Beware of Small States by Hirst, David -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Also by David Hirst Title Page Dedication Epigraph Acknowledgements CHAPTER ONE - The Seeds of Conflict

LEBANON: THE SMALL, SECTARIAN STATE OF THE MIDDLE EAST SYKES-PICOT: FRANCE AND BRITAIN SHARE THE SPOILS THE MARONITES AND THE BIRTH OF GREATER LEBANON ‘DON’T WORRY, DOCTOR WISE; PALESTINE IS YOURS’ THE PALESTINIANS ARE ARABS TOO

CHAPTER TWO - Zionists and Maronites

EARLY DESIGNS ON LEBANON THE FIRST CONTACTS ARABS FEAR THE LOSS OF PALESTINE TO THE ZIONISTS, BUT STILL DO BUSINESS WITH ... AND LEBANON EVEN WELCOMES THEM THE GREAT REBELLION LEBANON LEADS THE ARABS IN SUPPORT THE MARONITES DIVIDED BETWEEN ARABS AND ZIONISTS: THEIR ‘ARABISTS’ PREVAIL

CHAPTER THREE - The Reckoning Delayed

THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF THE PALESTINIANS MASSACRES IN GALILEE, FLIGHT TO LEBANON ISRAEL LEAVES LEBANON IN PEACE ISRAEL’S BORDER WARS WITH ITS OTHER ARAB NEIGHBOURS TERRITORIAL EXPANSION AND REGIONAL HEGEMONY THE OBJECTIVE MAKING WAR TO MAKE PEACE THE ROAD TO SUEZ BEN-GURION PUSHES FOR A ‘CHRISTIAN LEBANON’ SEARCHING FOR THE CASUS BELLI THAT NEVER QUITE COMES SUEZ TO THE RESCUE: BEN-GURION’S ‘FANTASTIC’ PLAN FOR THE MIDDLE EAST DEBACLE AT SUEZ: ANY PLAN WOULD NOW BE NASSER’S, NOT BEN-GURION’S MINI CIVIL WAR, 1958 LEBANON STAYS OUT OF TWO MORE ARAB-ISRAELI WARS NASSER’S DEFEAT, MARONITES’ DELIGHT

CHAPTER FOUR - Lebanon and the Palestinians

THE ONLY PASSION OF THE REFUGEES FROM THE ENEMY’S OPPRESSION TO THE BROTHER’S WHAT WAS TAKEN BY FORCE COULD ONLY BE RESTORED BY FORCE THE ‘BATTLE OF DESTINY’ - AWAITING IT IN VAIN FROM LEBANON - FATAH’S FIRST RAID INTO ISRAEL FATAH COMES INTO ITS OWN THE PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE HAS NOWHERE TO GO BUT LEBANON ‘TO LET DOWN THE PALESTINIANS WAS TANTAMOUNT TO LETTING DOWN THE LEBANESE ... RAIDS AND REPRISALS: THE INFERNAL CYCLE BEGINS COUNTDOWN TO CIVIL WAR

CHAPTER FIVE - Civil War in Lebanon

‘SARAJEVO’ IT WAS A CIVIL WAR, BUT A REGIONAL ONE TOO: LEBANON THE BATTLEGROUND OF THE ... THE PALESTINIANS TRIGGERED THE WAR, BUT ISRAEL TRULY WAGED IT FROM PROVISIONAL STATE-IN-EXILE TO PERMANENT ONE IN PALESTINE THE ARAB STATES WAGE REGIONAL WAR BY PROXY THE LEBANESE CONTENDERS: CONSERVATIVE MARONITES VERSUS REFORMIST MUSLIM/LEFTISTS FLYING ROADBLOCKS AND IDENTITY CARD KILLINGS SYRIA STEPS INTO THE FRAY ASAD JOINS THE ENEMY CAMP AFTER 56 TRUCES, THE ARABS IMPOSE A LONGER ONE THAN USUAL

CHAPTER SIX - Imperial Hubris

THE FIFTH ARAB-ISRAELI WAR ‘MODERATION’ IN ATROCIOUS GUISE SAVING THE MARONITES BASHIR GEMAYEL, MARONITE CHRISTIAN PALADIN BEGIN PUTS WAR ON THE AGENDA - WITH OFFERS OF PEACE SHARON PLOTS THE ‘HOW’ AND ‘WHEN’ ‘THE TOTAL DISINTEGRATION OF LEBANON IS THE PRECEDENT FOR THE ENTIRE ARAB WORLD’ MURDERING IRISH PEACEKEEPERS THE SHIITES TURN AGAINST THE PALESTINIANS BOMBING THE PALESTINIANS OUT OF THEIR ‘MODERATION’ ‘IT’S POSSIBLE I WILL BE IN BEIRUT TOMORROW.’ ITS ‘GREATEST FOLLY’: THE ISRAELI ARMY ENTERS THE MORASS OF LEBANON AN AMERICAN ‘HUNTING LICENCE’ FOR SHARON ‘UNDER THE PROTECTION OF ISRAELI BAYONETS’ THE ‘KING OF ISRAEL’ PROMISES FORTY YEARS OF PEACE BEGIN AND SHARON BEGIN TO LOSE THEIR WAR ‘BEIRUT IS NOT OURS TO DESTROY.’

