Rabin to Offer Cabinet Lebanon Pullout Plan

Israel radio reported Friday that Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin will propose a phased withdrawal of occupation troops from southern Lebanon at the Israeli Cabinet meeting Sunday and that he expects the plan to be approved.

Rabin also said Israel will return to the troop withdrawal talks with Lebanon at least once more--next Thursday after a 10-day interruption, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.

Rabin, former prime minister and army general, said in an interview to be broadcast today that after each stage of his withdrawal plan, Israeli forces will inspect the areas they just left and will take action if guerrilla activity seems to be growing.

He said the first stage will be a pullback from Israel’s northwest front line, near the Lebanese port city of Sidon. He also expressed the belief that if Israel evacuates its forces from southeastern Lebanon, Syria will not move in there on a large scale.

Rabin’s expectation of Cabinet approval for his pullout plan was supported by a report in the Israeli newspaper Davar. It said that support for a phased withdrawal appears to be growing among Cabinet ministers.

However, Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir of the Likud bloc on Friday reiterated his concern, and that, he said, of several other officials, that Israel have adequate security in the region before it can pull out--even if it means keeping troops in southern Lebanon for years.

Shamir--who is Labor Prime Minister Shimon Peres’ coalition partner and who will alternate as prime minister--told the newspaper Haaretz that the guidelines of their national unity government hold that Israel cannot withdraw from Lebanon without security against attacks from the Palestinian guerrillas.

“No matter for how many years that it will last,” he said.

Although Israel crushed the Palestine Liberation Organization in southern Lebanon in its 1982 invasion, PLO guerrillas have returned to some areas, Israel says. The Israeli government feels it cannot leave Lebanon until it has guarantees that the PLO will not return and again attack northern settlements.

Israel broke off talks with Lebanon at the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura this week, saying Lebanon must decide on the role of U.N. troops in the area its soldiers will vacate.