Word: beirutization
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Joining the effort to down-play the assault on West Beirut, Defense Minisrter Ariel Sharon, architect of the Lebanese invasion, complained to the U.S. Government about Habib's reports to Washington that Israel was firing 1,000 shells into West Beirut for every shell fired by the Palestinians. Sharon denounced such accounts as "mendacious" and said that they were based on observations from afar...
...happened, Sharon had special reason to be sensitive to criticism. According to reports from Jerusalem, the Begin government failed to consult or inform either the Israeli Cabinet or the ministerial defense committee of the plan for the Wednesday assault on West Beirut. At a Thursday-night Cabinet meeting, some ministers asked who had approved the operation and when this had been done. Prime Minister Begin, regarding the inquiries as a personal attack, angrily attempted to justify the military action. He also admitted that the decision had been made by Sharon and himself at a private meeting. Said Begin: "Even David...
Ironically, the attacks on West Beirut came just as Habib thought that his peacemaking mission was on the brink of success. Early last week a Habib aide placed what State Department officials termed a "euphoric" call to Washington. Habib, who had been repeatedly in touch with the P.L.O. through his Lebanese intermediaries, sent home a cable that was a bit more cautious, indicating considerable optimism but noting that there were still t's to be crossed and i's to be dotted." Even so, declared one top State Department official, "we had 95% and only needed a couple...
Jerusalem was also hostile to U.N. efforts. Israeli troops simply turned back a convoy of U.N. observers who had arrived at the outskirts of Beirut in an effort to carry out a Security Council resolution instructing them to take up positions in the Lebanese capital...
...Security Council debated a resolution to condemn Israel for defying previous U.N. demands on Lebanon, Israeli Ambassador Yehuda Blum got into an angry argument with Soviet Ambassador Richard Ovinnikov. The Soviet diplomat told the council that his government favored "severe action" against Israel because it was "imperative that Beirut not join the list of cities such as Warsaw and Coventry that were destroyed by Hitler's Fascist troops." In a fury, Blum lashed out at Ovinnikov, terming his statement "obscene" and taunting him for the Soviet Union's use of "humanitarian tanks" in subjugating the peoples of Afghanistan...