The Storyteller
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June 1976: The Lebanese National Movement has taken control of large areas of Lebanon. Syria sends 30,000 soldiers to keep the Christian government in power in neighbouring Lebanon.
1977: Bashir Gemayel, son of Phalange leader Pierre Gemayel, sets up the Forces Libanaises (FL) militia to support the Lebanese Front coalition. In the following years, the FL absorbs several other Christian militias, sometimes forcibly.
March 1978: Palestinian militants kill thirty-nine Israelis near Tel Aviv. Three days later, the Israeli Army invades southern Lebanon. “Operation Litani” is intended to drive the PLO out. The Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon lasts a few months, after which the Army of Free Lebanon takes over the region. It fights the PLO and its allies, as well as, after 1982, the new Shia force, Hezbollah.
6 June 1982: The second invasion of Lebanon, “Operation Peace for Galilee,” under defence minister Ariel Sharon, begins. Two months later, Israeli troops surround west Beirut in order to force the PLO to withdraw.
21 August 1982: A multinational force of US, French, Italian, and British soldiers arrives in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal.
23 August 1982: The multinational force maintains order during the elections. Bashir Gemayel is elected president of Lebanon.
30 August 1982: Led by Yassir Arafat, around 6,500 PLO fighters leave Beirut. Israel claims there are still terrorists in the refugee camps.
14 September 1982: Bashir Gemayel is killed in an attack on the Phalange headquarters.
15 September 1982: Israeli troops invade west Beirut again and surround the refugee camps.
16–18 September 1982: Israeli forces allow the Phalangist militia to raid the Palestinian refugee camps Sabra and Chatila in Beirut. Since the PLO’s withdrawal, the camps’ residents have been predominantly civilian. The massacre claims between 20,000 and 35,000 lives.
1983–1985: One failed reconciliation conference after another leads to a series of abductions and political murders.
July 1985: Israeli forces withdraw to a “security zone” in southern Lebanon, a border strip between 10 and 20 kilometres wide. Hezbollah begins its campaign of guerrilla attacks.
November 1989: The Lebanese parliament and members of the Arab League agree on a peace plan. The Taif accord slightly redistributes the seats in the Lebanese parliament, granting Muslims additional seats because they now account for the majority of the population.
August–October 1992: The first parliamentary elections in twenty years are held in Lebanon. Billionaire Rafiq Hariri is appointed prime minister. Solidere, his development company, plays a major role in the country’s reconstruction. Hariri’s assassination in 2005 sparks the Cedar Revolution, after which Syria withdraws all of its troops from Lebanon.
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The following works were a source of help and inspiration while I was writing this novel:
Bernhardt, Karl-Heinz. Der alte Libanon. Koehler & Amelang, 1976.
Chidiac, May. Ich werde nicht schweigen! Blanvalet, 2009.
Fisk, Robert. Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon. Nation Books, 2002.
Fisk, Robert. Sabra und Shatila. Promedia, 2011.
Knudsen, Are, and Michael Kerr, editors. Lebanon: After the Cedar Revolution. Hurst, 2012.
Konzelmann, Gerhard. Der unheilige Krieg: Krisenherde im Nahen Osten. DTV, 1988.
Pott, Marcel, and Renate Schimkoreit-Pott. Beirut: Zwischen Kreuz und Koran. Westermann, 1985.
Von Broich, Sigrid. Libanon: warum es geschah. BOD, 2004.
Vorländer, Dorothea, editor. Libanon: Land der Gegensätze. Verlag der Ev.-Luth. Mission, 1980.
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I wish to thank
my wife, Kathleen, for her patience, support and understanding, without which I could never have written this novel. Thanks too to my parents, who have always encouraged me to tell stories. I am very grateful to my agent, Markus Michalek, for his dedication to and belief in this story, to the entire team at AVA International, to my editor, Andreas Paschedag, for his passion and commitment, and to the team at Berlin Verlag for their faith in me. I also greatly appreciate the support provided by the City of Munich in the form of a literary grant. My special thanks go to Kamil el-Hourani, who spent many hours sharing his harrowing experiences of the Lebanese civil war and the details of his escape. Several other people provided valuable support and advice: Professor Georges Tamer from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg; Klaus Schmid, chairperson of the Evangelical Association for Schneller Schools in Lebanon; Houda Jaber, who transcribed Arabic passages; Paul Khauli of the American University of Beirut, who introduced me to Beirut’s nightlife and student scene; the employees of UMAM Documentation and Research in Beirut, who allowed me to view their archives; and the Deutsche Evangelische Gemeinde Beirut, which showed me great hospitality.
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On the Design
As book design is an integral part of the reading experience, we would like to acknowledge the work of those who shaped the form in which the story is housed.
Tessa van der Waals (Netherlands) is responsible for the cover design, cover typography and art direction of all World Editions books. She works in the internationally renowned tradition of Dutch Design. Her bright and powerful visual aesthetic maintains a harmony between image and typography and captures the unique atmosphere of each book. She works closely with internationally celebrated photographers, artists, and letter designers. Her work has frequently been awarded prizes for Best Dutch Book Design.
Mohamad Itani (Lebanon) is an award-winning photographer based in Manchester, UK, whose work has appeared on books by Paulo Coelho, Joyce Carol Oates, and Elif Shafak. The boy in the picture is his son, and the photograph was taken a couple of years ago in Beirut, where father and son spend their summers together: ‘We were on our way back from the beach after a long day of swimming and playing, and luckily I had my camera with me; my son was happy and tired. I enjoy shooting moments like this much more than arranging a full shoot.’
The cover has been edited by lithographer Bert van der Horst of BFC Graphics (Netherlands).