BEIRUT: Lebanon’s government and central bank are responsible for an unprecedented financial crisis that has impoverished the majority of the population, the UN said Wednesday.
The report, drafted by the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said that the crisis was “manufactured” by failed government policies and it urged the country to “change course,” days ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for May 15.
Since 2019, Lebanon’s currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value against the dollar, prices have risen by more than 200 percent and the poverty rate has shot beyond 80 percent of the population.
“The misery inflicted on the population can be reversed with leadership that places social justice, transparency and accountability at the core of its actions,” the report contended.
Special rapporteur Olivier De Schutter visited the country in November last year to assess the impact of the economic crisis.
Nine in 10 people are finding it difficult to get by on their income and more than six in 10 would move abroad if they could, the report said.
“The economic crisis was entirely avoidable; indeed, it was manufactured by failed government policies,” the report said.
It accused the central bank of an “accounting sleight of hand regarding its losses.... that covertly created a massive public debt... which will condemn the Lebanese for generations.”
The UN report comes as Lebanon readies for parliamentary elections on May 15, the first since the onset of the crisis.
While independent candidates are expected to improve slightly on their 2018 showing, experts believe the elections will largely consolidate the status quo in a country beholden to sectarian politics.
BEIRUT: More than 75,000 troops and security personnel will be deployed at polling stations and key sites around Lebanon from late on Saturday on the eve of crucial parliamentary elections in the country.
Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi announced the large-scale deployment after meeting with military commanders overseeing security arrangements for Sunday’s poll.
More than 3.6 million people are expected to cast their votes in 15 electoral districts around Lebanon, according to interior ministry estimates.
Friday was the final day of campaigning for the candidates’ electoral machines, with party leaders and the political forces supporting electoral lists seeking to convince hesitant voters to take part in the elections.
Mawlawi said that security chiefs will work with generator owners to ensure electoral stations have power on polling day.
The election is expected to redraw Lebanon’s political map after years of political and social upheaval, with a new president and the approval of a recovery plan to rescue the country from its severe economic crisis.
Electoral messaging reached a peak before a moratorium on campaigning entered into force from midnight on Friday until the ballot boxes are sealed late on Sunday.
Amid persistent calls for an election boycott, religious leaders used their Friday sermons to urge Lebanese people to exercise their right to vote.
Gebran Bassil, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement and the main ally of Hezbollah, said in his live appearances and on social media that “voting for the Lebanese Forces lists equals voting for Israel and its regional allies.”
The Lebanese Forces candidates and leaders said that “whoever votes for the Free Patriotic Movement is, in fact, voting for Hezbollah.”
Electoral expert Walid Fakhreddin told Arab News that voter turnout will be a major factor in the election.
“There’s a desire for change in people that was somehow positively received by the Lebanese Forces, the Phalanges Party, the Progressive Socialist Party and the Amal Movement,” he said.
Fakhreddin said the elections “have a high number of disruptive elements, and the Friday sermons were an attempt to change the stance of boycotters.”
However, he added that “people make up their minds in the last 15 minutes and we have to expect some tactical voting.”
Former prime minister Fouad Siniora, who is sponsoring an electoral campaign in Beirut and candidates in other regions, warned that the outlook for Lebanon would be “harsh and bitter” without serious reforms starting with the parliament.
“This compels every Lebanese to contribute positively to changing the situation, and building a strong state with its exclusively legitimate and official institutions and agencies,” he said.
“It also compels them to steer clear from drowning in the vortex of personal considerations and sectarianism, and to focus on the interests of Lebanon and its citizens.”
Siniora said that electoral lists he had partnered with in many regions had been targeted by a distortion campaign intended to discredit and divert the attention of Lebanese from the fundamental issues facing the country.
“We want Lebanon to preserve its Arab identity, and remain free and independent,” he said.
“We don’t want to keep repeating statements intended to blind us from the catastrophic project that would put Lebanon under the Iranian domination through Hezbollah and its weapons.”
Siniora believes that “we are running under a poisoned electoral law. However, participating heavily in the polls will counter the fall of Lebanon resulting from the domination of Hezbollah and its allied sectarian parties on the state, its departments, institutions and agencies.”
