Arab peace move works for Tripoli

Press, 25 November 1983, Page 6

Arab peace move works for Tripoli

NZPA-Reuter Tripoli Arab peace efforts have brought a halt to Palestinian battles around this northern Lebanese city of Tripoli but neither side has ruled out a final showdown. Aides of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, said that they had agreed in principle to a package of proposals worked out in Damascus which call for a cease-fire and withdrawal of Palestinian fighters from the area.

The peace moves ushered in the quietest day witnessed by Tripoli since the battles began three weeks ago, with only isolated sniping reported on the front lines.

But a spokesman at Mr Arafat’s office in central Tripoli said yesterday: “This is the calm before the storm. They (the rebels) have decided to invade the city.”

A rebel commander, Ahmed Jibril, a former Syrian Army officer who is the self-proclaimed chief of the insurgent onslaught, gave Mr Arafat until tomorrow to admit defeat and leave the city. Otherwise “we will chose any way to enter Tripoli,” he said. Mr Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, has sought refuge in Tripoli with his band of supporters after losing

his strongholds outside the city to rebels. The Syrian-backed rebels, who broke with Mr Arafat six montths ago, accuse the P.L.O. chairman of corruption, abandoning the fight against Israel, and selling out to the United States. Mr Jibril said the rebels wanted to bring Mr Arafat before a revolutionary tribunal and would pursue him wherever he fled.

The peace proposals were worked out in Damascus between the Foreign Ministers of Syria and Saudi Arabia.

The chief loyalist spokesman Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, said the plan called for a cease-fire withdrawal of all Palestinian fighters from north Lebanon, and agreement to preserve the unity of the P.L.O. through dialogue.

He indicated that Mr Arafat would leave Tripoli with his men, but only after he received guarantees. These would be spelt out at an urgent meeting of the heads of State or Foreign Ministers of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Tunis with the P.L.O. There was no word when the meeting might take place.

At the same time, the United Nations Security Council yesterday unanimously called for a cease-fire in north Lebanon and peaceful settlement of the dispute.

In Moscow, the Soviet Foreign Minister, Mr Andrei Gromyko, called for unity within the P.L.O. and said the Kremlin would do everything to help achieve this. Six Israeli prisoners have been released to the International Red Cross in exchange for 5900 Palestinian and Lebanese held by Israel, the P.L.O. has announced. Khalil Wazir, chief military adviser to Mr Arafat, said the six men who had been held for 14 months by the mainstream Fatah guerilla organisation “have been turned over to the International Red Cross ... at the time 5800 detainees at Ansar and two other sites in southern Lebanon, plus 100 Palestinians in Israeli jails were to be put on planes bound for Algiers.” Mr Wazir, better known as Abu Jihad, said the exchange was made “with the help of France.” He would not explain what part France had played but French ships are known to have been off the Lebanese coast, where the release of the Israelis, presumably took place. Mr Wazir said in a telephone interview from Tripoli that the six Israelis captured on September 3 during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon were to be transported “by sea . . . without making any stops.” He did not specify the destination.