The avenging of Mr Argov
Christopher Hitchens
Abu Jihad is an Arab name meaning `father of Jihad'. Jihad means 'holy War'. As a choice of nom de guerre, then, it suggests a very serious fellow. And Khalil al ,Wa4ir, the man who affects it, is indeed Deputy Commander of Al Fatah. I spent an evening in his flat in Beirut last week (in an area of town since pounded to rubble) discussing the chances of an Israeli inva- sion. I suspect him of rather liking the im- pression he produces on visitors. He receives them in the bosom of his very large and happy family. Jihad himself, the eldest sun, turns out to be a polite, plumpish and cheerful youth, with a serious interest in Politics. Much time is spent in recounting the sorrows of the clan — the exile from Ramleh in 1948, the wretched years in the Gaza Strip, the indignities visited upon relatives, the second exile and the gradual burgeoning of the, Palestinian revolution. Tea is brought, hands are pressed, cheeks are Pinched. Presiding over all is the jovial Paterfamilias, as if to say, 'What, me a ter- rorist?' Yet, when the talk turns to the impending attack, the atmosphere alters. I mention the extreme vulnerability of the Palestinian forces in the south. 'Look', he says, 'I remember when the Israelis invaded in 1978• General Mordechai Gur was publicly criticised in Israel for not being harder and t 1;)ligher and for not seizing Tyre and Sidon. e replied that he didn't want to risk his men against fighters who wanted to die. So b.aYbe they will kill all our forces there — ut we will be back again. See for your- self. ,
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Miles to the south, in Sidon, I carried a d08-eared Hachette guide to Lebanon, Published in the early Fifties. Describing the town, u, the battered volume had this to say:
, I..ake most of the ancient Phoenician cities, it is built on a promontory faced by an island. It is surrounded by pleasant gardens where oranges, lemons, bananas, Medlars, apricots and almonds are su in- habitants grown. It has some 40,000 including 15,000 Palestinian
1.,refugees.' hree decades later, that laconic charm- 111,8 description would need a few amend- because thousands of cultivators long ago Bed from Israeli bombardment to live, in doubtful security, in the filthy bidonvilles Efteirut. The old buildings and streets are charred and furrowed with the evidence of r,revlous raids. For the surviving inhabi- tants, Phantoms and Mirages long ago became reality. The Palestinians who remain there, not in sift! from the 1948 exodus but from many subsequent ones, were as insouciant about
the prospect of an invasion as their deputy commander. The only sign of nervousness was a blank refusal to permit a visit to Beaufort Castle, off-limits to the press since 1978. In the event, this shrug at the in- evitable has proved militarily deceptive. The Israelis in 1978 were satisfied with driving the PLO forces northward — with forcing them to fold their tents and flee. This time, they have tried to encircle and destroy as many trained Palestinians as possible. Mr Begin may claim that the ob- jective is to create a 25-mile strip between his northern border and the Palestinian positions in order to protect the Galilee. But it's more revealing to attend to General Sharon, who has been saying in public for weeks that the objective must be the physical destruction of the guerrillas and their infrastructure. By this means, he hopes to buy five years of peace and perhaps to drive the Palestinians into their designated Trans-Jordanian 'home'.
So much is becoming clear from the hourly and daily bulletins. But travel a little further south from Sidon and Tyre, and you come to the border of Major Haddad's mini-state: a strip six miles wide garrisoned by a rough militia and armed and victualled by Israel. Here can be seen one of the outlines of the emerging partition of Lebanon. Paradoxical as it may appear, there is now a tacit agreement between Israel and Syria on spheres of influence. Ever since Mr Joseph Sisco's 1978 shuttle from Damascus to Jerusalem, it has been understood that Syria holds eastern Lebanon and the vital Bekaa Valley (historic route of invasion thrusts towards Damascus) while Israel controls the southern zone and exercises the right to blitz the Palestinians without Syrian reprisal. There are advantages to both sides
in this makeshift, unspoken deal. The prin- cipal advantage is that it neutralises and quarantines the PLO — neutralises it militarily from the point of view of Israel, and quarantines it politically from the point of view of Syria. Neither party wishes to see a really independent Palestinian state, though Syria is hampered by having to pre- tend that it does. This explains the refusal (rather than the reluctance) of Syrian forces to engage Israel during the crucial first few days, even in Beirut airspace. There may be, for the sake of honour, some slight breaking of lances. But the keystone state in the 'Arab front of steadfastness and con- frontation' will be sitting this one out.
Numerous considerations, however, make the arrangement precarious. American annoyance at Israel's unilateral annexation of the Golan Heights stemmed from a fear that it would destabilise the un- written accord by touching Syrian territory. Abu Jihad said rather sarcastically that many Arab countries want to 'protect' the Palestinians — to monopolise and manipulate them. And currently the Syrians are feeling rather frisky because of the humiliation of their Iraqi foes by the Ira- nians. They may take revenge on American policy in some more indirect way as a salve to Arab pride. Mr Philip Habib, who must fill the shoes of Mr Sisco, represent Mr Reagan, conciliate the Israelis and ap- pease the Arab League, will find his brow getting dewy before he wings gratefully home. The Fand plan for a Palestinian mini-state, so named after Crown Prince Fand of Saudi Arabia, was still somewhere near the table a few weeks ago and com- manded a certain amount of State Depart- ment .support. It must be reckoned among the terminal casualties of the Israeli inva- sion.
Two areas of Lebanon remain outside the 'spheres of influence' compromise. Beirut may be full of Syrian soldiery directing traf- fic and manning road-blocks, but it is other- wise still the Hobbesian city of the war of all against all. During my stay, the nights were being made late by the gun battle be- tween supporters of Iran and partisans of Iraq. They hardly broke off when Israeli sonic booms rattled the windows. On any other night, it might be any other group. The city has become a free port for every kind of militia and faction. The French Em- bassy was blown up and nobody knew who to blame because there were so many ob- vious candidates. A secretary at the British Embassy was raped and told to deliver a warning to the Embassy and speculation was only slightly more concentrated. In a few months a general election is due and a selection by the subsequent parliament of a new president. A poll taken by the excellent Beirut magazine Monday Morning found that there were only 92 surviving MPs out of the proper complement of 99. Of those interviewed, only five were imprudent enough to state the name of the presidential candidate they were backing.
The other region of Lebanon which escapes inclusion in the Syrian-Israeli ac- cord is the Christian belt north of Beirut, which has its own access to the sea and its own relative autonomy. The Christians both need partition and reject it. They ruled the country for so long that they cannot ever fully acknowledge the end of their own dominion. But mastery in a kind of Crusader ghetto may be the best they can now achieve. To get to their capital of Jounieh, you have to cross the appalling central belt of Beirut, where for street after street and block after block everything is scorched and desolate. This was the business and banking quarter — Beirut is one of the few cities where a civil war has been fought in the opulent areas rather than in the suburbs and shanty towns.
When you reach Jounieh, you can see where the banks and the businesses have gone. The place is full of semi-chic and pseudo-French effects, with new building and investment in evidence everywhere. The militia of the Phalange Party are always on view, much better groomed than their Syrian or Palestinian counterparts. The craggy face of Pierre Gemayal, the old Fascist leader who has now ceded power to his two sons, glares from large hoardings like some forgotten patriot of the Fourth Republic. In every palpable way, you have entered another country. Here, sympathy for Israel is widespread, but it's unlikely to take, as it once did, the shape of a formal military alliance. As long as the Christians stay well out of regional politics, the Syrians are inclined to leave them alone. Christian spokesmen say privately that the Americans have told them this is a smart policy.
So Lebanon will continue to exist on the map, and Beirut will continue to be a place d'annes for every quarrel in the region. But gradually greater Syria is living up to its dream of recovering lost territory, and greater Israel is asserting its sovereignty too. In between are the Palestinians, now loved by almost nobody. I would very much like to know who shot Ambassador Argov. Usually, these things turn out to have been done by the Al Fatah renegade Abu Nidal, who used to operate from Baghdad in his campaign against the 'sell-out' leadership of Yasser Arafat. He has now moved his headquarters to Damascus in the course of the byzantine feud between the two capitals. You can start to believe anything after a week or two in Beirut, so I will say no more except that I hope Mr Argov will recover and will consider himself properly avenged.
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