English News

All Australians are smug: Sharon Osbourne

2010-05-06T05:02:00.000-07:00

By ninemsn staff

Controversial reality TV star Sharon Osbourne has added Curtis Stone to her list of people she doesn't like and declared all Australians "smug".

Osbourne expressed her disapproval of the Aussie chef during the latest series of The Celebrity Apprentice in the US on which the pair both appear as contestants.

The flamboyant wife of heavy metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne did not mince her words when host Donald Trump asked what she thought of Stone.
“He is very smug,” Osbourne replied.
When fellow contestant Cyndi Lauper pointed out Stone was Australian, Osbourne said: “Yeah, I know ...put another shrimp on the Barbie ... he is too smug for me”.

“Are all Australian’s like that?” Mr Trump's wife Ivanka asked.

“Yeah, usually, yeah,” Osbourne said.

Dannii Minogue is another Australian Osbourne has publicly clashed with.

The pair had several heated run-ins while they were both judges on the British version of X-Factor>.

In a recent interview with Star magazine, Osbourne was asked if she had send her congratulations to Minogue regarding the impending birth of her first child.

"Hell no! I don’t like her. I don’t like her as a person; I don’t like what she represents, and I never will," the magazine quoted Osbourne as saying.

Asharq Al-Awsat Q & A with Samir Geagea

2010-04-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

Asharq Al-Awsat Interview by Sanaa Al-Jack in Beirut

Q) Do you consider that discussing the defense strategy at the dialog table can produce an applicable action plan or vision?
A) I go to the dialog table with a pragmatic mind in order to see what will be presented at the meeting, and to discuss the issue. As the process started in 2006, we will continue to take every step until we achieve the aims. I am not deceived into thinking that the agreement on a defense strategy will be reached soon, or that the upcoming sessions will lead to an immediate result. However the issue is interesting and we will discuss it. No one can judge that the dialog table has failed yet. We know that the situation is ambiguous, but a breakthrough could occur at any moment, and we find ourselves moving toward a national defense strategy.

Q) What do you think of Hezbollah's statements that reject the discussion of its weapons on the basis that it is the resistance weapons that are necessary for the protection of Lebanon?
A) Every group has the right to express its vision of the situation in the way that suits it. Our opinion is different from this vision proposed by Hezbollah. It is not true that its weapons are outside any discussion. Everything in Lebanon is open for discussion, from the presidency, to subjects beyond the budget and the day-to-day matters. Therefore, how can we disregard the discussion of Hezbollah's weapons, which is a sensitive issue that affects the Lebanese and the details of their lives?
As for saying that the weapons are the weapons of the resistance and not the weapons of Hezbollah, this issue should not be presented in this way. This is because the resistance was formed on territories on which the state was defeated, and not in an established state, even if it is not yet completed. Perhaps one of the reasons that the state is not complete is the existence of weapons outside the legitimacy. Moreover, the permanent presence of the resistance, as in our case, requires a minimum of popular unanimity, say 60 to 70 percent. However, the latest parliamentary elections, which Hezbollah fought under the slogan plebiscite on the resistance option, have shown that more than half the Lebanese are against the preservation of the weapons in their current state.

Q) How can you be able to discuss the defense strategy with Hezbollah refusing to do so, despite the fact that it is participating in the sessions?
A) Our job is to convince Hezbollah during the meeting at the dialog table. We will persevere with this, and it is inevitable that we will reach something. In the beginning to reassert a stance, and then we will move into presenting the foundations of the defense strategy of the country. However, in the current stage, we insist on reasserting our stance by putting forward concepts that can be applied to face up to the continuous attempts since 1990 to impose an equation that stresses that Lebanon cannot defend itself unless Hezbollah remains armed.

Q) Why does the defense strategy require national unanimity while the resistance does not need it?
A) This is true according to the laws, the constitution, and the National Accord Agreement in Al-Taif. The agreement from A to Z does not include the word "resistance," and it allocates the responsibility to defend Lebanon to the state and the army, while insisting on the truce agreement with Israel.
Moreover, the broad lines of the defense strategy ought to be in the hands of the Lebanese Government, which can amend them according to the impending and sudden circumstances, requirements, and dangers. Therefore, it is required to continue the dialog among the political sides in order to reach agreement over the best way to defend Lebanon. This is a fundamental step. The decision to defend Lebanon ought to be in the hands of the Lebanese Government.

Q) From the first, to the second and the third dialog table, how have the presentation of the issue of the weapons, and Hezbollah's stances toward this presentation developed?
A) The situation is regressing. At the first table of dialog we had an agenda that included a clear article entitled "The Weapons of the Resistance." I took it to the dialog table in the first session after the elections. Currently they reject this. However, we will continue to present the subject in a complete spirit of democracy and amicability, and without any sensitivities, otherwise Lebanon will not rest.
It is not true that the Lebanese Army is incapable of protecting Lebanon, and Hezbollah alone is capable of this. In the army there are more and better trained special units than those possessed by Hezbollah. Why do we not allow the army to draw up the necessary plans to defend Lebanon and its south? If we do this, we will win at the fighting level, and also we will win more by consolidating the foundations of the Lebanese legitimacy and unanimity by taking a realistic and logical step. However, they [Hezbollah] do not accept this thesis, and it is probable that they will ask to discuss a defense strategy in isolation from the status of the weapons.

Q) Will two groups gather around the dialog table, one insisting on preserving the weapons, and the other rejecting that, or will there be more than two groups?
A) There are two principal groups facing each other at the dialog table; however there are other groups with stances distinctive from insisting on preserving the weapons, or demanding that the weapons are placed within the state legitimacy.

Q) Where does President Gen Michel Suleiman stand with regard to the conferees?
A) I will not hide from you that there are worries because of the attack by a group on Suleiman, demanding his resignation, and criticizing the dialog table, while our group hastens to defend and support him with huge campaigns. Unfortunately, following this, Suleiman has leaned toward certain theses in order to appease those who attacked him. The situation is not reassuring, as the president is supposed to be for all the Lebanese, and not for one group and no one else.

Q) What about Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri?
A) Al-Hariri still is convinced that the defense strategy ought to be in the hands of the Lebanese Government.

Q) Democratic Gathering Leader Walid Junblatt no longer accepts this thesis. He has stated that he will work toward withdrawing the verbal discussion of Hezbollah's weapons. What is your stance toward this?
A) Our friend Walid Junblatt has this opinion. We have our opinion to which we still are committed. We consider that Hezbollah's weapons expose Lebanon to danger more than they defend it.

Q) What about the US warning to the Syrians about the smuggling of advanced weapons to Hezbollah through the Lebanese-Syrian borders, linking the issue to not sending new US Ambassador Stephen Ford to Damascus, and the impact of this on Lebanon?
A) If anyone has advanced weapons, why does he not hand them to the Lebanese Army? More than that, our main focus is the following: Hezbollah is tied to a large regional network that starts from Tehran, and does not end in Damascus. This drags Lebanon into confrontations, which it does not want. No one has the right to drag us into these confrontations. As for the confrontation with the Israeli enemy, it has several aspects. Currently, who determines the way of the confrontation? It is determined by officials in Hezbollah in coordination with Tehran and Damascus; this behavior exposes the Lebanese people to danger. On the other hand, not tying Lebanon to the regional network spares it many of the confrontations with which we actually have nothing to do.

Q) Do the latest events witnessed in the regions of Qusaya and Ayn al-Bayda in Western Al-Biqa come under exposing Lebanon to dangers with which it has nothing to do through the Palestinian weapons outside the camps?
A) I do not have precise data about what took place in Qusaya and Ayn al-Bayda. However, regardless of the causes and background of the incident, every weapon outside the control of the state turns into a danger against Lebanon and its civil peace. As we regret all the victims of such events, we point out that what takes place tarnishes the image and stability of Lebanon. We have the Lebanese Army, but who is responsible for these groups and these weapons outside the camps, whether in Western Al-Biqa, Al-Naimah, or other places? We do not know how these weapons, whose presence we reject, are mobilized, and we demand that the resolution to remove them, which was adopted unanimously at the first dialog table in 2006, is implemented. The regime in Syria can prevent these people from entering Lebanon through the borders, and can stop financing, training, and supporting them. Next Thursday, I will present [to the dialog table] the issue of the Palestinian weapons outside the camps, because it has priority as a result of the latest events; this is in addition to the issues of Hezbollah's weapons, and the defense strategy.

Q) Do you think that these events indicate a regional danger threatening Lebanon at this stage of the conflict between Iran and the United States, with Israel behind it?
A) The region is living through an unstable period. In the light of the military and security reality outside the Lebanese State I believe that Lebanon is entering the domain of instability. Had it not been for this reality, Lebanon would not have entered this domain. Therefore, there is a need to speed up the domestic accord over a defense strategy that spares Lebanon the consequences of the regional conflict.

Joke: A new immigrant

2010-04-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

A Somalian arrives in Australia as a new immigrant .

He stops the first person he sees walking down the street and says........ 'Thank you Mr. Australian for letting me in this country, giving me housing, money for food, free medical care, free education and no taxes!'

The passer by says, 'You are mistaken, I am Afgani!'
The man goes on and encounters another passer by. 'Thank you for having such a beautiful country here in Australia !'
The person says, 'I not Australian, I Iraqi!'
The new arrival walks further, and the next person he sees he stops, shakes his hand and says, 'Thank you for the wonderful Australia !'

That person puts up his hand and says, 'I am from Pakistan , I am not from Australia !'

He finally sees a nice lady and asks, 'Are you a Australian?'

She says, 'No, I am from India !'

Puzzled, he asks her, 'Where are all the Australians?'

The Indian lady checks her watch and says .....'Probably at work'

Iceberg‏

2010-04-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

This came from a Rig Manager for Global Marine Drilling in St. Johns , Newfoundland .
They actually have to divert the path of these things away from the rig by towing them with ships!
Anyway, in this particular case the water was calm and the sun was almost directly overhead
so that the diver was able to get into the water and click this picture.
They estimated the weight at 300,000,000 tons.

The Burning Coals Of Hatred

2010-04-10T05:52:00.000-07:00

By: Elias Bejjani

(1 Samuel 24/12): "May the LORD judge between you and me. And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you”

Both the Hebrew and Greek words translated “vengeance,” “revenge,” and “avenge” have as their root meaning the idea of punishment. This is crucial in understanding why God reserves for Himself the right to avenge. Believers should refrain from acts of revenge and let God do His work. In both the New and Old Testament God asks us to leave the revenge issues for him.

(Deuteronomy 32/35): "To me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste". (Deuteronomy 32/36): "For the LORD will vindicate His people, and will have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their strength is gone, and there is none remaining bond or free." ".

It is a known fact that the severance of communication between people is a form of death and an evil readymade formula for bloody and destructive confrontations. When people cease to communicate with each other because of hostility, hatred, resentment, stupidity, ignorance, lack of faith, pompousness or fear of confrontation they simply abandon God Himself because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John1-1).

How could anyone who alleges to be religious and to fear God, allow himself to assume God's work and judge others based on his/her own concepts and self made criteria for what is right and wrong, and simply put them on trial and issue verdicts against them? He who does so does not really understand Christ's teaching which said: "Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged, for with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you (Matthew 7/1-2). Those who unlawfully give themselves this Godly right Christ calls them hypocrites.

When two individuals speak two different languages that neither of them comprehends no actual communication takes place. One of them has to learn the other's language in a bid for the communication to be productive and a two-way one, or otherwise they keep on speaking an incomprehensible Babylonian language.

In this same context righteousness and evilness are two different human qualities with two contradicting frames of mind and mentalities. Those who abandon love, become dominated by hatred, hold grudges, judge others, cease to communicate speak the language of Satan, while those who believe in God and know that He is love, speak His language of problem solving, mercy, openness, consoling, forgiveness and meekness. (Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 13/1-3): "If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing. If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing."

A proven devastating fact that is often ignored by the conceited, selfish, stubborn, childish, opinionated and stupid is that dire consequences occur when two parties become possessed with hostilities. They turn into rivals and speak the language of Satan. These two parties fall prey to a vicious cycle of hostilities and an endless cycle of retaliations. (John12/40): “He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and would turn, and I would heal them.”.

Impulsivity and anger are common human traits through which one loses control and acts stupidly without thinking of the dreadful consequences. We all know for sure that it does not take much of an effort to hate, despise, resent, act evilly or hold grudges against others, particularly those with whom we might have serious or crucial problems and conflicts with.

At the same time, it is very primitive to act violently and take revenge by physical or emotional means against those who one believes have inflicted pain on him or unlawfully took what is his by force or fraud.

"We should aim in all our desires and expectations of deliverance, both from sin and trouble, that we may do the better service to the Lord; that we may serve Him without fear. If His grace has delivered our souls from the death of sin, He will bring us to heaven, to walk before Him forever in light." (Matthew Henry: 56:8-13)

Meanwhile, to love and forgive is a very difficult task to do. The matter needs a great deal of self control, anger taming, and nobility not to react with revenge against those who confront us with hatred, grudges and evilness, especially when they purposefully hurt us and infringe on our rights, property, and beloved ones. (Matthew 5/44): "But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

A well know Lebanese proverb says: "when in the woods if you are not a lion, lions will devour you". Yes, this is 100% right if we were animals, but we are not and the wood's doctrine, "the stronger eats the weaker", does not apply to human beings. Why it does not? Simply because we are God's children and He has created us in His image and we must act accordingly (Genesis 1/27): "So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them."

Our conduct ought to be righteous and not evil, civilized, peaceful, loving and shaped in a human and not in an animal manner. As God's children we are taught to love and not to hate, especially those to whom we see as enemies, and pray for those who persecute us. (Luke 6/27): "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, and do good to those who hate you."

As God's Children, we are not supposed to take revenge no matter what, but instead forgive and leave the vengeance for God. (Romans 12/19): "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord". (Leviticus 19/18): "'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD". (Nahum1/2): "The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on His foes and maintains His wrath against his enemies."

As devoted believers, we are required to leave the work of judgment for the rulers and courts even if we feel they are biased and unfair. God Himself will punish them if they do not fear Him and not perform their duties with justice. (1Peter 2/13-14): "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.”

(Hebrews 10/30): "For we know him who said, “vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

There is no doubt that in this contemporary competitive and merciless society that we live in, self defense and protecting oneself and one’s interests is a lawful right, because the law does not protect those who are stupid. Self defense needs a great deal of wisdom, understanding and restraining of physical abilities by spiritual attainment. This simply means that the one who has the ability to bring great harm doesn’t mean he or she needs to use it for more than is required for self defense. Just because we can break someone’s arm, doesn’t mean we need to use that ability. Just because we have a gun doesn’t mean we need to fire on someone who breaks into the home.

Psalm 94/: "1 O LORD, the God who avenges, O God who avenges, shine forth"
The question is, when we are hurt do we have to act on our revenge impulses? Some say by taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing over it, he is superior.

Those possessed with hatred and grudges suffer the most. They sit on unseen burning coals that make them continuously sad, angry, hostile, miserable, unsocial and vindictive.

Let us trust in Almighty God, fear no one but Him, and beg Him to cure us from all ailments of hatred, grudges and hostilities

Psalm 56/11: "In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

A woman was strangled to death yesterday after her Islamic head dress became tangled in a go-kart axle.

2010-04-09T05:35:00.000-07:00

The 27-year-old woman was holidaying with family at the Port Stephen's Go-Kart track on the NSW Central Coast when the freak accident occurred.
The Herald newspaper reports that the woman went into cardiac arrest after her hijab became caught at high speed and tightened around her neck.
Paramedics said the woman suffered severe neck injuries. She was flown to John Hunter Hospital in a critical condition but died a short time later.
One witness said the woman's kart just "hit the wall".
"[It] stopped and she was just slumped over," the woman said.
It is believed the victim's family saw the entire incident.
Police seized the go-kart yesterday afternoon while WorkCover is investigating the death.

Resurrection, Hope & Faith

2010-04-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

By: Elias Bejjani

Christ has truly risen and we are witnesses to His resurrection!

But what does it say? The word is with you, in your mouth, and in your heart; that is, the word of faith, which we preach: that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says; whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. (Romans 10: 8 -11)

Oh how great is the need nowadays, to understand the meaning and message of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! The fast pace of life has turned us merely into sad human shells of crippled beings, consumed by greed, selfishness and the race for worldly pleasures. Our thoughts and actions are directed by trifle material matters and concerns. In the midst of all this moral and ethical havoc, we have forgotten that we are the sons and daughters of Almighty God and that He has created us in His image and likeness and made our bodies a temple for Him.

We often find ourselves intentionally forgetting the fact that our Heavenly Father has shown us His great love and affection by sending us His only son; born as human, He suffered humiliation and pain and was crucified so that we could be relieved from the burden of our original sin. Through His crucifixion and death, Jesus triumphed over death and resurrected from the dead, thereby resurrecting us with Him, pure and forgiven of all sin and impurity. Oh how the yoke of death and sin has been lifted from our shoulders and carried by our Lord Jesus!

Worldly matters frequently make us easy prey to our sinful instincts and wrongful human inclinations. How easy we are seduced by sin knowing that our Father gave so much for our salvation. In such darkness, our faith, perseverance and hope become weakened, as we drift away from the teachings of our Lord. Shame is our neglect of our rightful obligations towards our heavenly Father and towards those who need our love, compassion and friendship.

We need to realize wholly and become fully aware of the great blessing that Jesus’ resurrection from death is indeed a new life for all mankind, free from all sin. This fact alone is a comfort that must be remembered with every breath and allowed to settle deep within our minds, hearts and souls. His resurrection is an established truth in its essence, and this truth should penetrate into our bones.

“He is not here, rather He has risen”. We as Christians truly believe that Christ rose from the dead and is alive within all of us. His resurrection is the essence of our faith, beginning with the holy Apostles and ending with us, the Church. His resurrection is not solely a historical event, but rather it is our source of faith which explodes forth like a powerful volcano in our conscience and thoughts.

For the believers, this truth cultivates and purifies the faith, allowing them to courageously walk the road of salvation with steadfastness, strength, and veracity. The Father blesses His sons and daughters with the same compassion and love that resurrected His beloved Jesus. Our heavenly Father, through the sacrifice of His only Son, provided for us a lesson and an example of true love, fatherly compassion and parental sacrifice. He proved to us, His flock and children, that He is love and that His love for us has no limits and that His forgiveness is unending. What peace and comfort is this for us!

The Resurrection of Christ grants every one of us the right to call himself a child of God; it is the return of Paradise lost, the threshold of the Holy of Holies of immortal life and communion with God. St. Paul tells us that if there had been no Resurrection then our Christian faith would have been deprived of any foundation or value: "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.... If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins (1 Cor. 15:14, 17)."

Easter is a festival of hope for salvation and for a new life and a new beginning. This Holy season calls on us to renew our faith in Jesus as our Messiah and to consolidate our confidence in His Church and its teachings. Easter calls on us all to love and forgive each other and as a family to unite together in celebration of our risen Lord. It is also a time to repent for our wrongful deeds and thoughts; to cleanse our hearts and walk forward with steadfast the righteous path of salvation.

Let us never forget the humbling truth that all of us will one day stand before our Almighty God to answer for our all our deeds, good and bad. It is in this light we need to remember the teachings of the Apostles; That In the end times, there will be hypocrites, walking before their own ungodly lusts and causing divisions, lacking the Spirit. They taught us to strengthen ourselves and our faith through prayer and the Holy Spirit and to nurture our love for our God, while seeking the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our resurrection through Jesus Christ occurs today and lives on in each day of our life.

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit enlighten and empower us on this Holy day just as with the Apostles on the day of Pentecost.

Let us all proudly proclaim that Christ is living in us and with us, Christ has truly risen and we are witnesses to His resurrection!

Happy Easter to all, and especially to my dear and beloved family members, relatives, supporters, friends and readers.

May God Bless You All!

Heart warm greetings to all Christians celebrating the great solemnity of Easter

2010-04-03T04:19:00.000-07:00

"Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

Amen". (Galatians 1: 3-5)

Easter is approaching Christians from all around the world with a message of hope and joy, but is truly evading those in the Holy Land.

We, Christians of Palestine, have been under Occupation for many long years.

We’ve been suffering with bitterness our distance from the Holy Sites.

We’ve been denied our right to worship in Jerusalem.

Many Christian generations have never been able to reach Jerusalem to visit its holy places.

The Occupation has been continuously imposing unlawful obstacles. This year, we are confronting the Israeli Apartheid Separation Wall, checkpoints, and roadblocks guarded by Israeli soldiers denying entire movement and access to Jerusalem.

All these measures do not only suffocate the Palestinian people, but asphyxiate as well peace in Israel and Palestine.

This year all Churches are celebrating together the great solemnity of Easter. But Christians are not able to access Jerusalem. This dictum: “a land without a people for a people without a land” is chokingly and dangerously associated to our current situation. It does not mean that Jerusalem is without a people, but rather should be evacuated to be granted to another people with no Jerusalem or land. David Ben Gurion himself articulated that undoubtedly in 1937 by declaring “we must expel Arabs and take their places."

Every stone built in the Apartheid Wall, every axe strike digging under Al-Aqsa Mosque and every house destroyed by Israel will increase the intensity of resistance and resentfulness. However, any cooperation with Palestinians will give Israel the hope for a future, dominated by serenity and peacefulness.

This year, Jerusalem is facing the most vicious Zionist attacks to completely render it Judaist, alter its features, expel its people, destroy its houses, seize its land, as well as building numerous settlements.

We lament Jerusalem, and miss its beautiful ceremonies. This year also, thousands of tourists will weep with us. They will not be able to march the “Way of the Cross” with Palestinians. There will be no national Palestinian Folklore to discover or Arab religious crafts to take with them as gifts, and no local prayers, hymns and music to experience in the warmth faith of believers in Palestine.

They will be shocked entering the Holy Sepulcher to find Israeli police inside. They will find faces of all colors but not the Palestinian skin color complex. They will not recognize in people’s faces the physiognomy of Jesus that was born, lived and died here as a Palestinian.

While Easter in the World which symbolizes "liberation from sin and slavery" is approaching, our hope to national liberation is being lost along the horizon. The slavery and humiliation of occupation are burdening Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land.

We do not foresee any political horizon, end to occupation, hope to the return of Palestinian refugees, vision to the erection of our state with Jerusalem as its capital, right to self determination, liberation of thousands of prisoners, free access and movement, end of Gaza siege, and the destruction of the Apartheid Wall around Jerusalem. We are further agitated by the continuous threats of war again. We are distressed by the daily humiliation, hunger, thirst, unemployment and the absence of sustainable development in our country.

We are perplexed by the immense silence of the World. The international community is unable to implement the same legal resolutions that they manipulated unjustly and unlawfully to create the State of Israel.

All events occurring before, during and at the aftermath of war are evoking intense fear in our souls. Life has indeed changed, but towards the abyss and to the worse.

We have been building and enhancing Jerusalem since 5000 years and have never stopped doing so, except during the Occupation that has practically destroyed what we’ve accomplished. In an attempt to search for its own legacy and heritage here, the Occupation has constructed hybrid ones of its own, deliberately annexing some of our holy places, as it could not find any traces of its own heritage.

Jerusalem was the city of God, peace, and prayer but has been converted into the city of man, war and hatred.

Instead of becoming the key to the doors of heaven, it has turned into a key of war and blood.

Instead of being a prospect for forgiveness, amnesty and reconciliation, it has been rendered into a forum for Diaspora, hatred, and hostility.

Jerusalem, the holiest place on earth, has become the focus of sin and crime because man is killing another, insulting him and trampling his dignity and his right to live. And where man has no dignity and respect to his right to life, the redemption we have received from Jesus Christ has entered again into the "hour of evil" and the "power of darkness"(Luke 22: 53). And unrighteousness has been again suppressing the truth (Romans 1:18) and victory is swallowed up in death. (1 Corinthians 15:54)

However, our faith urges us to step over death to live in the splendor of peace, waiting for our national glorious resurrection where our death and humiliation become the victory over occupation.

We are awaiting the time where no “nation doth lift up sword unto nation, nor do they learn any more war" (Isaiah 2:4) & "let the peace of God rule in our hearts, to which we were called in one body”, (Colossians 3:15) Christians, Muslims and Jews.

Jerusalem is ours. It is not a disputed land. We are not soliciting to share the legacy and heritage of Jerusalem with Israel or with anyone else.

We do not accept the speech of Israeli leaders that Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel and that constructing in it is similar to that in Tel Aviv. We do not accept the publication distributed by Israelis this week citing the Torah that the land was given to them with an order to evacuate it from its people to render it purely and solely a Jewish state.

Jewish religion was a path to the Christian religion and all prophecies were related to Jesus Christ. "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." (Galatians 3:16) And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29)

Occupation is a sin and terrorism and when relying on the texts of the Torah to kill man or expel and remove him from his land, it rises to the level of a crime against humanity. All perpetrators should be judged by the International Criminal Court before being judged by the just court of God.

Supporters of this biblical speech and those who fail to condemn it, gives Israel the time and pretext to further intensify its crimes against the Palestinian people.

Hence, they become accomplices in a "sin against the nations" which punishment is in this world.

Our appeal to the World in Easter is a prophetic call. We are really scared about the number of Palestinians worshiping in these holy places to revive and glorify Christ and his word testifying for his death and resurrection. But we fear more that these holy places turn to historical monuments or even being destroyed. In the eyes of Israeli leaders, these places are considered "pagan sites" and whoever destroys them, get closer to God. A long time ago, the Zionist Jewish leader Theodore Herzl said : “If one day we recover Jerusalem and I am still able to do anything when we do so, my first action will be to cleanse it thoroughly. I will remove everything that is not holy and burn the monuments that are centuries old.”

Israel has devastated and tortured us in their many wars. We ask you to perceive the wounds of innocent Palestinian people and to be compassionate towards the Palestinian holocaust that you witness with your own eyes, touch with your own hands and know those who perpetrated this crime against our children. Search with us justice that is the mother of peace and its incubator.. Protect us and safeguard our holy sites.

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.

For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee

For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God, I will seek your good. (Psalm 122:4 -8)

Jesus is risen and my people will rise.

Happy Easter.

Father Manuel Musallam

President of the "Christian World Department at the International Relations Commission – FATEH",
Member of the "Islamic Christian Commission in Support of Jerusalem and the Holy Sites" and Director of its Birzeit Office.

Telefax: 00972-2-2819388

Mobile:00972-599602320

musallammanuel@yahoo.com

Beheading In Saudi Arabia

2010-03-31T22:44:00.000-07:00

By: Elias Bejjani

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, here It Is!

2010-03-28T06:06:00.000-07:00

Lolo Soetoro, Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, baby Maya Soetoro, and 9 year old Barry Soetoro.

