In an article published in daily As Siyasa http://www.al-seyassah.com/AtricleView/tabid/59/smid/438/ArticleID/120955/reftab/76/Default.aspx
several Lebanese Diaspora leaders called on Christian, Sunni and Druse leaders in Lebanon to form "defensive areas" against Hezbollah's terror and penetration.
The Diaspora leaders called on President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Hariri, the Lebanese Army and Internal Security Forces to stop the infiltration by Hezbollah cells into areas outside the Shia enclaves and defend what is known as "March 14" zones of support. But the emigres' leaders also addressed the top politicians from the legislative majority who oppose Syrian influence to "work immediately on setting the defenses of the zones contiguous to the areas dominated by the Iranian backed militia.
As Siyasa reported that coordinated statements were issued today december 30th by Sheikh Sami el Khoury, the President of the World Maronite Union based in Miami, Florida, Joe Baini the President of the World Council of the Cedars Revolution based in Sydney, Australia, Elias Bejjani the chairman of the Lebanese Canadian Coordination Council based in Toronto and the Secretary General of the International Committee for UNSCR 1559 Tom Harb, who briefs Western Governments on Lebanon.
The statements called for removing the weapons deployed by Hezbollah and its allies including Christian Michel Aoun, Sunni Abdel Rahim Mrad, Druse Wi'am Wahhab, and the Syrian National-Socialist Party (SSNP) in the districts with Christian, Sunni and Druse majority and enable civil society to defend itself if Hezbollah would wage military offensives and terror acts in the near future.
The Diaspora leaders claimed the Iranian and Syrian backed militias have been smuggling weapons from the Hezbollah areas of control into opposing regions and that Christian, Sunni and Druse communities should stop Hezbollah's advances into their areas.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Christmas and Prayers for the Wicked
By: Elias Bejjani*
The most effective, productive and everlasting participation that we can offer on this Holy Christmas Day is our authentic and honest prayers for the repentance and salvation of evildoers. We must pray for those evil and wicked world leaders, rulers, politicians, fundamentalists and outlawed militants whose devastating culture of greed and vicious acts of terrorism are threatening peace and tranquility over four continents.
Apostle Paul in his Letter to the Romans speaks about these evil people and describes thoroughly their thinking and conduct 03/10-18: "As it is written, ‘There is no one righteous; no, not one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not, so much as one.’ 3:13 Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of vipers is under their lips; “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of peace, they haven’t known. There is no fear of God before their eyes."
One might wonder why we should pray and particularly on the Christmas Day for those that are creating world-wide havoc, advocate grudges and hatred, classify us as infidels, allege we are their worst enemies, call openly for our death, and proudly legitimize our slaughter?
The answer is very simple. We should pray for them because they are lost, evil, morally sick and need our help. Jesus has already answered this question in Matthew 9/12 & 13: "Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. But you go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.".
The faithful and righteous man has an obligation to love his enemies and forgive them as well as to bless those who hate, persecute and curse him. Luke 6:28: "bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."
The secret and magic formula word in all this holy cycle of forgiveness, meekness, patience, endurance and acceptance of others is LOVE, and as the bible teaches us LOVE is GOD. Proverbs 19:11: "A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense".
Apostle Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians explains what love is and what it encompasses: 13/4-13: "Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 1 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love."
If we love those who love us, help those who do not need help, pray for those who are righteous, and feed those who are not hungry, we do nothing different from anybody else including the sinners and wicked. But when we can tame ourselves to love those who hate us and help those who need help, than we are making something different. 1 Samuel 24:17: "You are more righteous than I, he said. You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly."
Almighty God loves us, we His children, and wants us to return back to His heavenly mansions that have been prepared for us. Therefore, He has sent His begotten son to be humiliated, tortured, persecuted and crucified in a bid absolve our original sin and be a role model in love and sacrifice. John15/12 & 13: “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends"
With the Christmas Spirit let all genuinely pray for those of us who are hurt, lonely, feel betrayed and deserted by their beloved ones. Those who are enduring in silence pain, anguish, and are deprived of happiness, warmth and joy on this holy and adorned day.
Let us all take Jesus a role model in our lives. Let us learn from Him the graces of forgiveness, sacrifice, love and the obligation for helping those who need our help and even those who hate and hurt us. Romans 12:20: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
May God Bless you all and shower upon you, your families, friends, and beloved ones all graces of joy, health, love, forgiveness, meekness and hope. 1 Thessalonians 5:15: "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else".
I call on you all to pray for the salvation of our beloved country of Lebanon and ask Almighty God to lead and bless the peace endeavors of righteous politicians and leaders all over the world.
On this Christmas Day may Jesus Christ, God of love, justice and mercy, dwell in your hearts, minds, souls and conscience to purify you and lead your steps into righteousness.
Merry Christmas
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
The most effective, productive and everlasting participation that we can offer on this Holy Christmas Day is our authentic and honest prayers for the repentance and salvation of evildoers. We must pray for those evil and wicked world leaders, rulers, politicians, fundamentalists and outlawed militants whose devastating culture of greed and vicious acts of terrorism are threatening peace and tranquility over four continents.
Apostle Paul in his Letter to the Romans speaks about these evil people and describes thoroughly their thinking and conduct 03/10-18: "As it is written, ‘There is no one righteous; no, not one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is no one who does good, no, not, so much as one.’ 3:13 Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of vipers is under their lips; “whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of peace, they haven’t known. There is no fear of God before their eyes."
One might wonder why we should pray and particularly on the Christmas Day for those that are creating world-wide havoc, advocate grudges and hatred, classify us as infidels, allege we are their worst enemies, call openly for our death, and proudly legitimize our slaughter?
The answer is very simple. We should pray for them because they are lost, evil, morally sick and need our help. Jesus has already answered this question in Matthew 9/12 & 13: "Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. But you go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.".
The faithful and righteous man has an obligation to love his enemies and forgive them as well as to bless those who hate, persecute and curse him. Luke 6:28: "bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."
The secret and magic formula word in all this holy cycle of forgiveness, meekness, patience, endurance and acceptance of others is LOVE, and as the bible teaches us LOVE is GOD. Proverbs 19:11: "A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense".
Apostle Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians explains what love is and what it encompasses: 13/4-13: "Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 1 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love."
If we love those who love us, help those who do not need help, pray for those who are righteous, and feed those who are not hungry, we do nothing different from anybody else including the sinners and wicked. But when we can tame ourselves to love those who hate us and help those who need help, than we are making something different. 1 Samuel 24:17: "You are more righteous than I, he said. You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly."
Almighty God loves us, we His children, and wants us to return back to His heavenly mansions that have been prepared for us. Therefore, He has sent His begotten son to be humiliated, tortured, persecuted and crucified in a bid absolve our original sin and be a role model in love and sacrifice. John15/12 & 13: “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends"
With the Christmas Spirit let all genuinely pray for those of us who are hurt, lonely, feel betrayed and deserted by their beloved ones. Those who are enduring in silence pain, anguish, and are deprived of happiness, warmth and joy on this holy and adorned day.
Let us all take Jesus a role model in our lives. Let us learn from Him the graces of forgiveness, sacrifice, love and the obligation for helping those who need our help and even those who hate and hurt us. Romans 12:20: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
May God Bless you all and shower upon you, your families, friends, and beloved ones all graces of joy, health, love, forgiveness, meekness and hope. 1 Thessalonians 5:15: "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else".
I call on you all to pray for the salvation of our beloved country of Lebanon and ask Almighty God to lead and bless the peace endeavors of righteous politicians and leaders all over the world.
On this Christmas Day may Jesus Christ, God of love, justice and mercy, dwell in your hearts, minds, souls and conscience to purify you and lead your steps into righteousness.
Merry Christmas
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Statement by Elias Bejjani on Forest Fire in Israel
Statement by Elias Bejjani on Forest Fire in Israel
On behalf of the Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC), I offer my condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives in the recent devastating forest fire in the State of Israel, and wish a quick recovery to those who were injured. My thoughts are with all those affected by this terrible fire.
The LCCC strongly supports the Statement issued yesterday in this regard by Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, The Honourable Lawrence Cannon.
Elias Bejjani
LCCC Founder & Chairman
http://www.10452lccc.com
On behalf of the Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC), I offer my condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives in the recent devastating forest fire in the State of Israel, and wish a quick recovery to those who were injured. My thoughts are with all those affected by this terrible fire.
The LCCC strongly supports the Statement issued yesterday in this regard by Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, The Honourable Lawrence Cannon.
Elias Bejjani
LCCC Founder & Chairman
http://www.10452lccc.com
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Lebanon First and Last
By: Elias Bejjani*
Psalm 92:12: "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon".
There are numerous reasons behind the ongoing devastating internal and external wars that are being waged against Lebanon and his people. These reasons have varied throughout contemporary history with the changing instruments of fighting, circumstances, financiers and profiteers. However, the main reasons and targets were always and still are the privileged Lebanese distinctive identity, multiculturalism, freedoms and coexistence. Almost every nation and people in the Middle and Far East look upon Lebanon as a heaven for freedoms and as an oasis for the persecuted.
At the present time and since 1982, the Iranian armed terrorist militia, Hezbollah, which was created by the Iranians with its mini-state during Syria's bloody occupation era of Lebanon (1976-2005) imposes an extremely serious and fundamental threat to all that is Lebanese: culture, identity, history, civilization, freedoms, coexistence, tolerance, democracy, peace, openness, order and law.
But as our deeply rooted history teaches us, this Stone Age armed terrorist group shall by God's will be defeated as was the fate of all invaders, tyrants, dictators and occupiers whose sick minds fooled them that Lebanon could be tamed and his people could be subdued and enslaved. They all were disappointed and forced to leave with humiliation and disgrace. The Syrian occupier in 2005 and after almost 30 years of savage occupation had to face the same scornful fate. Hezbollah will have ultimately the same end sooner or later although its armed militiamen are Lebanese.
We thank God for the ultimate failure of all savage attacks which the faithful Lebanese shattered with stubbornness, perseverance, courage and self-confidence, and remained attached to their identity, and steadfast against hatred, foreign expansionism schemes and evil conspiracies.
The distinction of Lebanon is that it is a nation of diverse religious denominational groups and civilizations living together in agreeable coexistence, without coercion or oppression or becoming a melting pot, despite transient harsh confrontations at certain periods of history always instigated and orchestrated by external forces. Lebanon’s air of liberty has been made equally available to its extensive mosaic of communities to help them maintain freedom of their cultural and religious particularities and distinctions.
All Throughout history these distinctions gave Lebanon his pluralist flavor and made the majority of the Lebanese people into a homogeneous society attached heart and spirit to the one Lebanese identity that personifies their roots, cultures, hopes and civilizations.
The confessional diversity permits each of Lebanon’s 18 ethnic communities to express its original goodness within its core and the sanctity of its faith. Even though the communities’ perspective towards God may be different, they do not disagree on the truth of God’s essence, and He remains the All Mighty Creator and the source of all good to all people.
Accordingly, all Lebanese have learned that none of them should presume to monopolize God’s relationship through himself, or seek to acquire all God’s graces by eliminating others, because these others were also created by God and are also His children, and that He is the only ultimate judge.
All religions in Lebanon worship the same God, and He definitely accepts them all each according to their sincerity and trust. God knows the content of hearts and intents, and He is not fooled by the various rituals and styles of worship. The majority of the peace loving Lebanese people strongly believe that no one Lebanese community should claim that it is the best, or the closest, or the only path to God. They all trust in the fact that God knows all wants, and uncovers all intents. Hezbollah is an odd exception among the Lebanese communities.
Despite the ongoing Lebanese success of coexistence and diversity of civilizations, cultures and religions within the scope of the uniform Lebanese identify, and despite the good and civilized relationship that the Lebanese always endeavor to maintain with neighboring countries, Syria still keeps on trying by force, vicious interferences and terrorism to impose on them an alternative identity, life style, regime and ideology.
The Syrian Baathist regime has been, and still is, an actual disaster for Lebanon and his people and an ongoing annoying headache in all levels and domains. Syria has been ferociously behind all Lebanese problems, wars and sufferings for the last 30 years, including the creation of the Terrorist Hezbollah and its mini-state, as well as the status quo of havoc and disorder in the 13 Palestinian camps of which the Lebanese government has zero control.
To know Lebanon well and to understand his importance in the Middle East, one needs to review his rooted history. In this context, below are some historic excerpts that address Lebanon’s "particularity", the spoken languages of his people and other related documented historical facts:
Lebanon has been known since ancient through modern times, as a crossroad of civilizations and peoples. Since 4000 BC, waves of people settled and fought on his land, including Kananites, Phoenicians, Aramites, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Europeans, and Syrians. Lebanon's spoken language varied with the times. Originally, Phoenician was the mother tongue followed by the Egyptian and Babylonian languages for commerce.
During the Persian rule (539-332 BC), Aramaic was the official language of the empire, in addition to Phoenician in Lebanon. During Greek rule (322-63), ancient Greek became the official language equivalent to the Aramaic mother language. With the Roman rule, Latin became the language of law and administration, in addition to ancient Greek as the language of culture next to Aramaic which remained the mother language.
With the Arab conquest (625 AD), Arabic imposed by the Amawites rulers started to compete with the Aramaic/Syriac variations and replaced them. Then the Ottoman Turks taught Turkish, while schools of the era taught and continue today to teach French, English, and Armenian. Lebanon's current official language is Arabic, although the Lebanese dialect language spoken is a combination of many languages, especially Aramaic and Syriac.
Union with diversity within the distinct Lebanese identity is Lebanon’s civilization and the choice of its multi-ethnic-religious people. This diversity is known as the "Lebanese particularity” and as Lebanon’s humanistic message to its neighbors, as well as to the whole world, and if it is lost, God forbid, Lebanon would lose the reason of his existence (his raison d’etre).
Lebanon’s "particularity" yielded his national covenant and his political system. The covenant is coexistence amongst Christians and Moslems. The Christian Lebanese adhere to it by abandoning their tendency for Western style secularism and by renouncing the protection of any Western nation, and the Lebanese Moslems, in turn, abandon their tendency to Islamic theocracy and cease their quest for protection under any Arabic or Islamic nation.
The National Covenant specifies the principles of "coexistence" from Independence and President Becaharra Khoury on the day of his election on September 20, 1943, as well as the first Governmental Communiqué issued by Prime Minister Riad Solh on October 7, 1943. The most important clauses of the Covenant are:
*Lebanon is an independent republic, with complete independence, and a final homeland for all his children, sovereign, free and independent in his internationally recognized borders.
*Lebanon is a founding active member of the Arab League and is adherent and committed to its principles. Lebanon is also a founding and active member of the United Nations and committed to its principles and to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
*There would be no hegemony requested, no protection sought, and no special privileges granted to any other nation, and no union nor unification with any other nation.
*Maximum cooperation with the Arab countries, by maintaining equilibrium with all of them, and maintaining friendship with all foreign nations that recognize Lebanon’s total independence and respect it. There will be no legitimacy to any authority that contradicts the covenant of national coexistence. It was on the basis of this covenant that the political system in Lebanon was conceived distinctively from all other political systems in the Arab and Western nations, and it is on this same basis that all Lebanese ethnicities agreed to unite within the scope of the Lebanese identity. This political system produced special attributes that distinguished Lebanon from its neighbors and they are:
*The democratic parliamentary system;
*the National Concord;
*the public liberties and most significantly the freedom of opinion, religion, and free enterprise. The system also yielded a dialogue without duress (conciliatory dialogue) about the affairs and politics of the nation as specified in the constitution, such as the modification of the constitution, war and peace and treaties with other nations.
This Lebanese civilization which constitutes the heritage of Lebanon, and which is the result of existential living and political dialogues among all successive cultures and civilizations on his land, has continued to allow the Lebanese to remain steadfast in the face of conspiracies of partition and settlement and regime change, and to survive his most critical stages during years of fierce wars.
"Lebanon First"", is the patriotic emblem under which the "Cedars Revolution" united the majority of the Lebanese people in 2005 against the Syrian occupation and liberated the country. The Lebanese identity which distinguishes Lebanon has held steadfast in the past and will prevail and be ultimately victorious. It will also firmly endure in the protection of our forefather’s inheritance, God willing. All the forces of hate and evil including Syria, Iran and Hezbollah shall fail to marginalize it or replace it with another identity.
In conclusion, for Lebanon, the land of the holy cedars to be victorious in the face of the Axis of Evil powers dirty and evil wars against his existence, Each and every Lebanese in both Lebanon and Diaspora has a patriotic and ethical obligation and a holy duty to preserve by all means Lebanon's graceful identity and solidify its implantation in the conscience, hearts and souls of the new Lebanese generations and to root it in their awareness, as well as in Lebanon's blessed soil.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Psalm 92:12: "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon".
There are numerous reasons behind the ongoing devastating internal and external wars that are being waged against Lebanon and his people. These reasons have varied throughout contemporary history with the changing instruments of fighting, circumstances, financiers and profiteers. However, the main reasons and targets were always and still are the privileged Lebanese distinctive identity, multiculturalism, freedoms and coexistence. Almost every nation and people in the Middle and Far East look upon Lebanon as a heaven for freedoms and as an oasis for the persecuted.
