Political Science

The nature of contemporary relations between two countries
From the point of view of Lebanese authors, the relations between Lebanon and Israel is one sided which means that while the Lebanese government wanted both political and economic peace, the Israeli government maintains its interests in the Southern Lebanon which provokes conflict among the radical Lebanese armed movement, the Hezbollah. With the end of the 34 days conflict that started in July 1986 with the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers it appeared that Israel and Lebanon have still hostile yet diplomatic relationship. Hostile in a sense that Israel at any time would retaliate to any attacks that will be carried out by the Hezbollah, but diplomatic because according to a document titled Middle East Lebanon published by CIA The World Fact Book, it appeared that Lebanon is now on its feet to comply with the democratic principles which insures that Lebanon is doing its best to free the country of the radical armed groups that initiates arm confrontation with Israel (CIA-The World fact book).

Given the above, it was not the Lebanese government that was in conflict with Israel but those armed militias backed up by Iran and Syria. That is, since Lebanon was under the control of Syria, and Iran was funding Hezbollah, it was these countries that were hostile to Israel and not Lebanon. Lebanon was reduced to a weak state being used by both Iran and Syria to wage terrorism on Israel. In a Paper entitled Israels Timeline From Ancient to Contemporary Times A Brief Modern History of Arab-Israeli Relations 1897 Present, the paper pointed that Lebanon War in 1982 was not between Israel and Lebanon rather it was a war between Israel and the PLO (Israels Timeline). The paper noted that Israel withdraw its troops from Lebanon in 1985 in view of the civil war raging during this period, and concentrated its troops in southern Lebanon where the terrorist Hezbollah organization dwells. This suggests that Israel was only at war with the Hezbollah and not with Lebanon. Therefore, relations between these countries were simply affected by the conflict.   

The nature of the relationship therefore between Israel and Lebanon though not hostile yet it is not engaging in military action. From an independent viewpoint, Israel and Lebanons relations were influenced by forces that are beyond control on the part of Lebanon. Lebanon serves as a pawn which was pushed by both Syria and Iran to advance their own interests against Israel through their financial support with Hamas and Hezbollah who carried out attacks on Israeli soldiers.   

Are they members of the same international institutions
Yes, they are Both Lebanon and Israel are members of the United Nations. Israel became member in 1948 but recently its membership was brought into question and was threatened for revocation due to its alleged violations of the UN provisions and for its military activities in the Gaza Strip which according to Snorre Linquist and Lasse Wilhelmson Stockholm, are causing insufferable situation for the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the area (Linquist and Stockholm). But both countries were also member of different organizations. Israel for instance is also a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development gaining its full membership in 2007 (OECD). While Lebanon is not a is not member of the prestigious international institution, the country however was a member of the Arab League as well as of the Organization of the Islamic conference and its revolutionary armed movement is receiving funding in the amount closer to two hundred million dollars annually from Iran and Syria.

There is no way perhaps that these two countries can be members of the same international organization except of the United Nations in view of the magnitude of the conflict between Hezbollah which operates in Lebanon, and the Israeli army. According to the a Human rights watch world report, The Israeli armys continued failure to conduct investigations into most killings of civilians reinforced a culture of impunity in the army and robbed victims of an effective remedy (p. 478). These unfortunate consequences of armed conflict between these countries clearly widen their gap which makes it impossible for them to be members of the same international institution.

Is there considerable trade between these countries
Based on a paper published by the Institute for Curriculum Services (ICS) entitled Israels Timeline From Ancient to Contemporary Times A Brief Modern History of Arab-Israeli Relations 1897  to Present Israel has never made any considerable trade with Lebanon because of the latters close involvement with Syria and Iran who were both hostile to Israel. Indeed, Israel frequently engaged in armed conflict with Lebanon not because the Lebanese government was hostile to Israel but it was through the provocations of the Hezbollah. Iran and Syria is backing this revolutionary armed movement to carry out terrorism activities against Israel.

In view of the long standing conflict between Israel and the countries funding Islamic militant organizations which operates in Lebanon, Israel can never have any trade relations no matter how small or big because of its close relations with Syria and Iran. These two countries were indeed determined to annihilate Israel. Alan Dershowitz noted that Irans leaders have threatened to wipe Israel off the map (p. 186) emphasizing that it is a religious obligation to develop and use weapons of mass destruction (p. 186) and use them against Israel. With this extreme resentment against the Jews, there could never have any bilateral trade relations between these two countries.   

According to the paper, since 1947 up to the present, Israel had been in conflict with Palestinian including Lebanon. They never recognized the state of Israel or had established bilateral trade relations, rather these Arab nations frequently attacked Israel engaging them in bloody confrontations.

Considering the historical context and the circumstances surrounding these two countries, there is certainly no possibility that trade relations has ever existed or will ever exist as the only relations that they ever had was to wage war against each other. Furthermore, in connection with Israels continued aggressive construction of the wall that stretches up to the West bank and is expected to serve as its border, the human rights report stated that it would mean annexation of about ten percent of the West Bank, including almost all major settlements there, all of which are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention (p. 479). This aggressive expansion continues to draw hatred on Israel from other Islamic countries particularly Iran that makes it impossible for Israel to establish bilateral relations with Lebanon. The pressures coming from Islamic countries against possible cooperation with Israel will surely be preventing any such attempts. Thus, there is certainly no way Israel and Lebanon can have trade relations whatsoever in view of all the circumstances surrounding Israel and Lebanon.