Shimon Peres, leader of the Labor Party in Israel, said last night that “I told Vice-President Walter Mondale, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski that we shall use cluster bombs against the gangs shelling our women and children.”
Peres spoke as the guest of honor at the Fourth Annual Dinner of the Friends of Ben-Gurion University here. Earlier, at a press conference, Peres said that the cluster bombs were used only twice in Lebanon, the first time when a deluge of Katyusha rockets hit Metulla and other cities and villages in northern Galilee, and the second time when Israeli defense forces ran into “sophisticated fortifications of the PLO.”
Regarding his differences with Premier Menachem Begin, Peres said in his speech last night that “I disagree with Mr. Begin with regard to his plans for the West Bank. I think that we should hand over to the Arabs most of the Arab-populated places in the West Bank. I told our American friends in Washington that if Resolution 242 should relate to withdrawal from the three fronts, pressure should be exerted not only on Israel but equally on our neighbors as well. We shall stand as one man resisting against Israel being pushed into a comer.”
Regarding an American guarantee for a settlement, Peres said “the American guarantee means finally an Israel dependent on the United States. American friendship is too dear to us to become an extra hardship.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
