LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
April 26/17

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/newselias/english.april26.17.htm

 News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2016

Bible Quotations For Today
The priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 28/11-15/:"While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, ‘You must say, "His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep." If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day."

If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile
First Letter of Peter 01/17-21/:"If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 25-26/17
How the sectarian far right controls Lebanon/Radwan al-Sayed/Al Arabiya/April 25/17
Lebanon Interferes to Spare Further Sanctions on Hezbollah/Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al Awsat/April 25/17
Is Israel planning to strike more Lebanese sites in next Hezbollah war/Yonah Jeremy Bob/Jerusalem Post/April 25/17
Do not be fooled again: Iran hard-liners vs moderates/Majid Rafizadeh/Arabnews/April 24/2017
The stealthy Hezbollahzation of Iraq/Baria Alamuddin/Arbnews/April 24/17
Turkey Out of NATO: Other Voices/Daniel Pipes/Nov 9, 2009 updated Apr 25, 2017
We Oppose the Spheres of Influence/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/April 25/17
The Crisis of Western Civ/David Brooks/The New York Times/April 25/17
The Foregone Conclusion of Britain’s Election/Kenan Malik/Asharq Al Awsat/April 25/17
How to Defuse the Crisis with North Korea/Joel S. Wit/The New York Times/April 25/17
Open Letter to National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster/'Radical Islamic Terrorism' is Accurate and 'Helpful'/A. Z. Mohamed/Gatestone Institute/April 25/17
Hamas: The New Charter That Isn't/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/April 25/17

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on April 25-26/17
How the sectarian far right controls Lebanon
Lebanon Interferes to Spare Further Sanctions on Hezbollah/Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al Awsat/April 25/17
Aoun Reiterates Rejection for Extension, Vacuum
Aoun: Proposed US anti-Hezbollah bill will harm Lebanon
Aoun meets American Task Force delegation
Is Israel planning to strike more Lebanese sites in next Hezbollah war
Report: Hizbullah Rejects PSP Law Format, Four-Party Meeting over Electoral Law Fails
5 Arrested after Army Patrol Shot at in Dar al-Wasaa
Bassil Rejects 1960 Electoral Law and Extension, Slams 'Two-Faced Rhetoric'
Fateh al-Sham Militant Killed while Preparing Bomb in Arsal Outskirts
Two IS Militants with Ties to Senior Group Leaders Arrested
Bodies of Christian Syrians Found in Arsal Outskirts Repatriated
Jumblat Defends PSP Law Format, Says Other Drafts Harm Unity
NSSF Employees Protest State Budget
Kaag visits Hariri, welcomes once again his recent visit to South
Machnouk: CDR will follow up on incinerators file with ministries
Army apprehends five gunmen for opening fire on patrol in Dar Wasaa
Anonymous shoots in air in Tripoli Serail, ISF prosecute him
Abu Qassem Taleh responsible for preparing bombs for Nusra Front killed in Khirbat Yunine explosion
Geagea, Telecom Minister meet in Meerab
Bassil: We do not stick to any election law
Ferzli, Pheraon in Yarze

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 25-26/17
U.S. 'Deeply Concerned' by Turkish Strikes in Syria, Iraq
Isis fighters ‘attacked Israel Defense Forces unit, then apologised' claims former commander
Egypt Refers 20 Detainees to Mufti after Receiving Death Sentence
Coptic Pope: Church Bombings Aim at Egypt's Unity
Iran Nuclear Deal Reviewed as Uncertainty Grows
U.S. 'Deeply Concerned' by Turkish Strikes in Syria, Iraq
Turkish Strike in Iraq Kills Six Kurdish Security Forces
Iraqi Kurds Call Deadly Turkish Strike 'Unacceptable'
Syria Kurds Demand Coalition Act to Halt Turkish Raids
Iraq Forces Retake Large Mosul Neighborhood from IS
Iraq Forces in Push to Retake UNESCO-Listed Hatra
Abadi Says Iraq Holding Qatari Ransom Money
Netanyahu Snubs German Foreign Minister in NGO Row
Le Pen Draws Mix of Selfies, Scorn at Iconic Paris Market
Ex-Trump Aide Flynn Did Not Report Russia Payments, Lawmakers Say

Latest Lebanese Related News published on April 25-26/17
How the sectarian far right controls Lebanon
Radwan al-Sayed/Al Arabiya/April 25/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=54687
Recent talks in Lebanon are mainly about choosing a new electoral law as political elites have so far failed to reach a consensus. The interior minister has pushed for the electoral commission to convene and to form a supervision committee according to the current available law, i.e. the 1960 electoral law. However President Michel Aoun rejected the proposal and said he prefers vacuum - i.e. that the parliament’s term ends - over holding elections according to the 1960 law. There are two more months before the parliament’s term ends. Since he feared the dissolution of the parliament, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called for a session to extend the parliament’s term until they agree on a new law that the president approves of. Aoun however resorted to his constitutional jurisdictions, particularly Article 59, which allows him to suspend the parliament for a month.Prime Minister Saad Hariri agreed with the president’s move, while Berri believed it represented the last chance to agree on a new law. Hariri and Berri thus submitted to the constitutionality of the decision, as they also want to avoid worsening sectarian tensions between Muslims and Christians. Major Christian political parties threatened to take to the streets if the parliament extended its term. Those opposed to the proposed law said it was a recipe for discrimination and divisions among Christians and Muslims, as it violates the concept of co-existence, the national charter, the constitution and the Taif Agreement. The reason I’ve mentioned all these details is to discuss the newly proposed electoral law, which the president and his son-in-law, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, are trying to impose. According to this law of theirs, the elections will be held in two phases. The first is a phase for sectarian and religious qualification, where each sect votes for its candidate, i.e. the Christian votes for the Christian and the Muslim votes for the Muslim. In the second phase, the general elections are held, based on a non-sectarian proportional representation system.
Violating co-existence
Those opposed to the proposed law said it was a recipe for discrimination and divisions among Christians and Muslims, as it violates the concept of co-existence, the national charter, the constitution and the Taif Agreement. Bassil does not deny this, but he justifies his proposal by citing the decreasing number of Christians. It’s said that they represent between 25 percent and 35 percent of the Lebanese people in the country. Bassil claims Christians cannot attain proper and fair representation unless they solely elect their representatives in parliament.
Christian and Muslim patriots however said such discrimination does not resolve the problem pertaining to the decrease of the number of Christians. They also said Muslims, whether Sunni, Shiite or Druze, have vowed to commit to the principles the Taif Agreement clearly noted: Lebanon is a homeland for all its people, the authority must be equally shared by Christians and Muslims, and the president must be a Maronite. Therefore nothing justifies Aoun’s and his supporters’ fears and worries. These worries were particularly clear in 2013 when Aoun and Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea voiced their support of the Orthodox Gathering’s proposal - a law under which every sect would elect its own MPs.
It’s well-known that ever prominent Maronite in the public field aspires to assume the post of the president. In recent decades, they aspired to be army commanders. Aoun displayed this in 1988 when then-president Amin Gemayel’s term was about to end. Back then and due to the ongoing wars, i.e. the elimination war and the liberation war, then-Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir feared the situation in Lebanon would worsen particularly among Maronites, so he worked with others to reach a consensus and the Taif Agreement was thus reached between 1989 and 1990.
Aoun was very upset that he was no longer in the limelight, so he incited his supporters who in turn insulted Sfeir. It all ended with the exiling of Aoun to France, and four presidents have assumed power since then. Later Aoun returned to Lebanon following an agreement with the Syrians, but even then he could not become president.
Investing in Aoun
Nasrallah and Iran invested a lot in Aoun after 2006 as they viewed him as their appropriate Christian cover to Hezbollah’s activity that aims to seize the state and its institutions. Aoun eventually became president after two and a half years of presidential vacuum and after Hariri endorsed him. Hariri had endorsed Geagea, Amin Gemayel and Sleiman Franjieh before that.
Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, Aoun and his supporters insisted only he was to become president. But although many Muslims were upset that Hariri endorsed Aoun, they also thought the country must have a president. Many also hoped that electing Aoun would decrease the latter’s hostility towards most Muslims. (He always called us ISIS) We also thought that Hariri and Aoun must have agreed on cabinet arrangements, the electoral law, top governmental posts, Arab and international relations and policies such as the dissociation policy towards the Syrian war, which Hezbollah participated in using its illegitimate arms. However, apart from the presidential oath, in which Aoun vowed to abide by the constitution, we haven’t witnessed any solid actions as Aoun’s work remained distant from the spirit of the constitution. Before visiting Egypt, he said there was a need for Hezbollah’s weapons in South Lebanon to liberate the occupied territories, and he denied Hezbollah had any military or security activity inside Lebanon. He also said Hezbollah only intervened in Syria to combat terrorism, adding that Bashar al-Assad was “Syria’s legitimate president.”In terms of a new electoral law, the Future Movement, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and the Lebanese Forces agreed on a hybrid electoral law based on both proportional and majority representation. This proposal is now out of the picture. Jumblatt and Geagea have complained about some of Bassil’s proposed law, while Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah wants a law entirely based on proportionality. Hariri considers himself the judge here. It’s said there are negotiations between Hariri and Aoun over the numbers of sectarian qualifications, without considering the principle of co-existence and the constitution. The president insists on separating Christians from Muslims. Most Sunni and Shiite politicians seek to satisfy him. Meanwhile only few are thinking about the future of the state and the society while some are not thinking about it at all. Therefore, the political and sectarian far right is in control of Lebanon.

Lebanon Interferes to Spare Further Sanctions on Hezbollahالدولة اللبنانية تتدخل للحؤول دون فرض عقوبا أميركية على حزب الله
Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al Awsat/April 25/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=54685
Beirut – Lebanese President Michel Aoun announced that his country was making all necessary contacts to avert the issuance of new US sanctions on Hezbollah. During a meeting with a delegation from the Washington DC-based non-profit, the American Task Force for Lebanon, Aoun said the US Congress plan to review additional and tougher sanctions against Hezbollah would harm Lebanon and its people, and would not complement the current US-Lebanon relations. A number of US congressmen presented a draft called “Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2017”, which is aimed at cutting off all forms of financial support to the party labeled by Washington as a terrorist organization. The draft comes in line with President Donald Trump’s goal to curb the influence of Iran in the region and impose more sanctions on Tehran and its affiliated organizations and entities.
Sources said that the new sanctions, if adopted, would also affect parties close to Hezbollah, in addition to associated educational, social and media institutions.
“The draft law that is being prepared in Congress to slap new financial sanctions on Lebanese parties, institutions and individuals will greatly harm Lebanon and its people,” Aoun told the delegation. In remarks to Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, Lebanese Minister of Economy and Trade Raed Khoury said that imposing further sanctions on Hezbollah was a great source of concern to Lebanon. He added, however, that the Lebanese authorities were deploying all possible efforts to limit the repercussions of such sanctions. “Until now, we don’t know the nature or the details of these sanctions, but work has started to limit its repercussions in case they were adopted,” Khoury said. He noted that a delegation of Lebanese ministers and deputies would visit the United States to discuss this issue, in parallel with the work assumed by Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh in this regard.
Economic Expert Ghazi Wazni told Asharq al-Awsat that based on available information, the new sanctions would be “more strict” and would target institutions or persons linked to Hezbollah. “For this reason, the government has decided to establish a political and financial ministerial committee to take proactive actions,” he said.Wazni added that, if adopted, the new sanctions would affect Lebanese banks, which would be forced to abide by the new law.

Aoun Reiterates Rejection for Extension, Vacuum
Associated Press/Naharnet/April 25/17/President Michel Aoun said on Tuesday the Lebanese must adhere to their right to choose their representatives at the parliament, otherwise Lebanon would become a “totalitarian regime,” the National News Agency reported. “We will be in a totalitarian regime shall the Lebanese relinquish their right in electing lawmakers at the parliament,” said Aoun, addressing a delegation from the Administrative Decentralization Committee led by Lawyer Antonio al-Hashem. Aoun reiterated “Another parliament term extension will not be accepted nor will there be vacuum” at the legislative authority. “The people are the source of authority,” said the president as he urged them to practice “sovereignty through constitutional institutions.”He explained: “I have an obligation to the youth of Lebanon because the situation can not continue as it is now.”Early in April, Aoun invoked his constitutional powers and adjourned the parliament for one month paving way for deliberations between political parties for an agreement on a new voting system for the upcoming parliamentary polls. Lebanon's deputies were set to vote in Parliament to postpone national elections and extend their term for a third time since 2013. Lebanon's political parties say it is time to scrap the country's 1960 voting law that allocates seats by religious sect, but disagree over what system should replace it.

