Lebanese Phalanges

The Party of the Lebanese Phalanges (Arabic: حزب الكتائب اللبنانية‎ Hizb Al-Katā'ib Al-Lubnaniya; in French: Phalanges libanaises), also known as Lebanese Phalanges, Lebanese Phalanx or Kataeb ("phalanges"), is a right-wing political party in Lebanon founded in 1936 by Pierre Gemayel.

Its official name is Social Democratic Party, in practice most of its members and social support come from the Maronite Church, the largest Christian denomination in the country. They currently defend a policy of distancing themselves from Syria, compared to other Lebanese organizations such as Hezbollah of pro-Syrian alignment. Since its foundation it has suffered several internal crises and several splits.

History

The Lebanese Phalanges emerged on November 5, 1936 as a student organization, led by the pharmacist Pierre Gemayel, Charles Helou, Emile Yared and Georges Naccache. Inspired by José Antonio Primo de Rivera's Spanish Falange and Italian fascism, it appears as a nationalist movement opposed to French colonization in Lebanon from the beginning, initially collaborating with Al-Nayyada Sunnis. Its motto is God, Country and Family. Unlike other anti-colonial organizations in Arab countries, they consider themselves Phoenician, that is, they defend a particular Lebanese identity descended from their Phoenician past. However, small groups of Christians of other confessions and Muslims who were supporters of a new independent and modern state, of a corporate type, away from the predominant Arab nationalism in the Middle East, joined the Party.

On November 15, 1936, at the Furn el Shebbak railway stadium, several young men received basic military training. On January 10 of the following year, they marched from that city to Beirut, making their first public appearance, followed by the opening of a Falangist branch in Hammana.

In the framework of the dispute between Bechara el Khoury and Émile Eddé, Pierre Gemayel was chosen as chief as he was the only neutral Falangist leader in this case on April 27, 1937, ending the period of collective leadership. On November 22 of the same year, the party failed to celebrate its first anniversary after Gemayel was wounded in the head and arrested after clashes with the French. The party considers this incident a "baptism by fire" and, since then, the party celebrates its anniversary on this day. In 1939, the Falangist newspaper, "Amal", and its French version, "Action", appeared. In 1941, a women's section was created, something never before seen in a Middle Eastern political organization.

In 1942, the Phalanges adhere to the demand for independence, and the party joins the Nayyada Islamic Movement and others to achieve this goal. In 1943, Lebanon became independent, and the party was legally recognized in the new Lebanese nation on November 27 of the same year by decree.

After independence

The influx of Palestinian refugees into Lebanon after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War was interpreted by the Kataeb as a threat since, as the refugees were predominantly Muslim, they altered the delicate multi-ethnic composition of Lebanon, a country whose political life rested on the balance of forces between the different religious denominations. By the early 1950s, there were 400,000 refugees in a country of two and a half million inhabitants. For this reason, the party viewed the Palestinians with suspicion and distrust, especially after Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's call to build a United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1958, an idea that was not rejected by Lebanese and Palestinian Muslims, and which It collided directly with the Falangist ideology. The party will oppose both Palestinian entrenchment on Lebanese soil and the activities of the PLO.

Its founder, Pierre Gemayel, stood in the parliamentary elections in 1951, representing the Falangist Party for the first time.

In 1958, when a serious crisis broke out caused by the birth of the RAU and the support given to it by the Muslims, the Lebanese Phalanges showed iron support for the government of Camille Chamoun against the newly created Republic. In this crisis, the Falangists took up arms. The crisis ends with the landing of US marines in Beirut and the departure of Chamoun.

In 1964, the Falangist party joined the Triple Alliance together with the PNL of Chamoun and the National Bloc of Raymond Eddé, son of Émile Eddé. After the Six Day War, new Palestinian refugees and militia members arrive in southern Lebanon, destabilizing the situation again; PLO attacks against Israel from Lebanese territory became more frequent, in addition, there were several clashes between the Lebanese Army, Tanzim and the Palestinians.

