By: Elias Bejjani*
On August 06/09, the Lebanese official National News Agency published on its website, the following slanderous and desecrating report: “The International Red Cross received today from within the occupied Palestinian territories and via the Naqoura gate, (check post on the Lebanese-Israeli borders) the body of the agent, (Amiel) Elias Joseph Agiel, 52 years old, who died in one of the hospitals in the occupied Palestinian territories. The deceased entered occupied Palestine (Israel) in the aftermath of the Israeli army defeat in year 2000. The International Red Cross Committee handed over Agiel's body to his family in the town of Niha - Chouf district”. It is worth mentioning that the Arabic term "Amiel" means a traitor and conspirator.
For the record, the deceased was not neither a traitor, nor a conspirator, but a mere victim. In the aftermath of the Israeli army’s withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000, he was among more than 6,500 southern Lebanese men, along with members of their families that 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.”
It is sad, sickening and shameful that the official Lebanese National News Agency has resorted in its hostile, defaming, inhuman and defiling report to Hezbollah's jihadist lexicon and abided by its Iranian criteria of fundamentalism and terrorism for defining who is a traitor and who is a patriot.
The report did not respect or regard the fact that the deceased is a Lebanese citizen and a human being, and definitely not an agent or a traitor. By tagging him when he is dead as a traitor the news agency has openly and savagely annulled all the deeply rooted Lebanese cultural traditions that honor the sacredness of death. Meanwhile, it also violated all judicial laws that consider the accused innocent until found guilty by a court of law.
The question is: who runs this news agency that supposedly is an official department that belongs to the Lebanese Ministry of Information? Is it the Lebanese government or Hezbollah? There is no doubt that the journalist who worded the report and his superiors who approved it are all without any normal human feelings or otherwise how could they viciously dare to defy the sanctity of death?
The wording of the report incites a great deal of moral, ethical and religious vilification. It not only dishonors the sanctity of death, but also presents a flagrant violation on the deceased’s rights and dignity, as well as provoking blatant contempt, defamation, belittlement and threats on the deceased family, relatives and his hometown residents.
It would have been understandable if Hezbollah's, Al-Qaeda’s, or any of their jihadist proxy media facilities had worded and disseminated such a degrading and provocative report, because none of them recognize the UN Human Rights Charter or have any respect for the dignity of the living or the dead and are not states or members of the UN, and openly advocate their doctrines through terrorism. Meanwhile, too many questions need to be raised when the official Lebanese National News Agency adopts such a lexicon and such an approach!
It is worth mentioning that while for the past nine years, the Lebanese government on all levels has been abandoning its own citizens who took refuge in Israel, and unjustly insists on tagging them as agents and traitors, we find that Israel, the so- called enemy, is embracing them and doing its best to help them. In this context the Israeli cabinet appointed on August 02/09 Minister Yossi Peled as the responsible minister for the care of former South Lebanese Army members in Israel. Peled was assigned to head an inter-ministerial team that will address housing, employment, education, and citizenship needs of former SLA members living in Israel since 2000 when the IDF withdrew from Lebanon. Peled said, "The State of Israel has a moral obligation to the people of SLA, its allies, who fought alongside it shoulder to shoulder."
This notorious report is by all standards a very serious atrocity and an alarming sign because it shows clearly the depth and extent of Hezbollah's infiltration and penetration to all the Lebanese state's institutions, not only through its well trained manpower, but most dangerously through its jihadist doctrine, Iranian mullah's lexicon, and the escalating manipulation of the government’s decision making process including the last word on war and peace.
What about the deterrent judicial role the Ministry of Justice is supposed to play in accordance with the country's constitution, and what measures is it going to take? And in case it tries to play its role, will Hezbollah allow that to happen? Definitely not, because the Lebanese state's institutions including this ministry are actually and practically fully dominated and controlled by Hezbollah.
One wonders also why the main Lebanese Christian parties in both March 14 March 8 coalitions are burying their heads in the sand, although the majority of the South Lebanese Army were from their members. Could it be that they have been hit by the contagious dhimmitude ailment and are doing what the well known Chinese proverb says: I don't see, I don't hear, I don't talk?
It is time for these parties to get out of their self imposed coma and start to do their job.The ongoing humanitarian suffering and dilemma of the Lebanese refugees in Israel make every official, clergyman, politician and intellectual in Lebanon accountable, and accordingly they all have an obligation to speak out loudly and fairly for the preservation of their rights and dignity.
We strongly condemn the disgraceful and irresponsible conduct of the Lebanese government, the politicians and clergy are adopting with regard to the legitimate rights of our people in Israel. Justice is needed as well courage and conscience. We loudly call on Lebanon's President, Mr. Michel Suleiman, who had promised publicly in his inauguration speech on May 25/08 to bring back our refugees from Israel: "And here comes the role of perseverance to liberate our prisoners and uncover the fate of the disappeared and bring back our sons who have sought refuge in Israel. The nation is wide enough for everybody.", to move on and fulfill his promise.
Meanwhile, his Excellency, the president needs to take into consideration that these victims were forced by Hezbollah's terrorism to take refuge in neighboring Israel since May 2000. Therefore, their return needs to be a priority, and it must be done with honor, dignity, respect and definitely without any kind of farce trials. These people are heroes and not traitors, and every Lebanese with faith and conscience is fully aware of this reality and substantially unshaken tangible fact.
Elias BejjaniCanadian-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, August 10, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Hezbollah Runs Lebanon's Foreign Ministry
By Elias Bejjani*
It has become clear even to the blind that 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 through cancerous infiltration, intimidation, 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.
In this context, Hezbollah forced the Lebanese state to adopt all its derailed concepts, vicious justifications, bizarre explanations and plain fabrications in a bid to camouflage and cover up the actual causes of the massive series of explosions that occurred on July 14/09 in the southern Lebanese town of Khirbat Silm, located about 10 miles north of the Israeli-Lebanese border. In fact, Khirbat Silm was hit seriously due to a series of Hezbollah's huge underground weaponry caches.
Observers and local residents have confirmed that the Hezbollah militiamen did not allow the Lebanese army or the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to approach the scene of the blast until after they had removed all the burned weapons and ammunition, and transferred all the weapons that did not explode to nearby depots located in a number of civilian houses in the town itself.
The Hezbollah civilian militiamen with their families in the town attacked the UNIFIL soldiers (French contingent) with stones when they tried to search the houses close to the explosion location injuring 14 of them and aborting their search assignment.
At a time when Hezbollah leaders boast and brag openly that their stockpiles of missiles have doubled, their military capabilities are increasing and that they are militarily still as strong in the southern region adjacent to the Israeli borders as they were before the war in July 2006, the Lebanese state only buries its head in the sand and adopts stances that are childish, forged, naive and void from any kind of actuality or credibility.
Official statements issued by the UNIFIL forces confirmed clearly and explicitly that the weaponry caches that exploded in the town of Khirbat Silm belonged to Hezbollah and tagged the incident as a serious violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, notably the provision stating that there should be no presence of unauthorized assets or weapons in the area of its operations between the Litani River and the Blue Line.
In spite of the solid facts that the UNIFIL statements presented, the Lebanese authorities turned a blind eye on all the infringements that were committed by Hezbollah, not only in regard to the explosion of its weaponry caches, but also on the two others incidents that targeted the UNIFIL forces afterwards that were engineered and executed by Hezbollah.
In the first incident, about 100 of Hezbollah's civilians from the residents of the town of Khirbat Silm threw stones at the UNIFIL soldiers and injured 14 of them. In the second incident, a group of Hezbollah civilians crossed the Green Line of the Israeli-Lebanese border near Shabaa Farms and overran a non-guarded Israeli post. Meanwhile, the letter that the Lebanese Foreign Ministry sent to the United Nations regarding the Khirbat Silm explosions and the incidents that followed was void of any credibility, childish, and a mere mouthpiece for Hezbollah's stances. Anyone who had thoroughly read the letter would have known immediately that it was written by the Hezbollah leadership and not by the Lebanese Foreign Affairs diplomats.
The Lebanese political analyst, Bechara Charbel, described the letter as a "diplomatic joke" and said: "It would be great to know who is that genius diplomat that wrote the letter to the United Nations addressing the Khirbat Silm explosions because it is so bad and so fake that he in return deserves to be stripped of his university degrees, fired from his job, slapped on the face and kicked on the back".
The letter alleged that the explosions were due to a fire breaking out in an abandoned building that housed unexploded munitions from the summer 2006 war with Israel. It stressed that cooperation between the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL was strong, adding that Lebanon was fully committed to the implementation of Resolution 1701, and that an investigation committee was formed by the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL officers to supervise the scene of the explosion.
According to the letter, the investigations had been launched the day after the explosion, “because experts judged working the first day to be too dangerous since explosions continued until late July 14”. The letter said that the Lebanese soldiers stayed on location despite possible hazards, adding that one soldier had been injured.
The letter goes on to say that the investigations had revealed that the unexploded ammunitions bore writings in Hebrew and were of the type used during the summer 2006 war. It slammed Israel’s claims that Hezbollah endangered civilians by storing its weapons in populated areas. “Israel is trying to justify any future deliberate attack on Lebanese civilians,” the letter said.
Regarding the July 18 incident in which a UNIFIL team investigating the blast was hampered by civilians from the Khirbat Silm town, the Foreign Ministry’s letter revealed the Lebanese Army had decided to investigate leaks that unexploded ammunitions might have been transferred to three houses in Khirbet Silim. “UNIFIL was informed and decided to crack down on the three houses without being escorted by the Lebanese Army,” the letter said. “Clashes with the residents ensued,” it added. "As a result, 14 UNIFIL personnel were slightly injured".
The letter is not only diplomatic nonsense, but also a stupid joke and a mere forgery of the facts. For heaven sake, is there any sane individual that would take such a report seriously and grant any kind of credibility to those who wrote it and to the Lebanese government that adopted it? Definitely no one if we exclude Hezbollah and its Iranian masters, the Mullahs.
It is sad, shameful and heretical that the Lebanese Foreign Minister, Mr. Fawzi Salloukh, is actually Hezbollah's Minister for Foreign Affairs and has nothing to do with Lebanon. He is Hezbollah's man and its diplomatic mouthpiece.
In conclusion, Lebanon will remain a mere hostage, and will not become a free, democratic, and independent country again until the terrorist organization Hezbollah is dismantled and disarmed
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
It has become clear even to the blind that 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 through cancerous infiltration, intimidation, 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.
In this context, Hezbollah forced the Lebanese state to adopt all its derailed concepts, vicious justifications, bizarre explanations and plain fabrications in a bid to camouflage and cover up the actual causes of the massive series of explosions that occurred on July 14/09 in the southern Lebanese town of Khirbat Silm, located about 10 miles north of the Israeli-Lebanese border. In fact, Khirbat Silm was hit seriously due to a series of Hezbollah's huge underground weaponry caches.
