English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese,
Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 12/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews19/english.november12.20.htm
News Bulletin Achieves Since
2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006
Bible Quotations For today
Jesus said: For this reason the Father loves
me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from
me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I
have authority to take it up again
John/10/17-21/ For this reason the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me,
but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have
authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them
said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?” Others said, “These
are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes
of the blind?”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials
published on November 11-12/2020
Ministry of Health: 1922 new coronavirus
cases, 14 deaths
Lebanon: Conflict Between Govt, Merchants Over Prices of Basic Commodities
U.S. and U.N. Say Lebanon, Israel Held 'Productive' Border Talks
Lebanon, Israel in 3rd Round of Maritime Border Talks
Two Qatari Field Hospitals Arrive for Deployment in Tyre, Tripoli
Sanctions Against Lebanon’s Bassil a ‘Message’ to Aoun
Rahi meets Kubis, Russian ambassador
Berri meets Jumblatt in Ein Tineh
Lebanon: Dollar crisis empties public offices of A4 paper, clients provide their
own
Director General of Presidency of Republic: Antoine Haddad asked for
unconstitutional issues and was pressing to pursue these issues in contravention
of established rules and regulations
Report: French Envoy to Meet Lebanese Officials in Beirut
Lebanon Appeals to Intl Community to Help Return Refugees
Msharrafieh from Damascus: Government approved plan for return of displaced
compliant with international standards
UNICEF: 100 days on from Beirut explosions, children and families affected
remain in need of sustained support
Frantic Search after Medicines Vanish from Lebanon Shelves
French-Lebanese Witness Retracts Claim Sarkozy Took Libyan Millions
Hezbollah presence in south Syria much larger than previously revealed/Anna
Ahronheim/Jerusalem Post/November 11/2020
Gebran Bassil’s Distress, or Narcissism without its Basis/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq
Al Awsat/November 11/2020
FBI "Actively Pursues" a Possible Hezbollah '94 Plane Bombing
Todd Bensman/Middle East Forum/The Investigative Project on Terrorism/November
11/2020
Defense Begins Questioning in Japan Trial over Ghosn's Pay/Associated
Press/November 11/2020
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on
November 11-12/2020
Fighting Election Results, Trump Employs a New Weapon: The
Government
Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad appointed Prime Minister of Bahrain
Greece, Egypt to welcome ‘more decisive’ US involvement under Biden, says Greek
PM
Iran Enriched Uranium Stockpile '12 Times' Limit in 2015 Deal
UN accuses Turkey of turning blind eye to Iranian assassinations
Activists urge UN to impose tougher sanctions on Iran
Many Hurt in Bombing at WWI Ceremony in Jeddah
Sisi Makes First Visit to Greece Since Maritime Deal
Libyan Political Dialogue Forum Mulls PM Pick
Syria's Assad: Western Sanctions Hinder Return of Refugees
Yemen Accuses Houthis of Impeding Access to Fuel
Sudan Deploys Troops on Border with Ethiopia
Sudan Braces for Up to 200,000 Fleeing Ethiopia Battles
Israeli Delegation to Visit Sudan on Sunday
Moscow Working for Success of Refugee Conference Despite Broad Int’l Boycott
Titles For The Latest LCCC English
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 11-12/2020
Doomed to Failure: All of France’s Counter Terror
Initiatives/Raymond Ibrahim/PJ Media/November 11/2020
Why the Muslim Brotherhood Came Out of Its Hole/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone
Institute/November 11/2020
Time Has Come for Senior Republicans to Save America’s Principles and Stature/Eyad
Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/November 11/2020
US Trade Policy Is Ready for Its Biden Makeover/Noah Smith/Bloomberg/November
11/2020
Vaccine Race Won’t Decide AstraZeneca's Future/Chris Hughes/Bloomberg/November
11/2020
The death of Prince Khalifa is an immense loss for Bahrain and the entire
Arabian Gulf/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/November 11/2020
America will remain a divided country/Ray Hanania/Arab News/November 11/2020
Analysts debate impact of Israel-UAE-Bahrain accords at Abu Dhabi Strategic
Debate/Caline Malek/Arab News/November 11/2020
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 11-12/2020
Ministry of Health: 1922 new coronavirus cases, 14 deaths
NNA/Wednesday, 11 November, 2020
The Ministry of Public Health announced 1922 new coronavirus infection cases,
raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 98829.
14 deaths were registered over the past 24 hours.
Lebanon: Conflict Between Govt, Merchants Over Prices of
Basic Commodities
Beirut - Enas Sherri/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 November, 2020
As the value of the Lebanese pound continues to decrease against the US dollar
in the black market, the Union of Food Importers announced that it was
re-examining food prices in parallel with field visits conducted by the ministry
of Economy to supermarkets to make sure that merchants have started to revise
the prices. Meanwhile, citizens assert that the prices of basic commodities and
materials were still high, and that only specific items saw a shy price decline.
Shopkeepers, on the other hand, stress that the bulk of the materials have not
decreased in price, but only specific types of cheeses, grains and cleaning
materials, noting an abundant availability of the government subsidized food
basket. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, the director general of the Economy
Ministry, Mohammed Abu Haidar, explained that the decrease in prices did not
include all commodities and foodstuffs, as some of them were “originally priced
on the basis of an exchange rate that does not exceed LBP 7,000 for one
dollar.”He noted that the prices of a variety of milk and cheese decreased by 8
to 10%, cleaning products between 12 and 18%, and meat, chicken and eggs by 50%.
Most of the food commodities on the market are now priced on the basis of a
dollar exchange rate that ranges between LBP 6,800 and 7,000, Abu Haidar
remarked. He noted that the ministry would intensify its visits to commercial
stores in the coming weeks, revealing that it had already referred 67 merchants
to the Financial Public Prosecution, due to smuggling or monopoly operations.
The head of the Food Importers Syndicate, Hani Bohsali, noted that the items
that saw a decrease in prices were those valued on the basis of an exchange rate
exceeding LBP 7,000. As for the goods that were originally priced on a lower
exchange rate, they would not be included in the price revision.
Meanwhile, Vice President of the Consumer Protection Association Nada Nehme
affirmed that it was not possible to talk about a decline in prices with the
decrease in the black market exchange rate. On the contrary, she said that some
commodities have witnessed a significant increase in prices, such as chilled
fish. Certain brands of a particular food section, such as cheeses, have
witnessed a very slight decrease in prices, matched with an increase in other
brands of the same product, she stated, adding that the same applied to cleaning
products.
U.S. and U.N. Say Lebanon, Israel Held 'Productive' Border
Talks
Agence France Presse/Wednesday, 11 November, 2020
Lebanon and Israel, still technically at war and with no diplomatic ties, held a
new round of maritime border talks Wednesday under U.N. and U.S. auspices to
allow for offshore energy exploration. A joint statement released by the United
States and the Office of the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon described the
talks as "productive.""We remain hopeful that these negotiations will lead to a
long-awaited resolution. The parties committed to continuing negotiations in
early December," the statement added. LBCI television said the next round of
negotiations will be held on December 2.
The talks were held at a base of the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL in the
Lebanese border town of Naqoura, guarded by army roadblocks and with U.N.
helicopters circling above. Local news reports had said Wednesday's talks were
expected to be “decisive,” and that they could be “brought to a halt shall they
fail to make any progress.”Reports said the atmosphere preceding the round
suggested that negotiations have begun to take a difficult turn. Israel has
reportedly begun to “pump a negative” atmosphere about the negotiations, they
said.
Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, recently said he “wasn’t optimistic”
about the border demarcation talks, because Lebanon was allegedly imposing
“difficult” demands that may lead to a conflict instead of a solution. Steinitz
said there is a split in opinions “concerning the borders between the two
countries 10 years ago. Lebanon wants a certain line, and Israel wants another
line. There is a gap of 5 kilometers between the borders,” according to
Steinitz. Moreover, reports said Israel had “leaked” the secret meeting minutes
to its media. They spoke of a “widening” gap between Israel and Lebanon, which,
according to reports, requests to obtain 1,500 square kilometers in addition to
the disputed 850 square kilometers area. The Lebanese delegation has documents
and maps on the negotiation table proving Lebanon's right to the borders of its
marine waters, in accordance with the recognized law of the sea.
The Lebanese delegation is clinging to Lebanon's right to a maritime area of
1,430 square kilometers. Lebanese energy expert Laury Haytayan has the new phase
of talks as a "war of the maps."She said the additional area extends into part
of the Karish gas field which Israel has assigned to Greek firm Energean for
exploration.
- 'New lines' -
An Israeli source close to the talks said that, meanwhile, Israel has demanded
the sea frontier be moved further north, deeper into areas claimed by Lebanon.
"The Israeli delegation itself presented a line that is north of the border of
the dispute, and clarified that no talks will be held on a line that is south of
the border of the dispute," the source said. The head of the Israeli delegation,
energy ministry director general Udi Adiri, earlier this month in a letter to
Energean said discussing any areas outside the initial disputed area was out of
the question."There is no change, and no perspective of change about the status
of the Israeli commercial waters south of the disputed area, including of
course, Karish and Tanin" gas fields, Adiri wrote in a letter to CEO Shaul
Tzemach. On Wednesday, Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar quoted a well-informed
source as saying the talks stood a 50-50 chance of success. "Both sides went to
the talks over 860 kilometers square, but then new lines started to be produced,
after the enemy decided the Lebanese demand was a 'provocation' and in exchange
granted itself the right to put forward new lines not based on any rules in
international law," the newspaper said. In February 2018, Lebanon signed its
first contract for offshore drilling for oil and gas in Block 9 and Block 4 with
a consortium comprising energy giants Total, ENI and Novatek. Lebanon in April
said initial drilling in Block 4 had shown traces of gas but no commercially
viable reserves. Exploration has not started in Block 9, part of which lies in
the disputed area.
Lebanon, Israel in 3rd Round of Maritime Border Talks
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 November, 2020
Lebanon and Israel kicked off a third round of sea border talks Wednesday under
US and UN mediation to allow for offshore oil and gas exploration. The
delegations met under tight security at the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping
force (UNIFIL) in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura, the National News Agency
said. Lebanon and Israel in early October said they had agreed to begin the
negotiations in what Washington hailed as a "historic" agreement. The first two
rounds of talks were held on October 14 and 28-29. The negotiations are meant to
focus on an 860-square-kilometer disputed sea area according to a map registered
with the United Nations in 2011. But Lebanon has now demanded an additional area
of 1,430 square kilometers further south, Lebanese energy expert Laury Haytayan
said, characterizing the new phase of talks as a "war of the maps.” She said the
additional area extends into part of the Karish gas field which Israel has
assigned to Greek firm Energean for exploration. An Israeli source close to the
talks said, meanwhile, Israel has demanded that the sea frontier be moved
further north, deeper into areas claimed by Lebanon. "The Israeli delegation
itself presented a line that is north of the border of the dispute, and
clarified that no talks will be held on a line that is south of the border of
the dispute," the source said. The head of the Israeli delegation, energy
ministry director general Udi Adiri, earlier this month in a letter to Energean
said discussing any areas outside the initial disputed area was out of the
question. "There is no change, and no perspective of change about the status of
the Israeli commercial waters south of the disputed area, including of course,
Karish and Tanin" gas fields, Adiri wrote in a letter to CEO Shaul Tzemach. In
February 2018, Lebanon signed its first contract for offshore drilling for oil
and gas in Block 9 and Block 4 with a consortium comprising energy giants Total,
ENI and Novatek. Lebanon in April said initial drilling in Block 4 had shown
traces of gas but no commercially viable reserves.
Exploration has not started in Block 9, part of which lies in the disputed area.
Two Qatari Field Hospitals Arrive for Deployment in Tyre,
Tripoli
Naharnet/Wednesday, 11 November, 2020
Two Qatari military planes carrying two field hospitals arrived Wednesday
afternoon in Lebanon. The field hospitals will be deployed in the Tyre and
Tripoli regions to assist Lebanon in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking at the airport, caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan thanked Qatari
Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad and the Qatari government and people, while lauding
the efforts of Qatari Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Hassan Jaber al-Jaber. He
also thanked the Lebanese Army, saying its coordination of the relief efforts
“gives safety and seriousness.” “What’s different this time is that no money or
donation coming to Lebanon will be wasted, through the strenuous and constant
followup of the Army Command and the keenness of the government and all its
ministries,” Hassan added. Qatari acting Charge d’Affaires Ali Mohammed al-Mutawaa
for his part said the aid to Lebanon comes at the instructions of Qatar’s emir
Sheikh Tamim, lauding “the friendship and brotherhood between the two
countries.”He added that two planes carrying modern medical equipment will
arrive in Lebanon Thursday to equip the two field hospitals.
Sanctions Against Lebanon’s Bassil a ‘Message’ to Aoun
Beirut - Caroline Akoum/November 11/2020
US sanctions against the former foreign and energy minister, Gebran Bassil,
could affect the Lebanese presidency and his Free Patriotic Movement (FPM),
which has supporters in the United Sates, observers said.
They believe that the sanctions will have repercussions on Baabda Palace and FPM
supporters in the US despite Bassil and several of his followers attempting to
send positive signals to Washington by stressing their keenness to preserve a
good relationship between the two sides.
“It is still too early to talk about the impact of the sanctions on the
relations between the two countries,” sources familiar with the position of
President Michel Aoun, who is Bassil’s father-in-law, told Asharq Al-Awsat
Tuesday.The sources recalled that Aoun has asked for documents proving the
charges against Bassil and earlier the two former ministers, Ali Hassan Khalil
and Youssef Fenianos. “This request would be followed up through diplomatic
channels,” the sources said, although there has been no such contact yet between
the presidency and the US since the sanctions were imposed on the Lebanese
figures. The US Treasury Department said in September it had designated Fenianos
and Hassan Khalil for engaging in corruption and leveraging their political
power for financial gain. Last week, the Treasury said it had targeted Bassil
"for his role in corruption in Lebanon", alleging in particular that he "steered
Lebanese government funds to individuals close to him through a group of front
companies" as energy minister. However, Lebanon’s former Ambassador to
Washington Riad Tabbara said the sanctions against Bassil are part of a “message
sent to President Michel Aoun, including a US pressure to speed up the formation
of the next government.” “So far, it is not clear what are the long-term
objectives of these sanctions. But, if we look at recent events, we find that
sanctions against Khalil and Fenianos led to the announcement of negotiations
with Israel on the demarcation of maritime borders. It seems that the sanctions
on Bassil aim to speed up the formation of the government,” the ambassador told
Asharq Al-Awsat. Tabbara said the US is keen on preventing Lebanon from
collapsing, adding that FPM followers in the US would not be affected by the
recent decision. Global ambassador at PeaceTech Lab and director for Business
Development Nizar Zakka stressed the need to separate between the sanctions and
the Lebanese Presidency or the FPM. He told Asharq Al-Awsat that further
sanctions could be soon issued against other party leaders, including figures
close to Washington.
Echoing the FPM’s position, MP Hikmat Deeb said the US sanctions would not
affect the movement’s relationship with the American people and administration.
In remarks to the newspaper, Deeb said that Bassil is the only figure with whom
the US administration held talks before imposing the sanctions.
Rahi meets Kubis, Russian ambassador
NNA/Wednesday 11 November 2020
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, on Wednesday welcomed
in Bkerki, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jan Kubis. Rahi separately met
with the newly appointed Russian ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Rudakov. The
Russian diplomat’s acquaintance visit has been an occasion to broach bilateral
relations between the two countries, as well as to take stock on the current
situation.
