Israeli officials said today that the prevailing mood in Washington was one of anxiety over the Soviet-Syrian threat in the region and determination to counter it. This, they indicated was the atmosphere in which the far-reaching U.S.-Israeli agreements for military, economic and political cooperation were achieved at Premier Yitzhak Shamir’s and Defense Minister Moshe Arens’ meetings with President Reagan and top Administration officials in Washington last week. (See story on Pg. 4 for analysis of the agreements.)
Officials here seemed to be acknowledging implicitly that the Israeli government will have to make efforts to persuade its own public opinion that the agreements reached in Washington will not lead to a situation in which Israel risks escalation against the Syrians in Lebanon in pursuit of American policy goals.
That, precisely, was the substance of warnings sounded at a “Yesh Gyul” (There’s a Limit) demonstration by some 2,000 opponents of Israel’s continued presence in Lebanon, in Tel Aviv last night. Similar concerns were expressed over the weekend by spokesmen for the opposition Labor Alignment.
If reports of a strategic agreement between Israel and the U.S. prove true, this should be the cause of deep concern because such an agreement would not serve the genuine security needs of Israel, the Labor Party stated in an official communique issued today.
LABOR OBJECTIONS
Labor MK Abba Eban, a former Foreign Minister, submitted an urgent agenda motion for a Knesset debate on the subject. The Labor Party warned in its statement that a war against Syria could involve Israel in “dangerous international complications.” The statement expressed “alarm” that political and military decisions allegedly were made by Shamir and Arens arbitrarily without the knowledge of the government or the Knesset.
This was a reference to Deputy Premier David Levy’s angry public complaint that he had not been briefed by Shamir or Arens during the course of their talks in Washington last week.
The young guard of Mapam, a constituent of the Labor Alignment, issued its own statement today charging that the Israeli air raids over Lebanon yesterday and the American air strike today exposed a secret aspect of the agreement reached between the two countries. The Mapam youth expressed concern that these developments may invite direct Soviet involvement in the area.
But former Chief of Staff Mordechai Gur, now a Labor MK, said on Voice of Israel Radio today that all parties concerned — Israel, the U.S. and the USSR — have no desire to become involved in war. Gur warned however that Israel should not adopt a policy of military force such as the Reagan Administration has done. “Problems in Lebanon should be solved in a political way. We should make it clear that we are not ready to and do not want to launch another war,” Gur said.
Government officials here acknowledged that the Reagan Administration is taking a very tough line on Lebanon and the Syrian involvement there and expected Israel to take the same stance. But Israel is “sophisticated enough” not to be drawn into aggressive or provocative actions that do not directly serve its interests, the officials said. “If they (the Americans) tell us to get tough, we’ll tell them they should get tough themselves,” one official added.
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