LEBANON: Psychic Michel Hayek sees ‘war for peace’ in 2011

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Good news for a tense region, if you believe in psychic predictions, that is.

Michel Hayek, the Arab world’s most celebrated clairvoyant, foresees a Middle Eastern ‘war for peace’ in 2011, assuring the audience that tuned in for his annual televised New Year’s Eve predictions that calm will prevail despite threats of war.

‘The region is moving slowly toward peace, despite indications of threats and war,’ the Lebanese soothsayer predicted (Arabic link). ‘Lebanon, specifically, will be negotiating’ on its own behalf, he said, ‘rather than being negotiated over.’

Although Hayek did not speak at length about the United States or U.S. policy in the region as he has in the past, he did predict that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would suffer an on-camera breakdown.

One of his more tragic predictions already seems to have come true.

On Jan. 1, just hours after Hayek predicted a ‘darkness’ would fall over some leaders of the Coptic church in Egypt, at least 21 Coptic worshippers were killed and dozens more injured in a bomb attack on a church in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria.

Hayek admits that not all of his predictions come true, but his visions have proved right often enough to win him a huge following around the Arab world. Last year, he predicted that Qatar would make news in the world of sports; in December, Doha scored a major triumph by winning its bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

Hayek began his 2011 forecast, which are broadcast each New Year’s Eve on the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. channel, with a prediction that the U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri would not destabilize the country, as many fear.

‘Yes, there is a tribunal, and there are indictments and there are suspects and there are false witnesses ... but the important thing is that the way out appears to me to be secure and open,’ he said, likening the fallout from the indictments to a ‘political tremor’ not exceeding magnitude 5 on the Richter scale.

He also predicted increased cooperation between the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah’s armed wing, as well as an internal dispute within the ranks of Hezbollah. He added that Lebanon would move slowly out of Iran’s sphere of influence.

Hayek went on to describe a vision of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surrounded by a medical team, indicating possible health problems. He also predicted Israel would apologize to Turkey for the death of activists aboard the Gaza aid flotilla in June and that a disaster would bring Israel closer to its neighbors for the first time.

As for Iran, Hayek predicted the Iranian opposition would lose one of its leaders and that ‘events in the streets of Tehran will bring to mind the Islamic revolution and Khomeini.’

He also said Gaza would achieve victory over the Israeli siege and that the black-and-white checkered Palestinian keffiyeh would be draped around the shoulders of more than one international figure.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Screenshot: Michel Hayek, Lebanon’s most famed psychic, appears on TV on New Year’s Eve to give his predictions for the coming year. Credit: YouTube