Lebanese militias: A new perspective

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Notes

1. See Georges Corm, ‘The War System: Militias Hegemony and Re-establishment of the State’, in Deirdre Collings (ed.), Peace for Lebanon? From War to Reconstruction (London: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 1994), pp.215–30; William Wilson Harris, Faces of Lebanon: Sects, Wars and Global Extensions (Princeton, N.J.: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1997); Kamal A. Beyglow, ‘Lebanon's New Leaders: Militias in Politics’, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.XII, No.3 (1989), pp.34–36; ‘Document – L'Argent des milices’, Les Cahiers de l'orient: revue d'étude et de réflexion sur le monde arabe, No.10 (Deuxième Trimestre, 1988), pp.217–87.

2. Judith Harik, ‘The Public and Social Services of the Lebanese Militias’, (Paper on Lebanon 14, Oxford: Centre for Lebanese Studies, 1994).

3. Confessional backgrounds are not to be regarded simply as a background that differentiates a Lebanese Christian from a Lebanese Muslim, but a background that differentiates a Lebanese Shi‘i (Shi‘i), from a Lebanese Sunni (Sunni), or a Lebanese Maronite (Maruni) from a Lebanese Greek Orthodox (Rum Orthodoksi), etc. In that regard, faith or confession is related to a particular religion (be it the Shi‘a religion, the Sunna religion, or the Greek Orthodox religion, etc). On the other hand, non-confessional cultural features here are those based on Arab, Christian, Lebanese or Syrian ones.

4. Culture is defined as a human phenomenon and consists of symbols, values, customs, traditions, norms and patterns of behaviour that differ from one ethnic group toanother ethnic group. Culture includes here, within its boundaries, religion and religious practices, common geographic location, history, etc. The cultural markers that were emphasized by the militiamen were Arab, Christian and Syrian. This definition is based on the study by Robert Borofsky, ‘Introduction’, in Robert Borofsky (ed.), Assessing Cultural Anthropology (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1994), pp.1–22; see also Richard A. Barrett, Culture and Conduct: An Excursion in Anthropology, 2nd edn. (Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1991).

5. Fredrik Barth, ‘Introduction’, in Fredrik Barth (ed.), Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organisations of Cultural Difference (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969).

6. Ibid.

7. Samir Khalaf, Lebanon's Predicament (New York: Columbia University Press, 1987), p.104.

8. Taken from John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith, (eds.), ‘Introduction’, Ethnicity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), p.8.

9. Ibid.

10. Taken from ‘Theories of Ethnicity’, in Hutchinson and Smith, p.33.

11. Taken from ‘Introduction’, Hutchinson and Smith, p.9.

12. George Corm, Géopolitique du conflit Libanais: Etude historique et sociologique (Paris: La écouverte, 1986), pp.161–5; Khashan, Inside the Lebanese, Kamal Salibi, A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered (London: I. B. Tauris, 1988); and Iliya Harik, ‘The Ethnic Revolution and Political Integration in the Middle East’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, No.3 (1972), pp.303–23.

13. Salibi, A House of Many Mansions, p.4.

14. Fredrik Barth, ‘Enduring and Emerging Issues in the Analysis of Ethnicity,’ in Hans Vermeulen and Cora Govers (eds.), The Anthropology of Ethnicity: Beyond Ethnic Groups and Boundaries (Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis, 1994), p.12.

15. Barth, ‘Introduction’, pp.13–14.

16. Ibid.

17. Taken from John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith, ‘Introduction’, in John Hutchinson and Anthony D. Smith (eds.), Ethnicity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), p.9.

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. Richard Jenkins, Rethinking Ethnicity: Arguments and Explorations (London: Sage Publications, 1997), p.10.

21. Nazih Richani, Dilemmas of Democracy and Political Parties in Sectarian Societies: The Case of the Progressive Socialist Party of Lebanon 1949–1996 (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1998), pp.108–110; Sami Zubiyan, Al-Haraka al-Wataniyya al-Lubnaniyya: al-Madi wa al-Hadir wa al-Mustaqbal fi Mandhur Istratiji (Beirut: Dar al-Masira, 1977), pp.159–64; and Nuhad Hashisho, Al-Ahzab fi-Lubnan (Beirut: Markaz al-Dirasat al-Istratijiyya wa al-Buhuth wa al-Tawthiq, 1998), pp.83–90.

22. ‘Background to the Lebanese Communist Party’, Middle East Reporter (12 Dec. 1987), pp.13–16.

23. Richani, Dilemmas of Democracy, p.109; Michael W. Suleiman, Political Parties in Lebanon: The Challenge of a Fragmented Political Culture (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1967), pp.77–9; Antione Nasri Messarra (ed.), Partis et forces politiques au Liban: Engagement et stratégie de paix et de démocratisation pour demain (Paris: Actes d'une recherche collective et de deux séminaires organisées par la fondation libanaise pour la paix civil permanente, 1996), pp.237–54; Al-Mu‘tamar al-Watani al-Khamis lil-Hizb al-Shuyu‘i al-Lubnani: al-Muhimat al-Rahina wa Afaq al-Mustaqbal (B‘aqlin, 3–6 Feb. 1987), p.79; Tareq Ismael and Jacquline S. Ismael, The Communist Movement in Syria and Lebanon (Tallahassee, University of Florida, 1998), pp.81–100’, 101–32; Hassan al-Sabi‘, Saker Abu Fakher, and Ghassan Mikahal (eds.), 1924–1993: Al Hizb al Shuyu‘i al Lubnani. (Beirut: Markaz al-‘Arabi lil-Ma‘lumat, 1993), pp.20–90.

24. Al-Mu'tamar al-Watani al-Khamis lil-Hizb al-Shuyu‘i al-Lubnani, p.79; and Al-Sabi‘, Abu Fakher, Mikahal (ed.), 1924–1993: Al-Hizb al-Shuyu‘i al-Lubnani, pp.20–90.

25. Richani, Dilemmas of Democracy, pp.109–15; Suleiman, Political Parties, pp.79–91; Messarra (ed.), Partis et forces politiques, pp. 237–53; and Al Sabi‘, Fakher, and Mikahal (eds.), 1924–1993: Al-Hizb al-Shuyu‘i al-Lubnani, pp. 20–90.

26. On the way Arab nationalists perceived the Arabs, see Bassam Tibi, Arab Nationalism: Between Islam and the Nation State, 3rd edn. Parts I to IV are based on the translation by Marion Slugett and Peter Slugett (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997); Sylvia G. Haim (ed.), Arab Nationalism: An Anthropology (Berkley: University of California Press, 1962); Rashid Khalidi, Lisa Anderson, Riva S. Simon and Muhamad Muslih (eds.), The Origins of Arab Nationalism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991).

27. Ibid.

28. Al-Mu'tamar al-Watani al-Khamis lil-Hizb al-Shuyu‘i al-Lubnani, p.79; and Al-Sabi‘, Abu Fakher, Mikahal (eds.), 1924–1993: Al-Hizb al-Shuyu‘i al-Lubnani, pp. 20–90.

29. Ibid.

30. Ibid.

31. Ibid.

32. Richani, Dilemmas of Democracy, p.111.

33. Interviews with members of the LCP who as other members of other Lebanese militias refused to give the author authority to disclose their names. Hashisho, Al-Ahzab, pp.87–9; Richani, Dilemmas of Democracy, p.111; Messarra, (ed.), Partis et forces politiques, pp.237–53; and Zubiyan, Al-Haraka, pp.180–5.

34. Interviews with members of the LCP who as other members of other Lebanese militias refused to give the author authority to disclose their names. Richani, Dilemmas of Democracy, p.114; Hashisho, Al-Ahzab, pp.87–9; Sulauyman, Political Parties; and Messarra (ed.), Partis et forces politiques au Liban. Acte d' une recherche collective, pp. 237–53.

35. The author has checked the different lists of martyrs of the militias in order to determine whether Greek Orthodox names were included. This is an indicator of the mobilization of the Greek Orthodox with other members of different confessions. However, not all militias allowed access to their lists of martyrs lists or they only allowed the author to have a look at them, but did not allow any photocopying or borrowing. The author only had permission to photocopy the lists of the Lebanese Forces and the LCP. The other lists were studied under the restrictions mentioned above.

36. Sami al-Bana, ‘The Defence of Beirut’, Arab Studies Quarterly, Vol.5, No.5 (Spring 1984), pp.105–15.

37. See Hanf, Coexistence, pp.282–93; Hiro, Lebanon, pp.94–110; George Hawi in An Nahar, (Beirut), 22 Nov. 1983, and refer to list of the LCP martyrs, 1975–1988.

38. It was first established under the name Hizb al-Suri al-Qawmi.

39. Most literature on Lebanon has attested to this fact. Hashisho, Al-Ahzab, pp.10–17; Richani, Dilemmas, pp.115–20, Suleiman, Political Parties, pp.100–103; Messarra (ed.), Partis et Forces Politiques au Liban, pp.204–6; and Michel Saba‘a, Al-Suriyya al-Qawmiyya wa Thira‘ al-Dam: Antun Sa‘ada al-Orthodoksi, Vols. 1 and 2 (Beirut: Mukhtarat, 1999). See the memoirs of George Abd al-Massih, Min Yaumiyat (Beirut: 1985), and Abdallah Kubursi, Abdallah Kubursi Yatazakar, 1: Ta'sis al-Hizb al-Qawmi al-Suri al-Ijtima‘i wa Bidayat Nidalih. (Beirut: Mu'asasat al-Fikr wa al-Abhath wa al-Nashr, 1982).

40. Hashisho, Al-Ahzab, pp.10–17; Zubiyan, Al-Haraka, pp.299–305; Richani, Dilemmas of Democracy, pp.116–17, and Suleiman, Political Parties, pp.96–100.

41. See Mahmud Shouraih's list of names in his book, Khalil Hawi wa Antun Sa‘ada: Rawabit al-Fikr wa al-Shi‘r fi Lubnan, (Beirut: Dar Nelsen, 1995), pp.110–11.

42. See Antun Sa‘ada, Nush'at al-Ummam (Beirut, 1938); Antun. Sa‘ada, The Principles of the Syrian National Party, Engl. edn. (Beirut, 1949); Hashisho, Al-Ahzab, pp.10–16; and Saba‘a, Al-Suriyya al-Qawmiyya wa Sira‘ al-Dam: Antun Sa‘ada.

43. Ibid.

44. Ibid.

45. For more information see the following references, Labib Zuwiyya-Yamak, The Syrian Social Nationalist Party: An Ideological Analysis (Cambridge MA: Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University Press, 1966); Sa‘ada, Nush'at al-Umam; Hashisho, Al-Ahzab Fi Lubnan, pp.10–16; and Michel Saba‘a, Al-Suriyya al-Qawmiyya wa Sira‘ al-Dam: Antun Sa‘ada al-Orthodoksi, Vols. 1 and 2 (Beirut: Mukhtarat, 1999).

46. See Sa‘ada, Nush‘at al-Umam.

47. Michael W. Suleiman, Political Parties in Lebanon: The Challenge of a Fragmented Political Culture (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1967), p.103.

48. Martyr's list of those clashes kept by the SSNP.

49. Hashisho, Al-Ahzab, pp.10–17; Zubiyan, Al-Haraka, pp.311–14; and Richani, Dilemmas, pp.118–120.

50. Martyr's list of the Lebanese National Movements between 1975–1981. See Sami al-Bana, ‘The Defence of Beirut’, Arab Studies Quarterly, Vol.5, No.5 (Spring 1984), pp.105–15; and Hisham Ali Muhsin, Hazim al-Arabi, Hussam Sa‘ad, and Ruad al-Amli, Al-Muqawimat al-Wataniyya al-Lubnaniyya: Intilakatuha, Waqi‘uha wa Afaq Tatawuruha (Beirut: Al-Dar al-Lubaniyya, 1987).

51. Ibid.

52. See Elizabeth Picard, Liban: Etat de discorde: Des fondations aux guerres fratricides (Paris: Flammarion, 1988), p.210; and Frederick Schiff, ‘The Lebanese Prince; The Aftermath of the Continuing Civil War’, Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Vol.12, No.3, (Spring 1989), pp.7–27.

53. Richani, Dilemmas of Democracy, p.116; interview by Antione Attallah with Hana Nashif in Antione Nasri Messarra (ed.), Partis et forces politiques, p.205; and Saba‘a, Al-Suriyya al-Qawmiyya wa Sira‘, p. 205.

54. Ibid.

55. Ibid.

56. Ibid.

57. Labib Zuwiyya-Yamak, The Syrian Social Nationalist Party: An Ideological Analysis (Cambridge, MA: Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University Press, 1966), p.125.

