By PHILIP ISSA BEIRUT (AP) — Clashes erupted in a densely-packed Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, wounding at least four people, including a three-year-old boy with a bullet-wound to the head, Palestinian security officials said. The Palestinian officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. One […]

Image Luis Vazquez

by -Dr Joseph A. Kechichian – Gulfnews

The Lebanese seldom trust each other, especially at the political
level. And while the country is nominally a democracy, its unique
power-sharing formula allocates influence to most communities in a
more-or-less harmonious fashion. That’s the theory of the
consociationalism mechanism that determines Maronite, Sunni and Shiite
authority. In reality, the parliamentary democratic republic is
hostage to itself, and while the 1989 Ta’if Accords, that suspended the
1975-1990 Civil War, removed the built-in majority previously enjoyed by
Christians and brought parity between Christians and Muslims, the
parliament’s 128 seats are all confessionally distributed.

Because
of the country’s demographic make-up, each religious community has an
allotted number of seats, even if candidates must receive a plurality of
the total vote cast, which includes followers of all confessions. This
deliberately-designed system is meant to minimise inter-sectarian
competition and maximise cross-confessional cooperation. In other words,
and while every candidate is theoretically opposed by a coreligionist
[for example, two or more Sunnis competing over a Sunni seat must seek
support from outside of their own faith in order to win], the process
produces the mother-of all gerrymandering loads.

Over the years,
multi-member constituencies emerged, which “secured” most of the 128
seats, irrespective the person who filled the post. In the Baabda-Aley
district, for example, the predominantly Druze area of Aley (in the
Chouf Mountains) were combined in 2000 with the predominantly Christian
area of Baabda, into a single constituency. Likewise, while several
seats in the South are allocated to Christians, they have to appeal to a
predominantly Shiite electorate, which means the latter chose Christian
parliamentarians.

Christian politicians have claimed that
constituency boundaries were extensively gerrymandered in the elections
of 1992, 1996, 2000, 2005 and 2009. They insisted that past
rearrangements favoured the election of Shiites, for example, from
Shiite-majority constituencies (where Hezbollah is strong and can
prevent the opposition to challenge it), while allocating many Christian
members to Muslim-majority districts.

by Daily star.com.lb BEIRUT: A General Security officer was sentenced to life in prison with hard labor on Wednesday for the murder of his neighbors in the Mt. Lebanon town of Ashkout. Although the murder was the result of a long-running dispute between General Security Sgt. Maj. Tony Abboud and his neighbors, Judge Rami Abdallah […]

This article represents author views –

By Josh Wood – The National

BEIRUT// Every day, the electronic messages of support filter in. “Happy Valentines day, we love you Donald J Trump (Mr strong President)”, reads one. “Trump is my idol”, says another. Such
professions of adulation are not uncommon among Mr Trump’s fans, both
before and after his shock win in the US presidential election. But
these messages are not coming from those who voted for him, they’re
coming from the Arab world — from Lebanon, posted to the Friends of
Donald J Trump in Lebanon Facebook group. Just over a month into his presidency, Mr Trump’s relationship with the Middle East has had a rocky start. An offhand remark about how the US could get another chance to “take” Iraq’s oil, his cosying-up to Israel,
the constant portrayals of refugees as likely terrorists and an attempt
to ban citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering
the US have set an adversarial tone for many in the region.

But
in Lebanon, the controversial and outspoken president is finding
friends. It is impossible to gauge how much support Mr Trump has here,
but the Friends of Donald J Trump in Lebanon Facebook group has so far
attracted more than 60,000 likes. For Christians made anxious by
the demographic change in their country caused by the addition of more
than a million mostly Sunni Syrian refugees in recent years, some find
reassurance in Mr Trump’s statements about confronting Christian
marginalisation. For
those who want a Lebanon that is not ruled by lifetime politicians or a
government compromised by corruption, Mr Trump’s outsider status and
“drain the swamp” message resonates.

