Hizbullah Stays on U.S. Terrorist Black List

The United States will pressure Iran and Syria to stop backing Hizbullah, whose armed wing will remain on Washington's list of terrorist groups, a U.S. official here said Friday. "American policy on Hizbullah is not going to change," said Scott Carpenter, a deputy assistant secretary of state who spoke during the World Economic Forum summit at the Dead Sea resort. "They remain on our terrorist list." Carpenter accused the group of seeking the armed overthrow of the Lebanese government, and said as long as Hizbullah maintains an arsenal, "we will continue to confront it" and its foreign backers. "We will put a great deal of pressure on Syria and Iran to stop funding and supplying Hizbullah," said Carpenter, who sat on a three-member panel discussing political developments in Lebanon. "If you want to play a role in the democratic process, you shouldn't have arms and you shouldn't be receiving a great deal of money and support from outside Lebanon." But a speaker on the same panel said Washington's terror labeling of Hizbullah -- which the Bush administration recently extended to the group's Al-Manar television channel -- is counterproductive and contributes to the gulf between Americans and Arabs by widening radicalism on both sides. "This unilateral labeling and condemning and threatening and changing regimes and terrorist attacks, has got to change -- on both sides," said Rami Khouri, editor-at-large of The Daily Star, a Beirut daily newspaper. If Al-Manar TV is a terrorist organization, as Washington has decreed, Khouri said, "we can make the case that Fox TV is a weapon of mass destruction." Most Lebanese credit the group for forcing the Israelis to end their decades-long occupation of part of Lebanon, and support the integration of Hizbullah into Lebanon's security services. The United States has backed similar transformations of Iraqi militias, where Kurdish and other armed wings of political parties have changed their uniforms and joined the Iraqi security services. Khouri said Hizbullah had many admirable characteristics: a tight organization, a clear ideology and effective social welfare wing. "It's the only real political party in the Arab world," Khouri said, jokingly comparing Hizbullah's otherworldly credentials to those claimed by U.S. President Bush. "They have a direct line to God and to the neighborhood. Sounds a lot like George Bush," Khouri joked. Carpenter said the United States remains "deeply concerned" about covert presence of Syrian security services in Lebanon. "We need to make sure the temptation to re-enter through the back door, the side door, the basement, through the roof or through a window that's left open," he said.(AP)

Aoun Sees Geagea in Yarze Prison for 1 Hour

Gen. Aoun held an hour-long meeting with Lebanese Forces commander Samir Geagea at his prison in the defense ministry compound in Yarze Wednesday. There was no one else in Geagea's prison room when the meeting began at 8 a.m. and ended with Aoun's emergence at 9 a.m. to call on Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman at his Yarze command post. Aoun was driven from his Rabieh mansion to Yarze in a heavily escorted motorcade, arriving half an hour before the meeting with Geagea was to begin. "The hatchet of the past is buried once and for all," Aoun told a news conference in Rabieh shortly after the visit. "Keeping him in prison is an injustice... I declare my solidarity with him until he is released," Aoun said. Aoun said the meeting symbolized a new beginning. "The visit lays the foundations for a new relationship within the democratic process we are witnessing today, and within the framework of letting go of the past which is now part of history," he said. He described the meeting with Geagea as "cheerful" and positive, saying they talked more about "spiritual matters" than politics. Aoun said Geagea was in good health, and that he found him "psychologically very sound." He said they spoke freely in a meeting room, without supervision. Some unconfirmed reports said the two were separated by a glass pane.(Naharnet-AP)

U.S. Pledges Open-Ended Support to Lebanon's Post-Syria Transformation

U.S. ambassador Jeffrey Feltman has given the most emphatic outline so far of the Bush administration's policy toward Lebanon in the aftermath of Syria's evacuation, pledging support to the transformation process in the May-June elections and afterwards.
Feltman made the move after a closed-doors meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir at his Bkirki seat on Monday, which grabbed page-one headlines of the Beirut press on Tuesday.

Reading from a written statement after the meeting, Feltman said the United States was promoting a process in cooperation with the international community by which the Lebanese people themselves will have the freedom to determine their own fate.

"This process does not aim to replace one type of foreign interference with another but is designed to return decision making for Lebanon fully back into the hands of the Lebanese," he said.

"The process that the international community is supporting has several components. One important milestone was the departure, less than one month ago, of all Syrian military forces from Lebanon accompanied by the closure of important Syrian Military Intelligence offices."

Feltman gave the credit for Syria's departure to strong international consensus and the Lebanese people's resolve that was ignited by ex-Premier Hariri's assassination.

"The photographs beamed around the world of the Lebanese people working together on March 14 inspired the world and renewed the international commitment to assist the Lebanese in this process," the ambassador said.

"According to our analysis, the fact that most Syrian assets were withdrawn shows how much the Lebanese can accomplish when they pull together," he added.

Feltman stressed the U.S. support for the investigation of Hariri's murder by a newly formed U.N. Commission of Inquiry.

"The United States, with the international community, also supports the upcoming legislative elections in the timeframe announced by the Government of Lebanon," he said.

"We view these elections as another important step toward the full recovery of Lebanese sovereignty and independence. In that regard, we welcome the commitment of the Government of Lebanon to cooperate fully with international election monitors and those providing technical assistance," Feltman added.

"It is worth noting that, in our view, the process of Lebanon's transformation does not end with the conclusion of the upcoming elections. The international community and the United States stand ready to assist the Parliament and the Cabinet that will emerge from these elections as they work to address the needs of Lebanon and to serve as credible representatives of all of the population of Lebanon." the ambassador asserted.

"It is clear to us that the people of Lebanon are asking not only for a complete recovery of Lebanon's sovereignty. The Lebanese people are also demanding a meaningful reform program that will restore people's confidence in their governing institutions. To the extent that U.S. assistance is welcome in this process, we look forward to promoting these Lebanese goals," Feltman said.

Israeli Jets Blast South Lebanon, Avenging Cross-Border Hizbullah Attacks

<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Israel scrambled up fighter bombers to blast Hizbullah positions in South Lebanon on Friday, sharpening a wave of tension gripping the Lebanon-Israel border. <BR>The air strikes were followed up by a rocket shooting helicopter forays in which three missiles were unleashed suspecting Hizbullah's strongholds in South Lebanon's olive grows.</FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>The air activity came hard on the heels of a Hizbullah announcement that its fighters on Friday rocketed an Israeli army outpost in the Shabaa Farms zone. </FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Lebanese police reported the air strikes after the Israeli army said it retaliated to a Hizbullah cross-border attack of Katyusha rockets in the Shabaa enclave.</FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hizbullah said Friday its fighters rocketed an Israeli army outpost in the Shabaa Farms zone and Israel said its army had retaliated aggravating a new wave of tension gripping the Lebanon-Israel border this week.</FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hizbullah community in Beirut had said its fighters shelled the Israeli forward position at Rouaisat El-Alam in retaliation for Israeli attacks in South Lebanon. </FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Israeli army said it retaliated without saying exactly where and how. </FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Israel had earlier said it lodged a complaint against Lebanon for three cross-border rocket attacks mounted from the southern frontier on its northern flank in the past twenty four hours. </FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Israel holds Lebanon responsible for what happens on its border," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told public radio, adding his country had no interest in escalating tension along its northern border.</FONT><I><FONT face=Arial size=2>(Naharnet-AFP)</FONT></I></DIV>

Maronite Church Warns against Electing Christians by Muslim Vote

The Maronite Church on Wednesday warned of holding Lebanon's upcoming parliamentary elections under the 2000 law, saying it would bring about "grave consequences that we do not want to happen."
"Pardoned is the one who has forewarned," were the alarm words used for the first time by the Maronite bishops in an official statement summing up the outcome of an emergency meeting they held under Patriarch Sfeir in Bkirki at midmorning.

The statement said the 2000 law, which was promulgated under Syria's tutelage, constitutes a 'cruel injustice' for Lebanon's Christians, who are entitled for one half of parliament's 128 seats under the 1989 Taif accord, which halted the civil war and later became the nation's constitution.

"Instead, the current law enables the Christians to elect only 15 members to the new parliament from the 64 seats they are entitled for," the statement said. "The other 49 Christians will be elected by Muslim votes and thus they will owe allegiance to the Muslim leaders on whose lists they were elected."

