English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 21/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

#elias_bejjani_news
 

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Bible Quotations For today

Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 16/01-12/:” And another time he said to the disciples, There was a certain man of great wealth who had a servant; and it was said to him that this servant was wasting his goods. And he sent for him and said, What is this which is said about you? give me an account of all you have done, for you will no longer be the manager of my property. And the servant said to himself, What am I to do now that my lord takes away my position? I have not enough strength for working in the fields, and I would be shamed if I made requests for money from people in the streets. I have come to a decision what to do, so that when I am put out of my position they will take me into their houses. And sending for every one who was in debt to his lord he said to the first, What is the amount of your debt to my lord? And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said, Take your account straight away and put down fifty. Then he said to another, What is the amount of your debt? And he said, A hundred measures of grain. And he said to him, Take your account and put down eighty. And his lord was pleased with the false servant, because he had been wise; for the sons of this world are wiser in relation to their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, Make friends for yourselves through the wealth of this life, so that when it comes to an end, you may be taken into the eternal resting-places. He who is true in a little, is true in much; he who is false in small things, is false in great. If, then, you have not been true in your use of the wealth of this life, who will give into your care the true wealth? And if you have not been true in your care of the property of other people, who will give you that which is yours?
 

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 20-21/2020

Lebanon eases COVID-19 restrictions during holidays despite rise in critical cases
Report: External Reasons behind Delay in Forming Government
Report: Aoun, FPM Insist on Interior, Justice Portfolios amid Paris, Hizbullah Mediation
Hassan Says Panel to Discuss New Coronavirus Strain Monday
No reason for delay in forming Lebanese government, says leading Christian cleric/Najia Houssari/Arab News/December 21, 2020
Al-Rahi Says Won't Stop His Government Formation Contacts
Al-Rahi Meets Kanaan as Part of Govt. Mediation Efforts
Lebanon crisis: National airline MEA to accept ‘fresh’ dollars only
'Like Xanax': In Lebanon, Crisis Comedy Combats Trauma
Tear Gas, Scuffles as Students, Security Forces Clash in Hamra
Geagea: If I Were the President, I Would Have Resigned

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 20-21/2020

Al-Azhar decrees prohibition of joining Muslim Brotherhood/Mohamab Abu Zaid/Arab News/December 21, 2020
WHO Europe Urges Stronger Action to Contain New Virus Strain
Britain Says New Virus Strain 'Out of Control'
Several EU Nations Halt UK Flights, Fearing Virus Variant
Iran suspends flights to UK for two weeks over new coronavirus strain concerns
Germany, Finland to Repatriate Women, Children from Syria
Iraq devalues its currency by approximately 20 pct against dollar as economy unravels
At least 3 Katyusha rockets target US embassy in Iraq’s Green Zone
US calls on Iraq's leaders to prevent attacks after rockets targeted Green Zone
El Al Airlines to operate first Israel-Morocco flight on December 22
Years after 'Collective Punishment' Libyans Trickle Home
In Refugee Camps, Palestinians Prepare for Post-Abbas Power Struggle
Nigeria Jihadists Kill Five Soldiers, Kidnap 35 Civilians in Two Attacks
Putin Hails Russia's Spies, Visits Intelligence HQ
Turkey Conducts Exercises in Eastern Mediterranean

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 20-21/2020

To Europe with Love: “Diplomats” or Terrorists from Iran’s Mullahs?/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/December 20, 2020
Why Tehran wants the nuclear deal restored/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/December 21, 2020
Why it’s time for cool heads in the Caucasus/Yasar Yakis/Arab News/December 21, 2020
Perception shift needed to end ‘clash of civilizations’ mentality/Mohamed ElBaradei/Arab News/December 21, 2020
Tunisia’s new democracy has form but no depth/Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/December 21, 2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 20-21/2020

Lebanon eases COVID-19 restrictions during holidays despite rise in critical cases
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/Sunday 20 December 2020
Lebanon’s government will be easing COVID-19 restrictions during the holidays to boost the economy despite a rise in hospitalizations. The Ministerial Committee assigned to tackle the COVID-19 decided to extend the tourism sector’s working hours from 10:30 PM until 3:00 AM. The decision will only be implemented from December 23 until January 3, when Lebanon is expected to host thousands of Lebanese expats visiting for Christmas and New Year. The decision has been subject to criticism by experts and citizens who used social media networks to highlight the government’s lack of implementation of precautionary measures required to proceed with such ease in restrictions. Charles Arbid, President of Lebanon’s Socio-Economic Council, said that the chaos that occurs with lax procedures and overcrowding portends disaster if people do not act consciously. “We are all responsible - individuals, business owners, everyone - help the medical body,” Arbid added. Adviser to the caretaker prime minister for health matters, Petra Khoury, said that with the number of cases recorded now and adding in the festive season exposures, it would mean that January will be tough. “It’s about the resiliency we’re going to need to get through the next two weeks. Like many of you, I miss my larger family & friends’ joyful company during this season. The best gift we can give our loved ones is distance and space. Unfortunately, unless we all comply, we shall be facing some rough times,” Khoury added. Halim Shebaya, Director of The Arab Association of Constitutional Law, responded to Khoury, saying: “Adviser to prime minister giving sensible advice while the government is loosening restrictions during the holidays despite the risks involved. An example of sound advice coupled with an opposite policy implemented with no sense of contradiction. Welcome to Lebanon,” Nasser Yassin, Associate Professor of Policy and Planning, added saying: “What we have seen of overcrowding in the past few days in restaurants, especially bars, which is likely to increase during the holidays, will lead to a wider societal spread of the coronavirus. Indeed, the majority of young people will not be affected, but the fear of transmitting the virus to their families and grandparents, especially with family holiday celebrations,”Dr. Firas Abiad, CEO of Rafik Hariri University Hospital, said the easing of restrictions during the holiday season means that the responsibility for curbing the spread of the virus now rests primarily with the individual. “Our individual and collective behavior during this period will determine the severity of the epidemic and its spread in the coming weeks,” he added.

Report: External Reasons behind Delay in Forming Government
Naharnet/December 20, 2020
The government formation process in Lebanon is being hindered by “external” factors, a media report said. “Sources following up on the faltering formation process have become convinced that the delay is due to external reasons, specifically Iranian,” the sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Sunday. “The contacts that happened, especially the contacts that have been carried out by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, have exposed the parties’ true intentions and those who are impeding the formation process,” the sources added. Prime Minister-designate Saad “Hariri will not remain silent indefinitely and he will announce his stance after communicating with al-Rahi to inquire about he outcome of his meetings with (President Michel) Aoun and (Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran) Bassil,” the sources went on to say. The sources also quoted opponents of Hizbullah as saying that “the solution is now in the hand of Tehran, which is holding the Lebanese card as one of the cards of negotiation with the new U.S. president Joe Biden.”

Report: Aoun, FPM Insist on Interior, Justice Portfolios amid Paris, Hizbullah Mediation
Naharnet/December 20, 2020
President Michel Aoun and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil have recently agreed to give up their demand of getting a one-third veto power in the new cabinet in return for obtaining the interior and justice portfolios, political sources said.
The development followed French and Hizbullah mediation efforts, the sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Sunday. Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, however, rejected the proposal, arguing that it is an attempt to “bypass the French initiative” and would “open the door to representing political affiliations in the government.” “Hizbullah’s leadership had made an initiative through a visit to Baabda by Hussein Khalil, the political aide of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Bassil also communicated with Nasrallah in a phone call carried out during his meeting with Hizbullah liaison official Wafiq Safa,” the sources added. “Aoun and Bassil told Nasrallah the same thing they had told the members of the French crisis cell, expressing their readiness to facilitate the government’s formation on the condition that Hariri agree to give them the interior and justice portfolios,” the sources went on to say.

Hassan Says Panel to Discuss New Coronavirus Strain Monday
Naharnet/December 20, 2020
Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan announced Sunday that the country’s scientific and ministerial committee will discuss the issue of the emergence of a new coronavirus strain in Britain during its meeting on Monday. “No matter how much the coronavirus transformation might be significant and as we wait for the new scientific information, be it a mutation or a strain, commitment to precautionary behavior remains the permanent route of salvation, and it will be the focus of the discussions of our scientific ministerial panel tomorrow,” Hassan tweeted. European countries banned flights from the UK on Sunday and the WHO called for stronger containment measures as the British government warned that a potent new strain of the virus was "out of control." Scientists first discovered the new variant -- which they believe is 70 percent more transmissible -- in a patient in September. And Public Health England notified the government on Friday when modelling revealed the full seriousness of the new strain. But Britain's chief medical officer Chris Whitty pointed out that while the new strain was greatly more infectious, "there is no current evidence to suggest (it) causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments, although urgent work is underway to confirm this."

No reason for delay in forming Lebanese government, says leading Christian cleric
Najia Houssari/Arab News/December 21, 2020
BEIRUT: There is no reason for delaying the formation of a new Lebanese government, the country’s leading Christian cleric said on Sunday. Efforts to form a new government have been blocked by political factions, with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai making a personal intervention to dissolve the stalemate.  Mustapha Adib quit as prime minister in September, less than a month after he was nominated to replace Hassan Diab, who took over from Saad Hariri at the end of January this year. The cleric said that in all his communications during the past few days with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister-designate Hariri and the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Gebran Bassil, he had found “no reason for the delay in forming the government – not for a single day.”He stressed the need for a government that was free of quotas, counter-conditions, and obstructions that paralyzed its decisions.
“This government must be non-political and non-partisan, with ministers who are known to civil society for their competence, achievements, and expertise, provided this government is formed in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and through consultation and pure intentions between the PM-designate and the president within the framework of an agreement, partnership, and rotating portfolios.”
Al-Rai said that the job of the new government was to “devote itself to implementing reforms, receive the planned and promised international aid, and prioritize rebuilding Beirut, which was destroyed by the (Aug. 4) explosion.”On Dec. 9 Hariri suggested to Aoun a cabinet lineup of 18 ministers but, since that date, there has been no progress in forming a new government. The past 48 hours have seen increased tensions between the FPM and the Future Movement, giving the impression that the process of forming a government was becoming more complicated and that the patriarch’s mediation would not lead to a breakthrough. The FPM issued a statement accusing Hariri of “attempting to bypass the constitutional authority of the president as an equal partner in the process of forming the government and as the head of the country, in addition to insisting on heeding the covenant, not adopting clear and unified standards for dealing with all Lebanese people, having an intention to look right through national balances, and returning to a time of marginalization and eroding rights.”
Its statement added: “This cannot be tolerated.”
Information leaked to the media said the FPM would agree to the formation of a government in exchange for three major ministries - interior, defense and justice - that would put it in charge of Lebanon’s security portfolio. The Future Movement accused the FMP leadership of “insisting on overthrowing the constitutional standard for forming governments.” FPM lawmaker Ibrahim Kanaan announced after his meeting with Al-Rai on Sunday that the debates should not continue and that Aoun was ready to settle the government matter in accordance with the constitution and a French initiative aimed at rebuilding the country and salvaging the economy. But he did not give details. He expected a meeting between Aoun and Hariri early next week in light of the clarifications and communication taking place, especially since the president was “determined to resolve the government formation issue” in accordance with the constitution and the French initiative. Mustafa Alloush, the vice president of the Future Movement, addressed Aoun and his son-in-law Bassil on social media: “If the intention is to destroy the structure over everyone, then you have succeeded. But what is the point of passing the presidency down to the president’s son-in-law on the ruins of a homeland? All that deception of the constitution will not work. A government with a mission is the only way to stop the collapse and protect Lebanon – if you have a conscience.”The squabbling and stalemate led Samir Geagea, who heads the Lebanese Forces party, to call for the president’s resignation. After a meeting of his parliamentary bloc he said: “The ruling group is not fit to rule. It is corrupt, and this is what brought the country to where it is. If I were the president of the republic, I would have resigned. This applies to the whole group in power.”

Al-Rahi Says Won't Stop His Government Formation Contacts
Naharnet/December 20, 2020
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi announced Sunday that he will not cease his mediation regarding the new government despite the ongoing deadlock. “Over the past four days, I considered it my duty as a patriarch to carry out efforts in various directions to push forward the cabinet formation process, out of my sense of the plights of our brothers and sons in Lebanon… and out of fear over the collapse of state institutions,” al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon. “In all the contacts that I conducted, which I will not stop, I did not find a single reason that deserves that the government be delayed over it even for a single day,” the patriarch added, noting that his decision to mediate was a “personal initiative.”Commenting on President Michel Aoun and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil’s insistence on the adoption of “unified standards” in the formation process, al-Rahi said: “If there are standards, they are all secondary, except for the standards of the constitution and the National Pact.”“We want a government in which there are no quotas, personal calculations, counter-conditions or a blocking one-third that impeded its decisions,” the patriarch added. “We want it to be a nonpolitical and nonpartisan government whose ministers would be figures who are known in the civil society,” he said. He also added that the government should be formed “according to the spirit of the constitution and through a spirit of consultation and clear intentions between the PM-designate and the president, in the framework of accord, partnership and the principle of the rotation of portfolios according to Article 95 of the constitution.”

Al-Rahi Meets Kanaan as Part of Govt. Mediation Efforts
Naharnet/December 20, 2020
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday met in Bkirki with MP Ibrahim Kanaan, the secretary of the Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc. “I was honored to visit the patriarchal seat at the invitation of His Eminence the patriarch, as part of his personal initiative with His Excellency, the president of the republic, and with the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement,” Kanaan said after the talks. He added that al-Rahi “strongly supports the approach that seeks to form a government as soon as possible.”“The patriarch’s remarks were clear, and so were our remarks on the need for forming a government and respecting the president’s jurisdiction and the constitution in the process,” Kanaan went on to say. “The current exchange of tirades should not continue,” Kanaan added, revealing that “there is a meeting that is supposed to be held and be decisive regarding the issue of government should there be good intentions.”“The president is fully ready to finalize the government’s file, according to the principles of the constitution and the French initiative with its complete and non-curtailed content,” Kanaan said. He added that the patriarch informed him of his “full keenness on this course.”“God willing, through his prayer and the wishes of all Lebanese, this will be achieved in the coming days,” Kanaan said. “Our intentions are more than responsive and positive,” he added.

Lebanon crisis: National airline MEA to accept ‘fresh’ dollars only
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/Sunday 20 December 2020
Lebanon’s national airline Middle East Airlines will stop accepting payments in US dollars from deposits in local Lebanese banks, said the Chairman of Middle East Airlines Mohamed Al-Hout in a new statement to the Financial Times. He added, “We will start selling our tickets with fresh dollars” only, that is, dollars transferred from abroad and free of banking restrictions.  The reason is that “the dollar in local banks is equivalent to 40 percent of the dollar in the market,” according to what Al-Hout said, explaining that “continuing to accept local dollars is not commercially feasible because 85 percent of the airline’s expenses are in foreign currencies.”Depositors can only withdraw their dollar savings at a rate of 3,900 Lebanese pounds to US dollar set by the central bank’s new trading platform. The black market is currently the only source of cash dollars or fresh dollars locally, the exchange rate in the black market is trading at around 8,300 Lebanese pounds to US dollar. Thus, if depositors need to pay for a plane ticket according to the new airline policy, they would have to reach out to the parallel black market enduring a loss equivalent to 40 percent of their initial savings. Despite the state’s financial collapse, the Lebanese government and parliament have so far refused to pass a capital control law, which experts say is critical to preserve Lebanon’s dwindling dollar reserves and apply withdrawal and transfer limits evenly.

'Like Xanax': In Lebanon, Crisis Comedy Combats Trauma
Agence France Presse/December 20, 2020
Lebanese comedians are bringing relief and defying taboos with jokes about dating, partying during the pandemic -- and how even drug dealers are considering leaving the crisis-hit country. Laughter erupts in a venue wedged between two districts devastated by a deadly August 4 explosion that ravaged the Beirut port and swathes of the Lebanese capital. The blast exacerbated a year-long acute financial crisis and political deadlock, as the country also struggled with a surge in novel coronavirus infections.
"The situation is so bad that even the flea market has slashed its prices by 50 percent," joked Nicolas Tawk. Tawk is one of nearly a dozen comedians who took to the stage on a rainy December evening as part of an event organized by the stand-up comedy club aptly named "awk.word". He was followed by a comedy duo who reworked the lyrics of Gloria Gaynor's hit "I Will Survive" to sing about a multitude of frustrations the Lebanese have been struggling. And then, strumming a guitar, they belted out a popular Lebanese hit from the 1980s -- Ummi Ta Nur'os (Let's get up and dance) -- the words changed to convey the challenges of partying during the pandemic.
"Get up and dance, young lady, but wait for me to disinfect my hands. Don't freak out, I'll put on my mask," they sang. Salacious, deliciously irreverent and incisively sarcastic, Lebanon's growing stand-up scene harbors no taboos. Comedians have found plenty of material in the many mishaps of Lebanon, a multi-confessional country still deeply divided after the 1975-1990 civil war. They take aim at the sectarian divisions of society and poke fun at traditions they feel are outdated and hypocritical, all the while taking jabs at politicians who have been in power for decades and are widely accused of corruption and incompetence.
- 'Pain and tragedy' -
Nour Hajjar, a prominent comedian, said stand-up comedy offers some "breathing room" to the Lebanese, who feel shackled by too many crises. But the jokes delivered also remind people "why they are under tremendous pressure and why they are so sad," said the 28-year-old. "The situation is so shitty that even the drug dealer is complaining that there is no market" and wants to emigrate to Canada, joked Hajjar, his brown curls bouncing as he laughs along with the crowd. Many Lebanese, particularly young ones, have emigrated in recent years because of the country's economic crisis -- the worst since the civil war. More than half of the population is now trapped in poverty, according to the United Nations. Over the past year, the Lebanese pound has lost more than two thirds of its value against the dollar on the black market and commercial banks have halted dollar transactions to protect dwindling reserves. Mario Mubarak worked as a bank teller before joining the stand-up scene and had a front-row seat to the country's financial decline. One day, he said, a nun came to the bank and asked to withdraw $300 from her account, explaining she wanted the money to help a nephew who was sick and needed treatment. Mubarak, who has since quit his job, told her there was nothing he could do and that she would be better off praying instead. "Despite everything that has happened, people just want to laugh," Mubarak told AFP."We've been through pain and tragedy and it's still not over."
- 'Pure release' -
Shaden, a prominent performer with a wide social media following, said comedy served a dual function. "It's like Xanax," she said, referring to the drug used to treat anxiety and depression. Shedding light on tragedies is also a way to challenge taboos and the political status quo, she added. A feminist and vocal LGBTQ activist, Shaden makes a mockery of machismo in a society that remains largely conservative. "Society has put up many barriers against women. We need to break them down," she said. "We talk about sex, not just to make people laugh, but also to say that women have a voice." For many performers, Shaden included, it is still too soon to joke about the Beirut blast. But everything else -- God, sex, religion -- is fair game. Joelle Jabbour sat among the audience, laughing with the others. Stand up comedy is "pure release," said the 24-year-old interior architect. "Laughing at what makes you sad, it lightens you up a bit," she added. "It's part of their (the comedians) life and our life. It's funny to listen to them but hard at the same time, because it's the bitter truth about Lebanon."

