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PARTISAN REVIEW
Journalist J amil Hamad has called for a third alternative, that
is , neither PLO extremism nor Village League passivity. In the
Times
ofJuly 18 , he called upon "leading Palestinian representatives
from the West Bank, Gaza and the Palestinian Diaspora [to] con–
vene in a neutral European country to write a new [i .e., non-PLO]
covenant, draw up a new diplomatic strategy and present a
peaceful
initiative to Israel." Bethlehem Mayor Elias Frej, in private talks ,
recently took the same line.
Sharon expanded the war aims beyond even the debatable goal
of removing the PLO from Beirut. H e announced that Israel wants
to help create , or facilitate, a stable Lebanese central government.
Given the extremely complex divisions running through Lebanese
society-theological, ethnic, and economic-even were it rid of the
PLO and of the Syrians, a stable government is an elusive goal that
may take years to achieve. Bashir Jamayel's Christian Phalange
speaks openly of a Maronite dictatorship.
*
The
Jerusalem Post,
a bit
naively, suggested that the goal for Israel should be to fashion a
Maronite-Shi ' ite Moslem axis, though it might be difficult to forge ,
given the vastly different orientations of the two groups . J amayel
and his people see no need for a majority-based government,
recently reminding the Israelis that "you won't be a majority in
Greater Israel, and Syrian President Assad's ruling Alawites are a
minority in Syria. It's all a function of power." In an interview with
William Van Leer in the
Post
on July 23, a Phalange spokesman
answered a question about power sharing, or coalition building:
"Monsieur, power is not shared, it is usurped." In response, Van
Leer bemoaned Israel's Lebanese entanglement by comparing it to
the story of the young woman who finds out that, in Hollywood, you
have to sleep with everyone, both to get into a picture and to get out
of doing an undesirable one .
• The Maronites are the result of a seventh-century split within the Christian
churches over the doctrine of "one will" in Christ, the Maronite view, as against
the " two wills"-one human a nd one di vine-favored at the Council of
Constantinople, where they were expelled .
It
appears they are still, now on the
secular level, in search of the one will.
