Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 06-07/2024
Elias Bejjani/Video/ Let us be unequivocally clear, Hezbollah is an Iranian jihadist terrorist organization.
Video and Text/To All Owners of Tamed Political Parties, Politicians, Clergymen, and Mouthpiece Figures such as Gebran Bassil and Melhem Riachi: Let us be unequivocally clear, Hezbollah is an Iranian jihadist terrorist organization./Elias Bejjani/March 05, 2024
The Maronite Bishops noted the movement of some parliamentary blocs to elect a president and reiterated their rejection of dragging Lebanon into the Palestinian-Israeli war.
The Bishops stressed the need to control the Syrian presence because the danger is knocking on the doors of Lebanon's identity.
Hezbollah targets Israeli site, tells settlers to leave
Report: Hochstein kept aide in Beirut for further talks
Report: Hochstein offers Lebanon economic incentives
Hezbollah targets Metula with suicide drone
Mikati says Lebanon studying Hochstein's proposal
Family of three killed in Israel strike on Houla
Qassem: We have no presidential candidate other than Suleiman Franjieh
Maronite bishops reject 'implicating Lebanon in war' after Arabs distanced themselves
Jumblat asks why doesn't Hochstein call for ceasefire in Lebanon
Red Cross worried about South Lebanon hospitals in case of escalations
Lebanon's urgent appeal: Mikati warns against halting UNRWA financing'
National Moderation Bloc's visit to PM Mikati addressing public concerns
Report breaks down the numbers: Insights from Lebanon's 2023 suicide rates
Samy Gemayel to LBCI: We created a 'resilience front' against Hezbollah; Presidential election feasible if Hezbollah embraces 'consensus'
Mikati engages in high-level discussions with UNIFIL Commander, World Bank delegation, “National Moderation” bloc delegation
Berri welcomes World Bank's Belhaj, follows up on field developments with UNIFIL's Lazaro, receives Paraguayan ambassador and Judge Al-Hajjar
Geagea slams opposition's presidential election strategies as political gridlock persists
Christians will not live as a fourth category/Jean El-Feghali/Nidda Al Watan/March 07, 2024
Khomeini wanted Lebanon as a refuge/Ahmed Ayyash/Nidda Al Watan/March 07, 2024
Hochstein to the Lebanese in his brief visit: Now you know!/Afares Khashan/An-Nahar Al-Arabi/March 06, 2024
A veiled American warning to Lebanon: One war ends and another begins!/Ali Hamada/An-Nahar Al-Arabi/March 06, 2024
Early parliamentary elections: changing the majority to produce a new authority/Munir Al-Rabie/Al-Modon/March 07, 2024
Bree: The Big Boss/Imad Moussa/Nedda Al Watan/March 07, 2024

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 06-07/2024
Envoys push for Gaza truce before Ramadan starts next week
Hostage crisis poses dilemma for Israel and offers a path to victory for Hamas
Gaza truce talks enter fourth day after US urges speedy deal
Report: Negotiators propose several-day truce in Gaza
South Africa urges the International Court of Justice to take further measures against Israel
Cameron to Gantz: 'No improvement so far' in Gaza and 'this must change'
Interest grows in Cypriot plan for seaborne aid corridor to Gaza
Arab League chief, Syrian foreign minister rue ‘double standards’ in dealing with Israel
Probe says Israel’s PM bears ‘responsibility’ for deadly Mount Meron stampede in 2021
UNRWA donors likely to resume funding soon, Norway says
Canada to restore funding to embattled UN agency in Gaza
US destroyer shoots down missile and drones launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels
Red paint sprayed on UK Government building in Gaza protest
Iran Parliament Election Turnout Drops to Historic Low
Biden officials deliver a tough message on Gaza to Netanyahu’s chief political foe
IS militants kill at least 18 people in an attack on villagers collecting truffles in eastern Syria
Islamic Resistance in Iraq: The resistance undertook the task of liberating Iraq from 'US occupation' and supporting Palestine
Germany calls on Israel to immediately retract its approval for construction of West Bank settlements

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources on March 06-07/2024
Profile of a Political Agitator ...Ehud Barak is endangering Israel's unity and stability/Dr. Mordechai Nisan/Front page web site/March 06/2024
Iran dodges nuclear accountability as world order wanes/Mohamed Chebaro//Arab News/March 06, 2024
Five months of pain will not stop Palestinians demanding their rights/Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/March 06, 2024
A new model for climate financing/Ranvir S. Nayar/Arab News/March 06, 2024
Islamists and State Collude in Abducting and Islamizing Coptic Christian Girls in Egypt/Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity//March 06, 2024

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 06-07/2024
Elias Bejjani/Video/ Let us be unequivocally clear, Hezbollah is an Iranian jihadist terrorist organization.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqN3v0jR7_4
March 05, 2024

Video and Text/To All Owners of Tamed Political Parties, Politicians, Clergymen, and Mouthpiece Figures such as Gebran Bassil and Melhem Riachi: Let us be unequivocally clear, Hezbollah is an Iranian jihadist terrorist organization.
Elias Bejjani/March 05, 2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/127620/127620/
It is imperative to uphold the truth and address national matters candidly, devoid of falsehoods. It is our staunch belief that any Lebanese politician, political party owner, journalist, activist, citizen, or religious figure who propagates the false notion that Hezbollah is a legitimate Lebanese resistance entity is not only deceiving the public, but also inflicting harm upon Lebanon and its people. Such individuals must be Judicially held accountable.
It is high time to debunk the fabricated myths, legends, and delusions surrounding Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist proxy. None of the below following assertions hold any truth:
Hezbollah is a Lebanese entity representing the Shiite community in parliament.
Hezbollah is a legitimate armed resistance body in Lebanon.
Hezbollah liberated South Lebanon from Israeli occupation in 2000.
Hezbollah defeated Israel in the 2006 war.
Hezbollah's armed members killed in Lebanon or abroad while fighting in Iranian battlefields are martyrs.
Hezbollah is defending Lebanon from Israel and jihadist groups such as ISIS, Daesh, and Al Qaeda.
These claims, in addition to many other similar false allegations are nothing but lies, illusions, and self-deception.
The undeniable reality about Hezbollah is as follows:
Hezbollah is solely an Iranian jihadist armed proxy and an enemy of Lebanon and its people. This fact has been explicitly stated and proudly proclaimed by the party's leaders, from the highest echelons to the ranks.
Contrary to claims, Hezbollah does not represent the Shiite communities in Lebanon; instead, it holds them hostages through coercion and terrorism. It sends their youth to senseless deaths in battles for the Iranian regime across various countries, including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Gaza. Furthermore, Hezbollah has imposed its 27 members of parliament on the Shiites through force, intimidation, and assassinations, preventing any opposition against its terrorist agenda.
The deaths of Hezbollah members in South Lebanon, and i other Iranian battlefields are not martyrs but victims. Legally, Hezbollah leaders who recruit individuals without any legal Lebanese or international law standards must face judicial accountability.
Hezbollah did not liberate South Lebanon in 2000, nor did it emerge victorious in the 2006 war. Instead, it continues to occupy South Lebanon, as well as exert control over the entire country following the withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian forces. The 2006 war brought catastrophe upon Lebanon and its people, while Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon in 2000 was solely driven by Israeli political and strategic agendas.
Contrary to popular belief, it was Hezbollah that declared war against Israel and initiated aggression following the start of the Gaza war in October, 07/ 2023, not the other way around.
Therefore, anyone who promotes the fallacy of appeasing Hezbollah within the Lebanese framework, altering the Lebanese system, or legitimizing its Iranian weapons under the guise of a defensive strategy must face legal consequences.
In accordance with global standards of sovereignty and independence, leaders of the terrorist Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, must be apprehended and brought to justice.
Additionally, UN resolutions pertaining to Lebanon (such as the Armistice Accord, Resolution 1559, Resolution 1701, and Resolution 1860), as well as the "Taif Agreement", must be enforced. These resolutions and agreements mandate the disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, and the establishment of state authority through legitimate and sovereign forces across Lebanese territory. In conclusion, Lebanon's current woes stem not from its system but from the Iranian occupation masked by corrupt and deceitful politicians and rulers. That is the undeniable truth.

The Maronite Bishops noted the movement of some parliamentary blocs to elect a president and reiterated their rejection of dragging Lebanon into the Palestinian-Israeli war.
The Bishops stressed the need to control the Syrian presence because the danger is knocking on the doors of Lebanon's identity.
NNA/March 06/2024
The Maronite Bishops held their monthly meeting at the patriarchal headquarters in Bkerke, under the chairmanship of Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, and with the participation of the general heads of Maronite monastic orders. They discussed both church and national affairs. At the end of the meeting, they issued a statement read by Deputy Patriarch Bishop Antoine Awkar, in which they expressed:
The fathers initially express satisfaction with the positive movement being carried out by deputies, parliamentary blocs, and individuals with good intentions, hoping that the parliament will hold consecutive open sessions until the election of a new president for the state, and that this movement aligns with external diplomatic efforts aimed at the same direction.
The fathers reaffirm their absolute rejection of dragging Lebanon into the Palestinian-Israeli war, from which all Arab countries have distanced themselves. They call on the local parties involved to mitigate the harm suffered by our people in the south, regardless of their religious and political affiliations.
The fathers warn against the danger of linking the southern border conflict to settlements that affect Lebanon's sovereignty, its oil and water resources, and its geographical rights. They repeatedly draw the attention of foreign players working in this field that any Lebanese negotiations on these matters fall under the jurisdiction of the President of the Republic and are subject to an inevitable freeze until his election.
The fathers express their deep concern regarding the unfortunate deterioration of governance in the country, culminating in the approval of an unjust budget for the Lebanese people, exacerbating inflation due to the glaring discrepancy between imports and exports, as well as the adoption of a policy of evading responsibility in addressing the escalating civil discontent. This happens despite the warnings issued by concerned financial and economic authorities. They call on the Cabinet and the Parliament to address the issue and tackle the sources of the disease before it worsens into a series of disobedience and rebellion, threatening the general situation and exacerbating the various crises facing the country.
The fathers carefully and anxiously monitor the situation in most regions due to the growing dangers of the loose presence of Syrian refugees. The security threats posed by this presence, the financial burdens it imposes on the country, and its increasing impact on the livelihoods of Lebanese citizens, whether in commercial competition or the confinement of the workforce, all emphasize the urgency of controlling this presence and subjecting it to Lebanese tax and regulatory laws, utilizing the capabilities of relevant administrations, municipalities, and municipal unions. The danger is knocking on the doors of Lebanon's identity and its common living.
The fathers call on their sons and daughters, during the remaining time of the blessed fasting period, to intensify their prayers and their frugal and charitable deeds, and to endure whatever difficulties, pains, and anxieties they face about the future, sharing all of that with the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, in preparation for celebrating His resurrection. They ask God to enlighten the minds of the responsible ones to work towards ending wars and spreading peace in our country, our region, and the world.

Hezbollah targets Israeli site, tells settlers to leave
NAJIA HOUSSARI/Arab News/March 06, 2024
BEIRUT: Hezbollah said it launched an aerial assault on the Israeli Metula site in retaliation for “the attacks on villages and homes in southern Lebanon by the Israeli enemy.”Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Wednesday that a Hezbollah drone crashed close to a military base in Metula, but added nobody was hurt. The situation in southern Lebanon is escalating as the US works for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Najib Mikati, the Lebanese premier, said during a televised interview a response to American envoy Amos Hochstein’s proposal would be sent within 48 hours. Meanwhile, amid threats of a wider war on Lebanon, Israeli news sites released a video clip they said the organization had sent to residents of settlements in northern Israel. It was reported that several people received messages on WhatsApp and Telegram from unknown numbers claiming to be from Hezbollah. The messages featured a propaganda video showing rockets falling, fires and threats. Recipients included the heads of local authorities. The messages are alleged to have said: “We have aimed our missiles at you. You have until the end of the week. You won’t make it. It’s recommended to escape to the southern cities.”Safed was mentioned as a potential target for Hezbollah missile strikes, according to news reports. On Tuesday night, Hezbollah used Katyusha rockets to bomb buildings in the Kiryat Shmona and Kfar Blum settlements. Kfar Blum is more than 5 km from the Lebanese border and not part of Israel’s settlement evacuation. The Avivim settlement in the Upper Galilee was attacked on Wednesday morning. Around 70 missiles targeted the Kiryat Shmona settlement. Hezbollah said this was in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on a civilian house in the Lebanese border town of Hula which resulted in the deaths of Hassan Hussein, his wife Ruwayda Mustafa, and their son Ali Hassan Hussein. A report released by Hezbollah, detailing its activities on the southern front over the past 150 days, said 1,194 military operations had targeted 107 settlements, 841 border sites, 74 rear sites and 134 border points. In addition, 38 drones and aircraft destroyed 570 settlement units, killing or injuring 2,000 people. The Council of Maronite Bishops, in a statement on the developments, affirmed their “categorical refusal to involve Lebanon in the Palestinian-Israeli war, from whose flames all Arab countries have distanced themselves.”
They called on “concerned local parties to help our people suffering in the south, regardless of their religious and political affiliations.”The bishops cautioned “the consequences of linking the southern border dispute with settlements that affect Lebanon’s sovereignty, its oil and water resources, and its geographical rights.”They also stressed that “any Lebanese negotiation in these issues should be handled by Lebanon’s president and should be put on hold until the election takes place.”

Report: Hochstein kept aide in Beirut for further talks
Naharnet/March 6, 2024
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein, who left Monday night for Israel through Cyprus after visiting Lebanon, kept one of his top aides in Beirut to “continue meetings with Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker PM Najib Mikati and through them with Hezbollah,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.
“Hochstein told some of those he met that he will put them in the picture of his talks with the Israeli leadership and that he has great confidence that the truce in Gaza is imminent and that he wants to make use of it to launch negotiations with Lebanon aimed at consolidating the ceasefire that will certainly take place (in south Lebanon) after the truce in Gaza,” the daily quoted sources as saying. Lebanon will meanwhile wait for Hochstein to return to Beirut with “a detailed plan for calm on the Lebanese front once a truce is announced in Gaza,” al-Akhbar added. “Officials in Beirut told the U.S. envoy that Lebanon is awaiting a convincing and practical paper,” the daily said.

Report: Hochstein offers Lebanon economic incentives
Naharnet/March 6, 2024
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein has offered Lebanon “economic incentives” during his visit this week to Beirut, a Lebanese source said. “The incentives are related to U.S. guarantees for importing gas from Egypt and electricity from Jordan, which means exempting Lebanon from the Caesar Act sanctions imposed on Syria’s government and speeding up exploration operations in Lebanon’s waters,” the source told Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper. “Hochstein will return to the region once the Ramadan truce gets announced in Gaza, to seize the chance and begin negotiation rounds in Naqoura with U.S. presence, and also through shuttle diplomacy between Tel Aviv and Beirut,” the source added. Hochstein said Monday that a diplomatic solution is key to ending nearly five months of intensifying hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. "A diplomatic solution is the only way to end the current hostilities" across the Lebanon-Israel border, Hochstein told reporters after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut. Stressing that “the people of Lebanon and Israel have the right to live in peace and prosperity,” Hochstein said the U.S. is working with its global partners to “consider ways we can leverage our efforts to advance opportunities for prosperity and stability in Lebanon.”“An important part of any understanding will include international support for Lebanon,” Hochstein said.

Hezbollah targets Metula with suicide drone
Naharnet/March 6, 2024
Hezbollah attacked Wednesday the Metula post with a suicide drone.It said it acted "in response to the Israeli aggression against the villages of the south and the homes of civilians."Israeli artillery meanwhile shelled the outskirts of al-Fardees and Rashaya al-Fokhar and warplanes raided the southern border town of Yaroun. Hezbollah had carried out several attacks on Israeli military positions on the border on Tuesday, in response to a strike on a house in Houla that killed a man, his wife and their son. Hezbollah announced the deaths of the father, Hassan Hussein, and his 25-year-old son, Ali Hussein, "on the road to Jerusalem" -- the phrase used for Hezbollah fighters killed by Israel. Hezbollah and Israel have traded deadly cross-border fire on a near-daily basis since the Israeli war on Gaza broke out in October. The fighting has killed at least 302 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including at least 50 civilians, according to an AFP tally. In Israel, at least 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed.

Mikati says Lebanon studying Hochstein's proposal
Naharnet/March 6, 2024
Lebanon is studying a verbal proposal by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein who visited the country Monday in an attempt to tamp down tensions on the Lebanese-Israeli border, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said. "We have questions and we are waiting for answers from the U.S. envoy," Mikati told al-Jadeed in an interview on Tuesday evening. He added that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is studying the proposal and is likely consulting with Hezbollah. "Berri or I will contact Hochstein within 48 hours to discuss the latest developments regarding the proposal."Hochstein’s proposal is a mechanism to implement U.N. Resolution 1701, Mikati explained. "When Israel stops its violations and withdraws from the occupied Lebanese territories, we will be committed to Resolution 1701 and we vow that we will fully implement it."International mediators were set for a fourth day of talks with Hamas in Cairo on Wednesday after U.S. President Joe Biden called for a truce by the start of Ramadan. Asked Monday whether he could "guarantee" that the anticipated Gaza ceasefire would apply to Lebanon, Hochstein said a truce there would not "necessarily" or "automatically" apply to Lebanon, adding that his discussions in Beirut and Israel are aimed at reaching certain "arrangements" leading to a "diplomatic solution." Mikati told al-Jadeed he had been informed that a ceasefire will happen before Ramadan in Gaza and that negotiations related to the Lebanese front will take place during the holy month of Ramadan.''

Family of three killed in Israel strike on Houla
Agence France Presse/March 6, 2024
A family of three, a father, his wife and their son were killed Tuesday in an Israeli strike on a house in the southern border village of Houla. The National News Agency said the three killed were civilians but Hezbollah later announced the death of the father, Hassan Hussein, and his 25-year-old son, Ali Hussein, "on the road to Jerusalem" -- the phrase used for Hezbollah fighters killed by Israel. Hussein, his wife, Ruwaida Mustafa, and their son were killed in a raid on a three-storey house in Houla, NNA said. "Search operations and the removal of rubble are continuing," it added. Shortly after the deadly strike, Hezbollah said it launched "dozens of rockets" at the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Blum, six kilometers from the nearest border point. The group also said it "targeted a building" in the Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona and another building in Avivim. It said it acted "in response to the Israeli aggression against the villages of the south and the homes of civilians," among them the strike on the house in Houla. Hezbollah also said it carried out several attacks on Israeli military positions on the border on Tuesday. On Monday, a missile fired from Lebanon killed a foreign worker in Israel, according to the army, and three Hezbollah-affiliated paramedics were killed in an Israeli raid on southern Lebanon, according to the group. NNA had also reported on Monday evening that Israeli air raids targeted the border town of Bint Jbeil, but no casualties were reported. It came as U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein said a diplomatic solution was key to ending nearly five months of intensifying hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. "A diplomatic solution is the only way to end the current hostilities" and achieve "a lasting fair security arrangement between Lebanon and Israel", he said, adding "a temporary ceasefire is not enough". Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said there will be no let-up in Israeli action against Hezbollah even if a Gaza ceasefire is secured. On Tuesday, the chief of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, Mohammad Raad, was quoted by NNA as saying: "We do not wish for war but we are ready to face it." "We have not used all of our weapons, nor the weapons of open conflict. We have not deployed all of our arsenal, and the enemy knows it," he said. Hezbollah and Israel have traded deadly cross-border fire on a near-daily basis since war broke out in October between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers, a Hezbollah ally. The fighting has killed at least 302 people in Lebanon, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including at least 50 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
In Israel, at least 10 soldiers and seven civilians have been killed.

Qassem: We have no presidential candidate other than Suleiman Franjieh
Naharnet/March 6, 2024
Hezbollah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem has admitted that the 2006 memorandum of understanding with the Free Patriotic Movement has become “suspended” due to “different visions” and “differences over various issues.” “We have taken a decision in Hezbollah not to engage in exchanges of tirades with the FPM,” Qassem said in a TV interview, while noting that “the channels of communication are still open.”As for Hezbollah’s latest meeting with the National Moderation Bloc over its presidential initiative, Qassem said his party is yet to give the bloc a “final answer.”“We are studying the answer before giving it,” he said. “Why do they want to hold us responsible for the presidency whereas everyone is responsible?” Qassem added, noting that “any dialogue with preconditions would be unacceptable.”Pointing out that neither Hezbollah nor its rivals can guarantee the victory of their presidential candidates, Qassem emphasized that Suleiman Franjieh is Hezbollah’s only presidential candidate. As for the ongoing confrontations with Israel, which have intensified in recent days, Hezbollah’s number two said “we are not closer to an all-out war in Lebanon.”“But we are prepared for it should it erupt tomorrow,” Qassem said, adding that “90% there will not be a broad war in Lebanon.”

Maronite bishops reject 'implicating Lebanon in war' after Arabs distanced themselves
Naharnet/March 6, 2024
The Council of Maronite Bishops on Wednesday said it “categorically rejects implicating Lebanon in the Palestinian-Israeli war,” noting that “all Arab countries have distanced themselves from its flames.”“They call on the relevant local parties to fend off the harm that our people in the South are suffering regardless of their religious and political affiliations,” the bishops said in their monthly statement. They also warned against “linking the southern border conflict to settlements that would harm Lebanon’s sovereignty, oil and water resources and geographical rights.”“They draw the attention of the foreign parties that are working in this regard that any Lebanese negotiation over these affairs is the president’s responsibility and that any such negotiations should be frozen until he is elected,” they said in their statement.

Jumblat asks why doesn't Hochstein call for ceasefire in Lebanon
Naharnet/March 6, 2024
As International mediators gathered for a third day of talks with Hamas in Cairo to discuss a plan for a six-week truce in Gaza, former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat asked why wouldn't the U.S. call for a similar cease-fire in Lebanon. "If U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is asking for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, why wouldn't U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein do the same for a Lebanon," Jumblat posted Tuesday on the X platform. "U.N. Resolution 1701 can be discussed in a comprehensive way later," he added. Asked Monday whether he could "guarantee" that the anticipated Gaza ceasefire would apply to Lebanon, Hochstein said a truce there would not "necessarily" or "automatically" apply to Lebanon, adding that his discussions in Beirut and Israel are aimed at reaching certain "arrangements" leading to a "diplomatic solution." Jumblat had met with Hochstein Monday in Clemenceau, where he asked the U.S. envoy "a flurry of questions" and expressed "concern" over the situations in Gaza and Lebanon, al-Akhbar newspaper reported Wednesday. Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Tuesday that lebanon had questions about Hochstein's proposal and is waiting for answers. He said he had been informed that a ceasefire will happen before Ramadan in Gaza and that negotiations related to the Lebanese front will take place during the holy month of Ramadan.

Red Cross worried about South Lebanon hospitals in case of escalations
Reuters/March 06, 2024
An escalation of fighting on Lebanon's southern border would further strain hospitals already struggling with a lack of money in a national financial crisis, the Middle East chief of The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday.
Lebanon's heavily armed Hezbollah party has been exchanging fire with Israel across the border over the last five months in parallel with the Gaza war. More than 50 civilians have been killed in Israeli shelling on Lebanon, along with more than 200 Hezbollah fighters, according to medical and security sources. Israel says about a dozen of its soldiers and half as many civilians have been killed in shelling from Lebanon into the north of the country. Doctors in southern Lebanon have sounded the alarm, saying an influx of wounded has pushed the health sector to its limits. Speaking to Reuters outside Lebanon's Marjayoun Hospital near the border with Israel, Fabrizio Carboni said Lebanon did not have the needed resources to support its health facilities. "Then you also have a lot of health personnel who left the country – so, yes, there is a concern," he said. "We know that should something happen—and we hope the situation will not deteriorate—substantial medical support will be needed for the population in the south of Lebanon and all people affected by the conflict," Carboni said. Marjayoun Hospital has 14 emergency beds and struggles to operate because of a lack of staff and, crucially, fuel shortages, its director has told Reuters. It runs on its own electricity generators for 20 hours a day and pays up to $20,000 a month for the fuel. Carboni urged warring parties on the Lebanon-Israel border to respect the protected status of medical staff and facilities, saying it was "very concerning, very worrying" to see cases of rescue workers being killed in shelling. Seven rescue workers and paramedics have been killed in Israeli shelling over the last five months, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

Lebanon's urgent appeal: Mikati warns against halting UNRWA financing
LBCI/March 06, 2024
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati held a consultative meeting at the Grand Serail with ambassadors of donor countries to explain Lebanon's stance on the importance of continuing funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Ambassadors from several countries, personalities, and diplomats participated in the meeting. Mikati emphasized the utmost importance of supporting UNRWA and warned of unforeseen consequences if its funding were to be halted. He urged the international community to continue supporting the agency to maintain stability in the country. The government seeks support for implementing the national strategy for the Palestinian issue through the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee. This strategy aims to enhance cooperation and coordination regarding the Palestinian issue among the government, UNRWA, Palestinian representation, and the international community.

National Moderation Bloc's visit to PM Mikati addressing public concerns
LBCI/March 06, 2024
Prime Minister of the caretaker government Najib Mikati received a delegation from the "National Moderation Bloc" including MPs Walid al-Baarini, Ahmed Khair, Ahmed Rustom, and the bloc's secretary, Hadi Hobeich, in the presence of MP Bilal al-Hashimi at the Grand Serail. Al-Baarini explained that the visit included two topics. The first is related to their initiative, which they placed in the overall atmosphere that accompanied their tours from beginning to end. He announced that they would meet with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri next Saturday to consult with him on the results they have reached. "As for the second topic, it concerns the demands of public sector employees, as there is a significant outcry from them," he said. "We also presented the issue of roads in Akkar that were damaged by recent floods, whether in Wadi Khaled or the coastal road and the Miniyeh-Akkar road. Prime Minister Mikati was responsive to our demands, and after the end of winter, a large workshop will begin to address these damages and maintain the roads," he added. Responding to a question about whether the bloc's initiative is ongoing, he affirmed that it is. If it is obstructed, the one causing the obstruction will become evident. He emphasized that there are some positives to build on and develop collaboratively. "It's not just the 'National Moderation Bloc' that will bring a president to the republic. What is required is cooperation among all MPs and the internal and international community, as well as political forces as a whole, to work hand in hand to elect a president for the republic," he concluded.

Report breaks down the numbers: Insights from Lebanon's 2023 suicide rates
LBCI/March 06, 2024
Recent figures published by the Lebanese NGO dedicated to mental health, Embrace, revealed that in 2023, Lebanon saw a growth in reported suicide cases, increasing from 138 to 168. The NGO said that this rate is one of the highest for Lebanon in the past ten years. "Notably, cities with elevated rates of suicide encompass Al Jdeideh, Jounieh, Beit El Dine, Zahle, Baalbeck, Aley, Al Dahieh, Zaghrta, and Tripoli. Conversely, cities with the lowest rates of suicide comprise Amioun, Nabatieh, Beirut, Halba, and Baabda," it said. A report published titled: "Lebanon's 2023 Suicide Rates: What Do This Year's Numbers Tell Us About Mental Health in The Country" added that this geographical breakdown showcases different suicide rates across various regions and cities within the country. The report conveyed that the Internal Security Forces' data is the primary source of information supplying insight into the rate of suicide in Lebanon. "The recorded 168 deaths in 2023 reflect a worrisome increase of 21.7 percent from the previous year (2022) and a significant 46 percent rise from 2021. These figures approach those of 2019, a year that marked the highest number of suicides in the past decade," the report said. It continued that this trend highlights the urgency of managing mental health concerns and enforcing effective intervention to curb the escalating rates. It also stressed that the increase in suicide incidents cannot be attributed to one cause. "Moreover, it remains uncertain whether this increase is indicative of a genuine rise in the number of suicides or if it reflects an improved reporting mechanism on suicide cases," as it "remains a taboo topic in Lebanon."Regarding the demographics, the report revealed that in 2023, "individuals aged between 23 and 32 years old were most likely to die of suicide, closely followed by those in the 33 to 42 years old age bracket." When discussing suicide deaths by gender, "the data reveals a notable disparity, with the majority being males. In 2023, the breakdown indicated that 81 percent of suicide deaths were male, while 19 percent were female."Regarding the deaths by nationality, the report declared: "Individuals of Lebanese nationality accounted for the largest group, totaling 119 deaths. They were followed by individuals of Syrian nationality."

