Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Beheading In Saudi Arabia

By: Elias Bejjani*
April 01/10

My letter that was sent yesterday to the Honorable, Mr. Lawrence Cannon, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding a desperate call to save the life of a Lebanese Citizen from being beheaded in Saudi Arabia

In my capacity as an active Canadian Lebanese human rights activist, journalist, political analyst and commentator, and founder of the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF), I desperately and passionately call on you to personally intervene with the Saudi Arabian authorities in a bid to save Ali Hussain Sabat, a Lebanese national, who according to Associated French Press (AFP) has been sentenced death by beheading this week. With this plea, I join Amnesty International and millions of Canadians and people worldwide who call for respect for human rights, justice and mercy.

From Beirut, his lawyer, May el-Khansa, told AFP on Wednesday 31/03/10, that last night she received news through unofficial channels that Ali Sabat would be beheaded within 48 hours. She stated that his family and she have been contacting Lebanese officials, including President Michel Suleiman and Lebanon's ambassador to Saudi Arabia to appeal his case.

Ali Hussain Sabat, a Lebanese psychic who made predictions on a satellite TV channel from his home in Beirut, was arrested by religious police in the Saudi city of Medina during a pilgrimage there in May 2008 and then sentenced to death on November 9 of the same year.

Mr. Sabat, is 46-years-old, and at the time of his questionable and unlawful arrest was in Saudi Arabia to perform the minor Islamic pilgrimage known as Omra. He started out in the city of Mecca and then traveled to Medina to pray at the "Mosque of the Prophet". The case against him was brought after he gave advice and made predictions on Lebanese television.

Mr.Sabat appears to have been convicted solely for the peaceful exercise of his rightful freedom of expression.

We strongly believe that it is high time that our Canadian government which has extremely good relations with the Saudi ruling family intervenes on the basis of protecting human rights to save the Life of Mr. Sabat, and at the same time encourages the Saudi Arabian government to join the international trend towards a worldwide moratorium on executions.

It is worth mentioning that Saudi Arabia has no clear legal definition on the charge of witchcraft and judges are given discretionary power in determining what constitutes a crime and what sentence to impose. In November 2007, Mustafa Ibrahim, an Egyptian working as a pharmacist in Saudi Arabia, was beheaded after he was found guilty of sorcery. Sabat is one of scores of people arrested every year in Saudi Arabia for practicing sorcery, witchcraft, black magic and fortune-telling.

These practices are considered to be a form of polytheism by the government of this deeply religious Muslim country. Meanwhile, Mr. Sabat did not break any Saudi law and the alleged crime was not committed on the Saudi soil, but in Lebanon and not via a Saudi media facility.

In Lebanon, psychics, fortune-tellers and astrologers are permitted to operate freely. Many have regular television and radio shows and some cafes even hire them to attract more customers. Every December 31, they jostle for air time to give their predictions for the New Year. Meanwhile, Mr. Sabat did not infringe on any Lebanese law

Saudi judges have harshly punished confessed ‘witches’ for what at worst appears to be fraud, but may well be harmless acts. Saudi judges should not have the power to end lives of persons at all, let alone those who have not physically harmed others.

We are fully convinced that Mr. Ali Saba is not a criminal, and that he did not commit any criminal act. It is very important that Canada, the well known champion in global human rights advocacy, steps in and saves the life of this one person.

Mr. Cannon, saving an innocent person from such a harsh and unlawful death is noble and humane act, especially that within few days we are going celebrate the death and the resurrection of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Matthew 5: 7& 9: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God".

*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

Monday, March 22, 2010

Attacking Iran: The Sooner the Better

By: Elias Bejjani*

Apparently the Western, Arabic and Free World countries have all badly failed in their laborious, peaceful overtures, logical approaches and reasonable rapprochement towards Iran and its daydreaming and detached from reality president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and its fanatical, tunnel-visioned mullahs.

All western strategies and plans aiming to stop the Iranian mullahs from owning an atomic bomb have been facing an ongoing series of scornful and humiliating failures, although the peaceful overtures have been initiated and perused on many levels and through numerous communication channels.

