Premier Menachem Begin is being urged to exercise his authority as Defense Minister to ban the “Arab Congress” scheduled to meet in Nazareth next Saturday. The Congress was initiated by elements of Israel’s Arab population — as distinct from the Arabs in the occupied territories — to give expression to their political aspirations.
Begin’s advisor an Arab affairs, Binyamin Gur-Arye, has recommended legal measures to prevent the gathering and, it necessary, restrictions on the movements of its organizers, most of whom are members of the Communist Party. Government circles believe the Congress is a tool of the Communist Party aimed at creating a new body among Israeli Arabs that would be in effect a separated national entity within Israel.
The Congress organizers have formulated three targets: an end to the “policy of oppression” in the occupied territories; equal rights for Israel Arabs, specifically the abolition of several allegedly anti-Arab lows; and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside of Israel. They adhere to the position of the 1974 Arab summit conference that the Palestine Liberation Organization is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and claim that the Israeli Arabs are an integral part of the Palestinian people.
KNESSET LIBERALS OPPOSE CONGRESS
At the same time, they insist that “the PLO does not represent Israel’s Arabs.” They maintain that Israeli Arabs have their own representative bodies, most prominently the Committee of Arab Mayors and the Committee for the Protection of Arab Land, Both are guided by the Community but include representatives of non-Communist elements. The organizers of the Congress say its purpose is to rally Jews and Arabs against the government’s policies in the name of Jewish-Arab understanding.
Opposition to the Congress has emerged in liberal quarters of the Knesset. Amnon Rubinstein, a prominent civil rights advocate and Shmuel Toledano, on advisor on Arab affairs to Labor-led governments, share the view held in government circles. Both believe that if the Congress is permitted to take place it will engulf moderate Arabs and openly identify with the PLO.
However, Rubinstein and Toledano are opposed to a legal bon. They have recommended that the authorities quietly persuade moderate Arabs to boycott the Congress. If it turns out to be little more than a Communist gathering, its repercussions on Arab-Jewish relations will be less harmful they say.
Government circles believe that an outright ban would be more effective. Begin, as Defense Minister would merely have to invoke the emergency regulations held over from the British Mandate regime. It is agreed however that whatever action he takes could determine the course of Israel’s relations with its Arab population for some time to come. Gen. (res) Motityahu Peled of the leftist Sheli faction warned, “If they ban the Congress, they will set the stage for much more extreme elements next to which the Communists will seem moderate.” The organizers themselves said if the Congress is banned they would not be able to control the angry reactions of the Arab population.
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