http://www.tcnj.edu/~hanna4/hezbollah.htm
Hezbollah
What is Hezbollah?
Hezbollah is a political party in Lebanon that opposes the west and is a bitter enemy of Israel. This "Party of God" is considered a terrorist organization by the United States although most countries recognize the social good that the organization also does. It has set up and run schools, hospitals and other infrastructure the Lebanese government has ignored over the years.
What are Hezbollah's Origins?
Hezbollah was founded in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon during the Lebanese Civil War. The main goal of the organization was to get Israeli troops out of Lebanon. When they succeeded finally in the year 2000, they shifted their goal into removing the Israeli armies out of the Shebaa Farms, a small disputed area in southwest Lebanon.
How is Hezbollah's Relationship with the United States?
Despite their obvious "legitimate face," the United States considers Hezbollah solely a terrorist organization. The US points to several attacks that Hezbollah saw as legitimate to outline it's claim. These attacks include: An attack on a Israeli building in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the hijacking of TWA Flight 847, and the bombing of a Marine Barracks compound in Beirut, killing two-hundred and forty-one US Marines among others.
The Conundrum:
Under the Bush Doctrine, the United States promised to attack any terrorist organization or any country who supports terrorism. If the US believes Hezbollah is a terrorist group, why hasn't Bush acted on it? Many question the legitimacy of Hezbollah, who’s unconventional, guerrilla tactics have people throwing out the term terrorism. However, it is hard to find a huge difference in what Hezbollah was doing and what occurs during every revolution in the history of man, many of which are considered just and heroic. The Shiite Lebanese factions were clearly upset with the presence of troops from countless countries in their backyard. So, to remove these forces from their home country, they bound together and used whatever means were necessary and successful. When broken down, Hezbollah is an extremely legitimate organization. This is why although I'm sure the president would love to see this particular organization dismantled, Hezbollah's legitimate face is keeping them safe...for now.
Home
http://www.military.com/Resources/ResourceFileView?file=Hezbollah-History.htm
The Hezbollah's History
The history of Hezbollah begins with the 1982 occupation of Beirut and southern Lebanon by Israel. Israel had re-invaded the country in an effort to control members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) who had settled there and were carrying out attacks on Israel. In response Shi'ite Muslims with the assistance of Iranian Revolutionary Guards formed Hezbollah to combat the Israeli presence, and ultimately to assist the Palestinians in their fight for statehood.
The group began to execute a series of operations against Israeli and U.S. targets; the U.S. forces were in Lebanon as part of a UN Peace-keeping mission, and between 1983 and 1985, elements of Hezbollah attacked the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, car-bombed the U.S. Embassy and later attacked the embassy's annex.
The bombings forced a withdrawal of the western forces and civil war between various Christian and Muslim factions, along with Israeli and Syrian fighters, continued in Lebanon for several years. Hezbollah continued its attack on westerners, most notably the kidnappings of American, British and French citizens throughout the mid-1980s. The last western hostages were release after the end of the Civil War in 1992.
In 1989 the Lebanese parliament accepted an Arab-brokered peace accord for national reconciliation, and Syria assisted Lebanon's national army to control the country's various factions. The activities of Hezbollah, which Syria had used as a proxy in its efforts to combat Israel, were momentarily put in check, but the group had built cultural and political institutions that would insure its survival into the post-civil war era.
In recent years the group has focused its attacks on the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the South Lebanon Army (SLA), an armed group allied with the Israelis that has greatly damaged Hezbollah's armed forces. Hezbollah efforts to end Israel's occupation, which included several well-publicize kidnappings in 2000, paid off as Israeli forces withdrew to the border in the summer of 2000.
Hezbollah has increasingly demonstrated independence from Iran and Syria, and has recently begun to play the two governments off each other, as a complex power-struggle has emerged for influence in Lebanon.
In the wake of the September 11 attacks, which Hezbollah has officially denounced, the U.S. has asked Lebanon to freeze the group's assets, a move that has so far been resisted by the government in Beirut. Iran also has fought U.S. efforts to portray Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, claiming the group is a legitimate political party. Hezbollah currently has 12 elected members in the Lebanese government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Nasrallah
Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah (Arabic: حسن نصرالله) (b. August 31, 1960, Burj Hammud, Beirut, Lebanon)[1], is the current Secretary General of the Lebanese Islamist party Hezbollah.
Contents[hide]
1 Personal life
2 Leadership of Hezbollah
3 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
4 Views on Israel
5 Views on Jews
6 References
7 External links
7.1 Speeches and interviews
//
Personal life
Sheikh Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah lived in South Beirut with his wife Fatima Yassin (who comes from the Lebanese village of Al Abbasiyah)[2] and five children: Muhammad Hadi (d. 1997), Muhammad Jawad, Zeinab, Muhammad Ali and Muhammad Mahdi. In September 1997, his eldest son Muhammad Hadi was killed by Israeli forces in Jabal al-Rafei in southern Lebanon.[2]
In 1975, the civil war in Lebanon forced the 15 year old Nasrallah and his family to move to their ancestral home in the South Lebanese village of Al Bazuriyah.[1] [2] Here he joined the Amal Movement, a political group representing Shiites in Lebanon.[1] [2] After a period of Islamic study in Iraq he returned to Lebanon, where he studied at the school of Amal’s leader Sheikh Abbas al-Musawi, later being selected as Amal's political delegate in Beqaa, and making him a member of the central political office. After the Israeli invasion in 1982, Nasrallah joined Hezbollah to dedicate himself to the resistance of the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.[1]
Nasrallah is a devoted Muslim and has spent periods of his life studying at religious centres in Iraq. In the mid-1970s he moved to a Shiite Hawza (Islamic Seminary) in the Iraqi city of Najaf to study Qura’anic divine sciences, completing the first stage of his studies in 1978 before being forced to leave by the Iraqi authorities.[1] Despite his ongoing commitment to Hezbollah, in 1989 Nasrallah resumed his efforts to become a religious jurisprudent by moving to the sacred Iranian city of Qom to further his studies. Nasrallah believes that Islam holds the solution to the problems of any society, once saying, “With respect to us, briefly, Islam is not a simple religion including only praises and prayers, rather it is a divine message that was designed for humanity, and it can answer any question man might ask concerning his general and private life. Islam is a religion designed for a society that can revolt and build a state.” [citation needed]
Nasrallah said once in an interview that he reads many books, particularly the memoirs of political figures, including Ariel Sharon's autobiography, “Memoirs of Sharon” and Benjamin Netanyahu's A Place Under the Sun, with the intention of getting to know his enemies.[1] [2]
Leadership of Hezbollah
The neutrality of this section is disputed.Please see the discussion on the talk page.
Nasrallah became the leader of Hezbollah after Israel assassinated the movement’s leader Abbas al-Musawi in 1992.[1] [2] Under Nasrallah's leadership, Hezbollah became a serious opponent of the Israel Defense Forces in Southern Lebanon, managing to improve the organization's military capabilities and increasing the killing rate to approximately two dozen Israeli soldiers per year[citation needed]. Hezbollah's military campaigns of the late 1990s were believed to be one of the main factors that led to the Israeli decision to withdraw from Southern Lebanon in 2000, thus ending 18 years of occupation.[1]
Consequently, Nasrallah is widely credited in Lebanon and the Arab world for ending the Israeli occupation in Southern Lebanon, something which has greatly bolstered the party's political standing within Lebanon.[3]
Nasrallah also played a major role in a complex prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hezbollah in 2004, resulting in hundreds of Palestinian and Hezbollah prisoners being freed and bodies returned to Lebanon. The agreement was described across the Arab world as a great victory for Hezbollah with Nasrallah being personally praised for achieving these gains [4].
In the aftermath of the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri the United Nations Security Council issued Resolution 1559 which called for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon. This referred chiefly to Syria, which had held suzerainty over Lebanon since its 1976 intervention in the country's nascent civil war. In response to UNSCR 1559, Nasrallah initiated several large demonstrations expressing support for the Syrian government. UNSCR 1559 also called for the "the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias" and "the extension of the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory." This referred directly to Hezbollah whose military wing, as an armed force not controlled by the Lebanese government, constitutes a militia. Hezbollah also maintains de facto control over parts of south Lebanon, preventing the Lebanese government from exercising a monopoly of force within the country and asserting its control over Lebanon's southern border with Israel. [5].
2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
His home and office were destroyed by Israeli bombing raids during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict on July 14th 2006.
August 3, 2006: Hassan Nasrallah vowed to strike Tel Aviv in retaliation for Israel's bombardment of Lebanon's capital, Beirut. "If you hit Beirut, the Islamic resistance will hit Tel Aviv and is able to do that with God's help," Nasrallah said in a televised address. His forces were inflicting "maximum casualties" on Israeli ground troops." [6]
Views on Israel
Speaking at a graduation ceremony in Haret Hreik, Nasrallah announced on October 22, 2002: "if they [Jews] all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide."[7][8] The New York Times qualifies this as "genocidal thinking"[9], whereas the New York Sun likens it to the 1992 Hezbollah statement, which vowed, "It is an open war until the elimination of Israel and until the death of the last Jew on earth."[10] Michael Rubin qualifies his goal as genocide too, quoting Nasrallah ruling out "co-existence with" the Jews or "peace", as "they are a cancer which is liable to spread again at any moment."[11] The Age quotes him like so: "There is no solution to the conflict in this region except with the disappearance of Israel."[12]
Despite declaring "death to Israel" in his public appearances, Nasrallah said in an interview to The New Yorker, "at the end of the road no one can go to war on behalf of the Palestinians, even if that one is not in agreement with what the Palestinians agreed on." [13] When asked whether he was prepared to live with a two-state settlement between Israel and Palestine, he said he would not sabotage what is a Palestinian matter. [14].
In another interview with the Washington Post, Nasrallah said "I am against any reconciliation with Israel. I do not even recognize the presence of a state that is called "Israel." I consider its presence both unjust and unlawful. That is why if Lebanon concludes a peace agreement with Israel and brings that accord to the Parliament our deputies will reject it; Hezbollah refuses any conciliation with Israel in principle." [15].
Views on Jews
The scholar Amal Saad-Ghorayeb quotes Nasrallah describing his view of Jews: "If we searched the entire world for a person more cowardly, despicable, weak and feeble in psyche, mind, ideology and religion, we would not find anyone like the Jew. Notice, I do not say the Israeli". [16]
"Jews invented the legend of the Holocaust," said Nasrallah on April 9, 2000. During another appearance on Al-Manar on February 23, Nasrallah praised a leading European Holocaust denier, David Irving, for having “denied the existence of gas chambers.” [17]
References
^ a b c d e f g h "Profile: Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah", Al Jazeera, 2000-07-17. Retrieved on 2006-07-30.
^ a b c d e f Biographical sketch of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah: “The Nasrallah Enigma” (PDF). Al-Bawaba (2003-11-10). Retrieved on 2006-07-30.
^ The Brooking Institution - Hezbollah's Popularity Exposes al-Qaeda's Failure to Win the Hearts
^ "Hizbullah, Vanguard and liberator", 2004-03-04. Retrieved on 2006-08-09.
^ "Hezbollah rallies Lebanese to support Syria", 2005-03-09. Retrieved on 2006-08-09.
^ "Hezbollah threatens to strike Tel Aviv", 2006-08-03. Retrieved on 2006-08-03.
^ Nasrallah alleges "Christian Zionist" plot by Badih Chayban, The Daily Star, October 23, 2002
^ "Hezbollah leader targets Christians", WorldNetDaily, 2002-10-23. Retrieved on 2006-07-30.
^ Lappin, Elena, "The Enemy Within", The New York Times, 2004-05-23. Retrieved on 2006-07-30.
^ Staff Editorial. "Nasrallah's Nonsense", New York Sun, 2005-03-11. Retrieved on 2006-07-30.
^ Eradication First - Before Diplomacy by Michael Rubin, American Enterprise Institute, July 17, 2006
^ Markus, Andrew, "Little choice for a defiant Israel", The Age, July 15, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-07-30.
^ Hersh, Seymour M., "The Syrian Bet", The New Yorker, July 18, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-08-07.
^ Shatz, Adam, "In Search of Hezbollah", The New York Review of Books, april 29, 2004. Retrieved on 2006-08-07.
^ "Said Hassan Nasrallah Q&A: What Hezbollah Will Do", The Washington Post, February 20, 2000. Retrieved on 2006-08-08.
^ Saad-Ghorayeb, Amal (2001). Hizbullah: Politics and Religion. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 0745317936.
^ STALINSKY, STEVEN, "The MEMRI Report", The New York Sun, July 26, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-08-07.
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Hassan Nasrallah
"Hizballah: A Primer", Lara Deeb, 07/31/06
"Inside the Mind of Hezbollah", Washington Post, 7/16/2006.
"Hezbollah: The Major Leagues of Terrorism?", 7/20/2006.
Nasrallah: Israel temporary country YNET
The Nasrallah Enigma
Speeches and interviews
Interview with Al-Jazeera on July 20, 2006
Speech on August 8, 2006
Speech on August 3, 2006
Speech on July 31, 2006
Speech on July 14, 2006
Speech on March 8, 2005
Preceded by:Abbas al-Musawi
Secretary-General of Hezbollah1992-present
Succeeded by:Incumbent
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Nasrallah"
Categories: Semi-protected NPOV disputes Secretaries-general of Hezbollah 1960 births Living people Islamists Lebanese people Shi'a clerics Anti-Semitic people Holocaust denial
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