The Maronite Church said the elections should be held under a new law making the precinct an electoral constituency to ensure a true representation of the Christians. "Otherwise there will be a Christian disenchantment with which Lebanon will be in discomfort."

The statement did not propose a way out of the current impasse, admitting that time has run out for promulgating a new law in time for the May-June elections. It added: "We call on all Lebanese officials to act and prevent the harmful repercussions of this law."

Syria Admits Holding Lebanese' in its Jails

Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otri has admitted for the first time that Syria does hold Lebanese in its jails, calling them terrorists.
The admission came in the course of an interview published by the Madrid daily El Pais Wednesday just as Otri and visiting Lebanese Premier Najib Mikati were announcing the formation of a joint committee to look into the question of Lebanese prisoners in Syria.

"It is a question going back 25 to 30 years during the civil war," he said. He claimed that the detainees were members of the South Lebanon Army commanded at the time by Gen. Antoine Lahd which cooperated with the Israeli army then occupying southern Lebanon.

"These people were fighting alongside Israel and killed Syrian soldiers. Obviously they were punished, like terrorists in Spain or other countries," Otri said.

He declined to give a figure, saying only that "they do not exceed the number of terrorists currently being held in Madrid."

But families in Beirut speak of more than 500 Lebanese missing in Syria and have pleaded with the United Nations to intervene to determine their fate, saying they want their loved ones back dead or alive.(AFP-Naharnet)

Rain-Soaked Opposition Activists Ring Parliament for Geagea's Release

Thousands upon thousands of opposition activists staged a sit-in protest at the rain drenched outskirts of parliament in downtown Beirut Wednesday, shouting demands that Lebanese Forces commander Samir Geagea be freed from 11 years in jail 'at once.' More than 40 opposition members of parliament took part in the mass protest amid hostile chants against Speaker Berri for failing to convene a special session of parliament to vote on a draft bill for an unconditional Geagea parole. Geagea's wife, Sitrida, drew thunderous applause when she arrived at the sit-in scene in the downtown Riyadh Solh square on the northern entrance to parliament, wearing a white blouse over blue jeans and escorted by a squad of LF bodyguards. She has said that Berri had promised her to hold a parliament session on May 20 to vote a parole for her husband. But the local media said Wednesday Berri is determined not to let the current parliament convene before the end of its mandate on May 31. Mrs. Geagea was flanked on the frontline of the sit-in by Marwan Hamadeh, Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblat's senior-most aide who survived a car-bomb assassination attempt Oct. 1 on one side, and legislator Naila Mouawad, widow of Lebanon's first post-civil President Rene Mouawad who was assassinated in 1989, on the other. The protestors waved Lebanese flags and brandished life-size portraits of Geagea as well as slain ex-Premier Hariri and Gen. Aoun, who is scheduled to return from 14 years in exile in France on Saturday. Crowds chanted "without Geagea, without Aoun, no national unity will dawn." Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party activists turned out en masse for the protest, standing shoulder-to-shoulder next to protestors from the LF, Hariri's Tayyar Al Mustaqbal Movement, Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and Elias Atallah's Democratic Left organization. One opposition leader after another addressed the crowds from a make-shift podium, urging Berri to convene a parliament meeting to vote on Geagea's release. But whenever Berri's name was pronounced, the crowds booed. The media said the 2-hour peaceful sit-in has showed all major factions of the opposition solidly united in a national front that would contest the May-June elections with united lists despite earlier reports of inter-opposition cracks.

Lahoud, Berri Clash over Electoral Law, Geagea's Release

President Lahoud has intervened in a raging clash between the opposition and Syria's 'residual' loyalists over the method with which to hold the May-June legislative elections, urging Speaker Berri to bow to demands for an urgent session of parliament to promulgate a district-based electoral law. Lahoud used his constitutional powers for the first time since 1998 to address a letter to the speaker of parliament, saying the legislature should "take into consideration the need to hold the parliamentary elections on their constitutional deadlines under a law that guarantees the best expression of the will of the people, the sovereign source of all powers." An Nahar said "this exceptional initiative is only morally binding on Berri to convene an urgent session of the parliament to listen to the president's letter," which discourses at length on the shortcomings of the electoral law of 2000, which would be employed in the upcoming elections if parliament is prevented from writing a new one. The president is constitutionally obligated to sign the decree that invites the Lebanese to the May 29 polls on deadline on Thursday. Unless a new electoral law is promulgated by then, he will have to call the elections within the 2000 law. An Nahar said it could not reach Berri by telephone overnight for a reaction to Lahoud's move. But Al Bayrak newspaper, which is close to the Baabda Palace, quoted Berri as telling aides that no parliamentary sessions would be held for passing a new electoral law or to vote on Samir Geagea's release from jail. The 2000 law, which was promulgated under Syria's hegemony, would help Berri and Hizbullah to maintain their hold on south Lebanon, which Berri needs to keep on the speaker's gavel. A district-based law would help the opposition to make inroads into the south and stop Berri from maintaining the post for a fourth straight 4-year term since 1992.

Jumblat Sees Sfeir, Sitrida, Rejects Charges of Betraying Allies

Druze leader Walid Jumblat, bent anew on ousting President Lahoud from power, held extensive talks with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir behind closed doors in Bkirki Tuesday and came out to defend himself against charges of betraying his Christian opposition allies.
Jumblat surprisingly drove straight from Bkirki to Zouk Mosbeh and met with Sitrida Geagea, pledging in a joint news conference afterwards to escalate opposition efforts to free Samir Geagea from jail before the upcoming legislative elections.

"I am calling from this podium on the Progressive Socialist Party activists to turn out en masse at Wednesday's scheduled sit-near parliament and express solidarity with Lebanese Forces protestors to press for Samir Geagea's freedom," Jumblat said.

Jumblat has been showered with accusations that he had concluded an under-the-table deal with Hizbullah and Speaker Berri's Amal movement behind the back of opposition allies to hold the May-June elections under the existing electoral law that had been promulgated in 2000 under Syria's influence.

Denying any such deal, Jumblat said from Bkirki's press podium that he has been publicly, not secretly, advocating an opposition dialogue with Hizbullah and Amal as representative of the loyalist camp to map out a coexistence strategy for the post-Syria epoch.

"I want to point out that I have been calling for a dialogue with Hizbullah and Amal only and none of the other loyalist groupings," Jumblat stressed, excluding an assortment of other pro-Syrian factions such as the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, Nasser Kandil, Abdul Rahim Murad and other individuals.

"If anyone else from the opposition has a better idea for a dialogue with others, let him come forth and say it. I may obey if the opposition as a whole so decides," Jumblat added.

He also asserted that the issue of Hizbullah's arms should be 'Lebanonized,' and resolved through inter-Lebanese dialogue bereft of any western pressure.

Jumblat said he advocated a strong participation of the opposition in Premier Mikati's new government to be able to enforce its policies. "But I had been overruled like I was overruled on the question of promptly ousting President Lahoud," Jumblat lamented.

"Now look at what we're consequently facing. Opportunists who have long been Syrian lackeys, not allies but lackeys, are trying to out-auction under the pretext of defending suppressed Christian rights," Jumblat said, obviously referring to Lahoud and his son-in-law Elias Murr, the defense minister, although he declined to name names.

Berri Blasted for Plotting to Exclude Christians from Decision-Making

Speaker Berri has come under intense opposition fire with charges falling upon him from all directions that he is scheming to keep the nation's Christian community out of the decision-making process in spite of Syria's evacuation of Lebanon. Berri is also squarely accused in a rarely matched hostile barrage that he is preventing parliament from holding a legislative session to vote into law a draft bill that makes the small district as the electoral constituency before the May-June elections are held. "Berri is not behaving as a parliament speaker for the whole of Lebanon. He is taking sides rather than being the arbiter among various parties. He is a party, heading the Ein El-Tineh coalition of remnants of Syria's loyalists," said An Nahar's executive Editor Edmond Saab in a Beirut TV interview. Saab said Syria's allies should realize that a new era has set in after the evacuation and the opposition would win the majority to rule in the elections whichever law is employed. Berri may not be the speaker of the next parliament," Saab warned. Spokesmen for various Christian opposition groupings are bluntly accusing Berri of trying to salvage Syria's influence in Lebanon despite the military evacuation. "He is personally to blame for standing in the way of a parliamentary session to vote on the district-based electoral law and on Geagea's parole," said opposition legislator Nihmatallah Abi Nasr.