Begin Calls for Unity in Knesset So ‘our Boys Can Return Home’ As Opposition Presses for Withdrawal

Premier Menachem Begin’s government has come under mounting pressure from opposition ranks and various anti-war groups to end Israel’s presence in Lebanon without delay. This week will mark the first anniversary of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon with the ostensible objective of clearing Palestine Liberation Organization terrorists out of south Lebanon and achieving “Peace for Galilee”–as the operation was dubbed.

But with a large Israeli army still in Lebanon, sustaining almost daily casualties from ambushes and hit-and-run attacks by Syrian-protected PLO terrorists, Begin was forced to defend his government’s policies in the Knesset today.

Speaking in reply to an agenda motion by Labor Alignment MK Michael Bar-Zohar, Begin urged all Knesset factions to unite — just as they were united behind the “Peace for Galilee” operation a year ago — so that “Our boys can return home.” He said it was undesirable to create the impression that there is a wide gap on this issue.

BEGIN NOTES ‘DIFFICULT TIMES’

Begin said no one in Israel was hurt more by the casualties than he himself. But he criticized the opposition for attacking the government “at difficult times.” He recalled that when his party was in the opposition during the war of attrition with Egypt in 1969, it behaved differently.

Bar-Zohar said he did not doubt Begin’s sincere sorrow over the losses of life and woundings among Israeli soldiers in Lebanon. But he criticized the Premier for not visiting the soldiers in Lebanon or the bereaved families of those who died. Bar-Zohar embarrassed coalition MKs by opening his statement with a call for a minute of silence in memory of the Lebanon war dead. Some MKs accused him of making a political issue out of the casualties.

Begin stressed that Israel has no plans to attack Syria although it has taken precautionary measures in Lebanon. He said he was confident that in the long run the Syrians and the PLO would withdraw from Lebanon, enabling Israeli troops to pull out under the terms of the Israel-Lebanon agreement.

But there is rising sentiment among some segments of the public for a unilateral withdrawal or partial pull-back of Israeli troops. The Peace Now movement sent telegrams to Begin and Defense Minister Moshe Arens yesterday urging them not to let Syria or the PLO dictate when Israel should begin to implement its agreement with Lebanon. If withdrawal was started now, the troops could be out of Lebanon “within a few weeks,” they said. They said they had made the same appeal to the Lebanese government.

PROTEST MARCH FROM BORDER TO TEL AVIV

Peace Now is conducting a war protest march from Rosh Hanikra on the Lebanese border to Tel Aviv. It began Sunday and is scheduled to end with a mass peace rally in Tel Aviv’s municipal square next Saturday night. The marchers camped south of Haifa last night. They told local youngsters who came to encourage them that no reserve soldier should refuse duty in Lebanon because army discipline must be maintained even though there is no national consensus on the war in Lebanon.

Peace Now has dissociated itself from the Committee Against the War in Lebanon, a front of Israel’s Hadash Communist party, which plans to join its peace demonstration in Tel Aviv.

Another anti-war group, “Parents Against Silence,” demonstrated outside the Knesset Monday to demand immediate withdrawal from Lebanon. A delegation of five women met with Arens at his office yesterday to appeal for a speedy withdrawal to end the casualties. A spokeswoman said later, “He listened carefully but on the basis of his replies we think we have to continue our struggle.”