By Omid Memarian
SAN FRANCISCO, May 26 2009 (IPS)

In a case that human rights activists say echoes that of recently released journalist Roxana Saberi, the Iranian government has imprisoned a woman employed by a U.S.-based non-profit organisation working to improve child and maternal health in the country, alleging that she acted as a spy for the United States.

Silva Harotonian Credit:

Her work and life were interrupted on Jun. 26, 2008 when she was detained by Iranian authorities and charged with participating in an effort to overthrow the Iranian government through a ''velvet revolution." On Jan. 19, 2009, she was sentenced to three years in jail.

"Harotonian is completely innocent and has not committed any crime," Abdolfattah Soltani, a human rights lawyer in Tehran who is representing Harotonian, told IPS.

"She told me she had lost 11 kilogrammes in one month," he said. "Though she has not been physically hurt, she has had to endure a lot of psychological hardship."

On May 11, a three-judge panel announced that the revolutionary court that convicted Roxana Saberi, an American Iranian journalist who was held in Tehran's Evin prison for more than three months, had charged her under the wrong section of Iran's criminal code.

Saberi was initially sentenced to eight years in prison after being convicted of "cooperating with a hostile state", but the appeals court overturned that verdict on the grounds that Iran and the United States cannot be described as states that are hostile to each other in the legal sense of being at war.

Harotonian was sentenced under the same section of Iran’s penal code, making her family and lawyers hopeful that an appeals court could overturn the verdict.

"I believe suspects such as Roxana Saberi and Silva Harotonian and people in other similar cases have not committed any crimes, rather, these are cases which have been reviewed with a very harsh, personal, and unique approach of certain judges and some intelligence operatives based on their interpretation of the laws," said Soltani in a telephone interview.

Soltani said that many defendants are perfectly willing to be tried in a public court, "So why don't they do it? If [prosecutors] have evidence, why would they cut the suspects off from the outside world during early interrogation stages, preventing their contact with their attorneys? Why don't they let them contact their families? Why are they isolated and forced to accept whatever the interrogators want them to accept?"

In December 2007, Harotonian responded to a newspaper advertisement and was hired as an administrative assistant, working for IREX on a maternal and child health education exchange programme.

A few days after Saberi's release earlier this month, Harotonian’s mother, Nvart Moradkhan, told IPS by telephone, "This is good news for Silva, right? The two cases are similar, and we should hear some positive news about Silva soon."

Harotonian's ailing mother is the only person who can visit her weekly. "Her health is deteriorating," said Moradkhan. "She has lost so much weight. Her hair is all gray, she looks very old. She is very depressed. She has a lot of health problems, [including an] ulcer, and had asked the attorney to ask for doctors."

"Silva Harotonian is an innocent victim of the Intelligence Ministry’s obsession with finding American spies," Hadi Ghaemi, coordinator of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a New York-based group, told IPS.

"She was simply an administrator for an American NGO doing a project in Iran and the Iranian government was aware of its activities. She was unfairly prosecuted based on the same indictment that Roxana Saberi received an eight-year sentence for originally, and then the appeals court threw out that indictment."

"Standards of justice need to be consistent in Iran and if Saberi’s appeals court ruled the U.S. is not an ‘enemy government’ then Harotonian should be released too because her conviction is based on the same article of the law," Ghaemi said.

Paige Alexander, vice president of IREX, told IPS that the government has thus far failed to respond to letter sent by the organisation appealing for Harotonian's release.

"We have coordinated with a number of different lawyers on this case and we have been working tirelessly to bring attention to Silva's plight through the formulation of the www.freesilva.org website, press outreach and other public and private religious and diplomatic efforts," Alexander said.

"Having had IREX attend meetings in Iran at the government's request before, we believed that this modest programme was a proper vehicle to start reaching out to Iran in a non-controversial way," she noted.

"IREX never imagined that anyone could construe this programme to be inconsistent with any interest of the Iranian government and since the purpose of the programme was to have Iranian and American participants enhance their knowledge of best practices in this field, IREX believed this was completely consistent with Iran’s national interest," she said.

In July 2008, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had declared that "contacts between Iranians and the American people will be a useful step for better understanding of the two nations," according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.

"IREX attempted to model the MCHEEP programme on other programmes which we believed had been sanctioned by the Iranian government," explained Alexander.

Harotonian’s attorneys are now in the last phase of her appeal.

"I am hopeful Silva Harotonian's three-year jail term will be reversed in a trial with educated and experienced judges," Soltani said.

Excerpt:

By Matthew O. Berger
NEW YORK, May 11 2009 (IPS)

The release Monday of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi from Tehran’s Evin Prison has been greeted with relief and concern by international human rights and press freedom groups.

Roxana Saberi Credit: Eustacio Humphrey/ZUMA Press

A dual citizen of the U.S. and Iran, Saberi moved to Iran in 2003 and began working as a freelancer for a variety of news agencies, including National Public Radio, BBC, and Inter Press Service.

She was arrested in January and initially accused of trying to buy wine, later of lacking valid press credentials – they were revoked in 2006 – and finally with espionage. In April, she was convicted by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court during a one-day, closed-door trial and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Saberi went on a two-week hunger strike to protest her confinement, which drew international outcry and fasts in solidarity by several members of Reporters Without Borders, including its secretary-general, Jean-François Julliard.

On Monday, her sentence was reduced to a two-year suspended sentence and a five-year ban on working as a journalist in Iran. She is expected to return to the United States in the next few days.

“When she heard of the sentence, she found it unacceptable. She was shocked and distraught. It was totally unexpected for me, as well,” Saberi’s lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, told IPS in April.

On Monday, the mood was a mixture of relief and anger.

“We are glad that the Iranian authorities decided to address this travesty of justice and release Roxana Saberi,” said Human Rights Watch’s Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson, in a statement. “But Saberi’s experience reflects the treatment of many Iranians who find themselves in custody for no good reason.”

Many see Iran’s upcoming elections as playing a key role in her detention. In the wake of her conviction on Apr. 18, Reporters Without Borders said, “Coming as it does in the run-up to elections, this sentence is a warning to all foreign journalists working in Iran.”

Robert Baer, Time.com’s intelligence columnist and the author of The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower, told IPS last month that Saberi had become caught up in the Iranian election cycle, with hardliners trying to prove they are tougher than their rivals when it comes to national security.

On Apr. 19, however, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to the prosecutor urging that the case be re-examined and that Saberi have a full defence, which, according to The New York Times, is viewed by critics as an election-year ploy to cast himself as a defender of human rights.

The arrest had been a strain on U.S.-Iranian relations as President Barack Obama tries to reach out to Tehran. On Apr. 19, he denied any involvement by Saberi in espionage, saying he was “gravely concerned” about her.

The following day, Amnesty International said in a statement, “Saberi is a pawn to the ongoing political developments between Iran and the USA and should be considered a prisoner of conscience.”

On Monday, Amnesty called for the release of all other prisoners of conscience in Iran. The group also regretted the conditions attached to her release.

Iran has a history of limiting press freedom within its borders. Most recently, Iranian-Canadian blogger Hussein Derakhshan was imprisoned in November 2008, accused of insulting religious leaders. Journalist Mohammad Sadegh Kabodvand has been held since July 2007 for founding a human rights organisation in Kurdistan. And Mohammad Hassin Falahieh Zadeh, who worked for the state-owned television station Al-Alam and freelanced for Arab news media, was sentenced to three years in April 2007, according to Reporters Without Borders.

