Press Conference on Israeli Invasion of Lebanon
(June 30, 1982)
Q. Mr. President, there are some who say that by failing
to condemn the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and refusing to cut off arms
to the invading armies, the United States and Israeli policies have
become-and goals have become identical. If there's a difference, what
is it?
Also, is there a difference between the Soviet slaughter
of Afghans, which the United States has condemned so often, and the
killing of Lebanese and the displaced people of Palestine? If so, what's
the difference?
The President. Helen, you've asked a question that—or
several questions that I have to walk a very narrow line in answering.
There's no question but that we had hoped for a diplomatic
settlement and believed there could have been a diplomatic settlement
in the Middle East, in that situation. We were not warned or notified
of the invasion that was going to take place. On the other hand, there
had been a breaking of the cease-fire, which had held for about 11 months
in that area.
I think there are differences between some of these
things that are going on and things like just the outright invasion
of Afghanistan by a foreign power determined to impose its will on another
country. We have a situation in Lebanon in which there was a force,
the PLO, literally a government within a government and with its own
army. And they had pursued aggression themselves across a border by
way of rocket firing and artillery barrages. But the situation is so
complicated and the goals that we would like to pursue are what are
dictating our conduct right now.
We want the bloodshed to end; there's no question about
that. We didn't want it to start. But we've seen Lebanon for 7 years
now divided into several factions, each faction with its own militia,
not a government in control. We have seen, as I've said, this PLO, and
we've seen the invasion of other forces, the presence of the Syrians,
as well, in Lebanon.
Right now, our goals are—as for the first time
in 7 years the Lebanese seem to be trying to get together, and their
factions have come together seeking a way to have a central government
and have control of their own country and to have a single Lebanese
army. That is one of the goals we would like to see. The other goal
would be the guaranteeing of the southern border with Israel, that there
would be no longer a force in Lebanon that could, when it chose, create
acts of terror across that border. And the third goal is to get all
the foreign forces—Syrians, Israelis, and the armed PLO—out
of Lebanon. And we're—
Q. A lot of people have been displaced in Palestine.
The President. Yes, and I signed a bill this morning
for $50 million in aid for Lebanon there, where several hundred thousand
of those Palestinians are. I don't think they were all displaced from
one area, and they have been refugees now into ongoing generations.
I think—when I say PLO, one has to differentiate
between the PLO and the Palestinians. And out of this, also, we have
another goal—and it's been our goal for quite some time—and
that is to, once and for all, when these other things are accomplished-once
and for all, to deal with the problem of the Palestinians and settle
that problem within the proposals and the suggestions that were made
in the Camp David accords.
Q. Mr. President, what steps are you prepared to take
if Israel resumes fighting in Lebanon, moves in on the PLO and West
Beirut. And what is the United States prepared to do for the Palestinians,
whose legal rights you apparently told President Mubarak of Egypt the
U.S. supports?
The President. This is a question, again, where I have
to beg your tolerance of me. With the delicacy of the negotiations that
are going on in the—trying to achieve those three major points
that I mentioned-there's just no way that I can comment on or speculate
about what might happen, because I don't want anything that might in
any way affect those negotiations, all of which involve the very things
that you're asking about. And I just have to remain silent on those.
Q. Mr. President, many Arab States are saying that
if Israel invades Beirut—West Beirut, it can only be because you
have given Israel a green light to do so. Have you done so? Will you?
And what will be your attitude if Israel goes into West Beirut?
The President. Sam, again this is the type of question
in which, with the negotiations at the point they are, that I can't
answer.
I would like to say this: No, I've given no green light
whatsoever. And an impression that I know some of the neighboring states
there have had from the beginning is that somehow we were aware of this
and we gave permission or something. No, we were caught as much by surprise
as anyone, and we wanted a diplomatic solution and believe there could
have been one.
Q. But, sir, if I may, last week your Deputy Press
Secretary said that when Prime Minister Begin was here, he promised
you that Israel would go no further into Beirut.
The President. I think also—his not having heard
the conversation between Prime Minister Begin and myself—that
what he called a promise actually was in a discussion in which, to be
more accurate, the Prime Minister had said to me that they didn't want
to and that they had not wanted to from the beginning.
Q. Mr. President, some Israeli officials have acknowledged
in recent days the use of cluster bombs in the war in Lebanon. How much
does this concern you?
The President. It concerns me very much, as the whole
thing does. And, Judy, we have a review going now, as we must by law,
of the use of weapons and whether American weapons sold there were used
offensively and not defensively. And that situation is very ambiguous.
The only statement that we've heard so far with regard to the cluster
bomb was one military official—Israeli military official-has apparently
made that statement publicly, and we know no more about it than what
we ourselves have read in the press. But the review is going forward
and the review that would lead to what the law requires, that we must
inform the Congress as to whether we believe there was a question of
this being an offensive attack or whether it was in self-defense.
When I said "ambiguous," you must recall
that prior to this attack Soviet-built rockets and 180-millimeter cannon
were shelling villages across the border in Israel and causing civilian
casualties.
Sources: Public Papers of the President |