LEBANON sample essay
Lebanon. Today we can find the name of this country among the major terrorist-producing ones. Not many people nowadays even know what the word Lebanon means until they will be specifically told that this is the name of the country. If we type this word in any search service program, the first what we will find would be the information on terrorism. Lebanon is often found under the headings like “Geography of terrorism” . So what is the definition of the country nowadays? Here is what we find: “Lebanon- country SW Asia bordering on the Mediterranean; a republic since 1944, formerly (1920-44) a French mandate capital Beirut area 3949 square miles (10,228 square kilometers), population 2,909,000.” Is that all?! Is it everything that is left from the country which once was so strong, from the country that has one of the most ancient histories in the world… but it’s history is not even known to people today.
The territory of present Lebanon was populated since ancient times. It existed in the biblical times. It was the historic home for the Phoenicia culture. Phoenicians were Semitic traders. Their maritime culture was mostly based on their favorable geographic location. It existed over two thousand years from 27th to 5th centuries B.C. Since, as I have mentioned before, the geographic location of the country was favorable, many conquerors were fighting for the right to dominate its territory. First, they were taken over by Persian dynasty of Achaemenid, then it was annexed to the empire of Alexander the Great, who was known as one of the first people who was introduced to the Christian faith. After Alexander’s death and division of his empire Lebanon was left on the part of Seleucid Empire, which was formed in 312 BC. In the first century of our era the territory was conquered by the Roman Empire. It remained under their influence till the establishment of Caliphate (the Islamic system in which Caliph, the successor of final prophet Muhammad, is in chief of the religious group of people, basically the governor in the Islamic situation). Lebanon was always a very important spot for Christianity and Muslims. The definition of this country from the Biblical dictionary is quite different from the regular one. Here is what it says: “Lebanon - white, "the white mountain of Syria," is the loftiest and most celebrated mountain range in Syria” .
The clash of two faiths, Islam and Christianity, could be prophesized from those ancient times. The reason for this judgment is in the following. Both religions on the territory of this country exist almost form the times when they appeared. Christian faith was introduced to the historical population of Lebanon, Phoenicians, by the neighboring country of Galilee soon after death of Jesus. Islam was also introduced in this country almost at its formation: “the Arab advances brought Islam soon after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.” There is no wonder in the fact that during the Middle Ages Lebanon was one of the favorite places for Crusades, a series of wars, usually “blessed” by Papacy, for the domination over the territory of the Holy Land, Jerusalem.
The struggle between Muslims and Christians began actually much earlier then the Crusade wars took place. The dissatisfaction was rising from the part of Christians since the 7th century, when Muslims conquered the territory of the Holy Land, which as we know is sacred to both Muslims and Christians. And even though Muslims did not interfere with the pilgrimage of Christian believes to Jerusalem, the Catholic Church and Papacy were dissatisfied with the situation, since they could not dominate on that territory. On the basis of this conflict, Papacy and the Church were trying to over exaggerate every conflict between the Muslims and Christians, and certainly were blaming Muslims for every case.
First serious confrontation of supporters of each part took place in 1095 and was later known in history as First Crusade. Lebanon was the main paths for its warriors during the attack on Jerusalem. The complaint and ask for help in resisting Muslim attacks from emperor of Byzantine Alexius 1 to the Pope Urban 2, became an official reason and good ground for the Christian Church to start the Crusade attack. From that time the Crusade wars against Muslim during the time period from 11th till 13th centuries became a quite common and even glorious, for the Christians, act. Not only those wars were blessed by the Church, the participants of those events were considered heroes and those who were killed were granted indulgences, the remission of sins committed during the life on earth by God, by the Pope.
After these events the territory of Lebanon was a part of Crusade States and occupied by Frankish nobles. What is now the southern part of Lebanon was then a northern border of the Kingdom of Jerusalem: “a short-lived country established in the 12th century by the First Crusade” . The present northern half of the country was the part of the Tripoli, the last of four major Crusade States.
In 1190 the Christian control of the Holy Land was taken over by Saladin, but the part of land where now Lebanon is located was defended better and therefore was not brought back to the Muslim religion until late 13th century, during the reign of the Egyptian sultan Mamluk. Later the territory of present Lebanon, and therefore its population, was fought for by different Muslim rulers. That situation continued till the authority over the eastern Mediterranean was consolidated under the Ottoman Empire. And even though this Empire which was confessing the Muslim Faith, Lebanon was the important part of it in trade relations with European Christian States, therefore the level of Christian influence in this country was high even under the Muslims.
