Herut leader Menachem Beigin warned the government last night that any resolution it adopted to evict the Gush Emunim squatters from Kadum in Samaria would be opposed by a majority in the Knesset. Addressing the Herut central committee here, Beigin said he had a list of 62 MKs opposed to evacuation of the Gush.
He said that if the Cabinet decided on eviction, the Knesset would be called into special session and the 62 MKs would be called on to back up their position. Although Beigin did not say so, he was apparently threatening the government with a no-confidence vote.
Likud, with 39 Knesset seats, the National Religious Party with 10 and the Orthodox Aguda bloc with five, the parties likely to support the Gush, muster a total of 54 votes. Beigin apparently believes that eight members of the Labor Party would defect from government ranks to give the pro-Gush group a Knesset majority.
ALLON FAVORS PLANNED SETTLEMENT
Meanwhile. Foreign Minister Yigal Allon said on a television interview yesterday that he favored planned, selective settlements in the administered territories but not settlements that are contrary.
Allon denied reports that he postponed his trip to the U.S. because of the Kadum issue. He said he put off his visit because he wants to be on hand for important discussions of the settlement plan, Mapam-Labor Party alignment relations and the Labor Party’s internal problems.
1000 DEMAND UNQUALIFIED SETTLEMENTS
In a related development, some 1000 members of kibbutzim and moshavim and various political parties met over the weekend at Moshav Ein Vered under the slogan “Settlers for Settlements.” They called for renewed settlement momentum throughout the country, including the West Bank, and expressed absolute opposition to the eviction of the Gush Emunim squatters from Kadum in Samaria.
Among those attending were hundreds of members from Ichud Hakvutzot VeHakibbutzim, the Mapai kibbutz movement, and from Hakibbutz Hameuchad, the Achdut Avoda movement. However, the secretariates of both movements disassociated themselves from the meeting and rejected the proceedings.
Speakers included Res. Gen. Ariel Sharon, the Zom Kippur War hero and former Likud leader; Meir Zorea, head of the Israeli Lands Administration, who lost two sons in Israel’s wars; and Dan Laner of Neot Mordechai. Korea called for settlement in all territory controlled by Israel. Laner said that just as Kantara in Sinai and Kuneitra on the Golan Heights were conquered by Israeli arms, so were Haifa and Acre. “He said the word “occupation” must not be feared.
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.
