ELECTRONIC LEBANON
Opinion/Editorial
The Opinion/Editorial section of Electronic Lebanon, a project from the Electronic Intifada, offering commentary, analysis, human rights and development information, and diaries from on the ground. Quality submissions are welcomed, preferably from contributors with an organisational affiliation.
Lebanon's empty notion of justice
Sami Halabi, Electronic Lebanon, 4 May 2009
On 1 March 2008, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon came into effect pursuant to the request of the Lebanese government and United Nations Security Council resolutions 1644 and 1757. The trial is intended to bring to justice to those who carried out the assassination of former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafiq Hariri and 22 others. Sami Halabi comments for Electronic Lebanon. [MORE]
Refugees to prime minister: End military siege of our camp
Open letter, Residents of Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, 27 January 2009
While Lebanese officials were publicly denouncing Israel's war on the Palestinians of Gaza, the Lebanese cabinet was busy making sure the Palestinians of Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon never recover from the war waged on their community more than a year ago. On 16 January 2009, the cabinet approved a decision to build a naval base in the area. The decision was met with stern opposition by the people of Nahr al-Bared who wrote a letter of protest addressed to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and his ministers. [MORE]
Meet the Lebanese Press: Gazing towards Gaza
Hicham Safieddine, Electronic Lebanon, 29 December 2008
Like much of the world press, Israel's war on Gaza dominates the headlines in Lebanon. Massive protests in Beirut, particularly at the Egyptian embassy, took place. In an address to the tens of thousands of demonstrators, Hizballah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah called, among other things, for ordinary Egyptians to open up the crossing at the Egypt-Gaza border by force and in defiance of government security forces. Nasrallah's explicit condemnation of the Egyptian regime and the stern response by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit reflects the long-term impact of the Gaza war on the dynamics of regional alliances playing out in Lebanon. [MORE]
Meet the Lebanese Press: Strategic defense or strategic shift?
Hicham Safieddine, Electronic Lebanon, 18 November 2008
Civil strife usually ends when there is truth and reconciliation. In Lebanon, it subsides when a truce poses as reconciliation. Top Lebanese leaders are doting over each other, calling for a new pact of political rivalry that is confined to the arena of democratic and peaceful confrontation. Meetings between top March 14 and March 8 officials have calmed fears of further clashes on the streets. With the notable exception of Christian leaders, all sectarian heads are trying to unite their ranks in the run up to next year's parliamentary elections. Meet the Lebanese Press is The Electronic Intifada's regular review of what is making the rounds in the Lebanese press and the pundits' take on it. [MORE]
Meet the Lebanese Press: Syria and the Salafis
Hicham Safieddine, Electronic Lebanon, 2 September 2008
Lebanese-Syrian relations witnessed a turnaround this month. The visit by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman to Damascus culminated in a declaration to establish full diplomatic relations between the two countries for the first time. Promises were made to intensify efforts to resolve long-standing disputes around delineating the borders and uncovering the fate of dozens of Lebanese who disappeared during the civil war and are believed to be imprisoned in Syria. [MORE]
Meet the Lebanese Press: Free at last!
Hicham Safieddine, Electronic Lebanon, 16 July 2008
The petty politics of forming a national "unity" government in Lebanon will be overshadowed this week by a development with local and regional implications. All Lebanese political prisoners still held in Israeli jails will return home. Five in total, including Samir Kuntar, the dean of Arab detainees, who has spent close to three decades of his life in captivity. With the return of prisoners, another chapter of Hizballah's struggle against Israel has closed. [MORE]
The Israel-Hizballah prisoner deal
Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, Electronic Lebanon, 16 July 2008
The Israeli cabinet's decision to strike a prisoner-exchange deal with the Hizballah movement in Lebanon -- on the eve of the anniversary of the war between the two sides of 12 July-14 August 2006 -- will not be remembered as one of Israel's most glorious moments. Amal Saad-Ghorayeb looks at the short-term and long-term implications of the deal. [MORE]
Meet the Lebanese Press: All the prime minister's men
Hicham Safieddine, Electronic Lebanon, 19 June 2008
Efforts to form a Lebanese government come against the backdrop of a surprise visit by US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice and intermittent armed clashes between loyal and opposition groups in various parts of the country, mainly the central Bekaa region. Rice's visit, stalling the implementation of the Doha Accords, as well as regional developments including announcement of a truce between Israel and Hamas and Turkish-mediated Syrian-Israeli "peace" talks could be seen as efforts to sideline Iran's allies in the Arab world in preparation for a possible showdown between Washington and Tehran. [MORE]
Karim Makdisi discusses the Doha Agreement and Lebanon's economic crisis
Stefan Christoff, Electronic Lebanon, 11 June 2008
Neo-liberal economic policies adopted by successive political parties since Lebanon's 15-year civil war came to an end in 1990 have left the country in economic ruins. All of the main political parties neglect the growing poverty rates, crumbling economy and staggering emigration in Lebanon today. Karim Makdisi, a professor in the Department of Political Studies and Public Administration at the American University of Beirut, spoke with Stefan Christoff about Doha and the economic and social policies of the government and opposition forces in Lebanon. [MORE]
Meet the Lebanese Press: Deal struck in Doha
Hicham Safieddine, Electronic Lebanon, 26 May 2008
The Lebanese are deal-struck: in one day, their parliamentarians were to ratify decisions agreed upon in Doha, Qatar that will lead to the installment of a new president, the formation of a national partnership government, and the holding of parliamentary elections in one year's time under a resurrected electoral law of the 1960s with some amendments. The speed and suddenness of the deal were a direct consequence of the change in the balance of power on the ground in the wake of the Hizballah military operation that exposed the weakness of the loyalist camp. [MORE]
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