Lebanese Passport Allows Visa-Free Access to 32 Countries and Territories

Henley and Partners (H&P), a global legal firm that deals with immigration, has compiled a list of passports that provide entry to countries without the need for visas and unsurprisingly, holders of Arab passports have limited access to visit countries without queuing at embassies:

A global list of countries, ranked according to the visa restrictions imposed on their citizens, revealed that the number of countries Arabs do not need visas to enter is quite limited…

According to the information, Lebanese passport holders have visa-free access to 32 countries and territories, up 5 from last year. Nevertheless, Lebanon features at the bottom of the Arab list just ahead of Iraq. Among the Arab passports “to have”, Kuwait would be your best with 71 countries.

HENLEY & PARTNERS VISA RESTRICTIONS INDEX: Top Arab Countries on the list:

1. Kuwait -71
2. Bahrain – 67
3. Qatar – 66
4. UAE – 64
5. Oman – 61
6. Saudi Arabia – 57
7. Egypt – 43
8. Jordan – 39
9. Syria – 39
10. Yemen – 38
11. Iran – 34
12. Lebanon – 32
13. Iraq – 27

As for the worldwide view, British passports rank at the top with 166 countries and territories.

HENLEY & PARTNERS VISA RESTRICTIONS INDEX: Top 5 Countries on the list:

1. United Kingdom – 166
2. Denmark – 164
3. Sweden – 163
4. Finland – 162
5. Luxembourg – 162

It would seem that Lebanese preference for US, Canadian and Australian passports may need to shift towards Scandinavian countries if they really want to freely travel the world.

Lebanese passport holders are free from visa in 32 countries and territories.

Here’s a list of countries where Lebanese can visit without the need for a pre-approved visa:

• Africa
  • Cape Verde
  • Comoros
  • Djibouti
  • Madagascar
  • Mozambique
  • Seychelles
  • Togo
  • Uganda
• Americas
  • Bolivia
  • Dominica
  • Ecuador
  • Haiti
  • Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Asia
  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bangladesh
  • Cambodia
  • Georgia
  • Jordan
  • Laos
  • Macau
  • Malaysia
  • Maldives
  • Nepal
  • Oman
  • Syria
  • Timor-Leste
• Europe
  • Kosovo
  • Turkey
• Oceania
  • Cook Islands
  • Federal States of Micronesia
  • Niue
  • Palau
  • Samoa
  • Tuvalu

Diplomatic passport holders can additionally visit Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela and Yemen. Though according to this list, there are 35, not 32 countries Lebanese can freely visit.

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Twice as Many People Visit “Hezbollahland” compared to Jeita Grotto

The UK’s Independent has decided to take a trip to Mleeta in south Lebanon to Hezbollah’s Resistance Museum, aka, Hezbollahland. The article in itself is unremarkable though one sentence did catch my attention:

More than 500,000 people have flocked to Mleeta, 37 miles south-east of Beirut, since it opened in May.

In the first four months of its opening, half a million people have visited the park. In comparison, an average of  280,000 visit the Jeita Grotto annually. Not sure how accurate the Mleeta statistics are, but nevertheless, it is quite intriguing. It seems that Hezbollah has successfully commercialized the Resistance and have deployed a new source of income (I had a feeling that selling Hezbollah-branded merchandise to the US Ambassador and her entourage just wouldn’t cut it).

Twice as many visitors to the Resistance Museum (left) in its first 4 months, in comparison to Jeita Grotto (right) annually.

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Maghen Abraham Synagogue to Open in 2011

Work on Beirut’s only synagogue will finish this October and it will officially open its doors to the public in 2011 according to Isaac Arazi, the head of the Lebanon’s Jewish community:

The synagogue’s restoration has so far cost $700,000 and the final bill is expected to reach $1.2 million, Arazi said. Most of the financing has come from Lebanese Jews outside the country, while Christians and Muslims have also contributed.

[...]

When it opens again early next year, the synagogue will have seating for 600 men and 300 women. Religious artifacts such as the Torah and other books and items required for services will be brought from Turkey and Syria, and the synagogue will seek to appoint a rabbi familiar with Middle Eastern and North African Sephardic Jewish rituals from the region, possibly from Yemen, Egypt or Turkey, Arazi said.

