Confronting moral dilemmas in an amoral world

the non-state of Lebanon and Israeli interventionism

Ali Sadeghi

pp. 133-144

in: Ian Forbes, Mark Hoffman (eds), Political theory, international relations, and the ethics of intervention, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1993

Abstract

This chapter explores the nature and character of both intervening and target states. Israeli intervention in Lebanon since 1982 provides a focus for analysis and discussion. Three interrelated questions are dealt with: What, in Israeli terms, was the justification for their intervention? Did the status of the Lebanese state trigger circumstances likely to provoke intervention? Does the Israeli justification gain its force and relevance from its own perspective, or from a universal moral framework?