The city of Tripoli is the capital of Arab culture… and Lebanese misery
The elders of the city of Tripoli, the capital of northern Lebanon, complain about the great deterioration in the conditions of the city, which is celebrating its crowning as the “Capital of Arab Culture” after it became on the margins of development, and is even suffering from a delay at all levels, after it was a pioneer in civil development in Lebanon.
The city’s son, Tawfiq Sultan, says, “All private schools are now outside Tripoli. The College of Education, in its heritage building, is closed. The ancient Inga Theater, which had a capacity of 800 seats, was demolished. There are 22 museums in Lebanon, but there is no museum in Tripoli. There was an office they destroyed. There is no town around without a hotel except Tripoli. There is a closed hotel school near my house. It is a hotel and a kitchen that has not been used yet. It cost 800 thousand dollars. Why is it not paid for?
A friend of presidents and leaders in Lebanon and the Arab world, he opens his boxes and pictures to you, and he recalls a long history, with Kamal Jumblatt, where he is still involved in the Socialist Party, and you also see a picture of him with former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and many others. You see it on the Bar Lev line, and at the funeral of Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Tawfiq Sultan (archive)
“The state abandoned Tripoli, surrounded and besieged it, strangled its people, and falsified its representation with bad electoral laws and worse elections. They created a political class that was unable to carry Tripoli, with its historical and geographical value.” When we ask him: Who are they? “All of them, without exception,” he says.
Sultan recounts that the Dutch Minister of Transport told former Minister Omar Misqawi that “Tripoli’s location is unique.” In his opinion, Tripoli has facilities that make it a treasure. The port of Tripoli has a vast area and great potential. Connecting it to a road to Damascus costs two million dollars, and it is located near a 35 km railway to the Syrian border. As for the port of Beirut, it is choked and cannot be expanded by one metre. Trucks leave it and pass through the heart of the capital, taking the difficult mountain road to the Levant, and its costs are high. He is certain that “Tripoli will not flourish unless it is linked to Syria.” The war will end and Tripoli must prepare.” The railway linking Lebanon to Syria has been idle for 40 years. The railway was purchased and its foundation stone was laid 15 years ago, but work has not begun.
Tripoli Citadel before the urban distortions that surrounded it (archive)
They call him “Father of the Port.” He recounts that his father was the mayor of Tripoli in the 1950s. An Italian company operates in the port, which proposed developing the port to increase its depth from 7 to 11 metres. “My father and the mayor of the port, Saadi Ghazi, went, and I was with Camille Chamoun. I was 15 years old. Shimon entered and welcomed us. When my father told him about the Italians’ proposal, his color changed and he stood up and said: Professor, the Sultan of the Port of Tripoli, will not be there. When the port of Beirut has 100 docks, you will have a port. From Beirut to Antelias, my father repeats: Why all this fanaticism? This incident remained engraved in my head, and I continued to follow the port all my life.”
Tawfiq Sultan talks about his attempts to develop the port. Former Progressive Party President Walid Jumblatt and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri supported him, but there are always those who object. He wished to build barns to preserve wheat, before the Beirut port explosion, but it was not implemented. In the end, some projects were self-funded by the port itself, which today has an abundance of $20 million. The state pledged to pay 30 percent of the project, but did not pay.
Sultan reiterates that “Tripoli in history has its people who did it.” There was no water, so they established the company (Rashain). An engineer from Beit Salhab dragged water 17 kilometers to Tripoli. The women sold their jewelry, wool brushes, and copper utensils to finance the project. The Kadisha Electricity Company is the same. It sold 200 megawatts to Syria before the war, as well as the railway that Tripoli financed.”
He talks about “the oil refinery that has been idle for 40 years.” “More than 5 million square meters, the area of the refinery, is a huge wealth that can be operated and liquefied with gas. There is a gas pipeline extending from Syria to Syria, which cost $25 million, in addition to 500 employees.”
There is talk of neglected projects. The Olympic Stadium is supposed to be a fortune. “They spent $20 million on building it, and left it without a parking lot.” Comparing it with the Sidon Olympic Stadium, we find the second in all its splendor, while the first is not clear whether it is a stadium or a military barracks.
