This book compares the performances of four key non-state actors in the Arab-Israeli conflict
ecosystem: the PLO Hamas Hizbullah and Amal. It argues that it is not the assets a militant
group has but rather how it acquired them that matters in explaining the variation in these
actors' abilities to militarily resist and politically recover from confrontations with far
more powerful adversaries. Groups that rely on marketing campaigns to secure local support and
regional patronage do far better than those that rely on coercion or even barter. The book
develops a typology of organizations based on their foreign and domestic policies which has
interesting implications for other non-state actors such as ISIS. It is based on field
research in Jordan Lebanon Israel the West Bank Egypt and Syria including interviews with
members of a range of Lebanese and Palestinian militant groups as well as politicians UN
staff journalists and members of the Jordanian and Israeli armies.
