Excerpts: Ghajar residents protest Israeli withdrawal. Lebanese P.M. to
visit Syria.P.A. nixes Israel interim peace solutions.Hizbollah to keep its
weapons; Lebanon's military aid requested from US December 13, 2009

+++SOURCE: NAHARNET 13 Dec.'09:"Washington: Ghajar Pullout Strips Hizbullah
of
Pretext to Keep Arms",Agence France Presse
QUOTE:"Ghajar residents insist they have no connection with Lebanon"
SUBJECT: Gajar residents protest Israeli withdrawal.

EXCERPTS:A U.S. official . . . told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat... that the U.S.
was "exerting diplomatic efforts to pressure Israel into pulling out" from
the Lebanese side of Ghajar.

Meanwhile, the residents of the divided village on Friday(11 Dec) protested
over rumors that Israeli troops planned to withdraw from the northern part
of Ghajar.

Village spokesman Najib Khatib told Agence France Presse by telephone that a
vast majority of the 2,200 residents took part in the protest in Ghajar,
which is closed to outsiders by Israeli forces.

"They will divide our people, cut families in two," the villagers chanted.

The northern part of Ghajar is in Lebanon and the rest in the Golan Heights
which Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and later annexed in a move not
recognized by the international community.

Ghajar residents insist they have no connection with Lebanon. "We would be
like refugees in Lebanon," Khatib said.

He said dividing the village would leave 1,700 people living in the
Lebanese-controlled part and 500 on the Israeli-controlled
side.(Naharnet-AFP)

+++SOURCE:EGYPTIAN GAZETTE 13 Dec.'09:"Hariri holds talks with Saudi King"

SUBJECT: Lebanese P.M. to visit Syria.
FULL TEXT:RIYADH (News agencies) - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri holds
talks with Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh yesterday during a visit to Riyadh,
which is part of a series of trips that the Mustaqbal movement leader will
make to other countries,including Syria.Hariri's closest aides refused to
give the exact date of the PM's talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Al- Nahar daily also cast doubt about a possible trip by Hariri to the
Syrian capital tomorrow. However, unofficial sources in Damascus told
al-Safir newspaper that Hariri could visit Damascus tomorrow for five hours
only.Al-Akhbar, in its turn, confirmed that the Lebanese premier would
travel to Syria tomorrow.The daily ruled out Hariri's visit would be
influenced by Syrian requests for 25 Lebanese figures, including the police
chief and top prosecutor, to appear for questioning.

+++SOURCE: EGYPTIAN GAZETTE 13 Dec.'09:"Palestinian PM: Interim peace
solution
unacceptable"

SUBJECT:P.A. nixes Israel interim peace solutions

EXCERPTS:RAMALLAH (News agencies) - Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
said yesterday his people refused to accept interim peace solutions proposed
by Israel.. . .
.As final-status talks between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority
(PNA) broke down a year ago, Israel earlier this year offered a Palestinian
state with temporary borders and proposed to resume talks on other
outstanding issues. Fayyad said the Palestinians need "a sovereign state
with only Jordan border-ing its eastern side (all West Bank) and East
occupied Jerusalem as its everlasting capital."The PNA rejected Israel's
offers to resume the negotiations, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's initiative in November on the 10-month freeze on building new
homes in West Bank settlements.The Palestinians said the move was not
genuine since the freeze did not include construction in Jewish
neighbourhoods in East occupied Jerusalem, which they claim as the capital
of a future state.

+++SOURCE: JORDAN TIMES 13 Dec.'09:"Lebanon pressing US to deliver military
aid", Associated Press
QUOTES:"Hizbollah, a Shiite group, which has its own arsenal with tens of
thousands of rockets and missiles";"Lebanese parliament approved a national
unity government that would allow Hizbullah to keep its weapons"; "Lebanon's
gpvernment is loath to take strong action against Hizbolllah"

FULL TEXT:BEIRUT (AP) - Lebanon's president will urge US officials to speed
up delivery of weapons for the nation's army during a trip to Washington in
which he will meet with President Barack Obama, a Lebanese official said
Saturday12 Dec.).
The appeal from President Michel Sleiman, who arrives in Washington
Saturday(12 Dec), is at the heart of much of the country's political
turmoil. Lebanon's government is a shaky coalition of Western-backed
factions and Syrian-supported groups led by Hizbollah, a Shiite group that
has its own arsenal with tens of thousands of rockets and missiles.
The United States has long provided military assistance to Lebanon -
including $410 million to the military and the police. But America has not
handed over any sophisticated arms for fear they could end up in the hands
of Hizbollah, which the US lists as a terrorist group.
According to the US embassy in Beirut, the military assistance over the past
years includes aircraft, tanks, artillery, small boats, infantry weapons,
ammunition, Humvees and cargo trucks. It adds that the US will provide the
Lebanese Armed Forces with 12 Raven unmanned reconnaissance and surveillance
aircraft in the coming months.
Hizbollah's military muscle has generated concern within Lebanon and in
Israel, which fought a monthlong war in 2006 with Hizbollah. The UN
resolution that ended that war called for Hizbollah to disarm, but the group
has refused.
Hizbollah says it must retain its weapons to fight off any future Israeli
threat.
Sleiman will press US officials to deliver the promised military aid, a
Lebanese official said Friday(11 Dec). The official, who asked that his name
not be used because he is not authorised to speak publicly about Sleiman's
agenda, did not give details.
Hisham Jaber, who heads the Middle East Centre for Studies and Public
Relations in Beirut, said Sleiman's appeal is part of his work to develop a
national defence strategy that would eventually integrate Hizbollah weapons
into the army.
"You cannot speak about a defence strategy and disarming the resistance
without the presence of a strong army," Jaber told the Associated Press.
The trip to Washington was announced earlier this month, before the Lebanese
parliament approved a national unity government that will allow Hizbollah to
keep its weapons despite strong criticism from pro-Western lawmakers.
Lebanon's government is loath to take strong action against Hizbollah for
fear of sparking a crisis. Many fear a renewed outbreak of the sectarian
violence seen in 2008, when Hizbollah militants swept through Sunni
neighbourhoods of Beirut to briefly seize control after the government moved
to curb the group's military communications network.
More than 80 people were killed in the violence that followed, pushing the
country to the brink of civil war.
The White House said earlier this month that Obama and Sleiman will discuss
a broad range of issues, including achieving peace in the region.
===========
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA