Cabinet Rejects Talks with Palestinian Terrorist Groups

After a six hour discussion of the Palestinian question, the Cabinet today endorsed Premier Yitzhak Rabin’s policy of not conducting negotiations with terrorist organizations. A resolution, proposed by Tourism Minister Moshe Kol of the Independent Liberal Party and Health Minister Victor Shemtov of Mapam that Israel should negotiate with Jordan and those Palestinian elements who recognize Israel, was rejected.

The communique issued at the conclusion of the Cabinet meeting noted the Cabinet had endorsed the statement on the Palestinians made by Rabin when he had presented the new government to the Knesset June 3. The Cabinet communique declared: “

“Israel will continue to strive for peace agreements with the Arab states within defensible borders, to be achieved through negotiations without prior conditions. The government will work towards negotiations for a peace agreement with Jordan. The peace will be founded on the existence of two independent states only — Israel with united Jerusalem as her capital, and a Jordanian-Palestinian Arab state, east of Israel, within borders to be determined in negotiations between Israel and Jordan. This state will provide for expression of the self-determination of the Jordanians and the Palestinians in peace and good neighborliness with Israel.”

The draft resolution proposed by Kol and Shem have got only four to five votes. Information Minister Aharon Yariv, who himself said on radio last week that Israel may consider negotiating with Palestinian elements that recognize Israel, refused to say how he himself voted. He said, however, that the resolution adopted as such ruled out negotiations with Palestinian organizations.

The question of how Israel would react to participation of a Palestinian delegation in the Geneva talks within the Jordanian framework was not discussed at this meeting. It was pointed out that all ministers have rejected the idea of a “third state” between Israel and Jordan.