In a statement following Saberi’s release, Reporters Without Borders said, “The short space of time between the original trial and the appeal, the length of the appeal hearing, and the fact that her lawyers were allowed to speak in her defence are all encouraging signs. But we must not jump to conclusions as the Iranian judicial system often produces surprises.”

“Iran has a long way to go in guaranteeing freedom of the press, but this is one small indication that there is hope for the future,” Society of Professional Journalists’ President Dave Aeikens said in a statement.

The Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon likewise said, “We are pleased that Roxana Saberi has been released from prison and hope that other imprisoned journalists in Iran are also given the opportunity defend themselves and receive due process under the law.”

Excerpt:

By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, May 4 2009 (IPS)

Iranian political refugees living in India say there is an all too familiar ring about the supposed confessions of arrested journalist Roxana Saberi, which they expect to see footage of on television soon.

Saberi, who has both United States and Iranian citizenships, was sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of spying for the U.S.

Disturbingly, for hundreds of Iranian expatriates living in the Indian capital, even before the trial began, the deputy prosecutor, Judge Hassan Haddad, reportedly stated that Saberi had accepted charges of espionage activities.

Haddad's statement was greeted with shock by her father, Reza Saberi. "Roxana told us her confessions were not true and that she had made them up under pressure. They had promised to release her after the confessions and she denies all of her confessions," he told reporters in Tehran.

"Forced confessions made before television cameras by high profile detainees are routine in Iran," Mohsen Namakian, member of the exiled Ale Yassin community, told IPS in New Delhi. "They are used to gain political mileage that has particular value during election time."

"Unfortunately for the authorities," added Namakian, "no one in Iran gives any credence to such confessions and it is well known that most of them are doctored for added effect."

Namakian cited the case of a student, Majid Tavakkoli, who, in March 2008, some months after he was arrested, released an open letter from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison with clues to the forced nature of his taped confessions.

"Although the confession was made at the chief’s office of the security ward 209, using a sofa, and TV in the background to show that everything was normal and natural, signs that we [Tavakkoli and two other arrested students] had been kept in jail for ten months were apparent from the prison clothing and our messy, dishevelled faces that were the result of torture," Tavakkoli wrote.

A few months earlier, in January 2008, Tavakkoli had released an open letter describing some of the torture he had been put through. In it he had named the wardens who had pushed him around and punched him.

Ayatollah Boroujerdi, a Shia leader known for his secularist beliefs was made to recant and enact fake confessions for use on television.

In September 2008 Amnesty International (AI) said in a report: Ayatollah Boroujerdi has reportedly been tortured and ill treated on numerous occasions since his arrest. He is said to have been beaten, thrown against a wall, and to have had cold water thrown on him when he was sleeping. It has been alleged that photographs and videos were taken of him – while he was in a forced state of undress – which the authorities allegedly threatened to distribute publicly to pry a statement of repentance and confessions on a range of allegations.

Six months later, Ale Yassin experts launched a campaign to expose such unfair actions and analysed the confessions in a documentary. It was clear that Boroujerdi’s images were edited, said Namakian. There were more a compilation of faked confessions by other religious leaders who had fallen from grace.

Ale Yassin has reason to be concerned about fake confessions since the group’s leader, Payman Fattahi, is a well-known victim. AI said in a report: "Payman Fattahi, the leader of a group known as the Ale Yassin, was arrested on Jan. 14, 2009 after being summoned to an interrogation session at the department for dealing with religions in the ministry of intelligence."

"Payman Fattahi had previously spent about five months in detention after his arrest in May, during which he was reportedly tortured and interrogated about a variety of alleged offences, including acting against state security, establishing a sect, and promoting Christianity and atheism," the AI report said. "The group has also been vilified in state-owned press."

Speaking by telephone from Canada where she is based, Yalda Noorshahi, the spokeswoman of Ale Yassin, told IPS that her community would work to expose the forced and faked confessions being used against Fattahi.

"They have made faked pictures, using editing techniques, to destroy Fattahi’s personality and destroy our credibility. We have the original version of the faked film and we have been showing both to expose the trick nature of these so-called confessions," Noorshahi said.

In the faked version, Fattahi says: "In the name of truth and legitimacy, in the name of justice and liberation, I confess there is no truth about me. My intent was my selfishness. I intended to divert people. I wanted to destroy people’s religion. I was wrong, I repent, I apologise to people."

But in the original version he is saying: "If great leaders and men like Mansoor were alive today, they have to confess in Inquisition Courts for the sake of releasing and they let them go. They have to appear against cameras and confess: In the name of truth and legitimacy, in the name of."

According to Noorshahi, Fattahi is still in custody and under physical and psychological torture and his health is deteriorating – this suggests the poor state of other detainees in Evin prison, including Saberi.

The outside world’s best known example of televised fake confessions were supposed to have been made by a group of British sailors who had spent 13 days in an Iranian jail in March and April 2007, after having been captured in the Persian Gulf.

After they were released the sailors withdrew the confessions that they had made to their Iranian captors admitting to "illegal entry" into Iranian waters.

According to Namakian, Iranian officials systematically try to convert situations into propaganda for local consumption and think nothing of distortion of facts or misrepresentation.

In the case of Saberi, officials initially said she was being held for buying a bottle of wine and then, later, changed the charges to working as a reporter without proper credentials, and finally to espionage on behalf of the U.S.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a journalists’ advocacy group, Saberi has been living in Iran since 2003, freelancing for a number of news organisations, and writing a book about Iranian culture. Saberi has contributed to IPS from Iraq, Lebanon and Tajikistan.

Although Iranian authorities revoked Saberi’s press credentials in 2006, she continued to file short news items, the journalists’ group said. She was detained in January and on Apr. 9 word emerged that she had been charged with espionage.

Saberi’s situation is seen by many as similar to that of Canadian-Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo, whom the authorities arrested in April 2006 and released after four months of detention once he had "confessed" that his scholarly work had contributed to the planning of a "velvet revolution."

International human rights law protects detained persons from being forced into making "confessions." The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party, protects the right of every person not to be compelled to "testify against himself or to confess guilt."

It is unlawful for authorities to use coercive means to obtain incriminating statements – furthermore, broadcasting such statements is a form of degrading treatment prohibited by international law.

Excerpt:

By Omid Memarian
BERKELEY, California, Apr 20 2009 (IPS)

Since Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison last week on the charge of spying for foreign governments, human rights and press freedom groups have become increasingly critical of the political nature of her case and the harsh and unprecedented penalty.

Roxana Saberi Credit: Eustacio Humphrey/ZUMA Press

Saberi was arrested in January and initially accused of trying to buy wine, later of lacking valid press credentials, and finally with espionage.

"When she heard of the sentence, she found it unacceptable. She was shocked and distraught. It was totally unexpected for me, as well," Saberi’s lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi told IPS by telephone from Tehran. "I had provided the court with reasoning which would refute the charges, and I continue to hold to my belief. I will provide my appeal to the court in 20 days."

Robert Baer, TIME.com's intelligence columnist and the author of "The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower", told IPS that unfortunately, Saberi has become caught up in the Iranian election cycle, with hardliners trying to prove they're tougher than their rivals when it comes to national security.

