Foreign Correspondence

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"the first war Israel started by choice, at a time of its choosing." .. I. L. Peretz .. Community Jewish School

--The Secular Alternative-- in Central New Jersey
The Israeli Conflict in Lebanon
Aaron Buchman, May, 1999

Introduction

Before I begin, I'd like to answer two questions I'm sure many of you are asking: First is "Out of all of Israel's wars, why this one." Although not its first offensive war, the Israeli conflict in Lebanon was the first war Israel started by choice, at a time of its choosing. Although it was a war with great potential to help Israel, it was not a necessary war. The other question is, why do you call it the "Israeli Conflict in Lebanon" and not the"Israeli-Lebanese War"? The reason for this is that Lebanon was not the enemy in this conflict. It was a war between Israel and the PLO and Syria that took place in Lebanon.

Background

Any writing on a complex series of events- such as those which occurred in Lebanon over the last three decades- requires at least some background information. These are the basics of Lebanon's applicable geography and history.

Lebanon is an Arab nation directly to the north of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of 4000 square miles, and has a population of over 4 million people. These people are of many ethnic and religious backgrounds; such as Sunni and Shiite Moslem, Maronite Christian and Eastern Orthodox Christian, and Druse. Lebanon is divided into four bands running north to south. From the sea inland they are: the coastal plain, the Lebanon Mountains, the Bekaa valley, and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains. Only the coast and Bekaa valley can be traversed easily with an army, and both are crossed by dozens of waterways. The main agricultural area is in the south along the coast. Most major cities in Lebanon are along the coast; such as Beirut, Sidon, Tyre, or Tripoli.

Beirut, the capital, is in the center of the country. It has one of the best natural harbors on the Mediterranean Sea. Beirut has a population of more than 500,000 and is surrounded by high bluffs and cliffs of the Lebanon Mountains. A 75 mile long road connects Beirut with Damascus to the east, and the city is only 106 miles from the nearest part of Israel to the southeast.. Beirut is divided into two sections; Christian East Beirut, and Arab West Beirut. The port is located in West Beirut. South of the city is Beirut International Airport, or BIA.

Historically, Lebanon has been broken into smaller areas of local rule. In fact, Lebanon had never been unified until the French Mandate after World War I. In 1943, the French gave Lebanon independence, and the leaders of the various groups in Lebanon agreed to a "National Pact" which divided important positions between the sects. The Maronite Christians were given control over much of the government, because they constituted most of the population. The Sunni, Shiite, and other sects were given smaller amounts of power in the government, in proportion with their population.

Lebanon was quiet until 1958, when the first civil war erupted. More than 15,000 American soldiers were sent to Lebanon to stop the fighting. After this Lebanon was undisturbed until 1970.

Prelude to War

First, in 1970 a civil war began in Jordan between the Jordanians and the members of the PLO living in Jordan. The PLO was kicked out of Jordan, and needed a place to attack Israel from. Unable to find refuge in Syria, the PLO moved into Lebanon, where they created an almost autonomous state in the south of the country. The Lebanese government was unable to stop the PLO because of in-fighting in their own government. This struggle was based on the original "National Pact" of 1943, which permanently set control of Lebanon in the hands of the Maronite Christians. In the time since the National Pact, the Maronite Christians had been emigrating to other countries, and the Moslem population had grown greatly. Instead of being two-thirds of the population, the Maronites were now less than a third of the population. The Moslems now wanted their fair say in the government. The Maronites did not want to give up the power they had, and both sides began to build up militias to fight their potential enemies. The wave of Palestinians simply tipped the scales too far. The second Lebanese civil war began in 1975, with each ethnic group fighting all the others.

The Syrians had been watching this conflict from its beginning, and had realized early on that they would have a chance to take over Lebanon -which they considered their territory- once the war made all the factions weak enough. If this happened, they would have control over all of Israel's northern border, and a chance to retake the Golan Heights. The Syrians saw their opportunity at the same time as the warring parties saw that war was inevitable. This allowed the Syrians to assist many of the opposed factions, assuring an even match and war that would weaken Lebanon greatly.

INSERT: EXACTLY AS THE US DID, TO PROLONG THE 1980-1988 IRAQ-IRAN CONFLICT

In 1976 they saw the PLO was in a position to defeat the Maronites, and they sent Palestinians they had trained to infiltrate the PLO and stop the war from ending too quickly. When this plan did not succeed, they moved in with ground troops from their army to impose an occupation of almost half of Lebanon.

The Lebanese leaders turned to Israel for help. They gave the Israelis an offer: in exchange for help in defeating the PLO(also positive for the Israelis), we will give you a peaceful neighbor to the north. The Israelis agreed, and increased their air raids against the PLO military.

During this time the PLO did not stop its attacks, and the number of raids actually increased after the Syrian invasion. From 1978 to 1982 the PLO continued attacks on northern Israel from their territory in southern Lebanon, where they had created a mini-state. The Israeli response to these attacks was mainly air strikes, with occasional cross-border raids.

In 1980, the Syrians went as far as to install Surface to Air Missiles(SAMs) in the Bekaa Valley. Although the American negotiator, Philip Habib was able to work out a cease-fire in 1980, it did not last long.

Controversies immediately appeared. The most important of which was a dispute over the agreement's terms. The PLO felt the cease-fire only covered border hostilities, and that activities inside Israel and attacks on Israeli targets in other countries were still allowed. The Israelis, not surprisingly felt the cease-fire covered hostilities in general. This issue would eventually kill the treaty, and with good reason. Without a complete peace, Israel had no need for peace at all, and with a complete peace, the PLO had no reason to exist. Both sides found themselves in need of a war, but neither side could break the agreement without provocation.

Although the PLO expected an attack to happen eventually, the PLO leadership did not expect an invasion like that the Israelis had planned. The PLO leadership knew an attack would be bound to happen, but expected a limited one. The PLO also knew that an Israeli attack would damage the opinion of Israeli by leaders worldwide, and would create an image of the PLO as a victim of Israeli aggression. To this end, the PLO did all it could to provoke an Israeli attack. These provocations culminated with the assassination of Israeli Ambassador to the UK on June 3, 1982. Three days later, a massive Israeli army invaded Lebanon, with the goals of kicking out the PLO and the Syrians, and placing the Maronite Christians in control. It was to be called Operation Peace for Galilee.

War

The Israelis had their work cut out for them. Because of Lebanon's geography, only the coast and the Bekaa valley could be used for a military advance. Both are under ten miles wide, and can easily be closed by artillery in the mountains. The only roads were winding and in terrible condition, and most went east to west. No offense from the south could easily uproot a prepared defender, which the Syrians and the PLO certainly were. The PLO had a total of over 30,000 troops in Lebanon, mainly at the border and surrounding large towns and cities, with permanent defenses surrounding Tyre, Sidon, and Beirut. Syrian forces included 25,000 troops and over 100 SAMs. These were arrayed along the Beirut-Damascus road and down the sides of the Bekaa valley, as well as around the major towns in Eastern Lebanon. Both forces had over 300 tanks, and an equal number of artillery pieces.

The Israeli attack consisted of over 35,000 troops, divided into many smaller task forces. One force was assigned to attack up the coast, another was to destroy forces in the Lebanon Mountains, and a third was to race up the Bekaa valley. These were to be followed by backup forces which would eliminate remaining resistance. At the same time, a task force would land from the sea north of Sidon, to stop any retreating forces. If all went according to plan, the Israelis would defeat the main PLO forces in 3 days. Only after these PLO forces had been eliminated would the Israelis consider attacking the Syrian forces.

The Operation was a success almost from the start. The landing was a complete success, blocking the only escape route. PLO forces collapsed on the second day, allowing Israeli forces to approach within 12 miles of Beirut by the end of the day. It had been said before the war that the Israeli forces would not attack the Syrians without provocation, but on the 4th day of the war the Israelis attacked the Syrians in the Bekaa Valley. The Israelis destroyed most of the Syrian positions and SAMs in the Valley, and were at the Beirut-Damascus road by the end of the 6th day, at which time both sides agreed to a cease fire in that area only. The forces along the coast took this as an opportunity to encircle the PLO in Beirut. The city was surrounded by the 8th day of the war. Over the following week, the Israelis eliminated remaining Syrian-PLO strongholds around the city.

The war had ended remarkably quickly, perhaps faster than even the Israelis had hoped. All goals of the operation had been fulfilled, and with a minimum of losses. The PLO was out of the south of Lebanon, the Syrians were out entirely, and soon the Maronite Christians would be in control of the country.

Only one problem remained. Now Israel had 14,000 PLO and Syrian troops in West Beirut. Originally it had been decided that the Maronite Christian troops would take the city, but the leaders of those groups made it clear that the Israelis were on their own. The Israelis agreed that an attack on the city would cause too many casualties, and it was agreed that the Israelis would lay siege to the city.

The Siege

It should be made clear at this point that, at least politically, the siege itself was a disaster of some magnitude. The Israeli Army had defeated its enemy in open combat, and now had it cornered, and yet they did not attack. Instead of taking the PLO by storm while it was weak, the leadership in Israel gave them a chance to regroup and build defenses. The siege dragged on the war, which was originally meant as a limited action. Support dwindled, both among Israelis and in the world's popular opinion. By waiting the situation simply became worse.

The PLO began to finally lose ground (politically and physically) in the battle. On July 28 the Arab nations agreed to accept some of the people trapped in Beirut, costing the PLO their human shield. This was followed by intense bombing and diplomatic negotiations. A cease-fire was agreed to on August 12th, as the Israelis and PLO ironed out the problems in a final evacuation of the PLO. The evacuating troops were to be replaced with a Multi National Force(MNF) of American, French, and Italian troops. The PLO and Syrians had all left Beirut by the 3rd of September, with over 14,000 troops removed and replaced with the new Lebanese Army. The siege had finally ended.

The End?

It was hoped that this would end conflict in Lebanon, but unfortunately, it was not. The Lebanese people elected Bashir Jamayel, a Maronite Christian leader, their new president. He was to take office on the 23rd of September, but on the 14th a bomb went off during a speech Jamayel was giving at his political party headquarters. The death of the president elect was avenged by a massacre of Palestinians in a pair of refugee camps. The deaths of almost 1000 innocent victims was enough to bring back the recently departed MNF, with almost twice as many troops. Jamayel's brother, Amin was appointed by the Lebanese parliament in place of his brother.

By the end of the month, the Israelis had left Beirut and the area entirely. For the next few months, Lebanon had something it hadn't had since 1975: peace. During this time the Israeli and Lebanese governments created an agreement on how to resolve the conflict. The agreement included a complete pullout by all foreign forces(MNF, Israeli Army, PLO, Syrians). The agreement' only problem was that the Syrians had not been consulted at all, and they rejected the idea of leaving Lebanon. The Israelis were not about to leave without the other forces leaving as well, so more than 3/4 of Lebanon remained in foreign control. The civil war began again in mid spring of 1983. The newly established Lebanese army lost many of its troops back to the militias the army had been mad out of. To combat this, the Americans sent more marines and ships to the area around Beirut, the only area still in direct government control.

On October 3rd, a yellow Mercedes truck crashed through the gates of the US marine headquarters near Beirut International Airport, and exploded with 6 tons of explosives onboard. It was being driven by a member of a pro-Iranian Muslim Shiite militia. A similar attack occurred at the French headquarters at the same time. The attacks were probably designed by or assisted by the Syrian government. At the same time the Syrians began to fire SAMs at American aircraft and shelling American ships offshore.