Tear Gas, Scuffles as Students, Security Forces Clash in Hamra
Agence France Presse/December 20, 2020
Riot police and army troops on Saturday scuffled with students protesting a decision by top universities to adopt a new dollar exchange rate to price tuition -- equivalent to a major fee hike. Near the entrance of the American University of Beirut (AUB) in the city's Hamra district, security forces fired tear gas to disperse protesters who were trying to approach the main gate. Students responded by throwing water bottles and other objects at riot police blocking their path. It was not immediately clear if there were any injuries. The protest came in response to a decision by AUB and the Lebanese American University (LAU), another top private institution, to price tuition based on an exchange rate of 3,900 Lebanese pounds to the dollar. The nosediving currency is still officially pegged at around 1,500 pounds to the greenback. The move has prompted fears that other universities could follow suit, potentially leading to an exodus of students from private institutions while public universities remain underfunded and overstretched. Hundreds of students had gathered in Hamra earlier Saturday in a protest they billed a "student day of rage". They chanted anti-government slogans and called for affordable education in a country mired in its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. Later in the evening, some torched dumpsters to block the street and vandalized banks before security forces pushed them out. Over the past year, the Lebanese pound has lost up to 80 percent of its value on the black market, where on Saturday the dollar was selling for at least 8,200 pounds. Universities have struggled to adapt to the de facto devaluation as prices nationwide have soared. Commercial banks have halted dollar transactions and restricted withdrawals of Lebanese pounds, in moves that have starved many of their savings. According to the United Nations, more than half of Lebanon's population is now living in poverty.

Geagea: If I Were the President, I Would Have Resigned
Naharnet/December 20, 2020
Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea criticized the “incompetent” ruling authority on Saturday and indirectly urged President Michel Aoun to step aside.
“If I were the President, I would have resigned,” said Geagea in remarks at a meeting of the Strong Republic bloc. The LF chief said the entire ruling authority in Lebanon “should step aside,” as the country grapples with an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, amid the paralysis of authorities. “The sequence of events proved that the ruling group is incompetent and nonviable. The crisis has recently become a crisis of powers of positions while the battle is not a battle of powers and the problem is not between Muslims and Christians, but rather the ruling class that brought the country to where we are,” said Geagea. He added that “the only solution is to stage early parliamentary elections.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 20-21/2020

Al-Azhar decrees prohibition of joining Muslim Brotherhood
Mohamab Abu Zaid/Arab News/December 21, 2020
محمد أبو زيد/ارب نيوز: الأزهر يفتي بعد جواز الإنتماء إلى جماعة الإخوان المسلمين
*“Al-Azhar Al-Sharif published in 1965 a report refuting Sayed Qutb’s thought and showing that it is perverse
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/93912/mohamab-abu-zaid-arab-news-al-azhar-decrees-prohibition-of-joining-muslim-brotherhood-%d9%85%d8%ad%d9%85%d8%af-%d8%a3%d8%a8%d9%88-%d8%b2%d9%8a%d8%af-%d8%a7%d8%b1%d8%a8-%d9%86%d9%8a%d9%88%d8%b2/
CAIRO: Al-Azhar Fatwa Global Center has said that joining the Muslim Brotherhood and other terrorist groups is forbidden according to Shariah and that God has forbidden division and disagreement.
The Egyptian newspaper Al-Watan quoted Al-Azhar as saying in its announcement that God forbids people from pursuing any path that distracts them from following the truth, explaining that keeping to the Qur’an and the Sunnah, in accordance with Shariah, was the only way to please God.
“It is clear to the public what these groups have done in distorting some texts, cutting them out of their context, and using them to achieve personal goals or interests and corrupting the land,” the center said in the fatwa.
“Membership in these extremist groups is considered forbidden by Shariah.”“Joining the terrorist Brotherhood is forbidden by law [and is considered] cooperating in immorality and aggression, for that group violates the law of God and is involved in terrorism,” said Abdullah Al-Najjar, a member of the Islamic Research Academy. Hussein Al-Qadi, a researcher in religious affairs and Islamic movements, said that the fatwa is the first of its kind in the history of Al-Azhar.
“This fatwa has never been issued from Al-Azhar before. Various statements were issued by Al-Azhar describing the Brotherhood as being outdated. In fact, Imam Muhammad Mustafa Al-Maraghi, reformer and rector of Al-Azhar, demanded the dissolution of the Brotherhood,” Al-Qadi said.
“Al-Azhar Al-Sharif published in 1965 a report refuting Sayed Qutb’s thought and showing that it is perverse. Qutb was a leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and 1960s. The fatwa issued today that prohibits joining the Muslim Brotherhood is consistent with Al-Azhar’s march in this direction,” he added. “I think that this fatwa is an important step that deserves praise…and greater efforts should be based on this move,” he said.

WHO Europe Urges Stronger Action to Contain New Virus Strain
Agence France Presse/December 20, 2020
The World Health Organization is calling on its members in Europe to strengthen measures against coronavirus due to the new variant circulating in the United Kingdom, its European branch told AFP on Sunday. Outside Britain, nine cases of the new strain have been reported in Denmark, as well as one case in the Netherlands and another in Australia, according to the WHO. "Across Europe, where transmission is intense and widespread, countries need to redouble their control and prevention approaches," a spokeswoman for WHO Europe said.

Britain Says New Virus Strain 'Out of Control'
Agence France Presse/December 20, 2020
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Sunday that the government has imposed a strict Christmas lockdown in London and southeast England because a new strain of the coronavirus was "out of control." Hancock warned that the strict measures that affect almost a third of England's population could stay in place until the virus vaccine is fully rolled out. "We acted very quickly and decisively," Hancock told Sky News, justifying the "stay at home" order, ban on family gatherings over Christmas and closure of non-essential shops. "Unfortunately the new strain was out of control. We have got to get it under control."Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday that millions must cancel Christmas plans and stay home because the new strain was spreading far more quickly. Around 16.4 million people entered the strictest "tier four" measures from Sunday, or 31 percent of England's population. They are not allowed to hold family gatherings for Christmas, while in the rest of the country households are allowed to mix on Christmas Day alone. London's Metropolitan Police said that it would take action against those who "make reckless decisions that risk lives." Other UK regions have also tightened their anti-virus measures in response. Wales introduced a strict lockdown from Sunday, while Scotland has banned travel to and from other UK regions for Christmas. Both Scotland and Northern Ireland will enter fresh lockdowns on December 26. Hancock told Sky News that the situation was "deadly serious." "It's going to be very difficult to keep it under control until we have the vaccine rolled out," he said, adding: "This is what we face over the next couple of months."The UK hopes to reach a figure of half a million vaccinations over the weekend, the health minister said. Scientists first discovered the new variant in a patient in September, Susan Hopkins of Public Health England told Sky News. She said that scientists in November found the new strain was behind a cluster of cases in Kent and spreading into London and Essex and informed the government on December 11. Public Health England then again notified the government on Friday when modelling revealed the full seriousness of the new strain, she said. She confirmed the figure given by Johnson that the new virus strain could be 70 percent more transmissible while saying this was an initial figure."I think 70 percent looks like a good number to land on at the moment," she said. The virus has been found in all regions of England but in small numbers, Hopkins said.Hancock said cases have also been identified in Australia and Europe.Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific adviser, said Saturday that the new strain "contains 23 different changes," including to the way the virus binds to human cells and enters cells. London Mayor Sadiq Khan told Sky News that London now has the same number of inpatients with the virus as during the peak of the first wave in April. Cases have also grown rapidly among those aged 10 to 19, he said. Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, told the Observer weekly that "if this new variant is behind the increase in this age group, then that is a big worry."
- PM 'scared' -
The grave situation prompted widespread criticism of the prime minister for promising last week not to "cancel Christmas.""Not much was understood about this mutant virus. But that uncertainty should have been enough for the PM to see that then was the time to call off Christmas," wrote The Sunday Mirror weekly. Labour Leader Keir Starmer said in a video statement: "We have a prime minister who is so scared of being unpopular that he is incapable of taking tough decisions until it is too late."Some Londoners backed the lockdown measures. "See I think it’s the right move at the moment," said Marcel Hadula. "We don’t want to overwhelm the NHS, because if we do that, then how can we effectively treat everybody that will come into contact with this new strain of the Covid virus?"But Chiara Morreale said her relatives were likely to break the lockdown rules over Christmas. "On Christmas (Day) there’s a good chance, my auntie and uncle will come around," she said.

