Lebanese Civil War 1975-1990 (Essay Sample)

Lebanese Civil War 1975-1990 Lebanese Civil War 1975-1990 Research question: was sectarianism the primary cause of the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War that lasted 1975-1990? Outline 1 Causes of the civil war * The murder of four Phalangists in Beirut in April 1975. The Phalangists retaliated believing the attackers were Palestinians. * The Palestinian question and the inability of the Palestine government to respond. The war followed disagreement between those who felt that Palestinians should resist Israel from within Lebanon and those who disagreed. The Palestinian government proved unable to respond to curtail the violence (Paul, Clarke, Grill, & Dunigan, 2013). * Was the fight between Muslims and Christians? The Maronite Christian Phalange Party wanted to rid Lebanon of the growing population of Palestinians. The civil war continued predominantly in the struggle to control the Levant and in the attempt to void the “National Pact” that favored Maronite Christians (Zisser, 2011). 2 Syrian involvement including successes and failures. Was Syria’s involvement an attempt to regain the Levant area that it had lost to Lebanon in the period of the French mandate? (Haugbolle, 2011). 3 The involvement of the United States from 1982 to 1984. Was western capitalism a factor that led to the war in the first place? (Wenger, 1990). 4 The Lebanese political crisis from 1985 to 1989 * The War of the Camps * The assassination of Prime Minister Rashid Karami and the expiration of President Gemayelel’s mandate as president led Lebanon to become divided across religious lines * The Ta’if Agreement that marked the end of the civil war. It failed to address the sectarianism that had bedeviled Lebanon. It proved ineffective in addressing such other issues as the presence ...