‘Mirror of the Arab world: Lebanon in Conflict’ starts on an acquisitive role of cruising into the labyrinth of Arab world by Sandra Mackey. The author has earlier written books on the Saudis, the Iranians and Iraq- the legacy of Saddam Hussein.
Mackey, an award winning veteran journalist believes that ‘It was never religion but language that paved way for the Arab world.‘ She supports her argument with the extinction of Babylonians, Assyrians and Phoenicians who in spite of being resilient, could not master the art of language. The book gives a simple, easy-to-read analysis of the difference between Shia and Sunnis, along with the historical background of Druzes and Maronite Christians. She calls Maronites as the ‘mountain people’ while Muslims inhabited the coastal plains.
The author does not explain fundamental facts that Pope Urban II started the First Crusade and how Jerusalem was captured in 1099. But slowly she manages to establish a faint connection between the last Crusaders and Maronites towards Western Catholicism, without delving into historic details.
The book exposes an animated and behind-the-doors policy that took place at the Paris Conference convened at Versailles on January 18, 1919 to end the First world war. British PM David Lloyd George and French PM Georges Clemenceau are shown to jettison Woodrow Wilson’s ideas in order to pursue their respective interests in Middle East. Slowly the September 1920 launching of Great Lebanon is discussed along with the National Pact of 1943 that took place between Maronite President Bishara Khouri and Sunni PM Riad Solh. The book acknowledged that Lebanon got her independence from France in 1943 while other historical databases claim it to be 1941.
Mackey tries to draw an analogy between ‘Zaims‘, those who stood for public office and ‘Zuamas‘ who had government contracts position in the bureaucracy. With more prominence given to Zuamas, the author somehow overshadows the ‘Zaims’ and hence, the reader is not able to create his/her own understanding. This kind of fallacy can also be noticed at the beginning of every chapter where Mackey tries to connect Lebanon with Palestine, Bahrain, Iraq or Saudi Arabia just to make her narrative look like a entire mirror of the Arab world. This attempt fails as it obstructs the reader when he/she is trying to grasp Lebanon’s politics in a flow.
In the chapter ‘Palestinians- Victims and Villains‘, Mackey explains how ‘Al Baqaa’ in Hebron, West Bank, is the largest Jordanian concentration of Palestinians. She believes ‘Arabs have also oppressed Palestinians in their own government’s. Then follows an entire history of Romans possessing Palestine in 63 BC with Jews rising against Romans in 70 AD and then how the Jews were scattered in the diaspora by 135 AD. Eventually, the book targets the ‘Black September’ of 1970 and states that No Arab ruler helped the Palestinians. Though, other historical databases mention that Hafez Assad helped for a month but had to retreat due to Jordanian Army.
In the chapter ‘Woe be to the State‘, Mackey describes Lebanon as the ‘Jewel of the levant’. She narrates how in 1970, New president Suleiman Franjieh was considered the direct descendant of the Crusader. The emergence of Phalange (militia of Maronite warlords) and Zghortan military men is discussed in great detail. The Lebanese National Movement that includes Kamal Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party (Druze), Syrian National Party (Greek Orthodox and Sunnis), Amal (Shia) and Secular Ba’ath Socialist Party (Iraq and Syria) is explained in an interesting manner.
The author talks about the Green Line that divided Muslim west Beirut with the Christian East. She also exposes how Syria played the devil’s advocate by first defending Maronites so that an attack by Israel can be dodged but later switched towards Muslims. Though the book fails to give in-depth information about the Taif Accords that terminated the civil war in Lebanon and why Lebanon citizens did not respect it.
In the end, either Mackey looses the enthusiasm to narrate Lebanon’s history or got confused in the labyrinth herself. The last two chapters ‘A tale of four countries’ and ‘Islam as Politics’ are monotonous and repetitive. Even though this book was written in 2008, Mackey fails to give well established narrative of Hezbollah and especially, Hassan Nasrallah.Not much is discussed about Rafik Hariri and how Israel launched military campaign in 2006 against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Overall, the book oscillates from being superficial to in-depth. In 266 pages, it tends to be a substantive analysis of Lebanon, especially for those who had less or no idea about the country from before.
shubhdachaudhary 