Israeli occupation of south
Israeli occupation of southOn May 14, 1948 British troops that were occupying portions of Palestine withdrew from the territory. As Britain withdrew from Palestine, they handed the land over to the Zionists to create Israel. Upon creation of the State of Israel, thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes to make room for the Jews who were immigrating into the State. Many of the Palestinians fled to Lebanon to make new homes and start a new life.
Soon after the formation of Israel, war broke out between the Palestinians and the Israeli�s. The war lasted about 8 months and an armistice agreement was negotiated, between January and July of 1949. For the next twenty years tension would continue to rise between the two nations. Palestinians and Israeli�s committed numerous terrorist acts against each other until 1968. In 1968, Israel made its first significant incursion into Lebanon. On April 21, 1968 Israel blew up 13 airplanes at Beirut airport (Barrett). The Israeli�s justification for the Beirut airport bombing was repayment for the Lebanese trained Palestinian civilians who had made an attack in Athens. For the next ten years there were numerous small terrorist acts from both countries.
Then in March 1978, Israel launched the first of four major attacks on southern Lebanon. The attacks have set up an Israeli zone of occupation, a �security zone�, in southern Lebanon that is still present today. The Israeli occupation and the attack on southern Lebanon has never been legitimately justified.
The first major Israeli incursion into south Lebanon came on March 14, 1978. The military action was named �Operation Litany�. The Israeli army attacked PLO positions that were in south Lebanon. As the Israeli�s moved through southern Lebanon they occupied a 6-mile strip of land. The Israeli�s killed 1500 people who were Lebanese and Palestinian civilians. The Israeli�s attempted to justify the killing of 1500 civilians and the occupation of Lebanon because PLO backed guerillas had killed 30 bus riders in a raid near Tel Aviv. The world and the UN strongly objected to this harsh move by the Israeli�s (Reuters, �Chronology��).
The UN then put resolution 425 into effect. The resolution called for � strict respect for the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and political independence of Lebanon� and also �called upon Israel immediately to cease its military action against Lebanese territorial integrity and withdraw forthwith its forces from all Lebanese territory.� The Israeli�s refused to leave so the UN created UNIFIL. UNIFIL stands for �United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.� It is a 5000 person peacekeeping force that was set up to push the Israeli army back to the border (Reuters, �Intervention��). Israel pulled back some of its military forces due to the world condemnation of the act and the UN�s objection to the invasion. However, the Israeli�s kept some of their troops posted in southern Lebanon. Israel also brought in Muslim leftists...
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