LCCC ENGLISH NEWS BULLETIN
NOVEMBER 6/06
Biblical Reading For today
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 4,31-37.
Jesus then went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out in a loud voice, Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God! Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be quiet! Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. They were all amazed and said to one another, "What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out." And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.
Free Opinions & Studies
General Michel Aoun: Broken Promise & Blemished Record-Canada Free Press - Canada
The Rounding of Angles -Abdullah Iskandar Al-Hayat - 06/11/06
Illusions of the Past and Specters of the Future-Dar Al-Hayat 6.11.06
Saddam's conviction won't help his long-suffering compatriots -Daily Star 6.11.06
Saddam's death won't close Pandora's box -By Michael Glackin 6.11.06
Secularism and Islamism in the 21st century -By Abbas Barzegar 6.11.06
Latest New from the Daily Star for November 06/06
French defense minister: Situation in South is 'stable and fragile'
Tehran offers anti-aircraft missiles to Beirut
Lebanese leaders return to table in bid to ease tensions
First Indonesian troops due late Sunday
Palestinian students lack funds when they need them most
Druze council installs new sheikh aql
Forecast calls for relief from rain, but temperatures will likely keep falling
Sfeir warns country faces 'lurking threats'
Survey predicts fierce battles if early vote heldDowntown Beirut braces for another political siege
Rival parties team up in bid to reinstate elections at LAU
Grenade attack complicatesarmy deployment in Taamir
Rains compound side-effects of conflict
Downtown Beirut bookstore puts its money where its owner's mouth is
Court sentences Saddam to death by hanging
Lieberman says Cyprus offers example on handling minority 'problem'
Pointed questions about impartiality of Saddam's trial remain unanswered
Tehran hints at possibility of negotiations with Washington 'about regional issues'
French defense minister meets Jordanian king
Latest New from miscellaneous sources for November 06/06
Lebanese Leaders Gearing Up for Upcoming Dialogue, Saudi Arabia Denies Initiative-Naharnet
Hizbullah's Main Backer Iran Willing to Supply Lebanon With Anti-Aircraft Arms-Naharnet
French Defense Minister Warns of Dangers on Lebanon-Israel Border-Naharnet
Pederson Gives Positive Assessment of Situation in the South Except for Overflights-Naharnet
UNIFIL Nears Strength Deemed Sufficient by Pellegrini-Naharnet
Jumblat, Hariri: March 14 Forces to Counter Conspiracy on Lebanon-Naharnet
Indonesian Troops' Gear Leaves for Lebanon, Malaysia Delays Departure-Naharnet
US sees Syrian, Iranian plot to topple Lebanon leader-Seattle Times
Iraq's Shiites Cheer, Sunnis Protest Saddam Conviction-Naharnet
Saddam Hussein, Two Others Sentenced to Death by Hanging-Naharnet
Israel Vows to Pursue Deadly Gaza Operation-Naharnet
Hamas: Israeli Gaza Offensive Could Cost the Life of Seized Soldier-Naharnet
Hezbollah says UN envoy has 'dangerous, suspicious role'-Monsters and Critics.com
Lebanon power struggle raises fears of violence-The Brunei Times
Sfeir warns country faces 'lurking threats'
By Maroun Khoury
Daily Star correspondent
Monday, November 06, 2006
BKIRKI: Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir voiced his concern on Sunday over the escalating political bickering, saying that the extreme "divergence in views and positions does not bode well."
"What we see today of disagreements in positions and directions don't reassure us at all but rather worry us about a possible clash between the Lebanese," he said.
During Sunday Mass in Bkirki, the prelate warned of "lurking threats," adding that "bickering might drown the country in endless conflicts and fights."
Sfeir urged the Lebanese to unify ranks in order to overcome the repercussions of the 34-day summer war on Lebanon.
Following the Mass, the prelate met with the vice president of the Lebanese Forces executive committee, MP George Adwan, who said that the creation of a national unity Cabinet was not an urgent priority for the Lebanese people.
"Do the Lebanese care about replacing a minister by another or a seat by another?" He asked. "No, what the Lebanese people want now is to see stability and security established in the country."
Adwan reiterated the March 14 Forces' "commitment to the implementation of the decisions made during the national dialogue," which included among others the creation of an international tribunal to try former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassins, demarcating the borders with Syria, establishing Lebanese-Syrian diplomatic relations and disarming Palestinian refugees outside the camps.
