Israel has offered the Security Council a new plan aimed at reaching “a permanent solution” to the unstable situation in south Lebanon.
The Israeli plan calls for “an immediate and total cease-fire in the entire area of south Lebanon for a period of at least six months,” Yohanan Bein, Israel’s Acting Ambassador to the UN, declared. Bein introduced the Israeli plan Thursday night after the 15-member Council unanimously approved the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for another six months.
The Israeli delegate told the Council that once the cease-fire is established in south Lebanon, “It will then be possible to negotiate the territorial and obligational aspects of a permanent solution. These principles should in Israel’s view constitute an accepted framework for a dialogue on lines similar to those envisaged in Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.”
Bein stressed that Israel does not consider the security zone it established in 1984 in south Lebanon to be permanent. Moreover, he said, Israel is worried that the current stalemate is harmful to all parties concerned.
ISRAEL SEEKING PERMANENT SOLUTION
Israel, therefore, is interested in reaching a permanent solution for the security of its northern border, Bein said, adding: “For this purpose, Israel is willing to negotiate and cooperate with the Government of Lebanon or any other credible partner in that country that genuinely seeks and can ensure peace in Lebanon.”
The Ambassador praised the contribution of UNIFIL in maintaining stability in the area. He rejected, however, the charge made last week by UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar that Israel was the major cause of the deteriorating security situation in south Lebanon.
Israeli diplomats said Friday that they had not received any response to their new initiative.
A spokesman for the Israeli UN Mission told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Israel forwarded its new plan for south Lebanon to UN Undersecretary General for Political Affairs Marrack Goulding.
Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon in 1985. It maintained, however, a “security belt” in south Lebanon, extending three to 15 miles north from the Israeli-Lebanese border, as a buffer zone against terrorist attacks on Israeli villages and settlements in upper Galilee.
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