Israel and Lebanon will hold their negotiating sessions alternately at the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona and Khalde, a seashore suburb just south of Beirut airport. Officials of both countries were inspecting their respective sites today in preparation for the diplomatic talks expected to begin next week.
The talks will deal with the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, security arrangements and normalization of relations between the two countries. The locales were agreed to after Israel dropped its demand that the negotiations be held alternately in Jerusalem and Beirut. Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry officials examined rooms in the North Hotel in Kiryat Shmona where the Lebanese delegation and American diplomats will be staying.
The negotiations will be conducted in the ballet studio in the nearby community center. The mirrors and practice bars which occupy an entire wall will be curtained to give the chamber an atmosphere more conducive to diplomacy than dance.
When the teams meet in Khalde, they will hold their sessions at the Lebanon Beach Hotel overlooking the Mediterranean. Israeli forces moved into the area today to halt an outbreak of shooting between local Druze and Christians.
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