ABOUT LEBANON

Lebanon, republic in southwestern Asia, bounded on the north and east by Syria, on the southeast and south by Israel, and on the west by the Mediterranean Sea. The area is 10,400 sq km (4015 sq m ). The capital and leading port is Beirut .

Land and Resources

Lebanon is about 217 km (about 135 m) long and 40 to 80 km (25 to 50 m) wide. A very narrow coastal plain extends along the Mediterranean Sea. Inland the terrain is dominated by two major mountain ranges, which are separated by the fertile Bekaa Valley. The Lebanon range rises abruptly from the coastal plain; it is cut by numerous deep gorges and in the north contains the country's highest peak, Qurnat as-Sawda (3083 m/10,115 ft). The other major range, the Anti-Lebanon, lies along the Syrian border in the east. Lebanon's major, and only navigable, river, the Litani, is in the Bekaa Valley. Many of the other rivers flow only during the rainy winter season .

Climate

The climate varies from a Mediterranean-type subtropical climate along the coast and in the Bekaa Valley to a generally cool one in the upper mountains. Summers are hot and dry; winters are mild and humid. Frost is rare at lower elevations. The mean temperature in the lowlands is 26.7° C (80° F) in summer and 10° C (50° F) in winter. The mountainous region is somewhat cooler. Annual precipitation, occurring mainly in winter, is 889 mm (35 in) along the coast, 635 mm (25 in) or less in the Bekaa Valley, and more than 1270 mm (more than 50 in) in the mountains .

Population

The Lebanese are descended from many ethnic strains, mainly Semitic, and can be traced to the ancient Phoenicians .

Population Characteristics

According to a 1993 estimate, the population of Lebanon was 3,552,369; the overall density was about 341 people per sq km (about 884 per sq m). About 81 percent of the people lived in urban areas. No census has been taken since 1932.

Principal Cities

The capital and leading port is Beirut, with a population of 1,500,000 (1988 estimate). Tripoli, with 160,000 inhabitants, and Sidon, with a population of 38,000. Both cities are important ports and oil pipeline terminuses in Lebanon .

Language

Arabic is the official language of Lebanon. French and English have wide official and commercial use .

Education

Primary education is free but not compulsory in Lebanon. The literacy rate, higher than 75 percent, is among the highest in the Arab world. In the mid-1980s about 329,300 pupils attended some 2100 primary schools and approximately 230,900 students were enrolled in 1400 secondary schools. The government operates a number of trade, agricultural, and other specialized schools.

Beirut is the location of five Lebanese universities: the Lebanese University UL (1951), the American University of Beirut AUB (1866), the Jesuit-affiliated Saint Joseph University USJ (1881), Beirut Arab University (1960), and a university operated by the Lebanese Maronite Order USEK. Their total annual enrollment in the late 1980s was about 63,600.

Culture

Blending traditional Arabic and recent Western influences, mainly French and U.S., Lebanon reached a high level of cultural achievement, exemplified in the works of the poet-painter Khalil Gibran.

The National Library, in Beirut, is a depository for United Nations documents. The library of the Saint John monastery in Khinsharah dates from 1696 and has on display one of the first printing presses (with Arabic and Greek fonts) of the Middle East. The American University Museum and the National Museum, in Beirut, house regional antiquities and artifacts .

Currency and Banking

The unit of currency in Lebanon is the Lebanese pound, divided into 100 piasters (1550 pounds equal U.S.$1; 1997). The Bank of Lebanon (1964) functions as central bank and sole bank of issue .

Commerce and Foreign Trade

Commerce is of major importance to the economy. Before the mid-1970s, many foreign firms had branches in Beirut. The climate, scenery, and historical remains attracted tourists, with consequent benefits to the economy. Both commerce and the tourist industry suffered from the warfare of the 1970s and 1980s. In the late 1980s, annual imports were valued at about $1.9 billion and exports at some $591 million. Lebanon's chief trading partners are other Middle Eastern nations, as well as France, Germany, and the United States .

