the only refuge" for all Lebanese. This is especially true for this difficult period of the nation’s history, thanks to dramatic developments in the political context. But although the country is passing through tense times, the Maronite Patriarch, Nasrallah Sfeir, claimed it was still better off than neighbouring countries. Yesterday he said: "It’s true Lebanon is facing problems but it must be said that all countries in the region face the same plight and our situation is anyhow better those in Iraq and Palestine."
Fr Elia Kmeid is rector of the Marian Sanctuary of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, a church hit by three bomb blasts on 27 February 1994 during mass, when 11 people were killed. "Our church is always full of people," he said. "We have four masses every day. People take refuge in our church to ask for the intercession of Our Lady who saved the lives of many on that black Sunday of 27 February 1994." Fr Kmeid repeated the words of John Paul II, who had described the crime as an "offence against God, man and Lebanon’s noble history." He continued: "Youth flock to the church because they no longer have faith in politicians and their projects, and in Our Lady, they find the only guarantee to remain in the land of their fathers. Many come to this martyred church and spend nights awake near the icon of the Mother of God."
"We want peace, the true peace that comes from faith in God," said Imad El Achkar, one of the youth responsible for organising May activities. "We no longer have faith in our political leaders. Why should we follow political schemes that have failed? When I come to church, I spontaneously take out my rosary beads and start to pray, because I am convinced of the effectiveness of prayer, the only way to save Lebanon."
Next Sunday, the first of the month of May, the feast of Our Lady of Lebanon, Cardinal Sfeir, as he does every year, will go to the shrine of Harissa. He will preside over the Eucharistic celebration and the procession with the icon of the Madonna, in the presence of the highest authorities in the country. The profound ties between Lebanon and Our Lady will surely be highlighted today by Maronite bishops in their monthly meeting held the first Wednesday of every month, under the chairmanship of Patriarch Sfeir. In a recent declaration, the latter warned against the "migratory flux that risks emptying Lebanon of its real richness, that is youth." The patriarch launched a strong appeal to all Maronites not to abandon Lebanon. In a meeting with representatives of the Democratic Christian Union, he expressed confidence in the country’s future, on condition that "the union of Maronites make of their souls a church for the homeland, and do not make the homeland a tool for their use."

U.S. envoy lauds Beirut for progress of dialogue
By Majdoline Hatoum - Daily Star staff
Thursday, May 04, 2006
BEIRUT: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political and Military Affairs John Hillen praised Lebanon Wednesday for addressing the issue of disarming Hizbullah. In an unexpected visit to Lebanon, Hillen said following a meeting in Beirut with Premier Fouad Siniora: "UN Security Council Resolution 1559 made it clear that the international community expects the disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias. "Let me just say," he added, "that I am encouraged by the initiative of the national dialogue, a Lebanese-designed and Lebanese-led process, to address what this international obligation entails."
Lebanon has yet to discuss the weapons of Hizbullah, Speaker Nabih Berri said after the country's last round of talks last week. However, the resistance party is insisting that it will only accept tackling the issue of its arms "within the framework of a national defense strategy" that secures Lebanon's stability and protects it against potential Israeli aggressions.
Hillen arrived for a two-day visit to Lebanon, in which he is expected to meet with top Lebanese officials, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Beirut told The Daily Star.
The spokesperson added that the visit comes as a follow-up on Siniora's visit to Washington last month.
Hillen described his meeting with the prime minister as "very useful". "I appreciate the useful exchange we had on the situation in Lebanon and in the region," he told reporters. "Last month, as you know, President Bush expressed to Prime Minister Siniora the strong support of the United States for a free, independent, and sovereign Lebanon. This visit is an opportunity for me, on behalf of the U.S. government, to reiterate our commitment to Lebanon in this period of great opportunity and historic transformation," he added. Hillen also said that the goal of his visit was to "look specifically at the regional security situation, reform of the security sector in Lebanon, and the U.S.-Lebanese military-to-military relationship."
"The Lebanese Armed Forces have long enjoyed a fruitful relationship with the U.S. military," he said, "and we are looking for opportunities to enhance that relationship further." The U.S. has been assisting the Lebanese Army with military training recently, sources told The Daily Star, but both  U.S. officials and the Lebanese Army Command have declined to comment on the issue. Hillen also said his mission would address the presence of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which he said was playing an important role "in maintaining peace and stability." Meanwhile, as Washington was expressing its support to Lebanon, the U.S. mission to the United Nations, backed by both the French and British missions, was pushing for a strong resolution against Syria against the backdrop of a recent report by Terje Roed-Larsen, UN envoy on implementing Security Council Resolution 1559.
The draft resolution outlined by the three countries was still classified Wednesday, but a source from the UN in New York told The Daily Star that the three countries were lobbying other Security Council members to issue a resolution that "strongly advises Syria to cooperate with Lebanon on demarcating borders and establishing diplomatic relations."
The source added that both Russia and China, which currently holds the council's rotating presidency, were in favor of issuing a presidential statement instead of a resolution. "It is a matter of convincing both countries to vote for a resolution and not a presidential statement, as the U.S. and its allies believe it would be more binding and of a stronger impact on Syria," the source said. The council is expected to meet by the end of the week to deal with the issue. The U.S. envoy to the UN, John Bolton, said last week that his country wants to see a resolution "highlighting the areas of deficiency in Syria's performance under Resolution 1559."

Seven injured in LF-FPM student clashes
By Majdoline Hatoum -Daily Star staff
Thursday, May 04, 2006
BEIRUT: Student elections at the Science Faculty of the Lebanese University turned bloody Wednesday, after students from the March 14 Forces allegedly assaulted a group of students supporting the Free Patriotic Movement, which had just won the elections. According to a statement from the FPM, the fight, which resulted in seven injured, "erupted after the March 14 Forces' students attacked the office of the students committee, breaking glass and tearing up pictures of FPM leader MP Michel Aoun." They also assaulted other students who support the FPM, and injured seven of them including Roukuz Mhanna, a member of the student committee, read the statement. The FPM and its allies had won 57 seats in the student committee, while the March 14 Forces won 14 seats. When contacted by The Daily Star, Daniel Spiro, student representative for the LF, said their students "tried very hard to avoid the fight, but couldn't because they were provoked." An LF statement said FPM students "kept up provocations throughout the day." "It started as a small fight and then it spread because they [the FPM and their allies] were planning on causing the fight and accusing us of it," Spiro added. Contacted by The Daily Star, Roland Khoury, student representative for the FPM said students from the LF started the fight because they lost majority of the seats.
"We won 85 percent of the seats in the student committee, and the LF people did not like that," he said. "They crashed into the office of the student committee, started breaking glass and throwing it at our supporters, which resulted in serious injuries," Khoury said adding that Roukuz had "received 15 stitches to his head as a result of his very serious injury."

Syria oversteps the mark with Bekaa sand-berms
By Raed El Rafei and Morshed al-Ali
Daily Star staff-Thursday, May 04, 2006
BEIRUT/ERSAL: Lebanon's Premier Fouad Siniora said Wednesday that the issue of the sand-berms, which were erected by Syrian border guards inside Lebanese territory, was "not worrying and would not lead to any problems." Talking to reports after his meeting in Parliament with Speaker Nabih Berri, he said that he did not think the berms were helping the Syrians stop smuggling across the borders. Siniora reiterated that he had asked Bekaa's governor, Antoine Suleiman, to solve the issue with Syrian authorities with "wisdom and carefulness." Meanwhile, Suleiman said he had begun contacts with Syrians, adding that the talks were moving in a "positive" direction.
Suleiman told Lebanon's Central News Agency that he was going to Damascus next Tuesday to meet with the governor there.
He added that the location in question was checked by Syrian and Lebanese committees. Syrian border guards started placing sand-berms and military positions within Lebanese territory, in the remote regions of Ersal and Ras-Baalbek a few weeks ago.
But the issue erupted Tuesday when a security meeting confirmed that the military positions and berms had been set up in areas stretching between one and four kilometers into Lebanese territory. Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat said that Lebanon was going to ask Syrians to dismantle these positions and berms. Concerns have emerged that Ersal could become another disputed area similar to the Shebaa Farms. Some Lebanese farmers in Ersal complained to The Daily Star that the berms were occasionally erected in the middle of their orchards. They said that they were constantly harassed by Syrian border guards when trying to reach their lands. Ersal's mayor, Bassel al-Hujeiri said the Syrians had placed military positions and berms
on private Lebanese properties. He displayed official maps showing that the Syrians had trespassed onto Lebanese territory with the berms. Meanwhile, the UN Secretary General's representative in Lebanon Geir Pedersen discussed the issue with Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade. Following his talks with Pedersen, Hamade said the operation, which was not the first of its kind, "showed the disrespect of Syrian authorities for the sovereignty of Lebanon over its borders."
Hamade said that it was clear from his conversation with Pedersen that this issue was discussed "in the hallways of the UN" and that this would affect current talks over "Lebanon's sovereignty and independence." Pedersen did not make any comments after the meeting.

Parliament postpones law on Druze sect
Lahoud had returned bill at request of community leaders
By Nada Bakri -Daily Star staff
Thursday, May 04, 2006
BEIRUT: Lebanon's Parliament postponed on Wednesday voting on two decrees - a draft law to organize the Druze sect and another to amend the Constitutional Council - until Thursday to allow for further discussions.
The first law was presented three months ago to President Emile Lahoud, who returned it to Parliament after many Druze politicians and religious leaders pleaded with him to do so, fearing the draft law would create divisions among their sect.
Druze religious leaders and politicians met earlier in the day at the headquarters of the Druze sect to reiterate their refusal of the law, warning Parliament of negative consequences if the decree passed.
The meeting included acting Druze Spiritual leader Bahjat Ghaith, former MP Talal Arslan and former Minister Wi'am Wahab, among others.The draft law relating to the Druze sect includes a proposal to replace Ghaith.
Parliament passed 32 draft laws, including 28 dealing with bilateral treaties between Lebanon and foreign countries. Six other draft laws were referred to Parliament committees, including one draft law regulating the rights to hold properties and another that encourages investments. The general legislative session kicked off with a question from Progressive Socialist Party MP Akram Chehayeb relating to the subpoenas issued last month by a Syrian court on PSP leader MP Walid Jumblatt, Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade and journalist Fares Khashan. Syria's military judiciary had filed a lawsuit against the three men, accusing them of inciting the U.S. administration to occupy Syria and of defaming Damascus by blaming it for the series of bombings and assassinations in Lebanon last year.
"If the goal behind this is to shut us up then we tell them that our word is all we have," said Chehayeb.
"And if they want to arrest those who oppose their regime then the Syrian territories are not big enough to form a prison that can encompass all of the Lebanese and Arab free spirits." Chehayeb said that by Lebanese law, MPs cannot be sued without lifting their diplomatic immunity, eliminating the possibility of legal action against them from Syria.
He added that only Lebanese courts have the jurisdiction to rule when a crime has been committed against a foreign country from inside Lebanon, "unless the Syrians treat Lebanon as a Syrian district."Chehayeb urged Berri to reject the Syrian subpoenas and to take the necessary actions to reserve the Parliament and the MPs' dignity.
Batroun MP Boutros Harb and Beirut MP Ghassan Tueni joined Chehayeb in rejecting the subpoenas.
Berri told the MPs that his Parliament received the Syrian warrants through the Lebanese Justice Ministry. He promised to follow up on the matter. "The Parliament will follow legal procedures when it starts dealing with this case," the speaker said. The session also witnessed several inflammatory statements from the Free Patriotic Movement and the Hizbullah MPs. The legislators criticized Premier Fouad Siniora's "incompetent" Cabinet. "We are governed by an inefficient, incompetent and a divided government that opposes itself and boycotts the president without being able to go beyond his presence," said FPM MP Neamatallah Abi Nasr. Abi Nasr said that the government is incapable of executing simple tasks such as appointing diplomats and general managers, let alone investigating corruption and reforming the economy. FPM MP Abbas Hashem said Siniora's Cabinet has failed to govern the country and is deliberately paralyzing institutions including the Constitutional Council and the Higher Judicial Council. "Is the government aware that it is paralyzing the whole country when it paralyses authorities and institutions?" Hashem asked. "And is it aware that the Lebanese people are fed up with its incompetence and lost their faith in its capability to bring any change?" FPM MP Ghassan Moukheiber demanded that the Cabinet expand the jurisdiction of the investigating committee into the February assassination of former MP Gebran Tueni. Hizbullah MP Hassan Fadlallah questioned the reasons behind the delay in the preparation of the national budget for 2006. "Preparations of the state budget did not start yet which is obstructing the implementation and the funding of several development projects in several parts of the region," said Fadlallah.

Telecom price cut chokes illegal providers
Move by lebanon's ogero sees overseas calls more than double
By Lysandra Ohrstrom and Nada Bakri
Daily Star staff-Thursday, May 04, 2006
BEIRUT: The decision by the state-owned fixed-line phone company Ogero to slash the cost of overseas calls by 40-60 percent as of April 15 was seen as an attempt by the government to end illegal telephone services in different parts of the country. Ahmad Khalil, 33, owns an illegal phone center with his two brothers in a residential area of Mosseitebeh, which caters to Asian, Egyptian, Sudanese and Syrian staffers of nearby houses. An average of 30 customers per day visit Khalil's store, where two at a time call their families via cheap Internet lines operated from two computers.
Mornings are the peak of business when housewives are out of the house or workers are sent on errands. Business was going so well that Khalil decided to expand his operations - a plan that was put on ice when Ogero announced its new reduced calling rates of between LL500 and LL700 per minute for calls to most countries.
"I used to charge a set fee of LL750 per minute to any country, but I had to decrease it when the Telecommunications Ministry started charging LL500."Dr. Abdel-Mounim Youssef, the general director of Ogero, told The Daily Star that before the rate decrease there were only 665,000 fixed-line subscribers in the entire country (compared to a million mobile users). The volume of overseas phone calls went up by 115 percent after Ogero announced plans to cut international rates.
During the Syrian occupation government officials did not interfere with illegal overseas operators, indeed many supported their activities in return for a cut of the profits. One illegal provider who preferred to remain anonymous, said that until last year most centers had a few politicians on the dole who would stop by once a month to pick up their fee.
Though extortion levels have slowed down, reducing the volume of illegal call centers was a goal that proved elusive for the Telecom Ministry and Ogero despite a campaign to prosecute telecom offenders. The lower overseas rates, rather than judicial legislation to punish offenders has ultimately curbed the provision of illegal phone service.
"Subscription rates are rapidly increasing since we lowered costs so there are not as many call centers operating," said an anonymous source from the Telecommunications Ministry. "But we've also installed special software to control and detect illegal calling."Zuheir Berro from Consumer Lebanon is dubious about such claims, arguing that despite lower rates overseas calling in Lebanon is still 10 times more expensive than in foreign countries and the price of call-back cards - an equally popular method - has not decreased.
"It's impossible to monitor the amount of illegal phone centers because the new technology is sophisticated, so the only solution is for the government is to decrease rates even further," Berro said. Berro said the Telecommunications Ministry needs to grant more companies licenses to sell call-back cards and operate fixed-line services, which would not only drive prices down, but provide a significant source of revenue for the government. Currently Ogero generates $800 million per year according to Youssef, and licensing fees would increase income.
The ministerial source insisted that private-sector investors are not deterred by the proliferation of illegal long-distance providers, and estimated that Ogero's privatization should be complete in about one year.
While the cut rate is a vital link of the privatization strategy and benefits Lebanese consumers - who can now call legally for the same prices as those offered by illegal providers - employees of illegal call centers, such as Georgette Khoury who left her job this month after the volume of customers fell by 50 percent, are not faring as well. "Most people are going to get laid off because there is no business anymore," she said, "I mean why would anyone use illegal phone service when they can make calls from home or from legal centers for the same price."Salim Issa, 29, who operates a center in the Barbour area, used to work in an Internet cafe before he opened his business, which now serves almost 25 customers a day.
"I worry from authorities a lot, but if they find out about us and decide to crack down I don't know what I will do," he said.
"The economic situation is so bad, and unemployment levels are high but we pay European prices while we make very little. It will be a crime to shut down our businesses, they should let us live and chase the real criminals who stole billions of dollars of public money and brought us to this situation. And even if they seal off my center I will set up a new one from my house."

Cabinet allows week to set riot compensation
Daily Star staff-Thursday, May 04, 2006: By virtue of a Cabinet decision ordering the compensation of victims of the February 5 riots in Achrafieh and Tabaris, the Higher Relief Committee was entrusted with assessing losses and settling compensation within one week for more than 400 citizens, said a Wednesday statement. Considering that damages were estimated at more than $1 million for one institution owner, the committee was ordered to consult with international expert Adjuster Loss. Consequently, a meeting was scheduled between Adjuster Loss and the prejudiced institution owners to make sure the evaluation is fair to all. Discussions on the issue will continue next week before a final decision is reached, the statement added.

Fadlallah rejects international pressure on Tehran
Daily Star staff-Thursday, May 04, 2006: In his weekly seminar Wednesday, senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah challenged international community pressure on Iran and other issues. "We are afraid of the fact that international community has become a source of fear to subdue people," he said. "It was and is still used to prevent those people from achieving their independence and reaching their rights." On Iran, Fadlallah said that although "Iran insists on its nuclear program's peaceful purposes ... the presence of an Iranian state equipped with nuclear weapons has not been accepted by the international community." Fadlallah said that Iran was "a victim of chemical weapons used against it upon the request of that same international community." The cleric also said that the United Nations and Security Council "have become a malleable tool to pursue weak people or countries aspiring to liberate themselves from pressures exerted by the American policy."

Qabalan honors outgoing Iranian ambassador
Daily Star staff-Thursday, May 04, 2006: The vice president of the Higher Shiite Council, Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan, left Lebanon on Wednesday for Cairo, where he will meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. On Tuesday Qabalan held a banquet to honor Iranian Ambassador Massoud al-Idrissi, who recently ended his four-year diplomatic mission in Lebanon. The ambassador said that his country would always "support Lebanon and Lebanese people's rights to freedom, progress and prosperity." In turn, Qabalan called on the Islamic Republic to establish "an Asian Union against the European Union and the United States." "The base will be in Tehran where the Arab Nation unites its power to fight Israel," Qabalan said.

PSP accuses Lahoud of violating law, undermining institutions
President says successor should 'follow my path'
By Therese Sfeir -Daily Star staff
Thursday, May 04, 2006
BEIRUT: While Saudi Arabia continued its efforts to mediate between Lebanese politicians, the Progressive Socialist Party lashed out at President Emile Lahoud, accusing him of "violating the law and undermining institutions."
Replying to statements made by Lahoud Tuesday, the PSP said: "The president reassured us that his successor would be from his political side, as if he was supported by a parliamentary or popular majority."
"It seems that the president, despite his few busy days, does not read newspapers to understand the country's political changes, which eliminated the heroes of his political side from Parliament," it added.
Lahoud said Tuesday: "Recently we heard the U.S. ambassador saying that his country would welcome any new president of Lebanon and would not meet with a president of the past; I tell you the U.S. would only meet with a president like the one who, in 1980, handed the country to Israel," indirectly referring to late former President Bashir Gemayel, who was assassinated in 1982. Lahoud continued: "Any president who comes after the end of my constitutional mandate should follow my path; otherwise, Lebanon would have to pay a very expensive price."
The PSP went on to say that during Lahoud's term, the law was violated and institutions undermined, "contrary to the slogans raised by Lahoud in his presidential oath."In a separate development, Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah received Wednesday Saudi Ambassador Abdel-Aziz Khoja. Khoja did not give any comments following the meeting, but Saudi officials have been attempting to mend ties between Lebanese parties and to help resolve pending problems, particularly with Syria. Meanwhile, a meeting was held Wednesday between Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora following Parliament's session.
Addressing journalists afterward, Siniora said: "We are cooperating with each other to implement the decisions that have been reached." Concerning the visit of a delegation from the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood to MP Walid Jumblatt, Siniora described it as "normal" and said: "We are keen on establishing good relations with Syria and we won't allow Lebanon to be used against it in any way." Asked about Syria's stalling in sending him an invitation to meet with its officials, the premier said: "Our aim is to establish good relations with Syria and to overcome all problems between us."
Following his meeting Wednesday with Beirut Archbishop Elias Aoude, former President Amin Gemayel said: "If President Lahoud was keen on Lebanon's interest, he should take the adequate steps to achieve change in the country."
He added that it was Parliament's task to "set the characteristics of a new president and not Lahoud's."
Asked if Lahoud's statement about Bashir Gemayel was provocative, he said: "The presence of Lahoud in office is provocative by itself." During an interview with An-Nahar published Wednesday, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said the meeting between Christian leaders at his residence in the Cedars focused on "fulfiling national interests."He added that there was an inequality related to the Christians' representation in the government. "If the government does not offer equal representation, not only for Christians but for all the factions, it will collapse when facing any challenge," he said.

SOS Children's Village opens Bekaa facility
Daily Star staff-Thursday, May 04, 2006: The SOS Children's Village inaugurated a new center in the Bekaa area of Ksarnaba recently after the donation of 18,000 square meters of land. The $2 million project includes various sections such as the children's village, a socio-development center, a kindergarten and a dentistry clinic. Village director Salman Dirani applauded the positive cooperation behind the project. The national director of the SOS Children's Village association, Zeina Alloush, said the center welcomes children less than 10 years old, who remain in the custody of the village until the age of 18, when they are transferred to independent residences outside the village.

Syrian Dissident Denies that Muslim Brotherhood Seeking Alliance with Jumblat
A Syrian dissident who has close ties with the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood has denied that the group is seeking to forge an alliance with Druze leader Walid Jumblat.
Obeida Nahas, director of the Levant Institute in London, who has close relations with Syrian Muslim Brotherhood leader Ali Bayanouni, said a meeting between members of the group and Jumblat in Lebanon this week "does not mean that the group is seeking a new alliance." "The Brotherhood has already announced its support to the March 14 (coalition) that is demanding an end to Syria's intervention and its security domination over Lebanon. Therefore the rapprochement with Jumblat is normal," he added in remarks published in newspapers Wednesday. He said Jumblat and the Brotherhood are united in their opposition to Bashar Assad's Baath regime. "The regime's oppression of the Syrian opposition has brought its members closer together and united them in their ordeal. Walid Jumblat has become like the Syrian opposition because of this policy," the scholar said.
He said the delegation visited Jumblat to congratulate him on the first anniversary of the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon that passed on April 26.
The Brotherhood members are scheduled to meet with other Lebanese politicians and religious figures, Nahas said without revealing their names. Jumblat, one of the key leaders of the March 14 anti-Syrian alliance, held his first known meeting with Syria's Muslim Brotherhood Sunday at his palace in the Chouf mountain town of Moukhtara. No information was available about the talks or the identity of the delegation members.
As Safir newspaper said Wednesday that the delegation included 5 members who arrived at Beirut airport on the weekend. It quoted acting Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat as saying that the group entered the country "legally."
Jumblat has been a proponent of a regime change in Syria. He has said on several occasions that Lebanon would not be able to achieve true independence and sovereignty as long as Syria is ruled by Baathist ideology that considers Lebanon part of its territory.In an interview with the Washington Post in February, the Druze leader said the United States should do in Syria what it did in Iraq. Jumblat, who was a Syrian ally for many years, became staunchly anti-Syrian after the Feb. 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri. He has blamed the killing and other attacks against anti-Syrian figures on Damascus. The Druze leader has met in Paris with former Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam who broke with Bashar Assad after serving for decades under his late father Hafez. Khaddam has at a recent meeting in Brussels formed an alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood and other Syrian opposition leaders aimed at toppling Assad's regime. Beirut, 03 May 06, 11:02

Lebanon Complains About Syrian Encroachment on its Territory
Lebanon decided Tuesday to ask Damascus to dismantle military positions and sand mounds which Syrian border guards have erected inside Lebanese territory, Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat said.
"We have asked the governor of the Bekaa (in eastern Lebanon), Antoine Soleiman, to promptly engage in contacts with the governor of the suburbs of Damascus to ask him ... to remove the sand mounds, which have all been placed on Lebanese territory," he said. He told reporters that the mounds have been set up in areas stretching between one and four kilometers (2.5 miles) into Lebanese territory, in the remote regions of Aarssal and Ras-Baalbek. Fatfat said Lebanon will also ask for "the dismantling of a few military positions set up by Syrian border guards inside Lebanese territory in this region." "If these sand mounds, which were probably meant to fight smuggling on the border, are necessary, then they should be erected on the border or inside Syrian territory," he said. "The problem is that they are on Lebanese territory, and we do not want, after some time, to be a facing a 'new Shabaa Farms'" controversy, he said. Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon in 2000 but keeps a presence in the Shabaa Farms area, which it seized from Syria along with the Golan Heights in 1967 but is claimed by Lebanon with Damascus's approval.(AFP)(Photo shows Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat) Beirut, 02 May 06, 18:02

Tueni Honored on International Press Freedom Day
On the occasion of the International Day for Press Freedom, a ceremony was held Wednesday in honor of An-Nahar's slain General Manager Gebran Tueni and other murdered journalists.
The event entitled the "Martyrs of the Lebanese Press (1906-2006), 100 Years of Red Ink" was organized by Maharat Foundation in collaboration with UNESCO.
A first torch was lit at the spot where Tueni was assassinated in the industrial suburb of Mkalles, east of Beirut.
His daughter Naila, who gave a speech during the ceremony, said that the International Day for Press Freedom has a particular value in Lebanon where the press was the target of bombings and assassinations in 2005.
In addition to Tueni who was killed on December 12 last year, An Nahar columnist Samir Kassir was targeted in a car bomb assassination on June 2, while LBCI anchorwoman May Chidiac survived a bombing September 25 with severe injuries.
The Lebanese blame Damascus for these attacks and other bombings that have targeted anti-Syrian figures since October 2004. Naila, who is also a journalist at the daily, said her father struggled for press freedom and was killed because he believed people are always entitled to know to the truth. "Gebran Tueni sacrificed his life to ensure that the press, in spite of the pressures and challenges it faces, will never compromise," she said. Naila reiterated a pledge she made when her father was killed. She said the newspaper will carry on because Gebran's soul and word did not die but "will forever live within us."
The crowd then moved to downtown Beirut's Martyrs' Square where a second torch was lit in honor of all Lebanese journalists slain since 1906.
Among those who participated in the event were Tueni's family members, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, UNESCO representative Abdel Monem Othman and Melhem Karam, the head of the Editors' Syndicate.
A book profiling Tueni and other journalists who have been murdered in Lebanon over the past century was also launched at the UNESCO regional office in Beirut. On the occasion of the international press freedom day, the U.S. Embassy issued a statement praising "the important contributions of a free press in Lebanon and throughout the world."
"Support for freedom of expression and the press in Lebanon is consistent with the promise President Bush made in his second inaugural address that the United States will 'seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation,'" the embassy said. It described as "heinous crimes" the killings and assassination attempts of journalists " to silence voices of free expression."
Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders said in its annual report that Tueni and Kassir paid with their lives for their belief in freedom of expression and for the instability in the country since ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination in February last year.
"Lebanese journalists remain under pressure and live in fear, some of them fleeing abroad, as they await the definitive report of the United Nations inquiry into the Hariri murder," the organization said in its 2006 report. Beirut, 03 May 06, 11:51

Lebanon seeks extension of Hariri murder probe
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Lebanese government said Tuesday it would ask the UN Security Council to extended the mandate of a UN commission investigating last year's assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said.
The commission's powers will expire in June unless renewed by Secretary General Kofi Annan. The Lebanese government decided to seek the extension during a special, four-hour Cabinet session. The Lebanese request came a week after Prime Minister Fouad Saniora visited New York and met with Annan to discuss the formation of an international court to try suspects in a massive truck bomb that killed Hariri and 20 other people in Beirut on Feb. 14. 2005. Chief investigator Serge Brammertz has been in charge since January when he took over from German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis. Several interim reports by the commission have blamed Syria for involvement in the murder.

Lebanon to Ask Security Council for 1-Year Extension of Brammertz's Mandate
The government has decided to ask the U.N. Security Council to extend the mandate of the U.N. commission investigating last year's assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said. The commission's powers will expire in June unless renewed by Secretary General Kofi Annan. The government decided to seek the one-year extension during a special four-hour cabinet session on Tuesday. The request came two weeks after Prime Minister Fouad Saniora visited New York and met with Annan to discuss the formation of an international court to try suspects in the massive truck bomb that killed Hariri and 22 other people in Beirut on Feb. 14. 2005.
Chief U.N. investigator Serge Brammertz has been in charge of the probe since January when he took over from German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis whose interim report has said that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence agents were involved in Hariri's killing.
Many Lebanese blame Syria for Hariri's assassination as well as for a series of mysterious bombings that have targeted anti-Syria politicians and journalists during the past 20 months. Damascus denies involvement in all the attacks. Last month, Brammertz interviewed Syrian President Bashar Assad about Hariri's assassination, an encounter the Syrian leader had twice declined. The U.N. official also met with Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa
According to testimony to the U.N. commission by Hariri's political allies and family as well as former Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam, the Syrian leader threatened Hariri when they met in Damascus in 2004. Assad allegedly said he wanted the term of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud to be extended, a move Hariri was known to oppose but to which he later agreed.
The United States had warned Syria the Security Council would take action unless it cooperated fully with the commission. The murder provoked an international outcry that ultimately forced Assad to withdraw the Syrian army from Lebanon in April 2005, ending nearly three decades of military dominance of the country.
Four top Lebanese generals -- key figures in Syria's domination of Lebanon -- have been arrested and charged with playing a role in Hariri's assassination. Assad has told reporters that if any Syrian officials are convicted of involvement in the murder, they would be punished as "traitors."(AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 03 May 06, 08:29

Talabani: Syria terror source, Iran danger
BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 3 (UPI) -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani accused Syria of exporting terrorism to Iraq and Iran of posing a great danger to his country. In an interview with Arab journalists in the city of Suleimaniya, in northern Iraq, carried Wednesday in Beirut's daily an-Nahar, Talabani also warned against the fallout from a premature withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign forces. He said the U.S. army in Iraq "is not an occupation army," noting that "Iraqi forces will be able to replace them one day, not too far."
He warned that a premature American withdrawal "will plunge Iraq immediately in a devastating civil war," stressing that "Iraq will not take that risk especially that 200,000 Iranian soldiers are stationed at the border and might seek to fill the vacuum." Talabani accused its western neighbor Syria of being "the main source of terrorism, while Iran poses a great danger." "Turkey is yet another threat to Iraq, which no longer recognizes the treaty signed with Ankara allowing it to send troops some 40 kilometers (25 miles) inside Iraqi territory," Talabani said. He said he expected to eradicate terrorism in Iraq within the current year. Asked about the possibility of dispatching Arab forces to Iraq to help restore peace and stability, Talabani said he did not oppose such a matter, but noted "the Shiites have their fears and concerns that such a force might become a support for their enemies."

Lebanon asks Syria to remove border posts within its territory
BEIRUT, May 2 (KUNA) -- Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat said Tuesday that his country has asked neighboring Syria to remove military posts within its territories. Speaking to newsmen after a security meeting held here and chaired by Prime Minister Fuad Al-Siniora, he said the meeting was held to discuss the dismantling of the Syrian posts and the governor of Bekaa, Antoine Suleyman, was asked to start immediate talks with governor of the suburbs of Damascus and and ask him to remove the sand berms that were placed in "Jird Ersal" and "Ras Baalbek" areas. Lebanon, Fatfat added, will also ask for the dismantling of a few military positions set up by Syrian border guards within the Lebanese territory. Syria has ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April 2005.

Shiite militant working to widen group's sway
By NANCY A. YOUSSEF
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAGHDAD - Firebrand cleric Muqtada al Sadr is working behind the scenes to maintain his armed militant wing and portray it as a social movement, a step that would make him one of Iraq's most powerful figures if it succeeds, U.S. officials and Iraqi politicians say.
American officials think that al Sadr, who already controls the largest bloc of votes in the National Assembly, is modeling himself after Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim movement born during that country's civil war in the 1980s. Although it began largely as an armed group, it eventually became a powerful political force with a large social-service component.
Some U.S. and Iraqi officials think that al Sadr's shift is a symptom of a growing rift within the powerful Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, which has dominated Iraq's two parliamentary elections. That split pits al Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia against members of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq to be the voice of all Iraqi Shiites.
A successful move by al Sadr would be a major transformation for the 30-something scion of a clan of revered Shiite religious figures. Once derided as ill-educated and undisciplined, al Sadr has been on the verge of defeat twice at the hands of the American military and once was charged by an Iraqi court with murdering two prominent Shiite clerics.
But he's maintained his role in Iraq, joining the United Iraqi Alliance while maintaining his Mahdi Army, which controls Sadr City, Baghdad's largest Shiite neighborhood, named for al Sadr's father.
Now al Sadr is working to expand his influence, building regional offices in major Shiite communities to help widows, workers, children and the sick with services the Iraqi government can't provide, such as healthcare and potable water.
Al Sadr is also insisting in talks to form a new government that his followers, who hold 32 of the assembly's 275 seats, lead key service ministries such as education and health.
The State Department lists Hezbollah as among the Middle East's "active extremist and terrorist groups."
American officials also take a dim view of al Sadr, whom they hold chiefly responsible for attacks on Sunni Muslim mosques after the Feb. 22 bombing of the Askariya shrine, a Shiite holy site, in the mostly Sunni city of Samarra. In the aftermath of those attacks, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said militias were a greater threat to Iraq than the country's Sunni insurgency. Not everyone thinks al Sadr will be successful. But they agree that there's a vacuum for someone to fill, because the government remains weak and residents are frustrated by the religious and ethnic discord and the lack of services.

