LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 05/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias
Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the
lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/newselias18/english.march05.18.htm
News Bulletin Achieves Since
2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006
Bible
Quotations
Importance Of Praying For Others
James 5/13-20/Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let
him sing praises. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the
assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of
the Lord, and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord
will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess
your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be
healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it
might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six
months. He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth
its fruit. Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth, and someone
turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of
his way will save a soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.
Titles
For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on March 04-05/18
The Lost Son Parable and Repentance/Elias Bejjani/March 04/18
What the Unspoken in ‘The Insult’ Says About Lebanon’s Politics/Karim Emile
Bitar/New York Times/March 04/18
Botched response to Daesh paves way for its expansion/Baria Alamuddin/Arab
News/March 04/18
Top rabbi praises ‘refreshing’ Saudi remarks on ‘horrors of Holocaust’/Eman
El-Shenawi Al Arabiya/March 04/18
How Iran deal aided the regime’s bid for hegemonic control/Tony Duheaume
Special to Al Arabiya English/March 04/18
Titles For Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on
March 04-05/18
The Lost Son Parable and Repentance
Aoun calls on authorities to protect migratory birds
Lebanese official arrested for framing actor as Israeli agent
Hariri leaves Saudi Arabia after meeting with Saudi King, Crown Prince
Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi: We cannot continue with
martyrdom while officials remain indifferent, solely caring about their
narrow interests
Bassil Says No One Can Forbid 'Partnership' in Zgharta
Saudis Tell Hariri Will Attend Lebanon Support Conferences
Bassil says FPM keen on maintaining relations regardless of election results
Saudis Tell Hariri Will Attend Lebanon Support Conferences
Bassil says FPM keen on maintaining relations regardless of election results
MP Suleiman Franjieh Lashes Out at Bassil, FPM
MP Suleiman Franjieh: We are open to others, but refuse to have our presence
cancelled
Kanaan Says FPM Not Seeking to 'Isolate' LF
Kanaan says international conferences' success is ensured by boosting
confidence in Lebanon, not by raising the tone
Bou Assi: We cannot relax since the elections outcome is not guaranteed with
the new law
Bassil from Qartaba: We respect the representation of others in their
regions
Iraq's Ambassador calls on displaced Iraqis to return voluntarily to their
country
Batroun Women's Association, chaired by Laure Sleiman, launches its first
annual conference
Hankache: We Count on People's Conscience on May 6
Saade: Kataeb Party Is Against Win-Loss Settlements
Dagher: Current Ruling Class Is the Most Impertinent in Lebanon's History
Mira Wakim Urges Accountability on May 6
What the Unspoken in ‘The Insult’ Says About Lebanon’s Politics
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And
News published on March 04-05/18
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman landed Started an official Visit To
Egypt
Egypt conducts first ever air strikes in the Nile Delta against terrorist
targets
Egypt: 10 terrorists eliminated while four armed forces killed in Sinai
Syria's Assad says the humanitarian situation that the West talks about is a
'ridiculous lie'
France tells Iran risks sanctions if ballistic missile issue not handled
Rescue teams recover black boxes at site of Iran plane crash
Netanyahu to talk with Trump about attending Jerusalem embassy opening
Syrians flee government advances in eastern Ghouta
Netanyahu to Talk with Trump about Attending Embassy Opening
Netanyahu Opposes Early Polls as Graft Probes Intensify
Syria Regime Retakes Quarter of Rebel Enclave as Civilians Flee
Italy Votes in Uncertain Election Stalked by Populism
Macron Urges Tehran to 'Pressure' Syria to Halt E. Ghouta Offensive
Trump and May Blame Russia, Syria for E. Ghouta Suffering
Latest Lebanese Related News published
on March 04-05/18
The Lost Son Parable
and Repentance
Elias Bejjani
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/37357
Lent is a prime time for spiritual change through genuine praying, serious
and in depth self-examination, return to the roots of faith, repentance and
forgiveness.
Almighty God is ready and always willing to turn everything around and take
the hands of those who seriously and honestly pursue His mercy with
perseverance forgiveness and repentance. He, with love and extreme happiness
leads their steps towards all virtues of righteousness. He who in the Cana
Wedding changed the water into wine and cleaned the Leper is willing all the
time also to transform our minds and consciences from wickedness to goodness
and salvation if and when we call for His help.
In our Maronite Catholic Church’s rite, on the Fourth Lent Sunday we recall
and cite the biblical Lost Son’s parable that is known also as The Prodigal
Son. This impulsive, selfish and thoughtless son, as the parable tells us,
fell prey to evil’s temptation and decided to take his share of his father’s
inheritance and leave the parental dwelling.
He travelled to a far-away city where he indulged badly in all evil conducts
of pleasure and corruption until he lost all his money and became penniless.
He experienced severe poverty, starvation, humiliation and loneliness. In
the midst of his dire hardships he felt nostalgic, came back to his senses
and decided with great self confidence to return back to his father’s house,
kneel on his feet and ask him for forgiveness. On his return his loving and
kind father received him with rejoice, open arms, accepted his repentance,
and happily forgave him all his misdeeds. Because of his sincere repentance
his Father gave him back all his privileges as a son.
The Lost (prodigal) Son’s parable: Luke15/11-32: He said, “A certain man had
two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share
of your property.’ He divided his livelihood between them. Not many days
after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far
country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. When he had spent
all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be
in need. He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country,
and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He wanted to fill his belly
with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. 15:17 But when he
came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread
enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! I will get up and go to my
father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in
your sight. I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of
your hired servants .”’ “He arose, and came to his father. But while he was
still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran,
and fell on his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have
sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called
your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe,
and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. Bring the
fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat, and celebrate; for this, my son, was
dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ They began to
celebrate. “Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the
house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the servants to him, and
asked what was going on. He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your
father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe
and healthy.’ But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father
came out, and begged him. But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many
years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but
you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 15:30 But
when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes,
you killed the fattened calf for him.’ “He said to him, ‘Son, you are always
with me, and all that is mine is yours. But it was appropriate to celebrate
and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was
lost, and is found.
This parable is a road map for repentance and forgiveness. It shows us how
much Almighty God our Father loves us, we His children and how He is always
ready with open arms and willing to forgive our sins and trespasses when we
come back to our senses, recognize right from wrong, admit our weaknesses
and wrongdoings, eagerly and freely return to Him and with faith and
repentance ask for His forgiveness.
Asking Almighty God for what ever we need is exactly what the Holy Bible
instructs us to do when encountering all kinds of doubt, weaknesses,
stumbling, hard times, sickness, loneliness, persecution, injustice etc.
Matthew 7/7&8: “Ask, and it will be given
you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For
everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be
opened” All what we have to do is pray and to ask Him with faith, self
confidence and humility and He will respond. Matthew 21/22: “All things,
whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
We are not left alone at any time, especially when in trouble, no matter how
far we distance ourselves from God and disobey His Holy bible. He is a
Father, a loving, caring and forgiving Father. What is definite is that in
spite of our foolishness, stupidity, ignorance, defiance and ingratitude He
never ever abandons us or gives up on our salvation. He loves us because we
His are children. He happily sent His only begotten son to be tortured,
humiliated and crucified in a bid to absolve our original sin.
God carries our burdens and helps us to fight all kinds of Evil temptations.
Matthew11/28-30: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am
gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my
yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
God is waiting for our repentance, let us run to Him and ask for forgiveness
before it is too late
Aoun calls on
authorities to protect migratory birds
The Daily Star/ March 04/18/BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun Sunday called on
Lebanese authorities to take measures to prevent hunters in the country from
shooting migratory birds, as thousands of birds cross through Lebanon’s
skies this spring. Aoun, as reported by a statement from his press office,
called on authorities “to make Lebanon a safe passage for migratory birds
that are protected from hunting.” He added, “All of humanity is working to
protect [migratory birds] because they represent a global wealth that nobody
owns, because it belongs to everyone.” Lebanon is a vital migratory passage
for millions of birds. While a new law regulating hunting that passed in
2017 stipulates hunting season dates and sets out which bird species – and
how many of each per season – can be shot, the enforcement of the law
remains weak and violation is widespread. Aoun’s comments came less than a
fortnight after a group of 52 Lebanese and international environmental NGOs
and bird advocacy groups released a joint letter calling on the president to
enforce Lebanon’s hunting laws ahead of spring bird migration. Around 2.6
million birds from roughly 327 species are estimated to be killed in Lebanon
each year, the letter noted, hampering global conservation efforts.
Lebanon’s hunting season ended at the end of January, though this has not
dissuaded hunters. “We are deeply worried for the safety of the birds whose
return to Europe we so eagerly await,” the letter read, explaining that the
vast majority of birds in the eastern Africa-Eurasia region take migration
routes over Lebanon. Images of birds shot down by Lebanese hunters have
already been circulating on social media, including pictures of dead storks.
Lebanese official arrested for framing actor as Israeli
agent
Ynetnews/March 04/18/Lebanese actor, director Ziad Itani, arrested in
November, accused of spying for Israel was victim of framing by former cyber
security official, Susan Hajj Hobeiche who hired hacker to forge
conversations between Itani and Israeli agent. Lebanese actor and director
Ziad Itani was arrested in November on accusations of cooperating with and
spying for Israel. It is now evident that Itani fell victim to a plot
hatched by Major Susan Hajj Hobeiche, the former head of the Lebanese
Anti-Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Bureau who was arrested Friday.