Berri meets Jumblatt in Ein Tineh
NNA/Wednesday 11 November 2020
Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri, is currently meeting with PSP leader, Walid
Jumblatt, in Ein Tineh, our reporter said on Wednesday.
Lebanon: Dollar crisis empties public offices of A4 paper,
clients provide their own
Bassam Zaazaa, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday 11 November 2020
As Lebanon’s economy continues its steady decline and cabinet formation remains
stalled, the country has been struck by another problem – a shortage of A4 paper
has appeared at public departments and ministries. Amid skeptical efforts by
certain political parties that have been reportedly impeding Prime Minister
designate Saad Hariri’s efforts to form a new cabinet, citizens have been left
to suffer more and are forced to face further difficulties, the latest being
bringing their own paper to government departments to that documents may be
printed. Various Lebanese departments and ministries have run out of paper,
citing budget issues. The paper shortage is the latest example of government
failure from the ruling class that for years has failed to provide its citizens
with the most basic services, including 24-hour electricity.
Beirut resident, Hala Mahmoud, said when she went to pay her bill at a
government department, the teller told her that she won’t get a receipt due to
lack of A4 paper.
“I had to settle for an electronic invoice that was emailed to me … the teller
said they were out of budget and haven’t purchased A4 papers for two months,”
said Hala, smiling cynically in astonishment at the rate at which things have
deteriorated. An employee at one of the offices of the Telecommunication
Ministry said employees of another department located in the same building come
to them daily to print or photocopy invoices “because they do not have paper.”
Al Arabiya English visited that department, but employees refused to comment,
citing “administrative reasons.”However, Lebanese citizen Tony Maroun said as he
left that building: “I came here to pay my bill and the teller told me to bring
my own papers to print my invoice. I purchased A4 papers from the bookstore
across the road. What a shameful thing!”Another woman, Sandra Walid, said she
felt seriously humiliated when she was told to purchase her own papers if she
needed her invoice printed. “Is this possible? A public department does not have
budget to get papers for invoices! How bad could things go,” exclaimed Sandra,
who purchased her own A4 paper pack for 25,000 Lebanese pounds (about $16 at the
official exchange rate) from a nearby store.
Dollar shortage affects paper supply
When contacted by Al Arabiya English, an official at state telecom Ogero, who
requested remain anonymous, said the A4 paper shortage is “very true” and it is
common across most public departments and ministries. “Our budget for A4 papers
that we use to print telephone invoices is in Lebanese pounds. Meanwhile the
price of A4 papers is invoiced in US dollar and since the rate has increased,
our 2020 budget for papers couldn’t handle the rise,” underscored the official.
Import-dependent Lebanon has faced a dollar shortage since mid-2019, and where
imports have to be paid for in US dollars, the country has begun to struggle to
secure some basic goods. When asked if one of the major Ogero branches had asked
clients to bring their own paper, the official said he has not heard anything of
the sort.
When contacted, an executive at Dabbous Supplies named Mohammad said the public
departments whom they provided with A4 paper have been paying them very late.
“The pack used to cost around $3 [4,500 pounds at old rate] and we used to sell
for 5,000. Since the dollar crisis started prices went down nearly half a
dollar. It now costs around 19,000 pounds, and we sell it for 21,000 pounds.
Government departments pay in local currency. Since October 17 revolution
started, followed by the economic and monetary crisis, the departments have been
paying their bills very late … certain bills remained pending for few months,”
according to Mohammad who added that the government bodies are suffering
financially. He confirmed that prices will continue to fluctuate as long as the
dollar problem lingers as the A4 pack’s price has quadrupled in Lebanese pound,
but decreased in dollar.
Claudine, who works at Diapaper distributors, said their company only provides
the Lebanese Army with paper and they do not have any issues. However, she
highlighted that the prices of A4 paper packs have been affected by the dollar’s
market value.
One public servant who works at the Cabinet’s general directorate, who preferred
to remain anonymous due to their position, told Al Arabiya English that several
public offices have been using recycled papers [front and back] due to lack of
budget to buy new paper.
“Our department has shortage in papers because we are out of budget. Prices have
increased according to dollar increase and since the government budgets in local
currency, we have been having noticeable shortage. We have been suffering in
terms of print material and some stationery as well such as inkers, printers and
others,” they said.
Director General of Presidency of Republic: Antoine Haddad
asked for unconstitutional issues and was pressing to pursue these issues in
contravention of established rules and regulations
NNA/November 11/2020
The Director-General of the Presidency of the Republic, Dr. Antoine Choucair,
issued the following statement:
“During the past two days, media outlets published interviews and statements
issued by former Public Relations Advisor to His Excellency, the President of
the Republic, Mr. Antoine Haddad, in which he addressed several issues,
including the topic of demarcation of southern maritime borders and other
related issues, and I was mentioned more than once in his words on this subject.
Concerning this matter, I am interested in emphasizing that Mr. Haddad
deliberately, during his time at the Presidency of the Republic and his dealing
with the file of maritime border demarcation, requested unconstitutional and
illegal issues and was pressuring to proceed with them and insisting on them,
which is contrary to all rules and regulations in force. This led me to suggest
rejecting the violation of laws and the Constitution, especially since the
directions and decisions of the President were not in harmony with what Mr.
Haddad was requesting, due to illegal and unconstitutional matters.
Clarification was required”. -- Presidency Press Office
Report: French Envoy to Meet Lebanese Officials in Beirut
Naharnet/November 11/2020
French President Emmanuel Macron's advisor for North Africa and the Middle East,
Patrick Durrell, is scheduled to arrive in Beirut Wednesday, in an effort to
revive the French initiative, media reports said. Durrell is scheduled to meet
senior Lebanese officials and political figures during his two-day official
visit to Lebanon, An Nahar daily reported. According to the newspaper,
dispatching the French envoy has raised some hopes that a breakthrough could be
achieved in the stalled cabinet formation process. Al-Joumhouria daily said
Durrell will meet with President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker PM
Hassan diab, PM-designate Saad Hariri and a number of political and partisan
leaders related to the formation process, including PSP leader Walid Jumblat.
Durrell plans to warn of the dangerous consequences shall the government
stalemate persist. He will “test” the willingness of Lebanese officials to abide
by the French initiative aimed at forming a “mission government,” capable of
implementing reforms as they pledged during the Pine Residence meeting, added
the daily. The French delegate arrives in Beirut amid a worsening political
stalemate after the new US sanctions against the son-in-law of President Michel
Aoun and leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Jebran Bassil, said An Nahar.
Moreover, the latest meeting between Aoun and PM-designate Saad Hariri on the
formation of a cabinet failed to make any positive development.
Lebanon Appeals to Intl Community to Help Return Refugees
Naharnet/November 11/2020
Outgoing Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe urged the international community on
Wednesday to help return more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees back to their
homeland. “Lebanon appeals to the international community to help the country
implement a plan to return refugees back to their homeland,” said Wehbe. His
remarks came at the opening session of a two-day international conference in
Damascus on the return of refugees. He addressed the gathering by video
conference. Lebanon is hosting the highest per capita number of Syrian refugees,
who at one point made nearly a quarter of the tiny country's population of 5
million. A crippling economic and financial crisis is gripping Lebanon, adding
to the outbreak of coronavirus epidemic.
Msharrafieh from Damascus: Government approved plan for
return of displaced compliant with international standards
NNA/November 11/2020
Head of the Lebanese delegation to the International Conference for the Return
of Refugees in Damascus, caretaker Minister of Social Affairs Ramzi Msharrafieh
announced that "the Lebanese government has approved a plan for the return of
displaced persons that is in line with international standards and guarantees
the right of the displaced to a dignified return, in coordination with the
Syrian state and under the care of the international community.""Voluntary
return is ongoing, in cooperation and coordination between the Lebanese General
Security and its Syrian counterpart. Its frequency has decreased, though, due to
the Covid-19 pandemic," Msharrafieh stressed. He added that "international
experiences of political solutions to the return of refugees are not
encouraging."
UNICEF: 100 days on from Beirut explosions, children and
families affected remain in need of sustained support
NNA/November 11/2020
Children and families affected by the explosions that tore through Beirut 100
days ago remain in need of crucial support as they rebuild their lives, UNICEF
warned today as part of the report “Rising from Destruction. 100 days of
UNICEF’s response to the Beirut explosions and the road ahead for children and
families”. Key to that support is providing children and families affected with
psychosocial support to allow them to process trauma experienced during and
after the explosions. UNICEF has reached more than 33,000 people through a range
of interventions, including 7,200 children, parents and primary caregivers
through child-friendly spaces in affected areas and peer-to-peer sessions.
“Providing children and parents with psycho-social support is a vital step in
helping people rebuild their shattered lives,” said UNICEF Lebanon
Representative Yukie Mokuo. “While the immediate scars are starting to heal,
thanks to extraordinary efforts on the ground, the deep wounds – both visible
and invisible-- of children and families in a country experiencing multiple
emergencies will require sustained solidarity, commitment and support.”The sheer
number of children, parents, and caregivers who remain in need of support,
however, means that increased funding for key programmes, including child
protection, is urgently required. 12-year old Hussein* is one child who
has received this kind of support. “I stopped using colour on my drawings that
show my life because everything changed on that day. After the explosion, my
world has no colour. The explosion made all the colours in my life disappear.
Everything changed,” said Hussein, who lives in the Karantina neighbourhood, one
of the worst affected. Ten weeks on, and after sustained support, the life of
Hussein and children like him is slowly returning to a semblance of normality.
“The colour is back in my life again,” he says.
In the past 100 days, UNICEF and partners have:
Provided more than 7,200 children, parents and primary caregivers with mental
health and psychosocial support services through child-friendly spaces
established in affected areas and peer to peer sessions; Established an
emergency cash transfer programme that will support up to 80,000 vulnerable
children and individuals over the coming month. Provided over 22,000 children
under 5 with essential nutrition supplements including Vitamin A, high energy
biscuits and emergency food rations; Re-established water supply connection in
1,060 buildings, reaching 20,765 people in 4,080 households;
Installed 4,882 water tanks, including 111 in three heavily affected hospitals
in Karantina, Wardiya and Geitaoui; Distributed critical humanitarian supplies
and COVID-19 protection and hygiene items worth US$3.7 million to partners, with
around 80 per cent of the supplies procured locally, supporting the Lebanese
economy. Committed with partners to support the rehabilitation of 7 schools and
provision of furniture and equipment for nearly 90 schools. Engaged more than
1,800 young people in a community-based response focusing on cleaning, minor
rehabilitation of households, and preparation and distribution of meals for
vulnerable families. Provided 7,500 girls and women sanitary pads or mini
hygiene kits, including COVID-19 prevention items and information on sexual and
gender-based violence referral pathway; “UNICEF’s response over the past 100
days has been lifesaving, swift and essential,” said Mokuo. “Yet we cannot rest,
and our work continues. Rebuilding Beirut and lifting the spirit of the people
of Lebanon is a long-term commitment. UNICEF and partners have supported
thousands of children and families affected by the blast, but the needs remain
acute We thank our donors – individuals, governments, businesses - from the
bottom of our hearts. Their efforts and commitment help us stand with Lebanon’s
children, youths and families.”UNICEF has received 33 per cent of the US$50
million required in responding to the needs of children and families. Reaching
more children, young people and families will require sustained support. An
increase in funding would allow UNICEF to become even more effective in
addressing some of the escalating child protection challenges across the
country, including supporting more families who cannot afford the cost of
essential services, contributing towards the rebuilding of more schools, improve
household water systems in affected areas, and provide training and employment
opportunities to more youths working in the reconstruction of their city.—UNICEF
Frantic Search after Medicines Vanish from Lebanon Shelves
Associated Press/November 11/2020
She is a nurse at a Beirut hospital, and still Rita Harb can't find her
grandfather's heart drugs. She has searched pharmacies up and down Lebanon,
called friends abroad. Not even her connections with doctors could secure the
drugs. Unlike many amid Lebanon's financial crash, she can afford them — they
just aren't there. To get by, her 85-year-old grandfather is substituting his
medicine with more pills of a smaller concentration to reach his dosage. That
too could run out soon. "But if he dies, he dies," Harb said with a small,
bitter laugh of resignation that has become a common reaction among Lebanese to
their country's multiple crises. Drugs for everything from diabetes and blood
pressure to anti-depressants and fever pills used in COVID-19 treatment have
disappeared from shelves around Lebanon.
Officials and pharmacists say the shortage was exacerbated by panic buying and
hoarding after the Central Bank governor said that with foreign reserves running
low, the government won't be able to keep up subsidies, including on drugs.
That announcement "caused a storm, an earthquake," said Ghassan al-Amin, head of
the pharmacist syndicate. Lebanese now scour the country and beyond for crucial
medications. The elderly ask around religious charities and aid groups. Family
members plead on social media or travel to neighboring Syria. Expats are sending
in donations. It's the newest stage in the economic collapse of this country of
5 million, once a regional hub for banking, real estate and medical services.
More than half the population has been pushed into poverty and people's savings
have lost value. Public debt is crippling, and the local currency plunged,
losing nearly 80% of its value. The health sector is buckling under the
financial strain and coronavirus pandemic.
Lebanese are back to hoarding basics, such as water and fuel, like they did
during the country's 15-year civil war. Trust in the ruling class — mostly in
power since the war ended in 1990 — vanished as the country grapples with a
financial breakdown, the pandemic, and the fallout from the deadly Aug. 4
explosion at Beirut's port that wrecked the facility and large swaths of the
city. Lebanon imports nearly everything, including 85% of its pharmaceuticals.
Lifting subsidies is an inevitable step for the highly-indebted government. This
is expected to send prices and inflation soaring and the Lebanese pound further
tumbling. Fixed at 1,500 to the dollar for decades, it now hovers around 7,000
for $1 on the black market.
People are hoarding medications, fearing they will no longer be able to afford
them. Suppliers are shelving drugs, worried they won't have enough dollars to
buy more — or hoping to sell for higher when subsidies are lifted. Strapped
pharmacies can't stock shelves because suppliers now demand cash payment.
Meanwhile, the difference between the official and black market dollar rate
energized smuggling, and subsidized Lebanese drugs were now whisked out to
neighboring countries.
In the chaos, six out of every 10 brand drugs have become unavailable, said
Malak Khiami, the pharmacist at Amel Association, a humanitarian group that
offers primary health care.
Out of 3,400 unionized pharmacies, nearly 300 have shut down, al-Amin said. The
problem became so bad that one enraged buyer, an off-duty soldier, pulled out
his gun and threatened a pharmacist who told him he didn't have Panadol, a basic
pain reliever. At his pharmacy in Bchamoune, outside Beirut, Ziad Jomaa said he
and the gun-toting buyer were both victims of a corrupt and failed political
class. The incident, caught on CCTV footage, brought Jomaa sympathy, including
from the pain relief suppliers who immediately sent him 50 boxes. But he had to
take new security measures. He closed the pharmacy door at night, only taking
orders through a window, and hired a guard. "They put me in confrontation with
the public," Jomaa said. Civil groups stepped in to fill the gaps.
At one of Amel's centers, in Beirut's Baajour district, 800 people sought
medicine or health care at nominal fees in October, nearly double the number in
August. Amel has been keeping up its longest emergency relief program since
2006, when a war with Israel destroyed large parts of Beirut and killed over
1,000 people. "People are suffering big, big time," said , said Zeina Mohanna, a
board member. They "are set in fear for survival." Intissar Hatoum, 63, lined up
at the center's dispensary. Gripping a plastic bag with her empty drug boxes,
she came for whatever is available: inhalers, hypertension and heart pills,
anti-coagulants. Her unemployed husband suffers from kidney disease. Less urgent
are her cholesterol pills. A housewife, Hatoum relies on her taxi driver son to
pay medical bills, often skipping warm meals to afford them. He has asked around
southern Lebanon and Syria for their prescriptions.
