The lessons of Lebanon
Hehir, J. Bryan
Church/world watch The lessons of Lebanon J. Bryan Hehir THE tragedy of Lebanon is so vividly before us in 1982 that we can too easily forget the achievements of Lebanon. Too often the conflict...
...The long-term problem is the more challenging one for the U.S...
...the Gulf States face complex policy choices, the war between Iran and Iraq has entered a new phase...
...Few believe that we did not know of Israeli intentions to invade...
...Lebanon's complexity of Christian and Moslem, East and West, freedom and order has been tested on several fronts in recent years: demographic change, social and economic modernization with its resulting patterns of inequality...
...Lebanon's history has been predominantly a successful pursuit of religious pluralism in a context where pluralism is not easily or often maintained...
...this is the immediate task facing U.S...
...approach to the Middle East...
...this is a fundamental rule for assessing the political and moral justification of any military action...
...Third, lost in the fury of the attack was the fact that crossing the boundary of a state, even an enfeebled one like Lebanon, requires more justification than has been offered thus far...
...Lebanon is an Arab country but its relationship to the West is evident throughout the culture...
...to take explicitly the position that the Palestinians be included as partners in future negotiations about the Middle East...
...The third force, attracted to Lebanon by the PLO and Syrian presence, has been Israeli...
...From the perspective of Israel, all actions undertaken in Lebanon have been of a defensive nature and were necessitated by PLO attacks on Israel...
...Saudi Arabia has a new king...
...Israel does face objective threats to its security, and U.S...
...Lebanon needs (1) freedom from foreign occupation...
...As one of Israel's strongest supporters, Dr...
...Respect for international borders, Israel's, Lebanon's and other Arab states', is a requirement for long-term stability in the Middle East...
...This constituted a dual problem for the Lebanese: any PLO activity against Israel drew Israeli fire on Lebanon...
...This has been due to the nature of the attack, the weapons used and civilian centers targeted during the invasion...
...political pressure on the fragile structure of the national compact...
...We were implicated in the invasion by our de facto alliance with Israel and the use of U.S...
...The point here is not to indulge in retrospective idealism in order to avoid the trauma of the present moment...
...A systematic U.S...
...Some of what has occurred in Lebanon in the last seven years can be attributed to these internal factors and failure to adjust and adapt them to the new needs of the society...
...Too often the conflict in Lebanon over the past seven years has been defined in the West as a religious war of Christians and Moslems...
...The first of these forces was the transformation of the Palestinian question in Lebanon from a refugee presence - which has been part of Lebanon since 1949-to the political and military presence of the PLO during the 1970s...
...but this fact cannot be used as automatic justification for any action Israel believes necessary for its security...
...The Syrians came, under a negotiated agreement, as a peacekeeping force...
...they are a major part of the problem in Lebanon...
...policy, unilateral actions taken by U.S...
...It has drawn from the culture of East and West and it has contributed to both...
...its ideals and ideas were always grander than its daily experience...
...But transgression of the rule only makes its reassertion more necessary...
...Estimates of civilian casualties vary, depending on the source...
...It is often transgressed, as it was by the United States and by other nations in World War II and Vietnam, and as it has been by Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and by several parties within Lebanon in the last seven years...
...In light of both proportionality and the protection of civilian lives, a further conclusion should be drawn...
...The same principle should be used to assess its action...
...Israel does indeed have a narrow margin of physical security in the Middle East...
...But an even more significant factor has been the pressure of external forces on the Lebanese political system...
...There is much talk today that the invasion has created a new situation with new potential for Lebanon and the Middle East...
...To build the future with stability means recognizing which actions of the past should not be allowed to be repeated...
...But there was no doubt about the objectives which shaped the political destiny of the nation...
...The Israeli invasion manifested little restraint and clearly trangressed the essential limit of civilian immunity from direct attack...
...When a vacuum exists in U.S...
...they must be pursued with restraint and within defined limits...
...The new situation in the Middle East is not limited to the changes wrought in Lebanon...
...The elements of Israeli security, Palestinian homeland, Arab stability, and the security of the Gulf States require a comprehensive vision of the Middle East problem...
...hence the requirement of proportionality should be stringently applied to the invasion...
...If anything is clear about the new situation in the Middle East, it is that there has been enough recourse to violence on all sides and too little aggressive diplomacy since Camp David was signed...
...Second, the failure to observe restraint resulted in an enormous amount of physical and social damage...
...Undoubtedly, a new situation exists and should be used creatively...
...The PLO should be forced to leave...
