Rice, Not Rifles

A security plan takes hold

The Lebanese Army retook Beirut last week, but not with guns blazing. As the tanks and armored cars rattled through the streets, people peered over bullet-pocked balconies and cheered. Some women tossed rice and rose water at the grinning soldiers. While one brigade pushed through East Beirut, where most of the Christians live, another swept through predominantly Muslim West Beirut, reclaiming neighborhoods that had been controlled by local militias since February. The army units converged on the "green line," the dread boundary splitting the city, and bulldozed its makeshift banks of dirt and rubble. The city's airport is scheduled to open this week for the first time in five months. "When I hear the first plane fly into Beirut, I will know the very worst is over," said Khalil Deir, a Lebanese barber.

Air traffic will be one of the results of a security plan designed to pave the way for power-sharing talks among Lebanon's clashing factions. The actions not only marked the first success for Prime Minister Rashid Karami's two-month-old government, but reflected the crucial mediation role played by Syria. Nonetheless, a decade of civil war has left the Lebanese understandably skeptical about the chances for lasting peace. As a headline in Beirut's Daily Star newspaper put it, ROSE WATER, RICE AND RESERVATIONS.

Even last week's accomplishment almost never came about. After hand-picking Karami, a Sunni Muslim, in April, the Syrians pressured Lebanon's warlords into joining his Cabinet. Its meetings, however, took place against a backdrop of daily artillery duels between rival militias. As the fighting grew worse, Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam met with the Cabinet at President Amin Gemayel's residence at Bikfaya. According to Lebanese officials, a furious Khaddam promised tough Syrian measures if no compromise was reached. A newly attentive Cabinet appointed a Maronite Christian to head the 25,000-man army, but it also set up a six-member military council made up of representatives from the fractious sects. Before the army regained control of Beirut last week, the militia forces abandoned their posts and hauled their military equipment out of the city.

Militia commanders remain suspicious that the cease-fire will be used by their opponents only to consolidate positions before the next bout of warfare. While President Gemayel has accepted in principle reforms that would give the Muslims a bigger role in running Lebanon, the precise details have yet to be worked out. Unless progress comes quickly, rice and rose water could give way once again to rifles and revenge.