Published: 10 June 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
At White House meeting during First Lebanon War, Israeli PM Menachem Begin pushed to transfer Palestinians from Lebanon to Libya or Saudi Arabia
Two weeks after the outbreak of the First Lebanon War, which Israel embarked upon 40 years ago this month, Prime Minister Menachem Begin and U.S. President Ronald Reagan met in Washington.
This discussion took place on June 21, 1982 at the White House. The English transcript was recently scanned and uploaded to the Israel State Archives site as part of a file of hundreds of pages of documents recording the conversations between Israel and the U.S. about the First Lebanon War.
In the transcript, Reagan first considers the possibility that the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon would assimilate into local society and become Lebanese citizens. “Would the bulk of those Palestinians (not PLO), would not they, if they were told by the government of Lebanon, that they could become legitimate citizens, would that not be a solution? They are, after all, in every other Arab country,” Reagan asks. A little later, he says, “I understood… that those who want to become part of Lebanese society would be welcome to do so.”
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Yehuda Blum, replies, “In Lebanon there is also a problem of the religious balance that could be upset by granting the refugees permanent status,” since most Palestinians are Muslims. “I could see why Lebanon would be reluctant to admit them permanently,” he said.
Begin responds that there were between 350,000 and 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, of whom 15,000-20,000 were “organized terrorists with heavy equipment.” Referring to the refugees, he says, “At least part should leave Lebanon… It is a small country.”
He suggested sending them to other Arab countries. “Libya claims to be a friend of the PLO. It is a large country. So why should not they take people in? Iraq is a huge country with vast resources – water and oil – why should they not go there?” Begin says. “Iraq is empty, Syria is empty,” he says later on.
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