LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

June 16/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.june16.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10/21-26:"Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. ‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! ‘So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known."

The Angle in a vision asked Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort to bring Peter and Listen to him
Acts of the Apostles 10/01-10//19-23a./:"In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called.He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, ‘Cornelius.’ He stared at him in terror and said, ‘What is it, Lord?’ He answered, ‘Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.’When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa. About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, ‘Look, three men are searching for you. Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them.’ So Peter went down to the men and said, ‘I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for your coming?’ They answered, ‘Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.’ So Peter invited them in and gave them lodging. The next day he got up and went with them, and some of the believers from Joppa accompanied him.

Pope Francis's Tweet For Today
Dear elderly friends, God does not abandon you; he is with you! With his help you are and you continue to be the memory for your people.
Chères personnes âgées, Dieu ne vous abandonne pas ! Avec son aide, vous êtes la mémoire vivante de votre peuple.
أيها المسنون الأعزاء، الله لن يترككم، هو معكم! وبمساعدته أنتم ذكرى حيّة لشعبكم.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 15-16/16

A decade later, are Hezbollah and Israel learning lessons/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/15 June/16
Confrontation between Hezbollah, banks “almost inevitable”: Iran agency/Now Lebanon/June 15/16
Hariri is not Lebanon’s problem/Hussain Abdul-HussainNow Lebanon/June 15/16
Hamas Threatens Jordan/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/June 15/16
What to Expect from an Independent Palestinian State/Fred Maroun/Gatestone Institute/June 15/16
'Al-Quds Al-Arabi': At Least Four Arab Countries Supported Israel's Candidacy For Chair Of UN Legal Committee/MEMRI/June 15/16
Will Iran’s most popular general enter politics/Arash Karami/Al-Monitor/June 15/16
The Saudi-Iranian struggle in Iraq/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/15 June/16
The violent road to Fallujah/Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/15 June/16
Libraries and the UAE reading initiative/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/15 June/16
Why the US business world is closely watching Saudi reforms/Nathan Hodson/Al Arabiya/15 June/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on June 15-16/16

Israeli Official Warns Hizbullah against Another War
Nasrallah Expected to Comment on BLOM Blast as Report Says 'Hizbullah Knows who Planted Bomb'
Rifi Says 'Inclined to Accuse Hizbullah' of Verdun Blast, Likens It to Hariri Murder
'Progress' in Blast Probe amid Interrogation of Suspect Possibly Linked to 'Resistance Brigades'
Salam 'Very Dismayed' by Kataeb Resignation, Calls It a 'Mistake'
Fire breaks out inside building in Ashrafieh
Protest at hospital transfer to public Beirut park ends in hand to hand fighting
Future Movement denies involvement in Horsh Beirut brawl
Abu Faour orders probe into child Sophie Meshleb's case
One shot in personal standoff in Baalback
Bassil culminates Scandinavian tour by meeting with hsi Swedish counterpart
Shorter visits Insaaf to mark International Domestic Worker's Day
A decade later, are Hezbollah and Israel learning lessons?
Confrontation between Hezbollah, banks “almost inevitable”: Iran agency
Hariri is not Lebanon’s problem
Orlando Shooter Claimed Loyalty to Conflicting Groups, including Hizbullah
 

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 15-16/16

U.S. Denies Rift with Saudi on Syria Tactics
Syrian Activists Accuse U.N. of 'Capitulating' to Regime on Aid
At Least 70 Fighters Dead in Clashes in Syria's Aleppo Province
Iranians protest Zarif’s presence in Germany
Man arrested in U.S. for violating Iran trade embargo
U.S. Launches Talks with Crisis-Hit Venezuela
Saudis Invite U.N. for Talks on Child Rights Blacklist
Israeli PM Criticized after Obama Opposes Extra Military Aid
Trap Tightens on Civilians as Battles Rage in Iraq's Fallujah
Jewish Settlers Win Approval for East Jerusalem Building

Links From Jihad Watch Site for June 15-16/16
New Mexico: Muslim “refugee” with gas pipeline plans arrested in border county
Texas: Muslim threatens to kill those who refuse to take copies of Qur’an
Two days before Orlando jihad massacre, DHS told officials not to use words “jihad” and “Sharia” to avoid offending Muslims
New York: Muslim pleads guilty to selling nuclear technology to Iran
Confucius rebukes Obama
Sharia London: Muslim mayor bans “body shaming” advertisements
Philippines: Muslims behead Canadian hostage
DHS Secretary: “Right-wingers” pose same threat as Islamic jihadists
Why 17-Year-Old Mayar Mohamed Mousa Had to Die
Mateen scouted Walt Disney World as potential target of his jihad massacre
Reading the Qur’an during Ramadan 11: Juz Ya’tadhiruna
Clinton’s fear of a clash of civilizations in avoiding the jihadist threat to homeland security
FBI top dog “confused” about Orlando jihadi’s motive because he supported both Sunni and Shia jihad groups

Latest Lebanese Related News published on June 15-16/16
Israeli Official Warns Hizbullah against Another War

Associated PressNaharnet /June 15/16/Israel's head of military intelligence has said that Hizbullah should be wary of another war with Israel. Marking 10 years since the monthlong 2006 summer war with Hizbullah, Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi said Wednesday that Israel is more prepared than ever and that Hizbullah would suffer a great deal if it initiated another battle. Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, Halevi said that if Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah "knew our abilities, our knowledge, our preparedness, he wouldn't risk another conflict."The 2006 fighting killed about 1,200 Lebanese, including hundreds of civilians, and about 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. Israeli airstrikes heavily damaged Lebanon's infrastructure, while Hizbullah fired several thousand rockets into Israel. Israeli officials say Hizbullah's improved missile arsenal is now capable of striking virtually anywhere in Israel.

Nasrallah Expected to Comment on BLOM Blast as Report Says 'Hizbullah Knows who Planted Bomb'
Naharnet /June 15/16/Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is expected to comment in the coming days on the bombing that rocked the headquarters of BLOM Bank in Verdun, media reports said, after several parties accused his party of staging the attack to intimidate the banking sector amid a row over the implementation of anti-Hizbullah U.S. financial sanctions. “Sources close to Hizbullah expect the party to end its silence on the attack on BLOM Bank soon,” al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Wednesday. “Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is expected to respond in person to the accusations that have targeted the party or that tried to link the bombing to the media and political campaign that has targeted the banking sector and the central bank governor,” the sources said. “The sides that plotted the bomb attack have become known and Hizbullah has detailed information about them and about the individuals who executed the operation,” the sources added. The sources also revealed that “Hizbullah has put everyone in the picture of the information it has, including ex-PM Saad Hariri.” “Nasrallah's rhetoric will not be calm, especially towards the United States,” the sources added. Later on Wednesday, al-Jadeed television reported that Nasrallah will deliver a speech on June 24 to commemorate 40 days since the death in Syria of its top military commander Mustafa Badreddine. Earlier in the day, resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi announced that he is “inclined to accuse Hizbullah” of being behind the blast that targeted BLOM Bank. “There are several similarities between the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri and the Verdun bombing and in my political analysis I'm inclined to accuse Hizbullah,” Rifi tweeted. Noting that Hizbullah has not condemned the attack until the moment, Rifi asked: “Who benefits from this crime and who has the ability to do it?”The explosion on Sunday evening blew out the entire glass facade of the headquarters of BLOM Bank, one of the country's largest, but only one person was lightly wounded.Some politicians and local media have linked the attack to a law voted in December by the U.S. Congress to impose sanctions on banks that deal with Hizbullah, considered a "terrorist group" by the U.S. Last month, Lebanon's Central Bank instructed the country's banks and financial institutions to comply with the new measure against the Lebanese Iran-backed group. Hizbullah has fiercely criticized the law and accused Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh of "yielding" to Washington's demands. Several Lebanese newspapers known to be critical of Hizbullah said the explosion was a "message" to banks complying with the ruling. "Maybe they chose BLOM Bank as a target because it has been the strictest in implementing the U.S. sanctions against Hizbullah," An Nahar newspaper wrote. Other papers that are close to Hizbullah, including al-Akhbar, said the blast was an attempt at sparking sectarian tensions. Washington has labeled Hizbullah a global terrorist group since 1995, accusing it of a long list of attacks including the bombing of the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983. BLOM Bank director general Saad al-Azhari told reporters that no threats had been received by the bank ahead of Sunday's blast.

Rifi Says 'Inclined to Accuse Hizbullah' of Verdun Blast, Likens It to Hariri Murder
Naharnet /June 15/16/Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi announced Wednesday that he is “inclined to accuse Hizbullah” of being behind the blast that targeted the headquarters of BLOM Bank in Verdun on Sunday. “There are several similarities between the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri and the Verdun bombing and in my political analysis I'm inclined to accuse Hizbullah,” Rifi tweeted. Noting that Hizbullah has not condemned the attack until the moment, Rifi asked: “Who benefits from this crime and who has the ability to do it?”“The May 7, (2008 armed takeover of Beirut) failed and it fired back at Hizbullah, which paid its price, and the Verdun bomb attack will also fire back against the party,” the minister added. “The banking sector is a red line and Hizbullah must realize that or else everyone will turn against it,” Rifi warned. Commenting on the recent closure of dozens of suspected Hizbullah-linked bank accounts in recent weeks, the minister stressed that “there is a difference between Shiites and Hizbullah.”“As Lebanese, we have all been hurt by its terrorism and fighting in Syria and it is required to respect the State, which has the ability to protect us all,” Rifi went on to say. The minister however reassured that “there is no fear of an all-out security deterioration in Lebanon” and that “things are under control except for some random incidents.” He also noted that “there is a national need to communicate with Hizbullah” while pointing out that “there is a big difference between security contacts and political contacts.”“Our supporters reject the dialogue table,” he added.

'Progress' in Blast Probe amid Interrogation of Suspect Possibly Linked to 'Resistance Brigades'
Naharnet /June 15/16/The investigation into the bombing that rocked the headquarters of BLOM Bank in Verdun has “made progress,” media reports said Wednesday, as MTV reported that one of the two suspects who were arrested shortly before the blast was carrying “a walkie-talkie of the type used by the Resistance Brigades.”“The officers of the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch have managed to reach a serious thread in the investigations which might lead to unveiling the identities of those who carried out the bombing that targeted BLOM Bank,” al-Akhbar newspaper quoted security sources as saying.
“The probe made progress yesterday and investigators are focusing on the hypothesis that two cars -- a BMW and a Kia -- transported the culprits to the blast site,” the sources added. “The BMW's driver monitored the area as an unidentified man stepped out of the Kia to plant the bomb at the bottom of a tree that is adjacent to the bank,” the sources said, noting that “the aforementioned tree and the low quality of the CCTV footage prevented the recognition of his facial features.”The sources also confirmed that two suspects have been arrested in connection with the case and that they passed in the area on a motorcycle shortly before the blast. “They were not carrying identification papers and when an ISF patrol arrested them it turned out that one of them was carrying a gun while the other was wanted by the judiciary,” the security sources said, adding that the two were referred to the Intelligence Branch after the blast to determine whether they had links to it. MTV had overnight reported that the two detainees are “Lebanese citizens who hail from the South.”“They were carrying a gun and a walkie-talkie of the type used by the Resistance Brigades and it turned out that one of them is a fugitive,” the TV network added.
The Resistance Brigades is a Hizbullah-affiliated paramilitary group.The explosion on Sunday evening blew out the entire glass facade of the headquarters of BLOM BANK, one of the country's largest, but only one person was lightly wounded. Politicians and local media have linked the attack to a law voted in December by the U.S. Congress to impose sanctions on banks that deal with Hizbullah, considered a "terrorist group" by the U.S. Last month, Lebanon's Central Bank instructed the country's banks and financial institutions to comply with the new measure against the Lebanese Iran-backed group. Hizbullah has fiercely criticized the law and accused Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh of "yielding" to Washington's demands. Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq said the blast was caused by a bomb containing about 3-4 kilos of explosives. Washington has labeled Hizbullah a global terrorist group since 1995, accusing it of a long list of attacks including the bombing of the U.S. Embassy and Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983. BLOM Bank director general Saad al-Azhari told reporters that no threats had been received by the bank ahead of Sunday's blast.

