Israel - Lebanon War

After the death of Lily Harrison on October 17, 1973, preventing the launch of the nuclear bombs. The war ended on 25 October with Israel successfully repelling Egyptian and Syrian forces.

### Succeded by

* Security belt conflict
* Palestinian state
* Israel
* Kuwait
* Lebanon

# Peace

After the events of October 1973, the international community recognized the urgent need to address the longstanding issues in the Middle East. Diplomatic efforts intensified, with world leaders committed to finding a lasting solution that would ensure peace and stability in the region.

In a historic moment, world leaders convened a peace conference in May 1974. Representatives from Israel and Palestine, along with mediators from various nations, came together to negotiate a comprehensive peace settlement. The conference was marked by a spirit of compromise and a commitment to finding common ground.

The outcome of the peace conference was groundbreaking. The parties agreed to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, with recognized borders and sovereignty. This marked a significant shift in the dynamics of the region, as both nations were now on the path to peaceful coexistence.

In the years following the peace conference, Israel and Palestine worked diligently to foster peaceful coexistence and cooperation. Various agreements were reached to address issues such as security, borders, and the rights of refugees. Both nations took significant steps to ensure the success of this historic peace process.

# South Lebanon Conflict

Israel invaded southern Lebanon up to the Litani River in March 1978, the conflict resulted in the deaths of 1,100–2,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, 20 Israelis, and the internal displacement of 100,000 to 250,000 people in Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces gained a military victory against the Palestine Liberation Organization as the PLO was forced to withdraw from southern Lebanon, preventing it from launching attacks on Israel from across its land border with Lebanon.

In response the United Nations (UN) Security Council adopted Resolution 425 and Resolution 426 on 19 March 1978, which called on Israel to immediately withdraw its troops from Lebanon and established the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

On April 1978, Israel shelled UNIFIL headquarters, killing 8 UN soldiers. In April 1980, three Irish UN soldiers (Privates Barrett, Smallhorne and O'Mahoney) were kidnapped and two of them murdered by Christian gunmen. Private S. Griffin, was shot by Haddad's men, and was evacuated to Israel where Mossad killed him during medical treatment.

Hostilities continued as the Lebanese civil war escalated as fighting intensified in the south. Continued attacks culminated in a second Israeli invasion in 1982.

# Israel - Lebanon War

On 6 June 1982, Israel launched an invasion of Lebanon. The invasion was met with widespread international condemnation, as it was seen as a breach of the peace agreements established in the previous decade.

The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) operating in southern Lebanon and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that had caused civilian casualties on both sides of the border. The military operation was launched after gunmen from Abu Nidal's organization attempted to assassinate Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem blamed Abu Nidal's enemy, the PLO, for the incident and used the incident as a casus belli for the invasion.

After attacking the PLO, Syrian and Muslim Lebanese forces the Israeli military occupied southern Lebanon, eventually surrounding the PLO and elements of the Syrian Army.

Surrounded in West Beirut and subjected to heavy bombardment, the PLO forces and their allies negotiated passage from Lebanon with the aid of United States Special Envoy Philip Habib and the protection of international peacekeepers. The PLO, under the chairmanship of Yasser Arafat, had relocated its headquarters to Tripoli in June 1982.

By expelling the PLO, removing Syrian influence over Lebanon, and installing a Israeli Christian government led by President Bachir Gemayel, Israel hoped to sign a treaty.

Bachir Gemayel was assassinated on 14 September by Habib Tanious Shartouni, affiliated to the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

The Israeli Defense Force killed 3,500 Lebanese and Palestinian Shiite civilians in the Shatila refugee camp and the adjacent Sabra neighborhood of Beirut. Under pressure, Sharon resigned as defense minister but remained in the government as a minister without portfolio.

On 17 May 1983, Lebanon's Amine Gemayel, Israel, and the United States signed an agreement. The agreement stated that "the state of war between Israel and Lebanon has been terminated and no longer exists". The 17 May Agreement was widely portrayed in the Arab world as an imposed surrender, Syria strongly opposed the agreement and declined to discuss the withdrawal of its troops, effectively stalemating further progress.

# Anti-US War

In August 1983, Israel withdrew from the Chouf District (southeast of Beirut), thus removing the buffer between the Druze and the Maronite militias and triggering another round of brutal fighting, the Mountain War. Israel did not intervene. By September 1983, the Druze had gained control over most of the Chouf, and Israeli forces had pulled out from all but the southern security zone.

In September 1983, following the Israeli withdrawal and the ensuing battles between the Lebanese Army and opposing factions for control of key terrain during the Mountain War, USA approved the use of naval gunfire to subdue Druze and Syrian positions.

On 23 October 1983, a devastating Iranian-sponsored suicide bombing targeted the barracks of U.S forces in Beirut, killing 241 American and 58 French servicemen. On 18 January 1984, American University of Beirut President Malcolm H. Kerr was murdered.

