The
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was based in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
for a significant period of time (1960s-1982), using their set-up in the country to expand as an organization, gathering support and maintaining their armed struggle with
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. Arguably, the Lebanon period was the most significant time in the PLO's existence, both for reasons of political gain and international recognition – though it also involved a great deal of violence, displacement of civilians and economic instability. The PLO was able to maintain a strong presence, particularly in
Southern Lebanon
Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distri ...
for a number of years and at times was able to have a positive impact on the local population, but due to religious tensions and a confusion of structure was often the cause of dissatisfaction and fear amongst Lebanese citizens.
Late 1960s–1982
The origins of the PLO's presence in Lebanon goes right back to the late 1960s, following the 1967
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...
. There were already large areas of Lebanon populated by Palestinian exile communities, or around 12% of the total population. Lebanese president
Charles Helou
Charles Helou ( ar, شارل الحلو; 25 September 1913 – 7 January 2001) was a Lebanese politician and President of Lebanon from 1964 to 1970.
Early life and education
Born in Beirut on 25 September 1913, Helou was the scion of a powerf ...
was anxious about the prospect of nationalist sentiment causing turbulence in Lebanon following the war, which had ignited mass support from Arab communities of the Palestinian cause. Nevertheless, guerrilla networks were increasingly active throughout the late 1960s and were given even more freedom after the
Cairo agreement in 1969, in which
refugee camps
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peop ...
in Lebanon were placed under the command of Palestinian forces, instead of the heavy-handed
Deuxième Bureau
The Deuxième Bureau de l'État-major général ("Second Bureau of the General Staff") was France's external military intelligence agency from 1871 to 1940. It was dissolved together with the Third Republic upon the armistice with Germany. Howeve ...
.
The establishment of the PLO as being based wholly in Lebanon came after king
Hussein of Jordan
Hussein bin Talal ( ar, الحسين بن طلال, ''Al-Ḥusayn ibn Ṭalāl''; 14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 11 August 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of ...
's decision to expel the group from his country in 1970. The
Black September movement which formed as the result of the hijacking of planes, which were brought into Jordan. Much of 1970s Lebanon exists in history under the shadow of the lead-up to and subsequent bloody realization of the civil war, which the PLO became embroiled in after initial reluctance of any involvement. It was not in the interests of the PLO to get involved in a conflict which would drain resources and detract focus from the goal of planning insurgencies against Israel.
The end of the PLO's time in Lebanon came abruptly and decisively after Israeli forces invaded
Southern Lebanon
Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distri ...
and forced PLO forces out of the country. As a result of this, the organization had to move its base to
Tunis
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,
Tunisia
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.
The camps: autonomy and a state within a state
The PLO was able to achieve a mini state within Southern Lebanon made up of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who had made camps in the area. Over time, the PLO was able to gain almost complete control over areas of Lebanon using their own police force, military and economic infrastructure although organizationally, this was said to be sporadic in terms of efficiency.
Conflicting reports of PLO's behaviour
![FatehMilitia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/FatehMilitia.jpg)
There are varying reports of the PLO's presence in Lebanon, in terms of whether they engaged constructively with Palestinians and Lebanese civilians or whether they were in fact a disorganized and often dangerous presence. There were various key incidents that have contributed to a conflicting view of the era and historians remain in conflict about the true nature of PLO's impact on the country.
The situation in Lebanon was very complicated, particularly given that the PLO itself was sometimes divided and various factions played different roles at different times. In 1976, the arrival of a
Syrian-organized
Palestinian fedayeen made matters even more complex and there are huge numbers of reports of intimidation, torture and murder from Lebanese forces, Israeli forces, PLO or PLO-affiliated groups and non-specific fedayeen soldiers. For example, the initial catalyst for PLO involvement in the internal Lebanese issue could be said to be the
Phalange
The phalanges (singular: ''phalanx'' ) are digital bones in the hands and feet of most vertebrates. In primates, the thumbs and big toes have two phalanges while the other digits have three phalanges. The phalanges are classed as long bones.
