Khazen

LEBANON: New book attempts to resurrect Beirut’s lost Jewish past

The neighborhood Wadi Abu Jamil in downtown Beirut is empty and quiet these days. But back in the old days it used to be a bustling place known as Beirut’s Jewish neighborhood. 

It is where the Jewish physician Dr. Shams was said to treat patients who suffered economically for free and where, at night, people from the neighborhood gathered at the house of one of the Jewish families to watch television because they were the only ones in the area who had one at the time.

But after multiple Arab-Israeli wars, Israeli invasions and Lebanese Hezbollah’s 2006 war with the Jewish state, Dr. Shams and most of the other Jewish families from "The Valley of the Jews," as the neighborhood also was called, are long gone.

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Ethiopian plane crashes off Beirut,

Cheikh Khalil el Khazen  was aboard the Ethiopian Airline. Our Thoughts and Prayers are with you Khalil.

Cheikh Khalil el Khazen

 

Cheikh Khalil Nami el Khazen, 43, a board member of the Lebanese television station MTV was among the passengers of the crashed Ethiopian Airlines plane Wednesday Jan 25..  Khazen held a degree in law from Sagesse University in Beirut, and was the director of governmental and parliamentary affairs at the Casino du Liban. Khazen was heading to Ethiopia to help one of his ill relatives and his wife was supposed to travel with him but she cancelled her flight at the last minute because her visa expired. He was born in Ghosta in Mount Lebanon and was the father of two children. – The Daily Star
MP Dr. Farid Elias el Khazen interview

النائب فريد الخازن في حديث خاص لـ"النشرة": انتخاب رئيس البلدية مباشرة من الشعب هو الجانب الاصلاحي الأهم ليتم ادخاله على قانون الانتخابات البلدية.. فلنقم باختبار لنرى مدى تقبّل المجتمع لالغاء الطائفية فالغاية يجب ان تكون اصلاحية لا اجرائية فقط

15 كانون الثاني 2010 
 

اعتبر عضو تكتل "التغيير والاصلاح" النائب فريد الخازن أن كل فريق سياسي معنيّ اليوم بتقديم الأفضل الموجود لديه بما خص المرشحين للتعيينات الادارية، لافتا الى أن المحاصصة تبقى مسالة نظرية وقد يكون لها وجه ايجابي في حال كان المرشحون على قدر كبير من الكفاءة والنزاهة. 
النائب الخازن، وفي حديث لـ"النشرة"، أشار الى أن القرار السياسي لا يمكن أن يغيب عن ملف التعيينات وحتى لو اعتمدت آلية محددة لأن هذه الآلية نفسها يجب أن يتم التوافق السياسي عليها. وقال: "نحن شركاء جدد في هذا الموضوع وسنتقيّد بأفضل المعايير المطلوبة ونأمل ممن كان لهم تجربة سيئة في هذا المجال أن يقوموا بالمثل". 

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MP Farid Elias El Khazen interview

لبنان السياسي والشعبي ليس مهيئا اليوم لإلغاء الطائفية السياسية" الخـازن: لإنضـاج الظروف لتكون الهيئة إصلاحية لا إجرئية فقط

 

 

 


أضاف: الحكومة الأخيرة تشكلت نتيجة ظروف عربية ودولية معروفة. لكن اللبنانيين لم يتعافوا بعد من مفاعيل الأزمة التي بدأت منذ العام 2005 وحتى اليوم مرورا باتفاق الدوحة والانتخابات النيابية، والوضع ليس طبيعيا للانتقال الى موضوع بأهمية إلغاء الطائفية السياسية. كما أن القوى السياسية بتجاذباتها رغم الوفاق الحاصل في الحكومة ليست مهيئة للدخول بعد في عمل جدي يصل الى نتيجة في هذا الموضوع في وقت منطقي على مستوى الطوائف والأحزاب. وشدد الخازن على أهمية إنضاج الظروف لتتمكن الهيئة من العمل بجدية والإنتاج وإلا ستكون كسائرها من الهيئات التي شكلت بعد الطائف". وقال: إذا تمكنا من إنجاز أي موضوع يرتبط بإلغاء الطائفية السياسية نكون مهدنا وأعطينا الثقة وبرهنا للسياسيين والرأي العام أن هناك عملا أنجز في هذا الاتجاه وهذا ما سيساعد على الوصول الى توقيت مناسب لإنشاء الهيئة. 
وأكد الخازن أن "طرح إلغاء الطائفية اليوم لا يعطي النتيجة المطلوبة فلا وجود لأي إشارة الى أن الظروف مؤاتية كما أن المجتمع ليس مهيئا أكان على الصعيد السياسي أو الشعبي وهذا ما يظهر في المواقف وغياب التوافق وهناك مسار يجب سلوكه يتوج بهذا الأمر لأن إلغاء الطائفية بمثابة العمود الفقري للنظام السياسي اللبناني.

