LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 03/17

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For Today
Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 07/13-27/:"‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. ‘Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord", will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name? "Then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers." ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell and great was its fall!’"

Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right
Second Letter to the Thessalonians 03/06-14/:"We command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labour we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right. Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published english On March 02-03.17
A New Genocide for Egypt’s Christians/Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPage Magazine/March 02/17
A World of Fear and Hatred/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq AlAwsat/March 02/17
A world without NGOs/Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/March 02/17
An introduction to understanding President Trump/Ahmad al-Farraj/Al Arabiya/March 02/17
The Future of the European Union/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/March 02/2017
PLO Ambassador To Iran: We Will Liberate Palestine 'From The River To The Sea' – With Everything From Stabbing And Vehicular Attacks To Launching Rockets/MEMRI/ March 2, 2017

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published On March 02-03.17
FPM, AMAL to Sign Memorandum of Understanding 'Very Soon'
Geagea Stresses 'Firmness' of LF-FPM Ties, Says Not Interfering in Energy Minister's Work
Hizbullah Bloc Insists on Proportional Representation, Says Electoral Law Must Conform to Constitution
Spain Defense Minister Meets Hariri: We're Fully Committed to Lebanon Stability
Syrian Jets Hit Jihadists near Lebanon Border
FPM Says to Resort to 'Gradual Escalation' if No New Electoral Law
French Defense Minister Expected to Visit Lebanon Next Week
Hariri Says Govt. a 'Failure' if It Doesn't Pass Electoral Law, Stresses Mustaqbal 'Wants Elections'
Qanso, Mansour stress need to produce fair election law
Shorter meets Ogassapian: we hope to see more women in next parliament, cabinet
Riachi launches new Ministry of Information e site: Dialogue culture paves way for civilization of peace
Lebanon and EU hold highlevel meeting on counterterrorism
Lebanese-Palestinian Agreement to Hand Over Wanted Militants
Lebanon a priority for World Bank, director tells Aoun
FPM: Hariri Has Not Informed Us of His Endorsement of Proportional Representation

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published On March 02-03.17
IS Pulls Back from Syria's Palmyra
Amnesty accuses Egypt of failing to protect Christians
Syrian opposition refuses to discuss terrorism at UN talks
Up to 15,000 ISIS militants remain in Iraq and Syria
Turkey Threatens to Strike Kurd Militia unless It Leaves Syria's Manbij
Le Pen Loses EU Immunity over IS Atrocity Tweets
Egypt appeals court acquits Mubarak over protester killings
University in Canada evacuated over anti-Muslim bomb threat
Sudan’s Bashir names ally prime minister
Jordanian immigrant in Michigan elated over release from detention
IRGC: Khamenei & Rouhani Authorize Launch of Missiles
Iran: Widespread Workers Protests in Khuzestan
Factional Feuding Flare in Iran Over May Presidential Elections

Links From Jihad Watch Site for March 02-03.17
Unfit for duty: McMaster and Gorka
Fake anti-Muslim hate crime in Montreal: Muslim arrested for bomb threat against Muslim university students
Another fake “anti-Muslim hate crime”: Leftist put up Muslim internment posters as “cautionary tale”
UK woman opened home to Muslim “12-year-old refugee,” he was really adult jihadi, said “I’ll kill you all”
Indonesia: Muslim detonates pressure-cooker bomb at government office, “possibly” linked to the Islamic State
Islamic State: “We will certainly plant our flag over America, China, Russia, and all the infidels of the world”
Iranian film depicts Gulf battle in which Iran obliterates US Navy fleet
Saudi police pack two transgender Pakistanis into a sack and beat them to death with sticks
Pakistan: Muslims hail UK jihad murderer of “blasphemer” as hero
Israeli lawsuits against Facebook for providing jihadis a platform skyrocket
Islamic State on killing spree of Christians in Sinai
Glazov Gang: The Anti-Trump Revolution and the Jihadist Connection

Links From Christian Today Site On March 02-03.17
Islam Will Surpass Christianity As World's Largest Religion By 2070, Pew Predicts
Patti Boulaye: The Star Of Stage And Screen On How Her 'Awesome God' Has Opened Doors For Her
Splits Among Bishops Over Brexit Exposed By Lords Vote
Pastor And Four Churchgoers Accused Of Pushing 'Possessed' Woman Into Bonfire Before She Died From Burns
Pakistani Christian Woman Raped, Forced To Marry And Convert To Islam Says She 'Prays For Freedom'
The Spiritual Benefits Of 'Liquid Bread': How These Monks Took Up Beer For Lent
Does Trump Believe Islam Is Really A Religion? Adviser Ducks The Question
Indian Clergyman's Anti-Women Rant Goes Viral
What I Learned From A Weekend Spent Talking About Sex
Fresh Battle Over Abortion Decriminalisation Looms In Parliament

Latest Lebanese Related News published On March 02-03.17
FPM, AMAL to Sign Memorandum of Understanding 'Very Soon'
Naharnet/March 02/17/The Free Patriotic Movement and the AMAL Movement are inclined to sign a memorandum of understanding that will turn the page on their years-long frosty relations, a media report said on Thursday.“A third lunch meeting has been held between the ministers Jebran Bassil and Ali Hassan Khalil in the presence of General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim,” al-Joumhouria newspaper reported. “The meeting was held in Ibrahim's office at the General Security headquarters and the conferees continued their discussions on the FPM-AMAL MoU,” the daily added, noting that the MoU will be signed “very soon.” Parliament Speaker and AMAL leader Nabih Berri had openly opposed the election of FPM founder Michel Aoun as president but a rapprochement meeting between the two movements eventually led to the approval of long-stalled oil and gas exploration decrees. If it materializes, the MoU will be the second such agreement that the FPM signs with an essential Shiite party after the famous 2006 MoU with Hizbullah.

Geagea Stresses 'Firmness' of LF-FPM Ties, Says Not Interfering in Energy Minister's Work
Naharnet/March 02/17/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday stressed the “firmness” of the rising alliance between the LF and the Free Patriotic Movement while noting that his party is not seeking to “interfere in the work of the energy minister.”“The relation and understanding between the FPM and the LF are as unwavering and firm as me and General (President Michel) Aoun,” Geagea reassured during a Maarab seminar on development in the Keserwan region, dismissing media reports suggesting that the LF-FPM ties have been strained by the electricity file. Geagea noted that even the most remote African communities enjoy uninterrupted power supply. “During our study of the state budget, we discovered an item about a major deficit next year in the electricity sector, and we would spare the State at least $1.2 billion in losses in the electricity sector should we rectify a certain item in the state budget,” the LF leader said. “Accordingly, we realized that rectifying the issue of electricity is important for rectifying the state budget and we were not interfering in the work of the energy minister,” Geagea explained, referring to recent remarks by Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil in this regard. “If Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil has any suggestions regarding the health, social affairs and information ministries, we are ready to listen,” Geagea added humorously, responding to Abi Khalil's remarks. In an apparent jab at the LF, which holds the health portfolio in the government, Abi Khalil had announced sarcastically on Wednesday that he is “preparing a health plan.”Geagea said Thursday that “the FPM ministers have good intentions towards resolving the electricity crisis, but the problem is in the structure of the Lebanese administration and the in the work of the Lebanese government.”He called on the government to ask the energy minister to “prepare a booklet of conditions for organizing a call for tenders for the electricity sector in Lebanon within a deadline of three months at the latest,” noting that “a law issued in 2014 allows the Energy Ministry to giver power production contracts to the private sector.”“When we first launched our proposal regarding the electricity sector, we (and the FPM) had different viewpoints on how to approach the issue, but the differences have started to narrow and to those trying to sow discord between us I say that they will not succeed,” Geagea added.

Hizbullah Bloc Insists on Proportional Representation, Says Electoral Law Must Conform to Constitution
Naharnet/March 02/17/Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc on Thursday reiterated its insistence on an electoral law fully based on proportional representation while stressing that the electoral law should conform to the constitution's stipulations.“The bloc underlines its adherence to an electoral law fully based on proportional representation and a single or several expanded electorates, and sees it as the formula that is the most compatible with the standards that achieve correct, comprehensive and effective representation for the Lebanese people,” said the bloc in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.
“Endorsing it would represent a landmark shift towards building a strong state and renewing the political life,” Loyalty to Resistance noted. And pointing out that there is “mutual frankness” between the political parties regarding the electoral law, the bloc emphasized that any proposal should “conform to the constitutional standards and to the content of the (1989) Document of National Accord (Taef Accord), especially regarding equal power-sharing between Christians and Muslims, coexistence and correct representation.” Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on proportional representation but al-Mustaqbal Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party have both rejected the proposal. Mustaqbal argues that Hizbullah's arms would prevent serious competition in the party's strongholds while the PSP has warned that such an electoral system would “marginalize” the minority Druze community whose presence is concentrated in the Chouf and Aley areas. The political parties are meanwhile discussing a so-called hybrid electoral law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.

Spain Defense Minister Meets Hariri: We're Fully Committed to Lebanon Stability
Naharnet/March 02/17/Spanish Defense Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal held talks Thursday with Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail after which she stressed that “Spain is fully committed to Lebanon's stability and future.”The meeting tackled “the situations in Lebanon and the region and the Lebanese state's anti-terror efforts,” Hariri's press office said. Hariri thanked the minister for the Spanish army's contributions to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and discussed with her means to boost military cooperation between the two countries in the training and equipment domains, the office added. “Spain is fully committed to Lebanon's stability and future, especially through the Spanish contingent operating within the UNIFIL forces in the South,” De Cospedal said after the meeting. “I also conveyed to PM Hariri congratulations on the work of the Lebanese government, especially in terms of holding the elections and preserving stability,” the minister added. “We addressed cooperation between Lebanon and Spain in terms of maintaining stability and this is very important to us. We also stressed commitment to supporting Lebanon regarding the issue of Syrian refugees,” De Cospedal went on to say. The minister arrived later in the southern town of Ibl al-Saqi to inspect her country's contingent that is operating within the UNIFIL force.

Syrian Jets Hit Jihadists near Lebanon Border
Naharnet/March 02/17/Syrian warplanes on Thursday waged several raids on posts for the jihadist group Fateh al-Sham Front -- al-Qaida's former Syrian branch – near the Lebanese-Syrian border, media reports said. A security source told LBCI television that the strikes targeted Syria's western Qalamoun region near the Lebanese border. Al-Mayadeen television for its part said Syrian fighter jets bombed militant posts in the outskirts of the Lebanese border town of Arsal.

FPM Says to Resort to 'Gradual Escalation' if No New Electoral Law
Naharnet/March 02/17/MP Simon Abi Ramia stressed Thursday that the Free Patriotic Movement will not accept a setback for the new presidential tenure caused by failure to pass a new electoral law, warning that the FPM will resort to “gradual escalation” if the procrastination continues. “The FPM is the most active regarding the electoral law,” Abi Ramia told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5). “We have entered a dangerous phase regarding the deadlines but we have not reached the red line although we are approaching it. But the positive thing is that all parties have acknowledged the need to approve a new law,” he added. The lawmaker urged all parties to capitalize on “the common points” in order to “produce this law.”He also revealed that “the FPM will resort to gradual escalation should the parties fail to reach a new law.”“If necessary, people will eventually raise their voice,” Abi Ramia added. The country has not organized parliamentary elections since 2009 and the legislature has since extended its own mandate twice. Al-Mustaqbal Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party have both rejected that the electoral law be fully based on the proportional representation system -- a proposal backed by Hizbullah, President Michel Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri. Mustaqbal argues that Hizbullah's arms would prevent serious competition in the party's strongholds while the PSP has warned that such an electoral system would “marginalize” the minority Druze community whose presence is concentrated in the Chouf and Aley areas. The political parties are meanwhile discussing a so-called hybrid electoral law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.

French Defense Minister Expected to Visit Lebanon Next Week
Naharnet/March 02/17/French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to make an official visit to Lebanon in the beginning of next week, a media report said on Thursday. “During the visit, the French defense minister will meet President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Saad Hariri,” al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted informed sources as saying. He will also meet with Defense Minister Yaaqoub al-Sarraf and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji, the sources revealed. Le Drian will then conclude his trip with an inspection visit to the French contingent operating within the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Hariri Says Govt. a 'Failure' if It Doesn't Pass Electoral Law, Stresses Mustaqbal 'Wants Elections'
Naharnet/March 02/17/Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced Wednesday that his government would be a “failure” if it does not manage to pass a new electoral law as he denied media reports claiming that his al-Mustaqbal Movement is seeking to postpone the elections. “Several formats are being discussed very positively by all parties, and also with (Druze leader MP) Walid Beik (Jumblat). We want an electoral law and we want the elections to be held soon,” Hariri told reporters after talks with Jumblat at the Grand Serail. “I will frankly say it, as a prime minister I consider that should we fail to approve an electoral law, this government will be a failure. This issue is extremely important and all parties in the government are of this opinion,” Hariri added. Asked how much progress has been made towards approving a new electoral law, Hariri said “70 percent.”Commenting on media reports claiming that Mustaqbal is seeking to postpone the parliamentary elections in a bid to strengthen its internal situations, Hariri said he does not “have a problem” if the elections are held “tomorrow.”“Let no one think that al-Mustaqbal Movement is weak. It is a strong movement that has a presence across Lebanon. We might have been affected in some regions but this does not mean that we have weakened,” Hariri added. The country has not organized parliamentary elections since 2009 and the legislature has since extended its own mandate twice. While Hariri's Mustaqbal 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, Jumblat has totally rejected proportional representation warning that it would “marginalize” his minority Druze community. After Wednesday's talks with Hariri, Jumblat however announced that he would accept a so-called hybrid law that mixes proportional representation with the winner-takes-all system.

Qanso, Mansour stress need to produce fair election law
Thu 02 Mar 2017/NNA - SSNP leader, Minister Ali Qanso, received on Thursday former Foreign Minister, Adnan Mansour, with talks featuring high on the need to fortify Lebanon in the face of challenges. "The best way to immunize the country is by reaching understandings and contributing to the production of laws that establish a strong, fair and capable State," he said. Qanso and Mansour called for "investing in the positive stance of most of the political against the 60s law. (...) This investment would serve the interest of the country and the people, under the condition that sincere and concerted efforts be made."

Shorter meets Ogassapian: we hope to see more women in next parliament, cabinet
Thu 02 Mar 2017/NNA - British Ambassador Hugo Shorter met on Thursday with Minister of State for Women Affairs, Jean Ogassapian.Following the meeting Ambassador Shorter said: 'I was pleased to attend Tuesday's inauguration of the Ministry of State for Women's Affairs at the Grand Serail. I congratulated Minister Oghassapian on the formation of the ministry and reiterated our support to this extremely worthwhile task. I particularly welcomed that both the Prime Minister and Minister Oghassapian have called for a quota for women in the upcoming elections. The quota is a necessary temporary measure to help women overcome the real obstacles they face. We had a very good meeting in which we agreed that no society can reach its full potential when half the population is not able to participate fully in public life. There are so many successful Lebanese women in all kinds of fields, but they are notably absent in politics. There is a great need for women to play an equal role in political life, and you only have to look at the strength of the campaign from parties, media and civil society to see that this is something many, many people are hoping to see realised in the upcoming elections. We look forward to working with Minister Ogassapian and I hope that we will see more women in the next parliament and next cabinet. A more equal society is a more successful society."

Riachi launches new Ministry of Information e site: Dialogue culture paves way for civilization of peace
Thu 02 Mar 2017/NNA - Minister of Information Melhem Riachi on Thursday launched the new electronic site of the Ministry of Information at the third conference of the Directorate of Studies and Publications of the Ministry, titled "The Culture of Dialogue and Social Media" held under his patronage at the American University of Beirut (AUB). "This conference is one of the doors to dialogue and communication, waiting to reach the ministry of dialogue and communication to which we aspire, and thus the building of a better Lebanese society," he said, noting that "the era of communication we know today has transformed every citizen into a journalist."Riachi said that the culture of dialogue paved the way for the civilization of peace. "This kind of civilization is that of the courageous, while force and violence -- as well as incitement to hatred -- are the means used by the weak," he said. The minister did not fail to criticize, in conclusion, the lack of credibility of certain media, where "everything has now become allowed."MP Hassan Fadlallah, Head of the Parliamentary Information Committee, said that social media was the synonym of dialogue platforms (...) and a space for political disputes and even cleavages. "These media platforms have opened the doors of information to all, far from the hegemony of traditional media," he said, before turning to the importance of respect for freedom of expression stipulated by the Constitution. Moving from the media to political issues, Fadlallah reiterated his political group's commitment to the proportionality law with single constituencies or enlarged constituencies. "We are open to dialogue and ready to do whatever is necessary to achieve this just law," he concluded. Several dignitaries have attended the conference, including Ministers Inaya Ezzeddine and Avedis Guidanian, representatives of ministers Nicolas Tueni, Ali Kanso and Talal Erslan, the ambassadors of Egypt, Indonesia and Argentina, the Embassy of Saudi Arabia's Charge d'Affaires, representatives of the Embassies of Iran, Morocco, Sultanate of Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Algeria and Iraq, as well as representatives of the former Minister Walid Daouk, the president of the National Audiovisual Council, Abdel Hadi Mahfouz, the director of the National News Agency, Laure Sleiman Saab, the director of Radio Liban, Mohammad Ibrahim, and the minister's media adviser, André Kassas.