During this time the remaining forces of the PLO in Lebanon were coming under control of the Syrians. The remaining troops loyal to Arafat retreated to the refugee camps outside of Tripoli, and were attacked over the month of November. After almost a month of negotiations, the remaining PLO loyalists evacuated Lebanon.

What was left of the Lebanese Army collapsed when the Druse and Shiite forces combined, their leaders calling all of their people to desert and join their cause. The Maronite Christians were badly defeated early in 1984, losing control of most of Lebanon. The Jamayel government was so weakened by this that they turned to the Syrians for assistance. In February, most of the MNF departed. The last of the MNF troops left at the end of March.

In early May, Jamayel appointed Rashid Karameh to create a new cabinet. Karameh was strongly pro-Syrian, signaling an end to independent rule of Lebanon.

In spite of a new constitution created in 1990, Lebanon is still controlled largely by the Syrian government. The Israeli Army maintains a presence in southern Lebanon, in order to combat the Hezbollah(Party of God), a fringe group which was created after the Israeli invasion of 1982.

Effects of the War

The most direct effect of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon is the removal of PLO forces. Their complete destruction in combat and the following evacuation removed the PLO as a direct threat to the northern areas of Israel.

Also directly related is the takeover by the Syrians. The Syrians had been able to invade before Peace for Galilee because the civil war had weakened the force native to Lebanon. The invasion made many of them weaker still, and the Israeli pullback allowed the forces to weaken each other even more. Instead of the group of opposed, powerful forces that started the civil war in 1975, their were many tiny, weak forces locked in a battle to the death. The earlier forces might have set aside their differences to defeat the invader, the later force could not. The Israelis went into Lebanon hoping to drive out the Syrians, instead they did their dirty work.

Another effect of the invasion was the creation of even more radical, more aggressive anti-Israeli groups, such as the Hezbollah. The invasion angered Muslims in Lebanon, and when assisted by such countries as Iran or Syria, the grew into powerful terrorist organizations.

Possibly most important in effects of the war are its costs, human and monetary. In Operation Peace for Galilee, over 18,000 Lebanese and Palestinian civilians were killed. Compared with 125,000 deaths for the entire civil war, that may seem small, but with only 382 Israeli deaths, it would seem the Israeli Army did more giving than receiving. The civil war up to that point had been damaging, but it was recoverable. In conflicts following the invasion, the very society of Lebanon collapsed. Before the civil war, Lebanon had been a banking, trade, and tourist capital in the Arab world, a Switzerland of the middle east. It became a land of refugee camps and terrorist bases.

Weighing The Evidence

At this point I would like to take a look at the causes and effects in Operation Peace for Galilee, and the civil war as a whole; and express my opinions on this series of events.

In order to do so I must go back to the Israelis three original goals. Those goals were to remove the PLO from Lebanon, to neutralize any Syrian force in Lebanon, and to reinstate the Maronite Christians as rulers of Lebanon. From what you just heard, you can tell that only one of those goals was fulfilled: the removal of the PLO from Lebanon. The Syrians gained strength, in spite of their losses. Military assistance from the USSR after the Israeli withdrawal allowed them to take control of the country. Although the Israelis primary goal was completed, the two failures more than offset it, and when you take into account the civilian casualties and the creation of new terrorist groups, the operation seems to lose its value.

With the advantage of hindsight, it seems a more limited operation would have been better, but hindsight is not an advantage the Israeli leaders had, so it is hard to judge in this situation. And what if they had used only limited force? Perhaps Lebanon would be a legitimate part of Syria, and the PLO would have even more support from the Arab nations, due to its success? All I am saying is that history is not always as clear as it seems, especially in places like the middle east.

For more information about the I. L. Peretz Community Jewish School or the I. L. Peretz Secular Jewish Community, call us at 732-545-9691 or email to [e-mail].

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