Samy Gemayel to LBCI: We created a 'resilience front' against Hezbollah; Presidential election feasible if Hezbollah embraces 'consensus'
LBCI/March 06, 2024
Samy Gemayel to LBCI: We created a 'resilience front' against Hezbollah; Presidential election feasible if Hezbollah embraces 'consensus' The leader of the Kataeb Party, MP Samy Gemayel, expressed that "we created a 'resilience front' against Hezbollah by preventing the 'elimination' of the Lebanese army through the extension of the army commander's term; it was also unable to impose its presidential candidate." In an interview with LBCI's "Hiwar Al Marhala" talk show, Gemayel stated: "In a normal country, Amos Hochstein should have met the Foreign Minister, but the Lebanese state and government are both subject to Hezbollah." Therefore, he added that "it is natural for diplomatic delegations to meet the party that holds the decision-making power." He said that PM Najib Mikati "is an ally of Hezbollah," stating that the March 8 Alliance's forces appointed him to head the government. "Therefore, the Prime Minister is part of the control exerted over the country, and Mikati can do more than he is currently doing in the South Lebanon file, as he is the Prime Minister of Lebanon." Gemayel noted that Hezbollah contradicts itself when it claims to have opened a front in support of Gaza and Hamas and later asserts that it is defending Lebanon and the Lebanese people. The leader of the Kataeb Party also affirmed that "the problem is that Hezbollah portrays itself as defending Lebanon's Shia Muslims, but in reality, it defends Iran. Therefore, I say that I am ready to defend the Shia Muslims more than they are, and I want to reconsider the entire existing equation and implement a significant set of reforms." He noted that as long as Hezbollah's weapons exist, "the system will remain paralyzed, and there is no possibility of affecting the current political system or engaging via a dialogue table."Regarding the party's relationship with the Free Patriotic Movement, he highlighted that they were "in the same trench," adding: "Our only demand from the movement is for it to return to its historical path before 2006, and we want it to be in a 'correct' political side."He said that the moment Hezbollah accepts the principle of consensus on an "acceptable candidate for everyone, we will be able to vote for a president within 48 hours."MP Gemayel stressed: "If Hezbollah comes today and says it withdrew Sleiman Frangieh's candidacy, we are ready to head to the parliament for discussion or dialogue. My issue with Frangieh is that he operates under the logic of Hezbollah."

Mikati engages in high-level discussions with UNIFIL Commander, World Bank delegation, “National Moderation” bloc delegation
NNA/March 06, 2024
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Wednesday welcomed UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro, with whom he discussed the situation in southern Lebanon and the ongoing cooperation between the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL. Prime Minister Mikati also welcomed World Bank Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa, Ferid Belhaj, along with the Regional Director for the Middle East at the World Bank, Jean-Christophe Carret. Belhaj stated after the meeting, "Today, I had a meeting with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, marking my latest official visit to Lebanon. It provided an opportunity to discuss regional issues, particularly economic, social, and security conditions. We discussed upcoming projects to be reviewed by the Cabinet and Parliament for their approval and implementation." "We’ve also discussed a study conducted by the World Bank on the economic and social impact of Syrian refugee influx into Lebanon. A similar study was conducted ten years ago, presented to the Security Council, which rallied support for Lebanon. This new study evaluates the economic and social repercussions and will be presented to donors and the Lebanese public to understand the budgetary pressures, economic, and social contractions in Lebanon,” Belhaj explained. Regarding the cost of the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon, Belhaj said that the cost amounted to approximately $1.5 billion, and that it was imperative for all stakeholders or donors to contribute significantly, as Lebanon alone couldn’t bear this cost. Furthermore, Prime Minister Mikati held discussions with Minister of Telecommunications, Johnny Corm, and the Director-General of OGERO, Imad Kreidieh, to address ministry affairs. Mikati also welcomed Marwan Sehnaoui, President of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Malta. "We’ve discussed the upcoming visit of Prime Minister of Malta, Ricardo Paterno, with a delegation to Lebanon in April,” Sehnaoui said, outlining the details of the visit and the scheduled meetings. Moreover, Premier Mikati welcomed at the Grand Serail, a delegation from the “National Moderation” bloc, which included MPs: Walid Al-Baarini, Ahmed Al-Khair, and Ahmed Rustom, in addition to the Bloc’s Secretary, Hadi Hobeish, in the presence of MP Bilal Al-Hashimi. The delegation briefed the Premier on their presidential election initiative, and raised with the PM affairs related to the Akkari district.

Berri welcomes World Bank's Belhaj, follows up on field developments with UNIFIL's Lazaro, receives Paraguayan ambassador and Judge Al-Hajjar
NNA/March 06, 2024
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Wednesday received at the second presidency in Ain El-Tineh, World Bank Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa, Ferid Belhaj, who came on a farewell protocol visit marking the imminent end of his duties at the World Bank. The visit was a chance to discuss the general situation in Lebanon and the region. Speaker Berri also met with UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro, with whom he discussed the political and field developments in light of Israel's continued aggression against the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. Berri later received in Ain El-Tineh, the Ambassador of Paraguay to Lebanon, Fernando Parisi, who paid him a farewell visit marking the end of his diplomatic mission in the country. This afternoon, Berri received In the afternoon, the acting Cassation Public Prosecutor, Judge Jamal Al-Hajjar.

Geagea slams opposition's presidential election strategies as political gridlock persists
NNA/March 06, 2024
Lebanese Forces party leader, Samir Geagea, on Wednesday criticized recent presidential initiatives, saying they exposed the opposition's true intentions. Geagea accused the resistance axis of shunning dialogue and aiming solely to fragment those opposing their candidate, former Minister Sleiman Frangieh. Geagea condemned the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc’s unwavering support for their candidate, the Marada Movement leader, “allowing no room for further discussions.”The LF chief argued that this stance obstructed attempts by the national moderate coalition and others to end the presidential vacuum. He lamented the resistance axis' failure to secure the necessary votes for their presidential candidate for over a year and four months, resulting in continued electoral obstruction. Geagea then criticized the national moderation initiative, alleging it ensnared the resistance axis into echoing its known rhetoric across various media outlets, insisting on electing a president to protect the resistance. he finally urged Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri to fulfill his constitutional duties by convening consecutive parliamentary sessions until a new president is elected.

Christians will not live as a fourth category
Jean El-Feghali/Nidda Al Watan/March 07, 2024
Google Translation
“We will not live as dhimmis,” a book by thinker Antoine Negm that he published in 1979, under the pseudonym “Amin Naji.” On the second page of the book, Najm cited a verse from the Holy Qur’an that says: “You will not find any change in the Sunnah of God, and you will not find any change in the Sunnah of God.” Najm says in the introduction to the book: “The position of Christians who categorically refuse to accept the ‘Ahl al-Dhimmah’ system. They refuse for Muslims to ‘tolerate’ them in terms of letting them live out their faith ‘inside’ the churches... and the Christians of Lebanon have the right to their homeland and to live in it as free and full citizens.” “It is a sacred natural right, not a gift from anyone.” These words are forty-five years old, and were written at the time of the 1943 Constitution, when “procedural authority was vested in the President of the Republic, who appointed ministers and named among them a president.” At that time, the Christians were in a much better condition than they are today. They had their political leaders represented at the time by Presidents Camille Chamoun and Suleiman Frangieh, Sheikh Pierre Gemayel, and MP Edouard Hanin, whose presence represented a kind of presence of the National Bloc, and others, and they had their “intellectual” leaders (so to speak). ), represented by Charles Malek, Fouad Ephrem Al-Bustani, Jawad Boulos, Saeed Akl, and Abbot Charbel Kassis, (the “Research Committee in Kaslik” provided them with its research and studies), and the Front for Freedom and Humanity was the nucleus of the “Lebanese Front.”
Between the political power of Christians, represented by the Lebanese Front, and the rising military power at that time of Sheikh Bashir Gemayel, the obsession with dhimmiyah continued to simmer in the mind of the thinker Antoine Negm. He announced his rejection of this obsession, not in a statement or article, but in a book that included these concerns and concluded with the following insistence: “Let everyone know.” People, from one end of the earth to the other, that Christians will not emigrate, will not kneel, and will not be “people of the dhimma,” and let it be as it will be, and whoever lives will see.” Christians refuse to be second class, so what if someone comes along and says they have become fourth class? This political and sectarian “bullying” occurs at a time when Christians do not appear to be in the best condition, as there is no political component that unites them, similar to what existed during the days of the Lebanese Front, and all efforts to reach a meeting fail one after the other, and each has its own logic in this area. Some consider that there is no need for a meeting because All attempts failed, and sometimes led to adverse results, while others considered it inevitable to “try again” because there was no escape from meeting “even if it took a long time.” Between the two logics, is there room for a way out in the middle, lest some find it easy to classify Christians as a fourth category? If it is impossible to go back in time, between the “Freedom and Human Front” and the “Lebanese Front,” is it possible for Christians to innovate or innovate? They are the people of innovation and creativity, a wise committee of opinion leaders and thinkers, with a good reputation, whose present is not ashamed of their past. And they have no special political ambitions? This committee of wise men can develop a working paper and distribute it to the leaders, through which they can come to a convergent view of how to move Christians out of the category that “lovers” want to put them in, to a category that their children can be proud of and whose future is supposed to be promising. As for the proposed names of the Committee of Wise Men, it is easy to make a list of them, if the decision is made to see the light, and the criterion for selecting its characters is not difficult. Remember the names of the “Freedom and Humanity Front”?

Khomeini wanted Lebanon as a refuge
Ahmed Ayyash/Nidda Al Watan/March 07, 2024
Google Translation
The thinker and scholar, Mr. Muhammad Hassan Al-Amin, lived to tell the story of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, with Lebanon. The most important thing in this story is that Khomeini aspired to live in Lebanon. The reason is that Iraq, which was his residence during the rule of the Shah, no longer wants to remain during the rule of Saddam Hussein. Al-Amin continues in his story: “Yasser Arafat suggested that Imam Khomeini must move from Iraq, and that the appropriate location that allows the Islamic Revolution to provide Imam Khomeini with the required political and security conditions is Lebanon, specifically the Bekaa Valley. After this decision (from Arafat), I was assigned to move to Najaf. There, the idea of moving to Lebanon was presented to the imam, and he promised that he would study the issue and answer it quickly. Al-Amin adds that Khomeini later agreed to the offer to move to Lebanon. He continued: “Arafat quickly met with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. Unfortunately, in short, the meeting, as I learned from Arafat, ended in failure due to Assad’s lack of conviction in the proposal.
Al-Amin concluded his story by saying: “Here I reveal a secret that only a few know, which is that when Arafat asked him about the real reason for Assad’s position, he answered me that Assad was not inclined to believe that the Islamic Revolution would achieve its goals. Perhaps he believed that America and the West would support the Shah of Iran to the extent that he could eliminate this revolution, and therefore, as Arafat said, Assad was taking into account the reaction that the Shah of Iran would take against the Arabs in general, and Syria in particular. There are broader details to this story that there is limited space in this article to present. But why, why return to it today? The first reason is the publication of the book “The Scraps of Allama Al-Sayyid,” which included a wealth of his ideas. The second reason is to think carefully about the relationship between Lebanon and the Shiite component, whether at home or abroad. Let's put the subject of the book aside. Let us go to the issue of the Shiites from the perspective of the entity. If we return to Al-Amin’s story about Khomeini’s desire to move from Iraq to Lebanon, we would find that Arafat, who enjoyed influence in this country that he did not enjoy outside it, including the areas of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, thought of supporting Khomeini in coming to Lebanon. How could it not be, when Lebanon had given Arafat and many Palestinians refuge after the Nakba of 1948. As for Hafez al-Assad, he prevented Khomeini from realizing this desire for reasons cited by Al-Amin. What is important to say, after nearly half a century since the events of the story, is that Lebanon, before the influence of Arafat and the influence of Assad, was in its nature a refuge for the persecuted from all over the world. Fate would have it that Lebanon would once again become, despite it, a haven for Iranian influence descending from the Khomeini project. Without delving into the reasons, we stop at the statement issued yesterday by the Maronite bishops, which included their refusal to “push Lebanon into the Israeli-Palestinian war, which the Arab countries have distanced themselves from, and we demand that the harm that our people in the south are suffering be removed from all of Lebanon.” The bishops did not say, and they were forgiven, that the descendants of Khomeini’s project are the ones who are throwing Lebanon into the Gaza war. However, it is necessary to differentiate between those who are originally from the land of Lebanon and this project. Even Khomeini himself, if he had been allowed to live in Lebanon, would he have accepted that Lebanon would turn into a cemetery instead of a sanctuary?

Hochstein to the Lebanese in his brief visit: Now you know!
Afares Khashan/An-Nahar Al-Arabi/March 06, 2024
Google Translation
US Counselor Amos Hockstein did not land in Lebanon yesterday as a mediator, but rather as a harbinger. Whoever pays attention to his tone as he recites the “media” statement about his mission in Lebanon from Ain al-Tineh, where he met with Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri, imagines that the man is one of the official spokesmen for the armies charged with reciting “Communication Number One.”
In practice, Hockstein said that Lebanon is in an actual war, because there is no such thing as a limited war, and therefore he is concerned with reducing escalation, because escalation will bring disaster. His proposal was clear: to change the security model along the Blue Line in order to ensure the security of everyone. His stick was embodied in giving credibility to what the Israeli Defense Minister had said twice, earlier, regarding the fact that any truce in Gaza would not necessarily affect Lebanon. His carrot was his indication that Lebanon was facing an opportunity to rebuild and progress at this delicate stage, and to this end, he deliberately met with the Minister of Energy in the caretaker government, Walid Fayyad, at Rafic Hariri International Airport, as he was on his way to Paris, where he discussed with him matters of exploration for... Oil and completing procedures for withdrawing electricity from Jordan, recalling the success of his previous mediation between Lebanon and Israel regarding the maritime dispute, which had, at the time, raised threats of war to a “dramatic” level.
Anyone who examines Hawkshine's very extensive program of meetings in Lebanon understands well that this American advisor, who announced that his move comes in the name of Washington and its allies seeking to contain the escalation on the Lebanese-Israeli front, did not come to listen, but rather to hear, as he met, for the first time, with influential political figures who had not He had not met her during his visits that followed the eighth of last October, nor in those that preceded the signing of the maritime agreement. It was noteworthy that he gave some of his time to forces and personalities who took strict positions, not only on the opening of the Lebanon front but also on Hezbollah! Why did Hockstein do this, knowing that expanding his movement inside Lebanon, along with what was stated in his media statement, would arouse the anger of Hezbollah? According to circles that have seen some aspects of Hockstein’s meetings in Lebanon, he is seriously dealing with the possibility of Israel escalating the war against Hezbollah. If it reaches a truce with Hamas in Gaza, then it will, if it does not obtain a clear program withdrawing Hezbollah’s military forces. God” from the border to a depth of ten kilometers, it will move to the third stage of escalation. The first phase was defensive, as in the first month of Hezbollah's opening of the northern front, it was limited to responding to sources of fire. In the second phase, which extends from January until today, it began targeting the fighters of the "Radwan Force" wherever they were geographically located. In the third phase, the timing of which no one knows, but many have seen its plans, it will escalate qualitatively, until it achieves by force what diplomacy was unable to achieve, which means a large-scale war. It is clear that this time, Hockstein wants Hezbollah to believe that a wide-scale war is not diplomatic exaggeration but rather a reality that diplomacy is trying to prevent. It is no secret that Hezbollah dealt with international mediators on the basis that they are a "group of exaggerators" whose goal is to achieve results in Israel's interest at its expense. In engineering his visit, which lasted only less than six hours, he wants to change the picture and inform Hezbollah and all the Lebanese: When the level of war escalates, we hope that no one will look at us and say that the right is on the Americans and the West, or come out and “punish you” on the Lebanese. He whispers to the distressed people that he did not know!

