Power Struggles in the Middle East: The Islamist Politics of Hizbullah and the Muslim Brotherhood by Eva Dingel

Author:Eva Dingel [Dingel, Eva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Ideologies, Middle East, Political Science, History, General, Egypt
ISBN: 9781786731159
Google: LBOMDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-11-30T12:45:54+00:00

The existing political regime is thus judged unacceptable both on grounds of representativeness and justice, as well as on religious grounds. It follows that ‘we are not concerned about the formation of any cabinet or fielding any [Hizbullah] member to become a minister, since any governmental ministry is part and parcel of the oppressive, unjust regime.’32 Specifically, the nature of the (Maronite-dominated) political system is rejected as it is ‘based on tribal blood-ties (‘asabiyya), sectarian privileges, and alliance with colonial powers and Israel […]’.33 The ‘Christians of Lebanon’ are invited to shake off the yoke of this backward system, and to join in the fight of overthrowing it and establishing a more equitable and just order based on the tenets of Islam. It is perhaps needless to say that in the context of a raging civil war, the document failed to persuade any Christians to join in Hizbullah's struggle and to support it; yet, the conciliatory tone employed towards Christians and thereby, presumably, other groups in Lebanon is remarkable and shows a minimal political window for coalition-building and cooperation. Yet, the actions of the group show that the ‘enemies’ of Hizbullah are not granted any mercy whatsoever: the Open Letter lauds the bombings of the US Embassy and the Marine barracks as heroic operations, and in 1985 a number of brutal kidnappings of Western diplomats were carried out, often ending in death for the hostages. A US Embassy cable dated March 1985, for example, cites a newspaper article recounting the fate of a kidnapped US Embassy staff member:

An American diplomat kidnapped by Lebanese extremists is being paraded around the country in an open truck and publicly tortured and humiliated. The CIA caravan – as the kidnappers call it – goes from one Shiʽite village to another in Lebanon's Beka'a valley, attracting huge jeering crowds while the prize hostage is forced to take part in the ‘show’.34

Hizbullah-affiliated groups had kidnapped dozens of Americans, British and French in March 1984. A TWA plane was also hijacked by Hizbullah in 1985, as well as two Kuwaiti airplanes, in 1984 and 1988.35 Nasrallah later dismissed many of the hostage-takings as having been the work of Islamic Jihad, an organization entirely independent of Hizbullah.36 Islamic Jihad is, however, regarded as Hizbullah's ‘military wing’ at least during the 1980s,37 and has been closely linked to Imad Mughniyeh, one of the founding figures of Hizbullah who was assassinated in Damascus in 2005. Today, Mughniyeh is officially claimed as a major reference and a revered martyr by Hizbullah; billboards with his image and captioned ‘Martyr of the Resistance’ abound in South Beirut and South Lebanon. Viewed in light of this, the claim of Hizbullah's current Secretary-General that Mughniyeh's work was totally independent of Hizbullah's seems somewhat disingenuous.

From revolution to participation: 1985–92

So far, I have been summarizing Hizbullah's development from the founding days up to the Open Letter of 1985, which is often regarded as the official founding of the party. However, a lot of important groundwork for Hizbullah's establishment was already done prior to 1985.

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