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SCU Spokesman
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SCU Spokesman speaking:
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REPORTER: Mr. Leila could you tell us whether this operation was intended to affect the current disengagement negotiations between Syria and Israel?



LEILA: As I said, our position towards this question is that we support the Syrian conditions for any sort of agreement. We believe that this operation and all kinds of Palestinian armed struggle inside the occupied territory will also be a support, a practical support for the Syrian demands



REPORTER: Do you think though that this operation will help or hinder what progress there might be towards achieving disengagement on the Syrian-Israeli front?



LEILA: I think that it will help to force the Israelis to give in to the Syrian demands and in this sense it will help to arrive at a just settlement.



REPORTER: One other question. Do you think that this action will precipitate any Israeli retaliation strikes against Lebanon or Syria?



LEILA: This is possible, but we believe that in the case of this operation actually the traditional pretext that the Israelis always used for their retaliatory attacks are completely null actually. The israelis have no pretext for such an attack and if they commit such an attack it would be flagrant provocation.




Initials AE/3.49


Heman Betacom

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: A leader of the Palestinian Commando Organisation which carried out the attack on the school at Ma'alot Township in Northern Israel on Wednesday (15 May) later claimed that the operation would help force the Israelis to give in to Syrian demands on a disengagement of forces.

In a press conference hold in Damascus later on Wednesday, Abu Leila, a spokesman for the Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (FDFLP) condemned Israel for its actions during the siege of the school in Ma'alot where thirty people died, twenty of them schoolchildren. Mr. Leila said that the Israeli forces, by attacking the besieged guerrillas must accept responsibility for the bloodbath that followed.

Asked if he expected any retaliation from Israel for the raid, he said that in the case of this operation, any Israel pretext for return attacks was completely ungrounded. Mr. Leila said that if, however, there was an attack, it could only be seen as flagrant provocation of the Arab states.

Soon after the news conference, Israeli jets raided three Palestinian refugee camps in southeast Lebanon.