Middle East If: We Will Do What We Please

MIDDLE EAST

Amid scowls between Israel and the U.S., a smile for the Soviets

During a session of the Israeli-Lebanese troop-withdrawal talks in the northern Israeli town of Qiryat Shemona last week, the chief Israeli military delegate, Major General Avraham Tamir, suddenly turned to top U.S. Negotiator Morris Draper, who is attending the negotiating sessions. Looking Draper straight in the eye, the General said in a loud and angry voice, "Nobody is going to influence us on matters of our defense. We will do what we please."

The incident dramatized the uneasy relations between the U.S. and Israel as Washington presses the Israelis to withdraw from Lebanon. Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon added a new element of tension to the situation when he declared last week in a newspaper interview that the Soviet Union and Israel should enter into negotiations. "Come, let us meet," Sharon was quoted by the newspaper Ma'ariv as saying to the Soviets. "[We] have something to talk about." The remark was nonsense, since the Soviet Union and Israel have very little to talk about at the moment. But as Sharon no doubt intended, it annoyed the U.S. As usual, no one knew for sure whether the Defense Minister was speaking for Prime Minister Menachem Begin or merely for himself, as the rogue elephant of Israeli politics.

In this atmosphere of rising mistrust, there have been several disputes between U.S. Marines, on duty near Beirut as part of the multinational peace-keeping force, and the occupying Israeli soldiers. Last month small units of Israeli troops occasionally asked to pass through Marine checkpoints, in violation of the agreement that brought in the multinational force last year. The incidents have been relatively unimportant, but they emphasize the risks inherent in a failure to bring the Israeli occupation of Lebanon to a swift conclusion.

There was a grim reminder last week of other risks, those that go with the lingering Syrian and Palestinian presence in divided Lebanon. A car packed with explosives blew up in front of a Palestine Liberation Organization command center 30 miles east of Beirut in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley, killing at least 32 Syrians and Palestinians. An anti-P.L.O. group calling itself the Front to Liberate Lebanon from Foreigners claimed responsibility for the attack.

Israel is insisting that it will not withdraw its 30,000 troops until Lebanon has concluded a formal agreement to bring about normal relations and set up security arrangements between the two countries. The U.S. agrees with Lebanese President Amin Gemayel that such a move could offend Muslim factions in the war-torn country and in the Arab states whose support Lebanon badly needs, notably Syria and Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the U.S. has opposed Israel's request for at least three early-warning stations in southern Lebanon, to be manned by some 750 Israeli troops. Special Envoy Philip Habib is said to have told the Israelis that the proposed stations would make a "mockery" of the Lebanese demand for a complete withdrawal of Israeli, Syrian and Palestinian forces.