Aoun: Proposed US anti-Hezbollah bill will harm Lebanon
Middle East Monitor/April 25/17/Lebanese President Michel Aoun said yesterday that the new anti-Hezbollah sanctions bill that the US Congress is considering would “greatly harm Lebanon and its people”.Aoun told a delegation from the American Task Force for Lebanon, an organisation that includes Americans of Lebanese heritage and businessmen, that ”the draft law that is being prepared in Congress to slap new financial sanctions on Lebanese parties, institutions and individuals will greatly harm Lebanon and its people.”The president pointed out that Lebanon is making the necالدولة اللبنانيةessary contacts to prevent the issuance of the law and welcomed any effort by the American Task Force for Lebanon in this regard. US Congress is planning to review additional and tougher sanctions against Hezbollah and all its affiliates and allies, a move that could have negative political and financial ramifications on Lebanon if the proposals pass without amendments. The proposed law might for the first time target the Amal Movement led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as well as senior Hezbollah officials, headed by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, members of his political bureau and parliamentarians.

Aoun meets American Task Force delegation
The Daily Star/April 25/17/BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun Monday met with a delegation from the American Task Force for Lebanon – an independent organization promoting Lebanese-American ties – headed by former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco Edward Gabriel, a statement from Baabda Palace said. Aoun outlined issues facing Lebanon, including the Syrian refugee influx, the terror threat, the challenges of securing the Syrian border, and the application of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. Gabriel also met Prime Minister Saad Hariri to discuss similar issues, a statement from the Hariri’s office said.

Is Israel planning to strike more Lebanese sites in next Hezbollah war?هل تخطط إسرائيل لإستهداف المزيد من المواقع اللبنانية في حربها المقبلة مع حزب الله
Yonah Jeremy Bob/Jerusalem Post/April 25/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=54674
In rare remarks, IDF MAG hints that he would approve more targets than were approved in the 2006 Lebanon War in the event of a new conflict between Israel, Hezbollah.
The IDF Military Advocate General Brig.-Gen. Sharon Afek hinted strongly on Tuesday that he will approve a wider range of Lebanese targets than were approved in the 2006 Lebanon War in the event of a new war with Hezbollah. Speaking at a Ramat Gan conference of military Judge Advocate General (JAG) officers from as many as 20 countries around the world, Afek said that “Hezbollah’s integration into state institutions raises questions of state responsibility.”He continued saying, “Hezbollah’s location of its military assets in dense urban areas raise questions about how to implement the principle of proportionality.”All of this is in the context in which Israel’s newer foes like Hezbollah “create operational and strategic challenges by the fact that they directly target civilian populations, act in urban environments and make ground operations necessary in order to locate their military assets,” said Afek.
While legal advisers like the MAG never completely share their hand in advance of a war of what targets they will approve, it is even rare for such advisers to publicly and specifically cite a potential targeting issue. The statement was that much more unusual with an ongoing line of reports from the security establishment that in a future conflict with Hezbollah, the IDF would “take off the gloves” and attack wider Lebanese targets. In contrast, in the 2006 Lebanon War, the IDF overwhelmingly focused its attacks on Hezbollah controlled areas in order to avoid striking Lebanese-Sunni and Christian areas viewed as unaffiliated with Hezbollah’s military actions. However, since 2006, Israeli officials have said that Hezbollah has taken deeper control of the state and that the Lebanese state is now more directly supporting even Hezbollah’s military efforts.

Report: Hizbullah Rejects PSP Law Format, Four-Party Meeting over Electoral Law Fails
Naharnet/April 25/17/An extended four-party meeting held at the Center House Sunday evening failed to record a breakthrough agreement on a new electoral law for Lebanon's parliamentary polls, as Hizbullah party “mourned” a law format suggested by the Progressive Socialist Party, media reports said on Tuesday. “The meeting was held in the presence of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, Hizbullah secretary-general's political aide Hussein Khalil and Hariri's chief of staff Nader Hariri,” al-Joumhouria daily reported. “The interlocutors failed to reach common ground on any of the formats and ideas that have been presented by various political parties so far. Meanwhile, Bassil stressed adherence to his law format which be believes is best for the Christians and ensures just representation,” said the daily. “In parallel with Hariri's leniency towards adopting Bassil's so called qualification system, it was openly rejected by the Finance Minister and Hizbullah secretary-general's political aide who reiterated adherence to proportional representation system,” of Hizbullah's, it added. Al-Joumhouria pointed out that Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad has openly rejected the Progressive Socialist Party leader's law format. During a political meeting in south Lebanon, Raad dubbed the format as a “waste of time as well as procrastination.”Monday evening, Prime Minister Saad Hariri met at the Center House with a delegation from the Progressive Socialist Party where discussions focused on the ongoing contacts with the various parties to devise a new draft electoral law. The delegation explained the content of the draft law that has been proposed by the party in this regard. The PSP had on Saturday proposed a hybrid electoral law that mixes the proportional representation and winner-takes-all systems in an equal manner across 26 districts. Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on the proportional representation system and a single or several large electorates.

5 Arrested after Army Patrol Shot at in Dar al-Wasaa
Naharnet/April 25/17/An army patrol came under gunfire Tuesday in the Baalbek district town of Dar al-Wasaa, state-run National News Agency reported. The attack prompted troops to respond in kind, which resulted in the wounding of a gunman and the arrest of five others, NNA said. The detainees were transferred to a military barracks for interrogation. Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) identified the detainees as Haidar Ali Jaafar, Mohammed Ali Rashid Jaafar, Ali Merhej Jaafar, Jalal Mohammed Jaafar and Youssef Ali Jaafar, saying the army has sent reinforcements to Dar al-Wasaa to pursue fugitives wanted over kidnap operations and others wanted in connection with the 2014 murder of Sobhi and Nadimeh Fakhri.

Bassil Rejects 1960 Electoral Law and Extension, Slams 'Two-Faced Rhetoric'
Naharnet/April 25/17/Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Tuesday rejected the proposed re-endorsement of the 1960 electoral law, describing it as a veiled extension of parliament's term, as he accused some political parties of having a “two-faced rhetoric” on the electoral law. “The 1960 law is another face of extension and we don't want it, and there will be no vacuum because the constitution prevents vacuum,” said Bassil after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc, hitting back at parties who have said that extension is necessary to prevent a so-called parliamentary vacuum. “The proposed extension is like a gun pointed to our heads,” Bassil said. “We are not clinging to any electoral law... We are seeking respect for the National Pact and correct representation,” he added, referring to the representation of Christians in the political system. “Whenever we agree on an electoral law, we face two rhetorics: one for the negotiations room and another for the media. Today there is a media campaign to bin the 'qualification electoral system',” the FPM chief said, noting that some parties had agreed to the latest electoral format he proposed during closed-door talks before eventually rejecting it in public statements. Bassil also noted that there is no agreement on one version of the proportional representation system although several parties have voiced support for the principle of proportional representation. “We are facing a historic moment and we only have a few days in order not to lose two possibilities: the possibility of correcting representation, which has been flawed since 1990, and the possibility of establishing a civil state with the necessary legal amendments,” Bassil added. Some parties have dismissed Bassil's latest electoral law format, which involves sectarian voting in the first round, as divisive and counterproductive. Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, Druze leader MP Walid Jumblat and other parties have meanwhile noted that the controversial 1960 electoral law remains in effect should the parties fail to agree on an electoral law.

Fateh al-Sham Militant Killed while Preparing Bomb in Arsal Outskirts
Naharnet/April 25/17/An explosion rocked an area on the peripheries of the eastern border town of Arsal on Tuesday, state-run National News Agency reported. Media reports said the blast resulted from the accidental detonation of an explosive device that members of the jihadist group Fateh al-Sham Front were preparing in the the Khirbet Younin area in Arsal's outskirts. The explosion killed Fateh al-Sham's bomb maker Abu Qassem al-Talli and seriously wounded his assistant Ahmed Abu Daoud, NNA reported later. Militants from Fateh al-Sham and the rival jihadist group Islamic State are entrenched in rugged mountains along the Lebanese-Syrian border. The Lebanese army regularly shells their positions while Hizbullah and the Syrian army have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border.The two groups overran the town of Arsal in 2014 and engaged in deadly battles with the Lebanese army for several days. The retreating militants abducted around 35 troops and policemen of whom four have been executed and nine remain in captivity.

Two IS Militants with Ties to Senior Group Leaders Arrested
Naharnet/April 25/17/The Internal Security Forces on Tuesday announced the arrest of two Lebanese men who had formed a cell linked to the terrorist Islamic State group. An ISF statement identified the two men as 53-year-old R. S. and 43-year-old A. K., saying they were arrested by the ISF Intelligence Branch on Thursday. During interrogation, R. S. confessed to endorsing and promoting IS' ideology and that he had tried to convince several young men to join the group. “Around two years ago, he left for Syria's Raqa where he joined the IS group and underwent religious and military courses. He also confessed to working with the group in several fields, especially logistics,” the ISF said. “He had close ties with several prominent leaders of the group in Syria and Lebanon and he accompanied the five-member family of one of the most prominent leaders of the group in Lebanon to Raqa via Turkey,” the statement added. The other militant meanwhile confessed to “operating in a very professional manner to fend off suspicions seeing as his activities involved meeting the logistical needs of the Lebanese IS militants who are present in Syria.”“He was in contact with the most prominent Syria-based Lebanese leaders of the group. He also coordinated with IS leaders in Raqa and linked them to the aforementioned detained militant, R. S.,” the ISF said. He also facilitated the travel of R.S. and the family of an IS leader to Raqa, the ISF added. The two detainees have been referred to the Military Court.

Bodies of Christian Syrians Found in Arsal Outskirts Repatriated
Naharnet/April 25/17/The bodies of five Christian Syrians discovered in the outskirts of the eastern Lebanese border town of Arsal were handed over Tuesday to Damascus, General Security said. “Under the supervision of the relevant judicial authorities and in coordination with the Lebanese Red Cross, the General Directorate of General Security handed over this morning the bodies of five Syrian citizens to Syrian authorities at the Jdeidet Yabous border post,” a General Security statement said. It identified the five Syrians as Atef Ragheb Qalloumeh, Ghassan Mikhail Shnais, Shadi Mikhail Taalab, Jihad Mtanios Taalab and Daoud Sarkis Milana, saying their bodies were found by a General Security patrol in December 2016 inside a cave in Arsal's outskirts.“After completing the administrative and legal measures and conducting the necessary laboratory tests, it turned out that the bodies belong to Syrian citizens from the town of Maalula who were abducted during the battles that the region witnessed before being liquidated at the hands of one of the terrorist groups,” the General Security statement added. The statement noted that the 2016 patrol had been conducted as part of General Security's efforts to secure the release of Lebanese troops and policemen held hostage by jihadist groups. Militants from the jihadist groups Islamic State and Fateh al-Sham Front are entrenched in rugged mountains along the Lebanese-Syrian border. The Lebanese army regularly shells their positions while Hizbullah and the Syrian army have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border. The two groups overran the northeastern border town of Arsal in 2014 and engaged in deadly battles with the Lebanese army for several days. The retreating militants abducted around 35 troops and policemen of whom four have been executed and nine remain in captivity.

Jumblat Defends PSP Law Format, Says Other Drafts Harm Unity
Naharnet/April 25/17/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat defended on Tuesday a draft for an electoral law suggested by his party over the weekend, lashing out at a format of the so-called qualification system which he said harms national unity. “If the PSP's format is considered a waste of time, then the sectarian qualification format harms national unity and al-Mustaqbal Movement,” said Jumblat on his Twitter page. The PSP had on Saturday proposed a hybrid electoral law that mixes the proportional representation and winner-takes-all systems in an equal manner across 26 districts.
Jumblat's tweet came after Hizbullah's head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad was quoted as saying: “What is the criterion that allows candidates to run for the elections according to the proportional and winner-takes-all system proposed by the PSP?...It is a waste of time as well as procrastination.”The “sectarian qualification” law format was suggested by Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil where voters are not allowed to vote for candidates from other sects in the first round. Bassil's law failed to meet approval and was dubbed as “sectarian” by many political parties.
Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on the proportional representation system and a single or several large electorates. Druze leader Jumblat has rejected proportional representation, warning that it would "marginalize" his minority Druze community, whose presence is concentrated in the Aley and Chouf areas. Amid reservations over proportional representation by other parties such as al-Mustaqbal Movement and the Lebanese Forces, the political parties are mulling a so-called hybrid electoral law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.
The country has not organized parliamentary elections since 2009 and the legislature has instead twice extended its own mandate. The last polls were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law.

