Lebanon, Israel & the Hezbollah mis(Fit)

1. Lebanon, Israel & the Hezbollah mis(Fit) Boston Public Library October 6, 2009 Boston, Brookline, & Newton Public Libraries 6, 7, 8 October 2009

4. Demographics Lebanon Population: 4,017,095 (July 2009) Ethnic groups: Arab 95% Armenian 4% other 1% Religions: Muslim 59.7% (Shia 27%, Sunni 24%, Druze 5%, Isma'ilite, Alawite or Nusayri) Christian 39% (Maronite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Chaldean, Assyrian, Copt, Protestant) other 1.3% note: 17 religious sects recognized

5. Demographics Israel Total population 7,424,400 (2008) Ethnic groups: Jewish 76.4% non-Jewish 23.6% (mostly Arab) Religions: Jewish 76.4% Muslim 16%, Arab Christians 1.7% other Christian 0.4% Druze 1.6% unspecified 3.9%

6. Israeli Military – Political Leadership

8. Litani River (in yellow)

9. PLO • The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is a political and paramilitary organization founded in 1964. • Recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," by over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed observer status at the United Nations since 1974. • The PLO was considered a terrorist organization by the US Government until the Madrid Conference in 1991, two years before the signing of the Oslo accords. In 1988, the PLO officially endorsed a two-state solution, contingent on terms such as making East Jerusalem capital of the Palestinian state and giving Palestinians the right of return to land belonging to Palestinians prior to 1948. • In 1993, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat recognized the State of Israel in an official letter to its prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin. • In response to Arafat's letter, Israel recognized the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. Arafat was the Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee from 1969 until his death in 2004. He was succeeded by Mahmoud Abbas.

10. Demographics Lebanon Population: 4,017,095 (July 2009) Ethnic groups: Arab 95% Armenian 4% other 1% Religions: Muslim 59.7% (Shia 27%, Sunni 24%, Druze 5%, Isma'ilite, Alawite or Nusayri) Christian 39% (Maronite Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Chaldean, Assyrian, Copt, Protestant) other 1.3% note: 17 religious sects recognized

11. SIDON and TYRE

12. Lebanese Militias During Civil War • Christian Phalange- Bashir Gemayel Lebanese Forces-(founded by Gemayel) Samir Geagea Marada Brigades- Franjieh family South Lebanon Army SLA- Saad Hadaad • Muslim • Shia-AMALMusa Sadr • Sunni-MurabitounCamille Chamoun • Druze PSP- Jumblatts • OthersLebanese Communist Part (LCP), Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SNP), Baath

13. Taif Agreement • The Taif Agreement (also "National Reconciliation Accord) • Changed the ratio of Parliament to 50:50 among Muslims and Christians and reduced the power of the Maronite Christian president. • An agreement reached to provide "the basis for the ending of the civil war and the return to political normalcy in Lebanon.“ • Negotiated in Taif, Saudi Arabia, it was designed to end the decades-long Lebanese civil war, politically accommodate the demographic shift to a Muslim majority, reassert Lebanese authority in South Lebanon (then occupied by Israel), and legitimize the Syrian presence in Lebanon. • Although the agreement set a time frame for Syrian withdrawal and stipulated that the Syrians withdraw in two years. It was signed on October 22, 1989 and ratified on November 4, 1989.

14. Blue Line Map

15. May 17th Agreement May 17th 1983 The May 17th Agreement was a failed US-backed attempt to create peace between Lebanon and Israel during the Lebanese civil war, after Israel invaded Lebanon and besieged Beirut in 1982. The country was under both Syrian and Israeli occupation during its negotiation. The agreement terminated the state of war between Israel and Lebanon that had lasted since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and provided for a staged withdrawal of Israeli forces, on the condition of the establishment of a Lebanese Army “security zone” in South Lebanon along the border area. The Lebanese Army collapsed in 1984 and could not keep their side of the agreement.

16. Shabra and Shatila Massacre Operating on “authoritative” information that there were about 2,000 PLO guerrillas harboured in the Shabra and Shatila camps, Sharon gave the go ahead to Phalangist militias to enter Sabra and Shatila and destroy the remnants of the PLO’s infrastructure. With Israeli tanks standing guard, 150 Phalangists entered the camps on the evening of September 16 182 and for three days went on a rampage, killing perhaps as many as 2,000 defenceless civilians – women and children included. When it was established that Israeli troops saw what s happening but did nothing to stop the killing, the outrage worldwide was vociferous and damning of Israel. Its standing as a country that held the moral high ground, already damaged by the bombardment of Beirut was now in tatters. The perception of Israel as a small country fighting for its survival against hordes of Arabs bent on its destruction was shattered. The US joined with other members of the UN Security Council that ordered the IDF to vacate Beirut within 24 hours.