Observers and local residents have confirmed that the Hezbollah militiamen did not allow the Lebanese army or the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to approach the scene of the blast until after they had removed all the burned weapons and ammunition, and transferred all the weapons that did not explode to nearby depots located in a number of civilian houses in the town itself.
The Hezbollah civilian militiamen with their families in the town attacked the UNIFIL soldiers (French contingent) with stones when they tried to search the houses close to the explosion location injuring 14 of them and aborting their search assignment.
At a time when Hezbollah leaders boast and brag openly that their stockpiles of missiles have doubled, their military capabilities are increasing and that they are militarily still as strong in the southern region adjacent to the Israeli borders as they were before the war in July 2006, the Lebanese state only buries its head in the sand and adopts stances that are childish, forged, naive and void from any kind of actuality or credibility.
Official statements issued by the UNIFIL forces confirmed clearly and explicitly that the weaponry caches that exploded in the town of Khirbat Silm belonged to Hezbollah and tagged the incident as a serious violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, notably the provision stating that there should be no presence of unauthorized assets or weapons in the area of its operations between the Litani River and the Blue Line.
In spite of the solid facts that the UNIFIL statements presented, the Lebanese authorities turned a blind eye on all the infringements that were committed by Hezbollah, not only in regard to the explosion of its weaponry caches, but also on the two others incidents that targeted the UNIFIL forces afterwards that were engineered and executed by Hezbollah.
In the first incident, about 100 of Hezbollah's civilians from the residents of the town of Khirbat Silm threw stones at the UNIFIL soldiers and injured 14 of them. In the second incident, a group of Hezbollah civilians crossed the Green Line of the Israeli-Lebanese border near Shabaa Farms and overran a non-guarded Israeli post. Meanwhile, the letter that the Lebanese Foreign Ministry sent to the United Nations regarding the Khirbat Silm explosions and the incidents that followed was void of any credibility, childish, and a mere mouthpiece for Hezbollah's stances. Anyone who had thoroughly read the letter would have known immediately that it was written by the Hezbollah leadership and not by the Lebanese Foreign Affairs diplomats.
The Lebanese political analyst, Bechara Charbel, described the letter as a "diplomatic joke" and said: "It would be great to know who is that genius diplomat that wrote the letter to the United Nations addressing the Khirbat Silm explosions because it is so bad and so fake that he in return deserves to be stripped of his university degrees, fired from his job, slapped on the face and kicked on the back".
The letter alleged that the explosions were due to a fire breaking out in an abandoned building that housed unexploded munitions from the summer 2006 war with Israel. It stressed that cooperation between the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL was strong, adding that Lebanon was fully committed to the implementation of Resolution 1701, and that an investigation committee was formed by the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL officers to supervise the scene of the explosion.
According to the letter, the investigations had been launched the day after the explosion, “because experts judged working the first day to be too dangerous since explosions continued until late July 14”. The letter said that the Lebanese soldiers stayed on location despite possible hazards, adding that one soldier had been injured.
The letter goes on to say that the investigations had revealed that the unexploded ammunitions bore writings in Hebrew and were of the type used during the summer 2006 war. It slammed Israel’s claims that Hezbollah endangered civilians by storing its weapons in populated areas. “Israel is trying to justify any future deliberate attack on Lebanese civilians,” the letter said.
Regarding the July 18 incident in which a UNIFIL team investigating the blast was hampered by civilians from the Khirbat Silm town, the Foreign Ministry’s letter revealed the Lebanese Army had decided to investigate leaks that unexploded ammunitions might have been transferred to three houses in Khirbet Silim. “UNIFIL was informed and decided to crack down on the three houses without being escorted by the Lebanese Army,” the letter said. “Clashes with the residents ensued,” it added. "As a result, 14 UNIFIL personnel were slightly injured".
The letter is not only diplomatic nonsense, but also a stupid joke and a mere forgery of the facts. For heaven sake, is there any sane individual that would take such a report seriously and grant any kind of credibility to those who wrote it and to the Lebanese government that adopted it? Definitely no one if we exclude Hezbollah and its Iranian masters, the Mullahs.
It is sad, shameful and heretical that the Lebanese Foreign Minister, Mr. Fawzi Salloukh, is actually Hezbollah's Minister for Foreign Affairs and has nothing to do with Lebanon. He is Hezbollah's man and its diplomatic mouthpiece.
In conclusion, Lebanon will remain a mere hostage, and will not become a free, democratic, and independent country again until the terrorist organization Hezbollah is dismantled and disarmed
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, July 20, 2009
Hezbollah defies UN Resolution 1701
The weird status of the Terrorist Iranian Hezbollah Militia in Lebanon has no precedent in the entire world, not in the contemporary era, nor at any time in the past. Presumably Lebanon is an independent democratic and multi-cultural country and an active founding member of both the United Nations and Arab league, while in reality and practicality it is not so due to the sad fact that its governing mechanism on all levels is mostly dictated and controlled by the Hezbollah leadership who run and dominate a mini Khomeini state inside the state of Lebanon with an army, financing capabilities, social services, educational body, organizational structure and weaponry arsenal that are all far stronger and far larger than those of the Lebanese state itself.
Hezbollah, the armed Iranian militia stationed in Lebanon, is totally affiliated to the Iranian notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Its leadership holds on solely to Lebanon's war-peace decision making process and imposes on the Lebanese and the country's institutions and officials by force and terrorism their Khomeini's denominational Islamic criteria with regard as to who is an enemy, who is an ally or friend, and who should be from the Lebanese tagged as a nationalist or a traitor.
On July 2006, Hezbollah instigated a deadly war with Israel that lasted for 34 days. The Lebanese legitimate authorities nor the people had any saying in the matter. Because of this insane war, the whole country has suffered huge financial loses that has exceeded 50 billion dollars with more than 1500 citizens and army men dead and with thousands injured. Hezbollah leadership came out of their underground dens and bunkers when the war stopped to declare a divine victory. A victory that in reality is a mere self deception and a sickening delusion according to all world-wide recognized scientific standards of military, loses, gains, reality and logic.
The war was ended in accordance to the UNSC Resolution 1701 that calls in its 8th clause for:Calls for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution based on the following principles and elements: Full respect for the Blue Line by both parties; Security arrangements to prevent the resumption of hostilities, including the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL as authorized in paragraph 11, deployed in this area; Full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state; No foreign forces in Lebanon without the consent of its government; No sales or supply of arms and related materiel to Lebanon except as authorized by its government; Provision to the United Nations of all remaining maps of land mines in Lebanon in Israel's possession.
Hezbollah did not abide by the UNSC 1701. Its Leadership did not put an end to its presence in the area that falls between the Blue Line and the Litani River. The Resolution stipulated that this area must be free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Lebanese Army and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, the UNIFIL.
UNIFIL does not have the mandate to disarm Hezbollah nor to confiscate its weapons, while the field engagement rules that govern its military activities are limited to self defense only and when facing danger.
Meanwhile the Lebanese Army that was deployed in the South and whose higher command according to the Lebanese Constitution is the Lebanese government, was left in the cold with no orders to either disarm Hezbollah, engage with its men, limit their activities or to confiscate any weaponry of its depots located in the UNFIL working area.
Sadly the UNIFIL, Israel, Lebanese officials and politicians, United Nation, and all the countries whose troops are serving with the UNIFIL, have always been aware of this fact but hesitated, and failed, from taking any action to straighten out the matter and put the UNFIL troops under the UN Chapter Seven that gives the troops the power to carry enforcing and deterrent assignments that the Lebanese army is not allowed by the Lebanese government to implement.
UNIFIL troops have always been under the mercy of Hezbollah and were never able to carry out their assignments freely. In this context a series of underground explosions took place on Tuesday July 14/09 in an abandoned building near Lebanon's tense border with Israel. They were the result of a huge fire in a Hezbollah underground weapons depot. There were no casualties in the blasts, though widespread panic was caused among residents, some of whom mistook it for an Israeli air raid. The depot in the village of Khirbet Silim, about 10 miles north of the border, was housed in an abandoned building and guarded by Hezbollah militia men around the clock.
Following this incident, the Lebanese Army and the UNIFIL stated in their official statements that they have closed off the area and launched a joint investigation into the cause of the explosions. But according to media reports and local residents, Hezbollah deployed heavily in the area following the blast, preventing not only civilians, but also the UNIFIL and Lebanese Army from entering, the area.
Hezbollah in its camouflaging and distraction maneuvering tactics in regards to the Khirbet Silim incident has carried two more violations to the 1701 and tried to fabricate justifications for its so called resistance against Israel:
On July 17/09 a group of 15 Lebanese civilians, including children, crossed the border from Lebanon into Israel. The people were carrying Hezbollah and Lebanon flags. The group crossed the border at a spot where no fence exists, and walked to the Israeli side. IDF soldiers spotted them, but seeing they were unarmed, and had children with them, decided not to respond. Several minutes after crossing the border, the group turned back and returned to Lebanese territory.
Earlier on the same day Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah alleged that Israel is still holding a Lebanese prisoner and the remains of others despite a prison exchange a year ago in which all were to be returned and claimed that the family of the Lebanese soldier Yehia Skaff, say their son is still being held in an Israeli prison. He also alleged that Israel is also holding the "remains of martyrs." There was no immediate comment from Israel, but the government has said in the past that they believe Skaff was killed during the Palestinian terror attack he carried out in 1978 that killed 35 Israelis.
On July 18/09 fourteen UN peacekeepers were injured when Hezbollah civilians stopped by force a UNIFIL patrol that was trying to investigate into the Khirbet Silim arms cache explosion. During the confrontation around 100 Hezbollah civilians threw stones at the troops and damaged their vehicles.
The UNIFIL considered the Khirbet Silim incident a serious violation of Security Council Resolution 1701, notably the provision that there should be no presence of unauthorized assets or weapons in the area of operation between the Litani River and the Blue Line," UNIFIL spokesperson Yasmina Bouziane said in a press statement issued on 15/07/09. The statement noted that UNIFIL's Force Commander Claudio Graziano had met with Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and LAF Commander Jean Kahwaji to brief them on the situation, adding that a "deposit of ammunition" had been discovered.
Observers believe that the warehouse that blew up was filled with rockets, artillery shells, and machine guns and that it is one of dozens of ammunition depots in southern Lebanon that Hezbollah still fully controls. Obscuring the situation further, a security source told the English language Daily Star that the site was an “arms assembly plant.” Local residents are fully aware that Hezbollah had turned hundreds of homes in the area into warehouses to store short- and medium-range Katyusha rockets, but are afraid to officially complain.
Since the 2006 war ended and since the issuance of the 1701 Resolution, there has been no visible Hezbollah weapons in the UNFIL area, but at the same time there has been no confiscating of Hezbollah Arm depots, which clearly means that all its depots have remained intact where they were before the war. This fact becomes credible when we Nasrallah, bragging publicly that his arsenal has doubled 10 times after July 2006. The only thing that has changed is that Hezbollah fighters "Al Mujahedin" are not wearing any more their military attires, but instead civilian cloth. Otherwise they are still there, moving freely in all the South under the eyes of both the UNIFIL and Lebanese army forces.
The UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, through a series of reports on the implementation of the Resolution 1701, had expressed his dire concern about the indications of both the continued presence of arms and armed men in the south and the smugglings of weapons through the Syrian-Lebanese borders. In his latest report issued last month he sated that the "Lebanese authorities have the primary responsibility to make sure there are no unauthorized armed elements and weapons in the region between the Litani River and the Blue Line, which serves as the border between Lebanon and Israel.
In conclusion, Hezbollah is still in control of South Lebanon, and still maintains there all its weaponry depots and armed men in spite of the presence of the UNIFI and Lebanese army troops, and accordingly remains capable at any time to instigate a war with Israel on the instructions of its masters, the Iranian Mullahs. At the same still manipulating the Lebanese government and obstructing its control and authority.
There will be no end to the bizarre, volatile and fragile situation in South Lebanon unless Hezbollah militia is dismantled and disarmed, not only in South Lebanon, but in the whole country. 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
By the end of the day, for Lebanon to enjoy a long-lasting stability and peace, its government must engage immediately with Israel into serious negotiations in a bid to end the war status between the two countries and sign a peace treaty as was the situation with both Jordan and Egypt, or otherwise, Hezbollah and other terrorist and Jihadist groups will continue to use South Lebanon as a battlefield for their Jihad wars (Holy Wars) against Israel.
Elias BejjaniCanadian-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
Hezbollah, the armed Iranian militia stationed in Lebanon, is totally affiliated to the Iranian notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Its leadership holds on solely to Lebanon's war-peace decision making process and imposes on the Lebanese and the country's institutions and officials by force and terrorism their Khomeini's denominational Islamic criteria with regard as to who is an enemy, who is an ally or friend, and who should be from the Lebanese tagged as a nationalist or a traitor.
On July 2006, Hezbollah instigated a deadly war with Israel that lasted for 34 days. The Lebanese legitimate authorities nor the people had any saying in the matter. Because of this insane war, the whole country has suffered huge financial loses that has exceeded 50 billion dollars with more than 1500 citizens and army men dead and with thousands injured. Hezbollah leadership came out of their underground dens and bunkers when the war stopped to declare a divine victory. A victory that in reality is a mere self deception and a sickening delusion according to all world-wide recognized scientific standards of military, loses, gains, reality and logic.
The war was ended in accordance to the UNSC Resolution 1701 that calls in its 8th clause for:Calls for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent ceasefire and a long-term solution based on the following principles and elements: Full respect for the Blue Line by both parties; Security arrangements to prevent the resumption of hostilities, including the establishment between the Blue Line and the Litani river of an area free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the government of Lebanon and of UNIFIL as authorized in paragraph 11, deployed in this area; Full implementation of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, and of resolutions 1559 (2004) and 1680 (2006), that require the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that, pursuant to the Lebanese cabinet decision of July 27, 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state; No foreign forces in Lebanon without the consent of its government; No sales or supply of arms and related materiel to Lebanon except as authorized by its government; Provision to the United Nations of all remaining maps of land mines in Lebanon in Israel's possession.
Hezbollah did not abide by the UNSC 1701. Its Leadership did not put an end to its presence in the area that falls between the Blue Line and the Litani River. The Resolution stipulated that this area must be free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons other than those of the Lebanese Army and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, the UNIFIL.
UNIFIL does not have the mandate to disarm Hezbollah nor to confiscate its weapons, while the field engagement rules that govern its military activities are limited to self defense only and when facing danger.
Meanwhile the Lebanese Army that was deployed in the South and whose higher command according to the Lebanese Constitution is the Lebanese government, was left in the cold with no orders to either disarm Hezbollah, engage with its men, limit their activities or to confiscate any weaponry of its depots located in the UNFIL working area.
Sadly the UNIFIL, Israel, Lebanese officials and politicians, United Nation, and all the countries whose troops are serving with the UNIFIL, have always been aware of this fact but hesitated, and failed, from taking any action to straighten out the matter and put the UNFIL troops under the UN Chapter Seven that gives the troops the power to carry enforcing and deterrent assignments that the Lebanese army is not allowed by the Lebanese government to implement.
UNIFIL troops have always been under the mercy of Hezbollah and were never able to carry out their assignments freely. In this context a series of underground explosions took place on Tuesday July 14/09 in an abandoned building near Lebanon's tense border with Israel. They were the result of a huge fire in a Hezbollah underground weapons depot. There were no casualties in the blasts, though widespread panic was caused among residents, some of whom mistook it for an Israeli air raid. The depot in the village of Khirbet Silim, about 10 miles north of the border, was housed in an abandoned building and guarded by Hezbollah militia men around the clock.
Following this incident, the Lebanese Army and the UNIFIL stated in their official statements that they have closed off the area and launched a joint investigation into the cause of the explosions. But according to media reports and local residents, Hezbollah deployed heavily in the area following the blast, preventing not only civilians, but also the UNIFIL and Lebanese Army from entering, the area.
Hezbollah in its camouflaging and distraction maneuvering tactics in regards to the Khirbet Silim incident has carried two more violations to the 1701 and tried to fabricate justifications for its so called resistance against Israel:
On July 17/09 a group of 15 Lebanese civilians, including children, crossed the border from Lebanon into Israel. The people were carrying Hezbollah and Lebanon flags. The group crossed the border at a spot where no fence exists, and walked to the Israeli side. IDF soldiers spotted them, but seeing they were unarmed, and had children with them, decided not to respond. Several minutes after crossing the border, the group turned back and returned to Lebanese territory.
Earlier on the same day Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah alleged that Israel is still holding a Lebanese prisoner and the remains of others despite a prison exchange a year ago in which all were to be returned and claimed that the family of the Lebanese soldier Yehia Skaff, say their son is still being held in an Israeli prison. He also alleged that Israel is also holding the "remains of martyrs." There was no immediate comment from Israel, but the government has said in the past that they believe Skaff was killed during the Palestinian terror attack he carried out in 1978 that killed 35 Israelis.
On July 18/09 fourteen UN peacekeepers were injured when Hezbollah civilians stopped by force a UNIFIL patrol that was trying to investigate into the Khirbet Silim arms cache explosion. During the confrontation around 100 Hezbollah civilians threw stones at the troops and damaged their vehicles.
The UNIFIL considered the Khirbet Silim incident a serious violation of Security Council Resolution 1701, notably the provision that there should be no presence of unauthorized assets or weapons in the area of operation between the Litani River and the Blue Line," UNIFIL spokesperson Yasmina Bouziane said in a press statement issued on 15/07/09. The statement noted that UNIFIL's Force Commander Claudio Graziano had met with Lebanon's Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and LAF Commander Jean Kahwaji to brief them on the situation, adding that a "deposit of ammunition" had been discovered.
Observers believe that the warehouse that blew up was filled with rockets, artillery shells, and machine guns and that it is one of dozens of ammunition depots in southern Lebanon that Hezbollah still fully controls. Obscuring the situation further, a security source told the English language Daily Star that the site was an “arms assembly plant.” Local residents are fully aware that Hezbollah had turned hundreds of homes in the area into warehouses to store short- and medium-range Katyusha rockets, but are afraid to officially complain.
Since the 2006 war ended and since the issuance of the 1701 Resolution, there has been no visible Hezbollah weapons in the UNFIL area, but at the same time there has been no confiscating of Hezbollah Arm depots, which clearly means that all its depots have remained intact where they were before the war. This fact becomes credible when we Nasrallah, bragging publicly that his arsenal has doubled 10 times after July 2006. The only thing that has changed is that Hezbollah fighters "Al Mujahedin" are not wearing any more their military attires, but instead civilian cloth. Otherwise they are still there, moving freely in all the South under the eyes of both the UNIFIL and Lebanese army forces.
The UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, through a series of reports on the implementation of the Resolution 1701, had expressed his dire concern about the indications of both the continued presence of arms and armed men in the south and the smugglings of weapons through the Syrian-Lebanese borders. In his latest report issued last month he sated that the "Lebanese authorities have the primary responsibility to make sure there are no unauthorized armed elements and weapons in the region between the Litani River and the Blue Line, which serves as the border between Lebanon and Israel.
In conclusion, Hezbollah is still in control of South Lebanon, and still maintains there all its weaponry depots and armed men in spite of the presence of the UNIFI and Lebanese army troops, and accordingly remains capable at any time to instigate a war with Israel on the instructions of its masters, the Iranian Mullahs. At the same still manipulating the Lebanese government and obstructing its control and authority.
There will be no end to the bizarre, volatile and fragile situation in South Lebanon unless Hezbollah militia is dismantled and disarmed, not only in South Lebanon, but in the whole country. 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
By the end of the day, for Lebanon to enjoy a long-lasting stability and peace, its government must engage immediately with Israel into serious negotiations in a bid to end the war status between the two countries and sign a peace treaty as was the situation with both Jordan and Egypt, or otherwise, Hezbollah and other terrorist and Jihadist groups will continue to use South Lebanon as a battlefield for their Jihad wars (Holy Wars) against Israel.
Elias BejjaniCanadian-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, July 6, 2009
Hezbollah's wickedness & Our People In Israel
By: Elias Bejjani*
“Let no one ask us to tag as traitors our Southern “Lebanese” citizens who entered Israel at a certain period, because the “Lebanese” state has abandoned them. They are our brothers and we will definitely demand that they return to their homes, and families.” (Lebanese MP, Sami Gemayel 28/6/09).
We value, and greatly appreciate MP Sami Gemayel's courageous, genuine and transparent stance in regard to our Southern Lebanese citizens who because of serious and imminent fears for their lives and the fate of their children were forced in May 2000 to take refuge in neighboring Israel. These citizens are not traitors by any means, but patriotic, noble, decent, and Lebanese par excellence.
It is worth mentioning that in May 2000, the Israeli government after its occupation of the “Southern Lebanese Security Zone” for 25 years had decided for internal reasons to unilaterally withdraw its troops in accordance with UNSC Resolution 425.
In the aftermath of this withdrawal, more than 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 to hastily run for their lives. While Israel was logistically preparing for 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 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.”