Itani was accused of being recruited by a female Israeli intelligence agent
and that the two exchanged information. According to reports in Lebanon, he
was asked to contact senior Lebanese political officials in order to advance
normalization with Israel. The agent allegedly sent him a list of 29 names
of Lebanese government ministers in order to determine which of them Itani
knew. In addition, it was announced that Itani received between 500 and
1,000 dollars a month for his services and that he admitted to the charges
under questioning. Susan Hajj was arrested on charges that she hired a
hacker to forge the conversations between Itani and the Israeli agent in
order to frame Itani, whom she blames for her ouster from her previous post,
as a spy for Israel. “We all must ask forgiveness from Itani who has never
abandoned his Arab and Beiruti identity for a single day,” said Interior
Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouk on Twitter. “It is not enough to declare his
innocence. He is a patriot and we are proud of him.”
Hariri leaves Saudi Arabia after meeting with Saudi
King, Crown Prince
Sun 04 Mar 2018/NNA - Prime Minister Saad Hariri left Saudi Arabia this
afternoon, concluding a visit to the Kingdom during which he met with Saudi
Monarch Salman bin Abdul-Aziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Deputy-Governor of Riyadh Province, Prince Mohammed bin Abdul-Rahman bin
Abdul-Aziz, and Lebanon's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Fawzi Kabbara, as well
as a representative of the Saudi Royal Protocol were at King Khalid
International Airport to bid PM Hariri a safe return.
Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi: We cannot continue with
martyrdom while officials remain indifferent, solely caring about their
narrow interests
Sun 04 Mar 2018/NNA - Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi
considered Sunday that martyrdom cannot carry on in Lebanon while political
officials remain indifferent and solely concerned with their personal
interests. "The testimony of blood is one of martyrdom's facets: there is a
physical martyrdom...a moral martyrdom... a legal martyrdom...a judicial
martyrdom... a political martyrdom...and an economic martyrdom. Amidst these
forms of martyrdom, political officials cannot remain indifferent, caring
only about their own interests," Rahi said during a Mass service in Bkirki
today.
In the same context, the Patriarch noted that judicial martyrdom "is when
the arrestee is kept without trial and judicial decisions are blocked," in
addition to the "politicization of justice, undermining its confidentiality
and procrastination in the issuance of verdicts."The Prelate also referred
to "political martyrdom", noting that it was exemplified by excluding
officials from public office or by laying charges against them without
allowing them to defend themselves. Rahi finally mentioned the economic
martyrdom of provoking the poverty of the people by depriving them of their
essential rights to housing, education, employment, health and
infrastructure.
Bassil Says No One Can Forbid 'Partnership' in Zgharta
Naharnet/March 04/18/Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil announced
Sunday that the FPM “will return to Zgharta,” the bastion of MP Suleiman
Franjieh’s Marada Movement. “We are the ones who demanded and called for
partnership across Lebanon and we cannot but seek it,” Bassil said during a
meeting in Zgharta. “We will not allow anyone to deny us it, neither in
Zgharta nor in Lebanon,” the FPM chief emphasized. “Lebanon cannot rise
unless it is diverse and pluralistic and any region in Lebanon cannot be
controlled by a certain person or sect,” Bassil went on to say.
Saudis Tell Hariri Will Attend Lebanon Support
Conferences
Naharnet/March 04/18/Saudi officials have assured Prime Minister Saad Hariri
that the kingdom will attend the upcoming international meetings that are
aimed at supporting Lebanon, a media report said. “Hariri’s visit to Saudi
Arabia is part of its keenness on supporting the Lebanese state and its
legitimate institutions as well as Lebanon’s continuation of the policy of
distancing itself from regional conflicts,” official sources in Beirut told
al-Hayat newspaper. “The first outcome of the Saudi initiative towards
Lebanon and Hariri’s visit to Riyadh is the affirmation by the officials
there that Saudi Arabia’s representatives will attend the international
support meetings for Lebanon that will be held in Rome in mid-March and in
Paris on April 6 in addition to the Brussels conference for aiding Syrian
refugees,” the sources added.
Bassil says FPM keen on maintaining relations regardless of election results
Sun 04 Mar 2018/NNA - "The Free Patriotic Movement is keen on preserving
connections regardless of the elections' outcome because elections are a
circumstantial stage, while principles are fixed," Free Patriotic Movement
Head, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, said on Sunday after partaking in a
Mass service in Lassa, Jbeil. Referring to the nature of the village, which
illustrates coexistence and respect for the other, Bassil refused to talk
about "a majority and a minority" in the context of the upcoming elections.
He affirmed that the new electoral law was formulated for the respect of
minorities' rights, since in Lebanon there was no absolute majority. "Living
together in unity reflects the concept of partnership in the country. This
was the basis of the understanding between the Free Patriotic Movement and
Hezbollah, and therefore, this understanding persisted because it was based
on trust, honesty and kindness...and was built on partnership and respect
for the other," Bassil went on. He concluded by saying that "caring for one
another is a duty, away from personal calculations."
MP Suleiman Franjieh Lashes Out at Bassil, FPM
Naharnet/March 04/18/Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh lashed out
Sunday at the Free Patriotic Movement and its chief, Foreign Minister Jebran
Bassil. “He who is claiming to be the head of the biggest Christian party in
Lebanon is struggling to clinch his (parliamentary) seat,” Franjieh said, in
an apparent reference to Bassil. “We have not sought to eliminate the FPM.
To the contrary, they are the ones who tried to eliminate us. Their whole
problem with us is that we exist. They believe that you represent a threat
to them as long as you exist,” the Marada chief charged. “The main problem
is the presence of a person who is trying to eliminate everyone to become
Christians’ only path,” Franjieh added. He stressed that “restoring
(Christian) rights is not about achieving private interests.”“We must deal
with each other ethically and not through the provocative approach that is
of no use,” Franjieh said. Separately, the Marada chief said “a civil state
is the solution,” emphasizing that he is a “secular person.”
MP Suleiman Franjieh: We are open to others, but refuse
to have our presence cancelled
Sun 04 Mar 2018/NNA - Al-Maradah Movement Chief, MP Sleiman Franjieh, said
Sunday that his Movement was open to relations with those who approach it
with modesty, while voicing rejection against any attempt to cancel its
presence. "We have never changed our path ever since the outset of our
march, and we shall never do so," Franjieh asserted during a meeting with
social media activists in Bnishii today. He denied, herein, that the dispute
between supporters of al-Maradah and the Free Patriotic Movement would lead
to an on-ground clash. Referring to the presidential elections, Franjieh
indicated that he did not run for presidency, but was rather offered to be a
presidential candidate. "The most important thing is the victory of our
political line," he added. As for the restoration of Christian rights,
Franjieh said, "The restoration of rights cannot be by ensuring our private
interests, but rather through each side receiving its rights." "We have to
deal with each other in an ethical manner, and not in a provocative way that
leads nowhere," he underlined. "The civil state is the solution, and I am a
secular person," stressed Franjieh, pointing to "the need to form a national
body to abolish political sectarianism in a positive atmosphere, in order to
achieve the desired outcome."In terms of legislation, the MP announced that
the electoral lists in the 3rd constituency of North Lebanon would be ready
soon, while noting that he will be alongside his allies in all other
constituencies.
Kanaan Says FPM Not Seeking to 'Isolate' LF
Naharnet/March 04/18/Change and Reform bloc secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan
reassured Sunday that the Free Patriotic Movement is not part of alleged
attempts to “isolate” the Lebanese Forces. “Electoral negotiations between
the FPM and the LF are still ongoing until the moment in some districts,”
Kanaan said. “LF leader Samir Geagea knows very well that there is no
attempt by the FPM to isolate the LF and his remarks in this regard do no
apply to us,” the lawmaker added.
Kanaan says international conferences' success is ensured by boosting
confidence in Lebanon, not by raising the tone
Sun 04 Mar 2018/NNA - "Change and Reform" Parliamentary Bloc Secretary , MP
Ibrahim Kenaan, said on Sunday that the success of international conferences
is secured by strengthening confidence in Lebanon, and not by raising the
tone to win votes on the eve of the parliamentary elections deadline. In an
interview with "Voice of Lebanon 93.3" Radio Station today, the MP stressed
the need to submit the 2018 draft budget to Parliament, recalling that one
of the international demands was to finalize the annual public budget along
with the necessary reforms. Despite the fact that reform was not easy, yet
Kanaan highlighted the need to launch the required structural reform steps
right away. Kanaan went on to consider that international confidence in
Lebanon has been strengthened during the current presidential mandate,
adding that the country is faced with the chance to be seriously supported
at this stage. Hence, he urged Lebanese officials not to miss such a chance
by unsubstantiated criticism. "Those who raise the tone against corruption
in the legislative context must associate their words with serious action in
Parliament and suggested reforms," Kanaan underscored.
Bou Assi: We cannot relax since the elections outcome
is not guaranteed with the new law
Sun 04 Mar 2018/NNA - Social Affairs Minister Pierre Bou Assi stressed
Sunday that mobilization is necessary until May 6th, since the results of
the parliamentary elections are not guaranteed with the new vote law. "There
can be no politics without identity, a sense of belonging and values, and
our policy as Lebanese Forces holds our identity, our belonging and our
values," said Bou Assi. Running for the Baabda Maronite Seat in the upcoming
parliamentary elections, Bou Assi's words came during an encounter with LF
supporters in the area of Shiah this afternoon. "Shiah is characterized by
kindness and integration, as there is no discrimination between its citizens
and residents...and the people of Shiah have always defended the identity,
principles and values that constitute the nation," he underlined. "The will
of life overcomes everything...The people of Shiah have gone through
difficult conditions, whereby they had to choose between surrendering or
sacrificing so that the nation persists...and they chose sacrifice and won
through their steadfastness for the nation's sake," Bou Assi asserted. He
paid tribute herein to the souls of all fallen martyrs who lost their lives
in the struggle for the homeland. Bou Assi concluded by urging his
supporters "to warn him at any moment they feel he has deviated from his
path and failed to fulfill his national duties," stressing on his
"continuous strive towards harmony in his convictions and transparency in
his relations."
