Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 42)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 31 (ص 42)
- المحتوى
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Fighting Partition
With two rival governments claiming legitimacy after the expiration
of Amin Gemayel’s term as president, Lebanon faces partition.
Although major violence has not broken out so far, the continuing
power struggle between the two governments -and the visions for
Lebanon connected to each - could still ignite a new round of
fighting.
Two plans exist for resolving the
current crisis in Lebanon. First is the
plan of Michael Aoun, head of the
military government, and Samir
Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces
militias. This plan, which coincides
with the Israeli plan for Lebanon, aims
at dividing the country in the name of
decentralization and pluralism, but ac-
tually to ensure the privileges of the
reactionary Maronite bourgeoisie. US
policy has tended to support this plan,
despite stated aims to the contrary.
Second is the plan of the Lebanese
National Movement, supported by
Syria, for electing a new president
qualified to preside over a degree of
reform in the sectarian system. Syria
and the Lebanese National Movement
regard the government of Prime
Minister Salim Hoss as the legitimate
government until such a plan can be
enacted.
In this situation, there was an in-
itiative by the Arab League to convene
an Arab summit on Lebanon, to be at-
tended by the conflicting parties in
order to settle their differences. To
promote this initiative, Arab League
Secretary General Shadli Klibi toured
the Arab countries, afterwards con-
cluding that the Arab leaders were more
inclined to hold a ministerial meeting
Israeli raid near Sidon, November 1988
rather than a full-scale summit on the
grounds that this was more practical,
since a summit would confine itself to
issuing statements without implemen-
tation. However, as of this writing in
mid-December, a ministerial meeting
has not been held. In reality, dif-
ferences between certain Arab regimes
are further aggravating the Lebanese
crisis. The most obvious example is the
financial and military support given by
the Iraqi regime to Geagea’s Lebanese
Forces as part of the former’s efforts to
weaken Syria’s role in Lebanon and the
region.
STATE INSTITUTIONS
PARALYZED
Following the obstruction of the
presidential elections on August 18th
and again on September 23rd, all three
constitutional institutions have been
impaired: the presidency, the govern-
ment and the parliament itself. The
term of House Speaker Hussein Hus-
seini ended on October 18th. His post
was the last remaining position in the
Lebanese constitutional government.
Accordingly, he called for the conven-
tion of parliament to renew his term or
elect a successor, but only 26 deputies
of the 39 needed for a quorum showed
up. The same mechanism by which the
Lebanese Forces had blocked the
presidential elections was again
employed. Deputies residing in East
Beirut boycotted the session, saying the
place was unsafe; actually they had
been pressured by the Geagea-Aoun
alliance not to attend, in order to pre-
vent the renewal of Husseini’s term and
thus put the parliament out of function.
This dashed hopes that the parlia-
ment could play a unifying roie in the
situation of pending partition. Instead,
the legislative body followed the ex-
ecutive branch into partition, raising
new complications. With the blockage
of the parliament, it became impossible
to elect a new president or to pass any
legislation; affairs of state came to a
halt.
Added to this, the Lebanese Army
was de facto split again from the time
that its commander-in-chief, Aoun,
accepted being appointed as the head of
the unconstitutional military govern-
ment. Aoun’s illegal and provocative
steps (described later in this article) led
Adel Osseiran, the defense minister (in
the Hoss government) to replace Aoun
by appointing Sami Al Khatib as army
commander. The existence of two ar-
mies, each connected with one of the
rival governments, increases the
possibilities of a military showdown.
THE AOUN—GEAGEA
ALLIANCE
Attempting to consolidate his power,
Aoun replaced three leading army of-
ficers: the chief of military intelligence,
the presidential guard and the General
Director of the Public Security
Department. He also removed three
Maronite officers loyal to the former
president, Amin Gemayel, in an at-
tempt to consolidate his own power. He
furthermore made new appointments
in the foreign and education ministries,
confirming his intention to purge all
but his own people from the state in-
stitutions.
The appointment that caused the
most controversy was that of the
General Director of the Public Security
Department, since the Hoss govern-
ment had already appointed an acting
general director. Aoun also replaced
the officers working in this department,
who reside in West Beirut. It is this
department which issues passports, so
toying with it infringes upon all
Lebanese. Faced with Aoun’s blatant
manipulation, the Hoss government
informed all foreign embassies in
Beirut not to process visa applications
dated after September 23rd. Thus, a
passport turmoil has been created in
Lebanon, whereby no passports can be
issued or renewed before a solution to
the crisis is found.
Aoun topped his provocative parti-
tionist moves by announcing the
establishment of new headquarters for
the Defense Ministry in East Beirut, - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 31
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