[LCM Articles] An Evening in Jounieh

[Maurice Hage-Obeid]

from www.metimes.com:

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COMMENTARY: AN EVENING IN JOUNIEH
By Uri Avnery
Middle East Times
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DURING THE first Lebanon war, I visited Jounieh, a town some 20  
kilometers north of Beirut. At the time, it served as a port for the  
Christian forces. It was an exciting evening. In spite of the war  
raging in nearby Beirut, Jounieh was full of life.



     The Christian elite spent the day in the sun-drenched marina,  
the women lounging in bikinis, the men slugging whisky. The three of  
us (myself and two young women from my editorial staff - a  
correspondent and a photographer) were the only Israelis in town, and  
so we were feted. Everybody invited us onto their yachts, and one  
rich couple insisted that we come to their home as guests of a family  
celebration.



     It was indeed something special. The dozens of family members  
belonged to the cream of the elite - rich merchants, a well-known  
painter, and several university professors. The drinks flowed like  
water; the conversation flowed in several languages. Around midnight,  
everybody was slightly drunk. The men got me into a "political"  
conversation. They knew that I was an Israeli, but had no idea about  
my views.



     "Why don't you go into West Beirut?" one portly gentleman asked  
me. West Beirut was held by Arafat's PLO forces, who were defending  
hundreds of thousands of Sunni inhabitants.



     "Why? What for?" I queried.



     "What do you mean? To kill them! To kill everybody!"



     "Everybody? Women and children, too?"



     "Of course! All of them!"



     For a moment, I thought that he was joking. But the faces of the  
men around him told me that he was deadly serious and that everybody  
agreed with him. At that moment I grasped that this beautiful  
country, rich in history, blessed with all the pleasure of life, is  
sick. Very, very sick.



     The next day I indeed went into West Beirut, but for another  
purpose altogether. I crossed the lines to meet with Yasser Arafat.



     I AM reminded of that conversation in Jounieh every time  
something happens in Lebanon. This week, for example.



     Much nonsense is being spoken and written about that country, as  
if it were a country like any other. George W. Bush talks about  
"Lebanese democracy" as if there were such a thing, others speak  
about the "parliamentary majority" and "minority factions," and about  
the need for "national unity" to uphold "national independence," as  
if they were talking about the Netherlands or Finland. All these have  
no connection with Lebanese reality.



     Geographically, Lebanon is a torn country, and there lies a part  
of the secret of its beauty. Snow-covered mountain chains, green  
valleys, picturesque villages, and beautiful seashore. But Lebanon is  
also torn socially. The two schisms are interconnected: in the course  
of history, persecuted minorities from all over the region sought  
refuge between its mountains, where they could defend themselves.



     The result: a large number of big and small communities, ready  
to spring to arms at any moment. At best, Lebanon is a loose  
federation of mutually suspicious communities, at worst, a  
battlefield of feuding groups that hate each other's guts. The annals  
of Lebanon are full of civil wars and horrible massacres. Many times,  
this or that community called in foreign enemies to assist it against  
its neighbors.



     Between the communities, there are no permanent alliances. One  
day, communities A and B get together to fight community C. The next  
day, B and C fight against A. Moreover, there are sub-communities,  
which more than once have been known to make an alliance with an  
opposing community against their own.



     Altogether, a fascinating mosaic, but also a very dangerous one  
- the more so since every community keeps a private army, equipped  
with the best of weapons. The official Lebanese army, composed of men  
from all communities, is unable to carry out any meaningful mission.



     What is a Lebanese "community?" On the face of it, it's all  
about religion - but not only religion. The community is also an  
ethnic tribe, with some national attributes. A Jew will easily  
understand this, since the Jews are also such a community, even if  
spread around the world. But for an ordinary European or American, it  
is difficult to understand this structure. It is easier to think  
about a "Lebanese nation" - a nation that exists only in the  
imagination or as a vision of the future.



     The loyalty to the community comes before any other loyalty -  
and certainly before any loyalty to Lebanon. When the rights of a  
community or sub-community are menaced, its members rise up as one in  
order to destroy those who are threatening them.



     THE MAIN communities are the Christian, the Sunni-Muslim, the  
Shiite-Muslim, and the Druze (who, as far as religion goes, are a  
kind of extreme Shiites.) The Christians are divided into several sub- 
communities, the most important of which are the Maronites (named  
after a saint who lived some 1,600 years ago.) The Sunnis were  
brought to Lebanon by the (Sunni) Ottoman rulers to strengthen their  
hold, and were mainly settled in the large port cities. The Druze  
came to find refuge in the mountains. The Shiites, whose importance  
has risen over the last few decades, were for many centuries a poor  
and down-trodden community, a doormat for all the others.



     As in almost all Arab societies, the Hamula (extended family)  
plays a vital role in all communities. Loyalty to the Hamula precedes  
even loyalty to the community, according to the ancient Arab saying:  
"With my cousin against the foreigner, with my brother against my  
cousin." Almost all Lebanese leaders are chiefs of the great families.



     TO GIVE some idea of the Lebanese tangle, a few recent examples:  
in the civil war that broke out in 1975, Pierre Gemayel, the chief of  
a Maronite family, called upon the Syrians to invade Lebanon in order  
to help him against his Sunni neighbors, who were about to attack his  
territory.



     His grandson by the same name, who was murdered this week, was a  
member of a coalition whose aim is to liquidate Syrian influence in  
Lebanon. The Sunnis, who were fighting against the Syrians and the  
Christians, are now the allies of the Christians against the Syrians.