 

المركزية – أكد عضو تكتل "التغيير والإصلاح" النائب فريد الخازن أهمية أن "تكون الغاية من طرح تشكيل هيئة لإلغاء الطائفية السياسة إصلاحية لا إجرائية فقط"، لافتا الى أن "لبنان على المستوى السياسي والشعبي ليس مهيئا لهذا الأمر الذي يشكل مادة سجالية". 
ورأى في حديث الى "المركزية" أنه "من الطبيعي أن يطرح الرئيس نبيه بري الموضوع من زاوية تطبيق إتفاق الطائف والدستور وهذا من حقه ومن واجبه القانوني"، لافتا الى "صحة القراءة التاريخية والدستورية التي ذكرها الرئيس بري في مؤتمره الصحافي". وشدد على ضرورة أن "تكون الغاية من هذا الطرح إصلاحية لا إجرائية فقط وأن تكون هناك ثقة بأنها ستصل الى نتيجة ضمن فترة زمنية معينة.  
وتوقف عند قول الرئيس بري بأن الموضوع بحاجة الى سنوات طويلة وسأل: "ما الهدف من إنشاء الهيئة اليوم طالما أن الظروف لم تجهز بعد"، مشددا على أهمية أن "تتمكن الهيئة من الإنتاج وأن يكون هناك مسار قابل للتنفيذ والتطبيق وصولا الى إلغاء الطائفية. 

 

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Sleiman raps US travel measures

By Nafez Qawas , BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman said Monday that any discriminatory procedures which may harass the Lebanese ought to be condemned and criticized. In the wake of a botched Christmas Day bid to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest airliner, the United States decided to tighten security measures for airline passengers traveling from Lebanon and […]

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Politics adds touch of colour to Christmas in Lebanon

Beirut – Christmas in Lebanon is quite a colourful occasion – at least far as the political parties are concerned. In addition to the festive season’s traditional red and white, streets and neighbourhoods are decked out in the colours of the political parties in control there.   For followers of Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, […]

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Better Syrian-Lebanese Ties

 

The recent visit of Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri, to Syria could herald an improvement in ties between the two nations after almost five years of political wrangling, analysts say.  The symbolism of the trip was particularly significant since Hariri had repeatedly accused Damascus of being responsible for the killing of his father, former premier Rafik Hariri, in February 2005. Hariri, who met the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on December 20, described his visit to Damascus as “historic”. We want privileged, sincere and honest relationships [with Syria],” the prime minister said in a press conference in the Syrian capital at the end of his two-day trip, which came shortly after his newly-formed government won a vote of confidence in parliament. Analysts said that by visiting Damascus, Hariri was acknowledging a belief common in Lebanon that the country needed to maintain good relations with its larger neighbour to guarantee internal stability. “Syria is the key to stability and security in Lebanon,” said a Damascus-based political analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He added that the Lebanese had realised in the past five years that their country couldn’t “live in peace while showing hostility towards Syria”.

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Settling old scores

Lebanon and Syria have turned one page but have they started a new one? Omayma Abdel-Latif reports from Beirut,

In February 2006, Mahdi Dakhallah, then Syrian minister of information and today serving as Syria’s ambassador to Riyadh, spoke confidently of how Lebanese politicians spearheading a campaign against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad would eventually struggle to mend fences with Damascus.

"We are used to Jumblatt’s gimmicks," Dakhallah said, referring to Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt who orchestrated the March 14 campaign against Syria. "He will eventually want to come back to Damascus."

Anyone listening to Dakhlallah then could have been forgiven for thinking that like many Syrian politicians at the time he was in a state of denial about realities on the ground.

Al-Assad’s regime was isolated regionally and internationally, and Syria had been branded a key actor in the so-called "axis of evil" by the US Bush administration. One of the goals of the so-called Lebanese Cedar Revolution was regime change in Syria, according to its main architect, Jumblatt.

The assassination of Lebanese politician Rafik Al-Hariri in February 2005 has also proved a crucial test for Al-Assad’s regime, forcing it to make painful decisions, such as ending three decades of Syrian presence in Lebanon and withdrawing Syrian troops in April 2005.

In the years that followed, Damascus’s policies towards Lebanon were improvised rather than chosen. Yet, despite its isolation the regime proved resilient. Al-Assad reconciled himself with the fact that Damascus would have to make tactical changes if it were to contain international pressure and regional isolation.

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President Obama and Suleiman meetings
Washington, 15 December (WashingtonTV)—US President Barack Obama pressed Lebanon on Monday to take action against arms smuggling into the country which he said threatened Israeli security. Obama said after a White House meeting with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman that there had been some progress in enforcing a United Nations Security Council resolution banning such shipments but that more needed to be done.

Suleiman called on Washington to do more to pressure Israel to end its repeated incursions on Lebanese territory, singling out the Israeli threat for harming developing in his country. Obama, for his part, reminded Suleiman that "extensive arms" smuggling into Lebanon posed a direct threat to Israel. On Hezbollah’s weapons, the U.S. president said that while there are differences between the two governments on that issue, the overall relationship with Beirut is one based on peace. What we do share is a commitment to resolve these issues through dialogue and negotiations, as opposed to through violence," he said

Please Click Read More to read the complete transcript and FULL Comments of Both Presidents Obama and Suleiman

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