Author: Emil Lazarian

RECALL OF US AMBASSADOR FROM ARMENIA INSULTING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE VICTIMS MEMORY
PanARMENIAN.Net
03.08.2006 14:25 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The reason, for which they want to recall US
Ambassador to Armenia John Evans, is insulting to the memory of
over 1.5 million innocent Armenians, killed in the Ottoman Empire,
political scientist Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan told a PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter. In his words, in this case the policy of Armenian lobby in
the US, led by the Hay Dat office should be hailed.
“Besides, Armenia should stop practicing silent agreement to any
functionary, sent by the State Department as Ambassador to Armenia. In
compliance with the international law, we have the right not to issue
an agreement to a person, who does not display proper respect towards
our history and people,” the political scientist underscored.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

SENATOR SAYS HE’LL VOTE AGAINST HOAGLAND’S NOMINATION
ArmRadio.am
03.08.2006 16:48
A Republican senator is planning to vote against President Bush’s
nominee for ambassador to Armenia because the nominee has refused
to refer to the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, AP
reported. “I continue to be troubled by our policy that refuses to
recognize what was a historical reality,” Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman
said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
The Bush administration does not question that Turkish troops killed
or drove from their homes 1.5 million Armenians starting in 1915. But
it has omitted the word “genocide” to describe it. Turkey strongly
objects to the use of the term, and U.S. policymakers are wary of
antagonizing an important strategic NATO ally.
On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Coleman
serves, postponed a vote on Richard E. Hoagland’s nomination until
next month. While other senators have raised concerns about Hoagland’s
nomination, Coleman is the first to say publicly that he will vote
against it, according to the Armenian National Committee of America.
California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who sits on the
committee, agreed with postponing the vote but hasn’t said how
she plans to vote. “The administration has to change its policy on
Armenia. Unfortunately, Mr. Hoagland is caught in the middle of this
sorry situation, and I will say more about this entire matter when the
committee votes on this nomination,” she said Wednesday in a statement.
In May, the White House announced the recall of the current ambassador
to Armenia, John Evans, two years into the normal three-year diplomatic
term. Last year, Evans told Armenian-Americans, “The Armenian genocide
was the first genocide of the 20th century.”
Sixty members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice protesting that Evans was being
punished for his reference to “genocide.” In a separate letter,
Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts
demanded an explanation from Rice for Evans’ recall.
“It absolutely was cut short because of that,” Coleman said,
referring to Evans’ use of the word genocide. “That I also found to
be troubling. Evans was a good ambassador. “As someone of the Jewish
faith, I bring a heightened sensitivity to the reality of genocide
and mass murder, and the importance of recognizing it for what it is,”
Coleman said.
“I was brought up believing you never forget the Holocaust, never
forget what happened. And I could not imagine how our ambassador
to Israel could have any effectiveness if he couldn’t recognize
the Holocaust.” Asked whether Evans was recalled for using the word
genocide, State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez would only say,
“U.S. ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president.”
At a Foreign Relations Committee hearing in June, senators failed
to get Hoagland to use the word genocide. “I have not received
any kind of written instruction about this,” Hoagland said at that
hearing. “I simply have studied the president’s policy. I’ve studied
the background papers on the policy. And my responsibility is to
support the president.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

“ARDAROUTIUN” YOUTH PUBLIC ORGANIZATION HELPS YOUNG PEOPLE TO PROTECT THEIR RIGHTS
YEREVAN, AUGUST 2, NOYAN TAPAN. Within the framework of the
“Well-Informed Young Family” (“Irazek Yeritasard Yntanik”) program, the
“Ardaroutiun” youth public organization published the “Well-Informed
Young Family” book. As Zhirayr Karapetian, the NGO Chairman informed
at the August 1 presentation, the goal of publication of the book
is to inform young people about protection of their rights and
interests. According to Zh.Karapetian, within the framework of the
program having been implemented since 2002, “Ardaroutiun” showed legal
consulting and practical assistance to beneficiaries of the program. It
was mentioned that the organization had about 2000 beneficiaries only
during 2005.
