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Sfeir: UN presence reassuring; let’s think about rebuilding together
by Youssef Hourany
11 September, 2006
The Maronite patriarch emphasized the need for national solidarity and has sent a delegation to the south to evaluate the situation. The mayor of a Maronite village: “Aid is already reaching other groups; like this, our youth will leave.”
Beirut (AsiaNews) – The presence of the Blue Helmets and the deployment of the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon allow for reconstruction plans, for which national solidarity is fundamental, said Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir. Speaking during Sunday Mass in Bkerke, the Maronite Patriarch said: “The time has now come for the country’s reconstruction, with the deployment of the Lebanese army in south Lebanon, and we must thank the Lord for this new phase in our history.” A dense crowd was present at the service to express solidarity with and gratitude to Patriarch Sfeir and all the Maronite bishops for the objective approach of their seventh appeal, published last Wednesday.
Patriarch Sfeir emphasized the importance of inter-Lebanese solidarity to tackle damages suffered during this last war and expressed hope of extensive collaboration between political leaders, indicating the path of national reconciliation as “the only way capable of making the country emerge from the current crisis, which is aggravating as winter draws near and schools reopen.” Cardinal Sfeir launched another appeal to all to offer their contribution to support their brothers in need.
The patriarch also underlined the importance of the presence of UN peace keeping troops, which could guarantee lasting security to all, and he reiterated his gratitude to the Italian contingent and government that “spared no effort to express its nearness to the Lebanese people”.
Patriarch Sfeir appointed three bishops to undertake a visit to south Lebanon, where they will have meetings regarding pastoral and charity work. The delegation is headed by Mgr Roland Abou Jawde, vicar-general of the patriarch, and includes the Maronite archbishop of Tyre, Mgr Choukrallah Nabil el Hajj, and the archbishop of Tripoli of the Maronites, Mgr Georges Bou-Jaoude. The group has taken the opportunity to organize meetings with Maronite parishes in south Lebanon.
Mgr Roland Abou-Jawde expressed concern about a prevalent lack of confidence in the future, exhorting Christians to remain in their land of origin despite the challenges and threats faced on a daily basis. “No one can ignore the critical significance of your presence in this martyred land and the difficulties you have faced with courage in recent times,” he said. “Your presence in this area of Lebanon, as in others, is not easy. We are in a very critical and dangerous position on both a regional and national level,” continued the vicar-general of the Maronite patriarchate, promising to convey to the patriarch and all leaders the concerns of Christians in south Lebanon, where criticism has been leveled against the church for an alleged lack of generosity. The Maronite mayor of Ain Ebel, Imad Khoury Sader, talking to AsiaNews about the visit of the Maronite patriarchal delegation, said: “Alas, our church is still sleeping. How can we resume our life in a village that has been practically destroyed by shelling, which did not even spare our church of Our Lady? We want to remind leaders that Ain Ebel is a village that has given much to the Church: it is enough to recall many eminent personalities of the village, like the late lamented Cardinal Patriarch Antonoine Khoraiche and Mgr Albert Khreich, killed 15 years ago, a case about which we are still waiting for the truth. How can I tell young Christians not to run to embassies to emigrate, when they see others are being helped and no one is meeting their needs?”

Al Qaeda blasts U.N. force in Lebanon as "enemy"
Mon Sep 11, 2006
DUBAI (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri has condemned United Nations forces in Lebanon as "enemies of Islam", the first implicit threat against the peacekeeping detachment. Zawahri, speaking in a video tape aired on Arabic Al Jazeera television on Monday, also blasted a U.N. resolution that governs a ceasefire that ended 34-days of fighting between Israel and Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah. "The biggest problem with resolution 1701 and similiar resolutions designed to humiliate Muslims is...its declaration of the existence of the Jewish state," Zawahri said in the video, aired on the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. "(The resolution) also isolates the mujahideen in Palestine from the Muslims in Lebanon by the presence of international forces that are the enemies of Islam." The U.N. force, known as UNIFIL II, is being deployed in the south of Lebanon after the August 14 truce. It will contain troops from Muslim as well as Western countries. Israel's war on Lebanon was sparked by Hizbollah's abduction of two Israel soldiers in a cross-border raid in July. The U.N. Security Council resolution that led to the truce called for 15,000 U.N. troops to join a similar number of Lebanese army troops deploying in the south of the country.

Syria rejects EU border presence
Source: Ynetnews
September 11, 2006 -Syria's official news agency reported Saturday that Damascus had rejected an Italian proposal to deploy unarmed border monitors along Lebanon's eastern border.The deployment is meant to prevent arms shipments to Hizb'allah. Last month, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad said he would view the deployment of international forces along his country's western border as a "hostile act."

