Irate Israeli Left Lashes Out at Sharon : Blasts Claim That Entire Government OKd Lebanon Attack

JERUSALEM — Israel’s left responded with fury today to retired Gen. Ariel Sharon’s claim that the entire 1982 government supported the invasion of Lebanon, a campaign that lasted three years and sparked wide dissent.

One leftist member of the Knesset, or Parliament, called for an official inquiry into the war, and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, the Labor Party leader, for the first time supported the idea of an investigation.

Sharon, the architect of Israel’s three-year attack on Lebanon, asserted Tuesday in his first detailed address on the war that the entire government supported the invasion, which he called a “just war.” (Story on Page 10.)

He also said he told leaders before Israeli troops even crossed the northern border June 6, 1982, that soldiers would eventually march into the Lebanese capital.

‘We Are Going to Beirut’

“I told them,” he said, “in the end we are going to Beirut.”

But members of the left-leaning Labor Party and fringe leftist groups disputed the claim, saying they were informed only of plans to establish a 22-mile buffer zone in southern Lebanon to sweep out Palestinian commandos threatening Israel.

They claim Sharon pushed through the invasion of Beirut and the extended campaign that killed 655 Israeli soldiers.

“Prime Minister (Menachem) Begin presented to us a plan, not for a war, not for a campaign--for an operation of 48 hours that was designed to push the terrorists 40 kilometers from the Lebanese border,” said Labor Party Police Minister Chaim Bar-Lev.

‘War Lasted Three Years’

“We gave support to this operation. Sharon as minister of defense developed this operation into a war that lasted three years,” he said.

Bar-Lev also said he would support the formation of an official public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the war, although he would not propose the idea himself.

Peres, the deputy prime minister, was also quoted by state-run Israel Radio as saying for the first time he supported an investigation into the war in Lebanon.

Israel formed its present so-called unity government in September, 1984, after Begin’s abrupt resignation from the government and nine months before Israel withdrew from Lebanon.

Cracks in Coalition

The Labor-Likud coalition has been showing cracks recently, particularly over differing views on how to make peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir refused comment on the call for an investigation until he studied Sharon’s speech, a spokesman said. Shamir and Sharon are fellow members of Israel’s right-wing Herut Party, which is part of the Likud Bloc.

The continued Israeli occupation in Lebanon bitterly divided the nation and, for the first time, crystallized Israel’s anti-military “Peace Now” movement.