Voting for new Middle East order
Nicolas Rothwell , May 22, 2005 , The Australian
WHEN Lebanese voters go to the polls this weekend in the first phase of their country’s parliamentary elections, the impact will resonate far beyond the avenues of rebuilt Beirut and the souks of Tripoli.
The voting system may be imperfect, the campaigning may be centred on the creation of alliances of convenience, but this election marks the democratic end game of a remarkable popular revolution.
The effect upon neighbouring Syria, which has just completed its reluctant troop withdrawal from Lebanese soil, will be profound, while the remainder of the Arab world may once more begin to take its political lead from Lebanon.
For the US and France, the two half-declared international sponsors of the Lebanese uprising, the successful outcome of their pressure campaign on Syria suggests that persuasive diplomacy may trump force as a weapon in the struggle to promote Middle Eastern reform.
And for Israel, Lebanon’s southern neighbour and former occupier, the end of the era of virtual Syrian control may once more raise hopes of a comprehensive peace with the next government in Beirut.
Mukhtara, Lebanon: In an interview the Abu Dhabi TV Saturday night,opposition leader Walid Jumblat proposed the formation of a “Palestinian army Brigade” attached to the Lebanese army as a solution 
Supporters of Lebanon’s Phalange Party, wearing party uniforms originally used in the 1930s and re-tailored for the occasion, fold the Lebanese flag during a ceremony to unveil the statue of the party’s founder Pierre Gemayel in Bikfaya, Lebanon, Sunday, May 22, 2005. The Phalange Party, Lebanon’s most influential Christian political group now buffeted by infighting and dissent, was founded in 1936 to exert Christian power in Lebanon. After dominating Christian politics for decades, during the 1975-90 civil war the Phalange militias fought against Muslim forces and Palestinian guerrillas. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil) 
group Hezbollah stressed that it will not allow Israel to cross the “red line” and attack Lebanese civilians or targets, a senior Hezbollah official said. 
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Anti-Syrian Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun said on Sunday he would run in Lebanon’s parliamentary election despite difficulties in forging an electoral alliance with Muslim opposition leaders. The fiery retired general said talks on linking up with Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Saad al-Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, had produced no agreement on a joint ticket for the polls.
. The first was the brilliant decision by the redevelopment firm Solidere – in which Hariri held 10 percent of the shares – to announce the results not in one of Beirut’s swank hotels, but in a war-ruined shopping centre and cinema complex that still lies next to the square.
