New Movement Sparks Controversy

The constituent meeting was held here last night of the Lashinouy (For A Change) Movement which has already sparked controversy in Israel with a manifesto urging the government to hold talks with the Palestinians. The movement is headed by Prof. Amnon Rubinstein, dean of the Tel Aviv University Law School, and Mordechai Virshuvski, legal advisor to the Tel Aviv municipality.

Three leaders of Likud who signed the manifesto were denounced for doing so by members of Herut, one of the parties in Likud. Tel Aviv Mayor Shlomo Lahat and Ramat Gan Mayor Israel Peled, both members of the Liberal Party in Likud, and Herut MK Benjamin Halevi signed the manifesto, as did Labor and Independent Liberal Party members.

Herut members assailed the two mayors for signing the manifesto without approval from Likud on whose ticket they were elected. But the Herut Party was particularly shocked by Dr. Halevi’s signing, since he had resigned from the Supreme Court to join Herut because he believed that Israel should not engage in further withdrawals. Herut reportedly was bewildered by what its leaders considered a total reversal by Dr. Halevi from hawk to dove.

MOVEMENT DESCRIBED AS ‘MIDDLE WAY’

Lashinouy was formed initially by academicians and various protest groups organized by veterans after the Yom Kippur War. But after the other groups faded away, the academicians decided to proceed with organizing the movement and going to the people with a program described by Rubinstein as “middle way,” between Israelis opposed to giving up any of the administered areas and those “ready to give up everything.”

He said the movement shared the views of those “who think in terms of modern weapons and the danger of guerrilla warfare” and therefore opposed return to the pre-Six-Day War borders. He said the movement stood for a permanent buffer zone in the Sinai. The movement favors return to Arab rule of the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria in the West Bank but holds that Israel. in recognizing the right of West Bank Arabs to self-determination must be assured of the possibility of acting efficiently against acts of sabotage, Rubinstein said.

He said Jerusalem must remain Israel’s capital, an undivided city under Israel’s rule, but there must be a special status for the holy places and the Arab section of the city. Internally, he said, the movement supports Orthodox control of marriage but demands recognition of the right of marriage for those Jews barred from marriage by Jewish Religious Law.

Delegates to the constituent meeting were greeted by Lahat, representatives of the Independent Liberals who claimed the new movement was close to them in views, the Civil Rights Party and others. They nominated delegates to a central body. Twenty more delegates will be elected by branches and 20 others were named by the movement’s founders.