A veiled American warning to Lebanon: One war ends and another begins!
Ali Hamada/An-Nahar Al-Arabi/March 06, 2024
Google Translation
The negative news about the truce negotiations that came out of Cairo yesterday spread an atmosphere of extreme pessimism at the level of the forces involved in the Gaza war, but it reinforced the great fears in Lebanon of dangerous developments occurring if it is confirmed that the negotiations have truly collapsed, without the Egyptian, Qatari, and American mediators being able to... To save her before the holy month of Ramadan, which initially falls next Monday. Before that, the visit of the American envoy Amos Hochstein to Lebanon (the third since the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation) was an occasion to blow - as they say - hot and cold at the same time. This is despite the fact that he came to Lebanon carrying American proposals that he divided into two parts, the first related to what is required of the “party.” “God,” and the second is related to what can be offered to Lebanon (and perhaps to “Hezbollah” under the table), all of this in exchange for cooling Lebanon’s front with Israel, and avoiding being drawn into a wide war that is estimated to happen if it breaks out, it will come immediately after the completion of the truce in Gaza. This If it happens, the conflict taking place today is between Hezbollah and its successor, Iran, who are determined to link the Lebanon front with the Gaza front, and Israel, and its successor, the United States, who are insisting on disengaging between the two fronts, whatever the cost. Therefore, Hockstein carried in his visit words that included the terms of a settlement with a threatening content. He was clear when he said in the written speech that he read at the end of his meeting with Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, who was charged by Hezbollah with the diplomatic aspect, that “the Gaza truce will not automatically extend to Lebanon.” By that, he meant that the ceasefire on the part of “Hezbollah” In the event of a truce or ceasefire in Gaza, it will no longer be sufficient. What is required are credible security arrangements, otherwise the front will remain on fire from the Israeli side, even if Hezbollah stops firing unilaterally. This is a negative development, especially since Hezbollah, according to President Nabih Berri, who represents its position with the Americans, considers that “the cornerstone of all efforts is the situation in Gaza as a gateway to the return of stability and calm.” As for the Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, he explained the situation in his own way and via television stations while Hockstein was touring Beirut, saying: “Whoever wants to be a mediator must mediate to stop the aggression, not mediate to prevent assistance from Hezbollah.” .
But the position that Amos Hochstein brought to Beirut came with a carrot and a stick at the same time. The carrot is his statement that his goal is to open a political path that can allow the displaced to return to their homes (100,000 displaced Lebanese), and the same thing is on the other side of the border (100,000 displaced Israelis), and that the escalation does not help in resolving this crisis nor in helping Lebanon restore Construction and progress at this sensitive stage in its history. Most importantly, he hinted at the gains that Lebanon could reap if Hezbollah took the path of a diplomatic solution, saying: “There will be international support for Lebanon, including its economy and army, but this can only begin when we are able to reach a point to move forward.”
Therefore, the American envoy spoke of “the necessity of changing the security formula along the Blue Line in order to guarantee the security of all,” considering that here is the bottom line, which goes beyond the treatment that Hezbollah is trying to prove through the “concernment” war, that a ceasefire is insufficient, and neither is war. Limited cannot be contained!
Based on the progress, most observers tend to consider Amos Hochstein's visit last Monday as a warning signal before things deteriorate further. As a result of its adventure, Hezbollah is sliding into a war that the people of the country do not want. As a reminder, the aforementioned party “greeted” Hochstein as he was leaving Lebanese airspace on Monday night with a large missile salute into northern Israel. Israel responded to the “greeting” by destroying a residential square in the heart of the city of Bit Jbeil, which is one of the largest towns adjacent to the southern border with Israel. But eyes are now on the Egyptian capital to find out what the Ramadan truce negotiations will lead to!

Early parliamentary elections: changing the majority to produce a new authority
Munir Al-Rabie/Al-Modon/March 07, 2024
Google Translation
There is always a need to think outside the box. For months, Lebanon has been in a political stalemate, which has been affected by developments in the situation in the south. All paths have been frozen, awaiting a solution formula, but as it seems proposed, it is still inside the box of impasse, based on the division of political forces and parliamentary blocs. This division cannot lead to a solution or settlement unless a balanced political party changes its position and moves to a different side. This does not seem to be available yet, in light of the dispute between the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah, on the one hand. In light of the position of other Christian forces refusing to make any concession that might benefit the party politically.
Need a boss
In light of this reality, all talk seems postponed, until stability is restored to the south. While all the international envoys, the latest of whom is the American envoy Amos Hochstein, stress the necessity of electing a president to keep pace with all future entitlements. Of course, any negotiation regarding stopping the confrontations in the south, or deploying the army, does not require a President of the Republic. But to complete the implementation of Resolution 1701 and re-establish the borders, we need a president to accompany and supervise this matter. Especially since Resolution 1701 includes addressing the situation of all outstanding border points and the Shebaa Farms. Here an American proposal emerges regarding the exchange of “lands.” This is a proposal that was previously presented during the maritime border demarcation negotiations, such as Lebanon giving up point B1 in exchange for obtaining space in other areas. This matter will also be raised in Shebaa Farms and the Kfarshouba Hills. Lebanon rejects the principle of land exchange, but seeks to have original authority, that is, reconstituted, starting from electing the president to forming the government to keep pace with any path to address the border situation.
Early elections?
Hockstein's questions about presidential entitlement, and his advice to the opposition forces to engage in dialogue, were not an absurd matter. This is not the first time that Hockstein has touched on the issue of the presidency. Despite his diplomatic statements about supporting the work of the Five-Year Committee, in reality a link has become established between the South and the presidency, especially since there is an internal and external opinion indicating the necessity of not cornering Hezbollah, pressuring it, or challenging it presidentially, in exchange for not electing the person who He nominates him, but rather searches for common points found in a personality that the party is comfortable with and with which other forces agree. This is still faltering to date. Therefore, there are those who return to putting forward the idea of early parliamentary elections, after reaching a calm in the south, to reproduce an authority under which the majority changes due to the change in alliances. Especially since all the talk indicates that serious negotiations to stop the confrontations and address the border situation will begin in the month of Ramadan. Hence, the idea of early parliamentary elections is being proposed again, to overcome the existing impasse that prevents the completion of the presidential election and the restructuring of power. Any final or comprehensive solution will require the presence of a president and a government.
Changing alliances?
The goal of raising the issue of early elections is to create an element of pressure on the Christian forces, because the fundamental change in the election results must happen among the Christian forces, in light of the dispute between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement. When the President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, was asked about the possibility of not allying with the party electorally, he replied: “We will not commit suicide.” Any change in alliances will lead to a change in the results, amid major questions being raised about what these elections will produce. If the Free Patriotic Movement's bloc shrinks, who are the forces that will benefit? Will the former March 14 forces and the Lebanese Forces, or will Hezbollah strengthen its Christian share with representatives from March 8?
There are those who come to the point of view that achieving the presidential election may require giving a majority to the political forces that represent the Taif Agreement, based on the intersections between them, especially since the idea of “producing” a new political system has fallen, in the current realistic and objective sense. It remains a postponed idea.

Bree: The Big Boss
Imad Moussa/Nedda Al Watan/March 07, 2024
Google Translation
In the last interview with colleague Marcel Ghanem, First Assistant Ali Hassan Khalil released one of the graceful and cute “Professor” rabbits. He “chucked” the rabbit, and many did not notice it: “President Berri must conclude the session and we open sessions, not sessions. Otherwise, if the session remains open, we will have disrupted the work of the Council.” Speaker Berri himself returned and repeated what Abu Hassan, the most profound and wisest constitutional jurist, said, by declaring his readiness to hold a session. Election sessions in the first, second, third and fourth successive sessions, “and in the event that we are not able to elect a president during them, it is my duty to close the minutes of the session and then set a date for another session soon.” The conclusion of translating the diligence of the subordinate and the president, at a stage that cannot tolerate “lightness,” is that the issue of election in an open session is not raised at all. The mechanism will remain the same. A session and a disruption, a session and a disruption...unless the candidate of the “obstructive duo” Suleiman Bey Franjieh received 65 votes or more in the first round. Then a second session will be opened in his honor and the minutes will be closed. Congratulations. If the miracle had happened last June, the rabbit's fate would have been a blow to the back of the head. The assassination is followed by boiling with spices. Next, boiling the rabbit is preparing a dish of molokhiya from the meat of the victim in Ain al-Tineh, and I am pleased to be at the forefront of the invitees.
The “professor’s” logic is strange.
An hour that invents “heavy” mechanisms for digestion. An hour when he invents the “consensus” heresy that is not even hinted at in any constitutional text. And now he stresses the constitutional right of representatives to obstruct as long as God wills... and his party. It is astonishing that his “state” firmly believes in the culture of regular dialogue and its usefulness in every controversial matter. No one excels him in this belief except Sheikh Nabil Qaouk. It is strange how the President combines two wonderful qualities in his person: a statesman and a twin of a state. It is strange how what should have been amended in Article 49 of the Constitution was not amended during the era of President Berri, which spanned more than three decades, especially with regard to the issue of oaths. In this haste and in this article, I would like to propose to his state and to the storekeeper this text: “I swear to God Almighty that I respect the constitution and customs of the Lebanese nation and protect the back of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon and the safety of its stores.” It is strange how the Speaker of the Council belittles the positions of the head of the largest opposition parliamentary bloc, and it is strange how he is impressed. With the head of the smallest loyal bloc (two deputies and an added value to the representation). What is strange is that Amos Hockstein described President Nabih Berri at the last summit that brought them together at the Hospitality Palace (formerly Ain al-Tineh) as the Boss. The Gentleman diplomat hastened in the presence of the His Excellency the King of Two States, the leadership, the acumen, the skill, the management, and the acting custodian of the affairs of the Lebanese Republic, the Lebanese Greater and Lebanese, and its institutions. It is true that President Nabih Berri is The Big Boss

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 06-07/2024
Envoys push for Gaza truce before Ramadan starts next week
AFP/March 06, 2024
CAIRO: Envoys pushed on with efforts for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal in Cairo talks Wednesday, hoping to halt nearly five months of fighting before the start of Ramadan next week. US President Joe Biden had urged Hamas to accept a ceasefire plan with Israel before the Muslim fasting month begins, which could be as early as Sunday, depending on the sighting of the crescent moon. As negotiators in Egypt sought to overcome tough stumbling blocks, deadly fighting again rocked Gaza where the UN warns famine looms and desperate crowds have stopped and looted food aid trucks. Dire shortages of food and water amid the devastating Gaza war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack have killed at least 18 people, said medics in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory. Biden on Tuesday called on the group to accept the truce plan brokered by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators, saying “it’s in the hands of Hamas right now.”The proposed deal would pause fighting for “at least six weeks,” according to a White House statement on talks between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and the Qatari prime minister. It would also see the “release of sick, wounded, elderly and women hostages” and allow for “a surge of humanitarian assistance,” they said in a Washington meeting on Tuesday. One known sticking point centers on an Israeli demand for Hamas to hand it a list of the about 100 hostages believed to still be alive — a task Hamas says it can’t complete while bombing continues. The group said in a statement that it had “shown the required flexibility with the aim of reaching an agreement requiring a comprehensive cessation of aggression against our people.”Biden stressed that “there’s got to be a ceasefire because Ramadan — if we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous.”In past years, violence has flared during Ramadan in annexed east Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound — Islam’s third-holiest site and Judaism’s most sacred, known to Jews as the Temple Mount. Hamas has urged Muslims to flock there in great numbers, as they do every year, while some Israeli far-right politicians have argued they should be banned this year. Israel’s government said on Tuesday that Muslim worshippers would initially be allowed to the site “in similar numbers” as in recent years, but that this would be followed by a weekly “situation assessment in terms of security and safety.” The Gaza war broke out after Hamas launched their attack on southern Israel that resulted in about 1,160 deaths, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. The militants also took around 250 hostages. Israel believes 99 of them remain alive in Gaza and that 31 have died. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 30,717 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to push on with the campaign to destroy Hamas, before or after any truce deal, while Hamas has demanded a permanent stop to fighting. In the latest combat, the army said that “a number of terrorists were identified and eliminated, including in a helicopter strike” in the southern city of Khan Yunis. “AK-47 rifles and ammunition were among the large quantity of weapons located and seized during searches.” While the war has reduced vast stretches of Gaza to a wasteland of bombed-out buildings and rubble, the siege has sparked a humanitarian disaster for its 2.4 million people. Hunger has reached “catastrophic levels” in the north, the UN World Food Programme has warned. “Children are dying of hunger-related diseases and suffering severe levels of malnutrition,” it said. Gaza’s health ministry reported that a 15-year-old girl became the latest child to die from malnutrition or dehydration, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. More than 100 people were reported killed in bloody chaos last week when thousands swarmed aid trucks in Gaza. Gaza officials blamed Israel gunfire, while the army insisted most were trampled to death or run over. Another truck convoy was diverted by Israeli troops within Gaza late Tuesday and then stopped by “a large crowd of desperate people who looted the food,” said the WFP. Jordanian, US and other planes have repeatedly airdropped food into Gaza.
But WFP deputy chief Carl Skau said that “airdrops are a last resort and will not avert famine.”Washington has stepped up pressure on Israel to alleviate the suffering, a message echoed by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.
“People are dying of hunger. People are dying of otherwise preventable disease,” Cameron told the House of Lords ahead of talks with visiting Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz. Cameron said that, as Israel is “the occupying power... it is responsible and that has consequences, including in how we look at whether Israel is compliant with international humanitarian law.”Looking ahead at a post-war future, he also pointed at “the unstoppable momentum we need to see toward a two-state solution.”Anger over Israel’s Gaza campaign has grown across the Middle East, stoking violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have attacked passing ship traffic in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in what they call a solidarity campaign with Gaza, sparking US and British retaliatory strikes. The Houthis days ago sank a cargo ship carrying fertilizer which, environmental groups have warned, threatens an ecological disaster. The US military said Tuesday it shot down three Houthi drones and a missile fired toward one of its destroyers in the Red Sea.

