Battered Lebanon looks to U.N.

Press, 26 April 1979, Page 9

Battered Lebanon looks to U.N.

NZPA-Reuter Beiruti ! The Lebaneses Government yesterday < seemed certain to seek urgent help from the United Nations to stop a mounting ; wave of Israeli attacks in | southern Lebanon. Israeli planes joined 1 gunboats and field artillery in bombarding villages and Palestinian refugee camps over a wide area on Tuesday night. The air raids killed at i least six people, bringing the estimated death toll to t 12 after naval shelling of the southern coast. ; As the jets attacked a string of Palestinian camps, t the Prime Minister (Dr Selim Hoss) and the Foreign j Minister (Mr Fuad Butros) contacted Ghassan Tueni, Lebanon’s Ambassador to the United Nations. Mr Butros told reporters < later they had discussed steps which should be taken, ' and said: “These may; become clear in the coming 1 1 few hours.” On Monday, foreign affairs and defence chiefs urged the Government to 1 request an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security ■ Council to i discuss what they termed) Israel’s aggressive policy in I 1 Southern Lebanon. The Israeli attacks followed a Palestinian j 5 guerrillas raid against al.

; town in northern Israel on i (Sunday. i The shelling has been! concentrated on rural)] villages and sprawling Palestinian shanty-town used] as bases by Palestinian ] guerrillas, and all the casualties reported so far) have been civilians. In Cairo, Egypt has) strongly condemned the i Israeli gunboat attacks, calling them a negative reflection on the implemetation of the E g y p t i a n-Israeli peace treaty. The Israeli attacks were an ‘‘aggressive act ; contradicting peace efforts,” a statement carried by the official Middle East News ■ Agency said. The statement quoted a Foreign Ministry source as stressing the need for Israel to stay clear of the domestic affairs of Lebanon. “The commando actions carried out by the I Palestinians against Israeli (territories and the ) continuation of the acts of ( violence in which many) innocents fall victims . call for a speedy action towards a just settlement of the Palestinian cause,” the source said. | The Ministry source also ( condemned a decision by the , Israeli Cabinet to create two j more Israeli settlements in I the West Bank of the River (Jordan as a move which

I fully contradicted the ■ “international law and the ( spirit of the Egyptian-Israeli (peace treaty.”

Meanwhile, in Beirut, Western military sources have said that Israeli gunners and not Lebanese militiamen were behind a massive bombardment of United Nations troops in south Lebanon last week.

They said the Israeli-! backed militias in the border) region were incapable of) launching such al concentrated barrage and that the fire had been traced to artillery positions in northern Israel.

“On the basis of thorough investigations, there is no doubt that most of the shells came from Israel,” one source said. A United Nations soldier and at least four civilians were killed when about 300 shells slammed into United Nations positions, farming villages and Palestinian refugee camps over a wide area of the south last (Wednesday. The bombardment began ias a 500-strong Lebanese Army battalion was deploying in a region occupied by the United Nations peace-keeping force. On the same day, the commander of the Rightwing militias declared an independent State in a 10km deep belt of border territory under his control.