"It was also unfortunate her press credentials were not current, making her an easy target," said Baer. "When I was in Iran, I did only what Irshad [Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which oversees foreign journalists] would let me do, even refusing to meet someone from the British embassy or going to private parties."

"At least she wasn't taken prisoner by the CIA – she would have been waterboarded by now," Baer added ironically.

Dr. Sadegh Zibakalam, an analyst and professor of political science at Tehran University, told IPS in a telephone interview that Saberi is only guilty of caring deeply for Iran and its people.

She had interviewed the academic for her news reports several times over the last three years. Saberi also occasionally translated Dr. Zibakalam’s opinion pieces to English for foreign news agencies and papers.

"Once she told me that she was concerned that her press credentials were expired and she would eventually have to go back to the United States. She was very upset. I told her, I will try to help you to renew your press ID," he said.

Zibakalam recently wrote an op-ed for a reformist newspaper objecting to Saberi’s situation. The newspaper initially agreed to publish the piece, but backed out at the last minute – a reflection, he believes, of the widespread fear that publicising the case could provoke the government to shut the paper down.

Zibakalam instead wrote an open letter to the head of Iran’s judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi – which Iranian newspapers also refused to publish.

"I wrote to Ayatollah Shahroudi asking how a journalist who cannot even renew her press credentials could have access to classified, secret state documents, and be able to send those documents to Iran’s enemies like the U.S. and Israel’s intelligence services? How is it possible?" he said.

On Saturday, a day after the sentencing, in a letter to Tehran’s prosecutor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Saberi should be ensured a full defence during her appeal.

"Ahmadinejad's letter to the judiciary, as well the head of the judiciary's call for a re-investigation of the case, seems to indicate they both were not aware of the sentence," Hadi Ghaemi, spokesperson for the New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, told IPS.

"If the judge and prosecutors proceeded without the top leadership's knowledge, it means they are out of control. It is also a possibility that the leadership was aware and now, by advocating for Saberi, it can appear to be caring about human rights and justice which is duplicitous," added Ghaemi.

"The charges against her have no credibility and if her case is not resolved soon, it is a bad omen for how much control Iranian leadership has over its intelligence and security forces," he added.

In his letter, Ahmadinejad also mentioned the Iranian-Canadian blogger Hussein Derakhshan, who has been in prison since November 2008, accused of insulting religious leaders. Ahmadinejad requested Tehran’s prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, also ensure that he be able to fully defend himself, according to the state news agency, IRNA.

On Sunday, President Barack Obama said that he was "gravely concerned" about Saberi, and denied that she was involved in espionage. "She is an Iranian-American who was interested in the country which her family came from. And it is appropriate for her to be treated as such and to be released," Obama said.

In a statement Monday, Amnesty International said that "U.S.-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi is a pawn to the ongoing political developments between Iran and the USA and should be considered a prisoner of conscience."

"The fact that Roxana Saberi faced a shifting tide of accusations from the time of her arrest until her trial is an indication that the Iranian authorities were looking for any excuse to detain her," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Programme. "There is no reason for holding Roxana Saberi, unless the Iranian authorities can provide convincing evidence that she committed a recognisable criminal offence."

"Saberi’s 11 weeks of detention and one-day trial are tainted by a complete lack of transparency," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "This was a travesty of justice even by Iran’s poor standards."

Although Iran has a history of accusing dual nationality citizens in the past, such as Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar, and Ramin Jahanbeglou, a Canadian-Iranian academic, charged with trying to launch a ‘velvet revolution’ in Iran, this is the first time that the Iranian authorities have found an American-Iranian guilty of espionage.

Both scholars were released after a few months and eventually left the country.

Some sources close to the case fear that the Iranian authorities might force Roxana Saberi to appear on national television and confess to the charges that she has steadfastly denied, a tactic often used by Iran’s intelligence services as a part of a deal that can include an early release.

*Roxana Saberi contributed to IPS from Iraq, Lebanon and Tajikistan.

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
SULEIMANIYEH, Northern Iraq, Dec 11 2007 (IPS)

Iraq’s deputy prime minister has credited Tehran with helping curb the activities of a radical Shia Muslim militia, and he is also hoping Iran will do more to help stabilise its western neighbour.

“There is no doubt the Iranians have recently applied influence and leverage over Jaish al-Mahdi to contain and limit its operations inside Iraq,” Barham Salih said in an interview to IPS. “This is a welcome sign. But I’ll be very frank with you: the very fact that Iran can turn on and off the activities of Jaish al-Mahdi is one of concern to me as an Iraqi official.”

Washington has long accused Tehran of training, arming and funding Shia extremist groups in Iraq such as the Mehdi Army militia run by cleric Muqtada al Sadr. U.S. defence secretary Robert Gates repeated claims of Iranian interference on Saturday, and called Tehran’s foreign policies a threat to the United States and to the Middle East.

But his comments followed those of some U.S. officials who said in recent weeks that Iran appears to have halted the flow of arms across its border with its western neighbour, Iraq.

Iraq’s government spokesman has said the change in Iran’s behaviour came when Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki received a pledge from Iranian leaders on his visit to Tehran in August that they would clamp down on cross-border flow of weapons, money and people.

Tehran denies interfering in Iraq and has often blamed instability in Iraq on the presence of foreign troops.

Despite their mutual animosity, however, Iran and the U.S. have held three rounds of high-level talks on Iraqi security. On Sunday, Iran’s foreign ministry announced that Iraqi officials have proposed holding the next round Dec. 18.

Senior Iranian security official Ali Larijani said on Saturday that throughout this process, his country has helped improve security in Iraq.

“This time around, if the Americans pay attention to the fact that Iran has a prominent role in the Iraqi issue and can help – because of its moral influence in Iraq and its political influence – it can help the Iraqi government,” Ali Larijani said on Iran’s state-run television.

Salih declined to say whether he believed Iran wanted stability in his country. “The strategic interest of Iran should be (for it to be) engaged in promoting a stable, democratic, federal Iraq, as opposed to some people thinking they can work through cronies and proxies.

“Next to the people of Iraq, the Iranian people were the main beneficiaries of the removal of Saddam Hussein regime,” he added. “Instead of meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq, the government of Iran, the Iranian system, should invest in the stability of Iraq and make sure that the new Iraqi system is one that is at peace with its people and its neighbours.”

The prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan’s regional government also said he believes Iran should want stability in Iraq.

“I think Iran must play a bigger role in the stability of Iraq, and Iran can do this to some extent,” Nechirvan Barzani said in an interview. “Stability in Iraq is to the benefit of all countries – for Iran and others in the region.

“We don’t know if the information that Americans have shown us until now that Iran is (sending weapons across the border into Iraq), is true or not. If it is, we think it would not be to the benefit of either Iraq or Iran.”

Mohamad Gouma, political advisor to Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani, however, said that at least in Iraqi Kurdistan, Tehran has been aiming for calm and peace. In recent years, Iraq’s northern Kurdish region has enjoyed relative stability and prosperity, compared to other areas of Iraq.

“Relations between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran are good, both historically and today,” Gouma said. “It’s true that we have good relations with America, too, and also that enmity exists between Washington and Tehran, but we don’t play any role in their game.”

He added that if the U.S. one day decides to launch a military attack on Iran, Iraqi Kurdistan would remain neutral.

