I decided the other night to dig out one of my college texts on the Israeli-Arab conflict and start reading the Lebanon section again. What I found amazed me. History is very closely repeating itself.
Israel's actions in Lebanon and motives for going in are virtually identical to those of 1982. On the other side, Hizballah is taking the place of the PLO. Towns like Tyre and cities like Beirut are the focal point of hostilities again.
The history lesson begins after the jump....
1. Beirut as a target: In 1982, prior to actually putting ground troops in Lebanon, Israel bombed Beirut several times, targeting the PLO headquarters in the city. In 2006, Israel has been targeting the Hizballah headquarters in Beirut. Heavy bombing of the inner city has been a hallmark of both campaigns, with heavy civilian casualties and a radicalization of the populace.
2. Preplanning of invasion/reasons for invasion: In 1982, the PLO shelled northern Israeli towns with artillery fire. These attacks came in May and June of that year, after a good year of ceasefire, and after Arafat begged Israel's prime minister, Menachem Begin, not to invade, saying he couldn't sustain a defense against the IDF and that he had no wish to attack Israel. However, two things happened. First of all, a member of Abu Nidal's dissident PLO faction attempted to assassinate the ambassador to England from Israel. The shooting was successful, but the ambassador lived. Secondly, Israel's defense minister, Ariel Sharon, had been preplanning an invasion since before the assassination attempt, and convinced PM Begin that this was a casus belli, and they needed to attack. So began the bombing of Beirut and other attacks on PLO positions, drawing the shelling from the PLO, and giving Israel reason to invade.
Furthermore, one of Israel's stated goals was to protect its northern frontier from the arsenal of its PLO opponents, and they publicly declared this war would be fought for limited objectives.
Fast forward to 2006. Israel wants to disarm Hizballah to protect its northern frontier. Israel preplanned the invasion of Lebanon before the abduction of the soldiers. Israel is worried about the strength of Hizballah. Israel says this is being fought for limited objectives. The methods have been the same, the reasoning the same.
3. Our role in the conflict: In 1982, going back to 1981, Sharon met with Secretary of State Alexander Haig to clear any action with the U.S. first and give it a measure of international protection. Haig was said to have given Sharon a "dim yellow light" of caution, but a State Department official later said, "It doesn't matter what Haig told him. Sharon has been known to run lights of all colors." Initially, the U.S. defended Israel's actions, including working out the decampment of the PLO from Beirut, but turned after the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camp massacres. Reagan wrote Begin a scathing letter, and the State Department worked to bring about a ceasefire.
In this conflict, Israel went through Vice-President Cheney's office for prior clearance, and the U.S. stood by Israel's actions, until the Qana fiasco, and now the U.S. is again working for a ceasefire, only AFTER a major event that makes it untenable to defend the Israeli position.
Interestingly enough, Israel in 1982 provoked Syria into fighting despite the pleas of Damascus that they wanted no part of a war with Israel. And today, we have a faction of the right here in America, along with a faction of the right in Israel, who want to drive on Damascus.
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, and the events of 1982 led to a peacekeeping force, led by the U.S., which led to the embassy and Marine barracks bombings, causing hundreds of U.S. casualties, and our military is stretched too thin to take a blow like that. Furthermore, such an event would lead to more Arab talk of us being a crusader force, talk that is supported by the words of administration officials and their backers, talk of conversions to Christianity and God speaking to them. At a crucial time in history, we're being led by fanatics, and it does not bode well for a good ending in the Mideast.