LCCC ENGLISH NEWS BULLETIN
NOVEMBER 25/06Biblical Reading For today
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 19,45-48.
Then Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.'" And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.
Free Opinions
The International Tribunal is Up-and-Coming despite Tradeoffs and Assassinations.By: Raghida Dergham -25/11/06
Denying Emotions Is Ignoring Their Causes.By: Walid Choucair Al-Hayat - 25/11/06
Tense Environment Spawns Lebanon Exodus-Washington Post,25.11.06
Lebanon's crisis worsens with 2-day strike ahead of decisive ...Canada.com, Canada 25.11.06
Latest New from miscellaneous sources for November 25/11/06
Siniora ignores opposition objection, schedules Cabinet meet for-Daily Star
Fatfat warns of 'complex' Gemayel case-Daily Star
Too many citizens are already wearing black-Daily Star
Hizbullah 'plans to start street protests next week'-Daily Star
Business 'strike' falls flat as most companies ignore call-Daily Star
Lebanese viewpoints-BBC News
Tensions persist after Pierre Gemayel's funeral-AsiaNews.it
Anti-Syrian leader warns of more Lebanon violence-Reuters
LAUNCHING AN 'INDEPENDENCE INTIFADA' IN LEBANON-Globe and Mail
Two-Day Business Strike to Push Approval for Hariri Tribunal-Naharnet
Saniora Urges Resigned Ministers to Rejoin Cabinet-Naharnet
Interior Minister Resumes Duties to Boost Saniora's Cabinet-Naharnet
Hezbollah Moving to Seize Lebanese Government-The Conservative Voice
Hezbollah 'to rule within five years'-The Australian
Lebanon faces bleak outlook due to political uncertainty-Khaleej Times
Beirut Throngs Mourn Slain Minister and Revile Syria-New York Times
Australian leader says leaving Iraq would embolden Iran, Syria-International Herald Tribune
Competing murder theories circulating in Lebanon-Taipei Times
By bomb and bullet, Lebanon has a long record of assassinating its ...International Herald Tribune
Showdown as grief hits Lebanon-Scotsman
Moussa calls for national unity in Lebanon-People's Daily Online
Korea to Send 400 Troops to Lebanon-Chosun Ilbo
Ehud Barak fled from Lebanon-Ynetnews
Crime scenes reveal past hope and uncertain future-The Australian
Israeli Army Readies for Future Conflicts with Hezbollah-NPR - USA
Probe into Aussie Hezbollah funders-Australian Jewish News
US overtures to Syria, Iran may be in jeopardy-AZ Central.com
Benedict XVI Pleads for "Autonomous" Lebanon-Zenit News Agency
More blood on Syrian hands-Central Midlands & Coastal Advocate
Beirut needs help-Hamilton Spectator
Deja vu in Lebanon-Khaleej Times
Lebanon Interior minister withdraws resignation-Ya Libnan
Syria becomes the usual suspect again-The Australian
$94M for Lebanon rescue, but Canadian evacuee grateful-CBC News - Canada
Crisis-hit Lebanon Cabinet presses on with UN plan-Mail & Guardian Online
Lebanon: Cluster bomb blast hurts 2 mine clearing experts-Ynetnews
Lebanon's political crisis heading for showdown-Reuters
Mubarak warns of violence re-emergence in Lebanon after minister .People's Daily Online
Lebanon: Brink of Civil War?Washington Post
The War Cloud that Hangs over Lebanon-Asharq AlawsatDon't let Syria get away with killing Rafik Hariri.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009280
BY MICHAEL YOUNG
Tuesday, November 21, 2006 12:01 a.m. EST
BEIRUT--The Syrian regime is discovering what a nuisance Rafik Hariri, the late Lebanese prime minister, can be. Last Friday, the U.N. Security Council approved a draft plan for a mixed Lebanese-international court to try those responsible for Hariri's assassination on Feb. 14, 2005. Damascus, the main suspect in the crime, is palpably anxious. That anxiety played out in Lebanon 10 days ago, when six ministers named by pro-Syrian politicians resigned rather than take part in Beirut's formal endorsement of the tribunal proposal. The plan was subsequently passed by a reduced Lebanese government, but the full approval process is not over.
Five of the six ministers who resigned were appointed by or affiliated with the two main Shiite parties, Hezbollah and the Amal movement, while the sixth is Lebanese President Emile Lahoud's man. Their resignations came amid a struggle for power between pro-Syrian groups and the anti-Syrian parliamentary and cabinet majority--dating back to the summer war between Israel and Hezbollah. While some saw the outcome of the conflict as a victory for the militant Shiite group, that was hardly the case. Israel displayed incompetence, but Hezbollah found itself militarily neutralized in its vital space of south Lebanon, at least for now. The Lebanese army and international peacekeepers are deployed in the border area, and Hezbollah cannot impose a new war on its battered Shiite community, which continues to suffer the consequences of Israel's terrible retribution.
With little room to maneuver in the south, Hezbollah has tried to compensate in Beirut by demanding greater representation in the cabinet. The anti-Syrian majority has resisted this, arguing that the government performed well last summer, making change unnecessary. The real issue, however, is the return of Syrian hegemony. Hezbollah and its allies want enough ministerial seats so they can veto decisions they dislike that go to a cabinet vote. By so doing, they can continue to protect Syria in the Hariri investigation, and also block the majority's policies that they don't like. A final U.N. report is due out on Hariri's killing in the coming months (the chief investigator, Serge Brammertz, has until mid-2007 to publish his findings), and Hezbollah fears that any accusation against Syria might also be turned against itself.
