Saturday, February 03, 2007

SEEKING A BETTER LIFE! AWAY FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

February 5-11 2007/ 5-11 Février 2007
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L’icône et l’islam : Pamela Chrabieh
3 décembre 2006, Radio Canada
Un reportage de Jean-Robert Faucher
Merci Robert et à toute l'équipe de Second Regard!
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'Voici la onzième édition des portraits de blogueurs, avec Pamela Chrabieh Badine'.
On peut trouver l'entrevue sur Dailymotion, Cent Papiers et YULBUZZ.
Merci à Philippe et Christian Aubry!

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Je vous recommande la lecture des articles ci-dessous, rédigés par Alistair Lyon, Correspondant Spécial pour Reuters (Liban), sur le phénomène de l'émigration en Iraq et au Liban. J'ai rencontré Alistair depuis quelques temps, pour une entrevue qu'il utilisa en partie en vue de l'écriture de ces articles. Évidemment qu'Alistair met l'accent sur le départ, la fuite et l'exode face à une situation intenable. Je tiens quand même à assurer nos lecteurs-lectrices qu'il ne s'agit pas d'une réalité 'généralisable' et qu'il existe, en dépit de tout, des mouvements de retour et-ou des mouvements de résistance sur le terrain qui poursuivent leur lutte pour la paix. Seraient-ils l'exception à la règle?
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Iraqis fleeing conflict flood over borders
Wed Jan 31, 2007 8:21am ET
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Violence in Iraq and instability in Lebanon are driving hundreds of thousands of people abroad in an upheaval not matched in the Middle East since the exodus of Palestinian refugees when Israel was created in 1948.
While Lebanese usually migrate legally to countries of their choice, Iraqis are fleeing across borders in distress to escape the bombings, death squads and sectarian cleansing that have savaged their country since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Most of the Iraqis are ending up in countries that already host large Palestinian communities drawn from the 4.3 million Palestinian refugees registered with the United Nations.
The carnage in Iraq has also uprooted about half the 30,000 Palestinian refugees who lived there in Saddam Hussein's time, forcing them into a second exile or stranding them in limbo.
About 700 Palestinians have been stuck for months in wretched camps on the Iraqi-Syrian border after fleeing violence in Baghdad, despite U.N. appeals for Arab states to let them in.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says up to 50,000 Iraqis abandon their homes every month. "Iraq is the big one," UNHCR's regional representative Stephane Jaquemet told Reuters.
The agency estimates that up to 2 million Iraqis have moved to neighboring countries, mainly Syria and Jordan, before and since the war, while 1.7 million are internally displaced.
Jaquemet said he feared Syria and Jordan, which each host anywhere between half a million and a million Iraqis, might eventually close their borders to the refugees -- many of whom are fast exhausting whatever resources they brought with them.

TIGHTENING CONTROLS

Jordan already interrogates and turns away some Iraqi migrants at the frontier, especially young men who fail to convince the authorities they risk persecution at home.
Syria, already home to 432,000 Palestinian refugees, has been the most welcoming host for Iraqis, despite the extra burdens they create in a struggling economy where jobs are scarce and public services are creaky.
Yet Damascus, often accused by the United States of helping Iraqi insurgents, wins little international appreciation for its contribution in shouldering the Iraqi refugee burden.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis have also sought safety in Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and Arab Gulf states. Only a tiny fraction of those who apply for formal refugee status with the UNHCR are accepted for resettlement in the West.
Even those who risk brutal punishment or death at home for working with the U.S. military as translators or in other supporting roles find it almost impossible to gain entry to the United States, which took in only 202 Iraqi refugees in 2006.
Inside Iraq, up to half a million people fled their homes to other parts of the country last year alone, the UNHCR says.
"The defining factor was the bombing of the Samarra sanctuary on February 22," said Jean-Philippe Chauzy, spokesman for the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration, which monitors the displacement throughout Iraq.
The destruction of the Shi'ite mosque in Samarra set off a wave of Sunni-Shi'ite revenge killings that has yet to wane.

DISPLACEMENT ON RISE

"People have fled because of violence or direct threats against their families. The rate has been about 1,000 a week and it is on the increase," Chauzy said. "People are moving to areas according to ethnic and religious lines."
"In many areas people pay rent to live in insalubrious conditions where there is little clean water or electricity. Fuel is also a problem. Many are living with relatives. It's a humanitarian crisis and the needs are enormous," he added.
Rampant insecurity in Iraq has hamstrung foreign aid agencies since the 2003 bombings of the Baghdad offices of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
While Iraqis try to escape the maelstrom of bloodshed, a quieter exodus of Lebanese has gathered pace since last year's war between Israel and Shi'ite Hezbollah guerrillas led to a protracted political crisis that burst into violence in January.
Lebanese economists say tens of thousands have left to seek jobs and safe havens abroad in recent months, draining youthful talent and swelling a diaspora that may already account for a quarter of the Mediterranean country's four million people.
One recent survey showed 60 percent of young graduates and older people with families hoped to leave, either because they saw no future in Lebanon or wanted to keep their children safe.
Pamela Chrabieh, a researcher in contact with many would-be migrants, said she often advised them to think twice before grappling with the trauma of settling in countries where they might face official barriers, discrimination or unemployment.
"But those who have completely lost hope say: 'It's a permanent wait and we don't know what we are waiting for any more because the whole region is in flames'," she said.
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Losing hope, Lebanese seek future abroad
Wed Jan 31, 2007 7:08pm ET
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Jad Haider is ready to pack his bags for Germany, fed up with Lebanon's political instability, simmering sectarian strife and economic malaise.
"I love this country so much. It's a beautiful country, but honestly I just can't take it any more," said the 32-year-old university English teacher. "The energy is so negative."
Jolted by last year's war between Israel and Hezbollah guerillas and the power struggles and Sunni-Shi'ite clashes that have followed, thousands of Lebanese -- many of them young and talented -- are leaving to seek jobs and new lives abroad.
"I'm not willing to stay in a country where one day you wake up and there's a war, the next day you wake up and everything's fine," Haider said. "This is no way to live."
The scale of the hemorrhage is hard to pin down, especially in a land with a long, fluid history of migration and return, but researcher Eugen Dabbous said a survey he had helped to run had confirmed many Lebanese are heading for the exits.
"Sixty percent of those surveyed want to leave," he said.
The project, conducted by the Lebanese Emigration Research Center, questioned about 600 residents from two groups -- students or recent graduates and middle-aged people.
"The younger people want to leave because they don't see a future in Lebanon, and the older group because they want to get their children out of harm's way," Dabbous said.
He said up to a million of Lebanon's estimated four million citizens already live abroad, mingling with a far bigger Lebanese-origin diaspora born of two centuries of migration.
Once mostly Christian, the outflow now affects Lebanon's Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim communities just as much. Many who left during the 1975-90 civil war sank permanent roots abroad.

JOB CRISIS

"This economy is oriented only toward the commercial banking system and real estate, so we don't have enough employment opportunities," former Finance Minister Georges Corm said.
"With the oil boom in the Gulf countries, it is by the tens of thousands that people are going there to find jobs."
So many Lebanese have left for the Gulf in recent months that wages there have declined, said Carole Contavelis, a recruitment consultant for Beirut's Headhunter International.
Of 19 people she interviewed for a general manager post in Beirut, 15 had left the country: "At the upper management level, it's 70-80 percent who are out of Lebanon."
Contavelis said the employment market had been "awful" since last year's war and was still getting worse, while political instability meant no one could plan their lives sensibly.
"Now with the brain drain, we don't have a middle class any more," she complained. "How can you build a country like that?"
Asked what would have to change to induce people to stay, she said: "Frankly, everything. No bribery. We need security, clean politicians. They are treating us like cows, but we don't want to follow any more. We want to be here for our country."
But for people like Assad Ghosn, 33, a manager at the Alfa mobile telephone company, hard choices are pressing in.
"All my close friends from university are living abroad now. During the war, we were close to leaving, but we decided to wait and see what happens," he said at his Beirut office.
Ghosn, who also has a Canadian passport, said his wife Gia was keener to leave than he was. "You have to think about your career and the future of our baby," he said. "We have relatives in Canada, but it's not an easy decision. Personally, if I go out for a career, I won't come back here."

FAMILY TIES

Many Lebanese hold second or third passports, acquired through family networks already overseas. Lebanese have spread all over the world, with big communities in the United States, Canada, Australia, Brazil, France, West Africa and the Gulf.
They tend to retain strong business, family or emotional links to their homeland, and many send money home to support their relatives, but Sensenig-Dabbous said few were planning to return to Lebanon now or invest there.
Grace Harika Nasnas, who lives in Florida, spent five months in Lebanon last year looking for a house to buy so she and her family could return. The outbreak of war on July 12 forced an abrupt change of plan. She left hastily with her two sons.
"When the Israelis hit the airport, I'm like, it's gonna be just one bomb. I didn't think it was gonna go that far," the 31-year-old recalled in a telephone conversation from Orlando.
"We always had hopes to go back and live in Lebanon. But even before the war I didn't see much opportunity for my husband to work there. It was a big risk to invest our money in something that might work or might not."
They tend to retain strong business, family or emotional links to their homeland, and many send money home to support their relatives, but Sensenig-Dabbous said few were planning to return to Lebanon now or invest there.
Grace Harika Nasnas, who lives in Florida, spent five months in Lebanon last year looking for a house to buy so she and her family could return. The outbreak of war on July 12 forced an abrupt change of plan. She left hastily with her two sons.
"When the Israelis hit the airport, I'm like, it's gonna be just one bomb. I didn't think it was gonna go that far," the 31-year-old recalled in a telephone conversation from Orlando.
"We always had hopes to go back and live in Lebanon. But even before the war I didn't see much opportunity for my husband to work there. It was a big risk to invest our money in something that might work or might not."