This registration document, made available on Jan. 24, 2007, by the Fransiskus Assisi school in

Jakarta, Indonesia, shows the registration of Barack Obama under the name

Barry Soetoro made by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro.

Name: Barry Soetoro

Religion: Islam

Nationality: Indonesian

How did this little INDONESIAN Muslim child - Barry Soetoro, (A.K.A. Barack Obama) get around

the issue of nationality to become President of the United States of America ?

PART 2:

In a move certain to fuel the debate over Obama's qualifications for the presidency, the group

"Americans for Freedom of Information" has released copies of President Obama's college

transcripts from Occidental College ..

The transcript indicates that Obama, under the name Barry Soetoro, received financial aid as a

foreign student from Indonesia while an undergraduate at the school. The transcript was released by Occidental College in compliance with a court order in a suit brought by the group in the Superior Court of California . The transcript shows that Obama (Soetoro) applied for financial aid and was awarded a fellowship for foreign students from the Fulbright Foundation Scholarship program. To qualify for this scholarship, a student must claim foreign citizenship.

This document provides the smoking gun that many of Obama's detractors have been seeking -

that he is NOT a natural-born citizen of the United States - necessary to be President of these

United States . Along with the evidence that he was first born in Kenya , here we see that there is no record of him ever applying for US citizenship..

Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation has released the results of their investigation

of Obama's campaign spending. This study estimates that Obama has spent upwards of $950,000 in campaign funds in the past year with eleven law firms in 12 states for legal resources to block disclosure of any of his personal records.

Mr. Kreep indicated that the investigation is still on-going but that the final report will be provided to the U.S. attorney general, Eric Holder.

Mr. Holder has refused comment on this matter.

How true is the following........

2010-03-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

America
The only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment - yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations, ships and planes lining up with food, water, tents, clothes, bedding, doctors and medical supplies.
Imagine if we gave ourselves the same support that we gave all other countries. I feel bad for them but, who cares about America?
99% of people won't have the guts to forward this. How about you?
Remember that most of the countries we help HATE America and Americans.

This story is True, But be warned it is NOT NICE!

2010-03-24T16:05:00.000-07:00

This is a true story, it has been confirmed, the Medical Centre phone number at the end of this story is real.
This guy went out on a Saturday night a few weeks ago to a party. He was having a good time and had a couple of beers and some girls seemed to like him and one invited him to go to another party. He quickly agreed and decided to go along with her. She took him to a party in some apartment and they continued to drink, and even got involved with some unknown drug.
The next thing he knew, he woke up completely naked in a bathtub filled with ice. He was still feeling the effects of the drugs, but looked around to see he was alone.
He looked down at his chest, which had 'CALL 000 or YOU'LL DIE' written on it with lipstick. He saw a phone was on a stand next to the tub so he picked it up and dialled. He explained to the EMS operator what the situation was and that he didn't know where he was, what he took, or why he was really calling. She advised him to get out of the tub. He did, and he appeared normal, so she told him to check his back. He did. He found two nine inch slits on his lower back. She told him to get back into the tub immediately, and they sent a rescue team over. Apparently, after being examined, he found out more of what had happened. His kidneys were stolen. They were worth $10,000 each on the black market. Several guesses are in order: The people involved had to be at least medical students and it was not just recreational drugs he was given.
Regardless, he is currently in the hospital on a life support, awaiting a spare kidney. The University of Sydney in conjunction with the Royal Prince Alfred hospital is conducting tissue research to match the victim with a donor.
I wish to warn you about a new crime ring that is targeting business travellers. This ring is well organized and well funded, has very skilled personnel and is currently operating in most major cities around the world and recently very active in Sydney ......
The crime begins when a business traveller goes to a lounge for a drink at the end of the work day. A person in the bar walks up as they sit alone and offers to buy them a drink. The last thing the traveller remembers until they wake up in a hotel room bathtub, their body submerged to their neck in ice, is sipping that drink.

There is a note taped to the wall instructing them not to move and to call 000. A phone is on the small table next to the bathtub for them to call. The business traveller calls 000 who have been quite familiar with this crime. The business traveller is instructed by the 000 operator to very slowly and carefully reach behind them and feel there is a tube protruding from the back. The business traveller finds the tube and answers 'YES'. The 000 operator tells them to remain still, having already sent paramedics to help. The operator knows that both of the traveller's kidneys had been harvested.

This is not a scam or out of science fiction novel. It is real. It is documented and confirmable. If you travel or someone close to you travels, please be careful.
Sadly, this is very true. My friend's husband is a Sydney EMT and they have received alerts egarding this crime ring. It is to be taken very seriously. The daughter of a friend of a fire-fighter had this happen to her. Skilled doctors are performing these crimes! (which, by the way have been highly noted in the Brisbane area). Additionally, the military has received alerts regarding this.

Michele Shafer

DML/Lab

Administration

Medical Manager Research & Development

99 Missenden RD , Camperdown, Sydney 2000

Tel: (029)5156111 ; Fax:(029) 4621505

Another story.....

I was approached yesterday afternoon around 3.30 pm in the Coles Parking lot at Noranda by two males, asking what kind of perfume I was wearing.
Then they asked if I'd like to sample some fabulous scent they were willing to sell me at a very reasonable rate.
I probably would have agreed had I not received an email some weeks go, warning of this scam. The men continued to stand between parked cars, I guess to wait for someone else to hit on. I stopped a lady going towards them, I pointed at them and told her about how I was sent an email at work about someone walking up to you at the malls, in parking lots, and asking you to sniff perfume that they are selling at a cheap price.

THIS IS NOT PERFUME - IT IS ETHER!
When you sniff it, you'll pass out and they'll take your wallet, your valuables, and heaven knows what else. If it were not for this email, I probably would have sniffed the 'perfume', but thanks to the generosity of an emailing friend, I was spared whatever might have happened to me, and wanted to do the same for you. These guys hit Sydney and Melbourne 2 weeks ago and now they are doing it in Perth and Queensland ...

St. Mary's Miracle in America

2010-03-24T03:01:00.000-07:00

St. Mary's Miracle in America

Islamic-Christian celebration to honor the Virgin Mary, symbol of national unity

2010-03-22T21:50:00.001-07:00

LEBANON

On the occasion of the Feast of the Annunciation, Lebanon’s government launches a joint Christian-Muslim celebration in honor of Mary who is venerated in both communities. In the square in front of Lebanon’s National Museum a statue of Our Lady will be erected surrounded by a crescent. The initiative might be extended to other countries.

Beirut (AsiaNews) – Tomorrow 25 March will be the first “Islamic-Christian Day” in honour of the Virgin Mary, L’Orient-Le Jour reports today in an article signed by Fady Noun, who notes that the new festivity will fall on the Feast of the Annunciation of Mary according to the Christian liturgical calendar.

“Together around Mary, Our Lady,” is the title chosen for the celebration, which will be more of a national event than a religious one. At present it is not a statutory holiday but it could become one in “the near future, in addition to traditional celebrations of the Annunciation.”

“It will make the Virgin Mary, who is revered by Muslims and Christians alike, a factor of unity among Lebanese of every faith,” the French-language daily wrote.

The final decision, which was three years in the making, came on 13 March in a meeting of the Lebanese cabinet.

The idea of making the Virgin Mary a symbol of a joint Christian-Muslim celebration came to Sheikh Mohammad Nokkari, general secretary of Dar el-Fatwa, or ‘House of Decree”, during Annunciation celebrations at Jamhour College.

Emir Harès Chehab and Mohammad Sammak, who co-chair the Islamic-Christian National Dialogue Committee, welcomed the initiative as did Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

Beirut Mayor Abdel-Monhem Ariss responded positively to a demand by the initiative’s promoters to erect a statue of Mary in front of Lebanon’s National Museum. The square where the statue will be located is actually a major intersection and might be renamed in honor of the Virgin Mary. The statue itself would “reproduce a stylised Virgin Mary surrounded by a crescent moon,” Islam’s symbol par excellence.

A religious ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow in the chapel of Our Lady College in Jamhour, during which “Christians and Muslims will be able to pray together to the Virgin Mary.”

In addition to prayers, there will be songs, psalms, sacred music, testimonials, readings, as well as audio and video tapes.

Sheikh Amr Khaled, one of the Arab world’s most important preachers, will attend the ceremony. Mgr Salim Ghazal, chairman of the Commission for Islamic-Christian dialogue of the Assembly of Maronite Patriarchs and Bishops, will also be there.

Organisers, according to the Lebanese paper, hope that their “initiative will lead to more.

Contacts have already been made so that next year “similar ceremonies could be held in six other countries, namely Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Poland, Italy and France.”

Attacking Iran: The Sooner the Better

2010-03-22T15:12:00.000-07:00

By: Elias Bejjani

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You type.. She speaks

2010-03-22T05:03:00.000-07:00

This is brilliant...!!! You Type...She speaks...technology has far surpassed me!!! This is amazing. Try it and see!! Turn up the volume. She will say anything you type.

CLICK HERE

Australia Post Product Recall‏

2010-03-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

Australia Post created a new stamp displaying a picture of the current Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Kevin Rudd and has recently suspended a recall of the stamps as requested by the Prime Minister after a special commission enquiry finding.

The Prime Minister was told that the stamp was not sticking to envelopes and the enraged Prime Minister demanded a full investigation.
After a month of testing and spending of $1.73 million, a special commission presented the following findings:
1) The stamp is in perfect order.
2) There is nothing wrong with the adhesive.
3) People are spitting on the wrong side of the stamp.

Saudi Prince

2010-03-19T04:05:00.001-07:00

Saudi Prince goes to Germany to study.
A month later, he sends a letter to his dad saying:"Berlin is wonderful, people are nice and I really like it here,but I'm a bit ashamed to arrive to schoolwith my gold Mercedes when all my teachers travel by train."Sometime later he gets a letter from his dad with a fifty million dollar checque saying: "Stop embarrassing us!go and get yourself a train too!"

What Happened On This Day through history...

2010-03-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

official media release

2010-03-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

Please note that the assembly time is 6.30pm at Martin Place however we have encouraged media to attend from 7pm. Coptic News will be streaming live to their paltalk room (Votoc) which is listened to by over 7000 people every night. So far two International media will also be present to film this historic event.

Peter Tadros

Glory.. Glory

2010-03-15T22:26:00.001-07:00

This picture must take the best picture of the year and perhaps Splendid for ten years to come As the Justin McCarthy As stated at the site of great things

Photo was taken nurse Michelle

Michael Clancy

And published in her blog

Says Justin McCarthy must be published the picture in a television, news bulletins and in all the newspapers of America! It's not a piece of tissue or Jenin, but the picture says what Aicolh thousands of people!!

... Such a great snapshot: Jellalha and great beauty, great position, great presence, great in glory .. Oh great .. Glory Glory

Image of the fetus in the womb did not complete the 21 weeks the name of Samuel Alexander, where the doctor decided that Samuel Joseph Brunner need surgery, but if he was let out of his mother's womb, it will die, so that it performs the operation, within the womb.

Did not object to the mother (Julie Armas) of a process as it works as a nurse generation in the same hospital and she knows very well how much skill Brunner doctor in such cases where it has carried out several similar operations all of which culminated in success.

During the operation the doctor made an opening in the mother's womb to be able to perform the operation of the fetus, and after the completion of the process and while he tries to return the uterus to the place of Samuel his hand out and grabbed a very small finger of the doctor.

Dr. Bronner ((This was a moment of more moments that passed through the impact on my life that I had at that moment I froze my place I could not do anything or to move my finger, I felt that all my limbs had been frozen))

Very quickly and before the end of this position the most exciting and emotional in the world this picture was taken and published in newspapers under the name of ((Her hand please))

The press writes about this photo that the fetus Samuel had been dragged out from the womb of his mother's small to hold the finger of the doctor and like he'd wanted to tell him, 'Thank you for your rescue my life'

Mother says that after seeing the image has been crying for several days, I've learned from this image that the pregnancy is not about disability and illness and fatigue, but is to give life to another person is small and weak and needs you to protect you.

The operation succeeded 100%, and Samuel was born after the pregnancy period has been completed and is now in good health.

The Cedars of Lebanon Folkloric Group 33rd anniversary 2010 Concert

2010-03-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Click on the ad to enlarge

Leopard cuddles baby baboon

2010-03-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

A good video to watch

2010-03-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

Genocide against Civilian Nigerian Christians

2010-03-10T12:46:00.000-08:00

By: Elias Bejjani

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Any dialogue with Hezbollah is futile

2010-03-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

By: Elias Bejjani

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Walking on Niagara Falls

2010-03-07T03:41:00.001-08:00

Muslim scholar condemns terrorism

2010-03-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

By Dominic Casciani
BBC News

An influential Muslim scholar is to issue in London a global ruling against terrorism and suicide bombing.

Dr Tahir ul-Qadri, from Pakistan, says his 600-page judgement, known as a fatwa, completely dismantles al-Qaeda's violent ideology.

The scholar describes al-Qaeda as an "old evil with a new name" which has not been sufficiently challenged.

The scholar's movement is growing in the UK and has attracted the interest of policymakers and security chiefs.

In his religious ruling, Dr Qadri says that Islam forbids the massacre of innocent citizens and suicide bombings.

Although many scholars have made similar rulings in the past, Dr Qadri's followers argue that the massive document being launched in London goes much further.

They say it sets out point-by-point theological arguments against the rhetoric used by al-Qaeda inspired recruiters.

The fatwa also challenges the religious motivations of would-be suicide bombers who are inspired by promises of an afterlife.

The populist scholar developed his document last year as a response to the increase in bombings across Pakistan by militants.

The basic text has been extended to 600 pages to cover global issues, in an attempt to get its theological arguments taken up by Muslims in western nations. It will be promoted in the UK by Dr Qadri's organisation, Minhaj ul-Quran International.

Shahid Mursaleen, spokesman for Minhaj-ul-Quran in the UK, said the fatwa was hard-hitting.

"This fatwa injects doubt into the minds of potential suicide bombers," he said.

"Extremist groups based in Britain recruit the youth by brainwashing them that they will 'with certainty' be rewarded in the next life.

"Dr Qadri's fatwa has removed this key intellectual factor from their minds."

Religious rulings

The document is not the first to condemn terrorism and suicide bombing to be launched in the UK.

Story from BBC NEWS:

© BBC MMX

Elimination .. Women

2010-03-03T03:15:00.001-08:00

Anthony Wilson

The State Council issued unanimous decision not to appoint women judges. And as stated in the resolution Maevid statement that His Excellency the President respect the resolutions of the State Council, it is a fortiori to the people to respect these decisions.

Confirms this to say that the people are not masters of their decision .. This is a fact established and confirmed in all countries of the Arab Muslim world and non-Arab. This is not an affront to the peoples of these countries. But Hakbakp reality

Is known near and far .. Ignorant and the holder of the highest university holidays. Because it states LLC Koreyî societies .. Man vulnerability of women, half men and women in inheritance and testimony before the judiciary, and in too many rights. And men always and never based on religion to validate all said and Ikrs Voice of challenge .. That the objector is objecting to God Almighty. These disaster and post-e kufr is kufr.

Early last century, Egypt witnessed an awakening of progressive social and women had the largest share in the introduction of the hand and encourage them to attend university, and took off (bigger names, and burqa) and took some of the government positions, or rather went out to the arena of life. The heroes of this movement Sheikh, a man and woman. Sheikh Mohamed Abduh is a man of religion and science and religious position, and the man is a fighter Qasim Amin, who has faced the forces of backwardness and reaction with courage, women are Hoda Shaarawi, which carried the torch of liberty with Mr. Qasim Amin, are aided by Shaykh Mufti Muhammad Abduh of Egypt. And since that day, women have made a lot of achievements, and assumed government positions and non-governmental and demonstrated its ability to assume the burden .. Mswlitin Responsibility of the home and raising children, and career responsibility entrusted to it. So what happened now?!.

Truth and reality that is happening now is not surprising in it. Because the community itself is still a tribal society governed Prime tribe though differing name or disagree garb. He who has the hearing and obedience. The chief of the tribe does not accept the opposition in the decisions taken by the ruling tribe, even if it took the form of advice from men of the tribe, the women of (though contrary to the truth, because the influence of women was and still is influential on the decisions of the President of the ruling tribe, but the secret is not publicly), we say to the President the tribe does not accept the opposition ... Even if it took the form of advice from men of the tribe, so it was carefully selected to be those who say that the Secretary for each decision. And this is what is happening and continued until now, no difference between yesterday and today in these communities that refuse to insist on progress and backwardness is convinced it does not need to progress, because God Almighty allocated to them for the kaafir west of Khaddmenhm progress, because they are the best nation on earth. God gave them money and men to rule the world and dedicated service, and women obedient believers that meet all requests and to execute its Twtmr Mr. C, is no exception to this rule only women with rich blue-chip pedigree slip-verse and become a man and meet all the requests carried out whatever they say.

I do not need to say that the ruler in Egypt now, before now surrounds himself with the same quality of men in the tribe, although the Shura different name to the parliaments elected by the people and representative councils and government ministers and the like. The sincerity of someone when he said about women and stressed that they are not suitable for such a position (with all the respect in the building of family and community), this reminds me of the panel discussion between me and the classmate at a school Nahum Prince Farouk secondary Baltrap Albolakip Shubra and we were second-year secondary education in 1952 and was the title of the corresponding Women and work .. You are a supporter of women's labor, one of the opponents, and concluded with the sentence, which I still remember so far (we have made fun of women for males and breeding of poultry and birds) and applauded by chapter I do not know where it came from this view.

This is proof that we did not advance one iota.

It is up to women .. If you do not see a glimmer of hope .. It .. Women after being stripped of bigger names and the burqa, she returned and put the hijab and niqab .. Of course, the full freedom. I have no objection to that, I believe in freedom of disadvantaged peoples.

Melbourne Israeli Apartheid Forum

2010-03-01T20:24:00.000-08:00

As Israel faces increasing international condemnation of its 22-day massacre in Gaza and its illegal activities in the occupied Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem, an open discourse on Israel’s apartheid policies and practices could not be more timely.

Melbourne has joined a massive worldwide movement to expose Israel’s criminal activities and to challenge them through boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS). Australians for Palestine and Women for Palestine have organised an Israeli Apartheid Forum with a panel of distinguished academics and a Palestinian human rights advocate at the University of Melbourne who will present their perspectives on Israeli Apartheid - the history, policies and practices, Israel's violations of international law and its efforts at normalisation with the international community through the media and public relations.

The moderator will be the internationally-acclaimed thinker and hugely popular Professor Ghassan Hage, Future Generation Professor of Anthropology and Social Theory, University of Melbourne and author of "Against Paranoid Nationalism" (2003, 2006). \

The panellists are: Professor John Docker:Honorary professor at the University of Sydney, Jewish public intellectual, literary and cultural critic, and author of "1492: The Poetics of Diaspora" Professor Jake Lynch Associate professor and Director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, author of "Debates in Peace Journalism", former BBC journalist Samah Sabawi Palestinian from Gaza, human rights advocate, poet, playwright, former Executive Director and media spokesperson for the National Council on Arab-Canada Relations Professor Jeremy Salt Professor of Middle East History and Politics, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, author of "The Unmaking of the Middle East", former journalist with Melbourne's Age newspaper FORUM DETAILS: WHEN: Tuesday 9 March 2010, 6.00pmWHERE: Prince Philip Theatre, Architecture Building, The University of Melbourne (entry via Tin Alley Road from Swanston Street, Carlton)

The Delusional USA - Syrian Overtures

2010-02-26T17:09:00.000-08:00

By: Elias Bejjani

It is extremely bizarre and astonishing that Western countries, especially the USA and France, stubbornly refuse to learn from their own manifold mistakes and finally see and grasp the deeply rooted criminal, inhuman, savage and terrorist nature of the Syrian Baathist dictatorial regime. They naively kept on repeating their same unproductive strategies and accordingly reaped with frustration the same disappointments and failures.

Since the early eighties these countries have loosely and erratically been adopting a carrot and stick policy with Syria's brutal rulers, and for reasons incomprehensible to political analysts, they never went far enough to topple this regime and support the Syrian people�s rights for freedom and peace as was the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It is worth mentioning that Syria has been on the US Department of State�s terrorist watch list since December 29, 1979, and is considered globally by policy makers and think tanks the number one state worldwide that sponsors and breeds terrorist groups.

In spite of the USA�s and EU�s recent hasty and unjustified overtures toward Syria�s dictator, Bachar Al Assad, the Syrian regime brazenly continues to provide overt massive political and material support to Hezbollah and many Palestinian terrorist groups, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), HAMAS, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).

Even when all tangible proof and documents have demonstrated that day after day Syria is recruiting, training, sponsoring and facilitating the infiltration of militant insurgents into Iraq since 2003, no decisive deterrent action was taken by the USA except mere verbal condemnations through press releases and empty rhetorical threats.

One wonders why this pariah regime has still not been toppled when its rulers have been oppressing, terrorizing, murdering and impoverishing their own people and destabilizing through terrorism all its neighboring countries, especially Lebanon and Iraq.

Meanwhile, Syria's dictator, Bachar Al Assad, keeps on defying the Western and Arabic countries' demands, wishes and hopes in regard to his relations with Iran and the terrorist groups and continues steadily to solidify and intensify Syria's relations and ties with the Iranian mullah's terrorist regime, Hezbollah and Hamas on all levels and in all domains.

Against all logic and odds the Obama administration has been appeasing and cajoling Al Assad in a rapprochement bid to cut his ties with Iran and stop his country's sponsorship and weaponry supply to Hezbollah and Hamas. In this context the USA gave its close ally, Saudi Arabia, the approval to amend its bitter relations with Al Assad, decided to return its ambassador to Damascus who was withdrawn in February 2005 in the aftermath of the Lebanese PM, Rafic Al Hariri's assassination in a bombing widely blamed on Syria, and last Monday it lifted a travel warning to Syria that was in place since September 2006 when armed assailants attacked the US Embassy in Damascus.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a Senate budget debate last Wednesday (17.02.10) said that the United States is urging Syria to distance itself from Iran as well as to stop arming Hezbollah and interfering in Lebanon. In disclosing US demands for engagement with Syria, Clinton was blunter than ever about Washington's bid to drive a wedge between Damascus and Tehran. Clinton presented a set of demands that Washington is making to Syria now that a US ambassador is returning to Damascus for the first time in five years under President Barack Obama's policy of engagement. She said that William Burns, the number three diplomat at the State Department, "had very intense, substantive talks in Damascus" when he visited there last week. "And we've laid out for the Syrians the need for greater cooperation with respect to Iraq, the end to interference in Lebanon and the provision of weapons to Hezbollah, a resumption of the Israeli-Syrian track...," she said. Clinton said Washington is also asking Syria "generally to begin to move away from the relationship with Iran, which is so deeply troubling to the region as well as to the United States."

On Thursday (25.02.10), Al Assad while sitting happily and proudly next to his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a joint conference held in Damascus, slapped the Obama administration on the face, ignored all its overtures as well as its conditions and sarcastically ridiculed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's statement which urged his country to distance itself from Iran and stop sponsoring terrorist groups. Assad responded by signing a new friendship pact with a grinning Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Moreover, he mocked Clinton by saying: "We must have understood Clinton wrong because of bad translation or our limited understanding, so we signed the agreement."

In an arrogant tune and humiliating smile Al Assad said: "Our support for the resistance is a moral and legal duty", and expressed surprise at Clinton's call for Syria to distance itself from Iran. "We thank them (the Americans) for their advice," "I am surprised by their call to keep a distance between the countries when they raise the issue of stability and peace in the Middle East", �The region's people should be ready for any Israeli attack�, he told reporters.

The Iranian president, in his turn, said Arab countries will usher in a new Middle East "without Zionists and without colonialists." He said that "if the Zionist regime wants to repeat its past mistakes, this will constitute its demise and annihilation." Ahmadinejad said the region's peoples, including the Lebanese, will stand against Israel. The U.S. should pack up and leave the Middle East and stay out of regional affairs, Iran's president added. Ahmadinejad's trip to Damascus follows a string of US efforts to break up Syria's 30-year alliance with Tehran.

Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah met Thursday (25.02.10) evening in Damascus along with their senior advisors, and discussed regional developments and �the Zionist threat,� it was revealed Friday. The two were the guests of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who had dinner with the two and participated in the talks. According to Arab media reports, the meeting was not reported upon until after it had taken place for security reasons. Ahmadinejad has meet also with high ranking officials from Hamas and other Palestinian armed Jihadist groups.

Ahmadinejad said his talks in Syria will focus on "reaching new decisions on the possible threats" from Israel, adding that Iran and Syria "stand at the forefront of the resistance to the Zionist regime." Speaking at the airport in Tehran before leaving for Syria, he said, "The Zionist regime and its supporters in the region are quickly approaching a dead end. The situation whereby the Zionists continually threaten countries near occupied Palestine makes it necessary for Iran and Syria to reach new decisions to deal with the possible threats from the Zionist regime."

During the last week, Ahmadinejad said during three telephone conversations with Al Assad, Lebanon's president, Michel Suleiman, and Hezbollah's General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah that Israel should be resisted and finished off if it launched military action in the region. "We have reliable information that the Zionist regime is after finding a way to compensate for its ridiculous defeats from the people of Gaza and Lebanon's Hezbollah." "If the Zionist regime should repeat its mistakes and initiate a military operation, then it must be resisted with full force to put an end to it once and for all,".

Facing Syria's ongoing rudeness, arrogance, and defiance, the USA policy makers need to re-evaluate the Obama administration�s hasty opening on Al Asaad and seriously start taking serious practical steps in all domains, including sanctions and military means to either force the Syrian regime to comply with the peace requirements and worldwide anti-terrorism efforts or to face the same choice of being toppled as had Iraq's Sadam Hussein.

What the Western countries and particularly the USA, should recognize in regard to the current Syrian dictatorship, is that Al Assad�s Baathist regime cannot change, because if it does it will fall from the inside as was the situation with the USSR and Romania. This dictatorship cannot survive in a milieu of peace, openness, freedom or democracy, and therefore all those policy makers and world leaders who keep deluding themselves that they can change the criminal and terrorist nature of the Syrian regime are required to read Middle East history more thoroughly and study more deeply the criminal record of Syria's rulers during the past 30 years.

In conclusion, there will be no peace in the Middle East before toppling the Syrian regime, containing by force the Iranian nuclear threat and disarming and dismantling Hezbollah. All other venues and means will give more time to Iran to build its atomic bomb and for Syria to breed more terrorist groups and for Hezbollah to totally devour and destroy the democratic and multicultural Lebanese system. Those who have ears need to hear and stop sinking in their delusions and day dreams.

The question is: How many times does the Obama administration have to get slapped in the face and ridiculed by Bachar Al Assad before it stops offering his regime an �open hand�?

Read the story below before watching the film!

2010-02-25T04:20:00.000-08:00

This is the story about this dance from the internet. Here is their story...
In a Chinese modern dance competition on TV one very unique couple won one of the top prizes. The lady, in her 30's, was a dancer who had trained since she was a little girl. Later in life, she lost her entire left arm in an accident and fell into a state of depression for a few years.
Someone then asked her to coach a Children dancing group. From that point on, she realized that she could not forget dancing. She still loved to dance and wanted to dance again. So, she started to do some of her old routines, but, having lost her arm, she had also lost her balance. It took a while before she could even make simple turns and spins without falling. Then she heard of a man in his 20s who had lost a leg in an accident. He had also fallen into the usual denial, depression and anger type of emotional roller coaster. But, she was determined to find him and persuade him to dance with her. He had never danced, and to dance with one leg...are you joking with me?"No way!" But, she didn't give up, and he reluctantly agreed thinking, "I have nothing else to do anyway." She started to teach him dancing. The two broke up a few times because he had no concept of using muscle, how to control his body, and knew none of the basic things about dancing. When she became frustrated and lost patience with him, he would walk out. Eventually, they came back together and started training seriously.
They hired a choreographer to design routines for them. She would fly high with both arms flying in the air. He could bend horizontally supported by one leg with her leaning on him, etc. In the competition, as you will see, they dance beautifully and they legitimately won the competition." When I watched this I didn't even realize that she was missing an arm because I was focusing on the guy with only one leg. Really quite amazing! I became aware that the woman's right arm was missing about 1/4 of the time into the clip.

1852 teams from 13 countries participated in the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition for 2010

2010-02-23T04:31:00.000-08:00

The 30 semi-finalists are to attend a workshop to be organized in Beirut in March

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Enterprise Forum for the Arab Region (based in Lebanon) announced today that 30 semi finalists’ teams from 9 Arab countries that took part in the third edition of the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition were qualified to participate in Round II. This competition is sponsored by Abdul Latif Jameel Co., Saudi Arabia.
The Forum issued a statement, saying that Round I of the Competition was closed on January 12, 2010 with 1,852 applications submitted from 13 Arab countries. A total of 177 applications were qualified and graded by 62 jurors. Each application was reviewed and graded by three jurors, the final grade being the average of the three.
According to the Forum’s statement, the top 30 applications are from the following countries: fourteen from Egypt, six from Lebanon, two from Tunisia, two from the United Arab Emirates, two from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and one from each of Palestine, Yemen, Morocco and Jordan. Approximately 50% of the applications are from the field of technology and online services, whereas the rest pertained to the medical and healthcare field, environment, energy, education and engineering. The winning teams can be viewed on: http://www.mitarabcompetition.com/announcements.php

Nation Lost Without a National Project

2010-02-21T21:23:00.000-08:00

By Sobhi Ghandour
“The world has divided into two kinds of societies: those who fear ghosts and those who live like ghosts. However, they all share the fear of an uncertain future”.

Currently, Arabs are experiencing several domestic problems and facing many challenges on regional and international levels.

In the second half of the 20th century, the world shifted from the western conflict involving France, Britain, Italy and Germany, to the ideological international struggle between the communist East and the capitalist West, which had a direct and indirect impact on the Arab nations. The effect of the East-West ideological struggle on the Arab nations led to inter-Arab struggles.

However, the challenges of the 21st century are no longer based on ideological grounds, but on competition between superpowers. This started at the beginning of the 21st century, when great powers entered into competition in economy, trade and other areas. Moreover, social theories and discussions on socialism and social justice have declined, to be replaced by political agendas on ruling in view of the dominant concepts of free economy.

National slogans and themes of national independence have declined, to be replaced by slogans of globalization and the global village.

Consequently, the political perspective on nationalism has weakened, while the talk about common cultures between people and countries has increased.

All this is happening now, but in an atmosphere of cultural tension between the Islamic East and the Secular/Christian West in the wake of the September 11 attacks and their repercussions in various parts of the world.

Today, there are people who live in fear of a terrorist act in their country, while others are witnessing daily terror attacks in their nations as a result of a foreign occupation or domestic oppression.

The world has divided into two kinds of societies: those who fear ghosts and those who live like ghosts. However, they all share the fear of an uncertain future.

In fact, successive U.S. administrations, especially those supported by arms manufacturers, have always been in need of an “outside enemy” to justify the policy of military deployment, maintain American superiority, and guarantee the subjection of European countries.

Tipping Point

Many have written about this, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some in the Arab and Muslim world wrote warnings in the 1990s about Israeli plans to hold Islam out as the new enemy of the West; while some in Europe and the United States promoted the idea of the “clash of civilizations.” But all of these writings were just ink on paper until the terrorist attacks took place on September 11, 2001. The actions and reactions around the world to the attacks only served the goals of the anti-Islamic conspiracy, completely ignoring all the warnings written in the 1990s, and they served the agenda of the Western neocons.

September 11 was the day of victory for extremism in the entire world — a day on which political and ideological fundamentalism raised its voice in every corner of the globe.

Following this ill-fated day, international extremists with opposing points of view have served each others’ causes, even though they fight in different arenas and for different objectives. And, unfortunately, all of their victims have been innocent people.

The so-called “war on terrorism” failed because it was based on a flawed theory embraced by the George W. Bush administration, which adopted the same approach previous U.S. administrations used against their communism enemy during the Cold War. At that time, America’s communist enemy was seizing control of countries from the Far East of Asia to the heart of Europe, while maintaining its influence and presence in most parts of the world through communist parties. In addition, Moscow was in possession of atomic bombs and nuclear missiles directed toward the U.S. and its western allies.

However, today’s world is completely different from that time. America is now fighting the ghosts of extremist groups who do not run any country and who practice terrorism in their own countries against their own people, even more than they perpetrate in western countries.

Arabs are experiencing domestic problems and facing many challenges on both the regional and international levels:

· Among the most prominent problems and challenges that have constantly faced the Arabs throughout the last century is the international and regional thirst for the wealth and resources of the Arab world as well as its significant strategic location.

· Another challenge is Zionism and its association with foreign powers, which resulted in the occupation of Palestine and other Arab territories.

· Arab division and inter-Arab political and border conflicts, which are the result of the policy of divide-and-rule imposed by European colonial powers in the last century, as well as the impact of the Cold War on the Arab world is another problem.

· Finally, the lack of social and political justice in the Arab world and the struggle for reform have been a constant problem.

Arab political and ideological parties have tried to handle these challenges and problems jointly and separately, but have failed.

However, this failure has not changed the fact that there is a need to create an ideological and political “Arab Project” based on pan-Arabism, which should be implemented as follows:

· Pan-Arabism should not contradict the plurality of the various Arab states, but should but work towards integrating all of them into one bloc, similar to the European model at a minimum level, or even a federation such as the United States of America at a maximum level;

· The Arab Project must be based on democracy in which both the governments and the oppositions honor their responsibilities of non-violence and respect for human rights;

· The Pan-Arabism Project should be based on the Arab Islamic civilization and the positive role of religion in Arab life; and

· The Pan-Arabism Project must reject violence in the implementation of its calling and its goals and must refuse to use violence as a means to reform society or change governments. It must distinguish between the legitimate right to resist occupation on occupied land versus using violence against innocent civilians.

Despite the glimpses of hope that appear from time to time, the status of the Arabs has not progressed over the last century.

While many nations have faced over the last decades some of the same struggles and crises currently faced by the Arabs, such as the problem of occupation and foreign interference and failed governments and social and economic challenges and divisions within countries, including civil wars, it is hard to find a single nation facing all of these problems simultaneously like in the Arab world. The combination of these crises has caused the Arab world to lose its way and to lose sight of its priorities and has caused reform efforts to be pulled into too many directions.

It is regretful that the Arab nation, which enjoys many elements of unity and solidarity during conflicts and crises, is becoming even more divided.

It is impossible for a divided nation that does not have a single progressive project to win its battles or give its people hope for a better future.

Hezbollah is emptying south Lebanon from its Christian residents

2010-02-17T12:46:00.000-08:00

By: Elias Bejjani

A series of on going flagrant atrocities are inflicted by the Lebanese official authorities and the terrorist Hezbollah armed militia against our Lebanese brothers and sisters that have been taking refuge in neighboring Israel since May 2000.

In the aftermath of the Israeli army�s withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000, 6,500 southern Lebanese men, along with members of their families had no option but to leave their towns, villages and abandon all their properties and hastily run for their lives. While Israel was logistically preparing for the withdrawal, Hezbollah waged a merciless and savage media campaign against the southern Lebanese citizens. The campaign was aired publicly on all local and international TV channels and radio stations. The most frightening threats were uttered personally by Hezbollah's General Secretary, Sheik Nasrallah, who savagely said, �We will enter their bedrooms, pierce their stomachs, slaughter them and slice their throats.�

Our people declined from continuing the fight and chose to leave, not because of fear of combat or death only, but most importantly to avoid more Lebanese bloodshed, while the central government did not dare to assume its national responsibilities and obligations.

Since 2000, many of these 6500 individuals risked returning to Lebanon. On their return they were immediately arrested, humiliated, tortured and charged with treason and collaboration with an enemy (Israel). Their trials were extremely hasty, biased, scandalous and terrible infringement on all judicial international standards and human rights charters. Even after serving their imprisonment terms they were all stripped of their civil rights and officially tagged as traitors. Very few of those who served their imprisonment terms were able to return to their homes and towns in the south because the terrorist Hezbollah, and not the Lebanese authorities is in full control of that region.

Many of these unfortunate Lebanese refugees willingly left Israel and are now living in the USA, Canada, Australia, and numerous European countries. All of them are afraid to go back home, because of the kind of falsified and fabricated Hezbollah-Tailored charges that are waiting for them the moment they land in Lebanon. Those who did return ended in jail after unfair and biased trials with harsh verdicts.

In the context of Hezbollah�s fanaticism, revenge and hatred, and in the realm of its ongoing scheme to empty the southern region of its Christian inhabitants, the Lebanese military court sentenced on February 01/2010 with a stroke of a pen 34 citizens in absentia (living as refugees in Israel and other countries) with verdicts ranging from 3 to 15 years of imprisonment with hard labor and stripped them of their civil rights.

Even those who return from Israel to Lebanon as dead bodies in coffins are tagged as traitors, disgraced and humiliated. The Lebanese government exploited by Hezbollah�s terrorism, manipulation and control, has been desecrating the sanctity of death, which is not a Lebanese virtue.

In his inaugural speech, on 25 May, 2009, Lebanon's president General Michele Suleiman promised to bring back from Israel all those who took exile there in the aftermath of the Israeli army�s unilateral withdrawal from South Lebanon in May 2000. He said: "This day coincides with the anniversary of the national liberation and victory day, let us make it a motive for greater awareness for what awaits us, and to renew our commitment for freedom and democracy, which we offered sacrifices for them in a bid to safeguard the country. In this context, comes the hard work to release prisoners and detainees, disclose the fate of the missing, and to bring back our sons who fled to Israel; our country's lap has room for all of its citizens." Almost two years have passed since President Suleiman's election, while his promise to bring back our people from Israel has not yet been fulfilled.

We strongly believe that It is an ethical obligation and a national legitimate right to ask what is hindering the president from taking the needed actions to put an end to this ongoing dilemma? The answer is simply Hezbollah's terrorism and hegemony.

In reality, Hezbollah has completely assumed Syria�s notorious oppressive and murderous occupational role in the aftermath of the Syrian army�s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005. This armed Iranian fundamentalist organization is currently the actual and primary obstacle that is hindering the country from reclaiming its independence, democracy and freedoms. in fact all the unfolding destructive, shameful, terrorist and corrupting events that are currently hitting Lebanon and its peace-loving people illustrate with no shred of a doubt that this terrorist organization, Hezbollah, is merely grabbing hold of the Lebanese state and its institutions as hostages.

Hezbollahs has been constantly obstructing the honorable return of our people from Israel, through its full control on the Lebanese institutions' and government's decision making process including the military court. During the last six months, this court has viciously charged a great number of our people who are still refuges in Israel (and other countries) with treason, entering an enemy country, and accepting its citizenship. It sentenced them in absentia with very harsh and cruel verdicts and stripped them of their civil rights.

Hezbollah has been rhetorically via all its prevailing media facilities, and through the military court's fabricated charges and verdicts intimidating the country's president and indirectly prevented him from fulfilling his inaugural vow to facilitate the honorable return of our people from Israel. Hezbollah is systematically emptying south Lebanon from its Christian residents and forcing those who still live there against all the odds to sell their land and leave.

President Suleiman knows more than anyone else in Lebanon that the Hezbollah mercenaries and the so-called resistance are hindering the dignified return of our people from Israel and falsely accusing them of treason and collaboration. It is the Hezbollah leadership who are actually guilty of these charges and not our heroic Lebanese people. But apparently the president has bowed to Hezbollah's tactics of manipulation and intimidation and backed off on his promise and vow.

It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah's mini state with its scattered cantons all over Lebanon, especially in Beirut's southern suburb and southern region is much stronger in all domains than the Lebanese central government. The Lebanese people in general and the Lebanese Shiite community in particular had no saying in this matter. This mini state was imposed on all of them by Syria and Iran during the Syrian occupation era of the country (1976-2005)

Hezbollah's mini state controls and dominates directly and through proxies all the affairs of the Lebanese central government via cancerous infiltration, intimidation, oppression, corruption, drug trafficking, religious decrees (fatwas), murder, crime, bribing and multifold tactics of terrorism. Not even one decision could be made by the Lebanese government or any of its institutions without Hezbollah's approval. The Lebanese state is massively dominated by the Hezbollah mullah's leadership. This terrorist militant organization boldly dictates its Iranian decrees on all the Lebanese officials and institutions, manipulates their activities and greatly influences the whole country's decision making process in all fields and on all levels.

We strongly believe that there will be no end to the bizarre, volatile and fragile situation in Lebanon unless the Hezbollah militia is dismantled and disarmed. To achieve this goal the UNIFIL force in South Lebanon must have a new engagement mandate under chapter seven of the United Nations' charter in a bid to be authorized jointly with the Lebanese Army force to implement the 1701 and 1559 UNSC Resolutions

In summary, Lebanon is still an occupied country and the occupier is Hezbollah. Our people in Israel are victims of terrorism need the help of the free world countries. We call on these countries to take all the measures that are available to pressure the Lebanese government as well as Syria and Iran, the two Hezbollah masters to put an immediate end for this systemized exodus of the Lebanese southern Christians and to stop all the heretic charges and trials.

Is Lebanon's PM Embracing Terrorism

2010-02-11T13:23:00.001-08:00

By: Elias Bejjani

Lebanon's Prime Minister Mr. Saad Al Hariri has allowed our country, Lebanon, to be hijacked by the thugs of terrorism and Iranian-Syrian fundamentalism. Power has slipped through his fingers. He has bizarrely and naively embraced the very same people who murdered his father, invaded the Sunni southern Beirut and Mount Lebanon in 2008 and massacred more than 150 unarmed civilians in cold blood. He is embracing the same proxy Iranian army in Lebanon, Hezbollah, which is actually dictating Hariri's government what it should say and do.

In a BBC interview broadcast Wednesday, Hariri voiced concern about Israeli threats and escalating military activity. Israeli officials have warned repeatedly in recent weeks that any attack by Lebanon�s Shiite terrorist group Hizbullah would spark a tough response, and have been locked in a war of words with Syrian leaders. �We hear a lot of Israeli threats day in and day out, and not only threats,� Hariri told the British broadcaster. �We see what�s happening on the ground and in our airspace and what�s happening all the time during the past two months � every day we have Israeli planes entering Lebanese airspace. �This is something that is escalating and something that is really dangerous,� He described his fear of a war with Israel, yet, he said �I think they [the Israeli government] are betting that there might be some division in Lebanon, if there is a war against us�well, there won�t be a division in Lebanon. We will stand against Israel. We will stand with our own people.� Hariri said.

Simply put, Hariri has just sealed Lebanon�s fate. His words have not only brought war and devastation on the majority of the Lebanese people who are not Hezbollah supporters, but they have given Hezbollah�s Iranian-Syrian army the legitimacy it needed to continue its course of terrorism against not only Israel, the Arab and the free world countries, but against the Lebanese people themselves. This political novice has single-handedly destroyed any chance of a civil Lebanese society in the near future and the March 14 alliance has been shattered.

Mr. Hariri in his capacity as PM should have simply expressed his growing concern over Israeli�s escalating violations. It is one thing to voice concern over escalating Israeli sovereignty violations, but it is another thing to involve an entire nation in an unnecessary and crazy war by supporting a terrorist organization that is hindering the Lebanese people by force and intimidation from reclaiming their country's sovereignty, freedom and independence.

It is worth reminding Mr. Hariri that it is Hezbollah, Iran and Syria, and not Israel which did not allow him for six months to form his current government. Hezbollah, which fully dominates Lebanon's peace and war decisions, also manipulates the country's whole decision making process on all levels. It fully controls the government against the will of the majority of the Lebanese people who last year gave Hariri and his coalition a parliamentary majority and did not vote for Hezbollah's 8th of March coalition.

If Hariri had the sincerity and courage to ask himself why the Israelis continue to violate his country's airspace, and not that of Syria, Jordan, Egypt, or any other Arabic county, he would have found the right answer, the one that all the Lebanese people know very well. Hariri is fully aware that the Israelis are threatened by Hezbollah and not vice versa. Hezbollah and its two terrorist masters, Syria and Iran, are openly vowing to destroy the Jewish state and kill her people.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad does not allow one day to pass without threatening Israel with annihilation. Hezbollah, not Israel, started the war in 2006.
Mr. Hariri is well informed that Israel is not threatening Lebanon or the Lebanese people, but simply is responding to Hezbollah's hostile schemes that aim to start a war against her on behalf of Iran and Syria. Israel started to threaten Lebanon after Hezbollah joined the government and got a blocking third of its portfolios through which it can abort any decision that is not in its favor.

Mr. Hariri definitely understands that the Lebanese people are not united when it comes to Hezbollah and it is not true that all the Lebanese will fight Israel if a war breaks out. This is a mere falsehood and wishful thinking because the majority of the Lebanese are peace lovers and have been longing for years to forge a peace treaty with Israel as the Jordanians and Egyptians did. But Hezbollah, Syria and Iran are blocking this wish and keep on using Lebanon as a battlefield for their schemes of expansionism, terrorism and murder.

Mr. Hariri knows very well that the majority of his Sunni community considers Hezbollah a threat for them and not Israel. But the problem in the Arab countries lies in the fact that politicians and rulers have two rhetorics. One they use behind closed doors with other Arab and other countries; and the second in the media and with the people. In the first one they speak the truth while in the second they say what the terrorists, fanatics and fundamentalists want to hear. It is pity that Hariri has used this second rhetoric In his BBC interview. This emotional and arrogant rhetoric that is detached from reality, has been behind all the Arabs' failures and disasters and sadly continues to be the trend.

Israel and Lebanon are still in a state of war that has been governed since 1946 by the Armistice Accord. This Accord forbids all the acts that Hezbollah is forcing on Lebanon and the Lebanese. At the same time, the "Taef Accord" and the UN Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701 do not recognize any armed bodies in Lebanon except the country's legitimate armed forces. These three accords call for the disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, including Hezbollah. Sadly, the Lebanese government is crippled and helpless, while Hezbollah is actually the real military power in the country.

This, mixed with the growing hostility from Syria, and Iranian escalations in their nuclear facilities, have made the Lebanese fear that there may be war very soon. This is not the time to give up. This is the time for diplomacy and dialogue. It is highly favorable to see Christian, Druze and Sunni leaders like Patriarch Sfeir, Amin Gemayel and Samir Geagea, and Hariri himself going to the United States and France and voicing their concerns freely and openly.

They must call for the immediate implementation of the UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701 and ask the UN Security Council to put the UN Resolutions under Chapter VII and give the UNIFIL forces deployed in south Lebanon jointly with the Lebanese army the mandate to disarm Hezbollah and the other Lebanese and Palestinian militias and dismantle Hezbollah's ministate. They should tell the whole world that Lebanon alone cannot disarm Hezbollah and that there is a need for the international community to take the lead and execute this task.
This is not the time for Christians, Sunnis or Druze to sit and do nothing.

We have to stand up for what is right and decent: we must unite against this coming devastating war. When the dust settles and the stacks of dead on both sides are counted, we have to be the ones to say: we never wanted this war in the first place.

Our advice to Mr. Hariri is to speak the truth loudly and vigorously and to stop using the two fold rhetoric that fouls the Lebanese people, underestimates their intelligence and leads to disasters.

The Cedars of Lebanon Folkloric Group performig for Australia Day

2010-02-10T04:01:00.000-08:00

The Cedars of Lebanon Folkloric Group performig for Australia Day Tuesday 62/1/2010 at (Bicentenial Par - Sydney Olympic Par - Homebush)

A devastating war between Israel & Hezbollah is on the horizon

2010-02-08T15:24:00.000-08:00

By: Elias Bejjani*

*Israel is preparing to invade Lebanon with massive ground troops. *Israel will not spare any kind of weaponry, including phosphorous and cluster bombs.*Israel is secretly evacuating its northern region residents.*Israel intends to create a new security zone inside Lebanon, south of the Litani to enhance her long term occupation.
While the war of words is escalating around the clock between Israel on the one side and Hezbollah and Syria on the other, analysts in the Middle East and Europe strongly believe that war is inevitable and will break out within a few months.
In this scary context, senior Lebanese sources told the Saudi daily Al-Okaz that Hezbollah has announced emergency readiness in all areas of the country where it operates. Senior figures of the organization were asked to exercise greater caution in their movements amid fears they would be targeted by Israel. Hezbollah’s leaders are bragging that they are capable of defeating, humiliating and destroying Israel’s war machine.
Meanwhile, the verbal sparring between Jerusalem and Damascus continued over the weekend, even if in lower tones. The official Syrian newspaper Tishrin said in an editorial that "the threats from Israel make it clear that it intends to initiate a new war whose limits are unknown." The editorial added that "death and destruction may occur if Israel responds to the logic of some of its leaders, in whose veins flows crime. Damascus is ready for any path that Israel chooses, whether it is peace or war." The editorial's author is the newspaper's editor-in-chief, who wrote that the "logic of war and threats is the dominant logic in Israel. Talk of peace is chatter void of substance that is mere media propaganda. There is no real political decision for peace in the Zionist entity, despite promises of this, on the basis of restoring rights to their rightful owners."
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem last week threatened that an Israeli attack against Syria would be total war. His Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, warned that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his family would not remain in power as a result of the next war.
In a report written by Hamid Ghoriafi, Middle East analyst and journalist, that was published today by the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Seyassah, Ghoriafi drew a very dim picture for the whole situation and predicted a very devastating imminent war that will be according to the Israelis the last one with on their northern borders. Below are some excerpts from this report:
*Reliable European intelligence reports in London unveiled on Monday an extensive secretive Israeli ongoing operation to evacuate hundreds of families living in the Galilee settlements adjacent to the border with Lebanon to safer locations inside Israel, especially west Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and surrounding areas. These families are transported by trucks and buses and priority is given to families with many children, the elderly and the physically disabled. The evacuees' houses are put under the control of the Northern Military Command for reasons not yet known. "
*A German report that was recently distributed to those concerned in the European Union capitals revealed that there is a serious Israeli military intention to reoccupy the former border strip inside Lebanon with a distance of 5 to 6 kilometers. This strip was known as the "security zone" before the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000. Initially it was established in the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and occupation of her capital in 1982. The aim was to create a semi-demilitarized zone along the area of Lebanese Christian and some Shiite villages that are scattered near the Israeli border in a bid to safeguard the Jewish settlements from shelling and infiltration.
*The same intelligence report quoted Israeli Defense Ministry sources saying that their military engineers have finished putting designs for building two military airports inside the Lebanese “new security zone", which will stretch temporally up to the Litani River in the early stages of the war. This area has been under the control of the UNIFIL troops since 2006. Israel expects that the UNIFIL troops will withdraw in case the war breaks out. The first airport will be built on the middle and eastern region boundaries towards Shabaa Farms, Mount Hermon; and the second in the western sector region towards the coastal town of Naqoura.
All technical and logistic equipments required for the erection of these two airports are already in locations situated behind the front lines of the Israeli army that is extensively present on the northern border. Analysts say that this kind of preparations gives the impression that Israel is definitely planning for a long-term occupation to the south Litani area. The Israeli occupation accordingly will not endonce the coming military operations cease."
*The report quoted the Israeli defense sources saying that the war will actually begin in the northern region of the Litani Rriver and all though the Bekaa Valley and eastern Lebanese mountainous areas that separate Syria and Lebanon because the presence of Hezbollah in the south of the Litani is no longer as heavy as it was in 2006. The UNIFIL troops took control of this region after the 2006 war. The report disclosed that the backbone of the coming Israeli war will be based on two plans:
The first plan is for extensive jet plane aerial bombardment of Hezbollah's scattered military weaponry caches and missile bases with phosphorus and cluster bombs, replicating the kind of devastation the southern suburbs of Beirut (Hezbollah's ministate) suffered during the 2006 war.
The second plan is to execute for the first time, air-landing operations behind Hezbollah's lines after weakening and destroying its bases in the south, Bekaa Valley and Beirut.
These two plans in contrast to the 2006 war aim to practically occupy many Lebanese areas and locations as was the situation in the 1982 invasion led by Ariel Sharon, who occupied Beirut and its surrounding mountainous and coastal areas.
*British sources claimed that another European intelligence report prepared by the UNIFIL French contingent in southern Lebanon revealed that the Israeli army command has made ready another SOS war scenario to deal with Syrian and the Palestinian troops who might cross from Syria and enter the Bekaa Valley equipped with advanced anti-aircraft missiles to hunt the Israeli jets. The scenario speaks about Israeli war inside Syria in a bid to completely destroy these troops. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem last week threatened that an Israeli attack against Syria would lead to total war.
The report said that 60% of the Israeli air force has already been put on full alert and is well prepared for action on the first day of the coming war in an extensive attack on the Lebanese. Israel is planning to fulfill all its objectives and finish the war within a few weeks. The remaining 40% of the Israeli air force will be ready to join in swiftly and effectively if the Syrian army gets involved.
The same French report added that Israel is determined to make this war the last one on her northern borders. The Jewish military command will not spare any advanced and destructive kind of weaponry that is stored in its caches. Hezbollah will not be the only target within the Shiite regions that are under its control, but also the Lebanese army, all Lebanese institutions and infrastructure. Israel is well convinced that Hezbollah is in full control of the Lebanese government and accordingly its army will not spare the country's infrastructure as was the situation in the 2006 war. Israel is planning to end Hezbollah the same way it ended the PLO in the 1982-1983 war.
*Click Here to read the Arabic report http://www.10452lccc.com/h.geriafi07/hamid8.2.10.htm

