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Elias Rababi (1913–1999) was a Lebanese journalist and politician who served as the general secretary of the Kataeb Party. He was also Lebanese ambassador to Germany and Argentina. His other significant post was the editor-in-chief of the Kataeb Party's newspaper, Al Amal.

Biography

Born in 1913 Rababi was a Maronite and a member of the Kataeb Party. Following the establishment of the party in 1936 he was appointed its regional director and actively involved in the recruitment activities. He was the candidate of the party in the by-election on 4 May 1945 in Mount Lebanon. However, not Rababi but Philippe Takla won the seat. The party's newspapers, Al Amal and Action, were also edited by him for a long time, and Rababi headed the propaganda and press department of the party. He also was a columnist for the An-Nahar newspaper in the 1980s.

Rababi was one of the persons who developed early connections between the Israeli officials and the Kataeb Party in the period 1948–1951. In the 1950 meeting they discussed the financial assistance of Israel to the party concerning the preparations for the next general elections. Rababi also organized a meeting between Pierre Gemayel, Kataeb leader, and Yehoshua Palmon, an Israeli diplomat, in Switzerland in 1950. These contacts were first uncovered by an Israeli journalist and historian, Benny Morris, who wrote for The Jerusalem Post in 1983.

Rababi was the ambassador of Lebanon to Germany between 9 October 1959 and 1 October 1962. Then he served as the ambassador of Lebanon to Argentina until February 1966.

Rababi died in December 1999.

References

1. ^ Eyal Zisser (October 1995). "The Maronites, Lebanon and the State of Israel: Early Contacts". Middle Eastern Studies. 31 (4): 911. JSTOR 4283765.
2. Dylan Baun (2017). "Lebanon's Youth Clubs and the 1936 Summer Olympics: Mobilizing Sports, Challenging Imperialism and Launching a National Project". International Journal of the History of Sport. 34 (13): 1357. doi:10.1080/09523367.2017.1388230. S2CID 149273637.
3. ^ John P. Entelis (October 1973). "Party Transformation in Lebanon: Al-Kata'ib as a Case Study". Middle Eastern Studies. 9 (3): 329. JSTOR 4282494.
4. Carl C. Yonker (2021). The Rise and Fall of Greater Syria: A Political History of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter. p. 102. ISBN 978-3-11-072914-6.
5. Richard Hans Laursen (1951). The Katàib: A Comprehensive Study of a Lebanese Political Party (MA thesis). American University of Beirut. p. 66. ProQuest 2320987156.
6. John Kifner (18 September 1984). "Lebanese leaders meet on disputes". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
7. ^ Avi Shlaim (2015). "Israeli Interference in Internal Arab Politics: the Case of Lebanon". In Giacomo Luciani; Ghassan Salamé (eds.). The Politics of Arab Integration (2nd ed.). New York: Taylor & Francis. pp. 236–237. ISBN 978-1-317-41119-2.
8. Kirsten E. Schulze (2016). Israel's Covert Diplomacy in Lebanon. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-230-37247-4.
9. David K. Shipler (3 July 1983). "'48 Israeli Tie to Phalangists Revealed". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
10. "Lebanese Ambassadors who served in Germany". Lebanese Embassy in Berlin. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021.
11. "Remaniement Ministériel et Mouvement Diplomatique au Liban". Le Monde (in French). Beirut. Reuters; A.F.P. 2 February 1966. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
12. Elie Meouchi (19 September 2019). "لنتذكّر عميد الكتائب الياس ربابي…آخر العمالقة في الخطابة والصحافة والأدب". Aleph Lam (in Arabic). Retrieved 25 January 2022.

• 20th-century Lebanese diplomats
• 20th-century Lebanese journalists
• 1913 births
• 1999 deaths
• Lebanese Maronites
• Kataeb Party politicians
• Ambassadors of Lebanon to West Germany
• Ambassadors of Lebanon to Argentina
• Lebanese columnists