As United State Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance continues his Middle East meeting, the Palestinian Commando movement has promised strict enforcement of new controls on commando activity in Lebanon. One of the areas hardest hit by clashes between rival left-wing Palestinian forces and right-wing Christian phalangists has been the Lebanon-Israel border region. And despite implementation of a new peace plan aimed at regulating the Palestinian presence in Lebanon, towns and people in the border area are still suffering as the civil war enemies continue to clash.

Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian military leaders approved on 25 July a detailed timetable to implement the 1969 Cairo accord regulating the Palestinian presence in Lebanon. The peace plan timetable came into force last Saturday (30 July). The involves an ban on the deployment of armed groups outside Palestinian refugee camps, the withdraw of arms held over agree totals, and Arab forces will eventually carry out searches for illegal arms in Lebanon, including the south , near the border.

SYNOPSIS: Last to feel the beneficial effects of the nw peace plan will be town like Ardaisse, just inside the Lebanese border. Fresh clashes in the area over the weekend brought Palestinian claims of Israel involvement.

The Palestinian new agency said Israelis across the nearby frontier had joined the Lebanese rightists in shelling positions held by Palestine commandos and their left-wing Lebanese allies.

The Palestinians there claim the Israelis try out new artillery on them. While the Palestinians have got some of their own back, they've also been maintaining this border post at Taibe, an typical example of the complex political problems in southern Lebanon. The Palestinians are unwilling to leave their defensive positions until they're assured of the creation of an independent Palestine state.

The Syrian-dominated Arab peace-keeping forces cannot move into the area because Israel objects tow Syrian troops so close to its territory. Meanwhile, towns like Taibe suffer. The population is down to 150, and much of the town has been reduced to rubble. Set the people who remain cling to the hope it will soon be over. If the peace plan holds together in Beirut, that hope may just be realised.