By: Elias Bejjani*
It is extremely bizarre and astonishing that Western countries, especially the USA and France, stubbornly refuse to learn from their own manifold mistakes and finally see and grasp the deeply rooted criminal, inhuman, savage and terrorist nature of the Syrian Baathist dictatorial regime. They naively kept on repeating their same unproductive strategies and accordingly reaped with frustration the same disappointments and failures.
Since the early eighties these countries have loosely and erratically been adopting a carrot and stick policy with Syria's brutal rulers, and for reasons incomprehensible to political analysts, they never went far enough to topple this regime and support the Syrian people’s rights for freedom and peace as was the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It is worth mentioning that Syria has been on the US Department of State’s terrorist watch list since December 29, 1979, and is considered globally by policy makers and think tanks the number one state worldwide that sponsors and breeds terrorist groups.
In spite of the USA’s and EU’s recent hasty and unjustified overtures toward Syria’s dictator, Bachar Al Assad, the Syrian regime brazenly continues to provide overt massive political and material support to Hezbollah and many Palestinian terrorist groups, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), HAMAS, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).
Even when all tangible proof and documents have demonstrated that day after day Syria is recruiting, training, sponsoring and facilitating the infiltration of militant insurgents into Iraq since 2003, no decisive deterrent action was taken by the USA except mere verbal condemnations through press releases and empty rhetorical threats.
One wonders why this pariah regime has still not been toppled when its rulers have been oppressing, terrorizing, murdering and impoverishing their own people and destabilizing through terrorism all its neighboring countries, especially Lebanon and Iraq.
Meanwhile, Syria's dictator, Bachar Al Assad, keeps on defying the Western and Arabic countries' demands, wishes and hopes in regard to his relations with Iran and the terrorist groups and continues steadily to solidify and intensify Syria's relations and ties with the Iranian mullah's terrorist regime, Hezbollah and Hamas on all levels and in all domains.
Against all logic and odds the Obama administration has been appeasing and cajoling Al Assad in a rapprochement bid to cut his ties with Iran and stop his country's sponsorship and weaponry supply to Hezbollah and Hamas. In this context the USA gave its close ally, Saudi Arabia, the approval to amend its bitter relations with Al Assad, decided to return its ambassador to Damascus who was withdrawn in February 2005 in the aftermath of the Lebanese PM, Rafic Al Hariri's assassination in a bombing widely blamed on Syria, and last Monday it lifted a travel warning to Syria that was in place since September 2006 when armed assailants attacked the US Embassy in Damascus.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a Senate budget debate last Wednesday (17.02.10) said that the United States is urging Syria to distance itself from Iran as well as to stop arming Hezbollah and interfering in Lebanon. In disclosing US demands for engagement with Syria, Clinton was blunter than ever about Washington's bid to drive a wedge between Damascus and Tehran. Clinton presented a set of demands that Washington is making to Syria now that a US ambassador is returning to Damascus for the first time in five years under President Barack Obama's policy of engagement. She said that William Burns, the number three diplomat at the State Department, "had very intense, substantive talks in Damascus" when he visited there last week. "And we've laid out for the Syrians the need for greater cooperation with respect to Iraq, the end to interference in Lebanon and the provision of weapons to Hezbollah, a resumption of the Israeli-Syrian track...," she said. Clinton said Washington is also asking Syria "generally to begin to move away from the relationship with Iran, which is so deeply troubling to the region as well as to the United States."
On Thursday (25.02.10), Al Assad while sitting happily and proudly next to his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a joint conference held in Damascus, slapped the Obama administration on the face, ignored all its overtures as well as its conditions and sarcastically ridiculed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement which urged his country to distance itself from Iran and stop sponsoring terrorist groups. Assad responded by signing a new friendship pact with a grinning Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Moreover, he mocked Clinton by saying: "We must have understood Clinton wrong because of bad translation or our limited understanding, so we signed the agreement."
In an arrogant tune and humiliating smile Al Assad said: "Our support for the resistance is a moral and legal duty", and expressed surprise at Clinton's call for Syria to distance itself from Iran. "We thank them (the Americans) for their advice," "I am surprised by their call to keep a distance between the countries when they raise the issue of stability and peace in the Middle East", “The region's people should be ready for any Israeli attack”, he told reporters.
The Iranian president, in his turn, said Arab countries will usher in a new Middle East "without Zionists and without colonialists." He said that "if the Zionist regime wants to repeat its past mistakes, this will constitute its demise and annihilation." Ahmadinejad said the region's peoples, including the Lebanese, will stand against Israel. The U.S. should pack up and leave the Middle East and stay out of regional affairs, Iran's president added. Ahmadinejad's trip to Damascus follows a string of US efforts to break up Syria's 30-year alliance with Tehran.
Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah met Thursday (25.02.10) evening in Damascus along with their senior advisors, and discussed regional developments and “the Zionist threat,” it was revealed Friday. The two were the guests of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who had dinner with the two and participated in the talks. According to Arab media reports, the meeting was not reported upon until after it had taken place for security reasons. Ahmadinejad has meet also with high ranking officials from Hamas and other Palestinian armed Jihadist groups.
Ahmadinejad said his talks in Syria will focus on "reaching new decisions on the possible threats" from Israel, adding that Iran and Syria "stand at the forefront of the resistance to the Zionist regime." Speaking at the airport in Tehran before leaving for Syria, he said, "The Zionist regime and its supporters in the region are quickly approaching a dead end. The situation whereby the Zionists continually threaten countries near occupied Palestine makes it necessary for Iran and Syria to reach new decisions to deal with the possible threats from the Zionist regime."
During the last week, Ahmadinejad said during three telephone conversations with Al Assad, Lebanon's president, Michel Suleiman, and Hezbollah's General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah that Israel should be resisted and finished off if it launched military action in the region. "We have reliable information that the Zionist regime is after finding a way to compensate for its ridiculous defeats from the people of Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah." "If the Zionist regime should repeat its mistakes and initiate a military operation, then it must be resisted with full force to put an end to it once and for all,".
Facing Syria's ongoing rudeness, arrogance, and defiance, the USA policy makers need to re-evaluate the Obama administration’s hasty opening on Al Asaad and seriously start taking serious practical steps in all domains, including sanctions and military means to either force the Syrian regime to comply with the peace requirements and worldwide anti-terrorism efforts or to face the same choice of being toppled as had Iraq's Sadam Hussein.
What the Western countries and particularly the USA, should recognize in regard to the current Syrian dictatorship, is that Al Assad’s Baathist regime cannot change, because if it does it will fall from the inside as was the situation with the USSR and Romania. This dictatorship cannot survive in a milieu of peace, openness, freedom or democracy, and therefore all those policy makers and world leaders who keep deluding themselves that they can change the criminal and terrorist nature of the Syrian regime are required to read Middle East history more thoroughly and study more deeply the criminal record of Syria's rulers during the past 30 years.
In conclusion, there will be no peace in the Middle East before toppling the Syrian regime, containing by force the Iranian nuclear threat and disarming and dismantling Hezbollah. All other venues and means will give more time to Iran to build its atomic bomb and for Syria to breed more terrorist groups and for Hezbollah to totally devour and destroy the democratic and multicultural Lebanese system. Those who have ears need to hear and stop sinking in their delusions and day dreams.
The question is: How many times does the Obama administration have to get slapped in the face and ridiculed by Bachar Al Assad before it stops offering his regime an ”open hand”?
**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/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Friday, February 26, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Hezbollah is emptying south Lebanon from its Christian residents
By: Elias Bejjani
A series of on going flagrant atrocities are inflicted by the Lebanese official authorities and the terrorist Hezbollah armed militia against our Lebanese brothers and sisters that have been taking refuge in neighboring Israel since May 2000. In the aftermath of the Israeli army’s withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000, 6,500 southern Lebanese men, along with members of their families had no option but to leave their towns, villages and abandon all their properties and hastily run for their lives. While Israel was logistically preparing for the withdrawal, Hezbollah waged a merciless and savage media campaign against the southern Lebanese citizens. The campaign was aired publicly on all local and international TV channels and radio stations. The most frightening threats were uttered personally by Hezbollah's General Secretary, Sheik Nasrallah, who savagely said, “We will enter their bedrooms, pierce their stomachs, slaughter them and slice their throats.”
Our people declined from continuing the fight and chose to leave, not because of fear of combat or death only, but most importantly to avoid more Lebanese bloodshed, while the central government did not dare to assume its national responsibilities and obligations.
