Word: habib
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Once again Israel had unleashed its awesome arsenal in defiance of the close ally that supplied most of its weapons The blow came just when U.S. Special Envoy Philip Habib seemed on the verge of salvaging a diplomatic victory for the U.S. by negotiating a peaceful evacuation of the P.L.O. from Lebanon. As Israel's terrible swift sword sliced into West Beirut, in full video view of a war-weary world, the U.S. was reduced to muttering public protests...
Reagan adopted the view that challenging Israel too harshly would sacrifice what remains of America's influence over its prickly ally. "Our relationship is our strongest leverage," says an official. Severing this tenuous bond by cutting off weapons or recalling Habib "would give the Israelis a carte blanche to go into West Beirut," says one of Reagan's senior advisers. It was agreed, however, that the U.S. should vote for a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel if the measure could be modified to include references to the need for P.L.O. restraint, and if the mention of sanctions...
From the American perspective, Israel's assault on West Beirut came at a most inopportune moment. Habib appeared to have worked out a complex agreement that would have provided for the evacuation of the P.L.O. from Lebanon. That the Israelis seemed willing to jeopardize the Habib mission indicated to some dispirited American analysts that Jerusalem might actually prefer a bloody showdown to a diplomatic settlement that would preserve and possibly enhance the P.L.O.'s political status. Asked one U.S. official: "How can Begin bear to see [P.L.O. Leader Yasser] Arafat two months from now in Cairo, his apparatus...
Israeli officials deny any desire to scuttle Habib's mission. Begin and others in his government say that Israel shares the goal of negotiating a peaceful exit of the trapped Palestinians. The concern felt in Washington about deteriorating U.S.-Israeli relations was not shared in Jerusalem. Any disagreement between the two countries, Israel feels, is over tactics rather than aims. Increased military pressure, the Israelis argue, will help force a settlement. Said Shamir while in Washington: "We believe the P.L.O. will not leave Lebanon unless they are convinced that they have only one choice...
Washington, on the other hand, feels that the continuous shellings threaten to crumble hopes for a settlement. Early last week Habib sent a blistering cable to the State Department asserting that his mission was being undermined by Israeli military outbursts. Reagan made the point to Shamir at their meeting. "One reason Habib can't make any progress on the negotiations is because he has to deal with cease-fire violations so often...