Salam 'Very Dismayed' by Kataeb Resignation, Calls It a 'Mistake'
Naharnet /June 15/16/Prime Minister Tammam Salam is “very dismayed” by Kataeb Party's decision to withdraw its ministers from the government, al-Liwaa newspaper quoted the PM's visitors as saying. The premier told his visitors that he was “very dismayed by Kataeb's stance that comes amid critical and difficult situations in the country,” the daily said. “The timing is inappropriate for such a step,” Salam was quoted as saying. And in direct remarks, the PM told al-Liwaa that “Kataeb's move was a mistake,” stressing that “it is unacceptable to paralyze the country for any reason.”Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel had announced the resignation of Kataeb's two ministers Sejaan Qazzi and Alain Hakim overnight, saying Lebanon needed a “positive shock.”The decision does not involve Information Minister Ramzi Jreij who is not a Kataeb member, although he was nominated by the party. “For a while now, they have been trying to suppress us through cabinet mechanisms that were created with the aim of stifling our opinion and preventing us from stopping their deals,” Gemayel said. “They are not concerned with protecting the banking sector against the verbal attacks and they did not care about the economic plan that was submitted by the economy minister (Hakim),” Gemayel went on to say. “They are only concerned with passing suspicious deals,” he said. On Thursday, Gemayel hinted that his party's ministers might resign or suspend their participation in cabinet sessions should their presence in the government cease to “serve the interest of the Lebanese.”Gemayel voiced his remarks shortly after Kataeb's ministers walked out of a cabinet session in protest at the government's handling of the waste management file. At his press conference on Thursday, Gemayel also expressed environmental concerns related to the controversial Janna dam project. “The two issues are a disaster targeted against every citizen in Lebanon,” he said.

Fire breaks out inside building in Ashrafieh
Wed 15 Jun 2016/NNA - A fire erupted inside a building in Ashrafieh this evening, prompting firemen to rush to extinguish it before extending to nearby residential apartments, National News Agency correspondent reported on Wednesday. The fire was caused by piles of cardboard boxes an old man usually collects at the building's entrance.

Protest at hospital transfer to public Beirut park ends in hand to hand fighting
Wed 15 Jun 2016/NNA - A brawl that had soon developed into hand-to-hand fighting broke out among young men protesting the transfer of the Egyptian hospital into the capital's public park, known as Horsh Beirut, leaving a number of people slightly injured, National News Agency correspondent reported on Wednesday. Security forces immediately interfered to disperse the crowd, forcing protesters out of the area. But a statement issued subsequently by former lawmaker Najah Wakim indicated that supporters of his Popular Movement were holding a peaceful sit-in, when members of Future Movement "brutally" attacked them, leaving many with "severe" wounds. Wakim held Future Movement fully responsible for the attack, confirming that his party shall lodge a lawsuit in that respect.

Future Movement denies involvement in Horsh Beirut brawl
Wed 15 Jun 2016/NNA - Future Movement denied, in a statement on Wednesday, the claims of former lawmaker Najah Wakim, who accused Future supporters of attacking activists from the Popular Movement during a protest at Horsh Beirut.

Abu Faour orders probe into child Sophie Meshleb's case
Wed 15 Jun 2016/NNA - Minister of Public Health, Wael Abu Faour, order on Wednesday probe into the case of child Sophie Meshleb, summoning her parents and her physician to the Ministry for investigations.

One shot in personal standoff in Baalback
Wed 15 Jun 2016/NNA - One citizen was shot and injured in a personal standoff that developed into gunfire in Jboula valley in Baalback's Zaboud region, National News Agency correspondent reported on Wednesday. The dispute broke out after two Dandash family brothers harassed a girl of Alaeddine family.

Bassil culminates Scandinavian tour by meeting with hsi Swedish counterpart
Wed 15 Jun 2016/NNA - Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister, Jibran Bassil, winded up his Scandinavian tour by meeting with his Swedish counterpart, Margot Walstrom, and Swedish Justice Minister, Morgan Johansson, over immigration and terrorism issues, as well the impact of the wave of heavy displacement on Lebanon militarily, economically and socially. Talks also reportedly dwelt on the issue of the Swedish authorities' decision to forcibly deport Lebanese families from Sweden, who have spent more than ten years there.
Bassil asked: "Is this the way Lebanon is being rewarded as a result of enduring the burden of receiving about a million and a half displaced Syrians... at a time the international community is asking of Lebanon to integrate hundreds of thousands of Syrians in Lebanon?." The Swedish side pledged to follow up on the issue for the sake of finding a solution to this ordeal. Bassil also implored his Swedish counterpart to reopen the Swedish embassy in Beirut on a resident and durable manner. Talks also touched on the subject of Sweden's reception of 163,000 Syrian refugees, whereby it is considered the European country receiving the largest number of refugees.

Shorter visits Insaaf to mark International Domestic Worker's Day
Wed 15 Jun 2016/NNA - In a press release by the British Embassy in Beirut, it said: "Meet Leena, Lebanese anti-slavery campaigner, and Sarah, Beirut librarian from India. Two women with different stories but one common ideal: fair treatment. Both are concerned by the situation of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon - particularly those known as the "shut-in maids," who are rarely or never allowed to leave their employers' homes. Ten years ago, a friend asked Sarah to translate for a young Indian domestic worker summoned to court. Now she runs Insaaf (meaning Justice or Equity), a safe space for migrant domestic workers in the heart of Dora, where her dedicated colleagues provide much needed services such as orientation, language courses, legal counsel and social activities. It was these services which caught Leena's eye, after research she conducted with funding from the British Embassy. "Employing a domestic worker in Lebanon can be a timely and costly process," says Leena. "It can be frustrating, uncomfortable, and integrating a new person into your household may be challenging due to language and cultural barriers." From this simple idea came Leena's big idea for a social enterprise: EQUIP, a unique new approach which will support agencies, employers and workers in equal measure to help build professional and sustainable working relationships. Leena plans to offer key services like skype introductions and airport welcomes, to make both sides more comfortable; first aid courses, to give employers more confidence in their workers; and, crucially, a mediation service to help resolve problem cases. Together, Leena and Sarah welcomed British Ambassador Hugo Shorter to Insaaf to mark International Domestic Worker's Day (June 16th) along with workers from around the world. Amidst the cake and the selfies, it was a chance to hear about their hopes for the future. "Domestic workers perform a respectable and valued job," said Ambassador Shorter, "but they don't enjoy the same protections at work as other employees - and the rights they do have are particularly open to abuse because of their situation. The women I've met today deserve respect, adequate rest and the chance to see friends and family, just like the rest of us - the right to live in a Fair Home. This is an issue for which the Embassy has long been an advocate, and I'm pleased that after granting Leena a Chevening scholarship to the UK, we were able to fund her initial research. We look forward to supporting EQUIP as it moves forward."

A decade later, are Hezbollah and Israel learning lessons?
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/15 June/16
Last week’s 10th anniversary of the 2006 outbreak of war between Israel and the Hezbollah was a relatively subdued one. Putting aside verbal aggression, both sides have little interest in facing each other directly in the battlefield. They are both fully aware that the consequences might be more destructive and bloodier than the one a decade ago, which is still as inconclusive in its outcome. A lasting memory of the horrendous consequences of the last round of hostilities, combined with both sides’ new and enhanced capabilities and changing of regional political circumstances, serve, for now, as deterrence from a new and widespread military clash. Most strikingly is the fact that the deadly violence of June 2006 was unplanned and miscalculated. In response to Hezbollah’s killing of eight Israeli soldiers and the abduction of two others, Israel unleashed not only disproportionate force on the Hezbollah, but also on the people and infrastructure of Lebanon. For the Hezbollah it was a painful and foolish miscalculation that cost the lives of hundreds of its combatants, the destruction of considerable part of its military capabilities and deepened the rifts within the Lebanese society. Yet, its ability to maintain the firing rockets into Israel until the very end of the 34-day war, left them as a credible force to be reckoned with, despite the fact that their leader Hassan Nasrallah spends most of his time in hiding fearing for his life since then. For the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the time, the rushed decision to unleash the might of the Israeli air force and later send in ground troops, proved to be one of the catalysts that brought down his government and abruptly ended his premiership. An official commission, appointed to investigate the Israeli failure in achieving a conclusive victory, wrote a scathing report that accused the government and the military for a deficiency of strategic thinking and operational shortcomings, including a lack of preparedness. I would hasten to say that the commission itself fell into a perceptual trap by expressing their surprise that, “A semi-military organization of a few thousand men resisted, for a few weeks, the strongest army in the Middle East, which enjoyed full air superiority and size and technology advantages.”If, when and how a future war with the Hezbollah were to take place, would also depend to a large extent on how it feeds into the Iranian-Israeli rivalry, especially as Iran’s presence is edging closer to the Israeli borders
Understanding of warfare
A deeper historical understanding of modern warfare, and not so modern, would have driven the message home that military superiority in manpower or technology does not guarantee either military victory or the attainment of political objectives. More alarming in the case of Israeli Defense Force (IDF), was its inability to provide an adequate response to the barrage of rockets aimed at civilians in the north of the country and consequently being able to prevent the severe disruption to daily life there. Since 2006 Israel has found by and large an answer for rocket and missile attacks through its new and sophisticated air defense systems. Nevertheless, its flawed strategic outlook of mainly relying on its military might has not changed. In three rounds of hostilities with the Hamas in Gaza, since the end of the war in Lebanon in July 2006, a very similar approach was adopted. In both cases force was used with little or no regard to civilians’ lives.
Admittedly, both the Hezbollah and Hamas were targeting civilians, but this surely cannot serve as an excuse. A state cannot afford and should not imitate the behavior of non-state organizations, which are legally considered terrorist by large parts of the international community. Harming civilians and infrastructure in hope that the population will turn against these organizations and blame them for the pain caused by the Israelis, is unrealistic, immoral and usually achieves the exact opposite. Increasing military capabilities on both sides, in the decade that has elapsed since the end of the war, assists in maintaining a high level of mutual deterrence, in which they are content with clashing verbally and exchange threats, but careful to prevent another all-out conflict. It is estimated that the Hezbollah possess up to 100,000 rockets and missiles, however, its embroilment in the civil war in Syria limits its capacity to provoke Israel into another war.
The Syria front
In Syria itself confrontation between the two is demarcated with very clear boundaries. Israel has reportedly assassinated a number of Hezbollah’s senior military personnel and attacked convoys of weapons intended for the organization in Lebanon, yet the organization’s response was sure to avoid escalation. The Shiite organization is building its forces both in Lebanon and along the border with Israel in the Golan Heights, but was hesitant to attack Israel, even in cases such as the killing of Samir Kuntar in December of last year. Some in Israel attribute this hesitancy to a state of deterrence established with the Hezbollah in the 2006 war. A more feasible explanation would be that the Hezbollah was bogged down for more than five years in supporting Bashar al-Assad in the brutal civil war in Syria, in which the organization suffered an estimated loss of around 1,200 fighters. While it is committed to the conflict in Syria, it cannot afford opening another front with Israel. Israel sees a conflict between the two as inevitable, but is unsure whether it should happen sooner rather than later. Whatever happens next between Israel and the Hezbollah, the elephant in the room is Iran, which Israel sees as its main strategic challenge. If, when and how a future war with the Hezbollah were to take place, would also depend to a large extent on how it feeds into the Iranian-Israeli rivalry, especially as Iran’s presence is edging closer to the Israeli borders.
However, the sides are better off learning the lesson of 2006 that preferring war over diplomacy rarely ends with any political achievements.