At the present time and since 1982, the Iranian armed terrorist militia, Hezbollah, which was created by the Iranians with its mini-state during Syria's bloody occupation era of Lebanon (1976-2005) imposes an extremely serious and fundamental threat to all that is Lebanese: culture, identity, history, civilization, freedoms, coexistence, tolerance, democracy, peace, openness, order and law.
But as our deeply rooted history teaches us, this Stone Age armed terrorist group shall by God's will be defeated as was the fate of all invaders, tyrants, dictators and occupiers whose sick minds fooled them that Lebanon could be tamed and his people could be subdued and enslaved. They all were disappointed and forced to leave with humiliation and disgrace. The Syrian occupier in 2005 and after almost 30 years of savage occupation had to face the same scornful fate. Hezbollah will have ultimately the same end sooner or later although its armed militiamen are Lebanese.
We thank God for the ultimate failure of all savage attacks which the faithful Lebanese shattered with stubbornness, perseverance, courage and self-confidence, and remained attached to their identity, and steadfast against hatred, foreign expansionism schemes and evil conspiracies.
The distinction of Lebanon is that it is a nation of diverse religious denominational groups and civilizations living together in agreeable coexistence, without coercion or oppression or becoming a melting pot, despite transient harsh confrontations at certain periods of history always instigated and orchestrated by external forces. Lebanon’s air of liberty has been made equally available to its extensive mosaic of communities to help them maintain freedom of their cultural and religious particularities and distinctions.
All Throughout history these distinctions gave Lebanon his pluralist flavor and made the majority of the Lebanese people into a homogeneous society attached heart and spirit to the one Lebanese identity that personifies their roots, cultures, hopes and civilizations.
The confessional diversity permits each of Lebanon’s 18 ethnic communities to express its original goodness within its core and the sanctity of its faith. Even though the communities’ perspective towards God may be different, they do not disagree on the truth of God’s essence, and He remains the All Mighty Creator and the source of all good to all people.
Accordingly, all Lebanese have learned that none of them should presume to monopolize God’s relationship through himself, or seek to acquire all God’s graces by eliminating others, because these others were also created by God and are also His children, and that He is the only ultimate judge.
All religions in Lebanon worship the same God, and He definitely accepts them all each according to their sincerity and trust. God knows the content of hearts and intents, and He is not fooled by the various rituals and styles of worship. The majority of the peace loving Lebanese people strongly believe that no one Lebanese community should claim that it is the best, or the closest, or the only path to God. They all trust in the fact that God knows all wants, and uncovers all intents. Hezbollah is an odd exception among the Lebanese communities.
Despite the ongoing Lebanese success of coexistence and diversity of civilizations, cultures and religions within the scope of the uniform Lebanese identify, and despite the good and civilized relationship that the Lebanese always endeavor to maintain with neighboring countries, Syria still keeps on trying by force, vicious interferences and terrorism to impose on them an alternative identity, life style, regime and ideology.
The Syrian Baathist regime has been, and still is, an actual disaster for Lebanon and his people and an ongoing annoying headache in all levels and domains. Syria has been ferociously behind all Lebanese problems, wars and sufferings for the last 30 years, including the creation of the Terrorist Hezbollah and its mini-state, as well as the status quo of havoc and disorder in the 13 Palestinian camps of which the Lebanese government has zero control.
To know Lebanon well and to understand his importance in the Middle East, one needs to review his rooted history. In this context, below are some historic excerpts that address Lebanon’s "particularity", the spoken languages of his people and other related documented historical facts:
Lebanon has been known since ancient through modern times, as a crossroad of civilizations and peoples. Since 4000 BC, waves of people settled and fought on his land, including Kananites, Phoenicians, Aramites, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Europeans, and Syrians. Lebanon's spoken language varied with the times. Originally, Phoenician was the mother tongue followed by the Egyptian and Babylonian languages for commerce.
During the Persian rule (539-332 BC), Aramaic was the official language of the empire, in addition to Phoenician in Lebanon. During Greek rule (322-63), ancient Greek became the official language equivalent to the Aramaic mother language. With the Roman rule, Latin became the language of law and administration, in addition to ancient Greek as the language of culture next to Aramaic which remained the mother language.
With the Arab conquest (625 AD), Arabic imposed by the Amawites rulers started to compete with the Aramaic/Syriac variations and replaced them. Then the Ottoman Turks taught Turkish, while schools of the era taught and continue today to teach French, English, and Armenian. Lebanon's current official language is Arabic, although the Lebanese dialect language spoken is a combination of many languages, especially Aramaic and Syriac.
Union with diversity within the distinct Lebanese identity is Lebanon’s civilization and the choice of its multi-ethnic-religious people. This diversity is known as the "Lebanese particularity” and as Lebanon’s humanistic message to its neighbors, as well as to the whole world, and if it is lost, God forbid, Lebanon would lose the reason of his existence (his raison d’etre).
Lebanon’s "particularity" yielded his national covenant and his political system. The covenant is coexistence amongst Christians and Moslems. The Christian Lebanese adhere to it by abandoning their tendency for Western style secularism and by renouncing the protection of any Western nation, and the Lebanese Moslems, in turn, abandon their tendency to Islamic theocracy and cease their quest for protection under any Arabic or Islamic nation.
The National Covenant specifies the principles of "coexistence" from Independence and President Becaharra Khoury on the day of his election on September 20, 1943, as well as the first Governmental Communiqué issued by Prime Minister Riad Solh on October 7, 1943. The most important clauses of the Covenant are:
*Lebanon is an independent republic, with complete independence, and a final homeland for all his children, sovereign, free and independent in his internationally recognized borders.
*Lebanon is a founding active member of the Arab League and is adherent and committed to its principles. Lebanon is also a founding and active member of the United Nations and committed to its principles and to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
*There would be no hegemony requested, no protection sought, and no special privileges granted to any other nation, and no union nor unification with any other nation.
*Maximum cooperation with the Arab countries, by maintaining equilibrium with all of them, and maintaining friendship with all foreign nations that recognize Lebanon’s total independence and respect it. There will be no legitimacy to any authority that contradicts the covenant of national coexistence. It was on the basis of this covenant that the political system in Lebanon was conceived distinctively from all other political systems in the Arab and Western nations, and it is on this same basis that all Lebanese ethnicities agreed to unite within the scope of the Lebanese identity. This political system produced special attributes that distinguished Lebanon from its neighbors and they are:
*The democratic parliamentary system;
*the National Concord;
*the public liberties and most significantly the freedom of opinion, religion, and free enterprise. The system also yielded a dialogue without duress (conciliatory dialogue) about the affairs and politics of the nation as specified in the constitution, such as the modification of the constitution, war and peace and treaties with other nations.
This Lebanese civilization which constitutes the heritage of Lebanon, and which is the result of existential living and political dialogues among all successive cultures and civilizations on his land, has continued to allow the Lebanese to remain steadfast in the face of conspiracies of partition and settlement and regime change, and to survive his most critical stages during years of fierce wars.
"Lebanon First"", is the patriotic emblem under which the "Cedars Revolution" united the majority of the Lebanese people in 2005 against the Syrian occupation and liberated the country. The Lebanese identity which distinguishes Lebanon has held steadfast in the past and will prevail and be ultimately victorious. It will also firmly endure in the protection of our forefather’s inheritance, God willing. All the forces of hate and evil including Syria, Iran and Hezbollah shall fail to marginalize it or replace it with another identity.
In conclusion, for Lebanon, the land of the holy cedars to be victorious in the face of the Axis of Evil powers dirty and evil wars against his existence, Each and every Lebanese in both Lebanon and Diaspora has a patriotic and ethical obligation and a holy duty to preserve by all means Lebanon's graceful identity and solidify its implantation in the conscience, hearts and souls of the new Lebanese generations and to root it in their awareness, as well as in Lebanon's blessed soil.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Ahmadinejad on the Lebanese - Israeli border
By: Elias Bejjani*
"For He who would love life, and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil, and do good. Let him seek peace, and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears open to their prayer; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”( 01 Peter1/3/10-12)
Unfortunately, Lebanon is facing at the present time a crucial and fatal Syrian-Iranian threat to the core and essence of its existence, soul of coexistence and freedom. And as if Lebanon's ongoing very serious and extremely explosive internal tribulations are not enough, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is ruthlessly and sadistically planning to pour oil over these volatile problems in a bid to fully control the country. Recklessly, with cold blood and numbed conscience his planned, irresponsible acts in south Lebanon might set the whole Middle East on the verge of a very dangerous military confrontation.
It has been confirmed by both the Iranian and Lebanese authorities that on October 13/2010 during Ahmadinejad’s controversial official visit to Lebanon, he will be the star of a number of show off public events in south Lebanon adjacent to the Israeli border. These events will be organized and fully controlled by the terrorist fundamentalist Hezbollah militia.
Two of these southern events are the inauguration of a garden financed by Iran, and an egotistical visit to the "Fatema Gate". Both sites are located on the Israeli - Lebanese border. At the "Fatima Gate", Ahmadinejad plans to throw a stone towards the Israeli side of the border to practically demonstrate his deeply rooted hatred and hostility against the Jewish state. This display of abhorrence, lack of tolerance, and anti-peace conduct goes along with his ongoing avert threats to annihilate the Jewish state that his country staunchly refuses to recognize.
It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah had started the symbolic stone throwing ritual at the "Fatima Gate" towards Israel after the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000. The hasty and questionable Israeli withdrawal gave this Iranian armed terrorist militia a golden opportunity to fully control the whole southern Lebanese region after Syria that was occupying Lebanon at that time did not allow the Lebanese Army to fill the Israeli withdrawal gap and deploy in the south and on the Lebanese Israeli borders. That bizarre status quo laid the foundation for the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Ahmadinejad is expected to visit an established Iranian center in the village of Maroun A-Ras, where a fierce battle took place in the 2006 war between Hezbollah and the Israeli army. He will also deliver a provocative and fiery demagogic speech in the southern city of Bint-Jbiel through which he will attack the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah oppose and are endeavouring by all means to discredit and abort.
Diplomatic officials in Jerusalem said that Lebanon, not Israel, would be the party to suffer most from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s scheduled visit to southern Lebanon. “Lebanon is the primary victim, and if it wants to stop slipping into the jaws of the Iranian crocodile, it – and the moderate Arab world – should raise a strong voice and say this provocateur is not welcome,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy said.
The USA on its part has raised serious concerns with the Lebanese officials including President Michele Suleiman about the visit. The American administration is worried about possible incidents along the volatile Lebanon-Israel border and is questioning the Lebanese wisdom and rationale in allowing the Iranian president to visit the tense border area. A USA official said on 05/10/10: "stone-throwing - either figurative or literal - is not a constructive behavior".
What is really scary about Ahmadinejad’s visit is that many Middle East analysts see it as a pretext to an imminent Hezbollah coup in Lebanon. According to a report published by the "DEBKAfile web site" on October 4, 2010: "The presidents of Iran and Syria agreed in Tehran on Saturday, Oct. 2, to support a Hezbollah military takeover of Lebanon's power centers, including the capital Beirut, right after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ends his controversial visit to the country on October 13-14. Ahmadinejad and Assad also decided to continue to harass Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri by delegitimization of his government, as well as intimidation and humiliation to force him to dissolve the Special Tribunal for Lebanon-STL which has brought charges against Hezbollah officials for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005. If this campaign disables the Hariri government, so much the better, because then Hezbollah will be able to walk in and set up a transitional administration together with its allies, the Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, and the Christian ex-general, Michel Aoun. This administration will rule the regions dominated by Hezbollah gunmen and proclaim its legality as a viable alternative to the failed Hariri government, http://www.debka.com/article/9062/.
Sadly, Lebanon at the present time is not a free or an independent country because of the Syrian - Iranian military hegemony enforced directly through Hezbollah's armed militia that remains the most technically-capable terrorist group in the world and a continued security threat to the United States, Arab and Middle East countries and to all the Free World. Hezbollah is responsible for some of the deadliest terrorist attacks against Americans in history. The United States, Australia, and Canada have designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization.
Hezbollah is not a Lebanese party by any criterion, but rather a foreign army in Lebanon. Its decision-making process, financing, ideology, training, supplies and weapons all come from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard headquarters and leadership. It has been well documented by several informed resources that Iran annually pays Hezbollah billions of dollars.
This militia was founded in Lebanon by the Iranian mullahs and the Syrian regime in 1982 and its main mission was and still is to export, advocate and spread by force the Khomeini religious ideology to all Middle Eastern countries. Hezbollah has been entrusted by the Iranian mullahs and the Syrian Baathist regime to topple the Lebanese Free State and erect in its place an Iranian satellite state.
The Lebanese people who oppose the growing Syria - Iranian devastating influence over their country are totally against Ahmadinejad’s visit and envisage it as a real threat to the fragile peace in the region and a dire infringement on their country's sovereignty and independence, especially that Ahmadinejad and other high ranking Iranian officials have boldly announced publically that "Lebanon is Iran's border with Israel" and that "Iran will defeat the Satanic USA and Israel in Lebanon".
In the same realm, many members of the Lebanese democratic March 14 Alliance - the political bloc headed by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Harri - have criticized the planned Iranian visit as a bid to underline Iran's potential to disrupt Middle East peace efforts. Meanwhile, the Christian Lebanese Forces leader, Dr. Samir Geagea, has called on the Iranian president to act as a respected official visitor and not as an instigator, to honor Lebanon's sovereignty and to utter his hostile and hate mongering stances from Iran and not from Lebanon.
In conclusion, Ahmadinejad’s provocative visit to Lebanon is not welcomed at all by the majority of the Lebanese people. Meanwhile, many Lebanese pro-peace and -democracy groups and parties are planning massive peaceful protest demonstrations in several towns and cities to show their opposition to visit.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
"For He who would love life, and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil, and do good. Let him seek peace, and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears open to their prayer; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”( 01 Peter1/3/10-12)
Unfortunately, Lebanon is facing at the present time a crucial and fatal Syrian-Iranian threat to the core and essence of its existence, soul of coexistence and freedom. And as if Lebanon's ongoing very serious and extremely explosive internal tribulations are not enough, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is ruthlessly and sadistically planning to pour oil over these volatile problems in a bid to fully control the country. Recklessly, with cold blood and numbed conscience his planned, irresponsible acts in south Lebanon might set the whole Middle East on the verge of a very dangerous military confrontation.
It has been confirmed by both the Iranian and Lebanese authorities that on October 13/2010 during Ahmadinejad’s controversial official visit to Lebanon, he will be the star of a number of show off public events in south Lebanon adjacent to the Israeli border. These events will be organized and fully controlled by the terrorist fundamentalist Hezbollah militia.
Two of these southern events are the inauguration of a garden financed by Iran, and an egotistical visit to the "Fatema Gate". Both sites are located on the Israeli - Lebanese border. At the "Fatima Gate", Ahmadinejad plans to throw a stone towards the Israeli side of the border to practically demonstrate his deeply rooted hatred and hostility against the Jewish state. This display of abhorrence, lack of tolerance, and anti-peace conduct goes along with his ongoing avert threats to annihilate the Jewish state that his country staunchly refuses to recognize.
It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah had started the symbolic stone throwing ritual at the "Fatima Gate" towards Israel after the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000. The hasty and questionable Israeli withdrawal gave this Iranian armed terrorist militia a golden opportunity to fully control the whole southern Lebanese region after Syria that was occupying Lebanon at that time did not allow the Lebanese Army to fill the Israeli withdrawal gap and deploy in the south and on the Lebanese Israeli borders. That bizarre status quo laid the foundation for the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Ahmadinejad is expected to visit an established Iranian center in the village of Maroun A-Ras, where a fierce battle took place in the 2006 war between Hezbollah and the Israeli army. He will also deliver a provocative and fiery demagogic speech in the southern city of Bint-Jbiel through which he will attack the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah oppose and are endeavouring by all means to discredit and abort.
Diplomatic officials in Jerusalem said that Lebanon, not Israel, would be the party to suffer most from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s scheduled visit to southern Lebanon. “Lebanon is the primary victim, and if it wants to stop slipping into the jaws of the Iranian crocodile, it – and the moderate Arab world – should raise a strong voice and say this provocateur is not welcome,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levy said.
The USA on its part has raised serious concerns with the Lebanese officials including President Michele Suleiman about the visit. The American administration is worried about possible incidents along the volatile Lebanon-Israel border and is questioning the Lebanese wisdom and rationale in allowing the Iranian president to visit the tense border area. A USA official said on 05/10/10: "stone-throwing - either figurative or literal - is not a constructive behavior".
What is really scary about Ahmadinejad’s visit is that many Middle East analysts see it as a pretext to an imminent Hezbollah coup in Lebanon. According to a report published by the "DEBKAfile web site" on October 4, 2010: "The presidents of Iran and Syria agreed in Tehran on Saturday, Oct. 2, to support a Hezbollah military takeover of Lebanon's power centers, including the capital Beirut, right after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ends his controversial visit to the country on October 13-14. Ahmadinejad and Assad also decided to continue to harass Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri by delegitimization of his government, as well as intimidation and humiliation to force him to dissolve the Special Tribunal for Lebanon-STL which has brought charges against Hezbollah officials for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005. If this campaign disables the Hariri government, so much the better, because then Hezbollah will be able to walk in and set up a transitional administration together with its allies, the Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, and the Christian ex-general, Michel Aoun. This administration will rule the regions dominated by Hezbollah gunmen and proclaim its legality as a viable alternative to the failed Hariri government, http://www.debka.com/article/9062/.
