On 21 April, the cabinet authorized the IDF to begin the third stage of the withdrawal from Lebanon. The target date for completion would be the beginning of June. Mr. Rabin explained the three principles that governed the 14 January decision. The first was the redeployment of the IDF along the international borders. Israel's defense will be maintained from there. The second was the creation and maintenance of a security zone near the Israel-Lebanon border and the third was the night for self-defense. These remained the principles which would govern Israel 's future policy regarding Lebanon. He called on all factions in Lebanon to adopt a policy of live and let-live with Israel. Text:
Allow me to explain the cabinet decision of today. On 14 January the cabinet adopted a new perception of the defense of our northern frontier: The settlements, the settlers who live in the northern part of the country. The cabinet [at that time] decided that the solution to this problem will be based on three principles:
One, the redeployment of the IDF along the international border, from where it will [do] whatever is necessary for the defense of Israel.
Principle number two: To maintain a security zone adjacent to the Lebanon-Israel border, based on the motivation of the various Lebanese peoples who live there - Christians, Druze, Shiites - that they know that once terrorism develops, they will be the first to suffer, they will be the first to pay by leaving their places, abandoning their homes, [so it is in] their interest to prevent it. That is to say: All that they are asked and warned to do is to defend their own village, to defend their own fields from any attempt to use them for purposes of attacks on Israel. We don't ask them to defend Israel. We ask them to maintain tranquility in their villages, to prevent the use of their villages as bases for terrorist acts against targets in Israel. This will be done by the civilian guards that will be [formed] from the people of every village: Shiites, Christians, Druze. Another element in the security zone will be what [is] left of the southern Lebanese army, which will be reorganized on the basis of the place where the people come from. It will be composed only of people who live in the security zone: Druze in the east, Christians in the center, Shiites in the west. Again, even these units will be related to the places where [their members] come from.
The third principle is the maintaining of the right of self-defense to prevent any beginning of organization or deployment of terrorists, wherever they take place in Lebanon - 15 km. or 30 or 50 - that can endanger the security of Israel either by planning or carrying out acts of terrorism against Israel.
These are the three elements of the new policy by which Israel is going to defend itself. The decision was made to do it in three phases. Today the cabinet decided about the completion of phase III by the beginning of June. We are giving here, not an exact date, but a time by which we will complete our redeployment along the international border, hoping that once it will be announced, at least those elements in Lebanon - Shiites and others - that claim all their struggle against Israel was not against Israel but against the Israeli occupation of their territories, their land: [This is] now over. We hope that [one day] there will be a change of attitude on the part of most of the Lebanese, and they'll accept [that] Israel's purpose is one and only one: Tranquility along the international border, to apply the principle live and let live to both sides. We are not interested in one inch of Lebanese territory, in one cubic meter of their water. We are not trying and will not try to be involved in domestic problems of Lebanon.
We want one thing: Security for Israel. And if there will be a tendency to maintain security, I believe that we will be able to reduce the amount of [IDF] backing for the security zone, we will be able to limit activities that otherwise well have to carry into Lebanon on a temporary basis, either by land or sea or by firepower from the air. We would like to see in Lebanon a quiet neighbor in terms of terrorism against Israel. But there is a famous saying: Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. This is the essence of our new policy of the defense of the northern frontier of Israel.
Questions and Answers (in Hebrew)
Q: Does this decision mean that at the beginning of June there will be no more IDF soldiers in Lebanon?
A: The meaning of the decision is that the IDF units will deploy along the international border, with backing to be given to the civil guard and SLA units by means of occasional patrols - and if they encounter problems that they can't cope with, we shall come to their assistance. It's possible that from time to time we shall claim for ourselves a lookout point here and there, and not necessarily only in the security zone.
Q: What is your message to the Syrians? Is there a 'red line' that you want the Syrians to be aware of?
A: In my estimation, Syria knows that there are several things which Israel will not be able to accept. I see no point in detailing them in public.
Q: [Inaudible question regarding the role of the Shi'ites in the south]
A: I hope that today, when the cabinet determined a date - I didn't specify it for security reasons - of the beginning of June at which time the IDF will complete its deployment along the international border, those elements in the Shi'ite community and in other communities in Lebanon will understand that in fact all that Israel wants and asks is quiet: To live and let live on both sides of the border. If this is understood, I estimate that a basis exists for coexistence, even without dialogue, and would that they were ready to talk with us.
Q: What is your reaction to Minister Sharon's demand for a security zone of 30 km extending to the Litani River?
A: I am not now engaging in arguments with one position or another. I am presenting the cabinet decision and its import. ( ... )
Q: What is the reason for the evacuation taking another six weeks?
A: The reason is our appraisal of the entire complex of the military and logistic, considerations, the required deployments - so that we can arrive at a situation, as determined by the cabinet, from which the IDF will defend the border in the best way.
Q: Do you now hope the Lebanese will resume talks with Israel in some form?
A: I don't think that the cabinet decision presupposes that in its wake the Lebanese will return to the Nakoura talks. The purpose of specifying the date is to show concretely that we intend to deploy along the international border - and to give the backing that I mentioned to the security zone - but the calmer the situation, the less initiated and backup activity will be required on our part, and the more we will be able to develop a situation, which is the optimal one from Israel's point of view, of live and let live. We have one goal only in our relations with Lebanon: Reasonable security which enables the maintenance of a normal way of life for the northern settlements and their inhabitants.
Q: In retrospect, don't you think we are leaving Lebanon three years late?
A: I have said before, and I repeat: I am dealing with the problem as I am confronted with it today. At this stage I am dealing with the required solutions and not with the drawing of lessons or a historical or political analysis and so forth. When the problem is solved, III take that up.
Q: Will the 'Good Fence' be maintained?
A: We will try. In the same measure, we want the residents of the security zone to have free access, a free link, to all of Lebanon. We don't see the security zone as a closed area, despite the attendant security risks, because we don't want a disconnection between the Lebanese settlements close to our border and their own people, communities and country.