Lebanon called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council today over Israel’s commando raids on Arab terrorist headquarters in Beirut on Tuesday. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. local time.
In a letter to Dr. Javier Perez De Cuellar of Peru, this month’s president of the Security Council, Israel’s UN Ambassador Yosef Tekoah said the raids’ objectives were terrorist bases, headquarters and hideouts in the Beirut area. He listed as the targets El Fatah headquarters responsible for terrorist operations in the Gaza area; the central headquarters of the Democratic Popular Front, responsible for bomb explosions in Jerusalem and Hadera March 30; two workshops where explosives and arms were prepared for El Fatah-Black September, all located in Beirut; and a garage north of Saids (Sidon) which services, terrorists’ vehicles operating in southern Lebanon.
Tekoah said that “Official statements issued in Beirut, communiques by terror organizations and international news agencies reports from Lebanon have confirmed that the targets struck were terrorist centers and hideouts and that the casualties were members of the murder groups.”
Tekoah’s letter was in direct response to a letter sent to the Security Council president yesterday by Ambassador Edouard Ghorra, the representative of Lebanon. Ghorra called the commando raids “perfidious criminal acts organized by a State Government, Member of the United Nations, against another State Member, in flagrant violation of international law and all norms of international behavior and morality.”
ISRAELI ACTIONS HAVE ‘SALUTORY EFFECT’
The Israeli Ambassador stated in his letter that “Israeli actions against terrorist bases in Lebanon, and particularly in the southern part of that country, have had a salutory effect along the Israel-Lebanese frontier in recent months.” He said, however, that “with the full connivance of its government, Lebanon remains the principal base for terror operations abroad and a haven for all terrorists.” In his letter, Tekoah listed nine terrorist outrages between March 1-April 9 which he said were launched from Beirut. They included the assassinations of two American and a Belgian diplomat in Khartoum, Sudan; attempts to. bomb an El Al freight terminal and an Israeli bank in New York; and an attempt to blow up the Israeli Embassy residence and hijack an Israeli airliner at Nicosia, Cyprus.
Tekoah wrote, “By allowing its territory to be thus exploited and abused by criminals who pose a threat to all mankind, Lebanon forfeits the right to claim respect for its territory by those who are defending themselves against these criminals and are determined to end their loathsome activities.”
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