Most of the Israeli cabinet yesterday supported the linkage of any withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon to security agreements with Beirut and Damascus, the prime minister's office said.
The Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, and the majority of the members of his so-called "security cabinet" supported proposals by the Defence Minister, Mr Yitzhak Mordechai, which make any pullback conditional on security guarantees. Meanwhile in Beirut the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, called for the withdrawal but said discussions behind "closed doors" with both sides are needed to define the procedures of the pullout.
Israeli radio reported that the armed forces commander, Gen Amnon Shahak, rejected any proposals for a unilateral pullback. Mr Uri Lubrani, the Israeli defence ministry's coordinator for Lebanese affairs, said that "a unilateral pullback would lead to our returning rapidly and in force to Lebanon". He added that the Israeli army will remain in southern Lebanon "no matter what the price in lives" if there were no undertaking that Hizbullah would suspend activities against them.
Mr Netanyahu and his ministers discussed rival plans drawn up by Mr Mordechai, considered the government's top moderate, and Infrastructure Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, its leading hawk. A final decision was suspended.
The lack of a quick consensus meant Israel has no unified position for Mr Annan when he visits Jerusalem on Tuesday. He is on a regional tour.
Mr Mordechai's plan is for Israel to implement the 1978 UN Security Council resolution, 425, which calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, on condition that Beirut agrees to security arrangements to protect northern Israel from attacks by guerrillas, notably the Shia Muslim militia, Hizbullah.
The plan, reportedly backed by Mr Netanyahu, also calls for an agreement with Lebanon to protect members of the South Lebanon Army, which helps Israel guard its self-declared buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
Beirut and Damascus, the principle power-broker in Lebanon, have already publicly rejected the Mordechai proposal, saying Resolution 425 requires an unconditional Israeli withdrawal.
Israel captured the Golan from Syria in 1967 and annexed it in 1981. Syria has made the return of the plateau its condition for resuming peace negotiations broken off by Israel in February 1996.
Mr Sharon's plan calls for a unilateral, staged withdrawal from Lebanon without regard for external reaction.
The Israeli daily Maariv reported yesterday that Syria, which keeps 35,000 soldiers in Lebanon, had sent a message to Israel saying it was ready to let the Lebanese army deploy in southern Lebanon in the event of an Israeli pullback. According to the paper, the message was passed to Israel by a "European official".