Incorrect. Lebanon's destruction began when the PLO left Jordan and invaded the the country, leading to the Lebanese Civil War. That went on for 15 years, decimated the Christian population and led to the Lebanese diaspora (blaming the diaspora on Israel is borderline retarded). After that was settled, Iran-backed Shia Hezbollah took over. It's never ending. Alongside that and the 2005 Gaza pullout (left them irragated gardens and an election framework) only for them to immediately vote for Hamas. Israel since learned the hard way what happens when you pull out of these areas and leave a vacuum. It was different with the Sinai pullout because Egypt was an adequate power that can maintain order. Egypt spent unknown amounts keeping the islamists within its borders in check (e.g. muslim brotherhood). I've always believed that to be partially informed is worse than being uninformed. Even for very well read people like my friend here, misinformed confidence is sometimes the most problematic. Reducing the Middle Eastern Question to an 'Age of Empires' video game scenario is massively simplifying, to put it mildly.

In fact, had Israel took over Lebanon when the PLO was still turning Jordan upside-down, this 'evil empire' would've developed a thriving lebanese nation and none of the tragedies including the diaspora would even exist. People from the region who know the history will tell you I'm right. @ivanalog_com

Still I wanna thank @ivanalog_com for sharing his perspective, our conversations always turn out to be massively enlightening (to me also)

@diamondrapids Thank you for providing the balanced view!