The Knesset today overwhelmingly defeated a motion of no confidence presented by the Hadash Communist Party against the government’s invasion of Lebanon. The vote was 94-3. Yossi Sarid and Shulamit Aloni of the Labor Alignment and Mordechai Virshubsky of the Shinui faction, outspoken critics of the Likud government, were absent.
Premier Menachem Begin utilized the debate to urge Syria not to enter the conflict in Lebanon and to reiterate that Israel’s objective was only to push the Palestinian terrorists beyond rocket and artillery range of northern Israel.
Begin called on President Hafez Assad of Syria not to attack Israeli forces in Lebanon. He said if Assad complied, no harm would be done to the Syrian army in Lebanon. Begin said Assad has demonstrated that he could honor agreements by preventing the Palestine Liberation Organization, so far, from attacking Israel from Syrian soil. If he continues this policy, his army will be safe in the future, Begin said.
The no-confidence motion was presented by Hadash MK Meir Wilner to an almost empty chamber. Coalition and opposition MKs boycotted Wilner’s speech but turned up later to vote in support of the government. Shimon Peres, chairman of the Labor Party, stressed the need for unity in time of stress. He said the problem in the Middle East was not the Palestinians but the extremism of their leaders. He said a political solution should be sought for the problem of Syrian and PLO forces in Lebanon. He hoped that U.S. special envoy Philip Habib could get that message across to President Assad. Otherwise there would have to be a different solution which no one wanted, Peres said.
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