BEIRUT — Wheelchair-bound, they had neither guns nor influence. They lined up last week along the airport road as convoys of tinted-windowed SUVs carrying politicians headed to Qatar to try to break a political deadlock that was dragging Lebanon toward civil war.
They were mostly ignored, except by bodyguards who swung their weapons menacingly toward them.
But the striking image and powerful words of the activists, many hurt in the country's 1975-90 civil war, sent an unmistakable message to leaders of both the pro-West coalition and the Iranian- and Syrian-backed camp led by the Shiite militia Hezbollah.
"If you don't agree, don't come back," said their signs.
On Wednesday, Lebanese politicians began trickling home with a compromise that will finally allow the election of a president but also appears to solidify Hezbollah's status as an armed force overshadowing the power of the state.
The deal, signed after nearly a week of talks in the Qatari capital of Doha, cleared the way for army Chief of Staff Gen. Michel Suleiman to ascend to the presidency in a parliamentary vote Sunday.
He was named to the post last fall, but final approval had been blocked by political infighting, deepening the sense of chaos.
The accord gave Hezbollah and its allies enough Cabinet positions to veto any attempt to take away its formidable arsenal, intelligence assets or communications network.
It also granted the U.S.-backed coalition leader, Saad Hariri, the electoral law he sought, securing a majority of Beirut seats for his loyalists in 2009 parliamentary elections and a promise that Hezbollah will not use its weapons against fellow Lebanese, as it did during an offensive this month that left at least 60 people dead.
The violence showed the limits of Lebanese democracy. Hezbollah's offensive forced the government to negotiate Cabinet allocations and election rules before Suleiman was named president.
The militant movement had not been able to win those concessions through politics or protest.
The fighting also revealed the disparate balance of power between Hezbollah and the government, which was ultimately unable to call upon its armed forces to confront the Shiite militia.
As part of the deal, Hezbollah and its allies Wednesday dismantled an 18-month-old encampment of tents and barriers that had strangled the city's graciously restored downtown. Shares of Solidere, the development firm that runs the renovated area, jumped 15% on the Beirut Stock Exchange as Lebanese merchants anticipated a strong summer of tourism. The spirits of the Lebanese people soared as well.
