Word: militia
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Lebanese government was sending some 4,500 army troops into East Beirut. Ever since September, when the Lebanese army occupied Muslim West Beirut, Christian militiamen had remained in control of the predominantly Christian section of the city. Last week, after negotiations with the government of President Gemayel, the militia agreed to make way for the army. The agreement also called for the government to take over the "Fifth Basin," an illegal port where the militiamen have long collected import duties. In fact, even after the army takes over the Fifth Basin, the militia may continue to collect revenues there...
...curious relationship between Amin Gemayel and the Christian troops explains the delay in reaching an agreement. The Phalangist Party was founded by Amin's father Pierre, and its militia is the dominant group in the Lebanese Forces, the combined Christian militia. Amin's brother Bashir, who was assassinated last September a few days before he was due to be inaugurated as Lebanon's President, was head of the Lebanese Forces. But Amin Gemayel, who became President in his brother's place, was never as close to the militia as either Pierre or Bashir, and as President...
...militia commanders yielded to Amin's authority after suffering a series of setbacks. On Feb. 6, Druze fighters in the hills southeast of Beirut drove the militiamen from the town of Aley, for which they have been battling since October...
...uncertain what Gemayel will do with the report once Germanos delivers it to him. The Phalangist militia men still make up the most powerful Lebanese military force, and they operate as a law unto themselves. Gemayel's relationship with them is strained, and they have the power to disrupt his government...
...impunity every day. People reason that it is both unrealistic and unwise to expect that justice will be done, since there has been no justice in Lebanon for so long a time. Many Lebanese Christians and Muslims agree that it is more important for Gemayel to disarm the Phalangist militia and work toward national reconciliation than to try and bring to justice those responsible for the Palestinian massacres. Gemayel may want a thorough investigation, but to get it he is not likely to prejudice a complex political process that may determine the survival of Lebanon as a nation...