Lebanese P.M. tells Israel to close office

Press, 28 May 1984, Page 10

Lebanese P.M. tells Israel to close office

NZPA-Reuter Beirut The Lebanese Prime Minister, Mr Rashid Karami, had told Israel to close down its liaison office set up in the Christian village of Dbaiyeh, north of Beirut last year, Government officials said. Mr Karami, who is also Foreign Minister, had sent word on Friday to the Israelis through an IsraeliLebanese liaison committee, after having made the decision a week ago. Lebanon had not received a reply from the Israelis, they said.

Israeli spokesmen in Dbaiyeh and Jerusalem denied that they had been told of any decision. “We were not notified,” said a spokesman, Gadi Golan, in Dbaiyeh. The bureau was set up after Israel and Lebanon concluded a troop withdrawal agreement in May allowing each other to open a liaison office. Lebanon cancelled the accord in March. Lebanese Army soldiers guard the office, tucked away on a hillside overlook-

ing the Mediterranean. But the central Government does not have full authority in the area, ruled by the “Lebanese Forces” Christian militia, which favours close links with Israel and which recently opened an office in Jerusalem. One of Mr Karami’s top priorities for his month-old Government is to end the Israeli presence in Lebanon. But press reports said that he had faced some Rightwing resistance in Christian areas.