When Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982, it sought to make a quick work of the Palestinian militant movement PLO that created a virtual state-within-a-state in southern part of the country and used it as a base against the Jewish state. While at it Israel also did some political meddling by unsuccessfully backing the establishment of a pro-Israeli government in Beirut. What it didn't plan on was the emergence of Hezbollah as one of its most potent adversaries a few years after its invasion. Neither did it foresee that a certain massacre which its military leaders failed to prevent later would become a rallying call used by Osama bin Laden to recruit followers into al-Qaeda.
Israel's Occupation of South Lebanon and the Rise of Hezbollah
Before Israel's invasion of Lebanon, Hezbollah was an obsure, poorly organized, Iranian backed Shi'a militia that sought to empower the marginalized Shi'a Muslims in South Lebanon. Inspired by the success of Islamic revolutionaries in Iran and seeking to bring similar changes to Lebanon, the organization's aspirations were muffled by the secular and diverse makeup of the Lebanese nation.
According to Lebanon expert Augustus Norton, "Hezbollah didn't exist as a coherent organization until the mid 1980s" (34), and that the Israeli invasion created conditions for its establishment and growth (35). In its early years, Hezbollah was largely a tool used by Iran to strike at Western targets in order to eliminate the American presence from Lebanon. The most notable occurrence of this took place on October 1983, when Shi'a militants orchestrated the bombing of US marine barracks, killing 231 people. Support for the organization in Lebanon, however, was slim.
Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 provided the movement with a platform which it used to propel itself into relevance. Ironically the initial response to Israeli presence in South Lebanon wasn't hostile, as the region's largely Shi'a population was getting increasingly fed up with PLO's activities there. Israel's role in the formation of Hezbollah was articulated bluntly by current Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak who noted that, "When we entered Lebanon there was no Hezbollah. We were accepted with perfumed rice and roses by the Shia in the south. It was our presence there that created Hezbollah" (Norton, 33).
It wasn't long before Israel's prolonged presence in South Lebanon began to infuriate the region's Shi'as. A notable incident occured in 1983, when an IDF patrol, having blundered into the densely populated streets of the southern city al-Natabiya during the Muslim holy day of Ashura, opened fire in order to disperse the Shi'a crowd commemorating the event (Norton, 81). The magnitude of Shi'a resistance to Israeli presence escalated rapidly following the event, which allowed the previously obscure Hezbollah to grow in influence. As Israel's occupation extended into 1990s, Hezbollah's reputation as a force resisting Israeli presence in South Lebanon expanded.
The movement's readiness to confront the Israeli occupation won Hezbollah support beyond its Shi'a base. Even some Lebanese Christians, who have often clashed with the Shi'as in the south, have expressed support for the movement. "I'm against Israel and Hezbollah are my brothers", stated a Lebanese Christian aid worker, "We understand that Hezbollah are fanatics but we have to support them because they are fighting for our rights" (Cohen). When Israel finally withdrew from South Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah was widely credited with repelling them, which further increased their popularity in Lebanon (Worth).
Israel and the Sabra & Shatila Massacre
Although not directly involved in the Lebanese conflict, terrorist movement al-Qaeda has nonetheless used events from the war to justify its campaign against Israel and the US. Notably Osama bin Laden used Israeli and American meddling in Lebanon to enhance the organization's recruitment efforts. The most notable of these events was the Sabra and Shatila massacre.
While in Lebanon, Israel, seeking to establish a pro-Israeli government in Beirut, actively backed the leader of Lebanese Christians, Bashir Gemayel (Mearsheimer & Walt, 45). Israel's political endeavors in Lebanon were largely driven by Syria's long standing influence there, which the latter used to give itself a leverage in its decades long conflict with the Jewish state.
The plans were ultimately thwarted when Gemayel was assassinated by a member of Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Soon thereafter Israeli forces occupied western Beirut, where several Palestinians, including possible members of the PLO, took refuge in the city's refugee camps.
In September 1982, Israel, determined to extirpate the remnants of the PLO, allowed Phalangists, a Lebanese Christian militia to enter Sabra and Shatila, two Palestinian refugee camps which allegedly housed PLO members. Though the IDF explicitly advised the Phalangists not to harm civilians, it did nothing when the vengeful militia went on to massacre hundreds of Palestinian refugees within the camp in retaliation for Gemayel's assassination (Sabra and Shatila).
Though not directly responsible for the incident, by allowing the Phalangists to enter the camps despite an earlier assessment that a massacre might occur and failing to intervene when it did, Israelis, especially Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, were determined to be indirectly accountable for the massacre (Sabra and Shatila Massacre).
Bin Laden's Exploitation of Israeli Actions in Lebanon
Israel's association with the massacre and America's support of Israel during its occupation of South Lebanon was one of the developments in the region used by bin Laden to justify al-Qaeda's campaign against the US and increase anti-American sentiment in the region. Seeking to point out America's unjust policies in the Middle East, bin Laden stated in 2004, "If Bush's call for peace was honest, why hasn't he spoken about who slit open the bellies of pregnant women in Sabra and Shatila or the planner of the surrender process, the "man of peace" [Ariel Sharon]" (Lawrence). He has also stated that Israeli bombing of tower blocks in Lebanon was what inspired al-Qaeda's attacks on the twin towers (Bin Laden Admits...).
While there is no doubt that movements like al-Qaeda and Hezbollah have utilized Islamic concepts to justify terrorist acts against Western targets, they have frequently used interventionist measures such as the Israeli occupation of Lebanon as excuses to vindicate themselves and gain followers. Muslims in the Middle East would have been less likely to join al-Qaeda or support its cause if they didn't witness events like the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon.
Sources
- Bin Laden Admits 9/11 Responsibility, Warns of More Attacks. (2004, October 29). PBS. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
- Cohen, M. (1996, April 20). Israeli Offensive Raises Support for Hezbollah. The Toronto Star, p. A16. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
- Lawrence, B. (2005). Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama Bin Laden. Verso.
- Mearsheimer, J. & Walt, S. (2007). The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York.
- Norton, A. R. (2007). Hezbollah. Princeton University Press: Princeton.
- Sabra and Shatila Massacre. (2006, August 1). Ynetnews. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
- Worth, R. (2011, January 15). Hezbollah's Rise Amid Chaos. The New York Times. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
Enver Guseynov - I majored in International Affairs with emphasis on Middle East and have written several research papers and articles on the region.
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