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((Lead rewrite|date=October 2016))
((Infobox political party
| country          = Lebanon
| religion         = [[Sunni Islam]]
| colorcode        = ((party color|Najjadeh Party))
| name             = Najjadeh Party
| native_name      = ((lang|ar|حزب النجادة))
| logo             = Najjadeh_Party.jpg
| leader           = [[Moustafa Al-Hakim]]
| chairman         = 
| spokesperson     = 
| foundation       = 1933 (original form)<br>1936 (current form)
| ideology         = [[Pan-Arabism]]<br>[[Arab nationalism]]
| website          = http://www.najjadeh.org
))
((Politics of Lebanon))

The Najjadeh Party (((lang-ar|حزب النجادة|lit=The Rescuers))) is [[Lebanon|Lebanese]] [[political party]] that has been active since the 1930s. Heavily influenced by the Christian dominated [[Kataeb Party|Lebanese Phalanges]], the Naijjadeh Party gains its support primarily from [[Lebanese Sunni Muslims|Lebanese Sunni Muslim]] communities.

==Origins==
Lebanon in the 1930s witnessed the emergence of two paramilitary youth sport organizations of sectarian cast with clear fascist tendencies in [[Beirut]] and other Lebanese cities, the [[Kataeb Party|Lebanese Phalanges]] led by [[Pierre Gemayel]] and the Najjadah.  The latter began its existence in 1933-34 as a [[Sunni Islam in Lebanon|Sunni Muslim]] boy-scouts organization founded and led by [[Muhi al-Din al-Nasuli]], the editor of the influential [[Pan-Arabism|pan-Arabist]] Muslim newspaper ''Bayrut'',<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=MFPVAAAAMAAJ&q=Nasuli Zami, ''Lebanon's quest'' (2000), p. 226]</ref> with the purpose of protecting the Muslim community and to act as a counterweight to the Phalangists.

He often criticized the "moral chaos" in public life and adopted the supremacist motto "Arabism Above All" on his own newspaper's masthead.  Al-Nasuli's ''Bayrut'' also published glowing accounts of German youth's support of Hitler, featuring illustrated articles on girls in the [[League of German Girls|''Bund Deutscher Mädel'']], the female branch of the [[Hitler Youth]].<ref>[http://www.ciaonet.org/book/the01/the01_11.pdf Thompson, ''Colonial citizens'' (2000), p. 193]((dead link|date=March 2018|bot=medic))((cbignore|bot=medic))</ref>  The leader of the anti-British Palestine Arab guerillas in 1936-1939, upon his return from a trip to Germany, was idolized on the ''Bayrut'' pages, with both the information and the editorials being presented by al-Nasuli himself.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=cubUAAAAMAAJ&q=Nasuli ''Palestine affairs'', Vols 1-4 (1946), p. 115]</ref>

Although al-Nasuli promoted the Najjadah as the Muslim equivalent of the Christian-dominated Phalanges,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2PbLcYdLUgsC&pg=PA80 Rabinovich, ''The war for Lebanon'' (1989), p. 80]</ref> and Sunni Muslim students from the schools run by the [[Maqasid Islamic Charitable Association]] provided him a pool of potential recruits, the group initially did not match the dynamism and organizational skills of their rival organizations.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZlRtAAAAMAAJ&q=najjada Longrigg, ''Syria and Lebanon under French mandate'' (1972), p. 359]</ref>  
It did not attract a mass following until 1936 when [[Adnan al-Hakim]], a university teacher and politician, rose to the leadership of the organization and re-organized it into a structured political party, which grew rapidly thereafter.

==Political beliefs==
Often described as the Muslim "twin brother" of the Phalangists, the radical [[conservative]] and [[anti-Communist]] Najjadah also advocated [[Arab nationalism]] – expressed on its manifesto calling for Arab unity, the independence of the Arab world from foreign rule, and an Arab Lebanon – and although it never really worked for it, this did not prevent the party of attracting a very large following within the [[Sunni Islam in Lebanon|Sunni Muslim]] community, especially in [[Beirut]] during the late 1930s and early 1940s.

In ideological terms, the Najjadah adopted early on a [[Pan-Arabism|Pan-Arab]] nationalist line that strived for the suppression of all foreign influences (included that of the ruling colonial power in Lebanon, [[France]]), which deeply contrasted with the [[Kataeb Party|Phalange]]'s own [[Phoenicianism|Phoenicist]] and pro-Western views. The ambivalent relation of such pan-Arab concepts with an ethnic nationalist perspective became apparent in its slogan "Arabism above all" ([[Arabic]]: ''al-uruba fawqa al-jami‘'').<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=iAWBkDAv4TkC&pg=PA54 Nordbruch, ''Nazism in Syria and Lebanon'' (2009)]</ref>

