LBCI dismisses LF's 'unfounded, illegal' demands

LBCI dismisses LF's 'unfounded, illegal' demands
Daily Star staff

BEIRUT: Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. International (LBCI) does not have any "legal" association with the Lebanese Forces (LF), the television's board of directors said in a statement issued on Tuesday. A meeting of the LBCI board rejected the conditions set out in a memo previously sent by the LF to the station's management. The LF memo warned the LBCI board of directors against conducting any fiscal transactions or buying and selling shares without the previous consent of the LF. "The demands of the LF are unfounded and illegal," the LBCI statement said. "LBCI is not affiliated with the Lebanese Forces nor with any other political group in Lebanon, and the only person entitled to make or approve decisions concerning the station is the head of the board of directors of LBCI, Pierre Daher. The statement added that LBCI "did not have any legal or administrative affiliation with the LF."

Founded in August 1985, LBCI was the first private TV station in Lebanon. The channel launched satellite broadcasts in 1996, and it now has several channels covering the Middle East, Europe, North America and Australia. LBCI was originally the brainchild of President-elect and LF founder Bashir Gemayel, assassinated in 1982. In a speech shortly after he was released from 11 years of imprisonment, LF leader Samir Geagea said his party was planning to "reclaim" all of its properties that had been confiscated during the preceding years of Syrian tutelage. - The Daily Star

Unemployment and insecurity emptying Lebanon of Lebanese

Unemployment and insecurity emptying Lebanon of Lebanese
'We're suffering a huge brain drain'
By IRIN News.org
The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Economic instability and persistent security threats are driving ever younger and more educated Lebanese abroad, creating a brain drain that threatens the country's economic and social future, researchers say. "We're suffering a huge brain drain," Kamal Hamdan, head of the Lebanese Center of Research and Studies, told IRIN. "Those who have the brains take their diplomas and leave. They are the young people who would go on to be middle executives and entrepreneurs. In the long term, their absence means we may face a serious shortage of policy developers and managers." About 30 percent of Lebanese - nearly one in three people - want to emigrate abroad, and the figure rises to 60 percent in the 18-25 age bracket, according to a poll published in April and conducted by Information International, an independent Beirut-based research center. The poll also found that almost 12 percent of undergraduates want to emigrate, along with more than 15 percent of the country's professionals. The survey polled 997 Lebanese citizens of varying ages and creeds from across the country in February. Nearly half of all Maronites, the largest Christian denomination in the country, said they were considering emigrating, while some 22 percent of Shiites and 26 percent of Sunnis say they are considering moving abroad.

In addition, economist Elie Yachoui, board member of the National Council of Scientific Research in Lebanon, estimated that more than 50 percent of those who graduated from college in the past two years have left the country. Lebanon is home to approximately four million citizens, but some 16 million people of Lebanese descent live abroad, with the largest communities in South America, West Africa, the US, Canada and Australia.

Almost since gaining independence in 1943, Lebanon has been plagued by regular political assassinations, and the country has been slipping in and out of turmoil since the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. In the last month, eight explosions have ripped through Beirut and its environs. Abdo Asmar, 24, has been trying to leave Lebanon for years without any success. He has found work as a security guard for a private company, in what he says is "a flourishing career in Lebanon, given the circumstances." Asmar recently received a job offer that would finally allow him to leave, but it is not the destination he was hoping for. "I received a job offer to work as a security officer in the Green Zone in Baghdad, for 10 times the salary I'm paid now," he said. "Why would I bother to stay? If I'm going to die anyway, I'd rather die rich." Hadi Sabaa, 27, is equally pessimistic about the future of his country, even though he has a steady job at a local newspaper. Like many other journalism graduates, he is trying to leave for Dubai, "where reporters are appreciated, respected and decently paid. There, at least, I will not have to worry about where my children are at the time of the next explosion."

Political sensitivities have long hampered efforts to record data on actual numbers of emigres. No official census has been taken since 1932, for fear of upsetting the delicate power-sharing agreement between Lebanon's rival sects. "We haven't been allowed to conduct serious research for over 16 years now, because in Lebanon this subject is taboo, due to official fear of revealing the new confessional and religious make-up of the population," said Hamdan, whose own three children have left and do not have plans to return. Hamdan accused successive governments of "deliberately neglecting the need for an organized database, so that we don't know who left and who came back." The minimum wage in Lebanon is less than $200 per month and has not changed since 1996.

A report issued by the World Bank this May found that nearly 26 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) - or about $5.6 billion - comes from emigrants, based on a calculation of the balance of payments for 2006. The report also showed that 45 percent of these transactions come from the 400,000 Lebanese residing in the Gulf, in particular those living in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. Yachoui blamed the high rates of brain drain on "bad policies, undertaken by successive governments, which failed to produce economic growth as the public debt skyrocketed." He told IRIN that, in addition to the current deteriorating security, the country's massive indebtedness also stands in the way of achieving economic growth. According to estimates, Lebanon's public debt in 2006 stood at slightly more than $40 billion, which is the equivalent of about 180 percent of GDP, one of the highest ratios in the world. Billions of dollars pledged to Lebanon at the Paris III international donor conference in January will go simply to service public-debt repayments, and many pledges for project financing have yet to be approved because of the current political stalemate that has seen Parliament closed all year. "Lebanon has three sources of revenue," said Yachoui. "One is natural, the second monetary, and the third - the most important - is our human resources. When this disappears, we lose the capability of managing the first two."

For some, though, even successful economic reforms and a better salary would not entice them to stay. "I don't care if they fix the situation now or ever," said journalist Sabaa. "What good will economic reform do me if, on my way to buy some bread, a car bomb blows me away?" - IRIN

Bombing in Zouk Mosbeh takes heavy toll on the struggling industrial sector

Bombing in Zouk Mosbeh takes heavy toll on the struggling industrial sector
Owners of factories hope to receive swift government compensation
By Osama Habib
Daily Star staff

BEIRUT: Lebanese industry, still reeling from the devastating Israeli war in July of last year, received another blow on Thursday when a bomb explosion in Zouk Mosbeh, 20 kilometers from Beirut, leaving dozens of small- and medium-sized factories in total ruins. Nicholas Abi Naser, the head of Kaesroun industrial association, told The Daily Star that most of the factories and workshops in Zouk Mosbh were either destroyed or damaged. "We have not assessed the value of the damages. But we hope to get a good idea next week," Abi Naser said. He added that the owners of these damaged factories expect the government to provide them with badly needed financial assistance to help rebuild these installations. Paint and gas cylinder plants in Zouk Mosbh ignited fires following the explosion and the owner of one of workshops died instantly from the blaze. "Terrorists have declared an open war on Lebanon and the industrial sector is one of the victims of this war." But Abi Naser was not too upbeat about the prospects of aid from the government in the near future. "The factories that were hit during the July-August war did not receive a penny from the government, despite numerous promises."

Fadi Abboud, the President of the Industrial Association, estimated the cost of war on industry at more than $200 million. Lebanon received more than $950 million from the donor countries that met in Stockholm in August 2005 but the industrialists say they did receive any of this money. Abi Naser warned that the industrial association will resort to different means to induce the government to compensate the industrialists.The industrial zone in Zouk Mosbh is considered one of the main manufacturing complexes in the Kaesroun Mountain. Investments in the industrial sector in Kaesroun area alone exceed $1 billion. "Trust me. If the Lebanese industrialists could haul the machines and investments in a wheel they would not have hesitated to leave the country," Abi Naser said. He added that local manufacturers have little choice here. "We can't simply give up and pack our things because most of the manufacturers have commitments such as loans to commercial banks." He added that the industrialists are asking the government and the banks to re schedule existing loans with lower interest rates. "Most of the industries are already struggling as a result of the economic stagnation and this spate of bombings is making our lives more difficult." He stressed that industrialists can barely break even. Abi Nasr said that government should embrace the industry just like any other sector. "Industry provides lot of jobs in the market as well as improves the balance of payments."

Zouk Explosion: 7 June 2007

Bouchrieh Explosion: June 4, 2007

Sharon's Bastille Day Dream Materializes: Lebanon and the Planned US Airbase at Kleiaat

May 30, 2007
Sharon's Bastille Day Dream Materializes
Lebanon and the Planned US Airbase at Kleiaat
By FRANKLIN LAMB

Bibnin Akkar, Lebanon, site of proposed US Airbase
Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee Camp

On July 14, 1982, (Bastille Day) the late Bashir Gemayel sat with Ariel Sharon, Raphael Eytan, and Danny Yalon at the French flag draped Le Chef Restaurant in Ashifeyih, east Beirut for one of their working lunches. As was by now their habit, the Israelis were inclined to pressure their recently anointed selection for Lebanon's next president. They were there to present a request for one more favor from the handsome 'golden boy' of the Phalange movement, as their army tightened its noose around west Beirut. There was a good chance they would succeed . After all, Bashir was beholding to the Zionists, for their many 'considerations', including the arms for drugs arrangements, the weapons skimmed from what the US reflectively shipped to Israel on demand, the intelligence sharing and assassinations of Palestinians who Bashir could not abide. The trio lunching with him that day, under the celebratory French flags in this francophone neighborhood could easily destroy Bashir Gemayel and he knew it. Yet, despite their intimidating talk, the self described 'cream of the IDF', exhibiting what Bashir had often explained to his nerdy younger brother Amin, who, unexpectedly was to become his successor as President of Lebanon, and to some of his aids, was a case of 'congenital arrogance' erred that day. They seriously underestimated the Palestinian hating, Muslim despising, would be Phoenecian Prince, Le sheik Bashir. In misjudging the charismatic Maronite, the Israeli trio had failed to appreciate that, on any day of the week, the average Lebanese is rather more sophisticated, clever, descent, and patriotic than many Israeli or American politicians give them credit for. The same obtains today. Sharon pulled out a piece of paper from his chest pocket, as one Phalange security person who guarded the restaurant door recalls, and shoved it across the table to Bashir. Written on it was Israel's 'one last request' which contained one word: Kleiaat. The Israelis studied Bashir's face for a sign of his reaction as he picked up the small piece of paper. Bashir, appearing to suppress a yawn, had heard this 'one last request' hustle many times and had long felt contempt for what he called "these pressure lunches." Yet, former alter boy that he was, the martyred, and still much loved Lebanese patriot, pressed his lips together and listened politely as is the Lebanese custom, as Sharon expounded on the details. Bashir, fuming inside and about to erupt in anger as he had sometimes done previously when he felt squeezed by Sharon, instead smiled at the anxious trio. He leaned forward and whispered with a voice they still say in his Bekfayya neighborhood, would make women swoon: 'you will not be disappointed, my dear friends". Sharon was delirious with Bashir's response and slapped him on the back, a gesture of friendship that the former parish crucifier found deeply offensive. Returning to his Achharifeh Headquarters, bounding up the stairs to his office to meet with aids, where less than two months later, he would die from an assassins' bomb which would level the building and killed and wounded more than 200, Bashir bellowed as he entered his office, " An Israeli air base in Lebanon? Those crazy sons of bitches won't get one grain of sand from Kleiaat."

As residents of Bibnin Akkar, less than two miles from the site of the proposed US base and the Lebanese daily newspaper Aldiyar speculate, construction of a US airbase on the grounds of the largely abandoned airbase at Klieaat in northern Lebanon may begin late this year. To make the project more palpable, it is being promoted as a 'US/NATO' base that will serve as the headquarters of a NATO rapid deployment force, helicopter squadrons, and Special Forces units. The base will provide training for the Lebanese army and security forces fighting Salafi, Islamist fundamentalists and other needs. The Pentagon and NATO HQ in Belgium have given the project which, will sit along the Lebanese-Syrian border, using this vast area "as a base for fast intervention troops", a name. It is to be called The Lebanese Army and Security training centre". Kleiaat, a nearly now abandoned small airport, was used by Middle East Airlines for a period for commuter flights between Beirut and Tripoli. Residents of the area report than during the Civil War (1975-1990) a commuter Helicopter service was also operated due to road closures. The proposed base was measured by this observer to be roughly two and one-half miles down the beach from Nahr al-Bared Palestinian Camp. Both share pristine Mediterranean beachfront. Kleiaat is an expanse of gently undulating sandy dunes covered with long prairie grass and brush. Despite opposition from Lebanon's anemic environmental movement, that argues that the pristine area should be left to its many varieties of birds and wildlife, the local community is watching closely.

