Excerpts: Lebanon courts Syria.Banned Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leaders
released.Egypt's Foreign Ministry supports anti- Israeli bias April 06, 2010

+++SOURCE: JORDAN TIMES 6 April '10:"In Lebanon, all roads lead once again
to
Damascus",By Rana Moussaoui,Agence France-Presse

QUOTE: "Syria paticipates in the Lebanese government:By proxy( through its
ally Hizbullah)"

FULL TEXT:BEIRUT - Five years after Syrian troops withdrew from their
country, Lebanese leaders who were once Damascus' staunchest critics are
scrambling to heal rifts as Syria breaks out of isolation, analysts say.
With nations like the United States and France warming up to Damascus, the
Lebanese leaders are rekindling ties with Syrian President Bashar Assad,
whom they initially blamed for the 2005 murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
"The Lebanese went too far in their hostility towards Damascus and have
realised the international community has since let them down," said Fadia
Kiwan, head of political science at Beirut's Saint Joseph University.
"The Lebanese are confused," Kiwan told AFP. "Countries like the United
States, which mobilised them against Syria in the days of former president
George W. Bush, changed course after the election of President Barack
Obama."
Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain ex-premier, is readying for his
second visit to Syria since taking office in November. He had initially
accused Assad of ordering the February 14, 2005 Beirut bombing that killed
his father.
Once Lebanon's main powerbroker, Syria has consistently denied involvement
in the murder but pulled its troops out of Lebanon in April 2005, ending 29
years of military and political dominance over its smaller neighbour.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a breakthrough with his 2008 visit to
Damascus, the first such diplomatic trip by a Western head of state since
Hariri's assassination.
US officials have also increased their stops in Syria, and Washington
recently announced it is planning to send its first ambassador to Damascus
since 2005.
Influential Druze chief Walid Jumblatt, formerly one of Lebanon's most
outspoken critics of Syria, last week visited Assad in Damascus for the
first time in years, saying the past was "over". Jumblatt had previously
accused Syria of the Hariri murder, branding Assad "the dictator of
Damascus... a savage... an Israeli product, a liar... and a criminal". He
had also blamed Syria for the 1977 assassination of his father Kamal
Jumblatt, but last month said his attack on Assad was "unworthy and unusual,
unsuited to the ethics of politics even during a quarrel".
Jumblatt began to show signs of an about-face after last June's general
election, when he defected from a Western-backed parliamentary majority led
by Hariri to reconcile with the rival Hizbollah camp backed by Syria and
Iran.
Tensions between the two camps led to week-long battles in May 2008 that
left more than 100 dead and brought the country to the brink of civil war.
But as regional and international politics shift, leaders like Hariri and
Jumblatt have been forced to soften their stance against their more powerful
neighbour.
Observers say Hariri is caught in a delicate balancing act and sources close
to the premier have said his main backer, Saudi Arabia, has urged him to
“bury the hatchet” with Syria.
“Hariri for one has unequivocally distanced himself from his allies in the
[anti-Syrian] parliamentary majority through his truce with the Syrians,”
Kiwan said.
But many in the Hariri-led camp fear the premier’s rapprochement with
Damascus is a sign Syria has regained its influence over Lebanon.
“Today, Damascus has made it clear that it defeated Washington in the battle
for Lebanon,” said Ghassan Al Azzi, a Lebanese University political science
professor.
“Syria still sees Lebanon as its back yard and that view is now reinforced
by the fact that Western governments are requesting Damascus help maintain
stability in Lebanon” and neighbouring countries like Iraq, Azzi told AFP.
Analyst Emile Khoury voiced similar sentiments in a commentary published in
the French-language daily L’Orient-Le Jour.
“Syria is back on track” in its involvement in Lebanese politics, Khoury
wrote.
“The days when Syria used the stick in Lebanon are over as neither its army
nor its intelligence services are present in Lebanon,” he added. “This time
around, Damascus is using the carrot.
“It is no longer a question of giving the orders in Lebanon, but rather how
Syria participates in the Lebanese government: By proxy [through its ally
Hizbollah] or by negotiation” with Hariri or Jumblatt, he wrote.

+++SOURCE: JORDAN TIMES 6 April '10:"Egypt court orders release of
Brotherhood leader",Agence France Presse
SUBJECT Egyptian court releases 16 senior banned Muslim Brotherhood members.
FULL TEXT:CAIRO (AFP) - An Egyptian court has ordered the release of 16
senior members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood who are accused of forming
terrorist cells, the Islamist group said on Monday(5 April). Police had
arrested Brotherhood deputy chief Mahmoud Ezzat and 15 senior members in
February on charges of forming “secret terrorist groups” and plotting to
overthrow the government. The order by the Cairo criminal court came on
Sunday, the group said on its website. A security official confirmed the
order. A son of detained politburo member Essam Erian told AFP that he was
expecting his father to be freed once bail was posted but this could not be
done on Monday(5 April) due to government offices being closed for a
national holiday. The Brotherhood, which says it wants an Islamic state
achieved peacefully, has denied all charges against those arrested

+++SOURCE: EGYPTIAN GAZETTE 4 April '10:"Egypt lashes out at France over
film
fest"
FULL TEXT:EGYPT'S Foreign Ministry on Sunday(4 April) slammed as
“unacceptable” French comments against Egyptian filmmakers who boycotted a
film, whose director was Israeli, at a festival organised in Cairo ,Egyptian
director Kamla Abu Zikri
QUOTE" Egyptian filmakers [attack because] they refuse to normalizze
relations with Israel"
"The French stance is surprising for us. They should have done something
to correct their mistake," Egypt's Foreign Minister spokesman Hossam Zaki
said.
He added that the Egyptian filmmakers did what they believed the right
thing. Egyptian directors Kamla Abu Zikri, Atef Ahmed and actor Asser Yassin
who were to sit on the jury of a French film festival in Cairo boycotted the
event because of an Israeli entry, saying they refuse to normalise relations
with Israel.
They said they were boycotting the “Rencontres de l’Image” festival
organised by the French Embassy’s Cultural Centre (CFCC) in Cairo from April
8-15 after finding out that one of the directors, Keren Ben Rafael, is
Israeli.
"Commenting on Egyptian filmmakers' decision to boycott the festival is
unacceptable," Zaki said.
The CFCC removed the Israeli film from its schedule before it stepped back
and re-scheduled it defying the Egyptian filmmakers.
The festival programme had not mentioned Ben Rafael’s nationality, only
that she graduated from a prestigious French film school.The decision to
quit “is not anti-Jewish; it is to protest against Israeli policies”, Yassin
said. “I respect France’s freedom to choose the films it wants to show in a
festival it is organising,” he added, “but I also have the right to take a
decision which I feel is right”.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel in 1979;
but the decision has always been unpopular, particularly in cultural circles
that reject such ties and refuse to show Israeli works in Egypt.
=========
Sue Lerner, Associate, IMRA