Lebanon: The Arena for a New Arab Struggle ••• 359
after 1948, but not the Palestinian Muslims who helped to create a Muslim
majority there. After 1970 the PLO, driven out of Jordan, made Lebanon
its operational base. It did not want to enter the civil war, but it sided with
any group that espoused Arab nationalism and wanted to liberate Pales¬
tine. It was a Maronite militia's attack on a Palestinian bus that sparked the
fighting in April 1975, committing the PLO to the Arab nationalist side.
The Economic Angle
The Lebanese conflict was also a struggle between a privileged class of
landowners and merchants trying to preserve the status quo and a large
mass of poor people (mainly Muslim) striving for more equality. The gap
between rich and poor, especially in Beirut, was immense and scandalous.
High-rise apartment buildings abutted on shacks built of cinder blocks
and corrugated iron. Unable to tax the incomes of the rich, the govern¬
ment imposed high excise taxes on cigarettes and other goods consumed
by the poor. Many employers did not pay the minimum wage, as they
could hire Palestinian refugees or newcomers from rural areas, desperate
for jobs, for less money.
The Ideological Angle
Given such social conditions, some journalists and scholars saw the war as
one between the Right (guardians of the status quo) and the Left (those
wanting change). This was partly true. Those who were rich, well con¬
nected, and Christian tended to favor the Right; those who were not gen¬
erally became Leftists. Some Marxist "progressives" did enter the fray.
Besides, the Left's rifles and grenade launchers tended to be of Soviet man¬
ufacture, whereas American, European, and Israeli arms were borne by the
forces of the Right. Most Middle Eastern states had armed themselves
heavily for years, and Lebanon had been a smugglers' haven even in peace¬
time. Naturally, some of its citizens possessed lots of bombs and guns.
An Attempted Synthesis
All of these angles had some truth. None was wholly true. People fight for
reasons other than religion, nationality, class interest, or ideology.
Lebanese loyalties were also based on habit, family, patronage, or even re¬
gion or neighborhood of habitation. Old grudges and dormant feuds were
revived. Past favors or slights were paid back in kind—or worse. Lebanon
had plenty of armed factions, ranging from street gangs to private militias.
