[26] Antoine Khoury Harb wrote in his book The Maronites History and Constants (p. 128, 130, 132, 134):
“The Ottoman agents were discreetly fomenting strife between Christians and Druze. Moreover, foreign powers conspired to pour
oil on the fire... In 1841, Maronite-Druze tension was at its height… In 1845, a clash took place between the Christians of Damour
and the Druze of Nehmeh. It soon developed to affect 150 Lebanese villages. At this point, the consuls of the European countries
intervened and brought pressure to bear on the Ottoman State, which sent its Foreign Minister Shakib Effendi to effect a
settlement on the spot. Shakib Effendi made the necessary arrangements to restore order… In May 1860, a civil sectarian war
never witnessed before, broke out in Lebanon. The Druze Qaimaqamate witnessed horrible massacres of Christians. Many towns
and villages were pillaged and burnt in the regions of the Metn, Baabda, Jezzine, Wadi el-Taym, Hasbaya, Rashaya, Zahle, and
Deir El Kamar… On August 16, 1860, the news of the massacres reached Paris. The French Government ordered six thousand
French troops to be sent to Beirut… an international commission representing Britain, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia was
established in Beirut… On June 9, 1861, an organic statute for Lebanon was formally signed by the International Commission. This
statute was known as… the “Mutasarrifiat”… But by the 1861 Protocol, which was finally approved in 1864, Lebanon lost more
than half of its territory. It was in fact stripped of Wadi el-Taym, the Bekaa, Tyre, Sidon, southern Lebanon, Tripoli, Akkar and
Beirut…”
Timeline:
June 1, 1860: Deir El Kamar attacked.
June 3, 1860: The inhabitants of Jezzeen were martyred.
June 4, 1860: The inhabitants of Rashaya were martyred.
June 18, 1860: Zahle was totally destroyed and burnt.
June 20, 1860: The inhabitants of Deir El Kamar were martyred.
Casualties:
By the end of June 1860, 10,000 Maronites were killed:
326 villages, 560 churches, 28 colleges, 42 convents and
monasteries were completely destroyed.
100,000 refugees, 20,000 widows and orphans.
[27] Antoine Khoury Harb wrote in his book The Maronites History and Constants (p. 142, 144, 146):
“As soon as the Ottomans entered the war in October 29, 1914, the privileges of the foreign consuls were abolished in all the
Vilayets of the Empire… In November 22, 1914, Ottoman troops entered Lebanon via the Zahle road and spread over the regions
of Mount Lebanon, thus violating Lebanon’s internal autonomy stated in the 1864 protocol… On March 13, 1915, Jamal Pasha dis-
solved the Administrative Council of Mount Lebanon and established the Court Martial of Aley… Father Youssef al-Hayek, parish
priest of Sin el-Fil, was the first Maronite martyr, and was hanged in Damascus on March 22, 1915, because the Turks found a
letter addressed to him from Deshanel, the President of the French Parliament… In addition to the oppression of the Turks, the
Lebanese suffered from very difficult economic and social circumstances. The Ottomans confiscated their crops and cattle, and
stopped grain from entering Lebanon under the pretense of feeding their army. Prices soared dramatically, and paper currency,
which replaced gold, depreciated. Moreover, locusts invaded Lebanon and all agricultural products were destroyed. Thousands of
people died of famine and epidemic diseases. At the same time, Jamal Pasha blocked the land and sea routes to aid, cutting off
the money sent by emigrants to their families… In order to alleviate this disaster, the Lebanese Maronite Order, headed by Abbot
Ignace Dagher, had mortgaged, following the approval of the Apostolic Delegation and the Maronite Patriarchate, all its properties
for 1,000,000 gold francs paid by the French Government. The French governor of Arwad Island arranged the mortgage. This
sum of money was sent to Lebanon in installments via special routes and distributed to the poor to alleviate the famine, and this,
through the Lebanese Maronite Order… When the war was over, the French Government declined to claim the loan or even to
confiscate the property of the Lebanese Maronite Order because, as was declared by President Clemenceau, “the French
Government did not want to be less generous than a community of 600 monks.”
[28] Antoine Khoury Harb wrote in his book The Maronites History and Constants (p. 148, 150, 154):
“Following the triumph of the Allies in 1918, Lebanon was liberated from the Ottoman hegemony. The four years of war had cost
the lives of one third of the Lebanese. The Peace Conference held in Paris on January 18, 1919 was supposed to adopt President
Wilson’s principle of the right of nations into auto-determination. The Lebanese, who had lost important parts of their country,
felt that it was the time for them to realize their grand dream of establishing Greater Lebanon…
On June 16, 1919, the Administrative Council delegated the Maronite Patriarch Elias Hoayek to head a second Lebanese delegation
to the Peace Conference. The decision was seconded by requests sent to the patriarchal seat in Bkerke, calling on the Patriarch to
represent all Lebanese in the Peace Conference. The Patriarch left for Italy from the Port of Jounieh aboard a French naval vessel.
On October 25, 1919 (the Mandate had already been decided), the Patriarch arrived in Paris and submitted to the Conference a
memorandum requesting “the recognition of Lebanon in its full natural and historical boundaries including the regions usurped by
Turkey… and for a French Mandate in Lebanon granting the inalienable rights of the Lebanese to ultimate sovereignty.”
On November 10, 1919, the French Prime Minister Clemenceau wrote to the Patriarch Hoayek confirming France’s approval of the
demands submitted by the Maronite Patriarch. Upon his return to Lebanon, Patriarch Hoayek was given a hero’s welcome.
On September 1st, 1920,… General Goraud proclaimed the independent “State of Greater Lebanon” under French Mandate.”
Lebanon won its total independence on November 22, 1943.
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