On June 24th icnext Cohort 7 visited the northern border of Israel and Lebanon. We went to an overlook dedicated to the first Lebanon War, where we were able to see the beautiful green vegetation of the northern region of Israel. Our guide Lieutenant Sarit Zehavi explained the complexity of the Lebanon situation while we looked across the wide view of the Israeli-Lebanon border.
Lt. Sarit told us that this peaceful piece of land was once the area of a number of brutal acts of terrorism against Israeli soldiers and civilians conducted by the PLO and Hezbollah. She described how Lebanon was established to be a Democratic Christian country by the British. On paper this my have sounded good, but in reality the quality of life in Lebanon was heavily dictated by what religion you were born into. This system ultimately failed its people, creating an opportunity for the civil war which began in 1975.
The people of Lebanon were frustrated by how their government systems treated them, and when the war ended in 1990, and the PLO was expelled from Lebanon, the Lebanese government was also dismantled and replaced by the Hezbollah terrorist organization creating another security threat for Israel.
Hezbollah conducted ongoing terrorist operations against and within Israel killing and kidnapping countless Israelis, thus resulting in a second invasion of Lebanon in 2006. This invasion was meant to push back the Hezbollah threat from Israel’s northern border. Israeli forces were able to create a buffer zone in Lebanon, but Hezbollah has dug sophisticated tunnel systems under the buffer zone and into Israel. Lt. Sarit explained to us that the conflict has only grown more complex because of Iranian support of Hezbollah, and the future of a quiet border is uncertain.