As to the consultation sessions that are expected to kick off on Monday, Adwan said: "We are ready for dialogue with the different parties but at the same time, we won't surrender to any kind of intimidation." Hizbullah secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah announced last week that the opposition would hold demonstrations if participants in the consultations did not agree on the formation of a unity Cabinet.
The Rounding of Angles
Abdullah Iskandar Al-Hayat - 05/11/06//
The March 14 Forces, enjoying a governmental and parliamentarian majority in Lebanon, are convinced that Lebanese and Syrian officials will be implicated by the end of the international tribunal's investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. They are also convinced that the full implementation of Resolution 1701 will close the southern front with Israel and put an end to the justifications of Hezbollah's and the other militia's weapons and minimize the potential for resorting to violence in any major regional standoff.
On the opposite end, Syria's allies in Lebanon, most prominently, Hezbollah and its allies, are demanding a national unity government, which will include half the existing majority in the cabinet, who is responsible for observing the execution of the international tribunal's ruling and implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
It is clear that the performance of the government and the achievement of a balanced governmental representation are the basis for the demands for a national unity government, since arguments made by parties advocating this government over Fouad Siniora and the March 14 Forces, mainly focus on casting doubt on the government's performance during the July War and the nature of the government's relations with the US.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah spoke of two totally contradictory approaches to both issues, which is expected to put the skills of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berry to the test during the consultative sessions scheduled for tomorrow as he seeks to achieve what he described as "rounding the angles."
The 'negotiators' in tomorrow's sessions will be required to take decisions that are beyond what they can actually control, since such decisions apply to external sides, whether regionally, like Israel, Syria and Iran, or internationally, like the UN Security Council, the US and France.
This is also because the form of any possible Lebanese course of action, whether by the current government or a national unity government, with respect to the international tribunal and Resolution 1701, is not exclusively subject to Lebanon's will and interests, but is also subject to a combination of regional and international variables, as the elements of either issue are also decisive in the Syrian, Iranian, and international policies in Lebanon.
If reports on a Syrian offer to British envoy Nigel Sheinwald to trade Syrian pressure over Hezbollah and Hamas in exchange for kick starting the negotiations on the Golan Heights were true, then it would also at least entail convincing Olmert with the need to advance along the Syrian track: a possibility that Olmert adamantly rules out.
On the other hand, a question emerges if these reports are not true: what could possibly push Syria to abandon political trump cards that have been proven to be still important to its efforts to break away from its isolation?
Meanwhile, amid all these complications, secret negotiations on the fate of the two Israeli soldiers held by Hezbollah and another soldier captured by Hamas are underway.
It has been decided that the mode of negotiations with Hezbollah will be through the UN, who has resorted to a secret channel that is impossible to forecast. Negotiations with Hamas, however, could be seen as a good representation of the manner in which a crisis of great priority to Israel is addressed, while the Palestinians pay a dear price in terms of killings and destruction.
Accordingly, Hamas' announcement that an Egyptian mediation is underway to resolve the issue of the soldier held by the Palestinians is being used to deny any Syrian exploitation of Hamas, who has so far been unsuccessful in coming up with a solution.
This comes amid doubts in Cairo, that communication and shuttle diplomacy are only aimed at buying time rather than resolving issues, and that the question is actually about the power experiment in the Palestinian territories and its impact on the domestic crisis and the ongoing governmental impasse with the consequences this might have on the Palestinian track.
Further complicating the issue is the suspicion that there is a relation between the capturing of the Israeli soldiers by Hamas and Hezbollah, suggested by the fact that the release of non-Lebanese prisoners was among Hezbollah's demands.
If confirmed, talk about the Egyptian mediation in the release of corporal Shalit would be mere distraction, and creating ways for reconnecting the Syrian, Lebanese, and Palestinian tracks would be the actual outcome of the alliance between Syria, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
Finally, the function of the negotiations mechanism, hoped to resolve the governmental crisis in Beirut might be identical to that of the prisoners' issue, namely: pushing government policies toward resuming the linking of tracks and favoring the regional over the domestic. This is expected to make the task of "rounding the angles", hoped to be achieved by Speaker Berry, difficult and dangerous.
Illusions of the Past and Specters of the Future
Mustapha Zein Al-Hayat - 05/11/06//
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Middle East policy is based on illusions, some of which date back to the old colonial era. Others are old-new illusions based on the blood relations with 'our cousins [the Americans] across the Pacific', as Margaret Thatcher used to say.
Blair imagined that he could convince Bush to launch an initiative to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. This was on the eve of the war on Iraq and the campaign of lies that preceded it, which only convinced those who made them and, also, some gullible Iraqis and Arabs. The initiative was based on the famous Road Map and Bush's vision of two States: Palestine and Israel. Nevertheless, the White House, which is ruled by the neo-conservatives, decided to freeze the peace process, pending the construction of a democratic Iraq that has shaken the Middle East.
Blair has become less enthusiastic during the war on Iraq. He pandered to Bush and his neo-conservatives. He joined the 'camp of the Lord'. He rode roughshod over popular opposition. He became a junior White House staffer. He reads the Torah more than he sees reality. He became convinced that he represents all that is good in the face of the 'axis of evil'. He forgot, or pretended to forget, the British experience.
The Bush administration has sought to isolate Syria. Congress approved the 'Lebanon-Syria Liberation Act'. Washington placed Hezbollah and Hamas on the terror list, and it gave Sharon a free hand (is he still alive?) in Palestine. Blair found nothing to say except for voicing unlimited support for his Master. The resounding echo of war drums was heard from across the Pacific.
During the US-Israeli war on Lebanon, Blair refused, in the name of realism, any international call for Israel to stop the war. He asked what the use would be in this call since it would collide with the US' position. He agreed to give the Jewish State a historic opportunity to get rid of Hezbollah's terrorism. He gave it the right to defend itself and the Western democratic values in the face of the barbarians. He imagined that he could provide a service for his Master. He implored his Master to give him the chance to visit the Middle East (this happened during the G8 Summit in Moscow). The Master turned down his request and told him that he would dispatch Condoleezza Rice and, therefore, there would be no need for his services.
Blair acquiesced to the order. He returned to London, awaiting new orders to draw up a UN resolution that would incorporate diplomatic chicanery. The sole objective of this resolution was to get friends 'off the hook'.
Blair has returned to the scene. He sent his foreign policy advisor, Nigel Sheinwald, as a special envoy to Damascus to meet with Bashar Assad, forgetting that he and Bush are betting on the fall of the Syrian president, after tightening the noose on him through the 'Lebanon-Syria Liberalization Act', supporting the 'Cedar Revolution' in Lebanon, isolating Iran, striking Hamas, and driving a wedge between the Arabs and Hamas.
Blair returned to the Middle East through the Gate of Damascus, admitting that Syria is "a part of the reality on the ground…it can play either a constructive or a destructive role". He wanted to backpedal on his earlier position, but did he co-ordinate with the Master in Washington? Did he consult with the Europeans?
All of the statements issued by Blair's office confirm that the initiative is personal. We want to believe him. We wish he would stop playing the role of the subordinate, even if it comes too late or after the destruction of Basra. However, we note that he took this step after Washington indicated that the Baker's Committee would advise the Bush administration to start dialogue with Syria and Iran, because getting out of the Iraqi crisis needs the participation of effective States in the region. This also came after Israel began to move to block any US initiative to open up to Tehran and Damascus, in preparation for a gradual withdrawal from Iraq.
Blair seeks to emerge from premiership (he may tender his resignation next May) as a man of peace. He tries to move independently of the White House and its old- and neo-conservatives. However, history will not forget his subordination. The road to the Middle East through Damascus is full of obstacles, as the Bush administration has not yet grasped the nettle. Israel's sage, Shimon Peres, believes that any move without the US would be impossible. The prime minister will leave office tailed by the illusions of the past and the present, and chased by the specters of the dead in Iraq and Palestine, before receiving divine inspiration en route to Damascus
Lebanese Leaders Gearing Up for Upcoming Dialogue, Saudi Arabia Denies Initiative
Lebanon's top rival leaders were on Sunday gearing up for national talks a day before they were scheduled to resume, as Saudi Arabia denied it was working on a compromise to expand Premier Fouad Saniora's cabinet. An Nahar newspaper quoted sources close to Speaker Nabih Berri as saying Sunday that the country's 14 leaders would attend the dialogue aimed at finding a way out of the current political impasse.
It said only Hizbullah has not yet named a representative for the group's chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to the talks.
Nasrallah has appeared once in public since he went into hiding during the Israeli offensive on Lebanon in the summer. When Berri invited rival leaders for consultations, he said the Hizbullah secretary general had the right to be represented by any delegate he chooses for security considerations. Hizbullah and Gen. Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement have been repeatedly calling for Saniora's resignation and the formation of a national unity government. The Shiite group and its allies want to hold a third of the cabinet's 24 seats, which would make their support essential for all major decisions. Nasrallah has threatened to bring his supporters on to the streets unless Saniora granted his demand by Nov. 13.
Meanwhile, Saudi ambassador Abdul Aziz al Khoja said Saturday "the Kingdom doesn't have an initiative. We hope that everyone participates in the consultation proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri the same way they did during the national dialogue."
He told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI) that "no country in the region can impose or propose…the Lebanese people should play this role to avoid a crisis." He said it is up to the Lebanese to decide how to enlarge the government while avoiding a major disaster.
Al-Mustaqbal newspaper said Sunday that parliament's majority leader Saad Hariri will make an important announcement on the eve of the talks, scheduled to resume on Monday. Beirut, 05 Nov 06, 08:54
Lebanese Leaders Gearing Up for Upcoming Dialogue, Saudi Arabia Denies Initiative
Lebanon's top rival leaders were on Sunday gearing up for national talks a day before they were scheduled to resume, as Saudi Arabia denied it was working on a compromise to expand Premier Fouad Saniora's cabinet.
An Nahar newspaper quoted sources close to Speaker Nabih Berri as saying Sunday that the country's 14 leaders would attend the dialogue aimed at finding a way out of the current political impasse. It said only Hizbullah has not yet named a representative for the group's chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to the talks. Nasrallah has appeared once in public since he went into hiding during the Israeli offensive on Lebanon in the summer. When Berri invited rival leaders for consultations, he said the Hizbullah secretary general had the right to be represented by any delegate he chooses for security considerations.Hizbullah and Gen. Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement have been repeatedly calling for Saniora's resignation and the formation of a national unity government. The Shiite group and its allies want to hold a third of the cabinet's 24 seats, which would make their support essential for all major decisions. Nasrallah has threatened to bring his supporters on to the streets unless Saniora granted his demand by Nov. 13.
Meanwhile, Saudi ambassador Abdul Aziz al Khoja said Saturday "the Kingdom doesn't have an initiative. We hope that everyone participates in the consultation proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri the same way they did during the national dialogue."
He told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI) that "no country in the region can impose or propose…the Lebanese people should play this role to avoid a crisis." He said it is up to the Lebanese to decide how to enlarge the government while avoiding a major disaster.
Al-Mustaqbal newspaper said Sunday that parliament's majority leader Saad Hariri will make an important announcement on the eve of the talks, scheduled to resume on Monday. Beirut, 05 Nov 06, 08:54
French Defense Minister Warns of Dangers on Lebanon-Israel Border
France's Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie warned Saturday of the risks of renewed conflict on the Lebanon-Israel border after the Jewish state's July-August war with Hizbullah. Speaking during a visit to Kuwait, she called the current situation in south Lebanon "stable and fragile" after a U.N. resolution ended 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hizbullah on August 14. "That is why it is imperative to avoid any risk of provocation that could lead to renewed conflict or other parties not to respect their obligations" under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, Alliot-Marie told a news conference. Asked about ongoing Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace, she said they were "worrying because such overflights take a hostile form -- as was the case with a French naval vessel and a German one." "There is always the risk that the crews on board these ships will exercise their legitimate right to defense and return fire," she said. Airspace violations "may also be an incitement for others not to respect their obligations under the United Nations resolution and to reply to provocation at a time when the interest of everyone in the region is in having peace," Alliot-Marie added.She urged the Lebanese people to "show cohesion" on the political level, as Lebanon is "a formidable example... of the capacity of men and women of different origins, religions and cultures to live together."Israel has drawn intense international criticism by continuing its overflights of Lebanese territory despite the ceasefire. France currently commands the beefed up U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon whose job is to police the ceasefire.(AFP) Beirut, 04 Nov 06, 19:09
Pederson Gives Positive Assessment of Situation in the South Except for Overflights
The United Nations gave a positive assessment Saturday of the situation in south Lebanon almost three months after the Israel-Hizbullah war except for continued Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace. "Things in the south are looking very well, but we need an end to the overflights," Geir Pedersen, the Lebanon representative of U.N. chief Kofi Annan, said after a meeting with Foreign Minister Fawzi Sallukh in Boustros palace.