Confrontation between Hezbollah, banks “almost inevitable”: Iran agency
Now Lebanon/June 15/16
Fars News warned that Hezbollah could prepare an "unexpected response" if Lebanese banks continue to comply with US sanctions.
BEIRUT – An Iranian press agency has warned that Lebanon’s banks risk unleashing Hezbollah’s wrath if they continue to apply US sanctions against the party and its “incubating environment” of Lebanon’s Shiite community.
The highly cautionary report, entitled “The Financial Aggression Against Hezbollah: The Banking Army of Lahhad,” a reference to Tel Aviv’s proxy force in southern Lebanon during the Israeli occupation, was published hours before a bomb detonated outside a bank in central Beirut Sunday.
“In the wake of the US sanctions law against Hezbollah… and after the financial confrontation moved from the international arena to the Lebanese one… the confrontation between Hezbollah and the banks has become almost inevitable,” Iran’s semi-official Fars News wrote in its highly unusual article.
It harshly criticized the financial institutions following the recent closure of approximately 100 accounts linked to Hezbollah, saying that “some of them, led by Central Bank Governor RIad Salameh, insist on offering lip service to the US law.”
“There are those who seek to plunge the banks in direct confrontation with the party,” the article said.
According to Fars News, Hezbollah considers the freezing of accounts to be a confrontation not only with the party itself, “but with its incubator environment,” a reference to the Shiite community in Lebanon.
The report cited a “close associate” of Hezbollah as saying that while the party “understands the banking situation in Lebanon” and the concerns of country’s bankers, it wants the sanctions to exclusively target Hezbollah and not the country’s Shiites, or else the party will enact an “unexpected reaction.”
The report warned that Hezbollah could take a number of steps; including boycotting banks and demanding they close down their branches in areas of the country where the party draws on popular support, namely the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon.
Although the article raised the possibility that Hezbollah would take “legal” measures in its stand-off with the banks and “the governor of the Central Bank in particular,” it further warned that the party was also ready to undertake a “new May 7,” a reference to the Hezbollah-led military takeover of Beirut in 2008 following the cabinet’s decision at the time to dismantle the party’s telecom network.
“Some people are completely mistaken when they think that since Hezbollah is busy in Syria, it will rush to calm down the situation at the expense of its own people,” Fars News said, adding that the party’s decisions during the 2008 May events aimed to protect itself and its community. “The crisis today requires banking prudence… or else we may, in the end, be before a new May 7.”Fars News also warned of broader political ramifications in the brewing standoff between Lebanon’s banks and Hezbollah, saying that a potential collapse of the banking sector “will leave many of the accomplices of the US [campaign] against the Shiite community in Lebanon, including Sunnis and Christians who support [Washington], with the same fate as that of the accomplices of Israel.”
“The collapse of the banking sector means that these banks and those who are in charge will be at the forefront of the losers.”Fars News published its report less than 12-hours before a blast hit the BLOM Bank branch in Beirut’s Verdun. Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said the explosion “clearly” targeted the bank, while the head of the large Lebanese financial institution denied his bank was hit because of any actions it took against a “group” in the country, an implicit reference to the growing row over the application of anti-Hezbollah sanctions.
On Wednesday, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh told CNBC that 100 Hezbollah-linked bank accounts had been shut down in the country, prompting an angry riposte from Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc later that day, which said Lebanon’s “monetary policy has lost its sovereignty.”A US law passed on December 18, 2015 mandates the strictest sanctions yet against Hezbollah as well any individual or organization affiliated with it and any financial institution anywhere in the world that “knowingly facilitates a transaction” for it.
In response, the Lebanese Central Bank issued Circular No. 137 on May 3, calling on Lebanese banks to abide by the US legislation; action has already been taken by banks against numerous Hezbollah officials. The sanction law and the Lebanese banking sectors adherence to it has enraged Hezbollah, with one of the party’s minister in the government, Hussein al-Hajj Hassan, saying in a mid-May cabinet session the sanctions “transgressed all red lines” and represented part of a “war of elimination.”
However, Hezbollah on May 18 praised a directive by Salameh calling on banks to consult with the Central Bank before shutting accounts down.
NOW's English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola) wrote this report. Amin Nasr translated the Arabic-language source material.

Hariri is not Lebanon’s problem
Hussain Abdul-HussainNow Lebanon/June 15/16
Lebanon’s oligarchy is at the heart of its failure, but this hardly means that Hariri is responsible for the nation’s current state of affairs. The municipal campaigns of Beirut Madinati and Ashraf Rifi gave the impression that beating former Prime Minister Saad Hariri was the beginning of a change in Lebanon. Yet despite his downsides, Hariri is by no means the problem. If anything, given the Lebanese context, Hariri’s pros far outweigh his cons. Hariri’s problem is his performance and the lineup of his team of confidants, many of whom seem opportunistic charlatans. Back in the days of his late father, there were only two Hariri leaders, Rafik and his sister Bahiyya. With Saad, the Hariri leaders increased to four, a big number for any political dynasty. Unlike his father who sniffed opportunities, could detect pitfalls and was a good judge of character, Saad falls in traps, even with warning signs written all over the place — like when he sent a delegation to participate in the conference for Christians in the Levante in Washington. The Hariri delegation left mid-conference, and one of them was caught on camera swearing at a pro-Assad nun. And if Hariri had a good team of aides, they would have probably advised him to endorse Beirut Medinati and other similar municipal tickets, many of whose candidates were Hariri’s partisans, instead of allying with the devil to break these groups. Yet Hariri remains one of Lebanon’s best assets. For a start, he takes criticism — like this piece and many other similar articles. He does not fund or maintain a militia. He does not order his critics abused or taken out. The Hariri dynasty has never ordered the killing, kidnapping, arrest, imprisonment or abuse of rivals and foes, which makes Hariri a rarity in Arab politics.
Amongst Lebanon’s oligarchs, Hariri is probably the only one who has held a job other than in politics or a militia. Hariri is a university graduate, he is fluent in foreign languages and relies on a worldwide network of friends that his father left behind. Compared to other Lebanese politicians, other than Walid Jumblatt, Hariri emerges on top in terms of personal qualifications. Hariri is known for being a family man. Those who know him personally say he is a pleasant person, honest, and with a sense of humor. During the early days of his leadership, he often complained that “they asked him to cut his ponytail and wear a suit.” Hariri comes across as a likable young leader. He is not in the league of clerics-turned-militia leaders. He is not in the league of former warlords. Hariri is one of Lebanon’s oligarchs, but he is the one with most integrity amongst them.
Hariri’s opponents often accuse him of two things: His ambition to regain the prime minister’s job, and antagonism against Christians. Hariri’s political ambition is legitimate. He is a politician and that is what politicians do. As long as he is playing by the rules, not killing his way to power or shutting down the government and bringing the country to the verge of collapse if he does not get what he wants, everything is fair game.
Since 2006, Hezbollah has shut down government, Speaker Nabih Berri has locked down parliament for long stretches of time and lawmaker Michel Aoun has made sure that no quorum comes to order in parliament unless a majority elects him president.
Hariri, for his part, has not played any of these shenanigans. Since having been bullied out of government in 2011, Hariri has delegated two successive prime ministers. He has always cooperated in the formation of national unity cabinets. Hariri has been the most flexible of the oligarchs on parliamentary election laws. Finally, Hariri has so far endorsed all four of the “verified” Christian leaders for president. Hariri’s first choice was former president Amin Gemayel. Hariri then endorsed Samir Geagea, while also receiving Aoun in Paris and agreeing with him on the contours of a Aoun-Hariri president-prime minister arrangement, which fell through the cracks for unknown reasons. After failing to elect Geagea in over 30 parliamentary sessions, Hariri declared his support for the presidency of lawmaker Suleiman Franjieh. Over the past decade, Hariri has technically endorsed Gemayel, Geagea, Aoun and Franjieh. Yet a majority of Christians still have the audacity of accusing Hariri of undermining their “legitimate” leaders. Lebanon’s oligarchy is at the heart of its failure, but this hardly means that Hariri is responsible for the nation’s current state of affairs. Hezbollah’s armed militia, Berri’s everlasting speakership, Aoun’s grumpy and selfish presidential bid, and Geagea's outdated Christian tribal politics are all factors that make Hariri — despite his cons — look like a rose among the thorns.

Orlando Shooter Claimed Loyalty to Conflicting Groups, including Hizbullah
Associated Press/Naharnet /June 15/16/The Orlando gunman professed allegiance during the attack on a gay nightclub to the leader of the Islamic State militants, even as he called the Boston Marathon bombers, who had nothing to do with the extremist group, his homeboys. Before that, the FBI said, he claimed family connections to al-Qaida and boasted of ties to Hizbullah, organizations deeply at odds with the Islamic State extremists. FBI Director James Comey said those statements add to the confusion about why Omar Mateen gunned down 49 people inside the club. But such conflicting, jumbled loyalties aren't uncommon among terror suspects in the United States. Those mixed allegiances suggest that to some would-be jihadists, a general ideology of violent extremism is more important than the tenets of any particular group. "Particularly with the lone wolves, they're pretty permissive and promiscuous. They're attaching themselves to whatever happens to be hot and sexy on that day, but they don't seem to have clearly delineated thoughts on geopolitics and the jihadist movement," said Will McCants, an Islamic State expert at the Brookings Institution. In the last year, several men who committed violence or attempted to under the purported mantle of the Islamic State group were also found to have derived inspiration from other sources and had often been absorbing extremist ideologies well before IS emerged as a brand-name terror organization with its self-declared caliphate in 2014. Elton Simpson, who last May traveled to Garland, Texas, with plans to shoot up a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest on behalf of the Islamic State group, had been convicted in 2011 on a false statement charge arising from his plans to travel to Somalia, the stronghold of al-Shabab, an al-Qaida militant group.
Syed Rizwan Farook, along with his wife, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militants before a December attack in San Bernardino, California, that left 14 dead. Investigators who dug into his past found that he had been discussing radical Islamic ideology as long ago as 2007 and was known to be interested in the preaching of radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a 2011 drone strike. Those groups do have important distinctions, even if the differences are sometimes lost on followers or are mostly significant to academics. The Islamic State group, which enforces its own radical interpretation of Islamic law, is a Sunni Muslim group that controls vast territory stretching across northern Syria, through much of northern and western Iraq as part of its self-declared caliphate. The Nusra Front is al-Qaida's branch in Syria, and though it also has many foreign jihadists among its Sunni ranks, it split from IS more than two years ago. Hizbullah, another group to which Mateen voiced loyalty, is a Shiite Muslim organization whose ideology is different from the Salafi jihadi brand that Nusra Front and the Islamic State espouse. Yet for Americans, the Islamic State militants have the strongest public brand, and their willingness to accept supporters and followers without the training and vetting demanded of al-Qaida recruits has only added to their appeal. Deep familiarity with their particular beliefs is not a prerequisite for membership. "I think there are going to be cases where individuals are just drawn to ISIS because they're the biggest game in town," said Seamus Hughes, the deputy director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, using another acronym for the Islamic State. A report the George Washington program released this month found that 88 people had been charged with IS-related offenses since March 2014. About 38 percent are converts to Islam, and roughly 44 percent were accused of traveling or attempting to travel abroad, the report said. McCants, of Brookings, said there's a long history of young men being drawn to causes they don't fully understand. Many of the fighters who joined the First Crusade nearly 1,000 years ago were illiterate and hadn't read their own scripture before rushing to take up the movement, he said. "Few things in the West today are as countercultural as ISIS," he said. "When ISIS is no longer the cool thing, it will be another violent group that will appeal."

