Premier Menachem Begin returned to his desk today promptly at 8 a. m. after being out of action for four weeks following a mild heart attack. He set about his schedule briskly, chairing a ministerial committee meeting at which Agriculture Minister Ariel Sharon reportedly put forward details on new settlements on the West Bank. Begin-said before his attack that Israel had plans for another 10 settlements and these would be the last.
During his recuperation period at Hadassah Hospital and at home, Begin kept fully abreast of political and international developments. Yesterday he met with U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis and his top military attached for a review of the troubled situations in Syria and Lebanon. Lewis also is understood to have reiterated America’s objection to the plan to move the Prime Minister’s Office to East Jerusalem.
In Tel Aviv, meanwhile, U.S. diplomatic sources indicated that there were no outright instructions from Washington to Lewis — as yet — to boycott the Prime Minister’s Office should it be moved to East Jerusalem. But the sources said the move would “cause communications problems.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.