Since 2000, many of these 6500 individuals risked returning to Lebanon. On their return they were immediately arrested, humiliated, tortured and charged with treason and collaboration with an enemy (Israel). Their trials were extremely hasty, biased, scandalous and terrible infringement on all judicial international standards and human rights charters. Even after serving their imprisonment terms they were all stripped of their civil rights and officially tagged as traitors. Very few of those who served their imprisonment terms were able to return to their homes and towns in the south because the terrorist Hezbollah, and not the Lebanese authorities is in full control of that region.
Many of these unfortunate Lebanese refugees willingly left Israel and are now living in the USA, Canada, Australia, and numerous European countries. All of them are afraid to go back home, because of the kind of falsified and fabricated Hezbollah-Tailored charges that are waiting for them the moment they land in Lebanon. Those who did return ended in jail after unfair and biased trials with harsh verdicts.
In the context of Hezbollah’s fanaticism, revenge and hatred, and in the realm of its ongoing scheme to empty the southern region of its Christian inhabitants, the Lebanese military court sentenced on February 01/2010 with a stroke of a pen 34 citizens in absentia (living as refugees in Israel and other countries) with verdicts ranging from 3 to 15 years of imprisonment with hard labor and stripped them of their civil rights.
Even those who return from Israel to Lebanon as dead bodies in coffins are tagged as traitors, disgraced and humiliated. The Lebanese government exploited by Hezbollah’s terrorism, manipulation and control, has been desecrating the sanctity of death, which is not a Lebanese virtue.
In his inaugural speech, on 25 May, 2009, Lebanon's president General Michele Suleiman promised to bring back from Israel all those who took exile there in the aftermath of the Israeli army’s unilateral withdrawal from South Lebanon in May 2000. He said: "This day coincides with the anniversary of the national liberation and victory day, let us make it a motive for greater awareness for what awaits us, and to renew our commitment for freedom and democracy, which we offered sacrifices for them in a bid to safeguard the country. In this context, comes the hard work to release prisoners and detainees, disclose the fate of the missing, and to bring back our sons who fled to Israel; our country's lap has room for all of its citizens." Almost two years have passed since President Suleiman's election, while his promise to bring back our people from Israel has not yet been fulfilled.
We strongly believe that It is an ethical obligation and a national legitimate right to ask what is hindering the president from taking the needed actions to put an end to this ongoing dilemma? The answer is simply Hezbollah's terrorism and hegemony.
In reality, Hezbollah has completely assumed Syria’s notorious oppressive and murderous occupational role in the aftermath of the Syrian army’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005. This armed Iranian fundamentalist organization is currently the actual and primary obstacle that is hindering the country from reclaiming its independence, democracy and freedoms. in fact all the unfolding destructive, shameful, terrorist and corrupting events that are currently hitting Lebanon and its peace-loving people illustrate with no shred of a doubt that this terrorist organization, Hezbollah, is merely grabbing hold of the Lebanese state and its institutions as hostages.
Hezbollahs has been constantly obstructing the honorable return of our people from Israel, through its full control on the Lebanese institutions' and government's decision making process including the military court. During the last six months, this court has viciously charged a great number of our people who are still refuges in Israel (and other countries) with treason, entering an enemy country, and accepting its citizenship. It sentenced them in absentia with very harsh and cruel verdicts and stripped them of their civil rights.
Hezbollah has been rhetorically via all its prevailing media facilities, and through the military court's fabricated charges and verdicts intimidating the country's president and indirectly prevented him from fulfilling his inaugural vow to facilitate the honorable return of our people from Israel. Hezbollah is systematically emptying south Lebanon from its Christian residents and forcing those who still live there against all the odds to sell their land and leave.
President Suleiman knows more than anyone else in Lebanon that the Hezbollah mercenaries and the so-called resistance are hindering the dignified return of our people from Israel and falsely accusing them of treason and collaboration. It is the Hezbollah leadership who are actually guilty of these charges and not our heroic Lebanese people. But apparently the president has bowed to Hezbollah's tactics of manipulation and intimidation and backed off on his promise and vow.
It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah's mini state with its scattered cantons all over Lebanon, especially in Beirut's southern suburb and southern region is much stronger in all domains than the Lebanese central government. The Lebanese people in general and the Lebanese Shiite community in particular had no saying in this matter. This mini state was imposed on all of them by Syria and Iran during the Syrian occupation era of the country (1976-2005)
Hezbollah's mini state controls and dominates directly and through proxies all the affairs of the Lebanese central government via cancerous infiltration, intimidation, oppression, corruption, drug trafficking, religious decrees (fatwas), murder, crime, bribing and multifold tactics of terrorism. Not even one decision could be made by the Lebanese government or any of its institutions without Hezbollah's approval. The Lebanese state is massively dominated by the Hezbollah mullah's leadership. This terrorist militant organization boldly dictates its Iranian decrees on all the Lebanese officials and institutions, manipulates their activities and greatly influences the whole country's decision making process in all fields and on all levels.
We strongly believe that there will be no end to the bizarre, volatile and fragile situation in Lebanon unless the Hezbollah militia is dismantled and disarmed. To achieve this goal the UNIFIL force in South Lebanon must have a new engagement mandate under chapter seven of the United Nations' charter in a bid to be authorized jointly with the Lebanese Army force to implement the 1701 and 1559 UNSC Resolutions
In summary, Lebanon is still an occupied country and the occupier is Hezbollah. Our people in Israel are victims of terrorism need the help of the free world countries. We call on these countries to take all the measures that are available to pressure the Lebanese government as well as Syria and Iran, the two Hezbollah masters to put an immediate end for this systemized exodus of the Lebanese southern Christians and to stop all the heretic charges and trials.
*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/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
N.B: The above information was sent to Canada's Prime Minister, his Foreign Affairs Minister and numerous Canadians members of the parliament
A series of on going flagrant atrocities are inflicted by the Lebanese official authorities and the terrorist Hezbollah armed militia against our Lebanese brothers and sisters that have been taking refuge in neighboring Israel since May 2000. In the aftermath of the Israeli army’s withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000, 6,500 southern Lebanese men, along with members of their families had no option but to leave their towns, villages and abandon all their properties and hastily run for their lives. While Israel was logistically preparing for the withdrawal, Hezbollah waged a merciless and savage media campaign against the southern Lebanese citizens. The campaign was aired publicly on all local and international TV channels and radio stations. The most frightening threats were uttered personally by Hezbollah's General Secretary, Sheik Nasrallah, who savagely said, “We will enter their bedrooms, pierce their stomachs, slaughter them and slice their throats.”
Our people declined from continuing the fight and chose to leave, not because of fear of combat or death only, but most importantly to avoid more Lebanese bloodshed, while the central government did not dare to assume its national responsibilities and obligations.
Since 2000, many of these 6500 individuals risked returning to Lebanon. On their return they were immediately arrested, humiliated, tortured and charged with treason and collaboration with an enemy (Israel). Their trials were extremely hasty, biased, scandalous and terrible infringement on all judicial international standards and human rights charters. Even after serving their imprisonment terms they were all stripped of their civil rights and officially tagged as traitors. Very few of those who served their imprisonment terms were able to return to their homes and towns in the south because the terrorist Hezbollah, and not the Lebanese authorities is in full control of that region.
Many of these unfortunate Lebanese refugees willingly left Israel and are now living in the USA, Canada, Australia, and numerous European countries. All of them are afraid to go back home, because of the kind of falsified and fabricated Hezbollah-Tailored charges that are waiting for them the moment they land in Lebanon. Those who did return ended in jail after unfair and biased trials with harsh verdicts.
In the context of Hezbollah’s fanaticism, revenge and hatred, and in the realm of its ongoing scheme to empty the southern region of its Christian inhabitants, the Lebanese military court sentenced on February 01/2010 with a stroke of a pen 34 citizens in absentia (living as refugees in Israel and other countries) with verdicts ranging from 3 to 15 years of imprisonment with hard labor and stripped them of their civil rights.
Even those who return from Israel to Lebanon as dead bodies in coffins are tagged as traitors, disgraced and humiliated. The Lebanese government exploited by Hezbollah’s terrorism, manipulation and control, has been desecrating the sanctity of death, which is not a Lebanese virtue.
In his inaugural speech, on 25 May, 2009, Lebanon's president General Michele Suleiman promised to bring back from Israel all those who took exile there in the aftermath of the Israeli army’s unilateral withdrawal from South Lebanon in May 2000. He said: "This day coincides with the anniversary of the national liberation and victory day, let us make it a motive for greater awareness for what awaits us, and to renew our commitment for freedom and democracy, which we offered sacrifices for them in a bid to safeguard the country. In this context, comes the hard work to release prisoners and detainees, disclose the fate of the missing, and to bring back our sons who fled to Israel; our country's lap has room for all of its citizens." Almost two years have passed since President Suleiman's election, while his promise to bring back our people from Israel has not yet been fulfilled.
We strongly believe that It is an ethical obligation and a national legitimate right to ask what is hindering the president from taking the needed actions to put an end to this ongoing dilemma? The answer is simply Hezbollah's terrorism and hegemony.
In reality, Hezbollah has completely assumed Syria’s notorious oppressive and murderous occupational role in the aftermath of the Syrian army’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005. This armed Iranian fundamentalist organization is currently the actual and primary obstacle that is hindering the country from reclaiming its independence, democracy and freedoms. in fact all the unfolding destructive, shameful, terrorist and corrupting events that are currently hitting Lebanon and its peace-loving people illustrate with no shred of a doubt that this terrorist organization, Hezbollah, is merely grabbing hold of the Lebanese state and its institutions as hostages.
Hezbollahs has been constantly obstructing the honorable return of our people from Israel, through its full control on the Lebanese institutions' and government's decision making process including the military court. During the last six months, this court has viciously charged a great number of our people who are still refuges in Israel (and other countries) with treason, entering an enemy country, and accepting its citizenship. It sentenced them in absentia with very harsh and cruel verdicts and stripped them of their civil rights.
Hezbollah has been rhetorically via all its prevailing media facilities, and through the military court's fabricated charges and verdicts intimidating the country's president and indirectly prevented him from fulfilling his inaugural vow to facilitate the honorable return of our people from Israel. Hezbollah is systematically emptying south Lebanon from its Christian residents and forcing those who still live there against all the odds to sell their land and leave.
President Suleiman knows more than anyone else in Lebanon that the Hezbollah mercenaries and the so-called resistance are hindering the dignified return of our people from Israel and falsely accusing them of treason and collaboration. It is the Hezbollah leadership who are actually guilty of these charges and not our heroic Lebanese people. But apparently the president has bowed to Hezbollah's tactics of manipulation and intimidation and backed off on his promise and vow.
It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah's mini state with its scattered cantons all over Lebanon, especially in Beirut's southern suburb and southern region is much stronger in all domains than the Lebanese central government. The Lebanese people in general and the Lebanese Shiite community in particular had no saying in this matter. This mini state was imposed on all of them by Syria and Iran during the Syrian occupation era of the country (1976-2005)
Hezbollah's mini state controls and dominates directly and through proxies all the affairs of the Lebanese central government via cancerous infiltration, intimidation, oppression, corruption, drug trafficking, religious decrees (fatwas), murder, crime, bribing and multifold tactics of terrorism. Not even one decision could be made by the Lebanese government or any of its institutions without Hezbollah's approval. The Lebanese state is massively dominated by the Hezbollah mullah's leadership. This terrorist militant organization boldly dictates its Iranian decrees on all the Lebanese officials and institutions, manipulates their activities and greatly influences the whole country's decision making process in all fields and on all levels.
We strongly believe that there will be no end to the bizarre, volatile and fragile situation in Lebanon unless the Hezbollah militia is dismantled and disarmed. To achieve this goal the UNIFIL force in South Lebanon must have a new engagement mandate under chapter seven of the United Nations' charter in a bid to be authorized jointly with the Lebanese Army force to implement the 1701 and 1559 UNSC Resolutions
In summary, Lebanon is still an occupied country and the occupier is Hezbollah. Our people in Israel are victims of terrorism need the help of the free world countries. We call on these countries to take all the measures that are available to pressure the Lebanese government as well as Syria and Iran, the two Hezbollah masters to put an immediate end for this systemized exodus of the Lebanese southern Christians and to stop all the heretic charges and trials.
*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/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
N.B: The above information was sent to Canada's Prime Minister, his Foreign Affairs Minister and numerous Canadians members of the parliament
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Is Lebanon's PM Embracing Terrorism
By: Elias Bejjani
Lebanon's Prime Minister Mr. Saad Al Hariri has allowed our country, Lebanon, to be hijacked by the thugs of terrorism and Iranian-Syrian fundamentalism. Power has slipped through his fingers. He has bizarrely and naively embraced the very same people who murdered his father, invaded the Sunni southern Beirut and Mount Lebanon in 2008 and massacred more than 150 unarmed civilians in cold blood. He is embracing the same proxy Iranian army in Lebanon, Hezbollah, which is actually dictating Hariri's government what it should say and do.
In a BBC interview broadcast Wednesday, Hariri voiced concern about Israeli threats and escalating military activity. Israeli officials have warned repeatedly in recent weeks that any attack by Lebanon’s Shiite terrorist group Hizbullah would spark a tough response, and have been locked in a war of words with Syrian leaders. “We hear a lot of Israeli threats day in and day out, and not only threats,” Hariri told the British broadcaster. “We see what’s happening on the ground and in our airspace and what’s happening all the time during the past two months – every day we have Israeli planes entering Lebanese airspace. “This is something that is escalating and something that is really dangerous,” He described his fear of a war with Israel, yet, he said “I think they [the Israeli government] are betting that there might be some division in Lebanon, if there is a war against us…well, there won’t be a division in Lebanon. We will stand against Israel. We will stand with our own people.” Hariri said.
Simply put, Hariri has just sealed Lebanon’s fate. His words have not only brought war and devastation on the majority of the Lebanese people who are not Hezbollah supporters, but they have given Hezbollah’s Iranian-Syrian army the legitimacy it needed to continue its course of terrorism against not only Israel, the Arab and the free world countries, but against the Lebanese people themselves. This political novice has single-handedly destroyed any chance of a civil Lebanese society in the near future and the March 14 alliance has been shattered.
Mr. Hariri in his capacity as PM should have simply expressed his growing concern over Israeli’s escalating violations. It is one thing to voice concern over escalating Israeli sovereignty violations, but it is another thing to involve an entire nation in an unnecessary and crazy war by supporting a terrorist organization that is hindering the Lebanese people by force and intimidation from reclaiming their country's sovereignty, freedom and independence.
It is worth reminding Mr. Hariri that it is Hezbollah, Iran and Syria, and not Israel which did not allow him for six months to form his current government. Hezbollah, which fully dominates Lebanon's peace and war decisions, also manipulates the country's whole decision making process on all levels. It fully controls the government against the will of the majority of the Lebanese people who last year gave Hariri and his coalition a parliamentary majority and did not vote for Hezbollah's 8th of March coalition.
If Hariri had the sincerity and courage to ask himself why the Israelis continue to violate his country's airspace, and not that of Syria, Jordan, Egypt, or any other Arabic county, he would have found the right answer, the one that all the Lebanese people know very well. Hariri is fully aware that the Israelis are threatened by Hezbollah and not vice versa. Hezbollah and its two terrorist masters, Syria and Iran, are openly vowing to destroy the Jewish state and kill her people.
Iranian President Ahmadinejad does not allow one day to pass without threatening Israel with annihilation. Hezbollah, not Israel, started the war in 2006.
Mr. Hariri is well informed that Israel is not threatening Lebanon or the Lebanese people, but simply is responding to Hezbollah's hostile schemes that aim to start a war against her on behalf of Iran and Syria. Israel started to threaten Lebanon after Hezbollah joined the government and got a blocking third of its portfolios through which it can abort any decision that is not in its favor.
Mr. Hariri definitely understands that the Lebanese people are not united when it comes to Hezbollah and it is not true that all the Lebanese will fight Israel if a war breaks out. This is a mere falsehood and wishful thinking because the majority of the Lebanese are peace lovers and have been longing for years to forge a peace treaty with Israel as the Jordanians and Egyptians did. But Hezbollah, Syria and Iran are blocking this wish and keep on using Lebanon as a battlefield for their schemes of expansionism, terrorism and murder.
Mr. Hariri knows very well that the majority of his Sunni community considers Hezbollah a threat for them and not Israel. But the problem in the Arab countries lies in the fact that politicians and rulers have two rhetorics. One they use behind closed doors with other Arab and other countries; and the second in the media and with the people. In the first one they speak the truth while in the second they say what the terrorists, fanatics and fundamentalists want to hear. It is pity that Hariri has used this second rhetoric In his BBC interview. This emotional and arrogant rhetoric that is detached from reality, has been behind all the Arabs' failures and disasters and sadly continues to be the trend.
