State Department Says ‘mechanism’ Exists Between Israel, Lebanon for Direct Negotiations on Israel’s

The State Department said today that the “mechanism” already exists between Israel and Lebanon for direct negotiations on Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon and the working out of security arrangements for south Lebanon.

This mechanism, Department spokesman John Hughes explained, is a liaison arrangement between the Lebanese and Israeli military that has existed since the effort began to remove the Palestine Liberation Organization last summer. When talks begin “we will be present” at the request of both countries, the U.S. spokesman said.

Hughes was replying to a question about Israeli expressions of surprise over what a senior State Department official told reporters yesterday on the plane carrying Secretary of State George Shultz back from Canada. The official said Lebanon and Israel have agreed to hold talks which could start by the end of the week.

THE ISSUE OF TIMING

The Israeli surprise may have been due to “timing,” Hughes said. He noted that Morris Draper, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs who is the special negotiator for Lebanon, was on his way back to Beirut when he was taken ill in London yesterday and thus things may not have moved “along specifically at the pace that was expected.”

Draper may be able to go to Beirut tomorrow or by the end of the week at the latest, Hughes said. He said that Philip Habib, who had been the special negotiator for Lebanon, was meeting with Shultz and Deputy Secretary Kenneth Dam today but there were no new plans as of now to send Habib back to the Middle East.

During Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Siamir’s visit here, he made it clear that Israel would not withdraw without a written agreement with Lebanon for security arrangements in south Lebanon to protect Israel’s northern borders.

However, Lebanese President Amin Gemayel told President Reagan during his visit to the White House last week that while he did not oppose security arrangements, he could not negotiate directly with Israel or sign a formal agreement for fear of jeopardizing his relations with other Arab countries. He also called for Israel to be the first foreign force to withdraw from Lebanon.

U.S. SEEKS EARLY WITHDRAWAL OF TROOPS

Hughes said today that positions outlined by Israel and Lebanon were their “first positions.” He said the U.S. did not have a first position of its own but would support whatever was agreed to by Lebanon and Israel. Hughes also stressed that the U.S. was seeking the withdrawal of the Syrians and the PLO.

He noted that Shultz had met with Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam at the United Nations in New York and last week in Washington when the Syrian official was a member of the Arab League delegation led by King Hassan of Morocco which met with Reagan. “We’re working for the speediest possible total withdrawal of foreign forces,” Hughes said.

The U.S. has set the end of the year as a target for the withdrawal of Israel, Syria and the PLO. “If we are going to do something by the end of the year, we have to have a plan promptly,” the Administration official told reporters on the Shultz plane yesterday. “It takes time to implement, to move troops.”

The official indicated that as a first step there might be a partial pull-back of Syrian and Israeli troops with the multinational force, made up of U.S. marines, French and Italian troops, moving into expanded positions, perhaps along the Beirut-Damascus highway, east of Beirut.

Shultz, at a press conference in Ottawa yesterday, said he did not believe it was necessary to increase the multinational force from its present size of 3,400 to the 30,000 Gemayel has called for. The Secretary, however, said there was probably justification “for somewhat expanded forces,” although he did not provide any estimates.

SHULTZ SEES MOVEMENT BY ARABS

Meanwhile, at his Ottawa press conference, Shultz said the Arabs have “made a lot of movement” in the Mideast peace effort. He noted that King Hassan, after his meeting with Reagan last Friday, spoke of coexistence in the Mideast and gave equal importance to the communiques issued by the Arab League after their summit conference in Fez, Morocco last month and Reagan’s September I peace initiative.

“So I don’t know what other implication you could draw than that the Arabs accept the fact that Israel is there and is a permanent part of the region,” Shultz said. “Now the effort is to figure out how to make an arrangement that is peaceful with Israel.”

Administration officials said last week that while Hassan’s statements were “encouraging,” the Arab League group had not met the U.S. request that it agree to recognize Israel and negotiate with it without any pre-conditions. Hassan told a press conference Saturday that this could not happen without Israel withdrawing to its pre-1967 borders.