Israel refuses to give members of SLA militia political asylum
Lebanon-Israel, Politics, 3/20/2000

A high-ranking Israeli source said on Sunday that Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon will be gradual and from position in the Lebanese depths and that positions close to the borders will continue to be controlled for a certain period of time. The Israeli official said that in order to ensure that the resistance will be halted, "We are committed to complete withdrawal from Lebanon."

However the scenarios expected for the pro-Israel South Lebanon Army militia all ruled out the possibility of giving political asylum to SLA members in Israel.

Israel's deputy defense minister, Ephriam Sneh, said the Israeli government will not receive on its territories members from the militia as "refugees" after the withdrawal of its forces from south Lebanon.

In a press conference he held on Sunday, Sneh added, "They are Lebanese citizens, and they fought in defense of their lives and independence against foreign forces." Sneh did not indicate-- as used to be happen in the past-- "the SLA defense of Israel's security."

Meanwhile, the Israeli paper Yediot Ahronot said that some 2,300 members of the militia asked for political asylum for themselves and their families. This will increase the number of asylum seekers to 10,000, as the Israeli military establishment is seeking to find a solution for SLA members.

However, high-ranking Israeli army officials say, "We are still apart from understanding what we have to do in case of unilateral withdrawal is maintained."

It was decided to discuss this issue in a sub-meeting of the budget affairs and security committee at the Israeli Knesset, but this meeting was postponed. The chairman of the committee vowed to offer hundreds of millions of shekels to arrange the conditions of the SLA members.

Yediot Ahronot indicated that it is possible that some 700 SLA militia and live in the Galilee during the first phase following the Israeli withdrawal.

Meanwhile, Israeli security sources said there is a plan to contain 700 SLA members, adding that this is a temporary plan and not a permanent one.

However, the withdrawal plan from south Lebanon is still controversial and under heated debate among the political and military leadership in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz, expressed his reservations on keeping military positions inside the Lebanese territories and asked the Israeli army commander to make an amendment to the deep Israeli positions in occupied south Lebanon.

Apart from the ten Israeli "deep" positions installed in the Lebanese territories, there are also another eight Israeli position, but these are close to its borders.

Israel had made unilateral amendments to its border with Lebanon through moving the border fence to the north and west into the Lebanese territories. The most remarkable of these amendments are on the plains of al-Mutellah area and Zamim, hills which face the Israeli settlements of al-Manara, Galyout, Maskaf Aam and Hanita.

Barak sees that keeping these positions (that are close to the borders) gives the Hizbullah party a pretext to continue its operations against the Israeli Army.

Previous Stories:
  Lebanese official criticizes continued Israeli aggression   (3/18/2000)
  Warning against settling soldiers of the South Lebanon Army in Israel   (3/16/2000)
  Israel to keep bases in south Lebanon after its withdrawal   (3/13/2000)

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