After Bush, the Green Line
By Amir Oren -Haaretz
BRUSSELS - Even if it is too soon to anoint him as U.S. President George Bush's successor, Senator John McCain marks a swing in policy from the Republican right to the middle of the map, close to the leading candidates in the Democratic Party. McCain is nearly ready to decide whether to run again in 2008 for the Republican nomination, which he lost in 2000 to George W. Bush. However, as long as he is not a declared candidate, his comments to Haaretz on Saturday, during a weekend break from American politics here in Brussels, reflect the personal opinion of a senior and influential figure in the area of defense policy in the United States Senate, rather than an attempt to formulate policy guidelines for his administration.
The marks of having been wounded and held captivity as a naval combat aviator in Vietnam are clearly evident in his face and his bearing. His military background prepared him for his current profession less than did other experiences, and of his various military duties, he cherishes most of all his year at the National War College, after his release from captivity and prior to his retirement from the military with the rank of navy captain. Yes, captivity also taught him a lot, but then it was clear what his capabilities were and who the enemy was, which is not the case in politics.
McCain does not volunteer his opinions regarding Israel and the Arabs. In a speech of about 3,500 words that he delivered at the Brussels Forum for American-European Relations, Israel was mentioned only as being threatened by Iran. Although he mentioned that the range of Iran's missiles also extends to European capitals, the main and deciding argument for thwarting the Iranian nuclear program - via a military operation, if softer means prove to no avail - is Iran's explicit threat to annihilate Israel. The Pentagon does have plans in its drawer "for every place on the globe," and in the Iranian context, he believes that these plans can be implemented - but only after an assessment is made regarding the second phase of the operation, the counterattack that the Iranians are no doubt planning.
He is as hostile toward the Hamas government as he is toward its patrons in Iran. Financial aid must be kept from Hamas, he says, and action must be taken to isolate it in the international arena. Hamas aspires to topple the government of Jordan by calling for free elections there and to help Hezbollah gain control of Lebanon. What should be done? Moderate Palestinian elements should be encouraged - Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is "a good man, but not the strongest" - but there is no point in an effort to topple the Hamas government, because the organization would likely win again in new elections, for the second time in a row, and this would strengthen it. He expects Israel to do, more or less, what it is doing: "Defend itself and keep evacuating."
As president, McCain would "micromanage" U.S. policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, because in his opinion, this is still the source of the ferment in the region: Every time an Arab leader wants to provide a distraction, he argues that the problem is due to Israel, and also in the matter of Iran, "we would not have been so concerned" over its nuclear program had it not threatened Israel with extinction. He is fed up with the evasiveness of the Arab states - and most of all with Egypt, which has not given adequate return for the extensive American aid it has received - with regard to helping to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine.
A McCain administration, alongside his close supervision from the White House, would send "the smartest guy I know" to the Middle East. And who is that? "Brent Scowcroft, or Jim Baker, though I know that you in Israel don't like Baker." This is a longing for the administration of the first president Bush, or even for the administration of president Gerald Ford in the mid-1970s. In both of them, general Scowcroft was the national security adviser. McCain will act to bring peace, "but having studied what Clinton did at Camp David, perhaps not in one try, but rather step by step, and I would expect concessions and sacrifices by both sides." In general, a movement toward the June 4, 1967 armistice lines, with minor modifications? McCain nods in the affirmative.
Whoever the next American president is, the overall impression from a conversation with a leading candidate like McCain is that the government of Israel is deluding itself if it believes that "convergence" into "settlement blocs," as opposed to a nearly total withdrawal from the Green Line, will satisfy the next administration. In 2009, it will be a different show: Neither Bush nor settlement blocs.

Lebanese Politicians Fail to Reach Solution on Presidency
Beirut (DPA) -- Lebanese political leaders failed to reach an agreement on whether to remove the country's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud from power, following a tense new round of negotiations between the deeply divided leaders on Friday. 'We did not reach an agreement on the issue of the presidency... the issue is still under discussion and we will discuss it in the next round of talks which is due to be on May 16,' House Speaker Nabih Berri told reporters after the meeting.
'The atmosphere is tense,' a source close to one of the participating leaders told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa. Friday's discussions were the sixth round of talks between leaders, aimed at finding agreement on a wide variety of national issues. This last round discussed calls for the removal of Lahoud from power as well as the disarming of the militant group Hezbollah.
Lebanon has been in political turmoil since the February 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. His death sparked a national and international outcry which resulted in the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanese soil after 29 years. Two reports by a UN commission of inquiry have implicated senior Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in Hariri's assassination in a massive bomb blast on the Beirut seafront. A number of Lebanese political leaders have called for the resignation of President Emile Lahoud, who is deemed to be too closely allied to Syria. At the last round of talks on April 3, Lebanese leaders had said they would use one more round to discuss calls for Lahoud to resign, before moving on to the issue of disarming the Shiite militant movement Hezbollah, which was called for in a UN resolution last year that also demanded the Syrian troop withdrawal. Both issues will now be discussed further during the next round of talks. 'The issue of Hezbollah arms was postponed until the next session,' Berri said. Anti-Syrian Christian leader Samir Geagea, had previously admitted that the removal of Lahoud was 'going to take a miracle.' Another Christian leader, Michel Aoun, who defected from the majority coalition to join the pro-Syrian camp, said the failure 'of removing Lahoud by the parliamentary majority should lead to a change of government.'
Lebanese leaders are divided over the disarmament of the military wing of Hezbollah, whose fighters took credit for bringing about Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 after 22 years of occupation.
The group has vowed to carry on its guerrilla war to free the disputed Shebaa Farms border area, which Israel seized from Syria along with the Golan Heights in 1967, but is claimed by Lebanon. Syria now backs Lebanon's claim to the land. In five rounds of national talks since March 2, leaders successfully reached agreement on the establishment of an international court to try those responsible for Hariri's killing.
Lebanese leaders also agreed to dismantle Palestinian military bases in Lebanon, to work to normalize relations with Syria and to work towards a final delineation of borders between the two countries.
© 2006, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use.

Bombed Lebanon anchor wins award
By Sebastian Usher
BBC world media correspondent
Mai Chidiac had a hand and a leg amputated after the attack
A Lebanese television journalist who was badly maimed in a car bomb attack last year has been awarded Unesco's annual World Press Freedom Prize. The attack on Mai Chidiac was one of several against leading Lebanese journalists following the assassination of former Prime Minister RafiK Hariri.
The $25,000 (£13,600) prize is awarded each year on World Press Freedom Day.
It is named after Colombian journalist Guillermo Cano who was killed after denouncing his country's drug barons.
The violence and instability in Lebanon that followed Mr Hariri's killing in February last year has been felt particularly hard by journalists. Two of Lebanon's most respected journalists were killed by car bombs. They were the reporter Samir Kassir and the editor of An-Nahar - the newspaper he worked for - Gebran Tueni. Both are seen by many in Lebanon as martyrs in the cause of freeing the country from Syria's long domination. Ms Chidiac was also targeted by a car bomb last September. But she survived, although she was badly injured, losing one of her hands and a leg. For several years, she had been one of the best-known faces on Lebanese television. She presented outspoken talk shows on the station LBC, which challenged the political status quo - particularly Syria's all-pervasive influence. She, and other Lebanese journalists, played a big role in the pro-democracy movement that erupted onto the streets after Mr Hariri's death and was instrumental in forcing Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

