Word: christiane
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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President and the armed forces commander would always be from the dominant Maronite Christian sect, the Prime Minister always a Sunni Moslem and the legislative assembly always in a 6-5 balance favoring Christians. This slight but significant power edge reflected not only the population figures but also the fact that Christians controlled the professions and business. Despite simmering eruptions, notably in 1958 when the U.S. sent in troops to prevent a leftist take over, Lebanon thrived for decades as a result of its compromise-and of a Swiss-style neutrality that helped to make it the trading, banking...
...French visitor was recently invited to lunch with a well-educated Beirut merchant at his home, which was in an embattled Christian neighborhood. The visitor was thus not too surprised to see several Russian-made AK-47 automatic rifles-the most common weapon on both sides-stacked in a corner of the dining room. Lunch was a pleasant affair, filled with interesting conversation; when it was over the host invited his guest to view the city from his roof. There sat a mortar, pointed in the general direction of the battle lines of the day. As the Frenchman watched...
Outside Forces. The arrival since 1948 of 320,000 Palestinian refugees has added immeasurably to Christian-Moslem tensions. At first the Palestinians stayed out of the current fighting; Palestine Liberation Organization Leader Yasser Arafat continues to call for a peaceful solution. But last week Palestinians from Arafat's Fatah and the Syrian-backed Saiqa were clearly aiding the leftists with arms, equipment and artillery support. Indeed the real strategic commander of the Moslem offensive in Beirut was rumored to be the infamous fedayeen leader Abu Daoud, who nearly succeeded in assassinating Jordan's King Hussein in 1970. Last...
...coming apart, Lebanon's political leaders seemed utterly incapable of finding a solution. In fact they were part of the problem. Many are zu'ama who solemnly discuss cease-fires even as their troops are shooting away. President Suleiman Franjieh, whose base is a virtually feudal Christian hill village outside Tripoli, so thoroughly detests Premier Rashid Karami, a Sunni Moslem, that they can barely work together. Though Karami began seeking a solution in Parliament last week, so many of its 99 deputies refused to venture out in the line of fire that a 50-member quorum was never...
...restaurant, thoughtfully shifted back into the most protected area of the hotel because of snipers, service and cuisine merited the usual three stars. Scampi, saumon fumé, salade Niçoise-almost the full menu was available. On Monday U.S. Ambassador G. McMurtrie Godley was at one table, Christian Moderate Leader Ramond Edde near by at another. Shortly after 3, as Edde was finishing his coffee, an aide arrived to tell him the hotel had been taken over by a bunch of nervous and heavily armed youths from a right-wing Christian militia unit. Edde and most of the remaining...