Defense Minister Moshe Dayan called yesterday for the economic and legal integration of the occupied Arab territories with Israel. He also called for the establishment of a string of Israeli settlements in the mountainous regions of the West Bank. Gen. Dayan made his remarks at a meeting of physicians and scientists here. He said that contrary to the views of some of his cabinet colleagues, such moves would enhance rather than hamper the prospects for eventual peace.
Gen. Dayan stressed that Israel must create new “facts” in the occupied territories. Egyptian and Jordanian laws still in force in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank must be abrogated and replaced with Israeli law, he declared, in order to symbolize the changed situation. He said the fact that Egyptian and Jordanian laws are still in effect makes the Arabs tend to believe that Israel’s presence is temporary and uncertain, and the Arabs, in turn, simply do not know how to behave.
In addition. Gen. Dayan said, the Arab population in the occupied areas must be further integrated into Israel’s economic life. They should be less dependent on the Arab states and more on Israel, he declared, advocating a policy that has been bitterly opposed by the Secretary-General of his own Israel Labor Party, former Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir. He spoke of at least 35,000 Arabs working for Israeli firms instead of the 18,000 so employed today. “In the interval between now and the time when the Egyptians choose to stage a new confrontation, everything possible should be done to create new facts,” Gen. Dayan said. He added that on this issue there was no disagreement between himself and his colleague, Acting Prime Minister, Yigal Allon. They differed, he said, only on who their political allies should be. The reference was to Mapam, the left-wing labor party that recently aligned itself with the Israel Labor Party and which believes that only temporary measures should be taken in the occupied territories.
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