Expressing “shock” at the assassination of Bashir Gemayel, Lebanon’s President-elect, Israel’s Consul General in New York, Naphtali Lavie, said today that “it is very disturbing” that whenever an Arab leader expresses his willingness to establish peaceful relations with Israel, as Gemayel did he is assassinated.
Describing Gemayel as “a young promising leader” with whom Israel hoped to establish “neighborly, normal relations”, Lavie said that Lebanon, which seemed to be heading for stability, is going to be “torn again by hostile factions.” He said that the Palestine Liberation Organization is directly responsible for Lebanon’s present tragic situation which is “a direct result of the brutal takeover of Lebanon some 12 years ago by PLO terrorists who destroyed the delicate social and cultural structure of Lebanon.”
“As good neighbors,” Lavie stated, “Israelis wish the Lebanese to recover from their tragic state of affairs and to reconcile with each other so they could get back to normal life without any further disasters.”
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