‘rogers Go Home,’ ‘rogers is Chamberlain’ Marks Rallies Against Rogers Plan

A series of demonstrations against the Rogers Plan for Israeli border rectifications occurred here and Haifa this morning and last night before U.S. Secretary of State William P. Rogers landed at Lydda Airport. In Tel Aviv, several hundred demonstrators, mainly students from various area campuses, assembled near the American Embassy where they carried placards reading, “Rogers Go Home,” and “Rogers Is Chamberlain.” More demonstrations in Tel Aviv were expected later today by students from Bar Ilan University whose demands center on “No Retreat,” and counter-demonstrations by New Left groups. Police in Tel Aviv recruited all available manpower to prevent clashes. A student leader of the demonstration near the American Embassy said that Americans who fought for their own independence should understand that the independence of other nations is equally important.

Referring to Rogers’ recent statement that geography was less important than a peace settlement, other demonstrators said Rogers could afford to be “lightminded” about this because Jordan and the Suez Canal are not American borders. “If geography is so unimportant, why doesn’t Rogers tell that to (Egypt’s President Anwar) Sadat?” Several thousand persons attended a street rally here last night addressed by Gahal leader Menachem Beigin. Declaring that an Israeli pull-back to its pre-June 1967 borders as envisioned by Rogers would place the country’s heartland under the guns of its enemies, Beigin denounced American promises of guarantees. He referred to British guarantees to assist France which “proved hollow” when the Germans occupied the Rhineland in 1936 and the guarantees to ###slovakia after Munion in 1938. Students demonstrated in front of the U.S. Consolate in Haifa this morning. They presented officials with a document criticizing the Rogers Plan which they asked to be conveyed to the Secretary of State.