NAHARIYA, Israel The Palestinian guerrillas fighting LebaneseAmal militiamen in Beirut and southern Lebanon have received Israeliarms from Israel's Christian Lebanese allies, well-informed sourceshere said.
Reportedly included in the transfers from the LebanesePhalangists to the Palestinian fighters were armored personnelcarriers, artillery shells and light weapons.
In private conversation, Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabinhas expressed strong misgivings about the Christians' supplyingIsraeli gear to the Palestinians, and several Israeli politicalcommentators termed it an act of "perfidy."
But the Christians, acting on the Arab dictum that "the enemy ofmy enemy is my friend," insist their arms pipeline to thePalestinians is warranted. Lebanese Christian spokesmen, whoseorganizations were the beneficiaries of large quantities of Israelimilitary hardware before and after Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon,contend that the Syrian-sponsored Moslem militias seeking to destroythe Palestine Liberation Organization presence in Lebanon is thegreater danger to them and to Israel.
PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat recently made an unprecedentedappearance on Beirut's Christian-controlled television station tothank his erstwhile enemies, the Phalangists, for having allowed thePalestinians to take refuge in Lebanon.
He also thanked President Amin Gemayel, a Christian, for havingissued Lebanese travel documents to 70,000 Palestinians who live andwork in the various Persian Gulf emirates.
Arafat made his TV statement from Baghdad, Iraq, one of hisregional headquarters. He paid an "astronomical" sum to theChristians to be seen on their TV station, well-informed sourcessaid.
Despite its misgivings, Israel has not suspended its contactswith the Phalangists over their tactical rapprochement with Arafat'smainstream PLO. At least two prominent Christian militia leaderswere in this country this week for secret talks with senior officialswithin the Israeli defense establishment.
The Lebanese visitors were quoted by one of their Israeliinterlocutors as saying the Shiite Hezbollah terrorists pose theultimate threat to Israeli as well as Christian security.
On the other hand, the relatively moderate Amal militia, whoseforces have made a poor showing against the Palestinians in thestruggle for refugee camps in Beirut and south Lebanon in recentweeks, were dismissed as a front for the Syrians.
Syria's hostility toward Arafat and his PLO followers was citedby the Lebanese Christians as a good reason to come to thePalestinians' aid, if only because it challenges Syria's bid forhegemony over Lebanon.
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