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 15-16/16
U.S. Denies Rift with Saudi on Syria Tactics
Agence France PresseNaharnet /June 15/16/The United States denied Tuesday that it is in a dispute with its ally Saudi Arabia over how to handle the crisis in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was all smiles late Monday when he welcomed deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to his home in Washington. The influential 30-year-old prince, who serves as defense minister, broke his Ramadan fast at an iftar supper with the top US diplomat. Reports had suggested Riyadh is frustrated with U.S. policy in Syria and would like to step up arms supplies to the rebels fighting Bashar Assad's regime. But on Tuesday, Kerry's spokesman John Kirby denied there was any rift. "If you're asking if there's this big philosophical divide between the Saudis and the United States on how to move forward on the ground in Syria, the answer is 'no,'" he told reporters. Kirby recalled that Saudi Arabia had been one of the first countries to join the United States and Russia in forming the International Syria Support Group. This 22-nation group is pushing for a negotiated end to Syria's civil war, and Riyadh was vital in getting skeptical mainly Sunni rebels on board.
"If it were not for Saudi leadership, we wouldn't have that first meeting of the Syrian opposition groups back in December in Riyadh," Kirby said. "They have been at this right from the beginning with the United States and with Russia and with Turkey, moving this process forward." Earlier in the process, Saudi officials privately told AFP they favored sending ground-to-air missiles and anti-tank weapons to the rebels. But they have stuck by the U.S. and Russian plan, while continuing to complain that Assad -- backed by Saudi foe Iran -- is breaching a shaky truce. "I'm not going to speak for what they specifically want to do differently," Kirby said."But I can tell you that on the issues that matter... Saudi Arabia has been with us step-by-step."
Extremist funding
According to a statement issued after Monday's meeting, Kerry and the prince also discussed joint U.S.-Saudi efforts to counter Islamic extremism. This was a particularly touchy topic in the wake of Sunday's mass shooting by an apparent Islamist sympathizer in a Florida gay nightclub. Kerry's predecessor as secretary of state, U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton seized up the attacks to demand that Saudi citizens stop "funding extremist organizations." "They should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that set too many young people on a path towards extremism," she added. Kirby would not be drawn on whether Kerry had passed a similar message to his Saudi guests. Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and under the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islamic law can in some cases be punishable by death. But Riyadh did issue a statement condemning the Orlando shooting. According to Kirby, the prince and the diplomat "discussed this weekend's shooting in Orlando and expressed their shared commitment to continue their cooperation in combating the spread of violent extremism, both regionally and internationally."

Syrian Activists Accuse U.N. of 'Capitulating' to Regime on Aid
Agence France PresseNaharnet /June 15/16/Dozens of activist groups opposed to Syria's regime accused the United Nations on Wednesday of "capitulating" to Damascus on aid access to desperate civilians. The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Yaacoub El Hillo, said however that while aid access was not ideal, the U.N. continues to "assist Syrians based on need." The scathing 50-page report by The Syria Campaign advocacy group was signed by 55 Syrian organizations opposed to the government, including the White Helmets organization made up of emergency responders in rebel-held areas.
Based on testimonies from current and former U.N. staff and other aid workers, the report alleged that the U.N. in Syria was "in breach of its humanitarian principles and therefore at risk of fueling the conflict.""There has been a systematic failure in the U.N.-led response," said Roger Hearn, who headed the U.N.'s Palestinian refugee agency in Damascus until December 2011 and contributed to the report. One anonymous U.N. official interviewed for the report called the organization’s work in Syria "a profoundly flawed and one-sided operation." By the U.N.'s count, nearly 600,000 Syrians live in besieged areas, most surrounded by government forces. Earlier this month, the U.N. said the government had granted preliminary aid access to 15 of 18 besieged areas, after one was taken off the U.N.'s list. Damascus requires aid agencies to go through an authorization process to deliver aid to these areas -- a request that is frequently rejected.
'Undue influence'
Since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011, government officials have threatened to revoke the visas of UN staff in Damascus if they deliver aid to areas without regime permission, TSC's report said. It accused the U.N. of "choosing to prioritize cooperation with the Syrian government at all costs," allowing the regime to unduly influence U.N. aid strategy. As a result, most assistance goes to government-held territory where permission is granted, instead of opposition areas where aid is most needed, the report said. In April "88 percent of food aid delivered from inside Syria went into government-controlled territory," it said.
Reacting to the report during a visit to Beirut on Wednesday, the U.N.'s Hillo told journalists the organization does "not assist Syrians based on location. We assist Syrians based on need."Sending an aid convoy to a besieged town without proper authorization would be a "suicide mission for humanitarian workers," he said. The report recommends that U.N. agencies publicly lay out conditions for continued cooperation with Damascus and halt work with the government if they are not met. "A U.N. operation that violates its humanitarian principles becomes party to the conflict and stands accused of doing harm," it said.
Hillo admitted the government had "obstructed" access to some besieged areas. "But because of it, do we condemn the rest to starvation?" he said. Bissan Fakih, a spokeswoman for The Syria Campaign, countered: "A U.N. with the backbone to stand for its principles would help get aid to hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians under siege, many of them only a few minutes' drive from where the U.N. is based in Damascus." The Syria Campaign says the U.N.'s "acquiescence" has also downplayed the desperate humanitarian situation for civilians living under government siege, including underestimating the numbers. According to the U.N., a total of 592,000 people live in besieged areas across Syria, but the report says that the number is closer to one million.Earlier this year, an assessment by the U.N.'s own aid coordination body, OCHA, also found that Damascus-based humanitarian agencies were "protective of their relationship with the GoS (government of Syria)."It was "becoming clear that the Government was hindering the establishment of a proper humanitarian operation from quite early in the crisis," the March report said.
But "U.N. agencies were simply not willing to jeopardize their operations in Syria by taking a tougher stance with the Government."

At Least 70 Fighters Dead in Clashes in Syria's Aleppo Province
Agence France PresseNaharnet /June 15/16/At least 70 fighters have been killed in less than 24 hours of fierce clashes between pro-regime forces, jihadists and rebels in Syria's Aleppo province, a monitor said Wednesday. Pro-regime fighters -- backed by regime and Russian air strikes -- retook the villages of Zaytan and Khalasa to the southwest of Aleppo city after losing control of them hours earlier, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. But al-Nusra Front, Syria's al-Qaida affiliate, launched a counterattack to retake Khalasa on Wednesday morning, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. "Khalasa is on a high hill overlooking large parts of the south of Aleppo province," he said. The area overlooks the regime's supply road around the south of Aleppo city, linking the government-held Nayrab airport to the city's southeast and areas controlled by regime troops to its west, he said. Rebel- and jihadist-held areas in the south of Aleppo province faced heavy strikes and shelling overnight, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria to gather its information.The regime also pounded a key supply route and areas north of Aleppo city overnight, the Observatory said. The al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the regime, reported Russian air strikes on the province on Wednesday. "Russian fighter jets resumed their missions in Aleppo with force, targeting positions of al-Nusra Front and allied militias," it said. Moscow launched air strikes in support of the Damascus regime in September.Aleppo was once Syria's commercial powerhouse, but it has been a battleground since 2012 when rebels seized the east of the city confining the army to the west. In western Aleppo, rebel shelling killed two people and injured another three on Wednesday, official news agency SANA reported.Syria's war has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced millions since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.

Iranians protest Zarif’s presence in Germany
Wednesday, 15 June 2016 /NCRI - Iranians living in Germany held a rally on Wednesday in central Berlin to condemn the trip by Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of the mullahs' regime. The supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) held banners which read: "Kick Javad Zarif out."Another banner highlighted some of the crimes for which the regime’s officials are responsible: "No to Rouhani - Zarif. 2500 Executions in Iran & Massacre in Camp Liberty." The protesters said they were rallying for human rights in Iran and are united against Islamic fundamentalism. An online campaign on social media sites such as Twitter was carried out against Zarif's visit simultaneous with the rally, using the hashtags #FreeIran and #No2Rouhani, referring to Hassan Rouhani, the president of the mullahs' regime.

Man arrested in U.S. for violating Iran trade embargo
Wednesday, 15 June 2016 /NCRI/An Iranian man has been arrested in Denver in the United States on a 2010 federal District of Columbia indictment accusing him using companies in the Netherlands and the Middle East to smuggle chemicals, aircraft parts and fiber optics to the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force in Tehran, which violated the U.S. trade embargo to Iran's regime. Mansour Moghtaderi Zadeh, 55, of Iran, was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia in 2010 on charges that he exported goods to Iran fraudulently, 12 counts of unlawfully exporting goods to Iran, 11 counts of willfully violating a denial order, 14 counts of smuggling and one count of making false statement, the Denver Post reported on Tuesday. He appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver before Magistrate Judge Kathleen M. Tafoya on the charges. Information was not available to show why Zadeh was arrested in Denver.
The indictment, which had been sealed for six years, was opened upon Zadeh’s arrest. According to a federal court document, Zadeh smuggled goods from the U.S. and other countries to Iran from 2005 to 2009. Zadeh smuggled the U.S. goods from a supplier in the Netherlands to Iran in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which imposed sanctions against Iran's regime beginning in 1979 because it posed an “extraordinary threat to the national security and economy of the U.S.,” according to the court record. Zadeh, who uses the alias Mita Zarek, allegedly used his businesses to smuggle the goods. He is the owner of businesses Barsan Aero Chemicals and Jayhoun Faraz Kala Co, which are located in Tehran, and Lavantia, a business in Nicosia, Cyprus. He also used Araxis Trade Management, a Cyprus business owned by a relative. For his own financial gain, Zadeh allegedly conspired to acquire U.S.-origin goods, primarily aircraft parts, for sale through three unnamed Dutch suppliers to Iranian companies including those with military purposes, the records say. The conspiracy began outside the U.S. as Zadeh communicated by e-mail with vendors in the U.S. He allegedly wired money to U.S. accounts to pay for the items, the records say. He intentionally concealed information about the destination of the aircraft parts to U.S.-based shippers and freight forwarders. A fiber optic video transmitter and receiver were included among the sophisticated equipment that Zadeh obtained illegally, court records say. On July 11, 2006, he allegedly sent $7,757 to a Kansas company for three overhauled aviation course indicators on behalf of the Iranian regime's air force. That deal was handled through a Netherlands company and Zadah’s company earned a 10 percent commission on the sale.
On March 14, 2007, Zadeh attempted to buy aerospace-grade metal sheets and rods in Florida through his company in Cyprus. He also attempted to buy zenthane camouflage paint, records say.

U.S. Launches Talks with Crisis-Hit Venezuela
Agence France PresseNaharnet /June 15/16/The United States and Venezuela said Tuesday they would launch new high-level talks as the South American country struggles with a growing humanitarian crisis. With the Venezuelan opposition pushing to remove President Nicolas Maduro, the United States urged "constructive" steps to ease the situation in the volatile oil-exporting state. The two nations have had tense relations for years, with Venezuela's socialist leaders accusing Washington of trying to topple them. But the countries' top foreign envoys sat down together Tuesday on the sidelines of a regional gathering. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he discussed the opposition's drive for a recall referendum during the meeting with Venezuela's Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez. Maduro himself said later in televised comments that he agreed to "a new stage of dialogue" between his government and U.S. officials. The two countries withdrew their respective ambassadors in 2010 but Maduro said he was "ready to appoint ambassadors and regularize relations." Kerry told reporters he would send top State Department envoy Thomas Shannon to Venezuela "as soon as possible."Shannon has met with officials in Venezuela before but this time the talks would have a "larger agenda," Kerry said. After drawing charges of U.S. meddling from Rodriguez earlier in the day, Kerry insisted: "We're not taking sides. We're just supporting the constitutional process" in Venezuela.
He met with Rodriguez in the Dominican Republic after the general assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Recall referendum
Oil-rich Venezuela has slid into crisis as crude prices have crashed over the past two years. Citizens are suffering shortages of basic goods. The hardship has fueled protests, violence and looting. The opposition also accuses the authorities of jailing dozens of activists for political reasons, a charge the government denies. Maduro has accused the United States and the Washington-based OAS of conspiring against his government.The regional organization's general secretary Luis Almagro has called a meeting on June 23 to discuss the Venezuelan government's democratic record -- a possible step towards its suspension from the group. Almagro accuses Maduro of trampling on the political opposition."We're not pushing for a suspension," Kerry said, however. "I think it's more constructive to have the dialogue than to isolate at this point."Kerry earlier drew a sharp response from Rodriguez when he called for Venezuela to allow "a fair and timely recall referendum that is part of that constitutional process."He also called on Maduro's government "to release political prisoners, to respect freedom of expression and assembly, (and) alleviate shortages of food and medicine."Rodriguez fired back: "Venezuela's internal matters will be settled by Venezuelans," in unscheduled comments ahead of her meeting with Kerry.
U.S. 'intervention'
Rodriguez also repeated her government's allegation that the United States was plotting a military intervention in Venezuela. She referred to comments made last year by the then-head of the U.S. military's Southern Command, John Kelly. In a television interview, Kelly said the U.S. military would react if asked to in the event of a grave humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. Maduro blames Venezuela's economic crisis on an "economic war" waged by the Venezuelan business elite. He accuses them of plotting with the United States to destabilize the country. The OAS permanent council is scheduled to discuss the crisis on June 23 in Washington."On Venezuela, the U.S. has to walk a fine line," Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a U.S.-based think tank, told AFP. "In the face of Venezuela's humanitarian crisis, Kerry couldn't remain silent, but he also couldn't go too far and get out in front of other regional governments."

Saudis Invite U.N. for Talks on Child Rights Blacklist
Agence France PresseNaharnet /June 15/16/The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has invited a U.N. team to visit its headquarters in Riyadh for talks on a UN report that blamed the military alliance for the deaths of hundreds of children in Yemen. Saudi Ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi extended the invitation in a letter sent to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week, but UN officials say they would rather hold talks in New York. "We're studying it," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday. "We obviously remain interested in what information the Saudi-led coalition could provide us."
He added that "our preference" would be to hold meetings at UN headquarters in New York. The United Nations had blacklisted the coalition after concluding in a report that it was responsible for 60 percent of the 785 deaths of children in Yemen last year. But the world body later reversed its stance and removed the coalition from the list of shame pending a joint review with the Saudi-led alliance. Ban last week admitted that he had succumbed to "undue pressure" from Saudi Arabia and its allies who had threatened to cut off funding to U.N. aid programs over the blacklisting. The coalition launched an air campaign in support of Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in March 2015 to push back Huthi rebels after they seized the capital Sanaa and many parts of the country. The war has killed some 6,400 people and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country, according to the United Nations. In his letter, Mouallimi said "the coalition invites a team of experts to visit the coalition headquarters in Riyadh, with advance notice, and jointly review the cases and number in the report to ensure objectivity and accuracy." "The coalition was created precisely to protect civilians, including children, in the aftermath of the military escalation by the Huthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Saleh," he wrote. The Saudi ambassador requested "a detailed overview of the methodology and modality that were used to create the number in the report and the sources relied on for said numbers." Mouallimi has denied threatening to cut off funding to the United Nations and has said that the decision to take the coalition off the list was "final and irreversible". The UN Security Council is set to discuss the blacklist contained in the annual UN report on children and armed conflict during a meeting in August.Dujarric, however, said there had been no senior-level face-to-face meetings on resolving the dispute over the findings. Yemen's Ambassador Khaled Alyemany said his government was ready to send the minister for human rights to the Riyadh meeting.

Israeli PM Criticized after Obama Opposes Extra Military Aid
Agence France PresseNaharnet /June 15/16/Israel's opposition leader accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday of jeopardizing the country's security, after U.S. President Barack Obama announced his opposition to $455 million in additional military aid. The U.S. and Israeli governments have been locked in negotiations for months over a new 10-year defense aid package for Israel. Israel already receives more than $3 billion per year in U.S. military aid in addition to other spending, such as on the Iron Dome missile defense system. The current agreement expires in 2018 and Netanyahu has been putting pressure on Obama to increase the offer even further. The White House announced in a letter to Congress Tuesday it was opposed to an additional $455 million in anti-missile defense aid. In response, opposition leader Isaac Herzog accused Netanyahu of "playing games" in the negotiations. "We're losing a critical portion of the defense aid because of Netanyahu's egotistical games," Herzog wrote on Facebook. "Should Israel be left without an aerial defense system in the next war, we can set up the commission of inquiry into how Netanyahu makes decisions related to Israel's security." In a statement, Netanyahu said there was no question of a cut in aid, but there was a discussion between Congress and the White House about the size of the increase. He said anti-missile defense aid would definitely increase. "The attempt to make the dialogue with the U.S. into a domestic political tool is inappropriate," it added.

Trap Tightens on Civilians as Battles Rage in Iraq's Fallujah
Agence France PresseNaharnet /June 15/16/The Islamic State group battled Iraqi forces and held civilians hostage Wednesday to defend its bastion of Fallujah, where three weeks of fighting has forced tens of thousands from their homes. Security forces have retaken significant parts of southern Fallujah since the start of the month and are now attacking the jihadists in the Jbeil neighborhood, officers said. "Counter-terrorism forces as well as federal and Anbar police continue the operation to liberate Jbeil, in southern Fallujah, and face fierce resistance from Daesh (IS)," a police colonel said. Ground forces backed by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition air strikes alternated barrages of artillery fire with attempts to move forward in street battles, engaging with light weapons sometimes only meters (yards) away from IS fighters. In an apparent attempt to distract Iraqi forces in Anbar province, where Fallujah is located, IS fighters attacked positions near Ramadi, the provincial capital that was retaken earlier this year, officers said. Fallujah is a medium-sized, densely built-up town that lies only 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Baghdad. It is one of the last two major Iraqi cities IS controls, the other being Mosul. U.S. forces suffered some of their worst losses since the Vietnam War when they battled one of IS' previous incarnations in the city in 2004 and it is one of the jihadists' most emblematic bastions. Going against U.S. advice to focus efforts on the northern city of Mosul, Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced an offensive to retake Fallujah in late May. The advance of pro-government forces has since been slow, with Fallujah's status as a symbolic IS stronghold and a tight siege by Iraqi forces ensuring holdout jihadists have few options other than fighting to the death. Progress against the massively outnumbered jihadists has also been hampered by IS' systematic use of civilians as human shields.
'No safe passage'
According to the International Organization for Migration, at least 43,000 people have been displaced since the start of the operation more than three weeks ago. But most of them were fleeing IS rule in outlying areas while residents of central Fallujah have found it very difficult to escape. Attempting to do so has proven extremely dangerous, with roadside bombs and IS gunmen killing dozens of civilians in recent days. The Iraqi army opened a corridor last week to facilitate the flow of civilians seeking to leave. It has allowed thousands to escape but remains hard to reach from some neighborhoods and dangerous to use.
On Tuesday, a man was killed and several other people wounded when an explosive device went off just meters (yards) away from the end of the corridor, where government forces receive fleeing civilians, the Norwegian Refugee Council reported. "Let's be absolutely clear: there is no safe passage out of Fallujah to speak of," NRC country director Nasr Muflahi said in a statement. Thousands of men among those trying to flee were being held for screening by pro-government forces and allegations of abuses were mounting. In the displacement camps of nearby Amriyat al-Fallujah, those men who made it through the screening said Shiite militiamen from the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary umbrella group were torturing suspects. A 35-year-old man from an area just west of Fallujah displayed deep cuts on his wrists. "That's from having my hands cuffed for four days, with nothing to eat or drink," he said.
"When they eventually pushed me off a moving pick-up truck, I was so exhausted I didn't even feel anything," he said. Abadi's office has promised to investigate allegations of abuses committed by the security forces during the operation. Fallujah and the areas around it are Sunni Muslim while the Hashed forces fighting alongside the government are dominated by Shiite militias, some of which are supported by Tehran. Their involvement in the operation had raised fears the battle would see collective revenge against Sunni civilians. Men who claimed to have witnessed torture by anti-IS forces told AFP that the militiamen said openly they were motivated by revenge for the Speicher massacre, when up to 1,700 mostly Shiite cadets were executed by IS near Tikrit in June 2014.

Jewish Settlers Win Approval for East Jerusalem Building
Agence France PresseNaharnet /June 15/16/Jewish settlers have been granted authorization to construct a building in Silwan, a neighborhood in Palestinian-dominated east Jerusalem next to the historic Old City, authorities said Friday. The three-story building is located near another one occupied by Jewish families in the neighborhood that has become a flashpoint in the struggle between ideologically driven Israelis and longtime Palestinian residents. Jerusalem city hall said a committee had approved the construction of the residential building."Political considerations do not factor into the decisions of the local planning committee," it said in a statement. "The city will continue to build in all neighborhoods, according to the master plan, for the benefit of all its residents." Palestinians have decried the influx of settlers into Silwan, accusing them of seeking to push them out of their own neighborhood. The Palestinians consider east Jerusalem the capital of their future independent state, and much of the international community has criticized Israel over its settlement building, both there and in the occupied West Bank. Settlers cite what they see as Jews' historical connection to the area, where the City of David archaeological site is located. Tradition holds that the area is where the biblical King David established his capital. Israel occupied east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community. It sees all of Jerusalem as its unified capital. Settlement expansion in Silwan has been driven by the Ateret Cohanim association, which facilitates the purchase of homes by Jews from Israel and abroad. Israeli NGO Ir Amim, which opposes settlement building, said the approval "will further expand the Ateret Cohanim settler organization’s growing control over the Palestinian neighborhood."Ateret Cohanim's Daniel Luria called the decision "an act of historic justice."

