LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

August 01/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.august01.16.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006

Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

Bible Quotations For Today

You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12/54-59/:"Jesus also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, "It is going to rain"; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, "There will be scorching heat"; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? ‘And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? Thus, when you go with your accuser before a magistrate, on the way make an effort to settle the case, or you may be dragged before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.’"

For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, "Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor
Acts of the Apostles 27,1-4.8a.14-15.18-21a.22-26/:"When it was decided that we were to sail for Italy, they transferred Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort, named Julius. Embarking on a ship of Adramyttium that was about to set sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul kindly, and allowed him to go to his friends to be cared for. Putting out to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. Sailing past it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea. But soon a violent wind, called the northeaster, rushed down from Crete. Since the ship was caught and could not be turned with its head to the wind, we gave way to it and were driven. We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard, and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss. I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, "Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you."So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we will have to run aground on some island.’

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 01/16
Nasrallah’s Escalatory Speech Dashes Hopes of Near Presidential Election in Lebanon/Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al Awsat/July 31/16
Former minister Marwan Hamadeh: Hezbollah wary of ‘early rise of Hariri’/The Arab/Weekly/Mohamed Kawas/July 31/16
Pakistani Writer: 'Muslim Women In India Had Sent... [Jewellery] As Gifts For The Turks So They... Could Continue Their War And Jihad/MEMRI/July 31/16/
Turkey's Tradition of Murdering Christians/Robert Jones/Gatestone Institute/July 31/16
Merkel, refugees and the need for Arab cultural diplomacy/Faisal J. Abbas/Al Arabiya/31 July/16The West’s errors of judgment exact a terrible price/Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/31 July/16
Washington and the Saudi-Iranian-Turkish axis/The Arab Weekly/Ali al-Amin/July 31/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on August 01/16

Families of IS-Held Servicemen Announce Return to Street Protests
Salam congratulates LAF on Army Day
Salam Vows to 'End Plight' of Captive Servicemen, Urges President Election
Report: Dialogue to Tackle Oil, Budget as No Progress Expected on Presidency, Electoral Law
FPM to Force 'Caretaker Cabinet' if Qahwaji's Term Extended
Army Arrests Palestinian Terror Suspect near Ain el-Hilweh
FPM Holds Internal Vote to Choose Parliamentary Candidates
Bassil: Lebanese have the right to hold legislative elections on due date
Rahi from Diman: we hold responsible all those who impede presidential elections
Moussawi: Our right in Economic Zone is not negotiable
Kataeb Harb List wins in Batroun's Mokhtar League elections
Hariri, Abu Faour convene
Jabbour, Dergham, Bitar, Habib win in FPM elections in Akkar
Cesar Abi Khalil, Elias Hanna win in FPM elections in Aley
Alain Aoun wins in FPM elections in Baabda
George Atallah wins in FPM elections in Koura
Nasrallah’s Escalatory Speech Dashes Hopes of Near Presidential Election in Lebanon
Former minister Marwan Hamadeh: Hezbollah wary of ‘early rise of Hariri’
 

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on August 01

Muslims Pray with Catholics over Priest's 'Barbaric' Murder
One Dead in Texas Shooting, Gunman Still at Large
Member of Saudi delegation that Visited Israel: Israeli society wants peace
U.N. Formally Invites Syria Government to New Peace Talks
U.S.-Backed Forces Advance in IS Syria Stronghold
Netanyahu Criticizes European 'Support' for Anti-Israel Groups
Palestinian Killed Trying to Stab Israeli Soldiers
Iraq PM Talks Mosul Plans with Top U.S. Officer
Iraq Minister Says IS Leaders, Families Flee Mosul
Attacks on Iraq Gas Facility, Oil Field Kill five
Twin PKK Attacks Kill 4 Turkish Soldiers
Yemen Govt. Accepts U.N. Peace Plan, Awaits Rebel Response
Seven Saudi Troops Killed in Yemen Border Clashes
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, meets President Mahmoud Abbas
Bob Blackman MP: It does no good to expect the best from Iran
Iran regime demolishes people’s homes in impoverished village
Ethnic Iranian Azeri political prisoner begins hunger strike

Links From Jihad Watch Site for on August 01/16
FBI makes warning visits to Americans on Islamic State “kill lists”
Polish MP: Germans going to great lengths to hide Muslim migrant crimes
50,000 demonstrate for Turkey’s Erdogan…in Cologne, Germany
Father of slain Muslim soldier says that terrorists “have nothing to do with Islam”
France: Muslims who murdered priest smiled, asked hostage nun if she was familiar with the Qur’an
Fearing reprisal from Muslims, French publisher reverses decision to publish book critical of Islam
Halifax cops warn of sex assaults by cab drivers with “dark hair…spoke with an accent and many had moustaches”
“Journalist” Sohrab Ahmari converts to Christianity after priest murder, then denies published reports that he was Muslim
UK: Muslim cleric tells Muslims that taking sex slaves is “permissible in Islam”
Robert Spencer in the New York Post: The most dangerous anti-American force isn’t ISIS, it’s Iran
Turkey: 7,000 armed police in heavy vehicles surround NATO air base after huge rally accuses US of role in failed coup
Germany: “Because I am a Muslim”: Media cover-up as Afghan smashes up church
State Dept spends $16 million on totally ineffective program to dissuade jihadis
Malta: Bacon left in Qur’an next to photo of priest slain by jihadis

Latest Lebanese Related News published on on August 01/16
Families of IS-Held Servicemen Announce Return to Street Protests
Naharnet/July 31/16/The file of the nine Lebanese servicemen held hostage by the extremist Islamic State group has returned to the media spotlight again, after the families of the captives vowed Sunday to resume their street protests to press authorities to address the case. “What's unfortunate and painful is that we are obliged to return to the streets to remind of our cause,” Hussein Youssef, a father of one of the hostages and the families' spokesman, announced. “We are in contact with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and we will follow up on the servicemen's case until the end,” he pledged. The fate of the nine servicemen has been shrouded with mystery for several months now and the families are demanding to know whether theirs sons are alive or dead. The soldiers and policemen were among more than 30 servicemen who were abducted during the deadly 2014 battle between jihadists and the Lebanese army in and around the northeastern border town of Arsal. While al-Nusra Front released 16 captives as part of a swap deal in December 2015, nine hostages remain in the captivity of the IS group and Lebanese officials have vowed to exert efforts to secure their release.

Salam congratulates LAF on Army Day
Sun 31 Jul 2016/NNA - Prime Minister, Tammam Salam, congratulated on Sunday the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) on the occasion of Army Day. He hailed, in a statement, the sacrifices of the army in defending Lebanon and preserving its security, stability, protection, and internal unity. He also praised the memory of the martyrs who were killed by the Israeli enemy and terrorist groups. Salam saluted the military hostages held by terrorists, confirming to them and their families that the Lebanese state and institutions would not spare any effort to end this tragedy. "We wish to celebrate the Army Day in the presence of a President, the head of state and symbol of unity," the Premier added in his statement. "We also seize this opportunity to renew our call to the parliament to carry out its constitutional duty and elect a president as soon as possible," the statement concluded.

Salam Vows to 'End Plight' of Captive Servicemen, Urges President Election
Naharnet/July 31/16/Prime Minister Tammam Salam vowed Sunday that the Lebanese state will “spare no effort” to secure the release of nine troops and policemen who are being held hostage by the Islamic State group. “I salute the Army Command and all military personnel over their sacrifices in defending Lebanon and protecting its security and stability,” said Salam in a series of tweets marking Army Day. “On the occasion of Army Day, we bow remembering the martyrs who fell in the confrontation against the Israeli enemy and the fight against the terrorist groups,” the PM added. “We stress to the families of the servicemen who are being held captive by terrorist groups that the State will spare no effort to end this plight,” Salam promised. Earlier in the day, the hostages' families vowed to resume their street protests to press authorities to address the case. The fate of the nine servicemen has been shrouded with mystery for several months now and the families are demanding to know whether theirs sons are alive or dead. The soldiers and policemen were among more than 30 servicemen who were abducted during the deadly 2014 battle between jihadists and the Lebanese army in and around the northeastern border town of Arsal. While al-Nusra Front released 16 captives as part of a swap deal in December 2015, nine hostages remain in the captivity of the IS group and Lebanese officials have vowed to exert efforts to secure their release.
Separately, Salam called on the nation's lawmakers to “perform their constitutional duty and elect a president as soon as possible.”

Report: Dialogue to Tackle Oil, Budget as No Progress Expected on Presidency, Electoral Law
Naharnet/July 31/16/The three consecutive national dialogue sessions that will kick off Tuesday will represent a chance for Speaker Nabih Berri to refer the state budget issue to the cabinet and to address the file of offshore oil and gas exploration, but the meetings are not expected to achieve any progress regarding the issues of the presidency and the electoral law, a media report said on Sunday. “Berri believes that the meetings are a chance to agree on resolution and to pave the way for preparing and discussing a draft state budget and to pass it in cabinet ahead of referring it to parliament for deliberations,” al-Mustaqbal newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying. “But the sources expressed concern that the file would run into difficulties and objections, especially from the Change and Reform bloc, which has already announced its stance openly,” the daily added. Berri is also expected to brief the dialogue parties on the atmosphere and outcome of his recent meeting with Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil over the issue of oil and gas exploration, after a lot of “conflicting reports” have emerged in this regard, the sources said. As for the stalled issues of the presidential election and the electoral law, the sources ruled out a breakthrough in any of the two files, noting that the stances of all parties “have not changed” regarding the two topics.

FPM to Force 'Caretaker Cabinet' if Qahwaji's Term Extended
Naharnet/July 31/16/The Free Patriotic Movement intends to turn Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet into a “caretaker cabinet” should the term of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji be extended by another year, a media report said on Sunday. Salam's cabinet had assumed presidential powers after the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 without the election of a successor. “Amid the circulated reports about the inclination of Defense Minister Samir Moqbel to extend the army chief's tenure, FPM officials have informed the premier that the movement intends to force the cabinet to act in caretaker capacity should Qahwaji's term be prolonged,” An Nahar newspaper reported. The sources revealed that the FPM leadership is accusing Moqbel of resorting to “double standards” seeing as “a new chief of staff will be appointed while the army chief's term will be extended.”Sources informed on the issue meanwhile told An Nahar that “the appointment of a new chief of staff is compulsory, since a new term extension is not possible, while the issue of the army commander is different and has political aspects related to political and security stability and the role that the army chief is playing in immunizing and protecting this stability.”Moqbel had announced Saturday that it would be possible to extend Qahwaji's tenure by another year while ruling out a similar extension for the chief of staff. The term of the chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Walid Salman, ends in August while that of Qahwaji expires in September. Qahwaji's retirement had been postponed in September 2013 and his term was instead extended for two years.

