From: sehari@iastate.edu (Babak Sehari)
Subject: ISRAELI NEGOTIATORS SAY SITUATION DETERIORATING IN LEBANON AND AT PEACE TALKS
Originator: sehari@class1.iastate.edu
Organization: Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa.
Date: Sun, 15 Nov 1992 22:41:16 GMT

ISRAELI NEGOTIATORS SAY SITUATION DETERIORATING IN LEBANON AND AT PEACE TALKS

WASHINGTON (NOV. 11) UPI - Intensified fighting in south Lebanon between
Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerillas has made it ''impossible to conduct
ourselves as if it is business as usual,'' Israeli negotiators at the Middle
East peace talks said. 

Itamar Rabinovich, Israel's chief negotiator with Syria, said Tuesday that the
Jewish nation's intense concern over the second consecutive day of rocket
attacks and its inevitable impact on discussions in Washington has been
conveyed through diplomatic channels to all those who influence events in
Lebanon. 

''It is indeed impossible to conduct ourselves as if it is business as usual
because it is not as usual both in Lebanon and in northern Israel and in the
general atmosphere of concern and doubt it raises in the minds of Israelis,''
he said. 

Uri Lubrani, Israel's negotiator with Lebanon, echoed Rabinovich's remarks when
he said that ''it is inconceivable we will resume a normal agenda.'' 

However, Israel did not cut short the meeting in protest, as they did the
previous day. 

Nonetheless, Syrian negotiator Muwaffiq al-Allaf condemned Israel for provoking
the latest fighting, and defended the Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas - who
oppose peace talks - for battling an occupying force. He said the guerrilla
attacks were sanctioned under international law. 

''Israel's policy is a policy of provocation and aggression against Arab people
while they claim they are talking paece,'' Al-Allaf said. ''Syria is not
responsible for the national resistance movement which is only responding to a
situation of occupation...which is accepted by international law and by the
charter of the U.N.'' 

But Lebanese negotiator Souheil Shammas, repeating the sentiments of all
Israeli and Arab delegations, said ''nothing will sway us from the negotiating
process. We are in the search for peace, and the search for peace is not an
easy task.'' 

The Bush administration urged all sides to exercise restraint so as not to
jeopardize the fragile peace process and placed blame for escalating warfare
squarely on the shoulders of Iran. 

''Those parties which are committed to the process...should make every effort
to resist the negative influence exerted by those opposed to peace, including
Hezbollah and its main sponsor, Iran,'' State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher said. 

State Department officials expressed concern that the Lebanese National Army
might come to the defense of Hezbollah, which is allowed to operate freely in
the south, if the fighting intensifies any further. 

Those worries appeared to materialize as Lebanese soldiers lobbed artillery
rounds into the 9-mile-wide self-declared security zone occupied by Israel in
south Lebanon. 

Lebanese artillery volleys came in response to Israeli barrages fired at
Hezbollah positions in retaliation for overnight rocket attacks by the
guerrillas on northern Israel. 

Israeli army officers said ''columns of tanks'' were moving to the border to
bolster troop deployments, but none had crossed north of the security zone. 

Last month, violence in south Lebanon cast a shadow over the sixth round of
talks, as Israel massed tanks along the border after a Hezbollah rocket killed
a 14-year-old boy in Israel's Upper Galilee. 

Deputy Israeli Defense Minister Mordechai Gur said that Israel would not
restrain itself indefinitely if Lebanon and Syria ignored warnings given during
the latest round of peace talks in Washington. 

Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador in Beirut, said Lebanon had begun diplomatic
efforts to ''help ease the growing tension and contain the deterioration in
southern Lebanon.'' 

Nevertheless, delegates to the peace talks in Washington said they will
reconvene Thursday following a one-day recess for Veterans Day. 



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