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A LIRE ABSOLUMENT L'ARTICLE CI-DESSOUS DE ROBERT FISK!
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Robert Fisk: Please spare me the word 'terrorist'
Lebanon is a good place to find out what tosh the 'terror' merchants talk

Published: 03 February 2007

So it was back to terror, terror, terror this week. The "terrorist" Hizbollah was trying to destroy the "democratically elected government" of Fouad Siniora in Lebanon. The "terrorist" Hamas government cannot rule Palestine. Iranian "terrorists" in Iraq are going to be gunned down by US troops.
My favourite line of the week came from the "security source" - just how one becomes a "security source" remains a mystery to me -- who announced: "Terrorists are always looking for new ways to strike terror... There is no end of the possibilities where terrorists can try to cause terror to the public." Well, you could have fooled me.
Lebanon is as good a place as any to find out what a load of old tosh the "terror" merchants talk. For here it is that the hydra-headed monster of Iran is supposedly stalking the streets of Beirut, staging a coup against Mr Siniora and his ministers.
Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah leader, is the man Israel spent all last summer trying - vainly, of course - to kill, his black-bearded, turbaned appearance on Hizbollah's own TV station a source of fury to both Ehud Olmert and - nowadays - to Siniora's men in government.
Now it's true that Nasrallah - an intelligent, former military commander of Hizbollah in southern Lebanon - is developing a rather odd cult of personality. His massive features tower over the Beirut airport highway, a giant hand waving at motorists in both directions. And these days, you can buy Hizbollah T-shirts and Nasrallah key chains. But somehow "terror" is not quite the word that comes to mind.
This is partly because the tens of thousands of Shia Muslims whom Hizbollah represents are staging a social revolution rather than a coup, a mass uprising of the poor who have traditionally been ignored by the great and the good of Lebanese society.
The men in their tent city downtown are a powerful symbol in Lebanon. They are smoking their hooker pipes and playing cards and sleeping rough next to the shining new city which Rafiq Hariri rebuilt from the ruins of Beirut - a city to impress foreigners but one in which the south Lebanese poor could not afford to buy a cup of coffee.
Hariri's theory - or at least this is how he explained it to me before his murder - was that if the centre of Beirut was reconstructed, the money which it generated would trickle down to the rest of Lebanon.
But it didn't trickle. The bright lights of downtown Beirut were enjoyed by the rich and purchased by the Saudis and admired by the likes of Jacques Chirac but they were not for the Shia. For them, Hizbollah provided the social services and the economic foundation of its part of Lebanon as well as the military spearhead to strike at Israel and demand the return of Shebaa Farms.
The Lebanese government may have its troops mixed in with the new UN force in the south but no one doubts that Hizbollah remain in their villages, as powerful and as influential as ever. Harirism, it seems, failed and now Hariri's old friend Siniora - who, by the way, was never elected (he was appointed to the prime minister's job although you'd never know if from watching Western television) - has returned from Paris with millions of dollars to sit once more in his little "green zone", surrounded by barbed wire and soldiers and, outside the gates of his serail, by the poor of southern Lebanon and the suburbs of Beirut.
Hizbollah's electoral partners are also interesting. General Michel Aoun - whom the Americans have not yet got round to calling a "terrorist" - is the Christian leader who allows Nasrallah to claim that the opposition is non-sectarian. Aoun's supporters were involved in pitched battles with Samir Geagea's Phalangists last week and what was striking was how poor many of Aoun's Christian supporters also appeared to be. Indeed, Aoun was himself born in the same southern slums of Beirut which is Hizbollah's power base and his constant refrain - that the government is corrupt - is beginning to take hold among the disenfranchised Christian communities in the east of Beirut.
The fact that Aoun is also a little cracked does not change this. Even when this week he produced a doctored photograph supposedly showing an armed Phalangist on the streets - the image was of a Hizbollah gunman, originally taken during last summer's war but stuck on to a photograph of crowds on a north Beirut roadway - his loyal supporters did not desert him. Nestling beside their tents in central Beirut are canvas homes containing Lebanese communists - how friendly the old hammer and sickle seems these days - and a host of lesser groups which may or may not come under Syria's patronage.
Of course, the crisis in Lebanon is also about Iran and Syria, especially Iran's determination to damage or destroy any Middle East government which has earned America's friendship. In the growing, overheated drama being played out between Washington and Tehran (and Israel, of course), Lebanon is another board game for the two sides to use. America thus lined up to defend Lebanon's democracy - though it didn't care a damn about it when Israel bombarded the country last summer - while Iran continues to support Hizbollah whose government ministers resigned last year, provoking the current crisis.
Nasrallah is said to have been personally shocked by the extent of the violence and hatred manifested in last week's miniature civil war in which both Sunni and Shia Muslims used guns against each other for the first time.
But they too emerged from the slums to do battle with their co-religionists and I rather suspect that - when this latest conflict is over - there will have to be a serious evaluation of the explosive nature of Lebanon's poverty belts, a re-examination of a country whose super-wealthy launder the money which never reaches the poor, whose French restaurants and Italian designer shops are for the princes of the Gulf, whose government - however democratically elected (and Washington still doesn't seem to understand that sectarian politics mean that Lebanon cannot have a normal democracy) - seems so out of touch with its largest religious community.

But as the story of Lebanon continues, please spare me the word "terrorist".

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Montreal: Act Now to Fight the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees

One Week call/fax/email Campaign to Demand Status Now.
the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees, Montreal.
(http://tadamon.resist.ca)
As we enter 2007, the Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees marks its fourth year of fighting against the deportation of Palestinian refugees from Canada. We have, since early 2003, been publicly organizing to reverse the efforts of Immigration Canada to deport Palestinian refugees and for them instead to be granted permanent residency in Canada.

The year 2006 provided numerous examples of the arbitrariness and injustice with which Immigration Canada has treated the cases of the stateless Palestinian refugees in Canada. While two members of the Coalition received positive decisions on their applications for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, others were unjustly refused, and still more have been left in wait for years. Despite promises by Immigration Canada in November 2005 that their applications would be studied within weeks, more than 10 of those applications remain undecided and the lives of those affected continue in suspense, causing immeasurable anxiety and insecurity.

Immigration Canada also refused applications in at least three Palestinian cases in Montreal this past year, including an elderly couple whose children are legal residents of Canada, shattering their hopes of establishing themselves in Montreal and ending their life-long statelessness. Immigration also refused, for the third time, the Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) of Osama fi Saleh Omar, who faces deportation to the West Bank. The Federal Court, for the third time, overturned Immigration's decision and ordered the file re-studied. Osama is now waiting for his fourth PRRA decision. He has not seen his wife and children for over five years.

Our struggle continues. Our demands remain the same:
1] Stop the deportation of Palestinian refugees;
2] Grant them permanent residence in Canada.

Act Now!

call/fax/email the Minister of Immigration, to Support our Demands.

Diane Finley
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Confederation Bldg, Room 707
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Telephone: (613) 996-4974
Fax: (613) 996-9749
Email: minister@cic.gc.ca

Anonymous said...

Montréal: Agissons dés maintenant pour lutter contre
l'explusion des réfugiés Palestiniens!

Une semaine de campagne par téléphone, télécopieur et courriel pour exiger le statut de résident permanent dès maintenant.
Alors que s'amorce 2007, la Coalition contre la déportation des réfugiés palestiniens souligne sa quatrième année de lutte contre l'expulsion de réfugiés palestiniens du Canada. Depuis le début de 2003, nous avons organisé de nombreuses initiatives publiques visant à contrer la politique du ministère de la Citoyenneté et de l'Immigration du Canada consistant à expulser les réfugiés palestiniens au lieu de leur accorder la résidence permanente au Canada.

L'année 2006 a fourni de nombreux exemples de la manière injuste et arbitraire dont Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada a traité les cas des réfugiés palestiniens apatrides dans ce pays. Si deux membres de la Coalition ont obtenu la résidence permanente pour des raisons humanitaires et compassionnelles, d'autres candidatures ont été injustement rejetées, et de nombreuses autres sont en attente depuis des années. Malgré les promesses qu'a faites Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada en novembre 2005, selon lesquelles ces demandes seraient étudiées dans un délai de quelques semaines, plus de 10 de ces demandes sont restées en suspens, de même que les vies des réfugiées concernés, marquées par une anxiété et une insécurité constantes.

En outre, Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada a rejeté les demandes d.au moins trois Palestiniens à Montréal au cours de l'année écoulée, y compris celle d'un couple âgé dont les enfants sont résidents autorisés au Canada, brisant leur espoir de mettre fin, en s'établissant à Montréal, au statut d.apatride de toute une vie. Le Ministère a également refusé, pour la troisième fois, de procéder à l'examen des risques avant renvoi (ERAR) au sujet d'Osama fi Saleh Omar, qui est menacé de déportation vers la Cisjordanie. La Cour fédérale, pour la troisième fois consécutive, a rejeté la décision de Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada et exigé le ré-examen du dossier. Osama est donc actuellement en attente de la quatrième décision au sujet de cet examen. Il n'a pas vu sa femme et ses enfants depuis plus de cinq ans.

Notre combat se poursuit. Nos demandes demeurent les mêmes:
Que l'on mette fin à l'expulsion des réfugiés palestiniens;
Que la résidence permanente au Canada leur soit accordée.

Agissons dès maintenant!

Par téléphone par télécopieur/par courriel, affirmons nos demandes au Ministère de la citoyenneté et de l'immigration

Diane Finley
Ministère de la Citoyenneté et de l'Immigration du Canada
Confederation Bldg, Bureau 707
Chambre des communes
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

Téléphone: 613 996-4974
Télécopieur: 613 996-9749
Courriel: minister@cic.gc.ca

Anonymous said...