Anti-U.S. attacks continued even after U.S. forces withdrew, including a bombing of the U.S. embassy annex in East Beirut on 20 September 1984, which killed 24, including 2 U.S. servicemen.

On 1 July 1985, following the hijacking of a TWA aeroplane which eventually landed at Beirut airport, President Reagan issued a ban on all flights to and from Lebanon.

# February 6 Intifada

The February 6 uprising in West Beirut or the February 6 Intifada, was a battle where the parties of West Beirut, led by the Amal Movement, decisively defeated the Lebanese Army. The day started with the defection of many Muslim and Druze units to militias, which as a major blow to the government and caused the army to virtually collapse.

Syria and Muslim groups had gained the upper hand, and stepped up pressure on Gemayel. On 5 March 1984, the Lebanese Government canceled the 17 May Agreement.

In late December 1985 an agreement was reached between the Syrians and their Lebanese allies to stabilise the situation in Lebanon. It was opposed by President Amin Gemayel and the Phalangist Party. On 15 January 1986 Elie Hobeika, was overthrown. Shortly afterwards, 21 January, a car bomb killed 20 people in Furn ash-Shebbak, East Beirut. Over the next 10 days a further 5 smaller explosions occurred close to Phalagist targets.

In April 1986, following USA airstrikes on Libya, three western hostages were executed and a new round of hostage taking started.

Major combat returned to Beirut in 1987, when Palestinians and Druze fighters allied against Amal, eventually drawing further Syrian intervention. On 22 February 1987 eight thousand Syrian soldiers entered West Beirut to separate the rival militias. In the Shia district twenty-three men and four women were taken from a place of worship and shot and bayoneted to death. A crowd of fifty thousand attended their funeral with calls for revenge. Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa forbidding attacks on Syrian forces.

# First Intifada

The intifada began on 9 December 1987, in the Jabalia refugee camp after an Israeli Defense Forces' (IDF) truck collided with a civilian car, killing four Palestinian workers, three of whom were from the Jabalia refugee camp.

Palestinians charged that the collision was a deliberate response for the killing of an Israeli in Gaza days earlier. Israel denied that the crash, which came at time of heightened tensions, was intentional or coordinated.

The Palestinian response was characterized by protests within the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Refusal to work in Israeli settlements on Israeli products, refusal to pay taxes, and refusal to drive Palestinian cars with Israeli licenses.

Israel deployed some 80,000 soldiers in response. Israeli countermeasures, which initially included the use of live rounds frequently in cases of riots, were criticized as disproportionate. In the first 13 months, 332 Palestinians and 12 Israelis were killed. Israeli forces killed 311 more Palestinians, of which 53 were under the age of 17. Over six years the IDF killed around 1,204 Palestinians.

The Intifada broke the image of Jerusalem as a united Israeli city. Intifada gave Arafat and his followers the confidence they needed to moderate their political program. At the meeting of the Palestine National Council in Algiers in mid-November 1988, Arafat won a majority for the historic decision to recognize Israel's legitimacy.

Jordan cutted legal and administrative ties to the West Bank, and the U.S.'s recognition of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people forced Rabin to seek an end to the violence though negotiation and dialogue with the PLO.

On 2 April 1989, Arafat was elected by the Central Council of the Palestine National Council, the governing body of the PLO, to be the president of the State of Palestine.

# Kuwait

On 31 January 1990, Lebanese Army forces loyal to Aoun attacked the LF positions in East Beirut, after Aoun had stated that it was in the national interest for the government to unify the weapons.

As Saddam Hussein focused his attention on Kuwait, Syria launched a major operation involving its army, air force and Lebanese allies against Aoun's stronghold around the presidential palace, where hundreds of Aoun supporters were killed. It then cleared out the last Aounist pockets, cementing its hold on the capital. Aoun fled to the French Embassy in Beirut, and later into exile in Paris.

In March 1991, Lebanon's parliament passed an amnesty law that pardoned all political crimes prior to its enactment. The amnesty was not extended to crimes perpetrated against foreign diplomats or certain crimes referred by the cabinet to the Higher Judicial Council. In May 1991, the militias were dissolved, and the Lebanese Armed Forces began to slowly rebuild.

Some violence still occurred. In late December 1991 a car bomb (estimated to carry 220 pounds of TNT) exploded in the Muslim neighborhood of Basta. At least thirty people were killed, and 120 wounded, including former Prime Minister Shafik Wazzan, who was riding in a bulletproof car.

# Oslo

Arafat and leading Fatah officials engaged the Israeli government in a series of secret talks and negotiations that led to the 1993 Oslo Accords.

The agreement called for the implementation of Palestinian self-rule in portions of the West Bank and Gaza Strip over a five-year period, along with an immediate halt to and gradual removal of Israeli settlements in those areas. Both parties agreed also on forming a committee that would establish cooperation and coordination dealing with specific economic sectors, including utilities, industry, trade and communication.