Defense Minister Moshe Dayan once again outlined his assessment of Israel’s security needs which he believes require maintaining a firm grip on key areas of the occupied former Arab territories. Gen. Dayan spoke last night at a meeting of the Rafi faction of the Israel Labor Party which placed his name at the head of its nine-man election list. He is thus assured of a ministerial post in any new Government formed by the Labor Party-Mapam alignment after next month’s elections.
Gen. Dayan said that Israel’s quest for peace must not obscure the fact that the nation’s security depended upon control of the Sharm el-Sheikh, Israeli settlement of the Golan Heights and the permanent stationing of Israeli units along the Jordan River.
However, he said, events that will take place between the Hebrew New Year and the universal New Year less than four months hence would be “landmarks” upon which Israel’s future policy depended. He listed those events as Premier Golda Meir’s meeting with President Richard M. Nixon in Washington on Sept. 25; the arrival in New York of Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko and resumption of the U.S.-Soviet and Four Power Mideast talks; and the military developments between now and the start of the rainy season when military activity must slow down.
Gen. Dayan rejected any proposal that Israel break out of the present cease-fire lines and “go on to Cairo and Amman.” Israel’s military posture should be defensive,” he said, “but we should hit back hard against any serious breaches of the cease-fire.” He defended his “open bridges” policy which has come under increasing criticism lately on a high level, notably from Deputy Premier Yigal Allon. The policy permits the free movement of goods and people between the West Bank and Jordan over the Jordan River bridges.
Gen. Dayan warned that if the bridges were closed it would be like tying down a safety valve. The open bridges policy allows West Bank farmers to market their surplus produce in Jordan and West Bank families to keep up ties with relatives across the river. But critics of the policy say the open bridges provide a channel for arms and ammunition to reach terrorists. Only yesterday Israeli military officials banned trucks crossing the bridges from carrying hollow objects such as gasoline and water containers in which explosives could be concealed.
Gen. Dayan said he was against capital punishment for captured terrorists on grounds that it would not be a deterrent. He noted that last month, Israeli forces killed 52 guerrillas but others were not prevented from trying to penetrate into Israel.
Gen. Dayan said he thought the situation in the festering Gaza refugee camps could be improved during the next two years if new initiatives were taken. “The human question troubles me,” he said. He thought the first step was to provide work for 20,000-30,000 Arab breadwinners. The second step would be to change their present “miserable” camps, but not to establish a “model village” system which he regarded as propaganda.
The order in which candidates’ names appeared on the Rafi election list came as a surprise inasmuch as veteran Rafi leader Shimon Peres placed third. Second place went to a relatively young man. Gad Yaacobi, who is a member of the Histadrut central committee but not a national political figure. Nevertheless, the Rafi group agreed that Mr. Peres along with Gen. Dayan would get ministerial posts in the new Government.
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