Middle Eastern Geopolitics: Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan

Vocabulary terms and definitions covering geopolitical relations, security doctrines, and domestic politics across Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan.

Foreign Military Sales (FMS)

A US defense assistance program that functions like credit or a gift card for recipient countries to use on defense procurement, directly benefiting US military defense industries.

2016 US-Israel Bilateral Military Aid MOU

A $10$-year bilateral memorandum of understanding committing the United States to supply Israel with $\$3.3\text{ billion}$ annually in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) alongside $\$500\text{ million}$ annually for joint missile defense programs from $2019$ to $2028$.

Nuclear Opacity

Israel's official posture regarding its nuclear arsenal, maintaining non-membership in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and neither confirming nor denying its capabilities, with independent reports estimating an arsenal of approximately $90$ warheads.

Abraham Accords

Diplomatic normalization agreements established before October $2023$ that integrated Israel and several Arab countries across security, political, and economic spheres.

Decisive Plan (2017)

A manifesto written by Israeli politician Bezalel Smotrich detailing a strategy to create irreversible facts on the ground in the West Bank to eliminate any possibility of Palestinian statehood and compel Palestinians into permanent subordination or emigration.

Security Farms

A label adopted by the Israeli government to describe Israeli agricultural settlements and outposts in the West Bank as part of expanding civilian control and infrastructure integration.

Yellow Line

The demarcation line dividing operational control zones in the Gaza Strip, which Israeli forces pushed outward to assert military control over approximately $60\%$ of Gaza's territory.

National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG)

An administrative body formed under a US $20$-point plan designed to oversee civil governance and public services in Gaza during a designated transitional authority period.

Haredi

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish citizens in Israel who make up $14\%$ of the population and have historically received state-sanctioned military conscription exemptions to engage in full-time Torah study.

Yashar

An Israeli centrist political party led by former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander Gadi Eisenkot that challenged the governing right-wing coalition ahead of the October $2026$ parliamentary elections.

Confessional System

Lebanon's sectarian governance framework that distributes high-level state offices among religious communities: reserving the presidency for a Maronite Christian, the premiership for a Sunni Muslim, and the speakership of parliament for a Shia Muslim.

Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF)

The national military institution of Lebanon, which has received more than $\$3\text{ billion}$ in US Foreign Military Financing since $2006$ to secure Lebanese borders and act as a domestic counterweight to nonstate armed groups.

Nawaf Salam

A Lebanese diplomat and academic appointed as Prime Minister alongside President Joseph Aoun in $2025$ to lead anti-corruption efforts, pursue economic restructuring, and advance the state's plan to disarm Hezbollah.

Druze

An ethnoreligious minority community in the Levant numbering between $1\text{ million}$ and $1.5\text{ million}$ people, originating from the Fatimid tradition of Shiite Islam, with more than half of its global population residing in Syria.

Sweida

A city in southern Syria recognized as the historic and religious capital of the Druze community.

Battle of Wadi Bakka (1838)

A major confrontation during the $1837$-$1838$ Hawran uprising in which many Druze fighters were killed resisting conscription and disarmament orders enforced by the Ottoman governor of Egypt.

East Bankers

Native Transjordanians who maintain a historic clientelist social contract with the Hashemite monarchy, trading political loyalty for state patronage, bureaucratic jobs, and monopolized leadership in security institutions.

Black September (1970)

A military confrontation triggered by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacking airplanes into Jordan and seizing Irbid, resulting in King Hussein ordering the army to crush Palestinian fedayeen groups and expel the PLO to Lebanon.

Islamic Action Front (IAF)

The political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, which garners widespread electoral backing from Palestinian-Jordanians who lack native tribal representation.

Darak

The specialized Jordanian gendarmerie and internal security police force loyal to King Abdullah II that deployed to disperse street demonstrations during the Arab Spring protests.

National Committee of Retired Servicemen (NCRS)

An advocacy association of East Bank Jordanian military veterans that published manifestos in $2010$ protesting neoliberal privatization, cuts to public benefits, and proposed concessions regarding the Palestinian national issue.

Axis of Resistance

A regional network of state and nonstate actors coordinated and backed by Iran—including Hezbollah, Hamas, and regional Shiite militias—aligned against Israeli and US influence across the Middle East.

Fatah

The secular Arab nationalist movement that serves as the predominant faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and forms the governing core of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Israel’s future hangs in imbalance reading

Difficult to come to an agreement on a ruling coalition

Hangs in balance because of education with half Haredi and Arab

Haredi study Torah

Arab schools are sub par

The end of Hamas reading

the two year war has caused Israel to attack Hamas so intensely that now, despite being the strongest organization in Gaza, it would be unable to form any sort of solid governmental structure

Left in limbo reading

Gaza is left in ruins and there is so much rubble that it would take decades to clear it all. The 20-point ceasefire plan in 2025 fell through and the violence continues

Novik west bank reading

The violence in the West Bank by the settlers undermines Israeli security on a national scale because the rest of the world is not going to respect Israel as a country due to its intense violence. He also seems to be arguing that any Palestinian that stands up to their land being taken is deemed a terrorist and evil, when in reality it is a very normal argument

Quietly annexing reading

Israel is quietly annexing the West Bank by allowing settlers to take land and violence to continue. There is currently more violence from Jewish people than Palestinians. Leaders like Smotrich want to do more

Lebanon’s chance reading

Lebanon faces a gordian knot - crisis of having to get rid of Hezbollah in order to benefit tourism, but also relies on donors and tourism to get revenue to do so

State within a state - Hezbollah

Lebanon president reading

No one has treated Lebanon worse than its own leaders

Why is now the best time for Lebanon to do three things - weakened Hezbollah and a new and better government

Druze reading

Recently - Druze authority in Lebanon who has been at odds with Jumblatt, voiced similar concerns in support of the Syrian Druze - political leaders against, religious leaders for

Hezbollah’s trap reading

Only the Lebanese state can disarm Hezbollah

Israel has a tough position and choice between leaving Lebanon and letting Hezbollah potentially rule or helping disarm Hezbollah and being stuck

Title - occupation is the trap because it causes more public support for Hezbollah

Has to be occupation OR disarmament

DRONES - Hezbollah used, Israel not prepared

Jordan’s stability reading

Title meaning - Jordan is facing an issue with a weakening stability

Bargain: East Bankers support the Hasimite monarchy and they give them jobs and positions in government, as well as more political rights

Palestinian Jordanians have majority in the country