by arabnews.com — Najia Houssari — BEIRUT: Lebanon’s response to the violence in Gaza and its relationship with Palestine is the subject of angry debate after rockets were fired from southern Lebanon toward Israeli settlements. Former MP Nadim Gemayel warned that “Lebanon is neither a military base nor a missile platform for Palestinian factions or Iranian militias.” He demanded that “the state and security services act quickly and strike with an iron fist, for Lebanon today cannot afford to repeat the experience of the 60s.” Gemayel said the “number one cause today is the Lebanese cause only.” MP Bilal Abdallah said that “Lebanon is facing an economic collapse and a vacuum in its political power, and the Palestine issue should not be put at the forefront.” He told Arab News: “What is happening requires insight and calm.”

The remarks of both political figures came as Lebanese and Palestinian youths stormed a fence on the Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel on Friday. However, they were unable to cross the Israeli security barrier that stood in their way. Groups of young men demonstrated near the border area facing the settlement of Al-Mutla, and attempted to cross a barbed-wire fence to gain access, but were met with tear-gas canisters fired by Israeli troops, forcing them to disperse and return to Lebanese territory. The incident came after rockets were launched from southern Lebanon on Thursday toward Israeli settlements. While Hezbollah denied any connection to the strikes, a statement hinted at the group’s potential involvement in the conflict if violence worsens.

By ZEINA KARAM — BEIRUT (AP) — A Turkish company that provides electricity to Lebanon from two power barges shut down its operations on Friday over delayed payments and the threat of legal action against its vessels. The move is expected to increase outages in the crisis-hit Mediterranean country. The company Karpowership has been threatening to shut down its power supply to Lebanon for weeks and said it took the decision on Friday because of 18 months of overdue payments in excess of $100 million. However, the decision comes after a Lebanese prosecutor last week threatened to seize the ships, pending an investigation into corruption and graft allegations. The company has called those accusations baseless. The company provides around 370 megawatts — about a quarter of Lebanon’s supply – through two electricity barges that have been anchored off the Lebanese coast since 2013. The company’s contract expires in September. “For 18 months, we have been exceedingly flexible with the (Lebanese) state, continually supplying power without payment or a payment plan, because the country was already facing very hard times,” the Karpowership statement said. “However, no company can operate in an environment with such direct and undue risk,” it added.

The decision is expected to decrease electricity supply by about four to six hours a day in a country that already suffers prolonged electricity cuts. It comes at a time the Central Bank and government are considering ending fuel subsidies, a move that would lead to a sharp increase in the price of gasoline and diesel, making even generator subscriptions unaffordable to most Lebanese. Blackouts have been a fixture of life in this Mediterranean country since the 1975-1990 civil war, with Lebanon relying mostly on imported diesel for the powerful generators cartel that lights up people’s houses in the absence of government electricity. Beirut residents have set their routines around three-hour cuts that determine when they can turn on their air conditioning in the summer and water heaters in the winter. Outside the capital of Beirut, the outages can last up to 12 hours or more. Successive governments have failed to agree on a permanent solution for the chronic electricity failures, largely because of profiteering, endemic corruption and lack of political will.

by AFP — Ibrahim al-Dika had raised his Belgian shepherd Lexi since she was a tiny pup, but then Lebanon’s economic crisis made him jobless and he had to sell her to repay a bank loan. “It got to the point where I was no longer able to feed her, the bank was pressuring me, and I hit a wall,” said the 26-year-old, devastated beside her empty kennel outside his Beirut home. “I didn’t sell a car or a telephone. I sold a soul. I sold a part of me.” Can you afford to keep your pet? Animal activists say this is a dilemma a growing number of Lebanese owners are facing as their purchasing power nosedives.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese have lost their jobs or seen their income reduced to a pittance due to Lebanon’s worst economic crisis in decades. As many families struggle to stay afloat, activists say increasingly more pet owners are asking for help to feed or re-home their animals, selling them, or in the worst cases abandoning them. Dika, after losing his father to illness, was laid off last year when his employer, a fashion retailer, closed shop, affecting his ability to support his mother and brother. He had spent around a year caring for Lexi, and training her to sit, heel, give him the paw, and play dead. But when the bank started calling, he saw no option other than to sell her. He drove over a few days later to check in on her, and Lexi thought he had come to take her home. “She leapt straight into my car,” he said. “She broke my heart the way she looked at me.”

by aljazeera.com — A Lebanese man was shot and killed by Israeli troops after he and others protesting in support of Palestinians tried to cross a security fence on the border with Israel, Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reported. NNA said another person was wounded on Friday after protesters gathered along the border in a show of solidarity with Palestinians as Israel continued a relentless bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip. Lebanon’s Marjayoun Governmental Hospital told Al Jazeera that 21-year-old Mohammad Tahhan had died of his wounds. The condition of the second protester was not immediately known. Earlier, the Israeli military said a number of people in Lebanon had damaged the border fence and set fire to a field. They retreated after Israeli tanks fired warning shots.

The Lebanese protesters had gathered close to the fence, waving flags, including the Palestinian national flag and the flag of Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, a staunch opponent of Israel. Lebanese President Michel Aoun said in a statement he “strongly condemned the crime committed by Israeli forces”. The protesters were later dispersed by the Lebanese army in the presence of UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon that monitors the boundary with Israel, a witness said. UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Teneti said in the statement they launched an investigation into the incident, and have increased their presence at the border alongside the Lebanese army.

By BY TAL AXELROD – Thehill.com — Three rockets were fired from Lebanon toward Israel Thursday, raising fears that violence between Israel and the Gaza Strip could spill over into other parts of the region. The Israeli military announced that the rockets landed into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of northern Israel. No casualties were immediately reported from the strike. The attack raises the risks of the violence expanding to two fronts as violence between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip shows no signs of abating in the near future.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack, and Lebanese officials familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that it was unclear which group launched the rockets or precisely where they landed. South Lebanon is the power base of the Shiite organization Hezbollah and other armed groups that have clashed with the Israeli military in the past, including during a brutal war in 2006. The launches from Lebanon come as the Israeli military builds up its presence along the border with the Gaza Strip, with Israel not ruling out a ground offensive into the enclave to stop the rocket attacks.

by reuters — The European Union is drawing up sanctions on politicians in Lebanon seen as blocking the formation of a government, readying the bloc’s first penalties on its Middle Eastern ally in frustration at the ruling elite’s mismanagement, diplomats said. Led by former colonial power France, the bloc is seeking to ramp up pressure on Lebanon’s squabbling politicians, after 10 months of crisis that has left Lebanon facing financial collapse, hyperinflation, electricity blackouts, and fuel and food shortages. No names have been discussed and Hungary has publicly denounced EU efforts to pressure Lebanese politicians, but six diplomats and officials told Reuters that technical work has now begun on preparing sanctions – so-called designation criteria – after EU foreign ministers on Monday agreed to take action. As many senior Lebanese politicians have homes, bank accounts and investments in the EU, and send their children to universities there, a withdrawal of that access could be a lever to focus minds.

Paris says it has already taken measures to restrict entry for some Lebanese officials, for blocking efforts to tackle the unprecedented crisis, which is rooted in decades of state corruption and debt. “The level of impatience with the ruling class is growing. They don’t seem to have their peoples’ interest at heart. Expect to see a decision in the next three to four weeks,” said a senior EU diplomat. The EU first needs to set up a sanctions regime that could then see individuals hit by travel bans and asset freezes. There are divisions among the 27 EU states over the wisdom of EU sanctions, but the bloc’s two main powers, France and Germany are in favour, which is likely to prove pivotal. A larger group of nations has yet to specify their approach.

سجعان قزي

   وزير سابق

@AzziSejean

منذ عشرِ سنين ولبنانُ بين روسيا التي تَمتلِكُ استراتيجيّةً ثابتةً ويَصعُبُ على لبنان السيرُ فيها، وبين الولاياتِ المتّحدةِ الأميركيّة التي تُعْوِزُها استراتيجيّةٌ مرحليّةٌ، ورغمَ ذلك يَتعذَّرُ على لبنانَ إهمالُـها. وحين استعادَ لبنانُ الرهانَ على فرنسا وَجدَها تائهةً في علاقاتِها اللبنانيّةِ والشرق أوسطيّة. نيّةُ رئيسِها جيّدةٌ وأداءُ إدارتِـها باهِتْ. سياسةُ رئيسِها يمينيّةٌ وسياسةُ مستشاريه يساريّة. وكان الارتطامُ العظيمُ لمبادرتِها، بل لدورِها.

