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Parliament Members Institute the Sectarian “Identity” of the Ghobeiry Municipality

Law No. 203 aims at establishing a cadastral zone for the municipality of Ghobeiry.

The Parliament approved the law and it was issued in the Official gazette on 07/01/2021. 

In Early 2021, a law was issued with the aim of establishing a real estate area affiliated with the Ghobeiry municipality, with the intention of regulating the larger real estate areas located within its municipal scope and separating it from the real estate area of Shayyah. Notably, the Shayyah and Ghobeiry real estate areas had constituted, since their inception and until 1956, one singular municipality. The aforementioned law contributes to the consolidation of Ghobeiry municipality’s rights, as well as the collection of its financial dues via clearer mechanisms, but casts doubt on the additional disguised consolidation of sectarianism, confessionalism, and regionalism by identifying and thus solidifying an “identity” to real estate areas. As such, this law opens up a deeper conversation around the history of the Ghobeiry municipality and its geographical borders which have changed over time. In many ways, the Ghobeiry area represents the complex political crisis catalyzed by the changes in demographics in the larger Sahel region, as a result of the repeated waves of displacement to and from the area, as well as the changes it witnessed over long periods of time. Ghobeiry also became a reflection of long-standing sectarian political conflicts which ultimately aim at controlling what is considered to be a strategic area, all the while newer residents were demanding their right to register and vote within the municipality.

Land Management and Planning Baabda District Ghobeiry Mount Lebanon Governorate