AlJazeera, Years of war and political instability have disrupted Lebanon’s ambitions to tap into its energy sector. Bidding for the right to develop oil and gas fields buried offshore is due to start later this year amid hopes the discoveries will help transform the country’s economy.  Lebanon, which has the highest debt as a share […]

by gulfnews 0 Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer – Beirut: It takes Mansour Khalife a good two hours to reach the
Lebanese capital from the city of Jounieh given the unprecedented
traffic chaos prevailing in the country. “I promise to light a
candle to Mar Charbel [the country’s venerated Maronite patron saint]
the day I reach my shop in an hour,” Khalife, a salesman who works in
downtown Beirut, told Gulf News. Khalife’s car is among the 1.6 million registered vehicles taking to Lebanon’s roads every day. That
figure does not include cars not registered in Lebanon, which has
swelled due to the massive number of Syrians who have filtered into the
country due to the civil war in their land. Chronic congestion and
lack of parking have always plagued the country, but a growing
population coupled with the influx of Syrians has made the situation
particularly intolerable.

Syrians
now make up a quarter of the population, bringing the total population
to around 6 million, up from 4 million. This figure does not take into
account the country’s one million Palestinian refugees and 750,000
foreign workers who are not counted in national census figures. Hundreds
of thousands of commuters who drive to Beirut every day complain that
they waste precious hours of their life behind the wheel. To
alleviate the growing burden on the roads, governor Ziad Chebib promised
to reveal a new plan to revamp the city’s public transport system
within weeks. However the promise has not excited Lebanese due to
many past pledges that have not materialised — a plan for a metro and
light-rail system have been floated. The absence of an effective public transit system has only made Lebanese more dependent on cars.

In
2015, the last year for which statistics are available, 39,361 new
passenger cars were sold in Lebanon, up by an annual 4.1 per cent, which
brought the state over $500 million (Dh1.83 billion) in excise taxes,
cars registration fees, and cars control fees. Few Lebanese take
public buses due the danger associated with navigating the country’s
haphazard roads combined with the reckless drivers to whom they would
perforce have to entrust their safety. Lebanon records more than 6
million automobile passenger trips each day, up from 2.8 million in
2007 and 1.7 million in 1995, according to statistics from the Ministry
of Public Works and Transport.

A 2012 American University of
Beirut study confirmed the existence of a “deep-rooted need for an
effective public transportation system as a competitive alternative to
automobile dependency”. The Council for Development and Reconstruction —
the supra-national body in charge of everything after the civil war —
failed to heed calls for urgent action, which is the primary reason why
traffic jams are now the norm.

by the961–  The new Lebanese Nationality Program website
was launched by the Lebanese government to help Lebanese people abroad
(who don’t have their citizenship) reclaim their Lebanese nationality. This is an initiative launched by the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs & Emigrants to initiate and facilitate the process for
people of Lebanese heritage. This service is completely free and the website is available in 4 languages: English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. There were several major waves of emigration from Lebanon to South
America starting in the late 1800’s due to the 1860 conflict in Lebanon. The ruling parties at the time intentionally passed laws to “punish”
these emigrants, denying them the automatic right of return to Lebanon –
making it near impossible to pass the nationality to their children.

Despite several generations in South America and the Lebanese
language not being passed on to the children, there still maintains a
strong Lebanese ethnic identity. Brazil alone is home to the most number of Lebanese people in the
world, including Lebanon. Estimates range from 7 million up to 12
million Lebanese. Hence why the website is available in Portuguese.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s state news agency says one Palestinian has been killed and others wounded during intense clashes that erupted in one of the capital’s crowded southern suburbs. The National News Agency says calm has been restored Friday to Burj al-Barajneh area in south Beirut after clashes that lasted hours. The agency says the […]

The Daily Star, BEIRUT: The re-opening of the Qleiaat airport in north Lebanon is a righteous demand, President Michel Aoun said Friday. “Reopening the Rene Mouawad airport in Qleiaat would achieve prosperity for north Lebanon and comes in line with the [plan] to rehabilitate [Lebanon’s] infrastructure,” Aoun told a delegation from the civil movement in […]

by naharnet – Prime Minister Saad Hariri received at the Center House on Friday the Estonian President, Kersti Kaljulaid, and the accompanying delegation, where the meeting focused on bilateral relations and the work of the Estonian contingent in the UNIFIL in south Lebanon, Hariri’s media office said. After the meeting, Kaljulaid said: “Estonia is the […]

by Makram Rabah

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of  khazen.org

Over the years the Lebanese have got used to the idea that many, if not
all, of their leaders’ political statements and actions can be easily
reversed or simply swept away without any form of accountability or
consequences. However, the hail of criticism generated by the recent remarks of Lebanese President Michel Aoun in support of Hezbollah might be the exception to the aforementioned rule.

The objections to Aoun’s unstatesmanlike remarks stem from the
ambassadors of the International Support Group for Lebanon (ISGL) – the
US, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and China, in addition to the EU
ambassador and representative of the UN secretary-general in Lebanon and
Arab League representative. This might perhaps serve as a warning of
what awaits Lebanon if Aoun stays his precarious course. The US ambassador to Lebanon, Elizabeth Richard, clearly warned the Lebanese state that its refusal to abide by international law and UN resolutions might lead to the withdrawal of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). As it stands, however, President Aoun’s skewed position in support of Hezbollah has virtually imploded UNSCR 1701,
which requires the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, and has
placed Lebanon under the scrutiny of the international community,
something that might have dire repercussions for Lebanon and its fragile
economy.