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Article Excerpt
A Beirut taxi driver hears news that the Hezbollah-operated television station where his son and daughter-in-law work has just been bombed by Israeli warplanes. Beirut's southern suburb is being pummeled in response to the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants in July 2006. While Lebanese public opinion regarding the Hezbollah abductions is divided, most agree that Lebanon would not be under attack, if it were not for Hezbollah's action. All of Lebanon is likely to be affected by Israel's destruction of infrastructure, the flight of tourists and capital, and the faltering economy that will follow in the conflict's wake. In spite of this knowledge, and in spite of believing his son and daughter-in-law to be dead, when the taxi driver is asked if he still supports Hezbollah's actions, he replies, "Yes. There is no other way." (1) What accounts for Hezbollah's unwavering base of support? Using empirical evidence gathered during field research in Lebanon, this article seeks to explore what motivates Hezbollah to provide social services and how social-service provision increases community support for Hezbollah. Central to the article is the assertion that employees of Hezbollah's nonprofit health and social-service organizations see their work as an act of resistance orjihad that is integral to Hezbollah's struggle against Israel and the West.
This article is based on an empirical study of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide health and social services in Lebanon. The Lebanon portion of the study involved interviews of 30 employees of 22 NGOs. Five of these individuals were explicitly affiliated with Hezbollah and were employed by Hezbollah-operated NGOs. Other interview participants worked with Sunni, Christian, Druze and secular NGOs and discussed their organizations' partnerships with Hezbollah and/or Hezbollah's role as a player in the Lebanese NGO sector. Data was collected in Lebanon in December 2005 and January 2006 through semi-structured interviews with staff of NGOs providing health and social services to low-income populations. Interview data were complemented with a content analysis of publications and publicity materials produced by Hezbollah's health and social-service NGOs.
A MILITARY AND POLITICAL ACTOR
Hezbollah is an important political player in Lebanon. Outside that country, Hezbollah is best known for its military actions against Israel, which it began fighting during Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. More recently, Hezbollah's military actions involved the July 12, 2006, kidnapping of Israeli soldiers in hopes of a prisoner exchange, which was followed by a 34-day Israeli bombardment of Lebanon and Hezbollah missile attacks against Israel's northern cities. However, Israel has not been Hezbollah's only target. The United States has labeled Hezbollah a terrorist organization due to a 1983 attack that killed 241 American Marines in Beirut, as well as subsequent attacks against American and Jewish targets. (2) Yet, other governments disagree with labeling Hezbollah a terrorist organization and make an effort to differentiate among Hezbollah's military, political and charitable activities. Hezbollah is not included in the European Union's list of terrorist organizations, (3) though the EU has expressed concern about various Hezbollah attacks on Israel and has urged the Lebanese government and other regional players to end attacks emanating from Lebanon's territory. (4)
Beyond its role as a paramilitary organization, Hezbollah is an important political party in Lebanon, holding numerous positions in municipal governments and in the Lebanese parliament. Hezbollah controls a large parliamentary bloc composed of 14 deputies, mainly Shiite Muslims and some Christians. As there are a total of 128 legislators in the Lebanese parliament, the size of this bloc makes Hezbollah an important player. Hezbollah also has two ministers in the current government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora: the minister of electrical and hydraulic resources and the minister of labor. Moreover, Hezbollah has close relationships with other government ministers who are not officially members of the party. Additionally, in Lebanon each religious sect has veto power over national policies, and Hezbollah is one of the holders of the Shiite veto, giving the party significant influence.
In addition to its national political power, Hezbollah gained control of a large number of municipalities in southern Lebanon after the 2004 municipal elections. Hezbollah controls 60 percent of municipalities in southern Lebanon and has been successful in gaining posts in Beirut's southern suburb, besides controlling 27 out of 30 contested municipalities in the Bekaa Valley. (5) Such a strong local and national presence makes it difficult for international donors and governmental entities to avoid interaction with Hezbollah. However, beyond its military and political roles, Hezbollah operates an extremely sophisticated network of health and social-service providers that far exceeds the capacity of the Lebanese state.
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
In 1974, Lebanese Shiite cleric Mousa El Sadr started the Movement of the Deprived, which came to be called Amal, an Arabic acronym for the Legions of Islamic Resistance. (6) Amal is considered to be the original political party from which the founders of Hezbollah emerged. In 1982, Hezbollah was created in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It was bolstered by the arrival of 1,000 Iranian Revolutionary Guards, (7) part of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's effort to export the Islamic revolution. From 1982 until the present, Hezbollah's most visible activity has been its resistance against the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. However, in 2000, Israel withdrew from the regions it occupied, keeping only the Shebaa Farms, the ownership of which is still undetermined. A number of scholars predicted that Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon would spell the end of Hezbollah as a party, since it had so thoroughly incorporated military resistance into its identity and mission. (8) However, rather than dissolving, Hezbollah emerged to become a primary player in the Lebanese political system. One factor that helped Hezbollah to play a stronger political role in society and transform itself from a military actor into a political party was its provisions of healthcare and social services.
The exact date that Hezbollah began helping the poor Shiite community in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa region is not clearly known. In interviews, the staff of Hezbollah's charities describe their social-service provision as beginning with individual initiatives that later evolved into its more elaborate form, making it difficult to pinpoint an exact beginning. (9) In another interview, Hezbollah expert Judith Palmer Harik indicated that the early history of Hezbollah is murky enough that it is difficult to know whether the group's political or social work began first. (10) However, the people of Lebanon, and particularly the Shiite community, quickly came to view Hezbollah as a movement for the poor. (11) Basic assistance activities such as aiding people trapped in their homes in the Bekaa during a 1992 snowstorm have caused the public to take notice of Hezbollah's role. (12)
HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES
Beirut's downtown and its southern suburb offer a stark contrast. A primarily Shiite neighborhood, the southern suburb is dotted with small markets rather than hip bars and cafes, and the women wear veils over their heads rather than the miniskirts and high heels seen downtown. The streets are lined with modest blocks of flats, many in poor repair and still pockmarked by the bullets of the civil war. Hezbollah's social-welfare headquarters looks...
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