Bassil from Qartaba: We respect the representation of
others in their regions
Sun 04 Mar 2018/NNA - Free Patriotic Movement Head, Foreign Minister Gebran
Bassil, pursued his tour in the villages and towns of Jbeil Casa on Sunday
by visiting Saint Elie's Cathedral in Qartaba this afternoon. Speaking
before the town's dignitaries and political figures who gathered to welcome
his visit, Bassil assured them that his Movement respects the representation
of others in their areas and does not put a hand on their parliamentary
seats. "Any official in any location or position of duty can serve and give
regardless of the area to which he belongs," added Bassil. "Today, we have a
project of a nation that transcends the sects and regions and we are present
in all Lebanese areas," he went on, noting that "the relativity law will
allow us to have more presence in all communities in Lebanon in order to
express our convictions." On the electoral issue, Bassil stressed that "the
constants lie in respecting others everywhere," adding, "there is no
minority, for we are all minorities, and when we address a minority here, we
have to think how it would deal with us there." "Those who approach us as a
minority are doing wrong not onto us but onto Lebanon as a whole, and onto
the Lebanese partnership," deemed Bassil.
Iraq's Ambassador calls on displaced Iraqis to return
voluntarily to their country
Sun 04 Mar 2018/NNA - Iraq's Ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Bandar Al-Amri,
called Sunday on all displaced Iraqis, including Christians, to return
voluntarily to their country since their regions were now secure. In an
interview with Radio Lebanon this morning, the Iraqi diplomat said that his
Embassy, in cooperation with the Lebanese authorities, has managed to ensure
the repatriation of a large number of displaced Iraqis and to settle their
legal status in Lebanon. However, he noted that the number of displaced
Iraqis in Lebanon is not fixed, and hence cannot be determined. Al-Amri
stated that the war in Iraq officially ended when Iraqi Prime Minister
Haidar Al-Abadi announced that his country has crushed terrorism. On the
visit of President Michel Aoun to Baghdad, Al-Amri said, "It has had a great
impact on the development of bilateral relations. We were very pleased with
President Aoun's presence in Baghdad." Commenting on Lebanese companies'
contribution to Iraq's reconstruction, Al-Amri said, "We are very proud of
their participation, and they are among the first companies to invest in
Iraq. We hope for their permanent presence because of the great similarity
we share...They know the working conditions in Iraq and the culture of the
Iraqis very well, which greatly serves to ensure the work's success.""Iraqis
love the Lebanese presence and therefore, Lebanese companies are very
welcome and have a fundamental work position in Iraq," Al-Amri concluded.
Batroun Women's Association, chaired by Laure Sleiman,
launches its first annual conference
Sun 04 Mar 2018/NNA - Batroun Women's Association held Saturday its first
annual conference under the patronage of State Minister for Women's Affairs,
Jean Oghassapian, entitled "Woman in Public Life". Ambassadors of Qatar,
Tunisia and Algeria, MPs Boutros Harb, Fadi Karam and Samer Saadé and other
personalities attended the conference. Taking the word, Minister Oghassapian
said that excluding women from parliament was a loss for the House and
Lebanon. "If we want to develop our society we need to overcome the
mentality of discrimination between men and women," he added. The minister
deemed that posts are currently given to competent persons, according to the
rule of the gender equality. In turn, President of the Batroun Women's
Association, Laure Sleiman, affirmed that women were able to harmonize
between their family duties and other functions in all circumstances… A fact
that makes them able to assume responsibility for command posts and power,
bypassing all the shackles and illusions inherited from the ages of
decadence. "The women are able to prove that the standards of success are
talent, science and a strong will. By this, we affirm that we must provide
women with the opportunity to prove themselves, while protecting them and
the values they advocate which serves to ensure their dignified life so that
they assume their role as active members in building the society," Sleiman
added. Sleiman asserted that caring for women and consolidating their role
in society was everyone's responsibility. "The goal of our Association is
not political: it is rather a cultural, social and religious development in
the parish of Batroun, and the consolidation of women's role in this
region," Sleiman concluded.
Hankache: We Count on People's Conscience on May 6
Kataeb.org/Sunday 04th March 2018/Kataeb politburo member and candidate for
the Maronite seat in the Metn district, Elias Hankache, on Sunday assured
that the results of the upcoming parliamentary elections are not guaranteed
as in previous years, pinning hopes on the voters' conscience on May 6. “We
are counting on the citizens’ conscience when casting their ballots because
it would be unacceptable to re-elect the same political class, which has
been in power for the past 30 years, and beg it again for our rights,”
Hankache said in an interview on Voice of Lebanon radio station. Commenting
on Ziad Itani’s case, Hankache deemed what happened as scandalous and
shameful, blasting the justifications made by the relevant official as
impertinent and brazen. “None of the state officials has come out to claim
responsibility for what happened and resign, after the man’s reputation was
bashed in the worst way by accusing him of high treason and conspiracy,”
Hankache added. The Kataeb candidate blasted the ruling authority for making
the Lebanese choose between staying surrounded by waste and dumping it the
sea, as well as between accepting the power barges deal and keeping the
blackouts problem unresolved.
Saade: Kataeb Party Is Against Win-Loss Settlements
Kataeb.org/Sunday 04th March 2018/Kataeb MP Samer Saade on Sunday said that
it was normal that he runs for the Maronite seat in the Batroun district
this time given that it is his hometown, deploring the fact that the
parliamentary polls have become a means to boost one's gains away from
political convictions. Speaking via Radio Liban, Saade said that the
elections are now fought based on the win-loss calculations instead of a
political vision and platform, wishing that all the independents who were
once part of the March 14 coalition had formed an electoral alliance.
"Lebanon requires more sacrifices from us. What is important is to cling to
the values that the March 14 coalition was based on," he stressed. "The
Kataeb's goal has nothing to do with winning and losing, thus the party has
allied with forces and individuals that share the same political vision with
it and believe in the same cause that it aspires to," Saade affirmed, adding
that the Kataeb party is against any political settlement that is based on
the win-loss calculations.
"We are looking forward to transparent and honorable elections," he
concluded.
Dagher: Current Ruling Class Is the Most Impertinent in
Lebanon's History
Kataeb.org/Sunday 04th March 2018/Kataeb politburo member Serge Dagher on
Sunday deemed the ruling class as the worst in Lebanon's history, hoping
that the parliamentary elections will bring along the much-aspired change
that the country needs. “There's a chance for accountability on May 6. The
Lebanese must make the right choice in order not to get the same political
class back to power,” Dagher stressed. “Ziad Itani’s case is a sample of
this government’s performance as we woke up one day to find that he is
accused of collaborating with Israel,” Dagher stated in an interview on New
TV, criticizing interior minister for apologizing on behalf of the Lebanese
who have no guilt to share in this case. Dagher blasted the direct political
interference in the work of the Judiciary, saying that this has become
obvious after hearing several ministers leaking information pertaining to
secret investigations. “Corruption has always been present in Lebanon. In
the past, politicians used to feel ashamed and hide what they are doing,
while today they have become extremely impertinent, and the power barges
deal is a clear proof,” Dagher added. The Kataeb member reiterated that the
party opposed the presidential settlement because it meant the state has
become supportive and complicit to Hezbollah’s acts, thus, endangering
Lebanon’s security. Dagher condemned the fact that some Lebanese factions
are meddling into the internal affairs of other countries and receiving
foreign financial support, pointing out that the Kataeb party will be
running for the parliamentary elections without any backed funding. “Our
electoral alliances are based on two main guidelines: safeguarding the
state’s sovereignty by making sure that the Lebanese Army is the sole armed
force in the country, and seeking reform and change,” Dagher stressed.
Dagher pointed out that the Kataeb party will launch its electoral campaign
on March 11. “With only five deputies, we were able to foil the taxes in the
first time and to uncover the government’s flaws. Imagine what will we be
able to do with 10, 15 or 20 deputies,” Dagher highlighted.
Mira Wakim Urges Accountability on May 6
Kataeb.org/Sunday 04th March 2018/Kataeb's candidate for the Catholic seat
in the Tyre-Zahrani district, Mira Wakim, stressed the need so as to meet
the needs of the Lebanese, saying that the country is yearning for a new
political class that would lead the country to a better future. Speaking to
the Kataeb website, Wakim said that she has sensed the citizens' longing for
a drastic change due to the repeated disappointments they have experienced
since 2009, adding that the Lebanese ought to express their viewpoints in
the ballot boxes. "The time of accountability has come. The Lebanese should
punish those who brought them ordeals. The electoral law has changed, so
each vote now counts because this is our only weapon to enforce
accountability," she stressed. "Voting is both a right and a duty that we
must not relinquish."
Wakim noted that Lebanon has everything to become one of the best countries
in the world, blaming the ruling authority's ineffectiveness and negligence.
"I call on the Lebanese to cast their ballots with full conscience by voting
for the right person, not his sect," she said. "You should get to the
Parliament those who deserve to be part of it and who seek the interests of
Lebanon, not theirs."
What the Unspoken in ‘The Insult’ Says About Lebanon’s
Politics
Karim Emile Bitar/New York Times/March 04/18
In the beginning there was just an insult, sparked by a trivial squabble in
a street of a working-class neighborhood of Beirut. A surly-looking man on a
balcony splashes some water on a foreman below who has come to fix a
defective pipe; the foreman curses back. Such is the starting point of “The
Insult,” a film by Ziad Doueiri, which is up for an Academy Award in the
foreign-language category on Sunday.
