Zgharta Zawieh Online Magazine

Sheikh Abou Karam Al-Ehdeni : In the year 1624, the Emir Fakhreddine the Great passed by Ehden on the head of 12000 troups on his way to conquer Tripoli. He was mostly welcome by Sheikh Abou Karam who offered food and water for the troups. The Emir then appointed the Sheikh as governor on the Jebbeh. He remained so 11 years till he was killed by the Ottoman army in Tripoli the year 1635.

Sheikh Youssef Al-Ehdeni : He was called Youssef Abou Gibraiil the son of Gerges Abou-Dib Al-Ehdeni. He was the successor of Sheikh Abou Karam as governor of the Jebbeh from 1635 to 1645.

Sheikh Hanna Abou Dib Al-Ehdeni : The successor of his brother Sheikh Youssef (1945) he was assassinated in Zgharta by Mohammad Al-Aarrak. After his death the Hamadi took the governership of the Jebbeh.

Sheikh Abou Karam (son of Bechara) Al-Ehdeni : He was nominated governor in 1674 by the Wali of Tripoli. He fought the Hamadi during his reign that lasted only 3 years (1677).

In that year the Hamadi gained the governorship of the Jebbeh, they divided the Jebbeh into two "Octa'at": Besharreh and Ehden and from that time differences between the two Maronite towns survived till our days. The Hamadis' took what was called the "baklik" (lands owned by the state) which included whole villages like Miziara, Seb'el, Ser'el, Wata al-Ramat, Kfarfou, Hawka, Ban, Basloukit, Bayader Rachiine… Governorship was regained in 1692 by Sheikh Mikhaiil.

Sheikh Mikhaiil Nahlous Al-Ehdeni : Governor in the year 1692, he threw the Hamadi out of the Jebbeh during his term. He encouraged building churches in the Zawieh and many of them are still present today. He was assassinated in Dennieh by Ibn Al-Chakrani while he was asleep on the 23^rd of October 1704.

That assassination act paved the way back for the Hamadis'. The Hamadi rule was a fair one till 1750 when the young Hamadi rulers began to steal the peasants, to kill local "sheikhs" (the sheikh of Hadshit) and to conspire against the bishop Yoakim Yammine in Ehden.

The "sheikhs" of Ehden and Besharreh met in Ehden and swore to throw the Hamadis' outside the Jebbeh, and this was done finally in the year 1766.

The Karam family left Ehden after the assassination of Mikhaiil son of Nahlous in 1704. They went to Sheikh Taba in Akkar then Francis Karam worked in the French Consulate in Tripoli and so his son Youssef who built a large house in Tripoli. In 1771, Francis and his son Youssef returned to Zgharta because they were no longer under French protection.

In that period a new administrative system was implemented and Ehden with its surroundings became the Okta’at Ehden. This new regime was a pure feodal one. This era marked the rise of the Karam family that ruled for nearly 125 years and that was influenced by the French. The following figures ruled during that period.

Sheikh Gerges Boulos Al-Douayhi : The first governor of the newly Okta’at Ehden in 1757. He took the houses of the Hamadi in the Aabbara in Ehden and moved with his family to live there. He built the church of St. Peter (Mar Boutros), still present today, where he was buried later in 1779.

Sheikh Youssef Boulos Al-Douayhi: Born in August 1753, he became the successor of his fater Sheikh Gerges as governor in the year 1779 when he was 26 years old. He was killed in the battle that took place in Wadi Al-Mihan against the Emir Bashir Al-Shehabi in 1788 but this version was not justified. Sheikh Boutros Karam married one of his two daughters Aadba and inherited the place where he built his palace “the Koubra” in 1827.

Sheikh Youssef Francis Karam: Nominated governor after the death of his cousin in 1788, he remained so till his death in 1806. Sheikh Youssef restored part of Notre Dame of Zgharta churh. He was very influenced by the French.

Sheikh Boutros Karam: Successor to his father in 1806 and married to Aadba the daughter of former Sheikh Youssef Al-Douayhi who died with her newborn son. He married Mariam the daughter of Sheikh Antonios Abi Khattar from Aintourine and they had six children: Mikhaiil Bey Karam, Youssef Bey Karam (the hero as later called), Kattour, Tarrouz, Waedeh and Hawa. He governed for 40 years (1846). As his father he kept good relations with the French. During his reign many famous visitors came to Ehden among whom the French poet A. De Lamartine who stayed 12 days, the son of Louis Philippe king of France who witnessed the marriage of Kattour (Katherine) the daughter of Sheikh Boutros. Came also to Ehden in the summer of 1839, Ibrahim Pacha the son of Mohammed Ali of Egypt and stayed 27 days with 500 of his troops. Youssef Bey Karam the son of Sheikh Boutros was then governor till the end of the Okta'at regime in 1860.

According to the new political regime Mount Lebanon was governed by a Turkish Mutasarref and a Lebanese Administrative Council; and was divided into 2 Ka'em makamiat which in turn were partitioned into Cazas or districts. In 1861 Youssef Bey Karam was nominated at the head of one Ka'em makamiat but he resigned several months later. Youssef Bey (and the people of Zgharta) fought the Ottoman army till his exile in 1867.

