Lebanon

Lebanon is one of the most historic countries in the Arab region and Beirut is the capital of Lebanon. It’s surrounded by five counties which are Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Turkey and Cyprus. Lebanon was called the “land of milk and honey” in the bible. Beirut is also called “Paris of the East”. Shakira is half Lebanese and she is one of the famous singers in the world.

In 1943, there was an increase in tensions between Muslims and Christians. At that time, Christians held the balance of power and Lebanon Muslims had little say in the running of the country. But in 1948 after the Arab-Israeli war, Muslims refugees left for Lebanon from Palestine. In 1975, the tensions reached their peak because the Phalange a Christian group attacked and killed a bus of Palestinians in downtown Beirut. Violence and lack of trust between the both side (Muslims and Christians) resulted. In addition, troops went to live on different side in the country. In 1982, the Israeli army invaded the city with the aim of removing the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In 1989 a peace deal was reached. There were a lot of human and economic costs to this conflict. Between 150-200 thousand were killed, 300,000 were wounded and the economy was paralyzed.


Nowadays, there are signs of social and economic recovery in Beirut. For example, more than 17 different religions live together, people live in peace, development has taken place in the infrastructure (malls, beaches and cranes are everywhere) Beirut takes 3rd place in number of cars and phones. On the other hand, there are some current problems in the country. One of these is life remains hard and unemployment is very high. Finally, too much money remains in the hands of a few.



Bibliography:"Eye on Lebanon." Global Eye. 25 Spring 2006. Royal Geographical Society. 8 Apr. 2008 .

for more information go to these links:
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Lebanon_War
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Civil_War