The familiar sounds of war were heard in southern Lebanon this week, but this time the bombs were falling and the artillery was firing for a different reason. Israel was ending its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon, and as the troops withdrew, they were destroying positions and materiel to ensure that they did not fall into enemy hands. The Israeli withdrawal closes a festering wound, but it poses new challenges for all governments in the region. It is a long-anticipated development, but there is no guarantee that it will bring peace. That requires leadership and statesmanship of a kind that is all too rare.
Israel first crossed into Lebanon in 1978 to halt guerrilla attacks by Palestinians who had retreated to refugee camps after the creation of the Jewish state in 1948. It launched a full-scale invasion in 1982 and pulled back three years later to set up a 1,040 sq.-km, 15-km-wide security zone in southern Lebanon. It also established and armed the 2,500-man South Lebanon Army to defend the buffer area.
The Israeli occupation was an open sore. Nine hundred Israelis lost their lives over 22 years; thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians were killed during the same period. Constant fighting between Israel and the Palestinians undermined the Lebanese government, and the weakness in Beirut gave Syria an opening to extend its influence. The extended Israeli presence presented an easy target for Islamic fundamentalists and militant Palestinians, an inviting opportunity when troublemakers wanted to make a political point.