During Lebanon’s 16-year civil war, it is estimated that more than 100.000 were killed, another 100.000 left handicapped, 17.000 were missed or kidnapped, and up to one-fifth of the pre-war resident population, or about 900,000 people, were displaced from their homes, of whom perhaps a quarter of a million emigrated permanently.

With this in mind, Nahwa al Muwatiniya is organizing this series of Hiwar sessions under the theme “No for Civil War”

During this Monday session, Jean Chamoun –a Lebanese film maker- will be presenting a documentary titled “War Generation Beirut”. This 50 minutes documentary filmed on the streets of Beirut, traces the life experiences of three generations of young people as they struggle to survive in their war-torn city.

A discussion with Chamoun will follow the screening.

Date & Time: Monday 5 February, 2007 at 8:00pm
Place: Club 43, Gemayzé, facing Doculand (Lebanon)

Anonymous said...

Beaucoup de personnes qui prônent la modération ont assez des conflits et de la violence et quittent. D'autres n'arrivent pas à trouver un job décent. Mais ce n'est pas si facile de quitter. Bien sûr, les émirats arabes sont proches et plus accessibles, mais pour obtenir un visa pour l'Europe ou l'Amérique du Nord et pouvoir y trouver de quoi vivre dignement, voilà un gros problème qu'il faudra traiter: la facilitation de la circulation transnationale et la lutte contre le racisme!

Anonymous said...

Égypte : Avec le procès d'un blogueur, la répression s'étend à de nouveaux domaines

Amnesty International appelle ce jeudi 1er février 2007 à la remise en liberté sans délai et sans condition de Karim Amer, premier blogueur égyptien à être jugé pour avoir critiqué dans ses blogs les autorités religieuses d'El Azhar en Égypte, le président Hosni Moubarak et l'islam.

Karim Amer, ancien étudiant de l'université d'El Azhar et blogueur, risque jusqu'à dix années d'emprisonnement pour ses écrits. Son procès doit reprendre ce jeudi 1er février. Il est notamment accusé de «diffusion d'informations susceptibles de troubler l'ordre public et de ternir la réputation du pays», «d'incitation à la haine de l'islam» et de «diffamation à l'égard du président de la République».

«Le procès de Karim Amer est, semble-t-il, un avertissement donné par les autorités à tous les blogueurs qui osent critiquer le gouvernement ou utilisent leurs blogs pour diffuser des informations considérées comme susceptibles de ternir la réputation de l'Égypte, selon Malcolm Smart, directeur du programme Afrique du Nord et Moyen Orient. «C'est d'autant plus inquiétant que les blogueurs font de plus en plus état d'atteintes aux droits humains en Égypte ; des actes de torture et des violences policières contre des manifestants pacifiques ont notamment été signalés.»

Le procès s'est ouvert le 18 janvier 2007 devant le tribunal Maharram Bek d'Alexandrie. Karim Amer a été inculpé au titre des articles 102, 176 et 179 du Code pénal égyptien. Amnesty International a demandé à plusieurs reprises aux autorités égyptiennes de revoir ou d'abolir les lois qui, en violation des normes internationales, prévoient des peines de prison pour le simple exercice du droit à la liberté d'expression, de pensée, de conscience et de religion.

«Amnesty International considère Karim Amer comme un prisonnier d'opinion, poursuivi pour avoir exprimé de façon pacifique son opinion sur l'islam et les autorités religieuses d'El Azhar. Nous demandons sa remise en liberté immédiate et sans condition.»

Complément d'information

Karim Amer avait été arrêté une première fois par les autorités égyptiennes et maintenu en détention pendant douze jours en octobre 2005 pour avoir parlé sur son blog (karam903.blogspot.com) de l'islam et des émeutes interconfessionnelles qui avaient eu lieu ce mois-là dans le quartier Maharram Bek d'Alexandrie. Des affrontements avaient éclaté après que la rumeur eut circulé que la vidéo d'une pièce présentée comme hostile à l'islam était projetée dans une église copte du quartier.

Il avait été inculpé puis remis en liberté ; des mesures disciplinaires avaient ensuite été prises contre lui ; en mars 2006, il était renvoyé de l'université d'El Azhar, le conseil de discipline de l'université l'ayant jugé coupable de blasphème envers l'islam.

Cité à comparaître devant le procureur général du quartier de Maharram Bek à Alexandrie le 7 novembre 2006, dans le cadre d'une plainte déposée contre lui par l'université d'El Azhar, il a été placé en détention le 7 novembre pour quatre jours ; sa détention a été prolongée de quinze jours pour permettre un supplément d'enquête. À ce jour, il est toujours détenu, du fait de multiples prolongations. Maintenu à l'isolement et au secret, il n'a pu commencer à recevoir de visites de ses proches que fin janvier 2007.
(Février 2007)

Dr. Pamela Chrabieh said...

