Beware of Small States: Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle EastReadHowYouWant.com, 2010 - 804 pages ''Beware of small states, '' wrote the Russian anarchist Michail Bakunin, for they are the victims of greater states, yet a source of danger to them, too. Lebanon - a country half the size of Vermont - might almost have been designed to be the ''small state '' of the Middle East. It is the battleground on which the region's greater states pursue their strategic, political and ideological conflicts - conflicts that sometimes escalate into full-scale proxy wars. In this magisterial history of Lebanon, from the end of the Ottoman rule to the Hizbullah and Hamas wars of today, David Hirst, the acclaimed and fiercely independent Middle East journalist and historian, charts with extraordinary skill and lucidity the intricate interplay between Lebanon and its geopolitical environment. This history of Lebanon is also a history of the whole Middle East and above all, of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Several states from inside the region and beyond have impinged on Lebanon throughout its history, invading, attacking and occupying it, but none has done so more strenuously and disruptively than Israel. Hirst, who has been banned from traveling in six Arab states and was kidnapped twice during Lebanon's civil war, takes an unsparing look at Israel's role, providing extraordinary accounts of the invasions of 1982 and 2006, as well as Israel's ''shock and awe '' attack on Gaza in early 2009. Hirst warns that only serious diplomatic action from the new Obama administration can prevent the next ''proxy war '' spiraling into a conflict that engulfs the entire region. |
Contents
Zionists and Maronites | 34 |
The Reckoning Delayed | 69 |
Lebanon and the Palestinians | 116 |
Civil War in Lebanon | 154 |
Imperial Hubris | 181 |
The Massacre of Sabra and Shatila | 231 |
Khomeini Islamists and the Shiite | 273 |
The Civil War Closes | 324 |
Redrawing the Map of the Middle East | 438 |
Getting Syria Out of Lebanon | 465 |
The Sixth War | 514 |
Who Won? | 589 |
Gaza | 624 |
Obaman Peace or Seventh War? | 657 |
Notes | 671 |
Front Cover Flap | 737 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
achieved ally already Amal American ancl Arab world Arafat army Asad attack August Baathist Beirut Ben—Gurion Beqa’a Bint Jbeil Blanford bomb camps ceasefire Christian civil civilians clays commander country’s Dahiya defence Druzes Egypt enemy Fatah force full—scale Gaza Gemayel going guerilla Haaretz Hamas Hamzeh Harel Hariri Hezbollah Hirst Hizbullah Ibid invasion Iran Iranian Iraq Islamic Islamist Israel Israeli Israeli Defence Forces Issacharoff Jerusalem Jewish Jews jihad Jordan Journal of Palestine July Jumblat Katyushas Khomeini killed leaders least Lebanese Lebanon mainly Maronite Middle East International military militia missiles Muslim Muslim/leftists Nasrallah Nasser nationalist neo conservatives never non—state official Olmert operations organization Palestine Palestine Studies Palestinians pan—Arab peace Phalangists political President prime minister protégé refugees regime region resistance Sabra Saudi Sayigh sectarian Sharon Shatila Shiite soldiers South strategic Sunni Syria targets territory terror terrorists tion turn UNIFIL village weapons whole Yediot Aharonot Zionists