About 100 citizens, among them 38 people for family issues, 27 people
for issues of inheritance, addressed to the organization in May-July
of this year.
Zh.Karapetian mentioned that they got most of all appeals connected
with divorce and issues arising of it. Principles of the amended Family
Code, particularly points relating to signing a marital contract,
issues arising in the case of divorce are presented during the
consultation given to them. The organization got numerous applications
relating to issues of the inheritance right as well. According to
Zh.Karapetian, today in the RA documents affirming the inheritance
right are registered only at the Central Notary Office. Whereas,
in responce to the servey of the organization, they made clear at
the RA Ministry of Justice that according to the acting law, all the
regional notary offices may register similar documents.

Senator Biden Delays Vote on Hoagland Nomination
ArmRadio.am
02.08.2006 10:41
Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), the Ranking Democrat on the Foreign
Relations Committee, was joined today by Senator John Kerry (D-MA) in
forcing a month-long delay in the Committee’s vote on the controversial
nomination of Richard Hoagland to replace the current U.S. Ambassador
to Armenia John Evans, reported the Armenian National Committee
of America.
The controversy within the Foreign Relations Committee over the
Hoagland nomination began with Senator Biden’s June 23rd letter asking
Secretary of State Rice Condoleezza Rice to respond to a series of
questions, including specific inquiries about reports that the current
Ambassador had been recalled due to his having “accurately described
the Armenian Genocide as genocide.” The debate over the merits of the
nomination heated up during the June 28th confirmation hearing due
to the nominee’s evasive and unresponsive answers to straightforward
questions posed by panel members about U.S. policy on the Armenian
Genocide. Following the hearing, Ambassador-designate Hoagland, in a
sharp departure from established Administration practice, responded
to a written Senate inquiry by questioning the genocidal intent of
the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide, a denial tactic frequently
used by the Turkish government.
As a result of the intervention of Senators Biden and Kerry,
Ambassador-designate Hoagland’s nomination will not be considered by
the Committee until the Committee’s next business meeting in September.
“The ANCA welcomes the leadership of Senators Biden and Kerry in
ensuring that the Foreign Relations Committee has the time to more
carefully consider the implications – for both our foreign policy and
our values as a nation – of confirming a U.S. Ambassador to Armenia
who is on record denying the Armenian Genocide,” said ANCA Chairman Ken
Hachikian. “We appreciate, as well, the principled efforts of Senators
Allen, Boxer, Chafee, Coleman, Dodd, Feingold, Kennedy, Reed, Sarbanes,
and others to seek an honest explanation of the firing of Ambassador
Evans, to explore the role of the Turkish government in his recall,
and to insist that the Administration clearly articulate its stand
on the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.”
The panel’s decision comes in the wake of a nationwide campaign by
the ANCA – in Washington, DC and in grassroots communities across
the country – to demand answers concerning the recall of Amb. Evans
and to educate Senators about the adverse impact of sending an envoy
to Armenia that has called into question the genocidal character of
Ottoman Turkey’s systematic destruction of its Armenian population. The
ANCA has mobilized thousands of activists to share their views with
their Senators and Representatives about the need for an honest
explanation of Ambassador Evans’ recall and, more broadly, the exact
outlines of the State Department’s policy on the Armenian Genocide.
As early as this February, Members of Congress, at the urging of
the ANCA, began pressing the State Department for a full, open, and
official explanation of the firing of the current U.S. Ambassador
to Armenia, over his truthful comment last year on the Armenian
Genocide. Despite a series of Congressional letters and questions posed
during Congressional testimony by Secretary of State Rice and other
senior officials, the Administration failed to provide a meaningful
explanation of its decision to recall Ambassador Evans.
In the shadow of this controversy, Ambassador-designate Hoagland
came before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on June 28th
for a confirmation hearing, alongside the President’s nominees to
represent the U.S. in Ireland and Switzerland. During this hearing,
Senators George Allen (R-VA) and Norm Coleman (R-MN) pressed
Ambassador-designate Hoagland for answers about U.S. policy on the
Armenian Genocide. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD) expressed serious
reservations concerning the circumstances of the nomination and the
Administration’s policy on the Armenian Genocide.
Ambassador-designate Hoagland’s responses during the hearing, and
later to written questions submitted by panel members, were largely
evasive, characterized by repeated – often strained – efforts to
avoid using the term genocide, even while refusing to acknowledge
that he had been instructed not to use this term. The following day,
on June 29th, the panel, and then the full Senate, voted to confirm
nominees for the ambassadors to Ireland and Switzerland, but chose
to not take any action on Hoagland’s nomination.
In the days that followed his confirmation hearing, Ambassador-
designate Hoagland responded to several dozen written questions
concerning U.S. policy on the Armenian Genocide, the recall of
Ambassador Evans, and the instructions he had received regarding
how to address this matter if confirmed by the Senate. Among his
written responses to a series of questions posed by Senator Barbara
Boxer (D-CA), was a deeply troubling, morally objectionable and
historically inaccurate indication that the Armenian Genocide did
not meet the U.S. definition of genocide because of the absence
of a “specific intent” on the part of the perpetrator. This denial
of the Armenian Genocide – which went far beyond the bounds of the
Administration’s traditional policy – prompted the ANCA to announce
its formal opposition to Richard Hoagland’s nomination on July 18th.
Soon after, the ANCA determined that, according to Department of
Justice records, the State Department had misled the U.S. Senate
about its communications with the Turkish government concerning the
February 2005 public affirmation of the Armenian Genocide by Ambassador
Evans. In a letter, dated June 28th, written on behalf of Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice to Senator Biden, the State Department denied
that the Turkish government had even approached the Administration on
this issue. However, official Foreign Agent Registration Act filings
by the Turkish government’s registered foreign agent, the Livingston
Group, document that, in the days following Ambassador Evans’ February
19, 2005 remarks, one of Turkey’s agents communicated on at least
four different occasions with State Department officials concerning
the envoy’s statement and his subsequent retraction.
To date, half of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including
Senators George Allen (R-VA), Joseph Biden (D-DE), Barbara Boxer
(D-CA), Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Christopher Dodd
(D-CT), Russell Feingold (D-WI), John Kerry (D-MA) and Paul Sarbanes
(D-MD), have contacted Secretary Rice or questioned Ambassador
Designate Hoagland directly regarding the Armenian Genocide. Senators
Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Jack Reed (D-RI), along with over sixty
members of the House have also expressed serious concerns to the
State Department on this matter.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Armenia’s 1,000 largest tax-payers paid a total 136.7bln drams
ArmRadio.am
02.08.2006 11:19
In the 1st half of 2006, Armenia’s 1,000 largest tax-payers paid a total of
AMD 136.7bln to the state budget, ARKA news agency reported.
The RA Taxation Service reports that ten large Armenian enterprises top the
list: Zangezur Molybdenum Plant (AMD 13.4bln), ArmenTel (AMD 8.4bln),
ArmRosgasprom (AMD 5.6bln), “Flash” company (AMD 4bln), Electric Networks of Armenia
(AMD 3.4bln), Kakhpetrolservice ((3.4bln), Parem Armenia (AMD 3.2bln),
K-Telecom (AMD 3.1bln), Grand Tobacco (AMD 2.1bln), International Masis Tabak (AMD
2bln).
In the 1st half of 2006, tax receipts totaled AMD 158.5bln.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN PREMIER ASKS UN OFFICIAL TO RENDER FOOD AID TO DROUGHT VICTIMS
Mediamax news agency
2 Aug 06
Yerevan, 2 August: Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan met
Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) James Morris
in Yerevan today. At the meeting, the prime minister requested that
Morris render possible assistance for softening consequences of a
drought in some regions of Armenia.
