Co-Existence in Wartime Lebanon: Decline of a State and Rise of a Nation

728 Pages·104.848 MB·English

by  Theodor Hanf

COEXISTENCE IN WARTIME
LEBANON
Decline of a State and Rise of a Nation
-
THEOOOR_JIANF
Translated from German by
JOHN RICHARDSON
The Centre for Lebanese Studies
in association with
1.8. Tauris & Co Ltd
Publishers
London
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COEXISTENCE IN WARTIME LEBANON
Decline of a State and Rise of a Nation
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D.S
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• H.363
J99.5
Published by
The Centre for Lebanese Studies
in association with
l.B. Tauris & Co Ltd
45 Bloomsbury Square
London WClA 2HY
Copyright C 1993 The Centre for Lebanese Studies
All rights reserved. This book, or any part thereof, must not be reproduced without written
pennission from the publisher
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 1-85043-651 7
Laserset by Selro Publishing Services, Oxford
Printed and bound in Great Britain
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The Centre for Lebanese Studies would like to thank Mr George
Asseily and Mr Tony Asseily for their generous donation which made
possible the printing of this book
Michel Allard
Marwan Buheiry
Malcolm Kerr
Jean Maroun
Michel Seurat
Riad You~
in memoriam
Contents
Acknowledgements xv
On citation and transcription xvii
List of common abbreviations xvii
ONE PEOPLE TOO MANY IN 1llE LEVA NTI
Preliminary remarks on the roots of the conflict in Lebanon
CHAPfER 1
CONFLICT REGULA1 10N AND CRISES IN
MULTI-COMMUNAL STA TES: 11iE PROLIFERATION
Of MULTI-COMMUNAL STATES IN TifE TWENTIE'Jll CENTIJRY 7
Integration or coexistence? Changing
perspectives in the social sciences 11
Culturalistic and economistic approaches 14
Modes of incorporation: Linking analytical approaches 18
Incorporation and conflict 22
Fonns of conflict regulation and their ideologies 26
Ideologies and strategies 32
Civil war and conflict regulation 37
Multi-communal states and international crises 38
Lebanon as model 40
CHAYTER2
TifE 'LEBANFSE MODEL'
COEXISTENCE IN PRE-WAR LEBANON 45
Coexistence and history 48
The National Pact and proportionality 71
Parties, families and notables: Political
interests in pre-war Lebanon 1S
x Coexistence in Wartime Lebanon
Conflicts over power-sharing 86
Class, community and economic conflicts 97
Foreign policy as a conflict of identity 110
Use and abuse of coexistence 113
Fields of conflict and communal strategies 130
CHAPfER3
TIIE CWUDING HORIZON
NON-LEBANESE FACTORS OF CONA..ICT 141
The pivot of Arab politics: The Arab-Israeli conflict 143
The Palestinian National Movement 147
The crisis of Arabism and the reawakening of
Islamic fundamentalism 152
Oil on troubled waters 156
The end of neutrality by consent 160
Surrogate battlefield for Palestine 175
CHAPfER4
DANSE MACABRE 1975-1988:
PARTIES, MASKS AND S1CPS 179
Factions and their leaders 181
War on many fronts 194
War between the Palestinians and the Christian parties 204
Slide into civil war 206
Syrian intervention against partition 210
The PLO and the National Movement
against the Lebanese Front 213
Syrian intervention against the PLO
and the National Movement 216
The south: Palestinians against Christian Lebanese 226
Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon 228
Syria and the Lebanese Front in conflict 231
Civil war: Christians against Christians 234
Syrians and the Lebanese Front at war 237
Simmering warfare 241
War between Shi'is and Palestinians 243
Expansionist drives by the Lebanese Front 246
The Israeli-Palestinian 'Fourteen Day War' 252
Contents XI
The spread of simmering warfare 253
Israeli-Palestinian War 2S6
Cold War over Lebanon 264
Civil war: Druze against the Lebanese Forces 275
Shi' i resistance to Israel and estrangement
from the government 279
War against the Israeli-Lebanese agreement 282
Civil war: Palestinians against Palestinians in Lebanon 293
Overtures and simmering warfare 295
Lebanese Forces: Insurrection and civil war around Sidon 298
The 'Camps War': Amal against Palestinians 302
War between Amal and the Droze militias 304
Civil war around Zable and Tripoli 305
The fight over the Militia Agreement of Damascus 306
The 'Camps War': Beirut and the south 312
War in West Beirut: Amal against the Left 314
Shi'i civil war: Amal against Hezbollah 3J5
Civil war: Palestinians against Palestinians 318
Cold War over the Lebanese state 318
Simmering warfare over the 'security zone' 320
CHAPI'ER5
VIOLENCE wrrnour VICTORY
R>RMS, COSTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF WAR 323
Terror as a way of life 324
From ethnic mobilization to ethnic domination 331
Militias and armies in an uneasy stalemate 335
The toll of lives 339
Flight and expulsion 342
Migrant workers and emigrants 347
The war economy 350
Life in war 357
The equilibrium of terror 359
CHAPTER6
FOXES AND LIONS: POLITICIANS AND MILITIA
LEADERS' PERCEPTIONS OF CONFLICT 361
Perceptions of problems in pre-war Lebanon 362
XII Coexistence in Wartime Lebanon
Perceptions of the causes of war 373
Digression: Views of Lebanese 'doves' 393
'We' and 'they'
401
Compromise or victory? 420
CHAPTER?
COEXISTENCE IN WAR: AT TITIJDES AND OPINIONS
OF ECONOMICALLY ACTIVE LEBANESE 1981-1987 435
The comparability of the surveys 438
The 1987 survey 442
Psycho-social attitudes 459
Economic ethos and job satisfaction 464
Economy and society 475
Religion. family and community 480
- The political system 490
Political tendencies 495
Religion and politics 513
Forms of conflict regulation 519
Prospects of coexistence 534
Coexistence under conditions of extreme crisis 540
CHAPTERS
A REVOCABLE COVENANT: A PRELIMINARY SYNOPSIS 551
Lebanese against Lebanese 553
The militarization of the conflict 558
Inconclusive interventions 559
The transformation of the Lebanese factions 561
Misperceptions of the interests of foreign allies 562
The intentions of Arab neighbours 563
The demise of a consociational democracy:
The failure of the elite and the international crisis 565
CHAYfER9
1lfE DISINTEGRATION OF 1lfE STAT E
1lfE ROAD TO DEPENDENCE, 1988-1990 567
Lebanon without a president 567
General Aoun •s attempt to restore the state 572