Title card:
On the fifth day after the start of the operation, the UN Security Council issued Resolution 425, calling for the withdrawal of the Israeli Army from southern Lebanon.
Two days later, at 6 pm on March 21, 1977, the Israeli Army held its fire after reaching the Litani River, following consultations by telephone between Begin and Washington. The day before, in Damascus, the foreign ministers from the Arab states who refused any acknowledgment of or negotiation with Israel (Syria, Libya, Iraq, Algeria and South Yemen) adjourned their meeting without deciding on any action against Israel.
Beaufort Castle, which has looked out over southern Lebanon since the days of the Crusaders. Israeli armored cars surround the castle. The main gate to the castle is blocked from inside by the piled bodies of the dead and wounded wearing Palestinian insignia.
A circle around a paragraph from an Arabic newspaper in East Jerusalem: “This war has restored respect to Palestinian dignity. It can be boasted that the Palestinians by themselves plunged into a war against Israel in full view of a feeble Arab world. The anger from the Arab world has created a feeling of shared involvement and unity, the likes of which the Palestinians have not witnessed for a long time.”
Washington. The US State Department building. An official spokesman to reporters: “The State Department is still studying whether Israel violated its purchase agreements for American weapons, which it used in South Lebanon. The agreements prohibit the use of advanced weaponry (such as F-15 planes) for attack purposes, although they are allowed to be used for defense.”
A circle around a paragraph from the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth: “The commander of the Israeli Air Force, David Ivri, commented on the statement from the US State Department regarding weapons, saying, ‘I can state clearly and decisively that we did not violate any clause in the agreement. We used the planes to defend our forces from the air. This weapon is a kind of powerful shield for our forces, which didn’t result in any violation, because we are only talking about defense.’”
The Israeli minister of defense, Ezer Weizman, speaks with a correspondent from the Israeli newspaper Maariv:
Journalist: “In the course of the advance planning, did you take into consideration the complicated aspects of an operation of this size: 150,000 refugees fleeing in fear of the Israeli Army, and hundreds of civilians — or perhaps more — killed and wounded?”
Weizman: “… the Lebanese Civil War has produced lots of refugees, with no end in sight and in numbers that surpass those produced by the Israeli Army’s operation and the operation by the Jordanians in 1970, and by the Syrians when they entered Lebanon, when they slaughtered a lot more ‘ravagers’ than the Israeli Army has in the last ten days.”
Journalist: “You are an experienced soldier: didn’t you feel a pang of conscience when you saw the Israeli Army using its most advanced planes and artillery, and with a force such as this, against opponents supplied with — at best — Kalashnikovs, and in many cases opponents who have nothing to defend themselves with?”
Weizman: “In every war you have a heart, a conscience, and all kinds of remorse. Military men who have known the terrors of war and its atrocities up close love peace more than others do. But what should we have done? Should we supply our soldiers with Galil rifles because they have Kalashnikovs? Like anyone else, I have what we can call things that keep me up at night. But I have visited the Lebanese wounded in Israeli hospitals, and I was struck by a feeling that was not entirely pleasant.”
Title card:
• The cost of Operation Litani, according to Israeli sources:
• 30 million dollars.
• 1,300 Lebanese and Palestinian dead.
• Several thousand wounded.
• 150,000 inhabitants of South Lebanon who lost their homes and have taken refuge in the north.
A circle around a paragraph from the Israeli magazine Bamahaneh, under the byline of Haim Raviv: “The ‘ravagers’ and their organizations had two surprises in store for them last week: the first was the large scale of the Israeli Army’s operation in South Lebanon, and the second was the hope-crushing response from the Arab states.
“Egypt and Syria, the two leading states of the opposition, have made it known, each in its own way, that they are unprepared to enter into a confrontation with Israel. Egypt announced that it would continue to adhere to the peace initiative, and Syria acknowledged that it would not be dragged into a war with Israel prematurely.
“But there had to be some pretense of action: in Damascus, an unscheduled conference of rejectionist states was held. And King Hussein rode the Palestinian horse, calling for an Arab summit meeting. Statements were issued condemning the Israeli attack. The Egyptians sent a medical team to aid non-militant casualties. Everyone is pleased with the opportunity to weaken the PLO.”
A circle around a paragraph from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: “No doubt the Americans were informed of the operation before it began. We would not be mistaken if we were to say that they knew, in a general way, the primary points that Israel would occupy in the sector along the border.”
A circle around a paragraph from an American newspaper: “The information provided to various Arab parties, and which reached them by way of the United States, informed them that the operation would be limited in duration and in geographical extent. That is why Syria’s rulers took a very low profile at first. On the first day, Syrian media devoted only a few sentences to it. Thus, the expansion of the operation from 10 kilometers to 40 was a surprise. America was either in collusion with Israel in a campaign of deception, or it had itself fallen prey to Israel’s deception.”
The town of Taybeh in South Lebanon. It looks like a ghost town.
The town of Qantara. Most houses are still standing, but the windows have no glass, and the entrances have no doors. Water pipes and faucets have been pulled out. Enormous holes in the walls. Shop doors torn away. Their contents plundered or destroyed. An Israeli jeep weighed down with televisions, refrigerators and furniture.
A circle around a paragraph from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz: “A soldier told us: ‘Looting has been a part of all of Israel’s wars. We had good luck here. I was in Egypt in ’73, and because of the bad living conditions in Egyptian villages on the west bank of the Suez Canal, we hardly found anything of value. We only confiscated blankets and sheets, and clothes that were sent to the country via the American air resupply route. They were excellent quality and worth millions of lira. They were distributed to tens of thousands of soldiers. During the long months leading up to February 28, 1974, the date of our withdrawal from the west bank of the Suez Canal, the Egged buses that carried soldiers to spend their leave in Israel were packed to the gills with those goods.”
A circle around a paragraph from the Israeli newspaper Davar: “Material and human assistance continues to be offered by the Israeli Army to Lebanese villages that have been damaged during the course of the recent battles. Yesterday, around fifteen prefabricated freestanding homes were brought from Israel to the Muslim village of al-Abbasa. The homes were set up on public land in the village. The first group of Lebanese families whose homes in the village were destroyed during the battles took up residence in them. Around 600 individuals remain in the village out of 6,000 who lived there before the outbreak of the war. Most of the inhabitants fled to Beirut.”