Markaryan said that during the 13 years of its activity in the country,
aid by the WFP to Armenia had totalled 75m dollars, the press service
of the Armenian government told Mediamax.
These funds have been aimed at assisting 200,000 poorest people
each year, he said. Markaryan pointed out that the WFP made an
important contribution to improve the food situation of the poor in
Armenia, including refugees, as well as to develop infrastructure
and communities.
Morris positively assessed the WFP’s activity in Armenia, noting that
he managed to visit the Lori and Tavush regions within the framework
of his visit and to see on the spot the results of work carried out
in regions.
Morris also pointed out that he was impressed by the activities of
the Armenian government aimed at the economic growth and reduction
of poverty, and expressed his readiness to continue cooperation with
the leadership of the country.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

AZERI, ARMENIAN LEADERS’ POSITIONS ON KARABAKH SOLUTION CREATIVE – US MEDIATOR
Yeni Musavat, Baku
2 Aug 06
US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza has described
the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents’ approaches to the Karabakh
settlement as creative.
In an interview with the Azerbaijani opposition daily Yeni Musavat
published on 2 August, Bryza said: “President Aliyev and President
Kocharyan approach [the Karabakh peace] process creatively and want
to work on the advanced proposals. I think so.”
Asked if he knew that a proposal for holding a referendum in Karabakh
run against Azerbaijan’s constitution, he said the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs did not insist on this proposal and that they put forward
certain ideas for the presidents’ consideration. He added that it
was up to the two presidents to determine the ways of learning the
public opinion on the issue.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ARMENIAN POLITICIAN DOWNBEAT ON US MEDIATOR’S VISIT
Arminfo
1 Aug 06
Yerevan, 1 August: “The visit of the US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk
Group, Matthew Bryza, showed that the leadership of the Nagornyy
Karabakh republic [NKR] firmly insists that Nagornyy Karabakh should
become the main party to the negotiating process,” the leader of the
Democratic Party of Armenia and chairman of the steering committee of
the Union for the Defence of the NKR, Aram Sarkisyan, told an Arminfo
correspondent today.
He expressed confidence that “as soon as Nagornyy Karabakh becomes
a party to the negotiations, many provisions in the draft frame
agreement proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group will be changed”.
On the whole, Bryza’s visit did not answer most of the
important questions regarding the negotiating process, Sarkisyan
said. “Naturally, this was a factfinding visit by Bryza, however, it
is clear that his statements remain in force. It seems to me that great
attention was paid to one of the co-chairmen and his remarks were taken
with a shiver,” he said. “We consider that there should be the same
balanced attitude to the co-chairmen. I absolutely do not understand
the statements by the Armenian foreign and defence ministers that the
main principles of the settlement proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairs
are acceptable to Armenia,” Sarkisyan said.
[Passage omitted: Sarkisyan speaks about the possible deployment of
peacekeepers in Nagornyy Karabakh]

CHRISTIANITY IN PALESTINE: MISREPRESENTATION AND DISPOSSESSION
Electronic Intifada, IL
Aug 2 2006
A view of the Old City of Jerusalem — with both the Haram a-Sharif
and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre visible — from Dominus Flevit
church on the Mount of Olives (Timothy Seidel)
“You are a Christian?” a foreign tourist inquires with marked disbelief
of a Palestinian tour guide in Bethlehem. “When did you convert?”
This response by foreigners, Christian or not, is unfortunately not
uncommon in Palestine. Even in Bethlehem, the origin to which many
trace the very roots of their Christian faith, this disbelief goes
hand-in-hand with tourists’ visits to the Church of the Nativity —
visits that seem to carry with them some image of a time long past
with only archaeological or religious sites remaining with little
consideration for the “living stones” that have continuously borne
witness to this tradition for two millennia.
Many Christians from the Global North have a hard time seeing
and relating to Christianity in the Arab world as living, vibrant
communities of faith with rich spiritual and theological traditions.
This may be partly due to a lack of understanding about the shape
of Christianity in other parts of the world, but may also be partly
due to the often racist and ethnocentric notions of what a Christian
should look like.