Hostage crisis poses dilemma for Israel and offers a path to victory for Hamas
AP/March 6, 2024
Over the last five months, Israel has killed thousands of Hamas fighters, destroyed dozens of their tunnels and wreaked unprecedented destruction on the Gaza Strip. But it still faces a dilemma that was clear from the start of the war and will ultimately determine its outcome: It can either try to annihilate Hamas, which would mean almost certain death for the estimated 100 hostages still held in Gaza, or it can cut a deal that would allow the militants to claim a historic victory. Either outcome would be excruciating for Israelis. Either would likely seal an ignominious end for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s long political career. And either might be seen as acceptable by Hamas, which valorizes martyrdom. Netanyahu, at least in public, denies there is any such dilemma. He has vowed to destroy Hamas and recover all the hostages, either through rescue missions or cease-fire agreements, saying victory could come “in a matter of weeks.” As long as the war rages, he can avoid early elections that polls strongly suggest would remove him from power. But it seems inevitable that at some point a choice will have to be made between the hostages and military victory. Hamas, meanwhile, appears to be in no hurry to reach a temporary cease-fire ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins next week, or to delay an expected Israeli operation in Rafah, the southern city where half of Gaza’s population has sought refuge. Hamas leader Yehya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack against Israel, has reason to believe that as long as he holds the hostages, he can eventually end the war on his terms.
SINWAR’S BLOODY GAMBLE
In over two decades spent inside Israeli prisons, Sinwar reportedly learned fluent Hebrew and studied Israeli society, and he identified a chink in the armor of his militarily superior adversary. He learned that Israel cannot tolerate its people, especially soldiers, being held captive, and will go to extraordinary lengths to bring them home. Sinwar himself was among over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for a single captive soldier in 2011. For Sinwar, the mass killings on Oct. 7 might have been a horrific sideshow to the main operation, which was to drag large numbers of hostages into a vast labyrinth of tunnels beneath Gaza, where Israel would be unable to rescue them, and where they could serve as human shields for Hamas leaders. Once that was accomplished, he had a powerful bargaining chip that could be traded for large numbers of Palestinian prisoners, including top leaders serving life sentences, and an end to the Israeli onslaught that Hamas had anticipated. No amount of 2,000-pound bombs could overcome the strategy’s brutal logic. Israeli officials say the tunnels stretch for hundreds of kilometers (miles) and some are several stories underground, guarded by blast doors and booby traps. Even if Israel locates Hamas leaders, any operation would mean almost certain death for the hostages that likely surround them. “The objectives are quite contradictory," said Amos Harel, a longtime military correspondent for Israel's Haaretz newspaper. “Of course, you can say it will take a year to defeat Hamas, and we’re moving ahead on that, but the problem is that nobody can ensure that the hostages will remain alive.”He added that even if Israel somehow kills Sinwar and other top leaders, others would move up the ranks and replace them, as has happened in the past. “Israel will have a really hard time winning this,” Harel said. Israel has successfully rescued three hostages since the start of the war, all of whom were aboveground. Israeli troops killed three hostages by mistake, and Hamas says several others were killed in airstrikes or failed rescue operations. More than 100 hostages were released in a cease-fire deal in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Netanyahu says military pressure will eventually bring about the release of the roughly 100 hostages, and the remains of 30 others, still held by Hamas.But in candid remarks in January, Gadi Eisenkot, Israel’s former top general and a member of Netanyahu’s War Cabinet, said anyone suggesting the remaining hostages could be freed without a cease-fire deal was spreading “illusions.”It’s hard to imagine Hamas releasing its most valuable human shields for a temporary cease-fire, only to see Israel resume its attempt to annihilate the group, and Hamas has rejected the idea of its leaders surrendering and going into exile.For Sinwar, it's better to stay underground with the hostages and see if his bet pays off.
HOW DOES THIS END?
Netanyahu's government is under mounting pressure from families of the hostages, who fear time is running out, and the wider public, which views the return of captives as a sacred obligation. President Joe Biden, Israel’s most important ally, is at risk of losing re-election in November, in part because of Democratic divisions over the war. The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has sparked worldwide outrage. The war threatens to ignite other fronts across the Middle East. There’s a Hamas proposal on the table in which the hostages come back alive. It calls for the phased release of all of the captives in return for Israel’s gradual withdrawal from Gaza, a long-term cease-fire and reconstruction. Israel would also release hundreds of prisoners, including top Palestinian political leaders and militants convicted of killing civilians. Hamas would almost certainly remain in control of Gaza and might even hold victory parades. With time, it could recruit new fighters, rebuild tunnels and replenish its arsenals. It would be an extremely costly victory, with over 30,000 Palestinians killed and the total destruction of much of Gaza. Palestinians would have different opinions on whether it was all worth it. A rare wartime poll last year found rising support for Hamas, with over 40% of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza backing the group. That support would only grow if Hamas succeeds in lifting the longstanding blockade on Gaza, said Tahani Mustafa, senior Palestine analyst at the Crisis Group, an international think tank. “If this is able to bring some serious concessions that can make life just marginally better, then I think not only will this bolster support for Hamas, but it could also bolster support for armed resistance more broadly.” Netanyahu has rejected Hamas' proposal as “delusional,” but there is no sign the militant group is backing away from its core demands. Israel can keep fighting – for weeks, months or years. The army can kill more fighters and demolish more tunnels, while carefully avoiding areas where it thinks the hostages are held. But at some point, Netanyahu or his successor will likely have to make one of the most agonizing decisions in the country’s history, or it will be made for them.

Gaza truce talks enter fourth day after US urges speedy deal
Agence France Presse/March 6, 2024
International mediators were set for a fourth day of talks with Hamas in Cairo on Wednesday after U.S. President Joe Biden called on the militant group to agree a truce deal with Israel by the start of Ramadan. Envoys have discussed plans to halt the fighting that has raged since Hamas's October 7 attack before the Muslim fasting month starts on Sunday or Monday, depending on the sighting of the full moon. As famine threatens the besieged Gaza Strip, U.S. and Jordanian planes again airdropped food aid into the territory of 2.4 million people in a joint operation with Egypt and France on Tuesday. The World Health Organization has reported children dying of starvation in two northern Gaza hospitals, and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has expressed "deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza". Envoys from Hamas and the United States have been meeting Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Cairo to discuss a plan for a six-week truce, the exchange of dozens of remaining hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and a greater flow of aid to Gaza. Egypt's Al-Qahera News, which is close to the country's intelligence services, said the talks would continue Wednesday. Biden warned Hamas to quickly agree to a truce and hostage release deal after his top diplomat Antony Blinken urged the group to accept an "immediate ceasefire". "It's in the hands of Hamas right now," the U.S. president told reporters from Maryland. "There's got to be a ceasefire because Ramadan -- if we get into circumstances where this continues to Ramadan, Israel and Jerusalem could be very, very dangerous." He did not elaborate but the United States urged Israel last week to allow Muslims to pray at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a frequent flashpoint during Ramadan. The Israeli government said Tuesday it would allow Muslim worshippers access to the mosque compound in annexed east Jerusalem "in similar numbers to those in previous years".
Hostage list
Israeli negotiators have so far stayed away from the Cairo talks, with Israeli media reporting that they boycotted them after Hamas failed to provide a list of living hostages. Senior Hamas leader Bassem Naim said details on the captives had not been "mentioned in any documents or proposals circulated during the negotiation process"."The Hamas movement has shown the required flexibility with the aim of reaching an agreement requiring a comprehensive cessation of aggression against our people," the Islamist group said in a statement. "The movement will continue to negotiate through mediator brothers to reach an agreement that fulfils the demands and interests of our people." However, Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official in Beirut, warned the group would "not allow the path of negotiations to be open indefinitely".Israel has said it believes 130 of the 250 captives taken by Hamas fighters in their unprecedented October 7 attack remain in Gaza but that 31 are presumed dead. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani met and agreed that "the release of sick, wounded, elderly and women hostages would result in an immediate ceasefire in Gaza over a period of at least six weeks". The first phase of a ceasefire would enable "a surge of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, and provide time and space to secure more enduring arrangements and sustained calm", a White House readout of the meeting said. Famine looms Israel is facing increasing criticism from its top ally the United States as conditions in Gaza deteriorate. Harris met Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz in Washington on Monday, the same day the WHO said an aid mission at the weekend found that 10 children had died of starvation at the Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals.
In Khan Yunis, the main city in Gaza's south, residents described finding decomposing bodies lying in streets, which are lined with destroyed buildings. "We want to eat and live. Take a look at our homes. How am I to blame, a single, unarmed person without any income in this impoverished country?" asked Nader Abu Shanab, pointing to the rubble with blackened hands. American cargo planes airdropped more than 36,000 meals into Gaza Tuesday in a joint operation with Jordan, which said French and Egyptian planes also took part. The UN's World Food Program said Israeli troops turned away an aid convoy at a checkpoint inside Gaza and that it was later looted "by desperate people".The Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 allegedly resulted in about 1,160 deaths according to official Israeli figures. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 30,600 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.
Regional fallout
The war has sparked violence across the region, including near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement. The U.S. military said it shot down three drones and a missile fired towards one of its destroyers in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels in Yemen on Tuesday. A statement by U.S. Central Command said "one anti-ship ballistic missile and three one-way attack unmanned aerial systems" had been shot down. The Iran-backed Houthis have been attacking shipping in the Red Sea for months, saying they were hitting Israel-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Their campaign has caused major disruption on the key trade route, sharply hiking shipping costs. Anger over Israel's Gaza campaign has grown across the Middle East, stoking violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Report: Negotiators propose several-day truce in Gaza
Naharnet/March 6, 2024
U.S. and Arab negotiators have proposed a short pause in fighting in the Gaza Strip to buy time for a longer cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, as talks appeared stuck with time running out for a deal before a Ramadan deadline, the Wall Street Journal has reported. The push for “a shorter cease-fire -- even lasting a few days -- could prove to both sides that the other is serious about a longer deal,” negotiators said.

South Africa urges the International Court of Justice to take further measures against Israel
AFP/March 6, 2024
South Africa requested on Wednesday that the International Court of Justice impose new emergency measures on Israel due to the "widespread famine" resulting from its military attack in Gaza. This marks the second time Pretoria has requested additional actions from the court, with its first request being denied in February

Cameron to Gantz: 'No improvement so far' in Gaza and 'this must change'
AFP/March 6, 2024
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron expressed concern on Wednesday about the lack of "improvement" in the crisis-stricken Gaza Strip due to the war between Israel and Hamas. This came at the end of a meeting with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz.Cameron stated via the X platform, "This must change," also noting "UK's deep concern about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah."

Interest grows in Cypriot plan for seaborne aid corridor to Gaza
Associated Press/March 6, 2024
A Cypriot government spokesman said Wednesday that European Union Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen will visit Cyprus to inspect installations at the port of Larnaca, from where it’s hoped ships loaded with humanitarian aid will soon depart for Gaza. Spokesman Constantinos Letymbiotis told reporters that that Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides will join Von der Leyen on her inspection of the port on Friday. Letymbiotis said interest over the Cypriot initiative to ship a steady stream of aid in large quantities to the Palestinian enclave some 240 miles (386 kilometers) away has gained traction, both within the EU and among other countries. EU spokesman Eric Mamer said Wednesday the bloc is hopeful that the corridor’s opening “will take place very soon.”EU Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari said the maritime corridor could augment the bloc’s efforts to deliver more aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Another possibility is to organize airdrops, but this would be a last resort and cannot replace ground access to the enclave “which remains absolutely essential.”Ujvari said the EU has so far carried out around 40 flights to deliver aid to Gaza, primarily through Egypt.

