From: faris@sarcasm.trl.OZ.AU (Aziz Faris)
Subject: Re: Representatives on Lebanon
Reply-To: a.Faris@trl.oz.au 
Organization: Telecom Research Labs, Melbourne,Australia
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 22:22:12 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.110410.8010@ulrik.uio.no>, eliedw@hedda.uio.no (Elie Dib Wardini) writes:
|> 
|> 
|> Aziz, let me note to you that when Ugarit existed, there was nothing called
|> Syria. In fact the name Syria is Geek and foreign to the Middle East.
|> 
|> More over, Ugarit was a Canaanite city that lay outside "Phoenicia" proper.
|> 
|> Phoenicia extending from Arwad to Akka (generally speaking).
|> 
|> NMevertheless there is no need to confuse Aram with Phoenicia. Even the Greeks
|> who coined the name Syria, made this distinction. The Aramaeans had their
|> country Aram extending from northern Mesopotamia (border area between
|> preset-day Iraq, Syria and Turkey) to Damascus.
|> 
|> It would interesting to read the the texts regarding the different areas of the
|> Middle East.
|> 
|> note that Damascus is paired with Hama very often, while Lebanon (Mountain and
|> valley) is paired with the cities of Tyre, Sidon etc.
|> 
|> anyway, what ever happened in the past, may change with time. Yet note that
|> there are very few Lebanese that I know of, persons or politicains who wish to
|> merge with Syria. Therefore the best thing that can be done, is for the Syrians
|> to respect the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon, and then maybe we could
|> be good neighbours and tend to our common interests. 
|> 
|> 
|> elie wardini

Elie, Ugarit is a Pheonician city as evidenced by the discovery of many tablets
that shows the Pheonician religious practices, literature, and discovery of
the first use of the Alphabets. The Pheonicians of Ugarit had included some
elements of Canaanite culture and religious practices in their culture.

I do not know where the name Syria came from and I personally do not care.
The point is that we have the same culture and we are the same people, and throughout hsitory we did not have these problems of personality fashions.
 
The land that comprises Syria, Lebanon, and Plaestine was the Land of Canaan.
The Canaanites seem to be the original inhabitants of that area as evidenced
by the tablets of Ebla. Infact, one tablet referred to Lebanon as named by
the Canaanites "Labunum". The Pheonicians have supposedly come from near Bahrain
or Qatar and lived very peacefully with the Canaanites and were integrated with
them later on as evidenced at Ugarit.

Also the kingdom of Byblos which is located near Tripoli included a large 
territory that is located in Syria. I have read some Egyptian texts dealing
with trade between Pheonicia and they refer to the region of Syria. this dates
to the kigdoms of Sidon, Tyre, and Byblos.

To address your merger point, I am not and really no one I know is calling for
the merger of Lebanon into Syria. This merger is the latest Israeli propaganda
weapon to keep Syria and Lebanon in choas and prevent the people from addressing
the real issues. Assad is not Saddam to piss at the world and call Lebanon
province number 14. The real issue here is that Israel is stealing the waters
of Lebanon and occupying Southern Syria and Southern Lebanon and are about
to piss at both countries and stop the peace process. As long as the Lebanese
people are focusing on Syria and ignoring Israel, the Israeli will continue
to undermind both of our countries and keep us fighting one another.

A.Faris
Newsgroups: soc.culture.lebanon