Israelis ready to leave Lebanon
Lebanon, Analysis, 9/9/1997

The day before American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's visit to the Middle East, Israelis seem worried about the seriousness of the problems in the region.

Sources counted as many as 104 killed Israelis this year, and Hizbullah's pressure on the borderline in south Lebanon, especially coupled with the failure of last Friday's operation by Israeli commandos near Sidon, made Israel fear the resistance to the point of considering the idea of an eventual retreat from Lebanese territories.

A remarkable change of attitude could be noticed when Israeli Prime Minister Netenyahu declared that Israelis are ready to leave all Lebanese lands on one condition, that the Lebanese Army deploy on the borderline between Lebanon and Israel to avoid new fights between Hizbullah and Israel.

In addition to the loosening of Israeli leaders' position, a positive step concerning the peace process was a march organized by some Israeli groups demanding peace, to protest against violence and ask for the retreat of Israelis from south Lebanon in order to establish peace.

When some participants were asked by reporters about the reason for that march, they said they were conscious that the occupation of a part of Lebanon by Israel was the reason for the troubles. "We have nothing to do there," concluded a young Israeli lady.

Previous Stories:
  Seven bombs left by Israelis   (9/6/1997)
  Israeli commandos' attack on Amal base near Sidon ends in failure   (9/5/1997)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search