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00:15At the Suez Canal, now the border between Egypt and Israel, the Egyptians launched a
00:22war of attrition, and the Israelis fought back. With growing casualties, political attitudes
00:32in both countries hardened. There was renewed conflict in the Jordan Valley as well. Israeli
00:47soldiers were in constant pursuit of Palestinians who crossed into the West Bank to attack Israeli
00:52targets. There was no talk of peace. Inside Jordan, the Palestinians were busy building
01:12up their forces. Their charter called for the replacement of Israel by a Palestinian state
01:20and the expulsion of all Jews who arrived after 1948. In 1967, a small band of Palestinian
01:29guerrillas set up a camp in Karameh in the Jordan River Valley. From the bank of the Jordan,
01:35they could see the Israeli soldiers patrolling the West Bank. We waited until the Israeli patrol
01:43vehicle had passed by. Then we started to cross the river. The first to cross was Abu Ammar.
02:00Abu Ammar, or Yasser Arafat, was an engineer who became one of the founders of a resistance
02:06group called Fatah. This was their first crossing of the river Jordan, launching their campaign
02:14to establish a Palestinian state. We know that is not easy. But we are ready to pay the price.
02:30On me, the water of the river Jordan came up to here. On taller people, of course, it wouldn't
02:38come so far up. Now, Arafat is short, and the water came up to his shoulder. He had his clothes
02:45on top of his head, and he waited slowly, slowly. If he slipped, he would fall, and everything
02:52would get wet, especially his gun. Beyond the river in the occupied West Bank, the Fatah guerrillas
03:01set about recruiting and training small resistance groups to strike at Israel.
03:14The best targets were the ones we could take by surprise. For example, moving vehicles.
03:23You open fire, a group of three or four of you. Then, if you throw one or two grenades,
03:29that settles it. You're safe, and they're dead. The guerrillas had the support of Jordan's
03:36regular army. At first, I encouraged them when they went on operations. We would provide
03:48covering fire as they crossed the river. If the Israelis hit back, the Kingdom of Jordan
03:56would take the blow. So I asked His Majesty to meet them.
04:05I had never seen a photograph of Arafat up to that point or had a description of him.
04:13So I was looking at a sort of a big burly figure that I thought must be Arafat. And when
04:19he finally came to say goodbye, I suddenly realized that it wasn't the image I had formed
04:26of Arafat. The actions launched from Karame worried the king, but he was unable to stop them.
04:42Karame had become a huge military base in Jordan. The terrorists there were sending units into Israel.
04:50The straw that broke the camel's back was an attack on an Israeli bus taking pupils on a school trip
04:57south of the Dead Sea.
05:03It hit a Palestinian mine. Children were killed and injured.
05:09In response, the Israeli army was ordered to destroy the Palestinian bases in Karame and south of the Dead Sea.
05:22We were not very careful. After the 1967 war, we didn't take the enemy seriously.
05:29We didn't bother to hide any of our troop movements.
05:37They came blatantly with their tanks and artillery and troops, messed up.
05:45So we realized that something was about to happen. I think they were overconfident.
05:55Well, in the morning at about five, we were told that the first Israeli elements had crossed one of the
06:01bridges.
06:03The Israelis attacked.
06:07Facing them were 300 Palestinian fighters with orders from Arafat to hold their ground.
06:14By midday, half of them were dead and most of the rest were rounded up.
06:22Arafat had slipped out of there at two o'clock in the morning.
06:25But the battle wasn't over yet.
06:30Jordanian army tanks arrived in force.
06:36I jumped when I was told the Israeli tanks were coming.
06:39I jumped out of bed. Shoot, I said. I was jumping with excitement. I wanted to face the Jews.
06:48I wanted to teach them a lesson. Yes, by God, I did.
06:54The Jordanian involvement in the battle was very massive.
06:59We destroyed many of their tanks.
07:02Twenty-nine Israelis died in the battle. The Palestinians declared victory.
07:07We faced this huge, up-to-date military, Israeli forces.
07:15In the beginning, we were alone.
07:19After five hours, some small battalions from the Jordanian government attended us
07:29and fought with us without any central instructions from their headquarters.
07:41But at the end, it was the first victory for the Arab nation after this big defeat of 1967.
07:52They claimed it to be a victory for them.
07:58We wouldn't have disputed that except for the fact that it wasn't true.
08:04But it was a public relations triumph.
08:07Arafat was chosen to command all the factions in the Palestine Liberation Organization.
08:18Inspired by the stories of a great victory at Karameh, volunteers from many countries came to swell the ranks.
08:31But unfortunately, the majority were the worst type of people.
08:36They were untrained and undisciplined.
08:39The PLO grew larger, and our problems grew with it.
08:47It was total anarchy.
08:49We had 52 various guerrilla organizations of all various types.
08:58And they weren't just Palestinian guerrilla organizations.
09:04Every international guerrilla organization had a presence in the country.
09:12We were naive people.
09:15We were very enthusiastic, very revolutionary.
09:21And at the same time, we were, and I can assure you, we were very innocent.
09:26We felt that King Hussein, as a reactionary leader, leading a reactionary regime, is an obstacle.
09:38And that in order to make our revolution succeed, we need to remove this obstacle.
09:51One day, shooting broke out in the capital, Amman, and the King drove off to investigate.
09:59And on a crossroad, where there was a military police check post, we found that one side of the road
10:08was closed, and the other side also was blocked by an army lorry.
10:16We stopped.
10:17As we came to a stop, suddenly, we were under very, very intense heavy machine and fire.
10:27The guard car in front of me was hit.
10:31We lost a sergeant of my guard and about four wounded.
10:36Everyone jumped out of my car and yelled at me to do the same.
10:42We could see the bullets from those heavy machine guns coming down at us, hitting the asphalt, the tarmac around
10:52us.
10:53It was like raindrops on a patch land, just making holes.
10:59And then those rows of holes were getting closer and closer to where we were standing.
11:05I felt very angry.
11:07And I believe my reaction was to say a bad word, but essentially to the effect of how dare they.
11:17The King jumped into a ditch.
11:21Spontaneously and in the spare of the moment, I had an idea to protect His Majesty physically.
11:30And the commander of the guards had the same idea at the same time.
11:34They compared from both sides to try to give me body cover and they nearly broke my back in the
11:39process.
11:41Their driver turned the car around.
11:43We got into the car, shooting going on.
11:47Engine was revving like mad, but we were still stationary.
11:50So I told the driver just to hang on a second and engage the gear, which in his anxiety had
11:56forgotten to do, and we shot off.
12:02The faction most determined to overthrow the government of Jordan was led by George Habash.
12:12All we wanted to do was to fight against Israel.
12:19But the Jordanian regime saw us as a danger or a threat.
12:29This was their problem, not ours.
12:39Dr. Habash was the leader of a political party, and they decided to remove King Hussein.
12:49But from our point of view, we don't like to fight against the government.
12:55But if they are insisting to clash, we will fight.
13:01On September 9th, 1970, this British airliner with 115 passengers and some of Dr. Habash's armed men aboard appeared over
13:10Amman.
13:14I heard about it when an aircraft passed overhead my house west of the city in the suburbs practically knocking
13:25the roof off.
13:28In a single spectacular operation, Habash's men hijacked four western airliners and forced three of them to fly to Jordan
13:36with their hundreds of passengers.
13:41The planes landed on an old World War II airstrip in the desert.
13:46We waited for twenty full years. Nothing happened. Our people remained in their camps, in their tents. They are fed
13:53up with this condition.
13:58We thought that the way to attract the world's attention to our cause was to hijack planes.
14:13The Jordanian army surrounded the airstrip, and the general in charge went in to negotiate with the hijackers.
14:22We spoke for hours. It was terribly hot. I stayed in the shade of the aircraft. I made a deal
14:30with them.
14:31We take the passengers, they keep the planes.
14:36435 passengers and crew were taken off the aircraft, but some were kept as hostages.
14:42The humiliation of having aircraft flown into the country and innocent passengers being whisked away and being unable to do
14:51anything about it was something that questioned whether Jordan really existed or whether it didn't.
