Israeli Media Assesses War in Lebanon on Ist Anniversary; Principals Maintain Their Views

The Israeli media took stock of the war in Lebanon today, exactly one year after it started. Most newspapers carried special supplements dealing with the war. A four hour broadcast by the State-owned radio featured comments by government and opposition personalities, none of whom deviated from their by now familiar views. But commentators were generally critical of the political aspects of the war.

Much attention was focussed on former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, now a Minister-Without-Portfolio, He said he had no regrets over his conduct of the war and if he had to do it over, he would still recommend the “Peace for Galilee” operation and its implementation.

He denied allegations that he had conducted the war without consultations with his ministerial colleagues and had presented them with fait accomplis after the event. Sharon conceded that he had made two mistakes. One, he said, was believing that the country would be united without anyone “exploiting the ###ation for political gain” as he claimed the opposition Labor Alignment had done.His other mistake, Sharon said, was to think the government had “the strength to stand firm and not run away from its responsibilities.”

LABOR SAYS WAR COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED

Labor Party chairman Shimon Peres maintained that the problem of terrorist attacks on Israeli towns and settlements in Galilee could have been handled differently. He pointed out that it was Israel’s bombing of Palestine Liberation Organization bases in west Beirut following the attempted assassination of Ambassador Shlomo Argov in London that led to renewed shelling of Galilee by the PLO.

Former Premier Yitzhak Rabin, another Labor Party leader, said Israel had never fought a war that yielded so little. But former Chief of Staff Gen. Rafael Eitan claimed Israel had achieved all of its objectives and more.

Eliahu Ben-Elissar, chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, said the war showed the world that Israel meant what it said. He noted that the world press is no longer as interested as it once was in interviewing PLO chief Yasir Arafat.

ARENS OPTIMISTIC

Defense Minister Moshe Arens sounded an optimistic note. “Those of us who live in the Middle East know that this region has more problems than solutions,” he said, “Nevertheless, I think we have turned over a new leaf in the Middle East and I think that there is a good chance the situation is going to start to improve. “

Sources close to Premier Menachem Begin told the Jerusalem Post today that “the orgy of published and broadcast evaluations of the Lebanon war this weekend is harmful to vital Israeli interests and can only make resolution of this conflict all the more difficult,” The sources said the widespread criticism of the government and the Labor Party’s resolution calling for Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon only encourage the Syrians to sit tight and wait for Israel to pull out without Damascus having to take any steps to remove its own and PLO forces from Lebanon.

The newspaper Maariv reported Thursday that Begin reprimanded Sharon last August for ordering the large scale mobilization of Israeli reserves without consulting or informing him.

The article, headlined “Maariv Report — The War Which Has Not Ended, ” said Begin learned of the callup by telephone from Interior Minister Yosef Burg. Burg obtained the information from his son, Avraham, a supporter of the Peace Now movement and a reserve soldier who had completed his duty in Lebanon and was suddenly called up for a second time.

According to Maariv, Begin summoned Sharon to his office the next morning to demand an explanation. He criticized the then Defense Minister for acting without the knowledge of the Cabinet or the Prime Minister. Sharon is said to have apologized but explained that since the Cabinet had discussed in principle the entry of the Israeli army into west Beirut, he considered it “natural and self-understood” that there would have to be a mobilization of the reserves.

EITAN OPPOSED BEIRUT ENTRY

Maariv reported further that in July, 1982, the Cabinet voted by a majority of one to order Israeli troops into west Beirut but Begin did not order the move at the time because of the narrow majority. Italso reported that Eitan, then Chief of Staff, opposed Israel’s entry into west Beirut. Eitan was quoted by Maariv as telling the northern area commander, Gen. Amir Drori, that a certain division would not be mobilized “because I swear to you we will not capture west Beirut, I will never take that step.”

Israeli forces occupied West Beirut in September, immediately following the assassination of Lebanon’s President-elect Bashir Gemayel. By then, PLO and Syrian forces had been evacuated from the city under a safe conduct guarantee.

According to another Maariv report, an Israeli sniper in west Beirut had PLO chief Yasir Arafat in his gun sights at a distance of 140 meters, but instead of killing him, he took Arafat’s picture.

The close-up photograph was shown to U.S. special envoy Philip Habib at the start of the PLO evacuation by Gen, Drori, When Habib expressed surprise that Arafat wasn’t shot, Drori said that Israel kept to its word not to harm the PLO during the evacuation, Maariv reported.