The Maronite Patriarch Is Lebanon's Conscience

2010-02-07T14:35:00.000-08:00

By: Elias Bejjani*
The Maronite Patriarch, His Beatitude Mar (saint) Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir is referred to by the majority of the Lebanese citizens, both Christians and Muslims, as the conscience of the country, and in fact he is. This wise 89-year-old hermit is an outspoken, courageous, meek, faithful, and shrewd leader who owns no missiles, has no militias under his control, and is not actually supported or sponsored by any other country, which is the situation of many other Lebanese denominations. He derives his power, respect, credibility and authority from a solid faith in the Lebanese people and from their historic longing for freedom, democracy and law.
The emblem of the Maronite seat at Bkerki, reads: "For it the glory of Lebanon was given".
Maronites founded modern and free Lebanon as a democracy and a multicultural mosaic. They have safeguarded it with ongoing sacrifices, and throughout all their 1500 years of deeply rooted history made it an oasis for all the persecuted in the Middle East and a heaven for freedom and tolerance.
Patriarch Sfeir since he was elected to the highest ranking Maronite holy ecclesiastic post in 1986 has been steadfastly walking as tall as Lebanon's Holy cedars in the footsteps of his 75 predecessors. He carries on his shoulders huge responsibilities among which is protecting the enduring existence of his people in the country in which they were and still are her cornerstone in spite of the immense hardships and all kinds of serious obstacles that faced in the past and the present.
While most Lebanese politicians, parties and the majority of the religious denominations' leadership, including many Christians, have succumbed to the Syrian occupation, that has lasted for 29 years (1976-2005), he peacefully resisted and refused to compromise on any of the Maronite church's or Lebanon's historical convictions. He has never lost hope and has lobbied vigorously all over the world for the country's freedom, sovereignty and independence.
His laborious work united the majority of the Lebanese people from all religious denominations, and was an inspiration for the "Cedar Revolution" that forced the Syrian occupation army to withdraw from Lebanon in 2005. Since then, Hezbollah, the Iranian army that Syria and Iran founded during the occupation era, against the will of the Lebanese people, including the Shiite community, has been a threat to the country's unity, and a serious armed obstacle for the reclaiming of independence and freedoms.
Patriarch Sfeir is very loud, clear and heroic in his official pro-Lebanon declared stance in regard to Hezbollah's ongoing ministate, weaponry and fundamental military links to Iran and its Persian Empire dream. His Beatitude is also very adamant and outspoken on the need to put an end to Syria�s vicious flagrant interference and meddling in the Lebanese internal affairs.
He vigorously supports and lobbies for:
* the implementation of the UN Resolutions 1559 (September 2/2004), 1701 (11 August 2006) and 1680 (17 May 2006) that call for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, including Hezbollah,
*the respect of the Lebanese-Israeli General Armistice Agreement (1949) ,
*the determination of Lebanon to ensure the withdrawal of all non-Lebanese forces from Lebanon,
*the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally recognized territorial borders,
*the extension of the control of the government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory.
In three interviews that were conducted with Patriarch Sfeir on February 01, 02, and 05/2010 by the Voice of Lebanon Radio Station, the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Seyassah, and Al-Massira magazine, and in other recent statements he has emphasized the following vital issues:
*The possibilities of war exist as long as Hizbullah wants to play the role of the state.
*Who is the guarantor that the armed group (Hezbollah) is not going to use its arms against those Lebanese who are unarmed.
* Hezbollah's loyalty to Iran is much greater than to Lebanon.
*Lebanon cannot be a sovereign country while Hezbollah remains an armed militia that at one time fights Israel and at another time fights the Lebanese themselves.
*The peace and war decision making process needs to be in the hands of the Lebanese government and not with Hezbollah.
*The Syrians kept their influence despite their withdrawal from Lebanon as a result of the compliance of some Lebanese with their tutelage.
*Lebanon is currently in a political truce with Syria.
*We wonder if Syria has put end to its Lebanese ambitions (expansionism & hegemony) after the exchange of ambassadors between the two countries.
*My visit to Syria should not be acceptable only from my church, but from all the Lebanese people.
*Syria is much bigger than Lebanon, and sadly its policies with our country are based on this concept.
*Lebanese Christian divisions exist, but Christians are not silent as Sunnis and Shiites.
*Christians have been living in Lebanon for 1500 years and they shall continue to do so no matter what happens.
*The situation of the Lebanon's Christians wasn't better in previous decades. Lebanon's Christians weren't better during Turkish rule. The Turkish state was against us but we preserved our presence.
*Conciliation between all Lebanese is in the interest of all parties and communities.
*Lebanon's president must perform his duties, but to do so, he needs the genuine support and assistance of those concerned.
*Each Lebanese religious denomination holds dear to its creed, rituals, destiny and history, therefore abolition of sectarianism is not easy.
*We reject the blind amendments on the Lebanese municipal law.
*We fear the stage that follows the abolition of political sectarianism.
*We call on the Lebanese authorities to facilitate for the Lebanese in Diaspora the regaining of their citizenship and to be able freely to practice their voting rights.
Related documents' linksUN Resolution 1680 http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/1680%20english.htmUN Resolution 1559 http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/1559.english1.htmUN Resolution 1701 http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/1701.english.htm Lebanese-Israeli General Armistice Agreement http://www.clhrf.com/un%20documents/Armistice%20Agreement.%20march%2023.%201949.htm
*Elias BejjaniCanadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator Email phoenicia@hotmail.comWeb 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

Marriage Humor

2010-01-26T22:39:00.000-08:00

Wife: 'What are you doing?'

Husband: Nothing.

Wife: 'Nothing...? You've been reading our marriage certificate for an hour.'

Husband: 'I was looking for the expiration date.'

-------------------------------

Wife : 'Do you want dinner?'

Husband: 'Sure! What are my choices?'

Wife: 'Yes or no.'

Wife: 'You always carry my photo in your wallet.. Why?'

Hubby: 'When there is a problem, no matter how great, I look at your picture and the problem disappears.'

Wife: 'You see how miraculous and powerful I am for you?'

Hubby: 'Yes! I see your picture and ask myself what other problem can there be greater than this one?'

----------------------------------------

Stress Reliever

Girl: 'When we get married, I want to share all your worries, troubles and lighten your burden.'

Boy: 'It's very kind of you, darling, but I don't have any worries or troubles.'

Girl: 'Well that's because we aren't married yet.'

------------------------------

Son: 'Mum, when I was on the bus with Dad this morning, he told me to give up my seat to a lady.'

Mom: 'Well, you have done the right thing...'

Son: 'But mum, I was sitting on daddy's lap.'

________________________________

A newly married man asked his wife, 'Would you have married me if my father hadn't left me a fortune?'

'Honey,' the woman replied sweetly, 'I'd have married you, NO MATTER WHO LEFT YOU A FORTUNE!'

------------------------------------------------------------

Girl to her boyfriend: One kiss and I'll be yours forever.

The guy replies: 'Thanks for the early warning.'

-------------------------------

A wife asked her husband: 'What do you like most in me, my pretty face or my sexy body?'

He looked at her from head to toe and replied: 'I like your sense of humor!'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Husbands are husbands

A man was sitting reading his papers when his wife hit him on the
head with a frying pan.
'What was that for?' the man asked.
The wife replied 'That was for the piece of paper with the name Sally on
it that I found in your pants pocket'.
The man then said 'When I was at the races last week Sally was the name
of the horse I bet on'
The wife apologized and went on with the housework.
Three days later the man is watching TV when his wife bashes him on the
head with an even bigger frying pan, knocking him unconscious.
Upon re-gaining consciousness the man asked why she had hit again.
Wife replied. 'Your horse phoned'

Let us pray......................
Give me a sense of humor, Lord,
Give me the grace to see a joke,
To get some humor out of life,
And pass it on to other folk

The Shiite Lebanese are fleeing Hezbollah's ministate

2010-01-21T01:40:00.000-08:00

Elias Bejjani

The war news and ongoing widespread rumors about an imminent, unprecedented, devastating, unconventional and massive Israeli attack against Hezbollah, Iran and Syria are causing very serious and extensive contagious public moods of tension, anxiety and fear among the Lebanese Shiite community. Apparently, there is a huge gap of confidence and trust between Hezbollah�s leadership�s imaginary allegations of power and the Shiite residents of its cantons and ministate.
Hezbollah's Party General Secretary Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, his deputy, Sheik Naem Qassim, as well as numerous high ranging party's officials very close to Nasrallah have been lately uttering almost on a daily basis bold empty rhetorical threats to annihilate Israel, defeat and humiliate its worldwide reputable, strong and highly efficient military apparatus, change the region's face, and impose a new pro-Syrian and -Iranian resistance status quo in the Middle East in any upcoming war with the Jewish state.
Nasrallah's sickening and high pitched bragging of Hezbollah�s military powers, both offensive and deterring, are not bought or swallowed by the majority of his own Shiite community. How could they take his delusional rhetoric seriously when they had suffered vast and enormous losses in both lives and property during the 2006 war that Hezbollah instigated through kidnapping and killing members of an Israeli army border patrol?
How could they believe Nasrallah's big lie of the so called "divine victory", in that war when they had lived for 33 days in an actual hell and almost one million of them were displaced and forced to take refuge in schools, government buildings, churches, mosques, parks, hospitals and roads, while Nasrallah and his party's top notch leadership were hiding in their fortified underground bunkers.
The Kuwaiti daily Al-Seyassah unveiled in a report published today that Hezbollah and its armed ally, the Shiite Amal Movement, are secretly but firmly and seriously trying through both force, and persuasion to hold back the massive fleeing of the Shiite community members from Hezbollah�s ministate stronghold located in the suburbs of Beirut. The daily report quoted anonymous political resources, members in the eighth of March coalition spearheaded by Hezbollah, saying that a large Hezbollah - Amal military scale campaign is proceeding to stop the fleeing process.
Those fleeing are mainly heading either to Syria or to the Shiite Bekaa Valley towns and villages adjacent to the Syrian borders. It is worth mentioning that during the 2006 war, the almost one million Shiites who were forced to flee south Lebanon and the Hezbollah mini-state in the suburbs of Beirut were welcomed and hosted by the Druze, Sunni Muslim and Christian regions of Chouf, Alley, Beirut, Sidon, Tripoli, Kesrwan, Baabda, Jbiel, Zahlie and many other Lebanese cities.
According to the Al-Seyassah report, the hospitability situation at the present time is extremely different and the Druze, Sunni, Christian cities that suffered Hezbollah's bloody invasions of May 2008 are no longer welcoming the Shiites. Many stressed and scared Shiite families living in Beirut�s southern suburbs (Hezbollah's mini-state) and its surrounding areas are calling friends and relatives in Syria and many European countries to rent apartments for them.
The report said that Shiite migration to Europe, Africa and Latin American countries where there are large Shiite communities has hit a record high since the beginning of last December. Meanwhile, Israel has made it very clear that its military response to any Hezbollah missile attack will be devastating, crippling and that Lebanon's entire public institutions, infrastructure, and army will be targeted. The Israeli leadership officially warned the Lebanese government several times lately that it will be accountable for any Hezbollah offenses after members of this terrorist Iranian organization were given ministerial portfolios.
The beating of war drums is very serious in both Lebanon and Israel as well as in Syria and Iran. Numerous reliable sources in Paris, New York, Cairo, Amman, Tel Aviv and Lebanon strongly believe that the war is inevitable and will take place within a few months.
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri expressed yesterday his fear of a possible Israeli operation against Lebanon in an interview published on by the French newspaper Le Monde. Hariri said: "We fear an Israeli operation. Last week, 25 over flights for the Israeli fighter jets were recorded in one day�.
Officials from the USA, EU, Turkey, Egypt, and many other Arab countries have been warning Lebanon of an Israeli invasion if Hezbollah continues to stockpile weapons. Israel�s military revealed on Monday that among this huge weaponry are Syrian-built missiles equipped with chemical war heads with ranges that could reach all Israeli cities.
Reiterating and stressing what was stated in my previous editorial of January 18/10: The Free World must be aware that the Lebanese people alone can no longer stop Hezbollah from taking over the whole country, topple its free and democratic regime and replace it by a replica of the Iranian mullah's Islamic republic. The Free World and the moderate Arab countries must come to Lebanon's rescue because Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist army, threatens not only Lebanon, but also all the Arab countries and nations of the Free World. All these countries should understand that by helping Lebanon they will be helping themselves, because the same inferno that is now consuming Lebanon will reach them soon if not extinguished in Lebanon and the lunatic arsonist, Hezbollah, is disabled.

Click here to read Al-Seyassah Arabic report.http://www.10452lccc.com/arabic09/hezbollahfleeing21.1.10.htm

This is what is left of this church in Haiti earth quake...

2010-01-20T01:16:00.001-08:00

Palestinians in Gaza donate to Haiti

2010-01-20T01:14:00.000-08:00

It might be one of the world’s poorest areas, besieged by its neighbour Israel, but Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip have been donating what little they have to help those struck by the earthquake in Haiti.

Among the donations collected by a Red Cross representative: toys, toiletries and sweets – small luxuries that Gazans know only too well can brighten spirits in the face of devastation. Some also gave money.

Dr Jamal Khudari, from the Palestinian Committee against the Siege said: “It’s a symbolic donation for the people of Haiti, for the children of Haiti, to tell them that we feel the suffering.”

There are ruins in the Gaza Strip reminiscent of the scenes in Haiti. These were not caused by a natural disaster, but by bombs and shells in Israel’s deadly assault on Gaza, which drew to a close a year ago. Israel blamed attacks by militants for sparking the offensive.

The reason for the destruction might be different, but Palestinians say they understand Haiti’s pain.

Copyright © 2010 euronews

Extinguish Lebanon's Inferno before it Burns You

2010-01-17T22:03:00.001-08:00

By: Elias Bejjani

What the Palestinian organizations or the Iranian and Syrian axis of evil regimes decide to do in a bid to serve their own tailored national causes, imaginary religious duties, ideologies, identities, existence, expansionism schemes and delusional liberation plans is simply their own business and not ours, the Lebanese people. They must be held fully accountable for their own acts of hostility, terrorism, destruction and enmity. The Lebanese people and Lebanon should not pay for the axis of evil's criminal acts.

These thugs should fight their own battles in and from their own countries and not from Lebanon and through the Lebanese. If and when they want to wage wars against Israel or on any other country or people, they have to be fully prepared to accept the repercussion of their own acts and not make the Lebanese scapegoats and Lebanon a battlefield.

As far as we are concerned, Israel is a legitimate and powerful country that the whole world officially recognizes and deals with as an independent and sovereign entity, including the majority of the Arab countries, either directly or indirectly. Many Arab countries exchange normal diplomatic relations with Israel including Egypt and Jordan.

Lebanon's official relationship with Israel since she was established has been governed by the Armistice Accord of 1946. All hostility activities executed by Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations against Israel from Lebanon are extreme infringements of this accord.

Meanwhile, the Shabaa farms that Israel has occupied since 1967 fall under the two UN resolutions, 424 (1976) and 338 (1973), that were issued in the aftermath of the two major Israeli-Arab wars.

These farms are Lebanese property, but were occupied by Syria from the mid-1950s. Israel occupied them with the Golan Heights in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Lebanon officially did not at any time before 2000 claim that these farms were Lebanese land that is occupied by Israel. The Syrians fabricated their Israeli occupation as a fake cause in 2000 after the Israelis withdrew from south Lebanon and fulfilled UN resolution 425.

The Syrians concocted this big bogus lie about Shabaa to justify their ongoing Stalinist occupation of Lebanon and to spare the Hezbollah militia from being disarmed and dismantled as was the case for all the other Lebanese militias in accordance with the Taief Accord of 1988 that put an end to the Lebanese civil war.

For years, Lebanon has been used and abused against the will of its own people as a battlefield by regional Arabists, fundamentalists, leftists, Syrians, Palestinians, Islamists and many other outlawed worldwide armed organizations to wage phony guerrilla wars against Israel. The outcome was the destruction of Lebanon, and the forced exodus (emigration) of more than one third of its own people, mainly Christians.

Since 1982, Iran and Syria have been building up their own armed proxy, Hezbollah, in Lebanon. This terrorist organization greatly jeopardizes Lebanon's stability, peace, and the life of the Lebanese people on all levels and in all domains.

At the present time and since the withdrawal of the Syrian occupation army in 2005, this Iranian militant group fully controls the Lebanese government, as well as all the country's institutions including the armed forces. The Lebanese government can’t take and execute even one decision without Hezbollah's approval.

Our priority as Lebanese must focus on our own country and the affairs of our own people. We have had enough of allowing others to tread on our interests and use us as wood for their own fires. Let the Palestinians, the Syrians, and the Iranians fight their own wars in and from their own countries and with their own people.

Enough is enough, we can't keep on watching our own homes burn, while we stupidly work to extinguish those of our neighbors. For us, the Lebanese, Lebanon must be the priority, Lebanon must come first.

We are not against the Jewish or the Palestinian people. We fully support their right for self determination, but let them tackle their own conflicts and wars far away from our country and not on the account of our people and national interests. We and our country have been used and abused for thirty long years. Let those who advocate wars and destruction carry their own weapons and fight their own wars far away from Lebanon and her people.

We are not more patriotic than Egypt, Jordan, and all the other Arab countries that took care of their own affairs and forged peace accords with the Jewish state, some overtly and others covertly. We proclaim to those deranged Islamist fundamentalist fanatics who still rhetorically call for throwing the Israelis into the sea that the Lebanese cannot be Palestinians more than the Palestinians themselves.

We are sure that all these jihadists are fully aware that the late Yasser Arafat of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) did not ask for Lebanon's approval before he headed to Oslo where he negotiated and signed a peace accord with the Israelis in which he recognized their state and scratched from his PLO manifesto the armed resistance clause.

Since 1982 Iran and Syria have been using and abusing Lebanon and its multicultural communities through their armed terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, exactly the same venomous way the PLO used and abused it during 1975-1982.

This Iranian terrorist army, Hezbollah is systematically and steadily destroying the foundations of the country's mosaic fabric, destroying the life pattern of coexistence that distinguishes Lebanon from all the other Middle and Far Eastern countries, oppressing freedoms, cracking down on all forms of democracy, and breeding generations polluted with ignorance, confusion, fanaticism and jihadism.

Under the pretext of fighting Israel, Hezbollah is gradually devouring Lebanon piece by piece and forcing mainly its Christian citizens to sell their own estates and emigrate.

The majority of the Lebanese are peacefully fighting back fiercely and courageously. This Lebanese massive public rejection of Hezbollah was shown in the outcome of the last parliamentary elections. Hezbollah has ignored the will of the people’s votes and kept on forcing its agenda on the country through intimidation, terrorism and money.

Meanwhile, backed by both Syria and Iran, Hezbollah is waging a rhetoric and diplomatic terrorist campaign against all the UN resolutions related to Lebanon, especially 1559, 1860 and 1701 in a bid to deprive the Lebanese people from the international umbrella and sponsorship. What is sad and disappointing in this dilemma is that the Lebanese pro-Syrian president and the country's foreign minister who were handpicked by Hezbollah are among many other officials who are acting to fulfill Hezbollah's agenda and annul the resolutions.

The free world must be aware that the Lebanese people alone can no longer stop Hezbollah from taking over the whole country, topple its free and democratic regime and replace it by a replicate of the Iranian mullah's Islamic republic.

The free world and the moderate Arab countries must come to Lebanon's rescue because Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist army, threatens not only Lebanon, but also all the Arab countries and nations of the free world.

All these countries should understand that by helping Lebanon they will be helping themselves, because the same enferno that is now consuming Lebanon will reach them soon if not extinguished in Lebanon and the lunatic arsonist, Hezbollah, is disabled.

Bahrain: Land of Beauty... by New Dawn Society

2010-01-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

In the heart of the Arabian Gulf lies a Kingdom of beauty. A small island in which tradition meets civilization and form a country with a rich past, a glorious present and a promising future. It’s the Kingdom of Bahrain, where we all have grown up as one family.

LOOK AT HOW FAR TWISTING BALLOONS HAS COME‏

2010-01-14T12:30:00.001-08:00

Racist joke‏

2010-01-14T12:25:00.000-08:00

A black dad with his son travelling from USA to London, the pilot says: "The fuel tank is getting empty; We have to throw out the baggage."
Baggage was thrown. After a while, pilot says: "The plane is still too heavy ", I am sorry but we have to start unloading people. To make it as fair as possible we do it in the alphabetic order, are there any Africans on board?"
No answer. "Ok, any Black people on board?"
No answer. Ok, any Colored people?
No answer. Hmm, any Dark people? Still no answer.
Then the son asks: "But dad, I thought you said that we are proud African Black Colored Dark people?
"Yes my son, but today we are "NIGGERS".

Yemen seizes 'Israel-linked' cell

2010-01-05T20:38:00.000-08:00

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has said the security forces have arrested a group of alleged Islamist militants linked to Israeli intelligence.

Mr Saleh did not say what evidence had been found to show the group's links with Israel, a regional enemy of Yemen.

The arrests were connected with an attack on the US embassy in Sanaa last month which killed at least 18 people, official sources were quoted saying.

Israel's foreign ministry has rejected the accusation as "totally ridiculous".

"A terrorist cell was arrested and will be referred to the judicial authorities for its links with the Israeli intelligence services," Mr Saleh told a gathering at al-Mukalla University in Hadramawt province.

"Details of the trial will be announced later. You will hear about what goes on in the proceedings," he added.

The 17 September attack was the second to target the US embassy since April. Militants detonated car bombs before firing rockets at the heavily fortified building.

Mr Saleh did not identify the suspects, but official sources were quoted saying it was same cell - led by a militant called Abu al-Ghaith al-Yamani - whose arrest was announced a week after the attack.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said the Yemeni president's statement was without foundation.

"To believe that Israel would create Islamist cells in Yemen is really far-fetched. This is yet another victory for the proponents of conspiracy theories," Igal Palmor said in remarks reported by AFP.

Story from BBC NEWS:

New Year Wishes from Elias Bejjani

2009-12-31T20:15:00.000-08:00

Praise the Lord & Trust in Him

To all my Family members, relatives, friends, fellow Lebanese & Canadians & supporters

Holy, Holy, Holy are You, O God full of mercy; Holy is your Only Son, Jesus-Christ our Lord and God; Holy is your life-giving Spirit. You are holy and the source of all blessings. For our salvation, your only-begotten Son took flesh from the Pure Virgin Mary, the Mother of God and by His divine plan of salvation redeemed and saved us.

With the beginning of the new year 2010, I call on you all; my beloved family members, relatives, fellow citizens in both Lebanon and Canada, friends & supporters to ask almighty God genuinely to shower on you and on your families the graces of health, prosperity, peace, faith, and hope

Let all put our burdens of pain, sickness, deprivation, persecution, separation, broken hearts, disappointments, frustrations, bereavements, injustice, abandonment, and anger in the hands of Almighty God and follow the teachings of His Gospel.

God, with his gracious wisdom and abundant generosity, shall definitely see in every way possible that we all safely overcome with faith and hope all our temptations, hardships and difficulties.

Let us all trust in Him and recognize that we are all His beloved children and that He has created us in his image.
Romans 8:16-19: "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God."

We should not question or doubt God's deep love for each and every one of us. How could He not, as He sent his only son, Jesus Christ to defeat death, give us the eternal life, suffer and be crucified so we, His children, can become purified and absolved from the original sin and be helped to walk safely the path of eternal salvation. John 3:2 : "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is".

Let us ask Almighty God to help us live in peace and harmony with ourselves and others. Lead our steps into the righteous paths and grant us the strength of endurance and hold us back from the sin of hurting or hating others. Grant us the graces of love, meekness, humbleness, transparency, honesty and forgiveness. Maintain our hearts and minds pure, and free from grudges and selfishness. Help us to remember that vengeance is evil and forgiveness is a Godly grace. Not allow vengeance to take control of our lives.

Being faithful to God's holy teachings, is being loving and forgiving. For when we trust God and believe in His justice, we ought to leave Him punish those who are evil. (Matthew 13:43): "Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear".

God's teachings in regards to vengeance is very clear . Romans 12:19-21: "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

This verse frees us from the burden of taking justice into our own hands. It tells us "Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ God will repay those who are righteous"..

Since God is going to take up our cause and see to it that justice is done, we should lay it down, work hard not to succumb to our human destructive and evil instincts.

We don’t have to carry anger, bitterness, resentment or revenge no matter what is our burden. Indeed we dare not because Jesus warned that an unforgiving heart will destroy you in the end (Matthew 6:15; 18:35).

Saint Paul says leave it to the wrath of God. ”Then the wrath of God is defined further as God’s vengeance, “Vengeance is mine.” So wrath is connected with God’s response to something that deserves vengeance. And then it says, “I will repay.”

So God’s wrath is treated as a repayment to man for something man has done. This simply means that the wrath of God is God’s settled anger toward sin expressed in the repayment of suitable vengeance on the guilty sinner.

God will and shall see that justice is done on the Day of Judgment. So let us be forgiving and avoid any sort of vengeance.
Daniel 12:2-3: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever".

With this new year, let us pray from the depth of our hearts for all those who hate and hold grudges against us.
Let us ask almighty God to cure them from these evil ailments and grant us the grace of forgiveness and the strength of faith to keep loving them.

No one should forget that our live on this earth is too short, and that we must be righteous to deserve the eternal one in Heaven where there will be no pain or fights, but happiness and peace.

Corinthians 2:2-10: "But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"--these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the spirit searches everything, even the depths of God".

O Lord may your peace, your true love, your eternal and divine graces be with us and among us all the days of the new year and we will offer glory and thanksgiving to you, now and forever.

Happy New Year

Martin Scorsese at the Library of Alexandria

2009-12-29T14:19:00.000-08:00

Hanan Mounir

Dr. Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Library of Alexandria interviewed the legendary Film Director Martin Scorsese at the Library of Alexandria on Wednesday, 23 December 2009.

The event was attended by a number of movie stars in Egypt and the Arab world, as well as hundreds of lovers of Scorsese and cinema. It was a very successful event.

The interview tackled the influences that shaped Scorsese’s passion for cinema as a child, the making of some of his favorite films, his techniques, as well as his endeavor in the World Cinema Foundation.

Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. He is the founder of the World Cinema Foundation, a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema and has won awards from the Oscars, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Directors Guild of America.

