Class 16-17: Regional Insecurity and Lebanon: the American expeditions of 1958 and 1982

Frontline "Shattered Dreams of Peace" 2 hours of video about the breakdown of the Oslo peace process 2000-2002 you may see in the Mezes 2.104 Liberal Arts computer lab.

and a web site at http://www.newsbatch.com/ that is still useful to review though not updated since 2005.

Step-by-step vs comprehensive approaches to peace:

• comprehensive	step-by-step (Kissinger)
  UN 242 - 1967	Egypt-Israel Jan 17, 1974
  Rogers Plan - 1969	Syria-Israel May 29, 1974
  Jimmy Carter USA-USSR Declaration of October 1, 1977	Sinai II Sept 1, 1975
  Madrid 1991	Camp David Sept 6-17, 1978 - video PBS 50 Years

Consequences of Sinai II and Camp David

• Excluded: Syria, Jordan, Palestinians
• Lebanese civil war - background video (impact of PLO, in part) to 1975-90 civil war
• Beirut and international terrorism

Lebanon: Minority Christian hegemony challenged

religious sect	members of parliament	% of population (1983 est.)	% of population (1980 est.)
Maronite	30	21	23
Greek Orthodox	11	6	7
Greek Catholic	6	4	5
Other Christian	7	4	5
Sunni	20	25	26
Sh'ite	19	36	27
Druze	6	4	7
	99	100	100

The proxy Arab-Israeli and other conflicts in Lebanon

• Israel with Forces Libanaises (Maronite) vs. PLO
• Syria vs. PLO 1975-76
• Syria vs. Iraq
• Iraq vs. Iran
• Syria and Iran vs USA 1983
• Israel vs Lebanese Shi'ites

United States Interventions in Lebanon, 1982-1984

• 1958 background: Eisenhower Doctrine
• June 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon (video)
• Little Pines vs Big Pines - PM Menachem Begin vs Defense Minister Ariel Sharon
• summer 1982 Israeli siege of Beirut
• August 1982 French-Italian-US peacekeeping and PLO withdrawal from Beirut
• Sept 14 assassination of Bechir Gamayel
• Sept 16-18 Sabra and Shatila butchery - BBC and later controversy about Ariel Sharon's role as well as about the facts as seen by official Israeli and Lebanese sources and by Robert Fisk, an Irish journalist for The Times and The Independent.
• return of US, French, Italian, and eventually British (NATO) troops.

United States Defeat in Lebanon

• taking sides: Lebanese-Israeli separate peace treaty effort, 1983
• US embassy destruction April 1983
• the return of Syria, backed by Iran, and Druze vs Christians in the Shuf (mountains overlooking Beirut)
• US taking sides again: the USS New Jersey in support of Amin Gemayel's regime
• Oct. 16, 1983 truck bomb killing of 241 US marines (and over 50 French simultaneously)
• Feb. 1984 US "strategic redeployment" before the US presence in Lebanon could become an issue in the presidential election.

Postcript on Lebanon

• Taif Accord of October 1989 : 50-50 under Syrian supervision - alternatives of majority rule, partition, ethnic cleansing?
• Business leadership: Rafik Hariri
• 1998-99 President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Salim Hoss vs corruption
• extension of President Lahoud's term, 2004-07
• assassination of Rafik Hariri, March 14, 2005
• Israeli invasion of Southern Lebanon and destruction of parts of Beirut, July 12-Aug. 13, 2006. Here is a map of the situation as of August 10, 2006 - if you can make any sense of it!
• election of President Michel Suleiman, May 25, 2008