Word: habib
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Shamir insisted that a reply to Israel's demand that the P.L.O. leave Lebanon must come directly from Habib rather than in a statement by the Arab League. But Begin later told the Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Israeli Knesset that the P.L.O. was apparently agreeing to evacuate the city. Despite earlier P.L.O. assurances to Habib to that effect, the Israelis had feared that the P.L.O. was stalling for time to build up its own defenses. But Begin also told the committee that, while he favored a negotiated settlement, many loopholes in an agreement would have...
Although Jerusalem denied the report, diplomatic sources in Lebanon said that Habib had in fact already won Israeli acceptance of a tentative plan for the P.L.O. to be evacuated directly to Syria, then dispersed to Egypt, Jordan and Iraq...
...Habib presented the outline of the proposal to Lebanon's President Elias Sarkis and Prime Minister Chafik Wazzan after the U.S. envoy had returned from his swing through the Middle East. A P.L.O. evacuation plan had been drawn up early last week by Colonel Johnny Abdo, head of Lebanese army intelligence, and Hani al Hassan, Arafat's political adviser. The P.L.O. was pleased with the Habib proposals, even though the Palestinians had to forgo the staged withdrawal they preferred by way of the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon and thence to Syria...
Broadly sketched, the other points that Habib was discussing in his intensive sessions with the various B parties in Beirut included the deployment of the Lebanese army and a multinational force before the P.L.O. forces leave Beirut. As the P.L.O. left, Israeli forces would make a token withdrawal. Israeli officials last week said they were opposed to both conditions. The departure of some 5,000 P.L.O. fighters in and around Tripoli in northern Lebanon and the 15,000 to 20,000 commandos in the northern Bekaa Valley was to be worked out in subsequent agreements...
...Habib's diligent campaign to resolve such fundamental problems may take him on the road again this week. But just how elusive the cause of peace remained was sadly illustrated at week's end. Even as talks went on to get the P.L.O. out of Beirut, Israeli planes and artillery went into action, and once again the clouds of destruction rose over the beleaguered capital. -By Marguerite Johnson. Reported by Johanna McGeary/Washington and William Stewart/Beirut