Bodies of Palestinians killed in Sabra refugee camp in September
1982 With Egypt a treaty partner and Syria and Jordan quiet,
Israel turned its attention to the Palestinian guerrillas. Many
of them had grouped in Lebanon after being expelled from Jordan
by King Hussein, and began attacking Israel from there. The
Palestinians, led by Yasser Arafat and his Palestine Liberation
Organisation, would not recognise Israel and Israel would not
support a Palestinian state. In 1982, Prime Minister Begin
launched "Operation Peace for Galilee", which was an invasion of
Lebanon, taking the Israelis right up to and into Beirut. Yasser
Arafat and his fighters were forced to depart for Tunisia. But
the operation went wrong for Israel. It was condemned by world -
and much of its own - opinion when Christian fighters massacred
hundreds of Palestinian civilians as the Israeli army stood by,
and it failed to make a political agreement with the Christians
stick. It pulled back to an enclave north of their border.