Lebanon and EU hold highlevel meeting on counterterrorism
Thu 02 Mar 2017/NNA - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants and the European Union held today a high-level meeting on counter-terrorism.
The meeting was co-chaired by the Secretary General a.i. and Director of Political and Consular Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Ambassador Charbel Wehbi, and the EU-Counter Terrorism Coordinator Mr. Gilles de Kerchove, in the presence of Ambassador Christina Lassen, Head of the Delegation of the European Union. Experts in counter-terrorism from the EU, EU Member States and CEPOL (European Agency for Law Enforcement Training), as well as representatives of the Lebanese Parliament, concerned ministries, security agencies and civil society, attended the meeting. This meeting aimed at assisting Lebanon in adopting a national counter-terrorism strategy which will lead to enhanced security in Lebanon and in Europe. Following the launching of the Lebanon-EU counter-terrorism dialogue in January 2016, both parties have agreed to join efforts in combating terrorism.
Presentations highlighted two key elements in particular: first, the need to develop a strategy which reflects concerns of all key actors involved in prevention of violent extremism; and second, the EU side underlined the need for a single Lebanese coordinating body that can oversee the implementation of the strategy. Following the high-level meeting, Lebanon will exert efforts to accelerate the development of a national counter-terrorism strategy through the establishment of a joint working group (involving all relevant State bodies and civil society) to draft a strategy document. The EU reaffirms its strong commitment to extending support to the Lebanese authorities, including through all relevant EU agencies, and instruments including the RAN (Radicalisation Awareness Network) to enable Lebanon to benefit from all relevant EU expertise in the development of the national counter-terrorism strategy.
Ambassador Charbel Wehbi said: "Our aspiration to cooperating with the EU and its Member States stems from our conviction that the common threat is one and the shared interest is one. We are facing today a large number of emerging challenges that are being exacerbated by the migration and displacement movement across international borders, among new international challenges that are increasing.""With this meeting, we are further strengthening the strong cooperation between Europe and Lebanon to face our joint challenge of terrorism. We do this because we see Lebanon as a key partner in the fight against terrorism," said Ambassador Lassen. For his part, Mr. Gilles de Kerchove paid tribute "to the recent efforts of the Lebanese security services in deterring attacks by terrorist groups, particularly Daesh." "Based on my experience, I believe any strategy must have the support of all relevant bodies, not just security services but also civil society groups, and those that are best placed to detect the risk of radicalisation in communities," he added.

Lebanese-Palestinian Agreement to Hand Over Wanted Militants
Paula Astih/Asharq Al Awsat/March 02/17/Beirut – Lebanese and Palestinian security leaders have reached an agreement to hand over wanted Lebanese militants, who were taking refuge in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon. The agreement followed heavy clashes on Monday between extremist militants and gunmen from the Palestinian Fatah party. The two sides engaged in intermittent clashes since last week, trading machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire, and wounding several people. Extremists wanted by the Lebanese authorities, including retired artist Fadel Shaker and the infamous Shadi al-Mawlawi, have been hiding in the camp, which has regularly seen factional disputes spiral into deadly violence. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri headed a security meeting at the Grand Serail to discuss latest security developments in Ain al-Hilweh, while Palestinian camp leaders held a series of meetings with Lebanese officials to speed up the formation of a new joint security force after the Higher Palestinian Security Committee had been disbanded last month. Official Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the Lebanese authorities were calling on the dominant factions in the camp to hand over the wanted suspects and to restore stability in Ain al-Hilweh. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said that calm finally prevailed inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain-el-Hilweh, as feudal parties committed to the ceasefire declared on Tuesday by the factions during a meeting at the Palestinian Embassy in Beirut.The NNA added that the city of Sidon was scheduled to observe general strike, and schools and institutions would close for the day, as called forth by MP Bahiya Hariri, in an expression of rejection of inter-fighting among Palestinians. The casualty toll of the clashes reached one dead and six wounded, according to the Lebanese news agency.

Lebanon a priority for World Bank, director tells Aoun
The Daily Star/March 02/17/BEIRUT: Lebanon is a priority for the World Bank, the organization’s director for the Middle East told President Michel Aoun in a meeting at the Baabda Palace Wednesday. Ferid Belhaj’s comments came amid renewed calls for World Bank assistance with future projects in the country. The meeting reaffirmed the organization’s continued cooperation with Lebanon. Belhaj informed Aoun that preparations were underway for World Bank Vice President Hafez Ghanem to visit Lebanon. The trip is expected to focus on developing further modes of collaboration between Lebanon and the organization. The World Bank meeting Wednesday was part of a routine visit with the new government to check up on the general situation and monitor projects being completed because of the position of the World Bank as a major funder of development projects in the country. The pair did not speak about specific projects, rather focusing on the overall situation. Belhaj discussed Lebanon’s financial situation with Aoun and the need to invest in future projects, considering the impact of the Syrian conflict on the country. Financial reforms and investments were emphasized, especially with regards to infrastructure.
Also present was Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who heads the parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee. The election of a president and the formation of a new government had facilitated Lebanon’s cooperation with the World Bank, Belhaj said, in a statement issued by Aoun’s media office.
In the latest announcement of funding, the World Bank approved the allocation of $200 million on Feb. 6 to repair some 500 kilometers of roads in Lebanon.Of the allotted amount, $155 million will be a loan, repayable over a 32-and-a-half-year period.

FPM: Hariri Has Not Informed Us of His Endorsement of Proportional Representation
Naharnet/March 02/17/Prime Minister Saad Hariri has not told the Free Patriotic Movement that he has decided to agree to an electoral law fully based on proportional representation, high-ranking FPM sources have announced. “The door has not been closed on the possibility of reaching a new electoral law, but should it be closed, the choices are open for us, and me might once again propose the Orthodox Gathering law,” the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Thursday, referring to a controversial electoral law under which each sect would elect its own MPs.“The street protests option is also on the table,” the sources added. Al-Akhbar reported Wednesday that Hariri has informed President Michel Aoun and Hizbullah of his willingness to agree to an electoral law fully based on proportional representation and on turning Lebanon into a single electorate in return for receiving a pledge guaranteeing his return to the premiership after the elections, claims that were swiftly denied by Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published On March 02-03.17
IS Pulls Back from Syria's Palmyra
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 02/17/Islamic State group fighters withdrew from much of the Syrian oasis city of Palmyra overnight, a monitor said Thursday, but government forces paused before entering its ravaged ancient ruins because of mines. Russian-backed Syrian troops pushed into a western neighborhood of the city late on Wednesday after fierce clashes with the jihadists. By Thursday morning, IS had withdrawn to residential neighborhoods in the east of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "IS withdrew from most of Palmyra after laying mines across the city. There are still suicide bombers left in the eastern neighborhoods," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. "Government forces have not yet been able to enter the heart of the city or the eastern parts."Palmyra's ancient ruins have long been listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site. Before IS entered the city in May 2015, they boasted temples, colonnaded alleys and elaborately decorated tombs that were among the best preserved classical monuments in the Middle East. But the jihadists launched a campaign of destruction against them, the scale of which was fully revealed when government forces briefly retook the city with Russian support last year. Satellite imagery has shown that IS has demolished more monuments since it recaptured Palmyra from government forces in December. "There are no IS fighters left in most of the Old City, but it is heavily mined," the Observatory chief said. Supported by Russian air strikes and ground troops, government forces have been battling through the desert for weeks to reach Palmyra. On Wednesday, a senior military source in Damascus told AFP the army had reached a strategic crossroads leading into Palmyra. "This crossroads is the key to entering the city," the source told AFP.

Amnesty accuses Egypt of failing to protect Christians
The New Arab/March 02/17/Amnesty International on Wednesday accused the Egyptian government of failing to protect hundreds of Coptic Christians who fled their homes in northern Sinai after a series of attacks by Islamic State militants.
The London-based rights group said the government's response fits with a pattern of failing to protect the embattled minority, adding that after other sectarian attacks the government sought reconciliation agreements between communities rather than prosecuting those responsible.
An IS affiliate waging an insurgency in the Sinai last week released a video calling for attacks on Egypt’s Coptic minority. Dozens of families have left the peninsula after seven Christians were killed in suspected jihadist attacks, including a Copt murdered in the north Sinai city of El-Arish whose house was also burned. Najia Bounaim, a Tunisia-based Amnesty representative, said "the Egyptian authorities have consistently failed to protect Coptic residents of North Sinai from a longstanding pattern of violent attacks," and "must not let them down further now."President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi defended his government’s response to the attacks and the militant insurgency in Sinai. “(The attacks aim to) destabilize the fabric of Egypt… to give the impression that one group isn’t protected as it should be,” Sisi said in remarks broadcast on television late on Tuesday. “(The attacks make) people say that Egyptians are targeted in El-Arish and we are beginning to disunite. Some accuse the state of not helping them.”Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s 90-million population, say they are sidelined in both the education system and state institutions. Extremists accuse them of supporting the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, which ushered in a deadly crackdown on his supporters. “You say ‘don’t abandon the Sinai’. At a state level, that means the mobilization of army and police forces,” Sisi said. He said Egypt was bearing a “huge cost” in battling IS, and paid tribute to army and police “martyrs” killed in north Sinai. The former army chief added that security services were doing their utmost to protect civilians in the region. “We are like a surgeon who wants to remove the danger without damaging the rest of the patient,” Sissi said. Sinai has become increasingly volatile following the overthrow of dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011, and the military coup against President Mohamad Morsi in 2013. Since then, the Egyptian military have battled the militants in the north of the country who appear to be growing in strength. Most of the Sinai attacks are claimed by the Islamic State group's Egyptian branch, "Sinai Province". IS also said it carried out the bombing in October of a Russian airliner over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board.