After that period the political role and influence of the Karam family began to decline although some figures like Boutros Bey and Salim Bey Karam who was nominated later in 1909 Ka'em Makam (governor) of Batroun and in 1911 Ka'em Makam of Kesrouwan. But a relative to the Karam's family, Amine Bey Torbey took the lead and in 1899 he was elected member of the Administrative Council of Lebanon. He died 15 months later.

The Ottoman authorities gave way to a new class of politicians in order to weaken the influence of the Karam family; and so was the rise of two political families: Frangie and Mawad. After the exile of Youssef Bey, Daoud Bacha nominated Hanna Bey Mawad (1820-1868) "director" of Ehden (1867). He died on year later. Sleiman Bey Frangie (1846-1908) married Mariam the daughter of Hanna Bey Mawad and had two children: Kabalan and Sultana. Sleiman Bey was nominated "director" of Ehden in 1904 and stayed as till he died in 1908. His son Kabalan, born 1872, was his successor till the year 1913. By that time Michel Bey Mawad, born 1874, was nominated in 1909 "director" of Al-Zawieh for 5 years. Michel Bey succeded in assembling all those who were opposed to Kabalan Bey. He was forced to exile in 1916 by the Turks because of his close relation with the French. He returned by the end of World War I and in 1919 he was named Ka'em Makam of Jezzine. in 1921 Ka'em Makam of Koura and Batroun then of Kesrouwan.

A new Lebanon was declared with new political institutions and a House of Representative. Boutros Bechara Karam was nominated member of the Administrative Council (17 members) of "Loubnan Al Kabir" in 1920, he then failed to be elected in the first elections for deputy members held in 1922.

Kabalan Frangie became the first elected deputy from Zgharta in 1929 for a term period of 3 years. In 1934, the young lawyer Hamid Frangie, son of Kabalan, was elected deputy and he was reelected after till the year 1960. Hamid Frangie was an anti-french and a pro "dastouri" which means a pro Bechara El Khoury. In 1937 he was bitterly contested in Zgharta by a pro-french and friend of Emile Edde, Jawad Boulos. The two became deputy members: the first elected and the second nominated. In 1943, the Karam family made a comeback with Youssef Karam this time in a partial election to replace a deceased deputy member.

Meanwhile the Douayhi family came on the political scene with Fouad Douayhi, the young lawyer René Mawad was heading the Mawad family. Jawad Boulos retired from political life and Hamid Frangie rallied to Arabism as a political trend. In the election of 1951, Zgharta had two representatives: H.Frangie and Youssef Karam.

election sessions	Elected
1929 - 1932	Kabalan Frangie
1934 - 1937	Hamid Frangie
1937 - 1939	Hamid Frangie (elected) Jawad Boulos (appointed)
1943 - 1947	Hamid Frangie - Youssef Karam
1947 - 1951	Hamid Frangie - Youssef Karam
1951 - 1953	Hamid Frangie - Youssef Karam
1953 - 1957	Hamid Frangie
1957 - 1960	Hamid Frangie - René Mawad
1960 - 1964	Sleiman Frangie - René Mawad - Youssef Karam
1964 - 1968	Sleiman Frangie - René Mawad - Semaan Douayhi
1968 - 1972	Sleiman Frangie - René Mawad - Semaan Douayhi
1972 - 1991	Tony Frangie (assassinated 1978) - René Mawad (elected president 1990) - Semaan Douayhi (died 1986)
1992 - 1996	Sleiman Tony Frangie - Nayla Mawad - Stephane Douayhi
1996 - 2000	Sleiman Tony Frangie - Nayla Mawad - Stephane Douayhi
2000 - 2005	Sleiman Tony Frangie - Nayla Mawad - Kaysar Mawad

The 1950ies were marked by the election of Camille Chamoun as president of the republic in 1952 and the beginning of the bloody events between the families in Zgharta. Not too much had been written about these events that opposed in the second part of the fifties the Douayhi family to the Frangie and Mawad. The Douayhi were now led by an Antonnine monk father Semaan Douayhi. The year 1957 was full of events (the legislative elections and the bloody incidents in Miziara) and then came 1958 with the revolution against Camille Chamoun. Zgharta endured the bitterness of internal divisions, many were killed.

The sixties marked the beginning of the consensus between the belligerants although some accidents happened. New figures were now present on the political scene: Sleiman Frangie replaced his brother Hamid, Semaan Douayhi was elected deputy in 1964, Rene Mawad was the man of the regime, Simon Boulos at the head of the makari family and Youssef Karam was elected in 1960 for the last time.

In 1970 Sleiman Frangie was elected president of the republic. His son Tony replaced him as a deputy member. The civil war broke in march 1975 and heavy fightings took place around Zgharta. 1978 witnessed the assassination of deputy and former minister Tony Frangie in Ehden with his wife, his daughter and many of his co-citizens. This incident weighed heavily on the Maronite community. The political life was suspended till the end of the civil war in 1990.