Hizbullah between awe and hostility

Source: Zawya.com/Daily Star, 14-7-2007
Rami G. Khouri
Hizbullah, one of the most important groups on the Lebanese and Middle Eastern political scene these days, is also one of the most enigmatic. This week, the first anniversary of the war with "Israel" of July-August 2006, much attention in Lebanon has been focused on Hizbullah and its aims, which remain unclear to many people. The perception of Hizbullah inside and outside Lebanon is polarized. Many throughout the Middle East and other developing regions regard Hizbullah and its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah with awe; while many others in the West, in the United States especially, usually refer to it as a "terrorist" group.
It is important to acknowledge what Hizbullah is and is not - because it has become a central actor in a political stand-off in Lebanon that itself has become a central battleground in the ideological war of the Middle East today. A useful new book has just appeared that helps interested parties to understand Hizbullah more accurately. It is by the respected American political scientist Augustus Richard Norton, a professor at Boston University, and is titled "Hizbullah: A Short History."
The many complex and often changing dimensions of Hizbullah are presented in the book in a clear, concise manner that allows for a more accurate and complete understanding of what the group represents and aspires to achieve. It is easier to know where Hizbullah came from than to say for sure where it is heading. A better grasp of its origins and past positions is crucial for any serious discussion of its future strategy. Norton offers a concise summary of how Hizbullah emerged from the Shiite empowerment movements in southern Lebanon in the 1970s to dominate the political representation of Lebanese Shiites in the late 1980s.
He concludes, as do many others, that Hizbullah`s hard-line positions on an Islamic society, or politics in Lebanon, outlined in its 1985 open letter to "the downtrodden in Lebanon and the world," eased in recent years, as it "pragmatically confronted the shifting political landscape of regional politics, as well as the changing terrain of Lebanese politics."
One of the best chapters in the book examines "Hizbullah and violence," exploring both the party`s resistance to "Israel" since the early 1980s and the accusations that it has engaged in terrorism, such as suicide bombings against American and French forces in 1983. Norton concludes that the group did engage in some acts clearly defined as terrorism (such as the 1985 hijacking of a TWA plane), while many of the other acts of violence attributed to it are probably more likely the work of Iran. However, the bulk of Hizbullah`s military actions, he notes, were legitimate forms of resistance to "Israeli" occupation of Lebanese territory.
Having an American scholar walk through the paces of such an exercise of looking with some nuance at the different kinds of actions that Hizbullah has undertaken in its history is itself a useful process that others would do well to emulate. One reason Norton can do this is that he spent several years living in South Lebanon in the 1980s when he worked with United Nations forces there.
The book`s limited size does not allow for a deep treatment of some of the most fascinating dimensions of Hizbullah today, as it focuses more intently on contesting power in the domestic Lebanese political system. The chapter on "Playing Politics" nicely captures Hizbullah`s decision to enter domestic politics in the 1992 parliamentary elections. Norton shows how in domestic politics it has played down its religious themes, while often striking pragmatic political bargains, even with ideological opposites such as secular leftists.
The book concludes with some analysis of Hizbullah`s current challenge to the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, noting ironically that the United States supported peaceful street protests in 2005 to topple a pro-Syrian government, but today opposes Hizbullah`s street protests to change or reshape the Siniora government. One reason for this, of course, is the concern of many in Lebanon and abroad with how much Hizbullah merely reflects Syrian and Iranian strategy.
Norton`s straightforward manner of dispassionately describing and assessing Hizbullah is a valuable example that should be emulated by others who seek to understand what is happening in Lebanon today. Hizbullah is a prototype that many in the Middle East will want to emulate, while others in the region and abroad would like to destroy it.
Wherever one may stand on this spectrum of views, a vital starting point - offered in this small but rich volume - is an accurate, comprehensive view of why Hizbullah has succeeded as a political party, a sectarian representational group, a social services agency, and a resistance force, and why it continues to generate so much opposition at the same time.