What Do You Know About the Druze in Lebanon?

From the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (2009), Issue 03, 72: 459-487 

Between authenticity and alienation: The Druzes and Lebanon's history

by Yusri Hazrana1, Harvard University

Abstract

Almost ninety years have passed since the establishment of the Lebanese state, but it still lacks a consensual and unifying historical narrative. The Druzes of Lebanon, who claim to be the real founders of the historical Lebanese entity, reject the Lebanese historiography elaborated by Christian historians as ideologically motivated, sectarian and fabricated. Furthermore, they claim that their contribution to Lebanon's history has been systematically minimized.

The Druze leader, Kamāl Junblāṭ, was the first to raise public awareness of the importance of rewriting Lebanon's history, and the process of doing so has gained momentum among Druze intellectuals since the 1980s. This article discusses the efforts of the Druze intelligentsia to cultivate a historical narrative that presents an alternative to what they call the “Maronite narrative”; it focuses predominantly on the Emirate's history during the Middle Ages and the reciprocal relations between the Druze political experience within modern Lebanon and the intellectual formulation of their narrative.

Very interesting.

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Halt to Discrimination! Rightwingers Want Same Conditions

Here's a report on the ruckus at Horfesh (not Homesh) yesterday:

a large force of more than 100 police officers entered the village at 4 a.m. with the intention of arresting five men suspected of having previously vandalized a cellphone antenna installed in the neighboring community of New Pekiin...“The police came under a barrage of rocks, boulders and metal bars thrown by masked youths,” Mr. Rosenfeld said. “Our officers were in a life-threatening situation, and it was necessary for one to open fire with live ammunition to get out of the situation.” He added that the police arrested six who were not connected with the antenna incident, for rioting.

The police left the village at about 7 a.m. and calm was restored, but one Israeli border policewoman was left behind. During the commotion she had been surrounded by rioters. “Luckily,” said Mr. Rosenfeld, “one of the villagers, an ex-policeman, took her into his house for safety.”

A dialogue ensued between police representatives and the village sheik, and about 9 a.m., the policewoman was handed over unharmed, Mr. Rosenfeld said. In return, the six villagers arrested in the riots were released.

Can you imagine this happening, say, in Hebron? in Homesh?

Blatant discrimination, I'd say.