From misstep came suicide tactics

The incursion into Lebanon in 1982 was not a fight for Israel's survival, but a misadventure. The government reluctantly set up a commission of inquiry, which forced the resignation of the head of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Yehoshua Saguy, and criticized Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the foreign minister, Yitzhak Shamir. Top Stories

The strongest finding was directed at Gen. Ariel Sharon for "having disregarded the prospect of acts of vengeance and bloodshed by the Phalangists" and "for not ordering appropriate measures for preventing or reducing the chances of a massacre." Gen. Sharon told the Cabinet that accepting the report amounted to a "mark of Cain" on all of Israel.