On 7 April, five terrorists entered kibbutz Misgav Am, on the Israel-Lebanon border, and shot their way to the nursery, killing the secretary of the kibbutz and an infant. They held the rest of the children hostage and demanded release of fifty terrorists held in Israeli prisons. An Israeli army unit broke into the building, killed the five terrorists, but a soldier was killed, four children and eleven soldiers were injured. A few days later Israeli units entered southern Lebanon to wipe out terrorist nests. This led Lebanon to demand a Security Council debate. Following is the statement made by Ambassador Blum which describes in detail the enormous impact of the P.L.O. on Lebanon and the inability of both the Lebanese government and UNIFIL to prevent attacks against Israel. Text:
... The Government of Israel deeply deplores the current tension in the south of Lebanon. It does so no less than anybody else. Indeed, as we have stated on many occasions, Israel's proximity to that unfortunate, strife-torn and battle-scarred land heightens our concern and our interest in seeing peace and tranquility restored to it. Israel fully supports the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of Lebanon within its internationally recognized boundaries.
Israel has expressed these sentiments more than once, and they constitute the foundation of its policy towards Lebanon. Regrettably, scant notice, has been taken of Israel's neighbourly good will. The cancerous presence, in Lebanon generally and in the south of the country in particular, of the terrorist PLO, and internecine violence, as well as the massive presence of the Syrian occupation forces, have reduced Lebanese sovereignty to shambles. The high hopes entertained by many that the deployment of UNIFIL would, in the language of Security Council resolution 425 (1978), help in "restoring international peace and security and assisting the Government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area" have not been fulfilled, notwithstanding the courage and patience almost invariably displayed by the officers and men of UNIFIL. There is a continuing, indeed a growing, presence of PLO agents and operatives in UNIFIL's area of operation. These terrorists harass the villagers in the small area between UNIFIL's area of operation and the Israel border, whose defence is in the hands of the local Lebanese forces under the command of Major Haddad.
We are fully aware that at times there is regrettable and perhaps even unnecessary and avoidable friction between these local forces and UNIFIL, but we cannot help wondering whether the capacity of some to acquiesce in the presence, of PLO terrorists and their provocations against the local villagers is not considerably greater than their understanding of the empathy with the reactions to these sinister PLO designs on the part of their intended victims.
As on previous occasions, attempts are being made to gloss over the real issues relating to UNIFIL's mandate.
Let me remind the members of the Council that UNIFIL was established not only for the purpose of confirming the withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon - which was in fact completed and confirmed by the UNIFIL Commander on 13 June 1978 - but also for the twin purposes of "restoring international peace and security and assisting the Government of Lebanon in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area" (resolution 425 (1978)).
In order to achieve those purposes, UNIFIL was ordered to prevent the infiltration of armed personnel into the areas under its control, an instruction aimed at preventing the PLO from returning to the region, which was free of their presence at the time of UNIFIL's establishment, this being a necessary condition for the establishment of international peace and security. Council members are well aware that, unfortunately, UNIFIL has been unable to achieve its objectives, for its action has been persistently obstructed and subverted by the terrorist PLO.
A worrisome situation with dangerous implications has been created by fact that large numbers of PLO terrorists have been permitted to infiltrate UNIFIL's area of operations and to establish themselves in it. Moreover, the number of terrorists within UNIFIL's area of operations has considerably increased since the cessation of fire of last August entered into force. Attempts at infiltration by terrorists, literally under the eyes of UNIFIL, have intensified in recent months. It will be recalled that paragraph 21 of the Secretary-General's report for the period from January to June of last year, document 13384 of 8 June 1979, indicated that UNIFIL stopped some 40 major infiltration attempts, involving 140 terrorists. By contrast, paragraph 36 of the Secretary-General's report for the period from June to December 1979, document S/13691 of 14 December 1979, mentions 110 infiltration attempts involving almost 800 terrorists; which is to say that the rate of attempted infiltrations during the second half of last year has gone up almost three times and the number of terrorists involved almost six times. This serious phenomenon, which still continues, indicates the true extent to which the PLO is prepared to "respect" UNIFIL and the cessation of fire.
