MPs Propose To Split Beirut Along Civil War Boundaries
Legislation to divide the municipality of Beirut into two separate entities has been submitted to parliament.
A group of FPM MPs has proposed a law that would split Beirut’s municipality in two, but some say to do so would divide the capital in a way reminiscent of the 1975-90 Civil War. @shijazi_tweets reports: https://t.co/39E6ano58W
The bill, which was submitted by the FPM MPs Nicolas Sehnaoui, Edgar Traboulsi, and Caesar Abi Khalil, proposes to form two new municipalities along the historic war-era lines of East and West Beirut.
— Ibrahim Mneimneh | (@Ibrahim_mneimne) July 17, 2022
Presented as necessary for broad concepts of development and decentralization by its supporters, this move has been denounced by establishment and opposition figures as sectarian and a “return to the civil war era”.
To this day, we suffer the consequences of the Taif agreement and the sectarian divide it has created since the civil war. A decision like this will turn back the clocks to a time we do not wish to make a come back.
