Israel Operation Called ‘inevitable’

The transformation in recent months of the Palestine Liberation Organization from a “guerrilla” force into a conventional army posing a threat to Israel’s security “made it virtually inevitable that sooner or later the Israelis would push the PLO back from its vulnerable northern border,” Sen. Alan Cranston (D. Calif.) said last night.

“We all deeply regret the terrible loss of life, Arab and Jewish, in Israel’s perhaps necessary — but inevitably bloody — military action in Lebanon,” Cranston told some 500 people attending the 70th annual convention of the National Council of Young Israel. “All human, life is sacred, the lives of our enemies no less than the lives of our friends. But as Israel saw it, she had no choice but to move when she did against terrorist gunmen of the so called Palestine Liberation Organization.”

According to Cranston, who is the Senate Democratic Whip, “some long lasting good” may come about as a result of the Israeli action. He said this would include a chance for Lebanon to rid its territories of foreign forces and “to become once again a unified, democratic nation at peace with itself and with Israel.” He called on the United States to take a strong active leadership role to meet these ends.