DON BELL REPORTS

A WEEKLY COMMENTARY

Year Twenty-Nine ... Number Thirty-Seven ... September 24, 1982

Table of Contents

THE LEBANESE POWDERKEG

Commenting on the terrorism which has been sweeping through the world, most of it inspired and directed by Communist leaders, Hilaire du Berrier recently remarked that "World War III, now in the phase of destabilization by terrorism, has already started." This statement seems to have been confirmed by the Pyrrhic victory that has heaped such universal criticism upon the political state of Israel, and has caused such a loss of respect and trust among nations, as well as so much expense, upon the part of the United States. Prior to September 1, 1982, it was true that virtually every nation in the world, Western, Eastern, Mideastern, Nonaligned and Third World Nations, was critical of the actions of the Begin-controlled government of the political state of Israel. This was evidenced by numerous UN sanctions against Israel, the votes being unanimous because Israel's only friends among nations; the United States and the Republic of South Africa, chose not to vote.

However, after September 1, 1982, and especially after September 15, 1982, there were no abstentions. The whole world was unanimously and openly criticizing or condemning Israel for its actions in Beirut. Even a sizeable number, perhaps a majority of Israeli citizens were joining in the criticism and the condemnation. This because the Israeli troops had violated its promises, had re-entered West Beirut, and then had permitted members of the Lebanese Phalangist Party and members of the private army of renegade Lebanese Major Saad Haddad to pass through the Israeli lines and enter two refugee camps where they then proceeded to murder in cold blood still uncounted hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children. President Reagan was one of the first to denounce Israel. And he did it in unusually harsh terms. "All people must share the outrage and revulsion at the murders, which included women and children. We strongly opposed Israel's move into West Beirut ... both because it was wrong in principle and for fear that it would provoke further fighting."

The American communications media, usually emphatically pro-Israel, turned against its former admirer and promoter. For example, The New York Times of September 21, remarked in a lead editorial that "There are Lebanese precedents for the barbarity in Beirut last week. But there are no Israeli precedents for .. the mass slaughter of Palestinians whom Israel had undertaken to protect. In the prescence of such horror, who speaks for Israel? Surely not the Government of Prime Minister Begin. His Cabinet failed an essential test of humanity as the shocking news and pictures spread among its people. Instead of remorse, it could find only a passing phrase of 'deep grief and regret.' Instead of doubt about the performance or assigned mission of its army, it uttered shameless self-praise. Instead of rage against the criminals who made Israel an accomplice in a pogrom, it spouted defiance: 'No one will preach to us ethics and respect for human life.'"

In a most surprising and unusual editorial and reportorial about-face, Newsweek almost told the "story like it was." Save for the use of the unqualified word Christian, the story seemed objective and without the usual liberal slant. With a picture of a cluster of dead bodies of Palestinian victims crumpled in the streets of the refugee camp of Sabra, and under the heading "Massacre in West Beirut," Newsweek declared unequivocally that "The Massacre in West Beirut was the work of Lebanese Christian militiamen supported and armed by Israel. The Israelis invaded Muslim West Beirut last week on the pretext of preventing bloodshed after the murder of their principal ally, President-elect Bashir Gemayel, 34. If peacekeeping was their aim, they made a horrible mistake when they put their bloodthirsty friends in charge of the Sabra and Shatile refugee camps, which housed the families of evacuated Palestinian fighting men. As the Israelis stood by, Christian gunmen rampaged through the two camps, executing hundreds of Palestinians. The exact number may never be known, but estimates ran as high as 1,000 -- including some who died with their hands and feet bound ... When Newsweek's James Pringle attempted to get into the Sabra camp while the killing was still going on, his way was blocked by Israeli troops and members of Haddad's army. As rifle fire crackled inside the camp, Pringle asked one of Haddad's men what was going on. 'We are slaughtering them,' the militiaman replied cheerfully. Nearby, an Israeli colonel who identified himself only as 'Eli,' said his own troops would not interfere to 'purify the area'."