"He didn't leave a place he didn't look," she said. Lebanese rely heavily on
pharmaceuticals. Nearly 44% of all health care spending is on drugs, compared to
around 17% percent in Western nations, according to a BlomInvest Bank study.
For decades, the market has been controlled by some two dozen importers. The law
awards select importers exclusive rights in each sector, keeping out competitors
and giving them enormous power to resist reforms. The exclusive import rights
are a a key feature of Lebanon's economic order, which after the civil war's end
became controlled by militia chiefs, wealthy traders and real estate owners.
Focusing on services, it was reliant on imports and foreign labor. As that model
falls apart, the market for foreign drugs is bound to shrink, said Viviane Akiki,
an economic reporter who also covers pharmaceuticals. "The dollar shortage will
impose new solutions." But it is not clear Lebanon's small domestic drug
production can fill the gap. In Beirut's Zoukaq al-Blat neighborhood, Mahmoud
Mahmoud's pharmacy was quiet. A few painkillers, supplements and shampoo bottles
were scattered on otherwise empty shelves.
Mahmoud believes suppliers are holding back medications waiting for higher
prices — or smuggling them. One gout drug, he said, was found in Iraq, selling
for $7, more than five times its price in Lebanon.
"They are destroying the profession," said Mahmoud. "With the way the country is
going, the profession is collapsing."
French-Lebanese Witness Retracts Claim Sarkozy Took Libyan
Millions
Agence France Presse/November 11/2020
A leading witness retracted Wednesday allegations that former French president
Nicolas Sarkozy took millions in cash from Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi for
his 2007 election campaign. French-Lebanese businessman, Ziad Takieddine, had
claimed he delivered suitcases carrying a total of five million euros from
Tripoli to Sarkozy's chief of staff in 2006 and 2007. The ex-president jumped on
the first reports from BFM TV and Paris Match saying: "The truth is out at
last." "For seven and a half years, the investigation has not discovered the
slightest proof of any illegal financing whatsoever," he posted on Facebook.
"The chief accuser recognizes his lies," Sarkozy added. "He never gave me money,
there was never illegal financing of my campaign in 2007." Takieddine, who is in
Beirut on the run from French justice in another shady financing affair, put out
a video saying the instructing magistrate had twisted his words. "I am saying
loud and clear the magistrate ... really wanted to turn it the way he wanted and
make me say things which are totally contradictory to what I said," the
70-year-old said. "There was no financing of Sarkozy's presidential campaign,"
he added. Sarkozy announced he would instruct his lawyers to seek to halt the
case against him and sue Takieddine for defamation. French prosecutors last
month said they had charged Sarkozy for "membership in a criminal conspiracy"
after more than 40 hours of questioning over four days, prosecutors told AFP. It
adds to charges already filed in 2018 of "accepting bribes," "benefitting from
embezzled public funds" and "illegal campaign financing." The October charge was
seen to increase the chance of a trial for Sarkozy, who was already poised to
become the first former French president in the dock on corruption charges.
Prosecutors suspected that Sarkozy and his associates received tens of millions
of euros from Gadhafi's regime to help finance his election bid.
- Litany of legal woes -
Sarkozy, who was president from 2007 to 2012, has always denied wrongdoing. He
has been under pressure since 2012, when the investigative website Mediapart
published a document purporting to show that Gadhafi agreed to give Sarkozy up
to 50 million euros ($59 million at current rates). But four years later, in
2011, Sarkozy was a driving force behind the international military invention
that drove Gadhafi from power. A trained lawyer, Sarkozy has fought the claims
of Libya cash by citing presidential immunity, and arguing there is no legal
basis in France for prosecuting someone for misusing funds from a foreign
country. He has faced a litany of legal woes since leaving office, including
charges relating to fake invoices orchestrated by executives of the Bygmalion
public relations firm to mask overspending on his failed 2012 re-election
campaign. In a third case, Sarkozy faces charges of trying to obtain classified
information from a judge on an inquiry into claims that he accepted illicit
payments from L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt for his 2007 presidential
campaign. Sarkozy was cleared over the Bettencourt allegations in 2013.
Hezbollah presence in south Syria much larger than
previously revealed
Anna Ahronheim/Jerusalem Post/November 11/2020
New report by the ALMA Research and Education Center locates 58 sites belonging
to group's Southern Command and Golan Project.
Hezbollah’s presence in southern Syria is much larger than previously revealed
to the public, a new report by the ALMA Research and Education Center has found,
with some 58 sites where the terror group’s Southern Command and Golan Project
have been deployed.
The report, which is based on Syrian opposition websites and cross-referenced
with actual locations of sites (some military) damaged by Israel, revealed 58
locations belonging to the group in the southern Syrian provinces of Quneitra
and Dara’a.
“In our estimation, the operational and intelligence infrastructure, which is
widely deployed in southern Syria, constitutes a quality basis for Hezbollah’s
ongoing activities in the sector, with an emphasis on intelligence gathering and
operational planning,” the report read.
Syrian troops recaptured southern Syria seven years after losing the area to
rebel groups and returned to its positions along with Hezbollah operatives and
Iranian-backed troops.
Though the Israeli military revealed Hezbollah’s network on the Syrian Golan
Heights last year, the deployment of the group’s forces was not completely
known, with less than a dozen places known in the province of Quneitra.
In the newly released report, ALMA identified 28 locations with Hezbollah forces
deployed as part of the Southern Command unit and another 30 locations where
there is a presence of cells operating under the Golan Project.
“These two units, the “Southern Command” and the “Golan File” pose an ongoing
operational and intelligence challenge for the State of Israel and stability in
the region,” the report said, adding that they were “able to reach exact
coordinates in some places and a general location in the rest.”
The Southern Command, led by Munir Ali Na'im Shaiti, is the Hezbollah unit in
charge of southern Syria whose main function is to create a Hezbollah
infrastructure in the area and not only gather intelligence on the IDF but train
the Syrian Arab Army 1rst Corps for war with Israel.
The report by ALMA found 28 sites where the Southern Command is deployed,
“located from the border with Israel in the west to the Dara’a-Damascus highway
in the east. From the village of Arana in the north of Quneitra province to the
city of Daraa and its surroundings in the south.”
Although the commanders of the Southern Headquarters are all Lebanese Hezbollah,
the troops, numbering in the thousands, are all local Syrians.
The unit, the report said is “present and integrated” in every base and central
headquarters of the SAA in the area as well as in observation posts (including
five major observation complexes overlooking Israel) and field operation
headquarters which serve as “joint coordination headquarters for Hezbollah and
the Syrian army with the presence of representatives of the Iranian Quds Force.”
The Golan Project is under the command of Ali Mussa Daqduq and has its
headquarters in Damascus and the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Last year there
were tens of operatives operating in the Syrian towns of Hadar, Quinetra and
Erneh who collected intelligence on Israel and military movement on the Israeli
Golan Heights.
Since then, another 10 villages in the Quinetra province and another 14 villages
in the Dara’a province have active cells belonging to the Golan Project,
bringing the total number of cells near the Israeli border to 30.
In addition to coordinates, the report also names the commanders of each cell.
“The cells are deployed in the area near the Israeli border on one hand and in
the area surrounding the city of Daraa, which is defined by Hezbollah as a
strategic area, on the other hand,” the report said.
All actions of operatives are said to be compartmentalized and kept secret from
each other and the local population in order to advance the project. According
to ALMA, the operatives receive a monthly salary of $200 per operative and $500
per commander directly from Hezbollah.
The operatives, members of local Syrian pro-military militias and even former
rebels, have weaponry available from the civil war and if needed, will receive
additional weaponry from Lebanon or existing arsenals kept by Hezbollah and Iran
in Syria.
While some of the operatives have taken part in attacks against Israel in the
past, other local Syrian villagers have joined for financial reasons. A portion
of the operatives have undergone training by Hezbollah in sabotage,
sharpshooting and firing Grad rockets.
“In our estimation, the level of professionalism and readiness of the “Golan
File” units enables an attack to be carried out,” the report said, adding that
attacks by these units “have the potential to cause damage to civilians and IDF
soldiers.”
The Southern Command, meanwhile “is currently working to realize operational and
intelligence infrastructure with a high level of readiness for Hezbollah’s
operations in southern Syria, as part of the opening of another front from the
Syrian border against Israel alongside the Lebanese front,” the report said.
Cells belonging to the Golan Project and Southern Command have already carried
out attacks against the IDF, and Israel, which has stated that it will not allow
Hezbollah to entrench itself on the Golan Heights has, according to foreign
reports, carried out several strikes against operatives belonging to the two.
Should a war break out in the north, the IDF expects it will not be contained to
one front but along the entire northern border with both Lebanon and Syria.
Gebran Bassil’s Distress, or Narcissism without its Basis
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/November 11/2020
No Lebanese faction dissolved in American politics to the same extent as the
Aounists. This dissolution brought accusations of “treachery”, raised by
Hezbollah and Damascus, upon Michel Aoun, not just in service to Washington, but
Tel Aviv as well. His place of exile in France, the sanctuary imposed on him at
the time, became considered amongst the Great Satan’s dens.
After the estrangement that followed his defeat and exile, Aoun and American
administrations’ sentiments for one another came to resemble an unprecedented
Sufi love: other Lebanese politicians with a predilection for the West never
became absolute Americans: Camille Chamoun passed through London on his way to
Washington, and Rafik Hariri went through Paris; both men had interests and ties
with the Arab world they were careful to maintain, in Baghdad, Amman, Riyadh,
Cairo and Damascus. Bashir Gemayel, on the other hand, took another path: it
used to be described as “Israelism”, and only in the final days of his life it
was described as “Americanism”. As for Aoun and Aounism, they continued to melt
in Washington for over a decade, from the early nineties till 2005. Their ties
were never severed or strained.
Since 2005, things began to change with the Aounists’ alliance with Hezbollah
and their partnership with the regimes in Damascus and Tehran by extension. Days
ago, the disagreement drove the US administration to impose sanctions on Gebran
Bassil, the head of the Aounists’ party. No similar sanctions had been imposed
on any other Lebanese political leader. The aides of Nabih Berri and Suleiman
Frangieh were sanctioned; they were not sanctioned themselves.
Commentators rushed to explain: Bassil’s path to the presidency has been closed
off. And they were probably right. The whole thing seemed equivalent to suicide:
especially since revision under Joe Biden’s new administration is not
guaranteed. Even if the sanctions were rescinded, it wouldn’t be quick and
smooth. What happened is that under Donald Trump’s leadership, the US, in its
efforts to ward off Iranian influence, went much further than is typical for
American administrations, while Bassil went much further than is typical for
Lebanese Christians in the other direction. The distance grew further, as the
anger over a lover’s betrayal is far greater than that which ensues from a
dispute with anyone else.
More than this: The Aounists were not satisfied with distinguishing themselves.
Indeed, they founded radical anti-western, especially anti-American, political
customs among Lebanese Christians. Here, Aounists’ attempt to one-up brought
them down by, like a lover trying to improve his standing in a relationship by
having an affair. Lebanese rural hubris is seen in their behavior; they
overestimated their importance and the strength of their negotiating position.
But it is also a consequence of outright ignorance. Betting on their perceived
absolute uniqueness, they believed the extent of their extremism would not cost
them their ability to negotiate, a perception stemming from a narcissistic
illusion of personal distinction that is not backed-up by any evidence.
On the other side, the aggravation of tensions between Washington and Tehran
over the nuclear issue no longer allows for fluid positions, let alone a stance
partial to the other side. Donald Trump, in turn, confronted Lebanese rural
narcissism with global rural narcissism. Catching up with Trump, a narcissist
himself, is always difficult.
Adding to the flippancy of this Aounist-Bassilist behavior is the absence of any
principle or the kind of justifications that would convince even a child: it has
been apparent, at every moment, their deep desire has always been for the US. It
was clear at every moment that Hezbollah, the resistance, and Tehran did not
arouse any genuine feelings of affection in the Aounists. Most of those who
collaborated with Israel were from their party’s milieu. Their claims of concern
for Lebanese unity were accompanied by resentment over Shiite citizens taking up
residents in Christian majority areas with a Aounist proclivity... The American
ambassador to Beirut, Dorothy Shea, revealed that Bassil “expressed his
readiness to separate from Hezbollah, under certain conditions.” There is no
reason not to believe her.
On the other hand, the years Aoun has spent in office have not added to the
weight of his negotiating position with his original beloved, the United States.
The “strong reign” has resulted in the weakest governance in this county’s short
history. The “graces” of intensifying the racism directed against Syrian
refugees generated much less popularity than that lost during the wretched years
of his term. The insults hurled against Bassil in the streets outnumbered those
directed against all the other politicians. Finally, with the Port of Beirut
explosion, his position as the overseer of the regime’s crimes against the
Lebanese, especially the Christians living in the port’s vicinity, was cemented.
Hubris became the death of the hubristic. Here, playing the role of a victim
does not help, nor does comparing himself to Europe, the environment, NATO,
China or Iran. Those who were negatively affected by Donald Trump and are
betting on Joe Biden have either something to trade or something that could be
defended. Gebran Bassil, on other hand, is a featherweight.
FBI "Actively Pursues" a Possible Hezbollah '94 Plane
Bombing
Todd Bensman/Middle East Forum/The Investigative Project on Terrorism/November
11/2020
Originally published under the title "FBI Renews Activity on Forgotten '94
Panama Plane Bombing."
The FBI says it is "actively pursuing leads and interviews" pertaining to the
mid-air bombing of Alas Chiricanas Flight 901 over Panama a quarter-century ago.
(The casualty count was later corrected to 22 deaths.)
For the first time in a quarter century, forward motion has been detected in the
moribund investigation into one of the world's most enduring, unsolved terrorist
bombings: the 1994 downing of Panamanian airliner Alas Chiricanas Flight 901.
The mid-air, apparent suicide bombing killed all 22 people aboard the short
commuter flight from Colon to Panama City, 12 of them leading local Jewish
businessmen. Coming just one day after the more catastrophic attack on the
Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AIMA) that left 85 Jews dead, Chiricanas
Flight 901 drew less media interest or a similarly muscular investigative effort
that eventually led Argentina to indict Iranian leaders and Iran's proxy, the
U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization Hezbollah. The bombing of Flight
901 has remained unattributed after some initial investigation vaguely suspected
Hezbollah, the affiliated Sidon, Lebanon-based Shia group Ansar Allah, or a
local drug and weapons trafficking cartel.
Reenter the FBI
The FBI was initially involved in the case, but Panama controlled it as a matter
of sovereignty. The Miami office of the bureau issued a bulletin in 1994 seeking
public help about the recovered torso of a Middle Eastern man who carried the
bomb aboard, "possibly" identified as Ali Hawa Jamal, the only body not claimed.
FBI photos of three "unknown Middle Eastern males" believed to be involved in
the attack.
At the time, the FBI believed it had video of the attack support team, a group
of "unknown Middle Eastern males" caught on surveillance cameras linked to South
American weapons traffickers, the 1994 bulletin states. With a stolen American
credit card some six weeks before the bombing, the men are believed to have
rented cars and bought a Motorola two-way radio communications device that Jamal
had on the flight. The vehicles were later found abandoned near Tocumen Airport
in Panama City. The FBI believed the men traveled to Colombia, Venezuela, Costa
Rica and Lebanon.
Then in September 2020, in a move that drew almost no media notice, the FBI's
Miami field office suddenly put up a new "Seeking Information" bulletin naming
Ali Hage Zaki Jalil, a 52-year-old Arab parachutist and apparent arms
trafficker, reportedly of Lebanese nationality.
