Foreign Minister Yigal Allon warned today that Israel may reconsider its agreement to the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) mandate renewal if current negotiations between Syria and UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim produce unacceptable political strings attached to the renewal.
Speaking here, Allon voiced Israel’s dissatisfaction with Waldheim’s visit to Damascus. He spoke of the draft letter which Waldheim has been requested to submit to the Syrians and said that Israel would have to carefully examine the letter.
Allon’s public statement was plainly intended, observers said, to influence the Secretary General on his Damascus mission, not to agree to Syrian demands to link the renewal of the mandate with broader Middle Eastern issues.
In Tel Aviv it was learned that the officer commanding the northern command, Gen. Rafael Eytan said that while there are indications Syria will renew the mandate, this in itself gives no assurances that the northern border will be quiet. He indicated that the Syrians continue to build fortifications and their army occupies positions easily convertible from defensive to offensive.
Eytan also said the presence of many thousands of Arab terrorists in Lebanon would become a problem with far reaching consequences once the troubles inside Lebanon end.
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