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IHT
is printed and distributed in Lebanon by the Daily Star
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By Hassan Khaled, IOL Lebanon
Correspondent
BEIRUT, June 14 (IslamOnline & News
Agencies) – Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper confirmed Friday,
June 14, that it declined to distribute the Thursday edition of the International
Herald Tribune (IHT) because an ad in the U.S.-owned daily could
have resulted in legal action by the Lebanese government.
Although the paper did not mention the
content of this ad, sources said it is the same ad placed in the IHT
by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League under the headline
"Israel we are with you ... now more than ever" issued April
5, 2002.
Distributing this issue of the paper,
containing and ad supporting Israel, brought legal action against the
owner of the English-language Daily Star, Jamil Mroueh, as the IHT
is printed and distributed in Lebanon by the Daily Star.
Mroueh was indicted April 11 for allowing
the April 5 publication of a "notice which supports Israel in its
war against the Palestinians, weakens national sentiment and raises
dissension of a racist nature."
The Lebanese press syndicate also
criticized the newspaper for distributing the issue of the IHT
containing ads supporting a country that still occupies a part of the
South of Lebanon, in addition to other Arab lands.
The Syndicate condemns stories,
announcements, or ads in the Lebanese press that damage the notions of
the national unity, the Arab resistance, and especially the
Palestinian fight against the Israeli occupation, said Georges Sekaf,
vice-president of the syndicate to IslamOnline.
Publishing an ad in support of a country
occupying a part of Lebanon is unacceptable and there should be a
license given to such foreign publications before being distributed in
the country, he added.
Israel occupied the south of Lebanon for
decades before the Islamic resistance movement Hizbollah finally
forced it to withdraw in May 2000. However, the Israeli occupation
army still occupies the Shebaa farms area.
The Daily Star has been printing the
IHT in Beirut since September and distributing the two papers
together in Lebanon, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
It is worthy of mention that the Herald
Tribune hosts the online service of the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz.
