Another Row over the Settlements

A proposal to the Cabinet by Prof. Raanan Weitz, co-chairman of the World Zionist Organization’s settlement department, for 31 new Jewish settlements in occupied territory has been returned to him with a formal statement that only Cabinet ministers can propose plans for Cabinet discussion.

But observers here noted that the rapid rejection of the 20 copies of the Weitz plan was undoubtedly connected with the basic political assumption behind the plan, the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Weitz’s plan encountered bitter comments also among his own colleagues in the Labor Party. Several Laborites, notably veteran Mordechai Surkiss, have already asked party chairman Shimon Peres to take back Weitz’s mandate as Labor’s representative on the WZO.

Weitz’s plans, which were sent last week to Cabinet ministers and WZO-Jewish Agency Executive members, said a Palestinian state should not be ruled out as long as Israel is allowed to maintain densely populated buffer zones along the Jordan Valley and the Yamit area. Weitz suggested establishing another 17 settlements in the Jordan Valley within the next five years, in addition to the existing 21 settlements. He also suggested another 14 settlements in the Rafah Salient.

WEITZ TRIES TO CLARIFY POSITION

In an interview on Israel Radio, Weitz said over the weekend that the buffer zones would assure Israel that the territory earmarked for a Palestinian state would be kept demilitarized. “This would enable Israel not to annex the West Bank, and yet at the same time accept the Arab demand for a recognition of their self-determination right,” he said.

Weitz said that in return for the Israeli recognition of their right of self-determination, the Palestinians would recognize Israel’s right to have the West Bank and the Rafah Salient demilitarized. The Palestinian state would be totally sovereign, except that it would not be permitted to keep an independent army or buy arms. “If we sit along the eastern line, no Palestinian state will be able to use the territories as a jumping board for attacking us,” Weitz explained.

He rejected as a total mistake any further Jewish settlements in a densely populated Arab territory, saying Israel should concentrate its settlement efforts in the Galilee, Jerusalem and in the security buffer zones. He said the Gush Emunim settlements were just a “collection of episodes.” The deliberate mixing of populations would lead to further bloodshed, such as in Ireland and Lebanon, he said.

PERES REJECTS SETTLEMENTS PLAN

Peres declared that the Labor Party rejected the plan strongly. “The Alignment refuses to allow any additional Palestinian state west of the Jordan River,” Peres said. “Weitz is wrong when he says that the Arabs will never settle for less than a Palestinian state, and those who pretend to speak for the Palestinians will not be satisfied with Weitz’s ideas. Weitz’s settlement plans were not discussed at any forum of the Labor Party,” Peres said.

Leon Dulzin, chairman of the WZO/Jewish Agency Executives, also said the plan was Weitz’s own idea and that the WZO Executive had never discussed the plan. Yisrael Galili, former chairman of the Ministerial Settlement Committee under the Labor Party government, said now was not the time–just before Camp David–for a public discussion of settlements plans. But, he added, it was the time to express repeated opposition to a Palestinian state.

Reacting, Weitz said he deliberately issued the publication of his plans prior to Camp David. “I believe that we are approaching a crossroad and now is the time to say clearly whatever we have to say.”