Israel’s relations with the Christian Phalangists in Lebanon have deteriorated of late and Jerusalem seems to be concentrating now on increasing the power and influence of its ally, Maj. Saad Haddad, leader of the Christian militia, in south Lebanon.
Pundits here and abroad are uncertain whether this is a play to prod President Amin Gemayel, leader of Phalangist party, to accept Israel’s terms for a withdrawal and security agreement or whether it means the Israelis have given up on the Gemayel government and are following a contingency plan.
The contingency, predicated on the failure of the Israel-Lebanon-U.S. negotiations, now in their sixth week with little progress to show, is for Israel to secure its northern border by unilaterally establishing a security zone in south Lebanon with the help of Haddad. This plan, observers say, has been in the making since the end of last year and recent events give it some credibility.
The growing sense of estrangement from the Phalangists, Israel’s ally against the Palestinians and Moslem leftists, seems to stem from a feeling here that they could have exerted more pressure on Gemayel to conclude an accord with Israel.
The rift with the Phalangists surfaced about 10 days ago after Defense Minister Ariel Sharon returned from what he described as a tough meeting with the veteran Phalange leader, Pierre Gemayel, in Beirut. The elder Gemayel is the father of Amin and of the late Bashir Gemayel, Lebanese President-elect, who was assassinated last September.
Sharon told the Cabinet a week ago that he had warned Pierre Gemayel that Amin Gemayel could hardly be expected to govern Lebanon if he took his orders from Syria and Saudi Arabia. Israel has been charging publicly that the Syrians and Saudis were pressuring the Lebanese President to resist the kind of accord Israel demands with Lebanon.
Sharon’s report to his Cabinet colleagues leaked to the press and was taken as an insult by the Phalangist leader. Later the same week, Pierre Gemayel delivered a stinging attack on Israel, accusing Jerusalem of collusion with Syria to partition Lebanon into spheres of influence.
SITUATION IS AGGRAVATED
The situation is aggravated by the continuing bloody fighting between the Phalangists and Druze villagers in the Shouf mountains district of Lebanon an area under Israeli occupation. Sharon reportedly warned Pierre Gemayel that Israel would withdraw its forces unilaterally to the 45 kilometer security zone north of its border, leaving the Phalangists and other Christian factions to fight it out with the Druze and Moslem militias unaided by Israel.
Sharon added fuel to the fire by remarking at yesterday’s Cabinet meeting that President Gemayel should apply “to his Syrian friends” to put an end to the shelling of Christian east Beirut by Druze artillery positioned behind Syrian lines. Responding to one minister’s question, Sharon said the Israel Defense Force would certainly not intervene in what was “a matter between the government of Lebanon and the government of Syria.”
PHALANGISTS HELD ISRAEL RESPONSIBLE
Yesterday, the Phalange-run “Radio Free Lebanon” accused Israel for the first time of openly aiding the Druze. “Israeli forces are preventing our forces from confronting attacks mounted against us by Druze Socialists in Aley,” the radio said. Aley, once a popular mountain resort, lies astride the main Beirut-Damascus highway. The Phalange radio report indicated that the Druze have overrun the town.
At the Israel-Lebanon-U.S. meeting today at Khalde, Antoine Fatale, head of the Lebanese delegation, said his government held the IDF responsible for what was happening in Aley. The IDF holds the Aley area and is therefore responsible for the Druze success and the Christian retreat from the town, Fatale said.
The rift between Israel and the Phalangists and other Christian elements in Beirut and central Lebanon was widened further by Israel’s energetic efforts to build up Haddad. The Israelis appear to be trying to coalesce all elements in south Lebanon, Christian and Moslem, under Haddad’s leadership.
Most villagers in the south are Shiite Moslems who have a militia of their own, Al Amal. But the Israelis have been working behind the scenes to foster harmony between the Shiites and Haddad’s Christians.
CALL FOR A PEACE TREATY WITH ISRAEL
A public meeting was held yesterday in Koleila, a village south of Tyre, where some 800 south Lebanese businessmen and other notables founded an “organization of residents of south Lebanon” which called for a peace treaty with Israel.
They demanded, however, that Israel allow all south Lebanese who fled the region in recent years to return home and that non-PLO inmates of the Al Ansar detention camp be released. They also declared their support for Haddad’s militia and urged local people to enlist in it. According to media reports, the public meeting was guarded by Israeli troops.
A similar organization has been set up in Nabatiya, the largest town in the eastern region of south Lebanon. Its founder, a Dr. Abdallah Safiedin, was quoted as saying that the government in Beirut “does not consider the needs of the south” and that if the south Lebanese concluded their own accord with Israel Beirut would have to follow suit.
REPORT ISRAEL HAS CONTINGENCY PLAN
According to Israeli newspapers, these developments fit into the reported contingency plan for Israel to follow its own policies in south Lebanon, in effect ignoring the central government in Beirut.
That concept also lends credence to a “secret analysis” by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported by The London Times this morning. According to that document, Israel is seeking to impose its will on the villages of south Lebanon by creating local militias to act as its surrogates.
A south Lebanon option exists for Israel — or at least Israeli policy makers seem to think it does. But observers here believe it is premature to say that Israel has given up hope to achieve an accord with the Beirut government and is there fore trying to establish its own tightly controlled zone of influence in the south.
It seems more likely to some circles that the Israelis are using their south Lebanon option as a tactical maneuver to exert pressure on Amin Gemayel’s government and on the principal Christian parties in Beirut to reach an accord.
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