The Lebanon occupies a curious place in our imagination. For the Irish it is mainly a place where our soldiers routinely go to keep the peace. Sometimes this exposes them to dreadful danger as various contending armies and militias attack each other and our troops get caught in the middle.
After all, if the peace doesn’t exist, you can’t very well keep it. They’ve learned a lot, and last Easter, at the 1916 commemoration, were quietly proud to show off just how sophisticated they have become as a result.
But the Lebanon is really much more than that. It’s where the Phoenicians came from. These clever and industrious people gave much to the world. In this hemisphere they were the first great sailors and traders, the first of whom it was said ‘they’d buy and sell you’. And almost certainly it was a Phoenician who discovered nought, one of the fundamental mathematical concepts without which little of what we now take for granted would be possible.
It has been their misfortune for two and a half millennia to live in the shadow of more powerful neighbours or empires. But like the Irish, in general they managed to keep their heads down, to survive and even prosper.
This they have done in a number of ways, but especially through commerce. Over the centuries most Mediterranean trade either passed through Lebanon or was controlled by Levantine traders. In the 20th century, they became the bankers of the Arab world and Beirut, their capital, one of the great financial centres.
Then there’s their food. Each successive ruling empire left its trace and all were gleefully mixed and matched – Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Ottoman, French – to such an extent that Lebanese cuisine is now Arab cuisine and vice versa.
But like fisher folk swamped by a tsunami, finally in the late 20th century they were overwhelmed by outside forces. Israel’s wars spilled over, with Palestinians flooding into south Lebanon and fundamentalist guerrilla forces developing there in turn. Other storm clouds included the Ba’ath regimes in Syria and Iraq and the increasingly intolerant Islamic state in Iran.
Their wars were not Lebanon’s wars – but their forces invaded and raided, bombed and bulleted and fought each other to a standstill on Lebanese soil. They tried to control the Government and set up proxy armies, some of which were as nasty and brutish as themselves, such as the villainous South Lebanese Army, trained, funded and supported for many years by the Israelis.
That civil war broke out is no surprise. Beirut became a by-word for war, destruction and lawlessness. Much like Mogadishu ten years later. But, as Israel slowly ran out of steam and as a fledgling peace movement gathered pace, Lebanon began to return to, well, some kind of civilisation. They even considered stepping out from Syria’s shadow…
It was never going be easy. Last year the Syrians assassinated Rafik Hariri, the independently-minded prime minister. But reaction was so negative that they pulled in their horns and it seemed, for a moment, that maybe Lebanon would be able to take the reins for itself.
Well, no. That hope has now been extinguished. Instead of moving forward it has been driven brutally back. Fingers are being pointed in all directions – but mainly at Hizbollah and its reputed backers in Syria and/or Iran on one side and Israel and its backer the USA on the other. Wider wars have spilled in again. Once more, armies roam.
As I write, there are streams of people leaving the area south of the river Litani, having been warned by the Israelis to get out while they can. Anyone who remains will be regarded as hostile and may be shot on sight.
Can you imagine? Think, for example, of a neighbouring state ordering the entire population east of the Bann to leave their homes while it goes in to sort out hostile militias. Or west of the Shannon. Get out and stay out till we say you can return (to your own home!).
Incredible.
Others can tell you of the political rights and wrongs of this whole mess. My interest is in the innocent bystanders, the terrorised people driven from their homes for who knows how long – there are Palestinians in refugee camps since 1948 – and those (on both sides) killed and injured by indiscriminate bombing and shelling.
Yeah, the survival of Israel is important and so too are the rights of the Palestinians. But you can’t wilfully massacre innocent people as proxies for soldiers. That’s what the 9/11 bombers did and why the world was so completely horrified. Just because you’re a government doesn’t mean you can dispense with the fundamental concepts of justice and proportionality.
Trouble is, more or less all of them on all sides believe in (a) God and that he (and yes, their God is a he) is on their side. Take my word, the prospect that they might actually test their various Gods’ resolve is a very scary one indeed.
Well, we’re all in this, and not just the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean. Already oil has increased in price and stock markets are down. Inflation will soar. Neighbouring States are mobilising and some, particularly Iran, might actually be ready to get involved. As Dermot Ahern said, if we’re not careful we’ll all end up in WWIII.
Take care out there and if you weep for anyone, weep for the ordinary people of the Lebanon.