ABSTRACT
In order to understand the events that have transpired among the more than one million Shi'is of Lebanon since the 1982 war, it is essential to define what that war really was. Israel, which initiated the war, perceived it as an effort to rid Lebanon of the presence and influence of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and to establish in that neighboring country a new and stable order led by the Christians. Radical Shi'i religious organizations, taking their lead and inspiration from Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran, are Amal's most serious contenders for the leadership of the community, commanding the allegiences of perhaps as much as 20% of Lebanon's Shi'is. The expulsion of the PLO from South Lebanon and Beirut brought Amal, as representative of the Shi'is, from the wings of Lebanese politics to center stage. Shi'i and Amal attitudes to Israel's invasion of Lebanon have varied since 1982.
