LCCC ENGLISH NEWS BULLETIN
September 23/06
Biblical Reading For Today
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 8,1-3. Afterward he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.
New Opinion
No Peace In Lebanon Unless its border with Syria is patrolled-World Forum
No Peace In Lebanon Unless its border with Syria is patrolled Canada Free Press, Canada
Annan, UNIFIL and Unilateralism-By: Walid Choucair Al-Hayat - 23/09/06//
Latest New from the Daily Star for September 23/06
Hundreds of thousands show up for victory rally
Papal invitations to Muslim envoys draw mixed reactions
Nasrallah's conditions are exactly what Lebanon needs
Ramadan raises spirits of war-weary Lebanese
Amal flays Fatfat for suspending General Security chief
'We saw Hassan Nasrallah grow up here' in Bazuriyeh
Shebaa landowners cling to hope of recovering Farms
Perspectives vary widely on meaning of 'victory rally'
LF Mass to honor fallen members
Fadlallah calls on officials to 'support the resistance'
UNDP clears rubble in South as prelude to reconstruction
Spain sends engineers to help build installations for peacekeepersHamade moves to complete telecom sell-off
Gunman kills factional rival in Ain al-Hilweh
The revolution will not be memorized
Making sure that the 'clash of civilizations' becomes a reality-By Rami G. Khouri
Latest New from Miscellaneous sources for September 23/06
Kidnapped soldier's brother: Speak to Hizbullah-Ynetnews
Syria's president is reportedly bracing for an Israeli attackJewish Telegraphic Agency
Lebanon leader puts UN in the picture-Sydney Morning Herald
Israel says war on Lebanon was not premeditated-Kuwait News Agency
Dutch to send ships to Lebanon for UN mission-Reuters
A lasting quiet in south Lebanon could bring a new orderInternational Herald Tribune
Nasrallah Says Hezbollah Won't Disarm
Norman Transcript Nasrallah appears at massive Hezbollah “victory” rally-Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates
Hezbollah won't disarm-Gulf News
Nasrallah childhood village protects its favourite son-Middle East Online
ANALYSIS-Lebanon splits resurface after Israel-Hizbollah war-Reuters
Syria-bound ship free to go but not defence cargo-Cyprus Mail
Lebanon considering war reparation bid-NEWS.com.auGonzales Revisits Deportation remarksWashington Post
Brazil agree to play friendly in Lebanon-People's Daily Online
Lebanon's president castigates UN-BBC News
Danish naval ships ready to sail as part of Lebanon force-People's Daily Online
Is a lasting peace possible in Lebanon?Socialist PartyIsrael troubled that war in Lebanon drove its enemies closerChristian Science Monitor
Comparing Boy Scouts with Hezbollah Scouts-WorldNetDaily
Iran sidesteps arms embargo-Daily Telegraph
Lebanese war victims to receive compensation payments-People's Daily Online
Meeting with Hezbollah supporter is condemned-Times Online
Germany's largest naval operation since WWII-People's Daily Online
Iran's Leader Challenges UN on Hezbollah-New York Times
Direct Hezbollah rocket hit leaves Israeli/Arab peace school in The Jewish Journal of greater L.A
Iran warns Israel against new attack on Lebanon-People's Daily Online
Israel-Lebanon conflict sparks litigation quagmire-The Lawyer
Assad says Israel likely to attack Syria-United Press International
Turkey, Lebanon and Hezbollah-New Anatolian
Why would Syria torture Arar-Toronto SunCanada
Report Criticizes US in Torture Case-Guardian Unlimited
Israelis pessimistic on eve of Jewish New Year AFP
Hezbollah chief makes first public appearance since war AFP
Hezbollah chief leads 'victory' rally AP
Man charged with terrorism over Jordan shootings Reuters
Lebanon's divided Christians feel rudderless AFP
Hezbollah leader makes first appearance since war Haaretz
Hizbullah supporters gather in Beirut at Jerusalem Post
Lebanese voices after the war at BBC
Nasrallah Says Hezbollah Won't Disarm
By HUSSEIN DAKROUB
The Associated Press - BEIRUT, Lebanon —
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah told supporters Friday that his guerrillas will not surrender their weapons until a stronger Lebanese government is in place _ including 20,000 rockets his group claims to still have after its 34-day war with Israel.
In his first public appearance since Israel launched its massive offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas on July 12, Nasrallah repeatedly attacked the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, which he called weak and unable to protect Lebanon from Israel.
Speaking to hundreds of thousands of flag-waving supporters in bombed-out southern Beirut, he said giving up Hezbollah's weapons now "under this government ... means leaving Lebanon exposed before Israel to kill and detain and bomb whoever they want, and clearly we will not accept that.""When we build a strong and just state that is capable of protecting the nation and the citizens, we will easily find an honorable solution to the resistance issue and its weapons," the black-turbaned cleric said.
"Tears don't protect anyone," he said in a jab at Saniora, who wept several times in speeches during the Israeli offensive as he described the destruction and pleaded for international support. Nasrallah also vowed not to allow U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanese troops to disarm Hezbollah militants in the south. "No army in the world will be able to make us drop the weapons from our hands," he said.
Israel lashed back after the speech, saying Nasrallah was issuing a challenge to the Lebanese government and the international community.
"The international community can't afford to have this Iranian-funded extremist spit in the face of the organized community of nations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.
In response to Nasrallah's claim to still have more than 20,000 rockets, Regev said that according to the U.N.-backed cease-fire, Hezbollah "shouldn't have any rockets."
Security was tightened in advance of Nasrallah's speech. Israel had threatened to kill Nasrallah during its offensive, and Israeli leaders have refused to say whether he remains a target for assassination.
The rally was held at a barren 37-acre lot about a mile from the guerrilla group's flattened headquarters. Thousands had arrived at the site from the south by foot, in buses and in cars, chanting Nasrallah's name and waving Lebanese and Hezbollah flags. Members of Christian parties and pro-Syrian groups in northern Lebanon also traveled to the capital to participate.
Nasrallah thanked God during his speech for what he called "a divine, historic and strategic victory" over the Jewish state and said his group would not release two captured Israeli soldiers except in an exchange for Lebanese prisoners.
Hezbollah guerrillas took the two soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, which prompted 34 days of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon.
Nasrallah's speech _ and the massive rally itself _ aimed to show Hezbollah's continued power despite the dramatically new situation in Lebanon: A beefed-up U.N. peacekeeping force and Lebanese troops are fanning out in the south, Hezbollah's longtime stronghold, with a mandate to keep the guerrillas under control.
Much of his speech was directed at Saniora's government, which includes Hezbollah members and strong opponents of the guerrilla group who want to see it disarmed. Nasrallah called for a new national unity government.
Former President Amin Gemayel, a sharp critic of Hezbollah, said parts of Nasrallah's speech were "dangerous."
"He is linking giving up Hezbollah's weapons to regime change in Lebanon and ... to drastic changes on the level of the Lebanese government," Gemayel said. "This is very surprising and dangerous, and leads us to ask, what kind of government does Sayyed Hassan want for what kind of Lebanon?"
He said Nasrallah on the one hand "extended his hand" to various Lebanese parties but on the other hand was "confrontational and made some very serious statements."
Faris Soueid, a Christian politician close to Saniora, insisted the government will not bend to Hezbollah pressure. "I believe it will not scare the government of Fuad Saniora," he said on Al-Arabiya television. "It will not fall, not in the street and not because of political speeches."
The U.N.-brokered cease-fire that ended fighting between the guerrillas and Israel calls for Hezbollah to eventually be stripped of its weapons, but Nasrallah has so far been defiant.
Some 5,000 U.N. peacekeepers and 10,000 Lebanese troops have deployed in southern Lebanon, with a mandate to enforce a weapons-free zone on the Israeli border. They have said they will confiscate any Hezbollah weapons they encounter and will prevent new arms from reaching the guerrillas.
But they will not actively seek out and take hidden weapons, leaving the question of Hezbollah's disarmament to a political decision by the government.