U.S. and France Preparing 'Strongly Worded' Resolution Against Syria
U.S. State Department official Nicolas Burns has said that the United States and France are preparing a "strongly worded" U.N. Security Council resolution against Syria to press it to take steps to recognize Lebanon's sovereignty and independence. "You will see France and the United States working together to issue a Security Council decision that will be strongly worded in its text and spirit," the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs told reporters Tuesday in Paris where he was attending a conference on Iran. Burns said the draft resolution will "send a clear message to the Damascus government to abide by previous resolutions issued by the (U.N.) Security Council." He emphasized that President Bashar Assad's regime should "do what it has to in order to ensure Lebanon's independence and its full sovereignty."Burns, the third highest ranking official at the U.S. State Department, echoed a French announcement last week that it was preparing a draft resolution that would urge Syria to establish formal diplomatic ties with Lebanon and demarcate the common border.  The plan was announced at the same time that U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan issued a report calling on Syria to take similar steps.
"We have a very good understanding with the French government about how to handle the Syrian case" and Paris and Washington have "very close views" about the proposed text, Burns said.
France's U.N. envoy Jean-Marc de La Sabliere has said he was consulting with other members of the Security Council and hoped to have a text ready early this week. Syria, in a letter addressed to Annan released on Monday, warned against adopting new resolutions against it, saying this would increase instability in Lebanon or the region. Damascus considers that it has fulfilled its international obligations by withdrawing its troops from Lebanon a year ago in compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559. It has harshly criticized Annan's report that was prepared by U.N. Special Envoy Terje Roed-Larsen charging that it oversteps the mandate of resolution 1559.

Robertson labeled Islam a "bloody, brutal type of religion"
Summary: On the Christian Broadcasting Corp.'s 700 Club, host Pat Robertson expressed concern that Americans, "especially the American left," need to "wake up" to the "danger" that Islam presents. Robertson continued: "Who ever heard of such a bloody, bloody, brutal type of religion? But that's what it is. It is not a religion of peace."
On the April 28 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Corp.'s (CBN) 700 Club, host Pat Robertson referred to Islam as a "bloody, brutal type of religion." Following a report suggesting that those who convert from Islam could face hardships and even death sentences in some Middle Eastern countries, Robertson expressed concern that Americans, "especially the American left," need to "wake up" to the "danger" that Islam presents. He said that, in the past, Muslim invaders would kill "an unbeliever" if they would not convert to Islam and that today, "if somebody wants to leave Islam, they're going to kill them." Robertson continued: "Whoever heard of such a bloody, bloody, brutal type of religion? But that's what it is. It is not a religion of peace."Robertson has frequently asserted that "Islam is not a religion of peace," as he did in the April 28 broadcast. For instance, as Media Matters for America previously noted, Robertson made similar comments on April 24 when he warned his viewers that "we are not listening" to what Islam "says," just as we did not listen to "what Adolf Hitler said in Mein Kampf." On a March 13 broadcast, Robertson declared that Muslims who protested controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were "satanic" and "crazed fanatics" who were "motivated by demonic power." On the July 14, 2005, broadcast of The 700 Club, Robertson blurred the distinction between radical Islamists and the Muslim community at large, claiming that Islam instructs its followers to commit acts of terrorism. Robertson stated: "Islam, at least at its core, teaches violence. It's there in the Quran in clear, bold statements." According to the Associated Press, during a 2002 broadcast of the program, Robertson declared that Islam "is not a peaceful religion that wants to coexist. They want to coexist until they can control, dominate and then, if need be, destroy."

Here's where 'The Israel Lobby' is wrong
By Steven Simon -Daily Star
Commentary by
Thursday, May 04, 2006
In their controversial paper on the U.S.-Israeli special relationship, titled "The Israel Lobby," two American academics, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, contend that this de facto alliance severely damaged American interests in the Middle East. But has it? A look at the record shows that the United States has mostly gotten what it wanted in the region despite - and occasionally because - of this unique relationship.
The case that American interests have suffered because of Israel has ricocheted around the walls of academic departments for a long time. Realists like Mearsheimer and Walt believe that cold calculations of power shape national conceptions of interests. When interests are defined in other ways, then the resulting policy must be wrongheaded and possibly dangerous. This construction of reality leaves little room for other factors that motivate voters to support specific foreign policy causes.
Israel, for example, benefits not just from strong ties to politically active American Jews, from broader backing by non-Jewish Americans who identify with Israel's past underdog status, its immigrant society and democratic institutions, and from the support of evangelical Protestants who see Israel as a link to Christian origins and a future kingdom of God. True, favorable views of Israel might depend in part on outdated or simplistic perceptions, but this is common in public opinion. For realists, these sources of support for Israel don't make sense from a perspective where pursuit of power is the pivot for policy.
Even if the realists are right, however, Walt and Mearsheimer would still be wrong. The U.S.-Israeli relationship took shape during the Nixon administration, which was casting about for Middle East allies when the Soviet Union had established a strong presence in Egypt and Syria. When Soviet-backed Egyptian and Syrian forces attacked Israel in October 1973, the durability of America's global system of Cold War alliances required that Washington help Israel stave off its adversaries. A combination of adroit American diplomacy and show of resolve led to Egypt's ejection of the Soviets, embrace of the U.S., and a stabilizing peace with Israel.
The U.S.S.R., however, was still a threat to the U.S. Regardless of what we know now about the limits of Soviet power, Moscow was believed to have plans to dominate the Mediterranean and seize Iranian oil fields in wartime. The Soviets were also establishing a base in the Horn of Africa, from which their forces could range throughout the Gulf. The U.S. had to respond accordingly. Military planners needed access to facilities enabling the Sixth Fleet to fend off a challenge in the Eastern Mediterranean, while facilitating the defense of Saudi Arabia. Israel provided that access as well as storage facilities for American equipment and munitions, and airspace for training purposes. Egypt, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain offered access for Gulf operations.
This basing structure enabled U.S. forces to win in operations Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. Yet it was begun in the early 1980s, when Israel occupied South Lebanon, Israeli troops besieged Yasser Arafat in Beirut, and Israel's Lebanese allies rampaged through the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. Despite all this, and the fact that Washington was pursuing agreements with Israel, the Arab states gave the U.S. what it needed. This willingness was driven by the Arabs' security fears, not resentments over U.S. ties to Israel.
Furthermore, Washington enjoyed broad support for its efforts against Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Gulf war. Despite the presence of the hard-line Israeli government of Yitzhak Shamir, Washington persuaded Syria and Egypt to join the coalition against Iraq and elicited the tacit cooperation of Jordan - the three countries most affected by Israeli actions. Crucial Saudi cooperation was forthcoming despite the Al-Saud's animosity toward Israel. Again, threat perceptions determined Saudi policy, not principled rejection of U.S.-Israeli friendship.
The U.S. also got its way after the war, when it brought together the war coalition with Israelis and Palestinians at the Madrid conference of October 1991. This paved the way for the Oslo Accords, the first Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank, and six years of relative peace. Up until that moment, the idea of the Saudis sitting at a negotiating table with Israelis at the behest of the U.S. would have been regarded as a fantasy.
The biggest hole in the Mearsheimer-Walt worldview has been carved out by the past half-century of Saudi oil pricing policy. America's most vital strategic requirement is a steady flow of oil at reasonable prices. If there is one way "the Arab world" could have made America suffer for its support of Israel, it would have been by keeping oil prices higher than the levels determined by wider market factors. Yet, except for the oil embargo of 1973, when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries used President Richard Nixon's support for Israel as cover to correct artificially low oil prices, the Saudis have consistently heeded American entreaties to moderate prices. Of course, this was also in service of the Saudi economy in maintaining world market share, but this fact only reinforces how Arab states' policies toward the U.S. have been determined not by American support for Israel, but by Arab conceptions of self-interest.
Finally, while Mearsheimer and Walt are correct that U.S. support for Israel has produced some terrorist recruits, their canard that this sustains the jihad against America ignores what the jihadists actually say, not least the September 11, 2001, attackers themselves, who wrote about a conflict with Western culture, but didn't mention Zionism or Israel. Most counter-terrorism experts agree that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is largely a pretext used by Osama bin Laden to justify his actions. The jihad originated as a war within Islam and remains so. The U.S. is in the terrorists' gun sights not because it supports Israel, but because it backs Muslim leaders whom jihadists vilify as apostates. Jihadists are attacking U.S. forces in Iraq to expel Americans from there, while defending Sunni interests against the predations of Shiite upstarts. Palestinians militants, in contrast, have not turned their guns against the U.S.
U.S. interests in the Middle East are indeed not faring as well today as in the past. Anti-Americanism in the region has combined with doubts among Arab governments about the prudence of American actions in Iraq and the wisdom of ignoring the plight of Palestinians, making it harder for Washington to get what it needs. But this is the result of revisionist decisions of the Bush administration that overturned the careful diplomacy of past administrations, Republican and Democratic.
**Steven Simon is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and co-author of "The Age of Sacred Terror" and "The Next Attack." He wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.

