Palestinian guerrillas in southern Lebanon begged their commanders to be transferred out of the region because they feared an Israeli attack two weeks ago. This was learned from documents captured in Israel’s 32-hour punitive raid on commando bases in the Arkoub region May 12-13. One document was a letter signed by 25 fedayeen and addressed to the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Front. It requested transfer to a less dangerous area because they had no adequate means of defense where they were, a military spokesman disclosed. (According to Washington Post correspondent William Tuohy, reporting today from Beirut, a new explosive element has been injected into Lebanon’s internal crisis in the form of farmers and villagers in the southern border regions who are furious at the Palestinian guerrillas for bringing Israeli retribution on their heads and bitter toward their own government in Beirut for failing to protect them from the Israelis.
Mr. Tuohy stated that whatever sympathy the Lebanese villagers may have had for the fedayeen has rapidly evaporated. He quoted one farmer from Blida. a border village as saying, “Why don’t all those Palestinians in Beirut come down here to live. Then they would know what it is like for us to be shelled and killed by the Israelis for what the fedayeen do.” Mr. Tuohy quoted one diplomatic analyst as saying: “Most Palestinian leaders couldn’t care less about the plight of the Lebanese. They feel that they have been kicked around by the Lebanese for 22 years and now they would like to see Lebanon dragged into the war against Israel on a full-time basis.”)
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