Warren Christopher overcame a week of sleep deprivation, a Syrian snub and diplomatic complications to drive home the agreement to halt fighting in Lebanon between Israel and extremist Shiite guerrillas.
Seventy years old, the American secretary of state looked crisp as ever Friday as he proudly announced an accord - titled simply "The Understanding" - that permits tens of thousands of frightened Lebanese to return to their homes and Israelis to emerge from bomb shelters."We have achieved the goal of our mission, which was to achieve an agreement that will save lives and end the suffering of people on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border," Christopher said in recapping his seven days of feverish diplomatic shuttling.
A beaming Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres stood at his side.
Just before the news conference, Peres called Christopher into his office and popped open a bottle of Yarden sparkling wine, made at an Israeli winery in the occupied Golan Heights on Syria's border. "Warren, you did it," Peres said, holding his glass aloft. "You looked upon it as a mission, and you never gave up, and we're very grateful to you."
Christopher made six round trips between Damascus and Jerusalem, meeting every day of the aching ordeal with Peres and Syrian President Hafez Assad - with one humiliating exception. On Tuesday, Assad stood him up.
Without complaint, Christopher returned to Jerusalem but only after suffering another setback. He had wanted to helicopter into Lebanon from Cyprus to meet with Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and parliament speaker Nabih Berri but was advised by the U.S. military that the trip would be too risky in light of the rocket exchanges and collateral turmoil.
Typically, Christopher concluded he could not put to such a risk the 13 aides, diplomatic security guards and reporters accompanying him. He called off the trip.
The next day, with more than 300 bodyguards in tow, the group drove in convoy from Damascus to Chtura, a town in Lebanon's Syrian-occupied Bekaa Valley, for Christopher to meet with Hariri and Berri. It was a sign of respect for Lebanon's sovereignty that it rarely gets as a virtual Syrian protectorate.
Keeping in mind that his peace mission was the overriding goal, Christopher ignored Assad's snub and kept shuttling back to Damascus until he got final approval Friday of the agreement that Assad is committed to help see through.
At times, Christopher got by with three to four hours' sleep. On the last day of the shuttle, he had to fly a modest U.S. Air Force cargo plane back and forth between Jerusalem and Damascus. Unlike Christopher, the crew of his regular Air Force jet is required to rest at least 15 hours between flights. So the C141 transport was flown in from Germany.
The diplomacy was tedious. Ironically, the last hurdle was almost trivial: What role France would play in the agreement?
Backed by Syria and Lebanon, France was given a place with the United States, Israel, Syria and Lebanon in the monitoring group that will oversee implementation of the understanding.
Throughout his mission, Christopher had to contend with French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette's separate cease-fire proposal and independent missions by Russian and other European diplomats as well.
These rival initiatives offered the Arabs the possibility that Israel would be forced to give up its buffer zone inside Lebanon. For 14 years, since Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, the Israelis feel their army's presence across its northern border has helped keep terrorists from infiltrating.
Christopher's aides insisted the U.S. proposal was the only one with a chance of being accepted by both Israel and the Arabs. Christopher prevailed, but it's possible the diplomatic sideshow lengthened his mission.
Much of the bargaining dealt with the touchy issue of civilians, the main victims of Israel's fearsome retaliatory onslaught. More than 150 people died in Lebanon, mostly Lebanese civilians.
The Israelis argued they were not targeting civilians but had to contend with Hezbollah missile batteries placed close to civilian population centers.
Christopher worked out an understanding that Israel would not attack civilian areas but that civilian areas would not be used as launching ground for attack.
The understanding is not signed. It is not even initialed. And Iran, Hezbollah's chief financier, was not involved in the U.S. negotiations, although its foreign minister spent most of the week consulting Syrian and Lebanese leaders.