Beirut: The Split

In the 1970's, conflicts escalated between the different groups in Lebanon, Shia, Sunni, Maronites, Greek Orthodox, over power. The government, if you could call it a government, still operated, yet it resembled a play, a cheap play that had no audience. The Parliament and President had no power whatsoever and could only watch as their country transformed into a chaotic set of brutality and savagery. One of the countless consequences that Beirutis have witnessed because of the escalating conflicts was the split of their beloved city, Beirut, and the shifting of Beirut's commercial and economic center, or what was left of it anyway.

The civil war had destroyed any connection the different groups of Lebanon had towards each other, and it ravaged the entire country. The borders that I had talked about in the previous post were invisible, yet respected and lived by, but now actual borders had been drawn, specifically the Green Line, in which the commercial capital and center of Lebanon, and maybe the entire Middle East was split. Beirut's Golden Age died an agonizing death and any remains of it remained in Hades. There were no more Western tourists, no more swarming elegant hotels, no more businessmen from the Arabian Peninsula looking to invest their millions in Beirut's economy, no more wealth, no more labels, and no more boasting about the Paris of the East that bewitched anyone that laid eyes on it. Gone were the times of the dazzling city that lay at the edge of the Levant. Gone was the gateway to the West.

Beirut was split across a border called the Green Line, which was the Beirut-Damascus road and some of downtown Beirut, that cut through the city, bisecting it. (It is called the Green Line because of the many weeds and shrubs that protrude out of the tarmac and asphalt). This would automatically take you back to the times of the Berlin Wall and the division of East and West Germany. This was so similar yet so different. First, there was no obscure or visible obstacle, such as a wall. It was just that road that symbolized so much. People knew of the consequences of this border, and its crossing. Anyone who dared to step across this road would meet a sudden, yet expected death. Because this line was not just an ordinary border. It represented Lebanon's tribalism. Before the war, it was just a thought, yet now it is illustrated in reality and on the ground for everyone to see.

Though this may have been the only visible and prominent border separating the city, there were so many subdivisions. They began in individual neighborhoods. All members would keep to their self, and most could not imagine a society operating outside of their own narrow borders, it was an inconceivable idea, and a faraway one at that. As the time passed in this civil wars, the divisions were not only in neighborhoods but in individuals. The trust between neighbors disappeared. A person would think everyone had the worst possible motives towards him/her, and looks of suspicion were always on everyones faces. With that, the remains of Lebanese society and mutualism had shattered.

Tribal Lebanon

Lebanon, since the beginning of time, has suffered so many conflicts and so many disagreements, but the all leads down to the essence of its society. Lebanese of course, will always boast about how modern and diverse their country is, but that is also a large problem hanging like a shadow over Lebanon's future, if it was back in the civil war, or till the present day.

Since its borders were drawn out of Greater Lebanon by the French in the 1943 National Pact, Lebanon and its citizens have never behaved as a nation or as one people, like any other country behaved. Although Lebanon was not an anarchy and there was a government present, there seemed to be no unity in how the Lebanese act. Lebanon is probably the most diverse state in the Middle East containing many people of different religion and sects.

The largest dividing factor in the Lebanese society would of course have to be religion. The country is made of Muslims and Christians, split almost evenly, at a 1 to 1 ratio. But these two groups are further divided. For Muslims, it is Sunnis, Shia, and Druze, and for Christians it is Maronites, Greek Orthodox, and some other sects. This of course is a situation very vulnerable to conflict because no trust is evident between any of these groups, even between people of the same religions. Each village, or district in a city behaves like its personal country and has a hierarchy present that makes the decisions and acts as a government. Each group is suspicious of the other and their motives, and will always tend to think of them in the worst. They are, in every meaning of the word, tribes. Sometimes they form alliances, other times their bitter enemies, and the latter is the most likely one. And this is the essence of the civil war of the 70's and 80's.