     The Gemayel family was the main ally of Ariel Sharon, when he  
invaded Lebanon in 1982. The common aim was to drive out the (mainly  
Sunni) Palestinians. For that purpose, Gemayel's men carried out the  
horrendous massacre of Sabra and Shatila, after the assassination of  
Bashir Gemayel, the uncle of the man who was murdered last week. The  
massacre was overseen by Elie Hobeika from the roof of the  
headquarters of the Israeli general Amos Yaron. Afterwards, Hobeika  
became a minister under Syrian auspices.



     Another person responsible for the slaughter was Samir Geagea,  
the only one who was put on trial in a Lebanese court. He was  
condemned to several life prison terms and later pardoned. This week  
he was one of the main speakers at the funeral of Pierre Gemayel the  
grandson.



     In 1982, the Shiites welcomed the invading Israeli army with  
flowers, rice, and candy. A few months later, they started a  
guerrilla war against them, which lasted for 18 years, in the course  
of which Hizbullah became a major force in Lebanon.



     One of the leading Maronites in the fight against the Syrians  
was General Michel Aoun, who was elected president by the Maronites  
and later driven out. Now he is an ally of Hezbollah, the main  
supporter of Syria.



     All this resembles Italy at the time of the Renaissance or  
Germany during the 30-Years War. But in Lebanon this is the present  
and the foreseeable future.



     In such a reality, using the term "democracy" is, of course, a  
joke. By agreement, the government of the country is divided between  
the communities. The president is always a Maronite, the prime  
minister a Sunni, the speaker of the parliament a Shiite. The same  
applies to all positions in the country, at all levels: a member of a  
community cannot aspire to a position suited to his talents if it  
"belongs" to another community.



     Almost all citizens vote according to family affiliation. A  
Druze voter, for example, has no chance of overthrowing Walid  
Jumblatt, whose family has ruled the Druze community for 500 years at  
least (and whose father was murdered by the Syrians). He doles out  
all the jobs "belonging" to his community.



     The Lebanese parliament is a senate of community chiefs, who  
divide the spoils between them. The "democratic coalition" that was  
put in power by the Americans after the murder of the Sunni prime  
minister Rafiq Hariri, is a temporary alliance of the Maronite,  
Sunni, and Druze chiefs. The "opposition," which enjoys Syrian  
patronage, is composed of the Shiites and one Maronite faction. The  
wheel can turn at a moment's notice, when other alliances are formed.



     Hezbollah, which appears to Israelis as an extension of Iran and  
Syria, is first of all a Shiite movement that strives to obtain for  
its community a larger part of the Lebanese pie, as indeed is its due  
in accordance with its size. Hassan Nasrallah - who is also the scion  
of an important family - has his eyes on the government in Beirut,  
not on the mosques in Jerusalem.



     WHAT DOES all this say about the present situation?



     For decades now, Israel has been stirring the Lebanese pot. In  
the past, it supported the Gemayel family but was bitterly  
disappointed: the family's "Phalanges" (the name was taken from  
Fascist Spain, which was greatly admired by grandfather Pierre), were  
revealed in the 1982 war as a gang of thugs without military value.  
But the Israeli involvement in Lebanon continues to this day. The aim  
is to eliminate Hezbollah, remove the Syrians, and threaten nearby  
Damascus. All these tasks are hopeless.



     Some history: in the 30s, when the Maronites were the leading  
force in Lebanon, the Maronite Patriarch expressed open sympathy for  
the Zionist enterprise. At that time, many young people from Tel Aviv  
and Haifa studied at the American University of Beirut, and rich  
Jewish people from Palestine spent their holidays at Lebanese  
resorts. Once, before the founding of Israel, I crossed the Lebanese  
border by mistake and a Lebanese Gendarme politely showed me the way  
back.



     During the first years of Israel, the Lebanese border was our  
only peaceful one. Those days there was a saying: "Lebanon will be  
the second Arab country to make peace with Israel. It will not dare  
to be the first." Only in 1970, when King Hussein drove the PLO from  
Jordan into Lebanon, with the active help of Israel, did this border  
heat up. Now even Fuad Siniora, the prime minister appointed by the  
Americans, feels compelled to declare that "Lebanon will be the last  
Arab state to make peace with Israel!"



     All efforts to remove Syrian influence from Lebanon are bound to  
fail. In order to understand this, it is enough to look at the map.  
Historically, Lebanon is a part of the land of Syria ("Sham" in  
Arabic). The Syrians have never resigned themselves to the fact that  
the French colonial regime tore Lebanon from their land.



     The conclusions: First, let's not get stuck in the Lebanese mess  
again. As experience has shown, we shall always come out the losers.  
Second, in order to have peace on our northern border, all the  
potential enemies, and first of all Syria, must be involved.



     Meaning: we must give back the Golan Heights.



     The Bush administration forbids our government to talk with the  
Syrians. They want to talk with them themselves, when the time comes.  
Quite possibly, they will then sell them the Golan in return for  
Syrian help in Iraq. If so, should we not hurry and "sell" them the  
Golan (which belongs to them anyhow) for a better price for ourselves?



     Lately, voices have been heard, even of senior army people, that  
hint at this possibility. It should be said loudly and clearly:  
Because of a few thousands of settlers and the politicians who do not  
dare to confront them, we are liable to be dragged into more  
superfluous wars and to endanger the population of Israel.



     This is the third conclusion: There is only one way to win a war  
in Lebanon - and that is to avoid it.



Uri Avnery is a journalist, peace activist, former member of the  
Knesset, and leader of Gush Shalom