Blair runs into protests, snubs on Lebanon visit
Sep 11, 2006 — By Adrian Croft
BEIRUT (Reuters) - About 2,000 Lebanese protested against British Prime Minister Tony Blair's visit to Beirut on Monday, accusing him of backing Israel's 34-day war with Hizbollah, and several cabinet ministers refused to meet him. "He was a party in the war," Health Minister Mohammad Khalifeh, of the Shi'ite Muslim Amal movement, told Reuters. "He supported the U.S. position and did not call for a ceasefire…It is natural that we do not receive him." Blair angered many Lebanese by his refusal to call for an early ceasefire in the conflict which killed nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers. Two Hizbollah ministers also declined to attend Blair's talks with the Lebanese government, even though a spokesman for Blair said the British leader had been ready to meet them. Blair had also been due to meet Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is the leader of Amal and a Hizbollah ally, but an aide to Berri said he had left on a private visit abroad. Troops, riot police and barbed-wire barriers kept the demonstrators well away from the government building in downtown Beirut where Blair met Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. "I'm standing here because Blair is the killer of Lebanese children," said Ibad Malak, a 19-year-old student. Blair, the first British prime minister to visit Lebanon, was discussing with Siniora a U.N. truce in effect since August 14 and Britain's contribution to postwar reconstruction.
His spokesman said Britain had provided 22.3 million pounds ($41.6 million) in humanitarian aid and was giving another 20 million pounds to support U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon. The British destroyer HMS York is also involved in efforts to patrol Lebanon's coast to enforce a U.N. arms embargo.
Blair wanted to show his support for Siniora and to discuss the full implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that halted the fighting on August 14, his spokesman said. Some protesters held placards reading "Thank you Blair for delivering the intelligent bombs" — referring to U.S. flights carrying bombs for Israel that refueled in Scotland during the war. "Blair you killer, go to hell," read another placard. Security sources said about 2,000 people had turned out for the protests, organized by Hizbollah and its pro-Syrian allies. Top Shi'ite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said on Sunday Blair was not welcome because of his support for Israel and Washington. He also criticized Blair for allowing U.S. arms to be shipped via Britain to Israel for use against Lebanon. Fadlallah said Blair should have been told to stay away so he would "know we are not so naive as to welcome him when he has contributed to killing us and slaughtering our children." Blair began his Middle East tour in Israel on Saturday on a peace drive that analysts say is aimed partly at countering criticism of his pro-U.S. stance during the Lebanon war and partly at bolstering his political legacy.
Last week Blair was forced to concede he will leave office within a year to quell a rebellion in his Labour Party. Blair said on Sunday the international community should deal with a unity Palestinian government if it breaks with the policies of the boycotted Hamas-led administration.
Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said on Monday he hoped an announcement could be made soon on forming such a government after "positive" talks with President Mahmoud Abbas. Palestinians hope creation of a unity coalition will lead to the lifting of Western sanctions imposed on the six-month-old Hamas government for refusing to recognize Israel.
(Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Beirut, and Jerusalem and Gaza bureaux)
Copyright 2006 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

South Lebanon Army vet begs Israel for asylum
Source: The Conservative Voice-September 11, 2006
A member of the now disbanded South Lebanon Army - Israel's former ally in southern Lebanon - has appealed to Jerusalem to be granted political asylum in the Jewish state. At press time it is not known what Israel's response will be to this request made by a man identified only by the alias of Ibrahim. He reportedly fled to Israel with his wife and two children on August 24 and is now living in Nahariya - the Israeli town frequently targeted by Hizb'allah rocket fire in the recent war.Many Israelis are deeply ashamed at the way the governent of Prime Minister Ehud Barak betrayed the SLA fighters and their families after he decided to unilaterally pull the IDF out of the security zone, abandoning the Lebanese who had enjoyed a close freindship with Israel to the Hizb'allah.

Regional Conflict and Fear on Lebanon
By Alarab
The results of the Israeli war against Lebanon and the way it was ended lead to the conclusion that Iran – being Hezbollah’s supporter - came out triumphant from the war. This indicates in advance that the Iranian-American tension concerning Iran’s nuclear issue will continue. In fact, this issue marks a red line for both parties that show great willingness to co-operate in all other issues, especially the partition of the ‘new’ or ‘extended’ Middle East.
It can also be noted that Israel came out of the war defeated, in that its army did not realise any objective to polish its image and restore its deterrence capability. On the contrary, the Israeli fear has become more intensified in turn, into a fear of the very existence of the entity itself in popular circles. Also, Israel failed to achieve the American objectives from the war, which will negatively influence the American reliance on it as its military right arm in the region.
In addition, the situation can be summed up by saying that Israel went out of Lebanon politically long before its military exit. It failed in its last war to restore either of the two levels. As for Syria, it went out militarily but not politically, while the extent of the Iranian influence will never reach the level attained by the Syrian influence in Lebanon.
It seems that Hezbollah is called for accepting the building up of the Lebanese state and fortify its independence through primarily disconnecting with the Syrian politics. Here, it should be admitted that during the war, Hezbollah sent many signs of its tendency to favour the Lebanese state’s priorities over the Syrian desires. So this tendency should be built on, not besieged, which could negatively influence the Lebanese internal situation. And in order to consolidate the internal situation, the Lebanese have to agree on the main general objectives in such a way that these will be the referee for determining the transitional measures.
Of course, among the most important objectives is the continuation of Lebanon as a final homeland for all its citizens, building the inclusive state and consolidating its independence, and refusing the American project aiming at fuelling internal sensitivities. Also it should be guarded against closing the Palestinian file in Lebanon, which is included in the international resolutions; a clear policy of dealing with it should be drawn on the basis of observing human rights for the Palestinian fugitives, including the right to work and live a life of dignity.
Add to this some evident rules suggesting that disarming Hezbollah by force is an impossible option because it would lead to a civil war, while remaining there – temporarily at least – is an essential thing to face any Israeli aggression as long as a just and comprehensive solution for the crisis has not yet been realised. Negotiating the disarmament of Hezbollah should not be precipitated before preparing its conditions, especially considering this issue an internal affair.
There is also a need to respect the sacrifices of the martyrs, the bravery of resistance, and the suffering and losses of the displaced. The Lebanese should proceed to build confidence amongst them on the basis of the solidarity shown in the war, despite some limited frictions.
Confidence-building requires that no one other than the state should seek to punish any one else. Therefore all the conflicting Lebanese political forces have to make their choice without the desire to call each other to account or punish the slack or the reckless; because that is beyond their authority by law and reality, and it has very risky results on Lebanon’s stability.
Finally, it should be admitted that the Israeli war on Lebanon has confirmed the American highhandedness and tyranny, in addition to the limitation of its understanding of the internal data in Lebanon and its complete bias towards Israel. The war has also reconfirmed the well-known blind Israeli rancour against Lebanon and the military vanity coupled with low field competence before Hezbollah’s strong fighters despite the huge disparity in arms and training. Perhaps the faith of Hezbollah’s fighters in the justice of their cause vanquished the haughtiness of the Israeli military power.zeditorialz cxlbx

Lebanon PM thanks Saudi for backing

Published: Monday, 11 September, 2006,
Siniora shakes hands with Saudi King Abdullah prior to a meeting in Jeddah yesterday
RIYADH: Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora thanked Saudi Arabia yesterday for its efforts to stop Israel’s recent war in Lebanon and financial help it has given for Lebanon’s post-war reconstruction. "I wanted to express the appreciation and thanks of Lebanese over the kingdom and the king’s position during the difficult circumstances of Israel’s unjust attack on Lebanon," Siniora told reporters after talks with Saudi officials in Jeddah.
Saudi Arabia said in July it had placed $1bn in Lebanon’s central bank in an effort to prop up the Lebanese pound, and made a separate donation of $500mn to help rebuild the battered country. The help put Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, at the forefront of countries backing Lebanon, after the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah, which destroyed some $3.6bn in infrastructure.
Beirut has won pledges of billions of dollars in aid, mainly from oil producing Arab states.
Siniora did not give details of any other financial aid, but said he discussed with Saudi officials the economic consequences of Israel’s operation, and efforts to persuade Israel to withdraw from the Shebaa Farms area. Diplomats in Riyadh say that at government level there is a tussle for post-war influence in Lebanon between Iran, which backs Hezbollah, and Arab states led by Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has played a central role in supporting the Lebanese economy since 1990 and made clear it wants to maintain that role, partly to challenge the influence Iran exerts through its funding of Hezbollah.
"Throughout the recent period, the kingdom has been at Lebanon’s side, giving it strength, offering all assistance, supporting it diplomatically and doing all it could to stop the attack and to lift (Israel’s) embargo," said Siniora, who is backed by Washington. Saudi billionaire Saleh Kamel said on Saturday a group of Arab investors had launched a campaign to raise $2bn for reconstruction and aid. - Reuters

The Region: Fishing in Damascus
By BARRY RUBIN
Talkbacks for this article: 5
A man went fishing after much preparation, but caught nothing. "I don't understand it," he complained to a friend. "I read all the best books about fishing!"
"Yes," responded his buddy, "but did the fish read the books?" Much current writing on the Middle East reminds me of this story. Often those fishermen who failed in the past now insist on using the same futile approach, ignoring what they've been doing wrong all along.
In an October 1999 Financial Times article entitled, "Syria's Golden Opportunity: Making Peace with Israel," Roula Khalaf explained that Syria's disastrous domestic economic situation could only be mended through such a deal. But there were other reasons why peace might be imminent. Syria was isolated in the Arab world and, as for Lebanon, Assad was about to lose that bargaining chip because of the impending Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon.
Such a withdrawal, Khalaf continued "would deprive Hizbullah and Syria of any legitimacy for resistance." In conclusion, "Damascus has realized that a unique opportunity may be at hand...
Syria is no longer resigned to making peace with its Jewish neighbor but genuinely seeking it."
A few weeks later President Hafez Assad turned down flat a peace based on getting back all of the Golan Heights. He was not acting on a whim - or due to his demand for a tiny amount of "occupied territory" Syria had seized from Israel in the 1948 war. Rather, Assad was pursuing Syria's interests, for which peace with Israel had far more minuses than pluses. Seven years later son Bashar has once again shown that Syria has a very good - well, not good for Syria's people, but great for the regime - alternative, which is the demagoguery about resistance and struggle. The regime is at the height of its popularity at home, making a comeback in Lebanon (through its client, Hizbullah), and basking in the light of its alliance with Iran.
