Urban warfare, thousands of civilian casualties, a terrorist enemy and international outrage.
Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon shares parallels to its current war against Hamas. In both conflicts, the Israel Defense Forces sought to eradicate an enemy who had spent years attacking it from bases just over the border or, in Gaza’s case, from the other side of the wall. But as experts note, Israel failed to achieve any of its aims in 1982 and may find it equally improbable to destroy Hamas now. In short, there are no military solutions to a problem that requires a political resolution akin to the Israel-Egypt peace agreement of 1978.
In this episode of History As It Happens, Middle East Institute President Paul Salem, who was in Lebanon during the Israeli invasion 41 years ago, discusses the similarities and important differences between the two wars.
“What’s particularly different is that the Lebanon war of 1982 was part of [an Israeli] political project that didn’t work out, either — but there was a plan politically,” Mr. Salem said. “The Gaza war is largely a direct, emotional reaction to the horrific attack by Hamas on Israel on Oct. 7. The war was launched without a political end game in mind.”
In 1982, Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and Prime Minister Menachem Begin planned to drive the IDF all the way to Beirut and install a friendly government at a time when Lebanon was torn asunder by sectarian war and foreign interference (Syria). the plan failed when the new Lebanese prime minister, Bashir Gemayel, was assassinated in the summer of 1982. In today’s war against Hamas, it is not clear who would govern Gaza if Israel succeeds in banishing its enemy.
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