Shaping Lebanon's Borderlands: Armed Resistance and International Intervention in South Lebanon

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Regional struggles, wars and local confrontations have marked the south of Lebanon since the end of the 1960s. They have transformed this marginalized and rural region into a battlefield and redefined the relationships between international, regional and local actors. The most recent of these actors the Palestinian refugees and their armed resistance, the Islamic Shi i movement Hizbullah, and the UN local mission (UNIFIL) have marked and shaped the place, and in turn operating in this borderland has affected their identities. Based on Daniel Meier s extensive fieldwork in the region, this book offers interviews with militants, his own observations of this conflict-ridden and dangerous region as well as incisive political analysis concerning the armed militias operating in the area. It is through this in-depth examination of the southern borderlands of Lebanon that Meier sheds new light on some of the major Middle Eastern confrontations of the last half a century."

Reviews

'Shaping Lebanon's Borderlands examines a tiny patch of the earth's surface but one of immense contemporary significance. This is the borderland of Southern Lebanon - that unmarked boundary between Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. Meier draws upon his deep understanding of Palestinian-Lebanese relationships to inform this intelligent and intriguing study of the political relationships between space and identity in the limited territory of Southern Lebanon. This book is of tremendous importance in understanding the complex relationships of the Lebanese people with four major actors: Palestine refugees in Lebanon; Hizbollah; the UN military presence in the area (UNIFIL); and the Lebanese state. These relationships and the nature of bordering will become critically important to understanding the post Arab Uprising era to come.' - Dawn Chatty, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Forced Migration, University of Oxford, '... a comprehensive study on a region that since the 1970s has been the most volatile frontline of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. It is essential reading not only for students of the modern Middle East but also for those who are interested in border dynamics worldwide, in militant non-state actors and in identity construction in conflict zones.' - Asher Kaufman, Professor of History and Peace Studies, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, 'Reading Shaping Lebanon's Borderlands was like navigating uncharted waters. Spatial issues, as they inextricably linked with sovereignty and national self-understanding, are analyzed in a new light. The book recapitulates eloquently how various narratives were constructed.' - Tarek Mitri, Director of Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut

Author Bio

Daniel Meier is Visiting Fellow of the Centre for Lebanese Studies at the Middle East Centre, St Antony s. He holds a PhD in Development Studies from the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva."