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Israelis debate whether to get out of Lebanon
November 27, 1997
Web posted at: 10:27 p.m. EST (0327 GMT)From Jerusalem Bureau Chief Walter Rodgers
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- In Israel these days, fledgling "get out of Lebanon" protests do not yet have the venom or fury of America's anti-Vietnam War demonstrations of the 1960s.
But the voices of dissent, and the arguments over Israel's continued occupation of southern Lebanon, are getting louder. Even the commander of Israeli forces in what Israel calls its "security zone," Maj. Gen. Amiram Levine, now says it is time to discuss a gradual, but unilateral, pullout.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, too, expresses a desire to leave Lebanon. But he says Israel can't leave yet because no arrangement is in place to keep Hezbollah guerrillas from launching rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel.
"I am in the unusual situation of being an Israeli prime minister who wants to leave an occupied Arab land, if you will, and the Arabs are preventing me from doing so," Netanyahu said.
"I would love to get out of Lebanon -- yesterday, not tomorrow," the prime minister said. "And we would do so if we would find an arrangement that would prevent Hezbollah from coming right after us to the border fence and rocketing and shelling school buses."
Since 1985, Israel has occupied a 23 kilometer wide (14 mile wide) buffer zone along the border between the two countries to protect against guerrilla attacks.
But annual Israeli casualties there are now three times higher than they were a decade ago. Privately, some Israeli soldiers concede they are losing the war.
Like Vietnam, the terrain favors the guerrillas. Much of the indigenous Lebanese population sympathizes with Hezbollah. And the guerrillas have been able to establish safe havens where Israel cannot strike them.
Ultimately, the decision about whether to stay in Lebanon rests with Israeli politicians, and there are hawks and doves on this issue in all of the political parties here. The official line from Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai is that a unilateral pullback will make the situation even worse.
But the main reason for staying now appears to be the fear by politicians that if someone makes a decision to get out, something could go terribly wrong. And there appears to be little desire to take that chance.
- Newsmaker Profiles: The Middle East
Related stories:
- Albright says Lebanon 'headed in right direction' - September 15, 1997
- Israeli commandos ambushed in Lebanon - September 5, 1997
- Despite a bloody August, Israel will stay in Lebanon - August 29, 1997
- Israelis, Muslims clash in Lebanon; 7 dead - August 28, 1997
Related sites:
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- Israeli Foreign Ministry
- The Jerusalem Post - daily Internet edition
- Lebanon.com - online resources
- Lebanon - from the CIA World Factbook
- Institute for Documentation and Research on Lebanon (IDREL) - archives information and distributes email newsletters on Lebanon
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