According to information in the possession of the Government of Israel, the PLO and its associates have established themselves in about 40 locations within UNIFIL's area of operation, and they are several hundred strong. There may be discrepancies between Israel's count and that of UNIFIL. But there is no difference of opinion about the fact that that presence has grown over the last 12 months, let alone since the time of UNIFIL's arrival in 1978, when it was zero - as observed by the Commander of UNIFIL, Major General Emmanuel Erskine, in the interview has gave, published in the Times of London, on 11 March 1980.
The several hundred PLO terrorists located throughout UNIFIL's area of operation are to be found in small pockets, larger encampments, and even in private houses in villages. They carry out various activities in the area of operation, including patrols, and enter villages to pressure, blackmail and intimidate the local population - not to mention the obvious, namely to harass the United Nations forces.
The large terrorist presence in UNIFIL's area of operations and the increasing frequency of the terrorists' attempts to infiltrate that area not only demonstrate how serious the terrorist activity is; they also point to the fact that many terrorist infiltrators have escaped UNIFIL's notice. In addition, they suggest that even those who have been caught are likely to succeed in infiltrating the area the next time around.
Members of the Council will readily understand that we are talking here of a considerable threat by the PLO to three tangible targets: to the citizens of Israel, particularly in the north of the country; to the villagers in southern Lebanon; and to the men of UNIFIL in the fulfilment of their duties. We fail to be persuaded that UNIFIL is prevented from doing more to stem PLO incursions because its attention is occasionally diverted to altercations with the local Lebanese forces. Such an argument is indeed a case of putting the cart before the horse.
The hundreds of PLO terrorists within UNIFIL's area of operation are, of course, additional to the 1,500 PLO terrorists under arms in the "Tyre pocket" south of the Litani river, reaching to within eight miles of Israel's northern border.
This is by no means the end of the story, because directly north of the Litani river, in Nabatiye and in the region of Sidon, not to speak of Beirut and Tripoli, another 10,000 to 12,000 PLO terrorists are to be found. This, then, is the true measure of the problem. Until it is faced, no real improvement in the situation can be expected.
It should be borne in mind that virtually all of the UNIFIL soldiers who lost their lives as a result of hostile action in recent months were killed, directly or indirectly, by PLO activities, as has been the case with regard to the overwhelming majority In this connexion, Israel would like to extend its deepest condolences to the families of the men of UNIFIL who made the ultimate sacrifice in southern Lebanon in recent months. We also wish to express our wishes for a full and speedy recovery to those officers and men who were wounded in the clashes.
The PLO's tactics are well known. As has been their deliberate practice in the past, they hide behind refugees and Lebanese villagers. They do so for the transparent purpose of shielding themselves and making it all the more difficult to root them out.
Moreover, in southern Lebanon there is an additional element in the PLO's tactics. There they are also hiding behind the shield of United Nations peace keeping forces. This surely is totally inadmissible and must be regarded for what it is: the total abuse of international peace-keeping.
As has been acknowledged by the Secretary-General in several of his reports concerning UNIFIL, the situation in the south of Lebanon cannot be detached from the situation in the country as a whole. Attempts to detach it will not enhance the cause of international peace and security and in fact are bound to fail.
Not only do Syria and the PLO continue to exploit the agony and turmoil of Lebanon, but other Arab States also continue to see in the crisis of Lebanon a means of advancing their. own partisan aims within the well known web of inter-Arab rivalries. This tragic phenomenon came out into the open at the tenth Arab League Summit, held last November in Tunis, from which the terrorist PLO emerged declaring that it would continue to use Lebanese territory as a staging ground for its criminal activities. The PLO thus openly and brazenly defied President Sarkis of Lebanon, who, according to a Reuters report of 21 November 1979, told fellow Arab heads of State that the Lebanese Government must be able to dictate where Palestinian commando forces are based, the commandos must stop military operations against Israeljrom south Lebanon.
I should also like to draw the attention of the Council to remarks made last December by the Prime Minister of Lebanon with regard to the PLO terrorist presence in the south of his country. In an interview in the Lebanese newspaper Monday Morning of 10 December 1979, Mr. al-Hoss said that the terrorist presence in UNIFIL's area of operations violated Security Council resolutions. He continued by saying that his country would try to bring about the thinning down or the total withdrawal of the terrorists in that area. Not only have the PLO terrorists not withdrawn in the intervening period from UNIFIL's area of operations but their numbers have even increased since.
Shortly after midnight on the night of 6 to 7 April 1980, five PLO criminals penetrated into Israel from UNIFIL's area of operation in southern Lebanon. They entered Kibbutz Misgav Am, about half a mile from the border with Lebanon, and seized two nursery buildings in which innocent children, all less than three years old, were sleeping, together with some nursing mothers.
The terrorists' aim was to take the infants hostage and hold them to ransom in an attempt to gain the release of 50 PLO criminals sentenced by Israel courts to various terms of imprisonment. Beyond that, the PLO timed their attack, in the same way as the Council's deliberations were staged in the last fortnight, with the obvious purpose of trying to disrupt the current talks between the leaders of Israel, Egypt and the United States further to promote the peace process in the Middle East.
A terrorist group which belongs to the PLO, calling itself the Arab Liberation Front and operating under the direction of PLO headquarters at Sidon in southern Lebanon, immediately took responsibility for this outrage, which resulted in the deaths of a toddler and a valiant civilian, as well as the wounding of four toddlers, together with the death of an Israel Defence Forces soldier and the injury of 11 other soldiers in the actions taken to free the little hostages.
As is well known, the PLO is nothing but an instrument in the hands of the Arab States which created it. The particular terrorist group which perpetrated the outrage at Misgav Am has close connexions with Iraq, and in their announcement taking responsibility for the atrocity they stated that it was carried out to mark the thirty-third anniversary of the founding of the Ba'ath Party. Indeed, on 6 April - one day before the atrocity - the head of the terrorist PLO, Yasser Arafat, addressed a gathering in Beirut to mark the same occasion. Arafat stressed the PLO's links with Iraq and praised the assistance the latter given to the PLO.
But to return to Misgav Am: the Kibbutz guards quickly gained control of one of the nursery buildings and freed the children and several mothers inside. Later, an Israel army unit, which was rushed to the scene, engaged the terrorists at the second nursery. By 10 o'clock in the morning local time the children and other hostages there had been freed and the five terrorists had been killed.
All of us saw on television, in horrifically vivid colours, the gruesome acts carried out by the terrorists against innocent babes and toddlers. All of us have seen the horror pictures published in the press, pictures of children's cribs and play-rooms riddled with bullets, stained with blood.
Here at the United Nations attempts are being made. to manipulate the Security Council, as well as other organs of the Organization, to suit the whims and wishes of the terrorist PLO. This travesty has reached such proportions that, in the meetings of the Council held last week, at the instigation of the PLO, no speaker - not one speaker saw fit even to mention the atrocity perpetrated by PLO thugs at Misgav Am, let alone condemn it. Incidentally, the PLO boasted that criminals of various nationalities from Syria to Pakistan participated in this outrage. I am sure all those countries must no doubt be exceedingly proud of this contribution to humanity.
Once again, at Misgav Am, the true face of the PLO was revealed. Israel was in no need of such ugly reminders, for the violent images of their savagery are burnt deep into our consciousness. We are entitled to expect that the correct lesson will be drawn also by those statesmen and politicians who still entertain illusions about the PLO's professed moderation.
It is not simply that these terrorist thugs set out on their murder mission on the last day of the Passover festival in order to turn what is otherwise a joyous occasion into a tragedy of unspeakable human grief. It is not just that these PLO thugs stoop so low in their cowardice and in their total lack of human feeling as to take hostage babes in arms. Children have for years now been a prime target of PLO terror. Thus, for example, in May 1976, a school bus from Avivim was viciously attacked near Bar-Am, close to the border with Lebanon and not far from Kibbutz Misgav Am. That horrendous act resulted in the death of nine children and three adults, as well as the wounding of 19 small children, most of whom were still in primary school.
Over the last decade there have been many other unconscionable acts of this kind. The catalogue of inhuman crimes is long and sickening. Not one year has gone by without the slaughter of Israeli children at the merciless hands of the PLO. Israel has brought all these incidents to the attention of the Security Council and the Secretary-General, but to no avail.
Last Monday's outrage at Misgav Am was not the first time that the PLO had used UNIFIL's area of operation and set about its criminal acts through UNIFIL's lines. Thus, for instance, on 13 January 1979, in the attempt at the guest house at Ma'alot, reported in
my letter circulated as document S/13028, it was clear that the three PLO terrorists involved had crossed through UNIFIL's lines on the way to Israel.
