Word: gemayel
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...week's end the chances for Gemayel's survival improved slightly. After meeting in Damascus for two days, the leaders of the National Salvation Front, including Jumblatt, former President Suleiman Franjieh and former Prime Minister Rashid Karami, listed their demands. The trio asked for a hand in rebuilding the Lebanese Army and rescinding legislative decrees that they contended favor the Christians; as expected, the group also insisted on scrapping the May 17 Israeli-Lebanese accord. Significantly, the front did not call for Gemayel's resignation. His aides greeted the declaration with guarded optimism. According to a Gemayel...
...internal police forces, the group outlawed kidnaping, the seizing of homes and the carrying of arms in the area. Muslim militiamen were ordered to return vehicles commandeered during battle and to report to the green line, where sporadic duels with the Phalange and army units still loyal to Gemayel persisted through the week. By Saturday, the police were gradually taking control of West Beirut, though many militia checkpoints remained in place...
During some of the worst moments of fighting, U.S. Special Envoy Donald Rumsfeld huddled with Gemayel to review the shaky Lebanese government's options. Rumsfeld was on the phone talking to the White House from the U.S. ambassador's residence in Baabda when the compound was shelled, so he was in an ideal position to give Washington a vivid description of how bad things were. On Friday, the U.S. embassy offered to evacuate any of the estimated 1,500 American civilians in Beirut who wished to leave. Broadcast over the Voice of America, the news sent hundreds...
Despite that promising overture, Gemayel's position had been measurably weakened by the U.S. decision. For months Reagan had insisted that the Marines must remain in Lebanon as symbols of U.S. support for the embattled Lebanese President. "As long as there is a chance for peace, the mission remains the same," Reagan had said only two weeks ago. "If we get out, that means the end of Lebanon." Despite efforts by Administration officials to paint the policy shift as purely a tactical maneuver, the withdrawal was widely interpreted not just as an admission of failure...
...left was the May 17 Lebanese-Israeli accord. Shultz remains wedded to the pact, partly because he considers it his major diplomatic achievement; but most U.S. officials, notably Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, have concluded that the agreement must be sacrificed. In their view, the choice is a Gemayel regime without the accord, or a less friendly successor without the accord. Gemayel remains unsure of how to jettison the agreement; according to U.S. diplomats, the Lebanese President is still telling Muslims he never ratified the pact, while reminding the Israelis and Christians that he never abandoned it. "Gemayel is still trying...