Democratic Palestine : 20 (ص 25)
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- Democratic Palestine : 20 (ص 25)
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Fascism shows its ugly face to Lebanon’s Christians.
The East Beirut Battles
The results of Eli Hobeika’s late
September attempt to return to East
Beirut highlighted the suicidal nature of
the Lebanese fascists’ sectarian
‘dream’. It has never been viable for a
minority (in this case, Lebanon’s
Maronite Christians, among whom the
fascists have based themselves) to rule
over the majority. Lebanon’s particular
experience has accentuated the hope-
lessness of such a project. Over a
decade of civil war, and frontline
struggle against Israeli aggression and
occupation, has brought two facts to
the fore. One, the deprived and dispos-
sessed, whether Lebanese or Palesti-
nian, will not accept their plight
forever, but are constantly rising up
against their national and class enemy.
Two, if the Lebanese cannot unite on
internal reform and a clear position
vis-a-vis ‘Israel’, the whole future of
Lebanon is called into question.
These two facts directly collide with
the fascists’ historical policy of mono-
polizing state power in order to pro-
mote the economic interests of the elite,
rather than of the country, and of
allying with the Zionist enemy, if need
be, against the Lebanese and Palesti-
nian masses’ militancy. The internal
struggles within the fascists’ ranks over
the past two years are due to the differ-
ing factions’ ideas of how to adjust to,
or resist, these realities.
In March 1985, Samir Geagea for-
cibly took command of the Lebanese
Forces militia, in what was widely seen
as a ‘revolt’ against the traditional
Phalangist party leadership, and the
possibility of Lebanon’s rapproche-
ment with Syria. In May of the same
year, Hobeika ousted Geagea. Then,
contrary to the course charted by Pre-
sident Amin Gemayel (also of the Pha-
langist Party), Hobeika opted for
reconciliation with Syria, and signed
the tripartite agreement for political
reform of the Lebanese system. In
January 1986, Geagea and Gemayel
banded together to oust Hobeika from
East Beirut, in a bloody onslaught.
Evicting Hobeika did not, however,
resolve the internal contradictions, as
seen in the two rounds of fighting this
fall between Geagea’s forces and those
more inclined to Hobeika’s line of
conciliation. (See Democratic Palestine
no.19.)
In Geagea’s original ‘revolt’, the
heavy aggression was turned against the
Palestinians of Ain Al Hilweh and
Miyeh Miyeh camps, in an aborted
attempt to spread fascist control in the
Sidon area. However, the ensuing
power struggles have demonstrated the
fascists’ willingness to murder, pillage
and generally wreak havoc in the
Christian community they claim to
represent. This was especially clear in
the latest round.
On September 27th, 300 militiamen
led by Hobeika moved from West
Beirut into the East, with the stated
purpose of correcting the abnormal
situation prevailing there and saving the
population from Geagea’s iron grip. It
is noteworthy that this is the first time
any military force has crossed the
‘green line’, established to divide East
and West Beirut, as a result of the fas-
cists’ campaign in the mid-seventies, to
‘cleanse’ the Christian areas of poor
Lebanese Moslems, Palestinians and
progressive Christians as well.
Hobeika’s men managed to cross this
line without initially meeting resistance,
and take up key posts in Ashrafiyeh.
Expectedly, Geagea’s forces reacted
savagely, and a bloody battle ensued.
Artillery engulfed the area, with shells
also falling in West Beirut, and as far
away as Zahle in the Bekaa Valley,
where Hobeika has his headquarters.
After ten hours of intense battle,
Hobeika’s men were forced to retreat,
chiefly because of the Lebanese Army’s
intervention, with tank fire being
directed indiscriminately in East Beirut
residential areas. This development had
not been anticipated by Hobeika, but it
served to show how President Gemayel
and major portions of the army use
their power to protect Geagea’s extreme
fascist tendency.
Initial counts indicated 65 dead and
200 injured, many of them civilians,
and over $10 million in material
damage to homes and businesses in the
East. The next day, the Lebanese Army
foiled another Hobeika attempt to
advance, but the bloodshed did not stop
there. Not content with Hobeika’s
withdrawal, Geagea’s men maintained
the state of siege and launched a mas-
sacre in their own communities. Priso-
ners taken in the battle were summarily
executed, as were suspected Hobeika
sympathizers. The internal purge con-
tinued for two weeks, with at least sixty
people killed in cold blood after ceasa-
tion of the battle. Reports poured in
about the discovery of mass graves in
the villages outside East Beirut.
Though Geagea maintained his hold
on East Beirut, a serious blow had been
dealt to his and the Lebanese Forces’
credibility, and that of the fascists
generally. Initially, the East Beirut
population was shocked by the pene-
tration of the ‘green line’. The Leba-
nese Forces’ much-vaunted security was
exposed as a paper tiger before Chris-
tians who have been indoctrinated to
think that the dividing line is necessary
for their protection against the
‘Moslem enemy’. Then, residents of the
East were treated to murderous exam-
ples of the real meaning of fascist
‘security’ and ‘stability’. The fascists’
cruelty to ‘their own people’ exposed
the disarray in the Christian ranks. The
Maronite Patriarch issued a statement
condemning the bloodshed, including a
thinly veiled criticism of Geagea’s
Lebanese Forces. The fascist parties,
the Phalangists and the National Libe-
rals of Chamoun, maintained an
embarrassed silence, hoping nobody
would remember that it is their policy
over the years that has built up to such
disasters for the Christian community.
Above all, these events illustrate that
the way to break fascist dominance in
East Beirut, or Lebanon as a whole, is
not through betting on one faction or
another. Only the national democratic
program forwarded long ago by the
Lebanese National Movement holds
out a solution. All those wanting to
promote Lebanon’s unity and libera-
tion from Zionist occupation, would do
well to give full support to that pro-
gram. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 20
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