Marwan Hamadeh

{{Short description|Lebanese journalist and politician (born 1939)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = Marwan Hamadeh award (cropped 2).jpg

| imagesize = 250px

| caption = Hamadeh in 2018

| office1 = Minister of Education and Higher Education

| primeminister1 = Saad Hariri

| predecessor1 = Elias Bou Saab

| successor1 = Akram Chehayeb

| term_start1 = 18 December 2016

| term_end1 = 31 January 2019

| office4 = Minister for the Displaced

| primeminister4 = Rafik Hariri

| predecessor4 =

| successor4 =

| term_start4 = October 2000

| term_end4 = 2003

| office3 = Minister of Economy and Trade

| primeminister3 = Rafik Hariri

| predecessor3 = Bassel Fleihan

| successor3 = {{ubl|Fouad Siniora (acting)|Adnan Kassar}}

| term_start3 = 2003

| term_end3 = September 2004

| office2 = Minister of Telecommunications

| primeminister2 = Fouad Siniora

| predecessor2 = Alan Tabourian

| successor2 = Gebran Bassil

| term_start2 = 19 July 2005

| term_end2 = 11 July 2008

| birth_name = Marwan Mohammad Ali Hamadeh

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1939|9|11|df=y}}

| birth_place = Baakleen, Lebanon

| death_date =

| death_place =

| restingplace =

| party = Progressive Socialist Party

| alma_mater = Saint Joseph University

| spouse = Vanda Barakat

| nationality = Lebanese

| children = 2

| relatives = {{ubl|Nadia Tueni (sister)| Ali Hamade (brother)|Gebran Tueni (nephew)}}

}}

Marwan Hamadeh ({{langx|ar|مروان حمادة}}; born 11 September 1939) is a Lebanese journalist and politician, who served in various capacities in different cabinets, including minister of education, minister of telecommunications, minister of economy and trade, minister of tourism, minister of health and minister for the displaced.{{cite news|title=Syria Has Not Complied With Troop Demand on Lebanon, Annan Says

|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/01/international/01CND-NATIONS.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=1 October 2004|access-date=24 February 2011}} He served as a member of the Lebanese parliament until his resignation, on 5 August 2020, after the explosions in Beirut claiming that the government was "ineffective" to handle the incident.{{Cite web|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/05/Beirut-blasts-Lebanese-MP-Marwan-Hamadeh-resigns-says-government-ineffective-|title=Beirut blasts: Lebanese MP Marwan Hamadeh resigns|access-date=5 August 2020}}

Early life and education

Marwan Hamadeh, also written as Marouan Hamadé (preferred French transliteration), was born into a Druze family in Baakleen, Chouf district, on 11 September 1939.{{cite web|title=Lebanon Who's Who|url=http://www.al-bab.com/arab/countries/lebanon/biogah.htm|publisher=Arab Gateway

|access-date=24 March 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716191829/http://www.al-bab.com/arab/countries/lebanon/biogAH.htm|archive-date=16 July 2012|df=dmy-all}}{{cite journal|author=Are Knudsen|title=Acquiescence to assassinations in post-civil war Lebanon?|journal=Mediterranean Politics|volume=15

|issue=1|pages=1–23|doi=10.1080/13629391003644611|date=March 2010|s2cid=154792218}} His brother, Ali Hamadeh, is a journalist who was a member of Saad Hariri's political party and is married to Nadine Jabbour Hamade. His sister, Nadia Tueni, a notable author and French poet, was married to Ghassan Tueni, former UN ambassador and senior editor of the Lebanese daily, An Nahar. Their son, and Hamadeh's nephew, Gebran Tueni, was assassinated in a car bombing in Beirut in December 2005.{{cite news|title=Obituary: Gibran Tueni|work=BBC

|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4520762.stm|access-date=17 March 2013|date=12 December 2005}}

Hamadeh holds a law degree, which he earned from Saint Joseph University in 1963. He received a PhD in economy from the same university.

Career and views

Hamadeh started his career as an economic and political editor for An Nahar, L'Orient le Jour and Le Point in 1964 and continued to work for these papers until 1975. He was appointed tourism minister in 1982, and his term lasted for two years. He served as economy minister in the cabinet led by Prime Minister Omar Karami, replacing Nazih Al Bizri in the post. Hamadeh's term lasted from 24 December 1990 to 15 May 1992, and he was succeeded by Samir Makdasi. From 1992 to 1996 he served as minister of health and social affairs in the first cabinet of Rafik Hariri. In the general elections of 1996 he won a seat from Chouf.

In October 2000, Hamadeh was appointed minister for the displaced to the cabinet led by Rafik Hariri.{{cite journal|author=Gary C. Gambill

|url=http://www.meforum.org/meib/articles/0108_l1.htm}}{{cite news|title=Hariri Forms Govt|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/LEBANON+-+Oct.+26+-+Hariri+Forms+Govt.-a073739516|access-date=19 March 2013|work=APS Diplomat Recorder|date=28 October 2000}} Then he was appointed economy minister in cabinet reshuffle in 2003, replacing Bassel Fleihan.{{cite web|title=Former Ministers|access-date=5 October 2012|url=http://www.economy.gov.lb/index.php/aboutUs/2|publisher=Ministry of Economy and Trade|archive-date=11 December 2017|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171211083311/http://www.economy.gov.lb/index.php/aboutUs/2}} Hamadeh was one of three ministers in the cabinet, who were members of the Progressive Socialist Party led by Walid Jumblatt.{{cite news|title=Lebanese Political Feud Jolts Cabinet|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-sep-07-fg-lebanon7-story.html|access-date=16 March 2013|newspaper=Los Angeles Times

|date=7 September 2004|agency=AP|location=Beirut}} During this period, Hamadeh was one of the close advisors to Jumblatt.{{cite journal|author=Oussama Safa|title=Lebanon springs forward|journal=Journal of Democracy|date=January 2006|volume=17|issue=1

|url=http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/gratis/Safa-17-1.pdf|archive-date=27 February 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227090433/http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/gratis/Safa-17-1.pdf}}

Hamadeh was one of four members of the Lebanese Parliament who voted against the extension of president Lahoud's term in office in September 2004. Hamadeh, formerly one of Syria's staunchest allies in Lebanon, became a critic of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon after the Resolution 1559 was passed in 2005. Hamadeh and the same three other cabinet members, namely culture minister Ghazi Aridi, environment minister Farès Boueiz and refugee affairs minister Abdullah Farhat, also resigned from office on 7 September 2004 in protest at the constitutional amendment that allowed the three-year extension of then President Émile Lahoud's term.{{cite book|author=Chibli Mallat|title=Lebanon's Cedar Revolution An essay on non-violence and justice|publisher=Mallat|page=122

|url=http://mallat.com/books/Appendix1%20and%202.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202044246/http://mallat.com/books/Appendix1%20and%202.pdf}}{{cite news|title=Four Lebanese ministers step down|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3631486.stm|access-date=16 March 2013|work=BBC|date=7 September 2004}} Finance Minister Fouad Siniora replaced Hamadeh as acting economy minister.{{cite news|title=4 ministers quit Lebanese Cabinet over amendment|newspaper=The Daily Star|date=7 September 2004|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/Sep/07/4-ministers-quit-Lebanese-Cabinet-over-amendment.ashx#axzz2NbofFgrl|access-date=16 March 2013|author1=Nada Raad|author2=Nafez Kawas|location=Beirut}} From 19 July 2005 to 11 July 2008 Hamadeh served as minister of telecommunications.{{cite web|archive-date=17 October 2013|title=Former Ministers

|url=http://www.mpt.gov.lb/index.php/en/about-mpt-2/mpt-info/former-ministers|work=Ministry of Telecommunications|access-date=28 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017234208/http://www.mpt.gov.lb/index.php/en/about-mpt-2/mpt-info/former-ministers}}

In the general elections of 2009, Hamadeh won a seat from the Chouf district.{{cite web|title=Elections in Lebanon

|url=http://qifanabki.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/ifes-lebanon-electoral-districts-2011.pdf|work=IFES|access-date=22 March 2013}}

=Assassination attempt=

Hamadeh was injured in a car bomb explosion in west Beirut on 1 October 2004 that killed his bodyguard and injured his driver.{{cite journal|author=Are Knudsen|title=Precarious peacebuilding: Post-war Lebanon, 1990-2005|journal=CMI Working Paper|year=2005|volume=2

|url=http://bora.cmi.no/dspace/bitstream/10202/103/1/Working%20paper%20WP%202005-12.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213221743/http://bora.cmi.no/dspace/bitstream/10202/103/1/Working%20paper%20WP%202005-12.pdf|archive-date=13 December 2013}} The blast is considered to have been the beginning of series of assassinations by Unit 121 of Lebanese politicians and journalists, mostly anti-Hezbollah and anti-Syrian figures.{{Cite web |last=DC (ACW) |first=Arab Center Washington |date=2024-03-01 |title=The Limits of Justice in Lebanon—and What It Means for the Future of the Country |url=https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/the-limits-of-justice-in-lebanon-and-what-it-means-for-the-future-of-the-country/ |access-date=2024-11-18 |website=Arab Center Washington DC |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Whitaker |first=Brian |date=2022-06-23 |title=Unaccountable in Lebanon: How a PM’s Killers Got Away With It |url=https://newlinesmag.com/essays/unaccountable-in-lebanon-how-a-pms-killers-got-away-with-it/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=New Lines Magazine |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2024-02-13 |title=Lebanon Is a Global Sanctuary for Criminals |url=https://archive.today/20240213233453/https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/08/02/lebanon-crime-hezbollah-salameh-port-explosion-corruption/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=archive.md}} Then Syrian vice president Abdul Halim Khaddam visited Hamadeh at the American University of Beirut Medical Center after the attack.{{cite journal|author=Charles Glass|title=An Assassin's Land|journal=London Review of Books|date=4 August 2005|volume=27|issue=15

|url=http://www.charlesglass.net/archives/2005/08/an_assassinas_l.html|access-date=9 April 2013|url-status=dead

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529123532/http://www.charlesglass.net/archives/2005/08/an_assassinas_l.html|archive-date=29 May 2014}}{{cite journal|author=Mohalhel Fakih|title=Lebanon at the crossroads|journal=Al Ahram Weekly|date=7–13 October 2004|volume=711

|url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/711/re4.htm|access-date=19 April 2013|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130327120950/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/711/re4.htm}}

Personal life

Hamadeh is married to Vanda Barakat and has two children from his first wife, Karima Hamadeh, who has two children, and Rania Hamadeh Gemayel. From his daughter Gemayel, Hamadeh has two grandchildren. Hamadeh is a Druze.{{cite web

|title=His Excellency Minister Marwan Mohammad Ali Hamadeh|work=Arab Decision|access-date=14 April 2013

|url=http://www.arabdecision.org/show_cv_3_4_2_1_3_577726016.htm}}