Word: druzes
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...your sandbags ready," snapped Walid Jumblatt, the volatile leader of Lebanon's Druze community, as he emerged from the elegant lakeside Beau Rivage Hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland. His message was all too clear. After nine days, the latest negotiations to bring about a reconciliation of Lebanon's religious factions had ended in failure, and a return to warfare seemed inevitable...
Hours later, fighting broke out once more in Beirut, not only between Christians and Muslims but also between Druze militiamen and a radical Muslim faction. One of the few accomplishments of the conference had been an agreement on a ceasefire. But in the first seven days after the cease-fire supposedly went into effect, at least 50 people in the Lebanese capital were killed by the shelling...
...that the Muslims today constitute about 60% of the country's population of more than 3.5 million, and that the Shi'ite Muslims are the largest single community, with about 40%. Thus the Christians want to hold on to the power they have, and the Muslim and Druze opposition groups want to modify the political system in order to gain a larger say in the government...
...various Lebanese factions is scheduled to take up that issue this week in Lausanne, Switzerland. As a prelude to the conference, the rump government of Lebanese President Amin Gemayel last week did the expected by formally canceling its May 17 security agreement with Israel. But Gemayel's Druze and Muslim opponents in Lebanon will be asking for far more than that in Lausanne. They intend to demand a fundamental restructuring of the Christian-dominated power-sharing arrangement on which Lebanese politics have been based since...
Gemayel's chief military opponents, Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt and Nabih Berri, the head of the Shi'ite Amal militia, plan to seek a new electoral system for Lebanon's moribund 99-member parliament, involving nationwide proportional representation. If accepted, the arrangement would strongly favor the country's Muslims, who make up 50% to 60% of the Lebanese population. In addition, Jumblatt and Berri are determined to end the longstanding Christian Maronite domination of the upper reaches of the Lebanese civil service and army...