pt down by the dominant Sunnis, Asad also was concerned that the idea of partition might spread to Syria (Devlin 106).
Lebanese politics were profoundly destabilized by the entry into Lebanon of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which had been ejected from Jordan in 1970-1971. The PLO carried the banner of militant anti-Israeli jihad. It launched terrorist attacks on northern Israel from Lebanese bases which engendered Israeli reprisals. The PLO allied itself with Kamal Jumblatt, a Druze leader, and other Muslim militants who challenged both Christian political dominance and the traditional leading role played by Sunni Muslims in Lebanese politics. Israeli historian Rabinovich said Asad "had intervened discreetly in the Lebanese elections in 1972" (37). He attempted without success to mediate solutions to the growing civil war in Lebanon during 1975 and early 1976. Its first proposed settlement of Lebanese differences, the Reform or Constitutional Document of February 1976, w
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