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"Nicholas Veliotes recalled during his interview a visit from Amal leader Nabih Berri in Washington late in 1982, during which the Amal leader said of the Israelis: "We put roses in their path, so glad we were to see the PLO gone. If they leave now, and allow us to assume responsibility for our lives and our land, we'll honor them. If they stay, on the other hand, we'll fight them." He went on to warm Veliotes of a new croud, the radical Shia of the Hizbollah and others currently on the rise in Lebanon and seeking to strike at both the Israelis and their Western friends." (Thomas Anderson Bowditch, Force and Diplomacy, the American Failure in Lebanon, 1982-1984, PhD dissertation, 1999, p228.)
Nicholas Veliotes was the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs under Reagan. In that capacity, he dealt extensively with various Lebanese warlords during Lebanon’s civil war, including Nabih Berri. The quote above suggests that Berri was not exactly shedding tears when the Israelis invaded in 1982, so long as they smashed the PLO. Hafez al-Assad held a similar view: as long as Israeli forces confined their operations to targeting Arafat’s men, the Syrian military was under strict orders to stand aside.
What seems to have concerned Berri more at the time was the rise of his radical Shia competitors.
The Israelis eventually withdrew in 2000. Had Berri succeeded in steering Hezbollah toward the course of action he himself appeared to favor in 1982, the current tragedy in Lebanon might not be unfolding. But Berri surrendered to Hezbollah long ago, and a rebellion sounds rather unlikely now.
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