Women in Bahrain; Victims of Political Agenda and Propaganda

2009-12-24T14:39:00.000-08:00

A Screen Report of Some Violations Against Women in Bahrain

Women’s Petition Committee - BAHRAIN
International Human Rights Day

The Bahraini Authorities stepped up the political propaganda built on the exploitation of women for promotional purposes, without a real evolution of women’s legal, civil, political, economical, social or cultural rights.

While authorities are promoting the involvement of women in the political scene and presenting the program as a proof of progress and reforms, in reality, the program is limited in practice by employing a limited number of women in high positions selected on the basis of political and sectarian affiliation, and not on sound career qualifications, a process which discriminates against thousands of qualified women due to their gender, sectarian and tribal affiliation. As for participation in the democratic process, the government is over-promoting training programs that aims at preparing tens of women to participate in the municipality and parliamentary elections. However in reality, the councils do not have real power, and the election of women or men to these councils does not entitle them to effective decision making capabilities, a function which continues to be controlled by the ruling elite from outside these councils.

In terms of social and economical rights, Bahraini women suffer from a decline in living standards, especially in the case of women with lower educational qualifications which are obliged to accept low-paid jobs. Other women were deprived from social protection, such as divorcees, widows, abandoned women, and orphans, forcing them into prostitution under the watch of authorities. Yet others reverted to demining jobs and work as house maids, which weakens the family structure and ultimately forces the children into delinquent behavior. In fact, the prevalence of human trafficking crimes coupled with the authorities’ complacency in combating these crimes, contributed to the spread of such social disorders in the society.

At a time when the voices are raising in support of (and against) the issuance of a family law that protects families and underprivileged women (divorcees, widows and orphans) from the grasp of certain members of the society, and from the corrupted, mismanaged and incompetent Sharia Court judges, the Authorities, lead by the Royal Court, continue to exploit the issue of the law as a pressure tool to achieve political agenda and blackmail the religious forces in the country, without consideration for the lives of hundreds of women and children suffering as a result. This occurs as the ruling party continues to appoint judges in the Sharia Courts on the basis of their political affiliation rather than competence and integrity.

Various civil society organizations are playing a vital role in defending women’s rights, yet the legal constraints and practical harassments from authorities, limit the effectiveness of these organizations. Furthermore, the role of the civil society organizations is further weakened by governmental organizations (GONGOS) that pretend to operate under the cover of the law and in organizational format, such as the Supreme Council for Women, which is merely a political propaganda tool for the ruling party and the wives of the top officials in the country.
The Women’s Petition Committee calls upon the authorities in Bahrain to refrain from politicizing woman rights and manipulating her rights for the political agenda for the ruling elite. The committee calls upon the authorities to embrace upon a series of reforms that will give women their rights and obligations as citizens of the country. This encompasses overcoming all difficulties and obstacles that prevent maintenance of these rights by filling the short legislative vacuum being at the forefront of these issues.

Justice, Judges and the Court

By the end of 2008, there were more than 900 unsolved divorce cases at the Sharia Courts, in comparison to 600 cases in 2001, an increase of 50%, i.e. an increase of 50 cases per year. This downfall in the performance of the courts is not primarily due to the legislative vacuum in relation to family affairs, but also, because of the poor performance and efficiency of the unqualified judges and judicial enforcement bodies. In fact, the selection process for judges in Bahrain does not depend upon the criteria of professionalism, competency, and required qualifications of objectivity, education, integrity and independence; rather, it is based upon political and tribal affiliation, and the degree of the judge’s compliance and loyalty to the Royal Court.

Moreover, the judicial system lacks oversight bodies that monitor the performance of judges to ensure their compliance and prevent violations. The local courts are also characterized by widespread ethical and administrative corruption in the judicial process, and its submission to guidance and influence beyond the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice. Such authorities intervene in the judicial process and its rulings to achieve personal gains.

In fact, Bahraini women suffered to large extent from corruption in the judicial and executive bodies, as well as from playing with the existing Sharia rulings which was the primary reason for the formation of the Women’s Petition Committee. Many of the cases of violations were documented in "The Executioner and the Victim in Sharia Courts", a book issued by the Women’s Petition Committee. As a result of numerous activities performed by the Committee, some judges implicated in suspicious cases in the aforementioned document, were dismissed.

The judicial system continues to lack objectivity and independence criteria due to the absence of oversight mechanisms that regulate the selection process in the judicial system. Moreover, it is short of serious and effective training programs and promotion regulations as per the well-known international standards.

The social status of women: Human trafficking

Despite the appeals by various parties, the local Authorities continue to ignore flagrant violations of women’s rights in Bahrain. Presented under the cover of tourism and promotion of investments, the Authorities are tolerating the revival of an underground prostitution mafia, taking advantage of the economical situation and the distressed financial needs of women. According to 2006 statistics, there are more than 117 hotels and 40 tourist buildings in Bahrain, which include furnished apartments rented out on hourly or daily basis. These premises provide connections and dance halls that hosts females, as ‘entertainers’, who dance in sexually seductive outfits and nurture a legalized environment of vice and prostitution. Reports confirm that 90% of those female ‘entertainers’ have never engaged in artistic entertainment before. Research suggests that they were lured into the country to work as waitresses, but later forced into prostitution as ‘artists and entertainers.

International reports and local media coverage forced the Authorities to close a number of these halls, which became widely known as centers for prostitution and human trafficking. As a result, approximately 190 defendants were charged with various offenses related to the facilitation and promotion of prostitution. Moreover, 3 hotels and 9 furnished apartment buildings were closed down due to their involvement in the crimes. However, owners of these doomed hotels filled the front pages of newspapers in protest of the closures, and tapped into their networks of influence. Soon after, the campaign to combat prostitution and human trafficking came to a halt. Evidently it was clear that the human trafficking mafia in Bahrain is well connected with high state actors. Shortly after that, the media were ordered to seize coverage of the topic, and soon after that, the doomed hotels reopened their doors.

The other aspect of human trafficking market is centered in the furnished apartments. There are more than 60 buildings having apartments which are rented out on a daily or hourly basis, without permission and in the absence of any governmental supervision. Illegal residents (run-away workers, holders of temporary visas who do not wish to leave the country after the expiration of their visa obtained in certain special occasion like Formula I and others) occupy furnished apartments working on satisfying the demands of those seeking ‘sexual pleasure’, with the assistance of brokers who tour hotels and dance halls referred to previously. These apartments became refuge for ‘free visa’ migrant workers who are brought to the country by influential and corrupt figures, exploiting their contacts with officials in the Government, and allowed to work freely in return for BD 300-400 per month without any form of job assurance or accommodation security.

In these apartments, also, unknown number of underprivileged Bahraini women, such as divorcees, widows as well as those bearing responsibility for their children, work as prostitutes. This includes minors, exploited or lured to work in prostitution, a money-making business, in order to meet for their needs. In fact, a study published by the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights revealed that there are more than 50 websites promoting and establishing contacts with prostitutes of different nationalities based in Bahrain. The report stated that at a particular moment, there were more than 13,500 requests for prostitution in Bahrain alone.

The legislations and legal protection

The Authorities have been investing in getting applauses for allowing women to participate in the political arena, a constitutional right of all Bahraini women as citizens of the country. ‘Women’ coated slogans have been exploited to gain regional and international admiration, particularly following the appointment of women in several key positions including: a ministerial position in the executive branch, an ambassador in the diplomatic service, and a judge in the judicial system. Irrespective of the public relations and activities abroad to promote for the Bahrain ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women ‘CEDAW’, the truth remains that human rights women status, specially the legislative and practical aspects, continue to suffer, regardless of the women right campaigns and other social activities demanding the betterment of women’s legislative status.

Among legislations which Bahraini women are calling for or demanding their modifications in accordance with their human rights are:

1. Family-Personal Status- law: (The Sunni version of the law was passed, leaving behind the Shiite version, which violates the country’s constitution as more than half of the population will be excluded from this judicial process and deepens the sectarian division in the country(

Passing this law is no longer considered an option, rather a necessity, as it has been proven to everybody the wide spread shortcomings, corruption and negligence in Sharia Courts, as well as the manipulative acts exercised by their judges, many of whom are unqualified, incompetent, and misuse their positions for personal gains. Although there were numerous calls to pass the law, while the convection to its need exists, the Authorities exploited the reservation of some religious positions on some of its articulations, its legislative issuance mechanism and future amendments, to exert pressure in the interest of specific political agendas. This is done on the expense of those women who continued to suffer from the absence of the law. It is to be mentioned that the Family Law went through periods of ebb tide and flow controlled by the Authorities whenever the opportunity to exert pressure on religious groups rises. The latest attempt was in February 2009 when an official resolution was issued to withdraw the draft law as a result of a controversy imposed on by religious and social powers who went into deliberations and bargains to achieve some political gains. The Royal Court was the key player in the manipulation of this right, through its contacts with these religious powers and by controlling the exposure of the subject media and societal wise, whenever the political need rises.

2. Revise the Nationality Law (a draft law is not yet released):

The current Nationality Law of 1963 deprives the children of Bahraini women from their right to hold a Bahraini citizenship, even if the father is stateless. This law has severe repercussions on the Bahraini mother and treat her children, including the minors, as foreigners, and are required by law to obtain a residency permit (visa) through a legal guardian. Moreover, these children are denied other basic rights such as public housing, free health care, free education and scholarships, as offered to other citizens. To add to the calamity of the situation, should the Bahraini mother separates, divorces, or is widowed, she is then required to provide the legal residency for her children to stay with her since they are considered by law as non-Bahrainis.

Although a resolution was recently issued by the ruler of Bahrain to grant the children of the Bahraini women, married from a non-Bahraini, the right to citizenship, this should be integrated into a law that protects the rights of women and their children, rather than subjecting it to gestures and interventions which aim to achieve political gains. In conclusion, the Nationality Law must be amended to eliminate the shortcoming in woman rights and secure equality for her as a citizen similar to the man.

3. Law for the protection from domestic violence (Currently, there is no law that serves this purpose):

Courts are mounting with cases of domestic abuse by a member of the family against the other like the father, the mother, or others. For one reason or another, currently there is a legal vacuum leaving families unprotected from the ill-treatment of fathers, let alone sexual or ethical molestations on members of the family. The absence of deterrent measures to abusive behavior by the head of the family results in physiological damages to victims and unbound in family ties as well as expose the mother and her children to physical and psychological pressures ending up in forcing members of the family into deviant social behavior.

4. Law of Social security and care to those of special needs

Due to family disintegration caused by death of its caretaker, divorce or abandonment, there is a great need for a social security code that could minimize the effects of that breakdown and prevent its deterioration to the rest of the society through behaviors of children deprived from family care. In local society, the family is heavily dependent on the father financially and as the primary caretaker, and in his absence, the family’s source of finance is disrupted. Children also miss the role of the father as care taker devoted to their well being. In such instance, mother , and due to the financial pressure, is compelled to seek a source of financial income and get employed in jobs which take most of her time from her family. In other adverse opportunities, she could be lured, or consider unethical professions, such as prostitution, as a quick way to secure financial needs.

Moreover, and particularly in divorce cases, the divorcee is usually forced to seek shelter by returning to her father's house if it exists. Otherwise, the divorced mother and her children are compelled to turn to the street, as it happened to Safiah Ahmed who suffered for 5 years after divorce, looking for a shelter for her and her children. Safiah had no resort but to protest with her daughter in front of the Ministry of Housing in demand of a place to stay with her daughter. In another choice, the divorcee is obliged to accept any form of shelter for her and her children, even if it is a room, as it happened to Mrs. ‘Um Ali’, a divorcee who stayed for more than 8 years living in a house extension along with her 6 children.

On the other hand, there is a legislative vacuum to sponsor women of special needs. In addition to the deprivation of the rights to remarry, because of the social constraints, those with special needs receive less attention, such as those requiring special and proper medical treatment and care, as well as suitable recruitment. Such retardation towards treating women in need of special services leaves them with utter isolation and seclusion.

5. Absence of procedures and provisions deterrent to human trafficking and exploitation of minors

Unless the Authorities take on preemptive steps and serious measures to combat and prevent human trafficking, women suffering will augment, as figures are staggering and flagrant in this direction. The initial attempts, which were disrupted and discontinued as a result of intervention by persons of influence, the prosecutions against offenders of human trafficking and other charges which include prostitution, illegal residence and abuse of minors were diluted to sentences of imprisonment of 6 to 12 months. Such retribution does not reflect the seriousness of the crimes, and reaffirms the collusion of criminals of and violators of women's rights and certain figureheads in the authority.

Women’s Organizations

Despite the establishment of a number of social organizations specialized in women and children issues, but because of the legalized constraints on such entities, their role has been limited to a narrow range of issues ranging from social, cultural and informational, rather than dedicating their resources and capabilities to achieve genuine reforms for women. According to the internationally denounced Civic Societies Decree of 1989, these organizations are forbidden from dealing with all public affairs issues, as stipulated in article 18 of that law.

The other reason for the ineffectiveness of these organizations is the lack of logistical and financial support, directly from the Government or though the international funding programs. Moreover, any contacts between the local societies with the international NGO's, seeking funding, strengthening relationships, exchange of expertise and representation, without the prior approval and consent of the Social Affairs Ministry, are considered violation of the law, exposing these organizations to punishment and dissolution.

Local women organizations also lack administrative, technical and legislative developmental capabilities, obtainable only though training programs and workshops. This is obvious due to the inavailability of direct and indirect means of funding and financial support.

In this context, reference is made to two main organizations:

The Women's Union - an umbrella for certain women's associations in Bahrain, known of its affiliation to some political organizations. According to the Women’s Union bylaw, no women, irrespective of her activities or capabilities, to join the Union unless she joins one of those associations. Consequently, this elite Union is deprived from representing large segments of Bahraini women or play a genuine and influential role in the maintenance of and defending women’s rights.

Furthermore, the Bahraini Authorities ensured that area of maneuverability of this elite Union is curtailed, regardless of the dedication of its members who represent specific and limited women societies in Bahrain. Unless the Union opens its door to all women, regardless of their ideological affiliation, and obtains proper funding to support its activities to play more effective role in community support, cultural and social security reforms, the Union will continue to be ineffective and incapable of reforming the status quo, or in preventing the infliction of harm on women. Instead, the Union will add to the official establishment another "color" to improve its image among the international community.

The Supreme Council for Women (SCW), the other organization, established to represent women of Bahrain, but ended up manipulating women’s affairs to promote and complement the interests of the regime at the expense of reforming women’s rights. The SCW was established on 22 August 2001 according to an Amiri Decree no 44 of 2001, modified in the same year by Decree no 55, the Amiri Order no 2 of 2002, and the Royal Order no. 36 of 2004. It is an official entity reporting directly to the King and not a social organization. According to the forming decrees, the SCW is a reference to all official bodies in the country with regards to women’s affairs, and specializes on presenting advise as well as decision on matters related to the status of women. The SCW is chaired by Sheikha Sabika bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, the wife of the King of Bahrain, who owns the decision to choose her deputy. The Council consists of 16 female figures, appointed by a Royal decree for renewable term of 3 years.

Since its establishment and the repetition of key figures in the composition of the SCW, it is evident that the Council operates under the strict control of women from the ruling family, in addition to other women from both tribal families and those loyal to the regime in exchange for personal gains.

The Council is effectively managed by Lulwa Al- Awadi, the Council’s General Secretary at the rank of a minister. Lulwa is a lawyer by profession and to ensure her sole loyalty and allegiance, a decree was dedicated to exonerate her from the commitments of the Lawyers law, which bans law practitioners from taking any official posts while running their law firms. The SCW deputy chair is Maryam Hasan Al-Khalifa, the former president of the University of Bahrain who contributed in setting out sectarian divisions and the principles of partisanship and loyalty in appointments and promotions on the expense of academic norms. The SCW contains members like Wessal Al Khalifa, wife of Khalid Ahmed Al Khalifa, the Foreign Affairs Minister, and Hessa Al Khalifa, wife of Abdullah Ben Hamad Al Khalifa, the King’s son and Governor of the Southern Governorate. Other members of the Council are vesting their time into fulfilling their personal and family gains.

Despite the passage of eight years on the establishment of the SCW, which announced that it would be a champion of women's rights in Bahrain, yet the reality remains that the Council plays a role in manipulating the country’s resources, in the form of promotional programs and activities for women inside and outside Bahrain. This came also in the form of the appointments of incompetent officials in the Council, chosen on the basis of their tribal and utilitarian loyalty. In fact, although the Council claims to be a defender of women’s rights, it undertook an essential role in fulfilling the agenda of the Royal Court through the utilization of certain legislations, particularly the Family and Nationality laws, as political bargaining tools to gain political preeminence

Moreover, the role of the Council was previously described in the report of Dr. Salah Al Bandar, a former advisor to the Government of Bahrain, which focused on the manipulation of votes, resulting in the unanimous election of Latifa Al-Quood in the House of Representatives, representing the uninhabited island of Hawar. This nomination came as a result of an agreement between the Royal Court and the Council, where the SCW played a vital role. Another role played by the SCW and mentioned in the said Al Bandar report, is fortifying the spirit of conspiracy and sectarianism against women in Bahrain, by limiting the role of certain social organizations and penetrating the leadership ranks of others. To fulfill this objective, the Council utilized the authoritative support offered by the Royal Court, in addition to unlimited media and financial assistance.

Demands

The Women’s Petition Committee expresses its deep concern regarding the deteriorating status of women’s legislative rights throughout the past ten years, and remains greatly troubled by the unrealistic depiction of women’s status and the peculiar reflection of legislative rights in Bahrain in the country’s political propaganda.

Throughout the years, women suffered greatly due to legislative and social restrictions, yet instead of dedicating the necessary state resources to improve their social and economical rights, they are continued to be manipulated to suit certain political agendas. Although some women were chosen to key positions in the political forefront, the selection process was not based on their professional qualification, but rather on standards set by the Royal Court that include tribal affiliations, sectarianism and loyalty, and to work as media promotion to achieve political gains.

As a result, the Women’s Petition Committee demands the following:

1. To acknowledge women rights in Bahrain, as citizens of the country, cease the use of feminist slogans as part of political propaganda, and to abolish all organizations established to work along these deceptive agenda, the Supreme Council for Women being at the forefront of such organizations.

2. Introduce or enact legislations that protects the rights of women:

a. A family law suited for all religious sectors, to protect the rights of women in line with international women rights doctrines, and applied upon all women in Bahrain including members of the royal family.
b. The revision of the Nationality Law to ensure that the children of Bahraini women have the right to gain citizenship of their mothers.
c. A law that protects against violence within the family
d. A social security law for unprivileged women and those handicapped, disabled and of special needs.
e. A law that criminalizes human trafficking including all forms of discrimination against women, abuse of minors, and extortion of the underprivileged.

3. Cease all forms of discrimination against women at work in all official, legislative and social organizations. This includes developing a mechanism to implement the principles of CEDAW, and end all forms of career advancements on the basis of sectarian or tribal loyalties.

4. To give real chance for independent women’s organizations to exercise its activities and provide them with the financial and logistical support, as well as eliminate all obstacles that impede their effectiveness and independence

For further information:

Ghada Yousif Jamsheer

Head of Women's Petition Committee
Kingdom of Bahrain

Email: ghadajamsheer@hotmail.com
Blog: www.bahrain-eve.blogspot.com
TEL: 00973-3968-0807
FAX: 00973-1769-4422

UN Resolution 1559 & The Axis Of Evil Thugs

2009-12-24T00:50:00.000-08:00

By Elias Bejjani

Apparently the Stalinist Syrian Baathist rulers are not yet able to swallow and digest the bitter fact that their savage and oppressive occupational army was forced to withdraw from neighboring Lebanon in 2005 with disgrace and humiliation.

Going back to 2004, the UN Security Council issued on September 02/04 its first benchmark pro- Lebanon UN resolution 1559, in a bid to put an end to Syria's occupation of its neighboring country, Lebanon, and stop its oppression of the Lebanese people.

The resolution strongly called for the withdrawal of all foreign armies (Syrians and Israelis) from Lebanon and reiterated the council's steadfast support for reclaiming the country's independence, sovereignty, freedoms, and democracy.

Article seven of the resolution stated verbatim: "Declares its support for a free and fair electoral process in Lebanon’s upcoming presidential election conducted according to Lebanese constitutional rules devised without foreign interference or influence".

The Syrian president dictator Bachar Al Assad defied the resolution and forced the Lebanese parliament members through terrorism, intimidation and criminal means to amend the country’s constitution that limits the president's presence in office for one term only. The parliament succumbed to Assad's threats and extended the presidency term for three more years for the subservient handpicked Lebanese-Syrian president Emile Lahoud.

On the 14th of February, 2005, Lebanon's Sunni Prime Minister Raffic Al Hariri was assassinated when explosives equivalent to around 1000 kg of TNT were detonated as his motorcade drove past the St. George Hotel in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The investigation into his assassination by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is still ongoing and is currently led by the independent investigator, Daniel Bellemare. In its first two reports, UNIIIC indicated that the Syrian government might be linked to the assassination.

Hariri's killing led to massive political change in Lebanon, including the uprising (intifada) of the Cedar Revolution and the withdrawal of Syrian troops. On The 26th of April, 2005, Syria formally notified the United Nations that it had withdrawn all of its troops, military assets and intelligence apparatus from Lebanon

Syrian rulers taking advantage of the Obama administration’s Middle East openness, and of a recent Syrian-Saudi rapprochement, waged an extensive and fierce campaign in the United Nations, Arab countries and Lebanon aiming to annul the UN Resolution that forced them to withdraw from Lebanon, alleging they had implemented all articles related to them. Syria informed the Lebanese government officially of its request.

Lebanon's pro- Hezbollah foreign minister, Ali al-Shami, has informed ambassadors accredited in Lebanon that 1559 is "dead." Well-informed sources said Shami, who was part of the delegation that accompanied President Michel Suleiman to Washington, argued that the Hezbollah arms issue is slated for discussion during all-party talks. Shami stressed that the problem was the ongoing Israeli air, sea and land violations against Lebanon. (Al-Hayat Daily & Naharnet 18/12/09) .

The terrorist Hezbollah's International Relations Officer, Ammar Mousawi, said on 18/12/09 that UN Security Council resolution 1559 is "meaningless." "It is being exploited in an effort to impose a trusteeship on Lebanon," Moussawi believed. "No one has the right to exercise the role of the guardian of Lebanon because the issue of weapons will be discussed in the framework of the defense strategy," he added. (Naharnet, 18/12/ 09)

On 20/12/09 Syria asked for the dismissal of UN Secretary-General's envoy on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559, Terje Roed-Larsen, for allegedly making secret visits to Israel to incite the Jewish state against Damascus and oppose the withdrawal from the northern part of the village of Ghajar.

The Syrian mission's third secretary in New York, Yasar Diab, told the General Assembly's fifth committee on administrative and budgetary affairs that Roed-Larsen had written two reports this year on the implementation of 1559 without making any visits to Beirut. On the other hand, he has visited Israel several times. Diab accused the envoy of implementing a "suspicious personal agenda" that has nothing to do with his mission. He also said that Roed-Larsen is violating the UN Charter by interfering in Lebanese-Syrian affairs such as border demarcation.

Diab reiterated that Damascus has implemented 1559's provisions by withdrawing its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanese territories. He said 1559's remaining articles were a Lebanese issue. The Syrian envoy also criticized the UN for considering Roed-Larsen responsible for the implementation of resolution 1680. The UN General-Secretariat has previously noted that Roed-Larsen's mandate derives not only from 1559 but also from subsequent related resolutions, including 1680 and 1701. Diab finally called for the annulment of a clause in the report on the apportionment of the UN envoy's expenses. The clause invites Roed-Larsen to encourage member states to implement resolution 1680.

In this context the pro-Syrian Lebanese President Michele Suleiman echoed Syria's request to President Obama and to all his top administration officials during an official visit to the United States earlier this month. Suleiman alleged that Hezbollah is a resistance party and not a terrorist organization and that its members are Lebanese and hold portfolios in the new Hariri national unity government. He alleged too that the only article of the UN resolution 1559 that is not yet implemented addresses Hezbollah's weaponry and that he personally is leading a national comprehensive dialogue to tackle this matter.
Reliable US reports stated that Obama's administration did not see eye to eye with Suleiman’s requests, while president Obama stressed the importance of the implementation of all UN resolutions related to Lebanon, including 1559 and 17701.

Dr Walid Phares, advisor to the US House Caucus on Counter Terrorism called Syria and Lebanon's request to "cancel" Security Council resolution 1559 as a move against international law and traditions. Their rhetoric aims at intimidating the Lebanese politicians and people. He stated that legally no Government, including permanent members of the Security Council can annul a Security Council Resolution. Only that UN body has the right to do so, but it has never annulled any resolutions since the launching of the UN. Phares in his Christmas and New Year message to the Lebanese people assured them that the free world and the Lebanese Diaspora supports strongly their cause of freedom and assured them that a better future awaits them. He urged them to produce new types of efficient politicians or change the behavior of the current ones due to the fact that these politicians have committed too many strategic mistakes since 2005, the worst being legitimizing Hezbollah's weapons in the new Hariri Government's ministerial statement."

Lebanese International Law Professor Chafic Al-Masri has said that neither Lebanon nor any other country whether a permanent or a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has the right to delete international resolutions, the Al-Rai Kuwaiti newspaper reported Saturday. “The UNSC can only impose, remind of, or neglect the resolutions and it is the only side that has the jurisdictions to modify UN resolutions,” he said. “Lebanon can demand the UNSC that the item on Hezbollah arms in UN resolution 1559 is resolved by the Lebanese themselves but it cannot request deleting it,” he added. “UN resolution 1701 stated in its introduction that it is based on all previous resolutions concerning Lebanon including resolution 1559. Thus, it is illogical that Lebanon holds to all items of resolution 1701 and asks for deleting part of resolution 1559 simultaneously,” he added. The pan-Arab Ash-Shaq Al-Awsat quoted a ministerial source in an interview published Saturday that he doubts the existence of a possibility to delete resolution 1559, but noted that some of its items were considered as practically annulled UN resolution 1559 which was issued by UNSC in 2004 demanded the withdrawal of the Syrian forces from Lebanon and the removal of militias’ arms in Lebanon including those of Hezbollah and Palestinians outside the camps. UN resolution 1701 which was issued in 2006 to end the July war between Hezbollah and Israel demanded ending all military presence south of the Litani River in south Lebanon and respecting the blue line on behalf of Lebanon and Israel. (19/12/09, Source: Al Rai)

Nicole Shampaine, US Director of the Department of State's Near East Affairs Bureau Office for Egypt and the Levant, stressed on 19/12/09 that Washington strongly supports the full implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions related to Lebanon, including resolutions 1559 and 1701. In an interview with al-Rai Kuwaiti daily, Shampaine said that the US will continue to offer strong support for the institutions of the Lebanese state, including the Lebanese army. The US diplomat stressed that a strong, prosperous, and democratic Lebanon was in the interest of the region and the international community.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero has said on 20/12/09 that any UN Security Council resolution remains valid as long as the world body hasn't adopted another resolution to annul it. Valero told al-Balad daily in remarks published on Sunday that Syria and Lebanon should agree on implementing the articles of Security Council resolution 1559.

Valero's comment came in response to Syria's request to annul 1559. Another source told the newspaper that a resolution cannot be annulled without the consensus of the major powers that have Security Council seats. However, Lebanese diplomatic sources told Ad-Diyar daily that 1559 does not exist anymore.

Meanwhile UN resolution 1559 that was issued by the Security Council on September 02/04 is comprised of 12 articles as shown below. Only article five was fulfilled after the election of General Michel Suleiman as president:
1-“Reiterating its strong support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally territorially recognized borders,
2-“Noting the determination of Lebanon to ensure the withdrawal of all non-Lebanese forces from Lebanon,
3-“Gravely concerned at the continued presence of armed militias in Lebanon, which prevent the Lebanese government from exercising its full sovereignty over all Lebanese territory,
4-“Reaffirming the importance of the extension of the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory,
5-“Mindful of the upcoming Lebanese presidential elections and underlining the importance of free and fair elections according to Lebanese constitutional rules devised without foreign interference or influence,
6- Reaffirms its call for the strict respect of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity, and political independence of Lebanon under the sole and exclusive authority of the Government of Lebanon throughout Lebanon;
7- Calls upon all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon;
8- Calls for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias;
9- Supports the extension of the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory;
10- Declares its support for a free and fair electoral process in Lebanon’s upcoming presidential election conducted according to Lebanese constitutional rules devised without foreign interference or influence;
11- Calls upon all parties concerned to cooperate fully and urgently with the Security Council for the full implementation of this and all relevant resolutions concerning the restoration of the territorial integrity, full sovereignty, and political independence of Lebanon;
12-Requests that the Secretary-General report to the Security Council within thirty days on the implementation by the parties of this resolution and decides to remain actively seized of this matter.”

The most important articles of the resolution have not been implemented yet as shown below:

The militias (Hezbollah, Amal Movement, SSNP Party (Syrian Social Nationalist Party), Baath Party, and several Palestinian armed factions) have not been dismantled or disarmed.

The Israelis still occupy the Shabaa farms, Ghajar village and a few hills in south Lebanon.

The Syrian army did not complete its withdrawal and still holds on to four military bases under the camouflage of Palestinian militias, one near the capital Beirut (Naeme) and three in the Bekaa valley adjacent to its borders (Helwa, Kosaea, Sultan Yacoub) .

The Lebanese government does not have control of or authority in many regions of the country, including 13 Palestinian refugee camps and Hezbollah's mini state.

The Syrian-Lebanese borders have not yet been demarcated and Syria still officially and openly facilitates the transfer of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah.

We call on the USA to take into consideration that Lebanon is practically still an occupied country and that the terrorist Hezbollah, Syria's and Iran's militant proxy, totally controls the Lebanese government, as well as most of the country's civil and armed institutions.

We call on the Obama administration to maintain the USA’s tough anti -terrorism stance and to continue to strongly honor and support the UN resolutions related to Lebanon until Lebanon becomes completely free from armed militias, Syrian occupation and terrorism organizations, and to fully abide by the articles of the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act (SALSRA) that the Congress passed into law on December 12, 2003.

This act calls for the end of Syrian support for terrorism, the end of Syria's presence in Lebanon, to stop Syria's development of WMDs, to cease Syria's illegal importation of Iraqi oil and to end illegal shipments of military items to anti-US forces in Iraq.

Christians of Palestine Decry ‘Absence of All Hope’

2009-12-19T04:08:00.000-08:00

By Nicola Nasser*

"In the absence of all hope, we cry out our cry of hope. We believe in God, good and just. We believe that God's goodness will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persist in our land. We will see here 'a new land' and 'a new human being', capable of rising up in the spirit to love each one of his or her brothers and sisters," concluded a document (“Kairos Palestine Document”) released by Palestinian Christian leaders on December 11, 2009.

Palestinian Christian leaders, representing churches and church-related organizations, meeting in Bethlehem, the birth place of Jesus Christ, which is under the Israeli military occupation since 1967, have launched a "landmark campaign" aimed at enlisting Christians worldwide in proactive efforts to end the occupation of Palestinian territories. The unprecedented initiative, called "Kairos Palestine-2009: A moment of truth," appeals to churches worldwide to treat Israel in the same way they had treated the erstwhile South African apartheid regime.

The authors of the 13-page document include such religious leaders as Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Lutheran Bishop of Jerusalem Munib Younan, Archbishop of Sebastia Atallah Hanna from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, as well as the heads of various other denominations.

"We, Palestinian Christians, declare in this historic document that the military occupation of our land is a sin against God and humanity and that any theology that legitimises the occupation is far from Christian teachings because true Christian theology is a theology of love and solidarity with the oppressed and a call to justice and equality among peoples," reads the document.

The authors said they hoped that the document would raise the conscience of Christians worldwide on the enduring Palestinian plight. "We hope, as Palestinian Christians, that this document will be the leverage for the efforts of all peace-loving peoples in the world, especially our Christian sisters and brothers. We hope that it will be welcomed positively and will receive strong support, as was the case with the South Africa Kairos document launched."

One author of the landmark document, Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna, told the Egyptian Al-Ahram Weekly (17 - 23 December 2009) that the main aim of the initiative was to alert Christians worldwide to the critical situation in occupied Palestine. "We are a peaceable people, we are not terrorists because we first and foremost are victims of Israeli terror. We love freedom, we love justice, we love our country, we love Jerusalem and we insist on living with human dignity."

Rifat Kassis, a spokesman for "Kairos Palestine-2009," told Al-Ahram: Christian leaders in occupied Palestine have been deliberating the initiative for several months. "Ultimately we hope that Christian institutions, including churches around the world, will endorse this document and act on it in the same way churches related to the anti-apartheid regime in South Africa in 1985. In the final analysis, apartheid can't be wrong in South Africa and right in occupied Palestine."

Asked by Al-Ahram why the initiative is being launched now, Kassis said the situation in occupied Palestine had reached a crossroads. Quoting from the document, Kassis said: "... because today we have reached the dead-end in the tragedy of the Palestinian people. The decision-makers content themselves with managing the crisis rather than committing themselves to the serious task of finding a way to resolve it. What is the international community doing? What are the political leaders in Palestine, in Israel and the Arab world doing? What is the church doing? The problem is not just a political one. It is a policy in which human beings are destroyed, and this must be of concern to the church."

In Christian theological terminology, the word "kairos" means "moment of truth" or "time for action."

On the eve of Christmas, the Christian leaders decried that their "Religious liberty is severely restricted, the freedom of access to holy places is denied under the pretext of security. Jerusalem and its holy places are out of bounds for many Christians and Muslims from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Israeli settlements ravage our land in the name of force, controlling our natural resources, including water and agricultural land, thus depriving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.”

"Jerusalem is the heart of our reality. It is, at the same time, a symbol of peace and sign of conflict. While the apartheid wall divides Palestinian neighbourhoods, Jerusalem continues to be emptied of its Palestinian citizens, Christians and Muslims. Their identity cards are confiscated, which means the loss of their right to reside in Jerusalem. Their homes are demolished or expropriated. Jerusalem, the city of reconciliation, has become a city of discrimination and exclusion, a source of struggle rather than peace," they lamented.

Following is the text of the document:

A moment of truth: A word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering

Introduction

We, a group of Christian Palestinians, after prayer, reflection and an exchange of opinion, cry out from within the suffering in our country, under the Israeli occupation, with a cry of hope in the absence of all hope, a cry full of prayer and faith in a God ever vigilant, in God’s divine providence for all the inhabitants of this land. Inspired by the mystery of God's love for all, the mystery of God’s divine presence in the history of all peoples and, in a particular way, in the history of our country, we proclaim our word based on our Christian faith and our sense of Palestinian belonging – a word of faith, hope and love..

Why now? Because today we have reached a dead end in the tragedy of the Palestinian people. The decision-makers content themselves with managing the crisis rather than committing themselves to the serious task of finding a way to resolve it. The hearts of the faithful are filled with pain and with questioning: What is the international community doing? What are the political leaders in Palestine, in Israel and in the Arab world doing? What is the Church doing? The problem is not just a political one. It is a policy in which human beings are destroyed, and this must be of concern to the Church.

We address ourselves to our brothers and sisters, members of our Churches in this land. We call out as Christians and as Palestinians to our religious and political leaders, to our Palestinian society and to the Israeli society, to the international community, and to our Christian brothers and sisters in the Churches around the world.

1. The reality on the ground

1.1 “They say: 'Peace, peace' when there is no peace” (Jer. 6:14). These days, everyone is speaking about peace in the Middle East and the peace process. So far, however, these are simply words; the reality is one of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, deprivation of our freedom and all that results from this situation:

1.1.1 The separation wall erected on Palestinian territory, a large part of which has been confiscated for this purpose, has turned our towns and villages into prisons, separating them from one another, making them dispersed and divided cantons. Gaza, especially after the cruel war Israel launched against it during December 2008 and January 2009, continues to live in inhuman conditions, under permanent blockade and cut off from the other Palestinian territories.

1.1.2 Israeli settlements ravage our land in the name of God and in the name of force, controlling our natural resources, including water and agricultural land, thus depriving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and constituting an obstacle to any political solution.

1.1.3 Reality is the daily humiliation to which we are subjected at the military checkpoints, as we make our way to jobs, schools or hospitals.

1.1.4 Reality is the separation between members of the same family, making family life impossible for thousands of Palestinians, especially where one of the spouses does not have an Israeli identity card.

1.1.5 Religious liberty is severely restricted; the freedom of access to the holy places is denied under the pretext of security. Jerusalem and its holy places are out of bounds for many Christians and Muslims from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Even Jerusalemites face restrictions during the religious feasts. Some of our Arab clergy are regularly barred from entering Jerusalem.

1.1.6 Refugees are also part of our reality. Most of them are still living in camps under difficult circumstances. They have been waiting for their right of return, generation after generation. What will be their fate?

1.1.7 And the prisoners? The thousands of prisoners languishing in Israeli prisons are part of our reality. The Israelis move heaven and earth to gain the release of one prisoner, and those thousands of Palestinian prisoners, when will they have their freedom?

1.1.8 Jerusalem is the heart of our reality. It is, at the same time, symbol of peace and sign of conflict. While the separation wall divides Palestinian neighbourhoods, Jerusalem continues to be emptied of its Palestinian citizens, Christians and Muslims. Their identity cards are confiscated, which means the loss of their right to reside in Jerusalem. Their homes are demolished or expropriated. Jerusalem, city of reconciliation, has become a city of discrimination and exclusion, a source of struggle rather than peace.

1.2 Also part of this reality is the Israeli disregard of international law and international resolutions, as well as the paralysis of the Arab world and the international community in the face of this contempt. Human rights are violated and despite the various reports of local and international human rights' organizations, the injustice continues.

1.2.1 Palestinians within the State of Israel, who have also suffered a historical injustice, although they are citizens and have the rights and obligations of citizenship, still suffer from discriminatory policies. They too are waiting to enjoy full rights and equality like all other citizens in the state.

1.3 Emigration is another element in our reality. The absence of any vision or spark of hope for peace and freedom pushes young people, both Muslim and Christian, to emigrate. Thus the land is deprived of its most important and richest resource – educated youth. The shrinking number of Christians, particularly in Palestine, is one of the dangerous consequences, both of this conflict, and of the local and international paralysis and failure to find a comprehensive solution to the problem.

1.4 In the face of this reality, Israel justifies its actions as self-defence, including occupation, collective punishment and all other forms of reprisals against the Palestinians. In our opinion, this vision is a reversal of reality. Yes, there is Palestinian resistance to the occupation. However, if there were no occupation, there would be no resistance, no fear and no insecurity. This is our understanding of the situation. Therefore, we call on the Israelis to end the occupation. Then they will see a new world in which there is no fear, no threat but rather security, justice and peace.

1.5 The Palestinian response to this reality was diverse. Some responded through negotiations: that was the official position of the Palestinian Authority, but it did not advance the peace process. Some political parties followed the way of armed resistance. Israel used this as a pretext to accuse the Palestinians of being terrorists and was able to distort the real nature of the conflict, presenting it as an Israeli war against terror, rather than an Israeli occupation faced by Palestinian legal resistance aiming at ending it.

1.5.1 The tragedy worsened with the internal conflict among Palestinians themselves, and with the separation of Gaza from the rest of the Palestinian territory. It is noteworthy that, even though the division is among Palestinians themselves, the international community bears an important responsibility for it since it refused to deal positively with the will of the Palestinian people expressed in the outcome of democratic and legal elections in 2006.

Again, we repeat and proclaim that our Christian word in the midst of all this, in the midst of our catastrophe, is a word of faith, hope and love.

2. A word of faith

We believe in one God, a good and just God

2.1 We believe in God, one God, Creator of the universe and of humanity. We believe in a good and just God, who loves each one of his creatures. We believe that every human being is created in God’s image and likeness and that every one's dignity is derived from the dignity of the Almighty One. We believe that this dignity is one and the same in each and all of us. This means for us, here and now, in this land in particular, that God created us not so that we might engage in strife and conflict but rather that we might come and know and love one another, and together build up the land in love and mutual respect.

2.1.1 We also believe in God's eternal Word, His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whom God sent as the Saviour of the world.

2.1.2 We believe in the Holy Spirit, who accompanies the Church and all humanity on its journey. It is the Spirit that helps us to understand Holy Scripture, both Old and New Testaments, showing their unity, here and now. The Spirit makes manifest the revelation of God to humanity, past, present and future.

How do we understand the word of God?

2.2 We believe that God has spoken to humanity, here in our country: "Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days God has spoken to us by a Son, whom God appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds" (Heb. 1:1-2).

2.2.1 We, Christian Palestinians, believe, like all Christians throughout the world, that Jesus Christ came in order to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and in his light and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we read the Holy Scriptures. We meditate upon and interpret Scripture just as Jesus Christ did with the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. As it is written in the Gospel according to Saint Luke: "Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures" (Lk 24:27).

2.2.2 Our Lord Jesus Christ came, proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was near. He provoked a revolution in the life and faith of all humanity. He came with "a new teaching" (Mk 1:27), casting a new light on the Old Testament, on the themes that relate to our Christian faith and our daily lives, themes such as the promises, the election, the people of God and the land. We believe that the Word of God is a living Word, casting a particular light on each period of history, manifesting to Christian believers what God is saying to us here and now. For this reason, it is unacceptable to transform the Word of God into letters of stone that pervert the love of God and His providence in the life of both peoples and individuals. This is precisely the error in fundamentalist Biblical interpretation that brings us death and destruction when the word of God is petrified and transmitted from generation to generation as a dead letter. This dead letter is used as a weapon in our present history in order to deprive us of our rights in our own land.

Our land has a universal mission

2.3 We believe that our land has a universal mission. In this universality, the meaning of the promises, of the land, of the election, of the people of God open up to include all of humanity, starting from all the peoples of this land. In light of the teachings of the Holy Bible, the promise of the land has never been a political programme, but rather the prelude to complete universal salvation. It was the initiation of the fulfilment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

2.3.1 God sent the patriarchs, the prophets and the apostles to this land so that they might carry forth a universal mission to the world. Today we constitute three religions in this land, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Our land is God’s land, as is the case with all countries in the world. It is holy inasmuch as God is present in it, for God alone is holy and sanctifier. It is the duty of those of us who live here, to respect the will of God for this land. It is our duty to liberate it from the evil of injustice and war. It is God's land and therefore it must be a land of reconciliation, peace and love. This is indeed possible. God has put us here as two peoples, and God gives us the capacity, if we have the will, to live together and establish in it justice and peace, making it in reality God's land: "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it" (Ps. 24:1).

2.3.2 Our presence in this land, as Christian and Muslim Palestinians, is not accidental but rather deeply rooted in the history and geography of this land, resonant with the connectedness of any other people to the land it lives in. It was an injustice when we were driven out. The West sought to make amends for what Jews had endured in the countries of Europe, but it made amends on our account and in our land. They tried to correct an injustice and the result was a new injustice.

2.3.3 Furthermore, we know that certain theologians in the West try to attach a biblical and theological legitimacy to the infringement of our rights. Thus, the promises, according to their interpretation, have become a menace to our very existence. The "good news" in the Gospel itself has become "a harbinger of death" for us. We call on these theologians to deepen their reflection on the Word of God and to rectify their interpretations so that they might see in the Word of God a source of life for all peoples.

2.3.4 Our connectedness to this land is a natural right. It is not an ideological or a theological question only. It is a matter of life and death. There are those who do not agree with us, even defining us as enemies only because we declare that we want to live as free people in our land. We suffer from the occupation of our land because we are Palestinians. And as Christian Palestinians we suffer from the wrong interpretation of some theologians. Faced with this, our task is to safeguard the Word of God as a source of life and not of death, so that "the good news" remains what it is, "good news" for us and for all. In face of those who use the Bible to threaten our existence as Christian and Muslim Palestinians, we renew our faith in God because we know that the word of God can not be the source of our destruction.

2.4 Therefore, we declare that any use of the Bible to legitimize or support political options and positions that are based upon injustice, imposed by one person on another, or by one people on another, transform religion into human ideology and strip the Word of God of its holiness, its universality and truth.

2.5 We also declare that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is a sin against God and humanity because it deprives the Palestinians of their basic human rights, bestowed by God. It distorts the image of God in the Israeli who has become an occupier just as it distorts this image in the Palestinian living under occupation. We declare that any theology, seemingly based on the Bible or on faith or on history, that legitimizes the occupation, is far from Christian teachings, because it calls for violence and holy war in the name of God Almighty, subordinating God to temporary human interests, and distorting the divine image in the human beings living under both political and theological injustice.

3. Hope

3.1 Despite the lack of even a glimmer of positive expectation, our hope remains strong. The present situation does not promise any quick solution or the end of the occupation that is imposed on us. Yes, the initiatives, the conferences, visits and negotiations have multiplied, but they have not been followed up by any change in our situation and suffering. Even the new US position that has been announced by President Obama, with a manifest desire to put an end to the tragedy, has not been able to make a change in our reality. The clear Israeli response, refusing any solution, leaves no room for positive expectation. Despite this, our hope remains strong, because it is from God. God alone is good, almighty and loving and His goodness will one day be victorious over the evil in which we find ourselves. As Saint Paul said: "If God is for us, who is against us? (…) Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long" (…) For I am convinced that (nothing) in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God" (Rom. 8:31, 35, 36, 39).

What is the meaning of hope?

3.2 Hope within us means first and foremost our faith in God and secondly our expectation, despite everything, for a better future. Thirdly, it means not chasing after illusions – we realize that release is not close at hand. Hope is the capacity to see God in the midst of trouble, and to be co-workers with the Holy Spirit who is dwelling in us. From this vision derives the strength to be steadfast, remain firm and work to change the reality in which we find ourselves. Hope means not giving in to evil but rather standing up to it and continuing to resist it. We see nothing in the present or future except ruin and destruction. We see the upper hand of the strong, the growing orientation towards racist separation and the imposition of laws that deny our existence and our dignity. We see confusion and division in the Palestinian position. If, despite all this, we do resist this reality today and work hard, perhaps the destruction that looms on the horizon may not come upon us.

Signs of hope

3.3 The Church in our land, her leaders and her faithful, despite her weakness and her divisions, does show certain signs of hope. Our parish communities are vibrant and most of our young people are active apostles for justice and peace. In addition to the individual commitment, our various Church institutions make our faith active and present in service, love and prayer.

3.3.1 Among the signs of hope are the local centres of theology, with a religious and social character. They are numerous in our different Churches. The ecumenical spirit, even if still hesitant, shows itself more and more in the meetings of our different Church families.

3.3.2 We can add to this the numerous meetings for inter-religious dialogue, Christian–Muslim dialogue, which includes the religious leaders and a part of the people. Admittedly, dialogue is a long process and is perfected through a daily effort as we undergo the same sufferings and have the same expectations. There is also dialogue among the three religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as different dialogue meetings on the academic or social level. They all try to breach the walls imposed by the occupation and oppose the distorted perception of human beings in the heart of their brothers or sisters.

3.3.3 One of the most important signs of hope is the steadfastness of the generations, the belief in the justice of their cause and the continuity of memory, which does not forget the "Nakba" (catastrophe) and its significance. Likewise significant is the developing awareness among many Churches throughout the world and their desire to know the truth about what is going on here.

3.3.4 In addition to that, we see a determination among many to overcome the resentments of the past and to be ready for reconciliation once justice has been restored. Public awareness of the need to restore political rights to the Palestinians is increasing, and Jewish and Israeli voices, advocating peace and justice, are raised in support of this with the approval of the international community. True, these forces for justice and reconciliation have not yet been able to transform the situation of injustice, but they have their influence and may shorten the time of suffering and hasten the time of reconciliation.

The mission of the Church

3.4 Our Church is a Church of people who pray and serve. This prayer and service is prophetic, bearing the voice of God in the present and future. Everything that happens in our land, everyone who lives there, all the pains and hopes, all the injustice and all the efforts to stop this injustice, are part and parcel of the prayer of our Church and the service of all her institutions. Thanks be to God that our Church raises her voice against injustice despite the fact that some desire her to remain silent, closed in her religious devotions.

3.4.1 The mission of the Church is prophetic, to speak the Word of God courageously, honestly and lovingly in the local context and in the midst of daily events. If she does take sides, it is with the oppressed, to stand alongside them, just as Christ our Lord stood by the side of each poor person and each sinner, calling them to repentance, life, and the restoration of the dignity bestowed on them by God and that no one has the right to strip away.

3.4.2 The mission of the Church is to proclaim the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice, peace and dignity. Our vocation as a living Church is to bear witness to the goodness of God and the dignity of human beings. We are called to pray and to make our voice heard when we announce a new society where human beings believe in their own dignity and the dignity of their adversaries.

3.4.3 Our Church points to the Kingdom, which cannot be tied to any earthly kingdom. Jesus said before Pilate that he was indeed a king but "my kingdom is not from this world" (Jn 18:36). Saint Paul says: "The Kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17). Therefore, religion cannot favour or support any unjust political regime, but must rather promote justice, truth and human dignity. It must exert every effort to purify regimes where human beings suffer injustice and human dignity is violated. The Kingdom of God on earth is not dependent on any political orientation, for it is greater and more inclusive than any particular political system.

3.4.4 Jesus Christ said: "The Kingdom of God is among you" (Luke 17:21). This Kingdom that is present among us and in us is the extension of the mystery of salvation. It is the presence of God among us and our sense of that presence in everything we do and say. It is in this divine presence that we shall do what we can until justice is achieved in this land.

3.4.5 The cruel circumstances in which the Palestinian Church has lived and continues to live have required the Church to clarify her faith and to identify her vocation better. We have studied our vocation and have come to know it better in the midst of suffering and pain: today, we bear the strength of love rather than that of revenge, a culture of life rather than a culture of death. This is a source of hope for us, for the Church and for the world.

3.5 The Resurrection is the source of our hope. Just as Christ rose in victory over death and evil, so too we are able, as each inhabitant of this land is able, to vanquish the evil of war. We will remain a witnessing, steadfast and active Church in the land of the Resurrection.

4. Love

The commandment of love

4.1 Christ our Lord said: "Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another" (Jn 13:34). He has already showed us how to love and how to treat our enemies. He said: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous (…) Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:45-47).

Saint Paul also said: "Do not repay anyone evil for evil" (Rom. 12:17). And Saint Peter said: "Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called" (1 Pet. 3:9).

Resistance

4.2 This word is clear. Love is the commandment of Christ our Lord to us and it includes both friends and enemies. This must be clear when we find ourselves in circumstances where we must resist evil of whatever kind.

4.2.1 Love is seeing the face of God in every human being.. Every person is my brother or my sister. However, seeing the face of God in everyone does not mean accepting evil or aggression on their part. Rather, this love seeks to correct the evil and stop the aggression.

The aggression against the Palestinian people which is the Israeli occupation, is an evil that must be resisted. It is an evil and a sin that must be resisted and removed. Primary responsibility for this rests with the Palestinians themselves suffering occupation. Christian love invites us to resist it. However, love puts an end to evil by walking in the ways of justice. Responsibility lies also with the international community, because international law regulates relations between peoples today.

Finally responsibility lies with the perpetrators of the injustice; they must liberate themselves from the evil that is in them and the injustice they have imposed on others.

4.2.2 When we review the history of the nations, we see many wars and much resistance to war by war, to violence by violence. The Palestinian people has gone the way of the peoples, particularly in the first stages of its struggle with the Israeli occupation. However, it also engaged in peaceful struggle, especially during the first Intifada. We recognize that all peoples must find a new way in their relations with each other and the resolution of their conflicts. The ways of force must give way to the ways of justice. This applies above all to the peoples that are militarily strong, mighty enough to impose their injustice on the weaker.

4.2.3 We say that our option as Christians in the face of the Israeli occupation is to resist. Resistance is a right and a duty for the Christian. But it is resistance with love as its logic. It is thus a creative resistance for it must find human ways that engage the humanity of the enemy. Seeing the image of God in the face of the enemy means taking up positions in the light of this vision of active resistance to stop the injustice and oblige the perpetrator to end his aggression and thus achieve the desired goal, which is getting back the land, freedom, dignity and independence.

4.2.4 Christ our Lord has left us an example we must imitate. We must resist evil but he taught us that we cannot resist evil with evil. This is a difficult commandment, particularly when the enemy is determined to impose himself and deny our right to remain here in our land. It is a difficult commandment yet it alone can stand firm in the face of the clear declarations of the occupation authorities that refuse our existence and the many excuses these authorities use to continue imposing occupation upon us.

4.2.5 Resistance to the evil of occupation is integrated, then, within this Christian love that refuses evil and corrects it. It resists evil in all its forms with methods that enter into the logic of love and draw on all energies to make peace. We can resist through civil disobedience. We do not resist with death but rather through respect of life. We respect and have a high esteem for all those who have given their life for our nation. And we affirm that every citizen must be ready to defend his or her life, freedom and land.

4.2.6 Palestinian civil organizations, as well as international organizations, NGOs and certain religious institutions call on individuals, companies and states to engage in divestment and in an economic and commercial boycott of everything produced by the occupation. We understand this to integrate the logic of peaceful resistance. These advocacy campaigns must be carried out with courage, openly sincerely proclaiming that their object is not revenge but rather to put an end to the existing evil, liberating both the perpetrators and the victims of injustice. The aim is to free both peoples from extremist positions of the different Israeli governments, bringing both to justice and reconciliation. In this spirit and with this dedication we will eventually reach the longed-for resolution to our problems, as indeed happened in South Africa and with many other liberation movements in the world.

4.3 Through our love, we will overcome injustices and establish foundations for a new society both for us and for our opponents. Our future and their future are one. Either the cycle of violence that destroys both of us or peace that will benefit both. We call on Israel to give up its injustice towards us, not to twist the truth of reality of the occupation by pretending that it is a battle against terrorism. The roots of "terrorism" are in the human injustice committed and in the evil of the occupation. These must be removed if there be a sincere intention to remove "terrorism". We call on the people of Israel to be our partners in peace and not in the cycle of interminable violence. Let us resist evil together, the evil of occupation and the infernal cycle of violence.

5. Our word to our brothers and sisters

5.1 We all face, today, a way that is blocked and a future that promises only woe. Our word to all our Christian brothers and sisters is a word of hope, patience, steadfastness and new action for a better future. Our word is that we, as Christians we carry a message, and we will continue to carry it despite the thorns, despite blood and daily difficulties.. We place our hope in God, who will grant us relief in His own time. At the same time, we continue to act in concord with God and God’s will, building, resisting evil and bringing closer the day of justice and peace.

5.2 We say to our Christian brothers and sisters: This is a time for repentance. Repentance brings us back into the communion of love with everyone who suffers, the prisoners, the wounded, those afflicted with temporary or permanent handicaps, the children who cannot live their childhood and each one who mourns a dear one. The communion of love says to every believer in spirit and in truth: if my brother is a prisoner I am a prisoner; if his home is destroyed, my home is destroyed; when my brother is killed, then I too am killed. We face the same challenges and share in all that has happened and will happen. Perhaps, as individuals or as heads of Churches, we were silent when we should have raised our voices to condemn the injustice and share in the suffering. This is a time of repentance for our silence, indifference, lack of communion, either because we did not persevere in our mission in this land and abandoned it, or because we did not think and do enough to reach a new and integrated vision and remained divided, contradicting our witness and weakening our word. Repentance for our concern with our institutions, sometimes at the expense of our mission, thus silencing the prophetic voice given by the Spirit to the Churches.

5.3 We call on Christians to remain steadfast in this time of trial, just as we have throughout the centuries, through the changing succession of states and governments. Be patient, steadfast and full of hope so that you might fill the heart of every one of your brothers or sisters who shares in this same trial with hope. "Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you" (1 Pet. 3:15). Be active and, provided this conforms to love, participate in any sacrifice that resistance asks of you to overcome our present travail.

5.4 Our numbers are few but our message is great and important. Our land is in urgent need of love. Our love is a message to the Muslim and to the Jew, as well as to the world.

5.4.1 Our message to the Muslims is a message of love and of living together and a call to reject fanaticism and extremism. It is also a message to the world that Muslims are neither to be stereotyped as the enemy nor caricatured as terrorists but rather to be lived with in peace and engaged with in dialogue.

5.4.2 Our message to the Jews tells them: Even though we have fought one another in the recent past and still struggle today, we are able to love and live together. We can organize our political life, with all its complexity, according to the logic of this love and its power, after ending the occupation and establishing justice.

5.4.3 The word of faith says to anyone engaged in political activity: human beings were not made for hatred. It is not permitted to hate, neither is it permitted to kill or to be killed. The culture of love is the culture of accepting the other. Through it we perfect ourselves and the foundations of society are established.

6. Our word to the Churches of the world

6.1 Our word to the Churches of the world is firstly a word of gratitude for the solidarity you have shown toward us in word, deed and presence among us. It is a word of praise for the many Churches and Christians who support the right of the Palestinian people for self determination. It is a message of solidarity with those Christians and Churches who have suffered because of their advocacy for law and justice.

However, it is also a call to repentance; to revisit fundamentalist theological positions that support certain unjust political options with regard to the Palestinian people. It is a call to stand alongside the oppressed and preserve the word of God as good news for all rather than to turn it into a weapon with which to slay the oppressed. The word of God is a word of love for all His creation. God is not the ally of one against the other, nor the opponent of one in the face of the other. God is the Lord of all and loves all, demanding justice from all and issuing to all of us the same commandments. We ask our sister Churches not to offer a theological cover-up for the injustice we suffer, for the sin of the occupation imposed upon us. Our question to our brothers and sisters in the Churches today is: Are you able to help us get our freedom back, for this is the only way you can help the two peoples attain justice, peace, security and love?

6.2 In order to understand our reality, we say to the Churches: Come and see. We will fulfil our role to make known to you the truth of our reality, receiving you as pilgrims coming to us to pray, carrying a message of peace, love and reconciliation. You will know the facts and the people of this land, Palestinians and Israelis alike.

6.3 We condemn all forms of racism, whether religious or ethnic, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and we call on you to condemn it and oppose it in all its manifestations. At the same time we call on you to say a word of truth and to take a position of truth with regard to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land. As we have already said, we see boycott and disinvestment as tools of non violence for justice, peace and security for all.

7. Our word to the international community

7. Our word to the international community is to stop the principle of "double standards" and insist on the international resolutions regarding the Palestinian problem with regard to all parties. Selective application of international law threatens to leave us vulnerable to a law of the jungle. It legitimizes the claims by certain armed groups and states that the international community only understands the logic of force.

Therefore, we call for a response to what the civil and religious institutions have proposed, as mentioned earlier: the beginning of a system of economic sanctions and boycott to be applied against Israel. We repeat once again that this is not revenge but rather a serious action in order to reach a just and definitive peace that will put an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories and will guarantee security and peace for all.

8. Jewish and Muslim religious leaders

8. Finally, we address an appeal to the religious and spiritual leaders, Jewish and Muslim, with whom we share the same vision that every human being is created by God and has been given equal dignity. Hence the obligation for each of us to defend the oppressed and the dignity God has bestowed on them. Let us together try to rise up above the political positions that have failed so far and continue to lead us on the path of failure and suffering.

9. A call to our Palestinian people and to the Israelis

9.1 This is a call to see the face of God in each one of God’s creatures and overcome the barriers of fear or race in order to establish a constructive dialogue and not remain within the cycle of never-ending manoeuvres that aim to keep the situation as it is. Our appeal is to reach a common vision, built on equality and sharing, not on superiority, negation of the other or aggression, using the pretext of fear and security. We say that love is possible and mutual trust is possible. Thus, peace is possible and definitive reconciliation also. Thus, justice and security will be attained for all.

9.2 Education is important. Educational programs must help us to get to know the other as he or she is rather than through the prism of conflict, hostility or religious fanaticism. The educational programs in place today are infected with this hostility. The time has come to begin a new education that allows one to see the face of God in the other and declares that we are capable of loving each other and building our future together in peace and security.

9.3 Trying to make the state a religious state, Jewish or Islamic, suffocates the state, confines it within narrow limits, and transforms it into a state that practices discrimination and exclusion, preferring one citizen over another. We appeal to both religious Jews and Muslims: let the state be a state for all its citizens, with a vision constructed on respect for religion but also equality, justice, liberty and respect for pluralism and not on domination by a religion or a numerical majority.

9.4 To the leaders of Palestine we say that current divisions weaken all of us and cause more sufferings. Nothing can justify these divisions. For the good of the people, which must outweigh that of the political parties, an end must be put to division. We appeal to the international community to lend its support towards this union and to respect the will of the Palestinian people as expressed freely.

9.5 Jerusalem is the foundation of our vision and our entire life. She is the city to which God gave a particular importance in the history of humanity. She is the city towards which all people are in movement – and where they will meet in friendship and love in the presence of the One Unique God, according to the vision of the prophet Isaiah: "In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it (…) He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Is. 2: 2-5). Today, the city is inhabited by two peoples of three religions; and it is on this prophetic vision and on the international resolutions concerning the totality of Jerusalem that any political solution must be based. This is the first issue that should be negotiated because the recognition of Jerusalem's sanctity and its message will be a source of inspiration towards finding a solution to the entire problem, which is largely a problem of mutual trust and ability to set in place a new land in this land of God.

10. Hope and faith in God

10. In the absence of all hope, we cry out our cry of hope. We believe in God, good and just. We believe that God’s goodness will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persist in our land. We will see here "a new land" and "a new human being", capable of rising up in the spirit to love each one of his or her brothers and sisters.

_______________________________________________

The authors of the document are:

• Patriarch Michel Sabbah, • Bishop Dr Munib Younan, • Archbishop Theodosios Atallah Hanna, • Rev.. Dr Jamal Khader, • Rev. Dr Rafiq Khoury, • Rev. Dr Mitri Raheb, • Rev. Dr Naim Ateek, • Rev. Dr Yohana Katanacho, • Rev. Fr Fadi Diab, • Dr Jiries Khoury, • Ms Sider Daibes, • Ms Nora Kort, • Ms Lucy Thaljieh, • Mr Nidal Abu Zulof, • Mr Yusef Daher, • Mr Rifat Kassis - coordinator of the initiative.

Organizations adopting the document up until 11 December 2009:

Near East Council of Churches – Gaza, YMCA, Laity Committee in the Holy Land, Council for Orthodox Organizations, International Centre of Bethlehem, Department of Service to Palestine Refugees, Siraj Center, International Christian Assembly, Arab Orthodox Charitable Society, Arab Orthodox Club Union-Jerusalem, Arab Orthodox Club-Beit Sahour, Arab Orthodox Club-Bethlehem, Arab Orthodox Club-Beit Jala, Orthodox Housing Society, Alternative Tourism Group, National Christian Assembly, WI'AM –The Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center, National Christian Alliance, St. Yves.

Media contact in Jerusalem: Ranjan Solomon +972-54-733- 7857 +972-54-733- 7857

Additional information: Juan Michel, +41 22 791 6153 +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe. Org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

To become a signatory, please send the following information to Mr. Rifat Kassis: kalimatuna@gmail.com

Mr./Ms./Dr., First Name, Last Name, Email Address, City/Town

For the list of signatories:

http://kairospalest ine.ps/?q= node/2

Full text of the Kairos Palestine Document:

In Arabic

http://www.oikoumen e.org/fileadmin/ files/wcc- main/2009pdfs/ Kairos Palestine_Ar. pdf

Auf Deutsch

http://www.oikoumen e.org/fileadmin/ files/wcc- main/2009pdfs/ Kairos Palestine_Ger. pdf

En français

http://www.oikoumen e.org/fileadmin/ files/wcc- main/2009pdfs/ Kairos Palestine_Fr. pdf

* Nicola Nasser is a veteran Arab journalist based in Bir Zeit, West Bank of the Israeli – occupied territories.

U.S. Creates Its Antithesis in Iraq

2009-12-16T15:15:00.000-08:00

By Nicola Nasser*

Nowhere it is more obvious than in Iraq that the existence of an election law, elections themselves and the constitution they are based on are not indicators of democracy or legitimacy, because these mechanisms are merely symbols of the antithesis of the mechanisms of democracy as practiced back home by the U.S. occupying power.

An editorial of The Washington Post on December 8 hailed the passing two days earlier of an amended version of the 2005 election law by the Iraqi “Council of Representatives” (CoR) as a “Breakthrough in Iraq,” which “gives democracy a chance to work.” However if this statement is not misleading, then it is extremely too optimistic, at least for one reason: The Iraqis themselves had another say.

The new version was vetoed by none other than Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi. On November 23, under U.S. excessive pressure including a phone call by President Barak Obama to Kurdistan Regional Government head Masoud Barzani, the CoR passed another amended version of the law without addressing al-Hashemi’s demands to increase the representation in parliament of displaced people, internally and abroad, from 5% of the total to 15%, which indicates yielding in to U.S. pressure by al-Hashemi, nor did it address the Kurds’ threat to boycott the elections if their demands in Kirkuk were not met, in another indication of yielding to U.S. pressure by the Kurds, although it did meet their complaint for more parliamentary seats.

Rachel Schneller, a Foreign Service officer with the U.S. State Department writing for the Council on Foreign Relations on December 4, warned that the latest version of the Iraqi election law could make things worse in Iraq if approved. The Sunnis, including Hashemi, could resort to “desperate measures” to gain power as the new election law provoked claims of Shiite dominance. Schneller wrote that elections in Iraq are not a sign of stability. “The United States would do well to back away from the policy of elections at any cost,” she concluded.

Obama’s administration had a different point of view. U.S. diplomats, notably Washington's ambassador in Baghdad Christopher Hill, had pushed MPs to pass the law, which they did in the wake of a meeting between a US delegation including US Forces Commander in Iraq General Raymond Odierno and deputy US Ambassador to Baghdad Robert Ford and the Iraqi president Jalal Talibani. The White House said the move was “a decisive moment for Iraq's democracy.” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the U.S... welcomed the new law. “This legislative action will allow Iraq to hold national elections within Iraq's constitutional framework,” he said. Earlier, Obama had hailed the Iraqi elections next year as a “significant breakthrough” and a “milestone … that can bring lasting peace and unity to Iraq...” The administration sees the election as a prerequisite to the U.S. meeting its goal of releasing more combat troops for the Afghani theatre by August next year, and redeploying its combatants fully by 2012, whatever the cost might be to Iraqis.

The carnage left by a series of coordinated attacks by car bombs and suicide bombers on December 15, December 8, October 25 and August 19, which struck at the symbols of what the U.S. hopes would be a burgeoning pro-western government, if not a puppet regime, in and near the heavily protected Green Zone, which houses the largest U.S. Embassy worldwide, the Iraqi parliament and other government offices and embassies in Baghdad, claiming more than 500 lives and hundreds of wounded, and inflicting devastating damage on public order infrastructure, is a stark and humiliating proof of the U.S. failure, and not only a failure of a proxy Iraqi government, in securing even the Iraqi capital after less than nine years of the U.S. – led invasion of Iraq.

Those bloody demonstrations of insecurity cast serious doubts on the planned imminent redeployment of U.S. troops. “The American role is necessary now in Iraq, not only to maintain security but to maintain political stability,” Hameed Fadhel, a political science professor at Baghdad University told Asia Times on Dec 15. “The Iraqi people no longer trust their politicians,” added Tariq Harb, a member of Prime Minister Noori al-Maliki's State of Law alliance. Sadi Pira, a politburo member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, PUK, one of the two dominant Kurdish parties, was more vocal on maintaining the U.S. “military role” in Iraq: The latest bombings in Baghdad, along with unrest in Mosul and Kirkuk, “proves that the Iraqi forces are not able to control the cities or the borders. If the U.S. position is to extend the [stay] of the remaining coalition forces, it is not bad for Iraq,” Pira told the Times.

Such statements vindicate the U.S. officials who were quoted by Reuters on December 10 as saying that the 60-day period after Iraq's election will probably reveal whether the country will tip back into sectarian bloodshed or move toward stability and peace. But more importantly, the immediate aftermath of the upcoming elections would reveal whether the U.S. troops would redeploy on time. The U.S. force in Iraq is supposed to be reduced to 50,000 by the end of August from around 115,000 now. However, the date for the end of the U.S. combat operations in Iraq is not included in a bilateral security pact signed last year, but was set by Obama as part of a pledge to U.S. voters to end the war on Iraq.

In his accepting Nobel Peace Prize speech earlier this month, Obama proclaimed a justification for war that could label him more a modern Niccolo Maichiaville than “the candidate of change,” which does not preclude the extension of his country’s military presence in Iraq as a hidden agenda. “The instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace,” Obama declared. The United States reserves the right to “act unilaterally if necessary” and to launch wars whose purpose “extends beyond self-defense or the defense of one nation against an aggressor,” he said.

Could this be the hidden agenda of the United States in Iraq: i.e. to create pretexts for a permanent military presence in Iraq? Within this context it has been noteworthy that the government of al- Maliki and its security officials, when they were questioned by the parliament in closed and public sessions last week, were divided over whom to blame for the bombings: Syria and other “Arab” countries or infiltrators of their security agencies by resistance elements whom they dub as “terrorists,” but they never hinted to the U.S. occupying power as a possible culprit, which maintains the capability to really infiltrate the security shield around the “Green Zone” and could be the major beneficiary of portraying the government as still incapable of maintaining law and order; this possibility was given substance, for example, by the report of The New York Times on December 11 that Blackwater gunmen, ostensibly contracted as security guards in Iraq and Afghanistan, “participated in some of the CIA’s most sensitive activities—clandestine raids with agency officers,” and by CIA Director Leon Panetta’s briefing before Congressional intelligence committees last June about a covert “assassination program” involving Blackwater. Nor did they hint to Iran, the major beneficiary of the U.S. occupation or to voting by bombs by the political components of the U.S. –engineered “political process” as they used to do since they were brought into the country by the invading armies.

The reason underlying the U.S. failure in Iraq should be sought in the fact that the United States has failed to establish a political system of its own image in Iraq and has instead created its antithesis, which deprived both its presence in the country as well as the political regime it has so far failed to install there of a legitimacy that would credibly stand on its own as an alternative to the legitimate national regime the U.S. invasion devastated in 2003, notwithstanding the fact it was labeled a dictatorship by western standards of liberal parliamentary democracy.

For the same reason, the U.S. – engineered Iraqi constitution of 2005 and the election law which regulated the Iraqi elections the next year as well as the latest amended election law, which will regulate the upcoming elections early next year, have so far failed to vindicate the missing legitimacy.

Although the U.S. managed to go to its war on Iraq on seemingly “legally sufficient grounds both nationally and internationally, the problem was legitimacy”: U.S. invasion struck at the heart of the “just-war theory,” which is codified in international law, retired General Wesley K. Clark, a senior fellow at the Burkle Center for International Relations, rightly noted on July 2, 2007, indicating that the U.S. biggest mistake was the failure to appreciate the importance of law and the concept of legitimacy in the conduct of American affairs abroad, and citing “recent polls”, he said the U.S. is seen by some as “the greatest threat to peace and, in some instances, (former) President (George W.) Bush more dangerous than Osama Bin Laden!”

Indeed, given the “continuity” of Bush’s policies in Iraq, Bush’s successor is not less responsible for the current status quo in the country if he doesn’t reverse course, which incumbent President Obama did not so far. The invasion was illegitimate, the ensuing occupation is still illegitimate, the proxy regime the U.S. occupying power is still trying to install in Baghdad is illegitimate, and no artificially and hastily drafted and instituted constitution and election law could legitimize an illegitimate status quo in Iraq.

Illegitimacy of the status quo in Iraq is further questioned by the bitter and tragic inhumane fruits of the status quo. What elections as indicator of democracy could any objective observer perceive in a country where the U.S. military adventure has left around five million children orphans, one million child laborers, street vendors or beggars, and three million women widows. At least there are three million Iraqi refugees abroad; the U.N. has estimated that there were about 2 million Iraqi refugees in neighboring Jordan and Syria, and some 2.6 million people displaced within Iraq, in addition to millions of unemployed Iraqis -- all constituting more than half of the 27 – million population. The state infrastructure is still not rehabilitated, the central government could not secure its own safety, let alone the safety of the population, in the capital Baghdad, let alone the rest of the country, without the presence of about 115 thousand mainly U.S. troops and around 100 thousand foreign mercenaries, dubbed as security contractors, and where the basic services like water and power are either totally broken down or partially operational, and basics like fuel are in short supply in a country floating on the largest oil reserves in the world, second only to Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. support of undemocratic Arab regimes all throughout the twentieth century, allegedly for giving priority to alliances against communism over democratization, is held responsible for the survival of oppressive governments, the emergence of military dictatorships and delaying the normal pace of development in the Arab world.

However, following the collapse of the communist Soviet Union, the ensuing disintegration of the Warsaw Pact late in the eighties of the past century, and the emergence of the United States as the leader of a unipolar world system and the sole inheritor of the WWII victory, have all contributed to a U.S. turnabout toward improving the image of the American world leader, and within this context unfortunately the U.S. launched a war on Iraq “on the wings of a lie” (Thomas L. Friedman on November 18, 2005) that was portrayed -- after all other pretexts for the war were proved pure lies, including WMD and links to al-Qaeda -- by US official propaganda as a war for democracy, not only in Iraq, but also from the Iraqi launching pad all throughout the region.

Creating the antithesis of U.S. non – sectarian democracy in Iraq might serve the immediate goals of the war on the country, but absolutely it negates the U.S. self – proclaimed goal of creating a democracy there. First among the immediate goals is precluding a power vacuum if Iraq has no elected parliament and no new government in place by March 2010, because the ensuing renewal of sectarian civil war could restrict releasing more U.S. combat troops for Afghanistan. However, instituting a sectarian government that takes its legitimacy from a sectarian parliament elected on the basis of a sectarian constitution would only be the ideal political recipe for the renewal of the status quo.

Nobody cares now to hold the U.S. administration responsible for ignoring the bipartisan consensus on the “benchmarks” that were set to avoid the creation of a sectarian regime in Baghdad, and consequently to quell the sectarian war that erupted in the footsteps of the invading armies, and still fuelled by the ruling “friends” of the United States. Washington’s calls for a “timetable” to achieve the benchmarks as a precondition for U.S. military and financial support fell on deaf ears in Baghdad. Patrick Lang, former head of the Middle East section of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said the trouble is that Iraqis do not believe there will be serious consequences if they fail to achieve these benchmarks. “Realistically they can figure out that the chances we would pull the plug and leave is just about zero.” (Council on Foreign Relations, March 11, 2008) Amendment of the sectarian constitution of 2005 was among eighteen benchmarks set by the Iraq Study Group, but this benchmark has yet to be met.

Ironically, U.S... Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is in charge of foreign policy, has yet to step in with more than a nominal role in Iraq... Following her latest counterproductive input in Pakistan and the Arab – Israeli peace process, she seems in a frenzy to clinch the title of her post in an administration that has unequivocally shifted the management of foreign policy from the Foggy Bottom to the White House, to jostle herself the place she is entitled to among a veteran team of heavyweight old hands whom President Obama assigned the most critical foreign affairs problems in Afghanistan – Pakistan, the Middle East and Iraq to Richard Holbrooke who ended the Balkan war, George Mitchell who brought peace to Northern Ireland and Vice President Joe Biden respectively. Hardly Mrs. Clinton has so far figured out or in about Iraq. Yet, and despite her negative voting record on Iraq, she still can make a difference by at least weighing in for a speedy withdrawal out of the country by U.S. marines and troops, to leave Iraq to Iraqis so they could find a way out of the tragic quagmire her country plunged Iraq in.

Total and complete withdrawal of the U.S. military from Iraq is the prerequisite for a free country where election laws could then be drafted on national, and not on sectarian basis, to be credibly part of a democratic evolution. Mere “redeployment” of the U.S. military there will not do the trick and will not change the status quo.

* Nicola Nasser is a veteran Arab journalist based in Bir Zeit, West Bank of the Israeli – occupied territories.

Syria: DI member Mr. Mustafa Ismail Arrested

2009-12-15T15:14:00.000-08:00

Widad Akrawi
widad@defendinternational.org

The arbitrary detention of DI member Mr. Mustafa Ismail in Syria has caused great concern among our members worldwide.
DI is promoting a joint action against the authorities’ oppression on human rights supporters and calls on the authorities for Mr. Ismail’s immediate and unconditional release.

Name: Mustafa Ismail
Sex: Male
Authorities: Syrian
Category: Fear of torture or ill-treatment / incommunicado detention / prisoners of conscience

The case:
According to information received on 14 December 2009, Mr. Mustafa Ismail was arrested on December 12, 2009. Mr. Ismail is a poet, a prominent blogger, and has contributed articles to numerous Arabic-speaking websites.

It is believed that his arrest was due to his writing. He is also believed to be detained incommunicado which puts him at risk of torture and/or other forms of ill-treatment.

DI Views & Demands:
Defend International (DI) condemns Syrian authorities’ wave of arrests and intimidation against members of civil society, including journalists and bloggers.

DI calls on the Syrian authorities for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Mustafa Ismail. DI highlights that Mr. Ismail is a prisoner of conscience, arrested solely for the peaceful expression of his opinions in line with his fundamental human rights to freedom of expression.

DI urges Syrian authorities to:

* Provide immediate guarantees that Mr. Mustafa Ismail will not be subjected to torture or otherwise ill-treated in accordance with the fact that Syria is a State party to the United Nations Convention against Torture.

* Ensure that all civil society activists in Syria would be able to conduct their peaceful and legitimate activities without fear of arbitrary detention, torture or ill-treatment or other human rights violations.

The incidents of harassment, intimidation and arrests are in direct violation of the rights to freedom of expression, as provided for in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Syria is a party, as well as in the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 1998. This declaration in particular outlines the duty of states to take all necessary measures to protect human rights defenders from violence and arbitrary action.

DI campaign:
Please copy the following appeals, add your signature and address and send them to arrive as soon as possible.
With thanks and appreciation
Defend International

ـــــــــــــــــ

His Excellency President Bashar Al-Assad
President of the Republic
Presidential Palace
Al-Rashid Street
Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic
Fax: +963 11 332 3410

Your Excellency,

Hereby I wish to draw your attention to the case of Mr. Mustafa Ismail, who has reportedly been detained on 12 December 2009 in Aleppo. His arrest has caused great concern among writers, journalists and human rights defenders worldwide.

I am concerned that he is being held incommunicado, putting him at risk of torure and other kinds of ill-treatment. I urge you to provide immediate guarantees that Mr. Mustafa Ismail will not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

Furthermore I would like to point out that Mr. Mustafa Ismail is a prisoner of conscience, arrested solely for the peaceful expression of his opinions in line with his fundamental human rights to freedom of expression. I call on you to release him immediately and unconditionally.

It is my hope that Your Excellency will ensure that all civil society activists in Syria would be able to conduct their peaceful and legitimate activities without fear of detention, torture or ill-treatment or other human rights violations.

I wish to underline that Mr. Mustafa Ismail has the right to immediate and unrestricted access to his family, a lawyer, and any medical treatment he may need.

I hope for your urgent attention to this matter.

Yours respectfully,

-----------------------

His Excellency Major Sa\id Mohamed Samour
Minister of Interior, Ministry of Interior
Abdul Rahman Shahbandar Street
Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic
Fax: + 963 11 2223428

Your Excellency,

Hereby I wish to draw your attention to the case of Mr. Mustafa Ismail, who has reportedly been detained on 12 December 2009 in Aleppo. His arrest has caused great concern among writers, journalists and human rights defenders worldwide.