A 1970s report stated that "the Helpers (al-Najjada) [were] Originally a paramilitary organization, this party was advocating pan-Arabism and Muslim-Arab socialism".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VpcqAAAAMAAJ&q=Adnan+al-Hakim ''Political handbook and atlas of the world'' (1970), p. 198]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=FTJGfkzTGoQC&q=najjada ''Political handbook of the world'' (1977), p. 228]</ref>

==History==

===The mandate period: 1936-1943===
Although by the mid-1930s both Najjadah and [[Kataeb Party|Phalange]] Parties ostensibly vied for Lebanon's independence from [[France]], their sectarian base and conflicting ideological/identitarian views over the Country's future ensured that they would become entangled in the bitter political Christian-Muslim disputes. 
The rivalry between these two right-wing movements almost reached serious proportions on November 21, 1936 at Beirut, when a demonstration organized by the Najjadah in support of the Muslim struggle in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]]<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=5hgGZPn1I4YC&pg=PA233 Zamir, ''Lebanon's quest'' (2000), pp. 233-234]</ref> was confronted by Phalangist youth militants.  Its members had marched through the streets and alleyways of the [[Islam in Lebanon|Muslim]] quarters hoisting the Syrian flag and banners with slogans calling for Arab unity, which was apparently taken by the Christian militants as a provocation.  Supporters of the Najjadah – by now a true political party – immediately took on the streets to protect the Muslim districts of [[West Beirut]] and to counter possible Christian paramilitary organizations' attacks on these areas.

The [[World War II]] and the [[Fall of France]] in June 1940, caused an upsurge of nationalistic agitation in Lebanon, mainly carried out by the Najjadah and often in collusion with their Phalangist arch-rivals.  Believing that the time was ripe for action pressuring the weakened French to accept full Lebanese independence, Adnan Al-Hakim and [[Pierre Gemayel]] agreed to put aside temporarily their political differences to form an anti-French united front, which began organizing joint large-scale demonstrations.  
The first one occurred in 1941, when the Najjadah and the Phalangists organized a march at Beirut in protest against the food distribution system established by the [[France|French mandatory authorities]], which degenerated into violence when French troops attempted to disperse the demonstration by force.   
This was later followed in November 1943 by a nationwide strike called by both Parties, which once again resulted in violent street demonstrations broken up by the military,<ref>Gordon, ''The Gemayels'' (1988), p. 25.</ref> and led the French mandatory authorities to enforce a ban on the Najjadah's legal activities until the end of the War, a ban which was supported and encouraged by the Lebanese Phalangists.

=== After independence: 1943-1975 ===

The Najjadah survived underground though, and in the years following the [[France|French]] withdrawal their president even succeeded being elected deputy for [[Beirut]] in the [[Lebanese Parliament]] between 1956 and 1972.  During the [[1958 Lebanon crisis]], the party fielded a trained [[militia]] force of 300 fighters dressed in [[khaki]] [[uniforms]] and equipped with Italian- and [[Czechoslovakian]]-made [[small-arms]] which fought at the side of the anti-government forces, but saw its political influence sharply decline throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. 
According to a Lebanese military intelligence report, by 1975 party membership had decreased to just 500 militants and fielded a poorly-armed militia of only 100 fighters backed by [[Saudi Arabia]], [[Qatar]], [[Kuwait]] and [[Egypt]];<ref>El-Kazen, ''The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon'' (2000), p. 303.</ref> other sources however, still place its numbers as high as 300.<ref>McGowan, Roberts, Abu Khalil, and Scott Mason, ''Lebanon: a country study'' (1989), p. 242.</ref><ref>Collelo, ''Lebanon: a country study'' (1989), p. 242.</ref><ref>Makdisi and Sadaka, ''The Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1990'' (2003), p. 44, Table 1: War Period Militias.</ref>

=== Decline and demise: 1975-1990 ===

Faced with the outbreak of the [[Lebanese Civil War]] in April 1975, the party's small armed force initially cooperated with the [[Lebanese National Movement]] (LNM) – [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO) alliance until the [[Syrian intervention in Lebanon|Syrian military intervention of June 1976]].  The party – still headed by the now-ageing Adnan Al-Hakim – adopted a neutralist, non-confrontational stance by withdrawing from the fighting and reducing its political activities.<ref>Rabinovich, ''The war for Lebanon'' (1989), p. 80.</ref>  Consequently, the Najjadah's leadership refusal to continue to participate in the ongoing civil conflict eroded its already fragile popular support base, causing many of its disenchanted younger militants to abandon the Party to join the LNM militias.