Syrian opposition refuses to discuss terrorism at UN talks
AFP, Geneva Thursday, 2 March 2017/Syria’s main opposition group said Wednesday that terrorism can’t be added to the agenda of sputtering UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva, as sought by Damascus. The High Negotiating Committee (HNC) announced the refusal after an unprecedented meeting with a Russian minister, whose country is a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad. “We will not deal with it, and if (UN mediator Staffan de Mistura) adds it in any time we will not deal with it or discuss it,” HNC delegation chief Yehya Kodmani told reporters. The issue has overshadowed the Geneva talks, in particular after a suicide assault in Syria’s third-largest city of Homs last weekend which killed dozens of people. On Tuesday, Russia called for terrorism to be added to the agenda of the talks, which have until now focussed on three “baskets,” or areas for discussion: governance, constitution and elections. According to Syria’s SANA news agency, citing sources close to the regime, UN envoy de Mistura has agreed that the talks broach four areas: the three previously agreed plus terrorism. The veteran UN mediator, arriving at the same Geneva hotel as Kodmani a short time later, declined to comment, saying he would speak at the end of the current round of talks. Russian deputy foreign minister Gennady Gatilov was cautious after Wednesday’s meeting with the HNC delegation. “This was a sound meeting, constructive discussion about the Syrian negotiation round. There is a common understanding that we must move toward political regulation of the Syrian crisis,” he said, quoted by the RIA-Novosti news agency. “What is new about these Geneva talks is that the sides agreed with the suggestion of de Mistura to discuss all issues in a parallel mode, so that there are several tracks.” He added: “Of course we would like to see direct talks between (the) Syrian government delegation and a united opposition delegation, but we must admit that this is not attainable right now. The Syrian regime’s chief negotiator Bashar al-Jaafari demanded at the weekend that all factions at the Geneva talks condemn the Homs attack or be deemed “accomplices of terrorism.” UN Syria envoy de Mistura launched the latest round of talks last Thursday, but as in previous sessions there appears little prospect of the two sides’ meeting face-to-face. The opposition says political transition -- specifically the fate of President Assad -- should be added to the discussions.The Geneva talks, the fourth round of UN-sponsored talks in the six-year conflict which has killed over 310,000 people, are expected to end before or during the coming weekend, though no formal time frame has been set.

Up to 15,000 ISIS militants remain in Iraq and Syria
AFP, Washington Thursday, 2 March 2017/Between 12,000 and 15,000 ISIS militants remain in Iraq and Syria, a top US general said Wednesday, an indication of a significant dwindling of the militants’ forces. The US military only provides periodic updates on estimates of ISIS fighters but in 2015 and 2016, the Pentagon put the number at between 20,000 and 30,000 in the two countries. Some months saw the militants being killed in the thousands, though initially at least they were able to replenish their ranks through a porous border with Turkey that now is effectively sealed. Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend told reporters that among the many fighters killed in recent months are an “extraordinary number” of ISIS leaders, including many close to the group’s elusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. “We have a specific campaign to hunt them and kill them,” Townsend said in a video call from Baghdad.
“Almost all of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s inner circle has been killed in the last six months.”Still, he said about 2,000 ISIS fighters remain in and around western Mosul, defending the last portions of their former Iraqi bastion. When the Mosul campaign began in October, officials estimated there to have been 3,000 to 5,000 ISIS militants in and around the city. Some of those militants have fled west to the Tal Afar region and security forces have intercepted others who are trying to mingle with the civilian population “all over Iraq and Syria,” Townsend said. “We’re focused on chasing them out in a sort of sequential campaign,” he added. A US-led coalition has since late summer 2014 been bombing ISIS in Iraq and Syria while at the same time supporting local forces doing the fighting on the ground. Townsend cautioned against predicting when the defeat of ISIS might come. “I don’t expect (ISIS) to suddenly collapse from a lack of morale,” he said. “There’s a portion that will break and run. The rest of them will fight as ordered or fight to the death.”

Turkey Threatens to Strike Kurd Militia unless It Leaves Syria's Manbij
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 02/17/Turkey on Wednesday threatened to strike Syrian Kurdish militia forces if they do not withdraw from Manbij, a former bastion of the Islamic State (IS) group that has been taken over by predominantly Kurdish forces. "We have said before we will strike the YPG if they do not retreat" from Manbij, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told journalists, referring to the Kurdish People's Protection Units. The YPG, which Ankara considers a "terrorist" organization, is backed by the United States as the most effective fighting force on the ground in the battle against IS.

Le Pen Loses EU Immunity over IS Atrocity Tweets
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 02/17/The European Parliament on Thursday lifted French far-right leader Marine Le Pen's immunity from prosecution over her tweeting of images of Islamic State atrocities. EU lawmakers voted to deprive National Front leader Le Pen of her immunity in the case, launched by French prosecutors in 2015 over a graphic series of images on Twitter. They included a photo of the decapitated body of U.S. journalist James Foley. "I think the result is clear, a big majority is in favor of the lifting of immunity," acting parliament speaker Dimitrios Papadimoulis said. The lifting of Le Pen's immunity was effective immediately, European Parliament officials told AFP. But it concerns only the tweets, and not a separate probe into allegations that Le Pen misused public funds when hiring a parliamentary aide, they said. On Tuesday Le Pen dismissed efforts to lift her immunity as "part of the system that wants to stop the French people's candidate that I am." Le Pen has so far refused to attend an interview over the tweet investigation with police in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, citing her status as an MEP. But her senior aide has been placed under formal investigation for "the dissemination of violent images."Le Pen, who has over 830,000 Twitter followers, addressed the tweets to a French TV journalist whom she accused of likening her party to the jihadist group. The images were tweeted with the caption "This is Daesh" (an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group) and showed Foley's bloodied body with his decapitated head on his torso, as well as a man on fire in a cage, and a victim being driven over by a tank. Foley, a freelance journalist, was captured in Syria in 2012 and beheaded in August 2014. Foley's bereaved parents John and Diane said they wanted the images removed immediately, accusing Le Pen in a statement of using the "shamefully uncensored" image for her own political ends. French police have also opened a probe against Gilbert Collard, a National Front lawmaker in France, who had tweeted a similar violent image on the same day and for the same reason.
But last month the French national assembly refused to consider a request to lift his immunity after deciding it was not "sufficiently specific."

Egypt appeals court acquits Mubarak over protester killings
Thu 02 Mar 2017/NNA - Egypt's top appeals court on Thursday acquitted ex-president Hosni Mubarak of involvement in the killing of protesters during the 2011 revolt that ended his three-decade reign, a judicial official said. Mubarak had been sentenced to life in 2012 but an appeals court ordered a retrial, which dismissed the charges two years later. Thursday's ruling by the Court of Cassation is final. The trial was Mubarak's final one, after prosecutors levelled various charges against him following his February 2011 resignation. He was accused of inciting the deaths of protesters during the 18-day revolt, in which about 850 people were killed as police clashed with demonstrators. Mubarak, 88, has spent most of his time in a military hospital since his arrest in 2011.--AFP

University in Canada evacuated over anti-Muslim bomb threat
AFP Montreal Thursday, 2 March 2017/A bomb threat targeting Muslim students forced an evacuation Wednesday of nearly 4,000 students from the downtown campus of Concordia University in Montreal. In an email to school administrators and local media, a group identifying itself as the “underground” chapter of C4, or the Council of Conservative Citizens of Canada, at the university directly warned “Muslim students” there it would detonate one homemade explosive a day through Friday to protest their activities. “Now that President (Donald) Trump is in office south of the border, things have changed. We will not tolerate your behavior anymore,” the group said in its emailed letter, referring to the US president. “Until Concordia University stops religious activities of all kinds on campus, we decide the following action to show how far we are ready to go to fight Muslims,” the group vowed. Montreal police said they were investigating the “threatening email.” They swept the campus for explosives but found none. A similar threatening letter was also sent to nearby McGill University, which was put on heightened alert, but it did not specify a time or place of a possible attack. Three Concordia University buildings were evacuated just before midday, and would remain closed until around 6:00 pm (2300 GMT), Concordia spokeswoman Christine Mota said. One of the sites was hosting an “Islam awareness week.”Quebec Universities Minister Helene David, speaking to reporters at the scene, called the threat against Muslim students “deplorable.” “We strongly denounce these attacks against a university which is a model of living together,” she said. “Quebec is an inclusive place,” the minister added. “We want to live together. We will not tolerate this kind of situation.”

Sudan’s Bashir names ally prime minister
Reuters, Khartoum Thursday, 2 March 2017/Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir named his first vice president and long-time ally Hassan Saleh to the newly created post of prime minister, the ruling party's deputy leader said on Wednesday. “The party leadership meeting chaired by President Bashir approved the nomination of Hassan Saleh as prime minister and his retention of the post of first vice president,” National Congress Party Deputy Leader Ibrahim Mahmoud told reporters. Saleh will be sworn in on Thursday and immediately start negotiations on forming a new cabinet, Mahmoud said.