Israel and Lebanon are still in a state of war that has been governed since 1946 by the Armistice Accord. This Accord forbids all the acts that Hezbollah is forcing on Lebanon and the Lebanese. At the same time, the "Taef Accord" and the UN Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701 do not recognize any armed bodies in Lebanon except the country's legitimate armed forces. These three accords call for the disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, including Hezbollah. Sadly, the Lebanese government is crippled and helpless, while Hezbollah is actually the real military power in the country.
This, mixed with the growing hostility from Syria, and Iranian escalations in their nuclear facilities, have made the Lebanese fear that there may be war very soon. This is not the time to give up. This is the time for diplomacy and dialogue. It is highly favorable to see Christian, Druze and Sunni leaders like Patriarch Sfeir, Amin Gemayel and Samir Geagea, and Hariri himself going to the United States and France and voicing their concerns freely and openly.
They must call for the immediate implementation of the UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701 and ask the UN Security Council to put the UN Resolutions under Chapter VII and give the UNIFIL forces deployed in south Lebanon jointly with the Lebanese army the mandate to disarm Hezbollah and the other Lebanese and Palestinian militias and dismantle Hezbollah's ministate. They should tell the whole world that Lebanon alone cannot disarm Hezbollah and that there is a need for the international community to take the lead and execute this task.
This is not the time for Christians, Sunnis or Druze to sit and do nothing.
We have to stand up for what is right and decent: we must unite against this coming devastating war. When the dust settles and the stacks of dead on both sides are counted, we have to be the ones to say: we never wanted this war in the first place.
Our advice to Mr. Hariri is to speak the truth loudly and vigorously and to stop using the two fold rhetoric that fouls the Lebanese people, underestimates their intelligence and leads to disasters.
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/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Lebanon's Prime Minister Mr. Saad Al Hariri has allowed our country, Lebanon, to be hijacked by the thugs of terrorism and Iranian-Syrian fundamentalism. Power has slipped through his fingers. He has bizarrely and naively embraced the very same people who murdered his father, invaded the Sunni southern Beirut and Mount Lebanon in 2008 and massacred more than 150 unarmed civilians in cold blood. He is embracing the same proxy Iranian army in Lebanon, Hezbollah, which is actually dictating Hariri's government what it should say and do.
In a BBC interview broadcast Wednesday, Hariri voiced concern about Israeli threats and escalating military activity. Israeli officials have warned repeatedly in recent weeks that any attack by Lebanon’s Shiite terrorist group Hizbullah would spark a tough response, and have been locked in a war of words with Syrian leaders. “We hear a lot of Israeli threats day in and day out, and not only threats,” Hariri told the British broadcaster. “We see what’s happening on the ground and in our airspace and what’s happening all the time during the past two months – every day we have Israeli planes entering Lebanese airspace. “This is something that is escalating and something that is really dangerous,” He described his fear of a war with Israel, yet, he said “I think they [the Israeli government] are betting that there might be some division in Lebanon, if there is a war against us…well, there won’t be a division in Lebanon. We will stand against Israel. We will stand with our own people.” Hariri said.
Simply put, Hariri has just sealed Lebanon’s fate. His words have not only brought war and devastation on the majority of the Lebanese people who are not Hezbollah supporters, but they have given Hezbollah’s Iranian-Syrian army the legitimacy it needed to continue its course of terrorism against not only Israel, the Arab and the free world countries, but against the Lebanese people themselves. This political novice has single-handedly destroyed any chance of a civil Lebanese society in the near future and the March 14 alliance has been shattered.
Mr. Hariri in his capacity as PM should have simply expressed his growing concern over Israeli’s escalating violations. It is one thing to voice concern over escalating Israeli sovereignty violations, but it is another thing to involve an entire nation in an unnecessary and crazy war by supporting a terrorist organization that is hindering the Lebanese people by force and intimidation from reclaiming their country's sovereignty, freedom and independence.
It is worth reminding Mr. Hariri that it is Hezbollah, Iran and Syria, and not Israel which did not allow him for six months to form his current government. Hezbollah, which fully dominates Lebanon's peace and war decisions, also manipulates the country's whole decision making process on all levels. It fully controls the government against the will of the majority of the Lebanese people who last year gave Hariri and his coalition a parliamentary majority and did not vote for Hezbollah's 8th of March coalition.
If Hariri had the sincerity and courage to ask himself why the Israelis continue to violate his country's airspace, and not that of Syria, Jordan, Egypt, or any other Arabic county, he would have found the right answer, the one that all the Lebanese people know very well. Hariri is fully aware that the Israelis are threatened by Hezbollah and not vice versa. Hezbollah and its two terrorist masters, Syria and Iran, are openly vowing to destroy the Jewish state and kill her people.
Iranian President Ahmadinejad does not allow one day to pass without threatening Israel with annihilation. Hezbollah, not Israel, started the war in 2006.
Mr. Hariri is well informed that Israel is not threatening Lebanon or the Lebanese people, but simply is responding to Hezbollah's hostile schemes that aim to start a war against her on behalf of Iran and Syria. Israel started to threaten Lebanon after Hezbollah joined the government and got a blocking third of its portfolios through which it can abort any decision that is not in its favor.
Mr. Hariri definitely understands that the Lebanese people are not united when it comes to Hezbollah and it is not true that all the Lebanese will fight Israel if a war breaks out. This is a mere falsehood and wishful thinking because the majority of the Lebanese are peace lovers and have been longing for years to forge a peace treaty with Israel as the Jordanians and Egyptians did. But Hezbollah, Syria and Iran are blocking this wish and keep on using Lebanon as a battlefield for their schemes of expansionism, terrorism and murder.
Mr. Hariri knows very well that the majority of his Sunni community considers Hezbollah a threat for them and not Israel. But the problem in the Arab countries lies in the fact that politicians and rulers have two rhetorics. One they use behind closed doors with other Arab and other countries; and the second in the media and with the people. In the first one they speak the truth while in the second they say what the terrorists, fanatics and fundamentalists want to hear. It is pity that Hariri has used this second rhetoric In his BBC interview. This emotional and arrogant rhetoric that is detached from reality, has been behind all the Arabs' failures and disasters and sadly continues to be the trend.
Israel and Lebanon are still in a state of war that has been governed since 1946 by the Armistice Accord. This Accord forbids all the acts that Hezbollah is forcing on Lebanon and the Lebanese. At the same time, the "Taef Accord" and the UN Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701 do not recognize any armed bodies in Lebanon except the country's legitimate armed forces. These three accords call for the disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, including Hezbollah. Sadly, the Lebanese government is crippled and helpless, while Hezbollah is actually the real military power in the country.
This, mixed with the growing hostility from Syria, and Iranian escalations in their nuclear facilities, have made the Lebanese fear that there may be war very soon. This is not the time to give up. This is the time for diplomacy and dialogue. It is highly favorable to see Christian, Druze and Sunni leaders like Patriarch Sfeir, Amin Gemayel and Samir Geagea, and Hariri himself going to the United States and France and voicing their concerns freely and openly.
They must call for the immediate implementation of the UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701 and ask the UN Security Council to put the UN Resolutions under Chapter VII and give the UNIFIL forces deployed in south Lebanon jointly with the Lebanese army the mandate to disarm Hezbollah and the other Lebanese and Palestinian militias and dismantle Hezbollah's ministate. They should tell the whole world that Lebanon alone cannot disarm Hezbollah and that there is a need for the international community to take the lead and execute this task.
This is not the time for Christians, Sunnis or Druze to sit and do nothing.
We have to stand up for what is right and decent: we must unite against this coming devastating war. When the dust settles and the stacks of dead on both sides are counted, we have to be the ones to say: we never wanted this war in the first place.
Our advice to Mr. Hariri is to speak the truth loudly and vigorously and to stop using the two fold rhetoric that fouls the Lebanese people, underestimates their intelligence and leads to disasters.
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/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
St. Maroun's Day, History & Lessons
By: Elias Bejjani*
On the ninth of February for the past 1600 years, Maronites in Lebanon and all over the world have been celebrating the annual commemoration of St. Maroun, the founder of their Catholic denomination.
Every year, on the ninth of February, more than ten million Maronites from all over the world celebrate St. Maroun’s day. On this day, they pay their respect to the great founder of the Maronite Church, Maroun the priest, the hermit, the father, the leader and the Saint. They remember what they have been exposed to, since the 4th century, both good and bad times. They reminisce through the past, examine the present and contemplate the future. They pray for peace, democracy and freedom in Lebanon, their homeland, and all over the world.
Who was this Saint, how did he establish his church, where did he live, and who are his people, the Maronites?