Hezbollah's popularity among Shiites soared after it withstood weeks of punishing Israeli bombardment and kept firing rockets into northern Israel. Although the group has refused to give up its weapons, it has come under renewed criticism from anti-Syrian factions who form a majority in Lebanon's government and accuse Hezbollah of doing Damascus' and Tehran's bidding.
The guerrillas have long kept a low profile. They rarely carry weapons in public and have sought to calm the fears of other religious communities in Lebanon by insisting that their arms are to fight Israel and won't be turned against their fellow Lebanese.
But many Christian and Druse minorities, as well as the large Sunni Muslim community, are unconvinced and have called for the state and its military to be the only armed force in Lebanon.
© 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Hundreds of thousands show up for 'victory rally'
Nasrallah says resistance will keep its weapons until government is 'strong, just and capable'
By Nada Bakri
Daily Star staff
Saturday, September 23, 2006
BEIRUT: Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah told hundreds of thousands of supporters gathered for a "Divine Victory" rally Friday that Hizbullah would not disarm until the right conditions were in place - and demanded a national unity government in a blow to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the international community. In his first public appearance since the recent month-long war with Israel sparked on July 12 by the capture of two Israeli soldiers, Nasrallah said the resistance would only hand over its weapons once Lebanon becomes "a strong, just a
"There is no army in the world capable of making us drop our weapons as long as there will be people who believe in this resistance," he said. "We don't want to keep our weapons forever and they will never be used against anyone inside Lebanon. These are not Shiite weapons but the weapons of all the religions and the Lebanese and will protect Lebanon's independence and sovereignty."
Nasrallah said disarming Hizbullah "under this government ... means leaving Lebanon exposed before Israel to kill and detain and bomb whoever they want, and clearly we will not accept that." "When we build a strong and just state that is capable of protecting the nation and the citizens, we will easily find an honorable solution to the resistance issue and its arms," he added.
"Tears don't protect anyone," Nasrallah said in a barbed refer-ence to Siniora, who openly wept several times when describing the destruction of Lebanon during the war. The resistance leader also claimed that his party now possesses 20,000 rockets, despite having fired more than 4,000 of them at northern Israel during 34 days of fighting.
Nasrallah vowed to the hundreds of thousands of supporters gathered in Beirut's southern suburbs that a beefed-up United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) would not affect Hizbullah's ability to stock weapons.
"Blockade the borders and the seas and the skies," he said. "This will not weaken the will of the resistance or the weapons of the resistance."
He also warned UN peacekeepers who are deploying in Southern Lebanon as Israeli forces withdraw not to seek a confrontation with Hizbullah.
"Your mission is not to spy on Hizbullah or to disarm the resistance," he said.
One of Israel's stated aims in the war was to eliminate Hizbullah's capacity to fire rockets into its northern territory.
"We were ready for a long war," Nasrallah said. "The resistance in a few days was able to rearm itself and is now stronger than it was on July 12."
Nasrallah also lashed out at Siniora and the March 14 Forces, who want Hizbullah to disarm and integrate into the Lebanese political scene.
The sayyed described Siniora's Cabinet as weak and incapable of protecting and defending Lebanon against Israel and doubted its ability to reconstruct what Israel has destroyed.
"We don't want to eliminate the presence of anyone from public life. What we are calling for is a national unity government. This is not a slogan; this is a serious project we will work for very hard," said the leader of Hizbullah, which has two representatives in the Cabinet.
Former President Amin Gemayel, a harsh critic of Hizbullah, said portions of Nasrallah's speech were "dangerous."
"He is linking giving up Hizbullah's weapons to regime change in Lebanon and ... to drastic changes on the level of the Lebanese government," Gemayel told the Associated Press. "This is very surprising and dangerous, and leads us to ask, what kind of government does Sayyed Hassan want for what kind of Lebanon?"
Gemayel said Nasrallah on the one hand "extended his hand" to various Lebanese parties, but on the other hand was "confrontational and made some very serious statements."
A short statement issued by Siniora's office said Nasrallah's focus "on the dialogue in his speech is a good and constructive thing and opens future horizons." It did not elaborate.
Fares Soueid, a Christian politician and former MP close to Siniora, insisted that the government would not bend to Hizbullah pressure.