Jalil, the new document said, was at the crash scene that day and the next.
Panama arrested him five months later for illegally possessing 16 Mini Mac 9mm
submachine guns, as well as detonation caps, military detonation cord similar to
that used in the bombing, and a $500,000 certificate of deposit from a
Panamanian bank. Witnesses told investigators that Jalil often possessed and
used hand-held radios of the sort found with the torso, the new bulletin states.
Jalil's public trail ends not long after his October 1994 Panama arrest. Did
authorities let a prime culprit slip through their fingers long ago? Why?
The FBI bulletin identifies him only as a person of interest. It also shows the
Bureau doesn't know where he is because the bulletin asks the public for
information on his current whereabouts.
Jalil is said to own several bars on Venezuela's Margarita Island. Local media
reporting recently places him in Panama, having a company registered there that
was involved in sports skydiving as recently as 2018. He is said to have
Colombian and Venezuelan passports.
How Jalil came to the fore some 26 years after he was placed at the bombing with
detonation cord and machine guns in a Panama City apartment is unknown.
Publishing the bulletin was indeed part of "ongoing investigations" in which
agents are "actively pursuing leads and conducting interviews," the FBI's Miami
office spokesman James Marshall told the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
"Despite the passage of time, investigators believe that Ali Hage Zaki Jalil may
have information related to this investigation," Marshall wrote.
He declined to comment further. Panamanian officials did not respond to a
request for comment.
A Long Cold Thaw in Panama
In 2018 then-President Juan Varela (left) received intelligence information
ascribing the attack to Hezbollah and Iran from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu.
Decades after the bombing investigation was seemingly over, Panamanian President
Juan Varela promised in May 2018 that Panama would reopen a full investigation.
That vow grew from intelligence Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
provided to his Panamanian counterpart ascribing the tragedy squarely to the
terrorist group Hezbollah and Iran, a la Argentina.
But nothing seemed to develop after that.
The Varela government declined repeated requests in 2018 and 2019 asking about
the status of the case. After businessman and politician Laurentino Cortizo was
elected to replace Varela in May 2019, Panama's small Jewish community of 15,000
asked him to move the investigation forward.
Panama reportedly developed the new leads that included Jalil in October 2019.
Why It Matters
Any reluctance by Panama to aggressively investigate the Israeli intelligence
indicating Iran-Hezollah involvement in the demise of Flight 901 occurs in the
context of Argentina's highly tortured investigations of the 1992 Israeli
embassy and 1994 AIMA bombings. Along with a 900-page indictment of senior
Iranian government and Hezollah figures, those decades-long efforts produced
pain for victim survivors, diplomatic rifts across the globe, the murder of its
chief prosecutor, government corruption suppressing it, and not much punishment
for any perpetrator.
But the Argentine investigations provided the victim families and international
community some truth about how clandestine Iran and Hezbollah operators were
able to conduct at least two massive terror bombings. And it led Argentina to
designate Hezbollah as terrorist organization last year, setting off a chain
reaction of similar designations by other Latin American nations, such as
Colombia, Paraguay, Honduras, and Guatemala. The designations allow those
countries to work together to legally tighten the noose on Hezbollah in Latin
America, reduce the mobility of operatives and prevent its ability to finance
and carry out operations like Flight 901, said Joseph Humire, executive director
of the Center for a Secure and Free Society and an expert on Latin American
security affairs. "The real challenge we have with Hezbollah is a question of
presence; it's very difficult to ascertain who is Hezbollah. There are operators
who move around and blend into the Lebanese community," he said. "So it's
largely an intelligence effort to figure this out. Without the (FTO) provisions,
it's hard to go after these intelligence operatives in Latin America. They don't
even look at them, don't even touch them. FTOs puts us in the same language and
on the same page."
*Todd Bensman is a fellow at the Middle East Forum and a senior national security fellow for the Center for Immigration Studies. He previously led counterterrorism-related intelligence efforts for the Texas Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division.
Defense Begins Questioning in Japan Trial over Ghosn's Pay
Associated Press/November 11/2020
The defense team for former Nissan executive Greg Kelly began questioning a key
prosecution witness in a Tokyo court this week, seeking to show the alleged
underreporting of income of his boss Carlos Ghosn was devised by others at the
automaker. Since the trial began in September, Kelly has only presented a brief
opening statement insisting on his innocence. In questioning Toshiaki Ohnuma,
who was in charge of compensation at Nissan, defense lawyer Yoichi Kitamura
sought to show that Ohnuma, at the order of higher-ups at Nissan, devised plans
to obscure exactly how much Ghosn would be paid, knowing they might be improper
in Japan. Legal repercussions of the scandal at Tokyo-based Nissan over alleged
underreporting of Ghosn's compensation and breach of trust have fallen only on
Kelly and on Nissan itself, which is not fighting the charges and has paid a
fine. None of the other executives testifying in the case have been charged.
Ghosn jumped bail and fled the country for Lebanon late last year, saying he
feared he could not get a fair trial. So far, the dozens of hours of questioning
at the Tokyo District Court, with everyone's speech muffled under masks because
of the coronavirus, have centered on Nissan's efforts to meet Ghosn's demands
for higher compensation without publicly disclosing the full amount. Prosecutors
have sought to show Kelly, who became the first American to join Nissan Motor
Co.'s board in 2012, violated financial reporting laws even though none of the
plans the Nissan management considered were ever acted upon or decided. In
cross-examining Wednesday, Ohnuma told the court that Kelly did not know how
much Ghosn was paid, as that was highly confidential at Nissan. The testimony
suggested Kelly played a minor role in being consulted to study legal ways to
pay Ghosn.
Ghosn was sent by Nissan alliance partner Renault SA of France to help turn the
automaker around in the late 1990s as it was sliding toward bankruptcy. The
Brazilian-born executive, who also has French and Lebanese nationality, led a
spectacular turnaround and was rewarded with compensation that even at the
lower, publicly disclosed levels, was exorbitant by Japanese "salaryman"
standards. Beginning in 2010, Japan started requiring public reporting of
individual executives' pay over 100 million yen ($1 million) in securities
reports. Documents presented at the trial show Ghosn returned about half his
annual pay of nearly 1.9 billion yen ($19 million), to keep the disclosure at
under 1 billion yen ($10 million). On Tuesday, Ohnuma said Nissan considered
various strategies for paying Ghosn, including through a joint venture with
Renault, a paper company in the Netherlands, stock options, retirement allowance
and consulting fees.Asked if he knew what he was doing might be improper, Ohnuma
acknowledged "efforts to deceive," and said he was torn over the issue but
anxious to keep his job. He told Kitamura he assumed Ghosn also knew the acts
were wrong. "I thought Ghosn-san sure had a way of doing things; I can't express
it any other way," Ohnuma said. Ghosn and Kelly were arrested in November 2018
before any decisions on the compensation plans were made. Auditors and tax
authorities started raising questions and nothing was acted on, according to the
court testimony. Prosecution for falsifying financial reports is rare in Japan
and the charges lie in a gray area, according to some legal experts. If
convicted, Kelly faces up to 15 years in prison on multiple counts of the charge
of falsifying securities statements. Japan has a 99% conviction rate.
Kelly's trial is expected to last about a year. The main target in the case,
Ghosn, was also facing more serious breach of trust charges but has escaped the
prosecutors' reach, noted Stephen Givens, a corporate lawyer based in Japan.
"There is no question that Greg Kelly is a victim of a very serious injustice,"
Givens said. "He was just one member of a team that was trying to come up with a
solution." Separately, Japanese prosecutors are seeking the extradition of two
Americans who are being held on suspicion they helped Ghosn escape, Michael
Taylor and his son Peter. As for Ghosn, he launched an official web site last
week, asserting his innocence, accusing Japan of "hostage justice" and plugging
his new book, "Time for the Truth," billed as a personal drama, industrial
tragedy and political-judicial thriller.
Nissan is due to report its latest earnings on Thursday.
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on November 11-12/2020
Fighting Election Results, Trump Employs a New Weapon: The Government
Peter Baker and Lara Jakes/The New York
Times/November 11/2020
President Donald Trump, facing the prospect of leaving the White House in defeat
in just 70 days, is harnessing the power of the federal government to resist the
results of an election that he lost, something that no sitting president has
done in American history. In the latest sign of defiance, the president’s senior
Cabinet secretary fueled concerns Tuesday that Trump would resist handing over
power to President-elect Joe Biden after legal challenges to the vote. “There
will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo said. Trump’s attorney general has at the same time authorized
investigations into supposed vote fraud; his general services administrator has
refused to give Biden’s team access to transition offices and resources
guaranteed under law; and the White House is preparing a budget for next year as
if Trump will be around to present it.
The president has also embarked on a shake-up of his administration, firing
Defense Secretary Mark Esper as well as the heads of three other agencies while
installing loyalists in key positions at the National Security Agency and the
Pentagon. Allies expect more to come, including the possible dismissals of the
directors of the FBI and the CIA. But the rest of the world increasingly moved
to accept Biden’s victory and prepared to work with him despite Trump’s refusal
to acknowledge the results. Speaking with journalists, Biden called the
president’s actions since Election Day “an embarrassment” that will not serve
him well in the long run. “How can I say this tactfully?” Biden said. “It will
not help the president’s legacy.” The standoff left the United States in the
position of the kind of country whose weak democratic processes it often
criticizes. Rather than congratulating Biden and inviting him to the White
House, as his predecessors traditionally have done after an election changed
party control, Trump has been marshaling his administration and pressuring his
Republican allies into acting as if the outcome were still uncertain, either out
of faint hope of actually overturning the results or at least creating a
narrative to explain his loss. The president’s efforts to discredit with false
claims both the election results and the incoming Biden administration is in
many ways the culmination of four years of stocking the government with pliant
appointees while undermining the credibility of other institutions in American
life, including intelligence agencies, law enforcement authorities, the news
media, technology companies, the federal government more broadly and now
election officials in states across four time zones. Throughout his presidency,
Trump has tried to condition much of the American public not to believe anyone
other than him, with evident success. Although the evidence shows there was no
widespread conspiracy to steal the election in multiple states that Trump has
invented, at least one poll showed that many supporters accept his claims.
Seventy percent of Republicans surveyed by Politico and Morning Consult said
they did not believe the election was free and fair. “What we have seen in the
last week from the president more closely resembles the tactics of the kind of
authoritarian leaders we follow,” said Michael J. Abramowitz, the president of
Freedom House, a nonprofit organization that tracks democracy around the world.
“I never would have imagined seeing something like this in America.”
Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad appointed Prime Minister of
Bahrain
The National/November 11/2020
It comes after the death of Prince Khalifa bin Salman on Wednesday at the age of
84.
Bahrain’s King Hamad on Wednesday appointed Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad as
Prime Minister. The new prime minister is the eldest son of King Hamad and
served as deputy prime minister for seven years. "His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa
Al Khalifa today issued Royal Order 44 of 2020 assigning His Royal Highness
Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme
Commander, to chair the Council of Ministers," Bahrain News Agency said. The
order came as Bahrain’s Royal Court announced a week of official mourning after
the death on Wednesday of former prime minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman at the
age of 84. Flags will fly at half staff for the week and government ministries
and departments will be closed for three days starting on Thursday. Educated in
Bahrain, Prince Salman holds a bachelor's degree in public administration from
the American University in Washington and a master's in philosophy and history
from the University of Cambridge. Prince Khalifa had been undergoing treatment
at the Mayo Clinic in the US when he died, the Bahrain News Agency said, and his
burial will take place when his body is returned to Bahrain. The ceremony will
be limited to specific family members because of the pandemic. State television
aired a recitation of Quranic verses, showing a black-and-white image of the
prince, who had served as prime minister since 1970.
Greece, Egypt to welcome ‘more decisive’ US involvement
under Biden, says Greek PM
Reuters/Wednesday 11 November 2020
Greece and Egypt, which angered Turkey by reaching an agreement on natural
resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, will welcome more decisive US
involvement in the region under President-elect Joe Biden, the Greek prime
minister said on Wednesday. “Both Greece and Egypt will receive positively a
more decisive role of the United States in the Middle East and the Eastern
Mediterranean,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at a news conference with visiting
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Cairo and Athens sealed an accord for
the partial demarcation of maritime boundaries in August, giving them rights
over natural resources in the Mediterranean. Mitsotakis said the accord showed
that countries which respect international law and good neighborly relations can
achieve results to the benefit of their people. He said both Greece and Egypt
were willing to expand the accord. Turkey, which is at odds with Greece over
overlapping claims to energy resources in the Mediterranean, says the pact
infringes on its own continental shelf. The agreement also overlaps maritime
zones Turkey agreed to with Libya last year, which were declared illegal by
Athens. Tensions between the two NATO allies flared following the accord, after
Turkey sent its Oruc Reis seismic survey vessel into disputed Mediterranean
waters. Ankara pulled out the vessel in September to allow for diplomacy with
Greece but then sent it back to the area. On Wednesday, Greece said Turkey’s new
naval advisory from Nov. 11-23, engaging an area for seismic activities, was
provocative and urged Ankara to revoke it immediately. “We agreed to continue
our solidarity, alongside all friendly countries, in order to confront anyone
who threatens regional stability and security, and in a way that prevents any
party from imposing its hostile positions,” Sisi said. Biden will further lay
the groundwork for his new administration on Wednesday as President Donald Trump
pursues a flurry of lawsuits challenging the results of the Nov. 3 election in
an effort to cling to power.
Iran Enriched Uranium Stockpile '12 Times' Limit in 2015 Deal
Agence France Presse/November 11/2020
Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium is now more than 12 times the limit set
down in a 2015 deal with world powers, the U.N.'s nuclear agency reported on
Wednesday. An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report seen by AFP said
that as of 2 November "Iran's total enriched uranium stockpile... was 2442.9
kg."The limit in the 2015 deal was set at 300 kilograms (661 pounds) of enriched
uranium in a particular compound form, which is the equivalent of 202.8 kg of
uranium in non-compound form.
UN accuses Turkey of turning blind eye to Iranian
assassinations
Arab News/November 11/2020
LONDON: Ankara allowed Iranian intelligence officers to plot and carry out
extrajudicial killings on Turkish soil, according to two UN rapporteurs.
They also accused Ankara of allowing the escape of a man allegedly involved in
the killing of Iranian journalist Masoud Molavi Vardanjani in Istanbul in 2019.
In a letter to Turkey’s government, Agnes Callamard, UN special rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, and Javaid Rehman, special
rapporteur on human rights in Iran, accused it of having “failed to conduct
appropriate, formal investigations into the killing.”
They urged Ankara to provide information on any investigation carried out or
ongoing, the possible misuse of the Iranian consular premises in Istanbul, and
to give details “about existing policies and measures aimed at ensuring that
foreign intelligence officers are not allowed to perpetrate or orchestrate
extrajudicial killings on Turkish territory.”Citing the 2003 International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Turkey is a signatory, the
letter said states “must take appropriate measures to protect individuals
against deprivation of life by other states in areas operating on their
territory, and states also have obligations under international law not to aid
or assist activities undertaken by other states that violate the right to
life.”It added: “Under international law in all suspected cases of extra-legal,
arbitrary and summary executions, states have an obligation to conduct
‘thorough, prompt and impartial investigations’. Failure to conduct such an
investigation may trigger additional violations of the right to life.”Vardanjani
was shot in Istanbul on Nov. 14, 2019, reportedly at the behest of Iranian
agents operating from their country’s consulate in the city. US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo later described it as “another tragic example in a long string
of suspected Iran-backed assassination attempts” of dissidents. Vardanjani had
fled Iran a year earlier and established a channel on the communications
platform Telegram, called “Black Box,” to report on corruption allegations
against senior Iranian politicians, lawyers and other members of the
establishment, as well as to criticize the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Three months before his murder, he posted a message on social media saying: “I
will root out the corrupt mafia commanders. Pray that they don’t kill me before
I do this.”The UN rapporteurs said prior to his death, Vardanjani was
“befriended” by an Iranian named Ali Esfanjani, who was allowed to flee Turkey
three days after the murder despite a Turkish police report released by Reuters
later naming him as the coordinator of the attack, and as having reported on
Vardanjani to Iranian intelligence for months beforehand. In its response,
Turkey accused the rapporteurs of behaving in a manner “not consistent with
diplomatic practices.”Its permanent representative to the UN added in a
diplomatic communiqué that “nine individuals, four of whom are foreign nationals
enjoying neither diplomatic nor consular immunity, were arrested and put under
pre-trial detention” for their alleged roles in the assassination.
Activists urge UN to impose tougher sanctions on Iran
Agencies/Arab News/November 11/2020
CHICAGO: A conference of Iranian expatriates from the US and Europe on Wednesday
urged the UN to impose tougher sanctions on the regime in Tehran, and for
Western nations to apply more pressure. The call came as the expatriates
commemorated the first anniversary of the regime’s massacre of more than 1,500
protesters. Millions of Iranians, particularly young people, took to the streets
last November demanding greater freedoms and regime change. On the orders of
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
shot and killed hundreds of demonstrators, including 23 children. About 12,000
people were arrested, many of whom were sentenced to death. The expatriates were
joined during the virtual conference by officials from the US State Department,
European politicians and diplomats. Speaker after speaker urged the UN and
Western nations to investigate the killing of protesters. Maryam Rajavi,
chairwoman of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran and president-elect of its National
Council of Resistance of Iran, reiterated a demand for Western countries to end
their “appeasement” of Tehran. “The mullahs … are impatiently awaiting a change
in US policy, hoping to gain something out of it for themselves,” she said.
“Such a change would … fail to resolve any of the problems of their (the
regime’s) decadent and corrupt theocracy,” she added. “The policy of appeasement
can’t be repeated … The time is up for policies that stand with the mullahs.
This policy will only reap harm and loss.”Despite the brutal crackdown on
dissidents last November, citizens in many Iranian cities launched a second wave
of protests against the regime in January. Rajavi said the development by the
West of an effective policy on the regime is a pressing issue that must address
the proliferation of ballistic missiles in Iran, its state sponsorship of
terrorism, cyberwarfare and cybersecurity, Tehran’s disruptive regional conduct,
and gross violations of human rights in the country. “This is the beginning of
the destruction of the foundations of the regime by the Iranian people and,
ultimately, uprooting it. This will be finalized by the future protests and
uprisings led by the great army of freedom,” she added. “To the heroic people
and courageous youths of Iran, I say, ‘The ruling mullahs fear your power’.”
Matthew Offord, a British Conservative MP who represents the constituency of
Hendon in London, echoed Rajavi’s demand for a UN investigation into the killing
of protesters last year.
“I call on the UK government to work with international allies to refer the
November 2019 uprising dossier to the UN Security Council for accountability for
those responsible in an international tribunal,” he said. “I also urge the UK to
work with the US and the EU to send an international fact-finding mission to
visit the regime’s prisons, and demand and take immediate action to secure the
release of all political prisoners and individuals detained during the 2019
uprising.” Mitchell Reiss, a former director of policy planning at the US State
Department who was also special envoy to Northern Ireland during the peace
process, urged conference attendees to speak out against the regime’s crimes.
“On this anniversary of the November 2019 uprising and at a time of transition
in the United States, from the Trump to the Biden administration, it’s useful to
reflect on recent trends and developments over the past few years, and what they
suggest for the struggle between the Iranian people and the ruling theocracy in
Tehran,” he said. “From my perspective, the forces of freedom are gaining
strength, both inside and outside Iran, while the forces of repression are
weakening.”Theresa Payton, who was chief information officer at the White House
during the George W. Bush administration, said the international community must
act now. “The world needs to come together and dedicate ourselves to a bold, new
approach. We can’t allow excuses anymore. This is the crisis of our time,” she
added. “If a coalition of international policymakers, technology and citizens
act now, the overall future for the people of Iran, and the world, will take a
more positive and different course.”
Many Hurt in Bombing at WWI Ceremony in Jeddah
Agence France Presse/Wednesday, 11 November, 2020
A bomb blast struck a World War I commemoration attended by Western diplomats in
the Saudi city of Jeddah Wednesday, leaving at least two people wounded in the
second assault on diplomatic missions in recent weeks, officials said. The
attack at a non-Muslim cemetery comes less than a month after a guard at the
French consulate in Jeddah was wounded by a knife-wielding Saudi citizen, amid
anger among Muslim nations over satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
Diplomats from France, Greece, Italy, Britain and the United States were in
attendance at the Armistice Day commemoration ceremony in the Red Sea port city,
according to a joint statement from their embassies that condemned the "cowardly
attack." "The annual ceremony commemorating the end of World War I at the
non-Muslim cemetery in Jeddah, attended by several consulates, including that of
France, was the target of an IED (improvised explosive device) attack this
morning, which injured several people," France's foreign ministry said. A Greek
policeman residing in the kingdom was among those wounded, a Greek diplomatic
source told AFP. A British citizen was also believed to have been wounded. A
Saudi policeman suffered minor injuries, state-owned Ekhbariya television added,
citing the governor of Mecca region, where Jeddah is located. "(Saudi) security
services will launch an investigation into an incident of aggression during a
gathering of a number of consuls in Jeddah," Ekhbariya said.
Panic -
The bomb triggered panic as it went off while the French consul was delivering a
speech at the ceremony, according to eyewitness Nadia Chaaya. "At the end of the
speech we heard an explosion. We didn't quite understand it at first, but we
then realized that we were the target," Chaaya told France's BFMTV. "We were
panicking and feared there could be a second explosion. We left the cemetery and
went out into the street and everyone went their separate ways."Roads leading up
to the cemetery in central Jeddah were blocked by Saudi traffic police,
according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
While condemning the "shameful" attack, the embassies of the countries involved
in the commemoration lauded "brave Saudi first responders who assisted those at
the scene". The European Union delegation in the kingdom also thanked Saudi
emergency services, while urging local authorities to hold a "prompt and
thorough investigation" of the attack. "I have full confidence the Saudi
Authorities will investigate this attack and prosecute those responsible for
this cowardly act," James Cleverly, the British minister for the Middle East and
North Africa, said on Twitter.
'Extreme vigilance'
The French embassy in Riyadh has urged its nationals in Saudi Arabia to exercise
"extreme vigilance" since the attack at the Jeddah consulate on October 29, the
same day a knife-wielding man killed three people at a church in Nice in
southern France. Several countries are marking the 102nd anniversary of the
armistice signed by Germany and Allied countries to end the war. Macron has
vigorously defended the right to publish cartoons viewed as offensive by some,
including caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed printed by French satirical
magazine Charlie Hebdo.The Charlie Hebdo cartoons were shown by French history
teacher Samuel Paty to pupils in a class on free speech, leading to his
beheading outside Paris on October 16 following an online campaign by parents
angry over his choice of lesson material. Macron's stance angered many Muslims,
prompting protests in several countries at which portraits of France's president
were burnt, and a campaign to boycott French products. Regional heavyweight
Saudi Arabia -- home to Islam's holiest sites -- has criticized the cartoons,
saying it rejected "any attempt to link Islam and terrorism" but stopped short
of condemning the French leadership.
Riyadh also "strongly" condemned last month's attack in Nice. On Tuesday, Macron
hosted a summit of European leaders to plot a joint approach on combating
Islamist radicalism after four people were killed in a shooting rampage in the
heart of Vienna last week.
Sisi Makes First Visit to Greece Since Maritime Deal
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 November, 2020
Egypt’s president is meeting with Greek officials in Athens on Wednesday, in his
first visit to the southern European nation since the two countries signed a
deal demarcating maritime boundaries between them in the eastern Mediterranean.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi was holding talks with the Greek president and
prime minister on Wednesday morning, while Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh
Shoukry will sit down with Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias later in the evening.
In August, Greece and Egypt signed a maritime deal demarcating the two
countries’ maritime boundaries and setting out respective exclusive economic
zones for the exploitation of resources such as oil and gas drilling. The
agreement angered Turkey, which has accused Greece of trying to grab an unfair
share of resources in the eastern Mediterranean, The Associated Press reported.
Tension has been high between Greece and Turkey, both NATO members, with Ankara
sending a seismic research vessel into areas that Athens claims is over its own
continental shelf. The dispute has led to both countries’ warships facing off in
the eastern Mediterranean, and raised fears it could lead to open conflict. The
Greece-Egypt deal was widely seen as a response to a disputed agreement reached
earlier between Turkey and Libya’s Tripoli-based administration that increased
tension in the region. Greece, Cyprus and Egypt widely criticized the deal
between Ankara and Tripoli, saying it infringed on their economic rights.
Libyan Political Dialogue Forum Mulls PM Pick
Tunis - Mongi Saidani/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 November, 2020
The Libyan Political Dialogue Forum talks continued for the second day Tuesday
in Tunisia's capital to discuss a draft political roadmap for the preparatory
phase in Libya. The discussions, which kicked off Monday under the UN auspices,
are expected to conclude on Saturday during which a press conference will be
held to announce key agreements reached between Libyan parties. Various
political figures hope the forum will serve as a reference during the upcoming
transitional phase. A Libyan committee will be formed and will include five
figures of the 75 officials who participated in the forum. They will be tasked
to monitor the outcomes of the Tunis meeting and the implementation of the
agreements, as well as take a final decision in case obstacles occurred.
Remarkably, Libyan sources revealed that several figures have been proposed for
the prime minister's post. These are led by Libyan Interior Minister of the
Government of National Accord Fathi Bashagha, politician Ahmed Maiteeq and
Speaker of the east-based Libyan parliament Aguila Saleh. The draft being
discussed includes seven main political issues that set the principles of the
national political program, including holding general elections, restructuring
the executive authority in Libya to achieve security, ending armed conflicts,
unifying state institutions, improving services and economic performance, as
well as developing the work of state institutions and attaining comprehensive
political reconciliation. According to Arab Parliament Speaker Adel Abdulrahman
al-Asoumi, the LPDF represents a pivotal stage and a major milestone to end
years of conflict and meet the aspirations of the Libyan people of comprehensive
peace and lasting stability in their country. Asoumi urged all Libyan parties to
actively engage in the dialogue and prioritize the national interest of Libyans
to reach a comprehensive political settlement to the crisis. He stressed that
this settlement will support the sovereignty of the Libyan state over its entire
territory, preserve its national unity and end all forms of foreign
interventions in Libya’s internal affairs.
Syria's Assad: Western Sanctions Hinder Return of Refugees
Associated Press/Wednesday, 11 November, 2020
The Syrian government is working to secure the return of millions of refugees
who fled war in their country, but Western sanctions are hindering the work of
state institutions, complicating those plans, President Bashar Assad said
Wednesday. His comments came at the opening session of a controversial two-day
international conference in Damascus on the return of refugees. The event,
organized by Russia, is being boycotted by many Arab and Western countries and
has been criticized by the U.N. and the U.S. Critics say the time is not ripe
yet for the return of refugees, insisting the first priority should be to make
it safe for people to go back to the war-torn country. Assad's forces have
recaptured much of Syria, with the backing of his allies Russia and Iran, which
helped tip the balance of power in his favor. The conflict that began with
antigovernment protests in March 2011 as part of the region's Arab Spring,
quickly morphed into a civil war. The conference was held in a giant hall with
participants, most of them wearing masks, observing social distancing because of
the coronavirus. Many countries were invited but only 27 agreed to participate,
including neighboring Lebanon and Iraq which host large numbers of Syrian
refugees, according to state TV. Neighboring Turkey, a main backer of Syrian
opposition forces, was not invited. Another neighbor, Jordan, which also hosts
Syrian refugees, did not participate. Lebanon's outgoing Foreign Minister
Charbel Wehbi addressed the gathering by video conference and used the
opportunity to call on the international community to help in the return of
Syrian refugees. Lebanon is hosting the highest per capita number of Syrian
refugees, who at one point made nearly a quarter of the tiny country's
population of 5 million. Syria's nine-year war has killed about half a million
people, wounded more than a million and forced about 5.6 million to flee abroad
as refugees, mostly to neighboring countries. Another 6 million of Syria's
prewar population of 23 million have been internally displaced by the fighting.
"We are working hard for the return of every refugee who wants to come back and
help rebuild the country," Assad said in a speech aired at the beginning of the
conference. But, he added, there "are major obstacles — including pressures
exerted on refugees not to return and the illegitimate economic sanctions and
the siege imposed by the American regime and its allies."Assad said the European
and U.S. sanctions on his government, imposed over the war hinder rebuilding
efforts and improvement of infrastructure that was damaged by the war, which
doesn't help the return of refugees. In a video call with Assad on Monday,
Russian President Vladimir Putin said large parts of Syria are relatively
peaceful and that it was time for the millions of Syrians who fled to return
home and help rebuild. The Syrian Opposition Coalition criticized the
conference, saying it cannot be organized "by the criminal who is responsible
for the crime." The return of refugees can happen only after bombing of
rebel-held areas stops and a political transition is achieved, the coalition
added.
Yemen Accuses Houthis of Impeding Access to Fuel
Aden - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 November, 2020
The Yemeni government accused Houthi militias of exacerbating the humanitarian
situation and selling fuel on the black market. The government called on the
international community and the United Nations to put pressure on the group to
force it to implement the agreement on the mechanism of importing oil
derivatives to the port of Hodeidah. The Technical Office of the Supreme
Economic Council issued a statement on Tuesday, saying that the measures taken
by the government pertaining to the flow of fuel to the port of Hodeidah and the
Houthi-controlled areas showed its keenness to alleviate the suffering of
citizens and avoid exacerbating the humanitarian situation due to the shortage
of fuel. “Government measures embody the positive government response to the
requests of the UN envoy to Yemen, without compromising controls on curbing the
illegal trade of fuel in the country,” the statement emphasized.
The Council called on “the international community with all its organizations,
the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, and the UN Special
Envoy to Yemen, to assume their role in holding the Houthi militia responsible
for complicating the humanitarian situation because of their violations of the
agreement that was made with the UN envoy.” The statement accused the Houthis of
“triggering fuel crises… strengthening their activity on the black market,
exploiting the needs and suffering of citizens, and endangering the lives of
civilians by storing fuel in buildings and residential neighborhoods.” It also
said that the militias were obstructing easy access to fuel and the disbursement
of civilian salaries, as well as impeding the efforts of the international envoy
on these two matters. The Council urged the international community to take the
necessary measures to stop the practices of the insurgents and to curb their
“inhuman and immoral exploitation of the basic requirements of life and the
suffering of citizens.”
Sudan Deploys Troops on Border with Ethiopia
Khartoum - Mohammed Amin Yassin/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11
November, 2020
Sudan has deployed troops on the border with Ethiopia to stop the infiltration
of armed elements to its territories. Member of Sudan’s Sovereign Council
Mohamed Alfaki Suleiman said on Tuesday that the government has taken all the
necessary arrangements to deal with a flow of Ethiopian refugees. He pointed out
that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has visited eastern
Sudan, inspected the old refugee camps and prepared for opening new camps if
necessary. This comes in light of the armed conflict in Ethiopia between the
Federal government and Tigray region’s forces that resulted in the escape of
dozens of Ethiopians across the border to Sudan. Gedu Andargachew, the Ethiopian
National Security Affairs Advisor to the Prime Minister, arrived in Khartoum on
Tuesday and met with President of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel
Fattah al-Burhan and Premier Abdalla Hamdok.
According to the Council’s statement, Burhan stressed the Sudanese government
and people’s support for Ethiopia in facing the current crisis. Hamdok referred
to the ongoing contacts with Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed as part of Khartoum’s
keenness on the neighboring country’s security and stability. He received a
letter from his Ethiopian counterpart on the latest developments in Tigray
region and expressed confidence in Addis Ababa’s ability to overcome the crisis.
Andargachew briefed the Sudanese officials on the developments in Tigray,
affirming the Ethiopian government’s ability to address the situation as soon as
possible. Eyewitnesses told Asharq Al-Awsat that hundreds of Ethiopians have
fled Tigray to Sudan’s Kassalam and Gedaref bordering states. Sudan’s Security
and Defense Council discussed the developments in Ethiopia on Monday and called
on all parties to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Last weekend, the Ethiopian army announced an offensive on the northern region
following an attack by Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) on a federal
military base in the area.
Sudan Braces for Up to 200,000 Fleeing Ethiopia Battles
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 November, 2020
Up to 200,000 refugees could pour into Sudan while fleeing the deadly conflict
in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region, officials say, while the first details are
emerging of largely cut-off civilians under growing strain. Already at least
6,000 people have crossed the border. Long lines have appeared outside bread
shops in the Tigray region, and supply-laden trucks are stranded at its borders,
the United Nations humanitarian chief in the country told The Associated Press
in an interview. “We want to have humanitarian access as soon as possible,”
Sajjad Mohammad Sajid said. “Fuel and food are needed urgently.” Up to 2 million
people in Tigray have a “very, very difficult time,” he said late Tuesday,
including hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Communications remain
almost completely severed with the Tigray region a week after Ethiopia’s Nobel
Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced a military offensive in
response to an alleged attack by regional forces. He insists there will be no
negotiations with a regional government he considers illegal until its ruling
“clique” is arrested and its well-stocked arsenal is destroyed.
Britain and the African Union have urged Abiy for an immediate de-escalation as
the conflict threatens to destabilize the strategic but vulnerable Horn of
Africa region. The United States did not immediately give details on any
outreach. The standoff leaves nearly 900 aid workers in the Tigray region from
the UN and other groups struggling to contact the outside world with pleas for
help. “Nine UN agencies, almost 20 NGOs, all depending on two offices” with the
means to communicate, Sajid said.
In addition, more than 1,000 people of different nationalities are stuck in the
region, he said. That includes tourists. Countries urgently are seeking their
evacuation. Ethiopia’s federal government and Tigray’s regional government, the
Tigray People's Liberation Front, blame each other for starting the conflict.
Each regards the other as illegal. The TPLF dominated Ethiopia's ruling
coalition for years before Abiy came to office in 2018 but has since broken away
while accusing the prime minister's administration of targeting and
marginalizing its officials.
Israeli Delegation to Visit Sudan on Sunday
Tel Aviv - Ramallah/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11 November, 2020 -
An official Israeli delegation will visit Sudan on Sunday to promote the process
of normalizing relations between the two countries, the Israeli Broadcasting
Corporation said. The visit will be the first since US President Donald Trump
announced last month that Sudan would start normalizing ties with Israel with
the two set to sign deals covering agriculture, trade, aviation and migration.
An Israeli source said the delegation will include experts and officials from
the National Security Council and the Foreign Ministry. The Sudanese government
has not confirmed the delegation’s planned visit. Last month, Netanyahu said
that Israeli and Sudanese delegations would meet to discuss commercial and
agricultural cooperation. A senior Sudanese official had earlier told Asharq Al-Awsat
that Israel has officially requested Sudan’s government to allow its flights to
pass through the country’s airspace after the two parties signed an initial
agreement to normalize relations. Yedioth Ahronot reported that Israel’s El Al
Airlines operated its first commercial flight through Sudanese airspace on
Sunday. The flight departed from Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport to Uganda’s Entebbe
International Airport. It departed Entebbe back to Israel on the same day with
153 Ugandans who will be trained on modern agricultural methods.
Moscow Working for Success of Refugee Conference Despite
Broad Int’l Boycott
Moscow - Damascus - Raed Jaber and Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 11
November, 2020
A two-day conference on the return of refugees kicks off in Damascus Wednesday
amid a large Russian presence but a broad international and regional boycott.
Before attending the conference in the Syrian capital, a prominent Russian
delegation visited Lebanon Tuesday to hold talks with Lebanese officials. Moscow
will participate in the event through the foreign and defense ministries and a
delegation that represents 35 institutions, including Russian envoy to Syria
Alexander Lavrantiev. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to deliver a
statement via videoconference explaining his country’s position on the post-war
arrangements in Syria. The conference will include roundtable discussions that
involve providing assistance to the returnees, repairing the social
infrastructure, presenting international aid and discussing means to confront
the novel coronavirus outbreak. Assistant Foreign and Expatriates Minister Ayman
Sousan said Tuesday an invitation had been sent to all the countries to
participate in the conference, except Turkey. “It is not possible to hope for
any positive matter from (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan’s regime, the
first supporter of terrorist organizations in Syria,” said Sousan.
He said some countries have been under pressure to discourage them from
participating in the conference. Sousan added that China, Russia, Iran, Lebanon,
UAE, Pakistan and the Sultanate of Oman are among the states, which will
participate in the conference. The Lebanese government sent caretaker Minister
of Social Affairs and Tourism Ramzi Musharrafieh to Damascus at the head of
Lebanon’s delegation. Senior aide to the Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Asghar
Khaji met Tuesday in Damascus with President Bashar Assad and briefed him on the
vision of his country regarding the conference and its willingness to offer any
support that could contribute to its success and solving the humanitarian
problem. The two sides exchanged views on a number of issues of political
concern, including the Astana talks on Syria and the discussions of the
Constitutional Committee. Several countries, including Canada, have expressed
their rejection to participate in the Damascus conference. The European Union
said Tuesday that it will not take part in the event, insisting that the first
priority should be to make it safe for people to go back to the conflict-ravaged
country. The Syrian Association for the Rights of Refugees categorically
rejected the conference. “We assure that all calls for holding the conference
are dubious invitations to give legitimacy to the terrorist Assad regime,” it
said in a statement.
The Latest LCCC English analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 11-12/2020
Doomed to Failure: All of France’s Counter Terror
Initiatives
Raymond Ibrahim/PJ Media/November 11/2020
A critical question arises in light of the recent spate of fatal terror attacks
in France and other European nations: How do you once and for all eradicate
“extremism” from Muslim communities living in the West?
Western leaders usually respond by citing anything and everything from new
“initiatives” meant to foster closer relations between Muslim communities and
their host nations, to surveillance measures of hot spots and mosques.
Lamentably, history has already proven that even much more draconian measures
against Islam—of the sort that modern Western man cannot even conceive let along
implement—are doomed to failure.
Consider the historical experiences of France’s neighbor, Spain. In the eighth
century, Muslims from Africa invaded and brutally conquered the Iberian
Peninsula. Christians were massacred and subjugated; churches were destroyed
and/or converted to mosques. By the late fifteenth century, however—after
centuries of wars to liberate Spain from Islam (AKA, the Reconquista)—Christian
rule finally extended to every corner of the peninsula.
Muslims, however, remained, mostly centered in Granada. Originally, they were
given lenient terms: Muslims could continue practicing their religion, enforce
sharia in their own communities, and even travel freely.
Even so, whenever the opportunity arose, Muslims rebelled and launched many
hard-to-quell uprisings, some “involving the stoning, dismembering, beheading,
impaling, and burning alive of Christians.” Muslims also regularly colluded with
foreign Muslim powers (e.g., North Africans, Ottoman Turks) in an effort to
subvert Spain back to Islam.
Fed up with this “enemy within,” the Spanish crown finally decreed in 1501 that
all Muslims had two choices: convert to Christianity or leave Spain. The
motivation was less religious and more political; it was less about making
Muslims “good Christians” and more about making them “good citizens.” So long as
they remained Muslim—thereby operating under the highly divisive doctrine of
“loyalty and enmity”—they would remain hostile and disloyal to Christian Spain;
and because secularism, atheism, multiculturalism, or just general “wokeness,”
were not options then, the only practical way Muslims could slough off their
tribalism and be loyal to a Christian kingdom was by embracing its faith.
Spain’s entire Muslim population—hundreds of thousands of Muslims—responded by
openly embracing Christianity while remaining crypto-Muslims, in keeping with
the Muslim doctrine of taqiyya. It teaches that, whenever Muslims find
themselves under infidel authority, they may say and do almost anything—denounce
Muhammad, receive baptism and communion, venerate the cross—as long as their
hearts remain true to Islam. So, in public, these newly converted “Christians”
went to church and baptized their children; at home, they recited the Koran,
preached undying hate for the infidel, and plotted how to destroy Christian
Spain.
That these “Moriscos”—that is, self-professed Muslim converts to Christianity
who were still “Moorish,” or Islamic, as they came to be known—went to great
lengths to foist their deception cannot be doubted, as explained by one
historian:
For a Morisco to pass as a good Christian took more than a simple statement to
that effect. It required a sustained performance involving hundreds of
individual statements and actions of different types, many of which might have
little to do with expressions of belief or ritual per se. Dissimulation [taqiyya]
was an institutionalized practice in Morisco communities that involved regular
patterns of behaviour passed on from one generation to the next.
Despite this elaborate masquerade, Christians increasingly caught on: “With the
permission and license that their accursed sect accorded them,” a frustrated
Spaniard remarked, “they could feign any religion outwardly and without sinning,
as long as they kept their hearts nevertheless devoted to their false impostor
of a prophet. We saw so many of them who died while worshipping the Cross and
speaking well of our Catholic Religion yet who were inwardly excellent Muslims.”
Christians initially tried to reason with the Moriscos; they reminded them how
they became Muslim in the first place: “Your ancestor was a Christian, although
he made himself a Muslim” to avoid persecution or elevate his social status; so
now “you also must become a Christian.” When that failed, Korans were
confiscated and burned; then Arabic, the language of Islam, was banned. When
that too failed, more extreme measures were taken; it reached the point that a
Morisco could “not even possess a pocketknife for eating with that did not have
a rounded point, lest he savage a Christian with it.”
A Muslim chronicler summarizes these times: “Such of the Muslims as still
remained in Andalus, although Christians in appearance, were not so in their
hearts; for they worshipped Allah in secret. . . . The Christians watched over
them with the greatest vigilance, and many were discovered and burnt.”
Such are the origins of the Spanish Inquisition (which, contrary to popular
belief, targeted more Muslims than Jews). For no matter how much the Moriscos
“might present the appearance of a most peaceful submission,” a nineteenth
century historian wrote, “they remained nevertheless fundamental Musulmans,
watching for a favourable opportunity and patiently awaiting the hour of
revenge, promised by their prophecies.”
Thus, when a rumor arose in 1568 that the Ottoman Turks had finally arrived,
Spain’s crypto-Muslim fifth column, “believing that the days under Christian
rule were over, went berserk. Priests all over the countryside were attacked,
mutilated, or murdered; some were burned alive; one was sewed inside a pig and
barbequed; the pretty Christian girls were assiduously raped, some sent off to
join the harems of Moroccan and Algerian potentates.”
In the end, if Muslims could never be loyal to infidel authority—constantly
colluding and subverting, including with foreign Muslims—and if conversion to
Christianity was no solution, then only one solution remained: between 1609 and
1614, all Moriscos were expelled from the Peninsula to Africa, whence Islam had
first invaded Spain nearly a millennium earlier.
This decision was not taken lightly. Many Christians in Spain—and the pope in
Rome—deemed it too harsh; some suggested the castration of all Morisco males as
an alternative. Yet, in the end, the monarchy concluded that there was no other
guarantee against the constant subversions and sporadic bouts of terrorism than
the complete elimination of Islam from Spain.
The point here is that Spain did everything humanly possible to get its Muslim
population to assimilate and forsake their hate for Christian
“infidels”—including by forcing them to convert to, and their children to be
born in, Christianity, and monitoring their commitment—and even that was not
enough, thanks to the dispensation of taqiyya, which still informs much of
Europe’s Muslim population.
As such, surely any and all “anti-extremist” measures France and other Western
nations take—none of which will ever be anywhere near as extreme as premodern
Spain’s, and most of which currently revolve around silly platitudes such as
“They will not divide us,” to quote Macron after a beheading—are doomed to
failure.
Note: Quotes in the above narrative were excerpted from and documented in the
author’s Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the
West. Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center,
a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and a Distinguished
Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.
Why the Muslim Brotherhood Came Out of Its Hole
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/November 11/2020
The labeled terrorist organization [Muslim Brotherhood] said, with a straight
face, that it "wishes Mr. Biden, the American people, and the peoples of the
whole world to continue to live in dignity under the principles of freedom,
justice, democracy and respect for human rights."
"There are several reports confirming the Muslim Brotherhood's support for Biden
so that the organization would be able to avoid restrictions on political Islam
movements.... Now, they are hoping that the US will remove them from the list of
terrorist organizations." — Israa Ahmed Fuad, Egyptian political analyst and
author, Youm7.com, November 7, 2020.
The Muslim Brotherhood "are partners of Democratic administrations in ruining
the region and supporting extremism." — Amin Al-Alawi, Moroccan researcher,
24saa.ma, November 8, 2020.
No US administration can afford to dismiss the warning bells sounded by Arabs in
the wake of the Muslim Brotherhood's attempt to present itself as a peaceful
group that seeks to bring freedom and democracy to the Arab world.
The Islamists are desperate to return to power in Egypt, which is why they are
prepared to even court the American "Satan" to reach this goal. These are the
same Islamists who have been condemning Arabs who have any contact with
Americans. At this time of possible administrative change in America, the Arabs
who do not support the Muslim Brotherhood -- particularly those living in Egypt
and the Gulf states -- fervently hope that their alarm about Islamists will be
heard loud and clear by Biden and his group.
The message Arabs are sending to the new US administration is: Do not repeat the
mistakes of former President Barack Obama, whose administration sided with then
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member. Pictured: Then
US Secretary of State John Kerry (left) meets with Morsi in Cairo on March 3,
2013.
Will a new US administration possibly under Joe Biden help revive the Muslim
Brotherhood, which is considered a terrorist organization by Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Syria? Why is the Muslim Brotherhood
rejoicing over the "victory" of Biden?
Some Arabs say they are worried when they see the Muslim Brotherhood celebrating
the results of the US presidential election. These Arabs fear that the Muslim
Brotherhood, backed by Qatar and Turkey, is preparing to make a comeback under a
potential Biden administration.
The message Arabs are sending to the new US administration is: Do not repeat the
mistakes of former President Barack Obama, whose administration sided with then
Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member. The Arabs also
want to remind a potentially new US administration that the Islamists and their
supporters are inveterate liars who care only about their own interests.
"Muslim Brotherhood activists and media outlets have seemed very enthusiastic
about the Democratic candidate Joe Biden's progress in US election results,"
according to the London-based The Arab Weekly newspaper.
"Analysts attributed this enthusiasm to their [Muslim Brotherhood's] wish for an
encore of their experience in the era of former President Barack Obama, during
which they played a remarkable role riding the wave of the 'Arab Spring'
uprisings...
"Pro-Muslim Brotherhood activists and media professionals in Egypt, Tunisia,
Yemen and the Gulf states did not hide their prayers for a Biden victory...