NSSF Employees Protest State Budget
Naharnet/April 25/17/The National Social Security Fund employees held a sit-in on Tuesday in Riad al-Solh Square in Beirut, protesting two articles in the recently approved state budget which they say destabilizes the monetary resources of the institution. The workers protest was held under the title of “Protecting the NSSF” and coincided with a meeting of the Parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee. The campaigners argued that the two articles in the draft budget could destroy the state's insurance and pension fund and “plan to privatize the NSSF in the future” which they strongly reject. The said articles would exempt business owners and the government of their dues to the NSSF. For his part, President of the General Confederation of Lebanese Workers, Bechara el-Asmar voiced calls on President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and PM Saad Hariri to interfere and abolish the clauses. All employers in Lebanon are required to register their employees at the National Social Security Fund within one month from the start of operations, and are required to pay social security contributions on their behalf. On Tuesday, the NSSF Syndicate invited all employees enrolled in the NSSF including cab drivers, private school teachers and university students to take part in the protest.

Kaag visits Hariri, welcomes once again his recent visit to South
Tue 25 Apr 2017/NNA - Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, received on Tuesday at Grand Serail the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Sigrid Kaag, and the Deputy Director of the Middle East and West Asia Division at the UN department of political Affairs, Darko Mocibob. In the wake of the meeting Kaag said: "I had the pleasure to meet with Prime Minister, Saad Hariri. It was an opportunity to update him on a number of key points. First, I welcomed once again his visit to the South with Minister of Defense, Yaacoub Sarraf, and Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, his important message and his reiteration of his full commitment and support to achieve progress in the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 towards a permanent cease fire. In the same context, we discussed the opportunities to expand our support to build the capacity of the Lebanese armed forces.
Last but not least, we reviewed the important progress that can be achieved with the support of the international community in a follow up of Brussels conference, where the Prime Minister expressed his priorities and submitted important ideas on a structural investment plan for Lebanon, which of course the UN and other partners are very keen to support, with a view to Lebanon's stability, stabilization and prosperity, the well-being of Lebanese citizens and support of Syrian and Palestinian refugees."

Machnouk: CDR will follow up on incinerators file with ministries
Tue 25 Apr 2017/NNA - Interior and Municipalities Minister, Nouhad Machnouk, said on Tuesday that the committee for waste management decided that the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) will submit the last draft for constructing incinerators to concerned ministries.
Minister Machnouk's words came in the wake of the ministerial committee's meeting at Grand Serail, chaired by Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, in presence of Public Works and Transportation Minister Youssef Fenianos, Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil, Environment Minister Tarek Khatib, State Minister for Administrative Development Inaya Ezzedine, head of CDR Nabil al-Jisr and Premiership Secretary General, Fouad Fleifel.

Army apprehends five gunmen for opening fire on patrol in Dar Wasaa
Tue 25 Apr 2017/NNA - The Lebanese army arrested five gunmen for opening fire on an army patrol in the town of Dar Wasaa, who were transferred to one of the local military stations for interrogation. NNA reporter said on Tuesday. In details, armed men opened fire on an army patrol in Dar Wasaa, the matter that prompted the army to respond to fire source and wounding one of the culprits. Five others were arrested.

Anonymous shoots in air in Tripoli Serail, ISF prosecute him
Tue 25 Apr 2017 /NNA - An anonymous aboard a motorcycle shot in the air in front of Tripoli Serail near an ISF patrol, National News Agency reported on Tuesday, security forces are currently cracking down on him.

Abu Qassem Taleh responsible for preparing bombs for Nusra Front killed in Khirbat Yunine explosion
Tue 25 Apr 2017/NNA - The so-called Abu Qasem al-Taleh, responsible for preparing explosive devises for Nusra Front was killed in the explosion of a booby trap outside his base in Kherbet Younine in the outskirts of Arsal, NNA reporter said on Tuesday. Al-Taleh's Aide Ahmed Abu Daoud, dubbed as "Abu Dajjani Lebneni", was also critically injured in the blast.

Geagea, Telecom Minister meet in Meerab
Tue 25 Apr 2017/NNA - Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea met on Tuesday at his Meerab residence with Telecom Minister Jamal Jarrah, with talks majorly touching on the proposed election draft laws. Speaking after the two-hour meeting, Minister Jarrah reiterated the Future Movement's stance supporting any election law which would secure proper representation, preserves national coexistence and unity, and lessens sectarian and confessional tension. "We shall try to set right any law which would threaten national unity or risk proper representation, so that it attains its aspired goals," Jarrah said, stressing the dire need for reaching a new poll law and holding timely parliamentary elections.

Bassil: We do not stick to any election law
Tue 25 Apr 2017/NNA - Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister, Gebran Bassil, said on Tuesday following Change and Reform bloc meeting that they did not adhere to any election law and "no one can hinder the election path that we have chosen.""We did not reject proportionality, and the nation is for all. We bridged consensus amongst Lebanese and we combated for this cause," Minister Bassil said. He added that 1960 law had another form for extension that we categorically reject, and there is no vacuum because constitution rejects it. "The only guarantee is the adoption of a new poll law."
He pointed out that fair representation prevents a war amongst Lebanese people. In the same context, Bassil assured that the parliamentary vacuum and the adoption of the 1960 law were two outlaw and out-of-question choices. According to him, his party "defended" the rehabilitation law. Bassil also called on MPs to start reviewing the so-called Orthodox law at Parliament.

Ferzli, Pheraon in Yarze
Tue 25 Apr 2017/NNA - Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, received on Tuesday at his office in Yarze Former Deputy House Speaker, Elie Ferzli. General Aoun also met with Tourism Minister, Michel Pheraon, and Former Minister, Gaby Layoun, over the current situation.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 25-26/17
U.S. 'Deeply Concerned' by Turkish Strikes in Syria, Iraq
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/TThe United States is "deeply concerned" by Turkish air strikes that reportedly killed more than two dozen Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria, the State Department said Tuesday. The strikes underscore the delicate political tightrope the United States is treading in Syria -- and to a lesser extent in Iraq -- where it is relying heavily on Kurdish forces to conduct the ground fight against the Islamic State group. "We are very concerned, deeply concerned that Turkey conducted air strikes earlier today in northern Syria as well as northern Iraq without proper coordination either with the United States or the broader global coalition to defeat" IS, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. "We have expressed those concerns to the government of Turkey directly."Turkey is a key U.S. ally and a NATO member, so America must be careful not to alienate its partner and risk losing Ankara's support for the anti-IS fight and access to Turkey's vital Incirlik airbase. Turkey said it had carried out the strikes in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq against "terrorist havens" and vowed to continue action against groups it links to the outlawed Kurdistan's Workers' Party (PKK).U.S. commandos are working with local Kurds on the ground, much to the fury of Turkey, which sees the Kurdish YPG forces as a terrorist offshoot of the PKK that has been waging an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984. "This is a very complex battle space. We're cognizant of that," Toner said. "We are also cognizant of the threat that the PKK poses to Turkey... But these kinds of actions frankly harm the coalition's efforts to go after ISIS." The Pentagon offered a more muted response. "We don't want our partners hitting other partners," a senior US defense official told AFP. "We've got to figure out exactly who got hit. We don't know yet. We do know where the strikes were, but we don't know exactly who is dead." The United States is counting on the SDF, a Syrian Arab-Kurdish alliance, to push into the IS bastion of Raqa in Syria, and is currently weighing whether to provide the Kurdish faction with heavy weaponry and other materiel.

Isis fighters ‘attacked Israel Defense Forces unit, then apologised' claims former commander
Moshe Ya’alon reportedly referred to a clash with Isis-linked group last November
Chloe Farand/Independent/Tuesday 25 April 2017 /Isis-affiliated fighters “apologised” after launching an attack on Israeli soldiers, the country’s former defence minister has claimed. Moshe Ya’alon was reportedly referring to an incident when a group linked to Isis in the Syrian Golan Heights exchanged fire with Israeli forces last November. The area is a rocky plateau in southwestern Syria, which was partly seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed in a move never recognised by the international community. There was one case recently where Daesh [Isis] opened fire and apologised,” Mr Ya’alon said speaking at an event in the northern city of Alufa, during which he was was being interviewed about Israel’s policy on Syria.  After a short gun battle, the Israeli military attacked Syrian jihadist group Khalid ibn al-Walid with airstrikes and tank fire, killing four of them, The Times of Israel reports.  This was the first direct clash between Israeli forces and Isis militants after the terror group opened fire on a military patrol on the Israeli side, a military spokesman said at the time. Khalid ibn al-Walid, which affiliated itself with Isis in May 2016, seized territory including a large town and several villages on the Syrian border with Israel in a surprise attack on moderate rebel forces in February this year. A spokesperson for Mr Ya’alon refused to elaborate on how Isis expressed its apology to Israel after the attack and the Israel Defense Forces also refused to comment. According to the first Western journalists, who have entered Isis' territories and survived, Israel is the only country in the world the Islamic group fears because it believes its army is too strong to face. Under Israeli law, communication with the group is illegal because it constitutes contact with an enemy agent. Mr Ya’alon is the former chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and served as Defence Minister from 2013 until his resignation in May 2016. During the interview, he said Israel carried out strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in retaliation when the Golan Heights was attacked. Israel has adopted a largely non-interventionist position regarding the complicated conflict on its doorstep, although it has retaliated on occasions when conflict has spilled over into territory it controls.

Egypt Refers 20 Detainees to Mufti after Receiving Death Sentence
Asharq Al-Awsat English/April 24/17
Cairo – The Egyptian criminal court referred on Monday 20 suspects linked to the “Kerdassa massacre” to the grand mufti in a measure that precedes laying down the death penalty against them.
On August 14, 2013, a month after former President Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood, was overthrown by the army, security forces forcibly dispersed two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo in an operation that killed more than 700 people. Hours later a furious crowd attacked a police station in the Cairo suburb of Kerdassa, where 14 policemen were killed. A year later, a Cairo court sentenced to death 183 suspects, but a higher court scrapped the verdict last year, calling instead for the retrial of 149 suspects who were behind bars. Of those 149, on Monday a Cairo criminal court sentenced to death 20 people, a judicial official said, adding that a decision concerning the others would be made at another hearing on July 2. Egyptian courts have sentenced hundreds of Morsi supporters to death since his overthrow, but many have appealed and won new trials. Morsi and other top figures of his Muslim Brotherhood have also faced trial.

Coptic Pope: Church Bombings Aim at Egypt's Unity
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/The two church bombings that killed dozens in Egypt this month targeted unity among Muslims and Christians in the most populous Arab nation, Coptic Pope Tawadros II said Tuesday. Suicide bombers from the Islamic State group attacked two churches in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria on April 9, killing 45 people in the deadliest attacks on Coptic Christians in recent memory. The attacks which hit on Palm Sunday "were not aimed at Copts only but at the heart of Egypt... They aimed at breaking the unity of Egyptians," the Tawadros told a news conference in Kuwait City. "Unity among Egyptians has existed for the past 14 centuries and these attacks will not affect the Egyptian people," he said. Copts, who make up about one tenth of Egypt's population of more than 92 million, have been targeted several times in recent months. In December, an IS suicide bomber struck a Cairo church, killing 29 people. Jihadists and Islamists accuse Copts of supporting the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, which ushered in a deadly crackdown on his supporters. Tawadros, on his first visit to Kuwait where a large Coptic community lives, was met by Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed Al-Sabah and top officials. He said Egyptian security forces and the military are doing their role in protecting Christian places of worship which have become a target of attacks in recent years. Egyptian police last week arrested Ali Mahmoud Mohamed Hassan, one of 19 suspects whose names police made public after the Palm Sunday explosions. The April 9 attacks, weeks before a planned visit by Catholic Pope Francis, prompted the government to declare a three-month state of emergency.

