In a dramatic session punctuated with interruptions and shouts from the deputies during the course of a speech by Premier David Ben Gurion the Israeli parliament last night wound up its foreign policy debate without taking a vote of confidence in the government.
Facing its severest fight since the establishment of the coalition, the government mustered its most prominent figures to defend the offer to the Arab states at Lausanne to accept a specific number of Arab refugees if the question were settled within the framework of a general peace. Before the session ended, the Knesset members heard the Premier and Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett admit that its Arab refugee proposal was made under pressure from the United States.
Mr. Ben Gurion insisted that the government’s latest proposal was not a radical departure from its policy, but was, in fact, merely a continuation of a policy which the responsible leaders of the Jewish community had drafted and followed for many years — beginning in the period of the British Mandate. This policy he outlined as follows: firstly, the achievement of security with the organization of the Haganah; secondly, the founding of the state; and, thirdly, the achievement of an Arab-Israeli alliance.
The last stage of this program has now been reached, the Premier insisted, and the government’s policy has been set accordingly. No other course could have been followed, he asserted. He stressed that the signing of the armistice pacts by the Arab states constitutes a historical event which must be properly assessed, particularly since the struggle with the Arabs has not yet ended.
FORMER ASSISTANT DEFENSE MINISTER CHARGES BEN GURION WITH “DISTORTING THE TRUTH”
When the Premier charged that all the opposition parties had failed to warn the nation and prepare it for the struggle against the Arab invaders, he was interrupted by angry members of the Herut and Mapam who cried that he was “distorting the truth”. Israel Galili, former Assistant Defense Minister and Mapam deputy, shouted that Premier Ben Gurion’s remarks constituted “a denial of and treason against” the troops who stood side-by-side in the formations of the Haganah and the Palmach.
Foreign Minister Sharett declared that the government was justified in its offer on the refugees in order to lessen the pressure from the United States and to restore friendly relations with the U.S. Further initiative for peace in the Middle East rests with the countries which have exerted pressure on Israel and whose duty now is to divert this pressure to the Arab states, Mr. Sharett told the Knesset.
He said the government’s action was prompted by the fact that this was a “timely opportunity” for a peace solution “even at a price”. He rejected the suspicions of the opposition parties that the government’s move was an indication that it would give way on other issues at the U.N.-sponsored peace parley.
A motion by the Herut that the question of the repatriation of the Arab refugees be put to a nation-wide referendum was defeated twice, the last time by a recorded vote of 41-10. In the course of the debate, only one speaker, Zalaman Aharonovitch, Mapai chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, mentioned — in a roundabout manner — that the government’s proposal involved the acceptance of 100,000 Arab refugees, including those who have already made their way back to Israel and those who will be reunited with their families.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