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 15-16/16

Hamas Threatens Jordan
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/June 15/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7998/hamas-threatens-jordan
The signs near the Al-Aqsa mosque were clear: "The cameras will be broken and the hands that hung them will be cut off."
Installing video cameras near the Al Aqsa mosque would be a painful thorn in the side of all the terrorist organizations. The immensely successful collaborations in the area -- those with Jordan and Israel and Egypt and Israel -- serve the security interests of all three countries, as well as the Palestinians who do not wish to be taken over by Islamic extremists even more brutal than the leaders we have now. And that is precisely why Palestinian elements, from the Palestinian Authority to Hamas, were determined to sabotage the project.
Changing the name of the Temple Mount to Haram al Sharif is another example of the treacherous United Nations' rewriting of history. The UN move is seen even by us Muslims as a villainous lie that denies not only the historic Jewish presence in Jerusalem, but the history of Christianity as well. Do they really think we are that stupid?
Regardless of what the treacherous UN thinks, surrendering to Islamist demands will not win the war against terrorism.
An article published in Al-Quds Al-Arabi on April 20, 2016 asked why Jordanian Prime Minister Abdallah Ensour fired Salame Hamad from his post as Minister of the Interior, despite Hamad having restored internal security and causing Jordanians to feel they were living in a country of law and order.[1]
The reason, it turned out, was that he was not decisive enough in dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood. While he did close some of its offices and place strict limitations on the number of Gazans visiting Jordan, he apparently did not deal with the movement emphatically enough, and had even met with its leaders in his office twice.
One of the signs of this weakness in dealing with Islamists was Jordan's surprising recent backpedaling on an agreement instituted by the Jordanian Wakf (office of religious endowment), which was brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. According to the agreement, video cameras would be installed in Jerusalem at the Al-Aqsa mosque. The footage would be transmitted in real time to both Israeli and the Jordanian authorities. Such an arrangement would improve security in Al-Aqsa, and expose and prevent hostile activities by the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, the Northern Branch of Israel's Islamic Movement and members of the Hizb al-Tahrir radical Islamist group.
The Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, have, in fact, managed also to foul their relations with Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. After years of loyalty by Jordanian Islamists to the royal house of the Hashemites, descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.w.), in recent years Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood entered into conflict with the Jordanian government.
Signs of the conflict were quickly evident in threats plastered on Al-Aqsa mosque. They warned against the installation of cameras. The signs were clear: "The cameras will be broken and the hands that hung them will be cut off."
It is the very existence of the Jordanian Wakf that keeps the Palestinian Authority (PA) -- and subversives from the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Movement, Hamas and Hizb al-Tahrir -- from turning the Al-Aqsa mosque into a fulcrum for a religious war between Islam and Judaism, on the false claim that the Jews and the government of Israel are supposedly plotting to destroy the mosque.
The truth is that the cameras would finally prove, once and for all, who the genuine provocateurs are that endanger the mosque. The cameras would expose the hypocrisy of the Palestinian Authority, which pretends to care about Al-Aqsa, while actually simply wanting to keep Jews from having access to the Temple Mount.
That is precisely why the PA, Hamas, the Islamic Movement and Hizb al-Tahrir all object so strongly to the project.
Sadly, the Jordanians since abandoned it. The collaboration between Israel and Jordan had left these extremist Islamic groups sitting on the sidelines, strengthened the appearance of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem and, more importantly, reaffirmed Jordan's role in the religious administration of Al-Aqsa.
Even if, as some claim, the project to install cameras was originally motivated by Israel's desire keep the mosque safe for its own security, polish its image abroad and demonstrate its sovereignty, Israel also clearly wished to maintain calm and to neutralize the propagandists who were inciting violence and making political capital out of the riots there.
Palestinian Arab young men with masks, inside Al-Aqsa Mosque (some wearing shoes), stockpile rocks to use for throwing at Jews who visit the Temple Mount, September 27, 2015.
The ability to oversee activities in and around the mosque would also have prevented European governments, such as France and the EU, who meddle in other countries' business, from escalating the tensions on the Temple Mount in order to promote their own duplicitous political agendas of buying off terrorists. They hope, by attacking Israel, to appease Arabs.
Even if we are not thrilled with the expression "Temple Mount," referring to the Jews' Second Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 90 CE, and over the ruins of which the Al Aqsa Mosque was built, the use of the name is nevertheless well-documented in Islamic historiography. Caliph Umar ibn Khattab conquered Jerusalem in 638 AD, and uncovered the inner sanctuary of the Temple, the Jewish Holy of Holies, which the Romans had covered with garbage. He was helped by Qa'ab al-Akhbar, a rabbi who had converted to Islam. It was called the Temple Mount until UNESCO recently changed the name to "Haram al-Sharif," another example of the treacherous UN's bald attempt to rewrite history. Changing the name of the Temple Mount to Haram al Sharif is seen even by us Muslims as nothing but a villainous lie that denies not only the historic Jewish presence in Jerusalem, but the historic Christian presence as well. Do they really think we are that stupid?
The United Nations' surrender to extremist Islam is sweeping not only the Middle East but also Europe, which is currently busy inviting itself to be raped.
Cameras near the Al Aqsa mosque would therefore be a painful thorn in the side of all the terrorist organizations. The immensely successful collaborations in the area -- those with Jordan and Israel and Egypt and Israel -- serve the security interests of all three countries, as well as the Palestinians who do not wish to be taken over by Islamic extremists even more brutal than the leaders we have now. And that is precisely why Palestinian elements, from the Palestinian Authority to Hamas, were determined to sabotage the project.
The very fact of installing cameras would have dealt a significant blow to Hamas and all the Islamist organizations, international and local, working non-stop to close ranks around the lie that "Al-Aqsa mosque is in danger" because Israel is allegedly planning to destroy it. Installing cameras would have dealt a blow to the followers of the Islamic Movement's Ra'ed Salah, jailed for incitement, who photoshops pictures of "excavations to destroy the role model" and do their utmost to provoke bloodshed.
Installing cameras would also have dealt a blow to the Palestinian Authority's demand that east Jerusalem serve as the capital of the future Palestinian state. The fact is that that no city significant to Islam -- not Medina, Mecca, Qom, Karbala or Najaf -- is the capital of any Muslim country.
If there is ever the genuine wish to have a Palestinian state -- and serious doubts exist about that -- Ramallah should be our rightful capital. If not, everyone can go home this afternoon; there will not be a solution.
A crucial factor in the equation is the Hashemite dynasty in Jordan. Al-Aqsa mosque is critical for Jordan as part of the religious justification for its kingdom, exactly as the Saudis need religious justification in Mecca and Medina. Jordan's claim on Al-Aqsa Mosque is also part of its peace agreement with Israel. Hamas's claim of "extremist Israeli provocation" is even more an attack on Jordan than it is on Israel. The threat to "cut off the hands of whoever installs the cameras" is largely a threat against Jordan, just as it also is a threat against Egypt.
The Egyptians are striking Hamas hard, and the Jordanians did not wait long to close the Muslim Brotherhood's offices. The vultures are circling; only the Israelis are confused.
Regardless of what the treacherous UN thinks, surrendering to Islamist demands will not win the war against terrorism. Surrendering is, in fact, is the most certain way to encourage terrorism and ensure the fall of Jordan, the rest of the Middle East and the West. Perhaps the next American administration will be wise enough to understand that.
**Bassam Tawil is a scholar based in the Middle East.
[1] The article examined the positive aspects of Hamad's term of office: rooting out corruption, instituting governmental reforms, and dealing with the rebellion in the southern part of the country, especially around the city of Ma'an. He was a successful minister; his office cooperated well with other governmental offices; he had a positive influence and fought the spread of drugs.
He also, however, met directly and alone with King Abdullah, strengthening his position at the expense of that of the prime minister. Another claim against him, as noted in the article, was that he had prevented the implementation of a well-financed project that would have moved the center of the Saudi Arabia TV channel MBC from Lebanon to Jordan, a relocation necessitated by the Arab states' designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. His decision caused Jordanian businessmen who had invested in the project to lose millions.
© 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.

What to Expect from an Independent Palestinian State
Fred Maroun/Gatestone Institute/June 15/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8176/independent-palestinian-state
Palestinian leaders have repeatedly shown that their priority is not peace, or a two-state solution, or a Palestinian state, but repression.
If a Palestinian state is created without correcting these destructive practices, it is highly likely that the new Palestinian regime will follow the same pattern already established, and be a hatemongering, corrupt, undemocratic, oppressive, belligerent, and ineffective regime. This would not only be a security threat for Israel, it would mean more of the same for the Palestinians.
France, with the support of the United States, is leading a new attempt at peace between Israel and the Palestinians, with the implied goal that an independent Palestinian state would be created -- but what should we expect from such a state?
Although past behavior is not a perfect predictor of future behavior, it is a strong indicator of it, especially if no corrective action has been taken.
Violence
When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared, "The dawn of freedom rises with the evacuation of the last Israeli soldier and settler." Yet, instead of using that freedom to build a successful economy, Palestinians destroyed the greenhouses that the settlers had left, and terrorists launched rocket attacks against Israel. These attacks forced Israel to institute a naval blockade of Gaza, to limit the supply of weapons to terrorists.
The Oslo Accords signed by Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s provided a transition period meant to lead to Palestinian statehood. However, instead of peaceful coexistence with Israel, the Palestinian leadership launched an assault that became known as the Second Intifada.
During the recent stabbing attacks by Palestinian terrorists, Abbas declared, "Each drop of blood that was spilled in Jerusalem is pure blood as long as it's for the sake of Allah. Every shahid (martyr) will be in heaven and every wounded person will be rewarded, by Allah's will."
These violent actions and the incitement are not exceptions. They are part of a pattern of Arab denial of the Jews' right to exist, which started well before Israel declared its independence, and that caused several wars and innumerable terrorist attacks against Israel.
Lack of democracy
Palestinian democracy has so far been a failure. Yasser Arafat was elected in July 1994 as president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) for a four-year term, but he stayed in power, without further elections, for more than 10 years until his death in November 2004. Mahmoud Abbas was elected President in May 2005, and is still in office, without further elections, eleven years later.
Hamas, which won the PA legislative elections of 2006, was never invited to take the PA reins of power, but it took control of the Gaza Strip through a violent overthrow of Fatah, and still controls Gaza -- also without further elections -- ten years later.
Fatah and Hamas have used elections to create a semblance of democracy, and both have abused their authority to go far beyond their legitimate mandates. Both routinely use control of the media, control of the education system, and violence to maintain their power, as documented extensively by Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (left) and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas (also president of the Palestinian Authority) are pictured voting in the last election for the Palestinian Legislative Council, which took place in 2006.
Corruption
Corruption in the PA and Hamas is widely recognized, by commentators who range from extreme anti-Israel, to somewhat moderate pro-Palestinian, to pro-Israel.
As reported by CBS News in 2003, "Yasser Arafat diverted nearly $1 billion in public funds to insure his political survival, but a lot more is unaccounted for."
Abbas has continued the tradition. Haaretz reported that the Panama Papers "show that Tareq Abbas, the son of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, held shares worth nearly $1 million in a company associated with the PA".
Khaled Abu Toameh has written that, "$4.5 billion the Americans invested in promoting Palestinian democracy went down the drain or ended up in secret Swiss bank accounts."
Hamas, which was elected partly in opposition to Fatah corruption, is just as corrupt. Moshe Elad wrote in Tablet Magazine that the Hamas government, "is centralized and corrupt, it lacks effectiveness, bribery plays a very important role in society, and nepotism is prevalent, with just few families or relatives benefiting from state monopolies on basic services and commodities".
Associated Press reported that 95.5% of Palestinians in the West Bank believe that the PA is corrupt while 82% of Palestinians in Gaza believe that Hamas is corrupt.
Promotion of hatred
As noted previously, promotion of hatred by Palestinian leaders is widespread, and it is the main obstacle to peaceful co-existence with Israel. An example of Palestinian hate propaganda is a made-for-children movie where, as reported by London's Daily Mail,
"The little girl, dressed in a hijab, is seen pretending to stab two boys dressed as Israeli soldiers, who respond by 'shooting' her. Then, amid cheers from the baying crowd, a boy dressed as a masked terrorist massacres the soldiers with a replica semi-automatic weapon."
The newspaper added that the video was filmed at a "festival of hate," which was partly funded by a UK charity supported by British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and some other Labor MPs.
Oppression of the Palestinian people
Both Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza run their governments as dictatorships, where freedom of speech is denied and where dissent is punished by jail, beatings, torture, or death. This retribution is widely recognized, even by organizations that are often considered biased against Israel, such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI).
In 2011, in a 35-page report, HRW documented "cases in which security forces tortured, beat, and arbitrarily detained journalists, confiscated their equipment, and barred them from leaving the West Bank and Gaza."
In their 2015/16 report, Amnesty International wrote,
"The Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and the Hamas de facto administration in the Gaza Strip both restricted freedom of expression, including by arresting and detaining critics and political opponents. They also restricted the right to peaceful assembly and used excessive force to disperse some protests. Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees remained common in both Gaza and the West Bank."
Lack of economic drive
Palestinian leaders have concentrated all their efforts on waging war against Israel and increasing their own personal wealth. The best economic opportunities presented to average West Bank Palestinians are in working on settlement construction or commuting daily to jobs in Israel.
The lack of Palestinian economic development in the West Bank is often blamed on Israel, yet when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, Palestinian leaders did not seize that opportunity to build the economy of Gaza. They chose instead to spend their resources on rockets, terror tunnels, and enriching the leaders of Hamas.
Bad behavior is rewarded
Those who provide funding to the Palestinians are aware of this behavior, yet they have not used their influence to curb it. In fact, they reward it.
The Palestinian leadership in Gaza is rewarded for every war it initiates with Israel in two ways. During the war, it is rewarded by the international media, which provides wide coverage of Palestinian casualties while ignoring the terrorist actions that led to those casualties (thus playing into Hamas's "dead baby strategy"). After the war, Gaza's leadership is rewarded when more funding is provided for reconstruction, despite the knowledge that a large portion of it is used to rebuild the terrorist arsenal.
The Fatah/Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank is rewarded by international donors who provide ongoing funding to President Mahmoud Abbas while knowing the extent of the corruption of his regime and its lack of democracy.
Realism
Palestinian leaders have repeatedly shown that their priority is not peace, or a two-state solution, or a Palestinian state, but repression. If a Palestinian state is created without correcting these destructive practices, it is highly likely that the new Palestinian regime will follow the same pattern already established, and be a hatemongering, corrupt, undemocratic, oppressive, belligerent, and ineffective regime. This would not only be a security threat for Israel, it would mean more of the same for the Palestinians.
Current talk by Western leaders of peace, a two-state solution, and a Palestinian state makes no mention of these dangers. If those leaders wish to achieve a lasting peace that is beneficial to Israel and the Palestinians, rather than to create an unstable situation and could cause irreparable damage to both sides, peace discussions must account for the Palestinian reality.
**Fred Maroun, a left-leaning Arab based in Canada, has authored op-eds for New Canadian Media, among other outlets. From 1961-1984, he lived in Lebanon.
© 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.

