Maronites Support for Lebanese identity
What is the lebanese identity?
What is the Support for Maronites?
Lebanese Maronites are known to be specifically linked to the root of Lebanese Nationalism and opposition to Pan-Arabism in Lebanon, this being the case during 1958 Lebanon crisis. When Muslim Arab nationalists backed by Gamel Abdel Nasser tried to overthrow the then Maronite dominated government in power, due to displeasure at the government's pro-western policies and their lack of commitment and duty to the so-called "Arab brotherhood" by preferring keep Lebanon away from the Arab League and the political confrontations of the Middle East. A more hard-nosed nationalism among some Maronites leaders, who saw Lebanese nationalism more in terms of its confessional roots and failed to be carried away by Chiha's vision, clung to a more security-minded view of Lebanon. They regarded the national project as mainly a program for the security of Maronites and a bulwark against threats from Muslims and their hinterland.  The right-wing yet secular Guardians of the Cedars, with its exiled Leader and founder Etienne Saqr (also the father of singers Karol Sakr and Pascale Sakr) took no sectarian stance and even had Muslim members who joined in their radical stance against Arabism and Palestinian forces in Lebanon. Saqr summarized his party's view on the Arab Identity on their official ideological manifesto by stating;  On an Al Jazeera special dedicated to the political Christian clans of Lebanon and their struggle for power in the 2009 election entitled, Lebanon: The Family Business the issue of identity was brought up on several occasions, by various politicians including Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who claimed that all Lebanese lack somewhat of a real identity and the country is yet to discover one everybody could agree on. Sami Gemayel, of the Gemayel clan and son of former president Amin Gemayel, stated he did not consider himself an Arab but instead identified himself as a Syriac Christian, going on to explain that to him and many Lebanese the "acceptance" of Lebanon's "Arab identity" according to the Taef Agreement wasn't something that they "accepted" but instead were forced into signing through pressure.  In a speech in 2009 to a crowd of Christian Kataeb supporters Gemayel declared that he felt there was importance in Christians in Lebanon finding an identity and went on to state what he finds identification with as a Lebanese Christian, concluding with a purposeful exclusion of Arabism in the segment. The speech met with an applause afterward from the audience;  Etienne Sakr, of the Guardians of the Cedars Lebanese party, in an interview responded "We are not Arabs" to an interview question about the Guardians of the Cedars' ideology of Lebanon being Lebanese. He continued by talking about how describing Lebanon as being not Arab was a crime in present-day Lebanon, about the Lebanese Civil War, and about Arabism as being first step towards Islamism, claiming that "the Arabs want to annex Lebanon" and in order to do this "to push the Christians out (out of Lebanon)", this being "the plan since 1975", among other issues. CANNOTANSWER
Lebanese Maronites are known to be specifically linked to the root of Lebanese Nationalism
The Maronites (; ) are an ethnoreligious Christian group native to the Middle East, whose members adhere to the Syriac Maronite Church. The largest population of Maronites resides around Mount Lebanon in Lebanon. The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic  particular church in full communion with the Pope and the Catholic Church, with the right of self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, one of more than a dozen churches in full communion with the Holy See.

The Maronites derive their name from the Syriac Christian saint Maron, some of whose followers migrated to the area of Mount Lebanon from their previous place of residence around the area of Antioch, and established the nucleus of the Syriac Maronite Church. Christianity in Lebanon has a long and continuous history. Biblical scriptures purport that Peter and Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, whom they affiliated to the ancient patriarchate of Antioch. The spread of Christianity in Lebanon was very slow where paganism persisted, especially in the mountaintop strongholds of Mount Lebanon. Saint Maron sent Abraham of Cyrrhus, often referred to as the Apostle of Lebanon, to convert the still significant pagan population of Lebanon to Christianity. The area's inhabitants renamed the Adonis River the Abraham River after Saint Abraham preached there.

The early Maronites were Hellenized Semites, natives of Byzantine Syria who spoke Greek and Syriac, yet identified with the Greek-speaking populace of Constantinople and Antioch. They were able to maintain an independent status in Mount Lebanon and its coastline after the Muslim conquest of the Levant, keeping their Christian religion, and even the distinctive Western Aramaic language as late as the 19th century. Some Maronites argue that they are of Mardaite ancestry, though most historians reject this claim.

Mass emigration to the Americas at the outset of the 20th century, famine during World War I that killed an estimated one third to one half of the population, the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war and the Lebanese Civil War between 1975-90 greatly decreased their numbers in the Levant; however Maronites today form more than one quarter of the total population of modern-day Lebanon. Though concentrated in Lebanon, Maronites also show presence in the neighboring Levant, as well as a significant part in the Lebanese diaspora in the Americas, Europe, Australia, and Africa.

The Syriac Maronite Church, under the Patriarch of Antioch, has branches in nearly all countries where Maronite Christian communities live, in both the Levant and the Lebanese diaspora.

