Wilbur ’s Reviews > From Beirut to Jerusalem > Status Update

- they also included predominantly Sunni Muslim cities of the coast Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon Tyre and Shiite Muslim cities of the south Akkar and Bekaa valley and maronites were about 51% in 1932
- Muslims where not consulted and they probably would’ve chosen to be a part of Arab Muslim Syria
- The Sunnis tended to comprise or wealthy and well educated where the Shiites were more country and less educated
- 1943 they reached an agreement “National Pact” where they gained independence from France. Muslims abandoned demands for Syria and Maronites agreed that Lebanon would be an Arab country. President would always be Maronite, parliament would be 6:5 Christian, prime minister would be Sunni, speaker of house would be Shiite
- by 1970 Muslims were about 2/3 of the population and they demanded a restructuring to gain more power but Maronites refused and both sides started building private armies

- late 19th early 20th century conflict bt Jews and Palestinians began when Jews began immigrating to biblical homeland in Palestine driven by Zionism. They ignored the Arabs living there or assumed they would bought off
- after WWI Britain carved out two regions in 1921. 1 region east of Jordan river became Jordan and installed Bedouin chieftain Abdullah Ibn Hussein who came from Saudi. About 300k people half who were Bedouin and other half where Palestinian who resided on the east bank
- Western half of Palestine by Mediterranean Sea and Jordan river Palestinian Arabs and Zionist Jews wrestled for control. This got worse after a huge influx of Jews during WWII. Britain then announced it was leaving and turned Palestine over to the UN

- Nov 29 1947 UN votes to divide western Palestine into two states. Jews would get Negev Desert, coastal plain of Tel Aviv and Haifa, and parts of Northern Galilee. Palestinians would get West Bank of Jordan, Gaza district, Jaffa, and Arab sectors of Galilee. Jerusalem would be international enclave under the UN. Jews accepted but the Palestinians and surrounding Arab countries rejected.
- May 1948 Zionists declared their own state and next day Palestinians, aided by Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi, and Iraq launched a war to try and control western Palestine

- during war Zionists held all land assigned to them by UN and were able to seize land designated for Palestinians. Other areas designated for Palestinians were annexed by Jordan (West Bank) and Egypt (Gaza district). And neither country allowed Palestinians to form their own governing body.
- before the annexation Jordan had about 450k Bedouins and east bank Palestinians. And we’re now joined by 400k West Bank Palestinians and 300k Palestinians war refugees who were driven out of what became Israel
- 1951 King Abdullah of Jordan was killed in Jerusalem by a Palestinian and was succeeded by his grandson Hussein

- following 1948 fighting Israel signed armistice agreements with Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. But these Arab states allowed Palestinian resistance groups to use their territory to launch attacks against Israel. Particularly from Egyptian controlled Gaza Strip.
- 1964 the Arab league created the PLO to support and to control the Palestinians
- 1967 Israel launched preemptive strike against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan after Nassar declared intention to destroy Jewish state after forging alliances with Jordan and Syria.
- after this six day war Israel now controlled Egypts Sinia peninsula, Syria’s golan heights, and Jordan’s West Bank

- after massive Arab defeat guerilla groups started forming in the 1950s - 60s outside of arab govt control and were able to take over the PLO and made Yasir Arafat the chairman
- The PLO received support from Arab states to continue was with Israel and was able to take control of Palestinian refugee camps in southern Lebanon and Jordan and launched attacks on Israel from these neighboring regions. Israel would then retaliate which began causing issues with Lebanese and Palestinians and Jordanians and Palestinians
- Sept 1970 Guerillas hijacked 3 airliners and brought them to Jordan. Here king Hussein launched an offensive against PLO in Amman refugee camps and was supported by east bank Palestinians and Bedouins. Arafat was forced to flee and went to Lebanon. And this is when Lebanese conflict became intertwined with Israel Palestine conflict
- Arafat was welcomed by the Muslims in Lebanon who empathized with them and hoped to use the PLO to gain power over Maronite Christians
- 1970’s tensions bt Lebanese Christians and Muslims grew as PLO used Lebanon as a base to attack Israel
- the caused a deadlock. Christians wanted PLO out since now Lebanese way of life was disrupted and without PLO the Muslims had less power. This also caused govt and military to become paralyzed.
- April 1973 car opened fire of Christian church killing 4. Same day 27 Palestinians in bus in east Beirut were killed by Phalangists.
- next day Phalangist and Tigres militia were joined by Christians of Lebanese army and Muslim side did the same causing the start of a civil war
- the civil war came to a stalemate. Lebanese govt was stripped of power and territory. South and western half of Beirut became a powerhouse for PLO. While Christian eastern half and Mt Lebanon enclave became the turf for phalangists and Christians. Rest of Lebanon (northern port of Tripoli and Bekaa valley) fell under Syrian control who dispatched their army in April 1976 and have remained ever since
- bt 1976 and 1979 was the worst fighting and after the occasional flare up would start. Syrians and Christians would fight Palestinians then a month later Syrians and Palestinians would fight Christians and in between everyone would do business with everyone else. There were so many private armies each being funded by another Arab country that there was plenty of currency to go around and the Lebanese currency stayed relatively stable