Word: habib
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...danger that the Middle East was storming toward a major conflict added a special urgency to the elaborate U.S. peace mission: a hectic diplomatic shuttle between Beirut, Damascus and Jerusalem by Special Envoy Philip Habib. After meeting with Begin early in the week, Habib went to Beirut for talks with Lebanon's President, Elias Sarkis. Then he climbed back into his black limousine for a midnight drive to Damascus, where he met for the second time with Syria's President, Hafez Assad, to impress upon him the need for restraint while trying to coax concessions that might break...
...Habib's exact proposals remained a secret, it was assumed that his peace formula rested on two reciprocal concessions...
...this reason, there were still hopes that the Habib mission might yet produce an understanding among all the parties. One possible avenue lay in a plan outlined to TIME by a high Begin aide last week. Under the proposal, the Christian Phalangists and Syrians would disengage their forces near Zahle and elsewhere in the Bekaa Valley, as reportedly called for in the Habib formula. Israel, however, instead of ceasing its overflights in the Bekaa Valley, would pledge not to attack the Syrians on the ground or otherwise threaten their status as a peace-keeping force in Lebanon. If the Syrians...
...joint concern, consulted about the best way of cutting the fuse in Lebanon. Three times in nine days, Soviet Ambassador Anatoli Dobrynin called at the State Department. Moscow also dispatched its own emissary-Georgi Kornienko, First Deputy Foreign Minister -to tour the region in the same fashion as Habib. One Palestinian leader in Lebanon wryly reported that Soviet embassy officials had visited him, asking, "What do you think is going to happen? What does it mean?" He added: "They only come around when they are worried...
...week's end Habib declined to make any comment on his exhaustive round of talks except to note that the situation was still "dangerous." Even as sporadic explosions echoed throughout war-torn Beirut, Habib met with Christian Leaders Pierre and Bashir Gemayel, Walid Jumblatt, head of the leftist alliance, and former President Camille Chamoun, titular head of the right-wing Lebanese Front. The two groups have had an uneasy relationship since the end of the civil war between them in 1976. The talks were regarded as a sign that the U.S. intended to involve itself not only...