Sharon Threatens Pierre Gemayel: If Direct Contact with Your Son Amin Is Not Secured, We Will Cut Off Talks with Lebanon (3 of 6)

How President Gemayel Rejected a Declaration of Principles with Israel Despite U.S. Pressure… Sheikh Pierre: Amin’s Intransigence Stems from His Fear of Being Unable to Find a Successor to Shafic al-Wazzan

After Amin Gemayel was elected president of the republic, succeeding his brother Bashir, who was assassinated on September 14, 1982, about twenty days after his election, the Israelis focused their pressure on the new president to sign a peace treaty. “He was initially hesitant because he had given us a commitment not to conclude any treaty with Israel and said he would work to get the Israelis out through political activity,” according to Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam.

Israeli contacts with Amin Gemayel took place directly and through his advisers, while considerable attention was also focused on his father, Sheikh Pierre Gemayel. Khaddam says that meetings were held between Pierre Gemayel and Ariel Sharon at Pierre Gemayel’s home at 6:00 p.m. on January 27, 1983. Sharon reportedly referred during the meeting to the sacrifices made by the Israeli army to expel the militants from Lebanon and complained about the lack of any direct relationship between them and Amin Gemayel, who was then president of the republic, despite communication between the two sides through the Americans.

Sharon continued that they had worked secretly with Amin for several weeks to prepare a document known as the December 14 Document, which was intended to serve as the basis for negotiations and to avoid problems during open talks. According to Sharon, the document contained an agreement on principles, while disagreements over some details were left to a committee to resolve. However, President Gemayel no longer accepted the document after the American side intervened.

Sharon demanded that the Americans not replace direct communication with Amin, arguing that this would lead nowhere. He stressed that Israel did not want anything from Lebanon, and that a government decision to this effect had been conveyed to Gemayel through the Americans. Sharon warned that if a channel of communication with Amin was not secured, the Israeli army would withdraw to the entrance of Damour and suspend all negotiations with the Lebanese government.

An Israeli official named Mandi said that Amin had agreed to the document but backed away after meeting with American and Arab officials. Sheikh Pierre then delivered a lengthy speech about the history of the Lebanese Christian conflict and the Palestinians’ role in it. He asked Sharon to help preserve their friendship, without this meaning hostility toward the Arabs. Contrary to the prevailing view, he considered America to be “an Israeli state,” and stressed that Amin was like his brother Bashir, but could no longer say and do what he had done previously because he had become president of the republic. He considered Amin’s firmness in his positions to stem from his fear of being unable to find a successor to Prime Minister Shafic al-Wazzan.

The Full Transcript of the Meeting Between Pierre Gemayel and Ariel Sharon

A meeting was held on January 27, 1983, at Sheikh Pierre Gemayel’s home. The Israeli side was represented by Sharon, Dagan, Mandi, Philip, and Richard. The Lebanese side was represented by Pierre Gemayel, Fadi, Toto, Joseph Saadeh, former Kataeb Party leader Elie Karamé, and Woody.

Pierre Gemayel: I apologize for the need for translation, although it does not convey the meaning as it would if the conversation were addressed directly.

Sharon: Thank you for receiving me in your home.

Pierre Gemayel: Please consider this house your home. This is the home of all free people, and you have learned how to be free. After several thousand years, you returned to your country. You left; we did not leave. And you made your country one of the most democratic countries in the world.

Sharon: Thank you for your sentiments. In the past, I came to you at decisive times and under circumstances that were critical for both sides. When we were at Sheikh Bashir’s house, we talked about the possibility of realizing our dreams, and about the day when we would destroy the militants and reach Beirut. It seemed like a dream with little chance of success. But it happened and became reality.

We reached Beirut in a war in which we lost 500 dead and 2,500 wounded. We went through difficult circumstances and were under tremendous pressure from the world. Through this operation, we cleared Lebanon and Beirut of the militants and opened the possibility of building a different Lebanon—the Lebanon you spoke about, Sheikh Pierre.

