Fighting for Western Values

Amin Gemayel talks about his country and its neighbors

He had spent the afternoon in the besieged mountain town of Suq al Gharb. His head bare, his sleeves rolled up and his flak jacket worn with an almost sporty air, the young President was the fighting image of his embattled country. He told his troops that for the first time "Mohammed and Antoine were behind the same barricade." The Muslim and Christian names that President Amin Gemayel so deftly joined are symbols of what makes Lebanon unique in the Arab world, while the word barricade was a reference to what has often divided this most contentious of nations. After his return to the presidential palace outside Beirut, Gemayel spoke at length with TIME'S Middle East bureau chief, William Stewart. It was his first interview with any U.S. publication in the year since he took office. Stewart's report:

As we drove up the winding road to the palace for our 10:30 p.m. appointment, the sky suddenly lit up with a great red flash, followed by the roar of big guns. The troops that normally stand guard along the road were in their bunkers. A quick telephone call from the guardpost to the palace confirmed that we were expected, and our car moved on, its lights out. The front entrance of the huge presidential residence, however, was ablaze with light, though even this semblance of normality was shattered by a sudden explosion. Incoming artillery. We dashed inside to be greeted by an imperturbable usher dressed in a blue bomber jacket. "We've had worse," he noted as he called the President's office.

Sheik Amin, as he is known, was sitting alone in his library, a large, comfortable room with red leather furniture and a grand piano. He likes classical music, particularly Beethoven and Wagner, and has had a small music room built beside the palace tennis court. Amin has not been able to play tennis, his favorite sport, for more than three weeks now, and he misses the exercise. Tonight he is in his casual clothes: an open-neck shirt, windbreaker, slacks and black loafers. The trip to the front has been exhausting, but he is lit up, his color high.

A steward brings whisky and soda as Amin reflects on his first year in office. "Every day has been like a year," he says. "Events have not made it easy on me. I've had important responsibilities before, as an M.P. and a member of the [Phalange] party politburo. Then there was the war between the Lebanese militias and the Palestinians." He pauses and runs his hand through his glossy black hair. Like many Lebanese Christians, the President does not consider that Lebanon ever had a civil war. He mentions two great disasters of the 1975-76 war, the destruction of the Palestinian refugee camp at Tel Zaatar and an equally horrifying massacre at Karantina. Then he continues: "Now it is much more difficult. We have foreign armies here: the Israelis, the Syrians and the P.L.O., always the P.L.O. It has been a year of 'to be or not to be.' We have to face two very strong Middle Eastern countries, Israel and Syria, not to mention Iran and Libya. They are strong, and so is their cupidity. [Syria and Israel] are here under the pretext that Lebanon is vital to their security."