Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon

1968–1982 conflict

Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon

Part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Lebanese Civil War and the Arab Cold War

Fedayeen of Fatah at a rally in Beirut, 1979
| Date| 1968–1982

|

Location|

* South Lebanon
* North Israel

Result|  Israeli victory

* Expulsion of the Palestine Liberation Organization from Lebanese territory to Tunisia, after Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982
* Beginning of the South Lebanon conflict in 1985

Territorial
changes|

* Syrian occupation of Lebanon (1976–2005)
* Israeli occupation of Lebanon (1985–2000)

Belligerents
Israel
Free Lebanon

* SLA

Lebanese Front|  PLO
Syria
LNM
Supported by:
Soviet Union[1]
Commanders and leaders
1982:

* Menachem Begin
* Ariel Sharon
* Saad Haddad

|  1982:

* Yasser Arafat
* Hafiz al-Assad
* Mustafa Tlass

Strength
1982:

* 78,000
* 5,000

|  1982:

* 15,000
* 22,000

* v
* t
* e

Palestinian insurgency
in South Lebanon

Engagements

* El Al Flight 426 hijacking
* El Al Flight 253 attack
* retaliation raid
* El Al Flight 432 attack
* TWA Flight 840 hijacking (1969)
* Avivim school bus bombing
* Lod Airport massacre
* Sabena Flight 571
* 1972 air raid
* Kiryat Shmona massacre
* Ma'alot massacre
* 1974 Nahariya attack
* Savoy Hotel attack
* Kfar Yuval hostage crisis
* Coastal Road massacre
* 1978 South Lebanon conflict
* 1979 Ma'alot attack
* 1979 Nahariya attack
* Misgav Am hostage crisis
* 1981 bombing of Lebanon
* 1982 Lebanon War
* siege of Beirut

* * *

International incidents

* Munich massacre
* Operation Wrath of God
* 1972 raid
* Israeli Bangkok Embassy hostage crisis
* 1973 raid
* Sabena Flight 571 hijacking
* Attack on the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum
* 1973 New York City bomb plot
* 1973 Athens Hellinikon International Airport attack
* TWA Flight 841 (1974)
* Pan Am Flight 110
* Operation Entebbe

* v
* t
* e

Israeli–Lebanese conflict

Timeline

* Projectile attacks from Lebanon

* * *

Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon

* 1968 Israeli raid on Lebanon
* 1970 Avivim bombing
* 1978 South Lebanon conflict
* 1982–85 War

Hezbollah–Israel conflict

* 1985–2000 conflict
* 2000–06 Shebaa Farms
* 2006 War
* 2010 Kfar Kila
* 2013 Hanikra
* 2015 Sheeba Farms
* 2020 Sheeba Farms
* 2022 maritime border dispute
* Israel–Hamas war
* Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present)

* * *

The Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon was a multi-sided armed conflict initiated by Palestinian militants against Israel in 1968 and against Lebanese Christian militias in the mid-1970s. It served as a major catalyst for the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975. Fighting between the Palestinians and the Christian militias lasted until the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, which led to the expulsion of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from Lebanese territory. While the PLO relocated to Tunisia in the aftermath of Israel's invasion, other Palestinian militant factions, such as the Syria-based PFLP–GC, continued to carry out low-level operations from Syrian-occupied Lebanon. After 1982, the insurgency is considered to have faded in light of the inter-Lebanese Mountain War and the Israel–Hezbollah conflict, the latter of which took place for the duration of the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon.

Following the PLO's expulsion from Lebanon, the Israeli military and Lebanese Christian militias became embroiled in a conflict against Iran-backed Lebanese Shia militias, namely Hezbollah, marking the beginning of the Iran–Israel proxy conflict.

## History[edit]

### Palestinian raids into Israel from Lebanese soil[edit]

From 1968 onwards, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) began conducting raids from Lebanon into Israel, while Israel began making retaliatory raids into Lebanon and encourage the Lebanese factions to deal with the Palestinian fedayeen.[2] After an Israeli airline was machine-gunned by Palestinian militants at Athens Airport, Israel bombed the Beirut International Airport in retaliation, destroying 13 civilian aircraft.[3] On 8 May 1970, a PLO faction called the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) crossed into Israel and carried out the Avivim school bus massacre, a bombing which killed 13 civilians, 9 of whom were children, and injured 25 others, all children.

