Memory and Creation / Lebanon
Chronology / 1977
57 events in 1977
A particularly vigorous winter hit Lebanon. It snowed in Beirut, which was quite unusual. Temperature fell to 0 degree.
Regular Palestinian forces will have to leave Lebanon before January 13', announced a press release issued by the presidency of the Republic.
The collection of heavy and light arms continued while the government was helping the victims of the war and trying to boost the economy.
After 10 months of disruption, banks reopened officially without any problems.
In Broumana and in presence of 25 delegates, the week of the Lebanese Forces was held under the sign of coexistence.
This three-day seminar adopted the principle of diversity in respect of heritage and cultures. The seminar emphasized the need to solve Lebanon's economic problem using modern solutions.
The Government created an economic and social orientation body, called the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR).
The Government promulgated a decree concerning wartime conflicts between owners and renters.
The decree stipulated mainly that rent contracts remained operative, while backlogs will be staggered on 18 months with no interest for all rents under 5,000 Lebanese Pounds. As to destroyed properties, there were three possibilities: reconstruct, compensate the renters, or give them shares.
Kurt Waldheim, Secretary General of the United Nations, arrived to Beirut. He declared that the United Nations would substantially help Lebanon and that the future of this country was closely linked the comprehensive solution in the Middle East.
The ambassador of the United States returned to Lebanon.
Intense diplomatic activity was carried on in Beirut. The French Minister of Foreign Affairs started an official visit. The American Secretary of State met, during a visit to the Middle East, with President Sarkis in Beirut reassuring him that the United States supports the independence, unity and territorial integrity of the country. He announced a 50 million dollars aid to Lebanon.
A master plan for the souks of the old Beirut was submitted to the Council of Ministers. This project included the creation of a green front, an opening to the sea from the Saint George to Bahri, the construction of a port district around the first basin, the opening of avenues towards the sea, and the reconstruction of the souks.
The cost of living had substantially increased in Lebanon. Meat, sugar, cheese, oil and chicken tripled since before 1975. Fares varied from a region to another due to the lack of control.
Kamal Joumblatt was assassinated
He was leaving Moukhtara when he and two other passengers were killed. An ambush was set up not far from an Arab Strike Force control post. This assassination aroused a huge wave of disapproval. A call for a strike was immediately issued. The country was in mourning. Chief of the Lebanese left wing, leader of the Druze community, author of several political books, coming from a famous family in the Chouf, Kamal Joumblatt was born in 1917 in Moukhtara, with essentially an eclectic spirit. After he graduated from the Law school in Saint Joseph University in Beirut, he went into politics very young. In 1946 he was elected for the first time Deputy of the Chouf in the Parliament and three years later he was appointed Minister of Economy and Agriculture. In 1949, he founded the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). Three months before his assassination, he had given up politics.
An airplane was hijacked between Turkey and Lebanon.
The operation began 50 minutes after a Boeing 727 on the Diarbakin-Ankara route took off with 182 passengers aboard and 6 crewmembers. Two hijackers forced the airplane to head towards Beirut where it landed at 4pm. The Lebanese authorities took charge of the situation and began negotiations with the hijackers. Ultimately, the passengers were released and the police arrested the hijackers.
The Arab League decided to renew the mandate of the Arab Strike Force for another six months.
A powerful plastic charge, deposited in the elevator of the Minister of Defense, Fouad Boutros, exploded destroying the upper floor of the apartment.
The Council of Ministers appointed Colonel Victor Khoury at the head of the army replacing General Hanna Said.
The officials were satisfied with the ongoing excavations in the heart of the city where the most damaged sectors were located, for they exhumed valuable Phoenician, Roman and Byzantine vestiges.
Colonel Sami Khatib was appointed commander of the Arab Strike Force.
The Cairo agreement will be applied progressively. The worried Lebanese have been waiting for a long time for this agreement to be implemented.
The integrity of Southern Lebanon will be jointly guaranteed by Syria and the Soviet Union . This was the message that President Assad transmitted to President Sarkis, following recent meetings between Assad and Brejnev. He also said that a Lebanese force should insure security in Southern Lebanon.
A meeting between the Syrians, the Lebanese, and the Palestinians was held in Baabda.
President Elias Sarkis met with the chairman of the PLO, Yasser Arafat. The meeting dealt mainly with the evacuation of Damour by the Palestinians and the execution of the Cairo agreement.
Lebanon received about 110 million Lebanese Pounds from the EEC.
An Antonov-12 air freighter belonging to the Polish company LOT crashed in the forest of Aramoun. The airplane that was returning from Warsaw carried a shipment of meat and seven crewmembers who perished in the accident.
The mandate of the Arab four-party committee in charge of the execution of the Palestinian-Lebanese Cairo agreement had expired, while the agreement had not been executed yet.
The election of Miss Lebanon was organized at the Santa Teresa in Maameltein.
Charles Aznavour was the first star to come to Lebanon during the war. He sang in Byblos in front of a Lebanese audience trying to forget the nightmare of the last two years.
After a 19-month interruption, horse races resumed in Beirut hippodrome where 10,000 turfists gathered.
On the last day of its full-powers, the Council of Ministers published a series of decree-laws. The most important ones stipulated the revision of certain laws relative to the Lebanese University, the amendment of some press censorship laws, and the adoption of the mandatory car insurance.
An armed group took control of a Boeing connecting Beirut to Kuwait.
Twelve armed men highjacked a Boeing 707 belonging to the Kuwait Airways company. 45 passengers, including the Kuwaiti ambassador in Lebanon and ten crewmembers, were on board. The highjackers claimed the liberation of 300 persons detained in six Arab countries. The next day, they set the hostages free and surrendered to the authorities
Dalida sang in Byblos and charmed the Lebanese.
The ' technical Palestinian-Syrian-Lebanese committee ' met in Chtaura, trying to put an end to the hostilities in South Lebanon and find a settlement for the Palestinian armed presence in the country, as suggested by the Cairo agreement. This meeting was the first between Lebanese, Syrians, and Palestinians since fights stopped last November. It resulted from the recent meetings between leaders of these three countries.
340 tourists made a brief stopover in Beirut. The Sol Phryne, a boat achieving a Mediterranean cruise, made a stopover in Beirut and its 340 passengers visited the capital for a few hours.
An agreement was signed in Chtaura.
The technical four-party committee decided unanimously the following: -Approving the two plans of action for the execution of the Cairo agreement. -Entrusting the regular Lebanese forces and the Arab Strike Force with the supervision of their execution in all regions, including Southern Lebanon. -Starting the execution of the two plans of action on July 30, no armed elements will be allowed to circulate outside the camps. -Withdrawal of the Palestinian forces up to 15 kilometers north of the borderline with Israel.