Israeli forces storm village

Press, 11 July 1979, Page 8

Israeli forces storm village

NZPA-Reuter * Kabrikha (Lebanon) Israeli troops stormed into the southern Lebanese village of Kabrikha, searched it, and destroyed two houses in an early morning raid on Monday. The village headman accused an Irish contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon of failing Ito stop the Israelis at a roadblock. I In Tel Aviv, an Army spokesman said that Israeli i troops blew up two houses lin Kabrikha, which was bellieved to be a base for ; Palestinian guerrillas. Residents were evacuated before the buildings were

destroyed, he said. The headman said that the Israeli soldiers, had illuminated the area with flares, stormed houses without warning, and insulted the inhabitants, who included Lebanese Army officers. An Irish United Nations! officer said that the Irish! force in the area had heard of the Israeli incursion only after hearing the explosions. Israelis did not regularly pass along the roads where; United Nations troops man-! | ned roadblocks, he said. i | The Israeli attack was the third raid of its kind within less than a week and the'

Lebanese Prime Minister (Dr Selim Hoss) said that Lebanon would acquaint the United Nations Security Council with details of the attacks. Meanwhile, in Alexandria, the Israeli Prime Minister (Mr Menachem Begin) and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt took yet another step towards overcoming the barriers of suspicion erected by 30 years of war with two days of secluded talks which began yesterday. Both Egyptian and Israeli officials have emphasised that the main aim of the talks is to review' differences in a calm atmosphere rather than seek any dramatic breakthrough.

Deliberately, no. agenda has been drafted for the talks so that the two men, who signed a peace treaty in March, can sound each other out in general terms. The loose programme provides considerable room for further talks and the two sessions announced have no time limit. It will be Mr Begin’s fourth visit to Egypt. The most fundamental difference between Egypt and Israel is the self-rule question for the more than one million Palestinians on the Jordan West Bank and the Gaza Strip.