When the IDF launched the unnecessary first Lebanon War in 1982, the government had no idea what to do after the expected victory. Then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin spoke about a 48-hour clash with the PLO, during which the IDF would only go 40 kilometers (25 miles) into Lebanon, whereas then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon was fantasizing about installing new regimes in Lebanon and Jordan and a violent solution to the problems in the Middle East. In the end, we wound up stuck and bleeding in Lebanon. Our "success" led to the rise of Hezbollah and we didn't know how to get out.
The Alignment (forerunner of the Labor party) won the 1984 election (leading to the formation of a national unity government) mainly because it promised to put an end to the endless bloodshed in Lebanon. In January 1985, the unity government decided to withdraw from Lebanon and establish the South Lebanon security zone. Just 15 years later, after so many soldiers were killed there, the government under Ehud Barak pulled out of the security zone, whose establishment was a grave mistake from the start.
On Monday, Israel Hayom columnist and activist for victims of terrorism Meir Indor wrote that neither Barak nor I had any idea that Hezbollah intended to seize areas from Israel even after we withdrew. There is no basis for that claim. The Shiite organization never stopped talking about its intention to liberate Jerusalem and the rest of the country and never hinted that it would be satisfied with Lebanon. We decided to leave Lebanon not because we thought that Hezbollah wouldn't attempt violent action but because we believed that its threats should not deter us from acting in Israel's best interest and not leave IDF soldiers in Israel as sitting ducks, in the words of Brig. Gen. (res.) Avigdor Kahalani, one of the strongest supporters of Israel's withdrawal. The IDF's presence in the security zone did not protect the communities in northern Israel – it put them in danger because every clash between us and Hezbollah spilled over to the Galilee.
Plenty on both the Right and the Left supported the withdrawal from Lebanon. When I founded the Kokhav Ya'ir Forum in 1997, it included members of the Likud, Shas, the now-defunct Third Way, Labor and Meretz. No doubt, the Four Mothers group – founded in 1997 to advocate for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon – helped attract public support for the cause, which grew from 18% in favor of withdrawal at the start of 1997 to 72% two years later.
We all realized that we were staying in Lebanon mainly because we had gotten bogged down in a situation we didn't know how to finish and the only way to put an end to our unnecessary, casualty-ridden presence would be to slash the Gordian knot unilaterally. By doing so, we saved a lot of lives.
The Second Lebanon War in 2006 could and should have been prevented. The enormous mistake by then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not justify our presence in Lebanon retroactively, just like the tunnels that have been discovered and are now being dealt with appropriately do no. Israel can defend itself from within its borders and does not need security zones that only invite violent clashes.