Between 2000 and 2005, Syria which was still occupying Lebanon, accordingly had the sole and upper hand in appointing, firing, disciplining, exiling and fully controlling all the country's governments officials, officials, armed forces and members of the parliament, at the same time was intimidating and manipulating the judiciary to serve its schemes.
The Syrians not only fully hindered the dignified return of our people from Israel, but made hell the lives of those southern citizens who hesitated and did not escape to Israel. They were ripped of their civil rights and deprived of all governmental services while been tagged as collaborators and traitors. Many of them were exposed to arbitrary trials and sentenced harshly.
The 4000 Lebanese whose nostalgia made them take the risk, not consider the consequences and return from Israel to Lebanon were immediately arrested, tortured, humiliated, imprisoned and charged with treason, collaboration, contacting an enemy and living in an enemy country.
The trials that they had were a mere farce, biased, fabricated, false and void from all recognized standards of international laws. The military prosecutor tried all these cases, and in the majority of these trials, the accused Southern Lebanese citizens were not allowed to even hire lawyers to defend them. Most of the local and international human rights organizations have stated in their documented reports that each of these theatrical trials did not last for more than 10 minutes. Many of these victims were sentenced in absentia and more than seventy of them received death penalties.
In 2005, the Syrian army was forced to withdraw in accordance with UNSC Resolution 1559, and the Syrian occupation was over. Since then numerous attempts were initiated by the Maronite church, a few Christian MPs and other human rights bodies all aiming to secure a dignified and safe return for the more than 2,500 Southern Lebanese people who had remained in Israel. Unfortunately all these genuine attempts were aborted by Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist militia who after the Syrian military withdrawal in 2005 had become the sole controlling military power in Lebanon.
Hezbollah's mullahs’ swollen and inflated egos and their mere detachment from reality have made them hostages and prey to a set of sickening grandiose delusions. They are damn mistaken to falsely believe that they can continue to forever block the return of our people from Israel to our Land of the Holy Cedars, and to unjustly deprive them from embracing the Lebanese soil that they, their fathers and their grandfathers have for the past 7000 years been safeguarding, plowing, planting, and enriching with their sweat, blood and sacrifices.
No matter what the hardships are or will be, the free people of Lebanon will not allow Hezbollah’s mullahs to topple the Lebanese regime
of multiculturalism, freedom and peaceful co-existence and replace it with a replicate of the Iranian mullah’s Islamic Republic. Iran’s denominational “Wilayat Al-Faqih doctrine” of Khomeini has been stubbornly rejected by the majority of the Lebanese people and will never ever be forced on them.
Meanwhile, the ongoing suffering of our people in Israel is not that different from the kind of suffering that our people in West Beirut and Mount Lebanon went through last year when Hezbollah fighters, the “Mujahedeen” invaded their suburbs, destroyed their homes, vandalized, shut down and occupied their schools, hospitals, media facilities and institutions, kidnapped, humiliated, tortured and with cold blood murdered more than 100 innocent civilians.
It is both a shame and a crime for all of Lebanon's 18 mosaic communities dignitaries and members, and for all Lebanon's clergy, politicians, officials and intellectuals to be demoralized and scared by Hezbollah's rhetoric, and accordingly succumb to its derailed "Khomeini" criteria for treason and patriotism, as well as for good and evil. These criteria that Hezbollah tags as "divine" have been sadly hindering the honorable and safe return of our people from Israel.
We call on Lebanon's President, House Speaker, Prime Minster and all politicians and clergy to help in ending the dilemma of our people in Israel. Their return needs to be a priority, and it must be with honor, dignity, respect and definitely without any kind of farce trials. These people are heroes and not traitors, and every Lebanese with faith and conscience is fully aware of this reality and substantially unshaken tangible fact.
MP Sami Gemayel has taken the initiative in courageously and transparently addressing the dilemma of our people in Israel. Hopefully he with the help and support of other MPs from all Lebanon's religious denominations will soon see that an appropriate amnesty law is drafted and passed in the Parliament, for enough is enough.
History teaches us that nothing in this mortal, earthly life lasts except the face of God, and that all human wicked traits such as injustice, lying, heresy and arrogance, eventually hurt those holding on to them in the face of their fellow men.
We advise all those who evilly and intentionally are inflicting pain and injustice on our people in Israel and arrogantly blocking their return to their homeland, to read the following biblical verse and take notice on how Almighty God rewards the meek and how He takes revenge on the wicked:
“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 4:2 But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall. 4:3 You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says Yahweh of Armies"). (Malachi 4/1-3”.
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
“Let no one ask us to tag as traitors our Southern “Lebanese” citizens who entered Israel at a certain period, because the “Lebanese” state has abandoned them. They are our brothers and we will definitely demand that they return to their homes, and families.” (Lebanese MP, Sami Gemayel 28/6/09).
We value, and greatly appreciate MP Sami Gemayel's courageous, genuine and transparent stance in regard to our Southern Lebanese citizens who because of serious and imminent fears for their lives and the fate of their children were forced in May 2000 to take refuge in neighboring Israel. These citizens are not traitors by any means, but patriotic, noble, decent, and Lebanese par excellence.
It is worth mentioning that in May 2000, the Israeli government after its occupation of the “Southern Lebanese Security Zone” for 25 years had decided for internal reasons to unilaterally withdraw its troops in accordance with UNSC Resolution 425.
In the aftermath of this withdrawal, more than 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 to hastily run for their lives. While Israel was logistically preparing for 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 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.”
Between 2000 and 2005, Syria which was still occupying Lebanon, accordingly had the sole and upper hand in appointing, firing, disciplining, exiling and fully controlling all the country's governments officials, officials, armed forces and members of the parliament, at the same time was intimidating and manipulating the judiciary to serve its schemes.
The Syrians not only fully hindered the dignified return of our people from Israel, but made hell the lives of those southern citizens who hesitated and did not escape to Israel. They were ripped of their civil rights and deprived of all governmental services while been tagged as collaborators and traitors. Many of them were exposed to arbitrary trials and sentenced harshly.
The 4000 Lebanese whose nostalgia made them take the risk, not consider the consequences and return from Israel to Lebanon were immediately arrested, tortured, humiliated, imprisoned and charged with treason, collaboration, contacting an enemy and living in an enemy country.
The trials that they had were a mere farce, biased, fabricated, false and void from all recognized standards of international laws. The military prosecutor tried all these cases, and in the majority of these trials, the accused Southern Lebanese citizens were not allowed to even hire lawyers to defend them. Most of the local and international human rights organizations have stated in their documented reports that each of these theatrical trials did not last for more than 10 minutes. Many of these victims were sentenced in absentia and more than seventy of them received death penalties.
In 2005, the Syrian army was forced to withdraw in accordance with UNSC Resolution 1559, and the Syrian occupation was over. Since then numerous attempts were initiated by the Maronite church, a few Christian MPs and other human rights bodies all aiming to secure a dignified and safe return for the more than 2,500 Southern Lebanese people who had remained in Israel. Unfortunately all these genuine attempts were aborted by Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist militia who after the Syrian military withdrawal in 2005 had become the sole controlling military power in Lebanon.
Hezbollah's mullahs’ swollen and inflated egos and their mere detachment from reality have made them hostages and prey to a set of sickening grandiose delusions. They are damn mistaken to falsely believe that they can continue to forever block the return of our people from Israel to our Land of the Holy Cedars, and to unjustly deprive them from embracing the Lebanese soil that they, their fathers and their grandfathers have for the past 7000 years been safeguarding, plowing, planting, and enriching with their sweat, blood and sacrifices.
No matter what the hardships are or will be, the free people of Lebanon will not allow Hezbollah’s mullahs to topple the Lebanese regime
of multiculturalism, freedom and peaceful co-existence and replace it with a replicate of the Iranian mullah’s Islamic Republic. Iran’s denominational “Wilayat Al-Faqih doctrine” of Khomeini has been stubbornly rejected by the majority of the Lebanese people and will never ever be forced on them.
Meanwhile, the ongoing suffering of our people in Israel is not that different from the kind of suffering that our people in West Beirut and Mount Lebanon went through last year when Hezbollah fighters, the “Mujahedeen” invaded their suburbs, destroyed their homes, vandalized, shut down and occupied their schools, hospitals, media facilities and institutions, kidnapped, humiliated, tortured and with cold blood murdered more than 100 innocent civilians.
It is both a shame and a crime for all of Lebanon's 18 mosaic communities dignitaries and members, and for all Lebanon's clergy, politicians, officials and intellectuals to be demoralized and scared by Hezbollah's rhetoric, and accordingly succumb to its derailed "Khomeini" criteria for treason and patriotism, as well as for good and evil. These criteria that Hezbollah tags as "divine" have been sadly hindering the honorable and safe return of our people from Israel.
We call on Lebanon's President, House Speaker, Prime Minster and all politicians and clergy to help in ending the dilemma of our people in Israel. Their return needs to be a priority, and it must be with honor, dignity, respect and definitely without any kind of farce trials. These people are heroes and not traitors, and every Lebanese with faith and conscience is fully aware of this reality and substantially unshaken tangible fact.
MP Sami Gemayel has taken the initiative in courageously and transparently addressing the dilemma of our people in Israel. Hopefully he with the help and support of other MPs from all Lebanon's religious denominations will soon see that an appropriate amnesty law is drafted and passed in the Parliament, for enough is enough.
History teaches us that nothing in this mortal, earthly life lasts except the face of God, and that all human wicked traits such as injustice, lying, heresy and arrogance, eventually hurt those holding on to them in the face of their fellow men.
We advise all those who evilly and intentionally are inflicting pain and injustice on our people in Israel and arrogantly blocking their return to their homeland, to read the following biblical verse and take notice on how Almighty God rewards the meek and how He takes revenge on the wicked:
“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 4:2 But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall. 4:3 You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says Yahweh of Armies"). (Malachi 4/1-3”.
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, June 19, 2009
Compromises with Hezbollah are Lethal
By: Elias Bejjani*
Time after time terrorist and fundamental groups like Al Qaida, Hezbollah, Hamas and all others, prove with no shed of doubt that they only comprehend, listen and respond to crystal clear means of decisiveness, overt offensive action and a strong show of strength and power. Their backward and destructive ideologies, as well as their fundamentalist nature and disrespect for all things unlike their own, reveal their true chauvinistic nature, as they look to humiliate, belittle and trample all those who ignore their threats and who do not bow to their logic and demands.
Before the recent Lebanese parliamentary elections, most of the March 14 (Cedar Revolution coalition) leaders and thinking tanks, were not sure that they would be able to win a majority and prevent Hezbollah and its mercenary pro-Syrian and Iranian allies, in the form of the March 8th Coalition, from taking over the country.