Matters could have ended there. After all, as Freud supposedly said, “The
first human who hurled an insult instead of a stone was the founder of
civilization.” But not in the Lebanon of “The Insult” — where the insult
turns into a fight, then a court case and finally a state affair. And not in
the real Lebanon either: Some weeks back, just a few months before the next
general election is expected to be held, another insult set the country
ablaze.
In late January a video appeared online showing Gebran Bassil, the foreign
minister (and the president’s son-in-law), calling Nabih Berri, the speaker
of the National Assembly, a “thug.” Some streets of Beirut broke out into
scenes that could have been lifted from the movie: angry youth, blocked
roads, burning tires — as ever, the specter of civil strife. Mr. Bassil
(like his father-in-law) is a Maronite Christian; Mr. Berri is a Shiite. And
the whole of Lebanese politics plays the sectarian chord.
Here, a single insult can rekindle badly healed wounds, and nudged by just a
few excesses from the media or the public, push Lebanon to the brink. (Freud
might have called this, too, the “return of the repressed.”) Resentment runs
deep in this tiny country, this house of many mansions, home to so many
communities with so many narratives forged over so many decades of
frustration. Fear of a conflagration remains after a long history of deadly
fratricidal clashes, for example in 1845, 1860, 1958 and, of course,
1975–90.
Lebanon’s main fault lines have shifted since that civil war. The film
mentions the massacre of Christians by radical Palestinian militias in the
village of Damour in 1976, which is sometimes overlooked. But the
Palestinian question has become a less central issue since the Israeli
invasion of 1982, which caused many fighters from Yasir Arafat’s Palestine
Liberation Organization to leave the country.
By focusing on this earlier period in a film set in contemporary Lebanon,
Mr. Doueiri might appear to be evading what the most sensitive questions of
the moment. The movie makes no mention of the Shiite organization Hezbollah,
undoubtedly the most important political actor in the country today. No word
either of the rift between Sunnis and Shiites, which has deepened both in
Lebanon and throughout the region since the American invasion of Iraq in
2003. Or of the proxy wars that Iran and Saudi Arabia have been waging here.
But the film also avoids being Manichaean, and it captures well how
Lebanon’s fundamental structural problems have barely changed: minorities’
fear of the other and their existential anxiety, clientelism and corruption,
the shameless manipulation of popular resentment by politicians.
In 1991, soon after the war, an amnesty law was passed in the name of
national reconciliation. It has only allowed the warlords to evade justice
and stay in charge: Since then, they have continued to sabotage the state,
though now from within, capturing its resources and handing those out to
their minions. The central authorities are weak and powerless as a result,
having become indentured to various political and sectarian fiefs. Since
amnesty has also bred amnesia, the country still isn’t immune to a return of
its old demons.
The insult of Mr. Doueiri’s film is the stuff of tragedy. It illustrates
deep disagreements over history and memory between two victims who are from
opposite camps yet alike in their shared experience of suffering. Trapped in
a great game being played well beyond them, both men, each in his own way,
end up embodying what George Orwell called common decency.
In contrast, the rivalries of today oppose members of a well-fed elite.
Their confrontations are not about assaults on an individual’s dignity; they
are petty quarrels over how to slice the pie. These people have ruled
together, and they will likely rule together again, in what they call,
improperly, “national unity governments.” At most, the upcoming election in
May will only marginally affect a system that is as well-greased as it is
perverse.
Indeed, 75 years after independence from France, Lebanon has yet to develop
a proper sense of democratic citizenship, a direct relation between the
individual and the state. From their cradles to their graves, Lebanese
people live under a sort of house arrest, confined by their communal
affiliation; they cannot assert their rights without having to resort to the
patronage networks of sectarian leaders.
Behind its facade as a liberal parliamentary democracy, Lebanon is the
hostage of a half-dozen cynical politicians — themselves often indentured to
a foreign power — who divvy up positions and profits among themselves. The
country’s system of “consociational democracy,” which was supposed to
maintain balance among its various religious communities, has over the years
turned it into a quasi-oligarchy.
Lebanon’s civil society is often commended, and rightly so, for its dynamism
and its resilience. But its political system and its political class,
however dysfunctional and sclerotic, are remarkably resilient as well. The
country’s leaders may be patently incompetent when it comes to matters of
the state — sovereign debt, electricity shortages, waste-management crises —
but they are very ingenious about holding on to power. And that is why, much
like the Lebanon in Mr. Doueiri’s film, the real Lebanon of today continues,
as the cliché goes, to dance on the edge of a volcano.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on March 04-05/18
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman landed Started an
official Visit To Egypt
Arab News/March 04/18/CAIRO: Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman landed in Egypt on Sunday where he was received by
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on the first leg of his maiden
foreign tour as heir to the throne.
Within hours of arriving, the two countries signed a memorandum of
understanding to activate a 60-billion Saudi riyal ($16 billion) investment
fund. They also signed agreements to continue cooperation in resolving
political crises in the Middle East, and a commitment to environmental
protection. Prince Mohammed, the Saudi deputy prime minister and minister of
defense, was greeted by El-Sisi as he landed at Cairo International Airport.
During meetings, the two sides reviewed “strategic bilateral relations and
discussed developments in the region “especially issues related to security
and stability” and “fighting terrorism,” Saudi Press Agency reported. The
Crown Prince’s visit to Egypt was his first since he became crown prince in
June of last year. “The Egyptian president reaffirmed that the security of
the Gulf is an integral part of Egyptian national security,” Egypt’s
presidential spokesman, Bassam Rady said. "President El-Sisi expressed
Egypt's keenness to enhance bilateral cooperation with Saudi Arabia in all
fields, in a way that reflects the level of strategic partnership between
the two countries", Rady said. Rady also highlighted the significance of the
visit's timing in light of the "great challenges currently taking place in
the Middle East, which require mutual coordination between Egypt and Saudi
Arabia." Ahead of the visit, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri said the
Crown Prince and El-Sisi would “discuss the political situation in Yemen,
Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Libya.” Prince Mohammed will also meet Prime
Minister Sharif Ismail, the parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal, the grand
Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Ahmed Tayeb and Pope Tawadros, the head of the Egyptian
church. The crown prince is expected to visit Ismailia today where he will
tour some of Egypt’s national projects including the new channel of the Suez
Canal. In preparation, the Ismailia Governorate has decorated the route
along which they will travel with flags. Later they will attended a
performance of the show “Salem Nafsak” (Surrender Yourself) at the Cairo
Opera House. The Coptic Orthodox Church announced that Prince Mohammed
would visit the main St. Mark’s Coptic Cathedral in Cairo. Pope
Tawadros II met King Salman at his residence during his visit to Cairo in
April 2016. Also on Sunday, US President Donald Trump called El-Sisi to
discuss with him “regional issues” and “ways of combating terrorism,” a
statement from the Egyptian presidency said. Prince Mohammed stressed that
his keenness to conduct his first foreign visit as Crown Prince "reflects
the depth and strength of relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which
are bound by common history and one destiny".
Egypt conducts first
ever air strikes in the Nile Delta against terrorist targets
DEBKAfile/March 04/18/The Egyptian air force has bombed six
terrorist targets in Sinai and, for the first time in its modern military
history, in the famous Nile Delta. Reporting this on Sunday, March 4, the
Egyptian military spokesman Col. Tamer Rifai did not specify which areas
were struck in the two regions, or which terrorist organizations were
targeted. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the very fact that the
Egyptian military has expanded its counter-terror campaign from the Sinai
desert into an area in northern Egypt testifies to the rising threat posed
by the Islamic State and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. The Nile Delta,
Egypt’s richest agricultural region for 5,000 years, has a population of 39
million, most of them living in the main towns of Alexandria and the Cairo
conurbation and sparsely spread out in between. It fans out across 240 sq.km,
from Alexandria in the west, through Port Said in the east and up to the
Mediterranean in the north. President Abdel-Fatteh el-Sisi personally
approved this extreme measure, despite its inevitable political fallout, in
order to cut down on the terrorist peril hanging over his regime before
Egypt goes to the polls on March 26-28 to choose its president. In the four
years since he seized power from the Muslim Brotherhood’s President Mohamed
Morsi, internal security in Egypt, instead of improving, has gone from bad
to worse. Although El-Sisi’s re-election is in the bag, in the absence of
any other serious contenders, his personal and political standing is at
stake. “Comprehensive Operation Sinai 2018″ was officially launched on Feb.
9 for “the comprehensive confrontation of terrorist and criminal elements
and organizations in north and middle Sinai and other areas in the Nile
Delta and the desert areas west of the Nile valley.” The military spokesman
now reports that, so far, 16 troops and 10 terrorists were killed in the
operation and 245 detained. On March, Amnesty International issued a
statement based on an Egyptian military video accusing the Egyptian air
force of using US supplied Mk 118 cluster munitions in North Sinai.
Egypt: 10 terrorists
eliminated while four armed forces killed in Sinai
Arab News/March 04/18/DUBAI: Egypt’s armed forces announced the killing of
10 suicide bombers, 6 terrorists and the destruction of two car bombs in
northern and central Sinai on Sunday, UAE state-news agency WAM reported.
The Egyptian armed forces said in a statement that two officers and two
soldiers were killed during the clashes and the clearing of terrorist
strongholds, while one officer and three soldiers were wounded. Security
forces also arrested 245 suspects and destroyed 145 terrorist shelters and
weapons caches. The statement also said that the Egyptian Air Force
discovered and destroyed 11 vehicles loaded with weapons and ammunition
while trying to penetrate the western border.