Those who oppose the
continued domination of Lebanon by the Shiite party and Iran ally
Hizbollah ae encouraged by the Trump administration’s promised tougher
line on Tehran. And, paradoxically, supporters of Syrian
strongman and Iran ally Bashar Al Assad see Mr Trump’s ambiguity on the
Syrian civil war and his suggestions that Damascus, Moscow and
Washington could work together as signs of a shifting tide. For
some, support for Mr Trump is much more simplistic, and has nothing to
do with the geopolitics of a Middle East complicated by war, or with
marginalisation or corruption.

by AP – BEIRUT — The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East has met with top officials in Lebanon to discuss American military aid and other efforts to contain the fallout from the civil war in neighboring Syria. Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of U.S. Central Command, met with Lebanese President Michel […]

by Middle East Monitor The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has suggested to his Lebanese counterpart that the Lebanese army should raid Palestinian refugee camps in the country and collect arms in return for ending the isolation of Ein Al-Hilwa Camp, Safa news agency reported on Monday. Abbas made the suggestion to President […]

This is an opinion article – It represents author opinion

By Peter Speetjens – middleeasteye.net/

With Lebanese elections set to take place in May, the customary
tug-of-war has started over exactly how those elections are to take
place. Democracy in Lebanon is all about foreplay. For months on end, the country’s political elite engages in courtesy
visits and tete-a-tetes behind closed doors to determine the rules of
the electoral game. Once agreed, the “moment supreme” at the ballot box
is but a formality, as 90 percent of the outcome can be predicted. A
Tom and Jerry cartoon doing the rounds on social media illustrates the
current hustle and bustle in Lebanon’s political circles. It shows the
famous cat and mouse accompanied by their bulky bulldog neighbor
sitting around a juicy steak. Taking turns, the characters suggest how to best divide it.
Naturally, each one wants the biggest chunk for himself and what was
supposed to be a cosy dinner ends up in a massive brawl. Whoever
posted the cartoon replaced the heads of Tom, Jerry and the dog with the
faces of Gebran Bassil, Mohamed Raad and Saad Hariri.  For those not familiar with Lebanese political theatre, Bassil is
Christian, minister of foreign affairs and son-in-law of President
Michel Aoun; Raad is Shia and has been a Hezbollah MP since 1992; Hariri
is Sunni, current prime minister and son of the slain former prime
minister Rafik Hariri.

The “steak” on the table is the electoral law proposed by President
Aoun and his Free Patriotic Party. It suggests dividing Lebanon into
some 15 electoral districts that will be decided by proportional
representation rather than winner takes all Proportional
representation has its benefits. In many of Lebanon’s electoral
districts, it is a thin line between winning and losing. Sometimes, a
few hundred votes make the difference between all or nothing, which
swings the door wide open for vote buying.

Being awarded the
number of seats relative to the proportion of the vote would lead to
fairer representation and a greater variety in parliament. In addition,
it would be much harder to influence the elections through vote buying. All
of Lebanon’s Christian factions support the proposal, which in itself
is no small feat. It is almost a matter of principle for Lebanese
Christians to not agree on anything. The proposal, furthermore, has the
backing of Amal and Hezbollah, the country’s main Shia parties.

By Ross Mcdonagh For Dailymail.com – Meryl Streep arrived at the Oscars… and she was not wearing Chanel. The 67-year-old screen legend turned up in a gorgeous deep blue gown by Elie Saab. All eyes were on the record 20-time nominee’s choice of wardrobe, after her bust up with Chanel and its head, Karl Lagerfeld. […]

by Alison Millington – “Moonlight” took home the award for best picture at the 89th
Academy Awards on Sunday evening — but not before the award was
mistakenly given to the cast and crew of “La La Land.” The producers of “La La Land,” which entered the night with 14
nominations, were already delivering their acceptance speeches
when those onstage began to realize an error had been made. The accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, which is in charge of
tallying the votes, is investigating how the error occurred. Only two people at the firm knew the results before they were
announced.

So how did a mistake of this magnitude happen?

