Labor Alignment Hawks, Doves to Ask Government to Consider a ‘functional’ Compromise Regarding the W

Hawks and doves in the Labor Alignment’s Knesset faction agreed at a meeting yesterday to recommend that the government consider a “functional” compromise on the West Bank as a temporary measure pending a final agreement on the future status of the territory. The arrangement contemplated would grant West Bank residents autonomy in the conduct of their civilian affairs under joint Israeli-Jordanian supervision.

The faction acknowledged that this would be only an interim solution. But the Laborites contended that it was the only compromise that could bridge the wide gap that now exists between Israeli and Arab positions on the West Bank. Alignment leader Shimon Peres called it the only possible solution at present. He said that whatever happens in the course of negotiations between Israel and Egypt, the most serious problems will arise when the time comes to consider the Palestinian question.

Peres warned that if the negotiations soon to begin with Egypt fail, the situation in the area will not return to what it was before Sadat’s peace initiative but would deteriorate rapidly. “The people in Israel want to be convinced that a supreme effort is being made to advance peace,” he declared.

Although the Alignment reached agreement in principle on a temporary West Bank compromise, there are still wide differences between Labor hawks and doves. MK Yossi Sarid, a leading dove supported the idea of a functional compromise as a road between the Arab extreme and the Israeli extreme. But he proposed that after an interim period, a referendum should be held on the West Bank to allow the people living there to decide what sort of government they want.

MK Amos Hadar, a Labor hawk, protested that a referendum would assure the creation of a Palestinian state. Another Knesset hawk, Eliahu Speiser, cautioned the Alignment against attacking the government’s policy. “Let’s wait and see for a month or two,” he said.