The Maronite Catholics and the Druze founded modern Lebanon in the early eighteenth century, through the ruling and social system known as the "Maronite-Druze dualism" in Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate. All Lebanese presidents have been Maronites as part of a tradition that persists as part of the National Pact, by which the Prime Minister has historically been a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker of the National Assembly has historically been a Shi'i Muslim.

Etymology 
Maronites get their name from Maron, a 3rd-century Syriac Christian Saint, often mistaken with John Maron, the first Maronite Patriarch (ruled 685-707).

History

The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Lebanese people is a blend of both indigenous Phoenician elements and the foreign cultures that have come to rule the land and its people over the course of thousands of years. In a 2013 interview, Pierre Zalloua, a Lebanese biologist who took part in the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project, pointed out that genetic variation preceded religious variation and divisions: "Lebanon already had well-differentiated communities with their own genetic peculiarities, but not significant differences, and religions came as layers of paint on top. There is no distinct pattern that shows that one community carries significantly more Phoenician than another."

Although Christianity existed in Roman Phoenice since the time of the Apostles, Christians were a minority among the majority pagans by the time Emperor Theodosius I issued The Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD. The coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon remained prosperous during Roman rule, but Phoenicia had ceased to be the maritime empire it once was centuries ago and the north of Berytus (Beirut) and the mountains of Lebanon concentrated a big part of the intellectual and religious activities. Very few Roman temples in Phoenicia were built in the coastal cities, hence the reason for the reign of paganism in the interior of the land.

The Maronite movement reached Lebanon when in 402 AD Saint Maron's first disciple, Abraham of Cyrrhus, who was called the Apostle of Lebanon, realized that there were many non-Christians in Lebanon and so he set out to convert the Phoenician inhabitants of the coastal lines and mountains of Lebanon, introducing them to the way of Saint Maron. The Phoenician pagans became Maronite Christians.

In 451 AD, the Maronites followed the Council of Chalcedon, rejecting miaphysitisim and maintaining full communion with the then united Orthodox Catholic Church. In 517 AD, a conflict between the Maronites and the Miaphysite Jacobite Syriacs caused the massacre of 350 Maronite monks.

Escaping persecution following the Muslim conquest of the Levant in 637 AD, the Maronites living in the low lands and coastal cities confined themselves to the Mount Lebanon and to the coastal cities of the Phoenician coast which did not particularly interest the Arabs; the area consisting of those regions extending from Sidon in the South and up to Batroun and the south of Tripoli in the north. The Arab conquerors settled in various cities of the Phoenician coast to reduce Byzantine interference even though they were not interested in maritime trade. Since the mountains offered no attraction to them so the Maronites continued to find refuge from colonial empires in the Mountains of Lebanon, especially Qadisha Valley.

The Maronites raided the newly Arab towns after the conquest of 637 AD and were later joined by the Mardaites in repelling the Arab army. The Mardaites were mountaineers from the Taurus that Emperor Constantine IV recruited to infiltrate Lebanon and join the Maronites to carry attacks against the Arab invaders. The resistance movement became known as Marada, meaning rebels.

In 685 AD, the Maronites appointed a Patriarch for themselves, St. John Maron, who became the first Patriarch on the Maronite Church. The appointing of a Patriarch supposedly made the Byzantine Emperor furious, which led to the widely spread story among the Maronites of their persecution by the Byzantines. Historically the group has presented it as follows:

In 694 AD, Emperor Justinian II sent an army to attack the Maronites, destroying their monastery in the Orontes valley and killing 500 monks. The Maronites followed up by leading their army against the Byzantines at Amioun and defeated the Byzantine army in a crushing victory that cost Constantinople two of its best generals. Following the Byzantine persecutions in the Orontes valley, many Aramean Maronite monks left their lands in the Orontes valley and joined the Phoenician Maronites in the mountains of Lebanon. The Maronite Church began to grow then in the valleys of Lebanon.

It is likely that this did not in fact happen given the insufficient literature to support the claim. There is an increasingly apparent body of evidence that seem to ascertain the contrary: That there was not a Byzantine military expedition into the mountains of the Levant at the height of Umayyad Caliphate power in the late 7th century. It seems that emperor Justinian did no such thing; the territory that the Maronites were occupying was directly under Muslim authority, with no Byzantine expedition recorded. The location of the Byzantine at this point in time further correlates with these events. 

The Maronites managed then to become "civilly semiautonomous" where they settled and kept speaking Western Aramaic in daily life and Syriac language for their liturgy. The Christians that chose to remain in the newly Arab-controlled areas and inhabited by the Arab invaders gradually became a minority and many of those converted to Islam in order to escape taxation and to further their own political and professional advancement.

For the next 300 years, the Maronites raided and retreated within the region keeping their Christian faith. In 936, the monastery of Beth Moroon (funded by the Byzantine emperor Marcian in Saint Maroun's honour) and a few other monasteries were completely destroyed by the Arabs who attacked the Maronites on religious grounds. Aside from this they were isolated from most of the world for much of the end of the millennium.

The Maronites welcomed the conquering Christians of the First Crusade in 1096 AD. Around the late 12th century, according to William of Tyre, the Maronites numbered 40,000 people. During the several centuries of separation from the rest of the Christian world, they often claim to have been in full  communion with the Catholic Church throughout. Despite this the majority of the accounts of those interacting with them at the time indicate that they were monothelites; notable figures from the era such as the medieval historian Jacques de Vitry and the chronicler of the Pope, William of Tyre affirming this, the latter of which (William Tyre) recorded both their kindness upon receiving him and the monothelitic views of which they recanted, stating; "The heresy of Maro and his followers is and was that in our Lord Jesus Christ, there exists and did exist from the beginning one will and one energy only, as may be learned from the sixth council, which as is well known, was assembled against them and in which they suffered sentence of condemnation. Now however...they repented all of these heresies and returned to the catholic church". The Maronites have also had a presence in Cyprus since the early 9th century and many Maronites went there following the Sultan Saladin's successful Siege of Jerusalem in 1187 AD.

During the papacy of Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585), steps were taken to bring the Maronites still closer to Rome. The Maronite College in Rome (Pontificio Collegio dei Maroniti) being founded by Gregory XIII in 1584. By the 17th century, the Maronites had developed a strong natural liking for Europe – particularly France.

The relationship between the Druze and Christians has been characterized by harmony and peaceful coexistence, with amicable relations between the two groups prevailing throughout history, with the exception of some periods, including 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war. In the 19th century, thousands of Maronites were massacred by the Lebanese Druze during the 1860 conflict. According to some estimates about 11,000 Lebanese Christians (including Maronites) were killed; over 4,000 died from hunger and disease as a result of the war.

After the 1860 massacres, many Maronites fled to Egypt. Antonios Bachaalany, a Maronite from Salima (Baabda district) was the first emigrant to the New World, where he reached the United States in 1854 and died there two years later.

Population

Lebanon

According to the Maronite church, there were approximately 1,062,000 Maronites in Lebanon in 1994, where they constitute up to 32% of the population. Under the terms of an informal agreement, known as the National Pact, between the various political and religious leaders of Lebanon, the president of the country must be a Maronite Christian.

Syria
There is also a small Maronite Christian community in Syria. In 2017, the Annuario Pontificio reported that 3,300 people belonged to the Archeparchy of Aleppo, 15,000 in the Archeparchy of Damascus and 45,000 in the Eparchy of Lattaquié). In 2015, the BBC placed the number of Maronites in Syria at between 28,000 and 60,000.

Cyprus

Maronites first migrated to Cyprus in the 8th century, and there are approximately 5,800 Maronites on the island today, the vast majority in the Republic of Cyprus. The community historically spoke Cypriot Maronite Arabic, but today Cypriot Maronites speak the Greek language, with the Cypriot government designating Cypriot Maronite Arabic as a dialect.

Israel

A Maronite community of about 11,000 people lives in Israel. The 2017 Annuario Pontificio reported that 10,000 people belonged to the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Haifa and the Holy Land and 504 people belonged to the Exarchate of Jerusalem and Palestine.

Diaspora

According to the Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East, "accurate figures are not available, but it is probable that the Maronite diaspora of over 2 million individuals is about two times larger" than the Maronite population living in their historic homelands in Lebanon, Syria, and Israel.

According to the Annuario Pontificio, in 2017 the Eparchy of San Charbel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has 750,000 members; the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of São Paulo, Brazil, had 501,000 members; the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Sydney, Australia, had 152,300 members; the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Montreal, Canada, had 89,775 members; the Eparchy of Our Lady of the Martyrs of Lebanon in Mexico had 159,403 members; the Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles in the United States had 46,000 members; and the Eparchy of Saint Maron of Brooklyn in the United States had 33,000 members.

According to the Annuario Pontificio, 50,944 people belonged to the Maronite Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Paris in 2017. In Europe, some Belgian Maronites are involved in the trade of diamonds in the diamond district of Antwerp.

According to the Annuario Pontificio, 66,495 belonged to the Apostolic Exarchate of West and Central Africa (Nigeria) in 2017.

Role in politics

Lebanon
With only two exceptions, all Lebanese presidents have been Maronites as part of a tradition that persists as part of the National Pact, by which the Prime Minister has historically been a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker of the National Assembly has historically been a Shi'i Muslim.

Israel
People born into Christian families or clans who have either Aramaic or Maronite cultural heritage are considered an ethnicity separate from Israeli Arabs and since 2014 can register themselves as Arameans. The Christians who have applied so far for recognition as Aramean are mostly Galilean Maronites, who trace their culture, ancestry and language to an Aramaic-speaking, pre-Arab population of the Levant.

