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.
Al-Hayat Daily reported that caretaker Health Minister Ali
Hassan Khalil has proposed to MP Fouad Siniora an extension for two years to the Parliament's mandate, noting that the minister has already presented this proposal to President
Michel Sleiman who rejected it.
Khalil stressed that Speaker Nabih Berri sees a six-year
extension not enough to reach a new electoral law and to ease the political
tension prevailing over the country.
In this context, well-informed sources told the newspaper
that Siniora told Khalil that the Future bloc will hold a meeting with its
allies and other political forces to discuss this proposal.
However, sources close to Berri said that Amal Movement and
Hezbollah are ready to adopt a two-year extension if the majority of the blocs
agree, even if the head of Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Aoun remained
against it.
Syriac League President Habib
Afram called on the Vatican to grant the Christians in the Middle East more
attention, in order to activate their role and help them protect their lands.
Afram told
Acharq al-Awsat
described the efforts deployed by the Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Beshara
Boutros Rai as “magnificent”, stressing that the Christians are not asking for
any protection, but for diversity.
“We need a new East, we need
a State, a law, freedoms and equality,” Afram said.
The League’s President recalled
the kidnapping of the two bishops in Aleppo, criticizing the Christians' reactions toward this issue, saying that they are not enough.
A source close to the meetings held in Tripoli in an attempt
to reach a cease-fire agreement, revealed that a “stormy meeting” was held,
on Wednesday evening, between the head of the Information branch Imad Othman and Sheikhs and leaders of armed groups of Bab al-Tebbaneh, where the
Sheikhs called for a radical solution for the dispute.
In a statement to
Acharq al-Awsat Daily, the source pointed
out that the meeting aimed at finding a solution for the conflict between Jabal
Mohsen and Bab al-Tebbaneh which dates back to the 1980s, noting that the conferees
said that the armed members of the Arab Democratic Party, who support the Syrian regime and control Jabal Mohsen militarily,
should be deported from the city, in order to restore peace.
The source added that another conferee called for
prosecuting Refaat Eid, on charges of threatening Tripoli’s security.
According to the same source, who refused to reveal his identity, the leaders of Bab al-Tebbaneh’s armed groups are insisting on implementing these
conditions, and will not accept another solutions; otherwise the conflict will remain.