INTRODUCTION xl (I quote now from reports o f recent incidents during late D ecem ber 1978.) Since 1967, with Israel in occupation o f the West Bank and G a za , there has been no letup in the daily outrage o f Israeli occupation, and yet nothing galvanizes the Western press (and the Israeli inform ation media) as much as a bomb in a Jerusalem market. W ith sentiments bordering on pure disgust, 1 must note here that not a single U .S . newspaper carried the follow ing interview with G en eral G u r, C h ief of Staff o f the Israeli Arm y: Q— Is it true [during the March [978 Israeli invasion of Lebanon] that you bombarded agglomerations [of people] without distinction? A — I am not one of those people who have a selective memory. Do you think that I pretend not to know what we have done all these years? What did we do the entire length of the Suez Canal? A million and a half refugees! Really: where do you live? . . . We bombarded Ismailia, Suez, Port Said, and Port Fuad. A million and a half refugees . . . Since when has the population of South Lebanon become so sacred? They knew perfectly well what the terrorists were doing. After the massacre at Avivim, I had four villages in South Lebanon bombed without authorization. Q~W ithout making distinctions between civilians and noncivilians? A -~What distinction? What had the inhabitants of Jrbid [a large town in northern Jordan, principally Palestinian in population] done 10 deserve bombing by us? Q— But military communiques always spoke of returning fire and of counterstrikes against terrorist objectives. A — Please be serious. Did you not know that the entire valley of the Jordan had been emptied of its inhabitants as a result of the war of attrition? Q— Then you claim that the population ought to be punished? A — Of course, and I have never had any doubt about that. When 1 authorized Yanouch [diminutive name of the com­ mander of the northern front, responsible for the Lebanese operation] to use aviation, artillery and tanks [in the invasion], I knew exactly what ( was doing. It has now been thirty years,

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