Building Bridges... Re-establishing Trust

The international Tribunal has become a shining reality; in less than two hours of time the UNSC will vote, so that the Tribunal will be established.

I think this is the right time to stop and think. After all this time, and all this long chain of assassinations and explosions, the Tribunal that will bring justice is about to be established. Now it is the time of building bridges, reaching the other side, and re-establishing the trust among us.

March 14th should invite the opposition, and especially the Speaker of House, Berri, to call for a parliament session, to establish the Tribunal locally. It makes no sense anymore to continue blocking it, and such step (if it sees the light) will be a great one to narrow the gap between March 8th and March 14th, and most importantly, re-build the trust that has been lost in the last couple of years.

Let's put our differences aside, and work towards a better Liban. In this glorious day, we should rise above hate, and give peace and unity a chance.

Will March 14th make such step? And will March 8th meet such one? One thing we can be sure of nowadays, The Tribunal is here, and Justice will see the light.


P.S.: For more info, you can check Mostapha's blog, he wrote one great post.

Justice Is Near

My heroes and idols; Gebran Tueni and Samir Kassir, I happily announce to you that the Tribunal is only few hours away from becoming a reality. We promised you that those criminals who killed you will be brought to justice, and even though so many tried to block it, but we insisted, continued our fight and will go all the way till we see those criminals behind bars paying the price of what they committed.

God bless your souls...wish you were alive with us to see this glorious day...



P.S.: This Tribunal is for each and every one who was assassinated, or survived such attempts in the past three years, not just Tueni and Kassir. But excuse me, for these two are just "dear & special" to me.

Update In Tripoli

The Army is surrounding a famous building in Tripoli near facing Monla Hospital. I was ab;e to see army men climbing the balconies of the building, evacuating civilians, and asking people to stay as far as possible from the scene....

I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but for all of you who know the area, it is the building of "Giftastic" gift shop, where Oussama Sajj was located.

To All Who Accuse The Lebanese Army Of Killing Innocent Civilians

UPDATE:
More evidences that Lebanese are NOT racist who can't wait to get their hands on Palestinian refugees and just make them suffer more can be seen reading this article by Mostapha.

End of Update.

During the past couple of days, media and many blogs have been reporting the cruel racist targeting of innocent Palestinian civilians by the Lebanese Army. Some even went as far as comparing the Lebanese Army with the Israeli and American ones, and how they all share a common interest in targeting innocent civilians.

Such propaganda didn't save efforts to point out of how "racist, disgusting and ungrateful" the Lebanese people really are, for supporting their national army bombing Naher-l-Bared Refugee Camp!!

To all those, I'd like you to go visit the Lebanese Army official site here, and there, and see how throughout three days of clashes with the terrorist organization Fath-l-Islam, only ONE civilian was killed, and only 19 were injured. I think if we were targeting civilians, the casualties would have been much much higher, don't you think? Not to mention all the aid the Army as well as the Lebanese Red Cross provided for all the refugees who escaped Naher-l-Bared camp.

Pictures Of Destruction in Tripoli

These are the pictures of the Building at "meitein street" in Tripoli where the clashes between Fatah-l-Islam and the Lebanese Army took place in the last couple of days....

God Bless Our Lebanese Army

http://www.lebarmy.gov.lb
http://www.lebanesearmy.net
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2336319248

Show Support To Our Brave Army....

For each and every soldier put his life at risk for our security

For each and every dear martyr of our brave men

For showing determination, courage and patriotism

For our dear Liban

Show support to our brave national army by lighting up your balconies tonight from 9:00pm till 10:00 pm

Our Army is our salvation...Support it

"What's Next?"

"What’s next"?

A horrible question that has occupied the Lebanese daily life. It is this cold scary look you could easily define on our faces that tells you we are not safe. Every body is just worried; about himself, his family, and his friends. Not one word can explain the feeling you get inside of you every time you see the word “Breaking News” on TV, when you rush to figure out what happened, praying inside that it’s a false alarm, or at least none of your loved ones is hurt. And there is always these horrible 30 minutes that follow the news that break your nerves down; where you keep trying desperately to call the ones you care about, wondering whether they are safe or not.

I was in Beirut, sleeping in my bedroom when the phone ringing woke me up. It was too early for a Sunday morning to get a call, I answered and there was my friend, with this “tone” in his voice that you recognize immediately and realize that “something wrong has just happen, and I am about to know about it”. “Hope you are ok, how’s the situation in Tripoli?” he asked. “I’m still in Beirut Raymond, what happened?” I answered. And so, I knew about the clashes in Tripoli.

And the cycle starts, trying to call your family and friends, checking up on them, rushing to the damn TV trying to know more, using the internet to get something, and all kind of thoughts jumping into your mind. “What am I doing here? I should go and stay with my family” I said to myself, backed my things up quickly, and headed directly to Tripoli.

The sun dived into the sea, and things are finally starting to calm down a little bit in the neighborhood. I decided to go down on the streets and see what happened, and maybe talk to the people around. One thing jumps into your mind when you see the marks of the battles; the horrible memories of the Civil War. This day was the worst in Tripoli ever since the late Eighties, when the war totally destroyed the city. Asking people around, you could sense the feeling of lack of security, lack of faith, and the extreme fear of the war hitting the town again.

