As president, Barak balks on pullout he advocated as candidate
By Steve Rodan
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, February 22, 2000
JERUSALEM -- For months, candidate Ehud Barak was a prominent ally of
those demanding an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. He pledged a pullout of
troops from southern Lebanon by July and as casualties mounted he suggested
that such a move could be implemented in May.
Today, Barak has had a change of heart. The prime minister still intends
to withdraw troops from Lebanon. But sources close to Barak said he is being
more cautious with his promises and is urging his supporters to end their
pressure for a pullout.
Barak's fear, the sources said, is that the Hizbullah, Iran and Syria
will simply maintain guerrilla attacks on Israel to ensure that the Jewish
state withdraws without a peace agreement. That aim might reflect an
assessment that Israel can be pressured through military means without any
need to negotiate with the Jewish state.
Quietly, the sources said, Barak has urged his political allies to be
patient. The prime minister stressed that Israel must exhaust all
possibilities to achieve an agreement for withdrawal.
"There is a very high preference for an exit in the framework of an
agreement," he said. "Because an agreement doesn't only change the
conditions and creates apparently a peace agreement, or at least an address
on the other side that can stop terrorism. It is simply an agreement that
saves casualties."
"Without these types of treaties, we will find ourselves in a conflict,
even if it takes five or ten years,'' Barak added. "And the youth who will
have to fight in this battle have the right to know that Israeli governments
tried all avenues to reach an agreement so that this would not happen."
Sources close to Barak said the prime minister was stunned by the affect
of what they termed the limited lobbying effort for an immediate withdrawal.
They said efforts by such groups as the Four Mothers, mothers of soldiers
killed in Lebanon, have been amplified by the media and adopted by many
politicians.
Barak warned a conference of religious activists aligned with the Labor
Party on Sunday night that unless Israel learns how to deal with casualties
in southern Lebanon, its Arab enemies might realize that the Jewish state
can be pressured throughout negotiations. He attributed the current Arab
backlash against Israel to frustration by Hizbullah's allies over the
effectiveness of Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon.
The sources, including several ministers in the Cabinet, said Barak's
pledges to withdraw from Lebanon have resulted in pressure within the
coalition for an immediate withdrawal. Several ministers, including Industry
and Trade Minister Ran Cohen, are calling for such a step.
At a meeting of the left-wing Meretz Party, activists hissed chairman
Yossi Sarid when he warned against immediate withdrawal. Sarid, an education
minister, said Israel must first prepare for such a withdrawal and implement
plans to build new bases and increase security for more than 350,000
residents along the northern border.
"I see a possibility that the exit from Lebanon in this manner will be
an exit just to return again," Sarid said. "And I see a scenario where more
soldiers and more civilians fall."
Sarid immediately ran into opposition. "What is in July 2000 that isn't
in February 2000," Meretz parliamentarian Zehava Galon said.
At the conference, Uriel Safra, a high school senior -- scheduled to be
drafted in the military next year -- told the Meretz leadership that he "is
scared to serve in Lebanon. I want to stress how important it is that the
withdrawal take place soon."
Earlier on Sunday, at a conference of senior officers, Barak said
Israeli withdrawal plans depends on the intentions of Syria and the United
States. He said the peace process could strengthen Israeli's intentions to
withdraw from southern Lebanon.
Maj. Gen. Yaacov Ami-Dror, head of the war college and a former director
of research at military intelligence, warned against a unilateral Israeli
withdrawal from Lebanon. He said a military pullout prompted by fears of
casualties would leave Israel defenseless on every front.
Ami-Dror said this position is not moral because it leaves Israeli
civilians to fend for themselves on the front as the government prefers
risking them rather than soldiers. The general said he supports a public
debate on how to defend Israel's northern border that stresses the technical
aspects of security.
The general said the military has been unable to present its side of the
debate regarding Israel's interests in southern Lebanon. "We have to explain
the truth to the public," he said.
Tuesday, February 22, 2000
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