14:59The hijackers then drove home their message to the world.
15:12Well, that was the limit. As far as I was concerned, something had to be done. And done soon.
15:21Four days later, with control of the kingdom slipping away, King Hussein declared war on the PLO.
15:28That day, Jordanian tanks and soldiers moved into position around the capital. Arab was poised to fight Arab.
15:36I think I tried to get a little bit of sleep that night. I prayed a lot.
15:42And in the morning, first light, there was movement into the city.
15:51On the early hours of September 17, I woke up when we heard the artillery bombing our bases.
16:08So what we did immediately is that we went to Arafat office, the Joint Command.
16:15Arafat was there. Most of the leaders of Fatah were there. Even Habesh was there.
16:22And they were calling through telephone and through wireless Damascus, telling them about the news and asking in an open
16:36way for a Syrian intervention.
16:43On the third day of fierce fighting, the Syrians responded.
16:47Our intelligence and our radar informed us that the Syrians were massing tank formations on the Jordanian-Syrian border.
16:57We had been arguing over this Syrian invasion, particularly with our Soviet friends at the time.
17:07And whenever I raised the problem of the Soviet ambassador, he would respond,
17:11but these are Palestinian army units and Palestinian army tanks that are not Syrian.
17:19And we all knew that the PLO does not have tanks.
17:23But there were tanks, Soviet-built ones, streaming in from Syria.
17:29We were just protecting the Palestinians from the army of Jordan.
17:37Our purpose wasn't really to attack the Jordanians.
17:41It was a limited intervention on the smallest possible scale.
17:48All we wanted to do was support and protect the Palestinian fighters.
17:56In Washington, President Nixon called in his national security advisers to assess the reports from Jordan.
18:04The Soviets were on every platoon leader's tank, right up to the border and then jumped off as they crossed
18:11the border.
18:11And Syrian officers were in command of what were allegedly PLO volunteer forces.
18:17So we knew it was an international superpower crisis.
18:23The President summoned the Soviet ambassador.
18:26We warned the Russians and said, stay out of there.
18:30They, of course, in turn warned us and said, you stay out and keep Israel out.
18:40In the meantime, King Hussein's forces had destroyed many of the Syrian tanks, but they could not stop the advance.
18:47The pressure on the king was increasing by the hour.
18:51When the Syrian tanks had reached the town of Irbit, which is about two-thirds of the way from the
18:59Syrian border down to Amman.
19:03They were about at that town, on the edge of it.
19:06That's when he was really starting to panic.
19:08With all the threats from almost every direction.
19:11And the situation, to all intents and purposes, looking almost impossible to cope with.
19:18Army headquarters began to tell me that we needed help from outside.
19:24And we should ask for it from the Americans and any quarter that would be willing to help.
19:35In these circumstances, any quarter could mean only one thing.
19:40Israel.
19:41We knew that he had said he would accept help from any quarter, and we thought he'd probably prefer direct
19:48American intervention.
19:49He was keenly aware that if he was resurrected and protected as a result of Israeli military intervention, that this
20:00would have a strongly negative impact, not only within Jordan itself, but obviously within the entire world.
20:08Music for several days apos.
20:08This was something that was discussing between Sisko, myself, Hague, and one of two of my staffple potion.
20:19The advisors knew that President Nixon would have to be informed about the situation right away.
20:25breeding
20:25At first, I had to find him and the Sacred Service told me he was in the basement of the
20:30executive office building across the street from the White House bowling.
20:36And that's where I found him in the basement of the executive office building, out of the White House, bowling
20:38in thegeoning of Washington Association.
20:38I remember Henry coming back into the offices.
20:40He said, holy mackerel, the guy's bowling with his black dress shoes on.
20:46He was there bowling alone.
20:49And we just started talking.
20:52He wanted to have an American intervention.
20:57And, of course, we didn't just have an empty can in there.
21:01That's why we moved some fleet units over into that part of the Mediterranean.
21:06And that is why we alerted a couple of Marine battalions as well.
21:11I thought it would have been very difficult to manage.
21:14We didn't have a commander.
