Fateful Triangle

Peace for Galilee4226. The Taste of Victory6.1 The VictorsFor some, indeed, the taste of victory was sweet, in particular, for“the Christians of east Beirut [who] drove wildly through thestreets in cars draped with [newly-elected President] Mr.Gemayel’s portrait, firing into the air in an outburst of glee that left5 dead and 19 wounded.” 170 Previously they had been enjoying thespectacle of West Beirut in flames from the hotel verandas where theywere sipping drinks or the beaches where they were sunningthemselves, urging the Israeli army on to more violent attacks on theimpoverished Muslims and Palestinians who “now live like moles,between destroyed houses,” awaiting the next blow. These richLebanese “regard us as mercenaries who are working for them,” militarycorrespondent Ze’ev Schiff commented after observing this scene of‘dolce vita and death.” 171The New Republic described the same scene in rather differentwords. Its editors complained that among the many crimes of the press,it did not show “pictures of the Lebanese Christian women who demonstratedin east Beirut to celebrate—truly celebrate—the departure ofthose who had destroyed their lives and killed their loved ones.” And“where are the pictures of the weeping mothers of the Israeli war dead?”There is no concern for them in the cynical American press, entrancedby the “theatrical flourishes” of the PLO which has displayed such skillin manipulating American “opinion leaders,” particularly those—foundeverywhere in the United States—who revel in “anti-Israel hysteria.” 172One recalls earlier days, the Spanish civil war, for example, whenClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky