Table Of ContentT
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A OOMPRBBBBSITB STUD? 07 Â ISBABBSB
POLITICAL PART?
B ?
RIOHiRD HAHS LAURSBI
A dissertation presented to tbe Department
of Arab Studies In tbe American university
of Beirut* in p artial fulfillment of the
requirement# for the degree of Master of Arts.
Beirut, Lebanon
1951
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C O N T E N T S
Chapter
-'Introduction ............................... I
I. Geographical Background ............................... 1
II, A Short History of L eb an o n ............. 3
III, On Lebanese P olitics in General . . . . 40
IV. History of the Kata.^ib and Its Development
to party Status - 1936-1949....................... 43
V. Organization and Operation . . . . . . 36
VI. Aims and Attitudes • ............................... 72
(a) Party Attitude i'oward Ar%b Unity . É?
H I. Social Groups in the K a t a 'i b ........ 95
(a) Jj(l8|[iographies of Kata'ibL eaders . 96
VIII. Relationship to the Pow ers............. 100
(a) Toward Great B ritain ........................ 100
(b) Toward Trance .................................. 101
(c) Toward Russia . . . . . . . . . . 103
(d) Toward the United ^ t a t e s .......... 105
IX, The Kata’ib , Fascist or H o t?........ 108
X. B ib lio g rap h y ............................................ 115
XI. Appendices . . . . . . ............................ 121
A B 3 î H A C T
The KQtn*lb,
A Oompr9honBlv& Stafly of a Lebanese Polltlonl Perty
The KRtn*lb le Lebanon'* mont artlculnte natlonftllpt
group, and a study of It bring* Into foou* mo*t of the factor*
that have gone Into the creation of the Lebaneee Republic.
Many of the mama hope* and fear* that gave rl*e to the
Republic of Lebanon were prenant at the birth of the Katr*lb.
After a brief word on the geographical position of
the Republic, this thenla outline* the hlntory of the area.
Beginning with the Phoenician*, tho history Ifi trauofl up to
the premmnt day. Special emphaalH 1* given to the various
religion* group* and their relations with foreign power*. It
become* obvious, even after much a nhort study, that econom
ically Lebanon'* beet Interest He in economic onion with
Syria, While a ll the form* of a republic erint. the sp irit
and cooperation neoeeeary for a real republican government
are lacking. Religious matter* and. sectarianism occupy a
position, both in government and In the mind* of the people,
out of proportion to what might be expected.
The remainder of thle dissertation 1* devoted to a
study of the history, organisation and developm'nt of the
Kata'lb. Pounded in 1936 by Pierre Oemnyel. it was for some
years supported by funds from the French Government. Later
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the Katâ^'lb and the French dleagreed as to the methods whereby
Lebanon could best achieve her Independence. Nevertheless,
there was never a deep seated dislike for France.
By 1947 development to a real p o litical party status
had been achieved, and the group began to play a more Important
role In Lebanese national life. Although s till para-mllltary
in 1947, the "boy scout" element was more or less relegated
to a back seat. The party boycotted the 1947 elections and
at their conclusion joined the demand for new and free elections
The Katâ'ib Is a dootrlnary party and Is very highly
organized, however, at times the party discipline breaks down.
In general its organisation bears a strong resemblance to the
government. The president of the party is omnipotent and all
powerful. He has the power to appoint a ll party officials
and dismiss them at w ill. Hilas Rababy, Joseph Ohader and
Maurice Oemayal act as the president's unofficial advisors
and are very powerful in party circles. The local and smallest
unit of the party is the cell, whereas the largest unit of the
party is the department. There are 12 of these departments.
They are; party Police, Finance, Discipline, Propaganda,
îconomio Affairs, Social Affairs, Regional, Youth, National
Sduoatlon, Laws, m igration and ARlgratlon. There is also
a Women's Department, but it is not officially one of the 12.
Sach Department is entrusted with one phase of the work.
Through its chain of command, the party can keep its fingers
on the lives of its members.
In general we should consider the party to be a
reform movement, but underlying a ll its reforme Is an oytreme
and almost fanatical form of nationsllam. This nationalism
le based on the Kata'lb'a own particular view of Lebanese
History which emphasise* Lebanon's Phoenician ancestry and
plays down, to the point of denying, Lebanon's Arab heritage.
Using this as a base point, they have tried to develop the
theory of a continuous national existence for what now cons
titu tes the Lebanese Republic. The party is violently opposed
to any sort of Arab unity or feisration. At the basis of
their fear of Arab unity is the question of religion. They
feel that any Arab union w ill necessarily be Islamic as well.
