28 April – For the first time,
Israel intervened directly in the war between
Syria and Lebanese Christians, as Israeli jets shot down two Syrian helicopters, killing four crewmen.[2] Israeli warplanes also bombed Syrian positions on
Mount Sannine. Israel claimed that it was taking action to "spread a protective umbrella" over the Lebanese Christian militias.[3]
5 August –
Menachem Begin presents his cabinet for a
Knesset "Vote of Confidence". The
19th Government is approved that day, and the members are sworn in.
30 November – The Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Cooperation was signed by U.S. Secretary of Defense
Caspar Weinberger and Israeli Defense Minister
Ariel Sharon. The MOU lasted only 17 days and was suspended after Israel announced its annexation of the
Golan Heights.[5]
18 December – Four days after Israel annexed the Golan Heights, the U.S. terminated its recently made Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Israel. The MOU was not reinstated until 17 May 1983.[9]
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which occurred in 1981, include:
Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets
This section needs expansion. You can help by
adding to it. (August 2010)
March - A terrorist infiltrating from
Lebanon using a motorized hang glider manages to reach
Haifa and drop some bombs over the city's bay but is arrested after his glider's motor runs out of fuel and is forced to land.[10]
10 August – Palestinian terrorists threw two bombs at an Israeli embassy in
Vienna, wounding a 75-year-old woman.
10–24 July – The
Israeli Defense Forces began a regular bombardment of
Palestine Liberation Organization strongholds in
Lebanon. The siege escalated after the Palestinian guerillas began shelling Israeli settlements. Until a 24 July ceasefire, 450 Palestinians and Lebanese, and 6 Israelis, died[12]
17 July –
Israeli bombing of Beirut: Aircraft from Israel bombed a residential area of West
Beirut that housed PLO headquarters. Ten apartment buildings were destroyed, more than 300 people were killed, and 800 or more injured. Most were civilians.[13]
^Mordechai Bar-On, In pursuit of peace: a history of the Israeli peace movement (US Institute of Peace Press, 1996); "2 Syrian 'copters downed by Israel over Lebanon", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 29 April 1981, p1
^Cheryl A. Rubenberg, Israel and the American National Interest: A Critical Examination (University of Illinois Press, 1989) p267
^"The Bombing of Beirut", Journal of Palestine Studies (1981) pp218–225;James Ron, Frontiers and Ghettos: State Violence in Serbia and Israel (University of California Press, 2003) p175
^"Lebanese Civil War of 1975-90", Dictionary of Wars (George C. Kohn, ed.) (Infobase Publishing, 2006) p301
28 April – For the first time,
Israel intervened directly in the war between
Syria and Lebanese Christians, as Israeli jets shot down two Syrian helicopters, killing four crewmen.[2] Israeli warplanes also bombed Syrian positions on
Mount Sannine. Israel claimed that it was taking action to "spread a protective umbrella" over the Lebanese Christian militias.[3]
5 August –
Menachem Begin presents his cabinet for a
Knesset "Vote of Confidence". The
19th Government is approved that day, and the members are sworn in.
30 November – The Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Cooperation was signed by U.S. Secretary of Defense
Caspar Weinberger and Israeli Defense Minister
Ariel Sharon. The MOU lasted only 17 days and was suspended after Israel announced its annexation of the
Golan Heights.[5]
18 December – Four days after Israel annexed the Golan Heights, the U.S. terminated its recently made Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Israel. The MOU was not reinstated until 17 May 1983.[9]
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The most prominent events related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which occurred in 1981, include:
Notable Palestinian militant operations against Israeli targets
This section needs expansion. You can help by
adding to it. (August 2010)
March - A terrorist infiltrating from
Lebanon using a motorized hang glider manages to reach
Haifa and drop some bombs over the city's bay but is arrested after his glider's motor runs out of fuel and is forced to land.[10]
10 August – Palestinian terrorists threw two bombs at an Israeli embassy in
Vienna, wounding a 75-year-old woman.
10–24 July – The
Israeli Defense Forces began a regular bombardment of
Palestine Liberation Organization strongholds in
Lebanon. The siege escalated after the Palestinian guerillas began shelling Israeli settlements. Until a 24 July ceasefire, 450 Palestinians and Lebanese, and 6 Israelis, died[12]
17 July –
Israeli bombing of Beirut: Aircraft from Israel bombed a residential area of West
Beirut that housed PLO headquarters. Ten apartment buildings were destroyed, more than 300 people were killed, and 800 or more injured. Most were civilians.[13]
^Mordechai Bar-On, In pursuit of peace: a history of the Israeli peace movement (US Institute of Peace Press, 1996); "2 Syrian 'copters downed by Israel over Lebanon", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 29 April 1981, p1
^Cheryl A. Rubenberg, Israel and the American National Interest: A Critical Examination (University of Illinois Press, 1989) p267
^"The Bombing of Beirut", Journal of Palestine Studies (1981) pp218–225;James Ron, Frontiers and Ghettos: State Violence in Serbia and Israel (University of California Press, 2003) p175
^"Lebanese Civil War of 1975-90", Dictionary of Wars (George C. Kohn, ed.) (Infobase Publishing, 2006) p301