Demonstrations, mainly by Likud and Orthodox elements, against the proposed Sinai agreement continued throughout Israel today after the government last night had played a successful game of hide-and-seek with the protestors to keep them from finding the exact location of the talks between Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and the Israeli negotiating team led by Premier Yitzhak Rabin. More than 1,000 demonstrators disrupted traffic in Tel Aviv today and rallies were held in Jerusalem, Haifa and other towns.
More than 50 persons have been arrested since Kissinger’s first arrival in Israel on Thursday. Protestors and some reporters have charged the police with using overly violent methods in quelling the demonstrators, a charge that the police have denied. However, several Knesset members are seeking a special Knesset session to deal with the charges of police brutality.
RABIN: A BLOW TO ISRAEL’S SOUL
The government, meanwhile, showing concern about the intensity of the protests which is aimed at both Kissinger and the Rabin government. After-Kissinger left for Egypt on Friday, Rabin went on television to decry the tactics of the demonstrators. “I regard it as more serious than the problem of four or five kilometers in Sinai, for it is a blow to the very soul of our way of life,” he said.
Kissinger’s arrival last night from Damascus set off a series of diversionary tactics by the government. Protestors thought he would be taken to the government’s guest house near the Tel Aviv-Haifa highway. Crowds of Gush Emunim, Herut Youth and B’nai Akiva members converged there as the guest house itself was surrounded by police and armored cars.
A helicopter came and several hours later left. All this was camouflage, as Kissinger was actually meeting the Israeli leaders at a Jerusalem hotel. In fact, Kissinger himself did not know where he was, or at least this is what he told newsmen when he returned to the King David Hotel shortly before midnight.
Apparently the police also did not know that Kissinger was not in the guest house because they used force, including clubs, on the demonstrators, Several reporters and Likud MKs were hit too. A police spokesman said later, “we used only the appropriate force needed.” However, this statement was challenged by Israeli newsmen.
When the crowd, which had swelled into the thousands, saw the helicopter leave, they swarmed to Rabin’s home in North Tel Aviv for another clash which lasted several hours. Earlier in the day Shabbat services were held by protestors in front of Rabin’s home and his official residence in Jerusalem.
COUNTER-DEMONSTRATIONS HELD BY MAPAM
The demonstrations have been almost continuous since the start of the Kissinger mission. On Friday morning cars with loudspeakers drove through Jerusalem calling for demonstrations and this resulted in a chase through the nearly-deserted early morning streets between police and the cars. Black flags were hung on utility poles in Jerusalem on Friday and again today in Tel Aviv. Municipal workers, with the help of police, tore down these flags from various parts of the towns. Demonstrations were held last night in almost every major city in Israel.
In addition, scores of counter-demonstrations, led mainly by Mapam members, were held in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The government, however, said today that there is no need for these counter-demonstrations since the demonstrations would be handled by competent authorities.
POLICE BEHAVIOR A MAJOR ISSUE
Meanwhile, the behavior of the police is becoming a major issue. Likud met today to discuss the possibility of calling for a special Knesset session, but no decision was made, MK Zevulun Hammer of the National Religious Party, has already started gathering the 30 signatures needed to call a special session. Hammer and another NRP MK, Yehuda Ben Meir, who are the leaders of the “Young Guard” within the NRP, visited 17 persons being held in a detention center today and said five claimed they were beaten up. “The government is using force because it cannot persuade the people it is right in its actions,” the two MKs said.
Police Minister Shlomo Hillel today fully backed the action of the police declaring that the demonstrations were not political but aimed to interfere with normal Israeli life. The Tel Aviv police chief also denied his men had used brutal methods saying he had been present at the demonstrations last night near the government guest house and at Rabin’s home and saw no brutal methods.
Meanwhile, reporters are demanding an inquiry into the police methods and the charges may be taken up by the Journalists Association.
REMINDER: There will be no bulletin dated Monday, Sept. 1 due to Labor Day, a postal holiday
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