Iran Nuclear Deal Reviewed as Uncertainty Grows
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/Iran and major powers met Tuesday in Vienna to review adherence to their 2015 nuclear deal as uncertainty grows about the landmark accord's future under U.S. President Donald Trump. The regular quarterly meeting was expected to hear, as Washington confirmed last week, that Iran is sticking to its side of the deal with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. The accord saw Tehran drastically curb its nuclear activities in order to ease concerns that Iran wanted to build an atomic bomb. In return nuclear-related Western and U.N. sanctions were lifted. However, Trump has ordered a 90-day review, saying last Thursday that Iran was "not living up to the spirit" of the "terrible" deal because of its actions in other areas. This refers to Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, rebels in Yemen, and militias in Iraq and in Lebanon as well as Tehran's ballistic missile program. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday the review would examine the nuclear accord "in the larger context of Iran's role in the region and in the world, and then adjust accordingly." Trump's Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last Wednesday expressed misgivings about the nuclear deal itself, in particular the time limits in key areas. Iran cut the number of centrifuges that "enrich" uranium -- making it suitable for power generation and at high purities for a bomb -- from about 19,000 to 5,000. Together with other restrictions and ultra-tight U.N. inspections, Iran pledged to stay at this level for 10 years and not to enrich uranium above low purities for 15 years. Its uranium stockpile will also stay below 300 kilos (660 pounds) -- well short of what would be needed for an atomic bomb -- for 15 years. Tillerson said the accord "fails to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran" and had been a way of "buying off" Tehran "for a short period of time."
Tehran not satisfied
Iran is not happy either, with critics of President Hassan Rouhani -- facing a tough battle for re-election next month -- charging that the nuclear deal has failed to provide all the promised economic benefits. While nuclear-related sanctions were lifted, those related to human rights or missiles remained or have been expanded, frustrating Iran's efforts to boost trade. Last week Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to Trump's comments by saying that Washington was failing to live up not just to the spirit of the nuclear deal, but its wording as well. "So far, it has defied both," Zarif said on Twitter.Tuesday's "Joint Commission" meeting among senior diplomats was held behind closed doors -- in the same plush Vienna hotel where the deal was hammered out -- with no press events planned. Abbas Araghchi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, was representing Iran in the talks. Iranian news agency IRNA quoted him as saying that Iran was adhering to the deal but that this did not completely hold true for the other side.

U.S. 'Deeply Concerned' by Turkish Strikes in Syria, Iraq
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/The United States is "deeply concerned" by Turkish air strikes that reportedly killed more than two dozen Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria, the State Department said Tuesday. The strikes underscore the delicate political tightrope the United States is treading in Syria -- and to a lesser extent in Iraq -- where it is relying heavily on Kurdish forces to conduct the ground fight against the Islamic State group. "We are very concerned, deeply concerned that Turkey conducted air strikes earlier today in northern Syria as well as northern Iraq without proper coordination either with the United States or the broader global coalition to defeat" IS, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. "We have expressed those concerns to the government of Turkey directly."Turkey is a key U.S. ally and a NATO member, so America must be careful not to alienate its partner and risk losing Ankara's support for the anti-IS fight and access to Turkey's vital Incirlik airbase. Turkey said it had carried out the strikes in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq against "terrorist havens" and vowed to continue action against groups it links to the outlawed Kurdistan's Workers' Party (PKK). U.S. commandos are working with local Kurds on the ground, much to the fury of Turkey, which sees the Kurdish YPG forces as a terrorist offshoot of the PKK that has been waging an insurgency inside Turkey since 1984. "This is a very complex battle space. We're cognizant of that," Toner said. "We are also cognizant of the threat that the PKK poses to Turkey... But these kinds of actions frankly harm the coalition's efforts to go after ISIS."The Pentagon offered a more muted response. "We don't want our partners hitting other partners," a senior US defense official told AFP. "We've got to figure out exactly who got hit. We don't know yet. We do know where the strikes were, but we don't know exactly who is dead." The United States is counting on the SDF, a Syrian Arab-Kurdish alliance, to push into the IS bastion of Raqa in Syria, and is currently weighing whether to provide the Kurdish faction with heavy weaponry and other materiel.

Turkish Strike in Iraq Kills Six Kurdish Security Forces
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/Turkish air strikes targeting local armed groups in northern Iraq killed six members of Kurdish security forces in an apparent accident on Tuesday, a senior official said. "Six people were martyred, five from the peshmerga and the sixth from asayish," Lieutenant General Jabbar Yawar, secretary general of the peshmerga ministry in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish government, told AFP. "Nine others were also wounded by the air strike on the Sinjar mountain," he said, in reference to a northwestern region of Iraq which is the main hub of the Yazidi minority. The peshmerga are the Kurdish Regional Government's armed forces and the asayish its intelligence service. Yawar and other officials said the overnight strike apparently targeted a Yazidi militia allied with Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which Ankara, a key ally of the Iraqi Kurdish government, considers a terrorist organisation. The air strike was carried out at 2:25 am (2315 GMT), said Yawar, who added that forces from the Yazidi Protection Units (YBS) were present at the targeted positions. Zardasht Shingali, a spokesman for the YBS, said the strikes lasted three hours and hit five of his group's positions in the area. He told AFP that the targets included a radio station, a position in the strategic Shilo Valley west of the mountain and another in the town of Sinuni, which lies at the foot of the mountain's northern flank.

Iraqi Kurds Call Deadly Turkish Strike 'Unacceptable'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region on Tuesday said Turkish air strikes in which six of its security forces were killed overnight were "unacceptable."The peshmerga, the region's armed forces, said in the statement however that the apparent accident should be blamed on Turkey's rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), whose affiliates were the target of the strikes."The death of the peshmerga is regrettable and the strike on the peshmerga by Turkish warplanes is unacceptable," the statement said. Turkey carried out several strikes in Syria and Iraq against separatist Kurdish rebels and their allies overnight. Six members of the Iraqi Kurdish government's security forces were killed. The strikes in the Sinjar area of northern Iraq were against positions held by the Yazidi Protection Units (YBS), a militia supported by the PKK, which Ankara considers a terrorist group. The PKK and Iraq's dominant Kurdish faction, which is allied to Ankara, are rivals however and the peshmerga statement put the blame for the deaths in its ranks squarely on the PKK."These problems and tensions are all because of the PKK's presence," it said, accusing the PKK and its affiliates of refusing to withdraw from the Sinjar area.

Syria Kurds Demand Coalition Act to Halt Turkish Raids
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/A commander for Kurdish forces battling jihadists in northern Syria urged the U.S.-led coalition backing the offensive to prevent further Turkish strikes on their forces. "We are asking the international coalition to intervene to stop these Turkish violations," the commander told AFP, after Turkish strikes targeting the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) killed 18 people on Tuesday. "It's unthinkable that we are fighting on a front as important as (Islamic State group bastion) Raqa while Turkish planes bomb us in the back," the commander said.
The YPG has expelled IS out of swathes of territory in Syria's north and makes up the bulk of the units bearing down on Raqa city. Turkey carried out the air strikes on YPG positions before dawn on Tuesday, and also hit Kurdish militia in neighboring Iraq. "The YPG will not be silent on this blatant attack, and we reserve our right to defend ourselves and take revenge for our martyrs," YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said. The U.S.-led coalition "has a huge responsibility and must carry out its duty to protect this area, because we are partners in fighting IS," he said.
He spoke to AFP at the targeted YPG base in the northeast province of Hasakeh, in a sliver of Syrian territory wedged between Turkey to the north and Iraq to the east. AFP's correspondent saw rescue workers climb through the rubble of destroyed buildings at the base to look for survivors, as ambulances waited nearby.

Iraq Forces Retake Large Mosul Neighborhood from IS
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/Iraqi forces retook full control of one the largest neighborhoods of west Mosul Tuesday from the Islamic State group after a week of intense fighting, a top commander said. "This morning, the heroes of the Counter-Terrorism Service on the western axis succeeded in fully clearing Tenek neighborhood," Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi told AFP in Mosul. The elite forces have been spearheading a massive offensive launched in mid-October 2016 to retake Mosul, the country's second city and the last major Iraqi bastion of the jihadists' now crumbling "caliphate."The eastern side of the city, which is divided by the Tigris river, was recaptured in January, and a push on the west bank of Mosul launched the following month has made steady progress despite fierce resistance. Tenek, on the western edge of the city, "is one of the largest neighborhoods on the western side of Mosul," said Saadi, one of the top CTS commanders in Iraq. "It used to be one of the main strongholds for terrorist groups," he said. Saadi said the fighting in Tenek was fierce and lasted a full week. "More than 20 car bombs were destroyed, dozens of terrorist militants were killed. Their bodies are still on the streets and inside houses," he said. Only a few hundred IS fighters are believed to remain in west Mosul, most of them hunkering down in the Old City amidst several hundred thousand trapped civilians. Iraqi forces have retaken neighborhoods to the south, west and north of the Old City, tightening the noose around IS before a high-risk final assault. The narrow streets of the Old City and its population density will force the Iraqi forces to conduct perilous dismounted operations which observers fear could yet allow holdout jihadists to stage a protracted last stand.

Iraq Forces in Push to Retake UNESCO-Listed Hatra
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/Iraqi forces on Tuesday launched a fresh push southwest of Mosul to retake the Hatra area, which includes a U.N.-listed World Heritage site, a statement said. The operation marks the latest phase of an offensive launched by the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization) paramilitary forces in parallel to the main assault on Mosul begun six months ago. The Hashed forces, dominated by Iran-backed militias, have focused their efforts on a front southwest of Mosul which aims at retaking the town of Tal Afar as well as desert areas stretching to the border with Syria. "Hashed al-Shaabi forces launched Operation Mohammed Rasool Allah aimed at liberating Hatra and neighboring areas," the organization said in a statement. It said that five villages had already been retaken from the Islamic State group on Tuesday and that Hashed engineering units were clearing the road to Hatra of explosive devices. Hatra, known as Al-Hadhr in Arabic, was established in the 3rd or 2nd century BC and became a religious and trading center under the Parthian empire. Its imposing fortifications helped it withstand sieges by the forces of two Roman emperors: Trajan in 166 AD and Septimus Severus in 198. Hatra finally succumbed to Ardashir I, the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, a few decades later, but the city remained well-preserved over the centuries that followed. Hatra left its mark on pop culture as the location for the opening of horror film "The Exorcist", which was shot there in 1973. The jihadists damaged parts of Hatra after taking over a third of Iraq in 2014, as part of a heritage destruction campaign that also saw them vandalize Mosul museum, blow up shrines and damage the ruins of the ancient city of Nimrud. The jihadists see such destruction as a religiously mandated elimination of idols -- but they also have no qualms about selling smaller artifacts to fund their operations. The full extent of the harm to Hatra remains unclear, but the site risks further damage during the military operation to retake it.

Abadi Says Iraq Holding Qatari Ransom Money
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/Iraq is holding hundreds of millions of dollars Qatari negotiators had brought to Baghdad as ransom money for the release of kidnapped hunters, the prime minister said Tuesday. A hunting party consisting of 24 Qataris and two Saudis kidnapped in southern Iraq in December 2015 was released last week and flew back home from Baghdad on Friday, according to officials in the three countries. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told a news conference that Qatari negotiators had come to Baghdad prior to the release with what he said was hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom money. "The Qatari government sent its envoy to Iraq and asked to bring a private plane," Abadi said. "We were surprised that there were big bags, so we seized them and they contained hundreds of millions of dollars," he said. "This money was brought in without the approval of the Iraqi government. We have a central bank and a judiciary," he said, explaining he would insist due process be followed. "Hundreds of millions to armed groups? Is this acceptable," Abadi asked, without specifying to which groups he was referring. The hunting party was released without word from the Iraqi interior ministry or any other official on who had kidnapped them in the first place nor what the terms of their release were. Sources close to the negotiations however told AFP that their release was part of a broad regional deal between Iran and Qatar involving the evacuation of residents from government-controlled villages in northern Syria. Qatar has long been thought to have sway on some Sunni rebel groups in Syria, including the al-Qaida-linked Al-Nusra Front that besieged the villages. The same sources said ransom money and prisoner exchanges were also part of the deal.

Netanyahu Snubs German Foreign Minister in NGO Row
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled talks on Tuesday with Germany's foreign minister in a rare move after the visiting diplomat declined to call off meetings with rights groups critical of Israel's government. Netanyahu's meeting with Sigmar Gabriel was canceled after the German diplomat decided to go ahead with talks with Israeli rights groups Breaking The Silence and B'Tselem. Breaking The Silence seeks to document alleged Israeli military abuses in the Palestinian territories, while B'Tselem has worked on a range of issues and has strongly opposed Israeli settlement building. Canceling the meeting was a rare step, but in line with the current right-wing government's stance against groups it accuses of having political agendas and of unfairly tarnishing Israel. Netanyahu's office issued a statement saying, in a reference to Breaking The Silence, "imagine if foreign diplomats visiting the United States or Britain met with NGOs that call American or British soldiers war criminals.""Diplomats are welcome to meet with representatives of civil society but Prime Minister Netanyahu will not meet with those who lend legitimacy to organizations that call for the criminalization of Israeli soldiers."It added, however, that "our relations with Germany are very important and they will not be affected by this".Gabriel told journalists in Jerusalem that he regretted Netanyahu's decision, but also said that he did not think it would badly impact relations between the two countries. He and Netanyahu, who also serves as Israel's foreign minister, "will find an opportunity to speak with each other on the phone or to meet in an upcoming visit," he said. "This does not mean the breaking of diplomatic relations. We need to keep this a little bit in perspective." Gabriel earlier told German public television station ZDF that a decision to cancel the meeting would be "extremely regrettable." "It is completely normal that we speak with civil society representatives during a visit abroad," he said. Gabriel added that it would be "unthinkable" to cancel a meeting with Netanyahu if he met critics of the German government during a visit to Germany. The two NGOs were due to hold a joint meeting with Gabriel later Tuesday, a source from one of them said.
Delayed summit
Such disputes have arisen in the past between visiting foreign officials and Israel's government.
In February, Israel reprimanded the Belgian ambassador after his country's premier, Charles Michel, met both B'Tselem and Breaking The Silence during a visit to Israel. However, there was no public rebuke when British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson met with anti-settlement NGO Peace Now during a visit in March. Israel has occupied the West Bank for 50 years, and Jewish settlement building in the Palestinian territory has drawn intense international criticism. Israeli settlements are seen as illegal under international law and major stumbling blocks to peace efforts as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state. Germany has been among critics of Israeli settlement policy. A German government spokesman said in February that a summit with Israel planned for May had been delayed, with Israeli media reporting it was because of the Jewish state's controversial new settlements law. Israel passed a law in February that legalizes thousands of settler homes built on private Palestinian land in the West Bank. The current government, seen as the most right-wing in Israeli history, has frequently criticized NGOs it accuses of unfairly tarnishing the country's image. A red line' Last year, Israel's parliament adopted a law seen as targeting left-wing groups critical of the government by forcing NGOs that receive most of their funding from foreign states to declare it. The law was criticized by the European Union, which said it risked "undermining" values that the EU and Israel shared. Both B'Tselem and Breaking The Silence are among groups that have received European support. Israeli deputy foreign minister Tzipi Hotovely said Tuesday that her ministry for the past couple years was waging a battle against "anti-Israel organizations that are massively funded by European states.""We’ve decided to draw a red line," she told army radio. Gabriel, however, still met President Reuven Rivlin, whose role is mainly ceremonial, on Tuesday afternoon. After the two men gave speeches, they held a heated meeting lasting more than an hour, a source in the president's office told AFP. Rivlin repeatedly called Israel's army the "most moral in the world," the source said.

Le Pen Draws Mix of Selfies, Scorn at Iconic Paris Market
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/Marine Le Pen had a mixed welcome at a market near Paris on Tuesday, with some traders jostling for a picture with France's far-right presidential candidate but others booing her hard line on immigration. Le Pen, who is dueling for the presidency with pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron, arrived at Rungis, Europe's biggest wholesale fresh food market, at the crack of dawn. The visit was part of her bid to woo what she called "the France that gets up early" -- a term coined by conservative ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy during his 2007 campaign to refer to workers and the self-employed. With its hangars of giant cheeses, animal carcasses and towering crates of fruit, the sprawling market in the suburb of Rungis has long been a favorite campaign stop among presidential candidates. "Marine Le Pen is coming here? I hope I can get a selfie with her!" one employee told reporters waiting for her in a light drizzle. Wearing a white jacket with the market's logo, the blonde 48-year-old National Front (FN) politician meandered through the aisles, a retinue of party officials in tow. Vendors in white coats, some of them first- or second-generation immigrants, gathered around as she set out her proposals to defend French producers from what she calls "runaway globalization." Her manifesto includes a tax on the contracts of foreign workers and a requirement that retailers stock a certain percentage of French products. "When there is unfair competition, we'll set up barriers and say 'there are regulations, you can't do that'," she declared. Le Pen has also pledged to deport all undocumented immigrants, part of a French-first program that drew boos from some traders. "Do you have your papers?" a vendor in a blood-spattered coat asked a colleague jokingly.
"We're workers too. We pay our taxes," a fruit vendor shouted. "It's a disgrace," another said repeatedly. A tomato sailed through the air but missed Le Pen, landing with a splat on a reporter's head.
"Jerks. They're not the guys who are usually here," said one of Le Pen's aides, suggesting she had fallen into a trap.
Promises, promises
The atmosphere was cordial for the most part, however, with wholesalers engaging Le Pen in conversation and showing off their wares. In the meat hall, trader Francis Fauchere questioned Le Pen's plan to impose the use of French-produced meat in school canteens and civil service foodhalls.
"It'll never happen. The canteen budget doesn't extend to French meat," he said, arguing that French producers were better off focusing on high-end markets. Speaking to journalists afterwards, Fauchere said he planned to abstain from voting in the May 7 runoff. "They're all the same. We see them once every five years and they all promise the same thing," he said. A week ago it was 39-year-old Macron who had come to visit, with a message of "working more to earn more" -- another of Sarkozy's old campaign slogans. One vendor, who did not wish to be named, accused the two candidates of trying "to be seen in the same light as people who really are hard-working." But Claude Garnier, a 74-year-old retired butcher who helps his son on the market, said Le Pen would get his vote. "I prefer Mrs Le Pen because Macron... he's a Socialist," he said.

Ex-Trump Aide Flynn Did Not Report Russia Payments, Lawmakers Say
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 25/17/Former White House national security advisor Michael Flynn never reported receiving payments from Russian entities on his top-level security clearance form, a senior U.S. lawmaker said Tuesday. Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz said it appeared Flynn -- who stood down as a top aide to Donald Trump amid controversy over his ties to Russia -- broke the law by failing to disclose the payments from Russia's RT television. Flynn, a former U.S. military intelligence chief who was a close advisor to Trump during last year's campaign, was paid more than $33,000 dollars to attend an RT gala in December 2015, where he sat at a table with President Vladimir Putin. The payment came to light amid the sprawling probe into Russian interference in the U.S. election, in which investigators are especially focusing on the ties between Moscow and several Trump advisors.
Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said there was no sign the retired three-star general had the required permissions to attend the gala, nor that he reported the payment when seeking to renew his security clearance a month later. "Personally, I see no information or no data to support the notion that General Flynn complied with the law," Chaffetz said after a briefing on the issue by officials of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which Flynn headed from 2012 to 2014. "He was supposed to seek permission and receive permission from both the secretary of state and the secretary of the army prior to travelling to Russia to not only accept that payment but to engage in that activity," Chaffetz told reporters. Elijah Cummings, the Democratic vice chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said the reporting violations may constitute felony crimes that could bring up to five years imprisonment.
Flynn has denied any wrongdoing, amid reports he is under investigation by both the Defense Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Flynn's lawyer Robert Kelner said in a statement that Flynn had kept the DIA informed about the Russia trip at the time. "General Flynn briefed the Defense Intelligence Agency, a component agency of DoD, extensively regarding the RT speaking event trip both before and after the trip, and he answered any questions that were posed by DIA concerning the trip during those briefings."
Facing punishment?
Kelner said in March that Flynn is willing to testify in a U.S. counter-intelligence investigation into Russia's alleged interference in the election to help Trump, in exchange for immunity.Flynn was forced to step down as Trump's national security advisor less than a month into the job for failing to disclose private conversations he had held with Russia's US ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December following the election. After his resignation, he was also shown to have accepted $530,000 to lobby for Turkey during the campaign, without registering as a foreign agent as required by law. He also accepted $11,250 each from a Russian air transport firm and a Russia-based computer security firm. Chaffetz said Flynn is now facing possible punishment from the Pentagon, including being forced to give up the payments. In a parallel development, with concerns mounting that Republicans are stalling the Russia probe, the Senate Intelligence Committee announced that two top former officials -- ex-acting attorney general Sally Yates and former director of national intelligence James Clapper -- will testify on May 8. Both were deeply involved in the investigation into Russian interference during the second half of last year under former president Barack Obama.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 25-26/17
Do not be fooled again: Iran hard-liners vs moderates
Majid Rafizadeh/Arabnews/April 24/2017
Iran’s government is playing its hand very skilfully in the upcoming presidential elections, as it did in 2013, when the world was sold the idea that a “moderate” was running against a “hard-liner.” Many national and international media outlets, as well as pro-Iran agents in the West, reinforced this narrative. This made many people believe that if a “moderate” wins, Iran and the world would become much better places. People were sold the notion that a “moderate” would alter Iran’s domestic policies, promote human rights, respect freedoms and advance social justice. They were told a “moderate” would fundamentally alter Iran’s foreign policy, make Tehran a constructive player and oppose the deployment of hard power, military expansionism and the Syrian regime. So they began advocating for the “moderate.”
Even former US President Barack Obama lobbied to strengthen Iran’s “moderates,” making many concessions, helping lift four rounds of UN sanctions, and turning a blind eye to Iran’s domestic abuses and regional interventions.
A ‘hard-liner’ (Ebrahim Raisi) and a ‘moderate’ (Hassan Rouhani) are both Khamenei’s confidants and loyalists. They are both preserving the power and agenda of the supreme leader, as well as Iran’s Shiite and clerical establishment, its revolutionary ideals and the military, which is pursuing regional hegemony.
People were told that if “moderates” are empowered, Iran would give up its revolutionary ideals. Hassan Rouhani became president and has served for almost four years. Yet this “moderate” helped the hard-liners. Countries regionally and internationally suffered tremendously under Rouhani, as did the overwhelming majority of Iranians.
A “moderate” president has brought billions of dollars to the treasury of the hard-liners, mainly Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his gilded circle, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the military and intelligence. Rouhani helped Iran spend more on financing, training and arming its proxies.
Iran became more militarily engaged in Syria and Iraq. It more aggressively interfered in the domestic affairs of many countries, including Bahrain, Yemen and Lebanon. Due to Iran’s sectarian agenda in Iraq and Syria, Daesh and other radical groups gained more power in the region and the world.
Via its Guardian Council, Iran has again masterfully orchestrated a managed and pre-selected race between a “hard-liner” (Ebrahim Raisi) and a “moderate” (Rouhani). Do not be deceived: They are both Khamenei’s confidants and loyalists. They are both preserving the power and agenda of the supreme leader, as well as Iran’s Shiite and clerical establishment, its revolutionary ideals and the military, which is pursuing regional hegemony.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated, Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and president of the International American Council. He serves on the boards of the Harvard International Review, the Harvard International Relations Council and the US-Middle East Chamber for Commerce and Business. He can be reached on Twitter @Dr_Rafizadeh.

The stealthy Hezbollahzation of Iraq
Baria Alamuddin/Arbnews/April 24/17
Experts disagree about the date when Hezbollah came into being. It emerged out of the shadows, and suddenly in 1983 was responsible for bombings that killed hundreds of peacekeeping forces in Beirut.
We Lebanese were similarly bemused by this entity that gained a stranglehold on our society. As the civil war ended, instead of demobilizing like other militias, Hezbollah expanded its activities, running schools, hospitals, universities — all the institutions of a fully-formed state. Considering how fragile the Lebanese state and army were, for many communities Hezbollah was the state, bankrolled by hundreds of millions of dollars of Iranian funds.
In our naivety, I and other Lebanese supported Hezbollah’s endeavors to push Israel out of Lebanon. We believed their platitudes about putting Lebanese interests first — until it was far too late. Hezbollah’s narrative of muqawamah (resistance) after decades of Lebanon’s weakness and divisions even gave us a bizarre sense of national pride. How wrong we were!
This scenario is repeating itself today in Iraq. The Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi umbrella movement of mostly Shiite paramilitaries has no intention of demobilizing after Daesh is defeated. Instead, it is comprehensively expanding its remit. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently described Al-Hashd as a “terrorist organization” and facilitator of “Iran’s Persian expansion policy.”
In universities, Al-Hashd sponsors activities, enlists students and holds military training camps. Institutions have been established in Sunni provinces for recruitment, indoctrination and expansion. Tens of Al-Hashd offices have reportedly been opened in Mosul before this Sunni-majority city has even been liberated. Intelligence headquarters have been set up, and Al-Hashd detention centers — where torture and killings are routine — are no secret.
The Lebanese and the rest of the world complacently failed to perceive the threat Hezbollah posed until it was too late. Will we make the same mistake again?
Shiite religious institutions complain of being besieged by Tehran’s propaganda. Pro-Iran seminaries are awash with funds as thousands of young people are indoctrinated with Tehran-approved theology. There are sustained efforts to ensure that a pro-Iran cleric succeeds Iraqi Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani.
The Hashd Law failed to bring paramilitaries under the government’s command. Instead, this law makes them a permanent legal entity, receiving money and weapons openly from the state and clandestinely from Iran, thus further undermining the regular army. Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi says the right things to the West about demobilizing Al-Hashd, but he has just promised to increase expenditure on these militias.
We can only speculate how much cash was handed over in huge bags to Al-Hashd faction the Hezbollah Brigades last week to secure the freedom of 26 members of Qatar’s royal family, who were kidnapped by the group in late 2015 while hunting in central Iraq.
The fact that part of the Tehran-brokered deal involves population swaps in Syria, giving contiguous areas of Shiite-dominated territory near Lebanon’s border, illustrates the regional remit of these Al-Hashd entities.
Efforts are afoot to unite Shiite factions into an Al-Hashd list ahead of Iraqi elections, aspiring to become the largest bloc in the next Parliament, nominate the prime minister and monopolize lucrative and powerful departments. Former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has unashamedly embraced Al-Hashd as his route back to power.
Hezbollah had been Iran’s greatest achievement in exporting its revolution. Tehran is replicating this model in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, establishing proxy states-within-states whose tentacles reach into all domains of society. The Trump administration has vowed to prevent the Hezbollahzation of Yemen. This will require colossal efforts, yet the problem is exponentially more complicated in Iraq.
At a recent press conference, when Donald Trump was asked about Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq, he did not know what the reporter was talking about. Can we hope for a considered Western response to Al-Hashd when the US president does not even know what it is?
While the world has been obsessing over North Korea and Syria, Al-Hashd has stayed out of the headlines. A Hashd University does not make for such sexy headlines as missile tests and chemical bombs, but the confrontational aspirations were glaringly transparent in a recent speech by Al-Hashd leader Qais Al-Khazali.
“There will be a strong and effective Hashd University, through which we could address our enemies and tell them, ‘If you fear us now, you must know that Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi is present in every university, college and department,’” he said.
Sectarian governance and war crimes by paramilitaries will drive Iraq toward renewed conflict. This year is perhaps Iraq’s last chance to be a unified entity. A sectarian and brutal regime will drive communities back into the arms of extremists and anti-state groups.
The Hezbollahzation of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen is proceeding at a terrifying rate, offering the prospect of a pro-Iran super-state — a Persian Empire — reaching the Mediterranean.
It is not enough for the US to warn that Iran has been “put on notice.” Right now in multiple countries, at all levels of society, thousands of institutions and entities are being transformed into bodies with a single purpose: To do Tehran’s bidding. If only we could hope that the response would be as sophisticated and strategic as Iran’s Machiavellian efforts toward regional hegemony.
The Lebanese and the rest of the world complacently failed to perceive the threat Hezbollah posed until it was too late. Will we make the same mistake again?
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate, a foreign editor at Al-Hayat, and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Turkey Out of NATO: Other Voices/دانيال بابيبس: خطورة بقاء تركيا في حلف الناتو
Daniel Pipes/Nov 9, 2009 updated Apr 25, 2017
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=54669
I raised the issue of Turkey’s continued membership in NATO in April 2009 at “Does Turkey Still Belong in NATO?“; here I will collect others who agree that the issue at least needs to be raised.
David Schenker, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, at “A NATO without Turkey?”:
While it’s still too early to write Turkey out of NATO, in the not so distant future, the alliance will reach a decision point. In 2014, NATO’s next generation fighter plane, the Joint Strike Fighter, will be delivered. Given the direction of Turkish politics, serious questions must be asked about whether the Islamist government in Ankara can be trusted with the highly advanced technology.
(November 5, 2009)
Michael Rubin, American Enterprise Institute: “Because Turkey increasingly is the obstacle to NATO consensus, its future in the defensive alliance may now be open to question.” (October 24, 2011)
Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) headed by Geert Wilders: reassess Turkey’s membership in NATO on the basis that its government has abandoned its allies – first Israel and now France. (December 26, 2011)
Rick Perry, governor of Texas and Republican presidential candidate, asked a question at the South Carolina debate by Bret Baier of Fox News:
Bret Baier: Governor Perry, since the Islamist-oriented party took over in Turkey, the murder rate of women has increased 1,400 percent there. Press freedom has declined to the level of Russia. The prime minister of Turkey has embraced Hamas and Turkey has threatened military force against both Israel and Cypress. Given Turkey’s turn, do you believe Turkey still belongs in NATO?
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas at the South Carolina debate on Jan. 16, 2012.
Rick Perry: Well, obviously when you have a country that is being ruled by, what many would perceive to be Islamic terrorists, when you start seeing that type of activity against their own citizens, then yes. Not only is it time for us to have a conversation about whether or not they belong to be in NATO, but it’s time for the United States, when we look at their foreign aid, to go to zero with it. (Applause) And you go to zero with foreign aid for all of those countries. And it doesn’t make any difference who they are. You go to zero with that foreign aid and then you have the conversation about, do they have America’s best interest in mind? And when you have countries like Turkey that are moving far away from the country that I lived in back in the 1970′s as a pilot in the United States Air Force that was our ally, that worked with us, but today we don’t see that.
It’s time that NATO start thinking about a worst case scenario in Turkey. For even if the increasingly Islamist state remains a NATO partner, at best, it seems Turkey will be an unreliable partner. Since the 1930s, the country has been a model of modernization and moderation in the Middle East. But absent a remarkable turnaround, it would appear that the West is losing Turkey.
(January 16, 2012) Jan. 17, 2012 update: The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Perry’s comments “baseless and inappropriate” and asserted that Turkey’s leaders are “personalities respected not only in the United States, but in our region and in the world and whose opinions are strongly relied on.” The statement breached usual diplomatic niceties, noting that “Turkey joined NATO while the governor was still 2-years old” and urging Americans not to waste time with candidates “who do not even know their allies.” It affirmed that “Figures who are candidates for positions that require responsibility, such as the U.S. presidency, should be more knowledgeable about the world and exert more care with their statement.” The ministry concluded with a final whack, noting Perry’s low standing in the presidential race as proof that Republicans do not endorse his opinions.
Soner Cagaptay and Richard Outzen, respectively of the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy and the U.S. Army, have written an analysis titled “Would Turkey Leave NATO?” for CNN which offers ideas on keeping Ankara in but which can no less easily be flipped on its head to figure out to push Ankara out.They suggest that “to maintain Turkey’s long-term commitment to NATO, the alliance should consider making Ankara feel important.” They then list a number of ideas:
“design a program for new democracies in the Arab world … and grant Turkey status as the lead nation in this endeavor.”
protect “Turkey’s most vulnerable security flank: the Kurdistan Workers Party.”
make it clear that NATO “sees Turkey as an indispensable member,” as was recently done at a NATO summit in Chicago and with the decision to switch the land forces headquarters from Germany to Turkey.
Comments: (1) This listing makes the Turkish leadership sound utterly self centered and egocentric. (2) To dispatch Ankara from NATO would seem to require no more than a few well-placed slights. (June 26, 2012)
Sep. 20, 2014 update: The Turkish government’s misbehavior at home and abroad have prompted many new commentators – too many for me usefully to document their specifics – to call for its suspension or expulsion from NATO. What was once the views of a small minority has now become commonplace.
Nov. 5, 2014 update: In an important article by Semih Idiz, “No chance Turkey will be ‘kicked out of NATO’,” a former Turkish ambassador to NATO, Unal Unsal, states there is no risk of Turkey’s being expelled from the alliance. “talk of kicking Turkey out is idle because NATO does not have rules for this. It is only up to member states to leave if they want.” Idiz concludes that, “unless Turkey wants to leave NATO, it will remain a member as long as the alliance survives.”
Apr. 25, 2017 update: Michael Rubin points out the danger of allowing the Republic of Turkey to remain a full, active member of NATO:
Ironically, as Erdogan seizes the power to guide Turkey from the West and toward a broader partnership with Russia, the problem for the United States is not that Turkey could leave NATO but that it might not. NATO is run by consensus, and Turkey could act as a Trojan horse, paralyzing all decision-making and effectiveness. NATO has no mechanism to expel a member that drifts away from the alliance’s political or democratic norms..

We Oppose the Spheres of Influence
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsat/April 25/17
Colonial powers are historically held responsible for tensions and conflicts straining the Middle East in pre-WWII times, with approximately 60 percent of the regional map having been occupied by foreign forces.After the Second World War, colonialism was mostly driven out of the region—however, contrary to assumptions, the Middle East transformed into a hotbed for exasperating disputes and strife. Blame, nevertheless, is still wrongly directed against the “Cold War” and ongoing geopolitical tensions between powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states) and powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others).
Reasons were redirected towards political vacuum after the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 90s, leaving behind only one superpower. New wars emerged in Afghanistan, Somalia and Iraq, and crises flared up in Egypt, Algeria, southern Yemen and Eritrea.
Moscow’s return to the international arena then ended the so-called political vacuum and removed the single pole status quo. Wars spread, becoming fiercer and with an impact larger than any on record and red lines were overstepped. It could be said that death, harm, displacement and destruction caused by recent civil wars have outdone any inflicted by wars waged in the past five decades combined, and the tragedy continues.
Witnessing that the region has only descended into more chaos and havoc, it cannot be assumed that international spheres of influence are solely accountable. The region in and of itself is highly volatile and susceptible to wars breaking out.
Conflict in Eastern Europe ceased as a result of an agreement brokered between the two key Cold War camps. After the Soviet camp was no longer, the situation was under control and manageable. The dissolution of Czechoslovakia took place and Yugoslavia was broken up, all of which happened by virtue of European cooperation.
All of the above was preceded by Southeast Asian arrangements made after the United States’ defeat in Vietnam when the whole region was reshaped, including Indonesia and Malaysia, and support being given to South Korea. Even a unified Vietnam later began to cooperate with the West once again.
What does it take to achieve stability in the Middle East? The region still presents a danger not only to itself, but also the world!
There is a widely-held conviction that has been around since the 80s on Iran being the prime source for regional tension — a reservoir responsible for exporting chaos –followed by the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Saddam’s dictatorship was overthrown, so was Libya’s notorious despot Muammar Gaddafi. The last chaos-wielder remaining was Iran.
Successive US administrations sought to reassure Iran that, despite differences, they only want to contain Tehran hostility and its export of terrorism and fine tune its behavior rather than introduce true political change, like what happened in Iraq and Libya.
What if the world succeeded in forcing the Iranian regime to change its behavior and end its aggression? Or have it changed conclusively?
There is no doubt that the region’s prospects at lasting and comprehensive peace would be greater. The main artery pumping funds, hosting and exporting chaos and terrorism throughout decades will be cut off. It could be that the Middle East will live out its first chance in its modern history without any unrest.
Most of the chaos witnessed today is either directly or indirectly linked to Iran, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, Iraq’s extremist militias, Houthis in Yemen, and other Iran-aligned groups in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bahrain.
Regional and international powers must first unanimously identify Iran’s regime as the leading source of regional chaos and war. Subsequently, it is imperative to note that dealing with the headspring of evil takes precedence over vainly chasing off Tehran proxies.
A major component of the clerical regime’s success is the effective exploitation of regional disputes to its benefits—at some instances claiming to defend Islamic causes and at others backing “humanitarian” issues. Iran has repeatedly failed to justify its aggressions and earned its title as the most hated state by the people.
Tehran is still playing on the chords of international conflict in the region, allied with Russia, as well as extorting China.
Fortunately, regional states are aware and familiar with the problem at hand. They do not wish to resurrect the spheres of influence scenario.
Regional countries are saving no effort in trying to persuade Moscow not to be dragged behind the Tehran regime into a game of brutal geopolitics outlined by influence and conflicts of interests. A multi-axis political atmosphere would pit Washington and Gulf states against a Moscow allied with Iran.
Should Moscow be persuaded, axes that would inevitably spin out of control will be overcome and Iranian hostility put to an end.
Without alliances, Tehran’s futile play, which only harmed Iranian people and the people of the region, will be put to rest.

