PE38 European Parliament 06-1982 WAR IN LEBANON - Guido Gonella -Treaty of Rome

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Plenary Session, Strasbourg (France) 14-18 June 1982

- Debate on the Lebanese War

On March 14, 1978, Israel invaded South Lebanon, officially in retaliation for a Palestinian operation.

On June 6, 1982, he launched a new offensive called “Peace in Galilee”. For Tel Aviv, it is a question of “liquidating” the PLO. Officially initially limited to the south of an area extending forty kilometers north of the Israeli-Lebanese border, the Israeli army will in reality go as far as Beirut, according to the wishes of Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. The siege of bombed Beirut lasted two months. The PLO must leave Beirut and its fedayeen embark at the end of August on French boats under multinational protection. It is thus deprived of its rear base close to the occupied Palestinian territories. But Ariel Sharon failed to destroy it, neither militarily nor politically. Israeli forces entered Beirut on September 15, 1982, after the assassination of Bechir Gemayel, the leader of the Phalanges. The massacres of Palestinian refugees in the Sabra and Shatila camps began the next day, carried out by the Lebanese Forces and the South Lebanon Army, literally before the eyes of Israeli forces.

A philatelic envelope, designed by Historiaphil© (Philately Kiosk of the European Parliament, Strasbourg, France) commemorates the highlights of the Strasbourg plenary session of the European Parliament. It was produced as a continuation of the collection of philatelic envelopes bearing witness since 1949 to the history of Europe and its institutions. Its edition is limited to 1000 numbered copies.