Fateful Triangle

Peace for Galilee425Times index for this period, for example.Mr. Tueni gave a major address at the highly-publicized UnitedNations conference on disarmament on June 22, a few blocks awayfrom the editorial offices of the Times, just two weeks after the liberationbegan. He asked to be excused if the representative of Lebanon had “nowords on universal disarmament, save the pious prayers that it shouldhappen soon enough for his country to survive,” a country that was thenbeing “martyred and crucified.” “The atomic holocaust of tomorrow,” hesaid, “becomes a problematic danger, remote and almost unreal, tothose who are living an actual holocaust: the holocaust of their motherearth, of men, women, and children physically destroyed along with thecities they built and loved.” The choice for the Lebanese is “betweentoday and tomorrow,” “between surviving immediate death, andthinking—but only thinking—of preventing ultimate destruction.” Recallthat he was speaking well before the siege of Beirut and theindiscriminate bombing of heavily-populated civilian areas that reachedits peak in late July and August. He asked that the General Assemblynot “be diverted by abstract testimonies for peace... Concerned as we allare with the necessity of halting the race towards the atomic holocaustof tomorrow, let us remember the no less apocalyptic realities of today.”The official (Christian) spokesman for the country that was thenbeing liberated by Israel may, perhaps, be excused for lapsing intohyperbole.Mr. Tueni called for the “immediate and unconditional withdrawal ofIsraeli forces from Lebanon,” citing UN Security Council Resolution 509,“which clearly and unequivocally establishes the criteria of Israeliwithdrawal: that it should be both immediate and unconditional.” Hedeplored the fact that the UN peace-keeping forces were unable “todefend [Lebanon] against aggression,” adding that “it is the very futureof peacekeeping operations which is now at stake,” given the inability ofClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky