Israel and Lebanon

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32956, 30 June 1972, Page 8

Israel and Lebanon

The seizure by an Israeli patrol on Lebanese territory of five Syrian officers has evidently caused some embarrassment in the Arab countries. The incident lends substance to Israel’s claim that Syria is harbouring and encouraging the Palestinian guerrillas in their campaign against Israel Israeli patrols, without protest from Beirut, have made reconnaissance sorties across the frontier many times in the last six months to check on guerrilla activities. The hilly terrain in south Lebanon continues to provide the Palestinian commandos with bases for operations against Israel which are difficult to detect except from the air or by military probing. Lebanon, relatively weak militarily compared with its neighbours, has preferred to ignore the Israeli probes rather than provoke action that might involve it in a wider Arab-Israeli confrontation. Neither Egypt nor Syria, it is clear, is prepared to enforce the Cairo agreement of November, 1969, aimed at curbing guerrilla provocations against Israel Late in February, retaliatory Israeli raiding led to a vote in the United Nations Security Council calling for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Much the same situation exists now: Israel has been censured again. Yet it is understandable that Israel, sensing a recurrence of,guerrilla provocations, should act independently for the protection of its frontiers, and that it should underline its intention to go on doing so regardless of protests in New York. The reported arrangement between the Lebanese Government and the guerrillas —now apparently under the control of Mr Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation —may restrain commando raids that are bound to provoke Israeli reprisals. But there is no assurance that the “freeze” of guerrilla activities will last long. The Syrian Government was quick to condemn the insensate folly of the June attack on Tel Aviv airport It should speak up just as strongly now about the dangerous activities of Lebanon-based commandos; and it should be supported by the Government in Cairo. That would be more practical than talk of joint military action against Israel by the Libyan - Syrian - Egyptian federation. Israel is not likely to be deterred by any threats from that quarter, even at the risk of ending the uneasy peace that has prevailed in the Middle East since the 1967 war.