Kevin Winter /
Getty

• Instead of the best-picture card, presenters Warren Beatty
  and Faye Dunaway were mistakenly given the card for “actress in a
  leading role,” which named “La La Land” actress Emma Stone as the
  winner.
• Two cards are created for each winner.
  PricewaterhouseCoopers, the firm that counts the votes and
  safeguards the winners, gives one set each to its partners,
  Martha Ruiz and Brian Cullinan.
• One of the two sets that should have been discarded after
  Emma Stone received her best-actress award was instead given to
  Beatty by mistake.
• Beatty hesitated after opening the envelope, which the
  audience took to be part of a joke.
• Dunaway took the paper from him and announced the winner as
  “La La Land.” Beatty later said the card actually read “Emma
  Stone, ‘La La Land.'”

Kevin Winter /
Getty

• The cast and crew celebrated and made their way to the stage.
  Producer Jordan Horowitz kicked off the acceptance speeches with
  emotional thank-yous.
• As the speeches were handed over to other crew members,
  Horowitz looked confused.
• A man wearing a headset approached the crew holding another
  envelope, which was shown to Horowitz and the cast and crew.
• The speeches were interrupted by Horowitz, who said, “There’s
  been a mistake. Moonlight, you won best picture.”

Kevin Winter /
Getty

• He showed the real best-picture card, which listed
  “Moonlight” as the winner for the camera to see.
• Beatty, who had also reappeared, confirmed this was the case.
• The shocked “Moonlight” cast began to celebrate, as the
  stunned cast and crew of “La La Land” started to leave the stage.
• Jimmy Kimmel approached the microphone, saying, “This is very
  unfortunate what happened.”
• Before leaving the stage, Horowitz said: “I’m going to be
  really proud to hand this to my friends from ‘Moonlight.'”
• Beatty approached again, to which Kimmel joked, “Warren, what
  did you do?”

Kevin Winter /
Getty

• “I want to tell you what happened,” Beatty said. “I opened
  the envelope and it said, ‘Emma Stone, La La Land.’ That’s why I
  took such a long look at Faye and at you. I wasn’t trying to be
  funny.”
• He told Deadline that he was
  given the best-picture envelope by a stagehand.
• The audience cheered as the “Moonlight” cast and crew took
  the stage and began their speeches.

Kevin Winter /
Getty

• Afterwards, Kimmel said, “Let’s remember: It’s just an award
  show.”
• While speaking to the press backstage, Stone said: “I also
  was holding my best actress in a leading role card that entire
  time. So whatever the story … I don’t mean to start stuff, but
  whatever story that was, I had that card. So I’m not sure what
  happened.”
• PricewaterhouseCoopers released a statement saying: “We
  sincerely apologize to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye
  Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the
  award announcement for Best Picture.”
• PwC went on: “The presenters had mistakenly been given the
  wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately
  corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have
  happened, and deeply regret that this occurred. We appreciate the
  grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel
  handled the situation.”

Kevin Winter /
Getty

• PwC partners Martha Ruiz and Brian Cullinan are the only two
  people in the world who knew the result before it was announced,
  according to Forbes.
• According to the BBC, two
  sets of envelopes are created, one for each of the partners. It
  appears one of the duplicates made its way into the hands of
  Beatty and Dunaway.

By AP

Hundreds of Christians have fled the city of el-Arish in Egypt after a spate of attacks by suspected Islamic militants. A priest told the Associated Press that he and some 1,000 other
Christians had fled for fear of being targeted next. He blamed lax
security, saying: “You feel like this is all meant to force us to leave
our homes. We became like refugees.” It was earlier reported
that militants had shot dead a Coptic Christian man, Kamel Youssef, in
front of his wife and daughter. The account had been given by two
officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

A priest in the city said militants then kidnapped and stabbed his
daughter before dumping her body near a police station. It wasn’t
immediately possible to confirm his account. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack but
earlier this week Egypt’s Islamic State group affiliate, which is based
in the Sinai Peninsula, vowed in a video to step up attacks
against the embattled Christian minority. A spate of killings by
suspected militants have spread fears among the Coptic community in
el-Arish as families left their homes after reportedly receiving threats
on their mobile phones.

A day before Youssef’s killings, militants killed a Coptic Christian
man and burned his son alive, then dumped their bodies on a roadside in
el-Arish. Three others Christians in Sinai were killed earlier, either
in drive-by shooting or with militants storming their homes and shops. The Coptic Church has made no official comment on the spate of murders.