Archive for December, 2009
A Village Claimed by Three Countries
Ghajar, a 2000-strong village which straddles the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, is a territory claimed by three countries: Lebanon, Israel and Syria.
Recent talk of splitting the village between Israel and Lebanon has villagers incensed and taking to the streets.
“Nobody wants this,” Najib Khatib, a village leader, tells The Media Line. “It’s not enough that we are essentially living within a prison, now they want to put a fence right in the middle.”
“They are going to divide families, take mothers from their kids,” he says. “Yet the government is not updating us, not including us in the decisions, and not even informing us. Nobody cares about us, they treat us like animals and we hear about the future of the village from the media.”
“We have no problem if Israel wants to return the entire village to Lebanon,” Khatib adds. “But not as refugees without our lands. We are one united village. The entire village is one big family and we won’t let the U.N. come in just to divide us.” Source: the media line
Viva Palestina convoy to leave for Gaza from Syria’s Lattakia
The Viva Palestina humanitarian convoy, led by British lawmaker George Galloway, is set to leave Syria’s Lattakia port Wednesday afternoon and head for the Egyptian harbor of El-Arish to enter the Gaza Strip, the official SANA news agency reported.
Galloway, founder of Viva Palestina Association, told a press conference held Tuesday evening that “the convoy is carrying humanitarian aid and medicines to the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip without any political objectives.”
The international humanitarian aid convoy consists of around 250 vehicles, carrying humanitarian relief from Europe, Turkey and Arab countries, including food and medical equipment. Xinhua
Baroud defends Interior ministry and criticizes Future block
During an interview with LBC, Lebanon’s Interior Minister Ziad Baroud responded to future movement criticism of his ministry over its lack of action following the Haret Hraik explosion by saying :The primary parties responsible for investigating the case are the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the Lebanese judicial system.” He said Future Movement bloc statement “does not foster the prevailing positive atmosphere in the cabinet.”
March 14: Nasrallah made striking contradictions in his speech
Following its routine meeting on Wednesday, the March 14 General Secretariat issued a statement criticizing Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech :
“Nasrallah committed a mistake in style and substance and made striking contradictions,” the statement said.
The statement called on Nasrallah and Hezbollah to maintain a “calm approach” to sensitive matters and also called for a sovereign state that ensures citizens’ safety and relief.
The alliance also said there is a contradiction between Hezbollah’s call for the government to enter Dahiyeh under the slogan of the “Order Comes from Faith” campaign and between forbidding the state from exerting its authority, a reference to the fact that Hezbollah security members gave the state’s security services access to the crime scene only 19 hours after the Hamas explosion in Haret Hraik that resulted in the killing of 3 and several injuries
Lebanon’s President and First Lady headed to Paris
President Michel Suleiman headed to Paris along with the First Lady Wafaa on a private visit.
Hezbollah members among victims of Haret Hraik blast
Investigation of the mysterious explosion in the Hamas office of Haret Hraik, a southern Beirut suburb has revealed that the blast went off in an underground depot and was not caused by a donation box as claimed by the Palestinian movement.
An Nahar newspaper said investigators are now checking the damaged vehicles to find out whether they were stolen or not. They reiterated that 15 kilograms of TNT were used.
Asharq al-Awsat reported that Hezbollah members were trying to dismantle a bomb at the Hamas office when the blast went off.
Among the victims were the Hezbollah fighters, the sources said, adding that trucks coming out of the blast area before the arrival of Lebanese security and judicial investigators were most probably carrying the bodies of the victims. Hezbollah did not reveal any information about its own victims , while Hamas said that only two of its members were killed in the mysterious blast.
Military court judge Rahif Ramadan continued his investigation into the case and heard the testimonies of several witnesses and injured.
Many in Lebanon are questioning the presence of a Hamas office in Haret Hraik and whether the government knew anything about it
Egypt agrees to buy up to 24 Lockheed F-16C/D fighter aircraft
Egypt has struck a deal to buy up to 24 advanced Lockheed Martin Corp F-16C/D fighter aircraft in a package worth as much as $3.2 billion
The U.S. and Egyptian governments signed an agreement on Dec. 24 for block 50/52 models that will upgrade Egypt’s existing F-16 fleet, said Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon’s top supplier by sales.
“It is an agreement between the governments,” George Standridge, Lockheed Aeronautics’ vice president for business development, said in a telephone interview. Lockheed now awaits a U.S. government contract in turn. Reuters
Ayatollah making some in Iran think of the Shah
He was progressive when it came to bringing Iran into the modern age but his police were brutal killers and murderers. His actions opened the doors for the return of the Ayatollah’s and the establishment of the first modern Islamic state but now it seems to some in and outside Iran they have replaced one dictator with another. He was the royal monarch Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. Today with Iran in the middle of it’s greatest unrest since the fall of the Shah, an Ayatollah is trying to put down the demonstrators and calling for their death.
There are many Persians inside and outside Iran who feel a dictator is a dictator no matter which robes he wears; those of a monarch or those of a clergyman. Source: examiner.com
Phalange MP: Nasrallah speech was a bigger surprise to his allies
Phalange MP Elie Marouni during an interview with Future TV responded to the speech of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah by saying : His speech was a bigger surprise to his christian allies than to the Christians of March 14 alliance. Nasrallah gave the Christian 2 options in the form of a threat either to follow the Iranian -Syrian axis or face the same fate as the Christians of Iraq. We reject both options. Our experience has taught us that Lebanon should be a country of institutions with one army . He said Nasrallah will never be able to sleep safely unless Lebanon has one army that protects him , defend the borders and the integrity of the country
Yemenis question classmates of failed bomber
Authorities in Yemen questioned people at a mosque and a school in the capital of Sanaa because the facilities were attended by attempted bombing suspect Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the spokesman for Yemen’s Embassy to the United States said Tuesday.
Mohammed al-Basha told CNN’s “The Situation Room” that conversations with AbdulMutallab’s former acquaintances have not yet turned up links to the local al Qaeda group, which has claimed responsibility for AbdulMutallab’s attempt to bring down a Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day.
“According to the questionings carried on today by his classmates and administrative officials of the school, [Umar] was a friendly person and did not ring any alarm bells,” he said.
“We knew he attended school in Yemen, and one of the mosques he was visiting in Sanaa we’ve been surveying and questioning some of the people there to see whether he has links or not,” he said. CNN
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