ISRAEL: The Good Fence Policy

Since the civil war began in Lebanon 15 months ago, Israel's northern border has been quiet—and Jerusalem intends to keep it that way. The Palestinian guerrillas who once launched sporadic terrorist attacks on Israel border settlements have left "Fatahland" to fight against Christians and Syrians in the north. In effect, the southern half of Lebanon has been left without any government, and its 360,000 Moslem, Christian and Druze inhabitants—mostly poor and scrambling farmers—have been abandoned to fend for themselves. Israel is moving determinedly into the vacuum. TIME Jerusalem Bureau Chief Donald Neff last week toured the mountainous 80-mile Israeli-Lebanese...

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