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Subject: Israel Warns Lebanon, Syria As Mideast Talks Resume; Sides Swap Charges in
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 92 04:53:22 EST
Message-ID: <49.1992Nov10.045323@AmeriCast.com>

Israel Warns Lebanon, Syria As Mideast Talks Resume; Sides Swap
Charges in Tense Post-Election Session<By John M.
Goshko<Washington Post Staff Writer= Israel used the resumption
of the Middle East peace talks yesterday to warn that it is
prepared to make life intolerable in Lebanon if Shiite guerrillas
there continue to launch rocket attacks against northern Israel.

Israeli sources said that Uri Lubrani, Israel's chief negotiator
in talks with the Lebanese, gave that warning at a tense 30-
minute meeting that marked the resumption of negotiations after a
12-day recess for the U.S. presidential elections.

"If there is no security on our side of the border, life can be
made intolerable on your side of the border as well," the sources
quoted Lubrani as saying. They said the threat was prompted by a
barrage of Katushya rockets fired against Israel on Sunday by the
Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrilla organization.

"It must be clear to the Lebanese that calm and quiet will not be
confined to one side of the border while the lives of our ci-
tizens are made unbearable on the other," Yossi Gal, the Israeli
delegation spokesman, said later. "Our delegation reiterated to
the Lebanese our determination to do all that is necessary . . .
to ensure that terrorists cannot be allowed to operate with im-
punity."

Souhel Chammas, the chief Lebanese delegate, replied that the
rockets were fired after Israeli planes attacked a Lebanese vil-
lage, killing four guerrillas.

"The Lebanese blood which was lost is very, very dear to us," he
said. "It was Lebanese blood which was spilled on Lebanese terri-
tory, and the dead are Lebanese citizens in good standing."

Gal said that Israel's complaints about the guerrilla attacks
also were raised at the meeting with Syrian delegates. Syria,
which has thousands of troops inside Lebanon, effectively has a
veto over the Lebanese government's actions, and Israel has
charged that the Iranian-supplied rockets reached Hezbollah
through Syria.

Despite the chilly atmosphere marking yesterday's exchanges, U.S.
officials expressed hope that all sides in the peace talks would
get back to serious negotiations and not allow the U.S. presiden-
tial transition to cause delays. In Little Rock, Ark., George
Stephanopoulos, a spokesman for President-elect Clinton, said
Clinton had talked by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin and called for the talks to continue "without any slowdown"
during the transition.<02:36 11-10C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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