lebanon – broken and remade
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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
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
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
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
1958
• Revolution in Iraq and unrest in Lebanon• US Marines come ashore at Beirut • Fuad Chehab replaces Camille Chamoun
1968
• Israel undertakes first retaliatory raids Palestinian commandos and destroys 13 airplanes at Beirut International Airport
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”
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
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
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
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?
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
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
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
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