文档介绍：A Brief History of Israel
major response to years of PLO terror attacks against Israel and its
people. After the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan in September 1970,
the PLO shifted its infrastructure to Lebanon and established a massive
presence there—a state within a state—from which it launched terrorist
operations against Israel. Over the years these attacks grew in number,
intensity, and sophistication, despite various efforts by Israel and the
munity (including an unofficial cease-fire arranged
by . ambassador Philip Habib) to defuse the situation and establish
a quiet border.
On June 6, Israel launched a major military action against the PLO
called Operation Peace for Galilee. The military objective was to ensure
security for northern Israel; to destroy the PLO’s infrastructure, which
had established a state within a state in Lebanon; and to eliminate a center
of international terrorism and a base of operations from which Israel was
threatened. The objective of the IDF was to ensure that the civilian popu-
lation of the Galilee was beyond the range of terrorist fire from Lebanon.
Prime Minister Begin conveyed to the United States that the operation
would be limited to a distance of about 25 miles (some 40 kilometers)
from its borders, but it soon went beyond this self-imposed limit. Israel
also noted its aspiration to sign a peace treaty with Lebanon after PLO and
Syrian influence had been eliminated. But the political objectives were not
as precise, and in many respects the results were ambiguous.
In the first few weeks of the invasion, Israeli forces gained control of
all southern Lebanon up to Beirut, most of the southern Beqa Valley in
the east, and most of the Beirut-Damascus highway. The war occasioned
major debate and numerous demonstrations within Israel and resulted
in substantial casualties. The PLO infrastructure and the Palestinian
camps in the south, which had taken almost 12 years to build,