President Carter hinted today that the United States might favor a United Nations peace-keeping force in southern Lebanon. He told a group of out-of-town editors that the situation there is “a matter of great concern to us” and that “it not only involves our nation but the United Nations.” There is, presently, a UN observer force of 48 members in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is engaged in “intensive discussions” with the representatives of many governments on the situation in south Lebanon and was scheduled to make known late today the policy it intends to pursue on Israel’s occupation of that area to keep it free of Palestinian terrorists, the State Department said today.
The “precise” position is “depending heavily on consultations we are having” in Washington, Jerusalem, Beirut and other places, including New York with members of the United Nations Security Council, Department spokesman Hodding Carter said. He said that Secretary of State Cyrus Vance met with the Soviet Ambassador, Anatoly Dobrynin at lunch-time today in an “intensive exchange” of views on the matter. Las night, Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz met with President Carter, Vance and Assistant Secretary of State Alfred Atherton, the U.S. Mideast mediator.
The State Department spokesman declined to say if the U.S. was aiming to be the “catalyst” itself for international action on Israel’s military presence in south Lebanon or would leave it to the Security Council to determine the course of future action.
U.S. MAY DEMAND ISRAEL’S WITHDRAWAL
There was speculation here that the U.S. was preparing, in concert with other nations, to demand Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon. In that perspective, it was suggested that the Administration was deliberately delaying its policy decision until this evening in order not to irritate pro-Israeli Senators who are being counted on to pass the Panama Canal treaties which will be voted on this afternoon.
Hodding Carter declined to discuss the U.S. position because, he said, “frankly, we want to continue consultations before going any further on a wide ranging set of questions.” He said, however, that the U.S. “focus is (on) the most effective way to bring an end of the fighting,” and “the integrity and stability” of the Lebanese government in all parts of its country and “the legitimate defense of Israel.”
Carter denied that the south Lebanon events will result in any postponement of Premier Menachem Begin’s visit to President Carter next week. He said: “Our effort is to help everyone come to a solution and it is not tied in any way to the Begin visit. We would like to find a formula as quickly as possible. Our efforts won’t be postponed until he (Begin) arrives.” Dinitz asked the U.S. last night for help to see to it that PLO terrorists do not return to south Lebanon from where they have launched attacks on Israel.
(Meanwhile, Don Jamieson, Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs, said today in Ottawa that unofficial talks are going on between UN Security Council members over the feasibility of having a UN peace-keeping force in south Lebanon and that Canada favors this in principle.)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