Jordanian immigrant in Michigan elated over release from detention
Reuters, Michigan Thursday, 2 March 2017/A Jordanian immigrant who resided legally in the United States for 18 years rejoiced on Wednesday at being able to return home after a month in detention that might have ended in his deportation. “I’m happy to be back with my family,” said Yousef Ajin, a 48-year-old Uber driver who was released on Tuesday from a detention center in Battle Creek, Michigan, after a federal judge ruled he could remain in the country despite a criminal record because his wife and four children – all US citizens – face hardship without him. Speaking outside his home in Ann Arbor and flanked by his family, Ajin – a Muslim who was born in Kuwait and immigrated legally to the United States from Jordan in 1999 – expressed gratitude to the judge who ruled he may remain indefinitely, saying: “I’m so happy I can stay.”Ajin holds a US green card, making him a legal and permanent US resident, but was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30 during a visit to their offices in Detroit for his biweekly residency check-in, only days after President Donald Trump signed a controversial executive order restricting immigration. Also read: US couple who terrorized black child’s party sentenced to decades in jail. The testimony in court on Tuesday also focused entirely on Ajin’s two prior criminal convictions – credit card fraud in 2001 and shoplifting in 2003. Ajin, who expressed remorse during his testimony on Tuesday, had served probation and paid fines for those incidents.
Federal immigration Judge David Paruch, an Obama appointee, ruled Tuesday Ajin be allowed to remain in the country because his expulsion would cause “extreme hardship” for his family. Ajin’s 15-year-old son has severe physical disabilities that require 24-hour care, making it nearly impossible for Ajin’s wife, Sihem Omar, to work. The Department of Justice attorney handling the case waived the government’s right to appeal Paruch’s decision, so Ajin was released late Tuesday. ICE had no comment as to why Ajin’s long-ago convictions had become significant now, but activists were not shy in seeing his release as a rebuke of the president’s hard line on immigration. “I believe President Trump has given the green light to people in the field to be more aggressive to arrest immigrants,” said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Walid said the government’s decision not to appeal is likely due to the fact that the region’s US attorney is an Obama appointee. “More of these cases are going to happen and it’ll be the luck of the draw as to who adjudicates the case,” Walid said.

IRGC: Khamenei & Rouhani Authorize Launch of Missiles
NCRI/Thursday, 02 March 2017/Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif, head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Public Relations Department, said all missile launches are carried out with the authorization of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani. “All IRGC missile launches are authorized by the armed forces headquarters and in coordination with the Supreme National Security Council. This council is chaired by the President and its orders have the leader’s (Khamenei) backing,” he said on Saturday, February 25th in remarks to reporters. “The Emad missile launch was authorized by the leader… no missile is launched in this country without the authority of the commander-in-chief. Even missile launches in military drills must be approved by the leader… He even specifies the exact timing of the missile launches,” said former Iranian armed forces commander Hassan Firouzabadi back in the summer of 2016. He is now a senior advisor to Khamenei.

Iran: Widespread Workers Protests in Khuzestan
NCRI/Thursday, 02 March 2017/The protest of hundreds of workers of Iran National Steel Industries in Ahvaz, Khuzestan continued on February 28th for its eighteenth day in front of the governor’s office. They are protesting non-payment of their salary and benefits for five months as well as the uncertain future of their job and factory situation. The workers held banners reading: "We, the workers of National Group, have not been paid for the past few months " and "We, the workers of National Group, are standing until the end." During Rouhani’s visit to Khouzestan, they also gathered Ahvaz airport and protested him by chanting “Rouhani, where are your promises?”National Steel Industries Group of Ahvaz, with 18 production lines and 4,000 employees, was one of the largest manufacturing factories in the country that was sold to a regime’s faction in 2009 under the guise of privatization. During a power struggle within the regime and exposing an embezzlement of 3,000 billion tomans, the regime's judiciary took it over. Despite the factory’s active production lines and the sale of 400 million tomans of its property, the regime leaders do not pay salaries and benefits of employees.On February 27, the Khuzestan Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane workers continued their protest in front of the factory against non-payment of their salaries and benefits.At the same time workers of Ney Bar of the same complex held a protest gathering in the camp area due to lack of insurance claims arrears. Also, about 80 tractor and trailer drivers of Ney Kesh went on strike for several hours against non-payment of their claims in recent months. This government complex has refused to pay salaries of 250 retired workers in recent months.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran/March 1, 2017

Factional Feuding Flare in Iran Over May Presidential Elections
NCRI/Thursday, 02 March 2017/With so-called presidential election being two months away, factional feuding is escalating among various groups within the ruling clerical establishment. On February 25th Iranian President Hassan Rouhani cited the interference of the Revolutionary Guards and Guardian Council in the election. He even referred to the 2009 uprisings and warned those loyal to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. “We all know what happened then and we have seen the result of how polarization on the issues created so many dilemmas,” he said. “Some people apparently suffer from political Alzheimer. Mutuality has been very fruitful for some people. When meat became cheap, if those in state TV remember, they broadcasted this only as the last news report,” Rouhani said on February 26. Iranian Vice President Es’hagh Jahangiri also made his remarks heard. “There are those who don’t permit vice presidents and cabinet ministers deliver speeches,” he said, according by the semi-official Tasnim news agency published on February 25. According to a report by website of the Iranian parliament on February 26, Interior Minister Rahmani Fazli said: “Some people are trying to show there is conflict within the country, and they express issues as if there is a rift between the leader and the president,”Mehdi Mohammadi, a member of Khamenei’s faction, said: “The initiative is now outside of the cabinet. Some cabinet members have come to understand this now and this is exactly why they are thinking of ‘ridding themselves of the Rouhani dilemma,” according to a report published on February 26 in state-run Sharq daily. The Jahan San’at (World of Industry) daily wrote a piece on February 26 criticizing Rouhani’s cabinet saying, “Should we not criticize those who once gain power suddenly forget all the promises and pledges they provided to the people?” These were only a tip of the iceberg of Khamenei’s faction attacking Rouhani. In response Rouhani and his media outlets continuously warn their rivals of abiding by the principals and accusing Khamenei loyalists of not allowing the cabinet do its work

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published On March 02-03.17
A New Genocide for Egypt’s Christians//إبادة جماعية جديدة للمسيحيين في مصر
Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPage Magazine/March 02/17
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/?p=52894
Yet another murderous wave is taking Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority by storm, leading to another exodus from their homes.
Last week in al-Arish, Sinai, Islamic State affiliates killed a 65-year-old Christian man by shooting him in the head; they then abducted and tortured his 45-year-old son before burning him alive and dumping his charred remains near a schoolyard.
Perhaps because of its sensationalist nature—burning a human alive—this story was reported by some Western media. Yet the atrocities hardly begin or end there. Below is a list of Christians murdered in al-Arish in recent days and weeks:
January 30: A 35-year-old Christian was in his small shop working with his wife and young son when three masked men walked in, opened fire on and killed him. The murderers then sat around his shop table, eating chips and drinking soda, while the slain lay in a pool of blood before the terrified wife and child.
February 13: A 57-year-old Christian laborer was shot and killed as he tried to fight off masked men trying to kidnap his young son from off a crowded street in broad daylight. After murdering the father, they seized his young son and took him to an unknown location (where, per precedent, he is likely being tortured, possibly already killed, if a hefty ransom has not already been paid).
February 16: A 45-year-old Christian schoolteacher was moonlighting at his shoe store with his wife, when masked men walked in the crowded shop and shot him dead.
February 17: A 40-year-old medical doctor was killed by masked men who, after forcing him to stop his car, opened fire on and killed him. He too leaves a widow and two children.
It is likely that more Christians have been slain recently in Sinai; because Copts are being killed in quick succession, it is not clear if ongoing reports are documenting the same or new incidences. For instance, a recent February 24 report says “On Thursday [February 23], a [Christian] plumber in the city was shot dead in front of his wife and children at their home…. A day earlier [February 22], gunmen killed another [Christian] man before his pregnant wife, then calmly drank a bottle of Pepsi before taking off, witnesses told aid workers in Ismailia.” Is the February 22 Pepsi drinking incident the same as the one reported above as occurring on January 30, or a different one?
This uptick in Christian persecution is believed to be in response to a video recently released by the Islamic State in Sinai. In it, masked militants promise more attacks on the “worshipers of the cross,” a reference to the Copts of Egypt, whom they also referred to as their “favorite prey” and the “infidels who are empowering the West against Muslim nations.”
As a result of the recent slayings and threats of more to come, at least 300 Christians living in al-Arish have fled their homes, with nothing but their clothes on their backs and their children in their hands. Most have congregated in a Coptic church compound in neighboring Ismailia by the Suez Canal.
In a video of these destitute Copts, one man can be heard saying “They are burning us alive! They seek to exterminate Christians altogether! Where’s the [Egyptian] military?” Another woman yells at the camera, “Tell the whole world, look—we’ve left our homes, and why? Because they kill our children, they kill our women, they kill our innocent people! Why? Our children are terrified to go to schools. Why? Why all this injustice?! Why doesn’t the president move and do something for us? We can’t even answer our doors without being terrified!”
(Note: Donations that go directly to the dislocated Christians of al-Arish can be made here).
For his part, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered military and security forces to “completely eradicate terrorism” in North Sinai. Such a response might be reassuring to al-Arish’s Christians—if it wasn’t also dejavu. Back in 2012, and in response to what Islamists perceived as widespread Christian support for Sisi’s military coup of then president Morsi—Sinai’s Christians were heavily plummeted: one priest, Fr. Mina Cherubim, was shot dead in front of his church; a 65-year- old Christian man was beheaded; several other Christians, including youths, were kidnapped, held for ransom, and later executed when the exorbitant ransoms could not be met. Two churches were attacked, one burned.
Just as now, hundreds of Christians fled their homes; and, just as now, Sisi vowed to root out the jihadi nests in Sinai.
Incidentally, it should not be imagined that Christians in Sinai are only murdered when ISIS or other jihadis have a special reason (such as 2012’s “revenge” spree against pro-Sisi Christians) or when a video inciting violence against Christians is released (as in the recent cases). For instance, in June 2016, Fr. Raphael Moussa 46, was randomly shot dead in “a hail of bullets” outside the Church of the Martyr of St George in Sinai.
In January 2015, masked gunmen stormed the home of a Christian man residing in al-Arish. After robbing him and his family at gunpoint, they shot him several times in the head, instantly killing him. According to the slain man’s wife, her husband was murdered “only because he was a Copt [i.e., Christian].” She pointed out that the masked intruders robbed everything in sight—including the money in his pockets, the jewelry she was wearing, her handbag, cell phones, and even a Bible. Then, after stealing everything available, and for no practical purpose, they shot her “infidel” husband dead. A month later, another Christian man in al-Arish was randomly and fatally shot.
Nor, it should be noted, is the slaughter of Egypt’s Christians limited to Sinai, which some downplay by pointing out that the peninsula is already an acknowledged hotbed of jihadi activity. Last month, few Western media reported on any of four separate murders of Christians that took place over the course of just ten days—murders that occurred all around Egypt proper, not Sinai: in Alexandria (where a Muslim man crept up behind a Christian shopkeeper and slit his throat, murdering him); in Lower Egypt (where a Christian man, 62, and his wife, 55, were found slaughtered, with numerous stab wounds, in their home); in Upper Egypt (where a young and well-liked Christian surgeon known for offering free services to the poor, was also found slaughtered with many stab wounds in his apartment).
And of course there was Cairo—the nation’s capital—where, two months ago, an Islamic suicide bomber entered St. Peter’s Cathedral and killed nearly 30 Christians, mostly women and children.
In short, a new genocide appears to be unfolding—the Obama administration itself admitted that ISIS is committing “genocide” against Christians and other minorities—even as an old indifference looks the other way.

