In Search of an Accord

By James Kelly

Shultz takes personal charge of Israeli-Lebanese negotiations

"It's time for me to come out and give Phil a hand. The issues have got to a point where a new face would be helpful." So said Secretary of State George Shultz last week as he winged to the Middle East to help U.S. Special Envoy Philip Habib clinch a deal on the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanon. If the remark was offhanded, the mission was not: in his first visit to the region since taking office last summer, Shultz faced the task of bringing about an Israeli-Lebanese agreement after four frustrating months of negotiations. Much more than a signed piece of paper was at stake. Success not only would boost the chances of resuscitating President Reagan's peace plan for Unking the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to Jordan, but dispel the notion that the Reagan Administration is clumsy in its conduct of foreign affairs.

For better or for worse, Shultz did not arrive with a plan to break the stalemated talks. Instead, he held a round of exploratory meetings in Jerusalem and Beirut, listening to both sides outline their differences. Then he shuttled between the two cities trying to reconcile the positions. The Secretary quickly learned that his presence alone would not resolve the disagreements. Conceded Shultz after the first round of meetings: "I still think it's doable, but it's going to be tough."

The sticking points remain significant. Both sides agree that a security zone should be set up in southern Lebanon to prevent the return of Palestinian guerrillas and to protect northern Israel from cross-border attacks, but they disagree on the details. The Israelis maintain that their soldiers should be free to accompany their Lebanese counterparts on patrol, with the right to conduct man hunts, property searches and identity checks. The Lebanese reject that demand and instead insist that the Israelis be allowed to take part only in "joint supervisory teams," with no military or police powers whatsoever. The Israelis, moreover, want the Lebanese force along the border to be under the control of Major Saad Haddad, a renegade Lebanese army officer whose 2,000-man militia has been supported by Jerusalem for the past seven years. The Lebanese may agree to take Haddad back into their ranks, but they refuse to let him run his own operation.

Israel also wants to sign agreements on trade and on the movement of people across the common border. The Lebanese prefer not to spell out these issues for fear of an Arab boycott. Even if these conflicts were settled, the pact itself would be a problem: the Israelis insist that the agreement be signed by the foreign ministers of the two countries, while the Lebanese, afraid of creating the impression that they are signing a peace treaty and thus recognizing Israel, want lower-ranking officials to approve the treaty. Said Lebanese Foreign Minister Elie Salem: "Lebanon cannot be exposed to all the conditions Israel wants and still survive as a state."

In a gesture intended to underscore the importance of the Camp David accords that led Egypt and Israel to sign a peace treaty, Shultz began his trip with a two-day stopover in Cairo for discussions with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. He then flew on to Tel Aviv, where he was greeted effusively by Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir. When Shultz arrived at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, Menachem Begin, who had never met the Secretary before, broke with protocol by going down the stairs from his office to greet him. Begin and his aides devoted about half of the two-hour meeting to the Soviet buildup in Syria. The Israelis charged, among other items, that Syrian SA-5 antiaircraft missile batteries are manned by the Soviets and that Soviet pilots fly helicopters outfitted with electronic warfare equipment over Syria. The facts were not new to Shultz, and some U.S. officials interpreted the presentation as a tactic to justify Israel's positions in the withdrawal talks.

After breakfast with Begin the next morning, Shultz flew to Beirut to meet with Lebanese President Amin Gemayel. As the Secretary's plane taxied to a halt at the airport, Marine tanks fined the runway and sharpshooters stood watch on nearby rooftops. Before heading for the presidential palace, Shultz took a helicopter to the wreckage that once was the U.S. embassy. Ten days after the bombing, most of the rubble had been cleared, but Shultz was still visibly shaken as he inspected the ruin. After a 45-minute private meeting with Gemayel, he spent five hours with the Lebanese President and his advisers.

The next day, Shultz met with Begin once; then on Saturday he flew to Beirut for another go-around with Gemayel. He remained in the Lebanese city overnight, trying to narrow the differences. So far, both sides seem impressed with Shultz and his methodical approach. One Lebanese official marveled that the Secretary kept a "complete poker face" while listening to Gemayel. Said an Israeli negotiator: "Shultz asked all the right questions." The Secretary appears to be conducting a one-man negotiation: Habib and other aides sit silently while Shultz does the speaking. The Israelis are especially heartened by the good chemistry between Begin and Shultz. "They are both being very polite," said an Israeli official. "Begin is not the blusterer he used to be."

But courtesy does not necessarily mean concurrence, as the past 35 sessions of the Israeli-Lebanese withdrawal talks have shown. Shultz initially promised to stay in the Middle East as long as necessary, but now he realizes that another week may not offer enough time. Even if the two countries do wrap up the talks, the Israeli withdrawal still hinges on whether the Syrians and the Palestine Liberation Organization pull their forces out of Lebanon. If the Syrians do not budge, the Israelis will also refuse to leave. "To everything there is a season," said Shultz during a toast in Jerusalem last week. "Now is the time to decide." The Secretary may yet discover how long the seasons can last in the Middle East.

--By James Kelly.

Reported by Gregory H. Wierzynski with Shultz

With reporting by Gregory H. Wierzynski with Shultz This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.