Transportation

Lebanon has some 7370 km (about 4580 m) of roads, which were used by more than 470,000 motor vehicles registered in the early 1980s. Many foreign shipping lines formerly use port facilities at Beirut and Tripoli. Lebanon has about 200 merchant ships with a total deadweight tonnage of 634,500 .

Government

Lebanon is a republic governed under a constitution promulgated in 1926, as amended. The constitution was substantially revised in 1990 .

Executive

The president of Lebanon is elected by the legislature for six years and may not serve two successive terms. In consultation with the National Assembly, the president designates the prime minister and other cabinet ministers.

Legislature

Under the revised constitution, the unicameral National Assembly has 128 members elected by universal suffrage. Legislative seats are divided equally between Christians and Muslims .

Judiciary

Lebanon has no single supreme court. Under the constitution of the country, a council of state hears administrative cases, and a five-member special court of justice deals with matters of state security. The judicial system also includes single-judge courts and three-judge courts of first instance, three-judge courts of appeal, and one court of cassation .

Religious courts have jurisdiction over personal matters such as marriages, deaths, and inheritances .

Health and Welfare

During the late 1960s and early 1970s a comprehensive social security code was introduced, under which the bulk of the payments were to be made by employers and the government. It provided for sickness, accident, and disability insurance, maternity pay, extra allowances for large families, and severance pay. In the mid-1980s Lebanon had some 3500 physicians and 160 hospitals and health centers .

History

The mountains that have given Lebanon its name -sometimes referred to as Mount Lebanon, or the Mountain- have also shaped its history. The inaccessibility of its highlands has not only provided a refuge for dissident religious groups over the centuries, but has also hampered unity among the region's distinctive populations .

Phoenicians

Phoenicia, ancient designation of a narrow strip of territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, now largely in modern Lebanon. The territory, about 320 km (about 200 mi.) long and from 8 to 25 km (5 to 15 mi.) wide, was bounded on the east by the Lebanon Mountains. The southern boundary was Mount Carmel; the northern boundary was generally accepted to be the Eleutherus River, now called the Kebir, which forms the northern boundary of Lebanon.

Although its inhabitants had a homogeneous civilization and considered themselves a single nation, Phoenicia was not a unified state but a group of city-kingdoms, one of which usually dominated the others. The most important of these cities were Simyra, Zarephath (Sarafand), Byblos, Jubeil, Arwad (Rouad), Acco (Acre), Sidon (Sayda), Tripolis (Tripoli), Tyre (Sur), and Berytus (Bayrut). The two most dominant were Tyre and Sidon, which alternated as sites of the ruling power.

The Phoenicians, called Sidonians in the Old Testament and Phoenicians by the Greek poet Homer, were Semites, related to the Canaanites . Historical research indicates that they founded their first settlements on the Mediterranean coast about 2500 BC. Early in their history, they developed under the influence of the Sumerian and Akkadian cultures of nearby Babylon. About 1800 BC Egypt, which was then beginning to acquire an empire in the Middle East, invaded and took control of Phoenicia, holding it until about 1400 BC. The raids of the Hittites against Egyptian territory gave the Phoenician cities an opportunity to revolt, and by 1100 BC they were independent of Egypt.

With self-rule, the Phoenicians became the most notable traders and sailors of the ancient world. The fleets of the coast cities traveled throughout the Mediterranean and even into the Atlantic Ocean, and other nations competed to employ Phoenician ships and crews in their navies. In connection with their maritime trade the city-kingdoms founded many colonies, notably Utica and Carthage in north Africa, on the islands of Rhodes and Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea, and Tarshish in southern Spain. Tyre was the leader of the Phoenician cities before they were subjugated, once again, by Assyria during the 8th century BC. When Assyria fell during the late 7th century BC, Phoenicia, except for Tyre, which succeeded in maintaining its independence until about 538 BC, was incorporated into the Chaldean Empire of Nebuchadnezzar II and, in 539 BC, became part of the Persian Empire. Under Persian rule Sidon became the leading city of Phoenicia.

