LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 20/17

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For Today
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12/32-34/:"‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one
Letter to the Ephesians 06/10-18/:"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 19-20/17
Aoun, Hariri refuse to sign Machnouk’s election decree/Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star/February 20/17
Report: Arab states warned Hezbollah of Israeli retaliation/Kais/Ynetnews/February 19/17
'Hezbollah might have game-changing naval missiles'/Ronen Bergman/Ynetnews/February 19/17
Arab world leaders confused by Trump/Smadar Perry/Ynetnews/February 19/17
Israel and Saudi Arabia close ranks against Iran/Itamar Eichner and Reuters|/Ynetnews/February 19/17
War Is the Climate Risk That Europe's Leaders Are Talking About/Jonathan Tirone/Bloomberg/February 19/17
Report: Netanyahu rejected peace plan proposed by Kerry at secret 2016 meeting/Jerusalem Post/February 19/17
A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Germany: January 2017/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/February 19, 2017
The Vatican's Relations with Islam/Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/February 19, 2017

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on February 19-20/17
France's Le Pen arrives in Lebanon
Aoun, Hariri refuse to sign Machnouk’s election decree
Aoun, others hit back at Israel over 1701
Army Stops Foodstuffs Truck Destined for Arsal Jihadists
Ibrahim Vows 'No Leniency with Terrorism, Israeli Enemy'
Bassil: They're Wasting Time but We'll Reach New Law Containing Proportional Representation
Kanaan: We're Obliged to Reach Consensus on a New Electoral Law
Aoun: Any Israeli Attempt to Harm Lebanese Sovereignty Will Meet Appropriate Response
Fneish Says Resistance Complements Army's Anti-Israel Role
4 Syrians Held in Koura Town on Suspicion of Terrorist Ties
Khalil: Salary scale approval is State's duty
Franjieh, Solh convene
Citizen arrested for smuggling food to terrorist groups in Arsal
Army arrests Palestinian on shooting charges at Ain elHilweh entrance
Army: Enemy gunboat breaches territorial waters off Ras Naqoura
Fneish: Whoever thinks of weakening resistance ignores Lebanon's interest
Truck loaded with food ceased in Ersal outskirts
'Israeli threats to Lebanese sovereignty will meet appropriate response'
Report: Arab states warned Hezbollah of Israeli retaliation
'Hezbollah might have game-changing naval missiles

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 19-20/17
Syria Regime Shelling 'Bloody Message' before Talks, Says Opposition
De Mistura Questions U.S. Engagement on Syria
Report: Netanyahu Held Secret Arab Peace Meeting
Land, People Exchange Key to 2-State Solution, Says Lieberman
U.S.-Led Coalition Praises 'Militias' Fighting in Iraq
350,000 Children Trapped in West Mosul, Says NGO
Iraq Digs Anti-IS Trench around City of Ramadi
U.N. in 'Race against Clock' to Prepare for West Mosul Exodus
Israel-U.S. Team to Discuss Settlements Says Netanyahu
Kuwait Jails Senior Official for Joining IS Jihadists
Venezuela, U.S. Clash over Political Prisoners
Iraq Forces Launch Assault to Retake West Mosul
At least 14 killed, 30 injured in Mogadishu car bombing in Somalia: Officials
Avalanche kills seven in northern Pakistan

Links From Jihad Watch Site for on February 19-20/17
After Islamic jihadi attacks Ohio State students, campus hosts talk on “Islamophobia”
Washington Post gives Georgetown prof Jonathan Brown platform to explain away his pro-slavery remarks
Muslim Olympian who claimed she was detained because of Trump ban actually detained under Obama
Toronto mosque: “O Allah! Give us victory over the disbelieving people…slay them one by one and spare not one of them”
UK: Headteacher gets death threats from Muslim parents over her “offensive clothes”
Denver: Muslim who shot transit guard says he did it for the Islamic State, investigators say he didn’t
Texas: Muslima kidnapped woman because her “lifestyle brought shame to the Muslim community”
Islamic Republic of Iran: Morality police beat, detain 14-year-old girl for wearing ripped jeans
Saudi Arabia deports 40,000 Pakistanis over jihad terror fears
Australia: Islamic State jihadi Khaled Sharrouf first to lose citizenship under anti-terror laws
Canada: Bomb-making materials found at Muslim teen’s home
At least 140 Somali refugees settled in US after court suspends ban

Links From Christian Today Site for February 19-20/17
Egyptian Christian Gunned Down By Suspected ISIS Militants
Iraq Launches Final Offensive To Kick ISIS Out Of Mosul
Roe Vs Wade Landmark Abortion Ruling Plaintiff Dies Aged 69
Suppressing Free Press Is 'How Dictators Get Started' - US Republican John McCain
Trump's Team Is In Disarray, US Senator McCain Tells Europe
Christian Florist Barronelle Stutzman Loses Appeal Against Discrimination Conviction
Malaysia Arrests North Korean Man As Row Over Kim Jong Nam's Death Escalates
'I Just Grabbed God...' Musician And Anglican Priest Peter Skellern Dies Aged 69
Vatican Embassy Opened By Palestinians As Part Of Statehood Bid

Latest Lebanese Related News published on February 19-20/17
France's Le Pen arrives in Lebanon
The Associated Press/BEIRUT — Feb 19, 2017/The far-right French leader Marine Le Pen has arrived in Beirut to meet with the Lebanese head of state and leading Christian figures. The National Front leader is hoping to burnish her credentials as a defender of Christians in the Middle East, ahead of France's April 23 presidential elections. Le Pen is a leading candidate in the polls. She is running on an anti-immigrant and anti-European Union platform that critics say is a cover for islamophobia and xenophobia. Her arrival Sunday precedes two days of meetings with Lebanese President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil, Christian Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai, and Christian Lebanese politician Samir Geagea. Lebanon is a former French protectorate. Its Christians have long looked to France for security against the Middle East's turmoil.

Aoun, Hariri refuse to sign Machnouk’s election decree
Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star/February 20/17
BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun will not ink a decree signed by Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk calling on voters to prepare for the upcoming parliamentary elections in order to avoid the polls being held under the disputed 1960 majoritarian law, officials said Sunday.
In a show of solidarity with Aoun, Prime Minister Saad Hariri is also unlikely to sign Machnouk’s decree so as to avert a political spat with the president as efforts have been intensified to reach a new vote system to replace the 1960 law, a Future Movement MP said.
In a widely expected measure, Machnouk Saturday signed a decree calling voters to participate in parliamentary elections slated for May 21. However, the decree has not yet been sent to the prime minister and the president because it was signed three days ahead of the Feb. 21 constitutional deadline.
The decree calls on resident and nonresident members of the electorate to participate in the polls.
“Definitely, President Aoun will not sign the decree calling on voters to participate in elections when the decree is sent to Baabda Palace,” an official source at the presidential palace told The Daily Star. “Signing the decree will mean the president agrees to holding the elections under the current [1960] law.
“The president’s stance has not changed: The elections must be held under a new electoral law, with no return to the 1960 law,” the source said. He added that crossing the Feb. 21 deadline did not mean that efforts would stop to agree on a new vote system. “This deadline can be extended to March 21 or the country can go to a technical delay of the elections to give time for the implementation of a new electoral law.”
Aoun and his Free Patriotic Movement have reiterated their support for a vote system based on proportional representation, a stance backed by Hezbollah and the Amal Movement. “Although the president has proposed proportionality as the best electoral law, he is ready to accept any accord that might be reached by the rival factions on a draft law that achieves genuine popular representation, justice and equality among the Lebanese,” the source said. According to the source, “behind-the-scenes consultations are being held to reach a voting formula that blends [provisions] of the majoritarian and proportional systems and gains the approval of all the parties.”
Future Movement MP Mohammad Qabbani said he expected Hariri to refrain from signing Machnouk’s decree in order to avoid embarrassing Aoun over “something that will not lead to holding the elections.”“Prime Minister Hariri prefers to maintain accord and coordination with President Aoun over embarrassing him over the electorate decree,” Qabbani told The Daily Star.
Machnouk has said that he was “obliged” by law to call on voters to prepare for elections ahead of the Feb. 21 deadline. He said if rivals agreed on a new law, then a “technical” delay of elections would occur to train employees and explain the new law to voters. Last month he ordered provincial governors to kick off preparations for parliamentary elections, inspect polling stations throughout the country and report back to the ministry within 20 days.
During a Cabinet session last month, Aoun refused to discuss Machnouk’s demand for the formation of a 10-member commission to oversee the parliamentary elections before an agreement is reached on a new voting system.
MP Ibrahim Kanaan, head of the FPM’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc, said Machnouk’s decree would not go into effect unless it was signed by Aoun. “The president’s clear stance on [the need] to hold parliamentary elections under a new electoral law is irreversible,” Kanaan told LBCI.
In another interview with MTV Sunday, Kanaan said Aoun might call for a national dialogue to be attended by the country’s top leaders to agree on a new electoral law. “President Aoun will not keep silent,” he said.
Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the FPM leader, expressed confidence that a vote law partly based on proportionality would eventually be reached.
“Lebanon cannot bear the idea of exclusion or elimination of political, partisan or sectarian minorities. Hence, all sides have conceded the need to approve proportionality in an electoral law. Or else, Lebanon is heading toward the abyss, meaning a [parliamentary] vacuum that Lebanon has not experienced before,” Bassil told the Second Annual Conference for Municipalities organized by the FPM at Hilton Habtoor Hotel in Sin al-Fil.
Bassil said that the alternative to a parliamentary vacuum is the endorsement of a vote law that allows “elections and a political process in which all parties are represented.”
“We want the approval of a new electoral law. All discussions on proposed [vote] law do not ensure Christian representation of 64 MPs [half Parliament’s 128 members],” he added. Bassil voiced support for a hybrid vote law that calls for a qualifying round at the sectarian level and later voting at the proportional level.Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani, one of three Lebanese Forces ministers, defended a hybrid vote law. He said Machnouk’s call on voters to get ready for elections did not mean that the elections would be held under the 1960 law. “A hybrid law means each side must concede some of its demands. We are in a transitional stage and we must take into account the sectarian and provincial distribution [of parliamentary seats],” Hasbani told the Voice of Lebanon radio station. He called for putting the issue of a vote law quickly on the Cabinet agenda to endorse it.
MP Walid Jumblatt has ramped up his opposition to a proportional vote law by calling for the adoption of a modified version of the 1960 system, or the creation of a senate and the abolition of political confessionalism as stipulated by the 1989 Taif Accord.
Separately, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is set to leave Monday for Tehran to attend a regional conference. It was not immediately clear whether Berri would hold talks with senior Iranian officials during his visit.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet is scheduled to meet under Hariri at the Grand Serail Monday to resume talks on the 2017 draft state budget amid growing opposition among ministers to a series of proposed taxes to finance the public sector’s wage hike bill. Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil estimated the cost of financing the proposed salary scale bill at LL1.2 trillion ($800 million).

Aoun, others hit back at Israel over 1701
The Daily Star/February 20/17
BEIRUT: Following recent questions over Lebanon’s commitment to U.N. Resolution 1701, over the weekend President Michel Aoun lambasted Israel’s continued defiance of the agreement that ended the 2006 War. He also warned that any future Israeli aggression would not go unpunished, in a direct response to a recent letter sent to the U.N. by Israel’s envoy to the U.N. Dany Dannon concerning Hezbollah’s arms. “The one who needs to abide by U.N. Security Council decisions is Israel, before anyone else, because it continues to refuse the application of Resolution 1701,” Aoun told visitors of the Baabda Palace Saturday. “Israel has failed to [fully comply], from halting aggression to the phase of cease-fire, despite more than 11-years passing since the resolution. It continues to occupy Lebanese territories in the northern part of the Ghajar village, the Shebaa Farms and Kfar Shuba Hills, violating the [U.N.-marked] Blue Line and Lebanese airspace on a daily basis,” Aoun said. He added that Israel continues the displacement of half a million Palestinians that Lebanon continues to host, calling on the U.N. to enforce Article 51 of the body’s charter that gives Lebanon and its citizens the natural right to defend its land.
Dannon told the U.N. Security Council last Tuesday that Hezbollah now has more missiles belowground in Lebanon than the European NATO allies have aboveground. This drew a blistering response from Aoun, saying: “Israel will be completely responsible for any attack on Lebanon because the days in which it could practice its assault operations against Lebanon [without reaction] are over. Any attempt to target Lebanon’s sovereignty or put the Lebanese at risk will see an adequate response.” In a tweet Sunday, former President Michel Sleiman lauded Aoun’s quick response to the Israeli diplomat, saying this was the greatest sign of the strength of state institutions. aj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim echoed Aoun’s comments regarding the continued Israeli threat to Lebanon. “Let us not forget that we live in a region that engulfs our borders with terrorists from the enemy Israel or the takfiri enemy [of groups such as Daesh (ISIS)],” the General Security head said during a visit to Angola Sunday.Ibrahim cited the recent discovery of an Israeli spy network in Lebanon as evidence of continued threats.
“Do not underestimate the enemy Israel, as we recently unearthed an [Israeli] espionage network as well as many others in the past when they snuck into our land,” he said. The fiery back-and-forth came after Aoun was quoted on Feb. 13 as saying that Hezbollah’s arms complemented the Lebanese state security forces as the Army doesn’t have the means to fend off Israeli threats. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Ghassan Hasbani said he recognized Israeli aggression but called for Lebanon to distance itself from regional conflicts. “There is no interest for Lebanon to be part of the [regional] conflicts,” Hasbani said in a veiled response to Hezbollah’s participation in the Syrian war.Speaking in an interview with Voice of Lebanon (93.3 FM), Hasbani said that Lebanon only played a small part in regional events but should focus on state-building. “Israel poses a dangerous threat to the region in general, and Lebanon specifically, and the world powers have a part to play in this, but does this stop us from building a nation while we wait to see what Israel does?” the Lebanese Forces-aligned minister said. He called for a “moderation in the tones of speeches [by politicians] to safeguard Lebanon from negative consequences.”Separately, Iran’s Foreign Mohammad Javad Zarif said Hezbollah entered the Syrian war after Syrian President Bashar Assad asked for its intervention. Zarif told CNN in an interview aired late Friday that Hezbollah had taken part in the conflict in Syria “to prevent extremist forces [Daesh and other groups] from infiltrating into Lebanon.” He added that any attempt by extremists to enter Lebanon would be a “threat against [us] all.”

Army Stops Foodstuffs Truck Destined for Arsal Jihadists
Naharnet/February 20/17/The army on Sunday seized a truck loaded with foodstuffs that was headed for the jihadist groups in the outskirts of the Bekaa border town of Arsal, state-run National News Agency reported. “A truck loaded with foodstuffs and headed for the outskirts was stopped at the army's Wadi Hmeid checkpoint in Arsal,” NNA said, identifying the driver as Mohammed Aude, aka “al-Aqtash.”Militants from the jihadist Islamic State and Fateh al-Sham groups are entrenched in Arsal's outskirts and in mountainous areas along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border. The army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian army have engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border. The two groups briefly overran the town of Arsal in August 2014 before being ousted by the army after days of deadly battles. The retreating militants abducted more than 30 troops and policemen of whom four have been executed and nine remain in IS' captivity.

Ibrahim Vows 'No Leniency with Terrorism, Israeli Enemy'
Naharnet/February 20/17/General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has pledged that “there will be leniency with terrorism or the Israeli enemy.”“I'm fully confident that you know the extent of our sacrifices in General Security, together with the rest of the security institutions, to safeguard our country,” Ibrahim said during a ceremony that was thrown in his honor in Angola. General Security had announced in late January the arrest of two Lebanese men, two Nepalese women and a Palestinian man on charges of “spying for Israeli embassies abroad.” The investigations revealed that the two Nepalese detainees were actively recruiting Nepalese domestic workers in Lebanon with the aim of spying for Israel. The agency has also announced the busting of several cells linked to the terrorist Islamic State group in recent months.

Bassil: They're Wasting Time but We'll Reach New Law Containing Proportional Representation
Naharnet/February 20/17/Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Sunday called on some political parties not to “waste time,” stressing the need to pass a new electoral law containing the proportional representation system. “They wasted time and plunged Lebanon into a three-year vacuum but they eventually reached the same truth, which is the election of General (Michel) Aoun as president, and today they're wasting time, but we'll reach the same truth, which is a new electoral law containing proportional representation,” Bassil said. “We're two days from the date of calling the electoral bodies, which means that we've reached the red line,” he warned. “Lebanon does not bear exclusion or elimination and everyone has acknowledged the need to incorporate proportional representation into the electoral law, but implementation requires courage,” Bassil went on to say. He also noted that the FPM accepts to “lose 10 seats under proportional representation” whereas another group is refusing to lose “even a single seat.”The country has not organized parliamentary elections since 2009 and the legislature has instead twice extended its own mandate. While al-Mustaqbal Movement has rejected that the electoral law be fully based on proportional representation, arguing that Hizbullah's arms would prevent serious competition in the party's strongholds, Druze leader MP Walid Jumblat has totally rejected proportional representation, even within a hybrid law, warning that it would “marginalize” the minority Druze community. Hizbullah, Mustaqbal, AMAL Movement, the FPM and the Lebanese Forces are meanwhile discussing several formats of a so-called hybrid law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.

Kanaan: We're Obliged to Reach Consensus on a New Electoral Law
Naharnet/February 20/17/Change and Reform bloc secretary Ibrahim Kanaan has revealed that President Michel Aoun will not sign a decree that calls for parliamentary elections to be held on May 21. “Aoun has already announced that he will not sign the decree before an agreement is reached over a certain law,” Kanaan told al-Mustaqbal newspaper in remarks published Sunday. “We are obliged to agree on a new electoral law. The parliament's term expires in June and it can modify the deadlines before this date,” the MP added. The decree requires the signatures of both Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Sources close to the president told the newspaper that the decree has not yet reached the presidential palace. Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq had signed the decree on Saturday, three days before the February 21 deadline stipulated by the current electoral law, which is an amended version of the 1960 law. The country has not organized parliamentary elections since 2009 and the legislature has instead twice extended its own mandate. While al-Mustaqbal Movement has rejected that the electoral law be fully based on the proportional representation system, arguing that Hizbullah's arms would prevent serious competition in the party's strongholds, Druze leader MP Walid Jumblat has totally rejected proportional representation, even within a hybrid law, warning that it would “marginalize” the minority Druze community. Hizbullah, Mustaqbal, AMAL Movement, the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces are meanwhile discussing several formats of a so-called hybrid law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.

Aoun: Any Israeli Attempt to Harm Lebanese Sovereignty Will Meet Appropriate Response
Naharnet/February 20/17/President Michel Aoun has slammed a recent Israeli letter to the U.N., warning that any Israeli threats to Lebanon's sovereignty will be met with an “appropriate response.”Israeli envoy to the U.N. Danny Danon's letter is “a blatant Israeli attempt to threaten security and stability” in south Lebanon, Aoun said, warning that “any Israeli attempt to harm Lebanese sovereignty or expose the Lebanese to danger will be met with the appropriate response.”And warning that Danon's letter contained a “threat to Lebanon,” the president called on the international community to “pay attention to Israel's hostile intentions towards Lebanon.”“It is Israel that should abide by the Security Council resolutions, seeing as it is still refusing to implement Resolution 1701 or to move from the phase of the cessation of hostilities to the phase of ceasefire although the resolution was issued more than 11 years ago,” Aoun told visitors at the Baabda Palace. “It is also still occupying Lebanese territory in the northern part of the town of Ghajar as well as in the Shebaa Farms and Kfarshouba Hills, not to mention its daily violations of the Blue Line and Lebanese sovereignty in air and sea. The displacement of half a million Palestinians hosted by Lebanon also continues, which represents a continued aggression against Lebanon and its people,” Aoun added. The development comes days after Hizbullah and Israel exchanged threats. "If (Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah dares to fire at the Israel homefront or at its national infrastructure, all of Lebanon will be hit," Yisrael Katz, Israel's Minister of Intelligence, said Thursday in response to threats launched earlier in the day by Nasrallah. Nasrallah advised Israel to "dismantle the Dimona nuclear reactor," warning that it poses a threat to Israel's existence if hit by his group's missiles. A 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah killed about 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and around 160 Israelis mostly soldiers before ending in a United Nations-brokered cease-fire. The Israel-Lebanon border has remained mostly quiet since the 2006 war but there have been sporadic outbursts of violence.

Fneish Says Resistance Complements Army's Anti-Israel Role
Naharnet/February 20/17/Sport and Youth Minister Mohammed Fneish of Hizbullah stressed Sunday that Hizbullah's military role in the face of Israel complements that of the Lebanese army. “The Resistance enjoys the awareness and preparedness to pursue the Israeli enemy wherever its threat is present, in harmony with the army's role. This stance might not please some parties, but we insist on it,” Fneish said during a Hizbullah ceremony in south Lebanon. “The equation has become a reality and no one can dampen its characteristics, strength and results, especially that it has offered the Lebanese a feeling of serenity, recaptured the land, deterred the Israeli enemy, and made its leaders fear the growing strength of the Resistance,” the minister added. He underlined that “no one can think of weakening the Resistance's capabilities, unless they are stupid, conspiring or ignorant of their country's interest.” “The Palestine experience is the best testament about those who counted on the U.S., Europe and the international organizations,” Fneish pointed out. “Do you want us to renounce the strength of the resistance that is in our hands in order to endorse a futile approach that relinquishes objectives and rights?” President Michel Aoun had recently stressed that Hizbullah's weapons “do not contradict with the State,” drawing criticism from some of the party's opponents. “As long as there is Israeli-occupied land and as long as the army is not strong enough to fight Israel, we sense that there is a need for the presence of the resistance's arms so that they complete the army's weapons,” Aoun said in an interview on the Egyptian TV channel CBC.

4 Syrians Held in Koura Town on Suspicion of Terrorist Ties
Naharnet/February 20/17/Four Syrians were arrested Sunday in the town of Dahr al-Ain in the northern Koura district on suspicion of having ties to terrorist groups, state-run National News Agency reported. “A patrol from the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch raided Syrian refugee gathering in Dahr al-Ain where it arrested four Syrians from the Darwish family on suspicion of collaborating with terrorist groups,” NNA said. Lebanon's security services claim to have prevented several attacks in recent months. The country has been hit by several suicide bombings linked to jihadist groups fighting in neighboring Syria since war broke out there in 2011. Some of the most deadly attacks took place in strongholds of Hizbullah, which is fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's forces.The last attack carried out in Lebanon was in November 2015.

Khalil: Salary scale approval is State's duty
Sun 19 Feb 2017/NNA - Minister of Finance, Ali Hassan Khalil, said that it is the State's duty to approve the salary scale, noting that the approval of the budget can lead to the wage scale approval, and that is one of the challenges that Lebanon is facing. Minister khalil reiterated that the Liberation and Development bloc and their allies have presented the budget and the salary scale issue to the Parliament in order to become a law ready for implementation. "Salary scale is a focal point that must be achieved amongst a number of reforms which includes developmental and social benefits," the Minister went on during a funeral ceremony in South of Lebanon. He added that Lebanon was still in the eye of the storm,"regardless of the stability that are currently witnessing."

Franjieh, Solh convene
Sun 19 Feb 2017 /NNA - Al-Marada Movement Head, MP Sleiman Franjieh, met on Sunday at his Bnishi'i residence with Al-Walid ben Talal Institution Vice Head, former Minister Leila Solh.The encounter was a chance to conduct a tour d'horizon tackling various hour issues prevailing at the local and political scenes.

Citizen arrested for smuggling food to terrorist groups in Arsal
Sun 19 Feb 2017/NNA - Army units arrested at dawn on Sunday the citizen, Mohammed Hassan Audeh, at "Wadi Hmayid" Checkpoint in Arsal as he was driving a truck loaded with stones, hidden underneath of which were large amounts of food, as he tried to smuggle them to terrorist groups in the barren mountains of Arsal region, an Army communiqué indicated.

Army arrests Palestinian on shooting charges at Ain elHilweh entrance
Sun 19 Feb 2017/NNA - Army Intelligence arrested, on Sunday, a Palestinian by the name of Issa Qassem (nicknamed as "Poor Issa") at a military checkpoint at the entrance to Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp in the area of al-Hasba, on a judicial warrant for being involved in a shooting incident, NNA correspondent in Sidon reported.

Army: Enemy gunboat breaches territorial waters off Ras Naqoura
Sun 19 Feb 2017/NNA - An Israeli gunboat violated at 4:20 p.m. on Sunday the Lebanese territorial waters, off Ras al-Naqoura, to a distance of approximately 205 meters for a period of three minutes, an Army communiqué indicated. The breach is under follow-up by Army units, in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

Fneish: Whoever thinks of weakening resistance ignores Lebanon's interest
Sun 19 Feb 2017/NNA - Minister of Youth and Sports, Mohammad Fneish, said on Sunday that whoever thinks of weakening the capacity of the resistance does not know Lebanon's interest.
Minister Fneish, who spoke during a ceremony in South Lebanon, indicated that the resistance was known for its wisdom and willingness to pursuit the enemy whenever the latter constituted a threat. The Minister pointed out that the resistance offered a sense of security to the Lebanese people, regained the territory, and deterred the Israeli enemy.

Truck loaded with food ceased in Ersal outskirts
Sun 19 Feb 2017/NNA - Lebanese Armed Forces ceased a truck carrying food heading towards Arsal outskirts, National News Agency Correspondent said on Sunday. The same reporter added that the truck was stopped on an army checkpoint in Wadi Hemayyed driven by Lebanese national, Mohammad Aoude, nicknamed "al-Aktash".

'Israeli threats to Lebanese sovereignty will meet appropriate response'
Reuters/Jerusalem Post/February 19/17
Lebanese President Michel Aoun in a statement on Saturday declared that, "any attempt to hurt Lebanese sovereignty or expose the Lebanese to danger will find the appropriate response."
BEIRUT - Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Saturday that any Israeli attempt to violate Lebanon's sovereignty would be met with the "appropriate response", in a statement released by his office. "Any attempt to hurt Lebanese sovereignty or expose the Lebanese to danger will find the appropriate response," the statement said, without elaborating. It said Aoun was reacting to recent remarks in a letter at the United Nations by Israel's U.N. ambassador, which amounted to a "masked attempt to threaten security and stability" in southern Lebanon, but did not say what the remarks were. Ram Yavne at 2016 Jpost Conference: Israel's strategic situation in the Middle East, Hezbollah weapons in Lebanon . Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said on Thursday that all of Lebanon would be a target if Hezbollah fired on Israel. This past Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called on Israel to dismantle its nuclear reactor in Dimona, warning that it poses a threat to Israel's existence should it be hit by one of Hezbollah's missiles. Nasrallah made a similar threat against Haifa's ammonia tank last year, saying that a missile hitting the facility could have the affect of a nuclear bomb. Shortly after, a Haifa court ordered the tank closed, citing the security threat.Speaking in a televised speech commemorating Hezbollah's slain leaders, Nasrallah said that Hezbollah sees Israel's emptying of the ammonia tank as a sign that it fears the Lebanese Sh'ite group. "I call on Israel not only to empty the ammonia tank in Haifa, but also to dismantle the nuclear reactor in Dimona. Our military capabilities will strike Israel and its settlements," he warned. Aoun was elected in October and is known as being "pro-Hezbollah." Shortly after the winning the election Aoun stated his plans to "release what is left of our lands from the Israeli occupation," in reference to the disputed border between Israel and Lebanon. In 2006 Israel fought a month-long war against Hezbollah in south Lebanon. Since then, hostilities between them have been limited to occasional firing across the border and air strikes by Israel against Hezbollah leaders and military equipment in Syria, where the group is fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad. Trump's administration has been vocal in its criticism of Hezbollah's patron Iran and in its support for Israel.

Report: Arab states warned Hezbollah of Israeli retaliation
Kais/Ynetnews/February 19/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=52528
The Lebanese terror organization reportedly warned of forceful response from the IDF to any attempt to launch an attack against Israel from Syria or Lebanon. Hezbollah has reportedly received a warning from the Arab world that Israel would respond with force to any attack against it the terror organization might launch out of Syria or Lebanon, the London-based Al Hayat newspaper reported on Sunday.
Israel, according to sources who spoke to the paper, was closely monitoring Hezbollah's activity in both Syria and Lebanon, particularly its armament and presence in different areas of Syria. Israel is reportedly worried that the terror organization would take advantage of its positions in Syria to launch an attack against its territory. This warning likely prompted Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday to threaten to fire missiles at the ammonia plant in Haifa, which he claimed would cause an explosion similar to that of a nuclear bomb.
According to the report, Arab states believe that the new US administration of Donald Trump could help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recruit the countries in the region against Hezbollah. The Arab warning therefore called on Hezbollah to act cautiously and prudently.
On Thursday, however, Nasrallah insisted that "Trump's election does not scare us, even if claims that he will give Netanyahu the green light to wage a war on Lebanon turn out to be true."
He claimed that "The leaders of Israel understand that the resistance (Hezbollah) has the ability to cover the entirety of occupied Palestine with missiles. We must keep this capability because it acts as a deterrent for the Third Lebanon War." According to Al-Hayat, Lebanese President Michel Aoun was briefed on the matter during recent visits to Arab states, particularly about the close ties between Israel and the United States, which is cause for concern among Arab nations.
Aoun said in an interview with the Egyptian channel CBC earlier this month that Hezbollah's arms "do not contradict the state... and are an essential part of defending Lebanon. "As long as the Lebanese army lacks sufficient power to face Israel, we feel the need for (Hezbollah's) arsenal because it complements the army's role," he said. In response, Israel's Permanent Representative to the UN, Amb. Danny Danon, sent a letter to Secretary-General António Guterres and to the Security Council protesting the Lebanese president's comments.
In response to the letter, Aoun said Saturday that any Israeli attempt to violate Lebanon's sovereignty would be met with the "appropriate response."Speaking in a meeting with visitors to Beirut's presidential palace, Aoun said on Saturday that Danon's letter "constitutes a threat to Lebanon. The international community should be wary of Israel's aggressive intentions against Lebanon."
The Lebanese president also said, referring to the 2006 resolution that ended the Second Lebanon War, "Who need to implement Security Council resolutions is Israel, before others. Israel still refuses to implement Resolution 1701, moving from the cessation of hostilities phase to the ceasefire stage, despite more than 11 years having passed since the resolution was released.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4924451,00.html

'Hezbollah might have game-changing naval missiles'احتمال ان يكون حزب الله يمتلك صواريخ بحرية تغير في المعادلات مع إسرائيل
Ronen Bergman/Ynetnews/February 19/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=52523
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4924392,00.html
Western intelligence officials express 'grave concerns' that the Lebanese terror organization was able to obtain P-800 Onyx supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, the likes of which Israel has reportedly tried to prevent it from having. Western intelligence agencies have expressed "grave concerns" that Hezbollah has been able to obtain strategic naval weapons that could change the balance of power in the Middle East.
Despite great efforts attributed to Israel over the past five years to prevent Hezbollah from getting its hands on such weapons, the Lebanese terror organization is believed to have been able to smuggle into Lebanon a certain amount—likely no more than eight—of P-800 Onyx missiles, also known in export markets as Yakhont. The information, which was passed among several intelligence agencies, is based on what was defined as "highly reliable sources."
The Russian supersonic anti-ship cruise missile is regarded as the naval equivalent of the antiaircraft S-300 and is considered the best of its kind in the world. It can be fired from the shore and has a range of up to 300 kilometers. There is no known electronic defense system that could deal with it or intercept it. According to Israeli intelligence officials, Hezbollah could use the Onyx missiles to significantly threaten the Israeli Navy, the US Sixth Fleet and civilian vessels in the Mediterranean, as well as Israel's newly built oil and gas rigs. It is possible that some of the attacks attributed to the Israel Air Force against arms depots and weapons shipments from Syria to Lebanon were meant to thwart the transfer of the Onyx missiles to Hezbollah.
In December, after another airstrike in Syria attributed to Israel, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that "Israel has some red lines, including the transfer of advanced weapons or chemical weapons to Hezbollah." Lieberman met with his American counterpart in Munich on Friday morning for the first time since former Gen. James Mattis assumed the role of secretary of defense, telling him that the three central problems that need to be dealt with were "Iran, Iran and Iran."
The Israeli defense minister told Yedioth Ahronoth on Saturday that he found an attentive ear in Mattis. "Defense Secretary Mattis is even stricter and harsher than us in his positions on Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas. There is no need to convince him of anything. He's completely with us," Lieberman said. He went on to say that "Defense Secretary (Ashton) Carter was also a supporter of Israel and we saw things eye-to-eye, he was the most pro-Israel official in the Obama administration." However, "it's clear now that this is a different administration, which is going to take decisive measures."
Lieberman, along with his colleagues from Germany, France, Britain, Italy and other representatives who arrived in Munch for a security conference, heard from the Americans that President Trump had ordered to strengthen both intelligence and operational cooperation between the United States and Western countries—particularly Israel—on the Iranian issue.
In late 2012 and early 2013, the US launched secret talks with Iran in Muscat, the capital city of Oman, which led President Obama to order to significantly reduce US actions against Tehran. "We know you were angry when President Obama ordered to halt some of the operations against Iran in early 2013," American officials told their Israeli colleagues on Friday. "We're working to rectify the situation."
On Saturday, Lieberman met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an effort to "strengthen the security cooperation between (Israel and Russia) and hold an open discussion on the situation in Syria," according to Lieberman. Russia and Israel have been coordinating military actions on the Israel-Syria border to avoid an accidental clash. During the meeting, Lavrov presented Russia's efforts to reach a resolution in Syria, while Lieberman spoke of Israel's red lines, demanding that any agreement in Syria includes the complete halt of arms transfers to Hezbollah and an end to its ties with Iran. Lieberman also made it clear that President Bashar Assad cannot remain in power. After meeting with Lavrov, Lieberman also met with German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen. During the meeting, Lieberman proffered Germany a large military hardware package from Israel, including electronic systems and intelligence.
"During her speech, the German defense minister said the German army is in need of procuring new armaments," said an Israeli official who was involved in preparing the deal, adding, "We are prepared to offer what they're missing. Their army is in need of a lot." Israel is aware that Germany is wary of the Russian missiles that are stationed in the Baltic region and has committed significant resources to acquiring missile defense systems. Israel is hoping to interest Germany in examining the possibility of acquiring the "Arrow" anti-ballistic missile system from Israel. Such a deal, if implemented, has significant economic and strategic implications.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 19-20/17
Syria Regime Shelling 'Bloody Message' before Talks, Says Opposition
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 20/17/The leading Syrian opposition body on Sunday lambasted escalating attacks by government forces as a "bloody message" aimed at sabotaging peace talks that are due to open in Geneva next week. The High Negotiations Committee (HNC) said recent attacks near Damascus, Homs city, and elsewhere were "obstructing the efforts aimed at a political transition in Syria.""It is a bloody message from a criminal regime just a few days ahead of political negotiations in Geneva that demonstrates its rejection of any political solution," the HNC said in an online statement. Armed opposition groups went even further, accusing the regime of eliminating any shot at a peaceful resolution to Syria's war. In a statement released Sunday, rebels said the shelling around Damascus, Homs, and northwest Idlib "undermines the ceasefire and finishes off opportunities for a political solution."At least 16 people were killed on Saturday when government forces shelled a funeral near Damascus, and three civilians were killed in air strikes on the last rebel-held district of Homs city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. And on Sunday, seven civilians were killed in air strikes on a town in southern Syria, while an exchange of shelling in Daraa city killed a nurse and a young girl, the monitor said. Peace talks in Geneva are set to begin on February 23, featuring a new chief opposition negotiator on behalf of the HNC, lawyer Mohammed Sabra. Formed in December 2015, the HNC has risen to prominence as the leading umbrella group for Syrian opposition factions. Sabra will replace Mohamed Alloush of the Army of Islam rebel group, which said it would participate in the delegation in an advisory capacity. Alloush has twice headed the rebel delegation to talks in Kazakhstan, where opposition backer Turkey and regime allies Russia and Iran organized parallel negotiations. Meetings in Astana have focused on confidence-building measures and reinforcing a frail, seven-week truce deal also brokered by Ankara and Moscow. By comparison, negotiations in Geneva are expected to address the key issues that divide the two sides, including the fate of President Bashar Assad. His role in Syria's future remains the primary sticking point, with the opposition insisting that he leave at the beginning of any transition period.

De Mistura Questions U.S. Engagement on Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 20/17/U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura on Sunday questioned U.S. President Donald Trump's engagement in solving the Syrian war, just days ahead of a new round of peace talks in Geneva. "Where is the U.S. in all this? I can't tell you because I don't know," he said, adding that the new administration was still trying to work out its priorities on the conflict. The top three U.S. priorities include fighting Islamic State jihadists, "how to limit the influence of some major regional players and how to not to damage one of their major allies in the region," de Mistura told the Munich Security Conference. "How you square this circle, that I understand is what they are discussing in Washington," he said. He did not say who the regional player or major ally were but the first reference appeared to be to Iran, with the second likely to be either Turkey or Saudi Arabia. Mistura stressed that what was ultimately key was an inclusive political solution to end the six-year conflict. "Even a ceasefire with two guarantors can't hold too long if there is no political horizon," he said, referring to a fragile truce brokered by Russia and Turkey in December. Any political solution has to be inclusive to be credible, he said, stressing that peace talks in Astana last week organized by Russia, Turkey and Iran, and the ceasefire deal provided an opening that should be explored. The U.S. envoy for the anti-IS coalition, Brett McGurk, acknowledged that Trump's administration is "re-looking at everything, which is a very healthy process from top to bottom." "We will be very selfish about protecting and advancing our interests," he told the same forum. Under Trump's predecessor Barack Obama, Washington insisted President Bashar Assad had to go, putting it at odds with Moscow which backs the Syrian leader. At the same time, Trump has called for closer cooperation with Moscow to combat IS in Syria and Iraq, leaving the Assad question open. For Anas al-Abdeh, who heads the opposition National Coalition, the question over Assad's future is a clear roadblock in the path for peace. No solution can be found "as long as Assad remains in power," he told the Munich forum. More than 310,000 people have died since a popular uprising in 2011 against Assad morphed into all out civil war, with more than half the population forced to flee their homes. A new round of U.N.-led talks are due to be held in Geneva on February 23, involving Syrian regime and rebel representatives.

Report: Netanyahu Held Secret Arab Peace Meeting
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 20/17/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met secretly with Arab rulers last year to hear then U.S. secretary of state John Kerry pitch a regional peace plan, an Israeli newspaper reported Sunday. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also attended the February 2016 talks hosted by King Abdullah II in the Jordanian city of Aqaba, Haaretz said, citing former senior officials in the Obama administration who asked to remain anonymous. It said Kerry wanted the sides to endorse six principles, which he laid out publicly in a December speech. They included a call for Israel to vacate territory it occupied during the 1967 Six-Day War, subject to land swaps agreed between the two sides. Since 1967, Israel has pulled out of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip but annexed east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. It continues to occupy the West Bank, where hundreds of thousands of Israelis live in settlements seen as illegal by the international community. Kerry's parameters envisioned a Palestinian state, with Palestinians recognizing Israel as a "Jewish state". Both would share Jerusalem as the "internationally recognized capital of the two states." Israel claims the city as its "undivided" capital. Netanyahu's coalition government, the most right-wing in Israel's history, rejects talk of ceding any part of it to Palestinian sovereignty. "Netanyahu did not accept Kerry's proposal and said he would have difficulty getting it approved by his governing coalition," Haaretz wrote on Sunday. Netanyahu's spokesman and Jordanian officials refused to comment on the report. Meeting on Wednesday at the White House, Netanyahu and President Donald Trump each spoke of prospects of a regional Middle East understanding to end the stalemated Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "For the first time in the life of my country, Arab countries in the region do not see Israel as an enemy, but increasingly as an ally," Netanyahu told Trump. "We think the larger issue today is how do we create the broader conditions for broad peace in the Middle East between Israel and the Arab countries," Netanyahu said the following day on MSNBC. Trump said Netanyahu's proposal for a regional alliance was something that "hasn't been discussed before," adding that it would take in "many, many countries and it would cover a very large territory." Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab states to have formal peace treaties with Israel. Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, but they share informal links.

Land, People Exchange Key to 2-State Solution, Says Lieberman
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 20/17/A two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict must include exchanges of people and land to ensure the two sides are completely separated, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday. The two-state solution has been on the table for years, backed by the United States and other major powers, but peace efforts have stalled and U.S. President Donald Trump recently appeared to put Washington's commitment in doubt. Lieberman told the Munich Security Conference he believed the end-game to the conflict involved a two-state solution but not as many people now understood it. "I believe that what is necessary for us is to keep the Jewish state," he told a conference panel. "My biggest problem is that today on the table we have a proposal (which) will establish a very homogenic Palestinian state without even one Jew and we will become a bi-national state with more than 20 percent of the population Palestinians," he said."I think the basic principle of a solution must include (the) exchange of land and population. It does not make sense to create one homogenic Palestinian state and a bi-national state of Israel."The future of Israel's growing Arab population is hugely sensitive amid fears it will eventually dilute the Jewish nature of the state. Lieberman has previously said Arab towns in Israel near the border could be transferred to a future Palestinian state, while Israeli settlements including in the occupied West Bank would become part of Israel. The United Nations in December adopted a resolution that demanded an end to Israeli settlement building, and Lieberman's proposals have long been criticized. But they have begun to gain some traction as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presses the idea of an overall peace settlement based on a deal with moderate Sunni Arab regional powers such as Saudi Arabia in the interests of countering a shared enemy, Shiite Iran. Lieberman opened his remarks to the conference by saying there were three challenges in the region: "Iran, Iran and Iran."

U.S.-Led Coalition Praises 'Militias' Fighting in Iraq
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 20/17/The U.S.-led coalition assisting Iraqi forces in their war on the Islamic State group on Sunday praised the militias involved in the fighting, despite some of those groups' links to Iran. The coalition, which nominally includes more than 60 nations, has been keen to keep its distance with the Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary organization dominated by Tehran-backed Shiite militias. But the commander of the coalition battling IS in Iraq and Syria, Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, had rare words of praise for them in a statement coinciding with the launch on Sunday of an offensive on the west bank of Mosul. "The entire Coalition salutes and wishes God's blessings on the brave Iraqi soldiers, police and militias who today are fighting to liberate their country and make the region and the world a safer place," Townsend said in a coalition statement. The Hashed al-Shaabi forces have played a key role in the fight against IS since the jihadists seized around a third of Iraq in 2014. However their links to Iran and allegations of rights abuses against them have meant that the coalition has refrained from any direct support, focusing its assistance on the army, the police and elite forces. In the four-month-old operation to retake Mosul, IS' last major bastion in the country, Hashed forces have operated mostly on a remote desert front southwest of the city. Their forces have retaken swathes of land and dozens of villages in an effort aimed at surrounding jihadists holed up in the town of Tal Afar and cutting off supply lines between Mosul and the Syrian border."Mosul would be a tough fight for any army in the world, and the Iraqi forces have risen to the challenge," Townsend said in the statement. "They have taken the fight to the enemy and sacrificed their blood for the people of Iraq and the rest of the world," he said.

350,000 Children Trapped in West Mosul, Says NGO
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 20/17/Around 350,000 children are trapped in western Mosul, Save the Children warned on Sunday as Iraqi forces launched a fresh offensive on jihadists defending the strategic city. "Iraqi forces and their allies, including the U.S. and UK, must do everything in their power to protect children and their families from harm, and avoid civilian buildings like schools and hospitals as they push deeper into the city," said the London-based charity's Iraq country director, Maurizio Crivallero. He warned that escape is not an option for most families, who risk summary execution by fighters from the Islamic State group, sniper fire and landmines -- but they are also running out of food, water and medicine. "This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay -- or execution and snipers if they try to run," Crivallero said in a statement. He added: "Safe escape routes for civilians must also be established as soon as possible." The offensive to retake Mosul's west bank that began on Sunday could be the most brutal fighting yet in a four-month-old operation on Iraq's second city, where the leader of the Islamic State group declared a "caliphate" in 2014. The Iraqi government launched an offensive to reconquer Mosul on October 17, and declared east Mosul "fully liberated" on January 24. Federal forces now face what was always one of the toughest challenges -- the narrow streets of the Old City in Mosul's west bank, which are impassable for many military vehicles. Save the Children warned that "the impact of artillery and other explosive weaponry in those narrow, densely-populated streets is likely to be more deadly and indiscriminate than anything we have seen in the conflict so far." The 350,000 figure relates to people under the age of 18, a charity spokeswoman confirmed.

Iraq Digs Anti-IS Trench around City of Ramadi
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 20/17/Security forces in Iraq's western region of Anbar began digging a trench around the provincial capital Ramadi Sunday to protect it against infiltrations by the Islamic State group, officials said. The trench and berm defensive structure will be 45 kilometers (28 miles) long, protecting mostly the city's southern and western side from the vast desert of Anbar where IS has remote hideouts. "Anbar Operations Command has begun digging a trench and building berms south of Ramadi," provincial council member Adhal al-Fahdawi told AFP. "The purpose is to stop car bombs and other security breaches from desert regions," he said. "The desert in Anbar is vast, it faces Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria and it is not fully secured. There are many canyons in which Daesh members can hide," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. Iraqi forces retook Ramadi, which lies about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of Baghdad, a year ago but IS fighters have continued to harass the security forces there. The city, large parts of which were completely leveled in the fighting, needs to be secure if reconstruction efforts are to be stepped up. "The main reason for this project is to prevent infiltrations by terrorists and suicide attackers and their car bombs, as well as movements by traffickers," Mahmud al-Falahi, who heads the Anbar Operations Command, said. He said the trench and the berms would be around five-feet (1.5 meters) deep and high respectively.

U.N. in 'Race against Clock' to Prepare for West Mosul Exodus
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 20/17/The United Nations said Sunday as Iraqi forces launched their offensive to retake west Mosul that it was rushing to build more shelters ahead of an expected wave of displacement. "We are racing against the clock to prepare emergency sites south of Mosul to receive displaced families," the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Lise Grande, said in a statement. "The humanitarian operation is already stretched. We are trying to reach more than six million people across Iraq who need help. We don't have all of the funding we need and many partners are facing major capacity constraints," she said. Iraqi federal forces on Sunday launched a new phase in the four-month-old offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second city and the last major stronghold IS has in the country. Forces retook at least five villages and were heading towards the airport, as part of a push aimed at retaking the city's west. Iraqi government forces last month cleared the eastern side, and while fewer people than feared fled their homes, the U.N. said a total of 217,000 people have been displaced since the broader Mosul operation started on October 17. It also said a total of 57,000 had already returned to their homes.

