State Dept. Official Says Reagan Wants Speedy Settlement in Lebanon

Miles Pendleton, who heads the Israel Desk at the U.S. State Department, told Israel Desk at the U.S. State Department, told Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Yehuda Ben-Meir here today that President Reagan wants to speed up negotiations for a settlement in Lebanon. But it was not immediately clear what the U.S. means by a speedy settlement.

Following their meeting, Ben-Meir told the Voice of Israel Radio that Israel’s position remains that the Palestine Liberation Organization forces must leave Lebanon first, to be followed by simultaneous withdrawals by the Syrian and Israeli armies and a security agreement between Israel and Lebanon that would guarantee that their borders would remain peaceful “forever.”

HABIB TO MEET WITH BEGIN

U.S. special envoy Philip Habib is expected here tomorrow and is scheduled to meet with Premier Menachem Begin on Thursday. Ben-Meir insisted that negotiations between Israel and Lebanon be “direct.” But he did not repeat Israel’s demand that they be conducted alternately in Jerusalem and Beirut. “We will certainly cooperate in any way we can to move this forward,” he said. “We will listen attentively to any suggestions and ideas that Mr. Habib will bring with him.”

Senior political sources here would not confirm reports from Beirut that the renewed mission of Habib and special envoy Morris Draper was to seek a disengagement agreement between the various warring parties in Lebanon as the first stage of a settlement. The sources insisted that there is presently no military power in Lebanon capable of filling the vacuum if Israeli and Syrian forces were to withdraw from that country.

Pendleton and Ben-Meir also discussed Israeli-Egyptian relations. Ben-Meir accused the Egyptians of raising obstacles to normalization and warned that if the peace treaty with Egypt was to lose its substance, the peace prospects for the entire region would be adversely affected.