New Split Emerges in Cabinet over Issue of Permanent Jewish Settlement in Hebron

A new split has emerged in the Cabinet over the issue of permanent Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank town of Hebron. Coming on the heels of the Goldmann affair it disclosed sharp controversy within Premier Golda Meir’s 22-member “wall-to-wall” coalition that hitherto gave the impression of almost monolithic unity. But the coalition is not in danger of breaking up as long as the Arabs refuse to budge from their refusal to talk peace with Israel, according to observers here. The Hebron issue came to the forefront last month when Deputy Premier Yigal Allon announced a Cabinet decision to build permanent housing for 250 Jewish families adjacent to the all-Arab town. About two dozen Jewish families have been living there for the past two years within the confines of the military government compound. The plan was approved by a Knesset majority on March 25. But certain ministers, notably those of Mapam, had misgivings that such a move was a fait accompli that could deny Israel flexibility in any future peace negotiations with the Arabs. Foreign Minister Abba Eban has favored a more flexible approach. He said on April 7 however that the plans to establish a permanent Jewish settlement in the Hebron area would not prejudice any future political agreement that might be reached with the Arabs and declared that any settlement must provide for open frontiers because “Israel will not resume living in a ghetto.”

Minister-Without-Portfolio Menachem Beigin, leader of the nationalist Herut faction, accused Mr. Eban last Thursday of “deliberately and willfully distorting Cabinet decisions.” Addressing a Herut party council. Mr. Beigin leveled a bitter personal attack on the Foreign Minister for allegedly denying that the Cabinet had decided on a Jewish quarter in Hebron. He called Mr. Eban an “intelligent boor” for remarks he made in a recent newspaper interview equating the extreme no peace stand of El Fatah, the guerrilla organization, with the attitude of certain Israelis who insist that every inch of occupied territory be retained to form a “greater Israel.” Further fuel was added to the Hebron controversy yesterday when the Army announced that a 750 acre area east of the town was being sealed off for military purposes. Brig. Gen. Shlomo Gazit said it was a security measure to combat terrorism which has been on the increase in the area. He said Arab land in the sealed off zone would not be confiscated and the owners could continue to work it with special permission. But some sources believe that the move was preliminary to establishing a Jewish suburb of Hebron. Arab inhabitants were ordered to move out and were given compensation. Sheikh Mohammed Ali Jaabari, the Mayor of Hebron, went on the air last night to oppose the latest move. He warned that it would only increase tension between Jews and Arabs in the region.

(Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, said Thursday night that the controversy President Nasser’s invitation to Dr. Nahum Goldmann had done more harm to Israel’s public relations than any other internal political argument in the past 30 months. Gen. Rabin, speaking on the radio in a telephone interview, said that prior to the Goldmann controversy. Israel had presented a united front on basic foreign policies and that this had been generally accepted in the United States, despite “small divergencies” in statements of Israeli leaders. He added that the timing and wording of the Cabinet opposition stand on the Goldmann invitation had made the State Department and public opinion in the United States “very attentive to nuances.”)