The *FREE ARAB VOICE*
April 30, 1998

In this Issue of the Free Arab Voice, we present an Editorial on the
Assassination of Palestinian Freedom Fighter Mouhi-eddin Sherrif, then
We Tackle the Following Topics:

1- "The New Lebanon, Where to?": A Critical Point of View on the Eve
of the Twenty-third Anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War
    by Ghazi Assali

2- Upholding Double Standards: U.S. Violations of International Law
    by Nabila Martino

3- Action Alert: Your Assistance is URGENTLY Needed to Save Iraqi
Children
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HAVE A GOOD LABOR DAY ON THE FIRST OF MAY!
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Editorial:

When Palestinian freedom fighter Mouhi-Eddin Sherrif was assassinated a
few weeks ago at the hands of Zionist trigger-men, whatever nationality
they may be, it was surprising to see the self-autonomy authorities of
the PNA rush to assert that he was liquidated in internal feuds within
Hamas!!

Since when do collaborators, who took on PUBLICLY the task of killing,
imprisoning, and torturing to death other Palestinians, have the
credibility to make any declarations whatsoever on matters related to
the struggle for liberating Palestine or anyone connected to it?

In what epoch of our history, and under which twisted misconception of
justice are such collaborators with Zionist oppression allowed to even
pretend that they are anything but little graduates from the School of
Judas for the Morally-Impaired!!?

All peoples under tyranny have had to put up with their fair share of
traitors and collaborators...But unfortunately Palestinian Arabs have
had to put up as well with Zionist confusion, perpetrated by a few
Palestinian Judases and many false kisses, so as to discredit those who
with their willingness to self-sacrifice have exposed the treachery of
Arafat's henchmen to the core.

Yet the struggle will go on with all available means, as it has ever
since Zionism set foot on our sacred soil, because our people know
better than to believe those whose corrupt hands are incredibly tainted
with Palestinian blood.

And in the long-run one thing holds true for Palestine in spite of any
Old or New World Order: NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE. Because our people are
alive, our cause too will remain alive.

                                            The Free Arab Voice

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1- "The New Lebanon, Where to?": A Critical Point of View on the Eve
of the Twenty-third Anniversary of the Lebanese Civil War
    by Ghazi Assali

April 13th marked the 23rd anniversary of the Lebanese civil war, a
fifteen-year tragedy of death and destruction that ravaged the country,
and left in its wake hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded and more
than a million emigrants. And without getting into a lengthy discussion
of the causes here, I merely would like to point out that the war ended
in 1990 with the re-establishment of central government authority on all
Lebanese territory, with the exception of the area occupied in the South
by "Israel".

Then since the end of the war and the signing of the Taif Agreement in
Saudi Arabia that set the stage for more equitable power sharing between
Christians and Moslems, reconstruction projects have been steadily
underway. Yet Solidere, the company that monopolizes the rebuilding of
the destroyed downtown area, happens to be owned by the billionaire
prime minister Rafiq Hariri, and to be buying every other piece of prime
property in Lebanon too. Thus sooner or later Lebanon will become a
sort of a "Haririland", where the power of an extreme and greedy form of
modern-day feudalism of a few well-connected politician-businessmen is
impoverishing the already poor 80 to 90% of the Lebanese people.
Strikes and demonstrations against the skyrocketing cost of living are
illegal and the government interferes even in labor union elections,
forcing their candidates in.

The country's infrastructure is being put back in place: electricity is
now back 24 hours a day, new highways are being built, new phone lines
are being established, and garbage pickups are improving. However, the
political garbage is still in place, including some of the same
structural problems that caused the civil war:

First: The political system is still the same old sectarian system
established at the gaining of independence from France in 1943.
A few reforms have given more executive powers to the prime minister
who is to be Sunni Muslim, while diminishing those of the president
of the republic who is to be Maronite Christian. However, these minor
patch-ups are not even near enough to overhaul such an outdated
dysfunctional system. Lebanon, which is a mosaic of 18 different
religious sects, needs a fully secular political and social system
in all spheres of public life to function properly. But employees
today are still being appointed in government to fill religious quotas,
and marriages are still being exclusively performed in religious courts.
A civil marriage law is still pending because prime minister Hariri makes
a point of refusing to sign it, to purposely impede putting it to a vote
in parliament. I would seriously suggest not only a law allowing for
civil marriages, but also pecuniary and moral incentives to encourage
inter-sectarian marriages to achieve in a generation or two the social
unification of the Lebanese population. In addition, mixed religious
neighborhoods and towns should be encouraged, as they already exist in
different parts of the country.

Moreover, the electoral system needs total reform that would boost
political parties that are non-sectarian. This would be accomplished
if the whole country was turned into one electoral unit where parties
run on the basis of a national platform, not powerful family names or
sectarian and regional identities. The success of such a system would
become the litmus test for political maturity and awareness in the new
Lebanon.

Second: The social infrastructure of the country remains in shambles,
with a devastated middle and working class. The Lebanese middle class
was practically decimated during the civil war, leaving two
broadly-defined social classes in the country: the wealthy on one side,
especially the wealthy political elite gravitating around prime minister
Hariri, in addition to the warlords, who became part of the government
after acquiring new wealth extracted from the blood of the victims of
the civil war. Then on the other side lays the majority of the Lebanese
people, impoverished, powerless, and working hard just to make ends meet
in a country that has lost its soul. Commercialism, exploitation, and
superficiality are the order of the day with a new generation reeling
from the imitation of every imaginable crust of westernisation.

But this state of affairs could sooner or later explode into social
unrest unless war-made millionaires realize that wealth has to be shared
and invested back in society to insure stability and growth. Few voices
in the political arena dare to defy the ban on freedom of expression.
However, the parliamentary deputy from Beirut, Najah Wakim, has been a
genuine voice of honesty and courage for the poor and struggling people
of Lebanon against the new "Hariri"cracy and its stooges.

Third: The Israeli occupation of South Lebanon will always be an
obstacle to a real and stable peace in Lebanon. The constant shelling
of villages, Israeli aggression and bombings that sometimes affect the
country as a whole, like Operation Grapes of Wrath in April 1996, are
a constant reminder of the fragility of the new peace. Another case in
point is the Qana massacre on April 18, 1996, when "Israel"
intentionally shelled a United Nations refugee camp in South Lebanon
leading to the death of over a hundred civilians, mostly children and
elderly seeking safe haven under the protection of the U.N.

However, since the Zionist mentality does not respect or care for
non-Jewish lives, and refuses to abide by United Nations resolutions,
we may conclude that THE ONLY WAY to get rid of the occupation in South
Lebanon is through military means. In the meantime the fighters of
Hizbollah are doing a great job fighting the enemy, having improved
their military capabilities. The Hizbollah leadership has invited the
Lebanese from all walks of life and all religious sects to join in the
fight to liberate the South. It should be pointed out here though that
the nationalist and leftist groups who started the resistance movement
against the Israeli forces of occupation back in 1982, are no longer
active in the struggle for the liberation of the South. Therefore, at
this point, a joint and well-coordinated effort by Islamic, nationalist,
and leftist groups, with facilitation from the Lebanese and Syrian
armies can force "Israel" to just withdraw. The recent talk of an
unconditional Israeli withdrawal from the South, with French mediation,
has yet to materialize. No pre-conditions by "Israel" should be
accepted except for the full and complete implementation of U.N.
Resolution 425 which calls for a total and an unconditional withdrawal
from South Lebanon. That will pave the way for peace.

[If you would like to see an Arabic political cartoon
related to the article above, please go to
http://www.mindspring.com/~fav/onSectarianism.htm]

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2-Upholding Double Standards: U.S. Violations of International Law
  by Nabila Martino

While the U.S. continues to take an aggressive position against Iraq
with respect to alleged chemical and biological weapons that have not
been proven to exist, this country remains in violation of the Chemical
Weapons Convention treaty.

The treaty calls for the destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles and
the monitoring of companies that make compounds that could be used to
produce nerve gas and/or other chemical and biological weapons.

Although the U.S. has provided the international group that oversees the
treaty with information on government weapons facilities and has allowed
inspections of these installations to take place, it has failed to
disclose any of the required information on private-sector chemical
production. Due to this failure, inspections at U.S. chemical companies
have not taken place!

The bill which would require these inspections sits idly in the Senate;
but beyond the failure to implement the treaty by enacting the necessary
legislation, what is alarming is that the bill that was drafted actually
would make the treaty inoperative in certain circumstances, allowing the
President to deny requests for challenge inspections of any facility on
national security grounds.

It is characteristic of this nation that there should be one standard
for Americans and another for the rest of the world. In fact, this has
been an issue with European nations, who have criticized the U.S. for
its failure to meet its treaty obligations while demanding stringent
obedience from Iraq.

Roger Majak, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration
stated that: "It does damage our credibility. I would have to say that
in our efforts to obtain cooperation from our European allies, this
issue has come up".

And yet, it appears that the U.S. is following the same policy as its
Zionist partner in deciding which treaties and resolutions to obey and
which to ignore. Like the Zionist State which chooses to disregard U.N.
resolutions when they pertain to the Palestinian homeland and yet calls
upon the U.N. to punish Iraq, the U.S. appears to be able to insist that
Iraq conform to strict standards while this country remains beyond the
duty to obey international laws.

If the U.S. continues to demonstrate a cavalier attitude towards such
matters, it will lose what little respect it still possesses in
the eyes of the rest of the world.

Furthermore, highlighting the double-standard in dealing with other
nations, especially Iraq, deserves to be brought up recurrently in the
media. Writing letters to editors and bringing up the issue in
conversations can have a great impact if done by enough of us.

So let's...

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3-  Action Alert: Your Assistance is URGENTLY Needed to Save Iraqi
Children

THREE WAYS YOU CAN HELP THE IRAQ SANCTIONS CHALLENGE

1.  Purchase and disseminate the video "WORTH THE PRICE?"

During the time it takes you to view this video two Iraqi children will
have died as a result of UN/US sanctions. Pass this video on to your
friends and ask them to pass it on to their friends. Build a chain of
love for the Iraqi children.

Worth The Price? 14-min. documentary of a "human shield" trip, Feb/Mar
1998, to Iraq. Produced by Bruderhof Video Productions. Features
hospitals, schools, Gulf War rubble, "human shields" and countless
victims of "our" sanctions,...Iraq as it is today.

Order by  phone or mail from:

Plough Publishing House
RD 2,  BOX 446
FARMINGTON  PA 15437

(800-521-8011
Visa, Mastercard, Amex, and Discover accepted)

Price: $10.00, + $3.00 shipping & tax  for delivery to NY or PA, if
applicable.

2.  Donate to Iraq Project of The Bruderhof Foundation, 501 (c)(3) tax
deductible foundation.

Make out check to Iraq Project. . . and mail it to:

Iraq Project
Maple Ridge Bruderhof
10 Hellbrook Lane
Ulster Park NY 12487

3.  Donate  to International Action Center, see their literature on
www.iacenter.org

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IF INTERESTED IN EVENTS REALTED TO THE 50IETH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF "ISRAEL", PLEASE GO TO
http://www.alnakba.org

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