Conflict Between Muslims and Christians in Lebanon - Essay Example

? Conflict between Muslims and Christians in Lebanon Table of Contents Introduction Background of Christians and Muslims in Lebanon Relationship Conflicts between Christians and Muslims Conclusion References Conflict between Muslims and Christians in Lebanon 1. Introduction There was a significant population of Christians around Mount Lebanon due to invasion by numerous countries and religious (Al-Maleh, 2009, 1). In the history of Lebanon, there was a significance acknowledgement of all religion, which existed in this region. On the other hand, there were different sects of Islam and Christianity and even some Jews. Nonetheless, both Christians and Islam were engaged in a quest to gain significant control over Lebanon, though this proofed to be impossible. Moreover, there was a significant involvement of sects based these religions more than completing regions. Due to a desire by Christians and Islam to control the country of Lebanon, this led to a need for them to form allies from different sects among other religions. This paper will focuses on analyzing the ideas regarding conflicts between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon. 2. Background of Christians and Muslims in Lebanon Relationship Christians and Muslims in Lebanon had established two forms of relationships, whereby the first one was unstable, while others had a relationship attributed to extreme dislike. On the other hand, the second form of relationship was attributed a mutual beneficial arrangement, whereby different sects from various religions acquired power to make significant alteration in their systems. Examples of sects in the Christianity included Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Maronite, while sects in Muslim included Alawi, Sunni, Druze and Shiite. In fact, there were political partied forms by an integration of these religion based on all these sects. However, these relationships had exceptions to every rule and this led to conflicts between religious homes though there were disparities regarding rituals. In the present days, this relationship has been attributed to political conflicts in Lebanon, whereby sects in these religions contribute to this aggravation of conflicts in the society. The populations of these religions have changed significantly leading to understanding that they can live together in harmony regardless of their religious differences. Conflicts between Muslims and Christians were attributed to the Lebanese Forces (LF) that involved an armed wing of Phalangist Party (Maronite). In fact, this armed wing was formed during 1970 by the Muslims under the leadership of Bashir Gemayel. Furthermore, this armed wing made a significant contribution towards establishment of the civil war during the period 1975-76 (The Gazette, 2007, 1). Conflict resulted in 1982, due to the effort made by both Islamic and Christian political actors who sought to control the Lebanese forces after death of Bashir Gemayel. In this case, this competition existed between three men from different religious affiliation, and these men included Elie Hobeika, Fouad Abou Nader and Samir Geagea (Voll, 2013, 1). For instance, conflicts between Hobeika and Geagea commenced in 1985 with an aim to control the Lebanese forces. Later, Geagea succeeded by taking control of LF from Fouad Abou Nader, who was a leader of Phalangist militia (The Gazette, 2007, 1). However, Hobeika managed to acquire a post to lead a unit in May 1985 and later in December the same year; he was assigned a role to sing a peace accord with Syrian government, which were Muslims Druze. In this case, this peace accord entailed an agreement in form of a provision for demobilization of Lebanese militia forces. Besides, there were other reforms aimed at abolishing domination of Christianity in various Lebanese institutions. In 1980, there were numerous cases of conflicts involving Lebanese militia forces; for instance, in March 1989 there were conflicts involving Maj-General Aoun was a Christian leader in Lebanese Army (Magister, 2013, 1). In fact, these conflicts were caused by a notion that he created regarding Muslim ports that were deemed illegal. Furthermore, Christian and Muslims had been engaging in civil wars for decade and these involved battles such as the civil war. This state of unrest led to formation of Christian groups in uneasy alliance with Lebanese Army in 1989 (Dehghanpisheh, 2004, 1). During the same period, other groups, which included Hezbollah, Shi’a militias and Amal, had conflicts among themselves in the southern region of Beirut. Christian militias engaged into inter-communion conflicts, despite the fact that numerous Christian militias were entailed of purely of members of one faith, though in different membership. A reflection of Lebanon in the present days, it is important to consider the fact that this country recently became a destination during a journey made by Benedict XVI outside of Italy (Dehghanpisheh, 2004, 1). In fact, Lebanon was his destination during his trip in the Middle East and he was welcomed by numerous in this country. Therefore, this is an indication of the transitioning from the past given that Lebanon has been considered one of the least dangerous places for Christians in the Middle East. Therefore, this transition can assists in understanding the situation that prevailed in the period attributed with conflicts between Muslims and Christians. In fact, coexistence among religious groups was tarnished by even in perceptions of other people around the world. In addition, there has been a form of equilibrium in Lebanon, which has been celebrated by both Muslims and Christians and there are expectation that this will continue to become a reality, through the motivation and commitment of Lebanese. Muslims and Christians realized that there was a chance Lebanon would serve as inhabitant; in fact, they have realized that these conflicts led to catastrophe experienced in places like Syria. Moreover, these conflicts led to difficulties experienced by Lebanese Shiites of Hezbollah residing in Damascus and Tehran, and this was not favorable to Christians. These conflicts led to a loss of the dream by Christians to attain control of Lebanon a long time ago. Moreover, this led to division in support among Lebanese Christians from one or other Muslims such as commonly known sects, Shiites and Sunnis. These conflicts led to radicalization of these groups since they focused on duplicating Lebanon against one group, Hezbollah. Nevertheless, despite these conflicts where are hopes by Christians and Muslims to deal with their differences in order to establish a peaceful coexistence. Effort has been made by to settle differences among Christians and Muslims; for example, there are magazines such as Oasis that are published in difference languages such as Arabic and Urdu. In fact, patriarchate of Venice engaged in this endeavors since 2004, whereby they focused on promoting and developing a mutual understanding of conflicts between Muslims and Christians (Magister, 2013, 1). Therefore, this section indicates that relationship between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon has been complicated due to numerous factors considered determinants of their union or revulsion. The fact that there were intermarriages between some Christians and Muslims, while some lived without conflict is important. On the other hand, despite these conflicts, Christians and Muslims in Lebanon managed to derive benefits through development of significant businesses environment surrounding with countries in cultures and technology. Currently, two thirds of the total populations in Lebanon are Muslims and the rest are Christians, though control of political system is continuously being regained by Christians. 