Beirut's Sunset: Civil War, Right to the Truth and Public Remembrance 1
Beirut's Sunset: Civil War, Right to the Truth and Public Remembrance Gianluca Siega Battel' 1. The Years of Darkness: An International-Regional Civil War Several factors contributed to the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war and different weight has been given to them in the literature on the topic. Some have a distinct Lebanese origin; others pertain to the domain of Middle Eastern and inter national politics. Inter-communal (and no less ferocious intra " Human rights expert; areas of expertise include minority rights, communal <<wars within the wan>) battles intertwined with post-conflict situations, the Balkans wars by proxy and episodes of full-scale inter-state conflict and the Middle East. against a background of regional rivalries (many states of the 1 On Lebanon's recent history and region played a role, even if only financial or diplomatic), the the civil war, I have consulted, among others: P. Hitti, History of unsolved Palestinian issue and the influence of superpowers. the Arabs, London, Palgrave The Lebanese civil war is probably better described as «cycles MacMillan, 2002 (1st ed. 1937), pp. 728-736; P. Mansfield, A History of of wars» with internal, regional and international dimensions'. the Middle East, London, Penguin In its modern history Lebanon experienced two civil wars prior Books, 2003 (1st ed. 1991), pp. 280- 322; F. Massoulie, Les conflicts du to 1975: in 1858-1860, between the Maronite and Druze Proche Orient, Paris, Casterman, communities, which triggered French intervention in defense 1994 (revised ed.); R. Fisk, Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War, london, of the former, and in 1958, between pro-Western and Oxford University Press, 20013 (1st nationalist/leftist forces, which ended with US intervention at ed.
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