UK fury at Israel over Lebanon
DESPITE EXPRESSIONS of concern about the “brutal attack “on Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Shlomo Argov, MargaretThatcher’sgovernmentin1982 had very little time for Israel and its invasion of southern Lebanon.
Papers from 1982, just released by the National Archives, reveal a government more concerned with “balance” in the Middle East than in recognising Israel’s determination to stamp out terrorism from its northern border.
On June 3 1982, Mr Argov, leaving a London hotel after a charity dinner, was shot in the head by Palestinian terrorists, an assassination attempt from which he neverrecoveredandwhichprovidedthe spark for Ariel Sharon to spearhead Israel’s incursion into Lebanon. But Cabinet and Foreign Office papers — apart from one anonymous handwritten scrawl “Argov shot in London” — barely refer to the attack.
Overwhelmed with the Falklands War, Mrs Thatcher — though MP for the heavily Jewish constituency of Finchley andGoldersGreen—drewacomparison with invaded Lebanon in Argentina’s invasion of the Falkland Islands.
Foreign Secretary Francis Pym had madeitclearpubliclythatBritainwholeheartedly condemned Israel’s invasion. In private, too, the papers confirm, Britain was furious with Israel.
A Foreign Office memo states: “It wouldbeoddif wewerenowtoconduct bilateral business with the Israelis as though nothing had happened.”
An invitation to Israel to attend the British Army Equipment Exhibition was withdrawn and licences for arms sales were stopped, though the Foreign Office noted bitterly that “We have considered the possibility that the likelihood of Israeli arms sales to Argentina will be increased, but given what we know of Israel’s attitude and practice on this already, we do not believe that this is like- ly to make much difference in practice.”
The papers include considerable discussion as to the fate of the Palestinians in Lebanon. King Hussein of Jordan, in anemotionalJuly4lettertoUS President Ronald Reagan, included in the files, recommended: “If they must leave Lebanon, then Egypt is the best choice for them to go to. The PLO will then become truly Palestinian.”
On July 6, the British envoy in Jordan reported to London: “The Americans had concluded four or five days ago that Egypt was the logical place for the PLO to go and President Reagan had sent a message to President Mubarak proposing this.
“[But] Mubarak had told the US ambassador in Cairo that the proposal was unacceptable. Mubarak claimed that his colleagues in the Egyptian government had already expressed their dismay at his earlier offer that the PLO should establish a government in exile in Egypt...Egyptian public opinion would not stand for the transfer of the PLO to Cairo.”
Later, in response to the proposed visit of an Arab delegation to Britain, Mrs Thatcher wrote: “I will be delighted to see two foreign ministers [Lebanese and Jordanian] but NOT a PLO representative”.
The prime minister also noted that shedidnotwanttheUSandBritaintoact alone in taking measures against Israel.