Also, the attempt to establish a private electricity company, “Nour Al-Fayhaa,” headed by President Najib Mikati, was not completed and was disbanded after its establishment, “because the President of the Republic at the time, Michel Aoun, told us, ‘Ask Gebran Bassil. I held a press conference and announced that we are not following Gibran, but rather we are dealing with the state.”
“Major projects need shoulders to carry them. The Tripoli elite traveled.” He gives an example: Ghassan Ghandour, from the Ghandour family, which had factories in Tripoli, all of which were closed. He lives in Greece and has giant ships that transport 300 thousand tons. There is Nafez Al-Jundi, who lives in Saudi Arabia and has projects in Lebanon and abroad. Sufyan Al-Saleh, son of Sheikh Subhi Al-Saleh, is one of the most senior engineers in the Emirates. Why is the elite not sought help and a Tripoli Development Council established?
Tawfiq Sultan believes that Tripoli’s decline came gradually. With the declaration of Greater Lebanon, demonstrations took place in Tripoli against the separation from Syria. It was an economic rejection, not a political one. Tripoli served the Syrian coast and interior. The Syrian bourgeoisie had homes in Tripoli. The city is a natural port for Syria. Sultan says: “The French said to Patriarch Howayek at independence, ‘You don’t care about Tripoli, it will disrupt the demography.’ He told them: If you leave Tripoli off the map of Greater Lebanon, it will be a competition for Beirut.”
Khan Al-Khayyatin in Tripoli (archive)
The British focused on the port of Haifa, and the French wanted to highlight the role of Beirut. In the early nineteenth century, Tripoli had a larger population than Beirut.
He talks about the beginning of Beirut’s growth at that time, and the emergence of the “Drigans” company, which drove mule-drawn carts from Beirut to the Levant, and the time was shortened to 11 hours with a break in Chtaura. The same company took over the operation of the train, with the help of a Swiss company, and then paved the road.
“Tripoli was suffocated and its breath was held back. At the end of the forties, there was an American hospital in Tripoli, which was demolished, and an Italian hospital that is unparalleled today.”
He recalls the day Italy executed Omar Al-Mukhtar, and there were only 7 radio stations in Tripoli. Nearly 30,000 Tripolitans came out and burned the Italian consulate in the city, and when Abdul Hamid Karami tried to calm them down, they attacked him.
“Greater Lebanon has become a reality. Abdul Hamid Karami was with Turkey, and some later joined the British. The Arabism of the men of independence was not pure. Abdul Hamid and others sought support from the British to get rid of the French. They jumped from Arabism.”
The port of Beirut is growing and the port of Tripoli is atrophying. Universities open in Beirut and close here. Tripoli and its port were a center for timber merchants, and it extended to Alexandria and Iskenderun. Projects were established without vision. “When the Abu Ali River became flooded in the mid-fifties, they treated the river as if it were the Amazon. They turned it into a sewer, then roofed the river, and set up a market for used clothes above it. “This is a tragedy.”
When we ask him, why complain? Why did Rafik Hariri not undertake projects to save Tripoli, when he was close to him? “He was forbidden from working in the country, even in Beirut, with borders. His wings were clipped so that he would not fly. “I traveled to Egypt for years, and when I returned, I was threatened and harassed.”
Al-Tall Square in Tripoli (archive)
He presented Rafik Hariri with five projects for Tripoli, “one for the archaeological hill area, which we wanted to modernize and build a garage under, but the people objected. There is a project for a tourist area linking the shores of the port and the offshore islands, and its extension is the statuesque Khan, which is rich in its large area, and we were not able to implement it. And the transfer station, where two were established in Beirut and Sidon, but the Tripoli station was without obstacles.
Tripoli was accused of obscurantism and dressing up in what did not belong to it. “But the municipal council, which does not include a single Christian, met and took a decision to name seven streets after bishops. In the city, Nuns Street, Churches Street, Saint Maroun, and Lady’s Quarter. Is there anything similar in Jounieh? “They dressed the city in a masquerade.”
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2024-02-08 14:33:29