A World of Fear and Hatred
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq AlAwsat/March 02/17
From the security meetings in Bonn, Munich and Baku, to the French and German elections, following Britain’s Brexit vote and Trump’s election, the world looks worried, anxious and different. Is it a crisis of priorities, or a problem of concepts? Are we still capable of coming up with a new definition for ‘coexistence’ in the age of brute populism?
Is it possible for bigots and extremists who hate even their compatriots and seek to repatriate immigrants to their countries, to live in peace and harmony with peoples whose fathers and grandfathers fought against theirs a few decades ago?!
Whatever connects the “racists” of France to those of Germany when one remembers that behind the two peoples stand the animosities of two world wars and reciprocated claims of “occupied territories” in Alsace, Lorraine and Saarland?
Weren’t these animosities only buried by wise and great visionaries like Konrad Adenauer, Charles De Gaulle, and Robert Schumann who looked for unifying interests, which eventually, led to the idea of a United Europe?
What brings together English right wing ‘isolationists’, who used to describe the Labour Party – with disdain – as ‘the Party of the Scots and Welsh’ and the extremist Flemish and Walloons of Belgium?
What principles unite the ‘zealots’ among the Catholics and Protestants separated through the ages by rivers of blood like those of St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in France and the ‘Irish Troubles’?
Then, how can one explain the ‘morality’ or ‘logic’ of Arab, Kurdish, Indian or Chinese immigrants; and Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or Sikh immigrants in Western Europe, who oppose newcomers from the white Christian Eastern European countries, such as Poland, Hungary and Rumania?
How is it possible that immigrants and descendants of immigrants become enemies of immigration? What is the excuse for former victims of racism and extremism in their forefathers’ homelands practice racism and extremism against others, just because they arrived in their new home earlier, enjoyed its milk and honey, and then shut out the late comers?
This is the immoral and unstable world we live in today. This is the world some of whose leaders are trying to halt its slide into a massive ‘world war’.
Still, the democratically-elected world leaders, throughout their debates and actions, are only dealing with symptoms rather than treating root causes.
Everybody is chattering about freedom, and yet has reservations about its most significant product … globalization. Everybody is looking at the issue of security, but turns a blind eye to hotbeds of injustice, nests of deprivation and swamps of ignorance that threaten peace and security of societies across the globe.
At the Munich Security Conference 2017, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said: “We should be careful that this fight (against terror) does not become a front against Islam and Muslims…” This has also been the position of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
However, correct and honorable as these positions may be, they mean little in the light of what we see and hear during election campaigns currently underway in the West. They carry no weight when opinion polls – time and time again – show that the more a candidate incites hatred and adopts isolationist and racist stances the higher he scores with the electorate.
Furthermore, they do not amount to anything, when we see before us maneuvers, conspiracies and crimes of religious and ethnic nature like those being committed from Myanmar, to the Americas, across the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
Indeed, many of these maneuvers, conspiracies and crimes that include ethnic and religious-sectarian ‘cleansing’, are ongoing with international sponsorship or collusion, sometimes at the highest levels.
America elected Donald Trump in November’s presidential race based on a clear and candid electoral platform. At the moment three delicate and dangerous elections are scheduled in the Netherlands, France and Germany.
If the Dutch elections are viewed by some as carrying less weight than what might happen in France and Germany, the advances made by the extreme Right have become ever more worrisome for various reasons; among which are its deep hatred to immigrant (especially Muslims) in a country with a sizable Muslim community, from which actually, comes the Speaker of the Dutch Parliament.
Thus, how the ‘racists’ fare in the Netherlands is worth observing since ‘racism’ is not a political ‘taboo’ any more, even in the greatest constitutional western democracies.
No doubt, the French elections are crucially important for the French – including immigrant communities – as well as Europe and the whole World. What seems obvious so far is that the extremist ‘National Front’ is no more a political aberration, but is now rather a major player within the political establishment.
In addition to the success of Jean-Marie Le Pen with reaching the final round in the 2002 presidential race, the alt-right now enjoys significant support and influence. This fact is further proven by the stunning victory scored by ex-Premier Francois Fillon at the Republican Party primaries at the expense of two ‘heavy-weights’: ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy and ex-Premier Alain Juppé.
Fillon, came from behind to win big because he took the most conservative positions, indeed, taking in the process many leaves from the book of ‘National Front’—as the dangerous isolationist trend is dragged from the fringes into the mainstream.
In Germany, the ‘Alternative for Germany’, another extremist anti-immigrant party, is worth monitoring too. It would be interesting to see how it would channel what its ‘soulmates’ in the Netherlands and France achieve–particularly with what has become of the issue of immigrants and refugees has become.
All this takes place based on the background of the Syrian Crisis and its tragic consequences– a very sensitive issue for Europe, which has become a natural destination for refugees escaping the horrors of Syria, as well the whole Middle East and North Africa.
Well, here we reach another dimension to the rise of racism, particularly, in Europe. It is Moscow’s position.
Moscow’s strong backing of Donald Trump in the US presidential race is well-established. In Europe, more and more reports are emerging about active Russian support being provided to extremist and racist blocs, including Marine Le Pen the current leader of France’s ‘Front National’ and its presidential candidate. Interestingly, this backing actually coincides with Moscow’s continuous sponsorship of a policy of systematic ‘displacement’ in Syria.
Where is Moscow’s interest in all this?
Logically, the Kremlin seems to be sowing the seeds of devastating civil strife inside great western powers. It is also reasonable to belief that it views this strategy as the perfect revenge against the West which had brought down the Soviet Union and temporarily, at least, checked the Russian ‘imperialist’ advances towards the Old World’s warm waters.