17. 1982

18. Hezbollah • A Shi'a Islamist political and paramilitary organisation based in Lebanon. Hezbollah is also a major provider of social services, which operate schools, hospitals, and agricultural services for thousands of Lebanese Shiites, and plays a significant force in Lebanese politics. • Hezbollah is regarded as a resistance movement throughout much of the Arab and Muslim world. Several western countries regard it in whole or in part as a terrorist organization. • Hezbollah first emerged as a militia in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, also known as Operation Peace for Galilee, in 1982, set on resisting the Israeli occupation of Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. • Hezbollah, which started with only a small militia, has grown to an organization with seats in the Lebanese government, a radio and a satellite television-station, and programs for social development. Hezbollah maintains strong support among Lebanon's Shi'a population, and gained a surge of support from Lebanon's broader population (Sunni, Christian, Druze) immediately following the 2006 Lebanon War. • Despite a June 2008 certification by the United Nations that Israel had withdrawn from all Lebanese territory, in August of that year, Lebanon's new Cabinet unanimously approved a draft policy statement which secures Hezbollah's existence as an armed organization and guarantees its right to "liberate or recover occupied lands." • Since 1992, the organization has been headed by Hassan Nasrallah, its Secretary-General

19. South Lebanon

20. Hezbollah Rockets

25. 2006 War Casualties • The conflict resulted in 1,191 deaths in Lebanon and 4,409 injured. More than 900,000 people fled their homes. • In contrast, Israeli losses in the war were 5 civilians and 113 soldiers.

26. Cluster Bombs • Since August 2006, more Lebanese civilians have been since killed (50) and more injured (300) by unexploded cluster bombs than were Israeli civilians in both the 2006 war, the rockets from Gaza or during the Gaza war itself

27. Lebanon Political Coalitions • March 14th • Named after the date of the Cedar Revolution • An alliance of anti-Syrian political parties and independents in Lebanon • Led by Prime Minister Designate Saad Hariri, Samir Geagea president of the Lebanese Forces, former President Sheikh Amine Gemayel. • March 8th • Opposition to the March 14th alliance • Name dates back to March 8, 2005 when different parties called for a mass demonstration in downtown Beirut in response to the Cedar Revolution. The demonstration thanked Syria for helping stop the Lebanese Civil War and the aid in stabilizing Lebanon and supporting the Lebanese resistance to the Israeli occupation. • Main parties are Hezbollah, Amal Movement, Marada Movement, Lebanese Communist Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party • The alliance favors diplomatic relations with toward Syria

28. Shebaa Farms

29. In the war’s final 72 hours, Israeli warplanes carpeted the south with cluster bombs, munitions designed to spread indiscriminate damage over a wide area. In three days, it is thought that Lebanese soil was showered with up to four million bomblets About 300 civilians have since been killed or maimed by cluster bombs, according to the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre, with children -- who mistake the bomblets for toys -- accounting for of the victims. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=105326 http://www.france24.com/en/20090513-israel-hands-over-cluster-bomb-maps-united-nations-force-lebano

30. Norgaard Principles • The Norgaard Principles devised by Carl Norgaard, President of the European Commission on Human Rights, to determine amnesty after Namibian independence. • The Criteria include: • The motivation of the offender (political or personal) • The target (civilian or government) • The gravity of the act • The Norgaard approach is tolerant of ‘due obedience’ contrary to Nuremberg where orders were deemed no excuse. Those granted amnesty under these kinds of conditions will receive total indemnity from any civil and criminal prosecutions which may have resulted from such offenses.

33. March 14, 1978 (in response to a Palestinian militant raid two days earlier), some 25,000 Israeli soldiers crossed the Lebanese border in Operation Litani, named for the Litani River that crosses South Lebanon, not 20 miles from the Israeli border. Almost all the 2,000 people the Israeli invasion killed were civilian. In comparison, 23 Israeli soldiers were killed during the invasion. Twice during the 1990s, Israel launched major air and ground operations, for the declared purpose of ending Hezbollah rockets being fired into Israel and to make it difficult for Hezbollah to continue using southern Lebanon as a base for attacking Israeli forces. The first such operation, in late July 1993, labeled “Operation Accountability” by Israel, lasted seven days. Israeli operations resulted in the deaths of some 120 Lebanese civilians, injured close to 500, and temporarily drove an estimated 300,000 villagers and Palestinian refugees from their homes. That week Hezbollah fired 151 rockets across the border, according to Israeli authorities, killing two civilians and wounding 24. On April 11, 1996 Israel initiated a major military operation in Lebanon, dubbed “Operation Grapes of Wrath.” By the time it ended on April 27, Israeli military operations resulted in 154 civilian deaths and injured another 351. Hezbollah fired 639 rockets into Israel, according to Israeli officials. There were no Israeli civilian deaths, although sixty-two civilians were injured, including three seriously, and sixty-five were treated for shock, according to the IDF. http://middleeast.about.com/od/lebanon/a/me080316b.htm

34. 1967 Arab – Israeli War

35. 1973 Yom Kippur War

36. 1978 Israeli invasion