Kim Ghattas

But other people inside the State Department, including Philip Habib, who we'll hear from in a moment, we'll bring him into the story, I'm sure, but also other experts of the Arab world like Morris Draper are alarmed.

by what might happen if Israel invades.

And they remind Alexander Haig, who is then told to remind Ariel Sharon, that there is a ceasefire in place since a year, and that this ceasefire needs to be respected unless there is a clear provocation on the ground in Lebanon and Israel.

What happens is the Israeli ambassador in London is targeted in an assassination attempt.

He survives, but is paralyzed.

It's a very serious attempt.

He does survive.

Ironically, the men sent to assassinate him are from a party, from a Palestinian faction, the Abu Nidal faction that is opposed to Arafat.

And that intelligence is brought to Menachem Begin, and he dismisses it.

He said, oh, you know, they're all the same.

You know, Abu Nidal, Abu Shmidal, they're all the same.

This is a provocation.

The ceasefire is broken, even though

These were not the terms of the ceasefire.

The Americans had made clear it had to be something in Lebanon and Israel.

This is abroad.

And within two or three days, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon starts.

major invasion.

It actually starts, if I may, not to correct you, Willy, but just to add the detail, it starts on June 4th with a military operation from the sky, bombings, et cetera, and the Lebanese and everybody thinks, oh, you know, more of the same.

We've seen this before.