The only thing tying these peoples to their current location is their name or nationality. But people move around. Non-black people of North Africa who claim to be berber (which isn’t a race) are NOT the original inhabitants of that region (North Africa was “black” in ancient times surprise, surprise). Syrians aren’t one race, but a mixed multitude of peoples: Turks, Kurds, “Arabs,” Circassians, Armenians, and other Eastern Europeans. Ditto for Leonese Christians, Egyptian Copts and Palestineans. Egypt’s populace is a hodg podge of peoples as well. They are NOT the Ancient Egyptians (who were African descent) no matter how strong they want to believe that.
Lebonese are NOT the Phonecians.
Iranians claiming Persian descent may not be quite accurate either.

Alot of these people are mixed with the same stuff. You can’t talk about one country without talking abou the rest of the Mediterranean at large because they experienced (almost) the same invasions and eras. Middle Easterners have a lot of false and simplistic beliefs about who their ancestors are. Many of which are utterly false or only partly true. I see this glossing over of European admixture as an attempt ot 1). racial white-washing of Ancient Civilzations physiology and 2). approprate European features as indigenous.

Won posted

We noticed some interesting lineages in the dataset. Among Lebanese Christians, in particular, we found higher frequency of a genetic marker—R1b—that we see typically see only in Western Europe, said Spencer Wells, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence.

The study matched the western European Y-chromosome lineage against thousands of people in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Wells said the lineage was seen enriched to a higher frequency only in the Christian populations in Lebanon and was not seen in the Muslim population.

It certainly doesn’t undermine the similarities among the various Lebanese communities, but it does agree with oral tradition—that some Lebanese Christians are descendents of Crusaders—and points to a genetic connection to the Crusaders, he added.

Well duh. Look at ‘em.

While the modern Maronites who for the most part identify themselves today as nothing but Arab and have contributed tremendously to Arab culture, especially in the arts and literature, they should not deny their own Syriac and Aramaic heritage and history.

As for the rest of the Lebanese, by only identifying as Arab is actually eradicating their rich history prior to 610 AD. Arabization of the Levant only took place 1400 years ago, and in a region with a history of over 5 millenniums, it is only a small part of the long story. Because the Ottomans were not Arab, the fact is that Arab rule in the Levant only lasted as long as Arab rule in Spain.

While no one argues with an Armenian or a Kurd, both victims of genocides, the negative attitude towards any Maronite who identifies as non-Arab stems from the fact that the Maronites for a long time had power and such a minority in the Sunni Middle East should never have any power, they should only be victims. The same backlash is currently being bestowed on another minority with power, the Shia of Lebanon, with accusation of Iranisation.

The invention of the modern day israeli people based on the ancient israelites is pathetic to say the least. Modern day is like a virus planted on the Middle east and nort part of it. Its alien.

Regarding Arabs, I see it as 4 diffirent types of Arabs, The maghrebis, The Egyptians, The Levantines and the Khaleejis.

The levantines (Syrians, Lebanese and Palestinians) all have the same habits, cultures and similar accents and this is all based on their common ancestors who were Caananites, Phoenicians, Arameans, Greeks, Turks, Arabs etc. This blend melted in to become the Levantine Arabs, just like the Maghrebi Arabs have influence of other people such as the berbs and spaniards.

I think its silly to deny your an Arab when your native language is Arabic. Its not like a Kurd denying he is an arab (even if he speaks arabic) because Kurds are a seperate ethnic group, a maronite on the other hand is not one seperate ethnic group, but rather many ethnic groups just like the other sects and the final adopted language of both the Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians (regardless of religion and sect) is Arabic, even if it used to be aramean or whatever in the past. Arab doesnt mean saudi arabian. The term arab has evolved and its silly to claim to be a phoenician when you speak arabic, have arab customs, eat arab foods etc, all of it as your native culture.

I believe that the basis of this adolescent posturing by the ridiculous Elie K., and a further politically active and aggressive Maronite minority in Lebanon, is the general disdain for and racism against Arabs. In a nation (if we may call Lebanon such) which self-identifies itself as Arab, and one that is embroiled in internal as well as regional and international politics, not to mention being part and parcel of the biggest ARAB cause of our generation, the Palestine issue, this comes to bear grave culturo- political ramifications. Consequently, Elie K.’s regret at the inability of his “Maronite-Phoenician” community to claim neutrality on the Palestinian issue, does certainly hope to curry favor with those on the Israeli-colonialist side who have worked tirelessly to break down the cultural and political support system of the Palestinians in order to render them barren and defenseless (though I am loathe to believe, were it to be politically and otherwise safe to state so, that he would rather come out favoring Israel over the Palestinians).

It is true that every person is entitled to his/her opinion, and he (Elie K.) may conceive of his ancestry as he wishes (facts or not; and who amongst us is not guilty of a little historical embellishment to our otherwise plain Jiddou and Sitto to make our petty lives seem more attractive and interesting to others), but the real consequences of such a position and the insistence on it, beyond its inherent bigotry, do not bode well for the future and well-being of a broken and embattled place and people like Lebanon and the Lebanese at this historical moment.

My conclusion is that Lebanese people are multi-ethnical and therefore may only be defined as Lebanese, however, they use one major language which is the arabic (Lebanese Arabic along with other minor languages like Armenian in every day speech).

Maronites consitute a Christian community, and from the beginning it included many ethnics (Mardaites, Canaaneans, Arabs, Romans) from the Armenian kingdom to Jerusalem. Maronites are not a race, and whoever pretends the opposite is wrong.

All people who live in Lebanon , Syria , Israel PalesStine are Arabs ,Christians , Muslims and Jews , and that is because they are all semitics who came from ARABIA at different times ,
Try to live together and think of way to make each other happy or you all are going to be miserable ,

This is not a fable, colonial or otherwise. 1. Jews in Arab-majority lands WERE harassed, both before AND after the creation of Israel. “Quelqu’une” would prefer to whitewash this despicable behavior on the part of Arab regimes towards non-Arab non-Muslim minorities. 2. There was one country that accepted them immediately. True also. It was Israel.

For those believing this colonial fable, please check the link below, Ella Shohat’s article Sephardim in Israel : Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Jewish Victims

Source: Social Text, No. 19/20 (Autumn, 1988), pp. 1-35
Published by: Duke University Press

http://www.facebook.com/notes/ella-shohat/sephardim-in-israel-zionism-from-the-standpoint-of-its-jewish-victims-1988-part-/125417714137649

Excerpt :

“Filtered out by a Euro-centric grid, Zionist discourse presents culture as the monopoly of the West, denuding the peoples of Asia and Africa, including Jewish peoples, of all cultural expression. The rich culture of Jews from Arab and Moslem countries is scarcely studied in Israeli schools and academic institutions. While Yiddish is prized and officially subsidized, Ladino and other Sephardi dialects are neglected-”Those who do not speak Yiddish,” Golda Meir once said, “are not Jews”-Yiddish, through an ironic turn of history, became for Sephardim the language of the oppressor, a coded speech linked to privilege.”