‘Three Men in a Boat’ depicts the climax of the disastrous Lebanon war. Prime Minister Begin, IDF head Rafael Eitan and the minister of defence, Ariel Sharon, are in a boat shaped as the map of Israel, about to go over the rapids. The oars are the Cedars of Lebanon and all are blissfully unaware of the debâcle of this war. The attack dog is the foreign minister, Yitzhak Shamir, barking at Israelis who are warning about the latest episode, the evasive denial by government of both Israeli protest and the international outcry about the killing of Palestinians by Phalangist militia at the Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps. ‘Three Men in a Boat’ was published just after the massacre but before Begin finally agreed to set up a commission of inquiry – the Kahan Commission.
- 3 Jan
Raful Eitan’s tenure as Chief of Staff extended for another year
- 3 Jan
Cabinet appoints Moshe Mandelbaum as governor of the Bank of Israel
- 14 Jan
Yitzhak Tunik appointed State Comptroller and Ombudsman
- 15 Jan
Mifgash Israel restaurant in Berlin bombed, 25 injured
- 13 Feb
Arrest of Druze leaders accused of incitement leads to general strike
- 21 Feb
Gershom Scholem, philosopher and historian, dies in Jerusalem aged 84
- 9 Mar
Zvi Yehuda Kook, mentor of Gush Emunim, dies in Jerusalem aged 90
- 14 Mar
Begin establishes inquiry into Haim Arlosoroff’s assassination in 1933
- 3 Apr
Israeli diplomat Yaakov Bar-Simantov shot dead by LARF in Paris
- 3 Apr
LARF machine-guns Israeli Embassy in Paris
- 11 Apr
Allan Goodman, sympathiser with Kach, kills two Arabs on Temple Mount
- 19 Apr
Last settlers leave Yamit in Sinai
- 19 Apr
Aharon Abuhatzeira is found guilty of breach of trust, fraud, larceny
- 25 Apr
Israeli withdrawal from Sinai is completed
- 2 May
Cabinet bans El Al flights on Shabbat and festivals
- 15 May
Diplomatic relations between Israel and Zaire restored
- 3 June
Attempted assassination of UK ambassador Shlomo Argov in London
- 6 June
Beginning of Operation Peace for Galilee, scheduled to last 48 hours
- 2 July
Yasser Arafat agrees to PLO evacuation from Beirut
- 31 July
Seven wounded by bomb at El Al terminal at Munich airport
- 9 Aug
Abu Nidal attack on the Jo Goldenberg restaurant in Paris kills 6, injures 22
- 21 Aug
Palestinian forces begin to leave Beirut for Tunis
- 29 Aug
Nahum Goldmann, long-time representative of World Jewry, dies in Germany aged 87
- 1 Sept
Reagan Plan sparks a hostile response from Begin
- 14 Sept
Bashir Gemayel assassinated in Beirut
- 15 Sept
IDF enters West Beirut
- 15 Sept
Yasser Arafat meets Pope John Paul II
- 18 Sept
Massacre of Palestinians by Phalangists at Sabra and Shatilla
- 21 Sept
Amin Gemayel elected president of Lebanon
- 25 Sept
Huge Peace Now war protest in Tel Aviv, after Sabra and Shatilla killings
- 26 Sept
IDF withdraws from Beirut
- 28 Sept
Kahan inquiry into Israeli conduct during Sabra and Shatilla killings
- 9 Oct
Abu Nidal attack on Rome synagogue, one killed, 37 injured
- 11 Nov
Attack kills 76 at IDF headquarters in Tyre
- 13 Nov
Aliza, wife of Menahem Begin, dies while he is visiting the USA
- 23 Dec
Bomb explodes in Israeli Consulate in Sydney, Australia
Arafat’s presence in Beirut and repeated attacks on Israel by Palestinian forces in southern Lebanon became an increasingly urgent question for the Begin government. The existence of ‘Fatahland’ in Lebanon became another ingredient in the ongoing conflict between the different ethnic, political and religious groups in the country.
At the very beginning of the year, Labour’s leaders, Peres and Rabin, warned about any binding commitment to the Christian militias in Lebanon. Yet Raful Eitan, whose term of office as IDF Chief of Staff had been extended, flew to brief Maronite leaders about Operation Peace for Galilee on the eve of the invasion.
The catalyst for the invasion was the attempted assassination of Shlomo Argov, the Israeli ambassador to the UK, at the Dorchester Hotel in central London. It was carried out by the anti-PLO Abu Nidal group, but supervised by Iraqi intelligence. One of the assassins was an Iraqi operative and the weapons had allegedly been brought in via the Iraqi Embassy diplomatic bag. At that time, Abu Nidal himself was operating out of Baghdad. The assassins were also planning to kill the PLO representative in London.
Menahem Begin and Ariel Sharon ignored this fundamental difference and viewed this episode as an opportunity to attack the PLO. They built on plans already in existence, but within the Israel cabinet the idea of an incursion into southern Lebanon was discussed, with often questioning ministers.
