Israeli Air Force planes struck today for the third consecutive day at terrorist bases in Lebanon. There were two separate attacks today, one in the morning in an area south of the Zaharani River and the second in the afternoon against terrorist concentrations near the village of Rehan, 15 kilometers north of Metullah, which was the target of yesterday’s raid.
Reports reaching Israel from south Lebanon are that the attacks are having an effect. There are reports that in some places the local population is demanding the removal of the terrorist bases from their area. There is a growing number of people leaving the large cities and they are filling the roods leading northward to Beirut.
While the Lebanese government has been denouncing the Israeli attacks, it was learned that it was also trying to get the Palestinian terrorists to abide by an agreement prohibiting terrorist activities against Israel from Lebanese bases. The terrorists have rejected these demands.
The United States has been urging Israel to discontinue the air attacks. But Premier Menachem Begin reportedly told U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis at a meeting yesterday that Israel will continue to hit the terrorists any time it feels it is necessary. (In Washington, State Department spokesman Hodding Carter said today “The continuing Israeli air strikes are contributing to an already dangerous situation. We are urging that those air strikes be stopped. ” Expanding on a comment he made yesterday when he said that the U.S. is “increasingly concerned about violence” in Lebanon, Carter added “We understand fully that these raids are not occurring in isolation. They are occurring against a backdrop of terrorist activities aimed at Israel and that those attacks have taken innocent lives.”)
LEBANON REJECTS BEGIN’S PROPOSALS
Meanwhile, Lebanese Premier Selim al-Hoss has rejected Begin’s call yesterday for Lebanon to begin peace negotiations with Israel. He said the Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory was blackmail. “It is out of the question that terror and intimidation will force Lebanon to break its ties with the common Arab destiny, ” he said in a statement carried by the state-run Beirut Radio.
Hoss also rejected a demand by Israel that Syria withdraw its 30,000-man force in Lebanon. The future of this force is expected to be discussed at a meeting between Lebanese President Elias Sarkis and Syrian President Hafez Assad.
Begin’s proposals were made in a Knesset speech yesterday. During that time he also suggested that the problem of some 165,000 Palestinians now living in Lebanon be solved by resettling them in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq and Libya. Hoss rejected this proposal, too, declaring that “everyone knows that Israel is the cause of the Palestinian tragedy through their displacement from their land. ” He added that “any solution for this crisis which does not provide a just solution for the Palestinian people’s case through ensuring their legitimate national rights cannot serve as a proper Middle East settlement.”
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