New Bloodshed, New Hope

By William E. Smith

Just as the chances of Lebanese reconciliation improve, violence hits again

The similarities were eerie. As dawn was breaking over southern Lebanon last Friday morning, a suicidal terrorist driving a bomb-laden Chevrolet pickup crashed through the barricade at the Israeli military headquarters in the Lebanese port city of Tyre. Practically in the middle of the compound, nearly half a ton of explosives detonated, killing 28 Israeli soldiers and military personnel and 32 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners who were being held in one of the buildings. Forty-one other people were wounded. For the Israelis, who had bolstered their security following the deaths of some 230 U.S. Marines and other servicemen and 58 French peace-keeping troops in virtually identical terrorist raids less than two weeks earlier, it was one of the worst losses in a single day since they invaded Lebanon in June 1982.

At the demolished military headquarters, Israeli officials lamented the fact that a recently installed barricade of barrels and concrete "tiger's teeth" had failed to block the terrorist's truck. His success demonstrated, as if further proof were needed, how difficult it is to make any installation secure from a suicide attack (see box). The truck was said to have passed three unmanned Israeli roadblocks on the coastal highway that runs through Tyre, a Mediterranean port 50 miles south of Beirut. Sentries at two posts opened fire as the truck turned into the compound. David Illouz, one of the Israeli guards, said that he "fired without letup" at the pickup truck and was certain that he had hit the driver. But the truck ripped the gate from its hinges and rolled into the middle of the compound, where it exploded. Nonetheless, Israeli commanders said that Illouz had, by shooting the terrorist, probably prevented the truck from getting closer to the headquarters and causing even more casualties. "By the time I arrived a few minutes later," a brigadier general told TIME Correspondent David Halevy, "the region was covered with a huge cloud of smoke, and the buildings were on fire."

Israeli soldiers immediately began to tear away the debris with their bare hands. "A stretcher! A stretcher!" a soldier shouted. A moment later, a litter with a gray blanket covering a body was carried from the bombed-out area. "We discover a body every five minutes," said a colonel, and so it seemed. Five minutes later, another stretcher carried another body to the parking lot of the compound. Soldiers followed two German shepherds who led them to still another body buried in the ruins. "These dogs have already found seven," explained their trainer. Helicopters whipped up dust as they landed, some bringing in rabbis of the Israeli Defense Forces to help with the painful process of identifying the dead, notifying families and returning the bodies home for burial.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens visited the site a few hours later. "We will hit back, and we will hit back very hard," he vowed. The retaliation was not long in coming. Israeli air force jets, 16 in all, bombed a variety of Palestinian and Syrian military positions along the Beirut-Damascus highway, also hitting several Druze and Christian villages in the Chouf Mountains. The Israelis were angrily striking out at some of their enemies, though not necessarily the ones who had staged the terrorist raid. Islamic Jihad (Holy War), a virtually unknown organization that may be Shi'ite and may have links to the fanatical organization that staged the murderous strikes on U.S. and French positions in Beirut, claimed responsibility for the latest attack.

One Israeli target was the headquarters of pro-Syrian factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization that oppose the leadership of Chairman Yasser Arafat. Throughout the week, in fierce exchanges between Arafat supporters and Syrian-backed rebel groups led by Abu Mousa and Ahmed Jabril, 240 people were killed and 550 wounded in two Palestinian refugee camps outside the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli. Arafat, who had been in the Tripoli area for several weeks with an estimated 8,000 troops loyal to him, accused Syria of massing 25,000 men and heavy armaments around the camps. He told a Beirut newspaper that the Syrians were trying to force him out of Tripoli, but insisted, "I'm staying with my people and my forces to face our common destiny." He appealed to Syrian President Hafez Assad to stop the fighting and to other countries to help avert a possible "massacre" of his followers. For weeks there had been rumors that Assad was determined to bring down Arafat before the next Arab summit conference, which is due to convene Nov. 25 in Riyadh.

The attack against the Israeli headquarters in Tyre brought to 551 the number of Israelis killed in Lebanon since the beginning of the invasion on June 6, 1982. For many Israelis, it raised once again the question of whether the country's troops should continue to stay in Lebanon. Lamented a reserve lieutenant colonel standing on a mound of debris in Tyre: "Lebanon has become our graveyard."

The Israeli calamity in Tyre came at a time when the Reagan Administration was re-examining its relationship with Israel in Lebanon. For much of the past year, the U.S. has pressed Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon, but only at such time as Syria and the P.L.O. would also be prepared to withdraw. Two months ago, the Israelis pulled their forces out of the Chouf Mountains and the Beirut area and established a new line along the Awali River. The U.S. understood the need of the Israelis to reduce their continuing casualties, but resented the fact that the Israelis did not remain in the mountains long enough to give the Lebanese Army a chance to fill the vacuum. As a result, members of the independent Lebanese forces moved in immediately, setting off the fighting between Christian militiamen and the Druze, a breakaway Islamic sect.

Now, however, the Administration is concerned about the Syrian military buildup in Lebanon and is considering pressing Israel to help counter Syrian influence there by taking a more active military role. Within the Administration, Secretary of State George Shultz is believed to favor such a policy, while Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger is said to oppose it because of the effect it might have on U.S. relations with the Arab world. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Lawrence Eagleburger spent five days in Israel last week, not to press the Jerusalem government on any particular point but to reopen a dialogue that has, more often than not, been strained in the almost 18 months since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Unfortunately, the latest setbacks to peace occurred just as the leaders of Lebanon's feuding factions, meeting in Geneva, took a few halting steps toward the "national reconciliation" that they had promised to seek as part of the latest cease-fire agreement. The first signs had not been encouraging. When the country's feudal warlords gathered in the 18th-floor conference room of the Geneva Intercontinental Hotel, they did so in icy silence. As their young President, Amin Gemayel, told the gathering, "Lebanon is dying," the conferees avoided eye contact. But they listened attentively when Gemayel, 41, declared, "If our country continues to burn, the fire will spread beyond its borders, and nothing will be left of our beloved Lebanon either to unite or to divide."

The seating arrangement was a masterpiece of Levantine diplomacy, designed to give every leader his due and to keep the most conspicuous enemies apart. At a separate table to Gemayel's left were leaders of the Syrian-backed Lebanese National Salvation Front, which has called for the President's resignation: former President Suleiman Franjieh, 73; former Prime Minister Rashid Karami, 62; and Walid Jumblatt, 36, leader of the Druze. Seated with them was Nabih Berri, 45, head of the Amal, a Shi'ite Muslim militia. At another table were two of Lebanon's elder statesmen, Adel Osseiran, 78, a Shi'ite and onetime speaker of Parliament, and former Prime Minister Saeb Salam, 78, a Sunni Muslim. At still another were Pierre Gemayel, 78, father of the President and founder of the rightist Phalange Party, and his longtime rival, former President Camille Chamoun, 83. Seated separately were two important guests: Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam and Saudi Arabian Minister of State Mohammed Ibrahim Masoud. Not in the room but active behind the scenes was U.S. Envoy Richard Fairbanks, who met repeatedly with the participants in an attempt to promote a compromise.

Essentially, the conference's agenda included two main topics: a revision of the internal Lebanese political order, and the status of the Israeli-Lebanese withdrawal agreement signed last May. On the basis of a 1932 census and an unwritten 1943 agreement, the country traditionally has had a Maronite Christian President, a Sunni Muslim Prime Minister and a Shi'ite Muslim speaker of Parliament. The Maronites, however, are now outnumbered by the Muslims and particularly the Shi'ites. They, and some of the other groups, want a larger share of political power, although most seem prepared to allow the Maronites to retain the presidency. Despite their accumulated grievances, the conferees quickly reached agreement on a statement defining Lebanon's national identity. It described Lebanon as "a free, sovereign and independent state," as the Christians wanted it to do, but it also satisfied Muslim demands by defining Lebanon as "Arab in affiliation and identity."

Under pressure from Syria, the Muslims and the Druze reiterated their demand that the Israeli-Lebanese agreement be scrapped. The document's importance is more symbolic than practical, since Israel's promise to withdraw its troops from Lebanon was dependent on a simultaneous pullout by Syrian and P.L.O. forces. When the Syrians refused to budge, the Israelis did likewise, though they did establish the new and more secure line 17 miles to the south along the Awali River. Now, fearful of losing the only diplomatic advantage gained from their costly invasion of Lebanon, the Israelis say that they will keep their 30,000 troops in southern Lebanon indefinitely if the accord is abrogated.

The first break on the question of the Israeli-Lebanese treaty came on the third day of the conference when former President Franjieh, after a private meeting with Gemayel and Salam, proposed that the agreement with Israel be "frozen" until the Lebanese leaders had had a chance to work out their other problems. This unexpectedly moderate position astonished and infuriated Syria's Khaddam, whose government wants nothing less than outright rejection of the accord with Israel. Most of the conferees, however, were ready to accept the freeze.

Late in the week, the group voted unanimously that Gemayel should continue his efforts "to end the Israeli occupation" and to ensure "the total and absolute sovereignty of Lebanon over all its territory." The group also agreed to suspend its meetings for ten days, during which time Gemayel was to fly to Washington and several Arab capitals to discuss his country's problems and particularly the treaty with Israel. The vote was taken following a private meeting between Gemayel and opposition leaders, after which the President persuaded his father and Chamoun, the most ardent advocates of the accord with Israel, to fall in line "for the sake of national unity."

President Gemayel's visit to Washington will create a dilemma for the Reagan Administration. Having sponsored the Israeli-Lebanese withdrawal agreement, the U.S. is committed to it. At a time when it is hoping that Israel will agree to take a more active role in the region, the U.S. will find it difficult to weaken its support for an agreement the Israelis consider important. Yet the U.S. also believes that national reconciliation is the only road to stability for Lebanon, and may have to make a gesture of support for the only result so far of the Geneva conference. As Walid Jumblatt, no friend of the young Lebanese President's, put it last week, "If the Americans send Gemayel back emptyhanded, it will be the end of him." Whatever the solution may be, the U.S. at this stage cannot afford to let Gemayel fail. --By William E. Smith.

Reported by Robert Kroon/Geneva and William Stewart/Beirut

With reporting by Robert Kroon, William Stewart This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.