General Effect of Israel Invasion in Lebanon - Research Paper Example

Arab/Israel Conflict Student Name Course Name Tutor Introduction The historical Arab / Israel conflict significantly impacted the Lebanese people. The conflict which largely begun as a territorial rivalry shifted its ambitions to various regions which further impacted many social settings. Nadim and Dana (1988), highlight that after gaining independence from the French in 1946 Lebanon was a region that had a unique and well established political system based on power sharing agreements among religious communities, a system basically referred to as confessionalism. The country experienced an era of prosperity and relative calm, with its economy largely grounded on agriculture, tourism and banking. 1 The formation of the Israel as state in 1948 was marked by Jewish migration into Palestine, which spearheaded a large scale conflict. Basing on fact that the Lebanese had common shared heritage with the Arabs, the conflict resulting from the formation of Israel state was bound to affect the Lebanese society. For instance the blatant murders in Yaroun, a Village in Lebanon that bordered Palestine, were a clear indication of savage treatment and cruel acts which indicated how adverse the War was towards the Lebanese people. 2 This particular paper will evaluate the Israel/ Arab conflict and how the conflict intersected/affected my family history. The scope of my investigation will be based on the impacts of the Israel invasion of Lebanon to my family in terms of what happened and how the events shaped my family history. In addition the analysis will also focus on the bigger question that can be raised by the entire story. In my analysis of the topic I will use a primary source, which is through an interview I carried out on my Uncle Henry Smith who survived the entire ordeal and later moved to Australia. In addition I will also use secondary sources; publications of accounts given by witnesses and various other authors who have analysed the account. The Israel Invasion on Lebanon affected my own family history in various ways. The formation of Israel state initiated by the belief of the biblical claim that they had to conquer and acquire their Promised Land, resulted to displacement of many Palestine people who become refugees in Lebanon. After the establishment of the Zionist movement, a great number of Jewish people moved to Palestine. The movement was determined to ensure that the Jewish migrated to Ottoman Palestine. 3The Palestine’s were thus forced to migrate and settle else where. The hundreds of thousands of dislocated Palestinians, moved to Lebanon for the reason that “it was a garden without a fence”4. David Hist’s description of Lebanon as a garden without a fence basically meant that anyone could enter and settle in Lebanon due to the fact that there no barriers of restriction. It was difficult to control the influx of the Palestinians into Lebanon. The ‘’black September ‘’ further caused a huge influx of Palestinian populations into Lebanon which resulted into a demographic imbalance and disruption of the earlier formulated democratic institutions. 5 The effect of this particular scenario to my family is that the Palestinian refugees occupied my grandmother’s home, making her life more inconvenient. Uncle Smith narrates that it was actually even very difficult to get food and water to drink. Lebanon become a more hostile and inhospitable place to live. In 1960, Palestinians operating from Lebanon attacked Israel thus provoking a period of retaliation. The implication of this particular move or event was that the Lebanese people were entangled in the middle of a battle they did not necessarily initiate. The Israel and Palestinian groups evidently turned a blind eye to the effects they were inflicting to the Lebanese people. For instance one shocking scenario accounted by Robert Fisk a journalist who covered the events in Lebanon narrates that Palestine Guerrillas had set up make shift mortar positions that were to be used for firing at the enemy. On the other hand Israel troops were always ready with their tankers to open fire to their opponents. For instance as Robert narrates that on one ester Sunday as he was interviewing two Lebanese farmers in a Tobacco field a Tank that belonged to Israel solders drove near the firm and opened fire on them. This was a clear indication that the quest for retaliation had great horrific impacts for innocent Lebanese people. The two Lebanese farmers had nothing to do with the war yet they very close to loosing their lives.6 Israel invasion of Lebanon in 1978 and 1982 and its occupation of southern Lebanon was the height of the greatest war crimes. Through the 1982 Israeli attack, Arab states and Lebanon revealed their powerlessness by doing nothing, as the death toll of the Lebanese people climbed past 23,000 at the cost of 600 Israeli lives. With no effective political system in place after the elected Lebanese president was assassinated in September 1982, and without a stable Lebanese government; protecting Lebanese citizens from brutality was near to impossible. 