Marjayoun or Jdeidet Marjayoun (:
Lebanese pronunciation ), also Marj 'Ayoun, Marjuyun or Marjeyoun (lit. "meadow of springs") which reflects the area's lush landscape and abundant water resources and Jdeideh / Jdeida / Jdeidet Marjeyoun, is a municipality, in the
Marjeyoun District,
Nabatieh Governorate in
Southern Lebanon.
History
Crusader period
On June 10, 1179, during the
Battle of Marj Ayyun, the
Ayyubids defeated the
Crusaders. The Crusader king narrowly escaped capture.
Ottoman period
In 1596, 'Jadida' appears in the
daftar of
Ottoman ''
nahiya'' (subdistrict) of
Tibnin
Tibnin ( ''Tibnīn'', also Romanized ''Tibnîn'', ''Tebnine'' etc.) is a municipality spread across several hills (ranging in altitude from 700m to 800m (2,275 ft to 2,600 ft) above sea level) located about east of Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre ...
in the ''
liwa''' (district) of
Safad, as a Muslim village of 28 households and 12 bachelors. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, such as
wheat
Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
,
barley
Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...
, olive trees, vineyards, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 9,606
akçe.
[Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 182]
In 1875
Victor Guérin visited Marjayoun (which he called ''Djedeideh''), and found 2,000 inhabitants, mostly "
Schismatic Greek" (i.e.
Melkite Uniats), but also some
Greek Orthodox and Muslims.
Saint Peter
Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...
's Cathedral, built in 1892, was restored in 1968 after a fire. It was also later restored in 2009.
20th–21st centuries
During the
Syria-Lebanon Campaign of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, British and Australian forces advancing from
Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
entered the town on 11 June 1941, but were forced to withdraw on 15 June following a
Vichy French counterattack. The
Allies recaptured the town on 24 June in the
Battle of Merdjayoun.
Marjayoun was the headquarters of the
South Lebanon Army, the militia that controlled southern Lebanon during Israel's occupation of the region after the
1982 Lebanon War until its withdrawal from the region in 2000. Following the pullout, many residents of Marjayoun fled to Israel, fearing accusations of collaboration.
On August 10, 2006, after the breakdown of ceasefire negotiations in the
2006 Lebanon War
The 2006 Lebanon War was a 34-day armed conflict in Lebanon, fought between Hezbollah and Israel. The war started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, thoug ...
, Israeli forces took control of Marjayoun. The next day, a convoy of 3,000 people fled from the town. The convoy was attacked by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) northeast of
Hasbaya en route to
Kefraya, in the south of the
Bekaa valley. The bombing killed at least seven people, and is known as the
Marjayoun convoy incident.
Geography
Marjayoun is above sea level, standing on the west side of the
Jordan Rift Valley just across from the ancient regional capital,
Caesarea Philippi, which was located at the foot of
Mount Hermon on the east side of the Rift Valley.
Marjeyoun stands on a hill facing Mt Hermon to the east, the
Crusader castle of
Beaufort, set above the
Litani River and overlooking
Mount Amel (Jabal Amel), to the west, the
Mount Lebanon range with the Rihan and Niha peaks to the north, with the fertile Marjeyoun plains extending southward into the
Galilee plains and the
Golan Heights.
Demographics
In 2014
Christians
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
made up 74.36% and
Muslims
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
made up 25.36% of registered voters in Marjayoun. 39.05% of the voters were
Greek Orthodox, 18.98% were
Greek Catholics and 19.69% were
Sunni Muslims.
The town of Marjayoun has a Christian majority population of about 5,000 people.
Greek Orthodox Christians compose the vast majority of the town's population, however, there are also
Maronite
Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...
and
Greek Catholic Christians living in Marjayoun. Many Marjayouni Christian families trace their roots to the
Hauran region, in present day
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. Outside the town, most villages in the surrounding valleys and mountains are predominantly
Shia Muslim.
The Melkite
Saint Peter
Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...
's Cathedral was built in 1892 and restored in 1968 after a fire and in 2009. Marjayoun is the seat of the
Melkite (Greek Catholic) Archeparchy of Baniyas, which includes the southeastern part of Lebanon.
Parliamentary representation
The
district of Marjayoun, which includes the town, is largely
Shia Muslim
Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...
