Maha al-Khalil Chalabi

Maha al-Khalil Chalabi (born on 2 April 1938 in Tyre/Sour, Lebanon) – Arabic: مهى الخليل الشلبي, also transliterated Shalabi – is Secretary-General of the International Association to Save Tyre (Association Internationale pour la Sauvegarde de Tyr – AIST) and has been a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador as "a strong advocate for heritage".[1] Oscillating between the high-societies of Beirut and Paris, the heiress of a feudal dynasty in Southern Lebanon has been hailed by the yellow press as the "Princess of Tyre"[2]

Life

Family background
Kazem al-Khalil

Maha al-Khalil Chalabi regularly invokes her father Kazem al-Khalil (1901-1989) as the main source of inspiration for her cultural activities.[3][4][5][6] He was the scion of a Shiite clan of land barons in Jabal Amel, modern-day Southern Lebanon: When the 1858 Ottoman Land reforms led to the accumulated ownership of large tracts of real estate by a few families upon the expense of the peasants,[7] the al-Khalil family of grain merchants[8] rose from the urban class of the mercantilist notables ("Wujaha' ") to the rank of Zu'ama (feudal landlords) in Tyre.[7] The uneducated population of Jabal Amal lived in

"a 'dark age' of ignorance and feudalism; it was a time when the masses, al ama, were terrified of their masters and landlords, of the Ottoman Officialdom, a time when the flock [..] took life as 'slavery and obedience. The Khalils, with their age-old ways, [..] were known for being particularly rough and hard."[9]

In-law Adel Osseiran

Maha al-Khalil's paternal grandfather Ismail Yahia al-Khalil was the first head of the Tyre municipality, when the French colonial rulers proclaimed the new State of Greater Lebanon under the guardianship of the League of Nations represented by France on the first of September 1920.[10] In the following years, the Mandatory regime gave ruling families like the al-Khalils

"a free hand in enlarging their personal fortunes and reinforcing their clannish powers."[11]

Kazem al-Khalil was elected as deputy (member of the Lebanese parliament) for the first time in 1937 and remained in that office for more than two decades. As a close ally of President Camille Chamoun, he served as a minister in various cabinets between 1953 and 1958[10] and earned himself a reputation as a particularly "tough" power-player:[9]

During the 1958 Lebanon crisis Kazem al-Khalil's power-struggle with Ahmed al-Asaad and his son Kamil al-Asaad of a rival Shiite dynasty escalated into an armed conflict that left at least seven anti-Khalil protestors in Tyre dead during March and April.[12][13][14] Heavy fighting went on for more than two weeks[15] until the Asaad camp and its Baathist allies - led by Sayed Jafar Sharafeddin, the son of Imam Sayed Abdul Hussein Sharafeddin – gained the upper hand in May.[16] The crisis dissolved in September, when Chamoun stepped down. Al-Khalil returned still in 1958, but was attacked several times by gunmen.[12] In 1960 he also lost his parliamentary seat to Sharafeddin.[17][18]

Maha al-Khalil's mother Muzain[19] was a daughter of Ibrahim Haydar, the Shi'te Za'im (singular of Zu'ama, see above) from the Beqaa Valley and father-in-law of fellow feudal lord Adel Osseiran, a leader of the Lebanese independence movement. Maha al-Khalil's paternal aunt Nashura was married to another member of the Osseiran clan, Kamil Osseiran.[10] Kazem al-Khalil and his wife had three sons and two daughters.[20]

In 1960, Maha al-Khalil got married to the Iraqi businessman Talal Chalabi,[20] a brother of the controversial Banker and politician Ahmad Chalabi.[21] The Chalabis were the scions of a Shia dynasty of rich merchants and bankers in Baghdad.[22] Ahmad married Leila Osseiran, daughter of Kazem al-Khalil's in-law Adel Osseiran, in 1971.[23] Maha al-Khalil Chalabi and Talal Chalabi have one son, Bashar, and two daughters: Rim and Périhane.[20] The latter is a French TV host, commonly known as Péri Cochin.