All this has significant repercussions for the U.S., particularly after the Democratic midterm elections victory. Syria never accepted its forced withdrawal from Lebanon last year, and has worked tirelessly since then to reimpose its writ here. Now there is new hope in Damascus: Influential American voices are suddenly suggesting a reversal of course toward Iraq's neighbors. It was music to Syrian President Bashar Assad's ears to hear James Baker, the Republican co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group, advocating dialogue with Syria and Iran in an interview last month: "I don't think you restrict your conversations to your friends." The Iraq Study Group's report, expected in the coming weeks, will possibly include such an invitation. Syria's Lebanese foes fear they will pay if the U.S. and Damascus cut a deal.
If so, it wouldn't be the first time for Mr. Baker. In 1990, he was a leading light in President George H.W. Bush's administration, which ceded Lebanon to Syria in exchange for President Hafez Assad's agreement to be part of the international coalition against Iraq. An inveterate "realist," Mr. Baker is not likely to balk at negotiating with Mr. Assad if it means the U.S. can buy some peace of mind as it transforms its presence in Iraq. His proposal is unpopular at the White House, and last week Mr. Bush made that known to Mr. Baker and his colleagues. However, because of his electoral defeat, the president, pressed by a Congress avidly searching for new ideas, might find less latitude to ignore Syria down the road.
Unless, of course, the U.N. incriminates Syrian officials in the Hariri murder. That Mr. Assad realizes the fatal implications of this connection was evident when British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently sent a senior adviser, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, to Damascus for a chat. The visit, reportedly approved by Washington, aimed to see if Syria could be enticed away from Iran. If The Economist is correct, and the magazine spoke to Mr. Sheinwald upon his return, the Syrian president has four conditions: an end to the Hariri investigation, a guarantee that the U.S. would not undermine his regime, a return of Syrian influence in Lebanon, and the handing back of the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in 1967. No doubt Mr. Assad would demand much the same from the U.S. if it ran to Damascus to "engage" him on Iraq, assuming the Syrian leader would consider conceding to Washington in a moment of strength what he refused when he was weak.
There seems to be a consensus in the U.S., whether in Congress or in the administration, that there is no going back on upholding Lebanese sovereignty or in finding Hariri's killers. But it is not clear to many in Washington that asking Syria and Iran for help in Iraq, if that's what the Iraq Study Group advises, will drastically limit the administration's ability to deny both countries' gains in Lebanon. For Syria and Iran, Lebanon is vital in their broader quest for power in the Middle East. They will collect there on whatever is offered to the Americans in Iraq, and the retreating administration already has far fewer means to prevent this.
Mr. Baker and his fellow realists, custodians of stalemate in their own way, want the U.S. to return to its previous approach to the region, where interests defined behavior more than values--particularly democracy. But if engagement with Syria, or even Iran, is on the cards, then the U.S. might have to surrender the one genuine triumph it can point to after Mr. Bush formulated a democratic project for the Middle East: the peaceful, popular overthrow by the Lebanese of Syria's debilitating domination. The U.S. might also find itself having to relinquish that all-too-rare happening in the region: a vigorous international legal process that promises to punish a state-sponsored crime. Yielding on Lebanon will not advance American interests; it will only damage them more, turning the severe setbacks in Iraq into a full-scale regional rout.
Wherever one stands in the spectrum of U.S. foreign-policy thinking, the Hariri tribunal is a mechanism that should satisfy all. Democracy defenders see in it an institutional means of buttressing Lebanon's independence from Syria--presuming that U.N. investigators demonstrate Syrian involvement in Hariri's elimination. Realists will gain a splendid stick with which to force Syrian compliance with American priorities elsewhere in the Middle East, including Iraq. The court's mandate does not oblige presidents to put in an appearance (though there is no immunity from crime, meaning they can be sentenced in absentia), so Mr. Assad can be destabilized if his involvement is proven, but not necessarily forced from office. It would make him conveniently vulnerable to outside coercion. That's why events in Lebanon are so important. Syria's Lebanese allies are trying to undermine the Hariri investigation from within, and are expected to escalate their efforts very soon, maybe even this week. It makes no sense for the U.S. to hand them more ammunition by prematurely transacting with Mr. Assad before the U.N. completes its task and assigns responsibility for the assassination.
Mr. Young, a Lebanese national, is opinion editor at the Daily Star newspaper in Beirut and a contributing editor at Reason magazine.Two-Day Business Strike to Push Approval for Hariri Tribunal
Banks, industries and other businesses are observing a two-day general strike in an attempt to push pro-Syrian ministers who resigned to rejoin the government ahead of a Saturday cabinet meeting to endorse the international tribunal of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.
Prime Minister Fouad Saniora has also called on the resigned ministers to rejoin the government ahead of the cabinet meeting that will discuss the tribunal to try suspects of the 2005 murder of five-time premier Hariri.
Meanwhile, several hundred Hizbullah supporters, angered by what they saw as insults leveled against their leader in the rally held Thursday to bury slain Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, blocked a road leading to Beirut airport Thursday night and burned tires in the streets of Beirut's Mar Elias commercial thoroughfare and Zokak al-Blat.
Security forces and Lebanese army troops quickly dispersed the supporters on the airport road and removed the burning tires.
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ordered Hizbullah members to leave the streets "immediately and instantly."
Speaking on an audio tape played on Hizbullah's Al-Manar television late Thursday, Nasrallah said: "The situation is very sensitive and critical. There are many who do not wish well for the country. We must bear all this with responsibility and restrain our feelings about what happened today."
