News

Teymour Joumblat placed the commemorative first stone of the “village Wadi Taym” project upon the invitation of the Wadi Taym association.  The project will be erected on a land offered to residents of the area by his father Walid Jumblat.  The area is in the vicinity of Rashaya, in between the municipalities of Mhaydsseh, Kawkaba, Daher el Ahmar, Rafid and Akabeh.  Mhaydsseh municipality organized for this occasion a celebration at the local stadium.  The Minister of Health, Wael Abou Faour, spoke at the event and noted that the project seeks to provide decent living opportunities to young people from the area.  The Municipal head, Marwan Sharrouf, noted that the project will help those with limited income to realize their dreams.  Six building will be erected during a first phase.  Each building will include 9 flats and will secure living spaces for 45 families. (Al Mustakbal and As Safir, 12 October 2015)

 

The Minister of Labor, Sejaan Azzi, presided yesterday over the meeting of the national steering committee with the presence of the ILO, CSOs and the syndicate of employment offices.  The meeting discussed the situation of migrant domestic workers in Lebanon.  Azzi reiterated his humanitarian and social concerns in relation to migrant women domestic workers and the need for their protection.  He also insisted that implementing anti-trafficking laws would require a functioning state which is not the case of Lebanon.  Azzi reminded international organisations and local CSOs to present an alternative to the sponsorship (kafala) system and noted that there is a mushrooming of employment offices many of which are ghost structures.  Azzi added that he asked the state council to present a decree to regulate the work of employment offices. (Al Mustakbal, 13 October 2015)

 

The chief of the Federation of Deir Al Ahmar Municipalities, Milad Akouri, signed last Friday a memo of understanding with director of the EU Technical Team to start the implementation of a planned strategy for local development in the towns and villages under the Federation. Akouri said he hoped the memo could induce more cooperative action and therefore more significant undertakings that are vital for the area, like for example, rehabilitation of the infrastructure, construction of a solid waste treatment plant, water projects and other initiatives to improve the local community’s standards of living and boost the people’s steadfastness to the land. The EU representative for his part pointed out that the memorandum aims at helping the Federation of Municipalities in Deir Al Ahmar identify the most needed development ventures through the extension of expertise which would increase the chances of required funding. (Al Mustaqbal, October 10, 2015)

 

The Chuf area inhabitants are presently busy with preparation of tomato paste as an indispensable item of the traditional winter ‘mooneh’ in the mountainous region. Speaking to Al Mustaqbal newspaper, Abu Majdi Zeiniddine from the Upper Chuf area, boasted saying, “we have got the hang of making tomato paste the traditional style, because it has a natural, appetizing and free of additives taste that cannot be found anywhere in canned stuff.” He went on to say that going back to nature and to the old eating habits has become a need in the wake of the scandalous food industry corruption. Umm Majdi indicated for her part that the making of tomato paste often creates an opportunity for cooperative work and civility among neighbors. (Al Mustaqbal, October 12, 2015)

 

In a feature highlighting the gloomy conditions of olive growers in the southern border areas, As Safir daily reported that olive production barely reached one third of the overall rate of the regional produce estimated at 800 thousand dunums. One farmer, Abu Ahmad Kaderi, told the newspaper that old olive trees in the groves of Wadi Khansa, Kfarshuba that used to provide a good season were now barren and unproductive for the third consecutive year. Jamal Taha, for his part, grieved that his orchard which once yielded over 100 dunums of olives, nowadays hardly bears 20-25 dunums. Likewise, Abu Mohamad Halabi, said this year’s harvest only covers the local demand and the farmer’s household needs of olives and olive oil, urging intervention of concerned authorities. In this respect, the head of the Agricultural Cooperative Association in Hasbaya Rashid Zuwaihid, expressed relief about the acceptable rise in the prices of olive oil this year. He said that for the first time in many years, one super virgin olive oil cistern is being sold at about 150 US dollars, while one kilogram of olives has reached 10 thousand Lebanese pounds, hoping this rise would compensate for the accumulative losses over the years. (As Safir, October 10, 2015)

 

The Head of the Lebanese Shipping Agents Syndicate Hassan Jarudi revealed that some 400 trucks loaded with some 6 thousand tons of products have registered to benefit from the government’s plan to subsidize agricultural sea exports. He pointed out that 90% of funds allocated for that purpose has remained unused while the agricultural season is about to close, blaming that on the delay in implementing the above support mechanism. “The Port of Tripoli is the only harbor well-equipped to accommodate this need, as Beirut Port is already congested,” Jarudi said, pointing to a fall by 10% in global shipping activity due to economic recession on the one hand, and to the slow growth of the Chinese economy on the other, which resulted in the fall of the global cost of maritime shipping. On a related note, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Zahleh and Beqaa, Yussef Jiha, estimated the decline in Lebanese industrial exports at 7%, (equivalent to USD1.77 billion) until the end of last July. Regarding exports from the Beqaa which are mostly foodstuffs, such as dairy products, Jiha indicated a drop of 21% (i.e. by USD 65 million). (L’Orient Le Jour, Al Mustaqbal, October 4, 5, 2015)

 

Al Mustaqbal daily reported in a feature published this week the 15-year old successful practice of chestnut cultivation in the town of Tarshish, Upper Matn area, noting that this success can be traced to various reasons, chiefly the immunity of the fruit against diseases and its adaptability to climate changes. The newspaper went on to add that chestnut cultivation does not require any pesticides or fertilizers, and that when the tree becomes mature (between mid September and end of October) it simply tosses its fruits making it easy for farmers to collect and pack, thus saving them the toil and cost involved in the harvest activity. To elaborate on the subject, Al Mustaqbal interviewed Tarshish mayor and head of the of Agricultural Cooperatives Gathering in Lebanon, Gaby Samaan, who maintained that his town’s production of chestnuts has reached 100 tons last year, while the country consumes nearly 6500 tons each year. Samaan disclosed that there are about 6 thousand chestnut trees in Tarshish alone, pointing that in the nest few years, most of the mountain villages will become chestnut producers. He noted that proceeds from this cultivation provide growers with the income they need to face economic challenges, adding that this agri-business has expanded on a large scale to cover, besides the Upper Matn, Aley Jord, Rashaya, Hasbaya, Jezzine, Beskinta, and the North and South areas, according to a survey by the Agricultural Cooperative Association in Tarshish. (Al Mustaqbal, October 6, 2015)

 

The President of the Order of Engineers in Beirut, Khaled Shehab, criticized the phenomenon of mushrooming of engineering schools that “replicate programs of reputable foreign universities and colleges and deliver indefinite numbers of graduates”. Shehab’s statement came during the gala dinner in honor of the media to mark the launch of the Archmarathon Award for Arab and Mediterranean countries which was organized in Beirut on October 8-10. He clarified that such and unchecked trend has negative impact on the quality of education. “These institutions contribute to increasing the numbers of unqualified graduates and therefore undermine the value of the local engineering diploma widely acknowledged for its adeptness in challenging the world’s most impressive engineering projects”. Shehab also pointed out to the presence of some 60 thousand members in the Federation of Lebanese Engineers, which combines both the Orders of Beirut and Tripoli. “This number of graduates is not exceptional high if only members could find prospects of work in the local, Arab and international job markets,” Shehab said, adding that 3000 graduates are in excess every year, while there is a shortage in other related specialisations. This he noted, makes the Lebanese economy a hostage to foreign, mostly unskilled, workforce, and encourages the flight of educated youth. (An Nahar, September 30, 2015)

 

Featuring the conditions of Syrian refugee women in Lebanon, the Daily Star newspaper reported an exceptional rise in domestic violence against these women by their distressed and violent husbands who lost their traditional role as providers for their families. In its interviews with a number of battered wives, Noora, a mother of three, admitted to being repeatedly beaten by her husband even before their displacement, pointing that the situation has aggravated here in Lebanon when the father started maltreating his children. Noura said she couldn't escape because it is difficult to renew her residency papers, noting that according to the Lebanese Law, the refugee wife cannot independently file for renewal of residency unless her spouse does that first. “When I had to go to Syria, I could not return to Lebanon as a result of the General Security’s newly introduced restrictions regarding the entry of Syrian nationals, so I had to enter illegally,” she grieved. This exacerbated the situation further and now she cannot report any abuse or ill-treatment against her in view of her illegal condition. In the same vein, the Daily Star spoke to some organizations concerned with displaced Syrians, like Caritas, which sponsored Noura. On this, social worker Maya Bu Dagher explained that the organization helps battered women refugees to get divorce or immigrate to other countries if they wanted. (Daily Star, October 2, 2015)