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Lebanon....
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The Lebanese Republic or Lebanon is a country located at the west of
the Mediterranean Sea, bordered by
Syria on the east and north, and Israel
on the south; in an area referred to as the Middle East.
The country was named after Mount Lebanon; the word "Lebanon"comes from the
Aramaic word laban which means "white" and
refers to snow-capped mountains.
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Lebanon is one of the fifteen present-day countries that
comprise what is considered to be the Cradle of Humanity. It is the historic
home of the Phoenicians, Semitic traders whose maritime culture flourished
there for more than 2,000 years. The region was a territory of the
Roman
Empire and during the Middle Ages was involved in the
Crusades. It was then
taken by the Ottoman Empire. Following the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire
after World War I, the League of Nations mandated
the five provinces that make up present-day Lebanon to France. |
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Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, noted for its wide
boulevards, French-style architecture, and modernity, was called the
Switzerland of the Middle East (Sweesra Al Shark) before the outbreak of the
Lebanese Civil War. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, Lebanon became home to more than
110,000 Palestinian refugees who had fled from Israel. More Palestinian
refugees arrived in Lebanon after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and Black
September, and by 1975, they numbered more than 300,000, led by
Yasser
Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). In the early 1970s,
difficulties arose over the presence of Palestinian refugees, and full-scale
civil war broke out in April 1975, leaving the nation with no effective
central government. |
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Lebanese society is modern, educated, and very
comparable to other European societies of the
Mediterranean. The Lebanese are proud of their Levantine heritage and have
made Lebanon and in particular Beirut, the cultural center of the Arab
world. Most Lebanese are bilingual, speaking Arabic and French; however,
English has become very popular, especially among university students. The
country is not only where Christianity intermingles with
Islam, but
Lebanon is also the Arab gateway to Europe and the European bridge to the
Arab world. |
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