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Established to promote a lasting peace between Lebanon, Israel, and Syria. |
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Details Not Included in the BBC's Attack on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon The release in Lebanon's Daily Star June 26, 2001 reveals that former MP Elias Hobeika, the commander of the Phalange militia forces in Sabra and Chatilla, who carried out the killings [at Sabra & Chatilla] will not be questioned nor face prosecution, according to a source at the military court. Coming shortly after Lebanese sources revealed the existence of numerous witnesses ready to testify as to the true cause of the killings as instigated by Syria through their stooge Elias Hobeika, this can only be accepted as verification of the charges leveled against Syria and Hobeika by the Lebanon Foundation for Peace. It also highlights the Syrian domination of Lebanon by their secret service in Beirut, headed up by Syrian Brigadier General Ghazy Khanon - who directed the courts not to question Hobeika. Numerous eyewitnesses and Hobeika's closest confidante and bodyguard Cobra (Robert Hatem) have revealed a systematic series of events fomented by Syria in order to discredit Ariel Sharon. Cobra authored a book called "From Israel to Damascus" [copyright 1999] that describes Hobeika's culpability in the Sabra and Chatilla killings and much more. Hobeika went into a rage over the book and led a campaign of intimidation and threats against anyone who used the information. For example, Paris AFP reported in August, 1999: Karam, director of the Arabic-language magazine al-Hawadess and the French-language Revue du Liban, is being sued along with publisher Said Nasreddin, for having published an interview with Robert Hatem, former body guard of one-time minister Elias Hobeika, who wrote a book about the pro-Syrian politician which has been banned in Lebanon. RSF said two other journalists, Paul Salem and Jamal Mroue, respectively owner and publisher of the monthly Lebanon Report, were also being sued for publishing extracts of Hatem's book "From Israel to Damascus." Again in July 1999, Lebanon's Daily Star wrote: The magazines, Le Revue du Liban and al-Hawadeth, allegedly ran interviews with Robert Hatem, author of an unauthorized biography on Baabda MP Elias Hobeika, "From Israel to Damascus," which has been banned locally. Hobeika this week also filed suit against Karam in the case. The Lebanon Report's Paul Salem and Jamil K. Mroue have been charged by Beirut Public Prosecutor Abdullah Bitar, reportedly acting upon a request from Information Minister Anwar Khalil, for running information connected to the book. Lebanon's al-Manar Television [a voice for HizbAllah] broadcast on December 1998: WARLORDS MAKE WAY FOR TECHNOCRATS An unprofessional BBC, ill prepared, ill informed, and ill advised, did not interview nor attempt to meet any of the in-exile Lebanese numerous eyewitnesses to Sabra and Chatilla, yet released a series of unfounded charges without any foundation in fact nor did they address as a breech of human rights the massacres to which the Christians of Lebanon were subjected to by the minions of Yasir Arafat. A Lebanese eye witness Nagi N. Najjar, Director of the Lebanon Foundation for Peace, said: It is the PLO, and all the Palestinians armed gangs that started the killings in Lebanon, establishing roadblocks, killing Christians during confession in Beirut, raping young girls in the fallen Christian town of Damour, Beirut and Mount Lebanon. Where was the Belgium Court then? Why was the BBC not covering Arafat and his murderers slaughtering Lebanon, Christian women and children? The entire book "From Israel to Damascus" is also available on any computer connected to the internet and at no charge. It can be reached at: http://www.israeltodamascus.com Was this information well known and how hard would it have been for the BBC to uncover the misdeeds of Yasir Arafat, Syria, and Hobeika? Based on Mr. Najjar's open letter to Human Rights Watch, a few days ago, this email arrived [excerpt]: X-Sender: amayreh@mail.p-ol.com Dear Mr. Najjar: My name is Khalid Amayreh, I'm a Palestinian journalist based in Jerusalem. I've read your letter to Mr. Megaly of the Human Rights Watch on the subject of the Sabra and Shatilla massacres. I agree with you that Yaser Arafat and his PLO committed atrocities against Christians (and nonChristians) in Lebanon. That was terrible, indeed, and Arafat is not Mahatma Ghandi. Mr. Amayreh goes on to argue that this should be an ethical issue and all parties involved should be brought to trial. Nevertheless, this is after the fact as the BBC made it a political issue and Lebanon's Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri, is considering a law suit without Elias Hobeika's presence, hardly a fair trial. Hobeika has a long and sordid past, including old links with the Israeli Mossad that he tried a few years ago to reactivate. Western intelligence sources revealed to a private agency that Hobeika as "Electrical Minister and in Charge of Hydraulic Resources" passed on information to Israel concerning the electrical targets bombed by Israel last year; however, he was no longer trusted by Israel and they cut off all contacts with him as they felt that Hobeika's information was planned between Hobeika and the Syrian Secret Service. Again, this year when the Sabra and Chatilla affair broke, Hobeika contacted Israel and again attempted to reestablish communications, as he knew he would be the prime target in any in depth investigation. No longer trusted, Israel severed all contact with Hobeika, leaving him with his Syrian overlords who also know of his triple agent activities. Why the BBC printed information derived from a traitor, a