Education

Maha al-Khalil received her secondary education at a school in Beirut run by the Franciscan order. She subsequently graduated in Social sciences at the French Faculty of Medicine in Beirut, followed by studies in art and philosophy at the Beirut University College (BUC) and a degree in Political sciences from the faculty of law at Saint Joseph University in Beirut.[20][3]

She later attended the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) at the Sorbonne in Paris, from where she obtained a doctorate in history.[20] Her PhD thesis about the descriptions of Tyre by travellers between the 16th and 19th centuries was published in 1984.[4]

Professional, cultural and political activities
The Roman Hippodrome in Tyre

In the early 1970s, the al-Khalil family staged a political comeback: in 1971, Maha's brother Khalil al-Khalil became Lebanon's Ambassador to the Imperial State of Iran, a position which he kept until 1978.[20] In the 1972 general election, al-Khalil Chalabi's father regained his parliamentary seat after more than a decade[17] as well as cabinet positions,[24] first as Minister of Labor and Social Affairs and then from 1973 to 1974 as Minister of Justice.[19] During those years he became one of the fiercest opponents of the Palestinian fighters who were building up a strong presence in the Tyre area.[25]

Still in 1972, Maha al-Khalil Chalabi started organising the commercial Tyre International Festival, which was to include the re-staging of Roman-style chariot races in the Tyre Hippodrome.[5][6] In the following year she was elected as a member of the executive committee of the Lebanese Red Cross.[20] The first edition of her Festivals de Tyr was scheduled to take place in 1975, but was thwarted by the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War.[6]

In 1976, local commanders of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) took over the municipal government of Tyre with support from their allies of the Lebanese Arab Army (LAA)[26] and declared the founding of the "People's republic of Tyre".[27] One of the residences of Kazem al-Khalil "was dynamited"[28] and parts of his estate were confiscated.[8] Hence he moved into a "sprawling villa" in the Hazmieh neighbourhood of Christian-dominated east Beirut,[25] while Maha al-Khalil Chalabi settled in Paris for exile.[6]

Following the 1978 South Lebanon conflict with Israel, which also affected Tyre's archaeological sites,[27] al-Khalil Chalabi started lobbying to international institutions for the protection of the ancient relics. In May 1980, she founded the AIST at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris.[4]

Shortly after the invasion of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in the Lebanon war of June 1982 – which according to the Lebanese government killed some 1,200 Civilians and injured more than 2,000 Non-combatants in the Tyre area alone – the IDF set up a military post in the city and sponsored the return of Kazem al-Khalil. When his attempts to reconcile with the Amal Movement failed, he formed his own militia with Israeli support,[29] recruiting mainly young Shiites from a poor background. However, the aging warlord's collaboration not only "discredited"[30] and

"delegitimised him in the eyes of the Shi'a, but also earned him the anger of the Syrians. This simple miscalculation was an act from which he was never able to fully recover politically".[8]

Meanwhile, his daughter Maha succeeded with her advocy to have the Tyre's cultural status recognized. In 1984, the city was finally recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.[5] However, al-Khalil Chalabi deplored that her subsequent campaigns for the preservation of Tyrian sites were blocked by the Amal Movement, which took over power in the Tyre area after the 1985 withdrawal of the Israeli forces – particularly by its leader Nabih Berri and his wife Randa,[3] who founded her own rival "National Association for the Protection of the Heritage of South Lebanon".[31]

At the end of the 1980s, the al-Khalil suffered further setbacks: when Ahmad Chalabi's Amman-based Petra Bank collapsed in August 1989, Maha al-Khalil's husband Talal Chalabi was accused by Jordanian witnesses of benefiting financially[32] from a US$200 miilion bank fraud committed by his brother.[33] Ahmad Chalabi would later go on to provide the US and UK governments with false information that eventually led to their invasion of Iraq in 2003.[34]

On 22 April 1990, the family patriarch Kazem died of a heart attack in Paris.

