THE Gemayel, 'Phalange militias. He was elected in the wake of the Israeli invasion, in a farcical 'election' in, the Lebanese parliament.
Israelis — they made it abundantly clear to the other Lebanese Christian factions that they would tolerate no one else.
Since the civil war in 1975-76, Phalangist militias have collaborated openly Israelis against the Palestinians and the Lebanese lett. To understand hackground to the war and the character of Phalangists = necessary to take a look at the history of the Lebanese state, and the origins of its religious, confessional, character As early as the 13th Century the Druze Arabs the dominant force among the Lebanese Muslims who are the ma jority in Lebanon had control over much of the area of what is now known as Lebanon.
Their rule was disturbed only by the invasion from Egypt in 1585 during which 60,000 Druze Arabs were killed. Druze rule was aristoce Maronite ChrisThe tians - descendents of the Christians of Palestine at the time of Christ - came LLLO the region agricultural labourers and small traders and artisans. But the area was firmly the domination the Druze princes. The Druze sect maintained its mononov on power wrI all the esoteric fervour characteristic of this kind of religious sect Druze domination of the region was however disrupted by the eruption the 'Maronite offensive' between 1842 and LEBANESE president is Bashir leader of the Christian Maronite His election was under the auspices of the 1860 in which the oppressed Maronite masses fought tor power In this war confessional loyalty merged with class conflict. In 1864 the war was given a new twist the dismemberment of Lebanon by the French.
The Maronites had been defeated militarily, protect They created a Maronite enclave Edent the first world until the first war, when the Ottoman Turks overan the region.
After the war the region the British and French.
Lebanese was founded, the roles reversed. Imperialism en the Maronite Christians as Dulwark dealist Arabs. Clergy The Maronite traders, andowner. and clergy formed the ruling class out post-First World War redivision that presen l political alignments have come.
The Contessona character of the state is institutionalised through precise division the to apporțior each of the 16 recognisec regions rosa de ite number seats. The overall balance however ensures a conunuing majority for the Christians. Palestinian fighters leave West Beirut. Inset, Phalangist leader Bashir Gemayel.
Gemayel's father, Pierre Gemayel, organised Maronies into the Katahe right Party which vied with the for domination l equally PNL domination The attached to Gemayel's pardirect was created under the inspiration of the rise of fascism in Europe, rollowing Gemaya!'s visit to the Berlin Olympics in 1936 The domination of Christian politics by the Phalange stems from the civil war of 1975-76. By the 19/US ine Muslims were clearly majority in Lebanon, yet the Maronite rulers refused all attempts Moreover the left wing in Lebanon, almost entirely Muslim and organised in Kamal Joumblatt's Lebanese National Move. ment, was powerfully aid. ed by the re-location of a large portion of the Palestinian militias Lebanon, following their defeat September While both sides maintained their Beirut enclaves intact, the Muslim and Palestinian militias were rapidly victorious in the countryside marone-comer was in danger of defeat and collapse.
But the Lebanese National Movement prevented securing its victorv through the in tervention of the so-called 'Arat peace-keeping force namely the Syrian army. Doing the dirty work of imperialism the Syrians ensured that the Maronite positions WET: wefended Lebanon was unresolvNOW Calle sion has resolved it. Militia The Phalangist militias integrated the Israeli army at every level. Many ICOULLS the Tripoli area speak officers giving orders to Phalangis troops. During the seige of Beirut the Phalangist joined israeli intantry Lebanon Gemayel will be an Israeli puppet state pure and sim ple. In return the Maronite landowners will keep and extend their power. The future for the Palestinian refugees and the Muslim population - the majorit!
is however extreme!! grim.
Gemayel has, like his father, been prepared ic utilise every method of ter ror against both Muslim: and opponents Christian community Maronite domination ha created imperia's= Zionist Praare:
To keep a revolutionary newspaper going requires a long many sacrifices by our supporters. As we have pointed out many times, Socialist Challenge capitalist press has no subsidies in the form of advertising revenue. It has no automatic nation-wide network and relies on the week-byweek sales of our readers.
In a time of capitalist recession, when printing costs are constantly rising, it is difficult to keep our head above water. Despite the many contributions by our supporters to help us, Socialist Challenge has had to come to grips with the financial facts - and take some difficult decisions.
Over the past year or so we have been losing week. Obviously we cannot sustain such a loss indefinitely. So we have decided to cut down the number of pages to 12 between now and Christmas, and to reduce the number of journalists by one.
This is precisely the opposite direction to the one we want to go in. But we are determined that these changes should onstruggle and unlike distribution on average more than £500 per GOING 'ROUND
----- pull-quotes -----
Socialist Challenge - an appeal to our readers