Israel condemns ‘surrender to Syria’

Press, 7 March 1984, Page 6

Israel condemns ‘surrender to Syria’

NZPA-Reuter Beirut Israel has reacted swiftly to the abrogation by Lebanon of their agreement on security and troop withdrawal, signed on May 17. The Prime Minister, Mr Yitzhak Shamir, condemned the move as a surrender to Syria and a death sentence on Lebanese independence. In Washington a State Department spokesman, John Hughes, said, “We regret this decision,” and that those who had abrogated the accord were not charged with finding another way to secure Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon. The move by the shaky Lebanese Government of Amin Gemayel came after intense pressure from Syria, which opposed the IsraeliLebanese pact from the beginning, and came after Muslim militias soundly defeated Mr Gemayel’s Army in battle last month.

The Soviet news agency, Tass, reported the cancellation of the pact, commenting that it had been iniquitable and unfairly forced on a country under occupation. The Lebanese Cabinet’s

statement announcing the abrogation also said that Lebanon would prevent guerrilla infiltration across the Israeli border once Israeli troops withdrew from south Lebanon, which they invaded on June 6, 1982. Mr Shamir said that the cancellation of the IsraelLebanon pact had showed that Lebanon was incapable of keeping the south from “once again being into a terrorist base.” He said that Israel would determine for itself the best ways to ensure its security. Lebanon’s main Christian militia condemned the aborgation of the agreement but other Christians said that the Government’s action had been inevitable. The “Lebanese Forces” militia said that it rejected “the decision of submission that was imposed by the Syrian offensive on the Lebanese free people.” It called on all Christian groups to, “gather around the resistance in a unified Christian position that would guarantee freedom, security and dignity to the

Christians.” The militia has proved able to mobilise several thousand men in the past and its gunmen have been increasingly in evidence in Christian areas of Beirut in recent days. A “Lebanese Forces” spokesman, Naoum Farah, said that the abrogation had wiped out all the results of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon nearly two years ago, which crushed Palestinian guerrillas and Leftist militias and left Christian groups in a dominant position. “Sixteen months ago we had all the cards, ’ he said. The militia was now planning a “constructive opposition.” “We think this opposition will help President Gemayel to resist the growing Syrian pressure,” he said. In Washington United States Defence Department officials said that the air-craft-carrier Independence was leaving Lebanon to take part in N.A.T.O. exercises, reducing America’s naval forces in the eastern Mediterranean to the lowest level in four months.