Hamas, Fatah to attempt reconciliation

Fatah officials will meet with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Masha’al in Damascus to discuss Palestinian unity, a Hamas official in Gaza said.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a Hamas official in Gaza told Ma’an news agency the meeting was set for Thursday to bring an end to the ongoing dispute. (more…)

Obama: It’s 2 states or 1 state (not Israel)

One sentence in the speech, President Obama delivered today at the United Nations General Assembly jumps off the page.

If an agreement is not reached, Palestinians will never know the pride and dignity that comes with their own state. Israelis will never know the certainty and security that comes with sovereign and stable neighbors who are committed to co-existence. The hard realities of demography will take hold. (more…)

Karam rushed to Hotel Dieu Hospital

Several local media sources reported on Thursday that Senior Free Patriotic Movement official, retired Brigadier General Fayez Karam, was rushed to the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Beirut to undergo emergency heart surgery. (more…)

French envoy: It is not the end of the world if STL indicts Hezbollah members

French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton said in an interview with An-Nahar newspaper published on Thursday, that “it would not be the end of the world” if Hezbollah members were indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). (more…)

Clinton to stress US commitment to Lebanon sovereignty

An Nahar newspaper reported Thursday.that President Michel Suleiman will meet U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session in New York.

Clinton will stress to Suleiman “our commitment to Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon,” a State Department official told An Nahar. (more…)

Everyone knows STL will target Hezbollah, says official

Agriculture Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan, a key Hezbollah official told New TV on Wednesday that everyone knows that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL)’s pending indictment will target his party.

“In my opinion, indicting Hezbollah in the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is unacceptable,” Hajj Hassan said. (more…)

Saudi envoy: Lebanese should have a plan to deal with STL indictments

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Assiri has reportedly stressed during a meeting with a Hezbollah delegation on Wednesday “the importance of permanent communication.

The delegation was dispatched to the Saudi Embassy in Beirut by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah . (more…)

Sakr: Sayyed is ‘the primary false witness’

March 14 MP Okab Sakr told Akhbar al-Yawn news agency on Wednesday that former General Security chief Jamil as-Sayyed is “the primary false witness” in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

“Hezbollah must start penalizing the primary false witness, which is now known and uncovered,” Sakr said. (more…)

Karam confessed that Aoun knew about his spying, report

MTV quoted a Free Patriotic Movement source as saying that the reason behind MP Michel Aoun’s campaign against the police Intelligence Bureau and Attorney General Said Mirza is a confession made by FPM official, retired Col. Fayez Karam, before Investigating Judge Riad Abu Ghaida, in which he confirmed Aoun’s knowledge of his spying activity for Israel since 2006 at least. (more…)

Cabinet calls for dialogue to ease tension

Lebanon’s cabinet has urged rival political parties to engage in dialogue amid an escalating war of words between Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s camp and Hezbollah that has raised fears of sectarian violence.

“The cabinet insisted on the need to put an end to the media war, to protect state institutions (…) and to resort to dialogue, (more…)