Greater Lebanon Centenary
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OPINION OPINION INTERNATIONAL NOW IS THE TIME TO LET TRUSTED LEBANON PM-DESIGNATE LEBANON S BUILD A STABLE, THIRD PARTIES VISITS BEIRUT PROSPEROUS, HELP LEBANON BLAST SITES, TOLERANT Herve de Charette VOWS RECOVERY CENTENARY Page 4 Looking back at events and forces LEBANON Page 10 Bahaa Hariri that have shaped the nation’s destiny Page 3 TUESDAY, September 1, 2020 Since 1975 Muharram 13, 1442 www.arabnews.com 100years later, what is left of the Lebanese state? Special coverage: Pages 3- 7 NEW BEGINNING CREATIVITY Film fest gets underway Historic flight: US-Israeli with celebration delegation arrives in Abu Dhabi of regional talent “While this is a historic flight, we meetings of joint teams on a range Mohammed Al-Hamadi. AFP Abu Dhabi Aseel Bashraheel Jeddah hope that it will start an even more of issues ahead of the signing of Later in the day there will be A US-Israeli delegation led by historic journey in the Middle East cooperation agreements in the The sixth Saudi Film Festival will five screenings which will include White House adviser Jared and beyond,” Kushner, who is US civil and economic spheres.” on Tuesday go live with a 6-day “Breath” by Razan Al-Sagheer, and Kushner arrived on Monday in Abu President Donald Trump’s son-in- The visit will also include virtual celebration of regionally “The Red Circle” by Abdul Aziz Al- Dhabi, on the historic first commer- law and a key architect of his Middle a meeting between Kushner, produced movies. Sarhan. cial flight from Tel Aviv to mark the East policy, said before boarding. Ben-Shabbat and UAE National Bringing together Saudi talents Nominations fall under the cat- normalization of ties between the “The future does not have to be Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoun and creatives, the event aims to sup- egories of best feature film, docu- Jewish state and the UAE. predetermined by the past. This is bin Zayed, it said. port emerging filmmakers and pro- mentary, student movie, and un- The word “peace” was written a very hopeful time.” President Trump’s national mote movie culture in the Kingdom. executed scenario. in Arabic, English and Hebrew on The landmark direct flight by security adviser, Robert O’Brien, Due to the coronavirus disease The winner of the best film the cockpit of the El Al flight that Israel’s national carrier, numbered who is part of the delegation, said (COVID-19) pandemic, the annual award will receive a prize of landed at the VIP terminal in the LY971 in a nod to the UAE’s interna- earlier in Jerusalem that more flick fest will this year see films SR40,000 ($10,665), with the UAE capital where US flags flew tional dialing code, is due to return Arab and Muslim countries were screened via YouTube, reaching a runner-up getting SR20,000 and alongside the Star of David banner. on Tuesday with the number 972, likely to follow the UAE in normal- larger audience. SR10,000 going to the producer of matching Israel’s dialing code. izing relations with Israel. Following the opening ceremo- the audience’s favorite movie. The agreement to normalize ties Jared Kushner Israel’s Health Ministry had late ny at 6 p.m., the first day will in- Similar rewards will be handed was announced by Trump on Aug. on Sunday updated its list of “green clude selected nominated movies, out for best documentaries and 2 Riyals • Vol. XLV 13, making the UAE the first Gulf broad range of areas. countries” with low coronavirus a symposium on the future of Sau- student films, while first place in No. 271 • 16 pages country and only the third Arab The talks in Abu Dhabi aim infection rates to include the UAE di filmmaking at 8 p.m., and then a the best long scenario section will 36 > nation to establish relations with to boost cooperation between and eight other countries. second group of showings. bag SR30,000 and second spot Israel. the two regional economic The change meant the Israeli The first batch of films will take in SR20,000, with the best short sce- Israeli National Security Adviser powerhouses in areas including officials and journalists traveling to six features, including “And When nario winner receiving SR15,000 Meir Ben-Shabbat, who was also aviation, tourism, trade, health, Abu Dhabi would be exempted from Do I Sleep?” by Husam Al-Sayed, and the runner-up SR10,000. on the flight to the UAE, said “our energy and security. a 14-day quarantine upon return. “Coexistence” by Haya Al-Suhail, Applications for the festival goal is to achieve a joint working An Israeli government statement “Remember Me” by Mohammed closed on Aug. 8 with 384 submis- 9 771319 833009 plan to advance relations in a very said there would be “working Detailed