LEBANON, FLAG OF

horizontally striped red-white-red national flag with a central green cedar tree. The width-to-length ratio of the flag is 2 to 3. On September 1, 1920, the state of Greater Lebanon, with French military administration, was proclaimed under a flag derived from French and biblical symbols. The cedar tree was pictured on the white central stripe of the French Tricolor, although earlier it had been emblazoned on a plain flag carried by Christian troops in the Lebanese Legion during World War I. In early historic times cedars of Lebanon were plentiful throughout the area. The cedar tree was mentioned in the Bible as a symbol of strength and wealth and had long been associated with the Lebanese Christian minority. During World War II the Free French forces who overthrew the Vichy regime in Lebanon wanted to assure themselves of support from the local population and consequently ended the League of Nations mandate, proclaiming Lebanon's independence in November 1941. No change was made in the national flag at that time. The so-called National Pact, agreed upon and proclaimed in 1943, divided power among the Christians, Sunnite Muslims, and Shi'ite Muslims. A new national flag was then created that maintained the cedar tree but eliminated the French Tricolor. The stripes of the new flag were horizontal instead of vertical and limited to red and white. Historically, those colours had been associated, respectively, with the Kayssites and the Yemenites, clans that had reputedly existed for more than a thousand years. The cedar of the 1943 flag was supposed to be entirely green, although later representations sometimes added a naturalistic brown to the trunk and branches. Whitney Smith Government and social conditions Government The constitutional framework Modern Lebanon is a republic with a parliamentary system of government. Its constitution, promulgated in 1926 during the French mandate and modified by several subsequent amendments, provides for a unicameral Chamber of Deputies (renamed National Assembly in 1979) elected for a term of four years by universal adult suffrage (women attained the right to vote and eligibility to run for office in 1953). According to the 1989 Ta'if agreement, parliamentary seats are apportioned equally between Christian and Muslim sects, thereby replacing an earlier ratio that had favoured Christians. This sectarian distribution is also to be observed in appointments to public office. The head of state is the president, who is elected by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly for a term of six years and is eligible for reelection only after the lapse of an additional six years. By an unwritten convention, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the premier a Sunnite Muslim, and the speaker of the National Assembly a Shi'ite. The president, in consultation with the speaker of the National Assembly and the parliamentary deputies, invites a Sunnite Muslim to form a Cabinet, and the Cabinet members' portfolios are organized to reflect the sectarian balance. The Cabinet, which holds more executive power than the president, requires a vote of confidence from the assembly in order to remain in power. A vote of no confidence, however, is rarely exercised in practice. A Cabinet usually falls because of internal dissension, societal strife, or pressure exerted by foreign states. Local government Lebanon is divided into muhafazat (governorates): Bayrut (Beirut), Jabal Lubnan, ash-Shamal, al-Janub, al-Biqa', and an-Nabatiyah. These are administered by the muhafiz (governor), who represents the central government. The muhafazat are further divided into qadawat (districts), each of which is presided over by a qa'im-maqam (district chief), who, along with the muhafiz, supervises local government. Municipalities (communities with at least 500 inhabitants) elect their own councils, which in turn elect mayors and vice mayors. Villages and towns (more than 50 and fewer than 500 inhabitants) elect a mukhtar (headman) and a council of elders, who serve on an honorary basis. All officers of local governments serve four-year terms. History Phoenicia Origins and relations with Egypt The evidence of tools found in caves along the coast of Lebanon shows that the area was inhabited from the Paleolithic through the Neolithic periods. Village life followed the domestication of plants and animals (the Neolithic Revolution, after about 10,000 BC), with Byblos (modern Jubayl) apparently taking the lead. At this site also appear the first traces in Lebanon of pottery and metallurgy (first copper, then bronze, an alloy of tin and copper) by the 4th millennium BC. The Phoenicians, indistinguishable from the Canaanites of Palestine, probably arrived in the land that became Phoenicia (a Greek term applied to the coast of Lebanon) in about 3000 BC. Herodotus and other Classical writers preserve a tradition that they came from the coast of the Erythraean Sea (i.e., the Persian Gulf), but in fact nothing certain is known of their original homeland. Except at Byblos, no excavations have produced any information concerning the 3rd millennium in Phoenicia before the advent of the Phoenicians. At Byblos, the first urban settlement is dated c. 30502850 BC. Commercial and religious connections, probably by sea, with Egypt are attested from the Egyptian 4th dynasty (c. 2613c. 2494 BC). The earliest artistic representations of Phoenicians are found in a damaged relief at Memphis of Pharaoh Sahure of the 5th dynasty (early 25th century BC). This shows the arrival of an Asiatic princess to be the Pharaoh's bride; her escort is a fleet of seagoing ships, probably of the type known to the Egyptians as Byblos ships, manned by crews of Asiatics, evidently Phoenicians. Byblos was destroyed by fire about 2150 BC, probably by the invading Amorites. The Amorites rebuilt on the site, and a period of close contact with Egypt was begun. Costly gifts were given by the pharaohs to those Phoenician and Syrian princes, such as the rulers of Ugarit and Katna, who were loyal to Egypt. Whether this attests to Egypt's political dominion over Phoenicia at this time or simply to strong diplomatic and commercial relations is not entirely clear. In the 18th century BC new invaders, called Hyksos, destroyed the Amorite rule in Byblos and, passing on to Egypt, brought the Middle Kingdom to an end (c. 1720 BC). Little is known about the Hyksos' origin, but they seem to have been ethnically mixed, including a considerable Semitic element, since the Phoenician deities El, Baal, and Anath figured in their pantheon. The rule of the Hyksos in Egypt was brief and their cultural achievement slight, but in this period the links with Phoenicia and Syria were strengthened by the presence of Hyksos aristocracies throughout the region. Pharaoh Ahmose I expelled the Hyksos in about 1567 BC and instituted the New Kingdom policy of conquest in Palestine and Syria. In his annals Ahmose records capturing oxen from the Fenkhw, a term here perhaps referring to the Phoenicians. In the annals of the greatest Egyptian conqueror, Thutmose III (c. 15041450 BC), the coastal plain of Lebanon, called Djahy, is described as rich with fruit, wine, and grain. Of particular importance to the New Kingdom pharaohs was the timber, notably the cedar, of the Lebanese forests. A temple relief at Karnak depicts the chiefs of Lebanon felling cedars for the Egyptian officers of Seti I (c. 1300 BC). Fuller information about the state of Phoenicia in the 14th century BC comes from the Amarna Letters, diplomatic texts belonging to the Egyptian foreign office, written in cuneiform and found at Tell el-Amarna in Middle Egypt. These archives reveal that the Land of Retenu (SyriaPalestine) was divided into three administrative districts, each under an Egyptian governor. The northernmost district (Amurru) included the coastal region from Ugarit to Byblos; the central (Upi) included the southern al-Biqa' valley and Anti-Lebanon; and the third district (Canaan) included all of Palestine from the Egyptian border to Byblos. Also among the letters are many documents addressed by the subject princes of Phoenicia and their Egyptian governors to the pharaoh. It was a time of much political unrest. The Hittites from central Anatolia were invading Syria; nomads from the desert supported the invasion, and many of the local chiefs were ready to seize the opportunity to throw off the yoke of Egypt. The tablets that reveal this state of affairs are written in the language and script of Babylonia (i.e., Akkadian) and thus show the extent to which Babylonian culture had penetrated Palestine and Phoenicia; at the same time they illustrate the closeness of the relations between the Canaanite towns (i.e., those in Palestine) and the dominant power of Egypt. After the reign of Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV; 1379c. 1362), that power collapsed altogether; but his successors attempted to recover it, and Ramses II reconquered Phoenicia as far as the Nahr el Kelb. In the reign of Ramses III (119866) many great changes began to occur as a result of the invasion of Syria by peoples from Asia Minor and Europe. The successors of Ramses III lost their hold over Canaan; the 21st dynasty no longer intervened in the affairs of Syria. In The Story of Wen-Amon, a tale of an Egyptian religious functionary sent to Byblos to secure cedar around 1100 BC, the episode of the functionary's inhospitable reception shows the extent of the decline of Egypt's authority in Phoenicia at this time. Sheshonk (Shishak) I, the founder of the 22nd dynasty, in about 928 BC endeavoured to assert the ancient supremacy of Egypt. His successes, however, were not lasting, and, as is clear from the Old Testament, the power of Egypt thereafter became ineffective. Phoenicia as a colonial and commercial power Phoenician colonization in the Mediterranean. Kingship appears to have been the oldest form of Phoenician government. The royal houses claimed divine descent, and the king could not be chosen outside their members. His power, however, was limited by the powerful merchant families, who wielded great influence in public affairs. Associated with the king was a council of elders; such at least was the case at Byblos, Sidon, and perhaps Tyre. During Nebuchadrezzar II's reign (605562 BC) a republic took the place of the monarchy at Tyre, and the government was administered by a succession of suffetes (judges); they held office for short terms, and in one instance two ruled together for six years. Much later, in the 3rd century BC, an inscription from Tyre also mentions a suffete. Carthage was governed by two suffetes, and these officers are frequently named in connection with the Carthaginian colonies. But this does not justify any inference that Phoenicia itself had such magistrates. Under the Persians a federal bond was formed linking Sidon, Tyre, and Aradus. Federation on a larger scale was never possible in Phoenicia, for the reason that no sense of political unity existed to bind the different states together.