Jewish settlers from the West Bank, enraged by the terrorist ambush killings in Hebron Friday night, staged demonstrations last night and this morning demanding the ouster of Defense Minister Ezer Weizman.
One group of Kiryat Arba residents enroute to the funeral of the ambush victims in Bnei Brak today, stopped their buses outside the Prime Minister’s Office where the Cabinet was holding its weekly session and sounded their horns for several minutes. The horn blasts signalled their anger at the defense establishment for failure to prevent the attack. The mourners held placards calling on Weizman to resign.
At the Cabinet meeting, some ministers also accused Weizman of allowing security on the West Bank to become too lox. Government sources said that Premier Menachem Begin rejected the accusations and said West Bank security was the responsibility of all ministers, not just Weizman. The sources said that no firm decisions were taken by the Cabinet on future policies in Samaria and Judaea in light of the tragedy Friday night.
PICKET WEIZMAN’S HOME
Last night about 250 people picketed Weizman’s home at Ramal Sharon. When they learned he was not there they moved to Herzliya where they tried to storm the Accadia Hotel, site of the current round of autonomy talks between Israel, Egypt and the U.S. The demonstrators were turned back by security guards.
One of them, Meir Veiniger, a settler from Kadumim, in the Samaria district, demanded to see U.S. special Ambassador Sol Linowitz to tell him to abandon the autonomy talks. “As a Jew he can do more for this nation,” Veiniger said. He accused Weizman of responsibility for the deteriorating security-situation on the West Bank.
Weizman replied to his critics. “The terrible tragedy in Hebron should not overshadow our desire for peace,” he said. “Our policy in the territories is a long range one aimed at our staying in the region and living side-by-side with an Arab population, but not with those who are coming to kill us,” he said.
POLICE DISPERSE DEMONSTRATORS
Police dispersed another group of demonstrators in Jerusalem today, members of Sheli and Matzpen, the latter a Trotskyist group, who called for the end to Israel’s occupation of the administered territories. Several were arrested for holding an illegal gathering. Earlier today, police arrested Yassi Dayan, a leader of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s “Kach” group who is suspected of acts of vandalism against Arabs in Ramallah.
The Labor Party announced, meanwhile, that it will postpone a no-confidence motion it planned to present in the Knesset this week. Labor Party circles said the Hebron killings created a new situation and the motion would be presented at a later date.
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