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1969

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14 entries on 11 dates · the books disagree on 6

January 1969

early 1969 (after the airport raid): day not established

The road to war · From the books

Prime Minister Yafi resigns; Rashid Karami forms a new government.
Rashid Karami, who pledged to consult and coordinate with the Palestinians, was President Helou's choice to replace Abdallah al-Yafi; the army command took charge of internal security. Yafi had quit under fire from two sides: public fury at the undefended airport, and Tripartite Alliance charges of tolerating armed Palestinians.

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March 1969

spring 1969: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Army and Palestinian guerrillas clash almost daily in the south.
Jumblatt led mass protests in Tyre, Sidon, Tripoli and Beirut, Saiqa units came in from Syria and the Palestinian groups drove the Lebanese police out of the camps, all as the guerrillas resisted an army drive to clear them from the border zone and deny Israel a pretext for further raids.

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April 1969

Wednesday, 23 April 1969

The road to war · From the books

Security forces fire on pro-Palestinian demonstrations; Karami resigns.
Prime Minister Rashid Karami resigned after violent protests, notably in Tripoli: in Beirut and Sidon the army and security forces had fired on mass demonstrations backing the Palestinian resistance, leaving dead and wounded, and in Sidon a march from Ain al-Hilweh camp became an army-commando battle. A cabinet crisis of over seven months followed.

Sources differ: Hanf places Karami's resignation after President Helou's television address of 6 May; Traboulsi and de Clerck & Malsagne put it on or right after 23 April. The length of the crisis is 215 days (Traboulsi) or 216 days (de Clerck & Malsagne). Hanf names Sidon and Ain al-Hilweh; Traboulsi Sidon and Beirut; de Clerck & Malsagne Beirut.

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Thursday, 24 April 1969

The road to war · From the books

A state of emergency is declared.
Under a state of emergency from 24 April, the day after the shootings, Jumblatt said curbs on the guerrillas helped only Israel, while Karami held that Lebanon must defend its sovereignty.

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May 1969

Tuesday, 6 May 1969

The road to war · From the books

On television, President Helou sets Lebanese sovereignty as the limit of support for the Palestinians.
Lebanon was left without a cabinet for months after 6 May, when President Charles Helou said on television that backing the Palestinian cause must not put Lebanon's sovereignty and security at risk. He and the army had open support only from Christian politicians; no leading Sunni would take office.

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August 1969

August–September 1969: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Israel's first air raids on Lebanon hit Hasbaya and southern villages.
Hasbaya and several villages in the south were bombed in August and September, the first Israeli air raids on Lebanon.

Sources differ: Fisk gives no date for the Israeli shelling of Hasbaya he describes (48 dead, 45 wounded), so it is unclear whether it is the same attack.

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October 1969

mid-October 1969: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Syria shuts the border as the army moves on guerrilla supply routes.
Acting alone, the army command moved to cut the guerrillas' supply routes from Syria. Damascus responded by massing troops at the frontier, closing the border and imposing economic sanctions; Saiqa and PLO fighters attacked Bekaa border posts; Palestine Liberation Army units occupied Bekaa villages and assaulted Rashaya; the Beirut–Tripoli road was blocked.

Sources differ: Traboulsi dates the army's last attempt to the end of September; Hanf and Picard to October (Hanf: mid-October).

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late October 1969: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Faruq al-Muqaddam's '24 October Movement' takes over Tripoli's citadel and several police stations.
As Palestinian groups opened other fronts to ease army pressure on their fighters cut off in the Arqoub, Karami's populist rival Faruq al-Muqaddam led his '24 October Movement' in taking Tripoli's citadel and several police stations.

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November 1969

Monday, 3 November 1969

The road to war · From the books

The Cairo Agreement is signed between the Lebanese army and the PLO.
Only Raymond Eddé and his bloc voted against the agreement, which deputies ratified without seeing its full, secret text. Concluded in Cairo through Egyptian mediation by Yasir Arafat and army commander General Emile Bustani, it affirmed Lebanese sovereignty but let guerrillas keep armed units in the camps and observation posts near the border and move to and from the Arqoub.

Sources differ: Three dates: 3 November (de Clerck & Malsagne, Traboulsi's chronology; Hanf's negotiation of 1-3 November ends that day), 8 November (Traboulsi's chapter 9) and 13 November (Picard). 3 November has the most, and mutually independent, support; Traboulsi contradicts himself.

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Wednesday, 26 November 1969

The road to war · From the books

Karami's national unity cabinet gives Kamal Jumblatt the Interior Ministry.
Kamal Jumblatt became interior minister, in charge of carrying out the Cairo Agreement, in the government of national union Rashid Karami formed once the Syrian border reopened, ending a cabinet vacancy of over seven months.

Sources differ: 26 November (Traboulsi, twice) or 25 November (de Clerck & Malsagne).

Other date in the books: Tuesday, 25 November 1969

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1969

1969: day not established

The road to war · From the books

Sadiq al-'Azm's 'Critique of Religious Thought' is published in Beirut.
Dar al-Tali'a, a Marxist publisher in Beirut, issued the Syrian philosopher Sadiq Jalal al-'Azm's 'Naqd al-fikr al-dini' in 1969. It angered the Mufti of Beirut and led to his prosecution; Kamal Jumblatt, the interior minister, left him alone, and Democratic Front activists got him into Syria.

Art and memory

book Picard cites Sadiq al-'Azm's 'Naqd al-fikr al-dini' (Critique of Religious Thought), published by Beirut's Dar al-Tali'a in 1969, as evidence of lasting ties between Syrian and Lebanese elites; he was called a 'child of the two cities'.

The road to war · From the books

Teachers and students strike three times in one year.
In 1969 teachers and students of state and private schools came out three times, without result, for pay rises and mutual aid funds. The Lebanese University strike resumed that year; police intervention and dismissals of teachers ended it.

The road to war · From the books

The Higher Islamic Shi'i Council is set up, with Musa al-Sadr as president.
In 1969 Imam Musa al-Sadr became president of the new Higher Islamic Shi'i Council, the body that a law of December 1967 had provided to speak for the Shi'i community.

Sources differ: Picard dates the council to 1967 (the law); Traboulsi distinguishes the 1967 law from the council's creation in 1969.

The road to war · From the books

Al-Tanzim, a Christian armed organisation, is founded.
Al-Tanzim ('the Organisation'), later one of the minor Christian militias of the war, was founded in 1969.

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