Israel Prepared to Cooperate with Shultz to Facilitate Withdrawal of Its Troops from Lebanon and to

Israeli policymakers are prepared to cooperate with U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz to facilitate the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon and to improve relations with Washington which have been badly strained since the war in Lebanon last summer.

This consensus emerged after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting when several ministers indicated unofficially that there could still be some “give” in the Israeli positions, including its insistance on a commanding role for Maj. Saad Haddad in south Lebanon.

But the ministers made it clear that Israel would be more flexible only if there was similar flexibility on the part of the Lebanese government and if Shultz could demonstrate that an agreement was within sight.

The American Secretary of State, on his first Mideast tour since taking office, was in Cairo today and is due here Wednesday. It is not known whether he will undertake “shuttle” diplomacy between Jerusalem and Beirut in order to wrap up an agreement. His meeting with Premier Menachem Begin will be their first. Shultz will also confer with Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Defense Minister Moshe Arens, both of whom he knows well.

GEMAYEL ACCUSED OF RENEGING

Meanwhile, the tripartite negotiations between Israel, Lebanon and the U.S. will be intensified. The three negotiating teams plan to meet at least four and possibly five times during this week, paralleling Shultz’s higher level efforts to break the impasse.

Nevertheless, on the eve of Shultz’s arrival, Israeli officials are seriously disturbed over what they see as a sudden hardening of Lebanon’s position, confusing signals as to Syria’s intentions and the possibility of a new Israeli-Syrian military confrontation in Lebanon.

The Israelis accuse President Amin Gemayel of reneging on key points which had already been agreed to by the Israeli and Lebanese negotiators. They are angered by Gemayel’s tough remarks at a Beirut press conference last Friday at which the Lebanese President rejected normalized relations with Israel, rejected joint Israeli-Lebanese security patrols in south Lebanon and declared that Israel could not dictate a commanding role for its ally, Haddad.

According to Israeli sources, Gemayel is backtracking on issues that were already agreed to or were close to agreement in order to re-use them as bargaining chips to extract further concessions from Israel. The Cabinet made it clear yesterday that Israel has no intention to re-negotiate over those issues.

The Cabinet meeting was fraught with tension because of former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon’s bitter harangue against the U.S. and his scarcely veiled criticism of his successor, Arens. Sharon spoke forcefully against any “concessions or gesture” by Israel in the talks with Lebanon, implying that the government leadership might be contemplating concessions in order to accommodate Shultz.

Sharon accused the U.S. of instigating the Lebanese government to harden its positions so that Beirut can now offer Shultz “concessions” which it had previously made to Israel and since revoked. The purpose, he claimed was to enable Shultz to extract “parallel” concessions from Israel. Most ministers did not share Sharon’s views. “You talk like Washington is Israel’s number one enemy,” Deputy Premier Simcha Ehrlich told him.

Sharon complained bitterly that Israel has taken no direct action “against terrorists” of late despite repeated attacks on Israeli forces in Lebanon which are taking a steady toll of casualties. He said he was not suggesting any large-scale action. But he noted that never in the past had Israel allowed terrorist attacks to go unanswered. His remarks seemed to be aimed at defense chief Arens who listened quietly to Sharon but offered no response.

WILL SEEK ASSURANCES ON SYRIA

Israel is expected to press Shultz for firm assurances that Syria will cooperate in any agreement requiring the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon. So far, Damascus has given diplomatic assurances to the U.S. and other third parties that it will pull its forces out of Lebanon simultaneously with an Israeli pullout.

At the same time, the Syrians have warned that they will not accept any agreement between the two countries and leaves Israel’s surrogate, Maj. Haddad, in charge of security in south Lebanon.

Another unknown factor is the Soviet role. There have been conflicting signals from Moscow. Foreign Minister and First Deputy Premier Andrei Gromyko spoke recently in favor of the “withdrawal of all foreign forces” from Lebanon. But at the same time, the Soviets seem to be supporting, or at least condoning, Syrian military threats which have heightened tensions along the Bekaa valley line separating Syrian and Israeli forces in eastern Lebanon.

Israel Radio reported today that officers of the United Nations Disengagement Observers Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights report some military activity in Damascus although they say there is no warlike atmosphere in the Syrian capital. UNDOF reports no bellicose activities by either Syria or Israel on the Golan Heights front.