Three wars in Lebanon:
Hehir, J Bryan
Church/world watch Three wars in Lebanon J. Bryan Hehir As THIS COLUMN is written the mission of Philip Habib, special envoy of President Reagan to the Lebanese crisis, remains unfinished. Even...
...the Palestinians are not simply refugees in Lebanon, for it has become the nerve center of the Palestinian movement, and they, in turn, have become an active political force in Lebanese society...
...There is a religious history to the Lebanese conflict and there are religious fears among the Moslems and the Christians in Lebanon...
...Continued on page 351)Church/world watch (Continued from page 330) The function of such a diplomatic initiative would be simply to set the context in which a stable internal regime could be negotiated in Lebanon...
...In this issue as in others, religious commitments run through questions, but they don't exhaust their meaning...
...First, the Palestinian presence in Lebanon is a symbol of the unresolved issue of the Palestinians in the Middle East...
...responsibility in Lebanon...
...but U.S...
...No long term resolution is realistic without an address to the Palestinian question, but direct diplomatic action in Lebanon cannot wait for the Palestinian issue...
...The internal problem is often described as a religious conflict of Christians and Moslems...
...The superpowers' first contribution is a mix of restraint and a recognition of the potential seriousness of a full-scale war in Lebanon...
...There are three levels of the Lebanese problem: the internal problem, the regional conflict, and the superpower relationship to Lebanon...
...The Habib mission has the short-term immediate goal of avoiding war...
...The regional conflict at the present time is exceedingly dangerous...
...added influence in the diplomatic activity surrounding Lebanon...
...their second contribution is their ability to contain the activity of Syria and Israel...
...But one cannot unfold the history nor understand the fears without passing from isues of religous identity to questions of the political constitution of Lebanon and the social and economic relationships among the relevant parties...
...Even without knowing the consequences of the Habib efforts at mediation between Syria and Israel, two judgements can be made about the project...
...First, the Lebanese problem is getting the kind of high-level intensive attention it requires and has required for the last five years...
...The delicate internal reconstruction of Lebanese society would be a monumental task under any conditions, but an equally relevant dimension of the present challenge is the regional conflict which is now woven through the Lebanese reality...
...Second, Habib is a superb choice for the negotiating task...
...A case can be made that the Lebanese could resolve the multi-dimensional conflict afflicting their nation, if they could be insulated from outside forces...
...The same effort, with the kind of high level commitment the Habib mission symbolizes, needs to be placed behind a positive political effort in Leba-non...
...the Israeli-Syrian confrontation could overwhelm the myriad internal questions and lead to the dismemberment of the nation...
...The superpowers relate to the Lebanese conflict in and through their regional allies...
...diplomatic objectives will have to be broader than damage limitation...
...This superpower-ally relationship should not be conceived as a simple test of superpower will: Syria and Israel do not automatically respond to big-power commands...
...Second, Israeli participation in the Lebanese conflict is pervasive and extensive: it includes ties to some of the Christian forces in Lebanon, strikes (retaliatory or preemptive) at Palestinian bases in Southern Lebanon and now the danger of direct conflict with Syria...
...By assessing the dimensions of the problem facing Habib and the other diplomatic actors concerned with the Lebanese crisis, it is possible to see the centrality of Lebanon to the larger Middle East question and the U.S...
...A diplomatic resolution of the Lebanese crisis requires simultaneous involvement at all three levels...
...The description, like similar descriptions applied to Northern Ireland, depicts a dimension of the Lebanese problem as the whole question...
...J. BRYAN HEHIR...
...the great danger is that Syria and Israel will use Lebanon as the theater for resolving issues which are not Lebanese...
...The political and economic questions cannot be reduced to purely religious categories...
...The Soviets are the principal supporters of Syria and the Soviet-Syrian relationship has intensified as Syria has become more isolated in the Arab world...
...The complex formula of the National Compact designed in 1943 to provide a constitutional framework for a religiously pluralistic society is today one of the points of conflict in Lebanon...
...It must be redrawn to provide both secure guarantees for the Christians in their historic role in Lebanon, and needed changes for the Moslem role in the political life of Lebanon...
...This Lebanese option, however, requires a major diplomatic initiative...
...an experienced diplomat who knows both the Lebanon problem and the Middle East well, Habib brings skill and stature to his emergency mission of preventing the outbreak of full-scale war in Lebanon...
...Each has an irreducible margin of freedom where superpower coercion is negligible...
...Third, the Syrian presence, initiated under the rubric of the Arab Deterrent Force in the mid-seventies, has become a source of hostility and suspicion among Lebanese of various political persuasions...
...Minimally, the initiative must prevent war between Syria and Israel, while moving to strengthen the central government in Lebanon...
...The regional conflict has roots outside Lebanon...
...The U.S.Israel relationship is one link we have to the Lebanese problem, but we also have historic ties to Lebanese political life which gives the U.S...
...Maximally, the initiative could be designed to substitute another peacekeeping force for the Syrians, and obtain a firm Israeli abstention from preemptive raids into Southern Lebanon...
...The internal conflict among the Lebanese (including the relationship of the Lebanese to the 600,000 Palestinians in Lebanon) is the core of the problem...
...The local and regional relationships are multiple...
Vol. 108 • June 1981 • No. 11