7 Women were raped and many massacred in Shatial and Sabra by Christian Phalangists. Herzog (1984) narrates one vindictive event that occurred in Ein Al-Helweh one of the Lebanon refugee camps. Herzog vividly elaborates that one of the mornings in October 1982; the Israel solders gathered everyone outside the camp and stated shooting at them randomly over their heads in order to terrorize them. 8Later more than 70 young Lebanese men were chosen they were then blind folded and executed through firing heavy at their heads. Further more young women were raped as the men watched. Chomsky (1999) agrees to the fact that the Lebanese people were caught up in a fateful triangle between the Zionism and Palestinian rivalry which exposed great levels of dishonesty, human corruption, greed and cruelty which adversely affected the Lebanese people.9 It is in the 1982 invasion that my Uncle Smith narrates that our family was gravely affected. The few homes occupied by the surviving family members were taken away thus they opted to migrate to Australia. The greatest calamity that gravely affected my family was the death of my grandmother, aunty and two young children due to the atrocities of the war crimes committed by the Israel solders. My uncle was taken captive along with his 12 year old son where they were extensively tortured. All this events greatly affected our family sense of direction and destiny. The Bigger Questions Raised by the story One dominant big question that can be raised from the entire story is; should the formation of Israel as a state have be allowed? Dan (2008), highlights that the Zionist movement which was predominantly a labour movement was determined to make Israel a state. Dan further argues that even if there was no strong labour movement in Israel the Jewish were greatly determined to get their promised land. 10However it can not be denied that the basis of the Israel state formation was through warfare which greatly affected humanity. In despite of the existence of the United nations various atrocities were committed in the quest of formation of Israel. It would be needless to say that the formation of Israel should not have been allowed due to the fact that their was actually nobody to stop it, the united nations and other powerful states sat back and watched ,as Israel struggles to attain its long desired and prophesized aspiration.11 The other question that can be raised concerns the policy used to formulate the state. The policies applied in the formation of Israel as a state were mainly based on warfare. War and war fare training shaped the development of Israel as a strong power state .The rivalry for land markets and labour was a crucial aspect for the manifestation of Arab and Jewish conflict. Warfare made the developmental role of government more attainable and attractive. As a result the Arab – Israel conflict assisted in determining the statistics pattern of policy making in Israel.12 The other big question that can be raised from the story is that was it so necessary for Israel to take prisoners and did they have to commit war crimes in their quest for state formulation. Israel (1996) highlights that when atrocities occur due to ‘’grapes of wrath’’, it is essential to look at the real reasons why the atrocities were actually committed. Israel further highlights that Israel basically had strategic interests which resulted to such actions. One would ask what were these interests that lured Israel into affecting the lives of the Lebanese people? The fist action that Israel took when she invaded Lebanon was the removal of all custom barriers that separated the two countries as a result Lebanese goods were forbidden to enter Israel. However goods from Israel were to be allowed to enter Lebanon without the Payment of any form of duty. The Lebanese government had for years tried to established customs on the northern zone, however each time they tried, Israel responded through bombardment which basically lasted until the barriers were removed.13 It can however be stated that in despite of the strategic interest that Israel had, committing such war crimes was actually not necessary, this is because injustice was committed to the Lebanese people; innocent women ,children and the old greatly suffered yet nobody paid for the injustices committed. The taking of prisoners was also not necessary because it was virtually an increased economic burden for Israel, as opposed to economic gain.14 The establishment of the buffer Zone inside Lebanon in 1892 by the Israel defence force was actually another strategic interest that Israel had. The basic reason for the establishment of the buffer zone was that the zone was aimed at putting the border towns of Israel out of a variety of mortar fire and small arms.15 Conclusion In summary the general effect of Israel invasion in Lebanon to the social dynamics of my family is that in deed just like many Lebanese families were affected by the war my family was not excluded. Some lost their lives like my grandmother and aunt, our homes were destroyed and some family members moved to Australia to form a Lebanese community. What I have discovered from the whole story is that still historical events influence the present. Even today the Arab-Israel conflict is influenced by the same historical events. Therefore the existence of my family members in Australia is still a refuge to them. Bibliography Chomsky, N.(1999).Fateful triangle: the United States, Israel, and the Palestinians. South End Press. David , H.(2010).Beware of Small States: Lebanon, Battleground of the Middle .Faber and Faber, 2010 Dana, H& Nadim, L. (1988).Lebanon: a history of conflict and consensus. Tauris publication Dan , A. (2008)."Between nation and land in Zionist teaching of Jewish history, 1920-1954," Journal of Israeli History. Vol. 27 (2).pp 253–268 Herzog, H.(1984). The Arab-Israeli Wars: War and Peace in the Middle East from the War of Independence to Lebanon. London: Arms and Armour. Israel, S.(1996).The Real Israeli Interests in Lebanon. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. 19, 111. Laqueur, W& Barry R.(1984). The Israel-Arab Reader: a Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict, New York: Penguin Books. Joel S.1990.Through the lens of Israel: explorations in state and society. Suny series in Israeli studies Mushtaq H.(2004).State formation in Palestine: viability and governance during a social transformation. Routledge. Paul , J.(1998).History of the Jews. Harper publications Robert, F. (2002).Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War. Oxford University Press. Read More