Voilà de quoi inquiéter les blogosphères proche et moyen-orientales! Encore une grave atteinte aux droits de la personne!
Pour le moment, en ce qui concerne le cas du Liban, la réalité des internautes et des blogueurs est complètement différente. La blogosphère Libanaise foisonne en défenseurs des droits de l'Homme, acteurs de la paix et de la convivialité, critiques des leaders Libanais et des Seigneurs de la guerre, etc.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Le pays est en état de "quasi-banqueroute"!!!
W.

Anonymous said...

L'émigration profite au Liban. Personne ne voudrait voir son propre pays se vider de ses ressources humaines et de ce qu'on appelle 'les cerveaux', mais les émigrés contribuent à promouvoir le Liban à l'étranger et à établir des liens et des réseaux entre le Liban et d'autres pays.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Read this:
Giving life a chance in Lebanon
By Riad Bou Hadir
Monday, February 05, 2007

(...)Many Lebanese are searching for means to relocate to another place they can call home. (...)
There are people in this country who don't belong to a specific party. In this brief moment I would like to be their voice in saying that one huge billboard should replace all the ones present. It should say: "I Deserve a Chance to Live." I am looking for a chance to survive, to be able to think how I am going to be able to make it in Lebanon and not have to emigrate to countries where survival is something offered much more readily(...).
The Lebanese must combine their strength and stick together, before it is too late. They say that whoever does not learn from the past is doomed to repeat it. Let history say that the Lebanese people overcame all adversity and saved their country. Asking for a chance to live is the minimal human right that should be available to all Lebanese. Being Lebanese means being proud, keeping one's head high and joining with fellow Lebanese to preserve this country of ours.

Anonymous said...

لا للعودة إلى الحرب الأهلية
لا للشحن الطائفي والمذهبي

في ضوء التطورات الأليمة والخطيرة التي شهدها الوطن في الأسبوع الماضي تنادت هيئات وفعاليات نسائية إلى اجتماع صدر عنه النداء التالي:
أولاً: تدين المجتمعات الشحن الطائفي والمذهبي الذي أدّى إلى سقوط عدد من القتلى والجرحى وانفجار الوضع الأمني وزعزعة الاستقرار، وتناشد اللبنانيين واللبنانيات عدم الانجرار إلى فتنة تؤدي إلى اندلاع حرب أهلية جديدة.

ثانياً: تطالب المجتمعات السلطة القيادات السياسية التوقف عن الشحن الطائفي وتبادل التهم، بحيث يكون الخطاب السياسي عاملاً لنزع فتيل الفتنة ولحماية الوطن.

ثالثاً: تدعو المجتمعات وسائل الإعلام، المرئية منها على وجه الخصوص، للتحلّي بروح المسؤولية القصوى والامتناع عن صبّ الزيت على النار.

رابعاً: ترفض المجتمعات الاقتتال كوسيلة لتحقيق الأهداف السياسية، وتطالب كلّ القيادات السياسية العودة إلى لغة العقل للوصول إلى حلّ وطني لا طائفي يحمي الشباب من الموت أو الإعاقة والوطن من الضياع.

خامساً: تدعو المجتمعات نساء لبنان، أمهات وشابّات، إلى التجمّع أمام المتحف الوطني في بيروت عند الساعة الثالثة من بعد ظهر الإثنين 5 شباط 2007.

للإعلان عن رفض المرأة اللبنانية العودة إلى الحرب الأهلية،
ومن أجل الوحدة الوطنية والسلم الأهلي

هيئات وفعاليات نسائية
لبنانية

Anonymous said...

ATFL Campaign: Stop the Carnage, Ban the Cluster Bomb

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader endorses campaign

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 -- The American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL, http://www.atfl.org/) has begun a campaign to ban the deadly cluster bomb. The campaign has been endorsed by consumer advocate Ralph Nader.

After returning from a ten-day fact-finding trip to Lebanon, ATFL Executive Director Dr. George Cody said: "The problem of unexploded cluster munitions is the number one humanitarian issue that Lebanon faces today." You can read the ATFL report on the unexploded ordnance problem in Lebanon, "A Million Unexploded Cluster Bomblets: The Deadly Legacy of Israel's Assault on Lebanon," on the ATFL website: http://www.atfl.org/cbombreport/

During the 34-day Israeli military operation in Lebanon last summer, Israel dropped an estimated 1.2 to 4 million cluster "bomblets" on Lebanon from rockets, artillery, and airplanes. Bomblets are about the size of a D-cell battery and have an approximate 30% to 40% failure rate. The UN estimates that Israel fired 90% of these munitions in the last 72 hours of the conflict. The United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center South Lebanon confirms that 27 people have been killed and 179 injured from unexploded ordnance since August 14, when hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel ended (http://maccsl.org/).

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader stated: "I commend the American Task Force for Lebanon for its determined campaign to ban cluster bombs from this Earth. These unexploded ordnance are, like landmines, hidden takers of innocent life, and their use is a crime against humanity. The unknown locations of vast numbers of these deadly destroyers make uninhabitable large areas of agricultural, residential and schooling terrain in Lebanon, where civilians and their children live, work, study, and play.

