U.N., British and U.S. Officials Criticize Israel for Expulsions

Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar appealed to Israel Tuesday to allow eight Palestinians it deported Monday to return to the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to rescind expulsion orders issued to 12 others.

In a statement issued here, the secretary general expressed concern over the expulsions, charging that the measure is a "violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention," which governs the behavior of occupying powers.

Recalling that the Security Council adopted a resolution Jan. 5 calling on Israel to refrain from deporting any Palestinians in the territories, the secretary general warned that further expulsions and the continued demolition of houses in the territories by Israeli authorities "will aggravate the tension in the area."

Last weekend, the Israel Defense Force demolished 14 houses in the West Bank village of Beita, where an Arab mob last week attacked a group of Jewish teen-agers on a Passover outing.

A 15-year-old girl, Tirza Porat of Eilon Moreh, was killed during the incident. But an army investigation has found that she was killed not by Arab stone-throwers, but by a bullet fired, apparently in panic, from the gun of one of two adults accompanying the group.

BRITAIN SHARPLY CRITICAL

Britain also sharply criticized Israel on Tuesday for expelling the eight Palestinians to Lebanon. A Foreign Office official in London said the measure was illegal.

"We unreservedly deplore the deportations of these eight Palestinians and the threat that 12 more will follow," the official said. He said the deportations were a breach of international law and would only increase bitterness in the administered territories.

In Jerusalem, meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering expressed his country’s "deep concern" Tuesday over Israeli behavior in the administered territories.

He faulted the "excessive use of force, use of live ammunition, expulsions and the demolition of homes — especially when there has been an absence of due process."

Pickering, speaking at the Hebrew University’s Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations, described the Palestinian unrest as "a new chapter in the Arab-Israeli conflict." He said some of it was "communal Arab-Jewish violence" reminiscent of "the pre-state days."

The envoy also was critical of those in Israel who advocate "unrealistic solutions, such as the transfer proposal.

He was referring to proposals by right-wing and religious militants, including Rabbi Meir Kahane of the Kach party, for all Palestinians to be transferred out of the territories.

In Washington, the deportation orders and the expulsion of eight Palestinians without appeal drew a sharp response Monday from the United States. State Department spokesman Charles Redman called the measures "counterproductive" to peace in the Middle East and said "they only further inflame tensions."

Israel issued deportation orders against nine Palestinians Jan. 3 and 10 days later deported four of them from the West Bank who had waived their right to appeal. But the remaining deportation orders were not acted on at the time because of protests from the United States and Western European countries.

They were held in abeyance during U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz’s visit to the region in late February and Shamir’s visit to Washington. last month.

(Contributing to this report were JTA correspondents Yitzhak Rabi at the United Nations, David Landau in Jerusalem, Maurice Samuelson in London and Howard Rosenberg in Washington.)