79

of incidents where United States intercession has been effective. However, our country's ability to influence Lebanon depends on U.S. credibility in the Middle East, which has unfortunately diminished recently. The American Task Force for Lebanon has worked closely with the U.S. government, the media, and organizations on issues such as the parliamentary and municipal elections, the arrest of Lebanese citizens without due process, and the audio-visual media law.

On a positive note, in the past year the Lebanese judiciary has shown its independence in a number of instances and is beginning to assume its proper role as a check on the executive and legislative branches. To cite examples, the Constitutional Council overturned the parliamentary elections law and the election of four parliamentarians whose opponents filed complaints.

For FY 97, Lebanon received only $2 million from the United States, despite Lebanon's having suffered $25 billion in direct war damage to its infrastructure, according to a 1991 United Nations assessment. Before the Friends of Lebanon Conference, plans were to phase out all assistance to Lebanon by 1999. Let me state, Mr. Chairman, this would not have been a welcome development, as it undercuts U.S. efforts at promoting the peace process and democracy in the Middle East. The United States Agency for International Development has projected a development program for Lebanon of $12 million per annum over the next five years. The Lebanese-American community is aware that levels of foreign assistance are not commensurate with the depth of the historical ties between Lebanon and the United States, and aid should be increased. All USAID projects in Lebanon are administered by U.S.-registered PVO's and since May, there has been a USAID officer stationed in Lebanon to ensure that accountability meets high Congressional standards.

In recognition of the Lebanese army's role as the symbol of national sovereignty, we
urge continued training of Lebanese Army personnel under the International Military
Education and Training program and we urge that nonlethal equipment continue to go to
the Lebanese Army under Excess Defense Articles. We also urge direct funding of the
American Schools and Hospitals Abroad Program for FY 98. This program supports
such fine institutions in Lebanon as the American University of Beirut, Lebanese-
American University, and International College. These American educational institutions
have spawned future government officials with a profound comprehension of the United
States and it values, not only for Lebanon, but for other countries in the region.

Lebanese often liken their country to the phoenix, the mythical bird that ignites itself only to rise from the ashes. We in the American Task Force for Lebanon do not believe that the phoenix needs to burn again to be properly resurrected. We believe that the phoenix is very much alive and ascending, although not yet soaring.

COUNCIL OF LEBANESE AMERICAN ORGANIZATIONS

2077 Nacional Press Building Washington, DC 20045 Tel: (202) 686-4844

Testimony

of

The Council of Lebanese American Organizations (CLAO)

Before

The Committee On International Relations

The House of Representatives

June 25, 1997

My name is Daniel Nassif and I am testifying on behalf of the Council of Lebanese American Organizations (CLAO). The Council is a federation of local, regional and national organizations representing the aspirations of three million Americans of Lebanese descent. The Council works to further the cause of freedom and sovereignty for Lebanon commencing with the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Syrian occupation forces from Lebanese territory. The Council acts to promote ties of friendship and cooperation between the United States and Lebanon based on the principles of democracy and human rights.

With this brief background information, please allow me to outline our concerns and suggestions for this Committee. The situation in Lebanon continues to be a matter of very deep concern to all American Lebanese. The international community has allowed the dignity of Lebanon to be subjugated to Syrian hegemony and tyranny for the past twenty one years. Yet this occupation has failed to prove itself as a factor of stability, normalcy or moderation. To the contrary, the Syrian regime has turned Lebanon into a free zone for political machinations, military provocation, drug trafficking and terrorist activities.

Lebanon has a constructive role to play in the Middle East peace process. It can only do so when it is free, sovereign and governed by a truly representative government. Only the Lebanese people, free from occupation, can provide genuine peace and security to all of their neighbors. Lebanon must be allowed to reclaim its right to negotiate peace with Israel free from the destructive influence of Syria.

Lebanon is obviously no longer an independent country. More than forty
thousand Syrian troops control ninety percent of its territory, and Syrian
installed officials occupy all positions of authority within Lebanon's
government, parliament and military. The country's domestic and
foreign policies now reflect Syrian objectives, not Lebanese needs. The
Lebanese are not the real players on the political scene. No decision can
be taken without authorization from Damascus. The situation is best
summarized by a prominent Moslem Shiite lawyer who was quoted in the
37-page Human Rights Watch report dated May 1997, entitled "Syria /
Lebanon: An Alliance Beyond The Law", as saying the following:
"Our government is not a government. Syrian intelligence forces are
controlling this country. We are moving toward a police state. Here in

Lebanon, there are masters and servants. officials are the servants of Syria".

Lebanese government

As the principle umbrella organization representing the vast majority of American Lebanese, we feel it is time to call your attention to some of the deep concerns expressed within our community regarding Lebanon's role in the peace process and the ultimate fate of Lebanon's freedom, independence and sovereignty. It is certainly no secret that all free voices in Lebanon have been effectively silenced by Syria and its surrogates. Consequently, Lebanese popular will is not being represented in the ongoing peace negotiations. For this reason, we fear that these long-awaited peace agreements will eventually be concluded at the expense of the basic rights and freedom of the Lebanese people.

Our concerns are as follows:

There seems to be no attempt to address the basic issue of Syrian Occupation of Lebanon or even Syria's supposed scheduled

. While official US policy remains fixated on supporting the full implementation of the so-called Taif agreement, the clauses in that document pertaining to Syrian re-deployment to the Bekaa Valley, as they have been interpreted by the State Department, are all but being ignored.

• Numerous major international and local human rights organizations have repeatedly documented and published findings concerning systematic violations of the rights of innocent Lebanese civilians by Syria and its underlings. These incidents, too numerous to mention here, including murder, rape, torture and illegal detention, belie the facade which has been created for the outside world and provide a hint of the real inner-workings of the Syrian police state. The 1996 State Department annual report on human rights recounted some of these abuses. Remarkably, the US government has failed to translate its knowledge of these violations into specific policy measures requiring Syria to modify its behavior in Lebanon and desist from engaging in further repression.

The Syrian-installed government reigned in Lebanon's once-free broadcast media, bringing them into line with censorship and government control. A law that took effect in November, 1996, bans broadcasts by all but five private television outlets. The surviving

stations are owned and controlled by prominent government officials. Already it is illegal to print pamphlets and brochures without a license and the Syrian-controlled parliament plans limits on the formation of associations.

• A disturbing phenomenon in occupied Lebanon today is the increased militarization of the judiciary. The military courts are literally out of control. In 1996 alone, eleven thousand cases were judged in these courts. In one notorious instance, a judge boasted that he had tried three hundred and fifty cases in the course of one day. So pervasive is the military court's jurisdiction that if an ordinary Lebanese civilian has a traffic accident with a minor security employee they both go before the military tribunal. Wajdi Mallat, the Chief Judge of the High Constitutional Court, Lebanon's equivalence of a Supreme Court, resigned last April stating boldly that excessive interference by the Syrian-controlled authorities in the execution of his duties led him to his decision.

It is common knowledge today in occupied Lebanon that only a fraction of the huge amounts of revenues collected by the government through indirect taxation in the form of higher prices on all basic commodities (fuel, electricity, water, telephone service, custom duties, etc. ) actually make it into the government coffers to be spent on reconstruction and other beneficial projects. The bulk of the remainder ends up in the secret bank accounts of a handful of Syrian and Lebanese officials. The fact of the matter today in Lebanon is that the State itself is the largest Mafia in the land.

In a revealing article on April 16, 1997, the Christian Science Monitor exposed the roaster of corruption plaguing Lebanon today. "Daily life is becoming ever more frustrating as corruption permeates the Lebanese bureaucracy," wrote the article. It spoke of rampant "telephone Mafia" where the periodic extortion of cutting and reconnecting lines for a bribe are commonplace. Bribery surfaces everywhere, even in the domain of education where those wishing to pass government examinations habitually pay for that privilege. "A small clique of government employees was caught selling Lebanese University diplomas earlier this year," wrote the Monitor. None of these employees have ever been prosecuted. Needless to say, Lebanese and Syrian officials live above the law, which in any case is applied haphazardly. Such an unreliable legal umbrella has made many potential foreign investors reconsider opening any business in Lebanon, and those who are already in the