“We are opposed to war, and we would not have any place in such a war,” he said. “If a war would happen, it would be the biggest war that would take place in the Middle East.”

Washington has not ruled out using military force against Tehran over its nuclear programme, which the United States claims is aimed at producing nuclear weapons – a charge Iran denies.

When asked how Iraq would respond if Washington requests its help in a potential attack on Iran, Salih, who is Kurdish, said Iraq wants to stay out of the dispute.

“We do not want our territory to be used as a staging post for attacks against any of our neighbours,” he said. “We don’t want our territory to be used as an area for settling scores. Instability in Iraq will cause instability in the neighbourhood, including Iran as well, and everyone should be aware of the consequences of this instability.”

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
BEIRUT, Jan 15 2007 (IPS)

Anti-government demonstrations held in downtown Beirut since Dec. 1 have sparked debate about democracy in Lebanon.

Protestors, largely Hezbollah supporters, have been calling on Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to give more cabinet posts to the opposition, or resign. Siniora has warned that the demonstrations are threatening democracy, but many demonstrators say they are actually working to strengthen it.

Siniora’s government was formed in 2005 after massive demonstrations over the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri. The demonstrations brought political pressure that forced Syrian troops to withdraw from Lebanon.

The Bush Administration held up what has been called the “Cedar Revolution” as a model for defeating extremism and spreading democracy in the Middle East. But Siniora says that democracy is now in danger.

Some Lebanese analysts, like Elie Fawaz, agree. The opposition is essentially staging a coup, he says.

“They are threatening the Lebanese way of democracy because democracy in Lebanon is built around consensus,” he told IPS. “And all of sudden you have one group trying to impose its will on another group, which is not built into the Lebanese democratic system.”

Lebanon is not a ‘normal’ democracy. Power is divided among the 18 religious sects – all of them minorities.

“Lebanon certainly passes the first litmus test of democracy, in that it has free, regular and competitive elections,” said Andrew Tabler, a fellow with the U.S.-based Institute of Current World Affairs, who specialises in Syrian and Lebanese affairs.

“It is different from Western democracies in that power is distributed according to Lebanon’s 18 confessions. Inside each confession, powerful political figures often rule with an authoritarian hand, which undermines democracy.”

Lebanon’s prime minister is by tradition a Sunni Muslim. Siniora’s allies include right-wing Christians, Druze and Sunni Muslims. Hezbollah, the main force behind the current protests, is a Shia Muslim militia and political party.

Hezbollah spokesman Ghassan Darwish said his group and its allies are not the ones threatening Lebanon’s democracy.

“We are asking for a real democracy, not the kind America is backing,” he told IPS. “We want a national unity government, a partnership, and a share in authority. We would like a peaceful solution to what’s taking place. We will never sacrifice the idea of democracy.”

Hezbollah’s main ally, the Free Patriotic Movement, is the largest Christian party in Lebanon. However, no ministers from that block were included in the government.

“A democracy means all people are equal and that everyone is allowed to speak his opinion,” said Emil Eshom, spokesman for the Free Patriotic Movement. “Everyone should have a share in the government.”

“All we want is to have some ministers,” he added. “That’s all we want.”

Siniora has resisted including ministers from the Free Patriotic Movement in his government partly because the group’s leader, Michel Aoun, is seen as too headstrong.

The Prime Minister also worries, however, that a bigger opposition block in the cabinet would veto what he and his supporters see as key projects, such as disarming Hezbollah, and the approval of an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former prime minister Hariri.

The future of Lebanon’s democracy may also depend on the role of foreign powers in the country.

Some demonstrators accuse Siniora’s coalition of doing the bidding of the United States and Israel. But government supporters say the opposition is trying to increase the influence of Syria and Iran in Lebanon, undermining Lebanese sovereignty and democracy.

Hezbollah spokesman Darwish said Syria and Iran only give his group “moral” support to help win back Lebanese land occupied by Israel.

“Our goal is a Lebanese goal,” he said. “In other words, the goal is to resist Israel. If Syria and Iran want to help in achieving that goal, that’s a good thing.”

As the demonstrations continue, many Lebanese fear that the standoff could turn increasingly violent.

Some, like Jamal Baghdadi, are concerned about the protests’ impact on the economy. “People have the right to protest,” said Baghdadi, whose tourist shop in downtown Beirut has lost 90 percent of its business since the protests began. “That’s very democratic, but occupying a place owned by others is not.”

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
DUSHANBE, Nov 29 2006 (IPS)

Tajikistan has few natural resources great powers would fight over, but recent events show that foreign capitals are vying for influence in the land-locked central Asian country, whose internal stability is seen as vital to keeping the peace in the region.

“Tajikistan’s geopolitical role is significant,” said Shabdolov Shodi, the chairman of the Communist Party of Tajikistan. “If someone wants central Asian governments to be calm, secular and progressive, they should help Tajikistan.”

Afghanistan, China, Iran, India and Pakistan have long come face to face with one another here. But in recent years, Tajikistan has become a place where China, Russia and the United States have stepped up competition for influence.

Although Tajikistan is the poorest former Soviet republic, these countries have been eyeing commercial – and sometimes – military opportunities in this country of 7.5 million people.

For the U.S., the significance of Tajikistan rose after the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks, largely because of its shared border with Afghanistan. Washington’s attempts to establish a military base in Tajikistan failed, but Dushanbe allowed the U.S. refuelling and overflight rights to support its operations in Afghanistan.

Washington wants to work with Tajikistan to prevent the spread of Islamic extremism and terrorism in the region – an interest shared in many ways by Russia and China.

The U.S. is also investing in the development of regional infrastructure projects, including hydropower, roads and bridges.

Russia, however, has felt its power being challenged by Western involvement in an area that used to be under its sphere of influence. Moscow has kept a sizable military presence here since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Moscow also has ties to Dushanbe through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a six-nation regional security group led by Russia and China.

For its part, Beijing helps Dushanbe with major infrastructure projects and now exports many Chinese goods to Tajikistan.

The growing importance of Tajikistan to world powers in the region is not lost on secular President Imomali Rahmonov, who was re-elected to a third term earlier this month.

“Even the interests of superpowers coincide here, specifically, in the fight against extremism and international terrorism, drug trafficking, the struggle against cross-border organized crime. It meets the interests of all countries,” he told reporters on Election Day.

“Tajikistan’s foreign policy is a policy of open doors,” he added. “We will cooperate with all countries of the world.”

Rahmonov has been trying to do just that – balance Russia, the U.S. and China off one another, according to Mark Katz, a professor of government at the George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

“Rahmonov’s decision to allow the U.S. military facilities in Tajikistan after 9-11 helped him maintain some distance from Russia and Uzbekistan,” he said. “At the same time, Tajikistan’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization helps him avoid pressures to democratise from America and the West and to play off Russia and China at the same time.”

In October 2004 Russia formally opened a military base in Dushanbe and took back control over a former Soviet space monitoring centre at Nurek in moves seen as reactions to U.S. influence in Central Asia.

The U.S. has said it wants to see more reforms here, and critics say changes have been slow in coming. Still, Washington credits Rahmonov for keeping a secular buffer north of Afghanistan.

Another rival of Washington – Iran – is also playing a growing role in Tajikistan. Iran and Tajikistan share a similar language and culture, and their presidents have visited each other’s countries in the past year. In 2005, the volume of bilateral trade exchanges stood at around 130 million US dollars. Iran has also paid for major infrastructure work in Tajikistan.

