Posted on 04/23/2004 11:16:17 PM PDT by yonif
Lebanon on Friday rejected US protests over the activities of Palestinian terrorist leaders that Washington labels as terrorists, saying the guerrillas will continue to conduct political and media work in the country as long as Arab lands are occupied by Israel.
US Ambassador Vincent Battle reportedly complained to Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid on Wednesday "regarding the presence, activities and movements" of Palestinian terrorist leaders in Lebanon, a Lebanese official said.
Battle did not take reporters' questions following the meeting and the US Embassy in Lebanon said Friday it had no comment on the subject.
Obeid, according to the Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Battle during their meeting Wednesday that the presence of these groups in Lebanon was related to the Arab-Israeli conflict and would continue as long as Israel occupied Arab lands.
Under US pressure, Syria last year closed the offices of Palestinian terrorist organizations it has sheltered for years. But since then, the militants have crossed freely into neighboring Lebanon, where Damascus maintains thousands of troops and wields great influence.
Since May, officials of the Damascus-based groups - including Islamic Jihad and Hamas, which have staged suicide bombings against Israeli civilians - have traveled to Lebanon to appear on Arab satellite television stations and give other interviews and take part in rallies and commemorations. Only this week, Hamas political bureau head Khaled Mashaal appeared on BBC Television's Hardtalk with Tim Sebastian, from Beirut.
Such activities ceased entirely in Syria for a while, but restrictions seem to have eased since Israel's recent assassinations of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi, and Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the group's spiritual founder.
Mashaal's speeches, for one, have become more regular.
Israel said earlier this week that Mashaal could also be targeted by Israel. "The minute we have the operational opportunity we will do this," Israeli Cabinet minister Gideon Ezra said Sunday, the day after Rantisi was killed.
The Israeli threat drew a warning from Lebanon's president, Emile Lahoud.
"Israel should know that any aggression against anyone and for any reason on Lebanese territory will be considered a dangerous violation" of Lebanese sovereignty. Israel will be responsible for the repercussions of such an attack, he said in a statement Thursday.
Lahoud did not elaborate.
Syria and Lebanon insist the Palestinian groups are not terrorists but fighters resisting Israeli occupation of their homeland. Washington considers the groups terrorists.
In December, US President George W. Bush approved the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, which accuses Syria, among other things, of hosting Palestinian terrorist groups and seeking biological and chemical weapons. Syria denies the charges.
Although Lebanon has allowed Palestinian organizations to conduct a political and media campaign from the country, Beirut has refused to let Palestinian terrorists stage attacks against Israel from southern Lebanon. Such attacks in the past invited two Israeli invasions, in 1978 and 1982, with devastating consequences.
The only group active in southern Lebanon is Hezbollah, whose guerrillas have attacked and kidnapped Israeli soldiers as well as retaliated for Israeli strikes since the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in 2000.
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