Word: hizballah
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Hizballah, the Shi'ite Muslim Party of God, arrived publicly on the Middle East scene a decade ago in a hail of gunfire: young fighters, armed with grenades and shouting "Allahu Akbar!" captured an invading Israeli armored personnel carrier near Beirut in June 1982 and paraded it through the city. They took their name from a verse in the Koran, "Lo, the Party of God, they are victorious," and their money, weapons and inspiration from fundamentalist sponsors in Tehran...
Throughout the 1980s, Hizballah had a dark reputation; it was notorious for seizing Western hostages, setting off car bombs and nurturing groups like Islamic Jihad, which blew up the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. But it sought Arab approval by deploying its thousands of fighters to harass Israeli troops occupying southern Lebanon...
...Hizballah decided to change its image two years ago. It opened a press office and vaunted its large, modern hospitals in Baalbek and Beirut and social programs that had created widespread Shi'ite loyalty. Last year eight of its candidates won seats in Lebanon's 128-member parliament. Symbolizing the new look, groups of Hizballah supporters lined the main road between Beirut and southern Lebanon last week, holding out plastic boxes to collect relief contributions from motorists...
...Egypt and Israel engaged in some behind-the-scenes discussions last week in an effort to keep this week's Middle East peace talks on track. According to a Western diplomatic source, the Egyptians learned of Israeli Defense Force plans to enter Lebanon for a week-long siege on Hizballah bases. Egyptian officials believed that if the Israelis went through with such a plan, it would strengthen Arab opposition to the peace talks and derail negotiations. Late Wednesday night Osama El-Baz, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's troubleshooter and confidant, arrived in Israel with a warning to Israeli Prime Minister...
...doubt. In addition, Iran can harass us through the activities of Hizballah in Lebanon and outside the Middle East. There are two lines of activity in the Middle East moving parallel to each other, each contradicting the purpose of the other. On the one hand, the peace negotiations; on the other, the acceleration of the arms race. Countries that are not part of the peace process -- Iran, Iraq and Libya -- are participants in the arms race. Therefore we have to take care of our defense capability to ensure that we will exist, to give enough security to our citizens...