Middle East: A Pinch of Progress

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Israel and Lebanon agree at last on what they will talk about

"I wish to inform you that the delegations have reached an agreement on the agenda." With those words, Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Avi Pazner announced the first hint of progress in the 2½-week-old peace talks between Israel and Lebanon. All it meant was that the two sides had at last agreed on what they are willing to talk to each other about. But in a season when diplomatic progress on the problems of the Middle East has been practically nonexistent, it represented a modest advance.

What gave the announcement an added sense of drama was that it coincided with the return to the Middle East of President Reagan's Special Envoy Philip Habib. On leaving Washington earlier in the week, Habib had declared: "There is an urgent need to put the problems of Lebanon behind us so that we can move on to the larger issues of peace in the region." Whether the Reagan Administration's rising impatience over the deadlock contributed to last week's agreement was not clear, but the return of Habib undoubtedly increased the pressure on both the Israelis and the Lebanese. Even as the agenda agreement was being announced, Habib was reported to have told the two sides that they should now work toward a first-stage withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon by Feb. 12. The deadline was no doubt optimistic, but it was intended to show that the U.S. would have little patience with further procedural wrangling.

Throughout the 2½-week deadlock, Lebanese delegates had maintained that the talks should be aimed at securing a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, thus leading to a withdrawal of Syrian and Palestine Liberation Organization troops as well. The Israelis were determined that the talks deal with "normalization" of relations between the two countries, and that they should also discuss arrangements for maintaining security in southern Lebanon, opposite the Israeli border. The government of Lebanese President Amin Gemayel feared that any steps toward diplomatic recognition of Israel would upset Muslim-Christian relations within Lebanon and, worse, anger neighboring Arab states. Lebanon needs Saudi Arabian assistance in repairing the massive damage caused by the war, as well as Syrian cooperation in withdrawing forces from Lebanon. Both the Saudis and the Syrians have expressed their opposition to an agreement between Israel and Lebanon that deals with anything other than the departure of foreign troops.

In the end, the two sides agreed on a compromise formula that permitted both to claim a measure of victory. Israel dropped its insistence on the word normalization and instead accepted the more neutral phrase "a framework for mutual relations," which would include "liaison, ending of hostile propaganda, the movement of goods, products and persons, and communications." All the main points on the agenda, it was agreed, would be regarded as equally important and would be discussed concurrently "in the light of their interrelationship." Israel would be able to stress "termination of the state of war," while Lebanon could emphasize "complete withdrawals."