Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir insisted Monday that Israel will not violate its commitment to the United States not to settle new Soviet immigrants in the administered territories.
He stressed that to a group of settler leaders who urged him to send immigrants to the territories to strengthen the settlement movement.
Israel will do its utmost to strengthen the settlements “without violating international commitments,” he said.
Shamir’s meetings with settler activists and with leaders of the right-wing Tehiya party were widely publicized, and seemed to be intended as a double message to Secretary of State James Baker.
Shamir wanted to let Baker know the strong internal pressure he faces against making concessions and to assure the United States that, contrary to some charges, Israel abides by its promise not to send olim to the territories.
That commitment is a condition of a $400 million U.S. loan guarantee to help Israel absorb new immigrants.
It has worried Likud’s coalition partners on the right.
Deputy Minister of Science Geula Cohen of Tehiya, after meeting with Shamir, said she was convinced that the prime minister would not easily give in to U.S. pressure.
But even a strong man could weaken in face of a weak environment, Cohen added.
Relations between Israel and the United States were sorely strained last week when activists put up the new settlement of Revava in the West Bank some 48 hours in advance of Baker’s arrival for talks in Jerusalem.
The settlement, approved by the government seven years ago, was to have been inaugurated on Israel’s Independence Day, last Thursday.
Deliberately jumping the gun was a calculated affront to the United States and drew a sharp response from Washington.
Knesset member Hanan Porat of the National Religious Party insisted Monday that senior Cabinet ministers were aware of the plans.
Porat spoke out after Shamir, Defense Minister Moshe Arens and Housing Minister Ariel Sharon disavowed advance knowledge when the issue was raised at Sunday’s Cabinet session.
According to Porat, they may not have been officially informed but were advised as “an act of good will,” because inasmuch as the settlement had already been approved, “final coordination of the timing with the relevant authorities was not required.”
Revava is reported at present to house only six families and two single men but aspires to become a settlement of 1,000 families.
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