Lebanese Independence Day
Lebanese Independence Day عيد الإستقلال Eid Al-Istiqlal | |
---|---|
22 November | |
Frequency | Annual |
History of Lebanon |
---|
Timeline |
Lebanon portal |
Lebanese Independence Day (
Pre-Independence period
While the Lebanese have been in a constant struggle for independence from foreign powers since the age of the
In response to a
Electoral representation and rough demographic weighting of communal membership was established after the foundation of the autonomous Mount Lebanon province. A two-stage electoral process became refined over several decades, with secret balloting introduced in 1907. Mount Lebanon became the only Ottoman provincial council that was democratically elected, representing members of the major sects. Elections for one-third of the council seats took place every two years. The governor of Mount Lebanon, a non-Maronite Catholic from outside, was of Ottoman ministerial rank with the title Pasha, though a step below a full provincial governor. Presiding judges of district courts were from the same sect as the largest religious group in the district, with deputy judges representing the next two largest groups. Court decisions had to involve the Court President and at least one other judge. This system facilitated Maronite acquiescence, Druze re-integration and sectarian reconciliation in Mount Lebanon.[4]
With the onset of World War I, the Ottoman Sultanate began to disintegrate. The Ottomans feared Arab independence. In response, the Ottomans abolished the autonomous province of Mount Lebanon in 1915, putting the mountain communities under emergency military rule. The repression culminated on 6 May 1916, with the hanging of 14 activists and journalists, including proponents of both Arab and Lebanese independence, Christians and Muslims, clerics and secularists. The location of the hangings in central Beirut became known as Martyrs' Square, today the focal point of public Lebanese political expression. Respect for Ottoman authority in the local community collapsed after this event. The Ottomans confiscated grain from the Levant during the war, resulting in a massive famine. Half the population of Mount Lebanon was wiped out.[5][6] Both Schilcher and Khalife estimated up to 200,000 deaths in the mountain.
A Phoenician identity
Following Ottoman repression, the Arabs were fed up with Ottoman rule. After the Turks were expelled from the Levant at the end of World War I, the Syrian National Congress in Damascus proclaimed independence and sovereignty over a region that also included Lebanon in 1920.[7] In Beirut, the Christian press expressed its hostility to the decisions of the Syrian National Congress. Lebanese nationalists used the crisis to convene a council of Christian figures in Baabda that proclaimed the independence of Lebanon on 22 March 1920.[8] Despite these declarations, the region was divided among the victorious British and French according to the Sykes–Picot Agreement, a secret 1916 pact of the UK and France.
Mount Lebanon Maronites under the Maronite Patriarch Elias al-Huwayyik lobbied the French for an enlarged Lebanon to become a Catholic Christian homeland. Patriarch al-Huwayyik shrewdly conflated a new Lebanon with ancient
Greater Lebanon from Ra's Naqura in the south to Nahr al-Kabir north of Tripoli, and from the coast to the Anti-Lebanon mountains was established under the French provisional mandate in April 1920. Patriarch al-Huwayyik, with the Ottoman imposed famine in recent memory, insisted on the acquisition of the Biqa valley, a principal food producing area. The French were supposed to guide the population to self-determination with regular progress reports to the League of Nations. In reality, the French arrested and suppressed proponents of self-determination at various times.[10]
France confirmed the electoral system of the former Ottoman Mount Lebanon province in setting up a Representative Council for Greater Lebanon in 1922. Two stage elections, universal adult male suffrage, and multimember multi-communal constituencies continued the situation that prevailed in Mount Lebanon up to 1914.
The brief term (November 1925-August 1926) of the first civilian High Commissioner, French senator and journalist Henry de Jouvenel, proved decisive in the history of the Lebanese republic. A newly elected Representative Council became the clearinghouse for Lebanese input, and de Jouvenel endorsed it as the de facto constituent assembly. The Representative Council delegated drafting of a constitution to a twelve-member committee. The concept of Greater Lebanon as a Christian/Muslim partnership distinct from its Arab hinterland underpinned the project. The leading lights of the committee were non-Maronite Christians - Michel Chiha, Orthodox chairman Shibli Dammus and the Orthodox Petro Grad. They adapted the 1875 French constitution, and De Jouvenal hastened the Representative Council to enact the draft in May 1926.[11] It included a republic, executive power shared between the President and Prime Minister, a two-chamber legislature, equitable multi-communal representation, and Greater Lebanon as the final homeland of its inhabitants.