One point is evident of course. Each group works and behaves out of utter fear: fear that any other tribe will take control of the country. Not only that, but Lebanon operates on a system of "Zuama", or big bosses, similar to that in the Italian mafia movies like the godfather. Each tribe would have its own operating in the government and fulfilling the needs of their followers and their townspeople. For example, a man wants to buy a house and has a problem obtaining a loan from the bank, because of his low income. He does not go to a lawyer or any other professional to help him solve this problem legally, if there was any solution, but goes to the Ziam in charge of his town, village, or district. The Ziam would of course have the loan in his pocket in a couple of hours, by "pulling a few strings." Nothing is asked for in return, other than full loyalty and support to the Ziam. Corruption was everywhere in Lebanese society, and that being one part.

Lebanon seems to be a diverse country, but when you look closely, there are dividers and prominent borders in the entire state. People of different religious groups would not prefer to interact with anyone else but their own, and if one looked at a map of Lebanon, there is no diversity in areas. There would be sections, large or small, in parts of Lebanon wholly exclusive to one group or the other, such as South Beirut for the Shia, Western Beirut for Sunni, and Eastern Beirut for the Maronites, as well as Mount Lebanon for the Christians, and Southern Lebanon for the Shia. This is a complex equation that would soon lead to catastrophe.

Agreeable Two State Solution

So I was looking through headlines on Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper source (just to get all of the perspectives) and I came across an extremely interesting one, titled "A Palestinian Peace Israelis Can Live With." In this peace plan, the writer talks about Ray Hanania, a Palestinian-American that does stand up comedy and is married to a Jewish woman. Ray Hanania is the one that presents the following Two State Solution, that I'm sure can work great for both sides, and is so simple, that it may just work. These are the following outlines:

Hamas should be disarmed, and not be allowed in Palestinian governments, as well as the Jewish settlers should be disarmed.

Settlements can remain, in exchange for the same area of land that was used by Israel to build these settlements returned to the Palestinians in another part of the state.

Jerusalem is a shared city that has joint police, should contain an Arab presence.

Right of return to lands before 1948 is abolished and funding to Palestinian families that lost their home shall be made through the United Nations, Israel and surrounding countries.

Israelis should offer compassion and apology for the Palestinians

Funding for Jews that fled from Arab countries as well.

The West Bank wall shall be torn down or moved to the correct borders of the state until trust could be established between the two neighbors
All political parties should eliminate language that denies each other's existence, and that an Israeli map finally has Palestine present on their, as well as a Palestinian map having Israel present.

A subway system shall be built between the West Bank and Gaza.

For every Jew that wants to live in the West Bank, a Palestinian may live in Israel.

Jews living in Palestine can only vote Israeli elections and vice versa.

Israel and Palestine should create joint governments and police to monitor the peace on the border, working alongside the United States and United Nations.

So in my opinion, this is a great solution to this large and bloody conflict between the two peoples. Of course trust won't be gained in a couple of years, given the large casualties the Palestinians suffered, and some casualties Israel has suffered, but hopefully things will change. All of the points outlined seem to be fair to the extreme, and as this is a Palestinian talking, I think most Palestinians can trust a solution like this. The conflict has to end, and this is the best way to end it, because if no solution is found soon, Israel will continue its brutal occupation and isolation of the occupied territories, and will force Palestinians to lead a stateless and unidentified life.

Beirut: The Golden Age

Going back to the 1950's, it was a bleak time period for the Middle East. Just two years before, Israel had declared it's independence, and gained control of 78% of Historic Palestine. Countless numbers of Palestinians became refugees and fled to neighboring countries, and the Arab countries of Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq had lost a war of dignity against the terrorist state of Israel.