Up till now Iran's fanatical Islamic fundamentalist leadership has arrogantly ignored all the declared dire concerns of the whole world regarding their questionable nuclear program, while openly and boldly ridiculing and rebuffing each and every goodwill gesture and civilized conciliatory attempt taken by the USA, England, France, Italy, Spain and other European countries, as well as Russia, China, numerous Arabic and Islamic countries.

Sadly, the fact that the West is not yet willing to understand is that the Iranian mullahs, the notorious Revolutionary Guards and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad divinely believe that it is their country's holy right to own the atomic bomb no matter what the "infidel" West, the "American Great Satan", or the "rogue" and "corrupted" Arab regimes think, say or do.

By human standards of logic, facts, reasoning, consequences and sanity, the current Iranian leaders are detached from reality and haunted by a plague of grandiose delusions and overvalued religious doctrines. It is worth mentioning that a delusion is a false psychotic idea or belief that does not match the reality, powers, influence or capabilities of the person. A delusion can't be corrected by reasoning, logic or proof. The deluded person detaches himself from reality and lives in castles of fantasies.

There is no doubt that the Iranian leadership does not by any means comprehend the kind of civilized and peaceful language the Western world speaks. At the same time, they are not even trying to learn it. This western language is one they hate, do not respect and despise.

This pathetic reality simply means that all western overtures will keep being totally ignored by Iran and thrown into Ahmadinejad's garbage bin. This civilized and peaceful language is wrongly interpreted by the mullahs and Ahmadinejad as a sign of cowardice, fear, submission, weakness and helplessness.

In order to ensure a secure, effective and productive two way communication with Iran's fundamentalist leadership the Obama administration, the whole Free World, as well as the Islamic and Arabic countries should speak the only language that this derailed leadership comprehends: the language of power and deterrence. All other means are only futile and buying time for the mullahs and Ahmadinejad.

One should admit that the Iranian leadership has proved through all stages of the fruitless and unproductive negotiations with the West that they are masters in opportunism, in playing on western differences and Arab countries' fears, procrastination, deception and dhimmitude. They are betting on the hesitation and indecisiveness of their adversaries and sadly up till now they have been very successful.

The USA, Europe, Israel and all other Free World countries, as well as the Arab countries should once and for all forget their hesitation, fear, procrastination and double standards in regard to Iran, Syria and all the terrorist organizations that revolve in their orbit.

In reality, Iran imposes more of a serious threat to the Arab countries, than it does to Israel, but because of the chronic and sickening double standard stances of the rulers of these countries, this grim fact is not officially revealed. All the Arab countries except Syria are secretly encouraging Israel and the USA not only to attack and destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities, but also to topple the mullahs’ regime.

Options for containing and defeating the axis of evil (Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFPL-GC), and Al Qaeda) are very limited and unfortunately all are bloody and with a very high price, but the more time Iran is given, the higher the price will be. Accordingly, the sooner the better, because history, logic and reality tell us that the confrontation is inevitable.

Either the USA and Europe perform the military job and destroy Iran's nuclear facilities before Ahmadinejad puts his hand on the atomic bomb, which he definitely will use to fulfill his expansionist dream of the Persian empire, or these countries MUST give Israel the Okay to finish this dirty task.

Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is going to visit to the United States this week; he will be demanding that President Obama release previously-promised bunker-busting bombs, the Times of London reported Sunday. The United States has diverted 387 bombs to an island in the Indian Ocean following the latest diplomatic clash between Israel and the United States over the proposed Ramat Shlomo housing project in Jerusalem, according to several news sources.

Middle East analysts believe that President Obama is holding on to the option that the United States, and not Israel, would attack Iran if it obtains nuclear capability. Scotland’s Sunday Herald last week quoted Dan Plesch, director of the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the University of London as saying, “They [the United States] are gearing up totally for the destruction of Iran. U.S. bombers are ready today to destroy 10,000 targets in Iran in a few hours.”

