Lebanon Essay -- essays research papers

LebanonLebanon, a community that once proudly c altogethered itself the Switzerland of the MiddleEast, is today a country in name only. Its government controls little more thanhalf of the nations capital, Beirut. Its once-vibrant economy is a shambles.And its society is fragmented - so fragmented, some believe, that it may be unsurmountable to re-create a unified state responsive to the needs of all itsvaried peoples.Lebanon lies on the easterly shore of the Mediterranea n Sea, in that partially ofsouthwestern Asia known as the Middle East. Because of its location - at the join of Asia, Europe, and Africa - Lebanon has been the center of commerceand trade for thousands of years. It has also been on the route of many a(prenominal)conquering armies.With an area of 4,015 square miles, Lebanon is one of the smallest countries inthe Middle East. It is smaller than every state in the United States exceptDelaware, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Lebanon is sandwiched between Syria inth e north and east and Israel in the south. The maximum distance from thenations northern bound to the southern one is only 130 miles. And the maximumdistance from the Mediterranean Sea to the Lebanon-Syria border is 50 miles. Inthe south, along the border with Israel, Lebanons eastern border is only 20miles from the sea.Although a tiny land, Lebanon boasts a neat diversity in its landscape whichmakes it one of the most picturesque countries in the world. The coast line isbr oken by many bays and inlets of varying size. At some points, the mountainswade silently right into the sea - then surface suddenly tier on tier away fromthe Mediterranean to the sky. Because of the terminus ad quem of flat agriculturalland, all but the steepest hillsides pick up been patiently and neatly terraced andplanted with garlands of twisted grapevines. The mountains lend a great varietyof hues - demented pink, rosy red, forest green or deep purple - to the landscape.Depending on the time of day, the y never appear the same twice, and from time totime whipped etiolated clouds hide all except their snow-capped peaks. Even on thedarkest night, the lights of the villages perched on the mountains shine insmall clusters as a reminder of their presence. On c loser view, the mountainsbecome a jumble of giant gorges, many of them over a thousand feet deep, withrocky cliffs, steep ravines and awesome valleys. These unassa... ...anon.This strategy worked well enough for cardinal years. From 1943 until 1958 thenations economy boomed and Beirut was transformed into the character city of theMediterranean. The government seemed stable enough, but th ere were problemsboiling below the surface and in the mid-1950s the system began to come apart.For one thing, the Moslems, especially the poorer Shiites, had a substantiallyhigher birthrate than the Christians many people believed that the Shiites hadsurpassed the Maronites in population. moreover the Christians would not allow a newcensus to be taken, for this would have meant a reallocation of the nations policy-making power, with the Moslem sects gaining at the expense of the Christians.With their hopes for political gains dampened, the Shiites became disenchanted.Why is this once prosperous nation on the verge of list collapse? There are anumber of reasons, but the old one is that the Lebanese people belong to atleast fifteen differe nt religious sects and their loyalty to these sects isgreater than their loyalty to a united Lebanon. Had the peoples common sense ofnationhood been stronger, they would not have suffered the destruction of thepast decade.