In addition, Iran is an observer to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and it is a member of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), a trade and investment group that includes Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In fact, ECO is headquartered in Tehran.

Some observers, however, believe Iran’s present goal is to cultivate ties as part of a diplomatic effort to reduce international pressure over its disputed nuclear programme. Tehran says its nuclear activities are purely peaceful but faces the threat of international economic sanctions or even a U.S. or Israeli military attack.

Doulatali Doulatov, the president of Rahmonov’s People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan, declined to say what the government’s stance would be if those threats materialise.

“We don’t want anyone to attack anyone – not for America to attack Iran or for Iran to attack America,” he said.

And Prof. Katz says Tajikistan enjoys Iran’s economic aid regardless of the international pressures put on the Islamic Republic. “Tajikistan wants as much aid and investment as it can get, which hasn’t been much. So it welcomes whatever it can get from Iran and anyone else.”

Economic development here will be necessary to prevent future unrest in Tajikistan, according to international observers. After the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, it fell into a devastating civil war. The war ended in 1997 with a power-sharing agreement that resulted in the creation of a government led by Rahmonov and including the secular Islamic Revival Party – making Tajikistan the only central Asian country to allow a legal religious party.

Tajikistan has been accused by some of its neighbours of hosting terrorist training camps within its borders but this has been vigorously denied by Dushanbe.

Some critics say the IRP is too Islamic for government. More radical Muslims, however, believe it is not Islamic enough for this mostly Sunni Muslim country. Some observers say that this sentiment – combined with poverty and limited ways for ordinary people to channel discontent – could breed support for Islamic extremism.

“Tajikistan is not so important for what it is now, but for what it could be if things go wrong there,” said Katz. “The remarkable thing about the 1992 to 1997 civil war there was that it didn’t spill over into neighboring countries.”

“If, however, a revolutionary regime – whether religious or Tajik nationalist – came to power there, and if the large Tajik population in Uzbekistan is unhappy, change in Tajikistan could affect Uzbekistan and the rest of the region.”

Still, many Tajiks say they are tired of war and that the revolutionary change seen elsewhere in the former Soviet Union remains illusive here.

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
DUSHANBE, Nov 15 2006 (IPS)

Women have played important roles in rebuilding Tajikistan after the country’s civil war of the 1990’s. But women in this central Asian country still have many obstacles to overcome to reach equality with men, according to some local activists and international observers.

“I think it is hard to generalise, but there are some disturbing factors,” said Igor Bosc, a deputy resident representative with the United Nations Development Programme in Tajikistan.

For example, many parents see their sons as future breadwinners, so they take their daughters out of school early to work at home or outside, he said. Those that are educated often end up marrying young and staying at home.

Bosc believes this is partly due to culture and tradition and partly due to the revival of radical Islam, after Tajikistan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

“It’s an issue that concerns every family in the country, where women from a very early age are taught to become homemakers and how to raise families, and are not given an opportunity to participate outside the family in the economic and public life of the country – so young men, boys are given the priority,” he added.

It is this mentality that forms the basis of many challenges women in Tajikistan have faced in recent years, said Parvina Asadova, a psychologist at Tajikistan’s Women’s Crisis Center NGO. Many women come to the NGO for advice on how to deal with domestic violence or difficulties they have as second wives.

During Tajikistan’s civil war, many men died, leaving widows and orphans behind. The economy deteriorated, and some women were forced into prostitution or fell victim to trafficking. Others felt compelled to become second wives. Asadova said one of her clients is a second wife whose husband wants to kick her and their three children out because he no longer wanted to support them.

“She doesn’t know what to do,” she said. “Our lawyer said that she has only the right to ask him to pay for her children because our government doesn’t recognize the marriages of second wives.”

Asadova said before Tajikistan gained independence, women were somewhat better off. “During the Soviet time, husbands were responsible for the family and had only one wife, and if he refused for example to pay to do something for their children, the woman had the right to protect her children and herself,” she said.

The end of the Soviet era also affected women here in other ways. After independence, many Russian-backed factories ground to a halt. Now up to one million people in this country of around seven million seek work abroad, especially in Russia.

Some, like Gulnaz Ortiqova’s husband, send money back home to their families. But Gulnaz still works – both because she likes to and because she has to – so that she can support their daughter. As a nurse, the 40-year-old earns ten dollars a month.

“Finding work itself is hard in Tajikistan, and if you work in only one place, you can’t support your own family – not even that, you can’t support yourself,” she said. “It’s harder for women than men, but maybe this is my destiny. It’s just meant to be difficult for me.”

Still, Gulnaz is relatively lucky. Some women’s husbands get remarried and never come home. Others return, carrying not only money but also HIV.

Tajikistan’s government says it is working to improve the situation of women here. It has set up a committee on women and families. Anzurat Nurova, who heads the women’s committee, said it addresses issues such as violence against women and women’s health, education, and welfare.

“Since the Republic of Tajikistan obtained its independence, the government has taken a lot of steps to improve the condition of women,” she said. “The president wants more than anything for families to be healthy in society, and we’re working to solve women’s problems.”

While Tajikistan’s government acknowledges that women have certain problems that men do not, it also says men and women are equals in Tajikistan. Doulatali Doulatov, who heads the ruling People’s Democratic Party of Tajikistan, said President Emomali Rahmonov has created freedom for all citizens, including women.

“These freedoms include giving women the ability to find work as men do and to earn equal pay,” he said. “We have what they call, gender security.”

Indeed, many Tajik women are active outside of the home. Some work in local and national government, although critics say they do not have significant decision-making powers.

Women also have a large presence in civil society, businesses, and the media. At Internews agency in Dushanbe, seven of the 10 journalists are women. Shahlo Akobirova, the agency’s director, believes men and women face the same challenges and opportunities in Tajikistan.

“I don’t think there’s much of a problem related to whether you are man or woman, but there are problems for journalists that have nothing to do with gender, for example, freedom of speech,” she said.

“I never thought about what problems exist for women in society,” she added. “I haven’t seen differences that make things easier for men or harder for women.”

Women’s rights activists may not agree with Akobirova’s view, but many of them would admire her confidence in women’s abilities. Asadova, the psychologist at the Women’s Crisis Center NGO, said this confidence needs to be taught to all women in Tajikistan.. She said to avoid social fractures in the future, women should become more educated and empowered, but this job should not be left only to the government and the international community.

“I think that from the very beginning we should inform people how to respect the girl, how to show that marriage is not the protection in her life because her husband could die, and he could find another person,” she said. “We should show the girl from the very beginning that she can take of herself.”

This is a lesson that one of Asadova’s clients, Larissa, said she is trying to learn. The 28-year-old biologist earns a living working at a university in Dushanbe, but she is afraid of living alone. Her boyfriend has been promising to marry her for the past two years, but she still has no wedding ring on her finger.

“Woman is dreaming of marrying man and having children,” said Larissa, who did not want to give her last name. “But I will try to become more independent and to understand that it depends on no one else but myself to not only survive, but also to really live.”

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
DUSHANBE, Nov 5 2006 (IPS)

Many Tajiks say they already know who will win their country’s presidential elections on Monday – whether or not they turn out at the polls.