The Crisis of Western Civ
David Brooks/The New York Times/April 25/17
Between 1935 and 1975, Will and Ariel Durant published a series of volumes that together were known as “The Story of Civilization.” They basically told human history (mostly Western history) as an accumulation of great ideas and innovations, from the Egyptians, through Athens, Magna Carta, the Age of Faith, the Renaissance and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. The series was phenomenally successful, selling over two million copies.
That series encapsulated the Western civilization narrative that people, at least in Europe and North America, used for most of the past few centuries to explain their place in the world and in time. This narrative was confidently progressive. There were certain great figures, like Socrates, Erasmus, Montesquieu and Rousseau, who helped fitfully propel the nations to higher reaches of the humanistic ideal.
This Western civ narrative came with certain values — about the importance of reasoned discourse, the importance of property rights, the need for a public square that was religiously informed but not theocratically dominated. It set a standard for what great statesmanship looked like. It gave diverse people a sense of shared mission and a common vocabulary, set a framework within which political argument could happen and most important provided a set of common goals.
Starting decades ago, many people, especially in the universities, lost faith in the Western civilization narrative. They stopped teaching it, and the great cultural transmission belt broke. Now many students, if they encounter it, are taught that Western civilization is a history of oppression.
It’s amazing what far-reaching effects this has had. It is as if a prevailing wind, which powered all the ships at sea, had suddenly ceased to blow. Now various scattered enemies of those Western values have emerged, and there is apparently nobody to defend them.
The first consequence has been the rise of the illiberals, authoritarians who not only don’t believe in the democratic values of the Western civilization narrative, but don’t even pretend to believe in them, as former dictators did.
Over the past few years especially, we have entered the age of strong men. We are leaving the age of Obama, Cameron and Merkel and entering the age of Putin, Erdogan, el-Sisi, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump.
The events last week in Turkey were just another part of the trend. Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismantles democratic institutions and replaces them with majoritarian dictatorship. Turkey seems to have lost its desire to join the European idea, which no longer has magnetism and allure. Turkey seems to have lost its aspiration to join the community of democracies because that’s no longer the inevitable future.
More and more governments, including the Trump administration, begin to look like premodern mafia states, run by family-based commercial clans. Meanwhile, institutionalized, party-based authoritarian regimes, like in China or Russia, are turning into premodern cults of personality/Maximum Leader regimes, which are far more unstable and dangerous.
Then there has been the collapse of the center. For decades, center-left and center-right parties clustered around similar versions of democratic capitalism that Western civilization seemed to point to. But many of those centrist parties, like the British and Dutch Labor Parties, are in near collapse. Fringe parties rise.
In France, the hard-right Marine Le Pen and the hard-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon could be the final two candidates in the presidential runoff. Le Pen has antiliberal views about national purity. Mélenchon is a supposedly democratic politician who models himself on Hugo Chávez.
If those two end up in the finals, then the European Union and NATO, the two great liberal institutions of modern Europe, will go into immediate crisis.
Finally, there has been the collapse of liberal values at home. On American campuses, fragile thugs who call themselves students shout down and abuse speakers on a weekly basis. To read Heather MacDonald’s account of being pilloried at Claremont McKenna College is to enter a world of chilling intolerance.
In America, the basic fabric of civic self-government seems to be eroding following the loss of faith in democratic ideals. According to a study published in The Journal of Democracy, the share of young Americans who say it is absolutely important to live in a democratic country has dropped from 91 percent in the 1930s to 57 percent today.
While running for office, Donald Trump violated every norm of statesmanship built up over these many centuries, and it turned out many people didn’t notice or didn’t care.
The faith in the West collapsed from within. It’s amazing how slow people have been to rise to defend it.
There have been a few lonely voices. Andrew Michta laments the loss of Western confidence in an essay in The American Interest. Edward Luce offers a response in his forthcoming book “The Retreat of Western Liberalism.” But liberalism has been docile in defense of itself.
These days, the whole idea of Western civ is assumed to be reactionary and oppressive. All I can say is, if you think that was reactionary and oppressive, wait until you get a load of the world that comes after it.

The Foregone Conclusion of Britain’s Election
Kenan Malik/Asharq Al Awsat/April 25/17
This, as we keep discovering, is an era of unexpected electoral results. Tuesday’s decision by Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May, to call a general election for June 8 was certainly unexpected. In an age in which few secrets remain secret, no journalist or politician seemed to have had an inkling about the announcement until it was made. But even in the era of the unexpected, it is difficult to see any result other than a solid Conservative Party victory, returning Mrs. May to Downing Street confirmed as prime minister.
The real question the June election will raise is not which party will form the next British government, but which party takes on the mantle of opposition?
There is certainly widespread disaffection with the Conservative government’s policies, from its cack-handed approach to Brexit negotiations to resentment over continuing cuts in public spending. Yet, disaffection with the opposition and, in particular, with the Labor Party, is far starker.
Labor is in disarray. It recently lost a parliamentary by-election in a traditionally rock-solid seat, has plummeted in opinion polls and is convulsed with infighting. A poll taken after Mrs. May’s election announcement showed a 21 percentage-point lead for the Conservatives over Labor. To put that in perspective, when Margaret Thatcher trounced Michael Foot in the 1983 election, seen as a nadir for Labor, she enjoyed a not quite 15-point lead.
Many see the Labor’s problems as deriving primarily from its leader, left-winger Jeremy Corbyn. Mr. Corbyn has been markedly ineffectual as leader, unable to enthuse even his core supporters. A recent poll suggested that fewer than 40 percent of Labor voters think he would make a better prime minister than Mrs. May.
One Labor member of Parliament, John Woodcock, told his constituents, “I will not countenance ever voting to make Jeremy Corbyn Britain’s prime minister.” When the party’s own lawmakers can’t face the idea of their leader as prime minister, it is difficult to know why anyone should vote Labor.
Labor’s crisis runs deeper, though, than its leader. It no longer knows what kind of party it is, or whom it seeks to represent. So it has been unable to take a stand on the big issues of the day, most notably Brexit. Fearful of losing its residual working-class base, the party shrank from full-hearted backing of the Remain campaign. Neither, though, can Labor — anxious not to alienate middle-class, urban voters — truly embrace Brexit.
The result has been an irresolution that has leached support from both constituencies. Labor’s vacillation over Brexit has led many middle-class liberals to switch to the Liberal Democrats, or simply drift away. Tony Blair has already called on voters to support anti-Brexit candidates, irrespective of party affiliation. There are reports that Labor’s former leader may campaign on this platform with the Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron.
Decimated in the 2015 election, after its unhappy phase as the junior partner in a coalition government with David Cameron’s Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats have now repositioned themselves as the party of Europe. Making a play to win the support of the Remain voters who still feel resentful about the result of last year’s referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union, it is calling for a second referendum at the end of the Brexit negotiations.
The Liberal Democrats may recoup some lost seats in Parliament, but its electoral appeal is too narrow for it to form a serious opposition. It would be triumph for the Liberal Democrats if they won back even 50 seats at the coming election.
As for the UK Independence Party, the Brexit vote has deprived it of a raison d’être. Since the referendum, the party has imploded in a vicious civil war. It currently has no representatives in Parliament, and is unlikely to have any after the June election either.
In Scotland, the governing party is the Scottish National Party. At the last general election, it won an extraordinary 56 out of 59 seats, leaving Labor, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives each with a single seat.
The party’s leader and Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has tried to exploit the Brexit result to push for another referendum on Scottish independence, pointing out that a majority of Scots voted to remain in the European Union. Mrs. May has insisted that any referendum, if there is to be one, can only take place after Brexit negotiations are completed, and Britain has left the union. This conflict will cast a shadow over the coming election, but there is little evidence of much appetite among Scots either for a new referendum or for independence itself.
Given their extravagant success at the last election, it would not be surprising if the nationalists lost a few constituencies this time. As in England and Wales, though, the real battle will be not over who governs, but who, among a depleted opposition, can make the most of whatever political scraps remain.
Again, Labor is likely to fare worst. Twenty years ago, the party seemed unassailable in Scotland. Even as late as 2010, it held 41 out of Scotland’s 59 constituencies in the Westminster Parliament. After June 8, Labor may be left with not one.
This could, and should, have been a vital election, the focus for a great debate about the kind of post-Brexit Britain people want, a fierce contest over issues from austerity to immigration. But the void where an opposition should be means that little of substance will be debated.
To be sure, there will be shouting matches over Brexit, and many will try to use this election to rerun last year’s referendum. But after June 8, a Conservative government will enter into negotiations with the European Union with its policy and strategy barely tested in public.
Britain’s surprise general election comes amid a series of highly charged and unpredictable national votes — from the Brexit vote and American election last year, to the Dutch general election and the Turkish referendum this spring, and with the first round of the French presidential election, before the German federal elections in September.
All such democratic soundings should provide an important platform for public debate and a vital gauge of the popular will. A pity, then, if Britain’s election becomes the one that matters least.

How to Defuse the Crisis with North Korea
Joel S. Wit/The New York Times/April 25/17
WASHINGTON — I have been meeting with North Korean government officials for over two decades, first for almost 10 years as part of my job at the State Department, and then as a researcher working at universities and think tanks. This experience has made me familiar with the North Koreans’ views on safeguarding their country’s security. I believe that President Trump is making a big mistake if he thinks that the threat of a military strike and escalating sanctions will persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.
Following a two-month review, the Trump administration has moved to implement a policy that emphasizes pressure — including the threat of military force and new sanctions against North Korea, as well as new restrictions intended to punish Chinese businesses with ties to Pyongyang. While the theory is that doing so will persuade North Korea to stop its provocative behavior, return to negotiations and give up its nuclear weapons, it won’t work that way. These threats will make the North Korean government only more likely to dig in its heels and move forward with its nuclear and missile programs, embroiling the United States in a festering crisis on the Korean Peninsula that could escalate out of control.
For more than 60 years, North Korea has successfully resisted not only pressure from great powers, mainly the United States, but also attempts at manipulation by its patrons, the Soviet Union and China. This reflects a strong nationalism but also a principle dear to the North Koreans: that as a small country in a life-or-death confrontation with the world’s most powerful nation, any display of weakness would amount to national suicide.
A longstanding, deeply ingrained view in Pyongyang is that Washington’s real agenda is to get rid of the North Korean regime because of the military threat it poses to American allies like South Korea and Japan, its widespread human rights violations and now its nuclear arsenal.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson tried to reassure the North during his visit to Tokyo last month, saying, “North Korea and its people need not fear the United States or their neighbors in the region who seek only to live in peace with North Korea.” But Vice President Mike Pence’s assertion in Seoul this week that the United States seeks to end repression in North Korea, when viewed from Pyongyang, clearly translates into a policy of regime change.
Threats like these reinforce a view in Pyongyang that North Korea needs nuclear weapons to shield it against a much larger, much more powerful country. That’s a message I have heard repeatedly from the North Koreans, most recently in a private meeting I attended with government officials who stated that their country would not have developed nuclear weapons if it did not see the United States as a threat or had not been subjected to American and South Korean provocations. American actions in other countries — whether backing regime change in Libya or launching airstrikes against Syria for its use of chemical weapons — strengthen that view.
The Trump administration may also be mistaken if it believes that China will rein in North Korea. President Trump’s effort to establish cooperation with China, combined with the threat of American military action against the North, seems to be yielding some results, as China recently threatened to impose new sanctions on North Korea. But how far will China go?
There are legitimate concerns in Beijing that too much economic pressure on North Korea will trigger dangerous instability there. Moreover, the North Koreans are just as likely to resist Chinese strong-arm tactics as they are American pressure. Attempts by China to send top-ranking diplomats to Pyongyang over the past week were reportedly rejected out of hand by North Korea. Most observers forget that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal is aimed at China as well as the United States and its allies.
In the weeks ahead, the combination of underestimating North Korean intransigence and overestimating China’s influence will expose the Trump administration’s inability to stop North Korea’s nuclear program and could escalate tensions. Pyongyang’s bellicose statements threatening thermonuclear war, the display of new missiles at a parade this past weekend and the failed test on Sunday of a missile able to reach targets in Northeast Asia could be North Korea’s opening moves.
If the Trump administration’s current course continues, it will lead to a dead end. Pyongyang will push forward with its nuclear and missile programs, American threats will ring increasingly hollow if force is not exercised because of the very real risks of triggering a North Korean military response against South Korea and Japan, and Beijing’s support will soften as it looks for a way out of the tensions. As a result, the administration will end up trapped in a policy no-man’s land, its only options to retreat back to the Obama administration’s failed policy of “strategic patience” (without, of course, saying so) or doubling down on sanctions aimed at China and deploying more missile defense and forces to the region.
Time is not on President Trump’s side. The administration should seriously consider pivoting away from pressure to soon resuming dialogue with North Korea. In fact, the United States government should already be quietly talking to the North Koreans, either through contacts with Pyongyang’s United Nations mission or elsewhere, emphasizing Washington’s resolve to defend American interests and making clear that the United States does not have hostile intentions toward North Korea. The Americans should also make clear that they want to explore peaceful paths forward.
The next step for the administration should be to initiate “talks about talks,” allowing both sides to raise their concerns — in the case of the United States, North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. If common ground is found — and if the North is willing to address the objective of eventually achieving a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula — the two would then move on to the resumption of formal negotiations.
There are no guarantees that this approach will work. But the Trump administration’s constant refrain that “all options are on the table” should mean just that — not only a military strike but also a diplomatic offensive. In doing so, President Trump would avoid the policy quagmire just over the horizon, strengthen cooperation with China and give Pyongyang a face-saving way out of the current confrontation before it’s too late.

