Pierre Gemayel

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This article is about a patriarch of a Lebanese family. For his grandson of the same name, see Pierre Amine Gemayel.

In this Lebanese name, the father's name is Amine and the family name is Gemayel.
Pierre Gemayel
بيار الجميّل
2nd President of the Lebanese Football Association
In office
1935–1939
Preceded byHussein Sejaan
Succeeded byFarid Ammoun
Member of Parliament for Beirut
In office
1960–1984
Personal details
Born(1905-11-06)6 November 1905
Saint Joseph University
OccupationPharmacist
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Pierre Amine Gemayel, also spelled Jmayyel, Jemayyel or al-Jumayyil (

presidency
of the republic in his lifetime.

He opposed the

non-sectarian
democracy.

Gemayel also had a career in football in the 1930s, captaining the Lebanon national team as a player. He also became the first Lebanese football referee to officiate matches internationally, and was the second president of the Lebanese Football Association, between 1935 and 1939.

Early life and education

Pierre Gemayel was born on 6 November 1905 in Bikfaya, Lebanon into a Maronite family.[1] His father Amine Bachir Gemayel, known as Abou Ali, and his uncle were forced to flee to Egypt after being sentenced to death in 1914 for opposing Ottoman rule, returning to Lebanon only at the end of World War I.

Gemayel was educated at

Jesuit school. He went on to study pharmacy[2] at the French faculty of medicine in Beirut, where he later opened a pharmacy. He owned a pharmacy in Haifa
, Palestine. The pharmacy was located in Sahat Al Hanatir (Carriage Square).

In association football

Pierre Gemayel (far right) prior to the friendly game in Beirut against Austrian club Admira Vienna in 1937

Gemayel also took an interest in sport, playing football.[3] In 1935 he became president of the Lebanese Football Association (LFA); the same year he became Lebanon's first referee to officiate internationally.[4] As captain of the Lebanon national team, Gemayel attended the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin,[3] alongside Hussein Sejaan,[5] the former LFA president.[6] After the games, he also visited various Central European countries.[5] Gemayel remained president of the LFA until 1939.[4]

Foundation of Kataeb Party

On his return to Lebanon from Europe, in 1936 Gemayel founded Al Kataeb Al Loubnaniyyah party (Phalangist Party a.k.a. Kataeb Party) with Georges Naqqache, Charles Helou, Chafic Nassif and Hamid Franjieh, who was later replaced with Emile Yared, modelling the party after the Spanish and Italian Fascist parties he had observed there.[7][8][9][10] At first, the goal of the party was to enhance people's patriotism and civic-mindedness, but later on turned into a political resistance to the French authorities in the region.[11]Gemayel was also influenced from the Sokol movement of Czechoslovakia during this visit to the Central Europe after the 1936 Olympic games, and employed the doctrine of this movement while founding the Kataeb party.[5] Kataeb Party is described as a right-wing Christian Party.[12]

The foundation of

Antun Saadeh in 1932 was the trigger for the establishment of the Kateb Party, since the former actively tried to influence Lebanon towards the Syrian interests, leading to direct challenge for Lebanese nationalists.[5] The founders of the Kataeb Party were young, French-educated and middle-class professionals who committed to independent and Western-oriented Lebanon.[5] Charles Helou, who later served as Lebanon's president from 1964 to 1970,[13]
was one of the founders. By the time of his presidency, however, Helou was no longer a party member, and Gemayel unsuccessfully opposed him in the presidential election of 1964.

Career

In the years before and after Lebanon's independence, Gemayel's influence and that of the Kataeb Party was limited. It survived a French attempt to forcibly dissolve it in 1937 and took part in an uprising against the French Mandate in 1943, but despite its membership of 35,000, it operated on the fringes of

minister of finance from 1960 to 1961 and in 1968,[15] and the minister of public works in 1970.[16]

Kataeb
Security Council

Lebanon has long been a battleground in the

Palestinian guerrillas to set up bases on Lebanese soil, from which to carry out actions against Israel. He later defended his actions, saying that Lebanon really had no choice. In the 1970s, he came to oppose the armed Palestinian presence in Lebanon. The Kataeb created a military Security Council led by William Hawi, which came to be commanded by Gemayel's son Bachir
upon the assassination of Hawi.

