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Israel should not fall into Hezbollah trap

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December 7, 2000 

WASHINGTON-- (AP) - The Israeli general in charge of military operations says Israel must not fall into a trap of open conflict with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon who have carried out four attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians in the last six weeks.

Sent here to meet with his counterparts at the Pentagon and with members of Congress, Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland said Tuesday it would be a mistake to strike back with full force. "Hezbollah is highly motivated to continue fighting and would continue," he said.

On another front, Farouk Kaddoumi, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization's political department, said the peace process had failed and that the Palestinians had "started our intefadeh."

"We have to continue the intefadeh by the stones, only by the stones, in order to ... safeguard our own interests," said Kaddoumi, who unofficially serves as foreign minister for the Palestinian government-in-exile.

Kaddoumi sought a meeting with State Department officials, but was turned down as a consistent opponent of the peace process, an official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Eiland said Iran had armed the Hezbollah guerrillas with missiles and seeks the destruction of Israel. He called Hezbollah, which operates out of southern Lebanon, an Iranian "tool."

At the same time, the general said Israel had hoped President Bashar Assad of Syria would be more moderate than his father, Hafez, and concentrate on Syria's economic needs.

Instead, Eiland said, Assad has given Hezbollah a green light and encourages them "with military and political support."

Syria, which is in effective control of Lebanon, is the "real address" should Israel decide to hit back hard, Eiland said.

Last month, in a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright asked Assad for help in freeing three Israeli soldiers and a reserve colonel kidnapped by the Islamic group. They remain in Hezbollah's hands.

Without the buffer zone inside Lebanon's border that Israel abandoned seven months ago, the guerrillas can easily strike at Israeli civilians, Eiland said at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a private research group.

On another subject, he said Israel was willing to lift its blockade of Gaza if the Palestinians would re-arrest dozens of Islamic militants that Eiland said had been released from prison. Eiland put the figure of released militants at 80, but Palestinians say the number is lower

Eiland said he had told Mary Robinson, the U.N. human rights chief, about the proposal during a trip to the region last month, but she dismissed it out of hand, saying it was not fair of Israel to ask the Palestinians "to make the first move."

Robinson, in a subsequent report, described herself as "shocked and dismayed and even devastated" at the plight of the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Kaddoumi said U.S. mediators need international help in brokering peace in the Middle East because "they are biased" toward Israel and their efforts so far have failed.

"The United States, who was the only superpower in this world and was expected to do something, did nothing," Kaddoumi said of the faltering 1993 Oslo peace process.

On the Net:

Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine: http://www.palestinecenter.org

State Department site on Mideast talks: http://www.state.gov/www/regions/nea/peace-process.html