Syria's Assad says the humanitarian situation that the West talks about is a
'ridiculous lie'
Arab Nerws/March 04/18/DAMASCUS: Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad said ion
Sunday the humanitarian situation that the West talks about is a 'ridiculous
lie', adding that Damascus "will continue to fight terrorism...and the
Ghouta operation is a continuation of the fight against terrorism."Assad
added trhat the Ghouta operation must continue in parallel with opening the
way for civilains to leave, indicating that Western accusations of chemical
weapons use in Syria are an excuse to attack the Syrian army. The Syrian
President said that his forces must continue an operation in the rebel-held
enclave of Eastern Ghouta, despite mounting pressure to end it. "The
operation against terrorism must continue, while at the same time civilians
will continue to have the possibility" to evacuate, Assad told journalists
in remarks broadcast on state television. Assad's forces have seized over a
quarter of the enclave on Damascus's eastern edges after two weeks of
devastating bombardment, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights, a war monitor.
France tells Iran risks sanctions if ballistic missile
issue not handled
Reuters/March 04/18/PARIS: France’s foreign minister told Iran ahead of a
visit to Tehran on Monday that the country needed to address concerns over
its ballistic missile program or risked new sanctions. “There are ballistic
programs of missiles that can reach several thousand kilometers which are
not compatible with UN Security Council resolutions and exceed the sole need
of defending Iran’s borders,” Jean-Yves Le Drian told the Journal du
Dimanche newspaper. “If not tackled head on, this country risks new
sanctions,” he added.
Rescue teams recover black boxes at site of Iran plane crash
AFP, Tehran/Sunday, 4 March 2018/Rescue teams have recovered the black boxes
of a plane that crashed last month in the mountains of southwestern Iran
leaving 66 people dead, official media reported on Sunday. “The box that
recorded flight parameters and the one with conversations in the cockpit
have been handed over to judicial authorities,” Reza Jafarzadeh, the public
relations director of Iran’s civil aviation organisation, told official news
agency IRNA. Jafarzadeh said the two black boxes of the Aseman Airlines
ATR-72 were found on Saturday by rescue teams, who had resumed search
operations in the Zagros mountains on Friday after bad weather forced them
to halt efforts for nearly a week. They were to be handed over to
investigators seeking to determine the cause of the accident. The aircraft,
on a domestic flight out of Tehran, went down in a snowstorm on February 18
and crashed at a height of about 4,000 metres. There have been no reported
survivors from the plane’s 66 passengers and crew. The crash site has been
hit by heavy snowfall in recent days, making rescue operations particularly
dangerous due to avalanche risks, according to officials quoted by local
media. So far, only body parts have been recovered from the scene of the
crash. Forensic teams have performed tests on 51 samples of human tissue in
attempts to identify the victims, IRNA reported.
Netanyahu to talk with Trump about attending Jerusalem embassy opening
AFP, Jerusalem/Sunday, 4 March 2018/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has said he will discuss the possibility of US President Donald
Trump attending the May opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem when he meets
Trump on Monday. Netanyahu made the comment late Saturday before boarding a
flight to the United States. “I’ll definitely discuss with him that
possibility,” Netanyahu said in response to a journalist’s question on
whether he planned to invite Trump for the occasion. “I’m very grateful to
him for this historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
and to move the American embassy to Jerusalem on our independence day,” he
said. The May 14 date of the embassy opening coincides with the 70th
anniversary of the founding of Israel. For Palestinians, the date represents
the anniversary of the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, in which hundreds of
thousands either fled or were expelled from their homes in the war
surrounding Israel’s creation. Trump’s December 6 Jerusalem declaration
outraged Palestinians and broke with decades of international consensus that
the disputed city’s status must be negotiated between the two sides. Other
countries have their embassies in Tel Aviv. The new embassy will initially
be located in a US consular building in Jerusalem while Washington searches
for a permanent location. Israel occupied mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem
in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by
the international community. It sees the entire city as its capital. The
Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
Syrians flee government advances in eastern Ghouta
Reuters, Beirut/Sunday, 4 March 2018/Hundreds of people are fleeing advances
by Syrian government forces in eastern Ghouta, a war monitor and a resident
said on Sunday, as Damascus presses an offensive to crush the last major
rebel stronghold near the capital.
Government forces are thrusting into the besieged rebel enclave from its
eastern edge in an apparent bid to split it in two - a pattern of attack
used repeatedly by Damascus and its allies in the war entering its eighth
year. Orient TV, which supports the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad,
said advances by pro-Assad forces had triggered large-scale displacement.
People were seeking shelter in areas closer to the center of the eastern
Ghouta, said the resident, who estimated thousands were on the move. The
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based organization which reports
on the war, estimated that between 300 to 400 families had fled, adding that
government bombardment was focused on the town of Mesraba. Damascus, backed
by Russia and Iran, has been waging one of the deadliest offensives of the
war in eastern Ghouta, killing hundreds of people in a fierce air and
artillery bombardment over the last two weeks. The UN Security Council
demanded a 30-day countrywide ceasefire a week ago, but this has failed to
take effect.
No permission for convoy
Russia has instead called for daily, five-hour humanitarian ceasefires to
allow for aid deliveries and evacuations of civilians and wounded. No aid
has been delivered however, and the US State Department has called the
Russian plan a “joke”. The Russian military said militants in eastern Ghouta
had imposed a curfew in areas under their control to prevent civilians from
leaving through a humanitarian corridor during the truce, Interfax news
agency reported. Rebel officials have consistently denied stopping civilians
from leaving. A UN official in Syria told Reuters a humanitarian convoy
carrying life-saving supplies from UN and other aid agencies would not enter
eastern Ghouta as had been planned on Sunday, citing a lack of permission.
Western diplomats said that the Syrian government had not given the final
clearances needed for safe access.
The convoy of some 40 trucks had been due to go to Douma in the
government-besieged enclave near Damascus, where some 400,000 people need
food, medical and other supplies, the UN says. Only one small convoy with
supplies for 7,200 people has been allowed to Ghouta so far this year, in
mid-February. A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, drew a
parallel with rebel-held eastern Aleppo where no aid convoys were allowed to
enter in late 2016 before it fell to government forces: “Similar to the lack
of approval to get aid into East Aleppo - lots of talk and no action.”
Netanyahu to Talk with Trump about Attending Embassy
Opening
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 04/18/Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will discuss the possibility of U.S.
President Donald Trump attending the May opening of the U.S. embassy in
Jerusalem when he meets Trump on Monday. Netanyahu made the comment late
Saturday before boarding a flight to the United States. "I'll definitely
discuss with him that possibility," Netanyahu said in response to a
journalist's question on whether he planned to invite Trump for the
occasion. "I'm very grateful to him for this historic decision to recognise
Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move the American embassy to Jerusalem
on our independence day," he said. The May 14 date of the embassy opening
coincides with the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel. For
Palestinians, the date represents the anniversary of the Nakba, or
"catastrophe", in which hundreds of thousands either fled or were expelled
from their homes in the war surrounding Israel's creation. Trump's December
6 Jerusalem declaration outraged Palestinians and broke with decades of
international consensus that the disputed city's status must be negotiated
between the two sides. Other countries have their embassies in Tel Aviv. The
new embassy will initially be located in a U.S. consular building in
Jerusalem while Washington searches for a permanent location. Israel
occupied mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later
annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community. It
sees the entire city as its capital. The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as
the capital of their future state.
Netanyahu Opposes Early Polls as Graft Probes Intensify
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 04/18/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu has said he opposes early elections, as corruption probes linked
to him intensify speculation over his future. Israeli media have raised the
possibility of a June poll, with graft investigations potentially weakening
the premier's ability to hold together his right-wing coalition. "There is
no reason for that to happen if there is good will," Netanyahu said before
departing for a visit to the United States late Saturday. "For me, there is
good will. I hope that the other (coalition) partners also have
it."Netanyahu will meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday at the White
House and is set to address pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC on Tuesday.
Israeli police recommended Netanyahu's indictment in two corruption cases
last month and investigations are continuing in others. He and his wife Sara
were questioned by police on Friday in a third case of alleged graft. At the
same time, there are signs that a split is emerging within his coalition
that threatens to pull the government apart. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties
want a law passed to allow religious students to continue to be exempted
from military conscription. Other members of the coalition oppose such a
law, but the ultra-Orthodox have threatened to block a 2019 budget that
Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon wants to see approved this month.
Syria Regime Retakes Quarter of Rebel Enclave as
Civilians Flee
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 04/18/Syria's regime has seized control
of over a quarter of rebel-held Eastern Ghouta on the edge of Damascus after
two weeks of devastating bombardment, sending hundreds of civilians into
flight, a monitor said Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said
regime forces had advanced to three kilometers (two miles) from Douma, the
main town, after retaking "more than 25 percent" of Eastern Ghouta, in
operations mostly through farmlands.The government's advance into the last
major opposition enclave near the capital, on the back of 15 days of air
strikes, artillery fire and rocket attacks that are reported to have left
more than 640 civilians dead, sent hundreds of residents into flight to
western parts of the enclave. Under growing international pressure to end
the bloodshed, regime backer Russia last week announced daily five-hour
"humanitarian pauses" in the enclave. But while the air campaign has eased,
fighting has intensified on the ground. Backed by Russian air power, the
Syrian military has advanced on several fronts, retaking control of farms
and villages, a military source told state media. The source said government
forces seized a number of districts including al-Nashabiyeh and Otaya, and
had "eradicated terrorist groups" on the eastern outskirts of Damascus. They
have reached the center of the enclave, to the edge of Beit Sawa, according
to the Observatory. After advances in recent days that saw the regime seize
control of 10 percent of Eastern Ghouta, rebel fighters clashed with regime
forces on Sunday in the eastern part of the enclave, the Observatory said.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based monitoring group, said at least
12 regime fighters had been killed in two areas, al-Rihan and Shifoniya, in
overnight clashes with the Jaish al-Islam rebel group. Jaish al-Islam shares
control of rebel-held parts of Eastern Ghouta with Faylaq al-Rahman and
Ahrar al-Sham. Damascus and Moscow say they are trying to clear the area of
"terrorists." Hamza Bayraqdar, a spokesman for Jaish al-Islam, said on
Twitter that the group's forces had launched "surprise attacks" against
regime positions. The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on
the ground, said rebels had retaken some parts of Shifoniya.
