ABSTRACT
Being half Muslim, half Christian, Lebanon was given a special status under Turkish rule; under the French mandate (42) it was separated from Syria. Its constitutional structure gave the Christians advantages which the Muslims resented; among the Muslims, the Shias resented the Sunnis’ privileged position (28); the Christians feared eventual submergence in the surrounding Muslim world; the Druzes (a community that broke away from Islam 900 years ago) distrusted all other Lebanese. After 1970 the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) based its forces in south Lebanon (42), and its attacks on Israel brought reprisals. Under all these strains, the Arab world’s most liberal society collapsed in bloodshed.
