I received a photocopy of the microfiche of this today. Corrected optical character recognition is copied to this email and a pdf of the original article is enclosed . 73 DR Page 12 "NEW STATESMAN" June 25, 1981 ISRAEL 'Begin and the 'beasts' AMNON KAPELIUK in Jerusalem reports opposition of unexpected strength to Israel's aggression - from the PLO in the battlefield, and from Mr Begin's critics at home ------------------------------------------------ THERE HAS never been an Arab-Israeli war whose plans and objectives were so clearly and openly proclaimed. Hundreds of articles in the Israeli press dealt with the impending conflict during the months be fore it started. General Ariel Sharon revealed in a television interview that he had been planning the invasion of Lebanon since his appointment as Minister of De fence last August. It was no secret that Sharon, Begin and the Chief of Staff, Gen eral Raphael Eitan, were merely waiting for an opportunity to invade Lebanon. In deed, their invasion was barely averted in February and April. There have been no Israeli casualties on the northern border since the cease-fire between Israel and the PLO, proclaimed on 24 July last year. As the PLO actually respected the cease-fire, Israel's govern ment - seeking the needed pretext - unilaterally declared that any attack upon Israelis or Jews anywhere in the world was a violation of the July agreement. Certain preconditions were demanded for launching the large-scale invasion. First, and most important, was Washing ton's endorsement of Israel's war aims. General Sharon revealed on Israeli televi sion that 'Palestinian terrorism' was the main subject of his discussions in Washing ton last May. According to Sharon, 'the Americans understood that we had no choice but to hit the Palestinians'. The second precondition was the neu tralisation of Egypt obtained through its separate peace with Israel. In the absence of this agreement, Israel would have had to mobilise substantial forces along its southern border. In the present circum stances, reservists for the southern front are sunning themselves on the beaches of Tel Aviv. A vital but neglected aspect of the operation (at least by the international media) is its effect on Israeli policy in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the establishment of the civil administration in the occupied territories last November, Is raeli attempts to impose the autonomy plan have failed because of the insistence of the local Palestinians that the correct address for the Israeli negotiators was the PLO offices in Beirut. Sharon believes that the demoralisation of the Palestinians will be so complete that the autonomy plan can be imposed along Israeli lines (for people, not for land). The Palestinians of course have refused to accept this interpretation. Last Sunday, 24 mayors from the West Bank and Gaza published in the Arab press of Jerusalem a declaration reaffirm ing their support for the PLO as the 'sole and legitimate representative of our people.' AS FOR the Lebanon, Israel's aim is to establish a right-wing Phalange govern ment which will sign a peace treaty with Israel. Another condition of this desired 'new order' is the expulsion of the Syrians from Lebanon. Even as Begin declared his I hope that the Syrians would stay out of the war, Israeli tanks were advancing upon Syrian positions in southern Lebanon. The war in Lebanon cannot be in terpreted, even by its most devoted propo nents in Israel, as a war of survival. For this reason, the government has gone to extraordinary lengths to dehumanise the Palestinians. Begin described them in a speech in the Knesset as 'beasts walking on two legs'. Palestinians have often been called 'bugs' while their refugee camps in Lebanon are referred to as 'tourist camps'. In order to rationalise the bombing of civi lian populations, Begin emotively de clared: 'If Hitler was sitting in a house with 20 other people, would it be correct to blow up the house?' The way. the Palestinians fought the Is raeli invader astonished the average Israeli who, as a result of official propaganda, imagined them as flotsam and jetsam. The RPG children who have stood in the face of these soldiers and tanks and fought to the end 'must worry us', wrote a leading Israeli military correspondent. As far as the internal Israeli political scene is concerned, Begin's government enjoys a lack of serious opposition. The opposition Labour Party has responded to the war as the social democratic parties in Europe did during World War One. As soon as the first shots were fired, it aban doned the criticism and objections to the war which it had been voicing for months. Only a few Labour deputies, led by Yossi Sarid, condemned it outright. The Peace Now movement published a strong com munique against the war in the local press. In Jerusalem, several hundred academics and intellectuals demonstrated under the slogan 'Stop the genocide in Lebanon'. More than a thousand people, many of them well-known personalities, have signed a manifesto calling on the govern ment to stop the war and withdraw from Lebanon at once. It has been published repeatedly in the newspapers. Former member of the Knesset, Colonel (Ret.) Meir Pail of Sheli (anti-annexation ist left) declared that this war should be appropriately named 'not peace for Gal ilee' but 'destruction for Lebanon'. He added that 'it will disgrace Israel and Zionism for years to come. It is the most ignoble act of the Zionist movement since its creation'. Professor Leibowitz last Sun day called upon Israeli soldiers to refuse to serve in Lebanon. The widespread unease surrounding this war marks a break from the usual euphoria which has accompanied military victories. Nevertheless, the general consensus be- hind government policy still remains relati vely firm. Any serious national debate must now await the arrival of a genuine cease-fire. 0
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