WHO ARE THE LEBANESE 

Lebanese. What does it mean? Who are they? Where do they come from? What makes them a Nation? 

Every Lebanese will staunchly assert with absolute certainty that the Lebanese are a unique identifiable nation. However, ask a Lebanese to specify that identity, and you would find yourself asking the "million dollar" question. 

The answers vary from region to region, religion to religion, even person to person. Most will probably define the term Lebanese the way they tend to view themselves. Some, however, will attempt to be more objective, they will define the people around them. Not quit as objective as they would like to be, since they neither know all the Lebanese, nor can they truly be objective when dealing with such a subjective like defining themselves. 

The definition of a Lebanese has become the closest thing to the "chicken and egg" debate. It has been debated for ever and a day, and continues to produce more questions than answers. 

The most commonly debated issue is absolutely the Arab-Phoenician question. It has been the subject of intense debates, and often the cause of serious conflicts. But is that truly a valid question, and does it have an answer? NOT QUITE. 

Why is it not a valid question? 

Well, to claim to be either of the two, one must possess either the ethnical or cultural attributes of one or the other. Proving either would be impossible even to the most capable of analysts. The reason is simple. No one has yet successfully identified what an Arab or a Phoenician is. 

Neither is ethnically or culturally uniform.  

In the case of the Arabs, there seems to be no need to elaborate. One needs to simply look at the Arab population today, to realize that they do not in any way shape or form constitute an ethnical monolith. far from it. 

The Phoenicians, however, do require more explanation. Most people erroneously think of the Phoenicians as a people possessing common ethnicity and background. That is far from the truth, for even though the Phoenicians were originally Semitic from the Middle East, they did not maintain that ethnic purity for long. Many peoples were added to their ranks over the millennia. But even the original Semites did not have identical backgrounds. They came from different parts of the Middle East to settle the Lebanese coast at different times and for different reasons. 

On the cultural side. The issue becomes a little more thorny. It becomes highly subjective, no matter how hard we try to be objective. As it has been said that Objectivity is a Subjective matter. However, we shall try to stick to the known and undisputable facts, which if agreed upon will invalidate any further debate about belonging. 

For historical continuity we shall begin with the early Phoenician cultures. A good starting point would be the thirteenth century B.C. the period in which the Phoenician emerged as a unique independent entity along the eastern Mediterranean coast. Even at that time their cultural identity was a mixture of what each group brought with them from their source of origin, as well as having been influenced by millennia of continuous interaction with all others around them. Over the following millennia many more people came and went in an endless exchange of cultural and ethnical attributes.  

Much of that exchange occurred with peoples of the Middle East and North Africa, including the settlement of large numbers of Phoenicians in Carthage. The exchange was so prolonged and extensive that, in some cases, it almost obliterated the regional differences. However, those were not the only regions with which the Phoenicians interacted. Europe to the West and East also provided an ample opportunity for economic exchange, and hence cultural and ethnical intermixing. 

The rise of the Arabic empire in the seventh and eighth centuries, further intensified that mixture. The political unification lead to fusing together the various peoples and cultures into what was to become known as Arabic culture. However, as before, the fusion was neither absolute nor complete, leaving the Mediterranean basin to maintain its entangled diversities and similarities in an ever so beautiful fashion. 

Furthermore, the Arabic culture neither originated with the Arab conquest, nor did it end with the dismemberment of that empire. What was to be known as Arabic culture, was in actuality a continuation of all the existing cultures, molded together and improved by the same people who inhabited the region prior to the rise of the Arab Empire. 

With the downfall of the Arab empire the cultural attributes lived on in many forms, both within the empirical boundaries and beyond it. The European renaissance was a direct result of the Crusaders adaptation of Middle Eastern Knowledge and cultural refinement, which was lacking in Europe prior to their occupation of the Levant. However, what we have today is a result of centuries of cultural evolution that included its own set of interaction, exchanges and innovations producing seemingly different cultures, which have common roots.  

So, since all this is true. What becomes of the Lebanese? 

That answer is simple. The Lebanese are what they always were and always will be. The bridge between all those around them. 

It was the Lebanese, or their ancestors what ever we might chose to call them, who made much of that cultural interaction possible. They provided both the means and the opportunity for the kind of exchange, which facilitated the continued improvement and advancement that brought all of us to the level of advancement we possess today. 

The Lebanese today have some attributes of every culture they ever encountered. Likewise, every people who ever came across the Lebanese have a touch of Lebanon within themselves. It is exactly that open minded attitude of the Lebanese towards others that enabled them to tolerate and assimilate the differences among their partners on this earth. And it is exactly that attitude we must maintain for the sake of human preservation and advancement.