VARIOUS: FOREIGN MINISTER DAVID LEVY SAYS ANYONE ATTEMPTING TO PERSUADE LEBANESE GUERRILLAS TO LAUNCH ATTACKS ON ISRAEL ARE 'PLAYING WITH FIRE'

Record ID: 190119

  • Title: VARIOUS: FOREIGN MINISTER DAVID LEVY SAYS ANYONE ATTEMPTING TO PERSUADE LEBANESE GUERRILLAS TO LAUNCH ATTACKS ON ISRAEL ARE 'PLAYING WITH FIRE'
  • Date: 29th May 2000
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (MAY 30, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. MV ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER DAVID LEVY ARRIVING AT MEETING WITH DIPLOMATS 0.06 2. WIDE FOREIGN DIPLOMATS AT THE MEETING 0.10 3. SV (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) LEVY SAYING: "If anyone tries, and we know that there are such attempts, to launch attacks against Israel, Israel will regard it as an act of war and will respond in accordance with the principles of international law defining a nation's right to defend itself." 0.43 4. SV MEMBER OF AUDIENCE 0.47 5. LV PRESS CONFERENCE 0.50 METULLA, NORTHERN ISRAEL (MAY 30, 2000) (REUTERS) 6. BV U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL, MARTIN INDYK, TOURING THE ISRAELI-LEBANESE BORDER 0.59 7. GV VIEW OF LEBANON AS SEEN FROM THE BORDER 1.05 8. SV INDYK LOOKING THROUGH BINOCULARS 1.09 9. CA JOURNALISTS AT THE BORDER 1.18 10. SV (SOUNDBITE) (English) INDYK SAYING: "The United States is very pleased to welcome what Israel has done in withdrawing fully from Lebanon. We too praise the courage of Prime Minister Barak and the people of northern Israel for their courage in this situation." 1.48 ISRAELI-LEBANESE BORDER (MAY 30, 2000) (REUTERS) 11. SLV ISRAELI BULLDOZER WORKING NEAR THE FENCE AT THE BORDER 2.02 12. SLV WORKER CUTTING OFF OLD FENCE TO BE REPLACED WITH NEW ONE 2.09 13. CU/SLV WORKERS REMOVING THE OLD FENCE (2 SHOTS) 2.28 14. GV/SLV UNITED NATIONS VEHICLES ON THE LEBANESE SIDE OF BORDER (3 SHOTS) 3.06 METULLA, NORTHERN ISRAEL (MAY 29, 2000) (REUTERS) 15. SV DISTRIBUTION CENTRE AT MILITARY BASE WITH RACK OF SEMI-AUTOMATIC WEAPONS 3.19 16. CU GUNS ON RACKS (2 SHOTS) 3.32 17. SV MILITARY PERSONNEL HANDING RIFLE AND AMMUNITION TO LOCAL RESIDENT 3.43 18. LV MILITARY PERSONNEL LEAVING DISTRIBUTION CENTRE 3.49 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 13th June 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: METULLA, NORTHERN ISRAEL / ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER / JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVABCIC62J496ZN8OHH7N8XTWCXG
  • Story Text: Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy has said anyone
    attempting to persuade guerrillas in Lebanon to launch attacks
    on Israel would be "playing with fire".



    Speaking at a meeting with foreign diplomats on Tuesday
    (May 30), Levy did not say who Israel believed was behind the
    alleged efforts to stoke violence, but Israeli commentators
    have speculated that Syria and Iran might try to prod
    Palestinian or Lebanese guerrillas into action.

    "If anyone tries, and we know that there are such
    attempts, to launch attacks against Israel, Israel will regard
    it as an act of war and will respond in accordance with the
    principles of international law defining a nation's right to
    defend itself," Levy told foreign diplomats, six days after
    Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

    The border area was quiet on Tuesday.

    Israel has threatened to strike Syrian targets in Lebanon
    should guerrillas attack Israel in the wake of the pullout.

    Syria is the main power broker in Lebanon, with 35,000 troops
    stationed in the country.

    In northern Israel, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Martin
    Indyk, said Washington would give Israel 50 million U.S.

    dollars to help bolster security along its border with
    Lebanon.

    "The United States is very pleased to welcome what Israel
    has done in withdrawing fully from Lebanon," Indyk told
    reporters during a tour of Israeli border towns.

    Indyk visited a day care centre in the town of Metulla,
    just metres from the border, and stopped at an observation
    point where he used binoculars to peer into Lebanon.

    He said the Israeli pullback, coupled with a quiet
    frontier, would create "an opportunity not only for the people
    of this region to live in peace and normalcy, but also to move
    ahead with the peace process".

    Meanwhile, U.N. technical teams continued their mission
    along the border verifying whether the Israeli withdrawal was
    complete.

    U.N. experts were expected to finish their work on the
    Israeli side of the border by Wednesday. They would then take
    their ground work to the Lebanese side.

    U.N. verification is a key condition set by Lebanon before
    deploying its troops in the volatile region.

    In the northern Israeli town of Metulla, just metres from
    the border, authorities distributed weapons to local residents
    who fear Hizbollah may attempt to launch attacks across the
    border.

    On Monday (May 29) Israel blew up one of its military
    outposts, ten kilometers from Metulla, to win United Nations
    verification that it has withdrawn totally from south Lebanon.

    The outpost, which ended up on the Lebanese side of the
    frontier after last week's pullout, will be replaced by a new
    one on the Israeli side of the frontier, but local residents
    demanded extra measures of protection until then.


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