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The limits of loyalty

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  • The limits of loyalty

    Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt
    Sept 9 2004

    The limits of loyalty

    Amending Lebanon's constitution by Syrian dictate has thrown the
    country into political turmoil, writes Mohalhel Fakih


    Lebanon's government is in crisis after four ministers tendered their
    resignation in protest over a vote in parliament that amended the
    constitution to extend President Emile Lahoud's mandate for another
    three years. The legislative move changed Lebanon's political
    landscape and intensified domestic and international pressure on
    Syria, putting both Beirut and Damascus on a collision course with
    the United Nations Security Council, the United States and Europe.
    But Syria's allies, especially President Lahoud, made clear they will
    only deepen ties with Damascus and warned that the Lebanese face the
    choice of either supporting Syria at this "dangerous" period or
    backing US plans in the Middle East.

    "I tendered my resignation," Environment Minister Fares Boueiz told
    reporters after a Monday meeting with Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. He
    had voted on Friday against a bill in parliament to amend the
    constitution and extend the former Lebanese Army commander's mandate,
    a poll that the US charged was a result of a campaign of "threats"
    and intimidation by Syria and "its agents", drawing immediate denials
    from Syria's Information Minister Ahmed Al-Hassan. He told a news
    conference in Damascus that "the most important thing of all is that
    brotherly Syrian and Lebanese relations take the path of more
    cooperation, coordination and congruity."

    Hariri, a long time rival of Lahoud, had sent clear signals that he
    would not stay in office if the president remained. But after a
    meeting with senior Syrian officials, Hariri himself proposed an
    amendment of the constitution to annul elections, citing Middle East
    tensions. Now, the fate of Hariri's government looks uncertain.

    "We are quitting the government," Economy and Trade Minister Marwan
    Hamadeh told a gathering. Hamadeh and two of his colleagues,
    representing Druze leader MP Walid Jumblatt, had voiced vocal
    dissatisfaction with the parliamentary vote. Jumblatt, an ally of
    Syria, had rejected the decision to extend Lahoud's term, claiming
    the country was moving closer to military rule.

    Hariri, an ally of Jumblatt, who conceived and implemented plans to
    reconstruct Lebanon following the 1975-1990 Civil War, confirmed on
    Monday that consultations will soon be held "on the fate of Boueiz's
    resignation and other resignations that could occur, as well as the
    general situation of the government after returning from a series of
    visits that will end on the 17th of this month." Hariri is scheduled
    to visit Cairo, Madrid and Brussels, but has reportedly cancelled a
    trip to New York.

    His bloc in parliament voted in favour of amending the constitution,
    despite earlier condemnations. One of the deputies, Ghattas Khoury,
    cast a ballot against electing Lahoud. His colleague MP Nabil de
    Freij supported the amendment but said Khoury did not want to give in
    to threats that he had been allegedly receiving. De Freij described
    the parliamentary session as a "sad masquerade" but justified his
    vote as a sign that he would not "give up on [Hariri]".

    Fresh from a resounding victory, Lahoud promised to launch new
    development programmes across the country and give an added push to
    the agriculture sector, clearly sending a signal as to who is in
    charge. Beirut is rife with reports that Lahoud is planning to form a
    mixed government of technocrats and politicians. The post-war
    constitution, which distributed power on confessional basis, gave the
    prime minister executive authority, but Hariri has on several
    occasions complained that Lahoud was blocking his policies including
    internationally backed privatisation plans.

    The president should expect tough opposition not only from a
    fragmented Christian community that opposes Syria's military presence
    in Lebanon, but also from some Muslim politicians and Druze leader
    Jumblatt, whose 16 allies in parliament, along with the Christian
    opposition Qornet Shehwan gathering, voted against amending the
    constitution. Nevertheless, Lahoud told hundreds of visitors at the
    Baabda Palace, congratulating him on staying in office, that: "this
    sort of arrangement [ties with Syria] will continue with the aim of
    achieving just and complete and lasting peace, which spreads the
    stability which Lebanon and Syria enjoy over other countries in the
    region."

    The head of state received unequivocal support from Hizbullah.
    Casting ballots for Lahoud in the 96-20 vote, with three not
    attending the parliamentary session, were a large array of deputies
    and legislators belonging to Hizbullah. The Shia group warned the
    Lebanese that the next 30 days set out by a UN Security Council's
    resolution, which was passed hours before parliament voted to keep
    the president, were fraught with "danger". Hizbullah Secretary-
    General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, a top ally of Syria, said Syrian
    troops, who entered Lebanon at the onset of the Civil War, should
    remain, crediting Damascus for stability and unity in the country.

    Nasrallah was a target of the US-French backed resolution calling for
    the withdrawal of "foreign troops", in reference to Syria, disarming
    "militias" and sending Lebanese Army soldiers to the south. He
    rejected the Security Council decision, as did Lebanon and Syria, and
    accused the UN body of "lying" about wanting to protect Lebanon's
    sovereignty and independence, citing Israel's almost daily breaches
    of Lebanese airspace and its previous military invasions. Nasrallah
    told a rally in Beirut's southern suburbs that army garrisons were
    sent to the south following Israel's May 2000 pullout, but the aim of
    the resolution was to protect US and Israeli interests, and to
    permanently settle Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

    Hizbullah remains the only armed group following the end of the
    Lebanon war on grounds that it continues to fight Israel's occupation
    of the Shebaa Farms region, a region the UN ruled was Syrian, but
    Beirut and Damascus insist is Lebanese. Hizbullah has been branded a
    terrorist group by Washington, which blames Syria for the influence
    it holds. The organisation is hailed throughout the Arab world as a
    resistance force to Israeli aggression.

    This regional angle of Hizbullah and a Syrian struggle with the US
    and France, and eventually the United Nations, turned the extension
    of the former Army General's mandate into a regional power tussle,
    with Syria declaring victory. Syrian officials have said the fact
    that Washington and Paris had to water down the Security Council
    resolution that they drafted, not mentioning Syria by name, and a
    nine-vote minimum possible approval at the world body, showed that
    the US "failed". But the resolution warning against intervention in
    Lebanon's presidential election also gave UN chief Kofi Annan 30 days
    to ensure implementation and warns of "additional measures".

    Hizbullah's leader urged the Lebanese to rally behind Lahoud.
    Meanwhile, Syria's strong ally and Maronite political heavyweight,
    Health Minister Sleiman Franjieh, said Lebanon was now "either with
    Syria or against Syria". Franjieh had initially opposed extending
    Lahoud's mandate but told a news conference he agreed with the
    official justification that regional tensions and Israeli "threats"
    were behind amending the constitution, a decision that the US dubbed
    "crude mockery" by Syria.

    Hizbullah Deputy Mohamed Raad, who leads the nine-member bloc of
    Hizbullah in parliament, said they voted to amend the constitution
    "to support Lahoud and to reject the policies of the American
    administration in the region".

    There were many who disagreed with Raad and Franjieh, including the
    Maronite Church, to which the health minister and the president
    belong. And the head of the Progressive Socialist Party, MP Jumblatt,
    backed the Church's condemnation of the amendment although he was
    cautious not to publicly attack Syria.

    "Syria gives orders, appoints leaders, organises parliamentary and
    other elections, brings in whoever it wants and drops whoever it
    wants and interferes in all aspects of life: in the administration,
    the judiciary, the economy and particularly politics, through its
    representatives here and its aides," Maronite bishops, led by
    Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, said. They added that Damascus
    "compromises Lebanese interests in international forums and protects
    the corrupt and the corrupters, while some of its nationals and some
    Lebanese share the spoils and trade in power."

    The amendment provoked several campaigns to oppose an extension of
    Lahoud's mandate and Syria's role in Lebanon, including from a
    multi-confessional gathering of some 200 leading intellectuals and
    opposition groups participating in what they called the "Petition to
    Defend the Republic and the Constitution". They lashed out at
    Damascus for "imposing" its will on Lebanon and "endangering" both
    countries.

    At the same time, representatives of some 25 political factions and
    parties, including Hizbullah, the Baath Party, Armenian Tashnak
    Party, and House Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal Movement, converged on
    the United Nations headquarters and protested against an alleged
    French-US effort "to separate the Syrian- Lebanese attachment" which
    they said "is impossible". They warned that international pressure
    only "endangers civil peace".

    The current divisions were described as menacing by the highest
    authority of Shia Muslims in Lebanon Sheikh Abdul-Amir Qabalan and
    were blamed by top Sunni religious leaders, headed by the Mufti of
    the Republic Sheikh Mohamed Rashid Qabbani, on the US, while
    attributing stability in Lebanon to Damascus. Both clerics had
    reportedly earlier rejected an amendment of the constitution though
    their statements were withdrawn. They have now said in one statement
    that they support the amendment, "to stand up against Israeli threats
    and the American diktat".

    US moves had put those opposing Syria in a corner. They insist that
    they do not support foreign intervention in Lebanon but that Lahoud
    should have gone. Sunni Muslim MP Mosbah Ahdab declared allegiance to
    strong strategic ties with Syria but said he opposed an extension of
    the president's mandate, which would in his words "extend the crisis
    for another three years". Furthermore, he raised charges of threats
    made against him to modify his position.

    Ahdab appeared to be referring to a power struggle between Lahoud and
    Hariri that virtually paralysed the state due to their economic
    policy differences. Hariri refused to form a government when Lahoud
    first came to office in 1998, and stayed in the opposition ranks
    until he and his allies scored an unprecedented parliamentary victory
    in 2000.

    "There is no winner and no loser," Lahoud declared. He said the
    differences of opinion that emerged following the constitution's
    amendment were at the core of Lebanon's democracy. He called for
    opening a new page. Yet although Lebanon is accustomed to rancorous
    politics, and despite calling US and French condemnations of amending
    the constitution "interference in internal affairs", Lahoud and the
    Lebanese have to face up to the fact that Washington appears to have
    its eyes focussed on the country.

    "We are gravely concerned that the will of the people has been
    circumvented by Syrian actions that led to this vote," Tom Casey,
    State Department spokesman told reporters.
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