Salem-News.com Lebanon articles Page 17

Tawtin or Return: Divergent Views from Lebanon, But One Common Goal

The oft-expressed view that Palestinians secretly want to stay in Lebanon and abandon their right to return has been consistently refuted.

(SHATILA REFUGEE CAMP, Beirut) - Lebanese opponents of civil rights for Palestinian Refugees often use less objective and more crude wording to define "tawtin" ("settlement").

:ast summer parliament failed to enact laws that would allow the world's oldest and largest refugee community the basic civil right to work and to own a home, the "tawtin or return"

A `Karbala` Moment
Hezbollah is the New Government of Lebanon. Now What?

The United States’ hegemony continues to recede in the region and is increasingly viewed, post Palestine Papers, as the enemy of Arabs and Muslim.

(BEIRUT) - This observer tends to get a haircut about every four months whether I need it or not.

But this morning I got more than a trim from my Hezbollah friend and barber, Abass, named after Abass ibn Ali, the brother of Hussein, both martyrs and heroes of the epic 680 a.d. internecine Muslim battle at Karbala in present day Iraq.

Fatal Detraction?

The increasingly volatile pre trial phase of the Lebanon tribunal.

(BEIRUT Al Manar) - It appears that no acceptable compromise regarding the divergent Lebanese political stances relative to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) will be achieved.

Support for this hypothesis can be found in the past 24 hours activities of the would-be mediators. The Saudi King Abdullah, ‘lifted our hand’ (i.e. abandoned mediation) cold.

Hezbollah`s Nasrallah Could be Right

A Mossad agent? Very possible.
A CIA agent? Again, very possible.
A Hezbollah agent? Unlikely, or so it seems to me.

(LONDON) - It’s not impossible that Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah was right when he described the tribunal investigating the assassination of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 as “an American and Israeli tool”.

Though I myself see Israel’s military and political leaders as those with most to gain - I mean thinking they have most to gain - from a successful attempt to pin the blame on Hezbollah.

What now for Lebanon?

Despite civil war still being talked about as a possibility here in Lebanon, it has proven impossible to ignite to date even though it would suit US-Israel political goals.

(SOUTH BEIRUT, Lebanon Al Manar) - Informed sources at the White House confirm will indict Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Wali al Faqui for issuing the order to assassinate Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The US and Israel believe Iran’s motive was that PM Hariri was considered a serious threat to Tehran and Damascus because their intelligence agencies established that Hariri was conspiratorially linked to Saudi Arabia, France and the United States--and by extension, Israel.

Why Hezbollah Walked

“The armed forces of Lebanon, Hezbollah and its allies, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel and Iran are on military alert...” - the young man who works in the phone shop near my flat whispered.

(SOUTH BEIRUT, Lebanon) - “ In case no one has noticed, the Obama administration just gifted Lebanon to Iran. Washington earlier presented Iraq, Afghanistan, the Gulf, and Pakistan. Could it be more clear that Iran’s strategic trump card is America’s subservience to Israel?

For Iran, Israel’s strangle hold on the US government is the gift that keeps on giving.

State Dept. Issues Vocabulary List for Lebanon

Justice, stability, and peace are, of course, terms that have at no time in the nation’s history been applicable to Lebanon or to U.S. foreign policy goals in the region.

(WASHINGTON D.C.) - During the course of yesterday’s U.S. State Department daily press briefing, Assistant Secretary Philip J. Crowley used the word “stability” 14 times and the word “instability” 4 times in his discussion of the collapse of Lebanon's government.

The ministers resigned over the investigation of the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Hezbollah suggests the tribunal's more concerned with investigating some groups than others.

Israel`s Assault on Human Rights

The ongoing delegitimization of those watchdogs of democracy—human rights NGOs, the press and public intellectuals—is leading Israel down a steep and slippery slope.

(BETHLEHEM) - Imagine a college student returning to her university after spending Christmas break at home.

At the airport she logs on to the Internet to double check some of the sources she used in her final take-home exam for the course “Introduction to Human Rights.”

UN Chief Closely Following Developments in Lebanon, Urges Calm and Dialogue

The situation in Lebanon has been marked by rising tensions in recent months...

(GENEVA) - The UN is closely monitoring developments in Lebanon and has emphasized the importance of preserving calm there, his spokesperson said today.

“The Secretary-General further calls for continuing dialogue among all parties and respect for the constitution and the laws of Lebanon,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement.

Any Respect for International Law Left in the US Congress?

Americans foot the bill for ruthless madness and carnage in Palestine...

(BEIRUT, Lebanon) - This week marks the second anniversary of among the most savage criminal slaughters of human life in long memory.

The 522 hour indiscriminate carnage, “Cast Lead” that killed 1,417 Palestinians, mostly civilians, 352 of them children, injuring for life more than 5,300, indicts Israel as well as those countries that continue to supply it weapons...