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Article: Getting back on track: after some serious setbacks Lebanon is picking up the pieces.(Lebanon)
- Article from:
- The Middle East
- Article date:
- June 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 IC Publications Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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There is a popularly held view in the West that Lebanon is a country pockmarked by years of conflict and a haven for the region's terrorists and drugs traffickers. Fought over by Israeli, Syrian and Hizbullah forces to this day and traumatised by a 16-year civil war that ended in 1990, there is much to reinforce this opinion.
But it has not always been this way. Beirut was formerly referred to as the Paris of the East, and Lebanon prided itself on its cultural and religious diversity and tolerance that stretched back millennia, a vibrant economy, arts and stability sometimes unusual in the region. This came to an abrupt end when tensions between the Muslim ...