Bloodshed as the Israelis Go Home

"I only wish they would all get the hell out of here "

The scene was part pastoral, part pomp and circumstance. Camels, sheep and donkeys moved lazily beside a tiny reservoir, seemingly unbothered by the throngs of waving and shouting Lebanese villagers massed around the dusty, brown dirt field where the handing-over ceremonies were about to begin. Thus at Meisel-Jabal, a village of 6,000 Shi'ite Muslims in southern Lebanon, one mile west of the Israeli border, the last units of the Israeli Defense Forces departed for home last week, 91 days after they had invaded Lebanon. The Israelis turned over the fight against Palestinian terrorists in the region to the 6,000-man United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and 700 skilled Lebanese Christian troops, who are backed by hundreds of local militiamen scattered throughout the area.

At Meisel-Jabal the blue and white Israeli flag was lowered while the red, white and green Lebanese flag remained atop a nearby flagpole. Churning up the dry, dusty ground, Israeli tanks thundered out of the village while Lebanese Christian troops in their tanks saluted. "We consider this a new day in the independence of Lebanon," declared Major Sa'ad Haddad, the Lebanese Christian commander. "But I recommend that if the U.N. forces do not keep the area clean of terrorists, the Israeli Defense Forces enter again to help us." That sentiment was echoed by the Israeli commander, Major General Avigdor Ben-Gal. Said he: "We did not and will not turn our backs on the people of Lebanon."

The pullout by the Israeli forces, in fact, leaves their Lebanese Christian allies measurably stronger than before the invasion. Originally centered in an area near Marjayoun, the Christians have now broadened their control of southern Lebanon from the Mediterranean to the slopes of Mount Hermon. The Israelis turned over to Major Haddad's forces 20 of the most vital positions along a 40-mile front three to five miles deep along the Israeli border. Behind them, the Israeli army will be at the ready to back up the Christians if needed.

The U.N. forces were given a rousing welcome by Lebanese villagers when they moved in. But the 14 positions they will occupy are clearly inferior to those held by the Christians. A U.N. officer put it bluntly: "We got second choice." Said another officer bitterly of the Christian gains: "I haven't heard of such a growth of the Christian faith since the days of the saints." The Israelis made no effort to hide their contempt for the U.N. troops, who they believe secretly favor the Palestinians; they delayed their scheduled departure for more than two hours.

Major Haddad insisted that the area under his control was "clean from terrorists." How long it will stay that way remains to be seen. Both the Palestinians and the Syrians, who occupy much of northern Lebanon, opposed the withdrawal arrangement because it entrenched the Christians in a buffer zone along the Israeli border that had previously been a Palestinian stronghold. The Syrians in time are expected to help the Palestinians in their struggle with the Christians. "We will not accept a reactionary fascist presence in the south," said a high-ranking officer of the Palestine Liberation Organization last week. "As [P.L.O. Leader Yasser] Arafat says, they are there illegally, and we will do everything in our power to make their lives very uncomfortable." The unlucky ones, once again, are sure to be the Lebanese villagers. Said a 78-year-old farmer near Naqura, where the Christians took over an Israeli post: "I only wish they would all get the hell out of here and leave this land to the people of Lebanon. We have become prisoners of a bunch of foreigners."

Even as the Israelis left southern Lebanon, the Syrian army was moving to stop an ominous outbreak of bloodletting among Christian factions in northern Lebanon. Bitter rivalry between the three chieftains, former President Suleiman Franjieh, Pierre Gemayel and Camille Chamoun, has been festering for months. Franjieh and his followers have close ties with Syrian President Hafez Assad, while Gemayel's Phalangists and Chamoun's Freedom Party have increasingly become pro-Israeli and anti-Syrian.

On the morning of the withdrawal, some 200 armed Phalangists descended on the resort village of Ehden, 60 miles north of Beirut, where Tony Franjieh, 36, the eldest son of Suleiman Franjieh and commander of his father's private army, was vacationing. The Phalangists opened fire on Franjieh's house with rockets and guns, killing him, his wife and daughter, and 35 other people. The speculation was that Gemayel, whose 15,000-man private army is the strongest among the three factions, was out to destroy both the Franjieh and Chamoun clans in the hope of taking over as undisputed leader of the Christian side.

Late last week the Christian divisions were also showing up among the Lebanese force in the south, where some units rebelled against Major Haddad's command. In the wake of the massacre, 10,000 Syrian troops moved into position in the north. In running fire fights with the Phalangists, they killed an undisclosed number of Christians and took some prisoners as well. In Damascus, the Syrian press implied that Jerusalem had plotted Franjieh's murder to cover up its handing over of the strongholds in southern Lebanon to Christian forces.

There was no reaction to that emotional charge in Jerusalem. The Israelis were worried about Premier Menachem Begin's health and embroiled in a domestic debate about how the government should respond to Washington's request for more details on Israel's plan for autonomy for the occupied West Bank. His doctors say that Begin, who was resting at home last week, suffers from diabetes and heart trouble, but rumors persist that his health is worse than has been acknowledged. He both looks and acts ill. During a Cabinet meeting recently, Begin's head dropped, and he blacked out. His aides rushed him from the room, and he was gone for 45 minutes before he could resume his place.

The long awaited Cabinet debate on Washington's questions about the West Bank was expected to be the toughest challenge to his leadership that Begin has faced. It hinged on Washington's request for Israel's position on whether after a five-year transition period it would be prepared to negotiate a final settlement for the area. Begin was opposing two camps led by Defense Minister Ezer Weizman and Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, both of whom favor a firm commitment. Instead, the Premier was said to support a proposal by Chaim Landau, Minister Without Portfolio and an old friend, that Israel promise only to "reconsider" the situation.

After consulting key Cabinet members, Begin at week's end was reported to have arrived at a compromise that would be backed by the Cabinet and stave off major resignations for the moment. But Begin's reluctance to commit himself to yielding Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank was increasingly viewed as untenable and unrealistic, even by members of his Cabinet. The bitter mood building against the Premier was underscored last week by a member of the Knesset from Begin's Likud coalition. "Labor managed to wreck Israel in 29 years of government," he said. "We [the Likud] managed to do it in only one.''

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