'Al-Quds Al-Arabi': At Least Four Arab Countries Supported Israel's Candidacy For Chair Of UN Legal Committee
MEMRI/June 15/16 /Special Dispatch No.6474
On June 13, 2016, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon was elected to head the UN Legal Committee, which is one of the UN's six permanent committees. This is the first time an Israeli ambassador will chair one of these committees, and his election came despite objections from two groups – one of Arab states and another of Muslim states. However, according to the London-based Qatari daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, which reported on Arab and Muslim efforts to thwart Danon's election, at least four Arab states, which it did not name, had supported Danon's candidacy. As proof of this, the daily published Danon's statement following the vote, in which he refrained from criticizing any Arab state.
The following are excerpts from the Al-Quds Al-Arabi report:
Arab, Muslim Countries Opposed Israel's Candidacy And Worked To Thwart It
Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported: "Despite the objections of the Arab group represented by Yemeni Ambassador Khalid Al-Yamani, and the Islamic group represented by Kuwaiti Ambassador Mansour Al-'Otaibi, the UN General Assembly today elected Israel to chair the sixth committee – the Legal Committee – one of the General Assembly's six important committees. Western European and other countries submitted Israel's candidacy for the post, for the first time in the history of the UN.
"Prior to the vote, Kuwait's ambassador to the UN, who served as representative of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries, said: 'The state that is a candidate for the post must be a member state that obeys international law and that is actively working to implement UN resolutions – not a state that violates international law... and UN resolutions... States must bear the responsibility to present for this post candidates upon whom there can be agreement. This candidacy [of Israel] contradicts the principle of good intentions... Electing Israel, [a state that] violates the foundations of international law, international treaties, and UN resolutions, will damage the image of the UN."
Danon Received 109 Votes; At Least Four Arab Countries Supported Him
According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, after the efforts by Arab and Muslim countries to thwart Israel's candidacy for the chair of the committee had failed, they demanded that the current committee chair, the Trinidad and Tobago ambassador, call a vote on Israel's candidacy. Such a move is against the accepted custom of arrival at a consensus in advance of the vote of approval in the General Assembly. Yemeni Ambassador Al-Yamani said on behalf of the group of Arab countries that opposed Danon's election: "We requested a secret ballot in order to register our vehement opposition to Israel's candidacy for chair of the Legal Committee..."
Accordingly, a secret ballot was then held; in it, Danon received 109 votes of a possible 193, with the Arab and Muslim countries that opposed him writing in candidates.
Following his election as committee chairman, Danon said that Iran had circulated an announcement calling for not voting for him. However, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that this announcement had actually been circulated by Kuwait; the daily noted that "Danon's statement [following the vote] included no criticism of the Arab group" that had opposed him, and added that "diplomatic sources say that at least four Arab countries supported the Israeli candidate."
Palestinian Representative: U.S., Canada, Australia "Used All Manner Of Blackmail And Threats To Guarantee A Vote For Israel"
According to the daily, Palestinian Permanent Observer Riyad Mansour said after the vote: "Although we only found out shortly before the vote that a group of Western European and other nations had decided to present Israel's candidacy for chair of the committee, we conducted intensive meetings with this group, and pressured it to refrain from rewarding, instead of punishing, a country that occupies the land of another while violating international law.
"After that, we attempted to persuade countries in this group to present the candidacy of another country, but without success. We reached out to many in this group, trying to convince them to present their own candidacy, saying that we would raise the votes for them, but they refused.
"Then, we discussed the matter with the Arab and Islamic group, in order to agree on an alternate plan. We agreed to divide the votes against Israel among candidates from that same group [of Western European countries] so as to prevent the Israeli candidate from receiving 50%+1 of the votes. We attempted to recruit all our friends to prevent the Israeli ambassador from receiving the minimum number of votes required, but without success. However, we did manage to deny him 84 votes, which is important and respectable. He only received 109 votes; the minimum required is 77. Had we managed to change the votes of another 16 representatives, his candidacy would have been automatically cancelled..."
Mansour then warned that the non-unanimous vote for Danon could impact the work of the committee: "The heads of the five other committees were elected by consensus, but not [the head of] the sixth committee. The schism is clear from the outset. How will the committee operate during the 71st session of the General Assembly? There is a split in the General Assembly over Danny Danon's provocative personality. The sixth committee will grind to a halt because of this split."
Mansour then thanked the Arabs and Muslims, and all those who stood by them, and criticized "a massive force" that he said "had used all crooked means, and extortion – particularly on smaller nations – to get them to vote for Israel. Israel did not succeed on its own – only thanks to the efforts of the U.S., Canada, and Australia, which used all manner of blackmail and threats to guarantee a vote for Israel. Many countries submitted to these pressures out of their fear of the superpowers, instead of standing with the truth and against the oppression represented by the occupation state.
"We now face a double standard on the part of several countries. Israel is becoming increasingly extreme, and is turning its back on all peace initiatives, including the recent French initiative; it is expanding its settlement activities, and is violating international law in everything it does. [And after all this,] the international community rewards it.
"We must carefully consider our next move. I believe that in a year or two, this group [of Western European countries] will present Israel's candidacy for the Security Council."[1]
Endnote:
[1] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), June 13, 2016.
 

Will Iran’s most popular general enter politics?
Arash Karami/Al-Monitor/June 15/16
With the rise of the Islamic State on Iran’s western and eastern borders, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force division, which is responsible for Iran’s military operations outside of its borders, became one of Iran’s most popular figures. When the Iranian general allowed himself to be photographed at the front lines of bloody wars, his popularity soared and he was often compared to Iran’s popular and social media-savvy top diplomat, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
With the massive popularity has now come speculation and concern that Soleimani, who has mostly kept a cool distance from partisan politics in his nearly 20 years as head of the Quds Force, could run in the upcoming presidential election. Conservatives may like to run popular figures like Soleimani, and many Reformists and moderates would likely be reluctant to run against someone of Soleimani’s stature.
Mohammad Atrianfar, a seasoned journalist and senior member of the Executives of Construction Party, told Reformist Aftab-e Yazd June 13, “[Soleimani] has proudly spent his entire life in a revolutionary and sacred institution … he knows his work well. Someone like him who is wise will not easily put his activities down in order to enter something he does not have experience in.” Atrianfar added that it would be natural for conservatives to try to push Soleimani’s candidacy, but he believes that Soleimani would ultimately turn it down. “I don’t think Soleimani will ever become a presidential candidate," he said.
Not only Reformists may be concerned about running against Soleimani. Akbar Torkan, a special adviser to President Hassan Rouhani, told Reformist Armany Daily June 14 that although he finds Soleimani’s candidacy unlikely, he is “one of the revolutionary symbols.” Torkan said, “He is popular among all the people and he transcends [partisan] movements.” Running against someone as popular as Soleimani presents numerous challenges, and Rouhani and his team would undoubtedly very much like to avoid being the first one-term president in Iran in three decades.
While many journalists tend to view Soleimani as being above partisan politics and thus avoid criticizing him, it is possible that that deference could change in the cutthroat political world of Iranian politics. Bahman Hedayati, a former journalist for Mehr News Agency and the current editor of Parsine, wrote May 29 that Iranian military figures tend to lose their “political stature” and immunity from criticism once they enter politics. Mohsen Rezaei, a former IRGC commander during the Iran-Iraq War, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former commander of IRGC's air force, both lost their protection from criticism once they chose to enter politics, according to Hedayati.
However, Hedayati believes that Soleimani’s stature is currently much higher than those of either Ghalibaf or Rezaei ever were. Soleimani also has a positive image among nationalist and secular Iranians, according to Hedayati, and he shares the image of the legendary IRGC commanders who died in the Iran-Iraq War. Hedayati believes that only journalists outside of the country will write critically of Soleimani and his chances in next year’s presidential elections are good as long as figures such as Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Rouhani and former President Mohammad Khatami do not speak against him or at least remain silent.
Since being one of the signatories to the letter warning Reformist Khatami in 1999 about the direction of the country, Soleimani has mostly stayed out of the politics. During the February parliament elections, Soleimani, while not explicitly endorsing traditional conservative candidate Ali Larijani, praised the parliament speaker just four days before the election. During the 2013 presidential election, Soleimani was believed to have supported conservative candidate Ghalibaf. At the time, the head of IRGC public relations was caught in a minor controversy when the Iranian media reported that he denied Soleimani's endorsement. He later clarified that he never spoke about Soleimani but that the IRGC would not be endorsing a candidate.
Conservative politician Mohammad Reza Bahonar, head of the political faction Front of the Followers of the Line of Imam and the Leader, has tried to put the rumors to rest. He told Iranian media outlets that while Soleimani had met with conservative political factions, neither he nor anyone else is a conservative candidate at the moment.

