The following are summaries of today's major stories published in the Arabic press. LBCI does not edit press digest articles for content, giving English-language readers insight into the various views expressed in newspapers across the Arab world.
The Central Bank
governor Riad Salameh said after holding a series of meetings in Washington,
that Lebanon got the blessing of trustworthy legislators and regulators to
remain a prominent figure in the banking sector, the financial world and the
United States.
Salameh told
An-Nahar that these legislators are clearly aware of the negative rumors
targeting both banking and financial sectors in Lebanon, as they confirmed that
neither the sector nor the banks will be affected by the sanctions imposed on
Syria, to avoid an incident similar to that of the Lebanese-Canadian Bank in
February.
Asked about
Lebanon banking sector’s relations with international banks, Salameh said, “We
look forward to fostering these relations to provide more facilities and
protect payment systems”
“More than 40
banks in Lebanon confirmed that they will keep the same ongoing banking and
financial policy which is a reassuring factor that this sector remains healthy”.
Al-Mustaqbal newspaper published on Monday Wikileaks cable 413, issued by the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon saying that the Free Patriotic Movement’s (FPM) leader Michel Aoun accused Hezbollah of being a terrorist organization, pointing that after the agreement with the party, General Secretary Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was committed to remove Syria and Iran from his political agenda.
According to Al-Mustaqbal the cable reported that on February, 13 2006, the American Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffery Feltman met General Aoun in Rabieh where the latter expressed his dissatisfaction with the Hezbollah-FPM agreement criticizing the US foreign policy and its role in the Middle East.
Defending the agreement with Hezbollah, Aoun told Feltman, “It will force Hezbollah to act as a Lebanese party and not a Syrian or Iranian one and that will lead to bigger compromises; they didn’t even mind mentioning Israel instead of Occupied Palestine” According to the cable, Aoun confessed to Feltman that the 10th item in the agreement should have been written and elaborated on three fundamental points, rather than its current form, “When it comes to the Defensive Strategy we should have mentioned that strict regulation would be imposed on Hezbollah’s right to possess weapons, to recognize along with the Party that it is the state’s duty to protect to country and finally we should have mentioned that any further discussion regarding the Defensive Strategy will be done through a national dialogue”.
Aoun added that any Syrian efforts to impose a political agenda on Hezbollah will fail, as the FPM managed through the agreement to change the party’s priorities and focus more on the domestic scene rather than the international one.
According to the Wikileaks cable, General Aoun apologized to Feltman for his latest statements regarding foreign hostages in Lebanon during the civil war era, saying that he is a loyal friend to the American people and understands their pain during the past events, as he praised American sacrifice for the sake of Lebanon. Aoun told Feltman in this regard that his words were taken out of context saying that he never did and will not support such actions.
According to As-Safir daily, the U.S. Embassy in
Lebanon will not consider any measures to cancel Maronite Patriarch Bshara
Rai’s visa for the United States, pointing out that until now the White House has
not scheduled any meeting for Rai with the American President Barack Obama.
Sources told the newspaper that Bkerke will
reconsider Washington’s stop during Rai’s visit, since meetings with 2nd
rank American officials were scheduled as the Patriarch requested to meet with
President Obama.
As-Safir added that the U.S. administration
expressed its reservation and dissatisfaction with Rai’s latest statements
regarding Hezbollah’s weapons, adding that it clearly affected the Patriarch’s
tour and meetings in Washington.
Sources close to American diplomats in Lebanon told Al-Akhbar newspaper that U.S. officials in the American administration are “very impressed” with Lebanese PM Najib Mikati latest stances especially those opposing Hezbollah and its allies in the cabinet, and his confirmation that Lebanon will pay its share of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s funding.
As-Safir
newspaper is still unveiling hidden stories from July War written by Speaker
Nabih Berri and narrated by Minister of Health Ali Hassan Khalil.
Khalil revealed
that the American Ambassador to Lebanon Jeffery Feltman asked to urgently meet
with speaker Nabih Berri at the end of the war, although they both met on
Monday 24th August 2006 with the American Foreign Secretary
Condoleezza Rice.
Khalil added
that Feltman told Berri during the meeting that the Israeli Army is ready to
withdraw from Shebaa Farms, pointing out that they are not asking for Hezbollah
to redeploy north of Litany River, but demand the complete disarmament of the
Party south of the river.
Feltman
confirmed to Berri that Rice will be back in Beirut after the Rome conference.
According to
Hassan Khalil, Berri did not comment on any of Feltman’s demands and was
surprised how the Israelis were ready to withdraw from Shebaa farms while some
parties in Lebanon question the ownership of this land and ask for proof that
it belongs to Lebanon.