UN Peacekeeping Force has been on
duty before along the Israeli-Lebanon border, and it did not stop
the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in
1982.
In 1978, after being repeatedly
shelled by P.L.O. artillery and infiltared by P.L.O.commandos,
Israel had crossed into southern Lebanon and chased the P.L.O.
forces north ofthe Litani River, 18 miles beyond the Israeli
border.
Despite the presence of some 7,000 U.N. peacekeeping forces
(UNIFIL) sent into southern Lebanon in 1978 to help preserve a
fragile peace, the P.L.O. was able to set up a stronghold in Tyre,
outside UNIFIL's jurisdiction, from which it could shell northern
Israel. A year ago, a top Begin aide boasted that one day Israel
would so cripple the P.L.O. that its leaders would be comparable to
"the White Russians who sat in Paris cafes after the Bolshevik
revoultion."
Sharon had long wanted to destroy the P.L.O.'s bases, weapons and
supplies. He thought, perhaps wishfully, that the P.L.O. would
unite with other Palestinians in Jordan (more than 60% of the
country's 2.2 million inhabitants are Palestinian) to overthrow
King Hussein and create a Palestinian state less threatening to
Israel. The Sharon plan also envisioned uniting the forces of Major
Sa'ad Haddad, Israel's Lebanese surrogate who is encamped with his
forces in a 600-sq.-mi. buffer zone along the Israeli border in
southern Lebanon, with the Christian Phalangists in the north. The
combined Christian forces, in Sharon's scheme, would take over the
central government and restore what Sharon calls "a free Lebanon."
This government would presumably get the Syrians to withdraw.
For months, Sharon had been restrained by the Israeli Cabinet from
launching an attack into Lebanon. But then came the incident that
provided the pretext for the invasion. Radical anti-P.L.O.
Palestinian hitmen gravely wounded Israel's Ambassador to Britian,
Shlomo Agrov, in London on Thursday, June 3.
The Israeli air force promptly retaliated by bombing P.L.O.
strongholds in Beirut, inflicting some 500 casualties. The P.L.O.
artillery and rocketeers blasted back, hurling at least 500 rounds
of explosives into 23 towns and villages in the Galilee area of
northern Israel. Astonishingly, only one person died: an elderly
man who had a heart attack.
On Friday night, the Israeli Cabinet met secretly in Begin's office
in Jerusalem.
Another Cabinet session Saturday night completed the decision.
Sharon would have his war. Despite the Israeli massing of troops,
weapons and vehicles in staging areas carved into the hills and
valleys of northern Galilee, the timing of the attack into Lebanon
was a well-kept secret.
Lieut. General William Callaghan, commander of UNIFIL, was
astonished when he walked into the forward headquarters of the
Israeli Northern Command in Zeft on Sunday morning. He had
come to discuss a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an
end to the P.L.O.-Israeli barrages across the border. But there he
found Lieut. General Rafael Eitan, the Israeli Chief of Staff.
Eitan had a disconcerting announcement: Israel would invade Lebanon
in 28 minutes. Callaghan argued futilely against the
decision.
From before noon until after dark, the long columns of Israeli
armor and trucks rumbled past Misgav Am, Kefar Giladi, Kefar Yuval
and Metullah. There was an epic, almost cinematic, quality to the
procession: huge Centurion tanks armored personnel carriers, Jeeps
armed with machine guns, halftracks carrying antiaircraft guns, all
bedecked with red bunting to make them easy for Israeli warplanes
to identify. Behind them came communications vans, supply trucks
and ambulances. Finally, giant self-propelled 175-mm artillery
pieces, which could destroy targets 23 miles ahead of the advancing
caravans, lumbered along the narrow dirt roads, kicking up clouds
of choking dust.
The invading forces split into three separate attacking columns.
One headed west, then north along the sea toward the P.L.O.
strongholds of Rashidiyah and Tyre. The central column rolled
toward the P.L.O. vantage point of Beaufort Castle, with the goal
of pushing north along the western entrance to the Bekaa Valley and
of blocking any attempt by theSyrians to move out of their occupied
territory. The third column opened an eastern front, intending to
clear the P.L.O. out of the 144-sq-mi. zone in southern Lebanon
that the Israelis called "Fatahland" because it is dominated by
Al-Fatah, the military arm of the P.L.O.
One potential problem for the invaders was whether UNIFL's
troops would try to stop them. Israeli soldiers were under orders
not to shoot at the peace keepers. Callaghan had instructed his
contingents, according to a U.N. report, "to block advancing
forces,take defense measures and stay in their positions until
their safety was seriously imperiled." Most of his soldiers
apparently had no difficulty deciding that they were immediately
"imperiled."
The Israelis moving toward Beaufort Castle passed UNIFIL posts
fortified only with ironic signs: U.N. ZONE: ARMED
PERSONNEL DO NOT ENTER.
Still, UNIFIL managed to delay a few of the Israeli units. A small
group of Nepalese troops stubbornly refused to clear Khardala
Bridge on the Litani River so that Israeli tanks detouring from the
main central advance could pass. Drivers of some 100 Israeli tanks
were finally ordered simply to over run the blockade, pushing the
Nepalese aside. On the coastal road, another UNIFIL unit set up
road blocks. The unit watched helplessly as the Israeli tanks
pointed their barrels menacingly at them without firing, then
bulldozed ahead.
On Tuesday, the Israeli Knesset took its first vote on Begin's
invasion decision. For months the legislators had bickered about
how to deal with the P.L.O. But with the military news encouraging
and the nation rallying with patriotic fervor, a no-confidence
resolution on the war introduced by the three-member Communist
faction lost, 94 to 3. Addressing the Knesset, the Prime Minister
spoke more slowly than usual and with evident sadness. Begin
declared that Israel did not want "one square millimeter of
Lebanese territory" and would not harm the Syrian forces unless
they attacked Israeli troops. He also vowed that the fighting would
stop once Israel had secured a 25-mile buffer zone in southern
Lebanon.
"All we want is that our citizens in Galilee shall no longer have
to suffocate in bomb shelters day and night and shall be free from
the terror of sudden death by Katyushas [Soviet made
rockets],"
The harrassing rockets launched
from southern Lebanon has always led to the insecurity of the
Israelis living along the Lebanon-Israeli border. The Israeli need
for a buffer zone has been ongoing as long as the conflict
persist.