”I don’t plan to vote because I already know who will win,” said 34-year-old Uzro Nazarova, who works in a government office.

President Emomali Rahmonov, who has led Tajikistan since 1992, is expected to win another 7-year term by a landslide. Four obscure candidates are also running, but they are widely seen as pro-government.

Rahmonov’s critics say he has silenced independent media and jailed opposition leaders. And two opposition parties are boycotting the vote, saying it will be neither free nor fair. Despite this criticism, many Tajiks support Rahmonov and credit him for bringing stability to their country, which gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 only to be thrust into a devastating civil war that ended in 1997.

Rahmonov is the only person strong enough to prevent the country from falling into another civil war says 34-year-old Negina Davlatova. “I like Rahmonov and want him to win,” said Negina, who cleans offices for a living. “He’s a good president. He developed the whole city of Dushanbe.”

Tajikistan’s civil war ended after Rahmonov signed a peace accord that required him to give a 30 percent share in government to the rebel United Tajik Opposition, an alliance that included the Islamic Revival Party. The IRP, which is Central Asia’s only legal Islamic political party and Tajikistan’s largest opposition party, is also not taking part in the elections. It has said it wants to prepare itself for future elections instead, after its longtime leader, Sayed Abdullo Nuri, died of cancer in August.

While the absence of serious competition in this year’s elections does not surprise many Tajiks, they are still using the opportunity to voice their rising demands from Rahmonov’s government. Many are calling for a better economy. They say now that their country has become more stable, the government should use this stability to strengthen the economy.

“People used to say all the time they wanted stability,” said Zarrineh Khoshvaqt, a local journalist who often covers women’s and social issues. “Now a lot of people feel that stability has come, so they want the economy to improve.”

“For example, women living in rural areas have told me the government should build at least one factory between two villages so they can work,” she added. “Young graduates of engineering are getting 20 US dollars a month to work in a factory. With 20 dollars a month, how can you live in Tajikistan? No one can.”

Tajikistan is the poorest of the countries that used to make up the former Soviet Union, according to the United Nations. The World Bank says 64 percent of the population lives on less than 2.15 dollars a day.

Many economists believe up to one million of Tajikistan’s roughly 6.5 million people work abroad, mostly in Russia, to earn higher wages and send money back to their families. Some say that unless Rahmonov’s government strengthens the economy, Tajikistan’s culture and society will not develop.

“The economy is improving,” said Khorshid Nazarov, a local journalist working for a foreign agency. “But still, many children don’t go to school and instead wash cars or work in the bazaar to make money.”

Still, many here say the economy is slowly improving , driven mainly by high prices for its primary exports – aluminium and cotton – and also because of Rahmonov.

“Rahmonov is bringing stability to the country, which helps the economy, so it’s good he will be re-elected,” said one economist, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But his government needs to work harder to fight corruption, improve tax collection, and make the environment attractive for foreign investors.”

Rahmonov is also becoming a key player in international relations, according to some foreign observers. They say countries such as the United States, Russia and China are interested in working with Tajikistan to fight terrorism and build stability in the region.

Rahmonov’s government has allowed the United States over-flight rights to access insurgency-ridden Afghanistan, Tajikistan’s troubled neighbor to the south. And according to the U.S. State Department website, Washington and Dushanbe have been cooperating to prevent the transit of drugs and to prevent the spread of radical groups and terrorism in the region.

Critics, however, say Rahmonov has exaggerated the threat of terrorism and radical Islamic groups to clamp down on opposition to his government. They say he should be aware that these efforts could backfire, attracting more Tajiks, especially the young and poor, to Islamic radicalism.

For now, Rahmonov is firmly in the saddle having overseen constitutional changes that allow him to stay in power until 2020.

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
BEIRUT, Aug 17 2006 (IPS)

With the fighting over and many displaced Lebanese residents returning home, the focus is turning toward how to rebuild Lebanon’s infrastructure and economy.

The cost of the war has been estimated at more than 5 billion dollars – about a quarter of the country’s Gross National Income (GNI).

The government has estimated the damage to infrastructure alone in this war at more than 2.5 billion dollars.

Many Lebanese say their businesses have suffered drastically, but hope they can rebuild after this war, as they have in the past.

Forty-year-old Rima, who preferred not to give her last name, owns a chocolate shop in western Beirut’s Hamra district. She saw an 80 percent drop in business during the month-long war, but she refused to close.

“You have to give some kind of stability to the people around you – that no matter what, you keep going on with the business,” she said. “But what for, and what price? With all this destruction, and how many times does Lebanon have to pay for that? That’s what breaks my heart.”

Lebanon had been working hard to rebuild after its 15-year civil war ended in 1990. Much of what came up after that is now ruined.

“We’re talking about roads, airports, ports and electricity, schools, all that were involved in the public sector,” said Dunia Kabbani, who works at Lebanon’s Council of Reconstruction and Development.

Kabbani added that the private sector has also been hit hard.

“Maybe in the next three to six months we have to face more unemployment and maybe the closure of some companies,” she said. “And we will have to work hard, not just in terms of building physical reconstruction, but we have to build Lebanese credibility and to give a positive message to the outside world that Lebanon is worth investing in.”

Some economists say at least another 2.5 billion dollars has been lost because of a decline in output, loss of tax and customs revenue, losses in the private sector income, and a drop in tourism.

Tourism accounted for around 20 percent of the country’s GNI. More than 1.5 million tourists were expected to visit Lebanon this year, but the war ended those plans.

Nizar Alouf, part owner of Hotel Riviera and the Riviera Yacht Club in Beirut, said his business lost at least three million dollars. The hotel remained completely empty throughout the war, and the yacht club hosted only a few locals.

“We lost the season,” he said. “We have to start again to build up the clientele, to convince people to come to Lebanon, to enjoy Lebanon.” He added: “Frankly speaking we are fed up – absolutely fed up.”

The costs of this war will add to the national debt of nearly 40 billion dollars that the country had amassed in rebuilding after its civil war.

Countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have announced aid packages for Lebanon. Tunisia has called for an emergency summit of Arab leaders, and Sweden has organised a donor conference Aug. 31, which some 60 countries and aid agencies are expected to attend.

The UN Resolution aimed at ending the war has called on the international community to “consider further assistance” to help with the reconstruction of Lebanon.

But Ibrahim Kanan, a Christian member of Lebanon’s parliament, says Israel should also be held responsible.

“Who should pay for this?” he asked. “If we are talking sense and legal international law, we believe the aggressor, whoever is the aggressor, should be responsible. Israel is responsible.”

The Lebanese government, civil society infrastructure, and its infrastructure was devastated, he added. “So we believe the international community, which didn’t act immediately, is also responsible.”

Many other effects of the war remain to be seen. Some of the people displaced by the fighting went abroad and may not return – creating the risk of a workforce drain.

But Hilda Asherush, who remained in Beirut throughout the war, said even though she had wanted to leave the country to escape the fighting, she would have come back.

“It’s my country here,” she said. “Everything is here. I like Lebanon, and I am Lebanese.”

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
BEIRUT, Aug 12 2006 (IPS)

While many Lebanese are united in their resentment against Israel for its assault on their country, they are divided in their views of Hezbollah – and of one of its main supporters, Iran.

Tehran says it gives the Lebanese militant group only “spiritual and political” aid – not money, weapons or training. But few Lebanese believe the Islamic Republic is simply sitting on the sidelines – for better or for worse.

