Israel is faced with a serious military dilemma, “painful cuts” in its defense budget made mandatory by the country’s severe economic situation and escalating terrorism in Lebanon, “the most sophisticated and complex” it has yet faced, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin said today.
Addressing a conference of Na’amat/Pioneer Women, he said the budget cuts would necessitate the dismissal of between 5,000-8,000 employes of the defense establishment “both military and civilians.”
Rabin stressed that the Israel Defense Force has no better option than to withdraw from Lebanon because there is no chance of a stable government emerging in that country. He said Israel tried but failed to reach an agreement with the Lebanese on military withdrawal and security. “Therefore we decided to withdraw” without an agreement.
“We are asked why we withdraw in stages,” Rabin said. “It is because we have to see what the situation is after each stage. We must preserve the security of Galilee. We cannot allow the situation to return to what it was before” the IDF invaded Lebanon in June, 1982.
CONSEQUENCE OF DEFENSE BUDGET CUTS
The cuts in the defense budget mean that Israel will be forced to take certain risks with its security, Rabin said. “We are faced at the same time with two seemingly contradictory problems — painful cuts in the budget and standing firmly against the most sophisticated and complicated terrorism in south Lebanon.”
The Defense Minister explained that the problem of terrorism in Lebanon is complicated by the fact that the country has been split and riven by internal ethnic strife for many years.”
He described Lebanon as a country where internal terrorism between the various factions has become the most sophisticated terrorism anywhere in the Middle East, and without any connection with Israel. “It is not a simple matter and there is no chance of any change in the near future,” Rabin said.
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