A world without NGOs
Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/March 02/17
The non-governmental organization (NGO) sector was built out of necessity for collective public action toward social development. Over time, it has developed into an industry worth over $1 trillion that employs over 19 million people worldwide. If the NGO industry was a country, it would be the eighth largest economy in the world – but the real question is whether or not it would be able to sustain itself. The world has become dependent on NGOs – but what would a world without NGOs look like?
NGOs play a vital role in the economic and social development and mobilization of communities, particularly in the developing world. The bane of their existence has been the worldwide dependency due to decades of mismanaged resources. The ongoing mismanagement of resources has created an industry of 10 million NGOs, only 3,536 of which are accredited by the United Nations.
It is a miracle the concept has lasted as long as it has, but their very existence begs the question: if NGOs are doing their job, would they even be needed? How can society and public donors assess how well NGOs are doing their job, or when an NGO’s job is ‘complete?
For decades, NGO’s have focused on the ‘hard’ indicators of economic development, including healthcare, education, and equality. If you are wondering what a world without NGOs would look like, think of North Korea. No one really knows what goes on inside, but most people can agree that it’s not a pretty sight.
Perhaps it is somewhat hypocritical of me to be writing this as I started my first NGO eight years ago. Having worked both in the NGO sector as well as the private sector, the truth is that there are as many similarities between the NGO and the private sector as there is difference. At the core, both realms operate on a basis of demand and supply. The ‘product’ of an NGO is the concept of dependency.
NGOs are not a replacement tool for public governments. It has always been, and it must continue to be the role of public government to look after its own people
Depending on NGOs
Impoverished communities around the world are becoming increasingly dependent on aid that is organized by NGOs. Governments have become dependent on NGOs to distribute and coordinate aid within communities as they have built the rapport and trust with the communities that need it. Businesses have become dependent on NGOs as they play a core part in their ‘corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) models. Even volunteers have become dependent on NGOs to spend their time effectively reaching out to their communities.
The prolonged state of despair that the world is in has allowed for the birth of the concept of NGOs. Yes, communities, governments, businesses and people are dependent on NGOs and there is nothing wrong with that as long as we do not lose sight of the bigger picture: NGOs are not a replacement tool for public governments. It has always been, and it must continue to be the role of public government to look after its own people.
It is up to NGOs to step in and intervene when governments’ lack the specific expertise or experience to deal with a particular issue. As long as issues that are tackled by NGOs, such as access to health care and education remain on the government agenda, then we must continue to embrace this industry.
An unequal world
Anyone who says that the role of an NGO can be complete does not know excellence as defined by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – in the race for excellence, there is no finish line.
No matter how advanced the international community becomes, no matter how “equal” the world becomes, there will always be room for improvement and therefore there will always be a place for the NGO industry to continue. This should not be seen as a negative phenomenon, rather a positive one and a true showcase of our determination to continue to better our communities.
The truth is that with time, NGOs become to behave more like companies that build relationships, trust, and a reputation. While there is nothing wrong with that approach, it is important to keep it from clouding the real picture of why the NGO was born in the first place: to help people.
Further to the dependency by the people and volunteers, there is a notion that NGO’s can, and in some cases are actively replacing the role of public government. The issue of helping girls get into education, providing adequate healthcare training, or responding to refugee emergencies should not the a burden on the conscience of public individuals. It should be a shared responsibility with public government.

An introduction to understanding President Trump
Ahmad al-Farraj/Al Arabiya/March 02/17
I have written many articles about President Donald Trump and how the media has been biased against him since he ran for presidency. I later compared between what’s currently happening in the US and what happened in the beginning of the 1970s during the era of President Richard Nixon when there were popular protests and intensified media attacks against the president’s administration.
I wrote that Trump, like Nixon, did not know how to properly deal with a critical situation. Considering that it’s a stance against him, Trump insisted, and continues to insist, to engage in a struggle with the media refusing to get enlightened by famous British politician Winston Churchill’s quote: “I learned long ago not to engage in a rivalry with the media. It's like wrestling with a pig as the wrestler gets dirty in all cases.”
It is well known that the American media is fierce against its rivals and often seeks to topple whoever tries to dominate it. Trump did not only settle at being rivals with the media but antagonized everyone except his own group, which got him elected.
For example, President Trump could have avoided engaging in a rivalry with a great republican symbol that belongs to the same political party he’s affiliated with and a former patriotic hero like Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain but to everyone’s surprise, he did. After assuming his post as president, he communicated with a number of leaders but the contacts were not at a diplomatic level as, according to reports, he stirred controversy over the president of an ally and neighbor, i.e. Mexico.
Don’t pay a lot of attention to passing statements which Trump makes and which the US media exaggerates for ideological and partisan aims that have nothing to do with us even though we want Trump to be a balanced Republican president
The debate led the Mexican president to cancel his scheduled trip to the US. Mexico is an important political and commercial partner of the US. After that, Trump clashed with the prime minister of Australia, which is also an important ally for the US. The Australian prime minister had agreed with former US President Barack Obama to host a number of refugees present in Australia and Trump strongly refused that and almost caused a crisis between the two countries.
Prior to that, during Trump’s visit to the Central Intelligence Agency, he spoke about Iraq’s invasion and mentioned that the administration of George W. Bush made a huge mistake by not seizing Iraq’s oil. Then there were his statements about the role of Gulf countries in Syria and which had absolutely nothing to do with diplomacy. These are mistakes and it’s inappropriate for the president of a superpower to commit such mistakes.
Lack of experience
We must note that those who know Trump well are aware that his sharp remarks against everyone, including against his allies, are part of his stubborn character and a result of lack of political experience as he has never been elected or assigned to handle any sort of governmental work. I am not saying this to defend him but this is a fact that everyone who knows Trump is aware of ever since he became a successful businessman.
President Trump does not hesitate to say what crosses his mind without any reservations. Perhaps the Australian prime minister knew that so he trivialized what happened between him and Trump. He did not comply with the American media, which desired to escalate the situation, therefore, we, in the kingdom, must not overanalyze Trump’s recent statement about the Gulf. He made this statement before his loyal supporters during a popular gathering and it was not a considerable official diplomatic stance.
We must keep in mind that Trump’s administration includes prominent figures like Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, CIA director Mike Pompeo and others whom Trump does not make any decisive decisions without resorting to first.
So don’t pay a lot of attention to passing statements which Trump makes and which the American media exaggerates for ideological and partisan aims that have nothing to do with us even though we want Trump to be a balanced republican president like Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush.
*This article is also available in Arabic.

The Future of the European Union?
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/March 02/2017
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9999/european-union-future
The document does not contemplate a scenario in which the European Union faces collapse, or in which major member states decide to follow the British example and exit the bloc.
The European Commission, in a rare instance of candor, admits that European federalism risks "alienating parts of society which feel that the EU lacks legitimacy or has taken too much power away from national authorities."
The Commission does not consider the possibility that in 2025 it may not even exist.
The European Commission has published a document outlining five scenarios for how the European Union could evolve within the next ten years.
The so-called White Paper on the Future of Europe, which will be presented at the Rome Summit on March 25, 2017 to mark the 60th anniversary of the European Union, is intended to be "the starting point for a wider public debate on the future of our continent."
Each of the five scenarios is based on the premise that "the 27 Member States move forward together as a Union." The document does not consider the possibility that the EU could collapse or break apart, or even that the powers of the EU be significantly curtailed. The document states:
"Too often, the discussion on Europe's future has been boiled down to a binary choice between more or less Europe. That approach is misleading and simplistic. The possibilities covered here range from the status quo, to a change of scope and priorities, to a partial or collective leap forward."
Nevertheless, for the European Commission, the powerful administrative arm of the European Union, publicly to even consider alternatives to full-blown European federalism is a testament to the growing power and influence of anti-EU political movements in Europe.
A "family photo" of the European Commission, headed by Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, in 2014. (Image source: European Parliament)
Indeed, a document such as this would have been unthinkable before Brexit — an abbreviation for "British exit," which refers to the June 23, 2016, referendum by which British citizens voted to exit the European Union — and the rise of anti-EU populist parties in Austria, Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands, among others. The document admits:
"Europe's challenges show no sign of abating. Our economy is recovering from the global financial crisis but this is still not felt evenly enough. Parts of our neighborhood are destabilized, resulting in the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War. Terrorist attacks have struck at the heart of our cities. New global powers are emerging as old ones face new realities. And last year, one of our Member States voted to leave the Union."
The five scenarios for the EU by 2025 are: 1) carrying on; 2) nothing but the single market; 3) those who want more do more; 4) doing less more efficiently; and, 5) doing much more together.
Scenario 1: Carrying On.
This scenario envisions the status quo, with the EU plodding ahead with "incremental progress" from crisis to crisis. The document explains:
"Priorities are regularly updated, problems are tackled as they arise and new legislation is rolled out accordingly. The speed of decision-making depends on overcoming differences of views in order to deliver on collective long-term priorities."
Scenario 2: Nothing but the Single Market.
This scenario envisions a European Union re-focused on the single market, which refers to the free movement of goods, services, capital and people within the bloc:
"In a scenario where the EU27 cannot agree to do more in many policy areas, it increasingly focuses on deepening certain key aspects of the single market. There is no shared resolve to work more together in areas such as migration, security or defense. The functioning of the single market becomes the main 'raison d'être' of the EU27."
Scenario 3: Those Who Want to do More.
This scenario envisions a so-called multi-speed Europe in which some member states proceed with integration in certain areas while other member states do not:
"In a scenario where the EU27 proceeds as today but where certain Member States want to do more in common, one or several 'coalitions of the willing' emerge to work together in specific policy areas. These may cover policies such as defense, internal security, taxation or social matters."
Scenario 4: Doing Less More Efficiently.
This scenario envisions the EU placing greater emphasis on some policy areas, while reducing its focus on others:
"The EU27 decides to focus its attention and limited resources on a reduced number of areas.... As a result, the EU27 is able to act much quicker and more decisively in its chosen priority areas.... Elsewhere, the EU27 stops acting or does less.... The EU's weight in the world changes in line with its recalibrated responsibilities."
Scenario 5: Doing Much More Together
This scenario is the European Commission's preferred option: European federalism:
"In a scenario where there is consensus that neither the EU27 as it is, nor European countries on their own, are well-equipped enough to face the challenges of the day, Member States decide to share more power, resources and decision-making across the board.
"As a result, cooperation between all Member States goes further than ever before in all domains.... Decisions are agreed faster at European level and are rapidly enforced.
"On the international scene, Europe speaks and acts as one in trade and is represented by one seat in most international fora. The European Parliament has the final say on international trade agreements. Defence and security are prioritized. In full complementarity with NATO, a European Defence Union is created. Cooperation in security matters is routine."
The document also offers a glimpse into what European federalism may look like in practice:
"Citizens travelling abroad receive consular protection and assistance from EU embassies, which in some parts of the world have replaced national ones. Non-EU citizens wishing to travel to Europe can process visa applications through the same network."
The European Commission, in a rare instance of candor, admits that European federalism risks "alienating parts of society which feel that the EU lacks legitimacy or has taken too much power away from national authorities."
The document does not, however, contemplate a scenario in which the European Union faces collapse, or in which major member states decide to follow the British example and exit the bloc.
In France and the Netherlands — two of the EU's original six founding members — anti-EU presidential candidates are leading in the polls. Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders have both promised to call referenda on continued EU membership. If one or both of those countries were to leave the EU, this at a time when Italy and Greece are at a fiscal breaking point, a collapse of the bloc seems increasingly possible.
The European Commission says its White Paper marks "the beginning of a process for the EU27 to decide together on the future of their Union." The Commission does not, however, consider the possibility that in 2025 it may not even exist.
**Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.
© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