Several EU Nations Halt UK Flights, Fearing Virus Variant
Associated Press/December 20, 2020
Several European Union nations on Sunday banned flights from the U.K. and Germany was considering limiting such flights to make sure that a new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England does not establish a strong foothold on the continent.
The Netherlands banned flights from the U.K. for at least the rest of the year while Belgium issued a flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight and also halted train links to Britain, including the Eurostar. Austria and Italy said they would halt flights from the U.K. but did not give details on any timing of the ban.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Twitter that the government was preparing the measure "to protect Italians" from the new coronavirus variant. About two dozen flights were scheduled to arrive in Italy on Sunday, most in the northern region of Lombardy but also in Veneto and Lazio, which include Venice and Rome respectively.German officials, meanwhile, were considering "serious options" regarding incoming flights from the U.K., but have not yet taken action.
The Czech Republic, meanwhile, imposed stricter quarantine measures from people arriving from the U.K.
The EU governments say they are acting in response to tougher measures imposed Saturday in London and its surrounding areas by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He immediately put those regions into a new Tier 4 level of restrictions, saying that a fast-moving new variant of the virus that is 70% more transmissible than existing strains appears to be driving the rapid spread of new infections in London and southern England. "There's no evidence to suggest it is more lethal or causes more severe illness," Johnson said, or that vaccines will be less effective against it. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Sunday said he was issuing the flight ban for 24 hours starting at midnight "out of precaution." "There are a great many questions about this new mutation and if it is not already on the mainland," he said. He hoped to have more clarity by Tuesday. The World Health Organization tweeted late Saturday that "We're in close contact with U.K. officials on the new #COVID19 virus variant." It promised to update governments and the public as more is learned about this variant. The new strain of coronavirus was identified in southeastern England in September and has been circulating in the area since, a WHO official told the BBC on Sunday. "What we understand is that it does have increased transmissibility, in terms of its ability to spread," said Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical lead on COVID-19. Studies are under way to better understand how fast it spreads and and whether "it's related to the variant itself, or a combination of factors with behavior," she said. She said the strain had also been identified in Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia, where there was one case that did not spread further.
"The longer this virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to change," she said. "So we really need to do everything we can right now to prevent spread, and minimizing that spread will reduce the chances of it changing." Susan Hopkins of Public Health England said that while the variant has been circulating since September, it wasn't until this week that officials felt they had enough evidence to declare that it has higher transmissibility than other circulating viruses. The strain has spread to other parts of the U.K. but in smaller amounts than in London and surrounding areas, she told the BBC.
Germany has not yet spelled out a ban but is considering limiting or halting flights from the U.K. as well, the dpa news agency reported Sunday. A high-ranking German official told dpa that restrictions on flights from Britain are a "serious option."
Europe has been walloped this fall by soaring new infections and deaths due to a resurgence of the virus, and many nations have reimposed a series of restrictions to reign in their outbreaks. Britain has seen over 67,000 deaths in the pandemic, the second-highest confirmed toll in Europe after Italy. Johnson on Saturday closed all non-essential shops, hairdressers, gyms and pools and told Britons to reorganize their holiday plans. No mixing of households is now allowed indoors in Tier 4 areas, including London, and only essential travel is permitted into and out of such areas. In the rest of England, people will be allowed to meet in Christmas bubbles for just one day instead of the five that were planned. Also Saturday, video emerged showing crowds of people rushing to London train stations, apparently making a dash for places in the U.K. with less stringent coronavirus restrictions before the new rules came into effect. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said "those scenes were totally irresponsible." "We in government of course have a responsibility, but so does every single person," he said. "The plea that I have is that people will play their part. Because it is only by acting — all of us — that we can get this under control."

Iran suspends flights to UK for two weeks over new coronavirus strain concerns
Reuters/Monday 21 December 2020
Iran suspended flights to Britain for two weeks on Sunday due to the new coronavirus strain, state news agency IRNA reported. “Due to the new circumstances in the spread of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom, flights between Tehran and destinations in the UK will be suspended for two weeks,” IRNA quoted Shahram Adamnejad, a deputy transport minister, as saying. Visit our dedicated coronavirus site here for all the latest updates. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will chair an emergency response meeting on Monday to discuss international travel, in particular the flow of freight in and out of Britain, a spokeswoman for his office said on Sunday. Earlier on Sunday, several European countries began closing their doors to travelers from Britain after the country tightened COVID restrictions in London and southern England to try to curb the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus. France said it would bar all people coming from the UK for 48 hours from Sunday night, including freight carriers, whether by road, air, sea or rail. Britain’s port of Dover said its ferry terminal was closed.

Germany, Finland to Repatriate Women, Children from Syria
Agence France Presse/December 20, 2020
Germany and Finland said Sunday they had repatriated 23 of their nationals, women and children, from Syria, some of whom were under criminal investigation for allegedly belonging to the Islamic State group. "I am very relieved that we were able to repatriate another 12 children and three mothers from camps in northeastern Syria yesterday," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement. Maas said the repatriations were "humanitarian cases, primarily orphans and children who were ill -– cases in which a repatriation was deemed particularly necessary and urgent."He added that it is not legally possible to repatriate children without their mothers. For its part, the Finnish foreign ministry said that it had brought home six children and two adult mothers. "Under the constitution, Finnish public authorities are obligated to safeguard the basic rights of the Finnish children interned in the camps insofar as this is possible," it said. "The basic rights of the children interned in the al-Hol camps can be safeguarded only by repatriating them to Finland." According to Helsinki, more than 9,000 foreign women and children, two-thirds of them children, are still being held in the al-Hol and Roj camps in northeastern Syria, housing suspected Islamic State family members and sympathizers. Many European nations have resisted repatriating their nationals from the camps, because of the security risks, it said. According to German media reports, the three repatriated German women are aged between 21 and 38 and the children are aged between two and 12. The group resided in a refugee camp under Kurdish control. The three women were "wives of jihadists" of the Islamic State group and "are in very poor health," a spokesman for the Kurdish administration's foreign relations office, Kamal Akif, told AFP. One of the German women was detained on arrival in Frankfurt, a statement by the anti-terrorist prosecutors' office said. As well as allegedly belonging to the Islamic State group, the woman, identified as Leonora M. and aged 21, is suspected of using a young Yazidi woman as a slave. Her husband was a member of the Islamic State group's "secret services", the prosecutor said.

Iraq devalues its currency by approximately 20 pct against dollar as economy unravels
Bloomberg/Sunday 20 December 2020
Iraq devalued its currency by about 20 percent against the dollar as the cash-strapped government faces an economic crisis brought about by low oil prices and crude-production cuts. The central bank reduced the official rate to 1,450 dinar per dollar, the first devaluation since 2003, it said in a statement. That’s from about 1,190 previously. Dollars will be resold to local banks at 1,460 dinar apiece. The world’s third-largest oil exporter is taking the steps to avoid depleting its foreign-currency reserves after the coronavirus sapped demand for energy and caused prices to collapse. The government last month sought upfront payments in exchange for a long-term crude-supply contract to help mitigate its dire financial situation. “The devaluation was inevitable given the drop in oil prices and the budgetary pressures Iraq is facing.” The government says that this is a one-off and won’t be repeated, but we’ll see if that will be the case. It is also important to watch the popular response to the resulting increase in living costs and the government’s austerity program, Ziad Daoud, chief emerging-markets economist at Bloomberg said. Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, who came to power in May, has warned that the government will struggle to pay civil servants without raising more debt. That’s threatening a repeat of the upheaval that last year brought down the government and saw hundreds of protesters killed. Demonstrators at a rally at Tahrir Square at the end of October bemoaned corrupt politicians, daily power cuts, dilapidated hospitals, crumbling roads and a lack of jobs, and urged the government to ignore OPEC output cuts.The International Monetary Fund expects Iraq’s economy to shrink 12 percent this year, more than that of any other OPEC member under a production quota, and that its budget deficit will reach 22 percent of gross domestic product.

At least 3 Katyusha rockets target US embassy in Iraq’s Green Zone
Ismaeel Naar, Al Arabiya English/Sunday 20 December 2020
At least three Katyusha rockets have targeted the US embassy in Iraq’s Green Zone area, according to Al Arabiya’s correspondent. Security sources said the rockets were intercepted by the US embassy’s anti-missile defense systems and that they fell within the Green Zone Area. “Iraqi security forces are currently searching for the missile launchers that were used in the vicinity of the US embassy in Baghdad,” Al Arabiya’s correspondent in Baghdad Majid Hamid reported. A security cordon has been imposed in the vicinity of the US embassy in Baghdad following the attack, the corresponded added. The Iraqi military said that an "outlaw group" fired rocketsat Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone on Sunday. The rockets hit a residential complex inside the Green Zone,damaging buildings and cars but causing no casualties, a military statement said. The US Embassy in Baghdad confirmed in a statement that rockets targeting the Green Zone resulted in the engagement of the embassy’s defensive systems. “There was some minor damage on the Embassy compound but no injuries or casualties. We have received reports of damage to residential areas near the US Embassy and possibly some injuries to innocent Iraqi civilians,” the statement read. “As we have said many times, these sorts of attacks on diplomatic facilities are a violation of international law and are a direct assault on the sovereignty of the Iraqi government. We call on all Iraqi political and governmental leaders to take steps to prevent such attacks and hold accountable those responsible,” the embassy added.

