Israel Decides on 3-Stage Troop Pullout in Lebanon : Withdrawal May Take 9 Months

Israel’s Cabinet today approved a plan for a three-stage withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon. The first phase of the pullback is to begin in five weeks, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin said.

Communications Minister Amnon Rubenstein said the vote was 16 to 6 in favor of the plan presented by Rabin and top army officers. Israeli television said Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir was one of those voting against.

Prime Minister Shimon Peres said the first pullback from the current Awali River front line would be “within a few weeks,” and that the timing of the second and third stages “will be played by ear.”

“The basic idea is to withdraw in stages, each stage short enough so we shall not have to fortify our lines and long enough so the other countries (Syria and Lebanon) will have a chance to enable an orderly arrangement in Lebanon,” Peres told the Foreign Press Assn.

Peres has said the complete withdrawal should take six to nine months.

The plan provides for Israeli troops to retreat 12 to 18 miles, according to Israeli military correspondents.

Israeli troops, currently estimated by foreign reports to number 20,000, would leave the Mediterranean port city of Sidon and many predominantly Shia Muslim villages, which have a total population of about 400,000.

Plan Meets Opposition The plan met strong opposition from Shamir’s right-wing Likud bloc, which was the governing party when Israel launched its June 6, 1982, invasion of Lebanon.

Likud fears a precipitate withdrawal will lead to renewed anti-Israeli guerrilla attacks on Israel’s northern border. Israel invaded to drive out Palestinian guerrillas who attacked northern Israel from bases in southern Lebanon.

Israeli government sources said the agreement was a compromise. Because of Likud resistance to a total withdrawal without agreements with Lebanon and Syria, each later phase of withdrawal will require separate Cabinet approval.

The plan for a unilateral withdrawal was born out of frustration over the deadlocked troop withdrawal negotiations with Lebanon that began Nov. 8 in the border town of Naqoura.

Israeli military correspondents said the first withdrawal would move Israeli forces back on the western and central fronts to a line between the Litani and Zaharani rivers.

The current front line is just north of Sidon on the Awali River, 37 miles north of Israel’s border. Israeli troops currently control about 850 square miles with a predominantly Shia population of about 900,000.

The new line would reduce the area Israel controls by about one-fifth.

The second withdrawal is expected to come in the eastern sector, where Israel now faces the Syrian army in the Bekaa Valley. The final stage would see Israeli forces return to the international boundary.

Israel’s post-withdrawal defense strategy would rely on reconnaissance patrols by air, ground and sea and on the threat of reprisal for attacks on its border.