Premier Menachem Begin of Israel reaffirmed today his government’s position on territories and settlements and approaches to peace and, in his address to the National Press Club and in responses to reporter’ questions in a tone of conciliation, expressed his hope for an understanding in the United States of Israel’s security requirements.
Begin spoke before a tense but enthusiastic audience that overflowed the ballroom of the National Press Club while the world media was proclaiming that he and President Carter have failed to bridge gaps to resolve the Middle East problems and while rumors spread that the Carter Administration was determined to bring about his ouster as Israel’s leader through a massive propaganda effort because he is unbending on Israel’s position.
Begin’s address and his response to questions reasserted Israel’s need to maintain military control over Judaea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, the right to have Jewish settlements in those areas, and complete negation of the “so-called Palestine Liberation Organization.”
But in his words and in his manner he sought to conciliate rather than to aggravate in any way either the relations with Carter or with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. His presentation was generally viewed here as contrasting with the toughness of the speech that Sadat fired at Israel and Begin when he spoke from the same rostrum on Feb. 6.
REPRESENTS GOOD, TESTED CONCEPTS
Begin said that his proposals for a settlement represented good and tested concepts that are irrefutable and repeated what he said was widespread approval of them when they were introduced three months ago. He emphasized that the Arab people in the occupied areas would have full autonomy under the peace plan with Israel reserving its security for public order.
“The issue,” he said, is that in Israel, with most of its population living nine to 15 miles on a coastal plain dominated by mountains in Judaea and Samaria, Soviet artillery could blast every Israeli village and town. “Who controls the range of hills,” he said, means to Israel “a matter of life itself.”
Begin said Israel “wants peace negotiations to move ahead at a speedy pace.” He declared that “we don’t want a stalemate of procrastination, we yearn for peace for Israel and her neighbors.” He said “to accomplish it we must have patience for each other, open minds, open hearts, never to say: “if you don’t accept our demands I call off the talk,'” a reference to Sadat’s cancellation of the Israeli-Egyptian political talks.
Asked if he believed Carter was trying to force him out of office, Begin replied, “No I don’t. The Prime Minister of a democratic country is elected by the people of the country.” He added that only those people can make the change.
GRATEFUL TO CARTER
To a question asserting that Begin and Carter are far apart on the elements of a peace agreement, the Premier responded that he was grateful to Carter for the three summit meetings in July, December and this month.
He said the U.S. “role is positive” and alluded to the contacts established for Israel by U.S. officials. He said he was “sorry” that the question of settlements on the West Bank aroused tension. “Perhaps we didn’t explain it” in suitable terms, he said. But he insisted “they are perfectly legal and legitimate. This is our stand. Everything else stands on the timing and the decisions of Israel,” he said about the settlements.
On the question of placing warplanes for Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel in one package, Begin said there should be “no linkage of planes for Israel with any other country.” He stressed that Israel felt that providing Saudi Arabia with F-15s would be “very, very dangerous” for Israel.
Speaking yesterday after his final meeting with Carter, Begin said it was his “duty” to remind public opinion of the fact “that Israel is still the only country in the world against which there is a written document to the effect that it must disappear” and people who carry out “the abominable acts to prove that they mean it.” This was a reference to the Covenant of the Palestine National Council and the Palestine Liberation Organization. This situation, Begin added, “is the decisive problem we face, which is called, sometimes, security.”
PROBE ISRAEL’S USE OF U.S. ARMS
Meanwhile, the Defense Department announced today that it was investigation to determine whether Israel’s use of American weapons in its operations in Lebanon violated the U.S. Arms Export Control Act. A Department spokesman said the reported use of F-15 jet fighter-bombers by Israel was under study but did not elaborate.
The Arms Export Control Act limits the use of weapons obtained from the U.S. to internal security, self-defense or collective security measures with United Nations member states. Pentagon sources noted that the U.S. cut off arms supplies to Turkey when it discovered that the use of American weapons in the 1974 invasion of Cyprus was illegal.
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.
