Taif Agreement
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The Taif Agreement (Arabic: اتفاقية الطائف) (also "National Reconciliation Accord," or "Document of National Accord") was an agreement reached to provide "the basis for the ending of the civil war and the return to political normalcy in Lebanon."[1] Negotiated in Taif, Saudi Arabia, it was designed to end the decades-long Lebanese civil war, politically accommodate the demographic shift to a Muslim majority, reassert Lebanese authority in South Lebanon (then occupied by Israel), though the agreement set a time frame for Syrian withdrawal and stipulated that the Syrians withdraw in two years. It was signed on October 22, 1989 and ratified on November 4, 1989.
[edit] Overview
The treaty was negotiated in Taif, Saudi Arabia by the surviving members of Lebanon's 1972 parliament; fathered by Parliament Speaker President Hussein El-Husseini. The agreement covered political reform, the ending of the Lebanese Civil War, the establishment of special relations between Lebanon and Syria, and a framework for the beginning of complete Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.
The agreement restructured the National Pact political system in Lebanon by transferring some of the power away from the Maronite Christian community, which had been given a privileged status in Lebanon under the period of French rule. Prior to Taif, the Sunni Muslim Prime Minister was appointed by and responsible to the Maronite President. After Taif the Prime Minister was responsible to the legislature, as in a traditional parliamentary system. At the time of the Taif negotiations, a Maronite Christian Prime Minister, General Michel Aoun, had controversially been appointed by President Amine Gemayel, contrary to the National Pact.
The agreement also provided for the disarmament of all national and non national militias. All have disarmed[citation needed] apart from the Shiite Hezbollah and the non-Lebanese Fatah and Hamas, PFLP-GC. The Hezbollah was allowed to stay armed in its capacity as a "resistance force" rather than a militia, fighting Israel in the south, a privilege obtained, according to Magnus Ranstorp, in part by using its leverage as holder of a number of Western hostages ,[2] as of January 2011, Hezbollah remains armed and in control of the area after Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000.
Although the Taif Agreement identified the abolition of political sectarianism as a national priority, it provided no timeframe for doing so. The Chamber of Deputies was increased in size to 128 members, shared equally between Christians and Muslims, rather than elected by universal suffrage that would have provided a Muslim majority (excluding the expatriate community, a majority of which is Christian). A cabinet was established similarly divided equally between Christians and Muslims.
The agreement was ratified on November 4, 1989. Parliament met on the following day at Qoleiat air base in North Lebanon and elected President Rene Mouawad 409 days after Amine Gemayel vacated this position upon the expiration of his term in 1988. Mouawad was unable to occupy the Presidential Palace which was still in use by General Michel Aoun. Mouawad was assassinated 17 days later in a car bombing in Beirut on November 22 as his motorcade returned from Lebanese independence day ceremonies. He was succeeded by Elias Hrawi, who remained in office until 1998.
[edit] Notes
- ^ THE LEBANESE CIVIL WAR AND THE TAIF AGREEMENT
- ^ Ranstorp, Magnus, Hizb'allah in Lebanon : The Politics of the Western Hostage Crisis, New York, St. Martins Press, 1997, p.105