But north of Israel's border, in Lebanon, there sat a sparkling city jutting out of the Mediterranean Sea, waiting to enchant anyone who laid eyes on it. Beirut, in its beginnings was a quiet, but attractive small town. Starting from the 1950's however, all of that would change. Beirut had entered a Golden Age, much like Athens and Rome, and was under the International spotlight. This city, as beautiful as it was, was a controversial one. It was torn between its Arab identity and its Western character. That was probably the biggest reason of why it was extremely unique and why it had attracted to much attention. Going back about 55 years , this is probably the scene you would have come across:

Bikini clad women sunbathing on the white sand beaches of the Mediterranean, laughing and joking as if it had come straight out of a movie. On the beachfront rose prestigious hotels for the wealthy of Europe and the United States as well as Beirut and the rest of the Arab world. The Hotel St. Georges had the best to offer. It was built on its own private peninsula, overlooking the White Sea and the boardwalk. The huge swimming pool was the biggest tourist attraction in the hotel, and it as the sensational meeting place during the day. Businessmen in casual clothing would sit under the umbrellas discussing their projects and work, while tourists would be enjoying a nice swim under the Lebanese sun. One side of the pool was glass, and descending the stairs from the pool, you come across a bar that looks into the swimming pool. Here you could find the American journalists of Time Magazine discussing their new articles on the "Paris of the East" and enjoying a cocktail.

Not only was the Hotel St. Georges the only popular one in town, but other five star hotels had sprung up around it including the Phoenicia, and the Palm Beach Hotel. The Casino Du Liban, however, proved to be the most famous site in Beirut, which is perched in the port town of Jounieh a couple of kilometers due north. The Casino mesmerized its audience when beautiful women in feathers descended from the ceiling on large flowers; its been famous for this production ever since.

On top of being glamorous and wealthy, the city was greatly affected by the oil boom in the Arabian Peninsula. Men in traditional white Abayas exclusive to the Persian Gulf traveled to Beirut to invest fortunes in its banking system, hotels, theaters, and commercial districts. Beirut had wealth flooding into it from all sides, but of course this came to an end.

The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy in Syria

The Israel Lobby in the United States is extremely powerful and has no borders or limits in its support for Israel and its degrading of the surrounding countries in the Middle East. The Israel lobby has so much power that it shapes the foreign policy toward the entire Middle East, and persuades Congress in unimaginable ways that most laws or bills passed for Israel's support is voted by about 95% of the Senate and House of Representatives. So before we can discuss the tactics of this lobby, let us look more in detail at the United States Foreign Policy in the Middle East and how applies to Syria.

Syria is classified as one of the several countries on the US Axis of Evil which is absolutely ridiculous because Syria can in no way threaten or be threatening to the United States. The United States sided and will always side with Israel in all of its policies, including that toward Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, and the entire Arab World. So if Israel is in conflict with Syria, then the United States is in conflict with Syria. But what is the reasoning for classifying Syria on the Axis of Evil.

The answer is nothing, nothing at all. Just because Syria and Israel are in conflict and don't have a formal peace treaty between them, does not mean that the United States should always take Israel's side, because doing so will fuel Anti-Americanism in the Middle East (but I'll discuss that in a whole detailed article). Syria never threatened the United States, and the US government would reason their decision because Syria supports "terrorist groups" such as Hamas and Hezbollah. But Hamas and Hezbollah are seen by many as resistance groups that sprung up because of the Israel occupations, and to many they are freedom fighters. We could say that the US supports terrorist governments such as the Israeli one, yet the US does not listen to reason.

Syria has sided and assisted the United States many times, including after the attacks of September 11, when the Syrian President would personally be in contact with the American President and pass on information about Al-Qaeda that the Syrians have acquired. This cooperation is extremely significant, yet it doesn't seem so in the eyes of the US Government, who still classify Syria as a rogue state, as does Israel, but let us not forget that Syria wanted peace with Israel in exchange for the Golan Heights, and would offer Israel many peace treaties, and wanted to pursue the peace, yet the Israeli government would not want to cooperate.

So there is no excuse left for the United States to be in conflict with Syria and the US sanctions on Syria because Syria does not have a problem with the US, and tried several times to pursue peace with Israel, yet the US would like to overpass that detail and look towards Israel's argument.

