In October 1982, a few months after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, ARAMCO World Magazine published a collection of articles called "
Paradise Lost: A Eulogy for Lebanon," about the ante-bellum time in the Lebanon between 1945-1982, which was once part of the Ottoman Empire. Apparently it was a time of innocence, abundance and prosperity.
It is great that you bring up Lebanon, as it is really a gem of the region which lost its glory, but there are some corrections to be made to your post here. I don't think you errored intentionally, you just skipped important historical facts, which is odd, because in your following post about Lebanon you do acknowledge the creation of Islam to oppose the other religions.
The article you brought up gives you the notion that the Israeli invasion of 1982 destroyed Lebanon. It is not true.
To start off, I don't know why you'd use an article from "AramcoWorld", it literally was the western propaganda arm of the royal Saudi family, who helped finance the extremist Sunnis in Lebanon, who were the ones massacring the Christians.
I will provide a thorough explanation of how Lebanon lost itself, and even this long reply won't be enough. Basically, yes, Israel did some damage there, but thinking that Lebanon is defined by "pre 82" and "after 82" is being virtually unaware of the country's history.
After the French occupation following World War II, Lebanon flourished between 1950 and 1980, experiencing a kind of cultural, economic and material renaissance. Probably in connection with the golden age of the Ottoman Empire, this period is called the golden age of Lebanon.
The French entered Lebanon in 1917, after WW1. The flourishing period you speak of, happened between 1930 and 1965, and things deteriorated since.
Lebanon had a Christian majority up until the 60's. As the country developed and modernized, the Christians had less children, and the Muslims had more.
In the Arab world, we're talking about huge gaps of 8 children vs. 3 children per family for example. As Lebanon developed, more jobs were available, and Muslims migrated there from every Arab country, shifting the balance.
The primal problem of Lebanon was its diversity, which became very tribalized. The French left the country to its independence in the 40's, and installed a very strange "
democratic" system, in which each one of the many groups (Christians, Sunni, Shia and Druze and more) had a "fixed" position such as Presisent, head of Parliament and etc., and it is so until this day. The fixing of political roles was based on a population census made in the 30's, and not one census was made ever since. Basically, voting means nothing, because every group has a reserved spot in government and parliament.
When the French left, many Christians
left Lebanon as well.
The "mini civil wars" started already in the 1950's, as Muslims claimed the Christians got the better share of the political power, unfairly.
The
Lebanese civil war officially started in 1975, but killing and massacres were common for decades.
In this small country, of just a few millions in population, the people already had dozens of polarized militant groups, among them: Communists, Fascists, pro-Syria annexation, pro-Egypt annexation (pan-Arabism), pro-Iraq, and one very critical group:
Palestinians, who in fact triggered the civil war into full scale.
In the early 1970's, the neighboring Jordan went to war against the Palestinian militants in what is known as Black September, after the militants tried to overthrow the Hashemite royals, and killed thousands of Jordanians.
Upon defeat, Jordan expelled the Palestinians to southern Lebanon, which became the "wild west" of the country. The (Sunni) Palestinian PLO organization under Yasser Arafat began to de-facto
occupy the region, robbing and terrorizing the Shia villagers who lived under their rule. They developed a strong militia which began to:
1. Raid and massacre Christian villages 2. Fire rockets at Israel day by day, and send assassins to its towns.
In
1976, the
Syrian Army entered Lebanon and began to interfere in the battles. Its final goal was to annex Lebanon into Syria, but they sank in "the Lebanese mud". Months after, a Pan-Arabian force of 30,000 soldiers from Saudi Arabia, Libya and Sudan entered Lebanon to try and keep the peace, but had failed.
Prior to the Israeli invasion, Israel provided support for the Christian militias along its border, so that they can repel the Palestinians out, but they were being overcome.
Israel entered Lebanon in 1982, after a decade of assaults from across the border. It was also feared that the Christians will be annihilated, and Syria will annex the country.
Israel focused on southern Lebanon and defeated the Palestinian militia. The Christians allied with Israel, and a Lebanese unit was even formed in the Israeli army.
The next move by Israel is disputed until today as to whether it was a mistake or essential: Israel used the momentum and captured Beirut, and expelled the Syrian army. Israel did not proceed past Beirut. Israel then tried to restore Lebanon to Christian domination by installing a Christian Presisent who was popular back then. Once Israel left Beirut, the new president was assassinated. The civil war raged on, and Israel retreated to the south. There, Syria financed a new Shia group, Hezbollah, to fight Israel in the south border.
The civil war continued until 1990, when the Syrian army captured a part of Beirut.
Between 1940 and 1990, the majority of Christians left Lebanon. Today, there's a bigger population of Christian Lebanese diaspora, than the entire Lebanon itself. Most of them live in South America.
When a culture's connection with its roots is cut, as in this case by the Israeli invasion, there is a sudden rupture and the realization that something essential has been irrevocably lost.
The sentimental memory of the Lebanese of the pre-1982 era probably reflects much more than is apparent at first glance: in the last 200 years, most cultures or nations have lost their own roots as a result of one or more orchestrated crises, and have been in a state of inner emptiness ever since. Only by reconnecting with the past can something emerge that forms a foundation for human civilization.
As you probably now understand, there is no "pre-1982" era in Lebanon.
The weakening of the country was gradual, through many bloody decades, and was mainly caused by:
1. Majority of Christians leaving: the Christians were, and still are, the basis of the economical backbone: traders, artisans, artists, businessmen. Up until the 90's, almost every Muslim was a farmer.
2. The flooding of the country with firearms, by all countries who interfered with it: Syria, Iraq, Israel, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan.
3. An unfair, blatantly fake democratic system which the French created only to try and bury a sleeping dragon of polarized diversity.
4. Decades of murders and town on town raids, with over 150,000 dead (out of a few millions total). Annexation attempt by Syria.
5. High corruption by the Muslim politicans, who grabbed political power in the late 80's, and began to rob the country, leading a lavish lifestyle contrary to Islamic values (drinking, partying etc.).
In 2000, Israel evacuated the last military outposts it kept on the Lebanese side of the border. The remaining Christians who lived in the south, were under death threats from the Hezbollah, and fled to Israel, where they received citizenship.
There is no 1 artificial crisis that created a before and after. You're talking here about one of the most complicated countries in the world!
And the people with the memories, they now live abroad, mostly in Brazil and France, jealously keeping their original Lebanese identity.