In parallel with the election preparations, Maj-Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, director general of the General Directorate of General Security, inaugurated a new GSS center at the Syrian border point of Mutrabeh.
The new crossing will mean the closure of 18 illegal border points used by Lebanese living in Syria to enter Lebanon, he said.
Ibrahim said that 25 Lebanese towns overlapping Syria and home to 10,000 people will also benefit from a more direct link.
DUBAI: Egypt plans to issue a new national target to cut its greenhouse gas emissions within weeks, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Friday. The country prepares to take the lead on global climate negotiations as host of a UN summit in November. Last year, countries agreed at the COP26 UN summit in Glasgow to revisit and strengthen their 2030 climate targets in time for the COP27 meeting to be held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. But so far virtually no country has submitted an enhanced target since Glasgow, according to David Waskow, a director of the non-profit World Resources Institute, who tracks the talks. Egypt could be among the first. Shoukry, who also serves as COP27 president, called on all countries to submit their new targets, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and urged stronger action to stop climate change. “Egypt will be declaring its revised NDCs, hopefully within a matter of weeks,” he said. “I hope others will pay attention to what we will demonstrate in terms of ambition and commitment when our revised NDCs are issued.” Waskow said that Egypt has lagged other countries in submitting climate targets. Egypt submitted its most recent NDC in 2017 and failed to submit a new one by a deadline last year for COP26. But depending what the new target says, it could still be helpful in driving others to act, Waskow said. “It is helpful for (Egypt) to get the ball rolling and to, we hope, set an important marker for what countries do need to do,” Waskow said. Shoukry spoke alongside Great Britain’s Alok Sharma, president of COP26, at the conclusion of two days of meetings among ministers from more than 40 countries, held to discuss progress toward meeting climate commitments. Sharma said that last year’s Glasgow climate deal was a “fragile win.” He said countries must now follow through on their commitments for there to be any hope of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the threshold beyond which climate change will become significantly worse.
LONDON: US President Joe Biden and King Abdullah II of Jordan on Friday discussed ways to “urgently address” a rise in violence in Israel and the West Bank.
The region has been in the grip of a wave of deadly unrest since late March, with Israeli security forces and Palestinians clashing regularly.
“The leaders consulted on recent events in the region and discussed urgent mechanisms to stem violence, calm rhetoric and reduce tensions," the White House said in a statement.
Tensions remain high with a wave of attacks that have killed at least 18 people since March 22. A total of 31 Palestinians and three Israeli Arabs have died during the same period, according to tallies.
The two leaders reaffirmed the close and enduring nature of the friendship between the US and Jordan, according to a White House readout.
“Jordan is a critical ally and force for stability in the Middle East, and the President confirmed unwavering US support for Jordan and His Majesty’s leadership,” it added.
During the talks, Biden affirmed his strong support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and cited the need to preserve the historic status quo at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.
The President also recognized Jordan’s crucial role as the custodian of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem.
The leaders discussed the political and economic benefits of further regional integration in infrastructure, energy, water, and climate projects, with Jordan a critical hub for such cooperation and investment.