St. Maroun, according to the late great Lebanese philosopher and historian, Fouad Afram Al-Bustani, was raised in the city of Kouroch. This city is located northeast of Antioch (presently in Turkey), and to the northwest of Herapolos (Manbieg), the capital of the third Syria (Al-Furatia). Kouroch is still presently in existence in Turkey, it is located 15 kilometers to the northwest of Kalas city, and about 70 kilometers to the north of the Syrian city, Aleppo.
As stated by the historians, Father Boutrous Daou and Fouad Fram Bustani, Maroun chose a very high location at the Semaan Mountain (called in the past, Nabo Mountain, after the pagan god, Nabo). Geographically, the Semaan Mountain is located between Antioch and Aleppo. People had abandoned the mountain for years, and the area was completely deserted.
The ruins of a historic pagan temple that existed on the mountain attracted Maroun. Boustan stated that St. Maroun moved to this mountain and decided to follow the life of a hermit. He made the ruined temple his residence after excoriating it from devils, but used it only for masses and offerings of the holy Eucharist. He used to spend all his time in the open air, praying, fasting and depriving his body from all means of comfort. He became very famous in the whole area for his faith, holiness and power of curing. Thousands of believers came to him seeking help and advice.
St. Maroun, was an excellent knowledgeable preacher and a very stubborn believer in Christ and in Christianity. He was a mystic who started a new ascetic-spiritual method that attracted many people from all over the Antiochian Empire. He was a zealous missionary with a passion to spread the message of Christ by preaching it to others. He sought not only to cure the physical ailments that people suffered, but had a great quest for nurturing and healing the "lost souls" of both pagans and Christians of his time. Maroun’s holiness and countless miracles drew attention throughout the Antiochian Empire. St. John of Chrysostom sent him a letter around 405 AD expressing his great love and respect asking St. Maroun to pray for him.
St. Maroun's way was deeply monastic with emphasis on the spiritual and ascetic aspects of living. For him, all was connected to God and God was connected to all. He did not separate the physical and spiritual world and actually used the physical world to deepen his faith and spiritual experience with God. St. Maroun embraced the quiet solitude of the Semaan Mountain life. He lived in the open air exposed to the forces of nature such as sun, rain, hail and snow. His extraordinary desire to come to know God’s presence in all things allowed him to transcend such forces, and discover an intimate union with God. He was able to free himself from the physical world by his passion and eagerness for prayer and enter into a mystical relationship of love with the creator.
St. Maroun attracted hundreds of monks and priests who came to live with him and become his disciples and loyal Christian followers. Maroun’s disciples preached the Bible in the Antiochan Empire (known at the present time as Syria), Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel, They built hundreds of Churches and abbeys as well as schools and were known for their faith, devotion and perseverance.
At the age of seventy, in the year 410 AD, and after completing his holy mission, St. Maroun died peacefully while surrounded by his disciples and followers. His will was to be buried in the same grave with his beloved teacher, the great monk, Zabena, in the town of Kena, next to Kouroch city, where a temple was built in Zabena’s name. St. Maroun’s will was not fulfilled, because the residents of a nearby town were able to take his body and bury him in their town and build a huge church on his grave. This church was a shrine for Christians for hundreds of years, and its ruins are still apparent in that town.
After Maroun’s death, his disciples built a huge monastery in honor of his name, adjacent to the ornate spring, (Naher Al-Assi, located at the Syrian-Lebanese border). The monastery served for hundreds of years as a pillar for faith, education, martyrhood and holiness. It was destroyed at the beginning of the tenth century that witnessed the worst Christian persecution era. During the savage attack on the monastery more than 300 Maronite priests were killed. The surviving priests moved to the mountains of Lebanon where with the Marada people and the native Lebanese were successful in establishing the Maronite nation. They converted the Lebanese mountains to a fortress of faith and a symbol for martyrhood, endurance and perseverance.
Initially the Maronite movement reached Lebanon when St. Maroun's first disciple Abraham of Cyrrhus, who was called the Apostle of Lebanon, realized that paganism was thriving in Lebanon, so he set out to convert the pagans to Christianity by introducing them to the way of St. Maroun. St. Maroun is considered to be the Father of the spiritual and monastic movement now called the Maronite Church. This movement had a profound influence on northern Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and on many other countries all over the world where the Maronites currently live. The biggest Maronite community at the present time lives in Brazil. More than six million Lebanese descendents made Brazil their home after the massive emigration that took place from Lebanon in the beginning of this century.
The Maronites made Lebanon their homeland since the 4th century after converting its native inhabitants to Christianity. They were identified by it, and it was identified by them, they were and still are one entity. The Maronite people were always hopeful, faithful and strong believers in the Christian Catholic doctrine. They made victories of defeats, joy of sorrow and hope of despair. The Maronites successfully created with hard work and a great deal of faith and sacrifices, the Maronite nation by fulfilling its four basic pillars, a land, a people, a civilization and a politically independent entity. They constantly fight for what was theirs, and never ever surrendered to despair.
Fouad Afram Boustani described the Maronite denomination as, a faith of intelligence, an identification of life, a solid belief in Catholicism, a love for others, an ongoing struggle for righteousness, a mentality of openness on the whole world, and on its different civilizations, and a vehicle for martyrdom. The Maronites established the state of Lebanon and made it an oasis for the persecuted in the area. They believed and practiced multiculturalism and pluralism. They created with the help of other minorities in the Middle East the unique nation of Lebanon.
God Bless 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/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
N.B: I initially wrote this editorial in 2002
On the ninth of February for the past 1600 years, Maronites in Lebanon and all over the world have been celebrating the annual commemoration of St. Maroun, the founder of their Catholic denomination.
Every year, on the ninth of February, more than ten million Maronites from all over the world celebrate St. Maroun’s day. On this day, they pay their respect to the great founder of the Maronite Church, Maroun the priest, the hermit, the father, the leader and the Saint. They remember what they have been exposed to, since the 4th century, both good and bad times. They reminisce through the past, examine the present and contemplate the future. They pray for peace, democracy and freedom in Lebanon, their homeland, and all over the world.
Who was this Saint, how did he establish his church, where did he live, and who are his people, the Maronites?
St. Maroun, according to the late great Lebanese philosopher and historian, Fouad Afram Al-Bustani, was raised in the city of Kouroch. This city is located northeast of Antioch (presently in Turkey), and to the northwest of Herapolos (Manbieg), the capital of the third Syria (Al-Furatia). Kouroch is still presently in existence in Turkey, it is located 15 kilometers to the northwest of Kalas city, and about 70 kilometers to the north of the Syrian city, Aleppo.
As stated by the historians, Father Boutrous Daou and Fouad Fram Bustani, Maroun chose a very high location at the Semaan Mountain (called in the past, Nabo Mountain, after the pagan god, Nabo). Geographically, the Semaan Mountain is located between Antioch and Aleppo. People had abandoned the mountain for years, and the area was completely deserted.
The ruins of a historic pagan temple that existed on the mountain attracted Maroun. Boustan stated that St. Maroun moved to this mountain and decided to follow the life of a hermit. He made the ruined temple his residence after excoriating it from devils, but used it only for masses and offerings of the holy Eucharist. He used to spend all his time in the open air, praying, fasting and depriving his body from all means of comfort. He became very famous in the whole area for his faith, holiness and power of curing. Thousands of believers came to him seeking help and advice.
St. Maroun, was an excellent knowledgeable preacher and a very stubborn believer in Christ and in Christianity. He was a mystic who started a new ascetic-spiritual method that attracted many people from all over the Antiochian Empire. He was a zealous missionary with a passion to spread the message of Christ by preaching it to others. He sought not only to cure the physical ailments that people suffered, but had a great quest for nurturing and healing the "lost souls" of both pagans and Christians of his time. Maroun’s holiness and countless miracles drew attention throughout the Antiochian Empire. St. John of Chrysostom sent him a letter around 405 AD expressing his great love and respect asking St. Maroun to pray for him.
St. Maroun's way was deeply monastic with emphasis on the spiritual and ascetic aspects of living. For him, all was connected to God and God was connected to all. He did not separate the physical and spiritual world and actually used the physical world to deepen his faith and spiritual experience with God. St. Maroun embraced the quiet solitude of the Semaan Mountain life. He lived in the open air exposed to the forces of nature such as sun, rain, hail and snow. His extraordinary desire to come to know God’s presence in all things allowed him to transcend such forces, and discover an intimate union with God. He was able to free himself from the physical world by his passion and eagerness for prayer and enter into a mystical relationship of love with the creator.
