Lebanon marks two decades of Israeli occupation
Lebanon, Military, 3/17/1998

Lebanon on Saturday marked Israel's first invasion of Lebanon 20 years ago with public rallies and calls for an unconditional Israeli withdrawal in compliance with international resolutions.

"425 Now," read the banners on the streets of Beirut and all across Lebanon. They refer to the United Nations Security Council resolution which was adopted in March 1978 and calls for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal by Israeli troops from all Lebanese territory.
Residents of Beirut pinned a yellow band on their chest in a show of solidarity with south Lebanon and the western Bekaa, where Israel maintains a strip of land as a buffer zone against cross-border guerrilla attacks.

Several rallies were held across the country where officials demanded the implementation of the two-decades-old resolution. The rallies and shows of solidarity with the south have become a yearly tradition in Lebanon. This year, however, the occasion coincides with an Israeli diplomatic campaign to win support for its implementation of resolution 425, in exchange for security arrangements with the Lebanese government. Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu recently offered to withdraw troops from the south if the Lebanese government pledged to disarm Hezbollah.

Lebanon rejected the offer, saying Israel had to withdraw without conditions, as 425 stipulates.

Israel on March 14, 1978 invaded Lebanon with the declared aim of destroying bases of the PLO in Lebanon and resolution 425 was issued five days later. Israel repeated its invasion on a much larger scale in 1982, reaching the capital Beirut. It withdrew its troops in 1985, but has since maintained the border zone south of the country.

A war of attrition between Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas has been raging since then, and Israeli casualties have been on the rise recently.
Israel wants to make certain that Hezbollah will not continue to attack its northern territories after it withdraws its troops.

Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah says he will not disclose the group's plans following an Israeli withdrawal and that Israel was not entitled to any commitments.

Israel is trying "to reproduce Resolution 425 in a way that aims at imposing security arrangements that may grant Israel a prize for its historic aggression," Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, spiritual leader of Hezbollah, said during Friday prayers according to An-Nahar newspaper Saturday.

Previous Stories:
  Is Israel a pariah nation?   (3/17/1998)
  Sharon advises economic destruction of Lebanon; Hariri calls Israel a terrorist state   (8/21/1997)

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