What Were the Reasons for the Israeli Invasion of Lebanon in 1982?

Essay Question:

What were the reasons for the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982?

Word Count: 1645

“For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee...and... of the city, and of all that dwell therein.”1 Thus Habakkuk 2:17 prophesizes of a land which has (and continues) to fulfil the forewarning to the fullest extent. In recent times, Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon epitomized an extremum of devastation. What rationale impelled Israel to launch Operation Peace for Galilee? In short, it was a consortium of reasons – American permission for the invasion, an opportune time for Israel to act in the Arab world, the expulsion of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) from Jordan, Israel’s historic concerns for Lebanese Christians, the political situation in Israel, the Syrian threat to Israel, Lebanese internal politics, and militant action by the PLO itself against Israel from Southern Lebanon. This essay will examine these reasons in the order listed.

Geopolitically, the United States and the Soviet Union, engaged in the Cold War, used their respective regional powers in the Middle East to destabilize each other. Syria and the PLO tended to act in the USSR’s interests, while Israel belonged to the American fold.2 The fledgling Reagan administration in 1992 “...believed that larger security interests could be served by this bloody adventure...” These included setting back Soviet and Syrian influences in the region, enhancing Israel’s security, and eliminating Lebanon as an epicentre of anti-Western political movements.3 Thus American policy coincided with Israeli objectives (to be subsequently explained). Hence the United States consistently refused ratification of UN security resolutions requiring Israeli revocation of the invasion.4 Although America, with its moderate Arab allies, preferred a political solution to Palestinian militancy/terrorism in Southern Lebanon, they gave the then Israeli defence minister, Arial Sharon, what Hudson...