The "Generous" Peace Treaties Israel Offered

When the question of, "Why don't the Palestinians have their own state?" is asked, the general response from many pro-Israelis is that the Palestinians are terrorists and that they did not accept the numerous and "generous" peace treaties that the Israeli government had proposed. But these peace treaties are anything but generous. So let us examine in detail what I mean.

First, I'll give you the most widely accepted version of a two state solution. A two state solution that entails a separate state for Israelis, and a separate state for Palestinians. Each state has full control of its land, its borders, airspace, water, and harbors. Each state shall have the freedom to create a military, and each state shall be accepted and fully recognized by the other, and that each state has the right to live in peace.

Yet the numerous, and failed peace treaties called for no such thing. First of all, the Palestinian state would be established in the West Bank and Gaza, yet hold on a second, not all the West Bank. Thanks to the Israeli Government, and its settlement building and colonizing of the West Bank, this serves as a roadblock to peace. And in every peace treaty generated by the US, Israel's closest and most powerful ally, both nations, Israel and the US agree on one thing, that the settlers shall not leave the occupied territories, and a Palestinian state shall have to be built around that.

Not only that, but Palestine shall not have any control of the borders, airspace, and water, and it does not have a right to build a military. So how in the world can anyone call this a state, if it has not control over itself. How can a state be formed around Jewish settlements, making an archipelago of Palestine in a sea of Israel. No one in their right mind would accept to such conditions. And at Camp David, Arafat was offered 90 % if the West Bank to build a Palestinian state on, yet he refused because he doesn't want peace, or so they said.

But Israel Proper is 78% of Historic Palestine, the occupied territories: West Bank and Gaza making up only 22%. So they are allowing Arafat to build a Palestinian state on 90% of the 22% if Historic Palestine and on top of that, barely have control of it. This is absurd, and people in our international society should wake up to these lies and acknowledge the fact that no person should accept this upon his people.

Denying the Arab Identity: An Introduction

The title of this article sums this whole piece up, yet who is this title pertaining to? The people who are denying their Arab identity, are mostly the Lebanese Christians, the Maronites. We all know that Lebanon is almost perfectly split in half between Muslim and Christian, about a 1 to 1 ratio. Here the problems arise, yet let us examine the history of this area.

The word Arab and the Arab people unite several countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the Persian gulf, as Arabic-speaking, and under the religion of Islam, yet the latter doesn't always have to be the case. However the Christian Maronites have convinced themselves that to be Arab, one has to be Muslim, and not only that, yet they do not want to be generalized with the Arabs, because they have a whole different agenda in their hands for Lebanon, their tiny tortured country.

Christian Maronites, or at least the majority of them, will in no way associate themselves with Arabs, because there is a conflict of interests. During the colonial times, when the French and the British had divided up the Middle East among themselves after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, there was a general response of opposition from the Arabs. Yet the Maronites, at a time, welcomed this colonial power, and they found the French as their liberators in a very dangerous and untolerant Ottoman Empire ruled under Islam.

The main goal of the Maronites of Lebanon is to Westernize the country, and the colonizing of Lebanon, in their perspective, was the first step in doing this. They spoke French, understood French culture during that time, and intergrated themselves into French society which let them gain power, a large amount of power in government, military, economy, and the Lebanese society. The maronites wanted to split from the Arab world and establish a western state on the shores of the White Sea, and open Beirut, as the gates to the Western and "civilized" world.

I will go in more detail about the Arab Identity in the next articles in this series, follow up!

Beirut: My Journey and Reflections

This is my first article in the Beirut series that I will be writing from today and into the near future. Beirut and Lebanon were going to be a main focus of my blog once a came back from my summer vacation, since I had visited Beirut and the surrounding area and gained a lot of interest in it. But since I hadn't been writing much in that time, I will start from today.

There are so many things to be said about Lebanon and Beirut in particular. It is a beautiful city, a prestigious one, and a very liberal one, as is Lebanon as a whole. It's religiously diverse, the scenery is absolutely breathtaking, the people are great, the food is delicious and unique, and everything seems to be flowing in perfect harmony, except for the many wars that have plagued the area, but that will be the focus of the articles to come.

