Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin was sharply critical of the Reagan Administration Monday for cautioning travelling U.S. Congressmen to avoid the Middle East. At the same time, however, he praised the U.S. initiatives against international terrorism, including the recent naval action in the Gulf of Sidra against Libya.
Rabin, addressing a luncheon meeting of the Foreign Press Association here, faulted the State Department advisory to members of Congress to “reassess” whether planned trips to the Middle East were necessary at this time in view of threats by Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi that he would launch a wave a terrorism against Americans in the region.
Such advice was giving into terrorism, Rabin said. It should not be part of the policy of a country which seeks to be the spearhead in the fight against terrorism. At least two Senators, Gary Hart (D. Colo.) and Bennett Johnston (D. La), cancelled visits to the Middle East which were to include stopovers in Israel.
SAYS ISRAEL IS RELATIVELY FREE FROM TERRORISM
Rabin emphasized in his remarks that Israel was freer from serious terrorist acts than many other countries. No Israeli Prime Minister has been assassinated, as was the Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme, last month.
There has been no major attack in the main streets of Tel Aviv, as has happened in Paris in the past few weeks. And no hotel or building housing a political convention in Israel has been bombed by terrorists, as happened with the Conservative Party in England, Rabin said.
Nevertheless, he conceded, Israel has a problem with terrorists. He said the number of incidents in Israel and the administered territories increased in recent months but the number of casualties has fallen.
He said much of the blame for terrorist activities from inside Lebanon could be laid to the competition between various guerrilla groups there and the growth of Islamic fundamentalism inspired by the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran. Khomeini has succeeded in exporting his brand of fundamentalism to Lebanon alone. He failed to do so elsewhere in the Arab world where Shiite Moslems live, Rain said.
TWO MAJOR MIDEAST ISSUES
Rabin said Israel continues to hope for peace in the region. The two major issues are how to strengthen the peace with Egypt and how to lay the groundwork for peace with Jordan. In the first instance, the top priority was to advance the normalization of relations with Cairo. He said a good start has been made in finding a compromise solution to the Taba border dispute.
On the eastern front, however, tricks and gimmicks by the U.S. or Israel itself would not bring about a dialogue with Jordan and the moderate Palestinians with whom Israel is ready to negotiate. He saw little chance of any peace talks with Syria. There is a potential threat of war from Damascus, he said, but this can be averted by awareness and preparedness. Syria alone, he stressed, is no military match for Israel.
Rabin had little patience with countries which criticize Israel’s policies in the administered territories. What Israel is trying to do in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, he said, is to improve the quality of life for their inhabitants and encourage them to run their own local affairs.
He wondered aloud why countries that have been critical of the quality of life in the territories did not contribute more to help raise living standards in the refugee camps supported by the United Nations and by investing in the recently established West Bank Industrial Committee.
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