21:15We didn't have the right combination of forces.
21:18We didn't know how to end it.
21:20Mr. President, we said, we think the Israelis are in the best position to do this.
21:30They're close to the scene.
21:32And the resources can be employed rapidly.
21:37Once he understood that, he agreed to back the Israelis.
21:43Hussein was quite aware of and approved of what we were doing in this thing.
21:47And if he didn't approve, he didn't let us know.
21:51It was America's ambassador in Jordan who broke the news to King Hussein.
21:56And what I was told to say to him is, we'll get the Israelis to come in and help you.
22:03And I think this is a very serious moment for the king.
22:06We asked the rabbin what the views of the Israeli government would be in these circumstances.
22:15And rabbin said he would report home and ask.
22:28I got the authorization to send phantoms to fly over these tanks.
22:34I briefed the leader of the formation myself.
22:37I told him, fly over them.
22:38Leave no doubt that they see you and hear you.
22:44Make mock attacks so that they understand what we want them to do,
22:47which is to turn around and go back.
22:53So our four aircraft performed maneuvers over these tanks.
22:58On the side, I had another two quartets waiting, just in case.
23:04But no one bothered them.
23:06The tanks turned around and went back.
23:10A quartet of phantoms was enough.
23:15Defense Minister Assad did not want to commit our air force.
23:22We were fighting an ally.
23:25The Jordanian army is our friend.
23:28We can't attack them using planes.
23:32Whether it was because of Arab solidarity
23:34or the threat of Nixon's 6th fleet and Israel's warplanes,
23:39Syria finally withdrew its tanks.
23:43The Jordanian army could now give all its attention
23:47to kicking out the Palestinians.
23:49Yasser Arafat, hiding somewhere in the capital,
23:52sent out an SOS.
23:54I remember that he made a broadcasting through the station we had,
24:03asking the Arab world and the Islamic world to intervene.
24:10The Arab world heard him.
24:12Its leaders gathered in Cairo for an emergency meeting,
24:15chaired by President Nasser.
24:18Nasser decided that the leaders should send a delegation to Jordan
24:21to ask King Hussein to stop killing Palestinians.
24:26At the head of this delegation was the President of Sudan.
24:32We went to King Hussein.
24:34Of course, he offered us every kind of delicious dish.
24:41They kept telling us
24:44that you have to stop things immediately.
24:47But we can't stop.
24:48I mean, we're in the middle of life and death struggle.
24:51Then we stayed for dinner,
24:53going through all the arguments.
24:57I believe that that experience
24:59was one of my worst
25:00during that particular period of time.
25:04Because one is concerned, one is worried,
25:06one is trying to deal with problems changing every minute.
25:10And suddenly to have to entertain a group
25:15that is totally out of touch
25:17with reality or with the needs of the moment,
25:21and we kept on talking
25:23and going through all the reasons
25:27until daybreak.
25:34The Arab leaders,
25:36having failed to convince the king,
25:38got into an armored car
25:39and tuned in the radio.
25:45We started to hear Arafat talking.
25:50And Arafat calling for help.
25:53The leaders went to Arafat's hideout
25:55and provided him with a new identity,
25:57a family man complete with wife and child.
26:01We passed off the child as Arafat's
26:03so that the guards at the airport
26:05would not stop us.
26:06And we made Arafat change into Arabian dress.
26:12Thus disguised amid the delegation of Arab leaders,
26:16Arafat made it past King Hussain's soldiers
26:18guarding the airport.
26:22And then suddenly I heard
26:25with utter shock and disbelief
26:28that they arrived in Cairo,
26:30they had Arafat with them.
26:33Arafat had had a close shave
26:35in more ways than one.
26:41Back in Cairo,
26:43President Numeri reported on the conflict.
26:47It was unfair to Jordan
26:50and to King Hussain.
26:54King Hussain decided that he too
26:57had better join the meeting in Cairo.
27:01I, of course, came in still
27:02in my fatigues
27:05and with my gun in position.
27:09And he spoke in the conference
27:11and responded to the allegations.
27:17He said he was not against
27:19the Palestinians at all.