. It holds three seats in the Lebanese government, two belonging to Shia Muslims and one belonging to
Greek Orthodox Christians.
Hospital
Marjayoun is home to a regional government hospital founded in 1960, and a
Lebanese Red Cross First Aid Center. This government hospital was closed due to
Israeli attacks to Lebanon in October 2024 and killed and injured number of hospital staff.
Marjayoun Airfield
An abandoned airfield is located south of Metula. Ruins of buildings and outline of the runways and taxiway are all that remains.
In a strategic triangle linking Lebanon with Israel and Syria are located the ruins of "Marjayoun Airport" or what is known as "Al-Marj Airport" or "English Airport". The green color of the Marjayoun Plain is only disturbed by forgotten walls from the days of World War II, their hard stones separating the fertile agricultural lands of the Marjayoun Plain. During the Second World War, the region of the Marjayoun Plain formed an arena of confrontation between the allies on one side and the German army on the other, so the allies had to fortify themselves, specifically in the Marjayoun Plain, which was a defensive area or a back line of confrontations if Egypt fell into the hands of the German army, or if the German Army managed to advance into Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.
Notable people
*
Michael DeBakey (1908–2008) – cardiac surgeon, whose parents are from Marjeyoun
*
Richard Rashid — founder of
Microsoft Research
Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technologi ...
, father from Marjeyoun.
*
Brigitte Gabriel – journalist, author and lecturer
*
Walid Gholmieh – director of the ''
Le Conservatoire libanais national supérieur de musique''; born in Marjeyoun
*Major
Saad Haddad – founder and head of the
South Lebanon Army (SLA) during the
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon.
The religious diversity of the ...
*
James Jabara – Lebanese-American U.S. Air Force Major, the first jet ace of the Korean war, flew missions in WW II and Vietnam; born in 1923 in
Muskogee, Oklahoma, both his father, John Jabara, and mother being immigrants from Marjeyoun
*
Dr. Richard Jabara, born in Marjeyoun (1920–1967), philanthropist, founded several hospitals from Tripoli in Lebanon to Saudi Arabia
His contributions had a lasting impact on healthcare in the region.
*
George Jordac (1931–2014) – author and poet.
*
Alfred Naifeh, born 1915 in Covington, Tennessee, to a Lebanese immigrant family from Jdeidet Marjeyoun; U.S. naval destroyer
USS Naifeh is named after him
*
Issam Mahfouz (1939–2006) – writer, journalist
*
Anthony Shadid – journalist
*
Michael Shadid – physician, born in Marjeyoun
*
Hicham Haddad – comedian, actor and TV host
Climate
See also
*
Antiochian Greek Christians
*
Arab Christians
*
Christianity in Lebanon
Christianity has a long and continuous history in Lebanon. Biblical scriptures show that Saint Peter, Peter and Paul the Apostle, Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, leading to the dawn of the ancient Patriarch of Antioch, Patriarchate of Antioc ...
*
Greek genocide
*
Greek Orthodox (Roum Orthodox) Christians in Lebanon
*
History of Arab Christians
*
History of Eastern Christianity
*
History of the Eastern Orthodox Church under the Ottoman Empire
*
Lebanese Americans
*
Persecution of Eastern Orthodox Christians
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Marjaayoun Localiban
Marjeyoun Heritage Preservation Program (MHPP)marjeyoun.net - unofficial websiteInformation about Marjayoun, Lebanonat marjayoun.com
Khiam official website"Jdeideh Marjeyoun Now & Then" video(MHPP)
Marjayoun on Google Map
Photo galleries
Baladiyat Marjeyoun photo gallery(MHPP) Marjeyoun Photo and video gallery
Videos
(MHPP) Jdeidet Marjeyoun 1,000 Year History (English Version)Tour of Jdeidet Marjeyoun, Lebanon(MHPP) Road Trip To Jdeidet MarjeyounEaster 2014 in Jdeidet Marjeyoun(MHPP) Jdeida Lives Now and Then
{{Marjeyoun District
Populated places in the Israeli security zone 1985–2000
Israeli–Lebanese conflict
Populated places in Marjayoun District
Eastern Orthodox Christian communities in Lebanon
Melkite Christian communities in Lebanon
Sunni Muslim communities in Lebanon