Word: shia
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...understatement to say that Nabih Berri is an unlikely figure to become America's go-to guy and negotiating partner in Lebanon. After all, the leader of the Shia Muslim Amal party became Speaker of the Lebanese parliament with Syria's forceful backing in 1992, a post he still holds. And Monday, he minced no words in calling Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's fly-by in Beirut a failure because she wasn't willing to support an immediate ceasefire...
...with Hizballah's leadership in hiding from Israeli air raids, Berri has become the acceptable face of Lebanese Shia. And since Hizballah has given him the authority to negotiate on its behalf, Berri has taken a surprising position. His people say that Berri - and by extension Hizballah - would be willing to discuss all of the U.S. proposals, including using a multinational force to help the Lebanese government take control of southern Lebanon...
...long ago, Berri's role as Hizballah's representative at the bargaining table would have been unthinkable. Amal and Hizballah were once rivals for authority among Lebanon's Shia - their militias fought each other during the Civil War - but the two pro-Syrian groups have become close ever since the end of Syria's occupation of Lebanon last year. The fight with Israel has brought them even closer...
...They realize that Shia influence is what's at stake, so it's natural for the two parties to come together," said Dr. Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut. "All Shia in Lebanon support Hizballah because they believe that the fall of the party means the fall of the entire Shia community...
...Berri is currently speaking for all Shia, he is not speaking for all Lebanese. The Shia position is that Israel still occupies part of Lebanon, Sheba Farms, though the United Nations says the land is actually Syrian; Syria, for its part, is loath to admit that another part of their country is occupied by Israel and Sheba Farms is part of Lebanon as well. (The issue is so contentious that when Rice was in Lebanon in February, she said she'd love to come back to Lebanon and go skiing, to which Berri retorted, "The best skiing in Lebanon...