The Jewish State has drawn intense international criticism by continuing the overflights despite the August 14 ceasefire that ended a 34-day Israeli offensive on Lebanon
Last month, Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said the overflights were necessary to monitor what he charged was continuing arms smuggling by Hizbullah from Syria.On Friday, a senior Israeli government official revealed that the United States had joined world governments in expressing discontent about continued Israeli flights over Beirut. The National News Agency said that Sallukh stressed to Pederson that the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south and on the border with Syria was preventing any weapons smuggling. Pederson also met with Speaker Nabih Berri at his home in Ain al Tineh on Saturday. After their meeting, Annan's representative said he hoped a solution will soon be found to the Israeli occupied southeastern border village of Ghajar. Last month, the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon said "minor administrative issues" were delaying the pullout of Israeli forces from Ghajar. The village, on the Lebanese frontier with the Golan Heights which were annexed by Israel in 1981, is the last position occupied by Israeli forces since their October 1 withdrawal after two and a half months of occupation. Pederson said the Israeli overflights were a violation of Lebanese sovereignty and of Security Council Resolution 1701 that put an end to the war on August 14.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 04 Nov 06, 15:32
UNIFIL Nears Strength Deemed Sufficient by Pellegrini
The U.N. peacekeeping mission has now nearly reached the strength its commander considers sufficient, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has said. "Some 9,450 troops from 20 different countries have now been deployed," UNIFIL said in a press release.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 that brought an end to the July-August war between Israel and Hizbullah has authorized the deployment of 15,000 U.N. troops. But UNIFIL Commander Maj.-Gen. Alain Pellegrini said last month that he thought 10,000 might be sufficient.
The beefed-up peacekeeping mission now has 7,730 troops deployed on the ground between the Litani River and the U.N. drawn Blue Line, and a Maritime Task Force with 1,700 naval personnel patrolling the coastline to prevent alleged arms smuggling. Beirut, 05 Nov 06, 09:16
U.S. sees Syrian, Iranian plot to topple Lebanon leader
By Paul Richter-Los Angeles Times
Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah is pressing for more Shiite control in the cabinet.
WASHINGTON — In a unusual statement, the Bush administration charged Wednesday that there was "mounting evidence" that Iran, Syria and the militant group Hezbollah are trying to engineer the overthrow of the elected government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
American officials said they have evidence that the two countries are seeking to create a "unity" government that would give greater influence to their Hezbollah allies. They contended that Syria is also trying to block legislation that directs Lebanese cooperation with an international tribunal investigating the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Syrian officials have been implicated in the February 2005 attack.
U.S. officials declined to provide details, saying they could not disclose information from intelligence sources. Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief, has been pressing for Shiite Muslim parties to be given control of eight cabinet ministries, up from five, to reflect their 40 percent share of Lebanon's population. Hezbollah also has called for mass demonstrations to press for a "unity" cabinet that would give Islamic militants and their allies vetoes over key decisions. The United States is providing political and economic support to the Lebanese government and is offering aid to train Lebanon's military. Yet U.S. popularity in Lebanon has fallen because of its perceived support for Israel in the war, limiting its ability to influence events inside the country.
Also
Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships killed eight Palestinians after surrounding a Gaza Strip town and clashing with militants who have made it the prime launching ground for rockets into Israel. An Israeli soldier also died and 58 Palestinians were reported wounded in the assault on Beit Hanoun.Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company
Iraq's Shiites Cheer, Sunnis Protest Saddam Conviction
Iraqi Shiites broke into wild celebration on Sunday after Saddam Hussein was sentenced to hang, but his fellow Sunnis paraded through the former dictator's hometown chanting, "We will avenge you Saddam."In Sadr City, the Shiite stronghold of northeast Baghdad, youths took to the streets dancing and singing, despite a curfew declared for the capital and two neighboring provinces."Execute Saddam," they chanted. Many carried posters bearing the image of Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical anti-American cleric whose Mahdi Army militia effectively runs the district.
