A resolution calling for strict observance of the cease-fire in Beirut and demanding that Israel permit the deployment of UN observers in the Beirut area was unanimously approved by the Security Council last Thursday night. The United States joined the other 14 members of the Council in supporting the resolution.
“Let the guns be permanently still,” U.S. Ambassador Charles Lichtenstein told the Council in explaining his country’s support for the measure. The vote took place several hours after President Reagan telephoned Israeli Premier Menachem Begin to express his “outrage” over Israel’s heavy bombardment of west Beirut earlier in the day.
The resolution demanded “that Israel and all parties to the conflict observe strictly the terms of Security Council resolutions relevant to the immediate cessation of all military activities with Lebanon and particularly in and around Beirut.” It also demanded that Israel “cooperate fully in the effort to secure effective deployment of the United Nations observers as requested by the government of Lebanon and in such a manner as to insure their safety.”
Yehuda Blum, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, said that Israel would observe any cease-fire that the Palestinians observed.
Other parts of Thursday night’s resolution called on Israel to allow the entry of supplies to west Beirut and requested a report by the Secretary General on the implementation of the resolution.
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