Middle East: Menachem, Shalom

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Beirut along with elements of the Lebanese army a few hours before the evacuation would begin. About a week later, a multi-national force of 800 Americans, 800 Frenchmen and 400 Italians would move in. Still to be settled, in future negotiations, is the fate of some 7,500 Palestinian guerrillas held prisoner in Israeli-occupied Lebanon and of some 20,000 P.L.O. combatants in and around Tripoli and in the Bekaa Valley.

A sticking point has been the question of bringing in foreign troops before the P.L.O. evacuation has begun. The P.L.O. wants the protection of foreign soldiers, particularly the French. The Israelis fear that if the P.L.O. should then change its mind about leaving Beirut, the foreign troops would become a buffer between the P.L.O. and the Israelis. Eventually, Habib supported the idea of a small French advance force. But he agreed that if some of the guerrillas should refuse to leave, the international force would compel them to do so or, if necessary, would step aside and permit the Israelis to drive them out.

Habib told the Israelis that Iraq, Jordan and Syria were prepared to accept the majority of the departing guerrillas, and that a few might go to Sudan and Tunisia. Only Egypt among the main Arab countries involved in the discussions was still refusing to cooperate. As his price for accepting a P.L.O. presence, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was seeking a promise from the U.S. that it would move toward a comprehensive settlement on the Palestinian issue.

The Israelis accepted the Habib plan in principle, though they asked for several amendments. They wanted a complete list of the P.L.O. guerrillas who were to be evacuated. They asked for the release of a captured Israeli pilot and for the bodies of several Israeli servicemen killed in previous fighting. They still felt uneasy about having foreign troops on hand in Beirut in advance of the P.L.O. withdrawal. Despite these Israeli reservations, American negotiators were quite optimistic by the time Habib had returned to Lebanon at midweek. Thus they were caught off-balance by the fierceness of the Israelis' Thursday attack on West Beirut.

By the end of the week the fears raised by the Thursday bombing seemed to be receding. The talks between U.S. and Lebanese officials had resumed, and there was speculation that Negotiator Habib would soon make another trip to Jerusalem, perhaps the final one in the current series. Even the chastened Ariel Sharon said he hoped that the P.L.O. evacuation from Beirut could begin some time late this week. In Washington, President Reagan declared that he was now "reasonably optimistic" because he believed that this time "the cease-fire is going to hold." The long agony of Beirut may be drawing to a close.

— By William E. Smith.

Reported by David Aikman/ Jerusalem and William Stewart/ Beirut