report Page 9 Hammad, and “The Village” by sions (105 films and 279 scripts). ARAB NEWS Tuesday, September 1, 2020 3 GREATER LEBANON CENTENARY SpotlightSPECIAL COVERAGE FRANCE AND LEBANON The mandate’s mixed blessing Multiple crises confront a nation founded on a sectarian system that is now being blamed for its deep divisions came to an agreement on their Ephrem Kossaify New York City National Pact, a lot of what the It was amidst the ruins French had introduced during of the Aug. 4 Beirut port the mandate became custom. For explosion, surrounded example, the president is Chris- by traumatized citizens tian, the prime minister is Sunni who seemed comforted by and the speaker of the parliament his presence, that French Shia.” President Emmanuel Lebanese poet Henri Zoghaib, Macron found himself in who has advocated for a secular the surreal position of state in the country for years, having to announce that he believes “sectarianism in religion would return on Sept. 1 to is good, for every religion has its commemorate the creation sects. But sectarianism in the state of Greater Lebanon. is a disaster. “The French Revolution began Macron’s interaction with regular way before 1789 when the nobility Lebanese on that day has invited and the clergy were tyrannizing re-examination of the past society. When the revolution hundred years, during which matured and the Bastille was France, despite all misgivings, was stormed, the clergy were put always called “the tender mother”. in their place, and politicians in What separates the events that theirs. The people became the led to the creation of the modern source of power. The people were Lebanese state and those that the ‘word of God.’ Only when the had brought the French leader to same happens in Lebanon, will Beirut, is much more than just the we be delivered from this monster passage of 100 years. called sectarianism.” As his ship crossed the Atlantic Young makes a key distinction on its way to Paris in 1919, US Presi- between sectarianism as it had dent Woodrow Wilson was armed by an unwavering vision for a new world order in the aftermath of the First World War: Affairs between The Maronites lost nations would be conducted in the power. The Sunnis lost open, on the basis of sovereignty, self-determination and the repudi- power. Now Hezbollah ation of military force to settle and the Shia. We shall dispute. see where they’re going. The victorious Allies gathered at the Paris Peace Conference to set been prior to the 1975 Lebanese the terms for the defeated Central civil war, and the version that was Powers. A question was on every- to then emerge after the conflict one’s mind: What to do with the ended. pieces left of the Ottoman Empire, “When the war ended in 1990, the “sick man,” and every other you had a new order established empire that collapsed? by the Syrians and the Saudis, who Back then, in the US, there was came to a kind of consensus over heavy opposition to colonialism. Lebanon, that became known as The US would never join the the Taif Accord, and that eventu- fight to help maintain and expand ally brought the nomination of European empires. Instead, there Rafik Hariri as a prime minister,” would be mandates given to The proclamation of Greater Lebanon: Gen. Henri Gouraud (center) flanked by Maronite patriarch, Msgr Hoyek, and Gov. Negib bey Abussuan. Getty Images he said. small, well-run countries, perhaps “Today, we have a dominant Scandinavian countries, Wilson military force called Hezbollah thought, that would not have the vision. France had invested so A locust wave decimated the “But I have heard no mention of was thriving long before Greater that is not allowing for the ambition or resources to turn the much in Syria and Lebanon during mountain crops and resulted in an apology for actions the French Lebanon. In the preceding system, consolidation of a sovereign state. protectorates into colonies. the previous century that it insisted famine which, compounded by the took in Lebanon 100 years ago, known as Mutasarifiya, sectarian Tensions will continue until this “But of course, as soon as Wilson on creating a “friendly” entity that Allies’ blockade of Beirut’s coast, even as the League of Nations institutions had already emerged issue is resolved. And on top of it, got to Paris, there was no way would anchor the French presence killed tens of thousands. Emotions, awarded them the mandate. in an attempt to create a balance Hezbollah is an armed group that the prime ministers of France in the Middle East. then, were running high on the “When World War I ended, among communities. is not loyal to Lebanon. It is loyal to or Britain were going to let him The new entity had to be a safe first day of September 1920.