Open Letter to National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster
'Radical Islamic Terrorism' is Accurate and 'Helpful'
A. Z. Mohamed/Gatestone Institute/April 25/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10227/mcmaster-open-letter
In other words, as al-Kalbani has confirmed -- and contrary to what McMaster has been telling his staff and his commander-in-chief, President Trump -- Muslim terrorists are Islamic, and the term "radical Islamic terrorism" is apt, accurate and extremely "helpful."
During his first "all hands" staff meeting on February 23, President Donald Trump's new national security adviser, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, called terrorism "un-Islamic" and the term "radical Islamic terrorism" not helpful.
Prior to the meeting, retired U.S. Army Col. Peter Mansoor told Fox News that McMaster, with whom he served in Iraq during the 2007 surge of American troops, "absolutely does not view Islam as the enemy... and will present a degree of pushback against the theories being propounded in the White House that this is a clash of civilizations and needs to be treated as such."
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, President Trump's National Security Adviser. (Image source: Center for Strategic and International Studies)
Let us put McMaster's premise -- which is antithetical not only to that of his predecessor, Michael Flynn, but to Trump himself and many of his senior advisers -- to the test.
Less than three years ago, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al ash-Sheikh -- a grandchild of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, the 18th-century founder of the Saudi school of Islam called Wahhabism -- said, in an August 19, 2014 statement, that Islamic State (ISIS), and al-Qaeda, are Islam's "enemy number one."
This would be a good sign, if not for the fact that four days earlier, Sheikh Adil al-Kalbani, a former imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca and a Salafi (a strict sect of Sunni Islam advocating a return to the early Islam of the Quran), tweeted: "ISIS is a true product of Salafism and we must deal with it with full transparency."Later that month, al-Kalbani published two pieces in the Saudi government-aligned daily Al Riyadh -- on August 24 and 31 -- criticizing elements "in the Salafi stream for appropriating the truth and Islam and for permitting the killing of their opponents, and... clerics and society that dared not come out against them."This was a bold assertion on the part of al-Kalbani: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is based on Wahhabism, a form of Salafism embraced by the monarchy.
In January 2016, al-Kalbani gave an interview to the Saudi-owned, Dubai-based network, MBC, in which he acknowledged with regret, "We follow the same thought [as ISIS], but apply it in a refined way." He added that ISIS "draws its ideas from what is written in our own books, from our own principles." (Author's emphasis)
McMaster should have been listening.
In the BBC World Service podcast "The Inquiry" (December 2015) -- on a program called "Is Saudi Arabia to blame for IS?" -- Professor Bernard Haykel, director of the Institute for Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia at Princeton University, said: "The Islamic State's religious genealogy comes from 'Jihadi Salafism,' a theological current that is very old in Islam that is quite literalist." Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab's well-known short books, he added, "are used by ISIS today."
Indeed, until ISIS began producing its own textbooks in 2014, the terrorist organization relied on official Saudi ones. In addition, many fatwas (Islamic legal decrees) issued by senior Saudi clerics are markedly similar to those issued by ISIS and other terrorist organizations. As recently as February 2017, in fact -- in a lesson aired on Saudi regime-aligned Ahwaz TV -- Sheikh Ayman Al-Anqari cited various hadiths (a collection of the Prophet Mohamed's sayings) supporting his fatwa that "coexistence in the sense of freedom of religion... is null and void." He also advocated offensive jihad and death as a punishment for apostates. It should be noted that Al-Anqari is a professor in the Aqidah (Islamic Faith) and Current Doctrines department in the College of Sharia and Islamic Studies at Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh.
In other words, as al-Kalbani has confirmed -- and contrary to what McMaster has been telling his staff and his commander-in-chief, President Trump -- Muslim terrorists are Islamic, and the term "radical Islamic terrorism" is apt, accurate and extremely "helpful."
** A. Z. Mohamed is a Muslim born and raised in the Middle East.
© 2017 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.

Hamas: The New Charter That Isn't
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/April 25/17
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10213/hamas-new-charter
It is worthwhile to note that, contrary to what is being published in many media outlets, Hamas is NOT changing its Charter, which explicitly calls for the elimination of Israel.
The document goes on to clarify that even if Hamas accepts a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines, "this would not mean recognition of the Zionist entity or giving up any of the Palestinian rights."
Hamas and the PLO now have crucial common ground: sweet-talk the Western donors while laying stealthy plans to destroy Israel.
Yasser Arafat may have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, but his PLO officials and he really deserve the prize for the art of deception. For decades now, the PLO has spearheaded one of history's biggest scams, and now it seems that Hamas, the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood movement, is about to join the bandwagon.
According to unconfirmed reports in the Arab media, Hamas is about to publish a "political document" in which it "accepts" the "two-state solution." The purported document is already being hailed by some Western and Israeli analysts and Hamas apologists as a sign of the radical Islamic movement's march toward moderation and pragmatism.
It is worthwhile to note that, contrary to what is being published in many media outlets, Hamas is NOT changing its Charter, which explicitly calls for the elimination of Israel. The new Hamas document is intended for outside consumption and is directed to the ears and eyes of Americans and Europeans only. The original Hamas Charter in Arabic will remain in effect even after the new document is made public and seemingly official. In fact, it does not have to do that. The New Charter, while mouthing all sorts of human rights bromides over which Westerners and the media can be counted upon to swoon, such as:
"Hamas believes that the message of Islam came with morals of justice, truth, dignity and freedom, and is against injustice in all its shapes, and criminalizes the criminals whatever their sex, color, religion or nationality," and so on. (New Hamas Charter, Article 9).
It is, nevertheless, the same Old Hamas Charter as before. It does not even bother to renounce jihad as an acceptable means of "resistance." This is Hamas talking in code; pursuing "resistance" against Israel means: We plan to continue launching terror attacks against Israel.
"Hamas confirms that no peace in Palestine should be agreed on, based on injustice to the Palestinians or their land. Any arrangements based on that will not lead to peace, and the resistance and Jihad will remain as a legal right, a project and an honor for all our nations' people." (New Hamas Charter, Article 21)
The PLO bluff began with the signing of the Oslo Accords with Israel in 1993, and reached its peak three years later, when PLO leaders managed to convince President Bill Clinton and the international community, including many Israelis, that they had changed the PLO Charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel. The truth, however, is a far cry from that.
Back in 1996, the PLO's parliament-in-exile, the Palestine National Council (PNC), held a session in Gaza City where its members decided to "entrust a legal committee with re-formulating the Palestinian Charter."
No one knows if the committee made any of the proposed changes. It is also unclear whether two-thirds of the PNC members (the required majority) actually voted in favor of changing the PLO Charter.
To this day, some Palestinians maintain that the charter was never officially amended or revoked -- and it certainly was not ratified -- and that the whole performance was a lie to mislead the international community and Israel into believing that the Palestinians had abandoned their dream of destroying Israel through "armed struggle."
The PLO Charter question, like the PLO's pledge to work towards a two-state solution, is murky. What is clear is that many in the international community swallowed the scam and began to believe that Arafat and his cohorts were finally leading their people toward real peace, beginning with recognition of Israel's right to exist.
A glance at PLO actions over the past two decades will show that this tiger has certainly not changed its stripes. Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, the PLO and its leaders, first Arafat and now Mahmoud Abbas, have consistently and stubbornly rejected all Israeli peace offers, some of which were exorbitantly generous.
The PLO and many other Palestinians have one thing in mind: to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel in order to use it in the future as a launching pad from which to destroy Israel.
This desire to replace Israel with a Palestinian state is why no Palestinian leader will ever sign a document ending the conflict with Israel -- no matter what he is offered. No Palestinian leader is even authorized to pledge an end to Palestinian demands, even if he is given all the territories held by Israel since the 1967 Six Day War. Anyone could justifiably come along later -- after land had irreversibly changed hands -- and ask by what right Mahmoud Abbas, a leader in the twelfth year of a five-year term, had any legal authority to agree to anything. That question would -- and should – invalidate any agreement overnight.
Abbas has shown for the past decade that his true goal is to undermine, delegitimize and isolate Israel; not to make peace with it. Abbas is prepared to accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (as well as East Jerusalem) only because he sees this solution as part of the "phased plan" to eliminate Israel. The PLO Charter, which was ostensibly changed, is still living in the minds and hearts of Abbas and many Palestinians.
We have been here before, but the minuet partner has changed.
After two decades, Hamas has finally woken up to the power of lies. Its leaders are mouthing just what the international community wishes to hear -- in exchange for legitimacy, recognition and money. Like the PLO, Hamas has learned that in this instance, words are more important than actions. Utter the words: "We accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 boundaries" and you will find the world at your doorstep.
After two decades, Hamas has finally woken up to the power of lies. Like the PLO, Hamas has learned that in this instance, words are more important than actions. Pictured: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (right) shakes hands with Hamas's leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, during negotiations in 2007 for a short-lived unity government. (Image source: Palestinian Press Office)
The new document leaves no room for doubt that Hamas continues to seek the destruction of Israel despite its alleged acceptance of a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines. Hamas "will not give up any part of the land of Palestine regardless of the reasons, circumstances and pressure," the document reads, according to the Arab media reports. "Hamas rejects any alternative to the liberation of Palestine in its entirety, from the river to the sea."
The document goes on to clarify that even if Hamas accepts a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines, "this would not mean recognition of the Zionist entity or giving up any of the Palestinian rights." The new document repeats Hamas's commitment to the "armed struggle" against Israel:
"Resisting the occupation, with all methods and means, is a right that is guaranteed by international laws. At the heart of this is the armed resistance, which is considered the strategic choice to defend our people and restore their rights."
In yet more signs of Hamas's purported "moderation," the document re-emphasizes the movement's "absolute rejection" of the Oslo Accords, signed in 1993 between Israel and the PLO. In addition, the document affirms Hamas's commitment to work towards flooding Israel with millions of Palestinian "refugees" through the so-called right of return. In theory, Palestinians should be directed toward a State of Palestine: that is what it is purportedly being created for. "Palestine is an Arab and Islamic land; it is a blessed and sacred land that occupies a special place in the heart of all Arabs and Muslims," the new document stresses.
But, no, the Palestinians apparently want to have their marbles and Israel's marbles.
The talk about Hamas accepting the two-state solution is nothing but a bluff. Hamas itself is saying that it will accept a Palestinian state on the 1967-lines but without recognizing Israel's right to exist. In other words, Hamas is telling Israel, "Hand me a state on your doorstep so that I can better position myself to destroy you." With moderates like that, who needs extremists?
New document or not, Hamas will continue to launch rockets and perpetrate other terror attacks to kill Jews. The "pragmatism" of the "new Hamas" lies in its amplified ability to fool the West.
Not everyone, however, is fooled. Hamas is using old PLO tricks to achieve current ends: double talk, conflicting messages, some in English, some in Arabic. They fill their people's minds with anti-Israel venom while sending love notes to the international community. Hey, it worked for the PLO, so why not for Hamas?
Valentine's Day has come and gone, but Hamas and the PLO now have crucial common ground: sweet-talk the Western donors while laying stealthy plans to destroy Israel.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab scholar based in the Middle East.
© 2017 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.