Israel, according to its media, needs badly these powerful bombs to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, which are buried deep underground. Israel needs these bombs also to deal with Hezbollah's underground missile caches and launchers in any coming war. Meanwhile, the Iranian Fars news agency has quoted Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that the Bushehr nuclear facility will be online by the summer.

The time has come to make the Syrian regime, the mullahs of Iran, and all their proxy terrorist and fundamentalist organizations, especially Hezbollah and Hamas, understand very well and without any doubt that there will be awful prices and severe consequences for any criminal acts they commit, among of which is the change of the Syrian and Iranian regimes by force as was the situation with Iraq's dictator, Saddam Hussein.

Had the Free World and the Arab countries adopted and implemented courageous, straightforward and firm stances in their dealings with Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda, including the use of strategic military force, the whole world would have been in a much better position of peace, and thousands of lives would have been spared and trillions of dollars saved, but as the saying goes: "wailing and shedding tears at the tomb does not bring the dead to life". It is time for them all to learn from their mistakes and act accordingly.

As the world already has a Hitler in Ahmadinejad, perhaps:... does the Free World want to have a nuclear holocaust or not?

*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, March 14, 2010

Temptation, Endurance & Faith

By: Elias Bejjani*

God, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

Many people when exposed to hardships and various life's serious stumbles like ailments, death of a beloved one, accidents, separation, divorce, family problems etc, we hear some of them saying with a self pity tone: “God is putting me into temptation”. This superficial explanation is generally unconscious and a kind of psychological denial and an escape mechanism, or a mere ignorance of the Bible’s teachings.

In his letter of 1/12/18, St. James focuses on this common misinterpretation and explains its biblical concept. He says: “blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love Him. Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He himself tempts no one. But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. Don’t be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there can be no variation, nor turning shadow. Of his own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.

Definitely God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. In the first chapter of Job, we see that God allowed Satan to tempt Job, but with restrictions. Satan is roaming around on the earth like a lion, seeking people to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Verse 9 tells us to resist him, knowing that other people are also experiencing his attacks. By these passages we can be sure that temptations Satan's work.

The Scriptures reveals that we all shall face temptations and that Jesus himself, the son of God, yet without sin, was also tempted.
The question is: from where do temptations come?

First of all, they do not come from God, although He does allow them. The Bible tells us that they come from our own minds that have both righteous and evil components with inclination towards sin and luster.

Temptation is deeply entrenched in our thoughts and hearts. It will surface and take control when we are carried away and enticed by our own lust, selfishness, greediness, materialism and detachment from God. It prevails when we allow ourselves to think certain thoughts, to go places we should not go, and to make decisions based on our lusts that lead us into the temptation.

God tempts no one and while allowing the temptation to occur, He, as a loving and caring Father, does not permit any kind of temptation to hit any person unless this person is strong enough to endure and handle it. Meanwhile and also as a Father God leaves for the tempted a way out provided this person holds on to faith and hope. Meanwhile the tempted will not be able to see the light that shows him the path out unless he genuinely repents and believes in God’s mercy and forgiveness.

In his First Letter to the Corinthians (10/13), St. Paul says, “No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it”.

Every one of us can fall prey to temptation when he allow love to be out of his heart, soul, deeds and every day unfolding life events.

And because God is love, abandoning love simply means abandoning God Himself.

And because God is the holy light that shows us the road, leads our steps to righteousness and safeguards us from Satan, we go into complete darkness, become blind, stumble and fall in to temptation when we abandon God.

Jesus himself was tempted in the wilderness by Satan (Matthew 4/:1-11). Jesus responded to each of Satan’s temptations with the same answer: “It is written,” followed by Scripture. He used the Word of God to effectively overcome and defeat Satan’s temptations. After three failed efforts, Satan left him with disappointment.

When encountering any kind of temptation we need to resist courageously and ask God to empower us by the Holy Spirit which we can obtain through prayers, righteous deeds, reading and studying the bible and strengthening our faith and belief in God.