27:22President Nasser imposed a deal
27:24which met most of King Hussain's demands.
27:28Arafat gave in.
27:29He agreed all his fighters
27:31would leave the capital.
27:36The PLO tried to regroup
27:38in the north of Jordan
27:39and it took King Hussain another year
27:41to drive them out of the country altogether.
27:44The PLO's attempt
27:45to take over Jordan had failed.
27:52But we did a very important thing.
27:57We created
27:58a new people
28:00instead of being refugees
28:03to be fighters.
28:06This is very important.
28:08We were refugees,
28:10homeless.
28:11We became now
28:13fighters,
28:14freedom fighters.
28:17And next stage
28:18we will see.
28:28Arafat and his battered fighters
28:31move to Lebanon
28:35where they regrouped.
28:48Arafat and his battered fighters
28:50where they regrouped.
28:50He will become a power broker
28:51in Lebanon
28:52and continue his attacks
28:53on Israelis.
29:07The Olympic Games
29:08stand still.
29:10The flags in the stadium
29:12at half-mast.
29:14The citizens of Munich,
29:17the thousands of competitors
29:18and officials...
29:19Palestinian guerrillas
29:20crowned a year
29:21of terrorist attacks
29:22by storming
29:23the Olympic village.
29:25This hastily conceived
29:26memorial ceremony.
29:30Eleven Israeli athletes
29:31were killed
29:32as the world watched.
29:37Israel retaliated
29:39with a pinpoint operation.
29:41An Israeli commando force
29:43landed on a beach
29:44near Beirut.
29:45Their targets
29:46were PLO leaders,
29:47particularly those
29:48responsible for Munich.
29:53Arafat,
29:54who was working late
29:55at the PLO's
29:56busy headquarters,
29:57escaped.
30:03But the guerrillas
30:04who planned
30:05and carried out
30:06the Munich operation
30:07were killed.
30:17At the funerals,
30:19the Palestinians
30:19and their Muslim allies
30:21erupted in fury.
30:29To everyone's astonishment,
30:31this man turned up
30:33at the funeral.
30:34Pierre Jamal,
30:36Christian Maronite leader,
30:37suspected by some
30:38Palestinians of collaborating
30:40with Israel.
30:46Jamal led a Christian militia,
30:49the Falange.
30:50He warned Arafat
30:51to stay out of his conflict
30:53with the Lebanese Muslims.
30:55Pierre Jamal thought hard
30:57before attending the funeral.
31:01The security people of the Falange
31:03The security people
31:04of the Falange warned him
31:04not to go.
31:07They said Pierre Jamal
31:09would be in danger.
31:13In April 1975,
31:15civil war broke out in Lebanon
31:17and Arafat became a force
31:19to be reckoned with.
31:21He asked for a meeting
31:22with Jamal
31:23at the Christian clan
31:24at the Christian clan leaders' headquarters.
31:27As Arafat drove through Beirut,
31:29it was clear
31:30that the Christians
31:31considered him an enemy.
31:33We drove past slogans
31:35on the walls
31:36saying no to the PLO.
31:42He laughed and said to me,
31:44we must do something about this
31:46or Lebanon will explode.
31:50The civil war escalated.
31:54Arafat aligned himself
31:56with the Muslims
31:56while Christians
31:58sought the help of Israel.
32:00The Christian leader
32:01then gave the PLO
32:03an ultimatum.
32:04We are asking
32:05the Palestinians
32:05to stay quiet
32:06if they want to remain
32:08in Lebanon,
32:09to stay quiet in Lebanon.
32:11I don't think that
32:12we are going
32:14to accept
32:15in the future
32:16that any war
32:17can be waged
32:18from Lebanon,
32:21from the Lebanon borders
32:23because this
32:25and the past experience
32:27has proved it,
32:28this will prove
32:29disastrous for Lebanon.
32:33Arafat ignored the warning.
32:381974 had seen
32:39a succession
32:40of Palestinian raids
32:41across the border
32:42into Israel.
32:43In one attack,
32:4518 Israelis,
32:46including 8 children,
32:48died.
32:49A month later,
32:51Palestinian raiders
32:52took over a school
32:53and killed 22 children.