Pierre Gemayel: Continue pursuing this dream.

Sharon: At our meeting last December, we discussed a plan for the period after the war, and I asked you how long you needed to move politically. You answered that you needed six weeks.

Pierre Gemayel: Because we believed that your entry would not last more than five days.

Sharon: This catastrophe happened. Despite our feelings, it happened, and we have now been here for eight months. The possibility of remaining here has become more difficult. In practice, we have no relationship with President Amin. We do not speak with him, nor can we exchange views with him except through the Americans, who are playing their own game. It is neither our game nor yours.

This is how we communicate with President Amin. For several weeks, we worked secretly with President Amin to prepare the December 14 Document, which was supposed to serve as the basis for negotiations and to avoid problems during open talks. In this document, we reached an agreement on the principles, while there were disagreements over some details, which were left for a committee to discuss.

Pierre Gemayel: Such as what?

AFP

Pierre Gemayel, founder of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, attends a military parade in East Beirut on May 25, 1980.

Sharon: With this paper, we reached an agreement, and everything was supposed to be concluded quickly. After that, Amin said that he no longer accepted it following the Americans’ intervention. We are not against them, and we want them to participate, but not to replace direct communication, because through the Americans we cannot reach a result. We are now under American pressure to withdraw from Lebanon—heavy pressure to withdraw even without reaching any agreement or security arrangements. Without such an agreement, we will not withdraw. This was a preliminary understanding during Sheikh Bashir’s time, but the Americans want us to withdraw even without the security agreement.

There is also pressure on the government from the Israeli public, because they do not understand our relationship with the Lebanese state. After liberating Lebanon from the terrorists and turning it into a sovereign country, why this attitude toward us? Why this attitude in the negotiations? Why is there no free expression of opinion? This is why there is pressure to leave everything behind and go.

Our only concern is to have a normal relationship with a free Lebanon, cleansed of terrorists. We do not want a single drop of water from Lebanon. (He presented the Israeli government decision issued on December 11, 1982, which was handed to the Americans and President Amin at the same moment.) After this, we established contact with President Amin, and I came to Beirut to establish direct or indirect contact with the president, so that we could reach the December 14 paper. This was the fifth paper, which went beyond what we had prepared for President Amin, and there is a small possibility of working on this paper and reaching an agreement.

Pierre Gemayel: You said there was an almost formal agreement that was not implemented. Give me an example.

Mandy: On almost everything.

Pierre Gemayel: What was the main point that you agreed to in the paper but that was not reached in the negotiations?

Mandy: Normalization.

Pierre Gemayel: You agreed to that in the paper, but it was not reached in the negotiations? In any case, leave that aside. There is the political aspect and the national aspect. We have the same problems historically as you do. Perhaps it is the same as yours: you Jews, in this world, felt that you were strangers, and therefore you made every effort to return through your faith. Faith can move mountains. You achieved your goal. Why did you work for two thousand years to return? Because wherever you were, you felt like strangers. We have the same problem—we live among 140 million.

Sharon: So do we.

Pierre Gemayel: I know, and that is why I am speaking from a national perspective. I do not want to go back 6,000 years, but rather 400 years. We were part of the Ottoman Empire, meaning that every citizen who was not Sunni was considered a second-class citizen. We succeeded in turning our country into a refuge of freedom, and we came to live here so that we could be free. We succeeded in turning our mountain into a refuge for all the persecuted. It became a country where Jews, Muslims, Christians, atheists—all communities—felt that they were free in their own country.

The Muslims were driven by Islamic zeal. They wanted to attack the Jews, but we took to the streets not to defend the Jews, but to defend freedom. We share the same conviction as you: to live freely throughout the Arab world. Which Jew or Christian feels that he is in his own country? Even in Israel, which is the most democratic, does a Christian feel that he is as much at home as a Jew? In a communist country, does he feel that way? No. Only Lebanon has this character. Just as we gave the world the alphabet, we are giving it this model of freedom.