When Alexander the Great of Macedonia invaded Asia and defeated Persia in 333 BC, Sidon, Arwad, and Byblos capitulated to Macedonia. Tyre again refused to submit, and it took Alexander a 7-month siege in 332 BC to capture the city. After this defeat the Phoenician cities were absorbed into the Greco-Macedonian empire. The cities became Hellenized .

The most important Phoenician contribution to civilization was the alphabet. Purple dye, called Tyrian purple, and the invention of glass, are also ascribed to the Phoenicians. Their industries, particularly the manufacture of textiles and dyes, metalworking, and glassmaking, were notable in the ancient world, and Phoenician cities were famous for their pantheistic religion. Each city had its special deity, usually known as its Baal, or lord, and in all cities the temple was the center of civil and social life. The most important Phoenician deity was Astarte.

Roman-Byzantine Rule

In 64 BC Pompey the Great conquered Phoenicia, which comprised the territory of modern Lebanon; he annexed it to the Roman Empire and administered it as part of the province of Syria. Aramaic, the dominant language of the East, began to replace Phoenician, marking the cultural integration of the territory with its neighbours. From the 4th century AD on, the Christianization of the Roman Empire and the subsequent emergence of a doctrinally intolerant orthodoxy in the Eastern, or Byzantine, part caused religious tension in Syria as a whole. By the 7th century, Maronites, a sect espousing the belief that Christ had both human and divine natures but only one will, sought refuge from persecution in the northern districts of Mount Lebanon .

Early Muslim Rule

Particularly during the early Christian era, when theological controversies bred numerous sects, Lebanon became a refuge for persecuted minorities fleeing imperial authority. In the 660s one of these sects, which later became the Maronite church, settled in the Lebanon Mountains to avoid forcible conversion to Islam by the Arabs, who had completed their conquest of the region by 640, and Mount Lebanon was integrated into the Arab military district of Damascus. The conquerors allowed the indigenous Christian and Jewish populations to retain their religion, subject, however, to discriminatory taxes and regulations. In 759 and 760 Christian peasants revolted, but the rebellion faltered, surviving only in local legend. Enduring through the entire Islamic period, however, were the rivalries between the different Arab tribal groupings-the Qays (North) and Kalb, or Yemen (South)-who had settled in the area after the conquest.

Nevertheless, The attractiveness of Lebanon as a refuge persisted into Islamic times, Where Shiites found a haven there during the 9th century, and Druzes in the 11th century .

The decline of the united caliphate and the rise of local dynasties formed the unsettling background to the next stage in the region's history. Early in the 11th century the Druses, an extremist Shiite Muslim sect, established themselves in southern Mount Lebanon, becoming sometimes partners and sometimes rivals of the heretofore dominant Maronites. In 1099 Crusaders from Christian Europe occupied the country and remained until the 13th century when they had been driven out by the MAMELUKS of Egypt . Up until then the Maronites had been carrying on an increasingly lonely resistance to the processes of Islamization and Arabization. The Crusaders helped to ensure their religious and cultural survival by giving them ties to their coreligionists in the West.

The Ottomans

In 1516 the Ottoman Turks conquered the entire eastern Mediterranean coast. Two local dynasties successively came to dominate the Mountain under Ottoman rule: the Maans (1516-1697) and the Shihabs (1697-1842). The most ambitious of these rulers was Fakhr al-Din II, who forged an alliance with the Italian duchy of Tuscany. Although of Druse origin, he ruled tolerantly, attracting Maronite peasants to his southern districts.

Fakhr al-Din II gained control of Mount Lebanon and parts of Syria and Palestine, But he was executed by the Turks in 1635 .

With the end of the Maan line, local notables chose the Shihabs to be emirs (princes). After 1711, because of the defeat and expulsion of one Druse faction, the Maronites came to predominate. Reflecting this shift of power, members of the Shihab family converted to Christianity. In 1770 a Maronite Shihab became the emir. His successor, Bashir II, who reigned from 1788 to 1840, subdued the Druses and emerged as master of Lebanon and a power in the Levant. Gaining support from the Ottomans, the European powers, and discontented Maronite peasants, the Druses ended Shihab rule in 1842 .

The Later Ottoman Period

The turmoil of these years finished the Maronite-Druse cooperation upon which Lebanon's autonomy rested. The Ottomans now played a more direct role, but their administrative reforms proved unworkable. In 1858 the political, religious, social, and economic tensions between Druse and Maronite, Muslim and Christian, and landlord and peasant burst into a civil war that ended in 1860 after considerable bloodshed and an apparent Druse triumph. The Ottomans and the European powers, however, sent forces to restore order and to punish those Muslims they considered at fault in the war. In 1864 they established a semiautonomous Christian dominated province in Mount Lebanon that lasted until World War I (1914-1918). The new regulations provided that the country be governed by a non-Lebanese Ottoman Christian, counseled by local notables but directly responsible to Istanbul. The World War I years brought famine and devastation, increasing the flow of Christian immigrants to the Americas .

French Rule

After World War I, Lebanon became a French mandate, as promised by the secret Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916. In 1920 the French combined the largely Muslim-inhabited coast and plain, al-Biqa Valley, and areas to the north and south, with the Christian-dominated Mount Lebanon. The Republic of Lebanon, established by the Constitution of 1926, remained under French mandate until 1943, when it gained independence.

But complete independence was not achieved for Lebanon until 1946, when the last French troops were evacuated .

Independence

In 1943 the predominant Maronites worked out a power-sharing arrangement, the National Pact, with the Sunni Muslims.

Financiers and property speculators flourished, government policies encouraged business, and the amenities and climate attracted vacationers and investors from abroad .

For a time, independent Lebanon was a model ecumenical society. Two grave weaknesses, however, eventually undid the Lebanese system. The first was the rigidity of the 1943 National Pact, which did not take into account changes in the demography and political consciousness of the various communities. The second was Lebanon's gradual involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Lebanon did not participate militarily in the ARAB-ISRAELI WARS, but the influx of predominantly Muslim Palestinian refugees after the 1948 war helped to change the country's internal balance of power.

In addition, Lebanese Muslims who identified with the Pan-Arab nationalism of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel NASSER were alienated when President Camille Chamoun was the only Arab head of state who refused to break diplomatic relations with France and Britain during the 1956 Suez Crisis. Civil war broke out in 1958, ending only when U.S. Marines landed in Beirut .

Economic and social inequalities, Muslim demands for more political power, and the activities of PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (PLO) commandos (who operated virtually a state within a state and launched guerrilla raids against Israel from Lebanese soil) continued, laying the groundwork for the 1975 war.

The 1975 War

The 1975 war pitted the Nationalist Movement (a mostly Muslim mixture of socialists, Communists, and Nasserite groups) and the PLO, against the Lebanese Front (a group dominated by the Maronite Phalange party but including right-wing Muslims). In June 1976, Syria (which at various times has supported different groups) intervened in the war . The Syrian military action was ratified in October by the Arab League, which helped to arrange a cease-fire.

However, sporadic communal strife, clashes between Christian militias and Syrian forces in Lebanon, and the cycle of Israeli-Palestinian violence on Lebanese soil continued. Israeli forces briefly invaded southern Lebanon in 1978 but withdrew after a United Nations peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) was sent into the area .

In 1982, Israeli forces again invaded, occupying Beirut and forcing the PLO to evacuate its headquarters there.

the Lebanese parliament elected the Christian leader Bashir Gemayel as president .

After Bashir was assassinated in September, his brother Amin Gemayel was elected to replace him . At his request, a multinational peace force came in to try to restore order. In May 1983, Gemayel concluded a security agreement with Israel allowing a continuing Israeli role in southern Lebanon .

Syria, which had refused to withdraw its troops when its Arab League mandate expired, rejected the accord. After more than 300 U.S. and French troops were killed in terrorist bombings on October 23, 1983, the Western forces pulled out completely by February 1984. Gemayel then repudiated the unpopular Lebanese-Israeli security agreement and installed a new, pro-Syrian cabinet of national unity.

The cabinet seldom met after Gemayel rejected a Syrian-brokered peace accord in 1986, contributing to political and economic deterioration .

