Given the events of July 2024 and the last time Israel placed Beirut under siege, that was in 2006, we go back to the siege of 1982. This was the time of revolutionary politics, the growth of the rejectionist front (anti-diplomacy) within Palestinian and Arab communities. To help us understand this period we take an episode from The Dig podcasts featuring historian Abdel Razzaq Takriti, on Arab radicalism in the 20th century.
We encourage people to check out the The Dig Thawra (arabic for revolution) series for a better understanding of the Palestinian resistance and Arab nationalism. This episode traces a massive defeat for the Palestinian Revolution: Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon and brutal siege of Beirut.
Under severe pressure and isolated in the wake of Egypt’s peace deal with Israel, the Palestine Liberation Organisation PLO evacuated its headquarters in Beirut. What followed was the brutal massacre of Palestinians at Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps. The PLO was in exile leading up to Yasser Arafat signing the disastrous Oslo Accords in 1993 which sacrificed 78% of Palestinian lands to Israel.
The Dig - EP 452 - 4
