From: elie@hdtv.njit.edu (Elie I. Mourad)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
Subject: Lebanese moving sand or quagmire ?.
Date: 17 Aug 92 15:05:57 GMT
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.


BKIRKI, LEBANON (AUG. 16) DPA - At a Sunday service on a mountain overlooking
Juniyeh, a centre of Christian hardliners, Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfair
urged the boycott of the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Lebanon. 
   The crowded congregation applauded and made the sign of the cross over their
chests, signalling their acquiesence to the wish of God. The patriarch's call
left, however, bitter feelings elsewhere. 
  Many Lebanese, struggling to overcome the ruinous effects of civil war, saw a
new threat of violence in the growing confrontation between the government and
the Christian opposition. 
   "Voters should not give their votes to those who have agreed to become
witnesses to falsification, oppression and violation of human rights," Sfair
declared. 
 After his sermon, a number of Christians who had declared their candidacies a
week ago rushed to announce their withdrawal from the parliamentary race
scheduled for August 23, 30 and September 6. 
   Christian opposition to the poll gained momentum last week after the
mainstream Phalange party refused to join the elections and urged a 
postponement until after Syria withdrew its troops from Beirut by the end of 
September. 
   The Christian opposition said the overwhelming Syrian presence in Beirut
could only lead to pro-Syrian candidates winning seats in the 128-member
legislature.
   The pro-Syrian government, determined to show firmness, insisted that the
elections go ahead, if necessary without Christian participation. 
   Phalange Secretary-General Karim Pakradouni said elections without Christian
participation would produce a parliament not representing the nation as a 
whole.
   He also cautioned that such a legislature would not enjoy international
recognition and blamed "the stubborn cabinet of President Elias Hrawi for
allowing things to go so far". 
   Farouk Abi-Lama, one of the representatives of exiled General Michel Aoun,
said the crisis marked the start of a war by Christians against the government.
   For the first time since the civil war was declared over in 1991, an
atmosphere of division along sectarian lines was pronouncedly evident. 
   The military frontline, which used to split Beirut into Moslem and Christian
halves, has been replaced by a political frontline serving the same division. 
   "The countdown for tumultuous events in the country has started," the
Christian newspaper Ad-Diyar declared on its front page. 
  Ahmed Kobeisi, a political analyst in Beirut, said Lebanon had again become
an arena for regional and international battles. 
   He said the United States, acting through the Christian community, was
bringing pressure on the Syrians in a bid to weaken their stand in the Middle
East peace talks scheduled to resume on August 24 in Washington. 
 "The Syrians, resisting this pressure, would urge the government in Beirut to
remain firm on holding the elections no matter what the price was," Kobeisi
said. "This price might be our economy, and the future of our peace plan." 


BEIRUT (AUG. 14) DPA - Lebanon's powerful Christian Phalange party Friday
decided not to take part in the country's first parliamentary elections in
twenty years scheduled for August 23 and 30 and for September 6. 
   There has been much Christian opposition against holding the poll before
Syria withdraws from the Lebanese capital next month. 
   The Phalange took its decision after an unprecedented trip by its chief,
George Saadeh, to Damascus where he discussed the elections issue with Syrian
Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam. 
 Saadeh reportedly the Christians' fears that the elections might be rigged so
as to ensure victory to pro-Syrian candidates. 
   "The Phalange party has decided unanimously not to run for the parliamentary
elections and asks its members who already submitted their candidacy to 
withdraw immediately," Saadeh told reporters. 
   He said his party would continue to urge the government to postpone the
elections. 
   The main factions opposing the current election plans include the Lebanese
Forces Militia, supporters of exiled General Michel Aoun and representatives of
the anti-Syrian deputy, Raymond Eddeh, who lives in Paris. 
   Political observers in Beirut said they doubted whether the government would
be able to go ahead with the polling as scheduled. 
   The squabble over the timing of the elections between loyalists of the
pro-Syrian government and the Christians has already caused a total collapse of
the Lebanese economy.