The Cabinet Makes It Official; Israel Will Not Participate in Autonomy Talks Unless Jerusalem is Inc

The Cabinet made it official policy today that Israel will not participate in the autonomy talks with Egypt and the U.S. unless Jerusalem is included among the three capitals where the negotiators meet. Premier Menachem Begin declared that by refusing to send its delegation to Jerusalem, Egypt was responsible for the failure to resume the talks.

The Cabinet stated, in a communique issued after its regular weekly meeting, that it was unacceptable that Israel should agree to a boycott of Jerusalem and therefore Israel would not respond favorably to an American invitation to hold the talks in Washington unless they are held in Jerusalem as well.

ISRAEL WANTS TALKS WITHOUT DELAY

According to the Cabinet, Israel wants the autonomy negotiations to be resumed without further delays. Interior Minister Yosef Burg and Energy Minister Yitzhak Berman expressed surprise that a neutral site, such as Geneva, should have been suggested. They said that since there is no longer a state of belligerance between Israel and Egypt, such proposals made no sense.

While Begin insisted that the meetings be held in Jerusalem, he said he didn’t care where the Egyptian delegation stayed between negotiating sessions. “I never ask a man where he spends his nights,” the Premier said.

Defense Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel should insist that the first round of talks be held in Jerusalem when they are resumed inasmuch as Israel was the next scheduled meeting place when the negotiations were suspended months ago. But other ministers maintained that the order was unimportant as long as Jerusalem was accepted in principle as one of the meeting sites.

Richard Fairbanks, the U.S. special envoy to the autonomy talks, arrived here this afternoon in an effort to resolve the dispute and get the talks moving. He is scheduled to meet tomorrow with Begin, Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Sharon and Burg. Burg heads the Israeli autonomy negotiating team. After his meetings here, Fairbanks will go to Cairo.

WILL NOT STAND FOR A BOYCOTT OF JERUSALEM

The position taken by the Cabinet today was indicated by Shamir in a radio interview over the weekend. “We cannot agree to Jerusalem being boycotted, nor can we ourselves participate in such a boycott,” he said. He said Israel had no objections to holding talks in Washington, Cairo, Geneva or anywhere else, “But if so, Jerusalem must also be included on the list. If not, we cannot agree to holding talks anywhere else.”

Shamir was also critical of Egypt’s position on the dispute over the location of the Sinai-Israel border at Taba near Eilat. He said the negotiations, agreed to before Israel completed its pull-out from Sinai last April 25 were making no progress. The agreement called for conciliation or arbitration under Article 7 of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.

Shamir claimed the Egyptians wanted to “skip over conciliation and go straight to arbitration” and said he couldn’t understand why. Arbitration is binding. Conciliation is not.

REJECTS U.S. CRITICISM

With respect to other matters, Shamir angrily rejected American criticism of Israel’s tough policies on the West Bank. “We don’t need anyone’s advice on how to maintain quiet in Judaea and Samaria.” he said. According to Shamir, ?ioters who threw rocks at Israeli soldiers and civilians in the occupied territories were incited by the Palestine Liberation Organization. “They sit far away and incite the local population so as to prevent the peace process from working,” he said.

Referring to the fatal shootings of several Palestinian youths in the past week, Shamir said Israel regreted the loss of lives, “but we must insist on our soldiers having the right to defend themselves.”

FRANCE REBUKES ISRAEL

While Shamir was rejecting American criticism, Israel was sharply rebuked by the French government for the recent violence on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Paris said France “condemns the increased use of fire arms in dispersing demonstrations.”

According to reports from Paris, French officials are privately expressing fear that “Israeli methods” might provoke “on uncontrollable situation” in the occupied territories with results that could seriously harm Israel’s relations with Egypt.