stephen  d. leece

This was essentially a propaganda exercise designed to justify the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 on a false pretext by publishing PLO documents from their HQ in Sidon however it is not without merit.

The documents are reproduced, unedited, un-redacted and with contextual notes added for the reader’s sanity and it gives one a valuable insight into how the PLO managed to create a state within a state in South Lebanon from the early to mid-70s to their eventual expulsion in the early 80s.

In particular their sources of funding, Soviet Moscow are naturally highlighted, but it is of interest to know that PLO tropps were sent to the Soviet Union for training, as well as the PLO having links to other Far Left, Soviet-backed guerrilla groups.

With hindsight the irony is the inside flap blurb speaks of “the growing antagonism between Palestinians and Lebanese” completely oblivious to the impending threat of the Lebanese-grown Jammoul.

Nevertheless this is still a valuable collection of documents detailing the mentality and make-up of the PLO at that time.