Of Israel’s neighbors, Lebanon always stood out by virtue of its weak central government, but for the first twenty years, 1948-68, this did not present difficulties to Israel; only when the Palestinian created a state-within-a-state there did its anarchy became a major challenge to the Jewish state, as symbolized by the Beirut airport raid of December 1968. Many skirmishes followed as well as two wars (those of 1982 and 2006). Lebanon remains anarchic and the home base for Hezbollah; it could well be a future Arab-Israeli battlefield.
The powerful Egyptian state ruled Sinai with an iron fist until late in Mubarak’s term when, as the Bedouin became increasingly Islamist, his regime did not keep control. Terrorism against Egyptian tourist targets followed (such as the attack on Sharm el-Sheikh in 2005) as well as against Israeli territory. These attacks increased after Mubarak’s resignation, making the region a no-man’s-land, and will probably continue to rise.
Hamas took over in Gaza two years after the unilateral Israeli withdrawal in 2005; not surprisingly, it began shelling Israeli territory, especially the town of Sderot, leading to the Israeli invasion of 2008-09. That tamped down on the violence but the shelling continues...
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/309944/anarchy-surrounds-israel-daniel-pipes