Lebanese Cabinet Minister killed

21/11/2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon, (AP) -Pierre Gemayel, an anti-Syrian politician and scion of Lebanon's most prominent Christian family, was gunned down Tuesday in an assassination that heightened tensions amid a showdown between opponents and allies of Syria that threatens to topple the U.S.-backed government.

Gemayel, 34, was the fifth anti-Syrian figure to be killed in the past two years and the first member of the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora to be slain. A car rammed his vehicle from behind and then a gunman stepped out and shot him at point-blank range, his Phalange Party radio station and Lebanon's official news agency reported.

Footage from the scene showed Gemayel's car, the driver's-side window dotted by about a dozen bullet holes, and the second car behind it with a crumpled hood.

The assassination, in an afternoon shooting in Gemayel's mainly Christian constituency of Jdeideh, threatens further instability in Lebanon at a time when Hezbollah and other parties allied with Syria are planning a massing wave of street protests unless Saniora reforms his government to give them more power.

In Washington, the State Department denounced the assassination as terrorism and an attempt to intimidate Saniora's government. The United States has accused Syria and Iran of plotting to overthrow the government, which is dominated by anti-Syrian politicians.

"We are shocked by this assassination," Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters. He said it is very important that those who would use violence to divide Lebanon not be allowed to succeed. "We will give full support to the Saniora government in the days and weeks ahead," Burns said.

Syria also condemned the killing. "This despicable crime aims to destroy stability and peace in Lebanon," the state news agency said, affirming Syria's support for stability, security and unity.

Damascus' opponents in Lebanon have accused Syria of being behind previous assassinations, particularly that of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a massive explosion in downtown Beirut in February 2005. Syria has denied any role.

Saad Hariri, Rafik's son and leader of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, broke off a televised news conference after hearing Gemayel had been shot.

In an interview with CNN, Hariri praised him as "a friend, a brother to all of us" and appeared to break down after saying: "We will bring justice to all those who killed him."

Hariri implicitly blamed Damascus for the assassination, saying, "We believe the hand of Syria is all over the place."

Pierre Gemayel was a rising star in the party and expected to carry the mantle of the political family. His father, Amin, served as president between 1982 and 1988. His grandfather, the late Pierre Gemayel, led the right-wing Christian Phalange Party that fielded the largest Christian militia during the 1975-90 civil war between Christians and Muslims.

Amin Gemayel was elected by parliament after the assassination of his brother, Bashir, who was chosen president but was killed a few days before he was to take office.

The younger Pierre Gemayel was a prominent figure in Lebanon's anti-Syrian bloc, which dominates Saniora's Cabinet and the parliament — and which is now locked in a power struggle with the Muslim Shiite Hezbollah and its allies.

On Sunday, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah threatened a wave of street protests aimed at bringing down the government if it ignores the group's demand to form a national unity Cabinet, in which Hezbollah and its allies would have considerable influence and would be able to block major decisions.

Nasrallah accused Saniora's government of falling under the influence of the President Bush's administration and called it "illegitimate" and "unconstitutional."

Gemayel's assassination was the first since Gibran Tueni, prominent anti-Syrian newspaper editor and lawmaker, was killed in a car bomb in December. In June 2005, the journalist and activist Samir Kassir and former Communist Party leader George Hawi were killed in separate car bombings in June last year.

 

Lebanese PM calls for national unity, warns of 'sedition'

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AP and JPost staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

Nov. 21, 2006

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Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora went on national television on Tuesday evening to call for unity after Pierre Gemayel, an anti-Syrian politician and scion of Lebanon's most prominent Christian family, was gunned down earlier Tuesday in an assassination that increased already-high tensions between opponents and allies of Syria.

In his television speech, Saniora warned that "sedition" was being planned against Lebanon, and linked the slaying to the issue that sparked the crisis with Hizbullah: plans to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri before an international court.

"I pledge to you that your blood will not go in vain," Saniora said, eulogizing Gemayel. "We will not let the murderers control the fate of Lebanon and the future of its children."

Some anti-Syrian politicians quickly accused Damascus in the afternoon shooting in a suburb of Beirut. Gemayel, 34, an outspoken opponent of the Syrian-allied Hizbullah, was the fifth anti-Syrian figure killed in the past two years and the first member of Saniora's government to be slain.

The assassination deepened divisions in Lebanon at a time when Hizbullah and other parties allied with Syria are planning a massive wave of street protests aimed at toppling Saniora's government unless they are given more power.

In Washington, the US State Department denounced the slaying as an attempt to intimidate Saniora's government, and at the United Nations, US Ambassador John Bolton raised the possibility of Syria's involvement.

Damascus's opponents in Lebanon have accused Syria of being behind previous assassinations, particularly that of Hariri, who was killed in a massive explosion in downtown Beirut in February 2005.

Syria has denied those claims, and on Tuesdsay it and Hizbullah condemned Gemayel's slaying.

"Those who committed this crime want to push Lebanon toward chaos, despair and civil war," said a statement read on Hizbullah's Al-Manar television.

Gemayel, Lebanon's industry minister and a member of the Phalange Party, had just left a church and was traveling through his mainly Christian constituency of Jdeideh when a vehicle in front of him slammed to a stop, causing his car to ram into it, security officials said. Witnesses said Gemayel's car was also rammed from behind.

Three gunmen stepped out of the other vehicles and shot Gemayel at point-blank range with automatic weapons, security officials said.

Video showed Gemayel's car, which apparently had been shot at from both sides. The passenger-side window was shattered, the driver's-side window was dotted with about a dozen bullet holes, and the front hood was crumpled.

Gemayel's driver, who was wounded but survived, rushed the gravely injured politician to a nearby hospital. Soon afterward, Voice of Lebanon - the Phalange-run radio station - reported Gemayel was dead.

More than 300 Gemayel supporters gathered at the hospital where he died, many of them chanting slogans against Hizbullah and Christian leader Michel Aoun, a rival of Gemayel's Phalange Party and an ally of Hizbullah.

Gemayel's father, former president Amin Gemayel, and political allies called for calm in a bid to prevent the country from sliding into the explosive sectarian-based violence that marked its 1975-90 civil war.

Visiting the hospital, a stunned-looking Amin Gemayel - the Phalange Party leader - urged his supporters to observe a night of "prayer and reflection over the meaning of martyrdom."

"We don't want an outburst of emotions and and revenge," he said outside the hospital where his son died. "He was martyred for the cause of Lebanon and we want this cause to triumph ... To all those who love Pierre, we should not be driven by instinct."

Amin Gemayel's brother, Bashir, was elected president in 1982 but was assassinated days before he was to take office in an explosion. His killing prompted his supporters to storm Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, killing hundreds of unarmed civilians in one of the worst atrocities of the Lebanon conflict.

Wael Abu Faour, an anti-Syrian lawmaker, told Al-Jazeera television, "We directly accuse the Syrian regime of assassinating Gemayel and hold (Syrian) President Bashar Assad responsible for this assassination ... aimed at sending Lebanon into a civil war."

In an interview with CNN, Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, implicitly blamed Damascus, saying, "We believe the hand of Syria is all over the place."

He hailed Gemayel as "a friend, a brother to all of us" and appeared to break down after saying: "We will bring justice to all those who killed him."

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who began a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni minutes after media outlets announced the assassination, strongly condemned the act, calling it "deeply damaging."

"There are enough problems in Lebanon. We are anxious to rebuild [there], and not for more death and destruction," Beckett declared, adding that the killing had "only just" happened, and that the world would need to wait and learn what lay behind it. "This can only increase tension in the region," she said.

Livni characterized the shooting as "another example of the kind of neighborhood we live in."

The conflict, she explained, was between moderates and extremists. "During the war [with Lebanon], we tried not to undermine the Lebanese government," Livni said. "We spoke with [Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad] Saniora of the need for change in Lebanon so it can be a normal state."

