Word: habib
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...rescue mission to Lebanon for the second time in less than a quarter-century.* In Beirut, meanwhile, intermittent Israeli shelling and the blockade of West Beirut at times kept the leaders of the various Lebanese factions from meeting with one another, and indeed brought U.S. Special Envoy Philip Habib's delicate negotiations to a virtual standstill...
...President drafted a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, accusing him of obstructing U.S. efforts to reach an agreement over Beirut and warning Begin that the U.S. could even be forced to deal directly with the P.L.O. if he did not stop making it so difficult for Habib to negotiate with the Palestinians through intermediaries. When U.S. Ambassador to Israel Samuel Lewis delivered the letter to Begin in person, the Israeli leader promised to cooperate, but he remained silent at the threat of U.S.-P.L.O. negotiations, especially at Lewis' news that Habib might be ordered to deal personally with...
...after day, the unnerving calm stretched on. The truce between Israeli invaders and Palestinian defenders that had been in effect for more than a week threatened to break down at any moment with potentially disastrous results for the entire region. As talks continued, with U.S. Special Envoy Philip Habib serving as chief negotiator, there appeared to be just two possible outcomes: 1) a large-scale withdrawal from Lebanon of all or most of the Palestine Liberation Organization's 6,000 fighting men based in West Beirut; 2) an Israeli onslaught against the P.L.O.'s redoubt, leading...
...Habib's task was to reconcile Israel's blunt demand that the Palestinians lay down their arms and flee the country with the P.L.O.'s plea for an "honorable surrender." On Monday the P.L.O. presented Habib with a set of requests. The most important was the retention of a "symbolic" military presence in Lebanon in the form of two armed brigades that would be commanded by the Lebanese army. The P.L.O. has similar arrangements in Jordan and Syria. In addition, the organization asked that it be allowed to maintain its own armed police force in the Palestinian...
Though few specifics were known of the Habib negotiations in Beirut, one senior U.S. diplomat declared that the talks had reached the "rug merchant stage," implying that the various sides were haggling over the details of a P.L.O. withdrawal. By the end of the week, all parties were believed to have accepted the main principles of the U.S.-Lebanese plan. The P.L.O. realized that it must move its basic operations out of Lebanon, while the Israelis grudgingly accepted the idea that the Palestinians could retain a political office of some kind in Beirut...