Christianity in the Arab world has had a long and lively history,
including in Palestine, where one still finds today communities of
faith that stretch back thousands of years to the very beginnings of
the church, where Arabic is spoken in liturgies and sermons, and where
the church has played an integral role in the development of society,
whether in terms of providing leadership in very difficult times or
in pioneering valuable social services like education.
Today, of the roughly 3.9 million Palestinians living in the Occupied
Territories, less than two percent are Christians. Of the 1.4 million
Palestinians living inside Israel, meanwhile, roughly eight percent
belong to Christian communities. Though small, these communities bear
witness to two millennia of continuous Christian presence in the land
called “holy” by much of the rest of the world.
Greek Catholic (Melkite) Palm Sunday service in Bethlehem (Christi
Hoover Seidel)
Palestinian Christians belong to several traditional communities of
faith, communities that can be grouped into four broad categories.
The first are the traditions of the Eastern Orthodox churches. These
would include the Greek Orthodox communities, claiming a continuous
presence in the Holy Land since the times of the apostles. The second
group is made of up what is sometimes referred to as the “Oriental”
Orthodox churches, such as the Syrian, Coptic, and Armenian Orthodox
communities. A third category consists of those churches belonging
to the Catholic family of churches. In addition to Roman Catholic
communities, referred to in the Middle East as the “Latin” church,
one finds “Eastern Catholic” or “Eastern Rite Catholic” churches.
These churches, though in communion with Rome and recognizing the
authority of the pope, have maintained their own distinctive liturgy
and traditions. Members of such communities as Greek Catholic or Syrian
Catholic outnumber the number of “Latin” Catholics in Palestine and
have a long history of involvement in the Palestinian struggle for
justice. Finally, there are various Protestant communities, including
not only Anglican and Lutheran churches, present since the nineteenth
century, but also independent evangelical churches, including Baptist,
Pentecostal, and more.
Today in Palestine, Christianity is experiencing what many would
consider a crisis. This is not due to the growth of so-called
Islamic fundamentalism or the persecution of “believers” by their
Muslim neighbors, misrepresentations that are unfortunately used
to distract from the realities of occupation. Instead, the plight
of the Palestinian Christian is very much connected to that of the
Palestinian Muslim in that both, whether in the Occupied Territories
or inside Israeli itself, are experiencing daily injustices at the
hands of oppressive and discriminatory policies imposed on them by
the Israeli government.
Palestinian Christians, like their Muslim brothers and sisters, have
experienced a long history of dispossession and have not been immune
to Israeli policies of occupation and discrimination. If anything,
they have felt more strongly the feelings of forsakenness, knowing
full well that many Christians in North America and Europe support
without question the state of Israel in its oppression of their
people. Daily experiences of humiliation at checkpoints, of land
confiscation to make way for the separation barrier, the illegal
occupation and colonization of Palestinian territory, lack of mobility
and access to basic services, unemployment, poverty, and no sense of
hope for a better future for their children have all contributed to
this growing emigration of Palestinian Christians from the historical
land of Palestine.
Like their Muslim neighbors, who are prevented by checkpoints and
roadblocks from making pilgrimage to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem,
Christians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are denied basic
religious freedoms, routinely prohibited from traveling very short
distances to worship in one of the most holy sites in Christianity —
the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City of Jerusalem, where
the church commemorates Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection
from the dead.
A famous ancient mosaic in the Church of the Loaves and Fishes on
the sea of Galilee (taken by Christi Hoover Seidel)
For the Palestinian Christians of Bethlehem, for example, traveling the
six-mile (ten-kilometer) distance to Jerusalem’s Old City is impossible
without special permission. Roughly half of Bethlehem’s residents are
Christian. Church leaders estimate that over 2,000 Christians have
emigrated from the Bethlehem area since September 2000, representing
a decline of more than nine percent of Bethlehem’s total Christian
population. [1]
Rev. Alex Awad, Palestinian pastor of the East Jerusalem Baptist
Church, reminds us that “Palestinian Christians have existed in
the Holy Land since the day of Pentecost and have kept the torch of
Christianity burning faithfully for the past two thousand years.” The
erosion of Christianity in her birthplace, he poignantly observes
“is a loss for the body of Christ everywhere. Can we imagine the Holy
Land devoid of the Christian presence and a church which has been a
faithful witness for Christ since the day the church was born?” [2]
Unfortunately, various reportings of this phenomenon has revealed
stereotypes in North America and Europe that continue to see the
root socio-economic problem for Palestinian Christians as their
Muslim neighbors. It is disconcerting that the portrayal of the
Christian absence in Palestine, for example, is often played off
as the fault of Muslims and not of the illegal Israeli occupation,
as if Muslims are oppressing Christians and that this is the root
of the problem for Palestinians. It is the occupation that has made
life so difficult that many Christians have moved from Palestine. This
continues to be a serious problem, ignored especially by “Christian”
tour groups who while visiting the “Holy Land” seldom bother to even
come to Bethlehem to see these ancient sites, let alone see these
Christian communities and recognize their existence.
These attempts to frame this conflict in such anti-Muslim ways only
distracts (often intentionally) from the burden of responsibility
that sits squarely on the shoulders of the state of Israel and its
intentional violation of international law and the U.S. for its 100
billion dollar financing of this structure of violence and death.
An example of this is a resolution that is currently being circulated
around the U.S. House of Representatives claiming to be concerned
about the plight of Palestinian Christians and their diminishing
presence in Palestine. Yet this resolution makes no mention of the root
causes of this conflict but instead blames Palestinians themselves
for their own victimhood, grossly misrepresenting this situation and
the Palestinian people.
Only recently, while the world fixes its gaze on the ongoing Israeli
assault on the people of Lebanon — both Muslim and Christian — and
gives little attention to Gaza and the Israeli-caused humanitarian
disaster for the million and a half people living there, the Israeli
military has begun uprooting ancient olive trees in Bethlehem’s
Cremisan area, marking out the path of the separation barrier to be
built through one of the regions most valuable heritage sites.
Israel’s wall in the West Bank is effectively annexing a large
percentage of Bethlehem’s agricultural land (Timonthy Seidel)
The Cremisan area is of significant heritage value, home to the only
winery in Palestine and two monasteries. Some of the finest examples
of the regions ancient terraced landscape can be found here. The wall
will carve through these terraces destroying agricultural landscapes
that have survived for centuries. When the wall is completed, Beit
Jala district of the Bethlehem area will have lost access to two-thirds
of its land.
It is not the Palestinian Muslim population that is responsible
for the expropriation of more land for the construction of this
430-mile/700-kilometer separation barrier. It is not the Palestinian
Muslim population that is responsible for the expansion of illegal
settlements and the creation of a “Greater Jerusalem” depopulated of
its Palestinian citizens. It is not the Palestinian Muslim population
that is responsible for the checkpoints that obstruct mobility, nor the
demolition of homes and other forms of collective punishment. It is not
the Palestinian Muslim population that is responsible for the “one big
prison” status of Gaza. It is not the Palestinian Muslim population
that is responsible for this separation barrier that will become the
de facto border of a “Palestinian State” composed of several isolated
islands of land on roughly 40 to 50 percent of the West Bank. It is
not the Palestinian Muslim population that will be responsible for,
absent a viable, contiguous Palestinians state, the “reservation”
life that will parallel the Native North American experience in the
United States. No, it is the ongoing Israeli structure of occupation
and dispossession that continues to devastate Palestinian livelihood
for both Christian and Muslim alike.
At a time when the U.S. Congress is considering the plight of
Palestinian Christians, they are witnessing the destruction of their
community’s land, heritage and livelihood. The people of Bethlehem
have been very clear in their message to the international community,
“If you want to help us, stop the construction of Israel’s Wall.” [3]
Anyone who lives in this society long enough is aware of tensions that
might exist between Christians and Muslims. Palestinians society like
any other society in the world is dealing with its own problems.