Israel-U.S. Team to Discuss Settlements Says Netanyahu
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 20/17/Israel and the U.S. will set up a joint team to discuss Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, days after talks with President Donald Trump. During their talks on Wednesday in Washington, Netanyahu and Trump had "agreed to create joint teams to upgrade relations between Israel and the U.S. in all of the main areas," the premier said. They will cover "security, intelligence, cyber, technology, economics and many others", he told ministers and media at the start of Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting. "We also agreed to create a team in an area that we have not previously agreed on: I mean, of course, on settlement in Judaea and Samaria," he said, using a term Israel applies to the West Bank. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers live in the territory, which Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967. The international community sees settlements as a major obstacle to peace, as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state. At the White House meeting, their first since Trump took office, the president asked Netanyahu to "hold back on settlements for a little bit. We'll work something out."
During their joint White House news conference, Netanyahu said he believes that "the issue of the settlements is not the core of the conflict, nor does it really drive the conflict.""I think it's an issue, it has to be resolved in the context of peace negotiations," he said. The administration of previous U.S. president Barack Obama strongly opposed the expansion of Jewish settlements, arguing that they hurt the longer-term search for a two-state solution. Since Trump's January 20 inauguration, the Israeli premier has announced more than 5,000 settlement homes and the first entirely new settlement for more than 20 years. Israel also passed a new law last week that legalizes dozens of Jewish outposts and thousands of settler homes built on private Palestinian land in the territory.The European Union has condemned the legislation, which U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said "is in contravention of international law."

Kuwait Jails Senior Official for Joining IS Jihadists
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 20/17/Kuwait's supreme court on Sunday sentenced a top bureaucrat to 10 years in jail for joining and fighting with the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria and Iraq. The court also fined the unnamed Kuwaiti national, who was a top official at the Kuwait municipality, $30,000 and convicted him of calling other people to join the group. The ruling is final and cannot be challenged. Kuwaiti courts have sentenced a number of IS members, sympathizers and financiers to various jail terms. A lower court in December sentenced a Filipina to 10 years in jail after convicting her of joining the jihadist group and plotting attacks. Authorities in July said they had dismantled three IS cells plotting attacks, including a suicide bombing against a Shiite mosque and against an interior ministry target. An IS-linked Saudi suicide bomber killed 26 worshipers in June 2015 when he blew himself up in a mosque of Kuwait's Shiite minority, in the worst such attack in the Gulf state's history.

Venezuela, U.S. Clash over Political Prisoners
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 20/17/Venezuela and the United States locked horns again over political prisoners held by Caracas, including a jailed opposition leader whose supporters took to the streets of the capital Saturday to demand his release.Hundreds of opposition supporters marched in Venezuela's capital city, blocking one of the main highways in Caracas to protest Leopoldo Lopez's imprisonment. Lopez, in a letter he wrote in his cell read out to supporters, urged an electoral "rebellion" to press for general elections in the country mired in economic and political crisis. Referring to gubernatorial elections set for last December that were delayed and not yet rescheduled, Lopez called instead for a referendum on whether the presidential election set for 2018 should be held in 2017 instead. Supporters called for Venezuelans to press for change. "His only crime was to demonstrate non-violently. And now, more than 80 percent of Venezuelans want (President Nicolas) Maduro to leave power," said David Smolansky, mayor of metro Caracas' El Hatillo district. Smolansky said the elected socialist Maduro's government amounted to a dictatorship that makes "Venezuelans go hungry while it protects criminals," he stressed, adding:
"We urge the international community: no more dictatorship. We want to live in a free country where decency can overcome violence."The State Department issued a new call for the release of Lopez and other dissidents, days after the Venezuelan Supreme Court upheld his imprisonment.
Lopez is serving a nearly 14-year sentence on charges of inciting unrest at anti-government protests in 2014. "We call for the immediate release of all prisoners of conscience, respect for the rule of law, the freedom of the press, the separation of constitutional powers within the government, and the restoration of a democratic process that reflects the will of the Venezuelan people," the department's acting spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement. "The United States reiterates its dismay and concern about these arrests, and other actions taken by the Venezuelan government to criminalize dissent and deny its citizens the benefits of democracy," the statement said. The ruling on Lopez's appeal, which was filed in July, came a day after Trump received Lopez's wife Lilian Tintori at the White House and posted a tweet calling for the prisoner's release. "Venezuela should allow Leopoldo Lopez, a political prisoner & husband of @liliantintori (just met w/ @marcorubio) out of prison immediately," Trump tweeted following the meeting. Lopez is the founder of Popular Will, one of the most hardline parties opposing Maduro. Shortly before Trump sent his Twitter missive this week, Maduro had warned the U.S. that Venezuela would "respond firmly" to any action deemed aggressive.
"Those who tangle with us will get an appropriate response," he said on state television. Ties had already been strained on Monday when the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Maduro's powerful Vice President Tareck El Aissami and a businessman, whom the U.S. authorities accuse of being involved in drug trafficking. Washington has had a shaky relationship with Caracas since the late Hugo Chavez rose to power in 1999. The former Venezuelan president was famous for his anti-American rhetoric, which has persisted under Maduro, who blames his country's deep economic woes on a U.S.-backed capitalist conspiracy. The two countries have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010, but do share important economic relations, especially in the oil sector.

Iraq Forces Launch Assault to Retake West Mosul
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 20/17/Iraqi forces launched an offensive Sunday on jihadists defending Mosul's west bank, in what could be the most brutal fighting yet in a four-month-old operation on the country's second city. They swiftly retook at least five villages and set their sights on Mosul airport, which lies just south of the city, marking a new phase in Iraq's largest military operation in years. The Islamic State group has put up stiff resistance to defend Mosul, the city where its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed a "caliphate" in 2014. "Our forces are beginning the liberation of the citizens from the terror of Daesh," Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in a short televised speech, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "We announce the start of a new phase in the operation. We are coming, Nineveh, to liberate the western side of Mosul," he said, referring to the province of which Mosul is the capital. A top army commander then announced that forces led by federal police units retook villages south of Mosul, including Athbah, which leaves them within striking distance of the airport. "We launched our operation at 7:00 am (0400 GMT)... We are heading towards the airport," said Abbas al-Juburi of the interior ministry's elite Rapid Response force."We destroyed two car bombs and killed several Daesh members," he told AFP near the front line.
'Toughest nut'
Military vehicles blared patriotic songs as heavy bombardment and shooting could be heard in the distance. The jihadists overran Mosul and swathes of other territory north and west of Baghdad in 2014, sweeping aside security forces ill-prepared to face the assault. The Iraqi government launched the offensive to reconquer Mosul on October 17, throwing tens of thousands of forces into the long-awaited counter-attack with air and ground support from the U.S.-led coalition. The Joint Operations Command coordinating the fight against IS declared east Mosul "fully liberated" on January 24. But it took Iraq's most seasoned forces -- the elite Counter-Terrorism Service -- more than two months to clear the eastern side of Mosul. After a pause, federal forces now face what was always billed as the toughest nut to crack: Mosul's west bank, home to the narrow streets of the Old City. "West Mosul had the potential certainly of being more difficult, with house-to-house fighting on a larger and more bloody scale," said Patrick Skinner, from the Soufan Group intelligence consultancy.
Narrow streets
The streets around the historical center, which includes the mosque in which Baghdadi made his only public appearance in June 2014, will be impassable for many military vehicles and force government fighters to take on IS in perilous dismounted warfare. Prior to the offensive that saw IS seize Mosul and much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland nearly three years ago, the east bank was more ethnically diverse than the west, where analysts believe the jihadists could enjoy more support. "IS resistance could be greater in this area and it will be harder, but all the more important, to completely clear the networks from Mosul after its recapture," said Emily Anagnostos, Iraq analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. While the federal forces' attrition is said to be high, IS's had been undoubtedly higher and commanders have said the jihadists may no longer have the resources to defend east Mosul effectively. Recent incidents in the recaptured east point to the difficulty of ensuring remnants of IS have not blended in with the civilian population in a huge city which most residents did not flee ahead of the government offensive. Aid organizations had feared an exodus of unprecedented proportions before the start of the Mosul operation but half a million -- a significant majority -- of residents stayed home.
Trapped civilians
Their continued presence prevented both sides from resorting to deadlier weaponry, which may have slowed down the battle but averted a potentially much more serious humanitarian emergency in the middle of winter as well as more extensive material damage to the city. "We are racing against the clock to prepare emergency sites south of Mosul to receive displaced families," the U.N.'s humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Lise Grande, said in a statement. Residents of west Mosul have reported very difficult living conditions and warned that they were already low on food, with weeks of fighting expected to lie ahead. Save the Children urged all parties to protect the estimated 350,000 children currently trapped in west Mosul. "This is the grim choice for children in western Mosul right now: bombs, crossfire and hunger if they stay -- or execution and snipers if they try to run," said the charity's Iraq director, Maurizio Crivallero. IS fighters and Mosul residents remained able to move across both sides of the city during much of the fighting in the east but all bridges across the Tigris have now been dropped and the jihadists in the west are all but besieged. IS has used civilians as human shields as part of its defense tactics and killed residents attempting to flee, making it both difficult and dangerous for the population to escape.

At least 14 killed, 30 injured in Mogadishu car bombing in Somalia: Officials
Sun 19 Feb 2017/NNA - At least 14 people were killed on Sunday when a car packed with explosives blew up near a busy intersection in Mogadishu, officials and witnesses said. "We have counted about 14 people killed and more than 30 others wounded... the area was a busy intersection alongside the road and there were many civilians when the blast occurred," said local security official Mohamed Jilibey.--AFP

Avalanche kills seven in northern Pakistan
Sun 19 Feb 2017/NNA - An avalanche killed at least seven labourers in northern Pakistan on Sunday (Feb 19), a senior official said, with up to four more trapped beneath the snow.
The accident, which also injured seven, happened near the Lowari Tunnel which connects the districts of Dir and Chitral in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, senior local administration official Shahab Hameed told AFP. "Efforts are also being made to pull the remaining workers out alive," he added.Rescue teams have rushed to the area to help travellers stranded by the avalanche and provide medical attention for the injured. ---AFP

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 19-20/17
Arab world leaders confused by Trump
Smadar Perry/Ynetnews/February 19/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=52546
Analysis: Decision makers and commentators in the Arab states are having trouble understanding the new US president and his plans. Meanwhile, the real headache is the security issues and economic crises, and the moderate leaders have no other choice but to tighten their relations with Jerusalem.
None of the leaders of the moderate Arab states ranted or even opened their mouths to respond to the statements made at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump’s press conference. There were no reactions either to the sentence that made headlines, when Trump stated nonchalantly that he doesn’t really care if the parties go for one state or two states.
The commentators on the other side are looking for words and are making no effort to hide the despair. Among the polite ones, Trump is an enigma. Others are ready to swear that he is mainly ignorant on regional affairs and prefers to jump over puddles.
On the one hand, he gave the Palestinian state a dog’s burial and fulfilled his obligation when he asked Bibi to “hold off on settlements for a bit.” On the other hand, it’s actually thanks to Netanyahu, who understands the dangerous ramifications, that the American embassy is not moving (for now) to Jerusalem.
“If they do it,” Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit has warned, “the gates of hell will open.” To give a simple and clear explanation, the secretary-general has frightening numbers, tens of millions of people who will be prepared to take to the streets and partake in “operations,” should the administration insist on the move after all.
My guess is that the leaders, the advisors and everyone in the decision-making circle in the Arab world did not miss even one second of the White House meeting. As far as they are concerned, Netanyahu got more than he dreamed of.
Nevertheless, Trump heard what he heard from Jordan’s King Abdullah, a channel of communication was opened with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the CIA director visited Ramallah and Saudi King Abdullah’s palace found a way to relay messages to Washington.
To what extent does Trump want to get his feet wet in the swamp of the Mideast conflict? He made some unbinding comment about a regional conference. As far as he is concerned, they can go for an inside-out solution, similar to what you order in a sushi restaurant. First big peace, then the conflict with the Palestinians, and then let’s wait and see.
The nonsense tweeted by Minister Ayoob Kara has now been added to this whirlpool. Now let’s try to convince the other side that “Abu Damage” is simply looking for headlines. Let’s try to convince them that the minister on no affairs whatsoever doesn’t have a clue when he insists that Netanyahu arrived to strike a deal with Trump to establish a Palestinian state between Gaza and Sinai, at al-Sisi’s expense.
On Thursday night, I took part in a long discussion on al-Jazeera’s daily news broadcast about our ambassador in Cairo, who has been stuck in Jerusalem since the end of the summer due to serious security warnings. The two people sitting in front of me during the broadcast, the editor of a newspaper in Cairo and Egyptian oppositionist Ayman Nour, who fled to Turkey, sent the viewers to Ayoob Kara’s irresponsible tweet.
“This is a minister in the Israeli government,” the speaker from Cairo insisted as he tried to sell the new conspiracy theory. “Your ambassador was kept in Jerusalem in order to pressure al-Sisi to give up on lands in Sinai.”Now try to explain that this minister has a long history of chasing headlines, that a Palestinian state in Sinai is a nightmare rather than anyone’s dream, and that our democracy has gone crazy.
An Arab summit is being planned in Amman at the end of next month. If they manage to overcome their internal battles, it won’t be a pleasant event for Israel. Jihad al-Hazen, one of the leading commentators in the Arab world, is already calling on Egypt and Jordan to announce that they are cancelling their peace agreements with Israel, in order to make Trump and his emissaries get their hands dirty.
Trump has succeeded in confusing the leaders of the Arab world. There is no way to understand him or his plans. The way things look now, Iran and the Islamic State are at the top of his list.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the security issues and the economic crises are the real headache. In the new road map, the silent moderates have no other choice but to tighten their relations with Jerusalem.

Israel and Saudi Arabia close ranks against Iran
Itamar Eichner and Reuters|/Ynetnews/February 19/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=52542
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Avigdor Lieberman and the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir align against Iran, urge the international community to punish its aggression despite the two countries having no formal diplomatic relations; Turkey also joined the apparent united front, with the country’s foreign minister praising normalization with Israel.
Israel and Saudi Arabia presented a united front on Sunday, issuing almost identical warnings of caution against Iranian aggression Sunday as the two countries urged the international community to punish Tehran for a myriad of activities undermining regional stability.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir closed ranks, despite their respective countries having no official diplomatic relations, as they rebuffed statements made by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif calling on Sunni Muslim Gulf states to help reduce violence in the area.
Among the accusations levelled against Iran by Israel and Saudi Arabia, who were subsequently joined by Turkey, were its involvement in the Syrian civil war on behalf of the country’s President Bashar al-Assad, its development of ballistic missiles, its funding of Shi'ite rebels in Yemen and its efforts to undermine various regimes in the region.
Al-Jubeir called Tehran the main sponsor of global terrorism and a destabilising force in the Middle East. He sidestepped a question about Israel's call for concerted action with Sunni Arab states amid growing speculation that the two countries could normalize relations and join forces to oppose Tehran, much as Turkey has done.
The six Arab members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), especially Saudi Arabia, accuse Iran of using sectarianism to interfere in Arab countries and build its own sphere of influence in the Middle East. Iran denies the accusations.
"Iran remains the single main sponsor of terrorism in the world," Adel al-Jubeir told delegates at the conference. "It's determined to upend the order in the Middle East ... (and) until and unless Iran changes its behaviour it would be very difficult to deal with a country like this."The international community needed to set clear "red lines" to halt Iran's actions, he said, calling for banking, travel and trade restrictions aimed at changing Tehran's behaviour.
Lieberman said Iran's ultimate objective was to undermine Riyadh, and called for a dialogue with Sunni Arab countries to defeat "radical" elements in the region.
"The real division is not Jews, Muslims ... but moderate people versus radical people," Lieberman told delegates. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also criticized what he called an Iranian "sectarian policy" aimed at undermining Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. "Turkey is very much against any kind of division, religious or sectarian," he said. "It's good that we are now normalizing our relations with Israel."Zarif opened Sunday's session with the call for dialogue to address "anxieties" in the region. This followed a visit by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Oman and Kuwait last week to try to improve ties, his first visit to the Gulf states since taking power in 2013.
Asked if Iran's envisioned regional dialogue could include Israel, Zarif said Tehran was looking at a more "modest" approach. "I'm focusing on the Persian Gulf. We have enough problems in this region so we want to start a dialogue with countries we call brothers in Islam," he said.
Zarif dismissed any suggestions his country would ever seek to develop nuclear weapons. When asked about the new US administration's tough rhetoric on Iran's role in the region and calls to review the nuclear deal, he said Tehran did not respond well to threats or sanctions.
US Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said he and other senators were preparing legislation to further sanction Iran for violating UN Security Council resolutions with its missile development programme and other actions. "It is now time for the Congress to take Iran on directly in terms of what they've done outside the nuclear program," he said. Senator Christopher Murphy, a Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Washington needed to decide whether to take a broader role in the regional conflict.

War Is the Climate Risk That Europe's Leaders Are Talking About
Jonathan Tirone/Bloomberg/February 19/17
Among the 21st-century threats posed by climate change -- rising seas, melting permafrost and superstorms -- European leaders are warning of a last-century risk they know all too well: War. Focusing too narrowly on the environmental consequences of global warming underestimates the military threats, top European and United Nations officials said at a global security conference in Munich this weekend. Their warnings follow the conclusions of defense and intelligence agencies that climate change could trigger resources and border conflicts. “Climate change is a threat multiplier that leads to social upheaval and possibly even armed conflict,” the UN’s top climate official, Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, said at the conference, which was attended by the U.S. secretaries of defense and homeland security, James Mattis and John Kelly. Even as European Union countries struggle to assimilate millions of African and Middle Eastern migrants and refugees, security officials are bracing for more of the same in the future. Secretary General Antonio Guterra named climate change and population growth as the two most serious “megatrends” threatening international peace and stability.
Hotter Than Ever
“Ground zero” for armed conflict over the climate will be the Arctic, where record-high temperatures are melting ice and revealing natural resources that some countries might be willing to fight for, Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto said on a panel. “We have already seen flag planting and already some quarrels on the borderlines,” Niinisto said, pointing to new Russian military bases on its Arctic border. “Tensions will rise.”The Arctic climate paradox -- where countries could fight for rights to extract the very fossil fuels that would cause even more global warming -- underscores energy’s role as a cause and potential moderator of climate change, according to Niinisto. For Russia, the world’s biggest energy supplier, European nations switching to renewables represents an economic threat. At the same time, European over-reliance on Russian energy exposes them to coercion, according to Kelly Gallagher-Sims, a former climate and energy adviser to President Barack Obama.
Peaceful Coexistence
“Climate change is already exacerbating existing stresses that contribute to instability and insecurity,” Gallagher-Sims told Bloomberg last week before leading a policy meeting on Arctic security at the Fletcher School at Tufts University near Boston. “The main relationship between renewable energy and trans-Atlantic security” is that clean power “permits Europe to rely less on Russian gas,” she said. For their part, Russian leaders in Munich said they want peaceful coexistence with Europe and will abide by the Paris accord on climate change -- even if it’s unlikely they’ll try convincing U.S. President Donald Trump to do the same. It’s not clear when and if Trump will make good on his frequent campaign promises to pull the U.S. out of the Paris accord, a 2015 UN agreement to curtail greenhouse-gas emissions that was adopted by nearly 200 countries. Since he took office, the administration has rolled back U.S. rules to combat climate change and eased restrictions on fossil-fuel companies. U.S. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the committee on the environment and public works, told officials in the Bavarian capital they may have to fight to preserve the 2015 Paris agreement from global warming skeptics in the White House. “The response of the international community will be significant,” Whitehouse said. While the probability of abandoning Paris may be small, they “decrease further if the response of the international community” to the U.S. “is not only, don’t you dare but, that there’ll be consequences in other areas” if you leave.

Report: Netanyahu rejected peace plan proposed by Kerry at secret 2016 meeting
Jerusalem Post/February 19/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=52550
Jordanian King Abudllah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi were also reportedly at the summit in Aqaba and met separately with Kerry.
Former US secretary of state John Kerry presented a proposal on a regional approach to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a secret convening in the southern Jordanian town of Aqaba in early 2016, Haaretz reported on Sunday.
Kerry garnered Jordanian and Egyptian backing for the plan, which included two sticking points for Israel - Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and the resumption of direct talks between the sides - among the principles outlining a path to a comprehensive peace deal, according to the report citing former senior Obama administration officials.
Netanyahu rejected Kerry's plan, allegedly citing the difficulties he would face to gain approval by the Israeli government's right-wing coalition. Jordanian King Abudllah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi were also at the summit in Aqaba and met separately with Kerry.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was not present at the meeting in Aqaba, but he was reportedly informed of it by Kerry.  Abdullah and Sisi were reportedly urged to gain support for the plan from other regional Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. According to a former senior US official, Kerry also petitioned the Jordanian king to press Abbas to agree to relaunch talks with Israel on the basis of the US blueprint. The four-way meeting in Aqaba also allegedly set the stage for the short-lived rumored talks of a unity government between Netanyahu and opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union). The reported February 21 meeting in Aqaba came nearly two years after the collapse of the latest round of US-moderated negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
The plan presented by the top American diplomat at the time, was said to have included six principles - allegedly the same as those he presented in a fiery December speech on the Middle East conflict weeks before leaving office. Kerry, who in 2013 and 2014 attempted to restart direct talks between the two sides, offered several US principles that he said would enshrine such a solution, including a re-emphasis of international support for two states for two peoples — one Jewish and one Arab; the outlining of secure and recognizable borders for a "contiguous" Palestinian state; a "fair and just" settlement for Palestinian refugees consistent with the recognition Israel as a Jewish state; and an end to all claims, including a final resolution on the status of Jerusalem. The Haaretz report emerged days after Netanyahu met in Washington with US President Donald Trump for the first time since the latter's inauguration.
During the visit, Trump said he was open to ideas beyond a two-state solution, the long-standing bedrock of Washington and the international community's policy for a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. In a sharp pivot from the Obama-Kerry approach to the conflict, Trump said that the United States would work toward peace but said he was leaving it up to the parties themselves ultimately to decide on the terms of any agreement.
*Michael Wilner and Reuters contributed to this report.