A statement by the Economic Committee was released Thursday following a meeting of the representatives of the country's major business groups.
It called on pro- and anti-Syrian groups to refrain from demands for street protests, saying the "economy cannot handle further setbacks."
The meeting was called to discuss the negative impact of Tuesday's assassination of Pierre Gemayel, scion of one of Lebanon's most prominent Christian families."Ministers who resigned must rejoin the cabinet and parliament must convene to adopt national decisions, and most of all endorse the establishment of the international tribunal," the statement said. It said the resumption of all-party national dialogue was vital to ensure stability in Lebanon.
The committee will meet again at 10 am on Sunday to "take appropriate stands in the outcome of the events."
Six of the government's 24 ministers have resigned, including the five Shiite ministers representing Hizbullah and Amal. Both movements are close to Syria, which has been accused of involvement in Hariri's murder and other attacks. The Nov. 11 resignations came after Saniora called for a cabinet meeting to endorse the international tribunal. Despite the resignations, the cabinet met and approved the U.N. draft text on the formation of the court.
The 15-member Security Council has approved the document that what sent back to Lebanon for final approval. Lebanon's anti-Syrian parliamentary majority accuses the ministers of walking out to try to hamper the approval of the international tribunal. Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa, who resigned following the torching of the building housing the Danish consulate in Ashrafieh earlier in the year, has announced he will rejoin the ranks of the government.
On Feb. 5, angry protestors took to the streets to protest cartoons in a Danish newspaper mocking the prophet Mohammed.(Naharnet-AFP)(An Nahar photo shows Saniora meeting with cabinet ministers Beirut, 24 Nov 06, 09:37
Saniora Urges Resigned Ministers to Rejoin Cabinet
Premier Fouad Saniora has urged ministers who had resigned to rejoin the cabinet ahead of a meeting to approve the creation of an international court to try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's suspected assassins.
"I call on our colleagues who resigned to rejoin the ranks of government so that all can be heard on all the subjects which matter to us," Saniora told a news conference Thursday night hours after the funeral of slain Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel.
An Nahar newspaper said Friday that Saniora met with 12 ministers at the Grand Serail and decided to hold a cabinet meeting on Saturday to discuss the tribunal which has already been approved by the U.N. Security Council.
"The question of the international tribunal must be a factor of unity. It's necessary that it be set up to unveil the truth on crimes already committed and those which may still be to come," he said.
Six of the government's 24 ministers, including ministers representing Hizbullah and Amal, resigned two weeks ago after Saniora went ahead with a cabinet meeting to endorse the U.N. draft text of the court.
The text was approved by the Security Council on Tuesday and now requires final endorsement by the Lebanese authorities.
The anti-Syrian parliamentary majority accuses the ministers of walking out in order to hamper efforts to set up the international tribunal.
Saniora also urged Speaker Nabih Berri to resume his role in bringing top rival leaders together for roundtable talks.
He hailed the "great role played by Berri" and called on all parties to "resume the national dialogue…to discuss differences."
Consultations in parliament between the countries rival politicians collapsed the same day the ministers announced their resignations.
"Dialogue is the only and sure path that guarantees results," Saniora said.
But Lebanese newspapers said Friday that Berri was not willing to resume the role of a mediator and restart national dialogue "unless there was understanding on a national unity government, and the issue of the international tribunal to be discussed in a positive spirit."
They quoted sources close to Berri as saying the speaker casts doubt that the Shiite ministers will withdraw their resignations.(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 24 Nov 06, 07:53
AUNCHING AN 'INDEPENDENCE INTIFADA' IN LEBANON
MARK MACKINNON
In the first hours after his son was killed this week, Amin Gemayel led the calls for restraint. Violent acts of revenge, he said, would dishonour the memory of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, who had been gunned down in broad daylight on a Beirut street.
But yesterday, Lebanon's normally reserved ex-president let his anger out, asking a crowd of several hundred thousand mourners who gathered in the centre of Beirut to join him in what he called a "second independence intifada." The aim, Mr. Gemayel said, would be to free Lebanon once and for all of Syrian influence, beginning with the current pro-Syrian President Émile Lahoud.
Lebanon's larger neighbour, Mr. Gemayel believes, is behind the killing of his son and four other pro-Western political figures assassinated in the past two years."The second independence intifada was launched today for change, and we won't stop until it is complete," he shouted, his voice breaking with emotion but drawing cheers from a massive flag-waving crowd that filled the city's central Martyrs' Square. "Change begins at the head. We want a new president in Lebanon."
Speaking from behind a bulletproof shield, Mr. Gemayel said he and his fellow pro-Western leaders would lay out their plan for ousting Mr. Lahoud in the coming days. Some in the crowd responded with the chant "We want revenge -- from Lahoud and Bashar," referring to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Others mocked Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, a Shia militia supported by both Iran and Syria.
The uprising Mr. Gemayel and his allies are plotting is a peaceful one, but tensions are already near the breaking point between the country's pro- and anti-Syrian groups.
Shia demonstrators upset with insults directed against Mr. Nasrallah took to the streets in Beirut's southern suburbs last night, leading to near-violent confrontations with pro-Western Sunni Muslims.
In February, 2005, the killing of former prime minister Rafik Hariri sparked a massive popular uprising that brought down the pro-Damascus government and forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after a 29-year stay. The uprising, known in the West as the Cedar Revolution, is referred to locally as the Independence Intifada.
But Damascus has retained influence in Beirut through the loyalist Mr. Lahoud and through Hezbollah. Many Lebanese also believe that Syria's intelligence service still operates here, and is responsible for the string of assassinations.
Now, Lebanon's pro-Western leaders are hoping to recapture the momentum they had following Mr. Hariri's death, and to push out Mr. Lahoud. Eventually, they also want to see Hezbollah, the last armed militia in a country still recovering from the 1975-1990 civil war, give up its weapons. While Mr. Lahoud is a Maronite Christian, as are some of his supporters, Hezbollah is made up almost entirely of Shia Muslims, while the pro-Western camp features Sunni Muslims, Christians and Druze.
"1559, 1680, 1701: What don't you get?" read a large banner set up on Martyrs' Square, referring to a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for Hezbollah to disarm.
It was a message embraced by many in the crowd, which filled Martyrs' Square and many of the surrounding streets in scenes that recalled the joyous uprising of a year ago.
But where the Cedar Revolution was remarkable in Lebanon's history for the unity on display -- Christians and Muslims all protesting under the country's cedar-tree flag -- yesterday's demonstration was notable for its factionalism. The national flag was popular, but so were the banners of the various Christian and Muslim factions taking part.
And while the crowd was large, it was smaller than some of those seen in the spring of 2005. Hezbollah's television station, al-Manar, mocked the turnout, suggesting that it proved the majority in fact now sided with Mr. Nasrallah.
A new push to oust Mr. Lahoud before next year's presidential election is likely to worsen a standoff between the pro-Western and pro-Syrian forces that many were already worried could disintegrate into another civil war.
Before Mr. Gemayel's killing, Hezbollah had been planning to bring hundreds of thousands of its own supporters into the streets yesterday to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and his pro-Western government. Those protests were postponed, but late last night, hundreds of Shia supporters of Hezbollah blockaded the road to Beirut's airport, protesting "insults" against Mr. Nasrallah.
Groups of men on motorbikes, some waving Hezbollah's yellow flag, swirled near the entrance to the Sunni Muslim neighbourhood of Shatila. Several threw rocks at a nearby mosque, prompting a crowd of Sunnis to surge forward carrying sticks. The Lebanese army quickly intervened, but it does not appear that the anger will disappear any time soon.
"They're taking advantage of the blood of the late minister," said Nidal al-Mawla, a doctor in a nearby Shia neighbourhood who gathered with relatives to watch the news on television. He accused the pro-Western forces of trying to provoke Hezbollah into a fight. "Today, the mask is off. All of them work for the United States," he said of Mr. Siniora and his coalition.
Shortly afterwards, Mr. Nasrallah made a personal appeal for calm among his supporters. "I urge them to leave the streets; more than urge, I beg them to leave the streets. We don't want anyone on the streets at all," he said in a telephone call to al-Manar.
"If they go to the streets, we'll go to the streets," said Tariq Fathallah, a 26-year-old Sunni Muslim businessman who attended the pro-Western rally outside Mr. Gemayel's funeral. "We don't have any weapons. They have weapons. But we're not afraid."
In a sign of how deep the division between the two sides is, Mr. Gemayel ignored Nabih Berri, the Shia ally of Hezbollah and the Speaker of parliament, when he arrived at the funeral. Mr. Gemayel embraced Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, who sat to Mr. Berri's right, then walked wordlessly past Mr. Berri to embrace Mr. Siniora, who sat to his left.
Deja vu in Lebanon
BY CLAUDE SALHANI
24 November 2006
DURING a visit to Beirut last week, just days before the assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, I wrote in a column that "after years of relative calm and prosperity that followed a devastating 15-year civil war, Lebanon finds itself once again sitting on a tinderbox with a very short fuse. And there seems to be no shortage of instigators only too happy to strike that first match that would make Lebanon go up in smoke."
That match was struck and the all too happy instigators tried to light the Lebanese fuse on Tuesday with the killing of the 34-year old cabinet minister, a member of the anti-Syrian March 14 Movement. The killing of Gemayel brings back nightmarish visions of the dark days of Lebanon’s 15-year civil war. Even the names are eerily familiar.
When the civil war began in April 1975 Pierre Gemayel, the grandfather of the assassinated minister was the founder and leader of the rightwing Christian Phalange Party, or Hizb el Kataeb in Arabic. Several attempts were made on his life, but the old Gemayel made it through the civil war. He died of natural causes in 1984. Both his sons got elected to the presidency. Bashir, who unified the Christian camp — not without much blood being shed, was later killed barely a month after being elected by a massive bomb that brought down the party building where he was delivering a victory speech. His brother Amin replaced him, some say reluctantly. Amin served from 1982 to 1989. He left the presidency before the country’s politicians could agree on a replacement. Amin appointed an army general, Michel Aoun, as caretaker prime minister. The rest, as they say, is history...repeating itself.
While in Beirut last week I wrote that one should not be fooled by appearances. "Lebanon, being Lebanon, the fine dining and good wines are still readily available and reservations for a table in a popular upscale restaurant is a must, amid prevailing political tension or not. In past times of crises, one could feel the tension; now the tension in the Lebanese capital is practically visible." Indeed, this tension became all the more visible on Tuesday, taking the shape of a bullet-riddled body, another sad statistic on the long list of Lebanese patriots who paid with their lives for daring to stand up and say they wanted Lebanon to remain free.