Many residents in the Dahiya neighbourhood of southern Beirut say as their anger against Israel has grown, so has their admiration for Hezbollah – and as an extension, Iran.

Israel has been targeting almost daily the mostly Shia Muslim area, which it says is a stronghold of Hezbollah. Evacuees who return to assess the damage done to their homes and businesses say Hezbollah has been protecting them and providing the poor and displaced with food and medical help.

But few here believe Hezbollah could do all this on its own.

Fifty-nine-year-old Yusef Ammar is one of many residents here who believe Iran is helping Hezbollah to help his people.

“We like Iran,” he said. “All the people like Iran. It helps the people here. It helps Hezbollah however it likes. And we like Iran’s president. He’s always speaking the truth.”

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, echoing the words of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.

All over this southern Beirut neighbourhood, posters of Khomeini, as well as Iran’s current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hang beside those of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Iran helped found Hezbollah in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, but it has denied arming the group or playing a role in its seizure of two Israeli soldiers last month, which led to Israel’s assault on Lebanon.

A Hezbollah member who was guarding the deserted buildings in Dahiya said Iran helps his group, but he refused to say in what ways.

“Just for Iran to be with us, that’s enough for us – financially and spiritually, yes,” said the man, who preferred to remain unidentified. “But there’s no problem if Iran also gives missiles to Hezbollah.”

“Iran helps Hezbollah unconditionally,” he added. “America gives missiles to Israel on the condition that it uses them to kill women and children like this.”

But not everyone in Lebanon speaks glowingly of Iran. Many who blame Hezbollah for sparking the current conflict believe Iran was behind it. They say Tehran is using the conflict here to fight its own war against Israel and the United States.

Forty-eight-year-old Gilbert, who did not want to give his last name, is a Lebanese Christian. “Let Tehran stay on their territories,” he said. “We have to live in peace. More than 30 years of war in Lebanon is enough. This is our country.”

This country of roughly four million people has long been susceptible to foreign interference, with a power-sharing system for 17 Muslim and Christian communities that keeps the government weak and sometimes tempts competing groups to seek help from foreign allies.

The United States, France and other big powers are widely seen as part of this game, along with regional countries such as Syria, Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt.

While some believe Iran and Syria have greatly influenced Hezbollah’s actions in this conflict, they also say that Israel’s attack on Hezbollah was directed largely at Iran. They also point out that Washington has seen Israel’s offensive as an opportunity to destroy Hezbollah’s armed power and to reduce its influence in Lebanon and that of its allies in Iran and Syria.

Ibrahim Kanaan, a Christian member of Lebanon’s parliament, believes the Lebanese people and their leaders must unite in order to stop other countries using Lebanon to fight their own battles. He thinks Iran supports Hezbollah in some way and that other countries, like Syria and Iran, want to use the group to further their own interests in the region.

“Lebanon should not be the place where we have to settle these problems,” he said. “The best way to limit regional influence in Lebanon – whether it is Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan or whomever – is to have a national agenda, a national view.”

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
BEIRUT, Aug 8 2006 (IPS)

Many Lebanese Christians say they feel caught in the middle of a war in which they have a lot to lose and little to gain.

Most of the areas Israel has been targeting – southern and eastern Lebanon and southern Beirut – are majority Shia Muslim. Israel says it is trying to cut off supply lines to the Shia militant group Hezbollah and to stop its ability to launch rockets into northern Israel.

But the fighting has also displaced many Christians, damaged their livelihoods, and challenged their hopes for stability in a country that saw the end of civil war only 16 years ago.

“Really their situation is very treacherous,” Elie Fawaz, a Christian and a political analyst in Beirut told IPS. “They want to live in peace, (but) if you’re against war and you don’t support the Hezbollah, all of a sudden you’re seen as a traitor, and you don’t belong to this region, which is totally wrong.”

No official census has been taken in Lebanon since 1932, but it is estimated that 60 to 70 percent of Lebanon’s almost four million people are Muslim, and most of the rest Christians.

Religious groups have been the main basis of political organisation in Lebanon. The National Pact of 1943 provided for a Maronite Christian president, a Sunni Muslim prime minister, and a Shia Muslim speaker of parliament. It also determined that the ratio of seats in parliament would be six Christians for every five Muslims.

Muslims sought greater power when they later surpassed Christians as the majority population in Lebanon. Tensions erupted in a civil war, which ended with a peace accord that reduced the authority of the Maronite president in favour of the Sunni Muslim prime minister, and gave Muslims and Christians an equal number of seats in parliament.

Some Lebanese Christians, like 32-year-old Michel, say that since then many Lebanese have been trying to put aside their country’s past differences to work for a better future together.

“Many of the young people see themselves more as Lebanese than as belonging to a specific religion,” he said. “For example, in business, you don’t care what religion someone is because you want to do business with everyone, but the current war is challenging these efforts.”

Hezbollah’s seizure of two Israeli soldiers last month, which prompted the Israeli assault on Lebanon, widened the gap. While criticism of Hezbollah does not break cleanly along religious lines – some Muslims, both Shia and Sunni, have been critical of the group – it is felt strongly by Christians like 48-year-old Gilbert.

Gilbert, who did not want to give his last name, fled to Jbail with his wife and three children after Israeli strikes farther south pushed them out of their homes. He was looking for safety in this mostly Christian city north of Beirut. But on Friday Israel bombed a main highway bridge in Jbail and sent debris flying onto his car parked nearby.

“This is a Christian area, and we are supposed to be safe here,” Gilbert said. “This should be a secure zone for the people. Why did they do this? You have to tell me why because there are no Hezbollah people here.”

But other Christians, like 38-year-old Yusef Yaqub, said Israel’s continuing strikes on his country are only strengthening unity in support for Hezbollah’s resistance against Israel.

“Naturally we must help one another here and stand up to Israel,” he said. “Christians and Muslims must be united.”

Sheikh Ahmed Sadeq, a Shia Muslim cleric from Nabatiye, also thinks the current conflict can bring Lebanese Christians and Muslims closer together.

“The proof is that the Christian people – not all, but many – have been helping Muslim refugees from other villages, and they provide everything for them,” he said. “They are not concerned about religious differences.”

The Maronite Church, for its part, is supporting the stance of the Lebanese government, according to analyst Fawaz. It has voiced support for a seven-point plan put forward by Beirut for ending the conflict.

That plan includes an immediate ceasefire based on Israel’s withdrawal, efforts to release Lebanese and Israeli prisoners, the extension of the Lebanese government’s authority throughout the territory, and the strengthening of the U.N. international force in southern Lebanon.

However, General Michel Aoun, a former commander of the Lebanese army and now a leading Christian member of parliament, has come out against the deployment of a multinational force in Lebanon. He has argued it would revive sectarian tensions.

And unlike other Lebanese Christian leaders, Aoun supports an alliance with Hezbollah in an effort to reduce the confessional basis of Lebanon’s conflicts.

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
BEIRUT, Aug 7 2006 (IPS)

Many Lebanese are welcoming a show of unity by Arab ministers who decided in Beirut Monday to send a delegation to the United Nations to represent Lebanon’s interests in ending the current conflict.

But they also say the move is long overdue and may be more symbolic than effective.

