Israeli Premier Yitzhak Shamir on Wednesday told U.S. senators who criticized his policy toward the Palestinians that he is following the formula for the West Bank and Gaza Strip that is outlined in the Camp David accords.
“These accords, to which Egypt and the U.S. are committed, produced an agreed formula for settling the territorial issue, and Israel made a considerable sacrifice to achieve agreement on this very sensitive issue,” wrote Shamir, who is scheduled to arrive here Monday for talks with top officials.
The premier stressed that his government “is committed to negotiate the ultimate disposition of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, in the context of the implementation of the Camp David accords.”
But he drew a sharp distinction between Israeli return of the Sinai, completed in 1982, which he said was “uncontested Egyptian territory”‘ and the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which “were occupied militarily and illegally by Jordan and Egypt and their status must, therefore, be determined in the peace negotiations.
“I therefore, fail to understand the reasons for your criticism, which hurts even more because it comes from friends who have Israel’s security and welfare at heart,” Shamir wrote.
He was responding to a letter, initiated by Sens. Rudy Boschwitz (R-Minn.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and signed by them and 28 of their colleagues, that was sent last week to Secretary of State George Shultz. The letter supported Shultz’s Mideast peace plan and implied that Shamir was obstructing the effort by his rejection of the “territory for peace” formula in the plan.
Shamir, who will meet with President Reagan on Wednesday and meet daily with Shultz through Thursday, is expected to seek to change the Shultz proposals to conform to the method for establishing autonomy for the Palestinians outlined in the Camp David accords.
Shultz wants autonomy talks to begin by May with negotiations to start within seven months on the final status of the territories, rather than after five years as agreed upon in the accords. An international conference, strongly opposed by Shamir, would be held prior to negotiations.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres accepts the Shultz proposals, but Shamir blocked the Inner Cabinet from voting on the plan until he returns from Washington.
Shamir also stressed in his letter to the senators that Israel has not abandoned its commitment to United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which Shultz said was the basis for negotiations.
“Israel has accepted this resolution and implemented it in the Camp David accords,” Shamir said.
“If we are going to lose faith in solemn American and Egyptian commitments under these accords, how can we be assured of future commitments that will require us to take even further risks to our security and future?” the premier wrote.
Shamir opened the letter, sent to Boschwitz and Levin, by saying their letter was “a surprise” and he was “astonished by the words of criticism.”
Neither Levin, who was in Moscow, nor Boschwitz, who was in the West, could be reached for comment.
The premier added that neither the Reagan administration nor Congress can pressure Israel to take any steps in the peace process it believes will endanger the security of the Jewish state.
“It is the free and democratic people and government of Israel that will have to decide the issues of peace and security,” Shamir wrote.
Shamir is scheduled to meet with members of Congress during his visit here, including many of those who signed the letter. He is also planning to meet with Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci and Secretary of the Treasury James Baker and be guest of honor at a dinner hosted by Vice President George Bush.
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.
