The Israel Cabinet, at its regular weekly session today, reportedly softened substantially Israel’s stand on remaining unresolved issues preventing full approval of U.S. mediator Philip Habib’s plan for evacuating Palestine Liberation Organization terrorists from Beirut where Israeli forces have clomped a steel ring around them.
Cabinet Secretory Dan Meridor, reporting to reporters at the end of the session, said there were “prospects” for the evacuation but such an agreement on Israel’s part is not yet definite. The Cabinet convened to discuss the two-hour meeting earlier today between Habib and Premier Menachem Begin, Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
Meridor said there was progress in the negotiations after Israel showed “flexibility” on a number of points. The cease-fire in west Beirut demanded of Israel by President Reagan last Thurs day remained in effect today for a third day.
The issues raised by Habib in his talks with Begin, Sharon and Shamir indicated that differences remained despite signs at the end of last week that the terrorists were ready to start moving out of west Beirut headed for havens in several Arab countries.
Despite the well-publicized Israeli objections, the Cabinet session took place in an atmosphere of optimism, observers reported. The feeling in Jerusalem was that the difficulties were largely technical and that evacuation would in fact begin this week.
A NUMBER OF UNSETTLED ISSUES
One of the reported still unsettled issues was the PLO’s refusal to provide Israel with a full list of the evacuees. The PLO reportedly handed Habib only a general list, with a breakdown based on the countries offering the terrorists sanctuary.
Israel reportedly was prepared to show flexibility on that issue if an appropriate apparatus was created to supervise the evacuation process.
A second difficulty was differences over the total of evacuees. Israel claims that the current total is around 13,000 terrorists. Israel contended the total number of the evacuees should include about 3,500 members of Lebanese leftist groups and 1,500 troops in the Syrian occupation forces. Israeli officials have expressed fears that, without evacuation of all terrorists, regardless of identity, the PLO could leave in place a core that could serve as a base for the restoration of a terrorist organization.
A third problem concerns deployment of the multinational force which is to take up positions between the departing terrorists and Israeli troop positions. The PLO wants the units of the force to take positions in Beirut simultaneously with the evacuation, reportedly to make sure that the Israelis do not seize the opportunity to attack the terrorists as they are leaving.
Israel continues to insist that the international force enter Beirut only at the final stage of the evacuation. The PLO rejected an Israeli offer to allow a number of Lebanese army troops to enter west Beirut immediately at the beginning of terrorist withdrawal, reportedly fearing this would give the Christian warriors a chance to attack the terrorists. The PLO insists that the scheduled 350 French members of the international force be the first to enter.
Israeli officials reportedly said Israel was willing to show flexibility on that issue, too, on condition that the countries participating in the force — the United States, France and Italy — undertake to guarantee in writing that the terrorists will not be allowed to use the units of the international force as a shield and that, if the evacuation is interrupted for any reason, the force will not prevent the Israeli Defense Force from acting to assure completion of the evacuation.
The fourth problem is Israel’s continued refusal to allow United Nations observers in Beirut. There are currently some 20 such observers serving with UN units staffing buffer zones and the United States favors at least a symbolic UN observer presence in the evacuation process, to show some linkage between the evacuation, the international force and the UN.
Other obstacles include the PLO’s refusal to free immediately an Israeli pilot, Aharon Achiaz, believed to be held by the terrorists in west Beirut; and to release the bodies of nine Israeli soldiers killed in the Litani operations in Lebanon three years ago and in the current fighting.
Israel has demanded that the return of the pilot and the bodies take place simultaneously with the start of the evacuation. The PLO has insisted that negotiations begin on the basis of exchange of prisoners, with Red Cross mediation. Israel holds thousands of Palestinian prisoners.
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