In the following address to high school graduates about to join the I.D.F., the Defense Minister admitted that the I.D.F. had taken control of the Beirut International Airport and spelled out Israel's demands - withdrawal of all foreign force from Lebanon - the P.L.0. and Syrian army. He did not mention the international force then in formation. Israel feared that the early arrival of an international force in west Beirut would give the P.L.0. an international umbrella and some of them would be able to remain there. Excerpts:
... Last night, we gained control of the international airport of Beirut, and tightened the siege, with the intention of explaining to the terrorists, once more, after having waited patiently, that the hourglass is indeed running out.
Not only shall we see to it that not one single terrorist will remain in West Beirut: we shall also insist on the Israel's government's demand that all foreign forces must leave Lebanon, which means the Syrians as well as the terrorists.
... We demand what is our due, no more and no less. We demand that for which we paid a high price, in order to make sure that the threat to the peace process we initiated will be eliminated.
We went to war against terrorism also so as to be able to remove the obstacle threatening and preventing a reconciliation between us and the Arabs of Eretz Israel. We went to war so that we may live in peace, Jew and Arab, in Nazareth and Beer Sheba, in Judea and Samaria, so that peace may reign between us, in due course, on both banks of the Jordan.
... Did any of you really imagine, a mere two months ago, that shortly we shall have vanquished terrorism in the marvellous way this is being done by the soldiers of the I.D.F. on the ground, in the air and on the sea?... It does not require much imagination, with victory already at hand, to realize that with patience and understanding, we shall gain all our objectives.
... We have erected a bridge of peace with the greatest of all Arab nations, Egypt, after 15 years of suffering and patience since the end of the Six-Day War. We vanquished the nuclear terror in Iraq in a surprise blow. We changed during the past 5 years, the map of Judea and Samaria out of all recognition.
... Dear youths, tell your worried parents what those parents used to tell their own parents in their time. Tell them: if we shall not accomplish this today, there will be no-one to accomplish it tomorrow. If we shall not carry this heavy burden on our shoulders, it will be seven times heavier for our sons to bear.