by Noam Chomsky
Times, July 15, 1982. For Tucker’s postwar assessment, see below, p.
270*. On his views concerning the legitimacy of the resort to military
force to attain American objectives, including not only “needs” but also
“wants,” see TNCW, chapter 8. On his grasp of reality, see first *. 69. Leon Wieseltier, Los Angeles Times, July 25, 1982; also Michael Walzer,
New Republic, Aug. 16, 1982.
70. Elmer Winter, “The task facing American Jews,” Jerusalem Post, June
18, 1982.
71. Jonathan Frankel, Jerusalem Post, June 27, 1982; Meir Pail, “A Military
Analysis,” New Outlook, Aug./Sept. 1982. Similar observations are made
by Beit-Hallahmi, “The consensus that never was” (see chapter 4, note
178), and many others.
72. Bernard Gwertzman, “Shultz Asserts Libyan Threat Has ‘Receded’,” New
York Times, Feb. 21; William Beecher, “Khadafy is ‘back in his box’—but
for how long?,” Boston Globe, Feb. 25, 1983. See Reuters, New York Times, Feb. 22, reporting Egypt’s statement “that it has seen no sign of a crisis” and denial “that it had asked for American help.” Richard Halloran reports the same day that the American plan was “to lure Libya into striking and then to destroy as much of its air force as possible,” or if Libya failed to seize the bait, “to assert that prompt help to Egypt had deterred Libya,” which “was, in effect, what Mr. Shultz said Sunday” (as quoted on Feb. 21). The goal of the plan, “according to American officials,” was “to improve chances of using Egyptian bases for the Rapid Deployment Force,” aimed at the Gulf. From Khartoum, James Dorsey reports that “U.S. intelligence officials appear to be the only source for reports” on the alleged Libyan moves, which are unknown to diplomats or to Sudanese or Egyptian intelligence and officials; Christian Science
Monitor, Feb. 22, 1983.
73. Ze’ev Schiff, Ha’aretz, July 18; Hirsh Goodman, Jerusalem Post, July 9;
Pail, “A Military Analysis”; Jerusalem Post, July 13 (Israleft News
Service).
74. Interview inMigvan, August 1982. After the capture of West Beirut there
was another major show of captured arms, much of it identified as
Syrian, “enough to equip three or four divisions” (James Feron, New York
Times, Oct. 12, 1982). A few days later, in the News of the Week in
Review, this had become “enough Palestinian equipment for three or four
divisions” (New York Times, Oct. 17; my emphasis).
75. Yediot Ahronot, May 14, 1982; cited by Amnon Kapeliouk, Le Monde
diplomatique, July 1982 (also David K. Shipler, New York Times, May
26, 1982); Eliahu Salpeter, Ha’aretz, May 17, 1982.
76. Marvine Howe, New York Times, July 28, 1982.
77. See Edward Mortimer, New Statesman, June 11, 1982. See also section
3.4.
78. Yuval Ne’eman, “Israel’s options in Lebanon,” Jerusalem Post, June 24,
1982.
79. Ze’ev Strominsky, economics correspondent of Davar, Aug. 3, 1982. 80. Wall St. Journal, July 28, Aug. 26, 1982.
81. Thomas L. Friedman, “Christians Won Vast New Power in Lebanon War,”
New York Times, Nov. 2, 1982.
82. David Bernstein, “No quick getaway” (not a great surprise, one would
think), Jerusalem Post, Sept. 21, 1982, written directly after the SabraShatila massacres.
83. Yuval Elizur, Ma’ariv, Oct. 17, 1982; translated in Israel Press Briefs
(Tel Aviv).
84. Aharon Abramovitz, Ma’ariv, Aug. 20, 1982. A picture is appended. The
reporter is appalled.
85. Meir Pail, “A Military Analysis.”
86. Bernard Gwertzman, “U.S. and Israel: A Quest for Flexibility,” New York
Times, June 24, 1982.
87. Yoseph Priel, Davar, Aug. 5, 1982 (dispatch from Washington). 88. See chapter 4, section 4.2.2.
89. Claudia Wright, New Statesman, Aug. 20, 1982; In These Times, Sept.
8, 1982.
90. Ha’aretz, Aug. 11, 1982, with a technical description; Ruvik Rosenthal,
Al Hamishmar, Aug. 11.
91. Laurence Grafstein, “The Implosion Plot,” New Republic, Sept. 6; Martin
Peretz, New Republic, Nov. 15, 1982.
92. Joe Stork and Jim Paul, MERIP Reports, Sept/Oct. 1982; Carter’s remark
is quoted from the Washington Post, Aug. 21. Haig’s response is in an
interview with the Boston Globe, March 2, 1983.