In my reporting from Beirut I commented that "politics in Lebanon involved plots, counterplots, assassinations and politics on a scale that would make Machiavelli’s prince shudder."5 The question on everyone’s mind following this latest killing is: "Who did it?" and "Why did they do it?" Find out who and the why becomes evident.
The immediate reaction from almost everyone — including the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton — was to blame Syria. Syria does appear to be the logical culprit and many Lebanese believe they see the hand of Syrian intelligence behind Gemayel’s assassination.
Yet upon closer analysis one may quickly deducts that it simply does not make sense for Syria to get involved in another assassination at a time when Damascus is playing in the fast lane. The very day that young Gemayel was assassinated, Syria’s foreign minister, Walid Muallem, was in Baghdad renewing ties and diplomatic relations with the Iraqi government. A rapprochement that will not benefit US policy unless the Bush administration changes its decision and decides to engage President Bashar Assad in dialogue rather than continue to shun him.
Through its alliance with Iran, its pact with Hezbollah, Hamas and other revolutionary organisations based in Syria, and now through its renewed relations with Iraq, Damascus’ political clout is rapidly growing in the area. Would Assad be willing to risk putting his political gains in jeopardy over the assassination of Gemayel?
This is one time when pointing the finger at Syria is just too easy and convenient. But when did logic guide Middle East politics? Once again there seems to be no shortage of instigators only too happy to strike that first match. The killing of Gemayel was obviously intended to re-ignite tensions between Lebanon’s rivals. The intelligent thing for all Lebanese parties to do would be to show restraint and not let themselves fall into the trap. This is one instance where predicting the future should prove to be simple enough. As guide, all Lebanon’s political leaders need to do is to read the recent chapter touching on the country’s civil war. The lessons of the past will serve as a roadmap of what lies ahead should logic fail to prevail.
**Claude Salhani is International Editor and a political analyst with UPI in Washington, DC. Comments may be sent to claude@upi.comThe International Tribunal is Up-and-Coming despite Tradeoffs and Assassinations
Raghida Dergham Al-Hayat - 24/11/06//
Istanbul - The train of the International Tribunal has begun to roll and will not be stopped by more assassinations, or ambitions for tradeoffs with the US in Iraq, or the conspiracies to overthrow the legitimately elected government in Lebanon, or even a civil war sparked by Damascus and its allies in Lebanon. Those behind the 15 terrorist crimes, the last of which was the assassinations of Lebanon's Minister of Industry, Pierre Gemayel, have actually condemned themselves to death. Their trial is undoubtedly imminent, even if they blocked Lebanon's sanctioning of the international tribunal, either by the assassination of cabinet ministers or through the president, who is still at the helm of power thanks to Syrian-imposed constitutional amendments during the phase of Syrian hegemony over Lebanon.
The United Nations Security Council has endorsed the blueprint of the International Tribunal and its statute, both of which have been approved by the legitimate Lebanese government following its expanded negotiations with the UN Secretariat General. This constitutes a historical precedence and a monumental achievement. However, even if that arrangement was to fail, the Security Council will act again to set up an international tribunal of a different character and type, and which will not require the approval of the Lebanese government, as the Security Council will not allow the internationally-led investigation fall to the ground or be rocked back and forth by different wars and repeated political assassinations aimed at evading accountability.
If the trial model implemented in Sierra Leone was doomed because it required the approval of its government, the Yugoslav model for trying war criminals and which does not require political permission from anyone still holds.
Let the innocent recall. Let politicians take bold decisions and drink from the 'poisonous chalice', which is the salvation of Lebanon and its people. Let the people of Lebanon stop pretending that there is always room for maneuvering in the gray area, for it is time to choose between white or black, where it will not be possible to reconcile 'pro-tribunal' with 'anti-tribunal', or between those "in favor" or "against" the return of Syrian hegemony over Lebanon; or between those "in favor" or "against" a democratic Lebanon from which the Arab renaissance will rise and through which it will pass - not a Lebanon led by Iran to join its revolutionary ideology, hostile to modernity.
Arab masses that see in Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a model of leadership and courage in defying the US are the same that yesterday saw in al-Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden, a model of 'machismo', that appealed to their sentiments and brought them popularity, since they would achieve what they were asked to do themselves. They are the same lazy masses that watched Iraq being oppressed by Saddam Hussein, calling their attitude an act of Arabism and nationalism. They are the same masses that declined to make real, tangible and sustainable objections to the US invasion of Iraq while it was in the making. Had these masses acted accordingly, they would have surely been able to influence US plans.
To this kind of Arab people, since not all of them belong to this shameful category, we say today from Lebanon, and from wherever the Lebanese people stand: "We do not want your sympathy or your opinion from now on. If you opt for resistance against Israel, go ahead and carry it to the longer and easier Syrian front. Keep your hands off Lebanon. It has already paid a heavy price, and was truly the workshop for Arab thought and capability of democracy, nationalism, renaissance and any other kind of experiment. We shall no longer shed our blood to pay for your inability, as we shall no longer defend you in international fora. You have chosen the revolutionary Iranian model of Ahmadinejad and Osama bin Laden, while our choice is anything but that. Go ahead and teach your children hatred, lying and bending; we will teach our children modern thinking, freedom of choice, respect for the opinion of others, and civil opposition away from bloodshed, militias, incitement and arms."
The Arab masses are certainly divided, just like their leaderships and countries. At this juncture, there is no longer room to pretend that things are fine between the two main camps.
We must also say to the State of Qatar, which holds an Arab seat at the UN Security Council, that it should not exploit Lebanon for any of its ends, for Lebanon is not a commodity, and its people shall not accept turning its cause into a trump card by anyone.
It is Qatar's right to maintain the best relations with Israel, politically and commercially. It has the right to allow the US to have on its soil its most important military base in the region. But it is not proper for Qatar to exploit popular Arab sentiments to absorb the rage of the masses, or to allow for media incitement and political mobilization in the service of extremism in order to downgrade the intelligence of these masses. Should Qatari policy-makers believe that they can always succeed in performing on the trapeze, they must then keep in mind that the danger of falling is an intrinsic part of the adventure. We hope the Qatari leaders will opt for the safety and moderation of their country and for constructive roles in the Arab region and internationally so that they would become pioneers of goodness and reform, and rescue Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon from the claws of the destructive plans made against them.
The Lebanese, Palestinian, and Iraqi issues have become intertwined by virtue of those who feed the flames in these countries and impede the solutions to these issues. Iran and Israel are converging by virtue of their common interest in dwarfing the Arabs and exploiting their issues through destruction and fragmentation.
Today, Palestine is paying the price for the Iranian-Israeli truce, denied by Ahmadinejad, who pretends he will liberate Palestine if the Muslims pay him homage for his taking the reigns of the Palestinian Cause and reclaiming Jerusalem.
Today, Iraq is paying the price of Iran's exploitation of its bloodbaths, after the neo-conservatives avenged Iran by carrying out their plan to invade Iraq, to the benefit of both the Iranians and Israelis.
Today, Lebanon is paying the price for proxy wars that Iran has sought for numerous reasons; among them, dodging accountability for policies and terrorist aspirations in which Iran's friends, associates, and allies have been implicated.
Iran's ambitions, however, go beyond these hot spots. Iran has ideological ambitions molded in well thought out strategies which it wants to become a school of thought in order to impose a gradual hegemony over the Arab and Islamic region through the politicization of religion. The defeat of democracy is a fundamental aspect of such Iranian strategy, so is the defeat of reformist tendencies and denying women their rights with the aim of subjugating them and so transforming half of the Islamic societies into 'appendices'.
In the first-ever meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conferences held in Istanbul this week to discuss the issue of feminism, and on the sidelines of the conference, Ibtissam Aziz, an Iraqi physician, said the democratic reprieve in Iraq has improved opportunities for women, but added that Iraqi women are today caught between the "democratic reprieve and the increasingly dominant religious tide."
Aziz, imprisoned by Saddam Hussein for six years for treating a dissident, and who chose to wear the veil, stressed her opposition to women wearing the veil out of fear or oppression. She said Iraqi women "will not follow the Iranian model; we are even 'allergic' to this model and reject Iran's provincial control in Iraq, and have strong reservations about the provincial concept out of concerns of Iran's domination of these provinces on the account of their Shiite composition."
She added: "Iran is not the origin of the Shiite sect in Iraq, and it is the Iranians who should be affiliated to us, not the other way around." She reiterated: "Do not fear for the women of Iraq, for Iraqi women are strong and resourceful."
A member of the Palestinian delegation to the conference, Nagat Abu Bakr, who is also a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a religiously devout woman, also spoke on the sideline of the conference about the "negative influence" exerted by the Hamas women on the progress of the Palestinian Cause. She reiterated the importance of "steering clear from a politically motivated religiousness," as it hurts and undermines the accomplishments of causes, rather than serving them.
The benefit from such remarkable stances exceeded the basic aims for holding such conferences, and due to the historical significance of the Organization of The Islamic Conferences organizing them, more and more is being expected from the organization, as Islam is on the political and strategic agenda in many regions and continents. OIC Secretary General Professor Akmal al-Din Ihsan Oglo fully understands the challenges and expectations. It is he who radically transformed the OIC to its new status, shaking it out of its slumber and neglect, enabling it to respond to events and influence them, and to make it at once a link and player in international politics. OIC became a destination for the UN and the EU for counseling on political issues, from Dafur, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Somalia to whatever may come next, after the failure of the dialogue between civilizations and religions.
Accordingly, an extremely important role is being played by the OIC in identifying and defining the challenges faced by the Islamic World, from human rights and the revision of its charter to dealing with the problem of Muslim minorities in Thailand and the Philippines and mediation efforts carried by Oglo behind the scenes as he brings together divergent opinions in a prelude to reaching understanding that would turn confrontations into reforms.
No doubt, the significance of the OIC secretary general's call to "free the religious element from the futile entanglement with solutions" and his rejection of the Iraqi model, unanimously adopted by leaders of Iraqi sects to use religion as a pretext or cover, is of equal importance to the significance of the broader dimension provided by the 57 member States of the OIC to any political issue, from Palestine, to Iraq, to Lebanon.
This freeing of the religious element is a key part of the ideological battle in the Arab and Muslim region as a whole. Accordingly, the solutions to what is taking place in the hot spots of this region are becoming increasingly connected, and all point to Iran.
The Islamic Republic holds the means of setting ablaze the battle fronts in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon. But at the same time, it does not have exclusive access to the means that could extinguish the blaze in these countries, because it seeks its own satisfaction and pursues its regional and international ambitions.
The Syrian leadership, for its part, chose to ally itself with Iran, as it sees in Iran its means of escaping accountability and a safety net to cushion its fall. The Syrian leadership has run out of tricks, as it has exhausted all of its other options. It is in a race against time to seize the opportunity it believes will arise from the Iraqi situation to forge a possible deal with the US. This opportunity would make it immune against accountability, especially to the International Tribunal.
