The Cabinet decided today to defer to a future session any discussion of President Anwar Sadat’s proposal that autonomy be implemented in the Gaza Strip before it is extended to the West Bank. Sadat, who first proposed this in 1978, raised the matter again during his summit meeting with Premier Menachem Begin at Anwar last week.
Begin promised to take it up with his Cabinet. In the course of his overall briefing on the Aswan talks today he mentioned the proposition but reportedly showed a singular lack of enthusiasm for it, an attitude said to be shared by other ministers. Cabinet secretary Arye Naor told reporters later that the Cabinet would discuss the idea at a later session but did not indicate when. It is understood that Begin’s views will be the decisive factor, as it is on other foreign policy matters.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE PROPOSAL
The strongest argument against the proposal is that it would represent a deviation from the Comp David accords and therefore might set a precedent for other deviations inimical to Israel. The Camp David agreements did not call for two separate autonomies but for a single political framework to apply to both Gaza and the West Bank. To any event, Begin made it clear that autonomy would not be implemented in Gaza before an overall autonomy plan
Another point raised against the Gaza first idea is that it could open the way for the return of Egyptian influence in that territory which was under Egyptian control from 1948 to 1967. Israel has already flatly rejected a proposal by Egypt that it establish a liaison office in Gaza during the autonomy period. However, many Israelis fear that early autonomy for Gaza would in effect allow the Egyptians to return through “the back door.”
Not all Israelis are opposed to Sadat’s idea, however. Some believe that a strong Egyptian presence in the territory would neutralize demands for a Palestinian state, at least in that heavily Arab populated region and would en-courage-King Hussein of Jordan to try to regain his influence on the West Bank which would be a further barrier to a Palestinian state.
It is precisely for that reason that the Cabinet hawks who oppose the autonomy scheme in general also reject Sadat’s proposal. These ministers do not conceal their hope that nothing will come of the Camp David autonomy plan and that Israel’s present status in the occupied territories will remain unchanged. Any return of Jordanian or Egyptian influence, they believe, will play into the hands of elements who advocate territorial compromise, notably the opposition Labor Alignment.
PERES FAVORS SADAT’S PROPOSAL
Shimon Peres, chairman of the Labor Party, said on a television interview Friday that he favored Sadat’s proposal because it would allow Israel time to study the ways and means of ensuring its security before autonomy is extended to the West Bank. According to Peres, the application of autonomy to Gaza would be much easier than on the West Bank because there are no problems of water resources or land ownership and the authority of the Military Government is undisputable.
Interior Minister Yosef Burg, who heads the Israeli negotiating team in the autonomy talks, also said on Friday that he would propose the creation of a special subcommittee to study Sadat’s proposal. However, he said he wanted to hear Begin’s briefing first.
CONSIDERATION OF LONG RANGE EFFECTS
When and if the Cabinet takes up the Gaza idea it will have to consider the long range effects of a negative decision on Israeli-Egyptian relations Begin’s promise to bring the matter to his Cabinet was, in fact, all that saved the Aswan summit from total failure on the autonomy issues. Sadat took no pains to conceal his disappointment over the lock of progress.
Seeing Begin off at Aswan Airport Thursday, he told reporters that “Our main concern” at the summit meeting had been “to give momentum to the peace process. I thought that on this visit we could reach a directive for our ministers. But we still have our differences…it will need more meetings to solve these differences,” he said. He added, in what seemed to be a warning though couched in positive terms, “We will have another four months to agree on the autonomy question and on what I have already raised here — the question of Jerusalem.”
At their 90 minute final session before Begin’s departure, the two leaders found themselves in total disagreement over the question of whether East Jerusalem should be included in the autonomy scheme. This is totally unacceptable to Begin who continues to emphasize that Jerusalem is the “eternal, indivisible capital of Israel.” To Sadat it is a focal point in the spiritual lives of 700 million Moslems.
Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip reacted more vehemently against Sadat’s autonomy proposal than many Israelis. Haider a Shaffi, a pro-Palestine Liberation Organization personality who heads the local Red Cres###, said last Friday: “Sadat can propose what he wishes but we Gazaites would say, ‘no thanks’ to any attempt to introduce autonomy here.” Other Gaza leaders stressed that Gaza and the West Bank cannot be split. “We are all Palestinians and there is one Palestine,” they said.
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