LEBANON: Once Again, Palestinians on the Ropes

"I'm fed up with hypocrisy. From now on, I'm going to say it publicly and bluntly: 'I prefer the Israelis to the Palestinians.'"

—Lebanese Christian soldier

As the soldier's exasperated candor suggests, after more than a year of inconclusive fighting, the patterns of violence in Lebanon have been shaken up by some extraordinary reversals in roles. The Moslem Syrians, who originally entered the Lebanese quagmire in a peacemaking effort, are now deeply committed—on the side of the Lebanese Christians. The Christians, who seemed to be losing the struggle against their Moslem compatriots only a few months ago, are now apparently winning. The Israelis, once just worried spectators, have been quietly shipping arms to the Christians, thus becoming, in effect, allies of the Syrians.

Most surprising of all, perhaps, is what has happened to the Palestinians in Lebanon. Having swaggered into the fighting on the Moslem side for what looked like certain triumph earlier this year, the erstwhile heroes of the Arab world were suddenly being battered by Christians on the battlefield and abused in most Middle East capitals outside of Cairo.

How had it all happened? Lebanon's Christian population has bitterly resented the Palestinians ever since they first arrived in the country as refugees in 1948; the hatred increased over the years as the Palestinians—encouraged by other Arab nations—demanded more and more autonomy. Now, and in large part because of their Israeli-supplied arms, the Christians find themselves not only ready but able to try to eradicate Palestinian power in Lebanon.

Jerusalem, too, wants to see the Palestinians crushed. Earlier this year, the Israelis began surreptitious shipments of small arms to Jounieh, the Christians' chief port; now the shipments include heavy Soviet-made weapons captured by the Israelis in past wars—among them T-54 tanks, armored personnel carriers and 120-mm. and 130-mm. artillery. In addition, some Christian troops have been brought to Israel for training. The Christian debt to the Israelis is such that, says a Christian leader, "in the end, we may find that we will have to choose between Syria and Israel."

Ghastly Irony. Syria's 15,000 troops in Lebanon now control fully half of the country, allowing the Christians room to maneuver in their drive to mop up their opponents. The bitterest battle of the entire war drags on between Christians and Palestinian commandos at Tel Zaatar (Hill of Thyme), a Palestinian camp on the rim of East Beirut. The battle, in which 1,500 combatants have already been slaughtered, is freighted with ghastly irony. It was the massacre of 27 Tel Zaatar residents by the Christians more than a year ago that first stoked Lebanon's smoldering resentments into open warfare.

Both Israel and Syria seem to be doing nothing to block the Christian plan to end the conflict by "cantonizing" Lebanon into religious zones. Last week, as a Palestinian peace mission set out to negotiate a cease-fire in Damascus, Syrian President Hafez Assad launched into a three-hour speech that flayed Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Liberation Organization boss, for carrying on the war. Said Assad: "Those who declare that they wish to liberate Jounieh do not aspire to liberate Palestine." Peace, he made clear, would come only on Syrian terms.