Beirut: As Lebanon celebrates 70 years of independence on Friday, profound tensions cast a cloud over celebrations. Juvenile evaluations concluded that Lebanon was a failed state from its very inception, unaware of the significant contributions made by this country to the region and indeed the world at large, enduring internal divisions and overcoming external aggressions.
Seventy years after what were dramatic transformations that accorded petty tribal and clannish groups the legitimacy of a nation-state, Lebanon’s independence allowed its citizens, and many others who sought and found refuge in its tolerant environment, to prosper.
Few Lebanese, especially unpatriotic youth who pledged allegiance to foreign potentates, remember that the country’s per capita income—then the highest in the Arab East—went from less than $400 (Dh1,469) (adjusted to reflect inflation) per year in 1943 to over 9,190 (World Bank Data) in 2012.