In addition, some 500 Christian adherents of the Syriac Catholic Church in Israel are expected to apply for the recreated ethnic status, as well as several hundred Aramaic-speaking adherents of the Syriac Orthodox Church. Though supported by Gabriel Naddaf, the move was condemned by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, which described it as "an attempt to divide the Palestinian minority in Israel".

This recognition comes after about seven years of activity by the Aramean Christian Foundation in Israel, led by IDF Major Shadi Khalloul Risho and the Israeli Christian Recruitment Forum, headed by Father Gabriel Naddaf of the Greek-Orthodox Church and Major Ihab Shlayan. Shadi Khalloul Risho is also a member of the Israeli right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party, and was placed 15th in the 2015 parliamentary elections in the party's member list; the party however received only 5 seats.

Identity
The followers of the Maronite Church form a part of the Syriac Christians and belong to the West Syriac Rite. The Maronite Syriac Church of Antioch traces its foundation to Maron, an early 4th-century Syriac monk venerated as a saint. Before the conquest by Arabian Muslims reached Lebanon, the Lebanese people, including those who would become Muslim and the majority who would remain Christian, spoke a dialect of Aramaic called Syriac. Syriac remains the liturgical language of the Maronite Church.

Phoenicianism

Phoenicianism is an identity on the part of Lebanese Christians that has developed into an integrated ideology led by key thinkers, but there are a few who have stood out more than others: Charles Corm, Michel Chiha, and Said Aql in their promotion of Phoenicianism. In post civil-war Lebanon since the Taif agreement, politically Phoenicianism is restricted to a small group.

Among leaders of the movement, Etienne Saqr, Said Akl, Charles Malik, Camille Chamoun, and Bachir Gemayel have been notable names, some going as far as voicing anti-Arab views. In his book the Israeli writer Mordechai Nisan, who at times met with some of them during the war, quoted Said Akl, a famous Lebanese poet and philosopher, as saying; "I would cut off my right hand, and not associate myself to an Arab." Akl believes in emphasizing the Phoenician legacy of the Lebanese people and has promoted the use of the Lebanese dialect written in a modified Latin alphabet, rather than the Arabic one, although both alphabets have descended from the Phoenician alphabet.

In opposition to such views, Arabism was affirmed at the March 1936 Congress of the Coast and Four Districts, when the Muslim leadership at the conference made the declaration that Lebanon was an Arab country, indistinguishable from its Arab neighbors. In the April 1936 Beirut municipal elections, Christian and Muslim politicians were divided along Phoenician and Arab lines in the matter of whether the Lebanese coast should be claimed by Syria or given to Lebanon, increasing the already mounting tensions between the two communities. Phoenicianism is still disputed by many Arabist scholars who have on occasion tried to convince its adherents to abandon their claims as false, and to embrace and accept the Arab identity instead. This conflict of ideas of identity is believed to be one of the pivotal disputes between the Muslim and Christian populations of Lebanon and what mainly divides the country to the detriment of national unity.

In general it appears that Muslims focus more on the Arab identity of the Lebanese history and culture whereas the older, long-standing Christian communities, especially the Maronites, focus on their history, and struggles as an ethnoreligious group in an Arab world, while also reaffirming the Lebanese identity, and refraining from Arab characterization as it would deny them their striving achievement of having fended off the Arabs and Turks physically, culturally, and spiritually since their conception. The Maronite perseverance led to their existence even to today.

Support of Lebanese identity

Lebanese Maronites are known to be specifically linked to the root of Lebanese Nationalism and opposition to Pan-Arabism in Lebanon, this being the case during 1958 Lebanon crisis. When Muslim Arab nationalists backed by Gamel Abdel Nasser tried to overthrow the then Maronite dominated government in power, due to displeasure at the government's pro-western policies and their lack of commitment and duty to the so-called "Arab brotherhood" by preferring to keep Lebanon away from the Arab League and the political confrontations of the Middle East. A more hard-nosed nationalism among some Maronites leaders, who saw Lebanese nationalism more in terms of its confessional roots and failed to be carried away by Chiha's vision, clung to a more security-minded view of Lebanon. They regarded the national project as mainly a program for the security of Maronites and a bulwark against threats from Muslims and their hinterland.

The right-wing yet secular Guardians of the Cedars, with its exiled Leader and founder Etienne Saqr (also the father of singers Karol Sakr and Pascale Sakr) took no sectarian stance and even had Muslim members who joined in their radical stance against Arabism and Palestinian forces in Lebanon. Saqr summarized his party's view on Arab Identity in their official ideological manifesto by stating;

On an Al Jazeera special dedicated to the political Christian clans of Lebanon and their struggle for power in the 2009 election entitled, "Lebanon: The Family Business", the issue of identity was brought up on several occasions, by various politicians including Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who claimed that all Lebanese lack somewhat of a real identity and the country is yet to discover one everybody could agree on. Sami Gemayel, of the Gemayel clan and son of former president Amin Gemayel, stated he did not consider himself an Arab but instead identified himself as a Syriac Christian, going on to explain that to him and many Lebanese the "acceptance" of Lebanon's "Arab identity" according to the Taef Agreement wasn't something that they "accepted" but instead were forced into signing through pressure.