Sadly, Lebanon at the present time is not a free or an independent country because of the Syrian - Iranian military hegemony enforced directly through Hezbollah's armed militia that remains the most technically-capable terrorist group in the world and a continued security threat to the United States, Arab and Middle East countries and to all the Free World. Hezbollah is responsible for some of the deadliest terrorist attacks against Americans in history. The United States, Australia, and Canada have designated Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization.
Hezbollah is not a Lebanese party by any criterion, but rather a foreign army in Lebanon. Its decision-making process, financing, ideology, training, supplies and weapons all come from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard headquarters and leadership. It has been well documented by several informed resources that Iran annually pays Hezbollah billions of dollars.
This militia was founded in Lebanon by the Iranian mullahs and the Syrian regime in 1982 and its main mission was and still is to export, advocate and spread by force the Khomeini religious ideology to all Middle Eastern countries. Hezbollah has been entrusted by the Iranian mullahs and the Syrian Baathist regime to topple the Lebanese Free State and erect in its place an Iranian satellite state.
The Lebanese people who oppose the growing Syria - Iranian devastating influence over their country are totally against Ahmadinejad’s visit and envisage it as a real threat to the fragile peace in the region and a dire infringement on their country's sovereignty and independence, especially that Ahmadinejad and other high ranking Iranian officials have boldly announced publically that "Lebanon is Iran's border with Israel" and that "Iran will defeat the Satanic USA and Israel in Lebanon".
In the same realm, many members of the Lebanese democratic March 14 Alliance - the political bloc headed by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Harri - have criticized the planned Iranian visit as a bid to underline Iran's potential to disrupt Middle East peace efforts. Meanwhile, the Christian Lebanese Forces leader, Dr. Samir Geagea, has called on the Iranian president to act as a respected official visitor and not as an instigator, to honor Lebanon's sovereignty and to utter his hostile and hate mongering stances from Iran and not from Lebanon.
In conclusion, Ahmadinejad’s provocative visit to Lebanon is not welcomed at all by the majority of the Lebanese people. Meanwhile, many Lebanese pro-peace and -democracy groups and parties are planning massive peaceful protest demonstrations in several towns and cities to show their opposition to visit.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Woe to those who cause divisions and occasions of stumbling
By: Elias Bejjani*
James 4:14: "Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away"
In this earthly life each and every human being is a mere temporary guest in a mortal body, and the moment almighty God calls back his soul, the body becomes cold, motionless and dies, after which it quickly disintegrates and turns back to dust. Genesis 3:19: " By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return"
If human beings keep in mind this reality and act accordingly, not even one person will never ever be greedy, envious, harm others, do or say things that are
un-Godly and sinful. But sadly many of us blindly chose to ignore the significant fact of death and act as if they are immortal. Those who cause divisions and occasions of stumbling fall under this category of blinded people.
Life is full of all sorts of human struggles conflicts, strives, difficulties, hardships and sophisticated problems. In every encounter man's responses are motivated, managed, and determined either by righteousness or evilness . Needless to say that it is the responsibility of each person to see that the evil instincts are always tamed, restrained and put under control. Meanwhile it is a religious obligation for every faithful individual to handle all kinds of adversities with fear of God, commitment to the Bible teachings, love, forgiveness, fairness and openness.
The bible teaches us to respect and love others as we and respect love ourselves, hail their rights, honour their dignity and respond to the cries of help uttered by all those in need in all walk of life. When we do so, and help others we are in fact helping Jesus Himself. This is exactly the heavenly criteria according to which God will judge us on the last day because every person who is lonely, sick, crippled, retarded, hungry, thirsty, persecuted, and imprisoned is Jesus Himself. "1Corinthians10:24 "Let no one seek his own, but each one his neighbor’s good" John 15/12-13: “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends"
Almighty God is our Holy Father and we are all His beloved children no matter what is our skin colour, or our physical, educational or social status. He sent His only son, Jesus Christ, to be tortured, persecuted, humiliated and crossed in a bid to clean us from the original sin and set us free from the yoke of the devil's slavery. Accordingly He expects us, we His children to love and help each other.
Meanwhile many people chose to defy the Holy Father, ignore His Ten Commandments, defile and tarnish all heavenly graces, ridicule the Holy Bible and live in sin. These sensual mockers and sinners do not have the spirit, walk after their own ungodly lusts and fall preys to the devil's temptations. These un-Godly men creep like snakes and viciously endeavour to turn the grace of our God into indecency, and boldly deny our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ. They are opportunists, lairs, murmurers and complainers, walking after their body desires and their mouths speak proud things, and show respect of persons to gain advantage.
Matthew 18:7 “Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the occasion comes" They are the ones who by their smooth and flattering speech and camouflaged conduct deceive the hearts and souls of the innocent and cause divisions and occasions of stumbling among them contrary to the Bible teachings. They are the ones who don’t serve our Lord, but their own belly and instincts. We are ought to identify these chameleons and trouble makers and turn away from them.
Luke 17:1-4: "He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no occasions of stumbling should come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble".
God will keep these wicked people in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day when He shall cast them into the unquenchable fire of Gehenna.
Romans 12:19: "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord".
We all suffer because of such wicked peoples' deeds who love to cause divisions and enjoy planting seeds of evil where ever they can. They are people whom we deal with around the clock in all walks of life and could be family members, beloved ones, friends, colleagues, acquaintances as well as strangers. Sadly their venomous and mockery deeds are the same and accordingly our faithful defensive stances needs to be the same. We have a religious obligation to genuinely help them by all available means, and try to pull them out of their viciousness, but if all our efforts fail we ought to turn away from them and watch out to see that they do not make us preys for their immorality and subtleness. James 4:17: " To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin".
Turning away from them does not mean hatred and grudges, but mere cautionary stances. Meanwhile we are supposed to be always ready to forgive them when they repent.
Luke17:3 Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
The Bible calls on the faithful to be wise and cautious, but at the same time humble, meek and transparent. Matthew 10/16-20: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Let us pray that Almighty God shall save us from the traps and wickedness of those problem, heart, and family breakers.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
James 4:14: "Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away"
In this earthly life each and every human being is a mere temporary guest in a mortal body, and the moment almighty God calls back his soul, the body becomes cold, motionless and dies, after which it quickly disintegrates and turns back to dust. Genesis 3:19: " By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return"
If human beings keep in mind this reality and act accordingly, not even one person will never ever be greedy, envious, harm others, do or say things that are
un-Godly and sinful. But sadly many of us blindly chose to ignore the significant fact of death and act as if they are immortal. Those who cause divisions and occasions of stumbling fall under this category of blinded people.
Life is full of all sorts of human struggles conflicts, strives, difficulties, hardships and sophisticated problems. In every encounter man's responses are motivated, managed, and determined either by righteousness or evilness . Needless to say that it is the responsibility of each person to see that the evil instincts are always tamed, restrained and put under control. Meanwhile it is a religious obligation for every faithful individual to handle all kinds of adversities with fear of God, commitment to the Bible teachings, love, forgiveness, fairness and openness.
The bible teaches us to respect and love others as we and respect love ourselves, hail their rights, honour their dignity and respond to the cries of help uttered by all those in need in all walk of life. When we do so, and help others we are in fact helping Jesus Himself. This is exactly the heavenly criteria according to which God will judge us on the last day because every person who is lonely, sick, crippled, retarded, hungry, thirsty, persecuted, and imprisoned is Jesus Himself. "1Corinthians10:24 "Let no one seek his own, but each one his neighbor’s good" John 15/12-13: “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends"
Almighty God is our Holy Father and we are all His beloved children no matter what is our skin colour, or our physical, educational or social status. He sent His only son, Jesus Christ, to be tortured, persecuted, humiliated and crossed in a bid to clean us from the original sin and set us free from the yoke of the devil's slavery. Accordingly He expects us, we His children to love and help each other.
Meanwhile many people chose to defy the Holy Father, ignore His Ten Commandments, defile and tarnish all heavenly graces, ridicule the Holy Bible and live in sin. These sensual mockers and sinners do not have the spirit, walk after their own ungodly lusts and fall preys to the devil's temptations. These un-Godly men creep like snakes and viciously endeavour to turn the grace of our God into indecency, and boldly deny our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ. They are opportunists, lairs, murmurers and complainers, walking after their body desires and their mouths speak proud things, and show respect of persons to gain advantage.
Matthew 18:7 “Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the occasion comes" They are the ones who by their smooth and flattering speech and camouflaged conduct deceive the hearts and souls of the innocent and cause divisions and occasions of stumbling among them contrary to the Bible teachings. They are the ones who don’t serve our Lord, but their own belly and instincts. We are ought to identify these chameleons and trouble makers and turn away from them.
Luke 17:1-4: "He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no occasions of stumbling should come, but woe to him through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble".
God will keep these wicked people in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day when He shall cast them into the unquenchable fire of Gehenna.
Romans 12:19: "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord".
We all suffer because of such wicked peoples' deeds who love to cause divisions and enjoy planting seeds of evil where ever they can. They are people whom we deal with around the clock in all walks of life and could be family members, beloved ones, friends, colleagues, acquaintances as well as strangers. Sadly their venomous and mockery deeds are the same and accordingly our faithful defensive stances needs to be the same. We have a religious obligation to genuinely help them by all available means, and try to pull them out of their viciousness, but if all our efforts fail we ought to turn away from them and watch out to see that they do not make us preys for their immorality and subtleness. James 4:17: " To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin".
Turning away from them does not mean hatred and grudges, but mere cautionary stances. Meanwhile we are supposed to be always ready to forgive them when they repent.
Luke17:3 Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”
The Bible calls on the faithful to be wise and cautious, but at the same time humble, meek and transparent. Matthew 10/16-20: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Let us pray that Almighty God shall save us from the traps and wickedness of those problem, heart, and family breakers.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Hezbollah's looming Coup Scenario
By: Elias Bejjani*
The fundamental elite leadership of the pariah terrorist organization Hezbollah is becoming more aggressive, arrogant, and wicked. This is evident in the increasingly demeaning, humiliating and boastful manner with which they are dealing with both the Lebanese government and people. They are not bridling their overt hostile rhetoric or attitudes against all those Lebanese who oppose the Iranian-Syrian scheme to topple the country's democratic government, and erect in its place a regime that replicates Iran’s dictatorship of the mullahs. Their Mafioso tactics and criminal acts are increasing by the hour as well as their defiance to the state's constitutional authorities, and more importantly its regional and international commitments.
Hezbollah is putting enormous pressure on the Lebanese government and its political adversaries to kill the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) that is designated by the UN to investigate the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former PM, Rafiq Hariri, along with his escorts. Hezbollah believes that the tribunal will soon indict prominent members of its leadership with the crime.
Hezbollah's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has vowed not to abide by its rulings, tagging the tribunal as an Israeli-American conspiracy and a tool of treason against Lebanon. He has alleged that it was set up and fabricated through false witnesses to corner his "resistance" militia in a bid to dismantle and disarm it. Along with these provocative stances, the Iranian-backed militia's logistical preparations in the capital Beirut, Mount Lebanon, Bekka Valley, Southern Lebanon and other regions foretell a looming coup on the horizon to topple the government.
Last week, several local and regional reports have addressed this devastating coup threat giving many details. On the 20th of September 2010, the Kuwait AlWatan published a detailed report on the Hezbollah coup.
The report stated that Hezbollah's storming of the Beirut International Airport on September 19th 2010 to prevent the arrest of former General Security Department Chief Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed was a show of power. It makes clear that this brazen maneuver indicates an imminent coup is on the horizon should the Lebanese government fail to torpedo the STL. It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah's gunmen and high ranking leaders escorted Sayyed from the Beirut Airport Runway in a show of power described by observers as an invasion of the facility.
The report went into further details stating that vehicles loaded with Hezbollah gunmen welcomed Sayyed at the Beirut International Airport tarmac and took him to the VIP lounge without a permit from the foreign ministry. During his press conference at the lounge, Sayyed launched a vehement attack against Prime Minister Saad Hariri, State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza, Police Chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi and Detlev Mehlis, former head of the U.N. investigation into the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri. After this press conference, the head of Hezbollah's Security and Liaison Committee, Wafiq Safa, and his bodyguards were inside one of the vehicles which escorted Sayyed to his home.
According to the report, Hezbollah's recent aggressive rhetoric and military movement have been sending a clear message to all those concerned in both Lebanon and abroad. The message is that once the tribunal's indictment is issued against Hezbollah’s leadership the group's armed militia will be unleashed to take control of the state's institutions, and destroy media facilities owned by their adversaries in a replication of the notorious invasion of West Sunni Beirut on May 07 of 2010. The report’s sources also revealed that the Hezbollah's coup will be initiated by the resignation of its ministers from the Hariri government in a bid to instigate a major political and national crisis. This will be followed by an invasion of the entire country in an arrangement similar to that forced by Hamas in Gaza.
The source added that Hezbollah and its pro Syrian and pro Iranian allies have set up a progressive invasion plane to achieve this objective. It includes the following scenario:
They will initiate a rapid invasion of the Sunni Western Beirut and gain control over all roads from Beirut to the south throughout Chouf coast, AlKaroub region, and Sidon. They will not face any resistance with this part of the invasion because Druze leader Walid Jumblatt is expected to take a neutral stance. In case any resistance brakes at the "AlNaeme" Sunni Coastal town, Hezbollah has assigned its Sunni allies in Sidon City like Islamist Sheikh Maher Hammoud and the Nasserite Popular Organization led by Osama Saad to deal with it.
In regards to the Christian regions, Hezbollah will adopt a different strategy due to the fact that even if they succeed in invading these regions they won't be able to remain there for long. Instead, they will invade and then withdraw after the deployment of the Lebanese army troops while holding on to only certain important hotbeds of resistance, notably in AlMetn and Al Fanar areas. Meanwhile, the group's heavy military presence in the Jubail (Byblos) Shiite villages will not face any major obstacles. This dominance will give Hezbollah an opportunity to secure a bridge through which it can control the coastal highway linking the entire Northern Lebanon with Beirut at the Jubail city crossroads.
After Hezbollah secure this key area of transportation it will have control of all roads stretching from the high mountains down to the northern Bekka Valley and Baalbek city. Hezbollah is also counting on General Michel Aoun's military aid in the Christian regions. Aoun's role is to contain and abort by force any resistance from the Lebanese Forces and the Phalanges Parties. According to Hezbollah's scheme, the Lebanese army will deploy in the Christian regions after the withdrawal of its militia. The report further alleges that the army will give Hezbollah and its allies full freedom of movement in these regions.
Hezbollah will work on dismantling the Future Sunni Movement headed By P.M, Saad Al Hariri in western Sunni Beirut suburbs and Al Tarek Al Jdedi neighborhood, while in the north the group's focus will be on Alaweet and some Tripoli suburbs. A number of fundamental Sunni militias that Hezbollah has trained and armed, such as "The Islamic Tawheed Front" and "The Islamic Action Front", will be assigned to take control of Tripoli city. In the Bekka Valley Hezbollah will endeavour to see that Sunni towns residents such as Taalabaya and Saad Nile will not block the roads between northern and southern Bekaa. They will try with minimal losses to control the entire Bekka Valley midst from Majdal Anjar to Chtoura, Qeb Elias, and Saad Naeil.
In conclusion, based on Lebanon's deeply rooted history of resistance, mountainous geography, and mosaic-like demography, Hezbollah's plan for a coup as delineated by the report is doomed to fail.
Meanwhile, the report did not address any deterrence role that the Lebanese Army might provide. It is not likely that the free world, moderate Arab countries and Israel will allow Iranian-backed Hezbollah to topple Lebanon’s democratic government and replace it with an Islamist republic.
We strongly believe that all these democratic countries have an obligation to put a decisive immediate military end to the Syrian-Iranian expansionism and havoc schemes, and to as soon as possible eradicate totally their terrorist proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas or otherwise there be no peace or stability in the whole middle east.
Click her to read the Arabic Alwatan report
http://www.10452lccc.com/reports/alwatan20.09.10.htm
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
The fundamental elite leadership of the pariah terrorist organization Hezbollah is becoming more aggressive, arrogant, and wicked. This is evident in the increasingly demeaning, humiliating and boastful manner with which they are dealing with both the Lebanese government and people. They are not bridling their overt hostile rhetoric or attitudes against all those Lebanese who oppose the Iranian-Syrian scheme to topple the country's democratic government, and erect in its place a regime that replicates Iran’s dictatorship of the mullahs. Their Mafioso tactics and criminal acts are increasing by the hour as well as their defiance to the state's constitutional authorities, and more importantly its regional and international commitments.
Hezbollah is putting enormous pressure on the Lebanese government and its political adversaries to kill the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) that is designated by the UN to investigate the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former PM, Rafiq Hariri, along with his escorts. Hezbollah believes that the tribunal will soon indict prominent members of its leadership with the crime.
