Lebanon's 'Man of Eternal Hope'

If, by chance, Lebanon's twelfth cease-fire takes hold, the man responsible will be Premier Rashid Karami, whose amazing patience makes him look like "the man of eternal hope. "A Sunni Moslem lawyer from Tripoli, Karami locked himself in the Serail (Government House) during the peak of the most recent fighting and vowed he would not leave until the street battles ended. In effect, Karami became the government. He took over the direction of security affairs--he holds the Defense portfolio in addition to being Premier--and worked round the clock without the help of aides, pleading with leaders of the warring factions to stop the shooting. Shortly after the announcement of the ceasefire, TIME'S Beirut bureau chief Karsten Prager interviewed the weary but smiling Premier in his Serail office. Excerpts from the conversation:

ON LEBANON'S AGONY: I can assure you that most Lebanese do not accept what has happened here. I can say 95% of the people do not want to fight one another but want to live together in one family.

ON THE CEASEFIRE: I think all Lebanese are by now convinced force is not the way to bring about progress or realize [political] demands. All Lebanese must realize after this crisis that even if they fight for another 100 years, they won't gain their objectives.

ON THE POLITICAL ISSUES AT STAKE: All the people on the National Dialogue Committee, which represents the political and religious factions in the country, now admit there ought to be reform. I am now hopeful that we are on the way to finding common principles and solutions that can form a program for the future. That is the only way to create a new Lebanon that can respond to the aspirations of the people, particularly the young generation.

ON HIS POSSIBLE RESIGNATION: I have not lost hope that we can bring Lebanon out of this difficulty. I have made up my mind that I will do everything possible to succeed in the task. Resignation would be the easy way, the selfish way, and I have never been a selfish man.

ON FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: This crisis is the responsibility of the Lebanese. If the Lebanese had not been willing to fight one another, no one could have made them fight. It is our responsibility. No one who has an interest in destroying Lebanon can succeed if the Lebanese are united. Syrian interference? Yes, there was, but it was mediation for the good of Lebanon, an attempt to help us get out of the crisis, a brotherly and neighborly thing.

ON MILITIAS AND THE ARMS FLOW: I think military service can be one of the solutions. The other one is to convince every Lebanese that arms were the main instruments of this crisis. It is no use to go on like that.

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