April 13, 1975 -- one of the darkest dates in Lebanese history. An attack on a busload of Palestinians in Beirut that day sparked a civil war that would rage for 15 years, leaving some 150,000 dead, the capital divided along sectarian lines and sections of the country in ruins. But ask students in the city today of the significance of the date, and you get mixed responses. "I think it was a very important occasion for Lebanon," says Noor El-Hoss, a student in West Beirut's Al Iman School. "But I don't know what happened." Explains fellow student Zeina Naous: "We are studying about ... World War Two. We are not studying about the civil war, or what happened to Lebanon."
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Lebanese civil war lasted 15 years, leaving 150,000 dead
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Young Lebanese growing up with little formal education about the conflict
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To avoid inflaming hostilities, Lebanese history textbooks stop in 1943
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Teaching of history in Lebanon is "subject to the interests of various political groups," says minister of education
Yahya said that a survey of 3,000 @placeholder 14-year-olds conducted in 2007-8 found that the historical Lebanese figures children most strongly identified with were leaders from their own sectarian background.