PLO Ambassador To Iran: We Will Liberate Palestine 'From The River To The Sea' – With Everything From Stabbing And Vehicular Attacks To Launching Rockets
MEMRI/ March 2, 2017Special Dispatch No.6809
A March 1, 2017 article in the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar about PLO Ambassador to Iran Salah Al-Zawawi included excerpts of an interview with him focusing on the PLO-Iran relationship. Al-Zawawi also stressed in the interview that armed struggle using all means was a legitimate path to liberating Palestine "from the river to the sea."
It should be noted that on February 19, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that "the ambassador of the state of Palestine in Iran, Salah Al-Zawawi" would be part of the Palestinian delegation to the Sixth International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada, held in Tehran on February 21,[1] and that the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website also lists him as Palestine's ambassador to Iran.[2]
Following are excerpts from the article, including statements by Al-Zawawi:
Salah Al-Zawawi at the the Sixth International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Intifada (image: Tasnim, Iran, February 21, 2017)
"In February 1981, the late [Palestinian Authority (PA)] president Yasser Arafat appointed Salah Al-Zawawi as PLO envoy to Tehran, after the late Hani Al-Hassan retired and left for Beirut. Following the signing of the Oslo Accords between the PLO and the Zionist enemy, Iran refused to recognize the PA that was born of this agreement, and also rejected the replacement of Al-Zawawi and the appointment of a new ambassador. Thus, Al-Zawawi remained in office, and has spent the past 32 years of his life in Tehran.
"Al-Zawawi reminisced about the opening of the [PLO] embassy [in Tehran], which was attended by Abu 'Ammar [Arafat], [then-PLO ambassador to Tehran] Hani Al-Hassan, Ahmad Khomeini [son of the leader of the Iranian revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini], and former Iranian foreign minister Ebrahim Yazdi. During it, [he said], the Palestinian flag was raised over the former Israeli Embassy building. He expressed his pride in the fact that Arafat was the first official to visit Tehran, and added: 'After the victory of the Imam Khomeini's revolution, Arafat said: "Starting today, my front stretches from Tyre to Khorasan..." [Al-Zawawi added:] 'Palestine-Iran relations run deeper than any political differences the two sides face, and even after the PLO's recognition of Israel, ties between the two revolutions remain...'
"Underlining the [PLO-Iran] relations that have existed since time immemorial, Al-Zawawi said: 'Our relationship with the Imam Khomeini began back when he was still in exile. The Imam's revolution [i.e. Iran's Islamic Revolution] was based on two main foundations: Islam, and Palestine [including Jerusalem, which is], the first direction of prayer [for Muslims, and the location of] the third-most important mosque [Al-Aqsa]. Once the Imam Khomeini's revolution had triumphed, he said: Today Iran, and tomorrow Palestine, and added: Without restoring Palestine, Iran's independence will remain lacking as well.' Al-Zawawi added: 'The Imam [Khomeini] adopted our [Palestinian] revolution when he was in the [Iraqi] city of Al-Najaf, which is holy [to Shi'ites], and it was then also that he issued his historic fatwa regarding the transfer of zakat [alms] and one-fifth [of a person's income] to the Palestinian fighters who risk their lives.'
"Al-Zawawi speaks lovingly of Khomeini, saying: 'The Imam would see in his mind's eye the future of Palestine, and he declared the last Friday of Ramadan to be International Qods [Jerusalem] Day, [because] he could see what [ordinary] people do not see.' [Al-Zawawi continues:] 'I look at the dark days we live in now: the Zionist enemy is attempting to swallow up the West Bank, annex Jerusalem, and see it as the capital of the Zionist entity. This is in addition to [the Zionists] stepping up settlement construction and allowing [themselves] to harm Al-Aqsa mosque.'
"The Palestinian ambassador likes repeating the history of [Palestinian-Iranian] ties even prior to the victory of the Islamic Revolution [in Iran]. He stresses that most Iranian commanders were trained at Fatah camps in Lebanon, that some of them died as martyrs fighting alongside Palestinian fighters and are still on the list of Palestinian martyr families, and that [Fatah] continues to pay allowances to their families in Iran.
"[Al-Zawawi continues:] 'The Iranian ideological compass is linked to Palestine, so that wherever you go in Iran, you will find a street or monument named for Palestine. In the holiest site for [Shi'ite] Islam, that is, the seat of the [Eighth Shi'ite] Imam Ali Al-Ridha in Mashhad, there is a large courtyard, the Al-Quds Courtyard, that features a model of the Dome of the Rock, and after every prayer the Iranians chant anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans...'
"The Palestinian ambassador was careful to mention anything [that the Palestinians have] in common with Iran, saying: 'We are facing a U.S.-run Western plan, which will not end except through combat and jihad, carried out by all means. The regime here was established on the basis of Islam and the Shi'ite sect, and we as a movement connect to it in the martyrdom aspects of Karbala and Hussein. The Imam Hussein's rebellion is a fundamental matter in the Shi'ite conscience, and the principle of the victory of the bloody sword underlines that the few can also triumph [over the many], and that those with few weapons can defeat those with an abundance of them...'
"[Al-Zawawi], one of the most veteran Palestinian diplomats, does not deny [that there are Palestinian] disagreements with Iran, but [explains that] 'every side has to understand the other side's tendencies, and we must fight to liberate Palestine. For our people in the 1948 territories [meaning Israeli Arabs], a different kind of fighting is needed than the kind needed for the people of the West Bank, and the West Bank requires a different kind of fighting than Gaza. [Additionally,] there is the diplomatic struggle.' He added: 'Certainly, everyone should fight in their own way, from carrying out stabbing and vehicular attacks to launching rockets. That is how we will liberate Palestine from the river to the sea... Some [types of?] jihad aredictated by geography, and everyone should contribute from where they are, using the means at their disposal and in accordance with their various situations. All means of combat are legitimate in order to realize Allah's promise for liberation: From [the traditional dance] Dabke to armed struggle.'
"Providing a political analysis of what is happening with the Palestinian cause today, Al-Zawawi said: 'We are not facing an ordinary enemy, or a small-scale plan. Rather, we are fighting the most dangerous international plan, especially after the U.S. adopted the [idea the Palestinians must recognize Israel as] a Jewish state. The U.S. transitioned from one phase to the next, fully aware of what its next step will be, and we were deceived.' He added: 'The ethnic and sectarian conflicts taking place today – their purpose is to take over and dismantle the region's resources and spark wars among the Arabs in order to distance them from Palestine – [all this] promotes the establishment of Greater Israel.'
"The Palestinian ambassador no longer believes in the Oslo Accords. Moreover, he says: 'When the PLO signed the agreement, a Palestinian state was supposed to be established in the West Bank and Gaza in 1999, but it did not happen.' Eighteen years have passed since then, and therefore Al-Zawawi determines that Israel and the U.S. will not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state. He said decisively: 'Oslo is bankrupt. U.S. President Donald Trump is the Zionist face of this enterprise. Additionally, the futility of dialogue with the enemy is now becoming clear.'
"For the Palestinian ambassador, the internal [i.e. intra-Palestinian] division adds fuel to the fire: 'Can you believe how divided we are and how we are unable to unite[?] I do not accept any excuses whatsoever [for this] from the factions.' He added: 'At this time, we have no choice but to unite because the enemy is taking advantage of our division to Judaize Palestine, which is slipping away before our very eyes.'
"As for the Sixth Conference to Support the Palestinian Intifada, he believes that it expresses Iran's commitment to the Palestinians: 'The belief of fellowship [between us and the Iranians] is known to all. [The Iranians] are the bearers of the black standard, who leave Khorasan for Jerusalem.' He added: 'If we see the conference as a political and media phenomenon, then it has achieved what it was expected to achieve under these harsh conditions, when everyone seeks to eliminate the Palestinian cause. The conference gave us a chance for dialogue amongst ourselves. Furthermore, it was attended by heads of parliament from Arab countries and around the world, who discussed the next phase of the Palestinian struggle.'"[3]
[1] Wafa.ps, February 19, 2017.
[2] Mofa.gov.ps.
[3] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), March 1, 2017.