Issued by: Government Communications (GCIS)
The Department of Foreign Affairs has strongly condemned yesterday's attack by the Israeli airforce in the Beqa'a Valley in eastern Lebanon, in which seven cvilians were killed. The Department noted that in recent years similar attacks have lead to the deaths of large numbers of innocent civilians in Lebanon. It furthermore regarded yesterday's air attack as yet another in a litany of such incidents, including the inexcusable massacre of more than one hundred Lebanese civilians at Qana in 1996.
It has also come to the Department's attention that in response to the Israeli action, Hizbollah has indicated that it intends to take its revenge.
This will once again perpetuate the cycle of violence in the region and lead to further hostility in southern Lebanon and on the northern border of Israel. In this regard the Department called on all parties to avoid any acts of violence which could harm innocent people.
The Department of Foreign Affairs once more calls on the Government of Prime Minister Netanyahu to desist from its policy of mounting air raids against population centres in Lebanon and to honour the spirit of peace-making in the Middle East which was recently reinforced with the signing of the Wye River Memorandum.
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS PRETORIA 23 DECEMBER 1998