Beirut under siege Jean Pierre BEAUVAIS
This article first appeared in Rouge, weekly newspaper of the LCR, French section of the Fourth International, No. 1021, 18 to 24 June 1982. The translation is by IV.
Fifteen thousand killed and wounded. This is the outcome of Monday June 14 in the encircled and bombarded neighbourhoods of Beirut reported by a spokesperson of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The resistance the Palestine fighters is unrelenting. resist or to die is our only choice' told a special correspondent of Liberation, the Paris daily, in a statement full of determination, revolt, and bitterness.
Ten days after the beginning of the invasion of Lebanon by the Israeli army, the military and political isolation of the Palestinian forces is dramatic. Never before has it reached such a degree. Not even in the worst hours of Black September, in Jordan in 1970.
"The rapid progression of the Israeli forces is not only explained by their crushing military superiority.
which have consisted in of resistance them, as in Sidon. It is also explained by the Syrian refusal to resist their progress, by the attitude of the Lebanese army who have hardly fired a shot against the invaders, and by the attitude of Walid Joumblatt (1) and his troops who have done hardly anything to slow down the progress of the Israelis in the mountains of Chouf, to the south of Beirut,' explained comrades of the Revolutionary Communist Group, Lebanese section of the Fourth International, interviewed by the heroic battle of the Palestinian forces, retrenched in the Lebanese capital, with whom they are fighting shoulder to shoulder. Lebanon numerous pockets of resistance
Sometimes they have even been reformed after the passage of the bulk of the Zionist troops. The main one is at Sidon. The town is continually bombarded. The Israeli troops have already made eight assaults attempting to seize it. Without success up till now. Tyre is occupied. But the situation is not as stable as the occupiers try to make us believe!'
Concerning the situation in Beirut itself, they emphasise the degree of organisation of the resistance. In numerous places it is not exaggerated to talk of real little Communes'. It is on this basis that they called, in a leaflet distributed Tuesday June 5, for the setting up of 'councils' in the neighbourhoods of the town to broaden the organization of the resistance and to organise the life of the population.
"The general feeling is that to take Beirut will be much too bloody an operation for the Israeli army, explained, *Neither the tanks nor the airforce can operate effectively. the reason why the tactic of surrounding the town, accompanied by harassment and bombing of the Palestinian camps on the periphery, is being followed. What's more, there are too many interests in certain areas from the point of view of the Lebanese bourgeoisie, to launch an operation the present circumstances, would mean still greater and more indiscriminate destruction.'
The objective of this tactic is to completely isolate the resistance in the
To weaken them, and to play upon the divisions that have already appeared about the terms for an eventual
The conditions will then be met for the Christian militia, and the Lebanese army, who from now on will collaborate openly with the Israelis, and are camped to the north and north-west of the town, to penetrate into it. Then there will be a dual perspective which will have to be negotiated under the Israeli guns. On the one hand: 'the reconstitution of a pro-American Lebanese state under the control of the Christian Falangists of Gemayel, the Lebanese army, and eventually the Joumblatt forces if they into this operation.' On the other hand: "The creation of a intry aised under the autorot the under the authority of commandant Haddad (2) and controlled by international surveillance forces of the type which have been stationed in the
A zone under the constant threat of Israeli intervention.' 1. Joumblatt is the leader of the Druze community and a charismatic figure of the national liberation movement. 2. Haddad is the head of the Christian militias which for several years, with Israeli aid, have controlled a stretch of Lebanese territory along the border with Israel.
defence of Beirut, have issued an open letter to the combatant Lebanese organisations which has been read on the radio and published in the newspapers. Against the wheelings and dealings-under the supervision of the American special envoy and under the threat of the Israeli gunsfor the installation of a pro-Western government in Lebanon, the RCG proposes the formation of a government of those fighting, excluding all bourgeois forces who refuse to oppose the entry of the Israeli forces. We publish below an extract from this document. ...Comrades and Brothers,
The only way to preserve the sacrifices of both our peoples, and prevent them being uselessly wasted; the only way to preserve our patriotic army and political liberties; the only way to make
Begin-Reagan campaign against our national cause miscarry; and the only way to defeat their offensive-this sole way is represented by the following measures, which we call on you to put into operation in the name of the blood spilt by thousands of martyrs:
Continue the struggle to the end against the Zionist army of occupation, to prevent it having a minute's respite and to make it pay very dearly for each minute of occupation of our land
Refuse entry to non-allied armies, either those of the legal traitors, or the armies of imperialist states, or from states that are agents of imperial-
3. Refuse all formulae concocted by the USA and Saudi Arabia, because of the Zionist occupation and with the complicity of the traitorous legality.
Consider all institutions of Lebanese 'legality' as traitors. Set up a National Resistance Government composed of all the forces who are really fighting the Zionist enemy.
Put into operation the project of local councils (1) so that these councils can organise the resistance in Beirut in all its forms.
Unify all the military forces and centralise them in a national guard to increase the capacities of these forces and prevent the use of the arms by certain suspect groups for objectives that have nothing to do with national resistance.
7. Demand from anti-imperialist states and forces in the world, notably the USSR and Cuba, an immediate military intervention on the side of the Lebanese-Palestinian resistance, until the total and unconditional retreat of the Zionist army from all Lebanese territory.••
Executive Bureau of the
Revolutionary Communist Group
Lebanese Section of the
Fourth International
June 15, 1982
5