Background Report Shamir to Link Security and Normalization with Lebanon in His Talks with Shultz Ne

Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir will link the issues of security and normalization in regard to Israel’s relations with Lebanon when he meets with Secretary of State George Shultz in Washington next week.

Shamir’s position will be that normalization — the free flow of persons and goods — is an element of overall security, and thus the more normalization there is the more flexible Israel will be able to be on aspects of security arrangements.

Shamir will continue to demand that the IDF deploy its own “anti-terrorist posts” inside south Lebanon for an initial period after the withdrawal. But the length of that period would be determined, or at least influenced, by the pace and scope of normalization between the two countries.

This position was worked out in Jerusalem this week in consultations preparatory to Shamir’s trip. Defense Minister Moshe Arens met with Shamir and his aides yesterday. Shamir is scheduled to meet with Premier Menachem Begin for last minute instructions.

Officials asserted that Shamir would be “firm” in his representation to Shultz and U.S. special envoy Philip Habib in Washington, particularly on Israel’s demand for the IDF-manned outposts in south Lebanon. Observers here believe nevertheless that Israel could be persuaded to forgo those outposts if other elements of security are adequate.

The observers believe that notwithstanding the official tough line, Shamir is empowered to negotiate other alternatives to the anti-terrorist outposts inasmuch as Lebanon has adamantly refused to countenance the future deployment of Israeli troops on its territory.

But Israel is seeking several other aspects of security. They include, according to observers, joint IDF-Lebanese patrols; aerial overflights intelligence cooperation; command-level coordination between the two armies; and an ongoing role for Maj. Saad Haddad’s militia in the south.

The observers believe Shamir will also hold out for maximum gains in the realm of normalization and in effect trade them off for some softening of the Israeli demands regarding specific security arrangements. Some members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee who listened to Shamir’s briefing Tuesday came away believing that a softening had in fact been intimated in the Foreign Minister’s remarks.

Officials in Washington clearly expect Israel to forgo the demand for the outposts. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East and South Asian Affairs Nicholas Veliotes, testifying before a Congressional committee this week, was quoted as expressing doubt that the Lebanese would agree to even daily patrols by IDF soldiers, who would return to Israeli territory each night. Veliotes said Beirut might regard this as an infringement of sovereignty and would expect the Syrians to make the same demand for the area abutting their border in the east.

Shamir has insisted repeatedly that no infringement of Lebanese sovereignty is intended, or indeed would result from security measures since the Lebanese government would have agreed to them in free negotiations. He cited the demilitarization and limitation-of-forces arrangements in Sinai as a case in point.

NEGATIVE REACTION TO ‘PROXIMITY’ TALKS

Foreign Ministry officials reacted coldly today to the idea, implied by a State Department spokesman yesterday, that Shamir and Lebanese Foreign Minister Elie Salem would engage in indirect or “proximity” negotiations through the U.S. while both are in Washington next week. The officials declared that Shamir would not agree to such talks, because if Salem wants to negotiate with him the meetings must be direct, face-to-face.

The officials pointed out that Israel and Lebanon are currently engaged in twice-weekly direct negotiations and there is no reason for the Foreign Ministers to revert to an indirect format.