PALESTINIANS AND THE OUTBREAK OF CIVIL WAR IN LEBANON (1975)

• Authors: Michaľák Tomáš
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

After its expulsion from Jordan in 1970, the Palestinian liberation movement began to operate from south Lebanon, where the mountains around Mt. Hermon offered favourable natural conditions for guerrilla activities. The weakness of the Lebanese state and support from some Lebanese factions and Arab states enabled the Palestinians to build a state within a state in Lebanon (similar to the one they had previously built in Jordan) with refugee camps under Palestinian control, all important Palestinian organizations having an independent base in Beirut and widespread infrastructure and fortifications in southern Lebanon. Palestinian guerrilla squads carried out attacks against Israel or fired rockets into their territory. There was a permanent cycle of Palestinian attacks and Israeli retaliations. However, Israeli bombing affected not only Palestinians but also Lebanese from the countryside – especially Shiites, thousands of whom were forced to flee their homes and move to the crowded suburbs of Beirut, angered by a government that did not protect them from the Palestinians or the Israelis. Moreover, conflicts arose between Palestinian armed groups and the Lebanese army, which was trying to prevent the assaults. Political tension in Lebanon was growing.

Keywords

EN

PALESTINIANS; LEBANON; CIVIL WAR; BEIRUT

• Publisher: Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Asian and African Studies
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 112 – 130

Contributors

author

Michaľák Tomáš

• Ministerstvo zahraničných vecí SR, Hlboká cesta 2, Bratislava, Slovak Republic