Peres Challenges U.S. Interpretation of Security Council Resolutions

Defense Minister Shimon Peres said today that Israel will not accept the American interpretation of Security Council resolutions which holds that Israel must return to its 1967 borders with only minor changes. “We have a serious debate with the U.S. and there is no reason to cover it, above and beyond party differences,” Peres declared at a meeting of the Labor Party’s Ben Gurion Circle in Tel Aviv.

But the defense chief, who heads the Labor Party, was severely critical of the political methods of Likud which defeated Labor in the May 17 elections. Asserting that he did not want to be identified with personal criticism of Likud leader Menachem Begin that has appeared in overseas news media recently, Peres contrasted the diplomatic methods of the Labor government with those espoused by Likud, the party that is expected to head the next Israeli government.

He said the “two conceptions” were evident as early as 1947 when Begin opposed the United Nations General Assembly resolution to partition Palestine, the resolution that gave international sanction to Israel’s creation. The debate between Labor and Likud, he said, is between vision and realism. It was the realism of the Labor Alignment that brought Israel some of her greatest achievements. Peres declared. And it is that road that Israel should continue to follow “no matter how many mandates the Labor Party had,” he said.

U.S. INTERESTS CITED

Peres spoke sardonically of Begin’s post-election statements on the West Bank and other matters as examples of the gap between realist and visionary. “One can change the Finance Minister but one cannot change the price of oil in the world,” he said. “One can make heartrending speeches in Kaddum (the illegal Gush Emunim settlement in Samaria where Begin spoke after the elections promising additional Jewish settlements in the region) but there are still American interests. And I am sure they will not be looked after according to the books of Jeremiah and Isaiah.” The latter was a reference to Begin’s remark that he would convince President Carter of Israel’s right to the West Bank by virtue of the Bible.

Referring to the election results, Peres said, “The people are sovereign to decide and it is good that, for a change, they will taste the alternative party. I am not at all sure they will order another similar meal. Let us see if all the problems will be solved. One can change a government but one cannot change the world. One can change the regime but one cannot change the situation.”

Peres did not refer directly to former Defense Minister Moshe Dayan’s shift from the Labor Party to Likud. He observed, however, that “every person can choose whatever party he wants but he should not pretend to carry with him the heritage of Ben Gurion which does not resemble that of Likud.”