Premier Menachem Begin conveyed a stiff warning to Syria through U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis last night to desist from aiding and abetting Palestine Liberation Organization attacks from Syrian lines in east Lebanon against Israel Defense Force positions.
Israeli and American sources confirmed today that Begin spoke strongly with Lewis on this issue in the aftermath of the terrorist ambush in which five Israeli soldiers were killed by a PLO group emanating from Syrian lines.
In background briefings following the IDF’s attack on Syrian and Palestinian positions in the Bekaa valley today, sources in Jerusalem stressed that the PLO was being actively aided and even “briefed” by the Syrians in their persistent harassment of IDF forces in eastern Lebanon. The sources termed today’s IDF action a “warning” to the Syrians and referred to it as “limited.”
Almost immediately after his meeting with Lewis, Begin vowed to 150 members of a special United Jewish Appeal Prime Minister’s Mission that not one of the 6,000 PLO fighters would be allowed to remain in Beirut. “There is a problem, but we can solve it soon,” Begin said.
“For six weeks we have refrained from entering Beirut,” he added. “But we will have to take care that all the terrorists leave Beirut and Lebanon. None of them will be left. That is the only guarantee that we will have peace, not only in our time but for generations to come,” Begin claimed.
SHARON DRAWS A DISTINCTION
Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, addressing the same group, declared: “The terrorists should be driven out of Beirut. We can do it militarily, we are prepared to do it militarily. But we would like to solve it by negotiations.”
Sharon stressed that there was a distinction between west Beirut proper and the terrorist camps to the south. He accused the Western media of blurring this distinction and reporting that the IDF shelled “Beirut” when in fact it had shelled, in the past, these Palestinian camps to the south of Beirut itself, on the way to the airport.
This pointed distinction made by Sharon was linked by some observers here to the known feeling of the Cabinet that the stalled diplomatic negotiations may need to be expedited by the employment of other limited options in Beirut. The purpose of this would be to convince the PLO that Israel was firmly resolved to launch a comprehensive military assault, as a last resort, if the stalemate continued in the diplomatic effort.
The feeling in the Cabinet is that the credibility of Israel’s military threat is not strong enough in the eyes of the beleaguered PLO — and that may account for their apparent belief that if they hold out long enough they will somehow be “saved” and spared the need to vacate Beirut.
NO CONCRETE RESULTS FROM TALKS IN WASHINGTON
Informed sources confirmed today that the U.S. had been able to point to no concrete progress as a result of the talks in Washington this week between U.S. leaders and the Foreign Ministers of Syria and Saudi Arabia. This became clear to Israel last night when Lewis reported on the talks to Begin in Jerusalem. Begin himself briefed the Cabinet this morning at a special session.
No details were released after the session, but the IDF spokesman’s communique on the IDF action today in east Lebanon noted it had been taken “following the Cabinet’s decision and on the Cabinet’s orders.”
Despite the lack of a tangible breakthrough, however, in the Washington talks, the U.S. still believes there is hope in the ongoing diplomatic process, Israel was told. The U.S. is still urging Israel not to take military action in Beirut while the diplomatic process goes forward.
U.S. REMAINS HOPEFUL
The U.S. is reportedly pointing out that the two Foreign Ministers must report back to Riyadh and
But Israeli sources said there was apparently no movement from Syria either on the question of taking in the PLO men from Beirut or on the longer-term question of withdrawing Syrian forces from Lebanon altogether.
(It was announced in Washington today that President Reagan has instructed U.S. envoy Philip Habib to leave Beirut and visit Syria, Israel, and Saudi Arabia in a renewed effort to end the crisis in Lebanon. See separate story.)
MUBARAK URGES REAGAN TO TALK TO THE PLO
In Cairo, meanwhile, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt urged President Reagan to open a dialogue with the PLO. Mubarak’s message to Reagan was disclosed by Foreign Minister Kamal Hassan Ali in an interview with the official Middle East News Agency.
He warned that the peace process in the Middle East would be seriously affected for many years if Israel launched an assault on west Beirut. He added that if was impossible to resume the stalled talks for Palestinian autonomy on the West Bank and Gaza Strip under the present circumstances. “We cannot talk peace in an atmosphere of war,” he said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
