From: elie@hdtv.njit.edu (Elie I. Mourad)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon
Subject: Is the plan to partition ?
Date: 8 Sep 92 23:12:56 GMT
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.


[From the New York Times, Monday September 7, 1992]

Subject: ELECTIONS TO UNIFY LEBANON THREATEN TO DIVIDE IT

by Ihsan A. Hijazi

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Sept, 6 - Lebanese leaders like to compare their
country to a free bird with one Christian wing and one Muslim wing. But
just as the country is poised to take flight after years of civil war, its
wings have been clipped. Two years after the end of the war, which was rooted
in religious differences, Lebanon is rebuilding. Its survival depends on 
harmony between Muslims and Christians, enforced by a new national charter 
both sides agreed on. But the old tensions are surfacing again during the 
country's first parliamentary elections in two decades , and they threaten to 
prevent the formation of a new government and even to tear Lebanon apart.
"Lebanon faces the danger of partition again," the Deputy Speaker of
Parliament, Michel Maalouli, said on Saturday. "Something must be done
and done quickly before it is too late."

For three consecutive Sundays, ending today, Lebanese voters cast ballots in 
different regions of the country. But most Christians have boycotted the 
elections, Christian candidates have pulled out of races and Christians have 
staged general strikes to protest each round.

		    Protests Lead to Resignations

The protests have had a heavy impact. Four of five Maronite Catholic members of
the Cabinet have already resigned, three over opposition to the voting. Among 
them was the Foreign Minister, Fares Bouez, the son-in-law of President Ellas 
Hrawi. The resignation came at a crucial time, during Middle East peace 
negotiations In Washington.

Mr. Bouez warned on Saturday that "Lebanon's very existence and entity are at 
stake." Christian leaders had sought to delay the elections until Syrian troops
pulled out of Beirut and moved to eastern Lebanon, as the national charter 
requires,
The opposition charged that any new Parliament elected while Syrian troops 
were still in the area would be a "rubber stamp" for Damascus and its 
surrogates in Beirut. But Lebanon's Syrian-backed Government refused to delay 
the voting, saying that the unicameral Legislature elected 20 years ago no 
longer reflected the will of the people.

One hundred deputies were elected to the 128-seat Parliament in the first
and second rounds of voting. Voters in southern Lebanon went to the polls
today to fill 23 seats. Although many Christians again boycotted the voting, 
the overall turnout rate was the highest of the three rounds. Results are 
expected on Monday.

All day, all roads to the south were packed with convoys of buses carrying 
voters and flying the black flag of the pro-Iranian Party of God and the green 
banner of Amal, another fundamentalist shiite group. The former rivals joined 
forces in the elections to get out the vote in the Shiite stronghold and to 
press for an end to Israeli influence in the south.

The Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army prevented voters living in the Israeli-
controlled "security zone" from leaving to vote. No polling was conducted 
within the enclave. The legislative seats are distributed equally between 
Muslims and Christians under the Taif accord, named for the Saudi resort where 
it was signed. Under the old charter, Christians had a parliamentary majority. 
The accord also shifts the powers of the Christian President to the half-
Muslim, half-Christian Cabinet.

The election of five legislators has been delayed in one Christian constituency
because there were no candidates. And those Christians who have been elected so
far were brought to office largely by Muslim voters.

At the core of Christian opposition to elections is deep concern about their 
future in this country. The Christians say they are afraid the new Parliament 
will change Lebanon's democratic system and subject the Christians to Muslim 
domination. An even bleaker possibility was sketched by Patriarch Nasrallah
Sfair, the head of the Maronite Church, the largest of Lebanon's 16 Christian 
denominations. He said hefears the new representatives will try to legislate a 
merger with Syria that would end Lebanon's existence as a sovereign nation.

Opposition leaders have served notice they will widen their campaign against 
the new parliament and the government. Patriarch Sfair, under whose spiritual 
umbrella the Christians have rallied, said this would be done by "passive 
resistance." There has been no talk of armed warfare. 

There is fear already that when the new legislatureis installed and the present
cabinet steps down, forming a new government will be impossible because of
the Christian boycott.

The independent daily newspaper An Nahar reported on Saturday that some
opposition activists intend to press president Hrawi, a Maronite CHristian,
to resign. Mr. Hrawi, 66 years old, has served only two years of his six-year
term.

		     Plans for Partition Reported

Maronite hard-liners, citing the breakup of Yugoslavia along religious and
ethnic lines, are reported to have revived old plans for partition and 
proclamation of Lebanese Christian autonomy. The daily newspaper As Safir
said the plans, which originated at the height of the civil war, have been 
rejected by Patriarch Sfair and the Vatican.

Syria has been the main power broker in Lebanon since its troops first came 
here 16 years ago under a mandate from the Arab League to end the factional
violence. The Syrian position grew stronger when its forces led an assault
in October 1990 that ousted General Michel Aoun, who symbolized Christian
resistance to the Syrians.

Followers of the general, who now lives in exile in Marseilles, are members of
the Christian coalition that is leading the opposition to the elections.

Under the 1989 Arab-brokered national charter that laid the ground for ending
the 15 years of civil war, an estimated 35,000 Syrian troops are to roll back 
to the Bekaa region by the end of the month. But this is by no means certain.

Lebanon's Defense Minister, Michel El Murr, said that however strong the 
restructured Lebanese Army has grown, it still lacks sufficient military
hardware to replace the Syrians.

Mr. Murr and brigade commanders have complained that neither France nor the 
United States, traditional providers of weapons to Lebanon, have been 
forthcoming in resupplying the army.

Washington and Paris have insisted that Beirut pay old military debts before 
any attempt is made to reach additional arms accords, but the national
treasury is virtually empty of foreign exchange and the country is unable
to settle its debts.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon