Under Siege: PLO Decisionmaking During the 1982 War

by Rashid Khalidi

Overview

Under Siege is Rashid Khalidi's firsthand account of the 1982 Lebanon War and the complex negotiations for the evacuation of the P.L.O. from Beirut. Utilizing unconventional sources and interviews with key officials and diplomats, Khalidi paints a detailed portrait of the siege and ensuing massacres, providing insight into the military pressure experienced by the P.L.O., the war's impact on Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, and diplomatic efforts by the United States. A new preface by Khalidi considers developments across the Middle East in the thirty years since the conflict. The preface also cites recently declassified Israeli documents to offer surprising new revelations about the roles and responsibilities of both Israeli leaders and American diplomats in the tragic coda to the war, the Sabra and Shatila massacres.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231535953
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	01/04/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Lexile:	1570L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, and the author of Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness.

Table of Contents

Preface to the 2014 Reissue
Preface
Introduction
1. The P.L.O. and the Lebanese Before the 1982 War
2. The Fall of South Lebanon and the Siege of Beirut: A Military Overview
3. P.L.O. Decisions: The Military Inputs
4. June 1982: The Decision to Leave Beirut
5. July 1982: The Decision to Accept the Habib Plan
6. Wartime Decisions and Their Consequences
Appendix
List of Abbreviations
Cast of Characters
Notes
Bibliography
Supplementary Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

[An] important study.

Journal of Palestine Studies - Ibrahim Abu-Lughod

An extremely valuable analysis of how and why the P.L.O. made the decisions it did during that fateful summer of 1982. For students of the Middle East, his generally objective, lucid and incisive account of P.L.O. decisionmaking fills a critical void in the literature about the Israeli invasion.

The New York Times - Thomas L. Friedman

Khalidi's very thorough analysis will provide vital material for historians of this most futile and destructive of all wars between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

International Affairs

Khalidi is eloquent and judicious.... The reader is rewarded with many insights into guerilla warfare... equally valuable and compelling are his sketches of how military peace-keeping failed because of American diplomatic naïveté. Under Siege is painful to read. It is also essential.

Military Affairs

A first-rate study.

Foreign Affairs

A unique perspective on PLO decisionmaking not available in materials previously published by Israeli and Western writers.

Middle East Journal

A gold-mine of empirical evidence and insights for students of decision-making under crisis. Khalidi is first and foremost an involved historian... [his] work is a much needed and welcome contribution to the modern literature on Middle Eastern history and politics.

Bulletin (British Society for Middle Eastern Studies) - Fawaz A. Gerges

A gold-mine of empirical evidence and insights for students of decision-making under crisis. Khalidi is first and foremost an involved historian... [his] work is a much needed and welcome contribution to the modern literature on Middle Eastern history and politics.

MERIP Middle East Report

Khalidi has produced an extremely valuable analysis of how and why the P.L.O. made the decisions it did that fateful summer of 1982. For students of the middle east, his generally objective, lucid, and incisive account of P.L.O. decisionmaking fills a critical void in the literature about the Israeli invasion.

New York Times

Khalidi brings to bear his direct knowledge of the Palestinian movement and his personal experience of the siege of Beirut, adding a unique perspective to his abilities as a historian and political scientist...By focusing on how hard the PLO fought and why it eventually withdrew from Beirut, Under Siege brings out the Palestinians—men, women and children, fighters and leaders—as very human beings.

MERIP Middle East Report - Yezid Sayigh