Adonis Diaries

“The Imposter” by Amine Issa

Bernard is 18 years old and son of Francoise Le Fort; he is in Lebanon to investigate the disappearance of his late father, 16 years ago.

Bernard decides to write a book on the father he never knew, from information gathered from his father Eli’s closest friends such as Akef, Michel, Samir, Marianne, Marie, and Xaviere. Thus, Bernard is the imposter.

Elie is a Christian Greek Orthodox born in 1940 from a traditional family and has a younger sister Marie.  They assist mass at the church of St. Nicolas.

Elie’s dad is in wholesale commerce in the Maarad Street in Beirut.  On Sunday’s afternoon, the nanny (called Dada) would take the children to the garden of Sanayeh. The conductor would rent Elie a small bike.  Saturday evening was reserved for the family couples to playing cards and smoking.  The kids were to sit quietly and watch the grown up play. Elie finished Law School at the Jesuit University.

Akef is a Sunni Moslem; his Palestinian dad Ismail lost his trading business as the State of Israel was recognized by the UN in a simple majority of one vote.  Akef’s father lives in Basta Tahta and is now working at Elie’s business as front receptionist; Akef ended up a simple teacher of Arabic literature at public schools and became a member of the Communist Party.

Akef knows all of Beirut side streets and secret quarters and initiates Elie to visiting bordellos in Down-Town Beirut, a special street just  behind the headquarter of the police force.  “The Black Cat” became the favorite bordello for Elie.

Downtown Beirut or Bourj was the turnpike for all the buses and taxis serving Lebanon districts.  Elie and Akef patronized the popular “Republic cafe” by the police headquarter and the “Ghalayini Cafe“.  Akef initiated Elie to appreciating the songs of Um Kalthum at the Farouk Theater and the Jazz music of BB King and Miles Davis.

Michel is born Christian Maronite and his father is a famous lawyer; Michel lived close to Elie’s house and they got acquainted in 1958 as a revolt swept Lebanon and they had to be confined in their domiciles.  Michel also finished Law School at the same university; Marianne is the sister of Michel.

Michel’s ideology leans toward the right-wing Christian parties that are happy with the unwritten consensus among the religious sects for sharing political and administrative powers.

Samir is a Christian Greek Orthodox and renting in a foyer in Beirut as his parents live in North Lebanon.  Samir is a member of the Syria National Social Party (SNSP) that works toward the unification of the Near East States of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan and is a secular party demanding separation of State and religious powers.

Akef also initiates Elie to smoking Hashish and mingling with the poorer population in Beirut. Michel got addicted to hard drugs and became alcoholic.  Samir and Michel are at odds politically; Akef is at odd politically with Samir and Michel.

The four friends met frequently and smoke hashish in front of the Raouchi Rock and in specialized smoking restaurants; they frequented the bars and dancing places in Zeitouni block, the Lido, the Kit-Kat, “Caves du Roy”, the St. George Hotel, and the Royal Imperial Hotel.

In 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal.  He lost militarily against England and French troops but he won hand-down politically when US President Eisenhower ordered the British and France to retreat from Egypt. Gamal Abdel Nasser became the prime leader of the Arab World and the political landscape changed quickly and got in fast motion; he aimed at representing the Arab hopes and capturing the political decisions of the Arab States.

In 1958, the majority of the Moslems in Lebanon supported the dictatorship of Gamal Abdel Nasser and opposed the unconstitutional re-election for a second term to the Presidency of Camille Chamoun. Thus, a small revolt ousted Chamoun and confirmed the legitimacy of Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Akef was with this revolt, although Gamal Abdel Nasser was persecuting the communists in Egypt.  Samir was against the uprising because Gamal Abdel Nasser would not negotiate with any political party that had another alternative Pan Arabic policies of unifying the Arab States. Elie got in love relation with Xaviere who was divorced and frequented the Golf Club of Delhamieh (at 300 meters altitude east of Damour) and patronized by the students of the American University of Beirut.  Xaviere was into painting nature and sun rises.

In the New Year eve of 1961, the SNSP launched a failed coup-d’etat and Elie whisked Samir to the Baalbek in the trunk of his car.  Samir reached Jordan through Syria with the aid of bedwin passers.  Samir got involved in Jordan with the nascent Palestinian resistance of Fateh, led by Yasser Arafat in 1962.  Gamal Abdel Nasser refused Palestinians to establishing their own resistance forces against Israel until he was militarily defeated by Israel in 1967. King of Jordan prohibited Palestinians launching attacks from his borders.  Consequently, Lebanon’s borders became the favorite launching attacks positions since the Lebanese government was weakly centralized, not cohesive, and with a weak army.

Elie was sent by his father to Paris to continue his law specialization in order to save his son any problems with further investigations on how Samir fled the country.  Elie met Francoise and became lovers.  Francoise was born in Algeria and she was 5 years old when her mother died of fever.  Her father was totally broken-hearted and settled in Paris, barely surviving to see his daughter reaching maturity. When her father died, Francoise behaved as if she wanted to be alone for a long while. Elie returned immediately to Lebanon because he wrongly sensed that he was unwanted.

Actually, Francoise was pregnant from Elie but she was confused and was unable to make drastic decisions. While in Paris, Elie was asked to move cash money to a representative of Palestinian resistance in order to purchase arms from communist Czechoslovakia.

Samir returned to Lebanon with Palestinian commandos and participated in several incursions in Israel.  Israel started retaliating on the southern Lebanese to pressure them not to host the Palestinian commandos.  Akef visited with Samir sleeping in a bunker at a Palestinian camp by Tyr.  Michel spent many week-end in the Cedar Mountain where he owned a chalet and invited a dozen of young men and girls for wild parties.

Elie and Michel defended poor Hassan out of prison for smuggling hashish; the mafia didn’t want Hassan out of prison and thus, Elie was assassinated as he was heading to the resort town of Aley to celebrate his first court victory.

In 1969, the Lebanese government, encouraged by Gamal Abdel Nasser, signed an agreement with Palestinian Fateh faction to controlling a region in the Arkoub (sort of self autonomous) for waging commando attacks against Israel.  Things got out of hand since that year and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) became a State within a State but more powerful than the Lebanese government.