The road to war · From the books
The best economic year before the war.
Lifted by Palestinian capital and Gulf investment, 1974 was the strongest prewar year, with income per head at about 1,200 dollars, double the 1967 figure. Yet inflation averaged 8 per cent a year in the three prewar years, and in 1973-74, 54 per cent of the population counted as poor or relatively poor.
Sources differ: Inflation: average 8 per cent (de Clerck & Malsagne) or 11 per cent officially and over 20 per cent according to the unions (Picard); periods and definitions differ.
The road to war · From the books
Georges Nasser makes 'Al-matlub rajul wahid' ('One Man Is Wanted').
De Clerck and Malsagne cite Georges Nasser's Al-matlub rajul wahid (1974) as evidence that honour codes and patronage still governed Lebanon's patriarchal society just before the war.
Art and memory- film Georges Nasser's 1974 film 'Al-matlub rajul wahid' serves de Clerck and Malsagne as an illustration of the patriarchal, honour-bound and clientelist society of prewar Lebanon.
The road to war · From the books
The Nabatieh refugee camp is destroyed.
Nabatieh's official Palestinian camp, destroyed from 1974 on, was the first of several official camps lost in the war.
The road to war · From the books
The Rally of Committed Christians is founded.
Christians aligned with the Communists and the National Movement founded the Rally of Committed Christians, which sought a secular, democratic and open Arabism.
The road to war · From the books
Shi'is gain access to top civil service posts for the first time.
Although Shi'is made up close to 30 per cent of the population, they held only 19 of the 99 parliamentary seats, and it was 1974 before any of them reached the top grade of the civil service.