Army Arrests Palestinian Terror Suspect near Ain el-Hilweh
Naharnet/July 31/16/A Palestinian terror suspect was arrested by the Lebanese army on Sunday near the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Sidon, state-run National News Agency reported. “Army intelligence agents arrested near the Ain el-Hilweh camp the Palestinian Bilal Mahmoud Bader, who is accused of fighting against the Lebanese army and belonging to terrorist groups,” NNA said. MTV meanwhile clarified that the arrested man is not the notorious Ain el-Hilweh Islamist militant Bilal Darrar Bader, who is accused of masterminding several assassinations and attacks in the camp. Several Islamist militants linked to detained cleric Ahmed al-Asir have turned themselves in to the army in recent days at the Ain el-Hilweh camp. There have been concerns in the country that the jihadist Islamic State and al-Nusra Front could be seeking to boost their presence in Ain el-Hilweh or even seize entire areas of the camp, which prompted Lebanese security forces and the Palestinian factions to up their measures and coordination. By long-standing convention, the army does not enter the twelve Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, leaving the Palestinian factions themselves to handle security. That has created lawless areas in many camps, and Ain el-Hilweh has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and fugitives. But the camp is also home to more than 54,000 registered Palestinian refugees who have been joined in recent years by thousands of Palestinians fleeing the fighting in Syria. More than 450,000 Palestinians are registered in Lebanon with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA. Most live in squalid conditions in 12 official refugee camps and face a variety of legal restrictions, including on their employment.

FPM Holds Internal Vote to Choose Parliamentary Candidates
Naharnet/July 31/16/The Free Patriotic Movement was on Sunday carrying out internal elections aimed at choosing candidates for the country's next parliamentary polls. More than 13,000 voters in 14 districts were expected to cast ballots to choose 73 candidates in the first phase of the vote, LBCI television said.A second and final round will follow. FPM chief Jebran Bassil meanwhile announced that the movement's internal polls prove the invalidity of the excuses that the Lebanese state used to justify the postponement of the parliamentary elections. “The importance of these polls is that they pave the way for creating advanced, democratic parties,” he said. “The sons of the FPM have a duty to turn out massively because their votes are the foundations of our decisions,” Bassil added. The internal polls come two days after the FPM expelled the prominent members Ziad Abs, Naim Aoun, Antoine Nasrallah and Paul Abi Haidar on charges of "committing repeated public and blatant violations that contradict with the simplest rules of organizational discipline despite repeated warnings."In a statement, the FPM also warned all members against “tackling the movement's internal affairs in the media and on social networking websites.”
In remarks to LBCI TV on Friday, Ziad Abs, a prominent FPM official in Beirut's Ashrafieh area, said that his latest televised appearances were the reason behind his expulsion. Media reports had said in May that the FPM leadership was studying the possibility of expelling some 20 members, including Abs, for “rebelling against movement decisions.” The dispute had first erupted over Abs' opposition to the FPM's alliance in Beirut's municipal elections with al-Mustaqbal Movement. The dispute pitted him against former FPM minister Nicolas Sehnaoui. Abs was reportedly not consulted over the alliance.
FPM founder MP Michel Aoun had vowed to “hold accountable” those responsible for the so-called “revolt” within the FPM, a source close to Bassil told al-Liwaa newspaper in May.

Bassil: Lebanese have the right to hold legislative elections on due date
Sun 31 Jul 2016/NNA - "Elections within the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) prove that the Lebanese have the right to hold parliamentary elections right on time," Foreign Affairs Minister Gibran Bassil said during an inspection tour at a polling station in Jbeil district. Bassil stressed on the importance of electing a new president based on democracy as well as holding legislative elections based on a new electoral law, adding that the FPM refused extension of any mandate on all levels.

Rahi from Diman: we hold responsible all those who impede presidential elections
Sun 31 Jul 2016/NNA - Maronite Patriarch, Bshara Rahi, officiated on Sunday over a mass service in Diman in which he held accountable all those who impede the presidential elections for current national crises. During the sermon, Rahi hoped that officials would take initiatives that lead to the election of a new president. He went on to say that without a president the parliament, cabinet and state institutions were paralyzed. This vacuum also aggravated the economic, financial and living situations. Rahi appealed to the International Community to work hard to find political solutions for conflicts as well as to repatriate the displaced and refugees back to their homes, and liberate those who were abducted.

Moussawi: Our right in Economic Zone is not negotiable
Sun 31 Jul 2016/NNA - Member of Loyalty to the Resistance Parliamentary Bloc, MP Nawaf Moussawi, said during a funeral in south Lebanon that Lebanon's right in the Exclusive Economic Zone is non-negotiable and will not be compromised. "We want to regain all of the EEZ up to point 23, we refuse to share it with our criminal enemy who continues to occupy our land, attack us, and transgress upon our sovereignty." Moussawi refused any help from the USA and its Department of Energy in regaining EEZ rights, stating that Lebanon would follow the "paths used by states to reach their rights."

Kataeb Harb List wins in Batroun's Mokhtar League elections
Sun 31 Jul 2016/NNA - The electoral list backed by Kataeb Party, Tele-Communications Minister Butros Harb and their allies reaped complete victory in Batroun's Mokhtar League elections held on Sunday, with 70% of votes to its favor versus the other list supported by the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb Media Office indicated.

Hariri, Abu Faour convene
Sun 31 Jul 2016 /NNA - Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri met at the "House of Centre" on Sunday with Public Health Minister, Wael Abu Faour, with the general prevailing situation and latest developments topping their discussion.

Jabbour, Dergham, Bitar, Habib win in FPM elections in Akkar
Sun 31 Jul 2016/NNA - The Free Patriotic Movement's preliminary elections held in Akkar on Sunday resulted in the victory of Jimmy Jabbour (356 votes), Asaad Dergham (212 votes), Ziad Bitar (169 votes) and Kamil Habib (86 votes), who have now qualified for the next phase, NNA correspondent in Akkar reported.

Cesar Abi Khalil, Elias Hanna win in FPM elections in Aley
Sun 31 Jul 2016/NNA - The Free Patriotic Movement's preliminary elections held in the region of Aley on Sunday resulted in the victory of Cesar Abi Khalil (49% of votes) and Elias Hanna (43% of votes), with the voting turnout reaching 70%, NNA correspondent in Aley reported. In a word by FPM Official in Aley, Paul Najm, he indicated that "the preliminary elections were held in a spirit of democracy and freedom, without any form of pressure on anyone."

Alain Aoun wins in FPM elections in Baabda
Sun 31 Jul 2016/NNA - MP Alain Aoun won the Free Patriotic Movement's preliminary elections held in Baabda on Sunday, with a voting turn-out reaching three times his nearest competitors, NNA correspondent reported.

George Atallah wins in FPM elections in Koura
Sun 31 Jul 2016/NNA - Koura - Candidate George Atallah won by 148 votes in the Free Patriotic Movement's preliminary elections held in Koura on Sunday, with the total number of voters reaching 227, NNA correspondent reported.
 

Nasrallah’s Escalatory Speech Dashes Hopes of Near Presidential Election in Lebanon
Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al Awsat/July 31/16
Beirut- The escalatory speech of the so-called Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah was capable to blow all hopes that were lately seen in Lebanon concerning the possibility of registering a certain breach in the presidential file during the next national dialogue sessions, expected to be held in Beirut next week.
The Presidential stalemate in Lebanon has been frozen for more than two years now.
It remains clear now that optimism expressed in the past few days by Deputy Michel Aoun’s party, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the Future Movement, was not at its correct place.
A parliamentary source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Nasrallah’s speech, which prompted a quick reply from head of the Future Movement, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, have only revealed the level of dispute and the difficulty of reaching a solution between both parties in the near future, particularly in the presidential file.
The question mark placed by some Lebanese parties around the timing of the so-called Hezbollah escalatory tone, particularly few days before the dialogue sessions, were also questioned by the party’s ally, the FPM, which were prepared for the election of Deputy Michel Aoun as a new president.
FPM leading member and former minister Mario Aoun told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The content of Nasrallah’s speech is not new, however, its timing will surely reduce the level optimism we were living in the past few weeks, as the election of Aoun as a new president was awaiting the Future Movement’s internal dialogue concerning this matter.”
The FPM member added that Interior Minister Nohad Mashnouq had spoken lately about this atmosphere when he said: “The presidential elections will be held soon.”
Mario Aoun said he hopes next week’s national dialogue would constitute a chance for the possibility of electing a new president.
Meanwhile, sources from the Lebanese Forces said “the speech of Nasrallah had driven the probabilities of electing a new president to their lowest levels, not to say that it had completely vanished them.”
The sources said Nasrallah says his party supports the election of Aoun as a new president, but does nothing in this regard. First, the sources said the so-called Hezbollah is doing nothing with his ally, Suleiman Franjieh, who is still running for the presidential seat, and second the escalatory and extremist speech of Nasrallah against Saudi Arabia, which is considered one of Lebanon’s best friends, would not help pave the way for the election of Aoun.
Future Movement deputy Samir Jisr expected that the speech of Nasrallah would negatively impact next week’s national dialogue sessions. Jisr told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Instead of heading to the national dialogue with optimism, they will enter in a tensed atmosphere.”
Jisr said: “Agreeing on Aoun or any other person would not happen in one day. Until now, there are no changes that could produce an agreement regarding the election of Aoun, and we, at the Future Movmenet, are still supporting presidential candidate Suleiman Franjieh, who did not withdrew his candidacy.”
Jisr said he does not think next week’s national dialogue would be capable to produce a positive result in the presidential file.
On Friday, Nasrallah had launched an attack against Saudi Arabia, a development which prompted the reply of Hariri, who tweeted: “There are individuals who are experts in reversing facts and accusing others of their own involvement in certain practices, wars and sectarian strife.”
Hariri said: “The continued attacks against the kingdom by some parties are a black mark in the history and present of those who are seeking to spread the culture of strife and wars in the Arab world.”
He added: “He who allows his party and militants to be an Iranian tool for sedition in the Arab societies will not be able to acquit himself no matter how much he gets creative in political falsification.”

