Under Siege

PLO Decisionmaking During the 1982 War

Rashid Khalidi

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Year: 2014
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9780231535953
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History
• Index: History

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.

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents 
• Preface to the 2014 Reissue
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. The P.L.O. and the Lebanese Before the 1982 War
• 2. The Occupation 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 and Their Posts During the 1982 War
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Supplementary Bibliography
• Index