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Lebanon
and
Israel's Aggression

"Of all the declared, implied and hidden objectives of the [1982] war in Lebanon, there is no doubt that the central aim was to deal a crushing blow to the national aspirations of the Palestinians and their very existence as a nation endeavoring to define itself and gain the right to self determination" -- "The Palestinian Aspect", by Mordechai Bar-On, IDF chief education officer and a Peace Now leading activist quoted in Chomsky's Fateful Triangle. (It would seem that a portion of Peace Now's activism is more for improving Israel's image rather than the national rights of the Palestinians.)

Israel's main fear of the PLO throughout the 70's and 80's was not cross-border terrorism by the latter, as heralded by Western Media, but by the sympathies and political gains the PLO was scoring in world opinion, which were growing in the late 70's. This led Israel to invade Lebanon and destroy the PLO there, with 20,000 dead mostly Lebaneses and Palestinian civilians. The total number of casualties Israel suffered, due to cross border shelling by the PLO from 1967- June 1982, was, according to official Israeli army statistics, 106, less than the casualties suffered by Palestinians in any semi-major Israeli raid on Lebanon, not to mention that the majority of PLO cross border violence was intentionally provoked by Israel. In 1978 Israel invaded Lebanon with 2000 casualties (does not count as invasion by western press). Documentation on the above can be found in Noam Chomsky "The Fateful Triangle" which has excellent coverage of the Israeli invasion, drawing most of the information from the Hebrew press. (Chomsky also states, on p. 74, that the TOTAL number of Israelis killed in all acts of terror between 1967-82 is 282, referencing a Ha'aretz article by B. Michael, 07/16/1982). Until today, (mid 1998) Israeli raids, which always result in several deaths, continue as routine, providing new Israeli pilots with "real life" practice.

The Coverage of the Middle East in general, and the Lebanese Civil War and the Israeli devastation of that country, in particular, by reporter-of-the-year Robert Fisk of The Independent British daily, are monumental. The same goes for his famous book on Lebanon "Pity the Nation".

1. The most common scenario for an Israeli bombardment goes as follows. Hizbollah starts by attacking the occupying Israeli army INSIDE LEBANON (a rightful resistence to occupation granted by the UN and the US ambassador to Lebanon). Then, Israel retaliates by bombing inside and outside the zone it occupies of South Lebanon at will, which in tun, sometimes, produces a Hizbollah shelling of Northern Israel, which in turn brings about another Israeli retaliation. The difference in casualties and destruction on both sides speaks for itself. In one raid, in 1993 for example, Israel killed TEN TIMES more civilians in Lebanon than the Israeli civilians killed by Hizbollah shelling of nothern Israel in fifteen years.
   
   
2. After some time of ceasefire, Israel or its puppet South Lebanese Army (SLA) shells a suspected terrorist site, or maybe assassinate a Shiaa leader, saying it has a right to punish and eliminate "terrorists". Immediately to follow is a warning by Israel to Hizbollah to not retaliate. When, however, Hizbollah does retaliate viewing its attacks as a rightful resistance to Israeli occupation of their country, Israel replies usually with massive raids, which results in major loss of life and destruction on the Lebanese side. Sometimes, when it is cornered by the facts, Israel assigns the blame to the SLA for the triggering bombing or assassination. To the world and to the average American, not being aware that the SLA is essentially a division of the Israeli Army, or not being aware of the sequence of events as explained above, which is usually due to the ill/selective coverage of the media, Israel's actions are justified.
   

• Israel Accused (BBC 11/03/2000)
• U.S. news media: A security zone for Israel by Norman Solomon, (The Free Press 05/25/2000)
• Shattered Nation at a Critical Crossroad by David Hirst (Guardian 05/28/2000). "Hizbollah has won the war - and responsibility for the peace. David Hirst charts Lebanon's bloody history.
• UN Reports Israel Border Violations by Edith M. Lederer (Associated Press/Jerusalem Post 06/26-27/2000)
• Israel Seeks to Legalize War Crimes (Human Rights Watch 06/22/2000). Hostage Law Strips Civilians of Rights Guaranteed by Laws of War.
• The Real Israeli Consensus by Gideon Levy (Ha'aretz 06/18/2000)
• SLA refugees who stay won't get funds Sharon Gal (Ha'aretz 09/12/2000)
• SLA Soldiers Face a New Threat - Tedium by Sharon Gal (Ha'aretz 06/16/2000) The families who fled to Israel have been given shelter and food - and not much more.
• The landscape of opposition by Edward Said (AlAhram Weekly 05/31/2000)
• Know Now That Arab Lives Are as Worthy as Israelis' by Hussein Ibish (L.A. Times 05/26/2000)
• Amnesty International Charges Khiam War Crimes (Washington Report 07/2000)
• Inside a Torturers' Den, Manacles Lie Abandoned by Robert Fisk (Independent 05/25/2000)
• The SLA are Getting More than they Deserve by Gideon Levy (Ha'aretz 05/28/2000)
• The next step for Israel by James Ron (Boston Globe 5/25/2000)
• Chaos, humiliation, bloodshed: after 22 years, Israel withdraws from Lebanon by Robert Fisk (The Independent, 05/24/2000)
• Israel Redirects Hellfire Missiles 'After US Advice' by Robert Fisk (Independent 05/06/2000)
• Lebanese Ghassan Dirani Said to Have Gone Insane During Lengthy Imprisonment by Moshe Reinfeld, Amos Harel and Sharon Gal (Ha'aretz 04/06/2000). "Bargaining Chip" is a Euphemism for hostages.
• CBS's Coverage of Israel's Occupation of Southern Lebanon A letter from ADC Communications Director Hussein Ibish to CBS News. (ADC 03/28/2000)
• A surgical strike with a boomerang by Zvi Bar'el (Ha'aretz 02/20/2000)
• How America Swallows the Israelis' Lies by Robert Fisk (The Indepdendent 02/14/2000)
• Israel opts for a bloody retreat The only way to leave Lebanon peacefully is to give back the Golan to Syria, says Robert Fisk (The Independent 02/13/2000)
• Death comes calling again on a Crusader castle by Robert Fisk (The Indepdendent 02/12/2000)
• Israel Accused of 'War Crimes' In South Lebanon (BBC 01/09/2000)
• An occupation by any other name by Gideon Levy (Ha'aretz 01/09/2000)
• IDF Officers Fingered in Drug Smuggling by Sharon Gal (Ha'aretz 11/09/1999). See also article in the Sydney Morning Herald.
• Retaliating in Advance: U.S. Reports Reverse Chronology of Israeli Airstrikes on Lebanon by Hussein Ibish (Extra 09/1999)
• Yaron is hounded as a 'war criminal' by Nitzan Horowitz (Ha'aretz 11/14/1999).
• Yaron Leaves Massacre Off Resume by Amir Oren (Ha'aretz 10/26/1999). Also includes another article by Francis Boyle.
• A Review of Pity the Nation a book by Robert Fisk, by Samuel Hazo (Washington Report 03/1991)
• National Association for Lebanese Detainees in Israeli Prisons. A Link
• In Preparation of Withdrawal Israel Strengthens Its Proxy Army (AFP 10/15/1999).
• Israeli Occupation of South Lebanon by Nicholas Blanford (Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine 09/29/1999)
• Israel Admits GSS Instruct SLA Interrogators by Dan Izenberg (Jerusalem Post 09/28/1999).
• A prison in Lebanon where thousands were tortured by Lara Marlowe (Irish Times 05/18/2000)
• Khiam Jail, Where Torture is Routine and by Remote Control by Robert Fisk (Independent 02/20/2000)
• Civilians Summarily Expelled from Israeli-Occupied South Lebanon (Human Rights Watch 07/1999)
• Albright's Overtures Fail to Sway Lebanese (The Independent 09/18/1999)
• Israeli Purge of Families Accelerates Drives Out South Lebanese by Robert Fisk (The Independent 07/29/1999)
• Group Criticizes Israel Expulsion by Sam F. Ghattas (Associated Press 07/28/1999). A more recent article (11/10/1999) from Human Rights Watch.
• Not Only In Iran by Orit Shohat (Ha'aretz 06/11/1999). Israel keeps/take hostages just for the purpose of using them later, if at all, as bargaining chip? See also A.G. Favors Returning Lebanese Hostages by Aviva Lavie (Ha'aretz 12/16/1999)
• Amnesty Calls Upon Israel to Release "Bargaining Chips" (Israel Wire 01/27/1999)
• Lebanon 'security zone' snares Israel by David Hirst (Guardian 03/16/1997)
• Chronology and Casualties Fired from Lebanon to the Security Zone and Israel Since mid-1993 (According Israel's Defense Force). Israel claims that its bloody operations in Lebanon are "retaliations" and "protections" against Hizbollah shelling of Israel. Observing the destruction brought upon the Lebanese by Israel, one would think that Hizbollah must have killed hundreds of Israeli civilians with their cross border shelling. According to IDF accounts (link) a total of SEVEN Israeli civilians died from 1085-1998 on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
• Hizballah: From Radicalism to Pragmatism? by Augustus Richard Norton (Middle East Policy 01/1998)
• The Real Israeli Interest in Lebanon by Israel Shahak (Washington Report 07/1996)
• "Limited War" in Lebanon By Noam Chomsky (Z Magazine 09/1993). Account of Israel's 07/1993 invasion.
• Israel Bombs Ambulance; Says Guerilla Inside. (Reuters) Images
• Israel Tests New Missile in Lebanon by Sharon Sadeh (Ha'aretz 08/07/1998). Not only has Lebanon become a training ground for new Israeli pilots in a "real-life", but less threatening situations, the Lebanese people in addition have become the guinea pigs for Israel's new weaponry.
• Soil Theft: New Israeli Style (Reuters/AFP 11/04/1998). Also check A Robert Fisk article on the same issue.
• Hizbollah and Israel Step up Border Conflict by Robert Fisk (08/27/1998) A common end to cease fire.
• Whose Security Zone? by Gideon Levy (Ha'aretz 12/27/1998)
• Israel Expands "The Zone" Further Into Lebanon by Amos Harel (Ha'aretz 02/19/1999)... For security reasons of course.
• What Would Esther Say About the Occupation in South Lebanon by Rami Khouri (Ha'aretz 03/03/1999)
• On the killing by Israel of a Lebanese Mother and six of her Children which Israel labeled "a mistake": "It is wrong to blame the pilot, the plane or the bomb that killed the mother and her children. The fault lies with the political leaders, who refuse to adopt a policy that will put an end to the killing of civilians. During its entire period in office the outgoing [Israeli] government did not make a single genuine, serious effort to advance a comprehensive solution. We can only hope that this situation will be reversed after the next government is installed." Ha'aretz Editorial (12/24/1998)
• Sabra and Shatila Massacre by Robert Fisk (Excerpts from his book Pity the Nation). "I could see in their eyes that it was going to be a relentless slaughter" -- Rafael Eitan (quoted in Schiff & Ya'ari: "Israel's Lebanon War", pp 259-260, 1984)
• 'Sharon sent Christians into Sabra, Shatilla' by Dov Alfon (Ha'aretz 06/07/1999)
• 15 Years After the Sabra & Shatila Massacre: The State of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon by Ghada Khouri

Summary Of Israeli Aggressions

• A List of Israeli Aggression in Lebanon
• Golan and Lebanon (Council for National Interest)
  
  Excerpts from UPI
• Operation Grapes of Wrath, April 1996 lasted 16-days, killed at least 172 people in Lebanon, wounded about 270 others and forced more than 400,000 citizens to flee their homes.
• Operation Accountability, lasted seven days from July 25, 1993, 123 civilians and 11 Hezbollah guerrillas were killed, about 500 were wounded and half a million people displaced.
• 1982 invasion, Operation Peace for Galilee, Israel's army occupied Beirut briefly and killed more than 15,700 people, with 30,000 wounded, nearly all of them civilians. The toll includes nearly 3,000 Palestinians and 167 Lebanese killed at the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps Sept. 16-18 by the Lebanese Christian militia, with logistical help from Israeli forces.
• Israel's first invasion of Lebanon, Operation Litani, starting March 14, 1978, left nearly 2,000 people dead and about 300,000 homeless.
• Lebanon, Israel's Killing Fields by Edward Miller (The Coastal Post 05/1996)

"Dozens of people with arms and legs missing or hanging off of them by bits of skin crawled out on their knees covered with blood trying to escape ... as the proximity shells came in again and again, 17 minutes long." From ADC Press Release commemorating the Fourth Anniversary of Qana Massacre (http://www.adc.org/press/2000/17april2000.htm): "Israel claimed that the attack was a mistake. However, Major-General Franklin van Kappen, who conducted an investigation for the United Nations into the massacre, reported to the Security Council that `While the possibility cannot be ruled out completely, it is unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of gross technical and/or procedural errors.' Following its own investigation, Amnesty International stated that `Amnesty International believes that the IDF intentionally attacked the UN compound.' On June 7, 1997, the United Nations demanded that Israel pay $1.7 million in damages to the UN for the Qana Massacre."

Victims of Peres' show of muscle in his attempt at winning re-election votes. (Notes: 1- Since the victims were not Israelis don't expect to see these pictures on TV, 2- Bombs and Planes used were Made in the U.S.A.)

Damage to the Lebanese Infrastructure During The Israeli Operation "Grapes Of Wrath"--April 1996 the United Nations

Robert Fisk

• Israel's Bitter Vengeance by Robert Fisk (The Independent 04/14/1996)
• An Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth -- Israel and Hizbollah by Robert Fisk (The Independent 04/14/1996)
• 'This is not just a military operation. It is an attempt to smash a country' by Robert Fisk (The Independent 04/15/1996)
• Massacre in Sanctuary; Eyewitness by Robert Fisk (The Independent 04/19/1996)
• Clinton calls for Cease-fire after 101 Refugees Die by Robert Fisk (The Independent 04/19/1996)
• Reality Bites for PR Men at Qana by Robert Fisk (The Independent 04/22/1996)
• The Deadly Secret that led to Bloodbath at Qana by Robert Fisk (The Independent 06/01/1996)
  .
  