A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Germany: January 2017
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/February 19, 2017
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9959/germany-islam-january
"If we are serious about the fight against Islamism and terrorism, then it must also be a cultural struggle." — German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel.
German authorities issued 105,000 visas for so-called family reunifications in 2016, a 50% increase over the 70,000 visas issued in 2015, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The 105,000 visas for family members were in addition to the 280,000 new asylum seekers who arrived in Germany in 2016.
Police say Sudanese migrants, many of whom were allowed to enter Germany without having their fingerprints taken, have "created a business model" out of social security fraud. Local officials have been accused of covering up the fraud.
An employee at a social security office handed her boss a file with 30 cases of suspected fraud. After he refused to act, she contacted the police. She was fired for "overstepping her authority."
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble revealed that the migrant crisis would cost German taxpayers €43 billion ($46 billion) during 2016 (€21.7 billion) and 2017 (€21.3 billion).
The Bishop of Regensburg, Rudolf Voderholzer, said there could be no reconciliation between Christians and Muslims. Islam is a "post-Christian phenomenon, with the claim to negate the core content of Christianity," he said.
January 1. Some 2,000 "highly aggressive" migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East gathered at the central train station in Cologne and the square in front of the iconic Cologne Cathedral, where mass sexual assaults occurred on New Year's Eve 2015. A massive police presence consisting of 1,700 officers deterred mayhem. Police reported three sexual assaults on New Year's Eve 2016, compared to more than a thousand on the same day in 2015.
January 1. In Berlin, at least 22 women were sexually assaulted during New Year's Eve celebrations at the Brandenburg Gate, despite the presence of 1,700 police officers. Police initially reported six assaults, but after inquiries from local media raised that number. In Hamburg, at least 14 women were sexually assaulted. Police arrested three Iraqis, three Syrians, two Afghans, one Eritrean and one German-Russian.
January 2. Greens Party Leader Simone Peter accused the Cologne Police Department of racial profiling after a tweet referred to North African migrants as "Nafris." The head of the DPolG, Ernst Walter, explained that "Nafri" is not derogatory but rather a technical acronym used by the police to refer to "North African intensive offender" (nordafrikanische Intensivtäter). "If a North African person is suspected of committing a crime, he is a 'Nafri,'" Walter said. Cologne Police Chief Jürgen Mathies added: "From the experiences of the past New Year's Eve, from experience gained by police raids as a whole, a clear impression has emerged here about which persons are to be checked. They are not gray-haired older men or blond-haired young women."
January 2. Police in Saarland arrested Hasan A., a 38-year-old asylum seeker from Syria who solicited €180,000 ($192,000) in funds from the Islamic State in order to carry out a high-casualty terrorist attack in Germany. The prosecutor's office in Saarbrücken said the man asked the Islamic State for the money to purchase eight vehicles (€22,500 each) which would be camouflaged as police cars, loaded with 400-500 kilos of explosives, and exploded into a large crowd. Hasan said he wanted the money to support his family in Syria, not to carry out attacks in Germany.
January 3. Amnesty International called for an investigation of the police in Cologne for the alleged "racial profiling" of North African migrants who were suspected of promoting violence on New Year's Eve.
January 3. Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière called for a "reorganization" of the security structures in Germany in order to confront the challenges of terrorism, large influxes of asylum seekers and cyberattacks. He said the federal government should be given more powers than it has now.
January 5. North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) Regional Criminal Police Director Dieter Schürmann revealed that Anis Amri, the 24-year-old Tunisian Salafist who carried out the jihadist attack on the Christmas market in Berlin on December 19, 2016, was known by authorities to be a threat to security as early as February 2016 but that they had found no evidence to arrest him. Schürmann also said that Amri had also used a total of 14 different identities under multiple names to collect social welfare benefits.
January 6. Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel called for a "culture war" to defeat Islamism. "If we are serious about the fight against Islamism and terrorism, then it must also be a cultural struggle," he said. "We must strengthen the cohesion of society and ensure that neighborhoods are not neglected, villages are not degenerated and people are not becoming more and more radicalized," he added. Gabriel also said that "Salafist mosques must be banned, the communities dissolved and the preachers deported, as soon as possible."
January 7. A group of five "Black Africans" (Schwarzafrikanern) sexually assaulted a 28-year-old woman in Hamburg. The woman, a nurse at the Asklepios-Klinik St. Georg, was walking to her car after her shift ended when she heard someone screaming for help in an adjacent park. When she went to lend a hand she was ambushed by the men, assaulted and robbed.
January 7. Asif M., a 26-year-old asylum seeker from Pakistan, appeared in court on charges he raped one woman and attempted to rape five others in Berlin-Steglitz. He insisted that he was the victim: "As a refugee, it is difficult to find a girlfriend."
January 7. An Emnid poll for Bild am Sonntag found that 58% of German women believe that public places have become less safe due the migration crisis. Nearly half (48%) say they avoid certain areas in their place of residence when it is dark, and 16% now carry pepper spray when they are on their own after dark.
January 7. Intelligence Chief Hans-Georg Maaßen warned that Germany's Salafist scene is not only growing, but also becoming more decentralized, thus making it more difficult to monitor. He said the number of Salafists in Germany was 9,700, up 500 from 9,200 in October 2016.
January 11. The Interior Ministry reported that a total of 321,371 migrants arrived in Germany in 2016, compared to 1,091,894 in 2015. Of the new arrivals in 2016, 280,000 were asylum seekers, compared to 890,000 asylum seekers in 2015. As if the statistics were not sufficiently complicated, a total of 745,545 people applied for asylum in 2016, compared to 476,649 who applied for asylum in 2015. The 2016 figure includes migrants who arrived in Germany in 2015 but did not apply for asylum until 2016. Around 35% of the asylum seekers in 2016 were from Syria, 17% from Afghanistan and 13% from Iraq.
January 11. Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said that Germany's security apparatus must be updated in order to combat Islamic terrorism. "Our security architecture dates back to the fifties and sixties when we were dealing mostly with regional crime," he said.
January 12. Germany's largest Islamic association, the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), admitted that some of its preachers acted as informants for the Turkish government. DITIB is financed by the Turkish government's Directorate for Religious Affairs, known in Turkish as Diyanet. DITIB has been described as the "extended arm" of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who uses it to promote Turkish nationalism and to prevent integration among the Turkish diaspora. The spies sent information about followers of Fethullah Gülen, a 78-year-old cleric based in the United States and whom Turkey accuses of plotting a failed military coup in July 2016.
January 13. A YouGov poll found that 52% of Germans believe that police in Cologne did a good job on New Year's Eve. The poll also showed that 63% of Germans do not find racial profiling problematic, compared to 27% who do. The poll followed criticism of a police operation in Cologne on New Year's Eve in which hundreds of "Nafris" — a term for North African criminals — were arrested.
January 14. A "southerner" (südländischer Typ) assaulted an 80-year-old woman in Leipzig-Neulindenau. The woman was working in her garden at 3 o'clock in the afternoon when she noticed that a man was loitering nearby. He lunged at the woman and beat her so badly that she was hospitalized. Before getting into the ambulance, she asked someone to take a photograph of her bloody face to draw public attention to rising migrant crime. Her picture was published by Bild, the largest-circulation newspaper in Germany. "It cannot be that you have to be afraid of being on the streets even during the middle of the day," she said. The perpetrator remains at large.
January 18. Member of the German Parliament Burkhard Lischka revealed that German authorities lost track of three of the 547 jihadists who are being monitored by German intelligence.
January 18. A 27-year-old Kosovar was sentenced to one year and ten months of probation for sexually assaulting a 27-year-old woman in Freiburg. The man followed the woman into a restroom at a night club, told her that he was a narcotics detective, forced her to undress and then tried to rape her.
January 19. German authorities issued 105,000 visas for so-called family reunifications in 2016, a 50% increase over the 70,000 visas issued in 2015, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Almost all the visas were issued to Syrians and Iraqis. Family reunifications — individuals whose asylum applications are approved are subsequently allowed to bring additional family members to Germany — are not included in asylum application statistics. In other words, the 105,000 visas for family members were in addition to the 280,000 new asylum seekers who arrived in Germany in 2016.
January 19. Germany took back some 12,000 migrants from other European countries, in accordance with the so-called Dublin Regulation, a law that requires people seeking refuge within the EU to do so in the first European country they reach. Germany took 3,700 migrants from Sweden, 1,686 from the Netherlands, 1,277 from Switzerland, 1,109 from Denmark and 763 from Belgium, according to the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. The migrants involve asylum seekers who submitted asylum requests in Germany but moved on to other European countries before the requests were processed by German authorities.
January 19. Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel threatened to cut development aid to countries which refuse to take back asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected. The threat applies mainly to North African migrants from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. "It cannot be that a country takes the development aid, but not its own citizens, if they cannot get asylum with us because they simply have no reason to escape from their country," he said.
January 20. The trial began of Abubaker C., a 27-year-old Pakistani man who strangled 70-year-old Maria Müller in her bed in Bad Friedrichshall, and then painted verses from the Koran on her bedroom walls. Prosecutors said the murder was religiously motivated: The Sunni Muslim apparently murdered the woman because she was a devout Roman Catholic.
January 21. A 47-year-old asylum seeker from Syria was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison for raping a 44-year-old mentally disabled woman in Soest. The suspect, who has been living in an asylum shelter in Welver at German taxpayer expense since 2003, had 23 previous convictions for offenses including assault, robbery and fare evasion. A neurologist who tended to the Syrian during his 13-year stay in Germany told the court that the man is "untreatable" (Therapieunfähig). "When he is drunk, he is unpredictable," she said.
January 23. Muslims in Hamburg are finding it difficult to bury their dead: German burial laws are incompatible with Islamic Sharia law, according to Die Welt. "The different burial cultures must be brought together," the paper stated. "The German funeral and cemetery regulations are incompatible with Islam in some respects. Believing Muslims reject cremation. The dead must be buried as soon as possible and in linen cloths. It is important that the earth is 'virgin'...the soil should not be polluted by 'unbelievers.' The dead must also be able to rest for eternity...a re-occupation of the tomb is impossible even if the remains of the deceased are completely disappeared."
January 25. Social security fraud perpetrated by asylum seekers is costing taxpayers in the state of Lower Saxony millions of euros, according to the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. Police reported 2,644 known cases of fraud in 2016, including 487 cases by asylum seekers, up from 351 such cases in 2015. The fraud involves migrants using multiple identities to collect social welfare benefits in different cities and towns. In the city of Braunschweig alone, some 240 migrants defrauded the state of €4.8 million ($5 million) in 2016. Police say Sudanese migrants, many of whom were allowed to enter Germany without having their fingerprints taken, have "created a business model" out of social security fraud. Local officials have been accused of covering up the fraud, which came to light after an employee at a social security office contacted the police. In January 2016, she had handed her boss a file with 30 cases of suspected fraud. After he refused to act, she contacted the police in May 2016. She was fired for "overstepping her authority."
January 26. A court in Celle sentenced a 16-year-old German-Moroccan female jihadist to six years in prison for stabbing and seriously wounding a police officer, the first lone-wolf terrorist attack in Germany inspired by the Islamic State. The incident occurred at the central train station in Hanover on the afternoon of February 26, 2016, when two police officers noticed that the girl — identified only as Safia S. — was observing and following them. The officers approached the girl, who was wearing an Islamic headscarf, and asked her to present her identification papers. After handing over her ID, she stabbed one of the officers in the neck with a six-centimeter kitchen knife. According to police, the attack happened so quickly that the 34-year-old officer was unable to defend himself. "The perpetrator did not display any emotion," a police spokesperson said. "Her only concern was for her headscarf. She was concerned that her headscarf be put back on properly after she was arrested. Whether the police officer survived, she did not care."
January 26. Upkeep for the 13,600 unaccompanied child migrants (unbegleiteten minderjährigen Flüchtlingen) in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) will cost German taxpayers €632 million ($670 million) in 2017. Child migrants are arriving in NRW at the rate of 300-400 each month. Each child migrant costs €4,500 a month to maintain, in addition to an annual administrative fee of €3,100 (Verwaltungspauschal). The children are from more than 60 countries, including Afghanistan (37%), Syria (36%) and Iraq (11%). Over 90% of child migrants are male.
January 27. Due to positive net migration (more people entering the country than leaving it), the German population increased by 1.14 million in 2015, and by another 750,000 in 2016, to reach an all-time high of 82.8 million at the end of 2016, according to preliminary estimates by Destatis.
January 27. Muslim students at the Emscher-Lippe school in Gelsenkirchen refused to participate in Holocaust remembrance activities. Some 40% of the 550 students at the school are Muslim.
January 27. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble revealed that the migrant crisis would cost German taxpayers €43 billion ($46 billion) during 2016 (€21.7 billion) and 2017 (€21.3 billion).
January 28. Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière said that Anis Amri, the 24-year-old Tunisian who carried out the December 19 jihadist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, could have been deported in October 2016, but that officials in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) failed to do so. De Maizière's statement contradicted claims by NRW Interior Minister Ralf Jäger, who said he had no legal authority to deport Amri, whose asylum application had been denied.
January 30. Süleyman D., a 25-year-old German of Turkish descent, was arrested for raping one woman and attempting to rape two more at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
January 30. The Bishop of Regensburg, Rudolf Voderholzer, said there could be no reconciliation between Christians and Muslims. Islam is a "post-Christian phenomenon, with the claim to negate the core content of Christianity," he said. "Only those who do not know their own faith or do not take it seriously can consider a comprehensive integration of Islam as possible."
The Bishop of Regensburg, Rudolf Voderholzer, said on January 30 that there could be no reconciliation between Christians and Muslims. Islam is a "post-Christian phenomenon, with the claim to negate the core content of Christianity," he said. "Only those who do not know their own faith or do not take it seriously can consider a comprehensive integration of Islam as possible." (Image source: Wikimedia Commons/StagiaireMGIMO)
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.

