Peres, Rabin Warn That Israel Has To Avoid Binding Commitment To Christian Militia In Lebanon, JTA, Jan. 4, 1982.

Two leaders of the Labor Party, Shimon Peres and former Premier Yitzhak Rabin, have warned, in separate papers submitted to party forums, that Israel must avoid any binding commitment to the Christian militia in southern Lebanon. Both presentations will be combined and incorporated into the Labor Party platform.

Although neither Labor Party chairman Peres or Rabin, his erstwhile rival for leadership, consulted each other, their conclusions were identical. Both maintained that Israel should not allow itself to be trapped into making unconditional commitments to the Christian faction as Premier Menachem Begin’s government has done. They said that in the event fighting is renewed along the Israeli-Lebanese border, Israel should take strong counteraction to end it but not to gain territory.

The papers were presented at a closed meeting of the Party’s Political Committee attended by Labor members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee.