Daily Star - Law to let Lebanese who fled to Israel come home, November 3rd 2011

BEIRUT: Parliament passed Wednesday a draft law facilitating the return of Lebanese who fled to Israel in the wake of its withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000.

Under the urgent draft law, which was submitted by MPs from Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, Lebanese who joined the South Lebanon Army militia or collaborated with it will be arrested by Lebanese authorities on the border upon their return and tried under Lebanese law.

As for their families and other Lebanese who left for Israel, an amendment to the bill allows them to return under certain mechanisms and regulations to be stipulated later in decrees issued by the Cabinet.

The amendment was made after concerns were raised by some MPs about the possibility that some of those who fled to Israel could have been indoctrinated or recruited to spy for Israel.

The law stipulates that the return should take place within one year of the issuance of the decrees.

In 2000, 6,500 SLA members who fought alongside Israel during its occupation of south Lebanon left with their families to Israel and an estimated 2,500 remain there. Some have left for third countries such as the U.S. and Canada. It is not clear exactly how many have returned to Lebanon, but some sources put the number at 2,000.

Tyre MP Nawwaf Musawi, from Hezbollah’s bloc, endorsed the draft law, adding that he relied on the “patriotism” of Aoun to cement the patriotic feelings of returnees.

Parliament endorsed 17 other draft laws during the legislative session chaired by Speaker Nabih Berri.

MPs agreed “in principle” on an urgent draft law to pay compensation for Lebanese who were held in Syrian prisons, but further details need to be tackled by Parliament’s Administration and Justice Committee and the proposal will be on the agenda of the upcoming Parliament session.

MPs endorsed a draft law to pay around LL100 billion to military personnel and civilians who worked for the army from 1996-1998 in addition to their basic end of service indemnity.

Also, the legislature passed a draft law to boost the retirement funds of the Beirut and Tripoli Orders of Physicians by imposing a 2 percent fee on pharmaceutical companies and those selling medical equipment.

MPs endorsed an urgent draft law to reduce penalties on delinquent payments of vehicle maintenance fees, traffic fines and municipal fees by 90 percent on the condition that they are paid before Dec. 31.

Bickering was not absent during the session, as 11 MPs from the opposition March 14 parties lashed out at the Cabinet, citing its failure to prevent the kidnappings of Syrian dissidents or tackle pressing economic problems.

“What remains of integrity in Lebanon when Syrian dissidents are kidnapped from … their homes and streets by security bodies and handed over to be liquidated?” asked Chouf MP Marwan Hamade.A report by Ashraf Rifi, the director general of the Internal Security Forces, maintained last month that ISF members who work at the Syrian Embassy in Beirut had kidnapped Syrian dissidents.

“What remains of integrity in Lebanon when students marking the birthday of a martyr are assaulted?” Hamade continued, referring to a clash between supporters of the Amal Movement and those of the Future Movement who were marking the birthday of late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri at the Lebanese American University campus in Beirut Tuesday.

Each side accused the other of inciting the incident, with March 8 students accusing guards of the nearby residence of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in the neighborhood of Qoreitem, alongside Future Movement students, of assaulting them. Eight March 8 students were taken to hospital.

Berri promised to hold a question-and-answer session for the Cabinet after Eid al-Adha, which falls Sunday.

After listening silently to remarks made by their rivals, March 8 MPs hit back.

Bint Jbeil MP Hasan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah official, reiterated accusations against the guards of Hariri’s residence of involvement in the incident, describing Hariri’s mansion as a “security perimeter.”

“Yesterday, Lebanese students were assaulted in their university campus and a number of them were injured because a security perimeter is now outside of state authority,” Fadlallah said.

“Hasan is the last one who has the right to talk about security perimeters,” interrupted an agitated Hamade, after which Berri intervened to calm tempers.

March 14 groups regularly criticize Hezbollah for maintaining a “security perimeter” in its stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Another face-off took place between Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar and Ammar Houri, a Future Movement lawmaker.

Ammar said that Solidere had “violated” Beirut. The brainchild of late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Solidere was authorized by Parliament to develop and own downtown Beirut, with original owners receiving stock in exchange for property.

“No one cares about the rights of these people,” Ammar said.

But Houri snapped back, saying that Beirut was “violated on May 7,” referring to when pro-Hezbollah gunmen took over large swathes of West Beirut in May 2008, when the Cabinet of then-Prime Minister Fouad Siniora decided to dismantle Hezbollah’s telecommunications network. The speaker intervened again: “We were all violated in 1982, when Israel invaded Lebanon.”

After attending the session, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Berri and Siniora held a closed-door meeting in Parliament which lasted for around 45 minutes.

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