Editing Palestine Liberation Organization (section)

===Lebanese Civil War: 1971–1982===
{{Main|Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon|Lebanese Civil War}}
In the late 1960s, and especially after the expulsion of the Palestinian militants from Jordan in [[Black September|Black September events in 1970–1971]], Lebanon had become the base for PLO operations. Palestinian militant organizations relocated their headquarters to South Lebanon, and relying on the support in Palestinian refugee camps, waged a campaign of attacks on the Galilee and on Israeli and Jewish targets worldwide. Increasing penetration of Palestinians into Lebanese politics and Israeli retaliations gradually deteriorated the situation.

By the mid-1970s, Arafat and his Fatah movement found themselves in a tenuous position.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}} Arafat increasingly called for diplomacy, perhaps best symbolized by his [[PLO's Ten Point Program|Ten Point Program]] and his support for a UN Security Council resolution proposed in 1976 calling for a [[two-state solution|two-state settlement]] on the pre-1967 borders.{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}} But the [[Rejectionist Front]] denounced the calls for diplomacy, and a diplomatic solution was vetoed by the United States.{{Citation needed|date=April 2012}} In 1975, the increasing tensions between Palestinian militants and Christian militias exploded into the [[Lebanese Civil War]], involving all factions. On 20 January 1976, the PLO took part in the [[Damour massacre]] in retaliation to the [[Karantina massacre]]. The PLO and [[Lebanese National Movement]] attacked the Christian town of [[Damour]], killing 684 civilians and forcing the remainder of the town's population to flee. In 1976 Syria joined the war by invading Lebanon, beginning the 29‑year [[Syrian occupation of Lebanon]], and in 1978 Israel [[1978 South Lebanon conflict|invaded South Lebanon]] in response to the [[Coastal road massacre]], executed by Palestinian militants based in Lebanon.

The population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip saw Arafat as their best hope for a resolution to the conflict.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}} This was especially so in the aftermath of the [[Camp David Accords]] of 1978 between Israel and Egypt, which the Palestinians saw as a blow to their aspirations to self-determination.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}} [[Abu Nidal]], a sworn enemy of the PLO since 1974,<ref>Seale 1992, 98.</ref> assassinated the PLO's diplomatic envoy to the [[European Economic Community]], which in the [[Venice Declaration]] of 1980 had called for the Palestinian right of self-determination to be recognized by Israel.

Opposition to Arafat was fierce not only among radical Arab groups, but also among many on the Israeli right.{{Citation needed|date=February 2011}} This included [[Menachem Begin]], who had stated on more than one occasion that even if the PLO accepted [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 242|UN Security Council Resolution 242]] and recognized Israel's right to exist, he would never negotiate with the organization.<ref>Smith, op. cit., p. 357</ref>{{verify source|date=April 2012}} This contradicted the official United States position that it would negotiate with the PLO if the PLO accepted Resolution 242 and recognized Israel, which the PLO had thus far been unwilling to do. Other Arab voices had recently called for a diplomatic resolution to the hostilities in accord with the international consensus, including Egyptian leader [[Anwar Sadat]] on his visit to Washington, DC in August 1981, and Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia in his 7 August peace proposal; together with Arafat's diplomatic maneuver, these developments made Israel's argument that it had "no partner for peace" seem increasingly problematic. Thus, in the eyes of Israeli hard-liners, "the Palestinians posed a greater challenge to Israel as a peacemaking organization than as a military one".<ref>Smith, op. cit., 376</ref>

After the appointment of Ariel Sharon to the post of [[Ministry of Defense (Israel)|Minister of Defense]] in 1981, the Israeli government policy of allowing political growth to occur in the occupied West Bank and Gaza strip changed. The Israeli government tried, unsuccessfully, to dictate terms of political growth by replacing local pro-PLO leaders with an Israeli civil administration.<ref>Shaul Mishal, Ranan D. Kuperman, David Boas (2001). ''Investment in Peace: Politics of Economic Cooperation Between Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority''. Sussex Academic Press, {{ISBN|978-1-902210-88-9}} p 64</ref>

In 1982, after an attack on a senior Israeli diplomat by Lebanon-based Palestinian militants in Lebanon, Israel [[1982 Lebanon War|invaded Lebanon]] in a much larger scale in coordination with the Lebanese Christian militias, reaching Beirut and eventually resulting in ousting of the PLO headquarters in June that year. Low-level Palestinian insurgency in Lebanon continued in parallel with the consolidation of Shia militant organizations, but became a secondary concern to Israeli military and other Lebanese factions. With ousting of the PLO, the Lebanese Civil War gradually turned into a prolonged conflict, shifting from mainly PLO-Christian conflict into involvement of all Lebanese factions – whether [[Lebanese Sunni Muslims|Sunni]], [[Lebanese Shia Muslims|Shia]], [[Lebanese Druze|Druze]], and [[Christianity in Lebanon|Christians]].