Hundreds flee
An AFP correspondent inside Eastern Ghouta saw hundreds of civilians on
Sunday fleeing from the town of Beit Sawa in the southeast of the enclave.
The Observatory said some 2,000 civilians had fled regime shelling and
clashes in eastern areas to western parts of the enclave. "Everyone is on
the road. There's destruction everywhere," said 35-year-old Abu Khalil,
carrying a little girl in his arms wounded on the cheek. "Many families are
trapped under rubble, the rescue workers just can't cope." On Saturday, 18
civilians, including three children, were killed in regime bombardment of
Eastern Ghouta, according to the Observatory. At least 76 pro-regime
fighters and 43 rebels from Jaish al-Islam have also been killed in clashes
since February 25, it says. Encircled by regime-controlled territory and
unable or unwilling to flee, Eastern Ghouta's 400,000 residents have in
recent weeks suffered one of the most ferocious assaults of Syria's civil
war. Under siege since 2013, they had already been facing severe shortages
of food and medicine. The region's over-burdened medical workers have been
struggling to cope with the rising number of wounded. While falling short of
a 30-day ceasefire demanded by the United Nations, the announcement of daily
humanitarian pauses in fighting had raised hopes of some aid deliveries and
evacuations. But trucks loaded with aid have so far been unable to enter the
enclave, according to the U.N. Moscow has offered safe passage to
non-combatants wishing to leave Eastern Ghouta during the pause, but no
Syrian civilians have left the enclave since the first break in fighting
took effect on Tuesday, the Observatory says.The Russian military said no
civilians exited via the established corridor on Saturday. Damascus and
Moscow have accused rebels of preventing civilians from leaving.
Simply unacceptable
French President Emmanuel Macron and U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres
expressed "grave concern" about the humanitarian situation in a telephone
conversation late Saturday. "The U.N. convoys must immediately deliver
medical assistance and food aid to the besieged population," the French
presidency said. The U.N.'s regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria,
Panos Moumtzis, sounded the alarm on Sunday over the increase in violence.
"Instead of a much-needed reprieve, we continue to see more fighting, more
death, and more disturbing reports of hunger and hospitals being bombed," he
said.
"This collective punishment of civilians is simply unacceptable." As Syria's
conflict approaches its seventh anniversary, President Bashar al-Assad's
forces, heavily backed by Russia, have retaken most of the territory once
lost to rebels. Eastern Ghouta remains one of the few areas outside their
control, along with the northwestern province of Idlib which is partly
controlled by al-Qaida-linked jihadists.
Italy Votes in Uncertain Election Stalked by Populism
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 04/18/Italians began voting on Sunday in
one of the country's most uncertain elections ever, with far-right and
populist parties expected to make major gains and Silvio Berlusconi set to
play a leading role. Clashes between far-right and anti-fascist activists
have marred a gloomy campaign dominated by fears about immigration and
economic malaise. "It's been a very negative campaign," said Domenico
Coricelli, a 28-year-old in Florence. Many Italians are cynical about
election promises made by the country's many squabbling parties and confused
about what the outcome might be. "We hope something will change because
until now things have been very bad," said Enzo Gallo, an elderly shopper at
a street market in Milan. "The middle class no longer exists, the poor are
becoming poorer, the rich are becoming richer and there is no social
justice," he told AFP.
The result could be a stalemate between the populist Five Star Movement,
three-time former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's right wing coalition
and the ruling centre-left Democratic Party. The last opinion polls before
the vote put Berlusconi's coalition in the lead with 37 percent, followed by
the Five Star Movement with 28 percent and the centre-left with 27 percent.
But under a new electoral law being tried out for the first time, any
grouping would need at least 40 percent of the vote to command an overall
majority of seats in both chambers of parliament. "These elections are a
lottery. It's been the case before but never like today," said Roberto
D'Alimonte, head of political science at Rome's Luiss University. Polls
opened at 0600 GMT and will close at 2200 GMT with initial results expected
early on Monday.
Berlusconi's back
A remarkable feature of the election has been the return to the limelight of
81-year-old Berlusconi, despite a political career overshadowed by sex
scandals and legal woes.
The billionaire tycoon cannot himself hold office because of a tax fraud
conviction but has put forward European Parliament President Antonio Tajani
as his prime ministerial nominee. Berlusconi's plans, however, face a
challenge from his ambitious coalition partner, League leader Matteo Salvini,
whose anti-immigration and euroskeptic rhetoric has fired up the campaign.
Salvini has said he should be nominated prime minister if his party comes
ahead of Berlusconi's and their coalition as a whole wins a majority.
Berlusconi and Salvini have promised to expel 600,000 illegal migrants from
Italy if they win power -- a proposal that the centre-left has dismissed as
logistically impossible.
Pure populism'
The election has drawn international attention, including from former White
House adviser Steve Bannon -- the man who harnessed the populist insurgency
that propelled Donald Trump to power. Italy's election "epitomises
everything, it is pure populism," Bannon said in an interview with the New
York Times last week. Bannon, who is visiting Italy as part of a European
tour, told the paper: "The Italian people have gone farther, in a shorter
period of time, than the British did for Brexit and the Americans did for
Trump."He called a potential alliance between the Five Star Movement and the
League -- a scenario that has spooked financial markets and European
capitals -- the "ultimate dream". Democratic Party leader Matteo Renzi told
a final campaign event in his native Florence on Friday that only a vote for
his party would prevent Salvini from taking power. "The Democratic Party is
the only serious political force that can bring concrete results," Chiara
Serdone, a 70-year-old retired railway company employee, told AFP at the
rally.
Scenarios
If no party wins an overall majority, one scenario outlined by analysts
could be a grand coalition between the Democratic Party and Forza Italia --
a prospect that would reassure investors but risks spreading more cynicism
and emboldening populists and the far-right.
Another possibility could be a temporary government and eventually new
elections. The anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which has drawn
support from Italians disillusioned with traditional parties, may end up as
the single biggest party but has ruled out any post-election deals with the
others. Five Star's leader Luigi Di Maio broke with tradition by announcing
a full list of ministerial nominees ahead of the vote, including many
academics with no political experience. The 31-year-old Di Maio told
supporters: "Some people have mocked this decision but we will be the ones
laughing on Monday."
Macron Urges Tehran to 'Pressure' Syria to Halt E.
Ghouta Offensive
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 04/18/French President Emmanuel Macron
called on his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on Sunday to put the
"necessary pressure" on the Syrian government to halt "indiscriminate"
attacks on civilians in the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta. During a
telephone call between the two leaders, Macron underscored the "particular
responsibility for Iran, because of its ties to the regime, regarding the
implementation of the humanitarian truce" sought by the U.N., his office
said. Their talks came as a monitoring group said forces loyal to President
Bashar al-Assad had seized control of over a quarter of Eastern Ghouta, on
the edge of Damascus, after two weeks of devastating bombardment. The
offensive has reportedly killed more than 640 civilians and sent hundreds
more fleeing, prompting growing international calls to end the bloodshed.
"The two presidents expressed their agreement to work together in the coming
days along with the U.N., in conjunction with the Damascus regime and the
main countries involved in Syria, to secure results on the ground, supply
necessary aid to civilians and implement an effective ceasefire," Macron's
office said. He and Rouhani are expected to speak again later this week. The
United Nations has called for a 30-day ceasefire in Eastern Ghouta, but so
far regime-backer Russia has declared only a five-hour daily "humanitarian
pause."
Trump and May Blame Russia, Syria for E. Ghouta
Suffering
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 04/18/Russia and Syria are responsible
for the "heart-breaking human suffering" in the Syrian rebel-held enclave of
Eastern Ghouta, U.S. President Donald Trump and his British counterpart
Theresa May said Sunday. The two leaders discussed the "appalling
humanitarian situation in Eastern Ghouta" during a phone call Sunday
detailed by May's Downing Street office. "They agreed it was a humanitarian
catastrophe, and that the overwhelming responsibility for the heart-breaking
human suffering lay with the Syrian regime and Russia, as the regime's main
backer," the prime minister's office said. Syria's regime has seized control
of over a quarter of Eastern Ghouta, on the edges of the capital Damascus,
the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday. May and Trump said
"Russia and others with influence over the Syrian regime must act now to
cease their campaign of violence and to protect civilians." The Syrian
government's advance on Eastern Ghouta comes after 15 days of devastating
air strikes, artillery fire and rocket attacks that are reported to have
left more than 640 civilians dead.
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on March 04-05/18
Botched response to Daesh paves way for its expansion
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/March 04/18
One of the surest methods for radicalizing and alienating communities is the
blunt instrument of collective punishment, which represents a fundamental breach
of the laws of conflict. When you brutally treat whole populations as if they
are the enemy, eventually they become your enemy. Israel was rightly condemned
for demolishing entire housing blocks in retaliation for pinprick actions by
militants. Today we see comparably vengeful campaigns against Iraqi and Syrian
civilians. In recently-liberated regions of Iraq, Human Rights Watch has
documented how thousands of people are prevented from obtaining identity
documents on the flimsy pretext of possible family links to Daesh. Considering
that, under Daesh’s “caliphate,” identity papers were systematically destroyed,
this is an urgent problem as documentation is required for access to food,
moving around and, crucially, being able to vote.