The same holds true for a group of six PLO terrorists encountered and eliminated on 16 April 1979 by the Israel Defence Forces near the village of Zar'it near the northern border of Israel, as reported in my letter circulated as document S/13261.
The background to the PLO terrorist attack on Kibbutz Manara on the border with Lebanon on 9 May 1979, reported in document S/13312, was and is equally disquieting. In that incident an Israel Defence Forces patrol wounded and captured one terrorist. He disclosed that the group had set out from Tyre. They entered UNIFIL's area of operation from the north and proceeded through UNIFIL's lines to the village of Shakra, which is well within UNIFIL's area of operation. At the village they received weapons and instructions about their operation before crossing the border into Israel. Their orders were to carry out indiscriminate murder of Israeli civilians. After an exchange of fire with the Israel Defence Forces patrol, the terrorists who were not wounded fled to Lebanon in the direction of Mis-al-Jebel and from there they backtracked to Shakra.
Another attempt at indiscriminate murder was made on the night of 6 to 7 February 1980, when a group of PLO terrorists crossed the border into Israel from Lebanese territory, west of Kibbutz Eilon, as reported in my letter circulated as document S/13785. The group, which was on a murder mission against civilians in Israel, was encountered by a patrol of the Israel Defence Forces. After throwing hand grenades at the patrol, the group turned around and fled. It was pursued by the patrol, but it escaped into the area controlled by UNIFIL.
A State's right to take the measures necessary to halt and to foil terroristic activities emanating from across its boundaries is a principle well recognized by the doctrine and the practice of international law alike. The Government of Israel, like any other government, has the right, indeed the duty, to take all the measures necessary to protect the lives and safety of its citizens.
In so doing, the Government of Israel is in fact exercising the inherent right of selfdefence enjoyed by every sovereign State - a right that is also recognized under Article 5 1 of the Charter.
In the wake of the atrocity at Misgav Am, and in the light of information that the terrorist PLO was planning further outrages of this kind, the Israel Defence Forces took certain limited measures, the purpose of which Israel soldiers have now completely withdrawn behind the border with Lebanon.
I should point out that in the course of the last year Israel has foiled at least 10 such attempts by the PLO to cross the border from UNIFIL's area of operation with murderous intent.
As is well known, it was not the Government of Israel that called for the establishment of UNIFIL. Indeed, given the parliamentary constellation prevailing in this Organization, had Israel made such a suggestion it would never have even got off the ground and UNIFIL would never have been established.
Nevertheless, both the Secretariat and the officers and men of UNIFIL are well aware of the help which Israel renders through its good offices in trying to resolve difficulties which arise from time to time between UNIFIL and the local Lebanese forces in the south. We will go on doing what we can.
Let us never lose sight of the fact that the Lebanese villagers in the south have genuine reason to fear for their lives. In view of their previous experiences and in the light of what
has happened in the north of Lebanon, those villagers know that their own Government does not at the moment possess the means to guarantee their security.
Their fears have been exacerbated by the penetration of hundreds of PLO terrorists into UNIFIL's area of operation and in the light of their experience that where UNIFIL goes, the PLO follows.
For the present, the local Lebanese forces defending the villagers and villages in the south represent their only protection. No credible alternative to those local forces has yet been presented.
Whosoever wishes to suggest that the villagers' fears are out of place is taking on a grave responsibility. There is nothing in the recent record of the area which should lead those villagers to expect otherwise.
Certainly, no one can seriously advise the villagers in the south not to regard the threats to their existence seriously so long as the Lebanese Government is unable to reassert its sovereignty in the south.
While Israel has made it clear that it cannot be indifferent to the fate of the villagers in the south, Israel cannot assume responsibility for their actions. They act in accordance with what they judge to be a matter of their own survival.
We sincerely hope that such clashes as have occurred in the last few days do not recur. But we are firmly convinced that their prevention is more easily attained by patient talks on the ground than by inflammatory debates in the Security Council.
Over and beyond that, we are convinced that there will not be any long-term improvement in the situation until the fundamental problem plaguing southern Lebanon, and indeed Lebanon as a whole, is tackled. That is to say, there will be no real change for the better until the PLO and all alien forces remove themselves or have been removed from Lebanese soil, so that Lebanese independence, sovereignty and unity can be restored.