Rashid Karami

Rashid Karami

Raschid Abdul Hamid Karami ( French Rachid Karamé , Arabic رشيد كرامي, DMG Rašīd Karāmī ; * December 30, 1921 in Mariatta near Tripoli ; † June 1, 1987 in Beirut ) was a Lebanese statesman. He was one of the most important politicians in Lebanon for more than thirty years and eight times Lebanese Prime Minister .

background

Raschid Karami was born in Mariatta near Tripoli into one of the most prominent Lebanese families of politicians. His father, Abdul Hamid Karami, was Prime Minister for a few months in 1945 and his younger brother Omar Karami held this position three times, most recently from 2004 to 2005.

After graduating from Cairo University in Law with a Bachelor of Laws in the 1940s Karami opened an office in Tripoli. He was elected to the National Assembly in 1951 to fill the vacancy due to his father's death. In the same year he became Minister of Justice in the government of Prime Minister Hussein Oueini . In 1953 he became Minister of Economic and Social Affairs in the Aref el-Jafi cabinet .

Between 1955 and 1987 Karami was Prime Minister eight times, under each President . These terms of office were from 1955 to 1956, 1958 to 1960, 1961 to 1964, 1965 to 1966, 1966 to 1968, 1969 to 1970, 1975 to 1976, and from 1984 until his death. He was also foreign minister several times and had tense relations with the Lebanese presidents, who appointed him because of his political connections, despite fundamental political differences.

politics

Karami was a strong advocate for the rights of the Lebanese Muslim community, which at that time surpassed the number of Christians for the first time in Lebanon's history . He tried unsuccessfully to get a larger representation of Muslims in the National Assembly, where they were entitled to 45 percent of the seats. In 1976, Karami brokered an agreement that established equal representation, but this was never implemented (it was only in the Taif Agreement that a 50:50 quota was set). A concession made by Christian politicians from 1974 onwards was that the laws signed by the president had to be countersigned by the prime minister and therefore practically granted a right of veto.

Karami and Nasser 1959

Lebanon crisis 1958

Karami was part of the Islamic left in Lebanese politics. During the 1950s he was a supporter of the pan-Arabism of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser . He was first appointed Prime Minister on September 19, 1955 by Camille Chamoun . In the following year, however, he had a serious falling out with Chamoun because of his refusal to break off diplomatic relations with France and the United Kingdom or their attack on Egypt during the Suez Crisis in 1956. He opposed Chamoun during the 1958 Lebanon Crisis , a riot by Nasserists in May 1958, which enjoyed considerable support among the Muslim population. He tried to outsmart the government and bring Lebanon into the new United Arab Republic of Syria and Egypt. When Chamoun had contained the uprising in September with the help of American troops, Karami formed a government of national unity under the new President Fuad Schihab .

Middle East conflict

Karami served as prime minister four more times during the 1960s. During this time he supported the Palestinian cause and is believed to have fought for a more active role for Lebanon in the 1967 Six Day War against Israel , a policy that many Christians did not want. Growing clashes between Lebanon's armed forces and the Palestine Liberation Organization forced his resignation in April 1970, but Karami soon returned to office after an agreement was signed between Lebanon and the PLO. In August this year, however, Suleiman Frangieh , an enemy of the Karamis, was elected president. Karami resigned and was succeeded by Saeb Salam .

Civil war

The Lebanese civil war broke out in April 1975. Many groups were involved and the political and military situation was extremely complex, but to put it simply, the civil war was essentially a struggle between mostly Christian militias (the best known of them was the Phalange militia affiliated with the Kata'ib party ) and leftists, mostly Muslim militias and their Palestinian allies. The President Frangieh tried to stabilize the situation, dismissed the Prime Minister Rachid Solh and instructed his opponent Karami on July 1, 1975 to form a government. Karami shifted a little from his originally strong support for the Palestinians and agreed to the intervention of the Syrian army in June 1976. Despite Karami's political connections, he could not end the war and he resigned on December 8, 1976. Elias Sarkis , Frangieh's successor as president since September, appointed Selim al-Hoss as the new prime minister.

Karami teamed up with his old enemy Suleiman Frangieh in the late 1970s after Frangieh fell out with Phalangist leader Bachir Gemayel . Together with Frangieh and Walid Jumblat , Karami founded the National Salvation Front , a pro-Syrian coalition of Sunnis , Druze and some Christians, mostly from northern Lebanon. This front was in opposition to the Lebanese Front , a right-wing alliance of mainly Christian parties.

In April 1984 Karami became Prime Minister for the eighth time and presided over a government of national renewal. During this period, Syrian influence grew as a result of the partial Israeli withdrawal after the 1982 Lebanon War , which Karami had resolutely opposed. In 1986 he rejected a national agreement to resolve the Lebanese crisis that had been drafted with minimal Sunni involvement. This rejection created a tense relationship with President Amine Gemayel . Persistent problems caused Karami to resign on May 4, 1987, but Gemayel refused to accept the resignation.

Assassination attempt on Karami

Just a month later, Rashid Karami was killed by a bomb in his helicopter . The crash was part of a series of assassinations . He was succeeded by Selim al-Hoss . In 1999, Samir Geagea and 10 other members of the Forces Libanaises , a Christian militia that absorbed the Phalange militia , were charged with the murder of Karami and sentenced to death, later reduced to life imprisonment. In 2005 the attackers were pardoned and released from prison.

Web links

• Biography (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Sami Solh Chalil al-Hibri Saëb Salam Hussein Oueini Aref al-Jafi Aref al-Jafi Noureddine Rifaï Schafiq al-Wazzan	Prime Minister of Lebanon 1955–1956 1958–1960 1961–1964 1965–1966 1966–1968 1969–1970 1975–1976 1984–1987	Aref al-Jafi Ahmed Daouk Hussein Oueini Aref al-Jafi Aref al-Jafi Saeb Salam Selim Hoss Selim Hoss