Pierre Gemayel Jr. Assassinated

BEIRUT, Lebanon 21 Nov 2006 - Pierre Gemayel, assassinated today, was a rising star in one of Lebanon's most prominent Christian political families, widely expected to carry its mantle into the next generation. He was the fifth member of his family to die violently.

With his boyish looks and often blunt comments, the 34 year old industry minister was not always taken seriously by Lebanese politicians, some of whom considered him the spoiled son of an influential dynasty.

But Gemayel gained more solid following during six years in parliament. He played a prominent role in rallying Lebanon's youth during the so-called "independence uprising" - a wave of massive anti-Syrian protests that followed the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

He became a vocal critic of Syria and its top allies in Lebanon, including President Emile Lahoud and the Shiite Moslem guerrilla group Hezbollah.

Born on Sept. 23, 1972, Gemayel is the eldest son of Amin Gemayel, who served as Lebanon's president from 1982 to 1988. He was named after his grandfather, the late Pierre Gemayel, who founded the right-wing Christian Phalange Party.

The Phalangists brought Lebanon's Maronite Christian community to political prominence in Lebanon. They fielded the largest Christian militia during the 1975-90 civil war between Christians and Muslims, allying themselves first with Syria, then with Israel.

The Gemayel family has been deeply enmeshed in the past three decades of bloodshed between Lebanon's deeply divided communities.

A 1975 assassination attempt against the grandfather prompted Phalangists to attack a busload of Palestinian refugees in what sparked the civil war.

In 1982, Amin Gemayel's brother, Bashir, was elected president, but days before he was to be sworn in, he was killed in a bomb blast - also at age 34. In response, his militiamen stormed Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, killing hundreds of unarmed civilians in one of the worst atrocities of the Lebanon conflict.

Several years earlier, Bashir's 18-month-old daughter Maya was killed in an attack targeting him. Two nephews of Bashir and Amin were also killed during fighting in the 1980s.

The younger Pierre Gemayel was first elected to parliament in 2000, and then again in the 2005 parliamentary elections that brought an anti-Syrian majority to the legislature.

He became a prominent figure in Lebanon's anti-Syrian bloc, which dominates Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's Cabinet and the parliament. Last year, he earned the wrath of critics - particularly Shiite Moslems when he said Shiites in Lebanon "may be the quantity, but we are the quality."

Christians constitute an estimated 35 percent of Lebanon's population of about 4 million, down from estimated 55-60 percent before the 1975-90 civil war. The decline is attributed to emigration of Christians and higher birth rates among Moslems. Shiites are believed to be the largest community now with 1.2 million people, and Sunni Moslems are slightly less.

Gemayel, often seen wearing sharp suits or stylish checkered shirts, had lately been traveling without a convoy, using ordinary cars as a decoy. He was assassinated by a gunman Tuesday who sprayed his unarmored car with bullets.

Gemayel will be buried Thursday at St. George's Catholic Church in downtown Beirut. He is survived by his wife, Patricia, and two sons.

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Pierre Gemayel, scion of Lebanon's most prominent Christian family and a leading opponent of Syria, was gunned down Tuesday in a brazen daytime hit. The assassination threatened to intensify Lebanon's power struggle between the U.S.-allied government and the Syrian-backed Hezbollah.

Gemayel, 34, was leaving church when he fell into a well-coordinated attack: One vehicle cut off his car from the front, another rammed him from behind, then gunmen burst out and sprayed a dozen bullets into his passenger-side window.

Christian Phalangist woman protesting Assasination

The killing sent tensions spiraling at a time when Lebanon was already facing a worsening political crisis. The Shiite Moslem guerrilla group Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies have threatened massive protests - as early as Thursday - aimed at bringing down Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's government unless it gives them greater power.

President Bush condemned the assassination and accused Syria and Iran of seeking to undermine Saniora's government. Bush stopped short of specifically blaming them for Gemayel's death, though the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton, raised the possibility.

Anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon, however, directly pointed the finger at Damascus, and some Gemayel supporters demanded revenge against Syria's Lebanese allies.

Bands of young Christians broke car windows and burned tires and garbage cans in their areas of Beirut and the Gemayel family's mountain hometown of Bikfaya to the northeast. But Lebanese troops quickly stopped the unrest and set up checkpoints to prevent demonstrations in the coming days. A funeral was set for Thursday in downtown Beirut, with the anti-Syrian factions calling for mass participation.

Politicians from all sides scrambled to contain the fallout of the assassination, urging calm amid fears of an outbreak of the brutal violence between Lebanon's sharply divided communities that marked the 1975-90 civil war.

A stunned-looking former president Amin Gemayel - Pierre's father and leader of the Christian Phalangist Party - urged his supporters to observe a night of "prayer and reflection."

