Word: gemayels
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...Gemayel made no public announcement that he was scrapping the accord. He simply accepted an eight-point Saudi Arabian peace plan that includes abrogation of the May 17 pact; Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal then delivered it to the Syrians. Other points called for a ceasefire, a negotiated simultaneous pullout of Israeli and Syrian forces coupled with security guarantees to Israel, and a reconstitution of Gemayel's Christian-dominated government to give a much greater share of power to his Muslim opponents...
...abounded. Though the Administration long refused to endorse abrogation of the May 17 accord, by last week Reagan had evidently reconciled himself to seeing the pact scrapped. Asked point-blank at a breakfast with reporters whether he would accept discarding of the agreement "if it were necessary for the Gemayel government to survive," the President replied, "We're not a party to it, so there's no way that we should have a position one way or the other on whether it is abrogated or not. That is up to the parties involved...
Syria rejected the plan, and some of Gemayel's Lebanese enemies dismissed it as too little, too late. In Damascus, Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt insisted that Gemayel must not only resign but be put on trial for "crimes against the Lebanese people." On the other hand, Syria, which is helping to arm Gemayel's foes, is believed amenable to letting the President stay on, and it invited a revised plan which the Saudis proposed and conveyed to Beirut. If Gemayel does cling to office, it may be as the figurehead leader of a drastically reshaped government heavily influenced...
...agreement" that should be preserved. Said Shultz: "Those who would dispense with it must bear the responsibility to find alternative formulas for Israeli withdrawal." Another State Department official made the same point, only more bluntly: "We were asked to negotiate an Israeli withdrawal, and we did it. If the Gemayel government chooses to abrogate that, then somebody else can figure out how to accomplish it. We've done...
...Navy Secretary Lehman told reporters that the destroyer's salvos signified "a definite shift in emphasis. We are supporting [Gemayel's] Lebanese Armed Forces" in their battles with Muslim militia. As the White House speedily reminded Lehman, that contradicted repeated statements from Reagan that naval gunfire is supposed only to protect the Marines' encampment and other U.S. positions around Beirut, like the embassy compound, by silencing artillery and missile batteries that have fired on them. Less than three hours later, Lehman issued a six-line statement asserting that "the correct policy is ... as the President has stated...