DATE=5/4/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N ENVOY / BEIRUT (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261978
BYLINE=EDWARD YERANIAN
DATELINE=BEIRUT
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: U-N special envoy Terje Larsen, Lebanese
President Emile Lahoud, and Prime Minister Selim Hoss
are discussing deployment of a peacekeeping force
along the Lebanon-Israel border. Lebanon is linking
acceptance of an international force to an Israeli
pullout from all occupied Lebanese territory, as
Edward Yeranian reports from Beirut:
TEXT: Terje Larsen held several discussions with
Lebanon's two top leaders in hopes of clearing the way
for deployment of a new U-N peacekeeping force in
southern Lebanon.
A nine-nation U-N force - known as UNIFIL - has been
stationed in southern Lebanon since 1978, but Israel's
expected withdrawal requires Israeli and Lebanese
approval for a new force along the border.
Mr. Larsen arrived in Beirut with a team of experts
for the latest round of a 13-day mission to Israel,
Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt.
Mr. Larsen said that his mission was, in his words -
to secure the implementation of U-N resolutions 425
and 426 and determining that Israel has withdrawn from
all Lebanese territory.
Resolutions 425 and 426, passed in 1978, require
Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon and mandate
deployment of U-N peacekeepers along the international
border.
The exact location of that border does not appear to
be clear. Both France and Britain have sent experts
with 1923 League of Nations mandate maps to help
clarify the situation.
The Lebanese government is demanding that Israel
relinquish all occupied Lebanese territory, before
calling for deployment of U-N peacekeepers along the
international border.
Prime Minister Selim Hoss insisted that Israel
withdraw from the disputed region of Chebaa, adding
that Lebanon, in his words - would not give up an inch
of territory.
Seven farms and villages, which Israel occupied in
June 1967, in addition to seven others annexed between
1985 and 1989, are part of the latest dispute over
Israel's impending withdrawal.
Israel maintains the villages belong to Syria and that
their fate will be decided at a later date, pending
future negotiations with Damascus.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Syria, Egypt, and
Saudi Arabia, meeting in the Syrian desert town of
Palmyra, issued a communique welcoming deployment of
U-N peacekeepers along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
(SIGNED)
NEB/EY/GE/RAE
04-May-2000 09:55 AM EDT (04-May-2000 1355 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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