#### Lebanese inability to expel Palestinian fighters[edit]

The unarmed citizenry could not expel the armed foreigners, while the Lebanese army was too weak militarily and politically.[2] The Palestinian camps came under Palestinian control after a series of clashes in 1968 and 1969 between the Lebanese military and the emerging Palestinian guerrilla forces.[4] The Cairo Agreement had guaranteed refugees the right to work, to form self-governing committees, and to engage in armed struggle.[4] "The Palestinian resistance movement assumed daily management of the refugee camps, providing security as well as a wide variety of health, educational, and social services."[4]

### PLO's relocation to Lebanon after expulsion from Jordan[edit]

Main article: Black September in Jordan

In 1970, the PLO attempted to overthrow a reigning monarch, King Hussein of Jordan, and following his quashing of the rebellion in what Arab historians call Black September, the PLO leadership and their troops fled from Jordan[5] to Syria and finally Lebanon, where cross-border violence increased.

### Heightened insurgency through the 1970s[edit]

Arafat in Lebanon, 1974

With headquarters moved to Beirut, PLO factions recruited new members from the Palestinian refugee camps.[6] South Lebanon was nicknamed "Fatahland" due to the predominance there of Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization. With its own army operating freely in Lebanon, the PLO had created a state within a state.[7] By 1975, more than 300,000 Palestinian displaced persons lived in Lebanon.[8] Aside from being used as an operation base for raids on Israel and against Israeli institutions across the world, the PLO and other Palestinian militant organizations also began a series of airplane hijack operations, targeting Israeli and international flights, carrying Israelis and Jews. The more profound effect on Lebanon was destabilization and increasing sectarian strife, which would eventually deteriorate into a full-blown civil war.

In reaction to the 1972 Munich massacre, Israel carried out Operation Spring of Youth. Members of Israel's elite Special Forces landed by boat in Lebanon on 9 April 1973, and with the aid of Israeli intelligence agents, infiltrated the PLO headquarters in Beirut and assassinated several members of its leadership.

In 1974, the PLO altered its focus to include political elements, necessary for a dialogue with Israel. Those who insisted on a military solution left to form the Rejectionist Front, and Yassir Arafat took over the PLO leadership role.[9]

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, which split from the PLO in 1974, carried out the Kiryat Shmona massacre in April of that year. In May 1974, the DFLP crossed again into Israel and carried out the Ma'alot massacre.

### Outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975[edit]

Main articles: Lebanese Civil War and Syrian occupation of Lebanon

The Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990) was a complex conflict in the form of various factions and shifting alliances between and among Lebanese Maronite Catholics, Lebanese Muslims, Palestinians, Lebanese Druze, and other non-sectarian groups. Governmental power had been allotted among the different religious groups by the National Pact based partially on the results of the 1932 census. Changes in demographics and increased feelings of deprivation by certain ethnic groups, as well as Israeli–Palestinian clashes in the south of the country all contributed to the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War.

Map showing power balance in Lebanon, 1976:
Dark Green – controlled by Syria:
Purple – controlled by Maronite groups;
Light Green – controlled by Palestinian militias

Beginning in May 1976, Israel supplied the Maronite militias, including the Lebanese Forces, led by Bachir Gemayel, with arms, tanks, and military advisers.[10][11] The border between Israel and Lebanon was at this time was nicknamed the Good Fence.

Fearing loss of commercial access to the port of Beirut, in June 1976 Syria intervened in the civil war to support the Maronite-dominated government,[12] and by October had 40,000 troops stationed within Lebanon. The following year, however, Syria switched sides and began supporting the Palestinians.