Another serious conflict between the Muslim and Christian powers occurred in the 19th century. It expressed itself in the revolt of the Christian Maronites, who had the support of France, against the Feudal class in Ottoman Empire. Druze, a small Islamic religious group , took advantage over this situation and started to burn villages of Maronites. After this conflict the rest of the 19th century was quite calm. Both groups turned their concentration to the development of economy and its stability.
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire five provinces, which now form the modern territory of Lebanon was assigned to France by the League of Nations. The country of Lebanon received its independence only in the middle of the 20th century, in 1943. In 1946 only the France withdrew its troops from the territory of the State. Soon after those events in 1948, after the Arab-Israel Conflict, Lebanon became a major shelter for the Palestinian refugees. Even greater amount of them were flowing into the country after the Black September and Arab-Israel War in 1967. By 1975 the number of them was about 300,000 people and this fact became a serious problem for the stability in the country. Refugees were mostly the members of PLO, led by Yassir Arafat, or its followers.
Certainly, as a result of accumulation of a reasonable amount of Palestians, and the conflict of interests and beliefs of Muslims and Christians, the Civil war broke out in Lebanon in April of 1975 and left the people of the country with no effective central government. On one side of the struggle there were the supporters of Phalangist party, Maronite militias, on the other side – there was a coalition of Palestinians, Sunni and Druze groups. This war was one of the most violent ones, which occurred on the territory of present Lebanon. It is understood that since once again, as many times before in its history, this country became the place of confrontation for two religious groups, it was attacked during the time of the Civil War (from 1975 till 1990) by the supporters of both sides. The only difference was in the time period. “In all, it is estimated that more than 100,000 were killed, and another 100,000 handicapped by injuries, during Lebanon's 15 year war” . Usually as the beginning of the end of this war considered the Taif Agreement of the 1989, it covered some political reforms, end of the war in Lebanon, establishment of new relationship between this country and Syria and “a framework for the beginning of complete Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon” . This document was ratified in November of the same year.
The modern situation in Lebanon is quite unstable. Again, after about ten years of relative political stability the country was troubled by the unexpected death of their former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on the 14th of February, 2005. Political and religious situation again destabilized. Since the country, as was mentioned in the beginning of the paper, is now among those, that are associated with terrorism, the United States of America have developed a plan to improve the situation. This plan was influenced by the recent Revolutions that took place In Georgia (Rose Revolution) and in Ukraine (Orange Revolution). In Lebanon the US are now planning to support the “Cedar Revolution”. Who knows, maybe that will help to finally stabilize the situation in the country, though I personally doubt it?
The struggle between the Muslims and Christians is about 14 centuries old. And it is difficult to state who the sufferer is and who – the suppressor; though following the Christian tradition our part of the world keeps blaming it on Muslims. The roots of Lebanon antagonism as we can see from our research are also very old. The people of this country, even though it might sound as a paradox, are used to this situation. It is in their blood. They are used to the fact that there is always an enemy around and there is a need to be ready to fight. I personally do not believe that any intervention will do any change to this struggle. It never did throughout many centuries of the long history of Lebanon.
Naturally, after this research a question arises: is there anything that could possibly be done to improve the situation in the country? My personal opinion is that the best way to act toward it for foreigners is just not to interfere and let the people decide what their interests in the world are. As we can see from the historical research on that country, the situation was getting worse every time someone interfered with its natural development. I think this was the biggest problem of the nation and, from my point of view – the best solution for this problem – is to just let the people have a right for their own cultural development without external interference. It is certainly the solution for those who really are concerned with the fate of Lebanon, not for those who are looking for their personal benefit and for a good “fair” reason to receive this benefit. There is no other reasonable solution I could suggest.
Works sited
1. Easton’s Bible Dictionary. 28 Apr. 2005
2. The Middle East Dictionary of World History. 2004. 28 Apr. 2005
3. Wikipedia. 2005. 28 Apr. 2005
4. Your Dictionary. 2005. 28 Apr. 2005
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