Minister of Youth: “We’re at war!”

Yesterday at around 4PM, the news came in that riots had broken out in Mar Mikhail and in Chiyah, two Shiite areas of Beirut. It started with a somewhat peaceful demonstration against the lack of electricity, but soon it turned violent with heavy gunfire being reported. End result: 8 demonstrators dead, among which a local leader of the Shiite movement Amal.

During the rest of the day, the violence spread to other areas in Beirut as well. The airport road was closed off for a while and the Shiite demonstrators even went into, or tried to get into, Masraa, a Sunni neighborhood. Later in the evening, another disturbing development took place when Shiite gangs went into Ain el Remaneh, an area known for its strong support of the Lebanese Forces movement of Samir Geagea. Eye witnesses said they insulted their leader, threw stones and even a grenade was tossed, injuring at least 7.

Contributing to the state of fear was the TV footage showing snipers on rooftops and soldiers in hiding. The rest of Lebanon was tense as well with burning of tires in various places, such as Baalbak, Hermel. Towards the south demonstrators blocked the road to Sidon and Tyre.

Now that the dust has settled and calm has returned to Lebanon (and yes, another day of national mourning, just like Saturday after Wissam Eid was killed), the obvious questions start to appear. Was this a spontaneous strike against the lack of electricity and the high bread prices or was it organized from above?

Any attempt to answer this is pure speculation, but I have a feeling that the events yesterday were not organized. Rather, it could have been the result of ever increasing rhetoric from Opposition leaders that they would intensify their actions starting Sunday. It looks like their followers have headed their calls without any need for steering, but I guess we’ll never find out.

And what about the argument that the demonstrators were expressing their anger over the lack of electricity? They would be quite right to be upset with power cuts for sometimes 12 hours a day and that's just plain hard on people, especially in winter. But why ignite riots now? The cuts have been here all winter and they are not deteriorating.

An almost funny explanation was given by one of the analysts yesterday on TV, namely that the demonstrators wanted to give a strong signal to the Cairo meeting of Arab ministers of foreign affair that was taking place. As if the typical Arab leader would respond to voices from the ‘street’. Try to demonstrate in Egypt, Syria or Saudi Arabia and see how the army would respond. In any case, it didn’t help much as the Arab ministers have called upon Lebanon to elect Michel Suleiman as next president.

Yesterday, it seemed that the Lebanese army was set to confront the rioters as much as they could. Roadblocks were cleared away relatively fast and the violence was quite effectively contained, with the sad exception of the hostility in Ain el Remaneh.

Today, the opposition denies being responsible for the violent acts of yesterday and instead blames the government. Likewise, the government blames the Opposition. Samir Geagea, e.g., pointed out that all the demonstrators were young men, whereas there would also have been women and elderly present would it have been a true social protest.

Minister of Youth, Ahmad Fatfat, went even further and openly said that the current events amount to a civil war. He could very well be right, but let’s pray he’s not. But the fact that this time around the violence was again at Ain el Remaneh, is not reassuring.

On April 13, 1975 unidentified people killed 4 Maronites at a church in Ain el Remaneh, an event that many see as the start of the Lebanese Civil War. That same church featured prominently as the décor of yesterday’s riots. Is history going to be repeated?

The strike was all that was quiet

Contrary to what many Lebanese had feared, yesterday’s national strike was actually as quiet as could be. One person was wounded and the ISF agent who wounded him turned himself in. If you’d close your eyes, you could almost imagine yourself to be in San Francisco in 1968, flower in your hair and all…

…until you start listening to the politicians of March 14. First, we had Samir Geagea who bluntly stated that he is not willing to agree on anything with March 8. And if that was not enough, he made accusations against Hezbollah for killing Lebanese army officers during the civil war. Now that’s interesting that he should mention this, because it is Geagea himself who was also accused of doing this. Pot, kettle. None of these accusations have been proven, by the way.

Another twist of history is that it was Geagea’s party that blocked the election of a new president back in 1988, even though the Lebanese Forces were a minority, but that’s a different story.

However, to Geagea’s defense, he was reacting to Nasrallah’s accusations that March 14 is working towards assassinating him by collaborating with Israel, which is one of the worst accusations you can level in Lebanon.

Druze leader Jumblatt went further in his statements and openly accused Hezbollah of wanting to start another war with Israel. Also, he accused Syria of wanting to trigger a wave of Syrian-sponsored kidnappings and killing of foreigners, something that has been reported by a Syrian newspaper. Given that the Syrian media are under state control, it was a not-so-subtle reminder of Syria that it can stir things up.

Anyway, back to the demonstration yesterday. As noted, the call for strike was hardly adhered to in many parts of Beirut. Most shops were open as usual, buses were driving and taxis tried to pick up the few people on the street. If anything, the impact of the strike was the fact that many people had chosen to stay home, afraid of a repeat of Black Tuesday a year ago.

What was different with a year ago was the role of the army. They were actively preventing people from blocking the roads and removed blockades by force. It must have been an unsettling site for March 8 to see army commander Suleiman to be so active in preventing demonstrators from getting out of control. Now let’s see what the reaction will be.

The day before the strike, Michel Murr stated that he would not support the scheduled demonstrations and that he declared the Metn free of strike. This was a clear barb against Michel Aoun, who did support the strike. Ever since the fall-out between the two, Murr is doing as much as he can to distance himself from Aoun and to regain his influence within the Metn.

It is too easy to conclude that March 8 has lost support because of the lackluster interest in the strike yesterday. What would be fairer is to assume that both Hezbollah and Aoun didn’t put their full weight behind it. Everybody is now anxiously waiting for the outcome of the Arab League meeting in Damascus coming Sunday. If this will result in failure, then Hezbollah will escalate its actions.

They have announced this before and before and before. So maybe it’s an empty threat. Then again, there’s always the possibility that it’s not. Given the emotions in the street, it feels there is a momentum building up that sooner or later would need to unleash itself.

It’s easy to imagine the frustrations of the Opposition: blocking downtown for more than a year and still nothing happens. It would make you wonder what you need to do to get the other side to listen to you. In that sense, Geagea’s statement that he’s not willing to agree on anything does get a meaning he might not even have intended.

UPDATE: A bomb went off around 10AM in the Chrevrolet neighborhood (close to Hazmieh and Furn el Shebak) and has killed captain Wissam Eid, a senior officer of the internal security forces. Initial reports speak of at least 10 dead. Was this a reaction to the army's crackdown on demonstrators, yesterday?

All quiet on the Beirut front

Today is the big day of strikes in Lebanon. It has been announced weeks ahead of time and people were fearing a repeat of Black Tuesday that occurred a year ago. But so far, everything seems to be OK. There are demonstrators, but they're not blocking the roads. Also, no burning of tires so far.

See below for some pics I took this morning at roughly 7:45 AM.

Photo 1: A taxi tries to pick up passengers in Hamra

Photo 2: And he's not the only one

Photo 3: A bus in Hamra on an empty street. People stayed home because of the strike of public transport...

Photo 4: Operations are in full swing at the bus station of Wardieh, Hamra

New feature: Amazon books on Lebanon

Dear reader,

A new feature has been added to Lebanon Update: a personalized Amazon bookstore with books on Lebanon. See the link on the left side of the page or simply click here.

The books have all been handpicked by me and I have read many of them. This is a work in progress so if you have suggestions to add more books, please let me know

Beirut Dining in 1975

For those in need of a walk down memory lane, check out this article of the A Diamond in Sunlight blog. It's a highly interesting read about the Lebanese restaurant scene back in 1975.

Given that it was published in the November/December 1975 issue of the Saudi Aramco World, it was already filled with nostalgia of a bygone Beirut. Guess nothing much has changed...

Signs on the wall

The last few days witnessed quite a few worrisome developments which makes the tense situation in Lebanon even tenser. Although each event in and by itself can be shrugged off as irrelevant, together they form an awful mosaic of a deteriorating situation. It's also reflecting in daily interaction with the Lebanese: people are tense, tired and simply fed up with it all.

Just to give the reader an idea of what is happening, here are the major events of the last few days:

• Amr Moussa's recent mission ended in disappointment as March 8 and March 14 seem to be further away from a solution than ever, even though the Arab League proposal was "crystal clear";
• Almost daily riots over the price of bread and/or the lack of electricity in suburbs that are considered Hezbollah strongholds;
• The party of Aoun supposedly has announced it will do a trial demonstration tonight in Batroun;
• Rumors are getting stronger that Hezbollah and Aoun will organize full-size street actions starting Jan 27;
• Syria has closed the border with Lebanon for food transports. Already, they had put in place severe "security checks" which has lead to long waiting lines since a week;
• The Maronite patriarch has been under fierce and never witnessed before attacks from pro-Syria politician Suleiman Franjieh;
• The patriarch stated that there is an obvious plan to divide Lebanon;
  
• France is openly accusing Syria of being responsible for the blocking of any solution in Lebanon. This in turn could lead to a backlash from Syria supporters;
• Jumblatt is increasing his anti-Syria rhetorics, and here, fueling the fire and increasing the fear of a 'reaction' from Syrian allies;
• The otherwise calm and thoughtful Amin Gemayel has stated that Hezbollah's objective is a coup d'etat, likewise increasing the flames of anxiety;
• Opinion articles frankly discuss how to avoid a civil war in Lebanon.
  

and finally,

• A rumor is making the rounds that after politicians, writers and UNIFIL employees, random foreigners will be targeted next.

To sum it up:
Political negotiations between March 8 and March 14 have reached an impasse with many in and out of Lebanon blame March 8 for the failure. In turn, March 8 is organizing almost daily violent clashes with the Lebanese army, now possibly joined by youth from Michel Aoun's party, giving the impression that the Opposition is building up towards massive street protests, if not worse.

Update:

• A large strike of the public transportation sector scheduled for January 24, will be used by the Opposition to demonstrate against the government. Major roads will be blocked in order to force people to stay home. Interesting enough, a few days ago, the government has increased the prices of public transport to meet the demands of the various unions, but that does not stop them from striking.
• The Opposition has announced further escalation of the demonstrations starting January 27 in case the Arab League meeting in Damascus will not provide the desired results.
• Alain Aoun, spokesperson of the Aoun movement, has called the tire burning incidents in the Hezbollah controlled areas "illegal". The reader should remember that it is exactly one year ago that Aounists were burning tires themselves in Christian areas, something which Michel Aoun called a constitutional right back then.

For sale: Hawa Lebnan!

In a remarkable article, the L'Orient-Le Jour reported on Monday the story about a new company that sells bottled air of Lebanon, so Lebanese expats can inhale their beloved country air every once in a while. Before anyone starts hurling accusations about fraud and scam, it's good to know that the revenues will go to planting trees in the Chouf area.

Photo 1: Hawa Lebnan sells at 3.5 USD, so better make every sniff count!

See below for a news item on MBC about Hawa Lebnan:

New Year’s resolution of police in Beirut

Two tickets in as many days…for the first time in six years. What is going on in Beirut? It seems that the police has a nice little New Year resolution, namely to issue as many tickets as possible. Granted, the tickets were indisputable, but still, this is Beirut where you hardly ever get a ticket.

The first ticket was for double parking because I had to pick up our daughter from garderie. Every day, either Brigitte or I park there, as do many other people and it has never been a problem. Until now. Without any announcement, it seems that the police has started a crackdown on traffic violations in Hamra.

Take Abdel-Azziz, e.g., the street that leads down from Hamra to the beginning of Bliss. Suddenly, the police has shown up and has started issuing tickets all through the day every day. Again, people are not supposed to park on the right side of the street, but it has never been a problem before.

Photo 1: Parking ticket for a random car on Abdel Azziz

The second ticket was given to Brigitte for going against traffic. There’s this little alley of not even 50 meters which provides a shortcut literally saving you 30 minutes of traffic jam. Many people use this alley, like the taxi in front of her, who wasn’t fined or the wrinkly-dinky car in front of the taxi, who wasn’t fined either. Class justice, anyone?

The fine for driving against traffic is a staggering 50,000 Lebanese pound, which is roughly 35 USD. Just to give you an idea, this fine equals the amount of 296 USD in the Netherlands, based upon percentage of minimum wage. That’s serious money alright. No wonder he didn’t ticket the service driver or the owner of that old car. But when a nice SUV comes along…

Photo 2: Another car being fined...Anyone in Valkenburg recognize the car btw?

Certainly, I am the last person to complain about class justice, not after my article on the raid of Crystal. But there is something unfair about how the police seemingly issues tickets only to those who can afford it and not to people who break the law full stop.

The worst was yet to come, though: paying the ticket and collecting your driver license, which the police confiscate. Interesting enough, they let you keep on driving after they take your license, which is an offence by itself

Paying the ticket can only be done during office hours at either the Post Office or at a bookstore called Malik’s. Since Malik’s opens late, you’d figure you can pay the ticket during opening hours, right? Wrong. The guy at Malik’s who’s responsible for collecting payments is only in his office from 8 to 5...sigh

Collecting your driving license can only be done at a certain police station far away from Hamra, where the ticket was issued. You’d think you can pick up your license anytime the station is open, right? Wrong again: the guy responsible for giving back your license only works from 8 to 2. That's your tax dollars at work…sigh again.

The Lebanese police makes the aftermath of a ticket so annoying, it almost makes you want to follow the rules…and the sad part is, I’m pretty sure they don’t even do this on purpose.

Update: The L'Orient-Le Jour newspaper reported on Saturday that the Internal Security Forces have launched a campaign to enforce traffic regulations. The Lebanese police has been instructed to crackdown on violations such as running a red light, talking on mobile phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt, wrongful parking and going against traffic. So be warned.

About that call for a Fairuz boycott

More and more, the story that Fairuz should be boycotted to play Damascus is picking up wind. See here or here, for example. Personally, I don't agree and think she should play as argued in my previous post. But for the sake of argument, let's follow through with the logic of those who think a boycott is a Good Thing ©.

Who and what else should be boycotted, too? After all, we don't want to single out only Fairuz, now would we?

So let's be systematic about it and boycott all cultural exchanges between Lebanon and Syria. NO MORE PERFORMANCES of Lebanese artists before Syrian audience. Even our sub-standard artists they can't have.

Obviously, we have to be thorough about this so we'd like to check ID cards at the entrance of any and all cultural event in Lebanon as well, just to filter out those pesky Syrians who thought they could circumvent our boycott by simply coming to the artists instead of the artists coming to them.

It goes without saying that this entrance validation would apply on a global scale. Imagine that a Lebanese artist would play Dubai. The moment this would be published, expect a FLOOD OF SYRIANS heading towards Dubai, thinking they're smarter than we...eh...smarter than us...ah...well, you know what we mean.

It might take some convincing so best to start IMMEDIATELY because TIME IS RUNNING OUT!! Who knows how many Syrians have been seeing Lebanese artists, even as we speak!

Actually, come to think about it, why limit ourselves to a cultural boycott only? I mean, a bunch of singers, who really cares, right? Let's hit them where it hurts: an economic boycott, let's close the borders and CONFISCATE all Syrian property in Lebanon. Better yet, BURN THEM UP, just to be on the safe side that they're really out of business.

Only downside is that from then on, the Lebanese would have to do the constructing of our apartment buildings and the cleaning of our streets. But hey, that's a SMALL PRICE for taking the high road!

Lebanon Update is quoted again!

See here for an article in the Dutch newspaper Dag, liaised with the Volkskrant, and here for an article about the latest call for boycotting Fairuz to play in Damascus at the weblog of the LA Times.