In 1970, the Christian bloc and the Phalanges supported the candidacy of Elias Sarkis, who lost the election by a single vote to Suleiman Frangieh, thanks to Kamal Jumblatt's Druze parliamentarians. Under Frangieh's presidency, tensions reached a peak, especially after Black September, in which the PLO was driven from Jordan into Lebanon. Between 1972 and 1975, the size of the Phalanges increased to 85,000 members, as the Christian community felt threatened by the Palestinian armed presence.

On the eve of the Lebanese Civil War, the Kataeb will have one of the main armed organizations in the country. Bashir Gemayel, the son of the movement's founder, held the leadership of the party's military wing, the Kataeb Regulatory Forces.

The Phalanges during the civil war

On Sunday, April 13, 1975, the leader of the Phalanges, Pierre Gemayel, suffered an assassination attempt in the church of Notre Dame de la Délivrance as he was leaving a baptism in Ain el Remmaneh, by the PFLP, causing the death of Joseph Abou Assi (father of the baptized girl) and other Falangists. The same day, Falangists open fire on a bus full of Palestinian refugees, killing 27 and wounding 19 passengers. What is known as the "Bus Massacre" start the civil war. The Lebanese Phalangist movement was in open warfare against the Palestinian militias and the Lebanese organizations that supported them. The prime minister, Rashid el Solh, tries to pressure Gemayel to hand over those responsible, but he refuses, explaining that his party no longer recognizes the government.

The phalanxes attack Palestinian refugee camps (used as military strongholds by the PLO) with the support of allied organizations, and, during the battle of Tel el Zaatar, the Lebanese Front is created, a coalition to coordinate the parties of right, under the leadership of Bashir Gemayel. The Falanges were the backbone of what was considered the Christian resistance. Each Falangist district had its own units to mobilize when necessary.

In 1978, the Ehden Massacre takes place, where Falangists and members of the TTC kill the leader of the Marada Movement in retaliation for the murder of a Falangist official.

In 1980, due to tensions between the PNL and the Phalanges, Bashir Gemayel attacked Safra, causing the elimination of the Ahrar armed militia. That same year, the Lebanese Forces appear, a union of all Christian organizations into one.

In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanese territory and forced the departure of the PLO and the other Palestinian armed organizations. Bashir Gemayel, who initially had arms support from the Israelis, refuses to sign a peace agreement with them and does not share the idea that Israel should prevail over the south of the country, since, in his opinion, it was necessary to appease the relations with Muslims and Arab countries. Later, he is elected Lebanese president, but is assassinated before taking office, along with 40 other Falangists, at the hands of a Lebanese member of the PSNS, Habib Shartouni.

In revenge for the storming of dozens of towns and the deaths of thousands of Christians during the 1970s, and enraged by the recent assassination of Gemayel, the Lebanese Forces, led by Elie Hobeika, enter two Palestinian refugee camps on the night of September 16 to 17, and murdered several hundred refugees in what became known as the Sabra and Shatila Massacres.

Bashir was succeeded by his brother Amin. During the Falangist governments, the occupation of the country by the Syrian army was promoted as a way to end the war, although later this would generate significant internal tensions. Bashir is succeeded by his cousin in the FL, Fadi Frem, although he is replaced by Fouad Abou Nader after pressure from Amin. Abou Nader is overthrown by Elie Hobeika in 1985, and he himself is also overthrown due to the discontent caused by signing the Tripartite Agreement and is replaced by Samir Geagea. Despite not opposing Amin Gemayel, Geagea effectively makes the FL an organization completely independent from the Kataeb.

Postwar

Pierre Gemayel, who remained head of the Phalanges although de facto leadership during the war had corresponded to his son, died in 1984. He was succeeded by Elie Karameh (1984-1986) and George Saade (1986-1998).