58. This information was collected from different Lebanese newspapers published the day after these elections.

59. Hashisho, Al-Ahzab, p.13; and Zubiyan, Al-Haraka, pp.302–03. The policy of the SSNP called for reform of the political system along secular lines and called for a ban on clerical interference in the political affairs of the country.

60. Zubiyan, Al-Haraka, pp.302–303.

61. Ibid.

62. Ibid.

63. This committee included Issam Mahayri (Shi‘i), Marwan Faris (Greek Orthodox), Tufik Muhana (Maronite), In‘am Ra‘d (Greek Catholic), Habib Kayruz (Maronite), Labib Nassif (Greek Orthodox), Daud Baz (Greek Orthodox), Jihad al-Mu‘alim (Sunni), Assad al-Ashkar (Maronite), Abdallah Muhsin (Sunni), Ilyas Jrayj (Greek Orthodox) and Abdallah Sa‘ada (Greek Orthodox).

64. Al-Tawariq included Issam Mahayri (Shi‘i), Abdallah Sa‘ada (Greek Orthodox), Habib Kayruz (Maronite), Mas‘ad Hajal (Greek Orthodox), Usama Sam‘an (Greek Orthodox), Hyam Muhsin (Sunni), Mahmud Ghazala (Shi‘i), Antoine Khalil (Maronite), Nasri Khuri (Greek Orthodox), Yusuf al-Ashskar (Maronite), Abas Yaghi (Shi‘i), Mahdi Sulayman (Shi‘i), Mayz Shahbandar (Druze) and Ra'fat Abu al-Husun (Sunni). The Highest Council included: In‘am Ra‘d (Greek Catholic), Daud Baz (Greek Orthodox), Hafiz Sayigh (Greek Orthodox), Abdallah Kubursi (Greek Orthodox), Fares Sa‘ad (Maronite), Salah Deba (Sunni), Jamil Baydar (Sunni), Shawki Risha (Maronite), Mahmud Abd al-Malik (Shi‘i), Mustafa Darwish (Sunni), Mahmud Khalidi (Sunni) and Ilyas Sam‘an (Greek Orthodox).

65. Hashisho, Al-Ahzab, p.61, Messarra (ed.), Partis et Forces Politiques, Suleiman, Political Parties, pp. 232–236; and Richani, Dilemmas of Democracy, pp.123–6.

66. Taken from Messarra, ed. Partis et forces politiques, pp.143–153; Joseph Abu Khalil, interviewed by Antione Attallah in Partis et forces politiques, p.73.

67. Iskandar Riayshi, Al-Ayam al-Lubnaniyya; and Michel Chiha, Le Liban d' aujourd'hui (Beirut: Les Conférences du Cénacles, 1949).

68. Ibid.

69. Riayshi, Al-Ayam, p.73; Fuad Afram al-Bustani, De l'erreur du Grand Liban (Beirut: University of Kaslik Press, 1978); and Jawad Bulos, Les racines du nationalisme libanais (Beirut: University Kaslik Press, 1970).

70. See on this Chiha, Le Liban d'aujourd'hui; and Michel Chiha, Visage et présence du Liban (Beirut: Les Conférences du Cénacles, 1964).

71. Bernard Heyberger, Les Chrétiens du Proche-Orient: au temps de la réforme Catholique (Syrie, Liban, Palestine, XVII–XVIII siècles), (Rome: Ecole Française de Rome, 1994), and Jean Pierre Valognes, Vie et mort des chrétiens d'orient: des origines à nos jours (Paris: Fayard, 1994), pp.21–232 and pp.636–97.

72. See also Entelis, Pluralism, p.101–125, Tarikh al-Hizb al-Kata'ib; Pierre Gemayel: Mawaqif wa Araq: 1975–1980, Suleiman, Political Parties, pp.236–42, and Jacques Nantet, Pierre Gemayel (Paris: Clattes, 1986).

73. Taken from Nader Muhamad Moumneh as an interview with Karim Pakradouni, Nader Muhamad Zouheir Moumneh, ‘The Emergence and Transformation of the Lebanese Forces in Wartime Lebanon (1975–1988)’, (MA thesis, American University of Beirut, July 1996), p.58. From an interview with Joseph Abu Khalil done by Antione Attallah and published in Messarra (ed.), Partis et forces politiques, p.144.

74. Taken from Moumneh, ‘The Emergence’, as an interview with Pakradouni, p.58.

75. Moumneh, ‘The Emergence’, p.60, John P. Entelis, Pluralism and Party Transformation in Lebanon: al-Kata'ib, 1936–1970 (Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1974), p.110, and Karim Pakradouni, ‘Structures des Kataib’, (MA Thesis, Universitée St. Joseph, Beirut, 1960).

76. Suleiman, Political Parties, p.238. See also Entelis, Pluralism, pp.84–125.

77. See also Entelis, Pluralism, pp.101–25, Tarikh al-Hizb al-Kata'ib. Tom I and Tom II: 1936–1940. (Beirut: Dar al-‘Amal, 1979), Jacques Nantet, Pierre Gemayel (Paris: JClattes, 1986), and Pierre Gemayel: Mawaqif wa Araq: 1975–1980 (Beirut: Dar al-‘Amal, 1982).

78. Ra'if Akl, interview by author, 2 June 199, Beirut, handwriting, and Jibran Tuwayni, interviewed by author, 14 Aug. 1997, Beirut, handwriting. This was also confirmed by looking at the different Martyr's lists of Kataib during the civil war.

79. Ibid.

80. Ibid.

81. Ibid.

82. For the enlargement of the Lebanese Front see Ghassan Salame ‘En mal d'identité: conflits et passions au Liban’, Monde Arabe: Maghreb Machrek, No.110 (Oct.–Nov.–Dec. 1985), pp.13–19.

83. Ibid.

84. Snider, ‘The Lebanese Forces', p.134.

85. Charles Malik, Wakalat al-Anba’ (29 Oct. 1985).

86. Phares, Lebanese Christian, p.122.

87. Ibid.

88. See Snider, ‘The Lebanese Forces', p.136, and Grimaldi Fulvio and Ghilan Maxim, ‘In the name of the Fathers …. The Sons … and the Holy Spirit’, Middle East, No.147 (Sept. 1987), pp.14–18 and pp.23–30.

89. Ibid.

90. Lebanon we Want to Build.

91. Historical Document (‘Awkar, Lebanon, 1980).

92. Ibid.

93. Phares, Lebanese Christian, p.130, and Historical Document.

94. Historical Document.

95. Historical Document. For information on the National Pact see Walid Khalidi, ‘Lebanon: Yesterday and Tomorrow’, The Middle East Journal, Vol.43, No.3 (Summer 1989), pp.375–87.

96. Lewis Snider, ‘The Lebanese Forces: War Time Origins and Political Significance’, in Edward Azar and others (eds.), The Emergence of a New Lebanon: Fantasy or Reality, (New York: Praeger, 1984), p.131, Marie-Christine Aulas, ‘The Socio-Ideological Development of the Maronites Community: The Emergence of the Phalanges and the Lebanese Forces', Arab Studies Quarterly, Vol.7, No.4 (Fall 1985), pp.1–27; Selim Abou, Bashir Gemayel ou l'esprit d'un peuple (Paris: Edition Anthropos, 1984), and Percy Kemp, ‘La Stratégie du Bashir Gemayel’, Heredote, No.29/30 (1983), pp. 55–82, and Walid Pharis, Lebanese Christian Nationalism: The Rise and Fall of an Ethnic Resistance (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1995).

97. See Nasr, Chronique d'une occupation, pp.596–646, Snider, ‘The Lebanese Forces', p.136; and Fulvio and Maxim, ‘In the name of the Fathers …. The Sons … and the Holy Spirit’, pp.14–18 and pp.23–30.

98. Jibran Tuwayni, interview by author, 14 Aug. 1997.

99. Hashisho, Al-Ahzab, p.22, Al-Hizb al-Ba‘th al-‘Arabi included a number of Greek Orthodox. However, it will not be studied here since the Greek Orthodox members did not make any substantial contribution during the civil war.

100. Ma‘n Bashur, interview by author, 20 Aug. 1998, Beirut, handwriting.

101. Ibid.

102. Bashur, interview by author, 20 Aug. 1998, and Bishara Murhaj, interview by author, 15 Aug. 1998, Beirut, hand writing.

103. Hashisho, Al-Ahzab, p.22.