But to focus on this internal tension to the exclusion of other
factors is missing the mark and emptying this issue of its context.
It is indeed hard to be Palestinian Christian these days. But it is
also hard being a Palestinian Muslim. The fact of the matter is that
it is hard simply being a Palestinian.
Timothy Seidel is a peace development worker with Mennonite Central
Committee in the Occupied Palestinian Territories where he has lived
for the past two years.
Footnotes [1] For more on these conditions in Bethlehem, see the
report from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) and the Office of the Special Coordinator for the Peace Process
in the Middle East (UNSCO), “Costs of Conflict: The Changing Face of
Bethlehem” (December 2004).
[2] See Rev. Awad’s article in “Christian Zionism and Peace in the
Holy Land,” MCC Peace Office Newsletter 35/3 (July-September 2005).
[3] See Open Bethlehem’s report “Bulldozers start work on Wall to
annex Bethlehem’s Cremisan Monastery,” and the Urgent Appeal from
the city of Beit Jala in Bethlehem district.
e5380.shtml

ARTUR BROTHERS PROBE RUNS OUT OF WITNESSES
The Nation, Kenya
Aug 2 2006
Story by MUGUMO MUNENE and LUCAS BARASA
Publication Date: 8/3/2006
Prominent people touched by the Artur brothers scandal are unlikely to
be called to give evidence to the commission investigating the affair,
it was revealed yesterday.
National security minister John Michuki testifies during yesterday’s
hearing Photo by Joan Pereruan They include Ms Winnie Wangui –
daughter of well known political activist Mary Wambui – and the
Nairobi provincial CID chief, Mr Isaiah Osugo.
The reason is that the inquiry has simply run out of available
witnesses, according to the team’s assisting counsel, Ms Dorcas Oduor.
She told the commission yesterday that the list of witnesses to
be called had been “exhausted”, and said she would make her final
submissions next Thursday.
For Ms Wangui, lawyer Gibson Kamau Kuria told the inquiry that it
was not necessary for her to give evidence.
He explained: “It will not be necessary for my client to testify
because, going by all the evidence that has been adduced, there is
nothing that she needs to answer to.”
Internal Security minister John Michuki who ordered the brothers
to be deported, did give evidence yesterday, although he was on the
witness stand for only 15 minutes.
Ms Wangui, along with a Mr Alois Omita and a Mr Julius Maina were
named as co-directors of Kensington Holdings Ltd, a company which
was involved in a series of forgeries, according to earlier evidence
given to the inquiry.
Neither Mr Omita nor Mr Maina have been called either, although Mr
Maina was earlier named as the man who claimed to be from State House
and organised the sudden dramatic appearance of the Arturs at Jomo
Kenyatta International Airport, to pretend they had just arrived in
the country.
The conclusion of the evidence yesterday ended in anti-climax after
business and social associates of the Artur brothers and senior
detectives investigating their escapades since March failed to show up.
On Monday, the commissioners asked anyone with information that
would help to unravel the mystery surrounding the two brothers,
who claimed to be descended from Armenian royal family – which died
out around 1,500 years ago – to volunteer their evidence before the
inquiry closed.
The law gives a commission of inquiry powers equivalent to that of
the High Court to summon witnesses and to demand the production of
any reports, documents and information they deem to be important.
Among other key people mentioned at the inquiry and who might have
helped to unravel the facts behind the brothers’ sudden appearance
in Kenya and their mysterious operations here – which the inquiry
was told at one point touched upon State security – was Ms Shirfana
Alarakiya, a Kenyan arrested at the brothers’ rented house in Runda,
Nairobi, along with Armenians Artur Margaryan and Artur Sargsyan on
the night before they were deported to Dubai.
Police witnesses had said Ms Alarakiya was freed as the brothers and
their foreign associates were deported, after the brothers brandished
guns at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport when their arriving guests
were challenged by Customs officials.
