Lebanon – Former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Ahmad al-Hoss passed away yesterday, Sunday, at the age of 95, after a long life that ranged between teaching, politics, and economic positions inside and outside the country.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati mourned, in a statement, the death of Al-Hoss, who “passed away at the most difficult and delicate stage in which Lebanon needs his conscience, his national and Arab sense, his wisdom, his sobriety, and his good management of public affairs,” according to the statement.
Al-Hoss assumed the presidency of the government 5 times, and was a member of parliament for the capital Beirut twice, and announced his withdrawal from political work in 2000.
Al-Hoss was born on December 20, 1929 in the Zkak al-Blat area of Beirut.
His father died when he was a 7-month-old infant, and he lived his childhood with his mother near his grandmother, in a very modest economic situation.
In 1941, during World War II (1939-1945), he was displaced with his family and grandmother from Beirut to the Sofar region in Mount Lebanon, after British forces attacked Lebanon from the south, coming from Palestine, to expel French forces in Lebanon.
Al-Hoss joined the Department of Business Administration at the American University of Beirut, graduating with honors in 1952. During his studies, he worked as an accountant at the Tapline Oil Transport Company, and then as a correspondence editor at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
In 1955, he began teaching accounting courses at the university, and obtained a master’s degree in 1957.
Al-Hoss traveled to the United States the following year to complete his studies at Indiana University, earning a doctorate in economics and business administration in 1961, then returned to Lebanon to teach at the American University.
In 1963, he traveled to Kuwait to take on the task of financial advisor to the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. The head of the fund at that time was Jaber Al-Ahmad, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, and later became the Emir of the country.
In 1967, Al-Hoss assumed the presidency of the first banking control committee in Lebanon, and cooperated with the Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon, Elias Sarkis.
In 1976, Sarkis was elected President of the Lebanese Republic, one year after the outbreak of the civil war (1975-1990).
Presidency of the government
On December 9, 1976, Sarkis assigned Al-Hoss to form a technocratic government, which he formed from 8 ministers, and which was granted exceptional legislative powers by the House of Representatives.
The first legislative decree issued by the Council of Ministers, headed by Al-Hoss, was a decree to create a system for censoring newspapers.
In 1978, Al-Hoss resigned to make way for President Sarkis to form another government, but after consultations with the representatives, Sarkis returned and named Al-Hoss to form the government.
Al-Hoss held consultations with the representatives and the conflicting forces, but faced difficulty in forming the government, and he reversed the resignation of the first government during Sarkis’ era, and resumed its activity.
In 1979, Al-Hoss reached an understanding with Sarkis to resign, in preparation for the establishment of a government of politicians, but also after consultations with the House of Representatives, Sarkis returned to assign Al-Hoss to form the government.
– Hoss’s resignation
Al-Hoss resigned from the presidency of the government in 1980, and documented the details of his experience in government, alongside President Sarkis, in a book entitled “A Time of Hope and Disappointment.”
In 1982, Israel invaded the Lebanese interior, reaching Beirut, after invading the south in 1978, and Al-Hoss resided in Beirut throughout the siege.
The parties to the Lebanese conflict held two conferences in Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland, and in 1984 the participants agreed to form a national unity government. Rashid Karami was tasked with forming it, and Al-Hoss assumed the education and labor portfolios in the government.
Assassination attempt
On the first day of Eid al-Adha in 1984, Al-Hoss was subjected to an assassination attempt when a car was blown up near him while he was heading to the home of the Mufti, Sheikh Hassan Khaled, to take him to the Eid prayer.
No serious investigation was conducted into the incident.
Then Karami was assassinated, while he was on his way to the city of Tripoli (northern Lebanon) in early June 1987.
Islamic leaders held a meeting at Dar Al-Fatwa and agreed that Al-Hoss would assume the presidency of the government. A decree was issued by the presidency of the republic appointing Al-Hoss as acting prime minister.
Taif Agreement
In early 1989, a contact took place between Parliament Speaker Hussein al-Husseini and al-Hoss, and they agreed to develop a joint vision to resolve the Lebanese political crisis.
Indeed, successive meetings were held, and a vision was developed that included much of what came later in the Taif Agreement to end the civil war, including granting executive authority to the Council of Ministers after it had been entrusted to the President of the Republic.
Fourth government
In November 1989, the Lebanese president elected in the same year, Rene Moawad, was assassinated by a car bombing, and the House of Representatives rushed to elect Elias Hrawi as president of the republic.
Without consultation, Al-Hrawi assigned Al-Hoss to form the first government during his term, and he remained its prime minister until he left power in 1991.
Parliamentary elections
In 1992, Al-Hoss ran for parliamentary elections in Beirut, heading the “Salvation and Change” list, and won the elections, transforming the list into an opposition parliamentary bloc.
But in the 1996 elections, Al-Hoss’s list failed to confront the “Beirut Decision” list, led by then-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Al-Hoss only won his seat in parliament and a seat for his ally, former MP Mohammad Youssef Baydoun, so he moved to the opposition and began his political conflict with Hariri.
– The fifth government
In 1998, after the election of Emile Lahoud as President of the Republic, he held consultations after which he tasked Hariri with forming the government.
But a problem occurred between Hariri and Lahoud, so Hariri apologized, and Lahoud held consultations that ended with assigning Al-Hoss to form the government.
In 2000, Al-Hoss lost the elections, and his list did not win any parliamentary seat against Hariri’s list, so he announced his retirement from political work.
Later, and during a quarter of a century, Lebanon went through and is still going through difficult stages at home and abroad, while Al-Hoss disappeared from the spotlight of politics, until the departure on Sunday of the one whom many like to describe as “the wise man.”
Anatolia
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2024-08-27 12:30:17
