Word: karami
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...chance, Lebanon's twelfth cease-fire takes hold, the man responsible will be Premier Rashid Karami, whose amazing patience makes him look like "the man of eternal hope. "A Sunni Moslem lawyer from Tripoli, Karami locked himself in the Serail (Government House) during the peak of the most recent fighting and vowed he would not leave until the street battles ended. In effect, Karami became the government. He took over the direction of security affairs-he holds the Defense portfolio in addition to being Premier-and worked round the clock without the help of aides, pleading with leaders...
...cease-fire was the result of Premier Rashid Karami's tireless wheedling, pushing and talking with leaders of the rival warring factions (see box). But there was no agreement on any of the political issues that have divided Lebanon between conservative Christians, who constitute less than 40% of the population, and predominantly Moslem leftists, who are in the majority and want political reforms that would result in a more equitable distribution of power now largely in Christian hands...
...Phalangists did leave some of the luxury hotels they had occupied in downtown Beirut but held on to the rocket-battered 26-story Holiday Inn. Leftists refused to budge from their commanding perch in the nearby 30-story, unfinished Murr Tower. Public cynicism about the cease-fire deepened when Karami's attempt to collect heavy weapons from both sides produced nothing. Kidnaping continued, and snipers killed ten on the third day of the truce...
...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 mustered. Karami then invited nine key factional leaders...
These sessions may prove to be last rites. Beirut, already ruined as a financial center, seems doomed to continuing violence. The rest of Lebanon can only wonder what the outcome will be. At one of the private meetings held by Karami late last week, Ibrahim Koleilat, who heads the Nasserites, explained his intentions politely but forcefully. His Moslem fighters will press on until they have defeated the Phalangists once and for all, said Koleilat. "We have had ten cease-fires and ten violations. Let's get this over with and have one cease-fire that means something...