Most of the Western free world countries were also almost sure that the March 8th Coalition was on its way to control the Lebanese parliament and accordingly rule Lebanon and turn it into another Gaza conundrum. Some of these countries even issued official statements in which they addressed openly their future inclination to deal openly with Hezbollah when they would win the elections. At the same time the majority of the media facilities in the USA, Europe, Israel and some Arab countries published hundreds of studies, poll results and analytical reports and interviews, all predicting Hezbollah’s sure win.
The Lebanese peace loving people were not deceived, discouraged or influenced by all these negative predictions and polls. They held to their solid beliefs, optimism, deeply rooted faith and love for life and voted with their conscience with success. They chose with strong determination and perseverance to safeguard their beloved country and protect its democratic and multicultural nature. These Lebanese bravely headed to the polls, casted their votes and gave once more the March 14th coalition an overwhelming parliamentary majority. They stood tall like their country’s Holy Cedars and succeeded victoriously in usurping the expected endgame predicted by most of the world.
The Lebanese people, in spite of all the evil tactics of oppression, intimidation and bribery that Hezbollah and their allies inflicted on them on a daily basis, declared a resounding “No!”, and did not allow this Iranian armed terrorist organization to take over their country, uproot their identity, enslave them and downtrodden their dignity and pride.
Hopefully the Western Free World countries and the Arab States will seriously and effectively come to the rescue of the Lebanese people, and help them find a final and lasting solution for Hezbollah’s mini state and its huge arsenal of weapons. Neither the Lebanese, nor their government can accomplish this sophisticated, risky and costly mission alone.
Hopefully the Western Free World and the Arab States will seriously and effectively come to the rescue of the Lebanese people and help them find a final and lasting solution for Hezbollah’s mini state and its huge arsenal of weapons. Neither the Lebanese, nor their government can accomplish this sophisticated task.
Hezbollah is an Iranian Army stationed in Lebanon that threatens not only the Lebanese and their state, but also Israel, all the Arab countries as well as peace and democracy all over the world. This fact simply means Hezbollah, yes is a Lebanese problem, but also and to a great extent it is a deadly regional and global real hazard too.
Hezbollah’s mini state in Lebanon, militarily, financially and organizationally is much more powerful than the Lebanese state itself. This reality is well known to all the Arab and Western countries. According to the France Press Agency, (June 17/09), the former USA head of homeland security, Mr. Michael Chertoff has said in a book that he will publish later this year: (“Hezbollah Could Surpass Al Qaida as Most Serious Long-Term Threat to the U.S. It is better equipped, better trained and better politically positioned than Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida. Al-Qaida and its network are our most serious immediate threat, they may not be our most serious long-term threat. Having operated for more than a quarter-century, Hezbollah has developed capabilities that al-Qaida can only dream of, including large quantities of missiles and highly sophisticated explosives. This group also has uniformly well trained operatives, an exceptionally well-disciplined force of nearly 30,000 fighters, and extraordinary political influence”).
According to Chertoff, Hezbollah was behind a suicide bombing that killed 200 U.S. marines in Beirut in 1983 and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar towers in Saudi Arabia, which killed more than 20 people. Despite its defeat in elections earlier this month, Hezbollah and its allies remain a major force in Lebanese politics. It is this power, along with Hezbollah's military weight and ties with Iran that are worrying, according to Chertoff. " Hezbollah shows what an ideologically driven terrorist organization can become when it evolves into an army and a political party and gains a deeply embedded degree of control within a state, as Hezbollah has done in Lebanon's democratic infrastructure," he warns. Chertoff argues Hezbollah poses a growing threat in the Western Hemisphere, despite limited attacks on U.S. targets. "While Hezbollah may not have carried out attacks in the United States itself, it has developed a presence in the Western Hemisphere, specifically in South America," Chertoff says, alleging that the group carried out bombings of Jewish and Israeli targets in Buenos Aires."These acts disturbingly underscore Hezbollah's reach into the hemisphere, notably the tri-border areas at the margins of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay." (AFP, 7 June 09)
Meanwhile Hezbollah is not hiding anymore its Iranian identity or it mere affiliation to the Iranian notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Revolutionary_Guards_Corps). Its clergy leadership is boldly and loudly refusing to disarm or dismantle its mini state: Below is a verbatim fiery and scary statement uttered recently by one of Hezbollah’s prominent clergymen:
MTV - Sunday, June 14, 2009: " Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek, the personal representative in Lebanon of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,, and Hezbollah's Party Shawra Council member: “Hezbollah will not give up its strength no matter how much the USA and others dream of its weapons. He who does not own weapons can’t live in this world". He added; "Others during the election period (Lebanese June 07/09 parliamentary elections), entered peoples’ houses to scare them from Waeleat Al Faqeah and (fool them) that Iran will come to Lebanon to turn it to an Iranian arena. To this extent the surge of militarization, communalism and sectarianism has reached. The whole world came (to Lebanon) to delude the people that if the opposition (8th of March Coalition) wins the elections, Lebanon will become another Gaza. The will and referendum were on the resistance. It (The resistance) has transformed from being weapons to a state of education and society. We will not give up this strength no matter how much the USA and others dream of our weapons. Our weapons are subject to our lives because we see that he who does not own weapons and power won’t be able to live in this life. Therefore we have to impose our existence via the strength that we own. This is why we are today better then ever before. Rest assured, you the honest, we are the victorious by God’s will because we call for what is righteous and do not)".
Now that the parliamentary election is over, the 14th of March Coalition MP’S, who were awarded the majority by the people, have a national, ethical and legal obligation to hold dear to their election’s platform and promises. The Lebanese gave them a mandate to stop Hezbollah from controlling the country, contain its weapons within the state’s institutions, put an end to its mini state, and find the appropriate ways and means to end its hegemony on Lebanon’s decision making process in regards to war and peace.
Any compromises the 14th of March Coalition cut with Hezbollah on the account of the law, constitution and UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701, will be fatal to the future of the Lebanese state as a democracy, and to the peace process not only in Lebanon, but in the whole region. What the people of Lebanon are looking for as a first step is that the 14th of March Coalition will not give to Hezbollah or its weaponry any legitimacy in the Ministerial Statement of the government that will be formed soon.
While dealing with Hezbollah, at any level, and with what ever issue, the 14th of March Coalition MP’S must never ignore that fact that the majority of Lebanese people from all nominations, and all walks of life, with no fear or hesitation have given them a mandate to say, No to Terrorism, No to Syrian and Iranian schemes against Lebanon, No to Hezbollah’s weaponry arsenal and mini state, No to the education of hatred, rejection of others, suicide and fanaticism
Any deviation from these NO’S shall mount to treason. Both MP’S, Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblat must tailor their stances with the framework of the peoples’ mandate and fulfill their electoral promises.
By God’s will, Lebanon shall never, ever be a replicate of the Iranian Mullah's oppressive Regime, and will never, ever adopt the Iranian denominational Wilayat Al-Faqih doctrine as a substitute to its constitution, Multiculturalism, Human Rights, Democracy and openness. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardianship_of_the_Islamic_Jurists)
Congratulations to the Lebanese faithful and patriotic people for their peaceful and daring achievement.
Beloved Lebanese in Lebanon: We, The Lebanese in Diaspora are very proud of you
*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 M
ailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Time after time terrorist and fundamental groups like Al Qaida, Hezbollah, Hamas and all others, prove with no shed of doubt that they only comprehend, listen and respond to crystal clear means of decisiveness, overt offensive action and a strong show of strength and power. Their backward and destructive ideologies, as well as their fundamentalist nature and disrespect for all things unlike their own, reveal their true chauvinistic nature, as they look to humiliate, belittle and trample all those who ignore their threats and who do not bow to their logic and demands.
Before the recent Lebanese parliamentary elections, most of the March 14 (Cedar Revolution coalition) leaders and thinking tanks, were not sure that they would be able to win a majority and prevent Hezbollah and its mercenary pro-Syrian and Iranian allies, in the form of the March 8th Coalition, from taking over the country.
Most of the Western free world countries were also almost sure that the March 8th Coalition was on its way to control the Lebanese parliament and accordingly rule Lebanon and turn it into another Gaza conundrum. Some of these countries even issued official statements in which they addressed openly their future inclination to deal openly with Hezbollah when they would win the elections. At the same time the majority of the media facilities in the USA, Europe, Israel and some Arab countries published hundreds of studies, poll results and analytical reports and interviews, all predicting Hezbollah’s sure win.
The Lebanese peace loving people were not deceived, discouraged or influenced by all these negative predictions and polls. They held to their solid beliefs, optimism, deeply rooted faith and love for life and voted with their conscience with success. They chose with strong determination and perseverance to safeguard their beloved country and protect its democratic and multicultural nature. These Lebanese bravely headed to the polls, casted their votes and gave once more the March 14th coalition an overwhelming parliamentary majority. They stood tall like their country’s Holy Cedars and succeeded victoriously in usurping the expected endgame predicted by most of the world.
The Lebanese people, in spite of all the evil tactics of oppression, intimidation and bribery that Hezbollah and their allies inflicted on them on a daily basis, declared a resounding “No!”, and did not allow this Iranian armed terrorist organization to take over their country, uproot their identity, enslave them and downtrodden their dignity and pride.
Hopefully the Western Free World countries and the Arab States will seriously and effectively come to the rescue of the Lebanese people, and help them find a final and lasting solution for Hezbollah’s mini state and its huge arsenal of weapons. Neither the Lebanese, nor their government can accomplish this sophisticated, risky and costly mission alone.
Hopefully the Western Free World and the Arab States will seriously and effectively come to the rescue of the Lebanese people and help them find a final and lasting solution for Hezbollah’s mini state and its huge arsenal of weapons. Neither the Lebanese, nor their government can accomplish this sophisticated task.
Hezbollah is an Iranian Army stationed in Lebanon that threatens not only the Lebanese and their state, but also Israel, all the Arab countries as well as peace and democracy all over the world. This fact simply means Hezbollah, yes is a Lebanese problem, but also and to a great extent it is a deadly regional and global real hazard too.
Hezbollah’s mini state in Lebanon, militarily, financially and organizationally is much more powerful than the Lebanese state itself. This reality is well known to all the Arab and Western countries. According to the France Press Agency, (June 17/09), the former USA head of homeland security, Mr. Michael Chertoff has said in a book that he will publish later this year: (“Hezbollah Could Surpass Al Qaida as Most Serious Long-Term Threat to the U.S. It is better equipped, better trained and better politically positioned than Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida. Al-Qaida and its network are our most serious immediate threat, they may not be our most serious long-term threat. Having operated for more than a quarter-century, Hezbollah has developed capabilities that al-Qaida can only dream of, including large quantities of missiles and highly sophisticated explosives. This group also has uniformly well trained operatives, an exceptionally well-disciplined force of nearly 30,000 fighters, and extraordinary political influence”).
According to Chertoff, Hezbollah was behind a suicide bombing that killed 200 U.S. marines in Beirut in 1983 and the 1996 bombing of the Khobar towers in Saudi Arabia, which killed more than 20 people. Despite its defeat in elections earlier this month, Hezbollah and its allies remain a major force in Lebanese politics. It is this power, along with Hezbollah's military weight and ties with Iran that are worrying, according to Chertoff. " Hezbollah shows what an ideologically driven terrorist organization can become when it evolves into an army and a political party and gains a deeply embedded degree of control within a state, as Hezbollah has done in Lebanon's democratic infrastructure," he warns. Chertoff argues Hezbollah poses a growing threat in the Western Hemisphere, despite limited attacks on U.S. targets. "While Hezbollah may not have carried out attacks in the United States itself, it has developed a presence in the Western Hemisphere, specifically in South America," Chertoff says, alleging that the group carried out bombings of Jewish and Israeli targets in Buenos Aires."These acts disturbingly underscore Hezbollah's reach into the hemisphere, notably the tri-border areas at the margins of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay." (AFP, 7 June 09)
Meanwhile Hezbollah is not hiding anymore its Iranian identity or it mere affiliation to the Iranian notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Revolutionary_Guards_Corps). Its clergy leadership is boldly and loudly refusing to disarm or dismantle its mini state: Below is a verbatim fiery and scary statement uttered recently by one of Hezbollah’s prominent clergymen:
MTV - Sunday, June 14, 2009: " Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek, the personal representative in Lebanon of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,, and Hezbollah's Party Shawra Council member: “Hezbollah will not give up its strength no matter how much the USA and others dream of its weapons. He who does not own weapons can’t live in this world". He added; "Others during the election period (Lebanese June 07/09 parliamentary elections), entered peoples’ houses to scare them from Waeleat Al Faqeah and (fool them) that Iran will come to Lebanon to turn it to an Iranian arena. To this extent the surge of militarization, communalism and sectarianism has reached. The whole world came (to Lebanon) to delude the people that if the opposition (8th of March Coalition) wins the elections, Lebanon will become another Gaza. The will and referendum were on the resistance. It (The resistance) has transformed from being weapons to a state of education and society. We will not give up this strength no matter how much the USA and others dream of our weapons. Our weapons are subject to our lives because we see that he who does not own weapons and power won’t be able to live in this life. Therefore we have to impose our existence via the strength that we own. This is why we are today better then ever before. Rest assured, you the honest, we are the victorious by God’s will because we call for what is righteous and do not)".
Now that the parliamentary election is over, the 14th of March Coalition MP’S, who were awarded the majority by the people, have a national, ethical and legal obligation to hold dear to their election’s platform and promises. The Lebanese gave them a mandate to stop Hezbollah from controlling the country, contain its weapons within the state’s institutions, put an end to its mini state, and find the appropriate ways and means to end its hegemony on Lebanon’s decision making process in regards to war and peace.
Any compromises the 14th of March Coalition cut with Hezbollah on the account of the law, constitution and UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701, will be fatal to the future of the Lebanese state as a democracy, and to the peace process not only in Lebanon, but in the whole region. What the people of Lebanon are looking for as a first step is that the 14th of March Coalition will not give to Hezbollah or its weaponry any legitimacy in the Ministerial Statement of the government that will be formed soon.
While dealing with Hezbollah, at any level, and with what ever issue, the 14th of March Coalition MP’S must never ignore that fact that the majority of Lebanese people from all nominations, and all walks of life, with no fear or hesitation have given them a mandate to say, No to Terrorism, No to Syrian and Iranian schemes against Lebanon, No to Hezbollah’s weaponry arsenal and mini state, No to the education of hatred, rejection of others, suicide and fanaticism
Any deviation from these NO’S shall mount to treason. Both MP’S, Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblat must tailor their stances with the framework of the peoples’ mandate and fulfill their electoral promises.
By God’s will, Lebanon shall never, ever be a replicate of the Iranian Mullah's oppressive Regime, and will never, ever adopt the Iranian denominational Wilayat Al-Faqih doctrine as a substitute to its constitution, Multiculturalism, Human Rights, Democracy and openness. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardianship_of_the_Islamic_Jurists)
Congratulations to the Lebanese faithful and patriotic people for their peaceful and daring achievement.
Beloved Lebanese in Lebanon: We, The Lebanese in Diaspora are very proud of you
*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 M
ailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Sunday, May 24, 2009
May 25 sacrifices & Hezbollah The Dragon
By: Elias Bejjani*
Believe it or not, on May 25 each year since 2000 Lebanon has been celebrating a so-called "Liberation & Resistance Day." Sadly, this celebration commemorates a bogus event, and a phony heroism that did not actually take place.
On May 22, 2000 the Israeli Army unilaterally and for solely Israeli domestic reasons withdrew from the security zone of South Lebanon in accordance with UN Resolution 425. The withdrawal was a fatal Israeli decision that has inspired the Hamas terrorism acts and the on-going havoc in the Palestinian Gaza strip.
The unilateral Israeli withdrawal created a security vacuum in south Lebanon. The Syrians who were occupying Lebanon at that time and fully controlling its government, did not allow the Lebanese Army to deploy in the south and fill this vacuum after the Israeli withdrawal. Instead Syria helped the Hezbollah militia to militarily control the whole southern region, and even patrol the Israeli-Lebanese border.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli army's withdrawal was executed without any military battles, or even minor skirmishes with Hezbollah, or the Lebanese and Syrian armies. The Syrian regime, in a bid to justify both its on going occupation of Lebanon and the avoidance of disarming Hezbollah, came up with the "Shabaa Farms occupation big lie" and declared Hezbollah a Liberator, alleging it had forced Israel to withdrawal from South Lebanon.
Syria, in the same camouflaging and devious context, dictated to both the Lebanese parliament and government to declare May 25th a National Day under the tag of "Liberation & Reistance Day".
In reality Hezbollah did not force the Israeli withdrawal, and did not play any role in the Liberation of the southern Lebanese region. In fact both Hezbollah and Syria deliberately hindered and delayed the Israeli withdrawal for more than 14 years.
Every time the Israelis called on the Lebanese government to engage in a joint, serious effort under the United Nations umbrella to ensure a safe and mutually organized withdrawal of its army from South Lebanon, the Lebanese government refused to cooperate, did not agree to deploy its army in the south, and accused the Israelis of plotting to divide and split the Syrian-Lebanese joint track. This approach to the Israeli calls was an official Syrian decision dictated to all the Lebanese puppet governments during the Syrian occupation era.
Since then, Hezbollah has been hijacking Lebanon and its people, refusing to disarm and advocating for the annihilation of Israel. This Iranian mullahs' terrorist army stationed in Lebanon, is viciously hiding behind labels of resistance, liberation and religion. Hezbollah has recklessly jeopardized the Lebanese peoples' lives, safety, security and livelihood. It has been growing bolder and bolder in the last four years and mercilessly taking the Lebanese state and the Lebanese people hostage through terrorism, force and organized crime.
Sadly, Hezbollah is systematically devouring Lebanon day after day, and piece by piece, while at the same time marginalizing all its governmental institutions in a bid to topple the Lebanese state and erect in its place a Shiite Muslim regime, a replica of the Iranian Shiite mullahs' fundamentalist republic. Meanwhile the free world and Arabic countries are totally silent, indifferent, and idly watching from far away the horrible crime unfolding without taking any practical or tangible measures to put an end to this anti-Lebanese Syria-Iranian scheme that is executed through their spearhead, the Hezbollah armed militia.
Who is to be blamed for Hezbollah's current odd and bizarre status? Definitely the Syrians who have occupied Lebanon for more than 28 years (1976-2005). During their bloody and criminal occupation, Syria helped the Iranian Hezbollah militia build a state within Lebanon and fully control the Lebanese Shiite community.
But also the majority of the Lebanese politicians, leaders, officials and clergymen share the responsibility because they were subservient and acted in a dire Dhimmitude, selfish and cowardly manner. If these so-called Lebanese leaders had been courageous and patriotic and had not appeased Hezbollah and turned a blind eye to all its vicious and human rights atrocities, intimidation tactics, crimes and expansionism schemes, this Iranian Shiite fundamentalist militia would not have been able to erect its own mini-state in the southern suburb of Beirut, and its numerous mini-cantons in the Bekaa Valley and the South; nor would Hezbollah have been able to build its mighty military power, with 70 thousand militiamen, or stockpile more than 50 thousand missiles and force the Iranian "Wilayat Al-Faqih" religious doctrine on the Lebanese Shiite community and confiscate its decision making process and freedoms.
Since Hezbollah's emergence in 1982, these politicians have been serving their own selfish interests and not the interests of the Lebanese people and the nation. They went along with Hezbollah's schemes, deluding themselves that its militia and weaponry would remain in South Lebanon and would not turn against them.
This failure to serve the people of Lebanon allowed Hezbollah to make many Lebanese and most of the Arab-Muslim countries through its terrorism propaganda to blindly swallow its big lie of theatrical, faked resistance and Liberation.
Hezbollah would not have been able refuse to disarm in 1991, like all the other Lebanese militias in accordance to the "Taef Accord," which called for the disarmament of all militias. Hezbollah would not have become a state inside the Lebanese state, and a world-wide terrorism Iranian-Syrian tool which turned against them all after its war with Israel in year 2006 and after the UN troops were deployed on the Lebanese - Israeli borders in accordance with the UN Resolution 1701.
On May 7, 2008 Hezbollah invaded Sunni Western Beirut killing and injuring in cold blood hundreds of its civilian citizens, and attempted to take over by force Mount Lebanon.
A few days ago Hezbollah's General Secretary Sheik Hassan Nasrallah called that day (May 7, 2008) a great and glorious victory for his resistance, and threatened the Lebanese that a replicate of that day will take place if they do not succumb and obey his orders.
Hezbollah is a deadly dragon that the Lebanese politicians have been allowing him to feed on sacrifices from the southern Lebanese citizens, especially on those who were living in the "Security Zone" and who fled to Israel in May 2000 after the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon. This dragon who enjoyed devouring his southern sacrifices has now turned on all the Lebanese and if they do not stand for their rights and dignity, he will keep on devouring them all one after the other.
We call on the Lebanese government, the Lebanese Parliament and on all the free and patriotic Lebanese politicians and leaders to cancel the May 25 National Day, because it is not national at all, and also to stop calling Hezbollah a resistance, put an end for its mini-state, cantons and weaponry, and secure a dignified, honorable and safe return for all the Lebanese citizens who have been taking refuge in Israel since May 2000.
*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/
Face Book LCCC group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Believe it or not, on May 25 each year since 2000 Lebanon has been celebrating a so-called "Liberation & Resistance Day." Sadly, this celebration commemorates a bogus event, and a phony heroism that did not actually take place.
On May 22, 2000 the Israeli Army unilaterally and for solely Israeli domestic reasons withdrew from the security zone of South Lebanon in accordance with UN Resolution 425. The withdrawal was a fatal Israeli decision that has inspired the Hamas terrorism acts and the on-going havoc in the Palestinian Gaza strip.
The unilateral Israeli withdrawal created a security vacuum in south Lebanon. The Syrians who were occupying Lebanon at that time and fully controlling its government, did not allow the Lebanese Army to deploy in the south and fill this vacuum after the Israeli withdrawal. Instead Syria helped the Hezbollah militia to militarily control the whole southern region, and even patrol the Israeli-Lebanese border.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli army's withdrawal was executed without any military battles, or even minor skirmishes with Hezbollah, or the Lebanese and Syrian armies. The Syrian regime, in a bid to justify both its on going occupation of Lebanon and the avoidance of disarming Hezbollah, came up with the "Shabaa Farms occupation big lie" and declared Hezbollah a Liberator, alleging it had forced Israel to withdrawal from South Lebanon.
Syria, in the same camouflaging and devious context, dictated to both the Lebanese parliament and government to declare May 25th a National Day under the tag of "Liberation & Reistance Day".
In reality Hezbollah did not force the Israeli withdrawal, and did not play any role in the Liberation of the southern Lebanese region. In fact both Hezbollah and Syria deliberately hindered and delayed the Israeli withdrawal for more than 14 years.
Every time the Israelis called on the Lebanese government to engage in a joint, serious effort under the United Nations umbrella to ensure a safe and mutually organized withdrawal of its army from South Lebanon, the Lebanese government refused to cooperate, did not agree to deploy its army in the south, and accused the Israelis of plotting to divide and split the Syrian-Lebanese joint track. This approach to the Israeli calls was an official Syrian decision dictated to all the Lebanese puppet governments during the Syrian occupation era.
Since then, Hezbollah has been hijacking Lebanon and its people, refusing to disarm and advocating for the annihilation of Israel. This Iranian mullahs' terrorist army stationed in Lebanon, is viciously hiding behind labels of resistance, liberation and religion. Hezbollah has recklessly jeopardized the Lebanese peoples' lives, safety, security and livelihood. It has been growing bolder and bolder in the last four years and mercilessly taking the Lebanese state and the Lebanese people hostage through terrorism, force and organized crime.
Sadly, Hezbollah is systematically devouring Lebanon day after day, and piece by piece, while at the same time marginalizing all its governmental institutions in a bid to topple the Lebanese state and erect in its place a Shiite Muslim regime, a replica of the Iranian Shiite mullahs' fundamentalist republic. Meanwhile the free world and Arabic countries are totally silent, indifferent, and idly watching from far away the horrible crime unfolding without taking any practical or tangible measures to put an end to this anti-Lebanese Syria-Iranian scheme that is executed through their spearhead, the Hezbollah armed militia.
Who is to be blamed for Hezbollah's current odd and bizarre status? Definitely the Syrians who have occupied Lebanon for more than 28 years (1976-2005). During their bloody and criminal occupation, Syria helped the Iranian Hezbollah militia build a state within Lebanon and fully control the Lebanese Shiite community.
But also the majority of the Lebanese politicians, leaders, officials and clergymen share the responsibility because they were subservient and acted in a dire Dhimmitude, selfish and cowardly manner. If these so-called Lebanese leaders had been courageous and patriotic and had not appeased Hezbollah and turned a blind eye to all its vicious and human rights atrocities, intimidation tactics, crimes and expansionism schemes, this Iranian Shiite fundamentalist militia would not have been able to erect its own mini-state in the southern suburb of Beirut, and its numerous mini-cantons in the Bekaa Valley and the South; nor would Hezbollah have been able to build its mighty military power, with 70 thousand militiamen, or stockpile more than 50 thousand missiles and force the Iranian "Wilayat Al-Faqih" religious doctrine on the Lebanese Shiite community and confiscate its decision making process and freedoms.
Since Hezbollah's emergence in 1982, these politicians have been serving their own selfish interests and not the interests of the Lebanese people and the nation. They went along with Hezbollah's schemes, deluding themselves that its militia and weaponry would remain in South Lebanon and would not turn against them.
This failure to serve the people of Lebanon allowed Hezbollah to make many Lebanese and most of the Arab-Muslim countries through its terrorism propaganda to blindly swallow its big lie of theatrical, faked resistance and Liberation.
Hezbollah would not have been able refuse to disarm in 1991, like all the other Lebanese militias in accordance to the "Taef Accord," which called for the disarmament of all militias. Hezbollah would not have become a state inside the Lebanese state, and a world-wide terrorism Iranian-Syrian tool which turned against them all after its war with Israel in year 2006 and after the UN troops were deployed on the Lebanese - Israeli borders in accordance with the UN Resolution 1701.
On May 7, 2008 Hezbollah invaded Sunni Western Beirut killing and injuring in cold blood hundreds of its civilian citizens, and attempted to take over by force Mount Lebanon.
A few days ago Hezbollah's General Secretary Sheik Hassan Nasrallah called that day (May 7, 2008) a great and glorious victory for his resistance, and threatened the Lebanese that a replicate of that day will take place if they do not succumb and obey his orders.
Hezbollah is a deadly dragon that the Lebanese politicians have been allowing him to feed on sacrifices from the southern Lebanese citizens, especially on those who were living in the "Security Zone" and who fled to Israel in May 2000 after the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon. This dragon who enjoyed devouring his southern sacrifices has now turned on all the Lebanese and if they do not stand for their rights and dignity, he will keep on devouring them all one after the other.
We call on the Lebanese government, the Lebanese Parliament and on all the free and patriotic Lebanese politicians and leaders to cancel the May 25 National Day, because it is not national at all, and also to stop calling Hezbollah a resistance, put an end for its mini-state, cantons and weaponry, and secure a dignified, honorable and safe return for all the Lebanese citizens who have been taking refuge in Israel since May 2000.
*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/
Face Book LCCC group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Hezbollah: The World's Most Effective Terrorist Organization.
By: Elias Bejjani*
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing "- Edmund Burke - 17th century philosopher and author"
The U.S. government has labeled Hezbollah, in its State Department report for 2008, as the world's most effective terrorist organization. The report said that Iran remains the most active state sponsor of terrorism, including supporting terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. According to the same report, "Iran's involvement in the planning and financial support of terrorist attacks throughout the Middle East, Europe and Central Asia had a direct impact on international efforts to promote peace, threatened economic stability in the Gulf, and undermined the growth of democracy". It singled out the Qods Force, an elite branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as the Islamic republic's main means to cultivate and support terrorists overseas. The Qods Force gave "weapons, training and funding" to Hamas and other Palestinian anti-Israeli groups, Lebanon's Hezbollah as well as Iraq-based militants and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/nea/119120.htm)
How can the US, the mightiest military and financial power in the whole world, officially recognize the serious and great dangers of Iran and its terrorist proxy Hezbollah, while expecting the Lebanese people and their crippled government and military institutions to tame, control and disarm this terrorist organization?
Hezbollah from day one of its creation by Iran in 1982 up until now, is a serious and deadly threat to all the civilized and free world countries. As such, it is not a mere Lebanese problem, but rather a serious problem, grave threat and challenge to global peace, stability and democracy.
What is unfortunate and shameful, is that the free world and surrounding Arab countries, are not showing enough determination, transparency, seriousness or persistence in dealing with the most dangerous terrorist organization in the whole world, Hezbollah. Unbelievably, some very influential Western countries, among which is England, are actively negotiating with this terrorist organization and providing its fanatic and extremist leadership with academic, media and political platforms to justify and spread the support of their doctrines of terrorism under the false pretext of ‘free speech’!
In reality, Hezbollah is an Iranian militant organization on all levels and by every definition. Its’ Iranian mission, terrorist activities and objectives have become crystal clear, not only to the Lebanese people who are suffering on daily basis from its’ oppression, intimidation and dictatorship, but also to the majority of the Arab states, US, Canada and Australia. This intimidation, fear mongering and illicit fundraising activities extend also to many European, African and Southern American countries
The only positive element in this Pandora’s Box lies in the fact that Hezbollah can no longer fool the educated patriots and nationalists in Lebanon or in the Arab communities, that they are an indigenous resistance entity and liberation movement whose sole purpose is to defend Arab rights and Lebanese sovereignty. Its’ extremely active involvement in worldwide drug trafficking and terrorism activities have exposed Hezbollah’s hierarchy and Iranian dictated leadership, ripping off the seductive facade of ‘resistance’ that they so cleverly attempt to hide behind. Thankfully, most of Hezbollah’s devious tactics of camouflage and deceptiveness are no longer working, revealing their proxy Iranian destructive criminal agenda.
Many of Hezbollah’s own Shiite Lebanese community, which it dominates and controls by religion, money, bribery, intimidation and brute force, is losing its’ patience and quickly realizing the true color of the Hezbollah resistance cloak. Many are turning their backs on this militia whose loyalties and agendas are more Iranian and less Lebanese!
Hezbollah has nothing to do with resistance, liberation or any actual patriotic Lebanese or Arabic cause by any means. In reality, Hezbollah is an Iranian militant brigade, a division of Iran's notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Revolutionary_Guards_Corps)
According to dozens of well documented and trustworthy reports, Hezbollah continues to run a vast, well organized and extremely sophisticated global network of drug trafficking, crime, terrorism and arms trafficking, infiltrating many Arab states, Israel, Mexico, Canada, Australia, United States, Europe, South America and numerous previous Islamic states of the USSR.
It is pathetic that the Free World in general, and the Arab world in particular, continue to appease and cajole Hezbollah’s leadership, inflate their already swollen egos, hail their fabricated and cleverly titled ‘divine victories’, and keep a blind eye to their ongoing activities of arms smuggling from Syria through the Syrian-Lebanese borders.
Since 1982, Hezbollah systematically has been devouring the state of Lebanon, destroying its’ military, judicial and financial institutions, crippling its legislature and democratic government and fragmenting and terrorizing its’ delicate social fabric, all the while solidifying the terrorist infrastructure and Iranian-modeled institutions of its mini-state and scattered cantons.
The looming devastating threat that Hezbollah poses on Lebanon and the Lebanese, will be an unfortunate and lethal reality if it wins a majority government in the upcoming June 7th parliamentary Lebanese elections with its pro-Syrian mercenary allies. If this nightmare comes to bare on Lebanon, Hezbollah and Iran will have the upper hand in running the country's new government, imposing by force a replica of Gaza's terrorist Hamas government.