Former minister Marwan Hamadeh: Hezbollah wary of ‘early rise of Hariri’
The Arab Weekly/Mohamed Kawas/July 31/16
Marwan Hamadeh is uniquely placed to explain complex situation that Lebanon is going through, with country unable to elect president.
Beirut - Sitting with Marwan Hamadeh, it is clear that you are meeting a unique figure in Lebanese politics. Hamadeh has had a number of ministe­rial portfolios under several prime ministers and has played a pivotal role in Lebanon’s modern history.
He is uniquely placed to explain the complex situation that Lebanon is going through, with the country unable to elect a president and parliamentary elections on hold.
Hamadeh lived through Syrian tutelage over Lebanon, as well as the rise of the rival March 8 and March 14 blocs. Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party, of which Hamadeh is a member, had initially been a part of the March 14 alliance but left the coalition in 2011.
Jumblatt famously described the March 14 alliance as being more like an “atmosphere” than a coalition of parties. Hamadeh concurs, although he said he remembers the atmosphere that surrounded the “popular revolution” and the rise of March 14 clearly.
“This was not just a protest against the assassination of one of the pillars of Lebanon, prime minister Rafik Hariri. It was a protest against the use of assassinations by the Syrian regime in Lebanese politics — a policy that dated back decades,” Hamadeh said.
“Everybody was fed up with the Syrian presence in Lebanon. Over the years, their military presence declined, while their interference in Lebanese politics only increased,” he added.
Following Hariri’s assassination and the Cedar revolution, Syria’s presence in Lebanon ended on April 30th, 2005.
More than 11 years later, Lebanese politics is more divided than ever, with rival political coalitions unable to agree on the election of a new president to replace Michel Suleiman, who left office in May 2014.
More recently, it seemed the deadlock might be close to being broken after an unexpected agreement between Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and rival Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun. They had been rival candidates for the presidency, which must be held by a Maronite Christian, although the latest agreement saw Geagea — who is part of the March 14 alliance — endorse Aoun — a member of the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance — for the post.
Despite this, Hamadeh said he did not fear this resulting in a wider schism between Muslims and Christians.
“I do not fear this because Saad Hariri is not, and has never been, sectarian and he has confidence that Samir Geagea, who has experienced alliances with Muslims before, is committed to this,” he said.
As for whether he understands Geagea’s decision to endorse Aoun, Hamadeh said: “No, I do not understand his position, nor do I understand, or accept, Lebanon reaching a position where the only two candidates for the presidency come from within the March 8 alliance.”
The other candidate for president is Suleiman Frangieh. Despite also being a member of the rival political coalition, his candidacy has been endorsed by Saad Hariri in what represents another strange political alliance. A Frangieh presidency, however, would see Hariri retake the post of prime minister.
The latest presidential developments have also raised fears about Iran’s influence in Lebanon, particularly its backing for Hezbollah and the March 8 alliance. Hamadeh dismissed fears that Tehran could be able to take control of Lebanon, stressing the unique nature of Lebanese politics, which is almost defined by a philosophy of contrariness or defiance.
“Even if those allied with Iran took over the government tomorrow and elected a president and had a parliamentary majority, they still would not be able to change the inherent nature of Lebanon’s pluralistic system, which… prevents one party from dominating any other,” Hamadeh said.
However, he did warn that the current system is creating a dangerous sectarian atmosphere in which Lebanon and the Arab world’s Shias are concerned about being isolated and marginalised, an atmosphere that is being exploited by Iran.
Hamadeh stressed that, historically, Arab Shias have taken important positions in support of Arab causes and that the recent sectarianism can be traced to the Iranian revolution. “We did not know a change of regime in Iran would affect the entire region in this way and they are using the wilayat al-faqih [Guardianship of the Jurist] concept to take the Shias away from us,” he said.
Wilayat al-faqih is a Shia concept that states that a jurist, in this case the supreme leader of Iran, must be in charge of worldly affairs, including politics. It is a concept to which Hezbollah and other groups subscribe.
As for Hezbollah’s obstruction of the election of a new president, he said: “Hezbollah wanted a consultative summit to change the political system in Lebanon, but this idea was revoked because the Christians fear the country returning to a numerical, not pluralistic, system.”
“Hezbollah does not want a president, not out of fear of Suleiman Frangieh, for he is of no concern to them, but rather to prevent the early rise of Saad Hariri [as prime minister]. They are exerting all their efforts to postpone this,” he said.
 

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on August 01/16

Muslims Pray with Catholics over Priest's 'Barbaric' Murder
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 31/16/Muslims attended Catholic mass in churches around France on Sunday in solidarity and sorrow following the brutal jihadist murder of a priest, the latest in a string of attacks. More than 100 Muslims were among the 2,000 faithful who packed the 11th-century Gothic cathedral of Rouen near the Normandy town where two jihadi teenagers slit the throat of 85-year-old Father Jacques Hamel. "I thank you in the name of all Christians," Rouen Archbishop Dominique Lebrun told them. "In this way you are affirming that you reject death and violence in the name of God."Nice's top imam Otaman Aissaoui led a delegation to a Catholic mass in the southern city where a jihadist carried out a rampage in a truck on Bastille Day, claiming 84 lives and injuring 435 including many Muslims. "Being united is a response to the act of horror and barbarism," he said. The Notre Dame church in southwestern Bordeaux also welcomed a Muslim delegation, led by the city's top imam Tareq Oubrou. "It's an occasion to show (Muslims) that we do not confuse Islam with Islamism, Muslim with jihadist," said Reverend Jean Rouet. The Muslims were responding to a call by the French Muslim council CFCM to show their "solidarity and compassion" over the priest's murder on Tuesday. Said a woman wearing a beige headscarf who sat in a back pew at a church in central Paris: "I'm a practicing Muslim and I came to share my sorrow and tell you that we are brothers and sisters."Giving her name only as Sadia, she added softly: "What happened is beyond comprehension." The most poignant moment of Sunday's mass in Rouen was the sign of peace, a regular part of the liturgy when the faithful turn to greet each other in the pews, either shaking hands or kissing. Archbishop Lebrun used the moment to step into the congregation and greet Muslim leaders attending, as well as three nuns who were at the church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray when Hamel was murdered. Outside the Rouen cathedral a few policemen and soldiers stood guard but did not conduct searches, seeking to reassure a jittery population after the second jihadist attack in less than a fortnight.In addition to prompting fears of fanning religious tensions in the officially secular country, Father Hamel's murder sparked renewed recriminations over perceived security lapses.Both of the 19-year-olds attackers -- Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean -- had been on intelligence services' radar and had tried to go to Syria.
Syrian refugee suspect released
Prime Minister Manuel Valls called Sunday for a new "pact" with the Muslim community in France, Europe's largest with around five million members. "Islam has found its place in France... contrary to the repeated attacks of populists on the right and far-right," he said, condemning "this intolerable rejection of Islam and Muslims". Also Sunday, dozens of prominent Muslims published a joint letter warning that "the risk of fracturing among the French is growing every day."The signatories, who included academics as well as medical professionals, artists and business leaders, pledged: "We, French and Muslim, are ready to assume our responsibilities."Meanwhile a Syrian refugee who was taken in for questioning after a photocopy of his passport was found at Kermiche's house has been released, a source close to the investigation said. "Nothing suggests he had any involvement" in the attack, the source said. However Petitjean's 30-year-old cousin was to appear before an anti-terrorist judge later Sunday. Prosecutors said they have asked that the suspect, named as Farid K., be charged with "criminal association in connection with terrorism." The suspect "was fully aware of his cousin's imminent violent action, even if he did not know the precise place or day," the Paris prosecutor said in a statement. Media reports meanwhile said investigators had established that Petitjean and Kermiche met through the encrypted messaging app Telegram. Kermiche described the modus operandi of the attack on the priest in an audio posted on Telegram just a few days beforehand.

One Dead in Texas Shooting, Gunman Still at Large
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 31/16/At least one person was killed and four others wounded in a shooting in Austin, Texas early Sunday, with police warning that the shooter was still at large. The incident began shortly after 2:15am (0715 GMT) in a busy downtown area filled with bars and nightclubs, with police warning people on Twitter to steer clear of the area due to an "active shooter." "Active shooter incident downtown, multiple victims. Stay away from downtown," Austin police tweeted. One woman was killed and three other women were rushed to a local hospital with gunshot wounds, the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services said. A fifth victim, a man, refused aid, the ATCEMS said. Police later confirmed there had been a second, separate shooting incident in the area, which took place just minutes later, although only the gunman was injured. Police across the country, and especially in Texas, remain on edge after a rash of shooting incidents, including one on July 7 in Dallas which saw five officers shot dead by a black extremist as they were protecting a peaceful march against police brutality. At the time, police initially thought they were facing multiple shooters. Instead, it turned out to be one individual armed with a rifle who was firing from different spots.
'Very chaotic scene'
At a pre-dawn press conference broadcast via Periscope, Austin Police Chief of Staff Brian Manley said the unidentified shooter in the first incident, believed to be a white or light-skinned Hispanic male in his 20s, was still at large. After receiving first reports of the incident 2:17 am, officers arrived in the busy downtown area where they found "a very chaotic scene," Manley said. There appeared to have been a disturbance during which an individual pulled out a gun and fired into a crowd of pedestrians, he said. A woman in her 20s was shot and died at the scene. Seven minutes later police were notified of a second shooting inside a nearby parking garage, he said. In that incident, an individual pulled out a gun and fired, but was then confronted by witnesses who knocked him down and disarmed him. Manley said the alleged shooter, who was injured, was apprehended and taken to hospital. His condition was not immediately clear. It was unclear if the shooters knew any of their victims, with Manley saying it was part of the ongoing investigation. He called for any witnesses with video footage or pictures to share their files with police. Sam Vedamanikam, 26, told the Austin American-Statesman newspaper that he and several friends were leaving a dance club and heading to their car when they heard four or five gunshots. "There were just tons of people on Sixth Street and I see all of them jump toward the ground," Vedamanikam told the newspaper. "A lot of people were screaming." Witness Dorian Santiago described scenes of panic as people scrambled for safety when gunshots rang out. "We heard five shots then people started running like crazy," Santiago told Sky News.

Member of Saudi delegation that Visited Israel: Israeli society wants peace
Jerusalem Post/July 31/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/07/31/43775/
Abd al-Mujid al-Hakim, a member of the Saudi Arabian delegation that recently visited Israel and the Palestinian territories, told BBC Arabic on Friday that he believes Israeli society wants peace. “In Arab societies, the picture of Israeli society is that it embraces a culture of death, wants to spill blood, and does not believe in peace. That [picture] is not correct.” He continued, “The Israeli society that I encountered embraces a culture of peace, has accomplishments it wants to (protect), wants coexistence, and wants peace.”
Hakim, who also serves as director of the Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Policy in Jedda, added that he thinks that the current stalemate in the peace process does not relate to differences in policy between the Israelis and Palestinians. “The problem between the Israeli and Palestinian sides is not that they have different positions. When we dialogued with Mr. Dore Gold, members of Knesset, and members of organizations fighting for peace, the disagreements did not relate to the Arab Peace Initiative. They accept the Arab Peace Initiative.” Instead he suggested, “The problem is the lack of mutual trust between the two sides.” Hakim added that he and his colleagues do not just want to achieve a political peace between states, but also a general peace between peoples. “We do not want peace like Camp David. It is true that it is a peace that has succeeded in terms of politics, but it failed on the popular level. We want peace and an end to suffering though a political and popular peace.”
Hakim also called on parties that condemned his delegation’s visit to not use the Palestinian issue for political gain. “Lets stop exploiting the Palestinian suffering and issue to achieve political gains in the region…Enough of this exploitation.”He then defended his delegation’s visit, saying it seeks to achieve peace. “We are spreading peace. We want to achieve a new reality for the Palestinian citizen, different from the miserable reality under which he currently lives.”Hakim and his colleague, Former Saudi General Anwar Eshki, and other Saudis, who arrived as a part of a delegation to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials and members of civil society, have confronted multiple criticisms for their visit in the past week

U.N. Formally Invites Syria Government to New Peace Talks
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 31/16/U.N. deputy Syria envoy Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy on Sunday invited Damascus to new peace talks with the opposition at the end of August, drawing a positive response from the government. On Tuesday, the world body's special envoy Staffan de Mistura told reporters in Geneva he wanted "to proceed with a third round of intra-Syrian talks towards the end of August" after two previous rounds of talks this year ended in failure. De Mistura has struggled to keep the peace process alive amid a surge in fighting between Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces and rebel groups.
"I informed the minister and his deputy of the intention of the special envoy De Mistura to reconvene the inter-Syrian talks towards the end of August," Ramzy said after meeting Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and his deputy Faisal Muqdad. "I explained to the minister how we intend to proceed, and we discussed how to render this process of political transition which has already been endorsed by the Security Council to be a credible one, and we exchanged views on that," Ramzy said. He said Muallem "confirmed the intention of the Syrian government to participate in these talks once they are held." Muqdad said Syria's government was "ready to resume the talks with no preconditions in an inter-Syrian context with no foreign interference," the official SANA news agency reported him as saying. De Mistura's announcement comes with the armed opposition facing difficulties, especially in the northern city of Aleppo where government forces are besieging rebel-held districts. A peace roadmap, endorsed in December by the U.N., called for the creation of a transitional body, which should have occurred on August 1, a new constitution and elections by mid-2017. The U.N.-brokered talks have so far been deadlocked over Assad's fate. The government has ruled out negotiations on his possible departure, while the main opposition High Negotiations Committee has said it will not agree to any deal that leaves Assad in power. Since Syria was plunged into chaos in 2011, more than 280,000 people have been killed and upwards of half the population has been displaced.