Not much activity is going on as of May 29, 2007. About 20 Quonset huts, some recently driven stakes, no evidence of heavy equipment or building material. The three man army outpost fellows appeared bored and did not even ask for ID as I toured the whole area on the back of a fine new BMW 2200cc motorcycle courtesy of one of the local militia sniper guys who until two days ago was firing into Nahr al-Bared until the Lebanese army stopped him after the PLO leadership complained. Lebanese entrepreneurs at Bibnin Akkar, a Sunni community loyal to the Hariri's, and who will be the chief financial winners from the project, see opportunities with thousands of new construction and related jobs coming. One kind fellow who hooked me up last night to intermittent internet via a jerry rigged dial up arrangement on one of his shop's two computers envisages running a fine new internet café with at least 50 wireless computers. Hotels, restaurants and businesses of various sorts are planning expansions to meet the demand of the expected workforce. Who will not benefit from the building boom will be the 40,000+ Palestinians from Nahr al-Bared which is literally next door to the anticipated project These refugees, who were driven from their homes a in Palestine in 1948 and 1967, from Telezatter by the Phalanges in 1975, and others who came as a result of Israeli attacks on Lebanon in 1978, 1982, 1993, 1996, and 2006, will gain no work from Kleiaat. The reason is that the 70 top trades and professions in Lebanon are denied to the Palestinians under Lebanese law. Even if the 20,000 Palestinians displaced by the current conflict with Fatah al-Islam are allowed to return, which I expect will be the case, and even if Palestinian fears that the Camps will be demolished are unrealized, as I believe, they will remain destitute, according to UNWRA who considers 10,000 of them 'special hardship cases".

As reported by the NATO headquarters in Brussels, as well as by residents in Bibnin Akkar on May 28, 2007, an American-German-Turkish military delegation toured and surveyed Akkar region. US Embassy 'staff' have reportedly visited Kleiaat airport earlier this year to look over the site. David Welch also had a quick look at the site during his recent visit. A Lebanese journalist who opposes the base commented on May 28, 2007, "The Bush administration has been warning Lebanon about the presence of Al Qaeda teams in northern Lebanon. And the base is needed to deal with this threat. Low and behold, a new "terrorist group" called Fatah al-Islam appears near Kleiaat at al-Bared camp". The Pentagon argues that the military base will contribute to the development and the economic recovery in the region, advising the Lebanese government to focus on the financial aspect and positive reflection on the population (95% Sunni) of the region. Contenders for the billion dollar project, according to the Pentagon procurement office could be Bechtel and Halliburton and other Contractors currently doing projects in Iraq.

The martyred Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, saw potential for the Kleiaat airport as well. But he opposed a US airbase. Instead, Hariri, which the green grocer who sells fruits and vegetables to the Lebanese army patrolling the Tripoli-Syria four lane road in front of Nahr al-Bared, commented, " Rafik Hariri, may he rest in peace, loved Lebanon. But he never saw a piece of real estate he didn't want to develop!" Hariri envisaged a billion dollar Free Commercial Zone and a port, despite Syrian opposition, and had investors lined up before he was murdered. Damascus was opposed to the Hariri dream because the new Port and Free Zone would drain the revenues from the nearby Syrian Port at Lathikiya. According to Washington observers watching developments, the base has been pushed by elements in the office of the US Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the urging of Israeli operative Elliot Abrams. AIPAC can be expected to do the necessary work in Congress and with House Foreign Affairs, Appropriations, Intelligence, and Armed Service committees hermetically sealed by stalwarts of the Israel Lobby, it can be expected that it will be added as a rider to an unsuspecting House bill coming along. "We need to get this base built as quickly as possible as a forward thrust point against Al Qaeda and other (read Hezbollah) terrorists", according to AIPAC staffer Rachael Cohen. Asked if Israel will offer training and advisors to the Lebanese army, Ms. Cohen replied, "we will see what we will see, Lebanon, smezzanon its not about them, its about stopping the terrorists stupid!" "The question for Lebanon is whether the Lebanese people will allow the base to be built. Few in North Lebanon doubt that Israel will have access to the base " according to Oathman Bader, a community leader who lives in Bahr al-Bared but has fled to Badawi. Fatah al-Islam and their allies have pledged martyrdom operations to stop the project, according to the Fatah Intifada, the group that expelled Fatah al-Islam from their camp on November 27, 2006. According to a columnist at Beirut's Al-Akbar newspaper," a US project like that would split Lebanon apart. No way will Lebanon allow it. Probably every group in Lebanon would oppose it, from the Salafi, Islamists fundamentalist to moderate Sunnis to Hezbollah. Can you imagine the Syrian reaction?" Commenting on this project, one Arab-American from Boston, doing volunteer work at the Palestinian Red Crescent Hospital, Safad, noted: "Hopefully the US pro Middle East peace, pro-Palestinian, and pro-Lebanon organizations with better phone and internet connections that exist locally, will join the opposition in Lebanon to this base and fight it in Congress. Welch and the US Embassy in Beirut should be questioned about it"

