Formation of the Progressive Socialist Party byKAMAL JANBULAT, a Druze chieftain. The party espoused leftist ideology, but functioned essentially as a Druze organization.
Election of KAMIL SHAM’UN(Camille Chamoun) as president. He replaced outgoing president Khuri, who resigned (Sept. 18) in the face of a general strike.
LANDING OF U.S. MARINES. The National Front, a broad antigovernment coalition that wished to unseat Pres. Sham’un, fared badly in earlier parliamentary elections. Frustrated at the polls, they resorted to street violence and strikes. The Lebanese Army, under the command of FU’AD SHIHAB, refused to intercede. Sham’un thereupon turned to the U.S. for help. The American government immediately dispatched 10,000 marines as an application of the so-called Eisenhower Doctrine. The crisis was defused by the selection (July 31) of Shihab as the new president. Rashid Karami, a Sunni Muslim leader of the National Front, was installed as prime minister. No changes were made in the sectarian structure of the national political system.
THE CAIRO AGREEMENT. After meeting with PLOofficials in Cairo, the Lebanese government pledged not to harass Palestinian guerrillas operating out of southern Lebanon. In return, the Palestinians were to keep out of Lebanese affairs. The settlement was an uneasy compromise between Christian politicians, who wanted strict controls on the Palestinians, and Muslim representatives, who fully backed the guerrilla activities. The problem became even more acute with the influx of additional Palestinian refugees after the Jordanian expulsion of the PLO (Sept. 1970). The number of Palestinians living in Lebanon at this time stood roughly at 300,000.
Assassination in Beirut of Ghassan Kanafani, renowned Palestinian author and journalist, and leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
