Hafez Cabinet

Cabinet of Lebanon
Prime Minister Amin Hafez
Date formed25 April 1973 (1973-04-25)
Date dissolved18 June 1973 (1973-06-18)
People and organisations
Head of stateSuleiman Frangieh
Head of governmentAmin Hafez
Deputy head of governmentGouad Ghosn
No. of ministers17
Ministers removed11
History
PredecessorSixth Cabinet of Saeb Salam
SuccessorCabinet of Takieddin Solh

The cabinet led by Prime Minister Amin Hafez was one of the short-lived cabinets of Lebanon. It was inaugurated on 25 April 1973, succeeding the cabinet led by Saeb Salam who resigned on 10 April 1973.[1] The tenure of the Hafez cabinet ended on 18 June 1973 following the Parliament's motion of no confidence.

Overview

Prime Minister Saeb Salam and his cabinet resigned on 10 April 1973 when the Mossad agents attacked the headquarters of Palestinians in Beirut and killed three Palestinians who were leading members of the Fatah.[2][3] Upon this incident due to pressures from the Sunni community Salam requested the dismissal of the commander of the Lebanese army, Iskandar Ghanem, which was not accepted by the President Suleiman Frangieh.[2][3] Because Ghanem was a close ally of Frangieh and a Maronite.[3]

Frangieh first asked Rashid Karami and then Abdallah Yafi to establish a new cabinet, but both declined his proposal.[2] Then he asked Amin Hafez to form the cabinet, and he was given the task on 18 April 1973.[4] Hafez was an academic and did not hold any cabinet post, but had been a member of the Lebanese Parliament since 1960 representing Tripoli.[4] At the Parliament he was part of the group headed by Rashid Karami.[4] Hafez had good relations with other political leaders such as Kamal Jumblatt, Kamel Asaad and the outgoing Prime Minister Saeb Salem who supported his appointment.[2] In fact, it was Kamal Jumblatt who proposed his premiership to Suleiman Frangieh.[5] However, just before the announcement of the cabinet members the violence between the Lebanese army and the Palestine Liberation Army intensified due to the Israeli attack mentioned above.[2] Because of these tensions the leading supporters of Hafez demanded his resignation to reduce the capacity of President Frangieh to attack against Palestinians.[2] Hafez did not approve their request stating that as a prime minister he could diminish these attacks.[2]

Cabinet members

The cabinet was composed of 17 members which were announced on 25 April.[6] Only six members were newcomers, and the others served in the previous cabinet.[1] Their distribution based on the sectarian affiliation was as follows: Armenian Orthodox (1); Druze (1); Greek Catholic (2); Greek Orthodox (2); Maronite (4); Shiite (3) and Sunni (4).[6]

List of ministers

The cabinet was made up of the following members:[6]

PortfolioMinisterTook officeLeft officeParty
Prime Minister25 April 197318 June 1973 Independent
Deputy Prime Minister
Fouad Ghosn
25 April 197318 June 1973 Marada Movement
Minister of Finance25 April 197318 June 1973 Independent
Minister of Interior
Bashir Al Awar
25 April 197318 June 1973 Independent
Minister of Justice25 April 197318 June 1973 National Liberal Party
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants25 April 197318 June 1973 Independent
Minister of National Defense
Fouad Ghosn
25 April 197318 June 1973 Marada Movement
Minister of Housing and Cooperatives25 April 197318 June 1973 Independent
Minister of National Education and Fine Arts25 April 197318 June 1973 Kataeb Party
Minister of Information and Public Health
Amin Hafez
25 April 197318 June 1973 Independent
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
Emile Rouhana Sakr
25 April 197318 June 1973 Independent
Minister of Industry and Petroleum
Zakariya Nsouli
25 April 197318 June 1973 Independent
Minister of Agriculture
Fahmi Chahine
25 April 197318 June 1973 Independent
Minister of Economy and Commerce25 April 197318 June 1973 Independent
Minister of Electrical and Hydraulic Resources25 April 197318 June 1973 Popular Bloc
Minister of Public Works and Transportation
Najib Alameddine
25 April 197318 June 1973 Independent
Minister of Post, Telegraph and Telephone25 April 197318 June 1973 Marada Movement
Minister of Tourism
Ali Al Khalil
25 April 197318 June 1973 Independent
Minister of General Planning25 April 197318 June 1973 Armenian Revolutionary Federation

Motion of no confidence

On 12 June 1973 the Parliament met for the voting of confidence session.[6] At least 51 members of the Parliament should vote in favor of the cabinet, but 32 members boycotted the voting session and four members did not attend it due to several reasons.[6] Interestingly, two members of the cabinet, Bahij Tabbara and Zakariya Nsouli, did also not attend the session.[6] Next day they submitted their resignations to the President.[7] Takieddine Al Solh was designated to form a new cabinet on 18 July 1973.[2][6]

References

  1. 1 2 "Tried to stave off Lebanon's civil war". The National. 25 July 2009. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Dan Nour (2013). "The Quest for a Balance of Power in Lebanon during Suleiman Frangieh's Presidency, 1970–76". Middle Eastern Studies. 46 (4): 992–994. doi:10.1080/00263206.2013.849697. S2CID 153423927.
  3. 1 2 3 Meir Zamir (January 1990). "The Lebanese Presidential Elections of 1970 and Their Impact on the Civil War of 1975- 1976". Middle Eastern Studies. 16 (1): 64. doi:10.1080/00263208008700424.
  4. 1 2 3 "Lebanon: New Prime Minister Designate Dr. Amin Al Hafez Talks To Newsmen". British Pathe. Reuters. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  5. ↑ James R. Stocker (2016). Spheres of Intervention: US Foreign Policy and the Collapse of Lebanon, 1967–1976. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. p. 105. ISBN 9781501704154.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The Government of Amin Al-Hafez: Confidence Session Not Convened". The Monthly. 9 April 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  7. ↑ Farid El Khazen (2020). The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon, 1967–1976. London; New York: I.B. Taurus. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-7556-1816-3.
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