"Over My Dead Body"

By William E. Smith

A Marine takes a stand, as U.S.-Israeli tensions rise

As three Israeli tanks approached a U.S. Marine position near the old Sidon road to the south of Beirut, Captain Charles B. Johnson, 30, of Neenah, Wis., did not hesitate. He ran toward the heavily armored, British-made Centurions, then took a position in the middle of the road. When the lead tank halted barely a foot in front of him, Johnson told an Israeli lieutenant colonel atop it, "You will not pass through this position."

After a momentary pause, the Israeli commander dismounted, talked with Johnson, remounted his tank and declared, according to Johnson, "I am going through." Johnson again demanded that the tanks halt, adding, "If you come through, it will be over my dead body." He drew his pistol and held it at a 45DEG angle, the "ready" position. After another pause, during which the Israelis spoke over their radio, the lead tank turned off the road. Johnson walked beside it.

Then, suddenly, the other two tanks took off at full speed in the original direction. Johnson jumped on the lead tank, grabbed the Israeli commander and yelled at him to stop his tanks. Complying at last, the Israeli, who was subsequently identified only as a Lieut. Colonel "Rafi," told Johnson, "One thing we don't want to do is shoot each other." Replied Johnson: "Yes, but if you keep doing things like this, the likelihood is going to increase."

The incident was the most serious in a rising tide of tension between the U.S. and Israeli forces in Lebanon since the Marines landed five months ago, with French and Italian troops, as part of an international peace-keeping effort. Indeed, the entire three-nation force seemed under siege last week. A grenade was tossed into a French military vehicle in West Beirut, wounding one soldier. Several French soldiers out jogging were sprayed by automatic weapons fire; two were wounded, one seriously. In one of the worst incidents of violence in West Beirut in recent months, a car bomb blew up outside the Palestine Research Center and the temporary Libyan embassy, turning both buildings into infernos. At least 20 people were killed and 70 wounded.

For the 1,200 U.S. Marines in Lebanon, the problems have been with the Israelis. Several times in the past month, Israeli units tried to pass Marine checkpoints, in violation of the peace-keeping agreement, and each time were turned back. In order to end such confrontations, the Marines and the Israelis two weeks ago set up a radio "hot line" and tried to agree to certain lines of demarcation between their forces. But some U.S. officials in Beirut remained convinced that the Israeli moves last month, as well as recent Israeli charges that the Marines were failing to stop "terrorists" from passing through Marine positions, were part of an Israeli strategy. Its purpose: to discredit the Marines, as well as the French and Italian forces, and to reinforce the argument that the task of patrolling southern Lebanon, once the occupying armies have been withdrawn from the rest of the country, should be retained by the Israelis.

However that may be, the Reagan Administration reacted to the latest incident with open anger. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger declared that the Israeli move had been "threatening" and that there was "no authority or necessity" for it. In a news conference, President Reagan defended Johnson's action, saying he thought the Marine had done "the only thing he could." Pentagon officials flatly disputed Israel's contention that the Israeli tanks were not in Marine territory. Furthermore, the officials maintained, the behavior of the tanks had been belligerent and provocative. Belying Israeli insistence that the tanks had been on a "routine patrol," Pentagon officials added, was the fact that a group of Israelis with binoculars had taken up a position on a nearby hill in order to watch the events unfold.

The Israeli government blamed the whole affair on a misunderstanding on the part of the Marines. The Israelis produced Lieut. Colonel Rafi, who scoffed at the Marines' behavior. When Johnson drew his pistol, said Rafi, it "rather amused me." Privately, the Israelis were angry at Washington, and particularly at Weinberger, for reacting so sharply to the incident; an aide to Prime Minister Menachem Begin said the U.S. response was "shocking and ridiculous." A day later, American and Israeli diplomats met in Beirut and agreed to build a formal boundary around some Marine positions in the hope of keeping the two forces apart.

The real problem is that patience is running out on all sides. The U.S. wants a withdrawal of Israeli, Syrian and Palestinian forces from Lebanon, but the Israeli-Lebanese negotiations remain at an impasse. U.S. Special Envoy Philip Habib returns to the Middle East this week, though it is uncertain whether he will fare any better this time than he did on his last trip three weeks ago. The Reagan Administration still hopes that King Hussein of Jordan can be induced to join Egypt, Israel and the U.S. in seeking a negotiated settlement to the problem of the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. But if the U.S. cannot get the Israelis out of Lebanon, or at least get them started in that direction, the U.S. will never get Hussein or any other Arabs to the bargaining table.

In Israel, the conclusions of the commission of inquiry that investigated the Beirut massacre last September were expected to be released this week. If the report is critical of Begin, he may call new elections this year. Israel's President Yitzhak Navon, 61, announced last week that he will not seek another five-year term when the present one expires in May. That could thrust Navon into a three-way race, along with Opposition Leader Shimon Peres and former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, for leadership of the Labor Party. Recent polls show Navon would have a better chance than either Peres or Rabin of leading the party to victory against Begin.

The most popular man in Beirut last week may have been Captain Johnson. Arab-language radio stations were retelling the story of the American who stopped three Israeli tanks "singlehanded." Colonel Thomas Stokes, the Marine commander in Lebanon, said that Johnson would receive a commendation for his action. As for Johnson, he modestly called his sudden fame "a lot of fuss over not that much of a deal." On that point alone, the Israelis would agree.

--By William E. Smith. Reported by Harry Kelly/Jerusalem and Roberto Suro/Beirut

With reporting by Harry Kelly, Roberto Suro This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.