Even if someone is believed to be the aunt of a Daesh suspect, punishing the
wider family is illegal under international law. Yet such allegations are
exploited to disenfranchise a huge swathe of people, including those with no
proven links to extremists. The recent death of a relative is taken as proof
that the deceased must have been a combatant; yet few families in Mosul have not
lost relatives. Even lawyers trying to represent families have been threatened
and accused of being Daesh sympathizers. As Human Rights Watch warned: “Unless
this collective punishment stops, the authorities will be further destabilizing
the situation in Mosul and other former (Daesh)-held cities.”
The May 12 elections are a primary motivator for these punitive policies. Even
if such restrictions are eventually struck down, it will be too late for the
hundreds of thousands of mostly Sunnis who, through loss of identity and
dislocation, will be prevented from having their say in the future of Iraq. The
same sectarian paramilitaries that are ensuring western Iraq remains a warzone
unsuitable for holding elections are the forces hoping to gain an outright
majority in May. Indeed, the only time sectarian Shiite factions won more than
50 percent of the vote was 2005, when a high proportion of Sunnis either could
not or would not vote.
With the goal of political hegemony, Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi paramilitary forces have
implemented a scorched earth policy across central Iraq, burning hundreds of
villages and forcing returnees back into exile. A significant proportion of
Iraq’s three million displaced persons are forced to remain in squalid camps
under spurious accusations of Daesh sympathies. This toxic amalgamation of
sectarian cleansing and collective punishment is sowing the seeds of future
sectarian conflict, teaching a generation of young people that the Iraqi state
and its allied forces are their enemies.
A second manifestation of collective punishment is Eastern Ghouta, where Bashar
Assad and his allies are blitzing the civilian population with missiles and
chemical munitions. Untold hundreds have died, with children torn to pieces by
shells. Doctors describe the heartbreaking scenario of stitching babies back
together, but with no surviving parents left to claim them: Nobody even knows
who these infants are, or what future awaits them in the hell into which they
have been born. Airstrikes against at least five Ghouta health centers in recent
days is an integral part of this policy of collective punishment, aimed at
destroying morale in this district that houses about 400,000 people. By turning
a blind eye to collective punishment, sectarian cleansing and crimes against
humanity, we are nurturing the perfect climate in which new strains of terrorism
and radicalism can proliferate.
The horrors of Ghouta are not qualitatively different from dozens of other
localities across Syria. Yet nobody still seriously talks about holding Assad
and his enablers to account. Indeed, US-backed Kurdish forces, while fighting
Daesh and confronting the Turks, have effectively found themselves fighting on
the same side as Assad. As these Kurdish forces abandon the fight against Daesh
and rush to confront Turkish proxies, Daesh enjoys the opportunity to lick its
wounds and regroup.
Multiple factors give cause for optimism among Syria’s extremists: Rival
factions are once again finding common ground; a weak and divided Syria will
remain a benevolent environment; their enemies are distractedly fighting each
other; and there is a fertile recruiting ground among dislocated and traumatized
youths whose only prospects are through preying on those weaker than themselves.
Systematic killing and displacement of Sunni communities by Iranian proxies
furthermore creates a sectarianized and radicalized environment where future
coexistence and statehood become impossible.
By pounding Daesh and the civilian population to smithereens in Mosul, leaders
like Donald Trump can portray themselves as strong against “radical Islamic
terrorism.” But such military strategies alone only serve to create a breeding
ground for the next generation of terrorists. “Strong against terrorism” should
mean creating stable and integrated societies where terrorism cannot gain a
foothold. The 17 years since President George W. Bush declared his “war on
terror” in the wake of 9/11 has instead seen us go backwards, with a dozen new
failed states acting as terrorist incubators.
The extremist movement’s biggest strategic error was trying to hold large
expanses of territory with the entire civilized world aligned against it. In
defeating Daesh, we are allowing its fighters to retreat back to the wastelands
where they are strongest and best able to wreak havoc around the world. Indeed,
there has been an uptick in Daesh attacks in Iraq in recent weeks. The
international system’s failure to support disintegrating states offers a vast
expanse of virgin territory from Africa to South Asia that extremists can call
home. Daesh has never had it so good.
The West learned the wrong lessons from the catastrophic 2003 Iraq intervention,
and today it is taken for granted that all direct overseas involvement is bad.
Thus, it was better to let local forces lead any necessary fighting — even when
those forces were Iranian proxies with a long record of sectarian cleansing and
war crimes. Likewise, America’s tepid support for Syrian rebel factions first
encouraged Vladimir Putin to create his own foothold, and then led to Turkey
invading against forces armed by the West. The desire not to get involved has
recurrently led to untold chaos, as these conflicts accumulate global
ramifications. For example, the post-2014 backlash against the mass displacement
of refugees into Europe fueled the rise of freshly-empowered white supremacist
political movements. These fascists threaten to extinguish the flame of liberal
democracy and cast us into a new political dark age.
Meanwhile, the UN-based system for conflict prevention and upholding
international law has been so fundamentally undermined that it ceases even
pretending to be relevant. Security Council members shook off their lethargy for
a rare bout of exertion in response to the killing in Ghouta. Yet Assad didn’t
even pretend to respect the declared cease-fire, and Russia and the US had no
intention of imposing consequences. The flagrant use of chemical weapons before
the eyes of the world represents a calculated provocation against an impotent
and discredited global peacekeeping infrastructure. Extremism thrives on such
blatant injustices and international dysfunction.
The Middle East straddles the southeastern approaches to Europe and its
inestimable oil reserves constitute the reservoir for global energy security. If
this critical mass of humanitarian catastrophes can’t goad the world into
action, then perhaps pragmatic realism and base survival instinct will force us
to think twice.
By turning a blind eye to collective punishment, sectarian cleansing and crimes
against humanity, we are nurturing the perfect climate in which new strains of
terrorism and radicalism can proliferate — from the malevolence of the far-right
to the nihilism of Daesh and the sectarian provocations of Tehran’s proxies.
Daesh’s “caliphate” may be no more, but terrorism has certainly not been
defeated. This is merely the calm before the storm.
*Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle
East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has
interviewed numerous heads of state.
Top rabbi praises ‘refreshing’ Saudi remarks on ‘horrors of
Holocaust’
Eman El-Shenawi Al Arabiya English/Sunday, 4 March 2018/
In January, an email was sent by a top Muslim official in Saudi Arabia that made
Jewish communities worldwide pause and take notice. The message, addressed to
the director of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, has arguably become the single
most important development in relations between Jewish and Muslim religious
leaders in recent history. In it, the head of the Riyadh-based Muslim World
League, Dr. Mohammad al-Issa, acknowledged the “horrors of the Holocaust.”The
genocide “could not be denied or underrated by any fair-minded or peace-loving
person,” Dr. al-Issa wrote.
Dr. Mohammad Alissa, Secretary General, Muslim World League, and the President
of the International Organization of Muslim Scholars. (Supplied) Reading the
high-profile statement from his Munich headquarters was Rabbi Pinchas
Goldschmidt, the President of the Conference of European Rabbis - the primary
Orthodox rabbinical alliance in Europe. Describing the remarks as “refreshing,”
Rabbi Pinchas tells Al Arabiya English how they were received in Europe. “They
marked a clear and welcomed break with the region’s past,” he says, adding that
Dr. al-Issa managed to inverse a narrative commonly believed about the Middle
East.
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulted in the creation of two distinct
narratives of two people totally disconnected and ignorant of each other. Dr.
al-Issa’s gesture is an important step in the direction of the Muslim World
understanding and accepting the narrative of Jewish history.”
The catalyst for change
As well as being well-received among Jewish communities, some were able to
connect the dots. The statement had come against a backdrop of sweeping reforms
in Saudi Arabia, which include a re-energized crackdown on hate speech and a
pledge by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to “destroy extremism and
return to moderate Islam.”Commenting on this, Rabbi Pinchas wished Prince
Mohammed “much success in his quest to define radicalism and bring back reason,
moderation and peace to the Middle East.”Rabbi Pinchas gives examples of the
work Muslim and Jewish leaders are doing together.
A crucial point within the rabbinical alliance’s manifesto is that “religious
communities should police themselves and lead the fight against religious
radicalism,” Pinchas says. He believes interfaith communities can work across
borders to achieve this, mentioning the Muslim-Jewish Leadership Council (MJLC)
- created to unite “leading Imams and Rabbis of Europe to coordinate the
campaign for religious freedom and the fight against Islamophobia and
anti-Semitism together.” The MJLC was, in fact, created under the auspices of
the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and
Intercultural Dialogue – a Saudi-founded inter-governmental organization.
Pinchas gives an example of the work Muslim and Jewish leaders are doing
together: “We are currently protesting the new Icelandic law criminalizing
circumcision and our united voice is more effective.”"The Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is no longer the most important conflict in the Middle East," Pinchas
tells Al Arabiya English.But amid efforts by religious leaders to pacify and
integrate Jews and Muslims at a community level, the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict lingers at the forefront. Rabbi Pinchas addresses this at length, but
first points to Syria.
“Today, more people are killed in just one day in Syria, than during a whole
year in the West Bank and Gaza,” he says, despite this statement largely being
dependent on the length and intensity of bombing campaigns across Syria, the
West Bank and Gaza, which vary year to year.
But his point is this: “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no longer the most
important conflict in the Middle East. “Nevertheless, the conflict remains, and
it must be resolved,” he says, providing three points on what he believes will
facilitate peace.
