The nine Lebanese factional leaders who met here last week for national reconciliation talks have recessed their meeting until November 14. President Amin Gemayel himself left Geneva last Friday shortly after the bomb attack on an Israeli security base in south Lebanon and was expected to return to Beirut.
Instead, he went to Paris where he met with President Francois Mitterrand and reportedly plans to go to Washington to see President Reagan before he leaves for a Far East tour Tuesday. Gemayel’s visit to Paris and Washington is aimed at obtaining Western help in getting a negotiated early withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon.
Last Thursday the Lebanese factional leaders unanimously adopted a resolution mandating Gemayel to try to obtain America’ intervention in ending the occupation of Lebanon by foreign troops. The resolution mentioned only Israel’s occupation, but spokesmen for four of the factions supporting Gemayel said the resolution indirectly, and without mentioning Syria by name, also calls for a Syrian withdrawal.
‘THE BEST WE COULD DO’
The Christian Phalangist spokesman, Alfred Maadi, said the adoption of the resolution by all the factions signified “a victory for Lebanon as a united nation.” Veteran rightwing Maronite leader Pierre Gemayel, the founder of the Phalangist Party and father of President Gemayel, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the resolution as adopted was “the best we could do.”
He pointed out that the resolution was certainly better than the demand by four opposition leaders, including Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Shiite leader Nabith Berri, not to implement the Lebanese-Israeli May 17 withdrawal and security agreement but to freeze it for the time being. This freeze demand was relatively mild compared to the demand by veteran Christian leader and former President, Camille Chamoun, that the May 17 accord be placed in deep freeze for an indefinite period of time.
But Jumblatt told reporters after the resolution was adopted that it spells the end of the treaty with Israel. “Lebanon can now start off on a new basis,” he said. According to Jumblatt and other opposition leaders, the resolution and Gemayel’s trip to Paris and Washington symbolize the defeat of the Gemayel “clan.” Berri contended that the resolution is the first step towards the liberation of south Lebanon. Berri is the leader of 1.2 million Shiites, most of whom live in south Lebanon under Israeli administration.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
