Lebanon-Israel border conflict
Introduction
Lebanon also called the Lebanese Republic is a country located on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the Middle East, Asia continent. It comprises of a narrow strip of territory and one of the world’s smaller sovereign countries. The north and northeast part of Lebanon is bordered by Syria, Israel to the south by Israel, and the west by Cyprus. Its capital is called Beirut. It is a tiny state with a population of around four million people and smaller than the US state of Connecticut (Winslow, 2012).
On the other hand, Israel is a country found in western Asia located on the southeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea (Levant). It is bordered to the east by Syria and Jordan, and Egypt to the south and the north by Lebanon. It is a country with cultural and religious diversities. Though most of the population in the Middle East are Muslims, Israel is an exception which has a Jewish minority. This paper explores the border conflict between these two countries Lebanon and Israel tracing their roots and causes and the chronology of the major battles that have occurred. The article examines the genesis of these conflicts dating back in 1948 2hen Israel gained independence. The paper discusses the two major wars between the countries the first in 1982 (First Lebanon War) and the second one in 2006 (Second Lebanon War). The paper also describes the United States and its intervention measures and interest in these countries and the policies or measures that can be taken to resolve these border conflicts.
Background/ Roots of the conflict
The conflict between Lebanon and Israel has been a significant concern since the gaining of independence by Israel in 1948. Israel was established in 1948; before then it was called Palestine. This country went through a series of tumultuous transitions before it came to be the current state of Israel. Before 1948 when it changed to Israel, the land was inhabited primarily by Palestinians who consisted mostly of Samaritans, Jews, Bedouins and Arab Muslims. Most of the Jews were dispersed to various parts of the world, mainly in the United States and Europe (Winslow, 2012).
Division of Palestine
Before the end of World War 1, Palestine was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. This is when Britain defeated Turkish forces and occupied Palestine in 1917. The British government which was granted control of Palestine supported the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which favored Jewish homeland. The British exercised its mandate on Palestine and Transjordan which includes current day country of Jordan. During this time most of the Palestine land was occupied by Arabs and Muslims. In 1922, very few Jews (20%) made the total population (Winslow, 2012). The Jews settled to the north and the west coast. Jews from other countries mainly the ones escaping the German expression migrated to Israel. Two years after the formation of the United Nations in 1945, the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) was created. This committee recommended for Palestine be divided into a Jewish State, Arab state and an international territory that included Jerusalem. The United Nations shared Palestine with about 44% of the land being allocated to the Palestinians who consisted of about 67% of the whole population, mainly Arabs. About 56% of the territory was assigned to the Jewish community which was the minority forming about 33% of total the inhabitant people (Novosseloff, 2015). United Nations controlled Jerusalem as an international city. Israel, the official Jewish state was officially founded in 1948. The Palestinians, who formed the majority of the Israel population then refuted and denounced the agreement as unacceptable. Thousands of Palestinian Arabs were evicted from the land allocated to the Jews and became refugees in the neighboring countries. This formed the basis for the vicious conflicts and tension between these countries which would go down many years later. The conflict between Lebanon and Israel can be traced from here when Arab countries including Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon declared war on Israel (Winslow, 2012).
The rise of the Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has played a huge part in the Lebanon-Israel conflicts. The organization was founded in 1964 with the purpose of liberating Palestine through armed violence with much of its violence directed to the Israeli civilians. However, this organization was considered a terrorist group by the United Nations and Israel. According to Becker (2014), it was mainly comprised of several Arab groups whose main aim was to liberate Palestine from the state of Israel as well as return the refugees to their homeland. The Palestine National Council (PNC) is a branch of the PLO which is regarded as the highest in authority and is mandated to set policies and to elect the Executive Committee. Fatah, a secular nationalist party, controls the PLO (Novosseloff, 2015). Practically this organization runs the government in the West Bank but not in Gaza, which is governed by Hamas. Since its formation, the PLO has been involved in several wars against Israel by the Palestinians (Becker, 2014).
Israel – Lebanon Conflict (First Lebanon War), 1982
The first Lebanon War started on June 6, 1982, a year after a ceasefire with Palestinian terrorists was broken (Ajami, 2006). The terrorists continued with their attacks against Israel, and the threat to the northern settlements worsened. On June 6, 1982, the Israel Defense Forces launched war dubbed “Operation Peace for the Galilee”. Three days earlier, the Palestine terrorists had Shot Israel’s Ambassador to Britain Shlomo Argov which terminated the ceasefire and reignited the conflicts. The war in Lebanon can be divided into two phases, the conventional war which lasted for three months (June to August 1982) and the second war which lasted for the next three years and was directed to the terrorists. The first war ended when the terrorists were entirely expelled from Lebanon’s capital, Beirut (Ajami, 2006).