"It will not scare the government of Fouad Siniora," he told Al-Arabiyya television. "It will not fall, not in the street and not because of political speeches."
Siniora has rejected calls from both Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement for the government to resign.
Meanwhile, Israel responded quickly to Nasrallah's speech, saying he had issued a challenge to the Lebanese government and the international community.
"The international community can't afford to have this Iranian-funded extremist spit in the face of the organized community of nations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.
In reply to Nasrallah's claim that Hizbullah now possesses over 20,000 rockets, Regev said that according to the UN-backed cease-fire, Hizbullah "shouldn't have any rockets."
UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which secured the cessation of hostilities put into effect on August 14, calls for Hizbullah to eventually be stripped of its weapons.
Friday's rally filled a vast lot in the capital's southern suburbs, a Hizbullah stronghold where entire blocks were leveled by Israeli strikes during the war. - With agencies
Perspectives vary widely on meaning of 'victory rally'
Some celebrate, but others don't feel like winners
By Rym Ghazal
Daily Star staff
Saturday, September 23, 2006
BEIRUT: Even as Hizbullah's chief warned of a "division" in Lebanon during his speech Friday, hints of such a division were present throughout the capital in the disparities between those attending the rally, those refusing to attend and an impartial group watching from afar.
"This is the greatest day in Lebanon's history and I want to be part of it," said Dunia Obeid, 27, as she struggled to push her baby's cart amid a flood of Hizbullah supporters heading toward the "victory rally."
Obeid was one of the hundreds of thousands of people who came from across Lebanon and jammed the streets leading to the capital's devastated southern suburbs.
What had been a pile of rubble a couple of weeks ago had been cleared and transformed into "Victory Square," which had to be expanded to two other squares in order to accommodate those who attended.
"We are so proud and we will never fear anything from now on as Lebanon defeated the greatest army in the world!" shouted a group of supporters from inside their packed cars, drawing honks of support from several other cars stuck in traffic and decked with the yellow flags of Hizbullah.
"God was on our side! And all of Lebanon should be on our side," said Abdul Al-Majeed Kanaj, who said he walked from the Southern town of Tyre along with his sister Zeinab. According to Kanaj, both of them "hope we will die with Nasrallah, if Israel strikes again."
Meanwhile, on the other side of Beirut, some of those interviewed expressed "anger" over the rally, with some calling it "a false victory" and others saying it is "the Shiite's day of victory, not ours."
"What victory? One thousand Lebanese were killed, thousands lost their homes and everyone I know is struggling financially," said Rania Deeb, a resident of majority-Christian Furn al-Shubbak.
"This war didn't destroy Israel. It just destroyed Lebanon. There was no need for it. We were finally standing on our feet as an independent and peaceful country," said Deeb.
In some of the more mixed areas like Hamra and Manara, response to the rally was more neutral, with most of those interviewed stating that they would "tune into the rally" but would not be attending it.
"But let's admit it, it was a miracle what Hizbullah did and I would be a fool to deny them their victory," said Salim Hajj, a Hamra resident who was watching the rally on television.
Hajj's neighbor, Omar Mohammad, agreed: "Everyone wants to watch Nasrallah. He is the heart of the resistance."
Nasrallah's conditions are exactly what Lebanon needs
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Editorial-Daily Star
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has thrown down a challenge to Lebanon's political class, one that all Lebanese should embrace with enthusiasm. In a rousing speech at Friday's rally in Beirut's southern suburbs, the leader of Hizbullah said his resistance fighters would lay down their arms when Lebanon had a clean, solid government and a strong military. Far from being objectionable, these two goals should be top priorities for anyone who believes in the people's right to good governance and in the country's duty to defend itself against foreign aggression. Whatever developments shape the region in the coming months and years, Lebanon will be better-equipped to survive and even thrive if its political system is made more representative and more effective - and if its armed forces are given the tools they need to do their jobs.
