Vance: ‘we Neither Approve nor Condemn’ Israel’s Action in South Lebanon

Secretary of State Cyrus Vance said today, after a meeting with President Carter, that “we neither approve nor condemn” Israel’s action in south Lebanon. He added, “We had hoped, as we said yesterday, that no innocents will suffer.”

Vance made his remarks to reporters as he left the White House accompanied by the President’s National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski. Asked if he “approved” what the Israelis have done, the Secretary observed: “This is a decision the Israelis had to make for themselves.” He also said, in reply to a question, that the U.S. had “not yet” called for a halt in the fighting in Lebanon.

Vance said the U.S. “is in touch with all the parties,” meaning, apparently the governments involved. The U.S. has no relations with the Palestine Liberation Organization, whose terrorist bases are the targets of the Israeli operation. Vance said that “as in the past, we act as a person who carries messages between the parties.”

Asked what these developments would do to the Middle East peace process, the Secretary replied, “I think any of these incidents, like this and as that incident that took place the other day, the terrorist act–all of these have much to do with the peace process.” He said he thought these developments would be “an impediment to the peace process and we will have to work around them.”

BEGIN SENT MESSAGE TO CARTER

Vance disclosed that Israeli Premier Menachem Begin sent a message to President Carter. He indicated that it was the first word the U.S. had about the Israeli action in Lebanon. “We heard about it just before it happened, almost contemporaneously,” Vance said. He noted that Begin is coming to Washington Monday and will meet with Carter Tuesday and Wednesday as previously arranged. Asked if he believed the fighting in Lebanon would be confined to a limited area and would not involve the Syrians, he said Syrian forces remained north of the Litani River, “considerably far” from the border region where the action is taking place.

U.S. WELCOMES WEIZMAN’S STATEMENT

State Department spokesman Hodding Carter later said “we welcome” Israeli Defense Minister Ezer Weizman’s statement that Israel’s intentions are not to hold or remain in southern Lebanon.

While the U.S. is in touch with UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, Carter said, the U.S. has not been in contact with the Soviet Union, but is in communication with the parties directly involved apart, of course, from the PLO.

Urged to comment on reports from Lebanon on the fighting, Carter said “we are not prepared at this point” to “pass judgement on events in southern Lebanon or Lebanon generally.” Dispatches from Beirut, where the PLO has headquarters, were charging Israeli warplanes had struck civilian targets and “refugee camps.”

“It has been clear for some time that the presence of the Palestinian military units in southern Lebanon has posed a threat to Israel’s security,” Carter said in an opening statement at his briefing. “These units have declared open hostility to Israel and also have launched terrorist attacks on that country.

“As to the exact purpose or intent of Israel’s attack, we note that Defense Minister Weizman has said their intentions are not to hold or remain in southern Lebanon. We welcome that statement.”

(At the United Nations today, Waldheim deplored Israel’s “violations of the boundaries of a sovereign state,” by using a massive force in its raid on southern Lebanon. He called on all sides to avoid escalation of the fighting. In Cairo, the Egyptian Foreign Minister condemned Israel, declaring: “This shows Israeli aggressive conceptions and that they think they can achieve Israel’s security through expansion and not through a comprehensive peace settlement.”)