Benvenisti Charges Opponents Dredge Up Old Views of Jerusalem to Discredit Him

A controversial City Councilman was endorsed by the Labor Party caucus yesterday for the post of Deputy Mayor despite demands from opposition parties that he be removed for having suggested three years ago that East Jerusalem be restored to Arab sovereignty under certain contingencies. The Councilman. 36-year-old Meron Benvenisti, accused the opposition factions of trying to “torpedo” his nomination. He said they dredged up his long abandoned recommendation and made it appear to be current in order to discredit him with the public. The incident demonstrated the explosive nature of the Jerusalem issue. Mayor Teddy Kollek, who supports Benvenisti, warned last night that local political feuds could very well compromise Israel’s foreign policy. The Councilman has frequently offended many of his colleagues by his persistent defense of Arab rights in the Old City. Following the 1967 war he was named by Kollek to be the municipality’s representative in East Jerusalem. In 1968 he was assigned to an ad hoc group of experts created to develop contingency plans for dealing with the various problems arising from the Six-Day War.

Benvenisti’s recommendation, among many others, was that Israel grant autonomy to the Arab sector of Jerusalem. His argument at the time was that such a move might ease external pressure on Israel over Jerusalem and might induce King Hussein of Jordan to make peace. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said last night that the recommendations of the planning group had no official standing and were in fact never considered on a ministerial level. The group itself functioned for only a few days and was abandoned as developments rendered its work superfluous. The Israel government has taken an uncompromising stand on Jerusalem. It has declared time and again that Jerusalem will remain a united city under permanent Israeli sovereignby. According to Benvenisti, the opposition parties, particularly the Orthodox religious bloc, used the emotionally charged issue for political reasons. He said they leaked his suggestion to a newspaper but deliberately failed to mention that it was made three years ago and was submitted as only one of many contingencies that Israel might consider as the political situation developed. Benvenisti said the team of experts was supposed to make proposals for every eventuality, good or bad. The story was published Monday in the newspaper Maariv.