HISTORY 244 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Hassan Nasrallah, Perfect Sense, Benjamin Netanyahu
Outline -The Wars of 2006-2009
I. Overview
● After oslo collapsed both sides resumed the unilateral approaches from before
○ Israel occupied the west bank and crushed the intifada
■ Pulled out of gaza
○ Hezbollah and hamas intensified their arm struggle
● These wars set the
II. State vs. Non-State Fighters
● Pitted the state of israel against non state
○ Hezbollah and hamas
○ A state is an organization with internationally recognized authority over a given
territory
○ A state fields conventional armies where soldiers wear uniforms
○ A non state has no internationally recognized territory and don't wear uniforms so
they blend in w civilians
○ Until 83, wars were instate, symmetric war. An equivalent between the two sides
○ With the rise if the PLL, asymmetric warfare became the norm
■ asymmetric - conventional armies fight guerillas
○ Weakness - limited power
■ Cant invade
■ Cant occupy enemies territory
■ Cant easily change the strategic equation
■ They cant protect the civilians or infrastructure against massive retaliation
■ They need fewer supplies then conventional army
■ Greater staying power
■ Harder to find bc they blend in w civilians
■ Tends to produce messy outcomes
■ After 1983- israel had no clear cut military victory bc of this
● Same as US after 1945
■ By operating in non state areas, their opponents are gonna kill civilians
● Gains world sympathy - davi vs goliath
■ By attacking israel, hez and hamas has been able to prevent peace
■ Will not accept the loss of pal
■ If hez and hamas would recognize israel, israel would open up
commercial ties
■ Makes it impossible for israel to surrender land to these groups bc all they
want to do is destroy israel
■ Strengthens right wing israelis who think settlements and oppression are
the only hope for security
● Infuriate pals and make peace less likely
○ 1996- attacks by hamas and hizbollah helped to destroy perez in favor of
netanyahu
○ 2001- second intifada destroyed barak and killed the oslo process entirely
○ The legacy of the second intifada has made it impossible to pursue new
negotiations
○ Accept just solution to the refugee problem
○ In return the arab states promised to recognize israel
○ This was a potential game changer bc first time since 48 , the arab league was
calling for israels withdrawal from the 67 borders
○ Sharon said withdrawal from west bank was a non starter
○ Israel itself made another peace offer in 2008, hexbollah and hamas closed down
this offer
○ Main point: despite military weakness, non state actors can wield considerable
power
III. 2006 Lebanon War
● By withdrawing from security zone along the border of LEb in 2000, israel sought to
quiet tensions and open negotiations with Hez
● Hez general stated his position in 2000, oppose and reconciliation w israel
● Hezbollah believes with the Pal cause
○ Its militancy reflected two pragmatic factors
■ Hez wanted to force israel to release 2-4 lebanese prisoners they held in
jail
■ Hez was sensitive to lebanese domestic political pressure
○ Once israel left Leb, sunni and christisn LEb, demand hiz disarm the way
○ Hiz took a lot of actions with the purpose of increasing tensions with israel
○ Hiz claimed its arms were neccessary to defend against israel
○ Hiz sought to strengthen weak sense of leb nationality by common enemy and
improve own political position within leb
■ Taunted israel about their defeat
● Posters of decapitated soldiers
■ Claimed that israel still occupied leb territory
■ Attacked israeli shoulders within the sheba farms area
● Sheba farms not Leb soil, part of Syria
■ Fired artillery shelling and frequent raids into israel
■ Israel responded with frequent counter raids and artillery
● No less aggressive then Hiz
● Different end goals
● By early 2006- both sides wanted bigger fight
● Cross boarder raid in july 2006 and israels heavy retaliation that
finally produced full scale war
● Ambushed an israeli patrol and killed 10 israeli soldiers
● Nasrallah assumed he could ride out the attacks
Document Summary
After oslo collapsed both sides resumed the unilateral approaches from before. Israel occupied the west bank and crushed the intifada. Hezbollah and hamas intensified their arm struggle. Pitted the state of israel against non state. A state is an organization with internationally recognized authority over a given territory. A state fields conventional armies where soldiers wear uniforms. A non state has no internationally recognized territory and don"t wear uniforms so they blend in w civilians. Until 83, wars were instate, symmetric war. With the rise if the pll, asymmetric warfare became the norm. They cant protect the civilians or infrastructure against massive retaliation. They need fewer supplies then conventional army. Harder to find bc they blend in w civilians. After 1983- israel had no clear cut military victory bc of this. By operating in non state areas, their opponents are gonna kill civilians. Gains world sympathy - davi vs goliath.