St. Maroun attracted hundreds of monks and priests who came to live with him and become his disciples and loyal Christian followers. Maroun’s disciples preached the Bible in the Antiochan Empire (known at the present time as Syria), Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel, They built hundreds of Churches and abbeys as well as schools and were known for their faith, devotion and perseverance.
At the age of seventy, in the year 410 AD, and after completing his holy mission, St. Maroun died peacefully while surrounded by his disciples and followers. His will was to be buried in the same grave with his beloved teacher, the great monk, Zabena, in the town of Kena, next to Kouroch city, where a temple was built in Zabena’s name. St. Maroun’s will was not fulfilled, because the residents of a nearby town were able to take his body and bury him in their town and build a huge church on his grave. This church was a shrine for Christians for hundreds of years, and its ruins are still apparent in that town.
After Maroun’s death, his disciples built a huge monastery in honor of his name, adjacent to the ornate spring, (Naher Al-Assi, located at the Syrian-Lebanese border). The monastery served for hundreds of years as a pillar for faith, education, martyrhood and holiness. It was destroyed at the beginning of the tenth century that witnessed the worst Christian persecution era. During the savage attack on the monastery more than 300 Maronite priests were killed. The surviving priests moved to the mountains of Lebanon where with the Marada people and the native Lebanese were successful in establishing the Maronite nation. They converted the Lebanese mountains to a fortress of faith and a symbol for martyrhood, endurance and perseverance.
Initially the Maronite movement reached Lebanon when St. Maroun's first disciple Abraham of Cyrrhus, who was called the Apostle of Lebanon, realized that paganism was thriving in Lebanon, so he set out to convert the pagans to Christianity by introducing them to the way of St. Maroun. St. Maroun is considered to be the Father of the spiritual and monastic movement now called the Maronite Church. This movement had a profound influence on northern Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus and on many other countries all over the world where the Maronites currently live. The biggest Maronite community at the present time lives in Brazil. More than six million Lebanese descendents made Brazil their home after the massive emigration that took place from Lebanon in the beginning of this century.
The Maronites made Lebanon their homeland since the 4th century after converting its native inhabitants to Christianity. They were identified by it, and it was identified by them, they were and still are one entity. The Maronite people were always hopeful, faithful and strong believers in the Christian Catholic doctrine. They made victories of defeats, joy of sorrow and hope of despair. The Maronites successfully created with hard work and a great deal of faith and sacrifices, the Maronite nation by fulfilling its four basic pillars, a land, a people, a civilization and a politically independent entity. They constantly fight for what was theirs, and never ever surrendered to despair.
Fouad Afram Boustani described the Maronite denomination as, a faith of intelligence, an identification of life, a solid belief in Catholicism, a love for others, an ongoing struggle for righteousness, a mentality of openness on the whole world, and on its different civilizations, and a vehicle for martyrdom. The Maronites established the state of Lebanon and made it an oasis for the persecuted in the area. They believed and practiced multiculturalism and pluralism. They created with the help of other minorities in the Middle East the unique nation of Lebanon.
God Bless 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/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
N.B: I initially wrote this editorial in 2002
Monday, February 8, 2010
A devastating war between Israel & Hezbollah is on the horizon
By: Elias Bejjani*
*Israel is preparing to invade Lebanon with massive ground troops.
*Israel will not spare any kind of weaponry, including phosphorous and cluster bombs.
*Israel is secretly evacuating its northern region residents.
*Israel intends to create a new security zone inside Lebanon, south of the Litani to enhance her long term occupation.
While the war of words is escalating around the clock between Israel on the one side and Hezbollah and Syria on the other, analysts in the Middle East and Europe strongly believe that war is inevitable and will break out within a few months.
In this scary context, senior Lebanese sources told the Saudi daily Al-Okaz that Hezbollah has announced emergency readiness in all areas of the country where it operates. Senior figures of the organization were asked to exercise greater caution in their movements amid fears they would be targeted by Israel. Hezbollah’s leaders are bragging that they are capable of defeating, humiliating and destroying Israel’s war machine.
Meanwhile, the verbal sparring between Jerusalem and Damascus continued over the weekend, even if in lower tones. The official Syrian newspaper Tishrin said in an editorial that "the threats from Israel make it clear that it intends to initiate a new war whose limits are unknown." The editorial added that "death and destruction may occur if Israel responds to the logic of some of its leaders, in whose veins flows crime. Damascus is ready for any path that Israel chooses, whether it is peace or war." The editorial's author is the newspaper's editor-in-chief, who wrote that the "logic of war and threats is the dominant logic in Israel. Talk of peace is chatter void of substance that is mere media propaganda. There is no real political decision for peace in the Zionist entity, despite promises of this, on the basis of restoring rights to their rightful owners."
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem last week threatened that an Israeli attack against Syria would be total war. His Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, warned that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his family would not remain in power as a result of the next war.
In a report written by Hamid Ghoriafi, Middle East analyst and journalist, that was published today by the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Seyassah, Ghoriafi drew a very dim picture for the whole situation and predicted a very devastating imminent war that will be according to the Israelis the last one with on their northern borders. Below are some excerpts from this report:
*Reliable European intelligence reports in London unveiled on Monday an extensive secretive Israeli ongoing operation to evacuate hundreds of families living in the Galilee settlements adjacent to the border with Lebanon to safer locations inside Israel, especially west Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and surrounding areas. These families are transported by trucks and buses and priority is given to families with many children, the elderly and the physically disabled. The evacuees' houses are put under the control of the Northern Military Command for reasons not yet known. "
*A German report that was recently distributed to those concerned in the European Union capitals revealed that there is a serious Israeli military intention to reoccupy the former border strip inside Lebanon with a distance of 5 to 6 kilometers.
This strip was known as the "security zone" before the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000. Initially it was established in the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and occupation of her capital in 1982. The aim was to create a semi-demilitarized zone along the area of Lebanese Christian and some Shiite villages that are scattered near the Israeli border in a bid to safeguard the Jewish settlements from shelling and infiltration.
*The same intelligence report quoted Israeli Defense Ministry sources saying that their military engineers have finished putting designs for building two military airports inside the Lebanese “new security zone", which will stretch temporally up to the Litani River in the early stages of the war. This area has been under the control of the UNIFIL troops since 2006. Israel expects that the UNIFIL troops will withdraw in case the war breaks out. The first airport will be built on the middle and eastern region boundaries towards Shabaa Farms, Mount Hermon; and the second in the western sector region towards the coastal town of Naqoura.
All technical and logistic equipments required for the erection of these two airports are already in locations situated behind the front lines of the Israeli army that is extensively present on the northern border. Analysts say that this kind of preparations gives the impression that Israel is definitely planning for a long-term occupation to the south Litani area. The Israeli occupation accordingly will not endonce the coming military operations cease."
*The report quoted the Israeli defense sources saying that the war will actually begin in the northern region of the Litani Rriver and all though the Bekaa Valley and eastern Lebanese mountainous areas that separate Syria and Lebanon because the presence of Hezbollah in the south of the Litani is no longer as heavy as it was in 2006. The UNIFIL troops took control of this region after the 2006 war. The report disclosed that the backbone of the coming Israeli war will be based on two plans:
The first plan is for extensive jet plane aerial bombardment of Hezbollah's scattered military weaponry caches and missile bases with phosphorus and cluster bombs, replicating the kind of devastation the southern suburbs of Beirut (Hezbollah's ministate) suffered during the 2006 war.
The second plan is to execute for the first time, air-landing operations behind Hezbollah's lines after weakening and destroying its bases in the south, Bekaa Valley and Beirut.
These two plans in contrast to the 2006 war aim to practically occupy many Lebanese areas and locations as was the situation in the 1982 invasion led by Ariel Sharon, who occupied Beirut and its surrounding mountainous and coastal areas.
*British sources claimed that another European intelligence report prepared by the UNIFIL French contingent in southern Lebanon revealed that the Israeli army command has made ready another SOS war scenario to deal with Syrian and the Palestinian troops who might cross from Syria and enter the Bekaa Valley equipped with advanced anti-aircraft missiles to hunt the Israeli jets. The scenario speaks about Israeli war inside Syria in a bid to completely destroy these troops. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem last week threatened that an Israeli attack against Syria would lead to total war.
The report said that 60% of the Israeli air force has already been put on full alert and is well prepared for action on the first day of the coming war in an extensive attack on the Lebanese. Israel is planning to fulfill all its objectives and finish the war within a few weeks. The remaining 40% of the Israeli air force will be ready to join in swiftly and effectively if the Syrian army gets involved.
The same French report added that Israel is determined to make this war the last one on her northern borders. The Jewish military command will not spare any advanced and destructive kind of weaponry that is stored in its caches. Hezbollah will not be the only target within the Shiite regions that are under its control, but also the Lebanese army, all Lebanese institutions and infrastructure.
Israel is well convinced that Hezbollah is in full control of the Lebanese government and accordingly its army will not spare the country's infrastructure as was the situation in the 2006 war. Israel is planning to end Hezbollah the same way it ended the PLO in the 1982-1983 war.
*Click Here to read the Arabic report
http://www.10452lccc.com/h.geriafi07/hamid8.2.10.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/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
*Israel is preparing to invade Lebanon with massive ground troops.
*Israel will not spare any kind of weaponry, including phosphorous and cluster bombs.
*Israel is secretly evacuating its northern region residents.
*Israel intends to create a new security zone inside Lebanon, south of the Litani to enhance her long term occupation.
While the war of words is escalating around the clock between Israel on the one side and Hezbollah and Syria on the other, analysts in the Middle East and Europe strongly believe that war is inevitable and will break out within a few months.
In this scary context, senior Lebanese sources told the Saudi daily Al-Okaz that Hezbollah has announced emergency readiness in all areas of the country where it operates. Senior figures of the organization were asked to exercise greater caution in their movements amid fears they would be targeted by Israel. Hezbollah’s leaders are bragging that they are capable of defeating, humiliating and destroying Israel’s war machine.
Meanwhile, the verbal sparring between Jerusalem and Damascus continued over the weekend, even if in lower tones. The official Syrian newspaper Tishrin said in an editorial that "the threats from Israel make it clear that it intends to initiate a new war whose limits are unknown." The editorial added that "death and destruction may occur if Israel responds to the logic of some of its leaders, in whose veins flows crime. Damascus is ready for any path that Israel chooses, whether it is peace or war." The editorial's author is the newspaper's editor-in-chief, who wrote that the "logic of war and threats is the dominant logic in Israel. Talk of peace is chatter void of substance that is mere media propaganda. There is no real political decision for peace in the Zionist entity, despite promises of this, on the basis of restoring rights to their rightful owners."
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem last week threatened that an Israeli attack against Syria would be total war. His Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, warned that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his family would not remain in power as a result of the next war.
In a report written by Hamid Ghoriafi, Middle East analyst and journalist, that was published today by the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Seyassah, Ghoriafi drew a very dim picture for the whole situation and predicted a very devastating imminent war that will be according to the Israelis the last one with on their northern borders. Below are some excerpts from this report:
*Reliable European intelligence reports in London unveiled on Monday an extensive secretive Israeli ongoing operation to evacuate hundreds of families living in the Galilee settlements adjacent to the border with Lebanon to safer locations inside Israel, especially west Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and surrounding areas. These families are transported by trucks and buses and priority is given to families with many children, the elderly and the physically disabled. The evacuees' houses are put under the control of the Northern Military Command for reasons not yet known. "
*A German report that was recently distributed to those concerned in the European Union capitals revealed that there is a serious Israeli military intention to reoccupy the former border strip inside Lebanon with a distance of 5 to 6 kilometers.
This strip was known as the "security zone" before the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000. Initially it was established in the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and occupation of her capital in 1982. The aim was to create a semi-demilitarized zone along the area of Lebanese Christian and some Shiite villages that are scattered near the Israeli border in a bid to safeguard the Jewish settlements from shelling and infiltration.
*The same intelligence report quoted Israeli Defense Ministry sources saying that their military engineers have finished putting designs for building two military airports inside the Lebanese “new security zone", which will stretch temporally up to the Litani River in the early stages of the war. This area has been under the control of the UNIFIL troops since 2006. Israel expects that the UNIFIL troops will withdraw in case the war breaks out. The first airport will be built on the middle and eastern region boundaries towards Shabaa Farms, Mount Hermon; and the second in the western sector region towards the coastal town of Naqoura.
All technical and logistic equipments required for the erection of these two airports are already in locations situated behind the front lines of the Israeli army that is extensively present on the northern border. Analysts say that this kind of preparations gives the impression that Israel is definitely planning for a long-term occupation to the south Litani area. The Israeli occupation accordingly will not endonce the coming military operations cease."
*The report quoted the Israeli defense sources saying that the war will actually begin in the northern region of the Litani Rriver and all though the Bekaa Valley and eastern Lebanese mountainous areas that separate Syria and Lebanon because the presence of Hezbollah in the south of the Litani is no longer as heavy as it was in 2006. The UNIFIL troops took control of this region after the 2006 war. The report disclosed that the backbone of the coming Israeli war will be based on two plans:
The first plan is for extensive jet plane aerial bombardment of Hezbollah's scattered military weaponry caches and missile bases with phosphorus and cluster bombs, replicating the kind of devastation the southern suburbs of Beirut (Hezbollah's ministate) suffered during the 2006 war.
The second plan is to execute for the first time, air-landing operations behind Hezbollah's lines after weakening and destroying its bases in the south, Bekaa Valley and Beirut.
These two plans in contrast to the 2006 war aim to practically occupy many Lebanese areas and locations as was the situation in the 1982 invasion led by Ariel Sharon, who occupied Beirut and its surrounding mountainous and coastal areas.
*British sources claimed that another European intelligence report prepared by the UNIFIL French contingent in southern Lebanon revealed that the Israeli army command has made ready another SOS war scenario to deal with Syrian and the Palestinian troops who might cross from Syria and enter the Bekaa Valley equipped with advanced anti-aircraft missiles to hunt the Israeli jets. The scenario speaks about Israeli war inside Syria in a bid to completely destroy these troops. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem last week threatened that an Israeli attack against Syria would lead to total war.
The report said that 60% of the Israeli air force has already been put on full alert and is well prepared for action on the first day of the coming war in an extensive attack on the Lebanese. Israel is planning to fulfill all its objectives and finish the war within a few weeks. The remaining 40% of the Israeli air force will be ready to join in swiftly and effectively if the Syrian army gets involved.
The same French report added that Israel is determined to make this war the last one on her northern borders. The Jewish military command will not spare any advanced and destructive kind of weaponry that is stored in its caches. Hezbollah will not be the only target within the Shiite regions that are under its control, but also the Lebanese army, all Lebanese institutions and infrastructure.
Israel is well convinced that Hezbollah is in full control of the Lebanese government and accordingly its army will not spare the country's infrastructure as was the situation in the 2006 war. Israel is planning to end Hezbollah the same way it ended the PLO in the 1982-1983 war.
*Click Here to read the Arabic report
http://www.10452lccc.com/h.geriafi07/hamid8.2.10.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/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Sunday, February 7, 2010
The Maronite Patriarch Is Lebanon's Conscience
By: Elias Bejjani*
The Maronite Patriarch, His Beatitude Mar (saint) Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir is referred to by the majority of the Lebanese citizens, both Christians and Muslims, as the conscience of the country, and in fact he is. This wise 89-year-old hermit is an outspoken, courageous, meek, faithful, and shrewd leader who owns no missiles, has no militias under his control, and is not actually supported or sponsored by any other country, which is the situation of many other Lebanese denominations. He derives his power, respect, credibility and authority from a solid faith in the Lebanese people and from their historic longing for freedom, democracy and law.
The emblem of the Maronite seat at Bkerki, reads: "For it the glory of Lebanon was given".
Maronites founded modern and free Lebanon as a democracy and a multicultural mosaic. They have safeguarded it with ongoing sacrifices, and throughout all their 1500 years of deeply rooted history made it an oasis for all the persecuted in the Middle East and a heaven for freedom and tolerance.
Patriarch Sfeir since he was elected to the highest ranking Maronite holy ecclesiastic post in 1986 has been steadfastly walking as tall as Lebanon's Holy cedars in the footsteps of his 75 predecessors. He carries on his shoulders huge responsibilities among which is protecting the enduring existence of his people in the country in which they were and still are her cornerstone in spite of the immense hardships and all kinds of serious obstacles that faced in the past and the present.
While most Lebanese politicians, parties and the majority of the religious denominations' leadership, including many Christians, have succumbed to the Syrian occupation, that has lasted for 29 years (1976-2005), he peacefully resisted and refused to compromise on any of the Maronite church's or Lebanon's historical convictions. He has never lost hope and has lobbied vigorously all over the world for the country's freedom, sovereignty and independence.
His laborious work united the majority of the Lebanese people from all religious denominations, and was an inspiration for the "Cedar Revolution" that forced the Syrian occupation army to withdraw from Lebanon in 2005. Since then, Hezbollah, the Iranian army that Syria and Iran founded during the occupation era, against the will of the Lebanese people, including the Shiite community, has been a threat to the country's unity, and a serious armed obstacle for the reclaiming of independence and freedoms.
