Lebanon yesterday and today - A bird’s-eye view
of the nation, and the special features that distinguish
it from other countries.
- A condensed history
- The modern country
(by George Asseily and James Lawday)
The most recent events in Lebanon probably started
in 1967 with the 6-Day War, when Israel extended its
borders into Egypt (Sinai), Syria (Golan Heights)
and Jordan and displaced many more Palestinians, many
of whom ended up in Lebanon. In the ensuing years
Israel made further incursions into Lebanon and a
Palestinian guerrilla movement was born.
It was not until 1975 that the Civil War started when
a Christian faction, the Phalangists, supported at
the time by Israel, attacked a bus in South Beirut
and murdered 27 Palestinians. Syrian, Iranian, French,
Israeli and American forces all took part in fighting
in the next 15 years and some spent a lot of time
in the country trying to separate the warring fractions.
Militia groups were formed including Phalangists,
Hezbollah, south Lebanese Army, Amal, and the Palestine
Liberation Organization, (PLO). Religious groups including
Maronites, Druze, Sunni and Shiite were also involved.
Beirut was divided into Christian East and Muslim
West by the notorious Green Line - so called after
the trees and vegetation that soon took hold of this
part of the ruined city. One hundred and fifty thousand
were killed in the war with nearly 20,000 killed when
Israel bombarded Beirut in 1982 and 2,000 massacred
in the Sabra and Chatilla camps by Phalange in the
same year. Incidents like the American Shelling of
the Druze in the mountains of Beirut and the subsequent
bombing of the US Embassy and Marine headquarters
in 1983, all made it into the international news,
along with kidnapping of Westerners by the militia.
Many Lebanese fled their country and established successful
business communities around the word.
In 1989 the Taif Accord brought to an end the strife
in Lebanon. Gradually normality returned in 1992 when
all western hostages had been released, elections
were held in the country, the first for two decades,
and Rafiq Hariri, a Lebanese/Saudi businessman, was
elected Prime Minister. Since that time relative peace
returned to the country and a massive rebuilding program
was started - a rebuilding program that not only included
bricks and mortar but also institutions and people’s
lives. Occasional incursions by Israel forces have
occurred since then including attacks on Beirut’s
infrastructure.
Over 300,000 Palestinian refugees remain in Lebanon
and are a constant reminder of the turmoil of the
last quarter of the twentieth century. ...And more recent (That part by Wikipedia editors)
On February 14, 2005, former Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri was assassinated in a car bomb explosion near
the Saint George Bay in Beirut. Leaders of the March
14 Alliance accused Syria of the attack due to its
extensive military and intelligence presence in Lebanon,
and the public rift between Hariri and Damascus over
the Syrian-backed constitutional amendment extending
pro-Syrian President Lahoud's term in office. Others,
namely the March 8 Alliance and Syrian officials,
claimed that the assassination may have been executed
by the Israeli Mossad in an attempt to destabilize
the country.
This incident triggered a series of demonstrations,
known as Cedar Revolution that demanded the withdrawal
of Syrian troops from Lebanon and the establishment
of an international commission to investigate the
assassination. The United Nations Security Council
unanimously adopted Resolution 1595 on April 7, 2005,
which called for an investigation into the assassination
of Rafik Hariri. The findings of the investigation
were officially published on October 20, 2005 in the
Mehlis report. Eventually, and under pressure from
the West, Syria began withdrawing its 15,000-strong
army troops from Lebanon. By April 26, 2005, all uniformed
Syrian soldiers had already crossed the border back
to Syria. The Hariri assassination marked the beginning
of a series of assassination attempts that led to
the loss of many prominent Lebanese figures.
On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers
leading to a conflict, known in Lebanon as July War,
that lasted until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire
went into effect on 14 August 2006.
In October 2007, Émile Lahoud finished his
second term as President. The opposition conditioned
its vote for a successor on a power-sharing deal,
thus leaving the country without a president for over
6 months.
On May 09, 2008, Hezbollah and Amal militants, in
an armed attack triggered by a government decision
on Hezbollah's communications network, temporarily
took over Western Beirut. The situation was described
by the government as an attempted "coup".
On May 21, 2008, all major Lebanese parties signed
an accord to elect Michel Suleiman as President, to
form a national unity government with 11 out of 30
seats for the opposition, thus enabling it to veto
decisions, and to adopt a new electoral law, based
on the 1960 law with amendments for the 3 Beirut constituencies.
The deal was brokered by an Arab League delegation,
headed by the Emir and Foreign Minister of Qatar and
the Secretary General of the Arab League, after 5
days of intense negotiations in Doha. Michel Suleiman
was officially elected President on Sunday May 25,
2008 in the presence of the Foreign Ministers of Syria
and Iran as well as France and Saudi-Arabia.
