The National Bloc is a centre-right secular political party in Lebanon that was founded in 1943 as a parliamentary bloc for the 1943 Lebanese elections by Émile Eddé but was later formed as a political party in 1946.
History
The Lebanese National Bloc party is a social liberal, democratic and secular party based on the principles of the Human Rights Charter. The party endeavors to strengthen Lebanon's entity, preserve its sovereignty and independence along with its distinctive role in the neighboring countries and the whole world. It also seeks to lay the foundations and promote the rule of law, social justice, public and private freedoms, and the well-being of the country's citizens.
The party was founded by Émile Eddé in 1946. Following his death, his son, Raymond Eddé, was elected as his successor in 1949. The party represented the main political force in Lebanon in the 1940s and 1950s along with the "Constitutional Bloc" led by President Bechara El Khoury.
The bloc had great achievements at all levels, in particular at the legislative and sovereign levels: before the foundation of the party, President Émile Eddé refused the establishment of the Israel on July 25, 1944, and at the proposal of MP George Akl, the bloc urged the parliament to take a historical decision to "reject and denounce any attempt to establish a Zionist national homeland in Palestine ...".
One of the most prominent legislation that stuck to the name of the bloc is the Civil Marriage Draft Law of 1953, the Illicit Enrichment Law of 1953, and the Bank Secrecy Act of 1956. In 1958, the party refused to be involved in the civil conflict between the Lebanese people. Subsequently, it stood firmly against the military intervention in politics, and strongly opposed the Cairo Agreement reached on November 3, 1969, thus rejecting the establishment of a State within a State and the launching of the Palestinian armed struggle in southern Lebanon ..., knowing that its support for the just Palestinian cause in the land of Palestine remained unabated based on the Palestinian people's right to regain their land.
On February 12, 1976, the National Bloc refused to participate in the Lebanese war, and Raymond Eddé made this announcement during a press conference. He also strongly opposed the entry of Syrian military forces into the Lebanese territories. He firmly stood against the Israeli invasion in March 1978 and 1982 and contributed to holding contacts and mobilizing the international public opinion until the UN Security Council issued the two resolutions 425 and 426. Throughout the Israeli occupation period, the party had been a supporter of the national resistance actions in southern Lebanon as it is a right guaranteed by the laws.
The party declined to take part in the Taif Agreement on several grounds relating to the form and content, all affecting Lebanon's sovereignty. It also opposed all agreements between Lebanon and Syria subsequent to the Taif Agreement given the lack of balance between the two countries1. The party then abstained from participating in the parliamentary elections that were held amid the presence of the Israeli occupation in the south and the Syrian forces in all other Lebanese regions.
Following the death of President Raymond Eddé on May 10, 2000, Carlos Eddé was elected as the party's leader. He held on the same approach of his predecessor that backs sovereignty, refusing at first to run in the parliamentary elections while standing up to everything that compromises Lebanon's independence and sovereignty, especially the presence of Syrian forces on its soil, as well as the possession by the Lebanese and Palestinians of any weapons other than the solely legal ones, especially after the liberation of the south. In 2005, the party submitted two draft laws, the first being economic and the other one electoral based on the individual constituency. In 2019, after a period of waiting, the party re-launched its activity and introduced a major change to its system: the post of leader was abolished and the political inheritance in it ended definitely in an advanced and unprecedented move in the history of the Lebanese political work. Moreover, a new Executive Committee to which all of the leader's powers have been transferred was elected; it takes its decisions through consultation and with the majority of votes. This committee, in turn, elected the party's Secretary-General, Pierre Issa, who presides over it. The post of party's president was also created; the president shall be elected on the basis of rotation for a one-year period from among the members of the Executive Committee, and shall have a supervisory role over the party's work, steering it clear of deviation from the principles and foundations in all its cadres. A Senate of party veterans was also established as an advisory body that seeks to have the work carried out in accordance with the party's principles and constants. In addition, six lines of action and a general program have been developed based on new foundations, the main slogan of which is "a prosperous, green and just Lebanon".
In 2019, the party launched a campaign fighting extreme poverty in Lebanon. The party also made statements regarding the October 17 revolution.
Party leadership
Émile Eddé
Émile Ibrahim Eddé was born in Damascus on May 24, 1884. He received his law degree with distinction from Aix-en-Provence University. He served his apprenticeship as a trainee lawyer at Professor Nicolas Chouchani's office and later established a law firm. He is a co-founder of the Lebanese Beirut Association that had been calling for the return of Lebanon's borders to their initial condition – prior to the Protocol of 1861 – as per the map laid down by the French military mission in 1861. In 1913, Eddé resorted to Alexandria with many intellectuals in the Levant as a result of persecution by the Turks. An arrest warrant had been issued against him and he was sentenced to death in absentia due to his political activity and for being the lawyer of the French consulate in Beirut.
