Israel Lawmakers Debate Lebanon Withdrawal

Just days after 73 Israeli soldiers were killed in an accident as they flew to southern Lebanon, lawmakers from governing and opposition parties alike have urged the government to reexamine its policy of continuing Israel’s costly occupation of Lebanese territory.

The recommendation grew out of an unusual meeting this weekend that brought together veteran security officials and politicians from the political left and right, including several who have called previously for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

Underlining the urgency of the debate, seven Israeli soldiers were wounded Sunday in a clash with Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas inside the 9-mile-wide strip in Lebanon that Israel declared a security zone in 1985.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met late Sunday with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, sought to stem the growing debate over a unilateral pullout from Lebanon, where 27 Israeli soldiers were killed last year.

The renewed discussions were sparked by Tuesday’s midair collision of two army helicopters carrying troops to duty in Lebanon, the worst military air disaster in Israeli history.

Netanyahu called on members of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and other public figures to refrain from joining the debate about a unilateral withdrawal.

“This talk, during days of mourning and turbulent emotions, is likely to encourage the terrorists in Lebanon to increase their attacks on Israeli soldiers,” Netanyahu said.

Others from across the political spectrum also criticized the discussions, including Yossi Sarid, the leader of the leftist Meretz Party. Sarid, whose party has long been associated with the Israeli peace movement, said he rejected the idea of a unilateral withdrawal. Such a move would “paralyze civilian life in the north” of Israel, he said.

The meeting Saturday night to discuss Lebanon took place at the home of Gideon Ezra, a former deputy chief of the Shin Bet security service and a member of parliament from Netanyahu’s Likud Party. Other participants included Michael Eitan, who heads the Likud faction in parliament, Labor Party lawmaker Yossi Beilin, who has called for a unilateral Israeli pullout, and several retired Israeli generals.

“We shouldn’t wait for a peace treaty,” Beilin told Israel’s Channel One television news. “We shouldn’t give the other side the right to veto what we should do.”

The group decided to submit its recommendations to Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordecai, but declined to release specifics.

Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon was founded on the idea that control of the border region was crucial in protecting civilians in northern Israel from attack by Hezbollah guerrillas--who are Islamic militants--and that a withdrawal from the area could not take place without a peace agreement with Lebanon and, more important, with Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon.

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But many Israelis have grown impatient with the prolonged occupation and angry over the ever-rising toll of casualties among the soldiers who serve there.

Yoel Marcus, a commentator writing in the independent daily Haaretz, last week stopped short of advocating a unilateral pullout from Lebanon but said it had become “Israel’s little Vietnam.” It “haunts us like a curse,” he wrote.

Even as debate continued over Lebanon, however, Israeli and Palestinian leaders appeared to have made progress Sunday in their first formal discussions since last month’s agreement on an Israeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank city of Hebron.

Netanyahu and Arafat emerged after nearly two hours of discussions at the Erez crossing between Israel and the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip to say they had agreed to resolve outstanding issues of the Hebron deal in several joint committees.

“We agreed on a mechanism to resolve these issues and advance them,” Netanyhau said. “We are continuing in a spirit of cooperation to resolve all our outstanding problems.”

Arafat termed the meeting “important,” and said the negotiating teams will begin talks next week on details of further steps outlined in the U.S.-brokered Hebron accord, such as the Palestinians’ desire to open an airport and seaport and the issue of safe passage for Palestinians between areas they control in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Under terms of that agreement, Israel last month withdrew its troops from 80% of Hebron.

On March 7, Israel is scheduled to begin a series of three further withdrawals from the West Bank, turning the areas it vacates over to control of the Palestinian Authority.

That process is due to be completed by mid-1998.