LEBANON – BROKEN AND REMADE

1. LEBANON – BROKEN AND REMADE

2. THE FRENCH MANDATE • 1920 – San Remo conference confers the mandate for Lebanon on France • 1920-6: the creation of “Greater Lebanon” • 1926 – The Lebanese Republic emerges • 1941 – British and Free French forces liberate Lebanon • 1943 – Lebanese Independence declared

3. Syria and Lebanon c. 1924

4. The National Pact • Unwritten agreement • Shared power between “confessions” • President a Christian • Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim • Speaker of the Assembly a Shi’i Muslim • Government offices to be split 6:5 • Applied to civil service • Affected the army as well

5. 1948 – 1952 Period of Change • Palestinian refugees enter Lebanon • Unarmed and denied citizenship • The revolution in Egypt shifts finance to Beirut • Growth in the Lebanese economy

6. The 1950s and 1960s • Change in Lebanese demography • More Palestinians (Sunni non-citizens) • Fewer Christians (due to outmigration and slightly lower birth rates) • Dramatic increase in Shi’i population

7. 1958 • Revolution in Iraq and unrest in Lebanon • US Marines come ashore at Beirut • Fuad Chehab replaces Camille Chamoun

8. 1968 • Israel undertakes first retaliatory raids Palestinian commandos and destroys 13 airplanes at Beirut International Airport

9. Arab defeats and PLO • Military defeat created space for the PLO • Allowed the PLO to claim that it provided defense against Israel • Allowed the PLO to base its own legitimacy on “armed struggle”

11. 1969-1970 • The Phalange, a militia based in the Maronite Christian community, re-emerges • November – the Cairo Agreement is signed • PLO headquarters is transferred to Beirut from Jordan

12. 1975 – Year of Detonation • February – demonstrations in Saida • April – Phalange attack Palestinians at Ain al-Roumaneh • May – Phalange resigns from govt; Solh resigns as PM • Fall : civil war between the Lebanese Front and the National Movement

13. 1976 • January – blockade of refugee camps; Syria sends PLA to Lebanon • March – Lebanese army disintegrates; PLO-National Movement offensive threatens to take power • June – Syrian troops enter Lebanon on the side of the Lebanese Front; Palestinian movement fractures • August – Capture of Tal Za’tar

17. Questions: • Would Lebanon be partitioned? • Could the Palestinians be disarmed (the Chtaura agreement)? • Would Lebanon become a “frontline” state in the conflict with Israel? • If so, would it be a launching pad for Syrian forces or a through-way for Israelis?

18. 1978 • Israel invades Lebanon to the Litani • Withdraws after UNSCR 425 • UNIFIL troops in place • Emergence of “Fatahland” in the south • In the absence of a state the PLO again creates one

20. THE 1982 WAR • Cross-border shelling between PLO and Israel • Assassination attempt on Israeli ambassador in Britain • Israeli forces invade Lebanon and in four days reaches Beirut • PLO forces leave Beirut in August; massacre at Sabra and Shatila by Phalange

21. What It Meant • The PLO was defeated as a military force and removed from the “front line” • The Amal movement hoped to represent the Shi’i • Another movement, Hizbullah, emerged which would ultimately supplant Amal • It would become the primary organizer of the Shi’i • Based legitimacy also on resistance

22. Al-Amal

23. Hezbullah

24. The Civil War • Continued into the 1990s • Cost Lebanon ~ 150,000 dead • Never resolved the conflict between communal and political power • Made Lebanon into a battleground for proxy wars between Arab states and between Israel and the Arab states