‘Non-Aggression’ in Lebanon?
October 29th, 2008 by Jason
In Commentary (and cross-posted on his excellent blog) Michael Totten discusses the recent news that Israel is considering a long-term non-aggression treaty with Lebanon. He writes that Hezbollah has not the least interest in peace, as “without the perceived threat of another Israeli invasion, the justification for Hezbollah’s very existence collapses.” Even if the Lebanese state and its people supported such a pact, it would be thoroughly meaningless, as “Hezbollah is strong enough to override the will of the state and the will of the majority anyway.”
He concludes that it must be made clear to Lebanese that the “overwhelming majority of Israelis have no interest whatsoever in more war with Lebanon. Lebanese need to know who their real enemy is before they go to the polls early next year and decide which kind of “resistance” makes the most sense.”
Posted in Diplomacy, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Syria | Comment »
Introducing POMED’s Country Pages
October 29th, 2008 by Stephen
If you haven’t already seen them, be sure to check out the new country pages here on POMED’s website. POMED’s research team has assembled a valuable collection of resources organized by country. For now, there are POMED country pages for five countries of the region: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Turkey. There will be more pages covering additional countries soon to come. Each page contains essential background information on the country, links to a variety of reports and resources in both English and the local language (Arabic or Turkish), as well as a POMED country backgrounder paper covering the state of government, political reform, opposition groups, and U.S. policy and assistance toward the particular country. In addition, each page contains the latest updates on recent developments in the country in question, updated daily. We hope these pages will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in following political developments and the state of reform in these countries, and we look forward to expanding the project to cover many other countries of the region.
Posted in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, POMED, Publications, Turkey | Comment »
News from Lebanon
October 28th, 2008 by Tariq
The New York Times has an interesting piece highlighting U.S. military aid to Lebanon. “The weapons are the leading edge of a new American commitment to resupply the military of this small but pivotal Middle Eastern country…The new wave of aid…is meant to build an armed force that could help stabilize Lebanon’s fractured state, fight a rising terrorist threat and provide a legitimate alternative to the Shiite militant group Hezbollah.”
Amid this, it is interesting to note that “Lebanon’s Shi’ite Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has met his main political foe, Sunni majority leader Saad al-Hariri, for the first time since the war with Israel in 2006,” as reported by Reuters.
Posted in Foreign Aid, Hezbollah, Lebanon | Comment »
Lebanon Two Years After the War
October 23rd, 2008 by Jason
The Washington Instutite for Near East Policy has a three-part series on analysis and recommendations two years after the implementation of UNSCR 1701, which ended the 2006 Israel-Hizbollah war. The three writers argue that the resolution has done nothing to deter or weaken Hizbollah’s capacity to destabilize the country, and future hostilities with Israel are inevitable. They note that the U.S. must work with Europe to strengthen the Lebanese government militarily, diplomatically, and economically, and convince Syria to crack down on the flow of arms across their border with Lebanon.
Posted in EU, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, US foreign policy | Comment »
Syria, Lebanon, and the Ties that Bind
October 17th, 2008 by Tariq
It has been two days since Syria and Lebanon declared formal diplomatic ties with one another, signaling greater willingness by the Syrians to engage in dialogue with its neighbors, and makes this article in Haaretz all the more interesting: “U.S. President George W. Bush has apparently offered his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, to press Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights if Damascus promises to cut its relations with Iran, the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Jareida reported on Friday.” U.S. News & World Report has more on the ongoing U.S.-Syrian dialogue here.
Also worthy of mention, the New York Times has a piece on the rising tension in the north of Lebanon. “A string of bombings over the past two months has left at least 20 people dead, most of them Lebanese Army soldiers, and scores of wounded. Hard-line Sunni Islamist leaders have gained new followers here, fueling sectarian violence that has scarred the city and its economy. Already, the president of neighboring Syria has warned that northern Lebanon has become “a real source of extremism and a danger to Syria.” And,the Financial Times offers us a glimpse of Hezbollah’s official participation in the Lebanese government through the eyes of Labor Minister Mohammed Fneish
Posted in Diplomacy, Hezbollah, Islamist movements, Lebanon, Syria, US foreign policy | Comment »
Lebanese Election Reform
October 10th, 2008 by Amanda
At the Daily Star Doreen Khoury talks about Lebanon’s electoral law passed last month. Although the bill includes needed reforms it still “forego[es] other crucial reforms such as establishing an independent electoral commission, using an officially printed ballot, and lowering the voting age to 18 years.” After Parliament’s two lackluster attempts to reign in reform in 2000 and 2005, the Civil Campaign for Electoral Reform (CCER) tried to once again push for measures which “represent[ed] a significant departure from previous electoral laws”. The new legislation will apply to the upcoming 2009 elections, in which according to Khoury, “civil society is preparing itself for the largest elections monitoring effort in Lebanese history”.
Posted in Elections, Lebanon | Comment »
