CONFLICT ANALYSIS – 1982 LEBANON WAR

DAVID PARSONS

INTRODUCTION

Israel has sought out for a peaceful country, but the PLO (Palestine

Liberation Organization) made it almost impossible with it’s constant terrorist

activity, and acts towards Israel. The PLO were constantly running terrorism

towards Israel, attempting to find a place which they can live on their own, and

peacefully, but of course, nobody was willing to let the Palestinians live amongst

them. With this being said, Israel finally became fed up with the PLO’s constant

terrorist acts, and decided to invade Lebanon.

BACKGROUND

Israel seemed to have tried to do everything they could possibly do to stop

the PLO from constantly attacking them. So they tried the only option that was left,

and that was to use physical force to get them to stop. Their purpose was to conduct

an attack so large that it would wipe out all of the PLO. Why you ask? Because they

needed to maintain a stable Government, and re-establish its authority, and it was

very difficult for them to do that with the constant attacks from the PLO. There were

many reasonable attempts to get the PLO to stop the terrorist attacks, one of the

most effective ones, was when Philip Habib was sent by the Reagan Administration

to negotiate a more lasting cease-fire between Lebanon and Israel. On July 24 Habib

announced agreement that all hostile military action between Lebanese and Israeli

territory in either direction would cease. For the next eleven months the cease-fire

was in effect as a formality, but the PLO repeatedly violated the agreement. Israel

charged that the PLO staged 270 terrorist actions in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza,

and along the Lebanese and Jordanian borders. Twentynine Israelis died and more

than 300 were injured in the attacks. In April 1982, after a landmine killed an Israeli

officer, the rocket attacks and air strikes recommenced. 1 Gen. Ariel Sharon leads the

attack. The two-month drive leads the Israeli army to the southern suburbs of

Beirut. The Red Cross estimates the invasion costs the lives of some 18,000 people,

mostly civilian Lebanese. 2

The invasion of June, however, was not the first time that Israel had

conducted military strikes against Lebanon. Israel, in years prior to 1982, had

responded to PLO rocket attacks, which were staged in southern Lebanon’s

territory, by bombing Palestinian refugee camps.3 There are many more examples of

Israel attempting to stop the PLO from terrorizing their country, but listing all of

them may be getting a little side-tracked. Though, the Lebanon-Israel issue seemed

to have started back with the establishment of Israel, and the 1948 Arab-Israeli

Conflict. Lebanon became home to more than 110,000 Palestinian refugees after

fleeing their homes in the former Palestine. After its founding in 1964 and the

radicalization among Palestinians, which followed the Six Day War, the PLO became

a powerful force, then centered in Jordan. The large influx of Palestinians from

Jordan after “Black September” caused an additional demographic imbalance within

Lebanese society and its democratic institutions established earlier by the National

Pact. By 1975, the refugees numbered more than 300,000 and the PLO in effect

created an unofficial state-within-a-state, particularly in Southern Lebanon, which

then played an important role in the Lebanese Civil War. Continual violence near the

Lebanese border occurred between Israel and the PLO starting from 1968. 4

Political Factors

There were many political factors in the Lebanon war of 1982, and many

political outcomes. Hadash Knesset member Meir Vilner said in the Knesset plenary

session that: "The government is leading Israel to an abyss. It is doing something

that in the course of time might lead to crying for generations." 5 Many other political

figures agreed with this and thought that the attempt to restore peace by invading

Lebanon was a huge mistake. Syria backed the anti-Arafat PLO forces of Abu Musa in

the Beka valley from May 1983. When Arafat castigated the Syrian government for

blocking PLO supplies in June 1983, the Syrian government declared Arafat a

persona non grata on 24 June 1983. With the withdrawal of the PLO leadership from

Tripoli in December 1983 there was an Egyptian-PLO rapprochement, this was

found to be encouraging by the Reagan administration but was condemned by the

Israeli government. 6 There was also an investigation into the violation of

international law. In 1982, an international commission investigated into

reported violations of International Law by Israel during its invasion of the

Lebanon. Chairman was Seán MacBride, the other members were Richard Falk,

Kader Asmal, Brian Bercusson, Géraud de la Pradelle, and Stefan Wild. The

commission's report[90] concluded that "the government of Israel has committed

acts of aggression contrary to international law", that the government of Israel had

no valid reasons under international law for its invasion of Lebanon, and that the

Israeli authorities or forces were involved directly or indirectly in the massacres at

Sabra and Shatila.

