Lebanese politician (1905-1984)
This article is about a patriarch of a Lebanese family. For his grandson of the same name, see
Pierre Amine Gemayel
.
Pierre Amine Gemayel
, also spelled
Jmayyel
,
Jemayyel
or
al-Jumayyil
(
Arabic
:
???? ???????
; 6 November 1905 ? 29 August 1984), was a Lebanese political leader. A
Maronite Catholic
, he is remembered as the founder of the
Kataeb Party
(also known as the Phalangist Party), as a parliamentary powerbroker, and as the father of
Bachir Gemayel
and
Amine Gemayel
, both of whom were elected to the
presidency
of the republic in his lifetime.
He opposed the
French
Mandate
over Lebanon in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and advocated an independent state, free from foreign control. He was known for his deft political maneuvering, which led him to take positions which were seen by supporters as pragmatic, but by opponents as contradictory, or even hypocritical. Although publicly sympathetic to the
Palestinian cause
, he later changed his position due to
Palestinian
support of the
Lebanese National Movement
and its calls to end the
National Pact
and establish
non-sectarian
democracy.
Gemayel also had a career in
football
in the 1930s, captaining the
Lebanon national team
as a player. He also became the first Lebanese
football referee
to officiate matches
internationally
, and was the second president of the
Lebanese Football Association
, between 1935 and 1939.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Pierre Gemayel was born on 6 November 1905 in
Bikfaya
, Lebanon into a
Maronite
family.
[1]
His father Amine Bachir Gemayel, known as Abou Ali, and his uncle were forced to flee to
Egypt
after being
sentenced to death
in 1914 for opposing
Ottoman
rule, returning to Lebanon only at the end of
World War I
.
Gemayel was educated at
Jesuit
school. He went on to study pharmacy
[2]
at the French faculty of medicine in
Beirut
, where he later opened a pharmacy. He owned a pharmacy in
Haifa
, Palestine. The pharmacy was located in Sahat Al Hanatir (Carriage Square).
Gemayel also took an interest in sport, playing
football
.
[3]
In 1935 he became president of the
Lebanese Football Association
(LFA); the same year he became Lebanon's first
referee
to officiate
internationally
.
[4]
As
captain
of the
Lebanon national team
, Gemayel attended the
1936 Olympic games
in
Berlin
,
[3]
alongside
Hussein Sejaan
,
[5]
the former LFA president.
[6]
After the games, he also visited various Central European countries.
[5]
Gemayel remained president of the LFA until 1939.
[4]
Foundation of Kataeb Party
[
edit
]
On his return to Lebanon from Europe, in 1936 Gemayel founded
Al Kataeb Al Loubnaniyyah
party (Phalangist Party a.k.a. Kataeb Party) with Georges Naqqache, Charles Helou, Chafic Nassif and Hamid Franjieh, who was later replaced with Emile Yared, modelling the party after the Spanish and Italian Fascist parties he had observed there.
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
At first, the goal of the party was to enhance people's patriotism and civic-mindedness, but later on turned into a political resistance to the French authorities in the region.
[11]
Gemayel was also influenced from the
Sokol movement
of
Czechoslovakia
during this visit to the Central Europe after the 1936 Olympic games, and employed the doctrine of this movement while founding the Kataeb party.
[5]
Kataeb Party is described as a right-wing Christian Party.
[12]
The foundation of
the Syrian Social Nationalist Party
by
Antun Saadeh
in 1932 was the trigger for the establishment of the Kateb Party, since the former actively tried to influence Lebanon towards the Syrian interests, leading to direct challenge for Lebanese nationalists.
[5]
The founders of the Kataeb Party were young, French-educated and middle-class professionals who committed to independent and Western-oriented Lebanon.
[5]
Charles Helou
, who later served as Lebanon's president from 1964 to 1970,
[13]
was one of the founders. By the time of his presidency, however, Helou was no longer a party member, and Gemayel unsuccessfully opposed him in the presidential election of 1964.
Career
[
edit
]
In the years before and after Lebanon's independence, Gemayel's influence and that of the Kataeb Party was limited. It survived a French attempt to forcibly dissolve it in 1937 and took part in an uprising against the French Mandate in 1943, but despite its membership of 35,000, it operated on the fringes of
Lebanese politics
. It was not until the
Civil War of 1958
, that Gemayel emerged as a leader of the right-wing nationalist (mainly Christian) movement that opposed a
Nasserist
and
Arab-nationalist
inspired attempt to overthrow the government of president
Camille Chamoun
and supported the return of foreign troops to Lebanon. In the aftermath of the war, Gemayel was appointed a
cabinet minister
in a four-member Unity government. Two years later, Gemayel was elected to the
National Assembly
, from a Beirut constituency, a seat he held for the rest of his life. In 1958, Gemayel was appointed deputy to then prime minister
Rashid Karami
.
[14]
By the end of the 1960s, the Kataeb Party held 9 seats in the National Assembly, making it one of the largest groupings in Lebanon's notoriously fractured and sectarian parliament. Although his bids for the
presidency
in 1964 and 1970 were unsuccessful, Gemayel continued to hold cabinet posts intermittently throughout the remaining quarter-century of his life. For instance, he was
minister of finance
from 1960 to 1961 and in 1968,
[15]
and the minister of public works in 1970.
[16]
Lebanon has long been a battleground in the
Israeli-Arab conflict
, and Gemayel's position was always solid and consistent advocating a Lebanon separated from the other Arab states and linked to France and the West. He opposed the presence of the
Palestinian refugees
. His supporters viewed this as a sign of strength and patriotism, while his detractors saw it as incoherent. Gemayel reluctantly signed the
Cairo Agreement of 1969
under enormous pressure from the international community, which allowed
Palestinian
guerrillas to set up bases on Lebanese soil, from which to carry out actions against
Israel
. He later defended his actions, saying that Lebanon really had no choice. In the 1970s, he came to oppose the armed Palestinian presence in Lebanon. The Kataeb created a military Security Council led by
William Hawi
, which came to be commanded by Gemayel's son
Bachir
upon the assassination of Hawi.
Gemayel was also to reverse his position on the Syrian intervention in the
Lebanese Civil War
of 1975 to 1990. He initially welcomed Syrian intervention on the side of the Christians and against the
Lebanese National Movement
, but he soon became convinced that Syria was occupying Lebanon for reasons of its own. In 1976, he joined other mainly Christian leaders, including former president
Camille Chamoun
, the diplomat
Charles Malik
, and the
Guardians of the Cedars
leader
Etienne Saqr
, to oppose the Syrians. On 11 October 1978, Gemayel bitterly denounced the Syrian military presence, and the
Lebanese Front
joined the
Lebanese regular army
in a successful "
Hundred Days War
" against the Syrian army.
On 4 June 1979, an attempt was made to assassinate Pierre Gemayel.
[17]
The previous month, 13 May,
Amine Gemayel
also escaped an assassination attempt.
[18]
Later years and death
[
edit
]
Gemayel saw his younger son,
Bachir Gemayel
, elected president of Lebanon on 23 August 1982, only
to be assassinated
on 14 September, nine days before his scheduled inauguration. Bachir's older brother,
Amine Gemayel
was elected to replace him. Pierre Gemayel himself initially stayed out of Amine Gemayel's government, but in early 1984, after participating in two conferences in
Geneva
and
Lausanne
, Switzerland, aimed at ending the civil war and the occupation of the country by Israeli troops in 1982, he agreed to serve once more in a cabinet of national unity that was formed by
Rashid Karami
in May 1984.
[19]
He served as the minister of public health and communications in the cabinet led by then prime minister Karami.
[2]
Gemayel was still in office when he died of a heart attack in
Bikfaya
on 29 August 1984.
[20]
He was at the age of 78.
[2]
Gemayel's body was buried next to Bashir Gemayel's grave in Bikfaya on 30 August 1984.
[21]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Gemayel was married to Genevieve Gemayel, and they celebrated the 50th anniversary of their marriage in August 1984.
[22]
They had six children. His younger son, Bachir Gemayel was assassinated on 14 September 1982 after being elected to the presidency. His grandson
Pierre Amine Gemayel
, then industry minister, was similarly assassinated on 21 November 2006. Several other descendants of Pierre Gemayel, including two grandchildren, were also murdered during the
civil war period
.
[21]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
??? ???? ??????
