A Peace Now rally demanding the immediate withdrawal of the Israel Defense Force from south Lebanon, drew an estimated 20,000 persons to Malchei Yisrael Square outside the City Hall here last night. The rally was also an attack on Likud leaders accused of being the architects of the Lebanon war, notably former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon.
The demonstrators appealed to Premier Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin to bring the IDF home without delay. instead of the present phased withdrawal. They demanded an end to the IDF’s “ironfist” policy of harsh measures against hostile elements of the Shiite population in south Lebanon and called for a full scale inquiry into the causes and conduct of the war which began when the IDF invaded Lebanon in June. 1982.
The rally was addressed by army reservists, including senior officers, many of whom recently completed their fifth or sixth tours of duty in Lebanon. It was supported by “Parents Against Silence, ” the parents of soldiers serving in Lebanon, or who died or were wounded there. Although one of the largest mass demonstrations in recent months, it bore no comparison to the 400,000 Israelis who gathered in the same square in September, 1982, to protest the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps massacre.
The political situation has changed since then when Israel was governed by a Likud-led coalition headed by Premier Menachem Begin. The decision to pull the IDF out of Lebanon in three-stages — the second of which is now underway — was taken by a Labor-Likud national unity coalition headed by Peres, with Likud leader Yitzhak Shamir serving as Foreign Minister and Deputy Premier and Sharon as Minister of Commerce and Industry.
Flyers, calling the rally, signed by Peace Now, declared: “We call upon the government of Israel: Get out of Lebanon now. Without the ‘iron fist’ policy; without partisan politics; without the advice of Shamir-Sharon-Arens. ” Moshe Arens, a militant member of Likud’s Herut faction, is a Minister-Without-Portfolio in the unity government. At the time of the Lebanon war he was Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. and later succeeded Sharon as Minister of Defense.
The speakers urged Peres and Rabin not to be influenced by Likud and other rightwingers to slow down the withdrawal, or to reconsider it, or to decide to maintain a permanent Israeli presence in part of Lebanon. They accused the unity government of delaying the pull-out for political reasons, at the expense of Israeli soldiers who have sustained serious casualties since the phased withdrawal began.
One slogan of the rally was, “The time has come for Sharon to be silent.” The former defense chief, who is still believed to have a strong following on the right, has launched a counter-offensive in recent weeks. He has contended that Israel achieved its primary goals in Lebanon but could have achieved much more but for loss of support on the home front.
SHARON WANTS INQUIRY TO COVER LABOR TOO
Sharon said he would agree to a formal inquiry into the war if it included an inquiry into the Labor opposition’s activities during the battle and their effect on the terrorists in Beirut. His implication was that Labor and leftist opposition heartened the Palestine Liberation Organization and prevented the IDF from wiping them out totally.
Sharon made those remarks in an address to the Industrial and Commercial Club here Friday. “The claim that somebody is answerable for what happened in Lebanon impedes taking the necessary steps there,” he said. He denounced the “panicky cry” to leave Lebanon before Israel’s problems there are fully solved because “It will be very difficult to get into Lebanon again.”
Sharon also demanded the ouster of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) which he alleged cooperated with terrorists.
The Peace Now rally was as much an answer to Sharon as a plea for a speedy withdrawal. Yuval Neriya, a reserve battalion commander in Lebanon who holds the Medal of Valor, the IDF’s highest decoration for bravery, called Sharon “the official terrorist … The real booby-trapped vehicle which explodes and kills every day is Ariel Sharon who, together with his partners, Begin, Arens and Raful (former Chief of Staff Gen. Rafael Eitan) have still not been forced to confont the truth, “Neriya said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