The IDF invaded the southern Lebanon after several attacks between PLO based in south Lebanon, and the IDF had caused civilian casualties in on both sides of the border. The PLO was the sole organization to resist the advance of the Israel Defense Forces. During the early stages of the war, the IDF advanced along the Mediterranean Sea shore and reached Beirut, the capital. At the same time, the Syrian forces launched an attack in eastern Lebanon. By June 14, IDF forces had attacked Beirut and surrounded it. The IDF also successfully destroyed the Syrian army in the Lebanese Bekaa Valley in just a matter of hours (Winslow, 2012). This was a great achievement to the IDF. The seizure of Beirut was aimed at forcing the PLO and Syrian forces out of the city, a mission which was fully accomplished. The Israeli invasion prompted many Shiite groups to rise, including an Iranian-backed militia called Hezbollah (Ajami, 2006). This insurgency group led to many attacks on Israel forces. Israel military occupation of Lebanon lasted for 22 years, with the last of the IDF pulling from Lebanon in May 2000. The conflicts in Lebanon continued over the years and is not over yet. The Hezbollah Shiite group in Lebanon is the most powerful entity in the country. It is this group that was involved in another Lebanese- Israel conflict in 2006 (2006 Lebanon war).
This diagram shows the path followed by Israeli troops (IDF) in attacking Lebanon and Beirut during the First Lebanon War.
The Lebanon-Israel War of 2006
The 2006 Lebanon war is also called the Israel-Hezbollah war was a military conflict in Northern Israel and Lebanon with the principal parties being IDF and Hezbollah forces. The dispute started on July 12, 2006, and lasted for 34days ending on August 14 upon United Nations ceasefire intervention. On this day, a division of the Hezbollah militant group based in southern Lebanon crossed the Blue Nile attacking an Israeli army patrolling the border and killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing two others. In retaliation, an Israeli tank crossed into Lebanon, with the purpose of rescuing their captured colleagues. The response by Israel was immediate and substantial and displayed its military strength (Inbar, 2007). It destroyed infrastructure, killed innocent civilians and shattered the frowning economy of Lebanon. This led to a 34-day fight between the Hezbollah (Iranian militia group) and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). This was the first time that Israel was moving back to southern Lebanon since 2000 when it unilaterally withdrew after an assurance from the United Nations that Hezbollah would be disarmed. On July 25 Palestine militants had crossed the Gaza-Israel border exchanging fire with Israeli forces. The war escalated swiftly, with Israel launching a massive air and ground attacks against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. It is the Israeli’s who were criticized for hitting civilians indiscriminately, and on August 3, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of war crimes. Life in south Lebanon was nearly paralyzed and unbearable due to the operations of Israel Defense force in the region. Thousands of Lebanese citizens fled their homes to seek for asylum. Many homes were demolished, and the civil authorities in south Lebanon were unable to deal with the increased number of refugees (Inbar, 2007).
The operations of IDF resulted in the killing and harming of innocent Lebanese not involved with the Hezbollah militia. On July 30th, Israeli planes bombarded the village of Qana in south Lebanon, the base which was by Hezbollah to launch rockets towards Israel. The buildings in the village collapsed and killed many refugees in the following day, an event that prompted Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to accept the US’s plea to stop all aerial bombings for two days to allow for humanitarian aid to the refuges and victims. The demand for a ceasefire also increased (Novosseloff, 2015). During the final stages of the combat, the government authorized an extensive ground operation in Lebanon on August 9. The operation aimed at capturing the territory north of the border up to the Litani River. It also sought to decrease the rocket firing towards Israel and to improve Israeli’s stand-in future international negotiations. The war ended in August 14 when the ceasefire was successfully administered after the adoption of the 1701 UN Security Council. The IDF started withdrawing troops from Lebanon and Israel removed naval and blockade on Lebanon. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) took control of the border (Winslow, 2012).
Possible solutions to the conflict
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
This entity was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops in 1978, a mission which was extended after the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah militia. The administration of this body has proved to be a solution to the conflicts between these two countries. The French-drafted resolution urged all countries to employ a 2006 arms embargo and prevent the supply and sale of weapons the individuals or entities in Lebanon without authorization by the United Nations. This is one of the possible solutions that can be employed even in other conflicting countries today; the embargo on supply and selling of weapons to such countries (Novosseloff, 2015).
Secondly, is the political solution to the conflict (Inbar, 2007). The UN Security Council commented on the current situation in Lebanon. The Security Council has given a go ahead to the politicians who were suggesting of forming a new government amid the struggling business, and a stagnating economy. The Security Council thus welcomed the holding of the elections and the country to reactivate the government institutions in the interest of peace. Thus, the formation of a new Lebanese government can be a solution to the conflicts.