93. Beit-Hallahmi, “The consensus that never was.”
94. Charles Hoffman, Interview with Aharon Yariv, Jerusalem Post, Sept. 24,
1982.
95. Ingela Bendt & James Downing, We Shall Return (Lawrence Hill,
Westport, 1982). The authors are freelance journalists who spent several
months in the camp. Their account is based on the testimony of refugees,
which, as always, must be evaluated with care. In this case, there is
ample independent verification of the practices described. In contrast to
refugees who have a more useful story to tell, Palestinian refugees have
been generally avoided by the press. On this matter, see chapter 4,
section 5.1 and MERIP Reports, Sept/Oct. 1982.
96. David K. Shipler, New York Times, July 3, 1982.
97. There is a useful account of the war by Michael Jansen, The Battle of Beirut (Zed, London, 1982; South End, Boston). See also The Israeli Invasion of Lebanon, cited in note 36, for June and July, and Part II, extending the record from August into 1983. A more extensive collection of press clippings appears in Mideast Press Report, also published by Claremont Research and Publications. For a fairly extensive summary of these press reports, see “Chronology of the Israeli Invasion of Lebanon,” J. of Palestine Studies, Summer/Fall 1982. One of the best sources is the regular weekly reporting, using local resources and also drawing extensively from the international press, in the English-language journal Monday Morning, published throughout the war (with some issues missing when publication was impossible) in West Beirut. See also Israel in Lebanon, Report of the International Commission to enquire into reported violations of International Law by Israel during its invasion of the
Lebanon, Sean MacBride, Chairman (Ithaca press, London, 1983). 98. Dan Connell, MERIP Reports, Sept./Oct. 1982.
99. John A. Callcoti, “‘Deadly accuracy’ of Israeli guns blasts coastal plain,”
Jerusalem Post, June 23, 1982.
100. G. H. Jansen, “Terror tactics,” Middle East International, July 2, 1982. 101. Knesset debate cited in Journal of Palestine Studies, Summer/Fall 1982;
Tom Segev, Ha’aretz Supplement, June 18, 1982. Danny Rubinstein,
Davar, Sept. 3; reprinted in Memorandum on Human Rights Conditions,
ADC Background Paper #9 (American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee), October 1982.
102. New York Times, Aug. 12, 1982.; Yediot Ahronot, July 19, 1982. 103. Newsweek, June 28; New York Times, Sept. 2; Christian Science
Monitor, Nov. 18, Dec. 21; Los Angeles Times, Aug. 23; Boston Globe,
Sept. 3; Yediot Ahronot, Sept. 6, 1982, reporting a government
announcement. For Eitan’s figures, see Asher Wallfish, Jerusalem Post,
Jan. 19, 1983. The Lebanese government reported 1100 people killed in
Sidon before June 14; AP, Los Angeles Times, June 21, 1982. The fact
that the attacks had little effect on the guerrillas was regularly reported
(e.g., John Kifner, New York Times, Aug. 14, 1982).
104. Yizhar Smilanski, Davar, Sept. 5; also Levi Yitzhak Hayerushalmi, same
issue. Both cite Israeli radio reports that coincide with the Lebanese
estimates just given.
105. Hirsh Goodman, “Doubts at the front,” Je
rusalem Post, June 28, 1982. 106. Shimon Weiss, Davar, Sept. 2; Dr. Haim Gordon, Ha’aretz, Aug. 19,
1982.
107. Alan Philps, Reuter, Boston Globe, Aug. 21, 1982.
108. Monday Morning, Sept. 6-12; Robert Fisk, “The ugly reality of war Israel
is trying to hide,” London Times, July 13, 1982.
109. John Yemma, Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 18, 1982. 110. Bernard Nossiter, New York Times, Aug. 19, 1982.
111. Economist, Nov. 6, 1982.
112. Gen. Frederick Morgan, Peace and War; see chapter 4, note 8. 113. John Kifner, New York Times, Aug. 14, 1982.
114. David Lamb, Los Angeles Times, June 28, 1982.
115. See Christopher Walker, London Times, June 18; New York Times, Aug.
12; T. Elaine Carey, Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 13; UPI, Boston
Globe, Aug. 19, 1983.
116. David Lamb, Los Angeles Times—Philadelphia Inquirer, June 18, 1982. 117. Wire services, Boston Globe, June 5, 1982.
118. William Branigan, “Israeli Bombing of Hospitals,” Washington Post
(Manchester Guardian Weekly), June 27, 1982.
