Arabic identity

[Patriotic]

Do you identify yourself as an arab?

[Gino]

I don't, for i have researched my family-tree as far back as seven centuries, and nowhere did i have Arabic blood...
Also, if you take it culturally, we have very different customs, share only recent history, as for the language, we are a people that focus on our PR, lol, and our customers where all arabic-speaking :P

[xcoder]

guys if we like it or not we are arabis. i know arabs has shown very bad image so far.
we first have identify the meaning of being arabic.

[General]

I voted "NO" because i think that we're Arabians and Not Arabians... we have the arabian background but the eastern mentality...

anyways, its a huge meaningful subject...

[WiseCookie]

Originally Posted by LAU FPM

I voted "NO" because i think that we're Arabians and Not Arabians... we have the arabian background but the eastern mentality...

anyways, its a huge meaningful subject...

That's true.

I mean take a look back. Look at how many people have conquered our lands ( sadly that's always been the case ) . However, I do not say I'm phonecian either. I believe that I am Lebanese wo no2ta 3al sater.

[Souska]

Originally Posted by xcoder

guys if we like it or not we are arabis.

i voted for NO and NO and NO

na7nou mazij
why we see only the arabs when camed to our land, and we don't see the others ???
European, phonecian and others .....

i'm not arab and that's it

[Gino]

Souska is right, i wrote an article on the subject in my school magazine, with substantial proof, quotes, records, etc. It was surprisingly actually read! It even the got the attention of the administration of Lebanese Catholic Schools:shock: ! This is indeed a hot topic...

Are We Arabs?

The ongoing debate concerning the Lebanese Identity started 59 years ago, when our final draft of the constitution was agreed upon and Lebanon finally became independent from French occupation. This was so because it was in that period that the dreams of an Arab World began to truly materialize with the Arab League’s first conference held, and Lebanon being one of its essential member nations. Certainly, because of the history exams we have all had, we all know that what gives us an Arabic identity is the fact that we share the same language, history, culture, fears and hopes with our neighboring nations, but is it truly based on only so?

Firstly, many Lebanese consider themselves the true descendants of the Phoenicians, the oldest known civilization native to Lebanon. This is somewhat true, for obvious evidence surfaces today, with families such as ‘Kanaan’ which most probably descend from the gene pool of the Kanaanites. Also, DNA research several years ago proved a relation between many individuals to ancient Phoenicians. However, this was a serious blow to those who promote that very heritage, for the percentage of Lebanese who tested positive for blood relation to the Phoenician people were much lower than had been thought....

This brings us to an important question, if not all of us are Phoenicians, then what are we? If we want to consider Arabs, we should identify the origin of Arabs. The Arabs were known as the nomadic tribes of the deserts of the Saudi Arabian peninsula, south of the Babylonians in modern-day Iraq. Lebanon has virtually no deserts, nor does life in it require a nomadic routine. However, let us presume some of those tribes may have found their way to Lebanon though Jordan and Palestine. So, most probably, some of us are of Arab origin.

Now we come to the Jewish state of B.C. Israel, they constantly had dealings with Phoenicians and Kanaanites, as the Old Testament states quite explicitly. Also, in those times, the Holy Lands extended as far up North as Qana and Sidon (which the Bible refers to as well). Thus, one is drawn to an obvious conclusion; some of the inhabitants of Lebanon are of Israeli origin.

As we all know, Egypt was a close neighbor and friend to the Phoenicians, and did pass through Lebanon in the time of Pharaoh Ramses the Great. Proof of this is the engraving left behind in Nahr el Kaleb. Surely however, the stone engraving was not the only thing left behind, but the gene pool of the Ancient Egyptians as well who may have been tempted to inhabit the fertile lands of Lebanon. Then, part of the Lebanese community has an Egyptian heritage.

Then, we come to the Romans, who built Baalbek’s most magnificent temples and further enhanced the citadels and universities in Beirut and Byblos. No need to comment, I’m sure you get the point that the Romans also have descendants among us.

Now, we come to the point where Christianity reached Lebanon’s people. The first civilization we think of is the Byzantine Empire, which also took up Lebanon as a part of it for a while. Again, we conclude that yet another civilization has left a human trace behind, the Byzantine people.

Here, Islam saw the light of day, and the Muslim empires formed to the North, South and East of Lebanon. First, the Mamluk era was set in Lebanon. Later on came the Ottoman era. This is also proof that many of the Sunnite Lebanese today are descendants of not only Arabs, but some may have well been Mamluks and even those Ottomans who embraced Lebanese culture, and did not shun it in every way like the general idea we have about them. We should also mention the Persians and Babylonians who later on became what is today a part of the Shiites of Lebanon.

Then, in the 7th century, there was the more influential Christian civilization in Lebanon’s history and culture, the Maronites. The Maronites came from the mountains of the neighboring Syria and settled in Mount Lebanon and its surrounding hills and shores. So, most definitely a good portion of Lebanese are descendants of the ancient Maronites, and that is quite evident even in our modern times, Maronites being exclusive to Lebanon in old times.

At this point in history, the Crusades began in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. Here, I have some rock solid evidence, for I have studied this matter deeply over the summer seeing how it concerned my own roots. I present the following case: I am of the Douaihy family, from Zgharta, though, that name has puzzled me for its seemingly ‘unarabic’ origins… I resorted to the conventional way, searching in books and records, till I stumbled upon a time, in which none of the Douaihys appeared, to be more precise, some time in the 12th century. Here, I drew up a theory, that the Douaihys were the result of the mingling of Crusaders, or Europeans to put it more generally, with Lebanese, and it was then that I stumbled upon the following quote among many others:

"On assista à plusieurs mariages mixtes. Des seigneurs francs s'allièrent à
des princesses libanaises et le souvenir en demeure jusqu'à nos jours, dans
les noms de certaines familles libanaises : les Frangié, dont le défunt
président de la République Soleiman Frangié, tirent leur nom de l'arabe
Franj (Francs), les Douaihy (de Douai, dont plusieurs chevaliers furent
originaires), les Bardawil (de Baudouin). On cite même le cas d'une famille
libanaise dont l'arbre généalogique remonte à Godefroy de Bouillon".

Malek Chebab in
"Les Croisades, La rencontre des chrétiens d'orient et des croisés"
Les dossiers Historia, Saint-Amand 1999, p. 137

I hope you will excuse the fact that I had not mentioned all of the possible origins of the Lebanese people, for they are many, and many of them quite recent in history, and known to us all.

I believe many of us now understand the relation of our families with the history of Lebanon, and that each of us has a link to a different culture that passed through history on the hallowed lands of Lebanon. Today however, we understand its not the blood that runs through our veins, nor the wars our grandfathers fought that determine our identity, but the modern unification of the Lebanese under one banner and one God, after the devastating political tumult and popular up rise in the past months. In the end, under all the pressures and pointless debates, we can say with scientific and moral surety that with all our ’33 flavors’ and our customs alien to the rest of the Arabs and the former Phoenicians that: We are not Phoenicians. We are not Arabs. We are Lebanese

[Jean]

I'm 100% lebanese
and i don't care about anything other (I voted NOOOOOO)

[General]

Originally Posted by patrioticmcjay

I'm 100% lebanese
and i don't care about anything other (I voted NOOOOOO)

THAT'S THE BEST SOLUTION... well if all the lebanese people say that... no one knows what will happen!!

[Jean]

Originally Posted by LAU FPM

THAT'S THE BEST SOLUTION... well if all the lebanese people say that... no one knows what will happen!!

that's why i'm 100% lebanese :lol: :lol: