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Lebanon, 6/1/08
Overview:
Join Active Minds as we trace the history of the current situation in Lebanon. We will provide the background necessary to understand the rise of Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Shiite militia, and Lebanon’s role in the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the complex relationship with its neighbor Syria. Come learn how this important country fits into the puzzle that is the Middle East.
Key Lecture Points:
• May 2008 brought Lebanon to the brink of civil war, a condition that the small nation has experienced many times since its independence in 1943. The Lebanese population is an extremely complex mix of religions and, since its independence in 1943, governance has been based upon a policy of “confessional balance” whereby governmental power is divided according to the size of the religious population in each of 16 sects (Muslim and Christian). That division of power, however, is based upon the last Lebanese census, conducted in 1932, the period of French Mandate over Lebanon.
• Lebanon has often been at the center of conflict in its region. Israeli, Syrian and Iranian influences are significant in the country. All of these influences play a role in tipping the delicate “confessional balance”.
• Hezbollah (from the Arabic “Party of God), a Shiite Muslim militia group founded in 1982 in reaction to Israeli presence in southern Lebanon, with significant financial and military support from Syria and Iran.
• From 1990-2005, Syrian troops occupied Lebanon, as part of the Ta’if Agreement that ended the last Lebanese Civil War. The Syrians viewed themselves as “peacekeepers” but many Lebanese opposed the Syrian presence which ended when Syria was implicated in the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
• Since the establishment of Israel in 1948, Lebanon has incurred a population of roughly 400,000 Palestinian refugees (overwhelmingly Sunni), roughly 10% of the total population of the country, though not citizens.
• The UN Interim Force has maintained a presence in southern Lebanon since 1978, when the country’s civil war began. Between the late seventies and mid eighties, UN troops ranged between 2,000 and 6,000; however, since the summer 2006 crisis, UN troops have numbered closer to 15,000. Over the years, UN troops have sought to negotiate ceasefires and offset crises at the Israeli-Lebanese border. Since 1978, 258 lives of UN troops have been lost, which is more than any other UN mission. That said, UN troops were not able to quell the recent violence in Lebanon. See www.un.org.
• In November 2007, former president of Lebanon, Emile Lahoud, stepped down after parliament failed to agree on his successor. He then attempted to hand over the presidency to the armed forces, which the Lebanese parliament declared unconstitutional. In response, Fouad Siniora, the US-backed Lebanese prime minister, declared that his office would take on presidential capacities until the parliament could elect a new president. The political turmoil triggered violent street clashes in which Hezbollah opposition forces attacked government supporters. The fierceness of the battles had not been seen since the Civil War from 1975-90.
• The crisis came to a tentative end when, in late May 2008, a coalition of Arab states brokered a power sharing deal in Doha, Qatar. The deal granted a Hezbollah, under the leadership of Hassan Nasrallah, a sizable minority in the coalition government, enough power to block efforts by the Siniora Government which Hezbollah objects to. In essence, the deal deepens the legitimacy of Hezbollah as a force in Lebanese politics, notwithstanding Hezbollah being considered a terrorist organization by the US. Subsequent to the Doha Accord, Lebanon successfully elected a new president, Michel Suleiman, a Christian Maronite and former head of the Lebanese military. Suleiman promptly re-appointed Siniora as Prime Minister, leading some to hail the movement toward reconciliation in Lebanon, but others to suggest that the conflict of 2008 could very well flare up again.
Exploration Questions:
• What are some reasons for conflicts about identity in Lebanon? Are the reasons primarily historical, or primarily based on outside intervention in the country?
• What are the major obstacles to the success of the new coalition government in Lebanon?
• Is Lebanon a model for other governments, where religious difference is a fundamental part of political identity?
Reflective Questions:
• What are your impressions of Lebanon? How did you form your impressions (media, knowing people from the region, reading history, firsthand experience)?
• Do you remember when Lebanon became an independent country? How did most Americans see the event?
More to Explore:
• BBC Coverage of Lebanon: http://news.bbc.co.uk
• Arab Media Watch: www.arabmediawatch.com
Books For Further Reading:
• Friedman, Thomas. From Beirut to Jerusalem. Random House, 1989. 608 pages. Friedman draws on his ten years in the Middle East to write a book that The Wall Street Journal called ‘a sparkling intellectual guidebook... an engrossing journey not to be missed.” Click here to order.
• Traboulsi, Fawwaz. A History of Modern Lebanon. Pluto Press, 2007. 306 pages. Starting with the formation of Ottoman Lebanon in the 16th century, Traboulsi covers the growth of Beirut as a capital for trade and culture through the 19th century. The main part of the book concentrates on Lebanon's development in the 20th century and the conflicts that led up to the major wars in the 1970s and 1980s. Lebanon in the 20th century has seen turbulent times, the results of which we still see today. Click here to order.
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