Israeli Cabinet Approves Pullout of Lebanon
GENE RANDALL, CNN ANCHOR: Nearly two decades of Israeli military presence in southern Lebanon could soon be over. The Israeli cabinet today approved a pullout by July. The move could put pressure on Syria to reach a peace agreement with Israel. CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports from Jerusalem.</s>JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been brewing for months, but now it's definitive: the Israeli government deciding unanimously to end Israel's 18-year military occupation in south Lebanon by July.</s>YITZHAK HERZOG, ISRAELI CABINET SECRETARY: The government has decided (a) the Israeli defense forces will deploy on the border with Lebanon by July 2000; (b) the government will act to ensure that this deployment will be carried out in the framework of an agreement</s>KESSEL: But the most pointed part of the government's statement is that while an agreement with Syria and Lebanon is seen as preferable, in the event of no such agreement, Israel's cabinet would meet again to discuss how to carry out the planned withdrawal, implying that without an agreement Israel plans a unilateral withdrawal. The decision comes against the backdrop of more violence in South Lebanon: an Israeli soldier seriously hurt in persistent Hezbollah shelling and Israeli warplanes repeatedly bombing guerrilla positions. Interest in the possibility of a broad agreement increased when Israeli state television's normally well-informed political commentator maintained over the weekend that a comprehensive Syrian- Israeli peace deal, including resolution of Israel's prolonged occupation in South Lebanon, was "in the bag." That's disputed by officials here. But Prime Minister Ehud Barak disclosed at the cabinet table that Israel is engaged in negotiations about a peace deal, not directly with Syria, but through the United States. Within two months, Mr. Barak said, it would become clear whether such a negotiated peace would be possible.</s>HAIM RAMON, ISRAELI CABINET MINISTER: We'd prefer to make it in terms of agreement, and therefore, we are giving the time to Syria to come to the negotiation table and to negotiate.</s>KESSEL: A still more immediate Israeli focus: a top security alert in and around major towns, troops and police out in numbers amid fears the radical Islamic group Hamas still plans a major suicide bombing. That despite what Israel says was the thwarting in this pre- emptive move at the end of last week of a coordinated Hamas strike in several cities. At this rally of supporters of the hard-line Islamic movement, a simulated bombing of an Israeli bus, and the burning of the Israeli, United States and French flags. "We're totally with the resistance in South Lebanon," says this man. "We are one Islamic group: Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah -- all one group." (on camera): Bomb fears, prospects for peace talks, and a deadline for the projected Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon -- a race against time. Jerrold Kessel, CNN, Jerusalem.