Democratic Palestine : 36 (ص 24)
غرض
- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 36 (ص 24)
- المحتوى
-
The War for Legitimacy
Despite the signing of the Taif accord, prospects for resolving the
Lebanese crisis remain uncertain, as was accentuated by the assassina-
tion of newly elected president Rene Mawad. However, the speedy
election of Elias Hrawi, to replace him, demonstrated the resilience of
the moves towards ending the sectarian war.
As a consequence of the savage
fighting that occurred in August, and a
good deal of Arab and international
pressure, the tripartite Arab commit-
tee announced the resumption of its
efforts vis-a-vis Lebanon. The foreign
ministers of Saudi Arabia, Morocco
and Algeria held a meeting on Sep-
tember 13th, at the Saudi Red Sea
port, Jeddah, to reassess the situation.
It was their first meeting since July
28th, when they had declared the sus-
pension of their efforts, blaming Syria
for blocking their mission. At Jeddah,
a seven-point plan was announced, cal-
ling for an immediate, comprehensive
cease-fire and the creation of a
Lebanese security committee, and urg-
ing the Lebanese parliament to con-
vene in order to draw up a charter for
national reconciliation.
Morocco’s King Hassan II, Saudi
Arabia’s King Fahd and Algeria’s Pres-
ident Shadli Ben Jedid - the three
Arab leaders responsible for the com-
mittee - were well aware of the con-
nection between the issue of a cease-
fire and the political deadlock. For this
reason, their envoys shuttled back and
forth between Beirut and Damascus,
trying to break through the vicious
cycle, so that the Lebanese parliament
could hold the proposed meeting. Due
to great efforts to return Lebanon to
normality, and active support of inter-
national power, especially the Soviet
Union, the six months of savage shel-
ling finally ended with an Arab
League-sponsored cease-fire which
took effect on September 22nd.
The Taif accord
With Lebanese, Arab and interna-
tional support, 62 members of the
Lebanese parliament met in Taif,
Saudi Arabia, on October Ist, to dis-
cuss the charter of national reconcilia-
tion drafted by the Arab three-state
committee. This was the second stage
of the committee’s plan which had suc-
ceeded in bringing about a cease-fire in
Beirut a week before. Most of the
speeches. delivered by Lebanese
deputies at the opening session expres-
sed the need to replace the language of
fire and destruction with that of
dialogue. Since the failure of the Taif
meeting would have opened the way
for renewed fighting, the legislators
seemed determined to reach an agree-
ment, adopting the «no failure» slo-
gans raised by the former prime minis-
ter, Saeb Salam, at the opening session
(Al Safir, October 2nd).
“2 "6 i > 2 <4 > - a 4
- , F fi _— 4
L oiew im % ¥
wget es i sow a
. _ Fe eee | i,
| we Oe re
ea ee poet T 4
Be ‘A P i
és | ig 8 : “ey .
= ; ‘ eet
" ee ucla Bd
Two main points - political reform
and the sovereignty clause (pertaining
to Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon),
were subject to heated debate among
the deputies. Only the section of the
peace plan dealing with the necessity
of Israeli withdrawal from South Leba-
non, was unanimously approved with-
out any wrangling.
In reference to the sovereignty
clause, George Saadeh, leader of the
right-wing Phalangist Party, and the
most prominent of the Christian
deputies in Taif, said: «We are asking
for guarantees, clarifications and
amendments on the sovereignty clause.
If we don’t agree on that clause, the
rest of the agreement collapses» (AP,
October 16th). Tension eased after the
intervention of Saudi Foreign Minister
Prince Saud al Faisal who crowned his
moves with a successful visit to Damas-
cus. He convinced the Lebanese par-
liamentarians to postpone reforms
instead.
After 23 days of debate, 59 of the 62
deputies present, including the rep-
rescnmitives of the Phalangist Party,
voted for the accord on October 23rd,
despite the opposition of General
Aoun who termed it «a crime that
legalizes Syria’s presence in Lebanon»
and «an agreement leading to hell»
(Guardian, October 24th). In addition
Democratic Palestine, December 1989 - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 36
- تاريخ
- ديسمبر ١٩٨٩
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
Contribute
Not viewed