Lebanon Today
Visitors to Lebanon today will have to look hard if
they are to see any signs of the destruction that
remained evident in the early 1990s. Beirut itself,
which for so long had been synonymous with terror
and destruction, is now reasserting itself as a modern
Mediterranean city. Old buildings with any architectural
merit have been restored; old buildings with no merit
at all, especially within the central Beirut district,
have been pulled down and new modern developments
are rising throughout the country. Inevitably the
main thrust of this reconstruction program is in Beirut,
partly because it had seen the most destruction and
also because as the capital of the country it stood
as an important symbol of regeneration. Tripoli in
the North, a sometime haven for fleeing Beirutis,
has become a second centre for Lebanon. Jounieh, virtually
a suburb of Beirut, and colonized during the more
difficult times, is also thriving. In the south of
the country the cities of Sidon and Tyre have been
slower to become re-established, partly due to their
proximity to the southern border with Israel.
Just after the war in the early 1990s vast areas of
central Beirut was destroyed, especially those around
the Green Line. Hotels, shops, mosques, churches,
offices and homes lay in ruins. The airport barely
functioned. Water, electricity and telephone services
were severely disrupted. Sports facilities were in
ruins although the horse race track in Beirut survived
intact. The Museum, art galleries and cinemas barely
remained. Transport within the country was confused
- confused because large areas of Beirut and the country
had so long been off limits for citizens (for example,
Christian taxi drivers didn’t know their way
around West Beirut). Although Lebanon sported about
80 different banks, some were no more than privately
owned money-boxes and only a few had any substance
- a devaluation over the twenty years of the Lebanese
pound from 2.5 to the US dollar to a low of 2000 to
the dollar, had not increased peoples enthusiasm for
banks and their owners.
The government of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri embarked
upon an ambitious plan for rebuilding the country.
International consultants and expert were brought
in. Lebanese businessmen, bankers, lawyers, etc, were
persuaded to return to join the government and to
join in the planning and implementation of a new restructured
Lebanon. Even archaeologists were able to excavate
large areas of Beirut, which for so long had remained
hidden under centuries of development.
Rapidly Lebanon returned to normal. Hotels opened
and business travelers and tourists returned. Business
groups from Europe were soon knocking at the doors.
While the American government maintained a cautious
approach, enterprising but discreet American business
executives could be seen in smart hotels. Major international
trade exhibitions were held in Beirut and Tripoli.
Roads were repaired and new highways built. A new
airport was constructed. The port, a significant facility
for this trading nation, was opened - such was its
efficiency that importers and exporters from the region
preferred to use Beirut rather than the other established
ports in the region. Government offices reopened -
the government reduced taxes across the board and
found that they had suddenly an increase in revenue?
Television and radio stations blossomed and mobile
phone networks were installed - Lebanese then became
the dubious holders of the record for the most mobile
phones per capita in the word.
The wealth and perspicacity of the Lebanese is legendary.
Within a short time expensive cars were to be seen
on the streets of Lebanon. Luxury hotels opened, offering
luxurious surroundings at uncompetitive prices. Restaurant,
equivalent in quality to anywhere in the word, were
soon overwhelmed by customers. Fast motor cruisers
could be seen racing up and down the coastline. Normality
and the Lebanese way of life had returned.
Political and financial difficulties returned to the
country in the mid 1990s as the burden of the redevelopment
program and political disruption from the southern
neighbor reduced financial confidence. A new government
in the next decade believed in a more cautious fiscal
policy. However, this slowdown was temporary and a
more measured approach to the rebuilding program continues
today.
Decree
N. 2385 of 17/1/1924 as amended by law N. 76 of 3/4/1999
( articles 2, 5, 15, 49 and 85 ) lays down as follows:
The author of a literary or artistic work, by the
very fact of authorship, has absolute right of ownership
over the work, without obligation of recourse to formal
procedures . The author will himself enjoy the benefit
of exploitation of his work, and he possesses exclusive
rights of publication and of the reproduction under
any form whatsoever. Whether the work in question
comes under the public domain or not those persons
will be liable to imprisonment for a period of one
to three years and to fine of between five and fifty
million Lebanese pounds, or to either one of these
penalties, who 1-will have appended or caused to be
appended a usurped name on a literary or artistic
work; 2-will have fraudulently imitated the signature
or trademark adopted by an author, with a view to
deceiving the buyer; 3-will have counterfeited a literary
or artistic work; 4-or will have knowingly sold, received,
or put on sale or into circulation a work which is
counterfeit or signed with a forged signature. The
punishment will be increased in the event of repetition.