The Saudi-Iranian struggle in Iraq
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/15 June/16
What is happening today in Iraq and Syria is due to decades of conflict between two major axes, Iran and the Arabs. It began with the 1979 Iranian revolution, and continued with threats to export the revolution throughout the region, and with the Iran-Iraq war that lasted eight years. Things only calmed down for two years, then Iraq invaded Kuwait, triggering international intervention. The 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq led to the emergence of al-Qaeda and then the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The turmoil will continue as long as regional powers are unable to create a political or military balance via agreements. We must understand the logic and motives behind Tehran’s desire to maintain the struggle in Iraq, the Gulf, Syria and Palestine. Iran wants to expand. It thinks its western borders are smaller, oil-rich Arab countries. It is aware that the West will not easily accept this as these countries are important energy sources. This is why Tehran has attempted to dominate in different ways, though it has not succeeded much until recently. ISIS undoubtedly serves Iran, which joined the Western and Russian coalition under the flag of fighting terrorism. Iraq is the most important country for Iran because it is its western gate. The latter will only be able to control the former indirectly. During the administration of US President George W Bush, Iran played different roles to convince Washington that it would be a beneficial partner in Iraq by helping it solidify security. It was the only country, maybe except for Jordan, that cooperated with Washington then. At the same time, however, Iran resorted to different methods to destabilize Iraq. Along with its ally the Syrian regime, Tehran enabled al-Qaeda and armed Iraqi opposition groups to sneak from Syria into Iraq to sabotage the security and political situations and inflict losses on US troops. When Barack Obama became president, he withdrew all US troops, opening Iraq to Iranian intervention at a time when armed groups began to re-emerge. Saudi Arabia’s interest matches that of the Iraqi people: an Iraq free from foreign domination and in control of its own water and oil resources
The ISIS excuse
Now, Iran is in Iraq with the excuse of protecting it from ISIS. Tehran supports certain Shiite groups against others. It is behind the establishment of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) militia as a competitor to Iraq’s army to weaken the central government. I believe that Iran is one of the masterminds behind ISIS, but it is difficult to prove that. However, it is the only party benefitting from ISIS, whose threats gave Iran an excuse to enter Iraq. Tehran brags that if it had not been for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Iraq would have fallen. ISIS is a repetition of al-Qaeda, which surfaced during the US-led occupation. Al-Qaeda back then succeeded in sabotaging the political project, allowing pro-Iran groups to dominate in Baghdad. Saudi ambassador to Iraq, Thamer al-Sabhan, recently said: “Someone is trying to create a rift in relations between Saudi Arabia and the different components of the Iraqi people.” He means Iran, and this is the first time an official statement reflects the Saudi-Iranian struggle in Iraq. Tehran wants to dominate Iraq and its riches, but Saudi Arabia wants to protect its borders and deter Iran’s expansion. The Saudi presence in Iraq was delayed for years because Riyadh rejected participating in the U.S.-led occupation and the establishment of the new Iraqi government. Tehran, however, cooperated with the Americans, and in exchange gained influence that resulted in the status quo. Saudi Arabia’s interest matches that of the Iraqi people: an Iraq free from foreign domination and in control of its own water and oil resources. Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries are rich and do not need to control Iraq. They want a regime that does not resemble Saddam Hussein’s, and is not a puppet of Iran. Gulf countries are now aware that the spread of ISIS and al-Qaeda in Iraq, Syria and Yemen target them first and foremost, and that countries such as Iran benefit from these extremist groups and use them to weaken the region’s powers and interfere in their affairs. This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Jun. 15, 2016.

The violent road to Fallujah
Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/15 June/16
Iraq’s government is confused by international condemnation of the invasion of Fallujah, resorting to the usual justification and blaming the media instead of confronting the situation. The government issued a detailed statement to refute Arab media reports on the military campaign to liberate the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The statement said the media has exaggerated individual violations. Perhaps some media outlets have fallen into the trap of sectarian and political polarization when addressing the campaign. However, before we even talk about Arab and international public opinion, and their comprehension of all these violations that have been documented by videos and testimonies, does this excuse even convince the government?
Sectarianism
The Fallujah battle depicts one of the real faces of the sectarian struggle in the region. Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi was forced to accept Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, as leader of the fighting Iraqi forces, which mainly consist of sectarian militiamen who have committed grave violations.What is happening in Fallujah today is not media exaggeration, but a repetition of previous mistakes that happened in the same place, except this time with a more sectarian approach. Could the goal of liberating Fallujah not have been possible without adding a sectarian dimension by including Soleimani as leader? Media reports from inside the city show how its residents are trapped between the villainy of ISIS, which has ruled them for several months and is using them as human shields, and sectarian members of the Iraqi forces and militias, who have been filmed humiliating and executing people there.
Eliminating ISIS is a goal that brings everyone together, but the Fallujah battle in this sectarian context, with all the abhorrent violations associated with it, has increased tensions and confused aims.People in Fallujah and surrounding areas have been punished by those fighting to liberate the city. This will produce a bigger tragedy than the past two wars that Fallujah experienced during the presence of US forces in Iraq. It seems no lessons have been learnt.

Ten years ago, battles were launched to eliminate al-Qaeda in Fallujah, but the accumulating mistakes - whether from the US command or Iraqi government, which is protected by Iran - resulted in the emergence of ISIS. Today, battles are being fought while committing similar mistakes, if not worse. Between American retreat and Iranian maliciousness, the whole of Iraq will not be safe from atrocities.It is an experience that we are tired of seeing repeated, and it seems citizens are the only ones paying the price. What is happening in Fallujah today is not media exaggeration, but a repetition of previous mistakes that happened in the same place, except this time with a more sectarian approach. How will the battle be successful when Soleimani gave it the green light? This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Jun. 13, 2016.

Libraries and the UAE reading initiative
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/15 June/16
On May 10, I was a guest at the Dubai Press Club. During one of the sessions, the young men and women participating enriched the discussion, which was about reading. At the same time, Dubai announced a Ramadan campaign called “A nation that reads,” which aims to collect and print 5 million books in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and distribute them worldwide. The initiative comes within the context of several campaigns sponsored by Vice President and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who wrote: “I promised our students in the UAE to award them certificates if they complete the reading challenge and read 50 books. 50,000 students completed the challenge. “Today I began fulfilling my promise, and signed the first set of certificates and distributed them myself. We will have certificates for each one of them delivered to his/her school. The reading challenge [has enriched] our children’s culture and knowledge, and when they read 5 million books every year, the future will be better and more beautiful.”We look forward to a generation that understands the value of books, not just as a means of entertainment but as a source of knowledge, and a key to change and societal renewal
Encouragement
Students responded strongly to this reading challenge. Without official enticement, and without governments leading education and development plans, societies will not develop. Reading does not grow by preaching or making statements, but by official support and institutional preparation. Encouraging and developing public libraries will make young people go there not just to do school-related research, but to read and gain knowledge. A library influences the relation with reading and transforms it into a habit. It is not measured by its size but by its content. In his book The Library at Night, Argentinian-Canadian author Alberto Manguel wrote that French novelist Marcel Proust “was aware that the national library is a place for daily public affairs - a symbol of the country’s cultural wealth and the practical place which ordinary readers need to effectively and comfortably read.”Reading is a complete experience and a space for serenity. Official and civil efforts to improve libraries and turn them into comfortable, efficient and practical spaces will keep readers interested. We look forward to a generation that understands the value of books, not just as a means of entertainment but as a source of knowledge, and a key to change and societal renewal. “The love of libraries, like most loves, must be learned,” wrote Manguel.
This article was first published in Al Bayan on June 15, 2016.

Why the US business world is closely watching Saudi reforms
Nathan Hodson/Al Arabiya/15 June/16
Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to the United States this week will include meeting with senior American officials and business executives. For the young head of the Saudi Council of Economic and Development Affairs, explaining and marshaling support for the kingdom’s ambitious reform plans is important. Indeed, a chief goal of his trip will be to convince American companies to invest in Saudi Arabia. The deputy crown prince’s visit comes a week after the Saudi cabinet approval of National Transformation Program (NTP) 2020, Saudi Arabia’s five-year blueprint for reforming and injecting new life into the kingdom’s public institutions. The plan is an amalgam of strategic objectives, performance targets, and specific initiatives. In particular, it aims to greatly expand the private sector while simultaneously extending localization efforts. On the one hand, the plan’s emphasis on exploiting the private sector and improving the business environment is clearly a boon to foreign firms. The kingdom seeks to add more than 450,000 nongovernment jobs by 2020, create new investment opportunities worth $613 billion, and more than double FDI from $8 billion to $19 billion. Saudi Arabia has also announced a number of key reforms, which, if successful, will help make conducting business in the kingdom more predictable and transparent. Targets outlined in the NTP include reducing the average resolution time for commercial cases by 30 percent, cutting the percentage of delayed projects from 70 percent to 40 percent, and slashing the time required to issue work visas for foreign employees by two-thirds.Saudi Arabia has already announced plans to speed up the visa process for investors. It also aims to improve its rank in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index to 20th. After a feverish push last decade to make it into the top ten, Saudi Arabia peaked at 11th in 2011 before plummeting to 82nd in 2016 (in part because of new World Bank methodology). If met, all of these targets would make foreigners more likely to invest.
Localization and reduced subsidies
However, a focus on localization and reduced subsidies complicates the picture for foreign investors who have long flocked to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states as bastions of cheap imported labor and subsidized utilities. The NTP calls for increasing local content’s share of total public and private sector spending from 36 to 50 percent and increasing the percentage of employment localization in the private sector from 19 to 24 percent. It also seeks to reduce non-oil subsidies by a fifth. These efforts are in addition to a number of sector-specific localization targets. Minister of Labor Mufrej al-Haqbani said last week, “There is no strategic target to reduce the number of working expatriates,” but strategic intentions are clear. In the past several years, the government has undertaken efforts to expel large numbers of undocumented foreign workers and has cracked down on tasattur businesses illegally run by foreigners in the name of Saudis. These recent efforts are unlikely to affect large foreign firms operating in the kingdom, but aggressive new localization targets might. On the one hand, the plan’s emphasis on exploiting the private sector and improving the business environment is clearly a boon to foreign firm
In addition to the transformation program, Mohammed bin Salman will also be keen to address strategic partnerships, privatization, Saudi Aramco’s transformation, and the restructuring of the Public Investment Fund. In fact, some changes in the approach of the Public Investment Fund have already been seen. It recently invested $3.5 billion in the ride-sharing service Uber. This massive investment is part of the fund’s plan to increase its share of overseas holdings to 50 percent. The Uber investment indicates that Riyadh is becoming less conservative in its management of overseas investments, a trend likely to continue.
I have written previously about some of the challenges that might impede the implementation of Vision 2030. Foreign firms should keep these challenges in mind. And in light of the new five-year goals, a central question is how the kingdom will balance its push for private sector expansion and foreign investment against serious efforts to expand localization. But while business leaders are right to remain skeptical, they should also pay close attention to the deputy crown prince’s statements, which will offer clues about how best to engage the kingdom in the months and years to come. Firms willing to assist with prominent Saudi initiatives and possibly even shape their implementation will have a clear advantage and will be in a better position to benefit from some of the many opportunities in Saudi Arabia.