known murderer, and ignored Christian witnesses who were directly involved is a question to be answered by the BBC. How was Elias Hobeika described in the BBC interview?: "KEANE: But the man accused of leading the slaughter is still living in East Beirut. His name is Elias Hobeika. Hobeika eventually switched sides, abandoning the Israelis, offering his services to the Syrians and becoming leader of the militia. Elie Hobeika's reputation as a ruthless killer makes him a man still feared in Beirut." Is Hobeika even capable of truthfulness? Here is a statement from Hobeika to me September 17, 2000 regarding the Sabra and Chatilla episode: hobeika@attglobal.net wrote in message: "I don't know what REALLY happened here, ..." Hobeika has a long and sordid record reaching back many years and has made a number of enemies, powerful enemies that hate him. HizbAllah, for example, is angry at Hobeika for his part in the killing of Shiites over a number of years. This animosity publicly surfaced in August, 2000 when the Tehran Iran Daily reported: Al-Watan Al-Arabi, a Paris-based weekly, reported that the Lebanese Phalangist murdered four Iranian diplomats who were kidnapped in north Beirut in 1982. The Phalangists were allied to the Zionist regime. It quoted Robierre Hatam as saying that Elie Hobeika, a former Phalangist commandeer and presently a Lebanese MP, ordered the murder of the Iranian diplomats and an IRNA correspondent after taking them into custody. Again in September, 2000 the friction with Iran and HizbAllah surfaced when the Lebanese Daily Star revealed: [Secretary General of HizbAllah] Nasrallah also commented on last Sunday's polls, saying that Hizbullah had kept its promise to vote for allies outside the party. "In Baabda, we gave our votes to those who were promised them," he said, referring to the defeat of MP Elie Hobeika, who failed to secure support from Hizbullah's cadres. He shrugged off criticism that the Baalbek-Hermel candidate ticket backed by Hizbullah constituted a "bus" that would roll over its competition merely for the sake of winning seats. "It's not a bus, but a political alliance that will fulfil its political and development-related responsibilities," he said. Elie Hobeika lost the election, is afraid of HizbAllah, and this is a major reason he has attempted to reestablish contacts with his old contacts in Israel. Hobeika understands that his days are numbered and is seeking alternatives to his Syrian masters. Now that Lebanon is preparing to try Ariel Sharon as a war criminal, we must ask how did Lebanon and Syria react to Elias Hobeika whose primary role in directing the killings is well documented, the BBC transcript says: "KEANE: The legacy of Sabra and Shatila hasn't damaged the careers of the central characters. Elie Hobeika became a minister for refugees in post war Lebanon." Unusual questions were asked in the BBC program that raised questions that were never pursued and effectively ignored: "NABIL AHMED: The impression of Phalangists was like they're basically killers. The minute they would get hold of a Palestinian they would kill." "McCULLIN: People who committed the acts of murder that I saw that day were wearing crucifixions and were calling themselves Christians." The BBC program presents the Christian Philangists as unbridled killers on a murder spree and for no apparent reason. Again the most obvious facet of any murder was ignored by the BBC and that is motivation, instead they leave the observers struggling with a presentation that displays Christians as irrational killers, yet enigmatically a group that focused exclusively on Palestinians. The Palestinians are presented as a passive group of innocent victims who are targeted for no known reason as if they were in Disney World and attacked by a group of Christian serial killers. One must now assume there were no reasons for King Hussein killing ten thousand Palestinians while driving them out of Jordan in September 1970, or why Kuwait hates them as much as they do, or why Libya has driven out so many, stranding them in the desert. or why a Muslim controlled Lebanon today also wants them out of the country. Even the Syrians butchered hundreds of them in northern Lebanon and forced them to leave by ship to Tunis. And, of course, Israel's struggles with a murderous PLO replete with suicide bombers who target all civilians to make a political point. Mr. Najjar graphically displays evidence and willing eyewitnesses to the fact that the Palestinians betrayed their host nation and under the direct orders of Yasir Arafat committed atrocities against their Christian hosts and in return for a hospitable welcome when they were driven out of other countries. The Christians reacted under the incitement of Syrian operative [unknown in 1982] Elias Hobeika and with the resultant killings. It required years until the Lebanese Forces discovered Hobeika's deep link with Syria and severed relationships by means of a bloody military coup that resulted in Christian community 500 dead and over 2,000 wounded. This military coup was known as the "Operation of January 15, 1986," where Samir Geagea threw out Hobeika from the Christian areas resulting in Hobeika seeking refuge in Syria. After entering Syria, Hobeika was used by the Syrian Secret Service into operations involving assassinations and car bombs against the Christian community until Syria returned Hobeika to Beirut with the position of minister in the Lebanese cabinet after the fall of the military government of General Michel Aoun October 13, 1990. The only possible conclusion is that blame must be placed on Yasir Arafat and Syria, for provoking these events. Massacres and Crimes Committed by the PLO and Syrians in Lebanon Between 1975 and 1990.
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