As well as being the major port of the East Mediterranean
shore, Beirut, capital of Lebanon and coastal town,
has several small fishing harbors called in Arabic
Mina, Minet el-Hosn and Ain Mraysseh to mention only
two. Here one sees the boats of the fishermen unceasingly
engaged in their task. Considered from the point of
view of town planning, Beirut is a city that extends
far but many of the alleys that had antique charm
have disappeared and been replaced by the modern Solidere
project.
Rafic Baha’al-Dine Hariri, known simply as Rafic Hariri,
the prime minister victim, came from Sidon. Businessman
and politician, he made a huge fortune in Saudi Arabia.
The son of a farm worker, he obtained a diploma from
the American University of Beirut, the AUB. He bought
up the French Oger society based in Paris and undertook
the reconstruction of Beirut destroyed by an atrocious
civil war. All-powerful in many fields such as banking,
real estate, industry, agriculture and the media,
Rafic Hariri was prime minister in five successive
governments between 1992 and 2004.
He was the victim of a criminal attempt on his life
on February 14th, 2005. Although his car was armor
plated, he was killed immediately by an explosive
charge of 1,800 kilograms, as were twenty others,
while scores were wounded. A large area of Minet el-Hosn
was devastated. A wave of demonstrations expressing
protest and indignation took place throughout the
land. Hariri was closely connected to the Saudi royal
family and had Saudi nationality as well as Lebanese.
A large section off the population of Lebanon took
to the streets. The assassination of Hariri sparked
off what many called the Cedar Revolution with the
resulting departure of the Syrian troops from Lebanon
at the end of April 2005. His mortal remains lie in
a mausoleum in Martyrs’ Square put up near the mosque
that he himself financed. An investigation of the
affair was undertaken by the United Nations, with
Lebanon alone contributing a yearly fifty million
dollars to cover expenses.
To perpetuate the memory of the great man, two different
sculptors were charged with creating a monument to
be set up at Minet el-Hosn.
The Armenian artist Basmanyan conceived a statue a
little larger than life representing Hariri standing
by a stele carved by Basbous a little over six meters
high. A small garden plot has been laid out to make
the two works stand out. Facing the site of the explosion
a little further away to the left is another monument
composed of standards and flags from where after every
midnight a light streams forth. The stature of Hariri
is of realistic conception, while the column beside
is more purely decorative and the group of standards
is in freer style.
The political career of this man who has so deeply
marked the life both of Lebanon and of its capital
requires some witness to keep his memory alive. This
has to be worthy of the work he undertook and of the
worldwide shock caused by his brutal death. It speaks
of a man with a great possible destiny and Minet el-Hosn,
opposite the famous St. George Hotel, is now a place
visited by many tourists within the zone of Solidere
and the principal hotels.
Joseph Matar - Translation from the French: Kenneth
Mortimer
-
Statue
of slain former prime minister Rafik Hariri:
>> View
Movie << (2010-09-15) -
Rafic
Al Hariri Memorial:
>> View Movie
<< (2010-09-15)