There is no other weapon against temptation except the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Colossians 3:2 says, “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” When your minds are filled with the majesty and holiness of God, the love and compassion of Christ, and the brilliance of both reflected in His perfect Word, we will find that our interest in the lusts of the world diminish and disappear.

But without the Word’s influence on our minds, we are open to anything Satan wants to throw at us. Here, then, is the only means to guard our hearts and minds in order to keep the sources of temptation away from us. Remember the words of Christ to His disciples in the garden on the night of His betrayal: “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).

No one wishes to commit sins or inflict harm on others and accordingly fall in temptations, yet all of us do slip and stumble from time to time because our flesh is not strong enough to resist.

We place ourselves in unlawful situations, fill our minds and hearts with lustful passions, let ailments of hatred and grudges blind our eyes and harden our hearts, kills our conscience, succumb to inflated egos, let go our selfishness and instincts of violence, pretentiousness and jealousy. All of these weaknesses leads us into temptation and sin.

To resist and immune ourselves against the traps of temptation and in the face of those who are wicked, we need to renew our thinking as He has created us on his image. Not only that, but he has sent his only begotten Son to be tortured, humiliated, persecuted and killed on the Cross to lead us into salvation and eliminate our original sin.

Proverbs 4:14-15 tells us, “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not proceed in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not pass by; Turn away from it and pass on.” We need to avoid the path of the world that leads us into temptation because our flesh is weak.

To stand tall in the face of temptation and defeat Satan and uncover his tricks, we need to take drastic measures in our live. The anti-Satan's effective two weapons that we must carry all the time, are love and forgiveness.

Because of our weak human nature we are easily carried away by our own lusts. St Matthew (5:29) has some excellent advice for us: “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw if from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” This does not literally mean that we need to remove body parts to be righteous, but Jesus is teaching us that if necessary drastic measures needs to be taken.

O Lord, our Savior, you became flesh and by sacrificing yourself for us You saved us. Redeem us now from eternal damnation, protect us from all temptations, open our eyes and hearts to see your light, make us temples of your holy name, For we are Your people and inheritance. To You, O Christ, to your Father, and to your Holy Spirit, are due glory, honor and power, now and for ever. Amen

*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, March 9, 2010

Genocide against Civilian Nigerian Christians

By: Elias Bejjani*

Matthew 5/4&10:"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven"

It is so sad and extremely frustrating to hear every day horrible mascaras targeting peaceful Christian civilians in Iraq, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Turkey, Pakistan, Nigeria among many other countries where murder with cold blood and barbarism against minorities is a trend and a life style that goes back to the stone ages.

What do these merciless, sadistic killers and their leaders, clergy or masters achieve when they butcher, slaughter and decapitated unarmed, peaceful and poor civilians including children, women and elderly for just being Christians? Is such brutality is a Jihad war (holy War)? For heaven's sake which God sanctions such savage acts!!?

Witnessing and hearing about such horrific massacres one wonders if we are actually living in the year 2010 or still in the dark ages, or even in pre historic times?

The question is why the United Nations, the religious authorities, Human Rights organizations and the free world and Muslim countries allow such crimes to occur, and why the regimes that either advocate for such barbaric atrocities or turn a blind eye on those who commit them are not punished and put on trial?

International Christian Concern (ICC) has stated in a release issued on March 08/10 that on March 07/10 "Nigerian Muslims murdered 500 Christians in the village of Dogo Nahawa, near the city of Jos. Most of the victims are women and children. The Muslims invaded the village at 2 AM local time and slaughtered the Christians with machetes".
http://www.persecution.org/suffering/newssummpopup.php?newscode=11889&PHPSESSID=cc0ffdd1e5b1ebc49061a80f0da53073

According to the ICC, "In some cases the Muslims wiped out entire members families. They also burned down the homes of several Christians. A local government official told ICC that around 380 Christians were buried in one mass burial space. He added that other victims were buried by their families and there are still bodies being collected. The official, who requested to remain anonymous, also said that police have arrested 93 people and recovered guns, knifes and other types of weapons from the suspects"

The ICC, denounced the massacre and said: “The genocide committed by Muslims against innocent women and children is another clear demonstration of Muslims brutality and intolerance of Christians in northern Nigeria. The Nigerian government must bring those responsible to account for this evil crime against humanity. The right to freedom of religion must not just be written in our Constitution but must be seen to be in practice. We are appealing to Christians all over the world through ICC and continual prayers for believers in Northern Nigeria,” said Reverend John Hayab". Reverend Hayab is the Secretary General of Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna State.

