Crusades, Islam Expansion Traced in Lebanon DNA

A new study has found genetic traces of both the arrival of the Crusades and of the expansion of Islam in Lebanon.

The findings not only confirm well-documented history but also present a rare genetic trail showing the movement of two major religions into Lebanon, scientists say.

“Lebanon has always had a rich history of receiving different cultures,” said the study’s lead author, Pierre Zalloua, an associate professor at the Lebanese American University,

“This study tells us that some of them did not just conquer and leave behind castles. They left a subtle genetic connection as well.”

(Related photos: “Lebanon’s Ruins Survive Recent Bombings” [August 2006].)

Zalloua and his colleagues at the National Geographic Society’s Genographic Project were conducting a broader survey of Middle Eastern populations when they stumbled upon their finding. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)

Unlike previous studies that have relied on mitochondrial DNA—which is passed on maternally—to unlock secrets of human migration, researchers in the current study focused on the paternally provided Y chromosome, as it is thought to provide more detailed information.

The study appears in the current issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Crusaders and Muslims

The distribution of genetic markers at first appeared virtually indistinguishable across the Christian, Druze, and Muslim populations of Lebanon. But a closer look at the Y chromosomes of 926 Lebanese men sampled in the study revealed something intriguing.

“We noticed some interesting lineages in the dataset. Among Lebanese Christians, in particular, we found higher frequency of a genetic marker—R1b—that we see typically see only in Western Europe,” said Spencer Wells, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence.

The study matched the western European Y-chromosome lineage against thousands of people in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Wells said the lineage was seen enriched to a higher frequency only in the Christian populations in Lebanon and was not seen in the Muslim population.

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Criminals killed Lebanon’s ex-PM, Canadian chief investigator tells UN

In his
first report to the United Nations, Canadian chief investigator Daniel
Bellemare said that a criminal network is responsible for the murder of
former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, and others killed in a
wave of deadly attacks.

But the long-awaited list of suspects in
the 2005 assassination of Hariri was absent from the report, and
Bellemare called for patience to give his independent UN commission
time to complete its work.

“The commission can now confirm, on
the basis of available evidence, that a network of individuals acted in
concert,” said the report, sent to the UN Security Council yesterday.
And it added, the “Hariri network” is also linked to some of 20 other
murder cases.

Although the probe is moving too slowly for some
victims’ families – as well as opponents of Syria, who accuse the
former occupying country of silencing a prominent critic – the wheels
of justice are grinding too quickly for others.

While Bellemare
continues his investigations, he is a crucial step closer to taking his
place as prosecutor of a new Special Tribunal for Lebanon, based at The
Hague, Netherlands. This week, the UN announced it had secured more
than $60 million to launch the court, and the Dutch government had
offered a rent-free headquarters.

Hariri was one of 23 people who
died in a Beirut suicide bombing three years ago. Since his
assassination, 61 people have been killed and close to 500 injured in
violence that has undermined the country, which had barely recovered
from a catastrophic civil war when it was caught in a conflict between
Israel and the Hezbollah militia.

The tribunal that will bring
justice to murder victims cannot get in gear until the investigation
yields results. Bellemare said its priority is to gather more
information about the network, its scope and participants, as well as
identifying the still-unknown suicide bomber sent to attack Hariri.

But
he admitted a “deteriorating security environment” in Lebanon is making
the work harder. A political power struggle to elect a new president
has sparked violent street clashes and shootings.

The
investigation has stoked the smouldering unrest. The former head of the
investigation, Serge Brammertz, pointed to Hariri’s support for a UN
resolution demanding withdrawal of Syria and other foreign troops from
Lebanon as a possible motive for his killing.

Bellemare said
investigators had made one trip to Syria, and that the probe had
“generally satisfactory co-operation” from Damascus.

Lebanon’s
largest political faction, Hezbollah, has been linked with Syria as
well as Iran. The country is split among majority Shiite, Sunni and
Christian factions that have shared power uneasily since the end of the
civil war in 1989.

