War of The Camps - Background

Background

In the wake of the creation of the State of Israel in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became refugees in south Lebanon. A few Palestinians with skills and capital were allowed to reside in cities and live dignified lives; the majority, however were destitute peasants who could only offer their unskilled work force to the Lebanese economy, were kept in squalid refugee camps near the main cities.

Even before the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1964, exiled Palestinian intellectuals residing in Lebanon and other Arab countries began to form clandestine paramilitary groups in the late 1950s, which later evolved into the main PLO guerrilla factions. In Lebanon, some of these groups would later raise roadblocks where regular Lebanese would be made to pay "tolls" to support the Palestinian "cause", which alienated important sectors of the native population, in particular the Maronite Christian and Shi'a communities. Beginning in the late 1960s, Palestinian factions also gradually turned Southern Lebanon into a de facto state of their own, using it for launching guerrilla attacks on Israel. Although in time the Shi'a of Lebanon would come to support the Palestinians in their struggle against Israel, the PLO's and the more radical Rejectionist Front groups' behavior in South Lebanon made many Lebanese Shi'a resent the Palestinian presence. They had put the Shi'as at risk by attacking the Israelis from their border. In 1978, Israel had invaded Southern Lebanon (Operation Litani) in response to the attacks made by the PLO from South Lebanon.

Israel's second invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 succeeded in driving thousands of Palestinian fighters under the command of PLO Chairman Arafat out of Southern Lebanon and West Beirut. Under international auspices, Arafat and its PLO forces were evacuated to northern Lebanon and settled in Tripoli. By this time, however, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad proceeded to expel Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian factions allied to him out from Lebanon. Israel's second invasion was extremely devastating, and resulted in a 20 year-long occupation of Lebanon, particularly of the South. Tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians were killed and another consequence of this occupation was the formation of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah.

Assad himself sought to control the PLO and Lebanon. His anxieties were caused by a worry that Palestinian militarism would invite another Israeli invasion and that his minority Alawite regime would be endangered by the Sunni Palestinians. Initially Syria encouraged its own Palestinian groups to compete in the process, facilitating the entrance of as-Sa'iqa, PFLP-GC, and pro-Syrian Fatah members under Abu Musa. However, Syria's allies were only powerful in areas controlled by the Syrians, like the Bekaa. In areas beyond Syria's control, it soon became apparent that the independent Palestinian organizations Fatah, PFLP and DFLP had far stronger support.

Thus, Assad recruited Col. Said al-Muragha (Abu Musa), to drive Arafat out of Lebanon. Musa, a member of Fatah, used Arafat's public willingness to negotiate with Israel as a pretext for war. In November 1983, Musa's Fatah-Intifada or ‘Fatah-Uprising’ faction fought the Arafatist Fatah for a month at Tripoli, until Arafat once again was on his way to Tunisia by December.

Unfortunately for Assad, Arafat's Fatah forces crept back into Lebanon over the next two years, ensconcing themselves in the many refugee camps in Beirut and the South. As more Palestinians regrouped in the South, Assad's anxiety grew, as he didn't want to give Israel the pretext for another invasion. This time, Assad recruited the more powerful Shia Muslim Amal Movement militia headed by Nabih Berri to dislodge Arafat's loyalists.

The benefit for Hafez al-Assad of this alliance was more complete control of Lebanon through his indigenous Lebanese allies. The benefit for Amal was revenge for decades of Palestinian arrogance and further control over Shia-populated areas of Lebanon.

By mid-1985 Amal was also in conflict with the Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) militia led by Walid Jumblatt in the Chouf region. As Amal-PSP relations severely deteriorated, the Palestinian alliance with the Druze began to be reestablished.

Unlike the majority of other Lebanese leftist militias, the Organization of Communist Action, led by Muhsin Ibrahim, refused to cooperate with Syria in its attempts to vanquish Arafat. This support for Arafat incurred strong opposition from Syria, forcing the OCA to operate underground beginning in 1987.