U.S.-Backed Forces Advance in IS Syria Stronghold
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 31/16/Advancing Kurdish and Arab fighters backed by U.S.-led air strikes now control 40 percent of the Islamic State stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria, a monitor said Sunday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had pushed deeper into the town near the border with Turkey, with air cover from the US-led coalition against the jihadists. Around 2,300 civilians have fled Manbij in the past 24 hours as the SDF fighters advanced, according to the Britain-based monitor. It said clashes between the joint Kurdish-Arab force and IS fighters were continuing in several parts of the town. "It's a street battle, and the process of eating away at IS territory is ongoing," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France-Presse. He said the SDF had advanced into eastern parts of Manbij, which is located in Aleppo province on IS' main supply route between Syria and Turkey. The SDF began its offensive to retake Manbij from IS on May 31, but progress slowed after it entered the town because of a fierce counteroffensive by the jihadists. Thousands of civilians have already fled but thousands more are believed to remain, and there have been concerns about their fate as heavy fighting continues. Earlier in the month, the SDF gave IS an ultimatum to leave Manbij within 48 hours, offering to allow fighters to flee with light weapons in what it described as a bid to protect civilians. The initiative came after at least 56 civilians, including children, were reportedly killed in U.S.-led air strikes near Manbij. The coalition has said it is investigating the deaths, which provoked a sharp backlash, including a call from the Syrian opposition National Coalition for the U.S.-led strikes to be suspended. The 48-hour ultimatum was ignored by IS and fighting for the town has continued. More than 280,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests. The conflict has evolved into a complex multi-front war that has displaced over half Syria's population.

Netanyahu Criticizes European 'Support' for Anti-Israel Groups
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 31/16/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said his government was looking into support from European nations for groups engaged in what he described as anti-Israel activities, specifically mentioning France. Speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said an inquiry had "found support from European countries, including France, for several organizations that engage in incitement, call for a boycott of Israel and do not recognize the state of Israel's right to exist.""We will complete the inquiry and submit the findings to the French government," Netanyahu said, without identifying any organization. Israeli officials have regularly condemned support by foreign governments for left-wing NGOs critical of the country's policies towards the Palestinians. In mid-July, Israel's parliament adopted a law seen as targeting left-wing groups critical of the government by forcing NGOs that receive most of their funding from foreign states to declare it. Netanyahu also appeared to make reference to France's announcement on Friday that it would consider a temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques following a series of jihadist attacks. "We are also disturbed by such donations to organizations that deny the state of Israel's right to exist," he said. Israel has been faced with a boycott movement over its nearly 50-year occupation of the West Bank. Some, however, accuse the movement of anti-Semitism. Violence since October has killed at least 218 Palestinians and 34 Israelis. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say. Others were shot dead during clashes and protests, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip. Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have fed the unrest. Israel says incitement by Palestinian leaders and media is a leading cause of the violence.

Palestinian Killed Trying to Stab Israeli Soldiers
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 31/16/A Palestinian armed with a knife charged at Israeli soldiers on the outskirts of the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and was shot dead, the Israeli army said. "An assailant armed with a knife exited his vehicle and charged (at) soldiers at the entrance to Nablus," a statement said. "Forces thwarted the attempted stabbing attack and shot the assailant, resulting in his death."An army spokeswoman specified that the assailant was a Palestinian. No injuries among the soldiers were reported. The Palestinian health ministry identified the person killed as Rami Awartani, 31. A wave of such incidents began in October, part of violence since that time that has killed at least 219 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.
Others were shot dead during protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip. Israel has faced accusations of excessive force in some cases, allegations it denies.

Iraq PM Talks Mosul Plans with Top U.S. Officer
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 31/16/Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi held talks in Baghdad with America's top military officer Sunday, discussing plans to oust the Islamic State group from second city Mosul, his office said. Washington is leading an international coalition that is carrying out air strikes against IS as well as providing training, advice and other support to Iraqi forces. Abadi and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed boosting "cooperation between the two countries in the fields of training and arming, ongoing international coalition support for Iraq... and plans to liberate Mosul," a statement said. Iraqi forces are conducting operations to set the stage for an assault on Mosul, which has been held by IS since June 2014, but the final push to retake it is likely still months away. Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi has said that IS leaders and their families have sold their belongings and fled the city as Iraqi forces close in. Mosul is the last city held by IS in Iraq, but retaking it poses a major challenge, and the operation could unleash a humanitarian crisis unless plans are made for people who would likely flee the fighting. The Red Cross has said it believes that up to a million Iraqis could be displaced in the coming months by fighting against IS, including the operation to recapture Mosul. IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but has since lost significant ground to Iraqi forces.

Iraq Minister Says IS Leaders, Families Flee Mosul
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 31/16/Iraq's Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi has said that Islamic State group leaders and their families have sold their belongings and fled Mosul as Iraqi forces close in on the northern city. Iraqi forces are conducting operations to set the stage for an assault on Mosul, the country's second city that has been held by IS since June 2014, but the final push to retake it is likely still months away. "A number of the families... and leaders of (IS) in Mosul, they and their families sold their belongings and withdrew towards Syria," whose border west of the city, Obeidi told Iraqiya state television. Some also sought to infiltrate towards Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, located north and east of Mosul, Obeidi said during an interview which was broadcast on Saturday night. Mosul is the last city held by IS in Iraq, but retaking it poses a major challenge, and the operation could unleash a humanitarian crisis unless plans are made for people who would likely flee the fighting. The Red Cross has said it believes that up to a million Iraqis could be displaced in the coming months by fighting against IS, including the operation to recapture Mosul. IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but has since lost significant ground to Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led air strikes, training and other assistance.

Attacks on Iraq Gas Facility, Oil Field Kill five
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 31/16/Militants assaulted a gas facility and a nearby oil field in north Iraq on Sunday, killing five people in rare attacks inside Kurdish-controlled areas of Kirkuk province, officials said. Gunmen traveling on motorbikes opened fire on the gas facility's guards, then killed four of its employees and planted multiple bombs before escaping, officials from Iraq's North Oil Company and the Kurdish peshmerga forces said.Militants also attacked the nearby Bai Hassan oil field, the largest in oil-rich Kirkuk province, killing an engineer and sparking a major fire, officials said. A colonel in the peshmerga said that security forces killed two suicide bombers at the field while a third detonated explosives, setting oil tanks ablaze, and a fourth was still at large. Police Brigadier General Sarhad Qader confirmed that three bombers were dead. The attack killed an engineer and wounded seven other people, according to the peshmerga colonel and a police officer of the same rank. The jihadist-linked Amaq agency, which often carries claims of Islamic State group attacks, said that the assault on Bai Hassan had taken place, but did not attribute it to IS. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assault on the gas facility, and while it may have been carried out by IS, it is more common for the group's militants to fight to the death in such attacks. Forces from Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region control part of Kirkuk, while IS also holds territory in the province. The jihadist group overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, sweeping Iraqi security forces aside, though they have since regained significant ground from IS. After federal forces retreated, Kurdish troops gained or solidified control over a swathe of northern territory that is claimed by both Baghdad and Kurdistan.
Both Baghdad's forces and Kurdish troops are battling the jihadists, but they have fought largely independent wars so far. That will need to change during the battle for Mosul, Iraq's second city located northwest of Kirkuk, as the operation is expected to require both federal and Kurdish forces to take part.

Twin PKK Attacks Kill 4 Turkish Soldiers
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 31/16/Militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) killed four Turkish soldiers Sunday in two separate attacks, local media reported. Three soldiers were killed during a military operation in Ordu, located on the Black Sea coast in northeastern Turkey, the province's governor said in comments carried by private Dogan news agency. Irfan Balkanlioglu said the soldiers were shot by PKK militants and two others were injured, Dogan, said. The operation, in Mesudiye district, was continuing. In another attack, one soldier was killed and six were wounded in clashes with PKK militants in the southeastern province of Hakkari, the army said in a statement. One soldier was seriously wounded, the army added. The state-run Anadolu news agency reported the clashes occurred in Altinsu district. The fatalities occurred two days after eight soldiers were killed in fighting with Kurdish militants, the deadliest attack on the military since the failed July 15 coup. The attempted power grab saw a rogue group within the armed forces try to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He has retaliated with a massive purge of the military. More than 600 Turkish security force members have been killed by the PKK in attacks since the collapse of a two-year ceasefire in July last year, according to a toll given by Anadolu. The government has responded with military operations against the guerrilla group, killing more than 7,000 militants in Turkey and northern Iraq, the agency said. Activists claim civilians have also been killed in the offensives. Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK -- proscribed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union (EU) and the United States -- first took up arms in 1984. Initially it sought independence for Turkey's Kurdish minority -- making up around 20 percent of the population -- although over the years the emphasis switched to greater rights and self-rule.

