Christian and Moslem residents of south Lebanon near the Israeli border have promised to cooperate with Israel to maintain peace and order in the security belt just north of the border after the Israel Defense Force completes its withdrawal.
But they may well have to deal with Palestinian terrorists who confirmed today that they are returning to the areas of south Lebanon from which they were ousted by the IDF in 1982, to continue their war against Israel.
About 100 Christian, Shiite and Sunni Moslem dignitaries from border villages met yesterday with Brig. Gen. Shlomo Ilya, the IDF’s chief liaison officer with the population in the south of Lebanon. Ilya promised that the “good fence” — the arrangement by which Lebanese could freely enter and leave Israel for commercial or personal purposes before June, 1982 — would be re-instated after the IDF leaves Lebanese soil.
The village headmen promised in turn that they would support local civil militias to maintain order in the region and would encourage young men to enlist in them. Ilya, who met with them in the Shiite village of J’bail, a few kilometers inside Lebanon, said the civil militias, along with the Israel-backed South Lebanon Army (SLA) would have a central role in maintaining peace.
PLO MEMBERS RETURNING TO SOUTH LEBANON
In Amman, meanwhile, Khalil Wazir, senior deputy and top military aide to Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat, said PLO members loyal to Arafat were returning to south Lebanon. He confirmed that they have participated in attacks on the withdrawing IDF, carried out mainly by Shiite terrorists.
Wazir said that 60 PLO fighters were killed in those attacks over the past five months. He confirmed reports current in Israel that PLO terrorists are returning to the refugee camps in south Lebanon from which they were driven by the IDF in June, 1982.
Arafat was reported today to have suffered another political setback when George Habash, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, formally joined a pro-Syrian alliance against the PLO leader. Until now, Habash had backed Arafat against PLO dissidents.
Of the various terrorist splinter groups once under the PLO umbrella, only the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, headed by Naif Hawatmeh, continues to support Arafat and his mainstream El Fatah group. Hawatmeh is opposed to Syrian domination of the Palestinian liberation movement.
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