...
attack on a bus in April 1975. According to one journalistic endeavour from the ''Jerusalem Post'', there was "little or no substantive proof for many of the atrocity stories making the rounds", which suggests that there was generally a deal of
hearsay
Hearsay evidence, in a legal forum, is testimony from an under-oath witness who is reciting an out-of-court statement, the content of which is being offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. In most courts, hearsay evidence is inadmiss ...
and over-inflated reporting about PLO mistreatment of civilians. However, the academic Jillian Becker has suggested that Lebanon "was destroyed by, and because of, the PLO". Many point to the
Damour massacre
The Damour massacre took place on January 21, 1976, during the 1975–1990 Lebanese Civil War. Damour, a Maronite Christian town on the main highway south of Beirut, was attacked by the left-wing militants of the Palestine Liberation Organisa ...
as a key example of PLO barbarity, although again this was in theory a response to a Phalange
massacre in Karantina days beforehand.
Media use
In Lebanon, the PLO was able to make use of media outlets and resources in order to expand their network of support. One text has suggested that the PLO had a full takeover of the Lebanese media. Publications such as ''Fatah'' were published daily from 1970 onward and there were numerous other publications that were published on behalf of the PLO. There was indeed a Department of Culture in the Propaganda and International Centre of the PLO, whose films included ''The Road to Palestine'' and ''The Youth Camp''. There are several reports from the PLO's time in Lebanon of threats and against journalists, both foreign and domestic and also of bribes given in return for biased coverage. Senior journalists were known to have been bought off by receiving generously detailed files about an imminent strike against Israel in order that maximum coverage might be ensured.
International involvement
Syria's involvement can be seen as a complicating factor, but also tied the PLO to a position where more compromise was necessary, because of Syria's involvement as being supportive of the Christians. This position changed, however, when Syria's support of the Christians was discontinued. Europe was responsive to the plight of the Palestinians over the course of the PLO's time in Lebanon and France and Greece in particular made efforts in support of the Palestinian cause. The US was less positive in response to the PLO and at one time favoured a policy of isolating the Palestinians, which clearly did not work.
Charlie Wilson, the U.S. congressman responsible for raising funds in order to assist Afghan
mujahideen to
fight the Soviets, commented that he felt the Israeli forces were welcomed as a liberation army and that the PLO's presence was worth even the tumult of the Israeli invasion.
[Israeli, Raphael – ''PLO in Lebanon, Selected Documents'', Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1983]
Tactical position
Whilst in Lebanon, the PLO was able to mount several attacks on Israel from vantage points along the border. The time in Lebanon also afforded the PLO space and resources with which to plan activities in support of the wider cause, including the
Munich massacre
The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian militant organization Black September, who infiltrated the Olympic Village, killed two member ...
. Attacks into Israel, including rocket attacks, became the catalyst for Israeli invasions into Lebanon, first
in 1978 and again subsequently and decisively
in 1982. Although PLO attacks were able to cause disruption, it is not possible to say that they achieved any lasting military gain.
the PLO's positioning in Lebanon did, however, afford the organisation a degree of economic structure and they were able to gain some economic power in this way, by establishing trade links and businesses and by collecting taxes from displaced Palestinians.
Aftermath
Following on from the PLO's forced exile from Lebanon, their power base was diminished and the PLO as an organisation was forced to be further away from the people it sought to fight for. The Lebanese period can in fact be seen as a time of no real development in PLO's desire to achieve statehood, in the main because of its being marred by additional conflicts. Throughout this period in time, the PLO was beginning to accept the concept of a
two-state solution
The two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict envisions an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel, west of the Jordan River. The boundary between the two states is still subject to dispute and negotia ...
and move towards the kind of agreements that would mark the
Oslo I Accord, but diplomatic processes were hindered by the conflict. The PLO itself as an organisation was split at times and trust between political groups was minimal.
See also
*
Palestinians in Lebanon
Palestinians in Lebanon include the Palestinian refugees who fled to Lebanon during the 1948 Palestine War, their descendants, the Palestinian militias which resided in Lebanon in the 1970s and 1980s, and Palestinian nationals who moved to Leb ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:PLO In Lebanon
Palestine Liberation Organization