Lebanon Will Not Guarantee Israel
BEIRUT, Lebanon Dec 4 (Reuters)
- Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri Thursday
said Lebanon would not guarantee Israel's security in the event of its
unilateral withdrawal from south Lebanon.
``We will not sign any document that guarantees Israel's security (in the
event of a pullout). Only God can guarantee security,'' he told Lebanese
newspaper editors.
``We cannot put a Lebanese soldier beside each Israeli for protection. There
is no way we will sign any document to guarantee Israel's security because
Israel is responsible for its own security,'' he added.
Israel carved out its current south Lebanon occupation zone in 1985 with the
declared aim of preventing guerrillas from making cross-border attacks. The
Jewish state has said it would be ready to pull troops out of south Lebanon --
under a ``Lebanon first'' deal to be negotiated with Damascus -- if Syrian
soldiers left the country and if the Lebanese army could ensure Israel's
security.
Syria, which has 35,000 troops in Lebanon and is the main power broker,
opposes separate Arab deals with Israel. Damascus conditions a peace
treaty on an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, captured from Syria
by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
Lebanon insists that any Israeli pullout from south Lebanon has to be in line
with United Nations Security Council Resolution 425 calling for an
immediate and unconditional withdrawal from the border zone.
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