Livni said that Hizbullah was not even working in the interests of the Lebanese.

"We are changing, and I believe that 1701 is positive and can change the situation in Lebanon for a better future. It's something we're all facing. The negative role of Syria is nothing new. Clearly, Syrian forces are trying to be involved now, but it's too early to say anything concrete."

The battle for Lebanon

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, THE JERUSALEM POST

Nov. 22, 2006

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The assassination of Pierre Gemayel is a reminder, if any was needed, of whom the West is dealing with. This was a classic Mafia-style hit to accompany Syria's standard criminal tactics: spread murder and mayhem in the hopes of extorting support for dictatorial rule.

According to the Economist, Syria would be pleased to accede to calls from some, such as James Baker, to "engage" with the US, and already has its list of demands prepared: an end to the Hariri investigation, a US guarantee not to undermine the Assad regime, a return of Syrian influence in Lebanon, and Israel handing over the Golan Heights. In exchange, presumably, Syria would pledge to stop fomenting terrorism in Iraq.

The shakedown, then, has already started. The choice before the US and Europe is straightforward: fight or submit. In truth, there is no choice, because only someone ignorant of history would fall for the notion that submission to such blackmail will buy quiet, rather than spurring more murders, terrorism and demands.

The latest Gemayel assassination, following the murders of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, prominent journalists Samir Kassir and Gibran Tueni, Pierre Gemayel's uncle Bashir, and many other anti-Syrian figures, shows that Syria wishes to renew Lebanon's civil war, revive its domination of the country, or both. The recent resignation of Syrian-backed ministers in the Lebanese government also illustrates the lengths Syria will go to attempt to block the UN tribunal being organized to try suspects in the Hariri assassination.

Obviously, this trial should go forward with even greater determination and urgency, but this is not enough. Now is the time to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1701, rather than standing by as it is added to the pile of tattered resolutions defending Lebanese independence.

Since the war in Lebanon ended in August, Syria has been rearming Hizbullah in direct violation of the embargo imposed in Resolution 1701. That embargo lacks minimal monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, which should now be created - better late than never.

For example, the resolution stipulates that UNIFIL can only deploy on the Lebanese-Syrian border if Lebanon so requests. The weapons that are flowing across that border directly threaten the Lebanese government, yet that government does not feel it is strong enough to defy Syria and request UNIFIL's presence and other enforcement mechanisms.

The US, France and other countries should start sounding the alarm about Syrian smuggling and request to deploy UNIFIL forces along that border to stop it. Even if the smuggling cannot be completely stopped, UN monitors could report, triggering sanctions on Damascus. A side benefit of such a new commitment to enforcement would be the rendering of Israeli overflights monitoring that border unnecessary.

In general, both Syria and Iran need to be shown that every atrocity committed by their proxies and agents will not spur Western submission to blackmail, but tougher measures against both regimes. The current trend of Western retreat must be reversed. On the contrary, rogue regimes must be put on the defensive with the ample means that free nations have to defend themselves.

What may seem like increasing boldness of Syria and Iran, as shown by events in Lebanon and Iran's defiant acceleration of its uranium enrichment efforts, may actually reveal that these regimes regard Western sanctions as more potent than the West does itself. If they were as impervious to sanctions as defeatists in the West often claim, why are they working so hard to intimidate the West into abandoning the effort?

On Wednesday, Lebanese Druse leader Walid Jumblatt said, "It seems the Syrian regime will continue with the assassinations. I expect more assassinations, but no matter what they do, we are here and we will be victorious." On the same day, Lebanese independence celebrations were cancelled in mourning for the slain Christian leader.

The millions of Lebanese and some of their leaders are showing considerable bravery in asserting their independence from Syrian and Iranian predations. The question is whether the nations which claim to defend their cause will show similar determination, and will take concrete actions to repel the onslaught of rogue regimes.

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