The peace rally, which drew an estimated 25,000 persons here Saturday night, was denounced by Finance Minister Simcha Ehrlich who said it stank of a military “putsch.” Addressing a meeting of Likud’s Liberal Party wing last night, Ehrlich objected to the use of the term “officers for peace” by the group of 300 reserve officers who sponsored the rally. “Anti-government demonstrations do not help the cause of peace,” he said. “The need to revert to military terms is deplorable and carries the stench of a putsch.”
But Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan took a different view of what was the largest popular demonstration against government policies since Premier Menachem Begin took office. Speaking to reporters at Ben Gurion Airport just before departing on a three-day official visit to Rumania, Dayan said “I was impressed by the number of people” who participated in the rally. “I know they don’t want to change the government but its policy,” he said.
Justice Minister Shmuel Tamir of the Democratic Movement for Change (DMC), charged, at a meeting of the DMC’s governing council here last night that those who say “Peace Now” mean immediate withdrawal to the 1967 borders, which means unconditional surrender to Egyptian demands.
Ehrlich charged that attacks on government policy do not bring peace closer but could cause a further delay. He also claimed that the Begin government had an influence on U.S. policy and that Begin’s visit to Washington last month was no failure despite his differences of opinion with President Carter. What failed, Ehrlich said, was Israel’s information campaign.
SAYS U.S. IS CLOSER TO ISRAEL
Ehrlich attempted to show that the American Administration has drawn closer to Israel’s position since the Begin government took office. Last year, he said, Carter spoke of a homeland for the Palestinians, of the PLO and of a Palestinian state. Today, these words are no longer heard and the President speaks, instead, of an Israeli military presence on the West Bank. Ehrlich said he has been complaining for three months about the ineffectiveness of Israel’s information program and charged that the peace protests were rendering the task more difficult.
The reservists who sponsored the rally insisted today that they have no political aims. They said that peace pickets would be deployed in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Black and red posters bearing the words “Peace Now” have appeared in many sections and decals with the same words are seen on the rear windows of cars.
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