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48-575: In the 1950s, the populous town was known for gathering intellectuals and prominent personalities like the poet Said Akl . On April 13, 1975, it witnessed the serious church shooting and Bus Massacre , between the local Christian Kataeb party and the Arab Liberation Front militants and Palestinians , which sparked the 15-year-long civil war. During the Civil War , it became a war-torn neighbourhood and an important stronghold of

96-530: A Levantine Christian émigré in 19th century Egypt. He also popularized through his historical novels a secular understanding of Arab history encompassing the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods into a shared history that all Arabs could claim as their own. As a political project, pan-Arabism was first pressed by Sharif Hussein ibn Ali , the Sharif of Mecca , who sought independence for the Mashreq Arabs from

144-522: A Palestinian nationalist in 1951, the vision of Greater Syria was dropped from the Jordanian agenda. Although pan-Arabism began at the time of World War I , Egypt (the most populous and arguably most important Arab country) was not interested in pan-Arabism prior to the 1950s. Thus, in the 1930s and 1940s, Egyptian nationalism – not pan-Arabism – was the dominant mode of expression of Egyptian political activists. James Jankowski wrote about Egypt at

192-566: A journalist in a number of publications, notably the Lebanese Al-Jarida newspaper and the weekly Al-Sayyad magazine. In the 1990s, Akl also wrote a front-page personal column in the Lebanese As-Safir newspaper Pan-Arabism Pan-Arabism ( Arabic : الوحدة العربية , romanized :  al-wiḥda al-ʿarabiyyah ) is a pan-nationalist ideology that espouses the unification of all Arab people in

240-531: A plan to this effect to the United Kingdom , which controlled Palestine at that time. The plan was not popular among the majority of Arabs and fostered distrust among the leaders of the other Middle Eastern countries against Abdullah. The distrust of Abdullah's expansionist aspirations was one of the principal reasons for the founding of the Arab League in 1945. Once Abdullah was assassinated by

288-768: A single nation-state , consisting of all Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea , which is referred to as the Arab world . It is closely connected to Arab nationalism , which asserts the view that the Arabs constitute a single nation . It originated in the late 19th century among the Arab regions of the Ottoman Empire , and its popularity reached its height during

336-525: A small country being annexed by a larger one. It lasted until 1961, when Syrian army officers carried out a coup d'état and withdrew from the union. As politicians felt pressured by the wide public to espouse the idea of unity, Egypt, Syria and Iraq entered into an abortive agreement in 1963 to form the United Arab Republic, which was to be "federal in structure, leaving each member state its identity and institutions." By 1961, Egypt had become

384-592: A song in Arabic music." Akl was born in 1911 to a Maronite family in the city of Zahle , Ottoman Lebanon . After losing his father at the age of 15, he had to drop out of school to support his family and later worked as a teacher and then as a journalist. He then studied theology, literature and Islamic history, becoming a university instructor and subsequently lecturing in a number of Lebanese universities, educational and policy institutes. He died in Beirut, Lebanon at

432-465: A state policy and a means with which to define Egypt's position in the Middle East and the world, usually articulated vis-à-vis Zionism in the neighboring state of Israel. There have been several attempts to bring about a pan-Arab state by many well-known Arab leaders, all of which ultimately resulted in failure. British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden called for Arab unity during the 1940s, and

480-665: A well known writer and researcher of ancient Lebanese history and a staunch supporter of Akl. This party was based on Lebanese nationalism. During the Lebanese Civil War , Akl served as the spiritual leader of the Lebanese Christian far-right ultranationalist movement Guardians of the Cedars , which was led by Étienne Saqr . During the 1982 Lebanon War, He said in an interview about the Israeli army during

528-664: The Arab Maghreb Union was formed in 1989. Aside from the forcible unification of much of the Arabian Peninsula by the Saudi rulers of Najd during the 1920s, the unity of seven Arab emirates that form the United Arab Emirates and the unification of North Yemen and South Yemen stand today as rare examples of actual unification. The current Syrian government is, and the former government of Iraq

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576-694: The Guardians of the Cedars movement. His writings include poetry and prose both in Lebanese Arabic and in Classical Arabic . He has also written theatre pieces and authored lyrics for many popular songs, such as Meshwar (Trip), and the classical Shal (Scarf) , the latter of which was sung by Fairuz and composed by the Rahbani brothers , which Egyptian composer and singer Abdel Wahab described as "the most beautiful poem composed into

624-514: The Nahda (Arab awakening or enlightenment) movement that flourished in the Arab regions of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century. A prominent figure was Jurji Zaydan (1861–1914), who played a key role in laying the intellectual foundation for Pan-Arabism. Zaydan had critical influence on acceptance of a modernized version of the Quranic Arabic language ( Modern Standard Arabic ) as

672-849: The Ottoman Empire , and the establishment of a unified Arab state in the Mashreq. In 1915 and 1916, the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence resulted in an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Sharif that if the Mashreq Arabs revolted successfully against the Ottomans, the United Kingdom would support claims for Mashreq Arab independence. In 1916, however, the Sykes-Picot Agreement between

720-683: The Phoenician alphabet . Despite this, he contributed to several literary movements (primarily, symbolism ) in Modern Standard Arabic , producing some of the masterpieces of modern Arabic belle lettres . Akl aligned himself with Lebanese nationalism , and was one of the founding members of the Lebanese Renewal Party in 1972. The party, characterized by its pro-Phoenicianism stance, aimed to distance Lebanon from Pan-Arabism . His views found support within

768-645: The Rahbani Brothers and sung by the Lebanese diva Feyrouz . These include " Zahrat al-Mada'en " (in Arabic زهرة المدائن) about Jerusalem , "Ghannaytou Makkah" (in Arabic غنّيتُ مكة) about Mecca (after Fairouz requested him to write it) and "Saailiini ya Sham" (in Arabic سائليني يا شام) about Damascus , "Ruddani ila biladi" (in Arabic ردني إلى بلادي) about Lebanon and "Ummi ya malaki" (in Arabic أمي يا ملاكي) about his mother. Said Akl wrote as

816-535: The Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon "there is only one step, that this hero (Israeli army) is to clean Lebanon from every last Palestinian...ever since the Israeli army entered Lebanon, all of Lebanon was supposed to fight with them, I would myself fight with the Israeli army" and "who ever says about the Israeli army that it's an invading army should have his head decapitated" In a 1996 interview he mentioned "The Arab–Israeli conflict should have been called

864-800: The United Arab States , existed as a confederation between the United Arab Republic and the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen , but it dissolved in 1961. Two later attempts represented the enthusiasm of Libya 's Muammar Gaddafi , the Federation of Arab Republics , which lasted five years, and the Arab Islamic Republic with Tunisia , which also aimed to include Algeria and Morocco but never emerged in practice. Muammar Gaddafi had talks with Chadli Bendjedid in 1988 about forming an Algeria-Libya union. Instead

912-548: The 1950s and 1960s. Advocates of pan-Arabism have often espoused Arab socialist principles and strongly opposed the political involvement of the West in the Arab world. It also sought to empower Arab states against outside forces by forming alliances and, to a lesser extent, economic co-operation. Pan-Arabists wanted to create an Arab state spanning the entire Arab world, with as much land, as many Arabs, and as few Jews as possible. The origins of pan-Arabism are often attributed to

960-498: The 1967 Six-Day War and the inability of Egypt and Syria to generate economic growth in some form, also damaged pan-Arabism's credibility. "By the mid-1970s," according to The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East , "the idea of Arab unity became less and less apparent in Arab politics, though it remained a wishful goal among the masses." By the late 1980s, pan-Arabism began to be eclipsed by both nationalist and Islamist ideologies. Although pan-Arabism lost appeal by

1008-406: The Arab and Islamic worlds. Such competition sporadically resulted in friction between the leaders of these Arab countries. The United Arab Republic , which was formulated by Egypt ’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and Syria ’s Shukri al-Quwatli , was promoted to be the collective voice for the Arab world and the spearhead of pan-Arabism. Being the only physical incarnation of pan-Arabism, it did not receive

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1056-628: The Arab world following the Suez Crisis , the United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1958 was the first case of the actual merger of two previously-independent Arab countries. Hastily formed under President Nasser's leadership but on the initiative of Syrian leaders who feared a takeover by communists or "reactionaries" and hoped to lead the new entity, the UAR was a unitary state, not a federal union, with its critics seeing this as hardly more than

1104-902: The Christian militias, like the Lebanese Forces , Kataeb , Ahrar , Herras , etc., and witnessed violent battles, either with the Muslims across the Green Line with Chyah of the "West Beirut" on its border, the Syrian Forces , Palestinians and even inter-Christian conflicts, and was known for its endurance, thus became known as the "fortress of resistance" (قلعة الصمود). In February 1990 General Aoun launched an unsuccessful campaign to dislodge Samir Geagea ’s Lebanese Forces (LF) from East Beirut. Ain El Remmaneh became

1152-399: The Lebanese history and culture was marked by strong enmity towards an Arab identity of Lebanon. He was quoted saying, “I would cut off my right hand just not to be an Arab ”. In 1968 he stated that literary Arabic would vanish from Lebanon. He is known for his radical Lebanese nationalist sentiments; in 1972, he helped found the Lebanese Renewal Party , which was proposed by May Murr ,

1200-557: The Palestine-Foreign conflict, not Palestine-Jewish conflict, since there are Jews in Palestine, and those are welcome, but you foreign Jew, you should go back to Poland, Germany, France, go back to your home, and any Jew who wants to live with us Palestinians is welcome, and we are not Arabs, we are only Palestinians"..."and know that Said Akl will fight Israel, while other Arabs will make peace with Israel" For Akl Lebanon

1248-514: The United Kingdom and France determined that parts of the Mashreq would be divided between those powers rather than forming part of an independent Arab state. When the Ottoman Empire surrendered in 1918, the United Kingdom refused to keep to the letter of its arrangements with Hussein, and the two nations assumed guardianship of Mesopotamia, Lebanon , Palestine and what became modern Syria. Ultimately, Hussein became King of only Hijaz , in

1296-493: The age of 103. During his early years, Akl was an adherent of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (in Arabic الحزب السوري القومي الإجتماعي) led by Antun Saadeh , eventually being expelled by Saadeh due to irreconcilable ideological disputes. Akl adopted a powerful doctrine of the authentic millennial character of Lebanon resonating with an exalted sense of Lebanese dignity. His admiration to

1344-611: The close bounding of all Islamic communities to maintain and promote an essence of one family, one cause. The philosophy of pan-Arabism placed itself in contradiction to the philosophy of pan-Islamism as was clarified by religious scholars and Sheikhs within the various Arab countries, especially the Persian gulf. The belief held by critics emphasized that pan-Arabism separated itself from the Ummah in that it only promoted Arab unity and ideals, not Islamic ones. The religious conservatism within

1392-637: The establishment of the Arab Ba’ath (Renaissance) Party , and the former was for long its chief ideologist, combining elements of Marxist thought with nationalism to a considerable extent reminiscent of nineteenth-century European romantic nationalism. It has been said that Arsuzi was fascinated with the Nazi ideology of "racial purity" and impacted Aflaq . Abdullah I of Jordan dreamed of uniting Syria , Palestine , and Jordan under his leadership in what he would call Greater Syria . He unsuccessfully proposed

1440-494: The expected praise from other Arab nations, especially in the Gulf, which further added to the decline of pan-Arabism. To a lesser extent, the military defeat to “arch-enemy” Israel made both prominent sources of pan-Arabism reconsider such philosophy. The United Arab Republic , consisting of Egypt and Syria , received ideological burden due to the unfavorable outcome, thus putting pan-Arabism in question. The victory of Israel in

1488-569: The only remaining member but continued to call itself "the UAR" (thereby implying it was open for unification with other Arab countries), but it eventually renamed itself the "Arab Republic of Egypt" in 1973. Also in 1958, a Hashemite -led rival, the Arab Federation , was founded between Jordan and Iraq . Tensions with the UAR and the 14 July Revolution made the Arab Federation collapse after only six months. Another attempt,

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1536-877: The pomegranate tree", for the area was known to be covered with pomegranate and citrus trees before it was wiped out during the civil war. Ain El Remmaneh is managed by the municipality of Furn Al Chebbak, which also manages Tahwitet El Nahr (tahwita). It is surrounded by Sin El Fil from the north, Chiyah from the South, Hazmieh from the East and Beirut from the West. Its strategic location has transformed it into an important urban area, with industrial and educational significance. Said Akl Said Akl ( Arabic : سعيد عقل , Saʿīd ʿAql , also transliterated Saïd Akl , Said Aql and Saeed Akl ; 4 July 1911 – 28 November 2014)

1584-422: The promotion of pan-Islamism , the sectarian and social differences within the different Arab societies; the competition between different Arab leaders to be the leading voice for the Arab and Islamic worlds; and, to a lesser extent, military defeat against an enemy force. The promotion of pan-Islamism had been a key aspect within Arab and Muslim societies. Such philosophy dictated for a united Islamic ‘Ummah’ or

1632-487: The same alphabet. Akl published the tabloid newspaper Lebnaan using the Lebanese language. It was published in two versions, لبنان (transliteration and pronunciation Lubnan which means Lebanon in Arabic language ) using Lebanese written in traditional Arabic alphabet , the other Lebnaan ( Lebanese for Lebanon) in his proposed Lebanese Latin-based alphabet. Akl has numerous writings ranging from theatrical plays, epics, poetry and song lyrics. His first published work

1680-541: The scene of intense fighting and artillery exchanges which caused extensive damage and many casualties. The district fell to Auon’s soldiers on 15-16 February with LF fighters escaping by way of Syrian controlled West Beirut. On April 13, 1975, a bus passing through Ain Al-Remmaneh, transporting Arab Liberation Front guerilla fighters and Palestinians returning from a festival, heading to their camp in Tel al-Zaatar ,

1728-407: The societies propelled pan-Islamism to defeat alternative thoughts such as pan-Arabism. Various sectarian and social differences within the various Arab societies was another fueling factor for pan-Arabism's decline. Sporadic Sunni and Shia religious divide exacerbated by internal and foreign factors caused reconsideration within Arab circles as to whether pan-Arabism was viable although the issue

1776-645: The then less strategically valuable south, but lost his Caliphate throne when the kingdom was sacked by the Najdi Ikhwan forces of the Saudites and forcefully incorporated into the newly created Kingdom of Saudi Arabia . A more formalized pan-Arab ideology than that of Hussein was first espoused in the 1930s, notably by Syrian thinkers such as Constantin Zureiq , Sati' al-Husri , Zaki al-Arsuzi , and Michel Aflaq . Aflaq and al-Arsuzi were key figures in

1824-485: The time, What is most significant is the absence of an Arab component in early Egyptian nationalism. The thrust of Egyptian political, economic, and cultural development throughout the nineteenth century worked against, rather than for, an 'Arab' orientation. ... This situation—that of divergent political trajectories for Egyptians and Arabs—if anything increased after 1900. It was not until Gamal Abdel Nasser that Arab nationalism (in addition to Arab socialism ) became

1872-587: The universal written and official language throughout the Arab world, instead of adoption of local dialects in the various countries. Zaydan wrote several articles during the early 20th century which emphasized that Arabic-speaking regions stretching from the Maghreb to the Persian Gulf constitute one people with a shared national consciousness and that this linguistic bond trumped religious, racial and specific territorial bonds, inspired in part by his status as

1920-401: Was a Lebanese poet, philosopher, writer, playwright and language reformer. He is considered one of the most important Lebanese poets of the modern era. He is most famous for his advocacy on behalf of codifying the spoken Lebanese Arabic language as competency distinct from Standard Arabic, to be written in a modern modified Roman script consisting of 36 symbols that he deemed an evolution of

1968-475: Was as follows: Starting in the 1970s Akl offered a prize to whoever authored the best essay in Lebanese. Since then the Said Akl awards have been granted to many Lebanese intellectuals and artists. He published his poetry book Yara completely using his proposed Lebanese alphabet, thus becoming the first book ever to be published in this form. In later years, he also published his poetry book Khumasiyyat in

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2016-506: Was equally if not more influenced by Phoenician languages and promoted the use of the Lebanese language written in a modified Latin alphabet , rather than the Arabic one . He designed an alphabet for the Lebanese language using the Latin alphabet in addition to a few newly designed letters and some accented Latin letters to suit the Lebanese phonology. The proposed Lebanese alphabet designed by Akl contained 36 letters. The proposed alphabet

2064-461: Was followed by specific proposals from pro-British leaders, including King Abdullah of Transjordan and Prime Minister Nuri al-Said of Iraq, but Egyptian proposals for a broader grouping of independent Arab states prevailed with the establishment of the League of Arab States, a regional international organization, in 1945. In large part representing the popularity Nasser had gained among the masses in

2112-586: Was gunned down by militiamen of the Kataeb party , killing all the 27 passengers except the driver, which marked the start of the Lebanese Civil War . The incident happened just hours after 4 Christians were killed outside a nearby church during a child's baptism in Ain El-Remmaneh in an assassination attempt of the Phalangist (Kataeb) leader Pierre Gemayel . Ain El Remmaneh means "the water spring of

2160-454: Was led by rival factions of the Ba'ath Party , which continues to espouse pan-Arabism and is organized in several other countries. The decline of pan-Arabism is attributed to several factors. Problems persisted over a wide range of issues since the inception of pan-Arabist philosophy in the late 1800s, which, until its decline, had kept pan-Arabism on course for causal failure. The factors include:

2208-461: Was released in 1935, a theatrical play written in Arabic. His works are written in either Lebanese, literary Arabic, or French. He is also known for writing lyrics of many well-known songs, including Zahrat al-Mada'en (in Arabic زهرة المدائن) sung by Fairuz . In 1981 he also published poems in French Akl has also written poems that were turned into pan-Arab anthem songs with music from

2256-411: Was religiously oriented. Social differences toed a similar line. Countries like Lebanon and Syria considered secular brought about a clash of thought with the likes of religious Saudi Arabia , whose longstanding promotion of religion was contradictory to the goals of the secular hierarchy within the two Levantine countries, for example. Different Arab leaders competed to become the leading voices for

2304-523: Was the cradle of culture and the inheritor of the Oriental civilization, well before the arrival of the Arabs on the historical stage. He emphasized the Phoenician legacy of the Lebanese people, aligning with Phoenicianism . Akl was an ideologue for promotion of the Lebanese language as independent of Arabic language . Although acknowledging the influence of Arabic, he argued that Lebanese language

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