Lebanon questions. April 12, 2011.

a. Civil wars - why? Who was on each side? Who won? Did either side have outside help? What was the regional or world context when the civil war was being fought?

Why? The central government was weak and had difficulty maintaining control over its citizens; religious, ethnic, and ideological differences caused tension, and place of reference and religious affiliation turned people against each other.

Who was on each side? Muslims versus Christians.

Who won? No one won, but the war was ended with the Taif Agreement, which allowed for a balanced ratio of Christians to Muslims in terms of government seats.

Did either side have outside help? The Israelis helped the Christians.

What was the regional or world context when the war was being fought? The Lebanese Civil War began only a few years after the Arab-Israeli War of 1973, thus it gives some context as to why Israel got involved in Lebanon; mostly to secure her border, which meant to train Christian armies so that they might win the war, since there was far less hostility than between Israel and Muslim Arabs.


b. Outside interference and reconstruction.. post-civil war.. explain.

The Arab League stepped in, hoping for peace in Lebanon, hence the Taif Agreement. This suggested changes would be made to the National Pact, so that this would make the ratio of those in power between Muslims and Christians equal. Additionally, the Syrian army pulled out in 2005, although there are still border disputes. Additionally, in 1991 the Lebanese Parliament passed an amnesty law that pardoned all political crime.



c. Confessional state- explain.

This refers to the National Pact and the system that it set up, and the way in which they sought to preserve the state through compromise, that is, the ratio of the population would be frozen and proportional representation (in government) was rejected so as to "protect" every religious community... nevertheless all it did was create greater division between each group. This division also affected all areas of life, given that each group came to dominate a particular area of the country - the Christians near Mt. Lebanon and on the coast, the Sunni Muslims close to the border with Syria, the Shi'as in the south near the Israeli border. Each group was also represented by its own political party.


d. Economic tensions - why? Who benefited? Who suffered? What changes took place?


There was tension between the Palestinians who had settled Lebanon and the Shi'as due to competition for the limited number of jobs. The lives of the Shi'as were at risk due to the fact that they were targets of Israeli raids, and since there was a mass migration of the Shi'a population of southern Lebanon into Beirut to look for jobs since the Palestinians took the majority of the jobs in the south, it seems that the Palestinians benefited, the Shi'as suffered, and the mass migration of the Shi'as was the main change that took place. This all led to the instability of the demographics of Lebanon as well.

e. Growth of militias and the PLO - who joined? why? goals? successes? failures?


For the most part the PLO was joined by Palestinians and posed a threat to the Israelis. They were an extremely powerful force in the 1970s and this led to conflict because Israel retaliated against the PLO with raids in Lebanon. This violated Lebanon's sovereignty and the legitimacy of their government was undermined. The Lebanese National Movement, which consisted mostly of Druze, fought alongside the PLO was well, mostly due to the fact that both groups were Muslim. The group Amal, mostly a Shi'a group, formed in defense of the Shi'a community, and finally Hezbollah formed, whose main target was Israel. The PLO didn't succeed in Lebanon because the Israelis forced them out, and all the militias with the exception of Hezbollah, which exists today still, were disbanded.