Israeli Government Has Not Yet Decided on Possible Redeployment of the IDF in South Lebanon

The government has reached no decision on the possible redeployment of the Israel Defense Force in south Lebanon. It is under pressure from the Labor opposition to pull the IDF out of Lebanon altogether while rightwing members of the coalition demand a permanent Israeli presence there and harsh measures against the local population if it objects.

The issue has come to the fore in recent days because of the precarious position of President Amin Gemayel in Beirut and the growing possibility that he may be forced to abrogate his May 17, 1983 withdrawal and security agreement with Israel as the price for national reconciliation and the cooperation of Syria.

The government, supported by the military, is interested in pulling the IDF back from its present lines on the Awali River to positions closer to the Israeli border.

Such redeployment would eliminate the task of policing such heavily populated towns as Sidon and Tyre where hostility toward Israel is running high and the risk of casualties is greatest. Such a move would depend on security arrangements with local Shiite Moslems and the Druze who control the Shouf mountains.

Defense Minister Moshe Arens appeared before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee today to reply to Labor Alignment demands for a total pull-out. Mapam MK Victor Shemtov said it was high time for the government to make up its mind. Labor MK Abba Eban quoted a Mideast expert, Yossi Olmert of Tel Aviv University’s Shiloah Institute, who maintained that the idea of a strong central government in Beirut, which would make peace with Israel was an illusion nursed by Israel.

ISRAEL WON’T VOLUNTARILY RENOUNCE MAY 17 ACCORD

Arens replied that there was no reason why Israel should voluntarily renounce the May 17 accord and thereby hand a prize to its enemies.

He came under fire from MK Geula Cohen of the ultra-nationalist Tehiya party who said it was time to discard the illusion that Israel could rely on political arrangements to ensure its security. “We must make it clear that the Israel army is in south Lebanon for a long time,” Cohen said. “All this talk by the Labor opposition about getting out as soon as possible is making it more difficult for the army to get the cooperation of the population in south Lebanon,” she charged.

Cohen urged the “controlled closure of the Awali (river) bridges and the controlled opening of the Israel-Lebanon border.” Arens replied that the Awali bridges cannot be sealed off because to cut the links between south Lebanon and Beirut would impose undue hardship on the population in the south.