To what extent did the previous French occupation of Lebanon influence religious and ethnic divisions within the country which, later on, contributed to the countrys civil war of 1976-1990 and then lead to the Taif Agreement?

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Mattar002226013

Salem Mattar

11C/IB 1

Mr. Tucker

30/07/12

History Internal Assessment

Question: To what extent did the previous French occupation of Lebanon influence religious and ethnic divisions within the country which, later on, contributed to the country’s civil war of 1976-1990 and then lead to the Ta’if Agreement?

Table of Contents

A. Plan of Investigation…………………………………………………………………………1

B. Summary of Evidence………………………………………………………………………3-4

C. Evaluation of Sources……………………………………………………………………….5-6

D. Analysis……………………………………………………………………………………..7-9

E. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………..10

F. Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………..11


A. Plan of investigation

        The investigation assesses the significance of religious and ethnic problems that contributed to the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-1990. In order to evaluate the significance religious and ethnic problems, the investigation examines their roles in the stages that led to the Civil War in reference to other factors, such as ethnic conflicts, that caused the event; these problems are investigated in the initial days of the war, during the shoot-out on a bus killing 27 Palestinians on the early morning of April 13, 1975, and the Ta’if Agreement of 1989, which ended the war. Two of the sources in the essay, World Affairs, "The Lebanese Civil War: An Investigation into the Causes." compiled by Derek Benjamin Heater,  Gwyneth Owen and Joseph Chamie and The Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1990 written by Samir Makdisi and Richard Sadaka will then be evaluated according to the views that each of them have in detail.

        This investigation assesses the ideologies and views of the events involved in causing the war and it assesses only the opinions of the citizens of Lebanon.

B. Summary of Evidence

        This specific war was not cause by one or two incidents alone, but by centuries and decades of compiled problems to the extent where the majority of the citizens couldn’t take it much longer. In their well written research paper The Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1990, Makdisi and Richard Sadaka claim that the Lebanese Civil War broke out in April 1975, twenty-nine years after the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon in 1946 and was settled in October 1989, under an accord negotiated by the Lebanese Parliament in the town of Tai’f, Saudi Arabia. Although they have written a relatively short research paper they have covered a majority of the main points and problems that led to the cause of the war. In short their study draws the readers’ attention to the some basic questions relating to the Lebanese civil war and its cause like, “How did religion, economy and politics play a role in disrupting the status quo of Lebanon and lead to the Civil War?” After Makdisi’s paper explains the pre-war conditions, it examines the multiple faces to the conflict and separates them into three different phases of the war then, evaluates the war’s causes finally finding that religious, rather than ethnic, differences are a vital point to know about to help in the understanding of the several causes of the Lebanese civil war. External interventions are another significant factor in accounting for the causes of the war which is also explained thoroughly in this study such as the Lebanese history with the French and being under their mandate and how the French’s presence disrupted the peace that was once in Lebanon. His paper also briefly draws out the goals and outcomes of the Tai’f accords of 1989. It provides an assessment of the probable permanence of the -religious- resolution to the conflict, taking into consideration continuous the presence of the Syrian military and the strong political influence in the country.

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Joseph Chamie mentions in his chapter that before the Civil War, “There was already a fortified, and increasing in fortification, magnitude, and intensity of tension among the Lebanese within the time span of 1973 to 1974. In this period of time, the religious and political groups were actively and readily preparing themselves for the expected “doomsday””, as if they knew that it was to come. This source, similar to the first, talks about the pre-war period and how all of the dogmatic and vital actions done by either external interference and conflicts such as, the Syrians and Palestinians entering into ...

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