- Taif Agreement
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 inLebanon ." [ [http://ddc.aub.edu.lb/projects/pspa/conflict-resolution.html THE LEBANESE CIVIL WAR AND THE TAIF AGREEMENT] ] Negotiated inTaif ,Saudi Arabia , it was designed to end the decades-longLebanese civil war , politically accommodate the demographic shift to aMuslim majority, reassert Lebanese authority inSouth Lebanon (then occupied byIsrael ), and legitimize theSyrian occupation of Lebanon . It was signed onOctober 22 ,1989 and ratified onNovember 4 ,1989 .Overview
The treaty was negotiated in
Taif ,Saudi Arabia by the surviving members of Lebanon's 1972 parliament; fathered by Parliament Speaker PresidentHussein El-Husseini . The agreement covered political reform, the ending of theLebanese Civil War , the establishment of special relations between Lebanon andSyria , and a framework for the beginning of completeSyria n withdrawal from Lebanon.The agreement restructured the
National Pact political system in Lebanon by transferring some of the power away from theMaronite Christian community, which had been given a privileged status in Lebanon under French colonial rule. Prior to Taif, theSunni 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 PresidentAmine Gemayel , contrary to the National Pact.The agreement also provided for the disarmament of all national and non national militias. All have disarmedFact|date=December 2007 apart from the Shiite
Hezbollah and the non-LebaneseFatah andHamas , 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 , [Ranstorp, Magnus, "Hizb'allah in Lebanon : The Politics of the Western Hostage Crisis", New York, St. Martins Press, 1997, p.105] Hezbollah remained 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 byuniversal 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 PresidentRene Mouawad 409 days afterAmine Gemayel vacated this position upon the expiration of his term in1988 . Mouawad was unable to occupy the Presidential Palace which was still in use by General Michel Aoun. Mouawad was assassinated 17 days later in acar bomb ing in Beirut on November 22 as his motorcade returned from Lebanese independence day ceremonies. He was succeeded byElias Hrawi , who remained in office until1998 .United States action and the Cedar Revolution
On
May 11 ,2004 ,President of the United States George W. Bush signed an Executive Order implementing sanctions onSyria pursuant to the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003. United States sanctions againstSyria were threatened, since (in part) "Syria maintains a military presence in Lebanon inconsistent with the spirit of the 1989 Taif Accords". [Office of the Press Secretary, The White House [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/05/20040511-7.html Fact Sheet: Implementing the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003] Accessed July 28, 2006]United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559 was adopted by theUnited Nations Security Council onSeptember 2 ,2004 , echoing many elements of the Taif Agreement.After the
Cedar Revolution 's mass demonstrations calling for Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon in February, 2005, the Syrian deputy foreign minister Waleed Al-Mualem said "the important withdrawals that have been carried out so far and will be carried out later will be done in agreement with Lebanon against the backdrop of the Taif Agreement and the mechanisms it entails." A White House spokesman emphasisedUN Security Council Resolution 1559 in aFebruary 25 , press briefing. [Beirut Daily Star, as quoted in March 21, 2005 [http://www.themilitant.com/2005/6910/index.shtml 6,000 Syrian troops retreat to Lebanon-Syria border] ]During the
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict the Lebanese Cabinet agreed in an extraordinary session to adhere to the Taif Accord when dealing with international negotiators. However, Energy MinisterMohammad Fneish , a member ofHezbollah argued that the ongoing military crisis had surpassed the Taif Accord andUN Security Council Resolution 1559 , so the accord is no longer a document of national agreement. Iran's significant role in the region should not be ignored, he added. [Lebanon Daily Star, July 27, 2006 [http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=74280 Spotlight on Taif as key ingredient for cease-fire] Accessed July 26, 2006]The
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict came to an end with a ceasefire underUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 . Paragraph 3 of this resolution specifies that the Security Council:"Emphasizes the importance of the extension of the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory in accordance with the provisions of resolution 1559 (2004) and resolution 1680 (2006), and of the relevant provisions of the Taif Accords, for it to exercise its full sovereignty, so that there will be no weapons without the consent of the Government of Lebanon and no authority other than that of the Government of Lebanon"Notes
ee also
*
History of Lebanon
*UN Security Council Resolution 1559
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