In a speech in 2009 to a crowd of Christian Kataeb supporters Gemayel declared that he felt there was importance in Christians in Lebanon finding an identity and went on to state what he finds identification with as a Lebanese Christian, concluding with a purposeful exclusion of Arabism in the segment. The speech met with applause afterward from the audience;

Etienne Sakr, of the Guardians of the Cedars Lebanese party, in an interview responded "We are not Arabs" to an interview question about the Guardians of the Cedars' ideology of Lebanon being Lebanese. He continued by talking about how describing Lebanon as being not Arab was a crime in present-day Lebanon, about the Lebanese Civil War, and about Arabism as being a first step towards Islamism, claiming that "the Arabs want to annex Lebanon" and in order to do this "to push the Christians out (of Lebanon)", this being "the plan since 1975", among other issues.

Embrace of Arab identity
During a final session of the Lebanese Parliament, a Marada Maronite MP stated his identity as an Arab: "I, the Maronite Christian Lebanese Arab, grandson of Patriarch Estefan Doueihy, declare my pride to be a part of our people’s resistance in the South. Can one renounce what guarantees his rights?"
 	
Maronite Deacon Soubhi Makhoul, administrator for the Maronite Exarchate in Jerusalem, has said "The Maronites are Arabs, we are part of the Arab world. And although it’s important to revive our language and maintain our heritage, the church is very outspoken against the campaign of these people.”

Aramean identity 

Many Maronites consider themselves also as the descendants of the Arameans who lived in the Levant. They refer to the schism between the Syriac Maronite church and Syriac Orthodox church that took place in 685 redirecting to the Syriac churchfathers embracing an Aramean ethnicity. Furthermore do they identify the founder of the church: Saint Maron as a Syriac-speaking hermit of Aramean origins.

In 2014, Israel decided to recognize the Aramean community within its borders as a national minority, allowing some of the Christians in Israel to be registered as "Aramean", instead of "Arab" or "Unclassified". The Christians, who may apply for recognition as Aramean, are mostly Galilean Maronites, who trace their culture, ancestry and language to Arameans.

Religion

The Maronites belong to the Maronite Syriac Church of Antioch (a former ancient Greek city now in Hatay Province, Turkey) and are an Eastern Catholic Syriac Church, using the Antiochian Rite, that had returned to its communion with Rome  since 1180 A.D., although the official view of the Contemporary Maronite Church is that it had never accepted either the Monophysitic views held by their Syriac neighbours, which were condemned in the Council of Chalcedon, or the failed compromise doctrine of Monothelitism (despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary of the latter claim being found in contemporary and medieval sources, with evidence that they were staunchly Monothelites for several centuries, beginning in the early 7th century after their rejection of the sixth ecumenical council). The Maronite Patriarch is traditionally seated in Bkerke north of Beirut.

Names
Modern Maronites often adopt French or other Western European given names (with biblical origins) for their children, including Michel, Marc, Marie, Georges, Carole, Charles, Antoine, Joseph, Pierre, Christian, Christelle and Rodrigue. Other common names are strictly Christian and are Aramaic, or Arabic, forms of biblical, Hebrew, or Greek Christian names, such as Antun (Anthony or Antonios), Butros (Peter), Boulos (Paul), Semaan or Shamaoun (Simon or Simeon), Jergyes (George), Elie (Ilyas or Elias), Iskander (Alexander), Hannah, Katrina (Catherine) and Beshara (literally Good News in reference to the Gospel). Other common names are Sarkis (Sergius) and Bakhos (Bacchus), while others are common both among Christians and Muslims, such as Youssef (Joseph), Ibrahim (Abraham), and Maryam (Mary).

Some Maronite Christians are named in honour of Maronite saints, including the Aramaic names Maro(u)n (after their patron saint Maron), Nimtullah, Charbel or Sharbel after Saint Charbel Makhluf and Rafqa (Rebecca).

Persecution and struggle
Maronites were persecuted historically and continuously during the period of Arab conquests of the Middle East (Mount Lebanon) and under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The Great Famine of Mount Lebanon, which occurred between 1915 and 1918, was caused by multiple factors. One being the Ottoman policy of acquiring all food products produced in the region for the Ottoman army and administration, and the barring of any produce from being sent to the Maronite Christian population of Mount Lebanon, effectively condemning them to starvation. It was suggested at the time that the starvation of the Maronites was a deliberately orchestrated Ottoman policy aimed at destroying the Maronites, in keeping with the treatment of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks. The death toll among Maronite Christians and people of Mount Lebanon, mainly due to starvation and disease, is estimated to have been 200,000.

Maronite Christians felt a sense of alienation, exclusion, and targeting as a result of Pan-Arabism and Islamism in Lebanon. Part of its historic suffering is the Damour massacre by the PLO,  as well as the Beirut Blast in August 2020. Until recently, the Cyprus Maronites battled to preserve their ancestral language. The Maronite monks maintain that Lebanon is synonymous with Maronite history and ethos; that its Maronitism antedates the Arab conquest of Lebanon and that Arabism is only a historical accident. The Maronites experienced mass persecution under the Ottoman Turks, who massacred and mistreated Maronites for their faith, disallowing them from owning horses and forcing them to wear only black clothing. The Ottoman Empire's WW1 policies, in combination with Allied Forces Naval blockade, resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of Maronites of Mount Lebanon, with total fatalities estimated between 100-300 thousand people that died from malnutrition, disease and starvation. The Lebanese Druze also persecuted the Maronites, and massacred in excess of 20,000 of them in the mid-1800s. However, agreements have been held with the Druze. Moreover, the Maronites later emerged as the most dominant group in Lebanon, a status they held until the sectarian conflict that resulted in the Lebanese Civil War.

See also

Christianity in Lebanon
List of Maronites
Maronite Christianity in Lebanon
Maronites in Israel
Syriac Christianity

References

External links

The Syriac Maronites

 
Semitic-speaking peoples
Christian groups in the Middle East
History of Eastern Catholicism
Ethnic groups in Lebanon
Ethnic groups in the Middle East
Ethnoreligious groups
The Lebanese identity card ( (bițāqat al-hawiya); ) is a compulsory Identity document issued to citizens of the Republic of Lebanon by the police on behalf of the Lebanese Ministry of Interior or in Lebanese embassies/consulates (abroad) free of charge. It is proof of identity, citizenship and residence of the Lebanese citizens.

The Lebanese identity card may be used to verify identity and nationality having the same effect as a valid Lebanese passport, and may also be used as a travel document within Syria and Jordan in lieu of a Lebanese passport. In domestic non-electronic identification the driving licence has remained in a leading position. A driving licence is valid for almost every situation where non-electronic personal identification is needed even though they are not officially recognized as such.

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The Republic of Lebanon's Identity Card is the main form of identification on the territory of the Republic of Lebanon. All Lebanese are obliged by law to carry their identity cards with them at all times and are subject to fines should they not. According to the Lebanese obligation of identification, it is compulsory for all Lebanese citizens habitually resident in the Republic of Lebanon, aged 15 or older, to possess either an identity card or a passport noting that the earlier offers no benefits compared to the passport with the exception of being easier to carry in a wallet or a handbag. It enables bearers to log into certain services on the Internet, local computers or add a digital signatures into LibreOffice ODF documents or create DigiDoc formatted containers that also allows encryption during content transfer. While police officers and some other officials have a right to demand to see one of these documents, the law does not state that one is obliged to submit the document at that very moment.

Use within the Republic of Lebanon
In domestic non-electronic identification the driving licence has remained in a leading position, since most of the population have to have a licence anyway, and a driving licence is valid for almost every situation where non-electronic personal identification is needed.

The Lebanese Identity Card, which uniquely identifies the individual based on biometric features, can be used by the individual for the verification and authentication of identity in the following situations:

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 Disaster Management: Identification of true victims of disasters is often problematic because there are infiltrators who take advantage of the absence of credible identification system to benefit at the expense of the affected ones. Data on a persons Lebanese Identity Card is used to establish whether they live in an area affected by a disaster to enable them to receive relief items.
 Access to Social Services: The Lebanese Identity Card authenticates a persons entitlement to government services. Services such as LEAP payments and free national health insurance schemes registration for persons below 18 years or above 70 years is made dependent on the presentation of the Lebanese Identity Card.
 Travelling: The Lebanese Identity Card is used to validate a persons identity at airports, borders, police check posts and while booking tickets. However, the Lebanese Identity Card can only be used in neighboring countries Syria and Jordan.
 E-Commerce & Payment Industry:The Lebanese Identity Card is used in a multiplicity of situations – to register for offline services such as a loan or an insurance plan, while buying a car. There have been  past issues raised about Know Your Customer norms for Cash Cards like Bank Audi e-Cards and ATM Cards. The Lebanese Identity Card is likely to be made mandatory for the validation of all payments.
 Pension Claims: As identity theft occurs when someone uses a persons personal information, such as Social Security number without their permission to commit fraud by claiming their benefits or that of a relation. The Lebanese Identity Card identifies a Lebanese Identity Card holder as the rightful and only person authorized to receive their pension benefits. In the event of the Lebanese Identity Card holder's death, only their children or spouse will benefit from their pension claim.
 Hire Purchase: The Lebanese Identity Card is used in establishing a persons identity when making hire purchase arrangements as it contains their digital picture and biometric information that conclusively establishes their identity in addition to their personal and residential information.
 Insurance Claims: As a person needs to prove their identity in the event of any disaster for which they have to make insurance claims. The Lebanese Identity Card provides them with the necessary information they need to conclusively establish their identity.
 Remittances from Abroad: As identity theft happens in many different ways: a thief obtains credit card receipts or bank statements from your wallet or trash; personal information is inadvertently provided over the phone or Internet; or other confidential information. Before a person even realizes their personal information has been compromised, their credit and goods is claimed by fraudulent persons. The use of the Lebanese Identity Card and PIN in claiming goods and monies sent from abroad has been designed to prevent unauthorized persons from claiming what is due to the Lebanese Identity Card holder.

