Lebanon Religious Differences

His voice choked with emotion, Lebanese President Amin Gemayel delivered a farewell address to his countrymen last week. "I leave the presidency today worried and filled with anxiety," he declared. "Today should have been a festival in which we rejoiced over the election of a new President. But the people of war were stronger than peace."

At midnight Thursday, Gemayel's six-year presidential term expired. With Lebanon's fractious Christians and Muslims unable to agree on a candidate to succeed him, Gemayel asked a fellow Christian, army commander Michel Aoun, to head a transitional government of six military officers. The maneuver failed, however,...