Basic HTML Version
are friends and allies of
Israel, and oppose the PLO
guerrillas.
The picture over the past
few years was one of a
long series of military
exchanges along the
lsraeli-Lebanese border.
Attacks on Israel by PLO
guerrillas, followed by
retaliatory strikes by Israel
against Palestinian enclaves
in Lebanon, followed by
Palestinian reprisals on
Israelí villages.
In the interlude between
the heavy fighting between
Palestinians and lsraelis,
feuding among and between
factions within Lebanon kept
the tires burning. These
factions range from the
15,000-man, lsraeli–
supported militia of the
Maronite Christian Falangist
Party and other
non-Falangist Christian
militias, to the Lebanese
Communist Party, to the
Shiite Moslem, pro-lranian
Amal Movement, to the
PLO.
At the moment,
97
separate political parties
and militias are vying for
position within Lebanon!
Tragically, caught in the
crossfire have been
thousands of civilian victims,
including uncounted
thousands of women and
children.
Continuing Conflict
Last year the news in
Lebanon focused on two
major developments. The
first was the Syrian missile
crisis. Following the Israelí
downing of two Syrian
helicopter gunships engaged
in an offensive against
Lebanese Christians, Syria
deployed dozens of
Soviet-made surface-to-air
missiles (SAMs) in the
Bekaa valley in central
Lebanon in late April, 1981 .
Israel demanded the
missiles be removed and
threatened to destroy them
il they were not.
Syria was adamant
in its refusal.
lncreasingly
bellicose threats
were exchanged
and the two
countries drew
close to war.
Frantic shuttle diplomacy by
U.S. Special Envoy Philip
Habib narrowly succeeded
in delusing the lace-off and
averting a large-scale
conflict.
War lever had barely
cooled when the llames
were suddenly fanned again.
On the heels ol the missile
crisis came Israelí bombing
and shelling ol Palestinian
strongholds in southern
Lebanon in July, 1981,
climaxing in a bombing of
the PLO in the Lebanese
capital of Beirut. Palestinian
guerrillas retaliated with
long-range artillery rocket
tire across the Lebanese
border into the Israelí towns
of Nahariya, Qiryat Shemona
and Metulla.
Lebanese newspapers
described the Israelí attack
on Beirut as the bloodiest
air raid against an Arab city
in the 33-year history ol
Arab-lsraeli conflict. More
than 300 died and 800 were
wounded in Beirut during the
air attacks. Most of the
victims-including scores of
women, children and
and Palestinian civilians.
The stated target ol the
Israelí planes was the PLO's
offices in West Beirut.
These offices, however,
escaped virtually unscathed,
while the most serious
damage was sustained in
surrounding areas ol
concentrated civilian
population.
The Israelí raids were
widely condemned as going
far beyond anything that
could be justified on
grounds of national defense.
"To attack selected military
targets inside Lebanon is
one thing, " editorialized the
London
Times,
July 21 , " but the
kind of blanket
bombing the
lsraelis have
engaged in .. . is
tantamount to
terror-bombing.
There can be no
excuse for
wreaking such
havoc in the
center of Beirut.
The indiscriminate killing of
women and children is
appalling.''
Even within Israel itself,
the morality of the attacks in
populous civilian districts
was hotly debated.
Opponents of Prime Minister
Begin dubbed him the "Mad
Continued en page 42