On 11 March 1978, eleven PLO militants made a sea landing in Haifa, Israel, where they hijacked a bus,[13] full of people, killing those on board in what is known as the Coastal Road massacre. By the end of the day, nine hijackers[14] and 37 Israeli civilians were killed.[13] In response, on 14 March 1978, Israel launched Operation Litani occupying southern Lebanon, except for the city of Tyre,[15] with 25,000 troops. The objective was to push the PLO away from the border and bolster a Lebanese Christian militia allied with Israel, the South Lebanese Army (SLA).[13]

On 22 April 1979, Samir Kuntar and three other members of the Palestine Liberation Front, a sometimes faction of the PLO, landed in Nahariya, Israel from Tyre, Lebanon by boat. After killing a police officer, who had discovered their presence, they took a father and his daughter hostage in an apartment building. After fleeing with the hostages from police back to the beach, a shootout killed one policeman and two of the militants. Kuntar then executed the hostages before he and the remaining invader were captured.

In April 1981, the United States tried to broker a cease-fire in southern Lebanon among Israel, Syria and the PLO. In July 1981, Israel responded to PLO rocket attacks on northern Israeli settlements by bombing PLO encampments in southern Lebanon. United States envoy Philip Habib eventually negotiated a shaky cease-fire that was monitored by UNIFIL.[16]

### 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon[edit]

The 1982 Lebanon war began on 6 June 1982,[17] when Israel invaded again in direct retaliation over the assassination attempt by ANO (Abu Nidal organization), a splinter group from Fatah) on Shlomo Argov, the Israeli ambassador to the UK, attacking Palestinian military bases and refugee camps affiliated with Palestine Liberation Organization and other Palestinian military movements, including the ANO. During the conflict, over 17,000 Lebanese were killed,[18][verification needed] and the Israeli army laid siege to Beirut. During the war, fighting also occurred between Israel and Syria. The United States, fearing a widening conflict and the prestige the siege was giving PLO leader Yasser Arafat, got all sides to agree to a cease-fire and terms for the PLO's withdrawal on 12 August. The predominantly Muslim Multinational Force in Lebanon arrived to keep the peace and ensure PLO withdrawal. Arafat retreated from Beirut on 30 August 1982 and settled in Tunisia.

## Aftermath[edit]

### PLO's relocation to Tunisia after expulsion from Lebanon[edit]

Further information: Operation Wooden Leg

The 1982 Israeli invasion in support of Lebanese Christian militias resulted in the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) departure from Lebanon to Tunisia. The creation of Security Zone in South Lebanon has benefited civilian Israeli population as Galilee suffered lesser violent attacks (dozens civilians killed), than previously by PLO in the 1970s (hundreds of Israeli civilian casualties). The relocation of PLO bases to Tunisia resulted in deterioration of the Israeli-Tunisian ties, which had previously considered relatively tolerant.

### Beginning of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict[edit]

See also: South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000)

Despite this Israeli success in eradicating PLO bases and partial withdraw in 1985, the Israeli invasion had actually increased the severity of conflict with local Lebanese militias and resulted in the consolidation of several local Shia Muslim movements in Lebanon, including Hezbollah and Amal, from a previously unorganized guerrilla movement in the south. Over the years, military casualties of both sides grew higher, as both parties used more modern weaponry, and Hezbollah progressed in its tactics. By the early 1990s, Hezbollah, with support from Syria and Iran, emerged as the leading group and military power, monopolizing the directorship of the guerrilla activity in South Lebanon.

## See also[edit]

* 1958 Lebanon crisis
* Cedar Revolution
* Hamas in Lebanon
* Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present)
* List of modern conflicts in the Middle East
* Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency
* Syrian occupation of Lebanon

## References[edit]

1. ^ Golan, The Soviet Union and the Palestine Liberation Organization, pp. 35–36.
2. ^ a b Fisk, Robert (2002). "3". Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press / Nation's Books. p. 74\. ISBN 978-1-56025-442-3.
3. ^ Humphreys, Andrew; Lara Dunston; Terry Carter (2004). Lonely Planet Syria & Lebanon (Paperback). Footscray, Victoria: Lonely Planet Publications. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-86450-333-3.
4. ^ a b c Peetet, Julie M. (December 1997). "Lebanon: Palestinian refugees in the post-war period". Le Monde diplomatique. Retrieved 1 October 2006.
5. ^ "Black September in Jordan 1970-1971". Armed Conflict Events Database. 16 December 2000. Retrieved 15 September 2006.
6. ^ Eisenberg, Laura Zittrain (Fall 2000). "Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?: Israel and Lebanon After the Withdrawal". Middle East Review of International Affairs. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2006.
7. ^ Nisan, Mordechi (2003). The Conscience of Lebanon: A Political Biography of Ettiene Sakr (Abu-Arz). London, Portland, Oregon: Frank Cass. p. 20\. ISBN 978-0-7146-5392-1.
8. ^ "Lebanon". The CIA World Factbook. 8 August 2006. Retrieved 16 August 2006.
9. ^ "Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 20 October 2006.
10. ^ Smith, Charles D. (2001). Palestine and the Arab–Israeli Conflict. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. p. 354\. ISBN 978-0-312-20828-8.
11. ^ Kjeilen, Tore. "Lebanese Civil War". Encyclopaedia of the Orient. Archived from the original on 22 January 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2006.
12. ^ Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (October 2005). "Background Note: Syria". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 15 September 2006.
13. ^ a b c Federal Research Division (June 2004). Lebanon: A Country Study. Kessinger Publisher. p. 214\. ISBN 978-1-4191-2943-8.
14. ^ Deeb, Marius (July 2003). Syria's Terrorist War on Lebanon and the Peace Process. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 39\. ISBN 978-1-4039-6248-5.
15. ^ Rubenberg, Cheryl A. (February 1989). "5". Israel and the American National Interest: A Critical Examination (Paperback). University of Illinois Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-0-252-06074-8.
16. ^ Helen Chapin Metz, ed. (1988). "Israel in Lebanon". Israel: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress.
17. ^ "Timeline: Lebanon". BBC News. 15 June 2006. Retrieved 15 September 2006.
18. ^ "War Stats Redirect".

* v
* t
* e

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Participants

| Israelis|

* Israel Defense Forces
* Israel Police
* Mossad
* Shabak (Shin Bet)

|

Palestinians|

| Principals|

* All-Palestine Protectorate
* Palestine Liberation Organization
* Fatah
* Hamas
* Palestinian Authority

|

Other groups|

* al-Aqsa Brigades
* DFLP
* Jenin Brigades
* Lions' Den
* PIJ
* PLF
* PPSF
* PFLP
* PFLP-GC
* PRC
* Sabireen Movement
* Sons of Zouari

Third-party groups|

* Arab League
* Hezbollah

Individuals

| Israelis|

* Moshe Arens
* Ami Ayalon
* Ehud Barak
* David Ben-Gurion
* Naftali Bennett
* Menachem Begin
* Meir Dagan
* Moshe Dayan
* Avi Dichter
* Yuval Diskin
* Benny Gantz
* Efraim Halevy
* Dan Halutz
* Tzipi Livni
* Golda Meir
* Shaul Mofaz
* Yitzhak Mordechai
* Benjamin Netanyahu
* Ehud Olmert
* Shimon Peres
* Yaakov Peri
* Yitzhak Rabin
* Amnon Lipkin-Shahak
* Yitzhak Shamir
* Ariel Sharon
* Shabtai Shavit
* Moshe Ya'alon
* Danny Yatom
* Zvi Zamir

|

Palestinians|

* Abu Abbas
* Mahmoud Abbas
* Moussa Arafat
* Yasser Arafat
* Yahya Ayyash
* Marwan Barghouti
* Mohammed Dahlan
* Mohammed Deif
* George Habash
* Wadie Haddad
* Ismail Haniyeh
* Nayef Hawatmeh
* Amin al-Husayni
* Ghazi Jabali
* Ahmed Jibril
* Abu Jihad
* Salah Khalaf
* Leila Khaled
* Sheikh Khalil
* Khaled Mashal
* Zuheir Mohsen
* Abu Ali Mustafa
* Abu Nidal
* Izz ad-Din al-Qassam
* Jibril Rajoub
* Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi
* Ali Hassan Salameh
* Salah Shehade
* Ramadan Shalah
* Fathi Shaqaqi
* Ahlam Tamimi
* Ahmed Yassin

