Charles Helou; Former President of Lebanon

Charles Helou, 87, former president of Lebanon who tried to curb Palestinian guerrillas in the 1960s. The French-speaking Helou was elected the country’s fourth president in 1964. His six years in office were marked by strife among Lebanese factions and with the guerrillas of the Palestinian refugee community--confrontations that culminated in the civil war of 1975-90. Helou was credited with signing the so-called Cairo Agreement of November 1969 with Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization. The accord followed violent clashes with Palestinian guerrillas in the streets of Beirut. It was intended to limit the guerrillas’ freedom of movement, end their military training in refugee camps and stop the guerrillas from firing on Israel before they had actually entered Israeli territory. Critics contended that the Cairo Agreement led to a rise in guerrilla attacks on Israel and consequent retaliation, including Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and occupation until last May. A journalist and lawyer, Helou first gained political office with a seat in parliament in 1951. On Sunday in Zalka, Lebanon, of a heart attack.