This fear of Islam underlies a ll of their activities and is
the basis of their p o litical thinking. While officially
supporting the government during the Arab-jewish war, sms
of the party members supported the Zionists and looked forward
to the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. They
hoped that such a state would reduce the Moslem pressure on
Lebanon.
On the constructive aide, the Katn'ib stands for
such things as: social security, reformed labor laws, universal
m ilitary service, women suffrage, and development of local
industry and introduction of new industries. They claim to
b# opposed to sectarianism and insist that the government
should discard it as a basis for representation. However, if
this is really the stand of the party than, they are attempting
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to rodttos the political power of the Ghrlmtl&aa, and this
would. In the long run, make Lebanon more eusoaptlble to
Inclusion In ayrln.
The party la baalcally « middle olaaa party, and
moat of its leaders ware educated in French schools. This
is just one reason why the Xata'lb has such a definite
French hall-mark. Its fear of Islam and its belief that
Great Britain supports Arab unity, have colored its attitude
toward the British* They believe that if the British are
pro-Arab they must be antl-Lebanesw.
The Katâ'ib la definitely pro-Fr»nch. They are not
the tool of France, but they feel that the French are Lebanon*i
boat friends. This attitude finds its roots In the 1860
Druse-Maronite war and ronohas as far back as the Crusades.
They are gruutful to France for having established "Grand
Liban".
For Russia the party has only fear fmd hate. As *
basically Maronite group they are under the discipline of
tbe Roman Church, and as such can be depended on to be anti-
Ooanunlst. Furthermore, the lenders of the party are bour
geois and have nothing to gain from the Russian sywte*.
Towards the United States they have s ti ll another
attitude. Since the U.S. has never publicly supported any
pnn-Arab movement and because so many Christian Lebanese
now live in the United States, they hope that the American
Government w ill adopt France's protective role toward Lebanon,
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but divested of any desire for colonies. They believe that
the large American investments and America's desire to keep
the status-quo w ill be a factor In making the U.S. adopt such
a protective policy toward Lebanon.
The Katâ'ib finds its roots In two widely separated
political schools: The French Revolution and the Fascist
Revolution. The paraphernalia and the party organisation find
their proto-types in the governments of Fascist Italy and
Nasi Germany; however, the underlying philosophy of the
party and of Its leaders is that of the French Revolution,
This group is not a revolutionary movement, it is nothing
more than a reform party. I t is not even, in the light of
modern economics, a very radical movement. We can consider
it to be a middle of the road conservative party.
Until the Katâ'ib openly declares that It Is a
Christian movement, it will never capture the leadership
of the Maronites. Until it becomes the strongest Maronite
party, it w ill never be very powerful in the country.
MOTX; This thesis was written and completed before the
April 1961 elections.
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I N T R O D U C T I O N
In an area as vital to the world as the Middle Bast,
all too little has been written about the internal politics
of the various states. I t Is my hope that this study of
the Kata'lb, one of Lebanon's leading nationalist movements,
w ill, in its small way, help to f ill that gap.
Beginning with an historical and geographical back
ground of what now comprises the Lebanese Republic, this
study goes on to a detailed study of the Katâ'ib both with
regard to its history and organization. The final chapters
attempt to analyse its attitudes toward local and interna
tional problems.
Although the Lebanese Republic is the smallest and
one of the newest of the states in the Arab World, and while
the Kjata'lb is certainly not a part of the larger political
scene in the Arab Bast, nonetheless, a study of it, should
in the long run, focus the attention of the student of Arab
history and politics on the larger drama of Arab Unity,
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C H A P T S R I
GHOGRAPHICAl. BACKGROUND
The position oooupiea by modern Lebanon astride the
gateway to Syria and the interior has given hex a political
and économie importance iar beyond wtiat one would expect
irora Bucn a tiny oountxy.
Historically and geogiapaioaliy Lebanon is a part of
«
the land mass usually reiuxxei to as Syria. However, the
mountain regions along the Syrian coast have for oenturiew
been known as the Lebanon or Mount Lebanon. It is this re
gion that tne Turks constituted as the sanjaq of Mount Lebanon,
The exact borders of tnis area were never definitely deter
mined, but it was assumed Lo Include the mountain regions,
excluding the coastal cities of Beirut, Tripoli, Tyre and
Sllon as well as the Bakaa" valley and the region directly
nortn of the Israel border.
In 1920 the political geography of the region changed.
The French enlarged Mt. Lebanon to include a ll the territory
from the borders of what is now Israel as far north as the
Al Kabir River (Nahr al-Kabir) as wall as the Bakaa' valley.
This newly constituted state of "Grand Liban", now known as
the Lebanese Republic, is believed to contain about one mil
lion one hundred and twenty six thousand people in an area of
