The ultranationalist Tehiya faction announced yesterday that it plans to send a delegation to the U.S. next month to rally its supporters in favor of Israel’s position on the administered territories so that can withstand expected pressure from Washington after the 1980 Presidential elections.
Tehiya, comprising disaffected Herut members and religious militants who oppose the peace treaty with Egypt and demand that Israel annex the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights, is regarded as Premier Menachem Begin’s opposition to the right. But according to its leader, Tel Aviv University Prof. Yuval Ne’eman, its delegates will go to the U.S. to create an atmosphere in support of Begin’s stand against American pressure for concessions by Israel.
Ne’eman told a press conference here that “in Israel we are seeking to topple Begin’s government but abroad we shall do everything to support Israeli positions which the government believes too are right.” He will head the delegation accompanied by MKs Geula Cohen and Moshe Tamir, former Herut members who now represent Tehiya in the Knesset. He indicated that they will be in Washington during President Carters meetings with President Anwar Sodat of Egypt and Carter’s meeting with Begin later in the month.
Some of Tehiya’s aims are to freeze Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai which is to be completed by the end of next year under the terms of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty; review the Camp David accords; screen the present autonomy plan for the West Bank and Gaza; and eliminate Egypt from any negotiating role with respect to those territories.
(In-Washington, State Department spokesman Hodding Carter was asked whether the Tehiya lobbying effort in the U.S. for Israeli positions was “compatible with conduct” in the American Presidential elections. He replied that “I’ve observed a notable lack of reluctance for interference in the political process of the U.S.” However, he said in reply to questions that the Administration would do “nothing” about it.)
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