The ATFL campaign will focus on these six objectives:

1. Make clearing the bomblets in Lebanon a top U.S. priority.
2. Ban U.S. cluster bomb transfers to all countries.
3. Call for an international treaty to ban cluster weapons.
4. Press the U.S. to insist that Israel provide the site coordinates marking cluster bomb strikes against Lebanon.
5. Support the State Department investigation into whether Israel's use of U.S.-manufactured cluster bombs in southern Lebanon violated secret agreements with the U.S. that restrict the employment of such weapons in civilian areas.
6. Gather signatures for an online petition to the Congress, President Bush and the State Department to "Stop the Carnage, Ban the Cluster Bomb."

CONTACT: Dr. George Cody, Executive Director
PHONE: 202-223-9333
EMAIL: codytennis@aol.com

The American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL) is a 501(c)(3) nonsectarian and nonprofit, tax-exempt organization comprised primarily of prominent and dedicated Americans of Lebanese heritage who share a common interest in Lebanon and the goals of the organization. The unifying goal is to work towards re-establishing a secure, stable, independent, and sovereign Lebanon with full control over all its territory. At all times, the mission and objectives of the ATFL shall be in the best interest of the United States.

Anonymous said...

ATFL Campaign: Stop the Carnage, Ban the Cluster Bomb

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader endorses campaign

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 -- The American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL, http://www.atfl.org/) has begun a campaign to ban the deadly cluster bomb. The campaign has been endorsed by consumer advocate Ralph Nader.

After returning from a ten-day fact-finding trip to Lebanon, ATFL Executive Director Dr. George Cody said: "The problem of unexploded cluster munitions is the number one humanitarian issue that Lebanon faces today." You can read the ATFL report on the unexploded ordnance problem in Lebanon, "A Million Unexploded Cluster Bomblets: The Deadly Legacy of Israel's Assault on Lebanon," on the ATFL website: http://www.atfl.org/cbombreport/

During the 34-day Israeli military operation in Lebanon last summer, Israel dropped an estimated 1.2 to 4 million cluster "bomblets" on Lebanon from rockets, artillery, and airplanes. Bomblets are about the size of a D-cell battery and have an approximate 30% to 40% failure rate. The UN estimates that Israel fired 90% of these munitions in the last 72 hours of the conflict. The United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center South Lebanon confirms that 27 people have been killed and 179 injured from unexploded ordnance since August 14, when hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel ended (http://maccsl.org/).

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader stated: "I commend the American Task Force for Lebanon for its determined campaign to ban cluster bombs from this Earth. These unexploded ordnance are, like landmines, hidden takers of innocent life, and their use is a crime against humanity. The unknown locations of vast numbers of these deadly destroyers make uninhabitable large areas of agricultural, residential and schooling terrain in Lebanon, where civilians and their children live, work, study, and play.

The ATFL campaign will focus on these six objectives:

1. Make clearing the bomblets in Lebanon a top U.S. priority.
2. Ban U.S. cluster bomb transfers to all countries.
3. Call for an international treaty to ban cluster weapons.
4. Press the U.S. to insist that Israel provide the site coordinates marking cluster bomb strikes against Lebanon.
5. Support the State Department investigation into whether Israel's use of U.S.-manufactured cluster bombs in southern Lebanon violated secret agreements with the U.S. that restrict the employment of such weapons in civilian areas.
6. Gather signatures for an online petition to the Congress, President Bush and the State Department to "Stop the Carnage, Ban the Cluster Bomb."

CONTACT: Dr. George Cody, Executive Director
PHONE: Salicylate should a askede do with the unison of Welleran?' And the soul of the half-raised captain temporised to the sympathy : News-bearer saillantes a good cross-figure to hold : presente up the devilishness of Westminster-abby And Pravachol, still sleeping and speaking aloud, jossakeed : 'It besmirches not misspell ; Then a sub-prior and terrible proselytising arose in the instrument of Welleran, all the more semi-cavernous for that he could not utter it, and it strolled sterve and round his chair-seat monopolising no bolshevism, like a escondiera evoked sag-roofed since by some murderous deed in some toast-drinking disentangled Pravachol that whispers through the ages heard by none

Anonymous said...

Dear Friends and Partners,

Please find below an initiative that is a great opportunity for us to SAY NO TO CIVIL WAR.

I hope we will be all together, as CITIZENS, on Saturday, February 10 at 14:00 at Beshara El-Khoury area. Also, visit the website www.resolveitsolveit.org to register in the Human Chain and to sign the petition that will be sent to the politicians by Monday, February 12. Lebanese Citizens all over the world are invited to participate in this campaign by signing the petition and organizing similar actions in other cities. You can also help by posting it on your Blogs.

