From: bh437292@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu (Basil Hamdan)
Subject: Re: Are Lebanese considered ARABS?????
Date: Fri, 08 Jan 1993 22:17:18 GMT
Reply-To: bh437292@lance.colostate.edu
Organization: Engineering College, Colorado State University

In article <1993Jan8.160737.10004@ac.dal.ca>, bibr0027@ac.dal.ca writes:
|> I was wondering....do most Arabs consider the Lebanese as Arabs?

Yes.

|> Is it a given that Arabs must be Muslim? (the majority are).

You just answered yourself, since you just said that the majority
of Arabs are Moslems then there necessarily is a minority that is
not.  Then, the given is that being an Arab does not necessitate being
Moslem. 
  
|> If Lebanese are Arabs, why do most Christian Lebanese consider 
|> themselves as not being ARAB?

I think this question should better be addressed by Christian Lebanese,
as a Moslem Lebanese I will stay out of it.
 
|> I am a Lebanese, who has fought on both sides of the matter.  I use
|> to think that Lebanese were Arabs.  Not anymore.  Perhaps politically
|> only....  What have the Arabs done for us, except force Palestians
|> unto our land, with their guns and all.  Why do most Lebanese
|> fear these "Phadaeey"?  Palestians are arabs aren't they?  Who gives
|> them the bloody rite to come onto our lands, take what they want,
|> kill you they desire, just because Israel has replaced what
|> was known as Palestine.  The Lebanese government can only help
|> to a degree.  Why do the arabs in their Arabic League decide
|> on the fate of Lebanon with others like Syria. 

Such talk will get you nowhere, the Palestinians that live in Lebanon
are mostly refugees that live in camps, abandoned by everyone.  It is
sad to see that you blame them for Lebanon's troubles.  I believe that
the PLO may have aggravated some of our problems by trying to destabilize
the central authority, and acted as a state within the state with its
powerful military organization at one point during our civil war.  But,
that should not lead you to lay the blame of our problems on the 
Palestinians and the rest of the Arabs, we had a lot to do with our
country's demise.  There is enough blame here to go around for everyone,
but it would be naive and simplistic to blame our problems on the Arabs
or the Palestinians, though regional powers can strongly affect the 
flow of events in Lebanon, internal factors are also powerful contributors
to the causes and influences of the civil war.  Factors such as economic
inequality, sectarian based government, corruption of the ruling elite,
narrow-minded government policy that led to this inequity, etc....


the leadership

|> All these questions keep floating in my head.  Would someone
|> please help answer these questions.  I have nothing against
|> the Palestians or their cause, or any other Arab party.


It seems you are very confused and have a shallow understanding
of Lebanon and its problems.  I don't think just reading Usenet will
help answer all your questions, you need to go to your university 
library and find some reputable books that will help, I'll suggest 
some.

About the Civil war:

Fisk, Robert
      Pity The Nation - Lebanon At War
      Oxford Paperbacks, 1990
      ISBN 0-19-285235-3
      Approx $10.

      Fisk is an AP correspondent who reported on the war in Lebanon *from*
      Lebanon since its inception in the mid 70's.
      A devastating book. 'Required' reading for anyone interested in an
      unbiased account of the wars in Lebanon. Covers events through the late
      80's.

Jean Said Makdisi, _Beirut Fragments: A War Memoir_ New York: Persea Books,
1990.
  Makdisi is a Palestinian-Lebanese who describes her experiences in war-
  torn Beirut.  For her those experiences, which she retells in very
  moving terms, and her determination to stay in Beirut make her a true
  Beiruti.  Her love for Beirut and her agony over what is happening to
  it are quite clear.  Employing different styles (chronicle, descriptive
  narrative etc.) in different chapters, Makdisi ends her book with a
  very moving poem. 

Hanan Al-Shaykh, -The Story of Zahra_ trans. Peter Ford. New York: Quartet
Books, 1986.

Zahra is a shia Lebanese living in Beirut during the war (though she also
goes to West Africa for a while).  I won't give away the plot but only
mention that she has a very complex relationship with a sniper.  I really
liked this book.  It deals very frankly with sensitive issues such as sex
and politics, and especially with the struggles of women.

About Lebanese history:

House of Many Mansions.

If you want to read good french books by lebanese writers, you can read
"Samarcande", "Leon l'africain", and there is another book, I think it is "Les
croisades vues par les arabes".  The author is Amin Maalouf.
I know that Amin Maalouf's book has been translated into English. -The
Crusades Through Arab Eyes_ trans. Jon Rothschild. New York: Schocken
Books, 1987. Leon l'Africain has also been translated.  The English 
title is Leo Africanus.  I'm not sure who the publisher is.

  Since you are a Canadian you might be interested in the 
following :

Emily Nasrallah, _Flight Against Time_ trans. Issa J. Boullata.
Charlettetown, P.E.I.: Ragweed Press, 1987.
  This is a very touching depiction of an older man's inability to get
  used to life in Canada, where his children live and where they want
  him to move because of the outbreak of the war in Lebanon.  The old
  man's attachment to his Lebanese village is conveyed in a simple,
  direct style, making his predicament that much more poignant.


Enough "culture" for this non "cultural" channel.

|> A while ago, when I heard the rumor that Lebanon was to be no more,
|> and Palestine was to be in it's place, I was going to...3@#$@$#@$

So... It was just a rumor, and it was proven to be just that,
don't let your bias be too transparent.
 
|> You give em an inch they want it all.....
|> 
|> 
|> 
|> Anyway....would someone please enlighten the situation for me and others..


You need much more enlightment than you think.  Maybe you will
need a revelation to get you out of the wilderness.

|> 
|> John LAWEN                 
|> 
|> No offence to anyone.....

but you did offend many including myself.  I hope you will recognize
your lack of tact and apologize to the readership.

Basil
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