Patriarch Sfeir is very loud, clear and heroic in his official pro-Lebanon declared stance in regard to Hezbollah's ongoing ministate, weaponry and fundamental military links to Iran and its Persian Empire dream. His Beatitude is also very adamant and outspoken on the need to put an end to Syria’s vicious flagrant interference and meddling in the Lebanese internal affairs.
He vigorously supports and lobbies for:
* the implementation of the UN Resolutions 1559 (September 2/2004), 1701 (11 August 2006) and 1680 (17 May 2006) that call for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, including Hezbollah,
*the respect of the Lebanese-Israeli General Armistice Agreement (1949) ,
*the determination of Lebanon to ensure the withdrawal of all non-Lebanese forces from Lebanon,
*the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally recognized territorial borders,
*the extension of the control of the government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory.
In three interviews that were conducted with Patriarch Sfeir on February 01, 02, and 05/2010 by the Voice of Lebanon Radio Station, the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Seyassah, and Al-Massira magazine, and in other recent statements he has emphasized the following vital issues:
*The possibilities of war exist as long as Hizbullah wants to play the role of the state.
*Who is the guarantor that the armed group (Hezbollah) is not going to use its arms against those Lebanese who are unarmed.
* Hezbollah's loyalty to Iran is much greater than to Lebanon.
*Lebanon cannot be a sovereign country while Hezbollah remains an armed militia that at one time fights Israel and at another time fights the Lebanese themselves.
*The peace and war decision making process needs to be in the hands of the Lebanese government and not with Hezbollah.
*The Syrians kept their influence despite their withdrawal from Lebanon as a result of the compliance of some Lebanese with their tutelage.
*Lebanon is currently in a political truce with Syria.
*We wonder if Syria has put end to its Lebanese ambitions (expansionism & hegemony) after the exchange of ambassadors between the two countries.
*My visit to Syria should not be acceptable only from my church, but from all the Lebanese people.
*Syria is much bigger than Lebanon, and sadly its policies with our country are based on this concept.
*Lebanese Christian divisions exist, but Christians are not silent as Sunnis and Shiites.
*Christians have been living in Lebanon for 1500 years and they shall continue to do so no matter what happens.
*The situation of the Lebanon's Christians wasn't better in previous decades. Lebanon's Christians weren't better during Turkish rule. The Turkish state was against us but we preserved our presence.
*Conciliation between all Lebanese is in the interest of all parties and communities.
*Lebanon's president must perform his duties, but to do so, he needs the genuine support and assistance of those concerned.
*Each Lebanese religious denomination holds dear to its creed, rituals, destiny and history, therefore abolition of sectarianism is not easy.
*We reject the blind amendments on the Lebanese municipal law.
*We fear the stage that follows the abolition of political sectarianism.
*We call on the Lebanese authorities to facilitate for the Lebanese in Diaspora the regaining of their citizenship and to be able freely to practice their voting rights.
Related documents' links
UN Resolution 1680 http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/1680%20english.htm
UN Resolution 1559 http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/1559.english1.htm
UN Resolution 1701 http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/1701.english.htm
Lebanese-Israeli General Armistice Agreement http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/Armistice%20Agreement.%20march%2023.%201949.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/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
The Maronite Patriarch, His Beatitude Mar (saint) Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir is referred to by the majority of the Lebanese citizens, both Christians and Muslims, as the conscience of the country, and in fact he is. This wise 89-year-old hermit is an outspoken, courageous, meek, faithful, and shrewd leader who owns no missiles, has no militias under his control, and is not actually supported or sponsored by any other country, which is the situation of many other Lebanese denominations. He derives his power, respect, credibility and authority from a solid faith in the Lebanese people and from their historic longing for freedom, democracy and law.
The emblem of the Maronite seat at Bkerki, reads: "For it the glory of Lebanon was given".
Maronites founded modern and free Lebanon as a democracy and a multicultural mosaic. They have safeguarded it with ongoing sacrifices, and throughout all their 1500 years of deeply rooted history made it an oasis for all the persecuted in the Middle East and a heaven for freedom and tolerance.
Patriarch Sfeir since he was elected to the highest ranking Maronite holy ecclesiastic post in 1986 has been steadfastly walking as tall as Lebanon's Holy cedars in the footsteps of his 75 predecessors. He carries on his shoulders huge responsibilities among which is protecting the enduring existence of his people in the country in which they were and still are her cornerstone in spite of the immense hardships and all kinds of serious obstacles that faced in the past and the present.
While most Lebanese politicians, parties and the majority of the religious denominations' leadership, including many Christians, have succumbed to the Syrian occupation, that has lasted for 29 years (1976-2005), he peacefully resisted and refused to compromise on any of the Maronite church's or Lebanon's historical convictions. He has never lost hope and has lobbied vigorously all over the world for the country's freedom, sovereignty and independence.
His laborious work united the majority of the Lebanese people from all religious denominations, and was an inspiration for the "Cedar Revolution" that forced the Syrian occupation army to withdraw from Lebanon in 2005. Since then, Hezbollah, the Iranian army that Syria and Iran founded during the occupation era, against the will of the Lebanese people, including the Shiite community, has been a threat to the country's unity, and a serious armed obstacle for the reclaiming of independence and freedoms.
Patriarch Sfeir is very loud, clear and heroic in his official pro-Lebanon declared stance in regard to Hezbollah's ongoing ministate, weaponry and fundamental military links to Iran and its Persian Empire dream. His Beatitude is also very adamant and outspoken on the need to put an end to Syria’s vicious flagrant interference and meddling in the Lebanese internal affairs.
He vigorously supports and lobbies for:
* the implementation of the UN Resolutions 1559 (September 2/2004), 1701 (11 August 2006) and 1680 (17 May 2006) that call for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, including Hezbollah,
*the respect of the Lebanese-Israeli General Armistice Agreement (1949) ,
*the determination of Lebanon to ensure the withdrawal of all non-Lebanese forces from Lebanon,
*the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally recognized territorial borders,
*the extension of the control of the government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory.
In three interviews that were conducted with Patriarch Sfeir on February 01, 02, and 05/2010 by the Voice of Lebanon Radio Station, the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Seyassah, and Al-Massira magazine, and in other recent statements he has emphasized the following vital issues:
*The possibilities of war exist as long as Hizbullah wants to play the role of the state.
*Who is the guarantor that the armed group (Hezbollah) is not going to use its arms against those Lebanese who are unarmed.
* Hezbollah's loyalty to Iran is much greater than to Lebanon.
*Lebanon cannot be a sovereign country while Hezbollah remains an armed militia that at one time fights Israel and at another time fights the Lebanese themselves.
*The peace and war decision making process needs to be in the hands of the Lebanese government and not with Hezbollah.
*The Syrians kept their influence despite their withdrawal from Lebanon as a result of the compliance of some Lebanese with their tutelage.
*Lebanon is currently in a political truce with Syria.
*We wonder if Syria has put end to its Lebanese ambitions (expansionism & hegemony) after the exchange of ambassadors between the two countries.
*My visit to Syria should not be acceptable only from my church, but from all the Lebanese people.
*Syria is much bigger than Lebanon, and sadly its policies with our country are based on this concept.
*Lebanese Christian divisions exist, but Christians are not silent as Sunnis and Shiites.
*Christians have been living in Lebanon for 1500 years and they shall continue to do so no matter what happens.
*The situation of the Lebanon's Christians wasn't better in previous decades. Lebanon's Christians weren't better during Turkish rule. The Turkish state was against us but we preserved our presence.
*Conciliation between all Lebanese is in the interest of all parties and communities.
*Lebanon's president must perform his duties, but to do so, he needs the genuine support and assistance of those concerned.
*Each Lebanese religious denomination holds dear to its creed, rituals, destiny and history, therefore abolition of sectarianism is not easy.
*We reject the blind amendments on the Lebanese municipal law.
*We fear the stage that follows the abolition of political sectarianism.
*We call on the Lebanese authorities to facilitate for the Lebanese in Diaspora the regaining of their citizenship and to be able freely to practice their voting rights.
Related documents' links
UN Resolution 1680 http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/1680%20english.htm
UN Resolution 1559 http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/1559.english1.htm
UN Resolution 1701 http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/1701.english.htm
Lebanese-Israeli General Armistice Agreement http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/Armistice%20Agreement.%20march%2023.%201949.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/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
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