Days later, after heated debates and name-calling in the Israeli Knesset (parliament) Defense Minister Ariel Sharon admitted that Israel had a direct hand in plotting and arranging for the Phalangists to enter the two refugee camps. But a direct investigation of the mass murders was rejected. A few cabinet ministers and other officials resigned in protest, but in the long run Begin had a vote of confidence from the Knesset members. Meanwhile President Reagan sought some way of restoring America's lost credibility. American officials had promised that if the PLO terrorists would depart, with their sidearms and ammunition, leaving their families behind in Lebanon, the members of those families would be protected. Those were the people who were murdered in the two refugee camps. Shocked and outraged, the Reagan administration decided that the multinational force composed of U.S. Marines, French Foreign Legionairres, and Italian troops, must return to Lebanon and see to it that all "foreign troops" leave the country and let the Lebanese Army take full responsibility for restoring order. These arrangements were predicated upon the agreement of the Israeli government. Begin agreed, but decided that the Israeli troops would not all leave Lebanon immediately, that some elements of the Israeli troops would remain and work with the multinational forces in the "purification" of Lebanon. So, Begin is still in charge of "Operation Lebanon."

And now comes the really dangerous part. U.S. Marines were to land and re-enter Lebanon, but this time in a different area, under different circumstances, and with different orders. Those orders were never publicized, but it seems that our Marines, although this time supplied with ammunition with which to defend themselves, were not to use it when fired upon. Only if they were fired upon or attacked for a second time were they to fire back and defend themselves. It makes for a situation seething with danger. As Senator Goldwater remarked, if any one of those U.S. Marines is lost, we could be mixed up in another foreign war.

There are two sets of circumstances that should cause great worry to the American people. First, whenever the economy becomes shaky on a worldwide scale, the age-old answer has been the creation of a war. This puts millions of people to work, causes factories and plants to operate at full capacity, and improves the economy by pouring billions into conventional weapons that have no resale value, and uses foodstuffs, pharmaceutical products, etc. Time after time, International Bankers have saved themselves from disaster by financing wars. And there is a second consideration: The same forces that engineered the United States into participation in World Wars I and II, the Korean no-win war and the Vietnamese no-win disaster, also are promoting a World War III, and direct American involvement in a war in the Middle East could be the start of something too big and too horrible to contemplate. One thing is sure: Lebanon is no place for U.S. Marines. The powers that be created the UN and has used UN peacekeeping forces to restore order in other parts of the world. Why not in Lebanon when the situation became so serious?

In order to better understand the background of this potentially disasterous affair perhaps we should recall the events of the past which brought about such a situation. Following, as briefly as possible and as objectively as is possible for this reporter, here is the historical development:

Palestine has never been a land of peace. Its location as the meeting place for Asia, Africa and Europe is too strategic, militarily, politically and economically, for the world to leave it alone. Perhaps because it was the meeting place of three continents that the Prince of Peace chose to be born there in the flesh, that His message of Salvation might more easily be spread throughout the world. But only through Him was there ever any real peace, and that of a peace that passes understanding on the part of the people of the world. The only National Israel of which the Bible speaks was born in war as Joshua conquered the land; died in war as the Roman Genereal Titus destroyed the Temple in 70 A.D. The Jews (a sobriquet of the tribal name Judah) who had rejected the Messiah and escaped the slaughter in Jerusalem and Judea, were scattered abroad, many of them settling in Rome. They tried to re-establish themselves in Jerusalem but were driven out permanently by the Romans 135 A.D. Ever since that time, there has been the dream of a homeland for this people. But not until the nineteenth century was there any real opportunity for such a development. In 1837 Sir Moses Montefiore, an International Banker, visited Palestine and was impressed with the possibilities of the land. Montefiore began promoting among the Jews in Europe the idea of emigrating to Palestine and creating a kind of homeland. There was a little response from Jews living under extreme conditions in Russia and Germany. But the idea never really caught fire under Theodore Herzl came on the scene. In the 1880s this assimilated and secular Jew decided to devote his life to the aid of his people. This has been suppressed, but Herzl's first idea was that all Jews be converted to Christianity so they might be accepted in European society "as social equals." But Rabbis and leaders of Judaism rejected the idea with scorn. So Hertzl then created an organization of political Zionists, and proposed the mass migration of Jews to some spot where a homeland could be created. Hertzl assembled the first congress of Zionists in 1897, in Basle, Switzerland. At that time they dediced that they should try to establish a homeland in Palestine.

It is noteworthy that at this time the thought was of a "Jewish Homeland," rather than a "Jewish Nation." The Zionists were very emphatic about the difference. At the tenth Zionist Congress, held in Basle in 1911, the president opened the congress with the words:

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 repeated this sentiment: "His Majesty's Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people ... It being clearly understood that nothing shall be done to prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." (Again, emphasis added).

To repeat: In establishing a national home for the Jewish people there was to be no change in government, no creation of a State of Israel, just a place where Jews could reside under the protection of the existing government which was at that time British, since Palestine had been mandated to Britain after the land had been taken in war from the Turks. But what a change when the Jews started implementing the Balfour Declaration in 1946! Suddenly the demand changed from that of a Jewish homeland to that of an independent Jewish nation. Terrorist gangs were formed to enforce the demands. One of the leaders of such a gang was Menachem Begin. At that time he was a terrorist fighting for a "return" of land in exactly the same sense that Yasir Arafat of the PLO is now a terrorist fighting for the return of a land that has been taken from the Palestinians unfairly.

The situation became intolerable to the British Government, which decided to relinquish its Mandate over Palestine and let the newly created United Nations Organization settle the issue as best it could. Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden who had helped arrange for the German surrender at the end of World War II was asked to act as a UN mediator in Palestine. He was assassinated by Jewish terrorists headed by Begin. The British placed a price on Begin's head, but he managed to live and eventually to become the Prime Minister of Israel, and to conduct the invasion of Lebanon and its capital city, Beirut.

We haven't the space to fill in the details of how, the moment Israel declared itself to be an independent state, President Harry Truman immediately accorded offical recognition; and how Israel has been our dependent and our protectorate ever since. This has made it more difficult to deal with the oil-rich Arab states, and Carter's Camp David pact between Egypt and Israel was supposed to be a giant step in reconciling a complicated situation. The extremist Palestinian nationalists, under the leadership of such organizations as the PLO, began to accept aid from the USSR, thus making the entire situation even more dangerous to the United States.

But to fill in the years within a little space, we'll quote A. C. Forest, a Christian reporter and author of the book "The UnHoly Land", who wrote some ten years ago: "In 1947 the UN decided to partition Palestine ... the Jews who had less than 6 percent of the total (area) were given 56 percent of it .. Between the UN decision of November 20th, 1947 and the actual close of the Mandate and withdrawl on May 15th, 1948, Jewish regular and irregular (terrorist) forces seized most of the Arab cities of Palestine and scores of Arab villages. They not only forcefully overran territory lying within the proposed Jewish state ... but also cities and scores of localities assigned to the Arab states, including Jaffa and Acre as well as the new City of Jerusalem. This process continued through the Arab-Israeli war with the result .. the total area which fell under Israeli control rose to almost 80 percent of the country." (Quote from "The UnHoly Land", by A.C. Forest, DevinAdair Co., Old Greenwich, Conn, 1972).

After that came the Gaza Strip, Sinai, all the rest of Palestine, part of Syria, the presently contested West Bank, and probably parts of Lebanon. Ten years ago, Forest wrote: "So the struggle goes on. The homeless (Palestinians) have tripled in number and the territory occupied by Israel has been increased many times. Three wars have been fought and skirmishing continues. The whole Middle East dangles on the edge of war."

And now, with this Pyrhhic victory for which we are going to pay, that "edge of war" will appear narrower than ever. The PLO has not been eliminated. It has just been made an international force which will command more and more aid from the USSR and its Communist Friends in Asia and Africa, especially Syria and Libya. The future role of the oil-rich Arab states becomes more and more questionable. And, most serous of all, now there are United States Marines on the spot in a foreign country where a Lebanese powderkeg might ignire a total war. Let us pray those boys over there will soon be getting back over here, where they belong.

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