Relevant History of Lebanon and Surrounding Regions (to 1982)

This section outlines the historical events and circumstances that lead up to the massacres at Sabra and Shatila. These events serve to establish a better understanding of the various conflicts that ultimately resulted in the Lebanese Civil War of 1975, the Israeli invasion, and the events in the refugee camps in 1982.

Lebanon, located at the eastern end of the Mediterranean sea, has for centuries been regarded as a refuge for ethnic and religious minorities, as the region surrounding Mt. Lebanon in particular has never been successfully conquered by the various invaders (Turks, Arabs, Crusaders, Persians, Assyrians, Egyptians) passing through the region. Because of its extremely colorful ethnic and religious makeup (consisting of Maronites, Druze, Sunni, Shia, Armenians, Melkites, and Protestants) and the rivalries of various feuding clans, the establishment of a national identity has consistently been met with failure. Unification of the areas that now compose the Republic of Lebanon only came about after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, as France split its mandate (originally also encompassing modern-day Syria) and created Lebanon by forging the regions of Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon, Tyre, Akkar, and the Bekaa Valley, each consisting of its own ethnic and religious diversities. The Maronites, under this new arrangement, found themselves in the unwilling company of Druze as well as Sunni and Shia Muslims. The Maronites feared a Muslim majority and consequently an eventual merger with Muslim Syria after independence. This independence was given to Lebanon by France in 1943, but the last French troops pulled out in 1946, due to American and British pressure. The French mandate arguably contributed the few scattered unifying elements to the country, such as segments of French culture as well as the French language.

In order to reach this independence and emerge as a State in relative stability, an arrangement of government was established in which the political representation of the Lebanese people in terms of ethnic and religious representation in the government reflected the demographics of 1930s Lebanon. In this unamendable arrangement, the Lebanese president would always be a member of the Maronite community, and the Prime Minister would always be a Muslim. In order to avoid anarchy, an oral agreement, the "National Pact" was formed between Christian and Muslim elements to share power over Lebanon. This agreement stipulated that the Christians would not enter into alliances with foreign nations, and that Muslims would not merge Lebanon with another Arab state. In addition, the six-to-five ratio of Christians and Muslims, respectively, would apply to all public offices. Although the constitution and the national pact made for a unique system of power-sharing and averted grand-scale ethnic strife for the first two decades after independence, a feeling of national unity never emerged, as members of different ethnic groups tended to prefer living in segregated communities (even in the capital, Beirut) and prioritize their own before any other. As the demographics changed over the years and a clear Muslim majority emerged (notably due to the influx of Palestinian Refugees) in the populace, the unwieldy constitutional framework of equilibrium no longer matched the reality. This fact was not lost on the population, and a struggle for political dominance took the form of civil war in 1975.

Most Palestinians living in the refugee camps in Lebanon entered the country during Israel's six-day-war in 1967, and did not constitute a threat to internal Lebanese stability, even though there were occasional guerilla raids conducted from these camps into northern Israel. After the PLO's expulsion from Jordan in 1970, however, its relocation to Beirut established an extremely militant Palestinian presence which caused Israeli retaliation with heavy Lebanese casualties. The Lebanese government was unable to control the Palestinians, as they had grown not only in numbers but also in force, especially in light of the fact that their cause received support from the local Lebanese Muslims. Scattered fighting broke out between the phalange Christian militia and several factions of the population. In April 1975 and ambush on a bus carrying Palestinians triggered the outbreak of the Civil War, in which the Christians fought to preserve their privileged status, the Palestinians fought to keep their base in Beirut to operate their radical liberation of Palestine, the Lebanese Sunni Muslims fought to reshape the arrangement of the National Pact in order to guarantee them a more fair proportion of representation in the government, the Shia were determined to improve their status in terms of wealth and political representation, and the Druze, generally hostile to all other groups, also fought for more representation. The Civil War ended as Syrian troops intervened in 1976, but scattered fighting and guerilla warfare continued, with the PLO at the forefront of creating instability, due to its insistence on maintaining its headquarters in Beirut to carry out international terrorist activities for the cause of the Palestinian State.

By 1982 Lebanon was divided into several territories, each operated by a different faction and the Lebanese government was unable to control the State. Beirut consisted of Muslim West and Christian East and Israel established control over Shia southern Lebanon to protect northern Israel from PLO-orchestrated raids. After a PLO terrorist takeover of a bus near Haifa, the Israelis invaded southern Lebanon, only to be driven out by U.N. intervention. The international organization, however, was unable to control the Palestinians and the clashing Lebanese factions, and massive numbers of refugees from southern Lebanon fled to the north. Crime was rampant and the state of the country could only be described as anarchy.

In June 1982 the Israelis invaded Lebanon to put an end to the Palestinian problem. The PLO was forced out of Beirut and their evacuation was secured by U.S. involvement. The Israeli control over Beirut prompted the Maronite phalange militia to take savage revenge on the remaining Palestinians in the form of the brutal massacre at the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila in Western Beirut.

TIMELINE OF SIGNIFICANT REGIONAL HISTORIC EVENTS

CIA MAP OF LEBANON

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