CHAPTER SEVEN - The Massacre of Sabra and Shatila

‘A PEACE WITH LEBANON BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR’ ‘SHEIKH BASHIR’ TURNS AGAINST HIS ISRAELI BENEFACTORS THE DOUGHTY CHRISTIAN WARRIOR CRIED: ‘PUT THE HANDCUFFS ON; I AM YOUR VASSAL’ THE ASSASSINATION OF ‘SHEIKH BASHIR’ ISRAEL SENDS THE PHALANGISTS INTO SABRA AND SHATILA THE GREATEST MISFORTUNE ‘GOYIM ARE KILLING GOYIM, AND THE WORLD IS TRYING TO HANG THE JEWS FOR THE CRIME’ ‘PERSONALLY I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THEM ALL DEAD.’ ISRAEL IN DECLINE ... ... AND THE MARONITES LOSE THEIR PRIMACY AN ISRAELI ‘HOUSEWARMING PRESENT’ TO THE MARINES THE MARINES TAKE TO THE BOATS FIRST THE PALESTINIANS, NOW HIZBULLAH

CHAPTER EIGHT - Khomeini, Islamists and the Shiite Uprising

LEBANON AND THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION FIGHTING THE CANCEROUS GOITRE OF ISRAEL UNTIL ITS OBLITERATION ... ... AND RESISTING THE ‘GREAT SATAN’ IRAN AND SYRIA, MOST IMPROBABLE BUT ENDURING OF ALLIES, FIND COMMON CAUSE IN LEBANON ‘A SCUFFLE OF CAMELS’ IN THE DESERT IRAN MAKES SYRIA A VERY GENEROUS OFFER INDEED SYRIA REJECTS IT, BUT LEBANON LIVES EVER AFTER WITH ITS LEGACY HIZBULLAH IS BORN AN ISLAMIC REPUBLIC IN MINIATURE ‘THE SWORD AND THE SHIELD’ ‘THE LARGEST NON-NUCLEAR EXPLOSION EVER DETONATED ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH’ DEBACLE ‘PRINCE OF MARTYRS’ FROM RICE AND FLOWERS TO GRENADES AND HOME-MADE BOMBS ABOVE AND APART FROM ‘THE MUD OF ARAB POLITICS’ THE INEXPLICABLE SHIITES THE ‘IRON FIST’ AND THE ‘INFERNO’ ‘THE INVINCIBLE ISRAELI ARMY IS RUNNING AWAY’

CHAPTER NINE - The Civil War Closes

THE LAND OF HOBBESIAN CHAOS THE GENERAL’S ‘WAR OF LIBERATION’ THE MARONITE COMMUNITY BLOWS ITSELF APART IN STYLE THE ‘POISONED CHALICE’ OF A CEASEFIRE THE ‘SECOND REPUBLIC’ OF LEBANON THE MANIACAL FOLLY OF SADDAM HUSSEIN PAX SYRIANA AT LAST THE END OF THE WAR AND THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MILITIAS — EXCEPT FOR HIZBULLAH THE ISLAMIC RESISTANCE ‘THEY JUST WALKED INTO THE LINE OF FIRE AND WERE CUT DOWN VERY BADLY’ A PALESTINIAN COMEBACK IRAN, HIZBULLAH — AND THE FIRST PALESTINIAN INTIFADA HIZBULLAH WAGES SYRIA’S PROXY WAR THE HUNT FOR WESTERNERS ‘THAT RAG IN BEIRUT’ ‘EXECUTING’ THE JEWS ‘CLOSING THE HOSTAGE FILE’ SHIITE VERSUS SHIITE THE WAR OF THE CAMPS HIZBULLAH VERSUS AMAL ISLAMIC STATE WITHIN THE STATE THE CIA’S REVENGE WELFARE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE THE ‘LEBANONIZATION’ OF HIZBULLAH

CHAPTER TEN - Triumph of the Warrior-Priest

‘A MESSAGE TO TERRORISTS EVERYWHERE’ A NEW LEADER FOR HIZBULLAH ‘BETWEEN HONG KONG AND HANOI’ BLEEDING THE ENEMY SLOWLY THE RULES OF THE GAME ACCOUNTABILITY, 1993 GRAPES OF WRATH, 1996 THE SHADOW OF IRAN A PUBLIC THIRSTING FOR VENGEANCE OF ANY KIND A GRISLIER FIASCO THAN ‘ACCOUNTABILITY’ MASSACRE AT QANA CONVERSION ON THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS JUMPING CLAYMORES, ROCK BOMBS AND OTHER EXPLOSIVE DEVICES ‘THIS MOLOCH, THIS CURSED PLACE’ AN IGNOMINIOUS SCUTTLE AN ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE BLACKSMITH WITH A HAMMER BUT NO ANVIL WEAKER THAN A SPIDER’S WEB GOOD - BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH 9/11 AND THE GREAT UNRAVELLING

CHAPTER ELEVEN - Redrawing the Map of the Middle East

CLEAN BREAK ‘A FUSION OF BREATHTAKING UTOPIANISM WITH BARELY DISGUISED MACHTPOLITIK’ RIDDING THE WORLD OF EVIL ‘OUR ENEMIES, THE SAUDIS’ ‘OUR BIN LADEN’ AFTER IRAQ, IRAN - THEN SYRIA TOO ‘WE DON’T SPEAK TO EVIL’ ‘THE MOST VICIOUS AND EFFECTIVE TERRORIST ORGANIZATION IN THE WORLD’ ‘TURNING LEBANON BACK TO THE STONE AGE?’

CHAPTER TWELVE - Getting Syria Out of Lebanon

THE ‘NEO-IMPERIAL’ AND THE ’MISSIONARY’ ‘FINISHING OFF WHAT LITTLE OF THE DEMOCRACY WE HAVE TO BOAST ABOUT’ ‘I WILL BREAK LEBANON OVER YOUR HEAD AND WALID JUMBLAT‘S’ ‘YOU KNOW, IT COULD BE ME OR YOU IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS’ THE MURDER OF ‘MR LEBANON’ THE CEDAR REVOLUTION 8 MARCH, 14 MARCH APRÈS MOI LE DELUGE SYRIA TURNS THE TIDE ‘THE DIZZYING DUPLICITY OF LEBANON’S POLITICS’ AN UNNATURAL MARRIAGE JUST WHAT KIND OF A STATE WAS LEBANON? ‘THEY NEVER LEFT IN TERMS OF THEIR CRIMINAL DEEDS’ THE SHIITE CRESCENT IRAN, VICTOR OF AMERICA’S WAR SUPPORTING DEMOCRACY — BUT NOT DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED GOVERNMENTS A WAR WAITING TO HAPPEN

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - The Sixth War

OPERATION TRUE PROMISE ‘WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?’ THE RETURN TO UNIVERSAL JIHAD ‘NASRALLAH MUST DIE’ ’A WAR OF CHOICE WHICH WE STARTED’ IT WAS GOING TO BE QUICK AND EASY ‘WE’VE WON THE WAR’ ‘A SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE’ OUTRAGE IN LEBANON ‘BREAK HIZBULLAH’S SPINE’ ‘THIS IS OUR WAR TOO’ WAS ISRAEL JUST THE SPIDER’S WEB NASRALLAH SAID IT WAS? MILITARY FAILURE MISSILES WERE KING NORTHERN ISRAEL SUFFERS TOO ‘BY FAR THE GREATEST GUERILLA GROUP IN THE WORLD’ THE BATTLE OF BINT JBEIL THE NATION RALLIES TO HIZBULLAH ‘YOU AND THE WORLD DESCRIBED US AS INSANE - BUT WE THINK WE ARE WISE’ EVEN UNTO THE LANDS OF BUSH AND BLAIR QANA-II TURNING-POINT FROM STRATEGIC ASSET TO STRATEGIC LIABILITY SEARCH FOR A CEASEFIRE ‘THE WRITHING OF AN INJURED BEAST’ ‘THE REAL WAR, WAR WITH A CAPITAL W’ A GRAND FINALE OF CLUSTER BOMBS

CHAPTER FOURTEEN - Who Won?

‘A VICTORY TOO GREAT TO BE COMPREHENDED’ ‘DE FACTO CALIPH OF THE ARABS AND THE MUSLIMS’ NO, OUR SIDE WON SELLING FISH IN THE SEA ‘GIVE ME THE STATE AND TO THE STATE I SHALL SURRENDER MY WEAPONS’ THE TENTH GREATEST ‘MISSILE POWER’ IN THE WORLD THE HIZBULLAH STATE OF LEBANON ‘THE DAHIYA DOCTRINE’

CHAPTER FIFTEEN - Gaza

SHOCK AND AWE, ISRAELI-STYLE FOR HIZBULLAH — ONLY A POLITICAL, NOT A SHOOTING, WAR WHO WON THIS TIME? ‘GOING CRAZY’

EPILOGUE Notes Index Copyright Page

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