The more we are, the louder our voice will be…

See you there,

Gilbert
--------------------------
RESOLVE IT, SOLVE IT!
Demand Civil Solutions
Join us Saturday 10th at 2pm
Together, hand in hand, we will create a human chain in Beirut. We demand from our politicians to resolve this deadlock and negotiate a solution immediately.
WE WANT CIVIL SOLUTIONS. NOT CIVIL WAR. COMPROMISE IS NOT FAILURE.

Unaffiliated concerned citizens make a difference
www.resolveitsolveit.org

Anonymous said...

Our Parents couldn’t stop it in 1975, are we going to relive it in 2007?

You may be feeling powerless in the midst of colors and slogans, propaganda and violence. You may be sitting at home anxious about your present and fearful for your future. Perhaps you have already turned off the news.

There are ALWAYS alternative and peaceful channels to turn to.

As concerned citizens we reject empty promises, propaganda, subliminal calls to violence, and sectarian rhetoric. We refuse civil war. Act immediately before it is too late.

Join us to create a human chain, hand in hand, in Beirut on Saturday, February 10th at 2 pm to take a stand and publicly demand a dialogue to end the political deadlock immediately.

We call on the politicians to sit down and resolve this crisis.

Anonymous said...

Voilà le titre d'un article publié aujourd'hui dans l'Orient-le-Jour: "Israël hausse le ton contre le Hezbollah et menace le Liban de représailles". En espérant que les Libanais se réveillent avant qu'il ne soit trop tard!

Anonymous said...

Read this:
"Fears of new civil war increase as Lebanese political factions rearm. Gun sales triple since start of opposition protests. Anniversary of Hariri's death may prompt clashes".
February 6, 2007 - The Guardian
(...)
"There is a reappearance of arms in the hands of almost every political group; we are sitting on a powder keg, tension is increasing every day," said a prominent security analyst. "They don't know what they are doing, they are going to destroy this country." (...)
According to one Lebanese newspaper, illegal arms sales have increased threefold. Lebanon is now awash with arms dealers, the newspaper reported, some selling 10 to 15 guns a day in a country of four million people. Many of the guns are bought by individuals, but there have also been newer weapons bought in bulk by supporters of key political groups.

Dr. Pamela Chrabieh said...

Effectivement, les problèmes sont divers et la tension s'intensifie: entre factions Libanaises, entre Israël et le Liban, entre puissances régionales, entre les États-Unis et d'autres puissances, etc. Et tout cela se joue dans ce petit lopin de terre qu'est le Liban! Nous craignons maintenant le fameux 14 février (commémoration de l'assassinat du premier ministre Rafik Hariri).
Y aura-t-il un clash sanglant entre l'opposition et le gouvernement?

Dr. Pamela Chrabieh said...

Hier jeudi, avant de dormir, nous avons entendu aux nouvelles de minuit que l'armée israélienne et l'armée libanaise ont tiré l'une sur l'autre à la frontière sud du Liban. Selon Reuters (vendredi 8 février 2007): "Lebanese troops and an Israeli army patrol exchanged fire on their shared border on Wednesday in the first such incident since Lebanon deployed regular forces after Israel's war against Hezbollah".
Des nouvelles inquiétantes, confirmées par une déclaration qu'il l'est autant, dans un article de l'Associated Press (7 février 2007): "L'armée israélienne pourrait avoir à "user de la force" contre le Hezbollah au Liban, selon Amir Peretz, et "sans aucun compromis".
Une amie me disait hier qu'elle pensait plus sérieusement quitter le pays: "La situation est intenable. On passe notre vie à attendre de meilleurs jours, à attendre que notre vie commence, à attendre qu'on ne se fasse pas tuer. Je n'arrive pas à faire de projets à long terme, à rêver, à souhaiter. C'est l'attente, frustrante, déprimante... Je ne sais plus si j'ai encore la force de continuer".
Sur ce, je nous souhaite bon courage pour la suite, en 'attendant'... !!!!

Marchello said...

Pamela, lâche surtout pas ton beau travail.... Moi je suis certain que si le Liban a un avenir et il en a un, ça implique des gens comme toi. Tu as de lourdes responsabilités à venir. Si les gens comme toi baisse les bras, je crois que le Liban ne renaitra pas de sitôt. Courage et espoir.

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Dr. Pamela Chrabieh said...

Merci Marchello! Je ne lâche pas prise... Sinon, ce serait accepter que la guerre est notre sort ou notre destin, une fatalité qu'il faut accepter - or elle ne l'est pas.
Aujourd'hui vendredi c'est la fête de Saint Maron (fête nationale au Liban), patron des chrétiens maronites - confession religieuse dont je fais partie depuis ma naissance, qui a marqué mon cheminement, mais que je ne suis pas à la lettre; mon appartenance peut être qualifiée de 'spiritualité composite'.

Dr. Pamela Chrabieh said...

Je viens de savoir que les partisans du gouvernement vont manifester au centre-ville de Beyrouth le 14 février... bref, au même emplacement du sit-in de l'opposition. Eh bien, attendons-nous à un affrontement, ou alors, à moins d'un miracle, à un accord entre les deux factions!