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BEIRUT,
Lebanon --
Arab and European diplomatic efforts to help ease Lebanon's political
tensions intensified Monday, the fourth day
of a sit-in protest organized by the
militant Hezbollah that has paralyzed
central Beirut.
Soldiers and police, backed by tanks and
armored vehicles, continued to surround
government headquarters in a protective
cordon.
The political standoff between Prime
Minister Fuad Saniora's government and the
opposition, led by Hezbollah, turned violent
Sunday, leaving a Shiite man dead from
gunshot wounds and 21 others injured. As
tensions continued to rise, Arab League
Secretary General Amr Moussa held separate
meetings Sunday with leaders of the feuding
sides, including Saniora and Parliament
Speaker Nabih Berri, whose Shiite political
party is allied to the Hezbollah-led
pro-Syria camp.
Moussa also held a midnight meeting with
personal representatives of Hezbollah leader
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and was expected to
meet with President Emile Lahoud at the
presidential palace.
No details of the talks were disclosed, but
Lebanon's Al-Nahar newspaper Moussa as
saying he was not carrying an initiative,
but "proposing ideas, hoping to formulate a
framework" to help the country emerge from
the current crisis.
"National consensus is the basis for any
Arab action. We are working for Lebanon and
must work things out on the basis of
national unity," Moussa said.
Although the open-ended sit-in that began
Friday has been peaceful, it has notched up
anxiety in this multi-sectarian society that
the political impasse could erupt into
widespread sectarian violence.
Saniora, emboldened by Arab and
international support for his U.S.-backed
government, vowed on Sunday to stay in
office despite the ongoing protests. He
warned that any attacks on Cabinet
headquarters where he and several of his
ministers were staying could spark sectarian
fighting.
The Lebanese prime minister met Sunday with
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, who offered support for the
embattled government. Steinmeier arrived
Monday in Damascus, where aides said he
would stress the importance of recognizing
Lebanon's sovereignty if Damascus wants to
remove itself from international isolation.
Steinmeier said he planned to send the
message that, "Whoever wants to start a
different development must clearly show in
their relations to Lebanon that they
recognize the sovereignty of this land."
In Brussels, the European Union's foreign
policy chief also issued support for Saniora
and issued a veiled warning that unrest
would jeopardize plans to raise
international aid for Lebanon at a donor's
conference planned for mid-January in Paris.
"There is a constitutional government, which
came from free elections and is behaving in
our opinion in a very positive manner,"
Javier Solana said.
Rival Masses held Sunday by Saniora's
anti-Syrian bloc and Hezbollah's Christian
allies, led by Michel Aoun, underlined the
interplay of politics and religion in the
conflict.
Sunday night's clashes in Tarik Jdideh
occurred as a group of Hezbollah supporters
were returning from downtown Beirut and
passed through the Sunni neighborhood.
Police officials said the two sides threw
stones at each other, then shots were fired,
killing Ahmed Ali Mahmoud, a 20-year-old
Shiite. The officials spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not allowed to
speak to the press.
Hezbollah, an ally of Syria that is backed
by many Shiite Muslims and some Christians,
contends the fight is against American _ not
Syrian _ influence, saying the United States
now dominates Lebanon in the interests of
Israel.
In Jerusalem, Israeli officials on Sunday
warned that the fall of Saniora's moderate
government could lead to the establishment
of an Iranian proxy state on Israel's
northern border and increase the probability
of war between the two nations.
Lebanon's internal political tension
escalated sharply in November when six
pro-Hezbollah ministers resigned from the
Cabinet last month after Saniora and his
anti-Syrian majority in parliament rejected
the group's demand for a new national unity
government that would effectively give it
and its allies veto power.
By Joseph Panossian
Associated Press Writers Hussein Dakroub and
Zeina Karam contributed to this report.
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