Gemayel was also to reverse his position on the Syrian intervention in the

Hundred Days War
" against the Syrian army.

On 4 June 1979, an attempt was made to assassinate Pierre Gemayel.[17] The previous month, 13 May, Amine Gemayel also escaped an assassination attempt.[18]

Later years and death

The Sheikh Pierre Gemayel Memorial, in Gemayel's hometown Bikfaya, Lebanon

Gemayel saw his younger son, Bachir Gemayel, elected president of Lebanon on 23 August 1982, only to be assassinated on 14 September, nine days before his scheduled inauguration. Bachir's older brother, Amine Gemayel was elected to replace him. Pierre Gemayel himself initially stayed out of Amine Gemayel's government, but in early 1984, after participating in two conferences in Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland, aimed at ending the civil war and the occupation of the country by Israeli troops in 1982, he agreed to serve once more in a cabinet of national unity that was formed by Rashid Karami in May 1984.[19] He served as the minister of public health and communications in the cabinet led by then prime minister Karami.[2]

Gemayel was still in office when he died of a heart attack in Bikfaya on 29 August 1984.[20] He was at the age of 78.[2] Gemayel's body was buried next to Bashir Gemayel's grave in Bikfaya on 30 August 1984.[21]

Personal life

Kataeb
anniversary event in 1977

Gemayel was married to Genevieve Gemayel, and they celebrated the 50th anniversary of their marriage in August 1984.[22] They had six children. His younger son, Bachir Gemayel was assassinated on 14 September 1982 after being elected to the presidency. His grandson Pierre Amine Gemayel, then industry minister, was similarly assassinated on 21 November 2006. Several other descendants of Pierre Gemayel, including two grandchildren, were also murdered during the civil war period.[21]

References

  1. ^ شيخ بيار الجميل. You Tube. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  2. ^ a b c "Pierre Gemayel, Lebanese Christian leader". The Day. Beirut. Associated Press. 30 August 1984. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  3. ^ a b Fisk, Robert (2002). Pity The Nation. Nation Books. pp. 48–49.
  4. ^ a b "Pierre El Gemayel". abdogedeon.com. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-90-04-03911-7
    . Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  6. ISBN 0000281247
    .
  7. ^ "Lebanon - Phalange Party". CountryStudies.us. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  8. ISBN 1-860647154
    .
  9. ISBN 0-8028-2860-4
    . lebanon phalange fascism.
  10. ISBN 978-0-8122-4046-7
    .
  11. ^ Stoakes, Frank (1975). "The Supervigilantes: The Lebanese Kataeb Party as a Builder, Surrogate and Defender of the State". Middle Eastern Studies. 11 (3): 215.
  12. S2CID 145269097
    .
  13. ISBN 9782811105952
    .
  14. ^ "New cabinet in Lebanon civil strife". The Daily Reporter. 14 October 1958. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  15. ^ "Former Ministers". 18 December 2019. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019.
  16. ^ "Guerrillas, Arab militia in shootout". The Spokesman Review. Beirut. Associated Press. 28 March 1970. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  17. ^ Middle East International No 101, 8 June 1979; pp.12-14
  18. ^ Middle East International No 100, 25 May 1979; pp.13-15
  19. ^ "Lebanese cabinet members announced; one refuses post". The Milwaukee Sentinel. 1 May 1984. Retrieved 23 March 2013.[permanent dead link]
  20. ^ "Pierre Gemayel, Lebanon war figure and father of nation's president, dies". The Pittsburgh Press. Beirut. 29 August 1984. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  21. ^ a b "Pierre Gemayel was praised as Lebanese hero". Lakeland Ledger. Bikfaya. Associated Press. 30 August 1984. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  22. ^ "Pierre Gemayel dies in Lebanon at 78". Sarasota Herald Tribune. Beirut. Associated Press. 30 August 1984. Retrieved 23 March 2013.

External links

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