Everyone out, say Lebanese

Press, 16 July 1982, Page 6

Everyone out, say Lebanese

NZPA Beirut The Lebanese Government declared for the first time yesterday that it was seeking a withdrawal of Israeli, Syrian and Palestinian forces from Lebanon. And it wants a multinational contingent to oversee a guerrilla withdrawal from Israeli-encircled west Beirut.

The carefully worded declaration was announced after a three-hour Cabinet session in the shell-pocked Presidential Palace in suburban Baabda as Israeli jets staged repeated . divebombing mock assaults on the Palestine Liberation Organisation's camp in the Muslim sector of the Lebanese capital.

American and Lebanese mediation efforts have remained deadlocked on how and where to move the P.L.O.’s trapped 8000 guerrillas from the west Beirut enclave to stop Israel from

storming the city. Israel’s State radio said that the Prime Minister (Mr Menachem Begin) had decided to give the American chief negotiator and Presidental envoy, Philip Habib, unlimited time to bring off a peaceful evacuation. But the mock air raids, the first in a week, testified to Israel’s determination to keep up a war of nerves aimed at squeezing the P.L.O.’s chairman (Mr Yasser Arafat) into submission.

However, Israel was not prepared to give an indefiniate mandate, said the Foreign Minister (Mr Yitzhak Shamir) yesterday.

He said that Israeli forces would leave Lebanon after security arrangements had been concluded which would safeguard Israel’s northern border. Mr Shamir said that Israel had no intention of capturing Beirut. All it wanted was to get the guerrillas out, and it

would prefer to accomplish this peacefully. Israel is keeping a wary eye on the renewed fighting between Iran and Iraq, and radio commentators said yesterday that the fighting in the Gulf was clouding the issue of the P.LO.’s withdrawal. ■

Meanwhile, new moves have been reported to try to break the deadlock in talks over Beirut. Informed sources said that Mr Arafat had formally notified Syria that the P.L,O. would like to move there if an agreement could be reached on moving out its guerrillas. Syria, the only obvious destination for the guerrillas, said on Friday that it had no room for them and objected that the P.L.O. had not informed Damascus of its desire, to move there. The sources said that the aim of Mr Arafat’s message to the Syrian President (Mr

Hafez Assad) was to meet this objection. There was no immediate sign, however, that Syria was prepared to change its position as a result.

President Ronald Reagan has appealed to King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to try to persuade Syria to take in Palestinian fighters.

At the same time the American CBS television network has reported that Saudi Arabia had already offered Syria hundreds of millions of dollars to reverse its decision not to harbour the Palestinians and their leaders.

A group of Israeli Army reservists calling themselves Yesh Gvul (There’s a Limit) yesterday sent a letter to Mr Begin calling for an end to the fighting. r. . According to opinion polls, about two-thirds of Israelis back the invasion. A proGovernment rally is being planned for the week-end to counter anti-war protests)