Saturday, July 04, 2009 HELD AL-QUDS: Jews and Arabs should not live next to one another, a local newspaper on Friday quoted Housing and Construction Minister Ariel Attias as saying."We can all be bleeding hearts, but I think it is unsuitable to live together," the minister was quoted as telling the Israel Bar Association in Tel Aviv."Arabs don't have where to live, so they buy apartments in places with a Jewish nature, which causes unwanted friction," said Attias, of the religious Shas party.In a reference to Arab Israelis, he also complained about "the expansion of a population that doesn't love the state of Israel, to say the least."The English-language newspaper quoted Arab-Israeli MP Ahmed Tibi as lashing out at Attias."Relating to Israel's Arab citizens as something threatening and foreign, coming from a minister in a government that should be distributing resources (equally) borders on violating the law against incitement and racism," Tibi said.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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