The Vatican's Relations with Islam
Lawrence A. Franklin/Gatestone Institute/February 19, 2017
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9960/vatican-islam
"They are driving us out of the Middle East," declared Pope Francis on returning from Turkey.
"[I]t would be beautiful if all Islamic leaders, whether they are political, religious or academic leaders, would speak out clearly and condemn this because this would help the majority of Muslim people." — Pope Francis, counseling Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
While this welcoming stance is in keeping with the fundamental beliefs of the Catholic faith, the Pope as the "Good Shepherd" has an obligation to protect his flock from the militants among the refugees.
Within the Catholic Church, there also exists a sub-dominant counter-melody that warns about Islamic hostility to the values of Judeo-Christian civilization.
Cardinal Sarah targets what he refers to as "Islam's pseudo-family values which legitimize polygamy, female subservience, sexual slavery, and child marriage."
At some point, the Catholic Church might raise the issue of persecution of Christian minorities in Muslim-majority countries at international fora such as the United Nations. The Church also could publicly ask Muslims of good will to express their solidarity with the persecuted and request international organizations to intervene to protect Christians.
Given the centuries of hostility between Christendom and dar-al-Islam (the World of Islam), the Vatican's caution may be understandable, but is ill-advised and no longer tenable.
Perhaps, in the light of the harm dhimmitude can do to both civic life and faith, the Catholic Church might re-assess its stance toward Islam from one of friendly engagement to cautionary disengagement. As radical jihadists continue to martyr Christians throughout the world, such a re-evaluation of Islam by the Vatican seems appropriate.
These hate crimes against Christians are occurring against a backdrop of fifteen centuries of hostile, relations between Christianity and Islam -- from the Islamic takeover of Persia, the great Christian Byzantine Empire in Turkey, North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Greece and Southern Spain.
As Catholics comprise more than half of the globe's two billion Christians, a sober reassessment of Islam by Rome could be of great import and attract more people to Christianity when, as with Brexit, they see that the Church is aligned with a reality they see every day with their eyes.
A decision by the Vatican to distance itself from trying to please Muslims, many of whom would presumably only be pleased by converting Christians to Islam, might even evolve into a more realistic understanding of the Islamic faith by the Catholic hierarchy. If the Church, on the other hand, is hoping to convert Muslims to Christianity, then we have two proselytizing religions, each trying to convert the other, but by different means.
At some point, the Catholic Church might raise the issue of persecution of Christian minorities in Muslim majority countries at international fora such as the United Nations. The Church also could publicly ask Muslims of good will to express their solidarity with the persecuted and request international organizations to intervene to protect Christians.
For the moment, however, Pope Francis is maintaining his diplomatic and tolerant stance toward the Islamic world. In July 2016, for example, on the papal plane returning from a trip to Poland, the pontiff told reporters accompanying him back to Rome that he equated the violence of some Catholics in Italy who kill their wives or mothers-in-law as being akin to the violence exhibited by some Muslims. He said that most religions have small fundamentalist groups, and implied that the root cause of violence among Muslims is poverty: "Terrorism grows when there are no other options and when the center of the global economy is the god of money and not the person."
After this 2016 pastoral visit to Poland, he said, "I don't like to talk about Muslim violence. I must speak of Catholic violence if I speak of Islamic violence."
However, on returning from an earlier journey to Turkey at the end of November 2014, where he had met the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, Pope Francis condemned the violence of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). "They are driving us out of the Middle East," he said. During this visit to Turkey, the pope counseled Turkish President Erdogan, "it would be beautiful if all Islamic leaders, whether they are political, religious or academic leaders, would speak out clearly and condemn this because this would help the majority of Muslim people." The Pope's tone on this trip may have reflected concerns over the ISIS offensive, then underway against Iraqi Kurdistan, a region that his staff discouraged him from visiting because of security concerns.
The language coming closest to stating official Vatican policy toward Islam can be found in the November 24, 2013 Apostolic Exhortation "Evangelli Gaudium," (The Joy of the Gospel). In paragraph 252, the Pope writes:
"We must never forget that they (the Muslims) profess they hold the faith of Abraham and together with us they adore the one, merciful, God who will judge humanity on the last day."[1]
In the document's very next paragraph 253, Francis entreats Muslims to grant Christians who live in Islamic countries, the same freedom of worship that practitioners of Islam enjoy in Western countries.[2] However, this request is immediately followed by a statement which encourages a conciliatory, even unrealistic approach to Christian-Muslim relations:
"Faced with disconcerting episodes of violent fundamentalism, our respect for true followers of Islam should cause us to avoid hateful generalizations, for authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran, are opposed to every form of violence."[3]
Perhaps the pontiff thinks that these ingratiating statements will ultimately lead to a reciprocal Islamic initiative to reach out to Christian leaders. Maybe he believes that by soft-pedaling the problem of anti-Christian hatred fostered by jihadists, peace-loving Muslims will then ultimately assert themselves. Perhaps he hopes that these "good Muslims" will then pressure extremists to moderate their views. Nonetheless, Francis remains, for the moment, apparently aligned with those political leaders in the West, most of whom refuse to call out what everyone sees done every day in the name of Islam.
Vatican institutions also reflect the Holy Father's conciliatory approach to Islam. Holy See officials and media outlets focus on the need for Christians to embrace as brothers and sisters the tide of migrant refugees from the Muslim Near-East and North Africa. While this welcoming stance is in keeping with the fundamental beliefs of the Catholic faith, the Pope as the "Good Shepherd" has an obligation to protect his flock from the militants among the refugees. The large majority of the migrants are male, young, and unaccompanied. This imbalance is most likely a factor in the many examples of aggression across Europe by some refugees, as well a disturbing pattern of sexual outrages against non-Muslim females on the continent.
Pope Francis washes and kisses the feet of a group of refugees in Rome, in March 2016. (Image source: CatholicTV Network video screenshot)
Within the Catholic Church, there also exists a sub-dominant counter melody that warns about Islamic hostility to the values of Judeo-Christian civilization. For instance, the Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, who is Vatican Prefect for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, compares Islamic fundamentalism to Nazi-Fascism and Communism. He depicts the West's idolatry of atheistic secularism and the religious fanaticism of Islam as "twin apocalyptic beasts." Cardinal Sarah targets what he refers to as "Islam's pseudo-family values which legitimize polygamy, female subservience, sexual slavery, and child marriage." He is unequivocal about the limits of Christianity's relations with Islam. "With Islam there can be no theological dialogue because the essential foundations of the Christian faith are very different from those of the Muslims," he writes.[4] He bemoans the "very difficult, almost impossible relations with Muslims in the Sudan, Kenya, and Nigeria."[5]
While he praises Islamic-Christian relations in West Africa, Cardinal Sarah has little hope for Christianity's survivability in the Middle East. He closely identifies with the Syriac Catholic Bishop of Mosul, Iraq Basil Casmoussa, who describes the Iraqi Muslims' view of their Christian neighbors as "being troops hired or led by the West and thus considered as a parasitical body in the nation."[6]
While Cardinal Sarah may be the most outspoken of Africa's Cardinals about Islam, he is not alone. Some of the Catholic hierarchy in Africa are exposed on a daily basis to aggressive Islamic behavior in their home countries. Certainly, this is evident in religiously-divided states like Nigeria.
American Cardinal Raymond Burke is another prominent cleric who has urged a more sober approach to Islam. Burke bluntly lays out the concerns of a growing chorus of Christians: "I don't believe we (Muslims and Christians) worship the same God, because the god of Islam is a governor," he succinctly states. "Islam is Sharia and that law which comes from Allah, must dominate every man eventually," Burke adds -- and that "this law (Sharia) is not founded on love." Burke, criticizing Islam, claims that "the essential drive in Islam is to govern and control the world."
Another Church leader, the Archbishop of Paris Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, was even more blunt during a memorial Mass for Jacques Hamel, a Catholic priest knifed to death by ISIS militants on July 26, 2016 in a suburb of Rouen, France:
"Those who want to announce to us a god of death (Allah), a Moloch that would rejoice at the death of a man and promise paradise to those who kill while invoking him, these could not expect humanity to yield to their delusion."
Some prominent Catholic journalists, such as Sandro Magister and the Jesuit Islamologist, Father Khalil Samir, challenge the conciliatory language that Rome employs in its public dialogue with Islam. Magister and Father Samir underscore the central differences between the inaccessibility of Allah and the intimate Christian God of love. Samir also contrasts the all-will and all-power, one-dimensional concept of Islam's deity with the Trinitarian unity of Christianity's Godhead of "Lover-Beloved-Love."[7]
Ultimately, if the Vatican wants to protect its faithful from being subjected to the persecution so pervasively experienced by Christians, especially, in Muslim-majority countries, Church institutions might start publicly evaluating Islam by the actions of its professed believers. A critical mass of skeptics within the Vatican's Curia, College of Cardinals or among the Church's Bishops may ultimately decide openly to challenge the current posture of the Holy See regarding Islam.
Catholic theologians have a duty not to be naive. Why does Islam, which was spread by force, seem to be maintained by force? Why does the Koran elevate jihadi violence to high virtue? Why is the Koran so replete with verses filled with hatred? Why do Muslims denigrate democracy? Why doesn't the United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights satisfy the demands of Islamic law (sharia)? Why does Islam oppose freedom of conscience -- the right of man and woman to worship as they please?
The mere raising of these questions will invite a torrent of hostile commentary and accusations of Islamophobia.
Given the centuries of hostility between Christendom and dar-al-Islam (the World of Islam), the Vatican's caution may be understandable, but is ill-advised and no longer tenable.
Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve, where he was a Military Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Israel.
[1] Evangelii Gaudium/The Joy of the Gospel, Chapter Four: "The Social Dimension of Evangelization" Section IV: "Social Dialogue as a Contribution to Peace" "Interreligious Dialogue" Paragraph 252.
[2] Ibid. Paragraph 253.
[3] Ibid. Paragraph 253.
[4] "God or Nothing: A Conversation on Faith" by Robert Cardinal Sarah Ignatius Press: San Francisco, 2015, P.137.
[5] Ibid. p 137.
[6] Ibid. p.138.
[7] The Catholic explanation of the Trinity, like all we contemplate about God is insufficient from a creature's perspective. However, the most eloquent description and perhaps the explanation which approaches a true description of the Godhead is that of St. Augustine of Hippo (North Africa), who offers the analogy of Lover-Beloved-Love to the Father-Son-Holy Spirit. "On the Trinity" by St. Augustine.
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