I am concerned that he is being held incommunicado, putting him at risk of torure and other kinds of ill-treatment. I urge you to provide immediate guarantees that Mr. Mustafa Ismail will not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

Furthermore I would like to point out that Mr. Mustafa Ismail is a prisoner of conscience, arrested solely for the peaceful expression of his opinions in line with his fundamental human rights to freedom of expression. I call on you to release him immediately and unconditionally.

It is my hope that Your Excellency will ensure that all civil society activists in Syria would be able to conduct their peaceful and legitimate activities without fear of detention, torture or ill-treatment or other human rights violations.

I wish to underline that Mr. Mustafa Ismail has the right to immediate and unrestricted access to his family, a lawyer, and any medical treatment he may need.

I hope for your urgent attention to this matter.

Yours respectfully,

-----------------------

His Excellency Dr. Mohsen Bilal
Ministry of Information
Al-Mezze Avenue, Baath House
Damascus
Syrian Arab Republic
Fax: +963 11 661 7665

Your Excellency,

Hereby I wish to draw your attention to the case of Mr. Mustafa Ismail, who has reportedly been detained on 12 December 2009 in Aleppo. His arrest has caused great concern among writers, journalists and human rights defenders worldwide.

I am concerned that he is being held incommunicado, putting him at risk of torure and other kinds of ill-treatment. I urge you to provide immediate guarantees that Mr. Mustafa Ismail will not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

Furthermore I would like to point out that Mr. Mustafa Ismail is a prisoner of conscience, arrested solely for the peaceful expression of his opinions in line with his fundamental human rights to freedom of expression. I call on you to release him immediately and unconditionally.

It is my hope that Your Excellency will ensure that all civil society activists in Syria would be able to conduct their peaceful and legitimate activities without fear of detention, torture or ill-treatment or other human rights violations.

I wish to underline that Mr. Mustafa Ismail has the right to immediate and unrestricted access to his family, a lawyer, and any medical treatment he may need.

I hope for your urgent attention to this matter.

Yours respectfully,

-----------------------

Syrians Ambassad
P.O. Box 4
18211 Danderyd
Sweden
E-mail: info@syrianembassy.se

Your Excellency,

Hereby I wish to draw your attention to the case of Mr. Mustafa Ismail, who has reportedly been detained on 12 December 2009 in Aleppo. His arrest has caused great concern among writers, journalists and human rights defenders worldwide.

I am concerned that he is being held incommunicado, putting him at risk of torure and other kinds of ill-treatment. I urge you to provide immediate guarantees that Mr. Mustafa Ismail will not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

Furthermore I would like to point out that Mr. Mustafa Ismail is a prisoner of conscience, arrested solely for the peaceful expression of his opinions in line with his fundamental human rights to freedom of expression. I call on you to release him immediately and unconditionally.

It is my hope that Your Excellency will ensure that all civil society activists in Syria would be able to conduct their peaceful and legitimate activities without fear of detention, torture or ill-treatment or other human rights violations.

I wish to underline that Mr. Mustafa Ismail has the right to immediate and unrestricted access to his family, a lawyer, and any medical treatment he may need.

I hope for your urgent attention to this matter.

Yours respectfully,

Charbel and Ramona Baini wedding

2009-12-06T23:48:00.000-08:00

Lebanon National Day in Parramatta

2009-12-03T14:11:00.001-08:00

Nationality Campaign Press Conference, November 25, 2009

2009-12-02T14:24:00.000-08:00

http://www.learningpartnership.org/citizenship/2009/11/lebanon-press/
“It is not my right to get the Lebanese nationality; it is that of my mother who is a Lebanese citizen.” – KhaledMore than 130 women and men gathered at the Order of Engineers on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 25 November 2009, to take part in the press conference called for by the Arab Women’s Right to Nationality Campaign.

The audience included women suffering from the discriminatory nationality law in Lebanon, in addition to a very high turnout of local and regional media including local and regional newspapers, international radio, and local and regional TV networks.The Campaign called for the press conference in order to protest the appeal against judge John Azzi’s historical court order of 16 June 2009 granting a Lebanese woman, Samira Soueidan, married to an Egyptian man, the right to transmit her nationality to her children.

The press conference also sought to share information and concern regarding the new ministerial statement which appears to be leaning towards dropping the issue of the reform of the nationality law from the final version of its text. Finally, the press conference was also a space to share and expose the difficulties faced by hundreds of families as a result of the current law.Samira, Khaled, and a representative of the Palestinian Human Rights Association, Rassed, shared the podium with CRTD.A, each exposing a different angle of the campaign amidst an audience which shared interests, stories, and commitments to pursue the campaign for inclusive citizenship rights.

The press conference received wide media coverage including international radio (Swiss Radio), international media (BBC Arabic, Al Arabya, Orbit, MBC) and local TV stations and newspapers.

CRTD.A – WLP Lebanon

Beirut, 25 November 2009· Assafir

http://www.assafir.com/article.aspx?EditionId=1399&ChannelId=32422&ArticleId=2608·

Al Nahar (from Lebanon files)

http://lebanonfiles.com/news_desc.php?id=128800·

Al Akhbar

http://www.al-akhbar.com/ar/node/166862·

Al Mustaqbal

http://www.almustaqbal.com/stories.aspx?storyid=380341·

Al Balad

http://www.albaladonline.com/html/story.php?sid=85166·

Attayar

http://www.tayyar.org/Tayyar/News/PoliticalNews/ar-LB/129036756699041420.htm· L’Orient le Jour

http://www.lorientlejour.com/category/Liban/article/639029/Les_Libanaises_se_mobilisent_pour_le_droit_de_transmettre_leur__nationalite_a_leurs_enfants.html· Daily Star

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=109121
Entry Filed under:

In the News, Lebanon

Lebanon Is Still an Occupied Country

2009-11-25T14:45:00.000-08:00

By Elias Bejjani

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday 24/11/09 warned that Lebanon , not Hezbollah, would be the target of retaliatory attacks should the militant group escalate tension along Israel's northern border. "Lebanon grants Hezbollah permission to operate on its soil," said Barak. "We must clarify for the international community that we do not accept that a militia like Hezbollah exists in Lebanon, a sovereign country, and even sits in its parliament." Barak added that it holds Lebanon responsible for any conflict with Hezbollah. "Hezbollah is not our target," in such a case, said Barak. "Our target will be the state of Lebanon."

Mr. Barak made his comments at a meeting with regional leaders in the north, where he stressed that he holds the Lebanese government responsible for any conflict along the border with Lebanon. The Israeli defense minister added that Israel's deterrence power will last for some time. Earlier this month, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said that Hezbollah guerrillas now possess tens of thousands of rockets, some capable of reaching up to 300 kilometers within Israel. These capabilities would put Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, as well cities much further south, into rocket range. "There is a war in the Middle East between two camps, the extremists and the moderates, which is pushing Iran to take radical steps. Without Iran's support to finance weapons and terrorist groups they would be lacking the means available to them today," said Ashkenazi. Israel, the United Nations and Hezbollah itself have all said that the militia is stronger today than it was during the Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

It is so sad and extremely disappointing that the Israeli government, the moderate Arab countries as well all the Western free world, including the USA and France are ignoring the essence and the core of the actual Lebanese peoples' ongoing agony and dilemma with Hezbollah.

All these countries are well informed that Hezbollah, the Iranian militant terrorist organization, has erected its powerful mini Iranian state inside Lebanon during the Syrian occupation era of the country that lasted from 1976 until 2005.

This mini state with its scattered cantons all over Lebanon is much stronger in all domains than the Lebanese central government. The Lebanese people in general and the Lebanese Shiite community in particular had no saying in this matter. The mini state was imposed on all of them by Syria and Iran.

All the free world countries, Arab states, and especially Israel are, with no shed of doubt, fully aware that Hezbollah's mini state controls and dominates directly and through proxies all the affairs of the Lebanese central government via cancerous infiltration, intimidation, oppression, corruption, drug trafficking, religious decrees (fatwas), murder, crime, bribing and multifold tactics of terrorism. Not even one decision could be made by the Lebanese government or any of its institutions without Hezbollah's approval.

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 in all fields and on all levels.

The Israeli and the western satellites that carry out round-the-clock very close surveillance over Lebanon, Syria and other Middle East countries have their own solid data that shows the ABC's of how Hezbollah receives its weapon openly from Iran through Syria under the eyes of the Lebanese army and with its blessings.

Hezbollah does not smuggle its weapons to Lebanon from Syria through the joint borders as the UN and many countries keep on parroting in their official statements and reports. All of them know for a fact that Hezbollah has its own free military routes via the Syrian-Lebanese border through which hundreds of its arms-loaded trucks travel on a regular basis from Syria to Lebanon.

The question is why when all these plain facts are cut and clear to these countries and especially to Israel that they still act as if there is actually an independent Lebanese government that controls the country's decision making process?

One wonders, when Iran and Syria have erected the Hezbollah mini state against the will of the Lebanese people, and when these two axis of evil countries keep on arming, financing, harboring, training and fully control Hezbollah's militia, why Mr. Barak is threatening Lebanon and not Syria, Iran and Hezbollah?

Mr. Barak as well as the whole world knows that the Lebanese people earlier this year and against all the odds did not give Hezbollah and its allies a majority in the parliamentary elections. They voted courageously against Hezbollah's mini state and its weapons.

BUT, unfortunately the elected majority up until this day is unable to effectively face Hezbollah and stop its gradual devouring of the state's authority, and as we all know, Syria and Saudi Arabia have recently cut a deal to give Hezbollah a right to veto in the new Lebanese government, and to keep in its ministerial statement with the same clause that the previous " Saniora" government used to legitimize Hezbollah's weapons and to give this organization control over the country's war-peace decision making.

Israel and all other countries are loudly and strongly addressing only the symptoms of Hezbollah�s hegemony over the whole of Lebanon, while deliberately overlooking the main disease that Iran and Syria have inflicted on the Lebanese people and on all the country's institutions.

In summary, Lebanon is still an occupied country and the occupier is Hezbollah. Mr. Barak should not threaten to punish the Lebanese people who in the majority are against Hezbollah, having bravely proved this stance in the last parliamentary elections.

The Lebanese people and their country must not be dealt with as scapegoats. The disease is Syria and Iran and their proxy, Hezbollah. If Israel really wants to deal with the problem that threatens its security and existence, the actual and long lasting solution is not by inflicting devastation on the Lebanese people and their country as was the situation during the 2006 war, but through addressing its serious problem directly with Iran, Syria and Hezbollah.

The earth is standstill

2009-11-20T14:49:00.000-08:00

Pilot Nader Jneid
Astronomist & Air Navigator
Theorist Of Earth Standstill Theory
Calendar For The Prayer Times According To Air Navigation
Mobile: 00963 933813169
Email: Jneid101@Hotmail.Com

(In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the most merciful)

Believe it or not …!

Twenty (20) Convincing Scientific Evidences Throughout
Aviation Sciences – Physics -Mechanics
And Mathematics
Supported and Sustained by
Eleven (11) Quranic Verses Prove That:
The Earth is Standstill
It turns neither around itself nor around the Sun

Pilot Nader Jneid’s research includes:
Ø The dawn angles and times in the whole world.
Ø The story of the Gregorian and Hegira Calendar.
Ø Terms of inquiring the Hegira month Crescent.
Ø A Special Calendar for the Prayer times
according to air navigation in London

A patent reserved in Ministry of Culture in
Syrian Arab Republic Ministry of Information
Department of Censorship
Under no /97615/ dated 13/07/2009

Printing Rights are reserved for the Author

تمت عمليات الترجمة و التدقيق نقلا عن كتاب علوم الطيران في القرءان من قبل الترجمان المحلّف : ( باسم هنيدي – جوال : 257434- 0933 )

True Translation – Modification – Auditing by the Sworn Translator - Bassem Heneidi – 0933-257434
basimhnidi@yahoo.com

The First evidence:

Modern Physics and nuclear Physics based on Kipller rules that say all objects in the universe move and they have gravity and also the big object attracts the small one, consequently the Earth turns around the sun by the force of sun gravity, Moreover, the moon turns around the Earth by the force of Earth gravity.
Therefore, the sun gravity is bigger than the moon gravity.
Therefore, if the Earth had turned around the sun by the force of the sun gravity, the affects of sun gravity would have appeared on the Earth such as the ebb and tides.
Where we notice that the ebb and tides happens when the moon is vertical over the Earth, but we do not notice it when the sun is vertical over the Earth, consequently the moon gravity over the Earth is stronger than the sun gravity over the Earth.
As Astronomists said that the distance between the sun and the Earth is approximately (150.000.000) km, where (147.000.000) km in the winter and (145.000.000) km in the summer, consequently the difference of distance between winter and summer is (7.000.000) km.
In addition, Astronomists considered the distance between the spaceship, which turns around the Earth in space, and the Earth is stable, firmed by the centrifugal force, which equals the gravity of the Earth.
In addition, the gravity of the Earth that existed on the spaceship and did not exist inside the spaceship where we see the astronauts inside the spaceship and all objects around move freely.
Moreover, gravity of the Earth cannot isolate it from other things.

The Second evidence:

All Astronomists illustrated the movement of Earth – moon – sun hubs according to Copernicus theory with very strange, imaginative configurative way.

They made sun stable and they made the duration of the day (24) hours, they divided this duration into two parts:

- First part: the Earth turns around itself (360 °) during (23 hours – 56 minutes – 4 seconds).
- Second part: the Earth turns around the sun (2.400.000.000) km with during (3 minutes – 56 seconds) on the said ellipsoid rout of the Earth, so the speed around the sun (2.400.000.000) milliards km/h which is a very imaginative number. In addition, when dividing the distance of the Earth movement all day long (24) hours, then the average of the Earth speed around the sun will be about (100.000) km/h, which is very imaginative according to the Earth.
The Earth turns around itself (0.98) of the degree to conserve of the numbers of the calendar year (365.25) days.
Moreover, they made the moon turns around the Earth once and once around itself every (28) days, the moon moves around the sun (along with the Earth) during its rotation around the Earth during (1 day – 14 hours – 40 minutes to complete the hegira month. As the Earth was turning around itself (360.98 °) and the moon was turning (12 °) during (24) hours, so according to the Mechanics rules, then the shape of the moon face according to the watcher from the Earth would be changed according to the watching angle from the Earth, which is contradicted to the fact; where we see just one shape of the moon face, from moon rise to moon set permanently, clearly shown especially in the night of the middle of the hegira month. This is impossible unless the Earth is stable, firmed and the moon turns around the Earth and around itself with equal angled speed.

The Third evidence:

According to NASA, they considered the Earth and the Moon turn around one mutual centre in the Earth called (Central Bar) counter-clockwise with different angled speed (the angled speed is the performed degrees during certain time), where the angled speed of the Earth around its centre is (15 °) per hour, where it is for the moon around the Earth center (14, 50 °) per hour.
So if the Earth was turning around itself, then its speed would be at the equator about (1667) km/h (because the Earth circumference equals (40.000) km it takes in just one course during 24 hours).
Moreover, the speed of the moon rotation around the Earth center about (80.000) km/h, where the moon is away from the Earth with (350.000) km.

In addition, according to the air navigation rules, the reaching point on the moon surface moves and turns with the moon movement around the Earth; consequently, any spaceship cannot descend on the moon surface when it was closed of its back, because the maximum speed of any spaceship is (27.000) km/h, and then it will collides with the moon and it will explode when it closed to descend on besides its movement.

Thus, America has cheated the whole world when it said that it descends on the moon surface. However, all photos distributed are made in the cinematic Hollywood city.
But the if the Earth is stable, firmed neither turns around itself nor around the sun, so the flight and descending on the moon surface possible according to the air navigation rules, and America has factually descended on the moon surface. This proves the fixation and stability of the Earth, thus it turns neither around itself nor around the sun.

The Fourth evidence:

If the Earth was moving around the sun with speed (100.000) km/h, and the moon was turning with speed (80.000) km/h, consequently the position of the moon and all satellites would Changed according to the Earth, this leads to the moon speed becomes (100.000) km/h when it is behind the Earth.
Moreover, the moon speed will increase to (180.000) km/h when the Earth becomes between the moon and the sun.

In addition, its speed will decrease to (100.000) km/h when the moon becomes before the Earth.

Moreover, its speed will decrease into (20.000) km/h when the moon becomes between the Earth and the sun.

In addition, its speed will increase into (100.000) km/h when the moon becomes behind the Earth.

This study is performed based on that the Earth moves around the sun by a fixed speed of (100.000) km/h. However, according to Astronomists, the Earth moves around the sun by variant speed, therefore this makes the moon and all satellites to change their moving speed permanently, to conserve its position according to the Earth.

It has been assured that the moon and all satellites do not have self-force enables them to increase or decrease of their speed, and the gravity of the Earth cannot control all satellites at the change of the Earth movement. Thus, this proves that the Earth does not turn around the sun.
The Fifth evidence:

According to Copernicus theory, if the Earth was moving around itself and around the sun, then the atmosphere is considered a piece relating to the Earth, consequently this atmosphere and the Earth will move with each other around the Earth center and around the sun. So if we have two planes:

- The first one is normal inside the atmosphere.

- The second is a spaceship outside the atmosphere.
The two are flying from Los Anglos into Damascus by the same speed and direction of the Earth over that height of each plane flies by (when the Earth is turning) and after (12) hours: the first plane inside the atmosphere has been arrived to Damascus. However, the second one outside the atmosphere has been remained over Los Anglos.
Alternatively, if we have two fixed planes over Los Anglos:
- The first one is helicopter inside the atmosphere.
- The second one is a spaceship outside the atmosphere (the satellite). So to remain the two planes over Los Anglos, the helicopter speed must be zero (0) km/h.
Moreover, the spaceship speed must be equal to the Earth turning speed over that height (when the Earth is moving), as the satellite of T.V. such as Nile sat and Arab sat.
This evidence asserts that the Earth and the atmosphere are separated from the space according to the All-Mighty Allah who quoted in (Surah Al Anbiya-30):

" ) أَوَلَمْ يَرَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ كَانَتَا رَتْقًا فَفَتَقْنَاهُمَا وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ المَاءِ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ أَفَلا يُؤْمِنُونَ ) (الأنبياء30 )
Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth Were joined together (as one Unit of Creation), before We clove them asunder? we made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?

Moreover, according to this truth, the maximum speed of any spaceship, which gets outside the atmosphere (27.000) km/h plus the speed of the Earth movement around the sun at the moment when it gets out of the atmosphere as Astronomists saying.
So if the speed of the Earth movement around the sun on the ellipsoid orbit with minimum at the moment when it gets out of the atmosphere, and the speed around the sun increased, so the spaceship will face big difficulty at returning back to the Earth.
Regarding that, all spaceships get out and return to the Earth through the atmosphere easily, when the travel into the moon took six days.
Thus, this proves the non-rotation of the Earth around the sun.

The Sixth evidence:

The moon is global in shape and after mechanical study, we noticed it has three courses, not two courses as Astronomists described it and that the sunray covers the semi-moon permanently except the eclipse time.

- The first course of the moon is around itself, and its angled speed around itself equals to its angled speed around the Earth. Therefore, we always watch the front face of the moon.
- The second course of the moon is around the Earth, where the moon turns around the Earth every (24 hours) (348 °), or traversed (348) longitude; or the course of the moon decreases about (12 °) or (12) longitude every (24 hours).
- The third course is the outer course of the moon from which we watch the enlightened amount on the moon face, as Allah quoted in (Surah Yasin- 39):

(In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the most merciful)

(وَالقَمَرَ قَدَّرْنَاهُ مَنَازِلَ حَتَّى عَادَ كَالعُرْجُونِ القَدِيمِ) ( يس 39)
And the Moon, we have measured for her mansions (to traverse) till she returns like the old (and withered) lower part of a date stalk.

This course is performed every (29 days – 14 hours – 40 minutes), or (29.6) days which equals one hegira month.
Although, the sun turns (360 °) , and the moon turns (348 °) around the Earth during (24 hours); so this will lead to the retreating of the moon position from the position of the sunset with (12.15 °) daily.

The lighting of the front face of the moon increases but it decreases on the rear face, so we watch the full moon when the angle difference between the sun and the moon (180 °).
Then the lighting decreases on the front face and increases on the rear face until the crescent moon disappears after passing (29 days – 14 hours – 40 minutes) .
The sun and the moon are turning around the Earth clockwise with (a half degree) as an angled speed.
In fact, we notice that the position of the moon gets far away from any position on the earth by (14.5) longitude or degree per hour. So at the full moon it begins to appear at six from the east side, after passing 12 hours it begins to disappear at the west side, or it traversed (180) degree or longitude according to the earth.

The Seventh evidence:

At the equator, the hours of the night and the day equal yearly. Pursuant to that, there found the typical for studying crossing point of the equator and the longitude (Greenwich) because all the cities that locate on the equator, the sunrise and sunset time equals to (12 hours).

Therefore, the full moon will appear at the middle of hegira month at Greenwich at six p.m. from the east, the moon will move toward the west and at six a.m., and after (12 hours) it will disappear from the west.

This is another proof that the earth turns neither around itself nor around the sun.

The Eighth evidence:
There is in each second four main locations to the sun according to the earth during its rotation around the earth are:

(Sunrise–Sunset–Midday Sun “Noon Athan”–Midnight Sun).
The Midday sun times have been loaded over Mile metric papers according to Greenwich between tropic of cancer and tropic of Capricorn.
In addition, through one calendar year, we noticed that the movement of the sun between the two tropics according to the midday time: it drew the shape of number (8) in English
, and the day duration increases and decreases with (14.5) minutes during a calendar year over its average duration (24) hours.

Thus, the movement of the sun during one calendar year between tropic of Cancer and tropic of Capricorn draws the shape of the number (8) in English

not as said with ellipsoid shape.

The Ninth evidence:

The T.V. satellites are stable according to the earth with a fixed distance from the earth. Within tracks that make the gravity of the earth and the centrifugal force equal as the said thought.

However, if this satellite moves from its track just one meter, so the gravity of the earth is unable to get it back into its location. Therefore, if the earth moves around the sun by speed (100.000) km/h, then the moon and all satellites will leave the gravity of the earth.

The Tenth evidence:

In the vans that convey the liquid oil and water there are bars in their tanks to cool off the violent movement of the water during the varying speed of the van to conserve its balance.

If the earth moves around the sun with ellipsoid orbit by the gravity of the sun according to Kipller, so its movement speed will be changed between acceleration and slowness and the ocean water will then be affected between action and reaction.

Moreover, the wave and the violent movement of the water of the oceans more than (Tsunami).
Not with standing, the oceans do not have coolers to ease the movement of the water vibration.

The Eleventh evidence:

According to the scientific facts that planes are solid objects when they are on the earth as piece of it. When they fly in the atmosphere, they displace the air out of their front during their moving on.

So if the earth moved like the plane in the atmosphere, it would displace the air from its front and it would overpass the atmosphere within (3.5) seconds.
If the earth turns around itself by speed (1667) km/h, so the outer speed of air will be equal to the earth turning speed (1667) km/h but counter clockwise of the earth rotation. Here is evidence that the earth turns neither around itself nor around the sun with an ellipsoid orbit.

The Twelfth evidence:

The atmosphere around the earth is gaseous object and it is variant and compressible, we cannot grasp it unless we seize it.

Therefore, if the atmosphere moves with the earth as said, then the thickness of the atmosphere before the earth movement around the sun on the ellipsoid orbit will be less than at the rear position of the earth.
Moreover, the fact this thickness is equal and harmonised.
This is another evidence that the earth turns neither around itself nor around the sun with ellipsoid orbit.

The Thirteenth evidence:

When the plane overpasses the speed (1200) km/h, so the plane then penetrated the sound wall and a very powerful explosion will be heard

Therefore, if the earth moves around the sun with speed (100.000) km/h, then we will hear very powerful sounds at penetrating the sound wall.

The fourteenth evidence:

If the gravity of the earth had been able to hold and fix the atmosphere during its rotation around itself and around the sun, then it would have prevented the wind especially the tornado wind of the fifth level which its speed reaches to (250) km/h .

Charbel Marcel Baini and Ramona Ghannoum pre- wedding night

2009-11-14T20:16:00.000-08:00

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DI Urged Iraq again to sign the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions

2009-11-13T13:31:00.001-08:00

Defend International continues its lobbying efforts and congratulates Iraq on the Cabinet’s recent decision to join the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. Iraq's Cabinet recently made a decision to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
In the Iraq war of 1991, 24 to 30 million sub munitions were used in Iraq and Kuwait. In 2003, another two million sub munitions were dropped in Iraq. [1] As a country affected by cluster bombs, Iraq’s signature would send a strong signal to the world that cluster bombs are unacceptable weapons and enable Iraq to receive assistance for clearance of cluster bomb remnants and to help Iraqi victims.
Almost one year on from the historic signing of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo in December 2008, campaigners have today launched a call on governments to stem the flow of money to producers of these indiscriminate weapons. The new CMC campaign is entitled ‘stop explosive investments’.
"The ban will put a stop to future use of these weapons, but true success will be the difference it makes to people in affected countries like Iraq. No one should go through what I went through and the Iraqi authorities now have a real opportunity to make that a reality by signing the treaty." said Ms. Ayat Syleiman Ali, Iraqi cluster bomb survivor and member of the Ban Advocates group of survivor advocates.

Letter to His Excellency Hoshyar Zebari
Norway
29 May 2009

Mr. Hoshyar Zebari
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Opposite State Org. for Roads and Bridges
Karradat Mariam
Baghdad
Iraq

Dear Minister,
I am writing to congratulate Iraq on the Cabinet's recent decision to join the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions and urge swift signature of this important agreement.
This international treaty comprehensively prohibits cluster munitions, requires destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions within eight years and clearance of contaminated land within 10 years, and recognises the rights of individuals and communities affected by the weapon to receive assistance. Since December 2008, a total of 96 governments have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions including stockpilers, former users and producers of the weapon as well as affected countries from every region of the world.
Iraq participated in several diplomatic meetings held to develop the draft text of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the negotiations in May 2008. As an affected country Iraq should benefit from the Convention’s provisions on international cooperation and assistance.
Every country wishing to prevent further suffering from the horrors of cluster munitions should join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. This instrument is crucial to ensure the stigmatisation of cluster munitions to make sure this weapon is never used again.

Yours sincerely,

Widad Akrawi
President, Defend International

C.c:
• Dr Narmeen Othman, Minster of Environment
• Dr Ayaad Alsamaraee, Chair of Parliament
• Mr. Mustafa Radhi, Foreign Affairs Committee
• Mr Hadi Alameri, Defence Committee
• Dr. Hamid Al-Bayati, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Iraq to the United Nations, NY
• Mrs. Ahlam Al-Gailani, Counsellor, Switzerland