Egyptian Official to Autonomy Talks Regrets Israel’s Move on the Golan

The head of the Egyptian delegation to the working level autonomy talks scheduled to open in Tel Aviv today, expressed “deep regret” over Israel’s move to annex the Golan Heights and asked for a postponement of the session until tomorrow morning.

The Egyptian official, Taher Shash, said that the bill applying Israeli law to the Golan Heights, being debated in the Knesset, was a contravention of international law, the Geneva conventions and the Camp David framework. His was the first Egyptian reaction to the bill approved by the Cabinet this morning and rushed to the Knesset by Premier Menachem Begin.

Haim Kubersky, head of the Israeli autonomy team, disputed Shash. He maintained that the autonomy talks were not the forum to deal with this matter and observed that the Israeli delegates would not use it to speak out on such matters as Egypt’s relation with its neighbor, Libya.

But the U.S. representative at the working level deliberations, Watt Claverius supported the Egyptian view. He said Israel’s action on the Golan was relevant to the autonomy talks because they are based on the Camp David accords which are, in turn, based on Security Council Resolution 242 that speaks of peace between Israel and all of its neighbors and the territorial integrity of all states in the region. Claverius said the U.S. was seriously concerned by any such unilateral step that undermined Camp David and by the same token, Resolution 242.

Meanwhile, the debate raged in the Knesset, with Begin urging quick passage of the bill into law on historical and security grounds. His arguments were seconded by Moshe Arens, chairman of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee and Ambassador-designate to the United States. Arens supported the measure mainly on strategic grounds and denied that it would block possible future negotiations with a new regime in Syria.

LABOR APPEARS TO BE IN A DILEMMA

The opposition Labor Alignment appeared to be in a dilemma. Most were absent from the first reading of the bill while the various elements of the party argued over whether to support or oppose it. Some MKs from the kibbutz movement and others urged support, or at least a waiver of party discipline to allow members to vote their conscience. But MK Gad Yaacobi proposed that Labor boycott the session in protest against the unseemly haste with which the government is seeking to ram through the measure.

Labor doves such as former Foreign Minister Abba Eban and members of Mapam declared they would vote against the bill if Labor decided to attend the session. Pro-annexationists such as Avraham Katz-Oz said they would vote for it regardless of what Labor’s Knesset faction decided.

Amnon Rubinstein of Shinui, a prominent constitutional lawyer, vigorously opposed the government’s bill on grounds that it not only flouted Resolution 242 but could be construed as flouting the Camp David accords which are based on that resolution. Rubinstein argued further that the bill was meaningless in practical terms and would only stir trouble on the Golan Heights which heretofore has not been on the international agenda.

Although the government was determined to push the bill through the required three readings and have it become law by tonight, the possibility of delay arose when Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir failed to persuade the four-man Agudat Israel faction to support it. The Orthodox MKs decided to refer the matter to their “Council of Sages” for a final decision.

Israel Radio reported, meanwhile, that the Cabinet had been taken completely by surprise when Begin summoned them to a special meeting this morning. Energy Minister Yitzhak Berman of Likud’s Liberal Party wing, opposed the measure and walked out of the meeting before a vote was taken. Approval therefore was technically unanimous. According to Israel Radio, several other ministers expressed doubt but were overwhelmed by Begin who urged them to seize the opportunity to act on the Golan while the international community was preoccupied with the crisis in Poland.