AN INTERVIEW WITH AMIN GEMAYEL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01070R000100380006-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 18, 2007
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: September 26, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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RADIO N REPORTS, INC.
4701 WILLARD AVENUE, CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND 20815 656-4068
PROGRAM
This Week with David Brinkley
September 26, 1982 11:30 A.M.
An Interview with Amin Gemayel
STATION WJLA-TV
ABC Network
Washington, D.C.
SAM DONALDSON: The latest round of killing and
political crisis in the Middle East began when Bashir Gemayel,
leader of the Christian Phalange faction and President-elect of
Lebanon, was assassinated. Now his older brother, Amin Gemayel,
who is 40, has been elected to take his place.
ABC's Jim Hickey yesterday conducted the first U.S.
television interview of the new President since he assumed his
office this week.
JIM HICKEY: President Gemayel, good morning and thank
you for sharing some of your time with us today.
PRESIDENT AMIN GEMAYEL: You're welcome.
HICKEY: Let's start by discussing the foreign forces
that are in Lebanon. We're speaking of the PLO, the Syrians, and
the Israelis. You have said that you want those foreign forces
out of Lebanon as soon as possible. How can that be done?
PRESIDENT GEMAYEL: The most important is not to obtain
the withdrawal of those forces from Lebanon. The most impor-
tant is the establishing, to establish a real sovereignty,
independence on the ten thousand and more kilometers. Lebanon
needs to recover its sovereignty and its independence. And you
can't reach this goal without obtaining the withdrawal of the
Palestinians, the Syrians, and the Israelis from Lebanon.
Now we have obtained the first step. The first step is
to stop the war and the fighting. For the moment, the town is
calm. And we obtained the cease-fire, the complete cease-fire.
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And now the second stage, the second step, it will be
the withdrawal of the Palestinian, Syrian, and Israelis from
Lebanon.
Here, [unintelligible] as a Lebanese people, and
especially the Lebanese resistance, was able to maintain the
minimum of sovereignty on the Lebanese land. And now we are --
we thank the U.S. Government, and especially the President
Reagan, who try to help, and is now trying to help Lebanon to
obtain the withdrawal of all the foreign forces, and also to
reestablish the freedom, independence and democracy and
sovereignty on the Lebanese land. The action of President Reagan
was very, very important for us, and we appreciate everything he
did, through his special envoy Mr. Philip Habib.
We hope that this effort will continue, he will pursue
this effort, and especially at this specific time, today and
tomorrow. Mr. Reagan sent a message, sent to me a message. It
was very kind. And he expressed his full support. He expressed
his support to the Lebanese sovereignty and independence and the
withdrawal -- also, he talked about the withdrawal of all the
forces from Lebanon. I hope that he will succeed in giving us
the real backing and it will be a major help and major effort
behind the Lebanese government and the new regime in Lebanon.
HICKEY: How long do you think it would take for the
withdrawal of those forces, the Palestinians and the Israelis?
PRESIDENT GEMAYEL: I hope a few weeks. I hope that it
will take a few weeks.
HICKEY: From all of Lebanon?
PRESIDENT GEMAYEL: I hope so. I hope so. I hope so.
Because, first, the first thing we have to obtain, the withdrawal
from Beirut, to recover our capital, our institutions. The
capital is very important for us. The capital is actually a
occupied land. We have to recover our sovereignty on our
capital. And from the capital we could begin discussions for the
withdrawal from the whole territory.
HICKEY: Aside from the withdrawalof those foreign
forces, you have said that in order to have peace in Lebanon, the
country, Lebanon itself, must be unified.
HICKLEY: What guarantees can you give, or are you
giving, the Muslim community that they will have the same rights
as anyone else?
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PRESIDENT GEMAYEL: I'll tell you that the real guaranty
for the Muslim is my -- that's my person. I am the guaranty for
the Muslim. My election is their guaranty. And they are in
confidence. The Muslim feel that I could be their guranty, for
this reason: I obtained the unanimity of the Parliament during
my election. I obtained the full support and the full -- the
full support of the Muslim during the presidential election. I
obtained hundred percent of the Muslim votes in the Parliament.
And that is a big responsibility, but also a big hope for the
future.
HICKEY: Do you have plans to eliminate the division
between East and West Beirut, the Green Line, to get rid of the
checkpoints, to open Beirut as one city?
PRESIDENT GEMAYEL: We started a very important move,
receiving yesterday the Mufti Khalid (?), the chief of the
Sunnite community. And I have very close contacts with many
leaders in Lebanon. To obtain the destruction of this notion, of
these appellations, East Beirut and West Beirut. We should obtain
only one Beirut, no East, no West, only one Beirut, completely
unified and completely safe. That's what we are trying to
obtain, actually. First of all, the reunification of Beirut,
to have the reunification of the administration and the in-
stitutions. And from this starting point, we have to work for
the complete reunification.
HICKEY: The various Moslem militia have been forced to
give up some of their weapons to the Israelis, to the Lebanese
Army.
HICKEY: The Christian militia is still well-armed.
Will the Christian militia be forced to lay down their weapons
too?
PRESIDENT GEMAYEL: My dear friend, first of all, our
militias, the militias of the Kattaya (?) Party, of the Lebanese
forces, they took arms only by reaction. They react against the
Palestinian presence in Lebanon, the unlegal Palestinian presence
in Lebanon, helped by many foreign forces. For this reason, some
people in Lebanon took arms to prevent -- to protect their life,
their country, their villages, etcetera. And when the pretext
will disappear, at this time also the arms in their hand, also it
will disappear.
If you know the people, the armed people, they are
student, doctor, engineer, and they would like to return to their
professional activities as soon as possible. And I will try to
give the official security to everybody. And teh Lebanese Army
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will be the protector of everybody, the protector of the Muslim
and of the Christians, of the independence and sovereignty of
Lebanon. And everybody will be very, very happy to care about
their family, about their professional activities, and to forget
this bad page, this black page in our national history.
HICKEY: Your brother Bashir, before his death, appeared
to be making an effort toward that same unification. What did
his assassination do to the plans for Lebanon?
PRESIDENT GEMAYEL: We don't like to look -- to look at
the past, after the past. We would like to look after the future.
Now we -- some services in the government and in the Lebanese
forces are investigating about this death. And we hope that we
could have a quick report about this thing.
The consequences. Bashir was working for the unity of
Lebanon, the sovereignty of Lebanon. And his death was -- after
his death, we saw a real unanimity in Lebanon around his feeling
and around his goals. And actually, I will promote more and more
this goal and aims.
HICKEY: Are you concerned about your own safety?
PRESIDENT GEMAYEL: You know, you have only God who
protects. We could take measures, we could be careful, but only
God could save the people.
HICKEY: You have formed an investigating committee to
look into the massacre in the Palestinian camps. There have been
many accusations made, as you well know.
PRESIDENT GEMAYEL: You have also many rumors.
HICKEY: And many rumors.
PRESIDENT GEMAYEL: Yes.
HICKEY: Israel says it was elements of the Christian
militia, the Lebanese forces. Survivors say it was elements of
the militia of Saad Haddad.
I must ask you, sir. Were any of the Lebanese forces
PRESDIENT GEMAYEL: I gave a statement a few days ago
that the Lebanese forces, or the Kattaya Party, are not at all
involved in this matter. And we started the investigation to
know exactly what is the truth. But what I can assure you, that
no orders was given to the Lebanese forces or to the Kattaya
Party to be where those massacres was, or were.
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HICKEY: President Gemayel, do you intend to sign a
peace treaty with Israel?
PRESIDENT GEMAYEL: I am against the artificial peace
treaty. First of all, it's not myself who has to sign. We are a
democracy. We have a government. We have a parliament. And
such king of thing, such kind of big decision should be taken by
the government and approved by the parliament. For this reason,
is early to talk about this point.
But what I can assure you, that I am for the real peace.
I am with the peace between people. I am with the peace between
all the countries in the Middle East. We need to reach the real
peace, not an artificial peace.
HICKEY: How, exactly, do you see the relationship
between Lebanon and the United States?
PRESIDENT GEMAYEL: We believe on the same principles
and human values. We believe that the best system is the
democracy, the freedom. And we would like to promote such kind
of principles and values. And I think that that's the aim of the
American people.
What we are doing, President Reagan and myself, that's
to promote more such kind of relations, in the interest of our
two people, our two countries, but also in the interest of those
principles, human principles and values for which we are working,
and to bring the real peace in the Middle East, in the service of
those same values and principles.
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