ONE OF the reasons Israel launched the "Grapes of Wrath" operation was because its bad begun, in the words of a UN source, "to lose its grip" on its south Lebanese occupation zone, writes Michael Jansen.
Israel's control of the zone had been weakened by a serious deterioration in the morale of the "South Lebanon Army", (SLA), the force it created, trained and armed to hold and defend the zone. This deterioration set in as the peace process progressed because men serving in this force feared for their future if Israel were to reach a settlement with Beirut.
They had good reason to do so since the present Lebanese government vowed to punish SLA members as "traitors" to their country. So great was their concern that in January; the SLA Commander, Gen Antoine Lahad, visited Jerusalem to seek the reassurance of the Israeli government.
Since then, morale has been further damaged by defections from the force, a mutiny within its ranks and, during March and April, a well planned Hizbullah campaign against Israeli and SLA troops in the occupation zone.
But Israel remains committed to the zone, a boomerang shaped slice of territory just north of the IsraelLebanon frontier, some 5 to 9 km wide and 80 km long. The zone was established in 1976 when Israel recruited a cashiered Lebanese Army officer, Maj Saad Haddad, and his mainly Maronite Christian militia to fight against Palestinian guerrillas based in south Lebanon.
The initial base of the Haddad militia was at Khiam, where the SLA maintains headquarters and a notoriously brutal prison. The force took part in Israel's "Operation Litani" in March 1978 when the Israeli army invaded south Lebanon as far north as the Litani River with the aim of driving out Palestinian fighters. When Israel was compelled to withdraw in June of that year, the SLA was left in occupation of the zone, called "Haddadland".
In 1979 the Lebanese army tried to deploy in the zone in accordance with UN Security Council resolution 425 but Maj Haddad proclaimed it "Free Lebanon". He died in 1984 and Gen Lahad became SLA commander.
Israel occupied Lebanon as far north as Beirut in 1982 but when the Israeli army withdrew in 1985, under a government headed by Mr Peres, his defence minister, Gen Yitzhak Rabin, insisted on retaining "Lahadland" as a "security zone". Since then, Israel's occupation has been contested by the Lebanese resistance led by Hizbullah and the zone has become an area of insecurity for the troops Israel has deployed there.