33:00Israel's main
33:01anti-terrorist efforts
33:02shifted along
33:03with the PLO attacks.
33:05Now,
33:05the Jordanian border
33:06was quiet
33:07and there was fighting
33:08on the Lebanese border.
33:11I was appointed
33:12commander of a brigade
33:13on the Lebanese border.
33:19All our efforts
33:20were aimed
33:21at preventing
33:21terrorist infiltration.
33:25Hardly a week passed
33:26without two or three attempts
33:28to cross the border.
33:32Israel,
33:33surrounded by hostile
33:34Muslim states,
33:35badly needed allies.
33:38When Lebanon's Christians
33:39were challenged
33:40by the Palestinians
33:41and Lebanese Muslims,
33:43they asked
33:43for Israel's help.
33:55Defense Minister
33:56Shimon Peres
33:57sent an Arabic-speaking officer
33:59on a secret mission
34:00to Beirut.
34:02In my heart,
34:03I decided
34:04that such a man
34:05must volunteer.
34:07His life would certainly
34:08be at risk.
34:09And when I told him
34:11I was willing,
34:11he smiled.
34:13He said,
34:14it's very dangerous.
34:15I said,
34:16I know.
34:18I saw Fuad's mission
34:20as a trip
34:21to a minefield,
34:22a place where
34:23there are many traitors.
34:29The Israeli officers
34:30set off
34:31aboard a missile boat,
34:32sailing in darkness
34:33towards Civil War-torn Beirut.
34:38All Beirut
34:39was lit
34:40by cannon fire.
34:44A city like hell.
34:46Unbelievable.
34:48One big conflagration.
34:50The intelligence officer
34:52knew that the Christians
34:53were faring badly
34:54against the Palestinians.
34:59His Christian hosts
35:00sped him
35:01towards the battlefront.
35:05Suddenly,
35:06I saw thousands
35:07of people
35:08lining the road
35:09and clapping.
35:13I said to my host,
35:15what's this?
35:17He said,
35:17let's take a look.
35:19Then I see
35:20two trucks coming up.
35:21One truck
35:22has men shooting
35:23in the air.
35:24The other
35:25has ropes tied to it.
35:28At the end
35:29of each of these ropes
35:30is the body
35:31of a PLO terrorist.
35:33And this truck
35:34is dragging them
35:35along the ground.
35:37And the men
35:37on the back
35:38of the truck
35:38are just shooting
35:40and shooting at them,
35:41although they had
35:42long been dead.
35:44I was simply shocked.
35:47Lebanese Muslims
35:48and Christians
35:49and Palestinians
35:50fought and murdered
35:51each other
35:51with ferocity.
35:53Some 40,000
35:54would die
35:55on both sides.
35:57A British journalist
35:58reported,
35:59at its most hideous,
36:00this civil war
36:01has been simple.
36:03Muslims have murdered
36:04Christians,
36:05Christians have murdered
36:06Muslims.
36:07Not in battle,
36:08but in cold blood.
36:10These men
36:11were innocents,
36:12kidnapped in the street,
36:13taken to a secret place,
36:15tortured, shot,
36:17and then dumped
36:18in the street again
36:19for their families to find.
36:28The Israeli intelligence officer
36:30confirmed deep anti-PLO feeling
36:33among the Christians.
36:34They desperately needed help.
36:40They asked us for weapons,
36:43everything,
36:44rifles,
36:46Kalishnikovs,
36:47Uzi's.
36:48They asked for cannons.
36:50We gave them.
36:51Mortars and tanks.
36:52We gave them.
36:57In 1981,
36:59Ariel Sharon
36:59became Israel's
37:01defense minister.
37:04Soon after,
37:05the Christian leaders
37:06came to a Beirut beach
37:07to await a visitor.
37:10As I landed,
37:13Bashir Jamal
37:13came towards me.
37:15He hugged me,
37:16shook my hand.
37:18He had his officers
37:19with him.
37:27Bashir,
37:27the son of Christian leader
37:29Pierre Jamal,
37:30now controlled
37:31the weapons
37:31supplied by Israel.