. You Tube. Archived from
the original
on 25 June 2014
. Retrieved
22 October
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Pierre Gemayel, Lebanese Christian leader"
.
The Day
. Beirut. Associated Press. 30 August 1984
. Retrieved
23 March
2013
.
- ^
a
b
Fisk, Robert
(2002).
Pity The Nation
. Nation Books. pp. 48?49.
- ^
a
b
"Pierre El Gemayel"
.
abdogedeon.com
. Retrieved
23 August
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
John Pierre Entelis (1974).
Pluralism and Party Transformation in Lebanon: Al-Kata?ib, 1936-1970
. BRILL. p. 46.
ISBN
978-90-04-03911-7
. Retrieved
22 October
2012
.
- ^
Sakr, Ali Hamidi (1992).
?????? ??? ????? ????????? 1991?1992
[
1991?1992 Lebanese Football Encyclopedia
] (in Arabic). ????? ???? ???????. p. 17.
ISBN
0000281247
.
- ^
"Lebanon - Phalange Party"
.
CountryStudies.us
. Retrieved
22 October
2012
.
- ^
Johnson, Michael (23 November 2002).
All honorable men: the social origins of war in Lebanon
. I. B. Tauris. p. 148.
ISBN
1-860647154
.
- ^
Griffith, Lee (1 June 2004).
The war on terrorism and the terror of God
. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p.
3
.
ISBN
0-8028-2860-4
.
lebanon phalange fascism.
- ^
Ensalaco, Mark (30 November 2007).
Middle Eastern terrorism: from Black September to September 11
. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 85.
ISBN
978-0-8122-4046-7
.
- ^
Stoakes, Frank (1975).
"The Supervigilantes: The Lebanese Kataeb Party as a Builder, Surrogate and Defender of the State"
.
Middle Eastern Studies
.
11
(3): 215.
- ^
Joseph, Suad (July 2011). "Political Familism in Lebanon".
American Academy of Political and Social Science
.
636
: 150?165.
doi
:
10.1177/0002716211398434
.
S2CID
145269097
.
- ^
Mermier, Franck; Mervin, Sabrina (2012).
Leaders et partisans au Liban
(in French). KARTHALA Editions.
ISBN
9782811105952
.
- ^
"New cabinet in Lebanon civil strife"
.
The Daily Reporter
. 14 October 1958
. Retrieved
23 March
2013
.
- ^
"Former Ministers"
. 18 December 2019. Archived from
the original
on 18 December 2019.
- ^
"Guerrillas, Arab militia in shootout"
.
The Spokesman Review
. Beirut. Associated Press. 28 March 1970
. Retrieved
23 March
2013
.
- ^
Middle East International No 101, 8 June 1979; pp.12-14
- ^
Middle East International No 100, 25 May 1979; pp.13-15
- ^
"Lebanese cabinet members announced; one refuses post"
.
The Milwaukee Sentinel
. 1 May 1984
. Retrieved
23 March
2013
.
[
permanent dead link
]
- ^
"Pierre Gemayel, Lebanon war figure and father of nation's president, dies"
.
The Pittsburgh Press
. Beirut. 29 August 1984
. Retrieved
23 March
2013
.
- ^
a
b
"Pierre Gemayel was praised as Lebanese hero"
.
Lakeland Ledger
. Bikfaya. Associated Press. 30 August 1984
. Retrieved
23 March
2013
.
- ^
"Pierre Gemayel dies in Lebanon at 78"
.
Sarasota Herald Tribune
. Beirut. Associated Press. 30 August 1984
. Retrieved
23 March
2013
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
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Founding clubs
| |
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Presidents
|
- Hussein Sejaan
- Pierre Gemayel
- Farid Ammoun
- Jamil Sawaya
- Gabriel Jamil
- Bahij Salem
- Nassif Majdalani
- Fouad Chamoun
- Izzat Al Turk
- Pierre Edde
- George Dabbas
- Albert Kheir
- Hamid Khoury
- Nabil Al Raei
- Hachem Haidar
|
---|
General secretaries
|
- Elie Bakhaze
- Izzat Al Turk
- Joseph Nalbandian
- Raheef Alameh
- Bahij Bou Hamzah
- Raheef Alameh
- Jihad El Chohof
|
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International
| |
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National
| |
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People
| |
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Other
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