The Franco-Lebanese Treaty of 1936 promised complete independence and membership within the League of Nations within three years. The conservative French National Assembly refused to ratify the Treaty.
When the
Having the opportunity to discuss matters of sovereignty and independence, the Lebanese national leaders asked de Gaulle to end the French Mandate and unconditionally recognize Lebanon's independence. After national and international pressure, General
On 8 November 1943, and after electing president
Government of Bechamoun
After the imprisonment of the Lebanese officials, the Lebanese
The newly formed government refused to hold talks with General Catroux or any other mandate official, stressing that any negotiation should be done with the captured government. It also formed a military resistance under the name of the "National Guard", whose supreme commander was Naim Moghabghab, with the help of Adib el Beainy and Munir Takieddine. This military group fought the battle of independence and later became the core of the Lebanese Army that was later formed in 1946 under the leadership of Emir Majid and Naim Moghabghab.
Finally, France yielded to the augmenting pressure of the Lebanese people, as well as the demand of numerous countries and released the prisoners from Rashaya Citadel in the morning of Monday 22 November 1943. Since then, this day has been celebrated as the Lebanese Independence Day.[13]
This historic site of Lebanese independence and residence of Hussein El Halabi, where the first Lebanese flag was raised on 11 November 1943, continues to welcome tourists and visitors throughout the year to celebrate national pride.
Post-Independence period
After the independence, the modern Lebanese political system was founded in 1943 by an unwritten agreement between the two most prominent Christian and Muslim leaders, Khouri and al-Solh and which was later called the National Pact (al Mithaq al Watani الميثاق الوطني ).[14]
The National Pact had four principles:
- Lebanon was to be a completely politically independent state. Lebanon would not enter into Western-led alignments; in return, Lebanon would not compromise its sovereignty with Arabstates.
- Lebanon would have an Arab face and another for the West, as it could not cut off its spiritual and intellectual ties with the West, which had helped it attain such a notable degree of progress.
- Lebanon, as a member of the family of Arab states, should cooperate with the other Arab states where possible, and in case of conflict among them, it should not side with one state against another.
- Public offices should be distributed proportionally among the recognized religious groups, but in technical positions preference should be given to competence without regard to confessional considerations. Moreover, the three top government positions should be distributed as follows: the president of the republic should be a Shi'iMuslim in 1947. The ratio of deputies was to be six Christians to five Muslims.
In 1945, Lebanon became a founding member of the
See also
- History of Lebanon
- San Remo conference
- France-Lebanon relations
References
- ^ Deidre Pettet, "A Veritable Bedouin: The Chevalier ďArvieux in the Camp of the Emir Turabey," in Distant Lands and Diverse Cultures: The French Experience in Asia, 1600-1700, ed. Glen Ames and Ronald Love (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2003), p. 25
- ^ Harris, William. Lebanon: a history, 600-2011. Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 102.
- ^ Harris, William. Lebanon: a history, 600-2011. Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 159.
- ^ Harris, William. Lebanon: a history, 600-2011. Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 160.
- ^ L. Schatkowski Shilcher, "The Famine of 1915-1918 in Ottoman Syria," in J. Spagnolo ed., Problems of the Modern Middle East in Historical Perspective: Essays in Honour of Albert Hourani (Reading: Ithaca, 1992), pp. 234-238.
- ^ Isam Khalife, Lubnan 1914-1918 min khilal Arshif Wizarat al-kharijia al-Faransiya (Beirut: Isam Khalife, 2005), p. 39.
- ^ King, William C. King's Complete History of the World War, The History Associates, 1922, p. 665.
- ^ Elie Podeh, The Politics of National Celebrations in the Arab Middle East, Cambridge University Press, 2011 p. 54.
- ^ Asher Kaufman, Reviving Phoenicia: The Search for Identity in Lebanon (London: I.B. Tauris, 2004), p. 22.
- ^ Harris, William. Lebanon: a history, 600-2011. Oxford University Press, 2012.
- ^ Salibi, Kamal. The Modern History of Lebanon. New York: Caravan Books, 1977.
- ^ http://countrystudies.us/lebanon/21.htm, World War II and Independence.
- ^ www.lgic.org, (1920-1943) Mandate Period and Independence. URL accessed 7 June 2008.
- ^ Harris, William. Lebanon: a history, 600-2011. Oxford University Press, 2012.