REAGAN DEMANDS END TO ATTACKS IN A BLUNT TELEPHONE CALL TO BEGIN (Published 1982)

This is the best summary I could come up with:

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 - President Reagan expressed ‘‘outrage’’ to Prime Minister Menachem Begin today over Israel’s latest bombing raids in west Beirut, saying the attacks had resulted in ‘‘needless destruction and bloodshed.’’

Mr. Speakes said the Israeli action had threatened the efforts by Philip C. Habib, the special American envoy, to end the fighting in Lebanon and arrange for the withdrawal of the 6,000 to 9,000 Palestinian guerrillas trapped in west Beirut.

American officials - including, apparently, Mr. Reagan - were stunned by not only the scale of the Israeli air attacks but also the possibility that Mr. Habib’s peace proposals could fall apart because of them.

As the Israeli attacks took place, State Department officials said, Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Shafik al-W@azzan, told Mr. Habib in Beirut that the talks could not continue under the ‘‘blackmail and pressure’’ of the raids.

‘‘He emphasized that Israel’s actions halted Ambassador Habib’s negotiations for the peaceful resolution of the Beirut crisis when they were at the point of success,’’ the statement said.

In a chronology of the morning’s events, Mr. Speakes and other White House officials said Mr. Reagan had received reports from Mr. Habib that the Israeli shellings had brought the talks to a halt.

The original article contains 1,087 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

REAGAN DEMANDS END TO ATTACKS IN A BLUNT TELEPHONE CALL TO BEGIN (Published 1982)(www.nytimes.com)

Middle East and North Africa

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