Hezbollah's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has vowed not to abide by its rulings, tagging the tribunal as an Israeli-American conspiracy and a tool of treason against Lebanon. He has alleged that it was set up and fabricated through false witnesses to corner his "resistance" militia in a bid to dismantle and disarm it. Along with these provocative stances, the Iranian-backed militia's logistical preparations in the capital Beirut, Mount Lebanon, Bekka Valley, Southern Lebanon and other regions foretell a looming coup on the horizon to topple the government.
Last week, several local and regional reports have addressed this devastating coup threat giving many details. On the 20th of September 2010, the Kuwait AlWatan published a detailed report on the Hezbollah coup.
The report stated that Hezbollah's storming of the Beirut International Airport on September 19th 2010 to prevent the arrest of former General Security Department Chief Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed was a show of power. It makes clear that this brazen maneuver indicates an imminent coup is on the horizon should the Lebanese government fail to torpedo the STL. It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah's gunmen and high ranking leaders escorted Sayyed from the Beirut Airport Runway in a show of power described by observers as an invasion of the facility.
The report went into further details stating that vehicles loaded with Hezbollah gunmen welcomed Sayyed at the Beirut International Airport tarmac and took him to the VIP lounge without a permit from the foreign ministry. During his press conference at the lounge, Sayyed launched a vehement attack against Prime Minister Saad Hariri, State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza, Police Chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi and Detlev Mehlis, former head of the U.N. investigation into the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri. After this press conference, the head of Hezbollah's Security and Liaison Committee, Wafiq Safa, and his bodyguards were inside one of the vehicles which escorted Sayyed to his home.
According to the report, Hezbollah's recent aggressive rhetoric and military movement have been sending a clear message to all those concerned in both Lebanon and abroad. The message is that once the tribunal's indictment is issued against Hezbollah’s leadership the group's armed militia will be unleashed to take control of the state's institutions, and destroy media facilities owned by their adversaries in a replication of the notorious invasion of West Sunni Beirut on May 07 of 2010. The report’s sources also revealed that the Hezbollah's coup will be initiated by the resignation of its ministers from the Hariri government in a bid to instigate a major political and national crisis. This will be followed by an invasion of the entire country in an arrangement similar to that forced by Hamas in Gaza.
The source added that Hezbollah and its pro Syrian and pro Iranian allies have set up a progressive invasion plane to achieve this objective. It includes the following scenario:
They will initiate a rapid invasion of the Sunni Western Beirut and gain control over all roads from Beirut to the south throughout Chouf coast, AlKaroub region, and Sidon. They will not face any resistance with this part of the invasion because Druze leader Walid Jumblatt is expected to take a neutral stance. In case any resistance brakes at the "AlNaeme" Sunni Coastal town, Hezbollah has assigned its Sunni allies in Sidon City like Islamist Sheikh Maher Hammoud and the Nasserite Popular Organization led by Osama Saad to deal with it.
In regards to the Christian regions, Hezbollah will adopt a different strategy due to the fact that even if they succeed in invading these regions they won't be able to remain there for long. Instead, they will invade and then withdraw after the deployment of the Lebanese army troops while holding on to only certain important hotbeds of resistance, notably in AlMetn and Al Fanar areas. Meanwhile, the group's heavy military presence in the Jubail (Byblos) Shiite villages will not face any major obstacles. This dominance will give Hezbollah an opportunity to secure a bridge through which it can control the coastal highway linking the entire Northern Lebanon with Beirut at the Jubail city crossroads.
After Hezbollah secure this key area of transportation it will have control of all roads stretching from the high mountains down to the northern Bekka Valley and Baalbek city. Hezbollah is also counting on General Michel Aoun's military aid in the Christian regions. Aoun's role is to contain and abort by force any resistance from the Lebanese Forces and the Phalanges Parties. According to Hezbollah's scheme, the Lebanese army will deploy in the Christian regions after the withdrawal of its militia. The report further alleges that the army will give Hezbollah and its allies full freedom of movement in these regions.
Hezbollah will work on dismantling the Future Sunni Movement headed By P.M, Saad Al Hariri in western Sunni Beirut suburbs and Al Tarek Al Jdedi neighborhood, while in the north the group's focus will be on Alaweet and some Tripoli suburbs. A number of fundamental Sunni militias that Hezbollah has trained and armed, such as "The Islamic Tawheed Front" and "The Islamic Action Front", will be assigned to take control of Tripoli city. In the Bekka Valley Hezbollah will endeavour to see that Sunni towns residents such as Taalabaya and Saad Nile will not block the roads between northern and southern Bekaa. They will try with minimal losses to control the entire Bekka Valley midst from Majdal Anjar to Chtoura, Qeb Elias, and Saad Naeil.
In conclusion, based on Lebanon's deeply rooted history of resistance, mountainous geography, and mosaic-like demography, Hezbollah's plan for a coup as delineated by the report is doomed to fail.
Meanwhile, the report did not address any deterrence role that the Lebanese Army might provide. It is not likely that the free world, moderate Arab countries and Israel will allow Iranian-backed Hezbollah to topple Lebanon’s democratic government and replace it with an Islamist republic.
We strongly believe that all these democratic countries have an obligation to put a decisive immediate military end to the Syrian-Iranian expansionism and havoc schemes, and to as soon as possible eradicate totally their terrorist proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas or otherwise there be no peace or stability in the whole middle east.
Click her to read the Arabic Alwatan report
http://www.10452lccc.com/reports/alwatan20.09.10.htm
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
An Imminent Coup by Hezbollah in Lebanon
By: Elias Bejjani*
A Saudi advice has delayed the return of Lebanon's PM, Saad Al Hariri, from Saudi Arabia to Beirut. Meanwhile, 3500 Hezbollah militiamen are secretly deployed in the Eastern Christian region according to a report that was published yesterday by the "Beirut Observer" web site. Hezbollah has reached its final logistic preparations to execute an armed coup to take over all of Lebanon by force. The web site attributed its information to well-informed sources in the Saudi media. Below is a summary of the report with other related information:
Well-informed Saudi sources have confirmed to the "Beirut Observer" that the delay of Lebanon's PM return to Beirut came in response to advice by Saudi officials. The Saudis are extremely concerned in regards to information became available to them indicating that an imminent Hezbollah coup is in on the horizon. The Saudis are fearful that Hezbollah’s threats are not mere political rhetoric this time. The Iranian-armed militia has set all the needed logistic preparations for the coup and is only waiting for the zero hour.
According to the report, Hezbollah's planned coup will take a camouflaged cover of civilian protection this time. But the reality on the ground is that it will not be different from Hezbollah's bloody and cruel invasion of Western Sunni Beirut and Druze Mount Lebanon in May 2008. The coup will be initiated by putting government officials under house arrest. This will include Lebanon's PM, Saad Al Hariri, General prosecutor Said Mirza, Internal Security Forces General Director General Ashraf Rifi as well as many other officials and politicians. Sources said that Information Branch President Colonel Wesam Hassan will be spared from house arrest in the early hours of the coup.
The report went on to conclude that at the present time the centre of attention is a scheduled visit by a Saudi envoy to Damascus today and on the results of his talks with Syrian officials. The Saudi mission to Syria will focus on the current volatile situation in Lebanon, the avoidance of bloodshed, strife and and the repetition of what happened on May 2008. The Saudis fear that the impact of any military coup executed by Hezbollah in Lebanon will spread chaos over the entire region.
Private sources from Beirut unveiled that Hezbollah has deployed 3500 of its armed militia men along the Mediterranean coast in the Christian region from Beirut northwards through the cities of Junieh, Tabarja and Batroun. These bearded Hezbollah men are residing in chalets and apartments located in Christian areas and on standby alert status in case of any political development or security emergency that may require their armed intervention.
According to the report, a decision was taken by Hezbollah's leadership to invade Christian regions loyal to the March 14 Coalition, and subdue them by military force. Hezbollah's Leadership aim from such an invasion is to deliver a bloody intimidation message to all Lebanese who oppose its hegemony over the country. They want to prove on the ground that they have the upper hand, the sole power and the authority all over the country.
The report attributed to the same sources that Hezbollah has bought real estate in the Christian area of Muarab through Christians intermediaries loyal to General Michel Aoun, and in the Christian town of Bikfaya through Syrian Socialist National Party loyalists. In anticipation of potential fights with parties, possession of this real estate allows Hezbollah militia to surround the head of the Christian Lebanese Forces Party, Dr. Samir Geagea, and the Head of the Kataeb Christian Party, Amin Gemayel.
Yesterday, Hezbollah issued a statement saying that Lebanon's Attorney General Judge Said Mirza’s request to summon former General Security chief Jamil as-Sayyed on Thursday was political par excellence: "We were surprised by the judiciary’s decision which is political and oppressive to those who declare the truth,” the statement said. It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah invaded West Beirut and Mount Lebanon in May 2008 because the Lebanese Government decided to transfer the Beirut airport security chief, a Hezbollah loyalist. The Lebanese are fearful a replication of the same defiance scenario is imminent.
Hezbollah's statement comes after Sayyed said on Sunday that “[Prime Minister Saad Hariri] should take a lie detector test to prove he did not support or fund false witnesses in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL),” in investigating the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, and vowed to take his right “with his own hands.” Sayyed was detained from 2005 to 2009 on suspicion of involvement in the Rafik Hariri murder. In April 2009, the STL ordered his release without charges due to lack of evidence.
Hezbollah has called for revoking the judiciary's decision to summon Sayyed for questioning, adding that it should have summoned “those who were bragging that they collaborated with Israel at a certain period of time.” Hezbollah and its two evil of axis masters, Syria and Iran with all their Lebanese mercenary armed allies are ratcheting up pressure aiming to discredit a UN-backed tribunal expected to implicate Hezbollah and most likely Syria in the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
Below is the link for the Arabic report published yesterday by the Beirut Observer web site
http://beirutobserver.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37340:hariri-&catid=39:features
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
A Saudi advice has delayed the return of Lebanon's PM, Saad Al Hariri, from Saudi Arabia to Beirut. Meanwhile, 3500 Hezbollah militiamen are secretly deployed in the Eastern Christian region according to a report that was published yesterday by the "Beirut Observer" web site. Hezbollah has reached its final logistic preparations to execute an armed coup to take over all of Lebanon by force. The web site attributed its information to well-informed sources in the Saudi media. Below is a summary of the report with other related information:
Well-informed Saudi sources have confirmed to the "Beirut Observer" that the delay of Lebanon's PM return to Beirut came in response to advice by Saudi officials. The Saudis are extremely concerned in regards to information became available to them indicating that an imminent Hezbollah coup is in on the horizon. The Saudis are fearful that Hezbollah’s threats are not mere political rhetoric this time. The Iranian-armed militia has set all the needed logistic preparations for the coup and is only waiting for the zero hour.
According to the report, Hezbollah's planned coup will take a camouflaged cover of civilian protection this time. But the reality on the ground is that it will not be different from Hezbollah's bloody and cruel invasion of Western Sunni Beirut and Druze Mount Lebanon in May 2008. The coup will be initiated by putting government officials under house arrest. This will include Lebanon's PM, Saad Al Hariri, General prosecutor Said Mirza, Internal Security Forces General Director General Ashraf Rifi as well as many other officials and politicians. Sources said that Information Branch President Colonel Wesam Hassan will be spared from house arrest in the early hours of the coup.
The report went on to conclude that at the present time the centre of attention is a scheduled visit by a Saudi envoy to Damascus today and on the results of his talks with Syrian officials. The Saudi mission to Syria will focus on the current volatile situation in Lebanon, the avoidance of bloodshed, strife and and the repetition of what happened on May 2008. The Saudis fear that the impact of any military coup executed by Hezbollah in Lebanon will spread chaos over the entire region.
Private sources from Beirut unveiled that Hezbollah has deployed 3500 of its armed militia men along the Mediterranean coast in the Christian region from Beirut northwards through the cities of Junieh, Tabarja and Batroun. These bearded Hezbollah men are residing in chalets and apartments located in Christian areas and on standby alert status in case of any political development or security emergency that may require their armed intervention.
According to the report, a decision was taken by Hezbollah's leadership to invade Christian regions loyal to the March 14 Coalition, and subdue them by military force. Hezbollah's Leadership aim from such an invasion is to deliver a bloody intimidation message to all Lebanese who oppose its hegemony over the country. They want to prove on the ground that they have the upper hand, the sole power and the authority all over the country.
The report attributed to the same sources that Hezbollah has bought real estate in the Christian area of Muarab through Christians intermediaries loyal to General Michel Aoun, and in the Christian town of Bikfaya through Syrian Socialist National Party loyalists. In anticipation of potential fights with parties, possession of this real estate allows Hezbollah militia to surround the head of the Christian Lebanese Forces Party, Dr. Samir Geagea, and the Head of the Kataeb Christian Party, Amin Gemayel.
Yesterday, Hezbollah issued a statement saying that Lebanon's Attorney General Judge Said Mirza’s request to summon former General Security chief Jamil as-Sayyed on Thursday was political par excellence: "We were surprised by the judiciary’s decision which is political and oppressive to those who declare the truth,” the statement said. It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah invaded West Beirut and Mount Lebanon in May 2008 because the Lebanese Government decided to transfer the Beirut airport security chief, a Hezbollah loyalist. The Lebanese are fearful a replication of the same defiance scenario is imminent.
Hezbollah's statement comes after Sayyed said on Sunday that “[Prime Minister Saad Hariri] should take a lie detector test to prove he did not support or fund false witnesses in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL),” in investigating the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, and vowed to take his right “with his own hands.” Sayyed was detained from 2005 to 2009 on suspicion of involvement in the Rafik Hariri murder. In April 2009, the STL ordered his release without charges due to lack of evidence.
Hezbollah has called for revoking the judiciary's decision to summon Sayyed for questioning, adding that it should have summoned “those who were bragging that they collaborated with Israel at a certain period of time.” Hezbollah and its two evil of axis masters, Syria and Iran with all their Lebanese mercenary armed allies are ratcheting up pressure aiming to discredit a UN-backed tribunal expected to implicate Hezbollah and most likely Syria in the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
Below is the link for the Arabic report published yesterday by the Beirut Observer web site
http://beirutobserver.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37340:hariri-&catid=39:features
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
The Lebanese will never succumb to terrorism
By: Elias Bejjani*
The on going dire challenges that are imposed on our Lebanese people and beloved country, Lebanon, by the Axis of Evil countries and organizations, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran and their mercenaries, does not affect our self confidence or weaken our strong spirit of peaceful and civilized resistance. These existential challenges make us stronger and more adamant to reclaim by all means our confiscated freedom, independence and sovereignty.
With each and every threat Hezbollah voices to subdue us, take over Lebanon and annihilate our identity and culture, our perseverance and longing for a free Lebanon without Hezbollah and its likes are reignited and rejuvenated. Threats and intimidation never scared our courageous, peace loving people in the past, and definitely will never now or at any time in the future no matter who is threatening or how loud and sturdy are the threats.
We, the sovereign and faithful Lebanese, intensely believe in our legitimate and holy right to a descent, free and democratic Lebanon. It must be crystal clear to all aggressors, fundamentalists, terrorists and powers of evil that we shall never allow any of them to control our country or force on our people a regime that drags us back into a Stone Age era like the Syrian Baathist and Iranian mullahs' regimes.
We plan, anticipate, wait and hold on to our faith and hopes. We strive and work hard for achievable reachable, reasonable, legitimate, righteous, acceptable and logical aims. We have always been convinced that our patriotic dreams and hopes can be fulfilled when genuinely embraced with faith, self-confidence, perseverance, determination, devotion, knowledge and a strong will. We strived and shall keeping on striving to keep Lebanon a pioneering, civilized nation and to live peacefully under the umbrella of law, justice, freedom and human rights.
We strived and shall keeping striving to make our society an example in righteous virtues and tolerance.We struggled and shall keep struggling to be in full control of our destiny, history, heritage and culture.We worked hard and shall continue doing so for a Lebanon in which only the language of peace and love will prevail.
We are hopeful that the day of positive change will come soon to fulfill our people’s dreams, ambitions and aspirations. We are hopeful that equality will rule where individual rights are respected, law is the criteria for judgment and qualifications are the only basis for reward and appreciation. We are adamant to fight for righteous national slogans that our people understand and respect. We long that peace shall defeat war, stability beat terrorism, qualifications overcome favoritism, righteousness replaces oppression, nationalism abolishes subservience and openness wins over isolation.
Lebanon cannot survive without justice no matter what price the Lebanese need to pay. Meanwhile, Lebanon will not be again an oasis for peace if the criminals are not made accountable and put on trial. History tells us that political assassinations and oppression will not end unless the state of law prevails. Accordingly, all Lebanese politicians and leaders who are currently hailing all vicious attacks against the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) must be identified and tagged as traitors who are succumbing to terrorism and willingly carrying the yoke of enslavement.
The Lebanese need to be fully aware that the vicious ongoing campaign against the STL waged by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and their mercenaries is a destructive well planned scheme against the Lebanese people’s dignity, honor, rights and future.
Hezbollah's terrorism scheme to intimidate the Free World, Arab countries and the UN must not be allowed to succeed or otherwise Lebanon will fall prey to Syria and Iran. Those wicked and cowardly Lebanese politicians who are trying to corner the Lebanese people between either stability or justice must be indicted on charges of treason because no country can be independent and free without justice.
