European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 7, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                18 the stars and stripes april 1986 daily Magazine f a file photo 1978 elderly armenian women in a District of East Beirut Pray and weep for their a Ushii Irv of madness continued from Page 17 the maronite since the and the traditional allies of the the protectors of the greek also were involved since druse and maronite Are Only part of the Jumble of some of the sects will be familiar Only to students of shiite scattered throughout the now Are the largest religious the greek orthodox and sunni moslem have traditionally inhabited the coastal then there Are greek armenian orthodox and armenian syrian roman syrian Nestori and the occasional presbyterian or this was the mix to be dealt with in when Lebanon was struggling for Independence from which had taken Over Rule of the Region when world War 1 ended 400 years of turkish at the Many moslem wanted Union with mos Lem Syria and some christians wanted to maintain ties to Catholic France for fear of being swallowed up in the larger world of lebanese a rare pre an unwritten National covenant it decreed that a maronite would always be a sunni prime minister and a shiite parliament christians would hold a majority in Pierre the late Christian once said the result was that the Christian was comforted be cause he was others have maintained that maronite and other christians with the help of a census taken by their French in manipulating the moslem to hold onto a Power not warranted by their at any that 1932 which gave christians a slight Edge Over was the last taken in Leb the National covenant not that there we rent disruptions As moslem sought to build their sometimes calling on Aid from outsiders such As egyptian president Gamal Abdul the Arab most no tattle was the 1958 min civil but presi Dent Camille Chamoun had allies he convinced president Dwight Eisenhower to Send marines with the argument that there was a communist threat in a country where even most so called leftists Are aggressively with its freewheeling Money from the Arab Oil and from the Lebanon the business not wanting any re kept the government and army Beirut was a cosmopolitan tourists came for Njg resorts and ancient businessmen saw it was the promised mix of East and West with a Jumble of signs in English and arabic and Many lebanese christians and moslem lived peacefully As but the National covenant perpetuated differences even As it held the country and All the while the equation was the palestinians arrived in Waves after the founding of Israel in after the loss of Jordans West Bank in the 1967 Ara israeli and after the 1970 Black september War in which Jordans King Hussein expelled the Palestine liberation they did in Lebanon what Hussein stopped them from doing in they built their own with the christians unable to Stop it because the moslem had built alliances with the the the moslem and the druse were building militias to protect tangled up in this was the righting stance of the christians and the left Wing Alliance of some palestinians and part of the was outside Arab Back ing for palestinians using Lebanon As their base to attack increasing israeli reprisal in South Leb and the flight of shiite southerners to Shantytown suburbs around this was the situation on april 1 As Pierre Gem Ayel attended the opening of a Church on a Street named in his Honor in the Christian suburb of Ain a car drove the crowd was sprayed with a Gemayel bodyguard and two others were in re fighters of Gemayel phalanges party attacked a bus returning from a rally and 28 were most of them the fighting for 19 it ended when the Arab league called for an Arab peacekeeping Force to take Over the syrians had come in on the Side of the but they now painted their helmets Green the Arab league color and made up the major part of the Force that entered Beirut on 1 1 it was another cosmetic solution like the National like the intervention of marines in 1958 that did not work for but the lebanese kept even exhilarated by the attention the War brought their tiny the famed resilience of the Economy was helped by millions of Dol Lars spent by the lebanese who had made Money shipping goods to their Arab neighbors now made Money shipping guns into their own alliances kept the syrians wound up on the moslem Gemayel phalanges party made friends with which invaded in 1978 and again in virtually invited by the christians the second time the Plo was driven Back from israels Bor Der and out of the United states and its euro Pean allies sent and a troop withdrawal pact was reached with Israel on May then came another of what the lebanese Call rounds of the civil in september the druse drove out Christian militiamen from the Chou mountains where they had been installed by marines and italian and British peace viewed by the druse and the amal shiite Miltia As a prop for the Christian dominated govern came under frequent on 19 twin suicide truck bombs exploded at and French taking almost 300 on with syrian the druse and shiites drove the government out of moslem West Bei the lebanese israeli troop withdrawal pact col the Western peacekeepers in South another the who had welcomed israels invasion because it ended the oppression of the began to feel the israelis had overstayed their emboldened by their Victory in Beirut and the shiite revolution in the shiites began attacking israels the mightiest in the Middle some shiites were blowing themselves up in suicide car bombs directed at the just As others did against the marines and French president Amin Gemayel suddenly was praising the heroic National members of the same amal militia who had fought his army a year he was Back in the graces of the does it All sound familiar Gemayel had come full the Leader of the druse who Defeated the christians in the 1983 Mountain War is Wai id whose family led the siege of the christians in he is part of Lebanon National Unity but rages constantly at Gemayel to give moslem More also in the government is Camille Leb anon president when marines came in Rashid prime minister when War broke out in is prime minister on the streets of the very Small wars de scribed by the political rage on Al most the Radical Hezbollah shiite militia forces the closure of Christian businesses for moslem Friday noon prayers and issues threats against the few Ameri cans Olio remain after bomb attacks on embassy buildings in both 1983 and As a outlined his theories on Lebanon unending a moslem Friend sat and Lis then the Friend asked this question Are you More pessimistic or pessimistic this being Leb 1 cannot ask you if you Are