Nothing is either black or white, this is especially true when it comes to the Middle East. Lebanon's Shiite resistance movement turned political party, Hizbullah (in English 'Hezbollah')[], is, of course, no exception.
In the past few days I've had the pleasure of reading Augustus Richard Norton's short story about the organisation, simply titled 'Hezbollah'[].
Norton, who has written several books on the subject, tells the entire history of the organisation, from the Lebanese civil war (largely caused by the Palestinian state-in-the-state), the 1982 Israeli invasion that was the direct cause of the founding of Hizbullah, to more recent events – the book was published in 2007, with an afterword from 2009.
Terror? Humanitarian work? Both?
One thing is clear: Hizbullah cannot simply be labeled as a "terrorist organisation", even if some US and, especially, Israeli officials might desire it so.
In the article 'The Rise of Mezzanine Rulers' in the November/December 2010 edition of Foreign Affairs[] Michael Crawford and Jami Miscik describe the difficulties in labelling Hizbullah:
The movement is at once a religious organization, an aid organization, a political party, and a paramilitary force. This makes it hard for governments to know how to categorize and confront it. The U.S. government, for example, considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization and has banned its television programs, financial arms, and charity activities from operating in the United States.
The British government proscribes only Hezbollah's military wing, including its External Security Organisation, but allows the group's political, social, and welfare elements to proceed unhindered.
For example, Hizbullah created the Jihad al-Bina' Development Organisation that reconstructs and repair damages caused by war[]. So, while some countries see an organisation of terrorists launching rockets into Israel, large parts of the Lebanese population see an organisation rebuilding demolished and damaged houses so they can move back in.
This humanitarian effort was heavily needed after the 2006 Lebanon War[], when Israeli military bombed southern Lebanon after the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers and the killing of three others.
The history, in brief
Hizbullah started out as a Shiite resistance group (emerging from the Shiite movement founded by Imam Musa al-Sadr[] ), with Iranian support, to counter the 1982 invasion of Libanon by Israel and as a backer of the Palestinian cause, thereby countering the Amal Movement[]. Since then, Hizbullah has – after internal disagreement – changed into a political party as well, navigating in the politic landscape of Lebanon, with Syrian support. One of the more prominent pro-election persons in Hizbullah was Shaikh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah[].
Hizbollah did not fade away after the Israeli withdrawal in 2000, which is largely thought to have been caused by Hizbullah. Instead, it plays a solid role in the domestic politics of Libanon and still in conflicts with Israel (latest in 2006[] ) and the government (latest in 2008[] ). Especially the role as the sole defence versus Israeli aggression is the main reason why Hizbullah can hold on too it's excessive weapons. U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, in April 2010 said that »Hezbollah has more missiles and rockets than most governments«[] and Norton writes that »the [Lebanese] army's modest capacity lends substance to the argument that Hezbollah is more capable of defending Lebanon than the national army«[].
What Norton does the very best is to explain both the history of Hizbullah, but also the history of Lebanon and that fateful civil war that lasted 15 years[], which is important to understand Hizbullah's role, both in relation to Israel – but also in relation to the Lebanese interior. In more recent events, Hizbullah remains under suspicion in relation to the 2005 killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri[].
The book ends with a, looking at the modest size of the book, good amount of tips for further reading on the subject of Hizbullah and/or Lebanon.
Hereby highly recommended as a great primer.
And when you're done with the book, I suggest you read Crawford and Miscik's 'The Rise of the Mezzanine Rulers' article in Foreign Affairs[] about how the international community can work with organisations like Hizbullah.
Notes: Tagged: hezbollah, hizbullah, lebanon, middle east
