Shaping Lebanon’s Borderlands: Armed Resistance and International Intervention in South Lebanon

Description

Regional struggles, wars and local confrontations have marked the south of Lebanon since the end of the 1960s. They have transformed this marginalized and rural region into a battlefield and redefined the relationships between international, regional and local actors. The most recent of these actors the Palestinian refugees and their armed resistance, the Islamic Shi’i movement Hizbullah, and the UN local mission (UNIFIL) have marked and shaped the place, and in turn operating in this borderland has affected their identities. Based on Daniel Meier’s extensive fieldwork in the region, this book offers interviews with militants, his own observations of this conflict-ridden and dangerous region as well as incisive political analysis concerning the armed militias operating in the area. It is through this in-depth examination of the southern borderlands of Lebanon that Meier sheds new light on some of the major Middle Eastern confrontations of the last half a century. Front cover Author biography Endorsements Title Copyright Contents List of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Note on Transliteration Acknowledgements Introduction South Lebanon as a Vantage Point Part I Struggles over the Borderland 1. The Fida’iyyin in Lebanon: Armed Struggle, Ideology and Belonging 2. The Struggle for the South: Israeli Occupation and Lebanese Resistance 3. Hizbullah: Resistance as an Identity and as a Means Part II The Borderland’s Narratives 4. Ordering the Borderland: Hizbullah’s Socio-Political and Cultural Strategy 5. Crossing/Bypassing the Border: Palestinian Civil Resistance (sumûd) 6. Hegemony over Geography: UNIFIL and the Drawing of the Blue Line 7. Pending Issues: Sovereignty at Stake on Maritime and Aerial Borders Conclusion South Lebanon as a Regional Issue Notes Bibliography Index