صعوبةُ السيرِ في الاستراتيجيّةِ الروسيّةِ تعود إلى خَطرِ أن تَجعلَ روسيا لبنانَ امتدادًا لوجودِها في سوريا فتَتسلَّلَ سوريا معها إلى ديارِنا، وإلى عجزِها عن مساعدةِ لبنان بما يحتاجُه اقتصاديًّا وماليًّا. أما تعذّرُ إهمالِ أميركا فيعودُ إلى أنّها أميركا، إلى تَجذُّرِ دورِها في لبنان عبر دعمِ الجيشِ اللبنانيّ، إلى المساعدةِ في ضَبطِ النزاعِ مع إسرائيل وصولًا إلى تسويتِه، وإلى كونِها المرجِعيّةَ الكبرى في الشرقِ الأوسَط والعالم…

غيرَ أنَّ لبنانَ قادرٌ على الحصولِ على دعمِ أميركا وروسيا وفرنسا وغيرِها في حالِ عَرَفت دولتُه التعاطي بذَكاءٍ مع هذه الدولِ على أساسِ استراتيجيّةٍ واضحةٍ تُحدِّدُ مصالحَ لبنان. طَوالَ تاريخِ لبنانَ الحديث، لم يَحدُث أن سَعَت دولةٌ إلى الاستفرادِ بلبنان ومنعِه من إقامةِ علاقاتٍ خاصّةٍ مع غيرِها. حتّى سوريا، حين كانت موجودةً عسكريًّا في لبنان، تَقبَّلت انفتاحَه على المجتمعَين العربيِّ والدُوَليِّ واستفادَت منه. لكنَّ الدولةَ اللبنانيّةَ هي من أخَفقَت اليومَ في إقامةِ علاقاتٍ جيّدةٍ مع مجموعةِ دولٍ وحتّى مع دولةٍ واحدة.

by naharnet.com — Both President Michel Aoun and Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh have denied discussing the issue of Hizbullah’s controversial financial institution, al-Qard al-Hasan, in a meeting that they held in Baabda. A statement issued by the Presidency said media reports that claimed the opposite were “baseless,” noting that the discussions tackled “the monetary […]

وطنية – الفاتيكان – منح البابا فرنسيس سفير لبنان لدى الكرسي الرسولي فريد الياس الخازن وسام “مؤسسة بيوس الرابع”.

وأوضح الخازن في حديث إلى “الوكالة الوطنية للإعلام” أن “هذا الوسام (Ordine di Papa Pio IX) الذي أنشئ بداية في زمن البابا بيوس الرابع في 1560 وأعاد احياءه البابا بيوس التاسع في 1847، مصدر فخر واعتزاز”.

وقال: “انا ممتن لقداسة البابا فرنسيس على هذه الالتفاتة الكريمة. انه لشرف عظيم أن أنال هذا التكريم الذي يرتب علي مسؤولية أدبية تلازم مهامي. وهي بمثابة المحفز لانطلاقة جديدة لمتابعة عملي بصدق وجدية وتفان، خدمة للعلاقات التاريخية وروابط الصداقة والتعاون المثمر بين لبنان والكرسي الرسولي، خصوصا في الظروف الصعبة التي يمر بها لبنان والمعاناة التي دخلت بيوت الناس وأصابتهم في الصميم. تجدر الإشارة الى أن هذا الوسام يمنح لسفراء لدى الكرسي الرسولي وسواهم، بينما الوسام الأعلى رتبة من الفئة (ordre) نفسها يمنح لرؤساء الدول”.

وبالنسبة إلى زيارة الرئيس المكلف سعد الحريري روما، قال: “تعاطى الكرسي الرسولي مع زيارة الرئيس سعد الحريري الأخيرة بحسب الأصول البروتوكولية المتبعة، كرئيس حكومة مكلف. ولم يتم الإعلان عن الزيارة في وسائل إعلام الفاتيكان. كما أن الإعداد للزيارة تم بالتنسيق مع السفارة البابوية في لبنان، بناء على موعد كان طلبه الرئيس الحريري، ولم يصدر بيان رسمي بعد اختتامها. هذا لا يقلل من أهمية الزيارة، بل يعكس التزام التقاليد المعتمدة في الفاتيكان. لقاء الرئيس الحريري مع قداسة البابا تناول المسائل المبدئية المطروحة وحرص البابا الدائم للمساعدة على انتشال لبنان من أزماته. ومواقف الحبر الأعظم بهذا الخصوص معروفة، وسبق الإعلان عنها في مناسبات عدة. أما اجتماع العمل بين الرئيس الحريري والوفد المرافق من جهة، والكردينال بارولين، أمين سر الدولة، والمونسنيور كالاغر، (وزير الخارجية)، من جهة أخرى، فتناول مسائل مرتبطة بالعلاقات الثنائية بين لبنان والكرسي الرسولي في أبعادها الداخلية والخارجية”.

يطل عيد الفطر على الوطن العربي والعدو يهجر ويقتل الفلسطنيين ويدمر ممتلكاتهم. فالى متى تستمر هذه الغطرسة وهذا الاجرام وينتهي الظلم  ويرتدع الظالم ؟