Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is continuing to defend Israel’s deportation last month of 415 Moslem fundamentalists to Lebanon.
At the same time, some Israeli officials appear to be hoping that the crisis will be resolved by Israel’s High Court of Justice, which is hearing arguments on the legality of the deportations and could reverse them.
An Israeli military spokesman was quoted as saying that there would be no change in the government’s policy at least until the High Court hands down its decision. The court hearings were expected to resume Monday.
Meanwhile, Rabin met Thursday evening once again with Chinmaya Gharekhan, the U.N. special envoy dispatched to the Middle East to find a solution to the deportation situation. Gharekhan was scheduled to return to New York on Friday and report to the secretary-general on his efforts.
Gharekhan refused to elaborate on the details of the discussion or to say whether he had come up with a new compromise to resolve the problem. Speculation that a formula was in the offing was spreading this week, but with no results so far — at least for the record.
Rabin, in an address Thursday to a WIZO convention in Tel Aviv, stressed that Israel would continue to use “various measures” in its fight against Islamic fundamentalist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Rabin emphasized that these movements aim for the complete elimination of Israel and that the fight against them would continue even as Israel pursues peace with its Arab neighbors.
“We have the right to act against those who do not only kill Israelis and Palestinians, but wish to kill the peace,” he said.
Opposition among Israeli Arabs and Palestinians to the deportations continued with dozens of demonstrators showing up Thursday at the Rosh Hanikra border point with Lebanon.
The demonstrators tried to cross the border and deliver supplies to the deportees. After police and soldiers stopped them from crossing, the protesters waved banners on the Israeli side of the border and shouted anti-government slogans.
Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi said Thursday that the new U.S. administration’s policy in handling the deportation issue will test the consistency of America’s Middle East policy.
“I think this is a very important challenge to the new president,” she said.
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.