RAMALLAH: Israeli troops stormed the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Friday, arresting a wanted member of the Islamic Jihad militant group and demolishing his house. At least 13 people were injured in the raid, which followed clashes between Israeli police and mourners at the funeral of veteran Al-Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in East Jerusalem. Abu Akleh was shot and killed earlier this week while covering a military raid in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Authority has blamed Israeli gunfire for her death. Israeli police moved in on a crowd of mourners in front of the French Hospital in Jerusalem, beating demonstrators with batons and forcing pallbearers to briefly drop the casket. Masked police faced scores of flag-waving and chanting Palestinians in the St. Joseph’s Hospital compound in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. Officers charged the crowd, pushing the group carrying Abu Akleh’s coffin back against a wall. Police lobbed tear-gas shells and fired rubber bullets at the chanting mourners in a bid to stop them raising Palestinian flags in the old city. Through loudspeakers, an Israeli officer warned the hospital would be stormed within minutes if the chants continued. Police imposed strict conditions for the burial, including a ban on chanting and the raising of flags. Israel’s military said earlier that its initial investigation showed that a heavy firefight was underway about 200 meters from the spot where Abu Akleh died, but that it was unable to determine whether she was shot by Israeli forces or Palestinian militants. Israel has called for a joint investigation with the PA and for the bullet to be handed over for forensic analysis to determine who fired the fatal round. The PA has refused, saying it will conduct its own investigation and send the results to the International Criminal Court, which is already investigating possible Israeli war crimes. The US administration has also urged the PA to cooperate with Israel in the probe, but the authority has rejected that request. An Israeli soldier died from wounds suffered during Friday’s raid near Jenin. A large number of Israeli troops stormed Jenin camp early on Friday, sparking armed clashes with Palestinian fighters. Israeli forces blew up the house of the wanted man, Mahmoud Al-Daba’i from the Islamic Jihad militant group. Four other civilian homes were shelled. Mohammed Al-Daba’i, the father of the wanted man, confirmed that his son had been arrested after their homes were targeted. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesperson for the Palestinian presidency, said the attack on Jenin came “as a continuation of the ongoing Israeli war against our people, coinciding with the current settlement policy in all Palestinian territories, which creates more tension and escalation for which the Israeli government bears full responsibility.” He warned that events in Jerusalem and the rest of the Palestinian territories “will push matters toward a comprehensive explosion that cannot be controlled.” Abu Rudeineh called on the US to stop the Israeli attacks, “which are making the situation reach the point of no return.” Ghassan Al-Khatib, a Palestinian political analyst, told Arab News that Abu Akleh’s funeral showed the world, via a live broadcast, the tragedy and daily suffering of Palestinians at the hands of occupation forces. “For the first time, the world was informed live about the brutal and unjustified attacks of the Israeli occupation forces on the Palestinians. Even a deceased Christian civilian who held American citizenship was not spared and was subjected to this degree of brutality.” Prominent Palestinian journalist Mohammed Daraghmeh, Abu Akleh’s close friend, told Arab News that the funeral had restored Jerusalem’s Palestinian identity. “It is forbidden to raise Palestinian flags in Jerusalem, but the flags were raised, and a sea of people amid tears bid her farewell on her last journey. Christian churches of various denominations rang bells, and mosques performed prayers for her, even though she was Christian.” Daraghmeh added: “The Palestinians felt that the targeting of Abu Akleh with Israeli bullets amounted to an attack on their voice, so they went out to express their anger over this atrocity.”
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis appointed three Lebanese Catholic priests to lead some of the most prominent dioceses in the Eastern Catholic Churches, in a move seen by Vatican observers as a “further sign of attention toward that country’s clergy and faithful.” The leader of the Catholic Church granted his assent to the election of Rev. Joseph Abdel-Jalil Chami as archbishop of Hassake-Nisibi, Syria. Rev. Elie Joseph Warde was appointed bishop of the Syrian Catholic Eparchy of Cairo and patriarchal vicar for Sudan and South Sudan, and Rev. Jules Boutros was posted to the position of bishop of the Syrian Patriarchal Curia of Antioch. All the new bishops were born in Lebanon, where they completed all their theological studies, a communique issued by the Vatican Press Office said. The Catholic Church in Lebanon is considered the most important and influential in the Middle East, representing today nearly 50 percent of the Christian population. “This clearly represents a further sign of attention by Pope Francis toward the clergy and the faithful who live in Lebanon, an Arab country where the Catholic presence has historically been remarkable, and the cohabitation between different religions is fruitful,” Fr. Giuseppe Ciutti, an Italian priest who spent time in Iraq, told Arab News. He added that the pontiff “has always expressed his closeness and appreciation for Lebanese Christians.” The pope’s planned trip to Lebanon next month was postponed as the 85-year-old Francis experienced difficulty walking due to a flare-up of pain in his right knee, in addition to a long-term case of sciatica, which also causes pain in the legs. The trip had been announced by the Lebanese government for June 12-12. The Vatican never officially confirmed the trip, but the pope referred to plans relating to it several times in recent interviews. It is now likely to take place in the autumn.