Who needs economic reform or higher living standards? BUT AGAIN we hear that Syria "must" make peace because it makes sense to people who are very much aware of "pragmatic" considerations, but don't understand much about how to be a Middle East dictator.
Here, for example, is how a columnist puts it on the Gulf News Web site from UAE on September 8: "Domestically, Syria faces some serious challenges that make it truly eager to reach a peace agreement with Israel. These challenges are of a political, economic and security nature. Syria's reform project has reached a dead end as a result of internal problems and international pressure. Hence, the Syrian regime has to recreate legitimacy based on something other than reform." I hate to use two Arab writers as examples here because this kind of thinking is far more often seen in the West - but the quotes are too good to resist. Of course, it should be noted that Syria's reform project didn't jump off the top of the building, it was pushed. The Syrian government crushed it.
At any rate, the regime is not looking for reform, nor does it care about the domestic economic situation. Why, then, is there such a rush to hold negotiations with Syria? Well, it makes politicians and diplomats look as if they are doing something; they can be seen as trying to avoid confrontation and assuage the "grievances" of the Syrian regime. But it's a case of the fish not having read the books: The Syrian regime doesn't have real grievances - that is, it is not outraged at not getting back the Golan Heights, for example - it has goals. The main goal is for the regime to survive by using demagoguery to win popular support without reform
Bashar is not so stupid. This strategy works.
Syria is not Iran's ally or Hizbullah's patron because it hasn't been offered a better alternative; these are indeed great policies. Iran provides money and strategic support, Hizbullah is a tool for controlling Lebanon and striking at Israel. Syria's policy makes sense, far more sense than a real reform which might bring down the regime and lead the current leadership either to jail or a firing squad.
AND WHAT are these negotiators going to offer Syria?
• a return to its control over Lebanon? Not a great idea, even without taking into consideration the fact that most Lebanese hate this.
• a lot of money? Such a gift would make it even less necessary to reform Syria's domestic policies.
• all the Golan Heights and a piece of Israel illegally occupied by Syria between 1948 and 1967? In other words, strengthen Syria's position for attacking Israel in future. Why is it that everyone recognizes that Damascus interpreted past concessions as weaknesses, encouraging more aggression, and then demand still more concessions? And is Syria going to give anything back? Remember the many trips of secretary of state Warren Christopher begging Syria to enter the peace process in the 1990s, only to end with Hafez Assad scuttling negotiations? Remember secretary of state Colin Powell being promised by Bashar that he would stop illegal pipeline shipments of Saddam's oil, only to find, even before he got back to Washington, that he had been told lies?
Now we have UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan waving a peace of paper with Bashar's promise for cooperation with the UN in Lebanon in our time (a reference to Britain's appeasement of a certain German dictator who also had territorial grievances). So when will they ever learn?
HERE IT IS, one more time: The Syrian government does not want to make peace, become moderate, or reform its economy. It wants to control Lebanon, wipe out Israel, buy off the Islamists by supporting Hizbullah and the Iraqi insurgency, and thus demagogically make its people cheer for Bashar as the great warrior of resistance. These fish don't read the books, and they are more likely to catch the fishermen than vice versa.

Syria to deploy troops on Lebanese border: Annan
Posted at 6:06am on 11 Sep 2006
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Sunday that Syria is to deploy an army battalion along its border with Lebanon in response to international calls for it to enforce an arms embargo on Hizbollah.Annan met Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad on September 1 during a tour of the Middle East.
He told Europe 1 Radio that he had offered Assad "the technical assistance of Germany, which ca supply equipment and train personnel in arms detection"; but he did not say how the Syrian leader responded.Syria has objected to the deployment up to its border of an increased UNIFIL force, whose task is to consolidate a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah.

9/11, Religious Faith, and Ignorance
By Jeffrey Imm
In the September 10 Washington Times article "Unanswered Questions of September 11", one of the apparent "mysteries" of 9/11 is "What motivated 19 relatively well-off Arab men, all Muslims, to become such horrific suicide bombers?" In an interview with the Washington Times, "Lee Hamilton, vice chairman of the national September 11 commission, says motivation was the 'big question' the panel could not answer. 'We were never able to answer why the 19 were willing to kill themselves. What was the motivation? I am talking in a very personal way,' Mr. Hamilton, a Democrat who represented Indiana's 9th District in the House for 34 years".
There is no mystery behind the 9/11 Jihadists' motivation at all. It has been clearly and unambiguously spelled out by the Jihadists and their successors - it is "Death to America", death to the infidels, and the establishment of a global Islamist caliphate - what Jihad is all about.
Counterterrorism that does not understand the role of Islamist extremism religious faith in Jihadist terrorism is no more than blindly groping in the dark -- focusing on logistics, groups, bombs, timelines, targets -- but completely incapable and ignorant of WHY Jihadist terrorism exists.
The motivation of the 9/11 Jihadists may (disturbingly) be a mystery to vice-chairman of the 9/11 Commission, but it is certainly not a mystery to Walid Phares, Robert Spencer, Steve Emerson, and countless others over the past five years who have clearly and unambiguously tied Jihadist terror attacks to the religious faith of the Jihadists, who acted based on their faith.
