Lebanese Premier Rejects Israeli Terms for Pullout

For 20 years, governments here have been calling for Israel to withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon. Now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tired of a protracted conflict that has caused a steady stream of casualties among his forces, says he wants to do just that.

Lebanon ought to leap at this deal to regain control of about 10% of its land, right?

Wrong, Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said Wednesday, in his most extensive interview on the Israeli leader’s surprise initiative.

Speaking at his mansion in central Beirut, Hariri said that the problem lies in the fine print attached to Israel’s offer earlier this month to heed U.N. Resolution 425, which calls for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon: Netanyahu is insisting that before there is a pullout, Lebanon must agree to “security arrangements” that would follow the withdrawal.

That, said Hariri, is a snare that would make his government formally accountable for any security violations that might later occur along Israel’s northern border--and provide grounds for possible Israeli retaliation.

“If Netanyahu wants security cooperation, he should sign a peace treaty,” declared Hariri, Lebanon’s prime minister since 1992 and the driving personality behind the small Mediterranean country’s attempt to rise from the ashes after its 1975-90 civil war and invasions by Israel in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Hariri said that Lebanon is interested only in a comprehensive peace agreement that would include Syria, which keeps 30,000 troops in Lebanon and wields great influence over its smaller neighbor. Syria’s own talks with Israel have been stalled since 1996.

“A separate deal with Israel for Lebanon is a disaster,” said Hariri, insisting that he was speaking pragmatically and not, as some analysts believe, because Syria is blocking Lebanon from reaching peace with Israel. “How can you divide a peace?”

Hariri said that Lebanon would welcome an unconditional pullback by Israel from the 9-mile-deep band of Lebanese territory it controls. But he said there is no way that Lebanon would make the promises that Netanyahu’s government apparently wants--such as committing itself to disarm Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim guerrilla group that has been responsible for most of the casualties inflicted on Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.

Hariri questioned Netanyahu’s sincerity, saying that the Israeli leader’s record during nearly two years in office does not inspire trust among Arabs.

“If [Yitzhak] Rabin said, ‘I want to implement [Resolution] 425,’ my reaction would be different,” Hariri said of the late Israeli leader whose government negotiated peace agreements with the Palestinians.

Hariri seemed confident that the occupation--dating from 1978, when Israeli forces entered southern Lebanon to push back Palestinian guerrillas based there--is inevitably going to end, because Israelis are tired of the military burden. About 200 Israelis have died in Israel’s self-styled “security zone” since 1985.

“I would like to see the peace taking place in the region,” Hariri said. “What are we doing in the south? We are killing Israeli soldiers. And they are killing Lebanese civilians. And who is gaining? Nobody.”

Hariri said he knows the kinds of questions Israelis have on their minds: If Israel withdraws, how will the Lebanese army react? What will become of the Hezbollah guerrillas? Will Lebanon put on trial the leaders of the South Lebanon Army, the Christian-led Lebanese militia allied with Israel?

“All these questions,” he said. “Why should I answer them for the Israelis? Let them withdraw, and then I will do what I have to do.”