Daily Archives: August 18, 2010

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Israeli Minister On Lebanon Allowing Palestinians To Work: First Step Towards Naturalization

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon:

“This is a small step that was long awaited on the road to grant the nationality to Palestinians and their naturalization in Lebanon and elsewhere around the world as displaced should eventually obtain the nationality in the place they live in,”

The old slippery slope nonsense argument. To many of us here in Lebanon, the choice between naturalizing Palestinian refugees and treating them like dogs is a false choice.

We want the Palestinians to return to their homeland, but we also want to treat them like human beings. This is how we see yesterday’s achievement. How this is lost on that idiot Israeli Minister is beyond me.

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"a weak, emasculated bill"

Franklin Lamb is very unimpressed with the bill for Palestinian civil rights in Lebanon:

Among the jobs still prohibited to Palestinians are more than 30 syndicated professions including Medicine, Law, Dentistry, Engineering, nursing, and all technical professions in the construction sector and its derivatives such as tiling, coating, plastering, installation of aluminum, iron, wood or decoration works and the like-Teaching at the elementary, intermediate and secondary levels with the exception of foreign language teacher when necessary, hairdressing, Ironing and dry-cleaning upholstery, publishing, printing, Engineering work in all specialties, Smithery and upholstery work. All kinds of work in pharmacies, drug warehouses and medical laboratories. In general all occupations and professions which can be filled by Lebanese nationals and have Guild or Syndicate Memberships, money changer, real estate agent, taxi driver or driver training instructor, registered nurse or assistant nurse, or other jobs in the Medical field, that have Syndicates a health controller, any job in the engineering field, licensed health controller, medical laboratory worker, clinical health industry jobs, prosthetic devices fitter, certified accountants, dental laboratory science technician, jobs relating to nutrition and meals, topography, physiotherapy, veterinary medicine.”

The paragraph above would have been shorter if he just listed what they actually could do.

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Lebanese Lobbyists In Washington Release Joint Statement On Aid To Lebanese Army

The statement below was sent to my inbox. It’s signed by the American Lebanese Alliance, the American Lebanese Assembly (ALA), the American Lebanese Coordination Council (ALCC), the American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL), the Assembly for Lebanon (AFL), the Lebanese Information Center (LIC), the Lebanon Renaissance Foundation (LRF) and the National Alliance of Lebanese Americans (NALA)

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JOINT STATEMENT BY LEBANESE-AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS ON US ASSISTANCE TO THE LEBANESE ARMED FORCES

Strengthening the Lebanese security forces to implement all UN Security Council resolutions relevant to Lebanon and to fulfill their duty to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty, democracy, and all Lebanese citizens, serves US national security interests. Since 2006, the U.S. has appropriated $782.35 million in security assistance to Lebanon. The US has much at stake in the success of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).

Lebanese-American organizations greatly value US assistance provided to the LAF to build a strong, national institution. We believe that well trained and well equipped Lebanese security forces remain indispensable instruments for the country’s stability and prosperity.

For the above reasons, we strongly urge Members of Congress to reconsider the hold on US security assistance to Lebanon, despite the tragic exchange of fire on the Lebanon-Israel border.

We do not believe that this exchange of fire was “staged” by the LAF. Israel’s tree-trimming operation occurred over Israel’s technical fence in an area of the border where the “blue line” is not marked. We urge the United Nations to expedite re-marking the “blue line” so that all parties know where the “blue line” is with certitude. Both Lebanon and Israel should reaffirm their commitments in 2000 to the United Nations Secretary General to respect the “blue line.” Lebanese, Israeli, and UNIFIL representatives meet in the tripartite committee to discuss border and military issues and this is the appropriate forum to devise a protocol to prevent an incident of this nature from recurring. In his August 5 briefing, Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, asserted that “we have no indication that U.S. equipment played any role in this incident earlier this week.”

The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is a work in progress. However, progress has been indisputably made since 2006 and much of this is attributable to US security assistance. In 2006, the LAF deployed south of the Litani River for the first time since 1968. It is the presence of the LAF in the south that allowed an enhanced UNIFIL to deploy according to UN Security Council Resolution 1701. The August 3 incident notwithstanding, the Lebanon-Israel border is the quietest that it has been in decades. This LAF-UNIFIL partnership south of the Litani River should not be shaken by the withholding of US security assistance. Additionally, the role of the LAF in combating al-Qaeda-inspired groups, such as Fatah al-Islam, is commendable and in the US interest.

We remind members of Congress that the administration has repeatedly voiced its support for LAF assistance and highlighted that no US equipment has ever been lost to third parties, including Hezbollah. Hezbollah would prefer that US security assistance to Lebanon totally cease, which should be instructive.

We support the relevant provisions of the Taif Accord, and UN Security Council resolutions 1559, 1680, and 1701 requiring “the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, so that . . . there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state.” At the same time, we expect the Lebanese security forces to be answerable only to the Lebanese government and not subject to influence from Hezbollah orany other non-state actor.

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Will The Real Miss Lebanon Diaspora Please Stand Up?

Two women who both want to be miss Lebanon in the disaspora

The two ladies in the picture above can both claim that they were officially elected in 2010 as the prettiest Lebanese woman who lives outside of Lebanon. But the truth of the matter is, there is no such thing as an official “Miss Lebanese Diaspora”.

Miss Taunay Abour Rjeily, left, is “Miss Lebanon Overseas”. She lives in Brazil and was crowned on July 13th in Le Royal hotel, Dbayyeh.

Miss Daniella Rahme, right, is “Miss Lebanon Emigrant”. She lives in Australia and was crowned on August 17th (yesterday), in Casino Du Liban, Adma.

If you add Miss Lebanon and Miss USA Rima Fakih (who is of Lebanese origin) to the mix, we can start suspecting that the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism has an undeclared “the more the merrier” policy when it comes to Lebanese beauties.

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Lebanese Newspaper: New Israeli Witness In Hariri Case

Lebanese newspaper Aldiyar (my translation):

A new witness has entered the fray in the case of Rafik Hariri’s assassination. He says he’s Druz Israeli, a lawyer and an ex-officer in the Israeli army. He is seeking political asylum at the Lebanese embassy in Prague and says that he has information from Israel and Lebanon about what happened in March 14 2005. He’s willing to share what he knows about the explosion that killed PM Hariri

This seems to me like the unfolding of a strategy that everyone appears to agree on: Play for time and postpone the STL’s findings.

Update: The foreign ministry [.. ] expressed regret at the way Ad-Diyar reported the news. It said Prague embassy officials believe that the man is most probably mentally unstable or was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.