Israeli policy in Lebanon: A history of accumulated failure! By Salim Nazzal

Israeli policy in Lebanon: A history of accumulated failure!

By Salim Nazzal

Al-Jazeerah, October 27, 2006

Those who heard Olmert calling the Lebanese prime minister to meet for peace talks thought that something significant changed in Lebanese Israeli relations, which is that of a state of war since 1948, the year when the state of Israel was established. When the speaker for the Israeli Knesset repeats the same request by calling Nabeh Barre, the speaker of the Lebanese parliament to visit the Knesset, it was clear that either calls are pointing at some changes between the state of Israel and Lebanon.

But are they really a signal of change, or they are empty speeches to calm down the Israeli domestic front which is still debating the results of the war in Lebanon. The answer coming from Beirut made it clear that the last which the Lebanese think of is to establish diplomatic ties with Israel. The Lebanese have good reasons: Lebanon hosts around 500,000 Palestinians who took refugee there after 1948 and who are denied by Israel to return, despite UN resolution 194 which legitimizes this right.

Lebanon’s demographics may be viewed as an obstacle because of the various religious sects found within the nation. Many Lebanese oppose any settling of Palestinian refugees in their country. Not surprisingly then that this issue of Palestinian refugees has become a major issue in the political realm of the nation. The rejection of settling Palestinian refugees in Lebanon was formalized since it was included in the Lebanese Constitution in the 1989 Taef Agreement that resulted in the ending of Lebanese the civil war.

Taken in a historical context, it is quite clear that Israeli policy towards Lebanon is that of abysmal failure. Since its establishment, Israel has never lost sight of the dream to neutralize Lebanon, from the Arab-Israeli conflict. As an example, the first Prime Minister of Israel, Ben Gurion, hoped to find a Lebanese Maronite officer to deal with. Ben Gurion’s aim was realized, the civil war in Lebanon has provided this opportunity: Major Saad Hadad and General Lohd cooperated with Israel and established what was known as the South Lebanese army.

This army collapsed in May 2000 when Israel, thanks to the Lebanese resistance, and to the solid Lebanese Christian Muslim unity, was forced to withdraw from Lebanon after 24 years of occupation. Basher Al-Jumaleil, the ambitious young Maronite politician accepted aid from Israel during the Lebanese civil war. Yet events demonstrated that even those who accepted the Israeli aid have their limitations. This was obvious in the meeting between Basher and Menachem Pegan, the Israeli Prime Minister, which took place in 1982.

Basher Al-Jumaeil rejected to operate diplomatic ties with Israel should he become president, the price which Israel wanted him to pay, in return for its help. Basher was not a naive politician: even if he went far in the contact with Israel, he knew that operating diplomatic ties with Israel is beyond his capacity in a country where the majority of its population considers Israel its first enemy. Menachem Pegan reacted strongly and reminded Basher that Egypt the biggest Arab country did this before. Basher told Began that in Egypt the decision of establishing diplomatic contact with Israel was made by one man something that can not happen in Lebanon which is made of several communities.

The result of that period is known, Basher was assassinated in mysterious conditions only a short period after his election as president. General lohd who lived the bitterness of being left alone by Israel, ended an owner of kebab restaurant in Tel Aviv. The Lebanese Christians politicians learnt the lesson very well that the only insurance for them lies in their unity with the Lebanese Muslims. As the respectable Lebanese journalist George Nasif puts it, it is the very duty of the Lebanese Christians to stand with their Lebanese brothers against Israeli aggression.

The Vatican guidance in the late 1990s confirmed this view clearer than ever, the Lebanese Christians are part of their region and the concern of their region. The political translation for this guidance is obvious, the Lebanese Christians and their compatriot Muslims should stand together. This unity was not without great fruits: Israel had to taste the defeat in Lebanon twice, in May 2000 when its soldiers left Lebanon in one of the most humiliating withdrawals in Israeli history, and in the war of July 2006 when Israel was defeated by few thousand soldiers of the Lebanese resistance.

Therefore, recent calls from Israel to Lebanon are aimed at the critical Israeli voices of the war in Lebanon that it has brought political results. This shows that the Israeli wishful thinking is replacing any serious and sensible policy. Between the wishful thinking and the wrong conclusions there is not much distance. Firstly, the subjective wish replaces the objective realties, secondly; ideological lens that Israel views with and the arrogance of power prevent them from seeing realties. In both cases, creative thinking based on empirical judgment disappears and the creation of a fantasy world dominates. This in my perspective regarding the essential flaw of Zionism, has colossal military muscles but it stands on mouse legs.

Dr. Salim Nazzal is a Palestinian historian. He has written extensively on social and political issues in the Middle East .E mail: gibran44@hotmail.com

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

Apartheid Wall


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03).

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