37:33He had ruthlessly
37:34eliminated his rivals
37:36and united all the Christian forces
37:38under his command.
37:40Sharon,
37:41at a meeting
37:42with the Christian leaders,
37:43revealed a plan
37:44to root out
37:45the Palestinians.
37:54He told the Christian leaders,
37:56we have taken a decision
37:58in Israel
37:58to invade Lebanon.
38:10Sharon told the Christians
38:12they would have to help.
38:14Israel's troops
38:15could not march
38:16into an Arab capital.
38:18Expelling the Palestinians
38:19from the city
38:20would be the task
38:21of the Christians.
38:25I said,
38:27remember,
38:28if an invasion happens,
38:29it's a mission
38:30you will have to carry out.
38:33You,
38:34and only you,
38:36can do this.
38:40But the Israelis
38:41could advance
38:42to the outskirts
38:43of Beirut
38:43and encircle the city.
38:47Six months later,
38:49the Palestinians
38:49provided Israel
38:50with a pretext
38:51for invasion.
38:53In London,
38:55the Israeli ambassador
38:56was shot
38:56by a Palestinian.
38:58As police gathered evidence,
39:00Prime Minister Begin
39:01summoned his cabinet.
39:04He turned to me
39:05and asked me
39:07and asked me
39:07to brief
39:07my colleagues.
39:10Ariel Sharon
39:11said nothing
39:11about his plan
39:12to encircle Beirut.
39:14He spoke only
39:15of pushing
39:15the Palestinians
39:16back from Israel's
39:17northern border.
39:22Then Mr. Ehrlich,
39:23God rest his soul,
39:24asked,
39:25what about Beirut?
39:28I said,
39:30Beirut
39:30isn't in the picture.
39:31The plan
39:32is to create
39:33a 40 to 45
39:34kilometer area
39:35in which there
39:36will be
39:36no terrorists.
39:41Israeli forces
39:42crossed the border
39:43and moved rapidly
39:44into Lebanon.
39:47But Prime Minister Begin
39:49reassured
39:50the Israeli parliament.
39:52And if we achieve
39:53the 40 kilometer line
39:55above our northern border,
39:56the job is done.
39:58All fighting
39:59will stop.
40:01But within hours,
40:03Sharon found an excuse
40:04for pushing farther.
40:06We got information
40:08that units
40:08of the 1st Syrian division
40:10were moving south.
40:15towards the Bacca Valley
40:16in Lebanon.
40:19Sharon persuaded Begin
40:21that Israel's troops
40:22should now advance
40:23deeper into Lebanon
40:24to outflank
40:25this Syrian force.
40:27It would mean
40:27going beyond
40:2845 kilometers.
40:32Whoever said
40:33we would give terrorists
40:34immunity
40:35beyond the 45 kilometer line?
40:37the government
40:38never gave immunity
40:39to any terrorist
40:40anywhere.
40:42We will not give immunity
40:43to any terrorist
40:45anywhere.
40:47Within three days
40:49of telling the cabinet
40:49that Beirut
40:50was not in the picture,
40:52Ariel Sharon
40:52had moved Israel's troops
40:54to the outskirts
40:55of the Lebanese capital.
41:02For nine weeks,
41:04they laid siege
41:05to Beirut,
41:05exchanging fire
41:07with the Palestinians.
41:11We are here
41:12and we will continue
41:14to be here
41:14and we will defend
41:17this city
41:18the first,
41:21the first,
41:22it is very important,
41:24it is the first
41:25Arab capital
41:28which the Israeli
41:30are blockading.
41:33It is very important.
41:34you have to put
41:36into consideration
41:37what it means
41:37for the next generation.
41:40What has been done
41:42you will pay
41:43its price.
41:46The harder
41:47Arafat fought back,
41:49the more people
41:49in Lebanon
41:50suffered.
41:51Their capital
41:52was being destroyed.
41:57Even Lebanese Muslims
41:58demanded that Arafat
41:59and his fighters
42:00leave Beirut.
42:07I was the one
42:08who had to raise
42:09the question
42:10with Arafat.
