ern Israel was accomplished with the evacuation of PLO forces from Beirut. The larger objectives of the war were not realized. Syria remained ensconced in 35 percent of Lebanon and the Christian-dominated Lebanese government was not strong enough either to conclude a peace treaty with Israel or to control rival Lebanese factions from assaulting each other and attacking Israel. Ethnic, communal and religious violence in Lebanon remained unabated and Israel continued to pursue a peace treaty with Amin Gemayel, the new president of Lebanon. With American mediation, on May 17, 1983, a Lebanese-Israeli agreement was signed. Although the document was not a formal peace treaty, it terminated the state war between Israel and Lebanon. The document was short lived. Syria had no intention of removing its troops from Lebanon as the agreement called for. In March 1984, under pressure from Syria, the Lebanese government formally cancelled its agreement with Israel. In June 1985, Israel withdrew from Lebanon, except for forces stationed in the security zone in southern Lebanon. The security zone is a strip of land three to five miles wide along the length of the Lebanese-Israeli border. Over the years, the zone has shielded Israeli civilian settlements in northern Israel from cross-border attacks. Since 1985, many Israeli soldiers have been killed in the security zone by terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah (Party of God). The larger objectives of the Lebanon campaign left a significant imprint upon Israeli society. Israel’s campaign in Lebanon was the first war Israel waged which provoked widespread debate within Israel. While many Israelis agreed with the limited objective of destroying the PLO’s power in southern Lebanon in order to protect Israel’s northern population, they disagreed with the larger, unrealistic goals, they argued, had caused an unnecessarily high number of Israeli and Palestinian civilian casualti...