* Timeline
* military operations

| Background|

| 1920–1948|

* 1920
* Nebi Musa riots
* Battle of Tel Hai
* 1921 Jaffa riots
* 1929 Palestine riots
* Hebron massacre
* 1936–1939 Arab revolt
* 1944–1947 Jewish insurgency
* 1947–1948 Civil War

|

| 1948–1970|

* 1948 Arab–Israeli War
* massacres
* 1948–present Fedayeen insurgency
* 1951–1967 Attacks against Israeli civilians
* 1950s–1960s Reprisal operations
* 1953 Qibya massacre
* 1956 Kafr Qasim / Khan Yunis / Rafah massacres
* 1967 Six-Day War
* 1967–1970 War of Attrition
* 1968 Battle of Karameh

|

Palestinian
insurgency

| 1968–1982|

* 1970 Avivim school bus bombing
* 1972 Sabena Flight 571 / Munich massacre / "Bayonet" (1973 Lillehammer affair)
* 1974 Kiryat Shmona massacre / Ma'alot massacre
* 1975 Savoy Hotel attack
* 1976 Entebbe raid
* 1978 Coastal Road massacre / South Lebanon conflict
* 1980 Misgav Am hostage crisis

|

| 1973–1987|

* 1973 Yom Kippur War
* 1975 Zion Square bombing
* 1982 Lebanon War
* Siege of Beirut
* 1983 1983 West Bank fainting epidemic
* 1984 Bus 300 affair
* 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking / "Wooden Leg"
* 1987 Night of the Gliders

|

First Intifada|

| 1987–1991|

* 1988 Tunis raid
* 1989 Bus 405 attack
* 1990 Temple Mount killings
* 1990s Palestinian suicide attacks
* 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre

|

Second Intifada|

| 2000–2005|

* Palestinian rocket attacks
* lists
* Palestinian suicide attacks
* Israeli assassinations
* 2000 October events
* 2001 Santorini
* 2002 Karine A / "Defensive Shield" / Battle of Jenin / Battle of Nablus / "Determined Path"
* 2003 Ain es Saheb airstrike
* 2004 "Rainbow" / Beit Hanoun raid / "Days of Penitence"

|

Palestinian dissident
campaigns

| 2006–present|

* 2006 "Bringing Home the Goods"
* 2008 Jerusalem yeshiva attack / Jerusalem bulldozer attack
* 2009 Al-Aqsa clashes
* 2010 Palestinian militancy campaign
* 2015–2016 violence
* 2017 Temple Mount crisis
* 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis
* 2022 Al-Aqsa clashes

|

Gaza–Israel
conflict

| 2006–present|

* 2006 Gaza beach explosion / Gaza cross-border raid / "Summer Rains" / "Autumn Clouds" / Beit Hanoun shelling
* 2008 Egypt–Gaza border breach / "Hot Winter"
* 2008–2009 Gaza War
* 2010 Gaza flotilla raid
* 2012 "Returning Echo" / "Pillar of Defense"
* 2014 "Protective Edge"
* 2015 Freedom Flotilla III
* 2018 Gaza border protests / November clashes
* 2019 May clashes / "Black Belt"
* 2021 "Guardian of the Walls"
* 2022 "Breaking Dawn"
* 2023 "Shield and Arrow" / Israel–Hamas war

|

Diplomacy

| Timeline|

| 1948–1991|

* 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight
* depopulated towns and villages
* 1949 Lausanne Conference
* 1967–present Israeli settlement
* settler violence
* international law

|

1990s|

* 1981–1982 Fahd Plan
* 1991 Madrid Conference
* 1993–1995 Oslo Accords
* 1994 Paris Protocol
* 1994 Gaza–Jericho Agreement
* 1994–present US security assistance to the PA
* 1997 Hebron Agreement
* 1998 Wye River Memorandum
* 1999 Sharm El Sheikh Memorandum

2000s|

* 2000 Camp David Summit / Clinton Parameters
* 2001 Taba Summit
* 2002 Quartet established
* 2003 Road Map
* 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza
* 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access
* 2006 Valley of Peace initiative
* 2007 Annapolis Conference
* 2009 Aftonbladet Israel controversy

2010s|

* 2010–11 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks
* 2011 Palestine Papers
* 2013–2014 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks

United Nations|

* Israel and the UN
* Palestine and the UN
* 1947 UN Resolution 181
* 1948 UN Resolution 194
* 1967 UN Resolution 242

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