Some 6000 people packed Menorah Square in downtown Jerusalem last night in a Likud-led rally protesting against any Israeli withdrawal from territory captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. Bobbing among the crowd were posters declaring “Care-Taker Government Equals Destruction Government” and “Kissinger: Sell Bagels, Not States.” About 100 ardent followers of Likud waved posters demanding “Beigin for Premier.”
Likud leaders Menachem Beigin and Gen. Ariel Sharon addressed the rally. The greatest threat to Israel today is that its word cannot be taken seriously, Beigin declared. The leaders in Cairo, Damascus, Moscow and Washington know this, he said. If Israel withdraws from the Golan Heights it will be forced to withdraw later from Samaria and Judaea, from Sinai and even East Jerusalem, he claimed.
Sharon directed his fire at Labor Party leader Yitzhak Rabin. He said that when Israel needed a powerful stand against its enemies, the candidate for the Premiership stated he didn’t think it would be so terrible if Israelis someday needed a tourist visa to visit the Etzion settlements on the West Bank.
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