Democratic Palestine : 30 (ص 30)
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- Democratic Palestine : 30 (ص 30)
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However, even though the reform en-
visioned at this stage was quite
minimal, the Lebanese Forces
demonstrated that they were ready to
divide the country and render it the
victim of a new round of war, rather
than accept any compromise or slight
reduction of their privileges.
BLOCKED ELECTIONS
On August 18th, the Lebanese
parliament was scheduled to convene to
elect a successor to Amin Gemayel, but
the Lebanese Forces in East Beirut and
Lahd’s Israeli-backed South Lebanon
Army in the occupied zone obstructed
the convening of a quorum. The
militias physically prevented Christian
MP’s from meeting up at Mansour
Palace by closing roads and in some
cases temporarily kidnapping deputies
who intended to fulfill their constitu-
tional duty. Thus, they prevented the
election of Suleiman Franjieh and
opened the possibility of a constitu-
tional vacuum if a new president was
not elected by September 23rd, when
Gemayel’s term expired.
Army Commander Aoun had earlier
declared that the army would intervene
against any hindrance of the elections;
on election day he declared a state of
emergency, but the army did not move
to prevent the Lebanese Forces’
obstruction.
In the succeeding days, there was a
mass meeting of Lebanese nationalists
and a strike in West Beirut, protesting
the obstruction of the elections by the
Israeli and US pressure. Prominent na-
tionalists termed this a declaration of
war on the Lebanese people - a vote
against national accord and for sec-
tarian strife.
There were extensive contacts and
negotiations between various Lebanese
parties, and regional as well as interna-
tional powers, including the visits of US
envoy Murphy and of Amin Gemayel
to Damascus. For the second attempted
electoral session, a compromise can-
didate was agreed upon, Mikhael
Dahar, a MP from Akkar in North
Lebanon. At the same time, Gemayel
kept the options open for the Lebanese
Forces by considering that the
government of acting Prime Minister
Salim Hoss had resigned, in prepara-
tion for himself declaring a provisional
32
LEBANESE
PROBLEM
government.
MILITARY COUP BY
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE
On this basis, the electoral session of
the parliament was rescheduled for
September 22nd. However, this session
was also obstructed by the Lebanese
Forces. Amin Gemayel took advantage
of the vacuum by appointing a military
government of six army officers, head-
ed by Aoun. Aside from being totally
unconstitutional by any measure, this
junta was also stillborn. Half its
members, Brigadier Mahmoud Tai Abu
Dargham, General Nabil Kouraitem
and Colonel Lutfi Jaber, refused to
participate, deferring to the existence of
the legitimate existing government
headed by Hoss. Moreover, with the
exception of the parties of the Lebanese
Front, chiefly the Phalangists and
Chamoun’s National Liberals, the
military government found little accep-
tance in Lebanon. Even among the
Maronite community, prominent
politicians, such as Franjieh, Dahar,
Roger Edde and Raymond Edde, all
potential presidential candidates, spoke
out against this fait accompli.
On the regional level, only ‘Israel’
could be unequivocally pleased with the
‘election’ results. However, two Arab
regimes did give tacit support to Aoun:
Iraqi and Egyptian diplomats in
Lebanon met with the general in East
Beirut.
The US did not announce an official
stand on the new military junta.
However, the reception held by Aoun
for diplomats was attended by the am-
bassadors of the permanent members
of the UN Security Council, with the
notable exception of the Soviet am-
bassador. In contrast, the Soviet am-
bassador expressed his country’s sup-
port to unity and legitimacy in Lebanon
by attending the meeting of Arab and
foreign diplomats with Prime Minister
Hoss.
DIVIDE AND RULE
Despite being stillborn, the forma-
tion of Aoun’s junta is a qualitatively
new step towards implementing the
Zionist-imperialist-reactionary plan to
divide Lebanon into two or more
statelets, in order to weaken and con-
trol the country. By imposing a fait ac-
compli, the Aoun government aims to
force the Lebanese to accept a president
who will sustain the system of sectarian
and class injustice. Failing in controll-
ing all of Lebanon, this military
government would be the vehicle for
merging the rightist-controlled areas in
the North with the Israeli-occupied
areas in the South into one unit for
confronting the Lebanese nationalist
forces aud their alliance with the
Palestinian revolution.
By going to the extreme of forming a
military junta to enforce their policy,
the Lebanese rightists are in fact
revealing their own crisis and lack of
legitimacy among the Lebanese people.
This is a factor to be seized upon by all
those struggling for a_ united,
democratic Lebanon. Along these lines,
Lebanese nationalist forces, including
the Communist Party, have called for
the formation of a newly constituted
movement to struggle for Lebanon’s
unity. Such an alliance would encom-
pass all forces committed to unity and
continued struggle against sectarian
domination and Israeli occupation.
On October 2nd, an assembly of
Lebanese nationalist organizations and
individuals convened in West Beirut to
further such an alternative, in opposi-
tion to the present danger of partition
and the control of the military
government which they termed totally
illegitimate. For over a decade, the
Lebanese national movement has
struggled for political reform, social
justice and freedom from Israeli and
imperialist interference in their coun-
try. The current impasse which heralds
either partition or a new civil war, or
both, shows that nothing less than their
national democratic program can bring
peace and unity to Lebanon. & - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 30
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