I will describe how my trip was to Beirut, and how astounded and extremely excited I was. We emerged through the Lebanese border from Damascus, and found a vast valley ahead of us. The Anti-Lebanon mountains opened up to the Bekaa Valley. We drove through the scenic and lush valley for about half an hour. We were passing toy stores, clothing boutiques, restaraunts and cafes, but what grabbed my attention most was the banners of the political figures, in majority it was of Saad al Hariri. Cedars in between red strips were waving in every direction you looked, and then I realized that I was truly in Lebanon, and I was thrilled that I finally got to see this gorgeous and controversial state. We kept driving until we bisected the valley and arrived at the opposing valley. We climbed a little while and then stopped for breakfast in Chtoura at a place called Hashem's, I think, and we had the best Man'eish and tea! We countinued our journey, ascending the huge mountains until I felt that I was at a higher altitude than the anti-Lebanon mountains on the oppose side of the valley that bordered with Syria. Yet we still kept climbing.

Then we reached level elevation and rounding a corner, I saw the first evidence of any chaos: large, destroyed bridge. We took a detour and began driving until I saw what was the most amazing thing. Everything turned green at some sudden time, or it seemed to me, and we were descending down the opposite side of the mountain. Beyond I could see what I had for years been aspiring to see. I white city perched on a peninsula that jutted out into the vast yet tranquil Mediterranean Sea. That was my first glimpse of Beirut and I fell in love with it. Through the rest of our journey down the mountains, I was snapping photos on both my Nokia N73, and my Sony camera, like it was going out of style. The scenery was just astounding and no words can describe it. It was truly like heaven: green, green, green, green, green, the vast blue of the sea, and in between a strip of white.

We continued winding down the narrow street to the Paris of the East, and passed many significant landmarks, to me anyway, like the MBC studios. My first impression of Lebanon, even when we were still in the valley, of how extremely Americanised, and Westernized it was. Signs of McDonald's and all the American fast food chains were decorating the streets, as well as countless advertisements of everything prestigious and expensive. It was, in my opinion, a relatively wealthy country.

Wait for the next parts of my trip and the Beirut Series, they're coming soon, and I promise not to keep you waiting long!

Fear of Being Labeled Anti-Semitic

There has been so many instances in near history when a brave soul wants to embark on the right path and speak of Israel's atrocities and to criticize its politics. But what does that person get as a response, you should all know this. A big "Anti-Semitic" label on the forehead, and from then on it is a smear campaign to destroy the reputation of that person until he is nothing but dust.

Ever since the Holocaust, the International Jewish community has been paranoid, and careful to target anyone that has the slightest criticism, not even towards Judaism, but towards the Jewish State of Israel. Isn't Israel a normal country, like all of the others in the world, that are in position to make mistakes and be criticized, yet that cannot be done without having a huge "ANTI-SEMITIC" label on your forehead in bold red font.

Why does the Jewish state have rights that the other countries of the world not, for being immune to criticism, especially in the United States? There are many instances where the Jewish community, including all of the powerful lobbies and organizations including AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee)revolt at one small criticism, uttered out of the mouth of a courageous politician, or journalist. Immediately this person has to issue a public apology with words "sucking up" (I can't word it any better) to the Jewish state, and a promise never to criticize it again. But this criticism is certainly not a religious remark or has any air of religion in it. It has everything to do with government and policies, be it the policies concerning peace with the Palestinians or that concerning the neighboring Arab states.

Does that not diminish in the United States right of Freedom of Speech? Is it perfectly fine to find whole novels and newspaper articles degrading the religion of Islam, and barely any criticizing or questioning Israel's right to exist? This is not what the United States is about and I suggest to anyone that has any remarks and criticisms for the Israeli state, that they not fear the "Anti Semitic" bullet, because this bullet is ineffective to the extent these people are using it. Voice out your opinions (of course respecting Judaism) and don't be afraid of a terrorist state or its supporters.