It is not in Nasrallah's nature to let others shape a debate, but his assertive tone on Friday was accompanied by the extension of an olive branch to even his harshest critics. The resistance leader averred that he and his followers were ready for open and honest dialogue with any Lebanese party with a Lebanese agenda - including some that have questioned the national origins of his own tactics. He also expressed gratification at the increasingly non-sectarian outlook of many Lebanese and insisted that the "victory" over Israel belonged to all sects. In addition, he called for a fairer electoral law that would make each of the country's communities more confident of its own ability to pick its own representatives.
If politics is the art of the possible, no people is more ideally suited to the hard work and imperfect science of statecraft than the Lebanese. This potential has yet to be realized in practice, though, in large part because of deep disagreements about what can and cannot be done. But if any lesson is to be drawn from the recent war with Israel, it is that properly prepared individuals who believe in a just cause are a formidable resource for a developing country to have at its disposal. Since the goals enunciated by Nasrallah are entirely in keeping with the national interest, all that remains to be done is to inspire sufficient numbers of people and give them the training and equipment required of their noble task.
Hezbollah chief leads 'victory' rally
By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah made his first public appearance since his group's war with Israel began July 12, taking the stage Friday at a rally by hundreds of thousands of his supporters in Beirut's bombed-out suburbs. He told the crowd that that he thanks God for what he called his group's "victory" in a 34-day war with Israel.
The crowd — waving hundreds of yellow Hezbollah flags — roared as Nasrallah appeared waving to the crowd, flanked by his bodyguards. An announcer said, "The leader has arrived."
The U.N.-brokered cease-fire that ended fighting between the guerrillas and Israel on Aug. 14 calls for stripping Hezbollah of its weapons, but Nasrallah has been defiant.
One Shiite woman, Mira Ali, said she came in response to Nasrallah's "religious order." The 42-year-old, wearing a black shirt and pants, waved a Hezbollah flag and said: "We are with him (Nasrallah). I am here to say no to disarming Hezbollah."
Security had been stepped up in Beirut in advance of Nasrallah's arrival. Israel had threatened to kill Nasrallah during its offensive, but an attempt to assassinate him now was considered unlikely since it would risk plunging the region back into conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would not say in comments published Thursday whether Nasrallah remained a target. "There is no reason for me to notify Nasrallah through the media how we will act. We will not give him advance notice. He is holding a victory march because he has lost," Olmert told the Israeli newspaper Maariv.
The rally was being held at a barren 37-acre lot about a mile from the guerrilla group's flattened headquarters. Thousands had arrived at the site from the south by foot, in buses and in cars, chanting Nasrallah's name and waving Lebanese and Hezbollah flags. Members of Christian parties and pro-Syrian groups in northern Lebanon also traveled to the capital to participate.
Nasrallah's appearance was seen as a show of Hezbollah's strength at a time of increased friction with the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.
Hezbollah's popularity among Shiites soared after it withstood weeks of punishing Israeli bombardment and kept firing rockets into northern Israel.
The group has refused to give up its weapons following the cease-fire. But the group, backed by Syria and Iran, has come under renewed criticism from anti-Syrian factions who form a majority in Lebanon's government and accuse Hezbollah of doing Damascus' and Tehran's bidding.
Hezbollah is armed with thousands of rockets and Nasrallah has said his arsenal survived the Israeli onslaught. He boasted in a TV interview last week that the guerrillas — and their weapons — were still at the Israeli border in south Lebanon.
The guerrillas have long kept a low profile. They rarely carry weapons in public and have sought to calm the fears of other religious communities in Lebanon by insisting that their arms are to fight Israel and won't be turned against their fellow Lebanese. But many Christian and Druse minorities, as well as the large Sunni Muslim community, are unconvinced and have called for the state and its military to be the only armed force in the country.
As Hezbollah celebrated, Israeli soldiers continued to withdraw Friday from an area south of the coastal town of Naqoura and near Maiss al-Jabal in the northern Galilee panhandle, said a statement by the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.
The statement said Indian and Ghanaian peacekeepers would set up checkpoints and conduct patrols in order to confirm the Israeli withdrawal and coordinate the deployment of Lebanese army units to the area on Saturday.
UNIFIL's commander, French Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, said he expected the rest of the Israeli troops to vacate southern Lebanon by the end of the month. "We are almost there," he said.