Three sectarian negations cannot make a nation
By Michael Young -Daily Star staff
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Almost imperceptibly, in recent days three events have sharply drawn the parameters of Lebanese communal politics, showing how urgently Lebanon needs a new social contract. However, if you're expecting broad nationwide agreement over even the most basic principles of such an understanding, then you might have to be patient.
On Sunday, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt escalated his conflict with the Syrian regime by receiving a delegation from Syria's Muslim Brotherhood at his Mukhtara palace. The same day, a group of Christian politicians from the March 14 coalition met at the home of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in the Cedars, only hours after Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir had lamented the disunity within the Maronite community, which he contrasted with the situation in other communities. On Monday, Hizbullah's secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, at a farewell reception for the Iranian ambassador, praised Iran, saying it wanted "only good things" for Lebanon (echoing Saad Hariri's recent paeans to his chaperones in Saudi Arabia). Nasrallah underlined that Tehran "has done nothing but enjoin unity in the Shiite sphere, the Islamic sphere and the national sphere."
Each episode said more about communal relations than met the eye. In the past weeks, Jumblatt has expressed fear that a majority of Christians, led by Michel Aoun, would succumb to the temptation of an alliance of minorities between the Maronites and Shiites in Lebanon and the Alawites in Syria. Such an alliance, Jumblatt believes, would be primarily directed against the Sunni majority in the region and against growing Sunni Islamism. In an interview last week with the ABN station, the Druze leader advised Aoun to banish such thoughts, even as Jumblatt's enemies started floating that he, or his father Kamal, had toyed with the ambition of creating a pan-Druze statelet between Lebanon and Syria.
Jumblatt was probably overstating his fears to better leverage them in future negotiations. While the notion of an alliance of non-Sunni minorities has been circulating among pro-Syrian Maronites in the North for some time, it doesn't appear to be a priority for Aoun. In fact, if anything has made the Maronites more likely to radically overhaul their policies in recent years, it is Jumblatt's hardnosed manipulation and containment of the community, a cornerstone of his power. This was shown most forcefully during last year's parliamentary elections, organized according to a law that Jumblatt saw as essential in breaking Aoun's momentum.
How does Syria's Muslim Brotherhood fit into this? Jumblatt and the Druze are vulnerable in Lebanese communal maneuvering. The Druze leader has managed to remain on good terms with Aoun and Hariri while both are locked in unbecoming wrangling, but Jumblatt knows that the Sunnis and Maronites would push him aside if they could do so, or had to. That's why his opening to the Brotherhood appears to be more than just a threat against Damascus; it is Jumblatt's bid to garner Islamist cards to better enhance his position vis-ˆ-vis the Saudi regime and any domestic Lebanese alliance that could lead to his political elimination. He figures that if Syrian President Bashar Assad can persuade the Saudis to defend his Baath regime by threatening them with Sunni Islamists, then he can use the Brotherhood to stay relevant in Riyadh and Beirut.
On the Maronite side, things are a different. The Cedars meeting was an effort to consolidate the Christian camp at a time when the office of the presidency has lost all meaning; and, more specifically, to concoct a united front against Michel Aoun, who was not at the conclave. Aoun's absence ensured that Sfeir's fears of more inter-Maronite schisms will be realized. The Maronite community has historically been all fissures and fractures, if also lively pluralism in lieu of suffocating unanimity. Both Aoun and Geagea at different times during the 1980s tried to eliminate their foes, and ended up, predictably, tearing each other to pieces.
The problem with the Cedars meeting is that Aoun retains the support of most Christians, and the greater the communal polarization, the greater his appeal. This may seem a paradox, with the general claiming to be the least sectarian of politicians. But he also offers no new project for communal relations: He can't stomach the post-Taif Constitution, in whose name he was evicted from Baabda; but he can't endorse the alternative to the united Lebanon that Taif outlines, namely transformation of the country into a confederation of sectarian mini-states. This would smack of partition at a time when Aoun insists he is the incarnation of Lebanese nationhood.
So what you get with the Aounists is a hybrid: The general's supporters are no less sectarian than their adversaries inside the Christian community, or those Lebanese outside, and no less the prisoners of a psychological ghetto; but at the national level their leader continues to peddle a fiction that he is the grand unifier, Lebanon's own Bismarck, even as he allows his followers to persuade themselves that he is really one of them.
Then there is Hassan Nasrallah. He adroitly speaks of Shiite unity and national unity in the same breath, but his party's weapons make illusory any serene discussion of a new national pact, because no one wants to bargain with someone armed to the teeth. What is Hizbullah's vision of communal relations? What type of Lebanon can be built under the grim countenances of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, regardless of the "good" Iran desires for the country? What Lebanon can we expect when the best Hizbullah has to offer by way of a social model is permanent armed resistance against its enemies?
Lebanon's dilemma is that its communal leaders and communities can't even agree how to disagree. Will the country's future political system rely on full implementation of Taif, with its clauses on deconfessionalization, or on something different that will only harden the communities' sense of separation? Whatever the answer, Jumblatt's maneuvering, perhaps motivated by fear of extinction, Maronite discord, and Hizbullah's Kalashnikov-envy are only widening the communal divide. Almost no one dares ask what type of state most people want, even as everyone somehow needs everyone else so there can be balance in the system.
This reality alone is why war is further away than the skeptics imagine. With everyone mistrusting everyone else, who will be allied with whom, against whom? Lebanon is still caught in a vacuum left by a 15-year war and a debilitating 29-year Syrian presence that denied any cross-sectarian political cooperation. It will take time for the society to emerge from this void, but it would be nice to see someone capable of leading the process.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR.