The relationship between the Israeli Knesset elections, and the peaceful negotiations track in the region on the one hand, and Israel's wars in Lebanon on the other, was a very close one for as long as 35 years. This is at least how the Lebanese used to see it, including officials. For the first time, however, elections in Tel Aviv are being held without Beirut being interested, or involved for that matter. It is as if Israel is no longer on the border with Lebanon. Why is that?

Nearly 35 years ago, the Lebanese and Israeli media started to talk about a possible Israeli army invasion of a part of south Lebanon. Indeed, weeks later, in March 1978, the first real Israeli war started in Lebanon, through Operation Litani. This led the United Nations Security Council to issue resolutions 425 and 426 in the days following, prompting Israel to withdraw from all Lebanese territory while establishing the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL).

At the time, Palestinian militants were in control of the Lebanese border with Israel. Yasser Arafat was ruling Beirut, as he later boasted. The Lebanese civil war was at its peak. In other words, the Lebanese state’s control over its territory and borders was almost absent. This turned the south into the epicenter of conflicts and an area attracting all kinds of occupiers.

However, Lebanese officials soon found another explanation for the 1978 invasion. Five years later, Karim Pakradouni, who was then senior adviser to President Elias Sarkis, wrote that Operation Litani in March of that year was orchestrated in advance with Washington and Cairo in order to clean up part of the Middle East arena, as a prelude to Camp David in September of the same year.