Beirut; Farewell to the Arabs
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FALANGE VS. NAJADA
A MAN I had to meet was a tall, fiery, impressive fortytwo-year-old Maronite Catholic, a pharmacist named Pierre
Gemayel, whom I interviewed in the rear of his drugstore.
Gemayel was chief of the Lebanese Falange, which had a wide
following among Catholic and other Christian Lebanese. I
asked if he had any connection with Franco's Falange. He
denied it: "We are free and independent, with no ties outside Lebanon," he said. "But we believe in strong discipline.
Our membership is divided into sections and divisions like an
army. We drill. We wear uniforms. We encourage physical
exercise." The Falange age limit was twenty to thirty-five years
of age.
"At one time we used the Olympic salute," (closely resembling the Fascist salute) Gemayel said, "but we were criticized
and no longer use it. We want Lebanon to be absolutely independent, like Switzerland. All over the Middle East the
rights of Christian are being trampled. We don't want the
Arabs with whom we are living to revert to Mohammed and
the desert. We stand for democracy between Moslem and
Christian."
"Are you for Zionism or against it?" I asked.
Gemayel compressed his lips.
"Nothing can stop the development of the Jewish State. It
is not invincible, but what State is? It will have a beneficial
effect on the Arab world. It will raise the standard of living
among all Arabs." Speaking in a more relaxed tone, he went
on: "For an Arab to be beaten by the Jew is a terrible insult.
Jews are a ball of fire in the Arab's belly, and the Arabs have
indigestion from it. They are not prepared to die or to spend.
Any lengthy effort would kill them because they have no reserves of money or equipment."
In expressing a somewhat pro-Zionist point of view, Ge-