- Insisting on the truce treaty signed on 23 March 1949.
- Adopting all the necessary measures for liberating all Lebanese territories from Israeli
occupation and spreading state authority on all of these territories, deploying the
Lebanese Army to the borders with Israel, and working toward consolidating the inter-
national peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon to secure the Israeli withdrawal and
to secure the opportunity for restoring security and stability to the border regions.
Fourth. Lebanese-Syrian Relations
Lebanon, which is of Arab identity and belonging, is linked by sincere fraternal relations
with all Arab countries. There are distinguished relations, which draw their strength from
the roots of neighborhood, history, and joint strategic interests, between Lebanon and
Syria. This concept is the base of coordination and cooperation between the two coun-
tries, and it will be manifested by joint treaties in all fields, which will serve the inter-
ests of the two sister countries within the framework of mutual independence and sov-
ereignty. Because of this, and because consolidating the bases of security provides the
required atmosphere for developing these distinguished links, it is imperative that
Lebanon not become a threat to Syrian security and Syria not become a threat to
Lebanon’s security, whatever the situation may be. Therefore Lebanon does not allow
itself to be a passage for or a residence for any force, state, or organization which aims
at violating Lebanese or Syrian security; and Syria, which is committed to the security,
stability, and unity of Lebanon and the reconciliation of the Lebanese, does not allow
any action which threatens the Lebanese security, independence, or sovereignty.
SOURCE: Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Near East and South Asia, October 24, 1989, pp. NES 1–6.Israeli Withdrawal from Lebanon
DOCUMENT IN CONTEXT
In May 2000, twenty-two years after launching its first invasion of Lebanon and estab-
lishing a “security zone” in the south of that country, Israel finally withdrew its mili-
tary forces. Israel’s occupation of parts of Lebanon had brought short-term peace to
the residents of northern Israel, but at the cost of hardening anti-Israel sentiment in
what had been a relatively moderate Arab state.
Israel had invaded Lebanon twice: in March 1978 to clear a zone north of its bor-
der to prevent Palestinian guerrillas from launching artillery and rocket attacks across the
border into northern Israel, and again in June 1982 for the same purpose as well as to
broaden its assault on the guerrillas. During the 1978 invasion, Israel established a six-
mile-deep zone inside Lebanon along the border, using its military power to eject Pales-
354 LEBANON AND SYRIA