Breathing heavily as he ran along the streets, 35-year-old Abu Sinan said: "This is an unprecedented feeling of happiness ... nothing matches it, no festival nor marriage nor birth matches it. The verdict says Saddam must pay the price for murdering tens of thousands of Iraqis."
Saddam and his seven co-defendants were on trial for a wave of revenge killings carried out in the city of Dujail following a 1982 assassination attempt on the former dictator. As the verdict was read on Sunday, people in Dujail celebrated in the streets and burned pictures of their former tormentor.Saddam was sentenced to death by Iraq's High Tribunal for crimes against humanity, along with his half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of the former Revolutionary Court. Three other defendants received lesser sentences and one was acquitted. Similar celebrations were reported in other Shiite districts of the capital and other cities, although the size of crowds seemed to have been reduced due to the open-ended curfew declared Saturday. Iraqi security forces and U.S. troops mounted additional patrols.
Clashes broke out in north Baghdad's heavily Sunni Azamiyah district where police were battling men with machine guns. At least seven mortar shells slammed to the ground around the Abu Hanifa mosque, the holiest Sunni shrine in the capital. In Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, 1,000 people defied the curfew and carried pictures of the city's favorite son through the streets.
Some declared the court a product of the U.S. "occupation forces" and decried the verdict. "By our souls, by our blood we sacrifice for you Saddam" and "Saddam your name shakes America." Celebratory gunfire also rang out in Kurdish neighborhoods across the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, where Khatab Ahmed sat on a mattress in his living room to watch trial coverage with his wife and six children.
"Thank God I lived to see the day when the criminals received their punishment," the 40-year-old taxi driver exclaimed on hearing of Saddam's death sentence. His brother and uncle were arrested by Saddam's security forces in the 1980s and disappeared forever. Two cousins died in a 1991 Kurdish uprising.
The trial proceedings were shown on Iraqi and pan-Arab satellite television channels with a 20-minute delay. Ahead of the verdicts, several channels aired documentaries about Saddam's crackdowns on Kurds and Shiites. They also aired videotape of mass graves being uncovered after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Al-Masai television, run by the prominent Shiite Dawa party, played solemn music as it scrolled through snapshots of Iraqis who went missing under Saddam's 23-year rule. Another Shiite channel, al-Furat, aired archive footage of Saddam from the 1980s proclaiming, "Everyone stands against the revolution, whether they are 100 or 2,000 or 10,000, I will chop their heads off and this doesn't shake a hair of me at all."(AP) (AFP photo shows U.S. soldiers operating a checkpoint in central Baghdad) Beirut, 05 Nov 06, 14:32
Hezbollah says UN envoy has 'dangerous, suspicious role'
Nov 5, 2006, 15:23 GMT
Middle East News
Beirut - The pro-Iranian Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah lashed out Sunday at UN Mideast envoy Terje Lord-Larsen for saying arms are still being smuggled to the group from Syria and described the official as carrying a 'dangerous, suspicious role.' 'This is not the first time Terje Lord-Larsen carries out a dangerous, suspicious role that serves the goals of the Israeli enemy and the United States which contradicts his diplomatic mission and puts quesion marks on the role of the United Nations,' it said. 'What Larsen said about smuggling arms to our group from neighbouring Syria and quoted Lebanese governmental sources was totally denied by the Lebanese government,' the group said. The Hezbollah statement called on the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ' to assume his responsibilities and take action against this international employee.' Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Sallukh denied last Wednesday suggestions by the UN envoy that arms were still being smuggled in to militant groups from neighbouring Syria. 'The Lebanese army has deployed on the Lebanese-Syrian border since August 17 alongside a UN peaceekping force...also UN forces were deployed on the maritime borders and in territorial waters..since that date no arms shipments have been seized on the land or maritime borders, and we know that the measures we have adopted are so tight,' the minister said. That comment came two days after Larsen had said he had been informed by Lebanese authorities that 'undisclosed quantities of unspecified weapons' were still being smuggled into Lebanon for Hezbollah. UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which put an end to a month of devastating fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in July and August, requires the Lebanese army and an expanded UN peacekeeping force along the international borders to prevent arms smuggling. It also authorized a UN naval force to secure the coast of Lebanon and monitor ships entering its ports.