At the end of his presidential term, Amin Gemayel chooses General Michel Aoun as his successor, a decision not ratified by parliament and which causes division between two governments; One Christian, supported by Iraq, and another Muslim, by Syria. Aoun declares a Liberation War against Syria, denies the Taif Agreement and does not recognize the elected presidents (René Moawad and Elias Hrawi), and incidentally attacks Geagea's FL. Aoun loses this conflict

Internal dissensions in the party regarding the Syrian presence in the country are accentuated. Amin Gemayel, contrary to it, leaves the country.

The decline of the Kataeb

Little by little, the Lebanese Phalangists are gradually losing influence and presence for various reasons, which also causes various internal crises and finally leads to various splits:

• During the civil war the paramilitary arm, the Lebanese Forces, over the organization's politician, was predominated, which will end its independence.
• The continuing intrusion of Israeli military interventions.
• Presence and influence of Syria.
• Apparition of new leaders and parties such as Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement.
• Disappearance for various reasons of the most charismatic leaders.

Between 1996 and 1998, the Kataeb fragmented over disputes and tensions over the Taif Agreement. One side supported Georges Saadeh, pro-Taif, and the other, Gemayel, anti-Taif. At the end of Amin Gemayel's presidential term, he leaves the country, as already mentioned. The Falangist situation is increasingly precarious: Boutros Khawand, a Phalangist leader, also opposed to the Syrian occupation, is kidnapped on September 5, 1992 and apparently illegally confined in the Palmyra detention center in Syria. Saadeh's successor at the head of the party, Munir al-Hajj, will attempt an approach to Damascus that will be strongly contested by the militants.

In the 2000 legislative elections, Munir al-Hajj ran alongside pro-Syrian Michel Murr, then Minister of the Interior, on a list that also included members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, in favor of Lebanon's reintegration into Syria and fighter during the civil war against the Lebanese Forces. He was defeated and displaced from the leadership.

Two candidates competed to succeed him: the anti-Syrian Amin Gemayel, who is returning from exile, and the pro-Syrian Karim Pakradouni. The latter will be elected thanks to significant interference by Syrian intelligence in the internal electoral process, which causes a de facto split in the organization between supporters of one or the other:

• Amin Gemayel, cover the Kataeb Reform MovementAlso called Kataeb: Al-Qaeda (Kataeb: The Base) and joins a coalition led by the Sunni party Future Movement. Together with his son, Pierre Amine, they oppose the official line of the party.
• Karim Pakradouni, party leader Lebanese Kataeb Party, integrated into the pro-syria coalition with Amal, Hizbulá and the PSNS.

On February 14, 2005, Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in Beirut. After several other deaths of anti-Syrian politicians and journalists, he triggered the so-called Cedar Revolution to condemn and force Syria to leave the country permanently. At this stage, the militants of the Lebanese Forces show great activity and in April the Syrian Army withdraws.

On November 21, 2006, another member of the party and the Gemayel family is assassinated: Pierre Amine Gemayel, Minister of Industry. His supporters accuse Syria of being behind the attack.

In 2007, Amin retakes control of the party. On September 19 of the same year, Antoine Ghanem, a member of the Lebanese Parliament and a Falangist militant, was assassinated in a car bomb attack. Again the party accuses the Syrian secret services of his death.

News

After having been party president between 2007 and 2015, Amin is replaced by his son, Samy Gemayel. Samy withdrew from politics after his studies and after having been student leader of the party, but the murder of his brother, Pierre, determined him to return to activism. He led the Central Committee, and then the entire organization. In 2018, the party retained three deputies: Samy Gemayel, Nadim Gemayel, and Elias Hankach. Following the Beirut port explosion in 2020, the party's general secretary, Nazar Najarian, passed away. As a consequence, the three Falangist deputies resigned until the case of the explosions was resolved.

Presidents of the Lebanese Phalanges

• Pierre Gemayel (1936-1984)
• Elie Karamé (1984-1986)
• Georges Saadeh (1986-1998)
• Mounir al-Hajj (1998-2001)
• Karim Pakradouni (2001-2007)
• Amin Gemayel (2007-2015)
• Samy Gemayel (since 2015)

Other personalities

• Richard Millet
• Jocelyne Khoueiry

Notes and external references