Just hours before President Bush welcomed Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at his Maine vacation home Monday Israel’s Cabinet issued a statement sharply condemning provocative activities staged by Jewish settlers the day before in Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Kiryat Arba.
The statement blasted the settlers’ activities, which included confrontations with the Israel Defense Force, as illegal and said they were “intended to divert public attention from the peace process and (immigrant) absorption efforts” being discussed by Bush and Rabin.
It vowed the government would take legal action to thwart the settlers’ efforts and would use “the means at its disposal in order to restore order and security.”
But while Cabinet ministers said they expected the attempt to start a new neighborhood of Kiryat Arba to be thwarted by legal action, they made it clear that the occupation of Jewish-purchased homes in the Moslem Quarter of Jerusalem could not be reversed by process of law.
At the suggestion of Energy Minister Amnon Rubinstein, however, the Cabinet ordered a close examination of the monetary sources used to purchase the four buildings in question.
Rubinstein, a senior member of the dovish Meretz bloc, hinted there were likely to have been state funds involved, possibly funds from the public custodian, who is charged by law with disbursing bequests left to the state.
“It is quite unthinkable,” Rubinstein told reporters after the meeting, “that this government would condone state monies going to such purposes.”
The settlers who occupied the Jerusalem homes said Monday that they were bought with private funds and that additional purchases would take place. They did not deny that their timing was deliberately chosen to drive a point home to Rabin and Bush.
Likewise, the Cabinet statement was issued with the clear purpose of counteracting any possible impact of the settlers’ actions on Rabin’s visit to the United States.
It said that the settlers’ actions, particularly their confrontations with the IDF, were “worthy of all condemnation.”
“The government of Israel will not acquiesce to the illegal activity of the settlers who acted yesterday in Hebron,” it said, adding that the government “will not allow any element to act against the law.”
The statement was issued after the Cabinet’s weekly meeting, which was held a day later than usual because of the Tisha B’Av holiday. With Rabin out of the country, the session was chaired by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
In another decision plainly intended to project the new government’s more moderate approach to international affairs, the Cabinet decided to grant diplomatic status to the European Community representative responsible for monitoring economic, technical and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in the territories.
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