The Nairobi provincial CID chief, Mr Osugo, was the senior detective
ordered by Police commissioner Major-General Hussein Ali to investigate
the Artur brothers in March, after politician Raila Odinga claimed
there were mercenaries in the country hired to assassinate opposition
politicians.
Held meeting
Not even Maj-Gen Ali, who held a meeting with Mr Odinga before ordering
the investigations, has given evidence about the matter which one
witness said, “was raising national adrenaline levels for nothing.”
The commission was told suspended CID director Joseph Kamau was kept
in the dark on the progress of investigations, but said through his
lawyer yesterday that he too had not found it necessary to testify.
The commission has also been told of the brothers’ association with
a Mr Pattni. It was not made clear which Mr Pattni the two Armenians
may have been dealing with, but Goldenberg architect Kamlesh Pattni
sent a lawyer to the inquiry with instructions to distance him from
the brothers.
Opposition leader Uhuru Kenyatta, who publicly stated that he had
information that the Artur brothers had visited State House in February
this year, did not offer this information to the commission.
And when Internal Security minister John Michuki – the man said to
have ordered the brothers’ deportation – took to the witness stand
yesterday, he told the inquiry that the bogus brothers were deported
in the public interest.
Mr Michuki said he ordered police chief Ali to ensure the two were
arrested immediately after he learnt of the rumpus at JKIA.
“I ordered him to commence action in arresting the Armenians,” Mr
Michuki said.
He said Maj-Gen Ali telephoned him at around 4am on the morning of
June 8 and told him of the arrests and, after consultations later
that morning, it was resolved that they be deported.
Mr Sargsyan, Mr Margaryan and two others were kicked out of the
country on June 9.
“That was the best action to be taken at the time,” Mr Michuki said
as he was being led in his evidence by Ms Oduor.
Mr Michuki, the inquiry’s 79th witness was giving evidence at
the hearings being chaired by Mr Shedrack Kiruki, a former police
commissioner, at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.
The minister, who said he took his responsibilities seriously and
acted independently, added that his instructions to have the Arturs
arrested and deported were followed to the letter.
Mr Michuki who spent 15 minutes on the witness stand said he was
first told of the airport melee by Cabinet colleague Mukhisa Kituyi.
He said an upset Dr Kituyi telephoned him between 8.30pm and 9pm on
June 8, saying the Armenians had assaulted a custom’s officer and
a policeman.
The Trade and Industry minister also handed his cell phone to the
policeman who confirmed to Mr Michuki that he had been pushed and
assaulted by the Armenians, and then gave the minister further details
about the incident.
“He did not give any impression that he was scared. He spoke normally
and confirmed what Hon Kituyi had said,” Mr Michuki told the inquiry.
One of the Armenian brothers, Mr Michuki said, drew a gun during the
airport scuffle.
The minister said nothing had been referred to him concerning the
Arturs before the June incident apart from a question in Parliament.
Asked by lawyer Ashitiva Mandale for the suspended Kenya Airports
Authority deputy managing director Naomi Cidi why the Arturs were
not arrested and charged in court, Mr Michuki said the deportation
was just one of the Government’s options.
Ms Cidi, who has been accused of smoothing the way for the Artur
brothers, has yet to testify and may be offered an opportunity to do
so tomorrow, if she wishes.
Mr Michuki said: “There were a number of options; doing absolutely
nothing, going to court or deportation. It is my conviction that
the Government was free to take the option that served the public
interest.”
Dr Kituyi, who appeared before the commission last month said he had
just landed at JKIA from an overseas trip moments after the Arturs
had beaten a custom’s official and pushed a policeman.
He said he immediately telephoned suspended the CID chief Joseph
Kamau, Mr Michuki and later Justice minister Martha Karua over the
issue and demanded action.
Dr Kituyi said the scuffle embarrassed the country internationally
and threatened talks with the US whom he had hoped would start direct
flights from JKIA to the US.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress