DATE=2/10/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ISRAEL / LEBANON (L)
NUMBER=2-259021
BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL
DATELINE=JERUSALEM
CONTENT=
VOICE AT:
INTRO: Israeli warplanes are continuing to bomb
suspected Hezbollah guerrilla targets in southern
Lebanon, but tensions along Israel's northern border
are beginning to ease. As Correspondent Meredith Buel
reports from Jerusalem, residents have emerged from
bomb shelters after feared guerrilla rocket attacks
failed to materialize.
TEXT: For a third consecutive day, Israeli warplanes
pounded suspected guerrilla positions in Lebanon.
During the air raids, planes fired missiles into areas
near the Israeli-occupied zone in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah guerrillas said they attacked Israeli
positions inside the zone, but no casualties were
reported.
Meanwhile, life started to return to normal in
northern Israel as tensions along the Lebanese border
began to ease. The Israeli army allowed residents to
leave bomb shelters and return home. Shops and
factories opened and people went back to work.
Earlier this week, the Israeli government had ordered
northern residents into shelters because of concern
Hezbollah guerrillas would fire Katyusha rockets into
the area.
Hezbollah has killed six Israeli soldiers in recent
weeks, sparking massive Israeli air raids that hit
power stations and suspected guerrilla hideouts.
In the past, such fighting has led to guerrilla rocket
attacks, but so far the border area remains somewhat
tense but peaceful.
This week's upsurge in violence may have jeopardized
efforts to revive peace talks between Israel and
Syria. The talks resumed late last year, but broke
down last month.
British ambassador to Israel Francis Cornish says the
recent violence makes it more important than ever to
revitalize the peace process.
/// CORNISH ACT ///
The big picture is that all of this underlines --
underlines very, very clearly -- the need for resumed
efforts to get back to the table to find a peaceful
resolution which makes all of what we have seen over
the last few days redundant and unnecessary.
/// END ACT ///
The violence has also renewed calls to pull Israeli
soldiers out of southern Lebanon.
The soldiers occupy Israel's self-styled security zone
- a 15-kilometer wide buffer strip designed to protect
residents of northern Israel from cross-border
attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has promised to
bring the troops home by next July but wants to do so
as part of peace agreements with Syria and Lebanon.
Israeli Parliament member Naomi Chazan says the
soldiers should be brought home, now.
/// CHAZAN ACT ///
I think it is inexcusable that our soldiers are
essentially sitting ducks in southern Lebanon for
reasons that are not clear to anybody. There is a
commitment by Prime Minister Barak to withdraw by
July. There is really no difference between July and
February. We have to prevent at all costs at the
moment an escalation which will get out of hand.
/// END ACT ///
A newspaper (Yedioth Ahronoth) poll published Thursday
in Jerusalem found 57-percent of Israelis favor a
withdrawal from south Lebanon -- even if no peace
treaties have been signed with Syria and Lebanon.
Syria maintains about 30-thousand soldiers in Lebanon
and is considered the major power broker in the
country. (SIGNED)
NEB/MB/JWH/RAE
10-Feb-2000 09:03 AM EDT (10-Feb-2000 1403 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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