Israel–Lebanon relations

Israel and Lebanon have never had normal economic or diplomatic relations, but until the 1970s Lebanon's border with Israel was the calmest frontier between Israel and any Arab league member state. Lebanon was the first Arab league nation to signal a desire for an armistice treaty with Israel in 1949 and Lebanon did not participate in the 1967 or 1973 wars in any significant way.

Some right wing militias were Israel's allies in the Lebanese Civil War. After the PLO was ejected from Beirut in the summer of 1982, Bashir Gemayel flew to the Israeli coastal town of Nahariya to talk with Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon. Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon proposed that Israel and Lebanon establish full diplomatic relations, but Gemayel proposed a kind of formal non-aggression pact. When Ariel Sharon reminded Gemayel that Israel controlled most of Lebanon at that time and that it would be wise to follow Israel's instructions Gemayel held out his hands and replied "Put the handcuffs on.... I am your vassal." [citebook|last=Shlaim |first=Avi |title=The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=CW7GbiUkri0C&pg=PA415&lpg=PA415&dq=Put+the+handcuffs+on.+I+am+not+your+vassal&source=web&ots=BWLE6EGa0g&sig=vS07Hj8qXD6RPcP00ziqKzYzx88&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |year=2001 |page=415 |isbn=0393321126] Gemayel left Israel without making any formal agreement and he was assassinated two weeks later.

After the assassination of Bashir Gemayel, Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement on May 17, 1983 which was a peace treaty in all but name. [http://www.mideastweb.org/lebanonpeace.htm] Lebanon signed the agreement under American and Israeli pressure, but it was opposed by Syria. The agreement was conditional on Syrian withdrawal, which did not occur until 2006. Much of the content of the treaty was contained in secret protocols and memoranda, and it did not win expected Jordanian and Saudi endorsement. The Lebanese legislature ratified the treaty by a margin of 80 votes, but in a very weak and unstable domestic position President Amin Gemayel abrogated the peace treaty on March 5, 1984 under unrelenting Syrian pressure, after the US marines withdrew and after Israel had begun withdrawing from Lebanon.

The success of the First Persian Gulf War created new opportunities for Middle East peacemaking. In October 1991, under the sponsorship of the United States and the then Soviet Union, Middle East peace talks were held in Madrid, Spain, where Israel and a majority of its Arab neighbors conducted direct bilateral negotiations to seek a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace based on UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 (and 425 on Lebanon) and the concept of "land for peace." Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and representatives of the Palestinians continued negotiating until the Oslo interim peace accords were concluded between Israel and the Palestinians in September 1993 and Jordan and Israel signed an agreement in October 1994. In March 1996, Syria and Israel held another round of Madrid talks; the Lebanon track did not reconvene.

In early April 1996, Israel conducted its military operation "Grapes of Wrath" in response to Hezbollah's resistance actions on Israeli military bases in south Lebanon. The 16-day operation caused hundreds of thousands of civilians in south Lebanon to flee their homes. On April 18, several Israeli shells struck refugee compounds, killing 102 civilians sheltered there.

Throughout the 1990s discontent had been growing in Israel about the Lebanon occupation. Discontent increased as a result of a 1997 helicopter crash that killed 73 Israeli soldiers bound for Lebanon. Ehud Barak campaigned for prime minister on a platform of withdrawing from Lebanon. On June 28, 1999 Ambassador Farid Abboud addressed the LAWAC [http://www.lawac.org/] to give an update on the peace process. [ [http://www.lawac.org/speech/pre%20sept%2004%20speeches/abboud%201999.html Farid Abboud: Peace Process] ] Finally, on May 23, 2000, the Israeli military carried out a total withdrawal of Israeli troops from the south and the Bekaa valley, effectively ending 22 years of occupation. The SLA collapsed and about 6,000 SLA members and their families fled the country, although more than 2,200 had returned by December 2001. With the withdrawal of Israeli forces, many in Lebanon began calling for a review of the continued presence of Syrian troops, estimated in late 2001 at approximately 25,000.

On June 16, 2000, the UN Security Council adopted the report of the Secretary General verifying Israeli compliance with UNSCR 425 and the withdrawal of Israeli troops to their side of the demarcated Lebanese-Israeli line of separation (the "Blue Line") mapped out by UN cartographers. (The international border between Lebanon and Israel is still to be determined in the framework of a peace agreement.) In August, the Government of Lebanon deployed over 1,000 police and soldiers to the former security zone, but Hezbollah also maintained observation posts and conducted patrols along the Blue Line. While Lebanon and Syria agreed to respect the Blue Line, both have registered objections and continue to argue that Israel has not fully withdrawn from Lebanese soil. As regional tension escalated with the Palestinian intifada in September 2000, Hezbollah cited Blue Line discrepancies when it reengaged Israel on October 7, taking three Israeli soldiers captive in an area known as Shebaa Farms. This largely unpopulated Israeli controlled territory along the border between Lebanon and Syria is claimed by Lebanon, although the United Nations and most of the world community, including Israel, agree that Shebaa Farms is part of Syria [Report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of Security Council resolutions 425 (1978) and 426 (1978), May 22, 2000.] . Hezbollah sought to use the captives for leverage to release Lebanese prisoners whom Israel has admitted were taken for political purposes.

Since the beginning of the Cedar Revolution hopes have decreased of an Israel-Lebanon peace treaty. In a May 2005 Newsweek interview Saad Hariri said "We would like to have peace with Israel. We don't want wars. We hope that the peace process moves ahead with us, with the Syrians, with all the Arab countries," but he added that Lebanon would not sign a separate peace treaty as Jordan and Egypt have done. Other Lebanese leaders draw an even harder line. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbullah proclaims "Death to Israel" and promises the "liberation" of Jerusalem. It is highly unlikely that Lebanon will sign a peace treaty with Israel before Syria, as Syria's influence on Lebanese politics is still strong.

References

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* [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35833.htm Background Note: Lebanon]