Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tunisia, Syria refused to withdraw from Lebanon's Beqa'a Valley. A guerrilla war against Is-
raeli forces began and casualties mounted, resulting in increased unpopularity for the Begin
government.
Soaring infl ation and the institution of austerity measures in the second half of 1983 intensi-
fi ed domestic discontent, and on August 30, 1983, Begin resigned, depressed by the course of
events in Lebanon and by the death of his wife nine months earlier. Foreign Minister Yitzhak
Shamir replaced him; he was elected on the strength of his promises to maintain Israel's mili-
tary presence in Lebanon, establish new settlements in the West Bank, and manage the coun-
try's economic problems.
As so often happens in times of crisis, a great achievement sends national morale soar-
ing. Two successes changed the national mood: Operation Moses in 1984, in which Jews were
smuggled out of Ethiopia through Sudan, and Operation Solomon in 1991, a dramatic thirty-
six-hour airlift that brought almost the entire Ethiopian Jewish community still remaining to
Israel— 8,000 people in the fi rst phase, 14,300 in the second. In the July 23, 1984, elections, La-
bor won forty-six seats compared to Likud's forty-one, but since neither was able to assemble
a parliamentary majority of sixty-one on its own, they agreed to a national unity government:
Labor's Shimon Peres would serve as prime minister for two years; then Likud's Shamir would
serve for the same amount of time.
Israel's army had remained in Lebanon, withdrawing southward from Beirut. Iran and Syria
were backing the new Hizballah and other militant Shi'a Muslim groups to fi ght the Israeli
forces. In 1983, Shamir had maintained the policy of refusing to withdraw fully unless Syria
pulled out of eastern Lebanon. The new national unity government established in 1984 altered
this stance: it promised to withdraw Israeli forces from Lebanon, unilaterally if necessary. After
Israel's peace talks with Lebanon collapsed in January 1985, the government approved a three-
phase plan to return IDF forces to the international border. As the IDF withdrew, Hizballah
initiated attacks. In March the withdrawal rate accelerated, with phase two completed by the
end of April. At this time, Israel also exchanged 1,150 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners of war
for three Israeli prisoners of war.
The fi nal phase of IDF withdrawal was completed ahead of schedule, in June 1985. Total
Israeli casualties in Lebanon included more than 650 dead. Israel left behind about 500 sol-
diers and advisors to aid the newly created, Israel-armed South Lebanon Army (SLA), which
patrolled a buffer zone on the Lebanese side of the border about seven - twelve miles (eleven -
twenty kilometers) wide. Even though the PLO forces were gone and Hizballah could not at-
tack in Israel itself, the war in south Lebanon continued.
PEACE AND SECURITY ISSUES IN THE 1980S
Although the war in Lebanon had not succeeded in its wider goals and brought heavy costs for
Israel, it also reduced the PLO's ability to attack into Israel for some time. The weakening of
the PLO also encouraged several peace efforts during the 1980s. Many avenues were tried, but
in the end, little progress was made.
The fi rst half of the decade saw the fi nal effort to develop alternatives to engaging the PLO,
which was not interested in a compromise peace and continued to express its determina-