Even considering that the mainstream media only presents a portion of the global Jihadist war, how can Americans be ignorant of the role of religion in Jihadism - five years after the 9/11 attacks? Wasn't it just eight days ago that an Al Qaeda video was released to the American people warning them to convert to Islam - or else? And the motivation of Jihadists is still an "unanswered question"?
In this world war, are the Jihadists the only ones acting based on their faith? Clearly, the above-mentioned scholars of Jihadism have described the threat and religious basis. They have explained why Jihadist terrorists hate us. And the constant calls by Jihadists for a global Islamist caliphate are frequently repeated in report after report. The Jihadists are acting on their religious beliefs - they believe that their terrorist goals are Allah's goals.
Jihadists rightly understand that faith without action is nothing. The challenge to Americans of faith and others in world religions is to rise to challenge the Jihadists' religious and totalitarian worldview of an Earth dominated by an Islamist caliphate. Ignoring the role of religion in Jihadist terrorism allows the fires of Jihad to burn with no visible way of truly countering them. Counterterrorism is about countering terrorism - not simply countering individual terrorist attacks.
So if an honest analysis of counter-Jihadist-terrorism requires an understanding of religion, does it not also demand that others of religious faith speak out and actively stand against the Jihadists? In the current issue of the Futurist, Professor Thomas McFaul warns of the threats of exclusivity in religion and the global future civilization, which he expands on in his book, calling for a more inclusive future between religions.
To reach this goal in counter-Jihadist-terrorism of pluralism among religious groups, it is imperative that those of faith, other than Jihadists, speak out and stand up against the Jihadist global threat. Tolerance of intolerance will not spread peace or pluralism among the religions of the world, but only emboldens the totalitarian vision of the Jihadists.
And where do we stand on this? We remember the symbol of St. Peter's Church near NYC's Ground Zero as a place for WTC rescue efforts. But what about the ongoing faith of Americans after 9/11 and how that faith is being used to counter Jihad? We are told of how "Americans used religion as Band-Aid" after the 9/11 attacks and threw it away. We have reports of religious faith was abandoned after the attacks. Some grew in faith, and some lost their faith. Members of some religious groups became radicalized and spread Jihad. Some members of other religious groups sought to appease Jihad - such as those Presbyterians who supported Hezbollah and used Presbyterian publishing houses to print 9/11 conspiracy screeds blaming USA.
And the sad truth is that the overwhelming majority of religious leaders have done little to stand up against Jihadism. I remember listening to "Restoring Faith - America's Religious Leaders Answer Terror with Hope" on the Washington DC subway and hearing more appeasement than hope. I remember hearing Desmond Tutu demanding that we forgive the Jihadist terrorists as "they are children of God". But religious leaders actually challenging people of faith to condemn Jihadism around the world and its religious tenets? Many religious leaders are either too afraid of being branded "Islamophobic", afraid of Jihadists, or unwilling to face the totalitarian threat of Jihadism to step up and speak out about it. And many more just hope that Jihadism will go away, or that "someone else" will deal with Jihadism. "Tolerance and understanding" of Jihad will not stop the next 9/11 attack on America.
Last week, the Washington Post reported on Islamic Salafists as victims of 9/11 whose "theology and practices were suddenly suspect", ignoring that the theology of Salfism "is a clear, straightforward statement of belief that calls on the faithful to carry out jihad." Clearly, there is not an understanding here that acting in faith against Jihadist terrorism means to actively reject those philosophies of Jihadism. Nor will false "fatwas" by Islamic groups that refuse to condemn Jihadism.
Small achievements have been made in reformist and moderate Islamic groups, with individual leaders such as Irshad Manji. Reformist Muslim Irshad Manji has challenged "Muslim Myopia", urging Muslims to seek reform of Islam and take accountability for the actions of Jihadists, and not to use the crutch of foreign policy, economics, etc., to ignore the obvious that the Jihadists are acting on their faith. Small Muslim protest marches against Jihad in Washington DC and Arizona have happened. Those acting in faith against Jihad need to be encouraged and supported. But we have not yet seen a "Million Man" march of peace-loving Muslims condemning Jihadism in Washington DC, and five years after 9/11, this is long, long overdue.
We need to see more faith in action in fighting Jihadism. Members of all religious groups need to also act in faith against Jihad. This is a responsibility for all Muslim and non-Muslim religious leaders who seek peaceful co-existence. People of faith need to roll up their sleeves in action to seek the survival of their religion and their people from Jihadist totalitarianism.
Because in addressing counter-Jihadist-terrorism - it is all about RELIGION. And 5 years after 9/11, it is past time that people with faiths -- other than the Jihadists -- ACT based on their faith.September 10, 2006 05:57 PM

Cyprus finds air defense systems on Syria-bound ship
Mon Sep 11, 2006 10:21am ET
International News
By Michele Kambas
NICOSIA (Reuters) - A ship bound for Syria from North Korea and detained in Cyprus on an Interpol alert for suspected arms smuggling was carrying air defense systems, Cypriot authorities said on Monday. The shipment was billed as weather-observation equipment on the freight manifest of the Panamanian-flagged Grigorio 1 and officials said the Syrian government had asked Cyprus to release the seized consignment.
"To my knowledge their name doesn't appear anywhere on the manifest as the consignee, but they have got involved," a senior shipping industry source in Nicosia told Reuters. He said the vessel had been tracked over a long period of time.
The ship was carrying 18 truck-mounted mobile radar systems and three command vehicles. "The radars on the 18 trucks appear to be part of an air defense system," a police spokeswoman said. Pipes also found on board were irrigation pipes, she added. Senior government officials said the Foreign Ministry would decide what to do with the cargo in consultation with legal authorities.
Customs became involved because of the apparent discrepancy on the ship manifest, which spoke of meteorological equipment.
The Commerce Ministry was also called to decide on whether an export permit was required for the cargo in the event of it being released to Syria.
We will implement the law, nothing more and nothing less. And the political position will be expressed by the foreign minister," said Justice Minister Sophocles Sophocleous. There are no restrictions on arms supplies to Syria. Neighboring Cyprus, which has friendly relations with Damascus, intercepted the vessel on an Interpol tip.Interpol, contacted by Reuters, declined to elaborate on the nature of its alert to the Cypriot authorities on Monday, referring queries to Nicosia instead.
Both Nato's Allied Joint Force Command and U.S. Naval Forces Europe, which work together on maritime security issues out of Naples, said that neither had been involved in the operation or the tracking of the ship. "This kind of thing could well have come under programs like Operation Active Endeavour, but on this occasion it didn't," a spokesman for Nato in Naples said. It was not clear if Cyprus planned to confiscate the equipment.
"That is not an issue for police. We have concluded our task and it is now an issue for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Commerce Ministry," said Iacovos Papacostas, the deputy chief of police. The Gregorio 1, which experts say has changed name and flag five times over the past five years, was detained by Cyprus on It had initially set off from North Korea. It then left on the final leg of its journey from Port Said in Egypt to Latakia in Syria when it entered Cypriot territorial waters to refuel. Syria's borders with Lebanon are believed to be a key conduit in the past for weapons supplies to Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas.
(Additional reporting by Stefano Ambrogi in London)

China plans to send peacekeepers to Lebanon
Mon Sep 11, 2006 12:53pm ET
International News
By Chris Buckley
HELSINKI (Reuters) - China plans to send a contingent of peacekeeping troops to Lebanon and is consulting the United Nations on the details, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday. The spokesman gave no details but French President Jacques Chirac, whose country is a key player in the U.N. deployment, suggested that China's contribution may number around 1,000. "We have a plan to send peacekeeping troops. We're consulting with the United Nations on the specific arrangements and will duly announce the outcome," spokesman Liu Jianchao told Reuters.
He was speaking in Helsinki after an Asia-Europe summit attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
Around 200 Chinese engineers already work for the United Nations in Lebanon clearing mines and unexploded ordnance. The U.N. peacekeeping force is being expanded to uphold a shaky truce between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.Chirac, who was also at the meeting, said Wen had mentioned the plan for more troops in Helsinki. "Indeed the premier announced yesterday that beyond the 240 Chinese soldiers that are already there in Lebanon clearing mines, they would send a not inconsiderable contribution, because 1,000 men have been mentioned," he told a news conference.
China, growing in confidence on the global stage, has become increasingly involved in U.N. peacekeeping operations since 2000. At the end of 2005 it had been involved in over 20 U.N. missions including in Afghanistan, East Timor and Haiti. The Chinese announcement came two days after Wen pressed European Union leaders to lift an arms embargo in force since Beijing used troops to crush pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989.
President Vladimir Putin said on Monday Russia would send troops to Lebanon to help rebuild it after the conflict with Israel.Al Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri has condemned United Nations forces in Lebanon as "enemies of Islam", the first implicit threat against the peacekeeping detachment. Israel invaded south Lebanon after Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross border raid on July 12. The conflict killed nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilian, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers. A truce brokered by the United Nations halted the war on August 14.

Mahatir flays move to send troops to Lebanon
Agencies -Published: 09/11/2006
Kuala Lumpur : Former prime minister Mahathir Mohammad on Monday criticised the Malaysian government's offer to send 1,000 peacekeeping troops to Lebanon, saying it would only help "rescue Israel". Mahathir, 81, is engaged in a bitter dispute with his successor Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who he accused of pandering to US ambitions in the region. Malaysia said last week it was expecting the United Nations to accept its offer of troops after Israel initially discouraged the participation of nations with which it does not have diplomatic relations.
"The Americans hope that through the United Nations, Hezbollah will be stopped from further violence. Because of that the UN agreed to send troops to southern Lebanon to control Hezbollah," Mahathir told reporters."America is the one who made it possible for Israel to attack Lebanon and destroyed the cities there with weapons supplied by them," he said. "We are helping to rescue Israel by sending our troops to clamp down on Hezbollah's activities," Mahathir said, while questioning the country's foreign policy. "Is it our foreign policy to help America, Israel? Is it to help Britain and Australia or is it like before, where we stand for the truth," he said. Mahathir's credibility suffered a dramatic blow on Saturday when he failed to win election as one of seven delegates representing the Kubang Pasu district at UMNO's annual congress in November.
Mahathir's plan was to give a speech at the congress to take his fight into the heart of the ruling party.

Commentary: Lebanon returns
Thomas Schellen -Middle East Times
September 11, 2006
BEIRUT -- The minibus is starting its ascent to Dahr Al Baidar on the narrow two-lane highway climbing the eastern slope of the Sannine mountains. The driver guns his engine, accelerates into the left lane while shifting up, and overtakes a truck that is doing its best to keep up, with a loudly laboring motor - while both vehicles approach a curve that fully blocks visibility of oncoming traffic.
No doubt, I am back in Lebanon where maniac driving causes few people to as much as blink an eye, and now I am getting closer to Beirut, which I had left seven weeks ago in an evacuation decision forced by the war between the armed forces of Israel and Hezbollah, the Shiite militia.
Traveling back was arduous in a minor way, and expensive, because the Israeli air blockade of Lebanon is still mostly in place in this first week of September although fighting has ended in mid-August. Because the few Amman-Beirut flights were full, my journey from Vienna took me by air to Amman and overland to Beirut, via Damascus. After spending weeks observing the events in Lebanon via e-mail, blogs, and online news reports, I was eager to see with my own eyes how the country where I have been living for almost 10 years looked after it had been pummeled by airstrikes, naval and artillery fire that had claimed the lives of more than 800 civilians - some counts claim over 1,200 non-combatant fatalities - wounded more than 3,000, and destroyed at least 15,000 homes, in addition to all those bridges, roads, factories, and infrastructure facilities. The first visual impact of the new post-war situation met me in Damascus - posters incorporating the image of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah side by side with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad in triumphal iconic settings that are so important and prominent reflections of both official propaganda and popular sentiment in countries of the region.
Where in the past only Lebanon's president and staunch ally of Syria, Emile Lahoud, had been deemed fit to adorn joint pictorials with Bashar, now joint images of Syria's leader and the bearded, smiling Nasrallah were hanging from ropes above the passages in the Old City of Damascus and shone from the back windows of taxi cabs.
However, after this visual primer of a new display of Syria's most popular and most depicted living political idols, the road from Damascus to Lebanon did not reveal new realities, save for one - the fare for the trip across the border in a shared taxi, which had been modest enough at $4, has gone up 50 percent, to $6.
Passing through the border control stations at Masnaa, where Israeli air force jets had dumped some bombs on the access roads, proved no different from travels in recent years. The road was bumpy and disrupted - but it had felt just as bumpy and incomplete when I had come this way in the beginning of July - and the agglomeration of living humanity in the Lebanese customs and visa area was as chaotic as ever.
There were long lines of trucks on the highway coming into Syria, but this was afternoon and so presumably the lorries were on the return trip from delivering supplies to Beirut as the air and sea passage into Lebanon was still cut off by Israel under a declared goal of wanting to stop smuggling of military supplies to Hezbollah. Before leaving Syria, the driver of our taxi did not hesitate to buy a few more cartons of cigarettes and stuff them under passenger seats in his vehicle. Thorough vehicle checks for any sort of contraband were obviously not a high concern of his.
Rolling downhill into the Bekaa Valley - an area with a large Shiite population and villages that media reports of the past weeks had labeled time and again with mind-numbing repetitiveness as "Hezbollah strongholds" - the unassuming buildings on both sides of the highway on the first five or six kilometers stand just as grey as they did before. But then, the first broken bridge, smashed during one of the many sorties Israeli airforce jets have flown against that "terrorist infrastructure" in Lebanon. The taxi veers onto a gravel bypass of a low bridge that I had never even noticed when driving here before.
Those Israelis must surely have had good maps of Lebanese roads, although it remained a mystery to me how this particular work of destruction could have impeded Hezbollah. After a very short distance, the next clear witness of a successful airstrike: a burnt-out, totally ravaged factory building.
The Maliban bottles and glass factory stood here. Its buildings were never a jewel in industrial design, but the penetration of precision bombs had transformed this place into a nightmarish ruin and testimony to a meaningless war machine that had been given an obvious license by its masters to obliterate whatever appeared like a target on suspicion of almost anything, such as a delivery truck pulling up. In the town of Chtaura, roughly the halfway point on travels between Damascus and Beirut, everything again appeared so very normal. Our taxi dropped off three passengers, a young Shiite couple and their baby, at a building flying the flag of the Amal movement.
They transfer luggage to their small VW and wave goodbye before taking off in direction of Baalbek (another one of those "stronghold" places). When we had passed the Maliban factory, the husband pointed at the destruction and said one word - Israel.
The MacDonald's fast food outlet in Chtaura was teeming with young families as it had during so many times when my colleague in Damascus and I had met here over the past four years.
If there was anything that differed today when compared to a year ago, it was that the atmosphere of the place was more relaxed.
In the summer of 2005, when Lebanon was the target of a series of terrorist bombings against politicians, opinion leaders, and journalists - whose common point was their critical view of Syria - restaurants like MacDonald's had checked backpacks and handbags of customers.
Today, when people expressed uniform opinions on who Lebanon's enemy was, the eatery's doors stood wide open and no one thought to ask me about opening my two large travel bags. After Chtaura, as I ride to Beirut with a full dozen of young men in one of the minibuses that are the most affordable form of public transport here, the mixture of normal and frightening sights continues. The soldiers at the highway control post on top of the mountain ridge at Dahr Al Baidar wave us through without check. On the downward drive, we lose no more than 10 minutes travel time by having to use the old road along Mederej and Sofar because the high bridge - an awful sight in its disruptedness - has lost several segments under aerial bombardment.
Skirting the southern districts of Beirut on the way into town, the road offers glimpses into side streets where apartment buildings have been smashed, sliced open, punched into the ground. It is a surreal sight as surrounding buildings stand apparently undamaged and one can only wonder why one building was a target and its twin wasn't.
ea, bisected by one of the fault lines from Lebanon's civil war in the 70s and 80s, still has a few ruins that date back to the ground battles between militias in that old conflict, where grenades or rockets had scored direct hits back then. Some of the concrete floors of these broken buildings had been compressed into what looked like layered cakes sticking out from the main structure at absurd angles. It was a striking similarity of warfare how some of the newly destroyed buildings looked where Israeli bombs or missiles had made their impact. The difference between the new damages and those from the civil war was apparent. The old conflict zone had been a landscape painted by long fighting; buildings along the frontline streets were pockmarked with bullet holes and their appearance had been degraded throughout. The new devastation, however, was vast deeper into the southern suburbs; the latest urban destruction in this part of Beirut resulted in isolated ruins in an intact looking neighborhood.
Around our apartment, Beirut's (predominantly Christian) Ashrafieh district basks in the late summer sun. Here, one could walk today without knowing that war had paralyzed Lebanon or that any buildings in the city had been eradicated.
There are fewer cars on the street but it is hard to regard this as a worsening of the situation. There are erratic electricity cuts but they are not worse than many cuts of the past when Lebanon's government felt compelled to ration power to its citizens because the mismanaged state utility had no funds to pay for fuel oil deliveries. Also in central Beirut, the superficial impressions are just like in spring: construction sites, a modicum of street life and business in restaurants, shops, and malls. Things are not as vibrant as they were in May when the country was filled with high-flying expectations for a great summer but people are about, wearing the cheery smiles and flashy outfits that Beirut is legendary for around the region.
Under their red and white flowering trees, the parks - the rarest commodity in this city - in the evening twilight look none the worse for wear from having sheltered scores of refugees a month ago.
Banks have put up patriotic messages on billboards and supermarkets advertise their specials, and only when one looks closely, the abandonment on their shelves becomes evident. Cans and jars have been spread thinly to give an impression of the usual abundance of items but stocks have clearly been depleted.
However, nobody has exactly to fear suffering deprivation from the lack of French cold cuts, German news magazines, or mayonnaise and ketchup from some well-established American brand manufacturers. The thin selection is nowhere as limited as the array of goods in a fully stocked store in East Berlin or Bucharest 20 years ago. "The port is cut off through the blockade but we are getting many things from Syria," assures me the manager of a major supermarket, even as his claims that the store is at stock levels of 70 percent smack of the window dressing that is common in this town.
In the downtown, which had been eviscerated during the civil war, the painstakingly rebuilt roads with their granite curbstones are unblemished and one has to go to the nation's political hub at Parliament Square to see any impact of the conflict.
Here, oversized pictures of suffering children are displayed around the square that is bustling with traffic. Instead of the usual summertime lull, cars of parliamentarians pull up and one political delegation after the other - the only vehicles allowed here - roll in with their security teams and police escorts.
Lebanon has been hurt and hurt gravely in this war; there can be no mistake about this. Everybody's life has been affected.
Out of three immediate coworkers of mine, one lost her new apartment in southern Beirut from an Israeli air raid and moved to Dubai. Another had sent out invitations for his wedding for July 15 and the outbreak of war had crossed out his plans for celebrations and a honeymoon in Spain.
Thousands of families suffered grievously and the psychological trauma from this war will impact a whole new generation in a country gradually recovering from the ills of displacement, alcohol abuse, depression, and emotional fragility generated by the civil war.
Yet, at the end of this first week after my return, the joyful music from a nearby wedding party reverberates through my apartment. I have seen increasing signs of recovering social life and heard optimists say that everything will become better now. Some of that seems wishful thinking and there is still much existential pain and economic desperation hidden in the shadows behind the smiles. But there also is a lot of resilience in the faces and words. "We have seen worse and have come through six wars. I think that there will be no more fighting between Israel and Lebanon," tells me one neighborhood friend with strong political opinions. As the Israeli air and sea blockade of Lebanon dissolves in the days between September 6 and 9, I happen to stand at Martyrs' Square in downtown when the pilot of Middle East Airlines' first direct flight from Europe after the blockade dips low overhead, the jet's engines unquestionably screaming the message that Lebanon is back.
**Thomas Schellen is a business journalist and writer who has worked in Lebanon for more than nine years