EARTHtimes - Beirut - Three Iranians and a Lebanese man who reside in Beirut's southern suburbs, a hotbed of Hezbollah militant activity, were arrested last week on charges of monitoring the residence of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, security sources said Friday. Geagea's home is in Meerab, northeast of Beirut. The sources said the four men were spotted in a rented car near Geagea's residence last week. Upon checking the plate number of the red-painted car it was found owned by a car rental company based in south Beirut and it had been rented to three Iranians and a Lebanese man. Police interrogated the four who claimed to have lost their way as they were on a trip along the "Jesus Trail" and ended up in Meerab. The four were set free, but due to contradictions in their testimonies, a judicial source said they might be interrogated again. The sources said the interrogators were wondering how two of the arrested claim they do not speak Arabic while they go to an Arab university, where courses are taught in Arabic.

Beirut - Lebanon's Druze  leader Walid Jumblatt Thursday warned ruling majority leaders to exercise extra caution when travelling to and from the Beirut airport, noting reports that Hezbollah was monitoring one of the runways. "I have received information through security channels that Hezbollah has a surveillance point with cameras in the Ouzai district which overlooks the runway 17 at Beirut international airport where most planes land," Jumblatt said. Jumblatt accused Hezbollah, a close ally of Syria, of preparing what he described as a "strategic operation " against leaders in the anti-Syrian ruling majority. The Druze leader warned all majority leaders to exercise "extra caution" in the coming weeks during their travel in and outside the country. 

Hizbullah labeled the recent accustions of Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt against the group as "fiction," in a statement sent to The Daily Star on Friday. Hizbullah described Jumblatt's charges of setting up cameras near Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport aimed at conducting surveillance operations as "nightmares and police fiction stories."  "Jumblatt's accusations come in line with the US-led campaign against the resistance in Lebanon and other parts of the world," the statement from Hizbullah's media office said.  "Jumblatt is simply repeating the words of US President George W. Bush," it added.  Hizbullah also criticized Jumblatt and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea for predicting assassinations against politicians affiliated to the anti-Syrian March 14 Forces.  "When we hear people like Jumblatt and Geagea predicting the occurrence of assassinations, it becomes much easier for us to know which parties are behind such suspicious scenarios," the statement said.

سر اللقاء الثقافي انطلياس دعوتكم الى حوار مع   النائب الدكتور فريد الخازن   بموضوع  الازمة السياسية في لبنان وافاق الحلول يدير الحوار: روبير …

المطران رحّو" أو العراق الجديد

المستقبل - السبت 5 نيسان 2008 - العدد 2924 - شؤون لبنانية - صفحة 4

    
الأب يوسف مونّس(*)

محمد السمّاك وميثاق الرسول
أثار صديقي الدكتور محمد السمّاك بغضب مقدّس، كما عادته في كل مرة يُساء إلى المسيحيين
والمسلمين، في جريدة المستقبل 17 آذار 2008 في عنوان صارخ "اغتيال المطران رحّو اعتداء
على الإسلام" وأشار إلى العهد النبوي الداعي إلى الذود عن الأساقفة والرهبان والسوّاح
والكنائس وبيوت العبادة والحفاظ على هذا الميثاق "من خالف عهد الله واعتمد الضد من ذلك
فقد عصى ميثاقه ورسوله" وإن جريمة القتل تعتبر انتهاكاً ليس فقط لحق إنساني مقدس في
الحياة إنما انتهاكاً لنص إلهي مقدّس أيضاً واعتداء على حرمة الإسلام وإساءة إليه تستحق
كل إدانة وكل الشجب والاستنكار". هذا الاستنكار أكد عليه الأمير حسن بن طلال.
الأمير حسن وأصالة المسيحيين
الأمير الحسن بن طلال، رئيس مجلس أمناء المعهد الملكي للدراسات الدينية في عمّان أعلن:
"ان اختطاف رئيس الموصل للكلدان المطران بولس فرج رحّو وقتل ثلاثة من مرافقيه يُعد
عملاً خارجاً على كل مبادئ الإنسانية المشتركة، ويسيء إلى قيمنا الدينية، وميثاقنا
السلوكي". ويُضيف: "إن المجتمع المسيحي الضارب الجذور في تاريخ هذا البلد المنكوب يقف
شاهداً منذ القدم على الاحترام المتأصل لإخواننا في الدين أهل الكتاب الذين استحقوا
حبنا وحمايتنا منذ أيام الرسول صلّى الله عليه وسلّم". وقد صدر في هذا المجال وفي
النهار مقال صارخ هام للشيخ محمد بشير الفقيه تحت عنوان: "مسيحيو العراق هم ضمانة
العراق الحرّ المنسي" (الشيخ محمد بشير الفقيه، النهار 15/3/2008).
الاستنكار شامل
الاستنكار كان واسعاً في السابق مثلاً في 16/10/2004 حين فُجرت 5 كنائس.
وتلا ذلك عمليات قتل وخطف وترويع. بين بغداد والبصرة والموصل جنون أصولي راح يطاول
كرامات الناس وحرية المعتقد وحرية المرأة المسيحية وكرامتها بالضغط عليها لارتداء
الحجاب ومنع العديد من الطلبة والطالبات خاصة في الموصل من متابعة الدراسة بسبب
المضايقات العدوانية والممارسات الإرهابية. فما هو تفسير هذه الأحداث؟ (الشيخ محمد بشير
الفقيه، النهار 15/3/2008). فهل يفلت المتزمتون ويعرضون على العراق شريعة القتل والذبح
وحرق دور العبادة في موجة من الكراهية لا تليق بهذا البلد الكبير الذي فتح قلبه وذراعيه
للجميع. ومنه كان حمورابي وابراهيم واشور بينيبال ونوبخذ نصّر والخلفاء الراشدون وأمراء
الترجمات المسيحيون. وجذور العراقيين ضاربة في أعماق العراق كما يقول الدكتور سيار
الجميل (جريدة الاتحاد، الأحد، أيلول 2003) وكما قال الرئيس نبيه بري: مسيحيو الشرق لا
يُكافأون بالقتل (السفير 18/3/2008).

BKIRKI: Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir lashed out on Thursday at some MPs refusal to perform their duty of electing of a new head of state, adding that this plunged Lebanon "deeper into political crisis." "This is due either to foreign or internal influences" Sfeir said after meeting with a delegation from the Journalists Union in Bkirki. "There is no way to find a solution but through being loyal to Lebanon first, and electing a president in accordance with the Constitution," he added. Sfeir said that during the first round of the presidential election, the two-thirds quorum should be used, but if in the second round there are two-thirds or a simple-majority of votes available, then the elections could be held.

"If two-thirds of votes are not ready, but there is a simple majority, the opposition can say that the Constitution was not respected and could elect a second president, in which case, we would end up with two presidents, which is something the Lebanese and non-Lebanese do not accept," Sfeir said.  He added he had discussed the electoral law and electoral constituencies in Beirut with leader of the parliamentary majority MP Saad Hariri "in vague terms, not in detail," during the latter's visit to the prelate  "Bkirki is not taking sides with anyone. We have our own path that we follow, and this path serves the interests of the church and Lebanon," Sfeir said.  "Without a president, the country cannot be revived, and the government cannot replace the president," he said, adding that all politicians are responsible for the presidential vacuum.  "The issue of me potentially visiting Syria has not yet been raised. I haven't been invited and probably will not be," he added.