Word: litani
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...trigger a fifth Middle East war. Officials in Damascus complained bitterly that the Israelis were deliberately trying to provoke the Syrian troops in Lebanon. Since the official end of the major civil war in Lebanon last October, to avoid any such confrontation, the Israelis have stayed south of the Litani River -Israel's so-called red line (see map). There was also speculation in Damascus that the Israelis might use any response as an excuse for a pre-emptive strike against Syria. Even if they were not spoiling for a fight-and Jerusalem insisted they were not-Arabs also...
Beyond their concern about being outcharmed by the Arabs, the Israelis were plainly worried about Syrian troop movements in Lebanon. Although Defense Minister Shimon Peres acknowledged that Syria had not yet crossed the "red line" (the undefined demarcation point, usually considered to be the Litani River, beyond which Israel feels its security would be threatened), Rabin's government issued several tough warnings to Syria to stay out of the sensitive area and dispatched a show of reinforcements to the border...
...Jerusalem has gained what amounts to de facto control over a strip of territory in southern Lebanon, reaching up to the Litani River. Only a few months ago, this strip was so dominated by Palestinian guerrillas that it was known as Fatahland. In addition, the Israelis are trying to arm and train Lebanese villagers in the area to guard against a renewal of Palestinian power. Indeed, that paid off just last week, when four terrorists tried to enter the Christian village of Ayn Ibil near the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese residents of the town killed all four...
...close to the borderline" of Israeli tolerance. In Jerusalem, Premier Yitzhak Rabin had a different borderline in mind. He warned that Israel had marked out a "red line" beyond which Syrian forces could not move. Although Rabin refused to pinpoint the line, military observers judged it to be the Litani River, running south and west through southern Lebanon. "If they bring in flak and missiles and get close to the Israeli border," said a Western diplomat in Beirut, "the Israelis will likely do something about it." Agreed another: "We are sitting on a tinderbox...
...closed. Seventy percent of our power will come from nuclear power stations, and we are going to work hard on desalination. Water is one of our greatest needs. I hope there will be peace so that we can cooperate with Lebanon in the use of the waters of the Litani River [in southern Lebanon] for power. Today the waters go to waste into the Mediterranean. If France and Switzerland can cooperate on water power, why couldn't Lebanon and we do the same...