Lebanon is the prisoner of its geography and its history. It has been a prize for invaders since ancient times and is presently a small multi-denominational state still recovering from a bloody civil war in its search for political autonomy and stability. Lebanon examines the country's recent past since 2005 -- when a mass movement agitated against Syrian dominance in the wake of the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the then President of the country -- and also details the roles of Hezbollah and other political groups.
Sectarian tensions have escalated, predominantly between the Sunni and...

More than four million Palestinian refugees live in protracted exile across the Middle East. Taking a regional approach to Palestinian refugee exile and alienation across the Levant, this book proposes a new understanding of the spatial and political dimensions of refugee camps across the Middle East. Combining critical scholarship with ethnographic insight, the essays uncover host states' marginalisation of stateless refugees and shed light on new terminology on refugees, migration and diaspora studies. The impact on the refugee community is detailed in novel studies of refugee identity,...