US calls on Iraq's leaders to prevent attacks after rockets targeted Green Zone
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/Monday 21 December 2020
The United States embassy in Baghdad urged Iraq's leaders to work on preventing attacks on foreign targets in the country, after a rocket attack targeted the American embassy's compound in the Green Zone on Sunday. Eight rockets targeted the US Embassy in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone late Sunday, Iraq's military and Iraqi officials said, sparking fears of renewed unrest as next month's anniversary of the US slaying of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani draws near. "The US Embassy confirms rockets targeting the International Zone resulted in the engagement of Embassy defensive systems. There was some minor damage on the Embassy compound but no injuries or casualties," the embassy said on Twitter. "We have received reports of damage to residential areas near the US Embassy and possibly some injuries to innocent Iraqi civilians. As we have said many times these sorts of attacks on diplomatic facilities are a violation of international law and are a direct assault on the sovereignty of the Iraqi government," it added. "We call on all Iraqi political and governmental leaders to take steps to prevent such attacks and hold accountable those responsible."The attack is the third on US military and diplomatic installations since a truce in October largely put an end to a year of rocket and roadside bomb attacks on foreign installations across Iraq. The first, on November 17, saw a volley of rockets slam into the US embassy and various parts of the Iraqi capital, killing one young woman. On December 10, two convoys transporting logistical equipment for the US-led coalition helping Iraqi troops fight jihadists were targeted with roadside bombs. The attacks have been claimed by groups that both US and Iraqi officials have described as smokescreens for well-known Iran-aligned armed factions in Iraq.
Tensions have been high ahead of January 3 anniversary of the 2019 US drone strike in Baghdad that killed Soleimani and leading Iraqi paramilitary figure Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The US diplomatic mission has already partially withdrawn its staff due to security concerns, two senior Iraqi officials told AFP earlier this month. They described the move as a "minor drawdown based on security reservations from the US side," and said it was not a rupture of diplomatic ties. Iraqi and Western officials see a turbulent few weeks ahead of the White House handover from President Donald Trump, who has pursued a "maximum pressure" policy against Iran that has also squeezed its allies next door in Iraq. They did not rule out last-minute military action by the Trump administration on Iranian interests in Iraq, or a possible escalation by Iran-backed groups around Baghdad.- With AFP
 

El Al Airlines to operate first Israel-Morocco flight on December 22
Reuters/Monday 21 December 2020
Israeli flag carrier El Al Airlines said on Sunday it would operate the first flight from Israel to Rabat, Morocco on Dec. 22 and that the plane would carry a joint US-Israeli delegation. The direct flight, LY555, is expected to take six hours and follows a US-brokered deal earlier this month in which the countries agreed to normalize relations. Israel and Morocco agreed on Dec. 10 to normalize relations in a deal brokered with the help of the United States, making Morocco the fourth Arab country to set aside hostilities with Israel in the past four months. At the time, Moroccan King Mohammed told US President Donald Trump by phone that Morocco intended to facilitate direct flights for Israeli tourists to and from Morocco, according to a statement from Morocco's royal court. Immediately following the announcement of the deal, El Al Israel Airlines said it was examining the possibility of establishing direct flights between Israel. As part of the agreement, US President Donald Trump agreed to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, where there has been a decades-old territorial dispute with Morocco pitted against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, a breakaway movement that seeks to establish an independent state in the territory.

Years after 'Collective Punishment' Libyans Trickle Home
Agence France Presse/Monday 21 December 2020
When Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was toppled, people took revenge on those they saw as his supporters -- including the entire town of Tawergha, whose 40,000 residents were forced to flee. Now, almost a decade after militia forces rampaged through the town, torching homes, destroying buildings and leaving farms in ruins, the people of Tawergha are coming home. Around a third of the original population of the town have returned -- among them is Abdelghani Omar, who has opened a barber shop. "At first it was tough," Omar said. "My relatives convinced me to get into hairdressing."People are trickling back to Tawergha after years living in makeshift tent camps, to try to turn the page on a brutal chapter of their lives. Omar's family persuaded him he was doing the right thing and providing a "useful" service for the battered community. Tawergha, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of the capital Tripoli, is close to the port city of Misrata. At the end of the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted and killed Gadhafi, Tawergha endured brutal reprisal attacks by fighters from Misrata. Militias from Misrata were key in defeating Gadhafi and, seeing Tawergha as the enemy, they laid siege to the town, pounding it with artillery. Most of the town's population was violently displaced, according to Human Rights Watch, which denounced what it called "collective punishment" and a "possible crime against humanity."
'Mirror image of Libya's chaos'
For several years, militias blocked people from returning. The people were banished, living in grim destitution in basic shelters on a windswept desert plain. But after a reconciliation deal -- backed by the U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) -- was signed between the former bitter enemies in 2018, people slowly began to go back to the town. Their return has not been easy. "Many would like to return, but they hesitate," said Omar, 35, as he cut the hair of a customer in the desolate town's only barber shop. Tawergha's infrastructure was devastated, buildings are gutted and the streets full of potholes. The scars of war are everywhere. But after the reconciliation deal and promises by the Tripoli-based GNA that they would receive compensation, some decided it was time to go back. Mahmud Abu al-Habel, a grey-haired grandfather in a bright red felt hat, was among the first. The 70-year-old painstakingly rebuilt his house and helped nurture back to health hundreds of date-bearing palms and olive trees on his farm that had been torched during the attacks. Abu al-Habel, accused of being a staunch supporter of Gadhafi, was forced to flee Tawergha, along with 26 members of his family.
But today, people should not hesitate to return home, he said. "We should be here," insisted Abu al-Habel. But political tensions between the rival administrations that emerged in the chaos after Gadhafi's death are delaying the disbursement of compensation to residents to rebuild their lives.
The "absence of a (central) government" is responsible for this, said Tawergha's mayor Abdelrahman Shakshak. Jobs must be created and homes rebuilt, but the government is busy with "conflicts and divisions", he added. Shakshak said that requests for the construction of 1,500 houses in neighborhoods destroyed in the fighting "have fallen on deaf ears". Tired of waiting, some residents like Tahani Khairi have found new lives elsewhere in Libya. "It'll take 10 years at least for the town to get back to its former self," said Khairi, a widow and mother of four, who now lives in Tripoli. "Tawergha is a mirror image of Libya's chaos," she added."Stability will not return unless there is a strong and united state."

In Refugee Camps, Palestinians Prepare for Post-Abbas Power Struggle
Agence France Presse/December 20, 2020
In Palestinian refugee camps in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, some residents are preparing weapons for a potential power struggle when President Mahmud Abbas finally leaves the stage. Abbas, 85, leader of the dominant Fatah movement and of the Palestinian Authority (PA), has promised legislative and presidential elections in 2021, for the first time in almost 15 years. Rivals are already seeking to build up a power-base. In Balata camp, outside the city of Nablus, walls are plastered with posters picturing Hatem Abu Rizq, regarded as a "martyr" of Palestinian infighting. On October 31, Palestinian media reported one dead and others wounded in Balata, where 30,000 people are crammed into one quarter of a square kilometer (one tenth of a square mile). This time, the casualties were not the result of a clash with Israeli forces, although Abu Rizq spent almost 10 years in Israeli jails for his part in the Palestinian uprising of 2000 to 2005. At the age of 35, he died in the eruption of intra-Palestinian violence in October. Palestinian officials said he was killed by the premature explosion of a bomb he was about to detonate. "But in truth he was killed by shots from the Palestinian Authority," says his mother, Um Hatem Abu Rizq, in the family's tiny apartment in a dilapidated concrete building. "He was looking to fight corruption within the Palestinian administration, that's why they didn't like him," she weeps, kissing a giant poster of her son. Was he working for exiled former Fatah Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan, as alleged by PA officials? "If Hatem were with Dahlan, we would not live in such an apartment," said his mother, whose two other sons are in hiding, fearing for their lives.
Dahlan's shadow?
In the Palestinian territories, Dahlan's name comes up repeatedly in connection with the normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, announced in August and signed in Washington in September. He fell into disgrace in Fatah after his security forces in Gaza were routed by Hamas in 2007. Four years later, he was kicked off Fatah's central committee on charges of "subversion." He went into exile in Abu Dhabi where he became an adviser to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and a key player in the Israel normalization accord bitterly opposed by the PA. Following the announcement of the UAE's pact with the Jewish state, Palestinians in the West Bank publicly trampled posters of "traitor" Dahlan. But his name has been mentioned as a possible contender for a "successor" to the 85-year-old Abbas, who has headed the Palestinian Authority since 2005 after the 2004 death of Yasser Arafat. Inside the Palestinian political establishment however, the post-Abbas future is a taboo subject. "In this region, we don't like to talk about life after death," an influential Fatah figure said recently. The PA's governor of Nablus, Ibrahim Ramadan, has no doubt about Abu Rizq's loyalties. "Hatem Abu Rizq was with Dahlan," he told AFP, adding that since his death, 14 members of the government security forces have been wounded in attacks in Balata. "These people only understand the language of force and need to understand that we are strong," he said.
Anti-Abbas uprising?
At the entrance to Balata camp, Palestinian security personnel in balaclavas stand by an armored vehicle, sipping coffee, while their sniper colleagues keep watch from the rooftops. "Dahlan gives money to unemployed youth to throw stones and Molotov cocktails at Palestinian forces," senior PA officer General Wael Shitawi said angrily. "Their aim is to create unrest and show that the Palestinian Authority does not control the camps," he told AFP in his apartment ringed by surveillance cameras. "They want to instigate a revolution from the camps, then say that Dahlan must come back to solve the problem." Dahlan sympathizer and Fatah member Dimitri Diliani says the PA sees the hand of Dahlan in what is simply the anger of refugees who feel downtrodden and ignored. "This is Dahlanphobia, a phobia that the PA is suffering," he said. "This is a pandemic worse than Covid-19. "It is a reaction to political harassment that has been carried out by the Palestinian Authority," he added.
'Fertile soil'
The United Nations envoy for the Middle East, Nickolay Mladenov, told AFP he was "deeply concerned" about growing tensions between residents of Balata camp and the Palestinian security forces, and called for "all parties to show restraint". Emad Zaki, who heads a committee that oversees services for camp residents, said people wanted change. "In Balata, it is not that people like Dahlan, but they are looking for an alternative to improve their lot... it is fertile ground." He said the dispute has sparked an influx of weapons into the camp outpacing that of the uprising, or intifada, of 20 years ago.
"There are more weapons today in Balata than during the second intifada," he said. "There are rocket launchers, Kalashnikovs and M16 (assault rifles)."

Nigeria Jihadists Kill Five Soldiers, Kidnap 35 Civilians in Two Attacks
Agence France Presse/December 20, 2020
Five Nigerian soldiers were killed when Islamic State-aligned jihadists ambushed a military convoy and more than 30 civilians were also kidnapped in another attack, military sources said on Sunday. The military convoy was hit in northeast Borno state on Saturday, and militants also attacked a transport convoy in the same region a day before, abducting 35 people and killing one woman. Nigeria's Boko Haram and a splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have killed 36,000 people and displaced around two million as part of a decade-long conflict. Saturday's attack on the military convoy took place outside of Mafa, 44 kilometers (27 miles) north of the regional capital Maiduguri. "The terrorists fired an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) on the convoy which hit one of the vehicles with five soldiers in it," one security source said. "All the five were killed." The insurgents seized two vehicles in the attack, said a second source who gave the same toll. ISWAP split from the mainstream Boko Haram six years ago and rose to become a dominant group. The jihadist group focuses on military targets, raiding bases, ambushing troops and planting mines on the roads, but recently they have been attacking and abducting civilians. At least 35 people were kidnapped late Friday by ISWAP militants at a fake checkpoint in Garin Kuturu village outside Jakana, 25 kilometers from Maiduguri. "The ISWAP terrorists who were dressed in military uniform stopped the vehicles... Some of the passengers fled into the bush while 35 were taken hostage," a pro-government militia official said. A woman was shot dead and several others were injured when the militants opened fire on those fleeing into the bush, he said.  Jakana, which lies along the 120-kilometre highway linking Maiduguri and Damaturu, the capital of neighbouring Yobe state, is an ISWAP stronghold. Abductions of civilians by the jihadists in the area have been on the rise, prompting increased military deployments which have failed to end the abductions.

Putin Hails Russia's Spies, Visits Intelligence HQ
Agence France Presse/December 20, 2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday hailed the country's "courageous" spies as he visited the headquarters of the Foreign Intelligence Service to mark its 100th birthday. Putin, who has spent most of the coronavirus epidemic at his residences outside the Russian capital and on the Black Sea, visited the SVR headquarters in southern Moscow amid the controversy surrounding the work of the country's security services. SVR, Russia's external intelligence agency, which succeeded the First Chief Directorate of the KGB in 1991, marks its centenary on Sunday. But December 20 is also the day in Russia when the country fetes all members of the security services including those from the FSB domestic intelligence agency. Speaking outside the SVR headquarters, Putin, himself a former KGB officer, thanked all those who protect Russia from "external and internal threats" and called them "reliable and courageous people.""Efficient work of security bodies, which is governed by law and national interests, always was and will be exceptionally important for Russia," he said. "It's one of the most important guarantees of the sovereign, democratic and independent development of our multinational society," Putin added. The 66-year-old Kremlin chief praised the work of SVR which he said influenced the course of history of both Russia and the world. He said he counted on the external intelligence to continue to counter "potential threats" against Russia but in a rare public rebuke also said the service should "increase the quality of its analytical papers."  Addressing members of the FSB domestic intelligence and other anti-terror services, Putin said they should continue to act "decisively". "It's also necessary to build on the current successes when it comes to work of counter-intelligence," he added.
Putin praised Russian security agents after an investigative report claimed this week that members of the FSB intelligence were behind the poisoning of top opposition leader Alexei Navalny with Novichok, a Soviet-designed nerve agent. Putin dismissed the joint report led by the investigative website Bellingcat, saying that if the Russian security services had wanted to poison Navalny, "they would have taken it to the end."

Turkey Conducts Exercises in Eastern Mediterranean
Agence France Presse/December 20, 2020
Turkey has carried out naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean, the defense ministry said Sunday, against a backdrop of tensions with its neighbors over energy exploration in the region. The defense ministry said on its Twitter account that "elements of our navy command" conducted the exercises, without specifying the location other than "eastern Mediterranean."However it posted photos showing a naval vessel firing a cannon. Turkey is at loggerheads with EU members Greece and Cyprus over energy resources in disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean. The exercises follow an announcement by the European Union on December 10 of plans to impose sanctions on Turkey over its "illegal and aggressive" actions in the zone. On Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a videoconference call that Turkey wants to turn over a new leaf with the European Union. He insisted that Turkey's attitude was "constructive" while accusing Greece of running away from talks.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 20-21/2020

To Europe with Love: “Diplomats” or Terrorists from Iran’s Mullahs?
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/December 20, 2020
د.ماجد رافيزادا/معهد كايتستون: من ملالي إيران إلى أوروبا مع الحب: دبلوماسيون أو إرهابيون
ملخص المقالة
مقالة د. رافيزادا وهو إيراني- أميركي تلقي الأضواء على دور الدبلوماسيين الإيرانيين الإرهابي والإجرامي والمخابراتي في الدول الأوروبية حيث أنهم عملياً افراد متخصصون بعمليات الإرهاب والقتل ومن خلالهم ومن خلال التسهيلات الدبلوماسية يعمل نظام الملالي على تنفيذ عمليات ارهاب وقتل وتفجيرات واغتيالات تطاول المعارضين له من الإيرانيين أينما وجدوا في أوروبا. الكاتب يعطي أمثلة ووقائع ويطالب الدول الأوروبية بقطع علاقاتها الدبلوماسية مع نظام الملالي في حال لم يلتزم القواعد والأنظمة والأعراف الدبلوماسية الدولية.. وهو بالتأكيد لن يلتزم وإلا يفقد مبرر وجوده ويتخلى عن مشروعه المذهبي والجهادي والإرهابي والقمعي.
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/93901/dr-majid-rafizadeh-gatestone-institute-to-europe-with-love-diplomats-or-terrorists-from-irans-mullahs-%d8%af-%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%ac%d8%af-%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%81%d9%8a%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%a7-%d9%85/
The EU would to itself a big favor to realize that Assadi was likely not acting alone. High-level Iranian leaders and diplomats most probably instructed him to carry out the terrorist operation.
It was because of his diplomatic position that Assadi was reportedly able to bring the explosives from Tehran to Vienna without being caught.
In other word, Iranian diplomats are key enablers of Khamenei’s fundamentalist agenda abroad.
Unless or until Iran’s mullahs stop their terror activities, the EU would do itself and the Free World another big favor by cutting off its diplomatic ties with a regime that is murdering European citizens and carrying out terror plots on European soil.
Assadollah Assadi is on trial in Belgium, accused of delivering explosives and a detonator to two agents in a bid to blow up a Free Iran rally in Paris in 2018.
Assadi, serving at the Iranian embassy in Vienna, was also a senior officer for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
While the European Union appears excited that Joe Biden will be the next US President and then they can immediately rejoin the nuclear deal and lift sanctions against the mullahs, Tehran continues its terrorism on the European soil.
As the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, is urging the US to rejoin the JCPOA, one of Iran’s active diplomats in Belgium is currently on trial, accused of orchestrating a terrorist operation in Europe in 2018.
French officials foiled a planned bomb attack in Paris against a large “Free Iran” convention attended by tens of thousands of people, including many high-level speakers such as former US House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Canada’s former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former Foreign Minister John Baird.
If the terrorist plot were successful, it would have possibly been one of the largest terrorist acts sponsored by the Iranian regime.
Where is the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, on this issue? Completely silent.
In the terrorist plot, an Iranian diplomat at the time, Assadollah Assadi, is accused of delivering explosives and a detonator to two agents in a bid to blow up a Free Iran rally.
Assadi, serving at the Iranian embassy in Vienna, was also a senior officer for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
The prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Assadi to the maximum 20 years; to sentence two of his accomplices to 18 years, and another defendant to 15 years in prison as well as strip them of their Belgian citizenship.
The Iranian leaders have demanded that the EU release Assadi on the ground of “diplomatic immunity”.
Assadi, under an order from the Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, did not show up for the first day of trial. He also seems emboldened to such an extent that he has threatened the EU authorities that if he gets convicted, Iran’s proxies will take revenge.
According to the newspaper Le Monde:
“During his preventive detention, Assadolah Assadi refused to collaborate with the Belgian justice, but he threatened reprisals.
On March 9, 2019, he informed the director of Beveren prison that he wished to meet with an investigator. He told him that if he was convicted, ‘armed groups’ were ready to act against police officers, witnesses, or the PMOI supporters.”
The EU would do itself a big favor to realize that Assadi was most likely not acting alone. High-level Iranian leaders and diplomats most probably instructed him to carry out the terrorist operation. It is highly unlikely to go ahead with such a large plot without having the blessing of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, his Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence.
The EU by now also doubtless realizes that the Iranian regime uses its embassies and consulates in foreign countries as cells to promote extremism and support militias and proxies.
An Iranian ambassador and 14 other diplomats, for instance, were expelled from Kuwait in 2017 over links to a spy and terror cell, and Iran’s cultural and military missions were also ordered to shut down.
Iran, it should come as no surprise, does not respect international standards of diplomacy. Instead it exploits the trust of other governments to advance its revolutionary and hegemonic ambitions.
The mullahs can give anyone they desire a diplomatic position to allow that person freely to travel across the Western world.
It was because of his diplomatic position that Assadi was reportedly capable of bringing the explosives from Tehran to Vienna without being caught.
In other word, Iranian diplomats are key enablers of Khamenei’s fundamentalist agenda abroad. The EU must not give Iranian officials a free pass because they are “diplomats”, officials or employees of the Foreign Service.
The incident of this terror plot on the European soil is not an isolated case. Iran’s regime has also been murdering dissidents on European soil.
Ahmad Mola Nissi, a Dutch citizen of Iranian origin and a critic of the Iranian regime, was gunned down at his front door in November 2017. The Dutch authorities publicly acknowledged that it had “strong indications” that the Iranian government had commissioned the murder.
Another of Tehran’s political opponents, Mohammad Reza Kolahi Samadi, was killed in similar circumstances in Amsterdam in 2015. He had apparently been targeted for his opposition to the Iranian government since the 1980s.
Unless or until Iran’s mullahs stop their terror activities, the EU would do itself and the Free World another big favor by cutting off its diplomatic ties with a regime that is murdering European citizens and carrying out terror plots on European soil.
How many more European citizens need to be killed and terror acts to be carried out by the Iranian regime on European soil for the EU to act?
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
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Why Tehran wants the nuclear deal restored
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/December 21, 2020
Now that the electoral college has affirmed Joe Biden’s election as the next US President, the White House is probably going to resurrect the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly called the Iran nuclear deal.
As Biden made clear in an opinion piece for CNN: “I will offer Tehran a credible path back to diplomacy. If Iran returns to strict compliance with the nuclear deal, the United States would rejoin the agreement as a starting point for follow-on negotiations. With our allies, we will work to strengthen and extend the nuclear deal’s provisions, while also addressing other issues of concern.”
A few days after Gen. Qassem Soleimani was killed in January, President Hassan Rouhani said Iran was pulling out of the nuclear deal. Currently Iran is violating all the restrictions of the JCPOA, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Tehran has increased its total stockpile of low-enriched uranium from 1,020.9kg to 1,571.6kg, about eight times what the regime was allowed to maintain under the nuclear deal. According to the terms of the JCPOA, Iran was permitted to keep a stockpile of 202.8kg, and enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent. It is now enriching uranium to a purity of 4.5 percent and possesses far more heavy water than permitted under the nuclear agreement. Moreover, according to the IAEA report, Iran is not allowing the IAEA to inspect its sites.
Approximately 1,000kg of uranium enriched to just 5 percent can be further refined to create one nuclear bomb. This means that the Iranian regime now has enough enriched uranium to refine and build a nuclear bomb if it desires to do so.
In spite of all these violations, the theocratic establishment is more than eager to rejoin the nuclear deal. The Iranian president recently announced that Tehran would return to the agreement an hour after the US rejoins it. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said much the same in November. It follows that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is probably on board, since the president and foreign minister would have not signaled their willingness to rejoin the deal without permission from the man who enjoys the final say in Tehran’s foreign and domestic policies.
Iran is more than willing to rejoin the nuclear deal mainly due to the boost that it will bring to the regime’s economy and finances.
In fact, Iran is desperate to revive the 2015 nuclear deal. First, it gives a significant financial boost to the regime. Tehran can ramp up its oil exports substantially. The Iranian authorities are already preparing installations to export oil at full capacity within months. According to Rouhani’s official website, he has told the oil ministry “to prepare resources and oil-industry equipment for the production and export of oil in line with current capacity within the next three months.”
Before Donald Trump pulled the US out of the nuclear deal and began the maximum pressure policy against the Iranian regime, Tehran was exporting more than 2 millions barrels of oil per day. In the past two years, Iran’s oil exports have been as low as 100,000 barrels a day. The regime heavily relies on oil revenues to run the government. As the president admitted recently: “Without money, we cannot run the affairs of the state. Although we have some other income, the only revenue that can keep the country going is the oil money.”
Second, the nuclear deal will open the road for the West to invest in Iran’s sectors and the Iranian leaders desire foreign investment. After the nuclear deal was signed in 2015, Iranian leaders even invited American oil companies to do business Iran.
This suggests that the Islamic Republic is willing to put its economic interests ahead of its revolutionary ideological interests. In return, the economic profits will definitely help the regime export and spread its revolutionary ideologies and principles in the region.
Third, rejoining the nuclear deal will provide global legitimacy for Iran. This means that its support for militia groups and its military adventurism and destructive behavior in the Middle East is more likely to be tolerated or ignored by world powers.
In a nutshell, Iran is more than willing to rejoin the nuclear deal mainly due to the boost that it will bring to the regime’s economy and finances.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and president of the International American Council. He serves on the boards of the Harvard International Review, the Harvard International Relations Council and the US-Middle East Chamber for Commerce and Business. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Why it’s time for cool heads in the Caucasus
Yasar Yakis/Arab News/December 21, 2020
Russian President Vladimir Putin brokered a truce between Azerbaijan and Armenia last month after fierce fighting for 44 days that claimed the lives of about 5,600 civilians and troops on both sides.
No sooner was the cease-fire signed than quarrels started to break out in the former battlefields. The agreement was too general and did not elaborate on the subtleties, which are now surfacing slowly.
Armenians blame Russia for having placed Nagorno Karabakh as an autonomous region within the Azeri territory and cut its territorial link with Armenia. Azerbaijan blames Russia for having helped Armenians settle in the region, changed its ethnic composition.
After the cease-fire, individual breaches were only to be expected. One occurred two weeks ago in two contested villages, Kohne Taglar and Chalakkala, where four Azeri soldiers were killed. Each side accused the other.
Armenian authorities said last week that contact had been lost with a number of military posts, thought to have been captured by Azeri soldiers. The number of Armenian military personnel missing in action is estimated to be between 60 and 160.
Russian observers said there was one breah of the cease-fire, but did not put the blame on either side. The most important issue by far is of course the ultimate status of Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia’s maximalist position is to proclaim it as an independent state. The strong Armenian diaspora in the EU is actively lobbying to raise this question in the European Parliament. Azerbaijan’s maximalist position is to entirely lift the autonomous status of Nagorno Karabakh and make it a fully integrated part of Azerbaijan. Russia is doing its best to find a fair middle ground between these two maximalist approaches.
Meanwhile the strengthening of Turkish-Azeri ties is a new phenomenon that has to be reckoned with. The practical results of the cooperation may yield other consequences beneficial to both.
The wisest policy in these circumstances would be for these three countries to put aside the past that they cannot change and work out a forward-looking strategy to enjoy the advantages of a stable relationship.
Turkish-made armed and unarmed drones that were battle-tested in the Syrian province of Idlib against Assad (and partly against Russian) forces, and in Libya against Khalifa Haftar’s forces, proved to be successful in the latest Azeri-Armenian clashes as well.
This cooperation may need to be further consolidated because of new arms embargoes that may be imposed on Turkey by the EU and the US. Azerbaijan, an oil-rich country, may also be tempted to initiate its own defense industry. This common goal may lead these two friendly countries to cooperate more closely in the field.
An important item for Turkey in the cease-fire agreement was the construction of a road to link the Nakhichevan exclave of Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan proper. Armenia will probably drag its feet to kill the project, because it will also link Turkey to Azerbaijan and from there to the central Asian Turkic republics. This scenario irks many nations in the region except peoples of ethnic Turkic stock. Russia supports this project as a counter-weight for the Lachin corridor that links Karabakh to Armenia.
An agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan reciprocallys lift the obligation for Turks and Azeris to carry passport when they visit each other’s countries, in addition to the visa exemption that had entered into force on Sept 1, 2019. This mesure, coupled with the construction of the road, will boost Turkey’s relations with Azerbaijan.
Another outcome of the Turkish-Azeri cooperation is the prospective Turkish contribution to postwar reconstruction. Azeri president İlham Aliev said Azerbaijan agreed with the Turkish construction companies for the reconstruction of Karabagh. This is a job opportunity worth tens of billions of dollars.
To conclude, Armenia is surrounded by countries with whom it has problems. Despite several laudable merits of its people, it cannot indefinitely rely on other countries to solve them. No matter how supportive they may be, foreign countries will lend support only to the extent that their own national interests match those of Armenia.
Turkey, in turn, also has problems with many of its neighbors. Azerbaijan is luckier. It is doing nothing but trying to preserve sovereignty over its territories.
The wisest policy in these circumstances would be for these three countries to put aside the past that they cannot change and work out a forward-looking strategy to enjoy the advantages of a stable relationship.
*Yasar Yakis is a former foreign minister of Turkey and founding member of the ruling AK Party. Twitter: @yakis_yasar