The commission’s June 15 mandate could be extended if not enough progress has been made.

“The
commission has continued to prepare for the transition to the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon, bearing in mind that terrorist investigations are
lengthy and complex,” said the Bellemare report.

Source: The Star

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Israel still hampering efforts to clear unexploded ordnance - UNMACC

SOUTH LEBANON: Nearly a year and a half after the 2006 war with Israel came to an end, efforts to clear South Lebanon of unexploded ordnance are still being hampered by Israel’s refusal to provide key information to the United Nations, the UN Mine Action Coordination Center’s (UNMACC) media and clearance officer Dalia Farran told The Daily Star on Tuesday.

“Israel is still refusing to inform the UN of the geographic spots it littered with cluster bombs, and of the quantity and type of such ordnance,” she said.

The UN still does not even know the number of weapons Israel dropped north and south the Litani River, Farran added.

“There are millions or hundreds of thousands … we do not know, despite our repetitive calls on Israel to hand over maps of the planted mines and cluster bombs. All we know is that we could get rid of 141,000 cluster bombs. Some of them have exploded due to high temperatures, heavy rainfalls and floods,” Farran said, adding that new locations of cluster bombs were still being discovered.

“We located a new area filled with bomblets a few days ago, increasing the number of bomb-stricken locations to 965, i.e. a surface of 39 millions square meters,” she said. “We have succeeded in clearing 41 percent of that surface.”

The weapons have already killed 289 people, Farran said, adding that they “have claimed the lives of 27 civilians and 47 soldiers from the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL.”

Asked about the cost of clearing operations, she said: “Some $60 million have been offered to us by the international community. The UAE is the first contributor in the mine-clearing operations, while Holland is the main contributor in the operations of cluster bombs clearance.”

Lebanon’s power struggle: One good turn deserves another

By The Daily Star

Two of the most important players on the opposition side of Lebanon’s continuing power struggle have moved the entire debate in a saner direction over the past couple of days. Both Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hizbullah, and Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Amal movement, sought to calm fears that the crisis was on the point of degenerating into violence. They will need to do more, and their counterparts in the ruling March 14 Forces coalition will need to respond intelligently, but any break from the heated partisan rhetoric of recent months has to be viewed as an opportunity to build momentum in the opposite direction.

In his speech on Monday, Nasrallah went out of his way to reiterate that his party was irrevocably committed to a political solution to the impasse. The sayyed has made this point before, but given the preponderance of armed might at his disposal, it is important for him to repeat this pledge at every opportunity - and especially when tensions are high. Given Nasrallah’s reputation as a man of his word, this has already served to soothe a widespread sense of foreboding that the failure of the upcoming Arab League summit would presage a new and more dangerous phase of the contest.

On Sunday, Berri articulated a similarly conciliatory message, declaring that the only thing to follow an unhelpful summit would be a renewed effort by himself to foster dialogue between the March 14 and March 8 camps. Both Berri and Nasrallah have indicated that talks would revolve around two key hurdles, the creation of a unity government and the promulgation of a new electoral law, considered crucial to any attempt at defusing the crisis.

These are things that needed to be said, but both men must keep in mind that previous periods of hopeful optimism have been poisoned by a variety of factors, both local and foreign. The dialogue initiated in 2006, for example, foundered on rote recitations of dogmatic positions and was abandoned altogether after the war with Israel. One element that has been missing is a formal structure that can sustain a process of dialogue through the inevitable rough spots; another is an ironclad commitment from all participants that they will stick with the talks.

Before that can happen, it is incumbent on March 14 to reciprocate by answering the gestures made by Nasrallah and Berri in kind. This would serve as a confidence-building measure, but also to get past the tiresome reliance of both sides on empty slogans. Only when each has fully defined its goals and visions will they be able to make a realistic attempt at reconciliation.

Lebanon speaker calls the government ‘a cancerous cell’

Beirut- Berri said he is positive that the
government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora will not attend the summit
in Damascus and warned that Lebanon’s absence from the summit will
isolate it.

