Democratic Palestine : 4 (ص 28)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 4 (ص 28)
- المحتوى
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Karami’s government marks official defeat of the enemy project to turn Lebanon into a US-
Zionist protectorate through the presidency of Amin Gemeyel.
It remains uncertain whether the
government formed in early May can
provide any solutions to the Lebanese
crisis. Yet the composition of the
cabinet, headed by Prime Minister
Rasheed Karami, sets a significant pre-
cedent. For once we see a Lebanese
government which is not merely the pro-
duct of backstage wrangling to find
seemingly neutral figures acceptable to
the various traditionalist factions.
Rather, the leadership of the two oppos-
ing sides, progressive nationalist and
fascist, are sitting face-to-face in the
cabinet. The contradictions which con-
stantly erupt in the battlefield are now
directly raised at the highest official
level. This government cannot adopt a
laissez faire policy on important national
issues, aS has been common practice.
Nor can President Amin Gemayel unilat-
erally exercise power on behalf of the
Phalangist Party.
The composition of Karami’s
cabinet does not directly challenge the
rules of political confessionalism. Yet it
makes a big dent in the purpose of this
system which, through divide and rule,
aims to: (1) preserve real power in the
hands of the big bourgeoisie; and (2)
keep Lebanon from taking its part in the
Arab national battle against Zionism and
imperialism. Now for the first time a
cabinet includes ministers who repre-
sent the gains of the nationalist forces in
the battlefield. Moslem traditionalists
known for collusion with the fascist
Lebanese Front are absent. Instead we
find Walid Jumblatt and Nabih Berri,
leaders of the nationalist forces who
defeated the fascists and their army in
the mountains and West Beirut, and
forced the US Marines to withdraw.
Berri's presence in particular sets a pre-
cedent in class and political terms. Re-
presenting the Shiite community and the
Amal movement, he speaks for Leba-
28
non’s poor and dispossessed who have
always lacked representation in official
bodies. He represents the southern pat-
riots whose heroic resistance to the
Zionist occupation catalyzed the rever-
sal of the enemy plans for Lebanon.
Most important, Jumblatt and
Berri’s presence in the cabinet is nota
formality, but a necessity dictated by the
balance of power that resulted from the
nationalist victories in the battlefield.
Formation of the cabinet hinged on fulfil-
ling Jumblatt and Berri’s demands that
they not be used as figureheads with
insignificant portfolios. Rather Berri
demanded the creation of ministries for
South Lebanon and for reconstruction of
war damaged areas, issues which are
closely linked to the masses’ political
and social needs and aspirations. The
creation of these portfolios and their
being assigned to Berri gave added
weight to Karami’s statements that
liberating the South is a top priority.
Two years after-
Zionist invasion aims
reversed
These same considerations make
Karami’s government anathema to the
Zionists. Abrogation of the May 17th tre-
aty, a step that was forced upon Presi-
dent Gemayel, is now followed up by a
cabinet which bestows official legitimacy
on the Lebanese National Resistance
Front’s anti-occupation struggle. Two
years after the Zionist invasion of Leba-
non, the formation of this cabinet is the
final proof that this military venture has
totally backfired in the faces of its plan-
ners. The Israelis have lost the last
shred of official Lebanese cover for their
occupation and designs on Lebanon.
Karami has determined that the Israeli
liaison office in Dbayah be closed, while
Lebanon has severed diplomatic rela-
tions with El Salvador and Costa Rica for
having moved their embassies to
Jerusalem; relations were restored with
Libya, all in line with Lebanon’s Arab
alignment. The capture of three Israelis
in North Lebanon by the Lebanese Army
in late April, and their being turned over
to the Syrian forces, was an early warn-
ing that Zionist agents are no longer free
to roam the country. ‘Israel’ invaded
Lebanon to transform the fascist minor-
ity into the rulers of Lebanon, but today
this minority cannot employ state power
to help their Zionist benefactors.
Having failed to redraw the political
map in Lebanon, the Israelis are back to
Square one, as is the Reagan adminis-
tration’s policy in Lebanon, and the
Phalangists’ dreams of hegemony. The
Israelis have resorted to scare tactics,
aggression and pressure. The day Berri
and Jumblatt joined the cabinet, Israeli
gunboats prowled in the sea off North
Lebanon's coast, dropping mines. The
day the cabinet decided on its first meet-
ing, Israeli warplanes were staging
mock raids over occupied Saida. In late
May, they bombed the Beqaa Valley
twice in five days. Then, aided by their
fascist cohorts, the Israelis began
punishing the Lebanese economy and
people by blocking the delivery of fuel to
the electric plant in Jiyeh, just north of
the occupation lines. This plant gener-
ates almost half of Lebanon’s total elec-
tric power and supplies West Beirut and
parts of the mountains. From early June,
rationing was imposed. Then the situa-
tion was drastically worsened when
Israeli bulldozers rammed into the
Zahrani-Jiyeh fuel pipeline, causing
heavy damage.
US: No-confidence
Confronted with the anti-American
sentiment generated by Reagan’s policy - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 4
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- المنشئ
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