In 1943, as the Ottoman Empire’s long shadow finally lifted from Beirut, a secret meeting in the home of President Bishara al-Khuri forged an agreement that would define modern Lebanon for decades. This episode explores the National Pact, or Al-Mithaq al-Watani, an unwritten social contract between Maronite Christians and Sunni Muslims. It established a power-sharing framework where the presidency belonged to a Maronite, the prime ministership to a Sunni, and the speaker of parliament to a Shi’a Muslim, all while balancing French colonial influence with emerging Arab nationalism. We look at how this delicate arrangement prevented immediate conflict but sowed the seeds of future instability by refusing to formally census the population or codify the rules. Through the stories of figures like Riad al-Solh and Kamal Jumblatt, we examine how Lebanon navigated its dual identity as both a Mediterranean gateway and an Arab state, creating a unique political ecosystem that survived World War II but struggled with the demographic and ideological shifts of the Cold War.
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