Kataeb Party
The
Kataeb Social Democratic Party الكتائب اللبنانية, better known as the
Phalange, is a
Lebanese political party that was first established as a youth movement in
1936 by
Pierre Gemayel. Its official name is the Social Democratic Party.
The influence of the Phalangists was very limited in the early years of
Lebanon's independence, but came to prominence as a champion of the Christian cause in the crisis of
1958. In the aftermath of the war, Pierre Gemayel was appointed to the cabinet, and two years later, was elected to the
National Assembly. By the end of the decade, the Phalangists held 9 seats in the 99-member National Assembly, making it one of the largest groupings in Lebanon's notoriously fractured political system.
In the
1970s, the Phalangists built a military branch, which by
1976 was led by
Bachir Gemayel, Pierre Gemayel's son. Bachir Gemayel was elected
President of the Republic by the
National Assembly in
1982. Bashir was assassinated less than a month later in a operation thought to have been arranged by Syrian intelligence and was in turn succeeded by his brother,
Amine Gemayel. Amine was widely regarded at the time as possessing neither the charisma and military skill of his brother Bachir, nor the consummate political experience of his father Pierre, and had difficulty rallying the nation and the Phalange Party around him.
Pierre Gemayel died in 1984 and Elie Karameh became the president of the party. The Phalange Party, lacking direction, broke down into several rival factions. With the help of
Syria,
Georges Saadeh took the control of the Party from
1986 till his death in
1998. The pro-Syrian
Mounir Hajj became the new president of the party in 1999 with the help of Syria. From
2002, with the help of Syria,
Karim Pakradouni is the president of the party but Amine Gemayel became the supreme president of the party after a reconciliation in
2005. Elie Karameh and
Fouad Abou Nader continue the opposition. Elie Karameh leads the Kataeb Opposition and Fouad Abou Nader, the Bachir's right hand, leads the
Authentic Lebanese Forces. They have rejected the Syrian occupation. They claimed to have the support of the Kataeb popular base.
* http://www.el-kataeb.org/ Official website (Kataeb-Amine Gemayel).
* http://www.socialdemocratic.org/ – Kataeb Social Democratic Party official website (Kataeb-Authentic Lebanese Forces).