Most Israeli forces left Lebanon by June 1985, but conflicting Israeli and Syrian interests still compounded Lebanon's internal problems .

When Gemayel's presidential term expired in September 1988, he named the army commander General Michel Aoun, a Christian, to head an interim government.

Christian prime minister Gen. Michel Aoun launched a war against the Syrian forces in Lebanon .

As a result, the Lebanese parliament accepted in November 1989 an Arab-brokered peace accord and elected Maronite Rene Moawad president . Moawad was assassinated on November 22, his successor was Elias Hrawi .

the accord was rejected by Aoun and the Christian community in general . In October 1990, Syrian troops clamped down on east Beirut, defeating forces loyal to Aoun . Subsequently the Lebanese army troops loyal to the newly elected president Hrawi and his government, with Syrian backing, regained control over much of the country and ousted the PLO from strongholds in southern Lebanon . Lebanon and Syria signed a cooperation pact on May 22, 1991. The first parliamentary elections in 20 years, held in 1992, were boycotted by the Christians, but Lebanon began to rebuild under new prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri .

Reconstruction Of Lebanon

Lebanon is emerging from a long and devastating war that broke up in 1975 and destroyed its infrastructure, and offers a unique opportunity for investment .

Lebanon is well on its way into recovery. Security and personal safety are no longer a concern. The Lebanese pound regained more than 30% of its value against the U.S. dollar and stopped its scary fluctuation. A Cabinet headed by Mr. Rafic Hariri, a wealthy businessman that inspires confidence, is in place to plan for and oversee the major task of rebuilding Lebanon.

The reconstruction has already started. Damaged buildings in the old business center have all been demolished to make way for a new and modern commercial center that will be built soon. New tunnels, bridges and streets are either planned or on their way into execution. The national telephone and electricity systems are being completely overhauled. The famous Casino du Liban was restored . A plan to repair, enlarge and modernize the Beirut International Airport is on its way to execution, and so are many other plans to repair what was damaged and carry Lebanon into the next century. An estimated twelve billion dollars will be spent by the public sector in the next ten years on reconstruction. In addition, millions of dollars will be spent by the private sector on repairing or rebuilding damaged businesses or starting new ones.

Investors are flocking into the country, encouraged by the climate of political stability and the prospects of peace in the Middle East.

Beirut's banking sector, one of the most efficient in the world, has recovered . One of its main attractive features is the banking secrecy that is unparalleled even in Switzerland. Nowadays, the banking sector is humming with activity spurred by Lebanese and International cash. More than two billion dollars of Lebanese savings that fled overseas have been recently lured back into Lebanon, lifting bank deposits by more than 20%.

The Lebanese are doing everything possible to lure and encourage foreign investment. Visa requirements have been simplified. Off-shore and holding companies that pay only a symbolic flat annual income tax, are now possible. Also, the internal revenue code has been amended to reduce the corporate income tax to a maximum of 10%.

In the meantime, Lebanon is revising and updating its laws. A committee of experts appointed by the parliament is examining and recommending amendments to key Lebanese laws and regulations. Because of this fast changing legal environment, investors are encouraged and urged to seek good legal advice prior to entering into any contractual arrangement or expending funds on any project in Lebanon .

Economy

Lebanon has an economy dominated by banking and other commercial services. Beirut was the leading financial capital of the Middle East.

Lebanon is a country of free market economy with very liberal laws designed to encourage foreign investment. Because of this economic policy, trade barriers and obstacles are usually kept at a minimum. Foreigners can invest freely in many areas and can, with minor exceptions, form Lebanese companies with 100% foreign capital. Corporate income tax has been recently reduced to a maximum of 10% of the annual profits.

Lebanese nationals and corporations are allowed to quote prices or agree to pay in foreign currencies. In addition, there are virtually no foreign exchange controls, and the Lebanese are free to transfer abroad any amount they want in virtually any foreign currency they chose.

The banking system in Lebanon is perhaps one of the most efficient in the world. Its most attractive feature is the strong banking secrecy that is unparalleled even in Switzerland .

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Send E-mail to Me. Tony Maalouli at tmalouli@dm.net.lb