ISRAEL SYRIA JORDAN AMERICAN intervention in the Lebanon marks a new stage in the struggle between the forces of imperialist-backed reaction and the forces of Arab nationalism which has been under way in that country for 25 years. But without doubt it is one of the most complex struggles anywhere.
In Lebanon today there are five foreign armies, the PLO, the Lebanese army and dozens of different militias involved in the overlaid with numerous other conflicts. In order to disentangle these disputes we have to look at aspects of Lebanon's history.
A convenient starting point is the revolt by the Druze people 1958, Lebanor had Deen dominated by Christian ingle between Muslims and the Christian communities derived from this basic fact of Christian dominance. Lebanon itself is an artitica creation 01 imperialism; the product of the French-British carve up of Syria in 1919.
Since the Middle Ages ine area nas ocen a palchwork of conflicting religious communities The Maronite Christians preserved their identity and exclusiveness by denying that they The Maronites weirdly the Phoenicians. Ever since the sions of the Levant by the Crusaders, they looked to the West, and in the 19th 20th centuries Western imperialism, for protection and support.
For centuries the region - around Mount eno devolutas the mythical homeland of the Maroniles) dominated by Druze landlords chieftans.
The Maronites, mainly peasant farmers abourers, were liberated Ton De conalon o the French intervention in 1863.
Three main collco-exist today: Christians, Sunni Muslims and Shi'a muslims. The Druze sect which dominates the Chouf mountains is an exclusive order of 'initiates' itself a split from the Shi'a branch of Islam.
Since the foundation in 1943 ene co tesional 1943 the confessional character of the state has struggle. If the most then the war is been enshrined in the constitution. Each community with a certain number seats in the parliament, the President a Christian, the vice-president Sunni Muslim.
The Shi'ites, as relative late comers to the region, have shared power less despite their domination of the southern part of the country. At various times the Christians have attempted to exploit the divisions between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims today with less suces stil although there Shi'ite Muslims Christian militia of Saad Haddad However, the constitutional confessionalism of the state failed to prevent conflict between the Chris tian ested Druze and dispossessed Muslim peoples The conflict between them was overlaid in the early 1970s by the arrival in Lebanon of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian fighters refugees, evicted from Jordan after Black September' in 1970 Although the PLO head quarters were formally in Cairo, was state, trom which Israel could be attacked.
1973 the Israelis mounted commando tacks on the PLO offices in Beirut, in which three top leaders of the PLO were killed. Muslims and Palestinians mounted demonstrations against the Christian of Sleiman Franjieh, accusing the government of complicity with Tne Israeli attacks. The scene was being set for civil war, which duly broke out in 1975.
In the mid-1970s the Phalange party of Pierre Gemayel with its ruthless militia, became predominant Christian torce In the 1975-6 war the Christian militias for mercy Kamal Jumblatt — assassinated in 1977 fought the Lebanese National Movement, an alliance of the Druze Pro gressive Socialist Party led Kamal Jumblatt, the Palestinians. the Nasseris militias, the Lebanese numerous other left and nationalist torces In this struggle, despite terrible Christian massacres of Palestinians and Muslims, the National Movement and the left got The massacre at Karatina, 1976. Muslim woman begs hooded Phalange militia man Pierre Gemayel the upper hand. Without doubi, in 1976 the Chris tians were on the verge of an historic defeat. It was prevented by the intervention of the Syrian army. dressed up as the • 'Arab peace keeping force'.
The Syrians above all wanted a government in Lebanon under own patronage — • the National Movement and the Palesti nians represented a force 1OO HICE ORISCIS COR trol. While in 1976 the - founder of the Phalange Christians saw the Syrians as allies (Franjieh has remained their ally to this day), this alliance proved temporary and fragile The Phalangist objective remained the establishment of a state dominated by themselves Their opportunity with the Israeli 1982 invaBashir Gemayel, Prader ot which propelled the Phalangist militia, to the presidency.
Kirkpatrick-SchultzWeinberger foreign polic: team has taken the communist cold sistena The Lebanese wa gives them the possibility ago direct military intervention in a third world country If the US planes and marines go in, it will be the Preparation and reharias similar activities around the world - starting in Central America.
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dramatic aspect of the fight today is the escalating involvement of US imperialism,
to force the acceptance of Soas ang imposits