This latest anti Christian Jihad came on the heels of a conflict between Christians and Muslims in Jos in January of this year. During that conflict, over 300 people were killed. Over 13, 750 Christians have been killed by Muslims in northern Nigeria since the introduction of Sharia laws in 2001. ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa and South Asia, Jonathan Racho, said, “We condemn in the strongest words this latest Jihad attack against Christians. It’s both unconscionable and extremely heinous for the Muslims to slaughter women and children in the middle of the night simply because of their religious belief. This is yet another example of danger of Islamic fundamentalism. The international community must assist the victims and their families. Nigerian officials must be held accountable for their failure in protecting Christians from Muslim aggression.”

We deplore these horrible crimes in the strongest of terms and offer sincere condolences to the families and friends of those innocent victims who lost their lives in the massacre and wish a speedy recovery to the injured.

Moral, ethical, human and legal obligations demand that the UN, Vatican, Human Rights Organizations, and all Free World and Muslim countries take a courageous stance and step in immediately with all available means to put an end for such genocide not only in Nigeria, but in all other countries where either Christians or other minorities are being murdered or deprived of their rights. All killers and their leaders need to be put on trial.

Meanwhile, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian Acting President, has a legal and national obligation to ensure accountability for those who committed the crimes and also for those who have perpetuated the inter-communal conflict in recent years.

At the same time the Nigerian Government is encouraged to continue to pursue efforts to address the root causes of this recurring violence, and urge communities to continue working together to build a peaceful society.”

*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

Monday, March 8, 2010

Any dialogue with Hezbollah is futile

By: Elias Bejjani*
 
Lebanese politicians and leaders from rival parties are scheduled to engage tomorrow, March 09/10 in a new national dialogue session at the presidential palace under the chairmanship of President Michel Suleiman to look into means and ways that could ultimately lead to the disarmament of the Hezbollah terrorist Iranian militia and give the Lebanese central government the sole authority on the decision making process of war and peace.

Hezbollah is insisting that the fate of its weapons is not on the table by any means, and arrogantly is calling on all the Arab countries to adopt its role model of resistance against Israel and abandon hope of reaching peace with Israel via negotiations.

Meanwhile, several top notch Hezbollah leaders have been lately boldly and with a tone of overt intimidation and threats asserting almost on daily basis that those Lebanese politicians and leaders who call for its disarmament are Israeli and American agents and traitors. Hezbollah wants all the Lebanese people to embrace its weaponry and support its "divine resistance".

Cabinet Minister Mohammed Fneish, representative of Hezbollah in the Al Hariri government, said yesterday that disarming his "resistance" group was not up for discussion in the dialogue session, but instead that the national defense strategy would be appropriate for discussion. According to Hezbollah this strategy should give its leadership more power and more authority to safeguard all of Lebanon against Israel. "Some have implied that the dialogue session seeks to decide on when Hezbollah will be disarmed," Fneish was quoted as saying by the Anbaa News Agency. "This issue is not a subject for discussion and will not be debated at the dialogue session," Fneish said.

Prime Minister Saad Al Hariri and his pro-independence 14th of March Coalition have failed to resolve the thorny issue of Hezbollah's weapons since the end of the Syrian occupation in 2005. The current Hariri government is crippled due to the fact that Hezbollah and its puppet allies who are Iranian and Syrian mercenaries have the upper hand in all its decisions. They have a veto power through which they can kill any decision that is not in their favor.

Although the 14th of March won the majority in last year’s parliamentary elections and defeated a Hezbollah-led coalition backed by Iran and Syria, Hezbollah has refused to disarm and has been doing so since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war and insists that its weapons are necessary to defend Lebanon against Israeli aggression.

