U.N. Leader Challenges Arens on Israeli Treatment of Unifil

Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens and U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar held a brief meeting here Friday, during which Perez was reported to have protested the Israel Defense Force’s treatment of U.N. peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon.

The two also discussed the peace process and the situation in the administered territories, but few other details of the 25-minute meeting were available. Arens declined to speak to reporters as he left the secretary-general’s office.

A U.N. spokesman said talks about the IDF and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon were conducted as a “discussion in the form of protests.”

Israel was criticized by the United Nations two weeks ago for temporarily closing its border with Lebanon to UNIFIL’s Norwegian troops. The closing followed an angry but bloodless confrontation between Israeli tanks and UNIFIL vehicles near the Norwegian contingent’s headquarters.

Norway has also complained about the IDF’s treatment of its soldiers. Relations between the two forces, never amicable, worsened last month after the Norwegian commander likened certain Israeli actions in southern Lebanon to those of Nazis in World War II.

On Tuesday, Perez de Cuellar was highly critical of Israeli actions toward civilians in the administered territories. He told Arab foreign ministers meeting in Saudi Arabia that he had repeatedly called on Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention, which provides for the protection of civilians in wartime.

The secretary-general said there was a need for “urgent efforts” led by the U.N. Security Council to promote Middle East peace negotiations.

Israeli leaders have been cool toward U.N. involvement in a peace settlement for the same reasons they object to an international peace conference. But Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has not completely ruled out some form of U.N. participation.