Operation Peace For Galilee: The Israeli-PLO War in Lebanon

by Richard A. Gabriel

The first book about the 1982 war in Lebanon, Operation Peace for Galilee is based on hundreds of interviews with the soldiers of both sides, the guerrillas who fought in it, and the civilians caught in the middle.  Much of the detail is drawn from in-depth conversations with the major Israeli commanders who planned and fought the battles.  The author traveled every major route of advance taken by the Israeli army, and visited the sites of important battles, including Tyre, Sidon, the Beirut-Damascus highway, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut.  Materials, notes, and articles dealing with matters of national security are routinely submitted to Israeli censors, but Gabriel was able to circumvent this process.  His is therefore the only analysis which considers the Israeli Defense Force's successes and failures in the war in Lebanon and the problems resulting from the major expansion of the IDF since the 1973 war.

Genres: Military Fiction, Middle East, Lebanon, History

242 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1984

Reviews

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this to learn more about the PLO war and was disappointed by the superior attitude of the author and his blatant prejudice and disdain for all but his fellow Talmudist. His dismissal of the heroics of Bachir Gemayel as if it was the duty of the "goy" to die for the advance of Israel was and is difficult to stomach.

[Sleepy Boy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out strong but started to drop off towards the end. Sadly the author spends more time explaining how the IDF was before the war and after rather than on the war and the siege of Beirut itself. From its description the book also sounded like it was going to have actual quotes from the vets which it does not.