“OMG, it was the same as the Eighties, God have mercy on our souls” “These monsters broke into our homes and killed our loved ones” These are couple of examples of what people are saying while watching the results of Sunday’s clashes.

Getting back home, I thanked God that my family and my friends are safe, and none of them were hurt in the clashes. No one can understand this, and no one can tell what to do, or how things are going to come to an end. All what occupies your mind is the ever-lasting question “What’s next?”

This time, the answer was very fast. As I was watching LBC, the horrible word “Breaking News” appears, explosion at Achrafieh, and the cycle starts again……

This Is Wrong!

This blog is very disappointed with the Government, and disgusted of the opposition!

What are you doing???!! What are you waiting for? The country needs a Governmental decision to get into the camp and get rid of Fat7-l-Islam once and for all. No "Damage Control", we need to be aggressive, extremely aggressive. What's the use of having a Government when it can't take the right decision when needed the most???

As for the opposition, SHAME ON YOU! Can't you see that this is hitting and affecting each and every Lebanese? Why the hell are you silent? When will we hear what you should have declared from the beginning? Stop this meaningless sit-in at DT, and support the army to get rid terrorism. Phone calls doesn't help, we DEMAND an official declaration of an ending of the sit-in, and total support to the army from the opposition as a whole, before we end up with no country at all....

Disappointed and disgusted......

What Should Be Done Now?

We need to "get some balls" and put an end to this nonsense!

As simple as that! There's only too much we can tolerate. If history taught us anything, it would be that the worst thing ever in such situations is to "contain it"! What the F*** are you talking about? Contain my sorry fat @$$.

Such terrorism should be dealt with it with MAXIMUM force. The Army is doing a heroic job, but it needs a political support, a damn OFFICIAL support. The government should be clear about that; enough is enough, PM Seniora and his cabinet should declare their full support for complete ERADICATION of Fat7-l-Islam from all over Liban. The opposition should declare a clear stand against the current situation in the North.

What's the use of being politicians if you can't take decisions when it matters the most? This is unacceptable, and this blog is CONDEMNING the awful absence of a clear stand!

This blog has been a strong supporter of Seniora's government, and now it is demanding a STRONG CLEAR SUPPORT TO OUR RAVE NATIONAL ARMY AND SECURITY FORCES. This blog is demanding the VERY SAME THING FROM THE OPPOSITION, ESPECIALLY HA.

This violence will soon spread to all over Liban if we don't put an end to it, not just "contain" it. Let's NOT make the same mistakes we did before, we have a country to look after, and we can't blame but ourselves of we lost it in such a way.....

Terrorism in Tripoli

I woke up today on phone calls from friends asking if I'm ok! Then I realized that Tripoli is witnessing "semi-war" clashes between the Lebanese army-Security forces and fighters from Fat7-l-Islam organization.

I'm still in Beirut at the time being, so I don't know the exact picture. But calling family and friends there, I've known that clashes have reached "Mitein Street" and that citizens have been ordered to "stay home and never get out!". Sounds of clashes and sirens could be heard all over the city.

For more info, you can check Al-Arabiya, BBC, Al-Jazeera, LBC and Naharnet.

NBN TV....Too

I just watched the news headlines for NBN.

"After showering us with false numbers, the South roads are an even more evidence of Seniora's on purpose negligence of the Shiites areas."

"Unlike Seniora's restrictions on the Aids money, "Wa3ed" is HA response to re-build the Southern Suburb, and bring dignity back to Shiites"

"HA's MP Ali Ammar calls Seniora a "filthy man"" "It seems Rice's kisses are behind Seniora's filthy speech"

"Not just the Southern Suburb, but the South and Baalbak are proofs of Seniora's lies and false numbers"

And of course, to show even more integrity, what is better than asking the people themselves, who are not short on the creative side of calling Seniora "traitor, thief, Zionist, American,.....etc"

The propaganda continues.....

Al Manar TV

After Seniora's last conference yesterday, I expected a "hard" reaction from the opposition. However, watching Al-Manar TV, you realize that their way in delivering news is just "Disgusting"!

I'm sorry, but this is the best word to describe it. In their ticker news banner, Al-Manar TV is saying right now (you can check it out if you like): "Seniora call the Southern Suburb a "Jungle"" "After 10 months, Seniora still insist to refuse to give money to those who deserve it from the Southern Suburb"

As I'm writing this post, Al-Manar Tv is broadcasting a political talk show, hosting ex. MP Jihad Samad, where he's saying: "The opposition struggle is an ever-lasting one, it is the struggle between the good and the evil, the patriots and the traitors" "If the so-called majority think that they can't be punished by country's law, I want to remind hem that they can't run away from Divine punishment" "Hariri, Jaejae, Jumblatt and there gangs are living in palaces, where our people are starving to death"

This is how Al-Manar TV is "guiding" HA supporters, this is how they insist to call their "political opponents". And then we wonder why there's an ever-rising tension among Lebanese. Now, we know......

New Addition to the Blog!

Dear readers,

Since I've realized that commenting seems to be rare these couple of days, I decided to add a "Rating System" for each post, where you can simply rate the post. All what you have to do is to simply click on the stars to rate the article, and that's it!

That way you can still interact with no need to add comments, though you guys are always more than welcomed to add comments and share your ideas.

Hope this new addition will be beneficial.

It's Close Guys

Check the countdown timer on the top right of the blog, can you see it? can you feel it? Almost less 200 days guys.....

Fingers crossed

Only In Liban....Again!

It was Friday afternoon, and I was on the Beirut-Tripoli highway trying to get me back home. As you all know, the highway suffer an unbelievable traffic jam, especially trying to go to North on a Friday afternoon.

I left Achrafieh round 3:00 pm. It took me more than an hour to reach Jounieh, and I just was able to pass after "Halat Bridge" conversion, so I was glad that finally I'll be able to drive my car a little bit faster as normal people should on highways.

But, and since it is Liban, you can never ask for normality! And so, my hopes were crushed near "Barbara Bridge", where there was an unexplained traffic jam. I thought to myself "God help us, I hope it is not an accident". Then I saw the "Lebanese Red Cross" flag on the highway, which made me almost sure that a huge accident just took place, and that we're stuck for good.

15 minutes later, the picture became clear. NO, it wasn't an accident causing the traffic jam. NO, it wasn't the Red Cross personnel trying to help someone that is causing the traffic jam. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the real reason, it was just...I don't know what to call it actually....

Red Cross personnel were cutting the HIGHWAY, and asking people for donations! In Europe, people pay MONEY so they can use the highway to get to their destination FAST, and here in Liban, we cut the highway for donations! As if all the usual everyday traffic jam is not enough, and as if having to spend two hours to get from Beirut to Tripoli (77 Kms in two hours!!!??), now we have to tolerate getting in traffic jam for donations!!!!

Don't get me wrong here, the Lebanese Red Cross is a great institution in Liban, and the job it's doing is enormous. And we should ALL help it, and make generous donations so that they can continue doing the great job they are doing. But it is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE TO CUT THE HIGHWAY, on Friday afternoon, so that you ask for donations. I mean COME ON!!!!

But again...only in Liban would such things happen....

Everybody Wants the Tribunal Under Chapter VII !!!??

No, it's NOT a joke, and no it is not a superficial analysis. It is simply the plain truth that no one seems interested to declare loudly!

Let's take it step by step. First, let's start with those who oppose almost everything nowadays. March 8th (and yes, Aoun and his FPM are included) wants the Tribunal under Chapter VII; because this would mean that they don't have to accept it, and they can use their ever-lasting reason "It's an Imperial-Zionist plan to control our Arab independent land". And of course, they will gain all the support they can dream of from their followers, simply because once you say it is an Israeli evil plan, then we should hate it, and work against it.

Under Chapter VII, the opposition will have a wide-range of motion, they can even raise their opposition, and justify it even more, since now the "conspiracy" is clear to everyone. And if by any chance, the Tribunal is to accuse any of the opposition's leaders of the assassinations, the opposition can refuse such accusations, and argue that they didn't agree on the Tribunal, and even declare "See! This is why they want the Tribunal, to eliminate the true representatives of the people!".

Hizbollah, will have more dynamics in refusing to even discuss disarming its arsenal, arguing that this means the end of Resistant Lebanon, and that there's no way they would surrender the country to the Zionists, the Americans, and their "traitors" among us. SSNP, Marada, Wi'aam Wahhab, Krame and the rest will find in tha stand of HA a last rescue from being washed out of the political scene, and they also will refuse anything coming from such "Tribunal of shame!", even though Krame is asking the UN to include Rashid Krame file in the Tribunal!!

FPM and our lovely General will shout against the "foreign interference" in Liban, demand a one-man stand against the new "occupation", and accuse "Hariri" and his gang of being the "true" enemies of Liban. NOT to mention that they are the true representative of the Christians, and they are indeed the most secular party in the country!

What about March 14th? Well as much they care about the Tribunal, but for sure they prefer nothing more than for it to be under Chapter VII, because then the International Community will be held responsible for making sure those who are found guilty will be brought to justice; even if they were high Syrian officials. Hariri can use his International "Friendships" in making sure that no "compromise" will be made on the expense of his father assassination file. Jumblatt and Kernet Chahwan bloc will feel more secure, hoping that such Tribunal will bring an end to the assassinations targeting them one by one.

LF will be more than happy to see more and more pressure being put against the Syrian Iranian axe, and even more isolation for FPM in the Lebanese political scene.

Every body wants it under Chapter VII. Well, everybody but Syria that is, which will be the only one loosing from the Tribunal under chapter VII. Syria can NOT, under chapter VII, NOT to co-operate with the Tribunal, or else it will face the International Community. In contrast to the Tribunal being passed within Lebanese Institutions, where Syria can simply "Refuse" to co-operate.