"From the outset, the Muslim Brothers did not hide their bias towards Biden.
They presented him as a supporter of Islam and Muslims, highlighting the fact
that he cites the Prophet's [Mohammed] hadiths..."
Last week, the Muslim Brotherhood published a statement on its official website
in which it wrote that it "appreciates the American electoral process, which
resulted in Mr. Joe Biden winning the position of the new President of the
United States, a victory that proves that the American people are still able to
impose their will."
The labeled terrorist organization said, with a straight face, that it "wishes
Mr. Biden, the American people, and the peoples of the whole world to continue
to live in dignity under the principles of freedom, justice, democracy and
respect for human rights."
The Muslim Brotherhood called on Biden "to review the policies of support for
[Arab] dictatorships, and the crimes and violations committed by tyrannical
regimes around the world."
The statement surprised few Arabs, many of whom scoffed at the Muslim
Brotherhood's talk about "freedom, justice, democracy and respect for human
rights." Saudi writer Tariq Al-Homayed remarked:
"As expected, the Muslim Brotherhood organization came out of its hole and
issued a statement congratulating Joe Biden and asking him to act against those
they call dictatorships... We say expected, because the Muslim Brotherhood, who
used to condemn their critics as agents of the West and Zionists, have revealed
their face, and they are urging America to intervene against our countries now
under the pretext of democracy."
Al-Homayed wondered whether the dictatorships the Muslim Brotherhood are talking
about include Iran, Turkey and Qatar. "Are the dictatorships those who want to
protect the Arab countries from the evil of the Muslim Brotherhood, their lies,
and their terror?," he asked.
Al-Homayed pointed out that the Muslim Brotherhood had mourned Qassem Soleimani,
the commander of Iran's Quds Force, "who fought Iraqis, Syrians, and Lebanese,
and was the architect of devastation in the region."
Soleimani was assassinated in a targeted US drone strike on January 3, 2020, in
Baghdad. He was personally sanctioned by the United Nations and the European
Union and was designated as a terrorist by the US in 2005.
Egyptian political analyst and writer Israa Ahmed Fuad, reacting to the Muslim
Brotherhood statement, said that the terrorist organization "seeks in various
ways to exploit any international circumstance in order to recycle itself and
come to the fore after its sabotage project in the region failed with the
collapse of their regime in Egypt in 2013" - a reference to the downfall of the
regime of President Mohammed Morsi.
"There are several reports confirming the Muslim Brotherhood's support for Biden
so that the organization would be able to avoid restrictions on political Islam
movements," Fuad added. "The Obama era was an ideal period for them. Now, they
are hoping that the US will remove them from the list of terrorist
organizations."
Moroccan researcher Amin Al-Alawi said that the Muslim Brotherhood's
"celebration of Biden reflects a nostalgia for the era of revolutions and the
Democrats' support for the Arab Spring." The Muslim Brotherhood, he charged,
"are partners of Democratic administrations in ruining the region and supporting
extremism. The Muslim Brotherhood believes that Biden will bring them back to
power [in Egypt], especially after [President Donald] trump's four-year presence
has aborted their ambitions."
Khaled Salah, editor-in-chief of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Youm Al-Sabi', mocked
the Muslim Brotherhood's greetings to Biden. Salah said that the Muslim
Brotherhood is hoping that Biden will pressure Egypt to release senior members
of the terrorist organization from prison. "The ignorant group [Muslim
Brotherhood] is dancing with joy at Biden's victory, as if they are preparing to
return to power on orders from the White House," he commented.
Nabil Na'im, a former member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad Organization, said he
too believes that the Muslim Brotherhood is seeking "to open a new page" with
the new US administration. By congratulating Biden, Na'im argued, the Muslim
Brotherhood is expecting the Democratic Party to adopt it, defend its existence
and pave the way for its return to the political arena.
No US administration can afford to dismiss the warning bells sounded by Arabs in
the wake of the Muslim Brotherhood's attempt to present itself as a peaceful
group that seeks to bring freedom and democracy to the Arab world.
The Islamists are desperate to return to power in Egypt, which is why they are
prepared to even court the American "Satan" to reach this goal. These are the
same Islamists who have been condemning Arabs who have any contact with
Americans. At this time of possible administrative change in America, the Arabs
who do not support the Muslim Brotherhood -- particularly those living in Egypt
and the Gulf states -- fervently hope that their alarm about Islamists will be
heard loud and clear by Biden and his group.
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a
Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2020 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Time Has Come for Senior Republicans to Save America’s Principles and Stature
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/November 11/2020
What we have seen in the November 3rd US Elections, is exciting but by no way
surprising. What has happened since the beginning of the 2016 Election campaign
has been the emergence of a groundswell of radicalism within both the Republican
and Democratic parties. This groundswell took the shape of impressive
performances by candidates who don’t possess the conventional attributes of
potential presidents. At that time, the main Democratic rivals were Hillary
Clinton, who eventually became the first woman to be nominated by one of the two
major parties, and Bernie Sanders who was the first Jew and first Socialist to
compete for the nomination of the Democratic Party of which he was not actually
a member, but an ally. As we know Clinton won the race but could not win overall
Sanders’ votes which were more than % 40 of the total.
In the Republican camp, most candidates were right-wing conservatives keen to
attract the support of Christian conservatives, nationalist protectionists, and
inward-looking isolationists. Here too the front-runner was the billionaire
businessman Donald Trump who was never elected to a political office; and among
the also-rans was Ben Carson, an ultra-conservative Afro-American brain surgeon.
Trump won the party nomination, and eventually defeated Hillary Clinton by
winning the Electoral Vote despite trailing in the Popular Vote by around 2.8 m
votes.
This was the atmosphere of the 2016 campaign, and the radical foretaste of acute
party politics and Trump’s policies.
Hillary Clinton was a bitter pill to swallow for the Democrats after enjoying 8
years in power under Barack Obama, but what proved to be even worse was the way
in which Trump stuck to his populist electoral program throughout the last 4
years. This led many commentators to claim that Trump governed with the
mentality and tactics of a ‘party candidate’ rather than a ‘national president’
for all Americans. Indeed, Trump carried out foreign policy in a stridently
unilateralist manner that was uncomfortable even to Washington’s closest allies;
just to remain loyal to his populist slogans that satisfied the instincts of his
voters.
Internally, his policies were no less populist, as he remained a ‘party
candidate’ only interested in cementing his partisan based (base) and
radicalizing it further, instead of seeking broad national agreements. Thus,
between ‘conspiracy theories’ here, and ‘fake news’ and endless fights with the
media there, Washington spent the past 4 years enduring a ‘dialogue of the
deaf’.
No doubt, that in the short term, the economic policy of Trump’s populist agenda
proved to be very rewarding. For anyone who understands basic economics,
short-term speculations, is profitable, as are protectionism putting pressure on
trading partners.
However, the free market economy cannot survive long-term protectionism and
pressures imposed on partners and allies; but are built on the free movement of
goods, people and services. Thus, if the small business sectors benefited from
the first 3 years of the Trump Presidency, the ‘bubble’ created by this boom
would burst when major US businesses suffer acute crises as a result of losing
their global competitiveness.
Then, all of a sudden Covid-19 hit America last January, ushering lots of
calculations.
The Trump administration had to decide which should come first: prioritizing
public health, and risking the economic benefits of the previous 3 years; or
protecting the economy by making light of the virus and resisting lockdowns.
This highlighted another problem which is America’s federal system, whereby the
President cannot ignore states’ governors. Another problem was that the severity
of Covid-19 was not uniform throughout the country; with great differences in
cases and fatalities between urban and rural areas, and affluent and poorer
neighborhoods. This was soon to be reflected in demonstrations that soon
descended into street clashes with racial and public order dimensions. Later on,
as America became the world’s worst-affected country, Trump, who was long
dismissive of the dangers of the pandemic, suffered a reversal in public trust;
and as the elections were approaching many Democrats – worried about the virus,
and keen on social distancing – decided to vote by mail, Another reason the
pushed them to do so, was also their fear of harassment and intimidation by
anti-lockdowns rightwing militias that had appeared in several street
demonstrations. As for Trump and his campaign organizers, who had expected a
huge wave of Democratic mail votes, began promoting doubts in the ‘security’,
then the ‘legality’, of the mail votes.
What happened throughout November 3rd and the following few days proved that
both sides were right.
Safe Republican ‘red’ states and safe Democratic ‘blue’ states declared their
projected results early; but not the battleground ‘swing' states. Initially,
Trump was doing well in many of these states for some hours but the margins were
small.
Things, however, began to change in favor of the Democratic candidate Former VP
Joe Biden, as more votes were counted. Biden soon took the lead in Wisconsin
followed by Michigan: then moved ahead of Trump in Georgia and Pennsylvania,
along with Nevada and Arizona in the West.
This development worried the Republicans, who refused to recognize the legality
of Biden's votes and eventual victory, and decided to carry the matter to the
courts. But it was obvious that there were two factors that changed the outcome
in a matter of a few hours:
1- That most of the mail votes which exceeded 90 million went to Biden. 2- That
Trump’s early lead came from counting the votes of the Republicans’ strongholds
in rural small towns America; but his leads began to disappear with counting the
votes from big cities such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania,
Detroit, Lansing and Flint in Michigan, Milwaukee and Madison in Wisconsin, and
Atlanta, Augusta and Savannah in Georgia.
Trump, of course, has every right to contest the results in courts, but he has
to follow the proper legal procedure. Opposed to this, there really is a
political angle to what is happening that has very little to do with the legal
aspect. Would it be at all possible to leave personal issues aside, and respect
electoral democracy? Democracy in America is facing a difficult test; because
could it possible to respect and defend the Constitution and institutions - even
the United States Postal Service (USPS) - if politically motivated doubts
develop into open incitement to street actions, and perhaps armed sedition.
I believe that the ball is in the court of the remaining Republican Party’s wise
figures, who surely realize the dangerous repercussions of the current
situation.
US Trade Policy Is Ready for Its Biden Makeover
Noah Smith/Bloomberg/November 11/2020
If he winds up facing a hostile Senate, President-elect Joe Biden will struggle
to make sweeping policy changes. But for better or worse, executive power has
expanded to the point where Biden will be able to make progress on a number of
fronts without the say-so of the Republican opposition. One such area of
opportunity is trade. Biden will have the power to reverse many of the Donald
Trump administration’s bad policies to strengthen trade with allies and
potential allies, while keeping up the technological competition with China.
The first order of business is to remove all tariffs on developed countries such
as Canada and Japan, as well as in Europe. Currently, Trump’s tariffs on these
nations are sparking a dangerous and completely counterproductive tit-for-tat.
This is madness. Trade with places like the European Union, Japan and Canada is
no threat to American workers, because they also have high wages and strong
labor and environmental protections. Nor is it a threat to US technological
supremacy, because these countries all respect intellectual property rights.
Finally, these countries are US allies and will be essential in the geopolitical
contest with China. There's absolutely no reason to keep any of these tariffs,
and Biden should immediately eliminate as many as the law allows.
A more contentious move will be to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Canceling this multilateral trade deal, which Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders
also opposed, was one of Trump’s first moves upon taking office in 2017. But
thanks to the efforts of leaders in the Asia-Pacific region, the TPP has been
preserved and improved since then, and it is ready and waiting for the US to
come back. Biden can’t ratify TPP without Congress, but he can rejoin the
negotiations.
Beyond a general backlash against the idea of free trade, the TPP encountered
bipartisan opposition for two reasons. First, it contained onerous intellectual
property provisions, which have now been removed. Second, the treaty includes
Vietnam, which is a poor, rapidly industrializing nation attempting to attract
manufacturing investment with low labor costs. The US experience with China in
the 2000s has made many gun-shy about opening up trade with such countries. And,
in fact, it’s possible that liberalizing trade with Vietnam would put a slight
amount of downward pressure on American wages.
But only a very tiny amount. Vietnam is less than a tenth the size of China, and
it doesn’t have the cheap energy and generous government subsidies that made
China so competitive in the 2000s. It will be able to absorb a small amount of
the investment now trickling out of China, but that will likely come at the
expense of other US trading partners like Mexico rather than at the expense of
American workers.
Meanwhile, Vietnam will be an important US partner against China. Vietnam has
been a regional rival of the People’s Republic since the 1970s, when the two
countries went to war (Vietnam, of course, was the victor). The two currently
have an active territorial dispute in the South China Sea. Helping Vietnam to
grow its economy rapidly by exporting goods to the US and to Asian nations like
Japan and South Korea would bolster its ability to resist encroachment by
America’s biggest rival. If Indonesia decides to join the TPP, the calculus will
be similar.
Even beyond Vietnam and Indonesia, geopolitics is an underrated reason to
reenter the TPP. It creates a trading bloc of Asian nations centered around the
US instead of China, taking advantage of Asia’s emerging role as the world’s
economic center of gravity in a way that also helps balance out the region.
Which brings us to the last aspect of Biden’s trade policy — China. There is
every indication that Biden’s China policy will be just as hawkish as Trump’s,
if not more so. A general geopolitical contest of some sort is inevitable.
Biden, unlike Trump, intends to take on China by restoring US technological
leadership and economic strength, and by getting together a gang of allies. TPP
should be part of that. But it will also require resisting the dominance of
Chinese technology. That part of Trump’s trade war — the struggle for high-tech
supremacy — should continue in some form. Biden should therefore continue the
resistance to Huawei Technologies Co.’s domination of global telecommunications
infrastructure. He should continue to scrutinize Chinese investments via the
Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, and pressure China to curb industrial
espionage. In the case of tariffs, the calculus becomes trickier. Biden should
remove tariffs on intermediate inputs that US manufacturers source from China,
since these simply raise costs for US producers and ultimately hurt
competitiveness. But tariffs on finished Chinese goods (especially high-value
brand goods) are fine, and they can be used as leverage to push China to
appreciate its currency.
In general, Biden can use executive power to define a new orientation for US
trade policy. The free trade consensus of the past is gone, but Trump’s
slapdash, counterproductive trade war is not the way forward. Trade policy needs
to be reorganized around strategic lines — freeing up trade with allies while
continuing to push against China’s attempt to usurp the US’s traditional role as
the center of the global economy.
Vaccine Race Won’t Decide AstraZeneca's Future
Chris Hughes/Bloomberg/November 11/2020
AstraZeneca Plc boss Pascal Soriot recently said he hoped there’d be more than
one successful vaccine against Covid-19 given the sheer quantities required. His
company’s shares have soared this year largely on hopes for the University of
Oxford shot that it’s helping test, manufacture and eventually distribute.
But on Monday AstraZeneca’s investors didn’t celebrate encouraging data from
rival Pfizer Inc.’s coronavirus vaccine. The UK firm wasn’t the only drugmaker
to see its shares fall, but the decline in its stock looks like an expression of
disappointment it might not “win” the race to land a preventative drug.
In reality, the ambition to develop a vaccine has never been a good reason to
buy into AstraZeneca. It doesn’t specialize in inoculations and probably never
will. The central question for investors is whether the company can meet the
high expectations for its existing drug pipeline — an issue that may now come
back to the fore.
Soriot, who hopes to show regulators trial data by year-end, has always said the
firm would not profit from any successful prophylactic during the pandemic. A
commercial seasonal vaccine is a possibility later, but it’s too soon to say if
it will be an option. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sam Fazeli points out the
mechanism through which the AstraZeneca vaccine functions means it might become
less effective after repeat doses. What’s more, there would be competition.
