Lebanese Shiite Leader Warned Not to Encourage Attacks on Israeli Forces in South Lebanon

David Kimche, Direct or General of the Foreign Ministry, warned Shiite leader Nabih Berri, the newly appointed Minister in charge of South Lebanon in the government of Rashid Karami, not to encourage attacks on Israeli forces in south Lebanon.

Addressing the Foreign Press Association here today, Kimche said he hoped that Berri, the 44-year-old leader of the Shiite Amal militia, had sense enough not to support such attacks. If he did, he would not achieve his goals as a minister in the new Lebanese government, Kimche said.

“I think that Mr. Berri is an intelligent man and I believe he realizes that whatever happens, the fact will remain that Israel and south Lebanon are neighbors. Whether we leave Lebanon and when we leave Lebanon, we shall still have an influence in south Lebanon,” Kimche said.

He warned that it would not be to the advantage of the Shiites, who are the majority population in south Lebanon, to take a position of confrontation with Israel. “If Mr. Berri wants to talk to us, we shall not say no. But this depends entirely on him,” Kimche stressed. He added that it would also depend to a large extent on whether Berri’s Syrian mentors allow him to talk to Israel.

The Israeli official was skeptical of the Karami government’s chances to survive because, he said, it reflects the age-old rivalries among the various factions that brought civil war to Lebanon.

On another, more distant issue, Kimche categorically denied that Israel was supplying arms to the Contras, the anti-Sandinista rebels supported by the U.S. who are trying to overthrow the Nicaraguan government.