Economic Factors

Just like most war that was occurred throughout time, there has always been

major economic implications on at least one, if not several, countries. The Lebanese

Council for Development and Reconstruction estimated the cost of the damage from

the invasion at 7,622,774,000 Lebanese pounds, equivalent to US$2 billion at the

time. 7

Social Factors

There were very few social factors that came about directly from this war,

though, there was a rally. heavy Israeli casualties, alleged disinformation of Israeli

government leaders and the Israeli public by Israeli military and political advocates

of the campaign, and lack of clear goals led to increasing disquiet among Israelis.

This culminated in a large protest rally in Tel Aviv, organized by the Peace Now

movement, following the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre. Organizers claimed

400,000 people participated in the rally, and it became known as the "400,000

rally". Other estimates put the figure much lower. 8

Technological Factors

Throughout this war, there were no significant technological factors. As it

occurred in a developed time frame, there were no technological changes that made

an impact on the war, nor were there any technological incentives. The only factor

that was somewhat technological based was perhaps the weakening of the Syrian

military, especially air support.

ROLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS

The United Nations played a massive role in this international crisis. They

formed a group called UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) on 19

March 1978. It’s purpose was to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon which

Israel had invaded five days prior, restore international peace and security, and help

the Government of Lebanon restore its effective authority in the area. 9 During the

1982 Lebanon War, UN positions were overrun, primarily by the SLA forces under

Saad Haddad. This was the Lebanese paramilitary force supported by the IDF in

Southern Lebanon. Beginning in 1985, Israel scaled back its permanent positions in

Lebanon, although this process was punctuated by brief invasions and bombings, as

in Operation Accountability in 1993 and Operation Grapes of Wrath in 1996. In

1999, Israel undertook a withdrawal, which concluded in 2000 and enabled UNIFIL

to resume its military tasks. 10

RESOLUTION

Many positive and negative things were an outcome if this war. It is

estimated that around 17,825 Lebanese were killed during the first year of the war,

with differing estimates of the proportion of civilians killed. This number of civilian

casualties is not the total number of civilian casualties from 1982-2000. Beirut

newspaper An Nahar estimated that 5,515 people, both military and civilian, were

killed in the Beirut area alone during the conflict, while 9,797 Syrian soldiers, PLO

fighters, and other forces aligned with the PLO, as well as 2,513 civilians were killed

outside of the Beirut area. Approximately 675 Israeli soldiers were killed.11 Even

with many Israeli soldiers dead it was a success in the view of their government.

They removed all PLO presence from southern Lebanon, and increased deterrence

on anti-Arab militant organizations. Another very significant outcome from this war

is that the Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden said in a videotape released on the eve

of the 2004 U.S. presidential elections that he was inspired to attack the buildings of

the United States by the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon in which towers and

buildings in Beirut were destroyed in the siege of the capital. 11 Even with the

succession of their objective of removing PLO, they didn’t quite achieve the bigger

objective. Which was to resolve the conflict with a peace treaty. 12

Overall, The Lebanon war of 1982 was a large crisis, and needs to be taken

into account from both sides. One being the success story of the Israeli, and the

other one, being the tragic events that were pressed upon the Palestinians in

southern Lebanon. Both suffered a lot from the occurrences, and both were deemed

responsible for what happened, regardless of their choices.

WORKS CITED – ENDNOTES

1. Dusso, Aaron. "Israel and Lebanon: History Analysis." Univesity of

Michigan. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2010. <www-

personal.umich.edu/~rtanter/W9>.

2. "Israeli Invasion of Lebanon 1982." Welcome to Palestine Facts. N.p.,

n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. <http://www.palestinefacts.org>.

3. Pike, John. "Lebanon (Civil War 1975-1991)." GlobalSecurity.org -

Reliable Security Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.globalsecurity.org>.

4. "1982 Lebanon War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the

free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Lebanon_War>.

5. IBID.

6. Tristam, Pierre. "Timeline of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) - The

Lebanese Civil War: a Timeline ." Middle East News and Issues from

About.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010.

<http://middleeast.about.com/od/lebanon/a/me081026e.htm>.

7. "1982 Lebanon War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Op.cit.

8. IBID.

9. "Israeli Invasion of Lebanon 1982." Welcome to Palestine Facts. Op.cit

10. "United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon - Wikipedia, the free

encyclopedia." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010.

http://wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Interim_Force_in_Lebanon

11. Arak, Joel. "Osama Bin Laden W.

<http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/30/terror/main652425.shtm

l>.

12. Lorch, Netanel. " The Arab-Israeli Wars ." Israel Ministry of Foreign

Affairs. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010.

<http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern+History/Centenary+of+Zi

onism/The+Arab-Israeli+Wars.htm>.