In a live interview with New TV station Berri said that he against
the representation of Lebanon at the summit by anyone who does not have
an official title. As an example he gave Army General Michel Suleiman ,
Resigned Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh and Former president Amin
Gemayel etc…

As soon as Berri started his interview gun shots were fired by his
supporters in Beirut despite his usual appeal against such action. He
explained the heavy gunfire by his supporters as an old bad custom but
he will try to avoid this kind of celebration in the future by
boycotting TV talk shows. After he completed his interview there was
more gunfire which prompted him to declare that this will be his last
interview to avoid the heavy gunfire .

Regarding the recent news about possible government expansion /
restoration he said this will be illegitimate . He added that the
Government of Lebanon is unconstitutional and illegal but nevertheless
it is a reality

Berri accused the ruling majority of blocking the presidential
elections. He claimed that when the opposition first nominated Suleiman
for the presidency the ruling majority labeled him as a Syrian agent.

Berri called on the Arab nations at the summit to launch an open and
candid dialogue with Iran and to discuss a strategic road map for the
Arab-Israeli conflict.

Berry said both Syria and Saudi Arabia have influence in Lebanon and they can help solve the political crises

Berri confirmed that there won’t be a war in Lebanon . He said both
Amal and Hezbollah are paying for their victory in the 2006 war

Berri said he thought that both the opposition and the majority have
agreed on a government of national unity that is based on ten ministers
each for the opposition, the ruling majority and the president and
accused the majority of reneging on the agreement and blocking the
election of Michel Suleiman . He said that he can still end the crises
if the majority will agree to this formula.

General Michel Aoun wanted the president to include one member of
the opposition in his list of ten ministers. Aoun offered to give the
president a list of 3 opposition ministers and ask the president to
pick one. This was rejected by the ruling majority on the basis that
this will represent a veto power for the opposition, an idea that has
been rejected right from the beginning.

Berry said neither he nor Aoun will propose any initiative after the
summit in Damascus . But he said he intends to have direct talks with
Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia after the summit .

Berri does not expect any initiative from the summit in Damascus over the situation in Lebanon .

Berri said he will call for launching a dialogue over the elections’
law after the Arab Summit. The opposition has already proposed the 1960
electoral law , but the patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and the majority have
rejected to use this law as it is, and said they will consider it if it
was modified . The purpose of the dialogue will be to agree on the
modifications for this law. Berri said he and Sfeir have a fair
relationship

Berri revealed that it was him who asked General Aoun to negotiate
on behalf of the opposition, after the French initiative failed to
materialize. He said the Hezbollah led opposition enjoy very good
relations with Aoun.

Berri attacked the Siniora government calling it “a cancerous cell that eats away the country”.

The Siniora government was considered a government of National Unity
by the majority and opposition until it was time to discuss the
International Tribunal. This is when all the Shiite ministers resigned
, since Syria was accused of being behind the assassination of Rafik
Hariri and the other crimes.

Berri urged all the Lebanese political factions to work non-stop on
reaching a consensus and elect a president . He said that political
moderation is the only way to reach an agreement in Lebanon. He added
“If the political factions reach an agreement I won’t postpone the
presidential election session”. He said neither the opposition nor the
ruling majority are traitors , but it is the greed that is blocking the
solution to the political crises.

Berri accused UN’s Terje Rod Larson of working towards holding an
international conference over the implementation of UN Security Council
Resolution 1559. He attacked the resolution saying” it will lead to
Lebanon’s destruction”.

This resolution prohibits interference by foreign powers in Lebanese
internal affairs and calls for disarming of all militias and resistance
groups in Lebanon. The resolution was intended to restrict Syria from
interfering in Lebanon and for disarming Hezbollah which is the only
armed group in Lebanon . All the other groups handed in their arms to
the government in 1990 after the end of the civil war.

With regards to the assassination of General Francoise Hajj he said
” we know who the perpetrators are ” but did not disclose any details