Augustus Richard Norton (1946–2019)

Hezbollah has been one of the most well-known terrorist/Islamic-militant organizations on the planet since it came to prominence in the 1980s by attacking Israeli and American targets during Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon. It is a Shiite religious group that seeks two things: 1) the expulsion of all Israeli forces from Lebanese soil (Israel and Hezbollah disagree over whether Israel has in fact done this) and 2) a "fair" distribution of political power within Lebanon, where Shiites have often been excluded from power by Christians and Sunnis.

In Hezbollah: A Short History Augustus Richard Norton attempts to dispel the notion that Hezbollah is an organization that commits acts of terror for terror's sake and that it seeks perpetual war against the West. In other words, Norton tries to dispel the notion that Hezbollah is basically a Shiite version of al Qaeda. He largely succeeds at this effort.

Instead, Norton positions Hezbollah as a religious/nationalist movement that would probably refrain from undertaking attacks on Israel if the Israelis evacuated all Lebanese territory and engaged it in negotiations, as part of a nationwide Lebanese team, to end Israeli-Lebanese conflict. In essence, Norton believes that Israel could make peace with Hezbollah before settling the dispute with the Palestinians.

While I think that is being optimistic on Norton's part, I do buy into his position that Hezbollah is looking to get out of the violent militia racket and into the governing one. Furthermore, Norton also effectively positions Hezbollah as a nationalist movement, and not a pan-Arab or pan-Islamic, or even a pan-Shiite one. In other words, there is a possibility of splitting Hezbollah from its Syrian and Iranian sponsors if a deal can be worked out that leaves Hezbollah with a strong position within Lebanese politics. Whether or not Israel can take such a leap of faith remains to be seen. Since 1980, Israel's most difficult military encounters have been with Hezbollah, not the PLO or Hamas or any Arab state. Letting Hezbollah get control of Lebanon's military may be expecting too much of Israel despite the signs of Hezbollah's willingness to live and let live.

Interestingly, Norton claims that while Hezbollah claimed victory in the 2006 war with Israel, Hezbollah's leaders privately admitted that Israel inflicted a lot of damage on the organization, both physically and psychologically. This may well have been a turning point in Hezbollah's history that caused it to decide once and for all to try and live peacefully with Israel. If so, this in itself would be reason to call Israel's invasion of Lebanon a success. Of course, only time will tell.… (més)