Moshe Arens, the chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, urged today that “the Christians in Lebanon must not be allowed to go under.” He spoke as the Christian areas of Beirut underwent their most savage bombardment at the hands of Syrian artillery since the civil war began in Lebanon. But Arens did not elaborate on the implication of his statement, which was made in a radio interview. Earlier in the day he had chaired a meeting of his committee at which army personnel briefed the members on the fighting in Beirut.
Arens said the Syrians appeared to be “exploiting the spirit of Camp David”–in other words, that they were escalating their involvement on the assumption that Israel for its part would not react for fear of upsetting the Camp David agreements and the forthcoming negotiations on their implementation. Arens is one of the main opponents of the agreements within Likud.
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