Begin to Lead Keenest Opposition to Return to Peace Talks; Wants Elections First

A bitter fight is shaping up in the Keenest should the government recommend Israel’s return to the Jarring peace talks. It will be led by Menashem Begin, leader of the Herut wing of the Gahal faction, Israel’s second largest political party. Addressing an audience of 2000 at the Herut national convention here last night, Mr. Beigin demanded new elections before the government takes any position involving territorial concessions. He said it was inevitable that Israel would be forced to give up part of the occupied Arab territories if she returned to the Jarring talks. It was on that issue that Gahal walked out of Premier Meir’s coalition government last July when the cabinet agreed to accept the American peace initiative including indirect talks with the Arabs under Dr. Jarring’s auspices and a 90-day cease-fire. Since then Mr. Beigin and his colleagues have become more adamant. They regard the subsequent truce violations by Egypt as a vindication of their position and they apparently believe that their views are shared by a large segment if not a majority of the Israeli public. Denouncing the Jarring talks as a “trap,” Mr. Beigin claimed last night that the government has no mandate from the people to agree to territorial concessions.

The Herut leader charged that concessions were clearly implied by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan when he expressed support of the Jarring talks in a speech in Haifa last Saturday. Although that was denied in a statement issued on behalf of Gen. Dayan, Mr. Belgin insisted that the Defense Minister was trying to prepare Israeli opinion for concessions when he said “We have to take a plunge into some very cold water in order to reach a haven of peace.” Mr. Begin also objected to statements by Gen. Dayan, Deputy Premier Y’all Allen and other government leaders that Israel is militarily stronger now than it was three months ago despite the Egyptian missile build-up in the Suez truce zone. He said such statements were an invitation to the United States to force Israel back into the Jarring talks on grounds that Israel is not really imperiled. According to Mr. Begin the Arabs will agree to only one kind of settlement, the kind that will lead to the destruction of Israel. He charged that would be the only outcome of the Jarring negotiations. In a message read to the convention, Premier Meir expressed hope that “our joint experience in the government will help create an atmosphere of national responsibility befitting a nation engaged in a struggle.”