Please understand me well. During this period, from 1943 to 1958, we made a tremendous effort to develop our political system. You should know that Lebanon is the only country with this formula. You are Jews, and in Syria they are Muslims, and you can have one common view. Here, we succeeded in building a country of freedom. Did we succeed? I do not know. But between 1943 and 1958, we succeeded, because Muslims began to appreciate the importance of this formula.

Then the Palestinians came to us. They arrived as refugees, but after some time they became the owners of the house. The Muslims helped them, and these Palestinians, instead of working for Palestine, became a fifth column for everything foreign. This is what brought us to where we are today. It turned Lebanon—a small country—into a problem.

Then came this war between the Arabs and Israel. We wanted to remain outside this war. You occupied territories in Syria, Egypt, and Jordan, while we kept our territory free because we did not want war.

Sharon: We made peace with Egypt and returned their territory to them.

Pierre Gemayel: We did not declare war on anyone—not on Israel and not on the Arabs. There is a moral conflict between Israel and the Arabs, and we, situated in this area between the two, did not declare war either on you or on the Arabs. Do not force us to fight the Arabs.

Sharon: We gained nothing from Lebanon, and we want nothing from Lebanon.

Pierre Gemayel: Help us remain your friends and not become enemies of either you or the Arabs. Our war was against the Palestinians for eight years. We fought the Palestinians in your place, while the whole world abandoned us, because no one dared to touch this problem that was here. You came with a purpose and with your legitimate right to self-defense. We tried to persuade the Palestinians not to act against you from here, but we failed. When you came, I was certain that you would finish the matter within five days.

Lebanon is not the enemy of anyone. It wants peace with you and with the Arabs—not peace with you and war with the Arabs. We ask you to help us get rid of all the outsiders here.

And now I will speak politically: Believe me, General, we want peace with the whole world, especially with Israel, because we have the same problems. Through your courage, you built this country, and of course America helped you, and England did too. You remember their support, but you have your own independent course. This is what we see today. Things are not going well between you and the Americans, but I believe the final word will be yours.

They say that Israel is an American state. I say that America is an Israeli state. There is a great service you could do for us. You cannot live forever with weapons in your hands. I feel that you are now moving closer to the Muslims among you, because sooner or later we cannot continue living as strangers in this Arab world.

Lebanon could be one of your best allies. As you see, General, we have succeeded so far. Help us so that we can help ourselves and help you, because we can serve as mediators. We are going to remain together forever. There is a life between us and you. Give us some additional time. If there are problems, give us more time. Lebanon has absolutely no interest in entering a war with Israel, nor does it have any interest in war with the Arabs.

Sharon: Thank you for what you have said. I will try, briefly, to address some of the points. With all the respect I have for you, I have never had the honor of speaking with you at length before, but I know that you like to identify the points clearly. You said that the Christians fought in Lebanon against the Palestinians.

Pierre Gemayel: What brought us here other than our war with the Palestinians? You were fighting the Arabs, and the main front was here.

AFP

Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam alongside Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel at the funeral of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in Beirut, February 16, 2005.

Sharon: We have become accustomed to taking responsibility for everything that happens in the world. We have been at war for 100 years with the terrorists, and we have fought all the Arab countries. Even Lebanon attacked us in 1948.

Pierre Gemayel: No, not the Lebanese.

Sharon: They fought us well. In any case, we have forgotten that.

Pierre Gemayel: No, they were not Lebanese. The evidence is what is happening in Sidon, Tyre, and Tripoli, and the hatred toward the Palestinians. Believe me, I am your friend and I am speaking frankly. I am not a diplomat; I am an ideologue. Do not miss the opportunity to have all the Christians with you, not just half the Muslims. We are with you. This is your opportunity. Help us so that we can remain your intermediaries with the Arab world.

