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Boutros Harb

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Cheikh Boutros Harb
الشيخ بطرس حرب
Cheikh Boutros Harb in 2018
Member of the parliament of Lebanon
In office
16 April 1972 – 22 May 2018
ConstituencyBatroun
Minister of Telecommunications
In office
15 February 2014 – 18 December 2016
Prime MinisterTammam Salam
Preceded byNicolas Sehnaoui
Succeeded byJamal Jarrah
Personal details
Born (1944-08-03) 3 August 1944 (age 80)
Tannourine, Lebanon
Political partyIndependent

Cheikh Boutros Harb (Arabic: الشيخ بطرس حرب; born 3 August 1944) is a Lebanese politician who served at different cabinet posts including Minister of public works and transportation, Minister of education and Minister of Telecommunications.[1]

Early life and education

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Cheikh Boutros was born into a prominent Maronite family in Tannourine, Lebanon on 3 August 1944.[2][3] He holds a law degree.[3]

Career

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Cheikh Boutros in a press conference, 1988.

A lawyer by profession, Harb first held political office when elected in 1972 as the Maronite deputy for Batroun, in the North Governorate of Lebanon, being appointed public transport minister for labour and minister of the national education and art schools in 1979 in Salim Hoss's government, and remaining minister until 1980.[4] From 1990 to 1992 Harb returned to the education ministry in the cabinet of then Prime Minister Omar Karame.[5]

Harb was credited[by whom?] with helping negotiate the Taef Agreement, which brought the Lebanese civil war to an end by electing a power sharing agreement within the Lebanese Parliament, giving Christians and Muslims equal representation in Parliament by assigning seats to sects.

He was a prominent member of the opposition during the governments of Rafic Hariri; in particular to Nassib Lahoud, Salim Hoss, Omar Karami, Mohammad Youssef Baydoun and Hussein Husseini. He announced his candidacy for the Lebanese Presidency during the 1998 elections but withdrew his nomination the day the polls began. Émile Lahoud was unanimously elected.

After a short period of support for the government of Salim Hoss in 1998, he rejoined the opposition. In 2000, he broke his alliance with Nayla Moawad and Omar Karami, and allied himself at the election booth with Soleiman Franjieh Jr, and the Tripoli Bloc of Mohammad Safadi and Najib Mikati. In the general elections held in 2000, Harb won the seat of Batroun, the second district of north Lebanon.[6]

In 2001, as one of the founding members of the Qornet Shehwan Gathering,[7] he strongly expressed his opposition to the policies of the Hariri government and to Syrian hegemony. In 2004, Harb participated, with Nayla Moawad, Omar Karami, Salim Hoss, Hussein Husseini and Albert Mansour, in the creation of a National Face for Reform. In 2004, he declared himself a nominee for the Presidency of Lebanon, however due to a Syrian-engineered constitutional amendment extending the term of President Émile Lahoud, he was unable to run. He then broke his alliance with Omar Karami who he considered to be too pro-Syrian.

In 2005, after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Harb joined the massive protests and demonstrations against the Syrian occupation of Lebanon and demanded that Syrian troops withdraw immediately. Like many other, he accused the Syrian government of ordering the death of Rafiq Hariri. As a founding member of the 14 March Alliance, he was one of the several candidates to run for the Lebanese Presidency in 2008,[3] but all major parties decided to elect a compromise candidate, Michel Sleiman.

Harb is the lawyer of the Tueni family, and filed a lawsuit against two Syrian officers due to their alleged roles in Gebran Tueni's assassination in December 2005.[8]

Cheikh Boutros Harb is the elected head of the board of directors of the American University of Science and Technology.

Hezbollah controversies

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In 2007, Harb called for the integration of Hezbollah's military arm into the Lebanese Army.[9]

Leaked diplomatic cables indicated that he had told the U.S.' diplomats in Lebanon during the 2006 Lebanon War that an Israeli operation to control Hezbollah's strongholds of Maroun al-Ras and Bint Jbeil could enable a U.S.-brokered ceasefire and that Syria will not be a part of the solution to the crisis. He also said that Hassan Nasrallah cannot be allowed to appear as a hero to the region, despite his rising popularity as a result of a wave of sympathy.[10]

Assassination attempt

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Following an attempt to assassinate fellow March 14 movement member and head of Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea, in early July 2012 Harb escaped an assassinate attempt, which a government official said was "part of a series of assassination attempts" against Lebanese politicians. Harb commented that he had been warned by Lebanese security forces that they had found "bomb detonators in a lift" at his Beirut office.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "About MPT". Republic of Lebanon Ministry of Telecommunications. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Lebanon MP escapes assassination bid: official". AFP. 5 July 2012. Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  3. ^ a b c "Lebanon leading presidential candidates". Lebanon Wire. 23 September 2007. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  4. ^ "Social Protection and Retirement". NNA. Retrieved 24 October 2012.[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ Farid Emile Chedid. "Prominent presidential candidates". Lebanonwire. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  6. ^ "Opposition Candidates Win Elections". APS Diplomat Recorder. 9 September 2000. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
  7. ^ "Qornet Shehwan Gathering" (PDF). Middle East Mirror. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  8. ^ "Tueni family sues Syrian officers implicated in MP's murder". The Daily Star. 10 October 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  9. ^ "Harb: Armed faction of Hezbollah has no future in Lebanon". Ya Libnan. 6 October 2007. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  10. ^ "MP Boutros Harb: Nasrallah cannot become region's Rambo". Al Akhbar. 8 January 2006. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Telecommunications (Lebanon)
2014–2016 		Succeeded by
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