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Essay on Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1982
The essence of quiescence in Lebanon was, from its formation, co-operation and co-existence between the various religious sects in the country. Although sectarianism was the major cause for the 1975 civil war, foreign interventions and interests lead to an explosion of these tensions and subsequently lead to the start and maintenance of the bloodiest war ever fought by the Lebanese people, the effects of which are felt to this day. By the summer of 1970, attention turned to the upcoming presidential election of August 17. Sulayman Franjiyah who had the backing of the National Bloc Party and the center bloc in the Chamber of Deputies, was elected president by one vote over Ilyas Sarkis, head of the Central Bank, who had the support of the Shihabists (those favoring a strong executive with ties to the military).
Franjiyah was more conservative than his predecessor, Hilu. A Maronite leader from northern Lebanon, he had a regional power base resulting from clan allegiance and a private militia. Although Franjiyah had a parochial outlook reflecting a lack of national and international experience, he was the choice of such persons as Kamal Jumblat, who wanted a weaker president than Sarkis would have been. Franjiyah assumed office on September 23, 1970, and in the first few months of his term the general political atmosphere improved. The expulsion of large numbers of Palestinian guerrillas from Jordan in late 1970 and 1971, as a result of severe clashes between the Jordanian army and the PLO, had serious repercussions for Lebanon, however. Many of the guerrillas entered Lebanon, seeing it as the most suitable base for launching raids against Israel (Dupuy, Martell).
The guerrillas tended to ally themselves with existing leftist Lebanese organizations or to form various new leftist groups that received support from the Lebanese Muslim community and caused further splintering in the Lebanese body politic.....