42:12He was shocked.
42:15No one had spoken
42:17to him like that before.
42:19I said,
42:20well,
42:20we are informing
42:21you now.
42:24The Israelis
42:25drove the message
42:26home by staying
42:27close on the heels
42:28of the Palestinian
42:29leaders.
42:36The Israeli army
42:37seemed to know
42:38what we were going
42:39to do
42:40before we did.
42:44If we spoke
42:46about fighting
42:46on,
42:47we were attacked
42:48by the Israelis
42:49one hour later.
42:57There was a meeting
42:58in one of our headquarters
43:02and I
43:04I tell them
43:05please
43:07get out,
43:08get out.
43:09Leave it.
43:11Just now
43:12you are inviting
43:14us for a meeting.
43:15Please
43:15leave this place
43:17directly.
43:18I don't know why.
43:19Believe me,
43:20I don't know why.
43:22After
43:2315 minutes
43:24from our departure
43:27they bombed.
43:30in a cellar
43:31under the rubble.
43:32The PLO leaders
43:33faced a stark choice.
43:39Arafat was convinced
43:40that we had
43:41to evacuate Beirut.
43:46But he was careful
43:47to avoid being
43:48the one who ordered
43:49Palestinian forces
43:50to leave Lebanon.
43:57He wanted a collective
43:59decision by all
44:00the faction leaders.
44:03The price
44:04of further defiance
44:05was clear.
44:12So we took
44:13a hard decision.
44:15I can say today
44:16that everybody
44:17accepted it.
44:19All of the leaders
44:20of the Palestinian
44:21revolution
44:22said yes.
44:23Yes.
44:24Yes.
44:32In the last days
44:34of August 1982
44:35thousands of
44:37Palestinian fighters
44:38were forced
44:38to evacuate Beirut.
44:45Nearly 15,000 men
44:47expelled from Beirut.
44:48This was unprecedented.
44:50An entire terrorist
44:51organization
44:52expelled from a capital.
44:58then in a massive
45:00explosion
45:00at his party
45:01headquarters
45:02Bashir Jamal
45:03Lebanon's
45:04president-elect
45:05and Israel's
45:06ally
45:06was assassinated.
45:11the Israeli
45:12defense minister
45:13became convinced
45:14that Palestinian
45:15fighters were still
45:16operating in Beirut.
45:19They left behind
45:21at least 2,000
45:22armed men.
45:24It was clear
45:25that once the city
45:25was united
45:26it would be necessary
45:27to take action
45:28against them.
45:33Christian militiamen
45:34sought vengeance
45:35for the death
45:36of Jamal.
45:38While Israeli
45:40troops stood by
45:41providing light
45:42from flares
45:43the phalangists
45:45entered the
45:45Palestinian camps
45:46of Sabra
45:47and Shatila.
45:49There were no
45:50PLO fighters there.
45:52They found only
45:53old men
45:54women
45:55and children
45:55and slaughtered
45:57them.
46:05You should be
46:06ashamed of
46:06yourself.
46:09I am not here
46:11to explain
46:12this horrible
46:12tragedy.
46:15It belongs
46:16to a world
46:16of dark
46:17motives
46:17not our
46:18world.
46:22Only those
46:22who carried
46:23it out
46:23can be blamed
46:24for this
46:25massacre.
46:26I hope
46:26they will be
46:27punished.
46:32You are
46:33an enemy
46:34of the people.
46:35You are
46:35worse
46:36than evil.
46:40In the
46:41largest demonstration
46:42in Israel's history
46:44400,000 people
46:46protested
46:47Israel's role
46:48in the massacre.
46:51It is true
46:52that we lost
46:53our base
46:55in Beirut
46:56but they
46:57lost the war.
47:01Once again
47:02through a combined
47:04effort of Arabs
47:05and Israelis
47:05the PLO
47:07had been
47:07driven out
47:08of an Arab
47:09country.
47:14Yasser Arafat
47:15the great
47:16escaper
47:16was on his
47:18way to yet
47:18another base
47:19this time
47:20in Tunis
47:212,000 miles
47:23away.
47:23day.
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