Sharon: I want to present several important points. The Lebanese Forces have arranged a very tight schedule for me, so I will get straight to the point. I am not a diplomat either; I am a farmer. When you asked for our help in 1975, we provided it as one minority helping another minority. We do not occupy any Arab land. Gaza was occupied by the Egyptians and we liberated it. Judea and Samaria were occupied by the Jordanians, Iraqis, and Egyptians in 1968, and all of these were the Land of Israel. You said that we left our land and returned to it! We never completely left the country. We had no political entity, but we did not leave the country. The Jewish community remained there throughout all those years.

You asked us to help you remove the outsiders from your country. How can that be done amid all the attacks surrounding us? As for being a bridge between us and the Arabs, we do not want to open bridges to the Arab world. We want peace with you. We want our security.

Pierre Gemayel: I did not say otherwise.

Sharon: I came today hoping to find a bridge between us and Amin, and what happened is the result of the president and his government’s position toward us.

Pierre Gemayel: What position?

Sharon: You spoke at length about human freedom, and Lebanon today has an opportunity that will not recur during this generation. We have emerged from the war against the terrorists, and we have given Lebanon an opportunity at a very high cost to us. As a friend who loves you wholeheartedly, I tell you that you are about to lose this opportunity.

We are under enormous American pressure. What are we to do now? If we cannot establish direct contact with the president and find a solution to what needs to be done, we will withdraw to a line near Damour and suspend all negotiations with the Lebanese state. A president who is afraid of making contact does not deserve to be president. Lebanon’s policy should not be decided in Riyadh or Damascus; it must be decided in Beirut.

Pierre Gemayel: I think the General has not understood me. We are not a single sect, and he governs us. You do not know how difficult it is for us to meet with you.

Sharon: It is an honor for us to meet with you. We want nothing from you. I will tell you what we will do. If Bashir were still alive, we would have accomplished many things.

Pierre Gemayel: Do not think that Amin is different from Bashir. When he became president of the republic, he could no longer say or do what he had said or done before assuming office.

Sharon: I am certain that if Bashir were alive, he would meet with me at the presidential palace because he is courageous. I want direct contact with the president, without Habib or Draper.

Pierre Gemayel: You do not know how hard I have tried on this matter. But if this happened even once, Lebanon would explode. If the president could do it, would he delay? No Muslim would come to head the government. In 1958, Sami al-Solh came by chance. If Wazzan leaves, no Muslim will come [i.e., Muslims from outside Lebanon].

Sharon: Let them go. There are the Lebanese Forces, there is Sheikh Pierre, and that is what we want.

Pierre Gemayel: Then Lebanon will no longer remain as it is.

Sharon: If we do not obtain direct contact with the president, we will move our forces to Damour and leave the Chouf. Nothing else will matter to us.

Pierre Gemayel: What would you do if you were in our position?

Sharon: We acted and finished the job. There were 500 killed and 2,500 wounded.

Pierre Gemayel: We lost 5,000 killed; in my family, we lost five young men. Is this the way to do things? If we do not do this, then that will happen?! What will happen? Lebanon will be destroyed. The General is asking us to do things we cannot do. There will be a massacre between Muslims and Christians, and afterward there will be no Lebanon left. Do us a favor.

Sharon: We already have.

Pierre Gemayel: You have only done half of it.

Sharon: Tell that to Sheikh Amin.

Pierre Gemayel: Tell me what I should say to him so that he will do it. Put yourself in his position.

Sharon: There are many Muslims who know that there is no danger from Israel.

Pierre Gemayel: Allow me to tell you that your information is wrong. Even though your intelligence service is the strongest intelligence service, there is a psychological dimension that cannot be written down. If they do what you are asking, Lebanon will not survive.

Sharon: Since we have no direct contact with the Lebanese president, we will withdraw from these territories and leave the matter to the responsibility of the Lebanese state. Given our security situation, we will create military forces around Saad Haddad and remain there.