The Lebanese dreams and hopes in a civilized and prosperous free, democratic and multicultural Lebanon will all be evaporated and buried if, God forbid, justice is compromised and Hezbollah is allowed to get away with the Hariri crime and other horrible atrocities. Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, and all other suspects in the Hariri crime and other political crimes must be put on trial and justice served.
To those Lebanese politicians who sold out their country and its people for thirty pieces of silver we say: enough is enough, no more deceiving and conniving. The time has come for you to face justice and pay for your crimes.
In conclusion, no matter what the hardships are, the faithful Lebanese people will not abandon their patriotic obligations to defend their beloved country, and by God's graces shall always stand tall like their Holy Cedars, and will never ever succumb to terrorism.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
The on going dire challenges that are imposed on our Lebanese people and beloved country, Lebanon, by the Axis of Evil countries and organizations, Hezbollah, Syria, Iran and their mercenaries, does not affect our self confidence or weaken our strong spirit of peaceful and civilized resistance. These existential challenges make us stronger and more adamant to reclaim by all means our confiscated freedom, independence and sovereignty.
With each and every threat Hezbollah voices to subdue us, take over Lebanon and annihilate our identity and culture, our perseverance and longing for a free Lebanon without Hezbollah and its likes are reignited and rejuvenated. Threats and intimidation never scared our courageous, peace loving people in the past, and definitely will never now or at any time in the future no matter who is threatening or how loud and sturdy are the threats.
We, the sovereign and faithful Lebanese, intensely believe in our legitimate and holy right to a descent, free and democratic Lebanon. It must be crystal clear to all aggressors, fundamentalists, terrorists and powers of evil that we shall never allow any of them to control our country or force on our people a regime that drags us back into a Stone Age era like the Syrian Baathist and Iranian mullahs' regimes.
We plan, anticipate, wait and hold on to our faith and hopes. We strive and work hard for achievable reachable, reasonable, legitimate, righteous, acceptable and logical aims. We have always been convinced that our patriotic dreams and hopes can be fulfilled when genuinely embraced with faith, self-confidence, perseverance, determination, devotion, knowledge and a strong will. We strived and shall keeping on striving to keep Lebanon a pioneering, civilized nation and to live peacefully under the umbrella of law, justice, freedom and human rights.
We strived and shall keeping striving to make our society an example in righteous virtues and tolerance.We struggled and shall keep struggling to be in full control of our destiny, history, heritage and culture.We worked hard and shall continue doing so for a Lebanon in which only the language of peace and love will prevail.
We are hopeful that the day of positive change will come soon to fulfill our people’s dreams, ambitions and aspirations. We are hopeful that equality will rule where individual rights are respected, law is the criteria for judgment and qualifications are the only basis for reward and appreciation. We are adamant to fight for righteous national slogans that our people understand and respect. We long that peace shall defeat war, stability beat terrorism, qualifications overcome favoritism, righteousness replaces oppression, nationalism abolishes subservience and openness wins over isolation.
Lebanon cannot survive without justice no matter what price the Lebanese need to pay. Meanwhile, Lebanon will not be again an oasis for peace if the criminals are not made accountable and put on trial. History tells us that political assassinations and oppression will not end unless the state of law prevails. Accordingly, all Lebanese politicians and leaders who are currently hailing all vicious attacks against the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) must be identified and tagged as traitors who are succumbing to terrorism and willingly carrying the yoke of enslavement.
The Lebanese need to be fully aware that the vicious ongoing campaign against the STL waged by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and their mercenaries is a destructive well planned scheme against the Lebanese people’s dignity, honor, rights and future.
Hezbollah's terrorism scheme to intimidate the Free World, Arab countries and the UN must not be allowed to succeed or otherwise Lebanon will fall prey to Syria and Iran. Those wicked and cowardly Lebanese politicians who are trying to corner the Lebanese people between either stability or justice must be indicted on charges of treason because no country can be independent and free without justice.
The Lebanese dreams and hopes in a civilized and prosperous free, democratic and multicultural Lebanon will all be evaporated and buried if, God forbid, justice is compromised and Hezbollah is allowed to get away with the Hariri crime and other horrible atrocities. Hezbollah, Syria, Iran, and all other suspects in the Hariri crime and other political crimes must be put on trial and justice served.
To those Lebanese politicians who sold out their country and its people for thirty pieces of silver we say: enough is enough, no more deceiving and conniving. The time has come for you to face justice and pay for your crimes.
In conclusion, no matter what the hardships are, the faithful Lebanese people will not abandon their patriotic obligations to defend their beloved country, and by God's graces shall always stand tall like their Holy Cedars, and will never ever succumb to terrorism.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC) strongly condemns the killing of four civilian Israelis
The Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC) strongly condemns the killing of four civilian Israelis
Press Release/September 01/2010
http://www.10452lccc.com
There are no words that could actually describe the brutal killing of four Israeli civilians on August 31 near Hebron in the West Bank. What is disgusting and extremely unpardonable by all means is the kind of bizarre celebrations that were carried out by the Hamas Militants in the Gaza trip. The massacre was celebrated on the Gaza streets by distributing sweets as a sign of joy as if the crime was a great and honorable military victory. This kind of cruel conduct is totally inhuman and has no relation at all to civilization, peace, freedom, tolerance and human rights. Definitely such a barbaric ritual belongs to the stone age era and to the jungle law.
We, in the Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC), fully adopt the statement issued today by the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs that said: "“Canada strongly condemns last night’s killing of four Israeli civilians. We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims’ families. Such brutal, cowardly acts by those who resist peace efforts must not be allowed to undermine the important step that will be taken toward a comprehensive, negotiated settlement tomorrow in Washington, D.C.
“Canada encourages both parties to remain committed to the resumption of negotiations. Violence and unilateral actions will only jeopardize the peace talks.”
We express our condolences to the victims' families and call for the terrorists behind this horrific act to be brought to justice.
In conclusion there will be no peace in the whole Middle East before the Syrian and Iranian regimes that are fully accountable for breeding, training, fostering, financing and exporting terrorism and fundamental organizations are either toppled like was the situation in both Iraq and Afghanistan or forced by all means to completely stop their terrorism schemes.
For the LCCC
Elias Bejjani
Press Release/September 01/2010
http://www.10452lccc.com
There are no words that could actually describe the brutal killing of four Israeli civilians on August 31 near Hebron in the West Bank. What is disgusting and extremely unpardonable by all means is the kind of bizarre celebrations that were carried out by the Hamas Militants in the Gaza trip. The massacre was celebrated on the Gaza streets by distributing sweets as a sign of joy as if the crime was a great and honorable military victory. This kind of cruel conduct is totally inhuman and has no relation at all to civilization, peace, freedom, tolerance and human rights. Definitely such a barbaric ritual belongs to the stone age era and to the jungle law.
We, in the Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC), fully adopt the statement issued today by the Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs that said: "“Canada strongly condemns last night’s killing of four Israeli civilians. We extend our deepest sympathies to the victims’ families. Such brutal, cowardly acts by those who resist peace efforts must not be allowed to undermine the important step that will be taken toward a comprehensive, negotiated settlement tomorrow in Washington, D.C.
“Canada encourages both parties to remain committed to the resumption of negotiations. Violence and unilateral actions will only jeopardize the peace talks.”
We express our condolences to the victims' families and call for the terrorists behind this horrific act to be brought to justice.
In conclusion there will be no peace in the whole Middle East before the Syrian and Iranian regimes that are fully accountable for breeding, training, fostering, financing and exporting terrorism and fundamental organizations are either toppled like was the situation in both Iraq and Afghanistan or forced by all means to completely stop their terrorism schemes.
For the LCCC
Elias Bejjani
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
We Can't Serve God and Mammon
By: Elias Bejjani*
"You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared whose will they be?" - Luke12:20
There are very few people who did not experience at a certain point of their life a traumatic and disappointing encounter with a family member, a beloved person, a friend, or an acquaintance who loved money too much. Worship of money, better known biblically as Mammon, changes the thinking, emotions, conduct, relationships, and priorities of people.
These bitter changes are for the worse. They strip those who worship money of their humanity, numbing their consciences, and turn them into wild beasts. "But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows". -1 Timothy 6:9-10
Since his first ancestors Adam and Eve were cast out of paradise and sent to live on earth, man has been fooling himself. Suffering a kind of elective blindness to the transient and temporary nature of life’s journey on earth, choosing to entangle himself into its trap. Although life’s unfolding events tell him loudly to wake up each day, he remains too blind to see that his life is not his own property and that He who granted his life can take it away at any time.
Every day we witness people around us get sick and find no cure for their fatal ailments. We see other suffer and die because of age, sickness, accidents and so forth, leaving this mortal world empty-handed. Ironically, we turn our heads to the other side and fool ourselves through denial, while deep inside we know that we are going to face the same fate too and die. But stupidly we choose to rebuff this reality and continue to behave as if we are immortal and shall live forever. "How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God". - Mark 10: 22 & 25.
Man's selfishness and lack of faith drags him into temptation and inflates his ego to the extent that he ignores the dire consequences of being wicked. Because of his greed for money he falls prey to evil thoughts such as theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance and folly. He gives in to temptation, worships God's earthly treasures, and defies God's teachings. He ignores the fact that God created these riches and granted them to man, and not vice versa.
Sadly, the money-worshiper becomes a mere custodian to these treasures and a slave to his evil instincts. In death he will have no choice but to leave all his earthy belongings here on earth. Meanwhile, his body will decay and return to earth as dust. God, who grants the life to the soul on earth in an earthy body will call on it whenever He chooses to.
Man is fully aware that what is on earth will remain on it. And although he knows that no creature has ever has been able to take with him any of its riches when the hour of departure ensues, he stubbornly allows covetousness to dominate his life by making earthy riches his priority. Man turns a blind eye to the fact that God created his soul, granted it the grace of life, and that this soul is just a guest in an earthly body.
You man, remember that from dust you were made and to dust you will return
What happens to the body when God calls on the soul to return to him? It becomes cold, motionless and immediately starts to disintegrate. While worms from within it go on a hasty devouring process eating its parts one after the other until ultimately the body goes back to dust. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
What does man take with him on his departure from earth? Nothing but his deeds and he will be judged on them when facing Jesus Christ on The Day of Judgment. According to these deeds he will either return to his Father’s dwelling in heaven, or be cast to Gehenna where the fire is unquenchable and the grinding of teeth is continuous.
Everything on earth will remain on it
God might take back our souls at any time while everything on earth will remain on it. "Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses. - Luke 12:15-20
Our lives, the earth, and all that is on it are gifts from God. Gifts that He wants us to use in a righteous manner that satisfies Him. He has a plan for each and every one of us and for each gift that he granted us there is a purpose. We are required to be generous with these Godly gifts and make them available to others, especially those who are most in need. If we become greedy and evil, holding on to these gifts as to deprive those brothers and sisters who are in need them, God our Father punishes us in His anger at the Day of Judgment by casting us into Gehenna.
God knows how much earthy treasures are tempting and how fragile and weak is our will. He warned us of this trap: "you can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and money both." - Matthew 6:24
Evil always contains the seeds of its own destruction which lead to its downfall
By turning money and all other possessions into a curse that also hurts others, we are made evil and Mammon worshipers. By doing so and defying biblical teachings, we distance ourselves from God and move toward Gehenna as evil people. But let us remember that Evil always contains the seeds of its own destruction which lead to its downfall, even at its moments of apparent triumph.
We either make these Godly gifts a grace or a curse
In conclusion, when money is abundant in our possession, we need to be constantly aware that God gave them to us as gifts and for a plan and a purpose. He expects us to use them wisely and righteously. We either make these Godly gifts a grace or a curse, but the choice is ours. "Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." - Luke 12:33 & 34
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
"You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared whose will they be?" - Luke12:20
There are very few people who did not experience at a certain point of their life a traumatic and disappointing encounter with a family member, a beloved person, a friend, or an acquaintance who loved money too much. Worship of money, better known biblically as Mammon, changes the thinking, emotions, conduct, relationships, and priorities of people.
These bitter changes are for the worse. They strip those who worship money of their humanity, numbing their consciences, and turn them into wild beasts. "But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows". -1 Timothy 6:9-10
Since his first ancestors Adam and Eve were cast out of paradise and sent to live on earth, man has been fooling himself. Suffering a kind of elective blindness to the transient and temporary nature of life’s journey on earth, choosing to entangle himself into its trap. Although life’s unfolding events tell him loudly to wake up each day, he remains too blind to see that his life is not his own property and that He who granted his life can take it away at any time.
Every day we witness people around us get sick and find no cure for their fatal ailments. We see other suffer and die because of age, sickness, accidents and so forth, leaving this mortal world empty-handed. Ironically, we turn our heads to the other side and fool ourselves through denial, while deep inside we know that we are going to face the same fate too and die. But stupidly we choose to rebuff this reality and continue to behave as if we are immortal and shall live forever. "How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into the Kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God". - Mark 10: 22 & 25.
Man's selfishness and lack of faith drags him into temptation and inflates his ego to the extent that he ignores the dire consequences of being wicked. Because of his greed for money he falls prey to evil thoughts such as theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance and folly. He gives in to temptation, worships God's earthly treasures, and defies God's teachings. He ignores the fact that God created these riches and granted them to man, and not vice versa.
Sadly, the money-worshiper becomes a mere custodian to these treasures and a slave to his evil instincts. In death he will have no choice but to leave all his earthy belongings here on earth. Meanwhile, his body will decay and return to earth as dust. God, who grants the life to the soul on earth in an earthy body will call on it whenever He chooses to.
Man is fully aware that what is on earth will remain on it. And although he knows that no creature has ever has been able to take with him any of its riches when the hour of departure ensues, he stubbornly allows covetousness to dominate his life by making earthy riches his priority. Man turns a blind eye to the fact that God created his soul, granted it the grace of life, and that this soul is just a guest in an earthly body.
You man, remember that from dust you were made and to dust you will return
What happens to the body when God calls on the soul to return to him? It becomes cold, motionless and immediately starts to disintegrate. While worms from within it go on a hasty devouring process eating its parts one after the other until ultimately the body goes back to dust. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
What does man take with him on his departure from earth? Nothing but his deeds and he will be judged on them when facing Jesus Christ on The Day of Judgment. According to these deeds he will either return to his Father’s dwelling in heaven, or be cast to Gehenna where the fire is unquenchable and the grinding of teeth is continuous.
Everything on earth will remain on it
God might take back our souls at any time while everything on earth will remain on it. "Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses. - Luke 12:15-20
Our lives, the earth, and all that is on it are gifts from God. Gifts that He wants us to use in a righteous manner that satisfies Him. He has a plan for each and every one of us and for each gift that he granted us there is a purpose. We are required to be generous with these Godly gifts and make them available to others, especially those who are most in need. If we become greedy and evil, holding on to these gifts as to deprive those brothers and sisters who are in need them, God our Father punishes us in His anger at the Day of Judgment by casting us into Gehenna.
God knows how much earthy treasures are tempting and how fragile and weak is our will. He warned us of this trap: "you can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and money both." - Matthew 6:24
Evil always contains the seeds of its own destruction which lead to its downfall
By turning money and all other possessions into a curse that also hurts others, we are made evil and Mammon worshipers. By doing so and defying biblical teachings, we distance ourselves from God and move toward Gehenna as evil people. But let us remember that Evil always contains the seeds of its own destruction which lead to its downfall, even at its moments of apparent triumph.
We either make these Godly gifts a grace or a curse
In conclusion, when money is abundant in our possession, we need to be constantly aware that God gave them to us as gifts and for a plan and a purpose. He expects us to use them wisely and righteously. We either make these Godly gifts a grace or a curse, but the choice is ours. "Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which don’t grow old, a treasure in the heavens that doesn’t fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." - Luke 12:33 & 34
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Lebanese Diaspora and the Hezbollahisation of Lebanon
By Elias Bejjani*
Every time two Lebanese meet in any of the Diaspora countries, one of them usually starts the conversation with the same nostalgic questions. How is the situation back home in Lebanon? Are there any positive changes there or any progress to build on? Are there any hopes for a better future or are things still chronically chaotic, unstable and bizarre?
The same routine response is echoed in reply; No our beloved and beautiful country is going down the drain and things are getting worse every day as the armed Iranian militia Hezbollah is devouring the country piece by piece, dominating more of its institutions, forcing its stone age ideology on many people through money, intimidation and murder. Meanwhile, Arab countries and the free world watch idly from a distance, not taking any serious or decisive deterrent stance to put an end for this on going Iranian expansionism plot.
It is true that God has granted Lebanon, the Holy Land of the Cedars, all that He could endow to a country including beautiful nature, an attractive climate, and many blessed riches. But Lebanon has also been cursed being a pivotal geographical door to other countries in the Middle East region, causing it instability for thousands of years and to this day.
How could the Lebanese people back home live in peace when Syria, Iran, and the axis of evil countries continuously interfere with their domestic affairs in all domains, sponsoring armed terrorist militias that hold the country hostage as a terrorist base for Islamist expansionism and evil hegemony schemes?
So why do the Lebanese people allow Iran and Syria to destabilize their country? Sadly, because the majority of the Lebanese politicians are opportunists, chameleons and Trojans. They possess no solid convictions, are constantly groveling to foreign powers, and Lebanon makes no difference to them as long as their own individual interests are secured.
Corrupt Lebanese politicians and officials are blind in heart, soul, and conscience. Regrettably, many Lebanese citizens follow these leaders blindly because of the need for protection and other basic life necessities. Even worse is the sickening weakness of the central government that is dominated by bribery and corruption on all levels. The government is unwilling and unable to protect the interests of its citizens or provide them with the required services. The end result is a well-known axiom, when the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Returning to the nostalgic question and to the response there is no doubt that the question shows genuine concern along with anxiety on one side, and despair along with pessimism on the other. While it is normal to demonstrate concern for what is going on back home and be worried about the deteriorating situation, it is not acceptable at all for any Lebanese in Diaspora to be pessimistic and laissez-faire when it comes to the Hezbollahisation of Lebanon.
Lebanese, especially those in Diaspora, should never feel defeated or lose hope no matter what are the hardships in their mother country. In fact, Syria and Iran with their local proxies are working laboriously on a daily basis using every known psychological tactic to force the Lebanese into a state of hopelessness and helplessness. They want the people in Lebanon to lose all hope for any possible change in the imposed status quo. Their ultimate goal is to poison the Lebanese conscience with a submissive mentality. A mentality in which resistance becomes ineffective, confrontation an act of suicide, and lobbying for liberation a stance of madness.
It is a patriotic obligation for each and every person of Lebanese descent in the Diaspora to thoroughly apprehend the intricacies and complexities of the current status quo in Lebanon. It is an obligation to lobby for the Lebanese cause in every free democratic country and to make the world aware of the agony that the Lebanese are enduring in Hezbollahized Lebanon. Syrian-Iranian atrocities inflicted through Hezbollah against the Lebanese people must be exposed.
Arab and free world countries have been dealing with the Lebanese crisis with a double standard. On the one hand they admit that Lebanon is being devoured by a fatal Hezbollahisation scheme, while appeasing Hezbollah's sponsors Syria and Iran with the other hand. Even more foolishly, some of these countries allege that there is a politically moderate faction within Hezbollah that they recognize and communicate with.
We call on the approximately nineteen million Lebanese descendents living in the Diaspora and on all those who love Lebanon to lobby for a Lebanon that is not Hezbollahized. Lobbying will be fruitful when Lebanese in the Diaspora understand thoroughly the Lebanese crisis and the means needed to solve it. Accordingly, every Lebanese descendent should consider himself an ambassador for a free Lebanon in the country where he lives. An ambassador whose duty is to intelligently lobby for the Lebanese cause, knowing that this is the only possible way to generate worldwide support to pressure the Syrians and Iranians to leave Lebanon.
In this context, neutrality and indifferent attitudes from the Lebanese Diaspora is a crime committed against their homeland of Lebanon. A crime against the pride of their identity, ancestors, history, civilization and culture. For Lebanon has been impoverished, wronged, intimidated, harassed, humiliated, oppressed within a Hezbollahized state.
Brethren Lebanese in the Diaspora, with your genuine lobbying Lebanon shall be resurrected. There will be hope for a better future for your own oppressed people, freedom and dignity shall be reclaimed, your country shall again be an oasis for peace, and Lebanon shall prevail and be victorious.
The voices of our great people in Hezbollatized Lebanon can no longer speak freely for themselves. We, the Lebanese in the Diaspora, are now their voices. Our voices must be courageous, intelligent, well-informed, persistent and very loud for their sake. Let us not disappoint them
*Elias Bejjani*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Every time two Lebanese meet in any of the Diaspora countries, one of them usually starts the conversation with the same nostalgic questions. How is the situation back home in Lebanon? Are there any positive changes there or any progress to build on? Are there any hopes for a better future or are things still chronically chaotic, unstable and bizarre?
The same routine response is echoed in reply; No our beloved and beautiful country is going down the drain and things are getting worse every day as the armed Iranian militia Hezbollah is devouring the country piece by piece, dominating more of its institutions, forcing its stone age ideology on many people through money, intimidation and murder. Meanwhile, Arab countries and the free world watch idly from a distance, not taking any serious or decisive deterrent stance to put an end for this on going Iranian expansionism plot.
It is true that God has granted Lebanon, the Holy Land of the Cedars, all that He could endow to a country including beautiful nature, an attractive climate, and many blessed riches. But Lebanon has also been cursed being a pivotal geographical door to other countries in the Middle East region, causing it instability for thousands of years and to this day.
How could the Lebanese people back home live in peace when Syria, Iran, and the axis of evil countries continuously interfere with their domestic affairs in all domains, sponsoring armed terrorist militias that hold the country hostage as a terrorist base for Islamist expansionism and evil hegemony schemes?
So why do the Lebanese people allow Iran and Syria to destabilize their country? Sadly, because the majority of the Lebanese politicians are opportunists, chameleons and Trojans. They possess no solid convictions, are constantly groveling to foreign powers, and Lebanon makes no difference to them as long as their own individual interests are secured.
Corrupt Lebanese politicians and officials are blind in heart, soul, and conscience. Regrettably, many Lebanese citizens follow these leaders blindly because of the need for protection and other basic life necessities. Even worse is the sickening weakness of the central government that is dominated by bribery and corruption on all levels. The government is unwilling and unable to protect the interests of its citizens or provide them with the required services. The end result is a well-known axiom, when the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Returning to the nostalgic question and to the response there is no doubt that the question shows genuine concern along with anxiety on one side, and despair along with pessimism on the other. While it is normal to demonstrate concern for what is going on back home and be worried about the deteriorating situation, it is not acceptable at all for any Lebanese in Diaspora to be pessimistic and laissez-faire when it comes to the Hezbollahisation of Lebanon.
Lebanese, especially those in Diaspora, should never feel defeated or lose hope no matter what are the hardships in their mother country. In fact, Syria and Iran with their local proxies are working laboriously on a daily basis using every known psychological tactic to force the Lebanese into a state of hopelessness and helplessness. They want the people in Lebanon to lose all hope for any possible change in the imposed status quo. Their ultimate goal is to poison the Lebanese conscience with a submissive mentality. A mentality in which resistance becomes ineffective, confrontation an act of suicide, and lobbying for liberation a stance of madness.
It is a patriotic obligation for each and every person of Lebanese descent in the Diaspora to thoroughly apprehend the intricacies and complexities of the current status quo in Lebanon. It is an obligation to lobby for the Lebanese cause in every free democratic country and to make the world aware of the agony that the Lebanese are enduring in Hezbollahized Lebanon. Syrian-Iranian atrocities inflicted through Hezbollah against the Lebanese people must be exposed.
Arab and free world countries have been dealing with the Lebanese crisis with a double standard. On the one hand they admit that Lebanon is being devoured by a fatal Hezbollahisation scheme, while appeasing Hezbollah's sponsors Syria and Iran with the other hand. Even more foolishly, some of these countries allege that there is a politically moderate faction within Hezbollah that they recognize and communicate with.
We call on the approximately nineteen million Lebanese descendents living in the Diaspora and on all those who love Lebanon to lobby for a Lebanon that is not Hezbollahized. Lobbying will be fruitful when Lebanese in the Diaspora understand thoroughly the Lebanese crisis and the means needed to solve it. Accordingly, every Lebanese descendent should consider himself an ambassador for a free Lebanon in the country where he lives. An ambassador whose duty is to intelligently lobby for the Lebanese cause, knowing that this is the only possible way to generate worldwide support to pressure the Syrians and Iranians to leave Lebanon.
In this context, neutrality and indifferent attitudes from the Lebanese Diaspora is a crime committed against their homeland of Lebanon. A crime against the pride of their identity, ancestors, history, civilization and culture. For Lebanon has been impoverished, wronged, intimidated, harassed, humiliated, oppressed within a Hezbollahized state.
Brethren Lebanese in the Diaspora, with your genuine lobbying Lebanon shall be resurrected. There will be hope for a better future for your own oppressed people, freedom and dignity shall be reclaimed, your country shall again be an oasis for peace, and Lebanon shall prevail and be victorious.
The voices of our great people in Hezbollatized Lebanon can no longer speak freely for themselves. We, the Lebanese in the Diaspora, are now their voices. Our voices must be courageous, intelligent, well-informed, persistent and very loud for their sake. Let us not disappoint them
*Elias Bejjani*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Monday, August 16, 2010
God is Omniscient, He Knows Our Needs
By: Elias Bejjani*
"God is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him". (Nahum 1/7)
Have you ever been so upset, angry, and furious, that you refrained from praying and started questioning God's fairness, judgment and even existence?
Have you ever been stunned and not been able to explain difficult situations, wrongdoings, and ingratitude from a beloved one?
Have you been bewildered and felt helpless in the face of bizarre acts of treason, hatred and vendettas from those whom you love?
Have you ever been disappointed by selfish, greedy, and evil acts by people close to you?
Have you been hurt unjustly by those whom you gave your life to and built your hopes on?
Have you ever felt abandoned and betrayed by people on whom you depended and trusted?
I am sure you have been through such unhappy moments because every one of us faces such distressing times throughout life.
The question is, why do some of us hold back and refrain from irresponsible acts of revenge while others do not?
The reason is because some of us are the faithful who believe in God and obey His Biblical teachings. These faithful are confident that Almighty God knows what is happening and, as a loving and just father, intervenes on their behalf at the right time to straighten things out righteously. The faithful are fully confident that God relieves the oppressed and punishes the oppressors, and that He is the Holy One whose Divine Right it is to take vengeance and not man.
When we attempt to avenge ourselves, we can't do it without sinning. We tend to do it with a wicked spirit of vindictiveness and revenge. God's vengeance is never sinful, but a matter of justice. God is the only one who can bring about justice without committing sin. He alone knows all the circumstances and the motives of the hearts that are involved in a situation, and He knows how to bring justice in a way that is truly perfect.
"Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay". (Romans 12:19)
We are to love our enemies, pray for them, and leave the rest to God. This is exactly what Saint Paul had in mind when he said in his letters to the Romans 12: 20-21:, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good"
God is the final authority to judge matters and decide what is right and what is wrong. We commit a fatal sin when we assume God's role and act as judges on the souls of men without examining our own souls first. “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you". (Matthew 7: 1-2)
In encountering hard and painful situations, our minds can be filled with panic and we accordingly fail to think straight. In such difficult times, we are supposed to ask God to intervene and carry our burdens and He is always ready to so. “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.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
God is omniscient, which means he knows our needs even if we can't express them. He always sees things clearly and when we go to Him in fear or confusion, He has pity on us and takes us in. God wants us to trust in Him. He wants to be Our Protector and Our Guardian. Even if we can't figure out our own circumstances and hardships, God already has the answer and the right plan. There is no doubt that when we trust in Him we will live in content, harmony and tranquility no matter what hardships, pain, or persecution we might suffer.
It is helpful and comforting to put our lives in God's Merciful and Mighty Hands, and to leave every thing to Him. He wants us to be righteous in both faith and acts because faith without acts is dead. Faith without acts is like a body without a soul.
We must always remember that "God is a jealous God and avenges and is full of wrath. He takes vengeance on his adversaries, and maintains wrath against his enemies. God is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. God has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. God rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes. The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him. Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him.” (Nahum 1:1-7)
God knows our needs and fulfils them all the time, but in His Own Way and at His Own Pace which our limited minds can't comprehend at times.
Let us put our lives in God's Hands and be joyful and always remember what says: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. (Psalm 32:8)
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
"God is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him". (Nahum 1/7)
Have you ever been so upset, angry, and furious, that you refrained from praying and started questioning God's fairness, judgment and even existence?
Have you ever been stunned and not been able to explain difficult situations, wrongdoings, and ingratitude from a beloved one?
Have you been bewildered and felt helpless in the face of bizarre acts of treason, hatred and vendettas from those whom you love?
Have you ever been disappointed by selfish, greedy, and evil acts by people close to you?
Have you been hurt unjustly by those whom you gave your life to and built your hopes on?
Have you ever felt abandoned and betrayed by people on whom you depended and trusted?
I am sure you have been through such unhappy moments because every one of us faces such distressing times throughout life.
The question is, why do some of us hold back and refrain from irresponsible acts of revenge while others do not?
The reason is because some of us are the faithful who believe in God and obey His Biblical teachings. These faithful are confident that Almighty God knows what is happening and, as a loving and just father, intervenes on their behalf at the right time to straighten things out righteously. The faithful are fully confident that God relieves the oppressed and punishes the oppressors, and that He is the Holy One whose Divine Right it is to take vengeance and not man.
When we attempt to avenge ourselves, we can't do it without sinning. We tend to do it with a wicked spirit of vindictiveness and revenge. God's vengeance is never sinful, but a matter of justice. God is the only one who can bring about justice without committing sin. He alone knows all the circumstances and the motives of the hearts that are involved in a situation, and He knows how to bring justice in a way that is truly perfect.
"Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay". (Romans 12:19)
We are to love our enemies, pray for them, and leave the rest to God. This is exactly what Saint Paul had in mind when he said in his letters to the Romans 12: 20-21:, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good"
God is the final authority to judge matters and decide what is right and what is wrong. We commit a fatal sin when we assume God's role and act as judges on the souls of men without examining our own souls first. “Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you". (Matthew 7: 1-2)
In encountering hard and painful situations, our minds can be filled with panic and we accordingly fail to think straight. In such difficult times, we are supposed to ask God to intervene and carry our burdens and He is always ready to so. “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.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
God is omniscient, which means he knows our needs even if we can't express them. He always sees things clearly and when we go to Him in fear or confusion, He has pity on us and takes us in. God wants us to trust in Him. He wants to be Our Protector and Our Guardian. Even if we can't figure out our own circumstances and hardships, God already has the answer and the right plan. There is no doubt that when we trust in Him we will live in content, harmony and tranquility no matter what hardships, pain, or persecution we might suffer.
It is helpful and comforting to put our lives in God's Merciful and Mighty Hands, and to leave every thing to Him. He wants us to be righteous in both faith and acts because faith without acts is dead. Faith without acts is like a body without a soul.
We must always remember that "God is a jealous God and avenges and is full of wrath. He takes vengeance on his adversaries, and maintains wrath against his enemies. God is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. God has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. God rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes. The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him. Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him.” (Nahum 1:1-7)
God knows our needs and fulfils them all the time, but in His Own Way and at His Own Pace which our limited minds can't comprehend at times.
Let us put our lives in God's Hands and be joyful and always remember what says: I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. (Psalm 32:8)
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Lebanon is a country that is unable to govern itself
By: Elias Bejjani*
ِThe current explosive situation in Lebanon is sad, unfortunate and very dangerous. Meanwhile, the Lebanese people are marginalized and exposed to all kinds of terrorism, oppression, poverty, persecution, foreign interferences and fear. The Lebanese government is just a shadow and a fancy tag with no actual content, backbone or teeth. It holds no power or authority and has no free say in any matter at all due to the fact that Hezbollah and Syria fully controls its decision making process.
Hezbollah, the Iranian armed proxy, controls by force, money and intimidation the whole country and is taking both its people and government hostages. Hezbollah, which is merely an Iranian army stationed in Lebanon, is dragging the country and its people as well as the whole Middle East into a state of havoc.
It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah and its affiliates have planned or been linked to a lengthy series of terrorist attacks against the United States, Israel, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Arabian Gulf countries, Iraq, Yemen, Turkey, and other Arabic and Western targets. These attacks include: a series of kidnappings of Westerners in Lebanon, including several Americans, in the 1980s; the suicide truck bombings that killed more than two hundred U.S. Marines at their barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983; the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, which featured the famous footage of the plane's pilot leaning out of the cockpit with a gun to his head; two major 1990’s attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina--the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy (killing 29 people) and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center (killing 95 people); and a July 2006 raid on a border post in northern Israel in which two Israeli soldiers were taken captive. The abductions sparked the 2006 Hezbollah-Israeli war.
It is strongly believed that Hezbollah in 2005 was behind the killing of Lebanon's PM, Rafiq Hariri with 22 others in downtown Beirut. Hezbollah's General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah has been publicly recently threatening to topple the Lebanese government by force and militarily invade Lebanese Sunni and Christian regions in case the Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigating the Hariri crime indicts any of his men.
The West and the moderate Arab countries as well as neighboring Israel have an obligation to step in and offset the balance militarily. It is not a secret that Syria that occupied Lebanon for almost 29 years with an iron fist (between 1976-2005), at least since 1990 has been viciously Syrianizing all Lebanon's institutions, especially the armed forces, media, cabinet and parliament.
In addition, it unlawfully granted Lebanese citizenship to more than half a million individuals in 1994 which had a serious negative effect on the country's very delicate demography.
In 2005 when Syria was forced to leave and end its armed occupation in accordance with UN Resolution 1559 in the aftermath of the assassination of PM Rafiq Hariri, Hezbollah, the Syrian-Iranian armed proxy, took over the job. Since then Hezbollah has been aggressively instigating an ongoing process of devouring the country and now fully controls Lebanon and all its institutions.
What is definite is that the Lebanese people alone are no longer able to reverse the Syrianization and HEZBOLLAHISATION of their country. They need Western military intervention Under the UN umbrella.
The feasible solution would be via a new UN resolution under chapter seven through which the UN troops stationed in south Lebanon (in accordance with UN Resolution 1701) will be given the upper hand not only in the southern region on the border with Israel, but all over Lebanon and specially on the Lebanese-Syrian border in a bid to stop the ongoing Syrian and Iranian massive transport of weapons and men to Hezbollah and to the other Lebanese and Palestinian armed groups. The Lebanese army needs to be put under the UN troops’ command and Lebanon declared by the UN a country that is unable to govern itself. I personally have called for such a solution in one of my recent editorials.
There is no doubt that losing Lebanon to the Axis of Evil means losing the whole Middle East and gradually the toppling of all the so called moderate Arab regimes. Lebanon has been for thousands of years a pivotal crossroad for the whole Middle East and history tells us that whoever controls Lebanon will control the whole region. The question is whether the West is willing to stay idle and leave Iran and Syria to fully control Lebanon and accordingly control the whole Middle East?
In fact the moderate Arab countries, Israel and West themselves will gain greater benefit than even Lebanon and the Lebanese people by helping Lebanon to be freed from the Axis of Evil countries and organizations.
No one should fool himself and say, “let the Lebanese solve their own problems”, or, “well, we tried to help them but they did not help themselves.”
No, not at all, because the Lebanese regardless of all the hardships and the Stalinist Syrian occupation fought and fought bravely for peace, independence and freedom more than any other people in the Middle East.
In conclusion, leaving Lebanon to fall prey to the Middle East’s Axis of Evil (Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas), will not only hurt the Lebanese people, destroy their freedom, multicultural and democratic system and enslave them, but will also destabilize the whole Middle East and threaten peace and democracy all over the world.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
ِThe current explosive situation in Lebanon is sad, unfortunate and very dangerous. Meanwhile, the Lebanese people are marginalized and exposed to all kinds of terrorism, oppression, poverty, persecution, foreign interferences and fear. The Lebanese government is just a shadow and a fancy tag with no actual content, backbone or teeth. It holds no power or authority and has no free say in any matter at all due to the fact that Hezbollah and Syria fully controls its decision making process.
Hezbollah, the Iranian armed proxy, controls by force, money and intimidation the whole country and is taking both its people and government hostages. Hezbollah, which is merely an Iranian army stationed in Lebanon, is dragging the country and its people as well as the whole Middle East into a state of havoc.
It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah and its affiliates have planned or been linked to a lengthy series of terrorist attacks against the United States, Israel, Kuwait, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Arabian Gulf countries, Iraq, Yemen, Turkey, and other Arabic and Western targets. These attacks include: a series of kidnappings of Westerners in Lebanon, including several Americans, in the 1980s; the suicide truck bombings that killed more than two hundred U.S. Marines at their barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983; the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, which featured the famous footage of the plane's pilot leaning out of the cockpit with a gun to his head; two major 1990’s attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina--the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy (killing 29 people) and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center (killing 95 people); and a July 2006 raid on a border post in northern Israel in which two Israeli soldiers were taken captive. The abductions sparked the 2006 Hezbollah-Israeli war.
It is strongly believed that Hezbollah in 2005 was behind the killing of Lebanon's PM, Rafiq Hariri with 22 others in downtown Beirut. Hezbollah's General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah has been publicly recently threatening to topple the Lebanese government by force and militarily invade Lebanese Sunni and Christian regions in case the Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigating the Hariri crime indicts any of his men.
The West and the moderate Arab countries as well as neighboring Israel have an obligation to step in and offset the balance militarily. It is not a secret that Syria that occupied Lebanon for almost 29 years with an iron fist (between 1976-2005), at least since 1990 has been viciously Syrianizing all Lebanon's institutions, especially the armed forces, media, cabinet and parliament.
In addition, it unlawfully granted Lebanese citizenship to more than half a million individuals in 1994 which had a serious negative effect on the country's very delicate demography.
In 2005 when Syria was forced to leave and end its armed occupation in accordance with UN Resolution 1559 in the aftermath of the assassination of PM Rafiq Hariri, Hezbollah, the Syrian-Iranian armed proxy, took over the job. Since then Hezbollah has been aggressively instigating an ongoing process of devouring the country and now fully controls Lebanon and all its institutions.
What is definite is that the Lebanese people alone are no longer able to reverse the Syrianization and HEZBOLLAHISATION of their country. They need Western military intervention Under the UN umbrella.
The feasible solution would be via a new UN resolution under chapter seven through which the UN troops stationed in south Lebanon (in accordance with UN Resolution 1701) will be given the upper hand not only in the southern region on the border with Israel, but all over Lebanon and specially on the Lebanese-Syrian border in a bid to stop the ongoing Syrian and Iranian massive transport of weapons and men to Hezbollah and to the other Lebanese and Palestinian armed groups. The Lebanese army needs to be put under the UN troops’ command and Lebanon declared by the UN a country that is unable to govern itself. I personally have called for such a solution in one of my recent editorials.
There is no doubt that losing Lebanon to the Axis of Evil means losing the whole Middle East and gradually the toppling of all the so called moderate Arab regimes. Lebanon has been for thousands of years a pivotal crossroad for the whole Middle East and history tells us that whoever controls Lebanon will control the whole region. The question is whether the West is willing to stay idle and leave Iran and Syria to fully control Lebanon and accordingly control the whole Middle East?
In fact the moderate Arab countries, Israel and West themselves will gain greater benefit than even Lebanon and the Lebanese people by helping Lebanon to be freed from the Axis of Evil countries and organizations.
No one should fool himself and say, “let the Lebanese solve their own problems”, or, “well, we tried to help them but they did not help themselves.”
No, not at all, because the Lebanese regardless of all the hardships and the Stalinist Syrian occupation fought and fought bravely for peace, independence and freedom more than any other people in the Middle East.
In conclusion, leaving Lebanon to fall prey to the Middle East’s Axis of Evil (Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas), will not only hurt the Lebanese people, destroy their freedom, multicultural and democratic system and enslave them, but will also destabilize the whole Middle East and threaten peace and democracy all over the world.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
The Israeli-Hezbollah War is Inevitable
By Elias Bejjani*
Most Middle East analysts and political observers are more than sure that the war between Israel and the West on one side, and Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas and Iran on the other front is inevitable. Its occurrence has become just a matter of time. The Middle East is in the eye of the storm and, apparently, no one can avert the confrontation that has become necessary for the agendas of all parties involved.
According to observers, the predisposing factors that build for a war are precipitating in the Middle East. Ali Hmade, the renowned Lebanese political analyst, shed light on some of these factors in his last Tuesday's column published in An Nahar Beirut Daily. Meanwhile, other American, European, Arab and Israeli analysts have written extensively on these tensions and added other pivotal factors to the Israeli-Hezbollah war formula. Below are some of these factors:
The recent fiercest border clashes since 2006 on the Lebanese - Israeli border in which three Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist ,and an Israeli officer were killed accompanied by the loud threats made by Hezbollah's General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah a few hours after the end of the clashes.
The serious internal conflict amongst Lebanese sparked by Hezbollah's bold attacks against the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). Hezbollah is threatening to retaliate against Lebanon and its people with a possible coup in case the unlawful and terrorist dictates of Hassan Nasrallah are not fulfilled by Lebanese PM Saad Hariri, Saudi Arabia, and the United Nations (UN). Nasrallah is demanding that the tribunal be totally abolished. He alleges it is a tool of the Israeli-American conspiracy set to target his organization through indicting a score of its members and leaders in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri.
The statement made by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on his country's Army Day in which he said: "The specter of real peace in the region is disappearing and the possibility of war is increasing."
Assad and the Saudi King made a joint visit to Beirut on July 30th 2010. Both officials held extensive meetings with the country's leadership in a bid to calm down the war rhetoric of Hezbollah in face of the STL. Meanwhile, Assad seems to be playing on many ropes and appears even more scared of the STL than Hezbollah. Reliable American sources unveiled this week that Syria is behind the so-called "STL leaks" and not Israel or other Arab countries.
Hamas' resumption of firing rockets from Gaza into Israel, and the retaliation of Israeli warplanes by bombing Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza and the targeted killings of Hamas militants. In response, Hamas is threatening to reignite the cycle of violence.
Hamas' opposition to the direct negotiations between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israelis brokered by the United States, the Arab League, and the majority of the Arab countries. Hamas seems well -prepared to ignite a war against both Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas in a bid to abort the negotiations.
The firing of rockets from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, where Islamic militants have operated in the past, hitting the Israeli and Jordanian Red Sea port resorts of Eilat and Aqaba. These attacks killed one Jordanian civilian and injured three others. Israel claimed the rockets used were made in Iran.
The mysterious terrorist explosion aboard a Japanese oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
The renewal of skirmishes in Yemen between government forces and the pro-Iranian Houthis after a series of cease-fire violations and exchanges of accusations.
The increasingly loud calls on the US administration to be more decisive in its Middle East policies and the numerous recommendations for a pre-emptive war against Iran and Hezbollah. "The US should work to avoid another Hezbollah-Israel conflict, but could benefit from pre-emptive military action in Lebanon..." according to Israel’s former Ambassador to Washington. A report authored by Daniel Kurtzer, written for the US Council on Foreign Relations, warns that Hezbollah's proliferating weapons stockpile could bring Israeli aggression to far outweigh the bombardment of Beirut and southern areas during the 2006 summer war. “Hizbullah has steadily rearmed in contravention of UN Security Council Resolution 1701,” Kurtzer wrote. “Israel could decide the security threat posed by Hezbollah has reached intolerable levels and take pre-emptive military action.”
President Obama's approval of recommendations for a European missile shield made by US military leaders to shift focus to defending Europe against Iran's short and medium-range missiles. "This new approach will provide capabilities sooner, build on proven systems, and offer greater defenses against the threat of missile attack." Under the new plan the U.S. would initially deploy ships with missile interceptors and in a second phase, would field land-based defense systems. The confirmation made by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen to the NBC network: "The United States has a viable military plan to attack Iran and its nuclear facilities, though, such a strike was probably a bad idea." Mullen has often warned that a strike against Iran would have serious and unpredictable ripple effects around the Middle East. At the same time, he has said that Iran developing a nuclear weapon is unacceptable.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) warnings of a devastating Middle East war. A new Israel-Lebanon conflict is likely to be far more violent, inflict greater damage to civilian and government infrastructure, and lead to the direct embroilment of other regional actors warned a new report released by the ICG. "A new conflict will also likely affect greater parts of the country, especially the Bekaa Valley, and will not be isolated to the south or the Shiite areas of Beirut which were systematically targeted in 2006," said the report entitled Drums of War: Israel and the ‘Axis of Resistance.’ The Lebanese Government is advised to take immediate steps to significantly increase troop numbers in the south and to improve the range and quality of military training and equipment available to its troops as a bulwark against a slide to war. Although conflict is far from imminent and many inhibiting factors continue to prevent the escalation of menacing rhetoric on both sides, the political roots which led to the outbreak of the 2006 war remain unaddressed and the regional situation could prove explosive. “Today, no party can soberly contemplate the prospect of a war that would be uncontrolled, unprecedented and unscripted,” said the Project Director Peter Harling of Crisis Group Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, “but the underlying dynamics of the logic of deterrence carry the seeds of possible breakdown.”
The alarming information leaked from high-level sources in Europe reporting that a number of prominent EU and Arab leaders foresee in the horizon a destructive regional war in the Middle East between Israel and "Axis of Evil" countries and organizations.
The ongoing Iranian threats to burn Israel and set the whole Middle East ablaze if Iran's nuclear facilities are attacked by either the US or Israel. "If the Americans make the slightest mistake, the security of the region will be endangered. Security in the Persian Gulf should be for all or none," threatened the deputy head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Yadollah Javani. "Tehran will burn down Tel Aviv" in response to any attack, said Mohammed Khazaee, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations.
Based on all of the above facts, and on many other factors, another devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah that could also involve Hamas, Syria and Iran seems to be inevitable. Sadly, Lebanon is again going to be a battlefield in this coming war.
Hopefully, this time Israel backed by the Western and moderate Arab countries will push Hezbollah out of Lebanon as it did in 1982 with the PLO. The region deserves a lasting peace that cannot be achieved while Hezbollah holds the Lebanese people hostage, Syria breeds and exports terrorists while oppressing its own people, Hamas enslaves the residents of Gaza residents by aborting all peace initiatives with Israel, and Iran endeavors to own a nuclear bomb with dreams of reviving the Persian Empire by terrorism and mass destruction.
History tells us that peace prevails only in the aftermath of wars. This is what happened after the World Wars. Once again, peace will be the fruit of the coming Middle East war if Israel, the West, and moderate Arab countries stand tall and courageously execute a well planned war to defeat the "Axis of Evil" countries and their terrorist proxies.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Most Middle East analysts and political observers are more than sure that the war between Israel and the West on one side, and Hezbollah, Syria, Hamas and Iran on the other front is inevitable. Its occurrence has become just a matter of time. The Middle East is in the eye of the storm and, apparently, no one can avert the confrontation that has become necessary for the agendas of all parties involved.
According to observers, the predisposing factors that build for a war are precipitating in the Middle East. Ali Hmade, the renowned Lebanese political analyst, shed light on some of these factors in his last Tuesday's column published in An Nahar Beirut Daily. Meanwhile, other American, European, Arab and Israeli analysts have written extensively on these tensions and added other pivotal factors to the Israeli-Hezbollah war formula. Below are some of these factors:
The recent fiercest border clashes since 2006 on the Lebanese - Israeli border in which three Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist ,and an Israeli officer were killed accompanied by the loud threats made by Hezbollah's General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah a few hours after the end of the clashes.
The serious internal conflict amongst Lebanese sparked by Hezbollah's bold attacks against the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). Hezbollah is threatening to retaliate against Lebanon and its people with a possible coup in case the unlawful and terrorist dictates of Hassan Nasrallah are not fulfilled by Lebanese PM Saad Hariri, Saudi Arabia, and the United Nations (UN). Nasrallah is demanding that the tribunal be totally abolished. He alleges it is a tool of the Israeli-American conspiracy set to target his organization through indicting a score of its members and leaders in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri.
The statement made by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on his country's Army Day in which he said: "The specter of real peace in the region is disappearing and the possibility of war is increasing."
Assad and the Saudi King made a joint visit to Beirut on July 30th 2010. Both officials held extensive meetings with the country's leadership in a bid to calm down the war rhetoric of Hezbollah in face of the STL. Meanwhile, Assad seems to be playing on many ropes and appears even more scared of the STL than Hezbollah. Reliable American sources unveiled this week that Syria is behind the so-called "STL leaks" and not Israel or other Arab countries.
Hamas' resumption of firing rockets from Gaza into Israel, and the retaliation of Israeli warplanes by bombing Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza and the targeted killings of Hamas militants. In response, Hamas is threatening to reignite the cycle of violence.
Hamas' opposition to the direct negotiations between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israelis brokered by the United States, the Arab League, and the majority of the Arab countries. Hamas seems well -prepared to ignite a war against both Israel and President Mahmoud Abbas in a bid to abort the negotiations.
The firing of rockets from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, where Islamic militants have operated in the past, hitting the Israeli and Jordanian Red Sea port resorts of Eilat and Aqaba. These attacks killed one Jordanian civilian and injured three others. Israel claimed the rockets used were made in Iran.
The mysterious terrorist explosion aboard a Japanese oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
The renewal of skirmishes in Yemen between government forces and the pro-Iranian Houthis after a series of cease-fire violations and exchanges of accusations.
The increasingly loud calls on the US administration to be more decisive in its Middle East policies and the numerous recommendations for a pre-emptive war against Iran and Hezbollah. "The US should work to avoid another Hezbollah-Israel conflict, but could benefit from pre-emptive military action in Lebanon..." according to Israel’s former Ambassador to Washington. A report authored by Daniel Kurtzer, written for the US Council on Foreign Relations, warns that Hezbollah's proliferating weapons stockpile could bring Israeli aggression to far outweigh the bombardment of Beirut and southern areas during the 2006 summer war. “Hizbullah has steadily rearmed in contravention of UN Security Council Resolution 1701,” Kurtzer wrote. “Israel could decide the security threat posed by Hezbollah has reached intolerable levels and take pre-emptive military action.”
President Obama's approval of recommendations for a European missile shield made by US military leaders to shift focus to defending Europe against Iran's short and medium-range missiles. "This new approach will provide capabilities sooner, build on proven systems, and offer greater defenses against the threat of missile attack." Under the new plan the U.S. would initially deploy ships with missile interceptors and in a second phase, would field land-based defense systems. The confirmation made by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen to the NBC network: "The United States has a viable military plan to attack Iran and its nuclear facilities, though, such a strike was probably a bad idea." Mullen has often warned that a strike against Iran would have serious and unpredictable ripple effects around the Middle East. At the same time, he has said that Iran developing a nuclear weapon is unacceptable.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) warnings of a devastating Middle East war. A new Israel-Lebanon conflict is likely to be far more violent, inflict greater damage to civilian and government infrastructure, and lead to the direct embroilment of other regional actors warned a new report released by the ICG. "A new conflict will also likely affect greater parts of the country, especially the Bekaa Valley, and will not be isolated to the south or the Shiite areas of Beirut which were systematically targeted in 2006," said the report entitled Drums of War: Israel and the ‘Axis of Resistance.’ The Lebanese Government is advised to take immediate steps to significantly increase troop numbers in the south and to improve the range and quality of military training and equipment available to its troops as a bulwark against a slide to war. Although conflict is far from imminent and many inhibiting factors continue to prevent the escalation of menacing rhetoric on both sides, the political roots which led to the outbreak of the 2006 war remain unaddressed and the regional situation could prove explosive. “Today, no party can soberly contemplate the prospect of a war that would be uncontrolled, unprecedented and unscripted,” said the Project Director Peter Harling of Crisis Group Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, “but the underlying dynamics of the logic of deterrence carry the seeds of possible breakdown.”
