Lawmakers on Mideast Visit Will Seek to Develop New U.s.-lebanon Policy

Rep. Toby Moffett (D.Conn.) is leaving tonight for a 10-day trip to Lebanon, Syria and Israel. Moffett, who is a Lebanese American, will be accompanied by a group of six Lebanese Americans, including two Lebanese American Congressmen, Reps. Nick Joe Rahall (D.W.Va.) and Mary Rose Oakar (D.Ohio). The delegation was appointed by House Speaker Thomas O’Neill (D.Mass.).

Moffett said he plans to meet with President Elias Sarkis of Lebanon about developing a separate U.S. policy on Lebanon similar to U.S. policy with Israel and Egypt. He said that until now Lebanon has been just one of the Middle East countries in terms of U.S. policy. Now “it is feared that Lebanon will be dealt away as a small chip in a large Middle East poker game;” Moffett said.

He noted that his visit to Lebanon is a symbolic show of support for that nation’s central government and that it is the “culmination of a long-term effort to get the United States government and the House of Representatives to focus itself on Lebanon and later talk to the State Department to develop a separate U.S. policy on Lebanon.”

In Israel, Moffett said, he hopes to learn more about the country. He said he will meet with Premier Menachem Begin, Labor Party leader Shimon Peres, and members of the Knesset. He said he wants to learn more about Israel’s perspective on south Lebanon, and ways of getting the Palestine Liberation Organization out of Lebanon. He will also visit Syria and meet with President Hafez Assad in an effort to determine whether Assad is adamant against the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement as the American media claims he is.