Pierre Gemayel: Is that in your interest and ours? I will never be your enemy, whatever happens. But 140 million people are against you, and you have no friends except in Lebanon—and Lebanon will be destroyed.

AFP

Israeli soldiers on a road outside Beirut on July 21, 1982, during the Lebanese Civil War, as the Israeli army invaded southern Lebanon in Operation Peace for Galilee and besieged Beirut.

Sharon: We will remain close to the Lebanese Forces, and we have considered continuing our cooperation with them. But if the Lebanese Forces follow President Amin’s policy, we will stop assisting them. We are under pressure from America, and if the Lebanese Forces support Amin’s policy, we will stop helping them.

Pierre Gemayel: I do not believe this is Israel’s policy.

Sharon: Today I explained to the Lebanese Forces the nature of my position before the government and the public. This meeting pains me because I am being criticized by the government and the public because of my position in support of you.

Pierre Gemayel: What do you want us to do?

Sharon: We do not want anything. We want direct contact with the president.

Pierre Gemayel: And if the prime minister leaves, no one else will come. It is “La bourse ou la vie”—“your money or your life.”

Sharon: This meeting has hurt me deeply because after all these years I am not asking for peace, but merely a simple agreement, and now we have reached a point where we cannot move forward.

Pierre Gemayel: Where is the obstacle between you and Sheikh Amin?

Sharon: We are asking nothing of Lebanon. What we want is direct negotiations with the president, so that we can lay out the points and study them. In our agreement, we did not ask Lebanon to buy Israeli goods. We respect the laws of the country. We are asking nothing from Lebanon.

Pierre Gemayel: But you are negotiating now. You do not know how much effort we have made just to meet with you and negotiate.

Mandy: The latest point we reached in the negotiations was the 1949 armistice.

Pierre Gemayel: That can be discussed.

Mandy: No, it cannot. We are now in 1983.

Pierre Gemayel: We want this, but we are not alone. This is not the way you operate. Discuss it with us. Amin is my son and I can go to him, but I am not convinced. It is in your interest for all the Christians to be with you. In any case, I am with you.

Mandy: Sheikh Amin agreed to the paper.

Pierre Gemayel: Amin understands this better than I do, and better than you do. Explain to me what point of disagreement there is in the December 14 paper.

Mandy: He agreed to the entire paper, but his position changed the last time after taking into account the views of Saudi Arabia and America.

Pierre Gemayel: Do you want us to wage a war against America, Saudi Arabia, and the Arabs?

Sharon: I apologize, but this meeting has hurt me deeply.

Pierre Gemayel: What do you want from Amin that he has not done?

Sharon: We want direct contact with the president without any intermediary—neither Draper nor Habib. It does not necessarily have to be public.

Pierre Gemayel: You want a war to break out between us and the Muslims. Nothing remains hidden in Lebanon.

Sharon: But the president of the republic is the president of the republic.

Pierre Gemayel: Here, the president is the president of the republic plus the prime minister. Anyone other than Wazzan would be very bad for you.

Sharon: Thank you. We have to go.

Pierre Gemayel: I do not want you to leave with that impression. I do not want you to leave in this atmosphere. But before making the decision, do we want Lebanon to survive?

Sharon: We came to Lebanon so that it would be free, not so that it would be a slave to Arafat, the Arabs, or anyone else.

Pierre Gemayel: But Lebanon will not survive. It will become an emirate belonging either to you or to the Arabs.

Sharon: The person who follows this policy and accepts Abu Iyad! We did not accept him. Abu Iyad, who killed his niece and whose brother goes and accepts him—this is not the Lebanon for which we entered.

Pierre Gemayel: Help us with this. I do not want you to leave. Do not do this. It will be a catastrophe for you. Believe me, save Israel. If Lebanon goes, it will be a catastrophe for everyone. And force is not everything.