World

Could Lebanon actually be nearing a peace accord? Under the auspices of the Arab League, Lebanon's parliament last week agreed on the outlines of a new national charter revising the distribution of political power, the issue at the root of the country's 14-year-old civil war. The plan, worked out in the Saudi city of Taif, won the endorsement of 58 of the 62 legislators present. Whereas Christians previously held 54 of parliament's 99 seats, an enlarged, 108-member legislature would be evenly divided between Muslims and Christians.

General Michel Aoun, the Lebanese Christian leader, rejected the agreement promptly because it provides no timetable for the withdrawal of occupying Syrian forces. Also opposed were militia commanders of Lebanon's large Shi'ite Muslim community, who want to abolish rather than readjust sectarian quotas. Yet the latest eight-month round of fighting has wearied most of the beleaguered country, and there were some signs that both Aoun and Shi'ite leaders would eventually be persuaded to fall into line.