Wow, being a wanna-be journalist is fun!

Getting blase about bombs

Yesterday around 4:30: Brigitte calls to ask me if I already heard about the bombs. "What bombs?", and she tells me that there were bombs in Dora, a northern suburb of Beirut. On previous occasions, we would both rush home and follow the news on TV, especially if it's almost 5 PM anyway. This time, however, we both had work to do, things to wrap up and basically decided that news about the bomb can wait.

And it's not that the bomb wasn't serious. As the Orient-Le Jour splashed on its front page today, after targeting politicians, journalists and Unifil, now the attention has shifted towards diplomats. Three people got killed and 20 wounded when a road side bomb exploded on the so-called Sea Side Road, which runs parallel to the highway between Beirut and Byblos. The most likely intention was to to hit a vehicle of the American embassy that was passing by. As a result, the goodbye party of ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, scheduled for today, has been canceled.

It seems that the bomb, that was detonated remotely, exploded a little bit too late as the car driving behind the USA vehicle was mostly damaged and two people inside it got killed, together with a passing motorist. No embassy employees were killed. People already spoke of a warning, but I reckon chances are this was a sloppy mistake. Terrorists are usually not that big on giving warnings, they tend to focus more on getting the message across.

What's strange is that according to the Daily Star, the car did not have diplomat license plates and was otherwise as plain as could be. Still, the first news items already mentioned that the car was tied to the American embassy. How could the journalists have known so soon? And how easy must it have been for the terrorists to find out? It makes you wonder about how well the embassy was taking security measures; or how difficult it is to effectively protect one's self.

Photo 1: The US car with regular license plates - courtesy of Harry's blog who was one of the first on the scene, check also his video of the aftermath

Iran: what doesn't kill you makes you weaker

Ever since the CIA concluded that Iran has stopped its nuclear weapon program, analysts have feared that this would make the country stronger. In an interesting article in the IHT of last week, Nazila Fathi argues the exact opposite: due to the CIA report, Iran has lost its common enemy and is now again focusing on internal strive.

That makes sense: the threat of an outside attack usually brings people closer together. In case of Iran, internal differences were put aside and all attention went to the Great Satan, the USA. Now that the CIA has made clear, however, that there is nothing to fear from America for the time being, the Iranians start to look at each other again. According to Fathi, this had lead to a renewed pressure on president Ahmadinejad, mostly over the lagging economy.

How would this affect Lebanon? Obviously, with the Iranians blame-gaming each other for their under-performing economy despite record oil prices, they might be less concerned with Hezbollah.

What's more, now that Iran is no longer under direct pressure from America, it might feel less of a need to use Hezbollah as a pressuring tool vis-à-vis Israel.

Finally, one might consider the Arab pressure on Iran as a positive stimulant to reign in Hezbollah. Iran might just be willing to improve their relationships with the Arab world at the expense of Hezbollah.

The downside of a more absent Iran is that Syria might step up to fill the void and that's not necessarily an improvement.

Anyway, these are all speculations and as usual, the future will tell if they are correct or wrong.

Meet sexy girls

Some of you have been asking me why I now have links on my blog to other websites that have not really anything to do with Lebanon, like "meet sexy Lebanese girls". The reason behind this is that I have activated advertisements on my blog, which is all handled by Google.

As such, I don't have much influence over the advertisements itself, other than it shouldn't be pornographic and it shouldn't be unsuitable for minors. For the rest, it's up to Google to provide relevant advertisement, enough so for visitors to click on them. Every time they do that, Google will pay out a little money and charges the advertisers.

To Google's credit, it was amazing to see how quickly it fine tuned the advertising on this blog. Within a few days, most the ads were relevant to this blog. This is even more impressive when you realize that this is most likely true for all blogs that run Google ads and you can imagine the level of specification. In that sense, Google has turned the advertisement business upside down: think local, act global. It goes once again to show that Google is God.

On a related note, in order to attract as many viewers as possible, Google also provides bloggers with a useful tool, namely with a list of the most popular articles on your blog. Here is the Top 10 of this blog for the last month:

1. Most Sexy Arab Clip Ever
2. Lebanon Update mentioned on LA Times
3. Solution reached in Lebanon
4. Raid on Crystal: Old wine in new bags
5. Flags, flags, flags
6. New phenomenon in Lebanon: youth gangs
7. Rockets fired from Lebanon on Israel
8. Oh my: 50,000,000 USD spent on NYE
9. Who needs Israel when you have Hezbollah
10. Lebanese Carlos Slim richest man on earth

The overall most-read posting since the start of this blog was the Most Sexy Arab Clip Ever, closely followed by The Perfect Bride and Lebanese Carlos Slim richest man on earth.

So where does that leave me? Here I am, blogging away on serious topics like Lebanese politics when all you want is sexy clips, romance and money! I can only hope that most of the visitors to these articles were drawn by search engines and accidentally stumbled upon my website. Still, it shows that the old adagium of sex sells, is very well alive in cyberspace.

Single digits in Hamra

Despite having the weather forecast predicating single digits temperatures in Beirut, last night was the first time that we could see it on our own thermometer: 9.1 C. Not a big deal, you say? Up there in Canada/or wherever you emigrated to it's much colder, you say? Well, I'm sure that's right but for the Lebanese in Lebanon, it is something very special.

The news yesterday mentioned it is the coldest weather since ever, or at least since a long time according to an old guy in the Bekaa who couldn't remember the weather ever being so cold. Lots of problems as well for farmers whose crops were ruined because of the frost, so expect even higher prices in the supermarkets.

Photo 1: We're not taking any chances with Janine!

Samir Geagea: close all LF websites except one

In a remarkable exchange of e-mails, it turns out that leader of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, is ordering fan sites to close down. Only the official website (www.lebabese-forces.com, as per the first e-mail, sic!) is allowed frow now on. That's a rather strange strategy, not to mention a problem for non-Arab speakers as the whole website is in Arabic.

Many followers of LF live abroad and/or are not fluent in written, formal Arabic, so cutting them off from information on LF is not the best of P.R. moves imaginable. Luckily, there are other websites on the Internet that cover the Lebanese Forces, such as Ouwet.com, which was also asked to shut down...at the direct order of Samir Geagea no less.

The e-mail conversation is highly interesting, e.g., the second e-mail revealed: "IT IS A DIRECT ORDER FROM DR. GEAGEA. It is either you follow up the Lebanese Forces and its leader Dr. Geagea or you open another party on your own."

Now, I would love to see a copy of this direct order. It's hard to believe that a increasingly reasonable man as Geagea is so behind the times as to have missed the Internet revolution, despite being in prison for a couple of years. What's more likely, as some have suggested on the Ouwet website, is that Geagea was ill-advised by the people around him. Still, wouldn't you expect from a political leader to be able to estimate the impact of requiring to shut down news channels?

The whole episode could also be a hoax since e-mails are easily forged: just send out fake e-mails to website of your enemies requesting them to shut down on authority of their leader. Could this be the Lebanese version of the electronic Intifada?

So far, it seems that Ouwet.com is standing firm and has rejected the order to shut down. Good for them and good for the followers and non-followers of the Lebanese Forces who appreciate information about the LF outside regulated channels.

Update: According to Marc from Ouwet.com, the e-mails are real so there is no hoax.

“Fairuz should not play in Damascus”

A member of Walid Jumblatt’s party has called upon famous Lebanese singer Fairuz not to perform in Damascus. “Anyone who loves Lebanon cannot play before its jailer”, said Akram Shehayeb. “A person who sings for freedom, for Jerusalem, for dignity, out of choler and for the country”, he continued “should not sing for the Janissaries of freedom and for those who bargain over Jerusalem”.

Shehayeb must be a well-read man and for those who truly have no idea what a Janissary is, he is referring to Christian young men who were captured by the Turks to work for the sultan as a bodyguard. It’s an interesting choice of reference Shehayeb has mentioned, but certainly this is not the best of examples. If anything, it showed that the Turkish sultan had faith in his erstwhile enemy, enough even to let them be his bodyguards. Is Shehayeb saying that Damascus likewise has become the bodyguard of freedom?

Anyway, his appeal to Fairuz will reverberate among the Lebanese since Fairuz herself has always been identified with a free Lebanon. It was in this spirit that she refused to play during the Civil War. Defining the Syrians as the enemies of Lebanon, Shehayeb seems to be making a moral call to Fairuz to not play in Damascus, at least not until a “Syrian Spring” has arrived.

What to make of this? Certainly, Shehayeb is right to claim that the appointment of Damascus as Cultural Capital of the Arab World is somewhat of a joke, considering that, as he says, “all the intellectuals are either in prison, in exile or dead”.

Then again, where to draw the line and why should artists follow political arguments? If Shehayeb was truly invested in this topic, he would call for a nation-wide (cultural) boycott of Syria by Lebanon. Instead, by singling out one singer, it is difficult to avoid the impression of selectiveness.

Another argument for Fairuz to perform in Damascus is the play itself she is scheduled to perform: “Sahh el-nom” (Did you sleep well?). It’s a comedy about a king who spends his days mostly sleeping and only wakes up once a month to listen to his people. For the right price, the king can make any problem go away. The play is a fierce attack on the Arab regimes that are often associated with abuse of power and lackluster interest in the wellbeing of the people by the leaders.

Calling for a boycott of this play seems to be counterproductive. Better to let the audience see this story of a king who doesn’t do anything for his people unless the price is right. Let the audience have a good laugh (the play is seriously funny) and let them go home thinking who the king reminded them of.

Update: The LA Times has also covered this topic, see here.

Cracks showing in Aoun’s party?

Deputy Elie Skaff has denied the rumors about a possible split between Michel Murr & the Armenians and party leader Michel Aoun. These rumors could start because of Murr’s wavering support for Aoun, mostly triggered by the way Aoun has treated Murr recently and which were further substantiated by Murr’s TV appearance during which he openly complained about Aoun.

Core of the aggravation originated during the recent Metn election to appoint the successor of Pierre Gemayel who was murdered in November 2006. Murr, who was already affiliated with Aoun, logically sided with him and the Armenians against Gemayel. However, many Christians took offense at the fact that Murr was even contesting the seat of the killed Gemayel since there is an unwritten rule that the seat would be refilled by Pierre Gemayel’s party or family without elections. The fact that the Armenians also turned against Gemayel didn’t help much for Murr’s image among Christians.

