What was going on when I was born?

The longstanding relationship between Israel and Lebanon's Christian Phalangist militia has sharply deteriorated in recent weeks, with each side accusing the other of breaking promises and double-dealing. Two independent Israeli military analysts, in direct contact with senior officials of the Israeli Army and intelligence agencies, say that there is mounting repugnance among Israeli officers over working with the militiamen in light of the Phalangists' massacre of Palestinians in Beirut refugee camps. This is coupled with a growing feeling among members of Israel's military and political establishments that the Phalangists used the Israelis to do their dirty work, but failed to ''deliver the goods'' in the form of a peace treaty between Lebanon and Israel - even though their party's candidate, Amin Gemayel, is President of Lebanon. 'Perfumed Soldiers' ''The view of the Phalangists among Israeli officers,'' the military analysts said, ''is that they are 'perfumed soldiers,' ready to fight to the last Israeli.'' Today's resignation of the Israeli Defense Minister, Ariel Sharon, is expected by Israeli military analysts to erode relations further between the Phalangists and the Israeli Army.

As the telephone industry in the United States changes and more people buy their own phones, cordless models that allow users to wander as they speak are capturing the fancy of a growing number of Americans. As many as 2.4 million sets may be sold in 1983, according to an industry spokesman. Consumers, distributors and manufacturers tell tales of both electronic wizardry and electronic woe. Lawyers describe the deals they arranged while basking on the beach. Mothers recount the calls they answer while feeding their babies. However, technology buffs repeat rumors about cordless telephone raiders - people who are said to prowl suburban roads in search of dial tones that enable them to place long-distance calls at someone else's expense. Some owners complain of interference from household appliances and the cordless phones of neighbors.

The worst storm of the winter struck the mid-Atlantic states and the New York metropolitan area yesterday. Howling winds and deep snows disrupted travel, commerce, entertainment, government and endof-the-week activities for millions of people. The National Weather Service called it a near-blizzard along most sections of the Eastern Seaboard, but that was only a meteorological technicality that did not capture the spirit of the snowbound American landscape. In cities, suburbs and windblown rural settings from the Carolinas to the Northeast, up to 20 inches of snow closed schools and airports, blocked highways, knocked out power supplies and forced businesses and government offices to close early. Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Trenton were virtually paralyzed.

In a move that could have a major impact on arms agreements, the Soviet Union has said it wants to start talks this spring on opening some Soviet civilian nuclear plants to United Nations inspectors. Moscow's move was announced in Vienna by the International Atomic Energy Agency, a United Nations body. The agency's director general, Hans Blix of Sweden, said negotiations would begin in May or June ''on a safeguards agreement with the agency.'' Disarmament specialists here said this was the first time Moscow had taken a step toward allowing foreign monitors inside Soviet borders. They would be restricted to nuclear plants with peaceful uses.

Prime Minister Menachem Begin has asked Moshe Arens, Israel's Ambassador to the United States, to replace Ariel Sharon as Defense Minister, and Mr. Arens is inclined to accept, associates of the diplomat said today. Mr. Arens refused to comment pending a formal announcement by the Israeli Cabinet on Sunday of Mr. Sharon's giving up the Defense Ministry position. In an interview on Cable News Network in New York today, Mr. Arens said it was ''hypothetical'' to discuss his becoming Defense Minister at this time. But friends of Mr. Arens said Dan Meridor, the secretary to the Israeli Cabinet, telephoned Mr. Arens on Thursday night to tell him that Mr. Sharon was no longer going to be Defense Minister. The Cabinet had earlier voted to accept the recommendations of the state commission that Mr. Sharon be stripped of his job because of the Beirut massacre.

Ariel Sharon, who resigned this morning as Defense Minister, can remain in the Cabinet as a minister without portfolio, a spokesman for Prime Minister Menachem Begin said today. If Mr. Sharon chooses to accept such a position, one with Cabinet rank but no specific responsibilities, he would probably remain in the policy-making inner circle. He has not yet indicated his intentions. As a result, the impact on Israeli-American relations and Israel's negotiations with Lebanon is not yet clear. Mr. Sharon has been an irritant in the relationship with Washington, and an adamant proponent of a significant Israeli presence in a southern Lebanese security zone, even after a withdrawal of the main Israeli forces. If Mr. Sharon, who only resigned from the defense post, not from the Cabinet, accepts Mr. Begin's offer, he would probably be influential in shaping Israel's positions.

The Producer Price Index, led by declines in gasoline and home heating oil prices, fell 1 percent in January, the largest monthly decrease since the index was started in 1947, the Labor Department reported today. ''Literally, it is remarkable news,'' said Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan. ''What it represents is the first taste of what falling oil prices can do for our inflation. It means that inflation is under control and will stay down.''

The International Monetary Fund decided today to increase its lending pool by $32.5 billion so that it can meet the demand for emergency loans from developing countries short of money to pay foreign debts. The agreement increases the fund's basic lending pool by 47.4 percent, to $98.5 billion, from $66 billion. That percentage represented a concession to the Text of I.M.F. appraisal, page 31. United States, which had refused to go above 50 percent, as most other industrial nations wanted. The Reagan Administration had argued that it could not persuade Congress to approve this country's share of the increase - $5.8 billion - if the percentage was any higher. The United States provides one-fifth of the agency's basic lending pool.

A doctor here likes to tell a story about the women of the white, foreign community who frequent his private practice. In the past, he says, he has treated them for all kinds of esoteric woes but, of late, they have been arriving in numbers seeking the banal: ointment for burns, stitches for cuts, balm for sundry indignities. The reason, the doctor says, is that previously the women all depended on their stewards from Ghana and Benin and elsewhere to do the household chores. The servants, largely, are gone now, victims of Nigeria's decision to expel illegal immigrants, and so the women must cope with forgotten challenges: overheating stoves and undisciplined carving knives. There has even been a run on washing machines in the local market now that human launderers have departed.

Anonymous telephone callers said today that Sergar, the champion bay stallion taken from the Aga Khan's stud farm, had been destroyed, but the police said the calls might be a hoax or a ruse to cover the kidnappers' trail. The calls, made to the BBC in Belfast and to the Northern Ireland home of Jeremy Maxwell, a racehorse trainer, all said the missing racehorse had an ''accident.''

The United States Ambassador to El Salvador said today that a Congressional refusal to approve additional military aid would give ''new heart to the guerrilla movement.'' Ambassador Deane R. Hinton made his remarks after Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, the chief American delegate to the United Nations, declined to comment on the subject at a news conference. Mrs. Kirkpatrick's two-day visit to El Salvador has heightened speculation about whether the Reagan Administration will use an emergency discretionary fund to increase military aid above the $26.3 million Congress has already allocated for El Salvador in the fiscal year that began last Oct. 1.

The Israeli Government formally expressed to the Vatican today its displeasure over what it said was continuing anti-Israeli activities by Archbishop Hilarion Capucci, a Syrian prelate who was released from an Israeli prison in 1977 on a papal undertaking that he would not act in a way ''detrimental'' to Israel. The Israeli complaint, the highest level in a long series of approaches to the Vatican, was occasioned by an appearance of the Archbishop on one of the most popular interview shows on Italian television this week. Monsignor Capucci used the appearance to state at length his support of the Palestine Liberation Organization's program. He is a member of the P.L.O.'s highest body, the Palestine National Council.