Israelis Brace for Arab Retaliation

Israelis braced Wednesday for possible Arab retaliation after the previous day’s air force interception of a Libyan jet. But they were mostly philosophical about the apparent intelligence failure that had led the military to believe mistakenly that there were terrorists on board.

“If you act, you take risks,” commented one senior official with a shrug.

There would have been risks if the operation had netted terrorist leaders, as well, this official argued, and he noted that Israel must always be on guard against Arab attack.

The leftist newspaper Al Hamishmar reported Wednesday that the government has put all its representatives abroad on special alert in case Libya’s leader, Col. Moammar Kadafi, attempts a “showpiece attack” against an Israeli target in retaliation.

The newspaper Davar, which is close to Prime Minister Shimon Peres’ Labor Alignment political party, also reported that the government is bracing for a possible increase in anti-Israeli terrorist activity as well as a diplomatic onslaught.

Israeli air force fighters intercepted the Libyan Grumman Gulfstream II executive jet Tuesday afternoon as the plane ferried Syrian and Lebanese officials back to Damascus, Syria, after a weekend conference of hard-line Palestinian and other Arab leaders in Tripoli, Libya. They forced the jet to land at an air base in northern Israel, which military censors would not allow to be identified.

The Israeli military said it acted because the Libyan jet “was suspected to be carrying persons who were involved in planning attacks against Israel,” although none proved to be aboard. After about five hours of interrogation, the plane and its passengers were allowed to resume their flight to Damascus.

Libya, Syria and other Arab nations strongly condemned the interception as an act of “air piracy.” Syria’s chief of staff pledged to “teach Israel a lesson it will not forget,” and Libyan state radio threatened to hijack American and Israeli aircraft in retaliation.

Some Western nations, including Spain, which just last month established diplomatic relations with Israel, also condemned the Israeli action.

While officials here continued to refuse Wednesday to say specifically whom they had hoped to capture, speculation centered on these four Palestinians:

Abu Nidal, leader of the group believed responsible for the Dec. 27 terrorist attacks at the El Al Airlines counters at the Rome and Vienna airports that left 20 persons dead, including five Americans; Ahmed Jibril, head of the pro-Syrian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command; Abu Moussa, leader of a Palestine Liberation Organization faction opposed to PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and the man blamed for last fall’s hijacking of the Achille Lauro Italian cruise ship in which American passenger Leon Klinghoffer was killed, and George Habash, head of the Marxist-oriented Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

It was unclear what Israel planned to do with any “terrorist” leaders it might have caught, although one official here commented, “I assume that they would have been put on trial for terrorist offenses.”

However, Aharon Yariv, head of Tel Aviv’s Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies and a former head of military intelligence, questioned the wisdom of the operation in an interview with the army radio station.

He noted that because the jet was bound for Damascus, the operation risked an escalation of tension with Israel’s strongest Arab neighbor. Also, he said, “I don’t know what we would do with Habash and Jibril if they were in our hands. Is it in our interests to bring them to trial? They could bring international lawyers and turn it into a public relations coup.”

Yariv also suggested that decisions to launch such risky operations should involve more people. Israel radio reported earlier Wednesday that Prime Minister Peres, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Gen. Moshe Levy, the chief of staff, had approved the operation.

“One must show initiative; one must dare, even if sometimes the entire goal is not achieved,” Rabin told reporters during a tour of the north Wednesday.

Israel, he added, will continue to strike out at terrorists at any opportunity, whether or not there has been a specific act to justify the move to international public opinion.

“When we fail, we must put things on the table and say so,” added Levy. “The process was right, but the outcome was not as we wanted.”