Yemen Govt. Accepts U.N. Peace Plan, Awaits Rebel Response
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 31/16/Yemen's government on Sunday accepted a U.N.-proposed plan to end fighting that has left thousands dead, but there was no word from Iran-backed rebels who have intensified attacks on the Saudi border. The draft agreement, which follows several months of U.N.-brokered negotiations in Kuwait, stipulates that the Huthi Shiite rebels must withdraw from Sanaa, which they overran in September 2014. But it was unclear if the insurgents were ready to end their occupation of the capital, which they have refused to cede despite a more than year-long military campaign by a Saudi-led Arab coalition. Yemen, home to what the United States sees as al-Qaida's deadliest franchise, descended into chaos after the 2012 ouster of longtime strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh. Security deteriorated further after the Huthi rebels swept into the capital and pushed south, forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government to flee into exile in March last year. The conflict has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since then, according to U.N. figures. Over 80 percent of the population urgently needs humanitarian aid. The proposed peace deal is broadly in line with the demands of Hadi's Saudi-backed government. It replaces a roadmap previously proposed by U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed that stipulated the creation of a unity government including the insurgents, which was rejected by Hadi's government.Under the new plan, a political dialogue between various Yemeni factions would start 45 days after the rebels withdraw and hand over heavy weapons to a military committee to be formed by Hadi. Prisoners of war would also be freed.
The government's acceptance came after a high-level meeting in Riyadh chaired by Hadi. "The meeting approved the draft agreement presented by the United Nations calling for an end to the armed conflict and the withdrawal (of rebels) from Sanaa" and other cities they have seized, said a statement. According to sources close to the delegates in Kuwait, the government accepted the deal following pressure from Saudi Arabia which wants to corner the rebels and show they are unwilling to accept a political solution.
Rebels reject 'half solutions'
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi, who is leading Hadi's negotiating team, said he had sent a letter to the U.N. envoy informing him the government backed the "Kuwait Agreement". One pre-condition, however, is that the Huthis and allied forces loyal to Saleh sign the deal by August 7, Mikhlafi wrote on Twitter. There was no official reaction from the rebels. Huthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam, however, said on Twitter before the government announcement that the rebels insist on a comprehensive and complete peace agreement, rejecting what he called "half solutions." The government's announcement came just hours after the coalition said a Saudi army officer and six soldiers were killed in border clashes on Saturday with the Yemeni rebels. Rebels and loyalists on Sunday traded artillery fire in areas near the Saudi border, military sources said. In the southern Shabwa province, 18 rebels and 15 loyalists have been killed in fighting since Saturday, other military sources said.
New coup'
The rebels angered the Yemeni government last week by announcing the formation of a 10-member "supreme council" to run the country -- which the foreign minister branded a "new coup."Under the proposed peace deal, that council would be abolished along with all decisions made by the rebels since they occupied Sanaa. A defiant Saleh defended the new council, which he said aimed at "filling the political void left in the country after the legitimacy of Hadi expired and he fled" to Saudi Arabia. "This council will govern the country as a presidential council and in accordance with the country's constitution and laws," Saleh. Hadi's government has used the main southern city, Aden, as a temporary capital since it was recaptured from the Huthis last year. But the authorities have struggled to secure the port city, which has seen a string of bombings and assassinations by the Islamic State group or al-Qaida. On Sunday, two policemen were killed and a third was wounded when a bomb planted in their vehicle was remotely detonated, a security official said. A car packed with explosives blew up elsewhere in Aden without causing casualties, said another official. The jihadist rivals have exploited the turmoil to boost their activities in the impoverished country on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

Seven Saudi Troops Killed in Yemen Border Clashes
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 31/16/A Saudi army officer and six soldiers were killed Saturday in clashes with Iran-backed Yemeni rebels who attempted to infiltrate the kingdom's borders, the Riyadh-led coalition said. Shiite Huthi rebels backed by renegade troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh tried to infiltrate the borders in the southern Najran area, the coalition fighting the rebels said in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency. "An officer and six soldiers of the Saudi armed forces fell martyrs," said the statement, adding that Saudi warplanes had repelled the attackers. It claimed that dozens of the rebels were killed. On Monday, five Saudi border guards were killed in similar border clashes in the Najran area. Southern Saudi Arabia, especially border areas with Yemen, have come under sporadic attack since Riyadh took the lead in March 2015 in an Arab military coalition battling Shiite Huthi rebels who control northern Yemen. Around 100 members of the Saudi forces and civilians have been killed in skirmishes, by artillery fire or landmines inside the kingdom's borders since the coalition launched its campaign. More than 6,400 Yemenis, most of them civilians, have been killed since last March, and the fighting has driven 2.8 Yemenis from their homes. Kuwait has hosted Yemen peace talks since April but the negotiations have failed to make any progress. The U.N. special envoy for Yemen made a last-ditch bid Saturday to salvage the talks by proposing to extend them for one week, after the government delegation said it planned to quit the Kuwait discussions.
 

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, meets President Mahmoud Abbas
NCRI/ Sunday, 31 July 2016/On Saturday evening, July 30, 2016, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, met with Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, and they discussed the crises in the region. President Mahmoud Abbas, at the meeting, reiterated the need to combat fundamentalism and terrorism in the region and informed Mrs. Rajavi of the latest developments in the Middle East, in particular regarding Palestine and France's initiative. Mrs. Rajavi expressed gratitude for the solidarity of the Palestinian resistance and its leader with the Iranian people and Resistance. She congratulated the Palestinian government on its victories and expressed hope that the goal of the Palestinian people would be achieved. She reiterated that the Iranian regime is the main instigator of sectarian discord, fundamentalism and terrorism in the entire region, in particular in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Palestine, but she added that today the mullahs' regime is at its weakest and most fragile and vulnerable state. This reality can be seen clearly in the hysteric reaction of the regime's officials and state media to the Iranian Resistance's July 9 gathering.
Mrs. Rajavi reiterated that the regime is above all fearful of the solidarity and unity between the Iranian people and Resistance and the countries and nations of the region. Therefore, the countries of the region and the Iranian people and Resistance ought to take the initiative to free the region from the scourge of fundamentalism.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran

Bob Blackman MP: It does no good to expect the best from Iran
NCRI/ Sunday, 31 July 2016/Bob Blackman, a Member of Parliament from the United Kingdom, has written an op-ed stating that it is high time that the international ended its false hopes that the Iranian regime would respect its international obligations. It’s time the world community puts pressure on the mullahs’ regime to comply with international demands and heed international concerns, Mr. Blackman wrote in The Hill on Sunday, July 31.
The following is the text of his op-ed:
It does no good to expect the best from Iran
By Bob Blackman MP
On Monday, July 18, the United Nations released a report assessing the Islamic Republic of Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement concluded by Iran and six world powers last July. While the report found that Iran has been upholding its most basic requirements under the deal – limiting its number of operational enrichment centrifuges and the size of its stockpile of low enriched uranium – the report also noted that the Iranian regime had failed to meet the higher standards of compliance. Through its repeated test-firings of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, its provision of weapons to foreign conflict zones, and its general antagonism toward Western powers and the world community, the Islamic Republic has clearly been violating the “spirit” of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
This is very much in keeping with what we already understand about the Iranian regime. Full-fledged compliance with international accords was always a pipe-dream, pursued only by the most naïve actors such as the Obama administration, which sold the deal to lawmakers and the American public in part by claiming that it was made possible by the 2013 election of “moderate” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
The critical report by the UN is only the latest in a long series of marks against the Rouhani administration’s supposedly moderate credentials. In order to believe in that moderation in the first place, Western policy-makers had to ignore Rouhani’s long history in the security apparatus of Iran’s clerical regime, including his former role as lead nuclear negotiator, about which he boasted of raising Tehran's nuclear profile while keeping international scrutiny at bay. And in order to keep the moderation narrative alive to the current date, those same policy-makers have had to ignore various statistical indicators and warnings from the Iranian opposition.
These have included accounts of a rising tide of executions and politically motivated arrests, as well as undiminished sponsorship of terrorism and escalating Tehran's involvement in the affairs of Middle Eastern countries including Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon. All of the hallmarks of hard-line domestic and foreign policy were highlighted on one day by the main Iranian opposition movement, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, presided by Maryam Rajavi, at its annual international gathering in Paris on July 9.
And what have the White House and its closest allies gotten in exchange for kowtowing to Tehran? They have been blamed for all Iran’s problems and they have been used as scapegoats to explain away the well-reasoned conclusion by the UN that Tehran’s activities are still at odds with the interests of most democratic nations. The Iranian Foreign Ministry quickly responded to Monday’s UN report by declaring that it was politically biased and was the result of “open pressure” from the U.S. The very country whose policy reversals under the Obama administration made Iran’s large-scale sanctions relief possible is still being maligned by the Islamic Republic to distract from the fact that Iran’s theocratic authorities refuse to compromise on their most dangerous ambitions.
It seems as though that is the very opposite of what Western powers wanted to get out of this deal. Whereas they had hoped to provide concessions in order to promote the evolution of a kinder, gentler and friendlier Islamic Republic, what they got instead was a regime that is taking advantage of a financial windfall to go on doing whatever it wants, while also crying foul any time anyone dares to criticize and oppose it.
The UN report is by no means alone in generating this kind of response. Soon after the NCRI gathering in Paris, the Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the French ambassador to answer for the rally. Earlier this year in March, the Rouhani administration had plainly made that request of the Austrian government with regard to a planned NCRI protest, and when Vienna refused, Rouhani cancelled his anticipated visit.
Let us hope that French officials have the same common resolve in the months and years to come as the Austrians had in March. They should need no further incentive for rebuffing Tehran’s demands than the simple fact that it is obviously the right thing to do for any Western democratic nation. But, if it helps policy-makers of any nation to resist temptation, it would do well for them to recognize that giving concessions to the Islamic Republic is a bad bet that does not pay off.
The U.S. gave up important leverage in hope of improved relations, but it remained the main object of Tehran’s wrath. The UN closed the file on Tehran’s nuclear weapons program and Iran has continued to accuse it of political bias. And the six major powers involved in the JCPOA, having given in to even last-minute demands by the Islamic Republic, received nothing in return but the most cursory and minimal compliance with the deal. As the Associated Press reported last week, secret side-agreements already outline the expanded nuclear activities that Iran plans to pursue at its earliest possible opportunity.
The more concessions are given to the Iranian regime, the more it takes advantage of them. Its behavior does not change and its negotiating partners invariably are left wondering what they ever hoped to achieve in the first place. In light of the UN having reminded us all of this fact, we cannot continue repeating the same mistakes. We must return to policies that recognize Tehran regime as what it is and put pressure on it to comply with international demands and heed international concerns, instead of returning the regime’s duplicitous smile and keeping our fingers crossed for the best.
**Bob Blackman is a Conservative member of the UK House of Commons representing the Harrow East constituency

Iran regime demolishes people’s homes in impoverished village
Saturday, 30 July 2016/NCRI – The Iranian regime this week demolished the homes of numerous residents of an impoverished village situated on Iran’s south-eastern shores in Sistan and Baluchestan Province. The incident occurred on Wednesday, July 27, in Komb-e Moradabad Village in the Central District of Chabahar County. The repressive state security forces from the police station (Division 12) in Golshahr, Chabahar, moved in with bulldozers and destroyed the residents’ houses, leaving them homeless. The mullahs' regime claims that these houses were built illegally. Eye-witnesses said that the police forces started destroying the houses without a warrant and with total disregard as the deprived residents were begging and pleading with them to stop. The residents of Komb-e Moradabad Village are mostly Iranian Baluchis who previously lived in the suburbs of the port city of Chabahar and who were forced to migrate to Komb-e Moradabad over the past 20 years because of drought and unemployment. In January, graphic evidence emerged of another village in Sistan and Baluchistan bulldozed to the ground by Iran's fundamentalist regime. On December 27, 2015, the regime's state security forces arrived at the village of Shahidan-e Danesh-Payeh in 50 police vehicles and 10 loaders, according to eye-witnesses, and began to demolish the villagers’ homes. Shahidan-e Danesh-Payeh is about two kilometers from the impoverished province's largest city and provincial capital Zahedan. The small village, officially listed in the municipality records with the village code 711891, had a municipality sign, and its electricity and water pipes were connected to the larger municipalities' networks. The suppressive security forces claimed that the homes had been built illegally on the land.

Ethnic Iranian Azeri political prisoner begins hunger strike
Saturday, 30 July 2016/NCRI - Ethnic Iranian Azeri political prisoner, Ebrahim Nouri, went on hunger strike this week in Ahar Prison, in north-west Iran, according to local reports. He wrote a letter announcing that he was beginning his hunger strike on Thursday, July 28. He wrote: "The legal conduct has been my path to struggle from the moment of arrest until now. Unfortunately, due to lack of legal consequence, I will embark on a political conduct in addition to my legal conduct in the second phase. Therefore, for the realization of our legitimate rights and to achieve the proper result, I will go on hunger strike and I will not stop my protest even I reach the brink of death.”Ebrahim Nouri was arrested and transferred to prison in Ahar on July 17. He was charged for taking part in a gathering, collusion against national security, propaganda against the regime and encouraging protests.
Thousands of ethnic Iranian Turks (Azeris) in various cities including Tehran, Tabriz, Orumiyeh, Zanjan, Ahar, Khoy and Ardebil protested on Tuesday and Thursday of this week over denigration of Azeris by the state media. The rallies were triggered by the publication of derogatory statements in the state-run media against Iran’s largest ethnic minority group. The July 20 edition of the state-run daily Tarhe-No (issue no 868) had published an insulting reference to ethnic Iranian Azeris.

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on on August 01/16

Pakistani Writer: 'Muslim Women In India Had Sent... [Jewellery] As Gifts For The Turks So They... Could Continue Their War And Jihad [Against Western Powers]'

MEMRI/July 31/16/July 31, 2016 Special Dispatch No.6543
Following the July 15-16 failed military coup in Turkey, Pakistani writer Abdul Qader Hassan wrote an article shedding light on the downfall of the Ottoman Caliphate in the early 1920s. In the piece, Hassan also noted that the Ottoman Caliph Sultan Suleiman (who ruled from 1520 to 1556) was poised to conquer Austria, but could not do so due to old age and the cold weather.
The Ottoman Caliphate was abolished in 1924 by Kamal Ataturk, who began an era of secularization whose influences the current Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been trying to eradicate from the nation's public life by re-introducing Islamic influences such as the burqa (veil) and alcohol-free zones. The failure of the Turkey coup has been generally welcomed in the Islamic world, since Erdogan is seen as advancing the cause of Islam.
Abdul Qader Hassan's article was published by Roznama Express, a mass-selling Urdu-language newspaper published in the Pakistani cities of Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Multan.
Following are excerpts from the article:
"It Is A Sad Story That The Christian Western Powers Ultimately Terminated This Government Ruling From... Istanbul"; "You Will Be Surprised [To Know] That The Hindu Leader Gandhi Was Also Part Of The Khilafat Movement"
"For those with interests in Islamic history, it seems like only yesterday the city of Istanbul was the city of their memories and dreams, where the flag of their Ottoman Caliphate flew for 500-600 years... For the Western powers, such a large Islamic government and such an expanding regime was unacceptable. It is a sad story that the Christian Western powers ultimately terminated this government ruling from a beautiful city like Istanbul. And the women of Istanbul were left with jewellery as symbols that Muslim women from the world over had sent to them as gifts of love and aid.
"Among this jewellery there was a large quantity that the Muslim women in India had sent during the Khilafat Movement [that defended the Ottoman Caliphate] as gifts for the Turks so they could sell them and continue their war and jihad. This jewellery is still safe with the elderly women of Turkey. They are very dear to them and their price cannot be paid in material wealth. When a tourist would sometime go to Turkey from India, these women would proudly show this jewellery to him.
"And such tourists would return carrying the treasures of their tears to India, which was a center of the [Khilafat] Movement for the Ottoman Caliphate; and the memories of the movement are still fresh. You will be surprised [to know] that the Hindu leader Gandhi was also part of the Khilafat Movement; and the point was that this movement was a movement for liberation from British imperialism; and Gandhi was the leader of the movement opposed to imperialism.
"I want to talk about the Turkey of today... whose Muslims have refused to accept the regime [i.e. the coup leadership] they disliked, which the world has dubbed as a rebellion involving several [military] generals and senior civil officials who were dismissed. I did not expect such a rebellion by the public of a Muslim country but it appears that in Turkey some virus of past freedom is alive, which does not allow this nation to sit still, and remains active in its brain. "
"With Much Sacrifice And Strategy The Western World Terminated This [Ottoman] Caliphate, Since If It Were Alive, It Would Not Have Been Possible For The Western World To Survive"
"Turkey was not merely a Muslim country. It was the living reality of the Islamic world, which the West had terminated with much labor and sacrifice, and which had been a danger to its existence. There is [evidence in] history as to how much was done to end the Ottoman Caliphate; and with much sacrifice and strategy the Western world terminated this Caliphate, since if it were alive, it would not have been possible for the Western world to survive. There is a long history of the Ottoman Caliphate, which ruled over the world for nearly 600 years...
"And history remembers the era when the ruling families of the Western world would wait for the consent of the Ottoman caliph to appoint their new king. The world remembers this statement of Sultan Suleiman [the Ottoman caliph]: 'Wherever my horse keeps its feet, that place comes under my rule'; and the reality was also the same. Whichever direction the Ottoman military moved, that region would be accepted as part of the Ottoman Caliphate because no one had the power that the Ottoman Caliphate had; and it was impossible to confront the Ottoman military.
"The elderly Sultan Suleiman regretted that he could not conquer Austria due to his old age. The second [obstacle] was the extreme cold weather, which was intolerable for the Ottoman army, and war could not be waged in such weather. However, some generals were courageous enough so that if the Sultan gave the order, they could have won this battle too. However, the Sultan did not deem it correct to accept their advice and declared it an emotional judgement...
"For the Ottoman Caliphate, which had conquered the world, this small European country [Austria] was nothing, but Sultan Suleiman remained regretful of his old age and the extreme weather. When the weather became good, the Sultan was advised to attack, but he refused to accept. Anyway, a small country in Europe remained safe from the sound and boom of Ottoman cannon, and even today it celebrates having escaped the military superpower of the time... It escaped from the Ottoman military but Turkey's disliked regime [i.e. the military coup leadership] could not, and was defeated by democracy."
Source: Roznama Express (Pakistan), July 20, 2016.

Turkey's Tradition of Murdering Christians
Robert Jones/Gatestone Institute/July 31/16

http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/07/31/robert-jonesgatestone-instituteturkeys-tradition-of-murdering-christians/

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8577/turkey-christians-murders