"We don't want an outburst of emotions and revenge," he said outside the hospital where his son died. "He was martyred for the cause of Lebanon, and we want this cause to triumph. ... To all those who love Pierre, we should not be driven by instinct."

Bush called the slaying "the vicious face of those who oppose freedom" and vowed support for Saniora's government.

"We support their efforts to defend their democracy against attempts by Syria, Iran and allies to foment instability and violence in that important country," Bush said after having breakfast with U.S. troops stationed in Hawaii.

Saniora's government is dominated by opponents of Syria. Many see the demands by its opponents as a bid by Damascus to restore its influence in its smaller neighbor - and by Hezbollah to boost its power, riding on increased popularity among Lebanon's Shiite Muslim population following this summer's war with Israel.

Pierre Gemayel, an outspoken opponent of Hezbollah, was the fifth anti-Syrian figure killed in the past two years and the first member of the Saniora government to be slain. Many in Lebanon have accused Damascus in the previous assassinations, including the 2005 bomb blast that killed former prime minister Rafik Hariri, a claim Syria has denied.

Saniora went on national television to call for unity and warned that "sedition" was being planned against Lebanon. He linked Gemayel's slaying to the issue that sparked the recent crisis with Hezbollah: a plan for an international court to try suspects in the Hariri assassination. He said Lebanese should rally behind the government's backing for such a court.

"I pledge to you that your blood will not go in vain," Saniora said, eulogizing Gemayel. "We will not let the murderers control the fate of Lebanon and the future of its children."

Syria and Iran both condemned Gemayel's slaying, and Syria's Information Minister Mohsen Bilal denied Syria had any role. "Those who are accusing Syria in this sick way ... do not have an iota of truth or credibility," he said on Al-Jazeera.

Tuesday's hit came hours before the U.N. Security Council endorsed a draft document creating the international court to try suspects in the Hariri murder, in which an U.N. investigation has implicated several Syrian officials. The document then goes to the Lebanese government for final approval.

Pierre Gemayel's auto

With the possibly explosive atmosphere following Tuesday's assassination, it was not clear whether Hezbollah would go ahead with its threat to hold massive anti-government demonstrations. If it does, it would throw Lebanon deeper into turmoil, putting it into confrontation with many Gemayel supporters now itching for a fight.

Gemayel, the industry minister, was the rising star of his Maronite Christian political family, which has seen four other members killed in the past three decades of Lebanon's violence.

Past attacks on Gemayel's family have sparked brutal reprisals. A 1975 assassination attempt against his grandfather, also named Pierre, prompted Phalangists to attack a busload of Palestinian refugees in what became the spark of a 15-year sectarian civil war. After the killing of Amin Gemayel's brother, Bashir, in a 1982 explosion, his militia supporters stormed Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut, killing hundreds of unarmed civilians in one of the worst atrocities of the Lebanon conflict.

On Tuesday, Gemayel was traveling through his mainly Christian constituency of Jdeideh when a vehicle in front of his slammed to a stop, causing his car to ram into it, security officials said. Witnesses said Gemayel's car was also rammed from behind.

Three gunmen stepped out of the other vehicles and shot Gemayel at point-blank range with automatic weapons fitted with silencers, security officials said.

Video showed Gemayel's car, which apparently had been shot at from both sides: The passenger-side window was shattered and the driver's-side window was dotted with about a dozen bullet holes, and the front hood was crumpled.

Gemayel's driver and another person in the car were wounded. They were rushed to a hospital where Gemayel was pronounced dead. The driver died later Tuesday. The attackers fled.

At the hospital, some 300 supporters called for vengeance, many of them chanting slogans against Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and Hezbollah's Christian ally, Michel Aoun.

"We want revenge from Hezbollah and the General (Aoun)!" young men shouted, shaking their fists in the air.

Other Phalangst supporters, including women, screamed and wept. They called on supporters to march to a nearby Shiite neighborhood and Aoun's residence in a Christian suburb east of Beirut.

"Nasrallah, Aoun and Lahoud, they killed him," shouted Antoine Shaaya, a man in his late 20s who wore a large cross around his neck. "And we won't be silent after today."

CFPA: No Christian is really safe in Lebanon let alone one whose name is Gemayel. In this latest atrocious assassination of a Lebanese politician has all of the earmarks of a Hezbollah hit and they must be made to pay for this crime. Will the perpetrators ever be brought to justice? Not hardly in a Moslem controlled Lebanon unless the Christians take justice into their own hands. We think it's past time for the Lebanese Christians to once again form their own militia for self protection and if they are to survive at all in the Middle East they may have to look at forming their own country "Phoenicia ?". Our prayers and our hearts go out to the Gemayel family.

Posted: 21 Nov 2006