Israel-Lebanon conflicts and the United States of America
The United States is a big player in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon. Over the years the United States has been involved in one way or another in the dispute. First, the United States has provided more than $1.2 billion to Lebanon after the second Lebanese war in 2006 to fix her economy, reform her public sector and become a democracy. This is even though Lebanon has the highest debts in the world an inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy and sect-based governing system. The security sector which is a significant pillar of the Lebanese state where the United States has paid the highest dividends to build the activities following the aftermath of the 2006 war (Wählisch, 2011).
The United States, Washington has always maintained a large-scale military, diplomatic and financial support for the Israeli occupation. This is despite of the unprecedented violations of international law and human rights standards by Israeli occupation forces. The United States has an intimate relationship with Israel, which is one of the most salient features in the United States for nearly thirty years. The Washington sends over $3 billion annually in economic and military support to Israel which begs the question of the motive behind it. Although United States support to Israel governments is rationalized on moral grounds, there’s little evidence that moral imperatives play more in determining the role in guiding United States policy in the Middle East than any other region of the world. Some of the strategic reasons for the continued support of the US to the Israeli include the fact that Israel has successfully prevented and abated the victories by radical nationalists and militia groups in Lebanon and Palestine which have been rivals for many years (Wählisch, 2011).
The United States’ support for Israel has continued in the recent past especially with the incumbent president of America, Donald Trump being at the forefront in cementing the relationship (Schwalbe & Dougherty, 2015). Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The American support for Israel is very extensive with half of the American United Nations Security Council vetoes blocked resolutions very critical to Israel. The relationship between Israeli’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and US president in the recent past is very commendable.
Schwalbe & Dougherty (2015) argue that the United States has a critical interest in preventing conflicts and wars between Lebanon and Israel, and to avoid another refugee crisis like the one witnessed in 2006. Lebanon already has close to two million Syrian refugees. Finding the path to the truce on the Lebanon-Israel border is difficult but possible. They contend that the US can engage with the Lebanese government to curb the Iran funded militia group of Hezbollah. Some of the steps that the United States can use to promote peace in the Lebanon-Israel border include cutting off Hezbollah’s lifeline of funding and weapons. This has hitherto been a big burden shouldered by Israel in preventing Iran from larger footprints in Lebanon. Secondly, the United States should continue with the mediation talks in resolving the dispute between Lebanon and Israel over the sea gas fields. The efforts to achieving a lifetime solution to these conflicts should continue. Lastly, more American military advisors should be deployed to strengthen the Lebanese armed forces and make sure they remain separate from Hezbollah (Schwalbe & Dougherty, 2015).
Conclusion
In summary, the Israel-Lebanon conflict can be traced back in 1948 after Israel gained its independence and became a state. This set the pace for the many conflicts that would occur years later with the major wars in 1982 and 2006. These came to be called the First Lebanon War and Second Lebanon War respectively. The formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964 by the Palestine government exacerbated the situation with this group carrying vicious attacks on the Israeli forces and civilians. The possible solutions to the conflicts include proper functioning of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) which has provided aims at putting weapon embargo on these embattled countries. The other solution is political and involves the formation of a new government altogether. This solution has the support of the Security Council. America is a great player in Israel-Lebanon conflicts. The close relationship between the US and Israel can open ways to solving the problem. The United States can fund the Lebanese government to curb the Iran funded militia group of Hezbollah, therefore, improving peace on the border.
Additionally, the United States should continue with the mediation talks in resolving the dispute between Lebanon and Israel over the sea gas fields. These policies when put in place can help solve this conflict which has been hitting news headlines for time immemorial. Therefore, the solution to these disputes possibly lies in the hands of the United States.
References
Ajami, F. (2006). The Heartbreak of History. (Cover story). U.S. News & World Report, 141(4), 41. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=21705308&site=ehost live
Becker, J. (2014). The PLO: the rise and fall of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Author House.
Inbar, E. (2007). How Israel bungled the second Lebanon war. Middle East Quarterly.
Novosseloff, A. (2015). United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL I). In The Oxford handbook of United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Schwalbe, C. B., & Dougherty, S. M. (2015). Visual coverage of the 2006 Lebanon War: Framing conflict in three US news magazines. Media, War & Conflict, 8(1), 141-162.
Wählisch, M. (2011). Israel-Lebanon Offshore Oil & Gas Dispute: Rules of International Maritime Law.
Winslow, C. (2012). Lebanon: war and politics in a fragmented society. Routledge.