Worse than Camp David



1983 - May 25, 2000: Disgrace and pride

Saudi-Brokered May 17 Agreement Worse than Camp David

Batoul Wehbe

On the 17th of may 2003, President Amin Gemayel,
represented by Antoine Fattal, signed the deal with the Israelis;
a deal that was thwarted one year later
under the pressure of a popular uprising.

Born a dead paper in 1983, aborted after 9 months and 18 days after being signed, orchestrated by Saudi Arabia-United States-Zionist entity… It’s the shameful agreement of May 17, the flame of popular resistance torch.

Because we live in the heart of conflicts, and our region is open to successive and persistent incursions, on top of which are sectarian strives, and because future lies in our past, and since some of the past is “sneaking” to our present, and future as well; it’s worth to plunge into May 17 agreement, its impacts, backstage and conspiracies.

The best ones to benefit from in this field are the ones who lived that era day by day and who were in the heart of the event.

Najah Wakim, whom we have the chance to interview in this regard, was then a member of the Lebanese Parliament that was assigned to ratify the agreement even by force.

Among 72 MPs who attended that session, only two MPs voiced their rejection to the May 17 agreement. Wakim was one of them. Zaher Al-Khatib, who is now the head of Workers’ Association, also voted against it.

The president of the People's Movement told us the humiliating story of May 17 agreement and its circumstances, but on the other side uncovered the conspiracies that were being weaved against Lebanon.

Even before the Israeli invasion in 1982 and after Egypt signed Camp David accords with Israel it had been in the US-Israeli scheme not to siege Camp David and let Lebanon be the second ring in the chain of conspiracy as in Lebanon they may achieve several things:

• First of all, bearing down heavily on Syria
• Liquidating the Palestinian resistance in Lebanon
• Establishing a collaborating rule with Israel under its control

Then the invasion took place what lead to talks ahead of signing the May 17 agreement.



Who read this agreement carefully could realize that it’s not a simple agreement between two countries as much as it’s to annex Lebanon to Israel and put it under its control, Wakim told Al-Manar Website, adding that the sovereignty of Lebanon was breached in several terms of the agreement.

Israeli Existence, Lebanese Destiny

The mainstream at the time was that the Israeli existence in Lebanon is something inevitable. “It was believed to be Lebanese people’s destiny that cannot be changed; especially that it established a collaborating rule that brought Bashir Gemayel and then Amin Gemayel as Presidents of the Republic. For those who don’t know, it was planned then that Rafiq Hariri be the Prime Minister,” Wakim said.

Saudi Pressure on MPs

As it is known, such agreements should be ratified in the parliament before being approved.

“At that time there had been contacts between number of MPs to reject this agreement and bring it down, but a number of intelligence officers were charged with contacting MPs and threatening them with different ways, mostly through files that were in the intelligence services’ hands,” Wakim unveiled.

Saudi Arabia played an important role in the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and for the agreement to be ratified as well as in preparing for Gemayel’s rule, the former MP indicated, adding that Saudi embassies contacted number of Lebanese MPs whom had relations with Saudi Arabia to ratify the agreement.

“I remember that late Saeb Salam, former PM, had close relationships with Saudi Arabia and I met him in his home in Moseitbeh to discourage him from signing this agreement, but the Saudi decision was more powerful than mine.” he said.

“Illegal Arms” are those of May 17 Militia not Hezbollah’s

Answering a question about a specific term in the agreement that he condemned, the back then MP said the agreement was rejected all in all.

“In the agreement there was a binding item to join Saad Haddad army and all collaborators with Israel in South Lebanon to establish something called Army Supporters as a militia related to the Army under Israeli control and this should have been legalized under the agreement,” he disclosed.

For those who talk about Hezbollah’s “illegal weapons”, Wakim said, let it be them or their fathers, “were the same people who were enthusiastic towards May 17 agreement.”

Those who call now for “sovereignty” and “independence”, Wakim revealed, they were being directed by the Israeli patron, US Envoy to the Middle East Philip Habib, and they made every effort to have the “honor” to meet an Israeli corporal.

Among other items, there was an item that forces the limitation of Army soldiers’ numbers as well as their weapons, and their existence should be in a 45 km range away from the border with occupied Palestinian territories. “Even the Lebanese civil aviation or that coming to Lebanon when they would pass above this region, which is within the Lebanese territories, they should take permission from Israel!” Wakim pointed out.

Worse than Camp David

“Nobody reads this agreement”, the former MP regretted, “whereas this agreement is more dangerous than Camp David and subsequently put Lebanon under Israeli tutelage.”

The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978, following thirteen days of secret negotiations at Camp David, US. The accords dedicated the normalization of relations with Israel and establishing peace with the entity that usurped Palestine and number of Arab territories and committed various massacres and bloodsheds against Arabs.

Syria, Soviet Union Influenced Agreement’s Annuling

If we dive into history, we find that several factors influenced annulling the agreement that the Israeli invasion didn’t accomplish its political aims:

• Firstly the emergence of the resistance movement in Lebanon
• The courageous and strong Syrian positions in the era of Late President Hafez Al-Assad
• Also Soviet Leader Yuri Andropov who took a strong stance against the US and Israeli policies in support of Syria and the resistance choice in Lebanon
• The resistance operations against Israel in the South of Lebanon

And thus the agreement was aborted on March 5, 1984.

Gemayel Tanks Dispatched to Dahiyeh

After the agreement was signed, several protests erupted from Bir al-Abed mosque in Dahiyeh where Late Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah protested along with worshipers and urged them to face this humiliating agreement.

The Lebanese government, then, sent its army to surround the mosque and bombed it killing Mohammad Najdi whose pure martyrdom was the signal of this agreement’s fall.

On this issue, the back then witness told us:

I remember how Amin Gemayel’s rule dispatched Lebanese army tanks that cordoned off Beirut’s southern suburb (Dahiyeh) and leveled its machine guns against people there.

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