Begin: No Political Significance to Government’s Equalization Policy

Premier Menachem Begin said today there was no political significance to the Cabinet’s declaration yesterday to equalize services for inhabitants of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to newsmen at Ben Gurion Airport where he said farewell to the visiting Rabbi Alexander Schindler, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Begin denied that it was the first step in the annexation of the West Bank, adding quickly that he had said in the past those territories need not be annexed. (The Likud policy is that no legal annexation is needed, in that Judaea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip are an integral part of Eretz Yisrael.)

Begin described the decision as purely humanitarian and he therefore did not expect any negative American reaction. “What did we do wrong?” he asked. “Every man should praise this decision.”

Whether or not the motives of the new policy are political, the reactions certainly are–both among Jews and Arabs. A Palestine Liberation Organization spokesman was quoted as saying that the government decision to extend the same services to West Bank and Gaza Strip inhabitants as Israelis receive was “but one more step toward annexation.” He added that it proved Israel’s intention to move toward a fifth Israeli-Arab war.

Gaza Mayor Rashad a-Shawa also condemned the decision, describing it as a rejection of Palestinian rights and a move toward annexation. But Hebron Mayor Fahed Kawassme was more cautious in his reaction. He said it was a positive decision, “if it really intended to improve services provided to West Bank and Gaza inhabitants. However, he added, if the intention was annexation, then it needed to be rejected.

SHARP OPPOSITION FROM LABOR

The sharpest comments came from the opposition. Labor Alignment Knesseter Yossi Sarid demanded that the Alignment Knesset faction initiate an extraordinary recess Knesset session on the subject. Sarid asked party leader Shimon Peres to initiate such a move, saying the government decision “had the bad smell of annexation, without saying so in so many words.” He said an equalization of services could not be implemented in practice, but Israel could have plenty of political troubles.

Former Health Minister Victor Shemtov said the decision was “dangerous both in content and timing.” He said the decision was a “political declaration amounting to a policy of de facto annexation of the administered territories in preparation for the annexation of the administered territories on a de jure basis.” Shemtov said that since the 1967 Six-Day War, the government has provided the residents of the occupied territories with excellent health services, and it was only in the propaganda of the PLO that these services were described as inadequate.

Yediot Achronot ran a cartoon showing Begin chasing an Arab with a large package labeled “services,” and the Arab running away yelling “help.” If the Labor Alignment decided to initiate a recess session of the Knesset on this subject, it will most probably have the support of the second largest opposition party, the Democratic Movement for Change (DMC). Thus, the issue is most likely to be the subject of a heated internal political debate.