Foreign Minister Yigal Allon warned from the Knesset podium today that if the Arab extremists carry the day at the Rabat summit Oct. 26, Israel will continue to protect the rights of the Arab population living in the administered areas. Observers saw the Allon statement as a firm warning to the Arab world in advance of Rabat not to follow the extremists’ line, but rather to decide on further progress towards a political settlement. Allon implied that Israel could and would stay put in its present positions.
Allon responded to a call from Likud leader Menachem Beigin for a full-scale Knesset debate on the UN General Assembly resolution and vote inviting the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in the debate on the Palestine Question next month. Allon, for the government, agreed to Likud’s demand for a debate. and it was carried with only the Rakah Communists objecting and Meir Payil of Moked, abstaining.
Beigin said that the invitation to the PLO was shameful, and called on the entire Knesset to join Likud in denouncing the resolution. He said Likud was glad to hear that Jews in New York intended to demonstrate against the PLO delegation when it appeared. (See Monday’s Bulletin. P. 4)
Israel, he said, should encourage Jews throughout the U.S. and throughout the world to protest, “with the UN flag draped in black,” against the PLO and its increasing international recognition. Beigin criticized government spokesmen for referring to the Palestinian terrorists as the “Palestine Liberation Organization.” This was a travesty of the word “liberation.” Beigin contended.
ALLON CHALLENGES BEIGIN
Allon, while careful not to use the term “Palestine Liberation Organization,” nevertheless sharply challenged Beigin’s views on the Palestine issue. Not to recognize the existence of this problem was willful blindness, Allon declared. The Israel government’s policy was that the Palestinians and the Jordanians could find their rightful national expression within a single Jordan-Palestine state, Allon reiterated. He restated, too,
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