LEBANONESQUE

Impressions, views, and steam-blowing by a lonesome cowboy.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Weak and Inane Talk from the Government


Story from Naharnet. My comments/additions are bracketed. (From Naharnet, full story here). Ghazi Aridi is Information Minister and thus the official spokesman for the Lebanese government.

[Title] Cabinet Wants to Ban Palestinian Weapons Outside Camps

[I thought they were already banned. The cabinet means it wants to apply the law, a very different story.]

The Cabinet has said it will revive efforts to ban Palestinians from deploying weapons outside refugee camps, saying last week's shooting incident in Naameh of two Lebanese by Palestinian gunfire prompted the government to resolve the Palestinian arms issue more speedily.

[I don't think "revive efforts to ban" is the kind of aggressive immediate action asked for by residents of Naameh, or those living close to Ain-El-Helweh. Those people have asked for the army to deploy in order to protect them. They did not ask for lamentable and lame efforts to "revive efforts to ban" what is already banned. When you talk like that you cannot expect your agents to collect on traffic tickets or on electricity bills.]

"The ministers unanimously agreed over the necessity to implement cabinet resolutions regarding Palestinian weapons inside and outside the camps," said Information Minister Ghazi Aridi following a weekly cabinet meeting on Thursday.

[Blah blah blah. Agreed on the "necessity"? Fine, then what? Implement? WHEN?, give me a date, WHEN?
Further empty talk which projects WEAKNESS and undermines respect for all laws, criminal and civil. Lebanese People, expect MORE trampling on your dignity, law and sovereignty.]

Aridi was referring to resolutions reached before the Shiite boycott of the cabinet, which included forbidding the deployment of Palestinian weapons outside refugee camps and obliging armed groups inside the camps to meet certain guidelines.

[Good. So it is, and was, unanimous, from before the Shia boycott. "Implement" NOW, stop gabbing.]

"Therefore, regardless of the (Naameh) shooting, the cabinet resolutions should be implemented," said Aridi, adding that the incident triggered the government to speed up the implementation process.

[More useless yackety-yack-yacking. "Speed up" implementation? From what pace? One AK-47 every 30 years to, say, 5 rifles the next 30 years?]

Last week, a member of the Popular Font for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) shot and wounded two municipal policemen in Naameh, south of Beirut, causing uproar and turning the spotlight on Palestinian weapons deployed outside refugee settlements.


[Notice they (gvmt. and press) keep saying "municipal" like this makes the assault on the state's authority less serious.]

The PFLP-GC, which is headed by Damascus-based Ahmad Jibril, maintains a network of tunnels and arms caches in Naameh. Israeli warplanes have often struck the town.

[Is the town of Naameh Lebanese territory or some "municipal" outpost? Is there a need to draw maps here, like for the Shebaa Farms?]

Aridi said the government will work on the local and regional levels to secure the implementation of cabinet resolutions concerning these arms.

[More and further and improved empty crap about "IMPLEMENTATION".
"Work on local level" means we have to talk to the thugs and get their permission. Good luck.
"On the regional level" means we have to kiss Syrian-Saudi-PA-someone's butt before we can apply the law and protect the citizen in our own country. If unanimous decisions are impossible to implement simply and directly, what's left?]

"It is unacceptable to continue using weapons against the Lebanese in a way that harms the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people's interests," said the minister.


Therefore, like Walid Eido and countless others, Aridi is saying it’s ACCEPTABLE to shoot Lebanese if it helps the Palestinian cause.
I am getting very sick and very tired of the friggin "cause". What is UNACCEPTABLE is: a government which does not shoulder its basic responsibility, keeps blabbing about it, does not protect its citizens, and wants them to DIE for the cause of a neighbor. To stay polite: stuff it Ghazi!

Can we have a referendum on this? Then maybe our irresponsible representative idiots will find the guts to stop saying stupid things.

Here's a proposition for Mr. Aridi (and Eido) which helps his beloved "cause" and does not kill any Lebanese:
Let's automatically give 50% of your income, each year, to the "cause". You can direct the money as you please: refugees, PA, Hamas. What do you say to that Mr. Aridi? We'll even take 25%. Thank you for your help.

Asked if the government would force Palestinians to comply with the cabinet resolutions, Aridi replied: "We are not raising this option, and we hope to implement all resolutions peacefully to serve the interests of the Lebanese and Palestinians."

Weak, weak, weak. Dangerously weak. "Hope to implement", without mention of force, isn't exactly going impress the thugs in Naameh, or anywhere else. Your age-old problem, Ghazi Aridi and Lebanon, is still staring you in the face.

13 Comments:

  • At 1/22/06, 1:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Government wants to apply the law. Since the law is already a governmental decision we should write: government wants to apply governmental decision. HA says no.

     
  • At 1/22/06, 2:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    The weakness of the current Lebanese government is to be expected. The surprise would be if the present government is to act decisevly. When the parts are ingongruant the whole is bound to be weak and fragile.

     
  • At 1/22/06, 3:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Josey,
    To carry a conversation that was started on Kais' blog where you asked for my view regarding the Sal;man Rushdie Fawa.
    As you might expect, I was a strong opponent of the Fatwa because I did not agree with it . Actually that was a more interesting case because the fatwa was issued to silence an individual for his thought. It represented a case of freedom of speech on both sides. None the less (I have not double checked the facts) I don't remember the Rushdie camp fighting the fatwa through the legal system. Did he?

    All what I am trying to highlight is the fact that means can be as important as ends. It will be a hollow victory to achieve ones goals through procedures that are contrary to ones beliefs. (BTW, that is one reason that I have been a vocal critic of the use of random violence by the Palestinian resistance, but this is a different story)

     
  • At 1/22/06, 4:58 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    This fatwa is not simply a fatwa. It's a CONTRACT on Rushdie's head. It's a death threat and an appeal to murder, something punishable in all civilized countries.

     
  • At 1/22/06, 5:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Anon, I stand corrected. I have forgotten that there was a promise of a monetary reward. But even under such circumstances I am not sure whether a fatwa with a promise to pay is a valid contract that can be used as grounds for legal prosecution.

     
  • At 1/22/06, 5:37 PM, Blogger JoseyWales said…

    Ghassan,

    Not much new in the story, except that we are headed for disaster is we don''t change.

    The dismaying twist in this case is that, here, ALL agreed to stop this type of action, including HA.
    Thw only major party outside gvmnt is Aoun, and I am sure they would not object.

    These lousy habits have to be broken sometime or else...

     
  • At 1/24/06, 3:37 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    would be easy to disarm the palestinian camps.

    before 1969 and the cairo deal, any lebanese cop with a stick was able to enter in the palestinian camps and make them following the LEBANESE laws.

    today, the army just need to struggle the camps, a total blocus, allowing just civilians to get our to temporary camps till the weapons inside the original camps are TOTALLY "cleaned"

     
  • At 1/24/06, 3:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    correction :

    *to get them* to temporary ...

    the problem is with the arabic nations, they would not ever allow lebanon to do so..
    but when u re looking to al jazeerah pool where 70% of the respondance are claiming that syria is not responsible of hariri's killing, i m wondering if lebanon shouldnt get ride of its arabic face

     
  • At 1/24/06, 3:29 PM, Blogger Lira = 1500 said…

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

     
  • At 1/24/06, 3:39 PM, Blogger Lira = 1500 said…

    hey ghassan, from your point of view, do I understand that you will not oppose a Fatwa if you agree with it?

    please give me an example of good fatwas and bad fatwas

     
  • At 2/3/06, 12:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    great blog

     
  • At 6/9/06, 10:26 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    It is unacceptable to continue using weapons against the Lebanese in a way that harms the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people's interests," said the minister.


    Therefore, like Walid Eido and countless others, Aridi is saying it’s ACCEPTABLE to shoot Lebanese if it helps the Palestinian cause.
    I am getting very sick and very tired of the friggin "cause". What is UNACCEPTABLE is: a government which does not shoulder its basic responsibility, keeps blabbing about it, does not protect its citizens, and wants them to DIE for the cause of a neighbor. To stay polite: stuff it Ghazi!

    I am qouting for it seems to me that even a simple reading as the one stated by Minister Ghazi Aridi failed to enter into your system... put some glasses on work that brain of yours before telling poeple politely to stuff it... Politely i would want to clearly make a point. what the minister wwas trying to say and you obviuosly failed to get is that the weapons outside camps all weapons do indeed cause a threat to the palistenian cause and he was therefore not telling anyone that shooting the lebanese is acceptable for the aid of our neighbors' cause... before shooting your comments try to remember his statement and stand concerning "other" lebanese weapons in lebanon.

     
  • At 6/9/06, 10:44 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    to josey:
    ur an american right?!!
    well u obviously havnt been 2 lebanon and i need to tell u that u no nothing. so be4 going around speaking badly of ppl i suggest u no wat's going on. i am lebanese and i'm very proud of having Ghazi Aridi as a minister in my country. PLEASE save us from ur interference in everything thst goes on in the world under the title of spreading democracy... u have no right in talking about our ministers in that way. i'm very happy that we dont have ur bush here... Ghazi Aridi is worth a ZILLION bush of yours... ur talking about the money he is being paid???!!! wat about the money bush gets paid? Being an american doesnt give u the right to rule or control other countries by ur never ending imperialism... so politely i say: GO TO HELL!!!

     

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