Lebanon's divided Christians feel rudderless
by Sylvie Briand -BEIRUT (AFP) - The Christians of Lebanon, divided and marginalized, are struggling to build up a new political force which can defend their interests in the face of the growing influence of the Shiite group Hezbollah after its war with Israel. "The danger with Hezbollah, which considers it won this war, is that we could see the system slide into a division between communities, which would increase the marginalization of the Christians," said Fadi Daou, a Saint Joseph University professor. Such a trend also "risks creating a dangerous confrontation between the Sunni and Shiite" Muslims of Lebanon, warned the director of the institute of religious sciences at the university. The Christian camp is itself split between Samir Geagea, former head of the Lebanese Forces, who has become an ally of Druze and Sunni leaders in opposition to the country's former powerbrokers in Damascus, and General Michel Aoun. The general, who himself led an aborted "war of liberation" against the Syrians in 1989, heads a Free Patriotic Movement which has forged a surprise alliance with the Damascus-backed Hezbollah. Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, head of the largest Christian community in Lebanon, has been trying to walk a neutral line between Geagea and Aoun, whose forces clashed at the tail-end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
But tensions are bound to rise with elections for a new president, a post reserved for a Maronite in Lebanon's confessional system, which are only 10 months away. The Christians, who make up around 38 percent of Lebanon's 3.5-million population, lost many of their privileges with the signing of the 1989 Taif accords which brought the 15-year war to an end. The president's role has been marginalized, with current pro-Syrian incumbent Emile Lahoud boycotted by the West. The Shiites, who make up Lebanon's largest's single community, feel their post of parliament speaker -- held by Nabih Berri, leader of another Shiite group, Amal -- does not give them enough of a say in the executive. Richard Jereissati, 52, a former member of the National Liberal Party (NLP), said that "time is on the Shiites' side", with their numerical advantage over the Christians widening through demographic trends.
"The Christians have learnt nothing from the past. They continue to fight among themselves, through Geagea and Aoun," he said.
Maroun Helou, 52, a former colleague in the NLP and fighter during the civil war before becoming a successful businessman, said "the question of creating a new political force is being debated more and more by Christians" disappointed with their current leaders.
Young Christians have asked him to form a new organisation which could take up arms if needed.
"But the time for all that is over. What we need is a multi-community movement to counter the growing religious antagonism that works against the Lebanese state," he said. Firas Maaluly, a 26-year-old member of Christian group Saint Ilige, said Christians needed "a real party, like Hezbollah or the Future Current of (Sunni leader) Saad Hariri with a vision for the country and that does not depend on alliances for its existence."
While acknowledging that Christian Phalangist militiamen carried out massacres during the civil war, student Teddy Aburjeily, 25, said "our idea is to conserve the flame of the Lebanese Christian resistance."
Hezbollah's war with Israel "was not our war. It's a party financed and armed by Syria and Iran. But nobody is supporting us," he lamented.
Simon Karam, a former ambassador to Washington, said what the Christians were seeking was "a more efficient state", less organized along confessional lines. "No community can or should dominate, otherwise that's the end of Lebanon as we know it," Karam warned.
Annan, UNIFIL and Unilateralism
Walid Choucair Al-Hayat - 22/09/06//
There are different reactions to the presence of the multinational forces in Lebanon. Some criticize them, some warn them, and others believe that with the passage of time they will turn into an enemy to be targeted by military-capable forces. These stances require that we think over them, as well as some statements that assess the role of these forces.
There is nothing new about saying that the presence of UNIFIL in Lebanon after UN Resolution 1701 has put the country under international mandate. The Resolution commissioned the forces with a defined mission for at least one year, which could be extended if the mission is accomplished. There is no valid reason for the Lebanese, or regional groups to be confused between their conflict with the Lebanese government and this international mandate. While counting the pros and cons of the way the Israeli war on Lebanon had been settled, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, the subject of this campaign, considered that issuing more UN resolutions about Lebanon was one of the cons. He said that Israel sent Lebanon ten years back by destroying the country. However, he added that Israel's re-occupation of parts of Lebanese territories forced the government to seek to drive Israel out, this time by using diplomatic means. These means were what the government sought, among other issues, through Resolution 1701.
It is not enough to consider the role of UNIFIL in Lebanon from this angle before establishing some superficial excuses to make it look like an enemy, and subsequently adopting a stance against it; against the fact that the majority believes that these forces came to protect Lebanon from Israel's brutality.
The international framework of UNIFIL in Lebanon is completely different from the international framework that governs the presence of international peace-keeping forces in a number of other regions. Also, there is something new in international relations that governs the UNIFIL compared with other multinational forces deployed all over the world. Those who include these forces in the literature on their political disagreements should take these two factors into consideration and reconsider their stances before announcing them. But, they can keep their stances on UNIFIL if they have a comprehensive view of the different international framework of its presence in Lebanon. Then they would be aware of what they are doing and why.
It was no coincidence that retiring UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan felt pride in his final speech at the UN General Assembly, three days ago, when he said: "As I traveled through the Middle East, I saw again the legitimacy and reach of the United Nations. Its indispensable role in securing the peace in Lebanon has reminded us all how powerful this Organization can be, when everyone wants it to succeed". The keyword in what Annan said was "everybody". Annan is called the 'Father of Resolution 1701' by many who followed up his role in adopting the Lebanese-proposed amendments to the initial text, which was mostly American, in spite of France's contribution. Perhaps he picked the right time to build on what the US unilateral approach in managing international crises in order to participate in the major State's endeavor to find a new framework to handle the Israeli war on Lebanon that is not governed only by what Washington wants. In short, the neo-conservatives and the US administration failed when they gave Israel the task of resolving the situation in Lebanon and eliminating Hezbollah. On the contrary, this caused great damage to the interests of Europe and the moderates all over the Arab World and in Lebanon.
It seems that Annan not only chose the right timing, but he also wanted, based on his comments on the role of the UN in Lebanon, to retaliate against the Americans for what they had done to him. Three years ago, he said that the war on Iraq lacked international mandate and the neo-conservatives said that the UN was dead.
Although, as Annan repeated in his speech, we should not be deluded by the UN's role. The US is in a critical situation in some regions that makes it necessary for Washington to accept the participation of other countries. It was not only France's own interests in the region and Lebanon that made it take such a big part in the UNIFIL. This is also applicable to Italy (France and Italy constitute the backbone of the forces) and Spain. If China and Russia participate in the mission, each for its own reasons, it will be clear that all these countries were trying to steal a role out of the US' unilateral policy in order to polish the image of pluralism internationally. They enter this experience under the umbrella of agreement with the US.
Will UNIFIL, by 2007, make applicable to Lebanon the words that French President Jacques Chirac said at the peak of his disagreement with the US before the invasion of Iraq, that the US may be able invade Iraq alone but would need the assistance of other countries to get out of it?
Thinking over the international mandate on Lebanon requires looking from this angle. As for linking the criticism of UNIFIL to its support of Siniora, this is poor logic. All these countries admire Siniora only because they are seeking to strike a sort of international balance in the country with the assistance of a balanced man. This does not cancel the possibility that other balanced men may exist in the tiny country.
Lebanese Shiite Mufti of Tyre Ali Al-Amin Harshly Criticizes Hizbullah for Its Conduct in the Recent Conflict
Following are excerpts from two interviews with Shiite Mufti of Tyre Sheik Ali Al-Amin, which aired on LBC TV on August 26, 2006 and September 5, 2006.
Interview 1
Sheik Ali Al-Amin: With regard to the [Hizbullah] victory, as it has been called - I don't believe it was such a victory... I don't want to get into an argument about the meaning of victory, but I ask: Were we in such a state of defeat before July 12 that we needed such a "great" and "strategic" victory following July 12?
Interviewer: When posters Hassan Nasrallah are raised in the streets of Arab cities and in the [Sunni] Al-Azhar University - shouldn't this be considered a victory for Hizbullah?
Sheik Ali Al-Amin: In Arabic, we have both truth and figurative language. This may be a victory in the figurative sense, a moral victory. This is not entirely impossible. But if "strategic victory" refers to our bombing of Haifa... Saddam Hussein attacked Tel Aviv with Scud missiles - was that a strategic victory as well? We were not in a state of defeat before July 12. We were winning, and we had an important and great achievement, which we should have preserved.
Interviewer: What achievement are you talking about?
Sheik Ali Al-Amin: The achievement of the year 2000. Before July 12, we still had this achievement, and there was a possibility [for Hizbullah] to be incorporated in the state, rather than have such a war imposed on us.
Interviewer: But the issue of the Shaba' Farms still remained, and this has always been the pretext for continuing the resistance operations, and even for the capturing of the Israeli soldiers.
Sheik Ali Al-Amin: But now, after July 12, they accepted that the Shaba' Farms issue could be resolved through diplomatic means, through the U.N. This was possible before July 12.
[...]
People are not so simple and naïve that [Hizbullah's] money will make them forget their wounds, their tragedies, and the loved ones they have lost. This is unreasonable. Life must go on, but how can anyone forget such pains, and all the suffering of becoming displaced. This [money] is worth nothing compared to what people have lost.
Interviewer: But Hizbullah says the resistance was defending people's honor. We've heard many people saying that what the resistance did served to defend the honor of the Lebanese.
Sheik Ali Al-Amin: During the war or by paying money?
Interviewer: During the war, when the resistance continued its operations, through the operation of capturing the two soldiers, through resistance to Israel, and by teaching Israel a lesson... The world's fourth strongest army... Through guerrilla warfare, it managed to teach them a lesson.
Sheik Ali Al-Amin: Let's not talk about honor. What honor is there in sleeping in schools or in the street? With all the pain and sorrow - what honor is there in that kind of life?
Interview 2
Sheik Ali Al-Amin: We cannot claim that the enemy has been defeated. The enemy also had goals that were not accomplished, but there is no comparison between our pain and that of the enemy. Our pain was great, while the pain caused to the enemy... There is no comparison. Some say: If you suffer, know that they suffer as much as you. No, we suffered more than our enemy. The destruction caused to us was greater than that caused to our enemy. We lost more lives than the enemy, even though I don't believe the purpose of war is to take lives. One would expect a war to have greater goals.
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Israel is a country that is ready to confront all the Arab armies combined. We should not be ashamed if we did not defeat it. We confronted it, and were steadfast, but we did not defeat it, and there is no shame in that.
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In Islam, planning is for the sake of victory, not so we can say: He was courageous, fought, and then got killed. You hear people say: He entered the battlefield, fought like a brave hero, and then was martyred. Is that really our goal?
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I don't understand how anyone can claim that one side was defeated, without losing lives or suffering destruction, while the other side has won, with all this destruction and loss of lives. How can one be called a victory and the other a defeat?
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I cannot say to my enemy: I want to fight you on this or that spot only, and you are not allowed to fight me anywhere else. I want to capture one of your soldiers, so you should try to capture one of mine in return, but you are not allowed to bomb my infrastructure and factories. This is not the logic of war.
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I do not doubt that Hizbullah has special and maybe even unique relations with Iran.
Interviewer: Hizbullah or the Shiites?
Sheik Ali Al-Amin: No, not the Shiites. The Shiites are not like that. We Shiites have a principle that our ties are with the homeland. The relations we have with Iran or Iraq are religious and cultural. These religious cultural relations are age-old relations.
Interviewer: Like the relations of the Christians, or the Catholics, with the Vatican...
Sheik Ali Al-Amin: Yes, or the relations of the Christians in Lebanon with France, or the relations of the Sunni [Lebanese] with Egypt or Saudi Arabia. These are cultural relations, which lead to cultural exchange and mutual respect. As for political relations, they should be with my homeland. My relations are with you, not with someone far away. Our people say: "The hell of the near is better than the paradise of the far." What good do I get out of the far-away paradise - the paradise of Tehran, Paris, or Washington? The only good thing for me is to turn my country into a paradise.
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The religious relations with Iran are cultural relations. Under no circumstances are religious relations allowed to be at the expense of the homeland.