The alarming information leaked from high-level sources in Europe reporting that a number of prominent EU and Arab leaders foresee in the horizon a destructive regional war in the Middle East between Israel and "Axis of Evil" countries and organizations.
The ongoing Iranian threats to burn Israel and set the whole Middle East ablaze if Iran's nuclear facilities are attacked by either the US or Israel. "If the Americans make the slightest mistake, the security of the region will be endangered. Security in the Persian Gulf should be for all or none," threatened the deputy head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Yadollah Javani. "Tehran will burn down Tel Aviv" in response to any attack, said Mohammed Khazaee, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations.
Based on all of the above facts, and on many other factors, another devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah that could also involve Hamas, Syria and Iran seems to be inevitable. Sadly, Lebanon is again going to be a battlefield in this coming war.
Hopefully, this time Israel backed by the Western and moderate Arab countries will push Hezbollah out of Lebanon as it did in 1982 with the PLO. The region deserves a lasting peace that cannot be achieved while Hezbollah holds the Lebanese people hostage, Syria breeds and exports terrorists while oppressing its own people, Hamas enslaves the residents of Gaza residents by aborting all peace initiatives with Israel, and Iran endeavors to own a nuclear bomb with dreams of reviving the Persian Empire by terrorism and mass destruction.
History tells us that peace prevails only in the aftermath of wars. This is what happened after the World Wars. Once again, peace will be the fruit of the coming Middle East war if Israel, the West, and moderate Arab countries stand tall and courageously execute a well planned war to defeat the "Axis of Evil" countries and their terrorist proxies.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Special Tribunal for Lebanon and Credibility
By: Elias Bejjani
It is strongly believed that the UN body, its General Assembly, and the international tribunals that fall under the UN umbrella and jurisdiction could all be in the hot seat, exposed to a very serious jeopardy and are up in the air with a questionable and blemished credibility.
This dim image of the UN and its judicial institutions could become a shocking reality if Hezbollah, the armed jihadist terrorist organization backed by Iran and Syria, succeeds in imposing its criminal threats and will on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) either by totally abolishing its mission or by forcing its judges to make certain detrimental concessions in a bid not to indict any of its (Hezbollah) men in the Beirut 2005 assassination attack that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, 22 other Lebanese nationals and injured many others.
It is worth mentioning that the Hariri crime took place when Syria was still occupying Lebanon with an iron fist and nothing in the magnitude of such a devastating incident could have happened without its direct involvement or at least its full approval. Meanwhile, it is strongly believed that Syria was responsible for numerous political assassinations that were committed after the Hariri's attack. Furthermore, no assassination or assassination attempt since 1976 has been solved because Syria was concurrently the occupier and the killer.
The following is a list of outspoken and active anti-Syrian politicians, MPs and intellectuals that were targeted and murdered in Lebanon since 2005 in the most bloody political assassinations:
February 14, 2005: Rafiq Hariri, PM;
June 2, 2005: Samir Qassir, journalist;
June 21, 2005: George Hawi, politician;
December 12, 2005: Gibran Tueni, MP & journalist;
May 26, 2006: 2006: Pierre Gemayel, MP;
June 13, 2007: Walid Eido, MP;
September 19, 2007: Antoine Ghanem, MP;
January 25, 2008: Wissam Eid, computer engineer.
The investigation of Hariri's fatal terrorist attack has been going actively since 2007 after the government of Lebanon requested the UN on 13 December 2005 to establish the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) under chapter seven to try all those behind the attack. The tribunal was established in pursuant to Security Council resolutions 1664 (2006), and 1757 (2007) and implemented on 10 June 2007. Since then millions of dollars have been spent to cover the tribunal's budget of which Lebanon carries 47%.
Syria was and is still the main suspect and is politically blamed for the crime by the majority of the Lebanese people and the Arab countries based on its criminal notorious record. Other prominent suspects are Syria's militant armed tools in Lebanon, Hezbollah, numerous armed Palestinian militias, and a number of pro-Syrian and pro-Iranian armed groups. But no formal charge or indictment has yet been made. All Lebanese were impatiently waiting for the STL to indict the assassins and name those who masterminded, planned and financed the attack.
Many Syrian high ranking army, secret service, and police officers, as well as scores of Hezbollah men were interrogated by the STL investigators in Lebanon and Syria. Meanwhile, numerous Syrian officers who were considered main suspects by the STL either committed suicide or were assassinated, a well known method the Syrian regime has of getting rid of its opponents or those who are in any way a threat to the ruling Assad family.
The STL was expected to indict those charged with the attack before the end of this year, and while actually no one besides the prosecutor's tribunal knew the names of the suspects, Hezbollah's General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah suddenly became loud, threatening, and insisted that the tribunal was politically motivated and an Israeli and American tool set up and fabricated to blemish the reputation of his group and unlawfully target his resistance. In three lengthy, fiery, detrimental, defiant, belligerent and very dangerous speeches, (15, 22 & 25 July, 2010) he called on PM Saad Hariri, the Lebanese government and Saudi Arabia to lobby for aborting the tribunal, or otherwise his group would replicate its bloody May 2008 Beirut and Mount Lebanon invasions. He and his leadership boldly made their threats and publicly promised much worse and widespread invasions and possibly a coup in case any of their men were indicted.
On July 29/10, spokeswoman for the STL, Fatima Issawi, rejected charges by Hezbollah that its work is politically motivated and said: "The experience of other international tribunals has shown that the results of the work of such institutions speak for themselves and contradict the unsubstantiated allegations of hostile interference and we are convinced that this will also happen in the case of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon”. She confirmed that the Office of the Prosecutor would issue an indictment when it is ready, and that legally the Lebanese government has an obligation to respond to the tribunal's requests. Issawi stressed the fact that the absence of an accused would not prevent the tribunal from conducting proceedings and examining evidence against those who may might be indicted and that the final results of STL's work, rather than unfounded allegations or speculation, can be the only basis for assessing its effectiveness.
On July 30 the Saudi king, the Syrian president and the Qatari prince made urgent visits to Lebanon and held talks with its leadership in a bid to avert and contain Hezbollah's threats, but Syria’s sneaky actual stance and role is not clear due to the fact that Syria is still a main suspect in the Hariri crime while its strategic alliance with Iran is still very strong in spite of the extensive Arabic, American and European appeasing and cajoling overtures towards its President Al Assad.
On Saturday 31 July/10, the Lebanese daily al-Akhbar, a well known low standard Syrian-Iranian media trumpet and dulcimer, quoted Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to have told the Saudi king and the Lebanese president during their tripartite Summit conference in the presidential Baabda Palace on Friday 30 July/10: "The international tribunal's work should come to an end. We in Syria feel the tribunal's investigation has become a heavy diplomatic burden on Lebanon and its stability. In addition, Syria's experience with the tribunal so far indicates that there are no encouraging bodies to support the continuation of the tribunal's work or prevent its politicization." According to the same source Al Assad warned that any ruling that would implicate Hezbollah might destabilize Lebanon and that his country would stand by the Shiite organization, Hezbollah, in any case, and considered that any blow to Hezbollah a line that should not be crossed. The daily also reported that Assad told the Saudi king the international tribunal has already nearly brought destruction on Lebanon and the region in the past. "Today, this attempt is being repeated with Hezbollah, which is being accused of assassinating Rafiq Hariri. This means Lebanon may once again be subject to destruction, and therefore, clear outlines should be determined to put this matter to rest." The Syrian president reportedly stressed to his Saudi guest that he supports Hezbollah's stance. "The resistance in Lebanon will not be satisfied with the international tribunal, since the tribunal will accuse it of the assassination. If there is insistence to move forward with the international tribunal, the resistance will rise against it, since it strives to harm it. We consider the resistance a red line and we will let no harm come to it," he said. Regarding Hezbollah, the Syrian president said, "It will not agree to the principal decision to implicate it and will not accept any such agreements. The international tribunal must seek the real killer."
According to the report, the Saudi king mainly listened to Assad and did not express any objection or reservations to what he heard. King Abdullah is a patron of Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Rafiq Hariri's son. The paper reported that the two leaders tried to find a solution to the matter, in a way that would prevent an explosion in Lebanon, particularly after the Syrian president stressed that Hezbollah "will not remain silent if it is accused by the tribunal, and will do everything in its power to rise against it." It remained unclear what the two leaders agreed on.
It is strongly believed that Syria is covertly dictating Nasrallah's threatening rhetoric against the STL, the moderate Arab countries, the Lebanese people and their government. Syria as previously is using Hezbollah to scare the Lebanese mosaic ethnic communities, the Muslim Sunnis and the Christians in particular, and accordingly force them to call its army again to enter Lebanon, contain Hezbollah and stop him from taking over the country and toppling its democratic, multicultural and co-existence regime. Syria is playing this bloody and evil game and betting on this scary scenario in a bid to re-occupy Lebanon.
In conclusion, the Free World and Arab countries are required to stand tall with no fear or hesitation. They should strongly support the STL with all their available resources, including the use of force if and when needed; refuse any kind of concessions or compromises that Syria or Saudi Arabia suggests; not succumb to Hezbollah's threats and terrorism; not fall prey to the sneaky Syrian plot; and most importantly not commit their previous fatal mistake of giving Syria the green light to re-occupy Lebanon.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
It is strongly believed that the UN body, its General Assembly, and the international tribunals that fall under the UN umbrella and jurisdiction could all be in the hot seat, exposed to a very serious jeopardy and are up in the air with a questionable and blemished credibility.
This dim image of the UN and its judicial institutions could become a shocking reality if Hezbollah, the armed jihadist terrorist organization backed by Iran and Syria, succeeds in imposing its criminal threats and will on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) either by totally abolishing its mission or by forcing its judges to make certain detrimental concessions in a bid not to indict any of its (Hezbollah) men in the Beirut 2005 assassination attack that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, 22 other Lebanese nationals and injured many others.
It is worth mentioning that the Hariri crime took place when Syria was still occupying Lebanon with an iron fist and nothing in the magnitude of such a devastating incident could have happened without its direct involvement or at least its full approval. Meanwhile, it is strongly believed that Syria was responsible for numerous political assassinations that were committed after the Hariri's attack. Furthermore, no assassination or assassination attempt since 1976 has been solved because Syria was concurrently the occupier and the killer.
The following is a list of outspoken and active anti-Syrian politicians, MPs and intellectuals that were targeted and murdered in Lebanon since 2005 in the most bloody political assassinations:
February 14, 2005: Rafiq Hariri, PM;
June 2, 2005: Samir Qassir, journalist;
June 21, 2005: George Hawi, politician;
December 12, 2005: Gibran Tueni, MP & journalist;
May 26, 2006: 2006: Pierre Gemayel, MP;
June 13, 2007: Walid Eido, MP;
September 19, 2007: Antoine Ghanem, MP;
January 25, 2008: Wissam Eid, computer engineer.
The investigation of Hariri's fatal terrorist attack has been going actively since 2007 after the government of Lebanon requested the UN on 13 December 2005 to establish the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) under chapter seven to try all those behind the attack. The tribunal was established in pursuant to Security Council resolutions 1664 (2006), and 1757 (2007) and implemented on 10 June 2007. Since then millions of dollars have been spent to cover the tribunal's budget of which Lebanon carries 47%.
Syria was and is still the main suspect and is politically blamed for the crime by the majority of the Lebanese people and the Arab countries based on its criminal notorious record. Other prominent suspects are Syria's militant armed tools in Lebanon, Hezbollah, numerous armed Palestinian militias, and a number of pro-Syrian and pro-Iranian armed groups. But no formal charge or indictment has yet been made. All Lebanese were impatiently waiting for the STL to indict the assassins and name those who masterminded, planned and financed the attack.
Many Syrian high ranking army, secret service, and police officers, as well as scores of Hezbollah men were interrogated by the STL investigators in Lebanon and Syria. Meanwhile, numerous Syrian officers who were considered main suspects by the STL either committed suicide or were assassinated, a well known method the Syrian regime has of getting rid of its opponents or those who are in any way a threat to the ruling Assad family.
The STL was expected to indict those charged with the attack before the end of this year, and while actually no one besides the prosecutor's tribunal knew the names of the suspects, Hezbollah's General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah suddenly became loud, threatening, and insisted that the tribunal was politically motivated and an Israeli and American tool set up and fabricated to blemish the reputation of his group and unlawfully target his resistance. In three lengthy, fiery, detrimental, defiant, belligerent and very dangerous speeches, (15, 22 & 25 July, 2010) he called on PM Saad Hariri, the Lebanese government and Saudi Arabia to lobby for aborting the tribunal, or otherwise his group would replicate its bloody May 2008 Beirut and Mount Lebanon invasions. He and his leadership boldly made their threats and publicly promised much worse and widespread invasions and possibly a coup in case any of their men were indicted.
On July 29/10, spokeswoman for the STL, Fatima Issawi, rejected charges by Hezbollah that its work is politically motivated and said: "The experience of other international tribunals has shown that the results of the work of such institutions speak for themselves and contradict the unsubstantiated allegations of hostile interference and we are convinced that this will also happen in the case of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon”. She confirmed that the Office of the Prosecutor would issue an indictment when it is ready, and that legally the Lebanese government has an obligation to respond to the tribunal's requests. Issawi stressed the fact that the absence of an accused would not prevent the tribunal from conducting proceedings and examining evidence against those who may might be indicted and that the final results of STL's work, rather than unfounded allegations or speculation, can be the only basis for assessing its effectiveness.
On July 30 the Saudi king, the Syrian president and the Qatari prince made urgent visits to Lebanon and held talks with its leadership in a bid to avert and contain Hezbollah's threats, but Syria’s sneaky actual stance and role is not clear due to the fact that Syria is still a main suspect in the Hariri crime while its strategic alliance with Iran is still very strong in spite of the extensive Arabic, American and European appeasing and cajoling overtures towards its President Al Assad.
On Saturday 31 July/10, the Lebanese daily al-Akhbar, a well known low standard Syrian-Iranian media trumpet and dulcimer, quoted Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to have told the Saudi king and the Lebanese president during their tripartite Summit conference in the presidential Baabda Palace on Friday 30 July/10: "The international tribunal's work should come to an end. We in Syria feel the tribunal's investigation has become a heavy diplomatic burden on Lebanon and its stability. In addition, Syria's experience with the tribunal so far indicates that there are no encouraging bodies to support the continuation of the tribunal's work or prevent its politicization." According to the same source Al Assad warned that any ruling that would implicate Hezbollah might destabilize Lebanon and that his country would stand by the Shiite organization, Hezbollah, in any case, and considered that any blow to Hezbollah a line that should not be crossed. The daily also reported that Assad told the Saudi king the international tribunal has already nearly brought destruction on Lebanon and the region in the past. "Today, this attempt is being repeated with Hezbollah, which is being accused of assassinating Rafiq Hariri. This means Lebanon may once again be subject to destruction, and therefore, clear outlines should be determined to put this matter to rest." The Syrian president reportedly stressed to his Saudi guest that he supports Hezbollah's stance. "The resistance in Lebanon will not be satisfied with the international tribunal, since the tribunal will accuse it of the assassination. If there is insistence to move forward with the international tribunal, the resistance will rise against it, since it strives to harm it. We consider the resistance a red line and we will let no harm come to it," he said. Regarding Hezbollah, the Syrian president said, "It will not agree to the principal decision to implicate it and will not accept any such agreements. The international tribunal must seek the real killer."
According to the report, the Saudi king mainly listened to Assad and did not express any objection or reservations to what he heard. King Abdullah is a patron of Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Rafiq Hariri's son. The paper reported that the two leaders tried to find a solution to the matter, in a way that would prevent an explosion in Lebanon, particularly after the Syrian president stressed that Hezbollah "will not remain silent if it is accused by the tribunal, and will do everything in its power to rise against it." It remained unclear what the two leaders agreed on.
It is strongly believed that Syria is covertly dictating Nasrallah's threatening rhetoric against the STL, the moderate Arab countries, the Lebanese people and their government. Syria as previously is using Hezbollah to scare the Lebanese mosaic ethnic communities, the Muslim Sunnis and the Christians in particular, and accordingly force them to call its army again to enter Lebanon, contain Hezbollah and stop him from taking over the country and toppling its democratic, multicultural and co-existence regime. Syria is playing this bloody and evil game and betting on this scary scenario in a bid to re-occupy Lebanon.
In conclusion, the Free World and Arab countries are required to stand tall with no fear or hesitation. They should strongly support the STL with all their available resources, including the use of force if and when needed; refuse any kind of concessions or compromises that Syria or Saudi Arabia suggests; not succumb to Hezbollah's threats and terrorism; not fall prey to the sneaky Syrian plot; and most importantly not commit their previous fatal mistake of giving Syria the green light to re-occupy Lebanon.
*Elias Bejjani
*Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
*Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
*Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
*Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
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