Franklin Lamb's just released book, The Price We Pay: A Quarter Century of Israel's Use of American Weapons in Lebanon is available at Amazon.com.uk. His volume, Hezbollah: a Brief Guide for Beginners is due out in early summer, 2007. He can be reached at fplamb@gmail.com

Fighting spreads as battles engulf Lebanon camp

Fighting spreads as battles engulf Lebanon camp
By Jamal Saidi
REUTERS

Lebanese troops directed artillery and tank barrages at al Qaeda-inspired militants dug in at a Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday, the third day of an intensified assault to crush the gunmen. But the Fatah al Islam militants at the Nahr al-Bared camp, who have vowed to fight to the death, put up stiff resistance and fought back with mortar bombs and rocket-propelled grenades. "If the army continues attacking, Nahr al-Bared will be, God willing, a graveyard for them," Abu Hurayra, one of the group's senior members, told Reuters by telephone from inside the camp. After 12 days of sporadic shelling, the army on Friday attacked Fatah al-Islam positions at the entrances of the camp with the declared aim of wiping out the militants. The fighting, which erupted on May 20, is Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war. About 111 people have been killed and thousands have fled their homes. The government says militants triggered the siege by attacking army positions around the camp and in Lebanon's second largest city, Tripoli, in north Lebanon. In an indication that violence could engulf other parts of Lebanon, Islamist militants attacked an army checkpoint at another camp, Ain al-Hilweh in south Lebanon. That attack sparked fierce exchanges of rifle fire and grenades between soldiers and Jund al-Sham militants. The army brought in reinforcements and armored vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns but the clash ended some two hours later after mediation by other Palestinian factions. They said two people were wounded and scores of civilians, with their belongings in plastic bags, fled the scene. One shop and a home at the edge of the camp were burnt.

BOMBED-OUT BUILDINGS

In northern Lebanon, troops seized and destroyed several positions of the Fatah al-Islam group and tightened their siege of Nahr al-Bared, which lies 100 km (60 miles) north of Beirut. Machine gun fire and shelling reverberated over the camp, while plumes of smoke rose from bombed-out buildings. "There is no square meter that has not been hit by a shell," one camp resident told Reuters by telephone. "We can't leave the building we are in, let alone the street, to find out the full extent of the devastation." An army source said the militants had fired at least two grenades at army positions from a mosque inside the camp. Security sources said 10 soldiers had been killed since Friday. Palestinian sources said a militant commander, Naim Ghali aka Abu Riyadh, was killed by an army sniper on Saturday. Since Friday, more than 16 people -- militants and civilians -- have died in the camp. The group said it lost five fighters. At least 25,000 of Nahr al-Bared's 40,000 population have fled to other refugee camps over the past two weeks. Lebanon's anti-Syrian government says Fatah al-Islam is a Syrian tool, but Damascus denies any links to the group and says its leader, Shaker al-Abssi, is on Syria's wanted list. Abssi and his comrades say they are inspired by al Qaeda's ideology. Lebanon has been split by a seven-month-old political crisis over the opposition's demands for more say in government. The opposition includes Syria's allies, led by Hezbollah. While the army has not entered the camp's official boundaries, it has captured the militants' positions on its outskirts, confining militants to about a third of the camp. A 1969 agreement prevents the army from entering Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps, home to 400,000 refugees.

(Additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy, Nadim Ladki and Laila Bassam)