Word: beirutization
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...Martyrs' Square demanded the withdrawal of Syrian military forces that had dominated the country for three decades. Lebanon remains deeply divided, however, a fact made plain in January on what some are calling Black Thursday, when a cafeteria shoving match between Sunni and Shi'ite students at a Beirut university set off a day of clashes that tore across the capital...
...sectarian warlord or family patriarch of the sort that usually ascends to the dangerous business of being a top Lebanese politician. He grew up in Sidon, an enthusiastic Arab nationalist like Hariri, who tapped him to be Finance Minister during Hariri's remarkable reconstruction of war-battered Beirut in the 1990s. As Hariri's son and political heir Saad was inexperienced in politics, Siniora agreed to accept the appointment as Prime Minister after Hariri's Future Movement triumphed in elections two years...
...expectation that the U.S. would support an immediate cease-fire. He calls Israel "a killing machine" that used Hizballah's capture of two Israeli soldiers as a "pretext" to re-occupy Lebanon. Though opponents mocked Siniora for kissing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's cheek during her shuttle to Beirut, behind closed doors the two sparred over how to end the war. At one point, Siniora says, he retorted to a Rice aide: "This is my position. Even if they are going to shell the Sérail, I am not moving." Siniora says he welcomes American support, like Washington...
...offered to expand the Cabinet to include more opposition figures, and to discuss limiting the scope of the U.N. investigation in light of Hizballah's fears that the tribunal might judge past acts of terrorism blamed on the group, like the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut. Thus far, however, negotiations with Hizballah remain unscheduled...
Despite the obstacles, Siniora is optimistic about Lebanon's future as he stands on a balcony of the Sérail, with nary a protester in sight, looking out over Beirut below, the Mediterranean Sea to the west and Lebanon's snow-capped mountains to the east. "We have the benefit of past experience, which was a deadly experience," he says. "There is no other option for Lebanese but to understand that they have to live together." Perhaps his own combination of steely will and flexibility will show the way to that elusive goal...