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| Lebanon
History |
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The Lebanon, over the course of history,
provided an inaccessible haven for tribes and religious
groups escaping from repression and persecution in other parts of
the Middle East.
The principal groupings in the country are the Maronites,
Christians who exclusively among Eastern Christians, maintained
links with, and secured support from, their co-religionists in Europe
including the Greek Orthodox Christians. Also,
the Shia Muslims, who arrived in Lebanon to escape
persecution from the Sunni majority elsewhere in the Islamic world,
and the Druze, a heretical Muslim sect founded in the 10 th century.
The colonial powers that subsequently occupied
Lebanon, the Ottoman Turks and the French, were content to leave
these divisions more or less to themselves.
The
Turks took control of the area in the 16 th century during
the major development of the Ottoman Empire and remained there until
the end of World War I. With the termination of that empire, the
French were granted a League of Nations mandate to administer Lebanon
until independence in 1941. From that time, the dissimilar communities
cohabited in relative peace with political power divided between
Christians, Shia and Sunni Muslims.
On this basis, Lebanon developed a thriving economy
based on providing business services, finance and banking, transport
and trade facilities, for other countries in the region. This situation
prevailed until the 1970's when the Palestine Liberation Organisation
(PLO), which had been disqualified from Jordan in 1971, established
itself in Lebanon with the tacit agreement of the Lebanese.
The influx of a large new community with a powerful armed wing upset
the relatively delicate political balance
in Lebanon. The PLO’s presence finally led to the Israeli
invasion of Lebanon in 1982. By then Lebanon had been engulfed in
a 6 year civil war between right wing Christian militias (the Falange
and the southern militia led by Saad Haddad, and later the forces
led by General Michel Aoun) and various alignments of Muslim and
Palestinian forces.
Among the latter, the most significant were the Amal movement
and the more radical, Iranian inspired Hezbollah
organisation. Hezbollah, in particular, which grew from the radicalisation
of the Shia population, bore the brunt of the consequent fighting
against the Christian militias and the Israelis. It is now a important
political force in Lebanon.
After the war began in 1976, the capital Beirut
was split across the ‘Green Line’, dividing the city
between the Christian conquered east of the city and the Muslim
west. Central Government all but broke down, despite recurring attempts
to find some kind of political resolution. The Israeli invasion
succeeded in driving most of the Palestinian guerrillas out of Lebanon,
but failed in its principal political objective of installing a
Christian subjugated government in power.
The Israeli occupation earned Tel Aviv a great
deal of international criticism. However, following the election
of a coalition government in Tel Aviv, the Israelis withdrew in
early 1985 to a self declared security zone in the south controlled
by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and their locally recruited
Christian proxy militia, the South Lebanon Army (SLA).
The security zone became the scene of an attritional guerrilla
war between the Israeli Defence Forces / South Lebanon
Army and fighters from Hezbollah which came to an end in 1999 when
the Israeli government decided to pull their troops out of the region
(with their departure, the South Lebanon Army immediately collapsed).
In the rest of Lebanon, the Syrian army proved
to be the ultimate broker and sponsor of a political settlement
of the civil war. This process started in November 1989 with the
election of a National Assembly. A new President, Elias Hrawi (who
succeeded his assassinated predecessor René Daowad) became
1 of a troika, Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss and the speaker of the
parliament, Hussein Husseini, were the others, which led the official
administration in the Muslim areas of Lebanon.
By the end of 1991, the Syrians, with tacit Western acceptance following
their participation in the United Nations anti Iraqi coalition,
were in control of Beirut and most of the north and centre of the
Lebanon. Legislative elections were held in the
country in August and September 1992. Christian groups boycotted
it a decision they later appeared to regret as it allowed the Muslim
parties, including Hezbollah, to take complete control of the parliament.
President Elias Hrawi’s 6 year
term was due to expire in November 1995 but, after parliament decided
to alter the constitution, his term was extended by a further 3
years. While this angered Christian leaders, it was quite acceptable
to Sister Syria (as official pronouncements have it) which still
maintains a large troop employment in Lebanon.
The 1996 elections returned Hariri to maintain
as premier and the ex-Amal guerrilla leader, Nabih Berri, as speaker
of the assembly. The original division of responsibilities between
president and premier, which saw President Hrawi take charge of
foreign policy while Prime Minister Rafik Hariri looked after the
renovation programme, was also confirmed. That division has remained
ever since and much of Lebanon, and Beirut in particular, has recovered
to something near its pre-war condition.
Hariri resigned his job in 1998 and, at the same time, Hrawi was
replaced by Jamil Lahad as president.
However, Hariri, now a dominant figure in Lebanese politics, was
reinstated in 2000 following the most current general election which
saw 17 parties share the 128 national assembly seats. In April 2003
the government was dissolved after heavy Syrian pressure behind
the scenes, and reconstituted with Hariri remaining as Prime Minister
but without any important Christian participation.
Relations with Israel have deteriorated in the
last 2 years. There have been occasional outbreaks of fighting and
exchanges of fire between Hezbollah guerrillas based in the south
of Lebanon and Israeli forces across the border. Moreover, the 2
governments have been immersed for the last 12 months in a serious
argument about the allocation of water resources, this is 1 of the
most sensitive issues in the region.
In addition, the tricky issue of the Syrian troops
stationed in the country continues to simmer, unresolved. In September
2004, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution that
foreign troops must leave Lebanon, pointedly referring to Syria.
Parliament voted to extend President Lahoud's term by 3 years, but
prime minister Rafiq Hariri unexpectedly departed.
In February 2005, Hariri was killed
in a substantial car bomb attack in Beirut. This triggered mass
protests about the presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon, from those
both for and against. The cabinet of Prime Minister Omar Karami
resigned after 2 weeks of anti Syrian rallies sparked by the assassination.
The United States of America, amongst others, have been steadily
mounting pressure on Syria to withdraw its troops.
However, in March 2005, pro-Syrian former Prime Minister Omar Karami
was asked by the president to form a new government. It is not known
what conclusion current events shall take. |
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