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Israel's 21st Anniversary in Lebanon

Sunday is the 21st anniversary of Israeli troops first crossing into Lebanon as part of Operation Litani, aimed at protecting Israel's northern border from Palestinian guerrillas.

As the recent deaths of seven Israeli troops in attacks by Hizbollah fighters show, Israel's entanglement in southern Lebanon remains a pressing issue.

Fears have been raised that Israel is planning reprisal actions in retaliation for the heavy blow dealt by the Lebanese guerrillas.

But why, after more than two decades and a UN resolution calling for their withdrawal, does Israel continue to maintain what it calls a "buffer zone" inside the southern Lebanese border?

Israeli invasions of Lebanon - often on a huge scale - are nothing new.

The northward movement of 20,000 Israeli troops in Operation Litani in 1978 was followed in 1982 by Operation "Peace for Galilee" - a massive incursion which took the Israeli Defence Force all the way to Beirut in an attempt to flush Yasser Arafat and his PLO out of the country for good.

Against UN wishes

This was done despite UN Resolution 425, which had persuaded Israel to withdraw after its first invasion in 1978.

That resolution still stands, with Israel yet to relinquish the 10-20km-wide strip of southern Lebanese territory it has controlled, in its current shape, since 1985.

Within Israel itself, the issue of withdrawal has become a point of intense political debate, as the elections on May 17th approach.

Israeli public opinion, sickened by continuing Israeli casualties in the buffer zone, seems keen to get out of southern Lebanon.

Ehud Barak, the Labour leader who is contesting the post of prime minister, has already promised a withdrawal within a year of being elected.

Netanyahu seeks security guarantees

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is more tentative. He says he would like to see Israeli troops out of Lebanon, but he also wants gaurantees on security from Lebanon before offering a pullout.

In the unlikley event that Lebanon comes up with any such assurances, it will need the approval of Syria which has 30,000 of its own troops stationed in Lebanon.

Syria in turn, is likely to demand progress from Israel on the return of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights - currently home to some 15,000 Israeli settlers.

It is unknown whether Mr Netanyahu feels his election campaign would be boosted by the sustained show of muscle that he has threatened against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Those who are keen to see an end to violence in the region will take small comfort from the fact that Mr Peres lost the 1996 election in the wake of Israeli's last major offensive against Lebanon - Operation Grapes of Wrath.

That was criticised by the UN for what Israel called its "mistake" when it killed 100 Lebanese refugees who had been sheltering from the Israeli bombardment in a UN base at Qana, just two kilometres outside the "security zone".

Relevant Stories

Lebanese army 'on alert' (13 Mar 99 | Middle East)
Analysis: Israel's Lebanese dilemma (02 Mar 99 | Middle East)
Israeli general killed in Lebanon (01 Mar 99 | Middle East)

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