This leadership reestablished diplomatic ties with Iraq, while at the same time refusing to do the same with Lebanon because it opposes the demarcation of the Syrian-Lebanese border and the recognition of Lebanon as an independent State beyond its control.
But all this is in vain, for the International Tribunal is up-and-coming, despite Damascus' willingness to barter with anything or any Cause in exchange for aborting the tribunal.
The tribunal is imminent and will try all those behind the terrorism ruling the Lebanese arena through politically motivated assassinations and murderous tactics aimed at overturning the verdicts of the tribunal.
Nonetheless, the tribunal is imminent and will try both the leaders and subordinates connected with all the past and future assassinations alike.
President Emil Lahoud now has no choice but to abdicate before it is too late, for now it is his last chance to submit an urgent resignation that he could later claim was for the good of Lebanon.
Since Lebanon is on the verge of a difficult and decisive stage, perhaps it is also time for the Lebanese leaders to start thinking of a revival for their sake, and for Lebanon and their popular base of supporters. By taking such a step, these leaders would later be able to announce that they had opted for their country's interests instead of Syria's, or the ambitions of Iran and Israel's benefiting from each and every war, battle, or politically motivated assassinations it orders in Palestine, or the assassinations of Arabs or Persians in Lebanon.
It is high time to embark on what is new and qualitatively radical before the devastation that will precede the tribunal. Accordingly, the spiritual Christian leaders in Lebanon must think of what is new and qualitatively radical. It is high time for the Patriarch, Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir to forego his tendency to strike balances, since these balances have become destructive. It is high time for Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to drink from the beautiful Lebanese cup of revival, for he holds in his hands the key to spare it needless wars, the outcome of which would only be the death of the innocent. For in such wars there are no winners. There are no winners in the battles for power and hegemony through assassinations. It is trial time, and the train of the International Tribunal has left the station. It is never going to turn back.
http://www.raghidadergham.com/Denying Emotions Is Ignoring Their Causes
Walid Choucair Al-Hayat - 24/11/06//
On Wednesday, the majority forces recaptured the scene of March 14, 2005 in Lebanon. It cannot be denied that the scene dispelled the confusion surrounding the opposition's attempts for more than a year now to cast doubt on whether this majority is in fact a majority, and their claim that it is illusory. Anyone who denies this is blindfolded. It is as undeniable as the fact that March 14 will celebrate again its 63rd independence anniversary amidst serious divisions among the Lebanese in comparison to the original March 14. Either one can see this clearly, or one is again politically blindfolded.
There are too many ironies one can mention:
• Lebanon has bid farewell to a young man full of promise and lively enthusiasm. He began his political life in circumstances that gave him a degree of openness to the 'other', in contrast to a party that can be criticized for isolating itself in a Christian environment. He became a leading candidate for the future leadership of this party because of his openness to the Muslims. Sheikh Pierre Gemayel was laid to rest when he had the accumulated experience to lift him, his family and his party from the context of war begun by the Phalangists in 1975 and maintained by them to 1989, to peace and coexistence with their former enemies. They had committed fatal and bloody errors, just as everyone else had.
His murderers have removed from the scene a youth who could have played a major role in his surroundings in the direction of the Lebanese finally leaving behind them the mentality of war and strife, thanks to how engrossed he was with the Muslims of March 14 in their day-to-day details. Pierre was a beautiful symbol of the transition of a Christian generation going from one stage to another and a test of the transition of his party from one phase to another. This experiment was terminated with the assassination this young, 34-year-old.
• The opposition took up issues with the leaders of March 14 whom they say have made use of this crime politically, simply because they called for a public burial and insisted on upholding the adoption of the International Tribunal to try those accused of the assassination of martyr and Prime Miniter Rafik Hariri and others who have been murdered or who have been subjected to assassination attempts. This is a strange paradox, as if the image of the six martyrs, beginning with PM Rafik Hariri, and the image of the 'living martyrs' and the widows and children of the leaders who gathered in the church to pay their respects for Pierre Gemayel have been 'killed' for non-political reasons. The criticism of the majority force denies the role of emotions in the political consequences of the assassination. And the denial of feelings abrogates the role of assassinations in politics and the consequences in the political arena. It is almost an abrogation of the assassination itself.
Since the beginning of the series of assassinations, some have behaved as though life is returning to normal and there are no repercussions. Is it not the right of those who have been subjected to this series of assassinations to protect themselves with the emotions of their sympathizers? And is not this the reaction the least reaction to be expected? Is it logical to hold the victim accountable for his indignation and outrage and for translating his feelings politically?
Denying the effect of these feelings on politics is exactly the same as some of the March 14 Forces denying the Secretary General of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's feelings of bitterness at the enthusiasm of some of the majority last August to disarm Hezbollah. The blood of the martyrs of the barbaric Israeli aggression on Lebanon has not yet dried, while these forces are making the mistake of being blindly led by this enthusiasm.
Denying Sayyed Nasrallah's feelings is exactly like Hezbollah's denying Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's feelings about the victims who died because of the Israeli aggression when he shed tears in his landmark address to the Conference of the Arab Foreign Ministers in Beirut. Opposition leaders and Hezbollah have left no opportunity to attack Siniora for the tears he shed because of the military machine of Israeli aggression, in comparison with the effectiveness of the Party and the steadfastness of its arms and the sacrifices of its fighters. They denied that Siniora took up a stance in face of the aggression. It was a political stance against Siniora, meant to obscure his patriotism to justify their attack on him, even though his public stance was understood by one and all.
