The Reagan Administration’s public position toward the recent violence on the West Bank was reiterated by President Reagan last night at his nationally televised press conference at the White House. Asked if the clashes on the West Bank would “destroy progress” toward autonomy, the President said, “I am hopeful it won’t.”
Reagan gave as the reason for his optimism that “I have the pledge of my friend (Premier) Menachem Begin and of President (Hosni) Mubarak that they are going forward with the framework of the Camp David agreement to resolve all these other problems. I’m hopeful that we will see more progress on these talks after April 25 when the transfer of Sinai comes.”
The President stressed that the Camp David agreement comes within UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. “They (the Israelis) have, as I say, pledged to me that they are going to abide by that,” he said.
In his briefremarks on the West Bank, Reagan seemed to go out of his way to explain the Israeli position. He noted that “Israel claims” it removed some of the West Bank mayors because the Israelis “believe” that these mayors “have now become part of the more radical PLO wing.”
Reagan mistakenly said the mayors had been appointed by Israel when actually they were elected. Israel removed three mayors from office on grounds that they were agents of the Palestine Liberation Organization who incited violence on the West Bank and because they refused to cooperate with the civilian regime Israel set up in the territory.
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