From Blood to Votes

In Beirut, tragedy and normality have come to seem almost interchangeable. Last Monday, rockets and artillery fire began raining down upon both Christian and Muslim residential areas, leaving at least 100 people dead. One day later, representatives of both groups gave a vote of confidence in parliament for the six-week-old government of Prime Minister Rashid Karami.

But on Wednesday, a Cabinet meeting was postponed because of shelling two days earlier.

Said Cabinet Minister Nabih Berri: "We will have to wait until the blood has dried." The need for a solution in southern Lebanon was brought sharply home by mounting Muslim resistance to the Israeli presence. At week's end an explosives-laden car blew up near three Israeli armored personnel carriers, killing the driver and wounding five soldiers.