3. Conflicts between Christians and Muslims Conflicts between Muslims and Christians involved Shiite-Sunni and other Christian sects in the Middle East, especially in Lebanon; in fact, conflicts in Lebanon were faced with confusion. In this case, these conflicts led to a division by Christians along Shiite-Sunni lines, whereby leaders were taking alliances among Muslim sects. On the other hand, Christians were unable to get even due to their splitting communities and this led to a significant effect on their government. These conflicts created a perception that Christians were facing a confrontation of Sunni-Shia. In Lebanon, conflicts between Christians and Muslims were politically based, unlike in other places such as Iraq where conflicts were military based. Therefore, these conflicts are attributable splitting experienced within Christianity as a religion. Apparently, Christianity took the role of serving as a political buffer between Sunni-Shia as the major Islamic sects. Furthermore, these conflicts were aggravated by the decision by numerous Christians to take sides, whereby some went to Lebanese Force, while other joined Free Patriotic Movement. This resulted to a split between the Muslim sects, Shia and Sunni, and this was facilitated by Christians. Therefore, after this splitting, Sunni was a part of the government, which led to a representation of movement political party. In fact, these movements by Sunni were allied with the Lebanese forces that were support by some Christian parties. There were assumptions made regarding Hezbollah disarmament by both Christians and Muslims and this accelerated the splitting among parities in these religions. In fact, after the war there were demands made by Americans, United Nations and Israel to disarm Hezbollah. Therefore, there was a conflict caused by differentiated interest by Hezbollah's militia into the military since they were supported by Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, while the Lebanese forces were focused on Hezbollah disarmament. There were arguments that disarming Hezbollah was not a good decision since the country was weak, and there was a level of alienation, which caused Hezbollah to be established in Lebanon. Nonetheless, there has been resent conflicts during the past few years in Lebanon, which have served as a clear manifestation of the nature of Christians and Muslims. However, other significant Christian and Muslim groups are forming substantial alliances to promote coexistence among them. It appears that, the collaboration between the Christians and Muslims has become a part of the current conflicts occurring in Lebanon. In fact, this situation supersedes the effort to created peace and stability in the country. Muslim and Christian relationship continues to be reshaped by conflict due to events such as allies that were held in support of assassination of Hariri, who was a former Prime Minister in Lebanon. Therefore, this led to establishment of opposing forces against the government, thereby altering the Lebanese political life in numerous ways. A framework of tensions has been resulting from crisis caused by the alliances formed by Muslims and Christians. In fact, this framework of tension led to conflicts such as Lebanese civil war that occurred in 1975 to 1990. Therefore, there is a highly level of complexity in conflicts between Muslims and Christians and this was a description of struggles pitted Christians against Muslim. Conflicts between Muslims and Christians in Lebanon led to break down of their political system, despite the historic agreement among leaders during the Second World War; in fact, this led to disintegration of political positions into Christians and Muslim (Voll, 2013, 1). There were two grouping resulting from the political break down that occurred in 1970s and this led to civil war, which was perceived to be a form of competition. Furthermore, later in 1980s, analysis of political situation in Lebanon claimed that the conflicts were caused by desire to balance power between the few Christians and numerous Muslims (The Gazette, 2007, 1). Furthermore, Muslims commenced to fights among themselves due to Christians, whereby Sunni and Shiites were affected by the alliances formed by Christians. This resulted to a transformation in the lines of disagreement reflections among these groups. Therefore, Christian alliances created a line of separation between the Sunni and Shiites and this led to conflicts between the combatants among these religions during the civil war. 4. Conclusion The paper has explored issues regarding the conflict between Muslim and Christian in Lebanon; in fact, it is apparent that the history of Lebanon is characterized by divergence between Muslims and Christians. However, recently these religious groups have been focusing on changing this situation by implementing frameworks that promote cooperation among themselves. Besides, this effort involves the religious leaders in Lebanon, whereby they take substantial political commitments. In this case, these leaders focus on urging the public to refrain from getting involved in violence against other religious groups. The process of Lebanese reconstruction has been supported by other countries such as America, whereby effort by offering funding. Therefore, Lebanese will be able to establish significant initiatives in a way that they can deal with issues and this can eliminate conflicts between Muslims and Christians. In this case, these religious groups have identified the need to emphasize on constructive potential of cooperation between Muslim and Christian. References Al-Maleh, N., 2009, The relationship between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon, Helium.com, Retrived from: http://www.helium.com/items/1327999-the-relationship-between-christians-and-muslims-in-lebanon Dehghanpisheh, B., 2012, Pope Benedict arrives in Lebanon at time of Christian-Muslim tension, The Washington Post, Retrieved: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-09-14/world/35495163_1_christian-muslim-desire-for-more-democracy-coptic-christian-community Magister, S., 2013, Christians and Muslims in Lebanon: An Analysis, chiesa.espresso, Retrieved from: http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350422?eng=y The Gazette, 2007, Muslim conflict splits Lebanese Christians: The Shiite-Sunni conflict that ravages much of the Middle East has spread to Lebanon. But this being Lebanon, the conflict comes with a twist, canada.com, Retrieved from: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=34444972-2333-4136-92ac-d180f198f53c Voll, J., 2013, Muslim-Christian Relations in Lebanon: From Conflict to Dangerous Alliances, Georgetown University, Retrieved from: http://acmcu.georgetown.edu/135388.html Read More