Hezbollah and Hamas Affect on Religious Conflict in the Middle East

• Buffer
• Tweet

What is Hezbollah

Hezbollah, which is Arabic meaning “the party of god,” is a Shiite Islamist terror organization founded in Iran and trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, with its most active branch based in Lebanon. The organization is headed by Hassan Nasrallah, himself installed by Iranian leader Ali Rafsanjani. Hezbollah is an international terrorist organization, which now holds real political power in Lebanon. Founded in 1985, its very purpose and existence is predicated upon fomenting religious conflict. Hezbollah’s terrorist activities are funded directly by Iran as well as by drug trafficking of hashish in the region and drug smuggling in Latin America.

How does Hezbollah affect religious conflict in the Middle East?

Its intentions of creating religious conflict in the Middle East are quite evident from its charter. In part, its founding charter reads “We see in Israel the vanguard of the United States in our Islamic world. It is the hated enemy, which must be fought until the hated ones get what they deserve. This enemy is the greatest danger to our future generations and to the destiny of our lands. Therefore, our struggle will end only when this entity is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease-fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated. We vigorously condemn all plans for negotiation with Israel, and regard all negotiators as enemies, for the reason that such negotiation is nothing but the recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist occupation of Palestine.” But perhaps even more instructive of Hezbollah’s intentions to foment religious conflict and regional instability is the terrorist organization’s emblem and flag, emblazoned with an AK-47 extending from a rocket launching truck with the entire globe in the background.

Cooperation between Hezbollah and Iran began in the 1970s in Lebanon between Hezbollah leaders and exiled Iranian opponents of the Shah of Iran and were assisted by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Cooperation intensified following the Iranian Islamic revolution of 1979. Armed by Iran and Syria, Hezbollah was successful in driving both the United States and France out of Lebanon. Of the more notable terrorist attacks of that time are the destruction of the U.S. embassy in Beirut and the attacks on international peacekeeping forces, the largest of which resulted in the deaths of 241 U.S. marines.

The unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the buffer and security zone in Southern Lebanon, created following the 1982 Lebanon War, was seen as a major victory for Hezbollah, who went on to gain tremendous political power, becoming the dominant force in Lebanese politics. Officially, Hezbollah continues to remain part of the Lebanese government, which in turn recognizes the armed wing of Hezbollah as acting on behalf of the state.

In the summer of 2006, Hezbollah opened fire on Northern Israel with katyushas and mortars. They also attacked an Israeli patrol inside Israeli borders, killing three soldiers, destroying an IDF tank and taking two prisoners. This led to Israeli reprisals and the start of the Second Lebanon War. As the war, which was widely seen as mismanaged by the Israeli side continued, Hezbollah pounded northern and central Israel with hundreds of rockets and missiles almost daily, including major Israeli cities such as Hadera, Haifa and Tiberias.

As Israel prepared for a major offensive and drive towards Beirut, the war was brought to a swift and sudden end by UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which enlarged the UNIFIL peacekeeping mission in Southern Lebanon, charged with disarming Hezbollah and preventing the flow of arms from Syria and Iran. As with previous UN resolutions, such as resolution 1559 of 2004 calling for Hezbollah to disarm, 1701 also proved ineffective, as the flow of arms from Iran and Syria has actually increased in volume and sophistication, with Hezbollah now possessing a greater arsenal of rockets and missiles pointed at Israel, than before the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War. Hezbollah now possesses one of the most sophisticated armies in the Middle East. Further empowered by the extremist rhetoric towards religious conflict emanating from Iranian leaders, Hezbollah now poses a strategic and existential threat to the State of Israel as well as the security and stability of the entire Middle East region.

What is Hamas

One of the main sources of religious conflict in the Middle East is the existence and activities of the Hamas terrorist organization. Hamas was created in 1987 in Gaza as the armed wing in Palestine of the Muslim Brotherhood. Founding leaders of Hamas include Ahmed Yassin, Abd al Aziz Rantisi, Mahmoud Zahar and Khalid Mashaal, amongst others. The Hamas charter is extremely anti-Semitic in nature and even cites the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a legitimate document.

How does Hamas affect religious conflict in the Middle East?

Hamas did not support Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War, and as a result, Gulf States shifted funding from Arafat’s Fatah organization to Hamas, enabling them to create their widespread and efficient network of social services provided to the Palestinian people. This led to a tremendous surge in public support for Hamas due to the efficient operation of these services as well as the public perception of a lack of corruption within the Hamas party ranks. This regional shift helped pave the way to Hamas’ rise to power in the Gaza Strip and the intensification of religious conflict in the region.

Hamas rebelled against the Oslo process and beginning in 1994 embarked upon a bloody campaign of terrorist attacks against Israel. In January of 2006, Hamas won a landslide victory over Fatah, gaining an absolute majority in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). To this day, Hamas maintains tight control over the Gaza Strip, which is a small and essentially land-locked state. The internal political landscape is marred by a lack of capacity for effective governance, factional fighting and struggles for power.

Religious conflict and instability in the region has grown as Hamas has come into conflict with another terrorist organization, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is the “military” wing of Fatah. Involved in a multitude of terrorist attacks since 2002, the Brigade is not an Islamist group like Hamas, but rather, has an ideology rooted in Palestinian nationalism. Tensions centering on the balance of power between Hamas and Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority, have been further exacerbated by Hamas’ creation of its Executive Force (ESF). The Executive Force was created under the Ministry of the Interior and has been involved in both the upkeep of law and order in Gaza as well as factional violence against Fatah. Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas has no authority over this force, which is known to have killed a number of opposing security personnel in clashes with Fatah, as well as having attacked PA government installations on multiple occasions.

The Gaza Strip has long been safe haven and base of operations to numerous terrorist organizations fueling religious conflict in the region. A trend of splintering has witnessed the establishment and growth of previously unheard of terror groups. With the Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005, and the rise to power of Hamas, terrorist groups have enjoyed increasingly unfettered operations as well as a build-up of arms and increased capacity to wage war.

On the humanitarian front, Gaza is caught in an economic free fall as the post-Hamas boycott continues. The Palestinian population of Gaza is mired in a very poor quality of life. Skyrocketing unemployment and increasingly deep poverty and lack of public services are the hallmarks of life in Gaza with a large segment of the population unable to meet their most basic daily needs. Access to clean water is becoming a luxury while food insecurity increases at a fast rate. All of these factors have in turn led to an increased radicalization of the population ruled by Hamas, which continues to fuel the religious conflict in the Middle East.

Resource by B.Matthews

I am a fun outgoing girl who loves to go to concerts and sit on the grass and read. My favorite books are those that make me think about life, love and how the world spins around no matter the troubles that you're going through.

Related Research For Teachers, Students, and Kids