[Peace-discuss] Strikingly similar precedent to Gaza

[ya'aQov via Peace-discuss]

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



6 June 1982, the Israel Defense Forces
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Defense_Forces> invaded southern
Lebanon <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Lebanon> after the Abu Nidal
Organization <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Nidal_Organization>'s
assassination attempt against Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo
Argov <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shlomo_Argov>, used by Israel's prime
minister Menachem Begin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menachem_Begin> as
justification for the invasion

This justification for the Lebanon invasion by Israel has been criticized,
given the 1974 split between the Abu Nidal Organisation
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Nidal_Organisation> and Arafat's PLO,
that Abu Nidal was Arafat's mortal Palestinian enemy, that at the time its
agents were also seeking to assassinate Fatah officials, and that it was
based in Syria and not in Lebanon.

By expelling the Palestine Liberation Organization
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Liberation_Organization> (PLO),
removing Syrian influence over Lebanon, and installing a pro-Israeli
Christian government led by Bachir Gemayel
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachir_Gemayel>, Israel hoped to sign a
treaty which Menachem Begin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menachem_Begin>
promised would give Israel "forty years of peace"

After attacking the PLO – as well as Syrian, leftist, and Muslim Lebanese
forces – Israel occupied southern Lebanon, eventually surrounding the PLO
and elements of the Syrian army <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_army>.
Surrounded in West Beirut <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beirut> and
subjected to heavy bombardment, the PLO forces and their allies negotiated
passage from Lebanon with the aid of United States and relocated
headquarters to Tripoli in June 1982.

Outrage followed Israel's role in the Phalangist-perpetrated Sabra and
Shatila massacre <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre>,
of mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites. On 16 December 1982, the United
Nations General Assembly
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly> condemned
the Sabra and Shatila massacre and declared it to be an act of genocide
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide>.

An international commission investigated into reported violations of
International Law by Israel during its invasion of the Lebanon. The
commission's report 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 directly or
indirectly responsible for the massacres and killings
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre>, which have been
reported to have been carried out by Lebanese militiamen in Sabra and the
Shatila refugee camp in the Beirut area between 16 and 18 September.[111]

In Israel, following a four-month investigation, on 8 February 1983, the Kahan
Commission <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahan_Commission> submitted its
report finding that Defence minister
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_minister> Ariel Sharon
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Sharon> was found to bear personal
responsibility[1]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahan_Commission#cite_note-1> "for ignoring
the danger of bloodshed and revenge" and "not taking appropriate measures
to prevent bloodshed". Sharon's negligence in protecting the civilian
population of Beirut, which had come under Israeli control, amounted
to a non-fulfillment
of a duty with which the Defence Minister was charged, and it was
recommended that Sharon be dismissed as Defence Minister.

Initially, Sharon refused to resign, and Prime Minister Menachem Begin
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menachem_Begin> refused to fire him. However,
following a peace march against the government, as the marchers were
dispersing, a grenade was thrown into the crowd, killing Emil Grunzweig
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Grunzweig>, a reserve combat officer and
peace activist, and wounding half a dozen others, including the son of the
Interior Minister.[2]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahan_Commission#cite_note-2> Although Sharon
resigned as Defence Minister, he remained in the Cabinet as a Minister
without Portfolio. Years later Sharon would be elected Israel's Prime
Minister.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20140811/3cc2a455/attachment-0001.html>