Either way, AstraZeneca’s commercial value clearly resides substantially in its
core scientific expertise, in particular in oncology, led by drugs combating
lung, bladder, ovarian and other cancers. The company was already highly valued
before outperforming during the pandemic due to a hoped-for acceleration in
sales and earnings. Hence the shares’ sector-leading multiple of 27 times this
year’s expected earnings falls to just 14 times when based on significantly
higher net profit forecasts for 2023.
To grow into the valuation AstraZeneca must sustain the quarterly sales
expansion it’s been demonstrating since mid-2018. Then it must translate that
into earnings and, in turn, cash. The recent record there is less good, as
analysts at UBS Group AG have pointed out. The cash conversion problem stems
from the fact that AstraZeneca has expanded extensively through collaboration.
Payouts to partners regularly divert cash away from shareholders.
There’s been progress. Oncology sales were up 24% year-on-year (at constant
exchange rates) in the first nine months of 2020, making them 43% of the total.
The companywide operating margin was 19%, up from 13% in the same period in
2019. The company is still paying its dividends substantially out of borrowings,
hence net debt was up from the year-end. But AstraZeneca looks on course to hit
its goal of fully funding the payout on its own in 2021, having been among many
FTSE-100 groups reluctant to anger investors by cutting it.
Neither a Covid vaccine nor a covered dividend would justify AstraZeneca’s share
price. Only outstanding delivery on the pipeline can do that. Hopefully
AstraZeneca’s Covid trial data will be as promising as Pfizer’s — we will indeed
need more than one. But its valuation rests on fighting other diseases.
The death of Prince Khalifa is an immense loss for Bahrain
and the entire Arabian Gulf
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/November 11/2020
A thousand years from now, the history books will honor the towering founding
figures of the modern Arabian Gulf states: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdul Aziz
Al-Saud, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan of the UAE, Kuwait’s Sheikh Sabah
Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah — and, of course, Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa of
Bahrain, who died on Wednesday.
He was the younger brother of the late Emir Isa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, and
together they transformed the islands of Bahrain into the thriving modern state
we know today: a center for banking, finance, industry, tourism, regional
transport and communications.
Thanks to his excellent connections with other Gulf rulers, Prince Khalifa was
one of the principal architects of the Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981. He was
a tremendous believer in the Arab and Gulf states acting together as a force on
the world stage — a true Arab nationalist.
His personal ties with the Shah of Iran were crucial in guaranteeing Bahrain’s
sovereignty and regional security, not to mention the significance of the
relationships he established with a succession of world leaders.
As one of the last remaining figures from an iconic generation of founders, his
passing is deeply felt as a personal loss for Bahrain and the region — but it
also also represents the severing of our connections with that great age through
the loss of his insights, knowledge and personal memories.
Having held senior public offices since the mid-20th century, Prince Khalifa was
appointed prime minister in 1971, when Bahrain gained independence from Great
Britain. He remained in the position until his death. As the world’s
longest-serving prime minister, at age 84, he was truly one of the region’s
great survivors. The first location in the Gulf region to discover oil, Bahrain
in the 1960s and 1970s underwent rapid development and urbanization. It expanded
and enriched its educational sector, and revolutionized the nation’s
infrastructure and services to meet the demanding requirements of its emerging
workforce.
Through the leadership’s far-sighted determination to invest in aviation
facilities, Bahrain for many years was the region’s transit hub. Working closely
with the late information minister, Tariq Al-Muayyid, Prince Khalifa also
championed efforts to cultivate Manama as a regional center for media and
communications. When Lebanon dissolved into civil war during the mid-1970s, the
prince played a major role in ensuring that Manama would replace Beirut as the
region’s foremost banking center. In the wake of the region’s vast influx of
wealth following the 1973 oil boom, Bahrain’s financial sector became the
destination of choice for investing and managing these unimaginable riches.
In recent years, Prince Khalifa was an unstinting supporter of figures such as
Sheikha Mai Al-Khalifa in their work to expand Bahrain’s cultural and tourism
sectors, in the belief that they constitute a cornerstone of the nation’s future
prosperity. Bahrain’s nomination this week of Sheikha Mai for the post of
secretary-general of the UN World Tourism Organization is richly deserved
recognition of these achievements.
As a friend of the French ambassador’s daughter, I accompanied her and her
father on a 1969 visit to Bahrain, and during my first encounter with Prince
Khalifa I was roped in to help out as a translator — while still of high-school
age. When I qualified as a journalist, I continued to meet the prime minister
during my frequent visits to Manama, interviewing him many times for various
media outlets, and came to consider him a friend. Although I did not always
agree with him during our discussions, his insights always merited careful
attention. I found him a true believer in Arab unity and a passionate supporter
of Arab causes. Throughout a period when there was a tendency to sit back and
wait for the US to solve the region’s problems, Prince Khalifa was firmly of the
belief that only the Arab world could truly address the challenges it faced.
During my latter meetings with him, I was struck by the intense hurt he felt at
the bitter divisions that have periodically emerged within Bahrain’s social
fabric.
In addition to the Palestinian issue, Prince Khalifa was also a close and
sympathetic follower of Lebanese developments. As Lebanon emerged from its civil
war period, he was always an attentive listener when I spoke to him about
challenges and developments there, and he was quick to offer Bahrain’s firm
support. In return, I learned a tremendous amount from him about GCC
institutions and political culture. Prince Khalifa’s generation of Gulf leaders
shared a distinct vision for rapid national expansion, creating jobs and
opportunities for a demanding new generations of citizens. With this region now
at a crossroads, as it looks toward a post-oil age, such an ambitious vision has
never been more relevant for a new generation of leaders who are taking the
region forward to an era of new achievements, and seeking to permanently
guarantee Arab independence, identity and sovereignty.
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle
East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has
interviewed numerous heads of state.
America will remain a divided country
Ray Hanania/Arab News/November 11/2020
Instead of bringing people together last week, the US presidential elections
have divided America more than ever. Former Vice President Joe Biden was
declared the winner not based on official certification but on the unofficial
vote counts tabulated by the mainstream news media, much of which favored him
and was excessively critical of President Donald Trump. As elections go, both
Trump and Biden have much to brag about. Trump received the highest vote that
any sitting president has achieved, more than 71.5 million. That is even more
than America’s most popular presidents, including Ronald Reagan and Barack
Obama. Trump also led his Republican party to block a takeover of the US Senate
by the Democrats. Currently the Democrats hold 48 of the 100 seats and the
Republicans hold 50. The Republicans stand to win two more in run-offs scheduled
in Georgia, a Republican stronghold.
Trump led the Republican Party to weaken the Democratic hold on the US Congress,
gaining up to 13 additional seats previously held by Democrats, winning three
and holding leads in 10 others where the vote difference is described as “too
close to call.”
Republicans in Congress won every incumbent seat and 28 out of 29 competitive
seats. Additionally, under Trump the largest number of female Republican
candidates were elected to the House in the history of Congress.
The biggest achievement for Trump is that he once again proved wrong every news
media poll and survey by CNN, the New York Times, USA Today, MSNBC and the
Washington Post, which said Trump was trailing behind Biden by as much as 10 to
12 percent.
You might almost think that the news media was intentionally exaggerating
Trump’s shortcomings while marginalizing Biden’s.
Biden, however, can also claim several achievements, too. He won more votes than
any prior candidate for president of the US, 76.4 million votes.
Biden also, according to the news media, claims to have won enough states to
give him 290 electoral votes over Trump, who the media asserts only has 219. The
candidate with at least 270 electoral votes wins the election.
With the wind of the media blowing hard under his wings, Biden declared victory
on Saturday, offering a memorable and inspiring speech that asserted the need to
bring the country together.
Biden borrowed a version of Obama’s 2008 victory speech. Obama said then, “We
have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states
and blue states. We are, and always will be, the United States of America."
Biden’s version: “I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to
unify. Who doesn’t see red and blue states, but a United States.” He argued
America must come together.
“It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric. To lower the temperature. To see each
other again. To listen to each other again. To make progress, we must stop
treating our opponents as our enemy. We are not enemies. We are Americans,”
Biden said.
“Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end — here and now. The
refusal of Democrats and Republicans to cooperate with one another is not due to
some mysterious force beyond our control. It’s a decision. It’s a choice we
make.”
Powerful words. But, given the ugly rhetoric that dominates many pro-Biden
supporters against Trump, that is no different than the hate they complained
about from Trump supporters. It is clear America will remain a divided country.
The roar of hate, anger and demonization on both sides will only grow louder,
and you can’t just blame that on one side.
Trump lost several states that traditionally voted Republican in the past,
giving Biden an edge. The most damaging loss for Trump was Arizona, where allies
of the late GOP Senator John McCain undermined the president and helped
Democrats.
Trump and McCain never had good relations in part because McCain could never
understand why Americans elected Trump in 2016 while soundly rejecting his own
candidacy in 2008.
The roar of hate, anger and demonization on both sides will only grow louder.
But Trump was always his own worst enemy. He took real issues he could have
justified and turned them into petty, vicious personal attacks. One of his
biggest failures was the way he pushed for peace in the Middle East, not only
angering advocates of the two-state solution but souring America’s influential
Jewish community. Polls showed that Trump enjoyed the support of 71 percent of
Israeli Jews, who cannot vote, while Biden enjoyed 70 percent popularity among
American Jews, who can and did vote.
Trump placed the future of the Israel-Palestine conflict in jeopardy by
empowering one of the illegal settler movement’s leading champions, David
Friedman, to serve as the US ambassador to Israel.
Those actions, more than moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,
doomed the benefits Trump might have harvested in the American election while
ushering in a more cohesive Middle East peace policy.
If Biden is certified as president, he has vowed to restore support to the
Palestinians, confront expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and embrace a
more generous two-state solution.
Despite some strong popularity in America, Trump’s missteps clearly cost him the
election.
*Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and
columnist. He can be reached on his personal website at www.Hanania.com.
Twitter: @RayHanania.
Analysts debate impact of Israel-UAE-Bahrain accords at Abu
Dhabi Strategic Debate
Caline Malek/Arab News/November 11/2020
COVID-19, US elections and UAE-Israel treaty among the topics analyzed at
virtual event hosted by Emirates Policy Center
Participants in Tuesday’s session saw Abraham Accords as paving the way for a
resolution of Israeli-Palestine conflict
DUBAI: The recent normalization of relations between Israel and two Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the UAE and Bahrain, could well prepare the
ground for a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This was among the
key observations of experts who took part in a panel discussion as part of the
three-day Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate. Sprinkled with references to strategic
“recalculations” and “game changers,” Tuesday’s session, titled “The Gulf:
Recalculations,” was one of the highlights of the seventh Abu Dhabi Strategic
Debate, organized by the UAE’s Emirates Policy Center.
“The geopolitical map of power distribution in the Middle East has been
changing,” said Abdulla bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, chairman of the Bahrain Center for
Strategic, International and Energy Studies (Derasat).
“If we look at the past two decades, we find that some countries previously
played a central role but, for reasons of civil war, insecurity or economic
stagnation, no longer do so. If we look at the Gulf in particular, we find that
having quickly become a front runner, it is leading the region in terms of
peace, economic development and political and regional affairs.”
Al-Khalifa said that GGC states, compared with the rest of the region, have
successfully preserved their domestic security, continued to focus on positive
economic development, provided necessary and advanced services to its people and
residents and attracted great minds from all around the world.
Another strategic potential cited by Amos Yadlin at ADSD was more cooperation
among Gulf states, Israel and the US to cope with “Iranian terror activity” and
proxies of Iran, which he said were destabilizing the Middle East. (AFP/Khamenei.ir/File
Photo)
“There are very positive indicators that show that the Gulf is in a better-off
position,” he said. “Forecasts indicate that were the Gulf to continue on such a
positive economic development trajectory to 2030, it would be the sixth biggest
economic bloc in the world, and this says a lot.”
To put the GCC’s achievements in perspective, Al-Khalifa cited a UN High
Commissioner for Refugees estimate that placed the number of refugees leaving
their hometowns — mainly from the Middle East toward Europe —at 225,000 in 2014.
A year later, that number quadrupled to just above one million, before starting
to gradually decrease. “What happened during 2015 alone was the continuous
channeling of funds toward areas of tension and the financing of terrorist and
extremist organizations in parts of the Middle East,” he said. “This caused more
instability, which undermined the security of many different countries in the
region and which has led to more refugees fleeing toward Europe.”
Al-Khalifa took note of the (maximum) “economic pressure” brought to bear on
Iran by the Trump administration and the labeling of the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps as a terrorist organization last year but cautioned that no decisive
action has been taken. “Many are of the notion that the current Iranian regime
is betting on a new US administration,” he said. “And we are still to see the
final results of the US elections, which are yet to be reflected in developments
in the Middle East.”
For his part, Albadr Alshateri, former politics professor at the National
Defense College in Abu Dhabi, described the advent of the Abraham Accords —
signed by Israel, the UAE and Bahrain — as one of necessity, owing to the
geopolitical competition that is so “pervasive” in the region. He said the
treaty’s three signatories all regard Iran as a common threat, adding that they
have come together because of the gradual “erosion” of the Arab state system,
which has been on the decline, particularly since 1990 and the invasion of
Kuwait.
“The Arab state system was a structure that shaped the foreign policies of
different Arab states and provided leadership in the face of external threats
and challenges,” he said. “Since that decline or erosion, core Arab states are
now basically in chaos or are failed states, like Syria and perhaps Iraq. Egypt
is also maybe too busy with itself to play the big role it used to in the
regional system.”
From a global standpoint, Alshateri said that “a center of gravity” was lacking,
as Washington’s declining role in the region will not allow it to play its
traditional role of maintaining political order therein. He expressed cautious
optimism by calling on the need to see results of the normalization of relations
between Bahrain, the UAE and Israel leading to more countries joining the peace
process.
“I personally advocate for something like a Westphalia peace treaty for the
whole region where all countries, regardless of their ethnic composition or
beliefs, can coexist in peace and harmony,” Alshateri said.
“If they cannot exist in harmony, at least they can exist within secure borders.
If the new Abraham Accords can create such an environment or transformation,
then we can talk about game changers. What impact the normalization of relations
will have in the future is something to be tested.”
Erel Margalit, founder and chairman of Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), visits
with members of Israeli high-tech delegation the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) on
October 27, 2020. (AFP/File Photo)
In conclusion, Alshateri called for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to be
resolved, adding that it is the core issue between Arabs and Israelis. “Solving
this problem will push us forward to a more stable and secure region,” he said.
“Absence of that will make it harder. There will be great resentment publicly.”
Participating in the same panel discussion, Amos Yadlin, a retired major-general
in the Israel Defense Forces and executive director of Tel Aviv University’s
Institute for National Security Studies, chalked up the Israel-UAE-Bahrain
normalization process to a convergence of interests and values, including
modernization, moderation, stability and peace.
“The potential of a game changer is to show the public in the Middle East, which
is suffering from civil wars in Syria, Libya and Iraq, the negative influence of
Turkey and Iran and to show that there is another way of having better relations
that will trickle down to everyone, not only among leaders,” Yadlin said.
“The potential is also there to move forward on the Palestinian-Israeli issue.
The UAE stopped the annexation, and the Palestinians can come back to negotiate.
It’s going to be even easier with the new US administration. The Gulf has
figured out that it can use the peace accords to promote negotiations between
Israelis and Palestinians.”Another strategic potential cited by Yadlin was more
cooperation among Gulf states, Israel and the US to cope with “Iranian terror
activity” and proxies of Iran, which he said were destabilizing the Middle East.
“We can cooperate here,” he said. “We are not looking for war, nor clashes. But
the very fact that Iran will know we are sharing intelligence and we are
together to cope with the challenges is another opportunity for a game changer
in the Middle East. If trust is built among the leaders and the people, we can
all see a better Middle East.”