Lebanon Remembers Thwarting "May 17 Agreement"

Lebanon Remembers Thwarting "May 17 Agreement"

Mohamad Shmaysani Readers Number : 595

19/05/2008 In 1983, Lebanon was recovering from a fierce Israeli war launched on it under the pretext of crushing the Palestinian resistance. That same year, Lebanon nearly became the second Arab state to sign a peace deal with the Israeli entity, or did it? On the 17th of May 1983, then Lebanese President Amin Gemayyel, now a key figure in the so called Cedars Revolution, represented by Antoine Fattal, signed the deal with the Israelis; a deal that was thwarted one year later by a popular uprising. At that time Israel needed the deal to achieve its other goals. The United Stated represented by its envoy Philippe Habib granted Israel its wish. Negotiations kicked off on December 28, 1982. Thirty five rounds of talks were held alternately between the Lebanon Beach Hotel in the Israeli occupied Khalde region and a ballet hall near the settlement of Kiryat Shmona in occupied Palestine. From the first round of talks, the Israelis never left any detail for coincidence; they even imposed the shape of the negotiations table, literarily. The term "normalization" was not mentioned in the text of the agreement that stated on forming a joint contact committee to hold regular meetings in Lebanon and "Israel". The committee was given the mission of developing bilateral relations, including controlling the movement of imports and exports, individuals, etc. The Lebanese delegation sought to renounce some terms, which made the agreement look like a peace agreement, fearing Lebanon would be boycotted as was the case in Egypt. So the deal was given the name "The Israeli withdrawal agreement." Yet it implicitly ended the state of war which was declared against Israel since the establishment of the Zionist entity in 1948. The agreement gave Israel the right to form a security zone in south Lebanon controlled by 4341 soldiers from both Lebanese and Israeli armies. Local forces, according to the text, would protect the zone, in an indication to the collaborating forces of Saad Haddad. The deal determined the nature of the Lebanese army forces to be allowed to be present in this area, limiting their number to two brigades in addition to police and internal security forces. However the deal never saw light. A campaign of protests was launched just after parliament endorsed the bill of the agreement. In 1984 the struggle broke out and the "February 6 Uprising" forced Gemayyel to take back the agreement to parliament, to be annulled on the 5th of March 1984.