Kataeb Party

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"Phalange" redirects here. For the Spanish party, see Falange. For the bones of the hand and foot, see Phalanges.
Kataeb party flag

The Kataeb Social Democratic Party (Arabic: الكتائب اللبنانية), better known as the Phalange, is a right-wing Lebanese political party that was first established as a youth movement in 1936 by Pierre Gemayel; he modeled the Phalange on European fascist movements after his visit to the Berlin Olympic games that year impressed him with Nazi power and unity. Its official name is the Social Democratic Party. It is mainly supported by the Maronite Christians.

The influence of the Phalangists was very limited in the early years of Lebanon's independence, but came to prominence as a champion of the Christian cause in the 1958 crisis. In the aftermath of the war, Pierre Gemayel was appointed to the cabinet, and two years later, was elected to the National Assembly. In 1968, the party joined The Helf Alliance formed with the two other big mainly Christian parties in Lebanon: the National Liberal Party of former President Camille Chamoun, and National Bloc of Raymond Eddé. By the end of the decade, the Phalangists held 9 seats in the 99-member National Assembly, making it one of the largest groupings in Lebanon's notoriously fractured political system.

In the 1970s, the Phalangists built a military branch, which by 1976 was led by Bachir Gemayel, Pierre Gemayel's son. Bachir Gemayel was elected President of the Republic by the National Assembly in 1982. He was assassinated less than a month later in an operation thought to have been arranged by Syrian intelligence and was in turn succeeded by his brother, Amine Gemayel. Amine was widely regarded at the time as possessing neither the charisma and military skill of his brother Bachir, nor the consummate political experience of his father Pierre, and had difficulty rallying the nation and the Phalange Party around him.

Pierre Gemayel died in 1984 and Elie Karameh became the president of the party. The Phalange Party, lacking direction, broke down into several rival factions. With the help of Syria, Georges Saadeh took the control of the Party from 1986 till his death in 1998. The pro-Syrian Mounir Hajj became the new president of the party in 1999 with the help of Syria. From 2002, with the help of Syria, Karim Pakradouni is the president of the party but Amine Gemayel became the supreme president of the party after a reconciliation in 2005. Elie Karameh and Fouad Abou Nader continue the opposition. Elie Karameh leads the Kataeb Opposition and Fouad Abou Nader, Bachir's right hand, leads the Authentic Lebanese Forces. They have rejected the Syrian occupation, and claim to have the support of the Kataeb popular base.

Pierre Amine Gemayel (Arabic: بيار أمين الجميل‎; commonly known as Pierre Gemayel Jr, Pierre Amine or simply Pierre Gemayel; September 24, 1972 – November 21, 2006) was a Lebanese politician in the Kataeb Party. He served as Minister of Industry until assassinated on November 21, 2006.

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