Yedidya Atlas, a spokesman for the Gush Emunim, who has been visiting many Jewish communities in the United States and Canada, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the Gush members hope that Premier Menachem Begin of Israel will “abide by his principles” regarding West Bank settlements.
“We are worried in the some that the situation is very very serious and very critical. We pray that God will give him strength to make the proper decisions,” Atlas said, adding: “We don’t want this to be the jumping off point for another state within a state.”
He stated that the Gush Emunim will demonstrate its position and “we hope it is still Begin’s position that Judaea and Samaria are integral parts of Israel. It is the heartland of the land of Israel and we cannot give up the heartland of Israel. No one would expect us to give up Tel Aviv or Haifa or Jerusalem, and Judaea and Samaria are no less important to the people of Israel than these cities. In fact, Judaea and Samaria are historically more important than Tel Aviv or Haifa.”
BASIS FOR LOCAL AUTONOMY
Atlas said that historically, the Jews are the Palestinians but “we understand the plight of those people who are now living under military rule and we do not think that it is a bad idea to have local municipal autonomy.”
He said “There is no reason why they cannot run their own electric company, water system, public transportation, or why they cannot even have their own local police force. If someone boats up his wife, there is no reason to call in the army…However, it has to be understood that this is local municipal autonomy in the sense that they will run their own affairs but we are very much against this being the first step into the developing of a state. There is room for only one national home and one national entity on this land.”
Atlas is part of a Gush Emunim mission now visiting the United States and Canada headed by Zvi Slonim and Hanan Porat aimed at informing Jewish communities of the Gush position. Atlas said “we have been very gratified with the results…whether people agreed with us or not, they have been interested in finding out what we feel.”
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