Adel Ismail (historian)

For the Egyptian basketball player, see Adel Ismail.

Adel Ismail
Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the UNESCO
In office
1985–1990
Ambassador of Lebanon to Morocco
In office
1978–1985
Personal details
Born18 January 1928
Dulhoun, Lebanon
DiedJuly 2010(2010-07-00) (aged 82)
Alma materSorbonne University

Adel Ismail (1928–2010) was a Lebanese diplomat and historian. He was the ambassador of Lebanon to Morocco between 1978 and 1985 and the permanent representative of Lebanon to the UNESCO between 1985 and 1990. He is known for being the author of various books on the history of Lebanon.

Early life and education

Ismail was born in Dulhoun on 18 January 1928.[1] He hailed from a Sunni Muslim family based in Iqlim al-Kharrub, Mount Lebanon.[2][3] He was a graduate of the Sorbonne University where he received both an undergraduate degree and a Ph.D. in law. One of his teachers was Maurice Chehab.[4]

Career

Following his graduation Ismail worked at the Ministry of Education as an inspector and was the deputy director general between 1956 and 1959. Then he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held various diplomatic posts, including counsellor in Madrid from 1960 to 1963. Then he served as consul general of Lebanon in Italy between 1964 and 1967, in Sudan and Ethiopia between February 1967 and 1969 and in Saudi Arabia between 1969 and 1971. He was the director of political affairs at the Lebanese Central Administration from 1971 to 1978.[1]

Ismail was appointed ambassador of Lebanon to Morocco in 1978 and remained in post until 1985. Next he was named as permanent representative of Lebanon to the UNESCO in 1985 which he held until 1990.[1]

Work

Ismail authored more than seventy books and owned a publishing company.[1][3] He was the first scholar who systematically analyzed the French diplomatic archives.[4] The documents were published in the period between 1974 and 1994 in 41 volumes.[4] He also employed materials from the British diplomatic archives in his studies.[5] One of his books was translated into English in 1972 under the title Lebanon: History of a People.[3][6] His extensive study on the history of Maronites in Lebanon was published in February 2000.[2]

Death

Ismail died in July 2010.[7]

Awards

Ismail was twice recipient of the Lebanese Order of Cedar (Knight and Commander).[1] He was named as a Laureate of the French Academy in 1965 and was awarded with the Cardinal Richelieu Medal by the French Academy.[1] He was also awarded the Prize of the French Academy in 1956 and 1989.[4][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Who's Who in Lebanon (19th ed.). Beirut: Publitec Publications. 2007. p. 173. doi:10.1515/9783110945904.172. ISBN 978-3-598-07734-0.
  2. ^ a b Masoud Daher (7 March 2000). "عادل اسماعيل في كتابة الجديد: "المردائيون" . نحو تصويب المقولات الخاطئة في تاريخ لبنان". Saurus (in Arabic). Al Hayat. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Candice Raymond (2013). "The Life, Death, and Resurrection of the History of Lebanon, or the Vicissitudes of the Phoenix". Revue Tiers Monde. 216 (4): 71. doi:10.3917/rtm.216.0071.
  4. ^ a b c d Fatme Charafeddine; Mariette Abdel Hay (2015). "Lebanese Archives in the French Archives: Issues and Initiatives" (PDF). American University of Beirut. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 29 November 2023. Conference presentation
  5. ^ Youssef M. Choueiri (2011). "Arab Historical Writing". In Axel Schneider; Daniel Woolf (eds.). The Oxford History of Historical Writing: Historical Writing Since 1945. Vol. 5. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 500. ISBN 978-0-19-103677-4.
  6. ^ "Lebanon; history of a people". Stanford Libraries. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  7. ^ "الرئيس فؤاد السنيورة يكتب عن عادل إسماعيل الدبلوماسي والمؤرخ ورجل الدولة والمؤسسات". Fouad Siniora Website (in Arabic). Retrieved 29 November 2023. Fouad Siniora's article published in An-Nahar following the death of Adel Ismail
  8. ^ "Discours sur les prix littéraires et l'état de la langue 1989". Académie française (in French). 30 November 1989. Retrieved 29 November 2023.