  "the Israeli 'patrol' which came under mortar fire from Hizbollah guerrillas on 18 April -- the incident which led to the Qana bloodbath -- had been tasked to leave plastic explosive charges and mines near the village of Henniyeh, about five miles from Qana [inside the United Nations zone in southern Lebanon]."

  
  
• Unlawful Killings During Operation "Grapes of Wrath" (Amnesty International 07/1996)
• "Grapes of Wrath": Background (Amnesty International 1996)
• Did Israel Wittingly Shell A U.N. Base In Qana? A Disturbing Investigation Is Hotly Disputed by James Walsh (TIME International 05/20/1996)
• Strategic Aims of the "Grapes of Wrath" Operation by Israel Shahak (1996)
• The Massacre in Qana and its Context by David Paul (Boston Committee on the ME 1996).
• Qana First Anniversary by Ali Baghdadi (The Arab Journal 04/18/1997)
• Unanswered Questions on First Anniversary of the Attack on the U.N. Base at Qana by Virginia N. Sherry (Human Rights Watch/Al-Hayat 04/16/1997)
• Times Blames the Victim in Lebanon by Ronald Bleier in a letter to the New York Times (04/25/1996)
• Indignation of an Israeli Writer by Ari Shavit (Ha'aretz 05/21/1996) on the Qana massacre.
• Israeli Offensive of War Against Civilians -- U.N. (Reuter 04/24/1996)
• When Peace Means War on Qana massacre and the "Peace Process" by Mark Ryan (Living Marxism 06/1996)
• UN to Force Israel to Pay Compensation for Qana (ArabicNews.com 06/11/1999)
• Petition Charges Israel with War Crimes The Case of the Qana Massacre Survivors by Laurie King-Irani (Middle East Research and Information Project 12/08/1999)
• A Website Commemorating Qana
• Face to Face With the Victims of State-Sponsored Israeli Terror at Qana by Kate Seelye (Washington Report 07/1996). "The U.N. report, whose release on May 6 greatly angered both the Israeli and American ambassadors to the U.N. because it suggested that the artillery attack was not a mistake, said that eight shells aimed at the center of the Fijian camp had proximity fuses. The majority of shells that fell outside the camp, near the site of earlier Hezbollah mortar firing, were impact-fused rounds which are better for destroying equipment. This made it `improbable,' according to the U.N. report prepared by a Dutch military officer, that the two types of rounds were fired in random order as the Israel Defense Forces later claimed."
• USS Liberty and Qana Compared by Mark Genrich (Phoenix Gazette 06/05/1996)

Israel's Early (1950's) Plan for Partitioning Lebanon

Excerpts (concerning Lebanon) from the book Israel's Sacred Terrorism: A Study based on ex-Prime Minister Moshe Sharett's Diary, 1980, 1986, by Livia Rokach.

... excerpts from an article by Israeli Member of the Knesset Uri Avneri, published in Hoalam Hazeh, September 23, 1980,...:

The intention to partition Lebanon Sharett reveals that already in February 1954 Ben Gurion proposed a large Israeli operation to dismember the Lebanese state and to establish a Maronite-Christian state in one of its parts. Extended discussions were held as a result. Ben Gurion explicated the plan at length in a letter to Sharett, and Sharett answered in a long letter in which he opposed the plan vehemently, Ben Gurion was ready to invest large sums in bribing Christian leaders in Lebanon. Sharett also revealed that the chief of staff supported the plan of buying a Lebanese army officer who would be used as a puppet, and who would make it seem that the intervention of the Israeli army would be in response to his call for the liberation of Lebanon from Muslim subjugation. In the eyes of today's reader this plan seems an accurate blueprint for what took place in Lebanon after that- the civil war, the establishment of the Maronite enclave of Major Sa'd Haddad and labeling it "free Lebanon."

From the Council of National Interest:

1955 -- At a secret cabinet meeting, Sharett quotes Moshe Dayan as saying that the "only thing necessary is to find an officer, even just a major. We should either win his heart, or buy him with money, to make him agree to declare himself the savior of the Maronite population. Then the Israeli army will enter Lebanon, occupy the necessary territory, and will create a Christian regime which will ally itself with Israel. The territory from the Litani southward will be totally annexed to Israel, and everything will be all right." Dayan also admitted that "much anxiety had to be generated... the lives of Jewish victims also had to be sacrificed to create provocations justifying subsequent reprisals..."