Word: bashir
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...with each other on Lebanese soil. Last week, in fact, sporadic fighting broke out between the Syrians and both the Israelis and the Christian Phalange forces, which are closely aligned with the Israelis. The Lebanese Parliament had elected a new national president, the leader of the Christian Phalangist forces, Bashir Gemayel, who was despised by many Lebanese Muslims as an "Israeli stooge." But the Israeli siege of West Beirut was over, and the domination of Lebanon by the P.L.O...
...Despite demands by Lebanese leftist and Muslim politicians that the voting be postponed until Israeli troops had withdrawn from Beirut, the deeply divided Parliament went ahead last week and elected Israel's chief military and political ally in Lebanon to a six-year term as President. He is Bashir Gemayel, 34, commander of the country's principal Christian militias and leader of the Phalangist Party. Gemayel was the only candidate for the post, largely because no other Christian leader dared to oppose him. He promptly declared that his election had been "a big achievement for our democracy...
Those most pessimistic about Gemayel's election, perhaps, are the Palestinian civilians who will remain behind after the P.L.O. fighters have left and who fear Gemayel. Even now, mothers in West Beirut are prone to tell their misbehaving children: "Don't do that. Bashir will come and get you." Last week Gemayel's Phalangist militiamen were taking food out of some cars heading into West Beirut and throwing it into the street. Palestinians are afraid that he may order a harsh crack down to drive them out of the country. Said a retired schoolteacher: "Bashir...
Liberator. Warlord. Patriot. Power-mad. Those are some of the terms that Bashir Gemayel's deeply riven countrymen have used to describe their President-elect during his years as a leader of the Christian militia forces. Part political idealist and part storm trooper, Gemayel, 34, has shown he will use whatever means necessary to achieve his nationalist goals. His supporters argue that Lebanon's dire condition requires just that sort of toughness. Opponents claim that he is a fierce political animal dedicated to narrow sectarian aims...
...remaining problems is piecing together a strong central Lebanese government and arranging for the withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian troops from the country. The Israelis would like to see a central government controlled by their Christian allies, and are therefore hoping that Christian Lebanese Forces Leader Bashir Gemayel, 35, will win the presidential elections that must take place by Sept. 15. In the Israelis' view, such a regime would promote stability, keep the leftist Arab elements in check and prevent a Palestinian threat from returning to their border. But the idea of a strong central government may prove...