Hariri's Solidere Demolishes Beirut's Last Jewish Buildings
Dr. Joseph Hitti
March 20, 2008
Saad Hariri, the much flaunted US ally in the Lebanese corrupt political and financial establishment, has finally laid his hands on the last architectural gems of pre-war Beirut. Not to preserve them, turn them into a Museum, and definitely not to return them to their rightful owners. But to demolish them and turn them into yet another disgusting skyscraper in which to house more corrupt businesses beholden to the Hariri empire and its company Solidere.
What happened the other day is but one of the last examples of how the late Rafik Hariri - the "great martyr" of the March 14 Cedars Revolution, better known as the former pro-Syrian collaborator prime minister of Lebanon who licked the Syrian regime's occupier boots as long as they let him seize all of downtown Beirut (in exchange for massive bribes and kickbacks) and turn it into his own Solidere company, without any consideration for Beirut's ancient Roman and Phoenician pasts, building a huge mosque right next to St. George's Maronite cathedral just for spite - like his Palestinian Sunni brethren did in Bethlehem with the Church of the Nativity.
Except now, it's his son, the half-Saudi, half-Lebanese hybrid Saad, who inherited this empire that was pilfered from every ordinary owner of real estate in downtown Beirut. And in one of the most egregious crimes against Beirut's historic legacy, Saad Hariri just tore down the last three standing Jewish buildings in Beirut's old Wadi Abu-Jmil district, gems of Beirut's 19th century architecture.
As architect Amine-Jules Iskandar describes the scene in a letter he sent to the Lebanese French-language daily L'Orient Le Jour, those three buildings were "classified" (i.e. protected as historic landmarks) and are now no more than a pile of debris.
To add insult to injury, it appears that Saad's father, "martyr" Rafik Hariri waited for all the media to rush to Cana the day after the massacre in April 1996, to launch Solidere's bulldozers into Wadi Abu-Jmil to demolish a dozen or so "protected" buildings. Samir Kassir, the other "martyr" journalist, could only at the time deplore the loss of those magnificent witnesses of Beirut's architectural heritage upon his return from Cana. Three buildings had survived because they abutted the ancient synagogue of Beirut.
Today Saad Hariri is doing it again, in the tradition of his "great" father. While the country is in a deep economic and political crisis, and people are worried more than ever about their future, Saad Hariri felt he could complete his father's "achievement" stealthily while no one was watching. Solidere's bulldozers came the other day and discreetly tore down the last three buildings. Today, there is a sign in the area forbidding anyone to get near the site with a camera.
In architect Iskandar's own words: "We are witnessing impotently the disappearance of our architectural, cultural and identity heritage. These buildings represented the last vestiges of an era that was the golden age of the Beirut Jewish community."
In contrast, the legacy of Rafik Hariri, and his son, Saad Hariri, will be to have altered Beirut's history in the cheapest, sleaziest, in-your-face, uncultured mercantilism so typical of the Hariri family's Arab Mediterranean background, doubled by an equally tacky, oil-slick, fascist and fundamentalist Sunni Islam of Saudi vintage.
What happened the other day is but one of the last examples of how the late Rafik Hariri - the "great martyr" of the March 14 Cedars Revolution, better known as the former pro-Syrian collaborator prime minister of Lebanon who licked the Syrian regime's occupier boots as long as they let him seize all of downtown Beirut (in exchange for massive bribes and kickbacks) and turn it into his own Solidere company, without any consideration for Beirut's ancient Roman and Phoenician pasts, building a huge mosque right next to St. George's Maronite cathedral just for spite - like his Palestinian Sunni brethren did in Bethlehem with the Church of the Nativity.
Except now, it's his son, the half-Saudi, half-Lebanese hybrid Saad, who inherited this empire that was pilfered from every ordinary owner of real estate in downtown Beirut. And in one of the most egregious crimes against Beirut's historic legacy, Saad Hariri just tore down the last three standing Jewish buildings in Beirut's old Wadi Abu-Jmil district, gems of Beirut's 19th century architecture.
As architect Amine-Jules Iskandar describes the scene in a letter he sent to the Lebanese French-language daily L'Orient Le Jour, those three buildings were "classified" (i.e. protected as historic landmarks) and are now no more than a pile of debris.
To add insult to injury, it appears that Saad's father, "martyr" Rafik Hariri waited for all the media to rush to Cana the day after the massacre in April 1996, to launch Solidere's bulldozers into Wadi Abu-Jmil to demolish a dozen or so "protected" buildings. Samir Kassir, the other "martyr" journalist, could only at the time deplore the loss of those magnificent witnesses of Beirut's architectural heritage upon his return from Cana. Three buildings had survived because they abutted the ancient synagogue of Beirut.
Today Saad Hariri is doing it again, in the tradition of his "great" father. While the country is in a deep economic and political crisis, and people are worried more than ever about their future, Saad Hariri felt he could complete his father's "achievement" stealthily while no one was watching. Solidere's bulldozers came the other day and discreetly tore down the last three buildings. Today, there is a sign in the area forbidding anyone to get near the site with a camera.
In architect Iskandar's own words: "We are witnessing impotently the disappearance of our architectural, cultural and identity heritage. These buildings represented the last vestiges of an era that was the golden age of the Beirut Jewish community."
In contrast, the legacy of Rafik Hariri, and his son, Saad Hariri, will be to have altered Beirut's history in the cheapest, sleaziest, in-your-face, uncultured mercantilism so typical of the Hariri family's Arab Mediterranean background, doubled by an equally tacky, oil-slick, fascist and fundamentalist Sunni Islam of Saudi vintage.
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