• This policy of denying will lead to one-sided calculations and readings that will throw the responsibility for everything on others, and also lead to the illogical sequence of the facts. This approach ignores the facts, and sometimes leads to the fabrication of some accounts in order to justify expectations and calculations and to ignore changes that take place. Did the four-party alliance leaders in the 2005 elections - between Hezbollah, Amal, the Future movement led by MP Saad Hariri and the Progressive Socialist Party led by Walid Jumblatt - not ignore the impact of the Islamic bloc leaders in circumventing the public regarding the Christian General, Michel Aoun? Did they not do this when they saw the risk of the Muslims closing their ranks after the Syrian withdrawal, which would deprive them of their share of power? Is turning a blind eye a justification for not seeing the changes happening now as a result of the disintegration of the quadruple Muslim alliance and the effects of the alliance of Aoun and Hezbollah on the Christian masses and the rank and file of the other political forces?
The call for doing away with the policy of denying does not mean we should deny in turn, the extent of the sharp division in Lebanon. It means a call for seeing the real reasons of this policy
Tense Environment Spawns Lebanon Exodus
By ANNA JOHNSON
The Associated Press
Friday, November 24, 2006; 1:48 PM
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- More than two decades after Jean Medlej fled Lebanon for the first time to escape civil war, the Beirut advertising agency owner is considering leaving again. So is assistant university professor Carol Kfouri and many others.
An estimated 100,000 people have packed up and left since the summer war here between Israel and Hezbollah, the government says. And that was before Tuesday's assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel heightened political tensions and led to even more anxiety about the future.
A security guard sits in front a closed shop in down town Beirut, Lebanon Friday, Nov. 24, 2006. Business leaders in Lebanon are on strike Friday to press their demand that political leaders find a resolution to the country's political crisis, fearing that it could spiral into violence after the slaying of Pierre Gemayel.
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Some fear the exodus is draining the best and brightest from this small country struggling toward full democracy.
"I had gotten it out of my mind that there would be military confrontation again. But now I am back to my thinking that anything could happen at any time," Kfouri said. "I think a lot of people now are very wary again _ and that's sad."
It is a sharp turnaround from the Lebanon of five years ago, when people were returning after the 1975-1990 civil war, the economy was booming and the country's future looked bright.
And it is an eerie echo of both Lebanon's own troubled past and the highly damaging exodus from nearby Iraq.
Sociologists say the flight of middle class or affluent people _ those most likely to have the money and foreign passports or visas to leave when things first go bad _ can weaken both a country's economy and its social fabric.
Iraq, for example, is now short on doctors, engineers, business people, poets and other artists and those people are needed most to rebuild the country.
Lebanon is not at war now. But even before the latest assassination, growing political instability forced Kfouri to keep a bag packed just in case. The suburban Beirut resident, who is Canadian and has a Lebanese husband, fled to Canada during the summer war but then came back.
She wants to stay but is keeping her options open.
Medlej is doing the same. The summer war crushed Lebanon's economy, including the business at his Beirut advertising agency. The resulting political instability has him feeling insecure.
"I am really thinking of opportunities elsewhere because I am tired of the situation here," Medlej said. "If I can stay here, I would. But I can barely pay my bills."
Economics are clearly a driving force.
Ghassan Taher, adviser to the prime minister for reconstruction, told a group of foreign ambassadors and donors Tuesday that Lebanon's unemployment rate has doubled since the war and now surpasses 20 percent.
A security guard sits in front a closed shop in down town Beirut, Lebanon Friday, Nov. 24, 2006. Business leaders in Lebanon are on strike Friday to press their demand that political leaders find a resolution to the country's political crisis, fearing that it could spiral into violence after the slaying of Pierre Gemayel.(AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) (Nasser Nasser - AP)
A total of 100,000 Lebanese have left the country since the war, draining it of educated and skilled labor, Taher said.
"The main reason for migrating is economics, and the other side of the coin is political instability," said Guita Hourani, associate director of the Lebanese Emigration Research Center at Notre Dame University outside of Beirut, which has researched those who have left since summer.
"We are not at war at this time, but people leave because they feel the environment in the country is tense," she said.
An estimated 800,000 people turned out for a massive anti-Syrian demonstration in the streets of the capital Beirut Thursday to coincide with Gemayel's funeral. Syrian-backed Hezbollah has also threatened mass street demonstrations to try to oust the anti-Syrian government.
An estimated 8 million people of Lebanese descent, or twice the country's current population of 4 million, already live in countries as far away as Brazil and Australia. Many moved there a century ago.
Hundreds of thousands more left during the 1975-90 civil war, seeking stability in the United States, Canada and France.
But after the civil war ended and Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon in 2000, the Lebanese diaspora began returning home, Hourani said.
Although no official census has been taken since the 1930s, the U.S. government has estimated Lebanon's population at close to 4 million this year _ up from 2.6 million in 1983.
Then came this summer's war, a shock for many after several years of relative calm and economic boom.
Tens of thousands of frightened visitors and Lebanese, many with dual nationalities, fled. The American, Canadian and other Western embassies organized massive evacuations by ship.
Some have since returned. But a tense standoff between the U.S.-backed government and the militant Hezbollah and its allies has placed the country's fragile peace in jeopardy.
None of that affects the determination to stay of people like Akl Kairouz.
"I think Lebanon needs support," said Kairouz, a political science professor. "To me, it's a challenge. I accept the challenge and think it's more rewarding than to run away."
__Associated Press reporter Scheherezade Faramarzi contributed to this story from Beirut.