§ Mr. Lathamasked the Lord Privy Seal if Her Majesty's Government will propose in the United Nations Security Council action to compel the withdrawal of the armed terrorists of the Palestine Liberation Organisation who are illegally occupying areas of Lebanon and have carried out cross-border atrocities in the State of Israel.
§ Mr. HurdWe have made it clear on many occasions in the Security Council that we deplore violence by both Palestinians and Israelis. There are, however, limits to the extent to which the United Nations is able to impose a solution on the various parties.
§ Mr. Lathamasked the Lord Privy Seal if Her Majesty's Government will propose in the United Nations 359W Security Council action to compel the withdrawal of Syrian army units currently occupying large areas of Lebanese territory.
§ Mr. HurdNo. The Arab deterrent force, which operates under a mandate from the Arab League, is in Lebanon at the request of the Lebanese Government.
§ Mr. Lathamasked the Lord Privy Seal what steps have been taken by Her Majesty's Government through the United Nations Security Council to ensure that the UNIFIL troops in Southern Lebanon prevent movement by armed Palestinian terrorists within the zone of supervision of the United Nations force.
§ Mr. HurdHer Majesty's Government supported Security Council resolution 467, which condemned all obstructions of UNIFIL's ability to ensure the peaceful character of its area of operation, to control movement in that area and to take measures deemed necessary to ensure the effective restoration of Lebanon's sovereignty.
UNIFIL is doing a good job in difficult circumstances. In the six-month period from mid-June to mid-December, the force intercepted or turned back 384 armed Palestinian infiltrators. It would be able to deal more effectively with terrorist infiltration if it were allowed to deploy down to the border and were not subject to harassment from Major Haddad's forces.