Begin; Israel Giving Habib More Time but ‘there is a Limit’

Premier Menachem Begin said today that Israel was giving U.S. special envoy Philip Habib more time to find a peaceful solution of the Israeli-Syrian missile crisis but “there is a limit.” He said that Habib’s mission to date had achieved no “practical results.”

Habib returned to Washington last Wednesday for consultations after three weeks of shuttle diplomacy between Israel and Arab capitals. He is expected to return to the Middle East some time this week.

Speaking to reporters here, Begin insisted that Israel does not want to go to war with Syria because it is a peace-loving nation. However, he said if Syria attacks, Israel will respond. He said Israel was exercising patience and was not setting any deadline for Habib to resolve the crisis.

But, he added, “There is a limit. I won’t say what that limit is but it is impossible to carry on talks back and forth without any practical results.” He noted that the Syrian SAM-6 anti-aircraft missiles remain in Lebanon and Habib has not been able to get a commitment from the Syrians that they would not fire them at Israeli planes.

DISPUTES SADAT ON JERUSALEM

Begin commented at length on President Anwar Sadat’s assertion over the weekend that the Palestinians had rights in Jerusalem. He said it cast a shadow on Israeli-Egyptian relations. Begin and Sadat are due to meet Thursday at Sharm el-Sheikh in southern Sinai. The meeting, their first in 16 months, was requested by Begin.

He said today, however, “With all due respect, my friend, President Sadat, should not have made such a statement.” He interpreted Sadat’s remark as a call for the re-division of Jerusalem although the Egyptian leader said today that he opposed such a step. “We will never accept the idea,” Begin said. “Sadat himself told me that he asked for what he termed Arab sovereignty over Jerusalem. We will never accept that. There is one sovereign in Jerusalem, in its entirety — Israel,” Begin said.