Arens Spells out Condition for Israel’s Withdrawal from Lebanon

Israel Defense Minister Moshe Arens made it clear yesterday that the Israeli army would not leave southern Lebanon until there was a government in Beirut that could ensure the security of Israel’s northern border.

“As long as there is not a Lebanese government that can provide a credible commitment that it will prevent terrorist action against Israel from southern Lebanon, Israel has no choice but to keep its army deployed in southern Lebanon,” Arens said in an interview on ABC-TV’s “This Week with David Brinkley.”

“We have to protect the lives and the safety of the citizens in the northern part of Israel,” the Defense Minister stressed.

Arens noted that Palestine Liberation Organization terrorists have been infiltrating back into Lebanon, some of them fighting alongside the Druze in the Shouf mountains. He said there have been some rockets fired at Israel but they have been “few and far between” and have not caused any injuries.

Arens said the presence of the Israeli army in south Lebanon has prevented the type of shelling that existed before Israel went into Lebanon in June 1982. He added that Israel has warned the Druze to prevent the PLO from moving south.

Arens said that the withdrawal of the U.S. marines will not help the government of President Amin Gemayel, adding that the past few weeks has shown that maybe nothing could help Gemayel “so maybe it doesn’t really make a difference.”

WARNS ABOUT SYRIA AND THE SOVIET UNION

But he warned that Syria and the Soviet Union believe the West–Britain, France and Italy, as well as the United States–do not have the “staying power” and are not willing to make the commitment to see the Lebanese situation through. He said if this is true, it will be “only a question of time until (Syrian President) Hafez Assad and the Russians behind him will win.”

Arens said that if Syria does gain control in Lebanon and places a Syrian “stooge” in Beirut it will then turn south either against Israel or Jordan.

“I hope they know, I hope they realize that Israel has the staying power. We are in the area to stay…. We have the perseverance,we have the stamina, we have strength to heat anyone who tries to attack us,” Arens warned.

EXPLAINS WHY SYRIA WAS NOT PART OF MAY 17 ACCORD

The Defense Minister said it would be a “sorry spectacle” if Lebanon abrogated its May 17 agreement with Israel, noting that at least in the West it was a practice to keep agreements once they were signed. He rejected the suggestion that it was a mistake to not have included Syria in the agreement.

First of all, Syria did not want to be part of the negotiations at that time, he said. More importantly, Arens stressed that it was a bilateral agreement and to require Syria’s approval was like having the U.S. and Mexico reach an agreement which would then need the approval of Cuba.

Asked about President Reagan’s peace initiative, unveiled in September, 1982, Arens did not rule it out flatly. But he said the current situation in Lebanon demonstrated that it is not a good time now to advise Israel “to make concessions and give up territory.” He did stress that Israel will never go back to its 1967 borders, saying this was something “no Israeli can agree to.”