He was elected as a member of the first Lebanese delegation to the Paris Peace Conference that was formed on October 9, 1918, and was also appointed to the third Lebanese delegation formed in January 1920 under the chairmanship of Bishop Abdullah Khoury. The workmanship he demonstrated enabled him to make historical achievements on the level of the Lebanese national entity. Eddé urged the board of directors in Mount Lebanon – on the eve of the second delegation's departure, headed by Patriarch Elias Hoayek – to issue a decision demanding the recovery of territories taken from Lebanon. Émile Eddé signed memoranda and petitions in the framework of his activity within the third delegation, and faced the French current calling for Syrian federalism after the Faisal - Clemenceau agreement and the Zionists’ demands in a meeting attended by the third delegation under the chairmanship of Archbishop Abdullah Khoury and Weizmann, saying that Zionism aims to annex southern Lebanon up to the Litani to Palestine, which is rejected by the Lebanese people.
Emile Eddé was elected President of the Lebanese Republic in 1936 and signed during his term the Franco-Lebanese Treaty which provides for granting Lebanon its independence 5 years after ratifying the same. Nonetheless, the French government refused to ratify it thereafter.
He also developed during his presidential term the currently prevailing practice of nominating a Muslim Sunni as Lebanese Prime Minister.
He ran in the elections of 1943 against the list of Sheikh Bechara El Khoury, and issued an electoral statement on August 9, 1943, which became as a program for the Lebanese National Bloc. It was summarized in several points, chief among which are Lebanon's full democratic independence, Lebanon's attachment to the United Nations’ cause (which will replace the League of Nations), closer friendly ties with fraternal countries on the basis of mutual respect and full sovereignty, respect for all religions, equality between the Lebanese in terms of civil and political rights, equitable representation in public office based on competency, reform of the State's public administration, dissemination and mainstreaming of education, development of agriculture, industry and trade, safeguarding the Lebanese expatriates’ interests, bringing together all the Lebanese regardless of their different sects in a united nation – the Lebanese homeland. During that period, incidents succeeded each other and dangers exacerbated, rendering it necessary for Émile Eddé to establish a party that takes charge of defending Lebanon and conveying his ideas. Therefore, three deputies from his bloc: Amin Al Saad, Asaad Al Bustani and George Akl filed, on May 15, 1946, an application in order to be duly provided with a statement of notification from the Minister of Interior, and on the same day, they received the Minister of Interior's approval under No. 7582. Hence, the Lebanese National Bloc party was officially founded and was based on a program and an internal system. After that, Kesrouan El Khazen was elected President of the Party.
In 1949, Raymond Eddé was elected leader of the Party following the death of his father, Emile Eddé, and he remained in office until he died in 2000.
Raymond Eddé
Raymond Eddé was born in Alexandria on March 15, 1913. He received his elementary and secondary studies at the Jesuit Fathers School in Alexandria and grew up in his uncles’ house in Egypt. He returned to Lebanon in 1931, then enrolled in Saint Joseph University in Beirut, and graduated with a law degree in 1934. He served his apprenticeship as a trainee lawyer at his father's office until 1936, and practiced law at the same office after his father was elected President of the Republic.
He was elected Member of Parliament for the first time in 1953 for "the country of" Byblos, and was re-elected in 1957 and 1960. He did not make it in the 1964 elections but won in the 1965 Byblos by-elections as the seat became vacant following Dr. Antoine Said's death. He was elected again in 1968.
In 1958, Raymond Eddé did not only refuse to be involved in the civil conflict that flared up between the Lebanese people, but contributed to eliminating the effects that ensued and restoring security and order in his capacity as Minister of Interior, Labor, Social Affairs, Agriculture and Public Works under President Fuad Chehab's rule. It was the first time he entered the cabinet. Afterwards, and during that period, the party stood firmly against the military intervention in politics and strongly opposed the Cairo Agreement reached on November 3, 1969, thus rejecting the establishment of a State within a State as this agreement allowed for the launching of the Palestinian armed struggle in southern Lebanon in order to wage operations against Israel without an absolute Arab contribution or participation, knowing that its support for the Palestinian cause in the land of Palestine remained unabated even before the establishment of the Israel, as well as its support for their right to regain their land through all means, except for the ones that compromise Lebanon's sovereignty.