Marginalized during the war years, the Najjadah re-emerged afterwards as a small organization lacking any real political support base, currently led by Adnan's nephew [[Moustafa Al-Hakim]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Adnan_Hakim_Jamal_Abdel_Nasser.jpg|[[Adnan Al-Hakim]] with Jamal Abdel Nasser
Image:Adnan_Hakim_Airport.jpg|Adnan Hakim welcomed at the airport
Image:Najjadeh Board.jpg|Najjadeh Party General Secretary
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of Islamic political parties]]
* [[1958 Lebanon crisis]]
* [[Lebanese Civil War]]
* [[Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Lebanon]] 
* [[Kataeb Party]]
* [[Kataeb Regulatory Forces]]
* [[List of weapons of the Lebanese Civil War]]

==Footnotes==
((reflist))

== References ==
((refbegin|30em))
* Afaf Sabeh McGowan, John Roberts, As'ad Abu Khalil, and Robert Scott Mason, ''Lebanon: a country study'', area handbook series, Headquarters, Department of the Army (DA Pam 550-24), Washington D.C. 1989. - [https://cdn.loc.gov/master/frd/frdcstdy/le/lebanoncountryst00coll/lebanoncountryst00coll.pdf]
* Denise Ammoun, ''Histoire du Liban contemporain: Tome 2 1943-1990'', Fayard, Paris 2005.  ((ISBN|978-2-213-61521-9)) (in [[French language|French]]) – [https://books.google.com/books?id=aGHk5M0CGcoC&pg=PT234]
* [[Edgar O'Ballance]], ''Civil War in Lebanon, 1975-92'', Palgrave Macmillan, London 1998. ((ISBN|0-333-72975-7))
* Elizabeth Thompson, ''Colonial citizens. Republican Rights, Paternal Privilege, and Gender in French Syria and Lebanon'', Columbia University Press, 2000. ((ISBN|978-0231106610))
* Farid El-Kazen, ''The Breakdown of the State in Lebanon 1967-1976'', I.B. Tauris, London 2000. ((ISBN|0-674-08105-6)) – [https://books.google.com/books?id=TQdheeeXQCgC&pg=PA303]
* Gotz Nordbruch, ''Nazism in Syria and Lebanon: The Ambivalence of the German Option, 1933-1945'' (SOAS/Routledge Studies on the Middle East), Routledge 2009. ((ISBN|978-0-415-45714-9))
* [[Itamar Rabinovich]], ''The war for Lebanon, 1970-1985'', Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1989 (revised edition). ((ISBN|978-0-8014-9313-3)), 0-8014-9313-7 – [https://books.google.com/books?id=Af-tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA83]
* Matthew S. Gordon, ''The Gemayels'' (World Leaders Past & Present), Chelsea House Publishers, 1988. ((ISBN|1-55546-834-9))
* Marius Deeb, ''The Lebanese Civil War'', Praeger Publishers Inc., New York 1980. ((ISBN|978-0030397011))
* Meir Zamir, ''Lebanon's quest: the road to statehood, 1926-1939'', I.B. Tauris, London 2000. ((ISBN|978-1-86064-553-2))
* ''Palestine affairs'', Volumes 1-4, American Zionist Emergency Council, Research Dept, 1946.
* ''Political handbook and atlas of the world'', Council on Foreign Relations, Simon & Schuster, New York 1970.
* ''Political handbook of the world: governments, regional issues, and intergovernmental organizations'', McGraw-Hill., 1977.  ((ISBN|978-0-07-003641-3))
*Samir Makdisi and Richard Sadaka, ''The Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1990'', American University of Beirut, Institute of Financial Economics, Lecture and Working Paper Series (2003 No.3), pp.&nbsp;1–53. – [https://web.archive.org/web/20170810005110/http://www.aub.edu.lb/fas/ife/Documents/downloads/series3_2003.pdf]
* Stephen Hemsley Longrigg, ''Syria and Lebanon under French mandate'', Octagon Books, 1972. ((ISBN|978-0-374-95088-0))
*Thomas Collelo (ed.), ''Lebanon: a country study'', Library of Congress, Federal Research Division, Headquarters, Department of the Army (DA Pam 550-24), Washington D.C., December 1987 (Third edition 1989). – [https://cdn.loc.gov/master/frd/frdcstdy/le/lebanoncountryst00coll/lebanoncountryst00coll.pdf]
((refend))

==External links==
*[http://www.najjadeh.org Najjadeh Party official site (in Arabic)].
*[https://histoiredelarmeelibanaise.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/chamussy-rene-chronique-dune-guerre-le-liban-1975-1977-ed-desclee-1978/ Chamussy (René) – Chronique d’une guerre: Le Liban 1975-1977 – éd. Desclée – 1978] (in [[French language|French]])
((Lebanese political parties))
((Authority control))

[[Category:1930s establishments in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Arab nationalism in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Arab nationalist militant groups]]
[[Category:Arab nationalist political parties]]
[[Category:Factions in the Lebanese Civil War]]
[[Category:Fascism in the Arab world]]
[[Category:Paramilitary organisations based in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Nationalist parties in Lebanon]]
[[Category:Pan-Arabist political parties]]
[[Category:Political parties established in the 1930s]]
[[Category:Islamic political parties]]

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