They can be read in the full transcript of the interview below.
Full Interview with Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of Conference of
European Rabbis
Al Arabiya English: The Saudi-based Muslim World League chief, Dr. Mohammad al-Issa,
recently commented on the Holocaust. How was this high-profile statement viewed
received among the international Jewish community?
In the context of the Middle East, where caricatures featuring Jews as Nazis are
ubiquitous, and countries such as Iran host festivals to celebrate an exhibition
of Holocaust caricatures and fugitive Nazi scientists are engaged in the Arab
struggle against the young State of Israel, Dr. al-Issa’s comments are
refreshing as they mark a clear and welcomed break with the region’s past.
AAE: Al-Issa recently agreed to visit tour the US Holocaust Memorial Museum: Is
this an important step in the process of legitimizing Muslim discussion of the
Holocaust?
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict resulted in the creation of two distinct
narratives of two people totally disconnected and ignorant of each other. Dr.
al-Issa’s gesture is an important step in the direction of the Muslim World
understanding and accepting the narrative of Jewish history.
AAE: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has recently discussed the need for
the kingdom “return to moderate Islam,” as part of efforts to “destroy
extremism.” What are your thoughts on this?
Everyone or almost everyone today is opposed to extremism. The question arises,
however, of what divides moderate Islam and extreme Islam? Is it the Hijab, as
defined by French and Belgian law? Or is it circumcision or the Halal
slaughtering practice, as suggested by many European far right parties and
secularists?
I don’t believe so. The definition of extremism is very simple. It is the denial
of a person’s right to lead a dignified and liberated life, as defined by them,
because of some form of coercion, be it through violence or other means.
Osama bin Laden was an extremist and taught an extremist interpretation of
Islam. Because of him, the modern world is unrecognisable. Secret bank accounts
are a relic of the past and airport security results in the need for innocent
people to disrobe as airport staff are pressed to safety at all costs.
I wish Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman much success in his quest to define
radicalism and bring back reason, moderation and peace to the Middle East.
AAE: To what extent do you believe religious communities must take the lead in
tackling radicalization?
After the attack against Charlie Hebdo in 2015, the Conference of European
Rabbis published a manifesto at the WEF in Davos proposing that religious
communities should police themselves and lead the fight against religious
Radicalism.
A. Religious leaders are the most important ingredient of a religious community.
They must be educated in European schools, where respect and tolerance of
difference is an integral part of the curriculum.
B. The donation dollar should be transparent and not come from organizations
promoting extremism.
C. There should be an officer from within the congregation who is tasked with
monitoring extremism. This is because it is only a scholar from within the faith
community who can detect when traditional, religious texts are manipulated as a
tool to recruit suicide bombers and terrorists.
We distributed our proposals throughout the EU and two countries, Austria and
France, have incorporated these suggestions as the law of the land.
It is always the same story. When we do not self- regulate, the Government are
forced to introduce new regulations.
I believe that it would be much better to have this as an accepted practice of
religious communities rather than a state law.
AAE: In your view, can interfaith communities work together across borders to
achieve this?
Yes, I believe they can do. Under the auspices of the KAICIID, we have created
the MJLC, the Muslim- Jewish Leadership Council, uniting leading Imams and
Rabbis of Europe to coordinate the campaign for religious freedom and the fight
against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism Together, our voice is amplified and
stronger. For example, we are currently protesting the new Icelandic law
criminalising circumcision and our united voice is more effective.
AAE: What’s your future visions for peace in the Middle East, do you predict any
progress in the near future between the Israelis and Palestinians?
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is no longer the most important and bloody
conflict in the Middle East. Today, more people are killed in just one day in
Syria, than during a whole year in the West Bank and Gaza. Nevertheless, the
conflict remains, and it must be resolved.
The following three points will facilitate the process of a peace settlement:
1. Strong leaders on both sides
2. The new Palestinian State should be based on sound economic footing, to
ensure that it develops into stable country, such as Bahrain or United Arab
Emirates, and not one that is poverty-stricken and conflicted, such as Sudan or
Yemen.
3. A superpower should be positioned as guarantor for both sides as concessions
are made for peace. At present, it seems that the US is very reluctant to play
this role, and in the current political climate, I don’t think that Russia or
China can fill the US’s shoes.
How Iran deal aided the regime’s bid for hegemonic control
Tony Duheaume Special to Al Arabiya English/March 04/18
Despite the fact that Iran has already embarked on a quest to “annexe” both Iraq
and Syria through stealth, and is flexing its hegemonic muscles in Yemen; apart
from Donald Trump, most Western leaders are doing their utmost to keep the Iran
deal in place.
According to its supporters, this agreement has supposedly curtailed the Iranian
regime’s nuclear program, preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon, and
becoming a threat to world peace. While this might be perceived by many to be a
good solution to rein in Iran’s nuclear program, it can only work as a
short-term fix, one that will merely freeze, but not end its nuclear ambitions.
But as far as its extraterritorial aims are concerned, the Iran deal will
certainly not curtail the regime’s interference in the affairs of neighbouring
countries, a meddling which is already becoming a threat to both peace and
stability in the region, the deal will in fact help to fund this. As far as the
Iranian regime is concerned, the deal has given it a breathing space, one with
which to give its military the time it needs to work tirelessly towards a
long-term project, which is to develop a nuclear-capable ICBM (intercontinental
ballistic missile), with the ability to strike the eastern seaboard of the
United States.As far as this project is concerned, on the day that North Korea
claimed it had successfully tested an ICBM capable of reaching the US, Iran
announced it was bolstering ties with Pyongyang, which leads to speculation that
such a move could bring Iran closer to its goal of acquiring a missile that
could reach American shores.
Miniaturizing nuclear warhead
When it comes to miniaturizing a nuclear warhead with which to mount on such a
missile, for years Iran has been sharing clandestine nuclear technology with
North Korea, and with North Korea now having the expertise to fit such a device,
there is always the chance that its rabidly anti-Western leader Kim Jong-Un,
will eventually share such technology with Iran in the same way as missile
technology has been shared over the years.
At the time of signing up for the deal, Iran’s main objective for entering the
agreement, was to dupe the Obama administration into returning billions of
dollars, which had been impounded due to its continual pursuance of illicit
nuclear activity.
Through its participation in the deal, the Iranian leadership was also eager to
tempt foreign investors into making lucrative trade deals, some of which have
already brought about a much more prosperous Iran.
But none of this money has reached the general populace, rather than alleviate
the poverty of its own people. At the same time, the regime has been
strengthening its internal defences, through creating its own long-range missile
defence system, the Bavar 373, to protect vital installations from attack from
the air.
But already installed is the S-300 air defence systems, supplied by the
Russians, which are capable of targeting aircraft at high altitude from up to a
150-mile range, allowing them to create a formidable ring of defence around any
nuclear facility, or other sensitive military establishment, which makes it
almost impossible for an enemy to target such facilities without a substantial
loss of aircraft.
Khomeini’s concept of government came through the rule of clerics, a religious
despotism with no democratic accountability whatsoever, where the people would
have no choice but to give in to the will of the ruling mullahs, whose Supreme
Leader had the last say on all forms of governance, and any president “chosen”
by the people, was unable to make a move without the Supreme Leader’s say-so.
Throughout his term as Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei has advocated
pursuing a doctrine of hegemonic control against the Islamic and Arab world,
with his ultimate goal being to gain control of all of the Gulf states, and
through Iran becoming a super power in the area, force the United States to
retreat from the Middle East, defeated by Iran’s use of asymmetric
(unconventional) warfare and terrorist proxies.
Foreign fighters
For decades, Iranian training camps have been preparing foreign fighters to
carry out proxy acts of terror on behalf of the regime, and with the advent of
the Syrian Uprising, many of these trainees have been put to good use as combat
troops, cannon fodder fighting alongside the depleted Syrian army, aiding the
survival of Bashar al-Assad. While in neighbouring Iraq, with Iran’s Qods Force
reforming Shiite groups that had been disbanded after the pull-out of American
troops, the IRGC Quds Force has developed a new form of waging war through the
use of foreign mercenaries, which saves their own army large body counts, much
of this now paid for from cash returned from the Iran deal. The idea behind this
move is quite simple, as by using IRGC Quds Force officers, and a number of
their non-commissioned officers to lead this mixed bag of paramilitary groups,
the IRGC doesn’t have to rely on its own enlisted troops, and by doing so, are
able to boost the size of fighting units, using foot soldiers from Hezbollah,
and various Iraqi, Syrian and other foreign Shiite militia groups from far
afield.
All of this slaughter is being subsidised by cash from the Iran deal, all
ignored by European governments, who have been sending trade delegations to
Tehran, putting together lucrative deals that will swell the bank accounts of
these rich nations, while the Iranian military and its proxies rampage across
neighbouring lands, using money acquired from these transactions, to pay for the
bullets, shells and bombs that are aiding its bid for hegemonic control of the
Middle East.
As far as Iran’s nuclear program is concerned, it is only stalled under the Iran
deal, and with Donald Trump now threatening to renegotiate the deal, should this
happen, the Iranians could resume enriching their stockpile of uranium to 20
percent, which would take it to weapon’s grade.
As stated by Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization,
when commenting on Donald Trump’s threat; it would be possible for Iran to
produce 20 percent enriched uranium at its Fordo plant, within four days of the
nuclear deal collapsing.
Then once the regime acquires a nuclear weapon, it doesn’t necessarily have to
use it, all it has to do is flaunt the fact of acquiring one in front of its
neighbours, using the weapon as a large stick with which to threaten or coerce
them into doing its bidding.