Violence and diplomacy in Lebanon

by Elie Adib Salem

Political violence in Lebanon was a permanent fixture of international news bulletins during the 1980s. Beginning with the Israeli invasion and bombing of Beirut, the Sabra-Chatila massacres, the ejection of the PLO and the Syrian military entry into the north and east, Lebanon in these years became the site for regional and international conflict played out through its warring communities. By its very nature discreet, even secretive, diplomacy, whether on the international or domestic stage, was a crucial dimension of the Lebanese war that still awaits full documentation. This insider's memoir, from a man who for most of the 1980s was at the centre of diplomatic efforts to bring the conflict to an end, is therefore particularly welcome. As foreign minister and then adviser to the Lebanese president, Elie A. Salem witnessed the day-to-day events of the three main phases of the decade - the Reagan administration's frustrated attempt to broker an agreement that would get the Israeli and