Lebanon power struggle raises fears of violence
Alistair Lyon- BEIRUT
A BITTER power struggle between Hezbollah and leaders of the Westernbacked Beirut government threatens to spill into the streets 11 weeks after Lebanone merged from a devastating war with Israel. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Tuesday to stage peaceful protests demanding fresh elections unless his opponents agree to a national unity government by mid-November.
In a political atmosphere soured by mutual acrimony, such demonstrations could degenerate into violence, perpetuating instability and crippling prospects for postwar recovery. ‘‘It’s a very volatile situation,’’ said Michel Naufal, foreign editor of al-Mustaqbal newspaper owned by the family of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Both sides feel betrayed and threatened.
Hezbollah accuses the anti- Syrian ‘‘March 14’’ coalition of failing to back it during the war and of supporting US-Israeli demands for the disarmament of its Shi’ite Muslim guerrillas. Nasrallah said the coalition was bent on expanding the mandate of UN peacekeepers in the south to other parts of Lebanon to neutralise Hezbollah’s military capacity. The March 14 group, which won its parliamentary majority partly as a result of its electoral alliance with Hezbollah, blames Nasrallah for dragging Lebanon into a disastrous war at the behest of its Syrian and Iranian allies. The struggle reflects a wider conf lict in which Hezbollah follows an Islamist-Arab nationalist agenda of resistance to US-Israeli ‘‘hegemony’’ and pro-Western Arab leaders. Hezbollah’s Sunni Muslim, Druze and Christian critics fear this will draw Lebanon into a Syrian-Iranian axis and shatter hopes for independence after Syria withdrew its troops last year following mass protests over Hariri’s Feb. 14 assassination. ‘‘They are fighting over matters of high principle,’’ said Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut. ‘‘Each wants to get rid of the other.’’
Nabih Berri, Parliament Speaker and Amal leader, has asked the two sides tomeet next week to defuse the crisis. But no sign of a compromise has yetemergedover Nasrallah’s demand that Hezbollah and its allies—the Shi’ite Amal faction and Christian leader Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement —make up a third of the cabinet, enough to block any decisions. A possible trade off would be for the March 14 group backing Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s government to agree to an expanded cabinet on condition that plans proceed for a tribunal with an international character to try Hariri’s killers. The tribunal has fuelled a side conflict between the March 14 group and pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, whose removal is one of the majority coalition’s key demands.
A new president must be elected by parliament within the next 12 months, setting the stage for another struggle, heralded by Nasrallah’s threat to demand early legislative polls under a revised electoral lawif he does not get his way on the cabinet. ‘‘If there is no compromise by the March 14 group, Hezbollah will try to overthrow the government, which will be highly destabilising because Hezbollah is questioning the system’s legitimacy,’’ said Amal Saad Ghorayeb, an expert on Hezbollah.
‘‘They are saying parliament and the government are not representative at the popular level,’’ she added.
A previous ‘‘national dialogue’’ organised by Berri before the July-August war already suggested that flaws in representation prompted the recourse to a forum outside parliament and cabinet. Hezbollah and Amal have five ministers in the cabinet, but Aoun, the election victor in Maronite Christian heartlands, was excluded and has now aligned himself with the pro- Syrian Shi’ite factions—despite his past record as a fierce foe of Damascus.
Ghorayeb said the March 14 coalition faced an unpalatable choice in how to deal with the demand for a unity cabinet. ‘‘If they agree, they will effectively lose the ability to impose their decisions. If they refuse, the government will fall and the whole system will be delegitimised,’’ she argued. UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen has described the situation in Lebanon as worrying. ‘‘The political rhetoric shows there are very high tensions,’’ he told reporters in New York this week. The spectre of street confrontations turning violent scares many Lebanese still traumatised by the 1975-90 civil war. The language some politicians are using will not reassure them. ‘‘Protestwill bemet byprotest. The bullet will not be confronted with a flower,’’ declared Akram Shuhayeb, a member of parliament and senior aide to Druze leader Walid Jumblatt.Reuters