“I think (the Arab nations’ decision) comes now because the war has taken much longer than was expected,” Prof. Talal Atrissi from the Lebanese University in Beirut told IPS. “They realise almost a month has passed, the conflict is continuing and Hezbollah’s resistance still exists.”

“Also the Arab governments are seeing the growing popularity of Hezbollah and (Hezbollah leader Seyyed Hassan) Nasrallah at home, so they feel obligated to meet and say they are ready to find a solution to stop the war,” he added.

The Arab delegation will include the foreign ministers of Qatar, the only Arab member on the UN Security Council, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

The ministers are expected to press for changes in a U.S.-French draft UN Resolution in line with demands by Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, who sees the draft as heavily tilted toward Israel.

The resolution calls for Hezbollah to stop all military operations and for Israel to stop its military push into Lebanon, but it makes no mention of a withdrawal of Israeli troops – one of the main demands of the Lebanese government.

Lebanon’s government said Monday evening that it would send 15,000 troops to the south to encourage Israeli soldiers to withdraw. Israel has asked for deployment of the Lebanese army as one way to control Hezbollah.

The Lebanese government has, however, refrained from openly calling for disarming of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon. The draft resolution calls for “disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon.”

“It’s very tricky,” said Elie Fawaz, a political analyst in Beirut. “(The Lebanese government) can’t address it because they don’t want to quarrel with the Hezbollah or the Shia community now, but it’s something that needs to be done.”

Michael Young, opinion page editor at the Lebanon Daily Star, agreed that tackling the status of Hezbollah will be extremely difficult.

“There’s a consensus that many people won’t express in the international community that if the conflict ends today and Hezbollah emerges too strong, it will destabilise the country,” he said. “But if Hezbollah emerges too weak…it will also destabilise the system.”

In the meantime, Hezbollah continues to launch rockets into northern Israel, and on Monday Israeli attacks killed at least 45 people in Lebanon. Five of those casualties were in a crowded Shia-dominated neighbourhood in south Beirut, where local residents used their hands to dig survivors and bodies out of the rubble.

Two apartment buildings were hit by what witnesses described as Israeli missiles. Many people were living in the area because it had not been targeted yet by Israel. In contrast, other Shia neighbourhoods in southern Beirut known as Hezbollah strongholds were largely evacuated by local residents in recent weeks.

People in the Shia neighbourhood hit Monday are said to be closer to Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Beri and the Shia Amal Movement than to Nasrallah, although in some of the apartments damaged by the blasts, posters of Beri were hanging beside those of Nasrallah.

Beri had said Sunday that he opposes the UN draft resolution because it would allow the Israel Defence Forces to remain on Lebanese soil.

“We can conclude that the Israeli attack is a message to Mr. Beri because he refused the resolution,” Atrissi said. “The Israelis also want to say for example that if you turn down the resolution, you could face more destruction and death.”

Ali, a member of Hezbollah who did not want to give his last name, was confident that Hezbollah would not be defeated.

“Neither the leaders of Saudi Arabia nor Jordan, nor any of the others can determine the future,” said Ali, patrolling a deserted neighbourhood in southern Beirut. “All the important decisions are made by Nasrallah.”

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
SIDON, Lebanon, Aug 7 2006 (IPS)

Residents of south Lebanon’s biggest city and the refugees who have joined them are staying put despite warnings from Israel that it plans to bomb “Hezbollah rocket launching sites” in Sidon, according to the city’s mayor.

Sidon’s normal population of 125,000 has swelled as more than 100,000 refugees have fled here from war zones farther south.

“People were definitely worried, but nobody left the city,” Mayor Abdul Rahman Bizri said in an interview.

Bizri said that on Saturday, Israel dropped flyers nearby, calling on the people in the province to leave because it wanted to target Hezbollah rocket launching sites there. Bizri, however, denied that Hezbollah were in the area.

“We don’t have any Hezbollah bases in Sidon,” he said. “We don’t have any launching pads for rockets.” He added: “This is a city where everybody feels more or less at home. Whoever wants to stay can stay, and we’re staying.”

Many of Sidon’s newcomers say they do not have much choice. Salima Salman fled to Sidon from her home in the southern city Qana in mid-July with only the clothes she was wearing. Now she, her husband and their two teenage children sleep every night in a classroom with 37 other people at Sidon’s Lebanese Kuwaity Elementary School, which been turned into a refugee centre.

“It’s either return to our village or stay here,” Salman said. “There’s no other option. We either die here or return to our village.”

Despite a widespread feeling of fatalism, many refugees here say they are thankful for the help they are receiving in Sidon.

Refugees started coming here the day after Israelis began bombing southern Lebanon in retaliation for the seizure of two of their soldiers by the Lebanese Hezbollah. With help from non-governmental organisations, the city has been working to identify the growing number of refugees and to place them in 88 refugee centres.

Even a chic villa belonging to the sister of the late prime minister Rafiq Hariri, who was from Sidon, has been transformed into a mass kitchen. Volunteers there cook daily meals such as rice, chicken and vegetables, and distribute them to the refugees.

All of these demands, however, have been putting a strain on the city’s resources.

“To have more than 100,000 people come here and almost double our population practically overnight has added an extra stress on our infrastructure, especially on the water services and electricity,” Bizri said.

He said the showers and sewage systems in the makeshift refugee centres do not have the capacity to serve so many people. And although Sidon’s infrastructure has not been damaged much in this conflict, Israeli forces have destroyed the bridges connecting the city with other parts of Lebanon, making the delivery of supplies difficult.

Sidon’s hospitals are also struggling with the influx of refugee patients.

“We’re hanging on, we’re exhausted,” said Dr Khalil Hamad, a 27-year-old medical resident at the city’s largest hospital, Hammoud Hospital. “We’re seeing four times as many patients as usual.”

The hospital has treated 350 people who were injured in the fighting farther south, as well as many refugees with usual illnesses. Hamad said the hospital has enough medicine now, but the situation could get much worse if the conflict continues.

“Our medicine can last two to three weeks but not more,” he said. “We’re also going to have a problem with power in a few days because we have only seven days of power left.”

Other challenges are more psychological than logistical. Ghareiba Solaiman, a 54-year-old housewife who fled from Qana, says many here feel Western countries could have stopped this conflict much sooner by demanding an immediate ceasefire.

“I stayed in Qana through two other conflicts before,” she said.. “But this time we couldn’t stay there. It was unbearable.”

“We would like the Western countries to sympathise with us and deal with us as we are: we are just human beings,” she added.

Most of the refugees here are Shia Muslim, as are the Hezbollah. In contrast, about 90 percent of Sidon’s population is Sunni Muslim; the other 10 percent are Shia and Christian.

Sidon’s mayor says his city has been known for its religious tolerance in a country that was devastated by a civil war from 1975 to 1990.

“We try to consider Sidon as a melting pot, in a way that all ideologies are accepted,” Bizri said. “So this is why everyone feels relaxed and why everyone wants to stay in the city.”

But some Sidon inhabitants say they feel caught in the middle of a conflict that should never have begun.

Twenty-three-year-old Ayman Bouz, who manages the refugee centre at the Lebanese Kuwaity School, says some local residents are angry with both Hezbollah and the Israelis.

“I’m angry at Hezbollah, but of course I’m angrier at Israel because its response has been extremely disproportionate,” he said. “But we also have to know that we have internal problems that we should solve.”

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