Turkey's countless agreements with Western organizations do not seem to have reduced the hatred for Christians there.
In Turkey, it is "ordinary people" who murder or attack Christians, then the judiciary or political system somehow find a way of enabling the perpetrators to get away with the crimes. Most of these crimes are not covered by the international media and Turkey is never held responsible.
While Muslims are pretty much free to practice their religion and express their views on other religions anywhere in the world, Christians and other non-Muslims can be killed in Turkey and other Muslim-majority countries just for attempting peacefully to practice their religion or openly express their views.
"Multiculturalism," which is passionately defended by many liberals in the West, could have worked wonders in multi-ethnic and multi-religious places such as Anatolia. But unfortunately, Islamic ideology allows only one culture, one religion, and one way of thinking under their rule: Islam. Ironically, this is the central fact these liberals do not want to see.
On 26 July, the northern French town of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray witnessed a horrific Islamist attack: Two Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists killed an 85-year-old priest, Jacques Hamel, in his church during Mass. Two nuns and two churchgoers were taken hostage.
The terrorists, who had pledged allegiance to ISIS and, shouting "Allahu Akbar", slit the throat of the priest and captured the bloody episode on video, according to a nun who escaped the assault.
Such Islamist attacks might be new to EU member countries but not to Turkey. For decades, so many innocent, defenseless Christians in Turkey have been slaughtered by Muslim assailants.
Christians in Turkey are still attacked, murdered or threatened daily; the assailants usually get away with their crimes.
In Malatya, in 2007, during the Zirve Bible Publishing House massacre, three Christian employees were attacked, severely tortured, then had their hands and feet tied and their throats cut by five Muslims on April 18, 2007.
Nine years have passed, but there still has been no justice for the families of the three men who were murdered so savagely.
First, the five suspects who were still in detention were released from their high-security prison by a Turkish court, which ruled that their detention exceeded newly-adopted legal limits.
The trial is still ongoing. The prosecutor claims that the act "was not a terrorist act because the perpetrators did not have a hierarchic bond, their act was not continuous and the knives they used in the massacre did not technically suffice to make the act be regarded as a terrorist act."
If the court accepts this legal opinion of the prosecutor, it could pave the way for an acquittal. However, given the many "mysterious" rulings of the Turkish judiciary system to acquit criminals, these killers could also be acquitted by a "surprise" ruling any time.
Ironically, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in March that it is necessary to redefine terrorism to include those who support such acts, adding that they could be journalists, lawmakers or activists. There was no difference, he said, between "a terrorist holding a gun or a bomb and those who use their position and pen to serve the aims" of terrorists.
In a country where state authorities are outspokenly so "sensitive" about "terrorism" and "people holding guns," why are the murderers of Christians not in jail, and why is the prosecutor trying to portray the murders of Christians as "non-terroristic acts"?
Sadly, the three Christians in Malatya were neither the first nor the last Christians to be murdered in Turkey.
On February 5, 2006, Father Andrea Santoro, a 61-year-old Roman Catholic priest, was murdered in the Santa Maria Church in the province of Trabzon. He was shot while kneeling in prayer at his church. Witnesses heard the 16-year-old murderer shout "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is the Greatest") during the murder.
After the murder, a 74-year-old priest, Father Pierre François René Brunissen, from Samsun, led the next church service in Santoro's church, which boasted barely a dozen members. Because no one volunteered to replace Santoro, Father Pierre was instructed to travel from Samsun to Trabzon each month to care for the city's small congregation.
"This is a terrible incident," Father Pierre said. "It is a sin to kill a person. After all of these incidents, I am worried about my life here."
In July, 2006, he was stabbed and wounded by a Muslim in Samsun. The perpetrator, 53, said that he stabbed the priest to oppose "his missionary activities."[1]
The attacks against the Christian culture in Anatolia continue in modern times -- even after Turkey joined the Council of Europe in 1949 and NATO in 1952.
Turkey's countless agreements with Western organizations do not seem to have reduced the hatred for Christians there. In March, 2007, as the Christian community of Mersin was preparing for the Easter, a young Muslim man with a kebab knife entered the church and attacked the priests, Roberto Ferrari and Henry Leylek.
Mersin, in southern Turkey, is home to Tarsus, the birthplace of Saint Paul, and to several churches dating from the earliest Christian era.
As the Christian roots of Anatolia weakened, so did its bonds with Western civilization. "The attack against the priest is an indicator that Ankara is not ready for Europe," a Roman Catholic Cardinal and theologian, Walter Kasper, told the Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera. "There is some amount of tolerance but there is not real freedom. Turkey has to change many things. This change is not about laws. A change of mentality is needed. But you cannot change mentality in one day."
Bishop Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, said: "We do not feel safe. I am very worried. Fanaticism is developing in some groups. Some people want to poison the atmosphere and catholic priests are targeted. Anti-missionary films are broadcast on TV channels."
At a commemorative ceremony for Father Santoro in February, Bishop Padovese said:
"Today, we are asking the question we asked four years ago: Why? We are also asking the same question for all other victims so unjustly murdered even though they were innocent. Why? What was it that they tried to destroy by murdering Father Andrea? Just a person or what that person represented? The aim of shooting Father Andrea was definitely to shoot a Catholic cleric. His being a Father became the reason of his martyrdom.
"The message of Christ on the cross is clear. 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.' Had they known, they would not have done that. It is wrong to extinguish a life to uphold an idea. It is wrong to think that a person who disagrees with us is at fault and should be destroyed. This is the fundamentalism that crumbles a society. For it wrecks coexistence. This fundamentalism -- regardless of what religion or political view it belongs to -- might win a few battles but it is doomed to lose the war. This is what history teaches us. I hope that this city and this country will turn into a place where people can live as brothers and sisters and unite for the common good for all. Is the Allah of all of us not the same?"
No, unfortunately, the Allah of all of us is not the same.
Just four months later, in June, 2010, it was Padovese's turn to be murdered. This time the murderer was the Bishop's own driver for the previous four years. The driver first stabbed the bishop, then cut his throat, while shouting "Allahu Akbar" during the attack.
At the trial, the driver said that the bishop was "Masih ad-Dajjal" ("the false messiah"), then twice in the courtroom he loudly recited the adhan (Islamic call to worship).
Father Andrea Santoro (left), a 61-year-old Roman Catholic priest, and 63-year-old Bishop Luigi Padovese (right), Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia, were two Christian priests murdered in Turkey in recent years.
In the territory where Christians once thrived, even converting to Christianity now creates serious problems.
"New Christians coming from Muslim families are often isolated and ostracized," writes Carnes. "Turgay Ucal, a pastor of an independent church in Istanbul, who converted from Islam to Christianity said: "Buddhism is okay, but not Christianity. There was a history."
And this history includes how indigenous Christians in Anatolia have been slaughtered by Muslims. [2]
The total population of Turkey is about 80 million; believers of non-Muslim faiths -- mostly Christians and Jews -- comprise 0.2%. Nevertheless, anti-Christian sentiment is still prevalent in much of the Turkish society. [3]
There seems to be a pattern: Murders of Christians are committed stealthily in Turkey: It is "ordinary people" who murder or attack Christians, then the judiciary or political system somehow finds a way of enabling the murderers or attackers to get away with what they have done. Sadly, most of these crimes are not covered by the international media, and Turkey is never held responsible.
Turkey, however, signed a Customs Union agreement with the European Union in 1995 and was officially recognized as a candidate for full membership in 1999. Negotiations for the accession of Turkey to the EU are still ongoing.
How come a nation that has murdered or attacked so many Christians throughout history, and which has not even apologized for these crimes, is considered even a suitable candidate for EU membership? Because of the threat of blackmail to flood Europe with Muslims? Turkey will flood Europe with them anyway. There is even a name for it: Hijrah, spreading Islam (jihad) by emigration. Exactly as Muslims have done inside Turkey.
And what kind of a culture and civilization have many Muslims built for the most part in the lands that they have conquered? When one observes the historical and current situation in Muslim-majority countries, what one mostly sees are murders, attacks and hatred: Hatred of non-Muslims, hatred of women, hatred of free thought and an extremely deep hatred of everything that is not Islamic. Many Muslims that have moved to the West have been trying to import political Islam to the free world, as well.
Muslim regimes including Turkey have not achieved civilized democratization that would enable all of their citizens -- Muslims and non-Muslims -- to live free and safe lives.
While Muslims are pretty much free to practice their religion and express their views on other religions or on atheism anywhere in the world, Christians and other non-Muslims can be killed in Turkey and other Muslim-majority countries just for attempting peacefully to practice their religion or openly express their views.
"Multiculturalism," which is passionately defended by many liberals in the West, could have worked wonders in multi-ethnic and multi-religious places such as Anatolia. But unfortunately, Islamic ideology allows only one culture, one religion, and one way of thinking under their rule: Islam. Ironically, this is the central fact these liberals do not want to see.
Much of the history of Islam shows that the nature of Islamic ideology is to invade or infiltrate, and then to dominate non-Muslims.
In general, Muslims have never shown the slightest interest in peaceful coexistence with non-Muslims. Even if most Muslims are not jihadis, most do not speak out against jihadist attacks. Many thus appear quietly to support jihadis. That there are also peaceful Muslim individuals who respect other faiths does not change this tragic fact.
That is why non-Muslims in the West have every right to fear one day being exposed to the same treatment at the hands of Muslims. The fear non-Muslims have of Islamic attacks is, based on recent evidence, both rational and justified.
Given how unspeakably non-Muslims are treated in majority Muslim countries, including Turkey, who can blame them for being concerned about the possible Islamization of their own free societies?
Why does Turkey, which seems to hate its own Christians, want to have visa-free access to Christian Europe, anyway?
Robert Jones, an expert on Turkey, is currently based in the UK.
[1] Christianity has a long history in Samsun – as in all other Anatolian towns. As Amisos, in Greek, it was one of the centers of the ancient Greek Pontos region, and helped spread the Christian influence in the region.
"After 1914 the Greek and Armenian populations were to dwindle considerably due to the organized death marches and other methods used by the Turks during the Greek and Armenian Genocides," according to "Pontos World."
Decades later, attacks against Christians are still commonplace. In December 2007, another Catholic priest, Adriano Franchini, 65, of Izmir was also stabbed and wounded during the Sunday church service by a 19-year-old Muslim.
Izmir, or Smyrna, was an ecclesiastical territory of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and one of the Seven Churches of Asia mentioned by Apostle John in the Book of Revelation.
During the Ottoman era, Smyrna hosted one of the largest populations of Greeks and Armenians. Today, there is only a tiny Christian minority in the city. The devastation of the Greek culture in the city peaked during what is commonly known as the "Catastrophe of Smyrna." The Turkish army destroyed the city in 1922, after the Great Fire of Smyrna. Turkish soldiers murdered many non-Muslim civilians, including dozens of priests and bishops, and forced countless Greek men to join labor battalions. Most Greeks fled their homes in the city to seek shelter in Greece and other states.
"The Great Fire of Smyrna," wrote the author Ioanna Zikakou, "was the peak of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, bringing an end to the 3,000-year Greek presence on Anatolia's Aegean shore and shifting the population ratio between Muslims and non-Muslims."
According to the journalist Tony Carnes:
"Few nations have as rich a Christian history as Turkey. This is where Paul founded some of the earliest churches, including the church at Ephesus. Seven churches in this region were addressed in the Book of Revelation. Those in the early monastic movement found the caves of Cappadocia a near-perfect place to live out lives of prayer.
"But Christianity came under Islamic rule in Turkey in 1453 and steadily declined for centuries; the last 100 years have been the worst. In 1900, the Christian population was 22 percent. Now most experts estimate that there are fewer than 200,000 Christians nationwide, comprising less than 0.3 percent of the population."
Today, in Islamized Anatolia, the members of the diminutive Christian minority are daily exposed to verbal or physical attacks. Kamil Kiroglu was born and raised in Turkey as a Muslim. At the age of 24, he became a Christian and served in the Turkish Church until 2009. After he became Christian, he was rejected by his family.
On January 8, 2006, Kiroglu was beaten unconscious by five young Muslim men.
"The attack followed church services," writes the scholar John L. Allen Jr. in his book, The Global War on Christians. "Kiroglu later reported that one of the young men, wielding a knife, had shouted, 'Deny Jesus or I will kill you now!' Another reportedly shouted, 'We do not want Christians in this country!' As the attackers left, they told a friend of Kiroglu's that they had left a gift for him. It turned out to be a three-foot-long curved knife, left behind as a further warning against Christian activity."
"Turkey may be an officially secular state, but sociologically it's an Islamic society. In general, the greatest threat facing Christians comes not from religiously zealous forms of Islam but from ultranationalists who see Christians as agents of the West, often accusing them of being in league with Kurdish separatists."
In 2009, Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the Orthodox Christian Church's Patriarch, said in an interview with CBS that Turkey's Christians were second-class citizens and that he felt "crucified" at the hands of Turkish state authorities.
[2] "The annihilation of the non-Turk/non-Muslim peoples from Anatolia started on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals in Istanbul," wrote the columnist Raffi Bedrosyan.
"Within a few months, 1.5 million Armenians had been wiped out from their historic homeland of 4,000 years in what is now eastern Turkey, as well as from the northern, southern, central, and western parts of Turkey. About 250,000 Assyrians were also massacred in southeastern Turkey during the same period. Then, it was the Pontic Greeks' turn to be eliminated from northern Turkey on the Black Sea coast, sporadically from 1916 onward."Orhan Picaklar, the pastor of the Samsun Agape Church, was kidnapped and threatened by Muslim locals in 2007. He said that people also tried to kidnap his 11-year-old son from his school. His church has been stoned countless times. Ahmet Guvener, the pastor of the Diyarbakir Protestant Church, said he received so many threats that he was awaiting death: "I will give a letter of attorney to a friend of mine. If I die, I want him to take care of my children."[3] See the yearly reports of the Association of Protestant Churches about rights abuses against Christians in Turkey.

© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Merkel, refugees and the need for Arab cultural diplomacy
Faisal J. Abbas/Al Arabiya/31 July/16
It was certainly interesting to have been in Berlin over the past few days. Coincidentally, I was participating at an Arab World focused symposium organized by the Institute of Cultural Diplomacy (ICD), when the Syrian refugee crisis once again dominated the headlines and intensified what seems to be an already existing rift within Germany. On one hand, you had a moral stance by Chancellor Angela Merkel who condemned the recent lone-wolf attacks her country has endured. It should be noted here that the four recent attacks, which have left 13 dead this month, have been all committed by migrants to Germany.
Despite all this, Ms. Merkel courageously refused to ‘shut the door’ in the face of any/all asylum seekers found to be legitimate refugees. Under her leadership, Germany (a nation of more than 80 million people) took in a million refugees in 2015, making it the most open country for asylum seekers in Europe.
Ms. Merkel courageously refused to ‘shut the door’ in the face of any/all asylum seekers found to be legitimate refugees. Under her leadership, Germany (a nation of more than 80 million people) took in a million refugees in 2015
On the other hand, there is an ongoing smear campaign led by Ms. Merkel’s right-wing opponents. This has manifested in thousands of angry protestors taking to the streets to demand that their chancellor steps down, claiming that her “open door” policy has resulted in the loss of German lives.
It was almost surreal that all this unfolded as the ICD event on cultural diplomacy in the Arab World took place. To me, what is currently happening in Germany – and other parts of the world – are a result of an overall Arab cultural diplomacy failure.
No good deed goes unpunished
I got to listen during the event to some views which claimed that refugees should be sent back to the war-torn Syria. Others argued that Germany couldn’t possibly bear the cost of having them settle there permanently, nor would the refugees be able to adapt to the German culture given that their own Muslim culture “clashes with democratic values.”Examples of this ‘clash’ was that some Muslim females covering their face, refuse to shake hand with men or to be seen by a male doctor for “decency reasons.”However, when challenged, none of those who held these views were able to accurately describe how many of the 1 million refugees who came in share these extreme views? My guess? They can’t be many! This is based on the fact that such practices are only implemented by a small minority of the 1.6 billion followers of the Muslim faith. Of course, there are the more serious issues such as the recent lone-wolf attacks. The problem here is that such acts are – rightly – seen as a betrayal on behalf of refugees, who were given shelter, when they would have been barrel-bombed to death back in their country. However, Germans must understand that unfortunately, there is no good deed that goes unpunished. Similarly, there is no security measure that could fully prevent a troubled person from committing an atrocious crime. In addition, one only needs to remember Norway’s Anders Behring Breivik and America’s Timothy McVeigh to recall that terrorists, and disturbed people, can come in all colors, shapes and forms.
One only needs to remember Norway’s Anders Behring Breivik and America’s Timothy McVeigh to recall that terrorists, and disturbed people, can come in all colors, shapes and forms
Similarly, the reality is that no bad deed goes unpunished. As such, whether we like it or not, the entire international community is now paying the price for not interfering early to stop the Assad regime’s genocide. (Ironically, this seems to exclude Iran and Russia, the two countries which – arguably – should be held more responsible, given that they are still backing Assad). Germans may find comfort in being grateful that their nation is strong, wealthy and has the institutions to carry the burden. They only need to compare their situation to that of Lebanon; a country of 4 million, which is broke, has had a terrible recent history with the Assad regime, but is still offering refuge to more than a million refugees! To bring back the topic to cultural diplomacy, I think Syrian refugees would be doing themselves a great favor if they show more keenness to integrate and respect the culture of their new home countries. In addition, Arab countries could do more by expressing gratitude and support (be it verbal or material) to the righteous positions taken by the likes of Angela Merkel and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.

The West’s errors of judgment exact a terrible price
Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/31 July/16
Without doubt, the greatest error committed by the US and its European partners is their neglect of Syria. When President Barack Obama erased his own red line and subsequently turned his back on the legitimate opposition, the Free Syrian Army, the Syrian people were doomed to years of unimaginable misery with no end in sight. American officials boast that ISIS is on the run and losing captured territory in both Syria and Iraq, adding, this is the reason it is commanding its sympathizers to kill Americans and Europeans using any weapon to hand. Like so many millions of Syrians and Iraqis, the problem is being displaced rather than solved at root. So many unjust wars have been waged and the irony is that the one time a military intervention was desperately needed to save hundreds of thousands of lives and to prevent millions fleeing their homes, President Obama got cold feet. The only winners are the biggest state sponsor of terrorism Iran and its Syrian puppet Bashar al-Assad with whom Turkey seeks to mend fences following its detente with Moscow. Notable too is the silence of Western leaderships on regime atrocities even as calls for Assad to go are rarely heard nowadays. If the US president had shown leadership and rallied the international community behind him, there would have been no waves of Syrian refugees flooding Europe’s shores, and, arguably, Iraqis would still be united if George W. Bush had not invaded. My heart goes out to those poor families fleeing bombs and hunger. But, at the same time, the influx of genuine refugees has served as a cover for terrorists. It was unwise of Germany and Austria among others to offers blanket invitations without proper screening. Moreover, those without language skills or accredited educational certificates place a burden on economies and, in many cases, are resented or sometimes feared by local populations. Professionals have a greater chance of being assimilated into European societies but they are the very people needed to rebuild Syria. I believe they should have remained in their own country in areas under the protection of peace-keeping forces and no-fly zones until it was safe for them to return home. Instead of spending billions of Euros sealing quid pro quo deals with Ankara and on refugee welfare, those billions would have been better spent on creating safe zones within Syria.
Like so many millions of Syrians and Iraqis, the problem is being displaced rather than solved at root
I arrived for a short stay in Munich just days after an 18-year-old German-Iranian national shot and killed nine people at a mall, out of which seven where Muslims. I strolled around with friends admiring the sights marveling at how speedily the stricken city had regained its legendary joie de vivre.
Germans are stoic by nature and the warm people of Munich are rightly determined not to allow crazed killers to rob them of their laid-back lifestyle. But my fear is that such attacks hitting ‘soft targets’ are now accepted by Europeans as the new normal. Will there come a time when emotions, bombarded with sad news, will dry-up tears? Over the past weeks, a Frenchman of Tunisian descent hired a truck to mow down revelers on Nice’s Boulevard des Anglais, a Syrian suicide bomber blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach, an Afghan refugee hacked at passengers on a train in Wuerzburg – and a machete-wielding Syrian asylum-seeker murdered a woman and injured five others in Reutlingen.
Most recently, two ISIS terrorists forced a Catholic priest to his knees before cutting his throat in the sleepy French town of Saint-Etienne in northern France. Shockingly one of the armed men was being closely monitored by security services after being placed under a control order.
There is no escaping the fact that all these horrendous deeds were committed by individuals purporting to be Muslims. That said, none of these cold-hearted, soulless creatures can be classed as Muslim in the true sense of the word when their acts fly in the face of everything Islam stands for; they are deviants who don’t distinguish between Muslims and non-Muslims during their killing sprees.
A gift to Europe’s far-right
Almost all have been known criminals and drug dealers without known religious leanings. Over one third of those slaughtered in Nice were Muslims and it should not be forgotten that many more Muslims have lost life and limb due to terror attacks than adherents of other faiths. Every such attack is a gift to Europe’s far-right parties. There is increasing anger in both France and Germany against governments for security failures. If the hard right gains power and implements their divisive agendas, sectors of populations will be pitted against each other. France, where President Francois Hollande’s popularity has slumped, is especially vulnerable to politicians capitalizing on fear and hatred.
So are citizens of afflicted countries right to blame authorities?
It goes without saying the bulk of the blame should be laid at the feet of the perpetrators, their masters, funders and recruiters. Their massacres are inexcusable.
However, the policies of Western governments have been a major contributing factor to this poisonous brew going back to the time when the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies embraced the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, toppled Iran’s democratically-elected leader Mossadegh, abandoned the Shah and aided the return of the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini. During the 1980s, the CIA trained Arab fighters to battle the Soviets in Afghanistan and the US and its allies have been accused of dodgy alliances with radicals ever since. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq fuelled sectarianism and anti-Western sentiment.
US drone attacks have killed thousands of Pakistani and Afghan civilians, blithely written-off as collateral damage. Let us be very honest with ourselves. Bush’s so-called “War on Terror” not only failed to eradicate terrorism, it succeeded in nurturing it, leaving behind a long trail of angry fathers, brothers and sons.
Another question uppermost in people’s minds is why French nationals of North African extraction are bent on the destruction of their own homeland or adopted country? The harsh reality is that France’s Muslim communities have been marginalized and discriminated against in terms of job opportunities and housing. They have been ghettoized in sub-standard housing estates and have been made to feel like outsiders. Senior politicians, including former President Nicolas Sarkozy, have characterized them as “an enemy within”. Aggrieved, the weak-minded make perfect fodder for armed extremists and their revengeful, blood thirsty ideologies. Terrorism has become a pandemic. No country is immune and this complex mess impacting millions that has been decades in the making. There are no quick fixes. Unfortunately, there is also no concerted strategy on the part of concerned states to eradicate terrorism and bring peace to our troubled region, so that Syrians and Iraqis can resume normal lives and regain their dignity. All that is on offer are band aids. Without unified international resolve, the prognosis is more of the same or worse. I wish I could end on a positive note, but, without a glimmer of light the end of the tunnel, sadly, I cannot.
 

Washington and the Saudi-Iranian-Turkish axis
Riyadh is biding its time until end of Obama administration, particularly as many Arabs blame Obama for chaos throughout region.
The Arab Weekly/Ali al-Amin/July 31/16
Many are viewing crises in the Middle East through the prism of a US-Iranian rapprochement that has upended the regional status quo. Will this emerging reality ultimately lead to greater stability or more conflict and chaos?
The recent coup attempt in Turkey is one sign of the new status quo, with Turkey accusing Washington, and particularly US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, of being responsible.
Although the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was a major step forward in terms of relations between Tehran and the P5+1 world powers, there are outstanding issues between the United States and Iran that need to be addressed.
Despite this, there is real effort from both sides to develop a strategic relationship in the region, including on issues that are major sources of dispute. The building of bridges of trust in terms of coordination between the United States and Iran in Iraq has seen Washington agree to send 560 more soldiers to assist the Iraqis, who are being supported by Iran-backed militias, in the liberation of territory held by the Islamic State (ISIS).
Shia religious figures in Iraq are saying that the US change of tack is based on Washington’s view of Shia Islam, as opposed to Sunni Islam, which is practiced — albeit in a radical form — by jihadists such as ISIS and its ilk. This could encourage Tehran and Washington to increase cooperation in the fight against terrorism and broaden security cooperation and coordination in other areas.
Therefore, it is easy to understand Washington’s increasing unease towards the role of Turkey, which is ruled by the Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) that seems to want to play a larger role in the Middle East. There is also Ankara’s conflict with armed Kurdish groups, the same ones that are US allies in the war against ISIS.
The nuclear agreement helped both sides, providing much-needed sanctions relief to a beleaguered Iranian economy in return for Iranian security cooperation with the United States in the Middle East. This rapprochement has served both countries’ strategic interests.
This is how US President Barack Obama has succeeded in bringing a country that had been a pillar of predecessor George W. Bush’s “axis of evil” in from the cold. This is the same strategy that Obama used to produce a new policy towards Cuba and reveals how he has sought to upend existing foreign policy to create a new web of alliances.
Ultimately, the United States under Obama seems to be trying to neutralise its old enemies however it can, although this does not take into account non-state actors such as ISIS. This is reminiscent of Turkey’s “zero enemies” policy put forward by former Foreign minister and prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
As the relationship between Washington and Tehran becomes closer, so the relationship between the United States and the region’s other main power, Saudi Arabia, worsens. The same could be argued about Washington’s relationship with Ankara.
This, of course, is stoking Arab Gulf anger towards Washington, although without spilling into outright hostility and there has been increasing criticism of the US president. According to most Sunni Arabs, rapprochement with Iran is taking place at the expense of Arab interests.
As for what the future holds, that will depend entirely on who is the next occupant of the White House. Riyadh is biding its time until the end of the Obama administration, particularly as many Arabs blame Obama for the chaos throughout the region. Only time will tell what awaits the region from a President Hillary Clinton or a President Donald Trump.