Barelias

Barelias is a city in Lebanon. It is located in the Bekaa Valley and has approximately 25,000 inhabitants. Barelias situated at an altitude of 900 meters above sea level, 51 kilometers from Beirut. The area is about 3,500 acres, of which approximately 700 acres are inhabited, the rest is used for agriculture.

Meaning and pronunciation of the name

The name Barelias can be divided like other cities names like Antelias, Marelias, Qabelias in two words: Bar and Elias, which means "the land of Elias " in Arabic. In the high- Arabic the name is pronounced as it is written in German. In the Lebanese dialect the name is pronounced as " Barelyes ".

History

There is no document certifying the establishment of the city. What is certain is that in Barelias some farmhouses were before Elias, the holy Maronite missionary in the 14th century the first church on the banks of the river Litani built. From the church no more ruins are to be found, as the Ottomans during their rule eliminated this. In addition, the river in the sixties of the last century was extended by machine. Only under the mandate of the Ottoman Christian Dawood Baasha end of the 19th century was allowed to build the church again in Barelias, but this time not on the river, but at the foot of a secluded hill ( Tall- Barelias, meaning "the hill of Barelias " means ) which is still used as a cemetery.

Ethnic Groups

In the constituency Middle Bekaa Barelias is the largest city with Sunni votes, which is why traditionally a Sunni lawmaker from Barelias is selected. The population consisted of Barelias to 1993 to 95 percent Muslim Sunni faith and to five percent Maronite Christians. After the naturalization wave of 1993, which was sponsored by the murdered Minister Rafik Hariri primary, other groups were not naturalized with different faiths, so that an estimated more than 90 percent of the population still exist in Barelias from Sunnis. The number of Christians has tended to shrink, as they emigrate.

In Barelias, the Palestinian minority not be neglected. In hardly any other place in Lebanon, the Palestinians are comparatively so integrated as in Barelias. They live both in the city as well as in the newly created district, north of the city. The Palestinian students are allowed to attend normal schools where they have Lebanese schoolmates and vice versa. In addition, there since the seventies newly formed relationships between Lebanese citizens and Palestinians.

Personalities

  • Assem Araji: neurologist and Sunni deputy in the Lebanese Parliament

Pictures of Barelias

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