Yet, Murr was loyal enough to stand by Aoun and thanks to his support, Aoun’s party won the by elections in the Metn. To his and many people’s surprise, however, Aoun made up with Gemayel some time later. So here we have Murr losing popularity by supporting Aoun in his fight against Gemayel, only to find the same Aoun being best buddies again. To add, Murr was not invited to the reconciliation meeting and in fact, didn’t even know about this meeting until it took place.

Suffice to say, political dinosaur Murr felt left out by political parvenu Aoun. In return for this affront, Murr started to distance himself from Aoun. Obviously, the party of Aoun is denying any rumor to this extent. In fact, Elie Skaff even went so far as to deny that the party, and not only individual Murr, was working on a way to break with Aoun.

These are still rumors but once they trigger such explicit denials, one is easily forgiven for thinking they must be true.

Lebanon: no winners, only losers

For the twelfth time in a row, the parliamentary session to elect Lebanon’s new president has been postponed. The new session is now scheduled for Monday, January 21. That’s going to be fun for the commuters who will no doubt face frustrating long delays…unless they cancel yet another time.

The main reason for the failure is the old problem of the composition of the new government, to be exact, the number of seats allotted to the Opposition. Nothing new, there. Another reason contributing to the failure of Amr Moussa’s intervention, was described by Scarlett Haddad in the Orient-Le Jour newspaper this Saturday. It’s a good read and it reminds you of how small-minded politicians can be.

First, Hadded says, was the invitation of Michel Aoun extended towards Saad Hariri to discuss the Arab League proposal with him, Amr Moussa and a representative of March 14. Why Aoun and not the real power brokers Nasrallah and Berri, one might ask. The reason for this is that Aoun has been appointed the official negotiator of March 8. People who appreciate irony cannot help but smile about the image that Aoun is now officially representing Syria’s interest…anyway…

Hariri responded negatively to the proposal and wanted to expand the meeting with Jumblatt, Geagea and Gemayel from March 14 and with Berri and Nasrallah from the Opposition. This was no problem for Aoun, except for one addition: Suleiman Frangieh, an Opposition leader from north Lebanon should also join the meeting.

Aoun realized very well that the inclusion of Frangieh was unacceptable because every Lebanese knows that the Frangieh’s and the Gemayel’s don’t talk to each other. Somewhere in history, both families fell apart with one another and have been enemies ever since.

Frangieh is not known for his subtleties. Many will remember his statement last year about the patriarch who received the widows of Christian martyrs. Afterwards, the patriarch made a statement that was received as more in favor of the government than as the Opposition. In a reaction, Frangieh said that the patriarch “must have been excited by all the female beauty around him which prevented him from thinking clearly”.

Already, accusing the patriarch of not being in his right mind is provocative to say the least, but to add the suggestion that he got sexually aroused (the man is 85) by women all wearing black out of respect for their dead husbands, was really too much.

The reaction of Joyce Gemayel (wife Amin Gemayel and mother of the then recently killed Pierre, who also at the meeting with the patriarch) was historic. Addressing Suleiman Franjieh on national TV, she called out to him and said: “ya Suleiman, what are you doing. Is this the way Vera (his mother, RB) raised you? To speak about our religious leader like that. It hurts me to see the son of my good friend Vera acting like this…etc” (paraphrased).

As a result of Aoun’s adding of Frangieh to the suggested gathering, no direct meeting took place between March 14 and March 8. One can only wonder why the Opposition didn’t want to meet with March 14. They could have easily left Frangieh at home, but clearly March 8 was aiming to frustrate the talks.

And so, at the end of an intense visit and despite a huge series of meetings between Amr Moussa and pretty much everybody mentioned by the “Who’s Who in Lebanon”, no agreement was reached. For out-and-out optimist Moussa, this is actually great news as the Lebanese breakdown leaves even more room for solutions.

Moussa: explaining what is crystal clear

Arab League secretary Amr Moussa is back in Lebanon to explain present the proposal that was reached during the League's meeting in Cairo. As described earlier, this guy is one beacon of optimism. His glass is never half full, it's always pouring over. In his world, there are no problems or issues, only agenda items and solutions.

His arrival back in Lebanon was indicative of his great belief in humanity. As Naharnet reported: When told that the feuding factions in Lebanon have conflicting interpretations of the initiative, Moussa replied: "let's not get into small issues through which Lebanon can be lost."

Ah yes, the "small issues" that keep the Lebanese politicians occupied these days. We have March14 saying that they will never ever give a blocking vote to the minority (Jumblatt to Iranian TV: "only over my dead body"). And we have March8 saying that the veto vote is an unalienable and even constitutional right of the Opposition...ayyup, small issues indeed.

Then there is the thing of Moussa's purpose: is he in Lebanon to explain the Cairo proposal or to discuss it? As far as Moussa is concerned, it can't be the former since the proposal is 'crystal clear'. So that leaves the room to discussion. But if the proposal is already crystal clear, then what is left to discuss?

To understand this, one has to consider the premium people put on face to face meetings in this part of the world. The first thing a foreigner learns is that nothing, I repeat nothing, can be done over the phone or by e-mail.

No matter how unimportant the issue is, you will always have to meet in person, have coffee (first, politely decline, then upon insisting of the host, reluctantly accept), have some more coffee (again, first polity decline…) in order to arrange for things.

The half an hour or so during which you enjoy your cups of coffee should not go unused by the way: now is a good opportunity to ask about his wife, his mother, his father, his eldest son, his younger two daughters and his youngest son, ask why he has only four kids (make sure to get that accusatory tone right!), his cousin, his other cousin…well, you get the drift.

It is no stretch of the imagination to say that...things...take...time...here in the Arab world. In this light, Moussa’s trip to Lebanon makes perfect sense. Of course, the Cairo proposal is crystal clear, but that doesn’t mean anything without personal meetings. Hence, poor Amr is making the rounds, meeting again with all the parties concerned to explain what was already crystal clear to begin with.

The Lebanese parties seem to be using these consultations as another round of negotiations. The outcome is yet unclear, but the first signals are not very hopeful. Amr Moussa is already mentioning that there are still "a few number of obstacles". This is him saying things are in total deadlock here. Let’s see if the twelfth parliamentary session to elect the new president, scheduled for tomorrow, will take place or that it will be postponed once again.

BLOM Bank behind the times

Just saw this huge billboard of BLOM Bank, see below, sponsoring the Beirut Marathon...deadline 10 November 2007. You can check for it on the way up from the Phoenicia hotel towards the ring. I took the picture last Sunday, Jan 6. Now let's see how long they will keep it up.
Update: The billboard has been removed. It could be a coincidence, but I like to think the Bank is reading my blog:-)

Constitution of Lebanon - English version

Recently, I stumbled upon the English version of the Lebanese Constitution, available on the Lebanon Now website. Since this is such an important document, and out of fear that they might remove it from their site, I have adapted it and put it here below. Many thanks to Lebanon Now.

Preamble

Part A. Fundamental Provisions

Chapter I. On the State and its Territories

Article 1 Territory

Article 2 Territorial Integrity

Article 3 Administrative Areas

Article 4 Republic, Capital

Article 5 Flag

Chapter II. The Rights and Duties of the Citizen

Article 6 Nationality

Article 7 Equality

Article 8 Personal Liberty, nulla poena sine lege

Article 9 Conscience, Belief

Article 10 Education, Confessional Schools

Article 11 Official National Language

Article 12 Public Office

Article 13 Expression, Press, Assembly, Association

Article 14 Home

Article 15 Property

Part B. Powers

Chapter I. General Provisions

Article 16 Legislative Power, One Chamber

Article 17 Executive Power, Council of Ministers

Article 18 Bills

Article 19 Constitutional Council

Article 20 Judicial Power

Article 21 Electoral Rights

Chapter II. The Legislative Power

Article 22 Senate

Article 23 Eligibility to the Senate

Article 24 Electoral Laws

Article 25 Dissolution

Article 26 Location of Government and Parliament

Article 27 Representation

Article 28 No Incompatibility

Article 29 Incompatibility by Law

Article 30 Validating Elections

Article 31 Illegal Sessions

Article 32 Ordinary Sessions

Article 33 Extraordinary Sessions

Article 34 Quorum

Article 35 Publicity

Article 36 Voting Process

Article 37 Vote of No-Confidence

Article 38 Reintroduction of Bills

Article 39 Indemnity

Article 40 Immunity

Article 41 Re-election

Article 42 General Elections

Article 43 Rules of Procedure

Article 44 First Session

Article 45 Presence

Article 46 Parliamentary Order

Article 47 Petitions

Article 48 Remuneration

Chapter III. The Executive Power

Section 1. The President of the Republic

Article 49 Presidential Powers

Article 50 Oath

Article 51 Promulgation of Laws

Article 52 Negotiation of International Treaties

Article 53 List of Additional Presidential Powers

Article 54 Countersignature

Article 55 Dissolution of Parliament by decree

Article 56 Promulgation Time Limits

Article 57 Presidential Veto

Article 58 Urgent Bills

Article 59 Adjourning the Chamber

Article 60 Responsibility

Article 61 Suspension after Impeachment

Article 62 Vacancy

Article 63 Remuneration

Section 2. The Prime Minister

Article 64 Responsibility and Powers

Section 3. The Council of Ministers

Article 65 Powers

Article 66 Ministries, Responsibility

Article 67 Ministers in Parliament

Article 68 Vote of No-Confidence

Article 69 Government Resignation

Article 70 Impeachment

Article 71 Judicial Impeachment Proceedings

Article 72 Consequences of Impeachment

Part C. Procedural Provisions

Chapter I. Election of the President of the Republic

Article 73 Election of the President

Article 74 Vacancy of Presidency

Article 75

Chapter II. Amending the Constitution

Article 76 Proposal

Article 77 Request

Article 78 Priority

Article 79 Majority, Promulgation

Part D. Miscellaneous Provisions

Chapter I. The Supreme Council

Article 80 Function, Composition, Organizational Law

Chapter II. Finances

Article 81 Integral Tax Law

Article 82 Rule of Law

Article 83 Yearly Budget

Article 84 Budget Discussion

Article 85 Extraordinary Credit

Article 86 Provisional Budget

Article 87 Final Financial Accounts, Auditing Bureau

Article 88 Public Loan

Article 89 Contracts, Concessions, Resources and Monopolies

Part E. Provisions Relating to the Mandatory Power and the League of Nations

Article 90 ...

