Khazen

Political rows sink Lebanon deeper into crisis

By Lin Noueihed, BEIRUT, Jan 15 (Reuters) – A row between Hizbollah party and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has plunged Lebanon deeper into a political crisis that has paralysed the government and divided the country along sectarian lines. In an unprecedented attack on Saturday, Jumblatt accused Shi’ite Muslim Hizbollah of hiding behind its "weapons of treachery", capping a month-old campaign against the group that is under pressure to disarm in line with a U.N. resolution. Hizbollah, close to Syria and Iran, responded with a biting attack against Jumblatt, the most outspoken critic of Syria’s domination of Lebanon after the 1975-1990 civil war.

"Which are the weapons of treachery, the weapons of the resistance or those of Walid Jumblatt? The arms that liberated and protected Lebanon or those that destroyed, expelled, burned, killed and committed massacres?" it said referring to his role as a warlord during the war."If treachery was embodied as a man in these bad times, it would be Walid Jumblatt". The standoff spilled over into a public slanging match after a flurry of diplomatic efforts failed last week to reach a compromise over a U.N. inquiry that has implicated Syria in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in February.

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LEBANON: Disabled remain marginalised, study finds

BEIRUT, 15 Jan 2006 (IRIN) – Disabled people in Lebanon continue to be marginalised in terms of education and employment, according to a new report released on Saturday. The study, entitled "Disability and Inclusion in Lebanon," was released by a grouping of NGOs devoted to issues concerning the disabled. Participant organisations included the Youth Association of the Blind; the Lebanese Physically Handicapped Union; the Lebanese Down Syndrome Association; and Save the Children Sweden.

"The lack of equal access to quality education has contributed to a situation where people with disabilities are often deprived of gaining basic knowledge and skills necessary to becoming full members of society," the report found. Under Lebanese Law, all children with disabilities have the right to attend regular schools. But according to local social-development specialist Sahar Tabaja,

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Lebanese police clash with anti-U.S. protesters

BEIRUT, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Lebanese riot police fired smoke grenades and sprayed water on Saturday to disperse dozens of students protesting against the visit of senior U.S. diplomats to Beirut. The protest turned nasty when security forces tried to clear protesters who gathered outside the government headquarters ahead of a visit by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch. Some of the protesters, waving Lebanese flags and carrying placards protesting against U.S. influence in Lebanon and the Middle East, pelted police with stones. "Welch is not welcome in Lebanon," one placard read. Welch, who met with several Lebanese officials on Saturday, is due to hold talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora at the government headquarters.

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Petition signed by over one thousand Maronite nuns

Elias Chamoun, A delegation of Maronite nuns are getting ready to send the Patriarch of the Maronite Church, Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, a petition signed by over one thousand Maronite nuns, in which they ask him to stop receiving any foreign representative that does not visit or consult with the Lebanese president on Lebanese affairs […]

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Ayoon Wa Azan (Picking up the Trail of Beirut’s Past)

Jihad el Khazen, Al-Hayat, I will continue to write about Beirut today, about what has changed and what has remained the same. If I didn’t recognize the southern suburbs that I knew as a child and young man, the Ramlet al-Baida Corniche is the same as I knew it until I left Lebanon in 1975.I visited my old friend Dr. Abdel-Aziz Khoja, the ambassador of Saudi Arabia, in his apartment looking over the Corniche one morning, to have coffee. It was an opportunity to give my Eid al-Adha holiday greetings a week before the Eid. In journalism, this is called a "scoop."
We stood on the balcony of his apartment; in front of us was the road that heads down parallel to the sea. I told him about when Israeli terrorists, including the "moderate" Ehud Barak, dressed as a woman, killed three Palestinian leaders in Ras Beirut on 10 April 1973. I rushed to the apartment of Kamal Adwan, which was on the other side of the field where my old apartment was. After I checked to make sure that his wife, Maha Adwan al-Jayyusi, a dear friend, was okay, I headed out with a colleague to pick up the trail of the Israeli killers. We reached the Ramlet al-Baida road, where we saw two parked cars. I put my hand on the hood of one of them, like they do in crime dramas, and found it hot, i.e. it had been running recently.

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New ‘hit list’ of prominent Lebanese delivered to ISF officers

By Jessy Chahine , Daily Star staff, Friday, January 13, 2006 , BEIRUT: A new "hit list" of prominent Lebanese personalities whose lives are said to be in danger was delivered to senior officers of the Internal Security Forces, The Daily Star learned Thursday. Several well-known television hosts are included in the list and at least two of them have left the country. Marcel Ghanem, host of "Kalam al-Nass," a popular political talk show on Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), will for the foreseeable future be broadcasting his show from Paris. The Daily Star has learned that Ghanem, along with seven other names, was included on a list that was supplied to the ISF by the American Embassy in Lebanon.

The other names included Ali Hamade, a senior writer at An-Nahar and also Future TV host of the political show "Al-Istihqaq." He is the brother of Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade, who is also on the list. Some of the other names are Fares Khashan, host of Future TV political show "Al-Tahkik," Walid Jumblatt, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Tripoli MP Elias Atallah, Social Affairs Minister Nayla Mouawad, and Beirut MP Saad Hariri. The warning letter from the U.S. Embassy included strong recommendations to enhance the personal safety of those named, while simultaneously advising them to reduce their mobility as much as possible.

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LEBANON: Trial of human rights defender postponed

BEIRUT, 12 Jan 2006 (IRIN) – The trial of a prominent human rights lawyer due to appear in a Beirut court earlier this week has been adjourned to 20 March due to procedural errors.Muhammad Moghraby was accused of "slandering the army establishment and its officers" after delivering a speech to a European Parliament delegation in Belgium on 4 November 2003. In the speech, Moghraby criticised Lebanon

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الاتحاد المارون&

المؤتمر الوطني لدعم خيار المقاومة، ما إلا لدعم استمرارية الإرهاب", نيويورك في 7 كانون الثاني- 2006, شبل الزغبي-فلوريدا,  ردا على المؤتمر الوطني لدعم خيار المقاومة الذي انعقد الأسبوع الماضي في الاونيسكو في بيروت , يهم الاتحاد الماروني العالمي أن يوضح ألأمور التالية:  حاول المؤتمرون رفع شعار المقاومة ظاهريا ولكن باطنيا وضع لبنان خارج الإرادة الدولية, محاولة منهم تشريع سلاح حزب الله. علما أن اتفاق الطائف (ألبند ألثاني/1) وقرار مجلس الامن  1559 قاضيين تجريد جميع الميليشيات من سلاحهم وتسليمهم إلى الدولة اللبنانية. إن ثقافة المواطنية لا تنبع إلا ببث روح الهوية اللبنانية الحافظة لكياننا اللبناني وأي دمج للهوية اللبنانية بالهوية العربية ما هو إلا تزوير لتاريخ وحضارة تعود إلى الآف ألسنين. إن الاستقرار والسلم الأهلي يكونا فقط ببسط سلطة الدولة بقواها الشرعية على جميع الأراضي اللبنانية.  

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Lebanese travels around Brazil showing Arab handicraft

AnBA, Radwan Raad, who has been based in the city of Curitiba for around six years, is working on propagating art made in the Arab countries among the Brazilians. From Syria and Lebanon he brings from towels to items made out of marquetry and wall carpets. Raad has a shop in the southern Brazilian state of Paran

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