Introduction to the evening news 24-09-2011

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has submitted the statehood application to U.N. Chief Ban Ki-Moon and returned to Amman, waiting for the result of his bid. However, a Palestinian full membership will not be recognized given that the U.S. has already confirmed that it will veto the bid. Moreover, the Quartet will be unable to prevent the U.S. from playing the veto card through the resumption of the first phase of negotiations.

Israel has stated today that the timetable set by the Quartet is not sacred as Abbas has underlined that the committee’s old suggestions are no longer effective, and that any initiative that does not seek to stop resettlement and that contravenes the 1967 borders will be disavowed.

On top of that, Abu Mazen revealed that last-minute Arab efforts were deployed to make him budge on his bid. Elsewhere in the Arab World, Yemen was, in the last hours, teetering on the edge of a fierce civil war after the return of President Ali Abdullah Saleh who chose to leave his hideaway when the specter of Mubarak’s trial and Gaddafi’s hunting started to haunt him.          

Two key events have marked the Syrian scene today: on one hand, the French Ambassador to Syria was attacked by Assad’s supporters following his meeting with Patriarch Hazim in Damascus. On the other hand, Turkey had stopped a Syrian-flagged ship in the Sea of Marmara.

As for Lebanon, the Maronite political proliferation was beefed up today in two regions and in two different ways: On one hand, Patriarch Rai has visited the south, including the tombs of Qana, and for the first time in modern history his visit has embraced the Shia sect along with the Christian.

On the other hand, Patriarch Sfeir has chaired the Lebanese Forces martyrs’ mass in Jounieh and, though he did not deliver a particular sermon or statement, Dr. Samir Geagea, in his turn, has indirectly spoken out against Rai’s recent position related to the Arab uprising and the rise of radicalism, as he [Geagea] considered that concerns over radicalism do not authorize prohibitions or stage a drastic coup.  

Though Rai did not issue further statements during his southern visits, his previous ones were enough to affect his visit to the U.S. that will kick off early October.

Information made available to LBC showed that Ambassador Connely was unable to obtain from Rai, during her last visit to Bkerke, clear rescindment on his recent positions so that she did not confirm his meeting with U.S. president Obama. Rai has accordingly crossed Washington off his visit agenda.