This incursion was supposed to last forty-eight hours, but it went far beyond the agreed demarcation of territory for this military operation under the guidance of Ariel Sharon, minister of defence. Its original intention was to clear an area which Palestinian forces had utilised for attacks on northern Israel. Yoram Aridor, the finance minister, told the Americans that Israel had moved into Lebanon to prevent another Pearl Harbor. Instead the IDF moved much further north and laid siege to Beirut as well as engaging with Syrian forces.
The Israeli cabinet, as well as the prime minister, Menahem Begin, were often kept in the dark about the latest military moves. Decisions agreed upon were often violated. Public perceptions of disarray in government were exacerbated by Begin’s rhetoric, which often harked back to his experience in wartime Poland and in Stalin’s camps.
Begin had long championed an alliance with the Lebanese Maronites. Bashir Gemayel’s militia had been prominent in conflict with the PLO during the Lebanese civil war and his father had been a founder of the Christian Phalangists. Gemayel was elected president of Lebanon at the age of thirty-four and had been open about his contacts with Israel. However, he was reluctant to sign a formal peace agreement with Israel. His distancing from Israel did not prevent his assassination together with many other Phalangist leaders in a bombing of an apartment block. His death subsequently led to a Phalangist attack on the Palestinian camps at Sabra and Shatilla, resulting in a large number of civilians being killed. Israeli guards were stationed outside the camps.
While American Jewish celebrities such as Danny Kaye were imported to demonstrate solidarity, the Israeli leftist Uri Avnery met Arafat in Beirut for a two-hour conversation. Longshoremen at Piraeus refused to handle Israeli goods. There was a proliferation of anti-war demonstrations in Israel which were attended by a growing number of people. They were organised first by far-Left groups and then by Peace Now. Israelis in military uniform attended protests by ‘Soldiers against Silence’. In July, Colonel Eli Geva asked to be relieved of his command. He argued with Begin and Sharon that his tank column would cause civilian casualties in Beirut. Other soldiers refused to receive military decorations for the campaign. Begin called them ‘rotten fruit’. No popular songs were written about Operation Peace for Galilee.
All this resulted in a huge demonstration in Tel Aviv after the Sabra and Shatilla killings, organised by Peace Now and attended by leading members of the Labour party. There were repeated calls for both Begin’s and Sharon’s resignations.
While the Knesset had voted 48–42 not to initiate an investigation, President Navon called for an independent judicial inquiry. In the Diaspora, however, even the most conservative Jewish organisations vocally supported President Navon. Menahem Begin attacked prominent Diaspora leaders such as Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, an American opponent of the war.
The war also caused economic and political problems. In 1981, exports to the USA had increased by 28 per cent, but in June, the month of the invasion of Lebanon, the cost of living index rose by 6 per cent.
President Reagan’s criticism of the war grew much more acerbic. In September, he put forward the Reagan Plan, after the evacuation of PLO forces from Beirut to Tunis. Using the Camp David Agreement as a basis, he called for Palestinian elections and self-government over a five-year period – during which time there would be a freeze on settlement expansion. Begin strongly rejected the plan while Labour warmed to it. Four days after the publication of the plan, Begin authorised the establishment of another seven settlements. He argued in a letter to Reagan that the West Bank was part and parcel of Israel’s heritage, historically and religiously. Begin threatened to call an early election in 1983 rather than wait until November 1985.
The rising international criticism of the war even muted Israel’s friends. In late August, the UN General Assembly voted 120–2 in favour of a Palestinian state, while Arafat had an audience with Pope John Paul II.
Earlier in the year, Begin and Sharon had faced criticism from many West Bank settlers who strongly opposed the evacuation of the settlement of Yamit in Sinai in accordance with the agreement with the Egyptians. Local Arabs facilitated the dismantling of greenhouses and irrigation equipment in the Talmei Yosef region of Yamit.
The residents of Yamit knew that they had to leave by 31 March or forfeit compensation. This did not apply to squatters in Hatzar Adar near Yamit who had arrived from the West Bank. Kach members from Atzmona and yeshiva students from Ophira attempted to block the roads into Yamit. Some attempted to disconnect the water pipeline into Yamit. Kach members threatened a mass suicide amidst booby-trapped shelters.
In Europe, even before the invasion, there had been attacks on Israeli diplomats, synagogues and Jewish community centres. In Berlin, the Mifgash Israel restaurant was attacked, killing a child and injuring several dozen diners. The PFLP was believed to be behind the attack. The attack on the main synagogue in Rome and the killings in the Jo Goldenberg restaurant in Paris had been initiated by the Abu Nidal group. A series of attacks on Israeli premises in Paris, including the consulate and the embassy as well as Israeli-owned banks and companies, had been carried out by the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Factions (LARF) which had emerged from a faction of the PFLP. They had operated in conjunction with groups on the far Left such as Action Directe and Brigate Rosse. In numerous Latin American countries, there were links with the local far Left and Hezbollah sympathisers.
