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Kataeb Party
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The Lebanese Kataeb Party, better known in English as the Phalange, is a Lebanese political party. Although it's officially secular, it is mainly supported by Maronite Christians. The party played a major role in the Lebanese war. In decline in the late 1980s and 1990s, the party slowly re-emerged since the early 2000s. It is now part of the parliamentary majority, the March 14 Alliance, opposed to the alliance led by Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement.
Beginnings and riseThe party was first established by Pierre Gemayel in 1936 as a youth movement. It actively took part in the struggle against the French Mandate until Lebanese independence was proclaimed in November 1943. Its motto was "God, Nation and Family."
The influence of the Phalangists was very limited in the early years of Lebanon's independence, but came to prominence as a strong ally of the government in the 1958 crisis. In the aftermath of the crisis, Pierre Gemayel was appointed to the cabinet, and two years later, was elected to the National Assembly.
In 1968, the party joined The Helf Alliance formed with the two other big mainly Christian parties in Lebanon: the National Liberal Party of former President Camille Chamoun, and National Bloc of Raymond Eddé, and won 9 seats (of 99) in the parliamentary elections held that year, making it one of the largest groupings in Lebanon's notoriously fractured political system.
By the end of the decade, the party created its own militia and soon clashes began with the rising Palestinian militant guerrillas.
War era and decline
In April 1975 Phalangist militiamen were involved in the Bus massacre, commonly considered as the spark that set-off the Lebanese Civil War. In the following days, the 8,000-strong party militia, together with its allies, the Tigers militia and other formations, was heavily engaged in street fights against the Palestinians militias and the Lebanese National Movement.
The Kataeb created a military Security Council led by William Hawi, which came to be commanded by Pierre Gemayel's son Bachir Gemayel upon the assassination of Hawi in July 1976. In August 1976, the party greatly contributed to the formation of the Lebanese Forces, as the military wing of the Lebanese Front, Bachir Gemayel being chosen as its leader.
In September 1982, Bachir Gemayel was elected President of the Republic by the National Assembly. He was assassinated less than a month later in an operation thought to have been arranged by Syrian intelligence and was in turn succeeded by his brother, Amine Gemayel.
On 16 September 1982, Elie Hobeika led the massacre of up to 2,000 Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, while the periphery of the camps were under the control of the Israeli army.
After the death of Pierre Gemayel in 1984, his successors Elie Karameh and Amine Gemayel struggled to maintain influence over the actions of the Lebanese Forces, which become virtually independent. The Kataeb party began to decline, not playing a major role for the remainder of the war.
"Syrian era" and Cedar revolution
The party, lacking direction, broke down into several rival factions. Georges Saadeh took control of the Party from 1986 till his death in 1998. He took a moderate position toward the Syrian presence. Mounir Hajj became the new president of the party in 1999. From 2002 Karim Pakradouni was the president of the party but Amine Gemayel became the supreme president of the party after a reconciliation in 2005.
In March 2005 after the Rafik Hariri assassination, the party took part in an anti-Syrian presence demonstration, commonly known as the Cedar Revolution. It also became a member of the March 14 Alliance, along with the Future Movement, Progressive Socialist Party, Lebanese Forces and other minor parties. The Kataeb Party continued to be one of the smaller parties in the Lebanese parliament, but won 2 seats in the June 2005 elections (another seat was won by Nader Succar of Pakradouni's pro-Syrian faction). In July 2005, it participated in the Fouad Siniora Government, with Pierre Amine Gemayel as the minister of industry. Pierre, son of Amine, MP since 2000, played an important role in the reorganization and development of the party. His assassination in November 2006 was a major blow to the party. Syrian intelligence and "Fateh Al Islam" have been accused of the assassination. With 14 March Alliance forces, the party supports the Lebanese government against the opposition.
In September 2007 another Kataeb MP, Antoine Ghanem was assassinated in a car bombing. Currently, there are no representatives of the party in the Lebanese parliament, since Pierre Gemayel's seat was lost to the Free Patriotic Movement of Michel Aoun in a special election in August 2007.
Opposition to Amine Gemayel and Karim Pakradouni
Elie Karameh and Fouad Abou Nader continue the opposition. Elie Karameh leads the Kataeb Opposition and Fouad Abou Nader, Bachir's right hand, leads the founders, former executives and followers of the Lebanese Forces. They have rejected the Syrian presence, and claim to have the support of the Kataeb popular base. Efforts are underway to encourage Elie Karameh and Fouad Abou Nader to re-join the party and the results of these discussions may appear soon.
See also
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