3-day "Popular Kuwaiti Congress" grouping 1,200 Kuwaiti exiles opens in Jeddah with Crown Prince suggesting the country's defunct parliament would be revived and free elections held once Kuwait is...
Artillery barrages continue sporadically in Israeli held-areas of Chouf, IDF bolsters forces in area, attempts to arrange cease-fire; strikes and demonstrations in Sidon,...
US Marines sail from Naples to Beirut; IDF continues to pull out troops from Beirut, but continues house-to-house searches for militia and arms; IDF troops seen loading...
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3-day "Popular Kuwaiti Congress" grouping 1,200 Kuwaiti exiles opens in Jeddah with Crown Prince suggesting the country's defunct parliament would be revived and free elections held once Kuwait is liberated from Iraq (cf. 10/15) [NYT, WP 10/14].
Responding to UN Sec. Council vote calling for UN investigation into Haram al-Sharif shootings, Israeli cabinet sec. says: "We will not cooperate with them. We don't need to give any reports, remarks, or excuses to this delegation." P.M.'s office says delegation will be admitted to Israel, but will not be helped by anyone in the gov't (cf. 10/14) [NYT, WP 10/14]; Sec. Baker sends letter to F.M. Levy making clear that admin.'s "sense of concern over Israel's handling of the situation [on 10/8] would have led us [U.S.] to support UN Sec. Council action regardless of the situation in the Gulf" [NYT 10/16].
British For. Sec. Douglas Hurd meets in Cairo with Pres. Mubarak to discuss Gulf crisis [MENA 10/13 in FBIS 10/15; NYT 10/14].
King Hussein meets in Amman with Iraqi F.M. Aziz about the continuing diplomatic ef- fort to persuade Iraq to leave Kuwait [NYT 10/14].
Gen. Michel Aoun, leader of Christian militia that opposed Syrian-backed Lebanese gov't for 11 months, surrenders after Syrian air and ground attacks in E. Beirut; seeks refuge in French embassy [BVL 10/13 in FBIS 10/15; NYT, WP 10/14].
Military Action:
Artillery barrages continue sporadically in Israeli held-areas of Chouf, IDF bolsters forces in area, attempts to arrange cease-fire; strikes and demonstrations in Sidon, Tyre, Nabatiyeh and many villages to protest Friday's killing of Lebanese student by IDF.
Casualties:
Local Amal commander shot and wounded in Zifra during anti-IDF protests; 15 killed in Druze attack on Chouf village of Mtoulle; 65 men and women from Qaroun, western Bekaa, reportedly arrested by IDF after overnight search and interrogation of residents; 6 arrested by IDF in villages of Mazbut and Keter Mya.
Political Responses:
Israel/ Occupied Territories: Special envoy Habib meets Israeli officials with Lebanese response to clarifications; heads of Israeli and Lebanese delegations, and US special envoy Draper will sign agreement; WZO Settlement Department proposes establishing 6 settlements south of Hebron, expanding 4 existing ones; 1600 dunums from Akrabe village declared state land last week for settlement of Tel Haim; military authorities permit re-opening of Islamic University, closed since second week of March; former Defense Minister Sharon, in New York, opposes troop withdrawal agreement, says MNF prevents necessary steps being taken against terrorists in West Beirut.
Palestinians/ Lebanese: PLO Executive Committee calls on all Arab states to reject withdrawal agreement, says PLO presence in Lebanon is governed by bilateral, Arab and international agreements and cannot be abrogated unilaterally, the legitimate right to delineate borders with Lebanon belongs to the Palestinian people; Lebanese officials say that 8 pages of Israeli clarifications would change whole balance of agreement.
Arab Govemments: Syrian foreign minister, in Jeddah, says Syria rejects withdrawal agreement; King Hussein in London for meetings with PM Thatcher, other British officials; clandestine organization claims responsibility for bomb attacks against two American offices in Amman.
US and Other Countries: State Dept. official says Israel not expected to withdraw its troops until Syria agrees to withdraw its forces; 87 dependants of Soviet diplomats leave Beirut on orders from Soviet ambassador, Lebanese employees of Moscow Narodny Bank in Beirut advised they are being laid off.
Military Action:
IDF patrol attacked with bazooka fire east of Beirut.
Casualties:
1 IDF soldier killed, 2 injured, bringing total IDF casualties since PLO evacuation to 126 killed, 212 wounded; special envoy of Austrian Chancellor Kreisky meets PLO officials in Damascus to discuss Israeli-PLO prisoner exchange.
Political Responses:
Israel/ Occupied Territories: Ibna' al-Balad (Sons of the Village) activist in Umm al-Fahm placed under 6-month house arrest for fifth time in last 3 years; 250 Druze (about 2%) in Golan Heights have accepted Israeli citizenship; youths in West Bank village of Burka throw stones at police superintendent's car; car of Israeli police chief in Nablus badly damaged by stones; Health Ministry finds no traces of poison at schools, suggests possibility of psychosomatic illness with symptoms of mass hysteria; IDF helicopters fly medical teams to jenin after renewed outbreak of symptoms of illness, hospitalization overnight of further 70-80 cases; AI-Fajr Jenin correspondent arrested.
Palestinians/ Lebanese: Arafat travels to Baghdad, meets with Iraqi foreign minister, other officials; Habib returns to Beirut, meets Gemayel.
Arab Governments: Jordanian foreign minister meets with Farouk Kaddoumi in Amman; Jordan confirms that US has promised it will act to obtain freeze on Israeli settlements and will accept expelled West Bank mayors in joint Jordanian-Palestinian negotiating team if Hussein declares his intention to join peace talks; Saudi foreign minister returns for second meeting with King Hussein.
Military Action:
US Marines sail from Naples to Beirut; IDF continues to pull out troops from Beirut, but continues house-to-house searches for militia and arms; IDF troops seen loading trailer trucks with captured vehicles, weapons, PLO files, materials from Arab banks; Algerian government charges IDF soldier stormed Algerian embassy in Beirut, stole documents; IDF denies it flew Haddad forces to Beirut for operations in camps; IDF lifts curfew imposed in South Lebanon following Gemayel assassination.
Casualties:
Burj al-Barajneh residents say Lebanese Army demanded they disarm as condition for Army protection, and then Army disappeared; rumors of massacre sweep camp so residents leave camp at night to sleep elsewhere; Haaretz reports Phalange was given IDF aerial photographs of Sabra and Shatila, that forces involved were commanded by top Phalange liaison officer with IDF in Beirut.
Political Responses:
Israel/ Occupied Territories: Israeli government accepts redeployment of multinational force in Beirut, but refuses to specify deadline for IDF withdrawal or to establish inquiry into massacre; Palestinians in Israel, West Bank, and Gaza stage strikes at schools and businesses, stone bus and several police stations, burn tires on highways to protest massacre; 2 Israeli policemen wounded, 8 Palestinians arrested; strikes 95 percent effective, but broken in Ramallah, Hebron, and Nablus when Israeli soldiers force open store windows; disturbances in Bethlehem and Israeli-Palestinian towns of Taibeh, Kaukab, Sakhnin, where residents carried pictures of Arafat; demands for national inquiry into massacre grow; Begin still staunchly opposed; Begin sends congratulations to Amin Gemayel as president-elect of Lebanon, still hopes for peace treaty.
Palestinians/ Lebanese: Arafat says Begin and Sharon are not Jews because such a massacre is outside Jewish morality and tradition; Arafat meets Saudi King Fahd in Jiddah, says Reagan personally responsible for massacre because Habib had given the PLO a signed guarantee for security of Beirut and its people; Amin Gemayel, elected Lebanon's President by 77 of 80 votes, calls for national unity; several Phalange militia commanders refuse to accept Amin's authority.
Arab Governments: King Hussein charges US with "direct moral responsibility" for massacre, supports Reagan's peace initiative but rejects Camp David structure for negotiations and peace talks with Begin government; Arab League emergency meeting accuses US of moral responsibility for massacre but stops short of endorsing PLO-sponsored call for sanctions against US.
US and Other Countries: Reagan Administration officials get wary approval for dispatch of Marines from House Foreign Affairs Committee, which sees Israel bearing some responsibility for massacre; Congressman Crockett blames Israeli government and US for "aiding, abetting" massacre; Congressional opposition to increasing aid to Israel grows as Begin refuses to open inquiry; Habib meets Mitterrand on way back to Lebanon.
UN: PLO persuades non-aligned group to call for one-day special emergency General Assembly session to request a UN inquiry; Jeane Kirkpatrick says she will oppose any such inquiry unless Lebanese Government supports it.
