Fateful Triangle

Peace for Galilee453quences of the war for Israel would be grim in all respects, but they keptsilent. One factor was their conviction that “the U.S. gave the green lightand Haig was able ‘to live’ even with an entry into Beirut.” See section4.7. Apart from that, “nothing succeeds like success.” Labortemporized, waiting to see “how things would turn out.” To oppose thewar was considered politically impossible, given poll results indicatingthat 98% of the Likud and 91% of the Labor Alignment supportersbacked the war and regarded it as justified. The Labor Alignmentrefused to take to the streets in support of those who demonstratedagainst expansion of the war. Rabin regarded the war as justified after“the terrorists bombarded the Galilee settlements” (in retaliation for theheavy bombing of Lebanon on June 4-5; such retaliation, after theunprovoked murder of several hundred people, evidently proves that “theterrorists” continue to be “two-legged beasts,” in Begin’s rhetoric).Chaim Herzog (elected President in March 1983) went so far as to favoreven the conquest of Beirut.Gur was the strongest opponent of the war among the top leadership.He issued a public denunciation of the Labor leadership and the entireoperation on August 20, in Ha’aretz. The attack on Beirut, he said,would prove to be an ineradicable stain, and the entire war, as it wasconducted, was unjustified. The presence of the IDF, he wrote, was the“primary factor in the election of Bashir Gemayel” to the presidency ofLebanon, “and whoever activates the IDF to such aims is capable ofdoing the same tomorrow in Israel as well,” a concern about DefenseMinister Sharon that had been voiced frequently before, even by Begin,it has been alleged. Yossi Sarid, along with Shulamith Aloni and parts ofMapam, opposed the “large plan” strenuously and called for withdrawalof Israeli armed forces from all positions that had no direct connectionwith the security of the Galilee. But the leadership in general remainedsilent, apart from its general opposition to the conquest of Beirut. WhenClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky