Despite Security and Economic Talks, Lebanon Still Off Limits to Americans

By Carole H. Dagher

Before leaving Washington, DC in March for his latest trip to Israel and its neighbors, Secretary of State Warren Christopher renewed the U.S. ban on travel by Americans to Lebanon for another six months. U.S. commercial carriers thus are prohibited from flying to Lebanon, and Lebanon's Middle East Airlines still is barred from landing in the U.S. Ironically, the secretary signed the measure only two weeks after a U.S.-Lebanese security commission had met in Washington to consider security measures currently in effect in and around the Beirut airport as a first step toward lifting the travel ban.

The administration of President Bill Clinton first proposed the U.S.-Lebanese security commission in June 1994 to deal with the restraints on U.S.-Lebanese relations posed by American fear of renewed hostage-taking and Lebanese insistence on lifting the travel ban. But its ambitious original agenda stirred opposition in Lebanon, particularly from the Shi'i Muslim Hezbollah, which feared that its own role as Lebanon's only remaining armed militia would be questioned. U.S. negotiators also had reservations, knowing that only the Syrian government could offer serious "guarantees" regarding Hezbollah's activities.

Knowing that the U.S. officials would inevitably raise the issue of bomb attacks against the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, the U.S. Embassy in 1983 and 1984, the assassination of U.S. Ambassador Francis Meloy in 1976, and the taking of U.S. and other foreign hostages in the 1970s and 1980s, Syria also had reacted negatively to the commission proposal. Syria apparently worried that the commission might evolve into an independent Lebanese channel to the U.S., and thus affect the Lebanese track in the peace talks.

After intense contacts between Washington and Damascus through U.S. Ambassador to Syria Christopher Ross, however, the Syrians withdrew their opposition to the idea on condition that the commission would deal only with the technical aspects of Beirut airport's security. Hezbollah military resistance to Israeli occupation forces in southern Lebanon specifically was not to be discussed.

In the State Department, where the meetings took place, the U.S. delegation was headed by Assistant Secretary of State Robert Pelletreau and included State Department counter-terrorism officer Philip Wilcox and representatives of the departments of Transportation, Justice and Commerce, as well as the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the CIA, and the FBI. U.S. policy-makers clearly continued to see the talks with Lebanon from the angle of "terrorism." The Lebanese participants, headed by Lebanese Ambassador to the U.S. Riad Tabbarah, included officers from Lebanon's General Security and Internal Security Forces.

During the talks, Lebanese participants reached two conclusions: one was that U.S. information concerning the security situation in Lebanon was outdated and still profoundly influenced by the hostage syndrome of the mid-1980s. The second conclusion was that the different U.S. departments were not in agreement among themselves concerning the necessity of maintaining U.S. restrictions on Lebanon. Most concerned were State Department counter-terrorism and CIA officials, who were skeptical about the Lebanese government's ability to extend its authority to all parts of the national territory.

A Dialogue of the Deaf

Discussions came to resemble a dialogue of the deaf, with U.S. officials insisting on raising Hezbollah activities and the Lebanese ambassador reiterating his government's position that they constituted a "legitimate resistance against Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon."

"Ambassador Tabbarah simply dismissed our fears as unjustified," one State Department official who attended the meetings told the Washington Report.

U.S. representatives also expressed deep concern about the presence of Hezbollah in the southern suburbs of Beirut, in immediate proximity to the Beirut airport. The Americans further expressed their worries about the fact that some military officers had political sympathies with the Islamic movement and that some individuals who had been involved in anti-U.S. attacks had access to the airport lounges.

The U.S. representatives also raised the issue of other hostile groups such as the Abu-Nidal faction and the "Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyya" fundamentalist movement located in Tripoli, northern Lebanon. (Members of this group have been arrested in connection with an abortive attempt to bomb a bus transporting Christian bishops from all over the Middle East who were attending an ecumenical conference at a Lebanese university in 1994.) Americans also asked why Palestinian leader Nayef Hawatmeh, who has taken a clear stand against the PLO-Israeli agreement, was able to enter Lebanon from Syria and make anti-peace statements designed to support Palestinian opponents of Yasser Arafat in the West Bank and Gaza. The U.S. representatives noted that Hawatmeh was under an Interpol warrant. Ambassador Tabbarah replied that the Lebanese authorities were not notified.

The record in political crimes is 100 percent prevention or punishment.

For their part, Lebanese security commission members felt that their American counterparts were unaware of improvements in security conditions, not only at Beirut airport, but in Lebanon as a whole. The Lebanese provided U.S. representatives with information on the X-ray machines inside the airport and the security measures undertaken by Lebanese police forces and Syrian intelligence services there.

The Lebanese representatives also pointed out that the arrest rate for ordinary crimes in Lebanon has reached 52 percent and the record in political crimes is 100 percent prevention or punishment. Lebanese Ambassador Tabbarah cited the two political assassinations in Beirut last year. After the murder of the first secretary of the Jordanian embassy, Umran al-Ma'aytah, authorities arrested and tried seven persons associated with the radical Abu Nidal Palestinian faction for the crime. After the assassination of Iraqi opposition figure Talib Al-Tamimi, two diplomats from the Iraqi embassy were charged with the killing. The Lebanese ambassador said that the murderers of U.S. Ambassador Meloy, U.S. Embassy economic counselor Robert Waring, and their driver also have been arrested and tried. As if to reinforce the Lebanese arguments, one of the main leaders of the Abu Nidal group was arrested by the Lebanese army in Saida a few days after the U.S.-Lebanese negotiations ended.

Ambassador Tabbarah explained that none of the Lebanese factions resisting Israeli occupation in the south, including the Hezbollah, were permitted to violate Lebanese law or carry arms in the capital. He pointed out, too, that the Lebanese armed forces had not hesitated to open fire when a demonstration in the southern suburbs of Beirut protesting the Oslo agreement got out of hand, and 16 militant demonstrators were killed. The Lebanese ambassador also made it clear that Lebanon has adhered to international conventions on security within airports—a fact that the U.S. Justice Department representative did not know.

"It shows how uninterested the U.S. administration is with regard to Lebanon, a country that is left aside while the peace talks concentrate on the Syrian-Israeli track," said one Lebanese official. Participants discussed both U.S. and Lebanese security measures around the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, where, since the departure of U.S. Ambassador Mark Hambley, Ron Schlicher, formerly of the State Department's counter-terrorism office, is chargé d'affaires.

Since Stanley Escudero, U.S. ambassador to Tajikistan, declined a nomination to Beirut, where families cannot accompany diplomats, Dick Jones, of the State Department's office of Egyptian affairs, is awaiting Senate confirmation as Hambley's successor.

Although Americans who participated in the security discussions expressed satisfaction with the new information provided by the Lebanese delegation, they were divided on the wisdom of lifting the travel ban prior to a follow-up investigation by American officials in Lebanon. Some of the U.S. officials clearly did not want to "go out on a limb" without more proof that the safety of U.S. citizens could be guaranteed.

"We feel it is more a bureaucratic decision than a political one," commented Ambassador Tabbarah after the talks and just before the travel ban was renewed on Feb. 27 for another six-month period.

What About Business in Lebanon?

Lebanon's major effort to return to the U.S. political screen also included a visit to Washington and New York by a business delegation led by Minister of Industry and Petroleum Dr. Assaad Rizk, prior to the opening of the security talks. The economic delegation included presidents of trade, business and bankers associations in Lebanon who participated in a Washington, DC forum on "business opportunities in Lebanon's reconstruction."

Also attending the conference were representatives of U.S. companies interested in doing business with Lebanon. Lebanese delegates described their country's investment incentives, and gave an overview of the infrastructure projects and the international tenders launched in connection with Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's ambitious reconstruction program.

The Lebanese delegation provided American participants with information on doing business in Lebanon and an investor's guide outlining the productive sectors and tax incentives. A recent U.S. government study described the commercial and economic outlook in Lebanon for 1995 as promising. The Financial Times has reported that Lebanon is close to reaching its target of 8 percent growth this year. The Lebanese government expects inflation to slow down, income, investment and consumption to increase significantly, and capital inflows to create a balance-of-payment surplus. Lebanon also seeks to regain its role as a regional financial market with the opening of the Beirut stock market next year.

In less than two years, the Lebanese currency has appreciated by 63 percent, while capital transfers into Lebanon have been spectacular. During the past two years, the balance of payments has had a surplus of more than $1 billion, resulting in a total transfer of capital to Lebanon of close to $5 billion a year, a very sizable sum for a country of only three million inhabitants.

One result is heavy demand for Solidere shares. Solidere is the company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut's Central District, the biggest building project in the entire Middle East. The project, covering 1.8 million square meters of the city center, includes development and reconstruction of 4.69 million square meters of office, commercial and residential space. An offering of $650 million dollars was made last spring, open only to Lebanese and Arab investors. The subscriptions received totaled $920 million, which necessitated the returning of the excess amount to the Arab investors. In the absence of foreign assistance (at least in terms of grants or preferential long-term loans), the government launched its first Eurobond issue on the international market, with an interest rate of 10.12 percent, seeking to borrow $150 million. Orders for the bonds reached $400 million.

Among incentives to attract foreign and domestic investment, Lebanon's tax structure has been simplified. Tax rates have been reduced to a maximum rate of 10 percent for corporations and individuals and a 5 percent rate on dividends. In addition, some contracts are awarded on a build/operate/ transfer (BOT) basis.

In view of the opportunities for overseas investors presented by the re-emerging Lebanese economy, the U.S. Export-Import Bank last November resumed its supporting activities in Lebanon, after two visits by Lebanese business representatives to Washington, DC. The most recent Lebanese business delegation also presented a proposal for the creation of an American-Lebanese commission on science and technology.

Despite these encouraging factors, the ban on U.S. travel remains a major impediment for U.S. companies seeking to benefit from the more than $4 billion worth of contracts let out by the Lebanese government for the rehabilitation of the country's infrastructure.

Nor is there much reason to anticipate change in the ban in the near future. "The value of American lives is much more important to us than business opportunities," State Department official Toni Verstandig told the Lebanese business delegation. "The enemies of peace are still there. This is why, in the absence of security guarantees, we cannot lift the travel ban."

Carole H. Dagher, a Lebanese journalist, is the author of a book, published in Arabic and French editions, on the Mideast peace process.