...J. BRYAN HEHIR...
...In the Mass for Lebanon on June 29, the pope said of the Palestinian people: "Let us pray that they may be able to see recognized their legitimate aspirations-the first of which is to be able to have a homeland-and that they may be able to live in tranquillity with all the peoples of the region...
...The Camp David framework provides a basis for a systematic approach to the region, but now more than ever it is imperative to go beyond Camp David...
...The expanding objective of the invasion, progressively announced as it was executed, has laid waste the coastal cities (Continued on page 445) Church/world watch (Continued from page 423) up to Beirut...
...But the past hangs as a memory for peoples and states, and judgments on past events serve to set precedents for the future...
...Indeed Israel's rationale for the invasion is predicated on defending its civilian population...
...The loss of Israeli, Lebanese, and Palestinian lives will only compound the devastation which already exceeds both political and moral limits...
...The Camp David process has been stymied for two years...
...Concern for Israel's security, however, does not justify the present invasion...
...The need to reconcile Israel's need for security with a Palestinian homeland remains at the heart of the Middle East problem- The United States should be committed to both objectives...
...and all the states in die region need to review their political positions in light of events in Lebanon...
...Kissinger, once observed, a state's quest for absolute security means every other state's insecurity...
...As several commentators have noted, Israel did not face in 1982 the threat to its vital security posed by the wars of 1967 and 1973...
...How should the invasion be assessed...
...policy has not risen to that level of analysis recently...
...In 1976 Archbishop Bernardin, speaking for the U.S...
...while Israeli military and political policies have been part of the Lebanese dilemma for several years, the 1982 invasion had a qualitatively different character from any previous action...
...There is a new situation in the Middle East and shaping it in the direction of stable relations based on the just claims of each of the parties is the primary need of the moment...
...It is not my purpose to adjudicate the statistical debate, but the plain fact of the matter is that the invasion has resulted in a very substantial loss of civilian lives...
...The Israeli attack on the Iraqui nuclear reactor in 1981 along with the most recent invasion of Lebanon highlight a deeper issue...
...The definition was always analytically defective since religious division by itself has never been adequate to describe the roots of the war in Lebanon...
...within Lebanon the Palestinians came to be a state within the state of Lebanon, effectively denying the Lebanese authorities the capability of governing...
...All of this constitutes a major transformation of relationships in the region...
...Catholic Conference, said: "I...
...The new situation must be used first and foremost to create a new future for Lebanon...
...policy...
...address to the region by the Reagan administration is much needed...
...allies or adversaries in the region then force the United States to react in an ad-hoc fashion...
...but a presumption of ignorance on the part of the United States proves the point...
...efforts to guarantee Israel's existence and security within the territorial boundaries acknowledged by UN Resolution 242 deserve support...
...The opportunity for the United States to move these two issues is today greater than it was in 1976...
...Politically, Lebanon has been a functioning democracy, characterized by freedom and respect for civil liberty...
...role, for it concerns the relationship of the Lebanese question to the larger problem of the Middle East...
...role in all three is crucial...
...they should be guaranteed both...
...But no moral calculus will justify an assault on West Beirut with its heavily populated civilian sector...
...But the historical record is distorted, and, more importantly, dangerous precedents for the future could be set if it is not said clearly in several quarters that the Israeli invasion violated reasonable standards of proportionality...
...But we need to remember what Lebanon has been in order to achieve perspective on what Lebanon can be...
...arms...
...But it was not only Christian and Moslem faiths which coexisted in Lebanon, it was also a striking mixture of Eastern and Western cultures which sustained the political and economic success of Lebanon...
...The invasion fails the test of justification on three grounds...
...First, the killing of civilians...
...2) a central government with effective authority, and (3) assistance from the international community...
...It is the dike separating limited from unlimited warfare...
...urge our government...
...Claims of self-defense and security needs made by any nation are not self-justifying...
...But more importantly, the description of religious war has become historically shortsighted...
...The Lebanese expect both diplomatic and economic assistance from Washington...
...The second foreign force has been the Syrian presence in Lebanon since 1976...
...The U.S...
...Gradually they took on the character of an occupying army...
...The time for us to do so is running out...
...Like every democracy Lebanon had its problems...
...Geographically and culturally Lebanon has been a bridge between East and West...
...One can acknowledge all of this and still recognize that the Lebanese have continually supported the rights of the Palestinians in the Middle East...
...For us to be forced to react post-factunt to the event illustrates the danger of a passive U.S...
Vol. 109 • August 1982 • No. 14