The first Lebanese national dialogue sessions were held in 2006, before the devastating war between Hezbollah and Israel, to determine the fate of the weapons held by this Shiite Iranian terrorist militia. But it has been delayed several times because of the country's successive political crises.

Hezbollah has built up its arsenal in recent years from 14,000 rockets at the outbreak of the 2006 war to more than 40,000 now. It fired around 4,000 rockets into northern Israel during the 2006 war. Last month, Hezbollah General Secretary, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed to unleash the group's military might on Israel's infrastructure, including Tel Aviv airport, should the Jewish state attack Lebanon.

It is worth mentioning that during its deplorable occupation era, Baathist Syria had forced since 1982 the armed Hezbollah Shiite organization under the disguise of resistance against Israel, as well as many other armed Lebanese and Palestinian militias, safeguarded the outlaw status quo of the cantons it created in all the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and produced a corrupt and conscienceless generation of subservient puppet Lebanese politicians who are professionals in camouflage, carrying on flimflam, fraud, knavery, treason, lying and cheating.

The disarmament of Hezbollah must be a priority in the rational dialogue sessions that will start today. All manipulative, Trojan and twisted justifications used by Hezbollah's leadership and their Syrian and Iranian rogue regimes to hinder Hezbollah’s disarmament must be addressed openly, exposed publicly and stripped of all lies and threats in front of all the Lebanese people and the whole world.

Hezbollah which is an Iranian-sponsored Shiite terrorist jihad militia based in southern Lebanon, Beirut and Bekaa Valley, was the only Lebanese armed militia allowed by Syria to remain armed in 1990 when Christian, Druze and Muslim Lebanese militias were all disarmed in accordance with the "Taef Accord" (forced on Lebanon's MPs in a conference held at the Saudi Taef City in 1988 to end 15 years of internal Lebanese wars). Syria also did not disarm any of the Palestinian militias and at the same time did not allow the Lebanese authorities to carry out this duty.

Hezbollah militarily and administratively fully controls Lebanon and its government. This current bizarre armed status quo is in defiance of the Lebanese constitution and of both the "Taef Accord" and the UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701, as well as the "Armistice Agreement" that regulated the Lebanese - Israeli borders (signed in 1949).

Both UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701 as well as the "Taef Accord , call for the disarmament of all militias, for the Lebanese army to patrol the Lebanese Israeli border and for the Lebanese government to enforce its control and authority on all the Lebanese territories through its own legitimate armed forces.

Hezbollah strongly refuses to disarm, while its General Secretary Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and many other of his top aides have publicly cautioned that any hand that dares to touch their arms has to be an Israeli one and will be accordingly severed. At the same time they keep on threatening that any attempt for their disarmament will lead to a state of internal unrest and confrontations.

All the Lebanese leadership is required to take a clear-cut stance on Hezbollah's weaponry and declare publicly what kind of dialogue they are perusing? Is it the kind of dialogue that Hezbollah is after in a bid to safeguard its current military status quo at the expense of the central government authority, keep its huge arsenal, maintain full control on the cantons it erected in South Lebanon, Beirut suburbs and Bekaa Valley, and keep Lebanon's decision making process for peace and war in the hands of Syria and Iran? Or a dialogue that is preset to fully disarm Hezbollah, disintegrate its military structure and help in its integration into the political, democratic and peaceful Lebanese life?

It is a sad reality that the majority of Lebanese political and religious groups, including the Lebanese government members, are either camouflaging and frightened to take a stance or are on Hezbollah's side for religious or personal agenda reasons.

We strongly believe that both the UN and free world countries who prepared, sponsored and passed the UN Resolutions 1559, 1701 and forced Syria to put an end to its occupation of Lebanon, have a further obligation to see that all clauses of these two resolutions are implemented and that Hezbollah and all the other Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias are disarmed, or otherwise the whole Middle East will know no peace and the war against terrorism will never be won.

*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