119. Hal Piper, Baltimore Sun, June 21, 1982.
120. Richard Ben Cramer, Philadelphia Inquirer, June 24, 1982. 121. William F. Farrell, New York Times, June 27, 1982.
122. T. Elaine Carey, Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 13; Newsweek, Aug.
16, 1982. The latter contains an extensive account of the massive
devastation of civilian sectors of West Beirut.
123. David B. Ottaway, Washington Post, June 27, 1982.
124. Financial Times (London), July 9, 1982; Robin Wright, “The horror
shelling of a defenceless hospital,” Sunday Times (London), July 4, 1982
(with a picture of dead children and patients wandering in the wreckage). 125. T. Elaine Carey, Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 4, 1982. 126. Wire Services, Boston Globe, Aug. 5, 1982.
127. J. Michael Kennedy, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 19, 1982.
128. T. Elaine Carey, Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 13, 1982. 129. New York Times, Aug. 12, 1982; Robert Fisk, London Times, July 13,
1982.
130. Alexander Cockburn & James Ridgeway, Village Voice, Nov. 30, 1982.
See also Colman McCarthy, “A Witness to Our Weapons’ Efficiency,”
Washington Post (Manchester Guardian Weekly, Jan. 23, 1983),
reporting “a long conversation” with Dr. Shamma on her effort ‘to
dispense some strong medicine to her fellow Americans” concerning the
effect of the supply of advanced weapons to Israel; an effort that was in
vain.
131. Keene Sentinel, New Hampshire, Aug. 17, 1982.
132. New York Times, Dec. 12, 1982.
133. James Feron, New York Times, Aug. 25, 1982.
134. Arthur J. Goldberg, “Lebanese Hail Israel’s Action as Liberation,” New
York Times, Aug. 15, 1982; a full-page advertisement reprinting an
article from the Jerusalem Post and Ma’ariv, published by The American
Friends of Israel. For Eban’s comments, see his harsh condemnation of
the expansion of the war to Beirut—and of the “‘gallant’ supporters
abroad who advocated [an attack on Beirut], usually from positions of
physical non-involvement” in the Jerusalem Post, reprinted in the Jewish
Post & Opinion, August 27, 1982.
135. Abba Eban, Socialist Affairs (journal of the Socialist International), 5/82,
reprinted from the Jerusalem Post. Eban’s remarks are cited along with a
range of other Israeli reactions to Begin’s “macabre fantasy” by Michael
Precker, Boston Globe, Aug. 10, 1982.
136. Jonathan C. Randal, Washington Post, June 19, 1982.
137. Michael Precker, Boston Globe, June 20, 1982.
138. David K. Shipler, New York Times, June 20, 1982.
139. Gideon Spiro, “The kibbutznik runs to war,” Haolam Haze, Aug. 18,
1982. Spiro discusses other cases, notably Lieut. Col. Ran Cohen, one of
the leaders of the peace group Sheli and a member of Kibbutz Gan
Shmuel, who had volunteered for the 1978 invasion and described in a
press interview how in 1982 he had fought with “almost diabolical
coolness” as a “professional fighter,” as he “fired thousands of shells on
West Beirut,” an act requiring great courage. Spiro believes that “the Likud continues to fulfill the unwritten agreement, inherited from the Labor Alignment, according to which the kibbutz movement shall continue to supply cannon fodder for every war adventure and in return shall receive economic benefits from the state.” He also maintains that most of the participation from the kibbutzim in anti-war protests was by
people who had moved to the towns.
140. Precker, see note 137.
141. David K. Shipler, New York Times, June 15; Randal, see note 136. 142. Judith Miller, New York Times, July 14, 1982.
143. Testimony of Dr. Chris Giannou before the House Subcommittee on
Europe and the Middle East, July 13; Toronto Star, June 21; Canadian
Broadcasting Company interview with Norwegian doctor Steinar Berge,
June 23, reprinted in The Israeli Invasion of Lebanon; Guardian
(London). June 24; Alexander Cockburn, Village Voice, July 27, 1982. 144. Reprinted in the J. of Palestine Studies, Summer/Fall 1982. 145. Testimony, October 31, at Hearings in Oslo.
146. William E. Farrell, “South Lebanon: Rejected, Neglected and Occupied,”
New York Times, Jan. 17, 1983. Others report the same experience,
among them, American journalist Charles Glass in December 1982
(personal communication).
147. Edward Walsh, Washington Post—Boston Globe, Jan. 25, 1983; Uri
Avneri, Haolam Haze, Dec. 15, 1982; Mary Arias, “Calvario Palestino,”
Cambio (Spain), Dec. 20, 1982.
148. Jonathan C. Randal, Washington Post, July 28, 1982; The Dawn (Al
Fajr), Jan. 14, 1983, citing interviews in the Lebanese journal Al Safir
and the Paris journal Libération; Yediot Ahronot, citing the London
Times, March 18, 1983; Ha’aretz, March 18, 1983 (translated from Der
Spiegel, March 14, 1983).
149. Times (London), June 16; Randal, Washington Post, June 19; David
Blundy, Times (London), July 18; Trudy Rubin, Christian Science
Monitor, Aug. 5; New York Times, June 21, 1982.
150. Christopher Walker, Times (London), June 23, 1982.
151. Jacobo Timerman, The Longest War.
152. Earleen F. Tatro (AP) and David Rogers (Reuters), Monday Morning
(Beirut), June 28-July 4, 1982.
153. Aryeh Rubinstein, Jerusalem Post, June 24, 1982.
154. William E. Farrell, “South Lebanon.”
155. Dr. Haim Gordon, Ha’aretz, Aug. 19, 1982; Amnon Dankner,” A shot on
the last day” (the suicide), Ha’aretz. Nov. 5, 1982. On December 3, the
Boston Globe reported (from wire services) that two Palestinian prisoners
at Ansar camp were killed “in an accidental burst of gunfire by a guard,
the Israeli military said.” In March, Israeli troops fired at about 1000
Palestinians protesting detention of relatives at Ansar, wounding one
women (AP, Boston Globe, March 17, 1983). Reporting is very scanty. 156. Ha’aretz, Dec. 6, 1982.
157. Israel Segal, “Like Animals,” Koteret Rashit, March 16, 1983. 158. Interview with Meir Pail in Yediot Abronot, April 4 1972, translated in
Shahak, Begin And Co.; Jon Kimche, Seven Fallen Pillars (Seeker and
Warburg, London, 1950, pp. 217ff.), in Khalidi, ed.. From Haven to
Conquest.
159. Chapter 4, section 3; Love, Suez, p. 689.
160. Ha’aretz, Oc
t. 19, 1982; Israleft News Service, Nov. I.
161. See Yoseph Shavit, “Lieut. Col. (Res.) Yirmiah: ‘From war to war we
become less human’,” Yediot Ahronot, Oct. 8, 1982.
162. Zu Haderech (the journal of the Israeli Communist Party, which appears
to have been the only Israeli journal to report this important meeting),
Oct. 27, 1982. See also Israel & Palestine (Paris), December 1982. 163. Amiram Cohen,Hotam (Mapam) Oct. 29, 1982.
164. Hotam, July 16; Al Hamishmar, Aug. 5, 1982, the latter written in
response to claims by military authorities about the excellent care for the
population in Lebanon; My War Diary, privately printed, Tel Aviv (1983),
with an introduction by Aryeh Lova Eliav. one of Israel’s most prominent
doves; to be published in English translation by South End Press, Boston.
Also Aharon Meged, Davar, Aug. 6, 1982.
165. Robert Fisk, London Times, June 28, 1982.
166. Charles T. Powers, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 29, 1982.
167. Davar, July 28, 1982.
168. Hirsh Goodman, Jerusalem Post, Oct. 1, 1982.
169. Charles T. Powers, Los Angeles Times, August 29, 1982.
170. John Kifner, New York Times, Aug. 29, 1982.
171. Ze’ev Schiff, Ha’aretz, June 24, 1982.
172. “Beirut Curtain Call,” New Republic, Sept. 13, 1982.
173. George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia (Beacon, Boston, 1952, pp. 171,
54). POUM was regarded by the Communists as Trotskyite, an allegation
that it vigorously denied. It was, however, anti-Stalinist, presumably the
grounds for the New Republic fabrications.
174. See note 134; Editorial, New York Times, July 7; Ariel Sharon, Op-Ed,
New York Times, Aug. 29, 1982.
175. H. E. Mr. Ghassan Tueni, “The Apocalyptic Realities of Today,” New
Outlook (Tel Aviv), August/September 1982.
176. Ghassan Tueni, “Lebanon: A New Republic?,” Foreign Affairs, Fall 1982. 177. Monday Morning, June 14-20.
178. Robert Fisk, London Times, June 15, 1982; Jumblait, interview, Monday
Morning, June 21-27, July 12-18.
179. Ibid.
180. Ibid., June 21-27.
181. Ibid., June 28-July 4.
182. Ibid., Aug. 2-8; Aug. 23-9 (a review of events of August).
183. Cited in a survey of TV news by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai
Brith, to which we return.
