Mountain Feud

The proud Maronite Catholic clansmen of Zghorta. a mountain village famed for its fighting spirit since the days of the First Crusade, are as pious as they are touchy. When they are feuding--and that is most of the time--they are careful to go to church and ask God's help in aiming their guns, and even when they are on the run, they seldom miss Sunday Mass.

The three leading families of Zghorta are the rich and influential Franjiehs, the ancient and patrician Karams, and the fertile Moawads, who outnumber each of the others. For centuries the three feuding clans have been fighting--now pairing off in expedient alliances, now breaking away to fight again. In recent years a fourth clan, the Dweihis. has risen from plebeian obscurity to join the fray. The newcomers entered the ring with considerable credentials. "About 70% of the criminal cases arising in the Zghorta district," said a court officer in Tripoli, some five miles away, "involve members of the Dweihi clan."

Armored Priest. Nevertheless, the Dweihis are as reverent as their neighbors, and the present hero of the clan is a handsome, burly, young (35) Maronite priest named Simaan, who usually totes a large pistol on his clerical rounds, and seldom travels without an escort of four or five gun-packing kinsmen. In the current elections taking place on four successive Sundays in Lebanon (TIME, June 24), Father Simaan Dweihi is a candidate for Parliament on the government ticket. None of this in any way pleases Hamid Franjieh, one of the top men in the rival clan who has served twice as Lebanon's Foreign Minister, is now the leading Christian spokesman for the opposition, and dearly wants to succeed incumbent Camille Chamoun as President of Lebanon. Hamid is convinced that Chamoun's government put up pistol-packing Father Dweihi as a candidate only to discredit the Franjieh clan and to block his own chances at the presidency.

One day last week, in the midst of the electoral heat when Hamid himself was having lunch in Tripoli, a band of prominent Franjiehs and Moawads journeyed from Zghorta to the nearby little village of Miziyara to attend memorial services for a neighborhood sheik. The Karams were invited, but decided not to go. As a man of the cloth, Simaan Dweihi was also present. As the various churchmen and family elders made their way toward the little parish church of Our Lady of Miziyara, their henchmen gathered in a nearby cafe, eying each other with the distrust common to the district.

Church Ablaze. Suddenly the solemn procession of six red-robed bishops and more than 100 bearded priests was interrupted by a burst of gunfire from the cafe. In a moment the entire village square was ablaze with gunfire. Inside the church a covey of his kinsmen surrounded Father Dweihi, and some of them took bullets aimed at him. When at last a detachment of troops arrived from Zghorta, ten Dweihis, two Franjiehs and two Moawads lay dead. Four other innocent villagers died as well, and the wounded totaled about 35.

What was the cause of the fracas? "Maronite honor, prestige, glory," said a local priest, adding with a shrug, "nothing much."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.