For the first time since executions resumed in 1994...

For the first time since executions resumed in 1994 there is a debate on the merits of the death penalty - something lacking until not long ago, when the authorities snuffed out murderers at will. In a front-page editorial in A-Nahar a week ago Prime Minister Salim Hoss explained his opposition to the death penalty. He argued, with disarming candor, that since he was incapable of watching an animal killed for food he could hardly allow this to happen to a human being. It is in such moments, as in his intrepid decision to appoint a commission of inquiry to investigate the fate of the "disappeared ones," that Hoss displays genuine valor. Now, thanks to Hoss's imposed moratorium, there is at last an opportunity to put a permanent end to capital punishment. Such a notion, of course, reopens deliberations on ends and means.