"He had been in excellent health and on Saturday presided over a meeting of Lebanese deputies living in Paris, the family said. He was found dead by one of his daughters about 4 a.m."[25]

It was only in 2002 that al-Khalil Chalabi returned to Lebanon after 27 years in her Paris exile.[6]

In 2013, al-Khalil Chalabi made international headlines as founder and president of the AIST: it launched an online raffle in association with Sotheby's to fund the Artisans’ village "Les Ateliers de Tyr" at the outskirts of the city. Participants could purchase tickets for 100 Euros to win the 1914 ‘Man with Opera Hat’ painting by Pablo Picasso.[35] The proceeds totaled US$5.26 million. The painting was won by a 25-year-old fire-safety official from Pennsylvania.[36]

In June 2015, al-Khalil Chalabi initiated a conference at the US Library of Congress about ancient Tyre.[37] In February 2016, al-Khalil Chalabi was designated UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador – a celebrity advocate of UNESCO, not diplomatic ambassador – in recognition of her commitment to the "League of Canaanite, Phoenician and Punic Cities", which she founded in 2009. It includes the AIST[1] and al-Khalil Chalabi's Fondation Tyr, which is based in the prestigious Avenue Foch in Paris, one of the most expensive addresses in the world.[38]

In September 2017, al-Khalil opened "Les Ateliers" near Tyre in the middle of an orange orchard of 7,300 square meters.[5][39]

Awards

In 1986, al-Khalil Chalabi was named Knight of the National Order of Merit and Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters of the French Republic. In 1988 the Lebanese President Amine Gemayel named her an officer of the Natural Order of the Cedar.[37][4]

In 2017, she received the Arab Woman of the Year award for achievement in culture.[40]

Works
  • 1998: "Rapports Occident-Orient analysés à travers les récits de voyageurs à Tyr du XVIe au XIXe siècle", Publications de l'Université libanaise, Beyrouth
  • 2008: "Art phénicien: expressions néo-phéniciennes", editions Georges Naef, Geneva.

References
  1. "Maha El-Khalil Chalabi | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  2. De Lafayette, Maximillien (2014). "THE GREATEST LADIES OF ART AND STARS OF THE MIDDLE EAST". Stars Illustrated Magazine. Issue of the Year. Economy Edition: 26. ISBN 9781312417700 – via Google books.
  3. ABI AKL, Yara (29 May 2017). "Maha el-Khalil Chalabi, gardienne du patrimoine". L'Orient-Le Jour (in French). Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  4. "Maha el – Khalil Chalabi ambassador of Good will for Unesco". Prestige Magazine. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  5. Morkos, Nagi (5 July 2019). "Maha el-Khalil : Tyr en plein cœur". Commerce du Levant (in French). Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  6. HENOUD, Carla (6 July 2002). "Femmes...Maha el-Khalil Chalabi, un combat incessant pour Tyr". L'Orient – Le Jour (in French). Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  7. Abisaab, Rula Jurdi; Abisaab, Malek (2017). The Shi'ites of Lebanon: Modernism, Communism, and Hizbullah's Islamists. New York: Syracuse University Press. pp. 9–11, 16–17, 24, 107. ISBN 9780815635093.
  8. Shanahan, Rodger (2005). The Shi'a of Lebanon – The Shi'a of Lebanon Clans, Parties and Clerics (PDF). LONDON • NEW YORK: TAURIS ACADEMIC STUDIES. pp. 42–43, 46, 57, 62–63, 67–69, 77, 79–80, 94, 104, 149. ISBN 9781850437666.
  9. Ajami, Fouad (1986). The Vanished Imam: Musa al Sadr and the Shia of Lebanon. London: I.B.Tauris. pp. 42–45, 85–86. ISBN 9781850430254.
  10. Nir, Omri (2016). Lebanese Shi'ite Leadership, 1920–1970s: Personalities, Alliances, and Feuds. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 56–59, 74. ISBN 978-3319827155.
  11. Firro, Kais (2002). Inventing Lebanon: Nationalism and the State Under the Mandate. London and New York: I. B. Tauris. pp. 159, 166. ISBN 978-1860648571.
  12. Gharbieh, Hussein M. (1996). Political awareness of the Shi'ites in Lebanon: the role of Sayyid 'Abd al-Husain Sharaf al-Din and Sayyid Musa al-Sadr (PDF) (Doctoral). Durham: Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, University of Durham. pp. 121, 127.
  13. Qubain, Fahim Issa (1961). Crisis in Lebanon. Washington D.C.: The Middle East Institute. pp. 64–65. ISBN 978-1258255831.
  14. Attié, Caroline (2004). Struggle in the Levant: Lebanon in the 1950s. London - New York: I.B.Tauris. pp. 155, 158, 162–163. ISBN 978-1860644672.
  15. Bugnion, François; Perret, Françoise (2018). From Budapest to Saigon, 1956–1965 – History of the International Committee of the Red Cross (PDF). Geneva: International Committee of the Red Cross. p. 372. ISBN 978-2-940396-70-2.
  16. Cobban, Helena (1985). The making of modern Lebanon. Boulder: Westview Press. p. 88. ISBN 978-0813303079.
  17. Maalouf, Wahib (2018). Migration and political elite formation: The case of Lebanon. Beirut: LEBANESE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. pp. 39–42.
  18. Barak, Oren (2009). The Lebanese Army: A National Institution in a Divided Society. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 67, 180. ISBN 978-0-7914-9345-8.
  19. ضاهر،, عدنان محسن; غنّام, رياض (2007). المعجم النيابي اللبناني (in Arabic). p. 197. ISBN 9789953008288
  20. Who's Who in Lebanon 2007–2008. Beirut / Munich: Publitec Publications & De Gruyter Saur. 2007. pp. 84, 88. ISBN 978-3-598-07734-0.
  21. "Dr Hassan Abdel Hadi Chalabi Obituary". Khoolood. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  22. "Ahmed Chalabi suffers a heart-attack". The Economist. 3 November 2015. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  23. Filkins, Dexter (5 November 2006). "Where Plan A Left Ahmad Chalabi". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  24. Dekmejian, R. Hrair (1975). Patterns of political leadership: Egypt, Israel, Lebanon. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0873952927.
  25. "Doyen of Lebanon Parliament dies at 89". UPI. 22 April 1990. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  26. Goria, Wade R. (1985). Sovereignty and Leadership in Lebanon, 1943–76. London: Ithaca Press. pp. 90, 179, 222. ISBN 978-0863720314.
  27. Fisk, Robert (2001). Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 115–118, 132. ISBN 978-0-19-280130-2.
  28. "Kazem Khalil, Lebanese Christian Legislator, Dead at 89". AP NEWS. 23 April 1990. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  29. Islamic Fundamentalism and Islamic Radicalism: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, First Session, June 24, July 15, and September 30, 1985. Washington D.C.: United States Congress. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East. 1985. pp. 318–319, 372.
  30. Smit, Ferdinand (2006). The battle for South Lebanon: Radicalisation of Lebanon's Shi'ites 1982–1985 (PDF). Amsterdam: Bulaaq, Uitgeverij. pp. 61–63. ISBN 978-9054600589.
  31. "Preserving Phoenician heritage between Lebanese and Italian cities". UNIFIL. 18 June 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  32. "Petra Bank totally disregarded regulations, witness testifies". Jordan Times. 5 September 1991. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  33. Leigh, David; Whitaker, Brian (14 April 2003). "Financial scandal claims hang over leader in waiting". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  34. Salaheddin, Sinan (3 November 2015). "Ahmed Chalabi: Politician whose claim Iraq had WMD led to invasion". The Independent. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  35. Freifer, Rana (10 December 2013). "$1 million Picasso on auction". BusinessNews.com.lb. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  36. Bishara, Hakim (21 May 2020). "A Son Gifted His Mother a Raffle Ticket, Winning Her a $1.1M Picasso Painting". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  37. "From the Library of Congress in Washington DC". loc.gov. 3 June 2015. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  38. "World Heritage 35 COM" (PDF). UNESCO. 17 June 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  39. Nehmeh, Rafah (12 March 2019). "Celebrating Phoenician Crafts At Les Ateliers De Tyr". Lebanon Traveler. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  40. Marray, Denise (1 December 2017). "Saudi women shine at Arab Women of the Year 2017 – London". www.zawya.com. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
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