Prior to these elections, Hezbollah has already confiscated by force, money and intimidation, all the allocated Shiite seats in the parliament. It has also forced its’ candidates on Christians, Druze and Sunni Muslims who live inside their cantons. Almost 100 out of the 128 elected MPs are going to win their seats uncontested because of both the biased electoral law and Hezbollah's terrorism and religious decrees (Fatwa and Takalief Sharia).
The 28 seats that will decide who gets the parliamentary majority or minority will be challenged in four constituencies where the Christian voters are the majority. Accordingly the Christian voters will hold in their hands the fate of Lebanon. Either they will vote against Hezbollah's allies and keep Lebanon a democratic, free and multi-cultural society of coexistence and peace or they will vote for Michel Aoun, the Christian ex-general egomaniac who entered into a self-serving alliance with Hezbollah in order to better his chances of obtaining the Presidency. This unholy alliance has furthered the legitimacy of Hezbollah and increased their tyrannical grip over Lebanon with their "Wilayat Al-Faqih" religious Iranian religious doctrine. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardianship_of_the_Islamic_Jurists)
Hezbollah's essence and spiritual, cultural and political foundation are totally derived from the Iranian Mullah's doctrine of “Wilayat Al-Faqih”. The main pillars of this doctrine are zero tolerance for all others who are of different faith and culture and who do not fully submit to their control. It is a blatant rejection of the civil, democratic and free societies; a systematic, tireless effort to export the "Wilayat Al-Faqih", and impose it on the whole world through "Jihad" (holy war), deeply rooted hatred for the western democracies and cultures, staunch enmity and hostility towards the US and Israel all with a suicidal mentality. One of its prime aims is to destroy Israel and ‘liberate’ the Holy city of Jerusalem.
General Michel Aoun, Syria and Iran's mouthpiece, is a Maronite Christian whose personal ambitions and lust for power has completely allied himself with the Syrian-Iranian-Hezbollah agenda. He has negated all his previous pro-Lebanon, pro-sovereignty and pro-independence slogans and he has viciously turned his back on and attacked the Maronite Church and its’ Patriarch. He has betrayed every historic social, religious and national conviction of the Lebanese Christians.
Christian voters must vote for those who are committed to the holy cause of Lebanon's freedom, sovereignty and culture of peace, coexistence and progress. Voting for Aoun's tickets is voting for Iran's Mullah's and their project to swallow Lebanon and turn it into a dictatorship run by their proxy Hezbollah.
Nobody at the present time knows better than the Iraqi people what terrorism is, that Hezbollah imposes on Lebanon. I will end my piece with a quotation that I took from Mr. Noori Kamal Al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq in his statement at the 62nd UN General Assembly:
“Terrorism kills civilians, journalists, actors, thinkers, and professionals; it attacks universities, marketplaces, and libraries; it blows up Mosques and Churches and destroys the infrastructure of State institutions. We consider terrorism an extension of the fallen dictatorship, whether it may vary in its outside form or by the gangs that carry it out. Terrorism aims at aborting the political process, and igniting sectarian dissension as a prelude to hijack Iraq back into the era of tyranny, oppression, and backwardness.”
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/
Face Book LCCC group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing "- Edmund Burke - 17th century philosopher and author"
The U.S. government has labeled Hezbollah, in its State Department report for 2008, as the world's most effective terrorist organization. The report said that Iran remains the most active state sponsor of terrorism, including supporting terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. According to the same report, "Iran's involvement in the planning and financial support of terrorist attacks throughout the Middle East, Europe and Central Asia had a direct impact on international efforts to promote peace, threatened economic stability in the Gulf, and undermined the growth of democracy". It singled out the Qods Force, an elite branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as the Islamic republic's main means to cultivate and support terrorists overseas. The Qods Force gave "weapons, training and funding" to Hamas and other Palestinian anti-Israeli groups, Lebanon's Hezbollah as well as Iraq-based militants and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. (http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/nea/119120.htm)
How can the US, the mightiest military and financial power in the whole world, officially recognize the serious and great dangers of Iran and its terrorist proxy Hezbollah, while expecting the Lebanese people and their crippled government and military institutions to tame, control and disarm this terrorist organization?
Hezbollah from day one of its creation by Iran in 1982 up until now, is a serious and deadly threat to all the civilized and free world countries. As such, it is not a mere Lebanese problem, but rather a serious problem, grave threat and challenge to global peace, stability and democracy.
What is unfortunate and shameful, is that the free world and surrounding Arab countries, are not showing enough determination, transparency, seriousness or persistence in dealing with the most dangerous terrorist organization in the whole world, Hezbollah. Unbelievably, some very influential Western countries, among which is England, are actively negotiating with this terrorist organization and providing its fanatic and extremist leadership with academic, media and political platforms to justify and spread the support of their doctrines of terrorism under the false pretext of ‘free speech’!
In reality, Hezbollah is an Iranian militant organization on all levels and by every definition. Its’ Iranian mission, terrorist activities and objectives have become crystal clear, not only to the Lebanese people who are suffering on daily basis from its’ oppression, intimidation and dictatorship, but also to the majority of the Arab states, US, Canada and Australia. This intimidation, fear mongering and illicit fundraising activities extend also to many European, African and Southern American countries
The only positive element in this Pandora’s Box lies in the fact that Hezbollah can no longer fool the educated patriots and nationalists in Lebanon or in the Arab communities, that they are an indigenous resistance entity and liberation movement whose sole purpose is to defend Arab rights and Lebanese sovereignty. Its’ extremely active involvement in worldwide drug trafficking and terrorism activities have exposed Hezbollah’s hierarchy and Iranian dictated leadership, ripping off the seductive facade of ‘resistance’ that they so cleverly attempt to hide behind. Thankfully, most of Hezbollah’s devious tactics of camouflage and deceptiveness are no longer working, revealing their proxy Iranian destructive criminal agenda.
Many of Hezbollah’s own Shiite Lebanese community, which it dominates and controls by religion, money, bribery, intimidation and brute force, is losing its’ patience and quickly realizing the true color of the Hezbollah resistance cloak. Many are turning their backs on this militia whose loyalties and agendas are more Iranian and less Lebanese!
Hezbollah has nothing to do with resistance, liberation or any actual patriotic Lebanese or Arabic cause by any means. In reality, Hezbollah is an Iranian militant brigade, a division of Iran's notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Revolutionary_Guards_Corps)
According to dozens of well documented and trustworthy reports, Hezbollah continues to run a vast, well organized and extremely sophisticated global network of drug trafficking, crime, terrorism and arms trafficking, infiltrating many Arab states, Israel, Mexico, Canada, Australia, United States, Europe, South America and numerous previous Islamic states of the USSR.
It is pathetic that the Free World in general, and the Arab world in particular, continue to appease and cajole Hezbollah’s leadership, inflate their already swollen egos, hail their fabricated and cleverly titled ‘divine victories’, and keep a blind eye to their ongoing activities of arms smuggling from Syria through the Syrian-Lebanese borders.
Since 1982, Hezbollah systematically has been devouring the state of Lebanon, destroying its’ military, judicial and financial institutions, crippling its legislature and democratic government and fragmenting and terrorizing its’ delicate social fabric, all the while solidifying the terrorist infrastructure and Iranian-modeled institutions of its mini-state and scattered cantons.
The looming devastating threat that Hezbollah poses on Lebanon and the Lebanese, will be an unfortunate and lethal reality if it wins a majority government in the upcoming June 7th parliamentary Lebanese elections with its pro-Syrian mercenary allies. If this nightmare comes to bare on Lebanon, Hezbollah and Iran will have the upper hand in running the country's new government, imposing by force a replica of Gaza's terrorist Hamas government.
Prior to these elections, Hezbollah has already confiscated by force, money and intimidation, all the allocated Shiite seats in the parliament. It has also forced its’ candidates on Christians, Druze and Sunni Muslims who live inside their cantons. Almost 100 out of the 128 elected MPs are going to win their seats uncontested because of both the biased electoral law and Hezbollah's terrorism and religious decrees (Fatwa and Takalief Sharia).
The 28 seats that will decide who gets the parliamentary majority or minority will be challenged in four constituencies where the Christian voters are the majority. Accordingly the Christian voters will hold in their hands the fate of Lebanon. Either they will vote against Hezbollah's allies and keep Lebanon a democratic, free and multi-cultural society of coexistence and peace or they will vote for Michel Aoun, the Christian ex-general egomaniac who entered into a self-serving alliance with Hezbollah in order to better his chances of obtaining the Presidency. This unholy alliance has furthered the legitimacy of Hezbollah and increased their tyrannical grip over Lebanon with their "Wilayat Al-Faqih" religious Iranian religious doctrine. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardianship_of_the_Islamic_Jurists)
Hezbollah's essence and spiritual, cultural and political foundation are totally derived from the Iranian Mullah's doctrine of “Wilayat Al-Faqih”. The main pillars of this doctrine are zero tolerance for all others who are of different faith and culture and who do not fully submit to their control. It is a blatant rejection of the civil, democratic and free societies; a systematic, tireless effort to export the "Wilayat Al-Faqih", and impose it on the whole world through "Jihad" (holy war), deeply rooted hatred for the western democracies and cultures, staunch enmity and hostility towards the US and Israel all with a suicidal mentality. One of its prime aims is to destroy Israel and ‘liberate’ the Holy city of Jerusalem.
General Michel Aoun, Syria and Iran's mouthpiece, is a Maronite Christian whose personal ambitions and lust for power has completely allied himself with the Syrian-Iranian-Hezbollah agenda. He has negated all his previous pro-Lebanon, pro-sovereignty and pro-independence slogans and he has viciously turned his back on and attacked the Maronite Church and its’ Patriarch. He has betrayed every historic social, religious and national conviction of the Lebanese Christians.
Christian voters must vote for those who are committed to the holy cause of Lebanon's freedom, sovereignty and culture of peace, coexistence and progress. Voting for Aoun's tickets is voting for Iran's Mullah's and their project to swallow Lebanon and turn it into a dictatorship run by their proxy Hezbollah.
Nobody at the present time knows better than the Iraqi people what terrorism is, that Hezbollah imposes on Lebanon. I will end my piece with a quotation that I took from Mr. Noori Kamal Al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq in his statement at the 62nd UN General Assembly:
“Terrorism kills civilians, journalists, actors, thinkers, and professionals; it attacks universities, marketplaces, and libraries; it blows up Mosques and Churches and destroys the infrastructure of State institutions. We consider terrorism an extension of the fallen dictatorship, whether it may vary in its outside form or by the gangs that carry it out. Terrorism aims at aborting the political process, and igniting sectarian dissension as a prelude to hijack Iraq back into the era of tyranny, oppression, and backwardness.”
Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
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