Word: habib
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official who has suffered four heart attacks and undergone bypass surgery. Habib carried all his medical records with him, as well as his medications. He likes to rest for a while in the afternoon, but there was little time for that during the talks. Habib's traveling was vastly complicated by the fact that he insisted on not flying directly to Israel over Lebanese territory under Israeli occupation, feeling that to do so would appear to condone Jerusalem...
...Cyprus. Then he would catch a flight to Tel Aviv. As the negotiations edged toward a settlement, U.S. intelligence agents picked up reports that an extremist splinter group of the P.L.O., run by George Habash, intended to assassinate the envoy. The faction opposed a P.L.O. withdrawal from Beirut. Habib spent one night in the shelter of the residence of U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Dillon in Yarze, southeast of Beirut. Habib also had to break off talks with the Lebanese from time to time when P.L.O. rockets exploded near the presidential palace, where the main...
discussions occurred. As he struggled toward a settlement, Habib had to cope with the suspicions of both the P.L.O. and the Israelis. At first the Palestinians were convinced that Habib was pro-Israel and, what was more, that he was acting, said one senior P.L.O. official, as a "high commissioner" who had come to dictate terms. The Israelis initially felt that he was keeping them in the dark about the true state of the negotiations...
...Habib overcame both problems with his diligence, his meticulous preparation and his deep personal knowledge of the key participants. Habib, who is the son of a Lebanese grocer and who grew up in a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, also had a feel for the fears and desires of both sides...
...Finally, Habib has a distinctive personal touch that helped move the talks along. Dealing with the loquacious Menachem Begin, Habib would let him run on a while, then interrupt him with a blunt deflator: "Prime Minister, what you're really saying is this . . ." Habib had a different style from Henry Kissinger, whom he assisted during the Middle East shuttles in 1974 that led to the disengagement agreements made by Israel with both Egypt and Syria. "Kissinger," says one Israeli official, "was more of a preacher. He'd lecture us. Habib takes pains to avoid that...