- Amine Gemayel
Amine Pierre
Gemayel ( _ar. أمين بيار الجميٌل) (born22 January 1942 ) was President ofLebanon from1982 to1988 and is the leader ofKataeb Party .Born in the Lebanese village of
Bikfaya , Amine Gemayel (pronounced|ɑˈmin ʒəmaɪˈɛl) [ [http://www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0454929.html Pronunciation of Amine Gemayel] . "Infoplease". Retrieved on2008 -02-22. ] is the son ofPierre Gemayel , founder of theKataeb Party. Gemayel was elected to the presidency by the National Assembly on21 September 1982 , in place of his brotherBachir Gemayel who had been elected the previous month but had been assassinated before taking office.After obtaining a law degree in 1965 from the St. Joseph University in Beirut, Amine Gemayel concentrated on building up his family's newspaper business. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,923049,00.html?promoid=googlep Time Magazine] ] In a
1969 by-election , he was elected to succeed his deceased uncle,Maurice Gemayel , as a member of the National Assembly; he defeatedFuad Lahoud by a margin of 54% to 41%. In1972 , in the last election to be held for 20 years, he was reelected by a large margin. Fact|date=February 2008While his younger brother Bashir was regarded as a political radical, espousing the expulsion of
Palestinian guerrillas from Lebanese soil and a radical overhaul of the political system, and hinting at a possible peace settlement withIsrael , Amine Gemayel was considered more moderate. [ [http://www.bartleby.com/65/ge/Gemayel.html The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition] . "Bartleby.com". Retrieved on2008 -02-22.] Always a consensus politician, he avoided, at least in his pre-presidential years, alienatingMuslim politicians as his brother had done. Fact|date=February 2008 When Bashir Gemayel was assassinated, therefore, Amine was regarded as a natural choice to bring together both the supporters of his slain brother, and his Muslim opponents.The Gemayel presidency, 1982-1988
"'With foreign armies occupying two-thirds of the country (
Syria in the north and east,Israel in the south), and private armies independent of government control occupying most of the rest, Gemayel's government lacked any real power. His efforts to reach a peace settlement with Israel were stymied by Syria and by Muslim politicians at home. His government found itself largely unable to collect income tax, as warlords controlling the ports and major cities pocketed the tax take themselves. Fact|date=February 2008 Many criticized Gemayel for not moving decisively enough to assert the authority of the government, but others have pointed out that with most of the country under foreign occupation, there was little that he could do.Fact|date=February 2008 He managed to keep a semblance of constitutional order. This order began to unravel in1988 . Gemayel, whose term was due to end on23 September , was constitutionally barred from reelection. Syria, still occupying much of Lebanon, insisted on proposing Michel Daher, who was well-known for his pro-Syrian views, as the new president, but he was unacceptable to Christian politicians, many of whom preferredDany Chamoun , the son of former presidentCamille Chamoun , or GeneralMichel Aoun , the commander of the army. Chamoun and Aoun were both unacceptable to Syria and to Muslim politicians in Lebanon. A constitutional crisis developed. Fifteen minutes before the expiry of his term, Gemayel appointed Aoun to the post of Prime Minister, who takes on the role of Acting President if the presidency is vacant. He did so to preserve the tradition that the president, and by implication (in his eyes, anyway) anyone acting in that role, should be aMaronite Christian Fact|date=February 2008, thereby going against the tradition of reserving the premiership for aSunni Muslim. Fact|date=February 2008 Muslim politicians and warlords refused to accept the Aoun government, instead recognizing a rival government ofSelim al-Hoss , whom Gemayel had dismissed in favour of Aoun.Post-presidential years
Hoping that his absence would help to heal the divisions of Lebanon, Gemayel went into exile for the next twelve years, living variously in
Switzerland ,France , and theUnited States , where he lectured at Harvard University'sCenter for International Affairs (1988 - 1989) and at theUniversity of Maryland, College Park . In 2000, however, he returned to Lebanon and began to organize the opposition to the government of PresidentÉmile Lahoud , whom he regarded as a Syrian puppet. Unable to regain control of the then pro-Syrian dominated official Kataeb Party, he founded a new party, Al qaida al Kataebiya, which claimed to be the true successor to the old Kataeb Party founded by his father. Fact|date=February 2008 He also joined theQornet Chehwan Gathering , a group of anti-government politicians (mostly Christian) leading numerous different political parties.In
2003 , Amine Gemayel attempted to act as an intermediary between U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush and theIraq i dictator,Saddam Hussein . Although his efforts to forestall the ensuingIraq War were not successful, they fuelled speculation that he might be a candidate forSecretary General of theUnited Nations whenKofi Annan 's term expired. Fact|date=February 2008After the Cedar Revolution the Kataeb factions were united under the leadership of Gemayel. In the August 2007 by-elections of the
Metn region , Amine Gemayel lost by a small margin to a candidate presented byMichel Aoun 'sFree Patriotic Movement . [ [http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/story/94D4DAD5721DD32FC225732F001D543C?OpenDocument Opposition Wins Metn By-Election by Narrow Margin, Gemayel Reaps Majority Maronite Votes] . "Naharnet",August 6 ,2007 . Retrieved on2008 -02-22.]Gemayel's family
Gemayel married Joyce Tyan in December
1967 . They had a daughter (Nicole) and two sons, Pierre and Sami). Pierre Gemayel was elected to Parliament in2000 , and established his reputation as a moderate opposition politician before being appointed to the Cabinet in2005 . He was assassinated by unidentified assailants in Jdeideh, a Beirut suburb, on21 November 2006 . Amine Gemayel angrily blamed Syria for the murder of his son. [ [http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/11/gemayel_murder.php Gemayel murder leads to second 'Independence Intifada'] . "Ya Libnan",November 24 ,2006 . Retrieved on2008 -02-22.]Gemayel is fluent in English and French, and is regarded as a scholar of
Classical Arabic .ee also
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List of Presidents of Lebanon References
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