Perception shift needed to end ‘clash of civilizations’ mentality
Mohamed ElBaradei/Arab News/December 21, 2020
The year 2020 demonstrated, once again, that the relationship between the Western and the Arab and Muslim worlds remains muddled, complicated by lingering memories of colonization, wars, and atrocities that date back to the Crusades and, in modern times, to Algeria’s war for independence from France and the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is a relationship marred by suspicion, distrust, and resentment on the part of many (if not most) Muslims, as well as many in the West. The thin knowledge that both sides of the relationship have of other cultures doesn’t lend itself to mutual understanding — a grim fact that radicals (again, on both sides) cynically exploit.
A plethora of recent initiatives have sought to promote intercultural dialogue and foster deeper understanding between civilizations and cultures, particularly Islam and the West. Regrettably, these efforts, including the establishment in 2005 of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, have remained mostly confined to the well-educated and their efforts have had no impact on ordinary people. On the contrary, an extremist attack or utterance overwhelms such initiatives and reinforces the perception of two antithetical cultures locked in inevitable and immutable conflict. The recent renewed uproar in France over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, and the shocking atrocities that followed, clearly demonstrate the deep cultural divide that continues to roil relations between Islam and the West.
Why have these cartoons deepened this fissure anew? Non-secular Muslims perceived these caricatures in a strictly religious framework, and the resulting anger and indignation spanned the entire Islamic world, from North Africa to Indonesia. Many Muslims regarded the images as another deliberate and vicious Judeo-Christian attack on Islam — a continuation of the Crusades by other means. Why, some ask, are attacks on Islam and its sacred symbols permitted, or even encouraged, while criticizing Israel or Holocaust denial is regarded as anti-Semitic and even punishable by law? Likewise, why are the French flag and national anthem protected against desecration, while the most revered symbol of the Islamic faith is not?
Many in the West, on the other hand, regarded the attacks in France, and previous and subsequent barbaric killings of innocent civilians in European cities, as outright assaults by “Islamist terrorists” against Western culture and the West’s way of life. These infamies, they say, were an attack on the West’s defining values and freedoms. In the wake of these attacks, public awareness of the depth of the cartoons’ offensiveness has diminished.
With French President Emmanuel Macron at the forefront, Western leaders have argued for a strong and unwavering response to the recent murders in France. Even though the overwhelming majority of Muslims have always denied that murderous extremists represent their faith, these tragic events became yet another opportunity for some on both sides to score political points and promote their own narrow agendas. While some opined that Islam needs reform, others claimed that the solution is to restrict Muslim immigration to Europe. And some Muslims, in response, want all Muslims to hark back to the caliphate — a time when the Islamic world was united and powerful.
Given all the upheaval, confusion, and polarization in the world today, the last thing that either Islamic or Western civilization needs is new reasons for division and conflict.
The truth is that the two cultures have profound philosophical differences regarding the meaning and scope of freedom of expression and belief. Secular Western culture has an expansive view of these freedoms, regarding them as ultimate guarantees against oppression and authoritarianism. The West thus gives precedence to freedom of expression over the sanctity of religious beliefs, regarding the latter as ideas that, like any other idea, should be open to criticism and even derision.
Islamic culture, by contrast, regards religious beliefs as sacrosanct and above the temporal fray, and considers mockery of any Abrahamic religious belief or symbol to be an attack against everything that Muslims hold sacred. The difficult ongoing political and social transitions in much of the Islamic world mean that many Muslims feel the need to rely even more on the certainties of their faith as a counterweight to the rapid changes in the world. They are not willing to tolerate an attack on the one constant in their lives that gives them solace, hope, and true meaning.
Given all the upheaval, confusion, and polarization in the world today, the last thing that either Islamic or Western civilization needs is new reasons for division and conflict. What is badly needed instead is a wide-ranging dialogue between the two cultures that puts all contentious issues on the table, with the hope of gaining a sympathetic understanding of the other’s perspective and thus narrowing the gap that exists between both. Whatever the ultimate outcome, the goal on both sides must be to agree on some formula of mutual respect and self-restraint that takes into account each culture’s particular sensitivities.
But for any dialogue to succeed, it must confront head-on the larger issue underlying the recent crisis: The distrust that exists between the two cultures. The discussion should therefore take place at the grassroots and not be limited to the elite. And it should frame intercultural engagement not as an inevitable clash of civilizations, but as an indispensable opportunity to seek mutual accommodation. Only with this shift in perception and mindset will it be possible to build a genuine partnership of equals between Islam and the West.
• Mohamed ElBaradei is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
© Project Syndicate

Tunisia’s new democracy has form but no depth
Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/December 21, 2020
No one could have predicted that a single desperate act by an unknown Tunisian street trader would resonate with millions across the Arab world exhausted by decades of illiberalism and buried in the cynical decadence of authoritarians.
Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation was not the first time young Tunisians turned to the tragic as a form of protest against woeful circumstances and meager existences, nor will it be the last. However, 10 years later, the same flames that have engulfed these young Tunisian martyrs, rage on, incinerating what little progress was made in the wake of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali’s removal.
Calls for “work and dignity” are now drowned out by derisive and dismissive laughter, sparked by regret at having come so far only to achieve so little. In fact, Tunisians, like Libyan, Syrians and others, have come to the startling realization that any progress achieved since 2011 is measurable by what they have lost rather than gained.
At one point, myths and lavish praise turned Tunisia into a blind spot of unbridled optimism, launchpad for the unstoppable rise of the Arab world's pro-democracy movements. A single act of fatal defiance sparked revolutionary fervor in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Yemen, and the world could be forgiven for taking a leap of faith on the Arab Spring. However, the conflict and misery that followed made it abundantly clear that just removing a despot from power was not enough.
Measuring the success of political transitions requires metrics other than simply avoiding internal turmoil or paving the path for another authoritarian. Tunisia may have managed to escape the fate of similar protest movements elsewhere in the region but achieving a democracy of form but no depth has only doomed the country to more chaos.
What Tunisia has done, between January 2011 and now, is simply survive an endless stream of woe, with barely any room to consolidate gains and make its nascent democracy more resilient.
A prolonged economic slump, worsened now by the pandemic, continues to suffocate efforts toward much-needed reforms and investments — particularly in the southern half, where 3 out of 5 are out of work. Repeated clashes between civilians and security forces cripple economic activity, while Ben Ali-era corruption still runs rampant in some parts of the country.
Overall, unemployment remains a pervasive issue, which mostly affects youths and young adults who make up about 85 percent of the jobless. With COVID-19 expected to shrink Tunisia's economy by 7 percent and double the budget deficit this year, it is unsurprising to come across whispers, mostly from older Tunisians, of nostalgia for the “stability” of the Ben Ali days.
It is not all bad news.
Tunisians do have “new” freedom to freely criticize political leadership, and honest, peaceful elections allow them to choose who governs them. Political processes have continued to function despite the wide ideological rifts between secular politicians and their religion-inspired counterparts. Even the untimely death of President Beji Caid Essebsi last year was followed by an orderly transition, and new elections led to the ascendancy of the political independent, Kais Saied, to the presidency.
Tunisia may have managed to escape the fate of similar protest movements elsewhere in the region but achieving a democracy of form but no depth has only doomed the country to more chaos. These gains are not without costs, however.
Aside from the suffocating economic turmoil, political assassinations and terrorism remain an ever-present threat. Civilians and security personnel in border regions with Algeria grapple with insurgency groups that claim to be affiliated with Daesh and Al-Qaeda. The army may have been a force of stability in a decade of volatility but the continued presence of insurgents and off-shoots of dangerous terrorist groups does not instill confidence in their safeguarding of Tunisia's safety.
Elsewhere, disillusioned and miserable youths increasingly fall prey to radicalizing messaging by jihadist groups while others have succumbed to drugs or headed for Europe-bound boats — seeking to escape an ailing democracy that no longer gives them a say over what shapes their lives.
Additionally, what is making Tunisians irate is that national dialogue is preoccupied with out-of-touch deliberations rather than what protesters demanded 10 years ago. Indeed, active political discourse and engagement is crucial. However, debates on whether women should have access to inheritance or if Tunisia should try for a Lebanese-style confessional democracy, reserving the presidency for Muslims, are irrelevant to those still waiting on the delivery of the revolution’s promises of work and dignity.
A series of short-lived, ineffective governments coupled with bitter disagreements in a fragmented and mostly discredited National Assembly have stalled work on much-needed political and economic reforms. It is unlikely the calls to dissolve the parliament will be heeded by the constitutionalist president, however. Even if that did happen, it is not just the lack of consensus in parliament that is hampering reform progress — it is the double-edged sword of democracy.
Tunisian politicians object to making decisions painful to the electorate, such as austerity, currency flotation or public sector rationalization, for fear of losses at the polls. Thus, as long as the endless debates continue and occasional physical fights break out in parliament, the political elite can sit idly by, do nothing and let stagnation exhaust the citizenry. This is not unique to Tunisia, as advanced democracies in the West have this same issue. Incidentally, in these deplorable circumstances, others see opportunity — like Abir Moussi, a lawyer and MP who has turned to populism built on nostalgia for the old and failed, rather than for the new.
Already, the failure to rise to the occasion and build on foundations laid by protesters or the pillars of consensus-driven dialogue engineered by civil society has driven voter turnout to dismal lows. Most Tunisians have simply tuned out, no longer interested in even expressing the lowest expectations of their bickering representatives.
A cancer has infected Tunisia's quest for democracy and it is not because of the usual dismissives used in Western media, such as the incompatibility of Arab democracy with political Islam or the fixation Arab world politics have with authoritarianism. Instead, Tunisians are coming to grips with a reality not lost in other capitals around the world — that democracy often works only for an exclusive few, leaving the rest to fend for themselves in the widening gap between the electorate and the elected.
Should the future remain this bleak, Tunisians will remain trapped by the same forces their protests sought to dispel — weighed down by repeated failures to scale an impenetrable wall.
*Hafed Al-Ghwell is a non-resident senior fellow with the Foreign Policy Institute at the John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He is also senior adviser at the international economic consultancy Maxwell Stamp and at the geopolitical risk advisory firm Oxford Analytica, a member of the Strategic Advisory Solutions International Group in Washington DC and a former adviser to the board of the World Bank Group. Twitter: @HafedAlGhwell