Arab League chief, Syrian foreign minister rue ‘double standards’ in dealing with Israel
GOBRAN MOHAMED/Arab News/March 06, 2024
CAIRO: Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit’s talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad on Wednesday focused on Israeli aggression against civilians in the Gaza Strip. Aboul Gheit received Mekdad at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States. The meeting underscored “the global inability to halt daily massacres in Gaza, revealing double standards in decision-making countries that continue to provide cover for Israel’s policies despite the exposed brutality and violation of fundamental standards of humanity and morality,” according to Jamal Rushdi, spokesman for the Arab League chief. The Arab bloc’s chief emphasized the consensus among Arab countries on preserving Syria’s sovereignty, the integrity of its national territory, and the withdrawal of illegal foreign forces from its lands.
Meanwhile, Aboul Gheit received Mohamed Ali Omar, Somali acting foreign minister. Aboul Gheit affirmed the bloc’s supportive stance toward Somalia, Rushdi said. “The League of Arab States stands in solidarity with Somalia in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity, while rejecting the memorandum of understanding signed between Ethiopia and the ‘Somaliland’ region last January,” Aboul Gheit said. The two parties discussed ways and procedures to implement League Council Resolution No. 8988, dated Jan. 17, regarding support for Somalia in confronting the attack on its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Ethiopia signed an agreement last January granting it naval and commercial access to a port on Somaliland’s coast in exchange for recognition of the breakaway region’s independence. Last January, during a meeting in Egypt with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Aboul Gheit described a memorandum of understanding signed between Ethiopia and the Somaliland region as null, void, and unacceptable

Probe says Israel’s PM bears ‘responsibility’ for deadly Mount Meron stampede in 2021
AFP/March 6, 2024
A probe into Israel’s worst civilian disaster on Wednesday found Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “bears personal responsibility” for the deadly 2021 stampede which killed 45 Jewish pilgrims. “The prime minister is responsible for identifying proactively, by himself or through mechanisms on his behalf, issues that require the attention of his office and, if necessary, his intervention, in particular those related to a risk of human lives,” said the commission of inquiry report into the stampede at the Mount Meron pilgrimage site. Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews had converged on Mount Meron, near Israel’s border with Lebanon, on April 30, 2021 for an annual pilgrimage to the tomb of reputed second century rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.  The stampede in the male section of the gender-segregated crowd is believed to have started as people moved through a narrow passageway that became a deadly choke-point. At least 16 children and teenagers were among the 45 dead.  The inquiry found that from 2008 up to the day of the tragedy, the prime minister’s office was notified on several occasions of the potential hazards caused by high traffic around the tomb. Netanyahu was in power for 12 of those years.
“Netanyahu knew that the Rashbi’s tomb site had been poorly cared for for years, and that this could create a risk for the multitudes of visitors to the place, especially in (the holiday of) Lag Ba’omer,” the commission’s report said.
“Netanyahu did not act as expected of a prime minister to correct this state of affairs,” it added. -

UNRWA donors likely to resume funding soon, Norway says
Gwladys Fouche and Tom Perry/Reuters/March 6, 2024
Many countries that paused funding to the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency are likely having second thoughts and payments could resume soon, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Wednesday. Several countries, including the United States and Britain, paused their funding to UNRWA after accusations by Israel that a dozen of its 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Norway, a top donor to UNRWA, has maintained its funding and transferred 275 million crowns ($26 million) in February, its regular annual contribution, and said more could come. It is also lobbying countries that have paused funding to resume. "I think that a large number of those countries who suspended are (having) second thoughts," Barth Eide told Reuters in an interview, citing the recognition from these nations that "they cannot punish the whole Palestinian society". "This is increasingly recognised and agreed by many," he said, after meeting Norwegian aid organisations to take stock of the humanitarian situation in Gaza. "But then, of course, they need an honourable way out, which means they are hoping, I think - without speaking for individual countries - that they will get something from these investigations that suggest that they can say: "well, we needed to suspend, but now we're back'."The U.N. is conducting an internal probe, while former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna is leading an independent review. UNRWA sacked the staff accused by Israel of involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks, saying at the time that the Israeli allegations - if true - were a betrayal of U.N. values and of the people UNRWA serves. Juliette Touma, UNRWA director of communications, said none of the 16 donors which had frozen their funding had resumed yet, and urged them to reconsider their decisions. "We are operating from hand-to-mouth. That's how we got through February. That's how we will get through March," she told Reuters. "Every penny counts." The head of the UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, warned on Monday of "a deliberate and concerted campaign" aimed at ending its operations as Israel accused the organisation of employing over 450 "military operatives" from Hamas and other armed groups. The war in Gaza began when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's air and ground campaign in Gaza has since killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave say.
'IRREPLACEABLE'
It was difficult for the U.S. to "come back" to UNRWA, the Norwegian minister said, but there could be solutions, he said, with an "understanding between the U.S. and Europe" on sharing the work. "The U.S. could do more of something else and Europeans (could) concentrate more on UNRWA," he said, adding that "the combination of Europeans stepping up and Arab states (as well) is probably necessary". Qatar said on Wednesday it would give an extra $25 million to the U.N. agency. There had been suggestions early on by some donors to replace UNRWA with another humanitarian organisation, Barth Eide said, but that idea was now "off the table". "They were told by the rest of the international humanitarian community, U.N. agencies and NGOs that there is no way to do that in time," he said. On Friday the European Commission said it would pay 50 million euros ($54 million) to UNRWA but hold back 32 million euros while it investigates with the Israeli allegations. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the continued funding showed that the EU acknowledged UNRWA "as an irreplaceable actor".

Canada to restore funding to embattled UN agency in Gaza
Associated Press/March 6, 2024
Canada will restore funding to the United Nations relief agency for Palestinians, a government official tells The Associated Press, weeks after the agency lost hundreds of millions of dollars in support following Israeli allegations against some of its staffers in Gaza. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation first reported that Canada will restore funding and that International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen would announce the decision Wednesday. But the government official told the AP the announcement has been delayed, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to comment on the matter. Canada's foreign minister is currently in the Middle East and plans to visit Israel. The Israel-Hamas war has driven 80% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes, and U.N. officials say a quarter of the population is starving as access to the enclave is restricted. The U.N. agency known as UNRWA is the main supplier of food, water and shelter there, but it is on the brink of financial collapse. Israel accused 12 of its employees of participating in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that killed 1,200 people and left about 250 others held hostage in Gaza. In response, more than a dozen countries including Canada suspended funding to UNRWA worth about $450 million, almost half its budget for the year. UNRWA, which employs roughly 13,000 people in Gaza, is the biggest aid provider in the enclave. Two U.N. investigations into Israel's allegations were already underway when the European Union said Friday it will give 50 million euros ($54 million) to UNRWA after the agency agreed to allow EU-appointed experts to audit the way it screens staff to identify extremists. Israel now alleges that 450 UNRWA employees were members of militant groups in Gaza, though it has provided no evidence. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, said Monday that he has "never been informed" or received any evidence of Israel's claims. Every year, he said, UNRWA provides Israel and the Palestinian Authority with a list of its staff, "and I never have received the slightest concern about the staff that we have been employing."The only allegation communicated to him verbally was about the 12 UNRWA staffers alleged to have participated in the Oct. 7 attack, he said, and they appeared so serious that they were fired. UNRWA in a statement has accused Israel of detaining several of its staffers and forcing them, using torture and ill treatment, into giving false confessions about the links between the agency, Hamas and the Oct. 7 attack. The attack sparked an Israeli invasion that Gaza's Health Ministry says has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians.

US destroyer shoots down missile and drones launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)/Wed, March 6, 2024
A U.S. destroyer shot down drones and a missile launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels toward it in the Red Sea, officials said Wednesday, as the Indian navy released images of it fighting a fire aboard a container ship earlier targeted by the Houthis. The assault Tuesday apparently targeted the USS Carney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that has been involved in the American campaign against the rebels, who have launched attacks over Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Another suspected Houthi attack on shipping was reported Wednesday. Meanwhile, Iran announced Wednesday it would confiscate a $50 million cargo of Kuwaiti crude oil for American energy firm Chevron Corp. aboard a tanker it seized nearly a year earlier. It marks the latest twist in a yearslong shadow war playing out in the Mideast's waterways even before the Houthi attacks began. The Houthi attack on the Carney on Tuesday involved bomb-carrying drones and one anti-ship ballistic missile, the U.S. military's Central Command said. The U.S. later launched an airstrike destroying three anti-ship missiles and three bomb-carrying drone boats, the Central Command said. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, acknowledged the attack, but claimed its forces targeted two American warships, without elaborating. The Houthis “will not stop until the aggression is stopped and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted,” Saree said. Saree did not acknowledge the later U.S. airstrikes. The Houthis have not offered any assessment of the damage they've suffered in the American-led strikes that began in January, though they have said at least 22 of their fighters have been killed. Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters over the Israel-Hamas war. Those vessels have included at least one with cargo bound for Iran, the Houthis’ main benefactor, and an aid ship later bound for Houthi-controlled territory. Despite more than a month and a half of U.S.-led airstrikes, Houthi rebels have remained capable of launching significant attacks. They include the attack last month on a cargo ship carrying fertilizer, the Rubymar, which sank on Saturday after drifting for several days, and the downing of an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars. The Houthis have been hailing ships over the radio in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden as well since launching their attacks. The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center reported Wednesday that a new round of similar radio messages went out to a ship, and urged crews to report any suspicious activity. A short time later, the UKMTO reported a suspected attack in the area. Private security firm Ambrey said an explosion was reported near the vessel apparently hailed in the radio call, but there were few other details immediately known. Meanwhile, the Indian navy released a video of its sailors from the INS Kolkata fighting a fire aboard the MSC Sky II, which had been targeted by the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden on Monday. Smoke poured out of one container aboard the vessel, which also showed scorch marks from the impact of a Houthi missile.
The Mediterranean Shipping Co., a Switzerland-based company, said the missile struck the ship as it was traveling from Singapore to Djibouti. “The missile caused a small fire that has been extinguished while no crew were injured,” the company said. Iran separately announced the seizure of the crude oil aboard the Advantage Sweet through an announcement carried by the judiciary's state-run Mizan news agency. At the time, Iranian commandos rappelled from a helicopter onto the vessel, which it alleged collided with another ship, without offering any evidence. The court order for the seizure offered an entirely different reason for the confiscation. Mizan said it was part of a court order over U.S. sanctions it alleged barred the importation of a Swedish medicine used to treat patients suffering from epidermolysis bullosa, a rare genetic condition that causes blisters all over the body and eyes. It did not reconcile the different reasons for the seizure. The Advantage Sweet had been in the Persian Gulf in late April, but its track showed no unusual behavior as it transited through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of all traded oil passes. Iran has made allegations in other seizures that later fell apart as it became clear Tehran was trying to leverage the capture as a chip to negotiate with foreign nations. Chevron, based in San Ramon, California, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ship seizures and explosions have roiled the region since 2019. The incidents began after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran drastically limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. The U.S. Navy also has blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers in 2019, as well as for a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021. Tehran denies carrying out the attacks.

Red paint sprayed on UK Government building in Gaza protest
UK News PA Media: UK News/Lucinda Cameron, PA Scotland/ March 6, 2024
Activists have sprayed red paint on a UK Government building in Edinburgh and scaled the facade in a pro-Palestinian protest. This Is Rigged campaigners removed the union flag from the roof of Queen Elizabeth House on Sibbald Walk on Wednesday morning and replaced it with a Palestinian one.
A fire extinguisher full of red paint was used to spray the front of the building and water balloons containing red paint were thrown at the UK Government crest. This Is Rigged said it is targeting the UK Government because of its position on the war in Gaza after Israel began its military operation last year, accusing ministers of being “complicit” in the conflict. The UK Government has resisted calls to back an immediate ceasefire and previously abstained on UN resolutions demanding one. This week, Downing Street said it wants to see a “sustained humanitarian pause” agreed as quickly as possible to allow the safe release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and a significant increase in aid to Gaza. This Is Rigged campaigner Catriona Roberts, 21, a history student from Perthshire, said: “As long as the UK Government refuses to call for a ceasefire, we will continue to call ‘not in Scotland’s name’.
“As Palestine is bombed, burned and starved, this Government is complicit. I cannot emphasise enough the importance of screaming out into the world that we will not abide genocide. Fred Spoliar, 31, also of This is Rigged, said: “Every hour without the UK Government taking action to put pressure on Israel is blood on their hands. It’s been five months – that’s a lot of hours, a lot of blood. This is unforgivable.”The conflict was sparked by Hamas’s deadly raid into Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and saw militants seize about 250 hostages.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes have left more than 30,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.  This Is Rigged and the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign are calling on the public to “boycott genocide” and avoid companies and events they claim support or directly fund the Israeli state. A UK Government spokesperson said: “We are aware of the protests and the police are in attendance. “All of the staff in Queen Elizabeth House are safe and no-one has entered the building.”A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 10.30am on Wednesday, we were called to a report of a protest at a building in Sibbald Walk in Edinburgh. Officers are in attendance.” Earlier this week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said: “We agree that we want to see a sustained humanitarian pause agreed as quickly as possible to allow the safe release of hostages and a significant increase in aid to Gaza. “Our position is entirely aligned with the US who, like us, are calling for a pause in the fighting. “We have been clear, as has the US, that the right conditions, however, must be in place for a permanent, lasting ceasefire, and that includes the release of all hostages, Hamas no longer in charge in Gaza, and a bolstered Palestinian Authority.”

Iran Parliament Election Turnout Drops to Historic Low
Arsalan Shahla/Bloomberg/Wed, March 6, 2024
Iran’s parliamentary elections saw a decline in voter participation to historic lows, according to estimates published by state-run media, in a vote hailed by authorities as a triumph for the ruling establishment regardless of its outcome. Some 25 million Iranians, or 41% of eligible voters, went to the polls on Friday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Vote counting was underway on Saturday evening and the final results were expected to be published later or on Sunday by the interior ministry. The turnout marked a new low point for parliamentary ballot in the Islamic Republic. It was slightly below the 2020 election, where some 42% of eligible voters cast ballots. In the capital Tehran, turnout was estimated at just 24%, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported, without citing where it obtained the information. The results affirmed expectations that the next Iranian parliament was shaping up to align closely with the hard-line government of President Ebrahim Raisi, who said without offering evidence that the vote foiled an enemy plot to discourage participation. Iran’s state-run television aired reports of an “epic” turnout at the polls. “Make our friends happy and ill-wishers disappointed,” Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Friday, concluding weeks-long appeal for people to participate in elections. The low turnout reflects a growing sense of apathy for political engagement in the Middle East nation, as many Iranians equate participating in elections with giving a vote of confidence to a government they blame for economic grievances, worsening living conditions, and crackdowns on anti-regime protests. In a bid to boost participation, officials relaxed voting requirements, enabling the citizens for the first time to use their national ID cards at the polls instead of traditional identity booklets. The elections also included a vote on the Assembly of Experts. The body, comprised of 88 Islamic jurists elected every eight years, has the authority to select and remove the supreme leader. Raisi was re-elected to the assembly from the South Khorasan province, while his moderate predecessor, Hassan Rouhani, was barred from seeking re-election to the influential body after serving as a member for more than two decades. Separately, semi-official media reported that former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, was among scores of political figures boycotting the elections.

