Premier Menachem Begin was embroiled in a major confrontation today with the Yamit settlers and their supporters who are trying to prevent Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai, due to be completed April 25.
The Prime Minister told a delegation representing the settlers that road blocks set up by the army over the weekend to prevent further infiltration of the region by militants would remain in place and that any attempt to remove them would be in violation of the law and would be dealt with severely. He warned that the government is determined to prevent lawless acts which are aimed at jeopardizing the peace treaty with Egypt.
Defense Minister Ariel Sharon briefed the Cabinet today on measures taken by the army to seal off Yamit. He reportedly has unanimous support among the ministers, including Education Minister Zevulun Hammer of the National Religious Party. Hammer gave no comfort to Rabbi Haim Druckman, Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs, who complained that the army desecrated the Sabbath by setting up the roadblocks during the Sabbath.
Begin said he endorsed the action as a person who is sensitive to Sabbath observance because it was “pikuanefesh” — a situation of extreme urgency. Sharon remarked that Sabbath-observing Jews do not embark on a trip to the desert a half hour before the start of the Sabbath.
He was referring to the militants, mainly Orthodox Jews, who have been pouring into Yamit in an attempt to forestall withdrawal. Sharon personally issued the orders for the roadblocks, a move that many in the Cabinet and Knesset considered long overdue.
SETTLERS BUILD ROADBLOCKS
The Yamit settlers, meanwhile, built their own roadblocks around the town out of tractors and other vehicles to keep the army out. But they removed the barriers after Chief of Staff Gen. Rafael Eitan arrived on the scene. He told them that while he did not have the power to change government policy, he would present their point of view to the government.
Some settlers remained near the roadblocks, taunting Israeli soldiers manning them. The soldiers stood by passively awaiting orders. No incidents were reported. There are still a few hundred families resident in Yamit whose only quarrel with the government is over the amount of compensation they will receive for abandoning their property and relocating. They are playing for time and kept aloof from the demonstrations.
But the extremists, mainly religious Jews from the West Bank and Israel proper remained determined to stop the withdrawal, by force if necessary. Many of them sewed yellow Stars of David to their clothing to indicate that the government was behaving like the Nazis in sealing off Yamit.
DRUZE VILLAGES STILL SEALED OFF
Meanwhile, more than 100 miles away in northern Israel, troops continued to man roadblocks around four Druze villages on the Golan Heights where the residents are in the third week of a general strike to protest Israel’s annexation of the region. The army said the villagers are free to move inside the towns but cannot leave or enter them. The press is also banned from the region.
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.
