Operation Iron Fist | |||||||
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Israel | AMAL (and others) al-Qiyada al-Muwhhada |
The Iron Fist policy, [1] also known as Operation Iron Fist, [2] was a policy involving series of raids carried out in 1985 by the Israeli Defence Force during the 1985-2000 South Lebanon conflict and First Intifada against Palestinian and Lebanese targets. The policy takes its name from a 1983 statement by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhaq Shamir that "Middle East peoples should realize that if Israel is provoked, the hand extended in peace will turn into an iron fist that will strike at terrorism to the bitter end." [3]
In The Struggle Over Lebanon, journalist Tabitha Petran described the policy as an "important factor in Israel's defeat in the south and eventual withdrawal". [4]
Following Israel's 1982 invasion of Southern Lebanon the Israelis remained in occupation of Southern Lebanon. The Israel troops occupying Southern Lebanon became the target of various armed groups in Southern Lebanon that opposed their occupation. In retaliation for attacks on Israelis, the Israeli military launched retaliatory raids against those they believed responsible for these attacks whilst simultanoeously withdrawing to lines closer to the Israeli-Lebanese border. [3] [5] The intent of the policy was to crush resistance to Israel's continued occupation in Southern Lebanon. [6]
The Israeli crackdown began after three Israeli soldiers were killed in ambushes in three days after the Israeli withdrawal from the Sidon area on 16 February. [7] It begane with a raid on Bourj Rahel, which was subsequently raided another 26 times by 23 March 1985. [8] Raids conducted as a result of the policy included dozens of raids on Shi'a villages, dawn-to-dusk curfews, and ban on travel in certain areas. [9] 15 Lebanese were killed and 22 wounded in the first week of the policy. [1] During the raids local villagers alleged that the Israelis removed grain stores as well as mixing grain to be unusable, and tore up the Koran. [7]
On 4 March, a bomb that, according to Robert Fisk, had been planted by the IDF in a Maarakeh mosque exploded, leaving 15 people dead, including Mohammed Saad and Khalil Jradi. [10] The IDF has raided the village two days earlier, with a force of some 800 Israelis in a column comprising two bulldozers, three tanks, 50 APCs, and 30 vehicles of other types, and searched that mosque. [11] On 11 March 1985 a major raid on the Shiite village of Zrarieh was carried out in which as many as 40 people were killed, including members of Amal. [9] On 12 March, the United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israel operations. [12] By 23 March 1985, more than 100 Lebanese had been killed, including a 2-man CBS film crew, and 40 houses destroyed. [8]
On 4 August 1985 the national unity cabinet declared an "Iron Fist" policy of crackdowns against Palestinian opposition in the occupied West Bank. By the end of 1985 125 Palestinians had been detained under 6-month administrative detention orders. [13] The policy was prompted by the killing of eight Israeli civilians in attacks in the two months to 29 July 1985. Deportation of West Bank and Gaza Strip Arabs to Jordan and Lebanon was among the policies considered. [14] Ultimately 36 Palestinians were deported between August 1985 and April 1986 under the policy. [15]
This timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict lists events from 1948 to the present. The Israeli–Palestinian conflict emerged from intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine between Palestinian Jews and Arabs, often described as the background to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The conflict in its modern phase evolved since the declaration of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 and consequent intervention of Arab armies on behalf of the Palestinian Arabs.
The First Intifada, also known as the First Palestinian Intifada or the Stone Intifada, was a sustained series of protests, acts of civil disobedience and riots carried out by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. It was motivated by collective Palestinian frustration over Israel's military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as it approached a twenty-year mark, having begun in the wake of the 1967 Arab–Israeli War. The uprising lasted from December 1987 until the Madrid Conference of 1991, though some date its conclusion to 1993, with the signing of the Oslo Accords.
The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against the Israeli occupation, characterized by a period of heightened violence in the Palestinian territories and Israel between 2000 and 2005. The general triggers for the unrest are speculated to have been centered on the failure of the 2000 Camp David Summit, which was expected to reach a final agreement on the Israeli–Palestinian peace process in July 2000. An uptick in violent incidents started in September 2000, after Israeli politician Ariel Sharon made a provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa compound, which is situated atop the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem; the visit itself was peaceful, but, as anticipated, sparked protests and riots that Israeli police put down with rubber bullets, live ammunition, and tear gas. Within the first few days of the uprising, the IDF had fired one million rounds of ammunition.
The 1982 Lebanon War began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) operating in southern Lebanon and the Israeli military that had caused civilian casualties on both sides of the border. The military operation was launched after gunmen from the Abu Nidal Organization attempted to assassinate Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin blamed Abu Nidal's enemy, the PLO, for the incident, and used the incident as a casus belli for the invasion.
Media coverage of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has been said, by both sides and independent observers, to be biased. This coverage includes news, academic discussion, film, and social media. These perceptions of bias, possibly exacerbated by the hostile media effect, have generated more complaints of partisan reporting than any other news topic and have led to a proliferation of media watchdog groups.
The IDF Caterpillar D9 — nicknamed Doobi — is a Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer used by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It is supplied by Caterpillar Inc. and modified by the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli Military Industries and Israel Aerospace Industries to increase the survivability of the bulldozer in hostile environments and enable it to withstand attack.
Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir was a Palestinian leader and co-founder of the nationalist party Fatah. As a top aide of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat, al-Wazir had considerable influence in Fatah's military activities, eventually becoming the commander of Fatah's armed wing al-Assifa.
The 1978 South Lebanon conflict began after Israel invaded southern Lebanon up to the Litani River in March 1978, in response to the Coastal Road massacre near Tel Aviv by Lebanon-based Palestinian militants. The conflict resulted in the deaths of 1,100–2,000 Lebanese and Palestinians, 20 Israelis, and the internal displacement of 100,000 to 250,000 people in Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces gained a military victory against the Palestine Liberation Organization as the latter was forced to withdraw from southern Lebanon, preventing it from launching attacks on Israel from across its land border with Lebanon. In response to the outbreak of hostilities, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 425 and Resolution 426 on 19 March 1978, which called on Israel to immediately withdraw its troops from Lebanon and established the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The Israeli–Lebanese conflict, or the South Lebanon conflict, is a series of military clashes involving Israel, Lebanon and Syria, the Palestine Liberation Organization, as well as various militias and militants acting from within Lebanon. The conflict peaked in the 1980s, during the Lebanese Civil War, and has abated since.
The South Lebanon conflict, designated by Israel as the Security Zone in Lebanon Campaign, was a protracted armed conflict that took place in southern Lebanon from 1985 to 2000. It saw fighting between Israel and the Catholic Christian-dominated South Lebanon Army (SLA) against Hezbollah-led Shia Muslim and left-wing guerrillas within the Israeli-occupied "Security Zone"; the SLA had military and logistical support from the Israel Defense Forces over the course of the conflict and operated under the jurisdiction of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon provisional administration, which succeeded the earlier Israeli-backed State of Free Lebanon. It can also refer to the continuation of the earlier conflict in this region involving the growing Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon against Israel following the expulsion of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from Jordan after Black September. Historical tensions between Palestinian refugees and Lebanese factions contributed another layer to the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990), which saw the Maronite-led Lebanese Front and the Shia Amal Movement at war with the PLO. Hence, the South Lebanon conflict can partly be seen as an extension of the civil war that ended in 1990.
Palestinian fedayeen are militants or guerrillas of a nationalist orientation from among the Palestinian people. Most Palestinians consider the fedayeen to be freedom fighters, while most Israelis consider them to be terrorists.
The Gaza–Israel conflict is a localized part of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict beginning in 1948, when 200,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes, settling in the Gaza Strip as refugees. Since then, Israel has fought 15 wars against the Gaza Strip. The number of Gazans reportedly killed in the most recent 2023–2024 war (37,000) is higher than the death toll of all other wars of the Arab–Israeli conflict.
Israeli casualties of war, in addition to those of Israel's nine major wars, include 9,745 soldiers and security forces personnel killed in "miscellaneous engagements and terrorist attacks", which includes security forces members killed during military operations, by fighting crime, natural disasters, diseases, traffic or labor accidents and disabled veterans whose disabilities contributed to their deaths. Between 1948 and 1997, 20,093 Israeli soldiers were killed in combat, 75,000 Israelis were wounded, and nearly 100,000 Israelis were considered disabled army veterans. On the other hand, in 2010 Yom Hazikaron, Israel honored the memory of 22,684 Israeli soldiers and pre-Israeli Palestinian Jews killed since 1860 in the line of duty for the independence, preservation and protection of the nation, and 3,971 civilian terror victims. The memorial roll, in addition to IDF members deceased, also include fallen members of the Shin Bet security service, the Mossad intelligence service, the Israel Police, the Border Police, the Israel Prisons Service, other Israeli security forces, the pre-state Jewish underground, and the Jewish Brigade and the Jewish Legion.
Events in the year 1987 in Israel.
Events in the year 1985 in Israel.
The 2011 Israeli border demonstrations started on 15 May 2011, to commemorate what the Palestinians observe as Nakba Day. Various groups of people attempted to approach or breach Israel's borders from the Palestinian-controlled territory, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan. At least a dozen people were killed when protesters attempted to cross the border from Syria.
The Zrarieh raid was an Israeli raid on the Lebanese village of Zrarieh in Southern Lebanon on 11 March 1985. During the raid between 21 and 40 residents were killed.
The Maarakeh bombing took place on 4 March 1985, a bomb exploded in a Shiite religious center (Hussainiya) in the southern Lebanese village of Maarakeh. 15 people were killed, including two leaders of the Amal movement that was fighting Israel, and 55 were injured. Author Nicholas Blanford said that the bomb was "planted by the Israelis during the earlier raid" [on 2 March] while according to Robert Fisk, French intelligence in Lebanon believed that Israel planted the bomb. Israel denied involvement. In 2018, Ronen Bergman wrote in Rise and Kill First, that it was Mossad agents commanded by Meir Dagan who planted the bomb.