Article 91 ...

Article 92 ...

Article 93 ...

Article 94 ...

Part F. On the Abolition of Political Confessionalism

Article 95 National Committee

Part G. Provisions Relating to the Election and Functions of the Senate

Article 96 ...

Article 97 ...

Article 98 ...

Article 99 ...

Article 100 ...

Part H. Additional Provisions

Article 101 Greater Lebanon, The Lebanese Republic

Article 102 Abrogation of Old Laws

Preamble

a. Lebanon is a sovereign, free, and independent country. It is a final homeland for all its citizens. It is unified in its territory, people, and institutions within the boundaries defined in this constitution and recognized internationally.

b. Lebanon is Arab in its identity and in its association. It is a founding and active member of the League of Arab States and abides by its pacts and covenants. Lebanon is also a founding and active member of the United Nations Organization and abides by its covenants and by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Government shall embody these principles in all fields and areas without exception.

c. Lebanon is a parliamentary democratic republic based on respect for public liberties, especially the freedom of opinion and belief, and respect for social justice and equality of rights and duties among all citizens without discrimination.

d. The people are the source of authority and sovereignty; they shall exercise these powers through the constitutional institutions.

e. The political system is established on the principle of separation, balance, and cooperation amongst the various branches of Government.

f. The economic system is free and ensures private initiative and the right to private property.

g. The even development among regions on the educational, social, and economic levels shall be a basic pillar of the unity of the state and the stability of the system.

h. The abolition of political confessionalism is a basic national goal and shall be achieved according to a gradual plan.

i. Lebanese territory is one for all Lebanese. Every Lebanese has the right to live in any part of it and to enjoy the sovereignty of law wherever he resides. There is no segregation of the people on the basis of any type of belonging, and no fragmentation, partition, or colonization.

j. There is no constitutional legitimacy for any authority which contradicts the 'pact of communal coexistence'. This Constitutional Law shall be published in the Official Gazette.

Part A. Fundamental Provisions

Chapter I. On the State and its Territories

Article 1 Territory

Lebanon is an independent, indivisible, and sovereign state. Its frontiers are those which now bound it:

On the North: From the mouth of al-Kabir River, along a line following the course of this river to its point of junction with Khalid Valley opposite al-Qamar Bridge.

On the East: The summit line separating the Khalid Valley and al-Asi River (Orontes) and passing by the villages of Mu'aysarah, Harbanah, Hayt, Ibish, Faysan to the height of the two villages of Brina and Matraba. This line follows the northern boundary of the Ba`albak District at the northeastern and south eastern directions, thence the eastern boundaries of the districts of Ba`albak, Biqa', Hasbayya, and Rashayya.

On the South: The present southern boundaries of the districts of Sûr (Tyre) and Marji`yun.

On the West: The Mediterranean.

Article 2 Territorial Integrity

No part of the Lebanese territory may be alienated or ceded.

Article 3 Administrative Areas

The boundaries of the administrative areas may not be modified except by law.

Article 4 Republic, Capital

Greater Lebanon is a Republic the capital of which is Beirut.

Article 5 Flag

The Lebanese flag is composed of three horizontal stripes, a white stripe between two red ones. The width of the white stripe is equal to that of both red stripes. In the center of and occupying one third of the white stripe is a green Cedar tree with its top touching the upper red stripe and its base touching the lower red stripe.

Chapter II. The Rights and Duties of the Citizen

Article 6 Nationality

Lebanese nationality and the manner in which it is acquired, retained, and lost is to be determined in accordance with the law.

Article 7 Equality

All Lebanese are equal before the law. They equally enjoy civil and political rights and equally are bound by public obligations and duties without any distinction.

Article 8 Personal Liberty, nulla poena sine lege

Individual liberty is guaranteed and protected by law. No one may be arrested, imprisoned, or kept in custody except according to the provisions of the law. No offense may be established or penalty imposed except by law.

Article 9 Conscience, Belief

There shall be absolute freedom of conscience. The state in rendering homage to the Most High shall respect all religions and creeds and guarantees, under its protection, the free exercise of all religious rites provided that public order is not disturbed. It also guarantees that the personal status and religious interests of the population, to whatever religious sect they belong, is respected.

Article 10 Education, Confessional Schools

Education is free insofar as it is not contrary to public order and morals and does not interfere with the dignity of any of the religions or creeds. There shall be no violation of the right of religious communities to have their own schools provided they follow the general rules issued by the state regulating public instruction.

Article 11 Official National Language

Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language may be used.

Article 12 Public Office

Every Lebanese has the right to hold public office, no preference being made except on the basis of merit and competence, according to the conditions established by law. A special statute guarantees the rights of state officials in the departments to which they belong.

Article 13 Expression, Press, Assembly, Association

The freedom to express one's opinion orally or in writing, the freedom of the press, the freedom of assembly, and the freedom of association are guaranteed within the limits established by law.

Article 14 Home

The citizen's place of residence is inviolable. No one may enter it except in the circumstances and manners prescribed by law.

Article 15 Property

Rights of ownership are protected by law. No one's property may be expropriated except for reasons of public utility in cases established by law and after fair compensation has been paid beforehand.

Part B. Powers

Chapter I. General Provisions