Use as a travel document 
Lebanese citizens who possess a Lebanese Identity Card have been able to use it as an international travel document, in lieu of a Lebanese passport, for travel to the following countries and territories:

Issuing procedure
In order to be issued an identity card, one needs to fill in a form, which should be taken to the Identity Documents and Passport Regime Units within the District Police Stations. The forms could be obtained at all District Police Stations. When applying the name, gender, date and place of birth, digital image, ten fingerprints, palmprints, and an electronic signature in a JPEG2000 format are taken. First-time appliers must also provide a valid birth certificate. It is possible for a person to apply for a renewal of the ID card via a representative with a notary signed permit, provided there are no significant changes in his or hers appearance. There are, however limitations. If you apply via a representative, you must receive the new ID yourself. Vice versa, if you applied yourself, then an authorized representative may receive your ID. This does not apply to applying for passports, as fingerprints must be taken.

The Lebanese Identity card is issued free of charge for all the Lebanese citizens however a monetary tax is paid for the issuing of the identity card; the price depends on the selected type of issuing which is basically the time needed for the card to be issued (the prices are listed in District Police Stations). The standard time for issuing a Lebanese identity card is 5 working days. The Ministry of Interior has provided an e-service and a smart app that allows you to check whether your ID card is ready.

Document Requirements
 Identity Card Application Form. (Obtained from government offices or can be downloaded from their website.)
 Old Identity Card. (If applicable, regardless of expiry date.)
 Lebanese Passport. () () (Only applicable if applying through one of the Lebanese embassies/consulates abroad.)
 Individual and Family status records. () () whose date of issuance does not exceed 3 months
 An Original or a Certified copy of birth certificate.
 Criminal Record Status () () 
 2 Recent Photos. (Size: 4.3 x 3.5 cm) authenticated by a Mukhtar.
 5 Official Stamps () () (Costing 1,000 Lebanese Pounds each)
 Fingerprints and all biometric data is collected at the Application Center(s). (Fingerprint data is not collected from minors aged 12 and under.)
 Professional Certificate or Degree. (For stating the profession in the Identity Card.)

Current version
The current version is in ID1 format and biometric. All 10 fingerprints and palm prints of the holder are taken, which is stored in paper files and which can only be accessed by a judge in closely defined circumstances. A central database duplicates the information on the card, but strict laws limit access to the information and prevent it being linked to other databases or records.

Older ID cards, written in Arabic characters only, are still valid and of equal value, provided that less than 15 years have passed since the issue date. Military staff, as well as personnel of the police, fire brigade, coast guard, and intelligent services, carry special IDs until retiring or exiting their services.

Physical appearance
The current ID card is an ID-1 (credit card size) plastic card with an embedded RFID chip to store bearer's name, gender, date and place of birth, and a digital image of their face, ten fingerprints, palmprints, an electronic signature in a JPEG2000 format, and a 2.86 megabyte optical stripe.

All the information that is stated in the Lebanese passport is included in the Lebanese identity card and is given in Arabic, French, and English.

Front side
The front side features the Lebanese Cedar and the words "" / " " / " across the top, and the following information below:
Photograph of the holder (digital image printed on page)
Card number (12 alphanumeric digits)
Birthname (only if differing from current surname)
Given name(s)
Sex
Surname
Father's first name
Mother's first name
Place of birth (Only the city/town of birth, no country)
Date of birth (dd.mm.yyyy)
Height (in metres)
Authority
Date of expiry (dd/mm/yy)
Signature of holder

Visible Images
  Lebanese Flag 
  Lebanese's Cedar to the right left corner 
  Republic of Lebanon’s Coat of Arms to the right top corner 
  Ghost portrait of cardholder 
  Main portrait of image of cardholder 
  Map of the Republic of Lebanon

Rear side
It contains the following information:

Gender
Blood Type
Colour of eyes
Marital Status
Date of issue (dd/mm/yy)
Hometown and District
Machine-readable zone

Machine-readable zone
The format of the first row is:

The format of the second row is:

To check digit calculations: First, convert any non-numeric characters into numbers.  Letters are assigned values alphabetically from 10 to 35 (A=10, Z=35), < is 0.  Second, multiply each number by a weighting value.  This is a repeating pattern of 7,3,1.  For example, the first number is multiplied by 7, the second number by 3, the third by 1, the fourth by 7, the fifth by 3, etc.  Now, sum the products to obtain a single number.  Finally, divide the number by 10 and the remainder is your check digit (this is known as a modulo 10 calculation).

Chip
The Republic of Lebanon ID cards contain an ISO 18000-3 and ISO 14443 compatible 13.56 MHz RFID chip that uses the ISO 7816 protocols. The chip stores the bearer's name, gender, date and place of birth, a digital image of their face, ten fingerprints, palmprints, and electronic signature in a JPEG2000 format. In addition, the new ID card can be used for online authentication (e.g. for age verification or for e-government applications). An electronic signature, provided by a private company, can also be stored on the chip.

The document number, the photo and the fingerprints can supposedly be read only by Law enforcement in the Republic of Lebanon and law enforcement agencies and some other authorities

All ID card agencies have been supplied with reading devices that have been certified by the Lebanese National Office for Information Security. Agency staff can use these modules to display  all of the personal data stored on the chip, including the digital passport photo and, where applicable, the stored fingerprints.

To use the online authentication function, the holder needs a six-digit decimal PIN. If the holder types in the wrong PIN, he has to type in the twelve-digit decimal access code given on the ID card to prove he/she really possesses the ID card. If the wrong PIN is used three times, a PUK must be used to unlock the chip.

The data on the chip are protected by Basic Access Control and Extended Access Control.

Fines
All Lebanese citizens habitually resident in the Republic of Lebanon and aged 15 or above are obliged by the Lebanese law to apply for a Lebanese Identity Card, whilst it is optional for those under 15 or those who are residing abroad.

Persons over the age of 15, and who do not have a valid ID, can pay a fine from 300,000 up to 500,000 Lebanese Pounds. Failure to show a valid ID to a police officer in a public place can result in a fine of 20,000 Lebanese Pounds.

Removal of Religion
Even though non-religion is not recognized by the Republic of Lebanon, on May 8, 2009, Minister of Interior, Ziad Baroud on behalf of the Lebanese Ministry of Interior announced that the mandatory inclusion of religion on identity cards was contrary to law for the protection of personal data. The State Council of the Republic of Lebanon decided that the mandatory indication of religious affiliation on identity cards is not legal, and also opposed to the optional reference to religion following the signature of the bearer at the bottom left corner of the Lebanese Identity Card.

See also

Constitution of Lebanon
Driving licence in Lebanon
Foreign relations of Lebanon
History of Lebanon
Lebanese diaspora
Lebanese nationality law
Lebanese passport
Politics of Lebanon
Vehicle registration plates of Lebanon
Visa policy of Lebanon
Visa requirements for Lebanese citizens

References

Lebanon
Government of Lebanon Lebanese Argentine refers to Argentine citizens of Lebanese descent or Lebanon-born people who reside in Argentina. Many of the Lebanese Argentines are descendants of immigrants cultural and linguistic heritage and/or identity, originating from what is now Lebanon. 

Although a highly diverse group of Argentines — in ancestral origins, religion and historic identities — Lebanese Argentines hold a heritage that shares common linguistic, cultural and political traditions. They are closed related to the Syrian community and together are known as the sirio-libaneses (Syrian-Lebanese). 

The overwhelming majority of the 1,500,000 Lebanese Argentines are Maronite and Latin rite Catholic Christians, with Muslims and Jews being a small minority in comparison to them. The interethnic marriage in the Lebanese community, regardless of religious affiliation, is very high; most community members have only one parent who has Lebanese ethnicity. As a result of this, the Lebanese community in Argentina shows marked language shift away from the Arabic and French languages. As a result, only a few speak any Arabic and such knowledge is often limited to a few basic words. Instead, the majority, especially those of younger generations, speak Spanish as a first language.

The father of former First Lady Juliana Awada, Ibrahim Awada, was a Lebanese born in Baalbek and prominent businessman.

History
In the 19th century, the first Lebanese settled in Argentina. From 1891 to 1920, 367,348 people from the Levant immigrated into Argentina. When they were first processed in the ports of Argentina, they were classified as Turks because what is modern day Lebanon was a territory of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. The causes for Lebanese to leave their homeland were an accelerated increase in demographics in Lebanon, the persecution by the Ottoman Turks, and the Italo-Turkish War. The Lebanese immigrants settle in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Salta, Tucumán, La Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza, Santiago del Estero, Misiones, Chaco, and the Patagonia. A large percentage of Lebanese settled in the Cuyo region (which is made up of the provinces of San Juan, San Luis, Mendoza, and La Rioja)

Some prominent ancestral places of origin of Lebanese Argentinians include: Aley, Amioun, Amsheet, Baalbek, Batroun, Beirut, Iaal, Jounieh, Mish Mish, Toula, Tripoli, Zahlé, Zgharta.

See also

 Argentina–Lebanon relations
 Asian Argentines
 List of Lebanese people in Argentina
 Islamic Organization of Latin America

References

 
 
Lebanese diaspora in South America
Argentina