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Local Editor
The opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party leader Sergey Stanishev stressed that "the Bulgarian government's implication of Hizbullah in the Burgas bus bombing is poorly founded and imperils the national security."  Stanishev, who also chairs the Party of European
Socialists, spoke after an unusually prolonged sitting of the Consultative
Council for National Security, after which Bulgarian Interior Minister for the
first time named the so-called Hizbullah military wing as standing behind the
July 2012 terror attack."It is obvious that Bulgaria's government has chosen a political approach and is only repeating the interpretation alleged by "Israel" on the very next day following the attack, when the investigation had not even started," said the socialist leader. He further stated: "The investigation is currently under way and there is no way one can be talking about decisive evidence regarding the direct perpetrators, much less regarding the organization that is behind this tragic event." "This is absolutely unjustified in view of national security and the risks that are taken with respect to people in Bulgaria," stated Stanishev. In parallel, the opposition leader criticized the government for failing to provide a thorough analysis of the faults in Bulgaria's national security that led to the perpetration of the attack. He further objected to the fact that participants in the Consultative Council were not presented with the reports to be discussed in advance of the sitting. Bulgaria's Consultative Council for National Security, chaired by the country's President, brings together the Speaker of Parliament, the PM, commander of defense, leaders of political groups in Parliament, as well as cabinet ministers in the key areas of national security. Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org Bulgarian Opposition Blasts Burgas Bombing Charge |
A truck carries a bus, that was damaged in a bomb blast
in July 2012, outside Burgas Airport, about 400km east of Sofia in this 19
July2012 file photo. (Photo: Reuters - Stoyan Nenov)
The US and Israel are using the accusations leveled against Hezbollah
in the 2012 Burgas bus bombing to pressure the EU into including the resistance
group on its terrorist list. But the Bulgarian opposition is crying
foul.
Israeli and US pressure on Bulgarian authorities to formally accuse Hezbollah
as the organization behind the 18 June 2012 bus bombing in the city of Burgas –
in which six people, including five Israelis, were killed – has not been
entirely successful.
They have succeeded in pressuring the Bulgarian investigators probing the
bombing to link the attack to Hezbollah. This has been done in such a way as to
strike a compromise between the hardline stances of Israel and the US, and the
cautious position of European countries, who do not see it in their interest to
up the ante against Hezbollah at this juncture.
Bulgarian Minister of Interior Tsvetan Tsvetanov
announced Tuesday, 5 February 2013, that two people believed to have been
connected to Hezbollah were involved in the Burgas bombing.
Speaking after a special meeting of the country’s Consultative Council on
National Security to discuss the investigation’s findings, Tsvetanov said the
pair were part of a group of three who carried out the attack. The two had
traveled on Australian and Canadian passports, and lived in Lebanon since 2006
and 2010, respectively.
The minister went on to say that "there is data showing the financing and
connection between Hezbollah and the two suspects,” and that investigators had
“a well-founded assumption that they belonged to the military wing of
Hezbollah.”
The wording of his remarks was significant. It could foil longstanding
Israeli and US efforts to pressure the EU to designate Hezbollah in its entirety
as a terrorist organization, as opposed to merely its “military wing.”
Tsvetanov also said that the Lebanese authorities had been asked for
assistance in the probe.
From Lebanon to Bulgaria, the Opposition Reacts
The announcement was quickly challenged by Sergei Stanishev, leader of
Bulgaria’s parliamentary opposition and the head of the Bulgarian Socialist
Party, who charged that finger-pointing against Hezbollah was unfounded and
politically motivated.
“It is obvious that Bulgaria’s government has chosen
a political approach and is only repeating the interpretation alleged by Israel
on the very next day following the attack, when the investigation had not even
started,” he said, as quoted by the Sofia News
Agency.
“The investigation is currently underway, and there is no way one can be
talking about decisive evidence regarding the direct perpetrators, much less
regarding the organization that is behind this tragic event,” Stanishev
added.
The Agency quoted sources at the Bulgarian foreign ministry as saying that
security had been stepped up at the country’s embassy in Beirut as a precaution
against possible attacks.
The Bulgarian opposition’s skepticism over the Hezbollah accusation has made
no impression on the Lebanese opposition. Members of the March 14 coalition
seized on the news, and some predicted it would lead to the downfall of Prime
Minister Najib Mikati’s government, of which Hezbollah is a member.
Senior sources in the Future Movement told Al-Akhbar that it had
already been agreed that Mikati would step down once a new election law is in
place, “but now we have been unexpectedly given the Bulgarian accusation.”
The sources said Future Movement MPs discussed the issue at a meeting
Tuesday, but decided not to discuss the Bulgarian charge against Hezbollah in
the media for the time being.
Nevertheless, a prominent Future Movement MP remarked to Al-Akhbar:
“How can a partnership be established in this country on the basis of
terrorism?” He added that in demanding that the government quit, “we are not
speaking from a position of hostility or score-settling,” but “out of concern
for the country and its interests.”
Sources close to the prime minister denied that the government had any
intention of stepping down in the wake of the Bulgarian minister’s announcement.
The source attributed the suggestion to “the wishful thinking of the March 14
camp.”
In his public reaction to the announcement, Mikati reiterated Lebanon’s
readiness to cooperate with the Bulgarian authorities “to shed light on the
circumstances” of the incident, while stressing its condemnation of all such
attacks in any European or Arab country.
Lebanese official sources said Beirut had been informed earlier that four
members of Hezbollah would be accused of complicity in the bombing. It also knew
in advance that the Bulgarians would draw a distinction between Hezbollah’s
military wing and Hezbollah itself in order to avoid its placement on the EU
terrorist list.
Yet no Lebanese officials were informed of the suspects’ identities, the sources
said. The only request for assistance received from Bulgarian investigators by
Lebanese judicial authorities was a request to search for an individual’s
fingerprints in Lebanese records.
While Hezbollah remained silent, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
was quick to seize on the news to demand that the EU designate Hezbollah a
terrorist organization and not distinguish between its military and political
wings.
In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu thanked the Bulgarian
government for its “thorough and professional investigation” and elaborated on
how Iran and Hezbollah were “orchestrating a worldwide campaign of terror,” as
well as supporting “the murderous Assad regime in Syria.”
The Israeli prime minister’s words were parroted almost verbatim by US
President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism advisor John Brennan, who urged EU
states to ”take proactive action to uncover Hezbollah’s infrastructure and
disrupt the group’s financing schemes and operational networks.”
The EU itself seemed less eager than the US and Israel to put Hezbollah on
its terrorism list. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton merely took note of
the results of the Bulgarian probe and stressed the need to “reflect on the
consequences.” She said that “the EU and member states will discuss the
appropriate response based on all elements identified by the investigators.”
Israeli media had reported in advance of the Bulgarian announcement that
Israel’s contribution to the probe had enabled investigators to link the Burgas
bombing to Hezbollah. Israeli reports over the past two months had anticipated
that Hezbollah and Iran – Hezbollah as an organization and the Iranian state –
would be accused of funding and implementing the attack.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic
Edition.
Uprooted Palestinian
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!
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