Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig maintained here last night that the United States did not provide Israel with a “green light” for its invasion of Lebanon last June. He said any suggestion that the U.S. did is the “consequence of mischievous political activity” in Israel and the U.S.
At the same time, while expressing cautious optimism at the accord reached between Israel and Lebanon for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, Haig suggested that there have been “lost opportunities” and “complicating factors” in recent months which may impede implementation of the accord.
Haig, who was Secretary of State in the Reagan Administration from January, 1980, until he resigned his post several weeks after Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, reportedly over a split in foreign policy decisions within the Administration, made his remarks at a public dialogue at the Sutton Place Synagogue with the synagogue’s spiritual leader, Rabbi David Kahane.
Summarizing some of the events which immediately preceded the Israeli action, Haig recounted that in a foreign policy speech he delivered last May, he warned that “time was running out in Lebanon” and of the increasingly deteriorating situation in that country. Furthermore, Haig said that the Israelis “had put the world on notice” that continued provocations from Palestinian terrorists on Israel’s northern settlements would result in retaliation.
According to Haig, he personally told Israeli Premier Menachem Begin that any action by Israel against terrorist strongholds in Lebanon would have to be the result of “a perceivable and recognized international provocation. And second, a reaction itself should have been proportional to that provocation and perceived to be.” It was unclear whether Haig personally perceived Israel’s action to be “proportional” to the provocation which preceded the invasion.
CITES NEW SPIRIT OF U.S.-ISRAEL COOPERATION
Haig said it would be “hard not to welcome” the Israeli-Lebanon accord for the withdrawal of Israeli forces, which was signed by the two countries today. But he noted that the Israeli withdrawal is contingent on a withdrawal of Syrian forces as well as a withdrawal of the some 8,000-12,000 Palestinian terrorists in Lebanon.
He said the mission of Secretary of State George Shultz which led to the agreement has resulted in a “new spirit of cooperation and consultation” between Israel and the U.S. He asserted that “the only solution for Lebanon is the removal of all foreign forces.”
The former Secretary touched on several other issues, including the massacre of Palestinians in the Beirut refugee camps last September. He suggested that some responsibility lies with the U.S. for creating a “vacuum” when it pulled the marines out of Lebanon following the evacuation of the PLO from west Beirut.
Because of this vacuum, Haig continued, the Israeli military leaders decided to enter the city in an effort to prevent a “collapse into bloodshed” of the Lebanese capital. He said these leaders have “paid the consequence,” a reference to the Israeli commission of inquiry report which led to the resignation of Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and other military officials.
OBJECTIONABLE ELEMENT ON REAGAN’S PLAN
While Haig said he supports President Reagan and his efforts for peace in the Middle East, he said that does not mean he favors the September 1 Middle East initiative in total. He said he found objectionable the initiative’s call for a halt to Israeli settlement activity on the West Bank.
He said that he was against the settlements, as being “counterproductive” to the peace process and had even suggested to Begin that the Israeli government “terminate” settlement activity. But Haig pointed out that this is an Israeli “trump card” that should not be tossed on the bargaining table before negotiations on the future status of the occupied territory begins.
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.
