Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: U.S. tells Rabin talks may derail Date: Wed, 28 Oct 92 15:01:10 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \HD U.S. tells Rabin talks may derail \BY Warren Strobel \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Acting Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger sent a private message Monday to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin expressing concern that renewed violence in southern Lebanon might upset the Middle East peace talks, Bush administration officials said yesterday. They said Mr. Eagleburger's message expressed support for the Rabin government's response so far to attacks by pro-Iranian Hezbollah guerrillas, who have killed five Israeli soldiers and a 14-year-old Ukrainian emigre since Sunday. The message underscores U.S. officials' growing concern that the attacks and Israeli retaliation could derail the Arab-Israeli peace talks, which were continuing in Washington with few signs of progress. While Israel massed tanks and other weapons on its border with Lebanon, U.S. and Israeli officials denied that Washington is urging that it not cross into Lebanese territory. Instead, they said, Washington acknowledges that Israel has a right to defend itself as it sees proper, especially while it balances that with continued efforts in the peace talks. The strikes by Hezbollah, which is supported in part by Syria, sparked the conservative opposition Likud Party to demand that Mr. Rabin bring Israel's negotiating delegation back from Washington. The prime minister refused, saying this is precisely what the Islamic fundamentalists want. State Department spokesman Joe Snyder told reporters that "all parties have assured us that they remain committed to the current negotiations launched last year at the Madrid peace conference." "All parties have reaffirmed their determination not to allow violence to disrupt the very real progress being made at the Arab-Israeli peace talks," he said. Still, officials said the talks may be in an especially fragile state now, in part because of the approaching U.S. election and the possibility that it will be followed by a lengthy transition to a Democratic administration. "People are very concerned about the escalating violence," a State Department official said. "It makes things much trickier to keep everybody's eye on the ball in the peace process, to keep things moving forward." U.S. diplomats met with Israeli, Syrian and Lebanese officials in the Middle East and in Washington to discuss the crisis, Mr. Snyder said. "We continue to call upon all sides to exercise maximum restraint and to use their influence to end the violence in southern Lebanon and attacks against northern Israel," he said. Officials said that language was directed in part at Damascus, which controls Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, an operating base for the Hezbollah guerrillas. In Jerusalem, a source close to Mr. Rabin quoted him as telling a U.S. Embassy official: "We do not want to escalate the situation. . . . All we want is to be in a position to ward off any further attacks on Israel." * Andrew Meisels contributed to this report in Jerusalem. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM