From: UPI
Subject: Situation deteriorates in Lebanon and at peace talks
Reply-To: ayman@umich.edu
Organization: United Press International
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 21:15:23 GMT
X-Note: This article was automatically cross-posted to soc.culture.lebanon

[ Article cross-posted without permission ]

	WASHINGTON (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'' in the Middle East
peace talks, Israel said Tuesday.
	Itamar Rabinovich, Israel's chief negotiator with Syria, said 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 in Hebrew that ``it is inconceivable we will resume
a normal agenda.''
	Lubrani said he would ``have to play it by the ear'' whether Israel
in protest would cut short the meeting with Lebanon as the delegation
did Monday. But diplomats involved in the negotiations told United Press
International under conditions of anonymity Tuesday that Israel planned
to do so.
	Syrian negotiator Muwaffiq al-Allaf condemned Israel for provoking
the situation and defended the Iranian-controlled, anti-peace Hezbollah
guerillas for battling an occupying force. He said the guerilla 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 taks.''
	Hezbollah guerrillas attacked a joint patrol of Israeli troops and
their surrogate South Lebanon Army Tuesday, hours after Muslim forces
fired rockets into northern Israel for a second consecutive day.
	In Jerusalem, Israeli army officers said tanks were moving to the
border to bolster troop deployments. But, they said, no reinforcements
had crossed into the nine-mile wide ``security zone'' border strip
Israel oversees in southern Lebanon.
	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 Israeli's Upper Galilee.
	Tuesday, Deputy Israeli Defense Minister Mordechai Gur said Israel
would not restrain itself indefinitely if Lebanon and Syria ignored
warnings given during the latest round of talks.
	U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said Lebanon had begun diplomatic
efforts to ``help ease the growing tension and contain the deterioration
in southern Lebanon.''