Minister of Interior Moshe Shapiro explained to the Cabinet today the reasons for his ruling last week that Arab territories occupied by Israel during last June’s war are no longer to be designated “enemy territory.” (Press reports abroad said the ruling created a furor in Arab capitals where it was seen as a move toward outright annexation of the occupied territories by Israel.)
Mr. Shapiro said the sole reason for his decree was to eliminate a “legal anomaly” whereby Israelis entering the occupied zones or Arabs crossing into Israel from them were technically violating the anti-infiltration laws which are directed against terrorists and saboteurs.
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