With the synagogue almost complete, work can begin on other areas:

The community has also begun to repair the Jewish cemetery in Beirut, where about 4,500 Jews are buried, at a cost of about $200,000, and there are also plans to restore defunct synagogues elsewhere in the country, including one in Bhamdoun, a town 23 kilometers (14 miles) from the capital.

View from the side of the Maghen Abraham Synagogue | August 2004

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Beirut: The Arab World’s Transsexual Safe City

Released this year in Beirut, the book “Mouzakarat Randa al-Trans”, or “The Memoirs of Randa the Trans” depicts the struggle from man to woman for an Algerian national:

In a daring, unprecedented move, a pioneer of the Arab world’s underground transgender movement has released her memoirs, recounting her struggle to become a woman against all odds. [The book] is a brutally honest narrative that traces Randa’s battles with family, society, country, religion and abuse in her native Algeria.

Forced out of her native Algeria with the threat of death, Randa took refuge in Beirut:

Long-running death threats last year forced her to leave her homeland and, with an expired European visa and friends in nearby Lebanon, Beirut seemed the obvious choice.

“I had been receiving threats for some time,” she said. “General security in Algeria had built a file on me, and I had been ‘warned’ by certain Islamist groups.

“Last April, I was given a 10-day ultimatum: leave or be killed.”

Why is Lebanon considered a haven?

While Lebanese law technically criminalizes same-sex relationships, it makes no mention of sex reassignment surgery.

And although patriarchal values still hold sway over this small eastern Mediterranean country, Beirut’s relatively tolerant society and the stellar reputation of Lebanese doctors have encouraged persons of different sexual orientations and identities to seek refuge in the vibrant city.

Though I honestly believe that we have still a long way to go to establish the basic foundations towards human rights, we seem to be on the right course. Unless we have a law that specifically protects people, “no mention of sex reassignment” will create problems down the line.

AFP: Randa today lives in Beirut where she is preparing to complete surgical process that will transform her into a female

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Lebanese Get High on Hash from Down South

I absolutely detest when Lebanese go around blaming their social problems on foreign countries. More often than not, its usually finger-pointing at the West for their “socially degrading exports” which, according to these type of activists, is forced down our throat; not that we, as consumers, enjoy them.

What really annoyed me recently was a statement by one of Lebanon’s anti-drug NGOs ” Jeunesse Anti Drogue” (unfortunately my first name is their acronym) to parliament:

During a parliament discussion on the country’s increasing drug problem, Joseph Hawat [president of JAD] spoke about rising figures of drug addicts that are being reported in the Arab world and highlighted Israeli involvement as being a particular threat.

Come on! You mean its not our lax border security, our laissez-faire attitude towards hashish or that its still grown in our backyards that is the cause of the problem? And it seems the comment is based on coincidence:

“Last year, we (JAD) were researching the case of a drug smuggler who was importing chocolate from Egypt that contained LSD and other drugs,” he said, “We traced the drug dealer’s source in Egypt to an Israeli businessman living in Egypt.”

How was it getting into the country? Who was transporting it? How was it distributed once it got here? Of course, I am not expecting any answers. When you start playing the “Israel is behind everything” card you are basically standing up and saying that the problem is too big to handle and we cannot do anything about it. You are effectively saying that you have no control over the situation and cannot do anything about.

This would be a perfect time for the government to step in and take action:

…the [Lebanese] government will allocate millions of dollars for the war on drugs, most of which will be transferred to the JAD.

Why? So they could spend more money on research (read: witch hunt) looking for the Israeli boogieman? Then of course there’s the fact that drugs are part of our war with Israel – hashish for hush-hush:

Hezbollah takes the line that the drugs are being used for a good cause, namely to buy Israeli military secrets. The organization considers the drugs trade to be part of an “indirect war” against Israel, one that certainly came in handy during the 34-day war in the summer of 2006.

For years, Hezbollah has been trading Lebanese-produced heroin and cocaine for Israeli military secrets.

This then raises the question: how serious is the government in their fight against drugs?

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