Biden officials deliver a tough message on Gaza to Netanyahu’s chief political foe
Jennifer Hansler, Jeremy Diamond and MJ Lee, CNN/March 6, 2024
When top Biden administration officials conveyed their frustrations over the “unacceptable and unsustainable” situation in Gaza to Benny Gantz, they were delivering their message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin’s Netanyahu’s chief political foe. Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet, as the US seeks to ratchet up pressure on the Netanyahu government to allow more aid into Gaza. Those calls have gone largely unheeded as the humanitarian crisis deepens and ceasefire talks have yet to reach a breakthrough. Gantz’s decision to travel to Washington, DC, was not sanctioned by the Israeli government, meaning he was not accompanied by the Israeli ambassador in his meetings, according to an official familiar. The trip ignited controversy within Israel and spurred the immense ire of Netanyahu, who maintains a tenuous hold on leadership. US officials argued it made sense to meet with Gantz, who is widely seen to be a leading contender to be the next Israeli Prime Minister. Frustration is mounting within the Biden administration about the Netanyahu government’s continued refusal to open more land crossings for critically needed aid to reach the people of Gaza. The US and its partners have resorted to airdropping food into Gaza. The desperation of the situation was laid bare last week when more than 100 people were killed in an incident where Israeli troops opened fire while hungry Palestinians were awaiting a food convoy.
On Monday, President Joe Biden reiterated that there are “no excuses” for Israel not to allow more aid into the besieged strip. When Gantz met with Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan behind closed doors on Monday, he was told repeatedly that Israel must do more to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, according to an administration official familiar with the conversations. According to an Israeli official, Gantz emerged from those meetings with deep concerns and some surprise about the state of US-Israeli relations over the war in Gaza. Gantz was surprised by how critical the White House was about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and a potential military offensive into Rafah, an Israeli official said. He also emerged clear-eyed about the administration’s deep and growing mistrust of Netanyahu.
‘Help us help you’
During the meeting, Harris made clear that the administration needs Israel to do more to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza in order to ensure continued robust American support for Israel. “Help us help you,” was the message, according to an Israeli official. To that end, Gantz sought to show that he understood the administration’s concerns and gave assurances that Israel is prepared to and will evacuate civilians before any offensive into Rafah, the Israeli official said. US officials were emphatic with Gantz that additional humanitarian crossings need to be opened up to let many more trucks carrying aid to get into the strip. “We’ve raised these things before, but there’s greater urgency now on the humanitarian front,” the administration official said. Blinken raised the same urgency in his meeting with Gantz at the State Department on Tuesday. “We want to see another crossing open and it’s something we’re engaged with quite directly with the Israeli Government, and that includes in the conversation that the Secretary had with Minister Gantz today,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday. “He was quite direct and quite frank about the seriousness of the situation on the ground and the fact that it is incumbent on everyone involved to do more to get aid in urgently, as soon as possible.” The two also discussed the negotiations to reach an immediate, temporary ceasefire that would secure the release of hostages held by Gaza. An Israeli government official said Monday that Gantz “does not represent” the Israeli government during his trip and the Israeli Ambassador to the US was instructed by Netanyahu’s office not to handle Gantz’s visit. Despite this, Biden administration officials maintained it was important to grant Gantz the meetings.Gantz is “one of three members of the war cabinet who has a critical vote and a critical stake in how this war is conducted,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday. “He has a critical voice in the delivery of humanitarian assistance; he’s an important figure in the sitting government of Israel, and so that’s why we engage with him.”

IS militants kill at least 18 people in an attack on villagers collecting truffles in eastern Syria
The Associated Press/March 6, 2024
Islamic State militants attacked villagers collecting truffles in eastern Syria on Wednesday, killing at least 18 people and leaving dozens injured and missing, opposition activists and pro-government media said. It was one of the deadliest attacks by the Islamic State group in the area in more than a year, they said. The attack occurred in a desert area near the town of Kobajeb, in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour that borders Iraq. Despite the militant group's defeat in Syria in March 2019, IS sleeper cells still carry deadly attacks in Syria and neighboring Iraq, across a wide swath of territory where the extremists had once run an Islamic caliphate. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said 18 people were killed and 16 were wounded in Wednesday's attack. It said about 50 people were missing and might have been kidnapped by IS. Twelve vehicles were torched. The Observatory said the dead included four members of the pro-government National Defense Forces, which had sent reinforcements to the area. The pro-government Dama Post media outlet said the death toll was as high as 44 and that some 13 vehicles used by the truffle farmers were set fire to and destroyed. The disparate casualty figures could not be immediately reconciled. Different death tolls in Syria are not uncommon in the immediate aftermath of deadly attacks. The truffles are a seasonal delicacy that can be sold for a high price and many in Syria, where 90% of the population lives below the poverty line, go out to collect them. Since the truffle hunters work in large groups in remote areas, IS militants in previous years have repeatedly preyed on them, emerging from the desert to kill many and abduct others to be ransomed for money. In February 2023, IS militants killed dozens of civilians and security officers in an attack on truffle hunters in the deserts of central Syria.

Islamic Resistance in Iraq: The resistance undertook the task of liberating Iraq from 'US occupation' and supporting Palestine
LBCI/March 6, 2024
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq stated that the resistance had undertaken the task of liberating Iraq from "American occupation" and supporting Palestine in its struggle. "Therefore, our operations against the settlements of the Zionist entity on occupied Palestinian territories will continue until a truce is declared in Gaza and the entity commits to it," it added.

Germany calls on Israel to immediately retract its approval for construction of West Bank settlements
Reuters/March 6, 2024
Germany calls on Israel to immediately withdraw its approval for the construction of more settlements in the occupied West Bank, stating that such a move constitutes a serious violation of international law. Commenting on the approval by Israel's Higher Planning Committee for about 3,500 new housing units in the settlements of Ma'ale Adumim, Kedar, and Efrat in the West Bank, the German Foreign Ministry said, "We strongly condemn the approval for the establishment of more settlement units in the West Bank."

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 06-07/2024
Profile of a Political Agitator ...Ehud Barak is endangering Israel's unity and stability.
Dr. Mordechai Nisan/Front page web site/March 06/2024
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/127658/127658/
Ehud Barak, noteworthy Israeli army general with a highly decorated military career, acquired public notoriety last year for his role in masterminding, organizing, and financing, the sweeping protest campaign against judicial reform in Israel. Throughout 2023, prior to the slaughter of October 7, he and his like-minded political allies sowed chaos in the streets, intimidated citizens, mobilized strikes, incited army reservists, and brought Israel to the precipice of civil war. They engaged in a so-called non-violent struggle for democracy, speaking on behalf of entrenched elites in Israeli society, while charging that the elected government of Binyamin Netanyahu was illegitimate. Now, with the Gaza war still unfolding, the protesters are back in the streets.
Ehud Barak, prior to adopting a militant stance in the domestic political arena, had been at the pivot of Israel’s decision-making axis. On the most critical national issues touching on Israel’s security and survival, we can illuminate the man’s incapacity for sound judgment and responsible leadership.
Peace in our Time
Israel’s craving for peace found in Barak a dedicated crusader. As the IDF Chief-of-Staff (1991-1995), two political challenges demanded his participation. He implemented the controversial Oslo Accord in its military dimensions regarding Israeli withdrawal in 1994 from Gaza and Jericho. Aside from the contentious Palestinian issue, Barak was also involved in negotiations with Syria and determined that Hafez al-Assad was ready for peace. Withdrawal from the Golan Heights, and expelling 17,000 Israeli citizens, were the essential conditions in trying to consummate Israeli-Arab peace between Israel and Syria.
To his dismay, the Oslo track was set on fire, and the Syrian track remained blocked; but Barak remained adamant to walk the road to peace.
In 1999, Ehud Barak defeated Netanyahu in the direct election for the premiership and set about again to negotiate withdrawal from the Golan and reach peace with Syria. In January the following year at Shepherdstown, West Virginia, PM Barak pursued a political settlement with Syria through the mediation of President Clinton. The president told Assad that Barak accepts Syria’s presence proximate to the east bank of the Sea of Galilee, after an Israeli pullback from the Golan with demilitarization arrangements. Ultimately, Barak failed to reach an agreement with the obstreperous Assad, his heavy investment in time, energy, and reputation coming to naught.
Not to Barak’s credit, Israel continues to control the high-ground 60 kilometers from Mount Bental on the Golan Heights to Damascus, rather than the Syrian army positioned to rain artillery fire down on Tiberius.
Unsuccessful in his Syrian démarche, the indefatigable Barak relentlessly strode alternative paths. As both prime minister and defense minister, he decided on a unilateral withdrawal of the Israeli army in May 2000 from southern Lebanon after 18 years of incessant skirmishes and bloodshed. Barak’s cruel abandonment of the South Lebanese Army (SLA) was a strategic blunder and a moral stain against loyal allies.
Hezbollah immediately filled the territorial vacuum – took over the south, moved its forces to the Israeli border, amassed weapons for further warfare, and exacerbated Israel’s security situation. Barak’s precipitous decision recklessly exposed Israel’s population to the Iranian proxy terrorist movement. The bitter fruits of that withdrawal reverberate in the Galilee, with the evacuation of 80,000 Israeli residents as Hezbollah pounds Israel with daily attacks.
From the prospective of the present ongoing Israel – Hezbollah war, the miscalculation was of a piece with Barak’s political arrogance to assume he would bring peace to the Galilee. Rather, he allowed Hezbollah to consolidate both its political stranglehold over Lebanon and its military deployment against Israel. The results have been nothing less than disastrous.
In July 2000, Barak conducted direct talks at Camp David, under the auspices of President Clinton, with Yasser Arafat to achieve a final settlement in the Israel – Palestinian impasse. The Israeli prime minister was in a generous spirit, offering over ninety per-cent of Judea and Samaria, much of east Jerusalem, shared management of the Temple Mount, and the return of thousands of Palestinian refugees. After Arafat rejected Barak’s political largesse, the PLO leader launched the second intifada terrorist campaign murdering hundreds of Israeli citizens.
A Loose Cannon
His long and distinguished military service aside, there is no way to judge Barak other than as a political failure. He brought infamy and fatality upon Israel and the Israelis. His obsession with the flawed formula of “territories for peace” underscored the futility of Israeli withdrawal from any territories.
Reeling from failure, Barak’s misjudgment has now led him to call for thousands of Israelis to lay siege to the Knesset in order to bring down the government. With his typical bombast Barak recently declared, “When the state will be closed down, Netanyahu will understand that his time is up.” Promotion of turmoil has become the hallmark of Barak.
He once protected his country, but now endangers the country’s national unity and political stability. Exuding swagger and ego, as demonstrated in his London Chatham House interview in March 2023, this otherwise talented personality puts his intelligence and experience, of which there is an abundance, in a dubious light.
**Dr. Mordechai Nisan taught Middle East Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and, among other works, wrote The Crack-Up of the Israeli Left.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/profile-of-a-political-agitator/

Iran dodges nuclear accountability as world order wanes
Mohamed Chebaro//Arab News/March 06, 2024
Have the world’s attempts to contain Iran’s nuclear program failed? The short answer seems to be yes. This answer is indicative of a weakened international system, to say the least. The world’s scrutiny and work to limit nuclear proliferation have failed, perhaps sending a signal to other aspiring nuclear weapons powers, with all that a renewed nuclear race would mean for the peace and security of the planet.
The above conclusion is based on the fact that Western powers are today avoiding censuring Iran for its lack of cooperation with the UN’s nuclear watchdog for fear of aggravating the current geopolitical tensions.
Ahead of its board of governors meeting this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran’s cooperation with the agency remained poor on several outstanding issues related to its nuclear program, which Tehran continues to maintain is for peaceful purposes. The areas the agency’s quarterly report pointed to were Tehran’s expansion of its nuclear work, the deactivation of the IAEA’s surveillance devices that remotely monitor Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran’s continued barring of field visits by senior agency inspectors.
The so-called E3 group, composed of France, Germany and the UK, had initially planned to censure Iran for its lack of cooperation and had drafted a resolution to that end, only for the group to shelve it, since the international geopolitical picture is very complex due to what is happening in Ukraine and Gaza. The E3 decided it was not the right time to criticize Tehran.
The Western powers’ decision not to escalate matters with Iran forms part of what many in the Middle East believe to be a type of appeasement of Tehran. Over the years, this has only emboldened and encouraged its continuous posturing in the Middle East and beyond.
The containment of Iran has proved elusive and, if anything, has laid bare the limitations of international diplomacy
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi last month decried the “loose talk” by current and former Iranian nuclear program officials, while reiterating his concerns about the potential risks of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. He said that, while he has no information that Iran is making a nuclear weapon, he is tuning into what is being said by Iranian officials who are boasting about their country’s nuclear capabilities.
In a statement on last month’s 45th anniversary of the Iranian revolution, the former chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, claimed that his country had crossed “all the thresholds of nuclear science and technology.” He hinted that Tehran had succeeded in manufacturing and building all the necessary components for “the car” (a euphemistic reference to a nuclear bomb), claiming that all that is left to do is assemble it.
In nuclear terms, enriching uranium up to 60 percent is a short step away from enriching to the 90 percent level needed to build a bomb. This is well above the 3.67 percent threshold agreed with Tehran under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Tehran has gradually broken away from its commitments under this agreement after the US unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018, when President Donald Trump was in the White House. In the summer of 2022, the EU tried but failed to get Iran back into compliance as part of a deal that would have seen Washington return to the agreement.
Over the years, the containment of Iran has proved elusive and, if anything, has laid bare the limitations of international diplomacy and laws and the weakness of international institutions, which have become polarized in an increasingly conflictive world, split between two widening visions of peace, security and prosperity. The Western nations are in one camp and, in the other, one can see a loose assembly of Russia, China and some nations that represent the growing Global South, including Iran and North Korea.
Recent events related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict show the potent role Iran could play in the region
The Iran nuclear deal — despite its numerous critics believing that it failed to address Iran’s threat to regional and global peace through its propping up of nonstate actors and groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Yemen — was thought to be part of the long game to trim Tehran’s nuclear weapons ambitions. Recent events related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict show the potent role Iran could play in the region, although indirectly and with a large degree of deniability, through its many proxies, such as holding to ransom shipping traffic in the Red Sea.
UN Security Council Resolution 2231 became the execution arm of the deal that curtailed Iran’s nuclear program, its missile production, arms trade and its conventional weapons arsenal, setting “sunset clauses” between 2020 and 2041 in return for the lifting of US and EU sanctions. For example, UN restrictions on Iran’s missile program expired in October 2023, its use of advanced centrifuges for uranium enrichment is due to be allowed from July 2024 and even the UNSC resolution itself, which allows for so-called “snapback” sanctions, is due to expire in January 2026.
For all it stood for, the JCPOA did not seem to hamper Iran’s ability to deploy all the tricks in the book in order to circumvent its clauses. Tehran has worked to flout the restrictions related to testing, developing, building and delivering missiles and drones. The sanctions regime was only nominally effective, as many proscribed people and entities later changed roles, while shell companies continued to procure items for Iran’s many banned weapons development projects.
Instead of containment, the world woke up two years ago to see Iranian drones and missiles raining down on Kyiv via Moscow, as well as on cargo vessels in the Red Sea courtesy of the Houthis, while Hamas’ long-range missiles bear the hallmarks of Iran’s military assistance and know-how.
The IAEA’s recent report points to the failures of containment. Worse still, the meeting in Vienna this week exposed the limitations of the current international order. It seems like Iran will continue to claw at a world order that is waning, meaning it is free from accountability and living in a world where only might makes right. Impunity is slowly becoming the rule of the game in a polarized, fragmented world.
**Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist with more than 25 years’ experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy. He is also a media consultant and trainer.

Five months of pain will not stop Palestinians demanding their rights
Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/March 06, 2024
In the fall of 2023, Israel appeared to be on the cusp of widening its effort to bypass Palestinian rights by means of expanding its normalization process with Arab countries. It had an overwhelming political, financial and military advantage over the entire region. The balance of force seemed to be in its favor, many of the world’s most powerful countries and their media appeared to be in its pocket and its ideological Jewish superiority appeared to be taking center stage at little or no political cost.
Five months ago, all this changed.
The brutal genocidal revenge war on Palestinians after the Oct. 7 “Al-Aqsa Tsunami” operation by the Islamist Hamas movement has devastated Palestine life, especially in Gaza. An entire community has been devastated, hundreds of Palestinian families have been wiped out and an entire press corps, medical staff, artists, writers, women and children have lost their lives. In addition to 30,000 deaths, almost triple that number have been maimed, millions have been forced into internal exile, leaving their now mostly demolished homes to live in tents awaiting a pause or ceasefire to start restoring what is left of their lives. Palestinian cultural and religious structures have been demolished and what little there was of the Gazan economy has been totally devastated.
Palestinians in the West Bank and even in Israel have also suffered from Israeli brutality and vengeance. Prisoners have become the easy target of racist Israeli police ministers and daily life for all Palestinians has been the target of systematic, racist acts of revenge.
The high cost that Palestinians have paid as a result of the Israeli war of revenge has triggered an unprecedented international response. More people know and support the Palestinian cause than ever before, an ad hoc boycott movement has been launched against companies and countries that support the Israeli aggression and a schism has appeared between Israel and its once ironclad Western support.
The high cost of the Israeli war of revenge has triggered an unprecedented international response
Some countries in the EU have refused to adhere to the fake solidarity that has built up over the years and have come out in solid support of the rights of Palestinians and in opposition to the genocidal war that South Africa has succeeded in litigating in front of the world court.
The huge double standard between the West’s opposition to the Russian war on Ukraine versus its response to the Israeli war on Palestine became the subject of both political and even comical responses around the world.
The Western media, which once boasted of its neutrality, fact-checking and objectivity, became embarrassed at being forced to repeatedly apologize and faced demonstrators shaking this former icon of public service as being just as influenced by government pressure as the other state-run media outlets it used to accuse. The sham of the BBC failing to cover the first day of the South African genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice while broadcasting the Israeli rebuttal and the bias that was exposed at CNN and The New York Times exposed the Western media, which was supposed to be the world’s role model.
The cracks that have been exposed in Western countries and their institutions, including its institutions of faith, were exposed and all efforts to placate the protests of antisemitism have failed to take root. Many Jews in America and other countries not only refused the antisemitism claims, but publicly and heroically stood with Palestinian Muslims and Christians. Efforts by Israel to equate Palestinian resistance with Daesh failed miserably, as the Palestinian flag and Palestine’s rights to self-determination overshadowed all the bogus attacks.
The Palestinian flag and Palestine’s rights to self-determination have overshadowed all the bogus attacks. In five months, a political earthquake has taken place, shaking once impenetrable powers and their false excuses, which justified 75 years of Palestinian expulsion, 56 years of occupation and 16 years of an unauthorized siege on Gaza. However, all that has transpired has so far failed to dislodge some of the blind support for the occupiers and even the unwise actions of some Arab countries, which violated their own commitments not to normalize with Israel before it had withdrawn from the Occupied Territories.
Despite their pain and suffering, the proud Palestinian people and their supporters around the world will shake off the hurt, clean up the carnage left by the brutal occupiers and rise once again to demand freedom from oppression and insist on their right to dignity and equality. Palestinian self-determination is no longer a political slogan — it has become a worldwide demand that cannot simply be ignored or used as political fodder in the lip service of support for the two-state solution or other political jargon void of any genuine belief in it.
Five months ago, Gaza was not known by many people around the world and the goal of Palestinians liberating their land and living in freedom seemed far-fetched. Palestinians have paid a high price for their insistence on their inalienable right and there is no power on Earth today that will stop them from fulfilling their national aspiration to be free.
*Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and a director of Community Media Network. X: @daoudkuttab

A new model for climate financing
Ranvir S. Nayar/Arab News/March 06, 2024
Practically nowhere in the world has escaped the effects of climate change and global warming. From the North Pole to Antarctica, Chile to China, every country has been on the receiving end of the immense damage caused by extreme weather events. But of all regions, Asia-Pacific stands out in terms of the impact of changing weather and a warming world. According to many reports, it is the most vulnerable region in the world as far as the effects of climate change are concerned. Over the past 60 years, temperatures have been rising faster there than anywhere else. With extreme climate events becoming more frequent and intense, the region faces the risk of losing more than a third of its gross domestic product as a result of climate change. Asia-Pacific is made up of more than 50 countries and accounts for about 30 percent of the world’s landmass. Almost 4.8 billion people live there, which is about 60 percent of the total global population. The rippling effects of climate change in the region are therefore felt around the world, not only because Asia-Pacific is the biggest region geographically but also because of the sheer number of people living there. In this sense, what happens in Asia-Pacific affects far more people than anything in any other part of the world.
Climate change threatens not only the long-term well-being of people in the region, but also the decades of progress made there in terms of tackling poverty, providing better nutrition and improving food security, as well as advancing overall human development. So far, what we have seen is that almost all the sources of funds for climate finance have failed to deliver
With little sign of the climate crisis easing, or even the prospect of an effective global agreement that could be successful in at least slowing global warming, Asia-Pacific, like the rest of the world, is left with two options: adaptation and mitigation. Together, they could help cushion the impact of climate change and help to cope with the economic damage that is being inflicted on the region in terms of floods, forest fires, landslides and drought.
However, both adaptation and mitigation efforts require trillions of dollars of investment and, though the Asia-Pacific is certainly home to some of the richest countries in the world, including Japan, South Korea and Singapore, most of the people in the region are very poor. In terms of absolute numbers, it has the largest number of people living in extreme poverty.
At the UN’s COP28 climate change conference in Dubai last December, it was estimated that nearly $6 trillion in climate financing will be needed by 2050. However, developing countries say the actual amount required will be much higher, because the effects of climate change are growing more intense, far-reaching and longer lasting, so the amount of money needed to cope with them has already gone far beyond the estimates. Some believe the true figure that will be needed by 2050 is closer to $50 trillion.
Against this backdrop, a recent report by the World Economic Forum said that raising funds on such a scale will require money from all available sources, including philanthropy, and it called for the establishment of what it called a public-private-philanthropic partnership.
Certainly, there is no disputing the fact that dealing with global issues such as climate change calls for a global action and funds to be raised from multiple sources, with contributions from all stakeholders, including corporations, governments, nongovernmental organizations, and certainly the rich or well-to-do around the world. A public-private-philanthropic partnership would therefore be a welcome move, provided it is set up in such a way to ensure that it adequately reflects the roles and responsibilities of each partner.
So far, what we have seen is that almost all the sources of funds for climate finance have failed to deliver. The issue has been on the table since 2012, when developed countries agreed to pay $100 billion every year to help the developing world prepare for climate change. Donor countries have fallen so far short of their promises that most observers believe it was more of a bluff than a genuine commitment. However, the need for money to address climate-related issues has not disappeared in the absence of the promised funding.
It must not turn into yet another platform for empty promises that leaves the public sector holding the baby
In the meantime, the situation has grown dramatically worse, the need for money to address it has risen sharply and, though several months have passed since COP28, there is still no clarity on how the financing should be organized, by whom, to what timescales and who will decide the disbursement of the funds.
All of these questions are divisive issues and reaching a global consensus on any of them will be extremely difficult, unless the parties expected to pay up actually get on board and set the ball rolling by setting a strict, legally binding timetable for their contributions, so that an organization such as the UN can then decide where the money should go.
As far as the responsibility for funding the efforts to address climate change is concerned, it rests not only on the shoulders of the governments of wealthy countries, but equally on the super-rich corporate conglomerates that are each sitting on tens of billions of dollars of profits that, in many cases, were earned in ways that damaged the climate.
However, big business has not even taken the first steps needed to cut down on its own carbon footprint, let alone contribute to the climate-finance kitty. As a result, carbon emissions keep rising, adding to the misery.
Hence, the public-private-philanthropic partnership model proposed by the World Economic Forum, if implemented, needs to be established in such a way that avoids previous pitfalls by ensuring that each private company that signs up makes time-bound, legal and moral commitments to contribute to the funding.
It must not turn into yet another platform for hollow words and empty promises that, in the end, leaves the public sector, which is directly accountable to the people, holding the baby. Establishing such effective partnerships might not be easy, and certainly holding companies that fail to play their part in the process accountable will be complex, but thanks to rising public awareness about climate change and the insidious role businesses have played in getting us to the point we stand at today, there are few companies that will want to be seen by customers as anything but green-thinking.
Public-private-philanthropic partnerships must also guard against being turned into a mechanism for “greenwashing,” yet another fad that has been used by businesses and politicians all over the world.
If adequate checks and balances are put in place to address these, and other, challenges, such partnerships could certainly play an important role in helping to raise the $50 trillion needed to tackle climate change over the next 26 years.
**Ranvir S. Nayar is the managing editor of Media India Group and founder-director of the Europe India Foundation for Excellence.

Islamists and State Collude in Abducting and Islamizing Coptic Christian Girls in Egypt
Raymond Ibrahim/Coptic Solidarity//March 06, 2024
https://www.raymondibrahim.com/2024/03/06/islamists-and-state-collude-in-abducting-and-islamizing-coptic-christian-girls-in-egypt/
Yet another Coptic Christian girl has “disappeared,” with the authorities abetting the kidnappers in Egypt.
On Jan. 22, 2024, Irene Ibrahim Shehata, 21, disappeared in between mid-term exams at the Faculty of Medicine at Assyut National University, where she was a second year student. Her frantic family immediately went to police. Although charges were eventually brought against a man whose identity is concealed, police, from the start, were uncooperative and even hostile to the family.
In a recent interview from Feb. 17, the father provided more disturbing (but not unusual) information. Although State Security provided him with several leads to his daughter, causing him to travel up and down Egypt with his son, none have proved fruitful. Moreover, he said that “State Security knows exactly where my daughter is,” but because—according to them—she ran off with a Muslim man on her “own accord,” they refuse to act, including by letting her father speak to or meet with her to confirm the truth of State Security’s information.
Instead, the father told of a phone call that occurred between his daughter and one of his sons, where Irene cried and then a man yanked the phone away from her and said, “Okay, you heard her voice and know she’s okay, right?—now go to hell!” and slammed the phone.
The father further stressed that, if Irene had intended to run off with a Muslim man, why would she do it in between exams, while carrying medical supplies (as opposed to travel gear, for example).
After being prodded on by the interviewer for more information, Irene’s father said, “Look, I have information which if I shared would cause Egypt to catch fire,” though he was reluctant to divulge for fear of state reprisals.
This latest incident is just one of countless in Egypt. Indeed, during this same recent interview, the father said that six other Christian girls “disappeared” from his region in one recent month alone.
Most recently, on Feb. 29, the family of Irene issued a statement saying that “the data of the religion field on her ID was unwillingly changed to Muslim. It is another way to force families to give up.” The family also made perfectly clear that they have confirmed that a Muslim Brotherhood network—with a complicit State Security—is behind the abduction of Irene and many other Coptic girls, which was described as “an organized terrorist group led by the Muslim Brotherhood to kidnap Christian girls in the Middle East.”
This entire phenomenon and process is well discussed in a 2020 report by Coptic Solidary (CS). Fifteen-pages long and titled “‘Jihad of the Womb’: Trafficking of Coptic Women & Girls in Egypt,” it documents “the widespread practice of abduction and trafficking” of Coptic girls. According to the report:
The capture and disappearance of Coptic women and minor girls is a bane of the Coptic community in Egypt, yet little has been done to address this scourge by the Egyptian or foreign governments, NGOs, or international bodies. According to a priest in the Minya Governorate, at least 15 girls go missing every year in his area alone. His own daughter was nearly kidnapped had he not been able to intervene in time…. The rampant trafficking of Coptic women and girls is a direct violation of their most basic rights to safety, freedom of movement, and freedom of conscience and belief. The crimes committed against these women must be urgently addressed by the Egyptian government, ending impunity for kidnappers, their accomplices, and police who refuse to perform their duties. Women who disappear and are never recovered must live an unimaginable nightmare. The large majority of these women are never reunited with their families or friends because police response in Egypt is dismissive and corrupt. There are countless families who report that police have either been complicit in the kidnapping or at the very least bribed into silence. If there is any hope for Coptic women in Egypt to have a merely ‘primitive’ level of equality, these incidents of trafficking must cease, and the perpetrators must be held accountable by the judiciary.
Since the publication of that CS report in September 2020, matters have only gotten worse. As a later report notes, “In Egypt, kidnappings and forced marriages of Christian women and girls to their Muslim abductors has reached record levels.”
Discussing this latest case, CS said in a statement:
This sour issue was raised during a meeting in Oct. 2021 in Washington, D.C., with Ms. Moushira Khattab, (then newly appointed) president of Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights. Specifically, Coptic Solidarity said that we support freedom of religion (and conversion) for all, provided that this principle applies equally to all confessions in Egypt. We deplored the bias of State Security who typically shield the culprits and prevent families from seeing their disappeared loved ones.
We proposed that the NCHR—acting as a neutral/independent body—would be charged with meeting with “converts” to ensure that they—as major adults—have been acting freely, with no coercion or luring, and that minors be returned immediately to their families. Ms. Khattab sounded agreeable, if not enthusiastic, to the proposal, and promised to come back on it soonest.
(Note that, ‘Advice and Guidance’ sessions was a practice decreed in 1863 by Khedive Ismail, since ‘any Christian converting to Islam was not welcome unless both a priest and a Christian layman confirmed the beyond-doubt earnestness of his or her wish to convert.’ That practice has been revoked by the Ministry of Interior in 2004.)
More than three years later, the NCHR remains totally silent about our proposal, even as more and more young Coptic girl continue to be targeted. If Ms. Khattab ever tried, it must have been blocked by the powerful State Security, who want to keep sole control.
In short, another front in the war of attrition has been launched against Egypt’s beleaguered Christian minority: the abduction and Islamization of their daughters—with what, by all counts, appears to be State help.